Peace and quiet......and LOTS of yarn!!

Both children are asleep. For the next two hours (hopefully!!) the peace and quiet will remain in this house. There is so much screaming and carrying on going on around here lately I may go prematurely deaf; and I would be 100% OK with that. It's been a long week. Bitty decided to get another double ear infection; but that second top molar FINALLY came through last night. That meant less sleep for mommy; but in the long run I'd like to be able to say the worst is over. Well.......with regards to ear infections and teeth coming in. Bitty sleeps through the night so long as no teeth are coming in, she's not sick, and she doesn't have an ear infection. When Bitty sleeps through the night, that means mommy gets more sleep. When mommy gets more sleep, it is much more pleasant around here. I will honestly admit when I have had little sleep I am definitely not the most pleasant person to be around. Usually if I reach true exhaustion I am actually more pleasant to be around because I am at a point where I just don't care.

Bug wants candy for breakfast? By all means have at it! Bitty wants to dance on the living room table? Knock yourself out sweetheart! The damned cats (I'M LOOKIN' AT YOU SHADOW!!!!) want to drag their stupid cat food all over our freakin' bedroom? Bring it on furballs!!! (I'll just suck you up, tail and all into the vacuum later.......) Speaking of vacuums..... I love mine. I fantasize about setting the roller on the shag carpet level and just running through the house picking up every little plastic animal, pieces of paper, pieces of yarn (Bug's new weird obsession.... *eyeroll*) CAT TOY mousies, ponyville pony miniatures, sequins, crumbs of cheezit and cheerios and CAT HAIRS that I can. It would be a glorious feeling to see my carpet bare again.

Sunday I went with Nicole to look at a house. (she and Josh are thinking of buying here sometime soon.) there was the absolute most fabulous room in that house. First off it was HUGE. I'm thinking comparable with Nanny and Papa's old living room kinda huge. (I'll admit Nicole and i ran in big circles around it.....) It was also kinda set off a bit from the other rooms of the house over the garage. There were some windows for light, the ceiling was at least 12ft high, and then there was the best part: a door that closed. And locked!!! teehee.... I let myself bask in the fantasy of what I would do with that room. heehee *evil little grin* I would install some sort of surveillance cameras, put all toys; children's and feline's in it, toss all three cats and both girls in, shut the door and let them go at each other. oooohooohooo! It would be glorious!!! *stares dreamily off in to the distance*

Ah, well back to reality. I've been crocheting like a mad woman lately. I finished some UFOs that I didn't quite get to before Halloween; my witches' hat for instance and a bigger candy corn colored bag for Bitty to trick-or-treat with next year. I've also started some fun stuff for the holidays too. That's why Bug is obsessed with yarn bits right now. She has been collecting all the extra little bits of yarn from my projects. (And I must admit i do leave a bit of a trail of yarn or thread when i do needlework projects....) It's quite a colorful little pile actually. The only problem is she and Bitty fight over them. I tried giving Bitty her own pieces but Bug stole them from her. So in return Bitty stealthily sauntered up and stole the pile of yarn pieces. And she went running away (literally!) giggling like a mad woman with two fist fulls of yarn streaming from her hands and dropping on the ground. Bug meanwhile is having a meltdown that Bitty stole her yarn. It was hysterical actually and I kind of sat back in amusement and let it happen. I finally had to intervene because Bug was becoming hysterical about her yarn. "She's taking my yarn mom!!! Mom she has my yarn!!!!" You should see what happens when Bitty takes Bug's silkie! (and she does it deliberately to get a rise out of Bug!! LOL)

Halloween Festivities!!!

Well, I hope everyone had a good Halloween! Ours was busy. Auntie Cole and I worked diligently pretty much every day last week to get costumes ready. Bug's was already made we just had to add embellishments to it and decide how we were going to do some of the decorations on it. Bitty's needed to be sized and finished a bit here and there. I crocheted stuff like a mad woman; Bug's treat bag, Bitty's treat bag, Bitty's hat, a cute little bag that would have been part of bug's costume but we made some last minute changes to her costume so it became a cute decoration for the house instead, and I attempted to get my witch's hat done but ran out of time. :( I'm still going to finish it though. Every Good witch needs a good hat. :)

Bug had a Halloween parade at school and we kinda decided that her official costume this year was just too pretty for her to wear to school. We didn't want anything to happen to it before the big trick-or-treat night. So we used her witch costume from last year with a few extras (her "perfect" pink sparkly shoes) and she looked super cute for school. :) We also dressed up Bitty in one of Bug's old costumes that day so she wouldn't feel left out. (When we got to school it seemed to be the thing to do with younger siblings who were hanging around for the parade....so, score one for Mama for being on the ball!)

