Naughty or Nice?

I went grocery shopping on Friday with the kids. I normally go to 3-4 different grocery stores (depending on the ads) each week, to get the maximum bang for my buck. But, I've got it down to a science, and I'm normally done in under 2 hours.

On Friday, it took almost 5! And you're probably thinking that it probably took soooo long because Adam threw tantrums and whined, and Grace spent the entire time trying to escape the cart. And normally, you'd be correct. However, it took so long because they were both so freakin' good! I literally had 10 people (count 'em... 10) stop me, and comment on how good my kids were, and what terrors THEIR children/grandchildren were, and how lucky I was, and how cute the kids were, and then I'd have to hear the life story of the person. I don't mind talking to people (I rather enjoy it, actually), but 5 hours of shopping and hearing about so-and-so's life is a BIT much. And it was like, the more that people stopped, the more charming and polite Adam and Grace were, and I really think that by the end, they were plotting against me. I could almost see their little minds working, "Ha! We'll show her what she gets when we are good!"

I have always wondered what it would be like to HAVE those kids who are angelic in the grocery store. But now that I've been there, I think that being nice may be just as bad as them being naughty. Not sure which I'd rather have... But at least the next time that they are being horrible, I can look back and think about this time, and that it wasn't so great. The grass is always greener, right?

Another Weekend, Another Accident

But at least this one (fortunately) didn't cost us an expensive ER visit.

We got ready for church this morning, left, and Mike buckled Grace into her car seat. She began screaming and screamed the entire way to church. I noticed that she wasn't moving her right arm, but didn't think too much of it. Nothing I did appeased her, though, and I was a bit worried. Mike nervously asked me, "Uh, is she using her right arm?" Apparently, when he was buckling her in, she twisted her arm away, and it made a "popping" noise.

Her arm was limp, and nothing I did made her move it. We got to church and I went to find our Primary President, to tell her I was leaving to take her to the ER, thinking she had dislocated her shoulder. She took her into a room, and examined her, because she's a physical therapist. She thought it was fine, but went to find Brother Jones (he's an orthopaedic surgeon) to be sure. He looked at her for 2 seconds, turned her arm over, bent it, and popped her radial head back in, which had dislocated from her elbow joint. She laughed and ran off, and was completely better. In fact, about a minute later she realized she had the use of both of her hands and ripped out her hairdo (I suppose having your child unable to use her arm DOES have its advantages... her hair was way cute until then).

We were so blessed to have people in our ward willing to help us (and save us the $100 ER visit). He told us that it's a fairly common injury and not to feel bad. She is completely fine, and he told Mike how to fix it in the future, should it ever happen again. It won't. :)

Like Son, Like Father???

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We sure did. I will post some pictures soon of ours in Las Vegas. But, just wanted to tell a few quick stories before I head off to a meeting.

Yesterday I asked Adam to clean his room. I went back in 20 minutes later and nothing had been done. I asked why, and he replied, "I'm thinking about what I should pick up first!" I laughed and left.

That night, I asked Mike to take out the trash. We had several bags waiting, because I did some major cleaning yesterday. I went to take my shower, came back and he hadn't moved. His reply? "I was deciding what would be the best one to take out first." I hadn't even told him what Adam said!

Now I KNOW where Adam gets it from. :)

The Stockings are Hung on our Entertainment Center with Care

It's our Christmas Eve tonight. Yay (or, it was last night anyway... I guess it's officially our Christmas now, oh well). We spent the day cleaning and doing laundry and packing. After all of the boring stuff was out of the way, Adam and I decorated cookies, did a puzzle, and sang Christmas songs. His favorite is, " I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." He complained and complained about me having Christmas music on all of the time ("because it's not awesome) until he heard THAT song. Then he was completely okay with it.

After Mike got home from work, we had to go to temple recommend interviews real quick (they only do them one day a month, unfortunately, so it had to be tonight). After that we came home, had some hot cocoa and acted out the nativity. I wish I had gotten a picture of it on the digital so I could put it up. It was SO cute! Grace was Mary, Adam was Joseph, and I played the shepherds/angel/wise men (I am tres talented). Mike read from Luke 2 while we acted it out. A doll was used for baby Jesus. It was adorable! I just put little pillowcases around their heads. Grace LOVES putting things on her head and she LOVES babies, so as Mike read the scriptures, Grace alternately shouted, "Pretty!" "Baby!" "Pretty!" It was soooooo cute! Even Adam had fun (though he really wanted to play the "bad guys"-soldiers that he saw at the live nativity with swords, what else?).

