Originality.

There is nobody....NOBODY quite like you...

...and we've entered a new phase in parenting. 

We've turned some imaginary corner. Something's changed. 

External influences?

Internal or external motivator changes?

Simple reactions to our familial changes? 

Developmental changes that are just par for the course?

We don't know...

....and so far, we don't know if we're doing this whole 'parenting' thing right. 

You seem to be a big fan of testing boundaries...

and you attempt negotiation in all situations. 

Then you're like a rubber band: you see how far you can stretch, 

and then you snap back to the super-cuddly-need-to-snuggle sensitive boy that you've always been.

Buddy, we're trying. 

Right here, right now, that's all I can say.

I think right now, we've all got growing pains.

If you end up in therapy some day, I'm sure it will be all my fault. 

The mom always gets blamed. 

{Do you think I don't think about that every.single.day!?}

...but we must be doing something right: you still ask to get tucked in every night. 

...you still want me to set you up for your bath. 

...you still kiss me in public. 

...you dance with your sister and tell her that you love her. 

...you want to throw the ball with your Daddy. 

...you still ask me to pray with you. 

....we will get through these growing pains.

{what other choice have we?}

Fabulosity.

 

Yeah, it's a new word. 

I totally just made it up. 

It's her. 

It's all her.

To quote Philip, "that girl's got personality!"

Yes.

Yes, she does. 

And she's not afraid to use it.

Self-service-soothing....

Poor baby girl...teething pain is terrible! But know what helps? Cold metal. Seriously, BOTH of my kiddos have loved cold metal on their gums. Eliette has taken it to a whole new level: soothing herself on the metal of the kitchen stools.

It's sad, but kinda funny....

Oh shit.

Well, that didn't take long...

That's the baby gate she's opening....

"Guys! You've got to make sure the gate latches behind you when you run upstairs and leave her behind!"

Just a random morning....

"Bye, Brother! Have a good day at school!"

Watermelon.

One of Gage's first and favorite fruits: watermelon.

There he was at about 8 months old, eating watermelon....

So far, that's the only textured food that Eliette will even consider eating...and really, she played with it more than she ate any...

When she was done:

Which led to:

{Everybody loves a yummy, clean baby!}

To my surprise: watermelon STAINS.

So, with Eliette, she's just not into textured foods at all. We've got this little net food holder thing to help introduce solids to her. At first, she wasn't sure what to do with it. Now, she's had watermelon, mango, & apple in there. She's fine to try foods that way, but if you give her any type of textured food or finger-pincher foods, she just gags and gags.

Watermelon was clearly a hit, though.

Happy Valentine's Day! 2014

Valentine's Day this year was....busy.

Baby girl was getting over a tummy bug and she stopped eating. I knew that she was kind of 'off,' you know?? Whatever. She still looked cute.

I found these Breaking Bad printable Valentines on Pinterest, so I wanted to incorporate that into my cupcakes for Hubby. We are behind, okay? While everyone else has been enjoying this show for years, we've just recently discovered it and watched it so fast! We finished the whole series in a matter of like 2 weeks.

So, our day started with Brother going to school, and us girls hanging in the kitchen...

And then, we had to get dressed to go to the dr. I mentioned that E was just "off" that day.... I got her dressed and she was crawling around the bathroom floor all fussy because I had to put her down to get myself dressed. Then she caught a glimpse of her "friend" in the mirror. She thought her "friend" looked pretty cute...

"I see you, Mommy!"

We headed out to the dr: strep throat. {Remember, I'm behind in blogging---this was her 2nd bout with strep throat, I've actually already blogged about it...}

When we got back home, I put Eliette down for a nap, and finished up our final V-Day treats so that they would be set up for Brother when he got home from school...

Brother's goodies:

Clearly, he had to sample a cupcake right away...after removing his shirt, of course. The blue sprinkles turned his lips and tongue blue, though it looks green in the picture....

Daddy's cupcakes:

The set up, complete with a heart shaped paper chain made by Gage at school:

Check out Sister's goodies from Gage:

I love how if he writes Eliette's name without me there to spell it out for him, he writes, "Elittle." So cute!

So, we had dinner at home that night....enjoyed sweets afterward....and how did I wrap up my evening? With my husband putting the kids to bed and me going to a late night MRI place to get an MRI of my hip. Good times. More on my hip at a later time.

Gravity Lessons.

Check out my forehead. Know what that is? Evidence of a gravity lesson. So, there's this thing, it's called gravity. Know what it does? It pulls me to the ground when I attempt to stand on my own. So far, I'm still undecided about whether or not I like gravity.

Know what I definitely like? Empty water bottles. Gravity works on them too. I bang them together until I drop them, and then my minions (they refer to themselves as parents) pick them up for me. It's kind of awesome.

Hahahaha....made them do it again. 

I guess this whole 'gravity' thing is acceptable.
For now.

