Girl = DRAMA!

I am beginning to notice some major differences between boys and girls the older that Emmy gets.  At least my boy and girl that is.  For instance, the other day big brother and little momma BOTH got in trouble for a bad report while we were eating at a restaurant with friends.  The result: both kids had to put their favorite toy in time out for the rest of the day when we got home.  We are very big on choices in our house.  For example, good choices = good consequences (i.e. act good at a restaurant = you get to watch a movie in the car on the way home) but bad choices = bad consequences (i.e. spill two drinks because you are standing up in the benches, knocking over baskets of tortilla chips onto the ground, fighting with each other, and getting out of your seats to run around the restaurant like little crazies = you get your favorite toy put in time out when you get home.)

Easton had to put one of his Star Wars characters in Time Out (you can barely see it sitting next to Emmy's doll).  His response: "OK mom.  Here you go.  When I get a good report can I get it out of time out?"

Little momma had to put her precious "Baby Nana" in timeout.  Her response: DRAMA.(30 minutes of it to be exact.)

Drama queen: take one.

Try persuasive tactics and maneuvers.

***Stand and stare at the doll for 15 minutes with your head slightly cocked to the left while crying uncotrollably and fogging up your glasses (see picture below) and using choice phrases such as:

1.”But she’s my Baby NaNa....my FAVORITE baby.”
2. “But I NEED her. I love her so much.”
3. “I love her so very, very, very much.”
4. “But I love her more than any other baby.”
5. “But Santa brought her to me and she’s my baby.” (Hmmmm...that’s an interesting angle I had never thought of.”
6. But she doesn’t like the time out chair. Baby Nana neds her mommy.”

Drama queen: take two.

Hit mom where it hurts by moving into "manipulation mode."

Move to the ground, continue crying, and begin to manipulate her “mother’s heart" by saying choice phrases such as:

1. “But she needs her mommy so bad.”

2. “But she can’t go to sleep unless her mommy puts her to bed.” and my personal favorite....

3. “But I need to put Baby Nana in her crib and put her night-night.  She is so tired.  She is SO TIRED!!”

I will have everyone know that I was struggling at this point and almost gave in.  Seriously?!?!  Look at her! 

Drama queen: take three.
Full on freak-out mode.
For this portion of the demonstration, the camera had to be put down.  Let's just say that this part involves now laying on the floor while making gagging noises and dry heaving.  This would be the portion where mom picks the daughter up and carries her upstairs to put her to bed because it is obviously way past nap-time.

So all you moms out there....I want to know two things:

1.  Are your girls more dramatic than your boys (if you have both)?
2.  Do you use the "Toy in Time-Out" method or not?

Happy Birthday Emmy Grace

My baby girl turned three this past weekend. I can hardly believe that it has already been three years ago that she came into this world. What a blessing she has been to our lives. I was one of those moms who never thought they wanted or needed a little girl. Give me sports, fights, and dirtiness anyday over drama, dress-up, and PMS'ing. That's the way I thought. I always said I wanted four boys....NO girls. I was a tomboy....I never played with dolls. I climbed trees, played in the woods, and had a scab collection with my bestfriend Lauri growing up (Yes, we saved ALL of our scabs and believe me, there were plenty of them). When I found out I was having a girl, I was actually disappointed. Now I look at my beautiful, precious daughter and realize what a gift from God she is. Even though I didn't think I wanted a girl, He gave me the most amazing, sweet, and beautiful little girl. Now I realize that my life would not have been complete without her.

Emmy Grace,

I love you with a love that is unfathomable. You will never begin to understand the love that I have for you until you hold your beautiful daughter in your arms one day. I love your voice...how it is the perfect blend of Southern Belle with just a tad bit of nasality. It literally makes every single thing that comes out of your mouth absolutely adorable. I love how you say "Sanks mom" instead of thanks, "Everysing" instead of everything, and "peet" for feet. I love how when you wake up you crawl in bed with me and curl your body up next to mine so tightly. I love how every morning you tell me, "Mommy, I can't see so well without my glasses." I love how when I put them on your face you scrunch your nose up and push your glasses up on your face then you look up at me like you are seeing me for the first time ever and say, "Sanks Mom." I love how you are so easygoing and content. You love playing whatever your brother wants you to play and are content to be ANY character that he ever wants you to be while playing pretend Star Wars with him...even if it's Yoda or some other ugly creature. I love when you sing. I love how sensitive you are. I love how when you get upset you say, "That makes me angry" or "That makes me so, so sad." I love your curls. More specifically, I love the one little ringlet that frames your face just perfectly. I love everything about you, baby girl. You are and always will be my "Little Momma."

Here are some facts about you at this age:
Favorite Movie: Little Mermaid
Favorite Song: Little Mermaid songs
Favorite tv show: Dora the Explorer
Favorite toys: anything animal (My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop, stuffed animals), also baby dolls, and you loved to read books
Favorite activity: Going to the zoo
Clothes size: 3T
Height: 38 1/2 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 35 pounds (90th percentile)
You aren't going to school right now...you did last year but this year you are staying at home with momma. You started dance and absolutely LOVE it. You are so kind and thoughtful and every week you pick a flower to take to your dance teacher, Mrs. Jennifer at Jenks Dance Academy.

A Day In the Life of: A Trip to Tin Star

So it's time for another edition of A Day in the Life of....One mom's way of finding the humor out of life with three small kids. We have been stuck in the house ALL week because I have been sick. Now all you moms out there know what this is like....after a few days of not getting out, no school, and no playdates, the kids become like wild, caged animals....just chomping at the bit to get out of their cages and go crazy! So some friends called and asked us to meet them at Tin Star, which we did. It wasn't one of our worst outings, but it definitely wasn't our best either. I was blocked in at the table on all sides by carseats and kids so when I tried to slide out of my seat, I knocked over my huge 32 oz drink FULL of ice onto my lap.

