Summer 2011

I don't know what to say to start this post. So, skipping right to the stories:

Doodie Baffer-

There have been numerous occasions in which people have stopped me to tell me how beautiful baby Bo is. The conversation goes something like this:

"Oh, Ruth Allen, he is a gorgeous baby, look at those blue eyes. He looks nothing like the rest of you, he is just such a pretty boy!"

Me: "oh, well.. Thanks" I'm not sure where he gets those good looks....obviously NOT from the rest of us, ha! He may be beautiful but he is a wild nasty little thing. He pinches and bites. I have bruises to prove it. He already balls his fist up and grunts ferociously. His favorite toys are the little white caps that cover the bolts holding down the toilet. Any chance he gets he crawls in the bathroom and goes straight for them. Then they of course go straight into his mouth. I am going to remove them. Not sure why I have not done that yet. He loves to eat leaves, hes wonderful but he is just plain gross.

John Robert-

Took the child to the grocery store the other day. I was scanning my last items at the self checkout when I overheard John Robert talking to the lady behind him. Not unusal, he loves a stranger! I looked up and he was pulling at the waist of his pants saying "look at my weenie!". I about died. As I snatched his pants up and tossed him in the grocery cart I could not seem to muster up an apology. I kept my head down and back turned to the lady and then darted out of the store.

We have had the hardest time getting John Robert to keep his underwear on. I'll walk in the bathroom and there in a pile will be his "un-er-wears" right inside his shorts, it looks as if the rapture has occured and his clothes fell perfectly off him. It is just a joke now with the neighbors who have to put up with his frequent streaking. The boy's theme song should be "Pants on the Ground"! Bo has recently laid the law down, and we are making progress. Now he wears them with swords and weapons of all types stuck down in them every-which-of-way.

John Robert's favorite thing to do is play swords. He'll come up and stab me and say "I died you, mommy".

I asked John Robert what he learned at church a few weeks ago. He looked at me seriously and said slowly, "Jesus eats goldfish".

I killed a roach in front of John Robert the other day and flushed it down the toilet. He looked at me and said "Mama, why you put the roach in the potty?" I said "because it is nasty". John Robert said "It not nasty, it's beautiful, it a decoration mama!"

I NEVER iron. I don't even have an ironing board. I lost it in the move. I'll fluff something in the dryer or toss it in a pile to take to the cleaners before I'll iron it. I did however iron my shirt for church on Sunday. I had to do it on my couch cushions. John Robert saw the iron not even knowing what is is called and said "why do you have Nona's thing?!

Caroline-

What can I say? She is so creative and bizarre. If Doodie Baffer was not odd enough already, Caroline now calls her baby brother "pickle back". Not all the time, just when she is pretending he is her little boy. I'll overhear her saying "no-no pickleback", "come to your mommy pickleback".... Where do these names come from? John Robert recently started carrying around a stuffed cat and telling us that it is his son named Marcus. Marcus is odd, but pickleback...

We went to my mom's the other day and my brother's huge German Shepherd, "Mia" was out back. Caroline came up to me nervously and said "umm, mama, I'm afraid of heights, and Mia's a height!"

One of Caroline's favorite things to do this summer was catch lightning bugs. The first night she captured one in her net she came running inside and said "Mama I caught a lightning bug AND it is a glow in the dark one!"

Caroline has hair feathers. When she first saw "big girls" with feather extensions she started begging. I found out that the extensions were about $10 a pop. So I went to the craft store and we got us some feathers for real cheap, and those suckers have stayed in that curly hair for several weeks now. She also wears skinny jeans or "jeggings". She looks like a hippie and a teenager.

Eyeball hair

Caroline is hysterical. At least she thinks she is. She just started telling knock, knock jokes. Lucky us! We are in such a fun stage that I am sure every parent goes through. My favorite "joke" so far... Knock, knock.. Who's there? Eyeball... Eyeball?! Eyeball who? Eyeball hair! (Followed by an eruption of laughter.) Awesome.

