Baseball Fun

My dad is a HUGE baseball fan, especially of the Phillies. Growing up, he would watch every
Phillies game on TV. He took me to many games as a child and I have fond memories of him and I (and sometimes my brother) cheering on our team!

For the second year in a row, the Philadelphia Phillies are in the World Series. It is a very exciting time!! This year they are playing the New York Yankees (tonight is Game 6, the Yankees are in the lead 3-2, so it is a big game!).

Last year they won the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. I remember it well because Hannah was born in the midst of the World Series. I remember being the hospital and watching and sitting in bed with her watching the games. There was a HUGE parade in Philly after they won (which I did not attend, but watched on TV).

Fiona went to her first Phillies game two summers ago, when she was 18 months old. She had a great time then and sat through the whole game (even with a rain delay)! She loved the Philly Phanatic and even made one at the "Build a Phanatic" store.
My parents took us to another game this past summer, Fiona's second and Hannah's first. Again, Fiona enjoyed herself and watched and cheered! Hannah did not get too into it but we caught her cheering a few times with everyone.

Tonight is Game 6 of the 2009 World Series! GO PHILLIES!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was very fun this year, even thought I was not feeling great since I was recovering
from the flu.

Monday was the Royersford Halloween parade. Kids from the town march in the parade in their costumes and give out candy to people watching. I was going to bring the girls but that was day 2 of the flu and I felt horrible. My friend Julie was the hero and picked Fiona up and took her! She had so much fun and came home with a bucket full of good treats! She was so tired when she got home and went right to bed!

On Friday, Tom and I took the girls trick or treating at the Outlets with Kim and Owen. Fiona had to find the stores that had a pumpkin on the door, go in and say "Trick or Treat" and got some good stuff! The girls had lollipops when we got home. Hannah's first taste of candy!

We walked around the entire outlet center and the girls made out like bandits!!

Saturday morning was Halloween. I drove the girls to Chalfont to see DeeDee and PopPop. We had lunch and they showed off their costumes and got fun presents from them! After it got dark, we went trick or treating around our neighborhood. Fiona was so cute, making sure she said "trick or treat!" and only took one candy from the bowl (we prepped her). She also always made sure that Baby Rara got a candy too. She made sure everything was fair! It did start to rain a little bit but by then, their buckets were full so we ran home and called it a night.

Fiona went to Owen's house to eat the Halloween gingerbread house and watch It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. She was exhausted!

Happy (late) Halloween!!

Just for fun......

Hannah Turns One!

My baby girl turned One on Saturday, October 24th. We celebrated with a black and pink polka dot party. She had a ton of fun with good friends and family all around her. She is the only child I know who would not dig into her cake but, instead, required a fork and spoon in order to eat it. She has entered the phase of learning to feed herself with utensils and wants every opportunity to do so.

Spoon Please!!!

SEE! Much Better!

She got some cute gifts including a Foofa doll (She loves Yo Gabba Gabba), a baby doll and stroller of her own, lots of clothes, a piggy bank, a talking dog toy and more!

She also went today for her one year well visit. She got 4 shots (3 regular vaccines and one flu shot) which she was not very happy about. Her stats:

Weight ~ 18 lbs 8 oz. (10th percentile)

Height ~ 29 1/4 inches (55th percentile)
Head ~ 18 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

She is a peanut with a big brain!

Also at 12 months she has started sleeping through the night! It is glorious. She did it for the 1st time the week before her birthday. I realized it when my alarm went off for work that I had not woken up all night! Since then she has done it every night but 2. She is easy to calm though and get back to sleep if she does wake up (big difference from before!!)

She takes 2-3 hour naps everyday, in her crib, by herself! We can just put her down awake and leave the room. Again, big difference from just a few months ago.

She has taken a few steps starting at 11 months and now will walk about 1/2 the time. She needs to work on her balance but does great lowering herself down and standing back up.

Hannah loves to dance, loves dolls, sitting in chairs, doing things by herself, and putting things inside of something and then removing them.. over and over again.

She says a few words here and there, mostly mama and sometimes dada and we think we got her to say "Elmo" today. She has pointing downpat, along with clapping, blowing kisses, waving hi and waving bye.

Hannah is loved by everyone, even Fiona, who misses her when she is not with her little sister. I am so happy to have her in my life!

Edited to show off Hannah's super awesome invitation

Want one? Go to http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5540045

Flashback Friday of a different sort

Thanks for the idea Mel.....

Dear Santa....

Christmastime is well under way in the German household. Fiona knows who Santa is, understands that he only gives toys to good kids, that he is currently making her toys for her, and that he comes right before her birthday.

Whenever we see something at a store that she wants, I say to her "Who should you ask for that?" Her response "Santa!" and that ends that, she doesn't even bother asking for it anymore.

Whenever she is acting out (which for her is not really that bad) I tell her that if she doesn't listen/behave/act nice that I will have to tell Santa. She immediately says "NO!" and her behavior changes.

I love Santa.

Best story in regards to Santa......

