The perils of hot chocolate

When choking on hot chocolate don't try to keep it in your mouth. Just spit it in the nearest sink. Otherwise it will end up on your new carpet. And new paint. And your tile. And your baby. And your baby's blessing certificate. And your visual aids. And your clothes. And it will make your toddler wake up early from their nap. And you'll have to try and clean it up while holding your hot chocolate covered baby listening to your toddler cry. Did I mention it got on four wall? And two doors? I picked the worlds worst place to choke on hot chocolate.

At least the second time I made it to a sink. I don't think I should drink hot chocolate any more.

How quickly we forget

I was changing Benton's diaper and I thought, "Man, this is the nastiest diaper I've changed in a while!" So I started thinking about it and came up with the last time I'd changed a diaper that bad. It was Brita's diaper that I had changed less than an hour earlier.
Fun times.

Brita

Brita (as we're eating breakfast just now): Daddy comes home in an hour or so.
Me: No, Daddy's not coming home for a while.
Brita (proving she's right): OR SO!

Okay, maybe you had to be there.

She asked me yesterday if the bottom of the tomato was the tomato's bum.

She's still kind of obsessed with nativities.

Her foot is looking lots better and she doesn't act like it's bothering her at all. Unless she doesn't have a sock on. Then she hobbles around and asks to be carried.

I was really hoping we were done with those

I just got tonsilloliths out of my tonsils for the first time since I was pregnant with Benton. I got out about 1/4 tsp of them. Nasty. And now you know. Hopefully we aren't going back to the everyday thing. They're so gross.

Was that too much information? Yes. Sorry. It's my blog.

Christmas

Here's a few pictures from Christmas. Peter was off work for two days and it was heaven. I love it when he's home. We went up to my parents house Christmas evening so that we could spend some time with Shawn. It was so, so fun.


Peter putting together a trike. Benton was in on the great Christmas secret this year.


After Santa Claus came.


Brita learning how the bell works on her trike.


Brita with her very own chapstick. She put it on for about twenty minutes straight today.


Benton playing with his shopping cart.

Christmas was awesome this year. It felt like a vacation and Brita is having so much fun and being so occupied by all her new toys. We'd like to thank the generous people who donate to DI and the makers of the Magic Eraser for Brita's Christmas this year. :) Peter got socks, shirts, and jeans. And Penguin dominoes. I got lots of books. And a crockpot. Also thanks to the grandparents for all the fun stuff.

Vacation

Last night I was laying in bed trying to figure out the date. I figured it was the 29th, since I knew that Sunday was the 27th.

You've got to love vacations that seem longer than they really are in a good way.

What we've been up to...

We don't do much, but there have been a couple new developments. Benton laughed for the first time last night. It was pretty cute. Brita started cutting today. Benton's learning to sneak. And he likes working on the computer. My dad figured out pretty early on that the waltz is the best dance step for getting Benton to sleep. That still holds true. Brita can climb up on couches all by herself now. She could mostly do it when Benton was born, but then she started needing help again. Brita is in love with books from the library. And youtube videos--she'll beg those off of anyone she can. She recognizes videos on blogs and things and always wants to watch them. She was watching the Nativity on youtube today and the wisemen were a little scary for her. We have four or five (or six) nativities in our living room and she really likes them. Last Sunday we gave her a bath and then were changing her diaper in the living room. She looked over at one of the nativities and said, "Hey, Joseph--I got a bath." It was pretty funny. She's since told Mary and baby Jesus things that she's going to do like get a diaper change or take a nap. Peter got a new phone. It's pretty much the love of his life. It's a Christmas present, though, so don't tell him. Monica said it's probably a good thing he got it early--that way he he might spend some of Christmas not playing with it. He's actually not that bad. You can just tell he wants to spend all of his time messing with it.

There's a bunch of stuff that I need to do for Christmas, but it probably won't get done seeing how I don't ever leave the house these days. At least Benton decided to like the sling yesterday so the house got almost cleaned. It's messy again today. Go figure.

Brita loves nursery at church. She finds the pictures that she's colored there and tells us about them. Especially the one of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. She didn't like it so much at the beginning, but now she's a big fan.

When Brita says "no" she usually says, "No, I'm dry." I guess we might ask her if she needs her diaper changed a little too often.

Fairly off the wall thought.

Since Peter and I have been married we've spent at least as much on ice cream as on our phone bill. That may have to change when Peter gets his Christmas present. Maybe I should stop thinking of money in terms of ice cream. Or maybe we'll just get really, really fat.

