Goodbye 2011! Happy 2012!

I tried explaining a bit about New Year's Eve to Elisa today, but I don't think much of it sunk in. Mostly she liked the idea that she would be turning 4 this new year. I think that got her attention. Everyone likes getting older at that age, right? So the idea of a New Year's Eve party was a bit lost on this girl but cool numbered glasses are always in. We met a few friends early in the evening for a get together and then headed home to say good night to the last night of 2011. It was a big year for us. Another member joined our little family. We have a lot to be thankful for and then some. When we stayed up to watch the ball drop last year, I had that cautiously optimistic feeling that only pregnancy provides. So much excitement tinged with so much anticipation. Who would be greeting us in 2011? A girl? A boy? We could only dream that whoever it was would be healthy and happy and we lucked out on both accounts. Carolina has brought us so much happiness in just 5 months of knowing her and she has forever changed me as a mom. So much of my identity these past few years has been "Elisa's mom" which suited me very well. But this year I found out there was more. More of me as a mom. More of me as a woman capable of giving life to someone new. It's pretty amazing when you see any baby born, but the way Carolina greeted us was nothing short of a miracle in my book. She was and has been such a gentle force in our lives. And even tonight she sat back taking it all in as the kids shrieked and ran, laughed and played and yes, fought. I'm so lucky to have the yin to Elisa's yang. And that's what I hope for more of in 2012. More balance as a person, and as a family. More time for each of us, and for myself. More time for my wonderful friends who have really enriched my life in ways I could not have anticipated. I'm one lucky mama, and I know it. So to everyone in Blogland, I wish you the same...a very happy New Year and maybe more sleep. Yeah, that sounds good.

Christmas recap...

How was our Christmas you ask? In a word...

...awesome.

Did I mention Santa brought us Strawberry Shortcake and her entourage? It was as much for me as Elisa, but that's okay, right? Oh, and there were lots of games (Candyland, this Humpty Dumpty thing, Nickelodeon Dance for the Wii), Dora dolls and blocks, and of course the much anticipated microphone. Not a complete overload, but pretty darn close. I said it was going to be manageable, but the truth is, it's just too easy to shop for this age. She wants everything and nothing is really too expensive which is the danger. It all adds up, doesn't it? But we had fun and the Strawberry Shortcake dolls are perfect size for the dumpster diving doll house I found her in Brooklyn a few months back. See, sometimes good things do come out of the trash! It was a Christmas miracle.

And fortunately, our other girl Carolina was happy enough to tear some paper and open her bottles and bottle brush, new sippy cup (the girl has to have something of her own), and a few plush toys. Not much a 5 month old baby actually needs let alone wants, so this was an easy year. In fact, it was even easier because Carolina laid around not making any noise during all the hoopla, then promptly passed out round 9 a.m. for a nap and woke up a little after 2 p.m. A totally quiet day letting Elisa get all the attention and play with all her toys without any interference. And thank God. I'm already bracing for next year when this little one will be hovering closely and imitating her big sister who may or may not appreciate the extra attention. But for now, at least the two were perfectly meshed. I mean, Carolina knows how to roll with things and make my life easier. And that was the only gift I needed this year. So a well rounded Christmas on all fronts, and now I'm trying to clean up and get ready for the new year. Bring on 2012! I think it's going to be a great one.

Merry Christmas Eve!

A little cake, a sibling gift exchange (pajamas for both) and this Christmas Eve was a success! Merry Christmas Eve from one tired mama and on to the best morning of the whole year...

Gingerbread magic

This was my first time making a gingerbread house so naturally it had to be perfect. And even with Elisa helping, errrr interferring, we managed to have enough candy left to trick this out. Okay, it was a kit from Food Lion that my mom bought and brought to us. But still, I'm impressed with how easy it was and how much I enjoyed it. And oddly enough, it even tastes good. We're starting the demolition already so that by Christmas, Mr. Gingerbread might just be homeless. Away in a manger indeed...

Ho! Ho! Ho!

We received this very special message from Santa for Elisa (courtesy of the great website Portable North Pole). I won't say it's magic, but the look on her face when he says her name is priceless. We believe!

Circus! Circus!

