Emma Sophia

Well, I'm going to give this post one more valiant attempt and then I'm going to throw things out the window if it doesn't work. As I tried to say last week when I first posted this, life has improved (at least my outlook has) since my fiasco-filled previous week. (Did I mention that I had a flat tire on last Thursday morning? At least it was in the garage and not on Independence Blvd!) Anyway, I finally took the time to roll around with my baby the other day and was able to grab a few shots (her scrap book is going to be a good bit thinner than her sisters, I'm afraid!). If you have a magnifying glass you might be able to see her two teeth that match the two toes dug into the carpet in this first picture.

It seems just like yesterday that I was doing this kind of stuff with Aubrey, and now she has moved on to bigger and better (at least in her way of thinking...see post below.) Em's on the verge of crawling and life will take another crazy twist. But that's ok! I have 2 beautiful little people that are healthy and love me more than I deserve. I can't imagine life without them and was reminded again how necessary proper perspective really is!

And then there's my thumb sucker/sleep any time - any where . Like mother like daughter, I'm afraid! But hey, all that scooting around is hard work, don'tcha know!

Aubrey Micaiah

Big Sister and Big Dipper

Well, as you can see we love each other around here.

Daddy had the camera for some pastel hug shots (please ignore the morning lack-of -hair-do!!) Since adopting Tucker we have discovered that Aubrey is definitely an Alpha (fe)male. I'm just hoping she continues to direct it towards the puppy (who has gained 10 pounds in 4 weeks, thank you very much!) and not toward her little sister!

We have also ventured into the hallowed halls of potty training - serious mode. No more goofing around here, folks. We have gone more than an entire week now with no daytime diapers and only 3 -make that 4 - s to speak of. She can even get her little tuskus up on the potty without anyone's help. (She ally pushed the ring back when she climbed up for this attempt and mommy was mean enough to grab the camera.) And she LOVES her Curious George panties (David wants to know why they put Curious George on little ladies panties?!?!). We have made it through (among other activities) 3 church services, a Dollar Store and numerous Walmart runs, as well as to the vet and mommy's dr's appt (for the poison ivy! I know what some of you were thinking....NOT!!) Hopefully the trend will continue.

By the way...Any suggestions out there for getting them trained through the night? Her diapers are usually potty-logged by morning!!

AARGH!

Ok, the answer to the riddle posted below ( " - - - " ) is: the letter after F, the letter after H, the letter after Q, and the letter after K.

Blog Type-O

Does anyone else have difficulties trying to post certain words on their blogs? - - - will not appear in my entries if "the" is in front of it. Any suggestions?!?!? Read the entry below and you'll see what I mean. I've noticed it in my other entries as well.

A Day in the Life...

Ok, it's been a while since I've read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, but I'm just about ready to publish a sequel. I guess it's not that bad, really, but can I have just a momentary pity party...please?

• David left this morning for BJ for the Principals' Recruiting Conference. (sniff)

• I noticed I was scratching my jaw line a bit yesterday, but I chalked it up to dry skin (the skin on the tips of my fingers is actually splitting open this year - argh), until I woke up this morning scratching the back of my hand. I made it to the bathroom mirror to investigate and discovered I have poison ivy of some sort on my left jaw and back of my right hand. The only place where I can think of contacting it is in our "natural area" in the corner of our yard where we take Tucker to do his things. But I thought it was dormant this time of year!! I haven't had this stuff in years and it's right where my hair rubs and....

on to the next Alexanderish moment,

• I was getting the s' things loaded in the car this morning for Emma's monthly / Aubrey's quarterly JCP photo shoot pilgrimage and when I was stepping through the doorway I heard a funny noise. I glanced around trying to put my finger on what this peculiar sound was and then realized that Tucker's almost empty bag of food was moving. You read correctly. It was moving. Horror of horrors, I realized that there was a MOUSE in the bag. After I got the A&E loaded up I took the bag out to the drive way and dropped it. (to which my mother replied - "What? You didn't hit the bag with a shovel or something?!?!")

• My pride at the ingenuity of ridding my residence from the mouse was short lived when the mouse scurried out of the bag and did a U-turn toward the opposite side of the car, back into the garage. All the while I'm stomping my feet up and down like a three-year old having temper tantrum trying to scare him back out; a few of my neighbors' blinds went down on their windows and children were pulled back inside by their worried mothers. Aubrey and Emma just looked up at me form their car seats and grinned. They love me, no matter what.

• Our 10:20 appointment (which we were on time for, in spite of Mickey, thank you very much) was delayed by 15 minutes because some mother was determined that her fussy children would have their pictures taken today, no matter the pouting, fussing, screaming, crying, and general lack of smiles.

• If my memory serves me correctly, baby food was on sale again this week at Bi-Lo. So, Aubrey is thrilled because that means if she asks correctly she can ride in the "green cart." (Don't ask me why she calls them green carts...they are shaped like race cars [we're in NASCAR country, ok?!], the kid gets to "steer" and the carts are blue, not green.) After we trundle into the store in our over-sized "green" cart we discover that the baby food is NOT on sale after all. I pick up a few other things that are in the ad and I that I have coupons for (at least they double them up to 99cents), and we are now headed back to the cart. As I lift Aubrey out I discover that it's been a bit too long since we've gone potty or changed the pull-up.

• No one at Wal-Mart knows where the mousetraps are shelved. I asked a stock lady near the house supplies and she confidently replied "Hardware Department!" So, we trek across the vast expanse of Super-Wally to go up and down every aisle in the Hardware Department, to finally find a clerk who looks at me and says, "I don't know. They aren't over here. I think they are over in the grocery department." I smiled and said, "That's funny...I asked someone over there and she told me to come over here to the Hardware Department." Not to be outdone by her co-worker, Hardware Hilda now conjurs up her inventory memory map and confidently calls after me, "Check aisle 10, over in grocery." (yah, right, like I'm gonna traverse this football field again!)

• We made it home. =)

• After I get Aubrey up from the table she disappears while I'm on the phone. I hunt her down after she has successfully emptied the entire contents of her second dresser drawer onto the floor.

• A&E are down for a naps. Ok, it's Tucker time. Our beloved puppy discovers that the neighbors have some right tasty black liner and pine straw under one of their bushes. After I get that pieced back together I decided that was enough fun and games for the time being so I put him back on his tether. (Don't feel too sorry for him, it's actually a beautiful day.) Well, he decided that he wasn't quite finished with the liner and pinestraw so he goes bolting back that direction and runs right out of his collar, breaking off one of the locking prongs on it. Guess where we get to go after the s wake up from their naps....yup, Super-Wally.

Maybe I'll check grocery aisle 10.

Happy Belated Valentines' Day

I Love You!

Looks like a Charmin commercial, if you ask me!

Love you like a sister!

Hope you each had a wonderful valentines' day!

I'm so thankful for the incredible family with which the Lord has blessed me. They (including my un-pictured husband) are something I've dreamed of since I was a little , but had pretty much given up hope of having during my "single duration."

As I've been reminded several times recently, God is good, every day, all of the time.

Manna!

We finally awoke

to a North Carolina winter wonderland

(you must use your imagination with this one, ok?)

a few weeks ago

and some of us

(especially the ultra short people)

were mesmerized by the fluffy stuff.

After waiting for 42 years to be able to call a snow day,

David finally got his wish February 1st!

Mind you, it didn't last very long

(the sleet washed it away by early afternoon),

but hey, we'll take what we can get!