8 months old

Well Isabelle is 8 months old now. She's got 4 teeth, crawling and trying to stand up. She's a sweet little girl and we love her. This is about the time we found out we were expecting her, when Cooper was 8 months old. Yikes! So far, no news. :)

Now I get it

The other night I was trying to calm Caroline down and I put her in bed to tell her a story. It went something like this....
Once upon a time in a far away land there was a princess named Caroline. She was a beautiful princess and had the most beautiful yellow dress. When it touched the sun it lit up like thousands of diamonds. If you were lucky and touched it with your finger at the right time, the diamonds would rub off on your finger and sparkle like the dress. One day she took a walk through a garden and met her prince. He was a very handsome prince with dark wavy hair and the deepest dimples in both cheeks.(The prince part was her request). Together they danced for hours until the sun went down. When it was time to go home, the prince bowed and bid her farewell. Caroline had such a wonderful time and looked forward to the time they would dance again.

"NO MOM!!! You forgot the kissing part."
"What?" I asked her. "You're too young to kiss."
"You have to have the kissing part."
"Why?"
"Because I like it."

... So the prince leaned down and kissed her on the cheek

"No Mom... on the lips."

"You're too young to kiss on the lips. Only on the cheek."


What the heck?!! No wonder so many of us women have these built up expectations of romance. It's embedded in our brains from the moment we watch our first Disney movie. Thanks Disney* for letting so many of us down. Not only us girls with prince-like expectations, but the poor guys who have to try and achieve PCS-Prince Charming Status. We should make before and afters... realistic before and afters where Cinderella and Prince Charming are up all night with kids, sleeping in different beds with different kids, cleaning up poop and throw up and too exhausted to even contemplate a romantic waltz or ride off on a horse into the sunset because the sunset is usually during an out of control tantrum or even worse... dinner time!
However, I did get my prince and my dance. :)
(See 2 posts down)

*(I know Disney didn't write the stories, but they made the movies we watch because for a girl, it's what we aspire to be right? The princess!)

Cooper's Bday

Cooper's bday was on Monday and he turned 2 years old. So crazy. We had a fun little "party" with the grandparents and cousin Will. Cooper is so into "swords". Swords meaning anything you can use as a sword. A pencil, a medicine syringe, a knife, a wooden spoon, wrapping paper roll, if it's long enough, it's good enough. So for his bday I wanted to find him a sword to play with. For Christmas we got him this cool "laser" sword but he ended up still using my wooden spoons. I think it was a little too heavy and a little too big. So I bought him a package of wooden spoons so he'd quit using mine. Well I saved the sword for last. It's a nerf sword so it's perfect- light weight and soft for when he smacks someone. I gave it to him on accident before the two "big" presents. Well as soon as he opened that sword he was done. Wee Mama tried to get him to open another one and he kept yelling no and hitting it. He was done! He even ran and hid under our chest to get away from us. He didn't care about the basketball stand or new bike (until later). It was seriously love at first sight. He didn't put it down that whole rest of the night. He even slept with it that night. It kept him in his bed though, so whatever works! For his bday cake I did a Noah's Ark theme. The Ark was supposed to be cake, but with all that cake left over, I'd never make it, so I used the toy ark. They loved it. Except Will, he was a little freaked out by the pig. Fun times.

