Film Development

Yes, we are one of the last of the old school beginner photogs. We have a nice camera, with APS film, but we still use this stone age thing called film processing at Walmart. Call me crazy and old fashioned, but give me a photo album over a DVD of pics any day.

So without further ado, here are the best of the lot.

Here you can see Chris reading Erin her first book, Green Eggs and Ham, from the doctor who delivered her. We have to keep this away from Ian or he will 'borrow' it.

Here, Ian is on 'forced' potty time. This lasts until he gets a potty seat ring on his bottom or something actually appears in the potty. :) This hasn't happened for quite a while. He is very excited about the 'pee real quick and go' method.

This pic is funny because it was cold in the house and Ian said he was cold during his morning potty time. First his legs were cold. Then his arms

were cold. Then his hair was cold. Then he wanted to get closer to the heater. We managed all of this and then he was happy.

Now we get some cute ones of Erin and Chris again. She is SUCH a Daddy's girl. And it's so precious to see.

This one is in a frame right now because it's such a Good picture. Finally, one of Erin smiling! Now doesn't your day seem a little better now? I know it works for me!

I believe! I believe!

It has been a noisy interesting last couple of days. Erin is ferociously teething. She will not let me get more than a couple of feet away from her without crying. She wants to be held constantly--by me. Whenever Chris holds her she reaches out for me. Part of me is all touched and 'aw-isn't-that-sweet'! The rest of me just wants to go to the bathroom in peace and quiet without a sobbing baby sitting on the floor pulling at my leg.

And we've figured out that Ibuprofen does not sit well on her tummy.

On the flip side, Ian is doing tremendously well in the potty training arena. Except now he tells Everybody every time he has a body function. For example, he used the restroom in Wal-Mart (he's still scared of the noisy auto-flush). We clapped and yay-ed and when we were in the other end of the store, 20 or so minutes later, Ian saw an older woman and gleefully announced to her "I went pee pee in the toilet! Want to see?" She handled it very well and said no thank you, but did congratulate him on his success. She was really sweet. But does he have to invite everyone to look at it? I believe, I believe! (Some part of me is thinking of Peter Pan, where we clap and say "I do believe in fairies!" I don't know why.)

There has been another cold snap after the days of horrible thunderstorms and hail (yes, hail!). During one episode of penny sized hail, I went to the carport to pull the Jeep up a bit, in case the hail got bigger. There was some hail that had bounced over so I picked it up and brought it inside to show Ian. I explained to him that hail was just "Ice rocks from the sky". He looked at it, held it a bit and popped it into his mouth. "Mmm. Cold" was all he said. And that was that.

Last night it got down in the 40s. We are cold. It is really weird to be freezing and have the heaters on again and to look out into the yard and see the kiddie pools and the slip 'n slide.

I must take the time to mention that there are large warnings all over the slip 'n slide for good reason. Chris took Ian outside in his trunks (we're trying to get rid of the white pasty legs) and wet the ramp down and put dish soap all over it (just in case it wasn't slippery enough). Ian couldn't figure out how to slide down the strip into the little holding pool. So Chris kind of picked him up and did the old heave ho and skipped him down so Ian was sliding down on his bottom, like you do on a slide. Ian loved this and begged to do it again and again. Eventually Chris got tired and we debated on who should teach him how to go down on his belly. This is where the illiteracy comes in. I volunteered for the first skid and passed the baby to Chris. I took a run and leaped onto my knees (hey, I'm a girl and there are parts that make it painful to slide anywhere on your belly!) and promptly skidded off the edge into the muddy part. Naturally.

My knees and ankles and feet were kind of scraped up.

Well, Chris gave me a towel, passed the baby back and stated that you weren't supposed to go on your knees. Everybody knows that! So he (in pants and boots) backed way up and took a running leap and went down on his belly and skidded off into the same muddy spot (ha). He got scratches all down his belly. Ouch. They are still there.

