{cleaning house & 2nd generation geneva girls}

The last 2 weeks have been busy.  We decided that we are going to put our house on the market soon so we have been in house clean-up mode.  Randall's parents drove up to Cincinnati last weekend to help.  We had a very productive and exhausting weekend.  After running 13 miles on Saturday morning I spent the rest of the day on my feet cleaning out every closet in the house, plus the basement.  Exhausting but satisfying!  Our house feels so much lighter.  We owe a huge thanks to Gene ... After spending 12+ hours in the car on Friday to drive up to Cincinnati, he decided to leave on Sunday afternoon when it became apparent that Hurricane Isaac was heading straight towards New Orleans.  So he had to drive another 12+ hours back home after a brief day long stay in Cincinnati, only to work to secure everything ahead of the storm once he got home.  Thank you Gene (and Gail, who stayed in Cincinnati and has been a big help with the girls allowing us to get more house stuff done)!  I am so happy that the storm damage has been minimal and that you and your family & friends are safe.  We did fit in a bit of fun while Gene was here with a trip to Betta's for dinner, brunch at the Echo and a visit to the farmer's market.  We've been doing a lot of cleaning, but not a lot of sleeping.  Kenzie's sleepless nights have continued... but thankfully she has slept well the last 3 nights in a row.  I hope her cycle is back on track!

There were two highlights of the past week. 

1) The girls got to meet their pre-school teachers.  Mrs. Berry and Mrs. Putman stopped by our home for a visit this past Tuesday morning.  The girls were so excited to meet their teachers!  When the time actually came, Lexi was very excited and outgoing.  She sat on the couch next to Mrs. Berry with a big smile on her face, answering questions.  Kenzie on the other hand was very shy once her teachers arrived.  She sat on my lap and burried her face in my chest most of the time they were there.  School starts in just over a week ... excited to see how that goes!

2) The DeLacys were in town from London for a visit.  Randall and I met Niall and Carolyn out for drinks on Wednesday evening and I took Thursday morning off so the girls could meet up with their old buddies, Lily and Olivia.  We met at Washington Park and it was so fun to see the girls playing together again.  They were a bit shy at first, but soon they were running around giggling together.  I can't believe how much they have grown since the last time they were all together! 

We then met up with the Schlegels at Christian Moerlein for lunch. It felt great to have half of the Geneva Crew together again ... and 5 of the 6 2nd generation Geneva Girls! I think this may actually have been the first time that all 5 of these girls were together and it was so special to see. They were all doting on little Maddie ... so precious! The fun continued in the evening when we met up again on Herschel Woods Lane for a cookout with the DeLacys old neighbors. Felt just like old times ... hurry home DeLacys! The girls want their friends back ... as do we!

{the things she says...}

During a walk at dusk last week.

Me:  "Girls, we need to head home.  The mosquitos are eating me alive."

Lexi:  "Mommy, the mosquitos eat my legs like peanut butter toast!"  followed by giggles...

At bedtime last week.

Me:  "Girls, it's time to clean up and head upstairs for your bath."

Lexi & Kenzie in unison:  "Too busy!  Need 5 more minutes!"

{party girls!}

This past weekend was filled with parties and celebration.  The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed our time together as a family and celebrating with friends.

On Friday evening we ventured down to Eli's BBQ for the first time.  It is a hole in the wall kind of place in a transitional neighborhood with only the outline of a pig as signage to indicate that it is even a restaurant.  The seating is primarily picnic tables in a big open field.  The food was great, the casual setting was fun for the girls and they especially enjoyed playing in the surrounding gardens.  (If we ignore the drunk "locals" that were wandering around and freaking out the girls a bit and the stray dog that nearly peed on my bag it was an all around pleasant experience :)) A good start to our weekend.

 I got up early on Saturday morning to complete my 12 mile training run before our day of parties began.  It was the perfect morning for a long run.  I joined up with a 5k for part of my run and generally felt pretty good.

Then we were off to Esme's 2nd Birthday Fiesta!  The girls get so excited about birthday parties and were so sweet when we got there.  They hugged their friend and shyly said "Happy Birthday Esme."  They had a blast playing in the bouncy house, eating cake, and participating in the pinata pull.  They had such a great time that they didn't want to leave ... Lexi kept saying, "just 2 more minutes Mommy!"

