Harvest 08 and Too Many Babies in the Car

Its been a long time... We have been so busy lately.  Last weekend was harvest at St. Jane Vineyard.  It was hooooot so the babies and I weren't out there long, but everyone else was.  Dad had a huge harvest and we're all glad that we survived another one.  

My cousin Brooke and her daughter Evie came.  We had fun with them and the girls got to play together.  Stella calls Evie "FeeVee."

We had a not so fun trip home.  We decided at the last minute that we would try to leave my parents Saturday night instead of Sunday so we were in a frenzy trying to pack and load everything.  Brooke and Evie had left about 20 minutes before.  We had the car cooling off and were just about to head off and the phone rang.  Brooke was on the edge of town getting gas and her car wouldn't start.  Its like 200 degrees outside and she has a baby with her.  Trauma.  So dad and Michael rushed to get them.  

Brooke was pretty upset so sweet Michael offered to drive her car back to Dallas and we (me, Brooke, 3 babies) would follow him to make sure the car would make it.  Sounds great right.  OMG!  Remember Yates doesn't dig the car.  We get "FeeVee's" carseat in the back, back, back as Stella calls it, babies are all in and we're off.  Brooke has a Xanex or two and we're all ok.  We think.  Yates is a little fussy, but I figured he would kind of fuss himself to sleep.  Good lord was I wrong.  He went from fussy, to upset, to mad, to irate, to full blown - call 911 - crying so hard he was gagging himself.  I'm trying to drive and as mommies know, I can hardly even focus on the road with him screaming.  This natural mommy reaction was probably great to have before vehicles were invented, but screaming baby and panicking mommy and 65mph is a bad combo if you ask me.  So we stop.  Change drivers, I get in the back to calm Y down.  We're fine.  He falls asleep.  We stop again to switch drivers.  We're all ok.  Back on the highway.  Then we hear a little voice in the back saying, "Mommy, poo poo's coming, uh yep "heee" it is, poo poo's coming." Great.  Rush to the nearest stop in the middle of NOWHERE, get back off the highway, run into McNastyDonalds of all places, make a toilet paper seat in record time, get S all situated and nothing.  Not even a little tinkle.  Fabulous.  Now of course this stop woke up Y who had just gone to sleep.  He is again, hysterical in the car which upsets Evie.  So now Brooke is in the back trying to help them both.  At this rate we'll never get home.  So we offer the girls french fries to keep them happy.  Y is fussy, but again I think he'll make it.  We all get back in our seats and we're off again.  Of course Y freaks out big time again.  We pull off the highway again.  Change drivers again. I get back in the back with Y again.  Get him back to sleep again and I'm about to freak out.  Evie is crying for a blanket and I'm worried she's going to wake Y back up but there are no blankets to give her.  It just went on and on and on and on and on.  We see the skyline and I think we're going to survive b/c Brooke's house is just "by Richardson."  Holy Moly!  Ever been to Wylie?  Its closer to Canada than Richardson.  The last 30 miles really weren't too bad.  We made it, Brooke's car made it and poor Michael and Sasha made it.  The whole time I was wishing I was Michael.  Just him and the dog and peace and quiet.  What I didn't know what that he couldn't turn on the a/c!!!!  UGH!  I might prefer screaming babies to a 3 hour car sauna.  These are the things we'll look back and laugh about, but at the time I can actually feel the gray hairs growing and the wrinkles deepening.

Quoting Stella #2

Discussions with a two year old are... something else!

On a trip to the potty, I am holding Yates, kneeling down, trying to get Stella's panties off, her dress up and out of the way and her up onto the potty:

Stella: Mommy "hizzy!" Go potty!

Mommy:  Ok lets go.  Can you take off your panties by yourself?

Stella:  No mommy "doooze" it.

Mommy:  You're going to have to do it by yourself soon.  Mommy does it by herself.

Stella:  No, daddy "doooze" it.

Oh, really?

