My Special Boogar Present

Your receive many gifts as a mother. However, last night's gift topped them all. Ella approached me saying, "mommy, I have a special present for you!". She was holding out her hand and there was nothing in it, so I thought we were playing pretend because she is so into pretend play. As I knelt down she pointed to a boogar on her finger and said, "it's a special boogar present". For some reason, Ella always likes me to take the boogars off her finger and put them in trash. I ask her to put them in the trash herself, but for some reason she always wants me to take it off her finger and do it. Anyway, I started walking to the trash can with my special boogar present and Ella said, "mommy, don't throw it away.....it's special.....I picked it from my nose." So until Ella was distracted and left the room I kindly pretended to admire my "special boogar present" resting on my finger.

The BIG "one"

We had two families that we are good friends with over tonight for a birthday celebration. His birthday theme was dinosaurs. I'm not sure how much Bradley was really into it (not that I expected him to be), but he was into the cake! I hope you enjoy the pictures! Thanks for all the cards and birthday wishes. Bradley has a lot of new toys to play with and Ella is very excited about that!!!!!! She is just wondering when it is her turn to have a birthday!!!!

Popcorn Poop

This was too funny! Today Ella had to poop which already started out great because she locked herself in the bathroom and told me that she would let me in when she was done. However, then she proceeded to talk about what a mess it would be if she pooped on the floor. So, we got the key and went in. She was just sitting there on the toilet. When she finished she stood up and looked at it like always so she could name her family of poops and say goodbye before flushing. However, today she looked at the 2 little pieces and said, "look mom, popcorn poop". I asked Scott if he had said that to her before and he said no. I hadn't either, so she came up with it on her own. The 2 pieces did really resemble 2 large pieces of popcorn, so it was funny that she came up with the on her own.

Bradley, is walking everywhere and now he carries his cup with him. He has decided that it is hilarious to try to put his pacifier in my mouth instead of his and at night when I am rocking him if he is still a little playful, he will take it out of his mouth and throw it on the floor so I'll pick it up. It's funny the differences between girls and boys. Bradley will sit and hit his head against a wall or bop himself on the head with a toys and laugh at himself. He finds it so funny and never seems to feel any pain!

Hope you all have a great Mother's Day. We started ours off with church and then I got to try out my Mother's day/Birthday gift.....a bike trailer for the kids that is also a double stroller. It's fabulous....we all really like it for both uses!

Mealtime Madness

Bradley has now decided that it is hilarious to drop one piece of food of his tray at a time. Although it's funny to see him laugh so hard at himself, it is a very annoying behavior. I now have to sit and feed him 1 piece of food at a time. Then, there's Ella. If you have ever eaten a meal at a table with Ella, you have probably noticed that she has a very difficult time holding onto her cup and flatware. I've never seen a kid drop their stuff as much as Ella. I don't even think she does it on purpose half the time, she just constantly knocks her cup on the floor. By the time I get the table set, everyone ready to eat, gotten everyone everything they need and sit down to eat myself..........the food is cold and everyone is ready to be out of their seats before I'm even half way done!

Bradley completed his second swim lesson yesterday and is doing great. However, I am starting to notice that he cries anytime I come near him in the pool. In our lesson I have to scoop him under the water slowly and have him grab the wall when he comes up. I think he wonders why all of a sudden I chose to drown him. The water is a little cool, but feels good. However, I think Bradley prefers it a little warmer, so we'll see if he likes it better as it gets warmer and warmer. I never thought I would have the nerve to slowly dunk my own kid under water. I know it's best for him to learn to survive in the water, so I do it, but my heart always aches a little when I have to practice with him and put him under.

