Never lettin' em' grow up

 I have a confession. At our house, age 3 was....H-E-double hockey sticks. Reese was more often than not pitching a fit in one form or another. I loathed bedtime because it was a major fight to get her to settle down and go to sleep. Plus she got a new baby sis that year. I don't think that had anything to do with her behavior, but I'll tell you without hesitation that their momma was exhausted and exhausted isn't my best look.

But y'all she turned 4 and I could literally squeeze her to pieces. 4 is beautiful. 4 is sweet. 4 is perfect. If I could freeze time, this would be when I chose to do it.

 Elynn is the calm and laid back to Reese's high strung and silly. Basically Elynn is Adam and Reese is me. She says the sweetest things like, "tank chu", "milt tup" (milk cup), "uve oo" (love you), and while pulling at her diaper "I tink" (I stink). And sometimes when Reese gets lucky, Elynn will let Reese hold her like a baby.

Last night Adam brought the movie Paddington home. It is such a cute movie! Paddington has to find  new family... So at bedtime Reese started crying, and it wasn't the whinny cry. It was a real cry. When I asked her what was wrong, she said "I don't want to grow up and leave you." I guess she thought she would have to find a new family like Paddington, and let me tell you it literally hurt my soul. They are both so precious and they can stay with us FOR-EV-ER! Of course I assured her of that, but I know these days are too short. I'm sure she will be tapping her toe when she's a senior in high school just waiting for the day she gets to move out on her own. Lord knows I will need a pill of some kind to get me through it.

 And that's exactly why I want to freeze time. Elynn gets so excited when her daddy pulls up every afternoon, and Reese never wants to grow up. They are perfect. But the best part is that bedtime is no longer a fight. One of us rock Elynn, and the other lays down with Reese and within minutes she is sound asleep. They both end up in our bed, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Having them in our bed is my favorite, and I wish I hadn't been so against it when Reese was a wee babe. (Actually Adam was the one against it, but I'm not one to point fingers;))

Fishin'

 I have this theory (which is backed by at least 4 years of highly scientific research on my part) that if you want to teach a little girl to hate fishing then take her a few times when the fish aren't biting and she will never want to go again. That's basically what was happening with Reese. I had told Adam to do what my daddy did when I was little. Throw some fish food out and either scoop them up with a net, or give her that princess fishing pole and watch that little face light up.

So we went to Adam's cousin's Kim and Jimmy's (or sometimes if I say it too fast it comes out Kimmy and Jim) Sunday afternoon. This was all after we had gotten home from church and Adam had literally laid Reese over his lap and whipped her rear end for not being quiet in church. He had laid down the law discussed with her all the way home what was going to happen. She had a 20 minute meltdown and was good to go after that. I'd be willing to bet she straightens up next Sunday.

She forgot she was mad at him here... 

Reese took Big Daddy's fishing pole and declared, "Big Daddy don't know how to fish." And she must have been right because about 30 seconds later she reeled in a fish.

Elynn took claim to Reese's princess pole and screamed when we tried to touch it.(Later on last night she was standing on the arm of the couch, slipped, and her little cheek caught the end table. I gasped in horror and almost let out an expletive because people, I am not who you want with you in a moment of crisis.Her face was blue this morning, but not nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be.)

She watched her daddy kneel down like this to fish and she "repeated" him as Reese says.

Neither one of them wanted any part of touching the fish. They are their mother's children. Reese also did a little squealing when we dug up worms in the yard. I told her she had it made because when I was a wee lad we had to dig under cow patties for worms to fish with.

Elynn caught her very own fish. I'm not making that up either. She was holding her little pole with her bobber on it, and when it went under Adam stepped in and helped her before it took the pole and her in the water.

Adam and Big Daddy could see this "huge" fish swimming around. They were guessing how big it was. One minute it was 4 pounds. The next it was 5 pounds. All along I was thinking to myself that it was probably 3 pounds...at best. We all know how men and their opinions of the size of fish are..... 10 years later when the fish finally took the bait it was an impressive 5lbs 13oz. 

