Happy Halloween!

Goodbye Linens N Things!

I got my first job when I was 17-years-old and just finishing up my junior year in high school. I had been job hunting for some time, but hadn't had much luck. When you are a teenager looking for your first job, it's tough. You have no experience, you're young, you have inflexible hours and you can only work part-time. So I went on many job interviews and turned in many, many applications, but didn't land my first job until my interview with Linens N Things. I remember being so excited when the manager called me the following day offering me a job as a cashier. And not only that, but I got to start making $7.00 instead of minimum wage, $6.75! I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I worked at Linens N Things (LNT) for fourteen months. To this day, aside from being a mother, it is the first and only job I have had. I loved it there so much. I made some wonderful, life long friends in the people I worked with. I actually looked forward to going to work most days. I looked forward to seeing my co-workers, to doing my job, to making money.

During my senior year, Richard joined the air force and left for boot camp. I was so happy to have a job to help pass the time and happy to have wonderful friends to talk to while I was there. It really kept me going some days. With my really easy school schedule (Monday I was out at 1:00pm, Tuesday/Thursday I was out at 12:20pm and Wednesday/Friday I was out at 10:15am) I began to request more work. It was just a nice way to fill my time before Richard returned home. When that day got closer and our moving day approached as well, I also loved having my 25% discount to buy things for my new home.

Now I read that LNT is going out of business. It is a weird feeling, knowing that when I return to California I won't be able to walk into that Folsom store and relive all my memories. Although very few people still work there from when I was there (and I doubt they would even remember me!) just being back in the building makes me happy. Now when my kids ask me someday what my first job was, it will have been at a store that isn't around for them to shop at.

I will miss it. It was a great store, where you could find all your home needs and a good deal or two on a clearance rack. Now I am stuck shopping at my sworn competitor, Bed Bath & Beyond! Oh the horror.

Officially Pregnant!

Meet the newest member of the family! Ratcliff Baby #3 is due May 12th, 2009 (which I just found out is very special. My mom informed it is my grandmother's birthday. She just passed away last month so how wonderful is this due date?!). I am already twelve weeks along, which came as a huge, but welcome shock to me. I am nearly done with the first trimester, yet feel as if I have only just began. I have been feeling better, morning sickness wise and am looking forward to the months to come. I am nearly in maternity clothes now, it seems to happen earlier and earlier with each pregnancy. Also, when you get pregnant so soon after the birth of the last baby, it's really a debate whether the pouchy stomach is due to pregnancy or that stubborn baby weight. At least being pregnant I can pass it off as the baby ;).

So my two littlest ones will be just thirteen months apart. Of course this will be a challenge at first, but I also am glad they get to grow up just a year apart and hopefully being the best of friends. I know a close age gap doesn't necessarily mean your kids will be close, but I think it definitely gives them an advantage. Even Calli, who will still be three, won't be too far ahead of the new baby. So I am happy they will all be pretty close in age. At one point all three of them will go to elementary school together!

We love you already little blob baby!

Bye Bye Cast...Hello Soccer Star!

(I don't know what is with the second picture, but I will try and fix it later)

Calli got her cast off on Friday. I don't know who was more excited, her or me. I felt like every time I looked at her arm it was a reminder of the terrible thing that happened to her. It reminded me that, for that one second it happened, I was a terrible mother. That I should have done something to prevent it. Even though I know I couldn't have.

We had to wait around all day Friday because her appointment wasn't until 4:20pm. Finally it was time to go, so we loaded up the car and drove to the doctor's office. They took her back to get x-rays and had us wait in the room. The doctor came in and looked at the x-rays and said her arm was almost healed. As in not completely healed. There was still a very small fracture, but they were going to take her cast off and just give her a brace to wear for the next two weeks.

When Calli had her big cast taken off a few weeks ago, she wasn't scared at all. They put the earmuffs on her to block the loud noise and she just giggled because it tickled. This time was different though. They didn't put the earmuffs on her and I think she was scared of how loud the noise was so she cried while they cut it off. But it went quick and after that they put the brace on her arm and we were good to go. I was initially really disappointed about the brace and her arm not being 100% because she was supposed to start soccer the next day and continue her dance classes the following week. So originally we decided soccer would have to wait for another two weeks. We had just taken a trip to the soccer store nearby to get her a pair of cleats, shorts, socks and a PINK ball in anticipation of her playing.