Caroline tells me that she feels sick a lot. Another super fun stage. The other day she told me that her tummy hurt and I asked her what she thought was wrong and she said "my tummy is not alive".

My mom took Caroline to school on Monday and while she was driving mom told her that she had not slept well the night before. Caroline said "well that's ok you can try again tonight, Nona".

John Robert has been pretending that he is Caroline's little boy. Caroline decided that she would change his name to "Telmo" like Elmo, but with a "T". So now our 3 children are "Telmo's Mommy", Telmo and Doodie Baffer.

The Sunday before Ash Wednesday I left church knowing that I only had a few more days before I was going to have to deprive my sweet tooth until Easter. Just after church we took the kids over to Caroline's school for a festival. The first thing I spotted was the cakewalk. I explained the rules to the kids and then I sent them over to play. I figured my chances were pretty good seeing as I had 2 children in the game. There was this huge pan of brownies with icing. I wanted it. Probably the way an addict wants a fix. Neither child won the first 4-5 rounds they played. Caroline seemed disappointed because I had been so crazy and insistent that they "win Mommy a cake". (The cakewalk is not nearly as exciting as the other games, and I knew that time was running short, finally I gave it up and let them go jump on the bouncy things.) Next thing I know, I am feeding the baby and Caroline comes running up saying "I won, I won!" She then hands me a plate of cookies and says "I played again for you and I won, but I couldn't carry your cake all by myself, so I had to get these cookies". Sweetest thing in the world.

Baby Bo got his first tooth right at 4 months and his second just broke through. He has already bitten me. I am afraid that all my children appear to be "biters". John Robert and Caroline bite each other. John Robert bit his friend in the nursery the other day. Apparently not all children bite, because when people hear what happened they are like "ohhh, you have "a biter"! That sounds like something you should say about a dog. Don't all kids bite!? I mean what are the chances that all mine would be "biters"? They have ALL had reflux and spit up constantly. Now 3 biters...

I have THE most awesome stroller. It is like a limousine. It is way nicer than my car. It is a triple jogger with stadium style seating. It looks like something from outer space. People stop and stare. My favorite comment, or should I say compliment was: "now that's a humdinger!" Actually, I thought that was a dumb comment, I wasn't even sure what the heck that meant. So, I looked up the word humdinger and found out that it means: 1. something unusually large 2. an excellent person or thing. It is unusually large, and it is an excellent thing. Maybe I should have "humdinger" airbrushed across it. I want to name it like a boat. Bo and I had the humdinger out the other day and it caught the eye of a lady driving. Dangerous. She was so captivated that she didn't realize she was approaching a stop sign, slammed on her breaks, and almost rear ended the car in front of her. It would have made for a better story if she would have actually rear ended the car.

Went to the grocery store the other day. My bill was over $200. I never spend that much, but everyone was talking about prices going up due to corn and other things. I called Bo on my way home and I was freaking out a little. I thought "I am going to have to get a job, this is crazy". A few days later I found my receipt. I had been charged $70 for curry leaves. I headed back to the store to explain that I had not even purchased curry leaves and that I wasn't even sure what they were. The crazy thing was that they didn't even have curry leaves. They had typed the produce code in wrong for the 50 cent lemon I bought to make my broccoli bearable. I was nice- no reason to get all crazy. My money was refunded after about 30 minutes and I got a $10 gift card and a free lemon.

Bo got on facebook recently and realized that for some reason a bunch of his friends had been deleted. So he started adding them again. Then he realized he was signed into my account. Recently over 30 men have accepted my friend requests. Embarrassing. Some of them I barely know.

John Robert woke up this morning, came into the kitchen, stripped his clothes off, snuck downstairs, came back up with a pitcher we use to RINSE them with in the bathtub after they are CLEAN, and then peed in it right in the middle of the kitchen. He was so careful and precise. He was so focused he did not even realize we were watching him, laughing hysterically. Boys and their pee experiments...

