Get your TiVo ready Ladies!

Let me start by thanking my dear friend Carla for notifying me of this GREAT event! New Kids on the Block are without a doubt-- BACK! According to people.com, they will be performing on the Today show Friday morning. If you miss it, don't worry, I'll be recording it (probably while wearing my "I Love Jordan" t-shirt with my hair in a side ponytail!) and you are more than welcome to come over and check it out when you get a chance! Until we meet again, just keep on Hangin' Tough! :-)

6 Powerful Words

Have you ever had someone say something to you that made you stop dead in your tracks?-- like mouth gaping open in shock and you can actually hear your heart beating kind of reaction? If so, you know that type of reaction doesn't happen often and that it can be brought on by something that makes you feel wonderful or, like in this instance, by something that makes you feel like a little piece of your heart just broke. Well, as anyone who has spoken with me in the past two weeks knows, we had been having some trouble with Chloe acting up a bit and having more than her fair share of potty accidents. And for awhile, Micky and I took the completely wrong approach at dealing with this-- fussing at her harshly and/or taking away fun stuff she likes to do. Normally, these types of punishment would be fine-- she typically responds well to a good talking to or us turning off Little Bear as means of getting her to listen and do better. Notice the use of the words TYPICALLY and NORMALLY. It took us a week or so of her not being herself to realize that her TYPICAL and NORMAL have been changed forever. Emma is now 11 weeks old, and Chloe didn't start acting this way until about 2 weeks ago. And to be honest with you, I figured she'd already done all the adjusting she needed to do. Needless to say, I was WRONG. Not once has she shown any negative feelings towards Emma. If anything we have to keep her from loving on her too much. But she was showing us in those other ways (ways that we took awhile to see) that she's still trying to figure all this out. If you know me, you know I usually hate "psychobabble" advice and anything that "experts" have to say. Well, I may have to change my opinion on some of that. Tuesday I was pretty much at my wits end and decided to search for some advice on the Internet-- using my favorite search engine Google, I looked up some articles on potty training regression. And what do you know, they all said the same thing-- the #1 cause of regression is stress-- and the #1 cause of that stress is a new sibling. I don't think I can put into words how big of an idiot I felt like, but it was GINORMOUS! This really wasn't something I didn't already know, I was just trying to fool myself into thinking that this couldn't be happening to my child. ARROGANT!-- another word I think that described my approach. So anyway, that night Micky and I had a long talk and decided we needed to change our tactics and try to pay attention to what she was trying to tell us. And basically, she just wants to be held and hugged on and told stories and tickled and told how much we love her and played with and treated like the princess she is. You know what, that's all pretty easy to do once you take the time to realize what's really important. The house getting cleaned and laundry getting done sometimes just have to wait, and that Seinfeld rerun we've seen 10 times just needs to be turned off. As long as there's clean underwear in the house, we'll be ok! :-)
Ever since Micky and I have wised up and made some changes, we've gotten our old Chloe back! I missed her greatly!-- and the potty problem has resolved very quickly! Chloe summed it up best with 6 very powerful words. The other night after I told her a goodnight story and was tucking her into bed she reached up and put her hand on my cheek and said, "Mama, I'm glad we're friends again." My heart skipped a beat. All I could do was hug her and tell her I love her-- and then run downstairs to bawl my eyes out :-) It's amazing how perceptive children can be, and it makes me hurt inside to know that she thought I wasn't her friend for awhile. But trust me, I'll make sure she knows everyday that she is my truest friend and always will be.
Micky and I are well aware that we can learn a lot from our 3 year old, and she does indeed teach us new things everyday,we just have to stop whatever silly thing we're doing and pay attention!

"Saving up for the pet store... think we'll call it 'I got Worms'"--- Lloyd Christmas

So I just got done giving Chloe her afternoon snack, and I discovered she's been studying up on worms. Not sure where, but when I get done typing this you can bet I'll be checking my Google history. The lesson she gave me went a little something like this:

me: Would you like blueberries, strawberries, or a Dora yogurt?
her: chips
me: that wasn't a choice
her: how about an.... apple
me: that'll work
her: just make sure it's not a red one. I don't want to fall asleep like Snow White. I'm not sure when my Prince will be home. (Micky is of course the Prince)
me: ok. we'll go with green then.
her: does it have worms?
me: of course not
her: well, we might need some just in case we go fishing.
me: -blank stare peeling the apple-
her: you know, red worms help plants grow.
me: -another blank stare-
her: and black worms mean there's somethings wrong
me: that's good to know. where did you hear all that?
her: Little Bear told me
me: of course he did, here's your apple :-)

Healthy and Happy... with an extra dose of Healthy!

