"You're making bad choices"

This morning, Emily and I had the following conversation:

"Emmy, I saw on your homework sheet that your class is getting a pet fish, and you need to think of a good name.  Got any ideas?

"Yeah.  I have a good idea: Nemo (which she pronounces "Me-moh").  Nemo is a good name for a fish, right?"

"Nemo?  Yes, that is a good fish name.  Maybe we should think of a couple ideas because your class is going to take a vote.  How about Finn?"

"Finn?  That's not a good idea."

"Bubbles?"

"Bubbles is not a good fish name, either, Mommy. You're making bad choices. I make good choices and I like Nemo."

We will let you know what the fish is named as soon as we find out!

Cheese Pickles

When I picked Emily up from school today, I asked her what she'd like for lunch.  She said, "Cheese pickles."

"Cheese pickles?? What's that?" I asked.

"They are long and straight, and they have orange salt on them.  They're cheese pickles," she replied.

"Oh, you mean cheese doodles?" I said.

"Yes.  Cheese doodles," she answered.

"Well, we'll have to pick some up next time we're at the store.  I don't have any cheese doodles at home right now."

LOL!!

The Naked Chef

Bailey is really into her kitchen, shopping cart, and play food. The other day, she set up a bunch of food on Daddy's computer tower like it was her counter and she was jabbering away. It was like the Bailey Cooking Show. I tried to get it on video but as soon as she saw the camera, she held her hand up and said, "No thank you, Mama." I was able to get these pictures, though:

I especially love the mittens she was using for oven mitts.  We don't have much use for mittens here but it was cute that she found a good use for them!

Last night I'd taken B's clothes off but hadn't gotten her pajamas on yet, and she ran into her room.  This is what I saw when I looked in there:

How cute is she??? :) 

Cute Conversations

As I was getting ready this morning, Bailey came into my bathroom, climbed up on the edge of the tub, and started rummaging through my makeup bag.  She fished out the chapstick and said, "Mama, I have some that please?"  So I said, "Sure.  You can have some when I am done brushing my teeth."  While she was waiting she took out the powder and powder brush and "applied" her makeup.  Then she took out the mascara and said, "I have some that too." LOL! :)

Also today, I had a priceless conversation with Emily:

"Mommy, where is the baby boy going to sleep?"

"In the guest room.  We won't have a guest room anymore; we're going to make that into a nursery."

"All by himSELF?"

"Yes, all by himself."

"But he will cry!  He will wake up and see that he is all alone and he will cry!"

So I said, "When he cries it will probably be because he is hungry.  But that is what Mommy and Daddy are here for.  We will take care of him.  Okay?"
"Okay, but if you don't hear him I will just come into your room and say, 'Mommy, the baby brother is crying!'"

SOOO cute! It's sweet that she already cares about her baby brother. :)

"Can I hear it sing?"

While Emily was at school this morning, I lugged out my sewing machine to get started on a birthday present for a friend.  I am not very good at sewing, nor do I like to sew, so my machine hasn't gotten much use, but I can do a straight seam and that's all that was required for the pillowcase I was making.  When Emmy got home, of course she immediately noticed the sewing machine on the kitchen table.

"Wow!" she exclaimed.  "What's THIS?"

"That's my sewing machine.  I'm making a pillowcase for Lydia."

"Can I hear it sing?"

Well, I burst out laughing at that.  "It doesn't sing, sweetie," I said.

"But it says 'SINGER'."

How can you argue with that? LOL!!

YIKES!

Well I guess I've been pretty distracted lately!  I can't believe how quickly this summer is flying by.  Here's an update on some of the things we have been doing lately.

On August 16, we had a sonogram and found out that Baby #3 is a BOY!  We are all very excited.  Emily wanted "a boy baby this time" and Bailey finally said she'd like a baby brother (instead of her usual "No, thank you" every time we'd asked her if she wanted a brother or sister), so that was wonderful.  His name will be William Kenneth McDowell V and we'll call him Liam for short.

Also on August 16, Emily started preschool!  She's attending VPK and she loves it.  She cried on the first day because she didn't want to come home--the kids who stay all day (she leaves at noon) were going to make gingerbread men in the afternoon and she wanted to do that!  So we made some of our own:

Poor Emily came home from school yesterday with a fever, and since it got pretty bad over night, I took her to the doctor this morning.  Diagnosis?  Strep throat AND scarlet fever!! She'll have to miss school until Monday.

Bailey is having a hard time with Emily going to school.  When we drop her off, she says, "I go school TOO" and I have to explain that she has to wait until she turns four.  Then when we leave, it's, "Oh, no! Lella!" like I'd just forget her somewhere!  My favorite part, though, is when we pick Emmy up from school and they greet each other:

It's hard to imagine what it'll be like when Emily goes to "real" school and is gone all day!  Right now it's only three hours!!