After that, they opened their Christmas PJs (they LOVED them... Adam got Spiderman, and Grace some cute pink-and-white ones). Too cute!

Then they left out the cookies and carrot for Santa and Rudolph, and went to bed, and they actually didn't take too long to get to sleep. Yay! My checklist is dwindling down:

-the lasagna is prepared for tomorrow night's dinner and waiting in the fridge

-the cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast are in the refrigerator, ready to be baked in the morning (I used this recipe, and they look GOOD... I think I gained 5 pounds just smelling them while I was making them :) )

-the frosting is mixed and ready to be spread on the cinnamon rolls

-the bags are packed

-the camcorder and cameras are ready to go

-the house is clean

-the presents are under the tree and the stockings are stuffed

I just need to finish washing the dishes, and we are set! Hopefully the kids sleep in a bit so I can get SOME sleep. Even if they don't, that's okay... being Santa is the best job in the world! I wanted to have as much done as possible so we can spend the day tomorrow together, just playing with the kids' toys and games and having fun. Tomorrow afternoon we are picking up the rental car, running some last-minute errands, and driving around looking at Christmas lights. I am SO excited for the kids to open their presents and spend the day with them! Please, Christmas, don't be late!

Christmas Campout, DI Christmas, and Watch Out!

Our Christmas campout on Sunday night was SO much fun! We popped a bowl of popcorn and watched The Polar Express. I had never seen it, and it was pretty cute. Not my favorite holiday film, but fun. After brushing our teeth and our nightly ritual of reading a Christmas story and singing a Christmas song, Grace went to her crib, Adam and Mike got on the floor in the sleeping bag, and I slept on the couch (I totally chickened out, I know). We kept the Christmas lights on the tree and around the door on all night. Adam (surprisingly) went to sleep right away. It was a LOT of fun and definitely something we will be doing every year. Adam wants to do it EVERY night. :)

Today we went to the DI Christmas party. A little background: a few weeks ago we had our ward Christmas party, and they had ham to eat for dinner (how unusual... :) ). I guess maybe Adam has never eaten ham before (?), I don't know. But he LOVED it! It is normally hard to get him to eat and he went up 3 times for more ham! Too funny. Anyways, last week Mike invited us to the DI Christmas Party, and he mentioned they were having ham. Adam was so excited at the thought of having "his most favorite, delicious food!" LOL! We went down there for lunch and had a ton of fun! They had a really neat musical program and a slideshow. Sometimes I get frustrated with Mike working so far away and being gone so much and how much he gets paid, and then I go down, and see him around his employees and how much he loves them and loves his job, and it makes it totally worth it. They had ham, fruit, and multicultural dishes (everyone made something from their own culture): chow mein, Creole, and a spicy curry dish. They assigned Mike to bring mashed potatoes... I guess he has no special culture. :) For dessert they had pie and blue cupcakes... guess which Adam chose?

And... don't say I didn't warn you, but I got this package in the mail yesterday afternoon. They recently restructured the DI program, and Mike is supposed to be talking to everyone about DI and really focus on rehabilitating his staff. Well, apparently these movies may be part of it his plan. Don't put him in charge of any holiday entertaining this weekend or you just might get the DI lecture! :) (I'm just teasing you, Mike! Love you!)

Grace's New Word

Grace has been folding her arms during prayers for a few weeks now. It's pretty cute. She normally walks around while she does it, but still. Anyway, during the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting on Sunday, Grace was folding her arms and sitting on Mike's lap. Apparently she was a bit too anxious to get to Primary, and the prayer was going a bit too long for her, because suddenly she sat up and started yelling, "Amen! Amen!"

She's NEVER said that before then. And she's only said it one time since. But, wow... it was really hard not to start laughing. Our friends behind us had a hard time, too.

Our sleepover around the Christmas tree was SO fun! Adam told me that it's the most fun he's ever had in his whole life! LOL! I will post pictures a little later today. Just had to share our latest adventure. :)

Too Bad I've Wrapped All of My Presents..

I got sent this link tonight for these printable gift tags. They are funny! How many times has everyone actually thought all of those things? I know that I have more than once. Maybe I'll print them out and put them on the $1 gift exchange we are now doing at the Wilkins... because I'm going to definitely be thinking "I was starting to really run out of ideas here...". Too fun.

