Twirly Whirly Girl

Maisie and I have had yet another busy and fun week filled with camp and gymnastics. In addition we've had a couple of play dates with LiLi & Deb, some pool time and not one but two days of jumping fun at The Playroom. Maisie just can't get enough of the trampolines and foam pit, jumping for hours straight. Unfortunately her naps and sleep time don't reflect all the activity of the day with naps down to 40 minutes or less while also going to sleep later and then waking very early. I don't know how Maisie keeps going and going but somehow she has energy enough to exhaust any and all adults watching her.

Deb found a lovely little park so very early this morning before heading to The Playroom we met up with Deb & family to take some pictures of the girls. Maisie wasn't in the mood to show many real smiles but she did have fun dancing and twirling around, looking at the flowers and the fountain. I can't wait to see what pictures Deb got but of the ones I took, this one of her twirling and having fun is my favorite.

I'm still trying to find the time to take more pictures and post more often but I don't seem to be all that successful in that endeavor. I'll continue to try and hopefully this coming week I'll be more successful.

Another one bites the dust

Another week that is, just gone with nary a post or picture. I can't believe how fast the days have flown by, it's just been amazing! Maisie is just loving life, having so much fun this summer. The 6-week Church camp she's been attending is half over and she's already looking forward to gymnastics camp. Gymnastics classes are still her favorite activity of the week with time in the pool and camp being way up there too as she just loves her teachers and all the fun daily activities.

We continue to see our Library friends on Mondays and when time permits we get together with more friends. Yesterday morning, Maisie and I met Trixie & Andrew and Cindy & Claire at the new Playroom. It was only their second day being open for drop-in play and for the first two hours there, we had the gym and really the entire facility, except the party room, to ourselves. We all brought food for a little pot-luck brunch which we enjoyed in the family eating area. The children both young and old had fun jumping on the trampoline and playing with all the balls and equipment. Maisie jumped from 9am until 1PM, well after her friends and the few other families who also came in had left.

I think Maisie's favorite activity of the day was when she would run up this long ramp into Trixie's arms to be thrown up in the air, then she would quickly be put down so that she could run to me where I would just throw her across and into the foam pit. The smiles on her face and the laughter were priceless. After four hours of all out running, bouncing and climbing Maisie had little interest in napping, though I was quite ready to rest. She did finally fall asleep but only napped for 40 minutes before heading outside to play in the pool with Baba. We are both looking forward to our next visit to the Playroom and hopefully it will be with good friends again!


We are ready to start yet another week which will be more of the same, fun, fun and fun! Hopefully I get on the ball and take more pictures and post more often but all our fun keeps us very busy. Wishing everyone a wonderful week.

The magical Thomas shirt

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Dads-to-be out there.

We were invited for a lovely sounding dinner for Father's Day but Eammon had plans to catch-up on and watch European Championship footie for the day. Since it's his day that's how we'll spend it but trust me, he would have received a much better, than I'm planning to serve dinner, had we accepted the invite.

Maisie and I continue to be super busy with camp, gymnastics, play groups, the pool and lots of playtime together.

We're always busy it seems. For example, on Wednesday I went for a haircut and my stylist commented on just how long my hair had grown. When she looked up the last time I was in, we were both surprised to find that it was back on January 22nd!! Twenty weeks between haircuts, yeah got to do better with that and get in sooner next time.

Maisie is doing fabulous with her potty training. During the day and even through nap time, Maisie has been dry since last Sunday when we did our potty boot camp. She stresses over doing a poo in the potty but is getting better about it. Over the course of the week she's only had 3 poopy panty accidents and the rest have been in the potty so we are doing great there too.

The best thing we did as far as potty training was to have her gather and throw away all her diapers because it made such an impression on her. When she would ask for a diaper I would remind her that she threw them away and she realized that she had no choice but to be in panties. Elmo panties are her favorite.

For many, many months at night I've had Maisie in overnight diapers as she's always wet huge amounts even when we've stopped all liquids after dinnertime. When she threw away all her diapers I tried putting her in "sleep panties", the heavily padded training pants topped with the all-in-one training pants but she completely wet through them all soaking herself and the bed. As she hasn't been able to make it through the night without wetting herself and I'm tired of doing her sheets every day, I've started using an overnight diaper on her again. I can't wake her up during the night to take her to the bathroom as she's a super light sleeper and once awake it's an hour or two before she'll go back to bed so I'm just not going there. Honestly if she can stay dry during the day that's all I really care about at this point and as long as she needs to be in night time diapers, so be it.

Almost every night since Maisie started sleeping in her own room, she would cry a bit when I put her to bed. Within minutes I would go back in and she would ask for one more song. I would take her out of her crib and we would snuggle together as I sang to her before putting her back into bed.  Generally one or two times doing that would make her happy and within minutes she would be sleeping. Then all of a sudden 2 weeks ago when we started our busy schedule of camp and gymnastics and I thought she would be extra tired, everything changed. I would do our usual routine of stories and songs then I would put her to bed only to have her singing and telling stories to herself for a good 1.5 hours before she would fall asleep. She did start sleeping a little later in the morning and when she woke instead of immediately crying and calling for me she would sing to herself or I'd hear her playing with one of the toys in her crib.

