I drive a little further just to get to the brand new Target in west Houston with the super cool new carts. SO much better than the ones at Sugar Land Target. They comfortably hold all three of my toddlers in seats that they actually LIKE. I can get a popcorn and drink combo for $1.50, split the popcorn between them, get a diet coke for me, and have a perfectly pleasant trip to Target. Ahhhh, toddler errand running perfection!

18 month well baby visits

Charlie was 32.5 in. tall and 26.5 lbs. That puts in him the 45th% for height and 60th% for weight. Hazel is petite at 31 in. tall and 23 lbs. She's in the 25th% for both. Just thought I'd record this here for posterity and the grandmas. ;-)

Charlie drew with chalk!

but not on the chalkboard. :D





all of the above pictures were the first taken with my new Panasonic Lumix camera! We killed yet another one, our 3rd Canon. We decided to go with something different just in case it was the brand that was cursed for us. ;-) So far, I'm very pleased.

Our crazy week!

Whew! I have never been so glad to see Friday. This has been a week not worth repeating. We started with Hazel running fever on Monday, never more than 102, but a completely miserable little girl. Tuesday I kept her home from school and sent the boys. She was a mess. Cried all. day. long. Charlie came home from school with fever. Great. I'm that mom--the one who sent a sick kid to school.

Wednesday was maybe the hardest day I've ever spent as a mommy. Seriously. It was awful. Charlie still had fever and didn't want to be put down. He was having the day that Hazel had Tuesday. Cried non-stop. Hazel was much happier, and when she opened her mouth to accept a bite of something at one point offered a clue to their misery. She had spots on her tongue. Yep. I called the pediatrician's nurse and described symptoms. She agreed that we have Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. A common but really miserable virus that just has to run its course.

Jonathan, healthy and busy, was not interested in the lack of attention he was getting due to his sick siblings and went into all out destructo mode. He dumped out an entire box of cheerios and a big bag of raisins. We just swept it all out the back door and had some very happy birds in our yard. He also bit the tip off his last paci. He went through a phase right before Christmas where he was biting them at the rate of about one a day. We made him throw them away when they were broken, and told him that when they were gone, that was it. No more pacis. He kept his last one for about 6 weeks. I was impressed. And he chose Wednesday to ruin it and have to learn to go to sleep without it.

He did great, though. He took a couple of last sucks and threw it away with wide eyes. I could tell that he completely understood the gravity of what had just happened. When he went to bed that night and asked for a paci, I calmly reminded him that paci was broken and all gone, and he went to sleep with just a little bit of whining. What a big boy! He also took a nap at school on Thursday without one. Thursday night was a little more rough. I think reality that paci wasn't coming back was hard, but we rubbed his back a little longer than usual and he finally crashed. He's really weaned from it!

Thursday with the babies was better. They're on the mend. They're eating and playing again. Of course, I was pretty overwhelmed with the stuff that didn't get done chore-wise Monday through Wednesday. And still am. But that's why this is the weekend. And I am really very grateful.

We'll post some pictures soon. I got some good ones of the cheerio spill. And I'll probably post a montage of Jono with his paci through the "ages" in memorandum. ;-)

Compassion in Haiti

Many of you know that we sponsor a child in Haiti. Robendy shares a birthday with Charlie and Hazel, even, though he is 8 years older. We know nothing about his status right now, other than that he lives on the far side of the island from the hardest-hit part of the country.

I have written a longer post about sponsorship on my other blog, and encourage you to check it out. Pray, give, and pray some more.

tough guy!

Here is Charles with his stitches! In the 2nd picture, I told him to look up at the ceiling fan so you could get a better view. Not a great picture of him, but it serves its purpose.


His boo-boo hasn't dampened his spirits. He's still my smiley boy.

the newest game

Jono likes to put diapers and clothes on the big animals.

and more recently, take their diapers off so they can go potty.

it cracks me up to hear him say, "hippo, poo poo?" and sniff his diaper.

what Jono did

while I was putting Charlie's shoes on him. "I cracka eggs."

because I'm in trouble with my mom and my sister...

for not posting pictures of my new pictures. ;-)

above the fireplace in the living room. the "W" still needs a 2nd coat of paint.

in the playroom.


I want to do something above the 4 pictures from the children's museum, but have not been hit with inspiration yet.

and above the play kitchen. these were bought on Etsy and I couldn't be happier with them. they're so adorable!

Grandpa's visit

Grandpa + Laptop + Google = Lions and Tigers and Elephants and Monkeys, oh my!

First words out of Jonathan's mouth the day after Grandpa left, "Grandpa? More tigers?" Apparently, the way to a toddler's heart is through the zoo.

what must they think of us?

at Mother's Day Out? One starts to wonder these things when one is spinning around the living room with a girl on her hip singing a silly song that one made up that goes something like, "Hazel has poo poo. I'm gonna change her poo poo!" And Jono starts shaking his hips and singing along, "That's a poo poo! That's a poo poo!". Half an hour before he goes to MDO. When he likely will not be finished with his fun new musical number. Sheesh.

toddlers eat fondue

David and I decided that our New Year's Eve tradition was going to be using our fondue pot. Kiddos weren't too impressed by the main course cheese fondue, but they sure did approve of the chocolate fondue dessert.


(note Hazel's "more" sign, while she still has a sizable chunk of pretzel rod in her mouth and PLENTY of chocolate)

Happy New Year!! Hope you had a good laugh.

Swings at the park

There are only two baby swings at our local park, which is one less than the number of babies that want to swing. Hazel is the most cooperative with the "big-girl" swing, so that's where she ends up most of the time (now that they are too big to comfortably share a baby swing). Here's the big girl doing her thing with her brothers in the background.