Holly Jolly

I know I'm totally ruining the surprise, but we (finally) took our Christmas card pictures today. So as one of the three people who reads my blog, you'll probably get one in the mail soon. I expect them in 3-5 business days, so check your mailbox this weekend.

This is our best friend, Rockstar, who was at our house when we were getting ready to take the pictures- this is not news - but she came along, because that's what we do, we hang out with Rockstar. She even said, "I spend so much time with y'all, I should probably be in your Christmas card picture." I actually agree with her, but only because we have a different last name, we compromised by taking a few silly pictures with her afterwards.

I fully expect this picture will be in their yearbook when they are older. I absolutely love these silly girls!

Walk This Way

MM just took her first (real) steps!

She walked five steps from the chair to where I was sitting, grabbed my arm and then took two more steps.

I'm pretty sure she had no idea she was doing it.

Off to see the Wizard!

Watching the Wizard of Oz with my little munchkins!

She's One!

MM had her one year check up. Here are the stats:

Weight: 17.3 lbs (8%)
Height: 28.75"(45%)
Head: 18.5 (50%)

What a little peanut! She still wears 6m clothes.

Superstar

It's safe to say that LM isn't really into playing soccer.

She's actually on the field this season instead of sitting with me on the sidelines, so some might call this progress.

I think I am going to go ahead and cross "sports scholarship" off the list, though.

Taco Bell

We're sitting at dinner, and LM says, "Mom. Speak Spanish."

So I say in Spanish (forgive my tenses, it's been a long long while)- "In high school, I take 4 years of Spanish classes, and then when I went to college, I take 2 more classes."

They cracked up.

LM says, "I can speak Spanish too. Eka-leeka-alaca-zebra."

To which I reply, "No, I speak Spanish. You speak Cah-Razy." BigM and LM crack up when I translated into English.

BigM says, "Hey hey I can speak Spanish too."

Okay, lemme hear it.


"SALSA."

I'm still laughing.

Shrimpin'

Remember when MM was 2 months old and she was in the NINETIETH percentile for weight? We called her Chubs.

Fast forward seven months, and because that little monkey crawls everywhere she goes, climbs up stairs (supervised of course- don't worry, Dad) and thinks that it's more fun to throw food on the floor than eat it, she weighs in at a measly 16 pounds, 6 oz which puts her in the eleventh percentile.

Quoting the nurse at our appointment, "I do believe she's the smallest of your kids yet. I mean, they're all small, but this one here is a shrimp."

Must be all that sushi I ate while I was pregnant (and if you're my midwife and you're reading this, I am totally kidding, I never ate sushi while I was pregnant.)

{slowly uncrosses fingers from behind my back}

So here are her official stats at nine months:

Weight: 16#6 oz (11th)
Height: 27.5" (50%)
Head Circumference: 17.75" (77%)

Get Up, Stand Up

MM just crawled over to my chair, put her hands on the edge and stood up, looking at me like the cat that got the cream.

I'm going to need some help chasing this one.

Weekend Update

You just thought the tooth fairy was a little old lady.....

And in LM news, we were driving and LM blurts out, "Mom, your hair looks really bad." (Fantastic. Thanks.) So I say, "LM, it's not really nice to tell someone that they look bad. Can you think of a nicer way to say that?"

"I really don't want to see your hair when it looks like that."

M'kay. We'll need to work on your delivery.

A few minutes later, MM had gotten really quiet, so I asked LM, "What's MM doing?"

"Just laying there. And blinking."


Thank goodness there's not much to report on the BigM front, I don't know that I could handle much more. LM is an all hands on deck by herself.

Where a Kid Can be a Kid

BigM and LM are convinced that Disney World is exactly like Chuckee Cheese. With Princesses. They've been playing Disney World- complete with tokens, games and rides for the last 48 hours straight, minus sleeping time.

It is going to totally rock to take them this fall.

And with a little luck, I might get out of taking them to Chuckee Cheese ever again.

Blow

I just put MM in her crib for an early morning nap, and saw that LM was awake in her bed. I took the rare opportunity to climb in her bed and snuggle with her.

"Mom, you're the best at holding the tissue to my nose."

You can't hold it and blow your nose at the same time?

"No I can't do that, that's why you're the best at it."

