A Quality Day

Yesterday was Stevie's off-Friday so I pulled him away from the yardwork, where the pavers are still not quite done, to spend some good quality time with his girls.

After dropping Harper off at Grandma's we took Shyla to Paradise Bakery for breakfast where she enjoyed about 1/3 of her orange muffin but many bites of my bagel and Stevie's sandwich.

Then we took her to see her second movie: Disney's Brave (Stevie took her to see Hop many months ago, and they only made it through about 30 minutes).  This time we nearly didn't make it through the previews.  She was "scared" of the dark theatre and the big seats.  She cried and whined until I took her out where she had the choice to go home or back into the theatre.  She chose the theatre.
Truly I don't think she enjoyed the movie and I doubt we will go back for awhile.  I found the movie to be dark and violent, and not humorous as Pixar movies generally are.

Harper and Grandma seemed to have a lot of fun!  Wearing hats and tiaras and eating!  I think it's nice for the kids to get individual time with their grandparents once in awhile.

After a late nap we went to Beth and Dave's house for a yummy dinner and playtime!

(The picture above cracks me up.)  

These girls will pretty much grow up together and be as close to family as you can be with no blood relation.  It was simply a really quality day!

Gold Friends

"Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and the others gold."

I'm sure you've all heard that song.  I am blessed to have a lot of gold friends.  This post is about two of them!

But first, last night I had this conversation with Shyla:

ME: "Sweetie, tonight after bath Mommy is going to go out to dinner with friends and I want you to be a really good girl for Daddy."

SHY: "You is going to bring dinner home?  For me?"

ME: "No sweetie.  Remember you already had dinner?  I made chicken and corn and you ate it all up!  I'm going to have dinner with friends.  At a restaurant.  We are going to eat it there."

SHY: "Why?"

ME: "Well because I have really, really good friends who I don't get to see very often and I really enjoy spending time with them.  Someday you will understand.  So, for tonight, will you be a good girl for Daddy?"

SHY: "Please move.  I am watching my show."

Anyway, last night I got to have dinner with two of my closest friends, whom I rarely get to see: Maren and Pauline.  I'm sure I've posted about them before.  I basically grew up with these two lovely ladies, playing on the same softball team for years (and years).

You have to understand that we weren't on just any softball team.  It is hard to explain.  We were on a really good team that traveled a lot.  We spent nearly every weekend of our summers, as well as many weekends during the school year, traveling all over the country (except Phoenix as we got older, but that's another story for another day) for softball tournaments.  The majority of our team went on to play collegiate level softball, many at the division one level, or at least had offers from such programs (another story for another day, perhaps).

We sacrificed a lot for this indescribable experience.  We missed a lot of Friday Night Football Games, weekend parties, family functions, and almost missed prom preparations one year.

Now that I am a parent I am beginning to realize just how much our parents sacrificed so we could have this experience as well.  Money, quality time together, sanity, just to name a few things.

But regardless of what we sacrificed, willingly of course, what we gained far outweighs any of that.  We learned responsibility at really young ages.  We learned teamwork, and what it felt like to be a group of individuals working diligently toward one goal.  We learned assertiveness; how to stand up for each other and, at times, how to stand up to each other.  We learned how to lead, both by example and by words.  We learned to accept each other's differences and enjoy our similarities.  We learned accountability, that we would only be as strong as our weakest player.  We learned how to properly pack, behave in an airport, take care of our money, and countless other things that we will and have taken into our adult lives.

I'd like to pause here, momentarily, to say "I can't believe we are almost 30!"

We had wins and losses, on and off the field.  Good days and bad days, on and off the field.  And we helped each other through each one.

In the 10+ years since we all shared a field (of dreams?) together, donned the same mesh uniforms, and sought out an Old Spaghetti Factory everywhere we went, I have had a few lucky opportunities to get together with some of my besties from that era to reconnect.

Last night to got to catch up with these two beauties:

It's amazing how so much time can pass, yet so many things remain the same.  When you share your childhood with someone, sometimes it can feel like they know you better than you know you.

Thank you, ladies, for being such an integral part of my life.

WW 6-25-12

Not much to say today.

For the third week in a row I weigh the exact same.

So, I am still exactly 20 pounds away from my goal.

And not feeling overly motivated....

Princess Basket-Case

Yesterday we attended a Princess Party at our favorite little toy store Mildred & Dildred.  It turned out to be a bit of a disaster just because it was too close to nap-time and there were a lot of people there.

