I can't believe...

I can't believe I haven't posted these photos yet. What a horrible oversight. First of all, they're just adorable; second, they feature Kelsey-- my soon-t0-be sister-in-law! And let me tell you, the whole Green clan LOVES "Aunt Kelsey," as evidenced by these:



Kelsey, you're already a part of us. We love you!

Funny Girl

Here's a cute little Noelle trick that she's quite fond of these days. :)

Early Ultrasound

I went in this morning to get an early ultrasound for Baby #3. Apparently, since Noelle measured small throughout the pregnancy, and I had low amniotic fluid levels, they want to monitor this one more closely.

I'll cut to the chase... Everything looks great! Baby is measuring correctly for the November 12 due date, and so far, everything else is normal, too. Yay!

But the news I didn't know I was going to get is that Baby #3 is actually Baby BOY Green!! Sure enough, he had, as the ultrasound tech described it, a little rocketship between his legs. And he seemed to be quite the exhibitionist, since the tech told me that, "Oh yeah, it just keeps popping up. I've seen it quite a few times."

That is pretty darn exciting news for us, especially considering Mike has been SERIOUSLY outnumbered and needed a little more testosterone around the house, what with me, two baby girls, a female chocolate lab and the death of our two male guppies (which had really helped him to cope, I think. Ha!).

So here you go, a pic of our adorable little man! :)

Listening...

Have I talked about Grooveshark yet? I don't think I have. Grooveshark is AMAZING! It's like Pandora, but you can make your own playlists from millions of songs that people have uploaded onto the site. We have it playing approximately 80% of our day. I have a Sesame Street playlist, a Disney playlist, and a Mommy-seriously-needs-a-break-from-kids'-music playlist. I honestly don't know if anyone reads my blog, but if you do, please feel free to make this post an interactive experience. More on that later.

Here are some of the artists who shuffle through my playlist:

Adele
Colbie Caillat
she & him
Hall & Oates
Sara Bareilles
Taylor Swift
James Taylor
Lady Antebellum

And, yes, I do realize that my tastes are currently trending toward folk/country. Whatever.

But now for the interactive portion... since I can, essentially, try out any songs I'd like without having to buy them, I'm up for any suggestions. Ready... Set... Suggest away!!

Oh, and in honor of the musical leanings of this post, here's a video of Noelle standing and dancing (kind of).

Crash and Burning Up

I'm so very grateful that God kept us all healthy over the course of the cruise. We had a fantastic time with friends and family, and we didn't have to deal with a sick child (or adult!).

And that's why I'm grateful that the girls and I are having a rocky start, back into our normal routine. Sure, it's not fun being sick, but it's way less fun being sick on vacation.

Here's the state of things, currently. Poor Noelle was burning up with fever on Saturday. Fortunately, it seems to last a relatively short time, and Tylenol and Motrin were successful in keeping it down. Since then, she's been hacking away with such frequency that if I'm not looking in her direction, and she suddenly is quiet, I quickly spin myself around to make sure she's still breathing.

Riley got the fever yesterday, and it got up to 102.3. The drugs worked on her, too, but the fever comes back as soon as enough time has lapsed.

As for me, I think I got a hybrid. I'm coughing, though not with the same strength as Noelle, and it seems like I've regressed into the first trimester. I'm nauseous and exhausted. Major bummer.

If you're reading this, what I guess I'm saying is this: please pray for the Green girls! We're a wreck!

Goofy-ness

I apologize for so many Disney-related posts, but Disney did pretty much consume an entire week for us (and made for some pretty darn adorable pictures), so there it is.

One of the most hilarious moments of our trip was when the girls had the chance to meet one of "Mickey's special friends" on the concierge sundeck of our boat. Really, the note we got informing us of the meet-and-greet literally only said "Mickey's special friend", so it was pretty fun when Goofy showed up.

If you know my girls, you know that they love dogs. Granted, Goofy was unlike any dog they'd ever seen, but I thought we had stumbled upon a winner.