Pretty Ears: Round 2

 Reese has been wanting to go see Cinderella, so I had planned to take her during spring break. Adam was off on Good Friday, so we went Friday afternoon. I hate to point fingers and play the blame game, but I KNEW GOOD AND WELL that Elynn would not sit through a movie but Adam felt bad to leave her behind. Soooo off we all went.

 Somewhere around the FIRST scene of the movie Elynn started jabbering and wanting to walk around. I ended up taking her out (Like I knew would happen!). I spent the next hour and a half wisely and stopped in at Claire's to see if they could pierce both ears at one time. It all started out so well. She walked around pulling everything she could get her chubby little hands on off of the shelves. She found this headband. I laughed louder and long than I should have while she walked around wear it.

 I eased her over to the piercing station. When they came at her with the Sharpie marker to make the dot on her ear, she started FREAKING out. She had just gotten a shot the day before and I think she was still traumatized a little by that. While we waited for them to get everything ready, she cried and pointed out in the mall saying "walk!" She wanted to get far away from these crazy people trying to mess with her ears.

 After it was all said and done she got a sucker and all was well. She cried the most about me having to hold her arms down while they pierced them. While Daddy and Sissy finished out what I bet was a GREAT movie, we walked around the mall and rode the little airplane.

 When Reese came out of the movie, she told me, "my favorwite part was the kissin' part." Sigh.

 We left there and went to Mellow Mushroom where we waited over an hour to get our food, but there was live music and pretty weather so the girls didn't seem to mind. Reese took time out of her busy afternoon to boss her daddy around teach him his letters.

Round 1 of ear piercing looked like this and seemed like it was only last week. Tear.

Elynn: Almost 17 months

Since I know good and well I won't get around to doing a 17 month update, I will just do an in between update. Just doin' the best I can people. Which by the way, I've reached an all new low. My mother took notice of how out of sorts my house was and came to straighten up last weekend while we were gone. I thanked her because I am pretty sure it saved our marriage. Adam told me Sunday he was afraid I had given up on life.

At 16/17 months old:
Weight: Maybe I will remember to weigh her tonight
Height:

Wears 12-18 month clothes, size 3 shoes, and size 3 diapers.

She can say: mama, dada, sissy, Reese, shoe, sock, bye, night night, Po-paw (PeePaw), D.D.

Elynn likes to bite her sissy and pull her hair. A few weeks ago Reese started screaming that Elynn was biting her. I was putting up clothes and didn't pay her a lot of attention. (And quite frankly, I don't blame Elynn at times. Reese LOVES her to the point it annoys Elynn.) So a little later Reese came crying with her sleeve raised up. Sure enough, she had teeth marks on her arm. I said, "Well baby, if I'm not close by then spank her little hand and make her stop." To which Reese replied, "I can't do nothing cause I'm not a mommy!"

 We all 4 had to take a load of stuff back to Big Daddy's in his box truck, so we all rode up front.Reese wasn't sure about it.

 For about the past month or so they have both been sleeping with us. Probably a bad habit, but Adam is usually up at the new house working till 9 or 10 PM and it's easier for me if we all lay down together. However, I have woke up with my head on the night stand more than once. But I do not regret them moving in on us because I get the sweetest pictures.

 Elynn is usually up for anything Reese wants to do including tying the wagon to her car and being pulled. I was sure this would result in us at the emergency room, but it provided a whole afternoon of entertainment.

 Reese lets Elynn ride in the buddy seat on the tractor. When Elynn tags along, Reese sits on the other side. You can barely see her behind PeePaw. Since October or so, Reese has been helping PeePaw with the cows. Lately she only wants to go if Elynn goes. I guess she thinks Elynn and I are doing something exciting without her.

I took a 1/2 day off of work to get this. The concrete was going to be ready between 9:30 and 10:00. Elynn's feet are on the left. Reese's hands in the middle, and after crying her little eyes out, Elynn reluctantly let me get one of her hand prints to the right of Reese's hands.

