Conversations with a 2-year old

Here are some recent things Bella has said!

* Momma, you really need to get Brooke. Brooke is crying. Bella don't want take nap eifher. (This was last Saturday during what was supposed to be naptime. Bella kept coming in and out of her room and Brooklyn was obviously crying - neither took a nap that day)

* It's so wonderful (This has been said alot lately - one time was when we told her that she and Brannon were going to be planting flowers last weekend and she could watch them grow; another time was when I was telling her about her Easter party at school - which they missed because they got to spend the day with Nana instead)

* I got bones (She says this whenever she coughs - she'll adapt it to whoever is coughing - Brooke got bones; You got bones, Momma)

* You breakin my heart (This has been said a couple of times in the past week. First - we were in Walgreen's and she saw something she wanted and I told her no - she bowed her head, made the most pitiful "pouty" face and then looked at me and said that; another time was around 3 AM on Friday morning when I was telling her it was time to go to bed...)

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* Look Momma, Bella get pretty. This Bella dress. (This was said Sunday when Brannon was getting the girls dressed for Church).

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I know there are more - I wish I could record everything she says! She is talking more and more and I love the conversations we have together!

Where Would You Be?

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Click on the picture to bring it up in a new window and it will be larger.

Chelsea and the March Madness Mascara Challenge

I posted last week about Chelsea and her mom's March Madness Mascara Challenge! Her goal was to sell 100 mascaras during the month of March to enable her husband, aka Chelsea's daddy, to take off from work without worrying about losing the day's pay!! Well, she met her goal and is currently at 102 for the month!!!!!! In addition, Chelsea's mom is currently under the weather and her daddy was able to take a second day off without the added worry to be with Chelsea while her mom gets some much needed rest!

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If you need mascara and are interested, please visit Chelsea's website and order some - it's for a GREAT cause and I know they are so appreciative. Chelsea is just the cutest littlest girl!!!!

Easter Bunny

Bella thought it was a good idea to take the grass out of their baskets and literally throw it all over the house! I just didn't have the heart to stop her - she was having so much fun and that's what vacuums are for, right?

Let the hunting begin!

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Enjoying a little snack after all that hard "work"!

Patiently waiting while they hide the eggs...

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We're there...

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Which way do we go?

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It's this way!!

Goin' on an egg hunt!

Happy Keester!

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I couldn't resist posting this! Hope everyone has a Happy Easter weekend!!

In honor of World Down Sydrome Day...

Friday, 3/21 has officially been earmarked as World Down Syndrome Day by World Down Syndrome International. The date was chosen to signify the uniqueness of Down syndrome in the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome and is used synonymously with Down syndrome.

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This year the theme for 21 March 2008 is "Aim High Enough", to continue creating awareness about Down syndrome and promote acceptance of diversity.

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I do not have a child with Down's Syndrome, but I read a lot of blogs and somehow I've happened upon a lot of blogs about children and Down's Syndrome and their families efforts to make it known that their children are not that different from others, except that they are "Genetically Enhanced" (term taken from Ruby at The Zoromski Chronicles). So many of these children have other medical issues in addition to the Down's Syndrome and I am in awe as to how these parents handle every day life sometimes! I wanted to post this in honor of all those who are "Genetically Enhanced"!

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There is one little girl named, Chelsea, who has Down's Syndrome but also has Leukemia. Chelsea's Mom is able to be with her at the hospital but unfortunately her Daddy has to work and does not get to be with them as much as they'd like. Chelsea's Mom is also a Mary Kay Consultant and this role has taken a backseat since Miss Chelsea was diagnosed with the Leukemia. You can imagine how emotionally taxing it can be to have a little one sick - but financially can be difficult as well. She has decided to pick back up her Mary Kay role for a bit and is promoting a March Madness Mascara Challenge. Basically - for every 20 mascaras that she sells, her husband could take a whole day off work with pay and spend it with Chelsea at the hospital while she undergoes her chemotherapy! Her goal for March is to sell 100 mascaras - so far she's sold 67 and her husband is taking off tomorrow (with pay)!! If you need mascara - link over to her blog and see if the Mary Kay mascara might be something your interested in or just link over and read Chelsea's story - she is one amazing little girl!

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Other blogs that I read/lurk on about Genetically Enhanced kids and their families (I hope they don't mind me posting their web addressess here):

The Zoromski Chronicles

Kennedy at My Special Ks

Kayla at Big Blueberry Eyes

Ella Grace at Ella Grace with the Pretty Face

Zoey at Little Wonders

Gabi at Gabi's World

Jonathan at The Muncks Quiver

Logan at Baeten Family

Braska at Braska Bear

Micah at A Little Something Extra For Us

Rhett over at Rhett's Journey

Uncle Pete at House of Howard

Max at Life with 4 Kiddos

Kallie at Kwisteena's Kwaziness

Sheena over at Sheena Time

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Take a look at some of the above (or all) - they are amazing families!

Taking Brooklyn for a ride

After our movie outing with Bella on Saturday, we went to Nana and Pop's house to get Brooklyn and we stayed for supper. Brooklyn had been riding the four-wheeler Nana and Pop have at their house (albeit very "stop and go" because she didn't quite get the hang of holding the button down) throughout the day. Bella decided she wanted to go for a ride and Brooklyn wanted to join her! Luckily, Bella did stop and let Brooklyn get on behind her!

