This, That, and Cute Kids.

Ok, here's an update on happier things than yesterday....

Last night I made three pans of beef enchiladas--one for dinner (but by the time I finished it was too late for last night's dinner, so we'll have it tonight), and two for the freezer.  I have leftover meat filling, so I think I'll mix it with beans and cheese and freeze some burritos too.

I just tried a new muffin recipe (Cinnamon Raisin) that is really good.  It has a sugar glaze on it, but I think they'll be fine with just some butter....maybe cinnamon butter?  The recipe only made a dozen, so I'll have to multiply it and make more for freezing.  I did half wheat flour.

Today I scheduled the ultrasound for next week, and I can't wait.  I'm a worry wart, so I'm looking forward to seeing the babies and making sure things are good.  We had what we THINK was two good heartbeats at my appt on Monday, but they were very close together so it's hard to be sure that they were different babies.  I've also started having contractions...I hear it's common to get them earlier with each subsequent baby, and especially with twins, so I'm trying to just ignore it...but I'll feel better to be checked out.  In most of the stories that I've heard the problems don't really start this early anyhow...and my previous pregnancies really have been wonderful.....

I've done two hats on the knifty knitter.  Two isn't so great considering how quickly the knitter goes, but I was trying new things.  On one I did a coordinating band of purl stitches, and on the other I did a knit-purl alternating pattern and had it come to two points with two pom-poms. The pom-poms didn't turn out so well, so I think I'll be redoing them.  Anyhow, it's been fun : )

(Both hats are for the Relief Society service project at church, but I'm planning to do some for my kids soon)

This is a picture of the new bunk bed.  The girls seem to be alternating who sleeps where.

My sister, Laura, gave us this awesome congrats gift.  It was so clever and fun that I had to share:



Nametags, for when we are so sleep deprived we need some extra help remembering who we are.  Matching flash cards.  Juggling balls.  Doublemint gum.  He or she, what will they be.  D&E candles...which set will we need?  There was also a box of Mike & Ike's-- to help us start thinking of names (This present was given to us a couple of weeks ago and has been sitting on the counter waiting for me to take the picture...I can't blame HH for eating the Mike & Ike's in that time!)

Chick:

I can't believe what a good helper she is these days.  I think if I let her she'd bring me breakfast in bed each morning.  She is looking forward to helping with the babies, but in the meantime she's great with Monkey and Moose.

Dance class is going well, as is preschool.  She did a great job reading me a book last night-- the contractions threw her for a loop since she'd never seen them before in her reading, but she took it all in stride.

She's set a good example of imaginative play for her siblings.  There's a recurring theme of wars and people "firing" other people (which is catching them on fire)...I think it's because several American girl stories are set during war times.  We just finished reading the entire Addy collection, and it was a good way to discuss civil rights, etc.  I don't think I made it through a single chapter without getting choked up, but I did a good job of hiding it.

Speaking of American Girls:  I've mentioned before that my girls love the Molly movie.  The other night Monkey must have asked Chick something, and Chick's response was, "The food which is on my plate is..."  I smiled and said, "Did you just quote the Molly movie?"  "No, Mom.  She says 'THAT' not which.  'The vegetable that you are lucky enough to have on your plate is...'"  HH and I had to laugh: no, she hadn't quoted the movie, but evidently she could quote the whole thing if  need be!

Monkey:

My goodness this girl can really crack us up.

Whenever she sees a pregnant woman she asks if the woman has "two twin babies in her tummy"...I'm trying to help her understand that USUALLY babies come one at a time.

Monkey likes to pretend to have "two twin babies" in her tummy too, and I love hearing their names.  "Faltelana" and "Christiana" are common ones...anything ending in "ana" is popular with her.  She's a good little Mama with her baby doll, too.  She feeds her the bottle, and then walked around holding and bouncing her carefully and saying, "shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh" softly and lovingly.  It melts my heart every time.

The other night the girls learned the phrase "female" and "male." Monkey said "Mama and Chick and Me are female."  "Moose and Daddy are mailboxes."

Monkey outgrew calling the "hospital" a "hopsital" but she still has funny little ways of saying things.  One of my favorites is getting "she" and "her" mixed.  As in: "She's going to she's house."

Playing with an awesome new toy from her birthday party.

 Moose:

Ah, dear little stinker Moose.  He throws more tantrums than any child ever, it seems, but he's also very loving and sweet, and plays well with his sisters.
He sometimes goes potty in the potty seat, and I think we'll ramp up the effort in the summer when he can be outside more.  (he'd probably do really well if we consistenly gave him the opportunity...I'm just not up for the effort and possible mess right now!)
He says a lot of words now...pretty much anything you ask him to, if he's in the right mood.  My favorite is "BaLaLa" for Banana.

He's obsessed with "truck!" and "woof" and "neigh!"  (the animal sounds are always instead of the animal name, but paradoxically it's always "kikky" and not "meow")

A less positive thing: he never goes voluntarily to timeouts.  Any suggestions?  I'm trying to not pick him up (the kid is a TANK, and I can REALLY FEEL IT when I do pick him up, which can't be good), but I have to be consistent in disciplining him...he already seems to think he can get away with anything.

Oh, another funny thing: he was looking at a picture of himself from before he cut his forehead, and he touched the picture on the forehead and acted concerned (obviously wanting to say something).  My guess is that the cut is part of his definition of himself right now, so it was weird for him to see a picture without the cut.  He points the cut out to people a lot....

sorry about the red-eye.  It matches his sweater, at least....