I'm not ready...

I'm not ready for Peyton to turn 3. Maybe I'm so sleep deprived and can't remember, but I think the terrible twos wasn't so bad. Don't get me wrong, Peyton is a handful, to put it mildly. She has an endless supply of energy that wears us thin most days. People, after spending a short amount of time with Peyton, often comment on her hyperactivity. She's a busy girl. And in my mind, she has won several Oscars for Most Dramatic Meltdown and Drama Queen. The kid knows how to use her lungs. In fact, she is teaching Campbell quite nicely how to efficiently use her lung capacity when she wants something NOW. Thanks kiddo.

But, she's getting older! I often find myself in awe when she says or does something that an older kid would do. I am just not ready for it. I have enjoyed the past year with her so much, I am afraid to see what the new year is going to bring us. Is she going to start being too cool for her mommy and daddy? Sometimes she calls me Mom or, gasp, Katie! Don't stop saying mommy yet please! I am so not ready to be Mom. What if she doesn't want to snuggle with me anymore because she needs to divert all her attention on selecting an outfit for the day? Oh the horror.

I will have to admit that it is pretty neat seeing her develop into her own person. Her fashion style is impressive (on most days), and her vocabulary is expanding by the minute. Speaking of, this afternoon when she was frustrated about not being able to open her lunchbox, she muttered "oh damnit." YIKES. Definitely have to watch Every. Word. I. Say. Her new favorite phrase is, "Oh, that's so cool!" It cracks me up everytime she says it. Could she BE any cuter?

One of her favorite things to do nowadays is sing. And I may be a little biased, but she is awesome at it! She learns the words to a song much faster than me, and she loves to sing at the top of her lungs. One of her favorite groups is Sugarland. Like I said, they kid's got style. She snaps, she swings her booty (or head if she's in the carseat), and she belts it out. I absolutely love it.

Dear Peyton, please don't grow up too fast for me. I just cannot handle it! You are my firstborn and have a special place in my heart. Love you sweetie!

Anyone up for some shoplifting?

This past Friday, I took the girls with me to a cute store at the summit called Swoozies to pick out invitations for Campbell and Peyton's birthday parties. First of all, taking your grumpy two-year old to a nice store is not a good idea. Peyton touched everything and picked up only the things that were breakable. The poor sales lady was sweating with worry. After 30 minutes of deciding on the right invitation for both girls, picking out the cutest font and wording, we were done. We looked around the store for a minute and found some cute lunchboxes for the girls, then finally went to check out. The sales lady and I were having small talk while I was paying, and the girls were quiet for once. Side note - quiet = someone is up to no good. We walked out, loaded up into the car as quickly as possible since it was 98 degrees, and off we went. Just as I pulled out of the parking lot, Peyton says:

Mommy, look at my ring. Oh, it is just so pretty.


My mind was quickly replaying every step in the store, and instantly my stomach started getting queasy.


Um, Peyton, we didn't get a ring.

No, mommy, look!


I finally mustered up the couraged and slowly turned my head back so that I could see what had. Yep, a really cute ring was sitting on her tiny finger. (Side note - the kid's got style.)

I was horrified, yet found myself laughing. Only Peyton.


I wasn't able to return the ring that day, then I am working all weekend, so Monday we will make a return trip to the store so Peyton and I can apologize (profusely) and pay for the lovely ring. I can't take it away from her, that's just too mean. She is only two afterall. Plus I might be borrowing that ring a few times. She really did pick a cute ring!

Hopefully there won't be a WANTED sign posted on the store window with a picture of Peyton on it...

She's walking!

Campbell is walking!

She's been taking a few steps at a time for the past month or so, but as of this week she is taking several steps at a time. And she's only 10 months old! Well, she will be 11 months on Sunday, but I'm still writing it down as walking at 10 months. What a genius!

I am long overdue on uploading pictures and I will do so soon. I am amazed at how some moms blog every night or every other night. By the time bedtime arrives for the kids, I am begging to get in bed myself. Two kids under the age of three really keep you busy. And I am sure it's going to get even crazier now that both can walk. Yikes!

