Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Eve Eve


Its early in the day to be blogging, but I just got home from my weekly doctor visit and have nothing to report. No progress in the baby having department which is fine with me until we get through the holidays. I did not tell my doctor that we are going to Houston, so shhhh. She is not a fan.
Last night we took S and Y on a Christmas light tour. They didn't get it at first and were wanting their movie on. It took some convincing but we avoided the movie and saw some fun lights. Yates, Mr.-Cant-Stop-Talking, talked the whooooooole time. Every single phrase starts with, "Mommy..." "Mommy, whats that sound? Mommy, who's that man? Mommy, whats he 'doin doin'? Mommy, why? Why? Why? Why? Mommy, 'dook', 'dook' Mommy. Mommy, see bu-do-du. Mommy, see 'ti-ta ligh'. 'Oh MY goodness!!' Mommy, 'mo-o-cyco' go, blpplbblpplb. Mommy, go. Mommy, 'Da-da' cryin'. Mommy, ligh on. Mommy, ligh off. Mommy, 'a-a-gato' go uuuugggghhh. Mommy. 'bindow' down. Mommy, 'bindow' 'opf". Mommy, see 'ai-pane'. Mommy... mommy... mommy... mommy. And that can all be said in about 10 seconds.
So then we saw the horses. Last year we did the carriage ride thing and it was fun. Stella seemed to enjoy it, Yates had no clue. This year, I didn't plan it b/c I wasn't sure if I'd want to be trapped in a buggy behind a horse with 2 kids for an hour. Well that was stupid. The second half of the Christmas light tour was spent horse hunting. Now I'm wishing I had gone ahead and reserved a buggy.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The latest...


Stella, Yates and I went to the doctor this morning for our last 2 week baby appointment. We've advanced to the once a week appointment schedule now. I kind of feel bad for my doctor having to see me Christmas Eve Eve, but I guess pregnancies don't go on holiday vacations. Everything went fine at the doctor and Stella and Yates were the best they've ever been. They even got compliments from strangers for being good. Yay! We'll keep it our little secret that Yates hit Stella for no reason about 40 times in the sono room. Anyway, Rex does not like having his heart beat listened to by that little hand held doppler thing... never has. He scares me every time because it always takes them several minutes to find his heart beat and then he runs from it the whole time they're trying to listen. I casually mentioned that he had been moving a little less, because he has and boy was that smart. I got a surprise sonogram and it was by the sonographer I like. Sounds minor, but its a big deal after the "insert this" fiasco last time. So, she measured Rex to assess his weight and he was approximately 7 lbs. The sonogram can be off one pound plus or minus, so that could mean he weighs 6-8 lbs. Seems grande to me, especially with 4 weeks left. Mind you, during the last 4 weeks the baby is supposed to gain a pound a week. That puts us at 10-12 lbs at delivery. Looooooord help me. I've been dying to post this picture since the day I got pregnant, but never could work it in. Of course Lane has the same one on her blog right now... thats just how we roll.

Thats me and Yates the night they started my induction. Hot huh? Why does pregnancy make my head so fat? Sick! Yates weighed 9lbs when he was born so I have high expections that I'm going to be even more big and fabulous in the next few weeks. Gross! Looks like triplets!

So about Yates. He will not shut up! He is hard to understand but of course we know what he's saying most of the time. Sometimes only Stella understands him but that works too. She's a great interpreter. He seriously chatters constantly and cracks himself up. Its really cute! He knows so much stuff already. I was getting him dressed yesterday and asked him what he wanted to wear without showing him any options. He said, "Ummm, bu-do-du shirt and jeans and geeen crocs." Well if that isn't specific enough. He isn't even 2 yet. He is obsessed with lemonaide (la-lan) and wants nothing else most of the time. He has the strangest eating habits. He loves deserts but not really ice cream and the things he decides to eat are so odd. He won't eat any of the typical kid stuff most of the time but prefers complicated adult food. Like the other day we had Pei Wei. The kids were sharing chicken lo mein and I had extra spicy pad thai. He refused to eat the lo mein and preferred the spicy pad thai with veggies and tofu. Sometimes he won't eat macaroni and cheese, but like last night he ate ricotta and basil ravioli with "adult" spaghetti sauce and green beans. Its pretty much a given that whatever Stella will eat, Yates will not and vice versa. When they are "finished" eating, their plates look like yin and yang.

Here's a 4 generation picture from Thanksgiving. My little mom is in the middle and her parents, Mimi and Papa are on the right.

I almost forgot. We made Christmas cookies yesterday in between folding laundry and catching Stella hanging Yates from the stair rail with a tape measure.

I'm surprised Yates didn't throw up after eating so much cookie dough.

