Frightening Images Ahead...

This was going to be the day that we finally get some 1 year pictures taken of Eliza (she's been 1 for almost a month), and hopefully some of Theia, as well of the two of them together. So, after spending an hour or so ironing the various outfits I planned for them to wear during their photo shoot, and bathing both girls, we headed off to a picturesque area to start shooting. Unfortunately we didn't take into account the sprinkler system at said picturesque area. The grass was too wet to sit little girl bums on. So we headed off to another suitable area nearby. We were greeted with perfect evening light on the little lake, beautiful gardens, and lots of pebble-covered walkways. The pebble-covered walkways sealed our doom. Eliza cannot focus on anything when there are rocks around; she is absolutely convinced that any rock she sees belongs in her mouth, and when confronted with so many at once, you can imagine the bewildering effect. With so much urgent work before her we could hardly expect her to be interested in anything else. After spending about a half hour trying to convince Eliza not to eat rocks (without success), we shifted our focus to Theia. Theia was willing to pose, but not willing to smile, or even look remotely pleasant at first. Unfortunately we had the bright idea of telling her to "show Mommy your teeth". See results below:

There were lots more like this - but these two were the most ghastly

She's trying SO hard to figure out what it is we want her to do - its all over her face She's such a good little girl.

I really should be too embarrassed for Theia's sake to even post these pictures, but they are so stinkin' hilarious that I just had to! I don't know when we're going to get around to getting this photoshoot done for real. It is SO HARD to get decent pictures of your children sometimes. Ironically, these pictures that Jessie took of Eliza in our backyard earlier in the day turned out to be the best shots of the day. And he just happened to stop work long enough to run out and snap a few while she was playing. *sigh* She is pretty cute, isn't she? And just for the record, Theia is VERY cute too, and I have plenty of adorable pictures to prove it.

Running out of Lap Space...

How is this supposed to work when I'm nursing again?

2 of My Loves

Scrabble and Jessie - Two of the Loves of My Life :)
(Not in that order)

Mmm, Make that Three of My Life's Loves!

We aren't Scrabble purists - we believe in playing with the dictionary

A Balm for Many Wounds, and TP - A Classic Whodunit

I should have known it was only a matter of time. As I was cooking breakfast and chatting away on the phone I should have realized that the uncharacteristic silence on the monitor did not signify that my girls had gone back to sleep. I should have known that the end of storing baby care products in Theia's top dresser drawer was upon me. I was quickly brought to this realization after I mounted the stairs, wondering all the while what was the sweet smell that grew stronger with each step, then wondered no more when I was greeted with the sight of my two year old up to her elbows in baby-powder scented petroleum jelly. Now, truly I had never told Theia NOT to open tubs of vaseline and similarly textured products, so there was nothing to do except tell her that this activity is NOT okay, and wonder if there is any hope that her two year old mind will make the crossover application to shampoo, cleaning products, and paint cans. I then leave a devastated Eliza in her crib so I can accompany Theia downstairs, as I didn't have "grease walls in stairway" on my agenda for today.

The problem with having two children whose maturity is not quite on par with their mobility is that when you discover your bathroom floor billowing with toilet paper, its really quite impossible to know which child to address with the issue. Do I ask Theia, who is sitting in her high chair, looking quite incapable of such atrocities, if she did it? I realize that no matter what answer I get from her it likely will not be reliable information, and if Eliza actually did it I don't want to confuse Theia by telling her not to do something again that she can't very well do "again" since she never did it in the first place. Same goes for Eliza, plus I doubt that any admonishments will have much effect on her since its obviously been more than two minutes since the deed was done. So, what is there to do except wind the TP back on its roll and feed the girls their lunch? Nothing , apparently.

Sacred Sunday

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

~ Matthew 11:28-30 ~

This Little Nephew of Mine...

Ethan came over to sit with me and keep me company the whole first day of my garage sale! His mom came too. He was positively angelic the whole day, and we received several offers, but no takers (I should think NOT!)

Is that not a happy boy?

This kid, at 3 months, weighs 5 lbs less than my 1-year old! I guess that's the difference in having a boy.

With Ethan its rarely just a diaper change...

Ethan and Momma (different occasion - I wish it had been a poolside garage sale)

Reaping the Fruits of our Labor

Just taking a walk through my Tomato Forest

Beans are Theia's favorite; she helps herself anytime she's playing outside

More go into her mouth than into the bag

Eliza "helps" too; she thinks the green ones are the best

Theia enjoys saying "zucchini" - such a fun word!

Broccoli and green onions. Yep, Momma needs to weed.