Bailey has also developed an interest in using the potty, which may or may not have to do with my bribe of M&Ms for using the potty.  For a while she wouldn't have anything to do with panties, but then the other day she decided she'd give them a try.  It was so cute!  She still prefers her diapers but she is very much a creature of habit and she doesn't like any sort of change to her routine.

Bailey also moved from her crib to a toddler bed, which has been a difficult transition for her.  She's been up a lot at night.  I keep hoping once she gets used to the bed we'll go back to sleeping--she used to sleep 11 1/2 to 12 hours a night and now she's up several times, sometimes for an hour or more!  It's been hard!

Well, that's all I can think of right now!  I will try to be better about updating the blog over the next few weeks.

Random Humor :)

Just wanted to share a few humorous episodes from the past few weeks.

A few days ago, Emily announced, "Mom, I love everyone.  Even you and the baby in your belly."

Today I had to go to the Ob-gyn for a nurse check, which is basically getting weighed, giving a urine sample, getting my bp checked, and listening to the baby.  They also had to draw some blood to complete a test I was having done.  Well, Bailey was SO concerned about everything that was happening.  I sat on the table and she said, "Oh, no! Mama!"  The nurse checked my blood pressure and she said, "Oh, no! Mama!"  The nurse tried to find the baby's heartbeat (she had some trouble--she thinks the placenta is on top which makes it a little more difficult, but she did find it at 140 bpm in case you are concerned) and she said, "Oh, no! Mama!"  Then apparently she'd had enough and she just opened the door to the exam room and walked out!  The poor nurse had to chase her down! LOL!!

On our way home, Emmy said, "Mommy!  I saw lots of horses in the horse patch!" LOL! :)  These kids crack me up! :)

13 weeks and counting!

Well, we've kept it a secret until now but honestly, I am REALLY starting to look pregnant so it's getting to be a tough secret to keep!  We are once again expecting.  I had an early sonogram at 6 weeks and we got to see our "baby bean" for the first time.  The best part was seeing that little heart beating away at 120 beats per minute!  On Tuesday the 8th I saw the doctor again and he was just wonderful to me.  I told him I was really hoping to hear the baby's heartbeat at that appointment; as you may know, last time I had absolutely NO symptoms of miscarriage so I had no idea anything was wrong.  Well, the nurse said they can't use the Doppler before 12 weeks, but the doctor said, "I know that would be really reassuring for you so let's go ahead and try.  I can't always find the baby at 10 weeks but you're thin enough that we may be able to do it."  We heard lots of interesting noises--my heartbeat, which was slow and steady (a good sign), the blood flow through the uterine artery (also strong and a very good sign), and finally, the baby's heartbeat, now up to 170 bpm!!  I was SO relieved and so happy to hear it.

On Friday, June 25, we had another sonogram (at 12w4d along).  Everything looks great!  Baby is measuring 12w6d (right on target); heartrate was 162 bpm, and everything looks normal as far as the ultrasound tech could tell. In this picture, Baby's head is to the right.  It is a profile picture and you can see the nose and lips really well.  I think he (or she, but I think it's a he) has a profile similar to Bailey's.

We told Bailey and Emily the news after the songram.  Emily was SUPER excited; she said she wants "a boy baby" this time.  When we asked Bailey if she wants to be a big sister, she said, "No!"  We said, "Do you want a baby brother or sister?" and she said, "No!" LOL!

Baby McDowell is due January 3, 2011.

Thanks for all of the prayers and please keep 'em coming! :)

Bailey's first date

We were at the mall playground today and I think Bailey had her first date!  A little boy her age walked up to her and said, "Hi!"  Bailey said, "Hi!" (which was shocking because normally she's pretty shy around kids she doesn't know.)  Then he took her hand, led her to a woman sitting a few feet away, and proudly introduced her: "Mama, Mama." LOL!! He introduced her to his MOM!  I think that counts as a first date. :)

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Yesterday I took Dioji to get his hair cut.  When we left Petsmart, Bailey started crying, "Oh, no, Mama! Dog!"  How silly of me to "forget" the dog!!  She was very upset and reminded me the entire drive home that we didn't have the dog with us.  He was ready pretty quickly so soon enough we found ourselves back at Petsmart, picking him up.  Now, getting out of the Petsmart parking lot is a real headache.  On either side of the entrance/exit road, there's a Chick-Fil-A and a gas station, and both places have lots of traffic going in and out.  I was able to get in the line of about five cars waiting to make a left turn at the traffic light.  Pretty much as soon as I got in line, the light changed to a green arrow for the left turn lane.  Well, we sat there.  And sat there and sat there and sat there.  Now I am like four cars behind the guy at the front of the line who's in la-la land, so I didn't want to honk at the guy in front of me (and I doubt it would have helped anyway).  Finally, as the light turns yellow, Mr. Oblivious realizes it and of course goes through the light, leaving the rest of us sitting there.  I was so frustrated, so I said, "I can't believe this!  We missed that whole light because of one idiot!"  Emmy goes, "Mommy, you should just say 'dammit.'" Let me tell you, it was SO hard not to laugh at that one!  I said, "No, honey, we don't say that word."  But inside I was cracking up because not only did she have a word for the situation, she'd also learned the appropriate use of it! LOL!!

