"Hi Mom"

Brady, Brady, Brady.  This kid has been giving me challenges all week but then he does something really cute and the bad stuff doesn't seem so annoying.  Well, almost.  Since we've been back from Boston, he has not been good about naps and has been waking up WAY too early in the mornings (he's getting three new teeth which may account for some of it).  His usual routine now is to wake up about 6:15 am.  I go upstairs, plop the binky back in and then lie down on the floor next to the crib hoping that he'll go back to sleep.  My rule is that I don't let him out before 7:00.  Sometimes he goes back to sleep but more often he doesn't.  Yesterday morning I decided I was sick and tired of this.  I was going to go in, put the binky back, and then leave.  He could cry all he wanted.  So that's just what I did.  I escaped to the guest room and tried to lie down on the blow up mattress while he screamed it out.  Every seven or eight minutes I would go back in and reinsert the binky.  Let me tell you, that kid was screaming and carrying on like someone was sticking needles in his eyes.  It was horrible.  After about 20 - 25 minutes it became obvious that this was not going to work (or maybe I didn't have the guts to see it to its conclusion) so I went in, gave him the binky, and sat down on the floor.  The second he saw I was staying, the crying stopped instantly like someone had turned off a faucet and he says, as calm as can be, "Hi Mom."  Unbelievable.  I'm sure in his head he was saying in a sing-song voice, "Na, na, na, na-na.  I won."

Right now his big thing is chucking his binky as far and as hard he can.  At first, I was just so proud that he was chucking it with this left hand.  Now, it's just getting old.  Today we were in Publix and he was not happy.  He took that binky (which I gave him just to shut him up) out of his mouth and threw it with all his might across the floor.  One second later he starts wailing "Binky, binky, binky" like he had lost his best friend.  I picked it up, wiped it off, and gave it back to him.  A few seconds later, the whole scenario repeats itself.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  Yup, that's pretty much how I felt.  That kid knows how to yank my chain.

On a more positive note, he's at least very polite.  If you give him anything he'll say "Thank you, Mom."  I don't ever remember the girls doing that at this age.  This week he also finally figured out how to say "Calleigh" although it's more like "Ca-Ye."  He's been saying "Aubs" for quite awhile.  I've noticed he doesn't actually say "Aubree."  It's always "Aub," "Aubs, "Aubsie," or "Aubsies."  It is nice to have him saying more words although now the problem is him repeating things that aren't necessarily the best.  Just today Calleigh came running downstairs to tell me.  "Brady repeats what I tell him to say!  I told him to see 'pee, pee' and he said 'pee, pee' and then I told him to say 'poo, poo' and he said 'poo poo!"  Way to aim high there, Calleigh.

Apparently teaching Brady potty mouth words...Actually, it's been so nice out lately (in the 80's) that the kids were playing in the yard.  This is the scene outside of my bedroom window while I was putting laundry away the other morning.

This past Sunday was a busy day for us.  First, Sunday morning we had Madison Hilliard's birthday party who just turned four.  The invitation said to wear your princess dress and this really set Calleigh off.  Thanks to an obscure comment a few months ago by Braeyln, her best friend, Calleigh is in a complete and utter no-pink and no-purple phase.  Braelyn declared that green was her favorite color and so it is now also Calleigh's favorite color (I do have Calleigh on tape at age three saying that "pink, purple, and green are my favorite colors" but apparently the first two were unceremoniously dropped).  Well, princesses are famous for being pinkish and girly and Calleigh was adamant that she was not dressing up like a princess and it was just "not nice at all that someone would have that at a party."  I wasn't sure if the right thing to do would be to make her dress up or tell her she didn't have too.  In the end, she settled on a fancy green dress that she wore with black leggings so it seemed to all work out.  Aubree wore a yellow Belle dress.  They did have a great time and afterwards Calleigh told me she was glad they went (as I knew they would be).

Drying her nails.  I'm not really excited about them painting their nails at this age but you could hardly see it.

Working with beads.

The birthday girl.

Going on a pony ride!

Aubree refused to go.  She's still in her "afraid of all living things" stage.

Story time.

The place was beautifully decorated and all I have to tell you about the desserts is that Jennifer made them.  As to be expected, I stole one of the sugar cookies out of their goodie bags.  Well, I actually put it up high on a shelf at home and when they forgot about it, I ate it.  Not really stealing, right?

Forget the party!  I just went to see the Hilliards new house.  This is their outdoor kitchen.  I will try and put this out of my mind the next time I'm on my tiny outdoor patio with the Play-Doh stains.  I realize that makes me sound really unappreciative of my new house which I most definitely am not.

Now that the holidays are over, we're trying to get back to working on the house.  Duncan really wanted to get something accomplished that afternoon so we headed over to Haverty's to look at some furniture there.  We have been eyeing some stuff for the girls but hadn't pulled the trigger.  Well, this was the day.  We got them some bunk beds with a full size on the bottom and a twin on the top.  I figured this way they could still sleep together if they got lonely.  The one draw, as we looked at the matching dressers, is that they were SO small.  I just couldn't imagine how I was going to get all the girls clothes to fit between the two.  I mean, their like miniature.  Thank goodness they have the same stuff in the "adult" version so for only a few hundred dollars more, you have stuff that is way more useful.  Needless to say the girls were over the moon about the big purchase although they would have to wait until today for it to be delivered.  We also found, finally, a table for our dining room but we decided we were quite ready to make a deal on that one but at least we know it's there.

