Aha!

Pretty much shaving the hair gets out Vaseline! George has a new and non-oily hair do. I used dish soap on Mimi and we'll see in the morning if all is Vaseline free!

We had our second dance class today and they actually moved a little! George has really taken to Miss April and she seems to be happy to have a boy in the class. Mimi did a great job today and was very active!

George announced at the dinner table yesterday that girls have tooties. Yep. We're in that stage now.

Mimi loves feeling Vincent kick which is CONSTANT!!!!!!! She says she'll help in every way except changing poopie diapers which she insists is "Da's job!" Woo Hoo!!!!

Natan has really started talking and we can understand more and more of what he is saying--a good thing, as you you can imagine!!!!

Oh...and did I mention how nice it is that Jason arrived home Saturday???? We missed him...

One question for today...

How on earth do you get VASELINE out of two naughty three-year old's hair???????
My afternoon napping plan didn't quite work out the way I saw it working today...
This is the absolute quietest time-outs in the history of time-outs. No one has said anything for 15 minutes...hee hee hee!!!!!!!!

Top Five

Five good things:
1. New favorite song: "Who Let the Dogs Out" (with a lot of singing and dancing)
2. Jason bathing three kids every night...
3. Antibiotics for Minna--finally!!!!!!
4. Sunday Night dinners--good times, good times!
5. Mimi sitting in my lap Sunday morning...looked up at me and whispered, "Love you, mama."

Kid-isms...

Same old around here--getting over colds and what not.

Mimi's new favorite phrase to many statements is: "Oh yea...you right."
George is lecturing everyone on the perils of football, smoking, guns, and motorcycles.
Natan is making sentences that make sense!!!!

We had our first dance/gymnastics class on Tuesday. What is consisted of was watching Mimi and George stand still in one place, holding hands while the other ten girls around them tapped and pirouetted! Money well spent...
Gymnastics got them going though, so all ended well.
They are already registered for the June 7th recital--hope they actually make some noise with those tap shoes!!!!!!!! All are invited--$5 tickets!!

M and G are not only sharing a room again, they are sharing the big bed that Mimi has always slept in. And, they have each claimed their side. Man...
Natan is in a proper crib (finally), and LOVES it!!!!! Don't know how he'll react to giving his crib up for the baby!
Mimi is enjoying feeling Vinny kick...George simply blames everything on him. "You bad, Vincent...you bad." Great.

That's really all for now.
Oh...Sally--they LOVED the donuts and cupcakes!!!!! Thanks again!

Happy New Year!

Five days late, but the sentiment is there!
We spent a nice New Year's Day with Papa Tom and Tanta "Bobba"--the kids had a BLAST!
Had a good dr's appointment on Thurs--Vincent is fine and was kicking like a mad man during the ultrasound! Don't go back for another four weeks!
Our little friend Patrick Ingram is doing better each day and we are SO glad. We can't wait until he's 100% and can play with us again!
Yesterday we took the Roses to a great Ethiopian restaurant and had a delicious meal--they are fun people to feed since they're always up for an adventure!
Nothing much else going on--Jason has been back at work (on the Upper School musical) since Thursday and will be busy with that through March....
Hope 2008 is great for everyone--we're already having a blast!

Happy Holidays!

A belated happy holidays to everyone! The kids have had a blast the past few days, especially with Da home all day!!
Mimi and George sat through the Christmas Eve service--George slept through most of it. The music was fabulous and there was lots of it!!
Our neighbors, the Hogans, along with Sally, came for Christmas dinner--we had 7 kids under the age of nine at the table. It was a wild evening but everyone had fun! Jason made a figgy pudding which was delish and very entertaining!
Boxing Day (or at least the 26th of December) was spent with our Sunday night group--lots of delicious leftovers...
So, we have spent the last two days vegging...which I guess we all needed!
Check out the Picasa album for Thanksgiving and December pictures which include a birthday party and Christmas (don't do a slideshow or you'll miss the video clips).
Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Dudley Rose rules!!