Mr. Precision. Note the bulldozer on his shirt, the excavator on the table and that little red thing under his arm is the tape measure that was used as a noose around his neck only an hour earlier. (Don't tell him, but I accidentally sucked up one of the tracks from his excavator in the vacuum cleaner at the carwash earlier today. SHHHHLLLAAAPPP and it was gone!)
Ta-da

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Quoting Stella and Yates #6

Seeing a family in Hawaii on tv, Stella said, "I want to go there, not to eat, but to learn that dance!" Well of course!
All set to color wonder. Her current obession.

Pink told me this about her day today with Yates and I totally see it happening. Yates is super opinionated and bossy! He tells me how to do his zipper on his jacket before his arms are even in or which hat he needs and which way he wants to wear it about breakfast time. He is also particular about which shoes go with certain outfits. Duh!
Pink and Yates were at Sams and he said he was hungry. She offered him the Sams fare of a hot dog or piece of pizza and he chose hot dog. She then asked him if he wanted to eat there at Sams or go somewhere else to eat. He told her "go." She asked him what he wanted to go eat and he told her "ma-ma-owie" (macaroni). So Pink took him to a place to get some. He then had to choose between fish, chicken and steak and the boy chose steak. So after all of that he chose and ate chicken fried steak. What a dude!

Lane let me borrow one of her camera lenses that I am wanting from Ho Ho and I'm in loooove! Yates is a little hard to catch b/c he won't be still. Stella and Sasha are happy to pose. I definitely need more practice but am super excited anyway.






Wednesday, December 02, 2009

just another manic monday Meredith Wednesday


Here's a little story I forgot to write about from a couple of weeks ago. Its a long one so grab a seat.
Wednesdays are my days and I try not to let anything interfere. Both Stella and Yates have their little Parents' Day Out on Wednesday and I am free from 9:00 until 1:50. I always want to make the best use of my day whether that means I do nothing or everything. Oddly, it seems like someone is either sick on my day, or I have a doctor's appointment, or I get stuck doing something for someone else aaaallll day. This particular Wednesday was not going to be ruined. I hadn't had a good Wednesday in a long, long time and I was overdue. Tuesday Yates had fallen asleep in the car and taken a nap with the car on, so I suspected that the battery was down. Smart me thought ahead and had Michael check it and jump it late that night so that I would be problem free the next morning. Good thing because it was totally dead and he was flying out to... I never know where at 6am. We would be stranded if the car didn't work.
Wednesday comes and we have an easy morning and are hustling to the car. I get everyone all buckled in and hop in to start the car... RrrrRrrrRrrr, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Oh no! Dead! No big deal. I am resourceful and can totally handle this. My housekeeper had just arrived so I asked her to pull her car up in the driveway so we could jump my car. (she and I are equally bad at each others' languages btw) Unfortunately my car is in the middle of the garage and would require 100' jumper cables in its position. Again, no big deal. I'll push it! So I did. Me, big-pregnant-always-having-contractions-or-thinking-my-baby-is-falling-out-me, pushed one of the biggest SUVs on the road out of the garage with my babies in it, ran (sprinted) around to keep it from smashing through the fence and got it just right for the jumper cables. My housekeeper appeared to have never opened her hood before and I am no auto mechanic. However, I was highly motivated and handled both cars like I jump cars everyday ; ). We got it jumped and were off! YAY! Not going to mess up my day!
I take everyone to their schools (just a smidge late, but great considering the workout I've already had) and leave the car running just in case. After everyone is situated, I thought, I better run it by the dealership to make sure I don't get stranded again, since Michael is... wherever he is and of course I don't want to ruin my day.
I pull straight in to the service area, no wait. My nice service guy is there ready to help and "it will just take a second." Perfect. I go to look for those cookies they always have and wait, still unphased. I wait and wait, and stare at their terrible little undecorated Christmas tree, then the news comes. "Um ma'am, your car is not safe to drive. We found a problem with the transmission and I really don't think you should take any chances... especially in your condition. Lets go get you a loaner car." Hmmm. OK. Whatever gets me out of here to enjoy my day.
We go in there, fill out all the stuff, sign here and there, and here are the keys... Oh wait, "Can I see your drivers license?" Sure. I dig and I dig and I dig and... finally find it. Weird, why was it so hard to find? Whatever. "Um ma'am, do you have another drivers license?" "No, why?" "This one is expired." Well I'll say! Exp. 2005!!! What on earth? Thats not the one... Where is my drivers license? Weird!!! Still in my unusually happy mood, I think, no big deal. I'll just call the DMV and have them fax something. Surely they can prove that I am legal to operate a motor vehicle, I mean come on, its MY day!!!
I sachet back to the waiting area to call the DMV. I find the number, completely optimistic, ring, ring, ring, "In observance of Veterans Day all facilities will be closed. Please try back during normal business hours." Veterans Day? What? Seriously? Today? Is this a joke? Can anything else go wrong? So I AM stranded afterall. I have an unsafe vehicle, my husband is... gone, I am not legal to drive an alternative vehicle, my kids are stuck at school and its MY DAY!!! Not good, not good. I go back to find my service guy and ask him to just patch the car up because I gotta go! He raises his eyebrows in the I wouldn't do that if I were you face and does it anyway.
Despite it all, I'm still thinking my day isn't a total loss. I have my car, where shall I go, better check the time... oh no... 1:30... just enough time to make it to pick up Stella.
Fabulous! Another Wednesday down the tubes.

