i need a glass of water!!!

tonight we tried to watch a movie with sweet pea after dinner. our typical routine is dinner, bath, brush teeth, read a book, night-night. but tonight we decided to switch it up since it is friday. it didn't work. so half way through the movie i said "ok, let's go read some stories and go night-night." reluctantly she followed me upstairs. we didn't do a bath tonight because we did one last night. so i put her in jammies and laid down with her and read some shel silverstein. i warned her that i was going to read just one more but, of course, at the end she asked to "ree" one more. i said, "ok, but this really is the last one." after that one i stood up, kissed her on the forehead and she interupted with "teeth!" we had forgotten to brush her teeth and we're walking a tight-rope with her teeth. we're careful about sugars, we brush like banchies, and we're crossing everything hoping that she's got some adult teeth somewhere in that head of hers. so i said "ok-real fast we'll brush your teeth but then it's REALLY time for night-night." we brushed teeth and got back in bed. finally i was able to leave the room but pretty soon i heard her banging her sippy cup on the wooden bedrails much like a prisoner clangs their cup on the prison bars. it drives me crazy but i have to go up there and stop her because i don't want her to wake up peanut. ugh...she knows my buttons. so i go up and she's laying in bed holding the empty sippy up in the air. she kills me. i filled up the sippy, kissed her one more time and she finally fell asleep. what did i learn from this? i'd better just stick to the routine or be willing to be played like a fiddle.

your dog's missing his beer keg

yesterday i went to the store around 4:30. i prefer to go in the mornings when no one is there since i'm a traveling circus. i either have to put peanut in his car seat up in the kiddie seat in the cart and have sweet pea sit in the "car" part of the cart. i'm about 5'4" so for me to look over and steer that barge through the store is quite a site. my other option is to wear peanut in his carrier and then push sweets in either the normal cart or the car cart. it's just so dang hard for me to see over the car seat and the car part of the grocery cart.
anyway-all that to say...we finish up shopping, check out, go out to the car and there is a blazer parked next to us with all the windows open, including the back hatch and there's a mastiff/st. bernard in there barking his head off whenever we move faster than a snail. so i put the kids and all the groceries into the passenger side of the car because if i go to the trunk that sets him off all over again. and every one walking past is looking at me like "that's a problem." finally i think-ok-i've got my groceries in the passenger side of the car....i can't climb through there...so i push open the driver's side door by leaning over all of the groceries and think when i get a chance i'll hurry around and jump in real fast. um...no. a car pulled up on the other side of the mastiff and that didn't distract him. at that point he's looking at me thinking i'll taste good with ketchup, why give up a good thing and turn his head to see the other side of the car. then a young guy came past and i said, "could you please have the store page whoever has the rabid mastiffs in the blazer to come settle them down so i can get into my car?" he chuckles and goes inside. another woman walks past and looks at me and i said "mmmhm. ya. i can't get into my car until this guy comes back to settle the dog down. i'm about to call animal control." she goes "oh ya...that's not cool." then a store employee comes out and i said "i need help...i'm about to call animal control because i'm getting more pissed by the minute." and he said "i just heard them page him so he should be out any minute." i love that in all this time we all KNOW it's a man that has left this dog in the car. finally here he comes. i know it's him. i can see the smoke stains on his shirt from the parking lot that match the pile of marlboro packs on the dashboard. sure enough, he meanders through the parking lot and comes up, one eye crossed, hasn't shaven in days, showered in weeks and gives me a half grin, which forces me to give him a half grin back. i said "next time you bring your dog to the store you need to park at the end of the lot so other people can get in their cars." he reaches in and begins to pet the beast to calm him down/hold his collar while i get into my car. he said "awe, he's just a puppy." to which i rebuttled "well he doesn't look like 'just a puppy'." and with that i got in the car cursing under my breath so the parrot in the back seat doesn't repeat every word and head home. GRRRRR!

A year ago yesterday....