Back on Wednesday night after a full day of camp and gymnastics Maisie couldn't keep her eyes open so I figured she would sing to herself a bit but would be asleep rather quickly. WRONG!! After our bedtime story and song I tucked her in and within minutes she was screaming bloody murder. Not her usual cry of come-sing-me-one-more-song but all.out.blood.curdling.screaming. I went in to find everything okay but she was beside herself. She asked for her Thomas the Tank Engine shirt which I told her was in the dryer. She then asked for a song. We did our song and I put her to bed only to have her all out screaming again. She never asked for the shirt again but after three times of her all out screaming I pulled the Thomas shirt out of the dryer, draped it on the chair next to her crib, tucked her in again and left the room. Sure enough she started chatting away and singing happily to herself before eventually falling asleep. I thought back and figured that the shirt had probably been draped over the chair for good while and for some reason it's become her night time comfort item. Since that night the Thomas shirt has been draped over the chair next to her crib and like magic each night she happily sings and tells stories to herself before falling asleep.

For the past week as soon as Maisie wakes up she asks for her Thomas shirt and I'll put it on her for breakfast and until we get dressed for the day. Having to wash that shirt when she's not napping, sleeping overnight or wearing it is becoming difficult! If anyone is going to one of the Day Out With Thomas events, please let me know as I really need to get a duplicate shirt.

For my third season in a row, (I missed season 1) I'm totally addicted to SYTYCD. Eammon and Maisie don't really watch the show but they did have a favorite dancer during the auditions. So I have Robert Muraine's audition on the dvr and Maisie will ask for the dancing man and the two of them watch the video over and over.

Well that sort of sums up our week and we're on to yet another fun and busy week. Hope everyone is having a great Father's day weekend.

One and one half years

I can't believe that it was 1 1/2 years ago that we became a family of three. On one hand it feels like Maisie has been with us forever then I have to ask myself, where has the time gone and has it really been 18 months already? Her love for us and our love for her just grows everyday and I couldn't imagine our lives without her.

Speaking of growing, can you believe how much Maisie and all her friends in our Library play group have grown? The picture of (L to R) Katie, Alexander, Tommy, Parker & Maisie sitting on the steps was taken this past Monday and the picture of (L to R) Alexander, Ava, Maisie, Tommy & Katie with the Firemen, was taken one year ago today on our 6-month Family Day Anniversary. 
It was January 2007 when Maisie and I started attending Library story time and it was there where we met all our friends who are now in our Monday Library play group. Back then only a few of the children were toddling around while others still had weeks or months before they
were to take their first steps. It was each child on their own with a toy or book as they were too young to really interact and play together. Now there is no toddling around as it's run, run, run with lots of playing and interacting together.

In seventeen months, first attending Library story time and then forming a play group, very few weeks have passed where we haven't gotten together for our Monday play date. Over that time our group has changed somewhat. We lost one Mom & child when Erika & Kellan moved to Colorado back in July of last year but now this year has been the year of additions. Back in March, Parker's Mom gave birth to a handsome little boy, Mason. In May, two sweet little girls were born making Katie a big sister to Anne Marie and a week later Ava became a big sister to Sophie. Seven Moms, seven toddlers, three infants with one more on the way, Monday play group will continue to be a blast for Moms and children alike.

Happy 18 months a family to all our travel mates and friends who also share our special day.

Boot camp

I haven't pushed potty training with Maisie but she's shown interest and will often use her potty to do pee pee. There have also been days where for a few hours while home I've had her in panties and she's done great but when she gets tired or needs to poo, she'll cry for a diaper. Then on Thursday at camp she told her teacher each time she needed to use the potty and kept her diaper dry all morning. Since Friday we only had a morning play date and nothing planned for the weekend, I decided it would be a great weekend to take on potty boot camp.

{Potty talk ahead so proceed at your own risk} Thursday night we gathered up all the diapers and had Maisie put them into a trash bag and throw them away outside in the bin (Eammon quickly recovered the bag of diapers and hid them just in case). Since Maisie has never made it through a night dry, I did have her in a diaper Thursday night. Then Friday it was panties and she did great, letting me know each time she needed to use the bathroom even when we were out at our play date. She wasn't able to make it through nap time with out wetting herself and when she awoke she was so upset when she realized that she had wet the bed, poor little thing. She never did a poo on Friday so that night I put a diaper on her again.