Monday, November 23, 2009

thankful



Painting Some Pajamas Pink... not wait, thats Dr. Seuss. Painting Pinecones in Pajamas!
I never ever ever make a Thanksgiving list of things I am thankful for. #1 It never even occurs to me until I am asked the question and totally on the spot. #2 If I ever did make a list, I would probably cry. #3 Any list I make is chore or grocery oriented.
However, this year I am super "thanky." I'll be driving the car and think, "thank goodness ____! or I am so glad that ____!" So I thought I would share a couple to memorialize the one year I was on top of thankfulness.

Yates with his caterpillar. He doesn't "love" bugs. SJ on the other hand LOVES them.
  • I am so thankful that my babies are perfect in every way... healthy, smart, safe, loved, happy, sweet, adorable, individuals, determined, decisive, hilarious, entertaining, eager, energetic.
  • I am so thankful that I am married to a wonderful husband. Every once in a while I see single people and I think of how much I would hate to be single and dating. Ugh, torture, going out late, getting all snazzed up, spending a bunch of money, having your hair smell like "go out," sifting through losers. Can not imagine! I also don't know how I would survive at home without Michael. He is so good at so many things but is really amazing around the house. I love that he cares about taking care of things and can mow, weed eat, mulch, clean out the garage, wash the cars, chop some wood, pull some weeds, organize the attic, install some stereo equipment and do a load of laundry in the time it takes me to find a pen to start my To Do List.
  • I am so thankful to have a dream house as a home. So many people have so little and we truly are blessed to live so comfortably. I went through such a grumpy period trying to get this house completed that I really wasn't able to enjoy it. Now that that part is behind us, I do love my new house.
  • I am thankful for my car. Sounds weird, but I am the type of person that "needs" a new car just about the time the new car smell wears off of my current car. For some reason, lately I have been so happy with my car. I can't really explain it b/c I don't even understand it myself. I am just super content with Big Black.
  • I am thankful for good cleaning products. This house has so much white in it and we have lots of dirty fingerprint makers.
  • I am thankful that Stella loves, loves, loves her school. I've never seen anything like it. Thank you Good Shepherd!
  • I am thankful that Yates didn't cry at all when I dropped him off at his school last week. First time ever and it was major!
  • I am thankful that I still have this baby number 3 in my belly. Sometimes I feel like he's barely hanging on in there. I recently got a new outlook from a highly unlikely source. An ex-coworker of Michael's reminded me in a conversation that my real and only goal is to make it to the end of the pregnancy. I had been so caught up in my to do's and errands I had lost sight of the real goal. So I'm also thankful for the real-goal-reminder.
  • I am thankful that my animals have gotten a handle on their eliminating in the house issues. I have scrubbed rugs and scrubbed rugs and am glad that I am not scrubbing rugs right now!
  • Of course I am thankful for my family. I am thankful that my mom will come and drop her life to help me. I am thankful that both of our families are so generous and thoughtful. I am thankful that we will all get to spend Thanksgiving together.
Looking a little manic, but hey, they're hugging.
Ok, so thats good for now. I only cried a little and probably missed some obvious things, but at least I thought about it for once!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

blogless


Yates. He always seems to end up with no clothes.
I don't know why I can't keep up with this blog all of a sudden. I have a few good guesses, but really wish I was doing a better job. We've just been super busy and super sleepy I guess.