ME (Thinking to myself): AWESOME! This is JUST the way I wanted to start out my lunch experience. Now I get to sit here and feel like I wet my pants throughout the rest of our lunch. Our food comes and we eat without too many problems other than me feeling like I peed myself and then it happens....the kids run out of food. Now all you moms out there know what this means. As soon as your kids run out of food they become bored and that is when everything turns south. Emmy decides to start running laps around the restaurant and when she does, she slips on the leftovers of my drink spillage and falls flat on her face. Screaming ensues. Damage control happens. We get everyone back in their seats and try again. The next thing I know, Easton has his boots off (yes he wore brown cargo khaki shorts with cowboy boots to the restaurant and we just went with it today) and is crawling around under the table on the nasty floor with no shoes on....GROSS! Of course Emmy and her friend Owen decide that if Easton is doing it, they should too. Awesome! Now we have three kids crawling around on the nasty floor under the table! We get them back in their seats again and I try to continue my conversation. I start to feel a shoe kicking me in the back. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! I'm about to rage at this point because that is so rude and those of you who know me know that I have a serious foot/shoe fetish and I DON'T like to be touched with feet OR shoes. I turn around and Easton has his boots on his hands and is using them to "walk" up and down my back to get my attention because he wants to show me his blister. He shows me the blister and I tell him that he is going to have to put his boots back on.
Easton: "NO! I can hop on one foot like a bunny rabbit to the car."
Me: "NO! You most definitely can NOT so put your boots back on.
I continue my conversation and a few seconds later I hear this:
Easton: "MOM! Look at me! I told you I could hop like a bunny rabbit." And just like that my son is hopping around Tin Star with cargo khaki shorts on, one cowboy boot on his foot, and one cowboy boot on his hand which he is using to slam down on the tables as he passes them.
Me: It's time to call it a day.

***WARNING**** - This next part will contain sensitive material (aka POOP stories).
We get home and both kids run inside and start fighting over who is going to get to poop in the "chosen toilet." We have four bathrooms in our house and I don't understand for the life of me WHY they have to poop in the same bathroom, but they do. Of course Easton beats Emmy to the upstairs toilet which means she sets on the little potty-training toilet to poop. Yes people, that means it's the toilet that does not flush so I have to scoop the poop out with my hand, throw it in the toilet and then clean the toilet out with Clorox wipes....WHY, WHY, WHY can't she just poop in the other upstairs bathroom!?!?! So after I am done cleaning Cohen's blow-out diaper, I go in the bathroom and have not one but TWO bottoms to wipe and a potty training toilet to sanitize. I wipe Easton and wash his hands and then get to Emmy. I finish wiping her bottom and then it happens....that moment as a mom when you forget all the crap you have to go through and realize that ALL of it...the poop, the throw-up, the screaming, the fits....ALL of it is SO worth it. She grabs onto my legs, looks up at me with those precious brown eyes, scrunches up her nose and takes the palm of her hand to push her glasses up on her face so she can see me better, and says...
"Mom...You are my mommy. You help me ALL day long (pause while she looks up at me adoringly through her ridiculously cute glasses). 'Sanks Mom.' (aka Thanks Mom) I love you."

WOW! Talk about melting my heart. These are the moments that I realize they are growing up by the minute. That I am going to blink my eyes and my son is going to be walking into high school. That I am going to blink again and my daughter is going to have a white dress on and be driving off into the sunset with her new husband. And it makes me realize that I want to hold onto these moments and treasure them....even though I am wiping bottoms and taking care of kids while I am sick and cleaning up throw up and breaking up fights. Because when that day comes that she drives off into the horizon in her white dress holding her husband's hand, I know that my heart will break and I will want to give anything, ABSOLUTELY anything to go back to that moment when she said, "Mom....You are my mommy. You help me ALL day long. Sanks mom. I love you."

And on a lighter note...Here is Emmy's new thing - dressing herself! This is what she came down wearing this morning. A lovely ensemble with a leopard print/rose dress paired with chocolate brown multi-colored polka dot tights and to top it off....a competing leopard print bow. But isn't she still just the cutest thing?!?!?!

Baby Ballet

We have had a big week of firsts....(first trip to the lake for the kids - pictures to come, first day of school for Easton, and the first day of Baby Ballet at Jenks Dance Academy for Emmy). This means lots of pictures since I am psycho about practicing with my camera now, which means lots of blog postings....it truly is the easiest way to share the pictures with friends and family. So here are some from Emmy's big day today. She was absolutely precious! Oh, and I've been playing around with editing my pictures and I'd love some feedback. For instance, do you like this picture better above...we'll call it #1 (in faded black and white) or below #2 (in faded color)???

And do you like this one better...we'll call it #3 (with the white blurred edges) or the one below where she is setting (#4) better?

This is #4...with black blurred edges instead of white. What do you like better???

Little Red Riding Hood

OK, so the hood isn't red but I thought this was pretty cute anyways. Here's a few pics I snapped today of Emmy in her swimsuit cover-up. We have had swim lessons everyday for the past two weeks and she insists on wearing her hood everywhere we go when she is wearing her cover-up. I thought she looked pretty adorable with those curls coming out the sides of her "hood." Is it just me or does her hair look like it has the slightest auburn tint in some of the pics??

These boots are made for walkin'

Easton and Emmy found cowboy boots in Easton's closet and put them on. They were so cute, I had to take some pictures of them wearing their boots. They walked around ALL night wearing them and playing together. Also, I took a photography class from my dear friend Holly (check out her blog) and have been practicing with my camera. Hopefully you will notice that my pictures are getting better and better the more I practice! I am hoping to take another class soon.