I did a lot of thinking between Friday evening and Saturday morning and decided, really, what harm could come from playing in a soccer game? Sure she could fall, but she can fall tripping over toys in the house or getting in the car. She could fall out of bed or slam her arm in the door. There are a whole list of ways she could hurt her arm that had nothing to do with playing soccer. And how competitive and physical were a bunch of three-year-olds really going to be? So at about 11am on Saturday morning I dressed her in her purple jersey and socks, black shorts, and cleats, threw her hair in a ponytail and we all headed out the door to make her 12pm game.

It was so amazing to see my daughter play in her first soccer game. For those that know me, you know that I love soccer. I played for the first time when I was four years old and continued to play, mostly competitively, for eleven more years. I tore my ACL and some cartilage in my left knee playing in a soccer game when I was fifteen and that did it for me. After the surgery and long, sometimes hard, rehabilitation I had lost the desire to go back to soccer. After having a daughter, I was so excited to think of her future playing (yes a boy would have played too, but having a mini me play soccer is so much better!). So I knew that I would live vicariously through her in the years to come. I couldn't wait for her to get older and play soccer. We have kicked the ball around in the backyard and of course she is awesome, it's in her genes.

So watching that first game of hers was really special to me. Even though she didn't do much and got a bit bored (she told us toward the end that she wanted to go home! We convinced her to stay and she said "okay, one more time!") I still loved every minute of it. I can't believe how big a difference there is between a three and four-year-old playing soccer though. I think if I had known I would have waited to sign her up next year, when she can play in the city leagues (we just play through the YMCA now since they are the only ones who offer the program for three-year-olds).

Who knows? Maybe this Saturday she will surprise us and score her first goal!

Eights

8 favorite TV shows

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Lost
4. Nip/Tuck
5. Private Practice
6. Dirty Sexy Money
7. Army Wives
8. Samantha Who?

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Red Robin
2. Chevys
3. Chilis
4. The Rainforest Cafe
5. BJs
6. PF Changs
7. Round Table Pizza
8. Macaroni Grill

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Read the Sunday paper
2. Dressed the girls in their Halloween costumes
3. Went to the Botanical Gardens for their Halloween celebration
4. Ordered pizza from Papa Johns
5. Watched the Raiders beat the Jets in OT
6. Watched Desperate Housewives
7. Swept the kitchen floor
8. Took a shower

8 things to look forward to
1. Baby #3
2. Finding out the gender of baby #3
3. Halloween
4. Thanksgiving food
5. Christmas and everything that goes along with it
6. Going home to California for a visit
7. All of Serena's firsts to come in the next year
8. Watching my first born play soccer just like her Momma!

8 things I love about fall
1. The cooler air (clearly I am not talking about the cooler air in Texas)
2. The leaves changing colors (again, clearly not talking about here)
3. Halloween
4. Thanksgiving
5. Christmas coming, I get so excited!
6. Being able to finally wear something other than flip flops...eventually
7. The shorter days
8. Turning off the A/C FINALLY

8 things on my wishlist
1. Have a quick and easy pregnancy
2. Have a healthy baby
3. Have a healthy family
4. A house in California
5. Come into a LOT of money
6. Live closer to my family
7. Go back to school
8. Happiness...for myself and my family, always

8 people I am tagging
1. You
2. You
3. You
4. You
5. You
6. You
7. You
8. Basically I am tagging anyone who reads this!

Just Another Manic Monday (I wish it was Sunday)

It has been one of those mornings. The kids were up early this morning (Calli at 6:30am, Serena at 7am) and it has been nonstop since then. Serena had a huge blowout poop to start things off and I had to just throw her in the bath. She has been really cranky the last week and I am not sure if she is teething or what. My Dr. Mom diagnosis is teething with a touch of separation anxiety. Any time I leave the room today, she cries. So I have been by her side since she woke up. Finally it was nap time so I treked up the stairs, put her in her crib and sure enough, she had pooped again. When I left the room she cried, but just briefly thank goodness! I got Calli another bowl of cereal and finally was able to eat one myself. I was halfway through mine when Calli spilled her bowl, face down on the floor. I just finished cleaning up a puddle of milk and Kix and am wondering what else is in store for me today?

