To The Beach

We are off to the beach! Hopefully, the weather will be nice and Gustav will miss us. I am sure there will be pictures next week! Happy Labor Day!

Packing

We are off to the beach this weekend. Lucky for us Uncle John and Aunt Emily have recently moved to the beach! They were kind enough to welcome us to their new condo for the Labor Day weekend (we really invited ourselves). I am working at church tomorrow so, today will consist of more cleaning up and packing for the weekend. I do not like to leave a dirty house with tons of laundry undone so, I will get as much done today as possible. We are hoping not to see any effects of Gustav while we are there. Hopefully, it will be lots of swimming and relaxing in the sun.

The Smell Of Clean

I have been cleaning this morning. I CLEANED my bathroom. I mean really cleaned: toilet, shower, tub, sink, mirrors, wiped down the walls, vacuumed, and scrubbed it all again. As I was cleaning I was thinking of certain people that I know that have really clean houses. You know those people that their house just smells of clean all the time (Monica Gellar from Friends comes to mind). These are the people who have a spot for EVERYTHING. You could go to their house at any given time and it would be clean and smell as if it were just cleaned. How do they do it? I guess my first problem is that I don't like to clean. I know how to clean and believe me I want my house to be like those people. But, I just don't enjoy cleaning. My second problem is The Belle and The May. For example, my bathroom is clean (not perfection but good enough) but, the rest of my house is a wreck! They destroy each room while I am cleaning another. So, it is like a never ending cycle. My third problem is that I am pregnant. I am exhausted after cleaning just one room (that is why I am sitting here posting instead of cleaning the remainder of the house). So, how do those people do it? Obviously, they have no children and they must not have a job. I need to know what to do to become one of these people. Any advice would be appreciated.

Because Why?

The Belle and I had a very productive conversation last night. It went something like this:

The Belle: Mom, what are you doing?

Me: Cleaning the table off.

The Belle: Because Why?

Me: Because there is food on it.

The Belle: Because Why?

Me: Because you and The May are messy eaters and you got food on the table.

The Belle: Because Why?

Me: I don't know, probably because you are little girls and you aren't very careful.

The Belle: Oh, Becasue Why are you using that kind of cleaner?

Me: Because this is a special cleaner for wood tables.

The Belle: Because Why is it a special cleaner for wood tables?

Me: Because you have to only use certain chemicals on wood.

The Belle: Where did you buy that cleaner?

Me: I don't know probably Wal-Mart.

The Belle: Because Why did you buy it at Wal-mart?

Me: Well, that is where we were shopping at the time.

The Belle: Because Why did you not buy it at Target?

Me: Because we weren't at Target.

The Belle: Because Why were we not at Target?

Me: I don't know go ask your Daddy.

And thank goodness she did. Then a very similar conversation took place with the two of them while I continued cleaning up the kitchen. I knew this question stage would come but, good gracious it came on very suddenly. The two most annoying words to me right now, yep you guessed it: Because Why?

TV Please

I know television is not the best source of entertainment for children. There are some really good educational shows that I really like. The Belle probably watches much more than she should although, I am constantly encouraging other activities. But, today I am begging The May to watch tv. I can not get anything done. I tried to take a bath this morning so I could shave my legs. The Belle graciously watched Mickey Mouse but, not The May. She fell in the bath tub with me (with her clothes on). She has also pulled an entire plate of cookies on the floor, pulled out every single band aid in the 500 count box, and climbed on top of the kitchen counter into the sink and played with all the dirty dishes. I do not see or hear her right now so, I better go see what she is destroying because I know she is not watching tv.

Insanity

I just spent 2 hours searching for a pacifier so The May could take a nap! Of course I found 2 within 3 minutes of each other.

This leads me to my to do list. I have 3 goals that need to be accomplished before baby girl # 3 arrives. Which gives me just 4 short months.

Goal # 1:
Potty train The May. I don't think this one is going to be too terribly difficult. She has pooped in the potty a couple of times already. We will begin this the week after Labor Day.

Goal # 2:
Break The May from her paci. This is probably going to be the most difficult one of all. I would really like to break her of this by her birthday. That gives me about a month. We will see how that goes.