Poor Yates has a little cold.  I let him play on that stupid snake at the "mall park"  one time and this is what happens : (  Poor little baby!

funny stella

scene:  new big pink ball is on the floor and Sasha is playing with it (which she is not supoosed to do b/c she always pops the toy balls).

Mommy:  Sasha no.  Sasha no.  Sasha no.

Stella:  Naaaaw, Sasha!

Mommy:  Sasha needs a spanking b/c she isn't obeying.

Stella:  Oh, need foom (spoon).

she runs to the kitchen digs in a drawer and comes back with a big whisk.

Stella:  Heeeya (here) mommy.  Fank (spank) Sasha.

Stella Code Archived

Stella Code is so outdated... It has to go : (

Ca = Cow or Car, Context is key

Pur-po = Purple and Stella's blanket's name

Mamma = Pacifier

Yiddle Diddle = Yellow

Curco = Turtle

Sessy = Sesame Street

Ha Ho = Hot Dog

Ha Ha = Ice Cream

Puh = Pink

Sy = Ice

Ka Boom-Mama = what you say when you pour out lots of little things on the floor

Cocka moong = ?

Wu-Fa-Fa = Waffle

Bubba = Brother

Da = Milk

Mla-Mla = Water

Yates' 1/2 Birthday and (drumroll) Big Girl Panties

Yates turned 6 months old yesterday.  He has started to try solids and has had a little banana, mashed potato, and carrot.  The carrots were not his favorite.  He also got to play on the big snake at the "mall-park" yesterday (the indoor playground at the Galleria).  He loved doing that and just hit that poor snake over and over and over.  Yates has also gotten a little bit better at riding in the car.  For the past few months he has just been terrible in the car.  He would cry and scream and just get hysterical.  It was not fun at all!  Just in last couple of weeks he has gotten so much better.  

Overall he is so sweet and easy.  He is sooo strong and is trying to crawl and sit up.  He is also my biggest fan.  He stares at me all the time and acts like I am the best thing ever.  Pretty sweet.  Tonight we are going to try to make the big move.  Yes, I keep my babies in our room forever, but tonight is the night.  I may have to sit outside and drink some wine while he screams in his room.  Wish us luck.

Big sister has reached a major milestone.  We are wearing big girl panties!  Yay!  On July 16th I undressed Stella for bathtime and told her that if she needed to go potty she had to come tell me and that she could not tee tee or poo poo on the floor.  (She really likes specifics and details.)  She said, "Awww- kaaay Mommy" and the next thing you know she was tee teeing on the big potty.  Up to this point she had absolutely zero interest in any potty, big or little. We were so excited about the tee tee in the potty and she got a few jelly beans for a treat.  After the first success, I decided I would leave her diaperless while we were home so she would be more aware and it has been the easiest thing!  We have only had one accident at home (someone put a little poop on the rug).  And we have been out of the house a few times with no accidents.  We went to dinner at Nick and Sam's with Pink and Bop and made about 6 mad dashes to the potty, but that was ok.  At least we were trying.  Yesterday we went to the mall, ate dinner and played at the "mallpark" in big girl panties.  Amazing!  I am so excited about all of the diapers I am not having to change.  What a huge relief!  

Today we went to Target in big girl panties with no accident!  I can't even believe it.

Happy 4th of July!

My men swimming at Pink and Bop's house on the 4th.  Yates looooves to swim and he loves his swimsuit from Aunt Lane.

The 4th weekend was fun.  We went to Palestine and stayed a few days, played in the pool lots and did fireworks at the farm.  This was the first year Stella really even realized there were fireworks.  She couldn't stay awake long enough to see them last year or the year before.  But she made up for missing the last 2 years this year.  She loved the fireworks and even did 3 biiig sparklers all by herself.  She's getting so big : (

Yates on the other hand, did not enjoy the fireworks at all.  Well thats not entirely true.  He liked the Palestine fireworks display we could see over the treeline, but he did not like the up close fireworks at all!!!  He cried and cried and cried.  He startles easily anyway, so big bangs, pops, whistles, explosions and little kids squealing was not his bag.  Not to mention the fact that it was way past his bed time.  Poor thing.
I guess Yates was thirsty and Stella was being a good big sister and getting him a drink of pool water.  Yum.

