The Laundress

My mother has a special gift with laundry. I know, you are thinking-how does one get this? Well, she has many talents. Not the least of which being that clothes actually speak to her.

During her extended stay at my home, she washed everything she could get her hands on. On top of that, she gave laundering advice to my youngest brother over the phone. I overheard her telling him that for dark clothes you want to have a higher water level than you do with whites.

How does she know this?

Did a pair of dark wash jeans call her one day to say they would like a little more room to swim?

I am totally in the dark (no pun intended) on this one.

We are still very grateful for her stay and happily are still wearing washed and pressed clothing.

CPea especially loved having her Dee Dee visit-she wrote a thank you card to her but refused to mail it. She said, 'Mom let's keep it here so Dee Dee will have to come and get it from us and visit again.' I am so proud of my little manipulator!

My mom is great with both the girls-take a look!

Playing with Dora's house. It speaks in Spanish-I am waiting for the batteries to die.

This is CPea and Dee making their scary faces. CPea is very interested in being as scary as possible. Though, if you ask me, nothing is scarier than that Dora the Explorer. I mean, I don't think any of the great explorers had heads shaped like a football.

I was told one of the fringe benefits to grandmothering is getting to do things you would never do as a parent. Exhibit A seen above-drawing all over a kid. CPea was beyond thrilled at this treat. How long until she corrupts my other kid...

Only time will tell!

Visits and Visitors

We've been keeping ourselves busy these past few weeks...

Caroline had a visit from her friend Cason. Cason is the daughter of SPea's good friend Tim from high school, they are only six weeks apart in age. Cason is going to be a big sister in December so the two of them had a lot to catch up on!


LPea and I were lucky enough to have a visit from my good friend Sarah who drove up for the afternoon to meet the littlest Pea and spend a little time. My apologies to her for this photo, I did not capture her mom to be glow very well. Nonetheless, it was so great to see her!



LPea and I have both been making the rounds at doctor's appointments. We have both recovered pretty well from our week apart. Its true what they say, anyone looks better once they are out of a hospital gown-and LPea is very happy to not smell like soy formula anymore!



CPea is doing great and getting ready to start preschool. SPea and I keep joking about having 'all of these kids.' Doubling the number of girls we have has taken some getting used to, but I could not be happier with my little ladies.

Still the grim reality that Labor Day is next week has taken me slightly by surprise. I had all of these great ideas that August would be such a relaxing family time. That plan has fallen through to say the least-so I am cramming all my summer fun in the next seven days. LPea has not taken this lost summer fun lightly, so we are going to do our best to make it up to her!

Grandparents are great!

While I was in the hospital, we had a lot of help with the girls from our family. SPea's parents had planned a nice quiet visit to meet the baby and play with CPea. While en route, they got a call saying things had changed a little bit and did they remember how to make bottles.

They rose to the challenge beautifully and LPea was in very good hands.

My mother has also been with us for the past few weeks, more on her to come.

We are slowly easing back in to our normal routine. I am feeling better, but still cannot drive or do very much which is frustrating, but I am sure will not last forever.

In the meantime, thank you for all the well wishes, they go a long way!

Alison's Anatomy

Its been a while since I have posted...and why is that? Well, there is no computer access in the hospital.

I have spent the last week-or a full third of LPea's life in the hospital with gall stone pancreatitis. What that is, I still can't say for sure, despite the numerous explanations given to me by medical professionals.

What I do know is this, you have a gall bladder. It serves no purpose but can cause a lot of pain in very unlucky people-myself being one of them. So I no longer have one of these troublesome organs.

When you leave the hospital after having a baby, you are just relieved to be going home. It does not even enter your thoughts that you could come back in two week for something much less special and, remarkably, more painful.

Needless to say, I am so thrilled to be back home with my little family.

A special thank you to all the family and friends that have given us so much support during this very difficult time.

I am very pleased to be closing the door on this miserable experience and look forward to my regular routine of posting cute pictures of my daughters and enjoying this time at home with LPea.

More to come!

Water Babies

While CPea has been handling the arrival of her sister in true toddler fashion-that is to say, one mood swing at a time-she has also been busy with her swimming lessons. Her dad is hoping this is the first phase of a promising waterpolo career.

Not to be left out, LPea has been doing some waterwork of her own. The first bath. It went pretty well, all things considered given the long rivalry of children vs. soap.






All dressed and ready to go. You'll note this outfit (it says mommy's little sweetie) is part of my campaign to become the favorite parent for LPea. CPea has long been her father's number one fan, so this is my chance to even up the teams. We'll see how it goes.