Goal # 3:
Figure out The May's sleeping situation. I actually have about 6 or 7 months to get this one accomplished. She is a great sleeper in her crib. But, I am going to need the crib for the baby (when she is about 3 months old because she will be in the bassinet until then). So here are my options:
1. Let The Belle and The May sleep in the same bed.
2. Put The May's toddler bed in The Belle's room.
3. Put The May's toddler bed in the nursery with the baby.
All three of these options scare me becasue it actually messes with her sleeping arrangements. If she weren't such a great sleeper I wouldn't be concerned but geez I don't want to ruin a good thing.

So much to do in such little time! I better get busy. God Speed!

Hii or Shii

We had our gender party last night to reveal what baby # 3 is. Pappy, Grandmama, Uncle Josh, Aunt Sarah, Margo, Jude, Uncle John, Aunt Emily, and Reba were all there. So, the big party began with Uncle Josh slinging the BBQ. It was delicious! As all of you know from my previous posts, we have all become obsessed with Wii. So, to reveal the gender husband and I created a Mii character of the baby and after Aunt Sarah dressed her up she was very cute. That's right it's a GIRL! 3 girls ages 3 and under. We are very excited! All of husband's family guessed it was a boy so, everyone was very surprised. Thanks to all of you who voted on the poll. 3 of you guessed girl and 5 of you guessed boy. So, congratulations to the 3 who were right! We can not wait to meet our new baby girl (who does have a name).

It's A.......

We had our ultrasound yesterday and we know what we are having. We wanted to tell husband's family in person. So, we are having a gender party tonight to celebrate. Then we will tell everyone else. Until then, I have created a poll on the right side of the screen. Let's see what you think it is. No guessing for the 6 of you who do know. The pictures are from the ultrasound yesterday. Happy Guessing!

White is NOT her color

The Belle was helping me put laundry into the washing machine this afternoon when I heard The May say "Uh Oh Mamma". My motherly instinct knew it was not a good uh oh so off I went to find her. She is running towards me with white something all over her lips and some sort of applicator in hand. Yep you guessed it .... white out. Apparently she thought it was lip gloss and onto her little lips it went. My first reaction was to call poison control (this would make # 9 or 10 in 3 1/2 years) but after realizing she did a very good job of not getting any in her mouth I decided she was fine. That stuff is hard to get off though.

X Rated Olympics

We were watching women's beach volleyball last night on the Olympics. The May was getting ready to go to bed when she suddenly noticed what we were watching. She said: "look those girls are in their panties." Well, they pretty much were so we just agreed with her.

So, my friend Jessica (and her kids) were going to come over today for my birthday. Until....The Belle woke up with a fever (99.5). I know it’s very low, but it is obvious she is not herself (lots of whining). Now we are on our 4th cartoon and its only 10:30. And it is raining. I envision toys’ covering the floor by the time husband gets home. My birthday was great. I am very excited about my gift from Uncle John and Aunt Emily. They pre-ordered me a copy of Jon and Kate Plus 8's new book that comes out in October. Thanks to my mom and some others who gave me money I got a new DVD video camera. So, I spent last night video taping the girls. It mainly consisted of The Belle being a gymnast and The May sitting in my lap watching through the view finder. The Belle LOVES the Olympics and imitates every single move each gymnast makes. It is so funny! Husband got me a new beach bag (that matches my bathing suit), flip-flops, and some delicious chocolates (the girls refer to as birthday candy). All in all it was a great birthday. If I can just make it through today.

New Bible Verse

The Belle loves church on Sunday nights. Her teacher is Mrs. Sherry. Last Sunday night on our way home she was telling me all about what they did in class. She said "Mama Mrs. Sherry said to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to color your picture. Did you know that Mama?" Too cute!

New Do's

It has been such a busy week. We started the week off by going to play with Athan and Lael. Tuesday we went swimming at Nana's house. Wednesday we took a trip to see John and Emily at their new condo. Of course we made a trip to the beach since it is right across the road. Thursday we did laundry and the girls got haircuts. This was The May's first haircut and she did great! You really can't tell how cute their hair is in this picture but, it was the best I could get. Husband went back to work this week. So, I am exhausted .... I forgot how hard it is to parent without someone with you all day especially when my belly seems to be getting bigger by the second. My birthday is Sunday so, we are going to celebrate at my in-laws and watch the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. It should be fun!