Yates is getting so big! I always say that, but he is. He has been tee-teeing on the potty really well lately, but absolutely does not want to #2 on the potty. He proved it several days by telling us over and over that he wasn't going to do it and then by holding it for days at a time. No big deal. This is just intense practice in preparation for Baby Rex. I think Yates could potty train all the way right now, but the holidays are impossible and I don't want to torture him and everyone else unnecessarily.
Sweet Yates, just saying "cheese."
He is so into trucks and diggers and most of all jeeps. The boy can spot a jeep at 200 yards, I swear. I never realized how many jeeps are on the road, but am so thankful that they're out there. I don't know what we would do in the car if we weren't jeep spotting. We also go visit some diggers doing a water line replacement a few streets away on a fairly regular basis. Its gotten so bad, that Y knows when we're getting close to the street and starts screaming to go see them. I'm thankful they're there too... and they're actually working and loud and all things cool. We usually go by to visit after ballet. Its only fair. If Y has to sit through ballet, then S can stare at some diggers for a bit.
Stella admiring her makeup before the fashion show.
Stella Jane is hilarious as usual. She's pretty much runs on a steady behavior cycle. She'll be really good and gradually worsen over about 2 months until, bam, she's in big trouble. She gets some serious discipline and we're back on track. We just ended a cycle, so she's being an angel right now. Last weekend she made her runway debut at Nordstrom. They had a children's fashion show and I signed her up. I was feeling a little bit stage mom/pageant-ish, but it turned out great. She has been dying to "be in a fashion show" so there. She did it and she did a great job! Here's a video of her walk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-GVFR8nM4
Michael and I finished up our Christmas shopping today! YAY! We wanted to get it all taken care of before Thanksgiving and we did it! What a huge relief. Waddling pregnant through the mall is really not fun to me. I did it with Yates and that was plenty. This time around, I'm looking for strategic parking and doing in and out superfast missions. No lolly-gagging around, backtracks or extra steps for Pete's sake.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Quoting Stella #5

Today after picking up Yates from school Stella saw a white Range Rover parked on the side of the street and said, "Mommy is that Hummer?"
"No" I said, "Its a Range Rover."
"Its a what?"
"A Range Rover, just like the one Gigi and Gabby have."
She put her hand over her mouth and gasped and said, "Ooooh, that is the cutest thing I have EVER seen!! There sure are a lot of cute cars around here!"

After a visit to Pink and Bop's she came home with an announcement to make.
"Mommy, I learned a new word!"
"You did? What is it?"
Very carefully she says, "NU-CLE-AR FI-SSION"
"WHAT?!?!?"
"NU-CLE-AR FI-SSION"
"What is Nuclear Fission?"
"Its what makes the sun glow."

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

skimming the surface


Ready for school
"Princess Butterfly"
Princess Butterfly singing and Caterpillar fussing about a ring with lip gloss in it.
Walking in the neighborhood Halloween Parade with Daddy and Sasha.
Sharing Candy, so sweet...
There are so many things I have just skipped over on the blog. Bad, bad, bad. I skipped the fun trip to the State Fair, my birthday, Halloween, and plenty of good stuff in between.
The trick to keeping up with the blog is simple. First, make sure you have a little bit of time to think and find photos. Second, make sure you aren't too tired or too grumpy to write something coherent and pleasant. Lately I have been failing miserably for those two key reasons.
Today, sick and tired of being 2000 degrees fahrenheit, I ended up spending all day in the same thing I wore yesterday evening and the same thing I slept in. Yes, it was the same "outfit". And yes, I did go out in public, all over the place. SICK! But you know what, I wasn't nearly as hot. I think I'm hotter now at 7+ months pregnant when its 80 out, than when I was only a little pregnant and it was 100 out. blah, blah, blah.
The highlight of my torturous day today was seeing the Bush's housekeeper out walking the Bush puppies, Barney and Miss Beasley.
barney-beazley.jpg
I was able to enjoy this site only because both babies had fallen asleep in the car after another not-so-fun-for-mommy day. I wasn't about to wake them up b/c I had seriously had enough.

Pregnant Mommy's 31st birthday picture, don't laugh.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

It just doesn't stop...

Tuesday was one of the most overwhelming days ever! I could go into painful detail, but I'll spare you. I'll just say that I was about to take SJ to the ER b/c she was freaking out, irrational, irate, hysterical, inconsolable, frantic, nutso for a good 6 hours. So, yes, Yates did smash her in the eye with a metal Eiffel Tower that caused a lot of bleeding and crying, but it was not something that should necessarily make you go completely pyscho for an entire day. Keep in mind that Yates is full blown into doing, saying, copying whatever Stella does. So all of this behavior was 2x! It was so bad, Stella refused to go into her ballet class (her Mecca). We were dressed, there, ready to go in and instead she threw herself down on the floor in a very impressive kicking, flailing, SCREAMING tantrum in front of God and everybody. We left ballet and she is going to be devastated when she doesn't get a reward from her teacher for perfect attendance.
The only way I survived was by finally strapping both of them down in their car seats and driving around crying with the windows down for a few hours. Good Lord! Michael got home from work and somehow talked SJ down from her meltdown, thank goodness.
Wednesday morning, both babies were perfect angels, excited about school and sweet as could be. They don't have any idea how close they came to being shipped off to the glue factory or wherever you send bad kids. Nevertheless, I packed their little heinie-bos up and shipped them off to Pink and Bop's house.
I will be lolling about, staring at the wall, sitting down and swinging my leg, shopping, doing whatever I want until Saturday afternoon if anyone needs me.
There must be some fabulous good times awaiting me. I have earned it!

