Classic

These outfits are classic Red Fish. It cracks me up when she picks out their clothes. Matching halloween shirts, pajama bottoms, a hat and mismatched shoes on the wrong feet. It's a great look.

A Very Long, Nearly Perfect Day

Really it started yesterday. We had a fun playdate and went down the street to the playground. Then dinner was super easy to throw together. I got a ton of work done last night and then got to spend some time with my husband. The girls slept through the night and didn't wake up at an insane hour.

9:00am - After breakfast this morning, Red Fish wanted to do an art project. So we got out some markers and these books of shapes we found in my mom's house so she could practice her cutting skills. New Fish got really into the markers today. She covered a couple sheets of paper, front and back. New Fish really wants to copy everything that Red Fish does. It's adorable.
They were coloring for so long I sat at the table with them and got a little graphic design work done. It was awesome. After they were finished coloring I took them upstairs and took a shower while they played their new game "Blue ball". Basically, Red Fish tosses a ball and yells BLUE BALL BABY! and then New Fish runs and gets the ball. They both think it's hysterical. I like that they are playing together. After the three of us were cleaned and dressed we waited on the front porch for the speech therapist. New Fish took a nap and Red Fish had a great session.
After speech therapy we had a quick lunch of leftover soft tacos and headed to the farm. We've been going to the farm or the aquarium every week because the girls are obsessed with animals. It gives us a lot of vocabulary to practice without them knowing we are practicing and they just really enjoy it anyway.

Plus it's extra fun when we go with friends. After the farm the girls took a long nap and I did some laundry and graphic design work.

When the girls woke up they decided to play with playdough. Red Fish was instructing New Fish on how to poke and prod it properly. It was pretty funny. They happily played and sang along to a CD for nearly an hour and a half while I cleaned the main floor, switched laundry and made dinner. It was almost too perfect. It was the kind of cooperation I DREAM about.

Red Fish even helped me with a little cleaning. She really loves the duster.

After dinner we ran to meet some friends at a Halloween fair but realized that we were about three days too early. So we decided that as long as we were out we would go to the dinosaur museum. I love having a membership to a lot of local places. We wandered around for an hour and then went to get some ice cream. Then we came home, the girls went to bed like angels and now... I'm holding my breath. The day is too good to be true.

Milestones

New Fish had her checkup today. She is 18 lbs. 6 oz. and 25 inches tall. She is in the 45th percentile.

And Red Fish...got her first pair of fishnet tights. A very important milestone. She also has them in pink.

Rock And Roll

My girls like to jam on my old drum set that is at my parent's house. The fairy wings just illustrate how rock'n roll they are.

Account Balance

I'm starting to get to that place when everything feels out of control. My house is messy and I'm running to stay caught up at work. I spent a good part of the week trying to get Red Fish into three year old speech programs because they are through the school district and the ones for age two and under are through the health department. So everything has to be reapplied and tested for. There are always hoops to jump through but I think we might actually have a plan. When I get stressed and overwhelmed I have to keep careful track of my account balances.

I try to think of the treatment of my family members as a love account. I can make deposits or withdrawals and I'm in a constant battle between the two extremes. Every time I have a great moment with my kids or teach them something or spend some quality time with my husband, I make a deposit. Every time I am cranky or rush them through childhood or snap at them, I make a withdrawal. I have my own inner account to manage and I need to find ways of filling it up as well. Lately, the best way for me to feel like I'm balanced and secure is to create. I create almost constantly. I've been crafting (which is funny because I never thought of myself as crafty until recently) writing, doing design work and working on projects like a mad woman. I've also been doing a lot of projects with my kids and it has given me some great moments with them. The summer was kind of crazy and didn't leave time for the normal rhythm of our house and I feel like we got some of it back. Our house doesn't look like we are back on track but at least our love accounts have had more deposits than withdrawals this week. Hopefully that is what we will all remember.
I got these awesome scissors because I needed a cheap item to complete a free shipping order. We LOVE them. Red Fish has been learning to cut things with my help and then making a ton of collages. She has been drawing and trying to write bunch as well. She has broken out her cheap watercolors to add to her drawings. I think some of the best moments where I feel most complete and connected to my kids is when I'm teaching them things.
We've also been painting outside quite a bit. I'm going to be sad when it's too cold to hose them off in the backyard. It has been perfect weather lately.

Art and creativity fill up our love accounts even when everything else has gone crazy. Even when the blue paint explodes and my husband arrives home to find three blue smurfs and blue dog in the backyard. We were all laughing our heads off. Winter is going to be hard unless I can think of enough creative endeavors for us to do inside. I should start preparing a list.

Haircut

I gave up on trying to grow out the front of Red Fish's hair. She keeps getting new layers of hair so I decided she needed some bangs. I think she looks cute. And yes, this is the face I get if I ask her to smile and look at the camera.

Dog Pile

The daily Daddy, I love you so much and you have been gone ALL DAY tackle.

Suddenly New Fish is very into trying to snuggle the dog. It cracks me up.

Proud

My friend Joanna's blog had this post on it today and I thought it was really touching.
CLICK HERE.

Cooperation

Lately, Red Fish and New Fish have been playing together more rather than just playing in the same room. It's really nice to no longer be the sole source of entertainment during the day. I'm loving seeing them being nice to eachother. We still have a long way to go on the concept of sharing but it's a start.
Mornings seem to go much better for all of us than the afternoons.Today they spent a couple hours making an art project together. First they took a foam kit from the dollar store and put the stickers on foam shapes.

Then they painted some cardboard letters together.

New Fish got much more into the painting than she ever has before. It was really fun to see her paint for such a long time and use a brush. I think she must have just passed some important milestones that will make art making a lot more accessible to her.

