Party Girls

Today was a super busy day. It started off with a trip to the mall to get our second official haircut, and ended with an outdoor wedding cookout.

Our first haircut had gone so well at Snip-It's in Briar Creek, I thought we'd go there again. They open at 9, so I had everyone packed up and in the car at 8:45. We pulled in the parking lot about 9:10 am, and it was obvious they hadn't even opened yet. There were 20 people sitting outside waiting to get in. Ugh!

So I remembered that the N&O talked about Sweet & Sassy opening up at the mall this week. So, we headed off to Cary Towne Center. I parked near Sears because I thought I remembered the article saying that's where it was located. Turns out I was wrong. It was as far from Sears as you could possibly get, and I didn't bring the stroller.

So we walked (or ran) the entire length of the mall. Being only 9:30, nothing was open except Cinnabon. We arrived at the salon approx. 20 minutes before opening. What to do to entertain two preschoolers for 20 minutes? Oh, it was hard.

But luckily, as soon as we opened, they were great to us. The receptionist greeted the girls and put glitter stars on their hands. They had one stylist in, and she was great with the girls. Madeleine went first, and Beckah couldn't believe how well-manered they were. Apparently she used to work at a Fantastic Sams and said kids used to hit her. Lily was a litte more fidgety that Maddie though.

My biggest point of dismay was their "finishing touch." Glitter in the hair. Lots of it. I have no idea how long it's going to take me to wash it out of their hair. In the meantime, it's all over everything.

From there, we went to get a cookie. I let the girls choose their own, and they picked double chocolate. The guy goes to ring us up, and the cash register won't work. I'm thinking, "Dude. Do not just put three cookies in a bag and not let us buy them." But luckily he kept trying plugs until he found one that worked. Madeleine at her cookie as we walked back down the mall. Lily held hers like a treasure until we stopped at a bench where she could sit down and eat it.

We sat down next to the carousel. Both girls begged to go on the horses. I reminded them of how much they didn't like it last time, but we went and bought tickets anyway. We were the only people on the thing this time, and the girls loved it.

By this time it's almost 11:30. Time to head home. But Madeleine has her sights set on the new toddler play area by Sears. She's by far the oldest kids in there, and is being kind of rough on the slide. She doesn't want to leave and just lies down on the floor in the middle of the mall screaming. Luckily, Lily was ready to go. So I just picked Maddie up, and Lily walked.

After nap, we headed to Anna and Jere's wedding party. We were some of the first arrivals, and sat down with the girls to have their afternoon snack. They had borrowed an inflatable jumper from a friend, so the girls spent a lot of time in and out of that. They had hot dogs and crackers for dinner, and entertained my friends with ABC and Itsy Bitsy Spider. The forecast had called for rain, but we lucked out and were precipitation-free.

Zoo Trip - May 30

Yesterday we took the girls for their second trip to the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro, NC. We first went a year ago on Mother's Day, and I said then the next time we went, we'd go during the week and before it got too hot for the summer.

May has been pretty rainy, so with work committments, the timing finally worked out to be the last day of the month. It also coincided with the 4 year-old class trip from EPLC, so we ran into lots of other kids and parents the girls knew from the day care.

My plan was to leave a little after 8, grab some breakfast, and get to the zoo a little after they opened at 9. An extra-long breakfast at Chick-fil-A meant that we didn't even leave Cary until 9:05, and despite driving 75 mph down US 64, it took us until after 10 to get to the zoo. I don't know why I think that it only takes 40 minutes every time.

We went through Africa first because that's where the other kids from EPLC were headed. We saw the giraffes, lions, chimpanzees, and elephants first. Unlike last year, the girls did not want to ride in the stroller at all, so the jogger was more if a hindrance than a helper in the beginning. The rhinoceros was too far off in the reserve for us to see.

