My Streaking Daughter.

We went to the Toy House tonight, to pay off our layaway and pick up the goods.

Maeve has been wearing undies (diapers to bed & nap) the entire week now.  She's been doing GREAT with peeing... in fact, before tonight, I might have said she was "pee-potty trained."

We were inside for maybe ten minutes, and my daughter comes streaking around the corner- without pants on.  GOD HELP ME.

Here's how it went down:

Me: "Maeve what in the world are you doing?  Dear GOD put your pants back on."

Maeve:  "They're so wet mama."

Me:  "It doesn't matter, you have to wear pants in public."

--- fast forward to a few minutes later- I have her pants on, Maeve, Henry and I are in the car, Ryan's inside grabbing all our packages---

Maeve:  "Mama, I have to go pee pee."

Me:  "Ummm you just went pee pee.  And you don't have pants on.  So you need to hold it.  Do you know what that means?"

Maeve:  "Nope." 

cue dribbling water (or pee to be exact).

This was my Thursday night folks! :)  I'm telling ya- have kids, and you will never have a dull moment again! :)

things that make me go giggle.

M & H have been keeping me laughing. I am thankful- who doesn't need a good laugh? The older these two get, the closer they get. And I love it. Its making me rethink putting off having another baby for awhile- NO I will not be pregs anytime soon- but I do love the 2 year age gap. They pal around and really get a kick out of each other. I wanted to write some things down (for memories sake... and my parents who are sadly missing a lot of this) that make me smile/laugh....

-Every morning when we go in to get Henry (Henry out-sleeps Maeve by like 20-30 minutes), Maeve comes bounding in behind me, singing "Hello! It's really nice to see you!" (its this greeting song she used to sing in ballet...)

-Henry is ALL over the place- and into Maeve's stuff. Which, surprisingly, Maeve is really good about it... Henry pulls her hair, snatches barbies out of her hand, yanks on her necklaces. I see the desire in Maeve's eyes to swat at him, but instead EVERY SINGLE TIME- she says "No thank you Henry!" (and I laugh:)

-The other day both kids slept late and Ryan was home before they were up from naps. Maeve woke up, Ryan went in to get her, and with all the bustling/noise, Henry woke soon after. Ryan went in to get the bubs and Maeve came bounding in behind him saying, "Careful dadda! Henry is so big. He is such a big boy!" (this is what I say almost every single morning- "Hey my big boy!")

-its not October, but I have a feeling I will be one of those moms who brings her kids dressed as Indians and Pirates to Meijers in May. And I'm really not sweating it. There are worst things in life than having your ((almost 3)) year old decked out in a sparkly "Alice and Wonderland" costume.

- Maeve is pretty much pee pee potty trained. But poo poo is a different story. For some reason its just not her thing. She'd rather poop in a diaper. BLAH. Anyways, whenever I DO ask her if she needs to go poo poo on the potty, she says "Nooooo SPOOKY POO POOS!" She's terrified of pooping on the potty. After nap the other day, I was changing a diaper bomb and she said "ohhhh I have spooky PIRATE poo poos." WHAT?!?!?! :) HAHAHAH! "Yes Maeve. This poo poo is spooky." :) The funny thing is she doesn't say it every time... can anyone guess why one poo poo is spooky but the next is "fine?"

-on our trip to Florida, my mom and grandma (nana and gigi) got Maeve the FULL "Alice" ensemble. We were in a "Sonny's BBQ" place and she insisted on putting it on. I was thinking- white dress +BBQ= nightmare. But with nana, anything goes. Off they went to the bathroom to change. She came out with the headband, dress and her white rabbit. I said "Oh my goodness Maeve you're so beautiful!" Her response was "I'm Alice. Alice needs black shoes."