Then we noticed all the writing at the beginning of the slide. The ones that say "For children between 2-12. Not for adults! Not for anyone over 100 pounds!"

Oh.

For laughs, I'm posting a picture that Chris took last week. He had taken Ian out to help him wash his police unit and then Ian decided that his trike looked kind of dingy, so he needed to wash it too. :)

Oh, my okra has popped up. The squash and cucumbers are growing very nicely, new leaves all over the place. The tomatoes still look peaked, but the peppers look the same size. We got a tiny strawberry off of Ian's plants and split it 3 ways. It was surprisingly sweet and Ian wanted more. He is waiting impatiently for our 2 plants to yield more. He checks it 5 or 6 times every time he plays outside.

White Pasty Legs

Well, hallelujah and pass the sunscreen. Uh, make that the sunless tanner. Because we wore shorts today (outside!) for the first time since, sheesh, last September, and our legs are scary! Even Ian's legs were all white and unreal looking. We were outside at the swingset and I was swinging both kids at the same time and mentioned that Mommy's legs were white and pasty. Ian thought I had some sort of cookie dough or something on my legs (who knows what he thought?) because he got off the swing and examined my leg and assured me that I didn't. Thanks. We'll compare in a couple of months when it becomes obvious to the world that Ian gets his tanning characteristic from Chris and not from me. We'll see how Erin does, but she DOES have reddish hair. She also still has her blue eyes (Ha! to the doubters that said her eyes would change!), so she could be the 4th redhead in the world to tan.

Either way, she has little shades and little sun hats to wear. She has started to yank the shades off to chew on the stems, but she still leaves the hats on.

Well, sports fans, we got plane tickets last week and will be heading out in a coupla weeks to see how it goes down South. Ian has been asking to go on the plane every 15 minutes since we purchased the tickets. Luckily, he is distracted by a friend's birthday party, which is tomorrow afternoon, so after the party is over, he'll be asking about the airplane every 7 minutes.

Erin is not interested in either. She just wants to be held constantly and won't go to sleep without nursing/being held. This is not the last time I have wished that someone else in our family was lactating! Wouldn't it be fair if Daddies could do it? I mean, hey, Mommies have to deal with the whole childbirth/recovery thing, which will not be taken lightly, but then our bodies are forever changed. Stretch marks are forever, man! And then things start to sag. Don't worry, I won't get graphic, but give me fur and a tail and I could masquerade as a kangaroo! Wait, maybe that's not a good comparison because they eat kangaroos in Australia. Never mind.

Well, we revamped the garden and put down a whole lotta weed-mat. So this year, since I'm not extremely pregnant, I will be spared the chore of weeding the garden. About a year too late, but it still works. Still, though, the garden is a lot smaller than last year and I am still convinced that we will sell the house before we harvest any of it, but I still can't do without it. I can, however, do without certain dogs (you know who you are) traipsing through and squishing plants. At least have the courtesy to cover your large paw prints. Blame it on marauding bunnies.

Ian has gone through some kind of miraculous transition in the Land of Potty-training. It has been two days in big boy undies and no accidents! No skid marks or dribbles or anything! I could SO get used to this! All Chris and I can do is clasp our hands together and fervently pray, "Please, Lord, please please please!"

And just in case anyone wonders what that is around Erin's mouth, don't worry. It's not Oreos. It's dirt.

To Fly a Kite

...You need:

1) a kite. Check.

2) Wind. Check.

3) A field or an open space sans power lines and trees. Check.

4) An attention span longer than 5 minutes. Uh.....

Well, we got a little kite for Ian for a buck at Walmart and of course the next morning at 7am, he was begging to go fly it. We have a little backyard with a fence around it, dogs, outbuildings (tiny), one tree, and several things to trip over should you look straight up and try to run around. So we relocated to a field next to the park and let it fly. I think Chris and I had more fun than Ian. Even Erin seemed transfixed. I don't know what Ian envisioned, but the wind was very strong and we hardly had to do anything but stand there and hold the end of the string. After a few minutes, Ian started throwing rocks and dirt clumps into the wind and had to be challenged to a race to the tree at the end of the field. He was out of breathe at the end of the race, but not worn out. Sigh. It was time for lunch!

