Bye Bye Irene!

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we've survived an earthquake AND a hurricane in the same week.  Hurricane Irene turned out to be not a big deal around us.  It did rain and get pretty windy, but there was no damage.  Our power flickered - once while I was awake and several times after I went to bed, but it never stayed out for long.  A few tree branches down, but the worst part was the lack of sleep. 

My school was closed on Friday for a Professional Development day, so mom took a vacation day.  We were going to do something fun (like go to the zoo or a museum), but the weather wasn't looking great and we had to go to the grocery store.  What better time to do that than at 10am on a day when most people are at work???  That was a brilliant plan.  No one there and the stores weren't out of everything yet.  We weren't really worried about the storm, just had no food in the house!  Mom and I got the shopping done, then went home to put it all away and eat lunch.  After my nap, we went to the mall and to the toystore so we could get out of daddy's way while he was working.  I was SO good all day.  Mom spoiled me a little at the toystore and I got lots of fun new things (she said it was in case we lost power and had to keep ourselves occupied for a few days).  It's a toss up for my favorites - it's either my new guitar or my hula hoop!  Lesson learned for future natural disasters - Toys R Us is a GREAT place to go for batteries or water if all other stores are sold out :)





Saturday we didn't go anywhere and didn't do much other than play :)  Mom and I made a brisket in the slow cooker early in the morning in hopes that it would be able to cook the whole way through before our power went off.  It made the house smell yummy all day!  We spent some time playing my guitar, we colored some pictures, I got to play with mommy's iPod, and we read a ton of books.  When I took my nap, mom went downstairs to run.  She was pretty tired when she was done, but was glad that she got a run in.  When I woke up, mom started taking my bed apart!

That's right - I'm moving into the bigger room upstairs!  Mom and dad converted my bed to a full size bed a few months ago and my bed literally took up my entire room.  No joke.  There was so little room to move around, let alone play.  And it was IMPOSSIBLE to make my bed or change the sheets (and with a mostly potty trained toddler, sheet changing happens often).  So when Grandpa asked if we wanted their trundle bed, we said YES and decided to move my room to the bigger room in the front of the house and turn my old room into the guest room with the day bed.  Mom got the bed moved Saturday afternoon, but left the rest of the furniture for Sunday.  It's hard to move two pretty full rooms worth of furniture!

The brisket cooked just fine and was finished about 10 minutes before the power went out the first time :)  Perfect timing!  Mom already had food on the table and ready to go.  Luckily, the power went out for about a minute, but came back on.  That was seriously the worst of the storm and it was hardly even raining at the time.  I ate a pretty good dinner and LOVED the maple carrots mom made.  I even got to eat some of the milk and honey ice cream that daddy made as a treat for dessert!  Yum!  

I didn't have too much of a problem going to bed in my new room Saturday night.  I couldn't take a bath because of the storm, so we just brushed teeth and read books.  I stalled as usual, but fell asleep before too long.  I woke up *really* scared around 2am, though.  I was crying and yelling for mom to come help me.  Apparently, the power went out and came back on and when it came back on, it turned on one of the lights in my new room!  That must have woken me up because when mom came in, the lights were on (kind of scared her!) and I was still in bed, but scared.  She decided to just sleep with me in my bed until the storm passed, especially since I was in a new setting.  I ended up talking to her for the next 3+ hours.  She would roll over to get comfortable and I'd ask her what she was doing.  And then I'd tell her that there was a storm.  Then I told her that I loved her (made mom's heart melt).  This went on from 2 until 5:15.  I literally did not stop talking.  And my final words to mom:  "Mom, you can go back to your own room now."  She said ok, picked up her pillow and we all went back to sleep.

Fast forward 2 hours.  Mom woke to me opening her bedroom door and standing next to her!  I've been in a bed for a year and a half and I've never once gotten out of bed.  This really freaked mom out!  I climbed into bed with her, gave her a hug and said good morning.  I told her I was ready to wake up, but she said she wasn't ready yet.  Too bad.  I gave daddy a hug too, but mom and I ended up going downstairs to get some breakfast.  I ate a TON today!  I had a banana, Kashi cereal bar, AND a bowl of oatmeal!  Then mom made some eggs for herself and I had some of those too.  When dad woke up, we went shopping for a new refrigerator.  I got a bit cranky, but we stopped for lunch on the way home and that cheered me up.  I didn't eat much of my lunch, but finished most of mom's.  Isn't that how it always goes?  Mom keeps saying she can't wait for the day that she can get through an entire meal without having to get up to get *one* more thing or without having to take a bathroom break!

I got to nap in mom and dad's room when we got home so mom could move the rest of the furniture.  She was mostly done by the time I got up - I didn't call for her on the monitor - I just got up and walked out in the hallway, so she asked me to go down and see dad.  Guess mom and dad need to make sure the gate at the top of the stairs is closed at night!

