Two Girls and A Wedding

We have a very busy weekend ahead of us!

My brother-in-law is getting (re)married tomorrow (Don't even get me started on this) and we are taking Maggie & Ellie. It is presumably going to be a very small ceremony since we just found out about it a couple of days ago. I have no idea what I'm going to wear, but I'm leaning towards trouser jeans, heels and hopefully something from my sister's closet. I'm going over tonight to "shop". I really don't care if I'm under-dressed.

Big Daddy and Maggie are both slightly perturbed (sp?) that they'll be missing their Saturday morning at the gym. I'm missing my three hours alone with Ellie and a little quiet time to read and partake in the 30 Day Shred.

Someone is hopefully getting a little brother or sister tomorrow. It's this guy...or is it a girl?? Big Daddy likes my little thingamajig so much that he told me to go back and get the smaller one too! I'm hoping that H.obby Lobby will still have one on their clearance aisle. I even found something around the house to fill it with and we both really like it.

Baby Ellie is extremely grumpy today. She has red, dry places on both hands where she's been gnawing on them. I'm expecting more teeth anytime. Poor thing is SO desperately trying to crawl, but she just can't get the hang of it yet.

Maggie has been the sweetest thing for the past couple of days! Now, that's worth writing about! Maybe she's trying to make up for her grumpy sister, but I'll take a well-behaved Muffin any way I can get her.

Sunday will be busy with church, lunch, nap, dinner and then Maggie goes to her Worship and Music class, we go to our parenting class and Ellie goes to the nursery. My sweet mommy friend A also bought the book that we're doing so we'll be comparing notes over the phone.

Someone's crying, so I'd better go!

Straight from the camera

I try to clean off the memory card in our camera every once in a while. Here are a few that made me smile today.

Me, Ellie and my mom went to H.obby Lobby today because I needed the apothecary jar of my dreams if it was still on the clearance aisle. I couldn't commit to it, but I got this little ditty. I took a picture of it on my mantle because I'm at a loss as to what to do with it. This is a close up.

The Muffin is such a sweet big sister. She's helping Ellie master the sippy cup.

The Muffin is obviously imitating her daddy.

I took several pictures of Big Daddy for him to post as part of his first assignment for his class.

I think these two look an awful lot alike!

I love the way the girls take over my bedroom in the morning while I'm completing the chores of the day. Muff brings her B.arbies in and gets busy!

Ellie loves to see where I am at all times. I love it when she looks over her shoulder at me.

The Muffin put Ellie's tea set in the fridge "so that the tea could cool". It's right above our sparkling cider from New Year's Eve.

Sometimes there's a puppet show before dinner.

Ellie and her sippy cup.

Random Stuff

Today has been one of my "do nothing" days. Meaning I did laundry, home-keeping and taking care of the kids and not a whole lot else.

My mom came over a little before lunch and I talked her into walking into our favorite pizza place to pick up salads for us to eat. She was much more presentable than I was and I was not about to go into the restaurant the way that I looked. I managed to put on my favorite black yoga-ish pants (which now have the smallest drop of bleach midway down one leg) and a "nice" t-shirt before she came. Baby Ellie puked all over herself. I was so relieved that I caught most of it in my hand and that the freshly cleaned hardwood floors were spared. I changed her clothes and then she puked all over me...and the hardwood floor just as my mom was arriving. I'm blaming her tummy troubles on teething, but who really knows!?

I'm on a break from the 30 Day Shred. I did it four days last week, and had planned on doing it three or four days this week, but I'm having shoulder issues. I'm pretty sure my shoulder hurts from doing normal little daily tasks while trying to hold my big ole wiggle worm! Baby Ellie is in that awkward phase where she desperately wants to crawl and she can't sit and play for more than a couple of minutes before she tries to get moving and falls or gets really mad and screams for her mommy. Once in a while, she gets really busy playing (like now) and I feel like I get a little break from trying to occupy her.

Big Daddy has a 5:30 meeting so he'll be late tonight. Once he gets home he'll eat dinner and then go up to the bonus room to do school stuff. Both Ellie and Maggie love it when he comes home, so it's hard for them to understand why he has to eat and run.

I did three loads of laundry yesterday and a load of diapers and still had a full load to do this morning. When I die, I'm pretty sure my tombstone will be shaped like a washing machine.