More Conversations with Calli

Calli: Mommy you can't take a shower with the baby in your tummy!

Me: Why not?

Calli: Because you're going to get the baby and my present all wet!

(I should explain that when Serena was born and Calli came to the hospital we had a few presents waiting for her that we told her were from her new little sister. So now she keeps asking me if this baby is going to bring her a present too. It's kind of cute how she thinks the present is actually in my stomach, growing right along with the new baby).

*Mommy is driving in the Target parking lot and stopping to let a pedestrian cross*

Calli: It's our turn, dude!

(Oops, I guess I should watch what I say in front of her a bit more! But in my defense, I never have said that to a pedestrian crossing the street. I always stop and let people cross in the parking lot because drivers here are terrible about it. You will stand waiting on the sidewalk all day if you don't just go and sometimes even then they will still run you right over and that is only a slight exaggeration. One time I was crossing the street in a parking lot with a one-year-old Calli in my arms and when I was halfway across, instead of stopping to let me finish, a driver figured she could squeeze by me in time. I ended up having to stop and wait for her in the middle of the street and told her "thanks!" through her open window. She just stared at me like I was the one in the wrong. People.)

Morning, Noon & Night Sickness

When I got pregnant with Calli I remember thinking I would be safe from the morning sickness. After all, my mom had gone through three pregnancies and had not a day of it and that stuff runs in the genes right? Wrong. One week after finding out the happy news, at exactly six weeks pregnant, the nausea overcame me. It was just an indescribable experience. I couldn't eat. I was physically ill every day, more than once a day. Any smell that didn't agree with me would set me off; I developed many food aversions during this period. Finally three weeks later relief came in the form of a tiny, doctor prescribed pill: Phenergan. It was a Godsend and worked like a charm. The only problem with phenergan is that it knocks you out. After taking the medicine I had to go take a two-three hour nap (no joke!). After that though, I would wake up feeling no nausea and was very happy.

When I got pregnant with Serena I was a little bit nervous because I didn't know whether to expect the same thing. And God knows I couldn't rely on a pill that would knock me out for hours when I had a two-year-old to chase after all day. Luckily my morning sickness was MUCH better. I just felt nauseas through the morning and then better throughout the day (it was true MORNING sickness). It completely passed by three months or so.

This pregnancy falls somewhere in the middle of those two. I feel more nauseas than I did last time and the migraines I have on a daily basis don't help. I find I feel a bit better if I keep some food in my stomach, but who can eat when they feel nauseas? I have taken to waking up in the morning with Calli and eating a few saltines and sipping 7-up. This has been a surprisingly helpful remedy. I am so thankful that Serena sleeps until at least 8:30am most mornings and I can just lounge on the couch for a bit in the morning while I feel my worst.

I have no doubt this third pregnancy will be harder in every way. I have two kids to take care of now, one who is just six months old. I find myself asking "what was I thinking?" some of the time. I am excited to have another baby, I have always wanted at least three; but I can't help but wish I could fast forward the next eight months. Or at least skip the first three months so I can start feeling a bit of relief from the nausea.

One thing I think to myself quite a bit is "just get through it". Because it really is all I can do. I have no choice about the baby; it is growing inside of me whether I like it or not and I really am happy, truely I can't wait to meet this new family member. And I know time goes on, it does not pause and although sometimes I find myself wishing it would, now is not one of those times.

Shots and Soccer

Serena had her six month appointment yesterday. She is 17.5 pounds (75th percentile), 27.5 inches (95th percentile) and her head is 16.5 (25th percentile). I think she is evening out to be tall and thin (with a small head) just like her big sister. The doctor said she was "perfect" and couldn't believe she is crawling already. She also had to get shots of course, four of them and the oral vaccine, which she hates. Luckily this was the last time she has to be stuck so much at once; next appointment there is just one or two shots. And of course, the flu shot if I decide to get that. I don't know yet though since she just stays home with me.