Then we went back to Lincoln, AR (again!) to get more of Berry's pills for his Giardia, not to be mistaken or confused with Ghirardelli, good fancy chocolate. Rachel! :) ha ha.

He is taking his pills like a trooper and there is already a marked difference. (Don't ask "in what?" because I really don't want to go into it and gross everyone out, especially since I just mentioned expensive chocolate. Let's just say that there's no more gastrointestinal distress.)

Ian is doing good in his potty training. Nothing magical overnight, but it is steadily getting better. His sticker chart in the bathroom is filling up a lot faster than the last one (Hallelujah!).

There is still a need for constant laundry, but he is getting it and we are all thrilled and relieved. Even when he wears pullups (like when someone needs to get cracking with the laundry, or at night time) he is still peeing in the potty. Pooping not so much. Okay, only once. In six weeks. So we have at least one accident a day from that alone and have used gallons of bleach and color-safe bleach. Shudder!

Moving on to other topics. The frost of last weekend killed ALL of the plants in my garden. They are all brown and shriveled in the row. It is very sad. But today I snuck some money out of the jar and went to the Red Barn and got some seedlings. We've got some tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and straight-neck squash. At Ian's wheedling (and my own whim) we also got two little strawberry plants. It has to be better than last year's attempt which yielded absolutely nothing. I knew I buried the stems upside down. Or something. This time all you have to do is bury the peat pot and voila! We'll see.

My seedlings got drowned in the torrential downpours of last week and then got copious amounts of lime deposited on them, so they are sad and moldy. A loss. So now I feel EVEN BETTER about the $$ I spent on ready-made plants. Next year I'll do better with my own seedlings. Next year we will be in Florida and won't have this weird weather (yes, I know you had a cold front in FL, but boo hoo! It got to 24 here!).

Plans are now nonrefundable for our trip to Florida next month. Chris will be taking that law enforcement review, commuting an hour and 15 minutes and the kids and I will be staying at Mimi and Grampa's house, chilling. I am looking forward to visiting and enjoying the weather and letting Ian and Erin play in the sprinkler in the backyard. I'm also hoping that Grampa will consent to let Ian decorate the driveway in sidewalk chalk, as he will be over the moon when he realizes that the driveway is THAT BIG.

The only downside is that this time, we can't bring the tricycle.

Chinchillas Beware!

Well, yesterday was interesting. Got everyone up and ready for Buddy's vet appt at 10:30. I mentioned earlier that it's Rabies week here (in a good way) and Buddy's was due. So I gave him a quick bath on the driveway and poor Buddy, it was COLD! But he hadn't been bathed in a month and was also due for more Frontline, so I used the vet as an excuse for a bath. He got towelled off and put in Berry's portable kennel to keep the wind off. Then we all went back to Lincoln. At the vet's office, we finally found out what Berry's problem was! After 2 years and 3 vets, this smart lady finally figured it out (well, she sent in stuff to the lab and got results back). It's called Giardia, ladies and gentlemen. Aka, Beaver Fever. Common out here, though oddly enough, no one here has ever heard of it.

According to Wikipedia, giardia is a flagellated protozoan parasite that colonises and reproduces in the small intestine, causing giardiasis (read gastrointestinal distress...). Giardia affects humans, but is also one of the most common parasites infecting cats, dogs and birds . Mammalian hosts also include cows, beavers, deer, and sheep. Giardia infection can occur through ingestion of dormant cysts in contaminated water, or by the fecal-oral route (through poor hygiene practices). The Giardia cyst can survive for weeks to months in cold water[3], and therefore can be present in contaminated wells and water systems, and even clean-looking mountain streams, as well as city reservoirs, as the Giardia cysts are resistant to conventional water treatment methods, such as chlorination and ozonolysis.[3] Zoonotic transmission is also possible, and therefore Giardia infection is a concern for people camping in the wilderness or swimming in contaminated streams or lakes, especially the artificial lakes formed by beaver dams (hence the popular name for giardiasis, "Beaver Fever").

