Baby Girl - age 3 1/2 -

Mommy, I tried something new yesterday.

Oh, you did? What?

Yes, I did, and it was good. (nodding enthusiastically)

Well, what was it?

It was nuffin (nothing). You cooked nuffin with your dinner and it was good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love her

So... it's been a good three months since I've posted. A lot has happened, and there are literally a hundred sweet things I wish I could have captured to forever remember. What can I say, life happens.

We just had Thanksgiving, it was wonderful. Quiet, only one meal for us to eat (as opposed to the sometimes three we have to attend in one day), and lots of fun, quality family time. It's supposed to start snowing in a few hours, and into the night. With a five and a three-year-old, it's magical.

We put the Christmas tree up this afternoon. Full on decorating will have to wait until the Hubs gets home, but the kids and I had fun putting it up while listening to Christmas music. Baby girl found two big stockings, a hat, and a door decoration, put them all on (door decoration used as a purse), and stated, "Look, I'm all covered with Christmas!"

JP helped me assemble the tree and make sure it was "sturdy," one of his favorite words, and was so proud that he got to stand on the stairs and put on the star. Just as he did, L. spontaneously sang, "God is Jesus, God is Jesus, thank you for our Christmas tree, thank you for our Christmas tree, Amen, Amen."

I know I keep using this work, but again, magical.

Life is good, God is good!

Siblings

I saw this on facebook today, it was my status on this day in 2010 (a year ago) and it gave me a good laugh -

"L.'s saying 'Dada' and JP is telling her, 'Dada's at work. Work is no fun. I know you need Dada, but he's at work, and it's no fun.' I think I need to talk to Hubs about what he tells JP about work, otherwise he's never going to want to get a job!"

Love it!

Also, this happened the other night, right after L moved from her crib into a big girl bed. I love how JP takes care of his little sister, he really does love (and like) her -

The kids were getting ready for bed, and they both decided to hide behind the curtain panels in JP's bedroom. I overheard JP whispering to L, "This is how I do it, L. I pretend to fall asleep, then wait until Mommy and Daddy fall asleep, and then I sneak down into their bed. So that's how you have to do it." How adorable is that? And that's NOT how he does it, he most definitely falls asleep, but really does sneak down into our bed in the wee hours of the morning.

And tonight JP is spending the night with one of his grandparents. He just called to say goodnight and asked to talk to L. I put him on the speaker phone and let him talk to his little sister. First he said, "Hi, Poopyhead!" but then he followed it with, "L, tomorrow we're gonna do lots of fun things. I don't have school tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so we get to stay home all day together!" How do you top that? The bond that those two have is magic. We, and they, are so blessed.

Pushing the Limits

How did I get two children who don't know how to listen? I was such a good kid, so afraid to get in trouble and disappoint my parents. My two, wonderful and sweet as they are, test the limits throughout the day, each and every day. You know the expression "give an inch and they'll take a mile?" Well, with mine, you don't have to give an inch and they'll still take a mile. I guess this means they feel secure with me? Can I put that positive spin on it? I'm guessing their strong wills will do them good when they're older, they'll be a bit bold, think for themselves, and hopefully stand up for themselves. Right now, though, when they're both little and in need of rules and structure, it's driving their mama nuts.

Love you BG and LM.

Money

Baby Girl is definitely a walking, talking tornado today. I haven't done much but follow behind her to clean up her messes. It's amazing how fast she can destroy a room. :)

I found a twenty dollar bill in her piggy bank today. I have a few ideas about how it might have gotten in there, but I can't be sure. Either Monger put it in there or the ladies who gave me her baby shower (VM, SH, and CW) did it. I wonder how long it's been in there??

The Husband was home for five days straight while we had some tree work done. It was heavenly. He's back at work today and we miss him lots.

Well, off to do the mom thing!

I Want My Mommy Back

First, a picture. The Husband dressed Baby Girl this morning, and took her and Little Man out for doughnuts and a paper this morning. I just can't believe he actually took her out in public dressed like this. I can only imaging what people where thinking! (Besides I know her father dressed her!)