Surprise!

2/8 started out as a lazy-daisy-Saturday....and I took Gage to baseball while Daddy stayed home with the baby.... My sweet boy is getting so big!

After that, I headed home, and scooped up the baby. Gage would stay home with Daddy and we girls would hit the road for a visit to Mema.

{My Mema is...90? 91? I can't remember right now as I post this. How about we say, 'she is in her nineties'??? She can't be alone any longer. She gets confused. She seems to slip in and out of knowing what is real or imagined. She's got very poor vision, which makes the real vs. imagined even more difficult to decipher. She can be quite unsteady on her feet. She forgets to ask for help with getting up and down... You get the picture. Well, she's been in & out of a rehab there in her home town, and even when she's there, one of her daughters or caregivers is there with her all the time. So, on this particular day, it happened to be Darnin's weekend. Yaaay for surprise visits! I talked to Darnin earlier in the day and didn't tell her that I was thinking about coming. I could tell in her voice that she needed a visit as much as we needed it. Again I say, Yaaay for surpise visits!!!!! Seriously---Darnin works 5 days a week and then spends most of her weekends with Mema. My other aunts do it too during the week, but they don't work...but everyone needs time off to handle their own households, responsibilities, etc. It's just a lot to juggle, but somehow they all seem to make it work. They're pretty amazing.}

Below is a picture of my Mema and one of her babies. My Aunt Pat gave her this one. You think about this woman, 90+ years old, who had seven children. How many years of her life were devoted to taking care of little ones? And now, with her dementia, she may not be able to distinguish between this doll and a real infant, but this baby (this is one of her two babies) gives her purpose. It keeps her busy. It gives her something to tend to and nurture.

...and when I get old, I want to be just like that. And I want someone to bring me a baby.
{Gage, Eliette: take notes.}

(As an aside: I cannot fail to mention here that Mema now seems to prefer her babies over live, active babies. Her babies mind. They are still. They aren't loud. They take their bottle when you feed them, and they lie still and sleep when you want them to. They never have poopy diapers or fight clothing changes. ...and this seems to be just the way she likes it! Besides, what mother doesn't prefer her own children over the rest??)

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Or...it was on 2/6/14!
After Gage went to school that day, it started snowing.

Daddy and Eliette watched the snow outside...and then of course, we all just had to get out there.

Baby it's cold outside!

...sweet little innocent thing. Oh, how I love you.

Super Bowl Sunday, 2014...

So, this year for Super Bowl Sunday I actually cooked up a nice meal for my husband. For fun, Gage went upstairs and asked Daddy for his order. There was only one entree on the menu, and luckily for Daddy, that's just what he wanted! He got to choose the beverage of his choice, so that was certainly something exciting for Gage to write down.

Back in the kitchen, Gage and I prepared a tray of dinner and yummy treats for Daddy and delivered them to him. He was thrilled to watch the game in the new media seats (oh, yeah, we got media chairs in the upstairs play room).

It wasn't long before we were all up there....Gage played with his Legos and cars, while this one fell asleep where she likes to sleep best!

In the end, I think Damon turned the game off before it was even over, and I'm sure I excused myself long before that to watch anything else... Football? Yawn. I can think of hundreds of other ways I'd prefer to waste time.

2/2: Let the Record Show...

...that Mommy was NOT the first person to give this child candy.

{I'm a total pushover for candy and sweet treats, and even letting Gage get 'sugar shots' of pure sugar from the sugar bowl. I've been reprimanded, chastised, warned, teased, made fun of, etc. about the candy issue as being the one who started/nurtured/developed his 'sweet tooth.' I'll just sit back and see how things play out this time around...}

1/31/14: A quick trip to the park

So, randomly on a Friday afternoon, a couple of us mommies and babies were able to meet up/walk to the playground. Yaaaay!

In this next little picture, it's funny because all of these babies were due & born one right after another. E was born in May, T was born in June, and D was born in July. Then, not pictured is L who was born in August. We all live just a few houses from each other. We've had our own little baby boom.
:)

Left to right: D, Eliette, & T.
D&T are cousins.

 Eliette also tried out the swing for the very first time that day. It was a hit!

...and here Brother is giving sweet kisses. He's such a great big brother!

Me and the kiddos. Good times....

1/25: Gage's Rough Day.

Gagie-Pagie and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day....that actually ended pretty okay...

Well, first there was the bicycle injury to the elbow.
Pavement: 1
Gage: 0

 ...and then there was the apple incident, where he learned a bloody lesson: loose teeth and whole apples just don't mix.

And in the end, the DREADED ToothFairy had to freaking come back to our house (he is so not a fan of hers) during the night, which means he was terrified and could NOT sleep in his own bed... But hey, before midnight, he was the happy recipient of shiny gold coins left by the ToothFairy herself. Hoo-ray!