Sadly, Riley, initially, did NOT want to go near Goofy and most definitely did not want a picture with him. However, she warmed up quite nicely.



Noelle was not so ready to change her opinion, which led to these absolutely amazing photos, which I can't wait to show her when she's older. (Watch out, wedding slide show!)

Princesses!

Riley got to meet SIX Disney princesses on the cruise, which, if you ask me, is pretty awesome. We met them all at one fell swoop, at a character meet-and-greet. The line was absurdly long, as you can imagine, and I'd say that about 48% of the little girls were wearing those overly-expensive-but-cheaply-made princess dresses. Riley wore her Cars shirt because her mom didn't think this thing out.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first. After all, she had had to wait in line for, what in her world, counts as an eternity, so she needed some cheering when Snow White was up. I'm going to spare any stupid captions and just say that you'll notice Riley improves in her smiling as she goes along.









But probably the biggest princess excitement came at dinner one night when-- gasp!-- we saw Ariel, Riley's absolute favorite princess, floating through our dining room. AND if that weren't enough, Riley just happened to be wearing her Ariel dress!

She catches sight of Ariel. Could it really be???

Riley shows Ariel the pictures of herself on the dress.

It is kind of a bummer that both of them didn't look at the camera at the same time, but can you blame Riley? She's holding Ariel's hand while wearing an Ariel dress. Wow. And Ariel was in a rush. I'm pretty sure she was under strict instructions from Eric to get back to the palace ASAP before Scuttle destroys everything.

The difference between us...

I feel like Mike is a great man to have on hand to demonstrate the major differences between men and women because, one, he’s pretty darn manly, and, two, anyone who knows him knows that he’s so amazingly awesome in almost every possible way that anything that may seem like a criticism of him would roll off him like water off a duck. Let me state this clearly, though: this is not a criticism. It’s an observation of something hilarious I’m learning every single day: we are not wired the same way.

This story must begin this way… I am now sitting at home, reading my Kindle and blogging because Mike gave me three options: 1) stay home with both girls while he ran to the store, 2) stay home with one girl while he ran to the store, or 3) stay home alone. And get this… he was serious! See what I mean about being unbelievably awesome?

At one point in this time of relaxation, I got up to pull a cake Mike had baked (Yeah, he baked a cake. I’m not making this stuff up.) out of the oven. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw this white styrofoam-but-not-quite-styrofoam stuff strewn across the floor, and that’s when I realized, once again, that—at many times—we speak a different language.

See, about 20 minutes earlier, I had seen the stuff and, with scrunched up nose, asked, “What IS that all over the floor?” Mike looked around and said, “Oh, that’s stuffing from Kona’s bed.”

Now, to me, when I say something like “Why is my kitchen floor covered with all that crap that sticks to your feet and that our girls could ingest?” and you answer, “It’s the crap from Kona’s old dog bed that you wanted me to throw away roughly four months ago but I didn’t and I just brought it up and now it’s sitting in the corner of the livingroombytheway…”, it means that it would probably be good to bust out the vacuum or broom, you know, to take care of this clear and obvious problem.

This is why, when I retrieved the cake and walked out of the kitchen, feet padded now by white nasty stuff, I laughed. Clearly, when I asked what was on the floor, to Mike, the conversation went a little something more like this:

Heather: “What IS that all over the floor?”

Mike: “Oh, that’s stuffing from Kona’s bed.”

Whose interpretation is more accurate? What’s that famous saying?

Know when to shut up.

TMI

I know what you were thinking, the one (two?) of you who have been following my blog: she's done it again-- went on a blogging binge then left us high and dry.

Not true! I will admit that I'm a fits-and-spurts blogger, but my week-long break, this time, was due to a Disney cruise!! Now we're back on land, our cell phones work without the possibility of incurring roaming charges, and I can catch up on what I missed on The Voice.

I may as well start with the most recent, and most potent, memory. WARNING: If you have a sensitive gag reflex, you may want to just skip this post. Actually, scroll down to the bottom for the Cliff Notes edition.