Christmas Mishaps, Dancing, and Adam

It's beginning to look a lot like..... my Christmas decorations are falling apart! Aagh! The other night I came home from going on a walk and discovered that the back of the gingerbread house had collapsed! I am 99% sure that it was because Mike and Adam were playing ball in the house, but I have had NO confessions. I seriously feel like I have 3 kids, except Mike is worse, because he CONVINCES Adam to break the rules ("Really, Mommy won't mind if we...."). Terrible.

We have had several ornaments broken, including this ballerina (isn't it morbid?) one that I've had since I was 4. Not sure what happened their either. AND I had several salt dough ornaments that I've made through the years ruined. Grace loves to EAT them! Gross (and probably not very safe!). I had to throw most of them away and put away the rest because she climbs up on things to get these off the tree. Yuck!

I like to do ALL of our laundry at once. I spend all day Friday washing and drying it. Then Saturday morning, Adam and I dump all of the baskets on the floor and fold them. It's probably not the best way, but it works for us. Anyways, we always check a movie out of the library to watch while we fold. Today, we watched High School Musical. And it was as cheesy as I thought it was going to be (but fun, too... Adam had really wanted to watch it for some reason... lol). But, the funniest part was Grace. She danced throughout the ENTIRE movie! It was hilarious! She's danced a bit here and there, but never this much! She pretty much puts her arms out, and rotates back and forth like crazy. Sort of like weird 80s aerobics. Too funny. Adam couldn't stop laughing!

And speaking of Adam... ever since his tantrum earlier this week, he has been incredible. I'm not sure whether it's that he's worried about Santa not coming or that I'm just a fantastic parent (I'm leaning more towards the Santa theory), but he's been great! He shares all of his toys, has been super kind to Grace, has cleaned his room every day without complaint, etc. He's been so great! Maybe he just needs to get all of his anger out once in a while... I don't know. But whatever it is, it works for me.

I have been putting off going to the store (don't want a tantrum repeat), but we were absolutely out of food, so I decided to brave going to the store with them yesterday. He was perfect! Yay! He said the funniest thing, too. We were in the produce section at Smiths, and I called for him to hurry up. He ran up and said, "Mom, but I was being good." I asked, "What were you doing?" He replied, "Cleaning up some fruit that had fallen on the ground so that the workers didn't have to pick it up." I was thrilled, and said, "Thanks, Adam, that was really nice of you." He replied, "Of course, I WAS the one who knocked them on the ground in the first place..." LOL! The produce manager was stocking oranges and overheard and thought it was the funniest thing. He said it had made his day.

He is getting SO excited for Christmas! He loves hanging up the ornaments on our Advent calendar that my Grandma made for me years ago... he runs every morning to do it. Too fun!

Tomorrow night (Sunday) we are sleeping out in the living room by the tree! Mike doesn't have to work Monday, so I thought it was the best day for it. We borrowed The Polar Express from the library to watch beforehand. On Monday we are decorating our sugar cookies (oh, boy!) and making up plates and bags to bring around. Can't wait! I tried a new recipe for the sugar cookies and they are GOOD!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I can't believe next weekend we will be in Phoenix seeing all of you! Aagh! :)

Santa Surprise, DI Present, and Primary Present

A few Sundays ago, Adam sat down with Mike and wrote his letter to Santa. He asked for a few things (one of which is a Hot Wheels car with 80 spoilers... I guess this makes it go really fast?). Anyway, he was concerned about us being in Phoenix, so he asked Mike to tell him Grandma's address. He put it outside that night. The next day, Santa left him and Grace a letter with 2 candy canes! He told them that because they would be out of town and Adam has been SO good this year (this was before the tantrum the other day, though, who knows how Santa feels now :) ), he would make an extra special trip and come on the 21st to leave their presents! Adam was SO excited! He carried the letter with him for days, until it got really gross, and I took it. I love that he's at an age where he's getting excited about all of this stuff. And, I don't want it to be a problem with Adam already getting visited by Santa when we go to Phoenix, so I talked to him about keeping quiet about it, because he doesn't want to make anyone sad that they didn't get an early trip. He understands, and because he will be getting plenty of presents in Phoenix, it shouldn't be a big deal. Just wanted to let everyone know what was going on.

