Did I say that?

Oh my goodness - anyone who's ever spent time with little folk know that there are moments when you say something and then think - did I really say that? And did anyone hear me? For example - today we had to lay down a new naptime rule...
"Do not take your clothes off when you are supposed to be sleeping."

Lately it's been more like,
"It's not polite to pick your friends nose."
"no, mommy doesn't need any help wiping."
"Take Angelina Ballerina out of your pants."
"No one else wants to wear your panties."
"Take your panties off your head! Do not put your panties on my head."
"Please don't pretend that the french fry is a booger."

Oh goodness, have I mentioned lately that I'm tired? :^)

Kiss Me Creme

We had to go celebrate the end of Megan's gym class (see yesterday's post) so Megan and her friend Mary Grace wanted to go to Crispy Creme. Megan calls it "Kiss me Keme". It's a fun place to go with 2 spunky girls because we are usually the only people in the store. And it helps that the people who work there think the girls are cute because with all that sugar it gets a little loud. :^) Peek-a-boo!

Mary Grace demonstrating her approach to eating a doughnut.

Needless to say - the girls had a lot of fun.

Sweet hugs of friendship!

Feeling a craving for Kiss Me Creme? Megan saved some for you..... she said she'll share!

Gym Class

This week Megan finished up her little gym class. She's had fun taking this little tumbling class with her friend Mary Grace. I have to say, it's just funny to watch them together and sometimes they just seem way to old to be 3 and almost 3. Megan used to love hanging on the bars - she was a little monkey. But recently she's been a little aprehensive to do some of the gym activities. So we are taking a break from it for awhile.

Her new favorite thing - climbing the ladder to the foam pit. Which ironically is the thing she used to hate doing. She'd get "lost" in the foam and was so scared that she stopped wanting to get in there - but now.... she loves it!

After the "little" gym - they head over to the "big" gym. And of course, head to the trampoline (after a romp in the huge foam pit).

Little Nicole just wonders - "when's it my turn?" Don't rush it baby, You just keep playing with your little bee.

And I have to say, this is not a true picture of Nicole in her car seat.... she hates it! So this calm lasts a very short while (if she's awake). However, I'm dreading the day she officially outgrows it, because it is so convenient when she's sleeping and we have someplace to be with Megan (her nap times naturally fall when it's time to take Megan to and from school and she has to be walked in). But I have a feeling she'll be lucky to last in the car seat for a few more months. We'll see what her stats are in a week when she hits 4 months.

NPD

Happy National Pancake Day!

To celebrate, we headed to IHOP to partake in our free short stacks of pancakes. It was delicious!

Megan loves IHOP - which she lovingly calls "the bunny hop" and Nicole seemed to like the outing as well. I think Megan might be over pancakes for awhile because today at school they had pancake and pajama day. Oh the fun of being almost 3.The only drawback - boy howdy was it crowded. Seems like everyone decided to have breakfast for dinner with the free pancakes. But I learned a long time ago to make sure we take our "activity bag" anytime we are headed out to dinner where we might have to wait. It makes the experience much more pleasant when Megan has something to occupy her time. And I have to admit sometimes we even join in on the fun - especially when she breaks out the playdoh! Playdoh mustache, anyone?

Warm Winter Days

This week we had some great "winter" days - nice enough to be out to enjoy some outdoor play. Nicole is as much an outdoor girl as her big sister! Nicole had fun hanging out and trying out her exersaucer. It was her first time and her feet don't touch yet - but she didn't seem to mind and was enamoured by her big sister. She just watched her ride her trike all over.

And Megan is the doting big sister - had to stop on every drive-by to make sure Nicole was doing good.

And - oh my goodness.... don't you just want to kiss that little baby all over!

Growing Up

This has been a challenging week in our house. My mom has been really sick and in the hospital, Megan has had some issues (I won't go into those PT and BM things but aaauuugghhh... hopefully we won't be in Dr's office tomorrow about it all), and babies are just babies and always need their mommies.

But even with exhausted eyes I see my little ones growing up so fast and just want to cherish every moment. Today I was reading Megan a book while she sat on the potty and I thought... you know it's 8:30 and I just want to eat dinner (I was at the hospital when everyone else ate).... but my mind and heart pushed that aside and I was just overwhlemed with love for my very clingy girl. As challenging as it can be sometimes, there is also something heart grabbing when only a "mommy story" will do.

And when I'm this exhausted and just want a quiet moment, but this little girl wants to eat -NOW, RIGHT NOW!!!!! I remind myself - last week she couldn't do some of the things she can do this week. A week is a HUGE amount of time in the life of a little one. And I want to cherish every second with my baby, while she's still a baby.

Eventually I'll get my quiet momment - and a good nights sleep - and time to myself - and a potty break without a shadow - hot food - time to shave my legs - but I'll miss all this chaos too - at least maybe a little bit. :^)

I found them!

Finally.... I found my fingers!

2 Momma's

This week, Megan asked to take something very very special to Show And Tell at school....
SNOWBALL!

I was very hesitant to let her take him, until she came out of her room telling me that they were both ready to go. How can you say no to that? Not only did she want to take Snowball, but he needed to ride in his carrier. I thought that was cute - until we got in the car and she redefined cute!
Megan: Momma I think snowball will like school.
Me: You do?
Megan: Yes, he wants to play with me.
Me: Make sure you put him up when Ms. Mandi tell you to.
Megan: Oh he will obey.
Me: Good.
Megan: You know momma we are both mammas. There are 2 mommas.
Me: There are?
Megan: Yeah, I'm a momma to snowball and you are a mamma to me and Nicole.
Me: Your right sweetie.
Megan: And daddy is a daddy to everybody.
Me: He is?
Megan: Yeah, he's my daddy and Nicole's daddy, and your daddy, and snowballs daddy.
Me: Daddy's got a lot of love for all of us doesn't he?
Megan: He loves us SOOOOOO much! (she's yelling this).