A dinner conversation

Mom: I love you a lot, Brita.
Brita: I love you a lot. I love you a lot, too, Mommy. I love you, too, Benton. I love you, too, pacifier.

That's a lot of love.

Tonight's fun

Tonight Benton got a bath.

Then he got dressed in his penguin outfit.

Then he got to jump for the first time.

Not bad for one night's work.

Snow

Like I said it snowed a bunch while we were gone. It snowed a bunch the next day too.

Peter had Brita help him shovel the snow. She loved it a lot. She's a big fan of the snow.

She didn't want to come in and when she finally did she wanted to go back out about two minutes later. So Peter told her that they could build a snowman the next day.

The next day she met him at the door when he came home saying, "DADDYWEGETTOBUILDASNOWMANNOW!!" She was a little bit excited about it.

They managed to build it in the pure powder. Go super-dad.

Brita's Christmas present

Brita got a Christmas present from her Grandma a few weeks ago. She spent a long time playing with it.

And she hasn't even seen the actual present yet.

You want to eat cheese with me?

Brita: "You want to eat cheese with me? Eat the cheese that Mommy made."
"Sometimes Mommy makes cheese for me."

It's true: I'm a cheese maker. It's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. At http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/ the lady tells how to make two kinds of cheese and butter with two gallons of milk, and since I had two gallons of raw milk sitting around, that's what I did. I'll post pictures when I find my camera thingy, but for now just know that it's amazing.

My new mission in life is to get everyone to make cheese. It's amazing.

Stretching the cheese (i.e. the reason everyone should make cheese)

Ricotta and failed (but eventually conquered) butter

Sleep on the brain

We got home at about four o'clock this morning from my parents house. It took us almost twice as long to get home as it usually does because of the weather. I got a tiny bit of sleep on the way home because Peter was driving. Benton slept the whole way and Brita slept for quite a bit of it.

We went up to my parents place to do a Christmas fireside for their empty-nesters fhe group. All my siblings were there except two. It was really fun. We all got there between two hours and half a day later than we were planning on.

Brita was terrified of Uncle John for the first day. She cried every time she saw him. She loved all the cousins. She was also the most prevalent person in the Christmas program--that's one busy little girl.

Just now she's saying to Monica in the kitchen, "I seed the cousins! I seed the cousins, Monica. It was too fun."


Here are a couple of pictures so you can see we were really there and how lovely my family is. :)

Self-sufficiency

Brita had corn chips and goldfish for breakfast this morning because I was making cheese. I was feeding Benton on the couch when I heard the sound of a chair being pushed around in the kitchen.
Me: Are you getting more goldfish, Brita?
Brita: No. I'm done. I'm pushing the chair to wash my hands.
Sounds of climbing on the chair and the water turning on.
A little while later, Brita: Mom, I washed my hands.
Now she's doing dishes.

I like her.

Brita says

I like ice cream.. And oats. Do you like oats, Daddy?

Because it needs told

We had Peter's family staying with us this last week. It was so very fun.

Brita's cousin Ensley was staying on Brita's bed (the bottom bunk on some bunk beds that are in the corner of the room). We took the mattress off the top bunk for Stewart to sleep on, so it was just the wires above her. The first night Ensley woke up in the middle of the night and started screaming, "Let me out of this cage!" It happened a few times. That is one funny girl.

This picture makes me laugh

Now you can laugh, too.

I have the smiliest boy in all the land

Unfortunately I can't catch them on camera, so you'll just have to trust me on this one. But if any of you want to come see for yourself you're more than welcome.

Dishes

Today Brita was doing the dishes by herself. She usually helps, which involves playing in the water while I do the dishes or rinsing if Grandma is doing the dishes, but today she was doing them all by herself. She washed them and put them in the dish drain.

Unfortunately I don't let her use the sponge or I would have had a lot fewer dishes to wash tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be easier than this.

This whole two kids thing is kicking my trash. Just so everybody knows. Especially with a sick husband. Of course that sick husband is taking Brita to the library to return a movie, so at this moment I'm just incompetently mothering one rather than two.

Maybe it will be easier in about thirty years, but then, if they're like me, they'll be calling me up because their husband is out of town and they can't handle two kids by themselves. Oh wait, I did that with one kid, too.

And then there's dinner. Lets not even go there. I seldom do go there, actually.

Whoa Nellie.. This post should probably be deleted. It won't be, though--there's got to be something to look back on if I have a third kid. Just imagine several more paragraphs of one-handed whining and we'll call it good.

The end.