I'm going to go polish my Mother of the Year trophy. I've apparently earned it.

Tinsel Town

BigM just handed me a pen and a paper and gave me the instructions, "We're movie stars. Ask for our autographs."

I'm a little starstruck.

Hunger Games

So last night we were eating dinner- MM hadn't napped in quite some time so she was really fussy. As most moms do, I left the table and took her upstairs to put her to bed so we could all eat in peace. I put the tray to her high chair on the floor with her uneaten dinner on it and headed up. She fell right asleep, and of course, woke up right when I tried to put her in the crib.

We both came downstairs and I set her in the living room so I could finish my dinner and she could play with her toys. About a minute later, I turned around to find this cute little face staring at me.

I think she was still hungry.

Belle of the Ball

Today was LM's 4th birthday party. Your fourth birthday is a big deal at the Mouse House, because you get to invite non-family members. But because LM is the introverted type, a big giant party with lots of friends would probably freak her out, so we made a small list of friends and added family members and that was just right.

There is the most awesome place in the big town with a ginormo closet full of dress up clothes, and the princess of your choice comes to serve you tea. Obviously, we chose Sleeping Beauty. The only thing we had told LM is she was having a Princess Party- and being the middle child, she gets the shaft quite regularly- so we surprised her. She was so excited, and loved being able to dress up with a few friends and have tea. (I know I already said that, but really, that was all they did. And they LOVED IT.)

She didn't freak out and make a snarly face when everyone looked at her to sing Happy Birthday while she blew out her candles, so that was a bonus! She even spoke to Sleeping Beauty, which was quite shocking, as they had only met "once upon a dream".

Happy (early) Birthday, to my cute sweet little Princess. I can't believe you're almost four years old!

(Pictures to come)

Ten

Today DM and I celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. That was fast- except those four years in dental school. I felt like those would never end.

I'm looking forward to the next ten, by then BigM will be driving. Wait, I don't want to think about that. Good thing I have ten more years.

Bucket List

A friend of mine challenged her facebook friends to make a "Summer Bucket List" so the girls and I got busy writing out all the fun things we want to do this summer. I introduced the idea to them on the way home from the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL and started giving them ideas of things we could put on our list- like "wear pjs all day long, eat ice cream for breakfast, go on a puddle walk..."

BigM pipes up, "HEY! I know! We can get our teeth cleaned!"

Only the dentist's kid, right?

Jorts

School is winding down, so I'm lamenting the end of the stories that come home in BigM's bookbag. Today's masterpiece:

"I have shorts in my dresser. I have gien shorts. They have butterflies on it. Do you have inny shorts?"

No, sweets, I don't have inny gien shorts. But now I might get a pair.

Parrotting

Over the last few days, I've heard my kids repeat some of my most used phrases.

Like during snack, I heard LM tell BigM, "We don't argue in this house."

And Saturday afternoon, BigM and I were deep cleaning their room and she started complaining about how she didn't like the (ADORABLE) polka-dot sheets on her bed. I told her what I normally say when she gives me attitude about something, "When you're a grown up and you have your own house, you can pick your own {insert whatever she's arguing with me about: food choices, clothing choices... and in this case, sheet sets.} But until then, DM and I are going to have the final say." So far, this has worked to pacify them in most cases.

So later that night when they were getting into bed, LM decides to chime in, "I don't like this pillow case, I want the other one." BigM pipes right up, "You know, LM, when you're a grown up, you can have whatever pillow case you want in your house."

LM grins and declares, "Yeah. When I grow up, I'm going to get the pillow cases I want in MY castle."

Always a princess, aren't we, dear?

Half a year

I absolutely cannot believe MM is six months old. In fact, she's six month and five days old. We're halfway to her first birthday. I could cry.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 6 oz (30%)
Height: 26.5" (75%)
Head: 17.25" (80%)

Her tricks include clapping, eating and not sleeping. She gave up the whole crawling bit, instead she pushes herself up into downward facing dog, faceplants 3 seconds later and scoots where ever she wants to go. Next thing I know, we'll be packing up her bedroom for college. Slow down, lil lady!

Accomplishments

We had some major accomplishments in this house today.

#1. MM started crawling. It's not pretty, but with a little practice, she'll be creating disasters just like her big sisters everywhere she goes.