Ella has such a fun loving personality, but is starting to have a little attitude. We'll call it Toddler-tude. I was trying to talk to my boss today at the Y and Ella kept sternly saying, "stop talking mommy and talk to me." Gotta love that huh? It's just that age when they want all of your attention and will say or do anything to get it. The other day when the babysitter was over I came home and Ella had locked herself, Bradley, the babysitter and Chloe in her bedroom. Unfortunately, the key was not on the door sill that day, so they were stuck in their till I got home! I thought it was funny, but I think I was the only one who found that funny! Today after work I wasn't feeling that well, so I let Ella watch a movie during Bradley's morning nap. I laid with her on the couch thinking I would be able to take a nap. However, every time I fell asleep, Ella would pry one of my eyes open with her 2 gingers and yell, "WAKE UP". Needless to say, it was not a very good nap. I tried for 45 minutes and was probably woken up 100 times.

Hope you all have a great weekend and Mother's Day!

Princess Annalise and Baby Prince

A lot has happened since our last post. Ella is potty trained and Bradley is a full time walker. This has given the word "busy" a whole new meaning. Bradley is busy as ever copying everything that his sister does...safe or not safe (unfortunately) and I feel like I never get a second of peace. Bradley likes to come into the bathroom with Ella when she uses the potty and he becomes a major safety hazrd as he tries to reach through and put his hands in the toilet water, reach over the edge of the tub to pull out toys, yank on the shower curtain, etc. I have to sit him in the kitchen so I have time to get Ella on and off the toilet before he come walking in. Plus, all of this has Ella fascinated with male and female anatomy, so you never know when in public she will decide to announce who has what anatomy. This is usually entertaining for everyone around!

I think Scott is waking Ella every morning before he leaves for work and is giving her an energy drink! The kid can seriously go all day long. Not just physically but, vocally as well! Sometimes I think I should cut her nap down, so she doesn't recharge as fully in the afternoon, but who am I kidding. I am dreading the day that nap time no longer exists. That is my only time to rest so I can prepare for the second round of the day and I need that time. Bradley is busy exploring everything and testing out his new independence, which fully exhausts him. I have to wake him up from the majority of his naps and he always looks so dazed and confused when I pull him out of his crib. Some days he will nap up to 4.5 hours total...yeah!!!

Ella is really into these princesses and was introduced to some barbie princess movies when we visited my sister's family. Anyway, since the visit, Ella has become more and more infactuated with Princesses. Every minute that we are home she wears a princess dress and princess shoes. It take a long time to convince her to wear anything else to leave the house. She calls me Mommy Princess Annalise and Bradley is Baby Prince. When she goes to daycare at the Y and they say "Hi Ella and Bradley" Ella corrects them and says, "I'm princess Annalise and this is baby prince". It's funny how it can be so cute and frustrating at the same time. Cute when we are at home and she is walking baby prince around the house....frustrating when I need to get out the door for work and she doesn't understand why she can't wear her princess dress up outfits. We have to say things like "a princess would never be late for an appointment, we must hurry!" Whenever we get Ella's haircut, we tell her that we are just cutting off the crazy ones, so tonight when Ella and Bradley were playing before bedtime Ella wanted to cut Bradley's hair. Shepulled out a pair of pretend scissors and said, "I'm cutting off your crazy curls, baby prince". Most of you probably haven't seen it, but Bradley's hair is curly in the back.

Ella started swim lessons on Saturday at the YMCA and Bradley starts his at SwimKids USA on Tuesday. Ella did good for her first class, especially being the youngest one in it! By the end of June, Bradley should be able to turn around and swim a few feet back to the wall if he should ever fall in a pool. He loves to swim, so I think he will love his lessons!

Hard to believe that both of the kids birthdays are right around the corner. It's funny that time can pass so quickly, but when you are a stay at home mom, the individual days can seem so long. Bradley will be having a dinosaur cake and Ella of course wants Princess.

This is a long blog, so I'll wrap it up. However, here's my long day ended. I love reading books to Bradley at the end of the night because he will usually sit so contently in my lap and he loves touch and feel books. So when he finds the furry part of the animal to touch he will laugh and laugh! When saying prayers with Ella tonight she thought we should pray for...elmo, zoe, dora, dora's mommy and daddy, boots, boots' mommy and daddy and babies. On most nights Ella list out her family and friends.

Well, this Mommy Princess Annalise signing off so I can go and clean my castle before another busy day begins!