i guess i'll relax when i'm dead.

poppy has been pulling up on everything lately.

she has popped up from sitting to standing without support a couple of times, just to fall right back down. she cruises around a little. she prefers not to sit at all if she can help it. she is pretty good at crawling on all fours. i thought maybe she would be a little more laid back than ellie, but nope. she's maybe more wiggly..
at least they are independent.
they are both content playing with toys in their room as i type this. :)

(woke up from naps and ellie was sharing her love of pacifiers. she was trying to get poppy addicted. bad influence!)

yesterday i was overwhelmed by the thought that
i will never be able to fully relax again for the rest of my life.
i mean, i think i had jokingly thought about it before but it finally hit me that i will never, ever be able to relax ever again.
why? because i will be thinking about them. whether they are happy, hungry, cold, clean, etc, etc.
even when i'm a hundred years old (and between genetics and modern medicine, i wouldn't be at all surprised if that happened).
i just need to try and stay relaxed enough to keep my brain from exploding. 

"it's going to be a long life," the husband said to me.
yep. sorry.

(don't think for one second that poppy is defenseless. she wrestles ellie to the ground, puts all her weight on her and pulls her hair. she's scrappy.)

on father's day, poppy figured out how to stand in the crib (with some help from her sister).
i couldn't stop taking pictures.
and movies.
and laughing.


video overload!
they are so funny. no words or film can even capture it.

these girls love each other. they love me. i love them.

but i still need a vacation. :)
(they are invited.)

p.s. - poppy fell asleep like this in her crib that day. hahahaha. 

love.

she is the sweetest baby. didn't even know she had an ear infection because she rarely complains. 

she's just so content and patient and beautiful.

which helps, because her mom is crazy. 

her hair is blonde and curly...

it's hard to believe that, in one year, she went from this:

to this:

it is so curly. it goes down to the middle of her shoulder blades when it is wet, 

but when it is dry her perfect ringlets only go to her shoulders. 

and when the planets align, she has this adorable little curl right on the crown of her head 

(which i know is going to be a real pain when she is trying to style it later in life). 

love my curly girl.

quotes, part II (and a happy father's day!)

more quotes. some slightly naughty. all for remembrance's sake.

(also, you may notice a theme. whenever we say things, she likes to say "no! it not!" to cause drama.)

at the natural history "museum" (annex) (where these pictures were taken).
me: "ellie, look! that's a manatee skull."
ellie: "poppy, you thinkin' 'bout da manatee?"








talking about our family.
me: "daddy and i are married. we're in love."
ellie: "NO! you not!!"
me: "and you're my daughter."
ellie: "i not your daughter!!!"



made up a song:
"i love banana bread! i love banana bread! i loooooove banana bread!"






accusing me of things:
"mama, you don't pee-pee on my car!"







on poppy: 
"poppy eat ellie stuff and pull ellie hair. she crawl around and spit everything. she spit on mommy and poppy and ellie."






randomly, and we still don't know where she heard this one: 
"daddy, i gonna smash your nuths!"








singing to herself: 
"we all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."



calls brachiosaurus "broccoli-saurus"








more on poppy:
"she like to talk to me. she talk about daddy."







ellie: "where's daddy?"
me: "he's with his friends."
ellie: "no! he not!"
me: "yes. sometimes he needs to spend time being a man."
ellie:  "no! he need to be a daddy again!"

 happy father's day! and happy birthday to my dad!
i'm sure i'll have another post, but just know that when we were at this dinky museum we were wishing we were at the bean!! with you, grampa brad.

quotes, part I

i had to write down some ellie quotes.
(and we had a little lizard stowaway on our bedtime walk the other day, so pictures. we played with him for about ten minutes.)

warning!! some of them are a little naughty.

(not really bad, but just don't judge my parenting here.)
(it's not that i encourage her to say these things (i don't!), it's just that i want to remember, even if they aren't things i wanted her to say.)
(also, she is going through a really saucy phase. ugh. you'll see.)

daddy: "tale as old as time..."
ellie: "NO! tale NOT as old as time!!"



after the girl at sonic at the drive-thru brought us our drink and tots:
"that was nice of her!"



mocking two teenage girls:
"aw, how sweet! they colorin' together."


she goes into her tent:
"i going in my office now."



watching a show about dinosaur poop:
"i poop everywhere, too!"
  




fell over while pushing her stroller:
"oh. that wasn't very good."



me: "ellie, tell me a joke."
ellie: "poooooop. faaaaaaarrrttt."
 


when i told her she needed to put her shoes on:
"mama, i not playin' dis game with you."



calls bert and ernie "bert and ert"



after daddy shut her out of the garage:
"da-- it, dada."



while reading bedtime stories:
"mama, you yawn. you need put on your princess jammies and get in bed."



me: "do you want to try cinnamon sugar toast?"
ellie: "how about peanut butter sugar toast?"

started typing them out and there are just too many.
stay tuned for the next installment,
but i've also included a little video from our lizard encounter so you can hear her sweet little voice (and see poppy grin and wiggle).

adjectives.

 

8 words that describe ellie:

delightful, sassy, bright, helpful, imaginative, strong-willed, interested, loving.

----------------------------

8 words that describe poppy:

sturdy, happy, curious, kissable, wiggly, silly, active, sweet. 

i watch them grow.

i see trees of green, red roses too
i see them bloom for me and you
and i think to myself
what a wonderful world
 
i see skies of blue and clouds of white
the bright blessed day, dark sacred night
and i think to myself
what a wonderful world
 
the colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
are also on the faces of people going by
i see friends shaking hands, sayin', "how do you do?"
they're really sayin' "i love you"
 

i hear babies cryin', i watch them grow
they'll learn much more than i'll ever know
and i think to myself
what a wonderful world


-- bob thiele and george david weiss

excuses.

why this blog has been neglected, a list of excuses:

- i have two babies.
- my computer is slooooow.
- i usually get on the internet on my phone, while nursing, so i don't do anything but look.
- it is summertime.
- we hate to be in the house.
- i have two very active babies. 
- my children refuse to sleep at the same time.
- my giant infant loves to eat. like, three-meals-a-night love.
- teething.
- the terrible (terribly sassy) twos.
- i'm not getting paid to do this.
- instagram. fills the void.
- did i mention that i have two babies (and sometimes i borrow another one)?

maybe some moms can do it all - blog, take beautiful pictures, make crafts, cook dinner, have a house so clean that pictures of it aren't embarrassing, homeschool, breastfeed... etc.
no offense to anyone who does do it all.
in fact, you go!
but i can't and won't.
when it comes down to blogging vs. watching poppy pull herself up on a box or singing songs with ellie, you know what wins.

that doesn't mean you should count us out!
just don't count on us being updating every day.
i am scheduling some posts for the next couple of weeks and i may add some extras in here or there. 

(oh, and i have been reading blogs but not commenting much. sorry.)

xoxoxoxo.