Taking the time

So it is already June 30th and I haven't posted in almost two months. Alas, I've had the best of intentions. Angela and I have been working hard at our goal to have a full summer before baby comes. We have been out almost everyday to a park, the zoo, in the sprinkler, or even a baseball game. I have lots of pictures and will try to post some soon. As for today, I babysat this morning for my neighbors two lovely daughters whom Angela just loves to play with, gave Angela a bath, fed her breakfast and lunch, and will now attempt to get her ready for an afternoon at the zoo and me for my doctors appt. All this with being nine months pregnant. So, why is it that I still feel as if I have so much to do and nothing gets done? I don't know why house chores overwhelm me so much. Most would say that I am a bit of a clean freak and that my house isn't as bad as I make it out ( I know because they've told me so) but I just can't help it. I have been trying to nap while Angela naps and today it was almost impossible. The list of what needs to be done just keeps growing, espcecially with baby on the way. So I was just wondering am I alone in this ? Do other mothers deal with this struggle as well? I have intentionally put my daughter first this summer, and want to create memories with her. It just seems that these days my energy won't allow that along with getting my house in order. Why cant' I rest and let the dishes go? Or let the vaccuuming not overwhelm me? Why does a clean kitchen floor help calm my nerves so much? I mean it is just a floor. Anyway, I'm not really looking for answers just wishing my energy and time would allow everything to get done, and yet in the back of my mind I wonder if we have seasons like this to help us choose what we will prioritize. So even if my house is not spotless for the next few years, the time I will have with my girls will be cherished and thats all that matters. As I look at the pile of laundry, the messy bathroom, and the garden that needs to be weeded so badly, I will try to remember that I only have each day once and if things get done great, but if life is lived well even better!

Ouch

So the past few days we have been experiencing just what teething is really like. Angela had four teeth by her first birthday and besides a day of a little bit of crying she was just fine the rest of the time. So when this week started out with a fever, some very ugly diapers, fits of hysteria, lack of appetite, and trouble sleeping I wasn't sure what was wrong. We went to the doctor and kept an eye on each symptom trying to decipher its cause. Sadly, today at mom's group one of the other mothers described Angela's symptoms to a tee in talking about her daughters teething experience when her eye teeth came in. Sure enough Angela's little gums show a small little tooth peeking through. We have finished day three and with the help of some medicine we actually went to bed tonight on time and even had an OK afternoon. It is just so sad to see her go through something like this and feel helpless. We spent all day in front of the TV watching Mr Rogers just because she loves it, we ate two full Popsicles today just to numb her mouth, and I even tried to help Angela fall asleep by having her sleep in my bed. Of course each effort made me feel as if I was doing something and brought back memories of how loved I felt by my mother whenever I got sick. I guess that's just what you do. I'm game for any other suggestions, but hopefully this is done sometime soon.

a day in the life

Everyday I wake up to my little girl shouting: Mama, Mommy, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Mom, Maaaaaaaaaaaama. I use to be able to resist getting out of bed for just a few minutes. Try to let her know that it may take a minute for mom to get there. It is much harder to resist when she actually calls you by name in the cutest little voice. Today we had a play day something I've started to look forward to. We have a day or so a week when we have nothing planned but play time. We started the day with rice krispies and milk. Then we watched a bit of the real princess wedding which for a few minutes Angela was intrigued by. Then we played with our dolls, built towers with blocks, walked around the house just for fun, sat in our chair, skyped, looked out the window for daddy, touched everything in site, took tissues out of the tissue box, waved at our fish, ate lunch, napped...for a bit, read books, talked to ourself, talked to mom, talked on our phone, ate a snack, explored the living room just in case there was something there we've missed, spun in mom's chair, hugged piglet, made animal noised, was thrilled to see dad come home, ate dinner, wrestled with daddy, had a tickle fight, had a kissing fight, read books, drank milk, said goodnight to everything in our room...and went to bed. What a day! What a life! I'm excited that I get to share days like this with my little angel.

Proud Mom Moments

So I know every mom must think their child is the cutest and smartest... but mine really is :) She is 15 months tomorrow and here are some of her accomplishments so far!