Last month one of the mom's in our playgroup suggested getting tickets to the Big Apple Circus around the holidays since they had gone a year ago and loved it. With a group as big as ours, we managed to shave a little off the ticket price (thanks, Monica!) and get a couple of rows to ourselves. It was shaping up to be a fun outing. Having never been to a circus myself, I was more than game to go on this little adventure and see what this modern-day circus had in store since it bills itself as a humane circus without all the exotic animals and even better, no crazy clowns. Acrobats, silly skits and a few domesticated animals...It was definitely more along the lines of what I could tolerate in a circus, so off we went on Thursday after meeting up with some friends at the subway. Taking kids together is always a mixed blessing (can you say so much excitement?), but for the most part, they sat and cooperated with our traveling instructions. They were just happy to be going somewhere...

I have to admit that this was my first real evening out in the city during the whole holiday season. Last year we enjoyed more little trips so I didn't realize how much I'd been missing it. But seeing Lincoln Center all aglow in the lights and Christmas decorations was beautiful. We opted to leave Carolina home with a sitter for the first time which was the right decision, but still I missed her. Funny how I want her to be old enough like right now, so we can all enjoy these excursions. But in time...in time. Getting in and getting seated wasn't too much of an ordeal and I was surprised how well the kids controlled themselves. And the concessions were about as I expected, maybe even cheaper so I stocked up on popcorn, cotton candy, pretzel bread and twizzlers. Elisa was a bit timid at first and kept her hands firmly covering her ears for the first 20 minutes or so. She wasn't even lured by a drink of Coca-Cola to take them down. She kept saying it was too loud, but I think it was more than the volume of the circus that threw her off. She tends to be very skittish about darkened rooms--even at the Museum of Natural History--but thankfully after a while she warmed up to the performers and forgot about the moody lighting. And once she got into it, she really enjoyed the spectacle. She started clapping and seemed transfixed by the trapeze artists as they swung back and forth. It was a great finale and definitely worth the price of admission. Afterwards, we hung out near the fountain at Lincoln Center before making our way back by subway with another group of friends in tow. Sometimes I forget that Elisa is only 3 and that it's still a bit much to expect her to last a whole evening without issues. Fortunately she wasn't in meltdown mode, but she had been a little cranky post-nap and I think she took a while to get into the fun of the evening. A few friends didn't make it to the end of the performance, but that's understandable. With all of these kids in the process of giving up naps completely, it's hard work staying up late. And the circus was amusing, but also a lot to take in. I was impressed overall with how well the show moved from one thing to the next and would definitely go back another time, maybe once Carolina is bigger. But on this night it was enough to be just the three of us. Elisa got her special time with Nacho and me, and I think we all enjoyed playing in the city after dark. Oh, how I miss this city sometimes. But it's all still there. And I'll be back.

The crying game

How does that song start? "I know all there is to know about the crying game..." Well, I thought I did. Turns out this baby girl has a few tricks up her sleeves now that we've hit the four and a half month mark and I'm starting to get serious about sleep training. We were at her check up the other day (for the record: 15 lbs 4 oz. and 27 in long!) when the pediatrician asked about our sleep routine. It's been going well for the most part with anywhere from 9 to 11 hours on most nights, but we're still relying on the swing to get us through those middle of the night wakings and some naps. I'm not proud of that, but hey, it's whatever works sometimes. Or at least that's what I said about months one, two and three. Somehow after reaching month four, I thought I would have things more figured out. I thought we would be putting her down and not hearing from her til morning. I had such high hopes for this docile girl. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. And I know some of that is because Elisa made her dramatic turnaround from colicky screamer to all-night-sleeper about that time. It was a total reversal of (mis)fortune by which she actually gave us a break most nights. What I can't remember exactly is how those average nights looked. Did we have to deal with multiple wakings? How long did it take to rock her to sleep? How much crying did she do? Did she take any bottles in the middle of her 12 hour stretches? Why is my memory so fuzzy?

