Thanks!

If you saw the dogs and told them to come home, Thanks!

They arrived at 6:30 this morning. They're a little smelly and dog tired, but doing well.

If you see them, tell them to come home.

Hyena and Lester have been missing since last night. Basically, it's my fault because I didn't check to be sure the gate was closed when I let them out. I also didn't realize that I hadn't let them back in before I went to bed.

They have still not come home. Lester would run for a week without looking back until he was good and tired and good and hungry, but Hyena is not that type of runner. She's happy to run, but she likes to check back in every so often. That we know of they have not been home (we were at work today, but left the gate and door open for them).

We're heartbroken to think of what has become of our furry friends.

It was bound to happen

I'm sure many of you have done it, though you're likely to willing admit it.

Michael and I both left Morgan and Kenna today! OK, really I lost track of time and didn't go to pick Morgan up from school. Luckily when I called Michael to see if he picked her up he was already on his way home with her. He was planning to pick her up and was not phased by the fact that I did not.

Although he was a bit quick to get off the phone with me, I assumed that was because I told him I had been in a meeting and lost track of time. Later when I talked to him again he revealed the hidden reason for quickly hanging up.

He had been at home this morning working on household projects and when he noticed the time it was 11:25 (5 minutes before time to pick up Morgan). He quickly hightailed it to the truck, drove to school, jumped out of the truck and rushed in the door to Morgan's building. It was about that time that he remember that Kenna was napping in her bed at home! So, when I talked with him on the phone at 11:31, he was hurrying to get back home before Kenna woke up and realized that she was alone.

She was still sleeping peacefully when he got home. Potentially she could live her whole life not knowing that she was left home alone at 13 months old - except that her momma is writing it in the blog for all of the world to read (not that I actually have a readership, but you get the idea)!

500 and 560

These nubers are supposedly the measure of my potential to succeed in graduate school.

I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only one who thinks that my potential to succed is higher than my ability to remember and apply all of those geometry and other random theories from high school math (I didn't have to take anything except statistics in college). Over 6 years ago when I toook the GRE I had a 600 hundred on the math. A full 100 points higher than now.

I do have to agree that verbal ability is an indicator of something academic. Heck, you do have to know words to read millions of obscure articles and then to write an even more obscure dissertation. ;)

I'm not thrilled with the scores, but I'm not so disappointed that I'm going to shell out another $140 to see if I can improve by a few points.

In case you didn't know. I'm applying to a doctoral program in Communications at UK. Should know by the end of February if I am accepted. At that point we'll actually decide if we can make this happen. If I do go, this blog may turn into how to survive grad school while mothering - or something similar.

Maybe she really will ...

be a tatoo artist.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This is the infamous question that gets asked of kids, probably more than needed.

Morgan's preschool teachers recently asked all of the kids this question and then posted the answers in prominent locations around the school. I scanned the entries looking for Morgan's response knowing that the answer would likely have something to do with what she was doing when they asked her.

I found it. Morgan H. wants to be "an artist." I thought "how sweet; she wants to be like her dad." I was sure to tell Michael that Morgan wanted to be an artist like him, to which he immediately replied that she should reconsider.

Here's the conversation I had with Morgan about her future career plans.

Momma: what do you want to be when you grow up?

Morgan: an artist

Momma: like dadday? what kind of art will you make?

Morgan: the kind where I make art all over me

Momma: you want to make art on your body?

Morgan: on my body (with giggles)....a tatoo artist.

Since this conversation she has added a "nice diver - not a mean diver" and "mommy" to the list of career aspirations.

Morgan's first word!

You're probably thinking that I have a typo in the title, but I don't. Read on to learn more about Morgan's first word.

Several months ago Morgan was very "into" writing things - not drawing. She was "writing." She would write on anything she could get her hands on. She continued that stage for several weeks. Then, suddenly, she wouldn't write anything. When I would ask her to add something to the grocery list (which previously she would jump at), she would say, "momma I don't know how to write."

I knew that we were moving forward in development from knowing what writing is and what it is for, to knowing that the shapes have to be "right." Since the writing phase stopped, she has become more interested in letters, what they look like, what they sound like, etc. She has been asking me to read specific words (i.e. "Momma, what does this say?"). She takes my finger and places it on the word she wants to know. Sometimes, she runs her finger under the (memorized) words and reads them to me, to herself, to her sister, to her dolls, etc.

In the last couple of days she's back to writing things again. She uses left to right scribbles (you know the kind that look like doctor's writing). She usually can tell me what it says - which is probably better than most doctors. Often she writes the names of people at school, or our sitter's kids, etc.. She has an interest in making letters, but her fine motor skills often frustrate her. The activity books that she picked out do not give incentive for writing - just for copying letters (if you see the difference) and that doesn't interest her enough to practice writing.