Words:
Mom/ Mama/ Mommy
Dad/ Daddy/ Dadda
Nana
Baby
Gigi
(aunt rachel we're working on it)
she use to say hi all the time but we haven't heard that one in a while
bababa...sometimes we think she is singing Barbara Ann and at other times she is referring to Uncle Zoomie
llll...she tries to say Laurie and the L part is down

Animal sounds:
lion
bee
cow
can call her horse
dog (very cute)
snake
can make a fish face


Body Parts:
Can point to her - ears, nose, head, belly button, eyes, knees, toes


Gestures/ Actions:
waves her hands to say "Go Phillies" when the game comes on
waves goodbye
blows kisses
gives kisses
dabs her nose (instead of blowing it)
talks with the phone up to her ear
tilts her head to be silly
shakes her head if she thinks you are silly
shakes her finger to say no no no
does the song gestures to "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock"
turns on and off light switches
beeps the car beeper and opens the garage door with the button
knows her pet fish clifford and will point him out if asked
dances
giggles
throws her hands up to her head if you say "oh brother"
signs: more/ all done/ and please
gets excited to skype and goes to the computer is I say lets talk to Nana or Gigi
gives hugs
tickles our backs
hugs and kisses her dolls
pushes her stroller
brushes her teeth and sometimes her hair
helps put her toys away
ohhh I could go on and on....I just love her


Isn't she brilliant! I can't believe she is 15 months...wow

funny things at our house

Lately Angela picks up the phone (real ones or one of her many play ones) pretends to dial, puts it up to her ear and says "Dada!" She loves talking on the phone and even if we lock our phones she somehow manages to find a way to unlock them and find things on them we didn't even know we had. She also loves to text...oops

Angela absolutely loves her new found ability to walk. She squeals so much as she takes three or four steps that she actually falls over from pure excitement!

Every time the Phillies game comes on Angela waves her hands till we do the same and say "Go Phillies!"

Angela just loves spitting (sorry Aunt Rachel) she thinks it is the funniest thing. She just spits and laughs spits and laughs....oh the simple joys in life.

One of my most common phrases happens to be "Oh brother" Angela now puts her hands on her head every time I say it or she will put her hands on her head asking me to say it.

At almost precisely 4:30 everyday Angela goes to the window knocks on it and calls for her Dad :)

Angela is now comprehending so much I can't believe it. I ask her to get me a tissue or show me piglet (her favorite stuffy) and she does it. Lately she has been feeding, hugging, kissing, or blowing the noses of all her stuffed animals.

I will try to post pictures of some of these moments soon!

ahhhh nap time

I feel like as soon as I get Angela's sleep schedule down it changes. I've been told I'm not alone in this. So about a month ago we started revolting against the morning nap. I tried to keep it up, but alas it was a battle not to be won. In reality it was obvious that her daily energy wasn't running out by 10 am anymore. She was up and energetic until at least noon. I would put her down at 10 and say I know you're not tired but lets try...well we tried. Now we are working on scheduling in one nap a day. I've heard that this transition brings many good things with it. We will have an easier time scheduling things. I will be able to be more strict about nap time since it is only one. Finally she should be sleeping 2-3 hours at a time. Well, I'm still waiting for this. I'm not sure how long the transition time should be, but we are on week 3 and I'm still not sure what she is up to. Do we nap at 11:30 or 1???? How do I keep her asleep. She naps for an hour and a half...like she use to and then is up. Well, by 5:30 she is cranky cranky cranky and I can tell she needed that extra half hour to hour. Today was one of those days I really needed a nap too and hardly got one due to the fact that she woke up. So now I'm not sure do I get her up at 2 and try to put her down again later??? Do i let her stay in her crib until we hit the two hour mark just to get her use to it? Any suggestions???

Just having a fun night

Dinner

Today we had another no nap day...ahh two in a row. Tomorrow is going to have to be different. The amazing thing is just how much energy Angela still has at the end of the day. Today we tried to have a healthy snack around 4... yogurt and berried...yumm right? aparently not Angela wanted none of it. Then for dinner I made twice baked mashed potatoes ( cheese, potatoes, corn, sour cream, milk, carrots all pureed together) Andy and I thought it was great...Angela wasn't impressed. I also broiled fish....Angela however screamed until I gave her broccoli and carrots. Really veges?? I mean I guess I should be proud....just wondering if her stomach will be ok tonight and did that fill her up enough to sleep through the night...oh Angela.
On a different note Angela has started to throw food off her plate. Now I don't know how every other child is about food on their plate, but Angela doesn't like things on her plate that she is done with. If she is through with it it has to go. She can't push it aside, she can't pick around it...it has to be thrown off her plate. Do we think some of her Daddy's very particular quirks are rubbing off??????

