Jesus Loves Poo, This I Know

Merrick is in time out.  I just carried him like a sack of potatoes into the time out area for kicking his brother.  While he's taking a few mintues to reflect (loudly), I thought I'd quickly jot down a few funny thoughts about my ever changing whirlwind of a toddler:

 - This morning, when he was wearing a hanger on his head for a hat, I told him, "Merrick, you're silly."  "Thank you," he said with a serious face.  It was* such a compliment to him. 

 - Merrick has started showing signs of understanding who God is.  Two nights ago, Merrick and I raised the blinds of the playroom window, turned out the lights, and watched the lightening light up the sky over and over.  "It's just like Jesus!" he said, all on his own.  No prompting from me.  He went on, "And Jesus is in our hearts."  I was speechless.

 - Speaking of Jesus, Merrick's new favorite word is poop.  He fits it into every single conversation.  Somehow.  Someway.  Last night, as we were singing "Jesus loves me" to the twins at bed time, Merrick substituted his favorite word in to turn the beloved Christian classic into "Jesus loves poo."  


More Merrick madness to come after a much needed nap time.  

*By the way, Merrick was "released" from time out at this point of my writing.  He is now sitting on my lap saying, "poop, poopie, poop," and laughing.    

When Two Makes a Difference

I just shared an incredibly special moment with the twins.  After their morning nap, I scooped them both out of their cribs and the three of us rocked together in the spit up covered, green suede rocker in their nursery.  Even though it is almost 11 am, we were all still in our pjs and it was a bit dark and totally quiet in the room.  Each twin laid his/her head on one of my shoulders and started sucking his/her thumb.  I took turns laying my cheek against one baby's noggin while kissing the head of the other baby.

There are times, like this morning, when having two babies really does make a difference.  There are special times when I see them connect that are unlike any thing else.  Like, for example, when I nurse the two at the same time and they hold hands.  Or, the more common alternative, when I'm tandem nursing and one twin puts the other in a head lock with his legs.  At Christmas, it was so awesome to watch them open their first Christmas gifts together and then, ignoring the gift, sit together and chew on opposite sides of the same piece of wrapping paper.  I love watching Scout, our twin girl, pull herself up into a standing position while holding onto a chair and then watching Sawyer, her twin brother, pull himself into standing holding onto her.   Then, of course, there is the side of me (the side that is just plain wrong) that thinks it's hilarious to put two 6 month old twins in a crib with one pacifier and watch them duke it out.

I am so blessed.

What a Clown

What part of having twins and a toddler doesn't scream 3 Ring Circus to you? 

When Merrick was 3 months old, I forced him to wear a clown wig while I snapped some adorable pictures of him being terrified.  Let's be real - the very best part of having a newborn is that you can dress him up in all sorts of ridiculous outfits and stage elaborate photo shoots and he can't say a word.  When the twins came along, three years later, I thought it would be cool to put a clown wig on them as well and compare the pics.  I wanted to do it when they were 3 months (just like with Merrick), but at that point I was still in complete baby fog and couldn't spell the word wig let alone break one out.  So, the pics below are a different wig and at 4.5 months for the twins.  Marcos and I both think Sawyer (in the middle) reminds us both of Marlon Brando in this pic.  "Uuuuuggggghhhh...I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse..."    

So, yeah, sometimes life with these three clowns feels like a circus, but I love my life and wouldn't trade it for any thing in the world.  Even though most times I feel a lot less like the ring master and a lot more like the dude with a big shovel that scoops the elephant poop.  I love my little poop clowns. 
  

Scout's Itty Bitty Dress

When I found out I was having a little girl, I immediately set out to crocheting and sewing little dresses.  I love my little boys, but I was just so thrilled to find out that I would have at least one child that wouldn't pee on my walls.  

This past weekend, it was finally warm enough here in Texas to put one of my favorite dresses on Scoutie Girl.  It's so strange to see her wearing a dress that I made for her while she was in my belly.    It's crazy how much of my heart is in that itty bitty dress for that very reason.  

Here are a few pics!

For those sewing mamas out there, I used the itty bitty dress pattern by Rae.  It's a free pattern and great for beginning sewers.  

You are beautiful, Scoutie Girl!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Mini Van!

I rarely escape the house after 2 pm with all three children.  However, if there is one thing that will make me wake the kids from their naps, throw them into the car, and feed them a jar of cold baby food on the run, it's a man who can draw pigeons.  When I found out that Mo Willems, my favorite children's book author, was coming to BookPeople, I did just that.

As much as I love to read, this was my first book signing.  I had high expectations.  Scenes from movies kept reeling through my mind as I imagined myself standing in front of Mo, my good friend Mo, sharing witty banter together while the long line of jealous folks behind us goggled at our immediate bond.

Sadly, that was not at all how it played out.  Instead, I got to BookPeople 15 minutes early to find hundreds of die-hard Mo-fans had beat me to the punch.  I parked my enormous Hummer of a double stroller in the back while Merrick walked over other small children to make his way to the front.  The hords of children watched a quick and super fun puppet show while I sat on the floor and nursed the twins.  Then, Mo made his appearance.  "Many people ask me why I wrote this new series of books, "he said, "It's because my daughter got an orthodontist."

In the end, the three children and I waited about an hour and half to spend roughly 2 minutes with Mo, during which time I don't think I even made eye contact with the man.  It all felt a bit like a cattle call, which I guess is a bit necessary when you've got a hundred kids in their pajamas that all want to meet one man.  We didn't share any witty conversation and he didn't lean in, ask my name, then write some message in our book referring to some inside joke we shared.  Instead, I was instructed by the staff to write the kids' names on a post-it note and stick it on the title page with about a half inch sticking out the top.

On the up side, I'm pretty sure Mo shared a few words with Merrick.  And, Merrick and I had a blast playing Killer Robot with some grabber tool and a voice magnifier in the toy section.  And, we picked up P.Terry's on the way home.  And you can't beat P.Terry's.