Comments from the Peanut Galleries

We often say it took Shelby a while to start talking but once she did she has never stopped! She has quite a vocabulary and knows for the most part how to use more difficult words (for a 4 yr old) in the right context and with the right expression. Thus the idea behind this posting.
- To really get a good laugh you should hear her on a pretend telephone call. I wish I could get that on video or recorded somehow. She is really good at the disgusted reaction when the person on the other end doesn't appear to hear correctly. The scary thing is listening to that gives you a pretty good idea of how you sound on the phone!
- Tonight before I went to Bible Study she came in from the backyard with some flowers she had plucked. She said they were for the wedding. What wedding? I asked. The wedding where I am marrying Carson (neighbor boy).
- Tonight after Bible Study I was trying to grab her to get her focused on bed. She was going on about something while running around and then when I grabbed her hand she said, "Wanna dance?". I thought Nate was going to choke. He said she is so quick with what she can come up with. I said ya she is quick with just about everything except what she should be doing. He was still chuckling about it 3o minutes later. Another reason for this post.
- One of her favorite things to say these days is, "Here's the deal". I always tell her I don't make deals with 4 year olds!
I could go on and on with this one but I must save some space for little sis. She like her sister is quite a talker. When she went along to Shelby's open house for preschool the teachers asked how old she was because she could talk better than some of the 3 year olds they get in class. It is fun to sit back and see what things she has picked up from Shelby.
- Shelby usually has to have tomorrow's clothes picked out before bed. Tonight after I put Morgan in bed she said she needed her gymnastics suit out for tomorrow.
- Picking up on Shelby's "Here's the deal", Morgan doesn't say that but this is exactly what she is doing. She says things like, "I eat pineapple and I go to bed". That is what she said tonight. Her deals always have to do with nap time or bedtime.
- Today when she and I came out of Sears you could smell restaurant food. She said, "What is that smell?" I said, "food". She says, "McDonald's food"? Why are their little minds just stuck on those golden arches?
- Last week she was sitting with Nate and a Steak N Shake commercial came on . She told him, "We go there in your car to get lunch".

Well I could go on and on but I want you readers to keep coming back for more so I will wrap this up. If only we could always have RECORD going to capture all this.

The Secret Pooper

Morgan. In other posts I have told you about some of her pooping issues. Lately, whenever she disappears into the toy room and is rather quite I ask her, "what are you doing in there?" because I know she is standing in the corner pooping her pants. Her excuse these days is, "I'm hiding from my daddy". I have mentioned before the girls hide when they hear dad come home at night. When it is 10 AM or 1 PM - bad excuse. Long time hiding if you are waiting for daddy. Get your lazy stubborn self into the bathroom and poop on the pot kid!

More Pain!

More pain today but not so much physically. Our wash machine that we bought in 2003 needs to be replaced. The cost to fix the one we have is almost double the price of a new one! As they say, "When it rains, it pours"!

About the pain I did have with the kidney stone. It is like it was just a bad dream. That is what I keep telling people who ask how I'm feeling. Like it never happened! I'm so thankful I live in the time of modern medicine because once I got some drugs in me it never hurt again!

Dying? No - But It Sure Felt Like It!

When I woke a little before 6 this morning my right side was very sore. I thought maybe I slept on it too long but since we sleep in a water bed that doesn't usually happen. It wasn't long and I was feeling nauseous and like I really had to go to the bathroom. The only problem was I couldn't go to the bathroom and soon I was looking into the bottom of the toilet. I vomited 3 times at home before heading to the ER and once after I got there. After making a few phone calls we got the girls squared away and off we went. Heading to the hospital I was reminded of the delivery of my 2 girls. I entered through the ER since I went in during the middle of the night both times. And I have always heard kidney stone pain is the closest thing a guy is going to get to labor pains. And that is how I felt going there. The pain I was in and the pressure I was feeling like I wanted to push a baby out was all too familiar! The only difference is the baby you bring home is worth the labor but I can't say the same for the 3 mm stone I collected during my first potty break once I got home. I have to take it in for evaluation but hopefully I am 1 and done with kidney stones! I called my roommate from college Traci who gets kidney stones like the common cold and told her I somewhat understand how she was feeling that night I laid in bed with her and rubbed her back and listened to her vomiting echo through the dorm bathroom. And all these years later I now realize my rubbing her back did absolutely nothing for her except maybe some moral support. And she usually has to have her stones blasted to be broken up to pass or have them removed. When I parted ways yesterday with my sister-in-law Jill she said she couldn't wait to see what the next Blog posting would be. I never would have guessed this would be it! And last but not least, thanks to my hubby who cancelled his haircut, took me to the ER and sat with me, listened to my pain filled babbling and cries for help he couldn't give me and he didn't even use his Blackberry (well - today did happen to be his school's switch over for email and he couldn't and they also don't want you using cell phones in that part of the hospital). :) But seriously, he did tell me on Saturday this week was going to be one of his busiest since school started so I do appreciate his willingness to take most of the day off.

