I'm such a Big Girl!

Bedtime has been fun the past few days! Aiyana is still testing the boundaries and coming out of her room a few times before she gives in a goes to sleep.

Thursday night after fighting the entire bedtime process by pulling toys and books out and spreading them all over, Aiyana ended up in her room with the door closed. She was quiet so I assumed she gave up and fell asleep. At 9:30 I heard some whispering and went in. Aiyana was scurrying around her room and had put all of her toys away. She told me it was so messy she couldn't handle it and she is like suuuuuuch a big girl. "Are you proud of me mommy? I am reponsible enough to clean up!"

I was so glad to see her cleaning up after herself. It really tickled me! I gave her some chamomile tea to calm her down and tucked her sweet self in bed.

The photo below is when Aiyana was 1 month old. She slept anywhere whenever she was tired. Aaah! Sweet memories!

Freedom!

We had an appointment with AJ's pediatrician today and she cleared him to play again! We have been stuck in the house for over a week and it has been a LONG journey! AJ was miserable and Aiyana had major cabin fever which in turn meant...no sleep and no peace for Mommy. BUT... (majestic herald angels singing in the background) we are FREE! Free to rome this gorgeous county: Sea World, the zoo, the beach, the parks, the library, Bed Bath & Beyond! Here we come!

This past week has been filled with some pretty hilarious situations. Here are a few:

• I was fighting with kicking and screaming AJ to suck the yucks out of his nose with the aspirator while Aiyana was doing yoga on the carpet in front of us. A Dichotomy?
  

• After feeling horrible for several days, AJ finally started feeling better Monday. In fact he felt so great, he didn't sleep Monday night at all! So, we stayed up till 2am watching the Boston Celtics get beat by the Spurs. AJ was my buddy! We yelled at the Celtics bad defense in the end, cheered for great shots and snacked on Cheerios.

• I have always taught my kids that the world is theirs and they can do whatever they want as long as it isn't harming themselves or others. So Monday morning I decided to go with the flow and say "yes" to everything Aiyana wanted. Her breakfast was 2 orange juice popsicles, cheerios with honey, chocolate milk with whip cream and some pumpkin bread that Grandma made. When Elmo came on (her 3rd tv show) he was singing his usual "La la la la, la la la la, elmo's world" when Aiyana began to argue with Elmo. "No Elmo! It's my world!"

• I thought saying "yes" to Aiyana would fill her with so much appreciation that she would obey my every request. HA! Monday at bedtime Aiyana kept coming out of her room. After she came out and I walked her back in her room several times, she started yelling at me. "I don't have to go to bed! I can stay up as long as I want when I am a mommy! I am pretending I am a mommy, so I can stay up as long as I want! So I am not going to sleep! Now I am going to walk away!" She did a quick turn and marched back into her room! Hilarious! She was not finished though... still yelling... "I am serious! And don't even talk to me!" WOW! Then she went to sleep! Point Mommy!

• The next night I was putting the kids to bed and they were working together to avoid sleep. I found myself going back and forth between AJ's crib and Aiyana's bed laying each kid down over and over. Hot Mess! I finally put AJ to sleep in a different room until Aiyana fell asleep.
  

Cheese Slip

That was Aiyana's name today. She loves to play pretend. Usually she is Diego the animal rescuer or pretty red car, but that past few days she has been some different characters.

We missed our V-Day party with our Fabulous friends, but we had our own pancake breakfast and then we played with all of the Valentines that Aiyana was going to pass out. She went wild with her heart and fairy stickers. They are everywhere!

AJ is doing a little better. His voice is very hoarse and his balance is way off, but he was able to play a little more and he said "Papa" for the first time just before bed.

Friday Flashback

Ode to Shamu

One of our favorite things to do is go to Sea World. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Aiyana doing what she loves: talking to the dolphins.

Playing peek-a-boo at the old "Bay of Play"
It is so funny! I just remembered this little house where we played peek-a-boo. Aiyana would crouch down and bounce up over and over. EVERY time we would play this, Aiyana would crouch down and poop in her diaper at some point during the game. LOL! I always went straight to the bathrooms when we were done to change her diaper. I can't stop laughing!

