Big Girl Now

Well, it is happening before my very eyes -- my baby, my little girl is growing up! She's been using the potty fairly successfully and wearing underwear (except at bedtime) for a few weeks now. Today, we took her crib down and put up her first bed. It was really hard not to cry as I saw her crib leaving her room, and even harder seeing Caitlin getting ready for bed in her big girl bed. She told me "mommy I a big girl now!"

Of course, Caitlin loves her bed! What little girl wouldn't? It is a Tinkerbell canopy bed with an iridescent canopy and girly ribbons. It really is pretty. Thank you to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bill for the beautiful Tinkerbell toddler canopy bed and bedding!

Caitlin didn't want to read stories tonight -- she just wanted to go to bed. I was even told "mommy get out of here!"

Merry Christmas From Little Harry Potter!

Christmas 2009

Gingerbread Cookies With Na Na

Earlier this month, Conall made a gingerbread house with Na Na. This weekend, Caitlin made gingerbread cookies with Na Na. She hasn't stopped talking about it since.

She was one determined little girl!

I think her favorite part, other than the special time with Na Na, was using the rolling pin that was just her size -- don't take that rolling pin away from her!

That's MY rolling pin!

She decided to let Conall help -- but he couldn't have her rolling pin.

Daddy's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STUART!

Razorback Caitlinism

Caitlin's latest funny name for something is "Piggyback" or "Piggyback Ride" for a Razorback. Today she told her daddy that he has a "Piggyback" on his shirt. She has two Razorback stuffed animals that she's been carrying around calling "Piggyback" and "Piggyback Ride." She is so funny!

Christmas Pyramid

Conall has been wanting to put up "that thing with the candles and helicopter blades" ever since December began. That "thing" is our Christmas pyramid, which Na Na bought for us while visiting Germany a few years ago and has become a family tradition -- in part due to our German heritage and in part due to how much Conall likes it. Conall loves anything with moving parts and has always studied even the simplest machine with great interest.

Last night, as we lit the candles and watched the pyramid spin, Conall began asking questions about it. His class is studying holiday traditions from all over the world, so he is very interested in holiday traditions, but doesn't quite have it figured out yet. I guess since it has candles, he kept asking me if it was a "Hanukkah thing."

To try to help Conall remember the pyramid's name, I started going over memories of our Christmas pyramid and Na Na's. I asked him if he remembered the year that he jumped toward it and singed his eyebrows. He looked at me funny, grabbed his hair at the front where his cowlick is and said "Is that what happened to my hair right here?". Stu and I roared with laughter.

Gingerbread House

Conall and Na Na have a tradition of making a Gingerbread House every Christmas season. They made their house this past weekend and Conall got to use the bag of frosting, or "glue" as he calls it, for the first time. He also made a Whomping Willow from the Harry Potter books.
Here are some photos.

Conall using the "glue" icing.

Pink Christmas Tree Lights

For some reason, only part of our pre-lit Christmas tree lights are lighting up this year. There are patches where the lights work and the rest just don't light up. The kids were really concerned about this, so Stu and I decided to buy a string of lights to make do until we figure out what the problem is.

Caitlin and I went shopping for lights today. We went to Wal-mart first, but I knew that Target has this set of little round lights that I really like. Wal-mart didn't have them, so we headed to Target. Apparently the set I like in white, also comes in pink and purple. Caitlin kept trying to get me to buy the pink set. When that didn't work she said "How about purple?". She is such a girly girl! Of course, she also tried to get me to buy the peppermint candy set and the snowflake set!

First Year for Rudolph

Conall watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time this week. In the past, he's not been very interested. It came on one of the networks Wednesday night. Even though Conall had been extremely hyper all that afternoon and evening, due to his crush on Gwen, he sat down in front of the tv and did not move away, even through the commercials. He was enthralled! So cool!

Here's a photo of him watching it. Thanks again to Aunt Amy for reminding me that it was on.

Conall's First Crush

Conall appears to have his first crush on a little girl. I picked him up from school yesterday and all he could talk about was "Gwen stamped my hand with her Strawberry Shortcake stamp. She said it is just for girls, but I could have one." The boy was higher than a kite -- I kept asking him if he'd had candy at school or if he didn't eat his lunch. He acted like he'd eaten a whole bag of candy with red food coloring!