Lately...

Wowsers. I've been saying that a lot lately. Here's why:

1. John Robert is potty trained! It was EASY. He is such a big boy. Already sleeps in his underwear and knows how to go on trees (of course). Asked to poop on a tree the other day. Not up for that. We were walking to our car on the square a few days ago. There are trees planted every few feet apart in the middle of the sidewalk beside the storefronts. Yep, pants ALL the way down, mid stream on a tree before I realized it. He was lollygagging as usual, I was rummaging for my keys. A mom with several boys (of all people!) walked by and hollered "been there, done that"! It was awesome. We got in my squeak-mobile and made a mad dash for our house.

2. I have gotten myself stuck in my backyard on 4 separate occasions recently. The first time the baby was in the house alone so I panicked for a moment, but composed myself when I realized I had my cell phone and started dialing neighbors. I've never been so grateful to know my neighbors. (We had a string tied to the lock on our fence that you had to pull to get out. It ripped off. Unless you are tall like Bo and can reach over the privacy fence and let yourself out OR climb over the chain link fence that borders the neighbors yard, you are STUCK if the back door to the house is locked. I am about half an inch too short and a bit too wimpy to climb the chain link fence.) After 2 more incidents of getting stuck, I re-rigged the "pull string". Yesterday, the string got stuck and so did I. Again. I almost let it ruin my day. I was SO mad. I spent a good part of my afternoon scheming about how I would get out if it ever happens again. I think I have a pretty good escape plan, hope to never use it.

3. I'm going to give up sugar for lent. I do NOT want to. I am afraid. I can only imagine what I'll be like with no M&Ms. Pale, mean, head rotating 365 degrees. Watch out.

4. My kids use the windows like doors. Why use the front door when you can climb out the window? I shouldn't allow it.

5. We were playing in the backyard the other day and Caroline got hurt. She looked up at me and said "ouch! my tenders". I did not explain to her that she does not have "tenders". (In my kid's favorite movie ever, KungFu Panda, Po the panda gets hit in the crotch and says "my tenders" I'm thrilled that my children retain such valuable material.)

6. John Robert, a.k.a "pirate boy", has a new way to get what he wants. He will bring a carton of fruit or box of crackers to me and just say "four"...nothing else just "four". If he REALLY hopes for a bunch he says "six" and does a little dance and gives a cheesy smile. I may put 12 crackers in the bowl, but if he is not satisfied he looks at me again and whines "siiix!" So far I have figured out that 4 is a little more than I would like him to have and siiix is enough to make you sick.

7. Doodie Baffer is 4 months old. Love him. I'll do anything to see his smile, there are no words...

(Photos by Brandon Funk)

Doodie Baffer

2010 was busy and full of changes. Hate that I did not blog at all! Afterall, this is my children's baby book. Here are a few highlights--

We had our third baby- another boy! Bo Durham was born November 8th and was my smallest baby at 7 pounds 11 ounces. I thought they were joking when they told me how much he weighed. Did you see my stomach? Amazingly huge. Baby Bo officially confirmed that Bo and I have not figured out what makes babies yet. That's why I called Bo at work to announce the news and yell at him. I had my third c-section and Bo had some surgery too! I am currently recovering from post-partum depression. (I have the best family and friends and they have been so supportive.) There are no words to describe the transition from two to three. We love little Bo and are all so thankful that God surprised us with him. My older ones (it is crazy to call them older when they are 2 and barely 4!) have nicknamed little Bo "doodie baffer". What?!

We bought a house! March will be a year. Life is so different already. We are having the most fun we have ever had. Our neighbors are awesome! The kids have numerous friends within walking distance. For the most part we are all settled in. My dad would beg to differ by the looks of his basement-- There is just that stuff that you don't know what in the world to do with. And I cleaned out big time. I threw away and donated so much stuff that I am surprised we have anything left. Which brings me to my first story about Henry the dog.