Today (Sunday) I woke up sick. Not terribly sick, but I have an earache that extends down to my jaw, a sore throat, and dizziness. The dizziness makes me feel like I've been out all night drinking. If I want to look for a silver lining I could say that I have the buzz without consuming all those empty calories. A stretch, yeah, maybe, but still true. :)

Anyway, after being up for a few hours I decided to go back to bed. Laying my head down on a pillow feels oh so good. A few minutes after going to bed, Baby Girl walked back to the bedroom, saw me in bed, and wasn't happy. She got a scowl on her face, angrily stomped her foot, and said, "No, get up! Wake up! I want my mommy back!!" Made me laugh, she has such a personality.

Oh, and I have my third black eye, courtesy of my children. This time Baby Girl was playing with her toy broom and accidentally hit me in the eye with it. I don't know how I haven't learned yet, but it's hard to keep your face away from your children!

Gross and Cute

The kids and I accidentally left a sippy-cup full of milk in the car. It's May and we live in the South. My car smells so very, very, bad, and the sippy-cup is in the garbage can.

Sippy-Cup = 1; Mom = 0

Baby Girl wore her hair in pig tails for the first time yesterday. Adorable! She keeps asking to look in the mirror and she gently runs her hand down the ponytail. I love that little girl. :)

Bits and Pieces

For the past week, Baby Girl (30 months old) has been calling me "Mom." I'm not a fan of this new development.

Little Man went home with Grandma to spend the night right after we bought his new light-up tennis shoes. Grandma called last night to say that she and Little Man turned out all the lights in her house and were having a good time stomping around and making the lights on the shoe light up. She said he was so very happy to finally have his shoes, and that his smile over them was priceless. Makes a momma happy.

Blogger has been having problems lately. Both yesterday and today I had ideas to blog about, the time to blog, and the desire to blog, all at the same time, which almost never happens. So I try to log on and write, and....CAN'T. Go figure.

Baby Girl has a new bad habit. During mealtime, she will take a bite, chew it up, then spit it out on her plate and say, "I don't like it." It's gross and irritation, she really isn't eating much, just chewing and spitting. Hopefully this phase will pass soon.

On a cute note, yesterday I was sitting in my bedroom folding clothes, and Baby Girl rounded the corner with her pretend birthday cake in hand, held it out to me and yelled, "Supwise!" She didn't just say it, either, but sort of jumped and threw her arms out, very energetic and very cute. Later on in the day while I was cleaning the real kitchen she decided she needed to clean her play kitchen. And she did. Very thoroughly and methodically. I think she may have gotten my cleaning bug, oh my. ;)

I just remembered this from our family vacation to Chattanooga. In our first hotel, we checked in and got somewhat settled when we realized that we were in a handicapped accessible room, which meant no bathtub. Having two small children and having no bathtub don't really go together, so we requested another room. A few days later, Little Man goes, "I want to go back to the candy happy room." It took us a few minutes but we figured it out - handicapped got switched around to candy happy. Cute. That's also how Monger got her name. :)

(Blogger is acting up again and won't let me spell check. Spelling is not my strong suit so I'm sure this is full or errors, please ignore.)

They Fight Sleep Like No Others

My kids, do, that is. Today Mama really wanted them to take a nap. It was one of those days that a mom counts down the minutes to a few minutes of freedom. I'm fighting some sort of bug, or allergy, or who knows what, all I know is I don't feel well. Also, I stayed up half the night because we were supposed to have really bad weather (when even the down to earth, nonchalant weather forecaster says it's going to be bad, I begin to worry, and he said things could get ugly.) So when I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and heard the winds picking up, I thought maybe I should check it out. So I went into the den to see what was going on, only to see - nothing. I was, however, wide awake. So I wait about an hour thinking I would get sleepy, but by that time weather was getting closer and the forecasters were on TV. Thankfully the tornado-producing thunderstorms petered out just as they were about to hit. I didn't even have to bring Baby Girl downstairs, all right! I was eternally grateful that I was climbing into my bed instead of the tornado closet but I was also oh so tired. Which brings me to nap time. Baby Girl wasn't having it. She fought from 12:30 until 2:00. Yep. And Little Man never did take a nap, although I somehow convinced him to stay in his room for an hour. All in all it was long enough to make a phone call to the school about next year and research and sign up for swim lessons for Little Man. Just as I was thinking about a catnap the beasts were awake. Oh well there's always an early bed time, right? Right. :)

Where Daddy Go?