Quoting Stella #1

When the pizza man brought our Sunday night pizza this evening, Stella fondly looked at Michael and then sweetly said to me,

"Daddy, pizza, so happy." 

For those of you who don't know, pizza is one of Michael's favorite things in the whole world.

Naptime Bliss and Grocery Store Issues

Ok, I am so confused! I haven't wanted to say anything b/c as soon as I do it will all get messed up, but... Yates and Stella have been taking naps at the same time (without being held the entire time) for 3 days now! I don't know what to do with myself. As usuall, I have so many things that I want to do, that I can't think. I don't know what to do. Yesterday I got to write all of my super tardy thank you notes - uninterupted! Amazing. I hope this isn't a temporary situation. I could really use some time to do all of my 2 handed jobs.

Not the most flattering picture or outfit, but man he was having fun!

Stella hugging Sasha.  We're currently experiencing some pacifier regression...

Two clean babies and one big pink "mamma."

So the latest... Yates got his first tooth last Saturday. He has been teething for a while and it is much harder for him than it was for Stella. She never had any teething symptoms, but Yates has them all. Poor little dude. I was kind of hoping that him hating to ride in the car and teething were related, but I think he just hates the car. Each time I try to put him in his infant seat, he arches his back and cries and cries. Once we make it to the car, he screams and cries the entire time we drive until he just gives up and passes out. That is usually when we are turning into our driveway or something. If you see me driving, you should stay as far away as possible b/c I probably have my left arm twisted behind my seat trying to console Yates with a toy or by letting him chew my finger. And yeah, my whole arm falls asleep. Maybe he'll get moved into a big boy carseat really soon, like Stella did.

Here's a quick story. Its kind of insensitive, but here I go. So yesterday was exhausting! My car said it was 111 outside at one point and here I am wagging two babies. Sweaty!! So we go to the grocery store, which I HATE doing and it really wasn't too bad until the end. Stella ran beside the cart the whole time and was very good and I carried Yates b/c of the hating the infant seat situation. Anyway no drama until we are putting the groceries in the car. Let me just add here that one of the things I don't deal with well at the grocery store is the special needs people. No offense, but I generally don't have the time to chit chat about your cat or Vietnam or whatever. Thats mean, but I am on a serious mission at the grocery store and the faster we are in and out the better it is for everyone! So I never ever ever want help taking the groceries to the car b/c when I have done that in the past, the special needs people wont go away. They put the groceries in the car all messy and then just hang out when I'm needing to get these babies in their car seats and get the air conditioner going for Pete's sake! So (whew), I declined help to the car, as usual and one guy followed me out anyway. I was holding Y still and S was standing in the big part of the cart, completely safe. I had all of the bags in but one and this guy came and put the last bag in. Great, thanks, bye-bye. Nope! He then proceeds to pick up my daughter, take her out of the buggy and put her down in the parking lot! No big deal you say? Oh yes it is. #1 No strange men need to be touching my daughter anywhere for any reason. #2 Now I have a 2 year old loose in the parking lot and a buggy and a 5 month old on my hip and a special needs dude arguing with me. ugh! He says to me. "She was going to fall out, she was kind of wobbly in there." Forgive me, but I was not nice and said. She was completely fine and I did not want you picking her up and taking her out of the cart. "Well, she was going to fall," he says, "and Tom Thumb doesn't like to take any chances." Oh really Tom Thumb? I didn't say that, but did try to calmly say, "Thats fine, but I did not want my 2 year old out of the cart and free to run around in the parking lot." "Well have a good day anyway," he says. ugh...ok.

