8, 9, and 10 months

Here I am...behind again!  I decided I better get busy on this before month 11 gets here.  Month 8, 9, and 10 have been busy months at the Hooker House and for Miss Priss.

To be very honest,when Miss Priss turned 8 months-old we were not sure if she and her brothers would be living with us anymore.  (You know I can't (wouldn't) go into detail :) )  I think it is pretty obvious how that turned out.  :)  But, I was (am still) so thankful that taking time away from her to blog just didn't seem right.  :)  But I know that one day I will be so thankful for these monthly updates, so here goes 3 months in one.....

Miss Priss has had quite a few firsts in August, September, and October.  She had her first sibling professional pictures made.   And, they turned out wonderful and are now hanging all over our house.  :)  Poor baby girl was tired and we couldn't get a smile for anything.  But they are wonderful pictures anyway.  A few weeks ago, we had family pictures with Joe's sister, husband and my niece and nephew done.  I haven't seen them yet, but I just know they will be awesome!

In August she went on her very first vacation and stayed in a hotel for the first time.  She did awesome!  I'm pretty sure we will be returning to Branson very often.  We loved staying at the Hilton Branson Landing and shopping and eating of course.  She did so good sitting in the big girl high chairs at the restaurant.  :)  She also rode in an umbrella stroller for the first time.  She LOVED it!  In the double stroller she sits in the back.  She liked the umbrella stroller because she can see so much better!

Miss Priss experienced her first ASU football game and loved every minute of it.  She has now been to 3 games.  I'm pretty sure she is a fan for life!!  She also went to her first UCA game.  It was pretty uneventful and she told me she really prefers the Red Wolves.  :)  (Don't get me wrong, we are unbelievably grateful for Joe's job, but I just don't think I'll ever be a UCA football fan.)  Miss Priss loved meeting some of my DZ sisters at Homecoming.  She already bleeds pink and green.  And she told me she loves turtles.  :)  She also loved meeting a ton of our friends.  She is also a fan of spending the weekend at Nanny and Poppy's house.  

Miss Priss also got to experience her first Halloween.  She was the cutest Princess Leia ever!!  (Her Daddy's request of course.)  We had a great time at the church carnival, ASU Beebe, Mrs. Betsy's house, and FUMC Beebe's Trunk-or-Treat. We are so glad we got to hang out with my friend Marianne and her baby girl, Ruby Grace, sissy's future partner in crime.  Better known to Mister Mess as "Woo Boo Gace."  He has a slight obsession with Woo Boo Gace.  But that's a whole nother post.  :)  Poor girl was worn out the next day.

Miss Priss also got her first top tooth.  This makes tooth number 3.  She happens to be getting 5 more top teeth.  We don't get just one tooth at a time around here.  Miss overachiever.  :)

At 8 months-old Miss Priss started crawling like a mad woman.  She is every where and into everything!!  A few days after she crawled, she was pulling up on everything!  She has really good balance and can lower herself back down to sitting very well.  After she started crawling, she protested the exersaucer, the high chair, the swing, the "anything that wasn't on the floor crawling!"  :)  And when I say protest....I mean LOUDLY protest.  

Another first are her sissy fits.  And believe me, sissy fits are much worse than hissy fits.  :)  Only those who have experienced one can truly understand.  Ever see a 9 month-old throw a 2 year-old throw your head back, kicking, screaming, biting, hitting, all out fit??  Well, if you haven't you are welcome to come enjoy the show anytime.  Sometimes it is really hard for me not to laugh.  Sometimes it makes me dread the terrible 2s.  :)  Or the teenage years.....we don't even want to go there. 