The Husband went out of town earlier this week for a short trip. He left about 6 am on Tuesday and was back home around 10:30 pm last night (Tuesday). It seemed even shorter because I saw him on both Monday and Tuesday. It seemed like a long time to the kids, however, because Daddy was gone before they woke up Monday morning and didn't come home until after bed on Tuesday. They missed their Daddy. Monday night we were sitting at the dinner table and Baby Girl looks up at me with a questionable look and asks, "Where Daddy go?" I reply, "He's at work out of town. He'll be home tomorrow after you go to bed." Baby Girl scrunches up her face in that cute way she does and says, "I lost my Daddy." - pout Baby Girl loves her Daddy. And Daddy loves her back!

24 Hours of Insanity

Wow, the past 24 hours have been intense. Mama could seriously use a Xanax. Seriously. Here's why - Last night Baby Girl went to the ER in an ambulance (a separate post to follow), and after we got home we had about three hours sleep, courtesy of several breathing treatments. I'm not knocking them, they probably saved Baby Girl's life, she was just a bundle of energy at midnight and beyond! We had a follow-up appointment with her regular pediatrician this morning, and on the way there she started wheezing again. It scared me to death, it sounded just like she did before her attack came full on last night. The receptionists and nurse rushed us back to the exam room and we saw a doctor about five minutes after we walked in the door. Her oxygen fluctuated between 92-97, which the doc thought was no big deal. I may be looking for a new pediatrician, I have loved him as a doctor so far, but his laid back attitude about Baby Girl's oxygen level didn't sit well with me. He reiterated what the ER docs said, only he said giving her a hit off the inhaler every 4-6 hours was unnecessary, and to only give it to her if the skin between her ribs started to pull in during inhalation. Again, I'm not doctor but I did grow up around asthma and that seems like that's waiting a little too long, especially for a two year old. I want to use the medicine to prevent her from getting to that point. Anyway, after the somewhat alarming doctor's appointment, we went home. .... and drove through the worst storm. It was no Hurricane Elvis, but it was very similar. Very scary to drive through, but by the time I realized we were in a bad storm we were just about five minutes from home. We got home and the sirens were going off, I couldn't tell that in the car because of the loud rain and marble-sized hailstones rapping on the roof, and the cable, internet, and phone were all out. I had no idea if the tornado warning was for my area of the county or not. Little Man was home with Grandma, he was terrified and still in his underwear. I do not handle bad storms and tornadoes well, I turn into a puddle of jello. However, I had to keep it together and be a responsible parent, so I scrambled for some clothes for Little Man while calling The Husband at work to see if I can get a weather report. I needed to know if I should empty out the tornado closet (no small task, it's our toy closet and packed solid), and thankfully, The Husband told us the storm had already gone through our part of town, although it still looked scary outside. We actually drove through the worst of it. Trees swaying, stop lights doing nearly 360s, looking out my car window reminded me of watching hurricane footage on the tv. We did have some minor damage, and I stress minor. A sizable limb fell on our fence and the side of the house, knocking loose a several boards and damaging two window screen frames. Could have been much worse. Little Man enjoyed the clean up with his daddy and our neighbor, Mr. Jimmy, who broke out the chain saw. Well, I say that's too much excitement for one day. Waaay too many adrenaline rushes for me to handle with grace. Now who has some xanax? (just kidding)

