Just a whole lot of randoms

We have friends coming to stay with us starting tomorrow night and we've been running around getting the house ready and still have a few more things to do, so this post will just be a bunch of random thoughts.

• Whenever Stasa watches any Disney princess movies she has to dress up as that princess. It gets really entertaining when we're watching the Disney princess sing-a-long DVD because she goes through so many costume changes at warp speed. A friend on Facebook made a comment that she doesn't just let life go by, that she participates. That statement is so spot on. Stasa wants to be a part of everything and I think that's part of why she's a bedtime rebel. She doesn't want to miss out on the fun.

• Stasa and I both got stung by a hornet this past weekend. We were packing up our stuff to leave the pool and Stasa shrieked and grabbed her hand. Now, she's a pretty good fake crier, but this was a real cry. Initially I had no idea what hurt her, although she said a bee bit her. As we were comforting her, the little hornet flew up and stung my ankle and OH MY GOD it hurt. Poor Stasa. And she got stung twice - once on the top of her hand and once on her finger tip. It's been years since I've been stung and I kind of forgot how much it stings. Stas was lecturing the "bee" during the ride home and kept saying "That's not nice! I'm not the bee's friend!" Tom looked at me and said "Well, I guess we know she's not allergic now." We were both afraid of that because you never know. Thank god it was at the pool where they have emergency kits. And this is exactly why I hate things with stingers. Stupid bugs.
• I am still amazed at how much Stasa resembles me. Is that conceited? Maybe and I don't even care. She is my mini-me and it makes me so happy. The other day I went in to rouse her from her long afternoon nap and stopped short when I saw her. The way her face was resting she looked just like my mom. Every now and then I see it and I think it's the placement of her eyes and the way her mouth settles when she's thinking. And that's the biggest reason I'm so happy she resembles me because I really look like my mom and it's my mom's memory living through us. I love it. When I was about 12 or 13 years old I was visiting Garu, my mom's mom, and was surprised to see a new black and white photo of me in her room. I didn't remember taking that picture, but was pretty sure it was me. Garu laughed at me and told me it was my mom at my age. We looked nearly identical. Who knows. Maybe one day Stasa will make the same mistake I did when she sees pictures of me. 

• We're trying to sell a couple of our strollers. Right now we have five different strollers, which seems insane. Before you judge me, let me explain. We initially had the Graco travel system, but got rid of that stroller as fast as humanly possible. I hated that thing - it was bulky, heavy, and inconvenient. I traded it in for 20% off at Babies R Us and replaced it with the snap-n-go. Before that we also purchased a lightweight umbrella stroller since Stasa had outgrown the infant seat. We loooooooooove our umbrella stroller. It takes up almost no space, is light, and perfect for going just about anywhere except walks through the neighborhood. Since we enjoy taking long walks, we bought a single jogger. We both love it and have put many miles on that sucker. And then along came Lexi. I had visions of long neighborhood walks with both girls so I started the hunt for the perfect double stroller. Unfortunately I had champagne taste and a beer budget. I ended up getting a double version of our single jogger. It's heavy. And large. And heavy. And Lexi haaaaaaaaaaaaated it. She hated all strollers. So we used it only a handful of times and I ended up using baby carriers whenever we went out somewhere. Once Lexi started getting too heavy for the carriers, I started the hunt again. This time I hit the jackpot on Craigslist and found my dream stroller for nearly half the original cost. DONE. Both girls love it and we love it. It's lightweight, compact, and still has plenty of room for both girls and a diaper bag. And now we have five strollers. LOL Excessive, right? Agreed. We're selling the single and double joggers for about half the cost we paid for them. 
• I love having the kids so close in age. I love watching them play together and hope that they're always close. I hate that daycare costs so much. I hate that because of those costs we have to carefully plan when we will have our next baby. For now I'll just keep soaking in all of the fun we have with these two. They have the best giggles and are both so loving. If Lexi's upset Stasa will give her one of her own toys to cheer her up. And while little Lexi is in a hitting phase - hitting us and Stasa - she also feels bad after hitting Stasa and will give her a hug and kiss. And when Stasa's in timeout, we have to do everything we can to keep Lexi from sitting with her. She has to be wherever her big sister is, including timeout.