poop

I just was in the kitchen mixing up a bowl of batter to make chocolate chunk bars ~ and Violet ways "I wanna see whats in that bowl." I say "Ok, here it is" lowering the bowl so she can see. She says "momma? Is that pooop?" what a disgusted look on her face. haha!

funny

I had a funny moment today after I put Violet down for a nap. We're still living in this little rental house on Robin Rd in Waterloo. The bathroom door is at the end of the hallway, so is our bedroom door and Violet's bedroom door with in 2 feet of each other. Well..I finally took a nap when both kids were sleeping. 15 minutes after I put her to bed, I had already taken a shower, changed into my clothes for the day, and started to blow-dry my hair. I thought she was well asleep by now, but she wasn't! The blow-dryer always puts me into kind of a trance...falsely making me think everything else going on around me is A-OK. Well...the door was cracked open as I was using the hair dryer, and I see a brightly colored thing go flying past the door. I was like HUH? I shut off the dryer and open the door to see Violet running back into her room and slamming the door shut as fast as she could. I went into her room and she had tried to hop back into bed without me knowing was was going on, apparently. I asked her "what are you doing?" She said "I don't want that toy in my room. I was just putting it outside. That toy. I don't like it." while shaking her head and flopping her arms. It was that ride-on toy that converts to a little infant push-walker. I guess it freaked her out! I just laughed and told her to go to sleep. She flopped her head back on the pillow and turned over without a single word or protest. My little girl is turning into such a little GIRL already!! Also, I can't remember if I recorded this or not, but I'll do it again just in case. A few weeks ago Dave was in California, and Violet knew that he flew away to California to work, so mid-week, I hear her start singing this song in the morning right after she woke up (to the tune of "where is thumpkin"): "Where is Mommy? Where is Mommy? She's right here, she's right here Where is mommy? where is mommy? She's right here, she's right here. Where is daddy? Where is daddy? He flew away, he flew away! Where is daddy? where is daddy? He flew away, he flew away!"

crunch time

Things with us are going super fast and crazy. We are closing on the Briarwood house on October 10th. And we're leaving for every single weekend until then! We're nuts! Just last weekend we went to see Josh and Carrie for his 30th birthday. Then next weekend we're going to Gary Pace's wedding, and the weekend after that is the celebration in Arkansas for my great grandma Ruth's 111th birthday. I just can't believe how old she is!!!!! Violet did SO much better at Josh and Carrie's house this time than 5 months ago. She was a mess last time, freaking out and crying and whining if I wasn't with her. This time she was comfortable, played around as much as she wanted with Austin and would be in different rooms with out me, it was so nice to have that freedom. Calvin didn't sleep all that great. All of us were sleeping in the basement together (each kid in a pack n play and us on the futon) and Calvin woke up each night screaming a couple times, both of which I nursed him back to sleep. I'm just glad he didn't wake up V in the middle of the night. He doesn't get that special treatment at home. In fact, I thought he was sleeping through the night, but I learned that he isn't. We just don't hear him because of the loud fan in our room...but whatever...he always gets himself back to sleep anyway. He's used to it. Today I went downstairs to the basement bedroom to put C down for a nap, and the door was locked. I was SO frustrated. He was so tired, was already suckin' on his paci and I couldn't open the door. V had already gone down for a nap and Dave was hopping on an important conference call, so he couldn't help me. I snuck into V's room, grabbed C's swing, and temporarily set it up in our bedroom so he could swing in it and hopefully fall asleep. I hung up blankets, towels, and jeans up against the window so it would be darker. I noticed him falling asleep after a few minutes, so I asked Dave if I could run some errands while they slept. He said OK, so I left, and he ended up taking the pins of the door so he could get in that room. V has been into locking doors lately, so I'm 100% sure it was her turning the knob on that door and locking it. Dave put some duct tape over it for now so that won't happen again. I went running this morning. It was the hardest run ever. It was horrible. I ached. I got a stabbing side cramp early on that just intensified as I ran, so I stopped and walked a lot. I am really sore now, and have a tight muscle in my back. I hope it isn't always this hard. I might go once again this week. We'll see. We spent the evening over at the river house packing. Barb A came over to help us for an hour. She's such a servant. We got right to it and just filled boxes. We are very close to being almost done w/ that house. I'm trying to think about what Violet has been saying lately. She's speaking in full 100% sentences and is conversing perfectly like she's an almost 3 yr old. In some respects, its sooo nice that she can speak so well. She communicates things that she couldn't just a few months ago. But in some ways, she talks SO much it annoys me!! Agh! Her funny thing lately is to force a belly laugh. HA HA HA in a deep voice...its so hysterical. Calvin is just as goofy as ever. He loves 1 on 1 attention and craves to be with me 100% of the time. He'll be so happy in my lap, and if I put him on the floor to play, he will scream and cry. If Dave is holding him or playing with him and he catches a view of me, he screams and cries. Mama's boy. *eye roll* I love it though! He's still nursing 4 or 5 times a day and eating a lot of food. He would park himself in the high chair all day and just eat 24/7 if he could, I swear! I run out of ideas of what to feed him. He can't really do food chunks that well yet, he chokes.

