Top ten don'ts I never thought I'd say...... (until I became a mom!)
Don't lick the window.
Don't kiss the lego.
Don't sit on your sister.
Don't finger paint with the ketchup.
Don't tickle her face.
Don't put that crayon up your nose.
Don't lick me.
Don't stand on the table.
Don't put that crayon in your ear.
Don't lick the bottom of your shoe.
One of the bad things about babies learning to do new things is that they don't know how to 'undo' those things. (Ha, that's true about me too!)
Becca is pulling up in her crib and then she doesn't know how to get back down...so she just screams for Mama. The other girls did this same thing too.
She's been getting herself into a sitting position by herself for a month or so now, and it cracks me up that she still doesn't know how to lay back down once she's sitting up. She just folds herself in half and goes to sleep (well, after some complaining). I've been having to go upstairs to 'lay her down' after she goes to sleep so she doesn't wake up screaming 10 minutes later cause she can't feel her bottom half!
Ouch, my back is killing me just looking at these pictures!
It is one of those days again, and Mara is on a roll for hilarious sayings.
I'm writing this from the lunch table where the girls are still eating Teddy Grahams after their PB&J sandwiches. I just overheard Mara talking to her little guys...
Well hello mommy teddy.
You look very pretty today.
(Then she tosses it in her mouth.)
(Picking up another one...)
No, don't cry baby.
Your mommy's in my tummy.
Here, go find her.
(Then she tosses that one in her mouth.)
Mara and I were just snuggling on the couch. She gave me a big hug and then said, "Boy Mom, you're skinny." I don't even think she knows what 'skinny' means, but she's getting an extra popsicle at lunch time anyway!
Oh ya, I do still have a blog.
My dad asked last night why I hadn't posted in a while.....blame it on Potter. I am really into the last book and can't wait to go back and read the entire series back to back.
I also went here this weekend and got some really funky fun new yarn and two new pattern books too. An entire hour all to myself to browse and feel yarn, ogle over the projects knitted up, and read through about a dozen pattern books......HEAVEN! Well, not really but let's just say I really enjoyed it, and I came back a better mommy.
So between Harry Potter and my new knitting projects calling my name, blogging has slipped on my to do list. I will be back tomorrow though for Wordless Wednesday with some great pictures of Becca enjoying her very first ice cream cone all by herself.
Just something fun. You can go to this site and type in your name. It tells you how many people are out there with your first name and what number on the popularity list it is. And the same info for your last name. Then it tells you how many people are out there with your same first and last name. Sadly though I typed in my maiden name and it said that there were zero people with that last name...sorry Mom, Dad, Andy, Carey, and Regan, ya'll must not exist!
So maybe I'm behind a little, but I just discovered Bloglines a couple of weeks ago. It has changed my blog-reading life! There are over 40 blogs that I like to read. I used to have them all bookmarked and just click on them to see if they had any new posts. Needless to say, that took FOREVER and I never got to all of them.
I tried the live bookmark thing were you subscribe to the feed and it appears as a list in your bookmarks but that was just too messy looking for this OCD mama. And you had to remember what the title of the last post was to know if the one at the top was a new post.
So anyway, I stumbled on Bloglines a couple of weeks ago and I love it. So if you're behind a little like me then check it out it promises not to disappoint.
Oh, and you can even put a button on your toolbar that says 'Bloglines sub'. You just click that button while on a blog and it adds that blog's feed to your page. Love it!
Becca has been really getting around this week. She's got this crawling thing down.
The other day I had put her down in the living room and then when to finish folding a load of laundry. I came back two minutes later and she wasn't in the living room anymore. Mara and Emily were in the playroom watching Veggie Tales and eating graham crackers. I found Becca in the playroom watching Veggie Tales with them. That was a long way to crawl without encouragement so I asked Mara....
Me: Mara, did Becca crawl in here?
Mara: Yep.
Me: Did you help her?
Mara: No, she just followed the cracker.
Me: What?
Mara: She just followed the cracker. (If she were 13 she would have added a 'duh')
Me: What?
Mara: SHE JUST FOLLOWED THE CRACKER.
Me: What do you mean, she just followed the cracker?
Mara: Just like this.....(holding her graham cracker in front of Becca.)
Becca followed her all over the playroom chasing the cracker. Guess we know how to get her walking now.
In no particular order....
Rubbing Becca's super chunky smooth baby thighs while she's nursing.
The quiet house when all three girls are napping.