Henry the Dog

I don't love stuffed animals. I believe there are 3 categories for them. The first category is... "just plain nasty". Most in this category are obnoxious colors and they make you itch, or they at least just feel "wrong". Animals in the second category may have a memory attached to them such as "This was the first thing I opened at my shower for my first child", or "so-and-so gave this to me for Valentine's Day". They get kept around the house, are not played with and worst of all... waste space. I'll now take the opportunity to say that adults are too old for stuffed animals. Sorry. The third category is for "purposeful" stuffed animals. Very few stuffed animals fit into this category. I can think of only two reasons a stuffed animal would be purposeful: if they are classic stuffed animals purchased to decorate a nursery (We love these: http://www.blablakids.com/), and secondly those that have become inseparable comfort items for children. I guess it is possible for children to choose "just plain nasty" animals to become attached to, but in that situation, because they serve an important purpose, exceptions can be made and they can be considered purposeful.

It is ridiculous that I took the time to type out my feelings on stuffed animals in such detail, but when I moved, I realized that our stuffed animal collection had gotten out of control. I categorized every animal in the house. I decided that only category 3: purposeful animals, would make the cut and join us in our new home. I grabbed trash bags for the category one animals, and they went to their appropriate place on the next trash day. The category 2 animals went to the local Goodwill.

Now on with the story...

Packing was insane. 2 young children, Bo did NOT take anytime off of work, and we did NOT hire movers. I was left to make most of the decisions of what to trash, donate, and keep. So, my mom came over and we just went at it. We made big piles all over my house. I was as decisive as I have ever been and I was so proud.

Anyway, as I was packing up Caroline's room I came across Henry the dog...one of those category 2 animals...should have gone straight to the Goodwill pile, but I hesitated. The problem? Caroline loved him. He belonged to John Robert, but we could not convince her that she wasn't the owner. I knew Bo would have elected to keep him. But, I was the decision maker and I sent him off to Goodwill with a little uneasiness in my stomach.

We went to the beach just before the house closed. On our LONG ride home just as we were driving through downtown Atlanta, Caroline started asking about her toys. Bo said "I bet Henry will be so glad to see you when we get back!". I started giving him this motion to change the subject. I then explained under my breath that Henry had a new home. Bo was furious. You would have thought I gave my wedding ring away. And at that point I might as well have. He insisted I find a replacement. I grabbed his phone and frantically searched ebay never expecting to find one. Well, apparently Henry the Dog is some sort of collectible and most of the ones on ebay were vintage and were selling for $75 and up! I was horrified. Who pays that much for stuffed animals?! Bo and I then started arguing about whether or not the dog was even cute. I started sweating, knowing I had made a terrible decision and wondering what else I had trashed or given away that I might as well go on and fess up to. The rest of the car ride was miserable. My mom came to the rescue. She always makes things better. She rushed to Goodwill after church the next day, found Henry among the toys (can't be that cute if no one had bought him for the 9 days he sat on the shelf), purchased him back for 99 cents and returned him to his rightful owner.

Since the birth of "Doodie Baffer" I have only run preschool carpool a few times. My sweet neighbor Bekah usually takes and mom and Bo pick up. I don't think anyone has missed me though. My car and I have serious carpool issues. I'm not just talking about the thousands of times I have run up on the curb... I have driven through line with a HUGE ladder strapped to the top of my van. (I leaned out my window yelling "can I still come through line?" - which drew even more attention. I got "looks". It was painful.) I've arrived just in time to miss carpool and had to walk Caroline inside.. the "walk of shame" as they call it- in my pajamas- in the rain. I have had my car break down in the school parking lot and had it towed away. Horrifically embarrassing. And to top it all off, my car has a permanent squeak. A LOUD obnoxious sound that announces my arrival before my carpool number is ever called. And not to mention makes chatting with other mom's in line through our car window's challenging.