Climbing the net maze with Daddy

(The pictures above were from May of 2007.)


This is one of my favorite Sea World moments. Usually at the Shamu viewing area, the whales swim in circles. This time, the baby girl whale, who is the same age as Aiyana, was interacting with the Yaya and the other kids. She came straight up to the glass. Aiyana was a bit frightened at first, but then she began running back and forth while the baby whale "raced" her. That went on for a good 10 minutes before she went back to her normal rounds. That may never happen again. I am so glad we were a part of it!

(The above photos were from March 2007)

Highlights from the day

Today began at 3:30 am when AJ woke up after sleeping for 7 hours straight. We had to do the inhaler for 15 minutes and he screamed the entire time. I am sure our neighbors loved it! The next time we did it at 7:30 am, Elmo was on and he actually just allowed me to hold the mask up to his face. Yaay! He is used to it now, but he still cries. AJ's breathing is really weird. He will breath in, pause, flex his stomach and then breath out. It is pretty loud and he is very whiny and wants me to hold him most of the day. (Honestly I don't mind holding him at all...in fact, I cherish this part) This is so hard on us. I hope this medication gets rid of his inflammation FAST!
I really appreciate our babies!

"Mommy take a picture of these cute little pencils."

Practicing numbers just before bed. She was really focused on staying in the lines.

The highlight of my day! He was feeling good in the bath after having a pretty rough day.
Notice Aiyana's art on the wall. She loves bathtub crayons.

I caught Aiyana doing her hair again. I made sure to snap a photo this time. She told me she was Hello Kitty.

The seal, the diva, and the inhaler

This is AJ's arch enemy. The inhaler machine.

We went to the Dr. today for a well-child checkup. Both of the kids have had a cough and cold for a few days now. The last couple of days AND NIGHTS have been really tough for AJ. He has been gagging and coughing and not sleeping well. His cough is so loud like he is barking and his poor voice is so hoarse! I have been holding him while sitting up in bed because that is the only way he would sleep.
So, the Dr. listened to his chest wheezing and ordered an X-ray. We did that and then returned to the doc's office. She said AJ has walking pneumonia which is a mild case of pneumonia very similar to a cold or the flu. He has to do this inhaler for 15 minutes every 4 hours for the next week. This is going to be fun! We have done this thing twice so far and he kicked and screamed the entire time! In addition, he has antibiotics once a day.
Our baby boy also has thrush in his mouth because his immune system is low from the pneumonia. For this I have to give him some drops in each cheek every 4 hours.
After his long day, the meds helped and AJ was actually able to nap!

This photo sums up Aiyana's attitude today! I love her more than anything, but SOMETIMES!!!
She is lucky she is so darn cute!

• We were in the doctor's office and Aiyana was snacking on pretzels while I was holding AJ on the inhaler machine. She kept getting up and walking around the room we were in and each time she got up she would drop a couple of pretzels on the ground. I asked her several times to stay seated while she was eating. She got up for the fifteenth time and I asked her to sit back down. (AJ is screaming and wiggling from my lap this whole time!) When she chose to ignore my request and began to walk away, I grabbed her arm and brought her back to the seat to sit down. Then she screamed! "Ouch! You scratched me! You hurt me!" Oh my! I was shocked and angry and disgusted all at the same time. I was not rough and did not hurt her at all! So, of course, the Dr. comes racing in to the room as if she was investigating. I had to explain myself. NICE AIYANA! WHERE DO THEY LEARN THESE THINGS?
• We were in the bathroom and I asked Aiyana to brush her teeth while I tried to give her the toothbrush. She flipped her head upside down and began to pretend pumping a bottle of mousse and spreading it through her fluffy pigtails. She was really working her hair making sure to distribute it evenly! HA! Then she began scrunching her hair. She told me she was "having Aiyana time and would be able to help me in a minute"! HA! She really watches me closely!
  
• Aiyana was in bed talking herself to sleep. Here was her self-taught phonics lesson for the night. "prrrrr. Priiints. first you have prints then you have cess. Mommy! Prints- cess! Princess!"

Priceless

Karate class- $125

Karate gi- $20

Gas to La Jolla twice a week- $10

Father/Daughter bonding- priceless