missing: fresh air

I haven't breathed a breath of fresh air in over 3 days.

This may be a record for me.

Friday, as you may recall, was the big "poopy" and "half-birthday" day, so we pretty much just hung out in the house all day.

Oh, I had grand plans to run errands on Saturday.  And with the heat wave we had (like in the 30's!) I thought maybe we could even get out and play in the snow without freezing our eyelashes off.

But my dreams were shattered when my poor girls woke up Saturday morning coughing and sniffling.  By lunchtime Addie had developed a fever of over 102 degrees (which she tends to do when she's sick).  And Millie's was over 100.  So we stayed inside and watched movies and played Memory.  

At least we'll get to go to church tomorrow, I thought naively hopefully.  I'm sure everyone will feel 100% better by then.

Then Chad decided that he wanted to start coughing too.  (Okay, so I guess that's not fair.  I suppose he couldn't really help it.)  And when the girls woke up this morning with high fevers again, I suddenly realized that this weekend was going to pass by without even a single whiff of fresh air.  Oh, I suppose I could've stepped outside to catch a few breaths, but between taking temperatures, doling out meds, doing laundry, and feeding and entertaining my babies, I guess I never really thought to do so.  (I will give Chad credit though.  Even though he wasn't feeling up to par and had tons of grading to do, he helped out tremendously with the kids.  He's awesome.)


However, I did end up enjoying some super special cuddle time with my girls throughout the weekend, which doesn't get to happen a whole lot at their rambunctious ages.

AND I did have another bright spot in my weekend.  One of my super cool friends made a button for my blog! Without me even asking her to do it!  I'm pretty sure I never even mentioned it to her.  It's kinda creepy because I was seriously thinking yesterday morning that I wanted to figure out how to make one and then I checked my email and she had already made one for me!  Yowzers!  I was very pumped.  So, make sure you check out her lovely little creation over on my right sidebar and, if you feel so inclined, you can even copy it to your blogroll!  ;)

Oh, and a big THANK YOU to all of you who commented on my "how much do you pay?" post.  I didn't realize how many of you had the same question and was glad to see many of you pay about what we do.  I also learned that I want to start babysitting for one of my friends who has been known to pay $25 for a couple hours for one child!  Anytime, Katie, just give me a call!  :)

And to leave you with a smile...
Here's to summer days relaxing by the pool with friends...  That's just around the corner... right?

potty mouth

*WARNING*  The following post uses the word "poopy" a lot.
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Our little Millie is officially 2 1/2 years old today!

You know what that means?  I'll give you a hint:  it rhymes with "naughty staining."

Did you guess "hottie craning?"  Well, you're wrong.  It's "potty training."

We've been working on it for awhile now.  She's been good about going on the potty when she wants to.

But it's seldom that she lets me know she has to go.  And even more seldom that she actually poops in the potty.  We had this problem with Addie.  Pee trained?  Completely.  But she was scared to poop in the potty.

So just now, after her nap, I put her on the potty and I could tell she had to poop but wasn't going to.  And all of a sudden, these words popped out of my mouth:

"Millie, do you know what poopy likes to do?  Swim.  And do you know where poopy likes to swim?  In the potty!"

Then her little eyes lit up.  "Mommy, I think my poopy's crying because it wants to go swimming."

"Well then, you'd better let them out so they can swim!"

And guess what?  It actually worked!  She got a little out at first and then said, "There's more in my bottom that wants to join its mommy."  So then she went more.

When it came time to flush, I could tell she wasn't so sure since she knew her poopy was having so much fun swimming.  So I said, "Do you want to send them down the waterslide?"  And that was all it took.

I'm sure many of you other much smarter moms have used this trick before.  I can't believe I hadn't thought of it until now.  Maybe it would've helped Addie.

And in honor of her half birthday, I had some really grand plans for today (We don't usually do this, but since it's been such a long, dreary winter, I thought it might help).  I told the girls we could have a 1/2 cake tonight (we'll have the other half next week for Addie's celebration) and do other fun half things.  Of course they loved the cake idea, but nixed all my other super cool ideas - like coloring half a picture, wearing only one pigtail (which I did this morning anyways), watching half a movie, play half a game... But I guess none of those ideas sounded like fun.  We'd much rather do whole things.

I guess we're just "wholesome" like that.  ;)

Happy half birthday, Millie!

I love you to the moon.

how much do you pay?

Yup.  That's pretty much all this post is about.  How much do you pay your babysitters?

I'm just being completely nosey.  Maybe it's none of my business.  But I'm just curious if we're even in the ballpark.  I don't want to be the family that the babysitters avoid because we're cheapskates.  And I do love our sitters and want to know that we appreciate what they do.