This evening she told me she wanted to write a letter to Eli (sitter's oldest son). So, we went to the desk to get some paper and a pen. I asked her if she wanted me to show her how to write his name. She said yes. We talked about how it might be spelled (luckily his name pretty much sounds like each letter). I wrote E l i on the paper. Then she said "I will write it." Please see the images below for Morgan Jo's first word. She wrote his name legibly (for a not quite 3 year old) three times.

A day is..

a very long time

when you're

waitin' for

a pumpkin

to grow

Yes I realize that I am horribly late

for Kenna's birthday post. Don't worry I didn't forget her birthday!

Here's to Kenna!!!

We had a quite party at home late in the day, then headed straight to bed for the big trip the next day (read more about Sea World on another post). Here's a cute picture of her playing peek-a-boo with Daddy.

And here we are enjoying the book that Morgan choose for Kenna's birthday gift. I had a bit of a hard time convincing Morgan that she did have to let Kenna sit with us to read the book.

About a week before her birthday, she decided that walking was the way to go. She stopped demanding to be holding a hand at all times and she stopped crawling. Says "Hi," "Hello," (a social butterfly) "Dada," "Go" (means Morgan Jo) and dog (by panting and barking). Notice how there is nothing, and I mean nothing about "momma."

Kenna plays chase!

I wish I had the video camera out tonight. Morgan, Kenna, and I were all out back on the patio playing. Kenna was attempting to climb up the slide and Morgan and I were playing chase, laughing and running around.

When Kenna saw the fun, she wanted to get in on the action. She started chasing Morgan around and giggling like a ...well like a girl! Of course just minutes later she had the grip of death (as in death of me) on my finger again and wouldn't let go, but we're making progress.

I'm not sure when the kid will realize that she can walk. I used to prefer non-walking babies, but now that I've got a half-walker, I'd just rather have a walking one. I can't count the number of times I've paced around in my house with a very small toddler direction my actions and leading the way.

It seems to be a confidence issue with her. When she has a good few minutes and doesn't fall down at all, she will walk more easily than if she's fallen recently. I understand because let me tell you I don't like to fall down either. I guess now I know how Michael feels when I won't just stay on my bike during a rough section of trail riding.

More updates on her walking and cute pictures soon, since her birthday is next week!

All's quite on the home front

It is not even 9 PM yet. I have two sleeping girls, two sleeping dogs, and a husband that is away on a trip. I don't even know what to do with myself.

I have so many things I've been meaning to get done that I can't even think of what they are now that I'm faced with some free time. Going to go do something - or maybe nothing!

Sisters...

I did not grow up with my sister and I feel like we missed out because we lived in separate houses for many of our early years.

Everyday when I watch my girls interact, communicate, play, smile, giggle, and fuss I am grateful that they are getting the full sister experience.

Bored in a hospital? Try this!

Michael doesn't just stand around an visit well. He likes to be moving or doing something. He has an extremely hard time just standing around in hospitals.

Recently when we were in the hospital visiting family Morgan asked him for a "glove person" he obliged her. Then he got a little kooky.

Childcare Happiness

I think we all know by now, that I don't relish the idea of sending my kids off to spend the day with some other person. But, we've found a sitter that makes the leaving a little less traumatic for us all.

A friend of ours with three kids of her own is watching the girls. Can you imagine the looks she must get when she takes my kids and her kids to the park together? 5 kids 5 and under (girl (5), boy (3.5), girl (2.5), boy (18 mos), girl (11 mos) - heck those must be the same looks that Mike's mom was getting when she had her 5 kids that were 5 and under.

The age spacing seems to work well for this mix of kids. The older girl is really quite nice and helpful (as much as 5 year old girls can be). She is also old enough to realize that if a 2 year old yells because you touch their toy that there are plenty of other things to play with and will happily pick something else. I'm not too sure how much the 3 year old boy and Morgan interact and play. I do know the 3 year old boy really likes Kenna and wants to trade his younger brother for her, sweet.

I think the friend and I parent very similarly; so, my kids seem to know where she's coming from and have adapted well. Kenna will even let me walk across the room at their house without crying or crawling straight toward me. She still fusses for about 40 seconds after I leave the house, but that's much better than crying for longer.

They sometimes come to our house and I sometimes take the girls to their house. It seems to be a fair trade for the kids and they all seem to like trading places. They live pretty close to us (not that most things in Richmond are very far apart anyway), so it is a pretty easy to drop-off and pick-up routine.

This arrangement sure makes me less stressed out about going to work. I'm pretty lucky to have it as well since, I just happened to ask this friend if she wanted to watch my kids in a joking way because I figured there was no way she would really want to watch 5 kids all afternoon 3 or 4 days a week. I'm quite happy that I did ask her.