First, let me just say that I'm grateful for flights under 4 1/2 hours. We usually fly to and from California, so the flight from Orlando was a piece of cake.

With that said, we did have a minor, uh, hiccup. The flight was a measly 2 hours, 42 minutes. Plus, the girls (and I) had gotten to see the grandparents in the airport, so they were on a little high from that. We boarded. Noelle was exhausted, and-- yay!-- she fell asleep shortly into the flight. Thus it was that at about 40 minutes into the flight, Noelle coughed in her sleep. But a couple minutes later, she woke herself up by puking buckets all over herself and me. The girl had eaten almost nothing throughout the day, so I'm not sure where all this vomit was coming from, but I think that she easily lost a week's worth of meals. Somehow, I managed to keep it contained on our clothes (and then on her blanket... I needed somewhere to change her). Riley had a spare sweatshirt that we threw on Noelle, and I had a hoodie. Sure, my bra was soaked and reeked to high heaven, and Noelle had some pretty gnarly hair, but we made it through the rest of the flight.

Now we're home and very excited to be here. My next post will feature some crazy adorable pictures, so prepare yourself for that! :)

Garage Sale Heaven

I love buying stuff for my girls. It's just so much fun. I love seeing them in new clothes, and I love seeing them love on a new toy. This is bad.

I mean, it's good, but it's bad. First, I really don't (though I do!) want to overindulge them. They don't need everything they see as we browse the toy aisles at Target. Second, I most definitely don't have the kind of cash needed to buy everything they love (ha!). Third, we don't have room for STUFF!

But, oh, do I love a garage sale... where I can do some (almost) guilt-free shopping. Yes, I do still have to control myself. Today, I saw about 89 toy kitchens that I immediately wanted to bring home. Michael, if you're reading this-- don't worry; we do NOT have a new toy kitchen. And today, I did manage to show a great deal of self-control and scored big!

I actually had begun to make a list of things that would be really really great to find at garage sales. At the top of that list-- Duplos and clothes for Riley. I won't build up the suspense because I'm too excited myself, but at the first sale I stopped at, I walked away with-- honestly-- about $50 worth of Duplos for a whopping $4!! Plus, I got The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and three Curious George books. To top it off, I grabbed a $3 Leapfrog My First LeapPad. Then, I was off to look for clothes. Riley needs a little more added to her summer clothing, so I was mostly on the look-out for shorts. At the next sale, I added four pairs of shorts, a super-cute top, a pair of in-really-good-shape Stride Rite shoes and-- one can't have to much control-- a Little Mermaid beach ball. All this for around $6.

I came home very pleased. The Duplos are currently soaking (another awesome thing about finding very clean-able toys at a garage sale), I'm about to throw the clothes in the wash; then I'm going to throw myself on the couch, pull out my Kindle and congratulate myself on a ridiculously productive morning.

Hat Lady

My mom is amazingly creative and handy and awesome. The latest manifestation of this is in these adorable crocheted "newsboy" hats. I'll be posting them on my Etsy site soon, but here are a couple pics of the girls modeling them.

Kid Stuff That Rocks

We're packing for our Disney cruise with my family. I can hardly explain how excited I am. We're going with my folks, my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, and our dear friend, Jamie. And let me mention again, we're going on a DISNEY cruise. If you know me, you know I'm kind of a Disney fan. Riley and I can quote nearly every Pixar movie, and now that we're without cable, I find myself trying to choose between watching Batman Begins and Up. Tough decisions, you know?

But packing for the girls has got me thinking about absolutely awesome kid stuff that I am so glad exists. Here's what comes to the front of my mind:

1. Keen shoes. These things are not only super-durable, but they're also cute and waterproof. Their biggest downfall is that they're ridiculously expensive. I mean, like $40-$50 (gulp). I found that if you search, you can find some of last season's styles for closer to $25-$30. It's still a little pricey, but if I'm going to splurge on baby shoes, these are the ones. Riley wore hers, last year, the entire spring, summer and part of the fall, and they are still in great shape. And she wore them pretty much every day.