We stayed so long that there was no time for a nap before heading to Mia's 1st birthday party at the park.  The girls love "baby Mia" - Sara's niece - and were so excited to go to her party.  They had fun playing with Mia's older cousins - from frisbee, to basketball to tennis, to the playground - they were non-stop.  There were cupcakes and a pinata and lots of fun with Sara's family!  The girls left happy and exhausted!  I thought they would surely fall asleep in the car on the way home, but they were too busy playing with their goody bag treasures.

Sunday was another gorgeous day ... Randall went for an early morning bike ride while the girls and I went for a walk to the park.  We then took a trip to the farmers market and met up with some friends there.  After the girls napped we took a trip to St. Mary's Fair.  I wasn't sure if the girls would be into the rides or not ... but they LOVED THEM!  We kept having to go back and buy more ride tickets because they wanted to go again and again.  They even loved the BIG "super fast" slides.  Such brave girls.  They have come a long way since our trip to Kings Island last year.

It was such a great fun filled weekend!  Looking forward to fall and more pleasant weekends outside.

{sleep deprived}

Both girls are currently sleeping soundly. That means I should probably be sleeping myself, not blogging, so this will be brief...

The sleepless nights started about 2 weeks ago, when we woke up at 1:15am to Kenzie screaming. A loud crash of thunder woke her and then her screaming woke Lexi, so both girls ended up in our bed. The thunderstorms continued for over 3 hours and we were all wide awake the entire time. The next sleepless night was caused by Kenzie's antics while we were in Louisville.

Then last week Randall was out of town for work and Kenzie seemed to develop full blown insomnia. She had trouble going to sleep and even if she didn't fall asleep until after 11pm, she awoke between 1am and 3am and was wide awake.... for hours. She would call for me. "Mommy, I have to go potty." I would take her to the potty and then she would want to play. She wanted to go downstairs, she wanted to read books, she wanted to play legos, she wanted to go see Tobi, she wanted to call Daddy, she wanted to potty again .... anything to avoid sleep. If I tried to put her back in her bed she would cry and get out of bed and walk to the gate at her door and call for mommy in the most pathetic voice ever. I didn't want her to wake Lexi so I would go get her and let her lay in bed with me ...except she wouldn't lay down, she wanted to get up .... the cycle continued for hours until she finally crashed in my bed.... about 45 minutes before my alarm was to go off to start my work day. It was a long week. Then we had a few nights of great sleep and I thought the cycle was broken. Ahhh, sweet sleep.

But then last night we had another bad night. Kenzie started screaming when we left the room after their bedtime routine.  I went up and laid in bed with her for about 20 minutes, but when I got up to leave she shot up in bed and started crying, "don't leave Mommy!"  I laid down again and she was tossing and turning.  I finally said that it was time for bed and that mommy had to go.  She didn't scream but when I got downstairs and looked at the monitor I could see that Kenzie had gotten out of her bed.  She was quiet so I thought I would give her some time.  All was quiet for about 10 minutes and then I heard a crash.  When I went upstairs I found Kenzie, minus her sleep sack (which the girls still insist on wearing), minus her pajama bottoms, minus her pull up, sitting on her potty in her bedroom, surrounded by pillows from our bedroom.  She had opened the gate, retrieved the pillows, retrieved the potty from the bathroom (she must have dropped it on her way, hence the crash).  Such a silly girl.  She was wide awake and giggling.  Right at this time, Randall got home from the gym so he took a turn laying with Kenzie and eventually she did fall asleep.... until about 3am when she was up again .... it was a long night and my alarm went off far too soon.

While I certainly miss my sleep, I am more concerned about Kenzie.  I don't know what is causing this insomnia.  It could be the potty training.  Perhaps she is growing out of her nap.  I talked to her pediatrician today and she gave me some pointers ... nothing that we aren't doing already really.  Hopefully it is just a phase and she will get back into a good sleep cycle shortly.  If not, we will take her to see a sleep specialist.  Lexi gets a gold star for being the biggest trooper through all of this.  Except for that one night during the thunderstorm she has slept through (or at least remained quietly in her bed) all of Kenzie's middle of the night antics.  If anyone has any pointers please let me know.

OK, now I am off to bed for some much needed sleep.  Night, night!

Instagram download from last week ... my girls accompanying me on my training runs ... stops at the park & for ice cream along the way, dinner at Zip's, sleepless nights, K&L in daddy's bike jersey, hair cuts, hosting book club!