Caroline was recently watching a claymation movie about Jesus with her daddy. Claymation is terrible. Next thing we know Caroline looks up at Bo and says "Jesus said stupid?" Jesus was saying that the "stupid man builds his house on the sand". Who uses that translation for a children's movie?! Ridiculous.

John Robert IS a pirate. I have never seen a child so into something. He dresses up. Everyday. All the clothes hangers in the house are "cap'n hooks". Even the dough hook attachment that goes to my mom's kitchen aid mixer has become a "hook" and is part of the costume. He started liking pirates around 18 months old and by 20 months he constantly went around saying "argh Matey" and "on guard" - and would then proceed to sword fight you. His favorite pirate phrases these days are "YOU walk-a the plank" and "scurvy dog". We even have a 3x5 foot Jolly Roger flag run up yonder pole of the swing set. He calls the Lord of the Rings movies "scary pirates" and begs to watch them. (Don't think they have pirates in them, but he's convinced they do.) He is the greatest 2 year old in the whole world.

Hope it is not 15 months until I blog again.

June through December

Lot of catching up to do, let's see...

So... we sold our house! (To a single girl who was sweet as could be and looked to be about 13 years old. It was strange to hand her my house key. I guess I felt like I needed to give her instructions or something.) We are thrilled to have sold in this market, but hope to buy in it as well. We are living with my folks in the meantime. The "meantime" is however long it takes us to save some money, and find a house.

In the last few months we have been to the beach, celebrated John Robert's first birthday, started preschool (Caroline), celebrated my 25th birthday, trick-or-treated for the first time, contracted a nasty virus, celebrated Christmas and... I pretty much have forgotten the rest. Here are a few funnies I can remember and some photos:

1.Caroline's teacher complimented her outfit the other day and Caroline looked at her all sassy and said "Home Depot! (like that was where it was from...)

2. We only use nice words around here, especially me, but nonetheless Caroline started saying stupid. After getting in trouble several times for saying it, she decided to create her own bad word. "Stu-kers" sometimes pronounced "sku-kers", depending on the situation I guess. She catches herself all the time about to drop the "s-bomb" and then quickly changes the pronunciation to avoid trouble. It's a pretty fun word to say so we all use it now. This morning she told her daddy that his outfit was "a little bit sku-kers", but once he put on pants and a button down over his boxers and socks she called him her "handsome little boy".

3. Living with my parents has been awesome actually, and if you ask Bo he has the same opinion, which is a good thing. Not just anyone would want to be in close quarters with their in-laws. He's a good sport, but then again my parents are the best. We call their house the "Cantrell Hotel" and it is wild around here. There has only been one major complaint from my children, and it is not that Caroline's room is the closet. It's a "smaller" problem named Annie. She is a 6 pound yappy dog that hates children, and well just hates life I think. The other day she snapped at my mom and it scared Caroline so bad that she yelled "Kill her! Kill Annie like a deer!" Hysterical! My dad deer hunts but that was still shocking to hear coming from my 2 year olds mouth. They have another dog, Lily, who in my opinion is just as bad. The odor that comes from "Lily" is horrendous, the tumor in her neck is now the size of the 6 pound dog, she poops in her sleep every night and we have to scoop it up with a shovel the next morning, she gets stuck in the creek behind my parents house and they have to lift her out in a sheet like she is a beached whale or something (because she is 130 pounds), hummm... what else, loud barking, constant shedding, I could go on! If it weren't for her, our "rent" would seem even cheaper.

4. My dad was leaving for work the other day and he ran back inside because he forgot something. Caroline asked him what he was doing and he said "I forgot my keys". She looked at him like he was "sku-kers" and said "No, Poppy, you forgot your wife!"

5. We carved a pumpkin for the first time together this year. Bo cut his finger and bleed all over it but once we got it cleaned up and lit up it was cute. Caroline called it the "jackalanny".

