The Life of Kiersten

My Little Sneak

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:26:21 -0800

We have had a good Valentine’s weekend. Yesterday we spent the day as a family at Sea World because we didn’t get to go the other day when London pooped. Taylor had the day off and apparently nobody else did because the place was dead. That was fine with me! We got to see everything we wanted to in minimal time. It was a fun day for all. We spent today just hanging out. Taylor had a lot to do for work so I played with London. We got a babysitter tonight so we could go out to dinner. After dinner we went to the bookstore and the mall and just walked around, hoping that by the time we got home, London would be in bed. I just got back from taking the babysitter home and Taylor’s reading London books so obviously our dreams didn’t come true. She may have been in bed if she wasn’t so manipulative and sneaky. Let me illustrate her sneakiness. About a month ago we bought a sticker book for her to use once she stopped wearing diapers altogether. We have not made it to that point yet, although she did poop in the potty a few days ago. Because of that, she thinks she gets ALL of her potty prizes. She asked me about playing with her new sticker book and I again explained to her that she still doesn’t get it unless she poops in the potty all the time and not in a diaper anymore. She’s definitely smart enough to understand that. Tonight while Taylor and I were out, London told the babysitter that she wanted to play with the new sticker book (that she knew was off limits). She told her where it was and everything. When we came home (past the time London should have been in bed) she had a guilty look on her face. There was the new sticker book, half way done. What a sneak! She manipulated the babysitter to let her stay up later and she convinced her that she could play with something she knew she wasn’t supposed to. I really need to keep a close eye on this girl.

It Depends

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:34:55 -0800

Confession: I peed my pants today. Yup, I’m thirty years old and I can’t control my bladder. I’m okay with posting this for the world to see because I’m pretty sure there are only maybe ten of you who read my blog in the first place and I know of at least two or three of you who have had this problem so I’m sure I won’t be judged too harshly. Let me also mention that I’m 32 weeks pregnant. I’m sure the problem is mostly due to that. Lately I have had to go pee quite often during the day. I still don’t get up every night. I don’t know how that happens. Usually I have to go really bad when I’m coming home from somewhere. I’ll be dancing around as I pull London from her car seat. She always says to me, “Hold it in. Don’t go pee in your underwear!” I reassure her that I’ll be fine as long as we get in the house FAST. And I always make it. Except for today. London and I took a walk to Target. I started noticing the feeling on the way home but it really wasn’t that bad. When I stopped at the mailbox, I realized how badly I really needed to go. I wondered if I would make it. Of course I would make it home. I always do. Well, I didn’t. As I was unloading the stroller and folding it up to put in the car, I leaked. Just a little. It wasn’t like I had pee running down my legs or anything nasty like that. And then I made it to the bathroom. Oh, sweet relief. I guess I’ll make sure I go at the store next time. Maybe after the baby comes, I’ll be able to control myself a little better.

Mommy

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:08:11 -0800

Just before bed tonight, London decided she needed to draw a few pictures. She wanted to draw a picture of me. Taylor told her to make sure she made me with a big belly, so if you notice, there’s a baby in my belly. Also, I got a nose this time! She never gives anybody noses. I’m so lucky! I asked her what those spots on my nose were. London’s answer, “Boogers.” Thanks.

