Croc Dusting

We're visiting my parent's farm this week. Tonight, as I read Ava her bedtime story I heard the sound of a crop duster out in the cornfield. I knew Ava would love to watch. I laid out a deal, "If mommy takes you outside to see something special, do you promise to go right to sleep when we come back in?" I carried her outside and we watched the little yellow plane diving, careening, and swooping over the cornfield. Like a ballet almost, only to the tune of a plane engine and with chemicals. Ahhh. Anyway.... as usual, Ava had lots of questions. I explained to her that the airplane was crop dusting. I explained about pesticides and the "bugs". We enjoyed the show in silence for a few minutes and then we turned to head inside. "But Mom," she asked "Why is he dusting the crocs? Are they out there in the field with the corn?"

Can't you just see all different colors of that popular footwear lined up in the rows between the corn? I had to laugh.

How do YOU deal?

Saturday morning began with a flat tire, a traffic jam just outside of Knoxville, and an unhappy 3 year old and 5 month old in the backseat. Being the only adult in the car, it's not like I could climb over the seat and entertain them. It wasn't the worst trip ever, but by 5 pm we were only an hour and a half from Grandma Pammy and Papa Nick's house and I was getting pretty anxious for the trip to be finished. Emily started screaming. So I pulled over at a Starbuck's, changed a diaper, took Ava to the bathroom, got a coffee for me and a snack for Ava and fed Emily. "There," I thought. "They should be set until we get there" Ava put on her headphones and was happily watching Aladdin. I felt good as the mini van cruised off the ramp and back onto the interstate. And then the screaming started from the backseat. Emily was not tired, not hungry, not dirty, and most of all, not happy. She was SO over the road trip. Attempts to distract her were in vain. An hour and a half more. Just 90 minutes. I'm almost there. Do I pull over and just postpone the crying or keep on heading to the promised land? Finally I grabbed for my iPod, shoved those great little marshmallow earphones that block out all sound into my ears, scrolled to the play list I appropriately titled "CHILL" and cruised into Indy, sipping my Starbucks and watching Miss Emily's red little face in the rear view.

The reason it takes us so long at the grocery store

Emily's smile. No one can resist. Emily smiles at strangers and they are helplessly compelled to come over and talk to us (her). I'm stopping, like, every other aisle lately. Hey, not that I blame them, it's a great smile....but man it's slowin' us down on errand day.

Theme Song

I used to love Ally McBeal. If any of you are fans, you remember that the characters had theme songs in their heads as they went about their day. Maybe I enjoyed that detail of the show because I can relate. I'm often moving through my day with song in my head. Well, lately I've had the strangest song stuck in my head. I haven't heard this song in years. It was an annoying commercial for Deer Forest in Coloma, MI and I think it aired on PBS when I saw it (we didn't have cable when I was a kid) Anyway, I've been singing it in my head with my own words filled in for the last few days. Totally random I know, but I Googled Deer Forest and the commercial popped right up on You Tube. Go ahead and watch it....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw47n8vGyjA

So, here is the song that is playing in my head:

Feed the baby, sort the laundry, feed the baby, and fold some towels, feed the baby, make a sandwich, feed the baby, mop the floors.

Play with playdoh, read a story, dislodge Barbie from the drain, exersaucers, strollers, hot wheels, dinner, bath, pajama time.

Feed the baby, change a diaper, off to bed....a glass of wine!

Can any of you mommies relate?

Projects

Yesterday Ava was rummaging through our front closet. When I stopped her she had my Electrolux Vacuum bags in hand. "Whoa, those are not a toy." She answered, " I KNOW. I need them for my project!" I retrieved the bags and sent her back to her art desk, but I have to say I am often impressed with her projects. Ava is constantly scavenging for items (junk) that she can compile into what she calls a project. She reminds me of a little bird building a nest. She stores these things in little bags or in her desk and then uses large amounts of glue or tape to put them together. Here is the "project" that she constructed yesterday afternoon while I was on the phone with the insurance company (an annoyingly long call).

Let me break it down: Shredded bank envelope from our office trash, 1 piece of black thread from my sewing kit, fallen leaves from my fake ficus tree, a piece of cardboard from the exersaucer packing, hand prints from her stamp pad, scribbles from her crayon, and of course, tape.

Maybe I'm just impressed because I'm her mommy, but I will say that some of her pieces look very similar to those from a show that I was assigned to evaluate in one of my college art classes. That's not to say those pieces were good...just to say they look very close to the same.

Hey kids: Do you have one of these?

Sure, it looks like the hose to one of those foot operated air pumps. But to Ava, it's one of her favorite tools in the world of "make believe". First it became a tree climber's safety harness when she tied yarn around it back in March and secured herself to a sapling in our yard. Since it's discovery, Ava has found many uses for this little hose. Why just yesterday, when our porch turned into a Girl's Pirate Ship, it served as an anchor. An hour later, when Emily's swing became a beauty chair and Ava her devoted stylist, this hose became her blow dryer. It's also great for blowing bubbles in the kiddie pool and if you blow on it out of the water it becomes a tribal whistle. It's always fun to see where it'll end up next. I guess some of the best toys really aren't toys at all.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads...especially ours! I swear the cards will be in the mail tomorrow. Proof in these pictures of Ava coloring your cards this morning. Sorry they're belated, it just means that you can celebrate Father's Day into the week. We love you! Mike started off his day with his favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy, prepared by his lovely daughters and served in bed. He's such a good daddy and the girls absolutely adore him. I just love the way that Emily looks at him. It melts my heart. Hope everyone has a wonderful day celebrating their fathers.