You know, the more I think about it, I think I should really keep an eye on that guy. He bothers me every time we go there and I thought it was just me being mean and annoyed, but he absolutely had no reason to follow us to the car.

not bragging...

Every few days I kind of quiz Stella to see what all she knows.  I really never know what all she has picked up from day to day.  That 95th percentile head must have a lot of brains in it.  I really don't mean to brag, I just want to be able to remember this.  I just finished "quizzing" her on the alphabet.  She knows all of her letters even the "big ones and little ones."  She knows all of her colors: primaries, pastels and even metallics.  She knows her numbers 1-10 and can count to ten.  She knows more animals than anyone really needs to know, the sounds they make and what letters many of them start with. She is very close to being able to spell her name.  Right now we are stuck at S-T-E-L.  I am just trying to keep up and don't want to waste any of this super absorbent time.  

Not knowing what to do next, Michael bought her a US map/puzzle for ages 8 and up.  We thought it would just be a toy for now... oh no.  She can identify 10 states and tell you who is from each one.  In her terms: Texas (Pink, Bop, Mommy, Brother, Stella) Louisiana (Daddy (he was born there)), Oklahoma (Grandma Q), Indiana (Gigi), Kansas (Gabby), Utah (Aunt Annie and Uncle "Teve"), Colorado (Uncle Tim), Florida (Mickey Mouse), Georgia (Tiffany) and California (its just big and purple thus easy to remember).  

I am very proud of her of course, but am completely floored at the things she knows.  Maybe this is normal.  I have no idea.  Oh! AND last night while I was composing this post, Stella was eating a biscuit.  She bit it into the shape of a dog and was trying to tell us that it was a puppy.  We were like, no that's a biscuit.  She kept saying, "No, puppy!"  We looked and sure enough it looked exactly like a dog!  What?!  So weird.  I freaked out and tried to take a picture, but she bit its head off before I could get the camera.  Who knows what she'll do next.

This and that...

"Mommy! car wash blue boong (balloon)..."  Is what Stella told me while this picture was being taken.  She officially turned 2 over the weekend and is so hilarious.  She tries to make sentences and the things she thinks! So funny!  One of her favorite things to say, "Mommy hair mess. Fix hair."  Where did she learn that I wonder?  

Little Yates : )  is such a sweet boy!  He has started rolling over and has also started going to Little Gym.  I was a little skeptical about a 4 month old doing the exercises at Little Gym, but Yates loves it.  They do lots of front flips and he has even hung on to the overhead bar.  What a strong little dude!  Yates loves to put his feet up on his bouncy chair!  
Daddy went out of town and we had a slumber party in the "big bed."
Yates after one of his new roll over maneuvers.

Big Day 2

Before I get into our super big day, I want to share Stella's current mantra.  It goes like this, "No nyap, no bass.  No nyap, no bass.  No nyap, no bass.  No nyap, no bass..."  You get the picture.  Translation: no nap, no bath.  I mean, seriously.  She wakes up saying this, just comes up to me throughout the day saying it, says it in the car, in her high chair, outside, when we're changing her diaper... all the time.  What is the deal?  I really don't get it.  Ok maybe naps aren't fun, but a bath is no big deal.  You would think we were doing something terrible to her the way she goes on and on.  I'm sure this will pass just like everything else, but goodness!Ok, so the first event on big day 2 was a trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo, which was fabulous.  We saw all of the major animals and the favorites were the "min-tees" and the "gear-affs." I wasn't expecting so many animals and so many of each species.  They had 6 elephants... that seems like a lot.  Stella insisted on walking almost the whole time, but remember she isn't even 2 and she's pretty nosey.  So walking was very laborious with lots of stopping and staring at other people.  Now these other people were quite a sight all on their own.  Michael and I weren't sure what the deal was, but we've never seen such an abundance of unusual, how can a say this nicely... weirdos!  Gah-lee!  No wonder Bean was staring, right?  So, we made it about 75% of the way through the zoo then decided we better run home for naps. 