When we got home, Harper played with a basket.

Here's my little princess, in tennis shoes, ready for the party.

There were a lot of princesses walking around; I could only get her to pose for a picture with Belle.

She was much more interested in the escalators and the fountains.

After the party we had a visit from basket-case lady and unfortunately she is back today.  Therefore, I must wrap this up and go tend to her.

An Open Letter to our Dog

Dear Pancake,

You have been part of our family for about 5 years now, but I don't even really remember a time when you weren't here.  Or a time when I showed up to work not covered in hair.  We all really love you.

From the time you joined us up until I went on bed-rest with Shyla, you got 2 walks each day, nearly everyday.  I really loved that time together, just me and you.  I am sorry you don't get walks very often anymore.  I am going to make it a goal to make sure you get out more, at least 4 times each week is a good starting point.  In my eyes last night's walk was a bit of a disaster, with Shyla dropping your leash 3 times then giving up the leash when we were at the halfway point.  But, you probably still enjoyed it!  It took us more than 20 minutes to get around our small neighborhood, but you got to sniff and pee a lot.

You are not a good watchdog but you are really great with the girls.  Shyla loves to give you "salmon treats" and she loves to be in charge of letting you in and out.  Harper loves to hug you and tug at your ears, and you let her do it all.  Shyla's songs about our family always include you!

You get in trouble for jumping on Grandma and Grandpa when they come over.  I wish you could control that, but I know you are just excited to see them all.

When we go on vacation you get to stay with Auntie Chelsea.  We love having you there because we worry about you when we are gone but when you are with them we know you are loved and getting attention.  We always wish we could take you with us, but with the exception of Pinetop it's really not possible.  One of these days you are going to have to meet Baxter.  Please be nice so you can continue to stay there.

It makes me happy to know how much the girls love you and that we are truly a family of 5.

Be good.  

Love, your family

Weight Watchers 6-19-2012

Two updates in one!

Last week we spent the week in Scottsdale.  I did my best to stay get on track; luckily we had an almost full kitchen (how the heck do you use a convection oven?) so we did most of our cooking and eating at the hotel rather than restaurants and fast-food.

I attended a WW meeting in Scottsdale.  It was a bit of a disaster.  I had forgotten my book at home so my mom came over and texted me my membership number.  Apparently, the membership number means nothing.  I was a little annoyed at this, and annoyed that they couldn't just let me step on the scale.  "Just login to WW on your phone" the nice lady told me.  Am I the only young person left that doesn't have a smart-phone?  To make this really long and incredibly boring story shorter, I ended up paying the $13 fee and will have to call the WW in the sky to be issued a refund.

Anyway, I was down exactly 1 pound.  The meeting was boring (I should have known since there were only 9 people there!); I think I'm becoming a meeting snob, but attending that 30 minute meeting is some of the very little "me time" I get each week and I want it to count.

Fast-forward to this week.  I have a lot to do today (oops, better get started) so I went last night instead. I had zero change and I count that as a win.  Factoring in vacation, lack of gym time, and Father's Day, a maintenance week is something that makes me proud.

However, I have a lot of WW work to do.  In exactly 15 weeks something very special is happening and I would really like to be at goal by then.  But that means losing approximately an average of 1.3 pounds per week.

I am exactly 20 pounds from goal.

I heard this last night and it sucks but it's true:

"You cannot look the way you want to look, and eat the way you want to eat."

Happy Father's Day 2012

Yesterday was Father's Day!  My family is very blessed to be surrounded by amazing dads!

To celebrate we had the family over to our house for a late lunch.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole group, or at least all the dads, but I failed.  The dads who came are: Grandpa Pop, GP, Grandpa Steve, and Stevie.

The kids played well together and we took a decent family picture:

Then Zac photo-bombed us:

One of Stevie's Father's Day presents was a magnet with this picture on it.  I got this idea (on Pinterest, no doubt) to take a picture each year in a Daddy t-shirt (the same each year) to show how the kids grow.  So we used 2 of his basketball jerseys that are, obviously, way to big.  Both girls thought it was hilarious to be wearing them!

Forgacs Family Vacation 2012

We have a timeshare in every even numbered year and we just got back from using some of it.  We spent five nights in a villa at Kierland in Scottsdale and we had a great time.  There was some little relaxing, a few outings, and a lot of pool time.