A Rite of Passage - Yes, Another One

Last night was the scariest night of my life. It sounds dramatic, but it's true. Last night I faced head on the fact that one of my babies might not be okay. Thankfully, blessedly, she is okay, but for a few minutes I was literally scared to death. The day started out normally enough. Baby Girl had been sick, again, with what seemed to be either another cold or allergies. I don't even take her to the doctor for these anymore, if I did we would be at the doctor every week, and all they can do is tell me how to best keep her comfortable - again. Around dinner time The Husband really noticed that Baby Girl was wheezing. She had been tired and needy all afternoon, and wanted nothing more than to be held and cuddled. "Sleep on Mommy, Sleep on Daddy," is what she would say. Anyway, I gave her the cold medicine the pediatrician recommended earlier in the week and began to get her ready for bed. I noticed really quickly that something wasn't quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The Husband had taken Little Man out into the front yard so he could burn off some energy before bed, but I thought they were out for a walk. Anyway, I didn't have anyone to consult with, so without much thought I decided to call the pediatrician. It was about 7:30 on a Sunday night. I left a message with the answering service, who promised me a nurse would call back within 3o minutes. Meanwhile, the way Baby Girl was breathing reminded me of when she had croup a few months ago. It was hot outside last night, so all I could think to do was open the freezer door and sit with Baby Girl in my lap, hoping the cold air would help her breathe a bit better. We sat there for about 15 minutes before the nurse called back, and after listening to me describe Baby Girl's symptoms she recommended to go to the urgent care center. We had to hurry, the center is about 2o minutes away and they closed in 55 minutes. So I go outside to find The Husband, I tell him our plans, and I hurry to get dressed. Yes, I was already in my pjs, I also needed a shower but was waiting on the kids to go to bed first. I knew the shower had to wait. As I was getting dressed things went downhill fast. Baby Girl started really laboring hard to breathe. The Husband, who has asthma, ran into the bathroom and told me to hurry, not to worry about packing a bag full of things to keep Baby Girl occupied, just to hurry! He said that he was going with us, that her breathing had gotten even worse and it wasn't safe to put her without an extra adult to attend to her. At that point, we ran out the door. Literally. Baby Girl didn't even have on shoes or socks. Little Man was with us, we didn't grab a sippy or a toy for him. We just left. I sat in the backseat next to Baby Girl and The Husband handed me his inhaler and says, "She's about to lock up, give her this." I don't, I didn't want to give her an adult dose, it didn't seem like it was that bad yet, but I held on tight to the inhaler. I sang songs to help keep my little girl happy and calm, and it worked. She was all smiles, even through she was obviously struggling to perform the most basic function - breathing. About half way to the center, I became really scared. Baby Girl was smiling, but there was a look in her eyes, it seemed almost like panic. She was trying to sing, but she couldn't. Her voice kept coming out almost like a gurgle. It was absolutely terrifying. I almost lost it. I imagined the worst, although i was trying hard not to. I had to keep it together, struggle that it was, because my main goal was to keep her calm so she could breathe easier. Little Man was the sweetest big brother. He knew something big was up, and he just kept singing with me, asking his little sister what song she wanted next after we finished one. I just love him, and her! They are the most wonderful children!After the longest drive in history, we finally made it to the urgent care center. I unbuckled Baby Girl from her car seat and didn't even wait until the car had completely stopped rolling before we were out the door. I walked right up to the front desk and said, "She's been wheezing, it's getting worse, and she's really struggling to breathe." The nurses stopped doing vitals on another child and immediately started working on Baby Girl. That poor other child, a small part of me felt bad about that, although I knew it was necessary. They walked us back to a room even as they listened to her lungs. They didn't even ask us her name, or for an insurance card or anything. I was so relieved and scared at the same time from their response. We were literally back in a room with an oxygen mask strapped to her face before The Husband and Little Man had a chance to walk in the front door. They ended up giving Baby Girl two breathing treatments, which helped her tremendously. The oxygen mask they gave her was shaped like a dinosaur, it had pink horns and feathers. Baby Girl loved it, touched it, said, "Roar," and laughed. Oh, my heart, I love you so much. After two breathing treatments her oxygen was at 95%. Not good enough to go home. The urgent care center was about to close, so they told us we would have to go to the hospital with her. In fact, they said she wasn't stable enough to go by car, because the breathing treatments might wear off, and she was still