Will the Madness Never End?

Ballet

2012-02-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

She started ballet a few weeks ago, after ONE YEAR spent looking longingly into that room, now she's in it! The first week I think the teacher wasn't so sure if she could do it, you're supposed to be three and V. has a few months to go, but she has really been doing well with it, so she's there to stay! It's a good thing too, because I can't say what would happen if I told her she couldn't go.

It's hard, having the girls be so close in age. Maria is taking a gymnastics class and Veronica was FURIOUS the first time we went and she couldn't go in. She stomped her foot, crossed her arms AND blew a raspberry at me! But I always remind her that SHE can go to ballet TOMORROW (gymanstics is on Thursdays) and she is usually okay with it.

Lord, God, we had a rough day today. We went to Chic Fil A to meet some friends and toward the end, Veronica was very unhappy. It's so unsual for her to be so whiny and horrid. I mean, she can be as bad as anyone, NO ONE would keep on their damned socks so they were walking around a restaurant in bare feet, which, ugh, but she was really unhappy and she kept saying her belly hurt. She wasn't hot or anything and she had eaten okay so I had no idea what went down. My friend Silvia carried the car seat to the car for me, THANKS GOD, or I would have been in trouble. So we go to gymnastics and we are there a few minutes and I start to smell something. I asked her, Veronica, did you poop? NOOOOOO, she said, and then I moved on to something else. Then a friend of mine came in and she said, does something smell?, and I remembered what a LIAR V can be so I took her to the bathroom. Oh Lord. LORD. It was all over her legs and all the way up her belly to her NECK practically. She was wearing a dress and a diaper and these super cute long baby legs/socks and there was poop on the top of each sock (it goes up to her thigh) and all on the INSIDE of her DRESS! And of course I had no other outfits for her and of course my friend was staying outside with Felicity, who was asleep but I figured who could wake up at any time. So I scrubbed at everything with the wipes, I must have used 100, and I rolled down the socks a little and ... we just went back out there. V was wearing a cute sleeveless vest, like as a jacket, so I put that on her and zipped it up. It was all fine for a while until I looked over at V and she had her vest off and she was SHOWING some kid the POOP STAIN on her dress. We bugged out of there, Lord, Lord, the SHAME. I felt like *I* had pooped my pants, sheesh! And is it ironic or just annoying that Veronica didn't give a HOOT!

Anyways, ballet, pooping, school's fine. I intend to start her in pullups here soon, maybe Monday. I can't just put her in underwear for preschool, because of health codes (ha ha smart people), so I bought some Princess pullups and off we'll go. I think she'll be fine once she gets started but I have to wait until her belly is all better before I start, obviously. Felicity has been sick with something viral and Anthony and Veronica just seem to have some d-ha and nothing else. I feel like from September-April, it is literally always something with them.

But isn't she cute? Her hair is starting to grow a little, thank God. Sometimes she asks me to put it up and ha ha ha boo hoo, you should see it! It's a WRECK! A cute wreck, but still.

Blockhead

2012-01-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

Isn't she fun? Look at her little arms, dancing. She is so funny and so full of personality now that she is talking more! She was sick last week - was it last week? It must be two weeks ago, now. I forget if I said, but she'd be all fevery, hot and red cheeked, and I'd say, take your medicine, Veronica and she'd say, all bleary, "I fine, Mama. IIIIIII fiiiiiine". Poor stupid baby.

I can't believe she'll be three in four short months! This winter has gone by fast, mostly because the weather has been so good. I'm sure I just cursed us all but what can you do? I am worried it's going to snow and ice the whole Superbowl week or weekend or whatever it is. It's so exciting that it's here in town, I'd love to all go downtown but I am just going to have to hope for another Superbowl in a few years, so the kids can be old enough to enjoy it.

Anyway, Veronica. I have no complaints. I took Maria to Disney on Ice today and I only had one ticket for her and I don't think Veronica would have enjoyed it as much, if her behavior at church is any indication, but she was very cool and good natured about it. We promised her a trip to Costco - Costco! - as a runner-up prize and she was fine with that. We are just crazy about her.

Boo!

2012-01-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

She is a funny girl, she was so determined to get in that hamper the other day when I was exercising. I put the baby down for a nap and then ran into my room to do the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, which is good and hard but only 22 minutes long so it's ideal for my short-napping baby. Anyways, the girls were in here with me, playing a game on the computer, while I was working out but they like to exercise too and I guess Veronica was doing a Feat of Strength or something, to show me how she could crawl in the hamper. She really does like to have fun, I'll say that for her.

The girls go back to preschool tomorrow, they've been off for two weeks! It feels like a VERY long time to me, and to them too, I'm sure. Today Veronica was so crazed that she flat out left me at the store. I took her and Maria and Maria was the good one! V kept lying down on that dirty, dirty floor and then she'd stand up and I'd say, "Come ON, Veronica!" and she'd fold her arms and turn away from me. CHARMED, I'M SURE, I always think. But mostly she is funny and sweet.

I have been terrible about keeping up with these lately, I'm sure it will get easier soon but for now I have to get to bed! Veronica's here, she's fine, she's looking forward to her birthday in May. We've been having so much birthday talk - first the baby Jesus, then Maria and now the long wait until May. I hope the time flies, for all our sakes!

Repair

2012-01-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

We got her hair fixed today, kind of. At first we were going to cut it all as short as it is in the back, from where Maria cut it, but then the lady and I sort of pushed all her hair back and with those bangs, it looked especially demented, so she said, really quickly, "I can just blend it in!". Ha! She was pretty good but this lady used the blow dryer on both of them and on poor Veevsy Voo, she turned it up to HIGH! She has like 10 hairs on her whole head! I didn't want to fight and it only took like two minutes, PLUS it wasn't going to kill her but Veronica hated it. Finally she said "I ALL DONE, MAMA! I ALLLL DONE!", and I told the lady, she's all done, in case you didn't hear, and she turned off the blow dryer. But then they got their (damned) balloons and all was forgiven. I had to feed the baby right before we left so I didn't get a picture of V in the salon, or the haircut shop, as Maria calls it, but here it is as home, while she was enjoying some Chicken McNuggets. She's so cute, right? It's a good thing, man, because she has turned on us and she is b-a-d. we have her penultimate speech therapy appointment tomorrow, it's so bittersweet. We are really going to miss Kristin, she has made a huge difference in Veronica's life and I couldn't pay her back if I wanted to. Of course, she's probably also made Veronica this BAD, but what can you do? I'll take it.

Library

2011-11-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Here's Veronica, taking a break during a music parade last week at the Library. We really enjoy this story hour that we go to, and Veronica is leaning on Mike in this picture, and BOY are these girls going to miss him when he goes back to work next week. It's so much easier with two of us, we can 'get down', which is Maria's thing, but Veronica asked about it today, too. I'm trying to tell them that there's not going to be so much getting down once Daddy goes back to work, but it's not really taking, I bet.

Veronica had speech today, what can I say? She did just great, her sentences are long and involved and except for some pronunciation issues, which are typical for her age, she's just fine. That sentence is so much more exciting to me than it seems just sitting there on the page.

Now that I have another little baby, I have been thinking so much about when Veronica was a little wee thing. She was so screamy and cranky, and I was so worried about her. I sort of have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when it comes to infants. Anthony was such a rough, rough baby and he turned out to have autism and I worry the whole time now, when I am pregnant and then when I have a little tiny baby who is screaming at me all day that it's the same thing all over again. It's a terrible feeling, to worry like that and even though I try not to, I can't. So I think about when Veronica was so little and screamy and then when she was bigger and not so screamy but still pretty crabby and then just poof! one day she got so sweet and turned into the Veevsy Voo that we all know and love.

But then she wasn't talking and I started to get worried again, I was glad to call First Steps and just find out whatever we had to and get to work on fixing whatever the problem was. I was so relieved when she did so well at the evaluation, but poorly enough that she felt like she needed services.

We have lucked out so much with her therapist, AND even with the therapist that took over when our Kristin went on Maternity Leave. She played a big part in Veronica's success, as did my mom. Stacie, the interim therapist, had a better, more objective look at what was happening with Maria running the show during her therapy, and she's the one who said "this is hard with this other one talking all the time, no WONDER Veronica isn't!". Then my mom took Maria every week so Veronica could have true one-on-one therapy and I think that made all the difference. Now Maria has been with Mike every week for the last six weeks and starting next week, we'll be all together again. But Veronica really knows who she is and she knows that this is HER speech therapy and she'll be just fine.

So. In short, Veronica's fine, and even though she had a rough start, she is doing great, thanks to her speech therapist, her interim speech therapist and my Mom. It takes a village, I guess!