With Carolina, the progress has been much steadier and more consistently good. Her early stretches of 4-5 hours of sleep became more like 6-7 and then we were hitting a few 8-9 hours even before I weaned her. It's all gone well and we really haven't backtracked, but neither have we leaped forward. And now that she's formula only, I suppose her routine has become more pronounced in that she's up for about 2 hours and then down for an hour nap. Usually the second nap of the day is longer and some days those two breaks are all we get. Every once in a while there's a third nap which can move bedtime back a little bit. But by and large, Carolina is in bed for the night somewhere between 6:30-7:30 p.m. It's her internal clock that dictates it, not mine, and it's working out pretty well. But this past week we've been attempting to sleep train so that the little fussing at bedtime or naptime is ignored while she tries to figure out how to fall asleep--or go back to sleep--on her own. Some nights it's a few minutes of crying, but a couple of evenings it's been an hour or more and I have to go back in to soothe her. I'm horrible at maintaining a consistent plan so one night I go right back in and the next night I let her cry for an hour. Of course this is what the book (Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) clearly warns against. BE CONSISTENT. So why is that the first rule I break? Most of the time her crying is so lowkey and it stops and starts that I have a hard time telling if she's winding down or up. I remember vaguely that with Elisa we never did any one method of sleep training but by five or six months she was going to sleep well and I think staying asleep most nights. And I'm sure we're on track with this one to get there as well. But for right now there's a lot of self doubt and wondering if I'm helping or hurting her sleep habits. Do I give up the swing completely even though it helps in the middle of the night? How long do I let her cry in one evening before I say enough is enough? Last night the crying only lasted a few minutes each time she woke and she settled herself down. Maybe she is learning. I can only hope so. Because I really look forward to climbing into my bed again one day and not getting up until morning. That will happen again right? Is it too late to ask Santa for uninterrupted sleep?

Feelin' the Christmas Spirit...

Last year about this time I'd just found out I was pregnant and we had a family photo shoot scheduled. It was the last time we'd take a formal portrait of the three of us and knowing that was extra special. The holidays were a bit melancholy though with me slipping into that first trimester blah feeling, Nacho working a lot and then the massive amounts of snow we received. It was all piling up on me and I almost felt like January couldn't break through the doldrums of my post-holiday malaise. Now it's that time of year again and there's always so much activity at the start of the month that it's easy to embrace the Christmas spirit. We had a brief visit from my parents last week before they headed off to see my sister's family in California. In about a week, they'll return and stay with us for the holidays which is great because I have no energy to drag two kids through airports and back right now. December always feels coziest when you can curl up at home and have everyone come to you. So far we've trimmed our (real) tree and helped trim our friend Dan's (fake) tree which after several years in a row is another holiday tradition I look forward to. We have a preschool holiday party coming up, a trip to the Big Apple Circus with some of our playgroup friends, and another weekend of get togethers as we inch ever closer to Christmas. There's still a lot of shopping and wrapping to do before we can call this month a success, but so far I'm excited about seeing Elisa discover more meaning in the holidays and sharing this for the first time with Carolina who will probably only want to chew on the ribbons if she's anything like her sister was. And this photo perfectly captures all that we are right now--a family that can hold two wonderful girls on our laps and manage to smile despite the blinding flash. Good times, indeed.

Santa Baby!

2009

2010

2011

Sometimes, when it feels like life is always the same shit different day, it's nice to look at photos like this. Three years. Three very different girls. Same Santa. Boy, oh boy. Where did the years go? And since we didn't subject Elisa to this her very first December, there's no reason to make Carolina say cheese until next year. Will she love it or hate it? Who knows. But at least she'll have a great big sister sitting there with her. Can't wait to see that.

Field Trip!

Of all the memories of childhood, perhaps my most melancholy is missing my first official field trip at the end of Kindergarten. Bummer, right? I think it was to see a play about The Swiss Family Robinson or something like that. I had chicken pox (thanks to my sister) and was out for a week or so in May just when the trip was planned. I know I was upset at the time, but really what stayed with me over the years was the sense that I missed this great traveling opportunity. I know, I know. I've more than made up for it with my adventures around the world since then. But it's funny how those childhood wounds work their way out when you have a child of your own. Am I bound and determined to make sure Elisa never misses out on a school trip? Probably. So far she has had two field trips with her preschool class and I've been able to go on both. Am I living vicariously? Maybe. But I wouldn't miss it for the world. This week we were able to hop a school bus (Elisa's first!) and take a trip to the Queens County Farm Museum which has played host to our previous fair excursions. It's a fun place to visit any time of year and this November day it was surprisingly mild. Apple pressing, a hay ride and farm animals to see...what's not to love?

And yes, at the end of the day we were rewarded with a taste of freshly made apple cider. By the speed with which Elisa downed it, I'd say it was a hit. Or she was really thirsty. Field trips have a way of making you squeeze the goodness out of life, right?