A year ago yesterday we brought our baby girl home for what we thought would be a few short weeks. Little did we know it would turn into forever! You've made our lives complete Sweet Pea and I can't imagine life with out you! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yesterday as I was feeding Peanut, Sweet Pea came up and pointed to his eyes "eye!" and his nose, "no!" (the "se" part has yet to come), and his mouth "mouf!" and on and on it went through out his body and then finally right in his ear "ROAR!". He jumped a little. He doesn't appreciate being startled the way she does. I said "oh honey, don't roar in his ear while he's eating, he'll get indigestion." so she leaned down again and whispered "roar!"

oh that baby girl cracks me up every day!

sweet pea's new tricks

lately sweet pea has been playing more independently. it's really cute. except for when she should be sleeping. last night i was about to go run errands but before i went i decided to go tell her one last time to pipe down. i could hear kicking and singing and all kinds of business. one of her new tricks is to kick the sides of her bedrails. i opened the door REALLY quick and she turned super fast, saw me, and laid flat on the teddy bear that had been at eye level when i first whipped open the door. i told her that she was supposed to be going night-night. and left the room before i burst into laughter.
today we went down to denver to see a friend and she fell asleep on the way home. it was my fault. i stayed probably 30 minutes longer than i should have. so when we got home she was getting her 2nd wind. i was ready for my momma time. i put her in her bed and came downstairs to feed peanut one more time. then i heard singing and kicking and went up there one more time. put her back in the right position, instead of cross-ways across the foot of the bed, and headed out. pretty soon i had to go back up there but this time she was poopy-so i changed her and put her back down. i checked on peanut and he too needed changing and was "napping" about as well as sweet pea. after changing them both i came downstairs again for a little momma time. i emphasize on the little. a little later, same thing...kicking, singing, etc...but this time she was whapping that springy thing behind the door. it's on the wall that adjoins the room that peanut was napping in. i went up there and opened the door only to find her with all of her stuffed dogs behind the door and her elmo book cover torn to shreds, not the book, just the cover. i put her back in her bed with her dogs and told her, finally, that she needed to stay in bed, she didn't have to sleep but she had to stay in bed. went back in and found her diaperless, which sent me into a tizzy of giggles because the diaper she was wearing was wet, wadded up and sitting on top of the diaper geenie. she tucked her chin and smiled a big fat chubby cheeked smile and giggled too. at this point i realize she's just so darn cute why make her stay in bed any longer and we came down stairs and painted toenails. well, hers anyway. mine didn't quite make the cut before peanut decided he too needed to be downstairs. so that was naptime today.

**Edited to add that Friday morning she slept 2 hours later than normal. :)

brazen little brat

today we went to the library for reading time only to find out that our energy levels were not library levels, they were more like playground levels. so we went to the park. i noticed there was one woman with 2 girls that seemed to be her daughters. but there was enough voices for 6 kids! then i noticed all of the nice shady places had been taken over by amerian girl paraphernalia. and then i realized one park bench was their closet. one park bench was their bed. one picnic table was their kitchen and at the moment they had taken over a couple of those springy guys that you sit on and they bounce back and forth as their cars. so i set peanut down in the shade under a tree in his seat. sweet pea went to climbing to the top of the slides. the bigger the better, ya know. when she got to the top i realized the rest of the voices were coming from the slide. the remainder of her children had taken up camp in the slide. shoes off, totally camped in. sweet pea squealed with delight to which the woman finally looked up from her texting to say "come on kids-out of the slide". the first one comes down-no shoes. "where are your shoes?" she begins. then another one "you have to keep your shoes on, we're not the only ones at the park anymore." (anymore? i think...how long have you been camped out here?) the third comes down-still no shoes on and she continues "....you have to respect others that want to play at the park..." on and on she goes with blabber that sounds like she's parenting or babysitting but really i know she's just looked up from texting and has no idea what the situation is. we play for about 30 minutes and finally i start doing the countdown. "10 more minutes, pea pod, and it's time to go home" "just a few more minutes" "ok, we'll swing and then it's time to go home." with that i go pick up peanut from his post, put him in closer shade and head to the swings. as i go one american girl doll is in one swing and the other american girl doll is being swung on the other end. the girl at the other end calls down toward the swing she SEES us heading to and says "hailey! save that one for me!!!" i, however, continued to put sweet pea in it and begin to swing. the girl next to me says "no you can't do that!" and i said "yes, but my daughter is a real girl, so we're going to swing." and with that the babysitter realizing an episode is about to be on her hands calls across from her texting spot and says "hailey lynn! it's a public park." can you believe the balls? i would NEVER have done that when i was a kid. i would never have talked to an adult or called down from the opposite end of the swings to tell my friend to "save" me a swing. *gasp* where do kids get such nerve?! am i out of my mind thinking that's brazen? seriously-i want comments.

this is how i ate lunch today

come in from running errands holding the babyseat w/baby hercules on the left arm w/all bags and babybag keeping my right hand free to scoop up sweet pea in case of fits.

put peanut over the boppy pillow to get some tummy time in while i make lunch.

