Sharing

We have been teaching Marilynn to share. And while she's getting better about sharing her toys, she is really generous about sharing her food. She offers baby Erika her grapes, she lets me eat the crusts off her toast and often wants to share her snacks with the kids at school. Tonight we had just finished cleaning up from dinner and I caught Marilynn picking her nose. Just as she was putting a gooey booger in her mouth, she saw me giving her a dirty look. She looked up at me very apologetically, and said "I'm sorry Mommy - do you want some?"

Ummm. No, that's okay. But, thanks for sharing.

The Best Day Ever!

Today is a glorious day. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the world is at peace. Everything is just right today - no, I didn't win the lottery, I didn't lose 25 pounds, I didn't get a promotion, but something better than all of that has happened!

ERIKA SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT AND THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!!!

Yay! Hooray! Celebrate!

I'm so incredibly thankful. All it took was for me to post on Saturday night that I was longing for Erika to sleep through the night. Well, she must have read my blog because she slept that night from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and then last night she slept from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.!!!!

I'm so happy - now, if only I can get myself to sleep through the night . . . .

Erika at 11 weeks

Erika will be 11 weeks old tomorrow - hard to believe that our baby has already gotten so big and has developed so much. At the same time, it's crazy to think that our lives were so different just a few short months ago.

Erika is starting to really express herself by cooing, smiling, giggling and yes, crying. She can hold her head up really well and moves around quite a bit in her crib. She is often in a completely different position when we get her up in the morning (or middle of the night). She is sleeping pretty well - about 2-3 naps during the day and will sleep about 6 hours straight at night. I'm longing for the night that turns to 10-12 hours.

She's a great baby and we've been very lucky to be blessed with two low-key baby girls. I guess we'll get our paybacks when they hit the teenage years.

Sweden

Ah Sweden! Gotta love a country that is known for so many great things. I went with a couple of my girlfriends to see "Mamma Mia" and then we checked out the new H&M (store from Sweden), and I drove them in my Volvo, of course. I might even have to go to Ikea now to make it a complete Swedish weekend! It was a great evening to get away from mommy-hood responsibilities and just be a girl singing Dancing Queen. Flashback to the countless roadtrips with my parents in the early 80s.

My Wife

Nothing fantastic has happened for me to post this. I want anyone reading this to know how much I love my wife. She is the best Mother and Wife a man could ever imagine. Without her life would be boring! Kenneth

Confession: My Child is Smarter Than Me

Recently bath time has become somewhat of a chore. So, I try to incorporate new things to make it more fun for Marilynn. One of my finds are these fizzy things that turn the bath water different colors. They come in red, blue and yellow. I like to give Marilynn choices, so I usually ask her what color she wants her bath to be. She almost always picks blue. My hunch is that yellow looks too much like pee and red water looks like a scene from a Psycho movie or something. But, tonight, she said that she wanted green water. I matter-of-factly said that we don't have green - only red, yellow or blue. She literally rolled her eyes at me, then picked up a yellow and a blue tablet, plopped them into the water at once and the water started turning green. Then, she had a very content look on her face, and said, "See Mommy, I made green." Wow - I'm calling Princeton in the morning.

Bat Girl

Marilynn was her daddy's biggest fan at his softball game tonight. And, she made sure he had plenty of crackers in between innings to keep his pitching up.

Heat wave

It got to a scorching 78 degrees today. So, Marilynn, being the native Washingtonian that she is, was complaining about the heat. We decided today would be a great day to check out the Renton pool - it has a wave pool, a lazy river, a toddler splash area, an Olympic sized pool - everything a little 2 year old could want. We get to the pool, pay our $8, and all she wants to do is play in the fountain at the entrance. Oh well . . .

Girls Day

Ken had a softball tournament today, so it was an all girls day! We started out with a lazy morning in bed.

Then we headed out to the park to enjoy the sand, the water and the slides. I was on a mission to find the best park in Seattle (one of those I read about online), but somehow I ended up at this so-so park in Kirkland.

Luckily, Marilynn's godparents live in Kirkland, so we met them for a cup of coffee and a juice box at Starbucks. Sorry, Sandra, I know promised I wouldn't post this photo to my blog. . .

Then, we headed home for a nap before Aiden's big birthday party. He turned the whopping 1! Marilynn had one too many juice boxes at the party and started kicking up her heels as soon as she heard the music going. She could hardly keep her dress on!

Little Erika

Call it second child syndrome, call it sleep deprivation or call it that Marilynn is more of a camera ham, but we just don't have as many pictures of Erika as we would like. Thankfully, Erika right now is the lowest maintenance member of the Mills clan - she just sits back and waits her turn while the rest of the family is in constant chaos and neediness. She's such a good baby!

Sleep is so overrated

Since I started back at work last week, several people have asked how it's going balancing work and two kids. Well, it's all going great, except that I really miss my sleep. Here's what yesterday/today looked like:

6:00: Get home; feed baby while hubby starts dinner
6:25: Make side dishes since hubby doesn't believe in eating vegetables; feed Marilynn
6:30: Feed hubby and hold baby; hubby holds baby while I inhale my food
7:00: Tuck hubby into bed
7:15: Take girls out for a walk so hubby can fall asleep in peace
7:30: End up at McDonald's somehow - Marilynn wants to go on the slides, Mommy needs coffee!! Note to all single ladies: if you're looking for a man, head over to the play area of McDonald's on a Wednesday night. I swear that all divorcees who have partial custody every other weekend and on Wednesdays, take their kids to McDonald's.
8:00: Loose battle of Marilynn wanting ice cream. Give in because I want a bite too.
8:15: Walk back home; get Marilynn in the bath tub.
8:30: Start to wash Marilynn's hair, but she screams so loudly that hubby wakes up
9:00: Get hubby back to sleep
9:00: Tuck Marilynn into bed - yikes, it's WAY past her bedtime
9:05: Feed Erika
9:30: Marilynn is still not asleep - go upstairs and tell her to sleep (thinking to myself how envious I am that she can sleep and I can't)
11:00: Tuck Erika into bed
11:15: Get work emails out, finish up a proposal for work
12:00: Tuck myself into bed
2:00: Hubby gets up to go off to work; kiss him good bye
4:30: Erika wakes up; feed her; change messy diaper
5:30: Wonder to myself - is it worth it to go back to sleep? Heck yeah! Fall back asleep around 6:00
6:30: Marilynn wakes up ready for the day. Grr.
7:00: Finally go into Marilynn's room and realize that she took her diaper off in the night and wet the bed. Change sheets, get her dressed, make breakfast, answer work emails, wash pee infested sheets
8:00: Erika wakes up; feed her and answer emails at the same time
9:00: Hubby comes home, takes girls off to school and I finally have my first moment of peace since coming home from work. phew!
9:15: Leave for work and look forward to being able to go to the bathroom, eat a bagel and drink a cup of coffee in peace!

It's crazy, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Marilynn and her boyfriend

Yes, she's only 2 1/2 years old, but Marilynn already has a major crush on the boy next door. Much to her father's dismay, they are inseparable. She wakes up each morning asking about him, and runs out to the backyard hoping that he might be outside waiting for her. It's very cute.

We're blogging!

I've never been much of a bragger, but once you have kids that all changes. And, once you have TWO kids, then you really have a reason to share what's going on with your life. So, here it goes, our attempt at blogging. I hope to update it as much as possible because I so enjoy reading my friends blogs.