Nap time was successful so on to phase 2 of our big day... Our 1st Family Baseball Game!  We had gotten awesome seats from a friend, right behind home plate and really close.  

We were excited, but someone got up on the wrong side of her nap - big time!  Everything was a no and she seriously screamed and cried hysterically in her car seat the entire way to The Ballpark.  Michael kept saying, "Do we need to turn around?  I'm turning around.  Do we need to turn around?  We can just go back home."  I took a chance and said no, lets just keep going.  Anyway, we made it in one piece.  One of us was shoeless, but we were all there and no one was crying.  We got all situated in our seats and Stella loved it!  Her Gabby will be so proud.  She loves baseball.  Brother is going to need another trip before he makes up his mind.  

He was not a big fan of the noise level and got pretty upset every time the crowd got loud.  I spent the entire game fetching concessions and only saw about 30 seconds of the actual game.  Stella had her 1st cotton candy and baseball game hotdog.  She loved them both, however they precipitated a trip to the ladies room... just another adventure.  The best part being that on our way to powder Stella's nose we ran into "A BIG FUFF!!"  (The Rangers "big horse" mascot).  He touched her on the head and she hasn't stopped talking about it yet.

I don't know where we got the courage to try to do so much in one day, but it turned out pretty well.  (FYI, That is not Yates in the picture with the BIG FUFF.)

  

Big Day 1

Stella's Baptism October 2006

Here are a few pictures from Yates' baptism.  He was a very good boy and looked very handsome in his christening gown that Michael and I bought in Venice when we were 7 weeks pregnant with Stella.  Pink, Bop, Gigi and Gabby were all here for Yates' big day, which also happened to be Mother's Day.  Everyone enjoyed the sermon at church and Stella almost made it through the entire service... on the front row.  She was fine until she started saying, "Bop, Home!"  We took a few pictures and went to lunch at Capital Grille to celebrate.  Lunch ended up being a marathon.  It took forever!  We had fun though and now have both babies safely dedicated to being raised correctly ; )

Happy Early 2nd Birthday with a Little Bonus Feature

Lucky Little Stella scores again with a pretty nice birthday party for a "nearly two year old."  Her real birthday isn't until June 7th, but we were able to share a really fun party with "Shemmy"... one of Stella's very best friends.  Her real name is Shelby, but Stella calls her Shemmy.    Dara (Shelby's mommy) hired a petting zoo and a PINK haired, purple glitter hooved pony and it was a blast.  "Blue slide" was a hit with all of the little ones, the weather was perfect and we all had a great day.  Michael joked that at this rate we're going to end up on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 show... not that we watch MTV...   

Pictures: Stella riding the pony with Bop, Stella and Daddy with the cakes, Holding a little chicken (against the rules, sorry chicken), the birthday girls and some bunnies, Gabby getting kisses, the pony 'Zipadee Do Da' in all his splendor.

*BONUS*

Everyone loves a laughing baby, so here is Yates.  The funny thing is that he really doesn't usually laugh like this but apparently thinks its hilarious when Sasha tries to eat Michael... just like Stella did when she was his age.  Sorry about the cloudiness, it was just like that outside yesterday.  (No puppies, daddies or babies were harmed during the filming of this video.)

Holy Moly

Bop strikes again and Stella couldn't be happier!  What a lucky little bean!  I mean of course... I would have just died for one of these when I was little.  I have even had a good bit of fun playing on this thing.  The slide is really fun and fast.  We've even had Sasha on the slide and she thinks its fun too.  It's so much fun that Stella calls the whole gizmo "blue slide."  