Chatting with Emily

Emily was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and here is what she had to say: "Mommy has lots of friends."

"Oh, yeah?  How many friends does she have?"

"I think six.  That's a lot of friends."

"That is a lot of friends.  How old is Mommy?"

"Maybe 65." LOL!!

and....
A few days ago I was looking at houses online, and I left a website open when I was done.  Emmy goes, "I like that white house, Mommy."

I said, "Me, too.  I just sent a picture of it to Daddy and asked him if he wants to live there."

Emmy: "But we'll miss him!"

No Monsters Allowed

Emily had a terrible time going to sleep last night.  When we went in to check on her, she said, "I want someone to sleep with me so no bad dreams will come."  So I asked her what she was dreaming about.  She said, "Mommy, every night when I am asleep a monster comes and opens my door!" 

I said, "No, sweetie, that's Mommy and Daddy.  We open your door when we go to bed.  We thought you liked your door open." 

She said, "No, Mommy, it's a monster." 

So I thought about it for a minute and then said, "Well, what if in the morning we make a sign for your door that says 'No Monsters Allowed.'  Then they wouldn't be able to come in.  What do you think of that?"

She said, "Okay.  I don't want any bugs in my house, either.  So we can put no bugs on it.  And no snails!"

I said I thought that was a good idea.  At 7:00 this morning, she got up, went to the drawer and got paper and crayons, asked me for scissors and glue, and got right to work.  First she drew a monster (a smiling, friendly-looking monster, if you ask me).  Then she drew an "x" over it.  Then she drew a snail, and another "x."  Finally she drew a pirate with an "x" over him, too.  (I am not sure what happened to the bugs.  I didn't want to interrupt her or make her focus on something she may have forgotten.)  Then she cut out the pictures, glued them onto a piece of green cardstock, and we stuck it to her door.  Now we can be sure that there will be no mosters, snails, or pirates in her room tonight!

Vote for Bailey!

I've entered Bailey in the Parenting.com baby model search.  Please vote for her!  I don't know what the prize is, but I think she's pretty darn cute!

Vote for me in this contest!

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Hot Dog Dance

Bailey loves Mickey Mouse. She likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while she’s eating breakfast each day. On Saturday, though, I saw her do something I’d never seen before: she participated in the “Hot Dog Dance” at the end of the show! It was so cute; I wish I had the video camera!! When she saw that the show was over, she jumped up and ran to the tv, yelling, “Hot dog dance, Mama!” Then she stood there, arms open, waiting for them to sing “…the problem’s solved…” and “…on the flooooooooor…” and she sang along, arms out and everything! (If you’ve never seen the Hot Dog Dance, here’s a link: Hot Dog Dance on YouTube ).

Yesterday, at EPCOT, Bailey finally worked up the nerve to MEET Mickey Mouse!  I was so excited; usually she'll have nothing to do with the characters.  I was so proud of her!

Daddy on Safari

Emily drew a really great picture the other day. It was a person, wearing a hat, surrounded by trees, with two orange animals nearby. So I said, “Emmy, tell me about this picture.”


“That’s Daddy on [s]afari. Those are tigers, and here’s a lot of trees.”

“What’s a safari, Emmy?”

“A [s]afari is when you go far away to look at the ‘aminals.’’’

I thought that was a pretty good definition for a four-year-old!

Little Funnies

It was a pretty funny day today!  Emily had me laughing this morning when she announced, "Mommy, I been waiting my WHOLE LIFE to meet Ariel!" Hah!  I guess I'll be taking her to do that next time we go to Magic Kingdom!

Bailey finished her lunch first today, and immediately asked for "bab-it," which I'm sure you knew translates to her Easter basket.  She was very methodical, sorting through the mountain of candy until she found just the right chocolate to eat for dessert.  What was even cuter, though, was that she was watching Emily and when Emily finally finished her lunch, Bailey burst into applause and yelled, "YAY, LELLA!"  So cute!!

