Back From Vacation

We just got back from a week in sunny California. We lucked out. There was a horrible storm that passed through before we got there. I guess it was one of the worst in California history for the month of September. I'm sure it was bad though because we stayed in a hotel half way there and it poured rain. I don't think drops were coming down. It was more like buckets from the sky. DH got up that day and had a 14 mile run to do. I guess the downpour started when he was about half way.

California was beautiful. We got there on Saturday a little later in the afternoon/early evening. We didn't do anything super exciting that day.

On Sunday we went to church. It was funny because we picked a service with a convenient time not the closest one to Disneyland. Youngest was really good and charming throughout the whole thing. Why can't she be that good when we at home? After the people sitting next to us greeted us and asked us where we were from. It turns out that DH works with her son-in-law and her grand kids go to school with mine. What a small world! What are the chances of being in the same services with someone that is connected to someone you know let alone someone sitting right beside you.

We took the kids to the beach after that. We figured it was sort of 'sabbathy'. The kids had a great time and ended up pretty wet. Only Oldest wore a swimsuit. We figured it would be too cold to get wet but of course it wasn't. Middle was the first in. The wetter his shorts got the less they wanted to stay planted on his hips. I tightened the adjustable waist and minutes later his underwear would be showing. I had some spare clothes in the car but I forgot underwear so Middle ended up without them on the way home. I enjoyed the beach too. It's really peaceful there when it isn't crowded. Of course, I was on self appointed tsunami watch. Leave it to me to be worried about that.

Life got a little more interesting when we got back to our hotel. Our key cards hadn't been working the best to open our room. The cards jammed the signal or something and the light wouldn't stop blinking. We tell the hotel. The hotel calls in the engineer. The engineer gets us another room and then tells us that some head engineer person is coming down from San Francisco to figure it out. He said they would should be able to let us get our stuff in 5 to 6 hours. WHAT? We smelled like ocean and looked like it too. Luckily I had worn jammies in the baggage from the first night out in the car. But really. What was I supposed to do? When you are carting a 9 month old you can't just wake up around midnight and start moving things over. Fortunately, about an hour later I noticed that the light had stopped blinking. I shoved a key card in there and it opened. We blocked the door and started moving our stuff quickly. It's a good thing because once the engineer came and let the door shut it wouldn't open again. Is it horrible that I actually thought about letting middle perform a Spiderman move from the room above ours into the window we had left open?

So it was a rough start to the night. Then about 3:30 or 4 in the morning we start hearing music in Spanish from the room next door. It was very very loud. It woke me up, then DH, then, Youngest. For almost 2 hours it was going. We mentioned at the desk the next morning that the people next door had music going loudly in the middle of the night and were informed no one was staying in that room. Most likely it was employees. Heck, this was a nice place we were staying at and not somewhere you would expect that not that you ever should.

Off to Disney we went, quite tired and a little grumpy. Luckily the happiest place on earth can fix even a tired and grumpy mom and dad. We made a few mistakes that day. We let the kiddos take turns choosing rides. So one would be in Adventureland and then next in Tomorrowland and so forth. We did a bunch of walking. For being so daring and spirited, Middle is a chicken. He didn't want to go on any coasters. His favorite ride was Heimmlich's somethingrather in California Adventure. He would ask to go back to Heimmy's ride when it was his turn. If you haven't been on this ride you haven't missed much. The only thing I can say about it is that Disney is missing an opportunity to sell a bunch of animal crackers outside its exit because the smell they pump through there is yummy.

What else did I learn that day? The rockets aren't meant for a chubby mom, a 7 year old, and a 5 year old. After the first go around Oldest decided to navigate her own. Now I know why DH wasn't so thrilled with that ride when we went to Disney almost 3 years ago. He's too big to fit in that ride even though the kids were 3 years smaller. We did the rockets a bunch on this trip as Middle loved them. He wouldn't go on Dumbo though. I couldn't quite figure that out since the Rockets are more scary that Dumbo. Middle did earn a special celebration of ice cream (bought in the park) for going on the 'log ride'. He didn't realize how Splash Mountain ended until he looked over the front (lucky boy got a front row seat) of the boat.

I also learned that 5 and 7 year old kids still really like characters. During the parade at the end of the day Middle was waving away at the characters. He really thought they were waving back at him. I'm glad he's still young that way.