-So.... Lola (my dear, beloved dog...) got sprayed by a skunk... the day before I left for FL (the 8th?) and she STILL stinks (its now the 16th). I must say 100000 times a day, "Lola you reek, get away from me." Last night Lola jumped up on the couch next to Maeve. Maeve, normally a Lola lover, turned to her and said "Lola you stink like skunk. GO!" HAHA :)

-On the airplane ride down to FL. Maeve looked out the window and recited the entire "It Looked Like Spilled Milk" book. It was cracking me up- "Sometimes it looked like an ice cream cone... but it wasn't an ice cream cone." At the end, when she'd get to the "cloud in the sky" part, she'd shout super loud "IT WAS A CLOUD!!!!"

-when we pull into CVS, Maeve announces "Ohhh Momma sick? Momma get her medicines?" :)

-While being the daredevil that she (sort of) is, she looks back at me and says "MaeMae be SO careful. Momma will be SO sad if I gets boo boos." I tell her all the time how "sad" she'll make me if she does certain things- ie- "Maeve that will make momma very sad if you choose to jump on the couch and then you bonk your head." Or, "Maeve, momma is sad that you took all these dvds out and they're now scattered across the floor. They're not going to work now." So now, AS she's doing things, she'll look at me and say, "I make momma so sad?" I reply with "Yep, mommas sad you're getting into that, can we put it away?" She says, "Oh I sorry momma. You so sad. No, I not put it away... I'm playing."

at the end of the day.

this morning was nuts. We ran out of oatmeal- waffles were not sufficient.

We had a playdate, and honestly, I am so preoccupied with the zillion other things going on that I had a hard time even focusing on my dear friends.

Nap time was a lost cause... Henry slept for maybe an hour- Maeve was up singing and jumping on her bed for the ENTIRE length of "nap."

My plan was to make some Thai food for dinner. I realized I didn't have chicken (of course I reached this realization AFTER I opened the noodles, flavoring packs and crushed the peanuts).

Ryan had to mow the lawn which left me in the house with the kids for the remainder of the night. To put it mildly, I was just in a rotten mood. It's not anyone's fault- certainly not my kids- but I was taking out my frustration on them. Just being short with Maeve- (like when she asked for water, then changed her mind and wanted juice... and I actually said to her "Maeve walk out of the kitchen and be thankful for your water.") Or my Mr.Man who ((I THINK)) may be cutting another tooth?!? All he wanted was to be held and all I needed to do was the dishes, tying up some things before Florida, packing, picking up toys, etc. He kept doing his Mogli crawl to me, and instead of just stopping what I was doing and picking him up I muttered under my breath "dear LORD give me a BREAK!"

The beautiful hour of 8 PM finally rolled around. Baths were given, pjs on. Henry was happy again (belly full with milk:) and it was story time for Maeve. I said "ONE book tonight." She picked out 3. Out of pure exhaustion I decided it would take less effort to read 3 than it would to argue about only reading one.

All three books were read and we folded our hands for prayers. I asked Maeve what made her happy today and what she wanted to thank Jesus for. This is how it went.

"Thank you Jesus for mama. Thank you for my Henry. Thank you for dadda. Thank you for nana, and popa, and aunt emi, and aunt meg, and uncle ty, and uncle al. I love the park. I love ice cream."

I told her those were very nice prayers and asked if there was anything else she wanted to thank Jesus for... she flung back her head, started giggling and said "YOU SWEET MOMMA!"

At the end of the day... My.Heart.Melted.

the day is done.

Maeve is in her room. Sleeping? Nah. But her bath has been given, stories have been read, she is confined and that makes me pleased. Henry is swinging next to me (fussing) but not to the point where he needs to be bounced around the house (although I'm sure his grunts and little fusses will turn into full out screams very shortly). I am beat. The only reason I'm blogging right now is because Ryan is out shoveling snow and he promised me a back rub. No way am I going to fall asleep without holding him up to that promise. Remember the previous posts about my "wants?" I forgot to mention I also WANT a back rub :)

I just thought since today was such a horrendous day here, I'd end it with this delightful thought that will indeed, leave ME with a smile on my face as I go to sleep tonight.