I just came home from a delicious luncheon for the staff at our church prepared, obviously with love, by our minister, Dudley (or "Dully" as he is called around here!). I didn't catch its official recipe title, but OMG--it was divine!!! I sat Natan a little behind me so I couldn't watch him stuffing mac and cheese into his face (which I bought from Publix so I wouldn't have to share my food!) and enjoyed my lunch with Mimi, George, Mary Clare, and our friend Stephen. Poor Jason misses every luncheon because he his at his first job--Big Jack made him a plate for tonight.
Thanks, Dully! And it didn't even give me gas! Amen!

Meet Vincent!

Yep--we're having ANOTHER boy! Mimi is very happy--George still insists that we should call him "Pincess..." Natan really could care less!

Today's ultrasound looked good--everything is where it should be and the right size...I go in one month to have a detailed look at his heart.

Boy oh boy!!!!!!

new name for the baby

George and Mimi have once again chosen names for baby girl/boy:
George: "Pincess" (if it's a boy)
Mimi: "Baby" (it WILL be a boy)
George is still going with "Fiona" if it's a girl.
Mimi refuses to even consider it being a girl, so it's "Baby" or nothing.
Natan just keeps yelling "Booby! Booby! Booby!"
sigh.

Oh, and...

I just read the little baby ticker--I can never tell if this baby is moving, because it always turns out be gas.
Just thought you all should know that!!!!!!

Random Ramblings

Mimi: "Is Santa going to eat my lights?" (referring to the lights on the tree) This whole Santa thing is not as easy as one would think!

George: (Standing in front of me with a large stick outside): "I look like Moses. I am Moses."

Natan is still just copying everything the other two say, but I know the time will come when I have three mouths running at the same time--gee! I wonder where they inherit that from??!!

For anyone who watches "Big Love" (HBO show about polygamy which we hate and love watching!), I have decided Jason should take a second wife--I could use the extra hands around the house!!!!! It has to cheaper than a maid--which we do not have!! (And for all you serious types, relax...it's a joke!!).

WHY?

Why?
Why would a small (almost 2) child-who-will-remain-nameless take off his diaper and smear the poo on a leather chair?
Why?
And then, why would he think it's funny?
Why?
It was not funny...and it was very stinky.
Not the high point of today...and it will likely stay with me through the night. It was gross...
Why?

Bedtime sweet nothings...

Natan: "I uv you..." (with that SWEET smile and big, brown eyes)

Mimi: "Mama...I your daughter."

George:"Woody!"
"To iffinty...be-ond!"

ALL (singing): "I've got the joy, joy, joy, in my heart...in my heart...to play!"
(Compliments, I believe, of Judy Alfele..."Miss Judy")

On our list of goodbyes tonight when we sang "Good night, babies"
--Sally
--duck
--house
--Duddy & Dorsey
--Julie (Julie S.--they apparently were thrilled that you visited with them tonight!)
--Nana

Most people relish the time when their kids are in bed so they can be without them...we can't stand leaving them--I have to pick a weeping Jason off the floor at bedtime because he's right...there is never enough time.

The season is upon us...

We are off and running with the holidays!
Yesterday, Jason and I had three choirs perform at "Christmas with the Arts" in Henry
County--they were amazing! Now, we are preparing for something each week until Christmas! The kids are over the top excited about the holidays and we have already had to put a barrier around the tree to keep Natan from pulling all the ornaments off! They saw Santa at the mall last week and no one screamed!!!! They all looked pretty stunned in the picture, but that is just what one would expect!
We have also been enjoying some rain here--never enough, but it is a start.
Here's to a chaotic Christmas season (we LOVE the chaos!!!).

