1st Trim

Baby Miss has been looking a little shaggy and disheveled, so this morning we took her in for her first trim. She looked so cute sitting there on Daddy's lap taking it all in. If I didn't know better, I'd say she had it all figured out, knew exactly what was going on and like any girl...enjoyed it!

I love this picture. She was pointing at herself in the mirror.
Voila! We can see her eyes again. The big Girls got cleaned up to. The Girl wanted her hair shorter and Lil Sis asked our stylist to cut her hair longer. All the gals in the salon within earshot thought her request was a hoot!

My Dolls

This evening the Girls had fun with a box leftover from the Christmas gift extravaganza...figures that they are playing with the box rather than the toy that was packaged in it. They all took a turn at being life-sized Barbies. The Girl and Lil Sister enjoyed it, Baby Miss maybe not so much.

10 years...

married to this guy. I love him more now than I did 15 years ago, but that goes without saying. Ten years! Does that make us old?! Not old, maybe just more grown-up. Back then I knew what a great guy he was but I would've never been able to imagine what an amazing husband he'd be and an incredible Dad. Thanks Babe for always putting your Girls first!

The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Both the Girl and Little Sister have been participating in the ballet program at our local YMCA. The Girl's class had a recital today and they danced to music from The Nutcracker. It was a short performance but the Girl enjoyed her time in the limelight and probably more so the opportunity to wear a real tutu and a snowflake glued to her forehead. As for Little Sister, she looked on in awe and was dying to get out there and twirl along with the older girls. Soon, Little Sister, soon!!!

Happy Halloween!

Looks Just Like Her...

Daddy! Or so everyone says.

Carving

This evening we carved our pumpkins up. J did the dirty work...cutting the tops off and cleaning out the goo, while the rest of
us watched. Then the Girls settled into the work of imagining and creating super intricate, tiny faces and mapping them out on their pumpkins. Then began the task of convincing them that all those facial elements needed to be a tad bit bigger, which was met by much opposition and a few tears from the Girl.

The resulting fantastical compromise...a peace pumpkin of course! Googly eyes for Momma.
A moon for Daddy. A cat for Little Sis. And a replica two-tooth grin for Baby Miss to match her little bottom chompers.

Go Cougs!

This weekend was spent with my family. We had a football game to go to and a team to cheer on.

The Girl gettin' crazy with Aunt K.
The score was forgettable (maybe the reason Lil Sis was typing emoticon-filled notes on Auntie's phone) but the event never is.
I love watching my Girls wave their flags, shake their pom poms and cheer. The memories we make are sweet and lasting regardless of what the scoreboard says at the end of the game.

Baby Girl Number...

4?! Nah. Maybe someday. Besides, at 2 1/2 weeks she's too plump to be one of ours. This sweet beauty belongs to the gal that cuts our entire family's hair. We got to meet her today and the Girl was pretty smitten. You'd think with two little sisters already that she'd be unimpressed but not so. She couldn't wait to hold her. And Baby Miss, well, she went crazy. As soon as she saw this wee one she tried her best to climb out of my arms and get to her. As for Little Sister, she was asleep in the car and missed
the whole thing.

For the Love of Science

Today we had an appointment at our rival university. We wouldn't be caught dead on that campus without a very good reason. Today it was for the love of science. When Baby Miss was born we were approached about participating in future studies involving babies and children. Being that we love science (and by we, I really mean J) We signed all the girls up. Today's study was related to infant language development and involved Baby Miss wearing a nifty little cap fitted with plastic electrodes that when filled with saline gel, are able to record brainwave activity from the scalp. Completely safe, totally harmless and absolutely pain free. The only catch, each electrode has to be individually filled with saline gel after the cap is on, a time consuming process. It took about 20 minutes to get all the electrodes filled. Next they moved us into a darkened soundproof booth and had Baby Miss sit on my lap. I was given headphones that were streaming contemporary music to listen to so as not to make any unintentional reaction to the noises that Baby Miss would be hearing, thereby interfering with the results. This took another fifteen minutes. Throughout the entire process we worked with two research assistants one fitted the cap and observed the session via video monitor from outside the booth while the other assistant kept Baby distracted during the fitting process and then silently pantomimed while in the booth to keep Baby Miss interested and occupied. Melanie and Julia you rocked it out! Thanks for doting on my wee one and making it an enjoyable experience. I should've had them take a
picture after the cap was removed - Baby Miss's hair was a gelatinous mess! I'd brought a hat to cover it all up with...that wasn't gonna cut it. But, the room was equipped with a salon wash bowl sink and chair. I jokingly asked if they could give her a trim while they were at it, she's starting to look a bit shaggy. Those Dawgs were a pleasure to work with!

