I LOVE YOU MOM!

Sierra sounded out the words 'I love you mom' and spelt them with her finger on the window. It is hard to see with the flash, sorry. She spelt it "I LF U MOM.' I am so proud of her for trying to spell and write words.

WOW, IT HAPPENED.

I never thought it would happen. MJ is my sweet daughter who just wants to be held. She would never do anything crazy. EEEEEEE! Wrong. Tonight I put MJ into her bed and let her cry. I haven't let her cry in a while because she has been sick. Anyway, two minutes into it I hear a big clunk. Oh, yes she did. Climbed out of her bed. "

BATH TIME

My girls love the bath tub. They beg to take baths. It has been so boring around here that one day I bathed them twice.
They like to pile all the toys that can get wet, and often toys that shouldn't, into the tub. Often times they can barely fit into the tub because there are too many other things.
Sierra begs for her sister to join her. Even if sometimes she wants to take a bath alone, it only takes one request by MJ and they are in the tub together. CC always screams "No!" when I take MJ out, which is usually the happens because of CC's splashing.
Both of these two girlies want to be by the faucet. They argue about who gets to be in the front and I promise MJ can hold her own. This is a picture of MJ's little patty cake.

GETTING BETTER

She climbed out of my arms and went over to CC to play with her Polly Pockets. It was fun to listen to CC explain to MJ about the proper way to play with Polly Pockets.

CC and MJ still have a really bad croupy cough but they are over the fever portion of this illness. It is so good to see MJ smiling again and eating again. There is nothing better than to see her run from me giggling when I am trying to change her diaper. It feels like it has been an eternity. Yes, I feed her Fruit Loops. I know, but she wanted them and she has been so sick and I was just so happy to have her want to eat something. There is that beautiful smile. Once again, all feels right in the world. Sigh. :)
Side note: Sierra is obsessed with this spoon. She is convinced it is a magical spoon. You see the end is shaped like sea shell and Mermaids come from the sea and they are magical so of course the spoon is magical. At least that is what she tell me.

Side Note to the side note: My sisters and I had a favorite spoon growing up. It was called The Long Spoon. Its handle was extra long. I believe it was some sort of a dessert spoon. We use to fight over it. Funny to think back on.

Things Sierra has said....

Sierra: I had a really bad dream last night about bats and dinosaurs.
Me: I am sorry. You should say a prayer when you are having bad dreams.
Sierra: I tried mom but it doesn't help.
Me: Well, did you tell those bad dreams, "I am Sierra a Daughter of my Heavenly Father, which makes me powerful. You don't belong in my mind, so leave."
Sierra: Mom, why don't you come in my room and tell my dreams that. But when you are there, close your eyes, because if the bad dreams get in your head it will be so scary.
(heart breaking)

I was getting ready to leave for church. The girls stayed home with their dad. He let me have a break, which I was extremely grateful for.

Sierra: Mom, please don't leave us. I don't want a babysitter.

SICK AND TIRED

(Sierra took the picture. Not focused but you get the point) Well, it seems as though when Madison isn't feeling well her need to cling on to me escalates by ten fold. She has refused to get out of my arms for 36 hours. When I put her down she starts to fuss so much she goes into a coughing fit and then proceeds to throw up. Not good. I guess I will be holding her. :)
Sierra has said a few funny things lately. I haven't done the laundry in a while all her pajamas where dirty and in the laundry. Last night she went to her drawer and found she didn't have any clean pajamas and she came to me and said, "Mom I am so poor. I don't have any pajamas." I laughed. (Go back through my posts and count how many pairs of princess pajamas she has.)

This morning she brought me her box of flies and she said, "Mom, look at all the empty places in my fly box. I need more flies." I will have to tell her Daddy.

I was teasing her this afternoon and said, "You don't need a sister. You don't need Madison." She said, "Yes, I do. If I don't have Madison, then I will be so poor."

She wanted me to help her with her puzzles and said, "Mom, if you help me with my puzzle, then I will buy you a present someday. I promise I will."

PUZZLING

Madison found a container of binkis I had give to Sierra to use for her baby dolls. I bought a few for MJ when she was little but she never took to them... until now. At 14 1/2 months she finds these binkis and starts sucking on one and I think it soothed her sore gums. (She is teething again.) It has only been a few days and I wonder will this pass, or is she going to form an attachment? Should I take it away or just let it go?
CC loves putting puzzles together. She is really good at it. This puzzle has 150 pieces. She worked on it for two days. At times she complained it was too hard. I kept encouraging her. I didn't touch a single piece she finished it this afternoon. She was so proud of herself.
Lately, my girls have really had fun playing with the bathrooom rugs. They each get a butter knife or a comb or a fork and they use it to spread the fibers and create a picture. They love it.

