Sentences

Olivia said her first sentence this morning. I almost ran off the road. Really, I did.

On the days that Jon doesn’t tutor after school, he has started riding with us in the mornings. This morning he wasn’t with us and Olivia kept saying “daddy, daddy, daddy.” I asked her where daddy was and she said “Daddy at kool.” She’s been saying “Audey kool, Bubba kool, daddy kool” but today was the first time she made a complete sentence out of it. Someone please pass the kleenex.

 I mean, I am thankful and grateful that my baby is almost 20 months old and is turning new words out left and right and is now capable of forming and saying complete sentences. It’s something to be thankful for and I am. But at the same time my mommy heart is kicking in. Wasn’t my Tookie baby just born??!!??!! Didn’t I just snuggle my nose into the fat rolls of her little newborn neck while she slept in my arms? Wasn’t it just the other night that I had to get up and feed her and rock her back to sleep praying she would sleep at least 4 more hours? Well actually, she did keep me all night Saturday night. Maybe that’s where I am getting confused.

Party Pooper

I am the resident party pooper in our household. At least my children seem to think so. Any time I have to interrupt their play time, they get so put out. I mean you would think that children would rather fill their bellies with good food than keep playing one of their many games. But, what do I know?

If the twins ever wake up in the mornings before I go upstairs to wake them up, they start playing. And when I go up to get them ready for school, you would think that I just told them they had to go run 12 miles in the freezing cold or something.

So this morning when I had to be the party pooper and tell them it was time to get ready for school, my son told me he wanted me to teach him at home because, are you ready for this? Because he wants to learn more about God. I was in shock and didn’t know weather to feel like a terrible mom for making my son go to public school or to applaud him and say “Well played son. Well played.” After about 30 seconds of us just starring at each other, I decided to do neither and just told him to get dressed.

Fast forward about 15 minutes to the bathroom downstairs where I am braiding Audrey’s hair. He comes in and says again that he doesn’t want to go to school. So I said well I guess on Monday you can stay home for the rest of the school year. He said ok and then I told him I hope he knew he would not get to play all day long. He said “Yes I will. I will be able to play as long as I want.” Audrey hasn’t said a word all morning about this and she finally turned and looked at him and said “Well I’m not staying with you.” Hahahahaha!!!! The look on James’s face was priceless and I had to stifle a laugh. She’s never said that before; she always wants to do/go what/where James wants to do/go. He replied with a whiney “whhyyy notttt Audreyyyy” and she said “Because. I like school and will miss my friends.” Just as matter of fact as you please. She didn’t even need to think about it. He decided shortly after that he did want to go to school. I followed up with “James when you get home every afternoon I will be glad to teach your more about God like we did when I taught you at home last year.” His reply, “Nah, we can do that tomorrow.”

Disclaimer: Please do not judge and think that we don’t teach our children about God. We have nightly devotions and talk often to our children about the sermons that they hear on Sunday’s and other days :)

Mardi Gras

James and Audrey (and Olivia too) went to their first Mardi Gras parade last weekend. And to say that they enjoyed themselves would be the understatement of the century!

Mardi Gras Day on Bourbon street in the Quarter is what most people think of when they hear the words “Mardi Gras.” And we all shudder to think of it because it’s not exactly a good place to be.

Well, we were not in the Quarter and we were not there on Mardi Gras Day. Just sayin. For two weeks prior to the ‘big day” there are parades all around the city of New Orleans and the burbs and my in-laws happen to live in one of the nicest places outside of the city in the burbs  in the burb called Old Metairie (did you follow that?) And the parade we went to, Ceasar, was in Metairie and it is one of the best parades of the season especially for children! Oh my goodness we had so much fun!

Even though it was sorta cold and we had to wait for a long time and we were all pretty tired, we had an amazing time!! Even Livi was waving to the people on the floats. I am still amazed at the fact that she hung in with us until 10 pm, even if she was on auto pilot. And again, a big thanks to her Aunti Ange who held her pretty much the whole time so I could get some pictures.

