I Lost My Underwear!

No, not me. Quinn woke up from a nap today and came to the top of the stairs. "Mama, can I please come downstairs?!" "Yes." "Oh, Ok. Thank you. Oh, wait! I lost my underwear!" Haha! We've obviously been potty-training around here. We had a huge fight before that nap about underwear versus a diaper. I told him I didn't think he was ready to wear underwear for a nap yet, but if could prove he could stay dry through a nap, he could try tomorrow. He was so upset, and he kept crying "my underwear!!" Finally he agreed and went to bed. (FYI, he was not dry when he woke up.) I think we're getting there. Love, Us.

He Didn't Learn THAT From Me

Seriously, I love my son. He is the funniest, most outgoing, smartest boy I have ever known. I left him home with Jalal this morning while I took Maddie with me to Bible study. The dear boy was evidently pretty upset when he realized I wasn't there. He didn't cry but he did keep asking if they could come find me. So I guess that made him a little more affectionate and appreciative of Mama today. At lunch and dinner, he insisted on sitting next to me, which is rare. He doesn't sit still when he eats, and having someone try to squeeze their head underneath my bottom and say "I'm stuck!" with ketchup smeared all over their face and hands isn't my idea of a good time. Go figure. So anyway, we tried to take the poor kid to the playground early this evening. It was too hot, though. I mean, it was 95 degrees out, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the playground equipment was all "too hot" to the touch. Poor kid. He asked if he could sit next to me on a bench and drink water instead. So we took him to a bounce house. He had a blast, of course. Made some friends, cried when we had to leave. The usual. (Speaking of friends, he saw a little boy in the mall the other day, said a few words to him as we passed, then turned around and called "see you later! I love you!" as we walked away. Hmmm.) Anyway, we went to Jason's for dinner and decided to get him the salad bar for dinner. Jalal piled his plate with shredded cheese, a cornbread mini muffin, cherry tomatoes, peas, baby carrots, cucumbers, and pasta salad. Let's just say he wasn't crazy about the pasta salad. When he realized he had almost the entire cast of VeggieTales on his plate, he was super excited. Bob the tomato? Squish in his mouth. Larry? Chomped on him a while. French peas? Scooped 'em up with a spoon along with some cheese. But Laura Carrot? You were his great love tonight. In fact, when he finished, Jalal surprised him with ice cream. He took one small bite and could not eat it. It was too cold. I tried to get him to try some of the chocolate mousse (my favorite part of the salad bar!), but it looked too much like ice cream. So what did we do? Like any good parents, after begging him to try his dessert, we asked what he wanted. "Should I get it for him?" Jalal asked me. "Sure, why not." So Quinn enjoyed himself a heaping bowl of carrots and cherry tomatoes for dessert. I'm talking six or so tomatoes and probably a dozen baby carrots. Who are you? "There's no way you came from my loins." I'm not complaining, just confused. Oh, and he's getting really good at reading. He read the sign (all by himself) that said, "Good Food." I'm getting to the point where I'm not even impressed anymore. After he read the label on his sister's cereal box the other day (Beech-Nut), I just shrug like it's old hat. I just love that kid. Oh, and on a totally different subject, my small group was praying at the end of a meeting the other day and I heard him say to Maddie, "Close your eyes!" Tee hee. Love, Us.

The Power of the Media

Quinn cracks me up (when he isn't busy making me want to strangle him). Tonight, we were coloring together and I colored a chimney (the kind that runs all the way down the side of the house). I said, "Do you know what that is? That's called a chimney." He replied, "Huh. Looks like a wall." Smart aleck. Then he looks up at the TV, on which was a Progressive commercial, and says, "Need car insurance?" Hah! What a great kid. The other day, he tried to drink a cup of water that had been sitting in the car, and Jalal told him that was probably warm. He said, "I need a real drink. Daddy, you need a real drink?" Oh boy, does he. Mommy too sometimes. Well, just wanted to write those down before I forget. Love, Us.

When They Are 3, They Lie!

The finger-pointing has begun. For the first time, but probably not the last, Quinn blamed Maddie for something he did. We were all lying down on her play mat encouraging Maddie to reach out and grasp her hanging toys. I noticed a stinky smell and said, "Does someone need a new diaper?" Quinn said, "No." I said, "Quinn, did you go to the bathroom?" "No, that's Maddie." Well, without being too vulgar, I can tell the difference. This was not Maddie. But I had to give him some credit for shifting blame, I guess. It reminds me of a trip to the mall we took a couple months ago. I was waiting with Maddie and the stroller while Quinn and Jalal rode the "moving stairs" a few times. This sweet older lady stopped to admire the sleeping baby. She said something like "God bless you." I said, well, I also have a two-year-old on the escalator. She said, "Oh, I used to teach Sunday school to 2- and 3-year-olds. The 2-year-olds are sweet, but when they are 3, they lie!" I have to admit, I busted out laughing a little. I was sure she was right, and now I am seeing it first-hand. Below, he is not lying, but he is reading to her. He knows "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by heart, and he loves to read to Maddie.


The next picture is of Quinn giving Maddie a bottle for the first time last night. How sweet is that? He practiced on his baby doll the other day, so I thought he was ready. Doesn't he look devious in that one?




Do you ever get so caught up in the little details that you miss the big picture? I don't mean on a daily basis with big stuff like life or anything, though I do that sometimes. I mean, for instance, today I had both kids sleeping at once, the living room was vacuumed, and the dishwasher was running. I was waiting on a job to come through, so I had no work, and I was caught up on blogs and facebook and junk like that. I decided to attend to the single most overdue cleaning project in my house: my bathroom sink and countertops. The tub and toilet get cleaned fairly regularly, but there is so much junk piled up on the countertops that it is a daunting task. But I dug in. Now I should have just unloaded the stuff, wiped it down, and moved on to other things, like putting away laundry or taking out the trash. But I got involved in the minutiae (love that word). I ended up scrubbing the gap between the back of the sink and the wall with an old toothbrush, which I then used on the ring around the drain. After the whole area was clean, I wiped off the stuff like soap pump and deodorant and replaced them, putting all the non-essentials in their proper place. (How very Donna Reid of me.) Another example: Sometimes when I really need to be getting ready to leave the house, I became (just a tad) obsessed with cleaning the hair out of my hairbrush. I can't stop until it's really really clean. Don't ask me why.

