No Batteries Please

They just don't make them the way they used to...

I love vintage Fisher Price. No batteries needed.

Mavis loves her new chime ball that I found at a thrift store this week. My kids are plenty cultured on the changes of the time...computer games, Iphone games...I mean, who would've thought your 3-year-old could watch an episode of Dragon Tails on a phone. I know, the times are-a-changin', but I've always been anti battery operated toys. Babies don't need all the bells and whistles and toys that are programed to say your baby's name. Mavis hears her name plenty from us.

Not to mention, the battery toys drive me UP THE WALL. This house if FULL of noise as it is...I don't need a creepy bear to tell me what time it is.

We Dug Our Own Hole

When I was pregnant I used to say things like, "Well, this baby is the third baby, so she won't get the same amount of attention Rhett got when he was the only child." I would say, "I won't be able to sit on the couch and nurse all day or nurse this baby to sleep the way I did for Rhett." All bets were off the second she was born. She became "the baby" of the family. The last baby. I didn't even want to let other people hold her in the hospital. I was very protective. I remember having the feeling of emptiness and wanting Rhett back when other people would hold him when he was newborn. When Mavis was born I didn't want to feel that emptiness, so I just kept her to myself.

Now, Mavis loves to nurse all day and gets nursed to sleep. She still loves to take her morning nap on me or Dan and in the evening when we are trying to watch one of our shows she nurses, falls asleep on me, and if I'm lucky (I haven't been lucky these days) I can pass her to Dan and she will sleep on Dan for an hour or so, so I can knit while we watch a show. She still sleeps in our bed (Rhett did until he was 2 and we tried with Mezmur), so when our show is over we will take her to bed and hope she goes back to sleep easily. She doesn't love to be put down and some days this is really tough...uh, maybe because I have two other children! I have to remind her of this when I'm trying to read Mezmur a story or when I'm helping Rhett with his homework. "Mavis, you have a brother and sister too...give me a break." Some days...I need that extra glass of wine and angry mom comes out a lot, because it's stressful having three high need children!

This brings me to why we do what we do. The other day, Dan came to me and said, "When Mavis is all grown up, we will look back and want just one more day with our baby Mavis. I'm going to pretend that today is that day and enjoy my baby." It sounds cheesy, but he said it in a serious way. Now that I have an almost 7-year-old and a 3 and a half-year-old I know how fleeting this time is. Before we know it, Mavis will be independent and not need us as much. One day she will tell us she wants to sleep in her "big girl" bed and one day I will sleep through the night again. Soon I will never nurse another baby again. The thought of this is both very sad and a relief that this is just a season in life. A very short season. There will come a day that I will look back on Mavis as a baby and I'll be very thankful that I took the time to fully appreciate the baby months. I love sleeping next to my sleeping baby and I love the way she touches me and looks at me while she is nursing and I hope I never forget how magical it is to have a baby in the house. Magical, exhausting, stressful, hectic, and I might just loose my mind. Some days I'm beating myself in the head with craziness, but most days I hold my sleeping baby (while the other two are in bed) and think, how did I get so lucky? Note: there are always happy thoughts when all the kids are asleep at the same time...always.

With that said...THIS article has been circulating and it is DEAD on!

Also, Rhett's Pac-Man party was mentioned on THIS blog...fun.

Diarrhea Of A Wimpy Kid

Last summer was the summer that Rhett declared, "I hate reading!" It made me really sad. I so wanted him to curl up under a tree and read! I never forced him to read to us...we just kept reading to him and hoped that one day his mind would change. We knew he could read well, so we didn't feel the need to force it. I bought the game Bananagrams (a game that is a cross between Scrabble and crossword puzzles) and presented it to him as a new game. Little did he know...it was my way to "force" reading. He is really good at that game. One day he asked, "Mom, isn't 'sex' a word?" Why, yes my boy, it is.

Until one day...a week before Christmas, he says, "Mom, I really want to read Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. ALL my friends read it and I really want to read it." Yes, I could have gotten the book as a Christmas gift and he would have been excited, but he wanted to read! We rushed out and got that book for him! He is reading the second book now. He says he loves reading group at school now, because he can read Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. Now he begs us to stay up a little later, so he can read "just one more day!"

Why Diarrhea Of A Wimpy Kid? That is what Mezmur calls it.

Genna Date And New Things

Mezmur's has started Ballet! That's my girl...with her hand on her hip.