From there we took the shuttle bus to the Junction Station and had lunch. It was almost 12 by this point, and the girls were starting to freak out. Eric got in the huge line for food, and I gave the girls juice in the shade while we waited. They had a few french fries and milk, and that was about it. Then we headed off to the North American side of the zoo. The tram is such a pain with the stroller, so we just walked it.

We went to the polar bear first. I don't know if Lily remembers last year or just the pictures, but she kept asking where the other polar bear was since there was just one sunning himself. He died last summer, and I didn't want to be explaining death at this point. They liked the puffins and the sea lions, since they were active and swimming.

The Kid Zone was great. The girls saw tortises and played with the chalk wall until a bunch of big kids with squirt bottles got really annoying. The play area was nice too. After seeing the fish and otters, we walked back to Africa. By this time it's 2 pm, and the girls are 2 hours past naptime. They were in the stroller in full recline mode, but didn't fall asleep. They wanted ice cream before we left, but the only cafe open in Africa didn't have any.

We left the parking lot at 2:45, and Lily was asleep before we hit the exit. Madeleine followed not too far after. They slept almost all the way home.

Going during the week was definitely a smart move, and also going before June 1 was a good idea since today it's already *too* humid out.

Weekend Update - May 24 & 25

Saturday we headed west to Oak Ridge to visit Grandma Goodman on her birthday. The weather was beautiful, so we spent some time out in the yard Saturday afternoon. Lily showed us that she knows how to pedal the tricycles now, but Madeleine's still not there yet. Then in the backyard we tried Dad's old rocking horse. Madeleine loved it, but Lily was more interested in the old exersaucer.

Saturday night we went to dinner at Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem. The girls shared a chicken fingers platter. I was excited because we got out of there only going to the bathroom two times.

Of course on the way home Lily said she needed to go again, and she needed to poop as soon as we got to Grandmas.

Sunday morning Grandma and Grandpa took them on a scenic drive around Guilford county. They saw horses, cows, and llamas. Lily had requested that they go see a lion, so I'm glad she didn't run into one of those.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

This weekend I bought the girls their first sugar cereal. I know they've had it at school for a while since I've seen the Lucky Charms and the Cocoa Puffs. So this past weekend I bought some Cocoa Puffs for eating at home. I was tired of throwing out half-eaten pop tarts.

So this week they've had little baggies of Cocoa Puffs on the way to school. They *love* them right now, and I like that I can put just enough in the bag so that we finish by the time we get to the day care center.

Of course, gotta love that Lily calls them "Cocoa Pops."

Yay Sleep!

Lily slept through the night for the first time in weeks last night! Yay!

Since we started potty training, she's been waking up many times in the night asking for diaper changes. Usually, she's not even wet. She doesn't want to pee/poop in her diaper, so she's really asking to go to the bathroom. She doesn't understand that it's okay to pee/poop in the diaper sometimes and not others.

Also, she's been pooping around dinner time every night for a week, and it's been tough on her. She really wants to do good and go, but she doesn't understand why she doesn't always go right away. She's impatient and doesn't want to sit there a while, so we end up going to the bathroom every 5-10 minutes for about an hour every evening.

Poor Madeleine's pooping just to get in on the attention.

CBC Big Bash

Today we took the girls to their 2nd annual CBC Big Bash MS Fundraiser at the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs. As usual, they had a great time, largely due to the toddler-sized bounce house at the party. This year they were also interested in the clown and balloon animals as well.

But not so much in the food. They enjoyed their Bella Monica pizza, but were not interested in cole slaw, mac and cheese, or the other food from inside. They did each have quite a few Oreos.

The bathroom situation went okay. I'd brought a little potty to use outside since I knew there'd be a line for the women's room inside. But Lily's infatuation with real bathrooms continued. She didn't want anything to do with the little potty, just the big one in the building, no matter how long we had to wait.

We left about 5:45 as storm clouds approached.

Park Day

Today we went to Bond Park after the girls got up from their nap. They'd pretty much been talking about going to the park all day. We'd given them the pool option, but they still insisted the park was the way to go.