Don't take offense, take a post--it's lighter.

I just found out I offended someone. I hate it when that happens. I really never mean to offend people but then every once in a while I find out that I have and I just really wish that they would have let me know instead of letting other people know. So just in case I've offended someone who reads my blog--I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, and feel free to talk to me about it.

Sustaining our leaders

Today the executive secretary called and asked if I could meet with a member of the bishopric before church. Peter and I were kind of joking back and forth about what it could be about. I kind of figured that either they were releasing me, giving me a new calling or kicking me out of church. It turned out to be none of those things.

They told me that my teaching partner was being released.

I kind of wondered why they brought me in to just tell me that, but I thought it was nice of them. They told me I'd keep teaching and they weren't calling another team teacher for a while (which is what they told me the week that they released my last team teacher and then they called another teacher the next week).

It wasn't until I was in primary and they were talking about Sister Thompson leaving and I started glaring at the second counselor of the bishopric that I realized why they did what they did. When they released my last team teacher I spent the entire sacrament meeting glaring at the bishopric and then I cried through primary. I think they were trying to give me a heads up so they didn't have to put up with me hating them all through sacrament meeting and crying through primary. At least Sister Thompson had the decency to pick If You're Happy and You Know It as her departing song so everybody didn't cry through I am a Child of God again.

I just like the people I work with and then they keep stealing them. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get over it in a few weeks. Until then I'm sad.

Work Halloween Party

Yesterday we went to Peter's work so Brita (and all the other kids of the people who work there) could go trick-or-treating to all the offices. There was lots of candy--especially since Peter's building is twice as big as it was last year. I took the camera so I could get pictures of the kids in their costumes. I didn't take any pictures, but I took the camera. Brita was a penguin and Benton was Benjamin from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Brita faithfully said everything she was supposed to and only stuck about half the candy in her mouth before putting it in her bag (in case anyone was tempted to steal her candy).

We went down to Provo after that to visit our friends and look at the Pumpkins that the Zauggs had done. We remembered to visit the friends, but we forgot about the pumpkins until we were almost home. Sad. I guess we'll just have to look at the pictures of them. We had tons of fun with Todd and Dani, though. Brita and Nicholette were having all sorts of fun running around, reading books, feeding each other, and giving hugs--at least most of the time they were both having fun. Dani made us dinner, too. Now there's a true friend. :)

So that wasn't so much about the work party, which had an amazing cheese ball and really, really good bread bowls, but they were connected in my mind. So that was my day yesterday, except the part where we killed an hour in Winco, but that wasn't really the most exciting part.

The End.

One month

Today we got an e-mail from Peter at work wishing Benton a happy one month birthdy. I was kind of surprised because I had celebrated it in my mind two days ago. I guess I was a little too set on him him being born on the twenty-seventh. Peter wins. Again.

So Happy One Month of Life to you, Benton. We love you lots.

And here he is in all his one month old glory:

Speaking in church

So I think Brita has found a microphone. It's not quite as cool as the vacuum handle that was used all through my childhood, but it's not bad. She's been talking into the tripod all morning. I finally figured out that she was giving a talk--at least I'm pretty sure. She kept saying "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." That's not really unusual because she's learning to pray, so I didn't really think anything of it. Then she started talking about the scriptures and using visual aids.

I was sitting on the couch next to her with my legs crossed and apparently my foot was a little too close to her. She pushed it out of the way as she said, "Excuse me, foot."

In other news, Benton just typed an omega. I can't type an omega. Little computer genes already coming out.

Stainless steel

I went home from BYU (either that or Ricks, but I really think it was BYU) one time and my dad was working on vise parts in the back of our truck pug. I went to see him and said hi, but he just sort of ignored me. That's pretty weird for my dad; he doesn't usually ignore people, I waited. A little while later he turned around, handed me something and asked if it fit. It was a ring he had just made for me. I tried it on. It fit and it was beautiful and I knew I wanted it to be my wedding ring.

I wore the ring at Ricks quite a bit during my I-don't-date-Ricks-boys-at-Ricks phase. That was about a year and a half.

I kind of wondered if the person I married would be okay with me using a stainless steel ring rather than a gold one with a big rock. Luckily he was. :) My dad made his ring too.

The bad thing about stainless steel rings is that they can't be cut off. My fingers get really big when I'm pregnant, so I don't get to wear my ring much. Apparently my fingers haven't slimmed down much because I just put my ring on and now it's stuck.

Aren't they pretty, though?

