When looking at this picture, she says "massi and ba!" Ba is her word for brother, it's his name.



Today I was informed that the dinosaurs came first, then fire breathing dragons, then pirates, then us. Of course.

Best purchase of the year so far, right here. A child proof water dispenser thingie. No more water all over the kitchen floor. No more "cup? milk? cup?"

Will it be awful if I need to bring the crib aquarium on vacation with us? Will it fit on a hotel crib? Will she sleep without it? She's become conditioned to use it to get to sleep. I have become conditioned to needing to pee when it comes on - it gets me out of sight for 2 minutes to let her settle down, while not leaving her alone.

Hm, it's been a while. The highlights of the past few days have included pinkeye, candy free egg hunt and easter baskets (all the while, still too much candy about), a developmental assessment of the girl, and ice cream in 40 degree weather. Altogether fun.

So the girl is only at 13 months in her gross motor skills (she's almost 18). But she's at 20+ months in terms of language and cognition. She sure is. ;o)

She will make you laugh right out loud. She's got her brother as a teacher.

Well the girl is now conditioned to fall asleep to the sights and sounds of her Fisher Price Aquarium. She settles down in about 3 minutes, which gives me time to go do bathroom things and make sure she's falling asleep. Apparently this has conditioned me as well, because now she turns on the music and I need to pee. Ah, the power of the mind.

The boy has been semi sick which is frustrating. He still wants to be his normal self but he can't go to school if he's thrown up within 24 hours (it was like 22, sigh), and today it's the other end so we can't be far from a toilet. He still wants to be out and playing.

Now that you know all of his gastrointestinal issues . . .

He is an amazing little kid. Yesterday he drew a plane, with a pilot visible through the window, and cut it out. All by himself. Amazing. And his trex that he drew this weekend was spot on. His initials are legible, except that the G is mirrored.

Little girl is finally walking most of the time. It's hysterical. She dragged (drug?) me all over the Flower Show this weekend. Again, hysteria. It was family night, and a blast. Other than the fact that I, apparently, was antisocial when I moved around with stircrazy kids. You know, they're not the only ones who feel left out by conversations about random coworkers that you two know. :uh

Look at her hug her baby. Perfection.

Girly is finally walking some of the time, by choice. She sleeps in her bed. I kiss her goodnight and stick her in her crib and she lays down and sleeps. I don't know how it all happened, mostly because of the sleep deprivation, but I am thrilled. She wakes again around 7.

By the end of this week, I need to be running 1 mile in a row at once. I can do it. I'm .7 of the way there. I want to run a 5 mile race around July 6.

In the interest of accountability I present:

The girl now sleeps in her crib, straight through until sometime in the 4 am range, at which point I settle her back down until after 7. I can't wait to drop that waking. It is just so nice to be in my bed with my own pillow and blankets all to myself. It is so warm.

This week was the Building Energy conference. I've never done a professional development type of conference. It was fascinating. Between that and the accompanying trade show, I can't wait to sell our house and use all of the fun new products and tips I know.

Night 2 of sleep training was sigificantly better. Yes, I spent lots of time in the rocking chair draped in a blanket that was half as big as I needed. But the girl didn't scream, didn't throw up, and slept in her crib from 7:30 pm until 7 am. I just had to get up and sit with her twice for a total of 1.5 hours. Which sounds worse than it is. She's even learning to resettle herself. Woohoo. Yawn.

I feel like I am going to keel over of exhaustion at any moment. We've begun hard core sleep training, the primary goal being sleeping in crib. So last night I was up until 3:30, with the husband out of bed, and some time around 4, she was back in my bed. Then I went to yoga which made my body feel great and my mind feel like I shouldn't operate heavy machinery.

I feel like I just need to suffer for a few days. I need to enforce the "no kids in our bed until it's light out" rule hard core. Bleh.

I need more coffee. Stat.

She also has an ear infection again. I want her healthy. I'm lucky that the ENT didn't force us to get tubes. I'd have done it but I'd rather not. I just worry that no milk and ear infection isn't the best time to be sleep training, but mostly I see that as the excuse it is.

Well it took a year of biweekly watching, but tonight the boy found out that Bambi's mom dies. Many tears. All of us.

He wants to "get those bad guys".

"Momma, I like snuggling with you better than daddy because you're so soft." Makes the extra poundage a bit easier to handle.

Girl is still sick so we're going dairy free. Wish us luck.

Remember how I said having kids was fun? I guess it is still. But doing pukey/poopy laundry for 3 days with no end in sight isn't. And getting the sitter sick isn't either. Not only is she sick, which sucks, she couldn't take the kids.

