Faith's 10th Birthday

I cannot believe that my firstborn has just celebrated her first decade.  I am so proud of my creative, loving, spirited child!  We celebrated this birthday in a few different steps...see photos below.

My shabby attempt at the ritualistic "rocking the birthday child the night before" that my mom passed down to me and still does when she can get her hands on us.  It probably would have worked better with a rocker...

Our birthday dinner at the Damn Yankee diner.  Despite reviews, it was not a good representation of American food, but we tried.  She had ribs so she was happy!

I am so evil, she had to make her own cake!!!! 

The Added Sparkle Party Fairies kept Faith and her 5 friends busy with games, magazine scavenger hunts, face tattoos, glitter body tattoos, manicures, pedicures, dancing, cupcake decorating and a catwalk. Thank goodness for these ladies, they were amazing!



Pink Lemonade Fountain





Cruising for snacks





Ruby NOT eating a cupcake!





Ruby had a guest too (Mr. Donovan)





Getting ready for the catwalk



Goofy Girls

I love you, Faith!



Tired Mom

http://askdrsears.com/html/7/T070900.asp

It is 11:00 PM, and I have two children awake, not one, but two.  How am I even venting this on a blog?  I am forcing the older non-sleeper to hold the younger non-sleeper so I can have one moment without another human hanging on me...but, she is holding her over me and punching me in the face with her baby sister's fist.  Really? 

I actually came in here for sleep solution ideas from parenting websites.  Instead, I found an article  by Dr. Sears, my absolute favorite baby doc, about why it is so hard for "high needs" children to go to sleep and stay asleep.  Most of my day and night is spent trying to get Ruby to sleep, trying to keep her to sleep, or wishing she would go to sleep. 

Faith...she is another story.  She has been sick the past two days and at home with little activity which makes beditme hard.  Ok, tired of being punched in the face by a 4 month old and her 10 year old caregiver! Help!

Wow, that was my 5 minute blog break...time to go try bedtime again.

To swing or not to swing?

Ruby was born, she cried and she kinda never stopped.  Love her to death, little dimples, runny poops and all, but she is what is commonly classified by Dr. Sears as a "high needs baby".  Some call her spoiled, some call her a tyrant, some call her fussy and some don't even know what to call her.

After months of debating whether or not to get an electric swing to soothe her, help her sleep and give my arms and back a break, we found one at the thrift store on base.  This was particularly helpful since we didn't know how she would react to it and we didn't want to make it a big investment.  I was secretly worried that I might depend on this fabulous contraption a bit too much, neglecting her real needs in the process.  Oh really?  She did fall fast asleep the first go with it, and that was about it.  She soon figured out that this silly plastic bucket is not as fun to sleep with as mom. 

It now sits in the kitchen with toys hooked to it so that she can watch me do dishes and laundry for short bursts at a time.  Don't be deceived by the smile you see in the swing, that was coaxed out of her! So...if anyone needs a fairly new swing, gently used and in great condition...

Hello, Blog.

I have never desired to blog.  The word itself just sounds bleh.  But, I believe in self sacrifice for the good of my family so I do this for all of you. I want everyone back home in the states to follow our lives here as we watch our babies grow (both big and little), attend numerous school functions, playgroups and La Leche League meetings, explore uncharted English territory (for us anyway) including castles, enchanted forests and tea rooms, celebrate new holidays, get promotions at work, dive into new and exciting antenatal work, carry on with the mundane details of life and get rained on for the next 3 years. 

Facebook was tired of housing my tons of photos and you can only post so many roll over stories before they get boring, and so here we are, attempting this.  Hope it works!