Smiles

Benton smiles at people. Usually he just sort of glares at me, but today I told him I loved him and he smiled at me. I was pretty sure that he was trying to tell me he loved me too, so I tried it again to make sure. I told him I loved him and.. he glared at me. Maybe I'm at least growing on him though. He smiles at other people.

Recent Pictures

Peter's mom just e-mailed to say that she was sending her own photographer out from Illinois to take a picture of Benton. I can take a hint.. Here are some pictures. Some were just seconds old when I started looking for the card reader; now they're just hours old.

It's Brita McNabb

For the last week or so when Brita talks on her toy phone she will say, "Hi, Grandpa.  It's Brita McNabb." or, "Hi, Pamela. This is Brita McNabb."  It's so stinking cute.  I don't know where she learned her last name from, but she picked it up from somewhere. Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Pamela, Scott and Evan are the most popular people to pretend to talk to, in case you were wondering.

Benton and Brita

Brita's getting bigger

It's amazing how much Brita's grown in less than two years. She was so little when she came home from the hospital and now she's huge.

The carnival and the amazing mom

Yesterday around two Peter got home from work (as Monica was watching Brita for me so I could take a nap) and needed to sleep so I decided to be a totally amazing mom and take Brita to the Maceys 10 year anniversary carnival. They had hot dogs and snow cones and ice cream and stuff for ten cents each. And they had bounce houses and stuff. And 5 quarts of ice cream for less than three dollars. So we went.

Of course I made Monica go with me because two kids in a car for twenty minutes each way is just scary to me--I'm not that amazing of a mom.

We got there and it was CRAZY. We had to vulture a parking place and the lines were all about forty people long. And apparently you needed tickets for the food that I didn't know where to get. So we wandered back through the concessions and play stuff and Brita was really excited--she loves bounce houses. All the kids looked big and scary to me so I led everybody back out of the carnival and into the store for our ten cent ice cream. As we stood in line we got a free sample of bread. It was way yummy. We ate our ice cream next to a nice old man named Terry. Old people scare me. Oh--and people kept trying to run us over with their carts as we were waiting in line. And then we left.

So Brita didn't get to do anything cool and I'm a lame mom. Oh well, I tried.

Nobody wants me, everybody hates me.

Today I was told I wasn't needed at church. It was sad.

Peter is working today--he went in at 11:00 last night and isn't back yet--so I got everybody ready and made it to church only five minutes late. We made it through sacrament meeting just fine.

Primary was just practicing for the program, which I figured would entertain Brita better than I could any day, so I figured we were good for the day. Then I asked if they wanted me to sit with my class and they said they didn't need me and that the primary president would sit with them instead of me. So I tried to get Brita just to watch with me for a while, but she really wanted to be sitting with the primary since that was where I told her we would be today. So we went home. Ha--take that, all you mean people who think I'm unnecessary.

Okay, to be fair they were trying to be nice and they were nice. But this is the second time in two years that I won't be helping my class with the primary program and someday I should really start fulfilling my calling.

Then again, I should really start not whining, too, but some things are harder than others.

Sickies

We're sick here. Benton went from smiling (even in the hospital he was smiling) to giving me dirty looks (I'm pretty sure I just got a total glare). It's not my fault, I promise. Brita had a fever the day we got back from the hospital and has been coughing and sneezing ever since. Peter had a fever the last couple days. I have a runny/stuffy nose and a sore throat and a dull headache. Benton has a stuffy nose and has been throwing up. Fun times.

So I'm sure things have happened the last little while, but I don't remember them. Other than a lot of puke. And that I don't know why boys diapers are so eternally awful to change. And Brita started saying "I appreciate it" after she thanks us for things. And Benton tries to be happy even when he's feeling bad, but his patience is definitely starting to get warn down. He's taken to waking up screaming lately which he didn't used to do. I pretty much spend my days counting down the hours until Peter gets home. I'm not the most patient person when my countdown runs out before he gets home.

Things Brita asks for when she's going to sleep..

A song?.. A story?.. A cow?..

Pictures of the kid.

The last while has been pretty fun.  My parents came down to help with Brita while I was in the hospital.  Then they went home.  Then they came back.  Then they left and came back and left again.  It's sad they aren't coming back for a while.  They took care of Brita and Benton during the day so I could sleep and took care of Benton during the night for me.  It's amazing to me how good they are with kids.  Brita loved hanging out with them and Benton definitely got some early morning quality time in with Grandpa.  

Peter took some time off work to spend time with the family. I'm always sad when he has to go back to work. Oh well, we need money, too.

