They Make Me Laugh

My sweet Giggles suprised me with this arrangment during nap/quiet time yesterday.  I laughed when I saw her arrangment of dolls sitting at desks, but was amazed when I realized she had set it up so each doll had created her own Valentine's Day picture!  She sure is imaginative. 

 I asked her about the doll in the far back left corner, and her answer was "She fell asleep in class".  :)

This girl has made me laugh a little bit lately by her particular habit.  She's the first of our children at barely two years old who has to straighten her blankies when we tuck her in.  She crawls all over the white blanket with flowers on it to make it completely flat, pulling on the corners and sides.  (I'm not sure how it got rumply again in this picture.)  Then we cover her with her green blankie and wrap her like a papoose.  It's her thing, and I love her for it!

Thankful

Last weekend I got the opportunity to remember the number one material possession I am thankful for; my mattress.  It happened like this. . .

Ethan's company does work with a variety and commercial customers.  One recent customer was a local hotel.  As part of the payment they traded for some free nights.  We were blessed with one of those nights and decided immediately we should use it for Giggles 7th birthday.  She is such a big fan of swimming, which is unfortunate when your birthday is in the winter.  She has always wanted to go swimming for her birthday, so she and Spunky and I had a mom and daughter overnighter at the hotel!

Walking in we quickly noticed a variety of oddly dressed college age people.  And I mean REALLY oddly dressed.  Bright colored wigs, fake weapons, tails, make-up.  It was wild.  We later learned they were there for an Anime Convention.  I don't know a single person who's into anime, but they were all quite nice.

There was a lot of swimming, but there was also a good eight hours of sleeping.  Or maybe I should say eight hours of trying to sleep.  The beds were soft and looked inviting, but man did my back hurt in the morning!  It reminded me of how much I'm spoiled by our wonderful bed. 

About four or five years ago we desperately needed to replace the mattress we'd had since we got married.  We researched, because that's what my man does, and settled on the Intellibed.  It was expensive, but we fortunately had saved up for a while to buy it.  I don't have a whole lot of brand loyalty  to anything else, but I won't ever buy another brand of mattress as long as I live.  It was worth every penny!

Our First Break

Last night Spunky and Giggles were messing around, playing in the living room. Spunky heaved Giggles up and accidently dropped her. I was feeding the baby and saw it -- it didn't look good. It looked like she fell on her neck and head. She started crying immediately and saying her shoulder hurt. We put ice on it and gave her some pain medication, but after seeing that both sides of her body didn't match we felt she needed to go into the emergency room. Sure enough, she broke her collar bone. I knew it! They gave her a sling and said her arm needs to stay in it for 4 weeks. (Right. It's going to be a struggle to keep her in it for 4 days!) Her emotions, in order: upset (in pain) scared (about the hospital) curious (after 2 pain relievers) silly (watching Scooby Doo while waiting for results) giggly (today, enjoying extra attention from everyone) Spunky's emotions: guilt guilt guilt Poor girl, I think she's suffering more than her little sister! She already offered to help her pick up eggs at the church Easter egg hunt in 2 weeks. Since neither Ethan or I ever broke a bone, this is new for us. Honestly, I am SO grateful it was just a collar bone. It could have been a lot worse!

Changes

Our big boy has taken his first step! Coincidentally, on the same day he took his first step he also got two huge bonks on the head. So much for getting his one year pics done this week. :)

An even bigger accomplishment this week:  Giggles is finally potty trained! (Imagine crowds cheering.) It was like she suddenly decided she was DONE with diapers. She also picked up a couple of new words; much to Daddy's horror. (He doesn't like the kids to say bathroom words). Anyway, she had just used the potty the other night and as she flushed she cheerfully called out, "Bye, bye wee-wee!" I about died laughing at the look on Ethan's face. I admit, I'm not super fond of "pee-pee, and wee-wee, and poo-poo," but you have to call it something, right?