Free to a good home: 1 Teething Child

Lauren has 4, yes 4, teeth all coming in at once. They aren't even all the same teeth..the top two second front ones are both about to poke through, 1 bottom one and then a random molar is coming in on one side. Not fun! Needless to say, she's having a rough time and is clearly in pain. Tylenol & Motrin are our friends! Anyone want to take her until next week? We'll take her back when her teeth come in. Promise.

Andrew's latest is that he says "bess yooooo" for any sneezes. He also says it for anyone that coughs, too. He'll say it after he sneezes and then say, "I neeze" (I sneezed) It's really cute, so cute that we have resorted to pretending to sneeze just to hear him say it.

I have been looking around a bit for a preschool program for him. He's so ready to be in a little structured play environment, playing with kids his age, doing art projects, etc. I found a great preschool less than a mile from our house that I will be enrolling him for next school year. It happens to be in the rear part of a Jewish Temple although the pre-school itself is secular. Most schools here run on a school year schedule so they start in September and go through June. He'll be in the youngest class of 2.5 - 3 year olds. It's 2 mornings per week, 9 - 11:30am, which will be a great time for me to run errands, catch up on house stuff, ....or take a nap.(or whatever Lauren will let me get away with) I can't wait to get him started!

The weather is getting better each day, Spring is here! Along with the warmer weather though, the bigger bugs are out in full force. Goodbye friendly, tiny, & conservative little California ants and hello big fat NJ mafia 'kick your ass' ants. The ants are just huge. The variety we have in our yard are about 1/3 inch each with big, fat bodies. They move very quickly and are almost as bad as spiders on my 'eeewwww' list. The flies are as big around as nickels, and they bite. I think they are called horse flies? Oh well, I'll learn to live with them all in exchange for warmer weather. (although I will soon be complaining, yet again, about the stinkin' humidity)

A Visit From Tori!

On Tuesday morning, Tori and I got up very early to take the train into NYC in hopes that we could successfully get into the Regis & Kelly show. We arrived at the studio at 6:45am and proceeded to stand in the standby ticket line. We thought our odds were pretty good since there were only 15 people in front of us meaning that 15 ticketed people would have to not show so we could get in. Unfortunately after waiting in line for 2 hours and 15 minutes a woman came out to announce that there were no seats available. We did get a couple of surprises, however, during those 2 hours. Regis walked right past us and into the building (he smiled and waved) and Diane Sawyer got out of her black Mercedes (equipped with a driver)and she walked right towards us with a sympathetic smile and said "It's so cold out here, how do you guys do it?". I hope she didn't mind that I snapped her picture as she was walking up. I felt very papparazzi-ish. After all of that excitement we headed over for Rockefellar Plaza where they were filming the Today Show. We arrived in time to see them film the last segment on Spring fashion.



The highlight of Tori's trip was supposed to be on Thursday night in which we had 3 tickets for Legally Blonde. Unfortunately she woke up that morning feeling awful and it progressed into a terrible headache as we were preparing to leave for the city. I felt terrible for her because I know how much she was looking forward to going. Nick tried to call the ticketing office to trade our tickets for another evening but they were non-refundable/exchangeable. We were still able to use 2 of the 3 tickets because I took my mom to see it while Nick stayed back with Tori. Ironically, she woke up the next day feeling totally fine again so of the whole week to get sick that was the absolute worst 12 hours to be out of commission. The show itself was a lot of fun although I have the main chorus still stuck in my head....it goes something like "Omigod, Ohmigod you guys...." over and over

It was a nice week to spend with Tori and Andrew & Lauren had a lot of fun being with her. Maybe now (well, at least Andrew) they're old enough to remember her and know who we're talking about when we say "Tori". She went home this morning and left before Andrew & Lauren woke up. When Andrew got out of bed this morning he looked around for her and I told him that she went home. Andrew's reply was "Oh, Gosh!" in his sad voice.

Our Week in Highlights

It's been a crazy week but I'm way overdue for a post here. Here are some of the highlights.

Tuesday I woke up to find that not just one but BOTH kids had thrown up in their beds overnight. It was kind of alarming initially. They both went straight from their beds to the bathtub and even after 2 shampoos I couldn't get that horrible smell completely off them. They both spent the morning laying on pillows on the living room floor watching the Disney channel while I cleaned up the mess and washed all the bedding. I'm still not sure if it was food poisoning or a virus but it wasn't fun any way you look at it.

Lauren got her first haircut. I had wanted to just let it grow but Nick thought she should have a haircut. Well, guess who won? Yep, Nick did. It wasn't much, I just cut the hair in front, giving her bangs. It sure changed her look though, she suddenly has transformed into a toddler. Oh well, it keeps the hair out of her eyes and looks cute but I will miss the side swept barrette look that was so cute on her.

Tori arrived on Saturday from Washington state and will be visiting during her spring break. Nick still has to go to work while she's here but we do have some fun stuff planned for her! On Tuesday I thought I'd take her to Regis & Kelly. The guests are Diane Sawyer and some musical artist that Tori is excited about but I've never heard of. (So I guess I'm getting old - or is it because I'm so busy with 2 toddlers that I miss out on pop culture?) We don't have tickets so we have to go really early and get in the standby line so wish us luck! On Thursday we're going to see Legally Blonde on Broadway. That will be her first Broadway experience and since we'll be there at night we may as well show her Times Square. Unfortunately the weather has been very cold and overcast so we haven't wanted to spend much time outside.

Lauren is officially a full-time walker now and has been for almost a month. She's getting faster and faster in getting around and now when I hear little footsteps coming towards me in the house I'm not sure if it's Andrew or Lauren. She has also started dancing when she hears a good song. She was entertaining us last night by doing some pretty advanced dance moves involving standing on one foot, moving her shoulders up & down and swishing her hips around. We have a little performer here! She also seems to like wearing accessories. My mom put a scarf on her and wrapped it over her shoulders and around one time and it still dangled almost to the floor. She loved wearing it and kept it on for quite some time. Every now and then she'd lean forward to make sure the ends were still dangling in front by her feet.

Andrew is as cute as ever although he's begun being quite unreasonable at times. He cries at bathtime because he doesn't want to get in, then he whines throughout the bath that he wants to get out, then when we're through and the water is draining out and I'm standing there with a towel he cries because he doesn't want to get out. I guess these are the 'terrible two's'. I hate that term but at least it reminds me that this is just a stage and he'll return to his helpful cooperative self sooner or later. He's still into trains just as much as ever. He knows the names of many of the 'Thomas' trains and will never turn down an offer to play with his train tracks. He got to experience his first true train ride last week when my mom and I took the kids to the circus at Madison Square Garden. He was a trooper and did insane amounts of walking that day. We think he liked the train ride more than the circus, especially considering that he fell asleep halfway through the show. He needed to rest up for the exciting train ride home.

I'm having technical trouble with posting the slideshow so you'll have to see all the pictures below

My little sickos


Showing off her scarf


The Little Princess

He slept through this.....


Still sleeping........


Resting up for the train ride home


Post haircut

Brushing her 4 teeth


Andrew? Shy for the camera?


Andrew