Grandmama, better known to Mister Mess as Memama, also spent a month with us because she hurt her hip.  Not fun circumstances, but we are super glad she got to stay with us and sad to see her go.  Even though we are glad she is better!!  Miss Priss (along with Mister Mess) are super fond of Memama.  Miss Priss even let her put her to sleep more than once.  And that is huge by the way.  :)

Miss priss is talking SO much.  She has got mama, dada (sometimes daddy), ut-oh (her fav), hi, and babababa (bottle) down.  She sounds JUST like Mister Mess.  It is precious.  And she really is a sweet sweet baby!  (If she isn't throwing a fit, aka you do what she wants.)  She loves for her mama to hold her.  She will hang out in my lap for quite a while.  She gives the best open mouth kisses and hugs!  Sometimes she just needs her mama time.  :)  

We are very very thankful that Grandmama got Miss Priss an early Christmas present.....the Play Yard!  Here is a link:  Sissy's Play Yard.  This play yard is the only way I am getting to blog right now.  :)  She loves it!!  We put a rubber ABC mat under it so she is safe on our wood floor.  It does in fact take up a huge part of our living room, but I am totally okay with that!  It makes her a happy girl which makes me a happy mama.  I love knowing that she is safe in there.  She does like for me to come in and play with her sometimes.  She even requests her daddy to join her sometimes, too.  

Another huge step is that Miss Priss's bed is now in her room.  Yes, she is sleeping in her own room for the first time in 10 months.  :)  I do miss having her in our room, but she is doing great!!  She slept all night the first night.  And except for her bad teething night has slept all night ever since.  Now, this means that the boys are now sharing a room.  Lord help us!!  :)  We have only had 2 rough staying up past midnight playing nights.  Oh my.  One night Mister Mess (usually the instigator in this situation) slept in Miss Priss's bed in her room and we set up the pack-n-play in our room for her.  I haven't been brave enough to take down the pack-n-play because I'm afraid I'll have to drag it out again.  :)  We have a monitor set up in their room so we can listen to the parties they have.  :)  They really have done WAY better than I expected!!  And it is nice for her not to wake up every time I get out of bed to go to the bathroom.  :) 

Miss Priss had a great time at the pumpkin patch.  She LOVES being outside!!  She also loved carving her first pumpkin.   That is also an outside activity which didn't hurt anything.  And she had an awesome time at her cousin Darby's lady bug 1st birthday party yesterday.  I just know that they are going to be BFFs for life!  :)  I really wish I could show you guys some pics.  Precious!!

Miss Priss also understands what no,no means.  Does she always listen, well no, but she does know what it means!  :)  Usually when I say "no,no sissy" she will look at me and grin.  If I have to say it again she grins and dances.  Like you know I'm too cute to tell me no.  :)  I have to admit it is pretty precious.  But I try my hardest not to let her know that.  The other day I had to tell her no 3 times before she stopped hitting me.  Yes, you read that right.  And poor baby girl's lip popped out and she cried tears.  I broke her heart and I wanted to cry, too.  How does a 10 month old know to hit when she is mad????  Oh my, we are in for it. 

Miss Priss has also decided just this morning that it is cool to stand by herself.  ;)  I'm not ready for this!!

We are also in full 1st birthday party planning mode around here.  I am super excited!  Since her birthday is so close to Christmas, we are going to wait until the Christmas/New Years craziness is over before we have her big party. 

Hopefully I'll be back on November 21st to do her 11 month update on time.  A girl can hope.  :)

Rae

I Didn't Mean To....

Take an almost 2 month break from blogging!  I guess I just need to except that as much as I would like to be, I'll never be a regular blogger.  Just a Random one!  :)

I really need to do Miss Priss' 8 and 9 month updates before I forget everything, but tonight I think I'll just do a short update on all 3.

Miss Priss is becoming as big of a mess as her big brother.  :)  She is every where and into everything! She is crawling, pulling up, and cruising.  Her favorite game is picking up the tiniest pieces of stuff off the floor and putting it in her mouth.  So not cool.

I also was not aware that 9 month-olds were capable of throwing a 2 year-old fit.  But, if you ever wondered, they are.  :0  She arches her back.  Throws herself back.  Screams. Kicks her feet.  Hits.  Flaps her arms up and down.  Yes.  2 year-old fit.  And actually most of the time it is amusing and I end up laughing at her.  I know, I know....I'll regret that when she really is 2.  But for now it is pretty funny.  And you might wonder what would bring on one of these fits??  Well, number 1 is taking something that she has but probably shouldn't have away from her.  Oh my.  Number 2 is not feeding her at the exact second that she feels she needs to eat.  :)  And, I would say number 3 is when she wants her mama NOW.  She actually meant she wanted me 10 minutes ago.  ha!  Well, and she really doesn't enjoy being any where but on the floor crawling and pulling up.  That includes her bed, the high chair, the exersaucer, the swing, my arms....you name it.  I think I might have an independent diva on my hands.  And I love it!