We had trick-or-treat actually on Halloween this year!!! *GASP* I know shocker right? Nanny, Papa, Dee Dee, Grandpa Terry, Mimi, Uncle Logan, Uncle Josh (another *gasp* moment for sure), Auntie Cole, Lauren and her boyfriend Neel all came up and ate food and got to see the girls go trick-or-treating and just had a fun time. (Although Josh informs me he didn't have a fun time.....he's grumpy :oP ) Bug was sort of grumpy at the beginning so there aren't many pics of her because she was too busy being whiny and grumpy but I was able to snap a few. They are all below, so enjoy!! :)

Bug and Bitty on the day Bug had her Halloween party at school. Super cute both of them!! The third picture is Bitty running around the gym of Bug's school while we were waiting for their parade to start. :)



Bitty getting ready to go trick-or-treating.



Bitty waiting with all the neighbor kids outside while Bug finished getting ready.




Daddy and his girls. :)



The local fire station had a truck go around the neighborhood and the firemen passed out candy to the kids. It was really cool.

Finally! We got Bug to pose for the camera. She doesn't have her wings on but at least she's showing off her pretty dress and her "perfect" pink sparkly shoes.

Here's Bitty watching Daddy pass out candy. She was banging on the glass with the package of Goobers she has in her hand.....

This was just a really cute picture of Bitty. :)

The girls, now finished with trick-or-treating and out of their costumes with Auntie Cole watching Daddy take a picture. :)

One of THOSE days.......

Bitty is playing on the living room table. I shouldn't be letting her play on the table but she is happy, enjoying herself and content. I'm not messing with that at the moment. I need the peace. I'd love to add quiet to that peace but that's a shot in the dark. The eldest is still "napping." Which means she's quietly playing in her room. Every once in a great while she'll close her eyes and sleep........for about 10 minutes. Most of the time though she plays up there quietly. Which is good for her, and me. Oh, Bitty noticed I was doing something on the laptop. The happy contentedness is now gone....... *sigh* Then again.....her attention is now focused on the box of dinosaurs. Score one for educational science toys!!!! And score one for Mamma.....14 month old attention spans are pretty short. Aaaaaand, we're back on the table again......Oh wait! Shadow ran by! Oh Happy Day! And, now we're after the cat.....busy, busy,busy.

More postings? Why, I'd LOVE to!!!!!

Ok so I know I'm completely lax in posting anything. Sue me. it's been hectic around here. For starters my washing machine decided to go all "iRobot" on me and rebel. That's the trouble with these fandangled new computerized contraptions. After a month and 3 tries the repair man was FINALLY able to get it working...... YESTERDAY. So, I've been doing some laundry; very cautiously I might add, because who knows when the thing is going to be up in arms again......

So, i know the big question is "how are the girls?" Well, they're alive. I think that counts for something at the moment. Bug, well.....it's like Bug has a constant case of PMS. One minute she's all .....and please use the whiniest, highest pitched, loudest voice you can imagine......"I don't like you!....I'm not talking to you!.....Sissy pulled my hair!...Sissy won't leave me alone!......" *stomping, door slamming, heavy sighs, screaming and crying* and lucky i haven't locked her in a closet. And, the next minute she's all "Mommy," *eyelashes batting* "I love you!" Who knew she was really turning 13? She'd win an Oscar for all the melodrama around here.