Teenager

2011-11-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

Whenever the lie on the floor like this, they look so much older than they are, right? Veronica was putting on her shoes today and I said 'do you want help?' and she said, 'I put on my own shoes. I a big girl!'. !! That's a lot of words, right? She is doing so great. We have her evaluation for speech therapy next month and I can only imagine that they're going to say that she doesn't qualify for more therapy, so that's wonderful, right? I'm so happy and proud of her.

Pensive Bumblebee

2011-11-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

She was so cute for her first official trick or treating. Lord, my LORD, she was slow. We only went to like six houses because it was insane how slow she was moving. I had the baby in the sling and I STILL ended up carrying her for most of it. We wanted to trick or treat and hand out candy, as Mike was with Anthony at swimming, so we had to move it along. She was cute and she loves opening candy, even though she only really enjoys Kit Kats.

2.5

2011-11-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

Next week - well, the week after that, she'll be two and a half years old! Go, Veronica, Go! At two and a half, she talks a lot. She sings a lot, she loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Broadway Baby. Of course, she really beats the heck out of them, I don't know if you'd know that's what she was singing if you weren't her mother. Her teacher told me that next month they're going to start doing little interviews with them for their "Tot Talk" feature, won't that be fun? We'll know her favorite things and people. Her teacher also told me how smart Veronica was, she said that she was quiet but she didn't miss a trick. It's so nice to hear, I am so hopeful that her speech therapy has done her well, but I'm sometimes afraid that I am in DENIAL because I'm so in love with her. Because I want her to be okay, I might be MAKING her okay in my MIND. But it's NOT just in my mind, I have PROFESSIONALS telling me she's okay too, so that's nice. She is funny, she and Maria get along - well, I was going to say they get along really well and it's not exactly true. They fight over every little thing but they also share a lot too and usually sleep together. This picture is from this morning, Mike was getting ready to take them to ballet. Veronica will be able to start soon, just a few months. Maria will be sad, she tells her every week 'YOU CAN'T GO, VEEVSY. YOU TOO LITTLE, JUST I CAN GO BALLET'. How we'll love it when Veronica can tell her to STICK IT and let her know that SHE IS GOING TOOOOOO. MEEEE TOOOO, she'll say, that's one of her favorite phrases. She's good with the baby, she loves her a lot. Today I raked leaves and she helped me put them in the bag. She's a good, sweet girl. It means more now to me than ever, because she was a rotten newborn and Felicity is shaping up to be rotten and fussy, so I'm glad to be reminded that it doesn't last forever.

Big Sister

2011-10-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, right? Veronica is going to be a big sister. VERONICA! Our little baby! She is sitting next to me right now, glued to my side as she has been for the last month, singing "Broadway Baby". LORD she is cute and just leaping, vocabulary and talking wise. This was her first two day week at school and it went super great. I think it was her first week, now I'm feeling like I talked about it but I can't check. Veronica is hanging off my right arm, which makes it difficult to type but impossible to click away and check, so I will just go with what I remember, which is nothing these days.

She is very particular about the clothes that she wears in a way that of course Anthony has never been, and Maria wasn't, at this age, but I'm sure from here on in, she will just pick up what Maria does. She doesn't seem to be interested AT ALL in the potty but I assume it will come. Maybe we will be able to make some progress at school, maybe not. I am withholding all judgment until after I come home with the baby.

Two Days

2011-10-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Veronica has started to go to preschool on Mondays, too, as of this week. I just have to say - everyone loves this child! Maria was going on and ON this morning about how SHE was going to school but 'not you, Veevsy!'. I said, um, Veronica IS going to go now on Mondays, you can both go and then we'll forget Veronica and we'll do something just Mommy and Maria. Maria INSISTS on saying we 'forgot' Veevsy if she has to leave at 12 and Veronica doesn't leave until 2 and I have just given in on it. Once Maria gets a hold of a phrase, forget it. Trust me, it's easier to make strangers think I have forgotten Veronica than to fight her on it.

Aaaaanyway, back to V, it's her blog. So I took her to her classroom today and she was thrilled. She never even says goodbye or anything. When we 'remembered' Veronica at 2:00, we went back and the teacher, her name is Judy, sort of had her head tilted to one side, smiling, talking about her. She said "oh, this is going to be so good for her! There are only three other kids and this is where we can really get to know them". She sort of sighed, like we all do when we talk about sweet Veronica Lucy. Then I picked her up and we said goodbye. We were walking down the hall and she was hugging me and hugging me, crawling up me closer and closer like she does. I said "did you have a good day at school?" and she said "yes!". I said, "I missed you Veevsy, did you miss me?" and she said, right in my ear, "I missed you too, Mama". Hoo boy. I am kind of crying thinking about it. She is so sweet and now she combines this sweetness with WORDS like 'missed' and 'mama' and it's so, so sweet and cute. Like her!

Language Explosion

2011-09-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Veronica's speech therapist wrote on her note last week that "Veronica is having a language explosion!", which is incredibly exciting to me. Poor Veronica, I feel like a lot of the things I waited for with Anthony at first are coming true with her. "Language explosion!" is something you hear about a lot with speech therapy, or at least I do, and let's face it - I may never get one from Anthony, not in the way I *thought* I would. The way I thought it would go, at the beginning, is the way it is actually going with Veronica, and even THAT feels like a long time. Veronica's speech therapist also said "jeez, if she keeps going this way, I won't even be seeing her much longer". THAT sort of killed me, too, because it has been such a great experience. She really loves Veronica and Veronica loves her and it's nice to be in a room where everyone is succeeding, even if I'm not directly involved, ha!

She is doing so well in school, I just love it - some of the kids in her class are maybe a little weepier or needier and I just told Mike tonight, because of that, I never get to talk to her teachers, but I am FINE with that. This morning I took her in and her teacher, Judy said "Veronica!" and Veronica jumped out of my arms and into hers and never looked back. Then when I went to get her, she was all warm and sweet from a nap and she was super excited to see me and that was cute, too. She is really getting to be her own person and I love it.

We went for a walk tonight and my sweet LORD she is slow! But we had a good time, we made it all the way around the block with no stroller and I just had to carry her a little. She and Maria held hands quite a bit of the way, which is nice. If she and Maria could have a relationship with each other like I have with my sister, it would be great for them - beyond great, it would be the best gift ever. It would make it worth it that they are so close in age and that they fight a lot and can be super noisy and crazy. And who wouldn't want MARIA as a sister? I never have to worry about anyone giving Veevsy Voo any guff, anyway. There's that!

Tot Talk

2011-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Veronica gets a little write up of how she did at her preschool, jeez, it's all beyond cute, in my opinion. Here's her Tot Talk from her second week:

My favorite play today was with the: BALL MAZE
I ate most of my lunch today LOVED MY WATERMELON!
I napped today. (She has napped both times she's gone, this is apparently odd, as it takes some kids a while to settle down. Funnily enough, she won't really nap at HOME anymore. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to work, but whatever).

TODAY WAS A SPECIAL DAY FOR ME BECAUSE:
Today I made animal sponge prints and put balls in the ball maze. I used a feather duster on the toys and used a hammer on the shelf. I pretended to eat food in the kitchen and played in the house outside.

Isn't that adorable? I'm so happy she's doing so well. Have I mentioned that I had to bring in $6 and a disposable camera (which they still sell!) and they will give us a photo book of her first year of preschool? Isn't that cute? I think it's all super cute, obvs, and I just love the idea of her puttering around the classroom, doing her own thing.

To say that she is talking a lot would be a big understatement. It's beyond exciting, it's such a relief and ... well, it's just great. I can't talk about it too much. She's doing well, here at 28 months old, I hope the baby doesn't throw her for too much of a loop but so far her fall is going just great.

Sunday

2011-09-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

Veronica. How she has turned on me. She is so bad at church, we can't go anymore. She is becoming willful as anything, she makes me think of Oprah in the Color Purple? Sophia, is her name? Let me see if I can find a link. Here it is, the Miss Sophia part starts at around 2:30, but it's a great scene anyway.

That's how Veronica is now, in any case. She is back! She is EATING what she wants and DAMN THE FOOL that will take anything from her! I'm so happy, in a way. She is going to be great at school, she just marched in and met her teacher this week. They painted her hand to make her handprint and she was all, that's cool, whatever.

She's going to love school, I hope. I hope we start doing some toilet training there. There is the cutest little toilet and when I saw it, I thought, maybe that's it! Maybe she is afraid of falling in the toilet, with her skinny little bottom all wet. She did fall through one time, up in our bathroom, so maybe this will help the healing begin.