You can read about the rest of it in Wikipedia if that kind of thing interests you. For our protection, we have covered the yard in lime.

It should also be noted at this time that "This parasite is deadly for chinchillas." I guess they just can't handle diarrhea.

This is also an EXCELLENT reason why we should not drink water when we are out in the wilderness! Unless you just enjoy having diarrhea. Let's see how many times we can use, describe or think about diarrhea in one post. Now I've got you going. Just don't start singing the song. Yes, that song. Stop it already!

So we are starting the first day of Berry's 8 day meds on Monday since they did not have enough on hand at the office and we have to go back Tuesday to get the rest of them. As it is, he'll be taking 4 pills at a time, twice a day. Groan! And he seems to be responding mildly to the doggy Valium.

Anyway, we got Buddy's rabies shot and he was complimented by everyone for being a very well-behaved dog. Then the vet saw that he was limping (we think he has arthritis, since it seems to hinge on the weather) and of course recommended that he come in for an x-ray and tests....well, she has great work ethic.

But we went home and had some lunch. About ten minutes before we left again, Chris got called out, so I ended up taking the kids to Girric's birthday party at the park by myself. The nice chill of the morning had fallen away to 30 mph winds and a temperature of 49 when they managed to pause, which was rarely. This in no way had any affect on Ian's excitement to go the park and play with other kids. Erin wanted nothing to do with it and just wanted to get warm. Poor Brian was spread eagled across the tables under the small pavilion trying to keep the gifts and cake from being airborne while the kids tore around the park, noses running freely.

Another mother took Erin from me and took her off to play and I helped Brian put flyaway gifts in his truck to wait. Chris got back and played some with the kids, at least the ones that wanted to rough-house.

Praise report! Ian wore big boy underwear All Day and did not go in them ONCE! There was a dribble at the park bathroom, but I was squatted down and he was standing on my legs to be able to pee in the toilet (there's NO one going to sit on the park toilets...eeek.). I may interject at this point that I have superior balance. Sometimes. Okay, Mom, stop laughing. I am very relieved that I had good balance for that portion of the afternoon. At least until he dribbled. So he was great at the vet and then at home and the whole time at the park. And then all evening. It was a great day in that respect. Then again, it was really really cold. That might've had something to do with it. No one drank anything at the park (Chris thinks he was just dehydrated, but my optimism will not abate!) because it would have flown away. Jeremy's 20 oz Dr Pepper did fly off the table, explode out of the spout and roll madly away, so no one wanted to tackle cups of red Kool-Aid. But we did manage to eat cake and open gifts. Girric had a fun party. We hope he did, because everyone left as soon as possible because they were freezing. Chris had to go to work too, but Ian was sorry to leave.

Another happy thing to report. Our big check for Chris's registration at IPS (in FL!) went through yesterday morning. We hope this is a good thing. We are still waiting to get his packet before getting plane tickets, just in case they tell us something like "The class for May was full, so we just registered you for the July class instead." We are just nervous enough to wait to see the dates for ourselves. :D

Our pastor was fired/resigned, so our church is at loose ends right now. Never a dull moment here. Baby's crying. Naptime's over.

I just need a minute...

...to catch my breath!

The weather has been up and down. There's been some severe storms around. Lots of flooding in the low areas and way too much rain (obviously). There were some tornadoes south of us and then the wind did something to our antenna (no PBS! The travesty!). Chris grumbling because he has to mow the yard again. I don't see the problem, since he has a brand new mower. What's the deal? Will I be grumbling after I get my dishwasher that I have to do the dishes...again? OK, bad example.