Well, I'm going to sign off now because I should have started dinner a half hour ago. And it's bath night, which HAS to be done by 8 p.m. because I am NOT missing the live finale of Biggest Loser. I have my priorities. I will close with a couple of Maddie pics because I owe you from her 3-month birthday. Love, Us.

"You Make My Heart Super Happy"

For those of you who don't get the reference, the title of today's post is from Ni-Hao, Kai-lan," a Nick Jr. show about a little Chinese girl and her animal friends. Quinn has spent the last 30 minutes pointedly NOT finishing his milk or dinner but instead singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the top of his lungs and asking for more "Jesus songs." It made me think about all the things in my life right now that make my heart happy, even when so many things don't. I could complain about my husband having to work six long days a week and not being around much. I could complain about how hard it is to get all of my work done while taking care of two small kids. I could complain about the fact that Quinn has absolutely no interest whatsoever in potty training but insists on showing me his backside every time he goes to the bathroom. But you know what? When Maddie gives me a big silly grin for no reason at all or Quinn pats my hair and tells me he loves me, all of that fades away. The fact is Maddie is a great baby. She sleeps through the night already and is a pretty calm baby whenever we're out in public. Quinn is a great kid, too, despite his temper tantrums. He still takes a nap (about 2 hours) most days of the week. He goes to bed without a fight almost every single night. He usually eats his vegetables before anything else. He says things like "That's the rules!" and loves on his baby sister. Tonight he was "helping" me cut coupons when I came across an ad for Baskin Robbins. He said, "Ooh, cake! I love cake. Mama, you say, 'Me, too'." I laughed so hard! Because, really, I love cake more than probably any other person on earth. Especially ice cream cake. I wish I had some right now. There is some really good ice cream in the freezer, but it's Jalal's and I can't eat it. He would say it was okay, but really I would never hear the end of it. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much a lose-lose situation for me. If ice cream lasts more than a week or so without me eating it, he says, "I can't believe we still have ice cream." Anyway, my point is that my kids make my heart super happy. Anyone who meets them falls in love with them. Well, I'm going to try really hard to get to bed early tonight. I've been up long past midnight every night this week, and catching some show last night on the History Channel about aliens being responsible for inseminating Noah's mother and then wiping out the "inferior" humans with the flood made me realize that it's not worth staying up late! Weird. So, goodnight. Love, Us.

Maddie's 3 Months Old!

Good morning! I woke up today with a few different things: a sore throat, for which I am drinking hot tea and hoping is not a sign of worse things to come; a prayer in my mind for my cousin (well, cousin's wife), Mary, who even at this moment is supposed to be in surgery; a plan to blow through some overdue housework first thing in the morning to catch up while I have no editing work to do; and a reminder to myself that Maddie is 3 months old today. I will have to take some special pictures today. I tried to find a recent one on the camera but after 10 minutes of deleting pictures of knees, fingers, foreheads, the ceiling, etc. (guess who got a hold of the camera?), I gave up. If anyone doesn't read my sister's blog, you should link over to it here and see the pics and video she posted of the kids while she and Wade were here a few weeks ago. Maddie is starting to put on some weight--slowly. She was only 9 lbs., 11 oz. at her 2-month appointment, in the 17th percentile. So we were having a tough time with clothes. She's long enough that she's almost too big for 3-month clothes, but her waist is so tiny that pants and shorts and even diaper covers fall off her. My mom sent us a couple of boxes of hand-me-downs from a friend of hers, and it was a jackpot! Tons of rompers in her size! Cute stuff, too. Rompers are perfect because there are no waistbands and most are shorts, so the length isn't an issue either. That makes it a lot easier to dress her. She is smiling a lot and cooing, but she's so vain. She will look at you like she's a little pissed off until you tell her she's pretty, and then her face lights up in a huge smile. Then you can see her one dimple and she'll start to talk. This morning, she was hanging out in her swing while I was making breakfast. I kept hearing this high-pitched shriek, which I thought was Quinn, but it was actually her. She also kept trying to roll over in her swing, but she just ended up slumped over. Going to have to watch that one! I'll put her at one end of her crib to sleep and in the morning she's at the other end with her feet sticking out of the slats. She's still a great sleeper, usually going for 8 hours at night without a peep! I don't know what we ever did to deserve two adorable children who are great sleepers. On the other hand, Quinn is trying to give up his afternoon nap. Guess who is not ready for that? Uh, me, in case you were wondering. I've had many different kinds of afternoons this week. One day, he took a 2 1/2 hour nap without a fuss. One day, he screamed and cried and pulled my hair and fought his nap so bad that he didn't get any rest at all. One day, he took a "rest" lying on our bed watching "Finding Nemo." That's the day he fell asleep sitting up in a cart at Babies 'R Us. He woke up after 15 minutes screaming and hysterical for a while. That shows me he is not quite ready for that either. I guess we'll keep working on it. We have a big playdate today with some other moms and kids, and I hope I can get him down for a little while so that will go better. Not only is he in a better mood when he naps, but he is safer. He gets really clumsy when he's tired. And he's such a boy that he doesn't need any more bruises and bumps and scrapes.

Speaking of Quinn, I realized that if I don't start logging some of this stuff, I'll forget. He's such a great kid most of the time. He's wicked smart and very funny. Here are some of the funny things he says:
Peaner jeller (peanut butter and jelly, though he's starting to say this correctly, which actually makes me sad, because this is really cute)
Leave Quinn alone! (this is said in anger when he's in a bad mood or being disciplined, when it is really inappropriate to laugh at him. But the first time he said it [yelled it, actually], I had to walk outside so he wouldn't see me laughing my head off.).
Me too. Me three. Me one. Etc. (often he'll say "me too" and then tell me to say "me three" and so on.)
I go to Mickey's House!! (we're discussing a trip to Disney World this year, so this is a favorite, but it comes out of nowhere like when he wakes up from a nap.)
We're having a birthday party tomorrow! (One time, we had a party for Jalal and Uncle Wade. This is now said almost every day. He also tells me "Happy Mother's Day" about every few days. So sweet and not right.)
(Counting) One through twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty! He thinks 13 and 14 sound the same, so he only says 14. We always just thought he was superstitious.)
Watch out! Grandma's coming! (I swear I don't know where he gets this, but sometimes if someone is walking down the stairs, he says this.)
Hi Monica. (This just started. He's calling Maddie "Monica" sometimes, watching me to see my reaction. Monica is a little girl at our church, but she's a year old. Weirdo.)
Aw, so cute! Look at those ears! (He says this about Maddie mostly, but once to Jalal, which was really funny. It's from "The Tale of Despereaux.")
That's all I can think of right now. And Maddie's crying, so I better go. Hope you all have enjoyed this little glimpse into our life. Love, Us.

