The BIG 2!

I cannot believe that this big boy is 2 years old!

I really wish I could share some of the pictures I took yesterday.  We had a great time!  Joe's parents came for the weekend.  They did some work on Grandama's house on Saturday and then came to spend the night with us.  It is so great to have the space that they can do this.  They have not spent the night at our house in 7 years!  We had a great time.  Sunday morning mister mess woke up around 8.  I made a big breakfast and he loved it!  Of course we had some of his favorites, grapes and bananas.  Then we just stayed home and he and his brother enjoyed playing with their toys.  They had a great time.  They really enjoy playing with Nanny and especially Poppy.  If I have heard Poppy once I have heard Poppy a million times!  Ha!  And I love it!!  I am so glad they have him!

Then Daddy grilled hot dogs (another favorite) and we had cheese puffs for lunch.  Well, and ketchup of course.  This kids will eat ketchup on anything!  Ha!  And you will usually catch him eating just the ketchup with his fork.  Yuck.  But he loves it!  Grandmama brought some cupcakes, so we put 2 candles in his and sang to him again.  He kept looking at us like we had lost our minds!  It was pretty funny.  But he does enjoy blowing out his candles and he devoured his cupcake.  :)

Then he opened his presents.  He REALLY enjoyed the play vacuum cleaner that Grandmama got him!  I think I have talked about this kids obsession with all things cleaning before.  It cracks me up!  And I love it.  We have a rug in our living room.  A black rug.  I pretty much need to vacuum it daily.  (notice how I said need, not that I do) I will never buy a black rug again.  Anyway, Mister Mess put his vacuum cleaner on that rug and vacuumed the whole thing for me!  (maybe he has seen that a few million times!  Ha!)  Too bad his vacuum cleaner doesn't actually vacuum.  ;)

He is doing so well!  He is super smart and so much fun!  I am pretty sure he is the funniest kid I have ever met.  Especially when he gets in trouble.  It makes it very difficult!  :)

He is still refusing to say that he is 2.  He says nee which means three.  He does try really hard to hold up 2 fingers and gets so excited when I help him.  But, he likes to count, so I think he just keeps going.  Since I say 2 he says 3!  Ha!  .  So, when I say "Mister Mess is 2.  You say 2."  He says "nee."  Me:  "No, two."  Him:  "NEE!"  Me:  Not three, two."  Him:  "NEEEE!!"  Me:  "One, two.  Mister mess is two."  Him:  Nodding is head yes, "NEEEEE!"  Me:  "Okay."  LOL!!  I have given up on that one for now.  We will work on it again soon...

Mister mess is either going at top speed or asleep.  We laugh about how much sleep he needs, but it is because when he is awake he never slows down!  :)  He loves his "beep beeps"  and "balls."  They are definitely his most favorite toys.  And like I said before, he loves all things cleaning.  Brooms, mops, dust pans, vacuum cleaners, rags, you name it!  Ha!  We have to keep everything put up in a closet that he cannot open.  He loves it so much I would love to let him play with it, but it is just gross!  Ha!  I just can't let myself.  I am shopping for him his own kid sized broom and cleaning set, but I haven't found one yet.  He also can't stand for things to be out of place and he especially doesn't like when his big brother leaves stuff on the floor.  A boy after my own heart!!  :)

He is talking a lot.  We hear new words daily.  But I am a little worried that his speech is not right on target for his age, so we have scheduled a speech therapy evaluation.  Much better to be safe than sorry.  I would much rather him get help now while he is young!  I have no doubt that he understands everything we say, but he might need a little help learning to say things himself.

His personality is precious!  And I can't get enough of his laugh!!

Mister Mess,

Daddy and I have loved every minute that we have gotten to spend with you!  You have brought so much laughter to our family.  We find ourselves asking each other often what we did before we had you.  We have loved watching you grow and hope you continue to grow and learn more everyday!  Thank you for providing us with much entertainment!!  We love you with all of our hearts!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

SIX Months

Yes, you read that right.  This baby girl is 6 months-old today!!  I can't believe it. 

She is growing and changing so fast.  Last time we went to the doctor she weighed 18 pounds.  She is so stinking cute!

She adores eating rice cereal.  She still cries when it is all gone!  Well, she cries when her bottle is all gone, too.  So she likes to eat...there is nothing wrong with that!  Ha!

