Ugh

The moment I have been waiting for happened yesterday. Elaine, upon being sent to her room for hitting, climbed up her dresser and it fell over on top of her. Yes, it could have easily killed or severely injured her but luckily she only has a small scratch. She must have been on the drawer that is second from the top because she was not under the dresser when I went to rescue her. Now her room is a mess until we attach the dresser to the wall. This was on top of the fact that she has an endlessly runny nose and Charlotte is grumpy. Charlotte's new thing is no one can hold her but me or she hysterically cries. I am hoping whatever is causing this phase will run its course any minute. I love to hold her but so do other people and I like to share. Both girls are still adorable despite any aggravation I feel.

I Have Two Little Hands

Charlotte loves those hands. It is hard to believe she is almost 4 months old.

Not so Boring After All

I have been a little worried my blog is becoming one of those boring ones lately. Thankfully,for this blog, Elaine has left behind the calm little girl she was becoming and is back to her old mischief.

Let me give you a few examples of things you can do to spice up your day, thereby, giving you something to blog about.

If you would like to be a member of the Blue Man Group or a Smurf just use blue chalk and water from the hose.

The blue might come off if you take a few baths. If in the bath you decide to pour water out onto the floor just tell your Dad that "Mommy will clean it up".

When you run out places to hide, make new ones.

And if your mom puts them away. Get them right back out.

If left unsupervised for a minute. Strip down and turn on the hose.

The hose water will help make mud the right consistency to make a "sandwich".

Take another bath and when your Mom and Dad want you to hurry, stall by posing.

Looking cute and sweet helps forgiveness come fast.

I forgot to say....

..I took both girls with me on Wednesday afternoon and bought the Pilot. I was so proud of Elaine for behaving herself for the 3 hours we were there. She kept saying "I'm Lainee" to everyone so she got lots of attention. They also had crayons and a Dora coloring book that helped. In true Charlotte fashion, she slept most of the time. Of course she woke up when I had to sign the papers so that was a little tricky but I managed.

You may be wondering what kind of fool takes a toddler and a 3 month old to a car dealership. I don't have an answer. You may also be wondering where Rob was. I am the family car buyer. This is the third car a have purchased for myself and not to brag too much, but I am a really good negotiator. I find the key to be indifference. At first the salesman kept asking when I would bring my husband in but I finally laid it on the line for him about who the boss at home is and he then was very attentive to me. When I bought the Altima my original salesman wouldn't deal with me because Rob wasn't there so I bought from someone else. Apparently, I have issues men telling me what my husbands job is. I am perfectly capable of bossing him around without direction;)

Have a Seat

The other day Charlotte and I were hanging out in the kitchen and Elaine decided she needed a place to sit. A minute later she appears dragging this bouncer seat. The two of them had quite the conversation.

New, to us anyway

Here it is, our new Honda Pilot. For anyone who has seen Rob's car you know how much we needed it to go to Honda Civic heaven. The Pilot is mine to drive while Rob has gladly taken over the Altima. It is a 2006 EX-L which means it has lots of gadgets we need to learn to use plus leather seats which was a must for me after seeing how fast Elaine can trash a car interior. I am most excited about the DVD player. By the pictures you can see it also looks good in the rain (what did a say a few posts ago about perfect Phoenix weather, I'm a liar). Rob drove it for the first time last night and said now that we have an SUV we feel like a real family, whatever that means. He says weird things sometimes.

Both girls seem to think it is quite comfy. I don't know the last time Elaine took a nap so this was a nice break.

I started thinking about cars and realized every one of my sisters have a Honda. Apparently we are Honda girls. Not my brother though, he has a Lexus. That man is always trying to out do someone:)

It's official

I can finally officially announce Rob has accepted a job with a new law firm. He accepted their offer over a week ago but we had to wait for his background check to formally announce. He is moving to the smaller more specialized firm of Meagher and Geer and will start in the middle of March. He will miss his friends from Lewis, Brisbois but will not miss the commute. The new firm is much closer to home which hopefully means we will see him more. Later today I will post some pictures of the present we bought in celebration.

Where is Elaine?

We had our jogging stroller in the house to repair the tires and Elaine thought it was a great toy. She played and played with it. Since she is very much into hearing us say "Where is Elaine" she hides behind every pillow, blanket, curtain etc. she can find. At first she was hiding behind the stroller and then inspiration struck.



That she fits is impressive. If I hadn't seen her climb in I'm not sure I would have found her. It is a pretty random place to hide.

Is it Red?

This picture does not quite do it justice, but in fact, Charlotte is getting more and more red in her hair. I am a little resistant to the idea for some reason but am coming around. I think she is beautiful and love her chubby cheeks.

Bumbo Fun for Everyone

Elaine was a big fan of the Bumbo when she was a baby and bringing it out of storage has renewed the love.

Elaine in April of 2006. She was 6 months old and still too little for her 0-3 month clothes.

Yesterday she took a little break to enjoy the chair that brought her so much fun.

She is happy to share the Bumbo with Charlotte. She is showing me Charlotte's eyes in this picture.

