Monster Truck Jam

This event created a really, REALLY close call for me....in that I almost had to take the babies to this event!  I am all about creating memories for my kids, but the idea of sitting in a seat for two hours while loud trucks drive around in a circle sounds like hell on earth to me.
Shawn had bought tickets and arranged everything for this splendiferous event.....and then decided to get horribly ill the day of.  I prepared myself to go, but at the last minute he rallied and said he felt good enough to take them.  Thank.  You.  Jesus.
Anywho, he said they loved every minute of it.  Even Sissy, who we were positive wasn't going to like it.  The paid rapt attention, and kept their "ear pluckers" (Sissy's term) on the whole time.

Please excuse the horrible picture quality.  Daddy wouldn't take the camera with him, so these are from his phone.  I started texting and harassing him when they got there to take pictures of my babies...partially because I wanted documentation of their outing, but mostly because I wanted proof that they were still with him and that he hadn't let them wander off into a crowd of strangers.  He had made some (bad) jokes a week earlier saying he hoped there was a nice lady sitting next to them who would offer to take Hayden to the bathroom if she needed to go.  He says these sort of things to get my goat, but just in case he thought that was an okay idea, I made sure to remind him that only HE was to take her to the restroom, and they were to take Cale with them, too.  (Instead of leaving him in the seats, holding the spit cup for some random man seated next to them)
The high points were "the munster truck that looked like a puppy", when they played the "who-let-the-dogs-out-song" and getting to eat BOTH popcorn and peanut M&M's.
The low point (and this is according to Daddy) was the 1.5 mile trek back to the car at the end of the night.  In the rain.  Holding both babies, one who was thrashing around because he wanted to walk on his own like a big boy and not be carried.
Yep, I think I dodged a bullet on this one.

This baby....

....is really something else.  All day, every day, she keeps us laughing, and on our toes!  She is three and a half, but it's easy to forget that because she speaks like she's eleven.  She comes up with words and phrases that make us shake our heads...she remembers EVERYTHING!

At this moment in time:
-she loves books and being read to.
-she hates having her hair brushed, but never balks at letting me fix it.
-She likes knowing what is going to happen next...loves her "routine".
-she loves breakfast and pasta.
-She is the tiny "Meryl Streep" of our family....dramatic, and so good at acting, pretending and performing.
-Says "moka" for milk, and "yesternight" for anything that happened yesterday when it was dark outside.
-She has a HUGE sweet tooth, and even wanted to know what her dessert was going to be after BREAKFAST the other day.
-She is pretty easy going at this age, and isn't hard to discipline, UNLESS she has low blood sugar....then WATCH OUT.  She's just like her momma in this regard.  She can throw a massive fit over a tiny thing if she hasn't eaten.  (Maybe this is more of a girl thing than a blood sugar thing...)
-She still lets me dress her in whatever I pick out in the mornings.
-She loves to be told stories at bedtime...."baby stories" (about when she was little), "Chico stories" (Shawn's stories about Chico the bird who always learns a life lesson the end) and now "Sparkle The Princess Unicorn Stories".  You've got to be on your toes coming up with new material for this one, because she asks for stories all the time!  She loves repeats though, and will request one that I can't even remember telling.  She LOVES to hear about the time a scorpion bit me in the arm....I can't begin to remember how many times I've had to tell THAT one.
-She always asks for us to "lay down with me...for just a little bit" at night.  It's really hard to say no to that one!
-She isn't always affectionate, but gets in moods where she wants to be snuggled, and hugged on.
-She totally marches to the beat of her own drum.  I love this about her...she has such a good sense of self:  of what she likes and doesn't.  She is confident in her choices, and doesn't care yet what other people think.
-She has a fabulous imagination.
-She can be hard across the planet house when she's mad.  The other day, I heard her say, "I don't like you!  You are a.....stupid dang it!"  Of course she was disciplined for speaking that way to her brother, but I giggled a little bit at her rant.  I love that calling someone a stupid dang it was the absolute WORST thing she could think of.
-She loves her bath, and stretches out, taking up the entire tub.  This makes it hard to bathe another kid in there with her!
-She loves going to Mimi and Popo's, and asks about going every day.  She loves that they coddle her, and that they let her dictate the routine.  Mimi says that she gets over there and says, "First we will watch a movie with popcorn, and then I will take a bath.   Then I will sleep in the cradle."  Mimi has a crib at her house, and Sis calls it her "cradle" and insists on sleeping in it every time she's over there.
-She's obsessed right now with "staying little".  She tells me every day, "Mommy, I don't want to grow!  I just want to stay little!"  I want her to stay little, too!
-She can wear 3T tops, but has to wear size five or six pants because she is so long!!!
This little girl is empathetic and smart and hysterically funny!  I look at pictures of her from when she was a baby, and I can't believe what a hilarious, fun, precocious, imaginative little girl she's turned into.  Who knew that little six pound, eleven ounce thing would someday make me laugh so hard, or fill up my heart so much?