For those of you thinking this mini mansion o' fun looks like a good idea... let me just forewarn you.  It came in 5 boxes, every single piece had to be put together.  I would think that they could have at least put the chains on the swings or maybe the wooden steps on the rope ladder, but no.  One of the bags of screws had 710 screws in it and that was just bag A... only one of the bags labelled A - N,  AND it came with an instructional DVD!!!!  Of course we didn't watch that and it took 2 solid days with 3 people working on it to get the thing together, 3 trips to Lowe's, new pneumatic tools, saw horses, a shovel, levels, squares, ladders, drills, clamps, sunscreen and lots of beers for the daddies.  

All in all, I really do think it was worth it.  We can't wait to see what fun brother will have and are already prepared to see some climbing onto the roof and jumping off action.

During a brief break from Blue Slide, Stella was kind enough to read a book to Yates.  He was a very good listener and she was a very good sweet "reader."

A couple more things... remember what happened last Wednesday?  Someone (Stella) had a major - entire breakfast - have to go home - throw up accident in the car.  Well its Wednesday again and guess what happened?  Yates had an equally disasterous, outing-ending - go home tear apart the car seat and bathe the baby -  throw up in the car.  It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was like, uh oh, someone threw up.  Lets get a wipe and clean it up.  But its not even close to that.  It's like oh my gosh.... try not to panic, race home, strip everyone and everything in the vicinity of the throw up, clean it, lysol wipe everything, take the car seat apart and then be stuck at home for the entire day b/c we are waiting for the car seat to wash and dry.  Ugh.  Seriously, what is the deal?  I don't particularly care for dismantling drenched car seats, but I'm getting really good at it.  

And finally, my peonies bloomed!!!! YAY!!!  I am so excited : )  The pictures won't upload for some reason, but I'll add them later.  Ta-ta.

not again...

it really is amazing how you can look up and its 3:30!  where did the day go?  i'll tell you.  it went to changing 17 million poopie diapers and to scouring the car, carseat and all its tiny parts and stella b/c she threw up big time in the car again!  luckily she had just thrown a fit to open a container with 84 foam letter and numbers in it and threw them on the floor, right in the perfect place for throw up to land on all of them.  seriously!  omg.  so sick!  she did this once before and it was terrible.  this time its triple terrible b/c michael is in houston and i have 2 babies!  ugh.  thankfully brother was very sweet and patiently sat in his carseat while i stripped stella and her carseat in the drive way.  

i loooove jon and kate plus 8 and i wonder what she does if someone throws up in the car.  thinking about her and being thankful that its michael and meredith plus 2 instead of plus 8 helped me just get over the disaster and clean it up.  i have a thousand things to do.  the carseat is still completely apart and needing to get in the washing machine and i'm soaking 84 pieces of foam in the sink... ta-ta.

Semi-Celebrity Week

I went from having nothing at all to say to having more to say than time to type. So here I go. I never ever ever ever see famous people. Other people do and I wonder if I just don't recognize them. So this week I ran into 3 barely famous people and I'm so excited.


I saw Phil Stacy, an American Idol loser and Marion Lee from Project Runway. Phil was dorky. He was at the galleria with some weird dudes and he was walking around singing and trying to draw attention to himself. Ok... we see you. Goodness. Marion was at Barneys (where else would he be?) with a guy that had so many tattoos on his face that I almost ran into a rack of clothes from staring so hard. I almost missed Marion (who is from Tyler of all places on the planet) b/c of tattoo guy. But anyway, I was so excited to see him b/c Project Runway is my very favorite show on TV. Then the least famous, but best was "Maren's Mom." One of the little girls in Stella's mother's day out is in ads for hotslings. They are the one's pictured above "everyday." Anyway, she gave me some sling advice and Yates rode in his sling for about 2 hours today. He even had a nap! Before he would cry and stick his legs out straight when I tried to put him in it. Having 2 hands was huge!! That is why she was the best barely famous person of the week.

So now for the important things. Yates and Stella... sweet sweet babies.