So. Starting school - she'll go from 9-2 on Tuesdays, she's supposed to nap there, we shall see. We're moving her into a twin bed if my BROTHER ever comes to visit from TEXAS and will help me move the Queen sized bed over from my parents' house so Anthony can have it, then I'll give Veronica his bed and then maybe everyone will go to sleep when they are supposed to and stay in their beds all night. Ha ha ha boo hoo, I hope it comes true.

Gross

2011-08-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

She's gross but cute. She recently got her canine teeeth, look how hard she is teething on her toe! A friend of mine pointed out how her finger is WHITE from how hard she is pressing it. She's secretly intense, this one.

She's been doing fine, I think we are going to move her to a twin bed here soon. I think she is fine, size-wise, in her toddler bed (that she is been in for all of TWO months) but she is hella jella of Maria and Anthony's beds. Yesterday she wouldn't nap in her bed but I went in to get her, because Maria was sleeping, and she put her arms up and I carried her out and put her in my bed. I had to go to the bathroom, probably because five minutes had passed from the last time I went to the bathroom - Lord, the peeing that goes on in the third trimester is INSANE. Anyways, I went in to the bathroom and came right back out and she was fast asleep in my bed.

So. We're going to move Anthony to a queen sized bed that my parents have available, move Veronica into Anthony's bed, and then we'll just put the toddler bed away for the next one. Oh, boo hoo, how can Veronica be moving to a twin sized bed? Where has my baby gone? What will I do when she goes to school full time? *

*Ha ha ha just kidding.

See This Here? This is a COW!

2011-08-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

She's so cute. Our little farmer. We went to the Fair yesterday and she did great, she wasn't really scared of anything! Maria was a lot more nervous last year than Veronica was this year, which is always nice. I like when they surprise me. Mike and my sister Laura and the girls and I went and it was fun, it was a beautiful day. Ha, we were trying to find this building that had rabbits and chickens in it, and we had to walk by the MIDWAY where all the RIDES are to get there and then girls were going insane, both pointing and shouting from their stroller, ha! We skipped it, they're not tall enough for most of them anyways and Mike wants them to get through their whole childhoods without realizing there is a Midway there. We'll see!

Too Bad She's So Hideous

2011-08-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

Ha! She's not. She's gorgeous, right? Thank God, this week. She has been VILE. HORRIBLE. BUT we won't focus on the past, will we? She was great yesterday, we had a nice day, mostly it was just the two of us. We also didn't go anywhere, which helps. I am about to take Maria and her to the store, God only knows what will happen, but I'll probably have to leave in shame, but what can you do? I have one that starts demanding to go somewhere upon waking, and one that is guaranteed to be horrible and awful out in public. This is what the experts call a paradox, I guess.

Oh good Lord

2011-08-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

What has happened to my little Veronica? She is a demon, a DEMON. This picture is from last night, she was mad because I wouldn't give her any more grapes until she said 'grapes'. We just left the mall, IN SHAME, because she was so bad. I am not joking when I say that a woman with ONE LEG had to help me with her.

What the hell, world? She is my third and I don't know one freaking thing more about dealing with a jerk like this now than I did in 2005. I have NEVER, EVER been kicked out of anywhere. I have never had to LEAVE somewhere because of BEHAVIOR. Yet now, because I am the mother of these JERKSTORES, I have to leave the mall, all ashamed and red faced, CARRYING the biggest jerk of all, while I hold the hand of the other, crying one, and walk in the 1000 degree heat to the car, where I have to STRAP them into their SEATS like they are some kind of ROYALTY or something.

I don't know. I'm sure this is a chuckle, chuckle, ho ho ho situation, isn't it so funny when kids are so bad but I don't like it. I wish I could ... I'm not even going to say what I wish I could. I wish they were better. Not perfect, not GOOD, just better. I mean, we were playing! Then Veronica said EAT so I took them and got them lunch. We shared everything, I did everything, everything was FINE. So...how does it happen? How does it go from that to THAT, so quickly? Um, I think Veronica wanted to take her drink into the playplace which is not allowed. So I didn't let her. So she ran and ran from me and then when I caught up (which takes a while, I am 30 weeks pregnant, IN CASE I FORGOT TO MENTION), she dropped to the ground AS I was getting the drink and it spilled everywhere. So. Then I got to do some janitorial work too. AWESOME.

I don't even know what to say. Maybe she's getting teeth but MY GOD. I do every single thing I can do all day every day of my life so that these bastards are happy and they are almost never happy. It's the worst paradox I've ever been involved in in my LIFE.

Otherwise, though, everything is AWESOME. We are BLESSED and I LOVE BEING A STAY AT HOME MOMMY!

AWESOME!

Sunday

2011-07-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

Soooo, catching up. Veronica has been sleeping in Maria's room for two weeks. Or three. Maybe we just finished two weeks, I'm not sure. It was going okay but then Maria starting climbing in Veronica's crib and screaming for me to come get her and let her out. She would throw V's pillow, baby doll and blanket out, too. So I decided I'd put Maria in the twin bed, the bottom part of the bunk beds that I got from my friend Gloria, and move Veronica to Maria's toddler bed. But then I couldn't do that, because I don't have twin mattresses yet for the bunk beds and I don't know that Maria is really ready for that anyways. SO. I was going to get Veronica in another kind of toddler bed, I didn't know what to do, but then it occurred to me that I could just lower her mattress and take the side off of her crib. So I did that, which foiled Maria for jumping in the crib, but it screwed us because Veronica started to climb out and wreak havoc on that room of theirs, as well as their formerly early bedtime.

It's hard - they are both not really interested in napping, which is probably early for Veronica, but it's hard because she is very interested in what Maria is doing. So now if Maria doesn't want to nap, we don't nap. If either of them fall asleep for 10 seconds in the car, we don't nap. And sometimes, even if Maria DOES nap, but Veronica has fallen asleep for 10 seconds in the car, Veronica won't nap. I have already said nap way too much in this post, I can't think about it too much because soon I will have a little baby who won't nap and then I will really go nuts so I guess I should save it.

BUT if they don't nap, they at least go to sleep early. There were three nights in a row last week when Veronica was up past TEN o'clock! This never, ever happens. Also, one night she fell out of that crib and BOOM bit her lip and did she cry and scream? Yes. Yes, she did and it was 2:00 and boy was it hard to get back to sleep. Anyways. It has sucked but hopefully it's getting better. Last night I checked on them and Veronica was fast asleep on the floor. Maybe if I got a twin they could sleep in it together?

I took Veronica for her two year checkup this week, I almost forgot! She weights 26 lbs., and I forget how tall she is, I have the paperwork somewhere. She is in the 25th percentile for height and weight, perfectly proportioned, she said. She did very well, but I owe a lot of that to her sister. Maria was SO good about standing on the scale first, getting measured, getting her shot, etc. It was really amazing. Veronica was good, too, we had practiced so she said AHHHHH to the doctor, he was charmed by them both. He asked me if she was potty training and I said no, she has never gone on the potty and he said 'well it sounds like you should keep her in diapers for a while, then'. He is very easygoing. They are still seeing the ped on the other side of town but I figure he'll retire someday and then I'll switch. I like him too much to change just because we've moved, we just don't go that often.

What else. She is saying more and more and MORE words. She says Mommy and Daddy, Pop, No, Bye, oh, lots of things. She is a sweet thing, even when she is being bad! My mom and dad babysat one night last week and my Dad told me that he was v. stern with her when she got out of her bed, he said "stay in that bed, Veronica!" and she sort of SWEPT her hand away, pointing him out the door. She is certainly no wallflower anymore, but she is as sweet as ever. It's hard for me to believe she'll be someone's big sister here soon. Little Veevsy Voo, a big sister! Can you imagine?

Pretty

2011-07-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

In an old dress of Maria's. It's hard for me to believe I could have a sweeter baby than Veronica. But I'm going to try, ha!

Ice Cream

2011-06-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

Let me assure you that she has two feet. I have my portrait lens on my camera, because I prefer it, but sometimes I can't get far enough back to take their whole body picture. This is why I am not a professional!

She has now finished half of her summer camp children's day in and it's going so great. I'm so happy that she is thriving, despite her quietness. She is a crazy girl, last night she was up until almost NINE, jabbering away in her crib. She is proof to me that they are all their own little selves, from the very beginning. I'm going to miss her being my baby but I'm looking forward to seeing her as a big sister, for once! Ha!

She has been eating that ice cream cone for like an hour, it's a MESS, but she will not give it up. I figure it's just ice cream, I'm glad she's finishing it, but man. She will eat no ice cream before it's time, and that time is about 90 minutes per cone.

