Messmaker, Messmaker, Make Me a Mess...

I'm trying to become a better housekeeper. It's truly the thing that I struggle with the most. Sounds silly, right? If they house is messy, just pick it up. But there's coloring to be done, and tickling, and kissing and hugging, and phone calls to make, and new recipes to look for, and birthday parties to plan, and....
What's weird is that I'm totally OCD about a lot of things house related. My pantry has to be completely orderly and organized, with cans stacked and lined up perfectly, everything sorted and shelved and just so. I have to wash dishes in a certain order. If I'm washing sippy cups and Cameron walks by and throws a spoon into the dishwater, I almost have a panic attack. Organization magazines and websites are like crack to me, I can't get enough. I would love to have a bin and cubby for everything, but I don't, and I can't just blame it on the fact that that kind of thing can get really expensive. I've always been a walking contradiction.
We all struggle with embarrassing things, I guess, and that's mine. My husband, half lovingly, once said that I was a great wife, but a terrible roommate. But anyway, I'm always trying to do better, and have decided it's just habit. So I'm trying to form new habits, they only take 28 days, right? I keep referring to my Coke habit, I used to drink a six pack a day, and now one sip makes me sick to my stomach, so if I can kick Coke, I can do anything!
So, along with just trying to keep things better picked up during the day, we've created a new nightly routine. D'Laney always goes to bed at 9, so now at 8:30, we turn off all TVs and pick up the playroom, living room, and her room. Right now she's at an age where she loves to help clean, so I'm hoping to make all this habit for later when she's not such a fan. After everything is picked up, then we do the normal PJs, teeth, and bed dance. If Brynna isn't already in bed, I put her down, too, whether she's acting tired or not. I've never been one to push a schedule at her age, but she's getting old enough now to follow one, even if it is way loose.
After the girls are in bed, I make sure the kitchen is done, sweep, swiffer, vacuum, and for the last few nights, gone straight to bed. So far, so good, but it's only been a few nights.
Why am I telling you all this? I'm not really sure. I hate to have anyone think less of me, and believe me, from the outside, that's exactly what I think. I guess maybe if I put in out there, share my dirty (hehe) little secret, I'll be more accountable for it? I'm not sure, but I have to be better about this stuff. If other people did their job the way I do mine, they'd be fired. It's really as simple as that. And hey, cleaning more will burn more calories, right? Maybe this will help me get in shape faster, cause I've been dropping the ball there, too. Surprise, surprise!

It was nice knowing ya!

I'm a little behind on blogging because I've been dying. At least I thought so. I finally went to the doctor Monday morning thinking I was getting strep throat and was diagnosed with a sinus infection and allergies. I wanted to say, listen here, Miss Resident-not-quite-a-real-doctor-yet. I know allergies, and this ain't it!! But anyway, she gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way, and sure enough, a couple days later, nice little white polyps spring up on my tonsils. I WebMDed step and the course of treatment is what I'm on anyway, so I decided not to go back to the almost-doc and wait it out. My sweet husband really helped with the girls, by calling his mom and asking if she could keep them for a few days, lol. So, Brynna's first night away from home was not ideal, but she's doing great. Thank goodness she was already weaned!
Today, I woke up a new woman! I hate when it happens like that. So Cameron and I are out the door to Iraan to pick up our babies! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

3 year milestones

~talks. all. day. long.
~weighs around 30 lbs
~wears 3T clothes and size 7 shoes
~can almost recite the whole alphabet
~can sign several letters
~can verbally spell her name, but never on command
~pretends to write
~pretends to read
~can draw a circle and a square
~knows left from right
~has no interest in learning to tie her shoes (so we have no shoes that need to be tied)
~wants her hair down most of the time, but if it must go up, she prefers one ponytail, with a ribbon or a bow
~we haven't cut bangs, but she has a row of baby hair that looks like really really short bangs.
~hair is still curly underneath, straight on top (makes it hard to just leave down)
~calls her sister "lil' fella"
~still takes a nap, usually around 1 or 2, and will sleep anywhere from 1.5 to 4 hours
~goes to bed at 9, and wakes up at 6:30, every.single.day, so I turn on disney in our room, she sits in the recliner and I go back to sleep for another hour or so.
~is very, very picky when it comes to food, but I think that's my fault. I haven't been very good about making her try new things, but she's getting better. Her favorite meal is meat of any kind, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad with no tomatoes and only italian dressing. I can't say the kid has bad taste.
~likes to wear dresses, or nothing but panties. most days we go through several dresses before we settle on just panties. she especially loves princess dresses, tiaras, and accessories.
~looks so much like me at her age it's a little scary (but not as scary as how much Brynna looks like Cameron!)
~acts so much like Cameron it's VERY scary, lol. I'm kidding of course. A little.
~what I mean by that is she is very social. she'll talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Cameron is like that now, but says that at her age, he was scared of his own shadow and very shy. No one believes him, though.
~is very tenderhearted. she hates to see any other child crying or upset.
~likes to color, but doesn't even try to stay in the lines, loves puzzles, and playing with her baby dolls.
~loves to cuddle now, which she hated when she was younger.

there ya go, a short, scattered run down on what laney-bug is up to as a big ol' 3 year old.

worst mother of the day, month, year!!