Emma had her 2 month check-up Wednesday. It was about a week overdue, but we wanted to schedule it when Micky could go too, so it was this Wednesday. Everything went great! She weighed in at a lovely 13lbs. 8oz. and is now 23 and 3/4 inches long. We were very glad to learn that she has grown in length, not just weight! The cute folds around her chin were starting to concern us. She's in the 97th percentile in weight and the 90th percentile in height. Which means, if you had 100 babies her age, 3 would weigh more and 10 would be taller than her. Her doc assures us she is perfect (not that we needed him to tell us that) and that she's just an extra healthy baby! I guess that's his nice way of calling her a chunky monkey! We take great exception to anyone calling her BIG, we prefer healthy or chunky monkey!-- besides babies are supposed to have rolls. How else would I get to gnaw on her thighs or get all that good neck sugar?!? She's probably the happiest baby I've ever seen, and Wednesday night was the first night that she's cried for any length of time without us being able to get her to stop. I believe we can thank the 4 shots she got in her legs for that. She cried off and on from 8-9pm Wednesday night, but once she went to sleep she did great. She's got 4 little bruises on her thighs now. It's a really good thing that she can't talk yet. 'Cause when they gave her the shots, and later that night when she was hurting, and she stuck her bottom lip out and made such a pitiful face-- we would've promised her a Barbie corvette, a cell phone, or a trip to Disney World if it would've made her feel better!

"Mom, do you see this red dancing blob?!?.... It's AWESOME!"

If Emma could talk, that's exactly what I think she would've said when she met Elmo Friday. Chloe had been singing and dancing for Emma while she was chilling in her Bumbo (which is the coolest little seat ever!). After Chloe went through all of her regular songs twice, she started looking around the room for other props. Then she looked at me with that look that says, "I've got a brilliant idea mom". She ran upstairs to her closet and came back down with Hokey Pokey Elmo. When she sat it down in front of Emma, Emma stared at it then Chloe then me, and she repeated that sequence of blank stares until she finally settled on Elmo as if to say, "Do you guys see this red blob too?" .... Then Chloe squeezed his hand! And if I had a decent camera that could take fast pictures, you would've seen the look of complete amazement and joy she exhibited at watching that little red blob do the Hokey Pokey! But since I have the 1999 Sony slower-than-a-snail CyberShot, you'll have to settle for these cute pics. Some are from Friday and some are from yesterday!
(If you click on the picture it will open up larger)


Emma this is Elmo. Elmo, Emma. She didn't take her eyes off of it for a solid 3 minutes--which is like a month in baby time!







Chloe is earning even more points as the coolest big sister ever! Emma is amazed that she can move just like the big red blob!






This thing is mesmerizing. How does he spin on one heel like that?!? I'm thinking so hard I'm drooling-- could I get a bib here or a wipe please?!?







All this dancing is making me tired. Catch ya later big red blob!

The POWER of a Dollar

On Sunday we had a family lunch at Micky's parents house. While there, Chloe's great grandmother, Nana, slipped her a dollar. Chloe quickly slipped it into her pocket and has guarded it all week. She's been thinking very hard about what she would like to do with this dollar, and this morning she came to me with her master plan.

Chloe: "Mom, I need you to take me to the store."

me: "What for?"

Chloe: "I NEED to spend my monies--see (she held up an extremely wrinkled 1 dollar bill that she's apparently been sleeping with under her pillow-- I guess she doesn't trust us not to take it!).

me: "What are you going to buy?"

Chloe: "Well, I'd like a new computer, a choo-choo train, a fire truck, some pizza, some ice cream..... and a duck."

me: "Is that all?"

Chloe: "I guess I'll use the change and get me and Emma a popsicle."

The CHANGE!!!