struggling to breathe and had a 95% rate even with an oxygen mask. So by ambulance we go. The fire department ended up showing up, which was pretty cool for Little Man, I just hope he didn't feel too left out that he didn't get to ride in the back with his mommy and sister. We were on our way to the ER, our first ER visit since becoming parents. While waiting for the ambulance, I joked with The Husband that we had done pretty good, we'd been parents for 4 1/2 years and were only now going to the ER. Also while waiting I called mom and asked her to meet The Husband and Little Man at the house, so The Husband could then meet us at the hospital. I felt bad asking her, she had just driven to Arkansas to see my grandmother who is in the hospital, and road trips are really bad on mom's back, but I didn't know what else to do. I also text my friend who is an ER nurse at the children's hospital. She wasn't working last night, and we were disappointed about that, but she called ahead of time and let them know we were VIPs. ;) So, the ambulance ride - it was pretty cute. Baby Girl was all hopped up on drugs at this point, and she was loving all the special attention. The ambulance has a special seat that folds down and turns into a car seat with a harness. So she was sitting up high in the seat, she had her pink dinosaur mask on, an O2 monitor on her finger, and a tiny little blood pressure cuff on her arm. Did I mention she was barefoot? I think I did. She was flirting with the EMT, extending her foot over to him, and saying, "Tippy toes." Actually she doesn't say tippy toes, but thankfully she had her mask on so the EMT didn't realize what she was really saying! Throughout the ride her eyes would get big and she'd say, "Oh, noisy!" and "Oh, bumpy!" It was very noisy and bumpy, riding in that big box is a lot different than riding in the back of a car! I debated taking a picture of her, she was so cute, and thankfully she had been stable for a while by that point. I didn't do it, though, it just seemed wrong to pull out my phone and snap a picture during all of this. We finally arrived at the hospital, escorted by two firemen/EMTs, and we had to do a quick check-in. At this point, the novelty had worn off for Baby Girl and she started acting out, not that I blame her. It was about 10:00, maybe 10:30 at night, so it was way past her bedtime, and she had lots of medicine coursing through her body. She was throwing her giraffe, her blanket, pulling things out of my purse and throwing them as well. The staff took it in stride, I'm sure they've seen all kinds of things from sick kids. Anyway, we got into a room right away, I'm not sure if it was due to the firemen escorts or the phone call from my friend Kelly. Maybe a combination of both, thank you, Kelly! Two nurses come in and hook her up again, heart leads, O2 monitor, but no oxygen this time. Baby Girl is relieved, she doesn't want anything to do with that dinosaur face mask at this point! All her stats look good, a sweet nurse brings her a toy and some books, and we wait for Daddy and the doctor. I crawl up onto that hospital bed and snuggle my Baby Girl. I felt like I almost lost her. I know that may sound dramatic, and I may have been dramatic, but that's how I felt. To see her struggle so hard for every breath and then to see her doing so well, asking for a red popsicle and beaming when she got it - Wow. I hope we're never that scared for the well-being of our children ever again. It has to be the worst feeling ever. Anyway, time goes by and we were seen by the doctors, she had a chest x-ray, which was fine, we get our medicines, and we go home. It's about 12:00 at this point. That's probably the quickest ER visit known to man, again - Thank you, Kelly! We arrive home with a Baby Girl who is WIRED! She keep rolling her head around and laughing. She even shook her head from side to side to make her hair fly. The nurse at the hospital saw that, snorted, and said, "Good luck tonight." We say goodbye to Gram, go upstairs to kiss Little Man goodnight, and try to go to bed. Yeah right! We end up watching two cartoons and then we just turned out the light. Baby Girl tossed and turned for a good bit but finally went to sleep. I wish I could say the same for me, did I doze - yes, sleep - no. Oh well, it isn't the first night of fitful sleep for this mama and I'm sure it won't be the last. Sweet Baby Girl was much better this morning, we woke up on the couch, I guess we fell asleep there after having to give her a hit off the inhaler at 5:00 am. What a night. I am so thankful, relieved, and happy that Baby Girl is all right, but I feel like I've run a marathon. My poor momma heart almost couldn't take it. Saying lots of prayers of thanks tonight. Thank you for igniting my momma instinct and getting me to call the doctor, thank you for igniting the daddy instinct and having him hurry us along. Thank you for modern medicine, and an almost empty waiting room. Thank you for family to take care of Little Man and make him feel safe and secure. Thank you for a wonderful husband who knows only how to be an amazing father. Thank you for the great response Baby Girl had to treatment. Thank you for her good spirits throughout the entire ordeal. Thank you for keeping her safe. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Aw, Dammit

