Rethinking my showering buddy

During a long shower yesterday, I composed a post (in my head) about how great it is to shower with Talia. She is terrified of the bath lately and will tolerate a shower if I take it with her. We're lucky enough to have a larger than normal bathtub/shower in our master bathroom so it works out nicely. I get to kill (or bathe) two birds with one stone. I also get to see her cute little bum (what's cuter than a wet baby?!) as she wanders around the shower busy with whatever "project" she has come up with the shampoo bottles and bath toys I've brought in. I don't have to worry about what she might be destroying around the house as I shower so I can indulge myself with longer than normal time under the relaxing warm water.

These are all the reasons I was I thinking up until I heard a little grunting sound. You might imagine my dismay as I looked down to see that she had pooped right there in MY bathtub. She's done this in her bathtub and it didn't seem to bother me that much - you kind of expect kids' bathtubs to be pooped in once in a while. There seems to be something sacred about my tub though and she had defiled it!

All I could think, as I made some naked mad dashes between the shower and the toilet, was that I wished I hadn't given her so much to eat for dinner the night before (sorry for the visual), why do we have such a large mirror right there? (again, sorry for the visual), and GOOD GRIEF! Being a mom is so awesome.

Sucker for a Museum

I'm a sucker for a good children's museum. Mike likes to call me a "leave-the-house-mom" because I get cabin fever very easily. Museums are a great alternative to sitting around in my sweats eating bon-bons (does anyone really do that?) or blowing an entire paycheck at Target. I also love taking the girls to them because they get to play and discover things they wouldn't at home. I usually like playing with the exhibits too. And, if I'm lucky enough to go with a friend, it's a great time to get some adult conversation and not feel like I'm neglecting my children. The item in my wallet that gets used almost as much as my credit card is my museum pass. It gets me into science museums all over the country for a bargain price. Thanks to Jennette for sharing the beauty of the pass with me a few years ago! I took Talia to Charlotte's Discovery Place yesterday with some friends and as you can see from the pictures she had a blast (I did too).

The Ultimate Compliment

The other night we had some friends over for dinner. During the chaos that ensued after dinner (six adults, five kids under 5) Siena ran up to our friend and said "Shelley, I like your style!" I just hope I'll get the same compliment some day (preferably when she's a teenager).

Mama's Little Helper

This morning as we rushed to get everyone out the door (when are we not rushing to get out the door?) Talia decided to help out by emptying the dishwasher while I wasn't looking. I love the "helper" stage even though it's definitely a mixed blessing at times.

Watching her reminded me of a funny story from when Siena was about the same age. I had just come home from grocery shopping and was deep in conversation with Mike as we put away the groceries. Siena pulled things out of the bags and said "helping, helping" as she handed them to us. We were shocked out of our conversation when she handed me an egg carton that was half full (eek!). The other six were in the bottom of a grocery bag (only 3 broke). We couldn't get upset and just laughed it off as we cleaned it up. It also reminds me of the story about my little brother (Scott) dumping eggshells into a huge batch of bread my mom was making. She ended up baking it anyway (we're still not sure if she knew about the eggshells before or after the bread came out of the oven) and we had to eat very crunchy bread for a few weeks!

Happy Valentine's Day! and Primary Song mix up

I pretended to be super mom this morning and in honor of the holiday made pink heart-shaped pancakes. Siena was very excited about them and gobbled them up quickly (which is not a small accomplishment for her). Mike asked me teasingly if I was using them as a subtle reminder so he wouldn't forget that it was Valentine's Day. Whatever works, right?!

Here are the girls in their super pink outfits (go right ahead and tease me Devin). Thanks to the grandparents for the great v-day packages! We loved the candy, books, and clothes. One of the few perks of living away from family is the excitement of receiving a package in the mail. It's silly, but even I enjoy it immensely.
For the past year or so whenever we have Family Home Evening (Mormon tradition of spending Monday nights as a family and usually includes a religious lesson, playing games, singing songs, and the all-important treat) Siena has requested the song "Give Said the Little Stream" - or so we thought. For those of you who don't know the song these are the lyrics:

Give said the little stream, give oh give, give oh give

Give said the little stream as it hurried down the hill.

I'm small I know but wherever I go the grass grows greener still

Singing, singing all the day, give away oh give away

Singing, singing all the day, give oh give away

On Monday she requested it again and after we sang it she said, "Why do we always have to give Seth (her cousin) the string? I want to the have the string." It took me a minute to figure out that, for all this time, she has thought the song went "Give Seth the little string." It made us laugh and laugh. It's good to know that I've passed on my gift of hearing and continually singing the wrong words to songs.

Dinner Conversation

Here's how our dinner conversation went the other night . . .



I guess we need to work on animal noises and body parts a bit more.

The BFG

I took Siena to see a production of Roald Dahl's BFG at the Children's Theatre of Charlotte last night. It was so great! The costumes/puppets were amazing. The best part was watching the adults who played the giants. They seemed to be having a blast. Siena was a bit scared of the giants at first but once I pointed out the people that were inside she calmed down. She especially enjoyed the "whiz popper" references. I loved reading BFG and can't wait to read it (to Siena) again.

American Gladiator

See this sweet face?


Behind it lies a fierce competitor. Whenever I try to clean the house, especially the girls' room, Talia is right there ready to thwart my efforts. I feel like I'm on American Gladiator. For those of you who haven't watched it it's a TV show which features average Americans doing physical challenges while a "gladiator" (freakishly muscled person with a unexplained vendetta against all the contestants) does all they can to keep that person from succeeding. I've only briefly watched the new version but watched way too much of the old one when I was a kid. For example, while I put away her blocks she dumps out the dress ups. While I clean up the dress ups she throws the plastic food all around the room. All the while she seems very serious about what she's doing and babbles purposefully complete with nodding and hand gestures. Sometimes she wins (I give up) and occasionally I do (I throw her in her crib while I catch up). Good thing she's so cute. I call this her "bring it on" look. Notice the destruction behind her.