A Beautiful Mess

She's just a little girl being a little girl. She bounces about the house, voice volume raised about 5 levels too high, laughing, singing, yelling in excitement and her voice sounds like a cheery little mouse. She almost always seems to be on an emotional high. So bubbly it drives me crazy sometimes. But then, it's also wonderfully contagious. I love that smile. And if she comes to me with that big grin on her face, I surely have to reciprocate.

 Of course I think even her mischief is cute right now. It won't be for long I know. I do try not to show that I am thoroughly entertained by her antics but I know she knows we're smiling under our stern looks. Her behavior is just so funny. For example...

Either I have a very large rodent helping itself to my snack pantry - OR - I have a very mischievous child indeed who helps herself to crackers and then hides the evidence. Hmmm....

 

Never trust a quiet 2 year old. Yeah. It's permanent.

 

 

 I smell mischief again. There's an open Goldfish box in my living room this morning and I didn't put it there. And curiously, Brookelynn's breath smells of, wait for it... Goldfish.

I'm sitting in Harry's room rocking and snuggling and in the next room I hear the following conversation.
H: Brookewinn, do you wanna take a bath?
B: Okay. I take my cwoves off. Do you wanna take your cwoves off? (Asking in the same high ...pitched cheery voice you would ask a mouse if he wants tea).
At this point I'm intently listening trying to decide if I shall intervene. A few seconds later, a naked bottomed Brookelynn comes in the room all tangled up in her shirt.
B: Mommy, I take my cwoves off. I take a baff. Hewlp me.
Me: What are you taking a bath in???
H: (answering from the next room) In the tub. (Storage tub)
Ok. Sure. They're happy. Let them pretend to take a bath in the storage tub I tell myself. B re enters H's room. And they play another minute until I hear this...
H: Now, Brookewinn, go potty in the tub...
NOOOooo!!!!!! Intervene quick!

Mommy's mascara and lipstick. Decided this would be fun after playing with a pretend vanity and makeup set at church. 

I picked up Brookelynn's play bag this afternoon and found four of Harry's dirty diapers in it. Why??? Who knows. Maybe she wanted it to be a "diaper bag."

She came in my room and snuggled in my bed. She does this every morning. Then she got thirsty. I learned a while back that the constant morning nagging for "milk pwease" before I was ready to get up was slowly going to drive me insane if I ...didn't figure out a plan. So I taught her how to open the fridge door and get her pre-filled (the night before) sippy cup of milk herself. This routine has worked well for both of us. She gets her milk and snuggles in the bed with me and I get about 30 glorious extra minutes without having to get up. Genius! So today as usual, she came to my bed, got thirsty and headed to the fridge for her milk. When she came back, I could tell she had something in her mouth. Around the face was a bluish substance. Along with her milk, she had taken the liberty to eat a few blueberries. Little stinker. Ha! I stayed in bed and cuddled a while longer then got up to make my coffee and found this. The door had been open for almost an hour. Guess I should have put her sippy cup on the BOTTOM shelf. The blueberries were in plain sight and easily within her reach. No wonder she was tempted to eat them. I later found an empty container of blueberries on the floor in her room, with a few spilled berries on her rug. That girl!!!

Oh yes. In addition to all these things, I can't forget to mention that the child is excessively accident prone. If she falls and hits her head in one spot, she falls and hits it in the same spot ten times. We have injuries that we've nursed for months for this very reason (and because she picks at her injuries and makes them bleed over and over again).



Still smiling after falling into the lake head first and hitting her face on a submerged brick. Why did she fall into the lake? She slipped. Bless her heart. The forehead scrape is a re-injury from a tricycle fall the day before. It just never stops with her.

There are many more stories like these about our sneaky little B and they will always make us smile. So many things that I didn't take a picture of. Vaseline in her hair, Neosporin on her face, clothes and all boo boos. The stories go on and on. If that's not enough, she also a chatter box and comes up with some pretty hilarious word replacements for the ones she can't pronounce (which is still about 80% of her vocabulary). She's a hog of all phone and/or Skype devices. If we FaceTime with her grandmama or one of her aunts, she must be in the center of the camera and she must be the one doing all the talking. You can't get a word in edgewise. Don't even try. 

This age and stage is one I'm enjoying with her. Soon, she'll be pronouncing her words with more clarity instead of the darling jibber jabber, she will be even more defiant and sneaky than she already is, and she'll be pushing those boundaries even harder than she is right now (and it won't be cute). Lord, give us wisdom to guide her! But I hope she never loses that zeal for life and contagious smile she has as a 2 1/2 year old. It is beautiful. One of my friends describes her little girl as a "beautiful mess." If I had to sum up Brookelynn in two words, those would be exactly the words I choose. Brookelynn...my beautiful mess.