Dancing, with Spoon

2011-06-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

She is so funny. The girls got their haircut yesterday and Veronica did better than she has done, but she still does not love it! We had her last speech therapy with her interim therapist. She really grew to love Veronica and Veronica really loved her, but I bet she'll be happy to see her original therapist this week when she comes back from maternity leave.

She is talking more and making more sound but I wouldn't exactly call her chatty and I wouldn't say we've had any kind of language explosion or anything. I am trying to patient and, as usual, NOT succeeding. :)

Pretty

2011-06-10T05:39:00.001-07:00

Bossy

2011-06-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

She is getting v. bossy. I don't know if it's better that she's talking or not talking, considering how often she is ORDERING me AROUND. We took Maria to her swimming lessons today for the first time and it was a h0t, HOT mess for poor Veronica. She cried and yelled and screamed and tried to take off her shoes and dress 1,000 times in 30 minutes. It was hard - I felt terrible for her but also for me, a little, as I would have like to have seen Maria. I just thank God that Maria did so well because I had no time to tend to her at all. SO from now on, I'm going to take Veronica to the child watch and she might cry but at least she will be in a playroom full of other kids and not tempting fate by screaming and trying to throw herself in the pool.

New skirt

2011-06-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

We bought that for V at Costco, Maria was actually into it so I got one for her and V, too. I am learning, slowly, to just get two of the exact same thing with some things. It makes my life easier and I am ALL for that. Anyway, she put it on and then wanted the tiara too, she had a whole idea of her look. Then she went to the mirror in the hallway and twirled, and curtsied and bowed, she was adorably thrilled with herself.

Super Genius

2011-06-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

Veronica, reading on a Saturday morning. That dress is cute, right? I remember Maria wearing it and we got it as a hand-me-down from my friend Marita's friend Colleen, who has two daughters, so maybe it's the FOURTH child that's worn it. Take that, Baby Gap! Ha!

Veronica was on her own for speech therapy for the first time this week and it went very, VERY well. She made all kinds of new sounds, signs, and words. I feel like a giant jerk for not switching it up before and getting rid of Maria but I didn't, so we'll just start now. I figure Maria can continue to go to my parent's house during speech for the rest of the summer and then maybe if she still can't keep her nose out of it in the fall, I'll change Veronica's therapy to when Maria is in preschool.

She starts at her summer camp on Tuesday. Oh, I hope it goes well and I hope that she has a great six weeks. I hope she understands and has fun and learns to talk a little bit. A lot of people have commented to me that their brother or sister or kid who was later in the family didn't talk for a while and I'm hoping that's it.

She has started to get CRAZY about going to sleep. Maria is so great about it and Veronica is like the worst sleeper ever. Last night, I was telling them a story and Veronica was DEMANDING to take her pajamas off, then her diaper and then she wanted to get dressed! Like, for the day! Loon! I put her in a nightgown, thinking it would appease her but she was yelling so much I couldn't even tell my damned story to Maria so I chucked her into her crib. After I put Maria to bed, I went in and she pointed miserably toward the door. I said, no, it's time to go to sleep and I held her for a while. She calmed down and then mournfully pointed toward the crib and I put her down and she went to sleep. I am hoping, of course, that this is a VERY short phase.

Suspicion

2011-05-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Maria has been really into dresses lately, so Veronica has too. She loves this dress and almost always requests it, it's just like Maria's favorite. They are both from Mike's friend Candie, she has given us a LOT of clothes. We had kind of a rough speech therapy this week. Veronica *left the room* a few times, with her arms folded, and gave us (Maria) the evil death stare from the foyer. She's mad and I don't blame her - she can't have even her own speech therapy to herself! I don't blame Maria, she is only three years old, what can she do? She talks a lot and Stacy is there to get SOMEONE to talk, so Maria does it. Anyways, I have been wracking my brain, trying to figure out what we can do, and I think Mike is going to take Maria with him when he takes Anthony to school and then drop her off at my parents' house. Then I'll either go get her or they can bring her back or something. Or maybe she can just stay there until the NEXT week. Ha!

I am hoping that once Veronica has some 'one on one' time, as the therapist calls it, maybe we'll see some progress. There is NO actual reason that she shouldn't be talking. She communicates better than - well, better than Anthony, she communicates just fine. I suppose it's selfish, I would just like TWO of my children to freaking talk to me. I know she can do it, she can say some words, she answers yes or no to questions, she - she makes herself abundantly clear, she just has to use English. So anyway. Hopefully it will start to go better now that she can have a whole hour of therapy to herself. Also, maybe once she is around kids her age, either she will start to talk more or maybe I will realize that it's not that unusual and we can both relax.

People ask me about who knows what about the baby coming. Maria is very clear about it, there is a baby, coming in October, in Mommy's belly but she can't see it yet, etc. I asked Veronica this morning if she knew there was going to be a new baby and she said, looking all innocent, "uh-uh", while shaking her head. So surprised! I said, oh, it will be great, you'll be such a good big sister! I know she will.

My goals for this summer, as far as V is concerned, are to move her to Maria's room and to her crib. To get her to talk a little more. To enjoy her little summer camp. To stay my sweet Veevsy Voo. See? She's got that last one down already, check!

Charmed, I'm Sure

2011-05-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ha! I brought this chaise out from the garage and laid it down and V jumped right on it. She didn't just wake up after a hard night, but she totally looks like it here, right?

Birthday Party

2011-05-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

We just had a small party for Veronica on her birthday. The weather has been HORRIBLE since Saturday, I am so grateful that the rain and freezing temps held off so we could celebrate her outside. We had such a nice time, she really liked it. She got some great gifts, as I said, and she was really more into it than either of the other two have been at two. She's so funny - so advanced in so many ways, and still a little bit behind in speech. I was just filling out her forms for her little summer camp she's doing, you're supposed to give them information about likes and dislikes. I said that she's not much of a talker, but she'll answer any Yes or No question you can pose to her. I said she is very cuddly, which I hope wasn't weird, but sometimes she's such a hugger that it feels a little alarming or something when she first wraps her arms around you. She starts the first Tuesday in June - or maybe the second? It's the 7th, whatever that is, I think that's the first one. I cannot believe how often I have NO idea not only what day it is, but what month. Anyways. My sweet Aunt Joan sent me an email for Veronica's birthday and I was just looking at it tonight and it reminded me I never put up these pictures. I think I took the one of her eating her cupcake but my friend Marita, who is Veronica's Godmother, took the one of the two of us. I really, REALLY love it.

Gifts for a Two Year Old

2011-05-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Veronica got lovely, perfect gifts for her birthday and I am going to send thank you notes but I thought I would write about them here. People are always asking what are good gifts for kids at specific ages, so I figured I'll put them here and this way I can think about the gifts for my notes, and remember them for the future and also maybe it will help someone in a bind.

These are in no particular order, I am actually looking around the room as I write and seeing whatever I see first. I'll start with our gifts, as they were the best, ha! Kidding! We love them all equally!

Melissa and Doug Sound Puzzle - Farm Animals

This is super cute, Mike found it for V at Mass Ave. Toys. When you put the puzzle pieces in, it makes the (realistic but not terrifying) animal sound.

Baby on the Go

Super cute little baby doll, with yarn hair and a diaper that you can change, who comes in her little backpack. The backpack holds keys, a little sippy cup and bottle, and a little dish for eating. It has a spoon and fork and it has lots of buttons and velcro that you can work. Veronica loves it, we've all been feeding the baby and changing diapers, etc. It's also a small doll so it doesn't take up too much room, which we like. She fits perfectly in the little high chair that's on the end of her little toy bassinet.

Splash Around Dora

This is super cute - it's a Dora doll, she's wearing a bathing suit, and she comes with flippers and the Super Babies, which are her little sister and brother. Veronica loves them, and Maria calls the new baby Super Baby so I figure the more LOVE we have for Super Babies the better.

Plushalicious Bear - Sprinkles

This is a plush, kind of fleecey bear that has cupcakes all over it. Maria was losing her mind over it, she was all, "cupcakes! hearts! I love it!". Veronica, of course, says less about it but she loves it just the same. It's so soft and it's just a little bit shorter than her. It's sweet and soft.

Blabla Plush Doll

Ooh-wee, this is cute. It's a knitted doll in nice colors and with a sweet face. It's kind of like a weeble, in that it has only arms and no legs, it's so soft, I can't even tell you. It's nice for Veronica to have her own little animals and dolls. She's getting v. proprietary about them, ha!

Lauri Tall Stacker

This is fantastic, and I don't mind rating it because Mike got it. :) Veronica has actually played with these during her speech therapy and she likes it a lot. She is v. serious about making TALL stacks, it's super cute.