I went down and found dad and we looked at some of my new books.  And guess what???  I actually read a few words by sounding them out!!!!  Mom bought me some books for beginning readers and I sat with daddy and sounded out a few of the words and actually read what they were.  Mom and dad were so proud of me and we all gave high fives and hugs.  I read "Dot," "Mat," and "Sam."  How cool is that???

Mom pretty much finished moving the furniture, then came down and we painted for a bit.  I had a blast, but made a mess.  I had leftovers for dinner and ate really well.  After playing for a little more, we went upstairs and had a good bath.  After the mess we made today and not taking a bath yesterday, we really needed it!  There's room in my new room for my bed AND my glider, so mom and I got to read three books in my glider.  It was nice to have that back.  I went to bed just fine, but continued to talk for a long time.  I cried a few times and mom had to come help me.  I'm finally sleeping now and mom's hoping for a decent night - she has to go to work early tomorrow, so daddy's going to take me to school.

Didn't expect this to get so long, but wanted to let everyone know we're ok.  Hope you all are too!  It's been a while since I've posted photos, so here are a few from the past few weeks.

I *love* my great-grandma's Chicken Corn Soup!



Kitty loves my bed!



Raspberry Picking with mom and dad.



I used to hate when mom would try to put a ponytail in my hair, but I ask for piggy tails now.



Me and my best bud, Belle!



Daddy and I deep in conversation.



Terrible photo, but my first Wii game!



I picked out orange hair rubberbands to match the orange stripes in my dress :)



Hard at work with my hula hoop.



Hope you all survived Irene as well! Hugs to all!

Earthquake (again!)

Can you believe that I'm not even 3, live on the east coast and have now experienced TWO earthquakes??? This afternoon, part way through nap time (though we were up from a fire drill anyway), my classroom started wiggling!  I told mom it sounded like thunder, but she told me it was an earthquake!  Here's how the conversation went:

Me:  Mommy, my classroom wiggled today when the thunder came.
Mommy:  That wasn't thunder, Sydney, it was an EARTHQUAKE!
Me:  What's an earthquake?
Mommy:  It makes the earth move and wiggle.
Me:  Oh - just like the elephants make the ground wiggle.

Lots of laughter ensued :)

Anyway, it appears to be a 5.8 magnitude quake centered about 100 miles southwest of DC, near Richmond.  Mommy felt it at work - her desk is right next to a big window and she thought it was the construction on the building behind her that was making the rumbling noise.  Then everything started to shake and pictures fell off the wall, so it was clear it wasn't the construction.  It seemed like it lasted a long time - certainly longer than the last quake we had.  Mom's first instinct was to call my school.  She talked to the director and she sounded shaken, but said the kids were all safe and outside with the teachers.  Mom asked her to call back if I needed to be picked up.

Fast forward a few minutes and mom's building was evacuated (along with every other building in DC).  You can imagine the chaos!  Cell service didn't work, so mom couldn't get in touch with school or anyone else for that matter.  Nor could people get in touch with her.  Mom usually takes a train to work, but her colleague was kind enough to drive her back to the Metro to pick up her car.  It took nearly THREE hours to get 22 miles - fun times.  This is the same colleague who drove mommy to my school when I had to get stitches in my forehead.  Needless to say, mom owes her a good lunch or two!

Daddy was out of town, trying to fly back in to DC this afternoon.  Thankfully mom was finally able to get in touch with Ms. Laurie, my infant teacher from the school before the last one, whom I ADORE.  Laurie's son is also in my school, so her husband went to pick up Zachary and she went to pick me up (so I could use Zachary's carseat in her car).  Mom had to talk to the director since mom had neglected to turn in new emergency contact forms since I switched schools :(  To say that mom had some major mommy guilt is putting it mildly.  Needless to say, the forms are now filled out. 

Thankfully it all worked out. Ms. Laurie picked me up and I was eating dinner when mom got to her house.  I got to play with Zachary for a while and mom and Laurie got to catch up.  By the time we got home, daddy was home.  I ate a little squash soup (one of my favorites) while mom and dad ate dinner.  We skipped my bath, mom read me 2 books, then I was OUT cold.  Probably because I didn't get a nap today - first time ever that I haven't even mumbled to myself at all.  I think I was literally asleep before mom got out of my room.  Hope that continues the rest of the night!

Anyway, long story short, we're all ok and I don't think there's any damage to the house :)

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2898&from=rss_home

Peanut Butter!

Enough said :)  For part of dad's birthday present, mom told him he could give me my first taste of peanut butter (which he's been DYING to do).  Yum.  Good news, no reaction!  Not that mom or dad thought there would be since I tested "not positive" for the major food allergens a few months ago, but my doctor still said to wait until I turned 3.



Nothing like a cold glass of milk to wash the PB down!



I had such a great weekend last weekend!  Grandma and Grandpa came on Saturday to bring Razmatazz back and to babysit me while mom and dad went to the Manchester United - Barcelona game.  Daddy got to go to a Man U fan club event on Thursday night(thanks to an awesome co-worker of mom's who got him "on the list.")  He got my jersey signed by Gary Neville, Andy Cole and Paddy Crerand.  How cool???