Tonight in the bath, Maeve and I were talking "names." She enjoys calling people by their first names. She is always calling for "RYYYYYANNN!" And she gets a kick out of calling me "Ash." Tonight we had an interesting conversation about her name:

Me: "What's your name?"

Maeve: "Maeve."

Me: "You're right! What's your middle name?"

Maeve: "Tinkerbell."

Me: "HAHAHAHAHA! Close! It's ANNABELLE."

My sweet, sweet girl :) Even on tough days like today, I wouldn't wish to forget the day ever happened. That would mean I would have to forget the simple, beautiful things, like a bathtub conversation with my little Maeve Tinkerbell :)

One (of Many) to Remember.

This conversation was overheard in the bath tonight...

Maeve: "How you doin'?"

Ryan: "Good, how are you doin'?"

Maeve: "Good, I wanna go to Disney World."

Ryan: "Okay, we'll go there."

Maeve: "In TWO MONTHS!"


As you can see, Maeve's been asking to go to "Disney" and our answer every time, is "okay, in two months!" haha :)

Side Effects of Taking Your Kids to Disney.

1. They ask constantly to see "Cinderella's Castle" and when you tell them its in Florida this is the conversation that follows:

Mae: "Go to Cinderellas Castle!"

Me: "It's in Florida Maeve."

Mae: "Lets go there!"

Me: "We can't- its in Florida Maeve."

Mae: "Let's go to Florida!"

Me: "Florida is far away. We have to go on an airplane to get there."

Mae: "Let's go to the airplane!"

Me: "We can't go on an airplane today. Airplanes are far away too."

Mae: "Lets go far away!"

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.


2. Suddenly "normal" pancakes are no longer acceptable. They must be Mickey Mouse shaped.

3. You wake up every night at 3 AM to hear your two year old singing in vibrato "SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME!"

4. Disney toys take over. And its not good enough to just play with them. But apparently, they now need showers.(see pic below)

5. A coffee cup is no longer a coffee cup- its a teacup- and of course the discussion of "teacups" leads back to wanting to go back to Disney World to "WIIIIIDDDE THE TEEEAACUPS!"

6. Little brothers are now pirates who need to be whacked with things. (poor Henry)

7. Taking a car to get to places must be overrated because all your two year old wants to do is ride a monorail or a choo choo train.

8. Snow White dresses are completely normal attire and are no longer just worn around the house but to stores. (not worth the fight... really, its not).

9. All food and drink items must have a Disney theme. Sippy cups have to have a Disney character on them and milk must be called "Minnie Mouse milk."

10. And last, but certainly NOT least... every old woman you see at Walmart is now "the wicked witch." Yes. I am serious. Maeve has officially turned me a new shade of red in Walmart. She actually shouted, "LOOK MOMMA! WICKED WITCH!" mmmm hmmm.

just some pictures.

Random pics... too tired to really blog.






2 weeks post partum... LONG way to go. But I wanted to document where I was starting from.



ooooh and forgot to add- for memories sake :) I took a bath with both kids this morning (nothing like multitasking!). While in the bath, I fed Henry and Maeve started freaking out- now, every time I breastfeed him she steers clear away from us. I always thought it was because I was giving Henry attention but it turns out she was really frightened by the whole breastfeeding process. Here's our conversation:

Me: "What's wrong?"

Maeve: "No. No. No."

Me: "Maeve, what's wrong?"

Maeve: "Baby's eatin' you!!" Baby's eatin' you!"

Me: HAHAHAHAHA "No... baby's not eating me- baby's drinking milk."


The poor thing thought Henry was eating ME... talk about traumatizing!

A Maeve "Conversation"

I figured I should probably start posting these little blurbs of conversation I'm having with my 2 year old... It's adorable and I don't ever want to forget these moments- and since its just not practical to have a video camera on 24/7 I guess blogging/writing it down is the next best thing...