And, she now has 3 words.  Mama, Dada, and ut-oh.  :)  The first time she said ut-oh might have been when Mister Mess was getting in trouble.  :)  I'm pretty sure she already knows when the tone in my voice changes and "the look".  It was pretty amusing and VERY hard not to laugh.  Mister mess stopped what he was doing, looked at me and said, "Sissy ut-oh, mama.  Sissy ut-oh!"  Like he couldn't believe she just said that.  It was pretty cute.

Speaking of Mister Mess he is definitely living up to his nick name.  That kid keeps me laughing.  Now that Big Brother is at Pre-K during the day, Mister Mess is talking more and more.  Big Brother might like to talk a lot and it might be a little hard for Mister Mess to get a word in sometimes.  Well, most of the time.  :)  I am loving our conversations.  I love the way he says pre-k, and that he asks everyday where his brother is.  Over and over.  And I really don't mind at all because I get him to say Pre-K and it makes me laugh.  I love it that he asks where daddy, memama (his word for grandmama aka my mom), nanny, poppy, pa-piesh (Percie), and meow (Ellanore the cat) are every day after we drop big brother off.  I love it that he is obsessed with putting "gash" (gas) in the car and asks every single time we pass a gas station.  And he thinks we should wash the car at every car wash we drive by. And that we should stop at Sonic and get "daddy's juice" for daddy every morning. And that we need "saushage" (sausage) every morning from McDonalds.  I have to admit that I give into that one more than eny of the others.  :)  

I love it that he now asks for what type of "juice" he wants:  bim (milk), chocket bim (Chocolate milk), wawur (water), appu juice (apple juice), and juice (he means lemonade but I can't get him to say this one.)  :)  He also requests appu sauche (apple sauce) multiple times a day.  But I don't mind saying no multiple times a day because I love the way he says it.  And, I'm pretty sure his favorite food is still "peas."  He requests peas every day for lunch.  :)  I love it that he loves nap time "with duck duck and blankish."  (his stuffed duck and his blanket)  He adores reading books before he goes to sleep.  There are 5 that he insists on reading every time.  But some how he snuck another book in his room and I noticed there are now 6.  :)  He adores "boooooks."  He also adores his big brother and does absolutely everything his big brother does.  Which may or may not be a good thing.  Well, most of the time I'm leaning more to the may not.  

Big Brother has come a LONG way since he got to come live with us.  I absolutely adore this kid!  But man can he push my buttons.  :)  And man does he know it.  Pre-K is going much better than school has ever gone for him before.  And for that I am very very thankful!!  He was blessed with an absolutely wonderful teacher.  And he really LOVES to learn.  He could only count to 4 and could not sing his ABCs right when he came to live with us.  It took me 2 days to teach him to count to 20.  And about a week to sing the ABCs.  Now he can recognize A, B, C, 1, 2, and 3.  And he can write all of them.  And I can't take credit for any of that.  He adores doing his homework from Pre-K and I hope that never changes!!  He will work really hard for a long time.  And asks every night if he has homework.  :)  

He is still in outpatient speech therapy, but recently tested out of Occupational Therapy.  He is just doing SO good!  He is such a smart kid and his self help skills amaze me.  He likes to have my company, but he really doesn't need my help to get ready.  Well, except for tying his shoes and spiking his hair.  :)  He can undress, dress himself (including socks and shoes), put his dirty clothes up, brush his teeth, brush his hair, wash and rinse his own hair and totally wash himself in the bath tub, dry himself off, and put on his own lotion.  He doesn't need me anymore :(  and he is so proud of himself.  :)

The longer he lives with us the more comfortable he gets and the funnier stuff he says!  Ha!  I love "don't freak out, mama but...", "I've got this", "Nevermind, I'll deal with it", "Really, Sissy?  Really, Sissy?"  While holding his nose "Brody pooped".  :)  I love it that he undresses from the waist down to use the bathroom and hold his own nose while doing so.  Ha!  And I'm sure he will love it one day that I shared that with the world.  :)  I also love his prayers every night.  He likes for me to help him think of things to pray for.  I've stopped giving him ideas because I want him to have to think.  So when he gets stuck he looks up at me and says "I'm thinking really hard, but I'm not thinking of it."  Ha!  His prayers are precious.  I love it when he prays that he can make good choices tomorrow.  :)  (because some tomorrows he needs all the help he can get)  He definitely has his challenging moments (like most kiddos), but is definitely worth every challenge. 