So due to the weather, the computer has been off. Erin has been teething some more. That means constant crying and her wanting to nurse around the clock (aaaaah!). And the usual progression (if you can call it that) of Ian's potty training. Which has been a struggle. Again, it seems to be the norm.

We have also been back and forth to the vet for Berry. To risk the disgust of all 3 of my readers, wait, make that 6! Hey there Dickinsons and Kristen...I don't remember your new last name...and beautiful Baby Hayleigh!. Anyway, we have been trying to cure Berry's chronic squirts. Sorry, gastrointestinal distress. He is also overly excited while working with Chris that leads to more Gastrointestinal Distress, liberally sprayed all over the back of the cop car. Thus our Race for the Cure! So we got some doggy yogurt type substance to dry him up, so to speak and some doggy Valium to calm him down some while he's working. Also some special dog food in case he's allergic to Purina. Everybody say "Cha Ching!" But that's okay, we're charging it to the town. We get to go back tomorrow to get Buddy's rabies shots, since it's (get this) Rabies Week in this part of the country and rabies shots are $7 at participating Vet's offices. Normally we buy the shot and administer it ourselves, but the extra coupla bucks gets you a rabies tag, so we're splurging. Buddy will be very pleased to have a car ride until we get there. Dogs always know.

Erin is too big for her swing. Yes, hear me sobbing wildly. Her #1 napping tool is too small. So we have before us the gargantuan task of weaning her off of the swing to something normal. Say, the crib. Yes I will open myself up to the world's derision and say that she has never slept in her crib except for the rogue nap here and there. Okay, 2 rogue naps and that was only after she screeched herself hoarse and sweaty and kind of went into an unconscious stupor for about 10 minutes. Well, it happened again today when we decided to try napping normally again. Since her birth she has slept with us in the Big Bed. Ian was not a cuddly baby and couldn't wait to be left alone, though he did his fair share in the swing. Erin does not want to be more than 2 inches from warm skin (and warm milk) if she is going to be drowsy/sleeping. She is almost 9 months old now and happy pink thoughts of transitioning her to the crib on her first birthday, having been weaned off breastmilk and co-sleeping, are starting to resound with the tinny, raucous laughter of those more experienced. In other words, this is going to be easy right? Like potty training. Ha.

Maybe if it ever stops raining and gets above 50 degrees, I can console myself by mowing the yard with the new mower.

Creepy Crawly

It is so interesting to me to see Erin's progression, day by day as she struggles to end the misery of close encounters with the carpet fibers. Of course if you drool a lot, anything on the carpet tends to stick to it. Yuck. Now we just have to deal with it stuck to her hands. But today she got her first round of chafed knees. She is not crawling yet, but sort of creeping. She can scoot when she is sitting up, but today she has started to get on her hands and one knee and sort of rock. The same leg gets caught up under her, but she is figuring it out by trial and error. The look of determination on her face is so blatant, you can almost hear Chariots of Fire in the background. It really is cute and kind of inspiring. I would be more inspired if I knew that she wouldn't be in every cabinet in the house (and more) the moment she figures it out.

Ian was on the potty seat today and she scooted over there and used his leg to pull herself up. She almost made it to standing, but there were a couple of toes that just like to be used as tippy toes and nothing else, so bloop! There she went and Ian's attention was focused on trying to get her to move, since it's His potty seat. The logic of the 3 year old male mind is truly a complex thing.

On to more aromatic news. I made cinnamon rolls from scratch yesterday and even concocted my own cream cheese frosting. Well, they're gone. All of them. I got a little impatient when the dough was rising (hey, we were hungry!) though, so they weren't quite as huge as they probably should have been, but they were still amazing. I feel so accomplished. I love yeast! It does spectacular things to flour.

