Where did my sweet baby go?

5:00 - Just got home from a long day of running errands with the girls to find that we had no power in the house. Because of past history in our area I knew that the power could be off for hours or days so I began to form a game plan for the evening. Looking at my grubby little girls I decided that baths were most important and I wanted to get them over with before it got dark. So I got both girls in the bath.
5:25 - Amber had all she could take of Peyton pouring water over her head and demanded to be taken out so I got her dried off and into her PJ's and then quickly did the same for Peyton. Next step of the game plan was to clean the house up a bit. I had company coming for the weekend and not knowing how much longer I would have daylight I grabbed the 409 and hit the bathrooms, not soon after I hear a cat fight break out in the living room. Amber was apparently trying to take the baby doll stroller from Peyton and no matter how hard I tried to get her to play with another toy she was not having it, so I eventually had to take the stroller away which lead to even more tears so what did I do? What any good mother would do... I flipped on Sesame Street and hoped they would get over it. (the power came back on by the way) It seemed to be working so I went back to the bathrooms.
6:00 - Peyton came wondering in asking if she could color so I stopped what I was doing and got her set up on the kitchen table which only led to Amber fussing because she too wanted to be sitting at the kitchen table. As I was getting out the coloring book Amber had already climbed on top of the chair and onto the table. I decided maybe this would be a good time for dinner to I placed Amber in her highchair and began to heat up hot dogs. I cut the hot dogs up and poured them on her tray along with some blueberries and handed her a fork. I figured she would be happy there for a bit so I went back to work.
6:10 - I hear Amber starting to complain so I rushed out to the kitchen to find that she had squashed every blueberry on her tray and rubbed them in her hair. Back into the bath she goes.
6:20 - Amber is clean and dressed...again... so I sit her in front of Sesame street and leave to start a load of laundry. Mins later I hear a very scary sound...the scariest of all sounds for a mom and that is the sound of "silence." No good shall come from long periods of "silence." So I rush back into the living room to find that Amber had found a bottle of Snapple and some how manged to figure out how to twist the top off of it and had poured the whole bottle all over herself. I take off her 2nd pair of PJs for the evening and go in search of the third pair.
6:22 - In the laundry room trying to find a clean pair of jammies when I hear another interesting sound coming from the kitchen. I rush in and find Amber on top of a chair sifting through a box of markers on the counter. I decided she would probably be ok for one more sec while I found a pair of clean PJs.
6:23 - Found a pair! Walk into the kitchen to find Amber holding a permanent Black marker which she had successfully taken the cap off of. She saw me coming for it so she looked me square in the eyes and as quick as she could she marked a long black line across her bare chest. NO! I shouted and grabbed a baby wipe and tried to get it off. No such luck (if a baby wipe can't get it off nothing will, those things can get spots out of the carpet.) So I decided what the heck and put her third pair of clean jammies on her for the night. By the way, this whole time she is screaming and trying to slap me in the face, which is becoming more of a trend these days. ugh. So I get her to calm down by giving her a sippy cup of juice and sat her once again in front of Elmo hoping this time she would stay there.
6:45 - I finally finish the bathrooms and peak in to check on the girls. Amber was sitting in front of elmo holding her sippy cup in one hand and the lid to it in the other. Somehow, once again, she had managed to twist off the lid to the sippy cup and spill it all over herself. How is this possible!!! My three year old can not even twist off the lid to a sippy cup! I asses the spillage and decide most of it got on the carpet and she was only a little wet so she could stay in her PJS (plus I knew she didn't have any more clean ones anyways) but it was indeed time for her to go to bed. I had had about as much as I could handle for one night!

New Discoveries

Amber has been growing and changing at a rapid rate these days. I am calling this month of her life the month of new discoveries because it seems as though everyday she is learning something new. One of her favorite discoveries has been her legs and she has learned how to use them very well, which is driving mom crazy! I chase after her all day long and if I turn my back on her for one sec. she is out of sight, up the stairs, down the street, on top of the kitchen table, I don't underestimate what she can or will do these days in fear of her safety.
She has also learned the word NO! When she says it (which is ALL DAY LONG) its not just no, its a very high pitched shrieking NOOOOOOOO! So its kind of cute and hard not to laugh at but I am trying to bite my lip and teach her that that behavior is not acceptable in this house. So far no success.
A few nights ago while we were eating dinner around the table she must have realized for the first time that she was the only one that did not have a fork and she was not pleased about this at all. After much shrieking and crying I finally figured out what she wanted and she has been eating with a fork everyday since, she is not bad at it either and it makes dinnertime last a bit longer for mom and dad.
Mom's least favorite new activity that Amber has discovered is pulling open the bottom drawers of the girls dresser and unloading all that is inside. Poor Peyton has been wearing wrinkled clothes lately because of the many times they have been in piles on the floor.
By far Amber's favorite new discovery this month has been the ocean. Due to the beautiful weather lately and the fact that we live within walking distance from the beach it has been hard to keep us away. Now that Amber is able to walk around she has discovered that not far from the beach towel is water, and she loves the water! So I spend most of the time chasing her up and down the beach so that she does not get washed away. So much for the days that I could sit and relax on a beach towel and watch her eat sand.
But my very favorite thing about this month is that my children are learning to love each other! They are finally able to play nicely together and is blesses my heart. The other day I heard them laughing in their room and Peyton was sitting in her doll stroller and Amber was pushing her around the room. They love giving zurberts on each others tummies and chasing each other around the house. Last night I was about to put Amber to bed and Peyton came running after me practically in tears saying "she forgot to give her sissy a kiss goodnight." So sweet. Maybe they will be friends after all.

Cinderella

Never in my best dreams would I have ever though that my daughter would love Cinderella more than I do. And those that know me, know that I LOVE CINDERELLA. For me it started when I was a child and my father used to call me Kenderella and I felt nothing short of a princess when he did that, so ever since Cinderella has been my favorite Disney character. So much so, that Brandon asked me to marry him in front of the castle at Disneyland and I believe his exact words after getting down on his knees were "Will you be my Cinderella forever?". We even had a Cinderella wedding...well as much Cinderella as I could get away with and not be too cheesy but, a special moment that I will never forget was our first dance to "So this is love." So there is a little past history on my love for Cinderella and why I would want to share it with my daughter.
Well it all started a few weeks ago when I decided Peyton was finally old enough to appreciate watching Cinderella for the first time. We got in our jammies and snuggled up on the couch with bowls of ice cream and popcorn. I was determined to make this a magical moment for the two of us. I expected her to loose interest half way through (once the popcorn was gone) but she didn't, she was glued to the movie and when it ended she gave me a huge hug and said "Mommy that was the greatest movie I have ever seen." I was a puddle on the floor. Since that night she has watched Cinderella almost every day. A few days ago she began randomly quoting the movie and singing the songs and just yesterday she decided that she, in fact, WAS Cinderella. If you tried to call her Peyton she would politely correct you and say "You mean Cinderella." (Oh Boy, What have I created?) So not going to lie, I got her to help me pull weeds in the yard yesterday because I told her Step Mother told her to do so. As we were pulling weeds she was chattering away about the mice and the birds and the mean cat and the ugly step sisters and her step mother that was very sad. Sad? "Why is the step mother and step sisters sad?" I asked her, and then my three year old had a profound thought, she said "because they never go out of their house so they don't have any friends and they are lonely." Isn't that so true! Relationships are the most important thing in this life! Way to often we get caught up in our own world and our own schedule and don't make time for other people and then we wonder why we are so sad and lonely. Once again, the world could learn a lot from a three year old...and Cinderella.