A Princess and Her Poop

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 21:47:19 -0800

Warning: this is a long one. This may be a gross subject for some of you but I haven’t posted poop progress in a while so if you don’t want to read it, I won’t be offended. I get a little worried when London goes more than a couple of days without pooping. This usually means she is or soon will be constipated. It had been two or three days so last night before she went to bed, I gave her a laxative. She pooped right away and I assumed that was not the laxative doing it’s job yet. I let her stay in her diaper as long as possible this morning, hoping she would do her business before I had to give her a bath. The business did not get taken care of. Mid-morning she started telling me that her tummy hurt. Then she started telling me her bum hurt. I could see when she would have the painful bouts and would rush her to the bathroom. I tried to explain to her that if she would just poop, everything would be all better. Her bum wouldn’t hurt anymore. For some reason, she doesn’t care. She would rather be in pain. After about 2 hours of running her to the bathroom every ten minutes, I started getting desperate. Before I get too far, let me mention that London has a plethora of prizes that she receives by doing her dirty work in the potty. She gets 10 stickers on her chart! That’s a lot, in case you didn’t know. She also gets to choose a prize from the prize bag. In addition, she gets M&Ms. She has also had a sticker book in the cupboard I bought for her months ago that I promised she could play with when she pooped in the potty. Lastly, she would get to call Jeff Wiggle (okay, it was really Taylor with an Aussie accent but London didn’t know). I would think that any one of these rewards would be enough, but apparently, pooping is really that bad. Anyway, back to my story. As time wore on this morning, I was getting more and more desperate, as was London. She was crying and in pain, sitting on the potty because she wouldn’t just let it come out. Finally I told her that if she went poop in the potty today, I would take her to Sea World today (if it wasn’t raining). I told her that as soon as Daddy came home from work with the car, if she pooped, we would get in it and go directly to Sea World. I don’t think that’s what pushed her over the edge, but she finally pooped. I don’t think she really meant to, but she did. She was so much happier after that. And so was I.
Later this afternoon (since it was raining so we didn’t go to Sea World) London and I decided to walk across the street to Michael’s to buy some much needed stickers. I didn’t have one left, let alone ten. Of course I make her go potty before we leave the house. Unbeknownst to her, as she was peeing, she was also pooping. She was pretty excited to see that she had done it again. Twice in a day! Now I’m pretty sure it won’t happen again for another six months. Either way, she got another prize from the prize bag and was quick to remind me that I promised her just yesterday that she could get something really cool at the Disney store if she pooped in the potty two times. I was sure it would be a number of months before that happened. Obviously I was wrong. I promised her a trip to the Disney store in the near future and we took off to Michael’s, umbrella in hand. Once we found the stickers we wanted to buy, waited in line, had the cashier run back for a price check because the stickers we were buying were marked on clearance and they didn’t ring up that way, and were ready to pay, I noticed a problem. I didn’t have my wallet. I promised the cashier I would be back in ten minutes. I walked outside and called Taylor, hoping he would run my wallet to us. But as I was calling him, it started to rain. London and I walked home, empty handed. Just as we were walking up the stairs to our apartment complex, our umbrella turned inside out. We ran up the stairs, trying to keep as dry as possible without the umbrella flying away from us. We made it home, cold and wet and stickerless. It looks like I have my work cut out for me tomorrow. The only problem: I can’t figure out how Sea World is going to fit into the schedule. Maybe we’ll have to save that excitement for another day.

Way Too Many Animals

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 20:49:42 -0800

There have been so many days when I question why I ever had a child. Today was the opposite. London and I had a fun day together. Taylor was gone all day at work. That’s no fun but we made the best of it. I promised her early on that we could go to the “baby store.” It’s a children’s consignment store and there’s a play area that she loves to play in. While I was shopping she sat in the corner of the play area and read books. It was difficult to peel her away from the huge stack of books she was reading and had read. She didn’t make it through the whole stack so she didn’t want to leave but I’m sure she read no less than twenty books. They were in a tall pile on the table when she was finished. Between our stop there and our stop at Target, I spent just over $20 and bought a pair of jeans for London, some slacks and jeans for the little guy, along with a shortall outfit and a couple of onesies, and a maternity jacket for myself. I love getting good deals! Plus, London was so good the whole time we were gone. We watched “Finding Nemo” when we got home. She wanted to make heart cookies this afternoon but I told her we had to clean the house first. She helped the best she could but she got a little crazy. London has a ton of stuffed animals. They’re in a hammock above her bed, but she likes to sleep with a lot of them. She probably has twenty of them just in her bed. As she was cleaning up, she thought it would be a fun idea to pick as many up into her arms as she could fit. I was cleaning in another room and I could hear her in her room yelling, “I’m holding way too many animals!” as she was laughing hysterically. I went in to see what all the commotion was about and through her laughs I heard , “Take a picture! I’m holding way too many animals!” She was standing on her bed, watching herself in her mirrored closet doors. She thought she was the funniest thing ever. So of course I had to take some pictures. One of these days I’ll get the video up of her singing through the whole ordeal. We had such a fun day cleaning and playing together. Why can’t every day be like today?

A Hair Breakthrough

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 22:10:57 -0800

London isn’t one to follow a crowd...usually. It’s the same with her hairstyles. Her hair is as wild and crazy as her personality. Most days I’m lucky if I can get a comb through it. Sometimes it’s easier to just give her a bath so that I can wash and condition it, rather than the ritual of wetting it with detangler just so I can make it slightly presentable. Because of all the curls, it never seems to grow. I don’t notice it looking longer, but I do notice the fro getting bigger. I think it could be tamed. I think there are things that could be done to make it look good. Of course, this would take time and patience on my part, but I’m willing to try. London is not. But we’re making progress. Lately she has wanted a clip in the front of her hair at all times. This keeps it from going in her face, which she hates. The clip was definitely progress. Now she actually lets me put bows in her hair and she likes it! Today we had an even bigger breakthrough. I asked her if she wanted a ponytail. Of course she didn’t. She’s still traumatized from the last time she had a ponytail. I then asked her if she wanted braids. Once I showed her what a braid was, she consented to have it done and let me put two french braids in her hair! I think it’s a minor miracle! Is this really my child? Not only did she let me put them in, she left them in. All day. And now she’s sleeping, still with braids in her hair! I can’t believe it. Maybe the braids are paving the way for me to actually be able to style her hair. Oh, the possibilities!