While we were playing this afternoon, I asked Bailey, "Are you my baby?"  She said, "No."  I said, "Oh, are you my big girl?" She said, "No."  I said, "Then who are you?" She said, "I Diddie!" LOL! :)

Easter fun

Once again we went to the Deltona Eggstravaganza with Will's family to participate in their Easter egg hunt, which honestly is more of an Easter egg GRAB since they just have a bazillion eggs on a soccer field and the kids dash in and try to grab as many as they can. They had so many eggs this year, it was kind of ridiculous. Emily and Bailey each packed a bucket and could have gotten more if there was somewhere to put them. I got to supervise Emmy and Will took Bailey to her field (they divide the kids up by age groups, which is a really good idea). It was neat to watch Emily; she ran onto the field and picked up one egg, ignoring the other thousand in that square foot of grass. Then she ran off to another spot and did the same thing! So cute! Will said Bailey was really into it, too, once she realized what she was supposed to do.  This is the best picture we got of all of the kids:

After filling their buckets, the kids had to open every egg to see if any of them had a ticket inside, which meant that they'd won a prize.  I think last year Xander got two prizes, and Derrick and Emily each got one, but this year only Bailey won a prize.  Will took her off to the prize tent to get it, but they came back empty handed: he said the girl at the tent explained that they didn't actually HAVE all of the prizes yet and she took down our name and number (and called us a few days later so I could go get Bailey's prize, which ended up being a stuffed pink chick.  Emily loves it.  Bailey couldn't care less.).

Of course the big to-do was yesterday, on Easter, when we had our own egg hunt at home.  A few weeks ago I told Will that I didn't want the emphasis to be on candy this year, since we don't really give the kids a lot of candy (which means we'll eat it--hah!!).  So the Easter Bunny made lovely baskets with other wonderful things inside: stickers, a special DVD each, books, and a chocolate bunny.  The Easter Bunny also read a great idea in a magazine recently, which was to buy a puzzle and put a piece in each egg, and then when the children find the eggs they get to put the puzzle together.  Well the EB really liked that idea, so a puzzle was purchased, but the pieces did not fit inside the eggs.  And then the EB's husband said that he wanted the kids to have LOTS of eggs to find, and proceeded to go to Walgreens and buy copious amounts of jelly beans, gummy bears, airheads, m&ms, chocolate coins, and the like, which he then stuffed into approximately 234979273 eggs.  Then hiding places had to be found for all of those eggs, and when all was said and done, Emily and Bailey ended up with TONS of candy!!  And, later that day at Mimi and Grandpa's house, MORE candy was acquired as the Easter Bunny apparently visited there as well, and Aunt Christin and Uncle Ryan also brought buckets of candy for the kids.  So needless to say, the "non-emphasis on candy" rule was thoroughly ignored.

On another note, the girls looked so beautiful in their Easter dresses, which for the second year in a row came to us from our dear friends the Kuhn family.  Mommy also got a new dress (not borrowed, though), and Emily declared her "very pretty."

Winnie-the-Pooh

Well, looks like I've been lazy about writing lately!  It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and not realize that the little things that happen that make us laugh or smile are really BIG things--they are so special and I do want to remember them!  This morning Emily had me laughing when she was singing the theme song to "Winnie-the-Pooh":

"Deep in the hundred years ago,
Where Kristen-Robin plays,
You'll find the enchanted neighborhood
Of Kristen-Robin's days.
A donkey named Ee-hor is his friend
And Kanga, and little Roo,
There's Rabbit, and Piglet, and there's
most of all Winnie-the-Pooh, hmm-hm.
Winnie-the-Pooh, Winnie-the-Pooh,
Willy-nilly silly old bear all stuffed with fluffy
Winnie-the-Pooh, Winnie-the-Pooh,
Willy-nilly silly old bear.
Willy-nilly silly old bear (repeats a bunch of times)."

I really have to get that one on video!  She also sings "Heffalumps and Woozles"!

My Gym

In Emily’s class at My Gym, the teachers often divide the kids up into groups to work on different skills. They call back and forth to each other so that they know how each group is progressing. When there are three kids who still have to complete the skill or practice gymnastics, the teachers will yell, “Three to final!” Well, Emily likes to repeat that in class (and she’s gotten the other kids to do it, too). But the funniest thing was the other day when she was playing with Little People in the living room while I was making dinner. She was sending them down the rollercoaster one at a time and all of a sudden she yelled out, “Two to final!” LOL!!

Let's go fly a kite!

I bought Emily a kite today. She was super excited, and I thought it was so cute that she wanted the Buzz Lightyear kite. Not princesses, not Ariel, not butterflies, not anything girly, but Buzz Lightyear. Anyway, she had so much fun flying her kite in our front yard. It was really up there, too! It was such perfect weather to fly a kite, too, cool and sunny with a beautiful blue sky and a strong, steady breeze. We had a great day today!!