Laura Tutor: Some people need a stamp collection, not a child

This article below was in today's Anniston Star On-Line Edition (I hope it is ok that I copied it here) and was written by Laura Tudor and I thought it was a great article and even though I do work outside the home - I'm always a Mom first and my kids come before the job - always!! (sorry for all the gigantic spaces - I would fix them, just don't have time or patience right now)!

Hey, Mom, need a career change?

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In Washington — that place believing itself the nexus of the universe — a growing number of "busy" parents with "hectic" lifestyles have decided they're just too "busy" in these "hectic" days to deal with the mundane aspects of raising a baby. One can almost hear the sales pitch building as these new parents have reality set in:

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"What do you mean I have to get up at night and feed this baby? Surely I can pay someone to do that?"

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"OK, so, like, this kid won't sleep all night — wait, my phone's ringing — yeah, and can I get someone to come in and be a, you know, sleep coach? You know, someone who'll be there to take care of those things that don't go bump in the night? Yeah? Hold on again…."

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"Oh, God. I. Am. Not. Dealing with a toilet. I will PAY someone to potty train this kid."
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The sad part is that these people think they're doing a good thing by hiring an "expert" to raise their children, if you believe the story in today's Your Life section. This goes beyond having a nanny. This goes beyond the worn out debate over parents hiring day care or baby-sitters. These people, because they're so "busy," can't be bothered with the most intimate milestones in their children's lives.

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There's even a growing market to pay someone to fill out applications for school.

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One thing there's definitely a shortage of, however, is perspective.

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The excuse given for relying on paid experts is that today's society is so fractured. These busy people have moved to cities busy enough to stimulate them and their bank accounts. Their take is that new parents, busy and hectic, don't have their mothers or fathers nearby to consult when Junior decides nighttime is playtime. They don't know who to ask for help, so they pay someone $5,000 to potty train. Or $3,000 to fill out school applications.

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Apparently, even with all their money and education, they missed that course in history that said we've always been a nation of movers who built community and resources wherever we hung our coats.

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Newsflash. Grandma has not always been right across the street. Just imagine a 19th century Scotswoman, not long off the boat, raising her firstborn in Hell's Kitchen of New York: "Dear Mum, I canna get the bairn t'sleep a wink."

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By the time she'd received a reply to her letter, assuming she and her mother could read or write, her bairn would have been on to other rites of life. Like that dreadful potty training that must be outsourced.

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Few people come naturally hard-wired to be a mom or a dad. Some people have a nurturing gene in them that emerges at the early stages of life. Others have to learn the patience and care and compassion a mom or dad must have; a legion of people find this skill only after they have children of their own.

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Initiations come in nighttime diaper changing — a dodging skill for parents of boys — and trips to the doctor when the little one is miserable sick and truly, truly believes Daddy can make everything better. Even when he's covered in baby blap and wondering how he drew the short straw for the doctor run, Daddy is still holding on tight and promising everything will be OK.

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You can't hire love.

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You can't hire someone to care if your child sleeps soundly at night. In doing so, these parents miss the chance to stand by the bed and wonder, every night, what they did to be blessed with a creature so magical, so wonderful.

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A few people also are hard-wired not to be parents. They know it, and move along life just fine on their own merry way.

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The people in Washington seem to be caught between wanting to list parenting as a title, yet not wanting to get their hands dirty in carrying out its duties. They're caught between feeling the demand to check the box that says "Mom" and wanting to shoehorn that role in between meetings, lunches and the life they had before children.

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It cannot be both ways. Money can buy experts, but it can't buy back those memories and moments surrendered at the altar of "hectic and busy."

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Perhaps, get a dog.

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On second thought — envisioning a string of rolled up Architectural Digests instead of newspapers — get a stamp collection. Or take up bonsai gardening.

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Then, if the molding and shaping of your young charge doesn't come off as perfect and seamless as you imagine, you can always whack off a limb and start manipulating again.

Cool kid!

Brooklyn has discovered sunglasses (thankfully!! - they are so important for your eyes). Here are some pictures of her putting on her own sunglasses in the truck! {And just in case you were wondering - I was stopped when I took the pictures!}

School Wounds

For those that know Bella and remember when she was younger (I know she's only 2 1/2, but...), know that she was a biter! Well - she got bit pretty bad at daycare last week! She had apparently been aggravating another little boy and pinching him to the point that he had had enough! It has healed up just fine and is almost gone - she keeps pulling up her sleeves on her shirt and saying "look at my arm - almost gone!" While these aren't the best pictures - you can see it was a pretty bad bite - but 'tis is life! She got put in time out at school and was made to apologize to the little boy for pinching him! Oh the life of a 2-year old!

Random Pictures

Just some pictures of the girls from the past couple of weeks that I never got around to posting!
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Brooklyn LOVES their little red wagon they got for Christmas! Everytime we go outside, she goes straight for the wagon, climbs in and tries to buckle herself in! Here Bella was pulling her around our yard!

Poor Bella must have been exhausted!! This was one evening during the week after an apparently hard day of playing at school!

The girls love to be in the bathroom with me in the mornings when I am getting ready (if you knew the size of our bathroom - you'd be amazed that we all three can fit in there together). We have a potty that really serves solely as a stool (for some reason Bella won't use the potty) and then Bella had brought in one of her chairs from their little table, so that both she and Brooklyn could have something stand on. I must have left the bathroom for a second and came back to find Brooklyn playing with the toilet paper!


This was a picture from one morning when Bella was not ready to get out of bed! She is too cute in the mornings - some mornings she will wake up and say "Mommy time to wake up, time to face the day" and other mornings she is not at all happy about having to get up!