Hair a mess, a self added accessory, a very dirty face and into trouble. That's my girl.

Date Night with my Baby Boy

Last night was a special night for me and my boy. We went on a date and then went to see Haynes' FIRST musical. Maybe it wasn't as big of a deal to him, but its was a very nostalgic moment for me. We went out to eat with my sisters first. Haynes always enjoys time with his aunts. He doesn't get that much of that. We shared a nice (but slightly rushed) dinner and Haynes even got a smoothie since he was my special date. He will go on a date with me any time now - just for another smoothie. Then we rushed off to see the play. I was quite excited to see this play because the music, lyrics, and story were written by one of my dear friends, Martin Landry and his lovely wife, Janice. They did a phenomenal job. It was hilariously entertaining, had a wonderful message and was just plain fun to watch. The kids obviously had a great time doing the play as well and the actors and actresses were great. Well done Crossroads Christian! That's how I felt about it all. Of course, I was concerned that taking my 3 year old little BOY to sit through a 2 hr long play that started AT HIS BEDTIME could potentially turn out to be a very bad decision but I was pleased to see that Haynes seemed to be thoroughly entertained as well. He is always so funny about noise. Loud noises (many people singing, kids choir, a really loud room, etc) make him anxious and the first thing he does is cover his ears. He did exactly as I expected and covered his ears whenever they sang or the cast got loud. However, he watched intently as they danced and acted out their roles. He was very intrigued. By the end of the first act, he had become more comfortable with the situation and was much more at ease. At intermission, I rushed him straight back to potty. Remember that smoothie? Yeah. It dawned on me somewhere in the first act that it may have been a terrible idea to give him a big drink that he guzzled right before we had to sit for a long period of time. He did just fine. Man, he is really growing up. By the second act, there was no more ear holding. He was downright laughing right along with the rest of the crowd and seemed to have picked out his favorite characters to watch. He giggled everytime he saw someone do something funny. It was a joy to watch his reaction to their play. I wish I were able to capture a picture of his smiles and giggles but I feel sure I would have been strongly disliked if I started snapping pictures of my own kid out in the crowd as the play went on. He did truly enjoyed his first show.
Who would have thought that the first play I ever took my first baby to would be a play written my my dear friends? It will forever be a special night to me. My first date with Haynes, his first of many musicals - and a very special musical at that. I love that thought.

Thank you Martin and Janice for your creative and entertaining work! You guys did an awesome job and we enjoyed it very, very much.

My Little One

I had my 32 week visit and all is well. I admit that this pregnancy has had me more on edge with worries than I usually have. As an L&D nurse, I see a lot of women in situations that would either scare me to death or emotionally break me down. I know too well what could happen at any point in pregnancy and sometimes, when you're pregnant, you just can't get those "what if that happens to me" thoughts out of your head - especially when you see them happen every day that you are at work. I hate those thoughts. I hate those feelings. I don't want to be consumed with worry when I know beyond any doubt that I have a sovereign God who has EVERYTHING in his hands. He is in control and knows the time this baby will be born. Early or not, healthy or not, really small or just big, this baby is in the Lord's hands and completely loved by him. Why should I fear? No matter what happens, God is good. I believe that. I just have to remind myself about 20 times a week.
So back to my appointment...
First, after having contractions since around 18 weeks, and history of preterm delivery (late preterm - but still preterm), and having been on progesterone injections and procardia (a blood pressure med) both used to slow down or stop contractions, it's no wonder that fear of a preterm delivery has been in the forefront of my mind. I have been checked at almost every prenatal visit just to make sure nothing is going on. And, praise the Lord, it still looks good. Not dilated! It sounds funny to be happy about that but we're still too early for me to be excited about any progression
.
Second, Little One's fetal heart rate was 150 bpm today. It is always such a beautiful sound.

Third and best of all, I got a look at a sweet little profile and a precious face today. I really needed that. It is amazing what we can see with modern ultrasounds today! These pictures don't really do justice to the actual ultrasound photos. I just took pictures of my pictures with my phone but you can see well enough how beautiful this baby is! I'm absolutely in love. I can't wait 'til the day I get to hold this baby in my arms.

Don't these pictures melt your heart? Yes, I know they do because they are precious. *wink, wink* Now notice that we still have NO photos of the private area. I'm curious to know what everyone thinks.
Is this a Harrison "Harry" Lane Ellis or a Selah Anne Ellis? What do you think?