I just realized how extremely Brynna-heavy this blog has been lately. The only D'Laney post in the last few months has been about her birthday party, with one dinky little picture of her (although there was a link to more.) How negligent of me! I promise we don't send D'Laney to a tower while we ooh and aah over Brynna, but to look at this blog, you'd sure think so! I could justify it by saying that, at this age, D'Laney doesn't really hit any milestones or anything, so there's less to document, but that's really not true. There's probably more to document, especially what comes out of her sweet little mouth. I'm going to fix this.

9 months!!

Brynna turned 9 months a couple of weeks ago, but I was waiting to post anything about it until after her well baby on friday.
Here's what my not-such-a-baby is up to:
~has 6 teeth
~crawling, fast, everywhere
~standing for several seconds at a time, and sits down with complete body control
~has begun eating table food. I'm still making her food, but I'm processing it less, leaving it more chunky. She's also feeding herself some. Her favorite foods to eat herself are peas, carrots, green beans, waffles, mac and cheese.
~is drinking from a sippy cup
~says Momma... over and over and over again. But she's saying the word, not just making the sound.
~is very shy in public, but pretty vocal at home.
~waves bye-bye and beckons with a "come here" hand movement.
~is trying to clap, but ends up missing her hands and slams them on her legs.
~has the bluest eyes and BLONDE hair!!
~loves loves loves her big sister. She follows D'Laney everywhere and laughs at everything she does and says.

Brynna got a gold star from Dr. Patyrak. He was very impressed with her gross motor skills, saying she was about 3 notches higher than was average for her age, and is absolutely healthy... except for her weight. She had only gained 3 ounces in 2 months. Now, it's not uncommon for babies her age to have not gained much during this stage, due to crawling and becoming so much more active. But it's usually more than 3 oz. I wondered not if, but when we were going to get this report. You might remember this, when D'Laney turned a year and my milk had apparently dried up, with out my knowing, and D'Laney wasn't getting the nutrition she needed. I had intended to ask Dr. P about going ahead and starting Brynna on whole milk now, I really wanted to skip formula. He basically said that we needed to do something different, that my milk was probably beginning to dry up. He said that since she is only 9 months, starting her on whole milk is fine as long as I supplement with a poly-vi-sol multivitamin with iron until she is a year. So we've begun the weaning process. Brynna loves milk, which I'm so glad for. I'm still nursing her 2 or 3 times a day, when it's time for her to sleep. I don't think that putting her down without nursing her will be much of an adjustment, but I wanted to wean a little less abruptly this time, and thought since she usually falls asleep at the breast, those would be the best times to keep nursing. And let me assure you, my milk is just beginning to dry up, I'm still producing, and even though Brynna is still nursing some, I'm in so much pain! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do NOT envy large chested women. Hopefully over the next couple days my body will take the hint and stop producing so much and cutting back will be a little easier.
Other than that, Brynna is doing so well. She has the sweetest, gentlest personality. I never knew that two siblings could be so different, but their last name is about all my girls have in common. They have such different looks, mannerisms, and personalities, and I love it. I think it will balance very well.
I'm starting to plan Brynna's first birthday party. I'm so excited! I love planning parties.
OH! I wanted to wish a huge congratulations to Lane and Page Boyd! Baby Sawyer was born yesterday! Bless this sweet boy, he has 3 older sisters! But I know they'll love him to pieces. Page let Lane chose Sawyer's name, and he didn't even tell HER until he was born! I could never have done that, but I could never be super mom to 4 kids in 5 years either, and Page does it so well! So congrats Boyds, we love you and are so happy for all 6 of you!!

Things on my T shirt

~poop
~butt paste
~dissolved yogurt bites
~dissolved puffs
~snot (Brynna's, D'Laney's, and mine)
~chicken and sweet potato puree
~sprite
~flour
~milk (from Brynna's cup and my own "cups")

And I've only had this shirt on for about an hour! I think I'll go change now.

Iraan Homecoming

We went to Cameron's homecoming this weekend. Iraan does homecoming like I've never seen, it's 90% about the Ex's coming home (I guess that's how it should be, given the name.) Our niece Loren was chosen as the freshman duchess, so she got to get all gussied up and looked absolutely beautiful! The game was pretty exciting with the Braves winning in overtime. Of course, Brynna and I left right after the halftime presentation, so I missed all the excitement. Saturday was a parade and a tribute to Lucky Floyd, who was the band director there for many years. During the tribute, several ex band members, including Cameron and his sister Amy, performed and sounded really good! I was really surprised, some of those people have been out of school for nearly 30 years! Here's a link to all the pics that I took, but here's our sweet Lo, as D'Laney calls her. She's such a beautiful girl, inside and out, and we're so proud of her! And the boys, too!