Mezmur and I got to go out BY OURSELVES on a date. We both had the best time. She got extra attention from me being held and getting special treats. First was her very first ballet class. She has been wanting to take ballet for a while. She was really excited. Mezmur was very cute and made sure I was watching every little plie. She kept waving and running over for a quick hug.

I just loved this eclectic group of ballerinas! Most of the girls were preschool friends from The Peanut Gallery...Mezmur's old school.

Next stop was a steamer. Her request was a chocolate cookie, muffin, and a steamer with whipped cream.

She settled on a pumpkin and dark chocolate muffin with her steamer.

Next stop was the toy store to find a present she could give Rhett for his birthday.

We found the perfect gift and she promptly told Rhett what it was the second she saw him.

Juggling balls.

Rhett has a new hobby. Needle felting.

He is working on a new tapestry in this photo and he is also working on a red felted ball.

Just in case you are jealous of my cultured and talented children...their favorite things to do are play computer games and watch tv and they do these activities way more than ballet and needle felting.

Mavis Turned Nine Months

Notice the bags under Mavis' eyes? I have the same bags. Mavis turned nine months on New Year's Eve and gave us a week and a half of hell. Sure, maybe she had the brunt of it (damn teething), but I wrapped up the week and a half with bags under my eyes and possibly less hair.

Mavis is cute now with one more tooth. Looks like she will have "fangs" on top like Rhett did.
I'm really scared that with every tooth she will have a fever for three days, not sleep (night or day), and cry all day long. Really scared. Scared, like when I was told that I had kidney stones in there that will pass "one day." One day, any day, the shoe will drop and Mavis will give us another week and a half of hell.
Here is what happens when the above happy baby hits herself in the head with the magic wand and sort of what she looked like for that week and a half.

It's a good thing she is cute and we love her.

Happy 2012

Party poppers at midnight...err, I mean, 8:00.

It's Christmas Time...Well, It's Over Now

We had a fun Christmas. A laid back, low key Christmas...besides the crazies we live with, but how boring would Christmas be without kids? So boring.

Mavis only likes four people...Mom, Dad, Rhett, and Mezmur. She didn't like Santa at all. Notice Mezmur's face also...she wasn't too sure of Santa either.
I had it together enough to make a skirt for Mezmur and a matching dress for Mavis. My girls were pretty cute together.
These two were pretty excited for Santa to come. Santa went to bed too late waiting for a certain 6 1/2 year old to go to sleep and Santa realized too late that he didn't have the right batteries for Rhett's gift. You never know with Rhett...it could go one of two ways. Total drama or not even notice...it's a good thing he didn't notice or even care. We went to the store in the morning and got the batteries.

Here is Mavis and Daddy before church.

When we got home from church the kids put on their special Christmas Eve pajamas...made by me. Notice Rhett's "man pajamas?" Also known as Ralph pajamas (A Christmas Story). He is really cute in them.

The love you see here was a Christmas miracle. It was the magic of Christmas that brought these two together. Today is December 29th...back to normal.

Mezmur's pajamas are the super cute Oliver and S. kimono pajama pattern. I love how they turned out and she loves them and calls them her "cozy pajamas."

Santa came. He left a balance bike for Mezmur and a metal detector for Rhett. They were hits, but Mezmur wasn't too sure of her bike at first. She asked Santa for a princess bike and when she first saw it she said, "THIS is not a princess bike." Sorry, princess. Santa is not ready for princesses.

My...um, I mean Mavis' gifts were the vintage Fisher Price ferris wheel and 'A' frame house and some guys. Well, it was for Mezmur too, but she isn't so into them yet. Challenge: To have Mezmur forget about princesses and realize the incredible coolness of a little people Susan and Gordan from Sesame Street and a tiny plastic sewing machine.

Christmas morning. The excitement grows while the big kids wait to come out to see what Santa brought. Behind them...a sleeping baby.

Mezmur, "Mommy, take a picture of our feet!" OK.

I got the big reveal on video. I'm glad too, because I have the whole, "This isn't a princess bike" disappointment on tape. It is funny to hear us convince her that it IS a princess bike, because it is pink and has flowers on it.

No questions were asked when Mavis got NOTHING from Santa. She didn't care one bit.

Later we had dinner at my mom's. Mezmur cuddled up to Grandad and said, "I love him Mom."

Once again. I was feeling very blessed to have Mavis with us...her first Christmas. I never could have guessed I would be blessed with such a beautiful family and Mavis adds so much to our family. Apparently she loves herself a lot too...she loves kissing her reflection.

I hope your Christmas or whatever you celebrate was filled with as much craziness as ours was.

Second Annual Gingerbread House Decorating