SICK AGAIN

Sierra has been so sick. She is filled with mucus. She has a cough. The night before last she wanted to climb into bed with us. I let her. MJ was already in bed with us. She wanted to be held. She begged and begged me to cuddle her. I pulled her close to me and held her. She started coughing and snooring in my face, because of the mucus. Her hot breathe, hot body, and the constant noise was almost more than I could take, but she kept begging me, "Mom, I need to be held." She was so sick. The worst was MJ was laying next to me on the other side and kept insisting our foreheads touch. Everytime I would move my head toward Sierra she would screetch and pull on my face until my forehead was touching her's. I was all twisted up and miserable and I don't think I slept at all. I just wanted to scream, "Everybody out," but I was too tired to. I need a nap. Sigh.

BLUEBERRIES YUMMY!

Madison wanted blueberries this morning for breakfast.
Sierra wanted some too but didn't want her hands to turn blue. She said, "Mom, I won't get my fingers blue I will just use a fork." I said, "The blueberries will roll around and will be hard to get with a fork." She said, "Don't worry mom, I will just use my chopsticks." (My friend Mee Hyun gave them to her. She uses them very well. Very cute to watch.)
Her fingers avoided the die but her lips and teeth fell victim.
Here are my two little rascals watching cartoons together on Saturday morning. (What happened to Saturday morning cartoons? I miss them. We just chose a cartoon from our collection of DVDs. There isn't any good cartoons on during Saturday morning anymore. Maybe we need to get cable. Maybe not.)

GOOD MORNING

Yesterday morning, I didn't want to get up. I was dragging my feet once again as a result of another awful night of sleep. I awoke not to an alarm but to the demands of breakfast, drinks, and a diaper change. Sadly, this alarm doesn't come with a snooze button. However, the sun streamed throught the window lighting this shadow onto the wall and it cheered me.
I caught MJ finding a small piece of her own hair to tousle and I rememebered the first time CC discovered her hair. I smiled.
I invited CC to help me make lunch. Yes, in the picture we are making lunch at 1:00pm. Eggs and Pajama's, I giggled at the ridiculousness of it.
An hour later Nate walked in with a plant for me, randomly, without a reason. (He bought me a single flower every day for the first month of our engagement. Then he quit his job and was bearly eating, so he bought me a plant to last through the rest of our engagement. He bought me a couple of plants when we were first married and struggling.) Today another plant. It is pink. I love him so much. He is the reason behind everything good in my life.

DEATH BY BABY

I had a dream last night...

I went to a town hall meeting. There was a huge verbal battle between two opposing parties. The meeting ended. I collected the papers I had brought with me. I headed out the door. A man disguised as a painter took out a knife and stabbed me in the gut. I couldn't get my breath. I laid on the lawn. A black helicopter came and took me to the hospital. I was trying to get into see the doctor. I realized if I held my head to the right I could breathe. If I turned my head to the left my breathing would become more and more shallow and I thought I would eventually stop breathing. I kept straining my neck right.

I woke up. Madison was laying on my neck with the bulk of her body on the left side. I was struggling to breathe. Yep, almost died last night by the body of my one year old.

CABIN FEVER

We had to get out of the house on Saturday. Nate suggested we go down to the strip. I thought it was a great idea maybe I could find a few fun ingredients and make us a really yummy dinner. MJ was so elated to get out of the house.
The sun peaked through the clouds every once and a while and for a winter day in January the weather was fairly nice. We pulled up to the strip and got out of the car. Sierra wanted to wear her crocs and not her boots. She stepped out of the car into a slush puddle. Her toes were ice cubes. We made it around the block one time and then we abandoned the plan and took the kids to the mall.
Sierra spotted this bike and asked if she could test it out. I told her to go for it. She road it around the ailes for at least fifteen minutes with the biggest grin you have ever seen. When I told her we had to go she didn't want to get off but she was really good. She said, "Mom I love that bike, can we get a bike like that someday." I said, "Yep, someday."

SCRUB A DUB DUB

I have amazing friends that inspire me. We have watched entirely too much television lately and played entirely too many online games. I decide to be more like my friends and come up with an activity for Sierra this afternoon. She was entertained for at least an hour. SCRUB THE TUB. Here is a sponge, some cleanser, and a bucket of water. (I know brilliant!)

[Caution: She did get cleanser all over her exposed body because she insisted on scrubbing in the buff. Then she started to itch all over and did get a slight rash. However, my tub is really clean. Next time we will just use Palmolive. Oh, yes there will be a next time. She loved it. Awesome.]

DORA DODODODODODO!