I'm officially ready for Spring. I know we still have a few months of winter ahead of us, but I'm ready for longer days, breaks from preschool and Big Daddy's school, long walks after dinner and trips to the beach.

The Weekend

Our little "date" went well. We ate at Panera (which is fast becoming our favorite place to eat out at) and went to T.arget. I think we were away from Maggie & Ellie for a little over three hours! I always feel like I'm in such a hurry to relieve their babysitter, a.k.a. Nana!

On Sunday, we went to church. Ellie's Sunday school teacher invited Maggie to join in the Spring semester of the "Worship & Music"/children's choir. I talked it over with Maggie and oitched it as sort of like K.indermusik. She was excited to go and seemed to have a really nice time. Big daddy and I dropped Ellie of in the nursery and went into the sanctuary for the Spring Discipleship kick off. We couldn't agree on a class to attend (he wanted "The Truth Project:Revisited" and I wanted "Have A New Kid By Friday"...maybe that was a sign that we should've signed up for "How to Build a Lasting Marriage"!) so we decided to stay in the sanctuary...then we decided to take the parenting class: "Have A New Kid By Friday". Of course, it's about modifying and changing your parenting methods more than your child! Kristen is talking about it today, so now I'm even more excited. The associate pastor and his wife are leading the class and they are parents of a strong-willed child, so it should be fun and interesting. I also ran into a parent from Maggie's preschool, so we should be able to talk a little between Sunday night classes. Big Daddy promises to read the book, but he may miss a few classes because he is resuming his MBA classes.

Anyway...I'm really excited about learning better ways to parent and getting to know a few people in our very BIG church.

So Exciting!!

First of all, Patrice Karst left a comment on my previous post about our library books! How exciting is that!? She is the author of The Invisible String. This just may be my new favorite book for older preschoolers! (Maggie has enjoyed it so much that I will probably purchase it in the near future.) I cannot wait to read Patrice's latest book The Smile That went Around The World.

Now for a little more excitement...Big Daddy and I are going on a date later today! My mom offered to keep Maggie & Ellie last week (as if she doesn't help us enough) so that we could have a little date, but we took them with us for a little lunch out. We really don't go out very much as a family, so it's hard to leave them behind. Other than our very rushed Christmas shopping date, this will be the first time we've been without both of them for a meal...except for the burgers that we had after we closed on our new house.

We decided to go for a late lunch so that Maggie & Big Daddy could go to the gym and so that we'll be home in plenty of time for bath and bedtime. We had picked out a restaurant and then five minutes later we were both leaning towards Panera! It's really cold outside, so soup sounds delightful!

And in other news, Maggie has planned her birthday party a few months in advance! She wants a "balloon cake", hot dogs, chips, ice cream and a party with Cousin Callie and just family. I went through all the possibilities of other cousins and friends, but right now it will just be my parents, my sister and her family and my two aunts. Maggie has become so shy so I really want to honor her wishes even though I want to invite my mommy friends and their kids. (And just so you know, we don't label her as shy in front of her, or at least I don't. I also don't encourage or force her to talk or hug people if she doesn't want to.)

Happy Weekend!

Library Books

Since we moved back to my hometown, I've started checking out books at the local library for The Muffin. I never checked out library books in Sanford, but we would always read at least one book in the children's room after Storytime each week. At our new library, we try to get a few books at a time and The Muffin also likes to get at least one movie. I've found that it's best to go any other time than Thursday before or after Storytime.

I usually only get to read the books a couple of times because Muff likes to make up or retell the story in her own way. This provides lots of entertainment for me and Ellie! I try to browse through the books to make sure that there aren't too many words and I also look for inappropriate words since I found the "F" word (fart, not fat or that other "f" word) in an Arthur book once. If a book has great illustrations then I'm more likely to want to read it to the girls.

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
There are lots of other How Do Dinosaurs ___ books to go along with this one. It would be great for a little boy or girl who is interested in dinosaurs or that needs a little help in one of the areas mentioned in the books.This has rhyming words and great illustrations. I remembered this one from our old library and thought it would be nice to read again.

Celestine Drama Queen by Penny Ives
I'm sure you can guess why I picked this one for our little drama queen!! Celestine is a little duck that wants to be a star! She creates little outfits for herself and sometimes insists on being called by a different name. (I think this book is about my Muffin) Maggie really enjoyed this story and it's illustrations. It had a few more words than what I like, but it was so cute!