This kid LOVES TV and games!  His reward if he makes good choices is to stay up after Mister Mess goes to bed and watch TV.  I try to limit his TV because he is such a junkie!  Ha!  The kiddos are going to be Star Wars Characters for Halloween, but he had no clue what Star Wars was.  (Joe requested the costumes because Star Wars is his fav)  So, Joe and Big Brother have been watching Star Wars and he LOVES it!  He asks a ton of questions and wants to know every character's name.  He is now very excited to be Darth Vader.  :)  He also adores the Homeward Bound movies.  And usually has to watch a movie more than 1 time because he runs in the other room to tell me what is happening and ends up missing part of the movie.  :)

And in case anyone was wondering or had any doubt, I am loving staying at home!  I can't imagine doing anything else right now.  I stay unbelievably busy and wouldn't have it any other way.  And poor Mister Mess is pretty sick right now and it was so nice to be able to take him to the doctor today and not have to worry about missing work today and for a week to stay home with him.  It was also awesome that Joe took off work to help today so I didn't have to take the well one with me!  Thank you, Daddy!!  I am not sure how single parents do it!  

December 5th is a pretty important day for the kiddos and prayers are much appreciated!

And if you are still with me, you deserve a reward!  I'll try not to go that long without blogging again!

Rae

Miss Priss' Room

I have had the best time putting Miss Priss' room together!  I think her girly room fits her perfect!

I'm sure you remember from my previous post about the boys room, that Miss Priss does not actually sleep in her room, but I have high hopes that the boys will be sharing a room before they are teenagers so that MP can sleep in her own room.  :)

So, here is her bed in our room...

My mom made her bedding, and I love it!

I love her bed!  

I love that her bed matches Joe's Grandma Blanche's rocking chair.  The night stand was my Aunt Claire's when she was a little girl and then mine.  It hasn't always been yellow.  Of course I painted it.  :)  I think I may be addicted to painting things.  And MP has two closets.  How fitting?!?

This yellow dresser was also my Aunt Claire's and then mine.  I love the way her changing table turned out.  My MIL and FIL found it for me at a flea market and I painted it turquoise.  Did I mention an addiction?  :)  The sun that you see on the wall was black and the chandelier that is now pink was also black.  

 And I finally finished redoing her bow holder!  I like the way it turned out.  And yes, she needs this many bows!  :)

This is behind her door when you first walk in her room.  The shelf has a few of my things from when I was little on it including these ceramic little yellow birds that I was obsessed with!  Ha!  The pink canvas was painted by Miss Priss herself.  :)  And you might have figured out that her name starts with an M.  This rack is very handy to hang all of her bags on.  (I took them down because some of them might have her name on them.)

This is the sunshine mobile that I made.  Let me just say that it was MUCH easier than the elephant one.  Ha!  And these are the 2 canvases that I made.  

I even painted the inside of all of her drawers turquoise.  All of the knobs came from Hobby Lobby.  Well, and a lot of the stuff that is on the walls also came from Hobby Lobby.  I love that place!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of Miss Priss' room!  

I felt like I was never going to get it done, but I am so glad I did!  I adore it!  Well, and I adore her, too.  :)

Rae

Update on Mister Mess

First, I finally painted the dresser in Mister Mess and Big Brother's room!  I love it!

Mister Mess, the 2 year-old, is saying and doing the funniest stuff every day and I don't want to forget any of it!  So, I decided it was time to make time to write it all down.