So, I'll be honest with you.  When we just needed a sitter for our 2 girls, we paid $5/hour to high schoolers and $6 to college girls.  Now that we have 3 kids, we've upped it to $6-7/hour.  Is that way below what we should pay?  (And I'm talking midwest pay here - I've heard what some of you big city folks pay and nearly peed my pants.)

Also, before you judge us... you should know that our kids go to bed at 7:30.  Usually we need a sitter around 6:00, so for the majority of the time, the kids are in bed.

So, help me out!  Tell me what you pay!  And if you want to tell me anonymously, I totally respect that.

Or, if you are a babysitter, what do you think is fair?  (Because I know my "mommy-blog" has a huge following with the hip young crowd.)

half birthday

It seems like only yesterday you were born.

Our first son.

Our only son.

And now you're six months old.

But what a smart baby you were even back in those first few days.

For instance, you could pee on command:

And you could even wave:

And although you can't do those things anymore, you can chew on your toes:

And you still have those adorable "Michelin Man" legs.

And you're still the cutest little boy ever.

Now stop growing up so fast.

I love you, Tate.

Happy 6-months!

the last dance

From our first dance class,

to an ice cream outing before our last.

Thank you, winter storms of 2010, for canceling our class twice and allowing this Christmas gift to extend two extra weeks!

confidence busters

The following conversations took place already this morning. It's only 9:45 a.m.  By the end of the day I just may be in tears.

Addie:  Mommy, will you be the dragon in our play?
Mommy:  Sure!
Addie:  But the dragon can't wear long eyelashes.
Mommy:  (feeling very flattered thinking her eyelashes must be very long) But I can't take my eyelashes off - they're natural.
Addie:  It's okay, Mommy.  We can barely see them anyways.

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Mommy:  You guys are getting so big.  Just bigger and bigger everyday.
Addie:  You're getting bigger everyday too, mommy.  SO BIG.

Just what every mommy wants to hear.

more revolting...

No, I don't mean that kind of "revolting," (adj. causing abhorrence or disgust).  Don't worry, I'm not trying to disgust any of you.  I'm sure I've already done that in some shape or form on this blog.


What I mean is that we've been revolting more.  
(v. to oppose or refuse to accept something)


What do we oppose, you ask?  


Winter.  


This terrible, loathsome, frigid, arctic-like winter, that's what.


It started out delightful.  Just a few cute little snowstorms, giving daddy a few snow-days, and the family a chance to huddle around the fireplace.


Then it took a turn for the worse.  It just didn't stop.


If you're still not sure what I mean, read this post.


Then check out how we revolted the first time.


And now, months later, we're just trying to figure out how to survive this nightmare with still a few shreds of dignity.  And some sanity - that would be nice too.


I know I'm not alone in this, so I've put together a few ways we've been trying to brighten our dreary days.


GRILLING!

Yes, our outdoor grill is covered in a mountain of snow, but we got a Grill It!  I feel like an infomercial here, but it is super easy to use and the burgers really taste grilled.  Because they are.  But on your very own stovetop!  And you don't even have to take your burner off - it just fits right over it!  Cool huh?  Get one.

Going through old cards.

Yes, this seems too simple, doesn't it?  Well, it is and it has provided hours of entertainment for these girls.  Luckily, I've kept all their baby cards and all other cards they've ever gotten (because I'm sentimental that way, that's why) in cute little storage boxes and save them for days when they need a little sunshine.  They sort them, make up stories with them, "read" them, etc.  So easy.  So fun.

Becoming Picassos.

We brought this easel up out of the basement (where it never got any use) and put it in the kitchen for a few days.  All of a sudden it was like a brand new toy.  You don't have to have an easel - just rotating your toys can do wonders.  We keep a big tub of toys in the basement and bring it up every month or so and rotate the toys out.  It's like Christmas morning all over again.

Easy, fun, "crafty" lunches.

English muffins + pizza toppings = a yummy, edible "craft"

I'm sure many of you do this, but I had forgotten about this easy meal so it was fun to break it out again.  The girls would love to do this every day.

Tickle wars.

Yes, nothing beats a good ol' tickle war.  A sure way to let those giggles out.  Even Tate got to participate.

And lastly, cuddle time.

Tate can stay content for an amazing amount of time when his sisters cuddle him.  And yes, here they are all in his crib.  Pretty sure the crib isn't meant to hold all this weight, but hey, he's our last baby so it's not like we'll need it that much longer, right?  :)

So, this is what we've been doing.

What have you been doing to beat this nasty winter?