Love...What?!

I'm so NOT feeling any love for these little critters!! Why were they given the name love bugs? Ok...maybe I can see why--but that's besides the point. These little bugs are SOOOO ANNOYING!! Can I scream?! You walk outside and get covered with them in a matter of seconds (and anything you choose to take outside with you)--they're everywhere. I can't even open my windows b/c they squeeze their tiny little double bodies through the screen...or around or something. The point being they end up in the house...lots of them! AUUUGGGGGHHH!! Go AWAY!! And Mikaela was having a blast this morning obliterating the little creatures with a spanking stick on our windowsill...ewww!

High Five!

Most times when I am putting a new diaper on Elijah after having pottied him, I'll tell him to give me high five if he actually did something for me on the potty. I'd hold up his hand and clap it to mine, and he would laugh and think it was such fun. Well, the other day he started fussing/screaming as if to get my attention, and I noticed he was holding his hand up like he was wanting me to give him a high five! Surely not, I thought. But he knows! I've tested him time and again, and he really does know!

He has also already figured out how to sit himself down after pulling up on something. To me this is quite an accomplishment b/c Mikaela took FOREVER to figure that one out :) In fact, he's figured it out so well that this morning I was trying to coax him into walking the couch with a spoon that he wanted. He tried moving his feet a couple of times but couldn't quite figure out how to maneuver them. "Oh yeah," he thought, "I don't have to walk. I'll just get down, crawl a little bit and pull myself back up at the spot where the spoon is." Smart boy :)

Oh No!!

This utterly scrumptious, squeezable, huggable, kissable, eatable, drooley Mr. Gummy...

CUT HIS FIRST TOOTH TODAY!!

(that's kind of sad for me!)

Huh??

Ok--here's another one where I have absolutely no idea as to what my little darling is saying! The context is this: it's usually said after I've been getting on to her or Elijah. She'll tell me, "No gurfey me!" or "No gurfey him!" Sometimes it even sounds like "gurfeet." Whatever it is, it doesn't usually sound very nice, and sometimes she even gets disciplined for the attitude that comes along with it, but I really don't know what she's saying! Any ideas?

Confused?

So, what has Mikaela been learning of late? Well, she can count to 20 in English, German and Spanish (most of the time--I've noticed a couple of setbacks--we're really working on the "th" sound--kinda hard not to get the "f" sound out instead, so she'd skip 13 and continue on her merry way; but now she's starting to make a conscious effort to say thhhirteen, which is causing her to skip 14 and 15 :) ), while making a one-to-one relationship as we count things all over the house. She also recognizes the digits 0-9. So I've been avoiding the, "How old are you?" question b/c I know she doesn't really understand much of the concept of time yet. But I gave in the other day b/c she came into the bathroom and was attempting to hold up two fingers, saying, "Two!" (which was really 5). So, of course, I was correcting her and trying to show her how to hold up two fingers, and I thought while we were on the number 2, we might as well see if she knew how old she was. Well, two fingers can be kind of tricky to hold up for a two-year-old, so Mikaela decides she'll just hold up one finger from each hand. Can't argue there :) But she went back to trying to hold up two fingers on one hand. There was lots of, "Stop!", "Go away!", "No!" and so on (screaming at the fingers that refused to stay down :) ) until she finally got it. Needless to say, she doesn't know whether she's two, or five or any other number that's currently in her vocabulary :)

We are also pronouncing out longer words--still with only short vowels but tacking on sounds like "sh," "ck," and more recently "ch," and "th." And we are getting more and more familiar with the ever so important sight words "the" and "and." Slow and steady :)

And this last week, we learned the parts of the body in Spanish. She pretty much know them all when I ask her to tell me where a certain part is--we haven't gone the other way around yet. Maybe we'll tack on the German body parts this week--we'll see :)

Sunday Morning Pics

Up, Up, &...Away...Soon Anyway

Well, my little man is starting to feel comfortable pulling up on things now! Last night was the first time he met me standing in his bed, but I couldn't take a picture until he did it again today (it was bedtime last night--couldn't go getting him all riled up :) ). Of course, he has to reach up a little higher on the bed than when pulling up on a box or the dishwasher door, so there is much fuss when he can't get himself back down :)