warm up sweet pea's hot dog and slice up her grapes.

check voicemails.

right another appointment on the calendar for 2 weeks out. thank god i had the calendar memorized for the next couple weeks because i get most business done in the car, then call myself and leave all the appointments on the machine. that's right-i am NOT a no phone zone. sorry oprah.

put bread in the toaster for my sandwich.

check peanut.

put ketchup and mustard on sweet pea's hot dog and get her in her booster seat.

start assembling my sandwich.

check peanut again. notice that somehow he has backed himself away from his boppy pillow by about a foot. not sure how he scooted backwards.

give sweet pea 2 chips (anymore and she'll eat all chips and no protein.)

finish putting my sandwich together and take it to the table.

check peanut. somehow now he's face forward OVER the boppy pillow. move him back to just his chest over the boppy.

sit down and take two bites then sweet pea needs a drink. grab a coke for me while i'm in there.

look at peanut to see he's standing on his legs with his chest on the boppy. no crying-so i leave him.

sit down and eat a little more. sweet pea wants another chip. negotiate that if she finishes her hot dog she can have more chips.

get myself more ketchup for my chips. (ya-it's how i roll-like crunchy french fries)

sit down and take another bite.

look up to see why peanut is screaming crying. notice he has face planted himself ON all the toys he was reaching to grab.

get a little excited that a) he's REALLY grabbing for things now and b) he's really close to crawling.

go put him in his exersaucer so that i might finish my sandwich without having to get up again.

come back to the table for sweet pea to push me her empty and very messy glass asking for more water.

get her water and come back to her saying "all done".

wash her off and tell her to go play so mommy can finish her sandwich.

tell her to go play and not climb on mommy's lap so i can STILL finish my sandwich.

finally get to finish my sandwich.

now it's time to get the kids up to naptime. but that's a whole 'nother post.

strong little man

peanut can now stand up in his exersaucer. it's a new thing this last week. he can stand for like a half an hour at a time-not just a minute. he's got the strongest little baby thighs i've ever seen. i put him in there while i was doing laundry and turned around and he was spinning circles and standing up. and now when i lay him down on his back he can roll over to his tummy in no time flat. and in his crib he just spins like a pinwheel. yesterday he was crying up a storm so i went in there to see what was going on and he had pinwheeled himself into the corner of his crib and his head was stuck in the corner. so he couldn't roll in any direction. and that made him mad. have i mentioned what a happy baby he is until he gets mad? he'll let you know when something is not right in his world.

gymnastics

tonight we had our first gymnastics class. oh. my. goodness. that little baby girl has the craziest strong little monkey hands. the teacher kept asking me how old she was. or what she hangs on at home. or what made me put her in gymnastics classes. she did amazing. and she's so freaking brave. if i had a nickel for every time someone said "she's fearless!" i'd be rich already! oh, i did forget to mention that it was me and a bunch of dads and the teacher is a little hottie. i told paul he should go next week but then i thought maybe it's fine if i just keep going by myself. lol. she is super cute and about the size of a minute. she said to one dad "oh ryder, you're taking class again?" and later i realized - it's probably more DAD that wants to retake the class.
little man slept all day. in his seat. during tummy time. he did not sleep during our play date-too much excitement going on ALL around him. but that was it. otherwise-he slept all day! love that beautiful little man!

FLORIDA!!!!!

we took the kids to florida to meet some of my family and relax for a week. it was sooooo nice. we took sweet pea to the beach towards the end of the week but peanut stayed with aunt missy (to be held all day). she loved the water. my parent's house has a pool and she learned to jump in the pool from the side with out holding on to anyone, go under water about a foot, right herself and come up smiling. she was amazing in the water! and peanut just grew and grew the whole week. i'd wake up and look at him and think where'd my baby go?! he is so beautiful. i hate to call my boy beautiful, but he is. his skin is like silk now. for the most part. there's still a couple patches of eczema here and there but his cheeks are perfect. i just want to kiss them all day every day. he's sleeping a ton right now and when he's not sleeping he's eating. he's about to GROW big time.
sweet pea's words are taking off. she's getting smarter by the day! this morning i heard a diaper rip open, then i heard the wipes open up and when i turned the corner and looked she was taking off peanuts diaper and wiping him! so funny! such a little mommy. and while we were in florida she learned to climb out of her pack and play. i found out when i came in after nap time to find her laying cross ways over peanut. jeesh. luckily i heard the commotion just seconds before i went into the room. something new every day with that little thing.