We're all mad here.

Minnie Mouse goes to the Farm

Our fake life on Facebook.

On Saturday night I posted a photo on Facebook of the kids hanging out at the Strawberry Festival in Fort Mill, SC. It looked like they were having a great time. They were not. Actually, John Henry was fine - as long as you don't ask him to take a nap or go to bed, he is happy to contribute to the family activity by smiling. Here is the "fake" happy moment.

Here is the real moment that occured 30 seconds before the photo:

This is how it went down with Sienna:

Meltdown #1: She is extremely afraid of loud music - especially live music because she never knows HOW loud the music can be. So she walked around the festival whining with her hands over her ears at the same time somehow holding onto my pant leg.

Meltdown #2: We noticed a playground in the middle of the festival. This distracted her from the music so we were on board and she took off running to the slide. Because she was wearing a dress, she got a "burn" from her bare legs scraping against the slide. Crying ensues. Yay. Moving right along...

Meltdown #3: The Kids Carnival was further away from the music (score!) so we told her we would buy her tickets for ONE game or ride. One kind soul gave us (pitied us?) 3 extra tickets good for one game or ride that they weren't going to use (double score - free tickets!) So she picked the Moon Bounce.

Us: Sienna, are you sure? We didn't look at all of the choices yet."
Sienna: YES! YES! I want to bounce!!

About 3 second into her "bouncing", a bigger boy knocked her over.

Sienna: "Moooommmmmyyy!!" (More crying.)

Meltdown #4: Consoling occurs and she braves the Moon Bounce again. Until she saw a "Fun House" kind of thing next to the Moon Bounce.

"Mommy!! Mommy!! I want to do THAT one!"
"No Sienna - you picked the Moon Bounce - why don't you play some more because you only have a few minutes to jump."
"Noooooooooo - I want do to that one!!! (Enter crying and stomping.)


Then the whistle blows - No more jumping. (Even more crying. Big crocodile tears and everything.)


Because we are such good parents (Ha!) we rewarded her awesome behavior by letting her pick out a treat. She picked Cotton Candy. She stood sadly in line for her cotton candy. I asked her if she could she please smile and take a picture with her brother?

A HAPPY picture?

I told her that she was about to have a treat AFTER Mommy and Daddy let her jump in the Moon Bounce. I told her she should be thankful instead of having a bad attitude.

I took what I could get...our fake happy evening at the festival.

Sugar with extra sugar helped.

At least it was a beautiful evening and Daniel and I enjoyed it... even with all of the crying. One unexpected thing is that we didn't actually SEE any strawberries at the Strawberry Festival. EXCEPT...

...Check it out, Terra Nova Family....YES! It was a Strawberry Tilt-a-Whirl! It clearly wasn't as amazing as the one at the Enchanted Forest - obviously. But it must have been a hit if Miss South Carolina was takin' a spin or two, right? Do you think the crowns make you go faster?

Thanks Facebook for tricking everyone into thinking we had a perfect family moment. It was a family memory at least. And I think that counts for something.

Love my drama queen.

Here comes trouble.

We are still here!

It has been so long, I am not sure where to start. I will attempt to recap the past couple of months while John Henry is sitting next to me making copies on our copier/fax machine.

Things are busy as usual, but something in particular has changed my daily experience as a mom...the kids are playing together! I can get so much more done when I spend fewer hours "babysitting" Sienna's baby doll while she gets "dressed up" and "goes to the store." Somehow, Sienna is endlessly patient with JH and she will follow him crawling around the house, chasing him and tickling him. Of course, we do have those He's-drooling-on-my-doll/toy/game/etc. moments, but I really can't complain. Sienna is as crazy as usual, and John Henry never gets bored of her antics. Watching Sienna is his favorite thing to do. Except for making copies, of course.

JH is growing up waay too fast. I can't believe his first birthday is next month. It has been a very fast year and a very slow year. I know, that makes no sense. But if you are a parent, you get it. JH is a happy baby who LOVES to smile but he does NOT like to sleep. So, there is that part of me who was waiting for time to pass so he would begin to sleep through the night and take scheduled naps. But as expected, I am sad that he is starting to take his first steps and I miss the little (gigantic) baby that used to just let me hold him for two seconds. But he is off busy playing and crawling, and starting to talk. And sleeping, finally. 

He says Mama, Dada, Ball (pronounced "Khall") and Hi. He loves to put a toy on his head and smile because he wants to show us how funny he is. So we gladly laugh at his "joke" and we are, as usual, rewarded with his big, toothy smile.

