Proudest Mommy-Moment to Date

It isn't often that you'd find me at my desk at work, crying (although believe me - I've been on the verge many, many times). It happened today. But today they were happy tears. Thankful tears. Tears that came from validation that hubby and I are doing something completely right with our babies ... Or even more, that God is working thru us and them.

My husband sent me an instant message at work (we are employed by the same company) that he had just talked with his mom, who watches our girls. His first message to me was "Amazing Riley". This is of no surprise to me, as she is always amazing. But then his words that followed ...

"Riley was playing with a Polly Pocket and a Spiderman figurine today. Poly was yelling "help! Save me!", trying to escape Spiderman. Mom told her that Spiderman is a good guy and he saves people, to which Riley replied:

"No. GOD saves people".

Thank you Jesus. Thank you for working thru our daughter and having such an effect on her life. I can't begin to imagine what the Lord has in store for her. God is good.

Potty Training Successes

Riley was easy to train when it came going pee-pee and we did this over a 3-day weekend back in August. However, the poo-poo portion of the equation has been a much longer experience. However, just like that - and on her OWN TERMS (as oodles of people told me it would be), just this past week Riley began using the potty for everything and making Pull Ups a thing of the past!

Of course, we celebrate like crazy each time and she does the ritual where everyone present at the time must parade into the bathroom to catch a look. My oh my, what we do for our children! The final part of her celebration is making a phone call to both sets of Grandparents to share the news, typically followed by a song that involves a ladybug or a black sheep climbing up a hill. :)

After this morning's phone call - her 5th call for such occasion this week - I told my mother-in-law that I feel she will be 9 years old and still making these daily calls at this rate! And if she wants to ... We will support it. The bathroom parade to catch a glimpse of the "prize"? Not so sure about that one...

Playing Mrs. Claus

It's creeping towards midnight and the hubby and I just finished playing Mr and Mrs Claus for the girls as we dug the gifts out of their secret hiding places and thoughtfully arranged them around the living room. For Sophie, 1 yr and 4 days old, tomorrow morning won't really mean much. For Riley, however (3 yrs old), she is adorably enchanted by all things Christmas for the first time, really. As she fell asleep tonight she asked me if I heard Santa on our roof. She has it all down pat, how it will happen. Santa will come down the chimney, eat the cookies and drink the milk, and leave presents and fill their stockings. This she knows because, according to her, she and Sophie are on the Good List this year. (However she did tell me "when Sophie gets bigger she will be on the Bad List"). :)

I have so, so much to catch this blog up on and decided tonight was as food a night as any. So now I'll fall into bed, hearing Riley in my mind, singing "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingle all the way to tooooown..." in my head, as she sang it a lot tonight. My two babes are deep in sleep, snuggled in their matching Christmas Eve jammies right now, and tomorrow will be so magical. And the best part? Riley knows its Baby Jesus' birthday. And that is the best present to me.

Life with Two ...

... is the most amazing feeling in the world.
... has taught me that it is really true.  Your love does multiply, it doesn't divide.
... allows you little extra time to do anything such as keep up on your personal blog.

... makes me wonder why I was so tired the first time around.

Life with two takes my breath away multiple times a day.  Life with two is my life now.  And it's the only life I want to have.

Time to Protect the Crib!

With all that Riley has been doing lately, I assume it will be only a short time until she is pulling herself up in her crib and using the railing as a teething toy. A very expensive teething toy. Seeing as how she has a convertible crib and I plan on it being her bed until she gets married, I really don't want there to be any teeth marks in it. I'll have the memories of her teething days written in her baby book ... no reason to document them in the fine wood of her crib as well.

I had planned to channel my crafty self and enlist my very talented mom to make my own bumper-type pad for the railing. Up until recently the only thing I could find as far as teething protection was this gummy strip thing that adhered to your crib. The reviews were far from good and most people said it stripped the finish off the crib rails when removed. Not good.

But just last week I thought I'd give Babies R Us one more try and see if they'd added any new products such as this - and they HAD! I was very excited to find this side rail guard and this front rail guard.

I was a bit bummed that the chocolate brown ones were sold out, but figured going with the natural color would have more potential for re-use with the next baby, so it probably worked out best. I received them yesterday (they are available online only) but Riley was already in bed by time I opened them. This morning I put the side rail ones on and I'll put the front rail one on when I get home. Aesthetically, I couldn't be more pleased - they look great so far and seem to be very well made. They are very soft and no doubt she'll chew on them, but I'd much rather her chew on them than her beautiful bed!

So I thought I'd post this just in case any of you were looking for something similar! I'll add a picture tonight of what her bed looks like with these on.