A Cinderella Story

Ever since Rachel could walk she has liked to help me with housework.  There are pictures of her folding laundry, loading and unloading the dishwasher etc.  Her Great Uncle calls her Cinderella and says Mommy makes her work too hard.  She also likes to take the swiffer mop and mop the floors, carpet, and walls (when I'm not looking).  I recently noticed that the swiffer mop handle is several pieces snapped together.  I took out a few pieces to make it just the right size for Rachel.  She thought that was awesome.  She mops all day long.  She also sits straddles it and drags it around saying it's an airplane.  Hours of fun with the swiffer mop.  Until... Wednesday she was playing with the swiffer mop in the kitchen and she was standing straight up one minute and flat on the floor the next.  The floor was not wet.  This was just pretend mopping.  The pediatrician mentioned the wet floor when I said she fell.  No, it wasn't wet she's just accident prone like her Daddy.  She cried unusually loud and long after this fall.  I thought the mop may have pinched her or hit her hand or arm and she would get a bruise and be fine.  Later that day I didn't notice anything until she tripped over my foot and caught herself and screamed again unusually loud and long.  I checked her wrist and looked all over and she wouldn't show me where it hurt.  I decided to watch how she used it and acted about it before taking her to the doctor.  The next morning Grammy came over.  Rachel was very calm and quiet, not her normal self.  Then she slipped down the bean bag and caught herself with her hands again and cried yet again forever.  This time when she finished she was tucking her arm up by her chest and not using it.  Now it was time to go to the doctor.  The x-ray showed a buckle fracture.  When she fell, as 2 year olds do millions of times a day, she caught herself with her hands and it made the little bone in her forearm buckle and fracture.  The good thing is it's minor and it will heal in 2-3 weeks and the little bone that pokes out in 2-3 years will look just like the other arm as if it never happened.  That's the great thing about being a kid, you heal as though it never happened.

When the pediatrician called the orthopedic doctor he was hesitant to put the cast on himself and mentioned the ER and sedation.  He thought that because she was two years old it would be difficult to do.  The pediatrician sent us to him first to see if he would do it so we could avoid the ER.  Rachel was sitting back there waiting for him to come laughing and playing with Daddy.  When the Doctor came in he said, "is this the two year old with a broken arm?!"  He then blew up a glove and put it on his head and Rachel and the Doctor began a back forth game of "you're silly, no you're silly."  He put the cast on her arm and she thought it was neat.  He couldn't believe she was a two year old who acted so cool and calm.

When we walked out of the office with the cast freshly on she was looking back as she was walking forward and tripped over a parking bump and if Daddy had not rushed over and caught her she may have 2 broken arms or a broken face!  Poor little accident prone child.

After all this sitting in doctors offices and being x-rayed and casted and everything we took her to the cow cafe for some much deserved ice cream.  Poor Luke had taken zero of his 3 naps because of all this excitement so he slept through the ice cream fun in the car.

The next morning Rachel woke up with her hot pink cast and walked right over to the closet and got out the swiffer mop and began mopping the kitchen...

mmm milkshake

 Playing in the "barn" at the cow cafe

 Playing with pretend ice cream

Riding the tractor and wearing overalls 

 finally home with 3 stickers from 2 doctor's offices in her front overall pocket

 show me your cast

 eating a snack

 Luke crawled over to grab the camera!

 Wearing a protective bag at breakfast so yogurt doesn't get on it

 Cinderella mopping again the next morning cast and all

Even when you're hurt things gotta get clean!

First Haircuts, Consignment Deals, & The Chiropractor

Over the last few days Rachel and Luke received their first haircut and we got some sweet deals at the Church consignment sale!

First Haircuts

The first haircuts were not as easy as I thought they would be.  Why would I think for a second that a 2 year old and a 7 month would sit completely still so that I can take some nice sharp scissors and cut their hair?   Rachel did fine she just wanted to see what I was doing so every time I tried to cut she would turn her head to look.  I mean EVERY single time.  It was frustrating, but it's funny too... now.  Then Luke just doesn't hold still for anything ever.  He's the most wiggly active curious little man.  He wanted to see what I was doing too.  He turned his head almost all the way around backwards.  Then when we tried to hold his head still he screamed, of course.  Babies do NOT like to be held still ever.  But we finally got Rachel's trimmed just a little so her ends would be healthy and continue to grow.  As for Luke, he no longer has a mullet.  He also doesn't have hair in his eyes.  He had some long hair.  It did not fall out like Rachel's did as a baby.

Facing forward so nicely, but only for this one second.

Turning to see me cutting her hair.  She really wanted to see.

David wanted to cut too.

The Mullet: Before

The cutting of the mullet.

David wanted to cut too.

The Mullet: After

WAHHHH! YOU CUT MY MULLET!

It was awesome.  Better than Billy Ray Cyrus.

Consignment Deals

Temple Baptist Church had a kid's consignment sale this past weekend.  Because David works there we were able to go on Friday night and take a look around.  We found two things we were looking for that were great.  We got a train table set with the track, trains, people, buildings, scenery, etc.  Rachel LOVES it!  She kept saying, "I love my new train table."  "Let's go play with my new train table."  Luke wants to play with the trains too, but he's more like Godzilla of the tiny train town.  We also got an umbrella stroller that I wanted from Babie's R Us.  At the store it was 34.99 plus tax, but at the consignment sale it was $8.  I don't think it was ever used.  We got a few other little toys that Rachel picked out.  It was fun.