Mike came home the other day with a Christmas present from the First Presidency! I was kinda surprised, because he had been told that they don't do bonuses or Christmas parties. It's a really nice "Special Edition" of the Bible in actual leather, with a Christmas card of the First Presidency. I'm not really sure what the "Special Edition" is about (maybe I have to read it to find out...), but they are seriously nice scriptures. They are so nice that Mike said, "I don't want to actually use them and mess up the pages!" So funny. I guess he missed out because LAST year, everyone got a "Special Edition" triple combination. So, he will never have the complete set. Oh, well. It was really nice of them to do that.

Mike and I are co-CTR 5 teachers in Primary in our ward. I seriously love Primary. I have only ever had 1 calling that was NOT in Primary (Enrichment Committee years ago in Phoenix). I don't even know what I'd do if I wasn't in Primary... it would be weird. I absolutely adore our class. They are so much fun, and I was kinda getting sad about it being the end of the year, and having to let them go. But on Sunday, they gave us a Christmas present-an ornament with the pictures of all of our kids on it. So sweet! I love it! They gave us the new manuals and class lists for next year, too. We have the cutest kids in our class (they put Adam in the other CTR 5 class, which is good, I think), and I have the cutest idea of a little something to do for them to welcome them to our class. They don't do Primary quarterly activties in our ward, and I'm used to having one at the beginning of the year to welcome the new kids and introduce myself. Because we aren't having one, I baked an extra batch of sugar cookies with a "shield" cutout. After Christmas, I'm going to frost them green, and write CTR on them in white, put them in little bags, and bring them around to our class members, and tell them how happy we are to be their teacher. It should turn out cute. I'll post pics when I get them done.

It's actually been cool here the past few days and with our Christmas decorations up and all of the cookie baking it's really beginning to feel like Christmas! Yay! We have some fun Christmas plans this weekend, but I will have to blog about that later. Have a great day everyone!

Bad Day

Today was a bad day. Oh, so bad. It started with Adam coming in my room at 5:30 this morning and YELLING at me to make him breakfast. Time out. Then after breakfast, while brushing his teeth, he hit Grace. Time out. He then colored on the table with permanent ink marker. Time out.

We had lots of errands to run today. Bank, Ritz Camera, Post Office, and Michaels. Last night, Mike decided that he wanted me to make ornaments for his employees. I was just going to make the clothespin-nativity ornaments, and attach them to a bag of cookies. I'm busy, but I want to support him, so I agreed to make them. This afternoon after lunch, Adam was behaving a bit better, so we headed out. He was absolutely fine until we got to Michael's. He saw a toy there that he wanted and asked for it. I told him no. He immediately started throwing the mother of all tantrums. I kid you not. He threw the toy across the aisle. Started screaming, "I hate you, I hate you!" and kicking. He was SO loud. I don't do tantrums in stores. You throw it, we're done. I told him we were leaving. He then proceeded to kick and scream and scream and hit and yell. I put him in the back of the cart to leave, and he jumped out (this is kind of sounding funny now that I'm writing it) and ran. I grabbed him and Grace and started to leave. I managed to drag him to the front of the store (a kind store employee opened the door for me), went outside and opened the car door. He hit me again and ran back inside. I dragged him out AGAIN and pushed him into the car. He then turned and bit my arm SO hard I started crying. I was hurt and SO embarrassed and I didn't know how I was going to buckle him into his carseat.

Then, a heaven-sent couple walked up to me. The man grabbed Adam, and held him down in the carseat while I buckled him up. His sweet wife took Grace and calmed her down. I was bawling afterward, and she gave me hug, and said, "Don't worry, we've all been there. Lucky for 5-strap harnesses, right? Now he's stuck." It was the most PERFECT thing to say. I love little random acts of kindness like this. I don't know what I would have done without them.

Adam is pretty much a great kid. He throws a tantrum like this occasionally and the they ARE bad, SO bad, but they are getting fewer and further between. I talked to him the whole way home, and he is suffering some major consequences for his poor choices (he is most upset about no basketball tomorrow). We talked about good ways to express sadness and anger. He is learning. I can handle the tantrums (well, besides the bawling-my-eyes out part, but it WAS very stressful). What I can't stand is the looks I got, and the comments I overheard, as I took him out of the store. I mean, really? What am I supposed to do? The older (forgetful) customers said things along the lines of, "He just needs a good spanking. Mothers today don't discipline their children" and the younger (naive) customers, "My child will never do that. And did she just spank him? I would never spank!" It is rough being a mom in today's world. You're criticized if you do, and criticized if you don't. And there should be NO criticism period. Kids have meltdowns. They throw tantrums. I've seen grown adults have meltdowns and tantrums PLENTY of times when they don't get their way in the store. Why would a tired 4-year-old be any different? Ugh.