He is loving staying at home, and is becoming pretty attached.  He really does not like it if I leave a room without him.  He will look at me with those big blue eyes and say, "I walk, mama."  That means he wants to come with me.  Sometimes he randomly says, "I walk" and he will walk around the room or the house.  Ha!

He has also learned the word cold and uses it correctly often.  He LOVES "ICE."  I think it is just because he can say it is cold!  :)

He also is requesting "breakfast" every morning when I get him out of bed.  All food used to be nom nom.  Nom nom was VERY cute, but I'm glad that he is learning that food has different names.  He often requests "beans", "peas", and "fries!"  Ha!  He says lunch sometimes, but still calls most meals "breakfast."  Ha!  I guess it is his favorite.  I love it when Joe fixes something for him to eat and he says, "this nummy, daddy!"  

He also loves to sing and just makes up his own songs.  One of them often says, "no more sissy, no more sissy, no more sissy, sissy all gone gone, all thru the town!"  LOL!!  Do you think there might be a little jealousy there!?!  And he LOVES wheels on the bus.  That is where the all thru the town came from.  :)

He goes to Physical Therapy twice a week.  His PTs name is Hannah, but he calls her Hanny and I think it is super cute!  One day when we got home and he was eating lunch he said, "Mama, ball Hanny.  Woah Woah Hanny!"  Ha!  I asked her and she said that she had put him on the big exercise ball!  Smart boy!  That was the first time that he told me about something that happened when I wasn't around.  

So the days of Big Brother getting away with doing something to MM and MM not being able to tell me what happened are over!  :)  Don't get me wrong, MM does his fair share to BB, but BB has always been able to tell me what happened.  Now MM can, so there are always 2 sides.  :)  The other day I was talking to BBs Occupational Therapist outside the car.  I got in the car and MM was crying.  I asked what was wrong and he said "BB, hair, ow, ow hair."  And he acted like he was pulling his hair.  I asked BB if he pulled MMs hair, and he looked at me totally shocked and said, "yes ma'am."  I don't think he knew what to do!  Ha!

This might be a little TMI, but it really made Joe and I laugh, so I want to remember it.  MM said "church" for the first time this morning.  After lunch I changed his diaper before I put him down for a nap.  When I layed him down, he said "I poop."  I am trying to teach him the right words so we can start potty training.  So, I said no, you pee pee.  He said, "I poop at church.  No, no, mama.  I poop at church."  And, he had in fact pooped while he was at church in the nursery and they had to change him.  Ha!  This is really one of his first sentences to put together.  And it really made us laugh!

Poor guy has bad reaction to mosquito bites.  I have some prescription cream that I have to put on him when he gets "bug bites."  He is learning his parts of his body by where is "bug bites" are.  Ha!  He now knows "arm," "leg," "neck," "back," "feet," "cheek," "booty," "belly." LOL!  Poor guy.  But at least he is learning I guess.  It just kills me though.  His brother and sister can be in exactly the same place for the same amount of time and he is the only one that gets "bug bites."

Another one of MMs new favorite words is "boooook."  And yes he draws out "boooook" just like I typed it.  :)  He LOVES to read "booooooks" every night before bed.  His favorite book is Barnyard Dance.  He adores his "duck duck" and there is a "duck duck" in the book so he was hooked immediately.  :)  He likes the "horsh," "piiiig," "chishen," "cat," and "gog" best.  

Speaking of "gogs," MM has always called Percie "arf."  We have been working on him saying Percie, but it comes out much more like "pa-piesh."  :)

Since MM likes to follow me from room to room and is crazy active, when I am putting clothes away or getting Miss Priss dressed he likes to sit in the rocking chair and "I rock."  He loves to "I rock."  I definitely encourage him to "I rock" since it keeps him busy.  :)  It has started to back fire on me a little, though.  Joe or I usually rock MM before we put him to bed at night.  He rarely goes to sleep.  Right before I put him in bed, I usually ask MM for a kiss.  A few weeks ago I asked for a kiss and he said, "no, no mama.  I rock a mama.  I rock a mama."  :)  So, we might be rocking a little bit longer most nights.  But that's okay.

