SLEEPy BABY

 This is Elsie refusing to take a nap.

She doesn't need naps.

She's seven months old and has two teeth.

 She's far too big for naps.

Tilly Doll vs. Elsie

"Hey there Tilly,  I'm Annie's baby sister."

" I bet if you move over a little we can both fit up here. "

 "Maybe not.  Lets rethink this plan."

 "If you just move over here..."

 "and let me squeeze in here..."

"That's better."

TWO TEETH

Elsie has been rather MONSTER like these past few weeks.  On the 17th she got her first tooth, then today I found another one.  It seems to be happening a little fast.  I don't want her to get teeth.  That means biting, and biting is bad.

The illusive full nights sleep

It was so cute the first time I found Elsie standing up in her crib.  I yelled down to Texas to grab the camera.  That was last week.  Now I'm in a loosing battle with my 7 month old.  Every time you lay her down she stands up.  EVERY TIME.  It's insane.  Crying and crying until you pick her up.  The biggest issue?  She doesn't know how to get down.  Dear Lord, this is NOT cute.  My sleep is constantly interrupted because of her compulsive climbing.   I'm not even sure that she's awake when she starts climbing.  Is it possible to sleep climb?  Could I have the only baby who climbs in her sleep? 

Garden Friends

 A snake took up residence in the garden over the last week and I have found him several times perched up in the veggies.  This is not my preference, but he seems happy and Annie loves to say hi.

 Peace left the vegetable garden and was found checking out the chickens run.  We wouldn't have known except for the insane squawking and flapping of wings. Strange.  Annie had to take him out and put him back in the veggie garden.

So we have peace once more in the garden.

My little fashion bug

 How long can you hide your child from the world of skimpy inappropriate clothing?  Not long enough.  My five year old wants to dress like she's 21.   She's insisting that she should be able to wear clothes that show her belly, and tight skirts.  Wanting to wear tiny undershirts even if it's freezing outside. I blame the Bratz Ice cream, and all the other insanely inappropriate cartoon figures for girls.  Why can't Barbie dress like Ann of Green Gables?    Obviously I have very little control of what my daughter sees.   I ponder locking her in the house with no access to TV, magazines, movies, newspaper adds or internet, but then realize I could get locked up for that, so my solution...

 Encourage her to feel stylish and comfortable in clothes that cover.  We talk about what colors are "in fashion" and the art of layering.   I have her convinced that pants under skirts is the "sassy" way to dress.   Oh how I will mourn the day she realizes I am not cool.   I've started letting her pick out her outfits again and I'm glad to report they are getting better.  She's stopped putting on dresses she digs out of storage from when she was 2. 

And yes, the vest is my favorite thing she owns right now, and I make her put in on every morning hot or cold.

Gone fishing

 Texas and I tool the girls fishing.  Elsie did very little fishing, but the rest of us caught a ton of fish.  I don't think I've ever caught this many fish.

 Annie's first fish.

 My first fish.

I think Texas was on fish 18 by the time I got the camera out to his picture.

How my husband made me cry today...

 I am a nester.  I need pretty little spaces to focus on so the big ugly world doesn't consume all my joy.   In lies the struggle of living in a house while rehabbing it.  I know it's temporary, or at least that is what I tell myself, but most the time I feel like this house is trying to make me cry.   In an effort to overcome the yuck that is my house I fixed up the living room.  My loving husband was keeping the TV on the fireplace mantle and it finally downed on me to move it before one of two things happened, it falls on one of our kids or I smash it.    Hours of furniture moving later I ended up with what you see in the picture above.  It wasn't perfect but it felt pretty.  I could sit and not look at a TV precariously balanced on the edge of my mantle with cords draping everywhere.   Unfortunately my husband hated it.  The TV was to high for him to watch his shows.  So he did this:

Now I can't stop crying every time I look at my living room, and he can't understand why I'm upset.  Marriage is hard.

Child Labor

Annie's favorite thing to do at home is follow Texas around.  We call her his shadow.   Since Texas has been working in the basement tuck pointing I've not been letting her go down with him and she has been miserable.  Finally, Texas convinced me to let her go down for a few minutes.  15 minutes later I go down to see whats going on and he has her tuck pointing the walls with him.  

 She's actually quite good at it.

By the time I got down there, she was telling Texas how to do it. 

Thankfully she didn't fight me when I told it was time to come upstairs, 

but she did tell Texas she'd be back to check on his work. 

My brain broke

So I've been having a really hard time with my brain lately.  It's just not working.  I'm either late or early (by hours) for everything.  I forget to bring diapers or I forget to show up completely.  I was taking some stuff back to TJ Maxx the other day, only I went to Homegoods.  I started laundry today, but I forgot to put the clothes in.  Texas is beginning to wonder if my brain expired.   Although he's been caught a few times taking advantage of my strange brain lapses.   Mysteriously Tuesday went by without him changing a single diaper or participating in bedtime.     Then tonight he tried it again.  My brain hurts just trying to keep up with what day it is. 

Ready, set BASEBALL!!!

 Texas and I took the kids to the baseball game on Friday with Tex's parents.  Baseball is way more fun for Annie with Tex's parents.  She got to go to Build a Bear, get cotton candy and eat unlimited quantities of nachos. 

 

My favorite part of the day was when my husband went into semi panic mode while I was getting the kids ready.  I couldn't find Annie's pink Cardinals shirt, which somehow meant that Elsie couldn't wear her pink Cardinals shirt.  I had to scramble to find Elsie's red Cardinals shirt, and no I could not wear my blue Cardinals shirt unless Tex was going to wear his.  Tex did not want to wear his blue shirt.  So we all went in red.  Is this normal?

 

 Yes, Build a bear is ridiculous, but Annie spent hours playing with her fake cell phone Grandpa T got her to go with her bear.

 

The morning after.

Maybe unlimited nachos and cotton candy isn't such a good idea.  

Thankfully it only happens once a year.

We made it!

So Today marks our first full year of being married.  Just to recap, we got married, bought a house, had a baby and now live in said house with Elsie the baby, Annie the 5 year old,  Banjo the dog,  7 chickens and 8 ladders.  We have yet to fully complete one room in our rehab, but we do have several rooms at various stages of renovation.   This year brought a lot of changes for the whole family, but most of all to my incredible husband.   He took on me and Annie with every once of heart that he has.  We were not easily conquered, yet somehow he has managed to calm my soul and reign in Annie's insecurities.  Through the last year I have written down a few things he's been known to say and a couple that will never be forgotten.

Tex's most common sayings:
"no"
"Stop"
"don't do that"
"Why are you touching me?"

His most memorable:
" Please don't talk to me."
"I've done what I'm willing to do today."
"You're past your prime dear."
"This baby isn't very good at sitting still." (she was 6 months old)
While searching for a house, " I will never live in Maplewood." We now live in Maplewood, and we love it.
Before we were even married,"I will never wear a pink shirt." He just bought his first pink shirt last week.

 Dear Texas, WE LOVE YOU!