Lowe's has become our second home. I don't know who acts the worst- the kids running around entertaining themselves or Adam fussing about how the kids are acting. It's like I am the only one in this family who knows how to act in public;). One night it was getting out of control on the plumbing aisle. (By the way- there is no way that they make a piece of plumbing that we don't own. I'm confident we have it all and that's mainly because Adam isn't sure exactly what size he needs so he buys all the sizes he thinks are close and then we return the ones that don't work.) I found these little handy baskets that had wheels on them. Reese was pulling Elynn, and I would pull them both, and BAM...out of nowhere a worker walked by and Reese said, "Is the wurker gonna be pointed in us?" I hope I didn't say it out loud, but at that point I didn't really care if the worker was disappointed in us or not because we've spend enough money there that we own at least a portion of that building.

Nothing gets a child's attention like sweeping and mopping the floor. It's like an open invitation to come have a party in the kitchen and spill everything they can.(But her remorseful eyes make up for it.)

We have had several birthday parties in the last few weeks. This was at Knox's party. Elynn had only had a 15 minute nap and it showed. I don't think she smiled the whole time.

Elynn isn't really interested in having her picture made, so this smile is a small miracle.

She loves to get a rag and clean.

In the last few weeks, her hair has grown a lot and it is so wavy! I had extremely curly hair as a child. Her's is not that bad, but it's just wavy enough to make it look like a little hot mess all the time.

She isn't very interesting in giving us kisses, but she will give us a squeeze. If she chooses to give out kisses, it is usually to Reese. They are so precious, and I am beyond thankful that we got girls. (I'm sure I'd say the same if we boys.) My one and only complaint is that it all goes by too quickly. This time next year I will be registering Reese for kindergarten. Insert ugly crying face.

House Update

In my last post I boldly declared that Elynn had not been sick...ever. I hit the "post" button and she immediately started running a fever. A fever that lasted 3 solid days and got up to 103 several times. It started on Tuesday afternoon. I took her to the doctor Wednesday afternoon. It wasn't the flu, strep, or an ear infection. The next thing to eliminate was a UTI or bladder infection. They wanted to do a catheter to get a urine sample. Elynn, when you read this one day, you can thank your mother because I was in no way going to allow that to happen. Adam didn't think a catheter was a big deal for one simple reason: HE HAS NEVER HAD ONE. So we left with a little bag she had to wear the next morning until she tee teed in it. (Also when we left I ran slap out of gas on the side of the road. Seriously got to get that gauge fixed.) So Thursday morning she had her little bag on and we headed back to the doctor. On the way, she grabbed her diaper. I asked her if she tee teed, and she shook her head yes. Thankfully, when we got there I checked it, and she was right. She had tee teed in the bag. She ended up getting a shot and an antibiotic. So we got ourselves another vacation day and stayed home again on Friday because she ran a low fever throughout the night Thursday night. (Personally, I still think it was all because she is cutting several teeth in the back of her mouth. I ran very high temps as a baby when I cut teeth- they even did a spinal tap on me one time trying to figure out what was wrong.)

Adam also took off that Friday to install our cabinets. We took him lunch and she got in a little loving while we were there. 

 The painting is about to be done, and the floor guys are laying tile. At the rate the tile people are going, we might be in before Christmas.

Adam will be putting down the hardwood once the paint is complete. I'm feeling pretty confident he will be asking his main squeeze to help him with that. We've put in a floor or two in our time and didn't even say a cuss word in the process. Well... Maybe one or two. In our defense, putting down hardwood ain't no joke.

Here's the living room, and exactly where I plan to plop my big self down and watch my babes grow up for the next 18 or so years.

Speaking of my babes...this one here is growing so fast. When she has a wet or dirty diaper she comes to us, and turns around for us to check her. I will tell her to go to her room so we can change her, and she walks right in there and waits at the changing table. And when she says "tant chu" (thank you)...y'all.... makes me want to have at least 2 more. Then I sit myself down until THAT feeling passes. 

Reese practically begs not to go up to the new house anytime we mention. Nothing for her to do, but get herself in trouble in the sand pile outside. Which is exactly what usually happens.

They are both going to be so disappointed when we move in and they realize the cabinets are not for hide and seek.

 A meeting of the minds, y'all.

If I need to go help Adam with something, I load up the Volkswagon for their entertainment. 

I hesitate to put this picture because it isn't a good one. The tile in the kitchen looks like old barn wood, but I'm not thinking this picture shows that very well.