The Concept of Time

This afternoon, the clock struck 5:00.
Quinn: It's nine o'clock!
Me: No, it's five o'clock.
Quinn: Oh, it's seven o'clock.
Me: No, it's five o'clock.
Quinn: No, it's seven o'clock.
Me: Okay, it's seven o'clock.
Quinn: No, it's five o'clock.

That's just a day in the life of a mother of a 2-year-old. Oh, and don't buy into all that parenting advice that says to give them two choices to make them feel like they have control. When we give him a choice between, say, two pairs of pajamas or two kinds of fruit, he picks one. Then he changes his mind and picks the other, which I then give to him. At that point, he freaks out and wants both of them. Yeah, giving a little bit of control to a toddler is not necessarily a good thing.

Toddlers are also notoriously inconsistent. Most of my mom friends agree that all two-year-olds ought to be qualified as bipolar. They can turn from hysterically happy to spastically miserable in two seconds flat--for absolutely no reason at all. We took Quinn to the playground today. He was so excited to get out of the car and run up to the playground. He freezes at the blue bridge, which he insists on walking over first and last thing there. He then turns so sad and begs Jalal to pick him up. At the stinking playground!! Who does that? We have to manipulate, threaten, tease, and coddle him to get him to cheer up and play. Weirdo.

Speaking of inconsistent, Quinn has been eating lettuce lately like it's going out of style. I mean, one night I gave him a small bowl of lettuce with dinner, and he asked for seconds--and thirds, and fourths! He's eating salads every day, and he ate almost the whole bowl of lettuce last night as we were having tacos. Today at lunch, I made him a turkey sandwich and put some lettuce on it. He picked off the lettuce and ate the rest. I asked him if he was going to eat his lettuce. "No." "Why not?" I asked. "I don't like lettuce." Oh. Well, I should have figured that out I guess. Tried again with a salad at dinner. He picked out all the pieces of shredded carrot but did not eat the lettuce. Not a fluke. Oh, and another funny story. I made him his turkey sandwich and served him some peas and pasta. While I was making lunch for Jalal, I heard him say, "Mmm, turkey is good." "Oh, have you tried your sandwich?" "Nope!" Okay, then. It's really no wonder that I can't wait for bedtime every day. It takes a lot of energy to be Quinn's mama. Well, I have to go be Maddie's mama now. Love, Us.

A Conversation with Quinn

Quinn: Mama, you doing laundry?
Mama: Yes, I'm putting Maddie's clothes away.
Quinn: I help laundry.
Mama: Ok, why don't you go into your room and get me any dirty laundry off the floor.
Quinn: Ok, I do it! [runs into his room and returns with a shirt] Here's laundry!
Mama: Is there any more?
Quinn: Yes, I get another one.
Mama: Ok. [Closes the door behind him, which is child-proofed from the outside.]
Quinn: Mama, you open the door? [I do.] I got another one!
[Repeat sequence three times until all laundry is off his floor.]
Quinn: All done laundry.
[Maddie starts to cry from downstairs. Quinn leaves the room and starts to close the door.]
Mama: Where are you going now?
Quinn: Going downstairs to calm down Baby Maddie.
Mama: Oh, okay. Thanks.
[running down the hall] Quinn: Good job doing laundry, Mama!
Mama: Thanks, Quinn.
Quinn: Bye-bye, Mama!
Mama: Bye-bye, Quinn!
Quinn: See you real soon, Mama!
Mama: See you real soon.

Miscellaneous Life

So I am finally able to catch you all up on the comings, goings, and doings of the Halaby clan. It's been a while so I apologize if things are a little haphazard. Seems my editorial finesse is elsewhere, perhaps hiding behind the bags under my eyes. Lots of room there, ya know. I hope I'll make it up to you by sharing lots of pictures!

Last Saturday was a big day. Maddie turned six weeks old and Jalal and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Since he had to work that night, we had to wait to actually celebrate until last night. We got a babysitter and went out to dinner. It was nice, especially the bottle of Cabernet. I haven't had a single drink in probably close to a year, so that was wonderful! I don't know if it was the wine or the relief from being out with my husband at dinner and not having to replace anyone's pacifier or ask for the 17th time if someone would please drink his milk. We really had a nice time, only we didn't have time to make it to a movie and we didn't know what else to do, so we just drove around a while and then came home early. We joked about getting a hotel room and just sleeping for a couple of hours, but it was cheaper to just go home and go to bed early. Hah! What a couple of dorks we are.

Maddie is smiling now, and it's adorable. She gives this big gummy grin and her dimple shows, and it just makes my heart melt. It's hard to catch on camera since it's just me trying to make her smile and take the picture at the same time, but here's what I've gotten so far.




Quinn is such a beast now. He has so much energy that he just literally runs around the house slamming into things at random. Whenever I get mad and fed up and tell him to stop doing something, he throws himself on the ground so hard that he ends up hurting himself. Does it make me a bad mom that I don't feel sorry for him one bit at that point?

Ok, to back up to what I've missed. We had our Easter Egg-stravaganza at the Bridge the week before Easter. Quinn had a blast, decorating cookies, coloring pictures, and finding eggs, of course. I love my church. We all feel so at home there. I have friends there who come up to me and say, "Quinn's a little stinky, so I'm going to take him to change him. Where is your diaper bag?" Isn't that crazy? It's amazing that it really doesn't take long to feel like they are family. My pastor's wife, Chris, is awesome. She works at her kids' school, so she had spring break last week. Midweek, she emailed me and emphatically insisted that I take her up on her offer to watch the kids while I go out and do something. I finally agreed and had almost two hours to run not-so-kid-friendly errands, like the Cartridge World, because of course I ran out of ink just as I received my first job after Maddie's birth. I also hit Hallmark because can you imagine me struggling with Maddie while Quinn ran up and down the aisles "reading" cards? Especially now that he knows some of them play music, I can't control him in there. Anyway, so Chris made it through most of his stack of puzzles while Maddie slept the whole time in her swing. It was so great of her to do that.