Nothing New.... Just Some Thoughts

Since it has been a week I thought I would just leave some thoughts about the girls. Shelby is doing good at school. Her biggest challenge is sharing the next door neighbor boy with the other students! She is used to monopolizing him when they play together. He has some friends from last year's 3 year old class so she has to get used to that. I got there early to pick her up one day last week. Her class soon came out to play so I sat back and watched. She didn't want to share Carson with the other kids on the tire swing so she went off to do her own thing. It wasn't long and she spotted Ethan who was playing by himself collecting lady bugs. She convinced him to play with her. I think that is what she likes - 1 on 1 focused playing. It seems she prefers the boys. I think because most girls can't keep up with her and the boys can. She likes the challenge. :) Her teacher told me the other day she was the only one who responded "Good morning, Judy" when she greeted the class. Everyone else just said "Good morning". Thankfully the next door neighbor Claire offered for her to come play while I take Morgan to gymnastics so I don't have to deal with the meltdowns. Now I just have to convince Morgan she can't stay to play with Carson and Henry she has to go to gymnastics. If it isn't one thing it is another around here!

And Morgan. She wants to do everything Shelby does except for go on the potty. I can't totally blame her. I haven't put too much effort into training her. I have washed up the panties but I am taking advantage of the convenience of diapers. Last Sunday she was playing in the toy room (the corner behind the rocking chair is her "pooping spot"). Nate was at his office, Shelby was still napping and I was working in the living room. She had been in the toy room for a while and then came out to the living room. I asked her what she was doing in there. The answer, "Pooping my paints. I called my daddy and he come home to change me." Well good luck with that. The girl loves to chew bubble gum. We ate breakfast out this morning with some friends and she got a piece of gum at around 10:30. She just went down for a nap at 2:00 and I had to make her throw the gum away. She was still chewing it! And if you open a can of pop...... sprint race! She will come running as fast as she can. It doesn't matter how far away she is she can hear that. It's too bad they don't hear as well when you are saying, NO!

Jr. Painters

My mom asked me if I had included any pictures of the girls helping paint their toy room in my recent posting. I realized I hadn't done that. They begged and begged to help and finally Nonny allowed them to paint on the last blocks of painting day 1. So here are some photos of the helpers. They actually did a pretty good job and stayed on the blocks they were supposed to.

This is the result of the hard work. I told Shelby she didn't have to take a nap that day but she crashed with dad in the chair. They were nice and cozy until daddy felt something warm and wet on his leg. Since Shelby didn't plan on napping she didn't potty before crashing. So tinkle, tinkle on daddy! As they say, "When you got to go, you got to go"!