Dream Dazzlers Fun Princess Phone

Oh, this phone. It's so cute and funny. Veronica really likes the phone, but she doesn't expect too much, so this is perfect. I mean, she knows to yap into a phone but she doesn't demand exact PHONE SERVICE the way that her sister might. It's so pretty, she's played with it every day since Saturday, for quite a while.

Drum Set

This is adorable and V liked it right away, knew what it was for, and demanded I open it so she could start drumming and shaking that tambourine! Anthony and Maria like it too. It's great looking, it has big pieces that her little hands can easily hold, and everything stores back in the drum, which I love. It also has a strap so you can march with it, which every single person in this house has enjoyed doing.

Leapfrog Scribble and Write

We just got this tonight, from the mailman, so we haven't done much with it. But it's maybe a little advanced for Veronica - and maybe for Maria too, if I'm being honest. But they both really like it, it has the cute Leapfrog voice to guide you through tracing letters, shapes, and numbers.

Sit and Spin

SUPER cute. None of my kids have ever had one, they all three like it, although Anthony is way too big. It's a classic toy, right? Who wouldn't like it?

Stride Rite Shoes

Veronica got these exact shoes and she's worn them every day. They are so nice and they go with everything. I am mean, I suppose, I can't see the point of 10 pairs of shoes for each kid, so I just buy them one pair of shoes at a time. Veronica has recently gone from a 5 to a 6 so I mentioned it to my mom and she got these cute shoes.

I think that's it, although I'm going to check my list - I made a list and now of course I can't find it. Ugh, this house. It's been so great for Veronica, she has no stuff of her own, or I should say she didn't. Maria is having a hard time with it, kind of, but since she gets every damned thing she wants, I am not too worried.

Pocoyo Dolls

These dolls are SUPER cute. Veronica love Pocoyo, it's just a little show on Nick Jr. that's on in between longer shows and Veronica has always cracked up at him. I mean, like, CRACKED up, she really belly laughs at them all. These are for the bath, I mean, they're rubber or something like that and we've been having a lot of fun with it. It makes me want to get her a little Pocoyo DVD, but I'm afraid she might loser her mind with happiness.

To Veronica, on her Second Birthday

2011-05-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Veronica,

Happy Birthday! Two years old! We sang happy birthday to you before and you were NOT thrilled! When we ask you how old you are today, you hold up two fingers and Maria says "two!" for you. You are some team, you and your sister. Oh, Veronica. We love you so much. Whenever I get nervous or scared about having another baby, I think of how surprised I was that I was having you when Maria was still so little. And then you were born and you were so sweet and good and smart - I remember how hard it was for you to learn to nurse after being in the Constant Care Nursery for two days but you did it and then you were so good at it, you never wanted to stop - and I really, really believe in the joy and happiness a little person can bring to your life. I didn't think you'd be a big sister, I thought you'd always be my little baby, but here you are, going to be a big sister! I think you'll be great at it. We all love you so much, Veronica, we wouldn't be our family without you. I hope you have a great second year and 150 more. With love from Mommy and Daddy, Anthony and Maria

Saturday

2011-05-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

This was actually taken on ... Thursday, I think. Now that I look at it, it was Thursday, because I remember when they asked me at the Y "what was Veronica wearing?" I told them, she has on a cute white shirt, with little people around her neck. The woman next to me, who was also waiting for her kids, said "that's comforting, isn't it?". We laughed but it's a pain, that Childwatch at the Y is good but I just keep thinking there has to be a better pickup procedure. Since I don't know what that is, or really anything about it, I can't complain. Anyways, she is great at the Y now, she is doing well with her interim speech therapist. This was our first week of therapy with Maria here and ... well, it's hard. I just want Veronica to be able to get the whole hour and in order for that to happen, I have to practically sit on Maria. But the therapist is really nice about it and we are trying to use Maria's powers for good, for Veronica's good and I think overall it's working.

I can't believe she'll be two years old a week from today! She is a sweet thing, I know I say it all the time but it's true. Sweet Veronica.

Dr.

2011-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

I know this is blurry, but she was SO cute with this stethescope. She kept putting it on my wrist, VERY solemnly, and nodding her head up and down.

Almost Two

2011-05-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here's Veronica's posters I had made of her first 52 weeks. I only ended up with 45 pictures, somehow. What can I say, it was a long year? I suppose I'll be lucky to end up with 30 of the new baby. I took the posters to Michael's to have them framed and it was super, super expensive. This is my third one of doing these pictures and I am still shocked every time, by something. Usually I have been shocked at how hard it is to put them damned things together but this time I was definitely shocked by the price. Oh well, I am hoping it will look really nice and it really is a once in a lifetime thing. I never get their pictures taken at a place or anything, so that is how I'm justifying it. They were 60% off, so that's good too. I am desperately trying to justify spending $275 on this, can you tell? Maybe I won't get her a birthday present, ha! What does she know?

We have our second appointment with the new therapist tomorrow, she seems very nice. Mike was off from work last week so he took Maria when Veronica had her first appointment. Tomorrow will be our first appointment with two of them, I imagine it will be pretty rough. This girl seems very nice and she has two kids, also close in age, so I'm hoping it works out. Oh, Veronica, why won't you just talk more, already? Why do we have to do this stupid therapy over and over?

I'm not always this impatient, but as she turns two, I would really just like some more talking from her and LESS from her sister. She is such a sweet thing, so loving and cuddly and smart, I just wish - I wish I wish.

Museum

2011-04-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Mike is home this week and we took the girls to the Children's Museum this morning. Veronica was great and seemed to have a really good time. She was SPRINTING around the place.

Friday

2011-04-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

I still have no camera but I am trying to do an update on everyone's blog at least weekly. Veronica is doing well, she is bounding through speech therapy. She is also getting really terrible, just in time for her terrible twos! She cracks us up, when she gets mad, folding her arms over her chest like she sees Maria do. It's hilarious because she's not that great at it, so she just looks like maybe she is getting ready to dance and not like she's full of anger.

She is sleeping well (shhh!) and eating well and doing well in speech therapy. Her therapist went on maternity leave this week and we will miss her for the next two months. I'm hopeful that Veronica will do well with her replacement.

She has been so great at the Y in the childwatch, two weeks in a row, she has gone into it with absolutely no problems and this past week, we had NO tears at all, even when I went to pick her up, which is a first. I would like to publicly thank everyone who told me to just keep taking her because it has really worked and I love being able to get to this class and just not think for one hour.

We are all hoping for some better weather here soon, the rain and cold is just ridiculous. I think we've had maybe five nice days since the beginning of the year and that's just not enough. It's hard for me to take, but it's really hard for the kids. It's going to rain from now until next THURSDAY or something but at least it's supposed to warm up, I might just take them out in the rain as long as it's warm. Our rugs are ruined from the mud already but I don't care. I would just like for us all to be happier and I think getting outside would do wonders to help.

So pretty

2011-04-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

Isn't she just the most? She had her haircut this week and she did NOT like it. Ha, she reminded me of Anthony, he used to do this too, just STAND UP while the girl is cutting, just like "thanks, that'll do, Pig, I'm OUT!". She was up before 6:00 today, which stinks, but at least she took a nap. Wednesday and Thursday she took no nap and I love her as much as anyone but that is too much time to spend with a small child! Plus there is no opportunity for me to eat or clean or go to the stupid bathroom and it makes me super cranky. She has not been sleeping well, she either cries like crazy before she falls asleep, wakes up in the night, or won't nap. I think she is getting her canine teeth, she chomps the heck out of her hands and FEET, and she seems unhappy about it, but come on, already! It's been quite a while that we have thought she was teething. Otherwise, she is as sweet as ever, she is moving along in speech therapy, things are fine. She is gorgeous and sweet and healthy, what more could we want?

Clear Heels

2011-03-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a funny video of Veronica walking up the hallway in her dress up Cinderella shoes. I suppose technically they are Maria's but Veronica and Maria have been playing with them a lot lately. Maria calls them "roller skates" although they sound more like tap shoes. Veronica really gets around in these shoes, which is amazing, considering that they are way too big on her and also mules, which are hard for adults to get used to. I suppose she might have a great future in ... a job in which she'd wear clear lucite heels? That can't be good, right? :)

Just kidding. I want to make a joke here about if she doesn't start talking soon, she might have to become a stripper, but I won't. I will just continue to hope that she talks sometime. She is getting very noisy, blah blah blah! La la la! Ha ha ha! But no words yet. I am hopeful this blathering on will serve some other purpose here soon.