All of the doors with holes in them along the top will have glass.

The kitchen sink arrived yesterday, and provided endless entertainment. This was just after Reese backed her bare bottom up to a little space heater in the bathroom. There are now burn marks on her booty that look exactly like the front of that heater. Once the aftermath of that was over, she ran to the bathtub to wring out a washrag and flipped right off into the tub still filled with Elynn's bathwater. She was soaked wet, and all I could do was laugh. Before bed, she also stumped her toe and pinched her finger with my sunglasses. She told me this morning, "I kept gettin' beat up last night."

 

 I'm hoping to be moving in the week of Spring Break even though Adam is confident we will already be in by then.

Elynn: 15 months

 I haven't done a monthly update on Elynn since she was 12 months, and that makes me so sad because I love to go back and see what Reese was doing at certain ages and I want to be able to do that with Elynn. Just file me under the looser category lately cause momma is struggling to get it all together. I am blaming that on the new house, but all that should be over within a month or so, and I've got big plans of being back on my A game. (I feel sure something like wiping booties, fixing sippy cups, or trying to keep them in clean clothes will probably interfere with my A game.)

Weight: 17lbs.
Height: no clue. Somewhere around the area of my knees.
She has 4 teeth across the front bottom, and 4 across the front top. She has 2 coming in on the top back, and 1 on the back bottom left coming in.

Elynn loves to eat. The only thing she turns down is mashed potatoes. She loves everything. If we are eating something she comes running with her little mouth wide open. Her favorite thing to get her hands on is Reese's cup because she knows it has strawberry syrup mixed in with it. (Terrible habit, but I didn't start it. She came home from daycare requesting strawberry and hasn't slowed down since.)

Saturday night Reese wanted to eat at "Chick-A-Lay"

 

Elynn loves her big sissy. Most of the time Reese is the only one she will hug or kiss. She loves to sit in her lap and she lets Reese tote her around like a rag doll. Which usually leads to Reese falling and Elynn's head getting hit on something. 

 Elynn usually goes to bed around 8:00. I know I will get some criticism for this, (since people seem to believe the general rule is to stop breastfeeding at the absolute latest- 12 months) but she still nurses at night some. (I will be cutting her off once the cold and flu season is over. Dr. Cabellaro convinced me to keep going through the winter instead of quitting when she turned 1. I will say she has been very healthy. Knock on wood. I choose to believe it is the breast milk and Jesus smiling on us.) If we don't have anywhere to go, she will sleep until around 7. Then she will nap for about an hour around 10:00. Then she likes to get an afternoon nap around 3:00 or so. She starts off at night in her bed, but we go get her when she wakes up and she sleeps with us the rest of the night.

 She can show us her eyes, nose, ears, mouth, belly button, and little piggies. She also thinks it is hilarious to smell her little piggies. (And anybody else who has their piggies exposed in her presence.)

 She can say: mama, dada, "Eese" (Reese), ball, baby, hot, bye bye

 She. Is. A. Terrible. Rider. Cries everywhere we go. Unless, of course, I am lucky enough that she falls asleep.

 She loves to carry around her baby.

 And I love this picture because please look at how Elynn is looking at Reese. Complete adoration.

 New Years Eve we went to Allison and Jared's (we lasted till 10:30- middle of the night, people). Elynn got real upset when Lawson wouldn't return all the love and affection she was showing him.

Allison and I went straight from an A+ in motherhood to a D- when we turned our backs on these two (because I am sure we were in a deep discussion about important things like sleeping all night and the nightmare known as trying to lose the baby weight) and Elynn did her very best to get Pate out of the swing. 

 I'm not going to give you the details of the morning leading up to this picture at church because, honestly, it is too painful. I bought these matching dresses for pictures in the Fall, and I was determined that they wear them to church one time together. Reese had other plans, but momma prevailed. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. 

 Child labor right here, people.

 And here's Uncle G, the real live carousal.

I will say again that it is amazing how quickly the second baby grows up. I try my best to soak up every second of Elynn being this age. It is one of my favorite times. Mainly because I now know what being 2 and 3 look like. It isn't always pleasant. But for now, she is sweet as pie!