I'd heard some other parents talking about the ducks and stuff, so after about 45 minutes on the playground, we headed down to the lake to check it out. They were only mildly interested. Apparently the duck pond near the day care center is way more interesting and the ducks are closer.

But afterwards we went for Goodberry's, so that made up for it.

Mother's Day Washout

It rained here yesterday pretty much all day, so we didn't do much other than hang out at the house. Eric got up with the girls around 7, and at 8 they brought me toast and mini muffins in bed. The girls ate half the toast and the muffins.

Molly S. and Baby Darren came over to play around 10. Molly really likes Mardi Gras beads. The girls don't really play together with Molly just yet. She kind of does her own thing, and they move around her. They seem more interested in what Darren is doing.

They took another long nap on Sunday, and we went to the grocery store in the afternoon. We spent a lot of time coloring. Madeleine is doing more than just scribbles now and actually trying to color-in things on the pages.

Lily and Madeleine made me photo albums in day care. They had decorated the covers with a glitter pen, and then the day care staff had taken pictures of them at school to put inside.

Happy Mother's Day

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Another poop post

I know it seems like I'm obsessed with poop these days, but with kids who are going through potty-training, I am. I remember back when they were little babies and we wrote down every diaper change and whether it was wet or poop. Now I'm back to analyzing it all the time.

Lily had her first big girl poop in the potty last night. The poor girl had been constipated all day and been complaining of having to poop. They put a diaper on her at day care just in case, but she still wasn't able to go. Finally last night, after 5 trips to the potty, she managed to get it out. Boy did she look pleased with herself! She yelled for daddy to come look.

But poor daddy was busy getting Madeleine downstairs ASAP because she had to go poop too, and we were on the upstairs toilet. Poor Madeleine didn't make it in time though.

Potty Training Update

Yesterday was Lily's first accident free day since we started going with underwear almost 2 weeks ago. Yeah Lily!

Madeleine was pretty much day-trained in about 2 weeks, and has been doing well for months now. She still wears a diaper at nap and bedtime, but she very rarely wets herself. Just poo occasionally, but she's mostly having bowel movements while she sleeps. I'll cross that bridge later I guess.

But Lily's been more difficult so far than Madeleine. She initiated the change and asked to wear underwear, but after a few days with a lot of accidents, she has asked to go back to diapers most mornings. I have to trick her into the underwear, but once they're on, she's fine.

Both yesterday and this morning she's been telling me she has to go poop about every 5 minutes. But we go sit on the potty, and nothing. I feel like it's the boy who cried wolf. If I ignore her, that will be the one time she's telling the truth!

Race Links

In case anyone's interesting in sponsoring us - our next 5 K is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Raleigh on June 14.

http://race.komennctriangle.org/goto/mmbench

or our fundraising link for the March of Dimes:

http://www.marchforbabies.com/mmbench

Introducing the Goodman Girlz blog...

Yes - Goodman girls was taken.

I decided it was finally time to get a family blog to update everyone on the latest Lily and Madeleine adventures.

Here's a picture from our latest "stroller walk" - the March of Dimes March for Babies on April 26.

Aunt Laura accompanied us on our trek, and we raised $150 to help babies.

We got there around 8:30, and that was way too early. While it made for easy parking, it made for a difficult time finding something to do until 10. The music from the stage area was too loud, so the girls didn't want to head near there. They were starting to feel sickly, so they weren't interested in eating.

We did get their faces painted. Madeleine got a smiley face, and Lily got a tarheel.

I met up with fellow twin mom Cathy H. for a bit. She had left her kids at home on Sat. Kelly S., Lindsay A., and Wendy F. from TMOTT were also there.

The race started around 10:20, about 20 min later than advertised. That was kind of a drag since we'd started lining up around 9:45. When we took off, the girls were ready to go.

Some highlights from the race:

- Madeleine's "We're helping babies" song

- "People! Wait up for me!"

- "Faster Mommy!"

- Post-race popcorn from Cary Kiwanis

- Matching Wonder Twins T's