Oh boy.... here we go

Last night Elizabeth grabbed me and Brian and wanted us to give each other a hug and a kiss. Then she'd wrap her arms around our legs and say "auditu, auditu". We have no idea what that means and I don't think she does either. She started saying that about 4 years ago when we'd hug or kiss and every now and then she'll say it. Anyway. Last night she's like, "wait wait wait, don't kiss. Mom, come with me." She said I had to be a princess for Daddy and she was going to make me one. She went into my closet and picked out a dress and my boots and then did my hair (which was taking it out of the pony and brushing it. Yikes!) and then put on my make-up. It was so funny watching her do my make up. She'd say the stuff I'd say to her when I dress her up like, "oh that looks really good. Beautiful." It was funny. Then she hid me in the closet and told me I had to wait for Brian to come find me. Then she said we still couldn't kiss because she had to make Brian my prince. After all was done, we had to dance and THEN we could kiss. I asked her why we had to dance first and she said "that's the way it's supposed to happen." A little too much Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast etc. Too funny. It was dinner time and I was tempted to just tell her no so I could make dinner, but I'm glad I let her do it. It was fun and especially fun to watch her be the creator of this picture she had in her mind. I wish I did that more often. Need to say no less and yes more. After getting us all dolled up, she went and put on her own make up and proceeded to try and convince us to pierce her ears and let her wear make up. She said if we didn't she's put it on and sneak out. Great. This morning she ran into my bathroom and put on her lipstick and said, " I have to look cute for my boys." I told her she can't wear makeup until she's 12. "How about 11 or 10, or 9?" A constant effort to get it her way. Funny girl.

A story...

So I thought I'd throw out a little comic relief. I went to the doctor's office to make sure everything was okay with Cooper because he's been so fussy lately. He had been playing with this toy bench at the office and was pretty much to the doctor's room so I nudged it with my foot to push it back. This lady was totally glaring at me and I was like " well, I guess I could have bent down and pushed it". See, I was holding Isabelle in her car seat and so I just pushed it with my foot. Well, I let it go ad had the appointment with the doctor. Then I came out and this lady was still there talking to some guy. I heard her say " that's the one who...." and I couldn't hear the rest of what she said, but that guy and another guy there were totally looking at me. I was like, "seriously. Was it that big of a deal?". So I came home totally bugged (Cooper was fine by the way) and I was just going to let it go 'cause I wouldn't ever see that person again and it was just petty, but I had to tell Brian to see if I was in the wrong. I told the story to him and then all the sudden he freaked out, " you totally have a hickey on your neck. That's why she was looking at you." No lie. I had a hickey on my neck. I had my hair pulled back, so there it was loud and proud on my neck. No hiding it. I guess there is a downside to letting your baby suck on your neck. :) I had no idea she left behind a mark. Let that be a lesson to ya! :) I mean seriously, who's going to believe that is was my baby. I could have been hit by a paint ball, burned by a curling iron, hit by a toy, slipped a landed on a marble, but no one's going to think that. There going to go right to the dirty. It was an innocent ticklin' by the baby, but no one will believe that!

The side mullet

So when Isabelle was born she has some really long hair in the back. My sisters and Mom kept making fun of it and saying I should cut it. I told them as soon as they quit talking about it I might. I went to get my teeth cleaned the other day and some of the ladies working in Bri's office helped with holding Isabelle. Two days later we had Brian's co-dentist and his wife over to play games the other day and he told us the girls were making fun of Isabelle saying she had a side mullet. So I cut it. I think she was pretty either way.

Happy Valentine's Day

The first thing out of Brian's mouth this morning:
"People who get married on Valentine's Day are lucky.... they only have to celebrate one romantic holiday a year." Nice Bri. Happy Valentine's Day to you too! :)

7 months old

Miss Isabelle has reached 7 months today. Such a sweetie and we love having her in our family. Have a few more pics, but this one will do for now.

Another week...

It's no wonder why sometimes the start of a new week just isn't appealing. I mean, I cleaned the whole house on Friday, and this is what it looked like Monday morning. Brian was sick all weekend and I was preparing for Sharing Time in Primary and other various responsibilities. Then we came home from church on Sunday and I fixed what I was supposed to bring for dinner to my Mom's and took off, so really, no time to straighted up a little. This is what I woke up to Monday morning. I tell ya, it's hard enough cleaning up after myself taking care of four kids, but cleaning up after five ('cause Bri's good about cleaning up after himself) while taking care of four is exhausting. Training them to clean up after themselves is even more exhausting. Sometimes it's easier to just do it for them, but we're trying to get away from that now! My sister asked me if it's always crazy at our house. If by crazy you mean a tornado crashing through your home, then yeah, it's crazy!








Half way through the day. How long do you think it will last?

Cooper

Cooper was being so cute the other day letting me take pictures and now I can't decide which one I want to blow up.