Another favorite is "here, mama."  When I hear "here, mama" I never know what MM might be handing me!  :)  (and it sounds a little more like heeweere than here.  lol)

Two more of his sayings that make me laugh and shake my head at the same time are "I see" and "I know."  For example, Me:  Watch where you are going, MM.  MM:  "I see."  (Imagine that with the attitude of a 14 year-old.  It definitely helps me see what the future may hold.  ha!)
  Me:  We don't hit our brother.  MM:  I know, mama, I know.  With the same amount of attitude.  We are working very hard on yes ma'am instead of I know.  :)

MM adores his "daddy!!!!"  He says it with that much enthusiasm every time he says it.  It is precious!

I also find my self saying things to MM that I never really imagined I would say.  Like, get your tooth brush out of your ear, Get that dorito out of your ear, don't put the cheese in your hair, get your foot off your sister, don't kick your plate, no touch Percie's eyes, etc.  :) 

We really enjoy having this fun 2 year-old at our house!!  September 12th is a big day in these kiddos lives.  Of course I can't (and wouldn't) go into detail on here, but please keep them in your prayers.

Rae

Lately

I have been a horrible blogger! There are SO many things that I do not want to forget!! But I especially don't want to forget this past week, so I will start there. 

Last Friday, my nephews Logan and Braden came for their annual week long visit. I always love having them come for a visit!  This year it was very different having 3 little ones. We had a blast!!

We started our week out at Joe's family reunion at the Spring River. We had a great day! But it did help me to remember why we have not been camping with 3 little ones! :) Joe took big brother, Logan, and Braden trout fishing. They all had fun! And, Logan caught his first trout! We played and swam in the cold river all day. Miss priss even loved the water!

On Sunday, Joe took big brother, Logan, and Braden to Play World in Conway. They had a great time playing all the arcade games. They also went to eat Chinese food which is always a hit! 

On Monday we went to Wild River Country. We all had a great time! Big brother went on all of the big water slides with Joe, Logan, and Braden! I am so proud of him! Miss priss loved the water!! I think she had even more fun because the water wasn't cold. :) Mister mess went down the duck slide no less than 100 times! Ha! I'm thinking that we may need season passes next summer! 

Then, on Tuesday Grandmama took us to build a bear. It was the first time for all 3 of our kiddos! And they ALL loved it! Sweet big brother insisted on making his sister her own build a bear, so she got a bunny with a pink dress and silver shoes. It fit her perfect! The lady who was filling the bears let big brother and mister mess put hearts in miss priss' bunny. :)  When her bunny was all done she gave it the biggest hug and kiss.

After build a bear we ate at On the Border which was a huge hit!  Especially for Mister Mess who ate salsa by the handfuls!  Ha!

Mister mess picked a "horsh" of course! If you are not sure what horsh is, it is horse in mister mess language. :) With some help from Joe, he picked out an ASU Red Wolves shirt , shorts, and some black shoes for horsh. I had NO idea that mister mess would enjoy build a bear as much as he did. Horsh has now joined duck duck in his crib and has also become a sleeping companion. :)

Big brother picked a monkey. He picked out a red and black football jersey, football pants, a football helmet, and cleats for Monkey. I think I forgot to mention that mister mess named his horse, horsh. Ha! And big brother named his monkey, monkey. How original! :) I knew big brother would LOVE build a bear, and I was not wrong! His new monkey goes every where with him! Grandmama was so sweet to think to let big brother get glasses for monkey just like his. Big brother loves monkeys glasses. He takes them off of monkey and puts them by his bed with his  every night. And I have to clean monkeys glasses just like I clean his every morning! :) Monkey even traveled to the zoo with us today so he could "meet the real monkeys!" 

On Wednesday we traveled to Harrisburg because one of my sorority sisters who is a photographer was doing some mini sessions and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get some great pictures of these 3 sweet kiddos. Don't worry, Logan and Braden got to stay home with Uncle Joe and play NCAA 13 on the play station 3. They had no complaints! Ha! I can wait to see the pictures!  I know they are going to be great!

Thursday Grandmama took Logan and Braden home.  Sad day!  Big Brother was very sad to see them leave.  We had a pretty normal day.  These kiddos were worn out from all of our fun activities so we rested a lot.were all so happy to see them. 