Well, because she added Emma to her last item and was ok with sharing, I didn't have the heart to tell her that the $1 she had wouldn't even put a third of a gallon of gas in one of her parents gas guzzling SUV's. That's probably info I'll wait to tell her once we've completely ruined the environment for her generation.
But, I have decided that since she is so optimistic with her spending and has great ideas on how to spend it (there wasn't a thing on her list that I wouldn't want myself!), that I'm going to start letting her pick my stock trades and update my portfolio for me. I figure I'll give her the paper with NASDAQ listings and a marker and which ever one she colors the prettiest--that's where the money goes. I'm pretty sure this is the same system our current broker uses, so I've decided to keep it in-house from now on. Who knows, if she does well, I just might give Emma a marker and let her give it a try. Although, she'd have to hold it with her toes. Her toes are without a doubt the one feature she inherited from me--they're ginormously long! She can reach across the room and tickle your ear and completely fool you into thinking there's no way a baby can move that fast. But all she has to do is point that toe that went to the market, and she never had to leave her swing! In a few years I'll show her how to pick socks up off the floor without having to use her hands or bend over-- it truly is a good skill to have when you're rushing to straighten up for unexpected visitors!
So, wish us luck on our new stock endeavors, and if you know of someone looking to sell a duck, firetruck, or choo-choo train real cheap give them our number!

I can't decide if she's saying "Whaaassssup?" or "Guess what I have in my diaper for you?"

But I'm pretty sure it's "Man I love this woman who's making these silly faces at me and who still smiles at me and talks sweet to me when I wake her up every morning at 3am!"

Prince Suit

We just finished a very busy week and weekend here! Last Thursday was our 9th wedding anniversary! And since we couldn't figure out what the gift theme was "supposed" to be for 9 years (like paper, silver, or gold) we decided to go with chocolate! Which, to be honest, has worked quite well for us for 9 years running! So, we headed to Mr. Friendly's for dinner and in keeping with tradition, we ordered the most chocolaty (not sure if that's a word!) dessert they had-- chocolate cheesecake. But to just call this chocolate cheesecake doesn't quite do it justice, so I will henceforth refer to it as AMAZING! So amazing, that if you were to ask me what 3 things I would want with me if I were stranded on a deserted island, this AMAZING! now takes the place of the emergency flare I used to include in that list! It has a fudge brownie crust, chocolate cheesecake, and a layer of chocolate ganache on top! YUMMY! I definitely recommend stopping whatever you're doing and going to try this now!
So, now that you're back from trying the AMAZING!, I'll tell you about the weekend!
Micky's birthday was Sunday. To celebrate, we had a few friends over Friday night to break in our new Margaritaville machine and play some Guitar Hero and American Idol on the Wii. I know, it sounds like he was turning 12, not 31-- but we had a blast!! Here's a little arithmetic for you:

Margaritas + Guitar Hero + Margaritas + American Idol + 3 Margaritas=












Yes, that is indeed Micky SINGING Barry Manilow's Copacabana. For those of you who weren't here, let me just say, you missed one heck of a performance-- the boy's got skills! And the other picture is one of my hand involuntarily going into rocker sign "I love you" mode. Apparently anytime I get a little Jose Cuervo in me and start hearing some rock music-- like the Poison song my dear friend Carla was performing, my hand goes straight into this position and stays that way for the duration of the song-- you couldn't pry it open if you tried!! Anyway, we had a great time singing, playing guitar, and just acting silly with our friends!
Micky got to go play golf Saturday, so we gave him one of his presents early-- a new golf bag. The other present we gave him yesterday morning-- a new suit. Which is also kind of a present for me, because let's face it, what lady doesn't love to see her man looking great in a nice suit?!? Well, Chloe was with me when we picked this up and she refers to it as his Prince suit. She thinks we need to get a crown to go with it! When we gave it to him yesterday morning she wanted to put on one of her princess dresses and for him to put on the Prince suit so they could dance around the house! We were able to talk her down from her Princess high and convince her to wait until Dad wears it to church one day, and then they could dance as much as she wanted!! Anyway, I hope Micky had a nice birthday weekend. I know he got plenty of birthday hugs & kisses from his 2 little princesses!











(look closely to see Emma's cute smirk!)