We went to a playgroup today and she wrapped herself around me and wouldn't let go for the first 20 minutes or so. I had to go downstairs where the other kids were playing to bring something to Maria and I left Veronica down there and she did just fine. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the Y, which will be week FIVE of leaving her at childwatch, and I am nervous that she'll cry again. I have to keep trying, I suppose, I really want her to have success when she goes to preschool in the fall and I figure this is one way of starting.

Position is everything in life

2011-03-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

This is not a great shot, but she's such a pain! She won't listen to me at all when I want to take her picture. Or really ever, I guess. I try not to worry that she is in her own world, that she still won't say a word and that she rocks so crazily in her high chair but sometimes it's not that easy. What the hell, Veronica? I want to say. What's up with the silence? She is so sweet and funny and so smart - her speech therapist was saying last week that her receptive language is more like the receptive language of a 2.5 year old. She can follow like four-step directions. She points at everything, she's fine, I'm sure. She is also going to be two in a little more than a month and still - BUPKUS - no words whatsoever. I wish she had some. I wish I could see the future. I don't know why this is so much to ask!

Big Girl

2011-03-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Doesn't she look grown up here? Despite the cookie on her face, which both girls seem to always have? I swear I clean their faces many times a day. We have been slacking around here the last few days because everyone has been sick, starting with Veronica. She had a fever of 104! I don't think any of the kids have ever had a fever that high and was she miserable. Oh, it was sad, but she was better after some Tylenol and a bath, probably mostly the bath. Then Maria got it and now Anthony and although no one is 100 percent, everyone is better today than yesterday. Veronica was up in the night, well, they all were but Veronica took the midshift. Anthony took the 11-3 shift, Veronica 3-5, and Maria brought up the rear. We are so tired we can't even see.

A Word about Veevsy Voo

2011-03-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Veronica is really coming into her own here lately, and really letting us know what she does and doesn't want. Like, she DOESN'T want me to leave her at the Childwatch at the Y. She goes, and she stays for the whole hour, but she cries and cries when I leave her and she cries and cries when I come back. I am going to keep taking her once a week and see if we can't get her used to it. She also doesn't want to go to bed sometimes and she lets you know that too. She wants to get up sometimes at 2:00 in the morning and she is MAD if you don't come and get her, which we don't. She has had a cold for the last six months, it seems like, so we can't use that as an excuse any more.

She is doing well in speech therapy but she is still not saying any words, really. It's making me really sad because lots of kids her age and younger (!) are talking away and I am seeing the evidence of it on Facebook and stuff and it puts me RIGHT BACK where I was with Anthony three years ago and I hate it. So I hope we start to see some progress soon. She is so sweet and funny, so engaged and engaging. I just want some words!

They Can't All Be Great!

2011-03-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Our poor Veevsy Voo has a cold! And she JUST had a cold! She is my sickest child AND my teensiest, so I always feel bad for her. Even yesterday morning, when she woke up at 4:30, and cried til 6:00, I felt sorry for ME but I mostly felt sorry for her. She cries and moans and sometimes she says "Maaaaaa maaa?" which kills me but I am NOT going in there to her. She is much too much of a party girl for me to go in to her when it's bedtime. So she was awake yesterday from 4:30 until 6:00 when Mike got her and we had no idea why she was up so early but then later she sneezed and not to be gross but half of the contents of her head came out of her nose and I thought, ohhhh, she has a cold. Again. Come on, Spring!

Prom Date

2011-02-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

Ha, doesn't it totally look like they are on a date? How lame, to take Diego to your prom, though. Ooh-wee, she was BAD at the museum that day! BAD! She is very independent all of a sudden. We were in the Playscape and I was trying to watch them both at once, but they were at opposite ends of this big-ass room, and I lost her. I wasn't super worried because there was an employee of the museum sitting at the only exit, so I just checked where Maria was and then went to find Veronica. She was climbing up in someone else's stroller, then after she did that, she just mosied on out of there. She kind of waved at the employee, like she was FINE on her own, don't worry, nothing to see! She got soaking wet at the water table, I had to take off that cute shirt and have her wear just her jacket as a shirt. I was exhausted when we left. I felt five pounds lighter and ten years older.

Happy

2011-02-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

Ooh she is a BAD THING at ballet. At the park where Maria's classes are, there is a button for handicapped access on the door to the lobby and then another button for the door to the outside and Veronica goes through both those doors, I'd say, around 50 times in 45 minutes. It's a NIGHTMARE and the judgments abound! Last week I was trying to hang back and see how far she'd go, I didn't want to give her attention if that's what she wanted, and every woman in that place was like YOUR BABY IS RUNNING AWAAAAAAY! I was all, thanks, Moms, solidarity, yay!

Then this week I was running after her and I had to say excuse me to some older women who are there taking an older woman gym class and one old biddy said "What a great game - for her. She runs and you go get her". And I thought, but didn't say, YES I do go get her but it's in a PARKING LOT! Where there are cars! You old cow! Sheesh.

My friend Marta is there and she was a big help to me yesterday, I never get to see Maria do one thing, I keep thinking she'll get sick of that damned door but so far, nothing.

Climber

2011-02-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

Ooh this climber of a girl! Today, we put her down for a nap at 12:00 but she didn't take one until 1:30! She is all steely determination, just like the other ones. I got that super cute dress, a Hanna Andersson, at Costco and Maria has a matching one. They are CUTE in them!

Cold

2011-02-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

She has such a bad cold and Friday night/Saturday morning she woke up at 2:30 crying and she had a bad bloody nose. It was *very* alarming to me, but once I got her cleaned up I realized it was mostly over. I have been reluctant to have a humidifier anyway because of Anthony tearing the hell out of everything in this house, but I got it out for Veronica last night and I think it really helped. This has been a wickedly cruel winter, and there is no end in sight. Basically since the day we moved into this house, the heat has been running all day and night and we are all dry as bones. It's hard for me to ignore Veronica in the night, sometimes I think she must just want some water. We are really looking forward to spring.

Tomorrow, Veronica and I are going to take a tour of what I hope will be their new preschool. We're going to drop off Maria and then come back here and then do the tour and sign them up and then go BACK and get Maria, which is more driving than I like to do, but we're supposed to start at the preschool at 9:15, so that's how it has to be. She's just going to go one day a week, but it will be the same day as one of Maria's days and then all my dreams will come true because I'll have a few hours where everyone is in school. Sometimes, like after this week when they are all hooting and screaming, I dream of boarding preschool.

Sicko

2011-02-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Poor Veevsy has a cold. She cried on and off from 3:00 and finally started really howling around 5:00. She went up for a nap at 10:30, she's so funny. She goes over to the stairs and points and cries until you take her up for a nap. She is still in good spirits, but we are having very long days around here with this damned weather. None of us have been out, really, since Monday. I am praying we can all get back to normal tomorrow and V starts speech therapy on Friday, which we're looking forward to.

Reading is Fundamental

2011-01-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

They are getting better and better about having stories read to them, it's cute. V is in some of Maria's 18 month clothes, finally, but they are still pretty big. She is sleeping crappily, I just ratted her out on Maria's blog so if you want to read about that misery, you can find it there. She starts speech therapy on Friday, and I'm excited about it. Also, she stayed with the babysitter at Prayer Club last Friday with almost no problems, so that was exciting! She is the sweetest thing, but man can she get mad. She'll pat the chair, all adorable, when she wants to get up, but if you don't put her in it immediately, she'll cut her eyes and start GROWLING at you. Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder if I am doing the right thing, teaching her to talk. I mean, look at how it's worked out with Maria, ha!

Sunday

2011-01-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

Mike's mom, hugging Veronica, and Maria blazing into the hugging action.

Well?

2011-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

Trick? Or treat?

Ha ha!

2011-01-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Veronica, with popcorn. She is driving me mad. Let's see - last night, she woke up at like 11:00 and cried, I went in and hugged her for a minute and then put her back down. I swear I wouldn't notice except she woke up like two minutes after I checked on Anthony. It's like we are never free of them and their crying, even for a minute. Well. We usually get a six hour period out of 24 that's child crying free, but that doesn't seem great.

Ugh, I can just hear people - "well, what do you expect? They're little kids!". I know they are. I KNOW. I also know that it sucks for them to sleep so badly. Today Veronica slept until like 7:00 or something, but then she fell asleep after we went to the mall and before we went to pick up Maria. Then they BOTH fell asleep on the way back from Maria's preschool and that was it for naps. Veronica slept the whole time we went to get Anthony, which is kind of late in the day for a nap, so God only knows what will happen tonight.