Morgan's First Day of Gymnastics

Today was Morgan's first day of gymnastics. Here is a picture of the little miss in her suit. Let me tell you - worse than labor pains. I told Nate I would rather deliver another baby than do today again. First of all, Shelby. Let's just say she is having a hard time accepting the fact that little sis is going to participate in the same activity as her. She had issues from the time she got out of bed. She was going to look ugly in the clothes I picked out for her. And then Morgan put on her new leotard. And then when we got to gymnastics she found out Morgan's teacher is Miss Kelsi. Miss Kelsi was Shelby's teacher at the end of last year that she really liked. She was always impressed she could sing the theme song to ScoobyDoo since she too was a fan. And I guess she didn't believe me that she couldn't have a snack at gymnastics if she didn't eat her breakfast. So big time meltdown when I didn't have one for her. Thankfully Nonny Mary was here to take her outside for some fresh air. I have to participate with Morgan so Shelby is going to be waiting along the side by herself. And then Morgan. I don't know how old long it will be before she understands that gymnastics does involve some grace. She had no interest in the stretching. All she wanted to do was hang upside down by her knees at the bar and jump on the trampoline. Once she got to the trampoline her goal was to jump as high and hard as she could and then fall down. We couldn't get her to understand the whole idea is to stay on your feet. With her I wonder if we would be better off just skipping gymnastics and go straight to trampoline training! I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since lately her favorite thing to do is jump to the floor from the top of Shelby's bed or her toddler chair at the table which is as tall as a highchair seat. Hopefully things will get better as each week goes on.

First Day of School

Today was Shelby's first day of Preschool. She did good. Just a little extra crabby afterwards. Hopefully it will take only one day to convince her she really needs to go to bed at night and we aren't just making that up to be mean parents. It was not unusual that I had to wake her this morning. While she was laying in bed she said it was hard to sleep with her stomach grumbling all night. This is what she had to say, "My stomach grumbled and then it said Errr like a chipmunk and then grumbled some more". I didn't see any point in asking her how she knew what a chipmunk sounded like. As you can see in the pictures Morgan has her bag and is ready to go to school too. She has always been in the pictures with Shelby so I have to take one with her and then say OK now just Shelby. She is good at stepping aside. Fortunately the next door neighbor boy is in her class. I tried to take a picture of her in the classroom. She was looking at the camera when I started but before the picture was complete she turned her head to see where Carson was playing at. When the picture was done she took off and we didn't even get the chance to say see ya later! We were rocking after we got home and I asked what her favorite part of school was today she said, "The cheese balls". Snack time, why of course!

A Facelift for the Toy Room

I haven't posted much lately because all of my free time for the past 2 weeks has been in redecorating the girls' toy room. Sometime after Shelby turned 1 and all of her toys seemed to be accumulating in our living room, I decided to make the formal living room we didn't really use into the toy room. The room had the original wallpaper from when we moved into the house almost 11 years ago. It wasn't horrible but terribly boring for 2 little girls. I tore off the paper myself and then my mom came over the weekend to paint. I think after we painted Morgan's bedroom in 2 tones of purple with 3 inch stripes we would never do such a thing again. But never say never. The girls now have a true girly pink gingham toy room. Here are some photos:

I still have a few things to finish. New curtains, lamp shade, I want to put pink polka dots on the PLAYTIME letters & I want a strip of cork board to hang above the wall shelves to display some of their church & school work. I hope the pictures show the true color of pink. It is not an overwhelming shade or even Pepto pink. Shelby was afraid if I painted the room pink her dad would not go in it again to play. That's funny because after 4 years this is the first "pink" in our house outside of clothes. When we found out Shelby was going to be a girl, that announcement alone was enough to freak Nate out. So I knew there was no way I could do her bedroom pink. Funny thing about that is the room was pink as a spare bedroom before I painted it yellow for Shelby's new room. And then when Morgan came along and yet another girl, I still didn't go pink. She got purple. And their bathroom is yellow & purple. So what other choice did I have for girls than to go with PINK?! And yes, daddy said he would still go in the toy room - even if it is pink!

The Energizer Bunny Needs Charged

We call Shelby the Energizer Bunny. She keeps going, and going and going and doesn't seem to wear out. Well the bunny crashed after a big day yesterday. She always asks at night what the next day is and what we are going to do that day. I told her we were going to the doctor for her school physical (where she received 4 shots), then to her preschool open house and then we had AWANAS at church after naps. Her response was, "That's too much for me". I guess she was right. When I checked in on her before I went to bed this is what I found:

The bunny couldn't even make it to the bed! And rest she needed. As I type this at 9:30 am I hear her just getting up.