I'm blaming preschool. The first day was rough initially. She cried and i felt horrid like i was abandoning her.....then I came to get her and she had lots of fun and now I'm lucky if she even says good-bye when I drop her off! She's made two little friends and I think their influence has brought out the estrogen in her. See, before preschool she was a bit of a tomboy. She liked cars and kicking the soccer ball and building things. Granted, she liked pink and purple and things that sparkled; but it was more like a pink sparkly car that ran into and knocked down the purple and pink Lego tower. Now, we're suddenly interested in princesses and barbies and ballet. I'm not complaining, not really...it's just that I swear they're giving her estrogen shots or something at preschool and she's becoming all....girly!!! :)

Bitty is like a little chimpanzee. She has no fear and climbs on EVERYTHING. At the beginning of writing this entry she was standing on the table in the living room dancing to something on the TV. (yes, I'm a horrible mother, I let my children watch TV.....and not only that, but dance on tables!!!) If she's not climbing the table she's climbing on something. It's nerve wracking. She is probably the girlier of the two. She loves dollies. We have a dolly we have to kiss at bedtime every night now. Gr' Auntie Judy gave it to her for Christmas I think. She is also extremely fond of Fluffy Bunny. Mostly she likes to lay on him and bounce up and down on him. I've even seen her using him for a seat. at the moment she's picking up toys and putting them in a bucket. It may not sound like a big thing, but technically they are Sissy's toys and i wonder if she senses Bug's imminent arrival soon. (She and Daddy went to the indoor community pool tonight. It's all we can do to get her in the little paddling pool during summer. It hits 40 degrees here and suddenly she decides she NEEDS to go swimming! TONIGHT!!)

Bitty is now officially in her own room. We have moved David downstairs into a true dungeon now. you should see it. He has walled himself in with the plastic you use for laying down when you're going to paint. Bitty's room is in no way shape or form painted or anything. it consists of us putting a crib in the room. But, in the future I plan on painting her walls pink and green (with a little yellow) and I'm going to do an "Enchanted Garden" theme with a unicorn on the wall. I've got the unicorn all picked out and everything. Hopefully I'll have it done before she wants to repaint the room....

Well the House of Death and Pestilence reared it's ugly head right on time. Fall is bad for us I guess. Bug and I are over the worst of it. I think David had it before us. Bitty on the other hand got the worst of it. It started with a double ear infection, then two molars decided, "Hey! We should try and pop through and make things even more exciting!" and THEN she decided to get the sinus-y creeping crud on top of it. We're finally working on the tail end of the creeping crud, but those damned molars have yet to come through all the way...... I think the worst part is that this creeping crud just seems to hang on for weeks....In fact it all started when the washing machine decided to rebel..... *glares toward the laundry room* It's a conspiracy I'm sure of it.....and the washing machine is the mastermind behind it.....

I'll be super nice and toss in a few cute pictures of the past few months. :) With Halloween being next weekend I'll put a few pics of the girls in their costumes up. Mrs. Cole and I decided to be brave and make them. Well, Mrs. Cole has experience in sewing clothing so she's actually the one doing the making. I'm just adding the sparkles and embellishments. Bug is going to be a Pumpkin Fairy and bitty is going to be a Candy Corn Fairy. Hopefully, they turn out as cute as we want them to. :)

Here's Bug on her first day of school. :)

Here's a few cute pics of Bitty. She was jsut chilling in the first picture. David had dressed her up in the Tinkerbell costume on emorning and I took a few pics of her in it.

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Summer has come and gone in a flash!

Well, it's that time of year again. Summer days are finally getting HOT around here (93 here today! bleh!) and it's just about time for school to start. Hard to believe the summer has come and gone so incredibly fast! Even harder to believe that last year at this time I was confined to a hospital bed not sure exactly when Bitty was going to come. She'll be 1 yr. old on the 22nd and I honestly can't believe that so much time has seemed to literally just fly by. We must be busier than I thought for so much time to go by so fast. Just since the little update I put on the blog it has been a whirlwind of activity around here:

* The Monday after I put up the mini-update I wound up visiting the ER. Heather had come over to spend the afternoon before she left for her new job in Houston that Wednesday. Instead of spending the afternoon together she wound up keeping Bitty company while I took an ambulance ride to the ER. I found out i had a kidney stone was given some fantastic painkillers and sent on my way.....(although I must say that they also gave me a shot of dilaudid which was the best EVER!!!....I've had it before while in labor but when you're in labor sometimes you don't exactly get to appreciate the amazing feeling painkillers can give you because so much other stuff is going on.....)