Our last stop was the mattress store since we figured we could get a better deal there than buying it with the set.  We got there right before closing (is there anything more annoying than places closing at 6:00 pm on a Sunday.  Seriously.) and I could tell that Duncan wasn't being really serious about the operation.  We were also looking for our guest room mattress and box spring.  I knew that if we didn't do something then, it would be at least a week and the girls would have no mattresses when their stuff came.  The store emptied out and we felt bad that the employee was still there but he was as nice as can be and said he didn't mind staying.  So in the end, he made us an offer we couldn't refuse and the deal was done.  We got all the mattresses and I was a happy camper.  Plus, I got the mattresses I wanted!  Duncan wanted to be a little bit thriftier (aka, get mattresses that weren't very comfortable) for our guest room since it wouldn't be used all that often but I finally persuaded him that we would have these mattresses for a very long time so we might as well spend the extra $200 to get good ones.  I must say, the nice thing about a mattress store is that you can feel pretty good about your kids tearing through it knowing they won't break anything!

The bedroom set and the mattresses came today and we've had no buyers remorse.  The girls were just so excited that they wanted to go to bed.  I was a little reluctant about the ladder with Brady but thankfully it removes very easily so we can just keep it off there during the day.  Our next thing is to purchase bedding for it all.

We got two extra long twins to make a king size for the guest room.  Much easier to get up the stairs!

Instead of them both bunking in the full size below, the both ended up on the top bunk tonight.  Calleigh told me that "Aubree was scared and we're best sisters so I told her to come up here."  This was after she had earlier told Aubree that only one person could fit up there.  I guess she had a change of heart.

We made another purchase today too.  We were in Costco right before New Year's and I saw this sectional there that I fell in love with for our upstairs family room (what we've decided to call our bonus/retreat room at the top of the stairs).  Duncan liked it too but then after coming home and measuring it out, he decided it was too large.  I was rather disappointed because I loved how it had two ottomans which would enable the girls to lie down side-by-side facing the TV if you pushed them flush against the front of the sectional.  Yesterday we were in Costo again and I saw it and I was like "We really need to have this."  All the pieces are separate so if it was too big, you could just take one out.  I sent Duncan a text message saying that we needed to get it and to make it happen tomorrow.   I figured maybe he would go in the late afternoon with the van to go get it.  Well, this afternoon I'm sitting on the couch during quiet time and Duncan texts me "Three minutes out.  I'm sure glad I made it."  I thought he had almost run out of gas (not unheard of). Nope. He beeps his horn a minute later and I go outside to see the three boxes for the sectional crammed into the back of his pickup.  He's such a nut and I think the people at Costco really thought he was one to try and fit that all in there.  But he was a man on a mission and I was very pleased.

Daddy made a fort for them out of the boxes.  Very exciting!

Yesterday was a pretty busy day too in that we had the dentist for the girls in the morning and then the Circus last night.  The girls did really well at their appointment with no cavities and I was even complimented on the good brushing I'm doing.  That was very nice to hear because I don't always feel good about the brushing.  The big thing I wanted them to check is that Calleigh has gone from virtually no gap between her front two teeth to having a fairly sizable one in only about two to three months.  As I suspected, the dentist theorized that her extra front tooth may be impacting it but she also has a little muscle attached, called a frenum, between her front teeth that could be a cause.  She said they aren't going to do anything but in a year, they'll take an x-ray to see what's happening with her extra tooth.  So I guess Calleigh will be sporting a gap-toothed smile for the foreseeable future.

Last night was the RingLing Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus which comes to Orlando every year at this time.  We went with Jennifer and the boys.  Man, we forgot how LONNNGGG that thing is.  It started at 7:30 and it was nearly 9:00 by the time intermission rolled around.  The girls were enjoying themselves but Brady was a squirmy as ever and we were in the front row over an overhang which created an extra bit of stress as he stood on our laps and tried to move around.  I joked to Duncan that at intermission maybe we should just pretend it was over to the girls and head on out.  Of course, being the honest parents that we are, we admitted that it wasn't over but Duncan bribed them with ice cream from McDonald's which worked just as well.   We were very relieved!  Not that the circus doesn't have its high points..the human cannonball was cool and Brady liked seeing the horses and tigers....but it all seems to move at a snail's pace.



Under the category of "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" here is an Aubree quote from her prayer tonight...

Aubree:  "Dear Jesus,  Please help Papa and Gigi to be safe on their trip.  And please help Jesus...to be good."

A few more pictures...

We went to one yard sale today and got this.  He rode in it most of the way during a walk this evening then wanted to push.  I bet he'll never ride in it again now.

I'm not saying "Our Little Friend" is out of date or anything but Calleigh asked me "What's the black thing he's holding?"  Yup, that would sure be a special birthday gift.  "Gee, thanks Grandma for this...cassette tape.  I'll go grab my tape player right away so we can listen to it."

Ron and Elaine came over tonight and I served Skallops (yes, the vegetarian version is spelled with a "k").  I couldn't help but think this particular one looked ironically like a whale.  You see it, right?  Right???

Have a Happy Sabbath!