Beer Club Elite 2.0

What feels better on sore gums? A stupid little plastic ring or a fine India Pale Ale.

Teething toys are soooooo 2007.

Daddy is so proud.

3 Stitches in the Head

When you see your child's school on the caller ID, it can't be good. That feeling of impending doom is only heightened by hearing, "She is being really brave, but you need to come get her right away."

Byron beat me getting there, although you are glad you aren't the numskull who decided to get in my way by gridlocking on North Avenue. We found out that Merriwether took a tumble and cut her forehead on the hollow blocks. No one wants to see their child hurting, but it was a good ailment for our First ER Trip as we work toward collecting all our parenting badges.

Kudos to the staff at GBMC Pediatric Urgent Care. They knew just how to talk to kids and parents. It took about 4 hours start-to-finish. They had a nice waiting room just for kids that really helped M feel comfortable.

The three stitches were no fun. It is hard to help restrain your scared/kicking/screaming child while you are sitting mere inches from Pre-School Sutures on The Discovery Health Network. But the nice nurse gave Merriwether and Mom each a popsicle when it was all done. I did pass on the home suture removal kit offered to us :O

Now she's back at school. Showing off her stickers, band-aid, and new "bracelet" that "has my birthday on it!"

Off to find princess band-aids....

TOOTH!!!

Princess Butternut's first tooth is through her gum! What a good baby!

(no, I did not know she was even teething)

All things in moderation...

Today we went and joined our local YMCA. Merriwether is excited that they have swimming and ballet classes. Byron wants to try the rock wall and I'm looking forward to being alone...er I mean exercising. After we filled out the paperwork, I took Merriwether for some frigid playtime on their super-cool playground and Byron let Harper spin the steering wheel in the car. Once we got all the carseat buckles fastened we heard the dreaded refrain, "But I am very very HUNGRY!" from our eldest.

Since the grocery fairy hasn't been by in a while, we hit the local drive-thru and came home to eat our lunch. Merriwether has had an epiphany about the golden arches.

"This is GOOD! This is really REALLY good! I like this burger! My tummy likes this burger!"
(This simply proves that I wasted all that time when she was an infant pureeing fresh organic kale and brown rice so that she would have complex taste buds.)

Please notice that she is wearing her Santa inspired shrug sweater and what you can't see is the purple CareBear socks and the glitter shoes. Isn't that what everyone wears when they go to check out a new gym?

Enjoying the Snow!

This is a cute baby. She loved her sled ride. She also liked playing in her exer-saucer outside in the snow while I shoveled the walk. Oh and she doesn't scream in the car anymore either. And boy does she like squash. She likes to eat it AND smear it all over her face. To be fair, that's the way I eat my favorite foods too. Maybe it's genetic.

Who slept through the night?

EVERYONE!

happy happy joy joy!

Mademoiselle Butterfly

Even princessballerinabutterflies like to go out in the snow. But then they cry when they fall down because they got cold. Don't worry, Da-da braved the elements on his way home from work to go out and buy her designer snowpants.

Rivalry

So people keep asking me, "How is Merriwether adjusting to being a big sister?"

Just fine, thank you very much.

Valley of the Dolls

If you have been to our house, you have probably "played peoples" or "done talkings." We have Fisher Price little people, paper dolls, felt board dolls, baby dolls, and stuffed animals. Should Merriwether be in the unthinkable position where she has no access to her peoples she will animate mittens, walnuts, her own fingers or whatever is available.... and they will talk.

The peoples also have names. There is "the girl," her friend "the bright girl" and "the other girl." There are Manilla, Whitta, Bitsy, and Policia. There is "triangle baby." There are several Lauras.

Today, Meadow and Bebe stopped by for a visit. Traditionally, Meadow and Bebe have only existed on the other end of her play telephone, but today they walked right in our house. They arrived in a red ship on the roof. They wear dresses. They are 3 years-old. Meadow is shy and spit-up a little bit, but she is better now. Once Meadow and Bebe came from Imagination Land, we were over-run. Hello Kitty is here. So are all the Teletubbies (except for Dipsy, he is still at school). Big Bird arrived in a colorful car but then pushed Hello Kitty and refused to apologize. They worked it out later.

Merriwether reported that they all ate their lunches at home, but it would be ok if I served them all some sweet potato pie for dessert. I remembered that they had had pie at home too.

After lunch, Hello Kitty didn't need to take a nap, but Merriwether did. I hope Big Bird behaves himself this afternoon.

Breakfast of Champions

Merriwether loves hard-boiled eggs. Actually she just eats the whites and throws the yolks to the dogs. You can see Heidi lurking in the background waiting.

M: "Mama! I want to skin the eggs ALL BY MYSELF!'

H: "Merriwether, eggs don't have skins. They have...."

M: "Frosting?"

Hi Harper!

This is the best picture we have of Harper! She is a very busy little baby. She laughs all the time and will talk to her toys for many happy minutes. She loves applesauce and most of all she loves to look at her big sister.

Caden is 3!

Birthday cake, pony rides and 60 degrees in January! Does life get any better than that? We had a great time hanging out with Caden, Jane, Luke and Olivia. Merriwether proclaimed that the horses were, "not too stinky," and Harper wore her farmer overalls for the first time.

2008!

New Year's Resolution...I promise that I will post pictures and amusing stories about the girls so that people can pop in for a taste of the madness. This does not excuse me from returning your calls.