Mildred...wherefore art thou Mildred?

Dearest Castillo Children,

Hello, my sweeties! What a fun week we had! I always have fun with you, even when you scream at me because I forgot to start dinner earlier. (Okay, fun isn't the word, but at least you DO get feed... eventually.)

On Tuesday Annalise had her 1 year check up with her doctor, Dr. Sifontes. Annalise is very tall for her age. The first time they measured her, she was off the charts. They re-measured and she came out to be in the 90% for height. (I secretly think she was a little conservative on her measurements so I really think she is somewhere in between that). She is in the 50% for weight, so she's average weight and tall. Her height to weight ratio is low but I keep thinking of Todd's tall and thin sisters so I'm not super worried about it. She'll be like Nora, tall and thin. There are definitely worse things in this world.

That reminds me of something my sister Kristine said to me when I was worried about Nora. Nora was really under weight and they were worried about her. And just when I thought everything was fine with Nora they were worried about her having little breast already as a 1 year old. I was freaking out - "why do they keep finding new problems for her!" When I shared that with Kristine she said the best thing to calm me down. "Well, then she'll be tall and skinny with big boobs. There are worse things to deal with." Thanks Kristine, I needed that perspective. So I apply it to a lot of things. IS this situation REALLY all that bad? Usually, the answer is no.

While at the doctors I asked her if they could tell the final height of a child and she said at the age of two they can calculate it out. So I asked her how tall Nora would end up being and the calculations were 5'7 to 5'9, so about my height at 5'8. I can't imagine my little Nora as tall as me! I'm happy if that's the height she gets though. Tall enough to be considered tall but not intimidating. But I also think tall is beautiful - if Annalise wants to reach for 6'0 like her auntie that she is sorta named after, Alicia, then by all means. However, her other auntie Dianna, whom she was also named after, is only 5'4. We'll see.

Annalise is sure starting to show her stubborn side. We are trying to teach her sign language like we did with Nora, however she knows the sign but refuses to do it. I know she knows the sign because sometimes she'll do it. But if we ask her to do the sign she'll stare at us like, "whatcha gonna do about it". Many a night she has been left in her high chair simply because she won't do the "all done" sign. However, she'll say the words. She also likes to say "clean up" like from the Clean Up Song. Weird. She wants to talk and is really stubborn about when she'll use signs. It's funny because Nora was SO willing to use signs and caught on really fast. She figured out if she did the "please" sign Mommy would give her a bite of cookie or whatever she wanted. Annalise just cries at me. Must be more consistent...

On Thursday I had to go return some clothes to the store, which meant a trip to the mall with my two babies. Fear? Horror? A little of both was felt but I really wanted to go and finish up my errand for the week. I brought my double jogging stroller along and I have to confess again that I LOVE my double jogging stroller. It's not like other strollers, it isn't a side by side one but one with a back seat and a front seat. Why do I love this? I can fit into doorways and elevators. At one point I had to take the girls to the bathroom. We barely made it into the bathroom and then into a stall with my stroller. I would have had to leave it outside of the bathroom if I was in a big double one. Made going through the mall so easy. Too bad I live too far from a mall and I don't plan return anytime soon, but it's nice to know that it works so well.

We stopped by See's Candy (drool...) and the ladies were so nice in there! They gave me a candy and one for each of my girls. I let them have the white chocolate so they wouldn't make a huge mess. That's one way to have happy kids at the mall: candy.

I went to my new favorite store Christopher and Banks in the mall. I got some really cute things online from them for $10 each but some of the pieces didn't fit. Boo. They were too big. YAY! I much rather have things be too big than too small. Makes my ego a little happier. ANYWAY, while I was in there I noticed the sales ladies where older ladies. Very nice and fashionable, but older none the less. As I looked for something else I noticed all the clients were also in their 60s or so. Hmm...was I too young for this store? The best was when a 60 year old lady came in with her 80 year old mother in a wheel chair. Yeah, that place was happening. However, I found this GORGEOUS grey sweater with big ruffles on it that I exchanged my items to purchase. I don't mind buying from an old lady store as long as I look cute when I leave.

What else happened this week? Your dad and I sat down and worked on a budget. We argued about where some of the surplus funds should be spent - still didn't come to a conclusion. (Yes, we argue about stuff sometimes, but we try to listen to each other's side without getting grumpy. Arguments happen in any relationship. We actually talked about this at church today.)

 Yesterday I was stuck at Walmart for about 3 and a half hours waiting to get new tires for the car. Bah. I went to Ross though and bought a cute dress for $5.99 on clearance and I wore it to church today. It's blue with little flowers around the neckline. Almost made up for the horribly long wait...almost. :)

Today after church Nora kept saying "Mildred" over and over again. I was like: "Is that someone in Nursery?" and "Who's Mildred's mommy?" Only to have it pointed out to me that she was actually saying Gnomeo and Juliet - a movie she likes to watch in the afternoon after her nap time. WHAT!? I totally didn't get that. She is normally so good at saying things but this time I was at such a total loss. So it's like this (the capitolized letters are the sounds she makes) gnoMEO anD juliET. Craziness.

My piano lessons are going well. YAY! My teach says I'm moving along faster than a 7 year old, which actually really made me happy. I was worried that being older would mean I wouldn't pick it up as quickly. But then again, I do actually enjoy practicing and making it something that's just for me. I'm so glad I'm doing this. Also, my health stuff has seemed to have slowed for now. Starting to feel better again. And tomorrow I get to use my B-12 patch and that always makes me have more energy. YAY, vitamins!

Daddy is starting a new weight loss program with his work tomorrow. Let's all wish him luck!

With Love,

Your Mother