December 2010 Archives

I'd like to say that the holidays this year have been a time of great happiness and joy but while that was true for some of it, it's also been very stressful and filled with sickness, crabbiness and doctor's visits.

Juliette had pneumonia, Lily and Juliette had back to back ear infections, they're teething, Maia has been terrible to put down for naps and bed ever since her binky disappeared, Juliette vomited all over me, all three girls have some sort of viral rash all over their bodies and now Lily and Juliette are constipated.  My aunt Nancy has been in and out of the hospital this month, all three girls have been ridiculously whiny and it's all about "Mama mama mama" for everything.

On the other hand, my brother and sister-in-law and their kids were in and around town for the week along with Grandma Laurine so it was great to see all of them.  We had a lovely Christmas morning opening gifts and a fun "Peterson Christmas".  My dad was sick so he couldn't make it but it was still great to see Annabelle and Maia get to play together again and to see how big James has grown since we last saw them.  The girls and I also were able to go to my cousins Rob and Jackie's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with the extended family so we had a lot of fun with that too.  Our neighborhood does a Christmas Eve luminary thing where families put out paper bags with candles so we participated in that and I loved driving through the neighborhood without headlights and see all of the pretty lights.  It was very peaceful!

Grandma Laurine had to leave today.  I'm sad that the kids were so sick/crabby while she was here since she doesn't get to see them very often.  C'est la vie.  Hopefully everyone is back to their old selves next time!

Happy New Year's everyone!  May it bring health and happiness to all.

Last weekend we said goodbye to Maia's binky.  It has been quite a journey with the binky from the beginning.  I remember refusing to give it to her when she was a baby because I was afraid it would interfere with nursing, and then I didn't want to give it to her because I didn't want to be the parent with the kid who always had a binky in her mouth.  For awhile she was, but after Lily and Juliette were born we restricted it to naps and bed only and it's been that way ever since.  A couple of weeks ago Maia started getting a rash/dry skin around her mouth and we decided it was time.  We told her that the binky was making her mouth hurt and that there were babies that needed the binky more than she did.  Maia mailed her binky to a baby girl and she was excited about that but nap time all week was really awful.  Surprisingly, bedtime was easy other than the extra stalling so now I think we're in a good place.  Neither Lily nor Juliette use one so our house is now binky-free.

Maia also moved to a "big girl bed" a few months ago.  It is really just a toddler bed (her crib with a side bar) but it's been good  for her though she's already bigger than what they say the max height is to use the bed!  It won't be long before she's in a big double bed (our crib converts) and that will be bittersweet.

Potty-training is going well.  During the day she only wears underwear except for naps when she insists on wearing a pull-up.  For a long time she refused to go #2 in the potty but some candy bribery fixed that pretty quick.  Now I just have to figure out how to not have to give her candy after going potty!