It was a quick weekend trip that we crammed a bunch into and we definitely can’t handle weekends like that very often but it was well worth it. A lot of great memories were made and time spent with those we love is always worth a little extra effort.

Audrey’s Corner

Last night was one of those nights. You know the ones I am talking about. The ones where everything you touch explodes in your face. One of the things was supper so I had to go to plan B and order a pizza. Audrey rode with me to go get it and when we left she noticed the flowers that were blooming in the yard across the street and commented how pretty they were. A few minutes later we passed a couple more houses that have perfectly manicured yards and my ever observant daughter says to me, “Some people that live in houses don’t have kids. They have really pretty yards.” I couldn’t help laugh and even though there were about 10 things I wanted to tell her, I just agreed with her. Cause she’s right, really.

Then while we were eating supper and discussing James Bryant’s upcoming t-ball season, her daddy asked her if she wanted to play this time. She shook her head and said “No, I will just watch.” I asked her why not, it would be a lot of fun and then named a few of her friends who played last year. And this was her reply: I don’t want to play cause it’s hot and I will get sweaty. I don’t like to sweat. WHAT???!!!!

I wanted to die laughing, like literally lay out on the floor laughing because she’s 5!!! She’s 5 and she doesn’t want to sweat?!?! And then I wanted to ask her who’s child was she?? Because she certainly did not get her disdain for breaking a sweat from her father nor her mother. I’m still shaking my head at this one!!

Bugs and vacuum cleaners

Olivia Ray has a huge personality. And she has a huge imagination. Yes, already. And, she is very dramatic. What!! One of MY girls is dramatic?? This is so unexpected.

Bugs. She does not like them. Not one bit. And that’s a total 160 from her big bro and sis when they were her age. James and Audrey would (and still do) touch ANYthing. James loved rolly pollies (still does) when he was her age. Audrey wasn’t scared of them but she didn’t have such an affection for them. We have fond memories of sitting out in the back yard in the grass looking for them and playing with them. Our yard has tons of them. Miss Pitty Pat Punkie Doodle does NOT LIKE ROLLY POLLIES. We were out in the back yard yesterday digging in the dirt and I found one and tried to give it to her and you would of thought I tried to get her to eat it. She started saying “Ouchie, ouchie, no, no, mama. No.” I tried for 10 minutes to get her to see that they were ok but she wanted no part of it. I did get her to open her hand and she let me put it in her palm but as soon as she realized what had happened she started shaking her hands and jumping up and down screaming “ouchie, ouchie!!” It’s quite comical. And then there is the hex bug that James got for Christmas. She wont go near that thing. I found it in the kitchen yesterday and out it on the floor and turned it on. She ran out of the kitchen screaming “ouchie ouchie” and I couldn’t help but laugh. (Don’t judge) I left it on the floor and she would not walk near it. She went all the way down the hall and through the dining room to come into the kitchen just so she wouldn’t have to go near it. Poor baby.

Vacuum cleaners. Just in the last 6 months she’s started to run from ours every time I turn it on. She used to not be that way. Don’t know what happened to change her opinion of them. Crazy child. The thing doesn’t even have to be on and she will point to it and make this scared face and say “Uh uh uh uh” and I will say “Yes, that’s the vacuum” and she says “Ouchie, ouchie."

She is a hoot. And I am loving every minute of staying home with her. I wouldn’t trade being able to stop what I am doing to sit down in the floor with her and read her the book that she brings me for anything in this world. The Lord certainly has blessed me with 3 beautiful, outgoing, big personality babies. I wuv them so.

Brother and Sister

On Monday’s while Audrey dances James, Olivia and myself usually go to Walgreens. Like I’ve mentioned before, I let James pick out some candy for him and Audrey. This time while we were going to go pick Peach up we had the following conversation:
James: Why does Audrey always have to get the same thing I get?
Me: Well y’all like the same things since y’all are best friends.
James with a weird look on his face: No we aren’t.
Me: You’re not? Why?
James: No. Because we are brother and sister.
Me: Well brothers and sister can be friends.
James: No, they can’t.
Me: Why not?
James very matter of factly: Because we are brother and sister. (If he’d been 10 there would of been a “duh” and the end of that!)