Quick story from a better day: Stella and Yates were playing and I just happened to be hiding in the pantry eating a nutty bar. Yates with a man toy of course and SJ was drawing. She drew this fabulous fish that I was really impressed with (when I emerged from my secret snacking.) I asked her to try to write FISH while I got the camera, just to distract her from erasing the cute fish. I had absolutely no expectation of her knowing how to spell or write fish. When I came back with the camera she had actually done it. All by herself. I don't care what anyone says, thats amazing to me. I don't teach her how to spell or write. She just wants to read, write and spell so badly she is figuring it out on her own. so, proud...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

mercy, mercy, me

My life is whizzing by me. Where is the slow motion button? I can't seem to get a second to catch my breath. So much has gone on since my last post and I hate it when that happens. I need to blog so I will have a record of what happened. Lord knows my memory is not doing the job.
This last week was a doozie to say the least. After an amazing girls trip to NYC with Lane and Emily I was looking forward to be home to see everyone. Michael called to let me know that Yates had a fever so I knew that I might have a sick baby waiting on me when I got home. That was only the beginning of it.
Lane, Emily and I managed to miss our flight home... the "last flight of the day out of JFK" and were told to try to get a flight in the morning. We all freaked out big time, but got our tickets changed, hustled over to LaGuardia and finally did make it home around 12:30am. We missed our collective 6 babies' bedtimes but were so relieved to have made it home at all.
Throughout that first night home, Yates did have a really high fever and was waking up and crying every hour and a half through the night. We got SJ off to school and took Y straight to the dr Monday morning. Diagnosis, strep throat, which is not common in babies his age. We got him started on an antibiotic and should have been on the road to recovery. Not so much. He had an allergic reaction to his medication that caused a terrible itchy rash all over his torso, back, face and head. I took him back in to the dr on Wednesday. Got a new antibiotic to try and the same thing happened, even worse this time. Also on Wednesday, Michael came home from work not feeling well. By the end of the day Thursday, Michael and Yates were both super sick and rashy and Michael's parents were on their way to babysit for us while we went to a wedding in Lubbock.
Friday comes and I take Michael to the dr. Oh yes, he has the swine flu. Not just the plain flu, the full out swine flu. The swine flu is typically not treated unless you are pregnant or your wife is pregnant apparently, so we are both now on swine flu medication. Those were prescriptions numbers 3 and 4 since Monday. We get M back home and sequestered, cancel all of our weekend wedding plans, call the kids' schools and take Yates in for his 3rd dr visit in a week. I have to go get him another prescription, number 5 that is. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that during all of this my prenatal vitamin was making me violently ill. I mean serious throw up about 5 minutes after taking it. And I couldn't sleep in the swine flu bed so I slept on the couch in the playroom. I am happy to have learned that at 5 am an elephant starts to trumpet in the playroom.
Now its Sunday night. Yates' medication is finally working and he had a great day today. Michael is doing much better. I'd say he's about 60%. SJ is a fortress of health and is completely healthy, thank goodness. No more prenatals for me and I get to sleep in my own bed again (after some serious sheet washing and sanitization of course), yay.
Mommies are amazing. I survived the week and my baby didn't even fall out. On we go to a healthier, happier week.

Here are Stella and Yates in their favorite outfits. "Princess" and "Man"

Friday, October 02, 2009

Quoting Stella #5

I have been compiling a list of funny things Stella has said lately. Really everything she says is funny because I wonder how so much can be going on in such a little brain. These aren't from the list, because of course I can't find it... but they're cute anyway.

At breakfast she said two funny things:
1. She had drawn a picture and I was asking her about it (because I didn't know what it was.) She said, "Its a boat with a string hanging down. Don't you wish you could draw that?" long pause "You can do it. All it takes is a little practice."
2. Again At breakfast: "Mommy, can I make lunch for you?"
"No, its breakfast time. You can make lunch at lunch time."
"But I really want to make you some lunch... Are you 'firsty'? Can I make you your favorite drink?"
"Well, I already have a coffee and a milk. I think I'll wait a little bit. Thank you though."
"Well, you just let me know if you get 'firsty' or if you need anything else, OK?"
"OK"
She made me a drink anyway... and it was good.

Later in the day she said, "Mommy, I sure do like your dress. Where did you get that?"
"Umm, thanks, I got it at Marshalls."
"Oh, Marshalls? Just like Rachel Zoe, where the girls wear those beautiful dresses and they walk like this (insert runway walk attempt here)!"
"Yep, exactly like Rachel Zoe."

Before bed one night we were reading Beauty and the Beast and Stella had some questions about Gaston. She doesn't understand dating or boyfriends, nor does she need to for another 20 years, but she really needed to figure Gaston out. She asked why Belle didn't like him and if she didn't like him b/c "he probably had a bad temperature." Then she asked if he was trying to take Belle "like to dinner and stuff." Ha! I guess she understands more than I thought...