Sierra was being such a good little helper this morning. We were cleaning her room together. She folded a pair of pants and crammed them into her pant drawer. They were still hanging half out, even after a good shove. I said, "I have an idea let's just take some of the pants you don't wear and put them in a thrift pile." I took out a pair of pants she hates and has never worn. She flipped out. I have never seen her so irrational. She screamed, "Please, please don't throw my pants away. Fine. Fine. I will clean my whole room, mom. I will clean all of it by myself." All the while, bawling and clinging to the pants. I tried to explain to her that she hated this pair of pants. Then I left because I couldn't reason with her. I came back a fifteen minutes later and the room was clean. I don't know what happened, but apparently she didn't want to throw the pants away and apparently it motivated her to clean her whole room by herself. I am fine with that.
Sierra is biting everything. A week ago, she bit off her new Dora Mermaid dolls finger. Last night she said she had a nightmare. She said, "Mom, Dora was in my dream. She wasn't a cartoon she was real. The fox Swiper bit off Dora's finger. He swallowed it. Then the finger started pressing out of his back. Then he said he was going to bit off my finger. He started chasing me. I was so scared. That is why I came in your bed last night." I know so morbid. I don't know why I think it is funny, because it isn't. It is sad and scary... Not funny.

WE'LL KEEP OUR FIREBALLS

My friend let us watch her little boy this evening. We didn't hear a peep out of him the entire time. He smiled and cooed and was so peaceful. With a twinkle in his eye Nate said, "Honey, let's switch his, my friend's son's, clothes with MJ's. When they come to pick him up we'll give them MJ. They'll never know." I don't think I and Nate could ever make a baby that content, the only babies we know how to make are strong willed little balls of fire. However, as much as we chide, we really wouldn't have it any other way.

THE DENTIST BRUSHES HER TEETH

We had family night tonight. Sierra chose this picture from the box for our family night discussion. We talked a little bit about the creation. Then she sat her picture on the floor and stared it and said, "Let's just think about Jesus creating all these things." Then she sighed.
The Dentist brushes CC's teeth every night. Wouldn't you love to have your dentist brush your teeth every night for you? Sounds good in theory, but we are little obsessed about dental care. Occasionally, it can get a little obnoxious but she is a really good sport.

1:00 CHURCH

I use to get bored waiting for church and didn't want the television on, so I would entertain myself by putting more effort into dressing up Sierra. I would do her hair and then I would clip and paint her nails. Since MJ was born and church was switched to 9:00am, her nails have been grossly neglected. I keep finding her biting them. Yuck. Needless to say, I am very glad that church has been swiched back to 1:00pm. I got to sit and trim the girls nails and paint them and then we read the friend together. It was a really peaceful morning.
Sierra won't let me take her picture. She let me take a picture of her Tinker Bell Pez Dispenser instead, and luckily she turned one nail enough to see my beautiful work.

TADAWISH

I have a long list of nicknames for both of my children. Nate picks one and typically stays with it. I swich it up all the time, but lately I call MJ Tadawish or Tads most of the time and CC, sea-sa-shell or Cees. I know weird.

I haven't in a while, so for this post I thought I would write a little bit about my Tads.

1. Tads knows what she wants to eat. I have been working with her to try new things, but it is a struggle. She knows what she wants to eat and will fuss and fight if she doesn't get it.
2. She loves whole milk now. It was a struggle but now she loves it. She begs for it and you can find her often with a bottle of milk in one hand and a fist of my hair in the other hand.
3. She loves to play with my hair, just like her sister did.
4. She says hello every time she picks up a phone. One of the only words she knows and she doesn't say it right, but does the inflexions perfectly. The word sounds more like ey-o.
5. She loves her Dad and her Dad has a huge soft spot in his heart for her. He doesn't like to hear her cry and he often rescues her and brings her into bed with us.
6. She has one of the cheesiest grins I have ever seen on a child and I love it.
7. She has a very infectious laugh. Sierra will do almost anything to get her laughing. Tads starts laughing and then Sierra immediately joins in and Nate and I aren't far behind, even if we don't understand what is funny, it is hard not to laugh.
8. At dinner time whatever food you give her she blows on it before she eats it. Tonight she wanted goldfish and insisted on blowing on them before she would eat them. (Goldfish for dinner? I know... bad mom.)
9. She is super possessive of her mother and when Sierra tries to hug me in front of her, Tads starts screaming, whimpering, and climbing in between us. (A reaction CC enjoys so she always hunts for Tads out of the corner of her eye as she climbs into my arms.)
10. She loves to be outside and will often pull me to her stroller, carseat, or the door or window and whimper to let me know it is time for fresh air.
11. She isn't as Kingonish as she use to be but still she doesn't like to be behind a door her mother is infront of. She will start screaming like crazy.
12. She walks everywhere now. I don't remember the last time I saw her crawl to anything. She is very offended when you accidently bump into her. (Which happens alot because she is so little it is hard to see her sometimes.)
13. She loves to wake me up in the morning with great big slobbery open mouth kisses all over my face.
14. She is about 14 and 1/2 months old. I can't believe she is so big and I can't imagine life without her. I love her so much.(Zoom in CC so you don't get my mess in the picture.)