From Philly...

it's been a busy few days in philly. but the girls are having a blast with their cousin Amoz and aunt and uncle and grandparents. i'll post some photos later. i'm trying to stay on top of everything, but inevitably, i have to accept the fact that it won't happen. today, we made an outing to the Morris arboretum. we splashed around in the fountains and watched miniature trains going by on the railway display. we saw a swan getting fed some lettuce, baby ducks swimming, and snakes laying on rocks.

it's funny. Skye is having a great time - there's always someone to play with, but once in a while, she says she misses Madison, but is quick to add that she's enjoying herself. i'm sure Claire would say the same if she could. there's all the hardships of being away from home, yet there's so much joy in being with family. and we haven't seen much of Phil who sometimes gets back after the girls have gone to sleep. we're looking forward to wednesday when he has the day off!

meanwhile, after the girls have gone to sleep at night, i've managed to get in some reading. i've started michael ondaatje's new novel "Divisadero." haven't read any novels in a long time, so i'm actually relishing this one.

Getting ready for our trip

on thursday, we leave for our big summer trip. Phil has a conference in Philadephia and another in New York, so we'll spend a week in each city. i'll be trekking around both cities sans Phil...we'll see how it goes! we'll be visiting family in Philadelphia, so that'll be great. we get to see my nephew, Amoz, for the first time! he's celebrating his first birthday while we're there, so that'll be exciting. i think this will be the first time in a really long time my side of the family has gathered. my brother and his family and my parents and us. i think the last time was when Skye was born.

so i'm busy packing whenever i can. Phil and i used to travel a lot (during my flight attendant days) and we'd travel with just one suitcase each. that's impossible now. these two small people require so much STUFF! and i used to zip through airports, pulling my wheelie along. now, we have to plan for at least a half hour to make our connection, making potty stops, water stops, etc. still, i'm excited to show the cities to Skye and Claire. i love NYC - there's so much to do! i'm hoping the kids will find it as exciting as i do.

if any of you have tips on what to do and see with the kids in either city, please let me know!

New colour

so i made a visit to the hair salon today, the first in a very long time. it was fun to be pampered and get my hair washed by someone else!! so, here are the shots.

Before:


After:


Skye giggles every time she touches my hair now. at first, she worried the blue would come off on her fingers, but quickly realized this doesn't happen. so we played hair salon and she wanted to colour her hair orange.

well, it's fun to have some blue hair - i'm going to enjoy it!

Visit from Uncle Mike and Auntie Megan

yesterday, we had a visit from Phil's brother, Mike, and his wife, Megan. they live in illinois and made the trek up here for a visit. Skye was so excited to see them, she had a hard time waiting for them to arrive, even getting rather grumpy! but she had a blast once they arrived!

here are the two girls in the backyard.



Megan, Skye and Claire busy with play.


Mike and Megan give Skye a wild ride!


Pink Ladies.


Skye's rendition of the visit.

Conquering the monkey bars, dunking in the pool

today was Skye's last day of summer school. and all summer long, she has been working on the monkey bars, trying to get all the way across. every day, when i picked her up, she'd say, "let me show you - i can get all the way across!" and every day, she'd drop down to the ground in the middle and i'd say, "maybe next time?" today, Skye was determined to show me. the first few times, she dropped in the middle. and then, she did it and i got to see her finally! her teacher got to see it and some of her friends and their parents all got to see her and we all clapped for her! it was great! Skye was all smiles and thrilled to have conquered the monkey bars.

meanwhile, Claire and i have been taking parent/toddler swim lessons while Skye was in her swim lesson. Claire is the youngest in the class - the rest of her classmates are all a year or older. i have been trying to teach her to hold her breath before i dunk her in the water. for those of you familiar with teaching infants to swim, you'll know that babies automatically hold their breath if you blow in their faces (that's why Claire often stopped breathing in the winter time whenever we went out and the wind blew in her face). today, for the first time, she recovered pretty quickly after i dunked her. she usually gets upset/annoyed and comes up sputtering, but today, she sputtered a little, but then was ok.

i was really proud of both my girls today. monkey bars and swimming are all important things. even i remember how important they were when i was growing up!

Eating habits

Claire is now making sounds like she's trying to talk. "wah-wah-wah-wah-wah." "maaaah! maaaah!" i'm sure soon certain sounds will refer to specific things, but at the moment, we're thrilled to hear her do her thing! she has also taken to biting me on the shoulder when she wants to nurse.

today, we were eating lunch at the pool and Claire was busy playing with the lunch bag while i tried to finish up. all of a sudden this little red thing drops out of her mouth and rolls away. i pick it up and it's a piece of candy! how did it get in there and how come i didn't catch it? with Skye, i felt like i was so on top of things, feeding her good and healthy food i'd made at home. not so easy to do with Claire. i still make food for Claire at home, but at the same time, i'm so distracted, i don't always catch her putting things in her mouth she's swiped off the table. in this case, from digging around in Skye's stash of gummy candy. could have been something worse i suppose. and Claire seems to want variety in her meal. if i give her just a bowl of mushy broccoli, she gets upset after a few bites. no, she wants some cucumber or a piece of bread or some fistfuls of rice to go with the broccoli.

and Skye's eating habits are rather interesting as well. she likes to take a bite, run off and play, come back for a bite and then run off again. i've tried and tried to get her to stay in her chair until she's done, but it's a battle that goes nowhere. it's almost impossible for her to stay still for a minute. she actually does better in restaurants because she's so busy staring at other people eating that she'll stay in her seat and eat. a good excuse to eat out often!

Ladies at home

Phil left for a conference early this morning. to me, it feels like he leaves for conferences often, but Phil tells me that's not the case. so far today, it's been good. Claire is taking a long nap and Skye and i are hanging out. we'll see how the rest of the day goes. the days aren't what i'm worried about. it's the nights and whenever Phil is away, neither of the girls seem to sleep well. perhaps because i don't sleep well either. i'm getting up for both girls, to nurse Claire and to settle Skye back to sleep. i've tried having both girls in the same bed with me, but then they're waking each other up. otherwise, i'm running back and forth between rooms, getting no decent sleep. i'm resigned to getting no sleep for the next two nights.