Christmas Story: Part 2 (the end you were waiting for)

Christmas Eve found us driving three very tired babies back home to San Antonio, quickly reading them "The Night Before Christmas" (which the baby could only handle until about page three)  and getting them quickly into bed so that we could finish assembling all the stuff that needed putting together.  It didn't take us too long to get set up....we put the baby gate up in the kitchen (the one with the kid proof latch) so that no sneakers could get up in the middle of the night and head out to the living room without us.  At about 2 a.m. we heard screaming from the kitchen...Bubby was scared and wanted to come to our room...Daddy made him close his eyes while he carried him to our bed so that the surprise wouldn't be spoiled.  Fastforward a few hours and imagine us being awakened to the distinct aroma of poop.  My first words to Shawn were, "Did one of the dogs s*&% on the carpet?" (not remembering that my sweet baby was in bed with us) and I heard in response, "No, Mommy!  It was me!  I pooped my pants!"  Yippee!  My first gift of the day involved a load of laundry and scrubbing a three year old in the tub.  I refrain from further details, but let's just say it will be forever known as "The Christmas Mudslide".  My poor baby has been so sick with this stomach virus that he's had a little lapse in potty control...he is FINALLY feeling better so we are hoping for no more repeats of this special event.  

Long story short:  ran a load of laundry, bathed little boy, made him lay back down for a little longer (while we begged him to wait until it was light outside), and listened to his cute commentary in the dark. "Mommy!  I think I just saw Rudolph!"  and "Mommy!  MOMMY!  I just saw Santa walking past our window!!"  Finally we decided to put him out of his misery and we got up.  He was the first one to see the presents, and laughed out loud when he saw their "BIG ONE"...the John Deere ride on tractor!  He immediately had to sit on it and try to drive it inside the house.  Sissy and little one were up by this time and they both had the same reaction to the tractor.  That thing was a HUGE hit.  They spent all morning fighting over who got to sit in the driver's seat.  (Even the baby, who said "CAR" every time she looked at it)  We tried not to go too crazy with their gifts, but by the time the whole thing was said and done I feared they were over indulged yet again.  Even if everyone that loves them just buys them ONE thing, it seems like SO MUCH STUFF.  Oh well, I guess they could have worse problems.  

My family came over for the day and the babies spent all day forcing one adult or another to go outside with them and watch them ride the tractor.  That thing isn't the easiest to steer, and it goes faster than you'd think....at one point Bubby drove it straight through the mountain laurel and they got beat upside the head with branches.  I kept looking out the window to see Daddy running behind them as they rammed into one of my patio plants or drove into a tree.  Fun times! 

 Crazy Christmas morning hair....

 She has her paci in her mouth, but if she didn't, she'd be saying "CAR"

 Loving his Hot Wheels track

 Watch out flora and fauna....these two haven't figured out the art of steering yet! 