Cracking Himself Up

I'm not really sure what he thought was so funny, but little man was totally cracking himself up (he gets that gift from his daddy) :) He was actually there for a little while, but the card in my camera was too full to capture much--I had to delete a video so I could capture this--it was totally worth it! Baby/toddler laughter is oh so wonderful :)

Helping

Well, MJ saw me folding clothes today and wanted to "help." So I started handing her the handtowels one at a time. She was so proud of herself and did a pretty good job with the washcloths, but the others were more rolled then they were folded :) I was good and left them that way (except for the ones she ended up playing with before they got put up :) ). I even let her put them up for me in the kitchen. Yes, it drives this very organized mama crazy, but if I just don't look real close I become more appreciative of her help. I'm sure one day she's going to be a great "folder" :) And it doesn't make me cringe the way it does when she dumps the ENTIRE bag or bucket of toys on the floor :)

Curtains

Whoo hoo!! After almost 2 years of living here, we finally have curtains in our dining room! We really wanted these cool classic pleated Roman shades, but opted for the much cheaper blackout panels :) They work and look really cute, especially since we found this really cool rooster valance (not as cheap as the panels but totally worth it :) ). And I have to brag on my husband again. He went through getting the valance put up and asked me if I liked it and thought it was ok. I told him I thought it looked good. Then after a few minutes of gazing at it I decided we put the valance too far out to the sides. So I cautiously asked him if he wouldn't mind doing something--(he jokingly said not if it had anything to do with the curtains :) ) taking the valance down and redoing it :) He didn't even complain--not that he's really a complainer to begin with. And it looked sooo much better the second time around :) Now if we just figure out a way to rearrange so we can get our filing cabinet and treadmill out of the dining room! I think those may both be stuck there :)

My Kiddos

EM is all over the place still--not pulling up to standing yet, but he's getting there. See the bruise on the side of his forehead? Part of learning to get around is falling down and getting bumps on your noggin :) The other day he pulled the bucket of toys out of the entertainment center all by himself, then pulled up on his knees and began picking out toys at his leisure--playing w/one for a couple of minutes before moving on to the next toy :) Eric wanted a picture that would show his eyes. I guess you would call them hazel right now--they can look either more green or blue depending on what he's wearing. We'll see what happens with them after he's about a year and a half or 2. MJ's took a while to set in, but I finally have to concede--they are indeed brown now. I guess if we have enough kids it'll up our odds of having a blue-eyed child :)

MJ loves to wrap things around her head :) And she still nurses her babies--not as often so I had to get a picture just to make sure I have one before she stops :) She is also still quoting Anne. The other day I heard, "Hi Carrots!" "Don't call me Carrots!!" :) MJ started helping me load the dishwasher--she gets to put the silverware in the basket--don't worry, I put the sharp knives in :) I'm definitely NOT going to argue w/her wanting to help with that! She's been helping with the unloading for a while now--before long she'll get to do all of that by herself too :)

Easter Family Pics

Here are a couple of family pics a friend of ours took for us on Easter Sunday. It's so hard to catch everyone looking and smiling at the same time!

Tired

The other morning Elijah was playing with toys on the floor while MJ and I were laying on the couch for a few minutes. After a couple of minutes, I didn't hear anything from him anymore, so I thought he was probably just watching us. But when I looked up, this is what I saw :) Guess he thought if we were going to lay down, he could too! Of course, MJ thought it was so cute that she couldn't stand not waking him up!

Navor

The other day I was cleaning out some clothes in MJ and Elijah's closet, and MJ was playing with her babies. I hear:

MJ: My baby name is Navor.

Mommy: Navor?

MJ: (an emphatic "yes you got it" head shake)

Mommy: Navor?

MJ: (another emphatic "yes you got it" head shake)

Mommy: (thinking to self--Navor? Navor? Ooooh--Neighbor!) Neighbor?

MJ: Yes, Navor!

So a couple of days prior to this MJ had been looking out the window watching our neighbor cut grass. She asked me who it was, and I told her the lady was our neighbor. So one of her babies finally has a name :)

Here are a few more current sayings of my little munchkin:

*"buth...buth" (but...but) {usually when I tell her to do something}

*"Why? Why not?" (as she holds her palms upwards) {usually when I tell her no to something}

*then sometimes she'll answer the question herself, "cause Mommy (or Daddy) say so" :)

*to Elijah: "I know, buddy; I know--it's ok."