Llama Llama Mad At Mama by Anna Dewdney
This is another series that we love! Llama Llama is a lot like Maggie too! Little Llama goes through lots of the same things that our toddlers go through from tantrums and separation anxiety (Llama Llama Misses Mama) to having trouble going to bed (Llama Llama Red Pajama). This book also has rhyming words which are great for teaching toddlers how to rhyme and keeping them interested in the story.

Along Came You by Karona Drummond, illustrated by Estelle Corke
This was the last book that I picked out and I'm sure it was the pink cover and glittery letters that caught my eye. And maybe that the mom and daughter on the front reminded me of me and my Muffin) This book would be sweet to give a new mom as a gift. The mom goes through all of the things that have changed in her life since she became a mother, from decorating her house to going out and about.

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst, illustrated by Geoff Stevenson
I started reading this one in the library and had to stop because it was that sweet. The mom tells her twins about an invisible string that always connects them to the ones that they love...even their loved ones in Heaven. The pictures are simple and cute and the story really stuck with Muff. I'm going to read this one to her several times and remind her of the invisible string that connects us when we're not close together.

Another Ordinary Day

I've been feeling a little bit like life is passing us by lately, so I'm going to try and take more pictures of the little things that we do during our days. Sort of a snapshot of our everyday life. I'd like for Maggie and Ellie to look back at our "scrapbook" and see a bit of all of the things that we did with them.

Tuesday- Here's The Muffin and Ellie doing what they do while I cook dinner. I had to go to get a four wheel alignment (or something) done on my SUV so my mom kept the girls for a little over an hour. I also made a quick stop by the library for new books, too. I grabbed five books really quick and they were all big hits with The Muffin! She made up stories to go with the pictures until I could read all five books to her while dinner was taking care of itself. I'll share a little about our books later on.

One of my favorite things about the kitchen is the way that the sun shines in the windows in the evening. At our old house, we watched the sunrise while eating breakfast, so this is a neat change.


Baby Ellie is always so happy to see her daddy when he gets home! She wiggles and waits for him to pick her up. Big Daddy has a bad cold this week, so he was already in his pajamas, but managed to remember to wear his cell phone.

This picture really shows the personalities of our two girls! The Muffin is so silly and can do her "cross eyed face" with absolutely no effort. Ellie is all smiles 90% of the time. She managed to get green beans all over her pants so I put on a pair of Babylegs (courtesy of Aunt Lisa) and of course, her sister needed some too. I'm not sure how Muff can run around without pants on all the time, but she does it and she very rarely ever complains of being cold. One of her new favorite looks is socks, p.anties and a shirt, with Babylegs thrown in there once in a while.

Wednesday- It looks like Dorothy is back! I can't say that I've missed her. We came in from preschool and The Muffin wanted to wear her Dorothy dress. I decided to get her clothes changed so that we could move on to lunch without any major tantrums. Of course, she needed pigtails too. About 25 minutes later, we were finally ready to eat.

I managed to accomplish lots while The Muffin was at preschool. I folded laundry (from the day before), played in the floor with Ellie, fed Ellie, put Ellie down for a nap, did the Shred, put laundry away and then gathered the stuff to do another load of laundry after lunch. A snapshot of my everyday life would always include laundry! Up next, I'm going to have a hot cup of Earl Grey tea, wash a load of diapers and clean the counter tops in the kitchen. I've learned that if I don't dry the granite after I wipe it the water spots drive me crazy, so this takes twice as long as it used to, but still not long at all.

Baby Ellie at 7 months

How can you be 7 months old Baby Ellie? It seems like only yesterday you were a helpless little bundle of baby lying so still and quiet in our arms. Today you are constantly moving or wiggling and trying to move somewhere. You are trying to figure out how to crawl and you scoot the slightest little bit on your bottom.

• When you wear disposable diapers you are in a size 3, but you are still cloth-diapered most of the time.
• You wear mostly 12 month clothes now, but you'll be in 18 month soon. You are so much chunkier than your sister was.
  
