From the Mouth of My Babe

She's ready for summer with her new bob cut.

I overheard Maddie imparting yet another piece of wisdom to her younger brother the other day:
"Davis, when you're four and a half you won't need to learn anything new, because I'm four and a half and I pretty much know everything."

From the Mouth of My Babe

Poor Maddie inherited my Fred Flintstone feet. We painted our nails blue the other day for baby brother. 

I was having an all-too-familiar talk with Maddie the other day about how, because of my big belly, I can't do certain things that I used to be able to do. She patted my tummy, looked at me, and said, "Mommy, I like your big belly. It reminds me that we have a new baby coming to our family."

On My Mind...

Playing baseball with her dad in a leotard, tights, and converse shoes (or "Chucks" as she calls them). 

• It has been crazy around here lately. Ryan has logged more than a 100 hours at the hospital this week alone, and he's still plugging along in surgery as I write this post. I would not handle his demanding schedule nearly as well as he does if the tables were turned. And I know there are much graver circumstances to be in than having a husband who works a lot, so I am trying to keep a little perspective during this demanding time. That said, I miss my husband. 
• Maddie is such a great help to me these days. She often takes Davis under her wing and cares for him like she's his mini-mom instead of his sister. So far, he doesn't mind a bit and seems to like the attention she gives him. Just this morning she helped him pick out his clothes for church while I was making breakfast. Her mothering nature has really been helping me out as it gets more and more difficult for me to do everyday bending and reaching. 
• Now I realize that, in the grand scheme of things, having children who are prone to locking themselves in bedrooms and vehicles is a relatively small problem, but humor me for a minute while I recount this past Friday's exciting play date when Maddie, along with four other children, got locked in her bedroom. This is the 4th time in this little girl's life when either a locksmith or the fire department has had to come to her rescue. Isn't 4 times in 4 years quite a bit?  There is a dead bolt on the bedroom she shares with her two brothers (the renters before us were apparently preparing for the zombie apocalypse or something as there are deadbolts on almost every door in the house...oh, and they lost all the keys). Naive as I am, I thought that covering these deadbolts with duct tape would deter my children from tampering with them. It worked for almost two years...until Friday. We had some friends over for lunch and a play date and 5 of them had made their way up to Maddie's room. The verdict is still out on who actually locked the dead bolt (my money is on Davis), but once it was locked, it couldn't be unlocked by small hands--all the duct tape had jammed it shut. After calling a locksmith, we learned that even they don't  have the tools to bust open a dead bolt, so the fire department was our only hope. My friend Deb called 911 and three firefighters were at our door in minutes. The children were rescued about 30 seconds later and they didn't even have to break down any doors. Luckily everyone remained relatively calm (I came closest to losing it) and no one got hurt. Davis thought the fire fighters were pretty awesome and even ran downstairs and put on his fire hat so he could show it to them. And I learned my lesson--I have removed all the dead bolts from all the bedroom doors around the house. 
• Spring is beautiful in Connecticut., and blossoms are starting to pop up everywhere. You should really come for a visit. 
• Sometimes I bribe my kids with a jelly bean to stay in their beds and be really quiet after I put them down at night. I know it's not sound parenting, but it works and it keeps me from going insane when they try to come up with every excuse in the book as to why they aren't ready to go to bed. I swear, no other time of day is as exhausting for me as bedtime. All you mothers out there who relish it (I know you exist), I admire you through and through and would love to hear how you make it an enjoyable experience night after night. 
• General Conference was great, as usual. My favorites this year include President Packer's talk, Elder Ellis' talk, Elder Holland's talk (I am loving all the New Testament references he has been using the past few years), and President Monson's talk on obedience. Good stuff. 

From the Mouth of My Babe

Maddie: "Davis, sometimes when a boy gets married he puts a flower in his mouth."

I could write a book about the wisdom my girl deems necessary to impart to her little brother. 

They pick me a bouquet of dandelions whenever they venture out into the backyard. They think it's my very favorite flower.