The McPherson Chronicles

School starts on Monday for the girls. They are very excited and can't wait to meet their teacher and see all their friends again. When I asked them the other day what they thought about 2nd grade they had very comical responses. Lucy said, "I'm going to need a big backpack because in 2nd grade there is a lot of stuff to bring home". Olivia simply said, "It's going to be easy." They crack me up! The other funny pre-school occurrence was getting new school shoes. Grandma took them to the Skechers store earlier this week and let them try on and pick whichever pair they wanted. She then sent me this photo for my approval.  I immediately started laughing just at the flashiness of them and then their expressions. Of course I said yes, how could I squash that sense of fashion?!? They are even more eye-catching in person - especially Olivia's all gold shoes.Lucy chose hers because, of course, they have purple laces. She also likes the lips all o...

Long story short, we're giving it a break. Andrew knows what to do and is pretty good at home for me and Kevin. He is dry most nights and naps at our house. But, and this is a big but, he refuses to cooperate with the program for Grandma and Grandpa. I don't know why he resists it so much over there or if he's just not interested unless he's at home, but it was wearing them down and that wasn't worth it to us. The last thing I want is Andrew dreading going to Grandma and Grandpa's house because of all this. He was starting to act out at their house by hitting and throwing which I'm sure was his way of venting frustration. I just don't understand how he can be terrible about using the potty all day at their house, come home and ask to go potty, do his thing and then be dry all night just to do it all wrong the next day at their house again. It baffles us all. Rather than continue to push it and have them deal with the bad behavior we're going to go to...

So, we had our first Tooth Fairy visit already!! It was pretty unexpected and quite exciting. Thanksgiving week the girls and Kevin were wrestling and playing around in the living room while I gave Andrew a bath. In their playing, Olivia ran at a pillow Kevin was holding and when she got up her 2 bottom front teeth were out. We were all shocked since we hadn't even realized they were loose! After the initial confusion/shock wore off and Olivia realized this was a good thing, she was very excited. She couldn't wait for the Tooth Fairy. I got out my old tooth fairy pillow for her to use to keep her teeth safe overnight. She wrote a very sweet note to the Tooth Fairy too. Dear Tooth Fairy I bumped my tooth and my tooth fell and my name is Olivia  In the meantime, poor Lucy. This was the first big thing that didn't happen to them both at the same time. Lucy kept begging over and over again to play the wrestling game with Daddy again, convinced that she would then loo...

There's been a whole new morning and evening routine now that the girls are in school. It was a bit hectic at first as we tried to balance everything and figure out how to fit it all in but we're getting there. The morning's are pretty easy now. We lay clothes out the night before, get backpacks and lunches ready and the girls know everything they have to do as soon as they get up. Andrew's been sleeping in a bit longer which helps us have time to get all ready before we go get him up and ready for the day. Kevin takes Andrew on his way to work and I take the girls which also helps break things up a bit. My parents take and pick the girls up from school. Olivia's having an easier time adjusting to school than Lucy is. They both like school but Lucy is having some separation anxiety in the mornings. She cried at drop-off the first few days and wants my mom to stay at the gate with her until the bell rings and then walk her to class. She doesn't want to go play ...

I know this is going to sound obvious but I'm going to say it anyway. 1 newborn is soooo much easier than 2! The reason this is so surprising to me is that even though we only have 1 newborn, we still have 2 preschoolers to keep up with so it's not like we only have 1 kid.  Overall though, adding Andrew into our family has been relatively easy. There are definitely differences between Andrew and the girls though. - Andrew is a belly sleeper much to our dismay. I blame the NICU, since they let him sleep that way and now we have to try to switch him to back sleeping. - We get so much more sleep! It used to take me up to 90 minutes at a time to feed both girls which only left a short amount of time to sleep before starting the next round of feeding. - Andrew is a great sleeper. He has already gone 4, 5 and 6 hours in between night feedings while the girls were quite fussy and never missed their 2.5 or 3 hour feeding window at this age. - Paci- Andrew will use one if offere...

