neglect

Mom says I am neglecting my blog. That I used to write at least twice a week, and now it's down to once every 7-10 days... Sorry Mom, I will try to do better.

Don't have really a whole heck of a lot to say today... Actually, I haven't had a whole lot to say lately... maybe it's due to lack of sleep. Harper was on a 7 week run of not sleeping at night, hardly at all... We've had about a 2 week respite where she decided sleep was a good thing again, and we are going on the 2nd night of no sleep again... so maybe my mind is just tired and has no capacity left for writing... ? I'll go with that. So here are some pictures...

Trying to get a cute sister shot, and this was the best we could do.

I think it has rained for 10 days straight... I love it. I love rain, and cloudy skies and the calm, peaceful feeling it leaves with me. I love rain...Grace had a little fun playing in it on several occasions. Harper didn't like it so much... and I thought it cruel to sit her in the middle of a puddle to get a cute picture of both girls in the rain (although I considered it)... So I just got a couple of Grace.
And here's Harps in all her glory. This is her "I am a baby model and I work the camera face..."
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And these are the faces the girls made after talking to aunt Amy the other night...wahoo!
(thank you Ann Haley.)

Am I 4 now???

We had Grace's 3rd and final birthday party yesterday. And folks, it was magical.... seriously, it was. If any reader, should have the need for a birthday party, this is the place to have one. (young or old... the duo of Chris and Chris were brainstorming on ways to have their own parties there, I think) Harpeth School of Gymnastics (ahem. Josh Webster. ahem.) does the most magnificent parties for kids. Grace has not stopped talking about it, nor ceased to ask if we can go back "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." since we left.
For some reason these pictures set up in backwards order here, but we'll go with it. I want you to notice the "real nastics shirt" that Grace has on in the first picture. She hasn't taken the thing off since yesterday. I am fairly certain that she will lobby to wear it to school on Tuesday. Too bad we opened it at the end of the party. Until then, she was very staunchly opposed to wearing ANYTHING but her birthday dress to the party, and any suggestions to the contrary were just silly. So, she did flips, swung on the rope swing, did the bars etc. all while trying to maneuver around the long hem of the dress... Hey, but that's what she wanted.
Pure Joy...
"Yes, I am the most awesome birthday girl, with the most awesome bottom in the world."
Here are most of the little kiddo's waiting for instruction on the first obstacle course. I think they all had a great time. I overheard sweet little Elizabeth say to her dad: "This is the best burfday party I've ever been too." But, everything she says melts my heart because of her cute little way of saying the 'r' sounds in her words and her sweet tiny little voice. But seriously, I agree. It was so much fun, I think I had as much fun as the kids did.
Grace didn't really understand the concept of: sit on the parachute so the air doesn't rush out, hence the gaping hole... or maybe she was too excited about the tent and just let go, whatever the case, she loved it.
Grace calls this long street of trampoline goodness the 'jumpy jump' and wishes for one at her own house.
Thank you to all our friends for coming... It wouldn't have been the same without you! And thank you to the Websters, who have such a gift in working with children, it's incredible.

Oh, and to explain the title of the post: Since it had been a week and a half since her actual birthday, she was convinced that this party meant that she was 4. "No sister, thankfully a year doesn't go by that fast! You are still 3."

Grace is 3!

Happy Birthday Grace!! Can't believe you are already 3. We've had 2 of her 3 birthday parties so far. Here is a little recap of the weekend's festivities in pictures:

Grace's Purple People.... basically everyone but mom and dad wore purple to her party... pretty genius if you ask me... Just didn't think of it! And I don't think Chris owns anything purple...

Little birthday hug from Harps

Sparkly purple flower cake... perfect for Grace

Party at home, with her newly re-fashioned purple tutu skirt... I know, if you've known me for any length of time, you are probably in disbelief that I actually let my child wear this, much less MADE it for her...

The ice cream station was a big hit, (Yay!!!) as were the purple crocs. The 2 things I spent the most time on... so glad she liked them.

'Borbin' and family made it to her birthday party at Izze and Pop's house, and that made her day!! She would not put on her party dress until he got there... I mean, a party is not a party without Corb...