Our grill is also a thing of mystery. It does not grill meat so well as it does arms and eyebrows, so I do not even attempt to light it on my own. So Chris does and since he works the evening shift, we only use the grill on his weekends. Which start tomorow. Yay! So we had pizza tonight for dinner. I added garlic powder to the crust mix this time and it was better, I think. The corn meal also gives it a less bready consistency. I like it.

Bug bombs are going off again either tomorrow or Tuesday. Yes, still dealing with the odd flea or two and since it is now spring, all the newly awakened bugs are coming through every nook and cranny for new housing options. No thanks! So I guess we'll have to go to Cracker Barrel or the mall or something to kill some time. Shucks!

We sent off Chris's registration on Thursday along with his registration fee. We sent it certified mail and Chris (ok, me too) has been checking quite a lot to see if it's made it out of the state yet. (It hasn't.) As soon as we get his confirmation, we have plane tickets, baby! Chris is excited. He has never been on a plane before. Neither has Erin and Ian doesn't remember the plane trip to Gramma and Papaw's wedding. I remember that Ian was sick and crying most of the time and had one of the Flood pee pee diapers that made a huge wet mess everywhere and stunk up the plane. But everything is better when Chris is there, so I'm pretty optimistic about it all. Of course there is the tiny matter of clearing his firearm with the airline, but we are going to manage it. It ought to be interesting to say the least.

We had another frost a day or so ago that fried the tiny leaves on my tomato plants, but everything else seems to be holding up very nicely. Ian has sprouts in his tiny KidKit pot. He planted (well, he played in the dirt and Mommy planted) sunflower seeds that came in the kit. He wants to touch the sprout and probably dig it up, but we keep it out of reach over the kitchen sink and try to remember to water it. Still no sign of carrots anywhere, but there are two of my peat pots (got that Mom? PeeeeeaT pots) that have sprouts as well. Looks like one cucumber and one squash. Chris informed me that he likes the yellow squash but does not like zucchini. I don't really understand this, but we did not plant any zucchini this year. Probably moot either way since the house will be sold before harvest, but they might not like zucchini either. I also planted some lavender in hopes of drying some, but there's no sign of it either. The dogs have pretty much taken care of the new flower bed out front. No canine can resist the freshly churned earth without wanting to roll/dig/lie in it. I have replanted a few flowers several times only to see them sprawled forlornly in a different part of the yard 10 minutes later. The dogs do NOT have a fondness for pansies. I read somewhere that if you crush mothballs on the perimeter of your beds, it will keep dogs out, but it will also keep this gardener out. And prospective buyers. And we'll never be able to open the windows again either without gagging. So I guess we wasted our $6 on pansies, huh?

Just say No to Doo Doo Depression

I've always heard that things get worse before they get better. The only thing they fail to mention is how bad 'worse' gets. How much poop will I have to actually Touch before the whole nice tidy wipe and flush happens regularly? I'm even skipping the dump and wipe out part of the potty chair too. Anyway, there has been flooding here, close to the river. My peat pots are extremely hydrated and any minute now I will be tempted to get the air soft gun and pepper the truck that has currently been revving its superloud mufflerless engine for the past twenty minutes. Yes, your truck is on. Any more questions?? The hazards of living in a small hick township. And I have actually met girls who think noisy engines are sexy. These organisms should be kept in isolation and studied.

Back to our normal venue of entertainment. What was it? Oh yes, scrubbing the potty seat out. Mmmmm. And might I add, if anyone from the potty seat industry happens to come across this, let's make the next strain of potty seats seamless, okay? Because nasty things get into cracks and are very very hard to get out. Comprende? Bueno.

More revving. What do you do? Oh yes, you call your cop husband and fuss. Whoops, maybe not. He's on a traffic stop being annoyed himself. Ooh, really annoyed, he's checking warrants through county, something that normally doesn't get done on a routine traffic stop unless someone is ticking him off or he finds something naughty...hm...oh well, the dispatcher on duty had a similar story and we made each other feel better. At least my engine revver is not related to Chris. Well, of course, while I was fussing to the dispatcher, the truck was turned off and the garage closed and all the lights turned off. Finally! Take that sucker to the Car Doctor tomorrow!