We are really enjoying our garden this year. Its so fun to see the girls react to the growing things in our yard, especially hearing Theia's pronunciations of them. We have Tomatoes, green peppers, beans, beets, broccoli, green onions, and basil. We had cilantro and lettuce too, but I let it go to seed. Oops :)

Swimwear is NOT optional

Yesterday I had a friend over with her baby and the two kids she watches. While we were talking we noticed that Theia and my friend's 5 year old charge were splashing around with their hands up to their elbows in the pool. No big deal, we decided, they can get a little wet. Next thing I know my friend informs me, "Um, Theia's IN the pool". Sure enough I look out to see Theia sitting on her bottom right in the middle of the pool, fully clothed, including sandals. She looked pretty funny sitting there. But I inform her that we only play in the pool with bathing suits on, changed her clothes, and firmly instructed her to stay out of the pool for now. 10 minutes later we call the girls inside, and as Theia runs toward me I see my instructions have not been heeded. So, two smacks on the bum, which accomplish nothing except to produce a little puddle on the floor and draw a strange expression from Theia, who wonders what I'm doing since she can't feel anything through her waterlogged diaper.

What is that Noise??

I have the girls' Grandpa W to thank for the disturbing noises I hear from my girls on a daily basis. Being the wonderful Grandpa that he is, he knew that every toddler girl should have a deer caller. Now we are treated to the delightful sounds of an amorous buck at various times of the day. Eliza especially makes a very persistent buck. She seems quite proud that her buck makes louder and more frequent noises than Sissy's. Eliza waits her turn Notice Theia's hunting outfit. She prefers hats to be on backwards, preferably with the strap positioned over her eyes. Eliza gives it a go. All together now!

35 Weeks! And stupider by the day...

This has been such an easy pregnancy! God is good. I do not feel like I'm only five weeks from delivering. We leave for Spring Lake in less than four weeks. We will be renting a house there and having a little vacation time until my labor starts (then the vacation is over!). We decided to travel across state for the second time because we are so attached to our midwives. Lately I have been clinging to things that make me feel at all intellectual. I know I'm not the only one who thinks pregnancy makes us 'stupider'. I can't finish a crossword without cheating, a lot. I used to pride myself on my vast array of random useless information (very helpful for solving crosswords), but lately I just can't beckon up the names of Egyptian deities or former Soviet bloc capitals that I know are lurking there somewhere. Maybe I am just so full of actual useful information now that the stuff I don't need every day gets crowded out. If that is true, then apparently forming an intelligent sentence isn't very vital, either. That whole subject, verb, direct object pattern is SO over-rated. Therefore I was THRILLED the other night when I watched Jeopardy and found that I knew the answer to Final Jeopardy was "He aint Heavy, He's My Brother"! I didn't know why I knew it, it was just there. I was all the more ecstatic when none of the three contestants (who weren't even pregnant, by the way) knew the answer. However, upon reflection, I realize that knowing the name of 70's top Billboard hits isn't really something that most people point to as proof of intellect capacity. So I'll keep plugging away at my Scrabble games. Because everyone knows that only extremely pointy-headed intellectuals are attracted to a game that depends so heavily on having a list of two-letter words such as 'Qi' and 'Ag' memorized.

92 Degrees!

We've been staying inside a lot because Mama can't handle the heat, but we did venture out yesterday to play in the backyard, take a walk, and stop by the park. At the park I noticed Eliza's cheeks were looking pretty flushed and she seemed pretty lethargic so I packed them up to head home and rehydrate. As I was walking back, I saw Eliza slump sideways out of the stroller and loll her head over. I ran to the front (which is quite a long run, considering that our stroller is a stadium style triple :) thinking my baby had passed out from heat stroke. But as soon as I spoke to her she lifted her head up and let out a long string of baby babble. I was relieved! Little booger, she just likes hanging her upper body off of things, apparently.

Who's peeking at me?

Mistress of the house

Playing where I'm not supposed to be...

I'm in the bathroom again. What you gonna do bout it?

Ooh, new discovery! Nobody told me about the under-vanity storage.

Who knows what delights could be hiding in there?

Notice there are no pictures of Eliza playing with the toilet brush or plunger. This is not because she didn't try. I just about have a heart attack every time I come upon her in the bathroom to find her cheerfully waving the toilet brush at me.

"Baby Soup"

Theia loves to swim. And she loves her "baby soup". Her baby soup has pretty bows on the shoulders and Eliza has one just like it. This is my favorite recent mispronunciation. She enunciates so confidently too.

First Post

I've decided to start blogging, mainly as a journal to keep track of what our kids were doing at different stages. I am not a fan of scrap-booking - too much junk to keep organized, and then the fear that I will leave it out and have it all ripped to shreds by one of our adorable children one day.
So consider this our family's online scrapbook; just a place to record the cute sayings, doings, and growing of our little family.
I don't expect to ever get very fancy with this, but who knows, maybe I will surprise myself!

We are at the happy stage of watching a child learn to walk right now. Eliza took her first steps a couple weeks ago and is s-l-ooo-ww-l-y gaining more confidence to span distances on her own. Theia tries to "help" her, but they are so close to the same size that she ends up falling down herself when Eliza tries to use her for support. Not very safe.