I learned that my kids are map readers at heart and not just around our house. (We have map time at our house where we take turns spreading out big maps on the ground and then take turns finding places. Middle asks for us to find 'Mistersippi' and 'Mexicota'. Cracks me up!) The kids spent so much time looking at the Disney maps. They could identify just about anything on that map. It got a little annoying though because they don't walk as quickly when holding a map out. Luckily we were on vacation and didn't need quick anything.

Tuesday was our day off. We went to the American Girl Place in L.A. Oldest was in heaven there. My favorite moments of our whole trip occurred there. Oldest asked how much money she had in her spending money and in her bank account. She oohed and ahhhed over all the outfits and dolls while clutching her Nicki doll (9 months worth of savings on her part). She quietly told me something like, "Mom, it's all so expensive." Well, yes it is. It's horribly overpriced and absolutely adorable dang it. She would go back and forth from thing to thing. She wanted to know if she could split the 2 part dance ensemble and only buy half. Nope, not possible little one. She ended up buying a small bag for Nicki (7 dollars) and a swimsuit (8 dollars). She didn't beg one single time. I can't express how that made me feel. She didn't feel entitled to have any of these things and she knew she didn't NEED them. She wanted them but she didn't need them. I had tears in my eyes (which is no shocker... I not only cried on the first day of K for her but also at her first violin concert, first ballet recital, first (okay and every one after) finish of a race, and yes even on her first amusement park ride). She had really learned something I thought was so valuable. She learned about needs vs. wants. DH and I quietly talked to each other about how it was so hard to not buy her stuff. It wouldn't break the bank to buy her a bunch of stuff in the store but it might ruin what we have been teaching her. She proudly paid for her purchases and walked out with her American Girl bag swinging over her shoulder. I gave her a big squeeze and told her how much I loved her and that I thought she was one really great kid. It was too bad when the L on the swimsuit wore off 45 minutes into the ride back to our hotel. I will be sending that swimsuit back for a replacement. Of course we did hit the Target by Disney the next morning because they have a better selection of American Girl knock off clothes than our Target. Oldest bought herself a pet (with a pet bed, bowl, and food) for her doll and another outfit for less than one outfit would have been. Once again, I can't tell you how I beam inside when I think of her that day.

We went to dinner with my aunt and uncle that night. The kids were pretty good at the restaurant and we had a really enjoyable time. The kids aren't perfect by any means but I am glad that know when they have to be good and rise to the occasion.

Wednesday was another day at Disney. We did a few more fun rides that day (well fun for me... Heimmy doesn't cut it for me.) We didn't let the kids go from land to land so much that day. We watched the parade once again. It's not really an adult thing but the kids loved it and it was so fun to watch them.

As a kid I remember loving riding coaster after coaster at Disney. That's all it was about. As a parent it's a different story. I love watching my kids. They really like the boring stuff and I love them so it makes me like it more too. Fortunately they didn't ride all the coasters and that leaves more new stuff for next time. I will admit though that when someone started complaining about this or that we would use the 'Do you want to go on the Tower of Terror next?' line. It worked pretty dang well.

We left Thursday and took our time. I heard Costco had girls Christmas dresses in stock and so I went out hunting for a deal in California. They didn't have them but we did get lunch. In addition to that I will admit to searching the clearance racks at Target on three occasions. I ended up buying Oldest two shirts for spring and one for Middle. Then on the way home we stopped at some outlets and I got some smokin' deals for the kids. I can't stay away from the deals for a whole week.

It's great to be home. DH and I are always glad when we come home and find our comfy mattress. It took us a decade to buy a decent mattress and then we spent more on it than we care to admit. But boy do I love the thing.

Then today, Saturday, we got a really nice surprise. SNOW! Yep, it was only about an inch on the ground but it was snow. I always get so excited when we have our first snowfall and this was no exception. We didn't plant a garden this summer as DH was too busy training for his marathon to help with it and I couldn't commit with Youngest being so, um, spirited. It's different to have it snow when you aren't worry about it curtailing the life of your plants. The kids went outside and played in it for a long time. We still had their mittens, etc. in the ski bags though so they weren't super prepared for it. They didn't care one bit though.

I had a church meeting tonight were I was reminded of many of my purposes in life. I was reminded that it's what I give that is important not what I get. Of course I know this but it's always a good reminder because somehow the world tries to help me forget that. I'm going to use that as my focus this week and see how it goes.