Then, later, he was playing his favorite computer game on Starfall in which you create a boy or girl, give it facial features, hair color, clothes, etc. He kept making a Gwen character. As he was making it, he said "This is Gwen. I love her. I'm going to take care of her."

He also told us that he'd teased Gwen about her Strawberry Shortcake stamp and told her that it was "Strawberry Chicken Shortcake". So it begins ... ah, puppy love!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Presentation and Feast

Conall's school does a special Kindergarten Thanksgiving Presentation and Feast every year. All of the Kindergartners have been preparing for the presentation for the last month, learning songs, making costumes and decorations.

The parents were in charge of the feast -- I "babysat" a Crock Pot of Stone Soup last night. The kids made the soup in class yesterday and read the book by the same title.

Proof he tried the soup!

Conall was an Indian and picked the name "Hopping Cardinal" because the red cardinal is "my favorite animal in the forest." They recited the poem "Where We Walk to School Each Day" and sang "Pilgrim's Song," "Trees and Flowers," "Grinding Corn," "I'm a Very Fine Turkey," and "We Are Thankful."

Here is a video clip from today's presentation -- the kids really are cute, especially "Hopping Cardinal."

Prematurity Awareness Day

Today is Prematurity Awareness Day. One in eight babies born in our country is premature. The rate of premature birth in America is higher than that of most other developed nations. Since Conall was a preemie and Caitlin was early, I thought I'd post some information here about premature birth.

The March of Dimes released their Premature Birth Report Card today and America scored a D. Each state recived its own score; Arkansas received an F. You can see the map and find more info here map of 2009 premature report card . No state earned an “A,” and Vermont was the only state that received a “B.”

We were lucky -- Conall only spent 2 weeks in the hospital and Caitlin was small and jaundiced, but was able to come home within a normal time. Many families aren't that lucky and ever since our experience with Conall, I've made it a personal mission to help raise awareness about premature birth. Until the end of my pregnancy, everything had been normal. I thought premature babies were a rarity and that it only happened to people who had major health issues or were carrying multiples.

Obviously, I was wrong and it happens far more often than I knew. And, unfortunately, in many cases medical professionals don't know why the baby was early. Luckily, new research is being done every day. The March of Dimes has a wealth of information on the topic on their Web site. Check out Learn the Facts .

The day after Conall was born, at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at UAMS

the day after Conall was born

The first time I got to hold Conall -- he was a week old

Happy Veteran's Day

I send out much respect and love to soldiers past and present for their service to our country. Thank you for your service!

My grandmother and namesake, Ruth Maxine Calvert Adams

I couldn't find the pic of my grandmother in uniform to post, so I figured this was the next best thing. Mom thinks grandmother is playing dress up in my grandfather's uniform in this pic. My grandmother had a uniform of her own -- she was a WAC, enlisting after Pearl Harbor. I'm proud of my family's military heritage, but most especially of my grandmother who was and still is a wonderful role model. She is greatly missed.

Playing in the Leaves

Since we finally had a sunny, dry day with nice weather, the kids and I played in the leaves yesterday. My sinuses are really messed up today, but it was so worth it! The kids had so much fun jumping in the leaves, raking leaves and bagging them up.

Conall also seemed to enjoy the "big boy" task of carrying bags of leaves to the curb. Of course, he had to wear his Harry Potter glasses.

Caitlin even decided to decorate her hair with leaves. For some reason this was her "pumpkin hair."

"Mommy look at my pumpkin hair!"

Making Pumpkin Bread with Na Na

Conall's school was out for a teacher meeting on Thursday and Friday, so we headed to Na Na's on Thursday for a visit. Conall and Caitlin brought along Caitlin's pumpkin, a sugar pumpkin, to bake and to use for making pumpkin bread. They both really enjoyed taking the seeds out of the pumpkin and preparing it for pumpkin bread.

Hard work!

Na Na helping

Working together

No pumpkin baking would be complete without Conall wearing his Harry Potter glasses!

Caitlin's Girl Playdate

Caitlin was invited to a playdate earlier this week with another girl, Savannah or "Savy". Savy is a year or so older than Caitlin, but still close enough to her age for them to enjoy playing together. Other than cousin Kate, we don't know any other girls close to Caitlin's age.

Caitlin and Savy had a tea party with stuffed animals, played in the sandbox, "swept" leaves, rode tricycles and just had fun together! Usually getting Conall from school is the highlight of Caitlin's day, but on this day, she didn't want to leave to get Conall -- she wanted to keep playing.