New train table set complete with Thomas vinyl wall decals.

The Chiropractor

Luke has had trouble with reflux and excessive spitting up since birth.  I kept hoping he would outgrow it, but at 7 months old we are covered in it all day and night.  All our clothes are covered, the car is covered, and all the carpet in my house is covered.  I had to buy a steam vacuum to clean my carpet from white crusty spots that have run together and become the carpet itself.  This is no exaggeration and may in fact be an understatement.  Now that he is starting solids it is getting even more yucky.  It resembles throw up now sometimes rather than just spit up.  I have become immune to the smell of spit up.  I didn't even think of the chiropractor for some reason.  Tiffany suggested it to me.  We took Rachel for help with her colic.  After his first visit he has only spit up a few times!  We go again tomorrow.  It was raining when we went so Rachel had on her Hello Kitty rain boots and her Hello Kitty raincoat and her Hello Kitty umbrella.  She walked in and sat in the chair and I handed her a magazine from the table.  She sat quietly thumbing through the magazine looking just like a midget adult reading.  It was hilarious. I wish I had a picture.  She looked up once to grin at the receptionist when she said hello.  Then she looked back down and continued to "read" her magazine.  When we went into the office for Luke's treatment she sat up in the chair and watched carefully.  Luke laughed about what the doctor was doing and she said, "Luke thinks it's funny."  Then we left the office and she held her umbrella up and as she walked out into the rain she said bye bye to everyone.  She was my little adult 2 year old.  Very funny.  

Double Strollin'

We like to go on walk in the neighborhood in the double stroller.  Rachel will ask, "want to ride in the double stroller wif Wuke."  Sometimes we stroll down to Tar Landing and look at the river.  Other times we stroll down to the little park on the lake and play on the playground and swing in the swings.  Yep, River Bend is pretty much awesome.  It's my favorite neighborhood we've ever lived in.  I think we'll stay for a long time (for real).  Don't believe me, well time will tell.

This is the sign to the entrance of our subdivision within River Bend.  Rachel has gone from a complete ham to hating to have her picture taken.  I got her to look at me by telling her there was a bird on my head, but she quickly realized it was just my two fingers wiggling and smiled and then looked away.

I was strolling along and then looked down at them and Rachel had her arm around Luke telling him all about something.  Now that I look at the picture it's as if Luke has his hand up gesturing to her that he already knows all about it.

Little Miss Cool is about to go down the "sliding board" as she calls it.  I had never heard the slide called that in all my 30 years.  I think she got this ancient terminology from her Grandaddy and Gran English.

And there she goes!

Luke is observing Rachel go down the slide.  He watches everything she does very closely.

Now Luke is my little ham and he looks like a big juicy ham too!

Rachel swinging.  Of course, I could not get her to look at me and smile, but at least she smiled.

Luke was not content to just sit back and watch Rachel swing.  The swing was little big so the nalgene bottle is helping hold him up.  I think he liked it!

Laid back enjoying the view of the river at Tar Landing (just a little ways down off our street).  Had to keep Rachel strapped in or our little fish would try to jump in and swim away!

Poop, Popcorn, Tummies, and 2 by 2

When Luke has a massive poop that comes all out of the diaper and all up his back and all over his clothes and all over everything within 5 feet of him it smells REALLY bad!  But, David and I both noticed that it smells exactly like movie theatre popcorn.  Seriously, it does.  Think of that next time you go to the movies and want to eat that yummy, buttery popcorn with 3,000 calories and 52 fat grams.  Think of large amounts of baby poop that is so messy it gets all over the baby and your hands and last night on my leg too.

Rachel likes the number 2.  She says things like, "Give me some 2 fridays" (what she calls french fries) and  "I need my 2 little peoples" and "Don't step in Daddy's 2 hairs" (I was cutting David's hair and we told her not to step in it) and "I need 2 pencils" (you need to hear that one because she says pencils with a hilarious accent) "Give me some 2 chickens" etc.

Then when I was giving David a hair cut we had Rachel sitting in the chair watching and she pulled up her shirt and stuck her tummy out and said, "my tummy is beautiful and doesn't need a haircut."  I have no idea.  Oh David says it's because he had his shirt off so she thought having a haircut had something to do with tummies.

Just now David asked Rachel what she wanted to eat for supper and she said, "some cinnamon rollds."  We haven't had those in a month.

So many countless funny things that Rachel says and does that I cannot remember every one of them.

This Morning

David went to take a shower.  He closed the bedroom door and the bathroom door.  Rachel opened the bedroom door and went in.  I thought she was being far too quiet so I went to see what she was up to.  Upon walking in the room I see her climbing on a stool by the bathroom door and reaching for the light switch (the switch for the bathroom lights is outside the door).  I say, "Rachel what are you doing."  She turns with a mischievous look and replies, "Climbing and turn the lights off."  She did and we hear from David in the shower, "HEY!"