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.

Getting to Know You

With LPea's one week birthday tomorrow, I thought I would share a few of the things we have learned about our littlest daughter.

1. She is a very good sleeper, in fact she sleeps all day.

2. She is a very good eater, in fact she eats all night.

3. We are working on changing this pattern.

4. She thinks her sister is a very big deal!

5. Her sister is a very big deal, we are so proud of CPea's behavior towards her sister.

6. Getting a newborn dressed is a task that can only be likened to trying to put pants on a rubber band.

7. And the moment SPea has been waiting for since the minute we knew we were expecting...the inaugural trip in the baby bjorn. He used with CPea until she outgrew it and has been biding his time to break it out again. LPea loved the trip...she slept through it.

Baby Pea!

She's Here!

Lauren Marie

born July 24 at 9:55 AM

8lbs 6oz

21 inches

We are so happy to have our little babypea home at last! Lauren and I arrived home from the hospital today. Everything is fine, she is eating well and her big sister CPea is very excited and has been super helpful so far.

As it turns out, all my daughters are born on Tuesday mornings. CPea weighted one ounce less than her sister and they were both the same length and were both born between 9:30-10:00.

More photos to come soon!

What we've got growing

SPea is following in his parents' footsteps and becoming quite the gardener. So I thought I would post a shot of his garden and our very pretty hydrangeas.

And of course, no post would be complete without a photo of CPea. Here she is working on her 'garden.' We are not too sure what she is intending to grow from grass clippings in a bucket, but it seems to going fine for her.

And, I am reluctantly pictured here since I, or BabyPea, continues to grow with no indication of her arrival date. So we are just waiting, some of us more patiently than others... Mary Walnut insited that she be in the photo with me, since she has yet to be featured in on the blog.

Glamour Girl

Its no secret that Connecticut falls a little short when it comes to glamour. This is, after all, a state that proudly identifies itself as the "Nutmeg State." Nutmeg is probably the least glamorous of all the spices-there is not even a song about it. And to make matters worse, in the three years I have lived, I've seen no evidence of nutmeg anywhere.

So, needless to say, when CPea's very cool grandmother sent an outfit that is every bit razzle dazzle, CPea jumped at the suggestion of having a fashion show/photo shoot. Look out America's Next Top Model!
She is seen holding her princess cell phone case, one of her most prized possessions. We thought it completed the look!


This is CPea blowing kisses to her fans-that would be her proud parents!

What's in a Name?

Its a lot of pressure to name a person. I know, I know, they can always change it when they are older. But I think there is merit in finding a name that suits and will not tarnish all their childhood memories.

That said, I am less than two weeks away from my due date and Baby Pea is still nameless. Not for lack of thought or consideration, but we just haven't found the right name.

CPea does have a name for her sister, George. That is what she has been calling this baby since we mentioned that babies need names. In fact, all of her little classmates at school ask when George is coming. George is a fine name, in fact, one of my favorites. But when taking into account that it is somewhat gender specific and was based on CPea's love of the Curious George. It doesn't stand out at the best of choices for our baby girl.

My darling husband seems very unconcerned about this, for reasons that escape me. Perhaps it is because when push comes to shove (literally) there is only one of us who is going to have enought wits about them to fill out all that naming paperwork-and that person won't be me.

So with his trump card in mind, the pressure is on for me to find a name. Otherwise I may end up with a daughter named Eunice Optimus.

I think we can all agree that is not a best case scenario. Its not even a good cocktail party story. Should any name suggestions come in to your head in the next few days, please send them my way!

A Little Friend...

Its a lot of work getting ready to be a big sister, as Cpea well knows. We've tried to prepare her for the upcoming event, but being almost three, she has a limited attention span. As the nursery comes together, I thought I'd share a one of the special things we've found for Baby Pea.

As we have been getting ready for the baby, CPea has not has much to say. Except for this, she said her baby sister was going to want an alligator that doesn't wear a bathing suit. Luckily, we found this little fellow that seemed to fit the part.

With all the preparation, we've been trying to fit in a little bit of summer fun. Here is a picture of our darling girl in her favorite beach ensemble.

Tumbling Tot

Cpea spends her Saturday mornings at tumbling class. Her favorite part of the class is shown here: jumping, jumping! At home she likes to demonstrate her flexability whenever possible.


Cpea would also like sweetpea blog readers to note that the sandals featured in the above picture are her favorite and contrary to her mother's opinion-they do go with EVERYTHING!

You've Got Questions...

I realized that my last post would lead to some questions about our pending arrival. Each and every day, I am forced to answer questions about the baby from perfect strangers. After living in DC for a number of years, I have a habit of ignoring people talking to me that I do not know. Here in SE CT, you can't really get away with that kind of thing, especially when you are 10 months pregnant. So here is my standard list of answers I have at the ready in the grocery store line:

Perfect Stranger: "Oh, when are you due?"

Me: "At the end of the month."

P.S.: "Wow! You don't look like you that pregnant."

Me: 'fake smile'

P.S.: "Do you know what you are having?"

Me: "A little girl."

P.S.: "Really, I think you look like you are having a boy."

Me: "Yes, well, modern medicine begs to differ."

P.S.: "Do you have a name picked out?"

Me: "No, not yet. We are thinking it would be better to tell the baby what her name is before announcing it to random strangers." (Note: this is what I actually want to say, but don't.)

So there's the basic info. I will post pictures of the new nursery soon!

Waiting for Baby

Our newest arrival to the peapod is scheduled to arrive in the 'next few weeks.' This vague timeline has only exacerbated the fine quality of procratination that both dpea and I posess. Luckily, I have good friends who were kind enough to throw a lovely strawberry shower to welcome baby pea! Cpea is pretty excited about being a big sister, which she demostrated by helping me open all of the baby's gifts. She has since reccomended that we move the baby's room to the shed, but we are are just overlooking that suggestion for now.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! I am creating this in the hopes of doing a better job of keeping in touch with our friends and family.