She is still not saying any words, and she just signs her own sign language, but she is communicating more.
She certainly gets what she wants, anyway. This picture is from Sunday, but now it's Tuesday. This morning Veronica woke up before 5:00 and her sweet father got up with her. I took the girls to a bounce house place nearby and we had a good time. It is super hard for me to go with both of them - Maria is getting pretty good at going around on her own but she still needs me sometimes and Veronica wants to do everything, but can actually do nothing on her own, so that results in a lot of work for their old-ass mother. But it was fun - we met my friend Stephanie and her girls, her youngest is just Veronica's age and it's funny, they seem to have absolutely no interest in one another. Her older girl is more than a year older than Maria but they seem to get along well so it was fun, overall, just hard.

It was funny - at one point we followed Maria into a complicated slide, it was like a .. what do you call those things, they have them in the Army and in Battle of the Network Stars? Obstacle course, maybe? Anyway, up and down up and down we went over these slides and then we got to the last one, which was HIGH and there was just no way that I could climb it with Veronica and I couldn't climb it and then get her because it was up too high. Plus there were about 50 people in the place, and 48 of them were in this damned slide. So Veronica got a little freaked out and was crying and crying and we were going BACKWARDS out of it and all these damned kids were rolling over us, sheesh. It was a HOT mess but she recovered. We got home at like 11:30 and they are both still sleeping, so basically what I am saying is that bounce house place could charge like $20 each and I'd pay it.

The Kids are All Right

2011-01-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

I do still have these kids, I just can't find the charger to my camera battery so I haven't taken pictures. It's been busy/boring around here lately. I took the girls to my friend Emily's house today and Veronica could NOT stay downstairs with the babysitter. She is a pain, though, I let her come upstairs with us and then she wants ME to come UPSTAIRS with her. She is funny - she will plop right down on the floor and cry. I don't feel sorry for her. This morning I got up with her at 4:00 and she ate some and then she wanted to go on the computer and look at a video (we've been watching some signing videos of pop songs, and some funny babies and they love it). I told her NO and she sat at the *bottom of the stairs* yelling. Mike came down and we both sat there watching her cry and then she got up and climbed up the stairs. I carried her up and plopped her in her crib and she went back to sleep. She is a whack job.

She starts speech therapy the first week of February. She is doing more nodding and waving, but still no words. I wish it were easier, but now I am just hopeful that the therapy helps.

Profile

2011-01-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

I think this is before her professional haircut, but after my dad cut her bangs with kitchen scissors.

Flying Colors

2011-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

She did very well with her testing today. It was bittersweet to see her doing what they said, going to get the ball, finding the chip under the cup even though they SWITCHED it at the last minute, etc., because our sweet Anthony didn't do so well on his testing and it still hurts, a little. Still, as the speech therapist said, she is headed toward her second birthday and she is not saying any words and that's a delay. So hopefully we will get recommended for weekly speech therapy and then we'll see a change. A 'boost' they called it, just a little boost to get her over this hump.

Mike and I have been super tense about this, I don't think we realized how much, until today. NOBODY slept last night, so we are really tired, but I am so glad this damned evaluation is over, I can't believe it. We love her so much and we just want her to be okay. Just like everyone. :)

Outside

2010-12-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

Boy, they were all glad to be outside! We didn't empty everything out, though, so V got her boots all wet the first few minutes we were out there. I put another pair of boots on her but one kept falling off. Then I put her shoes on her and she went out in those, but with no jacket. You can't see here but she was FILTHY and wet and dirty. So I just snapped a few pictures and let her walk around for a few minutes and then Mike took her in.

My father cut her hair, with kitchen scissors, while I was out of the room, so I am blaming him for her demented look. I'm going to try to straighten them out but it's a bear. It would be MUCH easier if she would keep anything in her hair, but she just won't. I've tried everything. Sometimes, if I have a barrette in my hair, she'll take it off my head and point it toward hers. Then (like a dumbass), I put it in her hair and she takes it out. Repeat repeat repeat.

Her evaluation is Tuesday at 10:30 and we'll see what's going on with old Veevsy Voo. I can't wait!

Gorgeous

2010-12-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

Look at those teeth!

Red Cheeks

2010-12-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

With Mike's mom, the day after Christmas. Poor Veevsy, I don't think she feels good here lately. I don't know if it's teeth or what. She has been up yelling pretty much once a night and this morning, I came downstairs and took her in the bathroom with me. She has been having some horrible freakouts when I walk away so I figured I'd take her with me. She was eating an apple and she started to cough and I thought 'uh oh' and next thing I knew she was throwing up all over us, while I was peeing! Nasty! She seems fine since, I just wish I knew what her deal was. The First Steps people came today for the intake, now we wait a few days for them to have a therapist call to schedule the evaluation. Ugh. I hate starting all this, I am nervous all the time about it.

Blurry

2010-12-22T14:36:00.000-08:00

It's blurry, but come on! She is a cute thing. It's good because she would drive me crazy if she were an ugly child, constantly, CONSTANTLY reaching and pulling at me. Clingy is not a strong enough word for how she is behaving lately. She has moments where she is fine, like we went to a playgroup today and she played on her own for quite a while. Then I went out to my car to get something for someone and she cried and screamed like I was ripping off her ARM. She took a SUPER long nap today, like from 12:30 to 4:00 so what does that mean? Does that mean she can go to bed at her regular time tonight? I wanted to go to bed RIGHT AFTER her regular time tonight so I am hopeful it works out. I wonder if we'll ever have the kind of life where we can go to sleep and feel relatively certain that we'll sleep for like six hours in a row. I hope so.

Holiday Party

2010-12-19T08:04:00.000-08:00

Veronica, at Anthony's school's party. She had a high old time. She's in an old outfit of Anthony's here, I LOVED this outfit. It's size 12 months, ha, Anthony wore it when he was like six months old. I just found a bunch of his clothes, though, and I wanted to get her in it. She was good at his party, but it was hard. There was a BUNCH of people there and it's hard to explain to ANY of my kids that it's not their turn yet for the swing, or whatever. We left before Santa came because we had to get to church last night, but it's fine by me. I don't care if they ever get a picture with Santa.

2010-12-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this is our little Vivi, one year ago? So cute, then and now. She is having the hardest time sleeping. Oh, she is up for HOURS in the night and she is wide awake. The other night, I got up with her - I was hoping to let her cry and cry but she has a cold and I felt bad to hear her coughing. So I went and got her, around 3:00, and we went downstairs and I was hoping to just hold her on my shoulder and lie on the couch. But she scrambled down and climbed up in her high chair and patted the table, looking at me expectantly. I got her some raisins and cereal and she ate the HELL out of everything. Last night we just let her cry though, the hell with it. I can't be up all night - then I am really tired and then Anthony has a meltdown or Maria is impossible and I just don't have the - whatever it is I need to deal with it. So for everyone's safety, she has to figure it out and sleep in the night.

She is going to be 19 months old and here is what's worrying me. She doesn't talk at all. Not at all! She babbles quite a bit and she certainly asks for things and she shakes her head 'no' in answer to questions. But she doesn't talk, she doesn't even try. She also seems to have some sensory issues, to me, in that she never, EVER sits still in her seat. She pedals her little legs when she is in the car seat, when she is in her chair eating, and when she is sitting on the table. Is there something wrong with her development? Who the hell knows. We have to call First Steps and have an evaluation and just the idea of it freezes my heart and makes me want to cry. I don't feel like I can go through it again. But I have to, I have to get her checked out because if there is something wrong, we should start early. But if she wakes up from her nap and starts talking away, that would be fine with me too.

Friday

2010-12-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

This child! Two nights ago she was up overnight from 2:15 until 5:40 and last night she was up from 11:30 until 3:00. The hell? What could it be? We think maaaaybe it's teeth but who knows. She does have some new ones. I do know that it's killing us. Thank GOD Mike was home this week. I am just praying it stops. The first night Anthony fell asleep at midnight and Veronica was up at 2:15. I put her back at 5:40 and Maria was up at 6:30. So for those mathmeticians out there, that's like less than three hours where we weren't with one or other of the kids. I love them a lot but that is too much! Anyways. I am hopeful she sleeps tonight and that it gets better. I have been going to this little prayer/mom's group thing on Friday mornings and this morning Veronica couldn't stay with the other kids and the babysitter. She is just ... tender, or something. So I hope it doesn't last because although it's sweet, it's also annoying and tiresome.
She is still not talking but man can she boss a person around! She plays peekaboo, plays catch, gets whatever she wants to eat, and the only thing she'll really do is nod her head 'no'. I am hopeful that she starts talking soon, it would just ease my mind a little.

Oh, Veevsy

2010-11-12T14:47:00.000-08:00

She really knows how to have a good time.

Ahoy, Veronica!