I don't have all of her stats because her 6 month appointment isn't until July 9th.  I'll have to blog them after we go.  I just know she is going to weigh 20 pounds and we are going to be looking for a new car seat.  Like I said, growing way too fast!!

She loves laying on the floor and playing with her toys.  She rolls all over the place!  And she definitely has her favorite toys and spends much more time playing with them. 

She can sit alone for a few seconds before she throws herself backwards or falls forward trying to get her toes.  Speaking of toes, she still adores her toes! Ha!  I painted her toe nails for the first time this week with Piggy Paint.  Too stinking cute!

I waited until she was asleep, but it was still a challenge because she is so ticklish she kept waking up!  Ha!  But, I did finally finish. 

Her spontaneous hugs and kisses are precious!!  Some how she usually manages to reach around my neck and grab those little bitty hairs around my hair line and pull me close and cram the back of her pacie (because it is usually in her mouth) in my mouth.  Ha!  It is so sweet.  I love it when she totally catches me off guard.  

I think she is developing a little stranger anxiety.  They had school pictures done at her school this week and she would NOT smile for the camera.  She was hungry, so I thought maybe if they fed her and then tried again after I left (she does love her food) that they might be able to get her to smile.  But they had NO luck!  Her teacher (who we absolutely adore!!) said she was smiling all the way down the hall, but when that strange man (the picture guy) started talking to her and trying to get her to smile she would only frown at him.  Ha!  Such a mess!!  Because anyone that has met her knows she smiles all the time.

She still adores water.  I am pretty sure I get much more soaked giving her a bath than either one of her brothers!  Ha!  She splashes and kicks the whole time she is in the water.  And, she adores the wash clothe.  It makes trying to wash her with it a bit of a challenge because she spends the whole time trying to take it away from me.  Mess!  And if I give her her own wash clothe and try using another one she will drop the one I gave her and still try to take the one I'm using away!  It makes me laugh!

She "talks" all the time!  No more taking her in places where you have to be quiet.  :)  She can make tons of noises now and even mimics the noises I make.  And she is very ticklish!  She loves for me to tickle her belly and she will throw her head back and laugh.  Her laugh sounds just like her brother!

She has the funniest facial expressions.  And sometimes her different cries make me giggle.  It is so easy to tell what she is thinking.  Her "you broke my heart" cry is so sad and maybe a bit dramatic.  :)  I'm afraid we might have a drama queen on our hands.  You can tell her "I'm hungry" cry because you know she means business and nothing but putting a spoon or bottle in her mouth will make the cry stop!  Ha!  She has started fussing just a little bit sometimes when she is sleepy, but it usually doesn't last long.  

She is also reaching her arms up when she wants picked up.  And after I unbuckle her she pushes herself up the the car seat for me to pick her up.  Smart girl! 

I can't wait to start feeding her baby food.  I just know she is going to love it! 

And, I can't wait to stay home with her and her brothers every day!  Yes, next Friday is my last day of work and I will be a stay at home mom!!  I never thought it would be something I would want to do or ever be possible, but never say never.  I know we are going to have the best time.

So, now maybe I will be able to blog a little more consistently.  We will see!

  

Circus Party

Time Flies!

Time definitely flies when you are having fun!  So many things have happened since I last updated.  I really don't even know where to start!

Miss Priss is doing great!  She turned 5 months-old.  She got tubes in her ears and except for the current strep throat that has attacked our whole family, she has been healthy.  She is still the happiest baby!  She loves to be talked to.  And she definitely carries on a conversation with you!  She is giving more and more kisses and hugs.  Another big milestone is we stopped swaddling her at night.  She gets so cold so I was worried about not swaddling her because I do not feel comfortable putting her to bed with a blanket.  I do not mind at nap time because I am awake and can check on her.  But I knew I would not be able to sleep well at night worrying about her.  So, I still put her swaddle blanket on her, I just don't put her arms in it.  So, she is basically swaddled from the waist down.  The first night of that did not go so well because she kept waking up cold.  Like waking up every hour crying.  So, at 4 am I finally gave in and covered her up with her blanket on top of the swaddle blanket.  She grabbed her blanket and brought it right up by her face.  Then she flipped over on her side and went right to sleep.  Ha!  And slept until I woke her up.  So, since my mom crochets, I decided to use one of the more holey blankets that she had made for miss priss to cuddle with at night.  So, I still swaddle her from the waist down and give her the crocheted blanket.  She does the same thing every night...grabs the blanket with both hands, pulls it up by her face, flips over on her side, and goes right to sleep.  It makes me giggle every time!  I don't worry about her because the blanket is very loosely sewn and she can get plenty of air.  And I guess it is warm enough for her.  Ha!