• You no longer like to take a bath. I put you in the tub one evening and you started crying when you used to laugh, smile and splash.
• You love your sister and you watch every move that she makes. You look at Maggie like she is the most interesting thing when she's playing with ponies or B.arbies.
• You and Maggie love to squeal really loud and then you laugh at yourselves.
• You are still waking up two times during the night to eat. I would love to sleep through the night, but it's sort of sweet that you need me.
• You love your hands and feet. You look at them as if they are a new discovery every time you see them.
• You get so excited when your Daddy comes home from work. You pant like a puppy and kick your legs until he acknowledges you or picks you up.
• You still cry 90% of the time when I walk out of the room.
• You seem to enjoy the nursery at church, but always cry when they change your diaper.
• You like to be carried in the sling most of the time, but you also enjoy the stroller or riding in the shopping cart when we go out.
• You enjoy going out to eat and people-watching.
• You still like all of your baby foods, but applesauce is your least favorite. I think your favorite is green peas, green beans and sweet potatoes.
• You like to watch me sweep and mop. You also thought it was very interesting when I used the drill to put up a curtain rod.
  

You are still the sweetest thing and you make us smile and laugh every single day.
We love you, Ellie Grace.

What I Learned This Week

I haven't joined in on "What I Learned This Week" lately, but I promise I've been learning! Here are a few things that I've learned lately. You can hop on over to Musings of a Housewife to share or read more.

-We may be through the "Dorothy dress" phase. It's been about a week and The Muffin hasn't insisted on wearing it all the time.

-The 30 Day Shred isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, but it's not easy. I have a hard time getting it done during nap time because there are about thirty things other things on my to-do list.

-Going to the grocery store alone is totally underrated. It is a sad way to spend alone time, but it is alone time and it's glorious.

-Baby Ellie thinks it's hilarious when I do sign language. Even though it makes her laugh, she knows what the sign for milk is and definitely lets us know if that's what she wants.

-B.reast milk storage bags are perfect for freezing individual portions of homemade baby food.

-The Muffin never tires of singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". Never.

-I love apothecary jars.

-Although I often wish I could freeze Baby Ellie and keep her just the way that she is right now, I'm ready for her teething pain to end.

-The Muffin loves Cousin Callie's new N.intendo Wii. And so does Big Daddy.

-Ellie wants to crawl SO bad. She's about thisclose to actually doing it!

-I'm simply not ready for Baby Ellie to crawl.

New Year, Same Resolutions

Like lots of other people I sort of make resolutions. They are the same pretty much every single year.

-Be a better wife and mother. Not that I think I'm all that bad, but I'm sure I could do better. I am more present than most parents I know, but I'd like to have more patience and understanding with Maggie & Ellie.
As far as being a better wife goes, I'd like to nag less and do more special things for my husband. I'd also like for him to realize that a lot of men do not come home to a home-cooked meal in a clean house and always have clean clothes to wear. I take out the trash 95% of the time too. I don't mow the yard a lot because of my asthma, but the other household chores are all mine.

-Lose weight and be in better health. You can stop laughing, I know that everyone says this. I'm at me pre-pregnancy weight...pre-Ellie weight, that is. I want to be at my pre-Maggie weight. I've already started an exercise plan (The 30 Day Shred)and I'm going to try and start some sort of diet plan next week. Going to a gym really isn't an option for me since there's not one in our small town and I have two small children. It just wouldn't be time or cost efficient for us as a family for me to drive 30 minutes to go to Big Daddy's gym or 15 minutes to a gym in The Muffin's preschool town. After warm weather comes again. we'll also start family walks in the evening.

This year, I'll also be adding a few other resolutions..

-Brush Ellie's teeth more often. This one is embarassing to admit, but I don't brush Ellie's two teeth twice a day. I had no problem brushing The Muffin's gums before she had teeth, but Ellie has two teeth and I neglect them. I'm so sorry Baby Ellie.

-Make a decision on a few private things. They are private things so I won't elaborate.

-Wash the cars more often. It was so easy to keep all of our cars clean before I had two kids! There are three cars, two kids and one me. I'm hoping that I'll do a better job of at least keeping the family SUV clean when it gets warmer.

-Have regular dates with Big Daddy. Having date nights was on our "positive" list for moving closer to my family. Even though we didn't get my family to babysit The Muffin all that much, it isn't as easy to ask when you have two. Add in the fact that we like to spend our free time together as a family and that equals not a lot of dates.

-Find more joy in everyday life. I read Pete's blog everyday and this post really spoke to me.

Feel free to check in on me and ask me if I'm keeping my resolutions