Oh, and here is my "5 things I'm grateful for today" list:
1. Aunt Sally (just because she's awesome!)
2. Christmas lights (because they make our kids go crazy)
3. Cornbread dressing (duh)
4. The name "Shrek" for our new kid if it's a boy (chosen by Mimi!)
5. Holiday music (could listen all year long!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We made it home! We left Cobourg Tuesday at 4:00 pm...made it to Bowling Green, OH by 10:30. VERY surprised to find a huge whirlpool in our room--big enough for all five of us! What a way to wind down! (Of course, there are pictures in Picasa!).
Had a nice long visit with Nana before we returned her to Canada--she is now recovering in peace at home!
We got to see all the Gaymans, the Everests, John Jewell, the Stinnys, and Dad, and had a whirlwind trip in Cobourg for only 4 days. Saw the Cobourg Santa Claus parade with Uncle Neb--it really was too much for him to handle...
Natan made our trip up and back interesting...diarrhea in Knoxville, KY--Jason did the honors while mum and I watched men wretch on their way out of the bathroom!
And then, in Dalton, GA, last night as we went through the drive thru at Chik-fil-et (late night chicken noodle soup!!), Jason was tickling Natan's leg and realized his hand was COVERED WITH POOP!!!!!! He literally exploded in his seat! I was very helpful-- I sat in the back with G and E gagging, laughing, and exclaiming that the car must be sold--we will never get the smell out!!!! So...Jason did the honors again (I offered but he said "it's a job for dad!"), so I didn't argue.
And to think...I had pointed out that the car smelled like stinky feet from all three kids' shoes for most of the trip--oh, how I missed that odor!!
So, we're back and in recovery...
Oh, and it's raining-finally!!!

Are you kidding?????

I was told today at my second appointment that I am having a "high-risk" pregnancy because of my "ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE!!!!!" In other words, I'm old! Nice...two days before my 35th birthday! Well, also because of our previous birth defect history, although there is a 1/1,000,000 chance of this baby having what George has.
They referred me for a fancy ultrasound and offered me amnio which I refused--hello...needle in my belly button!!!!!
So...the old mama is feeling great, considering her ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE--and I was down one pound. Very unlike the first time around!!!
Mimi and George were very excited to hear the baby's heartbeat, but were even more fascinated by mommy wee-weeing in a TINY plastic cup. Mimi wanted to know "do you drink it?" Umm...no. It's pee. I gave them their own cups with their names on them which they filled with water and tried to have labs done on. Man...what a morning!!! Nana survived...barely!

Quotes...

OK, here are some quotes from the kids:

#1
MIMI: These are M & M's? (eating some Halloween candy)
MAMA: Yep.
MIMI: They taste a lot like chocolate.

#2
GEORGE (at Mary Clare's birthday party after stripping): I just need to be naked!

#3
GEORGE (had control of my new camera and knows how to snap pictures): Mama...take a picture of my penis! (Umm...NO!!!!!!!!)

#4
MIMI: Mama...I can't wait to see Nana. I gonna scare Nana in bed. (She has a gross furry "animal" and she is waiting to use it on Nana--should be good!!!!)

Kids by the Dozen...

Had trouble sleeping last night, so I watched a TLC show called "Kids by the Dozen." It is one of those shows following the lives of large families. However, this one is pretty good--they are not some freaky religious family, but a normal, Massachusetts family who just happened to have a lot of children. The woman said, "Once you have three, you may as well have thirty." She is a stay at home mom, and he is a US Postmaster. They do not live extravagantly as you can imagine, and they have a super loving group of kids. So, I told Jason (who was asleep and not with it) that we can have 12 kids, and he mumbled, "OK."
Hee. Hee.
Oh yeah...check out our new photos in the Picasa gallery--major cuteness from Halloween, if I do say so myself!!!

Woo hoo!

Made it to the doctor today for the first official visit. They couldn't measure it the regular way (no details needed!!), so they did an ultrasound...I saw it AND heard the heartbeat!! Very cool...
I am due May 19th. Everything's fine and there's only one!!!!!

Grab a tissue...

The foundation we support on Mimi's behalf, "Love Without Boundaries" sent an update on a little girl we are sponsoring in China. She is getting ready to undergo her second heart surgery (her heart defect is the reason we elected to support her). They sent this YouTube video today. In light of what the Heart Walk does to raise money for the American Heart Association, and dealing with George who has heart disease, this got me (could also be those hormones!). I am not posting it as a plug to support it, just as a reminder that man, are we fortunate...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceAmyu1FpBc