On Friday Christy, Corbin, and Carson came to visit!  We went to CFA for lunch and some play time.  They all had a great time.  We even got some ice cream before we left.  I can't believe we stayed there for 3 hours!  Time just flew by.  Then they came to our house to play for a little bit.  It was such a great visit!

Saturday we were just planning on staying at home.  It is Joe's last weekend before college starts.  He has a super busy weekend next weekend.  I decided to go to McDonald's to pick up some breakfast.  When I walked outside it was SO cool.  It felt great after our very hot summer!  So, I checked the weather on my phone and saw that the high was going to be 90!  That is so much better than our average temp of 110.  So, I went home, woke everyone up, and we went to the zoo.  I'm so glad we went.  It was a great day!

Big Brother had never been to the Little Rock Zoo before, so it was a great experience.  The Little Rock Zoo has been known in the past for not having many animals to see, but not this time!  We saw both of the elephants, both of the giraffes, the tiger, the jaguars, the cheetahs, the penguins, the spider monkeys (known to big brother as the spider man monkeys!  ha!), all of the bears, the otters, the rhinos, lots of different birds and water fowl, the apes and some smaller monkeys.  She howler monkeys are the only animals that we did not get to see.  They were definitely howling, but "would not come out of their house."  It was an awesome day and I am thinking that Zoo Passes maybe in our near future!  (I got some great pictures.  I really wish I could show you!)  It surprised me how much Mister Mess has grown up since our last zoo trip with him.  He really had a great time!  Miss Priss even loved it.  She just loves being outside.  I put her on my shoulders and she giggled and giggled!

 These sweet kiddos are not going to know what to do this week when we have a boring week at home!  Ha!  A big thank you to Grandmama for making it possible for these kiddos to have such a fun week!

Rae

7 Months Old

I really can't believe that this baby girl is 7 months-old!  

I also can't believe that she has her 1st tooth!  It is one of her bottom front teeth.  She was a little clingy/cranky, but did not have a lot of the typical teething symptoms.  She does slobber a little, but nothing like I've seen other kiddos do before.  She does chew on stuff a lot.  And Thursday night she ran a low fever.  Then Friday when we were on our way to visit Joe's parents I found her tooth!!  

She is also sitting up on her own very well.  She rarely falls over when it isn't on purpose.  Now that she can sit up she does not want to lay down.  She has given up laying in her bath tub.  If I lay her down she grabs both sides of her tub and pulls herself up to sit again!  Ha!  I've got to get her one of the seats that suctions to the bottom of the bath tub so she can sit up and play in the water.

She also holds her bottle all on her own now.  She is getting so independent!  She has learned how to raise the bottle up to get every sip out of it!  Ha!  And she still gets super mad when her bottle is all gone.  She is eating 1 baby food fruit, 1 baby food veggie, and cereal everyday along with her formula.  Her little belly isn't a big fan of food so we also had to add 3 ounces of apple juice to help her out.  She LOVES it! 

I know she is going to start crawling any day!!  And she talks all the time.  I am waiting for that 1st official word.  I don't think it will be long at all.  

She and Percie are BFFs for real!  It cracks me up.  They really adore each other.

She is sleeping about 8 to 10 hours at night and she takes 2 to 3 naps a day.  Some mornings she takes a short nap, then a 3 hour nap in the afternoon when her brothers are napping :), and usually a 2 hour nap at night after she finishes eating.  Her nap schedule is very convenient for her mama!  Ha!  At night we are able to give the boys a bath, play with them, put Mister Mess to bed, and clean up after supper before she wakes up. 

She is such a cuddly baby!  Even when she isn't tired.  It is so sweet!  I still adore her hugs and kisses.  She squeals and giggles all the time. 

She usually goes to sleep really easy.  She would probably always go to sleep on her own in her bed, but sometimes I like to hold her.  :)  Laying her down is super easy.  She never wakes up.  She most definitely always has to sleep with her blanket and pacie.  Speaking of her pacie, she can pull it out of her mouth to cry and maybe be a little dramatic and then put it back in her mouth when she is ready.  Mess. 