{besties reunited}

I am a bit behind on blogging ... this has been driven by toddler insomia and sleep deprivation ... but more on that in another post.  I want to make sure that I capture our fun weekend visit to Louisville to visit the Schlegels two weekends ago.  The girls were so excited to go see Maddie and Moose.  This time we did not make the mistake of telling them about it too far in advance .... as the anticipation would have been too much to handle.  We told them on Thursday evening that we would be going down on Saturday morning.  On Friday evening when Randall and I got home from work the girls excitedly announced, "Time to go visit Maddie & Moose!"  When we explained that we were just going out to dinner and that they would have to wait until the morning to go see Maddie they were not happy.  Oh the tears!

However, their excitement the next morning made up for it.  They did very well in the car .. no car sickness from Kenzie & only 2 potty breaks.When we arrived there were lots of hugs and kisses.

We had such a great time hanging out, catching up and getting to know the Schlegel's new home and neighborhood.  The girls had a great time playing together on Maddie's swingset & at the neighborhood playground.  They shared gelato, had fun jumping on the bed together, and playing in Maddie's room.  We enjoyed a wonderful grown up dinner and wine after the kids were asleep.  It was a great time with great friends! 

The girls napped well, and went to sleep without a problem.  Smooth sailing until 3am when Kenzie woke up and insisted that she wanted to "see Maddie!"  She was wide awake for close to 3 hours ... a foreshadowing of her insomnia perhaps.  Thankfully she did not wake Maddie up and did finally go back to sleep for a couple of hours.
 

We had such a great time that Lexi declared "I want to go visit Maddie again next week!"  We certainly miss having the Schlegels around the corner, but are so grateful that they are still close enough that these weekend visits are completely doable.  I love watching our daughters form a friendship.   So grateful for such wonderful friends!

And the instagram download from the rest of that week ...negotiating over gummy bears, running to the light of the moon, sharing ice cream with Granny on the last day of her visit, painting masterpieces, Lexi reading a bedtime story to Kenzie, sleepless night due to thunderstorms, reaction to Pop Rocks!

{super granny}

Granny and Nanny (Sara) switched places last week.  While Sara was down in New Orleans volunteering with her church, Granny came up to Cincinnati to watch the girls.  Randall and I worked from home and took a bit of time off here and there, but for the most part it was just Granny & the girls.  She did a great job, was a tremendous help to us, Kenzie & Lexi loved it and I'm pretty sure Granny enjoyed it too.  All in all a success!

The girls enjoyed their last gymastics class of the summer, trips to the pool, visits to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt, snuggle time with Tobi, a special lunch date with Mommy and Granny at the Bonbonnerie Tea Room, happy hour at the pool ...

Miss Debbie (our next door neighbor) was kind enough to drive Granny & the girls to story time 2 separate times and they all went out to lunch one day.  The girls thought this was pretty cool as they love Dick & Debbie!

I am quite proud of how well Granny did last week.  I'm sure she is returning to New Orleans exhausted ... but I am also certain that she enjoyed her time with the girls.  Thanks Granny!

And now for the rest of the weekly instagram download ....

Completed my first double digit run, more pics from the potty party, and the 2032 Olympic beach volleyball duo in training ...



{potty party!}

We had a potty party at our house this weekend!  It involved balloons, cupcakes, big girl underwear, special treats, cheers, and many, many trips to the potty.  The girls had a blast and found some creative uses for their new undies :)  I am proud of how well they are doing ... there have been a few accidents but we are making great progress.

Surprisingly, Kenzie has been 'easier' to potty train than Lexi.  She was very excited to wear underwear and pull ups whereas Lexi has been somewhat reluctant.  She lets us know whenever she has to go, yelling "I have to pee pee (poopy)!!!" at the top of her lungs.  If you tell her to hold it in, she runs to the bathroom holding her bottom :)  She gets so excited when she goes, clapping and cheering "I pee peed!"  Like everything in life Kenzie is approaching potty training with enthusiasm and excitement. 

Lexi wasn't quite as excited by the idea of potty training, refusing to wear pull ups earlier in the week.  However, the potty "party" convinced her to get on the potty train.  Sometimes the promise of cupcakes and presents works wonders.  She has had a few accidents, and still is not keen on using the potty when she has to poopy away from home ... but we are making big strides.

Potty training twins is not the easiest task. Between the two of them I think the bulk of our weekend was spent in the bathroom and we have had some sleepless nights as Kenzie has been waking up at night having to use the potty.  That said, I am so proud of my big girls and the encouragement that they have been giving one another through this process.  They are such sweet girls and have been so supportive of one another ... cheering for one another, giving pep talks, hugs and kisses.  

And, hey, I'm not gonna lie ... it's going to feel great and be worth all of the effort when we no longer have to buy or change diapers :)