And life goes on....

OK, so after declaring "I was back" I forgot we'd be going out of town and would miss out on updating. We took a trip up to Tyler to take care of some "housekeeping" stuff. We took Mary Ella to see the house and Addy spent a few days at Scott's parent's house. I'll tell you...being on the road with three little ones is a challenge. As soon as Addy would finally fall asleep, Molly would wake up crying, so we'd stop to feed and Addy would wake up...then Molly would fall asleep....then Addy would fall asleep.... then Molly would wake up....you get the picture. They weren't in sync for very long. Addy, who does not like being in the car seat, is getting better. She'll actually take a few fleeting moments to watch parts of Barney videos. Her favorite thing to do is to crush up every cracker I give her and "dust" the car with it. As long as she is content (almost) anything goes. Car trips, after all, is all about survival.

After getting back from our trip, Mary Ella stopped sucking her thumb. Her teachers have been using some marbles to reward spontaneous good behavior and when the class bucket is filled, they will get some big reward. Mary Ella kept coming home talking about it, so I thought..."MMmm, she seems so motivated by the marbles, maybe we ought to try it for sucking the thumb". Well, we took it a step further and got colorful "jewels" to put in our jar. She started the day with 5 jewels and every time I saw her with the thumb in her mouth, we took one jewel away. Whatever is left at the end of the day she puts in the jar. The first day she only lost one and everyday since she hasn't lost any. I even feel her thumb at night to see if she's had it in her mouth and it is dry. Her little callous is healing up and almost gone. Now, I'm going to admit something I never thought I would say......I am SO sad about it! I didn't realized I would miss seeing that little thumb in her mouth while she was twirling her hair, but I DO! Just another indication of growing up I guess. We are so proud of her. Lord knows it just can't be easy for her. More importantly....she is so proud of herself and has told everyone at school about it. Ugh, what a blessing that little girl is!

Addy is coming along with potty training. Marshmallows are her "thing". She goes to the potty every time she gets marshmallows on the brain, which is often. Perhaps the funniest "Addy moment" occurred yesterday when Mary Ella was at gymnastics. We were in a room where there are big windows to watch all of our little gymnasts. Addy is usually running around or has her face up against the window yelling "Mawe Ella". Molly rides along attached via a little carrier. So Addy was standing with her face up against the window and a new mother was there. She turned to me and said, "Is this your daughter (pointing to Addy)?"

I responded, "Yep, that's one on of 'em." I was thinking she was going to tell me how cute she was....after all, she's two years old.

She said thoroughly disgusted, "Well, she's licking all over the window."

I laughed and pulled her away (wiped the window with a wipe) and said, "Well, it is a good thing she doesn't get sick too often."

My cheeks hurt by the time I got home because I got so tickled that I was the mother of that germ-ridden kid. Never mind the fact that she's been gnawing all of the play kitchen corn and had her hands in her mouth the last month because she is clearly cutting some teeth. But yes, I'm the mom who lets her kid lick all over the window. Funniest thing came 20 minutes later when her 8 y/o son put his mouth on one of the other windows in the room. It was so funny. My cheeks are hurting right now because I've giggled the whole way through this story. Yes, that is our little Addy.

Now Molly Kate has started rolling over and over and over until she gets stuck somewhere. Her sister's have a blast with her because she squeals and giggles in delight when they are around. with her. She is growing like a weed and already in her 6-9 month clothes! She enjoys just hanging out on the floor or riding along with me. She is very easy going as long as she is not hungry. When she is hungry, there is NO calming her down, holding her off, or anything. You better find a way to feed her....fast!

Anyways, that is all for now I guess. We've had a couple of weeks filled with lots of fun milestones...some sad...some funny. Life goes on.....