So ya the house is a disaster and I haven't gotten work done in eons. I smell like stomach acid and my hands are raw from all the washing. And I haven't slept and am living on caffeine. Good times!!

What a fun weekend. Family stuff all around.

Saturday was the Merrimack River Eagle Festival, which was so fun. Got to see some injured/captive birds (screech owl, golden eagle, and bald eagle) as well as several eagles in the wild. They were really out performing for their big day. It's so cool to live near them. They really live up to their majestic image.

Yesterday we went to the museum and saw an artist doing a painting of an atlantic cod, as well as visiting Yin Yu Tang. Real fish in the courtyard and everything. Loved it.

And the boy continues to crack us up. He had a swedish fish in the car and then went "I loved that swedish fish. That swedish fish was so good. It was so good I want another one."

Having kids is fun.

Our weekend has been a veritable laugh riot.

I washed the girl's hair, and put some spray conditioner in, and combed it out. Then she fell asleep. For the past two days we have been singing 'amadeus' to her. It's that puffy. I love her.

The boy walks around with PoorBaby up to his chest, saying "PoorBaby loves nursing".

On the other hand, not good news for D. He seriously is saying things like "I'll have a great summer".

We drove around looking at towns, properties, etc. today. Who knows what will happen. It's a strange feeling to know that strangers came into our house and assessed it while we were out. I whispered a little prayer to St Joe, who is upside down behind a photo, as the ground froze before I got him in. I did find a penny today though.

The boy got a stellar midyear progress report from school. I am really happy with his program, his teachers, all of it. I'm so proud of him.

The girl got sick. While on clavamox. Ugh. So now we have poops, snot, cough, all of the fun stuff. At least I know she can't get bronchitis or pneumonia, right?

And the house is now listed with a realtor. This weekend will be the second showing, which is twice as many as we ever had on our own (except the open house). It would be super sweet if it happened quickly and I get to be a lax housekeeper again.

Sometimes it's great having family nearby. I am so lucky that when babygirl was sick today, I could call them to bring big brother to ice skating. I have a feeling that a chilled rink isn't the best place for a girl and her infected ears.

Yes, infected again. I think we had 11 antibiotic free days. We're fortuante that our doctor is fine with trying augmentin at a higher dose and longer time before hopping on to tubes. Tubes won't be that big a deal, but I'm definitely more of the "wait and see' school. She takes the meds, she feels better. Enough said.

Look at that. Piggy tails. They stayed in for about 4 1/2 seconds, whereupon she threw a royal fit and I ripped them out.

I understand it's a pretty common thing to have crushes on doctors, but both of my kids go to the same lady doctor. She's great and everything, but I don't run on that track. However, Monday, we had to reschedule and see another doc we don't usually see. I do *not* have a crush on Dr. Tom. Never, ever, thought of him that way. Last night, crush on Dr. Tom dreams. Now, even if I still didn't have a crush on him, I have that funny-embarrassing thing going on. Sigh.

Speaking of, babygirl is doing super well. She's now 5% for weight at not-quite-19 lb, still over 95% for head, and right in the middle for length. She can still wear her 6-9 month jeans, even if they're a little flood-levelish. She's not walking yet, so in a month I need to call if she's not. Seeing as she has been testing out steps this week, I don't think I'm going to make that call.

Also had a bizarre dream with my mom in it, where she recklessly drove and got us into an accident, involving the volksvan rolling, and I reamed her out (the KIDS are in the CAR what the HELL were you thinking?). Which I suppose I would, but she never would.

2 1/2 hours nap. In her crib. Very quietly, let me hear ya whisper "hey-yoo!"

Now if she'd just sleep through the night, and walk, we'd be in business. By Monday would be great, because when the doctor asks about those things, I want to be in the affirmative. He's already going to be miffed at my shots refusal.

My pal Evan, who was born at 31 weeks at just over 4 lb, is now larger than my 15 month old daughter. I'm so happy. And so stinkin cute. And he has sticky-uppy hair, which is the best kind for a baby to have.

Upon the family's rendition of The Joker during dinner tonight:

"momma, what's a sinner?"
"someone who misbehaves or does bad things"
"like eat marshmallows (huh??)"
"no like hurt people."
"oh. what's a lover?"
"someone who loves. Like I love you."

I'm making him a mix cd for his room but it's going to be a goodie. The Joker, Satan is my Motor, Jump and Move.

Also, I felt like today might have been my last day. Icy roads, dozens of cars off the road, me stopped on a super icy bridge with several fire trucks around. I owe God a church visit this weekend. Also, God, if you're reading, sorry for negotiating. I'm a sucker when I am envisioning unstrapping my babies in an ice water filled car.