Lucy has made some of the sweetest comments lately. She started off with little one-off comments to me like, "I love cuddling you Mama" or "you're always such a big help to me, Mama" and then one day out of no where she said, "You're the best sister, Gracer. I just love you so much and we have such a good time playing together". Kevin and I just looked at each other and were speechless since it came out of nowhere. My heart melted. Of course in typical Olivia form she responded, "Yeah, I know. Remember that time you had yogurt on your nose?" So unsentimental, that kid. Lucy continues to be the sweetest thing making little side comments like this almost daily. I love hearing her express her feelings and emotions more. I finally feel like the talks about being grateful for what we have and loving those around us might be making an impact, at least on one of the kids.

Here are today's creations Notice any differences???

What do these 3 early morning creatures have in common? This is how I found them all one morning a few weeks ago. They are definitely their father's daughters. I'm not a belly sleeper.

Today Olivia & Lucy are 3 years old. Happy Birthday to our two little duckies! It is crazy to me. I still remember bringing 2 newborns home, how did they turn into "big girls"? Kevin and I couldn't be more lucky. We have the two best behaved, smart, well-mannered children I know. They wake up smiling and laughing and go to bed the same way. They are best friends and get totally caught up in their own little make-believe world that we love to just sit back and watch. The girls are so loving to us and each other and we know they will grow and develop with their best friend by their side, which is amazing to us. Olivia, my singer, my cuddler, and ever the Daddy's girl. I love how you sing as loud as you can in the car no matter if you know the words or not. I love that you always want to know what every song is called and who sings it and you request Taylor Swift songs. You are adventurous and brave and your laugh is infectious. I love how your big grins bring ou...

Olivia has become very sensitive lately and she pouts/cries on a whim. If you tell her no, change plans, ask her to stop playing, give her something for dinner she doesn't want and on and on... she immediately gets pouty and starts crying. We refer to this as llama drama (which we got from the Llama Llama Red Pajama book). At first we thought it was when she was sick or overtired but now it seems to happen a lot. We try not to give into it and oftentimes just ignore the behavior. We ask her why she is crying and if she does tell us we explain it and move on. If she carries on and on about it, we tell her to go in her room if she is going to cry and she can come back out when she's finished. She is totally ok with this and goes directly to her room, cries for a minute or so and then either Lucy goes in and distracts her and they come out, or she decides to stop and comes back out still with her pouty face. We're hoping she gets through this quickly. Lucy doesn't like ...

I've noticed little by little that the girls have started to choose things, sides, people and things that belong to one of the other of them. We have always encouraged sharing and rarely do we go out of our way to purchase 2 identical items for them just to attempt to avoid the inevitable meltdown. Most of the time the girls are really good about sharing. They will ask each other to trade if they want whatever sister has or they will repeat endlessly "when sister's all done" (which is the mantra we've ingrained in them to discourage all out war). This usually works and as soon as one is not begging, crying or chasing for an object, it no longer becomes the coveted object and they both move on to something new. Crisis averted, usually. Some things they have decided belong to one or the other of them: - Cups- they have a mutually agreed upon cup from each of the sets we have (straw cups- by color, princess cups- one the design is mostly faded off= Olivia's, t...

Well it turns out, ballet isn't really Olivia's thing, at least not this time. We've had 3 nights of ballet so far and Olivia only really participated in the first night. The last 2 times she has been fine getting ready, in the car on the way, and even waiting for class to start. As soon as we walk in the studio doors and the kids all gather to go through the "magic door", Olivia starts with her pouty face, crying and being super clingy. She starts out by going with the other kids but as soon as they are all seated away from the parents, Olivia pretty much loses it. She ends up watching the rest of the class standing with one of us. It's funny/sad at the same time. Her little pouty face is adorable, so it makes me laugh to see her doing it, but it's so sad that she doesn't want to go have fun with her ballet friends. We're not entirely sure what the problem is, she loves watching the class and doing all the moves at home with Lucy, but when it come...