Our Week

So this week we were excited to have Nana and Nano come to visit us. Even though we tried to have a vacation while they were here, there was just too much to do to sit still. We spent our days showing them around our city, and Angela showed them just how hard playing all day can be :) It was so sad to send them off today, but we had a great week. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

Too Funny not to share

So maybe its just because she is mine, but I am laughing so hard I am crying. I just had to share.

Pepino

So I am embarrassed to say that in early October the Prescott family had a very unexpected house guest. Early one Sunday morning we had a small little mouse run across our kitchen floor. Andy wasn't home at the time and even though Angela kept her cool the same cannot be said of myself. After slowly climbing off the counter and trying to stop screaming we got to church and there put Andy in charge of our little problem. For the next few weeks I spent my days tip toeing around the house, stomping loudly to scare any critters away, and jumping at every noise. We called him Pepino instead of 'the mouse' it sounded a bit better. The problem was solved relatively quickly. We went through the kitchen/ mud room/ and outside of the house stopping up any cracks with steel wool. We then set a few traps and caught our little house guest within 24 hours. I'd say it took a few weeks, but I basically got back to normal and stopped stomping around the house. Well, we still kept one mouse trap out near our dryer in the mud room. Two days ago when putting away some cleaning solution I happened to notice that behind the laundry bag right next to the dryer was the trap TIPPED UPSIDE DOWN. I proceeded to flip, out grab Angela, run out of the room, jump on the couch, and grab the phone. I then decided that even though it was the middle of the day and Andy was at work he needed to know about this ASAP. Angela just sat next to me looking up at me and then peeking over my lap to look at the mud room. Then she would sit back against the couch and contemplate. She would then start again looking at me and then the mud room....I told her Pepino was back. We needed to shut the door and not go in there anymore. I was a bit better this time I am proud to say there were no tears, not really any screaming, and I just avoided the room...no stomping. I guess it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Andy beat me home after I went out to run some errands. I came home to a mouse trap tripped in the middle of the floor with a white washcloth stuck in its grasp. Apparently I had thrown it over the laundry bag and set off the trap myself. Andy, didn't even know what to say....he just smiled and shook his head. Guess Pepino isn't back after all...thank goodness.

First birthday party

So Angela turned one on January 13th. I still just can't believe she is already a year old. What a precious little girl that we are so blessed to have in our lives. I just love getting to see her smile everyday! Here are a few pictures from the big day!

A new year...a new goal

So its already February, but can I still make a resolution? There isn't a rule about making them in January right? Well, whatever I walk to the beat of my own drum I guess. So, here it is... I want to write/blog more this year and here are a few reasons why.

1) Memories are important to keep and writing them down will help me remember them for years to come.
2) I love being able to keep in touch this way. I feel like I can keep everyone posted on what is going on in our daily lives even if we live far away.
3) I love to write. Lately, I've been dealing with what I will call the 'Mommy Blues'. I've been told that all moms understand this. You love being a mom, but suddenly you are nothing else. I feel guilty even admitting that I've come down with a case of them, but I guess it just comes with the whole mom thing. I feel as if being a mom is such a full time job that somewhere in the last few months I've lost track of who I am as me. Trying to just sit down a few times a week and do something I enjoy is important. So I'm going to try and blog more.

So there you have it three very good reasons...lets see if I can stick to it. On another note, some of you may do this...some of you may be expecting me to do this...sorry...I'm not going to play 'catch up'. I will try to update you on some of the exciting things that have happened in the last few months (since I last wrote) and i might even post pictures...but I'm just going to start from today and write what is on my mind...so just know that October through January was great...I'm sure you'll hear some great news from it...but we are just going to try and start fresh with February.

Not to contradict my whole last paragraph, but I guess I should update everyone on the latest news in the Prescott's house. Actually, I think it may have some if not lots to do with the reason I haven't blogged in so long. In November Andy and I found out that our family will once again be expanding!! I will be 16 weeks pregnant on Monday!! So far this pregnancy is much better than my first, but still quite a challenge. Nausea is starting to go away, but I am still waiting to get some energy back...hopefully soon! Other than that life has been pretty normal day to day. Angela is a joy to see grow...I will try to post pictures soon! In the meantime I'll end with a be back soon...or at least that is the hope!