funny conversation

Violet noticed I was in the bathroom takin' care of business, and she said "mama? whatchyou doin'?" I told her "Mama had to go pee." She said "Mama have to go poopie?" I said "Maybe." She said, "Mama, want a book?" I said "sure!" *she comes back running with a book* I say "thank you!!" She comes up to me, pushes on my back to make me lean over, and says "Mama, I need to wipe your butt."

nothing special really, just rambling

I made a fruit pizza for the Hemmers yesterday. Little Evan busted his tooth on a brick wall and he had to go to the doctor and get it removed. I felt so bad for him and Selena. She was a pregnant nervous emotional wreck! She took him in today to get it removed and she said she felt wrapped in prayer and got through the day. I took him a fruit pizza because I know how much that little guy likes fruit. He's so crazy and silly. Violet listens to every single word I say. I don't even realize it! I called Trisha this morning to see how things were going with her and she said she was having trouble with her breast pump working. I remember saying "oh no! Do you have those little white flaps on the valve inside the bottle?" or something like that. About an hour later after that conversation was long over, Violet picks up her little toy phone, puts it up to her ear, and says "oh no! Have white little faps?" and then went on to say something like "Whats wrong? yeah...otay...no...k....yeah....I will take your ban-naid off. Tank you. Otay." I was shocked she remembered! Good grief! Today was a hard day. We didn't leave the house. I think that was the problem. Dave is in California all week and I have the kids alone all week. I was majorly dreading this week because I am very prone to being short and snappy with Violet when I'm stressed. She knows how to push my buttons, too. I hate leaving the house with both kids because its so much work getting them both in and out of the car and going somewhere in that very short little window of time where neither of them are tired or hungry, so its just easier not to go anywhere. But when we get stuck in this little rental house all day we drive each other NUTS. The kids don't have anywhere to go but be around me 24/7. Violet is constantly demanding that I play with her, color with her, read with her. I do those things but get insanely bored and impatient. Horrible of me, I know...but I just need me time, me space to just relax. No such thing when you're a single parent for a week. She misses her daddy something fierce. She keeps asking about him, wondering when he's coming back. We were on the phone with Dave when she was going to bed. She was talking to him on the phone, and said to him "Daddy, can you hold on for a minute. I want to look at mommy's owie on her foot." LOL!! So she gave the phone to me and wanted to see how my foot was healing from the wart that was removed last month. Yes, its still healing. So then she got the phone back. She remembers that he flew away on a red airplane and that Dave is in California. She said "Californyyyyah"? She always points out the obvious to whoever she's on the phone with. "There's mommy, and here is Violet, and there is Calvin."