Okay, looks like this post is mostly about broken cars. Didn't plan on that one. Well, while Chris was in court this morning for 3 hours, only to get on the stand and find out that the case wasn't about what he thought it was and that he had nothing concrete to contribute to the charges brought, the DA dismissed him. So he came home and was only 10 minutes late to his physical and they [graciously?] allowed him to keep his appointment. So that's done. Anyway, Chris amused himself by taking pictures of the courtroom. To understand Adair County politics, you must know that there are two courtrooms in the courthouse. The one most commonly used is downstairs, around the corner from the little secretaries behind the plexiglass with little holes cut above the counter to pay tickets, etc. There are signs posted there. For example, the judge's side job, "Marriage Ceremony $10". Shucks Ida Mae! Let's just skip the movie and go get hitched! Wait, I need 35 more cents.

The real shiny courtroom, the one used for important cases is upstairs and since most of the cases are not worthy of the room and it probably is a cost liability to heat and cool, it isn't used much. During Chris's down time, since he won't take my advice and take a Book with him, he went to the courtroom and took some pictures on the camera phone for me, so I could see what it looked like. So that's what all those pictures are. Hyuck. You can tell that it must give the judge a real charge to sit in the Big Chair. If they really wanted to make enough money to be able to use the Big Courtroom year round, they would tape some of the silly cases and sell them to a cable show. People would watch. Gramma and Grampa used to watch Citrus County court on tv, so I know that people would watch here. It might actually pry them off of the police scanners for a while. That would be good.

Ian played outside today for a long time, since it was chilly and muddy and somewhat sunny. I got more laundry done, since there is a constant rotation of tiny underwear. Since Erin is getting mobile, I have to keep the floors cleaner than normal, so the broom is staying within reach. Especially since she somehow got a piece of dried caulk from the tub and tasted it before Ian pounced and stole it (Whaaa!). He is starting to get smart though. If she has something that he wants, he is learning to bring her another toy to distract her with so he can get his car/train/book/cup/sock, etc back. Tonight before bedtime (and the engine revving concert) Ian was putting blocks on his head and chew rings on his eyes and making her laugh really hard. Then he started throwing the blocks over his shoulder, again causing loud chuckles and gurgling. Mommy was beaned by a flying red cylinder and put a stop to the whole thing. That's when the somersaulting began. More laughing and gurgles. More Mommy putting a stop to festivities. Then it was 'make-the-baby-dizzy' time by running in circles around her. This is actually a neck exercise. Then it was everybody-sit-in-their-chair-and-calm-down time. Bedtime followed soon after.

Ian normally makes himself scarce while I am changing baby diapers. He stopped wanting to see when I was throwing a poopy wipey into the trash receptacle and didn't see him standing there. He was very grossed out and now I think he hides whenever we smell something that's not him. Anyway, I was mentioning to Erin that we were going on an airplane to see Gramma and Papaw. She kicked and squealed. She is excited. Well, Ian had his selective hearing Extendable Ears (another Harry Potter reference. Similar to the whole Nosebleed Nougat entry a while back) and popped his head around the corner. When he saw that the clean diaper was on and I was snapping her shirt back in place, he deemed it safe to enter and question/interrogate/demand clarification on what I had said. He wants to take a helicopter to the airplane, by the way. Then he wants to fly in circles. I asked him if he remembered going to Mimi's house at Thanksgiving. He got excited. I told him we were going to stay at Mimi and Grampa's house again and that we would see Gramma and Papaw. He was ready to leave right then. I told him it would be a long time until we went, but that we would ride on a plane. That announcement called for a cookie. Or that's what he thought. Anyway, the cat's out of the bag and May cannot come too soon. At least for Ian. Maybe by then the Poo Poo Panic will be an absentminded inquiry and Doo Doo Depression will be a thing of the past.