He is still our big boy, growing out of his 18 month clothes. Unfortunately, he is stronger than I am, so it takes me approximately 10 minutes to change his diaper while he continuously tries (and succeeds) to escape from my weakling grip. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and chews the strangest things - shoes, books, his bed...he took a bite out of our window blinds like a little shark. And my iPhone Otterbox - aren't they supposed to be indestructible? The good thing is that I have been giving him every safe kind of table food - bananas, avocado, cauliflower, peas, carrots, kidney beans, etc. to take advantage of his anything-in-his-mouth stage so he does not become a super-picky eater like someone I know. (Me. But also Sienna.) 

Sienna just recently decided to dress herself. She dresses herself with one of her two favorite dresses with leggings. If we leave the house she needs a headband, a purse and a wallet (held separately - one in each hand) a winter scarf and bracelets. Recently she also had to add plastic high heels when we went to see my cousin's lacrosse game. By the time we shuffled from the car to the field, the game was half over. 

Sienna finally lets me take pictures of her, but usually it is so she can make a ridiculous face. 

If you think Sienna's walking in heels is impressive, check out Daniel's recent work outs...

Isn't he scary? He is, but I am proud of him.

I think that's it. Daniel's been working and working out. Sienna is being the big sister when she is not busy putting on every hair bow and bracelet she owns. JH is smiling and chomping on window treatments. I have been watching soap operas and eating bon bons. Occasionally I throw in a load of laundry, but it's bon bons, mostly. 

BFF

Do you see the common denominator in these photos?

The Paci. Ugh. I remember putting it in her mouth when she was a baby for no reason. She wasn't crying or fussy. I was a new Mom and babies love pacifiers, right? So POP - in it went into her mouth and a Paci became her BFF. No blankie, stuffed animal - nothing could replace her precious paci. Especially her red one.

After she turned 2, we told her that her Paci is just for bedtime so they needed to stay in her bed. By the time she was 3, she "needed" one for every possible scenario: tired, scared, hungry, to put in her mouth inbetween bites whilest eating, happy, waking up, falling asleep, riding in the car, it was sunny, it was raining...whatever. I was worried that she was becoming extra clingy with them but I let it slide because the new baby was coming.

The baby came, we were nearing her 4th birthday and she still used her Paci for her mouth. She also wanted to hold one in each hand because she said that they kept them warm. Uh? Well, hand-warmers or not, it was time.

Because Mommy is such a sucker, Daddy had to lay down the law about the Paci. He told her that you are not allowed to have a pacifer when you are four. (Four!?! It just seems so riduclous when I said that out loud.) We told her she could either send them to the hospital for the other babies, or she could throw them in the trash. Clearly she was not concerned about the other babies since she opted for the trash. To commemorate this special occasion, we made a cake to celebrate. Here we are getting the last few moments with her pacifers...

She does look terrified, doesn't she? That is sort of how I felt inside. Part of me was so sick of seeing the dumb thing in her mouth. The other part of me was so emotional because my little baby girl was so big. The other part was scared that she wouldn't be able to sleep without one and she would be waking in the night. Her not-awesome-sleeper brother is up already most nights, so I was anticipating even LESS sleep in the future. And that seemed unconcievable.

But, before the cake even cooled, Sienna carried her handful of Pacifiers and dumped them into the trash can. Then she burst into tears. Daniel and I hugged her for about one minute (which might have been a record since she rarely needs nor wants a hug) and that was it. Paci's in the trash. The end. Just when I think I know what she is going to do next, she does something completely unexpected.

I did rescue the Paci's from the trash, washed them & put them in a box of her baby things. I'll look at them sometime when I am missing my little baby Sienna. Or perhaps I will test her theory when my hands are particularly cold.

DAIRY SHELF!!

My husband can do pretty much anything. He can fix the un-fixable. He can make the unimaginable. He is gifted, creative, hard-working and does what he does very well.

Now, that said - my husband's cleaning and tidying skills are slightly less impressive than his other skills. For example, he keeps his clothes on the floor. And he keeps his earphones on the floor. And his fleece jacket on the floor. Next to his loose change. And his hat and workout clothes. You get the picture.

Well, just to let you know that the Wright's now have a Dairy Shelf in our refrigerator. Yes, it's true and it is exactly what you think it is. One shelf dedicated to butter, yogurt, sour cream, creamer, cream cheese. The interesting thing is that I did not create the Dairy Shelf. Nope. Sometimes I put the jelly, baby food and the leftovers from last night together (eeek!) on the same shelf with the butter. I know, I admit it. But at least once week, my hubby comes home hungry from his workout at the gym, looks into the refrigerator and reminds me in a kind yet stern manner "DAIRY SHELF!"

So I thought I might learn a thing or two from the Dairy Shelf. I was thinking about creating a "Personal Items Shelf" that would be dedicated to things like clothes, hats and workout clothes. I would call it "a closet." It could have space for things like fleece jackets, loose change and earphones. I dunno - I think I am on to something...

(I think I will discover if Daniel reads this blog or not. I'll let you know.)