Speaking of puzzles, Quinn is amazing at them. He mastered his 12 and 20 piece puzzles months ago, but he would do them over and over again. When Trish came up for Maddie's birth, she brought this 48-piece construction scene puzzle from Melissa & Doug, a company I LOVE! I told her it was way too difficult. But it was just a few weeks later that I had to go out and find more of them because he was putting it together so well. I found two more just like it at Ross, a fish one and a dinosaur one. Here we are less than 5 weeks from his first attempt at the first one and now he can put them all together just about as quick as I can. It's crazy!!

We made it to the mall to visit the Easter bunny again this year. It started to look a little iffy with Quinn beginning a minor freak-out, and all I could think of was the Santa Claus fiasco last Christmas. I hate paying more than $20 to have pictures of my kid screaming on the lap of a stranger dressed up like a character. But when we told him he had to show his little sister how it's done and that he could ask the Easter bunny for a "special treat," he changed his tune. They turned out pretty cute. Here are the ones Jalal took.




Easter was really nice. We got a few pics of the kids all dressed up. Miss Maddie looked absolutely adorable in her Easter dress, and Quinn, of course, was quite the handsome little man. After church, we had a lovely traditional Easter dinner. For the first time since we met, Jalal made his mom's baked ham recipe, and I loved it! Those Hawaiians really know what they're doing with that ham and pineapple combo. Mmm mmm starts with M, as Quinn would say. Here are the little lovelies.






Somewhere in there in the last few weeks, we went to a circus in Spartanburg. To be honest, it was a little ghetto. Well, it was sort of half-ghetto/half-redneck. Hope I'm not offending anyone, but we were all abused by the urchins sitting behind and beside us. They were horrible. One little girl even reached over and grabbed a handful of our popcorn!! Seriously? Does anyone teach their children manners anymore? Do you think they have the decency to be ashamed? (The parents, I mean.) Anyway, Quinn had a good time, and he even rode an elephant. I think the next time we'll spend the extra money and go see Barnum and Bailey instead.




Well, I was flattered when I got an email from my contact at Cambria Press two weeks ago asking if I was ready to come back to work for them. I suppose that's a good sign, right? I just finished my first project for them, and wouldn't you know it was in Chinese. It was a good book, actually, but it was literally in Chinese. Well, some of it was. I have now done books that were partly written in Chinese, French, Herati (an Afghan dialect), and math. Yes, that's a language, and one I don't speak. But as stressful as it is watching the dishes and the laundry and the diapers pile up while I work frantically toward a deadline, I am so happy to have work. And I do like this job, so I am glad they like me, too.

Whew! That was a lot. I'm sure there is stuff I've missed, but it's probably minutiae. Like Quinn making Maddie scream when he throws her "teddy bear" (GloWorm) at her and hits her. Or how all of Maddie's pants are about 2 inches too big in the waist and fall off her. Or how we tried to take Quinn to a movie today to see "How to Train a Dragon." How even though we'd just eaten lunch, we had to feed Quinn peanut butter crackers, yogurt-covered raisins, Reese's Pieces, and a lollipop just to make it through the movie. (Don't judge us!) We also have had a couple of play dates with Maureen and Sarah and even met a couple of new moms. So we are making new friends, which is great. Oh, and whoever taught Quinn to say "are we there yet?" can bite me. Okay, time to go to bed. I'm exhausted! You probably are, too, after slogging through this post, which feels huge to me. That'll teach me to wait this long before writing! Love, Us.

Happy Spring!

I didn't even know it was the first day of spring today until I turned on the Today Show. And I wouldn't have turned on the Today Show unless Miss Maddie decided she needed to eat again just an hour and a half after her first breakfast. It's completely appropriate that it is spring now, since the weather here has been GORGEOUS! Plus it explains the manic cleaning I've been doing for the past three days: spring cleaning. That makes more sense than what I thought it was: post-baby nesting. I tell you, when Mama puts on her yellow rubber gloves, watch out! I cleaned the downstairs bathroom top to bottom, even the baseboards and the toilet brush holder. Then it was on to the kitchen, prompted by the fact that Quinn had shaken loose a bunch of my canisters that then fell back behind the lazy susan pantry thing. That took emptying the shelves, Quinn holding a flashlight, and me using a pair of long tongs to reach everything. I couldn't believe how many boxes of scalloped potatoes we had that expired in 2008. Whoops! Clearly we did not do much spring cleaning last year. I still have a long way to go, but I should be able to finish the kitchen today and move on to the upstairs bathrooms. That all depends on the cooperation of my children, of course. So far, Maddie has been extremely needy this morning, which wasn't much fun after a night of less sleep than usual. I guess I should be happy that we made it a full four weeks since Maddie was born without Jalal having to stay overnight at the hotel. Well, technically it was just two weeks since he went back to work. If it weren't for the income and the daily phone calls, I might start to feel like a single parent!! (Just kidding, not downplaying how tough it is for true single parents.)

So that brings me to the fact that Madigan is now four weeks old (give or take a few hours). Her doctor's appointment yesterday went well. She is 8 lbs, 9 oz. (30th percentile) and 21.5 inches long (61st percentile). Everything else was great. It was one day shy of when she could get her second Hep B shot, so we'll have to hold off on that. Quinn got a lollipop for behaving well, which he tried to share with Maddie. I told him Maddie couldn't have candy yet, and he asked, "why not?" I told him it was because she didn't have teeth yet and that we would just have to give him all the lollipops until then. He said, "Good idea, Mama! Good idea!" I thought he would like that. ; )

Here are a few pictures taken of Quinn and Miss Maddie lately. Hope this makes some of you happy (namely Trish and Mom!). Love, Us.



Quinn's special St. Patrick's Day breakfast: green milk, green eggs, and shamrock-shaped toast.

