Bathing Babes

Lauren pretended she was a baby this morning during their impromptu bath, hence her "sharing" Jacob's seat ::sigh::



Cutest frog and flower you've ever seen, eh?

Our Moose and his Moose

That is Jacob's chocolate Moose. He's not as vital to the well being of our child as the bears (B's) were to Lauren, but this Moose has always helped Jacob sleep. I lay him down, snuggle him with a blanket, and then hand him the Moose. He immediately buries his head into him (or her?) and drifts off. This Moose and I are buds as he allows me to get a few moments of peace and quiet (every now and then).


(Note: this next picture was taken a few moments ago, and the others this morning when he was feeling the urge to be nude)


And my favorite picture, where he is overjoyed to see his momma following a nap :)

I'm becoming a foodie

Me, who didn't know how to boil water to save my life (yes, I'm serious) is now making meals that a) aren't cooked in the microwave and b) don't have the title of Hamburger Helper in them. And I'm much much much more adventurous these days. I used to only buy hamburger and frozen chicken breasts; that's it. In fact, the first time I ever bought meat for Pot Roast, I had to ask the butcher what kind to buy. He looked at me like I was nuts. I wasn't nuts, just very culinary-challenged.

Anyways, tonight's dinner was Cajun Tilapia, baked potatoes (I had garlic homefries though because whole potatoes make me nauseous) and fresh green beans. I looked at our plates and realized just how far I've come from the days when boxed Mac N Cheese with sliced Hot Dogs was considered a nutritious, home cooked meal.

Wrestle Mania and Burrito makin'

The Brownies and I declared today a chill, easy going kind of day. We hung out in our jammies until 11 am, playing and wrestling and making Lauren burritos. When 11 am rolled around, we hit the road and had lunch at Olive Garden with our Aunt Cat. It was such a fun day just being silly and goofy with my babies.

Here are some highlights from the day:


Makin' a Lauren burrito:


Burrito wrapped hair:


Snuggling with her "baby boy:


Somersaults:


Smiling for the camera:


And the main event... wrestling!!


What other job lets you stay home and play/wrestle/cuddle with your kids?!? I LOVE being a SAHM (most days). :)

"EMO!"

It took me a few days to determine what "Emo, momma!" meant. I racked my brains and pulled hair trying to figure out what Lauren was telling me. Seriously, emo? All I could come up with is yes child, you are very emotional right now. You have multiple tantrums these days. You are emotional. Very emotional.

But that's not what she meant, as evidenced by the meltdowns, complete with foot stomping and wall hitting.

So my next thought was... What? You wanna be emo? As in black-and-purple-spikey-hair emo? With those ridiculously tight pants that show every crease and bulge? Ohh, and what 'bout some mascara? Yes, a pound of mascara around the eyes please, to look more dramatic and dumb. Is that the kind of emo you're talking about Lauren?!?

That still wasn't the answer she was going for ::Insert more wall banging and temper tantrums here::

But finally it hit me. She wanted Nemo, as in the fish. Now that I can live with because applying a few coats of eye makeup to my FancyPants didn't sound too appealing to me :)

And so Nemo she got. She layed for all of 9 minutes watching that little orange guppy. Nine whole minutes of uninterrupted dinner prep. I was even able to stir the pasta solo, without hearing "Laurnen help momma cook!" 20 times that afternoon. It was lovely. I have a crush on "Emo" now.

All to take a single picture

It used to be that I could simply ask to Lauren to sit in a certain spot and she would, no questions asked. Then I could pick up her brother, set him in between her legs and he'd be propped up perfectly. I would make a few funny noises which would elicit giggles and huge smiles, and viola... cute, smiley Brownie babes:


Nowadays, well that's a different story.

Getting these two to set together for a millisecond is like pulling teeth. I ask Lauren to sit where there is good natural light and she says "no momma!" while turning away from me. Sweet.


After bribing her with a mini Snickers bar asking her nicely once more, she obliges, but insists on sitting where she wants to sit.


Great, not only is her hair invisible, but ratty ole' "B" makes his way in.

So then I go to get Jacob. He has been downing his sippy cup, and he takes the prize in his own wet t-shirt contest. I have to change him to get a decent shot in our photo shoot with his sister.

I change him, he looks studly and we're on the right track.


I come back into the living room with a clothed stud muffin in my arms and catch someone in the act:


Greaaaat.

Ten minutes later, all 9,134 balls are put away now and we're on our way. I set Lauren down and put Jacob in her lap, like we've done every few weeks for the past 11 months. Jacob wants nothing to do with his sister and bolts:


I wrangle him in and he sits still long enough for Lauren to give him a death grip on his shorts, thus giving the poor fella a diaper wedgie in the process. Attempt 3 to get a decent pic and no such luck.


I get smart now and go into the playroom to get Lauren's Elmo mini-CD thingy. This makes both Brownies smile every time. Aha! I have a plan! Except that the CD in question was brought into Lauren's room during naptime. So I run as fast as I can into her room. Five seconds later, seriously, and I come out to find this:


Uh huh. Clean up the balls again, this time throwing them in 2 by 2 to save the extra 7 seconds.

With CD in hand and annoying Elmo music blasting, I set Lauren and Jacob down together and snap a picture before one runs off. Lauren decides this would be an appropriate time to kiss him, even though I was attempting to get both faces looking at me. Jacob is confused that she's kissing instead of smacking:


No dice, so we try again.


This time Jacob discovers Lauren's pigtails. He's mesmerized and she's becoming increasingly annoyed that his slobbery little hands are "making mess" of her hair.

So I rearrange 'em. Jacob will sit in front on her. Yes, this will work!


But Lauren is now famished and pretends to eat Moosey's head. Annnnnd, Jacob attempts to flatter the ladies with his handsome looks ::sigh::

We're now 20 minutes into this "really quick" photo shoot. I'm losing my audience.... literally:


so I did what any sane, rational mom would do and promised them everything under the sun; You want candy? Sure! Wanna watch Elmo alllll day long? No problem! Jacob, you wanna nurse 24/7 and bite me while you're at it? You betcha! Just sit still for half a second and look somewhat decent!!!

The final result:


Yes, after alllll of that, this is what I got. They look pained and Lauren is on the verge of looking tortured by having to sit next to her pigtail-pullin' bro. No smiles, no giggles, no holding hands but gosh dang it, they're looking at me and that my friends will have to do these days.