Brita loves her brother. She likes to hold him and show him things: toys, books, food, etc. It's good that half the time she doesn't realize that he's asleep when she's showing him things. She always makes sure I read books to Benton, too--I think that might just be so I have to read them at least twice, though. :)

Benton is doing well. He's pretty much an awesome baby. If sleeping well, feeding well, and being incredibly patient and easy going make a baby "good." We've had a few fun diaper changes involving changing all the sheets on our bed and Peter taking a shower, but not bad considering I spent the first week or so after Brita came home in incredible pain--I'd take Peter getting peed on over my being in pain any day. :)

It's fun to have our family grow.

I'm definitely not the best mom in the world, but things are getting a little better. Hopefully soon I'll become that super patient, never angry, always teaching, totally fun mom that I know I should be. But I suppose I'd have to do something to make that happen, so it probably won't. They say daughters turn into their mothers, though, so maybe there's hope for me.

Anyways, enjoy the pictures. It's all about the pictures after all.

It's a conspiracy.

And three days is way too young to be starting this. Tonight Benton was being fussy. I tried bouncing him and rocking him and all of those fun things.. Finally I figured if he was just going to cry no matter what I did I might as well put the dishes away. Instant silence. As long as I kept cleaning he was quiet as can be. It's just not right.

Note to universe: It doesn't matter how many cleanliness conscious kids are sent to me--I will never be a neat freak. So there.

It's a baby!

Benton Paul McNabb arrived this morning at 7:43-ish. He weighed 7 lbs 15 oz, 19 1/4" long, and was born in a minivan.

Here's some pictures:


Mom and Benton


Dad and Benton


Brita and Benton


The whole family (we usually have lovely family photos like this)

And now, if you want the whole story...

Peter and I went on a walk before bed, and I started having noticeable contractions around 11:00 last night. They got progessively worse, but not that bad. We woke Monica up at 4:00 to keep an ear out for Brita so we could go on another walk (thanks again, Monica).

Brita got up around 7:00, and it was then that we decided to go to the hospital. I had Peter pull a seat out of the van and I knelt on the floor for the long ride to the hospital. It takes about a half hour in good traffic, and I picked rush hour.

When we started driving, I told Peter I kind of felt like pushing, and he said, "Not the right time." About 15 minutes before we got there my water broke with a big splash (poor car). About 5 minutes later, there was another splash and I said, "The baby's here." He came out all at once. Peter pulled off to the side of the road and called for an ambulance and I used his shirt to sit on. I unwrapped the cord from the baby's neck, which had four wrappings, and made sure it was breathing. I used Peter's second shirt as a blanket for the baby. The dispatcher suggested different things to use for tying the cord, but since we wanted a delayed clamping, I just kept saying, "no."

Pretty soon the ambulance, fire truck, and police car arrived. They did a quick checkup on us and had some real blankets for the baby. Benton and I got on the stretcher and rode to the hospital in the ambulance, which took another 10 minutes. They didn't even turn on the lights for us. :)

I got to the hospital and my midwife came and delivered the placenta. Then she stiched me up, which was like 17 times worse than birth. Peter was stuck doing paperwork for forever.

When Peter got to the hospital about the same time, instead of a shirt he was wearing a towel over his shoulders and a backpack over that. I think he got some dirty looks on the elevator up to my room. They were nice and gave him a scrub top to wear.

When we went to get some pictures of Benton, we realized we'd forgotten the memory card for the camera. We called Monica and she came with Brita to bring it. They were there for the bath and all of the other fun "firsts."

Don't worry Peter has already gotten the van cleaned up. The permanent blood stains will remind us of Benton forever. It's totally worth giving birth in a van to get all the cheerios and crumbs cleaned up for you.

Welcome, Benton.

Brita's new room

Brita is now the proud owner of her own room. She even sleeps in there all by herself. If you ask her whose room it is she'll say, "It's Brita's bed." So far so good.

Her new dresser. She loves the little box on top that she can open and close. She was putting her little halo thing in there and taking it our for a good long while today.


Someday we'll get mattresses for her bed. For now she just sleeps on the metal springs. Just kidding--she's still on her mattress on the floor. But aren't they cool beds? Her Grandpa McNabb had them when he was little.


We changed the cubby into a play room for her. It'll be even cooler after Christmas. And when we get done mudding and painting it.


Isn't that a lovely light? Yeah--we put that in ourselves. Cute girl, too, huh? She's developing all sorts of crazy cheesy grins for when you ask her to smile.