Grandma and Grandpa got to our house a little before naptime on Saturday, so we played for a while, I ate a soy nut butter and jelly sandwich (this was before daddy gave me the peanut butter), then I asked grandma to read me a book before nap.  I nap pretty well (most days) even if I don't go to bed too well.  It did take me a good 45 minutes to fall asleep, but at least I wasn't whining, just talking and singing to myself.  Mom and dad left while I was sleeping to go to the soccer game.  It was at Fed Ex field in Landover.  They picked up Ken and Marie and stopped to meet Mike and Natale on the way.  They said they had fun tailgating and at the game.  Man U beat Barcelona 2 - 1.  There were over 81,000 tickets sold - that's a LOT for a soccer game!  Mom got me a Man U soccer ball as a souvenir :)  Traffic was awful when the game was over, so mom and dad hung out in the parking lot until it cleared out a little.  It was almost midnight by the time they got home.  Grandma was sleeping and Grandpa was waiting for them to get home.

Here are a few other random photos from the past few weeks.  

Messy girl!  Unfortunately you can see the scar on my forehead a little more now even though mom doesn't let me see the light of day without being slathered in sunscreen!  



Here's my new soccer ball :)



Needless to say, I had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.  We did so much - we swung in the hammock, blew bubbles, rode my bike up and down the street, painted some pictures, cooked and ate dinner, had some ice cream for dessert, played some games, phew - I think I wore them out!  I had a really great time and hope they did too.  I woke up a few times before mom and dad got home and cried a few times even after they got home.  Mom came to say goodnight when she got home and I climbed into her lap and fell right back to sleep.

I woke up at 5:45 on Sunday and yelled for mom.  She grabbed the monitor and took it into bed with her (it's usually across the room) and was able to talk to me over the monitor and convinced me to go back to sleep :)  She woke up holding the monitor at 7:45 when I yelled for her again!  We both got a few additional good hours of sleep for once! 

I spent a good morning playing with Grandma and Grandpa.  Mom made me an omelet for breakfast - I ate most of it, then ate some of the frittata that she made a little while later.  Both were yummy and I got my fair share of protein for the morning!  Mom also got the first delivery of the "farm box."  Everything looked yummy!!!  She got most of the things she ordered, but a few were missing, namely the milk, boo :(  But we got some awesome produce:  kale, zucchini, PURPLE peppers, red peppers, onions, crazy looking tomatoes, sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, mangoes, nectarines, apples, red plums, a cantaloupe, eggplant and probably a bunch more that I'm forgetting.  Mom did order some elk summer sausage, grass fed ground beef, apple butter and mango chutney as well.  Yum!  She also surprised dad and I with some ice cream :)  Vanilla for me and cookie dough for daddy.  Daddy convinced me that his ice cream is best (though mom is still trying to remind me that vanilla is really the best).

Mom and I gave daddy his birthday present a little early on Sunday (his actual birthday was on Tuesday).  Mom got him the ice cream attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer!  They've been talking about getting it for a while, but just never did.  So mom finally bought it for him.  We washed it right away and dad dug up some recipes.  He made some milk and honey ice cream - mom tells me it was delicious, but I haven't tasted it yet.  Mom made dinner for dad - short ribs and zucchini (from the farm box) and potato pancakes!  They took a long time to cook, but it was all so yummy.  I ate a *really* good dinner, so mom and dad let me have some of my vanilla ice cream as a treat.  Daddy's real birthday was on Tuesday - we ended up getting take out from Outback since we all got home a little late, but we had a nice dinner and I gave dad my presents - I gave him two books that were on his wishlist. We didn't have time to make his cake, but we'll have to do that soon.

Daddy was traveling later in the week and was supposed to get home this evening - he was in Indiana.  Mom told me this and here's the conversation we had several times this week:

Me:  Where's Daddy?
Mommy:  Where do you think?
Me:  In Diana. 

Mom laughed every time and I can't figure out why!!  Mom and I had a pretty fun week, though.  We got lots of play time.  Saturday morning, mom took me and my stroller to the Soccerplex for a run.  She forgot how hilly it was and ended up getting lost on what she thought was a 3.5 mile loop.  She must have taken a wrong turn and ended up having to back track the same way we went, so we ended up "running" a little more than 4 miles.  It was pretty slow (finished in about 50 minutes), but we did have to stop to walk a bit - it's hard work pushing me (29 lbs) in my stroller (26 lbs) especially with the hills!  Mom told me we could stop at the playground on the way back, but it started to rain *just* as we got there :(  So we ended up going back to the car and went to Whole Foods to get salads for lunch.  We ate a good lunch, then both took naps. 

When I got up, we had a playdate and dinner at my friend Sam's house - we had SO much fun.  Sam and I went to my last school together and he also just moved to my new school :)  I'm so glad we can still play together.  He's in a different class right now, but hopefully will be moving in to mine soon.  I had so much fun playing with all of his toys - I get bored with my toys sometimes, but new things are so much fun! 

Hope everyone is doing well.  Till later!