*Phil and Carrie and their boys visited with us TWICE this summer; once on their way out to visit family in Iowa and once on the way back home. The boys have all grown up so much since we last saw them. Next time they're gonna be tall as trees. Bug and Bitty had a fantastic time with them and I know the boys were enamoured with the girls. (who wouldn't be? they can be unbelievably adorable sometimes.....) ON their return trip we went to COSI for the day and Bug got to see some of the monster farm equipment up close. If I figure out how I'll take a few of the pictures of her standing in the wheel well of the combine(sp?) off of my phone and put them up although i can't guarantee that they will be of any good quality. They look great on my little 1.5 x 1.5 inch screen on my phone but I have no idea how they'll turn out on a 15 or 17in (or greater for those of you who I know have them) computer screen. (I have to admit I'm not 100% enthused with COSI anymore....I just remember it being more fun when i was a kid) I had forgotten how much growing boys could eat though! Although I did come across a worthy opponent should there ever need to be an eating competition.... (see below)

*Lara and her two girls and Lara's mom; Grandma Soebbing (I've always called her Ma so it comes natural for us to call her Grandma Soebbing....) came for about 4 days this past week and I barely saw Bug during most of that time. She and Anja were very busy excluding Miss V and Bitty from everything the way proper big sisters are supposed to; and spent most of their time pulling every conceivable ponyville pony playset and accessory out onto the floor of Bug's room. It was as if they had laid out hundreds of tiny little land mines on the floor for big people feet to find. Miss V spent the entire 4 days in the tinkerbell costume we have in the dress up box. Both David and i agreed that in hindsight we should have just sent it home with her. :) It helped that her sister Anja had given her a very short haircut not too terribly long ago so she looked just like the mischievous little pixie as she ran around the house. Miss V could also take on Carrie's boys in an eating competition. She literally had 4 bowls of cereal one morning until we cut her off. My guess is she's about ready to shoot up about 4 inches in the near future. :) I honestly don't know how David was able to survive for 4 days with so much extra estrogen in the house. It helped that he vacated to the CDC during the day for work while we hung out around the house. (although he's now using Bug's "Hello Kitty" notebook to jot down notes for work so i don't know....I guess that's when you know you're the father of two little girls....)

*We went to the fair with Lara and her girls, grandma Soebbing, Dee Dee, Auntie Cole and Gr'auntie Judy. Talk about fun! There's nothing like going through the horse barn with a horsey person!!! (for those who don't know Lara owns two horses of her own) The Belgians and other draft horses were showing that day so we didn't just see average sized horses; we saw the BIG horses. (Bitty's eyes nearly popped out of her head when one of them whinied but she LOVED it!) Lara showed Bug how to approach and pet the horses the proper way and was able to give commentary as we sat and watched them show while we ate lunch. WE also were able to see a lamb about 45 minutes after it had been born, (so cute!!) and a few calves that were less than a week old. Lara, her mom and her girls had to leave early from the fair for their LONG 9 hour drive home but the rest of us hung around for a few more hours. Judy gobbled at the turkeys like she normally does and they in turn responded. I recorded a little bit of it on my phone and again if I'm able to get that transferred that will definitely be posted! :) Bug also got a bunch of marbles while we were at the fair and she now keeps them in a "Crown Royal" bag. (we are the awesomest parents!!!) And Mommy was the most bestest because I took Bug through the giant bulk candy area in the Bricker building. Think about every conceivable kind of candy (including old fashioned ones....) that that is out there and imagine you're three and a half. It's the most awesomest thing ever right?!?!?! We all came home completely exhausted but we had a blast!

*Bug will be starting preschool in September and we are looking forward to that. I think she got a good dose of learning about sharing this past week while Anja and Miss V were here. (sharing with her sister is NOT an option at this moment in time.....grrrr) The social aspect of school will be good for her as well. I don't know who the first day is going to be harder on Bug or David and I..... she had to be potty trained to be able to start school and it finally clicked for her earlier this summer. We're about 95% of the way there. (she isn't nighttime/sleep trained yet...but i know that comes later)