*"What my wa?" (as she pats her chest) {What can I watch?}

*"I can't" ( or sometimes, "He can't," when I tell her Eric's at work) {usually when I tell her to pick up her toys}

*If Eric leaves before she wakes up: (very angrily and sad and whining) "Where my Daddy go?" (She does NOT like it when he leaves w/o getting to hug on him and bother him while he gets ready :) )

*when I tell her it's time to take a nap or go to the potty before we leave the house: "I awready went to potty," or "I awready took nappy."

*"PEASE...PEASE" (usually very loud and emphatically when I've told her no to something)

*"I haf be carefuw." (when she falls or almost falls)

I'd also bought a brand new pack of Extra gum and had put it on the table--only one or two pieces had been chewed. MJ had apparently been in the dining room playing, so when I walked in I see her with the top of the pack of gum in her mouth chewing it--yes, paper and all--ALL the pieces at one time! Well, Eric thought it was still good enough for him to chew the rest of all the pieces and took the pack with him, so I missed the picture of it :)

Oh yes--and our entertainment center serves as MJ's microwave. We have a glass door on the left-hand-side with 4 shelves. She'll put her "food" (or frogs) on one of the shelves, close the door, and count--1, 2, 3, 4, 5, BEEP! :)

And there's no way we can allow Elijah to get our toys while we're going to the potty :) So the toys go into the bathroom with her. She started out putting them on the stool or floor, but he'd crawl in and start grabbing at them. So today she started putting them on top of the diaper pail lid :)

My Growing Boy

Awww...my sweet little man turned 9 months yesterday! He's growing sooo fast! He's been crawling and exploring all over for a few weeks now. On Tuesday, I had him in the basket in the kitchen, and he actually pulled himself up to standing!! I had to hurry and hold the basket so it wouldn't tip over--so I think it may be the end of putting him in it :) He hasn't pulled up to standing since then, but he has been pulling up to his knees and holds on for dear life to whatever he's holding on to. He's finally figuring out how to also get himself back down, but if he's too tired he just hangs on and cries until he's rescued :)

He can go from happy to pitiful in a matter of seconds :) and can give the saddest, most dejected cry when he's told no or popped on his bottom or when he's frustrated b/c he can't do something :(

MJ and Elijah both LOVE to crawl on their Daddy! MJ was all over Eric, so Elijah decided to join them and crawl on his head :)
And I've put off writing about this part b/c last time he pooped the next day, BUT he's gone at least 7 weeks now (I'm starting to lose count) with only having 2 poopy diapers!! I really think he waits for me to put him on the potty. The second time I even think it really was an accident b/c MJ had been sick and had some diarrhea, and I think he may possibly have gotten a very slight case of it to where he just couldn't hold it in--it makes me feel better to go with that theory anyway :)

Many times, Elijah will be in this push-up position. Sometimes he even pushes his hands closer to his feet like he's trying to push his way up to standing! I guess he's starting his workouts early :)
MJ loves her brother, but she's still more like Elmira on Tiny Toons--I'll hug you and squeeze you and love you, ... (as the animals try to scramble away in fear of her) :)

My Daughter...

My daughter is growing so fast! I think she's going through a growth spurt or something too b/c the past few days she's been eating ALL her food and has actually been telling me she wants to eat! These days, MJ LOVES her babies--so much that she even disciplines them! She'll grab a spanking stick, go to my room with baby in hand and close the door (that's how it's usually done for her). She'll say something like, "I haf give my baby spakin right now!" When I ask her why she usually responds with, " Uh, I don't know." So I have to fill her in that she needs to have a reason for spanking her baby, like they're disobeying or being mean or disrespectful. She ususally chooses the disobeying option :) I can then hear her swating her baby multiple times, and she'll finish by telling her baby, "You haf obey me!" (in a not-so-nice tone--do I sound like that to her?) She'll come back out and sometimes repeat this process consecutively 3-4 times, either with the same baby or the next baby or stuffed animal that's in line! Can you tell what she normally gets spanked for? :)

I took the picture above this morning. As you can see, each baby has a "blanket." She just HAS to line them all up right in my walking path! She also refers to the red, white, and blue dish rags as her "flags." I guess they do have the same colors :)

She has also started referring to her babies as her daughters. About two weeks ago, she had her baby wrapped in a place mat from the table, and she said, "Mommy, my daughter cryin," as she cradled the baby in her arms. Ever since then she tells me what her daughter is currently doing :)

We recently got some new shelves (new to us anyway) from some friends who moved to a new house. Before Eric secured and I could put books on them, MJ had plans of her own as to what they should be used for!


