Pretty Big Deals

So the past two weeks or so we've had some pretty big deals going on. Moses at 7 months is not only a crawling pro but is constantly pulling himself up to EVERYTHING. Coffee table, shelves, ottomans, couches, chairs, stairs. I'm surprised he's so stable with his proportionately small legs and cute big fat head, but he does great and stands for a long time and is already walking his way around furniture. Oy. He also has two little teeth poking out of his bottom gums! Needless to say his oral fixation and drooling has gotten even worse if you can imagine.

He also is big and stable enough to take baths with Valentine. Makes life easier and it's fuunny. They almost look like they're the same size in there together.

But really, the biggest deal of all is that Miss Valentine's hair is now long enough to wear PIGTAILS!!!! She's not great about leaving them in, but I keep doing it cause it's so darling and I've been waiting for 2 1/2 years for this. The first time I put pigtails in her hair I exclaimed, "You look like a little girl!!!!" Pretty big deal.

The picture below is my new favorite picture of Valentine. Hands down.
Oh yeah, and Pagie-Pooh got married!!!!

Only in McLean

So, Sarah, Maria and I had this game going out at school called, "Only in Rexburg." Pretty self-explanatory- it was a funny list of things we encountered while there that really would only happen in Rexburg. I.E.- A man robbing a bank and getting away- ON FOOT. Or, the headline story of the local news being about a singing mailman. Or, getting chastised by a local lady for sun-bathing in a field because it was across the street from a church. Or, the whole town completely shutting down on Sundays and at 9:00 p.m. all the other days (serisouly- you couldn't go to a drive-thru at 10). Or the kid at Blockbuster checking me out saying "Oh, this is rated R" me- "Oh, do you want to see my I.D.?" kid- "No, it's just.... it's rated R- you shouldn't watch this." You get the picture.

Anyways.

I was at the Giant grocery store here in McLean, VA yesterday where there is a sign up offering Valet Parking to customers. Seriously? What nutter came up with that idea? Who gets/wants/needs VALET parking at a GROCERY store? It really just baffles me- and I always feel so bad for those poor useless guys sitting at their dumb booth by their dumb sign for something dumb that nobody is going to use. This sign has been there for awhile, yet EVERY time I see it all I can think is: "Only in McLean."

News

Moses has just hit 6 months and is officially crawling! He's been working on it for weeks, and still isn't great, but he's doing it and he's gotten pretty good at meandering his way around the apartment. He really likes to kind of.... flip around more than actually crawl- he'll go from sitting to all fours and twist back to sitting. It makes me laugh. He's huge and happy and cute.

In other news, my darling Valentine that I love so much has somehow traded places with an evil twin I didn't know about. Evil is strong...... extremely very super naughty secret twin. Half of the time she is lovely and cute and fun and even sweet. The other half..... so terrible. I don't know how to handle it. Sometimes she's just downright nasty. They weren't lying when they labeled it "Terrible Twos." Good thing she's so pretty. Otherwise there are times that I might toss her out. She apparently has a pushing problem in Nursery and LAUGHS when her victim cries. She shrieks and hits when she doesn't get exactly her way (sounds typical but it's horrible). She SLAMS her door when she's mad (which is a lot). She looks at me after I've told her not to do something and with a very deliberate look does it repeatedly- staring at me the whole time. She throws her ipod. *Sigh* Don't even get me started on potty training. We've given up on it for now. Valentine has always been a bit..... sassy. But lately..... yikes bikes. I feel like all I do is yell and tell Valentine "NO!" Probably not helping. I've been thinking if I change my parenting tactics peut-etre I'll see some better results. She's also a toddler which tends to equal naughty for all children, so I need to not take it as a personal slight that my daughter is acting nasty. Jeez, can't wait for teenagers!

Oh and p.s. they both have been coughing NON-STOP FOR WEEKS. Oy-vay.

Cherry Blossoms!!

Reason #1 I love Virginia? Cherry Blossoms.

There were also some BEAUTIFUL Magnolias down by the Jefferson.

This was Drew's first time!

Valentine for some reason thought this stone was her posing pedastool.



Valentine's' favorite part? Blowing Cherry blossom petals off of her palm at the ducks in the water.

A bit of randomness.....

Here are few random things that have happened/I've realized this week:

-I LOVE the smell of unsalted butter- it's one of my favorite smells now, it is delicious and everything that is right in this world.

-I HATE potty training- it is horrible and everything that is wrong in this world.

-Moses is 100% sitting up and rolling all over place and of course trying to crawl already- he pushes himself up and yells and grunts in absolute frustration while desperately trying to figure out how to get his body to do what he wants it to- Valentine used to do the exact same thing, so funny...

-We are still not 100% moved into our apartment... can I just say though that I love it? I love our own home that we needed so desperately and can't wait until we are 100% moved in and I'll take lots of fun pictures of it.

-I went to the grocery store with both babes- Valentine was sitting in the cart and Moses was in my harness carrier facing front- a lady asked if they were twins....??? Excuse me?? I've never been so baffled in my life. SHE'S NOT THAT BALD. AND HE'S NOT THAT BIG.

-A very cute little 5 year old at the mall asked me: "Is she a girl?" (referring to Valentine) I said "Yes, she is. She doesn't have a lot of hair, but she is a girl." After a minute.... she says shaking her head and sounding a little confused: "I don't think she's really girl." Apparently she is that bald.

-Having "Harry Potter" to listen to while in the car is maybe one of the best decisions I've made in my life. That's not an exaggeration. Does anyone have the 4th one???????