Oh and lastly, DH barely answered his work phone during the whole vacation. He deserves a double thumbs up for that as it is hard for him to leave his work behind. It's going to mean longer hours this week but I am not about to complain as I know it was a sacrifice for him, a sacrifice for us.

Slugbugs

One of the favorite car activities for the kiddos is to call out slugbugs (VW Beetles). I don't know where they got it but whenever they see one they HAVE to call it like this, "Slugbug what color blue (or whatever color it is)." I can't figure out why they ask themselves the question and then answer it in the same sentence. I asked why they do it and they said that Oldest's best friend told them that is how it played. Of course, when I told them not to do that and to just say the color they told me I didn't know how to play the game. Oh well, trust another 7 year old over me. The game has of course expanded and now Jeep Commanders, Liberties, Nissan Pathfinders, and Jeep Wranglers are all called. I'm confused half the time because they assigned point values to everything as each vehicle was added to the game. It all depended on how far behind they were. Wranglers ended up being a minus 2. Whenever Middle sees a Wrangler now he covers his mouth like he is about to say a naughty word.

What's the worst part of the game? It's not as bad as I Spy by any means. It's just that the Slugbugs of my youth are called "Old Fashioned Slugbugs" by the kids.

Youngest's 9 month stats and other random things

I took Youngest to her well baby visit yesterday. She was up to a whopping 16 pounds and was 27 inches long. I can't but help wonder where this kid got her genes. The other two were closer to 17 lbs at their 4 month appointment.

I had one funny snippet of life to mention yesterday but was sidetracked with a little bit of weapiness. It's still worth mentioning though.

On Sunday, Middle came home from church with a picture of Christ and a leper. He tells me, "Mom, did you know Jesus healed the leopards?" What a little goofball. I'm glad he's at least paying attention enough to learn something, even if he doesn't quite get it right. I just wonder what he was thinking when he hung the picture on his wall.

Dear Friends

You know, I didn't plan on writing about this today. I was going to report on my doings or lack of doings yesterday including getting the drapes up but not having them hemmed, getting most of the laundry done, actually COOKING dinner, etc. Instead though, I will tell you about something that touched my heart.

I have this great friend from before I moved. She's more of a kindred spirit than just a pal. She was my friend before I had my first little boy Nikolas. In fact, I was in her car the last time I remember his kicks. After I had him she really helped me to keep spirits up. At the same time, she let me grieve and grieved with me. Of course things changed. We moved to another state and got busy with life. She, of course, was busy busy with her life and job as well. I called her when we had Joshua and she showed up at his graveside service, flowers in hand. I always laugh when I see the pics of the flowers because Oldest carried those puppies around like they were the torch from Lady Liberty. The pics with those flowers always make me laugh when I am remembering such a sad day.

For the last few weeks I have just been thinking over and over that I needed to email and reconnect with my friend. But I procrastinated. Isn't that the story of my life. Finally, I got around to it and got a quick email back. She had been thinking she needed to email me too. (Kindred spirits we are :) ) But it wasn't the fact that she emailed me back so quickly that touched my heart. She told me she had visited my boys just yesterday and cleaned up their little graves. She had absolutely no idea that I would emailing her after not having connected for so long. That's what kind of person she is.

It was just another reminder of all the good and love in the world.

Dreaming vs. Reality

Of course we have the same two fighters in the boxing ring today. It's always Dreaming against Reality.

Dreaming

1. Get all of my wash done, folded, AND put away (none of this the baby is sleeping so the clothes have to sit on the hangers until tomorrow business)
2. Get the kitchen floor scrubbed (guess this would require some sweeping too which has to happen several times a day now that Youngest tries to do it with her belly or tongue)
3. Put recently boxed clothes (from Youngest) in the basement. I was going to get rid of them but I may need them if someone ever places a baby with us.
4. Hang up Youngest's curtains that have been waiting so patiently to do their job.
5. Practice with both Oldest and Middle.
6. Read stories to everyone.
7. Clean out car and take the vac to it.
8. Help Middle clean his room.
9. Take passport renewal form to post office.
10. Cook.

Reality

1. Remember to transfer wash from washer to dryer within three hours.
2. Use a wet Swiffer cloth on each foot for kitchen skating.
3. I think I can handle number three.
4. At least find the screws to hang up the curtain rod in the future.
5. Get Oldest practicing and scream a little encouragement now and then over fussy baby.
6. This one stays.
7. Clean out the front seat of car.
8. Tell Middle he gets one small cookie for every ten things he picks up on his own.
9. Leave renewal form in car for some other opportune moment.
10. Reheat.

