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.....