But when her pacie falls out of her mouth at night and in her sleep (her eyes are always still closed) and she decides she wants it back, I have to help her out.  She can't seem to put it back in her mouth by herself then.  :)

And, she does not have any more hair than the day we met her.  :)  So, if you have ever seen her, her hair looks exactly the same, even if it was 5 months ago.  Ha!  I keep telling her she will have hair one day.  She sure does love mine!  She is an awesome hair puller.  She is SO good at grabbing those little hairs that hurt really bad when pulled.  :)  Good thing I usually wear my hair pulled back.  She gets SO excited when she sees me with my hair down.  Ha! 

I am amazed at how fast she is changing.  I think she does something new every day.  I'm not so sure how I feel about that.  :)

Rae

The Boys Room

I think I will give this early morning before the boys wake up blogging thing a try.  I have WAY too many projects to do during nap time to have time to blog then.

The boys room was the first one I finished after we moved in.  It was the easiest because I used all the same stuff from their old room.  I had just finished their old room a few months before we moved.  This time you will notice that the one thing missing is the stripes.  I decided against them this time.  They were a booger to paint!  

*Be prepared for picture over load!*

This is to your right when you first walk in the door. I have plans to paint this chest of drawers.  I think that the room needs more ice blue, but I don't think that would grow with the boys very well.  (and I dont want to be repainting this dresser every time I redo their room!)  I had decided to paint it red because I think that would grow with them.  But there is so much red in this room! So, I'm pretty sure it will be painted green very soon.  Stay tuned to see if I change my mind again.  :))

The TV is not even plugged in.  Ha!  I am thinking about just storing it for when they get older after I paint the dresser. 

I still use the changing table for Mister Mess right now.  But, he is working very hard at learning to dress himself, so it may not be there long.  I have got to have a picture taken to put in that big frame!

Big Brother's bed is definitely staged for this picture!  He has 2 other blankets and quite a few stuffed friends that he insists on having on his bed.   But I can pretend that this is what his bed looks like every day.  :)  (And there is a reason that the mobile is hung above his bed.  We will get to that in a minute.)

And this is where Mister Mess' bed would be if the boys were able to sleep in the same room.  :)  The boys really do have a great time together.  They especially have a great time getting in trouble together.  And MM isn't quite old enough to reason with yet.  Big Brother totally understands the rules, but when MM does not that poses a bit of an issue.  I have high hopes that by Christmas they will learn to sleep in the same room.  But, for now Miss Priss' bed is in our room and MM's bed is in Miss Priss' room.  He told me he doesn't mind all the pink because the lights are off when he is in there and he can't see it anyway.  :)  If I tell him to go to his room, he goes to Big Brother's room.  If I tell him it's time to go night night, he goes to his sister's room.  See, he totally gets it!  ;)

There are a few pretty special things in the boys room, and this is definitely one of them.  (You can read about when I first did the room here:  The Room )  My very good friend, Marianne. had this painted for us, and I love it!!

This shelf is also pretty special.  Well, not really the shelf, but the stuff on it.  The books and toys were mine when I was a baby and the football players were in Joe's nursery.  The baby shoes were my dads.

And here is MM's bed in his sissy's room.  :)  And his bed was definitely staged for this picture.  He has several things he insist on having in his bed.  

One of which is "duck duck" as shown in this picture.  They say you always lose something when you move, and this time it happened to be duck duck.  I just knew he would be sad!  But, he only asked about him a few times and slept just fine without him.  All of the boxes are unpacked and duck duck has still not been found.  Crazy!  Well, I was at target one day and I saw a new duck duck!!  He doesn't look exactly like the first duck duck, but he is very close.  When I got him out of the sack, MM looked at him, grinned from ear to ear, and screamed DUCK DUCK!  Ha!  He gave him a hug and a kiss and you could not pry him out of his arms!  Now when we rock him to sleep at night duck duck has to rock, too.  And he insists that you give duck duck a night night kiss, too.  :)

I just realized I forgot to take a picture of their closet.  Big Brother is still asleep so I am not going to do that right now, but I'll add a picture of the closet later.  

Hope you enjoyed the first of many room tours in our new house!  Hopefully I will be able to finish a few more rooms and give you a peak.

Rae