6. John Robert loves to tickle people. (He finds sensitive places in your skin and pinches you really hard and says "kickle") He also loves to give kisses. He'll grab your face and pull it toward his mouth. It is pretty intense, I love it. He will pretend to talk on the phone and all of a sudden throw his head backwards and start laughing hysterically. He is really starting to talk or at least communicate well. He loves to play with the pretend kitchen and he likes his "baby" which is a soft light-up glow worm. Hopefully next year he'll like dinosaurs and tools.

7. Caroline was doing so well at night and now she has gotten into an unfortunate habit of getting in our bed in the middle of the night (when she knows we are too asleep to care). Bo took me on a surprise overnight trip for our 5th anniversary. My parents kept the kids, so that night Caroline snuck into their room in the middle of the night. She asked my mom if she could sleep on top of her. Mom said that she literally wanted to sleep like one piece of bread on top of the other! When my mom who is not much bigger than Caroline told her that she wasn't going to sleep like that, Caroline said "well can I please sleep in your armpit"!? (I personally don't/can't touch people when I sleep, and I think I got that from my mom - not sure how much sleep she got that night, but Bo and I slept great in our hotel room - not touching of course.)

8. Recent song lyrics by Caroline:

"hi-ho the "dairy queen", the farmer in the dell"

"Old MacDonald had a farm and bingo is his name-o".

"nice to meet you hope of glory" (Christ in me the hope of glory)

"you walk on waves, you run with flags" (you walk on waves, you run with clouds)

9. We were in the car the other day and Caroline had a little situation...slug-like booger nose and the only thing I could find to remedy the situation besides the floor mat was a cloth doll diaper that belongs to Caroline's cabbage patch doll (she calls her co-patch). I started to wipe her nose with it and she let out a scream and said "NASTY mama, Co-patch goes poop in that thing". Her other children's names are Meo and Kia. We may let her name our next child.

10. Caroline can tell the Christmas story as well as anyone with a bit of prompting. She'll tell you that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem on a donkey and that they didn't find a hotel and there wasn't a bed. They stayed in a barn and baby Jesus was born and the wise men gave him presents. One morning a few weeks ago upon waking up Caroline walked in my room (John Robert was sitting on my bed in his diaper) she pointed her finger up at him and the first words out of her sleepy mouth were "that's a fat baby Jesus". I said "well good morning" and we all busted out laughing.

Caroline's first day of school. Can you see the nervousness on her face? She was white as a sheet and trying to think of every reason why the school was "probably closed".

She loves it now of course.

John Robert's Georgia bulldog first birthday party. See his "Go Dawgs" face below. It was a great party overall, one last chance to pack as many people as possible in our little house and eat lots of food on the carpet that was "under contract".

wish you could hear the snort...

Bryant March Madness

Dog Park
I took the kids to the park the other day. (Our local park is awesome. There's a great walking trail, two cool playgrounds, a skate-park, and even a dog park.) Caroline just has to visit each spot at the park. We walk, we swing, we watch the boys skate or "skape" as she calls it (and we hope that they don't drop a heinous cuss word while we observe their amazing tricks that almost always end with a thud.) And we look at the dogs in the dog park. This time, however, I let her go inside the small dog area. (Which was really sweet of me because I don't love pets.) The area was fenced in and I had been toting 20 pounds of John Robert all over the place, so I parked it in the grass while Caroline ran around and harassed the small dogs. There was a poodle with clothes on the size of a large rat that did not seem to care for children and a few other dogs further away in the field. I began to talk a mom that I had been walking around with and the next thing I know all the dog owners are looking at me like "is that your child?" I turned around and Caroline had her head down in the dog water fountain licking it. She looked up at me and was like "this for Caroline!", "this my water fountain!", "turn on the water mommy". I have heard that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a humans. Let's hope that is true.

Time out!
Bo and I just started a series of videos on parenting. We need it. Parenting is challenging. There are days that completly suck the life out of me. Tuesday was one of those days. We have been using time out or "room time" some lately with Caroline. When Bo got home on Tuesday I told him that I needed some room time. Caroline looked at me and said "oh Mommy, what did you do?" "Did you hurt John Robit?" "Did you hurt him??"