Oy, what a week

This week has been crazy. We cleared all the furniture out of our house so that we could get carpet installed on Monday. We also painted all but one room of the house before they laid carpet. We also almost finished the cubbies.

Wow--that seemed like more when we were actually doing it.

My computer has been taken apart so I haven't had that in a while. I'm going through withdrawls. I must be turning into a McNabb.

Monica decided to move down to the basement today so that we could move upstairs like we were planning to after she left, so we've been trying to figure out what we want to do with the other rooms in our house. Brita is loving that there is no furniture anywhere. We run and dance a lot.

The baby has decided it's not coming. Oh well, agency is what we come to earth to use, right?

I"m pretty much tired all the time. I sleep as much as I can. Therefore Peter doesn't sleep because I snore so bad. I'm sure he's hoping the baby comes so he can get some sleep.

I burned my finger today. Note to everyone: do not touch a 425 degree oven rack--it'll hurt. My finger burned for a couple of hours. The pizza was good, though. I think we're keeping Papa Murphy's in business.

We have so many tomatoes in our garden. I can't keep up with them. There aren't actually that many, but I've got different priorities right now. I keep thinking I'll just offer to give them to whoever comes and picks them, but I somehow never get around to it. Like everything else. I love having a garden. Love it.

I'm thirsty. Just so you know.

I'm trying to decide what to do about moving Brita into her own room. Now that she's going to have one.

Doesn't orange juice sound good?

Hopefully we'll get our furniture moved back in soon. I was hoping to have the baby so that people who came to visit could help move it back in, but my evil plan didn't work. And I really wanted to get out of teaching my Sunbeams lesson this week. Oh well.

So I'm pretty sure that other stuff happened, but, lucky you, you don't have to read about it. Off for water.

So about this nesting thing

I'm sick of working on the house. Nothing gets done and there's way too much to do. If I had some sort of nesting instinct I'm sure this would all make me as happy as a clam, but I don't. Really I just want to sleep. All the time. The bad part is that it won't even all be over by Tuesday because we are having to hurry and do a really bad job on things. And then there will be a baby and I won't get to sleep some more. Poor me.
Now you know.

Why yes, yes it does.

Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of a reflection of me sideways and I have to stop and wonder: Does my belly really stick out that far?

Notice: Carpet Day Moved

Just in case carpet day influenced your guess on when the baby would come, I thought I'd update you with the plans. Carpet day has been moved to Monday the 21st. My brother-in-law couldn't make it down so we decided we would take a little more time to get things painted.

We finished sheet rocking the cubbies and Peter is mostly done taping one of them. We have about half the house painted. Special thanks to a couple of neighbor boys who came and held up sheet rock for us in a very hot cubby. Also to my Dad for coming to rescue us. Hopefully we'll finish in time.

Boogers and manners

Brita and I were just looking at pictures from the big packet of church pictures. We got to the one of Abraham being saved by the angel and started talking about it. Brita pointed out that there were a lot of hands in the picture. Then she identified the angel's nose. Then she asked if there was a booger in the angel's nose.
Angels don't have boogers, right?

Today was kind of a long day. Peter is going on a sixteen hour day at work and will probably be there at least a couple more hours. I didn't get enough sleep last night (stinking library books). Brita was tired and teething all day. Every time I thought I just couldn't be nice anymore or just couldn't do any more Brita would be really polite. I don't know where she got it, but it makes it so much easier to be her mom. She always says please and thank you and you're welcome and excuse me. Civility just makes everything better.

One great thing about kids...

is that you can take them out in crazy clothes and people just think that the kid insisted on wearing it.

Last week we accidentally left Brita's shoes in the car for a couple days. She has other shoes that are the right size, but they don't fit her. She has kind of pudgy feet, so even the shoes that are too long for her still are too tight. I don't know what we're going to do about that when summer ends. Anyways, I had to take Brita with me to my doctor's appointment and her shoes were at Peter's work, so I ended up putting her water shoes on her and taking her (luckily she stopped saying "tight, tight" by the time we got in the car). They're a full size too big and definitely water shoes, so I was a little nervous that people would think I was a really bad mom.

Nope. Nothing. Now I know.

Come to think of it, it was the same way when I took her to the store in clashing pants and shirt and dress. That one was her idea, though.

Berries

Peter's mom is way nice and has gotten us berries the last couple of years. We use them for jam and syrup and all kinds of things. This year we got some strawberries too. They're all so good. Thanks, Mom.

I didn't eat the whole bucket, by the way. I was just making sure none of it was wasted after we repackaged them.