As much as she loves her babies, she still doesn't have any names for them. We usually refer to them by the color of clothing they're wearing (pink baby, brown baby, blue baby, white baby, etc.). Most of the time they don't wear any clothes--guess she just likes them better w/o any. She has a couple of babies that don't have the cloth body. I guess she didn't know what to call it b/c she was telling me the babies she had like this, "my blue baby, white baby, doll baby." :)
You don't realize how much you do or say things until you see your kids copying you :) After I fix MJ's hair, I tell her to look at me, and I normally say, "Awww, what a cutie," or something like that. Well, lately, she's just been saying that for me, and the pic to the left shows the face she gives while she's saying it :)

MJ also loves to climb and balance on you if you're on the floor--especially Daddy--there's much more room to balance!

She has become quite independent and even wants to feed herself most of the time. She says, "I do it by myself!" So, I've had to give in and let her at it with a spoon on her own :) At this point, she actually has much better dexterity with it. She still makes a mess, but it's not as bad as it used to be :)

She is constantly into something or doing something that makes me laugh. Last week, while I was trying to catch a little catnap, she told me she had to go to the potty. I told her to go and had this fleeting vision that just b/c I was nice and cozy she was going to have some mishap like fall in the potty or something like that. Well, not a minute later, she's crying b/c SHE FELL IN THE POTTY! It never fails :) She really just tipped her bottom in the water but couldn't pull herself the rest of the way up.

And lately, she's been staying dry over night! She did have a wet diaper this morning, but before that she'd actually gone at least a week of staying dry--to the point that after re-using the same diaper night after night, Eric finally had to give in when one of the tabs tore off. He did try to make it work anyway but to no avail :)

She's also gotten pretty good at pronouncing out words on her Word Whammer. Now keep in mind these are 3-letter words with short vowel sounds. We still have a long way to go, but she's making some progress!

Some other things she's currently saying:

• What's wrong?
• What's the matter?
• What's going on there?
• What's the problem?
• When Elijah starts crying and being really fussy, she'll tell me, "He's so tired."
• On pretty days, she'll look out the window and say, "It's so pretty!"
• After I brought out a bag that had a ton of baby gift bags, she saw what they were and said, "Oh how wonderful!" :)

And currently, her two favorite songs are "Jesus Loves Me" and "Amazing Grace."

Boy does she copy me! I have to start having a constant prayer asking for wisdom and guidance to act and speak in a way that's worthy of being copied. It's amazing the things she picks up that I don't even realize she would know until I hear her say or do them! Well, that's enough on my little sweetiecakes for now. Next I'll have to update you on my little man!

Videos

This is for my niece--she was asking my sister if I'd put any more of "those cute videos" on my blog :) I know--I've been a bad blogger in recent weeks! But it's kind of hard to blog during the day when my little ones or my house seem to warrant my constant attention. (I guess I'm not really "called" to be a blogger anyway, but I AM called to be a loving wife and mother and manager of my home--there just isn't always time for hobbies right now :) ) And then at night, I'm so tired I just want to go to bed! It would be much easier though if I blogged more often--things I want to record are starting to pile up on me!

Here's my little man sweeping the floor for me--MJ was beside herself when she saw he had "her" broom :)

This is right before we were about to leave for church yesterday--Elijah saw himself in the mirror, crawled to it and pulled himself up! Then he was having fun playing and talking to himself :)

MJ thinks it's fun to push Elijah in his Johnny jump-up; he seems to like it too :) And Daddy was having fun cracking himself and Elijah up by dancing (he was trying to do the Hammer :) ) and jumping on the floor! Poor Eric misses so many firsts b/c he has to be at work :( He gets so excited to tell me the "new" things he sees MJ or Elijah doing on the weekend. But I guess I just forget to mention these things to him that they've been doing all week long!

