Preschool Playdate

The girls and I are headed over to the playground at preschool. It's kind of a summer mixer, get-to-know-you, sort of event. Annie will see some of her friends from last year's class, and Elizabeth will be meeting some of her classmates for the first time.

Lots of firsts around here these days.

New tooth!

Mary, at 19 weeks of age, has sprouted her first tooth. I felt the sharp edge last night at bedtime, when she grabbed my hand and started chomping. The new tooth cutting seemed to trouble her & keep her from falling asleep.

In other developmental news, she rolls from back to tummy and from tummy to back. Her sisters delight her and provoke deep belly laughts. She will post, and use her legs to push herself forward. This often results in her face mashing into the carpet rather than any kind of scooting forward, but she's working on it. She is also working on strengthening her back muscles to sit unassisted, but she still needs some assistance as yet.

These first four and half months have flown by.

Potty Time!

Elizabeth is not learning to use the potty. For several months now, she would play at going potty. She would climb up on the toilet, wait, say "all done", then make unholy messes by stuffing as much toilet paper as she could into the commode.

I wondered aloud to Hubs when would Elizabeth start using the potty?

He had a hunch that one day, when no one was watching, she'd secretly slip away to the bathroom and sort it all out.

He was right. Elizabeth did just that.

She's been having success using the bathroom, wearing her Big Girl Princess Panties, and she's even spent an entire day dry. She's also creating opportunities to strip buck naked. She's been streaking in the library. I thought most girls waited until sorority rush to do something like that.

Happy Birthday Soldier

My brother is deployed on his third tour of duty to Iraq. He's sleeping in a ten man tent with little internet access, so I doubt he's ever going to see this, but I wish him a happy birthday just the same. Um, get past the first 30 seconds then it's entertaining.

Added Element!

As I've told you before, I'm little more than a monkey banging on a keyboard. Coding, features, and all that computer stuff that makes a blog cool is new to me. So the first step in updating my blog and making it cool was adding a label cloud.

Um, I totally found a tutorial online and followed the directions. Worked for me.

P.S. This does mean that I need to go into the archive and update posts with labels.

I'm going to try to read up on blogging in my spare time, but in the meantime, I figured I'd keep posting so at least there was new content while I figured out features.

So, is it just me, or does 'spare time' sound like an oxymoron?

Making the blog better?

So I'm faced with a decision.

Here's a decision I already made. I decided after looking at a few other blogs, that I liked some of their features and wanted them on this blog. Since I'm a non-techical person (aka a monkey typing at a keyboard) I thought I might be able to search google for the content and features I wanted. The wealth of information is staggering. First off, in order to play the game, I needed to learn the lingo. Apparently one of the things I liked was a 'tag cloud.' I didn't even know that starting out. As I searched and read, then searched and read some more, the more I learned that there is a lot of information out there on how ot make a blog better. There is vast room for improvement on this blog.

So the decision I'm faced with is do I want to put in the time to spiff this up? Or do I keep it as is, with my sister and brother in law checking in occassionally. My husband says he reads it too, but so far, I can't tell. Hm, it sounds like a bit of a time committment, but possibly also a new hobby.

Why yes, the blog did get a haircut

Or a new look at least. I was hoping that going with a different template would let me do a few different things in the sidebars....but none of my options changed. Am I gonna have to learn me some html? Dang-nabbit.

We miss Mary!

My sister flew in from Seattle and spend a week visiting. Some highlights from the trip include:

1. Elizabeth roaring like a t-rex at house flies in an attempt to scare them away.

2. Mary introducing the girls to Outkast's "Hey Ya" by telling them they were dancing to the dinosaur song.

3. Going to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum and having Elizabeth insist on seeing the t-rex bones, only to yelp in fright, run away, then insist to take another look. The girl likes being scared.

4. Annie bickering with her sister and telling her that her lunch will be "Bacon poo in a big bowl!" While it was unkind and was disciplined, keeping a straight face on that one was hard work.

5. Getting to watch a movie with my sister. She suggested Stardust. Good pick.

6. On the last morning of Mary's visit, Annie woke up and over the baby monitor sang, "Aunt Mary, I'm awake! Let's play hibernating bears now." A game where they sat under a blanket and pretended to be bears.

I'm sure there are more. Mary, would you care to chime in?

the 'hood

Baptism

Mary Eileen as she was baptized yesterday, or as Annie likes to say, "Bathtized."

Baby Mary Pic

Thought my limited readership might like to see a picture of Annie, Baby Mary, and I at the hospital when Mary was born. Mary arrived March 31, 2009. She weighed in at 9 lb 8 oz, and was 21 inches long. Enjoy!

Heard 'round Here

A three almost four year old can come up with some funny things to say.

"But my feet are gentle"
"I don't want to ruin my pickle-appetite"
"Um, what were we talking about?"
"Dad, I have to wash my hands! I was digging around my nose."

Multiple Choice Test

Just one question. Pick one:

a) dishes
b) laundry
c) paperwork

Blog Feeder

I think I signed up to receive a blog feed on blogs I follow. I think I have also made my blog available for view? Pretty much point and click.

Sisterly Love

Mary, new, cosleeps with Mommy&Daddy. The older girls also coslept with us when they were younger and like to return to the bed sometime during the night. I mention this to set the scene I saw this morning.

Elizabeth, 2, woke up in our bed, facing Baby Mary. Mary was already awake, and smiled a big toothless baby smile at Elizabeth as she opened her eyes.

Elizabeth smiled back, sat up and said, "Meme likes me." E then stroked Mary's face and said "There Meme. My Meme. Our baby." And laughed.

Mother's Day

I was driving with the kids. (Incidentally, you can fit three carseats in the back of a 2006 Honda CRV.) Annie, 3, starts talking about Mother's Day. She states her intention to make a card for me. Elizabeth, 2, chimes in "Me too!" to show her ethusiastic willingness to also make a card for Mommy. Annie, thinking that Elizabeth has volunteered to help Annie with her card, tells Elizabeth very firmly that no, she can't help. I clarify that Elizabeth wants to make her own card, and Annie is molified. Annie asks if she can make the card when we get home. I informed her that Mother's Day was several days away and she had plenty of time to make a card for Mommy. She then asked if I would help her make the card. I told her that Daddy would be happy to help her. She then asked why Daddy would help and not Mommy.

Mommy: Well, Honey, you're making a card for Mommy.
[Lightbulb going off in a three year old's head]
Annie: Oops.

Three Children

Adding a new baby to the mix has been a little cra-zy. And at the same time, I heard a song on the Christian radio station that sang "Whatever my lot, it is well with my soul" and that explains adding a new baby tot he mix pretty well too.

Still Pregnant

I'm 39 weeks today and showing no signs of impending labor. That's all that's relevant about labor.

About pregnancy though, I'm nesting like crazy today. You know what's getting my attention and MUST be cleaned? Fingerprints and smudges off the wall. I'm also working on catching up laundry because I don't want any phone calls asking where something is nor do I want to think about it during the babymoon.

Happy Birthday to me!

And my nephew Joey.