M is for Mmmm

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, let me tell you. We spent a couple of days in Charleston, I survived the first two migraines of this pregnancy, I fought valiently against what seemed like a hopeless work deadline, Quinn threw up four times in one afternoon (only one time in the toilet), and he's decided that he refuses to sleep like he's always done. Yeah, that about covers it. His sleep habits are all out of whack, and I'm not sure why. We had been using a doorknob cover on the inside of his door so he couldn't come out until we were ready for him in the mornings, but for naps, he would sleep fine with the door left open a crack. When he got sick last week, I took off the cover so he could come get me if he got sick again. I guess he liked his taste of freedom. He did fine without it the first couple of days. For the past 4 or 5 days, though, he has been getting up and coming downstairs instead of sleeping. So I told him I had to put back on the doorknob cover. Well, that has added a new element to the nap and bedtime mix: screaming. It has been a struggle to balance leaving his door open with the risk of 40 minutes or more of screaming and crying when we close it. ("Take it off!!") I don't think it's nightmares because he never gets to sleep, and once he does, he's fine. He's already got a couple of his molars, but again, he's not cranky or anything until we close his door, so I don't think that's to blame. I think he just doesn't want his doorknob cover and likes to be able to come and go when it pleases him. Last night was horrible. We fought about staying in bed for over an hour, then he got up screaming at just after midnight, finally came to bed with me (oh, fun), then started getting really squirmy when Jalal got home at 4. I went downstairs to sleep, he followed me, I sent him back upstairs, and he bothered Jalal for the next couple hours. Now Jalal is exhausted, and he has to work all night. I finally grabbed a little nap this afternoon, but now I feel hungover. I hope he gets over this before Maddie comes, or that whole sleeping for two hours at a time with a new baby thing is going to be extra complicated by this little problem.

On a positive note, Quinn is still stinking adorable when he's not driving me up the wall (we're at maybe a 30%/70% mix of cute to "I'm about to lock you in the closet"). Today, the drycleaners gave Quinn a lollipop. He was so happy. She even opened it for him. As we drove away, he tasted it and said, "Mmm, tastes like chocolate milk!" (It was a chocolate Tootsie Roll pop.) Just because it's cute, here's the rest of what he said over the next couple of minutes: M says Mmm, mmm, mmm! Chocolate lollipop. Tastes like chocolate milk! D says De-licious!
Hah! Isn't that great? He cracks me up. He also still sounds like a little old lady half the time. "Oh, dear!" and "It's not quite right" are two of his favorites right now. Anyway, I better go now. It's almost dinner time! Pot roast with extra onions. Yummy! Love, Us.

Everybody's A Critic--Or The Strong-Willed Child

We have a stubborn child. Don't know where he gets that from. I swear (with all the self-awareness I can muster) that I am not that stubborn. Jalal's pretty easygoing, too. So somehow we got a stubborn as a mule kid. Today, when he got up from a nap, I had every good intention of taking him outside to play. We've got sidewalk chalk on the brain right now, and Jalal even drew him a hopscotch court this morning, so I though some drawing and jumping might be in order. Well, he starts off by asking to watch Bob and Larry (VeggieTales movie, for those of you not familiar). I said, wouldn't you rather go outside and play? No, he wants to watch the blueberry (Madame Blueberry). Fine. I take it to put it in the DVD player, and he rushes to take it away from me, saying, "NO!" Fine. (Teeth clenched on that "fine.") Then I say, let's change your diaper and go outside for a little while.
"No, my diaper."
"I know, honey, but we aren't going outside in a dirty diaper."
(Going over to the window and hiding against the wall) "My stinky bobby [b.m.]."
"Well, yeah, I'm not going to claim that one. You can help me change your diaper, okay?"
"No, mys." ("Mys" [m-eye-s] is his word for "Mine")
"Fine, but we aren't going out or watching a movie until we change your diaper."
Captain Distractable wimpers into the window blinds for a while and then finds Lincoln Logs. (Notice the liberal use of the word "Fine." Sometimes I mix it up a little with "whatever" or "I really don't care," but you can tell the gist is the same.)

The other day, Quinn got himself a little worked up before his nap and was having a hard time going to sleep. He was all kinds of hysterical, and I offered to sit down next to his bed for a little while until he calmed down. We haven't had to sit with him in months to get him to sleep, but he was really upset. I started stroking his forehead and singing along with his music. He immediately turned to me and said, "No singing, Mama." Jeez! So I stop singing. Then he starts tugging at his diaper and says he needs a new one. I grab a new diaper and start to change him. He freaks out and tries to grab it. He says, "My diaper. Quinn do it." I told him if he wanted to be so stinking independent, he could go in the potty! I fought him for a minute, tried to let him help, but it wasn't good enough. I finally just changed his diaper against his will. By then, he was screaming his head off again, and I was so frustrated that I couldn't sit there and calm him down. So I just told him to go to sleep and shut his door. He eventually wound down and cried himself to sleep. Did I mention that he was stubborn? Good grief. Anyway, I know I usually offer some cute, funny stuff to balance out the crazy-mama ranting, but I just don't have it in my right now! Maybe tomorrow. Love, Us.

The Ego-stroking Issue

I'm super excited. I just finished eating dinner, which I made. Those of you who know me well know that my "cooking" is usually a craps shoot at best, even if I follow a recipe. Well, tonight, I threw caution to the wind and created a meal from scratch, using my fridge contents as inspiration, and even producing (gasp) a sauce!! Not only did it not suck, but I thought it was pretty good. I'm so stinkin' proud of myself. Granted, my pasta was a little sticky, and the steamed broccoli was a little cold because I am terrible at timing the different elements of a meal, but the hard part turned out great.

Since I'm patting myself on the back, I might as well mention that we've clearly identified Quinn's "love language." Now I don't know too much about the 5 Love Languages, but I have a dear friend (LC) who read the book years ago and always talks about them. I do know that one of the languages is verbal affirmation (or something similar). My dear son has turned verbal affirmation into his true calling, and he boosts his frazzled mother's self-esteem nearly every day with this. I asked him the other day if I could take a nap while he watched a movie. He agreed (and only woke me up once to ask if he could eat a lollipop). When the movie was over, he stroked my head and said, "Good job sleeping Mama!" The next day, I came out of the shower to Quinn saying, "Good job in shower Mama!" Gee, thanks. I've been working on that one for about 25 years. He also clearly doesn't understand what a birthday is. After a not particularly impressive dinner the other day, he said, "This is the best dirtday (birthday) ever!" Huh?

So Maddie's room is coming together nicely. We've been maximizing Jalal's time off and buying the last couple of pieces of furniture we need. Now Quinn has a new dresser, and Maddie has his changing table and a new bookcase. The wonderful women at my church are throwing me a baby shower later this month, so we're trying to hold off on buying anything else. I am just putting clothes away and stocking the changing table with all of the sample diapers we have (I think I've gotten at least a dozen!!) and stuff like that. It's getting so close! She's due 6 weeks from tomorrow. I can't believe it. My doctor's appointment on Friday went great. All my tests look good, and my blood pressure is great (unlike when I was pregnant with Quinn). The downside to all the good news is that it seems we won't get another ultrasound as long as she keeps measuring right on track. Boo. Well, I have to go give a bath to one stinky little boy. Night! Love, Us.