And here's my little actress--I really have no idea what she's saying, but she kept doing it over and over and was cracking me up--she's totally playing the part! I was trying so hard to figure it out, so I kept having her repeat it to me. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty confident she's quoting something from "Anne of Green Gables." And after prying and prying, I think "I haf wan see Mymert" means "I want to see Gilbert." You see, Gilbert was sick, and Anne was sad and finally realizes she should go see him. I'm not sure she actually says that in the movie, but MJ thought it would be a good line to add :)

Mobility = Exploration = Training!

<-- See him going for the phone?! He already knows what that is!

Well, little man is on the move! Today he even ventured out of the living room into the dining room! He has also started exploring shelves and trash cans and wires and whatever else he can get his hands onto :) He really seems to like it when MJ dumps all the toys on the floor so he can go from toy to toy at his leisure! So, this also means Mommy has gotten to start training him. It's so sad to see his hurt heart when he gets popped with the "stick" on his very padded cloth-diapered bottom :) But it must be done--better for his heart or bottom to hurt now rather than his soul to be lost in eternity. It's amazing at what he understands! Those people who say they are too young to understand "no" either don't have kids or didn't attempt to train or discipline them! When I tell him no, you can see him calculating whether or not he should touch something. And then, sometimes it even looks like he's waiting until I stop watching him--he just hasn't learned yet that I have eyes in the back of my head :)

This is our new way for Elijah to play in the kitchen while Mommy cooks. He seems to like it for the most part right now, but I'm sure it won't last for long :) Of course, MJ always thinks she needs to try to climb in with him!

Drama Queen With a Bug

Well, my little sweetie cakes caught a bug this week :( She woke Monday morning at 5:30 throwing up. She didn't eat anything, so on Tuesday morning I tried to get her to eat some oatmeal--she told me she didn't want any, but I forced the issue anyway--shoulda listened to her :) And she just HAD to have some milk. Well, then it started coming out the other end :( But don't feel too bad for her--she still felt just fine to take toys away from "Lyshush," and get spankings for not obeying, and carry on with her various playing and changing clothes and so on... I thought that maybe she'd be over it by today. She's been holding down some food and even had a cup of milk this morning. But this afternoon, after downing 2 more cups of milk (yes, I know--but you don't understand how much she loves her milk), there it came again :( Oh well--I just hope this is the one "gift" she DOESN'T share with her brother!

She does have a couple of funnies I haven't told yet. The first one is one that I wasn't sure I wanted to tell or not--thought Eric was going to be a little upset with me :) But he thought it was funny and told me I should have recorded it--if I hadn't been so scared he was going to be upset with me, I would have! Anyway, the other day when I finished running, MJ wanted to walk/run (she likes to do that many times after I finish). I told her she was going to have to wait a minute (a response she gets pretty often, I admit) b/c I had to go to the potty first. As I'm getting off the treadmill, the thought crosses my mind to take out the key just in case she starts reaching up and pressing buttons--nah, she can't reach yet--plus, I told her to wait a minute, so she should obey me--right? Well, not long after being in the bathroom, I start hearing aha, aha, aha. Then it starts turning into a more consistent and prolonged whine. I wonder which baby got stuck in her stroller this time. As I get to the dining room (yes, the treadmill is in the dining room :) ), I see that she did indeed manage to get on the treadmill and press the start button. Fortunately it defaults by starting at 1.0, and fortunately, she's walked with me enough times to know how to hold on--she just couldn't get off :) I was kind of panicked b/c almost a year ago part of her shoulder, face and arm got stuck under the treadmill while I was going--it wasn't pretty--so this kind of made my heart stop for a second even though it was pretty funny at the same time. When I told Eric (yes, I'm terribly honest and tell him pretty much everything I'm allowed that I don't forget--is there such a thing as being "terribly" honest?), he thought it was funny--now I wish I would have recorded it. Oh well--I'm sure with this child there will be many more moments to capture :)
Then, a friend is letting us borrow the "Anne of Green Gables" series. So the other night, after watching some of it, it was time for bed. So I made MJ turn off the t.v. I thought she was being pouty b/c of that but then she flopped herself down on the floor and started fake crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I sad." I asked her why she was sad, and she said, "I cwyin." I asked her why she was crying, and she said, "My heart is bwoken." That being the part she had just finished watching :) So she kept repeating that scene to me as I was putting her in bed. Who knows what kind of dreams this girl has--she seems like she's constantly acting out some part of something she's seen on t.v. or heard someone else say!