HEre is their final product after I strung it all together for them.

Spraypaint

So I've developed a deep love for spray paint suddenly. I've been thrifting and spray painting like crazy. (And no- the love is not because I'm inhaling it!)

This is our old kitchen table (a hand me down) and chairs (thrifted) that I painted for my brother and his new wife. I think they look really cute.
I have all but stopped wearing jewelry for the last few years. Partly because I don't like having it pulled and partly because I'm too lazy to dig through the mess of stuff I have. I needed some new way to store my jewelry and also keep it untangled, out of reach for tiny hands, and easy to pick through. So I bought three frames from a thrift store ($2.50 total- YES) and spray painted them with my new love (Rustoleum Universal Metallic Stain Nickel.) Then I cut pieces of hardware cloth and glued it into the frames. I'm really happy with the result.
The girls helped me go through my jewelry and handed each thing to me to hang up. They were very impressed with the end result. New Fish kept clapping and Red Fish just kept saying Woooooow!
I also painted this mirror (again from a thrift store) red because I wanted a big mirror and couldn't find one I loved that wasn't really expensive.

1 and 86- Bubs and Bockum's Birthday Bash

A perfect birthday bash! I went a little overboard with a tutu, new shirt, and newly made hairbows. We had party hats, crowns and breakfast food. New Fish was thrilled at the attention and I think Bockum enjoyed sharing his 86th birthday with a sweet one year old. I made them wear matching bibs made by friend Becky. Then my friend Nancy made them these AMAZING cakes that were just almost too cute to eat. She made all of the monkey cupcakes as well. It was a little windy and blew my decorations (made by Joanna as well as the invites) around and got us off to a late start but it turned out really nice. I'm spoiled with so many good friends and family. We did a little swimming and enjoyed being outside. New Fish was spoiled with so many presents and we had a great time having everyone come celebrate with us.

Chatter Box

Red Fish has recently become a chatty cathy. She talks and talks and I'm only understanding about 25% but it's a huge improvement over the single word phrases and silence. She chats and sings all day long especially when we are in the car. Today in the car we had quite the conversation. It was fascinating to hear what she had to say.

She "wants Me-Mine to take me to the E-I-E-I-O (farm). SOON. See moo, neigh, baa, and oinks." Then she wants "Pop Pops to take me on a ride in the red vroom (car)." She also wants to go "see where M.E. and Doo Home (their new house) and see the Blue-doo (Doo's car.)" She "want them have a bubba. A blue baby bubba name Elmo." Then Red Fish demonstrated how she would hold Elmo and kiss him. She "want Lee lee and J have a purple baby name Elmo. TWO ELMOS! Red FIsh LOVE Elmos." This is followed by her demonstrating how she would kiss the Elmos. "Matt (Two Fish's brother) have orange baby bubba. CUTE!" She wants "Annie and Mark (my friends) have a boy baby and Red FIsh hug boy baby." Then for most of the rest of the ride she just kept telling me how she wants a purple baby doll.

HILARIOUS.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

I read all three back to back so I can't really separate them in my mind. I did find them fairly addicting. They remind me quite a bit of Enders Game, The Giver and City of Ember. A cautionary tale of war, waste, prejudice and controlling government. There are parts of the series that are downright disturbing because they ring of a bit of truth. A sad reflection of society and where we could be headed. There were parts that I loved seeing the complications of being a teenager combined with the best parts of humanity. I loved the main character Katniss. She is complicated, flawed and very believable.

The ending just kind of made me depressed. I like that it wasn't all fairy tales and fluff- running away on a rainbow at the end but I would have appreciated a little more of a hint of healing and peace at the end. The damaged part outweighs the good rebuilding parts if that makes sense. The heartache, PTSD and deception was just a little too much for me.

One

How did we get from here to this sweet little girl below so fast?

My little Sweetie Pie, Bubba, New Fish, Bubbalicious, Bubs, Bubbie, Sweet Pea, Baby Doll, Bug, Mini, Sassy Pants, Baby Pie, Hollerbaby, Bossy Britches, Sugar Baby.

She is one year old today!! She has very suddenly turned into this funny little person and shed many of her baby ways. She bangs on the fridge and points out what she wants to eat. She runs around the house like walking is no big deal. When I read her books she takes my finger and points it at the pictures she wants me to talk about. She has 2 teeth on the bottom and is working hard on two on top. She is starting to use a few signs and she can say: "No, Yea, Mama, Dada, and Dog." And she likes to shake her finger when she says no. (I must do that a lot because both girls have been copying me.) New Fish enjoys giving her sister a hard time and getting a rise out of her. She has also turned into a major girly girl. First thing after I get her ready in the morning, she marches into the toy room to get herself a necklace and a purse. It's pretty funny. She has taken to hugging me around the legs or squeezing my neck and I love it. I'm excited to see how much she changes in the next year, which I'm sure will fly by at break neck speed.

Update

We got to come home early from the hospital which was a nice surprise. The residents said that Red Fish's staring episodes are weird but they don't look like a seizure on the EEG. So that is great news. Now at least we know that we are doing everything possible to help her right now. It is a good feeling.

My Room

So here is my room a little more put together. I painted the walls (although it didn't work out quite as intended) before we moved in. The bed spread was a gift for Christmas two years ago. The lamps were bought on clearance from Home Depot a few weeks ago and inspired me to finish the curtains out of a bolt of material I had bought six months ago. The pictures were bought out of some dude's van. Thanks to my husband for helping me hang everything up. Good thing those lamps were on clearance or my room may never have been somewhat put together.