Anyway, Calli also had her soccer pictures yesterday. She hasn't been to a practice yet because of her broken arm, but since she is going to start soon we, of course, wanted to let her be a part of the pictures. She got to meet all her little teamates, dressed in their purple jersies and named the Butterflies. Calli couldn't wait to get her jersey and purple socks on as well. It was a few sizes too big and seeing her in that jersey next to other kids her age, I realize how skinny she is. I would say that maybe I need to feed her more, but she is constantly eating it feels like. So they had a team picture and individual ones taken and that was pretty much it. Calli gets her cast off on Friday and we are hoping she will be able to play in the game on Saturday. But if not she will start her first practice on Monday. We have to find a soccer store to purchase her some black shorts, shinguards and a new soccer ball. The challenge will be finding a place that carries sizes small enough to hang on her skinny hips.

Well wouldn't you know our camera is broken?? And right before Halloween and all the fun things we are planning on doing. So I have no pictures to share at the moment :(.

Wanna-be Thumbsucker

Just like with all things pertaining to parenthood and raising kids, there are two camps on the thumbsucking issue. The first camp sees nothing wrong with it, would rather have their kid self soothe with an easy-to-locate thumb than waking up ten times a night retreiving the lost binki. And the other side goes the route of the pacifier, something tangible that you can take away when the time is right. I am squarely entrenched in that second camp.

I have been since the day Calli was born. The funny thing is, I didn't want her to have a pacifier! I checked off those boxes on the birth plan that said "No bottles of water" and "No pacifiers". I thought they were unnecessary. Then my six pound daughter began to use me as a soothing device and I caved. I had a friend call me in the hospital after giving birth and tell me some babies just like to suck. After hearing her say it, I truely believed it and gave in to the way of the pacifier. Calli was a definite binki baby. She needed it to sleep and as she got older and moved to her own crib in her own room, it became quite tiresome getting up to give her back the pacis she had dropped. I wondered why I had given it to her in the first place. What was I thinking? Clearly I had not thought ahead to this point. But eventually she learned to locate her own pacifier and the nightly visits to her room ceased.

By the time she was about fifteen months or so we had taken to only using the paci for sleep and in the car. If she didn't have that thing in the car, we would be in for a lot of crying and screaming. And I just wasn't ready to deal with it. She never walked around with the thing in her mouth all day so I felt this use was fine. I made a plan to go cold turkey when she turned two. The night of her birthday I let her use it for the last time. The following day, that was it. I took it away and I never had a single problem! She never asked for it back, never cried about it, it was just over. I couldn't believe my good fortune and all the stress I had endured thinking how hard it would be to get her to give it up.

Now here I am, a year after getting the paci out of our house with another baby who loves it. This time I gave it to her right from the get-go. We have used the Playtex Ortho ones and both the kids have loved them. I was briefly courted by the Soother pacifiers they give you in the hospital (the lactation consultants say their shape is best to help with breastfeeding) but those didn't work for either kid. They are far too big and hard to keep in the mouth and they had to work too hard to do it. I never liked 'em and don't get the appeal. But I digress. After my failure with those, I went back to my Orthos and Serena liked them just fine. Somehow we seem to have skipped the part where I wake up twenty times a night to give her the paci back. I don't know what she does, if she finds it herself or if she just gets by without it when it's out, but she has never called out to me at night wanting it like Calli used to. I am anticipating a bit more of a struggle taking it away in a year because I can't get that lucky twice now can I?

But on to my main point. I have noticed Serena trying out her thumb a bit the last few days. Every time she does, I promptly remove it. I do NOT want a thumbsucker! I am scared and refuse to harbor one in the house. I have just seen too many kids use it beyond an appropriate age. I can't stand seeing a five-year-old sitting there with that gross thumb in her mouth. I can take away the pacifier, but I can never take away a thumb. And breaking thumbsucking is not a road that I ever want to have to go down. Not to mention the messed up teeth that result from prolonged thumbsucking.

I'm hoping Serena is just trying her fingers out, exploring, enjoying the taste. I'll continue to discourage her and I can only hope it works. I'll have to see if I can find a better use for that thumb of hers :).