When we were contemplating names for the girls we occasionally wondered what they would call each other or how they could pronounce each other's names. For the longest time they only referred to each other as "sister" or more accurately "sista". They knew their names but rarely used them when talking to each other. Now they have picked up on the names and nicknames we have for them and refer to each other the same way we do. For Olivia: her most common nickname and how Lucy usually refers to her it's "Gracer", when Lucy does say her name it sounds more like "Wivia" For Lucy: Olivia usually refers to her as "Goosey" or attaches her middle name and calls her "Goosey Anne". She has started to call her Lucy now which sounds a bit more like "Wucy". We love hearing them say each other's names in their cute little voices.

Tonight was night 1 of our 4 week Tiny Tot Ballet adventure. The girls were very excited and even asked me first thing this morning if they were going to ballet class. The class is at the old school where my sister and I also took lessons from some of the same teachers. I must say it hasn't changed much. The class is for 2-3 year olds and there were a lot of kids waiting around in their pink tights and white leotards when we arrived. It's just a half hour class where they mostly just let the kids move around and mimic their movements. Since the school offers on going classes most of the kids were already familiar with the class and teachers. I wasn't sure how the girls would react when it was time to venture off from us. There were some kids who cried and never joined the class and others who went back and forth between their parents and the class. Luckily, the girls joined in right away without any hesitation. The class starts off with this little wooden door that the ...

Is this the terrible two's? That didn't take long! At this point, it's really only Lucy who seems to be having a rough time. She is starting to throw temper tantrums. She's tried a few times here and there before, but lately any number of things can set her off. This week it was the fact that Olivia got to wear the pink jacket to grandma's and when she couldn't have the blue spoon at dinner. Mostly we just ignore her and focus on other things going on or carry on with dinner or whatever else we were doing and eventually she calms down or gives up. We don't give in. Ever. At least that's out plan for now. So far we've learned: 1) Lucy's a head banger during a tantrum 2) We can ignore her screams, kicks and fits for longer than she can carry them on 3) There are a few ways to avoid a meltdown Don't get her overtired Anticipate decisions and issues that may create a meltdown (jacket color, spoon color etc) and avoid or diffuse the situa...

We're counting and saying the alphabet!! Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work, I heard the girls wake up and start chatting with each other. All of a sudden Lucy started counting. She made it all the way to 11 all by herself! She's done it at my mom's house too. She loves to count and have us count along with her. She loves to count items in books and things she sees. I'm not sure why she's stuck on 11, but I have heard her say 13 and 14 before so maybe once she gets 12 down we can make it closer to 15. Olivia can count too but she gets distracted usually somewhere after 5 and moves on to something else. She's more of an A-B-C's girl. With a few slight hiccups and a reminder here and there, she can make it pretty well through the alphabet. Olivia begs and begs to have us help her write her name whenever she is drawing or coloring. She likes to say the letters right along with me as I guide her hand. She loves for me to sing the abc's ...

Here's a little breakdown of the girls' traits and personalities now that they're nearly 21 months. Olivia -independent -studious- loves to "study" books, magazines and ads -sensitive -hesitant and about new things, people and places -great at following directions -cuddly -loves to sort and stack -loves to dance and sing Lucy -total ham -uses a lot of facial expressions -slightly bossy -sings and dances a lot -talkative -curious and brave -tests the limits and isn't usually swayed by "no" -possessive but learning how to share Even though they have so much that is different about their personalities, they are also very similar. They play great together! They talk, sing and dance with each other and love to chase and wrestle together. They truly are best friends.

Eating: - Olivia likes bread, Lucy hates it - Lucy likes lunch meat, Olivia hates it - Lucy will still eat oatmeal, Olivia has moved on to bigger and better things Sleeping: - Olivia has a harder time falling asleep while Lucy lays right down and cuddles up to her blanket - Lucy's always the first one up at naptime but Olivia's the first one up in the morning Playing: - Olivia will give her sister anything she wants and Lucy will take anything she wants - Lucy likes to make noise with things (Olivia joins in once she seems what's going on) while Olivia is content to read books and stack her blocks for extended periods of time Discipline: - Olivia is so sensitive and cries (usually) when you tell her no and Lucy laughs and smiles at you (and then tries it again and again and again) Listening: - Lucy reacts to almost everything you say whether it's naptime, eating, bathtime- she goes right where the next activity is going to be. Olivia will do these things too, but usuall...