That crazy girl...

Harper is still learning the rules of our house as she transforms from little toddler monkey to little girl and we're working on getting consistent (well,really me) with her as she's so darn funny & cute, it's been easier to let some thing slide. This week, she's big into pretending to be an airplane. While standing on her chair, arms spread out, yelling, "I airplane, Mommy, I airplane"
Me, "Harper, sit down"
Harper, "No"
Me, "No is not one of your choices, sit down."
She sits down for two seconds, back up again, "I airplane, I airplane"
Me, "Harper, sit down. If you get up again, you're done with breakfast"
Harper, "Ummm...no."
Lily chimes in, "That crazy girl needs to learn the rules of our home"

Harper is TWO!

Where did the past two years ago???? I've never been sad about the girls birthdays but I was a wee bit sad that my toddler is now becoming a little girl. A very opinionated, super charming, everybody loves her, class clown of our group two year old. I will always remember Harper as my best birth, I wasn't wacked out on drugs during my C section, I was able to nurse her and hold her right away, lots of visitors, cuddled with her on Thanksgiving watching the Macy's parade, nursed her while going through Black Friday ads...good times! Yeah, I'm ridiculously cute and I'm TWO!

Uhhhh...maybe I could open my own presents????

Elmo cake, first cake I've decorated. It didn't come out too horrible and since she's two, she thinks it's awesome. And Lily told me I did a perfect job so it must be all right.

Sporting her new Elmo backpack!

Family Pics

Soooooo....I'm behind on blogging. We had our family pictures done a few weeks ago and I LOVE them. Now that our family is complete, I've been itching to get pics done. The girls did great, had great help from our sitter/hairdresser/friend Kelly to wrangle the girls & Mia, our photographer was super impressed with how well the girls did. I know it's prideful but I feel so good when someone comments on the girls behavior like, "ok, we're doing something right". It's those moments when I have all of my little people and Jason together & I get overwhelmed with how unbelievably blessed I am to get to raise them & share it with our rock star of a Daddy.

Our new pet...

We have captured a "woolly worm" aka caterpillar! Girls found him out on the playground and my neighbor made the great suggestion that they put him in a jar. I wouldn't really mind except we already had some cups with elder box bugs that Lily was keeping as pets. Soooo...we now have a pet caterpillar, he lives in a big tupperware container, the poor caterpillar curls up into a tiny ball every time Harper squeals because she gets VERY excited when Lily takes him out to "play". Tonight, I asked Lily what we should name the caterpillar.

Lily, "Elle" Elle is her best friend at school
Lacy, "We should name it Lacy"
Jason, "How do you know it's a girl caterpillar?"
Lacy, "Daddy, because it has eyelashes!'

Today was a successful day because....

I didn't run away. This is what I said to Jason after I put the girls down tonight. After an awesome day yesterday of family pictures, hanging out AND I got some errands done alone, I was so looking forward to a day of nothing to do but stay home. However, a day of nothing to do is kind of an oxymoron with our crew...
Haley sounded hoarse last night before bed but I had just pried a ladybug she was trying to eat out of her mouth so thought maybe it was that. During the night, we heard her cough which sounded a little croupy but didn't wake her up. Then, this morning when she woke up, her breathing sounded HORRIBLE. We have tons of experience with croup but this was so much worse. It was a high pitched sound and it was every time she took a breath. Called our ped at 6:30a, told us to head to the ER which we did. She was happy as a clam, still sounded horrible though. Jason told me to make sure to tell them she may have eaten a ladybug or something else. ER was great, super quick, we got a breathing treatment which made our super laid back baby super hyper trying to climb over, under and around the hospital gurney. Told like 5 different people she may have eaten a ladybug, was reasurred 5 different times this was not due to a ladybug. Now I'm the weird Mom whose kid may or may not have eaten a ladybug. Headed home with prescriptions for an inhaler and steroids. Still sounds bad but it does sound better, praying she sleeps tonight...for all our sakes. This of course made me one irritable Mommy which I HATE. I had to be warden to make the girls clean up their room. I did end the evening by reading each of the girls a book so maybe they won't go to bed thinking "Man, what is wrong with her????" Tomorrow is another day, hopefully a healthy one...

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Big girls heading out trick or treating with Daddy
Who would have thought a chicken, a ladybug and a wagon?

Trying for a group shot..first of many...

Still trying...

Mama, please brush my hair, it's CRAZY

Chickens drink from bottles, don't they?

My baby chicken

Kisses from my witch

Strawberry Shortcake & a witch, best friends forever

All four girls looking at the camera, no one's eyes are closed, no one is crying or running away = SUCCESS

Still trying...

Harper is supposed to be in time out, standing in the corner but must have spotted something more interesting outside.

My first attempt at sewing, ignore the mismatched shirt underneath

Haley NEVER falls asleep like this so I had to get a picture of our sweet baby

So big!

Reminds me so much of Lily & Lacy when they were little!

Hanging out on the fire truck during our block party

Girls ,made their own pizza, said it didn't taste good so refused to eat it. Then, told me later they loved making pizza.

Our new normal

Our lives have gone through ALOT of adjustments in the past 2 months, for the past 5 years my time has been my own. Road trips when we want, pajama days when we want, head to the park on a whim. People look at me like I have two heads when I tell them I have more freedom as a Mom than I did when I was working full time. Yes, I have them with me but it was up to me how we want to spend our time. Not anymore, we are now privy to the school calendar, school drop off, pick up madness, homework, making sure we get reading time in, Lacy's speech, chores AND our family time. Family time is hard to come by right now, we just haven't started school, Jason has a new job which is so much more time consuming than his previous one. Grateful? I'm unbelievably grateful he has this opportunity and he's enjoying what he's doing. The girls & I have adjusted to long days while Jason is working or traveling but I'm still trying to figure out how to fit everything in, make sure he stays connected to what is going on at school, at home when he can't be here. I make lists of things to talk about with him so I don't forget funny things or just day to day stuff. I have no doubt that we'll find our new normal...probably just in time for another new adventure.