I love that song that goes, "You've had a bad day." On days like this, it's my mantra.

And on the bright side, since I'm NEVER going into Michael's again, I don't have to worry about making ornaments on top of everything else that I have to do. So sorry, Mike! :)

Scrapbooking

I LOVE scrapbooking! Seriously. I've been doing it since I was in 7th grade. However, when Adam was born, I stopped for a while. I was busy with him and then we moved to Flagstaff, where I was busy with school. I did a page once in a while, but nothing serious. Then, about a year ago, I looked at my photographs (each in little ziplocs, waiting to be scrapbooked) and I realized how much I had to do. It was overwhelming. Over the past year I've gotten my stuff out, been absolutely overwhelmed with how much I had to do, and put it all back about 10 times, without doing a thing. Well, no more. On Friday, I decided I would just catch up on Christmas. So, I got the pics out of Christmas 2004 and 2005. I would do 2006, but those aren't developed yet.

But ANYWAYS, I got up a few hours early Friday, Saturday and today, and I scrapbooked 11 pages! (11 pages for 2 Christmases... I'm in trouble :) ). I am so proud of myself for catching up a tiny, tiny bit. They are NOT the BEST pages and they certainly aren't winning any awards, but the point is, I've done them.

And the best part of it is, that it felt SO good to do something just for me, something I loved. I was a much better person because of it. I had more patience with my kids; I got the house cleaned in about half the time Saturday; when Mike took his 3-hour after-church nap today and left me with the kids, I wasn't as irritated as I usually am (hey, I'm NOT perfect), and I know it's because I took the time to do something for me. It's made such a difference. I was happier, so Adam and Grace were happier. We've all been happier these past few days. Seriously.

So, I'm going to encourage everyone who reads this blog (all 2 of you :) ) to do something for yourself. Get up a little earlier or stay up a bit later or Benadryl your kids at naptime (jk) ... just do something for yourself. I always thought I was being selfish before doing something for myself, like I was neglecting my family, but it's made a huge difference in how I feel and how I act.

Tomorrow I'll blog about Adam's Santa surprise and our Christmas cookie making. Until then, have a great day, and do SOMETHING just for you!

Nativity, a Surprise in the Mail, and We've Arrived

The live nativity last night was SO good! I have seen a lot of nativities acted out, but this was one of the best. Grace LOVED the live animals. There were dogs, sheep, chickens, horses, and (her favorite) a donkey. We had so much fun watching it. At the end, they invited all of the kids to come up and visit baby Jesus/Mary/Joseph in the stable. Adam was SO excited. Unfortunately, he was very disappointed to learn that it was not the real baby Jesus. He was pretty sad for a bit. So sweet!

Yesterday we got a package in the mail. My mom made Adam and Grace Christmas pillowcases. SO cute! Adam was SO thrilled! It actually made him go to bed on time, because he was so excited to sleep on it. Isn't that a cute idea? And it's super easy to sew. I'm thinking of making them one for Halloween and Valentine's Day, because they loved it so much!

And.... we may be absolutely broke. And we may live in a less-than-ideal place. BUT we feel that we have officially arrived, because... Mike has his own business cards! Yay! :)

Oh, and in the pictures, Adam has a Kool-Aid mustache, in case you were wondering. That stuff will not wash off! Oh, well. Have a great one, everyone!

Time Outs and Gingerbread

So, Grace had her first "time out" the other night. No, I would never send a 1-year-old to time out (pointless) but she ended up there anyways. We decorated our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Ever since, Grace has made it her goal to un-decorate it daily. Seriously, you should see my poor tree. By the end of the day, the ENTIRE bottom half of the tree is bare. The first time it happened, I asked Adam to hang all of the ornaments back UP at the end of the day. He hung them ALL (about 30) on 2 branches. I SO wish I was kidding. So, I had a half-naked tree with one spot of dense ornaments. Lovely. Since, I've just put a basket by the tree. As I find the ornaments around the house, I toss them in there, and re-decorate when I can. ANYWAYS (do I go off on tangents or what???) the other night, Mike was home to witness her literally grabbing and throwing them as fast as she could. He joked, "Grace, go to time out." She paused. Her eyes got huge. She laughed, clapped her hands, and gleefully went over and sat in time out (the hallway). She sat there, clapping and laughing. She ws THRILLED to be in time out. Mike and I couldn't stop laughing. It was like she's seen the hundred of times that Adam has been there, and has been awaiting the privilege. It was hilarious. Now, anytime she does anything wrong, she goes over and sits herself down. I'm pretty sure she's deliberately doing naughty things so she can go there.

