We finally got a new camera!!!!!!!!!

We had a camera. A nice one. It died. At the zoo in Atlanta.

Now we have a new one. So I can start blogging again. Without stealing pictures.

(except ours is copper)

The Paper Paccie

Around our house, the paccie may be gone but it is certainly not forgotten. Oh yes, Maddy goes to sleep just fine without it now but when she is having a rough day, Maddy still wants it! In fact, when we were recently discussing the "prize" to work towards for this "round" on the behavior chart, Cady wanted to work towards princess toothpaste but Maddy chose a paccie. Upon being denied that request, she settled on princess toothpaste too but I'm sure it's a pretty poor substitute for a paccie, in her book.

Recently, when Maddy had had a particularly difficult evening, she had a tough time falling asleep. She fussed and fussed. She cried and cried for her paccie. After a few attempts on my part to calm her down, big sis trotted upstairs to see what she could do to help. After a few minutes, Cady came back downstairs and began drawing. What was she drawing? You got it -- a paccie!! Her sister wanted a paccie, so Cady drew her one and carefully cut it out. She then took it up to Maddy, who quieted down soon thereafter.

The next morning when I went in to wake them up, Maddy was snuggled up in her crib, clutching her paper paccie.

Happy Birthday, Superman Guy!!

Yes, today is Ray's birthday and yes, that is what Maddy said to him this morning!

Musings on motherhood

My father, the great educator in my book, always used to say that a child's personality is formed by the time he/she is five years old. If that is the case, then we're in trouble. And I feel as if I'm the cause.

Let me vent. Our dear firstborn, Cady, can be sweet and so very helpful. Her temperament is can turn on a dime, however and she gets what we refer to as her "angry face." She tries me beyond anything I've ever experienced before. I pledge daily to myself and to God that I will be patient and loving, yet many days Cady pushes me (and pushes me and pushes me) to where I "lose it", sometimes before we're even out the door in the morning. Hair brushing is never good.

I want so badly to be consistent and calm and patient. I try. I really do. Really, really. But I feel as though the times that I have failed in that department have molded Cady into a sometimes angry, sometimes sad little girl and it breaks my heart. But when I see her treat her sister unkindly ... ooo, I get so mad. And pre-school? Not a fan sometimes. It's made her grow up faster than I'd like. Coming home with words like "Booty" and "boyfriend".

How can I teach my little girl to be kind and compassionate when I'm imperfect? I feel like Cady just remembers my outbursts and follows suit, instead of noting the rest of the time when I think I'm a pretty good mom.

And I guarantee that, in black and white, this does not sound like that big of a problem but if you could see the face, the stomping from the room, see how quickly she gets angry and frustrated, hear the "I hate homework", you'd understand why I tear up as I write this.

Visiting family (part 1)

On July 2, the four of us flew up to Maryland to spend the long holiday weekend in Salisbury with Mom and Pat. Ray aptly described our visit in one word, serenity.

Highlights of our weekend (sans pictures due to the tragic passing of our camera) included:

• Ray and I took Cady to the Hebron Fireman's Carnival, a little local carnival complete with cotton candy, Bingo and a rickety roller coaster. All was going well until we all loaded onto the ferris wheel ... the ride was reeeeaaaaallllly long and fast, and combined with some greasy carnival food, well, let's just say we headed home soon thereafter.
• Ray helped Pat put in a house fan. This was a full-day project where Ray got to hone his installation skills, having put one in our house a few months ago.
• After I drove Ray back to the airport in Baltimore, I drove to Alexandria, VA to spend some time with old friends. Jill and Amy, thanks for being great hostesses and Mom, thanks for watching the girls for a whole day!! It was wonderful to get away for a day, do a little shopping, and go out to dinner with friends.
• Blueberry picking with Mom. We spent barely 30 minutes at a local farm and we picked a LOT of blueberries and we discovered that Cady is a great little picker! She is discriminating and enthusiastic!

We spent 9 days in Salisbury and we were still not ready to leave.

Visiting family (part 2)

After spending a wonderful week in Maryland, we traveled down the Virginia Beach to spend the rest of our vacation with Ray's parents. With the exception of one cloudy day, the weather couldn't have been better for "beach week"!! It was a little cooler than usual July weather and sunny, sunny, sunny! We invited friends over for a couple mornings on the beach and spent some lovely evenings relaxing on the beach as well.

Grandma Weezie was kind enough to watch the girls several times so I could do fun things like shopping BY MYSELF, going out to breakfast with a dear friend, and going out on a girl date to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Louise spoils me!!

On our last day in Virginia Beach, we went with Grandma Weezie to Hunt Club Farm, a local farm with a petting zoo. I was hoping for pony rides too but those are only on the weekends. Boo. The petting zoo was great though! We fed the goats, walked into the chickens' pen and Maddy even fed the horse. There was a giant sandbox that the girls played in for about 3 minutes. After playing on the playground, we ate our picnic lunch and headed home.

It was an absolutely fab-fab-fabulous (Cady's word) vacation and none of us wanted to come home, except to see Daddy!

Adieu to the pacifier!

For months now, I have been planning to wean Maddy off her ever-more addicting pacifier. Apparently, children get MORE attached to the thing as they get older, so I've been dreading it. Putting it off. Avoiding it. But Ray suggested that we take advantage of our trip to visit our families and accidentally "leave" the pacifiers there.

Make no mistake, it wasn't an accident and we didn't leave them there. That makes it doubly difficult when Maddy is asking, pleading and crying for her pacifier!!

We arrived home from our two-week vacation a week ago and we started our experiment that night. We figured that Maddy would be out of sorts after the vacation and all the traveling, so might as well add fuel to the fire and go for broke. Boy, did she wail! I think I was crying just as hard as she was, and it was so hard because I knew exactly where the object of her desire was. If Ray hadn't been strong, I would've broken down.

But I have to say, since that first night, it's been bearable. Not enjoyable, but bearable. Maddy still asks for her pacifier daily but isn't crying for it. The worst side effect is that, since her mouth isn't plugged up, she won't quiet down and GO TO SLEEP when it's bedtime or naptime!! She talks to her bear, her babies, Cady, herself, whoever. It's taking her an average of an hour to fall asleep at naptime. And for those of you who know me well, you know that I don't like variations in sleep schedules ... but we're surviving!!