Ok - so cute! I love her!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

It's been a bit crazy around here this week - but I had to send some Valentine's Day love.... Uncle Dan - thanks for the special Valentines Day package.

I think we can quote this book by heart now. I'm sure you'll be reading it when you come down for your visit in just a few months.

Twinkle Toes

Have I mentioned how much I love watching little girls dance their little hearts out. Oh my goodness!!!!!

Here are some of Megan's little friends from her dance class - each week it's so cute to see what everyone ends up wearing. So sweet!

It still snowed.

That was Megan's proclamation this morning.... "It still snowed!" Yes darling, there is still snow outside. So of course we bundled up and headed back outside today for some fun in the white stuff!!!!!
Megan did her part to ensure some fun in the snow. She quickly learned that the faster you pick up your sled and walked back to the top of the hill, the faster you get to have a fun trip down. And boy was it fun!

We did most of our sledding nextdoor and across the street.... thanks to our wonderful neighbors!

Megan took a little break from all the sledding to chase after Bailey - our adopted dog who just happens to live next door.

But it was just a short break - then back to the slopes!

Nicole stayed out a little longer today. She was nice and bundled up - our little snowbaby!

On days like today I am reminded why I love our neighborhood. We had a great time outside playing with all the neighbors.

Natalie was conviently "snowed-in" with us so she got to parktake of all the snow fun! It was such a burden for her... can't you tell. :^)

And finally it was time to come in and defrost and have some hot chocolate. YUM!

And don't you know that this little southern belle has roots in land of snow - why else would she have multiple snowsuits? Who knew they'd come in handy down here? I originally figured we'd only need them for Christmas trips to MN - but this year, they've been sooo handy! And if she could, Megan would wear her light up snowboots every day.

Winter Wonderland

I love a good GA snow.... usuallly wet enough to make a good snowball and/or snowman. Super fun to play in - and yet not so cold that you think your hands will fall off after 5 minutes out there. Megan loves a good snow too! We had a great time making a snowman. Megan's been wanting to make a snowman all winter - finally we got a chance!

Nicole wasn't so much into the snowman building - but she tried to make her first snow angel. A+ for effort. Needless to say, with her being under the weather, she made it out for a photo op and then headed back inside. We just had to get one use out of her cute snowbunting since we didn't get to use it in MN this year.Our neighbors were outside playing and they introduced Megan to the joys of sledding. Hunter gave Megan her first ride down the hill.

She quickly realized how fun it was and was ready for a trip on her own.

And we all joined in on the fun! Aunt Natalie was there to give extra special pushes down the hill.

WWWWEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I think I can speak for all of us and say that after our hour and a half or so outside we were ready to come in and warm up a bit. But we are soooo ready to get back out there tomorrow - before it all melts away..... this is GA afterall.

12 Hours

My baby girl slept for 12 hours last night!!!!!

Ok, now before there is any jealousy out there - perhaps I should throw in that actually she woke up at 3 am - hysterically crying, gasping, coughing, and threw here momma into a fit... do we go to the hospital, should I call the nurse line, do I call the Dr., what do I do????? Oh my goodness - it was a rude awaking for sure. Finally I got my 3am fogged over brain to function and took true assessment of the situation -
ok, she is crying so obviously she can breathe.
ok, she's coughing and it sounds horrible, but she's not truely wheezing.
ok, she's settling down and falling asleep on Tom's shoulder....

Well I ended up sleeping with her on my shoulder in our recliner from 3:30 until she woke up at 7:30 to eat. Dinner at 7:30pm, Breakfast at 7:30am. WOOOHOOO... if only we hadn't had that heart stopping interuption at 3am. So even though Nicole had a 12 hour (sort of) night, I was up at 3 with very little sleep after that. Maybe next time she does a 12 hour stint, she'll let me join in on some of the sleep to.

After a trip to the pediatrician this morning - we have determined that she has the croup and an ear infection. So, evidently there is no letting up on the whole ear infection thing. Megan had double digit ear infections in the 2 years it took to get tubes put in and her first one didn't start until she was 9 months old. Nicole is getting an early start at 3 months. Oh dear.

The fun part was getting Nicole's stats for 3 months.....
My THRIVING 3 month old weighed in at 16 lbs 12 oz.... OH MY GOODNESS. They didn't actually measure her length but the Dr. walked in and the first words out of her mouth were, "wow, she's such a long baby"..... She estimated her to be over 25 inches long. We'll find out in a month at her official checkup.

Routines

I think one of the big challenges in our jump from 1 to 2 little ones, has been trying to keep up with our normal routines - and at the same time adding in a new schedule. The nighttime routine is the most difficult when one of us is gone. About the time we are trying to get Megan ready for and into bed is when Nicole is awake and getting hungry. That just does not bode well if you are trying to get one child bathed, dressed, and in bed.... while another is getting cranky and hungry. For the most part Nicole is a mild mannered little thing - but if she's tired, hungry or has a wet diaper - you better believe she'll let you know it! And she has a very strong set of lungs and can go from 0-60 in about 2 seconds. It can make evenings a little stressful without another set of hands to help keep her happy while we get Megan ready for bed.

And Megan can be pretty mild mannered, unless it's late and she needs to be in bed. :^) At which time she can also go from 0-60 in about 2 seconds. There in lies the evening challenge.

Of course, both the girls are so loveable and adorable that even on the worst of evenings - when one or both of us adults collapse from exhaustion when they are finally in bed - it's just a wonderful thing to peek in on them and be reminded that they are such dear blessings from God!