Oh, Dear! It's Almost 2010!

That sounds like science fiction, doesn't it? The year 2010? It's hard to believe another year has gone by. We've had a lot of firsts and big anniversaries this year: first anniversary of the deaths of Louella (dear mother-in-law) and Red (adored father), first pregnancy with a baby girl, celebrating 10 years together (me and Jalal), joining our first church together, first official job as a freelance editor outside of my old company, first Thanksgiving with instant mashed potatoes . . . obviously some good, some bad. We've really enjoyed watching Quinn grow up so much this year. He is quite the little man now. It seems he is always picking up new phrases, some of which are clearly copying us, and some of which have no known origin. Recently I've heard, "Oh no, not again!," "Oh, dear" (not the expression I'm most likely to use), and "Oh my." Is it strange that my 2-year-old boy sounds like a little old Victorian lady? He also tells us, "Mama, Dada, you're funny!" Today we stopped at the restroom of the BiLo before we went grocery shopping (hey, pregnant, remember?). While we were in there, someone made an announcement over the intercom. Startled, Quinn looked up and said, "Where did that come from?!" I laughed and told him it was a loudspeaker. He said, "Oh, like a speakerphone!"

And whoever thought I would spend a New Year's Eve playing Candy Land with my son? Not only does he love to play games now, he beat me pretty bad! And thanks to his games, he learned the word "Discard!" Jalal has to work tonight, like every other New Year's Eve in recent memory, so after the Candy Land master goes to bed, I will console myself with a bubbly glass of sparkling grape juice. Woo hoo! Living it up. While there won't be a raucous good time here tonight (though I'll admit I had to look up the spelling of "raucous"), there will be much happiness and contentment with our place in this life and this world. Well, for me there will. I can't promise anything for Jalal because he has to work all night and he just got screwed over royally by an employee today. But despite all the troubles we might have and the fact that life is nowhere near perfect, we have more love than any family deserves and more blessings than we are even able to count. I'm sure the coming year will be as crazy as science fiction for us, as we learn to add another child (and a girl nonetheless) to our crazy family. I wonder where we'll be this time next year. I suspect that no matter where we are, life won't really be that much different. Though with any luck, I'll be drinking hard liquor to welcome in 2011!! Happy New Year to all. May you be blessed and have the clarity to recognize your blessings and the wisdom to thank the God who sent them to you. Love, Us.

New Year's Greetings from Quinn the Amish Pirate

Good Broccoli Night

I know I haven't given the whole lowdown on our Christmas around here, but it might have to wait. I've been busy trying to enjoy it rather than blog it. Oh, and working. And cleaning. And emptying out the soon-to-be nursery. And panicking about Maddie's due date just EIGHT WEEKS AWAY!!! Agh! Anyway, I thought I'd just update here with a few things Quinn has said lately that crack me up (though sometimes not at the time).

A couple days before Christmas, I was trying to get some last-minute shopping done for stocking stuffers. Jalal had taken the last four days in a row off, and he took Quinn shopping with him every single day. No problems. He reported that Quinn was a complete angel the entire time. I stayed home and frantically tried to meet deadline on my job. Anyway, so Jalal had gone back to work and I thought I'd take Quinn to hit Marshall's and Ross with me. I was super nice to him that day, taking him to the playground that morning with Sarah and Maureen and getting him a good nap. I made it through the first 10 minutes with only minor whining, even letting him walk along with the cart instead of sitting in it until he was ready. Then he pretty much wound down into full-scale temper tantrum. It was not one of those "I'm not getting what I want" tantrums, though. It was more like an "I don't feel good and I don't want to be here and I can't have mom thinking she can just take me somewhere and I'll behave" kind of tantrum. It was the kind where I actually picked him up and held him (though he is just over the 30-pound weight limit I'm supposed to not lift) and begged him to tell me what was wrong. It ended with me dumping the stuff I'd picked up already onto a shelf and rushing him out the store still in my arms. I say "rushing" but by the time I reached the parking lot, I had slowed down considerably as a result of the severe pain in my lower back. Now remember that I'm "slightly" hormonal lately, so by the time we reached the car, I was crying as hard as Quinn was. While I tried to calm down enough that my glasses would stop fogging up and I could drive home, Quinn started asking if he could watch Bob and Larry (VeggieTales). I was so frustrated that I couldn't get in half an hour of shopping that I pretty much cried all the way home. Quinn kept asking me, "Mama, you happy? You happy crying?" Um, no.

So, we are going through phases of no eating again. I call it the cheese and bread diet. No shortage of starch here. He hadn't eaten veggies in a few days, but I kept trying. Last night, I made him a cheeseburger and broccoli. At first, he ate the bread (big surprise). He tried to get to the cheese, but it was too melted to the meat. Then he finally ate some of the burger. Just when I was about to give up hope, I tried bribery. I told him if he ate two tiny pieces of broccoli, he could have dessert. He said, "How bout COOKIES!" Sure, cookies, I told him. About five minutes later, when I had said "Oh well, maybe tomorrow," he picked up a large piece of broccoli and proceeded to shove it all in his mouth, finishing the entire portion in about 12 seconds. Needless to say, he got his cookie, along with a second helping of broccoli (he asked for it!). I said that was a good dinner and I was proud of him. He said, "Yeah, Mama. Good broccoli night!" I'll say.

When I tried to tell Quinn about going to church on Christmas Eve and singing songs for baby Jesus, he started right away on "Rock a Bye Baby." Not a bad guess, but not quite. Before we went to bed that night, I read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke, and though he sat on his stepstool and tried to pay attention, it really was very annoying as he tried to "read" along with me. That's his new thing, trying to predict what I'm going to say and speaking along with me. Fun. He then made Jalal's reading of "The Night Before Christmas" last for about 20 minutes because he had to narrate everything happening on every single page of the book. That kid really never shuts up! He certainly inherited a lot of Langston in that respect. The other day, he had a long conversation with himself in the backseat on the way home from church. He even imitated bits of a conversation that we had with him about 3 weeks ago about jet trails looking like "two sides of a triangle" (his observation), after which Jalal or I laughed and said, "It sure does." He copies the laugh and all. Creepy.