And this picture was just too funny not to add... Grace's party at Izze and Papa's house was an 'AMINAL' party with lots of purple thrown in. Everyone had animal hats, the guys were good sports. These 2 just crack me up.

Of Goat Turds and Babies

Well, I can't believe I'm posting this before my child's birthday party post... but hey, I am working on that post too...

First and foremost, the new baby Clouded Leopards at the Nashville Zoo are the cutest things I've ever seen. If you've ever been to the zoo with me, you well know that the Clouded Leopards are my FAVORITE exhibit. I make no secret of it. BUT, after today's visit, I have 2 bones to pick with the zoo. Where should I start?

Location, Location people!!! Upon first entering the zoo, I asked the nice lady where the babies were located. She replied: "Oh, just walk past the Meercats, pass the amphibians and the snack shack and you will see the petting zoo on the left, they are in there!"
I'm silently cringing and thinking to myself "This woman has to be nuts, WHY would they put the baby leopards in the petting zoo, if you can't pet them?" UMMM, nope, she wasn't nuts.

After an hour in the 'jumpy-jump' and a potty break, we make our way over to the petting zoo. Let me just say, that I have NEVER let my kids go in there, and had NO intention of EVER letting them experience this gross germ, poop infested place.

So here I am, waging war in my head:
"I can NOT go in there....
....but the baby leopards, they are going to be so cute....
....poop, poop, poop; dirty children with dirty hands running everywhere, with poop caked into the tread of their size 8/9 crocs.....
.....oh, but the clouded leopards, they are your favorite....
......look at that nasty camel with the crooked hump spitting in that kid's face, ewwwww.....
......cute little cuddly faced clouded leopards, you have to see them.....etc."

You get the idea. This conversation went on in my head for what seemed like an hour. Grace is pulling on my hand, dying to enter this promised land of fun and excitement that I have never let her experience before... What do I do????

I reluctantly park the stroller, unstrap Harper, grab the camera and walk toward this land of germ infested poop caked animals, that are roaming around for a scratch or two. As soon as we make it inside the first gate, I sternly say to Grace, "Honey, we are NOT going to touch any animals and if they walk toward you, run the other way... and look down so as not to step on the millions of goat turds that are scattered all over the mulch. We don't want to get poop on your new purple size 8/9 crocs, do we?" She looks back up at me, a little confused and says " OK, mom... but that little boy is petting the baby goat... I want to pet the goat too...!" "Well, no, sorry we are not going to pet the animals this time, we are just going to see the baby leopards."

I carefully tip toe, examining the mulch beneath each step, and instruct Grace to do the same... we finally make it to the babies! Well worth each tip-toed step! (for me at least) Grace holds interest for maybe 3 minutes, and that darn baby goat catches her attention.

Now, let me interject this point here, there IS a zoo worker hired solely for poop-scooping, and she is there doing her job diligently, but do you know how much a goat can crap? This little one, smaller than a house cat is walking around flicking it's tiny tail in the air spraying what seems like thousands of little marble sized turds EVERYWHERE. It was like a poop sprinkler, I've never seen anything like it. There's no way on earth that one poop scooper can scoop the sheer volume of turds flowing from this little tiny goat's behind. Imagine if one of the adult goats had decided to get up and walk around, you just might need a rain slicker.

In a moment of pure weakness, Grace takes off running after this tiny bundle of poo, desperate to pet it, and steps right into a little nest of freshly sprayed goat S#*%. Awesome; not only that, but one of the turds eeks through the little hole in her crocs and now resides between her toes. DISGUSTING. Now she is wishing she'd listened to dear ole mom, and had not tried to catch the little bugger. But I am left with the job of fishing the turd out of the shoe, cleansing the foot and the shoe and restoring order to Grace's little world. Sounds fun doesn't it.

So, please dear zoo official, MOVE the non-pettable (sp?) animals OUT of the petting zoo/turd farm and to another location where we can all enjoy them. Thanks!