From Baby Girl today -

"Aw, dammit!" - in an entirely appropriate context. I wonder who taught her that phrase? Hmm, I think I'm guilty of that one.

...and I'm about to enjoy nap time. After a few days of go, go, go and very little rest or sleep at night, I'm going to put the kids down for a nap, sit on my bed, eat my lunch, and watch my DVR. Heaven.

This and That

It seems like we've been so busy lately. I'm not really sure what we've actually been actually doing, but it's taking up all our time! One thing I know that's a time eater is The Husband's work schedule. True, he is self-employed and gets to set his own schedule, but for someone like him that just means he works, and works, and works. Lately it's been 11-12 hour days, six days a week. It's been hard. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm so glad he has a great work ethic and is working so hard to provide for his family. That's not lip service, I really, really am grateful. His hard work allows me to stay home with the kids and do things like journal our lives via a blog, take the kids to Aardvark classes, and be a part of Little Man's school community. I am forever grateful that I get to do these things during this season of my life. Like I said, though, it's been hard. The kids have had dinner, bath, and stories by the time Daddy gets home, and by that time momma and daddy are exhausted. The good news, though, is that Hubs is working towards a goal! We are hoping to move this summer!! Whoo hoo! I can't tell you how excited that makes me. I love our little house, and our neighborhood, but it's time to move on. I'm ready. We had a realtor come look at the house last week and give us a list of things we need to do to prepare to list the house. After a week of thinking on it, the Hubs gave the green light to go ahead and proceed. The Hubs needs time to mull things over, lol! Anyway, hopefully by the end of the summer we will have sold our house, bought a house, and have a move under our belts!

On another note, here are a few cute things from Baby Girl -

She loves her Woody and Jesse dolls. She calls Woody, "Boody." Adorable. Yesterday we were riding in the car, and she was clutching "Boody" and Jesse to her chest, and said possessively, "These are MY kids!" Over and over she kept calling them, "my kids." So sweet. She's also in love with her toes. She talks about her toes all day long. Tippy toes, tippy toes. Only she doesn't say, "tippy toes." Use your imagination, but what she says sounds a little dirty, as "tippy" is a hard word for a two-year-old to say!

That's about all. Little Man's year of pre-k is almost over, I can't believe it! We are on spring break this week. The Hubs is planning on taking a day off (hallelujah!) and we might go camping overnight at a campsite that's only 30 min from home. I hope it works out, that would be so much fun!

Little L (Baby Girl)

Sweet Baby Girl has been up to quite a bit lately. She has turned into such a daddy's girl. When she wakes up and we walk out of her room, she stands at the top of the stairs and yells,

"Daddy? Daddy? I wake up, Daddy!"

He also gets most of her hugs and kisses, and I admit it makes me a jealous. :)

From Baby Girl yesterday: While playing with the Woody doll from Toy Story- the doll has several phrases, one of which is "Reach for the sky!" Well, when the doll said that phrase, Baby Girl repeats it, stretches her arms up as high as she can, then says,

"I can't do it, Mommy. I can't reach the sky."

Also, we have an old-fashioned tin lunch box that we fill with small toys and crayons and take with us when we go out to eat. I opened it up recently and found two forks and two spoons, and they weren't ours. I racked my brain, where did you go eat last, and remembered. Sunday morning brunch with Nana and Pawpaw at IHOP. I also remembered the confusion of the missing silverware once our food arrived at the table. Chuckle. I've saved it and will return it one of these days. :)

Baby Girl is talking lots now. I like how she phrases her name. She always says, "Help the L." or "Carry the L.," "Tickle the L." Cracks us up every time.

She is a happy, energetic girl who loves her momma, daddy, and especially her big brother!

Sweet Baby Girl

Ah Baby Girl, my child who gives me a daily dose of smiles and laughter, as well as making me feel like I could admit myself to the loony bin on most days.

She's so sweet and full of life. She is exuberant about EVERYTHING!