AUGH!

I just got an email from a friend. You have to be careful with this internet thing. I sent her the addy to this blog but forgot part of the title and she ended up at someone else's icky ol' blog. I didn't even think to check out where else people could end up if they didn't quite have the correct site.

Did I Ever Graduate?

I'm not talking about a university. I'm talking K.

Last night I called a friend to ask her what the letter of the week was for Middle. It's letter L. She said she sent her daughter with a flashlight. I sat there confused for a minute going fff, ffff, ffff, flashlight. This couldn't be too tricky. I finally asked her why she sent that and she said it was a light. Duh. Middle is taking a lizard if we can find it. There is nothing tricky about a lizard (well, except the fact that ours is really an iguana thus giving us the same problem as flashlight L word).

The kids had violin lessons yesterday. Oldest let it slip that she only learned her new song in the 15 minutes before her lesson. It's too bad she had to tell her teacher. She did a pretty good job with it and we just may have been able to make it look like she practiced.

Lastly, I got a call from the PTA (at least I think it was them). I am now the head room mom for Middle's class. I know the mom who called but obviously she didn't know me well enough to know that I can barely keep my head on straight let alone lead moms in doing things for the class. I said yes because I figure the more involved I am in Middle's class the better off he will be.

I'm sure there will be other adventures to report on later. I have to help in Middle's class today and I am certain there will be entertaining tales to tell.

Kickstand??????????

We were leaving for K today and Middle says to me, "Mom, you know that girl, our neighbor, she has a kickstand."

What? Our neighbor just had surgery on her knee and I couldn't imagine her out riding bikes. Then I saw what he was talking about.

She was walking with a cane.

Ha!

Twins?

I almost forgot the funniest thing from today's race. Middle made a friend like he always does when we go somewhere. Usually these quick friendships involve inviting the other to a birthday party or to go on some adventure. Of course, since the kids are rarely on a first name basis nothing happens.

Today Middle was playing with this cute little African American boy. They were having the grandest time climbing this and that, racing, jumping, etc. You get the picture. So I told Middle to stay a little closer because I didn't want him getting to far and the other little boy comes up and tells me that they are twins. Middle nodded his head in agreement and off they went.

Later, I asked Middle about it and he said, "No, we aren't really twins. His hair is different."

Oh, how I love kids!

The Big Race Day

Today Oldest and I did a race. Of course that is if you call what I do racing. It's more like bouncing up and down a little while checking the path to make sure I'm moving forward. On Thursday, I was driving the girls to ballet and Oldest told her friends she was running a 5k on Saturday. I tried to reassure her that it wouldn't be scary and I would stay with her the whole time. She informed me that she planned on going on ahead of me.

So this morning DH got up early and ran the 20 miles TO the race. Of course, the kids and I drove to the race. On the way there Middle tells Oldest she should not stick with me and follow the other adults. He told her if she wanted to try to get a medal she had better ditch me.

The little thing did. We started out and within 100 yards she decided to zoom ahead. I warned her that it was a long race and that she would get tired but she didn't care. She just ran off without any worries. Fast forward to the end of the race. She beat me by over 3 minutes. The little turkey even medaled.

You know, I had planned on using Oldest as my excuse for being so dang slow and she literally ran away with my excuse. The good news is, we both finished, I only had a few happy tears when she went up to get her medal in the 14 and under girls category, and show and tell is taken care of for next week.

Onto other news-

Middle left one of the bathroom sinks going last night. It's obvious that we need to put some Draino down that drain. It ended up all over the basement, the counter, oh and down in the basement too. LOVELY! DH was less than thrilled as we discovered this as we were going to go to bed. I told him that the silver lining was that Middle did brush his teeth and that the counter was clean. I can't get too mad because the last person to have a sink spill over and cause flooding into the basement was oh, ME, and I was an adult.

Middle was on a roll this week. He got his card pulled at school for being a talker. I guess there are worse things. His teacher said he really isn't a problem, just chatty. I'm just glad he isn't getting in trouble for being mean.

One day this week he was not being careful and was swinging something around and it almost hit my violin. I told him to be careful as the violin is worth as much as a smaller and older car. His response, "Wow. That's pretty pricey." Where does a 5 year old boy lean pricey. The strange kid.