Spider Playground

Ian has been leery of bugs. Some part of me is relieved because of the stories my mom tells about my brothers when they were boys. Pocketfuls of smooshed worms while doing laundry, etc. Shudder! Ian did bring us his first garden worm, but kept dropping it every time it wiggled and ended up sending it for a 'swim' in Buddy's water dish. Whoops. Since it is spring, the bugs are back. Everywhere we look we see bugs. Flies too. Mandi really doesn't like flies. Especially in the house. Mandi goes nuts with the fly swatter if she sees a fly in the house. Duck and cover, everyone. Since I cannot catch them in my hands like the Fly Whisperers (Chris and JD are vying for the world title) or with chopsticks (there's no point in trying. We'll leave that to Mr. Miyagi), I really have no choice.

Anyway, we were in the yard and Ian was stomping gleefully on poor innocent unsuspecting bugs on the driveway when he saw some movement on the chain-link fence. There was a caterpillar or something crawling up the links and Ian was about to flick it off. I stopped him and said, "Ooh, look! It's a bug playground!" So Ian stopped and watched the bug and thought it was neat that bugs had playgrounds. Today he was outside playing in the backyard, which was only somewhat soggy, when he saw a little green spider swinging from its thread on his swingset. "Ooh, a bug!" he squealed. I jumped and turned around. I saw the spider. "Wow, Mommy! A spider playground!" he exclaimed and watched it for about 5 minutes. Remember that 5 minutes is an eternity for 3 year olds.

Chris is back to work tomorrow with court bright and early. Yesterday he had his third wisdom tooth removed. Tomorrow he has the required physical for his FL certification course. We will be registering for that class ASAP! Maybe even tomorrow! Woo Hoo! Then plane tickets! Woo and 2 Hoos! And it's not even an April Fools joke! So for Chris it's been a busy weekend. He is still on antibiotics for his swollen jaw/earache/whatever infection and the ibuprofen horse pills they gave him are coming in very handy for the new crater in his gums that the big fat tooth left. Shudder! At least the other two craters are slowly filling in.

But today we went to walmart to pick up some developed film (from Christmas...oops) and looked at some other stuff for future reference. Pretty sure we're getting Ian a 2-wheeler with training wheels for his birthday in 3 1/2 months. Hey, it never hurts to have a plan. Really hope to be moved by then, but you never know.

We are also planning on buying a push mower, since the only person we know with a lawn mower (a rider!), well, the mower is 'down' or so they say. It won't fit through our gate anyway. So we are getting a push mower and helping the economy. Something like that.

I'd rather help the economy by selling the house, but what can you do? Just sit here and keep the yard nice and the dishes washed. And the laundry done so the messy little Cars underwear won't smell. Sorry for the visual. Or the phantom smells. You get it.

Well, Erin is going to be crawling any day. I know I've been saying that, but seriously, she can scoot like nobody's business. This results in falling backwards or forwards accompanied by loud wailing, but she's figuring it out. And now she has a new toy that sings and has flashing lights and moves by itself (it's a plastic ball) so she will be tempted to chase it. She really likes it. Ian does too. More Sighing. And she got a new carseat. See?

Oh, and to the avocado lovers out there, we got some for 44 cents apiece today. And we ate them all (all that we bought, anyway). Even Erin ate some. There will be fights over avocadoes in our house before the kids are grown, I can tell. It's a good thing that Mom is starting a couple of trees for us. Now we HAVE to move! They won't survive in OK, we had a few that didn't make it past the third frost.

Well, I'm getting my hair trimmed tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. More importantly, we'll see if I get any hairs cut or half lopped off because I brought the kids with me! Oh no!

:) And you've gotta love people who take your picture when you're telling your offspring not to lick the ketchup out of the little paper cup.