*Bitty has been walking for over a month now. When Phil and Carrie had first come through she was just starting to take some steps and by the time they came back through two weeks later she was an old pro. Bug is not exactly pleased about this because it means that Bitty can now go wherever she goes. (for the most part that is) Bitty wants to be everywhere Bug is all the time; and Bug doesn't want to share anything with Bitty. Bitty also tends to pull Bug's hair without meaning to; she just wants to see Bug's barrettes and her hair happens to be IN those barrettes. Bug has to take everything Bitty decides to play with away from her. WE have constant battles over who gets to play in the peddle car. Bitty just wants to it in it and push the "horn" (it plays "London Bridge") and Bug just wants it because Bitty has it, or touches it, or looks at it..... *eyeroll*

*Bitty was baptized June 17th so everyone can breathe a collective sigh of relief now. She was able to wear the same baptism gown that Bug wore which actually happens to be MY baptism outfit. :) I love traditional stuff like that. I plan on hand embroidering all our names on the hem of the dress. (I have special silk thread I'm going to use too.......)

*we were blessed with a young bluebird couple again this year which i was thrilled with; especially since I've kinda been neglecting them. I still make sure no sparrows nest and/or breed in any of the houses....I had to destroy three nests this year with five eggs each!!! damnned house sparrows....grrr.... Remember they are pests and one pair of house sparrows can produce up to 2000 descendants in two years time whereas a bluebird pair is lucky to result in 200 descendants in two years time....If i ever get the opportunity to go back in time I plan on using that chance to go back and beat some sense into the idiots who introduced house sparrows and starlings into this country.....rant over.....

Well I guess that sums everything up for now. I'll work on getting pictures put up soon. I'm not sure if I'll do it here or at a picture site.

Revamping, Rethinking and Remodeling......

Ok so I know it has been a really really long time since we updated the blog and i do apologize. Part of it is finding the time. Seriously. And I'm also trying to find a way to do the blog in a safe way for the girls. I've read way too many scary stories about pictures being stolen and people using them as their own or people stalking kids/families through the internet. It's scary stuff and I have an overactive imagination so you'll have to bear with me as i figure out how I'm going to do this. I don't want to keep people from visiting the blog though so i am going to lift the privacy block i have on it for now. In the mean time I'm still going to limit what pictures I use and continue to refer to the girls as Bug and Bitty AND I'm going to rename the blog URL so it not only protects them but also reflects that this is both of their blog now and not just Bug's. I am going to work on this over the next few days and we'll go from there..... Thanks for your patience everyone!!!

Well, I'm being constantly bombarded for updates from all sides so here you go:

The girls are growing like weeds. Bitty sits up on her own unassisted, she says "mama" and "hi!", she has two bottom teeth and I think the top ones are really starting to try and pop through now, she has more hair than Bug ever had at this stage (yay!) She seems to be the one who likes to play with baby dolls. I think it's the faces she likes. She is also extremely LOUD. she enjoys screaming. now, when she screams it's generally while she's playing and is happy. But, it is so loud that David's colleagues can here her on his con-calls, through David's earbud, and a closed door to the upstairs spare room. the only solace I can offer him is to hole-up in our bedroom b/c it's somewhat soundproof, thanks to the insulation he and I installed while the house was built. (we were also smart enough to do our laundry room)

Bug is very busy and the stuff she comes up with on a daily basis is mind blowing. She has the most amazing imagination. She's not really a "doll" girl she likes her animals. Right now the two big things she likes to play with are her "Schleich" animals and her "Ponyville" ponies. After her birthday it looked like someone had spewed pink all over the house. Her favorite thing about the ponyville ponies is all the little teeny tiny pieces that go with the ponyville ponies. (LOTS of teeny tiny pieces to step on....for awhile the living room was like a land-mine field)

She also enjoys the different "ponyville" buildings she has and the ponies and the schleich animals all seem to live in some giant pepto-pink commune in her bedroom. Ever seen an Okapi drive a pink bus covered in purple stars? Well, we have..... Not to mention the hippo who likes to take baths in the pink bathtub, the ponies who have to rescue the "insert various carnivorous predator here", the rocks hanging from shoestrings in the play kitchen, eggplant-pineapple-grape pizza, orca whales (dolphins!*) and german shepherds swimming together in the communal water bowl and when it's all said and done they all retire to the Big Red Barn or Pinkie Pie's Balloon House.