 Grandma and Livi...with the baby doll Grandma gave her.  (She loves it) 

 Picking up her baby doll from Popo.  (I think he was babysitting)

 Do you think this baby loves her CAR? 

Mimi, Sissy, and some of her loot. 

Christmas just keeps getting better and better because of these babies in our lives.  I know I loved the holidays before, but I can't imagine ever having loved them as much as I do now...seeing everything through their eyes!  

Livi at 17 months...

This baby continues to make our lives sweeter, fuller, and more fun!  We love everything about her, even the little inkling of attitude we can see coming out of her.  She is so full of life, and happiness...and every day is better because of her!
At 17 months, she:
-can say Daddy, Mommy, Mama (Mimi), Popo, Bubba, Sissy, Hi, Uh-oh, shoes, boat, car, Wy-eee (Wyatt, the dog), waner (water), whoa, day-dee (baby), truck, ball, house
-makes duck, lion, dog and (sometimes) kitty cat noises.
-waves her arms around if she doesn't like something or wants someone to stop doing something.
-dances every time she hears music.
-points out all her body parts.
-squints her eyes and smiles when you ask "Where's Livi?"
-waves and says "HI!" to every random stranger in public.
-takes her shoes and socks off the minute you put them on her....hence the pile of shoes and socks in the back of my car.
-points out all her family members.
-throws all her food on the floor when she's full, and then says, "Wy-eee?" because she wants us to call Wyatt inside to eat the food she's dropped.
-calls ALL dogs Wy-eee, even Dixie.  If you ask her to say "Dixie" she answers "Wy-eee".
-tries to sing in her loudest voice when other people are singing.
-points and laughs at the big Christmas tree on Broadway every time we drive by it.
-wants to do everything that everyone else can do...drink out of a water bottle, play Wii, play on the playground at school with the big kids....
-just learned how to drink out of a straw, and makes you help her with a water and straw EVERY time we go out to dinner.  The WHOLE dinner.
-hollers "MAMA!" if she wants something.  We've decided "MAMA" doesn't necessarily mean Mommy or Mimi, but "Do something for me!"  It's a verb, not a noun.
-goes into the kitchen and gets her bottle parts out of the cabinet and brings them to us, hollering "MAMA!" when she wants a milk.
-loves, LOVES books and being read to.  She wants to sit in your lap, and if you try to read it to her while she is standing in front of you by the couch she throws herself on the floor in a fit of frustration because we're not doing it right.
-points and cries at Costco when she sees the flats of water bottles...that's how much she loves water bottles.
-cries at Costco if you try to walk past a "sample" station without getting her one.
-loves hats and pretending things are hats that aren't.
-thinks she is funny, and loves to make us laugh.  If you ask if she is funny, she laughs out loud.
-fake coughs when we say, "Baby has a BAD cough!"
-is the most agile, coordinated baby we know.
-climbs the playscape by herself and wants to slide by herself.  This gives her Momma a heart attack!
-kisses and hugs her baby dolls.
-loves to throw her paci out of her crib, scream "MAMA!" and make you come in and retrieve it for her before she'll finally settle down and sleep.
-is just starting to pay attention to TV....this morning she laughed and laughed at Elmo.
-is a pretty good eater, unless something happens to be green and then it's a little harder.  Every once in a while she surprises us and eats a ton of avocado or a whole salad (just to keep us guessing, I think!)
-still puts weird things in her mouth, but almost always "tells" on herself by walking up to you and making it obvious that she's got something in there.
-is SO proud of herself naked.  This cracks us up to no end!  She loves her fat little gut and pats it in satisfaction every time we take her clothes off.
-is starting to stick up for herself....the twins are having a harder time making her do what THEY want to do....
-still won't wear a headband or bow, much to her mommy's dismay.  (Daddy thinks her head is prettier without one anyway!)
-walks to the bathroom and bangs on the door when we ask "Do you want to pee pee in the potty?"  NOT that I am anywhere near wanting to potty train her....it's just funny that she already seems to show interest.  I hope I'm not missing my window of interest by ignoring this....
-still has super blue eyes...if anything, I think they are getting MORE blue, not less.  This is funny since she had the darkest eyes of all my babies when she was born, so I was SURE she would be the one who had brown eyes like me!
-still has barely any hair, except for a tiny little curl at the nape of her neck.  We LOVE that little curl!!