Here's beef # 2: I'll try to make this short and sweet. I am not sure whether to direct this statement at the parent's/caregivers of the children who visit the zoo, or at the zoo itself, but we'll go with the parents/caregivers: Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT let your children just up and urinate wherever and whenever they so choose (unless wearing a diaper)! I am not kidding, today alone, I saw 3 children just stop, drop'em and pee wherever they got the notion. And their parents did not even think twice about it. Grace looked at me and goes "MOM, that is yucky... why is he doing that??? Did he just pee on the freet (street)??? Eewwwww."

Maybe the zoo could benefit from a couple of additional bathrooms, but people, please... stick your child in the stroller, or pick them up and take them to the bathroom yourself. This is disgusting. Trust me, I understand potty training, but folks, that is what potty training is.... TRAINING your child to USE THE POTTY, which INCLUDES holding it for the necessary 5 minutes it takes to walk to one. If you are concerned about the child having an accident, bring a pull up, or an extra change of clothes. And, if your son (or daughter, yes there was one of those too...) tells you they have to pee, turn your lazy tush around and walk to the restroom, that's what they are for.

Ahhh, I feel better.

1st day and 8 months!

Tuesday was Grace's first day in her new class at school. As you can tell, she was so excited. She looked adorable in this dress, yet, 2 seconds before she walked out the door, she decided that it just wasn't up to par for the first day. Much to Chris' frustration, she HAD to change in to her 'tutu dress' so she could twirl. Apparently the twirl factor in dresses is very important these days, and key in making a decision on what to wear. When I went to pick her up, her new teacher said "Well, she did great! Acted like she owned the place.... in a good way!" The 3 year old class is a kindergarten readiness class, and they have more structured activities, lesson plans etc. Grace seems to love it.
I am still working on her birthday plans. Yes, I do realize that her actual birthday is in 4 days... but since it falls on Labor Day this year, I think we are going to wait a week or two to have her 'friend party.' (This is what I tell myself anyways, maybe the more honest truth is that I haven't really been on the ball! OOPS!)

Harper was 8 months old yesterday! Can't believe it. Her little first year of life is flying by faster than I ever dreamed. Her fine motor and language skills are coming along. She says DaDa, MaMa and BaBa pretty regularly, along with lots of yelling, babbling and squealing. She loves to do things with her hands, and her fine pincer grasp is coming along nicely. She loves to pick up Cheerios one by one... (very closely monitored, I might add) though she doesn't seem to put the small things in her mouth... yet. My girls are more fine motor and language oriented...neither cared much about the gross motor skills. Although you can tell that Harper wants to crawl so bad, she won't stay on her tummy long enough to learn! Within 1 second of putting her on her tummy, she has rolled over and is trying to do a 'crunch' to sit up again. I am trying to use a technique we learned with Grace when she was in PT at this age. I like to call it the 'cheerleader sit' so that when she leans forward on her hands, she will naturally fall into the hands and knees position, and may learn to crawl that way. I hold her there and rock her back and forth on her knees, but she is not amused. Still no teeth for this little one. I think Grace's first tooth popped through on her 8 month birthday, but Harper's gums aren't even swollen or red. She does love to gnaw on her hands and lovies though.

The girls are loving to play together these days... Harper gets so excited when we go in and wake up Grace in the morning... she squeals, laughs and lunges for Grace as soon as she sees her. Grace says she wants Harper to call her "Sis." Yesterday Grace was sitting with Harper in my bed. She looks at me and says in this really high pitched voice: "Mom, I just love Harper so much, I really really really love her and I just have to snuggle her." So sweet.
If Grace laughs at something Harper does, she will do it over and over and over again...and lately this includes spitting each bite of food all over everything in site. Lovely.

On an unrelated note... Ice Cream anyone??? Here is a preview of one of the things I made Grace for her birthday... An ice cream station! I was inspired by the one they had at the Chicago Children's museum, so I decided to make one of my own. I think it turned out really cute! Hope she likes it, I've spent hours working on it..

Somehow I just erased the picture of the caddy complete with ice cream cones, bowls, sprinkles and the works! I'll try to re post a picture of it later... it's cute! But for now, I'll leave you with the ice cream scoops!