Harper really loved the splash-pad.  I think it makes her feel like she was really playing with Shyla.  She, like Shyla, is fearless!

Shyla loved the slide.  Actually Harper went on it once too and smiled the whole time, but Shyla really loved it!  She must have done it 100 times!  This picture shows her going down on Stevie's lap, but that set-up ended after just 2 slides, after which she insisted on going down BY HERSELF following Stevie.  This meant he had to turn around really quickly and grab her.  This also meant I lost a few years of my life watching.

On Monday we went to a park that centers around trains.  It was a lot of fun and close to the resort.  While there we rode a choo-choo around the park and the carousel (see the pictures below) and played on the playground.  It was the perfect outing for Shyla and cost less than $10!

HA!  I love this picture below.  The idea was to get a picture of my sweet girls together in the nice green grass with the train as the backdrop.  You may not be able to tell but they are physically fighting over a box of raisins, and this was the best picture I could get!

One of the highlights of the villa is the jacuzzi tub.  Each night after swimming and after Harper was bathed, Shyla would get to play in the tub with the jets and the bubbles.  Then she would hop in the shower to rinse off.  And, if we were really lucky, she would then do a naked dance in the living room....even if we had company.

On Tuesday we went to the Hall of Flame Museum, but I forgot my camera (epic fail).  It was cool and I'd like to go back sometime without Shyla.  She had a lot of fun in the play areas and climbing on the fire truck that was meant to be climbed upon.  I would have liked more time in the museum part.

Back in the villa we had a lot of playtime.  The girls discovered that the high-chair was a lot of fun to push around, especially with your sister sitting in it!

And lots more pool time!

Harper is now wearing big-girl jammies.

Shyla resisted nap almost everyday, but one day she laid down to "pretend" to sleep and ended up sleeping for nearly 3 hours in the middle of the living room!

Lots of cuddle time!

We bought Shyla this book, Pinkalicious, while we were there and read it no less than 50 times.  As a side note I actually got to read 2 books of my own!

We got to visit with our good friends Nick and Cassidy one night and also with Stevie's good friend, Alex, whom we haven't seen since our wedding.  Both visits were much-needed and a lot of fun!

All in all it was a great trip and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to spend that time with my little family.  I also feel so lucky to have my hubby who works so hard to make sure we can do things like this.  We are already talking about what to do in 2014......

Harper is 11 months!

So my baby is 11 months old now.  That means we are really close to her 1st birthday.  It also means we are really close to not having a "baby" anymore; and that makes me sad.

If you look closely at the picture below you will see that she is balancing on her own two feet.  She is a master walker when she has something to hold onto, and I'm sure she will be taking some unassisted steps sometime this month.

Some things about Harper at 11 months, other than the obvious that she is the cutest little thing ever!

• Harper doesn't really like to sleep.  At least not at night.
• She prefers her bottle to just about any food, although she does okay with pasta and stuffing.   She eats Cheerios and yogurt melts and Greek yogurt but don't even think about offering her baby-food.
• She longs to do anything Shyla is doing.
• High 5s are one of her favorite things to do and we are working on blowing kisses.
• She is vocalizing a lot.  I swear I have heard "mama" and "dada" although I won't be surprised if her first real word is "Shyla."
• I have found her, on numerous occasions, playing quietly in Shyla's room as she naps.  I think she just likes to be with her.
• Pancake gets lots of attention, possibly more than she wants, from Baby Harper.  Those 2 are going to be best-buds.
• She loves dancing and clapping and giggling and peek-a-boo!
• She continues to be one of the lights of our lives, at each and every hour of the day!

Big Changes

Look carefully at the picture below of Shyla's bedroom:

Notice anything?

(Aside from the fact that it's actually picked up?)

Two big changes in our little girl's life:  we converted her crib into a daybed and we got rid of her changing table!

We have been wanting to convert her crib for a long time now but were having trouble finding the conversion kit.  Admittedly. this started with me swearing her furniture is Espresso when in fact it's Classic Cherry.  A big thanks to my mom who spent a great deal of time on the phone with the manufacturer.  A big thanks to YouTube for the incredibly simple video showing how to remove the front panel.  And a big thanks to BabiesRUs for, once again, being completely unhelpful.  If they had been helpful from the beginning we probably would have purchased the completely unnecessary $80 conversion kit.