Totally (un)Cool

It is not very often that you get opportunities to gain "cool" points with your children, but we saw the opportunity and grabbed it on Sunday as we took Mary Ella to the Hanna Montana concert at the rodeo. We did this last year and she was excited, but this year...whoa baby...we earned some MEGA points. It started off with getting ready for the rodeo. I put on a black shirt, jeans and black boots, walked out, and Mary Ella said, "wow mom, you look cool" (cha ching....cool point #1). Now I realize she was so impressed only because I slum around in sweats 99 percent of the time....good way to lower the standards :). Anyways, then comes the bus ride. She had the biggest grin on her face. Leave it to a 4 (almost 5) year old to find pure joy in riding a bus. We arrived and walked around a bit. Scott was a sucker and got her the "light pink" cowGIRL hat with the tiara "bling" on it (cha-ching...cool points # 2 & 3), then proceeded to get her a concert t-shirt (cha ching...cool points #4,5,6,7 and 8) even though I could have gotten her one a Walmart for $10. BUT I kept my mouth shut. This was, after all, between father and daughter....We settled into our seats where we met my mother's co-worker who was there with her daughter and 3 of her friends. They had made signs that said I love Hanna Montana (each word on a different poster) and made a sign for Mary Ella that said "Me too". It was so cute. Hanna Montana (aka Miley Cyrus) came out and Mary Ella couldn't contain her self. She was holding her sign (she would correct me here and say "poster") and stood up to dance her tail off (cha-ching cool points 9, 10, 11, 12.........25). THEN, during her transition from Hanna Montana to Miley she sent her daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus, out. He sings a song from his new album, which was actually pretty good. He then asks, "does anyone have an achy-braky heart?" All the parents (moms) went nuts, I mean NUTS....and I was included. As I was singing and dancing to that, um, almost 20 year-old song, I looked down and Mary Ella was looking at me like "what are you so excited about????" So I had to give back some of my cool points, but at least we were still ahead. Overall, we had a blast and I loved seeing Mary Ella let herself go to experience the pure fun of the moment. I just love how children don't contain it! I'll post pictures later.

Ignore No More

Mary Ella hit two years old and I was asked, "what about potty training???" by her pediatrician. Since she was my first, I had no idea that was even in the picture. For me, there was a tendency to "over do" for Mary Ella not realizing she could, in fact, be independent with some things. Now with Addy, for MONTHS she has been showing interest in going to the "big girl" potty. She asks to go when her sister goes or I go, so I sit her up there and she goes. This progressed to her telling me when she had just gone in her diaper. During all this, I have conciously ignored all these signs of readiness because, uh-um, I haven't been ready. Yes, I said it. Yes, I know most people would be anxiously awaiting this milestone. And, YES, in some ways it does make life easier:

1. Don't have the expense of diapers
2. Don't have to spend the time cleaning up after an atomic bomb
3. More independence (once the process is completed)
Yady-yada-yada

BUT, with it comes

1. Random trips to nasty public restrooms because a two year old can't help but wiggle, jiggle and put the hands on a toilet seat (that sent ick-chills up my spine just typing it)...with two other children in tow.
2. Remembering to take her to the potty before every trip in the car. Now, this is hard because I'm forgetful as it is. I always leave ONE thing behind when I leave the house requiring one more trip inside or it stays forgotten until I get to the destination and need it. Potty trip in addition to getting three young children in the car...challenging.
3. Pottying in the toilet is one thing, but independence with the cleaning doesn't come for another year or two which means her trips to the potty are my trips whether I'm cooking or feeding baby..."holding it" is not an option.

You get the point. So now she is ripping off her diaper, waking up dry, etc. It is only a matter of time before I find her fingerpainting with you-know-what. I guess I can't ignore this any longer. The time is going to be invested and we are going to rip this band-aid off once and for all. "Skittle potty training" begins. She gets one Skittle per trip. At least this is another way we can work on our "colors" :). Wish us luck!

I'm baaaaack!

Just a declaration.....I committed myself to this blogging thing at first to just update all of our out of town family and friends about our "goings ons". It quickly turned into a way to journal important moments for our children to read later. After having Miss Molly Kate, it became difficult to update and tell the stories because 1. Time 2. I have trouble remembering things to write about. 3. My creative juices just haven't been flowing. Sounds funny, I know, but it is the truth. Now, Molly Kate is quickly approaching five months and things seem to be getting just a little more predictable.

So I am officially declaring myself back to to the blogging world. Maybe this declaration will hold me more accountable to it.

And I was like....what????