Mister Mess is doing great!  We are having his birthday party tomorrow!  I can't believe he is almost 2!  He is talking like crazy!  I think he has a million new words every day.  Well, maybe not that many, but you get the point.  My most favorite of his new words is "A boo baa, mommy."  Just in case you are wondering, that means I love you mommy!  Ha!  It took me forever to figure out what he was saying!  He had been saying it A LOT and then that night I was rocking him to sleep.  He looked up at me and patted me on the arm and said "A boo baa, mommy" in a very sweet voice.  So I said I love you, too, and he smiled very big!  Finally!  Whew.  That was a tough one to figure out.  So of course now I get "a boo baa" when I ask him if he wants to go to time out.  He is a smart little toot.  One night I was rocking him to sleep and he said "A boo baa, daddy.  Night night, daddy. A boo baa, Daddy."  That is a pretty big sentence for a kiddo who was only saying one word at a time not long ago.

We have also gotten child #3 since my last update.  Yes, you read that right.  There is a child #3.  He is Miss Priss and Mister Mess' 4 year-old brother.  We are so happy to have him!!  He is such a cutie!

I love watching him interact with his brother and sister.  The two boys are trying to learn how to live with each other again.  They have not been in the same home together for quite sometime, so there have definitely been adjustments.  But for the most part, I feel like he has adjusted very well.  He LOVES living with his brother and sister.  He is going to the same child care center as the other 2 and loves it!  He has a very sweet nature and is very smart.

Other big news since my last update is the Joe got a new JOB!  In another TOWN!  So, we MOVED last weekend.  I mean, we haven't been busy at all...get a new kid one week, move to Conway the next week, and plan and have a birthday party the next week.  No big deal, right!?!  ;)  

We adore our new house!  It has so much more space, which is exactly what we needed with 3 kiddos!!  We, with the help of family and friends. have totally repainted the inside and done a few small jobs on the outside.  We definitely have more projects to go, but have already come so far.  This was definitely a very different move from last summer!   I had the whole apartment packed up with boxes labeled weeks before we moved last time.  Not so much this time.  I did not pack one box until the night before we moved.  We were still throwing stuff into boxes as it was being put on the truck.  Oh my.  Joe, my mom, and my friend Michelle packed a lot on Thursday and Friday, but throwing 3 kids and all their stuff into the mix made this a very different experience to say the least!  I am definitely not complaining, just saying how different it was.  But, us and all of our stuff made it, and that is the most important thing!  

Last year, after the first week of living in our new apartment I had everything hung on the walls and curtains hung and all the boxes unpacked, etc.  Not so much this time!  Ha!  But it will get done.  Eventually.  Percie loves her new backyard!  I can't wait to get out there and work on it some and get it looking just the way I want it!

One last story before I go.  I am still working at my same job and the kiddos are still going to their same school.  We figure the less transition at once, the better.  But, that means an hour commute one way for me and 30 minutes for the kids.  Not sure how long this will last!  Ha!  (I am driving an SUV with a third row seat now.  So, big brother sits on the third row seat and mister mess and miss priss sit in front of him on the 2nd row of seats.)  So, one day last week on our way home, Big brother was rolling up and throwing the long strap from the back on mister mess' car seat over into his car seat.  For whatever reason, both of them thought this was hilarious and were belly laughing.  Whatever keeps them happy during the drive.  :)  Mister mess is definitely in the "MINE" stage.  So, Joe and I find ourselves saying "not mine, say please" a lot.  I have never gotten mister mess to say please.  Well, Mister mess would start his "MINE MINE MINE" and then I heard his big brother say "Mister mess (he actually said his name) say please, not mine"  and then I hear the sweetest "Peas, big brother" (He actually said his name).  REALLY?!?  I have been trying for months to get this kid to say please!  Ha!  So, over and over on the way home that day it was "Peas, big brother".  At least Mister Mess has continued with his "peas" and not refused to say it for us!  

That was just a huge example of how much big brother listen to what Joe and I say and how mister mess loves to impress his big brother!

Hopefully it won't be so long before the next update!