#2. BigM pitched a mini fit right before Ballet class and begged to quit, so we had a little talk with the teacher, resolved our issues and observed some more advanced dancers en pointe (on pointe, I don't know, I took gymnastics classes as a child), so she's been {doing some fancy dance move}-ing across our floors since she got home with a new love for ballet. She also worked really hard at school today on







#3. LM informed me just a minute ago: "I can really stretch my face out like this."

Fantastic progress, ladies. Keep up your hard work.

Itsy Bitsy

BigM writes some of the most interesting stories at school. I opened her bookbag and found this one today:

"A littel boy tuchet a poisanis spider and it killd him. His mom was looking fer him. He was no ware to be found. His father helpt look fer him. They misst him."

Big, Bigger, Biggest

I just took all three mice to the grocery store, something I only do if we're in dire straights and NEED food. (Usually my pantry is pretty well stocked, so I can make do for a few days. We were about two days past making do.)

I put MM in her carrier in the basket, and LM usually sits in the child seat and BigM walks (when I am brave and or stupid enough to take all of them at the same time.) However, I absolutely love that our (one) local grocery store recently got the double carts, with TWO child seats in the front. Usually this is a disaster waiting to happen if both the bigger ones sit together, but they were both being remarkably kind to each other so I decided to let BigM get in the cart when she asked. Yes, I know she's 48" tall. I tried to explain it to her. She didn't care.

So as we make our way straight to the produce department, I make my expectations absolutely, undeniably clear: (and remember, I have a thick southern accent.)

"Girls, I'm only gonna say this once. If either one of you starts bein' ugly, you're gonna have to get out of the cart and walk. Do you understand me?"

BigM nods solemnly, and LM shouts at the top of her lungs, "Maaaahhh-mmmaaaa... BigM has to get out and walk- she IS big 'n' ugly."

Perhaps I should work on my dialect.

The Marrying Kind

LM:

"Mom. I'm having a wedding."

Really? Who are you going to marry?

"No one. First I'm going to be a dragon, then a princess, then a bumblebee. Can you help me put on these gloves for my wedding?"

Sure.

Gogogogogogo Bananas!

MM had some real food for the first time (bananas) tonight. She devoured it.

5m2w6d. That's close enough to six months, right?

Six

BigM turns six today. I don't want to talk about it.

By the Numbers

G-Pops and Sassy are here leading up to BigM's stunning musical performance this evening of Bugz (separate post to follow) and LM just ran into the bathroom to go potty. She hasn't quite mastered the art of privacy, and she yells at the top of her lungs:

"MAMA, I JUST WENT POTTY."
Okay, do you need any help?
"YES, I DO. I JUST WENT ONE AND TWO."
Okay, I'll come help you wipe.*
"OKAY, I JUST WENT ONE AND TWO, NOT THREE AND FOUR AND FIVE."

Thank goodness. Because that would just be a mess.

*Get over it. Your mama probably helped you wipe until you were about five. And if your mama was lucky, when the daddy was home she got out of Booty Duty too.

Mwah

I'm a pretty laid back Mama. There's not much my kids (or any kids) do that flat out shocks me. But every once in awhile, I hear myself saying things that I never thought would ever come out of my mouth. Like earlier, when I told BigM,

"STOP kissing that cactus."

Cottontail

Oh how I love this little bunny booty!

Happy Easter!

Going to the Chapel

Just in case you wanted to know what we're up to this weekend:

It's going to be awesome. BigM wanted to make sure her teacher knew she will be missing school on Friday for my brother's wedding.  LM is also going to be a flower girl, which should prove to be interesting. She told DM's sister that flower girls are supposed to "butterfly skip and sing." I warned the bride-to-be.

Good luck with that, Sweet Caroline. xxxx Can't wait to call you my sister.

Player

I finally put the toys on the playmat. You can just tell she's thinking, "Thank goodness, Mom, this was the most boring toy ever." She's having an in depth conversation with the pots and pans.

Annnddd... while I was typing this, she rolled from back to front for the first time (I only know because I poked my head into the living room to check on her because it got really quiet, and now she's lying on her tummy. She is exactly 4 months and 1 week old.)

Apparently the pots and pans didn't respond to her liking.

Write on, Sister!