One day in the car she announced from her car seat, "Mommy! Boogers suuuuuure do like to live in noses don't they?!?"

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Eat Your Heart Out Pioneer Woman...


I know some of us have and do read The Pioneer Woman blog. It took me a while to breakdown and read something called Pioneer Woman. I wanted nothing to do with it. It sounded like quilting, canning and mom jeans to me. If you haven't read this blog, its worth a look. The author is really funny, a great photographer, cook and a total mess. She has so many fun things to see on her blog. She is also highly infatuated with her husband. She has written their personal love story and its really good too. Anyway she takes lots of pictures of him and raves about how hot she thinks he is. So here is my reply...

Yesterday my husband decided to chop a cord of wood leftover from the tree that died in our front yard. I snuck up on him and took some pictures. He thought I was taking pictures of the babies. Fair warning, there are muscles in these pictures...



And he pauses to catch babies. What a man! So to our fabulous daddy... Thank you for being my husband, our daddy, our fix it man, our provider and for making it possible for us to do all of the things we love to do... and for chopping that wood. We love you.

Friday, September 18, 2009

rainy days

Isn't this how everyone gets dressed in the morning?
Not to be outdone by sick animal stories, I have some nice, pleasant, clean baby stories. Yesterday everyone woke up so happy and was really good most of the day. Stella was full of ideas such as, "Mom, I think I need some mascara b/c my eye is itchy." and "Can you get me some jewelry to wear? I need a bunch." and "I need some red lipstick. You know like really bright shiny red like princesses wear? Could I have that please?" We were just getting ready to go to the grocery store, not the prom. Of course, I got her lots of random jewelry and off we went.
This is Stella with her jewelry and a pumpkin she needed at the grocery store. She ran all the way through the produce dept and into the meat dept with that big heavy thing.*

We ran some errands and did a weekly calendar craft. The kids thought it was fun but it was about 80% selfish on my part. I have to explain the days of the week at least once a day and felt like it would be a lot easier with a visual aide. We made stick on shapes for all of our activities and the kids did lots of coloring. We had a great time.

Bejeweled coloring.*
Today Stella had her first dentist appointment and she was amazing! She acted like she does the whole teeth cleaning thing every day. She got an "A+" from the dentist for being so good and her teeth were in perfect shape... so far. We took x-rays and will have some serious orthodontics to deal with. She was honestly better at having her teeth cleaned, flossed, poked at and x-rayed than she was at having a manicure/pedicure.

Teeth cleaning*
Yates' busted lip. He smashed his mouth on the concrete running full speed. Luckily he saw a car like my dad's drive by and he recovered immediately.*

I have a couple of other stories about Stella that I forgot to add last week. One night I was so tired, I couldn't bear the thought of reading her books and going through the whole night time rigamarole. So I caved and told her she could sleep with me if she would watch 2 of my shows with me and be quiet. (She usually complains when the tv has any sort of non-preschool oriented program on.) Anyway, I made her be quiet and watch Rachel Zoe and Design Star with me. She looooved them both. During Rachel Zoe, they aired Marc Jacobs latest fashion week runway show and she sprang up from the bed and said, "Mommy, can you rewind that? I think I saw a dress I liked. Can you make it go really slow so I can see it?" What? Of course. We discussed it and decided that she would have to tell her daddy that she found a Marc Jacobs dress that she needed. When she did relay the message to Michael she added that she also really wanted to go to a fashion show. HA!! I love it. After that show, we watched Design Star. I explained the premise to her and she asked me several questions along the way. We got to the end of the show where one contestant would be kicked off and I paused it to ask her which design was her favorite. Again, she sprang up and described one of the rooms in painstaking detail, even how the blue paint went up the wall and onto the ceiling. You've never seen a more proud, exhausted mommy of a three year old. I beam.

*Sorry about all of these pictures. They're all from my phone.

OK! Thats it...


