Growing Up

I have come to the realization that Raleigh is a big girl now! Where did my little tiny baby go? She has an opinion about most everything (she MUST get that from her father!LOL) and answers all your questions with the cutest little answers. As we drove by the church near my parents house she asked "Who lives in that house?" and I replied "That is God's house" she told me "No mommy, God lives up in the clouds with balloons in his hand." A couple days later she was telling me "God lives in that Church Mommy! " and so I asked her "Where else does God live?" Expecting to hear the cute clouds with balloons answer. She replied "Publix!" (That is our local Grocery store where she always gets a sprinkle cookie) Somehow she is pretty sure that God must live at Publix because every time we go there a sprinkle cookie is waiting for her.
And, I am pleased to report that it has been two weeks with no accidents! I know I shouldn't jinx it, but I want to brag on her great potty success just a little bit. She is now asking to go the majority of the time, and besides a few drops that have resulted from not getting to the potty quick enough, she has been dry every day! I think this weekend we are going to reward all her great effort with a princess bicycle (we've been promising this as a BIG reward for getting out of diapers!). I'll have to post pics of that!

Aiden is also growing and growing. I weighed him yesterday though and according to our scale he weighs only 17.5 pounds. I know some of you are saying "ONLY?" I mean, he is just 4 months old. LOL. But that isn't much weight gain since the last visit to the pedi at 10 weeks. He has gotten taller so maybe he was packing it on so he could grow! Who knows. In any case he is all smiles most of the time (except right this exact second he is fussing!) and is now enjoying looking at all his toys, doing some tummy time, trying to roll over, and playing in the "machine" (exersaucer).

And of course, Raleigh has discovered how "fun" it is to play with Chloe. Probably not that fun for Chloe who basically gets mauled in the process. She's taking it really well though!

4 Random Facts about my kids

1. Raleigh loves to sing, and she has her own version of every little kid worthy tune. Old McDonald was for quite some time a bit of a rap....complete with the "ya ya ya OH!" portion replacing the previous "E I E I O" refrain. Here she is singing Twinkle Twinkle....please note she is indeed saying "UP UP UP the world so high." Apparently, that is what we all sound like when we sing it.

2. Raleigh JUST started wearing big girl panties yesterday! Hooray! So far, no accidents. She even woke up from her nap with dry pull ups. Back into the regular panties after nap! I am desperately knocking on wood! As you can see by the over abundance of big girl panties in her dresser, I'm a little desperate for her to stop with the diapers and pull ups already!

3. Aiden's second toe sticks up above the rest of his toes a bit. At first I thought I broke it trying to cram his feet into a sleeper. Turns out they are like that on both feet, and have been since he was born! Phew! This picture dosen't show it that well, but as you can see by the pictures that follow -he was asleep and I had to disturb him to get his foot out of the sleeper - so I did the best I could!

4. Raleigh sleeps with no less than 5 of her closest "friends" at all times. I have actually been sneaky and taken some of the stuffed animals out of the bed and put them back in the toy bin - otherwise there probably wouldn't be room for her in the bed by now... Here is her current assortment: Juney June June, Rocket, Daddy Nemo, Baby Nemo, Shamu, and Mini DOra.

And incase anyone was curious, here is her "princess bed" that grandpa made for her...she LOVES it!

And in other news...Aiden is "using" the exersaucer. By "using" I do mean headbutting everything, although he is surprising well controlled in this particular picture. Raleigh has endearingly labeled the exersaucer "the machine" and frequently tells me to "put little man in the machine!" Kids are just hilarious!

now to tag 4 other people...

Humm....

Lindsay, Michelle, Rachel, and Jess - tag, you're it!

I am pleased to introduce.....

"Princess Mommy and Magic Trick Daddy"

While I was getting ready this morning Raleigh went over to a picture of Chris and I at our wedding and said "Look, it's Princess Mommy" and as I was chuckling to myself she said "and Magic Trick Daddy" Apparently I look like a princess (THANKS RAL, for real this time!) and Chris looks like a Magician! ROTFLMAO. So funny how kids interpret things!

"Ral-isms"

Just a few funny Raleigh comments from the past few days...

1. Chris hurt his back and had a heating pad on it for a while. As we are wandering around the grocery store (daddy at home) Raleigh continually says "Daddy's at home warming his bum bum!"

2. I was sitting on the edge of the tub while Raleigh was using the potty (YAY, finally) and she pokes me in the side and says "Mommy. IS your belly squishy?" before I can answer she says "It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO squishy" Thanks Ral.

3. When Aiden threw up the first couple of times Raleigh said "Oh no mommy.....baby brother spilled his milk!" If only that were what really happened.

4. At Seaworld the baby dolphin came up and blew some air out of its blow hole. Raleigh exclaimed "Grammy, that baby dolphin spit up!" Can you tell there is a baby at home.

5. At the doctors office Raleigh kept saying I want to see the penguin and crap. Well, that's what we thought she was saying. Chris and I were of course embarrassed and tried to make it seem like she was saying something else. Everytime we made up something more appropriate she would repeat it louder. Well, that's because she WAS saying something more appropriate "I want to see the penguin and craB!" Imagine our surprise when we saw a wind up penguin and crab up on the shelf. Thank goodness because I SO wasn't taking responsibility for her learning that word!

6. Apparently our home now belongs to Raleigh. She is the only one who lives there and everyone else is going to their "yucky" house. Hopefully soon she can pay the mortgage. That would be a huge relief!

7. While I was feeding Aiden the other day Raleigh made her little princess figures go "up the mountain" (otherwise known as my head) and into the "spooky spooky forrest" (otherwise known as my hair!) Maybe my hair really is scary afterall. Once again, thanks Ral!

KIDS really do say the darndest things!
Have a Happy Friday!

"Look Mommy, Baby Brother's Head Fell Off!"

A couple weeks ago Chris and I met my parents and the kids at a restaurant Friday evening after work. When Chris opened the door to get Aiden out Raleigh exclaimed "Baby Brother's head fell off!" We all nearly died laughing. I guess from her perspective sitting next to him in the back seat, it did in fact look like his head had fallen off. In actuality, he just fell asleep and his head got in a slump, as it does often.

Once again today, I was busy folding laundry - Aiden was in the swing - Raleigh out getting into everything like usual. Suddenly I hear "Mommy Mommy!" and as usual I answer "Yes Raleigh?!" she exclaims with absolute delight "Look Mommy! Baby Brother's head fell off again!" Still funny.

Perhaps more concerning is that instead of putting his head back on as Miss Raleigh requested, I went and got the camera. But she wasn't all too concerned about poor baby brother's head falling off. Apparently the appropriate thing to do when your little brother's head falls off is to do a "dancy-dance!"

Don't worry, I promptly moved him to a less contorted position post photo op!