When we left, Savy gave Caitlin a stuffed elephant to borrow. Caitlin has carried "Savy's elephant" everywhere! She tells everyone that "Savy let me borrow her elephant". Caitlin can't wait to see Savy again and have another playdate.

Harry Potter and the Little Pumpkin

I survived! I survived Conall's intense excitement over Saturday being Halloween -- complete with the up-before-dawn waking and his total fascination with Harry Potter and using "spells" on me.
After the Accelerated Reading Day at school on Friday, Conall's poor T-Rex costume was left to hang in the closet. I think this may be the last year I buy his costume early. So, we ended up with a pumpkin and Harry Potter.

Jana, Tristan and Logan drove down from Conway to Trick-or-Treat with us. Due to a peanut allergy, this is the first year that Tristan has been Trick-or-Treating. I think he may actually have been almost as wound up as Conall. Maybe.

Tristan, Conall, Logan, and Caitlin

Kanton, August and their parents also came over to go Trick-or-Treating, as well as Aunt Amy. Unfortunately, daddy ended up with a migraine from his sinus troubles and didn't get to go with us -- and he was all dressed up!

Stu and August in their skeleton costumes

Before we even left the yard, Conall had lost his wand in the leaves. I found it later in the bathroom, which makes me think it had been there all along. Then, Caitlin fell down and broke her kitty cat Halloween flashlight (Stu thinks a new bulb may fix it).

We had a nice size Trick-or-Treating group, but once again, Caitlin was the only girl. This may have worked to her advantage, because many of the people whose houses we visited gave her twice the candy as the boys. One older lady gave the boys their candy, and as Caitlin went to get hers, she said "Here you go, honey. You can have extra because you are so cute."

 Trick-or-Treating

Caitlin has gotten to the age where she is too old for the stroller, but the hills in the neighborhood are still a bit much for her. Caitlin, Aunt Amy, and I tagged along behind everyone else. Caitlin would not let us her carry her and would only let us help with her bag for a few minutes at a time -- she seemed to think we wanted her candy. She kept saying "I coming" to us as we climbed hilly driveways and the boys ran on to the next house. We skipped some houses because Caitlin was so worried about catching up to the boys. She was one determined and stubborn little girl.

At one point, Aunt Amy offered to help Caitlin with her heavy candy bag. Caitlin said "You have candy -- I gave you candy." And, she had -- every time we'd offer to help with her bag, she'd try to give us a package of candy instead. I really think Caitlin thought we were trying to take her candy.

At another house a lady told Caitlin "Look at that Jack-O-Lantern. You make such a cute Jack-O-Lantern." Caitlin "Uh-huh, I a pumpkin".

A lady at one house was handing out fliers about her missing cat. Poor lady, the cat has been missing for 5 months. It was a black and white tuxedo like Derby, so the kids were pretty interested. The lady asked Conall if he could make the cat reappear since he was Harry Potter. Conall, exasperated, threw his arms up in the air and said "I lost my wand! I can't!"

I think my favorite part of the whole night was when I asked Caitlin if she'd like me to carry her. She was obviously tired and stumbling. Me --"Caitlin, you look tired, do you want me to carry you?" Caitlin -- "Mommy, I not tired. I fine. I happy. See my happy face?" as she pointed to her face and her big grin.

Aunt Amy, Caitlin, and I were the last to make it back home. I had Conall's treat bag because he actually was tired and asked me to carry it. He ran inside as Amy and I were in the yard making sure Caitlin didn't fall down on her way to the door. We had put the candy container out on the porch before we left, since Stu wasn't feeling well. When we got up to our door, Caitlin stopped to Trick-or-Treat from our candy!

Conall was so frustrated with Caitlin because I had his candy bag. Caitlin was determined to put that candy in her bag even though Amy and I kept trying to tell her that she was home and could have whatever she wanted once we got inside. Caitlin was so tired that we weren't sure if she knew we were home -- she was just doing what she thought she was supposed to do!

The kids had a blast and slept well. Conall fell asleep while I was reading Harry Potter to him. Caitlin snuggled down into all of her bunnies and went to sleep. Can you believe this is the first year that neither one of my kids has puked on Halloween? Poor Jana didn't escape it, though, Logan puked in the car on the way home.