I am about to have an animal round up over here. Anybody need a pet? If you get grossed out, just leave now. I just sat down for the first time today to breathe and check my email and I hear this 'heeek-a-heeek-a-heeek-a" coming from somewhere, WHERE? I know that sound. Its Deion throwing up and where is he!! SICK! I run to find him with a big FedEx envelope/catcher, but I'm too late.
Now, I have recovered from my children being sick with the stomach bug or whatever that was and their throw up is another story. They were sick. The are babies. I can deal with that. These animals on the other hand. No, no, no. I can deal with it, but it infuriates me.
Sasha went to Palestine with Michael and my dad and got a "stomach bug" of her own. She got home and was moping around for like 36 hours. My mother and I heard a huge bucket of water spill (we thought it was a huge bucket of water) and turned to find that Sasha had thrown up every bit of BBQ, lake water and whatever else it was the guys fed her all over one of my nice rugs. ...huge sigh... That doesn't clean up easily and that rug is still outside.
The day before yesterday I was fixing lunch for everyone and noticed something cool on the side of my foot. Oh, it was just cat throw up oozing up around the side of my sandal. I didn't see it and tromped all through it and got it all over my kitchen. I'm hungry, my babies are hungry, I've got 1/2 made lunch on the counter and throw up on my foot and all over my kitchen. ...raging... Those sandals are outside too.
This morning there was poop on the floor in Stella's room, OSCAR!! Yates saw it and started gagging of course.
A little earlier, I turned to go see what that little rock was on another rug. As I got closer I realized it was a little poop! I snatch it up, run it to the potty and go to see if Deion had pooped in his usual location, and oh yes. However, part if it was gone b/c I looked at Oscar and he had poop ON HIS NOSE!!!
Deion is having some sort of break down. He is eating the same amount of food that he used to eat in a week in one day. So of course he needs to throw up and can't wait to go outside to poop.
I am so over it. I'm about one more barf away from calling animal control. They all better straighten up or learn to speak English and explain themselves reeeaalll quick! A little phrase like, "I think I'm sick, I need a bucket." Or even "Hey slave lady, sorry I threw up on your stuff again." Either of those would work.
If no one ever wants to come to my land mined house again, I understand. I don't want to be here either...
MUG SHOTS
This is Sasha's innocent face. Right. I'm not falling for it.

Deion looks guilty. I think he's mad about us getting Oscar and he's doing all of this on purpose.
There are cute pictures of Oscar, but if you poop on the floor and eat poop your cute picture privileges are revoked. His hair is a disaster b/c Yates got ice cream on him last night and it dried and got crunchy.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Stella's 1st Day, My Man and Fashion Critics



First of all, Yates has decided that he is a man. He's not a boy, he's not a baby, he's not a guy, he's not a girl, he's not a lady. I asked him, just to be sure. He is a man! I don't really know where he came up with that, but he does like to point at people and assign categories to them from the list preceding. I also don't know what qualifies you to be a member of one group or another, but in case you're curious... I am a lady, Daddy is a man and Stella is a girl. With us categorized correctly, I kinda think he knows what he's talking about and he just fits into the man category in his mind. Simple as that.
Stella Jane had her first day of school today at Good Shepherd. She was so excited to go and it was such a surprisingly pleasant morning. No one freaked out. Everyone did exactly as they were supposed to do. It was amazing. We got dressed, had breakfast, got our hair fixed, our shoes on, all of our gear and in the car without a single tear. But wait, Yates pooped his diaper between the back door and the car. Thats about 5 steps. I wasn't going to backtrack, so I just changed it in the car. We took Stella to her classroom door and off she went. I had to call her back to tell me good-bye. The best news of the day is that she doesn't have to take a nap at school, but is allowed to go into the next older classroom during naptime to learn with the older kids. I am ecstatic!!! She is always the oldest in her class and is trying to read and write for goodness sakes. Please let the girl learn. She can nap at home. No more wagging that napmat to school either. YAY!
Yates and I did Little Gym this morning and then came home to slave over the laundry. We honestly did laundry the entire time Stella was at school. And guess what my "man" did while I was ironing... He went in my closet and came back with my leopard high heels. He took my oh-so-chic flip flops off of me and put the leopard high heels on in their place. He went back to my closet, but my flip flops away perfectly aligned on the shelf right where the flip flops go and came back with some sunglasses that he instructed me to put on. He stepped back, smiled a huge smile approving of his improvement of me and said, "CUTE!" HA! Thanks... I was happy to oblige by ironing in the high heels for a bit, but after a while I asked him if I could please take them off. "Nope, Can't" was the answer I got.
When we went back to school to get Stella, she ran up to me so happily then stopped looked at me with a confused look and adjusted my hat. It obviously wasn't positioned correctly. Good Lord. Maybe they'll just start dressing me.
Oh I almost forgot the "crap." So Stella has been saying "crap." Sometimes she mispronounces things so I try not to make a big deal out of it when it happens and just repeat the word correctly. So I haven't been sure if she is meaning crap or meaning something else. The first incident happened when she had unrolled this huge roll of smiley face stickers that was so long it wrapped around the entire living room. She thought it was so fun and she happily said, "Mommy look at all this crap!" Completely shocked, I was just like, "Oh yeah, look at that." I spent the rest of the day wondering... "Did she just say crap?" Then this morning I was washing her face for school and we got to the eyes. She said, "Sometimes I have this stuff in the crap of my eyes." OK, that time she meant crack, sleep in the crack of her eyes. OK. No big deal. Then when we got home from school today she was telling me that she wanted to show daddy all of the " beautiful craps she made at school today." Now that one was supposed to be crafts. I still am not sure if she actually does mean crap sometimes. I sure hope not, I mean crap, eww. We don't say that, do we?