Maeve: "Ohhhh noooo..."

Me: "What does that mean?"

Maeve: "Poo poooooos."

Me: "Yuuuuckky Maeve... you stink bomb!" :)

Maeve: "It's okay! It's okay! It's in diapers!!"



Oh my sweetness :) We've been having issues with her pooping/peeing in her diaper lately- she has been pulling the tabs off of her dipe which makes it slide down and it results in an accident- actually let me clarify this- she does NOT poop without a diaper on- but she will pee. I know its time to start with the potty, but every time I try and get her to sit on it she freaks out (yes- even the baby potty). So who knows... I'm just letting her take her time with it. But anyways, apparently she has caught on to my frustration with her taking her diaper off- and as long as the poo poo is in the diaper, its okay! :)

oh my maeve.

This is a "conversation" we had this morning...

Me- "Maeve did you do a poopy?"

Maeve- "No way Ashy. Ew gross."



WOW- ASHY???? Thanks to my mom for that one- the other day at the park, I was on my cell w/ Ryan kind of zoning out, while my mom was watching Maeve- apparently she was doing something really cute and my mom wanted me to come see. So she started yelling "ASHLEY!!!" super loud and guess who caught on?

*OH- and for the record, she did poop :) EWWW gross is right!

"I'm Sorry"

We've been working with Maeve on her manners lately. It kind of slapped me in the face one day how much of a spoiled, ummmmmm I can't call my sweet bubs a brat, but you know what I mean.... :) She wasn't saying thank you or please for anything- even though Ryan and I BOTH have always said please and thank you to her. It was also bugging me when she would do "naughty" things that she wasn't saying "sorry" afterward. SO we started a hard core intervention to turn our stubborn pistol into a polite little lady :) So far, so good! She is now saying please regularly & thank you :) But by far, my favorite turn around is when she says "I'm sorry"- actually its more like "I sorrrrrrrry."

For example, what prompted me to blog this morning, was when Maeve was banging these toys on the table- I let her bang them for a few minutes and then it started to get out of control (as in scratching the tables...oops) and it was freaking the dogs out. So I said, "No more Maeve. Please stop." And she stopped and said "I sorrrrrrrrrrry." hahaha :) how cute.

The problem with her new found phrase is that she uses it at a lot of inappropriate times. Not a big deal right? Well... how about when she poops and she comes up to you saying "I sorry! I sorry!" Or when you're putting her in her carseat and she's saying it repeatedly. Ryan and I joke that people are going to think we get mad at her for pooping or that we're punishing her by putting her in her carseat! And we couldn't figure out why she was actually saying she was sorry! Finally we figured it out- so the whole week (actually 10 days) she had diarrhea, every time she'd poop & I would have to wipe her & change her diaper, I'd say "I'm so sorry bubs!" Or "Momma's sorry!" Because it would hurt her so badly! Ryan did this too- so we're pretty positive that's why she now says "SORRY" when she poops. And the carseat thing- (yikes I feel kind of bad about this) I strapped her into her carseat a few days ago- she was wearing a onsie- and the whole way to the store she was whining... I thought she was just being crabby. We get to the store, and I realized that the straps were so tight around her little legs- and there was no fabric (such as pants) in between the strap and her thigh- so she had these horrible red indentations on her upper legs. AWFUL! Again, I took her out and held her and rubbed her legs and said "I'm so sorry!" Now that we've figured out what's prompting her to say she's sorry all the time, we have to figure out how to explain to her that she doesn't need to say sorry at certain times... tough thing to teach a 2 year old!!

"MOMMAS!!!!!!"

Yesterday in Target we were walking over to the baby department... Maeve was in the cart, eating popcorn and all of a sudden started yelling at the top of her lungs "MOMMAS!! MOMMAS!!! MOMMAS!!!" and pointing. I had no clue what the heck she was talking about- and then I looked- she was pointing at all the giant bras. UGH.