Other accomplishments Campbell has achieved/things about her:
Two more teeth are coming in (her top front) for a grand total of 4.
She is clapping, dancing, and waving bye bye.
She can say mama, bye bye, milk and other words that I cannot think of right now (I'm such a bad mom!).
She no longer uses the bath seat in the bathtub; she now sits in the tub like her big sister, which isn't always the best thing since the floor is a slippery little sucker.
She likes "talking" on the cell phones, knows to hold it up to her ear.
She LOVES climbing up on things.
She figured out how to climb on and off our bed, but is unsuccessful quite a bit (the bruises say it all).
She has the best belly laugh!
When she does talk, her voice is always so hoarse - probably from her screaming nonstop the first few months, thanks to colic.
She will eat ANYTHING you give her or she snatches away from her sister.
She loves blueberries, puffs, toddler cheetos, sweet potatoes; ok she loves all food.
She uses the sippy cup so well; still drinking formula and water, no juices yet although I'm sure she would love to.
She wears 12-18 months clothes. The kid has some meat on her bones.

Overall, she is a happy, healthy little girl who loves playing with her big sister!

I cannot believe that in a month, Campbell will be 1 and Peyton will be 3. Crazy!!

Wait, are they twins?

No, the girls are not twins, obviously, since they are 2 years apart - two years and 4 days if you really want to know. Try to ask me their birthdays and it takes me a minute before I say them correctly (August 27th, 2008 and August 31st, 2010). But, going back to the whole point of this post, Campbell has recently developed two traits that are IDENTICAL to Peyton and it makes me wonder.

The first trait is the infamous crawl. Anywhere we went, people would stop and watch Peyton crawl. She never once crawled like a normal infant. Instead, she would always tuck her left leg under her torso and use the right leg and her hands to crawl. You see this exact same thing with gorillas to give you a better image. In fact, one person even named her crawl as the 'gorilla crawl.' Although it was very awkward and amusing to watch, Peyton knew what she was doing. The girl was a speed demon. Her poor left leg was always covered in scratches, but she was very efficient and had no trouble going anywhere she wanted. I often found myself running after her she was that fast.

We were all waiting to see how Campbell would crawl and at first, she crawled like a normal infant. But then one day out of the blue, Campbell started tucking her left leg under and now she is a speed demon. I think she started doing it so she could keep up with Peyton and her nieces. I was content have a normal crawler that wasn't able to get around too fast, but I will admit, it is pretty neat and fun watching Campbell crawling an awkward crawl her big sister used to do.

The second trait that Campbell has developed is not a good or cute trait. In fact, it is a very smelly and bad one. Peyton became well known for her ability to rip her clothes and diapers off during nap time, no matter how many layers of clothes and how many layers of diapers, and use that newfound freedom to poop in the bed and then use that poop to decorate herself and the crib. I did everything in the books to get her to stop doing this. I seeked advice from all parents I knew and even dedicated my facebook status to the "help me stop Peyton from decorating with poop" cause, asking everyone for advice on how to get her to stop doing this. It was a daily struggle that lasted months. Finally, I was able to successfully address the issue by putting footed PJs on backwards on Peyton, thus making the zipper out of her reach as it was now on her back. It took awhile to learn how to put footed PJs on backwards, but man, it solved the problem and all was well.

Until one day, I walked into the nursery to get Campbell up for her nap and I was met with overwhelming smell and sensation that it was happening again. Yep, Campbell was standing there with a huge grin on her face and buck naked. She had taken her clothes and diapers off, pooped, then decorated her crib with her new art material. I screamed and screamed and screamed. HOW COULD SHE KNOW HOW TO DO THIS??? Why do BOTH my girls insist on doing this?? What is the deal??

Campbell has demonstrated her new skill twice now, and the second time it was so bad that I spent 30 minutes scrubbing her down with a TOOTHBRUSH and soap because she managed to get the stuff everywhere. Campbell screamed the whole time, so maybe when she thinks about doing it again, she will remember the scrub down and decide not to decorate. But, knowing my girls, Campbell will continue to do it. Time to get the footed PJs out from storage.