David took her down to visit Auntie Denise and Jordan a few weekends ago (mommy and Bitty were sick.....) and they went to the Aquarium there in Cinci/KY. Jordan also apparently has a huge barn for her horses and that was a giant hit. She talked about it for days. We've also gone to the community indoor pool. Bug's still a bit shy of the water and is warming up to the idea of getting into water that's deeper than her big toe. (actually so long as daddy was holding her in the deeper water she did fine.....she reminds me of Josh when he was little.....I think he was like 10 before he voluntarily put his head under the water....) Bitty actually did pretty well for her first time. I held her as I wandered around in the deeper water. She clung to me like a little monkey most of the time but towards the end of the swim i could hold her out from me and swirl in the water a little.

We've also done the zoo with Mrs. Cole and Bug took along her camera to take pictures. She's a magnet for the animals there. It's like they were all drawn to her and would come up and see her. In the reptile house the giant iguana was hiding behind a giant log in his cage until she came along. He came out right up to the glass to where she was standing. As soon as we moved on, he went back to his hiding place.

It's fun to see the girls together. Bitty just watches everything bug does and you can tell she's just itching to be able to do whatever Bug is doing. We've already had fights over who gets to play with the Big Red barn. Bitty grabs the barn and pulls it towards herself and then Bug whines about "Sissy keeps pulling the barn!!!" I'm looking forward to when they start arguing over boys......(so what teams will they be fighting over Team Edward/Jacob/Jasper/Emmett or Carlisle?) <-------shameless book reference

February was a miserable month. David had his big storage backup/maintenance/migration thing that happens every February around Valentines Day (b/c the idiot who schedules it must be single and still lives at home with his mother....happy *bleeping* Valentine's Day to you too buddy!) That actually lasted about two weeks and if that wasn't bad enough he ended up on-call the following week. On top of that the girls and I and David all ended up sick. Actually the girls and David wound up sick first. I was able to fend it off until the very end there. So, February was just craptastic. :oP

March so far has been a bit of a recovery month. We all seem to be staying healthy so far and I've been working on gutting the house in my biggest "spring cleaning" fever I've ever had. I've decided if it hasn't been used in the last 24 months (I was preggers there for a good portion of the last 24 months so those months don't count.....) then we probably don't need it. (with a few exceptions here and there....) The hardest part is the girls' stuff. I have some of Bug's things I need to keep b/c Bitty will more than likely use it, yet I don't know what that is. Since they are similar in some things and completely different in others I don't know what to keep and what to get rid of. (well, donate......I don't like to just throw stuff away unless it's completely useless or broken) So, I guess that's pretty much it at this point. I'll put a few pictures up too and eventually I'd like to post some of the pictures that Bug has taken with her camera up. Hope everyone is doing well and has a fun chocolate filled Easter. :)

Bug....she kinda looks like me in this picture. :)



Bitty and the red barn.

The girls playing with the barn.

Shadow by: Bug

Oscar: by Bug (Oscar is Uncle Josh and Mrs. Cole's chameleon. We chameleon-sit him on a regular basis.)

Nanny: by Bug (I think this was taken New Year's Eve.)

* Orcas are not whales....they are actually members of the dolphin family.

Oh you guys are more than welcome to post comments now. I still have to approve them, but that shouldn't be an issue.......

Anyone Still Out There?

Surprised anyone is still listening/looking. :) Been a while. Below are a few pics just to tide you over until we get some more together.

The memory card for the camera died and unfortunately we lost lots of pictures. :( But, these are more recent. We had a nice Christmas but I think we're glad it's over. One can only take so much Rudolph, not to mention Evelyn seems to have bad reaction to Christmas trees and breaks out. Not fun as she scratches like it's poison ivy. Oh, and Evelyn is fully on board with presents. Loved opening presents. They didn't even have to be for her.

Emilie did really good too ... being passed from person to person. She decided to save the evilness for mommy and daddy after the family gatherings. Acid reflux ... not fun for her.




And while it may not show ... Emile was NOT okay with that mouse on her head. :) The story behind the picture of Emilie on the mat. The child would not smile for anything. To get her to smile I'm plopping Evelyn down on her and quickly pulling her out of the picture. The things you have to do ...