Christmas Eve 2010 (The unnecessarily long Christmas post: part 1)

I feel like Christmas just came and went in fourteen seconds!  Part of my problem was NOT limiting my photography schedule, and trying to accommodate everyone that wanted a session before Christmas.....I enjoyed every shoot, but was running around like a chicken with my head cut off until about three days before Christmas.  Next year, I'll do things a little differently, and allow myself a little more breathing room before the holidays.  It's hard to complain TOO much, because I am so grateful for how many new clients that have come my way this year!
The buildup to Christmas was immense this year....with Sissy asking every day if "tomorrow" was the day she got to open her presents.  I am SHOCKED that all three of my babies left their wrapped presents alone until Christmas morning.  Even the tiny one only tried to tear off a tag once.
We spent Christmas Eve in Devine with Shawn's mom and stepdad and his whole side of the family....it was tons of fun!  The babies ran around the house like banshees (sorry Nana!) and thought the spiral staircase was the best thing ever invented.  Of course, I couldn't stop imagining them sliding down the whole thing head first.  Shawn's sweet family always picks the best presents for my kiddos, and this year was no different.  They LOVE all the things they received....especially these little backpacks with sleeping bags in them that came with a head lamp for camping.  I have rolled and unrolled those sleeping bags about a thousand times in the last few days!  Cale even had to take his nap in his sleeping bag yesterday, even though it made him super sweaty.

 A little nervous at first....

 Headlamps for kids!  One of the favorite gifts! 

 This might be trip number four thousand up and down the stairs.

 In the loft with Nana...

 Our little family...If I look bedraggled, it's because I WAS.  

 Making morose faces again....like we torture them or something!!

 Reading "The Night Before Christmas" before bed.  No, that is not a member of The Village People reading to my children.  It's my husband in a very fashionable black tank top.  (Eye roll) 

Here is a little something about our Christmas Eve that will give you goosebumps....Shawn's grandma passed away two months ago, and Mary (Shawn's mom) inherited all of Grandma's prized Christmas decorations.  Mary has helped Grandma put up and take down her tree every year for about the past thirty years, so she knows each and every decoration like the back of her hand....where Grandma got them, and where she wanted them displayed in her home.  This year, after Grandma passed away, Mary was taking inventory of all the decorations and found this ornament that she had never seen before:

It says: "I love you all dearly, now don't shed a tear, I'm spending my Christmas with Jesus this year."  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  I literally can't type that story without getting goosebumps.  Mary has NEVER seen this ornament before, even though she has been the one to handle all the ornaments for so many years.  Where this ornament came from, none of us know.  It's just our own little Christmas miracle.

Stay tuned for the rest of our Christmas story.....and NO, it doesn't involve anyone shooting their eye out....but it does involve someone almost poking their eye out with a stick.  

One crazy week....

We were lucky enough (insert eye roll) to welcome a raging stomach virus in our house this week.  The baby might have gotten off the easiest of us all, with it hitting me the hardest.  It definitely put a crimp in my "getting ready for Christmas" goings on.  On day three of feeling horrible, I broke down and cried to Shawn about all I had to do, so he was sweet enough to spend part of his day being my gopher.  Luckily, we are all feeling much better, just in time for Christmas!!
What's been going on with us (besides vomiting) you might ask?  Well, the baby is thisclose to needing some beginning discipline.  She thinks its funny to smack us, and only feels bad some of the time.  We let her get away with it because mostly she is doing it to be funny...never to be mean.  She is all about turning the TV off while we are watching it, and does this about forty times a day.  The twins howl and fuss when she does it, like she just ran over their dog or something....and since THEY expect me to do something about her, I have been putting her in time out.  This is what the world's sweetest cream puff looks like in time out:

Does she look sorry to you??  Nope, not a bit!  She thinks going to time out is hilarious, and has no problem with it.  In fact, the minute she turns the TV off, she pivots and heads right to the time out spot.  I know, I know.....this is bad parenting.  Clearly she doesn't care about time out.....and I know I need to be more firm...but how HILARIOUS is this?  Smiling and laughing in time out like she is on vacation in the Caribbean.
She is loving hats right now.....or anything she can make into a hat.  She thinks it is super funny to put random items on her head and then see if we laugh.  Sometimes we look into the back seat and she is waiting patiently for someone to see her pacifier balanced carefully on her head.

This baby is starting to wear me out....but in the most fun way there is.  If she isn't playing in the toilet, she is usually climbing something precarious.  Shawn found her like this yesterday in the play room:

Just standing two feet off the ground, hanging out ON TOP of the play kitchen.  The best part of this story is how incredulous we were at how she can get herself down with such agility.  It's a wonder she hasn't figured out how to crawl out of her crib yet.  (Knock on wood!!)
We are finally ready for Christmas...and can't wait to see what the babies think of it....of course, we bought more for them than we intended to....but when the stuff they love is so cheap, it's hard not to!  Several of their toys took some major assembly, which I am going to remember next year when shopping.  Of course, we want them to get the real meaning of Christmas....and hope we are doing a good job at communicating the message to them.  They were so proud to put money in the Salvation Army bucket today...and that made their mommy proud of them.  Tonight as we were trying (in futility) to get them rounded into the bath and ready for bed, they were acting so silly....they wanted me to take pictures of them (as Cale said, "Mommy, take pictures of me making crazy faces.")  so I did.

They are busy, and wild, and silly and lots of work....but they are my favorite things on the planet.  THIS is the place I want to be more than anywhere else in the world.....I can't wait to share Christmas with them!!

Out of the mouths of babes...

After spending a good fifteen minutes in the car discussing the meaning of Christmas, we had a little debriefing at the end.
Cale:  "Mommy, but why do we celebrate Jesus?"
Me:  "Because we love him."
Cale:  "Why?"
Me:  "Because he died to save us."
Cale:  "To save us?"
Me:  "Yes."
Cale:  "Like save us from being stuck in the mud?"

Um....sure.  I mean, Jesus could definitely get you out of the mud, but I don't think he always works in ways that are that obvious.  Unless he sends along a tow truck at just the right moment, driven by a benevolent do gooder.
We spend a lot of time (in short bursts) trying to impress on these babies of ours the meaning of Jesus in our lives....sometimes they crack us up with their funny, literal comments on the subject, and other times they come up with some pretty deep, philosophical stuff.
Tonight at Alamo Cafe, we threw coins into the fountain and made a wish (like we always do).  In the past, the wishes ranged from things like "cookies" to "my purse"....but tonight after throwing in their coins I asked Cale what he wished for, and he said "For the families", and I knew right away what he was talking about.  He is so empathetic, and hearing about families that don't have anywhere to live or enough food to eat seems to really bother him.  On his own, he was worried about those families....yippee!  All my jabbering might finally be doing some good....

 This is an OLD picture of my tiny guy...I don't even think he was walking yet in this picture....I love how little he looks!  I hoped then that he would turn out to be sensitive and kind...and he is.  Yesterday I bought a "job chart" of sorts...a visual aid to help them in working on little tasks.  One of Cale's "jobs" for the week is "Being Respectful".  He is taking his little jobs VERY seriously.  Today I called to him, and he really, REALLY wanted to run back to the playground, but I saw him make a very conscious decision to turn back towards me and walk my direction.  It melted my heart....especially when later, he asked me if he was doing a good job of "being respectable"....I love this age!