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Yates' 1st Day and Girl Day


Wednesday was my baby's first day of "school." Waaahhh. He had been to see his class room and meet his teachers already so I was hoping the big day wouldn't be too traumatic. We got all dressed and packed without any major drama. Well except that he came down with a cold the day before precipitating a rush visit to the doctor to make sure he could attend. I hate to be the mom with the sick kid on day one, but c'mon. I reeeaaallly wanted him to go. We did go to the doctor and he was cleared for school. Huge relief. He did have a runny nose, but was safe to play with other kids. The puppies rode with us to see Yates off. I don't think he really realized where he was going so he didn't know that its customary to freak out. Yates immediately found the and trains and started to play. He was having a good time until he saw me dangerously close to the door. I had to tell him bye quickly and slip out. Then he really did cry. He stopped by the time I got 1/2 way down the hall.
Here is Yates ready to go!
I stressed about his first day outfit for weeks and settled on this. I wanted him to wear a jon jon, but he usually throws a fit when I put him in them. His little shorts are Armani pinstriped suit shorts. I couldn't help it. A little much for a first day of Parents Day Out, but heaven forbid my baby Yates wear something embarrassing. He will ease into his Target ensembles slowly.
I had completely forgotten about Yates needing mosquito protection during outdoor playtime until I had already dropped him off, but rushed to CVS and got him some OFF wipes. The office has to have a parent note and keep bug repellent in the office like its an epi pen or something. Whatever. As long as he doesn't get eaten alive at school, I don't care where they keep the stuff.
As soon as we got Yates all situated at school Stella and I were off for our much anticipated "Girl Day." We had been talking about it for days and I told her she could do anything she wanted to do on our special girl day. She thoughtfully (nerd-ily) chose to go the library and do her USA puzzle. I added lunch, ice cream and her first mani/pedi. Its is ridiculously early to start mani/pedis but Michael suggested it. This is not a start to that, only a special occasion. First we went to the library and Stella "looooved it." She got her own library card and signed her name on the back of it. Too cute! She chose 5 books. One about architecture and one about Matisse and Picasso. I was so proud and I swear I didn't have a thing to do with it. She did it 100% on her own. Then we went for our mani/pedis. She insisted that she sit in my lap the whole time and we had 3 girls working on us.

She touched her eye with a wet fingernail, so Van got it off for her. After that we went to lunch at MiCocina (her choice) and then to I Heart Yogurt. After all of that fun it was time to go get brother.
We ran home and picked the puppies back up to ride with us to get brother. (We also needed to check on the builder and the cleaning service that destroyed much of our new home on their first visit.) Anyway, Yates was crying when I got there and his teachers said he had been crying "off and on most of the day." Oops. Forgot to mention that he does that sometimes. I think he had an OK day and we're ready for our second day next Wednesday.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Yatesie-Poo Tidbits


I let Yates pick out a pair of shoes at Target...
Yates is working hard gearing up to be the big brother. He has been so funny lately.
  • Yesterday while I was changing his diaper he said, "Pee yeww, stink!" He is very sensitive to smells and loves to tell me when something stinks. TMI, but he actually gagged at a toot a few days ago. I thought he was really going to lose it. Of course I got tickled and almost fell over from my precarious squatting-while-holding-one-baby-and-helping-another-on-the-potty position.
Our black haired baby Yates
  • Later on yesterday we heard Stella coming downstairs from her nap and I said, "Here comes Stella." He looked at me and smiled and said, "Bean."
  • After that I was asking him if he wanted to show daddy his new digger toy and he said, "Daddy work, daddy home." I understood that to mean, "I can't tell Daddy because he's at work. I'll tell him when he gets home."
  • Today we went to his PDO orientation and he seemed to like the classroom and teachers fine. (He's pretty cautious and doesn't get overly excited without a really good reason.) While we were there he got tired and wanted me to hold him, so he grabbed my hand to pull me down closer to him and climbed up on me in the holding position, like how many times to have to ask, mother!
  • He is currently obsessed with Jeeps. The boy can spot a jeep going 80mph on the opposite side of the tollway. I never noticed the Jeep population before, but now we have to announce every single one we see. Its pretty cute. He'll see one and smirk like "yeah, cool."
  • Yates helped me make brownies...

  • Yates loves lemonaide. He calls it la-lane and cried for it all the way home from "school" today. So random to me.
  • The worst thing about Yates is the way the mosquitos love him. He honestly can't be outside for more than 5 seconds without being attacked by a swarm. I feel so bad for him. I keep him covered in OFF and cortizone itch cream and he is constantly telling me that he is itchy. Poor baby.

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