First Dentist Appointment!

Well today was a big day in my book. We had our first dentist appointment for Haynes and Brookelynn. I was so nervous that it would be a traumatic experience that I delayed making an appointment for Haynes by an entire year. After getting multiple opinions about dentists in the area and having multiple great reviews about Dr Massey, I finally got up the confidence to call for their first visit.
First thing this morning, I had them watching an educational you tube video on my computer about going to the dentist for the first time as they ate their Cheerios and banana. I don't know that it helped but at least they had some idea of what all those strange instruments were coming at their face. Then off we went to to see the dentist. They were called back and escorted to two little dentist chairs right next to each other. They both had sweet little hygienists who made them feel comfortable with the whole experience. They showed them each every little tool they were going to use and even coaxed both of them into letting them floss their teeth!!!! I have never been brave enough to attempt that. I sat and watched in amazement as my children willingly and without complaint had their first exam and cleaning. I was a proud mama at that moment and VERY relieved! It was over in no time and then they were rewarded with their goody bag and special toothbrushes. Dr Massey came and looked at their teeth and said they were beautiful (of course). And then they were done. We were out in about 30 minutes. On our way out the door, the kids were given a coin to get a prize. Haynes chose a bouncy ball and Brookelynn chose a bracelet. They thought the whole thing was just great. Thank goodness! Maybe they won't have the terrible anxieties that I have about going I the dentist for a cleaning. i have always hated the dentist. If anyone's interested, we went to Trussville Pediatric Dentistry. I would highly recommend.

www.trussvillepediatricdentistry.com

Snow... for a second.

In Alabama, we take any "snow" we can get. People go crazy around here at the mere mention of the stuff. It's pretty wild. But we do love a good snow every once in a while. And by good I mean, more than 1/4 inch. I've been disapointed enough as a child by getting my hopes up for snow only to be crushed that it never happens. So now, I pretty much don't believe there's going to be snow, inspite of every weather forecast, until I see it and it sticks. Then I allow myself to get excited about it. I told Haynes it was snowing this afternoon and that is the picture I most wish I had gotten. His face lit up with a smile and we went to the front door to get a better look. Great big snow flurries were falling heavily and were just beginning to accumulate on the ground. It looked like it would be promising. Brookelynn giggled and grinned at it. She really didn't know anything about snow but she was excited because we were. This is Brookelynn's first snow! We stared out at it for some time and marveled at it's beauty. Snow really is beautiful. I sent Haynes and Brookelynn to bed for their naps knowing that they would be short ones. That was okay. I really wanted to go play too but there wasn't enough to play in right then. The both went to bed still marveling at the snow. They actually both took good naps and both woke up happy and excited about going out. Brandon even got off early so we started the process of getting our layers of clothing on while we waited on him to come home. Then out we went into the wet, sticky, not so good but good enough for us, snow. It was VERY wet and messy but it didn't matter to them. They laughed and giggled as they experienced the cold stuff and threw it around and tasted it. Haynes made some snow balls had a blast trying to get us with them. Brookelynn would pick up a little piece of snow with her glove and toss it trying to hit something, and then laugh and laugh. Haynes has seen, I believe, 3 or 4 snows now, but it makes me smile to think that this is the first one he might actually remember. It was melting as we played but I am thankful for that little bit of snow.

 Our house and our neighbors house in the midst of the blizzard.

 

And then it was time to warm their frost bitten hands with hot chocolate and a big marshmallow. Of course, they loved it.

 



A weekend at the lake.

Every year we (my friends and I) try and plan a weekend away at Smith Lake. It's usually in the fall but this year, every one was busy and we couldn't work out a time to go. So we rescheduled for January. I was happy to see this weekend come for several reasons. 1. It meant we got a break from our beloved children. I love them dearly but it so nice to have a day or two without them. 2. It marked the last of the travels we will be doing for a while. I love going places but I sure am ready to get back to some sort of routine after the holidays. 3. We got to spend some time with our friends, doing nothing but eating, sleeping, having entertaining conversation about grown up topics (well, sort of), playing games, and watching movies. No one feels the absolute need to wear makeup or fix their hair. We takes turns cooking and cleaning up and there is always a good meal at every meal time. Aaaand... we split it so many ways, it's a very inexpensive getaway. It is always a fun and relaxing weekend.

 

Shlok and Addie were graciously allowed to come along. They provided much entertainment.

Richa caught herself up on Downton Abbey Season 2. Thank heavens. Now she can watch season 3 with the rest of the girls.

 



A big thank you to Joy for doing the planning of a lovely trip at the best lake house ever. You always make it work. :-)