Youngest has been a little napping pill for the last week. Twice she just wouldn't go down in the morning despite the fact that she is rubbing her eyes. She is just so interested in what's going on that she hates to miss anything. I keep thinking her teeth are poking through on the top but they aren't. They are just so close that you can really see them. She also has been trying to imitate DH snapping. She started eating Cherrios this week and I am thrilled about that. Those little Gerber puffs are a fortune. So now we are finding Cherrios everywhere.

Lastly I bottled some pearsauce and applesauce this week. I hate to grumble but what a pain in the behind. I like having it but really it takes forever and a day to get it done. And that's just two quarts. I have two more bags of apples to do and I am finito! I did some apple rings too and Oldest and Middle had a great time using the peeler corer machine. I'll admit to using it myself when they were at school to have a cool spiral apple.

And that's it! More happened but of course I don't remember it and will when it isn't convenient to blog. Oh such is life!

Just Another Saturday

DH did a half marathon this morning. He beat his previous time by over a minute and this course was harder. Luckily, this time he didn't end up falling into a heap with an injury like the one last month. He was 6th in his age group and 89th overall. Not bad.

I was a bit inspired to get my keester in gear. When I was running a couple of years ago I got a friend to start running. We did a 5k together and then we stopped. Well, a couple of years later and a kid later for me she did the 13.1 miles. I was so proud of her. She said she managed to run the whole thing. What's amazing is that she was pretty speedy too. So I will be getting my butt off the couch a bit more. Yesterday I didn't run but I took Middle and Youngest out for an hour before K and then we went out again after (Middle on the bike).

Speaking of taking them out. We did it for a reason. Youngest would NOT go down for a morning nap yesterday. It got late enough that I just wanted to hold her off and put her down when that bio clock said it was time for the afternoon. I'm not ready for her to lose that nap and neither is she. I don't know if it's the mouthful of teeth trying to come in or what.

Back to our day today. We had the race, went to the farmers market where all we ended up buying was tomatillos, home to find a 'rock star' costume for a birthday party Oldest was attending, off to the movie store to return a movie and avoid a late fee, and then dropped off Oldest to her party. For the rest of the day I have the lawn to mow, laundry to do (does that ever end?), a house to clean up enough to have a teenage babysitter over, and a church meeting for adults only. We could take Youngest as she is a baby but it's her bedtime anyway and that would make for a miserable night. You hate to make people without kids wonder if they really want any.

So once again, is it an exciting day? No way. Just a normal ol' Saturday. You know, it's the weekend, time off work (yeah right).

It only got better

Another update for today. This already crowned mom of the year decided to help her kids get some exercise by walking home from school. I left when it was a little breezy. Within 3 minutes it was pretty dang windy. Still, I continued on. I got to the school on time (a feat for me today) and met the two kids. Yep, in the few minutes that we were in the school it started pouring. When it looked to be letting up I started pushing Youngest and called for the other two to join. Wouldn't you know there was a hail storm on the way home and we were hailed on. Luckily they were kind of slushy maybe not true hail. I'm hoping it makes for a good memory.

Mom of the Year

This was Middle's sixth day of school. He was late. Of course there is a story behind this. Middle was supposed to start morning swim lessons today. We went and signed him up just last night. The kid was thrilled. This past summer he ended up with 3 days of lessons total due to a broken arm.

The morning went like this. Get up, feed baby, make pearsauce, bottle pearsauce, get Oldest off to school, clean Kitchenaid so a neighbor can borrow it to make applesauce, hurry excited Middle off to swim lessons 25 min away, realize while driving Middle's homework is not done, tell him it really is okay to do your homework at the last minute in the car, arrive at the pool, go wait for swim teacher, (this is all done prior to 10am), then wait.

We sat there and watched the old ladies in the pool bounce around. We sat and watched the life guard. I kept glancing to see if the teacher was coming. I notice that there were NO kids there. I didn't expect a bunch of kids because of a recent outbreak of Cryptosporidium. Kids under 5 aren't allowed in the pools right now. Still, there wasn't a kid to be seen. Finally I went to the lifeguard and asked him about lessons. He sent me to the lifeguard office where I was told there are NO morning swim lessons. I couldn't believe it. I just signed him up last night. They said they should have known not to sign us up. I went back to tell Middle that he was out of luck and there would be no lessons, that the quick rinse shower I made him take before was for nothing. Maybe we both should be glad. I would hate for my boy to have 'Crypto' but I wish they would have mentioned it last night so I wouldn't have made the trek. This pool had recently been closed for cleaning and so I thought maybe they had been declared safe or something.