2010-11-10T16:10:00.001-08:00

Snackwell

2010-11-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

She loves these Snackwells cookies, and she's the only one that likes them so no one ever bugs her for them, which I bet she also loves. She has some BAD excema, at least that's what I assume it is. Horrible patches of red bumps, almost like blisters but dry. We are taking her for her 18 month appointment next week and I'll ask about it then.

Fun

2010-11-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

She had fun, too, even though she still has the pen!

Serious Swinging

2010-11-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

Doesn't she look serious? Especially with that pen? Like some accountant, swinging, or something.

I was telling my Mom today, Veronica is getting VERY ... um....I don't want to say it's bad but she is really coming into her own, as far as making her wants and needs known. Up to this point, she has been pretty sweet and calm, but she is SICK of a certain SISTER of hers taking every DAMNED thing, if you know what I mean. And I think that you do.

Seriously, this is like .2 seconds

2010-11-07T04:23:00.000-08:00

My mom asked what was she so mad about and I said I don't know, I don't even remember. She rarely gets mad, but I guess when she does it's fast forgotten. Lately she has been a BEAR to put down for a nap and for bed. She is in for the shock of her young life when she gets her own room and I start just LEAVING her in there to cry. Ha ha! Not really, I am not laughing because I think it's funny, but it's more of a victory cry. I think she's only crying because we have been rushing in there to make her STOP crying because she wakes up Maria, and once she has her own room and can settle herself down, I think it will be better. Eventually, we will probably move she and Maria into the same room again but for now I'll be glad when they can have their own space for sleeping.

Maybe Next Year

2010-11-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Veronica didn't go trick or treating this year, she was up allll night on Saturday. I got home at 11:00 and I was having some trouble sleeping around 11:45, but I was determined to stay in bed so I could get some rest in case the kids were up early. Right then is when Veronica woke up and she was up until 4:45. She was pretty miserable during the day, so we figured maybe teeth? She seems fine today, who knows. Anyways, she wanted to put on Maria's costume after she got home, so I put it on her. She is funny, I put on the body part and she handed me the hat - "Meh! Meh!" she said, accusingly, so I put it on her. Ha!

Veevsy

2010-10-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

She's super cute, right? What will we do in the new house, I wonder? Should I keep the girls sharing a room and just set up a crib for Veronica in the fourth bedroom? They are used to each other, mostly. Veronica likes to shout a little bit before she goes to sleep and that makes Maria crazy, but it only happens every third night or so and they usually quiet down after a few minutes. My guess is that we'll keep them together for a while.

Still not much talking from V. She is very engaged and pointy and babbly, so I'm not worried but it would be nice if she would just start to talk so I could stop not worrying about it.

Rash

2010-10-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

Poor Veevsy Voovsy has a rash, she can't nap because of it, so we had a mid-day bath. She is too big for that sink and made a mess!

Pretty

2010-10-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

She's been having some trouble sleeping, both going to sleep and staying asleep. I am hopeful this means she is getting ready to talk more, it's as good a theory as any, I suppose.

Humiliation

2010-10-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

I am always letting Anthony ride on my back like this, sometimes I do pushups with him on my back, because he likes the feeling of going up and down like that. Of course, the girls don't care about any therapeutic reason for it, they just think it's a good time. Because we haven't had any rain in six months or whatever the hell, our backyard is just like cement. So that is a fake smile, is what I am saying.

On the chair on the table

2010-10-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

I had the chair on the table, so I could clean it off and then do the floors. She is a nut with the climbing, but I look back at Maria and Anthony's blogs and they were the same way, so I guess it just seems worse, the older I get. I must put her down off of something 20 times a day. I am looking forward to this stage being over. It's already better, because she does seem to know that she's up there and won't just walk off, like she would have a few months ago. But still. It's alarming.

Busy and Happy

2010-10-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

We have fun while Maria is in school. Two weeks ago we went for walks, last week we laid low because I was sick and today we went shopping. She was grumpy today because they both woke up early but she's napping now.

outfit

2010-09-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Cute, right? I picked her up the tshirt at Target the other day and the pants are Maria's. They're size 18-24 months so she is kind of swimming in them, but they stay up, which is all I care about.

Hanging Around

2010-09-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ha, I couldn't resist. She was only in this cute outfit for like two seconds today. She has a little rash, so I gave her a bath with oatmeal. It seems to have helped, she was super scratchy before. She is as crazy as ever with the climbing. I swear she is worse than Anthony or Maria ever dreamed of being.

Sunday in the yard

2010-09-28T15:15:00.001-07:00

Sunday Visit

2010-09-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

We are trying to get more pictures with family. Sunday I went to have dinner with a friend of mine from NJ who was flying through Chicago, and I called Mike when I was on my way and said "take lots of pictures!". So he did. Mike's sister Lori came up and our niece Hillary, who is her daughter. The girls took a little while to warm up but then they were great, Mike said. I think Veronica looks like me in the second picture, but there's another one where I think she looks just like Mike!

SRSLY

2010-09-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

She gets v. serious about that damned belt on her highchair.

Teeny

2010-09-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

She looks small here, right? She is, I guess. I can't believe how much she eats and how she remains so teensy. She never stops moving, maybe that's it. She runs her legs the whole time she is sitting down, like in her car seat or whatever. She seems like she's unhappy, because she kind of grunts and groans and runs her legs, but then her face looks fine. She's a weirdo, just like the rest of them. And like everyone, I guess!

Oldest and Youngest

2010-09-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

They really are alike, right? Everyone says how much Anthony and Maria are alike but I think he and Veronica are similar too. I think they are all so good looking! I know I'm prejudiced but really, aren't they so cute? They kill me.

Bye Bye!

2010-09-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's still all she says, practically. She is too busy climbing on the table every second of the day to learn more words. Ha!

Wagon

2010-09-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Veronica loves the wagon. She can get in, but not out. She has been a little sicky this week, she was up in the night once, cranky, etc. She is probably getting teeth, although who can tell?

Veronica, at the Park

2010-09-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have messed with this so much I can't even look at it anymore. But she was so cute, just going off on her own a little bit. We went out last night and she was up, crying, at like 9:00 and then was awake for two hours or something insane. I am hoping and praying she doesn't make a habit of it. Maria was sick yesterday, so I was worried Veronica was getting it. She threw up on Friday morning, but she's been fine since.

One Year Ago Today

2010-09-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, we took Veronica to the zoo for the first time. I guess the biggest difference this year is that she is a PERSON and last year she was a LITTLE BABY. Mike took her to her 15 month appointment today, she weighs 21 pounds and is some amount of inches. Ahem. :)

Bridget

2010-08-31T04:54:00.000-07:00

Oh, she looks just like my cousin Bridget here. Although I don't recall Bridget being such a LOON about CLIMBING everywhere. Poor Veronica is sick, and I am too. We are both being big babies about it.

Bye Bye!

2010-08-25T16:07:00.001-07:00

Anthony

2010-08-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

Jeez, she looks like Anthony here, to me. She loves going in this little door and shutting it and saying "bye bye!" to Maria.

Slide

2010-08-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

She loves the slide, loves climbing up it, sliding down it, the whole bit. She is so strong and climb-y, now she even climbs up the ladder on the other side. Sheesh.

Yes?

2010-08-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

I am being pulled in the wagon, yes? By my sister, yes?

Pretty V

2010-08-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Devoted Sisters

2010-08-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

They can be so sweet together. Sometimes Maria can be a little rough with Veronica, but mostly they are just nice to each other.

Loony Bin

2010-08-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

Of course, she is the craziest climber yet. She is UP on EVERYTHING all the time. These children are almost certainly going to be the death of me. It's 8:30 in the morning and I am already going mad.

Balloon

2010-08-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

She was looking at a balloon that she'd just let go.

Almost 15 months

2010-08-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

She'll be fifteen months old in a week. I am looking forward to getting some WORDS from this girl. She said cookie tonight, which was exciting. Otherwise, she calls everything "mama".

Sweet

2010-07-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Right? Isn't she sweet? She is not so sweet in the middle of the night, when she does NOT want to go back to sleep, but mostly all the rest of the time she is sweet.

Bridget

2010-07-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

She looks like my cousin Bridget here. I never think she looks like anyone and then all of a sudden, she does.

Funny Face

2010-07-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

She wants to do everything the other two do. Anthony and Maria had just been on the trampoline before she got up there, she's a pretty good jumper, too!

Cute!

2010-07-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Cute, right? I am never sure if I should put pictures like this up so I will keep an eye on the traffic to this entry. And if it's a lot, I'll just remove it. So stay away, pervs!

Oh, Vivi

2010-07-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous girl. I cut her bangs and I was worried it was a terrible haircut but now it's growing on me. And on her. Ha!

Sweet

2010-07-21T15:26:00.000-07:00