19 Months

Olivia turns 19 months old today and I feel very guilty for not only not blogging since December 11th but not blogging about her since November 8th. And she’s the baby for crying out loud!!

Once we got back from Christmas vacation Miss Pitty Pat started turning out the words. She can now say and does say many times a day: Wata (water), Bike, Bir (bird), Down, Uppie (up), MINE!!!!, Me (for when she wants you to do something for her), Vroom (the sound of a car) Minnnnie (Minnie Mouse), Mmmmm and smacks her lips (when she sees something she wants to eat) Eewww (For something gross i.e. She will stick her and down the back of her diaper if she poo’s, bring it out with a little on her finger and say Eewwww. Classy, huh?! We are very proud!) Weeee and claps her hands (For any thing she thinks is fun i.e. going outside or upstairs) Book, she traded Auda for Audey, Nonie (for Nelda), Nenie (nenie), Uh-oh and No. She says hot for anything that is hot or even warm and she will blow at it. She says Owie for ouch and says it for ANYTHING, it’s funny and a little annoying. Gotta for gotcha when we play chase. Toes for toast, out with a lot of emphasis on the T!! Down, me down!!! And done while she puts her fork on her plate and hands the plate to who ever is close to her. She can point to her nose, eyes, hair, head, ears, foot, toes, tongue, teeth and we just learned elbow and knee!

She answers no for everything. For instance if you ask her does she want to go take a bath she says “NO” shakes her head and heads for the bathroom! She tells on James and Audrey now which is the funniest thing eveR!! If they wont give her what she wants or if they drag her down from some chair she’s not supposed to climb on or dig something out of her mouth that shouldn’t be there, or if they shoo her out of the bathroom where she’s not supposed to be, she starts crying, comes and finds me and says “Mammmmaaaa!!! Audey!!!!" or “Mammmmaaa!!! Bubbaaaa!!!” Or if they have something that she wants that may or may not be hers she screams “MINE” and sometimes gets a tad angry. She is known to pinch the arm or face or maybe even bite. We have really had to crack down on that though. She’s got a little bit of a Princess mentality!!

She likes to color and can hold a crayon pretty good. She still loves to read and will sit by herself looking at books for a long time. She still picks teddy bears over baby dolls and cats and dogs are her favorite animal. She will sit and watch Caliou, Mickey, Curious George and Dora. She will crawl around on the floor saying Maow for Meow or neigh like a horse. She can also baaaah like a sheep!  She wants to desperately be at the big table with all of us. Her high chair has lost it’s credibility as a suitable place for her to sit and eat. Somebody needs to go get that poor kid a booster seat or something.

She had her 18 month check up last week and her stats are:

Height: 31 1/4 inches making her in the 26%

Weight: 21 lbs, 11 oz making her in the 12%

Head Circumference: 46.2 cm making her in the 48%

The Doctor was very pleased with her growth.

 She still doesn’t like to ride in the car seat very much and doesn’t mind letting us know it. Which can make for some very unpleasant car rides. She wants to be down, running around. Who can blame her, really? Other than that, she’s very content most of the time. Still full of life and energy at every turn. She can go from 0 to 60 in .3 seconds. She listens very well for her age (most of the time) and she is very dramatic about everything. She keeps us laughing because she is so stinkin cute!!

FYI, that’s a pan she is sitting in

She is very girly, very girly. She loves to clomp around in Audrey’s high heel shoes and I do mean clomp!! Hannah and Audrey were playing dress up at my dad’s over Christmas and Little Miss just HAD to dress up too. It was priceless. She twirled and twirled in that thing and hummed the whole time. 

I came to the conclusion yesterday that our children are extremely blessed to have parents where one is the oldest sibling and the other is the youngest. They each have an advocate!!! Jon understands how annoying it can be to have to give way to a younger sibling and he reminds me of that from time to time. And I need reminding because I am the baby and Olivia is the baby and I think she’s pitiful because she just wants to play too!!! And those “mean” older siblings wont let her and don’t think she’s cute. They just think she gets in the way. HAHA!!!!