Secondly, her dresser is now simply a dresser, not a changing table.  Shyla is doing SO GREAT with potty-training.  I'm actually glad we waited.  She is a bit older than the "average" but I think she is truly ready at this point and can understand it more.  For nearly 2 weeks now she has only worn a diaper at night-time.  She has only had a handful of accidents, and only 1 was in public (sorry LA Fitness, Kids Klub).  She likes to be rewarded with "Harper treats" when she uses the potty, which are those baby yogurt melts and/or wagon wheels.  (They are a bit expensive but better than giving her sweet tarts or some other sugar candy.)  We have to consistently remind her to go potty and often I have to sign to get her to stay sitting long enough to try, but I am really proud of her!

First Splash Pad of the Summer!

One of the ways we try to stay cool during these hot summer months is by spending some time at the local splash pad.  This afternoon we made our first, of what I'm sure will be many, trips there.  And, of course, this was Harper's first splash pad experience.

 I love, love, love this picture of my girls.  Just enjoying being together!

The rest of the pictures are of Shyla enjoying the water.  Harper was enjoying it too, but I didn't get any pictures of her because I was holding her the whole time.

WW - June 5

So yesterday was my WW weigh-in day.  It did not go well.  I don't have a lot to say this week but I ended up gaining 0.8 pounds.  Yikes!

I've said this before but I'm actually glad that I didn't lose weight this week because I know that I didn't earn it.  I worked out quite a bit (I am loving the stair master at the gym and getting back into lifting weights) but I didn't eat well at all.  I felt very unmotivated and constantly hungry.  I made bad choices.  And I paid for it.

Anyway, I bought a new notebook to keep track of not only my food and activities, but also my thoughts.  I hope that might help.  I am optimistic about this upcoming week....

Sisters!

I do believe that my pictures of my girls together will forever be my most cherished.  

Here are a few recent ones.

Oye, Harper!

Last Wednesday when we took Shyla for her well-check, Dr. Terry checked Harper too, just because we were there and since she doesn't always show symptoms of illness.  She was fine.

Thursday morning she woke up like a hot tamale.  Although she slept well, when I picked her up from her crib she was scorching.  Throughout the morning she was cranky and feverish, despite the medicine and tepid baths I was giving her.  As the afternoon rolled in, she was getting worse and not better.  She was lethargic, which is really scary, so my mom came over.

I have 3 different thermometers: binky, forehead, and ear.  As I was checking her temperature they all read over 102, and one ever read close to 105!  I called Dr. Terry and he said it could be a virus but with little girls we always have to consider urinary tract infections.  My mom and I brought her down, he rechecked all the obvious culprits and they all appeared good, so we made the decision to check for the UTI by doing a catheter.  Ugghhh.

But, the catheter experience was not in vain because, yes, she had a full-blown UTI.  We started her on the antibiotic that afternoon and it took a good 48 hours for her fever to break and for her to get back to herself.

Once again, thank goodness for Dr. Terry being so thorough.  And thank God she is feeling better.

Little stinker.

Tea and Crumpets!

For Lilly's 5th birthday my mom wanted to take her and a few of her friends to a tea party.  Unfortunately, there was never a good weekend near her birthday but thankfully Grandma was able to pull it together for this morning.

Despite the fact that when I recently said to Shyla, "let's have a pretend tea party!" she replied, "why?" she had a great time!

Grandma had it orchestrated perfectly with hats, flowers, bracelets, and necklaces.  She had pre-ordered a "Mad Hatter" for the three girls and the "Victorian" for the 4 moms.

The girls had hot cocoa (we all thought they would have chosen the raspberry lemonade considering it was 105 degrees today), ham sandwiches, 2 scones, and fruit/yogurt.

We chose a cappuccino tea and a white parisian tea.  Our plates had carrot bites, a few finger sandwiches, 2 scones, and a yummy cheese bread topped with a mango salsa.

I was worried about Shyla not being old enough to enjoy it and being so young that she wouldn't behave well.  I was even more worried when she fell asleep on the drive there.  And I was even more worried when the waitress brought out the antique teacups and saucers for the girls.

However, I was SO PLEASANTLY surprised!  She had a great time and she was very well behaved and no cups nor saucers were damaged in the process.

A happy belated birthday to Lilly and a huge thank you to Grandma for the very special day!  So much fun, I think it may need to become a tradition.