Daily changes

You know you always think that infants grow so fast, and then when they're toddlers you realize that all kids no matter how old really change daily.

Morgan now has empathy - at least for her sister, sometimes. Previously when Kenna was crying Morgan would run to her saying "It's OK Kenna, Morgan's coming." Or some other equally cute words that sound rather like what I say regularly. Or she would ignore it completely.

In the last few days, when Morgan hears Kenna crying, or just fussing a little, she says "Momma pick Kenna up. She's crying; she needs you." Or "Momma, Kenna needs some more milk." She is beginning to realize that Kenna's cries mean something and that Momma can and even more importantly should fix it.

Speaking of daily changes. Kenna now takes about 5 steps before she falls down. She occassionally will walk away from me to some inanimate object, but mostly she's still walking between Mom and Dad. She is pretty darn proud of herself when she does walk between us. Often I think she's even more proud when she walks from the couch to the chaise lounge.

Why oh Why?

Morgan has officially entered into the "why" stage. It has not hit full force yet, but I'm sure we'll see the increase daily.

Mike installed a child carrier on the back of my bicycle. I took Morgan for a ride around the block in it to see how she liked it. Later when we were going on our "Family Ride" from the store, we decided to try Kenna out in the seat to see how she liked it. The trouble was that Morgan wanted to ride there. She also wanted to eat goldfish crackers; so, we told her that if she wanted the goldfish she had to ride in the trailer and not in the seat on my bike.

Mike: Morgan you can't eat the goldfish while you ride on Momma's bike.

Morgan: But why not Daddy?

He did not miss a beat, he just explained why (because if she dropped them they would be lost), she did finally get in the trailer and let her sister ride on my bike.

As soon as she asked the question, I though, "that's a good questions." Then I realized what she had just said. As far as we can remember this is the first time she asked us "Why."

First day of Pre-school

What Morgan had to say about her first day of pre-school (when asked what she'd like to say about it): "Dad took me to school. I will put something on your (undiscernable) [I think this was "back" because that's where they put their name tags]. Paint. Umm Story. I'm \gonna elp ly0ou. There. Story."

She seemed to enjoy it.

New Territory

Kenna has hit a stage that Morgan never went through. I'll give a history of Morgan and then tell you about where Kenna is.

Morgan learned to crawl at 6 months, but she was never really good at it. She only used it as a way to get to something to pull up to stand and cruise around (walk while holding onto things). A couple of days before she turned 10 months old, I was holding her hands and she was walking to her dad. She let go of my hands and walked the rest of the way to him (about 5 steps). Those were her first un-aided steps. On the day she hit 10 months, she stood up and walked around our entire living room - we stopped counting steps at 47! So, she never passed through that take-a-few-steps-and-fall-down learning to walk stage.


Kenna also learned to crawl around 6 months (although it was later in the sixth month than with Morgan). She is better at that than Morgan was, and she just in the last month has started really cruising around the furniture. In the last couple of days she has begun to actively find something to stand and push around the house (specifically a toy I bought at Goodwill for her months ago because Morgan wore the same toy out by 10 months). Did I mention that Kenna is 10 months now. :) We were actually just as pleased to see the 10 month mark come and go without a walking baby. Last night, she actively tried to walk between us. Morgan felt very important to help her little sister by catching her when she fell on us. Kenna took a few steps with assistance, then took a few steps without before falling down (because she reached too far with her hands).

So, we're on the road to another early walker, but I'm hoping that we've got at least another month or so. I'll post a video of it when I catch it.

Back to the grindstone

Just to make sure everyone is clear. I'm back to work. This doesn't have much of an affect on you all, but it does have a great impact on me. Most seriously I will have a lack of time for much other than work, kissing my kids, helping at the store, and occasionally cleaning the house enough to be presentable.

So, don't expect to hear too much from me in the coming weeks/months.

An actual family weekend

While the store was closed on Sunday and Monday this week, our family actually took a couple of days off. It is likely to be the last days off we get as a family for a while; so, we tried to take full advantage of the time.

We took Mike's parents' pontoon boat out to Cave Run Lake for some boating and some camping. It was great. No worries about work, the store, or anything (aside from a couple of motor problems).

Here are a few highlights:




Kenna and Daddy hanging out playing in the lake.










Michael working his magic after a day of boating, swimming, and setting up camp.













After Morgan realized that Hyena couldn't hold onto the Nalgene bottle to bring it back, she took over the job.





Kenna showing off how much she's grown since her first down river experience. She can easily crawl, stand, and sit in the PFD now. This is one of her and her sister sharing a snack.