We got a Toys R Us circular in the Sunday newspaper this week. One page has a bunch of Snow White themed toys. She is in love with this page. She likes to pick out the things that she likes, stare at them and show us and tell us what she wants the most, etc.

With all of the talk of Santa this weekend, I decided to show her the picture from last year of Fiona and Hannah sitting on Santa's lap.

Fiona proceeded to bring her circular page to the computer, put it on the keyboard and started talking to Santa, telling him all of the things she wanted. It was so cute!

I cannot wait for Christmas this year!!!

I am really bad at this

I am a slacker.

That is all.

Halloween!

This year, Fiona is really starting to get into Halloween. She knows that she goes to people's houses and says "Trick or Treat" and they give her candy. Fiona is just like her mother and LOVES candy. I raised her well.


Yesterday, our topic of converstation was Halloween Costumes. On Saturday, we got a One Step Ahead catalog in the mail. The 1st 4 pages were filled with costumes, which is what started the current Halloween fascination. Yesterday, Fiona changed her mind about Halloween costumes many many times


We started with Elmo. She was adamant about being Elmo.




Then she saw this witch costume in the catalog and wanted to be a witch. This lasted most of the day.Then I started to add fuel to the fire and searched for a Little Mermaid Costume on Amazon and found this one. She loved it and said that she had to be that!!! . Last week, we were watching Dora and Dora asked the audience "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Fiona was watching intently and answered Dora..."I want to be Princess Belle." So on Amazon, I searched for a Princess Belle costume and found a ton of choices.... Princess Belle became the new favorite.

This next costume request kind of came from nowhere. She had seen a Snoopy pillow at Dee Dee's earlier that day and had asked where Charlie Brown was...All of a sudden she blurts out "I want to be Charlie Brown". So we googled Charlie Brown and showed her pictures and asked her "Do you want to be Charlie Brown for Halloween?" She answers "YES!"...

That is how we ended the night, with Fiona set to be Charlie Brown for Halloween. Will she be Charlie Brown? I highly doubt it. My bets are on Princess Belle or Elmo.

Good thing Hannah has no opinion yet. She is going to be a chicken (same costume that Fiona had when she was a baby!)

It's a party...

My big 3-0 is Wednesday, September 2nd. Tom threw me a (total) Surprise Birthday party on Saturday 8/29. It was a complete shock. I had a great time.... Let me start at the beginning....

My best friend Lora turned 30 in April. Her husband, meaning well, planned a family trip to the zoo. Not quite the most exciting celebration. We joked that my 30th would have similar plan.. maybe I would get to go to the Aquarium. Lora mentioned that she would have to check in on Tom to make sure he did not plan a trip the Zoo or the like.

Back in June-ish my sister was home for a visit. She said she was planning on one more visit to PA before the end of summer and said it was the last weekend in August. I filed that in my memory since I miss her and like when she visists.

August is approaching and I begin to wonder what I will do to mark the end of my 20's. I mention it to Tom and he kind of blows me off. I make a few suggestions with no real response (typical).

Come mid August, I ask again and Tom tells me that on the evening of August 29th, we will be going to dinner to celebrate. I start asking questions..."Do we need a babysitter?", "Where are we going?", "What time are we leaving?".. all of which are answered quickly with no real detail. This drives me NUTS. I love to plan, I love to have control, I need to know things.. not knowing what my plans were was seriously making me mental.

What did I do? I had to let it go. I could not nag and/or keep asking questions. I figured either
A) He was trying to plan a nice dinner with a few people there to surprise me and I would ruin the surprise by nagging
B) He had nothing really planned and I would find out and get all up in arms, starting a fight and ruin any potential good time.
So I let it go. But told everyone and anyone that would listen about my plight and my inability to truly let go.

Here comes Saturday 8/29....my sister is in PA and we have plans to go to lunch and get manicures and pedicures. We did this last year too so it did not seem out of the ordinary. She came over at 11 and we were gone by 11:15 ish. We went out for a late breakfast, went to CVS followed by a mani/pedi. Kara was texting a few times during out outing but that is normal.. people text all the time.

We start to go home and she plans to stay awhile and hang out with the girls. We are driving in my Dad's truck that she borrowed and I am looking at the pictures he has of Fiona, not at all paying attention to my surroundings. We get back to my house and walk to my front door. I hear people talking and laughing but assume it is coming from the neighbor's house.. truly not thinking anything of it.

I open my front door and the 1st two people I see are Jackie, my good friend from work and my best friend Lora who lives in Arizona. Jackie yells "Surprise!", followed by several other shouts and faces appearing from my dining/living room. I get choked up a little and just laugh. I was SHOCKED.

As I moved in closer I see all my friend's from work, their husbands, their kids, my grandmothers, parents, neighbors, etc. There is a HUGE spread of food and tons of beer and drinks. I am amazed. Truly amazed. People even kept arriving after me!