Clean-up, Clean-up
I was cleaning up the kitchen the other day and Caroline was "helping me". I let her have her own squirt bottle of water which I thought was a brilliant move....you know...so she wouldn't keep asking me for the Clorox or some other chemical. Next thing I knew everything I didn't want "cleaned" was dripping wet. The television, the furniture, etc... So the next time we cleaned, I let her have a sponge. She was busy scrubbing away with her sponge, while I worked with my back to her cleaning the counter tops. When I looked up I noticed that she was no longer cleaning with her sponge, she had grabbed a used coffee filter full of coffee grinds and had "cleaned" the floor, an upholstered chair, and her brothers exersaucer with it. (Which if you do not know what an exersauser is, it is basically a contraption he sits in that has toys with all kinds of nooks and crannies for coffee grinds to sneak in.) I am still finding them everywhere. Upon being caught, she of course looked up at me and said "I cleanin' mama!". No telling how many coffee grinds John Robert has eaten while gnawing on those toys. She can make some serious messes while cleaning.

Speaking of John Robert...
If the dog bowl story did not make you gag, this will... I was at my Mom's the other day and John Robert fell asleep in my arms so I laid him down on her couch. When he woke up I picked him up and noticed that he smelled terrible. I was like "mom, you have to smell him, he stinks!". She said "maybe he pooped". I was like like "no mama his head stinks". Then I noticed that there was poop on his head. I was like "what in the world!?" I looked at the couch where he had been sleeping. Then I realized what had happened. My mom's little dog was sleeping on the couch too. She had a "dingle-berry". She got too close...it plopped on the couch....transferred to his head. Enough said.

ER
We had to take poor Caroline to the emergency room last night. She got a fever of 105 degrees and I don't mess around with that kind of temperature. The doctors (and I) suspected a UTI and needed a sample from her. She was a big girl and went on the potty which was awesome because the other option would have been a catheter. She was promised a popsicle if she could go on the potty and sure enough she was rewarded with a grape popsicle, the test was positive, we got a perscription for an antibiotic, a stuffed monkey and a pinwheel and headed home at 1:30 Am. It was a late night party for us all. Even John Robert stayed awake for each moment. The kids enjoyed being bounced on the hospital bed and watching Peter pan and The Lion King.

Popsicle Stick "humor"
Caroline talked about THE Popsicle ALL day and so I decided to take her to the grocery store tonight and let her get some. (She is still having fevers on and off and I thought the popsicles would be a fun treat for her.) She was thrilled, she got a box of Dora ones. When we finished dinner we all ate one. John Robert shared mine. It took me back to being a little girl, because the sticks had jokes on them that you had to eat the popsicle to get the answer. I was excited! I read Caroline's joke out loud and then encouraged her to eat up so we could hear the punch line. Her joke read: What has spots and rides on a fire truck? You won't believe the answer....A fireman with Measles. What!?!? Are you kidding me? What child knows what measles are?? That is twisted. I was furious. Bo and I were so disgusted by the ridiculousness of that "humor". My popsicle joke was not much better: Why does a rhino have so many wrinkles?....because they are too hard to iron. Huh? I don't even get that. Whoever came up with that...much less agreed to print them onto children's (DORA THE EXPLORER!!) popsicles??? They need to be fired!

I don't even know what to say....

Caroline + Daddy's electric razor + 3 minutes alone = redneck hairdo (I was less than 15 feet away) I cried my eyes out...not because I am vain...it's just terrible to see little curls (that have taken 2 years to grow) all over the floor and in the potty...don't even know what to say. Pictures can't do it justice.

Quick story: I have mastitis. I feel like I have the flu. I have had to use my breast pump for relief a few times. Caroline looked at me kind of funny and pointed to the breast pump machine noticing it was "getting my milk out" and said "there a baby in there?". I thought it was funny...