Thankful

Two weekends ago on May 14th, my parents hosted a huge graduation party at their house for my brother and his friends since all graduation ceremonies in Tuscaloosa were cancelled due to the tornadoes. Several of his roommates, his girlfriend and her family, several high school friends and their families arrived to party in style. Dreamland BBQ was served and every type of alcohol was provided. Good conversations flowed in between good company. All the baby girls were cute as could be and behaved so well. The weather was perfect, allowing us to sit on the porch and enjoy ourselves. Mom's BFF and interior designer added perfect touches to the house and it looked beautiful. It was a perfect night and gave us the opportunity to celebrate Taylor's graduation the Ritchie way. At the party, I would occasionally look over at my brother and become overwhelmed with pride (and annoyance - Dean's List, really Taylor? Smartass.) that he survived college. And that he survived a massive tornado that took so many lives. I still can't get through one day without panicking, thinking about what could have been if the tornado had taken a slightly different path. Everyday, the image of the huge F4 tornado slowly (in reality, it was too fast for adequate warning) creeping across Tuscaloosa, taking lives with every second it lasted on the ground flashes before my eyes. I truly, truly thought I was watching my brother die as I sat on the couch, watching the live feed on tv, quietly sobbing my heart out. Those few moments are something I never want to experience again. My brother and his girlfriend emerged from his apartment physically unscathed, but filled with emotional scars. They have been so brave during the past few weeks and I constantly find myself in awe of how well they are handling things.

The graduation party had a special meaning to my family and me as we sat there and celebrated another milestone achieved, and celebrated this delicate thing called life.

So proud of you Taylor.

She's a storyteller

Peyton's new thing is telling stories. And it is hilarious to see and hear.

When Brad or I come home from work, she will launch into stories of what happened that day. My favorite part is that she will reenact the story with different voices, face expressions, and hand gestures. She will imitate who said what, even including when the dogs howled at the tornado sirens - I died laughing at her howling. Often she throws in words and noises that we cannot decipher, but they make us laugh so hard. I am going to try to get a video soon, it is just too funny.

But with this new thing, I have learned that I really, really have to watch what I am saying. Nothing goes unrepeated nowadays. Peyton really got into this story she told Brad, and repeated every single word I said. Including adult words that accidently slipped out of my mouth. Whoops.

Also, with this new storytelling feat, it can be really embarrassing. Like when she told her teachers that "mommy pooped on the potty like a big girl, good job mommy!" Thanks a lot Peyton. Sure glad we shared that with everyone. I have a feeling that everyone is going to know everything about us soon. Ah, the joys of having a toddler.

Eight Months Old!

Today Campbell turned 8 months old. Meaning, in four months, I will have a three year old and a one year old. How crazy is that? Where has the time gone? I know how the time HASN'T been spent...

Campbell is quite mobile nowadays. She is crawling and even has these speed crawling bursts where she is able to cross the room within seconds. She pulls herself up on anything and everything, including objects that are not stationary. Meaning, she has a lot of bruises on her poor head. She has stood up without support for very brief moments, so I am wondering if she is going to be an early walker. When I hold her hands and try to get her to walk across the room, she is no where near being stable on her feet, so I think it might be a little longer before she is actually walking. But that is ok with me. I am not ready for both girls to be that mobile!

Campbell loves baby food when she is not sick. Loves her veggies, especially green beans and peas, in addition to squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She has started to eat the baby stage cheese puffs, and has fallen in love with those. She also likes yogurt melts, ice cream, and whipped cream. My pediatrician would die if she knew Campbell was eating some of the foods she does. But, when you have a big sister like Peyton, you are going to be offered anything. Including foods that Peyton doesn't want to eat for dinner. How convenient for Peyton...

Campbell is a happy baby, laid back and likes to watch what is going on around her. She definitely has her moments where she wants to be held and will not be happy until she is held. She knows how to cry on cue, demanding the nearest person to pick her up at that very moment.

Poor Campbell has spent most of her first eight months sick, but she is such a trooper, even when she has those high fevers. Peyton was occasionally sick during her first year, and only had a fever maybe 2 or 3 times. Campbell, on the other hand, sports 103 fevers like it's a fashion trend. But, she tolerates them well and even lets us (mom and dad) love on her for those brief moments she sits still.

She has two teeth, but doesn't look like any more are coming in soon. She still does not sleep through the night, but is getting better about it. The reflux is still miserable, especially during times where she has nasal/chest congestion, but it's slowly improving.

She really is a fabulous kid, just a little high maintenance and busy. Peyton adores her and does so well with her. We are loving life as a family of four, although we could use more sleep around here!