Yates is such a man. Its so cute. He is always so hot and sweaty and is the most tickelish person I have ever known in my life. He laughs and smiles all the time and its so funny. Also, he is huge! His size 2 diapers don't even reach around him, he is barely squeezing into 9 m clothes and he has been sleeping in Stella's 12-18 m t-shirts at night (b/c he gets too hot in anything else.) He has done some big things this week. He sat in his bumbo, did the sling, played in the jumperoo (loved it) and right now he is taking a nap on the bed all by himself for the 1st time ever! Yay!

The cutest thing Stella does right now is count. If you ask her how many, she says 5,8,9. If there are only 2 things, the answer is 5,8. She knows how many 2 is and will tell you that there are 2 of something, but if she's going to actually count the 2 things its 5,8. So funny! Her other 2 big accomplishments are that we are leaving the mammas in her crib and we tried pull ups. She never thinks twice about it when we ask her to leave the mammas in the bed. When she's sleepy she asks for them and is happy to see them at nap and bed time. Going without the mammas is huge. I'm so excited to be doing well without them. I bought her some pull ups this week and she loves wearing them, but doesn't quite get it yet, so we'll wait a bit on those. I wish I could write about all of the cute and smart things she does, but if I did that I would be missing all of the things. Sorry its taken me so long to write...

Shhhh...

Everyone (Stella, Yates, Sasha, Deion) is sleeping! I love it! While I have second, literally, I will just say how much fun Yates has been this week. It is amazing how quickly that newborn stage passes. He loves to talk and laugh and stand up. He definitely is out of that sleeping constantly stage which is good and bad. I have already... nevermind... he's awake...

Easter Egg Hunt

I was so excited about today's Easter Egg Hunt b/c I thought it would be fun of course, but I also was looking forward to having a good story to post. Well, I'll start with the good stuff. It was fun. The babies looked really cute. They matched each other and even their easter baskets. There was a petting zoo with baby pigs, goats, chickens (rainbow chickens), ducks, bunnies, guinea pigs... lots of animals and it was adorable. Stella loved it but we weren't able to stay and play as long as she wanted to b/c brother was outside of the fence in his stroller crying. It was sad (little did I know) b/c I did not want to leave Yates outside of the fence alone and I had to go into the petting area with Stella. I didn't now what to do. Luckily, a friend was standing outside of the fence and offered to watch Yates for us while we went in. When we had to leave, poor little Stella was crying, "More chickens please, please more chickens." : (

Anyway, we proceded to hunt the eggs. Stella was fabulous. We got all positioned in front, patiently waited for the nice Pi Phi lady to say 1,2,3 go and off we went. Stella got lots of eggs, thus lots of candy... ugh. Sweet brother slept in his stroller for us. We played with our friends for a while and ate lots of candy then decided we should go. It was a little chilly and very windy. But, we started heading for the car and spied a slide, so we had to go do that for another 30 minutes. Ok, so we did the slide and now really we needed to go. Brother had come out of his seat and was super hungry. We are walking to the car... This is where it all goes bad. (Keep in mind, I'm not wanting to tell this story to anyone so maybe typing it will be easier.)

i hope you're sitting down... when we were leaving the playground, stella refused to walk about 1/2 way to the street and i was walking a bit ahead of her. i locked the wheels on the stroller and went back to get her, turned back to check on the stroller when i was about... i don't know... too far away and it was rolling toward the street! i took off sprinting and didn't make it. y wasn't strapped in b/c i was going to nurse him and change his diaper when we got to the car. the stroller completely flipped over and he flew out and went tumbling through the dirt about 6" from the street. it was AWFUL! i scooped him up and he was screeeeaaaming. i went back for stella and she was crying. some lady picked up my stroller and all of my crap, then some other lady came and took yates away from me b/c stella was sitting in the dirt also screaming and still refusing to walk. it was soooo bad! she put y in the stroller and we made it to the car. we all got in somehow, crying and shaking and just sat in the car crying... all of us. he has a red spot on his eyebrow, but he is perfectly fine other than that. i feel soooo terrible and delinquent.