2. Nalgene and Camelbak bottles. They make them, obviously, for adults, but they have slightly smaller sizes that are perfect for Riley and Noelle. Riley had one already, and, this morning, Noelle got her own purple version. She hugged it the whole way home.

3. "Snacky cups". We have a few of the munchkin brand, and they are awesome. Being able to give the girls cereal or pretzels, while they're in the car, and not worry about the snacks being flung all over is just amazing. I mean, whoever came up with this super-simple idea is a genius.

4. Sani-Hands for Kids. These really aren't totally necessary, but it's nice, when I'm in the car, that I can just chuck a wipe at Riley and not have to turn around and squirt anti-bacterial gel into her hands. Not bad.

5. Mo Willems books. The man is hilarious and awesome. Currently, our favorites are a couple Elephant and Piggie books, Knufflebunny and Edwina, the dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct. They're fun to read aloud; they're hilarious for parents; the kids love 'em. They are all-our winners. Oh, we also like Leonardo, the Terrible Monster, but my parents own that one, so we only get to "read" it over Skype.

6. Judy Sierra books. I especially like Born to Read and Wild About Books, though we just picked up a pile of her others at the library, so I could be adding to that list soon. And I am a little partial to a book about kids (and animals) loving books. :)

7. Veggietales. I'm not super proud to admit that the girls have gotten to watch more movies than they should over the past few months. I'm blaming morning sickness. Valid, right? I really love throwing one of these on for the girls (which is, actually, the only way I can a shower before noon). Their current faves are God Made You Special and Jonah, but they're really not that picky. Noelle also really likes the collection of Silly Songs.

8. 100 Singalong Songs for Kids (from Cedarmont Kids). My dad, apparently, bought this for us on a whim, so he could get free Amazon shipping, and it's a great kids' CD collection. By that, I mean that it has enough songs that I'm not listening to the entire CD eight times through, just on my way to Target. It also isn't too obnoxious with bad kid voices or overly-comforting adult voices. And it has some Christian songs, so that's kind of fun.

Ta-da. There it is. Maybe you can enjoy some, too. :)

Duck, duck... duck

Riley and Noelle just love ducks, which is pretty nice because they're a very accessible animal. I mean, seriously, we only need to walk or drive for less than five minutes and-- voila!-- ducks! So on Mothers' Day, after church, here's what we did:



Riley got a big kick out of feeding both the ducks and the geese, though these were very well-fed birds who, let’s be honest, needed not an ounce more food. Noelle liked watching, and we tried to give her a piece of bread, but it went straight to her mouth. Maybe next time.

Today, being an amazingly warm, even HOT, day, we headed over to Cosley Zoo and got to see even more ducks. The place was packed. Of course it was. We weren’t the only family who was anxious to break free from our homes after a ridiculously long winter. When we arrived, there were only two—TWO!—parking spots in the whole place! Insane.

I am so grateful for Cosley. It’s the perfect pace for us: it’s small (so the animals are nearly always visible), it’s free, and it has ducks. We really couldn’t ask for more in a zoo, except maybe free popcorn? I’ll need to bring my camera next time. For now, here’s another adorable picture of Noelle that just requires posting.

DQ Disaster

Riley is potty-trained, which is pretty awesome. We now get to use half the wipes, buy half the diapers and wipe half the poop... just in time for another little one to come along and bring it all back. However, when she was only semi-potty-trained, we had probably the most memorable and hilarious playdates we've ever had.

The cast of characters included Becky and the girls' dear friend, Gracie.

We headed over the Becky's place, and since the weather was actually nice (rare, being that winter lasts for 10 months here. I'm not bitter), Becky suggested that we take the 20-minute stroll to Dairy Queen. Sounded like a plan to me, and after trying, without success, to convince Riley to go potty, we set off. All was going well.