And last night she ate roasted butternut squash like it was candy, shoveling it in her mouth as fast as we could replenish her plate, and who just ate half a zucchini for lunch.

I am amazed.

Protector

So earlier today, Baby Girl was staging a nap mutiny via screaming, crying, and flinging everything in her crib across the room. After several minutes of this, and many attempts by me to calm her down and get her to sleep, Little Man decides to try. He walks into her room, right up to her crib, and says in his sweet little voice, "I'm going to take a nap now, too. I'll be right next door, and I'll leave my door open so I can protect you and keep you safe. I love you."

Melted my heart.

I love that my kids love each other, and are best friends. It was one of my huge worries when I was expecting Baby Girl. "What if they don't get along, what if Little Man hates being a big brother?" Turns out I needn't have worried at all. He is the best big brother I could have imagined. What a lucky Baby Girl.

For your entertainment

A few entertaining tidbits from the kids...

This morning Baby Girl found some loose change lying around, and I think she liked them, because she decided to put them down the front of her footed pajamas, which she can zip and unzip by herself. So she's walking around jingling, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where this jingling was coming from. Finally I understood, she's such a cute mess.

Also, her new word is "oatmeal," only it's the word oatmeal like you've never heard before.

"Meatmo."

Yep, she says "meatmo" for "oatmeal." As in, "I want meatmo," or "I ate it all meatmo." Again, she's a cute mess.

And from Little Man, or as we call him lately, "Bubby," (Baby Girl started calling him Bubba a long time ago, and we may be from the South, but I couldn't stomach the idea that a name like Bubba might stick, so we turned it into Bubby, which is a little better.) Anyway, over the last 24 hours or so, Bubby and I have had several detailed conversations about the exact definition of what it means to poop your pants.

Really?

Yes.

I seriously think I might have a future lawyer on my hands, my oh my.

I'll spare all the details, but his definition of pooping your pants differs slightly from mine, and he's trying to convince me that his definition is correct. Needless to say, we've had more than a few pooping in your pants incidences lately. Well, according to me, that is. If you ask Bubby, he's been an angel and has not pooped in his pants.

Nobody prepares you for this kind of parenting situation.

Bubby also now knows how to do jumping jacks, push ups, and sit ups. They are as coordinated as one would think four -year - old jumping jacks, push ups, and sit ups would be. It's ridiculously cute.

So it's been awhile..

Never mind that I haven't written in months, oops.

This morning the cutest thing happened. We've recently moved Baby Girl into her own room. That's right, Little Man doesn't share his room with her anymore, and neither do The Husband and I. For the first time in over two years I don't have a pack n play with a sleeping baby in it at night. It's bittersweet, but mostly sweet.

Anyway, this morning Baby Girl woke up first, so I went upstairs to get her. She's so cute in the mornings, as soon as she sees you she says, "Hi, Mommy," or "Hi, Daddy." Adorable. So this morning I had just finished changing her, and Little Man walks into her room through their adjoining bathroom. Baby Girl sees him, jumps up, runs over to him, gives him a big bear hug, and says, "I love you, Bubby!"

Little Man just looked at her, but that's besides the point.

I've got a sweet baby girl!

Baby Girlisms - Finally!

Baby Girl is getting older - 22 months now - and she's talking a lot! She now has a few of her own "isms" to write about!

A new song she made up, "Abcdefghijklmno - eee, iii, eee, iii ohh."

These new phrases really aren't "isms,", but they sure are cute:

"Daddy's home!" - said whenever the dogs go crazy and bark at someone on the street.

"Where did paci go?" - said while looking for her paci, I just can't believe she formulated a correct four word utterance!

"Here you go!" - said in a cute singsong voice while handing me a cup of "water" from her "kitchen," and after holding the cup under the "faucet" and saying, "sshhh, sshhh" to mimic the sound of water flowing. Absolutely delicious!

"I see you!" - also said in a singsong voice while holding a magnifying glass up to her face and looking at me with a huge grin on her face.

She has also starting making a new face, I call it "Famous Smile." It's a smile just like her big brother used to make at this age, the waaayy over exaggerated smile and squinched up eyes, oh, it's so cute!

I just love my Baby Girl!