G Baby in the Spotlight!

Freedom!

Shadow (or as Bruiser says "Sha -do") joined our family at a very crazy time. We really wanted him (even Daddy who will try to tell you differently!) but two weeks after he arrived we discovered G-Baby would be joining our family and we had to endure the next three months of me being deathly ill. Not the best time to add a puppy to the mix! Can you picture it - two toddlers, a sick and pregnant Mommy, and a Daddy who has allergies? Crazy!

Well, since then things have settled down a bit (occasionally!) and Shadow has been released from his "room" and has joined the family. His bed is in the living room, not the mud room. He has the run of the downstairs both at night and when we are out of the house. I have to say, I think his enjoying his upgraded status - perhaps a little too much!


Shadow has also made a new friend. Our neighbors adopted a rescue dog named Nellie. Shadow and Nellie have play dates several times a week. We love it because Shadow comes home exhausted and sleeps the rest of the day - Nellie is younger than our old man! Here are a few shots of Nellie trying to get into our yard to play with Shadow!

Daddy Day Care - The Sprout House Version!

Disclaimer to Daddy: This is not meant to make you feel like you are not appreciated! I just had to share the craziness of our house! We love you, Daddy!

So, as I wrote earlier, our sitter enjoyed a wonderful vacation and some well-deserved time away from our "angels"! While she was gone, we juggled a few people around to watch our darlings since Mommy couldn't get any time off work. The first two days were assigned to Daddy. And to be honest, I was more worried about those days than I was about the other two days when our amazing neighbors watched the kids! One would think - "Oh, Daddy knows the kids, knows the house, knows the routine, knows the expectations...everything should be fine!" - well, not exactly. As much as I love Daddy and as wonderful a Daddy as he is - he doesn't multi-task very well and becomes easily over-whelmed...two traits that don't work for a stay-at-home parent! Here are the pictures of what I came home to the second day, when Tater came to school with me and he only had Bruiser Boy and G-Baby:

To add to the chaos, Daddy decided to add a whole-house water filter to the basement in the midst of all this. I was very grateful - our city water has been full of rust for the past year and the children have been bathing in brown water - DISGUSTING! In the middle of fixing the filter pipe, something broke and he had to shut the water off. Then when I got home, he had to go to his favorite place - Home Depot - and then come back to fix the filter. Not the best plans for a day when he's watching three children and planning to go into work in the afternoon. Needless to say, he worked from home that day!

Missing filter - no water in the house!

Our lovely, efficient filter! It works amazingly!

Say a Little Prayer!

Our nephew, M, hasn't been feeling well lately and is now having his appendix removed. Keep the little guy in your prayers! And, as he is not one who likes to take it easy, keep his Mama in your prayers as she tries to help him recuperate!

And Aunt C - I hope he has the "bag"!

Smile Pretty!

Tater had another "big girl" milestone today - her first trip to the dentist! She and Daddy left the house with lots of excitement (Mommy has a dental phobia so Daddy got the honors!). She loved being a big girl and learning all about going to the dentist. She wasn't so sure of the big chair, so she sat in Daddy's lap and laid her head on the hygienist's lap. She had her teeth cleaned, flossed, counted, and sealed with fluoride. The dentist checked her and gave her an excellent report and released her for another six months! After choosing a new toothbrush (Dora the Mermaid) and exploring her goody bag (a ring, a bracelet, stickers, a floss stick, and toothpaste), she and Daddy came back home full of tales about their adventure. Tater was quite upset about the toothpaste - it had Sponge Bob on it and we don't watch that in our house (I love that our values have set in!). The best part of the whole experience (according to Daddy) was hearing her say "Thank you for taking me to the dentist, Daddy!" about five times! I just don't understand the appeal!

Normalcy Returns (from Mexico!)

This past week we muddled through without our beloved babysitter, D. She had the opportunity to travel to Mexico on a free, all-expense-paid, much-deserved vacation - how could we say "no"? So, we had a few days of juggling sitters (between Daddy and our amazing neighbors - Mommy has no sick days left!) and many days of being out of routine. Mommy was slightly out of her mind by the time D arrived Friday morning.

As of today, the kids were back to their normal routine (except for Bruiser Boy who decided to act like a true two-year-old - terrible!). Mommy feels calmer and the house is slowly returning to normal operation!

Welcome home, D!
(P.S. We've decided you are not allowed to move back to Texas! We'll miss you too much!)

Milestones

My little baby who wouldn't sleep anywhere but glued to my side is becoming Mr. Independent! You have to chase him down to steal a hug and forget about a cuddle - he can't be bothered! Bruiser Boy is all BOY and runs so fast that I have trouble catching him! Here a few of his recent independent moments!

He taught himself how to put his own socks on - I guess I wasn't moving fast enough that day!

He now has his own booster seat at the island. After many meals spent trying to fold a screaming child into the highchair, we gave in to his pleas. Now we spend meals asking him to sit on his bottom and not crawl across the counter!