Peek-a-boo...

I see you!

Swim Girl

This Girl has been eagerly anticipating the day that she would be able to do swim lessons. Having sat on the sidelines all summer long watching Big Sis splashing around brought frequent requests of, "Momma, I wanna do swim lessons." To which I always replied that she had to be three first and use the potty. First requirement, check. Second requirement, well...we're still working on that one. Lessons started on Monday and while we were standing by the pool waiting to find out who her instructor would be she said, "I want a Momma." "What?!" I asked. She repeated, "I want a Momma, not a Daddy." As I glanced at the instructors clustered together at one end of the pool it suddenly occurred to me what Little Sister was talking about - she wanted a female instructor as opposed to a male. Luckily for her, she got the lone female instructor. Once it was determined that she got a "Momma" (who happened to be a teenage girl) she eagerly walked to the edge of the pool and plunked herself down on the deck. I walked to the other side of the pool to join J and Baby Miss. For the first ten minutes, Little Sister was the only kiddo in the class and from where we sat we could see the instructor talking to her followed by Little Sister shaking her head. Each head shake was accompanied by a slight body shift until Little Sister's feet were up on the pool deck and her side was facing the instructor. I had to talk J down from going over to talk to her, I reasoned that the instructor knew what she was doing and that I was sure that Little Sister wasn't the first kid she had that didn't want to get in the water. But, I could only hold him off for so long before he handed Baby Miss to me and started off by the time he'd made it to the far corner of the pool, the instructor had Little Sis in the water, luring her in with a pink foam turtle-shaped floating device. That was all it took to get over her initial hesitation. Soon another little girl joined the class and it wasn't long before Little Sister was up to her mischievous ways, inching along the side trying to get to the turtle while the instructor had the other girl in the water. She always got caught before she made it to the turtle. And so the lesson continued with Little Sister excitedly inquiring when she got to go again after it was over.

Gaggle of Girls

Gaggle-an often noisy or disorderly group. Today we went to the neighborhood park, just me and a gaggle of girls. Noisy,
certainly. Disorderly, hardly. The lone occupants of the park, 3 familiar teenage boys, saw us coming and took off. This park is small with just one basketball court and a weathered play structure but it boasts a tire swing which is definitely the main attraction. We spent the better part of an hour there and the tire swing was in constant motion, slowing just enough to let little girls trade places and rotate. Sunshine was in abundance as were laughter and gleeful screaming. A perfect autumn
afternoon!

Lil Stair Stepper

Looky who figured out how to climb the stairs today!
She's been working at it for a few weeks now but her sweet little feet never left the floor.




The best she could do was stretch to that second step, not quite figuring out the bodily mechanics of bending and lifting her knees. But it sure clicked tonight, in more ways than one. After figuring out the stairs she also crawled on her hands and knees rather than her customary army crawl. Yea Baby!

Bunny Cake Take Two

We had a small birthday party this evening with family and a few friends for Little Sister. Once again she asked for a bunny cake but this time in blue. I was happy to oblige as I had a great example in my Mom's cake last weekend.

Baby's Got a Tooth!

I was shocked this morning when I had my fingers in Baby Miss's mouth (to retrieve the latest tidbit that she'd just picked up off the floor and shoved in there) and ran across the unmistakable sharp ridge of an emerging tooth. In a state of utter protest, I managed to briefly get her mouth open enough to sneak a peek and sure enough, there it was - a gleaming white speck peeking up through her pink gums. What a jewel - her lower, front, right tooth! Both the Girl and Little Sister were nearly 16 months before they got their first tooth and they didn't get theirs in typical fashion, they started with their upper front teeth. Already imagining how cute her formerly toothless grin will be once that little tooth starts moving up.

Best Ever!

This sweet lil baby gives kisses upon request now. It's the proverbial open-mouthed baby SWAK and it's the best ever!

Prelude

This weekend we visited Poppie and Grammy and had a little 'prelude' birthday celebration for Little Sister. When my Mom asked
her what kind of cake she wanted she quickly and enthusiastically responded with, "A bunny cake!" Later she got more
detailed and requested that it have chocolate chips in it and that it be purple. My Mom unearthed a picture of me with the same
bunny cake (mine was white) on my 4th birthday. Fun to see the parallels between what my Girls like and what I liked as a
kid. As for Baby Miss, she is gonna be fun to watch on her 1st birthday. She tried really hard to get some of that
frosting. Adore those smiling faces!