After a pleasant walk to DQ, we ordered blizzards, upon which Riley promptly informed me that she had to go pee-pees. The girl at DQ told us that a restaurant down the way would let us use their restroom, so Noelle stayed with B and G, and Riley and I walked a few doors down.

The restaurant was closed-- perhaps never to open again?-- so I asked Riley if she thought she could hold it till we got back to Gracie's house. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what I was asking, but she really does try to please, so she told me she could. I was a little anxious about the whole situation, but what was I going to do?

We went back to DQ, and two steps from the entrance, Riley tripped, scraping her knee a little. So I walked into the place with a screaming 3-year-old who hadn't been allowed to pee. Fortunately, M&M blizzards heal most, if not all, wounds.

We took our blizzards and sat at the bench outside DQ. Naturally, we got our share of blizzard on our clothes (a prospect which is always a little disconcerting to my slightly-OCD 3-year-old). I leaned over to Becky and laughed, "She's going to leave this place with a scraped knee, covered in ice cream and drenched with pee."

Not three minutes later, Riley let out a cry and a shower of pee went down through the bench slats. Perhaps this wasn't the correct response, but what's a mom to do but choke down as much of the laughter as she can while she comforts her kid? I think Riley was a little too distraught to notice my giggles anyway.

I wiped her off as best I could with napkins, and we beat a quick retreat, Becky informing me that she was pretty sure the DQ workers had witnessed everything. (Dear DQ people, sorry! I didn't mean to laugh that hard.)

Riley recovered quite well and rode on the back of the stroller till we got back to Becky's. Then she got to be thrown into Gracie's tub with Gracie's toys, get a quick rinse-off, and get to wear nothing but underwear home.

See, happy ending! :)

Becky and Gracie, thank you for such an entertaining playdate. We wouldn't have wanted to share it with anyone other than you!

My favorite 3-year-old

And now, of course, Riley needs a little showcase. She has to be one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. She loves to snuggle, make people feel better (I get lots of kisses if I'm ever sick or hurt), and just love on everyone around her.

Her sassy pose, which I think is pretty awesome.

And now, excitement!

A fun hat picture with Da-dad (aka Granddad)

The little princess in her Disney princess attire

My gorgeous girl

Happiest Baby Ever

Just a few pics to show Noelle's sparkling personality. She is just too cute. And the helmet does nothing to hurt that adorableness! :)

Moms' Day

The girls are playing together, so I have time to post Mothers' Day pics (which I absolutely INSISTED ON this year). It's hilarious, getting more than one kid to look AND smile. Love it.

Kisses for Mom. Does it get any better?

The best of the three of us... Noelle trying to escape, Riley being a goof. :)

Hello, Old Friend

Noelle is currently asleep (after a 6 am wake-up and put-back-down), and Riley is contentedly playing with her Easter eggs (fun all year round!), cars, and new plastic bugs. Well, now that I've started typing, she's come over to investigate, but I can get a somewhat complete sentence down while opening and closing eggs and commenting on how silly she is.

So, clearly, it's been awhile. Not that there's really any excuse, but here's my excuse. This pregnancy has been KICKING MY BUTT! I won't go into details, but I will say that-- praise the Lord!-- I'm finally feeling like a normal pregnant woman as opposed to an incapacitated, off-her-rocker, my-kids-are-watching-more-movies-than-I-care-to-admit-while-I-lie-in-fetal-position-on-the-couch pregnant woman. And just in time for our Disney cruise with my fam, this coming Saturday!! Could there be a better time?!

There are, obviously, more stories to relate than I possibly could at this time, so let's start with some super-cute pics of the girls. That's why you come, anyway, right?

These are from the day of the party we had for my college tennis coach (25 years! Yeah, Jane!!!). The girls were in coordinating Wheaton gear, and it was almost too cute to handle. Plus, I'm kind of a fan of the fact that they both seem to be big tennis supporters. :)

Best fans ever? Quite possibly. :)