Six Months

Dear Serena Camille,

On Saturday we celebrated your half birthday. You are half a year old! I can hardly believe that. Time seems to fly by so fast these days. I love watching you grow so it is not necessarily a bad thing. But I also wish that I could keep you as my little baby forever. You are becoming such a beautiful, independent, smart baby. You started crawling when you were just five months old, a full month before your big sister learned. Of course, you have added incentive trying to keep up with her and she is tough to keep up with. You have perfected your army crawl and are almost ready to start the real hands and knees crawling, but not quite there yet. You get up on your knees and rock back and forth, sometimes even standing on your feet and hands. You can get into places so quick now and I have to keep a constant eye on you. If I leave the room for just a minute, when I return you have already crossed it. You love to explore and crawl everywhere you can possibly fit, including behind the couch, under the kitchen table, in the kitty bed, etc. You have not tried to climb the stairs yet, for which I am very grateful.

You have graduated to Stage 2 foods now and you eat about two canisters a day; usually a fruit in the morning and a veggie for dinner. I gave you some water in a sippy cup for the first time last week and you seemed to like it. I can't wait to start on cheerios or fruit puffs, but I am scared at the same time of the choking hazards. I can never quite remember each stage with Calli, since it's been almost three years; but that is fun because everything with you seems new again.

Calli absolutely adores you. She loves to help and do anything she can. She fed you your solids for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was a mess but you both had a lot of fun. She is the only one who can make you laugh on a consistent basis. It never fails that when she enters the room, your face lights up and turns toward her. She is quite protective of you as well when we are out, telling anyone who gets too close that you are her little sister and gives you a kiss.

You are an A+ sleeper and I don't know how I got so lucky. Here it is, almost 9am and I haven't heard a peep from you since last night at 8pm bedtime. This is a constant occurance as well. You have been sleeping long stretches through the night since you were three weeks old and the doctor kept telling me not to get used to it, but somehow it has seemed to last.

This is going to be an exciting few months coming up for you. Halloween is at the end of the month and you and Calli are going to be ladybugs. Your costume is so cute I almost can't handle it. It will be your first Halloween of course and your first trick-or-treating experience, although I am sorry, but Mommy and Daddy will have to eat all your candy. After Halloween, Thanksgiving is coming and so are a lot of relatives. You will get to meet your Auntie Allison for the first time and she is so excited to see you. Your Grandma Molly, Grandpa Bob and Great-Grandma Bev are also coming to share the holiday with us. They have already met you, but I am sure they won't mind spending some more time with you ;). After Thanksgiving, Christmas will have snuck up on us. Besides your first birthday, this is by far the best first holiday. Although you will only be nine months old and not really understand what is going on, it will be a blast. Calli will help you open your presents I am sure. We are planning on going to visit all of our relatives for the holiday, which means you will get to see all your grandparents, aunties and great-grandparents again.

You are just growing up way too fast before our very eyes. And now with this new baby on the way, you will have to grow up even faster. Sometimes I feel terrible thinking that I am stealing your babyhood from you, making you grow up entirely too fast. You and the new baby (it is another girl I am sure!) will be just fourteen months apart. On one hand it will be so fun to see the two of you together, so close in age, growing up side by side. You will have a built in playmate, someone going through the stages almost at the same time. But on the other hand, I feel like I haven't let you be a baby for long enough and for that I am sorry. I am trying to spend as much time with you now as I can and get as much enjoyment from our time together as possible. We are so excited to give you a little sister, but I worry about you feeling neglected. I never want that to happen, as I love you more than I could ever tell you.

Thank you for coming into my life, for being such a fantastic and loving baby. I am looking so forward to all the things to come in the next half year of your life and before I know it, I will be writing that you are celebrating your first birthday. And you will be walking. Talking. Eating real food. I can't wait.

I love you,

Mommy

She's on the move!

Here are just a few of the interesting places my little crawler has decided to explore lately:

Under Calli's princess table and chairs

On the "breakable floor" playing with the door stopper
In the cat bed

Behind the couch

Under the kitchen table/her high chair