My very own little Cookie Monster

Adam had a couple of his cousins and a brother over on Thursday night while the kids and I were out and they made a huge batch of nachos using a cookie sheet. I was just in the kitchen putting away some clean dishes and the kids were in the living room watching a movie. Lauren must have recognized the clank of the cookie sheet as I moved it. She ran into the kitchen, stood on her tiptoes to see the counter, and said, with a HUGE grin on her face, "Mama, are you making cooooooo-kies?"

Merry Christmas

We hope this post finds you all happy and healthy, celebrating the holiday with your families. Having just lost my grandpa less than two weeks ago, I especially want to reiterate the importance of telling those close to you how much you love them.

Binky face rocks!

Last night was the first night Owen slept on his belly. He's been rolling over since he was three months old, but he's always been a back sleeper, happy in his crib wedge. Lauren fought sleeping on her back almost from the day she was born. I lost so much sleep with that girl, checking on her to make sure her face wasn't smooshed in the bed and constantly flipping her over. Owen was so darn cute this morning when he woke up on his belly with binky face - an indentation of the binky on his cheek where he had been laying on it.

Pop goes the weasel, er, I mean cookie

We are going to a cookie exchange tomorrow night at a friend's house. Everyone brings two dozen cookies and you take turns choosing off other people's trays. You leave with two dozen cookies, but they could all be different - how yummy does that sound?! So today Lauren and I made oatmeal cranberry coconut cookies. The recipe said it would make four dozen. I don't know how small those people made their cookies, because I just barely got three dozen out of the batch. I scraped the mixing bowl at the end because I wasn't sure how many cookies I had. When I pulled the last batch out of the oven, the final cookie I had put on there was as flat as a pancake. Must've been all the butter at the very bottom of the mixing bowl in that single cookie. As I was pulling the cookie sheet out of the oven I said, "Oh no, what happened to that cookie?" Lauren took one look at it, threw her hands in the air, and exclaimed, "Mama, it popped!"

Splish splash I was taking a bath

We just made the move tonight to get Owen out of the infant bath tub and into a bath ring seat for the big bath tub. He absolutely *L*O*V*E*D* it! He was mesmerized watching his hands under water. Of course, Lauren was in there with him, trying to "help" me wash his hair. But they had a blast together. It's so much fun to see them actually starting to play with one another!

Frogs need lots of fiber, apparently

Lauren has an increasingly bad habit lately of taking her earrings out at nap time and at bed time. We had her ears pierced on her 8 month birthday, and she never paid any attention to them until a couple of months ago. I recently resorted to getting her itty bitty hoops, hoping she wouldn't be able to unhook and remove them - no such luck. So this morning while getting her dressed I noticed her right ear was bare. "What happened to your earring, little missy? Did you take it out again?" "No, Mama, Baby Tad ate it all gone!"

Wha wha what?

So I'm having some minor outpatient ear surgery on Monday. I have a condition called otosclerosis, which basically means I'm deaf. It is a wonderful thing indeed when I'm trying to sleep with my hubby, the snorer. But when I can't hear the kids when they wake up from a nap, that's when I have a problem. I had my left ear done a couple years ago, after I had Lauren. During the pregnancy with Owen, my right ear got worse. I'm not too worried about it, especially since I don't remember recovery being too awful, just a couple days of dizzyness. What I am worried about is the fact that both the kids have colds. I hope they're better by the time we need to drop them off at my parents' house on Monday morning. Nothing makes you feel more guilty than sending your sick kids to someone else's house to spread the love, er, I mean germs!

Yet another Lauren-ism

Getting the princess ready for her afternoon nap:
Mama: "Would you like Mommy to tuck you in?"
Lauren: "Yes, you may."

Thank goodness I'm worthy to serve her!! *dripping in sarcasm*

Tall and skinny, that's my boy!

Owen had his 4 month check-up this morning. He is 25 3/4 inches tall, which is the 90th percentile, and 12 pounds 5 ounces, which is the 10th percentile!! They said he's perfectly healthy and strong, just what I like to hear. He's been grabbing at my food lately when I eat, and staring so intently as he watches us chew. I mentioned this to the doctor, who said to go ahead and start him on rice cereal. I stopped on the way home to get some and he's already had his first bowl. He grabbed the spoon right out of my hand and shoved it in his mouth. We got some great pictures.

Recent Lauren-isms

As Owen was drooling on her blocks:
"Don't eat that ANYMORE."

Her way of asking Daddy to get her out of Owen's walker because she was stuck:
"Get up and picky my up and get my down!"

Telling me about her day:
"I said to a boy like this, 'What's your name?' That's what I said."

Telling Noni and Papa:
"Let's go on an airplane. That would be fun. Woo hoo!"

Talking to me while getting dressed:
"I want to go with you to Jamba Juice."
Mama: "Who said anything about Jamba Juice?"
Lauren: "Okay, let's go, that's good!"

Welcome to our world!

I've tried this once before and it didn't stick, so let's hope this one does. My goal is to use this as a way to keep family and friends up to date on the goings-on in the life of our little ones. And so I don't have to bug Adam to upload photos to our other website anymore! Anyway, welcome!