Charlotte, although unsure at first, now thinks this chair is pretty great. I will say that Rob was almost one of those parents that prompted the recall. He asked me the other day if Charlotte could sit in it while he was in the kitchen, on the counter. Good thing he has me to set him straight.

Oops

I did a bad thing this morning and am now facing the consequences of my actions. Although my actions were done with the best of intentions they have led to many tears and heartache: I let Elaine see me put her blanket(see the sidebar picture for visual) in the washer and refused to let her take it when I was putting it in the dryer. I thought letting her feel it was wet would deter her but was so wrong. She has improvised for the moment with a quilt

but I can tell she is listening for the dryer so she can rescue the real thing.

Our Valentines

We just LOVE them!

Yes, Elaine gave me a rare moment of cooperation for these photos by looking and smiling. I think I did it by asking her if I could take her picture and saying "say cheese". This being said, it will probably not be that easy again but I can hope.

When Mom says No, Improvise

We have reached "this is why we live in Phoenix" weather. If you happened to come here in the last few months and thought it was a bit chilly, please come back. With the change in temp Elaine is ready for the pool. When she couldn't get into the big pool, she made her own. Obviously, we still need to do something about her turning the hose on.

Busy Weekend

We are very boring and weekends we rarely leave the house besides going to church. This weekend, however, was an exception and we had a lot of fun. On Saturday we made the drive to visit some friends in Surprise for a birthday party. Elaine had a great time. She opened a few presents that weren't hers and then jumped on the trampoline rather than watch the clown. It was a lot of fun to see Kim, Geno and Co. I had my camera but forgot to take pictures.

Sunday we went to visit Emily and Enoch in Mesa. Now that Emily is married she lives 15 minutes closer than before so it was an easy drive. Elaine that she was in heaven with all the new things to play with. First, she did a little exercise: pull ups.
She would not stop trying to pull herself up. She must have felt like she got a workout in and felt she should cool down with some yoga.

She got out the yoga mat.Showed off her Downward Dog pose.

Taught Aunt Emily the pose.Then, Aunt Emily tried to teach her Child's pose but Elaine would only do her own version.

Her new Uncle Enoch helped her roll up the yoga mat.


This is a picture of Charlotte before church. All of her sisters exercise made her tired just watching so she slept and slept and slept.

Two Princesses

I discovered this week that Elaine does not use the word boy and girl. I have been working with her on this concept and was a little mystified as to why she didn't get it. Then I realized on Sunday she knows the difference but instead of using the word"princess" and I, of course, just thought it was cute. Then, on Sunday she saw a boy standing by the door at church and said "there's a prince by the door". Apparently, she spends a little to much time with fairy tales.

This is a new super cute outfit Charlotte is working on growing into. It is from my friend Brittnee.

Now that Elaine has skillfully mastered the art of undressing it is not uncommon to see her looking like this. She likes to pick out new outfits for herself but of course they rarely match or she wants to wear multiple shirts/pants. Letting her lounge like this has considerably cut down on the amount of laundry I have to do. She was going through 4 outfits a day because of her love of playing in the water.

Where's the moon?

I am not one to pay attention to a lunar cycle. I barely even notice there is a moon. Elaine, on the other hand, pays close attention, apparently. The other night she was taking the garbage out with Rob and when she came inside she announced to me "Mommy, the moon is hiding". Since there was only a small piece showing she asked it very nicely to come back. It didn't listen but I told her soon we would be able to see the whole thing. I'm sure she will be very excited when it appears in full.

Miss Independent

Okay, so this is my fourth post of the day. Normally I am better at spreading them out but not this weekend for some reason. Anyway, just one more Elaine moment.


After spending a large part of her afternoon yelling "Go Giants" Elaine needed some alone time. She wanted to play outside so Rob got her ready and showed her the one dry spot in the backyard. (Yes, it does rain here.) We watched from inside as she gathered all the pool noodles she could find and carried on quite the conversation with what appeared to be herself. I decided to take some pictures but when I stepped outside Elaine said "No mommy, go inside". As you can see I got a few pictures before being banished but in typical Elaine fashion she pretended the camera and I didn't exist by refusing to look my way.

Bumbo Time

Because some irresponsible parents can't understand that babies should not be left sitting unattended in one of these on a counter top the Bumbo seat has been recalled. Being that I am a responsible parent I will still use mine. How cute is this baby?

I wish my double chin was this cute.

Can't Leave her alone for a minute

We thought she was playing so nicely in her room. We were wrong.

What's in the box

Last week Rob received a much delayed Christmas gift. She had the thing unwrapped in 2 seconds flat but the fun has not ended. The box it shipped in has given her days of entertainment. She has filled it with a various assortment of things: Charlotte's diapers, blocks, shoes, clothes and of course...

...Herself

Superbowl Pick

Today day the girls and I did an outing to the newly opened Walmart Supercenter by our house. I was a little nervous because in the past this is the store that brings out the devil child in Elaine. All those racks to get lost in is to big of a temptation for her to withstand. Anyway, all went very well. We did a brief walk through of the electronic department. On every TV they were showing football footage. When Elaine saw the TV's she yelled "Go Giants" over and over again. She has succumbed to the football fever that has taken over Phoenix.