LM just wrote her name for THe first time (THat I've seen it.) She also mastered her "th"s THis past week, so we've been celebrating by saying all the "th" words we can THink of. THis is a big deal, and she is so cute! when she sticks out her tongue so far she's about to trip on it.

She THen repeats THe "th" word about THirty times in a row and we give a THousand high fives.

Way to go, LM.

(I totally took a picture of her name, like I did wiTH BigM.) Yep, I am THat mom.

MM had her 4 month appointment today- here are the stats. She's finally earned her "mini" status. At 4m, she's the smallest (shortest) of the mice, a sharp sharp contrast from her 2 month stats.

Weight: 13 lbs, 13 oz (51%)
Height: 23.75" (30%) ... she gets that from me
Head 16.5 (73%) ... big head? She gets that from LM haha

SURPRISE!

LM has really been clingy lately; I think it's due to a lot of different reasons, and when she woke up this morning she started crying because she didn't want to go to school.

I convinced her to get dressed and take her bookbag downstairs, eat breakfast and get her shoes on. She brightened up and decided to go when she remembered DM takes her to school on Thursdays.

We finally started brushing her hair and she got a little weepy again and said, "I'm feeling shy today."

(Which, in her language, translates to "I'm going be rude to everyone I see until I feel like being nice again.")

I asked her if I could send Ms. Melissa and Ms. Jen-Jen a message (to warn them!) so they would know not to talk to her while she was at school, and she said,

"No, I want it to be a surprise."

Betcha they can't WAIT until noon.

Winning.

I fail hourly as a parent. If you say you don't too, then I think you're lying. But sometimes, just sometimes we have those moments where everything lines up in the world, and you can't hardly breathe because the pieces of the puzzle just match up so perfectly, and your heart swells so big that you think your chest is going to explode.

I had two of those moments today.

We've been visiting new churches for a few months now, and the mice haven't really adjusted well to the frequent change (LM specifically). They were with us for the first part of "Big Church" at the particular church we visited today, and we were singing worship songs at the very beginning, and I could barely stand it to see my kiddos singing at the top of their lungs, praising our Father- because they knew the words from one of our cds we listen to in the car.

And then there's dinner, where LM scarfed down some butter noodles I made for her. As in, practically licked her plate clean. She's not much of an eater. Parenting win: pureed cauliflower. Don't judge me. Or do, I don't care. It's the only fruit or vegetable she ate today.

Lunch date

This is the exact conversation LM and I had during lunch:

I don't like avocado. Avocado is gross.

You shouldn't say stuff like that. Would it hurt your feelings if I said your goldfish were gross?

Yes, but they're not. I like goldfish and avocado is gross.  Look, my fork is dancing!

LM, you have a very good imagination.

I don't have any maginations.

That means you are good at pretending.

Yeah, I am. I'm going to pretend this green bowl is Rooster. My mac and cheese is Ms. Hannagan, and this white cup is her sister.

You mean Lily?

Yes.

Lily and Ms. Hannagan aren't sisters, Ms. Hannagan is Rooster's sister. Lily is Rooster's girlfriend.

Yeah, Rooster was dead and now he's alive again.

No, he wasn't dead.

Yeah, he just went to jail. And then he came back alive!

Do you die if you go to jail?

NO! That's silly. I'm going to die sometime.

Yes, everyone is going to die.

And then I'm going to be back alive on TUESDAY!

Well, no, if you die, then you'll go to heaven.

Yeah! I'll go to heaven. And BigM will go to jail.

Why will BigM go to jai...

LOOK MISTLETOE! Dashing through the snow, on a one horse open sled, dadada we go, running all the way... Will you sing Jingle Bells with me?

Sure after I finish my lunch.

Okay, I'm going to eat these goldfish out of Rooster, my green bowl and you finish your lunch.






Don't ask me why I still have mistletoe hanging from my kitchen chandelier. Anyone wonder why I'm exhausted at 9 in the morning?

On the 14th Day of February My True Love Sent to Me

Happy Valentine's Day. Until I had kids, this was my least favorite day of the year. Being told I need to honor my loved ones on a specific day just kind of goes against what I'm all about. I can do that any random Wednesday, any time.