Fashionista

I was a little put off when Ava refused to wear the dress that I'd laid out for church this morning. She selected a knit purple skirt and white tee. No biggie and definitely not a battle that was worth fighting. Then we called her down to get into the car. Check out how she accessorized.

hat, belt, Fall shoes, purse, and basket. Nice.

Irritated

I knew that there'd be a day when I regretted teaching Ava to "use her words" to express frustration. This morning we were getting ready to make Father's Day Breakfast. I politely informed Ava to remove her pull up, put on the undies that I handed her and wash her hands with soap and water. She headed for the bathroom and returned to the kitchen about 2 seconds later.... au naturel. "Ava, you need to put on your undies and wash your hands before you can help." She gave an impatient sigh and stalked back to the bathroom. She returned quickly and thankfully, wearing her undies. "Ava, you still need to wash your hands." Ava answered, "I already did." To which I replied, " I didn't hear the water running" to which Ava growled, "MOM! I'm gettin' very irritated with you this morning!" Irritated. Huh. Good word, Ava.

Hairspray

Nope, this isn't a review of the musical.
We were getting ready to run errands on Friday and I headed upstairs to corral Ava into the car. "Ava...." I called as I climbed the stairs. No reply from Ava but I heard the sound of her little feet running fast from our bathroom. Not a good sign. I rounded the corner to see her with brush in hand, apparently styling her hair. It looked really wet. She had that mischievous smile on her face. I ignored it. What was that smell? Lotion? Perfume? She'd been into something. "Come here, let me put a barrette in your hair. We need to go." I reached for her hair. It was absolutely stiff. Not wet....SATURATED with hair spray. She must've used the whole can of hairspray. I found out later that she had. There was no way I was getting a brush through that mess. It was solid. "Ava..." I started to reprimand her. And then the weirdest thing happened. The feel my baby's shellacked hair in my hand took me back to the 7th grade. It was the feel of my very own hair in 1989, Aussie Sprunched and Paul Mitchelled into stiff, brittle hair hell. I shook my head and returned to 2008. And then something even stranger happened. The words of my own mother, the very words that I had once rolled my eyes at, came from my mouth, "Honey, you really don't need to use so much hairspray."

Anniversary

Tomorrow is our 5 year anniversary! We first met back in 1996, went on our first date in 1997, married June 14th, 2003 and two beautiful daughters later we're still goin' strong! I am so grateful for our relationship and our life together. In honor of 5 years here are 3 pictures. The first from the month we started dating(um, we've come a looong way...gotta love a frat party), the second of our wedding day and the last from last month. I love you, baby!

Exersaucer

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new exersaucer yesterday. I remembered how much Ava loved hers and Emily is definitely ready to have something else to do besides lay on the floor, sit in the high chair, or swing. Where is the old exersaucer, you may ask. Totally my fault. When we moved last year, I left all of Ava's baby toys in the attic. Not on purpose, of course. It's just that I packed after Christmas, and I believed that the only thing we kept in the attic were the Christmas decorations. So I packed the decorations up, set them in the garage and when the movers came, they took them. Between looking for a home in Georgia, packing up the rest of the house and getting it ready to sell, and wrapping up things at school, it never occurred to me to climb back up into the attic. Until....the man that purchased our home gave some keepsake items to my mother-in-law (also our realtor)and said that he thought that they might mean something to us. Between getting those items and unpacking all of the stuff after we moved, I slowly came to the realization that the baby keepsake stuff had been with all of the baby toy stuff. Grrr. Apparently he threw the other stuff out. I know it's totally my fault, but c'mon...why not give us all of the stuff if you're going to the trouble of tracking us down for a few things. Okay, enough of a vent. The point is, Emily LOVES her new exersaucer. Mike put the whole thing together after work last night. The second pic isn't my favorite, but if you look close you can see Emily's 2 brand new, shiny, white, teeth!

Emily Lately

Just some recent pictures of Emily. These were taken yesterday morning. Let's see...what's she up to lately....she's become quite a flirt. She smiles and smiles at strangers and then acts all bashful and hides her little face when they show her attention. I remember this cute little stage with Ava. Another stage that's not so cute: separation anxiety. Just a month ago I could pass this kid off to anyone and she'd be happy as a lark. Now she screams bloody murder. It's horrible. She was beet red when I picked her up from the church nursery last Sunday and she cried herself to sleep in the arms of our sitter earlier this week when I had a dentist appt. Even if I'm right next to her she freaks. Yesterday, I passed her off to a friend at our playdate so that I could grab our towels (we were swimming) and she cried even harder than when she got her shots. Well at least as long as she's with Mike or I she's still the happiest baby on the block. She's been practicing baby yoga. Her favorite pose is to lie on her back and hold both feet. "The flipped over ladybug" Hey-it makes her happy.

Snuggle Puppy

That's one of our nicknames for baby Emily. Ava also calls her "cuddler". I've found that in a family with children of varied ages and depending on the time of year(daylight hours, school year v. vacation time) the morning routine is constantly evolving. I'm loving the routine that we've fallen into lately. Emily is pretty predictable and wakes between 6:30-7:15. I feed her and change her and usually by the time we're finished Ava is up. So the girls play in bed and snuggle while I get myself dressed for our morning walk. This morning I just happened to have my camera handy to capture their morning ritual. These pictures just make me smile.