As Mary Ella approaches five, her speech continues to mature meaning sometimes she says things I would expect to hear from a much older child. For instance, we were on our way home from school one day jamming out to Radio Disney (yes Jeanine, it is a favorite of ours too) and she begins to tell me a story. This is essentially how it went:

Mary Ella: Mom, my ear hurt today.
Me: (turning down the radio) what?
Mary Ella: Yeah, my ear hurt today while I was on the playground.
Me: You mean it hurt on the inside or on the outside of your ear?
Mary Ella: Well, I was just playing on the playground and my ear started hurting inside and
I was like 'oh my goodness, why is my ear hurting?' (I wish I could accurately describe the non-verbal cues paired with this statement)
Me: (attempting to hold back the laughter b/c she gets horribly embarrassed if she feels she is laughed at) You were like what?
Mary Ella: I was like, 'oh my goodness'

It is moments like these that remind me time is continuing on and she is reaching the age where she wants to sound more "adult-like" especially since she is the oldest sibling.

When listening to her speak, I've also become aware of some things I say on a regular basis that I honestly didn't realize come out of my mouth. We were spending an afternoon at home and Mary Ella was playing "mom" to Addy (big shocker, I know) and she kept referring to Addy as "baby cakes"

"C'mon baby cakes"
"This way baby cakes"
"Awww, baby cakes, are you alright?"
"what is it baby cakes?"

It was at that moment I realized I say that all the time. I mean really...baby cakes? Where did I ever come up with that? Do you think I can call them that in high school? Probably not. They'll break me of that habit long before I'm sure. But for now, I guess it will keep coming out of my mouth until one of our daughters finally tells me how horribly embarrassing it is. Oh goodness, I'm going to be one of those parents.

Let's Party!

We had a great birthday party with a few of our little friends. Within 15 minutes Addy had an accident in her cute monkey bubble, so she spent the rest of the party in a t-shirt and diaper. She was so cute!

Two Years Down

Oh what to say about our now two-year old, Miss Addy Scott? How do I even begin? Where do I start? Well, she turns two today and all that is implied by saying "toddler" is applicable to our Addy as well. Yes.... she throws fits. Yes... she says, "no" and "stop" often. Yes....she tests boundaries. I wouldn't be telling the truth if I claimed to not get frustrated and flustered at times, but there is also so much beauty at this age. At two, there are no inhibitions...they live "life out loud" as one of my friends said yesterday. Everything is a wonder from a piece of paper to grass...they soak it all in. How refreshing not having to guess what they are feeling because there is no shame in feelings. These are all two year old traits.

I consider it a blessing to know Addy so intricately...all her quirks, preferences, habits, what makes her happy and what makes her sad. Addy has come so far over this last year from hardly saying a word to talking in sentences. To say she is spunky is an understatement. She scrunches her little nose and smiles before every attempt to tease (which is often). She thoroughly enjoys her ability to affect others in such a positive way often making everyone in the room laugh.

She idolizes her sister...if Mary Ella is thirsty, Addy is thirsty. If Mary Ella jumps off something, I catch Addy doing the same thing (she's nearly given us a heart attack a few times). Thank goodness Mary Ella is a rather cautious child often putting more limits on her actions than necessary; otherwise, there is no telling what Addy would be attempting. She LOVES her two sisters so much and to watch the individual relationships as well as the collective relationship evolve between all these girls warms our hearts in such a way that defies Earthly explanation.

As much as she loves to tease and make people laugh, she continues to give spontaneous "love" by snuggling into our laps from time to time. I love these times because I can soak in the scent of her beautiful skin and hair while feeling her soft cheeks against mine. Ahhh, it is Heaven.

She is now eating milk products from time to time and everything else she can get her hands on. Oh how we've praying for this day to come....seeing her elbow deep with birthday cake, icing and ice cream is such a relief. It seemed so far away a year ago, now here we are. I mean she couldn't even eat rice and chicken a year ago. Truly a miraculous recovery.

So Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet Addy. You've added your own unique dimension to our family. Thank you for showing your love so fully and doing your best to make other's happy around you. Our prayer for you is that you continue to let God's light shine through your actions, smiles and giggles. We love you!