When we opened presents on Christmas morning, he got a lot of boxes. Every time he peeled back the paper, he said, "A box! . . . about Mickey Mouse!" (or whatever he saw on the box). He opened the box to a game of Memory and said, "A box about two dragons!" It was terribly cute.

Well, that's all I'm going to write about tonight. Just a teaser. Hopefully more soon. Merry fourth day of Christmas! Love, Us.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Wow, has it really been since November 10 that I've written? That sucks. I'll try to be better. The holidays and a vacation and a lot of work have gotten in the way. I won't make this a total recap because that would be exhausting, but I'll touch on a couple of recent events.

First of all, I would like to say "hah" to all those Chinese folks whose kids can eat rice with chopsticks. Last night, Quinn managed to eat rice with a single toothpick. Strange child, I know. But at least I got him to eat rice! It was only the second time he's gladly eaten it. The first was last week in Tallahassee when he ate basmati rice at an Indian restaurant (which was fantastic!). Last night, he ate brown rice, so at least he's getting some whole grains. He used to eat tons of whole grains, but then he turned 2.

Speaking of Tallahassee, our trip was great, but too short. Quinn charmed his Auntie Trish and Uncle Wade, of course, and was in turn spoiled rotten. Big surprise. Here's a link to the pictures Trish took. Quinn sang along to Uncle Wade and Daddy playing Guitar Hero, and then he told them, "You guys rock!" He also behaved like a little punk at most of his meals, too busy showing off and messing around for his "audience." Every time we left Trish and Wade, he would ask, "Where Uncle Wade and Auntie Trish goes? Find it anywhere?" That's his new thing. "Find it anywhere?" And he puts his hands palm up out to the side and cocks his head. It's hysterical. He also spent a lot of time singing his songs: the ABC song; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; You Are My Sunshine; and the theme song to "Wonder Pets." He also helped Uncle Wade get eggs out of the chicken coop, mimicked the rooster crowing (wish I had that on video), and "rode" Uncle Wade's motorcycle.

The day after we got back, we had to take our first baby class at the hospital, which was actually a tour and orientation of the OB floor. It was interesting to find out what they offer: baby Lojack (an alarm system that shuts down the floor if the baby gets too close to elevators or stairwells), massages for new mommies, and mom and baby rooms (for post-delivery) that are about four times as big as the one we were in with Quinn. Woo Hoo! I don't know if we'll take a Lamaze refresher course or their class called "Meet the Doulas." We'll see if we can fit them in.

Tonight is the manager Christmas party for the Marriott, so I'm trying to get ready for that as well. I found some fairly low-heeled shoes that I can fit my swollen feet into, but it was quite amusing even to me how contorted I had to get to paint my own toenails. I still need to put together some sparkly bling to distract from the fact that I'm wearing boring old maternity clothes and nothing fancy. Time to meet the bigwigs and their wives. (Not trying to be sexist, but it just so happens all of the bigwigs are male there.) Too bad I'll have to be sober. Oh well, I'm getting used to it now. But as the temps dip into the low 30s, I sure am craving a hot buttered chocolate (thanks Kaminsky's for turning me onto the blissful combo of hot chocolote and butterscotch schnapps).

I had to see a male OB yesterday instead of my female doctor. We have to struggle to find someone to watch Quinn just so Jalal can join me at some of my appointments (thank you, H1N1 scare), and when we get there, the receptionist says the doctor is doing an emergency C-section but we can come back in an hour. WTH? I know it happens, and I don't blame them, but this is really frustrating. I had to reschedule last month because we were running 10 minutes late, so that meant turning around and driving from Greenville back to Simpsonville again to pick up Quinn. Then I still had to go by myself. It's so frustrating. Anyway, I asked if I could just see someone else, and so I met one of the male docs. He was nice, and I figure you never know who'll be delivering the baby, so best meet them ahead of time.

Anyway, I better get back to work and nail polish. Duty calls! Love, Us.

Melting My Heart

Okay, this is going to be a quick blog post because I REALLY need to get back to work, but I just had to share what just happened. Quinn brought his plate from lunch (yes, he ate a late lunch today) over to me in the kitchen. I knelt down to wipe his hands and face. I washed one hand, and as I was washing the other, he reached up and stroked my hair. He smiled at me and said, "you're beautiful, Mama." This is a 2-year-old!! I came very close to crying, but held back. I just said, "Aw, thank you Quinn. That is very sweet." What a darling boy I have.

Also, I've been meaning to write about this for a week. For those of you who may judge me for taking Quinn to Snip-Its, a fancy kid's salon, and paying $20 plus tip for a toddler haircut, I would like to present Quinn's recent haircut, provided by an unnamed discount haircuttery, as justification. Not only was he twitchy around the scissors and the buzzer, he almost started crying during the haircut and was only settled by a "pollipop," which was totally covered in hair a few minutes later. Even after all that, his bangs look awful. The top is still too long, and one side of his bangs are so much longer than the rest that I've been tempted to cut them myself. If it weren't for the unfortunate time that my mom cut my bangs at a 60 degree angle, I might actually pick up the scissors. As it is, we've settled for extra mousse, creative brushing, and just plain not giving a hoot. SO glad we saved 10 bucks. Well, that's all for now. Love, Us.

Why Not?

What a crazy week it's been! I got a new freelance job a few weeks ago, but I waited a while before I received any actual work from them. Then, when it came, it came in a big rush! My first project was a 300-plus page book about minorities in Africa. It is extremely interesting and reminds me of my African lit classes in college. But the company wanted me to return 20-30 pages at a time for review, often overnight! I was trying to get used to their style and more academic writing, and I was stressed. The reviewing went well, though, and now I have until the 16th to finish the rest of the book (probably 8 chapters and a 40-page bibliography). I've learned more about endnotes in the past week than in my entire editing career!