So there is one vote for mom of the year.

Vote 2 came from Mom trying to buy Middle's happiness with a Happy Meal. Of course Middle was as happy as a clam with a new junk toy with a junk lunch.

Vote 3 was getting Middle to his 6th day of K late. The kid was 5 minutes late. I'll fess up and say the whole this was over a pair of 74 cent socks that I was buying youngest. Only mom of the year will stand in a line for over 10 minutes for a 74 cent pair of socks.

I get Middle to school, come home, get Youngest down for a nap, and then realize that Middle needed to have an apple for school today. I have 5 giant bags of them in my car to make applesauce. But Youngest was sleeping. I called a neighbor to see if she would sit in her front yard and make sure all was well at my house while I zoomed over to the school. I ran two apples in thinking that maybe leaving an extra for another mom of the year's kid would make up for me being a slackhead. I dropped the apple off and zoomed home. When I thanked my neighbor she informed me that the apples were supposed to be sent YESTERDAY.

Way to go Mom.

Did I mention I made pearsauce? That has to count for something. Right?

Mama Bear

I know Middle is an 'high energy' kid. He is definitely not the sit and hold still type of kid. DH and I warned his K teacher about this before school started and told her that if there are any problems to please communicate them to us quickly. Everyday after school he has said he was on green, meaning his card hadn't been pulled for misbehaviour. I was feeling victorious. Why was I feeling that way? It wasn't me in there behaving or misbehaving. All it was showing was that he would be better for someone else. It's not exactly a victory to know that your own kid won't be good for you but will be good for others. My bubble burst this morning when a friend told me that another friend's kid had mentioned Middle got in trouble at school. If this were a play the stage directions here would be 'Enter Mama Bear.' Immediately I got a little bit defensive of my baby bear. Instead of just saying something like, "Hmmm, thanks for the info." I explained that he had been on green all week, yadda yadda.

I think the fact that he might have misbehaved wasn't nearly as troublesome as thinking people were talking about my baby bear. I can handle people saying whatever about me but when it comes to the baby bears it's a different story. I walked him to school and quickly asked Mrs. A how he has been, if there had been any problems and she said none. I guess some kids in class have had problems but not Middle. I spent over an hour worked up over what another five year old told his mom who told another person. I don't think it's Middle that I need to worry about. It's me worrying too much about what other people think.

And with that, I am off to try to clean my house. I would just croak if someone stopped by and saw it this way ;)

Labor Day

Somehow my family misunderstood Labor Day. I think instead of resting from one's labors they thought it should be Mom's day to labor.

There is always much to be done though thanks to a dryer that takes almost 3 hours to dry. I know way back when they didn't even have dryers and I should be grateful but my goodness, THREE hours. Of course if I was better about resetting it right after it went off I could probably cut that down to 2 1/2. I didn't even leave the house yesterday.

Last night I realized that Oldest had homework due today. I don't know if I should be more concerned that we had both forgotten that she had homework and were staying up after bedtime to get it done or if I should be worried that a week's worth of homework only took five minutes. What's the point I ask you?

We went to a baby blessing on Sunday. At the luncheon after I carefully selected foods that wouldn't have milk in them (or so I thought). After eating I asked the hosts who made the potatoes and learned who did it and that the magic ingredient was cream of mushroom soup and cream itself. No wonder they were good. Anything is yummy that is forbidden. Youngest started getting diarrhea that night and it hasn't stopped yet. Her poor little tummy.

She did a few standing sessions on Sunday without anyone holding her. She looks terrified to fall. Her little lip was quivering away. Maybe she'll be a good walker just so she doesn't have to fall down. My nephew was there on Sunday. They are five months apart and he is about as big as she is. I don't know if it's that he is big, she is little, or a combination of the two. It does look funny to see her so mobile and animated and see him lay there without moving a whole bunch.

Off I go to get moving on this day. Middle just came in and told me something about 'baketsball' on the television. He has just finally mastered saying yellow instead of lellow and now he has a new one. Oldest still says 'mazagine' and I just can't correct her much because I think it's adorable.

First Steps

Youngest took her first unassisted steps today. She is 8 1/2 months old. Still, that's pretty good for a preemie. Did I mention I missed them. I was outside talking to a neighbor and Dad had her. He was out of town this week and I was the one that missed the first steps.