Saturday morning she was back in panties and at about 9:15am she started freaking out crying for a diaper. I knew that she needed to poo so we were off to the bathroom where she let one little raisin out and then refused to leave the toilet saying she needed to poo. She was one determined little girl but didn't seem to be able to poo. Three hours later I had to pry her off the potty chair as she needed a nap. I decided to risk having her nap in panties again and once again she awoke wet. As soon as she woke she was in tears about wetting the bed and wanted to get back on the potty as she said she needed to poo. After three hours in the morning and another hour in the afternoon of sitting in the bathroom, my back was tired and my butt had turned to stone, so much to Maisie's chagrin we moved her potty chair to the family room and let her sit there eating Go-gurts and watching Thomas and Friends. She just refused to get up off the potty chair as she really wanted to do a poo. Another hour passed and then very casually she said "I did poo poo, poo poo's brown." Sure enough she had done her poo!! Eammon and I made a big deal out of it doing high fives and giving Maisie mini M&M's, a Wiggles book & music player and then we all went out for ice cream to celebrate. She was so proud of herself and her entire personality changed in such a positive way once she had that accomplishment. I once again put her in a diaper over night as I knew she wouldn't make it through the night. Not wanting to keep her in diapers when she slept and being tired of washing and remaking her bed daily, once she went to sleep I ran out and bought some training pants to use during nap time and over night. I want her to think she's wearing panties to sleep and not get used to having a diaper.

Today she had a little accident when Eammon didn't get her to the bathroom quickly enough and at nap time she wore the training pants and awoke dry!! I'm hoping that the training pants are a good option for us and I figure that her keeping dry at nap time and over night will come. For now though we are living diaper free and hoping that she keeps up the good work.

On another note, today it was wicked hot. I think with the heat index it was over 100 and quite humid. Eammon set up Maisie's little pool on the deck and she just loved playing in there squirting Eammon with the water gun and throwing the splash balls to really get him soaked. Overall it was a fun and I feel, successful weekend.

Morning snuggles

Maisie is always the best little snuggle bunny but when she first wakes in the morning or after nap, she's just a little Velcro snuggle bunny which is just the sweetest thing.

I can't believe that it's been almost a week again since my last post, the days are just flying by. On Monday Maisie started with her new gymnastics coach Deena, who is just great with the little girls. Monday Maisie was a little hesitant working with Deena but on Wednesday she was like a fish in water, totally comfortable. This week they worked on forward and backward rolls, bridges, handstands, headstands, bar, balance beam, trampoline, hand and arm positions and even doing the arms up in the air "ta da" at the end of each exercise. Maisie's class ranges from Maisie's age up to four years old and watching this group of little girls marching around the gym is just adorable.

Tuesday started camp and her teachers are just great and Maisie took to them immediately. Her room is decorated with all kinds of fish which Maisie just loves. They have fun playing outside, dancing, games and doing lots of art projects. Each morning Maisie looked forward to going to camp so that was just a great and easy transition from school to camp and one less thing that I needed to stress about.

Every day this week it has been in the 90's and quite humid so each afternoon Eammon has taken Maisie swimming before dinner which has been nice for me as it's allowed me time to prepare dinner uninterrupted and also get a few things done around the house. What I've been bad about this week, in fact the past few weeks, has been taking pictures. We just seem to be on the go constantly and I forget or am too busy to pull out the camera, I need to be better about taking more piccies. This morning though we had a play date with Jessie & Ava so in an attempt to be better about picture taking I brought along my camera and got a couple of cute piccies of Maisie and Ava, they are just so sweet together!

Well, the weekend is here and we'll be doing potty boot camp so wish us luck. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Has it really been that long?

Has it really been an entire week since my last post? Wow has this week flown by!

Maisie's finished all her antibiotics and is back to full energy and feeling great. Eammon was home for an extended holiday though Tuesday so there was lots of extra outside running around, pool and family time which Maisie just adored. In addition we fit in some playtime with friends which is always a favorite.

The highlight of our week was yesterday morning when Maisie and I attended the Spring Gymnastics Blast at the gym where she takes gymnastics classes. The morning was reserved for the younger children and it was fun to watch all the children and their different levels of ability. There was a cute little performance by the girls pre-team followed by a group stretch. Next each of the different classes worked their way around the gym from event to event. I watched Maisie on the trampoline, bars, beam, floor and tumble track. The final stop for Maisie's group was to walk up on the podium to receive their certificates. There were also some fun activities, face painting, funky hair coloring, manicures, a bouncy castle and even more, but after two hours of activity Maisie was tired and ready for her nap (as was I) so we headed home.

Today we're going to rest up and maybe just hit the pool as this coming week starts our busy summer schedule. For the next six weeks Maisie will be attending camp on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday from 9am - 1PM followed by three weeks of gymnastics camp, same days and times. Maisie has been selected to join an "invitation only" gymnastics class so during the weeks this summer when she's not at gymnastics camp and then again in the fall, we'll have gymnastics classes from 3 - 4:30 on both Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Then let's not forget our Monday library play group and various other play groups and gatherings on Friday mornings and of course we want to get in some pool and playground time so overall it looks like we'll be busy, busy, busy having fun, fun, fun!!