Tom had texted Lora (my best friend from AZ) back in MAY to ask her to try and make it. My sister had planned this back in the start of summer. Tom coordinated the food with my parents so that I would not be tipped off by the stockpile of stuff in my house. He also had the guests bring a dish or an appetizer and some drinks. He ordered and picked up a cake for me, just the way I liked it... BIG icing flowers all over it!

He did this all for me. The man who HATES making plans, made them back in May.... the man who HATES large crowds of people had 30 plus people in his house... the man who is not a big fan of parties in general,... planned and threw one for me. The man who I thought may not make a big deal of my birthday made a HUGE deal of my birthday.

I kind of cry thinking about it. I felt very loved that day... by both my friends, family and Tom too. I am lucky to have such an amazing group of friends who are generous and fun. I am lucky to have a great family who help out with every turn in life. I am very lucky to have such a caring husband who will exit his comfort zone to make me feel this special and happy. I will always remember my 30th birthday as a happy time!!

Thank you to all who helped me celebrate!

Oh How I Love Ferber

Do we recall Hannah's sleep "issues"? A quick rundown....

• Must be nursed and/or rocked and/or held to go to sleep.
• Must be careful when you put her down.. if she is not 100% in her deep sleep she will wake up and scream.
• Process must start over.
• Some nights it took me 45 minutes and lots of stress to get her to sleep (not to mention entertain a 2 year old while I did it).
• Wake up every 2-3 (4 if I was lucky) hours.

Weekend of 8/15, Tom and I went to a wedding. My mom stayed with the girls overnight. I warned her about Hannah. She was unfazed. When we got home, she reported that Hannah slept from 9 PM until 5 Am. WHAT? Did she go to sleep easy? Yes.. just cried a few minutes.. WHAT?

I got a short lecture about how I needed to stop the crap and teach her to put herself to sleep. That night I used the same old routine and she woke up every 2-3 hours. Shoot me.

That is when I decided enough was enough. That Monday (8/17), the doctor at CHOP (for her pooping issues) assured me that she was physically fine and mentioned Dr. Ferber to me.

Off I went to research and that very night I implemented his plan.

Here is what my night was like:

• 8:15 PM-Nurse, cuddle, rock for 10 minutes... put Hannah down awake. Commence crying.
• 8:18 PM-Enter room, give pacifier, pat on back , SHHHHHH. Leave by 8:19 and 30 seconds. commence crying.
• 8:22 PM-Enter room. See above.
• 8:27 PM-Enter room. See above.
• 8:30 PM-Crying slows. Stops.
• 8:32 PM-Crying begins again.
• 8:32 PM - Enter room. See above. Small cries when I leave.
• 8:35 PM-Silence. Sleep.

She slept until 4:30 ish AM!!!!!

The next night I extended the times between re-entering the room. We went a total of 10 minutes.

Wednesday night - Same routine, nurse, cuddle, kiss, in bed awake. Cried 2 minutes... sleep. THROUGH THE NIGHT

Thursday night - See above. Total crying... 10 SECONDS. Yes, seconds.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and now Tuesday night..... Same routine. Put in her bed awake. She rolls over and goes to sleep. All. by. herself.

I am amazed.

She sleeps for long stretches at a time.. waking between 3 and 5 AM to nurse and go back to sleep.

I was convinced that doing this would make her withdrawn, untrusting, more clingy, and miserable the next day. I was wrong. She was her normal self, absolutely no change.

Ferber is NOT crying it out. He has a systematic way to teach babies to soothe themselves to sleep and when they wake up in the middle of the night so that they do not need their mother to help them. I love him.

Here is some information that I used to come to the decision to try his method:

BabyCenter

Sleep Baby Sleep

Wikipedia

Both Sides

August .... Through the years

Ok, so only 4 years...but still fun

2006

2007

2008

2009

Wordless Wednesday

Sleep Like a Baby

After a good night's sleep, people often say "Wow I slept like a baby". They were obviously not talking about my kid.

How is it possible to give birth to a fantastic sleeper and then a really terrible one?

Here is a sample of Hannah's sleep yesterday---

8 AM - Awake for the day

11AM - 12PM - Nap at DeeDee's

3:30PM-4:45PM Nap in the car

8:15PM - This is when I began the process of getting Hannah to go to sleep. I had her down and out and in her crib by 8:25 when Fiona burst in to say "HI". Start over.

8:30PM - Keeps falling asleep in my arms but when I put her down she screams. Two times I let her cry for two minutes.. . that worked well **Sarcasm**

8:50PM - Finally asleep.

I think it was 11:49 pm. About 19 minutes after I went to bed. Awake....Back to sleep rather quickly.

1 AM ish...awake again. I gave up, brought her in bed with me.. we both pass out.. this is a hazy memory.

3 AM: Tom comes to bed ... I pick up Hannah and put her in her crib.

3:37 AM: Wakes up and screams. Get her back to sleep by 3:41 Am

4:07 AM: Awake. I give up again and bring her into bed.

5:37 AM: Awake. Eats, back to sleep

7:30AM: Awake for the day.

HELP ME MAKE HER SLEEP LIKE A BABY!!!!!