Bonfire at the Beach

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 21:37:39 -0800

Yesterday morning Taylor had to take his computer into the Apple store once again. This time it was for a new battery. London and I tagged along because the mall was partway to the beach from our house and we planned on going out there right afterwards. While we waited for Taylor, London got to play games on a computer so she was happy. Just as we were getting on the freeway, we got a call from Taylor’s mom asking us if we wanted to meet the family at the beach a little later. So we went home and met them that evening. Apparently the surf was pretty bad, but Taylor and his dad had a great time surfing together until a half hour after the sun went down. The rest of us (Kerri, Krystal, Denver, London and I) made sand castles and a fire. Okay, I can’t take credit for helping with the fire. Anyway, we roasted hot dogs and made S’Mores and just had a grand time. It was a fun, spontaneous activity. I haven’t been to the beach at sunset for a long time. It was gorgeous. We’ll definitely have to do that again sometime.

Funny London

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 21:35:54 -0800

In case you were wondering, I’ll remind you again that I have such a funny daughter. She gets these strange ideas in her head all the time. I don’t know where they come from. We got this adorable robe from Alan and Marisa in the mail the other day. London was SO excited about it. It has an embroidered Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck on the front and the hood has Minnie ears. Of course she won’t wear it when she really should be wearing it (after she gets out of the tub). Apparently that’s not what it’s for. She just wants to wear it around the house at all other times. Oh, she wants to wear it other places too but that won’t fly with me. Anyway, for some reason the other day she thought it would be a good idea to wear a tutu. This is not common for her. I don’t know where she got the idea. So to make her happy, we put one on over her pants (because the pink princess dress that she really wanted to wear is too small). It took a little convincing that it was either wear the tutu over her pants or wear it with a leotard but she finally consented to the pants. Over the tutu went the robe (or as London calls it, the Minnie “crib”. I don’t know where she gets that). Of course the Wiggles big red car slippers have to always be on her feet and the towel on her head is an important added accessory. Like I said, I don’t know where this child comes from. Speaking of her funniness, she has been saying some funny things lately too. Here are a few examples. The other day she said to me, “Mommy, when you wake up, do you say to me, ‘London, I have to go to the bathroom.’?” Hmm, do you think she hears that a lot? I came down with a migraine not too long ago and she said, “Do you want some of my medicine to help you feel better?” And now for my favorite. London has noticed my belly growing steadily. After I put her pajamas on her a couple of nights ago, I saw her putting a small stuffed bear down her pants. She quickly pulled it out and said, “It’s a baby! It’s a boy!”

Morning Sickness

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:21:36 -0800

I don’t know how women do it. All of you who are sick and throwing up your first trimester of pregnancy (or longer), I don’t know how you do it. If I was that way, I don’t think I would have more than one child. I wouldn’t be able to handle that. When I was pregnant with London, I had my share of feeling nauseated but I never threw up and as long as I had food in my stomach, I was usually just fine. This time around, I haven’t been sick at all. I’m 30 weeks pregnant and I’ve felt great! Until yesterday. I think it has something to do with the glucose tolerance test I took yesterday morning. The good news is I don’t have gestational diabetes. The bad news is, I can’t keep food in me. Like I said, if this is what I had to deal with for my whole first trimester, I don’t think I would ever get pregnant again.

January at the Beach

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:49:58 -0800

While it has been freezing around the country, the weather here in Southern California has definitely been something to write home about. I think the forecast tomorrow is calling for rain, but for the last week or two, we’ve had weather in the 70s and 80s. The only problem with this is that London refuses to wear short sleeves. But that’s another story. Because of the gorgeous weather (and the fact that the waves were supposed to be REALLY good) we headed to the beach on Saturday. We had a fun time. Taylor surfed. Actually, I don’t think he had much fun. Apparently the waves weren’t as good as they were supposed to be. While he was out in the frigid water, London and I played in the sand. I was kind of shocked that she didn’t even try to go in the water. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been to the beach with her when she didn’t have to be dragged from the water kicking and screaming. I couldn’t even get a decent picture of her because she refused to let go of my hand when we were even close to the water. She was a little better yesterday when we went to the beach again. Yesterday was even warmer and the water was even bearable. I didn’t go in because I wasn’t about to wear a bathing suit to the beach in January but I easily could have and would have been just fine. It’s so great to live in a place where we can actually be outside in the middle of winter.