In the meantime, Quinn had a blast at my church harvest festival, and he was the cutest cowboy ever. He played all the games, only ate one piece of candy, and learned the proper way to eat a hot dog from his father. (No, we didn't slice it into tiny, choke-proof pieces. Let it go.) Unfortunately, the next day he came down with a fever at a baby shower and was completely listless all day, which happened to be Halloween. So he didn't get to go trick-or-treating for the second year in a row! I didn't think he would even notice, he was so out of it, but when the first kids came to the door, he came over and said (so pitifully), "Quinn trick-or-treat!" Poor baby. Jalal helped by bringing home a Mickey Mouse Pez dispenser. The next morning, we went upstairs to get ready when we heard a little voice downstairs say "Trick-or-Treat" and then the sounds of little hands trying to open a Fun Size bag of M&Ms. Hmmm. We busted out laughing. It was so cute. Now he rings the doorbell every time he goes outside. Great.

His newest phrase is "Why not?" He came out with that the first time at dinner the other day, when I told him he couldn't play with "packets" (sugar packets, he likes to shake them). I nearly choked and couldn't answer. Jalal had to tell him that it was dinner time and not play time with a straight face. A few days later we had a long conversation that went something like this:
Quinn: Where Dada?
Me: In the dressing room, trying on some pants.
Quinn: Hiding wall?
Me: Yes, he's hiding behind that wall.
Quinn: Open door.
Me: No, we don't open the door to the dressing room.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Because people need privacy in there.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Because they are taking off their clothes.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Because it's not polite.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Just because!!

I would like to state for the record (and that ongoing Mother of the Year application) that I have not yet said, "Because I said so!!"

On another funny note, we were driving to church this morning, and a leaf was stuck in my windshield wiper. It was flapping away, and Quinn said, "Mama, leaf go faster!" I said, "Yes, it's going fast because we are going fast" (this was at all of about 30 miles an hour). He said, "Slow down, Mama! Slow down!" Jeez, kid! I have such a little conscience now. In his quest to be polite, he sneezed the other day and expected Jalal to bless him. When Jalal didn't, Quinn said, "Bless you Quinn!" looking pointedly at Jalal.

This other child of ours is pretty controlling already herself. I woke up the other night at around 3:00 a.m. or so, when Jalal came home from work. He was pretty worked up so we talked for a little while. Well, then I couldn't go back to sleep. All of a sudden, I was starving! Finally, after letting my mind wander all over the place, I just got up and went downstairs. I fixed myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an Oatmeal Creme Pie and a glass of milk. After that, Maddie and I both felt better and went back to bed. Well, I had thought Jalal was asleep when I left, but he said, "Where'd you go?" I said, "I had to eat lunch." He laughed and said, "That's what I figured." Does he know me or what? My sister thinks it's funny that I called it lunch, but really, what does it sound like? Not breakfast. The child wants what she wants and all I can do is try to comply. (If I don't, I end up snacking on Tums more often than not.) Well, I have a lot of work to finish, and I'm not going to waste anymore of Quinn's naptime talking to the two of you. Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

For some reason, I never remember it's Monday until I read MckMama's Not Me Monday blog carnival. For more hilarious stories of things we would NEVER do, not in a million years, check it out and read her and others' blogs.

I did not literally yell/curse at my child today when he specifically disobeyed me and tried to crawl through my legs while I was draining grease from ground beef in a heavy, 8-qt. sauce pot. I did not burn my arm so bad that I yelled "Dammit Quinn! I told you not to come near me when I've got hot food in my hands!!" (There goes the Mother of the Year award I was up for.)

I do not wet my pants at least twice a day, every time I sneeze. It is not so common that recently, when I sneezed and didn't wet myself, I exclaimed proudly about that fact to Jalal.

I did not have to reorganize the refrigerator to fit in a giant orange jug for collecting 24 hours' worth of my pee before my doctor's appointment tomorrow. This is not the third time I've had to do this (once with Quinn and once already with Maddie), and I did not practically roll my eyes at the lab tech who tried to kindly explain the whole procedure to me AGAIN (same girl as the last time; guess she sees a lot of pee jugs).

I did not spend 10 precious minutes with a cranky toddler at the grocery store trying to pick out snack size candy for a church harvest festival. I did not have to weigh the merits of the sale versus the coupon, all the while trying to figure out if "peanut-free candy" meant candy with no nuts in it or candy that was not processed in a facility containing peanuts.

I did not have to laugh hysterically today when Quinn (who just learned "Red stop/Green go!") said "two green gos" at a stoplight and it sounded just like "2 Gringos." I did not laugh even harder when Quinn noticed me laughing and said, "Mama, I funny."

I did not frantically spread three sheets of newspaper around Quinn's chair for our first attempt at eating spaghetti at our new dining room table. I also did not contemplate trying to force a bib on him for the first time in months. I did not settle for tucking a paper towel into his shirt collar.

On a different note: Jalal did not tell Quinn he couldn't have chocolate milk until he finished his breakfast the other day. He did not say, "Daddy gets to drink chocolate milk because he ate his breakfast," all the while knowing that the chocolate milk WAS his breakfast!

I hope there's nothing in your recent past that you wouldn't admit to on the Internet, forgetting that someday a future employer is going to discover this and decide he/she does not want to hire someone who publicly discusses wetting her pants! Love, Us.

The Purple Leaves of Autumn

The weather has been so beautiful here lately that we are anxiously awaiting a chance to go up to Asheville and see the fall foliage. It's been a tradition since we moved here (if you count one time so far as tradition). This year, we are also going to go apple picking. And tomorrow is the day!! Yay! Jalal has the day off, so off we go! The one kink in our plan is that, as of last week, the section of the Blue Ridge Parkway we like to take was closed because of some landslide or something (probably not that dramatic). Ah well. I was brushing Quinn's teeth tonight and trying to get him psyched about the trip. I said we were going to see leaves of all different colors, green, red, orange, yellow ... Quinn said "purple?" Yes, Quinn, maybe even purple leaves. Quinn says, "Purple leaves. And yellow flowers." Sure, kiddo. Whatever.

In other news, we finally broke down and bought a dining room table and chairs. We already have a very nice dining room table, but we've never had chairs, so the table basically holds all kinds of kitchenware and foodstuffs. We found a great set at a discount/unfinished furniture store here, retail $800, our price only $280!! It was brand new and matches our other furniture. I'm really hoping that this will help us get Quinn's mealtime behavior under control. I think it will be good for all of us to eat at the table like a family, without the TV on. We'll see how things go.

Maddie is kicking even more lately. I love that feeling! It seems like Maddie has just as much strength as her big brother. Well, I have to finish an edit tonight before I try to take most of a day off tomorrow. Happy Fall everyone! Love, Us.