The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:
Yesterday was Noelle's first birthday. I no longer have an infant in my house! It is bittersweet to know that my days of cuddling her while feeding her milk are numbered. Soon my little girl will be running off to keep up with her sister and leave me in the dust! This is the first step toward freedom of individuality for her. She is revealing her likes and dislikes more often these days. If her sis swipes something from her little fingers, she squeals like a pterodactyl and bounces her body up and down in a little fit of rage. I can almost visualize the future. "Natalie give that back NOW! I had the phone first..." It is a very exciting time though. Noelle is clearly understanding a lot more of what I am saying and is making progress with her words. She can now say "buh-buh" for bubble and her cat noise sounds more like a cat than a humming noise. We took the girls to Sammy's for Noelle's birthday lunch since birthday girls and boys score a free "messy sundae." I should have noticed the name more because that is exactly how our girls ended up--very very messy! It was worth it though because they joyfully dove into that sundae with all its chocolate and caramel syrup seeping over the sides of the glass. Before I knew it, Noelle grasped a handful of pure chocolate drippiness and stuffed it happily into her wide open mouth. If only broccoli gave us such pleasure in life! Happy birthday little girl of mine.

The Bad:
This morning I went downstairs to get Noelle her milk and I discovered that for the first time since this house was built, we are under attack by ants. What are they going for? Of course it is the crumbs flung nearly three times a day by my little girls. I try to clean the floor up after meals but it is a bit like trying to keep sand off the beach (or like keeping sand in the sandbox which I will get to later). Now we have little lines of ants racing from crumb to crumb in the kitchen and into the living room. Perfect. Now we have Bug-Land since we already had the big fat flies that race around our house in the summer months since our house was built with french doors instead of sliding doors with screens. I am really not looking forward to having pesticides near the children. Did I mention that Noelle is at the peak of her bug eating stage?

The Ugly:
We bought a sandbox about a year ago. I fantasized about two girls playing quietly and happily with their shovels and buckets. I daydreamed about making elaborate sandcastles with the girls and knocking them down. Those were my fantasies, now I will tell you the realities. My children's favorite activity with the sandbox is taking the sand OUT of the sandbox and pouring it elsewhere. Thus we have sand covering every inch of our patio that then gets tracked into the house whenever anyone is hungry or in need of the potty. Also, Noelle loves to eat the sand and all other objects small enough to be crammed into her little mouth while in the sandbox. All these matters I could live with but here is the reason that my sandbox is on the next craigslist train out of here.. A cat has discovered our sandbox. I tried to remember to close the lid every day after we use the sandbox but it is not easy with two children under age three. Plus Natalie can open it herself so there are times when I think it is closed but actually it is not. Natalie will now tell you that a cat thinks that the sandbox is a potty. Lately I was completely grossed out to discover large turds under the sand while searching for plastic animals. Then there is the wonderful aroma of cat piss mixed into the sand. In a few nights, our sandbox has turned into a litter-box. Did I mention Noelle eats the sand? Goodbye and good riddance to the sandbox. We can frequent the parks to satisfy our urges to dig and build thank you.

Life These Days

Well it has been about 4 months since I have written. My husband was laid off in February and I just hadn't felt like writing bad news. Currently he is still seeking offers and we have expanded our search to include many other cities. His job is very specialized and it is not looking like our city in Southern California has many of that type of job. While we may have to move, there is still a chance that we will secure a job here and our life will return to what has become normal for us. The good news is that Natalie and Noelle have had a great deal of Dada time for the last four months. This has been very fun and also helpful to me.

The girls are doing great. Natalie is two and a half now and at times stubborn but always very cute and perceptive. She is infatuated with Diego and Dora the Explorer and also has become my little bug scientist out in the yard. She is also taking the first steps toward potty training by using the potty before nap and bedtime. Noelle will turn one this month which is mind-boggling to me. She is cruising around and has taken one or two tiny steps while standing unassisted. She says Mama, Dada, and Uh-oh, as well as making basic animal noises for the lion, snake, and cow. She points out everything and wants to have the world in tiny little hands. Outside on our patio, Noelle races for our cozy coupe car and performs dare devil stunts on chairs that she can now climb onto. She still can't be trusted to not eat the pill bugs. Noelle is also a very affectionate child. All day long she wants to climb into my lap and give me kisses and hugs. It is really very sweet. Natalie has become more affectionate too, maybe taking a page from Noelle's book. She especially likes to shower her Dada with affection.

It is hard not to obsess about where we will be living in the next few months. The waiting game is a challenge. In a way though, it is also exciting to think that we could be anywhere in the country within six months. For the meantime, we are spending a lot of time hanging out with our great playgroup and with all our friends. Our plans are to attend a particular preschool in the fall which means we need to be potty trained so that will be coming up in the next couple months unless we move. The last nine months have been trying since we nearly lost our house to the Southern California fires in October and then Chris' job was lost in February. What we keep on thinking about is how lucky we are to have each other. This year has really taught us that as long as we are all healthy, we are going to be fine wherever we are. Our family has grown even closer through neighborhood walks, trips to the zoos, and just relaxing on our back patio. We are enjoying simple pleasures these days and especially the simple pleasures that come with having two little girls.