Blogging while the girls are peacefully playing together in the other room.
Bunco night.
Sitting at Starbucks with my husband.
Sitting at Starbucks with a good friend.
Ok, just sitting at Starbucks.
Eskimo and butterfly kisses at bedtime.
Pedicures with my mom.
Learning to knit.
Vacations to the beach.
Birthdays...even mine!
Mara's belly laugh
Emily's belly laugh
Becca's belly laugh
Laughing with my girls.
A couple of weeks ago Ginny at 4 Texans gave me a Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. I'm just now posting about it because....
1. I can't believe anyone besides my mom reads my blog
2. I can't believe anyone besides my mom likes reading my blog.
Thanks Ginny for making me feel like "I'm good enough....I'm smart enough....and doggonit, people like me!"
So now's the fun part. I get to 'nominate' others! So here goes.
1. You've got to read Sarah at In the Midst of It. She makes you think and cry and laugh all in the same post. Oh and she's super crafty too, got to love that!
2. Antique Mommy is one of my favorite reads. It's easy to get frustrated when dealing with toddlers but Antique Mommy reminds me almost daily to enjoy my little ones. This post is probably my all time favorite from her. I still think of this when I'm rocking Becca Sue.
3. A new read to me is Veronica at Toddled Dredge. I love her sense of humor and writing style. I'm still not sure what a dredge is or how it is toddled, but love her blog anyway!
4. And finally Jess at Itty Bitty Bits of Me. It's pretty cool how I totally stumbled upon her blog several months ago. I had just written a comment on another blog and when I published it the comment directly above mine was hers. She was talking about working for a cheerleading company and I thought, "Hey, I used to know a Jess from Memphis who worked for a cheerleading company." So I clicked on her profile and on to her blog and sure enough it was an old friend. She has two gorgeous girls the same age as Emily and Becca. We struggle with a lot of the same things in this tough road of motherhood so I love reading her thoughts and thinking, "Maybe I'm not crazy." Or at least, "If I'm crazy, at least I'm not alone!"
Why are moms so critical of other moms?
I was shopping at a consignment sale on Saturday. It was the early consignor's shopping time and this particular sale has a rule that no kids under 10 are allowed at the pre-sales. So I was digging through the clothes in Mara's size. The next aisle over was a baby just wailing. I couldn't see the baby over the rack but could definitely tell from the cry that is was a tiny one. I felt so sorry for the mom...I know how stressful it is to hear your little one not happy. I had no further gotten this thought through my head when I hear two ladies shopping beside me comment very rudely and loudly to each other, "So much for the no kids under 10 rule." "Guess she can't read." And I saw several other moms looking totally annoyed that this tiny baby was bothering them so much.
I don't know but can only speculate the circumstances for this mom having to bring her baby to the sale. Maybe she's a single mom and didn't have any family close to watch the baby. Maybe she's nursing and couldn't leave that baby for very long. Maybe her husband is in the military on a deployment to protect those ladies' right to sit in judgement of his wife.
I totally understand the rule of no children under 10 because there were hundreds of ladies in a pretty small space trying to sort through tons of stuff. It would be an absolute mad house if there were kids there running around, playing with the toys, or even sitting in strollers that clog the already cramped space. But a newborn baby in a sling is not going to change any one's shopping experience.
So back to my original question...why are moms so critical of other moms? I've caught myself several times thinking...."I can't believe she's feeding her baby that."...or "Why in the world did she dress her baby that way."...or "I can't believe that she's nursing her baby right there."....or even "That child is acting like a total animal, doesn't she have any control."
The same time I'm thinking these things my girls are eating cake for breakfast, wearing rain boots with their dresses (and it's not raining), and sometimes acting like total hoodlums in public. Oh ya, and I've nursed babies just about everywhere.
I think we can all agree that being a mom is not easy, no in fact it's down right hard and that's without any criticism. Add criticism and it can be nearly impossible.
I'm not sure why moms are so critical of each other, but this mom is definitely going to make a conscious effort to exchange my critical attitude for an understanding, merciful, and encouraging heart.
I used to think coffee was nasty. That was back when I didn't have a walking, talking, breathing alarm clock that goes off at 6am EVERY morning. (Do ya'll remember sleeping in on Saturdays?) But apparently I'm now addicted to it! Only 77% though.
Ya'll pray for this sweet boy (and his mama) in this picture with Becca. Trish (his mom and my cousin) is in Iraq right now. My heart hurts for her just trying to imagine the ache in her arms and heart without him right now. How sweet that homecoming will be!