We made our gingerbread houses last night. It was a blast! Yes, there is frosting all over my walls. And yes, there is sprinkles permanately ground into my carpet. And yes, my kids were on sugar overload and wouldn't sleep last night. But, it was a LOT of fun! I love the house that Teresa made. It is adorable. It's definitely something I want to do every year. And, I've got some great ideas for traditions (talking to friends and looking around on the Internet). I've decided we are going to go to a live nativity (tonight, our stake's putting it on), camp out under the Christmas tree one night, read a different Christmas book every night, watch at least 1 holiday movie together, act out the nativity, bring Christmas cookies to our friends, go look at Christmas lights, and I'm looking at a few others. I found this blog through my friend Heather and she is SO cute and is posting a different tradition to do daily, so I'm going to use a few of hers. So fun.

Hope you are all having a great week! I'll post pictures of the nativity later. It should be fun.

Traditions

Okay, so for the past few days I've been a little bummed about missing all of the family Christmas activties. Like, the Hansom Christmas Party, the Rice Christmas Party, going to the Mesa Temple and seeing the lights, etc. My friend Teresa came over tonight to bring over the gingerbread house that I won at Enrichment (we're decorating it tomorrow... it's so cute!) and I was talking to her. All of their family lives in Utah, and she only gets to see them once a year (either Thanksgiving or Christmas) and it completely makes her sad, too. However, she decided that this was HER family now, and she needed to make it good for them, so they started their own traditions, like the gingerbread houses.

So, I know that this isn't rocket science, but it's like a lightbulb went off in my head. We are here, and we are our own family (despite how much we're missing everyone) and need to make the best of it. I decided a long time ago that no matter how much money I had or how sad I felt or how rough a time I was having, I was never going to let my kids have to feel it, too. I mean, I don't want to be unrealistic with them, but there's simply no reason for my children to have to worry about those things. The only promise of childhood is that it will end, right? They deserve a wonderful Christmas. And starting our own traditions is a perfect way to put my thoughts into action.

So, tomorrow for FHE we are decorating our gingerbread house, and I'm going to get the recipe from her so we can do it EVERY year. I'm trying to think of some other fun traditions... any ideas, anyone? What did your family do that was special (besides having parties with extended family... lol). Caroling? Baking cookies? Crafts?

Sorry for going so many days without pictures. I've got some cute ones, it just takes forevah to download them on the computer. I'll post Grace's first time out (there's a story with that) and our gingerbread houses tomorrow (or is it today, it IS rather late, hmmm...)). Until then, make it a great one!

Low Carbin' It

The appointment was just about as bad as I imagined it. Actually, it was a bit worse because they gave Adam his shot before Grace had her well check. He screamed and kicked, so Grace decided that if Adam hated the doctor, she would, too. She screamed the ENTIRE time-getting weighed, getting her head measured, the doctor listening to her heart, and ESPECIALLY the shots. Goodness! She screamed and screamed and curled into a little ball on my shoulder and gasped for breath. The nurse freaked out. Adam freaked out. The doctor ran in. Oh... boy.

She is such a little actress. I wish I could describe it. When someone comes up to her and says hi, she cocks her head to the side, grins, giggles and says 'hi.' When she's in trouble, she just completely melts and sobs. When she's in pain, she won't breathe. She's hysterical.

So, she weighed 21 pounds and is 31 inches long. She's in the 25th percentile (again) for weight, and in the 90th percentile (again) for height. The doctor (I need to find a new pediatrician, because seriously, I'm not lovin' this one) said, "Are you feeding her?" Really, was I supposed to do that? Man... kids should come with an owner's manual! I said (very nicely), "Yes, she eats all of the time." She looked at me like I was a liar, and said, "Well, do you give her meats and cheeses or just fruit and vegetables." And I swear, I was thisaclose to saying, "Actually, all she eats are meats and cheeses. She's on the low carb plan."

But of course, I didn't. Maybe I should've though... I wonder what she would have said. :)