-Making pies is one of my favorite things to do now. I love it. Mocha, chocolate, apple, I love them. There's nothing like a pie to make people (especially me) happy- I think I want to open up a little pie/cookie shop. Does anyone have some more good recipes for me?????

-I watched some little videos that were taken while I was in labor with Moses- there was one of the last leg of it, but not of the actual birth (I thought it might have been though) and I was covering my eyes the whole time because it was so hard to watch! I told my mom that and asked: "How did you watch that, that's terrible!" and she replied, "Whatever you were the one actually in labor!" True. That is true. It still made me feel just a little bad for birth observers though.

-The video of me holding Moses for the time was wonderful. Made me cry. I did not cover my eyes and it made me feel a little bad for birthing observers because they don't get to actually experience that- holding that incredible darling baby that you carried and then labored to push out that is all yours. Lovely.

-I was reading my most recent book (my third middle ages historical fiction book in a row) and Drew asked, "Why are you so obsessed with England?" I replied, "I'm not obsessed with England... I'm obsessed with Harry Potter..." Then I realized that's England too. Guess I am obsessed with England.

-I had Drew get me some chocolate the other night after a rough day with the babes. Then I realized I had had chocolate every day for the past... long time. Guess I'm obsessed with chocolate too.

-I finally called my best friend for the first time in over a month. I'm a bad friend and really wish I was better. I will work on that.

-I finally got my hair cut (it's been since July- yikes) and I kind of hate it. I sorely needed it, but I had unexpectedly gotten quite attached to my long hair and now I feel like a boy even though it's still long. I now feel a little pity/understanding for the fools on "What Not To Wear" who flip when their gross long hair gets chopped off.

Cherub

Moses is delicious. He is just this chunk baby and every time he's naked all I can think is that he would make an EXCELLENT Cherub. I see that robust, squishy baby body with his proportionately small but still chubby legs, and dimpled bum, and perfect little angel face and all we would need to do is put some bitty feathered wings on his back and give him a few sprigs of flaxen curls on his bald head and he'd fit in just perfectly in any Rococo painting.

Today

Today was kind of insane. Well, pretty much this week was insane, but today was pretty intense. On Monday Drew and I got a call from The Commons of McLean telling us that we could move in the next day. Very unexpected since we weren't planning on moving for another month. So we spend all of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything moved and settled. THANK YOU TO THE MISSIONARIES, SEAN, AND MY MOM, PAGE, AND MICAH FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!!!! Seriously couldn't have done it without all of you lovely people that I love- Thank you! A lot of it is done, but there are still LOTS of odds and ends at my parents house (i.e. all of Valentine's toys, practically and all of mine and Drew's shoes, all our movies, you know just a couple of things) and there's still some boxes to unpack in the living room yet considering the time and preparation we've had, plus having two babes to deal with, I think we've done pretty well. Anyways, back to today. This morning Drew and I got ready and took the kids with us out to Lucketts. Lucketts. What can I say? I love love love it. I do not love love love it with Valentine and Moses. In fact I borderline loathe it. Moses poops and I have to change his diaper in the car. Valentine is touching EVERYTHING. Moses has to nurse. Valentine is yelling. Moses is yelling. And drooling EVERYWHERE. Valentine is completely stripping down and then has a mega meltdown when we force her clothes back on her. Moses wants to nurse again. Valentine is touching everything, yelling, crying, telling me, "Don't touch me!!" Moses is fussing and drooling and spitting up.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!

Deep breaths. On top of all of that I hadn't eaten and was up till 2 cleaning and putting stuff away the night before. Madie=terrible mood. But, we got our cute settee. Phew. Drew left for work when we get home and I'd about had it.

Despite all of this, I am now incredibly happy to have my cute little hellions that I love so much, even if they ruin my prized Lucketts experience. Here's a few reasons why:

After Drew left, I was not quite overwhelmed to the point of tears, but I was close, so I go into Valentine's room where she's just playing/doing her own thing, I put Moses on the floor and crawl into the child's pose position, put my face on the floor and close my eyes. I can hear Valentine walk up to me and she asks "K Momma? You ok?" I don't answer. Next thing I know she's dragging her blanket off of her bed and lays it on top of me. Then she gets her little Disney Princess pillow and says, "Here Momma, here's pillow." Then she gets her own blanket and pillow and lays down on the floor next to me.

I was trying to read my book for a few minutes, but Moses wasn't having any of that. So, I gave up and started to give my baby the attention from me that he so wanted and deserved. I was not disappointed and was rewarded with lots and lots of cute Moses laughs. He is a happy, laughy baby and his laugh is the best. It's like this guttural shriek in the back of his throat followed by a full out adult LAUGH. It's so so funny. I will put a video of it up because it is the best thing in the world- there's no way it could NOT make you so happy.

Moses likes to nurse to sleep to go down for the night, and Valentine likes to cuddle with me and have me sing to her to go to sleep. On nights like tonight when Drew is closing (boo) I normally have to do both at the same time. Luckily I'm SuperMom and can do it. So I'm on my bed with Moses lying across me nursing on my right side, and Valentine is cuddled on my left and I'm humming, "ABC's" "You are my sunshine" and "I am a child of God." I stop humming. Valentine is breathing very rhythmically and deep- she is sound asleep. Moses has just stopped nursing and lets his big head lie back. He has a drop of milk dripping out of the corner of his mouth and it falls down his fat, Santa-red cheek into the abyss that is the folds of his neck. He then smiles in his sleep. He is the ultimate picture of the word "bliss." And I am in total peace and complete joy lying there with a darling peaceful babe in each arm. I made those beautiful creatures. I carried them inside me for nine months and gave brought them into this world. They are mine. I love them and being their mother more than I could ever express. It's been a good day.