But now that I have these three special little people in my life (thanks to my #1 in my life), I don't hate February 14th - at least not as much as I used to. In fact, I kind of enjoyed today. Be back in a bit to tell you why and how :)

Channeling my Inner Martha

I got this idea from pinterest, so I'm not as crafty as you think I am.

And yes, the suckers are organic and dye free and blah blah blah, but I already had them for LM (since she's allergic to food dye) so that makes me even more uppity than you already thought. I wasn't about to buy new suckers. (Okay I was, but Wal-Mart didn't have a small bag of dum-dums, they only had the jumbo bag of 300 for like $7. I needed 30, and not 270 extra.)

Regardless, Happy Early Valentine's Day from The Mouse House. xoxo

Belly Laughs

MM will laugh OUT LOUD if you zrrrbrrrt her tummy. (Is that how you spell zrrrbrrrt?)

Guess what I've been doing instead of cleaning the bathrooms?

Why, Hello Again!

We got a new computer, so I don't have to keep saving posts on my phone to write about later. (For some reason, I could save a post title, but I couldn't type any text in so I am well aware that you're hanging on to the edge of your seats wondering if LM ever potty trained. Some of you have even asked me if she still wets her pants. She doesn't...)

Give me some time to catch you up, but you will know what's been going on in the Mouse House for the last 6ish months and how we're doing from now on.

High Standards

For months now, LM has been telling us she's going to marry her daddy. She has no idea we've already arranged marriages for all of our daughters, so this whole discussion is moot anyway. Regardless, I was really surprised a few weeks ago when she announced in the car, "Mama, when I get big, I'm gonna marry D." (D is a little boy in her class at school, and his name is actually Davis, but they all call him D.) I told her that would be fine, but I thought she was going to marry her daddy.

"No, I'm going to marry D. He's m'boy." (Seriously, she said that. Took all I had in me not to crack up.) I'm a Rules kind of girl, so I asked her not to tell him and just let him ask her in say, 20 years. She agreed.

Yesterday, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, and she gets this really sad look on her face and says, "Mom, I'm not going to marry D anymore." I envisioned some heartbreaking conversation by the slide at recess where she had professed her undying love and he didn't return it, or she passed him a note and because she can't write her letters yet it didn't have any boxes on it so he couldn't check yes...

"Why not, Honey?" (Gearing up for a discussion with my three year old about how dating is pointless unless you're really serious about a long term commitment...)

"Well, I'm going to be a Princess when I grow up, so I can't marry Davis because he's not a Prince."

Oh, well then. Okay. Duh...

Already?

When did Chubs get to be so big? Three months already? If this doesn't make you smile, nothing will.

Cobwebs and Sorrow

We watch Annie just about every day here (and by we, I mean LM and me. BigM joins us on the weekends). It was one of my favorite movies growing up, and as an adult I can really relate to Ms. Hannagan and her feeling overrun by "Little Girls." I love that it's become one of their favorites, too.

BigM and LM love to sing, anything, and they make up lots of their own songs. They don't quite get the words right to all the songs that actually have lyrics already and you better not tell them the correct ones, because you'll get straight up told.  So I wasn't surprised when I overheard LM singing to her Barbies:

"Thaaaa sunnel come ouuuutttt, tomorrow. Sit your bottom down dah tomorrow, thell be suuuunnn."

At least she hears what I say? Listening may be another story...

Two Month Stats

MM had her 2 month well visit today, and she's turning out to be quite the monster. Although it shouldn't be surprising because she was huge at birth. As usual, I entertained Dr. Nesbit with my hippy-crunchy-granola ways and for the first time we agreed about the subject of vaccinating. (Did you feel the earth shake? Cause it about tipped on its axis.)

I know, I know, you only care about the stats. Me too.

Length: 22"- 49%
Head: 15.25"- the new nurse (apparently) is practically blind, so we had a little scare about her head being inappropriately small. I have no idea what % it falls into because she wrote it according to her incorrect measurement. Not sure which is scarier, a blind nurse or an inappropriately small head. Thankfully, we have a great pediatrician, so I don't have to worry about either.

Weight: 14 lbs, 2 oz--- wait for it... 89%.

What in the world? I've never ever had one of my babies even above 50%, and this child is heftier than 8 of her closest friends? A little ironic that we call her Mini Mouse, don't ya think?

Her other nickname is Chubs- a much more fitting description.