We did make it home, I somehow managed to cook dinner and spent the rest of the night holding Yates and watching for any weirdness that might be caused by ones mother letting one fly through the air and land in a pile all covered in dirt when you're only 7 weeks old. Uh, it makes me sick.

So... just call me Britney. Big. Fat. Stupid. Easter Britney.

news...

Tidbit number 1:

Brother has outgrown the newborn diapers and is now in 1s. Gasp! Why do mommies get so sad over bigger diaper sizes? I do know the answer, but it is so funny that we all do it and all know that it is a staple topic of conversation among mommies.








Tidbit number 2:

The graffiti aritst that I have been a huge fan of for probably 5 years actually came over to my house today!! "What?" you say. Long story, but I hunted him down and, after an arrest for his illegal artform, he has become a legitimate artist. I commissioned him to do a piece for us/me. I am sooooooo excited and can't wait to see what he comes up with. I mean look at that cute girl he graffiti-ed on a box car... Driving through Dallas and seeing something cute like that in an unexpected place is so much fun and made me love this guy. For some reason I never thought he was a real person that I would actually talk to, but he is and yay!

Just something cute about Yates:

He squeezes your hands and fingers with a serious death grip when you are holding his pacifier in his mouth for him. I think its so cute b/c it seems like he likes to hold hands. He will fall asleep holding on so tight and if you move at all he is awake and unhappy. I think he's saying, "Why did you move? We were holding hands." What a sweet boy...

Oh Brother...

Poor Brother... You have one nice weather day and you get wagged outside and stuck in a toy stroller...

Stella and I had him in her Baby Stella stroller in the back yard. He does not look amused, but was very sweet to let us play baby dolls with him. Baby brothers are so much fun! Stella was so proud of herself. She wanted her fingers to be touching him.

At least he got a sweet kiss for being such a good brother. Also note that this is Yates' first regular day time outfit... Doesn't he look handsome (despite the frown)? Its been so cold here, I've just kept in little sleep sacs or footed pjs. Not on the pretty weather day! The boy is in clothes!

Its only been a week, but I feel like so many little things have happened. Yates and I have gotten into a pretty good little routine and I am finally starting to feel like I know what his noises mean. He is sleeping really well and is typically waking up around 3:30 and 7. It could be way worse. Just this week he has really started to laugh and smile and talk to us. It is sooo cute! We might have another ham on our hands. As some of you may know, Yates is a thumb sucker. However, I have been determined to keep him from doing that b/c I worry about his teeth. Anyway, he doesn't really suck his thumb much at all, EXCEPT in the bathtub for some reason. It is so funny. As soon as he gets all wet in the tub, in goes the thumb. Of all places. Any and every other time he tries to find his thumb, he acts like he can't find it.

Stella is really starting to enunciate and combine words. Just since Yates got here, she has made lots of progress. We've been so proud of her for saying "Please" so well and for starting to say it so early... even though it always sounded like "pluhh." Today during lunch at Snuffers, she said, "pleeeece" I was soooo excited! Stella also started to say "Cow" instead of "Ca"... which in the past could have been cow or car. She is up to 3 and 4 words sentences, such as "No Da Sasha" (see Stella code.) She has been so sweet to Yates and very patient when she needs to be. A few days ago she put her finger inside of Yates' pacifier for him as she always sees us do. Michael and I thought it was so cute!

I'm starting to feel like I'm going to survive too. Figuring out all of the whens and hows takes some time I guess. The one thing that is going to take some serious effort on my part is not completely losing it when everyone starts screaming at once. One baby, fine... two babies, ok... two babies and a needy pet or something burning on the stove, I'm going to scream... add the phone ringing on top of that and its over! What time is it?!?!? Where is Michael?!?!? AGH! See, thats going to need some work. Thankfully, I have the best, most helpful, understanding, sweet, thoughtful, patient, easy going, cute husband in the world and 2 pretty cute and really good babies!