The girls eating their weight in popcorn...oh ya, and there was a movie playing on the big screen too!
Ok, so maybe I'll finish talking about our trip today.
Grandma's birthday was on Thursday and we talked her into going out to eat. She doesn't leave her house much so it was a big deal to get her out on Tuesday for dinner at my uncle's house, then the picnic on the 4th, and on her birthday. Three days in a row, I think she'll be recovering until next month some time.
The service was pretty bad at the restaurant, but the food was pretty good. And they made up for it and made Grandma's day by bringing dessert. Here's Mom standing beside her. They were trying to get her and all of her kids over there to take a picture but she didn't want to put down her ice cream!
And here's the final product....Grandma sans ice cream and no one picking their noses or bottoms. 
The girls did great at the restaurant considering that we didn't get our food until 8pm and they are usually in bed by then. This was the scene in the car just a few minutes after leaving.
I better get busy with these trip updates for we'll be in the middle of the next trip while I'm still trying to tell stories from this one!
One morning we went to Beaver Park. Here are some pictures from the Old McDonald's Farm. Emily didn't think these pigs were real until Nana showed her their noses moving. They were napping hard.
The prairie dogs were really active so we watched them for a while. If you ask Mara what animals we saw that day, she'll say, "monkeys, giraffes, elephants, and bears." Of course we saw pigs, cows, ducks, chickens, prairie dogs, and sheep....but what's the difference?!
The park had a really cool playground and this 'sprinkler'. Mom and Dad actually used to play at this park when they were growing up and this used to be a big wading pool.
The pictures in the previous post are from this day too. Emily was very upset because Mara was splashing her with water. Never mind the fact that she was soaking wet and running through the sprinkler herself! In the last picture she was screaming "Momma" and reaching for me. I felt so bad for her that I reached for the camera instead of running to get her. I also remember seeing several pictures from about thirty years ago of a certain someone I know very well looking very much like Emily and screaming her head off as well. At least she gets it honestly!
Only one or two more trip updates to go and a couple on the road funny stories too.
Thirty-six years ago today my mom and dad promised for better or worse. Thanks Mom and Dad for being such a great example of what a Godly marriage should look like. And thanks for being the best Nana and Poppa in the whole world! I love you.
I thought the 4th of July was a good place to go next in the story of our road trip. We went to my uncle's house for a lunch cook out. The girls had fun playing with all of the 'new' toys and playing in the sand (they used to have a volleyball pit but now it's just a gigantic sand box).
We also set off smoke bombs and those fire cracker things that you throw. We did a few at a time so we literally did it all day. Oh, and sparklers too. Here's some pictures of the girls setting off their 'fireworks'. This first one is them watching the smoke bombs. They would clap and cheer for the different colors.
Here's Emily jumping on the snap things that you're supposed to throw. She thought it was way more fun to put them on the ground and jump on them.
And finally, this is how Mara spent most of the day. She really liked all of the fireworks last year but this year she said they were too loud. Notice she's smiling though!
Oh, and we also watched the 'big fireworks' that night. We had a great view from my cousin's screened in porch. The girls danced and cheered for all of the colors and decided that the red ones were their favorites. Becca liked watching her silly big sisters better than watching the fireworks!
We had a great 4th of July which could only have been better if Daddy were there with us! More to come....
Ok, so here's the first update on our trip last week. Becca Sue left home last week as an immobile baby. Our world has now changed! The girls can no longer keep toys, snacks, or anything away from her. And I am frantically trying to baby proof the house again. While in Iowa she learned to crawl and to get herself back to a sitting position. Then this morning, she pulled up for the first time. She's getting so big....where did my baby go?
When I went to get Emily out of bed this morning it sounded something like this...
Me: (walking in the room) Good morning, Sissy!
Emily: I don't want you; I want Daddy.
Me: Daddy's at work baby.
Emily: I want Daddy.
Me: It's Monday baby girl, Daddy is at work.
Emily: (throwing herself in the floor with her hands over her face) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I think she's in denial. More pictures and stories from the trip to come, I promise.
It's so good to be home. The girls missed Daddy so much, and I missed my bed. I've got lots of pictures and on the road stories to share, but I've got to catch up reading a few blogs to make the twitching stop. I can't believe that I survived eight days without email, blogs, or random google searches. It was painful but I survived! More later....
