Pink Eye & Toddler Beds

That sums up our week so far. Tuesday, I got an email from Penny asking if Maddy had done something to her eye. By noon, Mike had her at the Little Clinic - diagnosed w/Pink Eye. Sounds so much cuter than it is. We've been wiping every hard surface w/Clorox wipes and/or spraying them w/Lysol 2-3 times/day trying to make sure none of the rest of us get it.

Our feisty little monkey is not a fan of the drops. She stalls as long as she can..."I want to lay down over there, Mommy" / "Maybe if I sit up" / "I want to do it after I brush my teeth"...but when I give up & pin her on my lap, she thrashes & screams. Ok, so I'm not a fan of the drops either. I almost think it's pointless because by the time I get a drop on her eye, she's crying it right out. But I guess it's getting in there - the pink is gone & it's only slightly glassy-looking as of this morning.

The other big news is that our 2-yr old is now in a toddler bed. Both our girls are out of diapers/Pull-Ups -wearing 'big girl panties' and sleeping in beds - not cribs. (Well, Maddy's is just her crib with one side taken off, but still.) I had barely mentioned to Mike on Tuesday night (3/9) that I thought she was ready - after several close calls of her climbing/jumping out - and a few nights of her sleeping on her floor. I blinked & the rail was gone. One look at the site of the crib-turned toddler bed, and I was a mess - crying all over my hubby's shoulder.

Madalyn was so excited to realize she was 'a bigger girl, Mommy - I'm a bigger, bigger girl!' - so excited to come to our bed in the morning instead of just yelling 'I'm awake, Mommy!' - And her big sister thought it was quite cool as well - they played on it for a good hour yesterday - piling it high with as many dolls & stuffed animals as they could.

My 'babies' aren't babies anymore. I have NO clue where the time has gone since starting our family. It's just not fair how quickly it goes. Although I wouldn't trade a second for anything in the world. Those two girls have brought such sunshine to our life...and I'll just have to soak up as much as I can as we go.

The mullet is gone!!

Our sweet Moo. She has what they call Trichotillomania. ~She pulls her hair out. Sometimes it's worse than others...started out when she was a baby - she always had to wrap my hair around her fingers/hands - didn't pull it, but it was obviously comforted her. As she grew her own, she would often play w/hers - if she found hair on the floor (ew) - she had to wrap her fingers. She had her first haircut last July...a month into being 2 - and right after that (if you see the pictures, it was clearly an upsetting experience), the pulling started - clumps. The poor thing - whenever she got upset / tired / frustrated, you'd see her hand reach up & yank a clump out. She'd wake up with a handful. She looked quite bald for a while there.

~Well, apparently it's not altogether uncommon, so we were able to find some helpful information (THANK YOU TLC - trich.org!!) and tried several ways to curb her pulling. Slowly, but surely, her hair started filling in. Of course, she pulled the most on the top - evidently couldn't reach the back as comfortably, so when it grew, it got longer in the back. Our baby had a mullet. And ya know - I hated that thing - but I was NOT going to chance another upsetting haircut to spark any steps back in the progress we had made.

Anyway, one sweet, sweet day a couple weeks ago, the girls stayed w/Aunt Brie & our Madalyn actually ASKED her to cut her hair. She was very specific - no spray bottle - don't touch the front - just the back. And the mullet is a thing of the past! Maddy has an adorable little bob now...and she feels 'so pretty'. Thank you Aunt Brie! :)

Here's an honest post...just needs to be.

They make me want to pull my hair out. Such immense amounts of love I feel for these little sweeties - truly - beyond any measure I could imagine...but no one on the planet can push my buttons like my monkeys. -I have to ask myself - what on earth did I put my parents through for Karma to come 'round to bite my bootie like this??? ~So maybe there is a little extra drama in that question than needs to be there - I have absolutely nothing to complain about - healthy, happy kiddos - we're super-duper blessed & well aware of it. ~I'm just taking a moment to 'appreciate' the 'down' with all the ups.

My mom has told me there were times she wished she could freeze-dry us & stick us on a shelf to thaw while she cooled off. I guess it's different for some. My fantasy of late is to have some sort of remote control that worked on them. So I could pause them from time to time...both in the cute moments I wish could last forever - and in the really frustrating moments when I'm aware a little breather would be nice.

Mike told me he knows his cue to trade off is when he hears me say 'are you frickin' kidding me?' Eh...not sure I really want that to be a comment my kids hear me say to them. It reminds me of Mike's mom telling me that when her youngest was little, after one of her 'sheesh' moments, she let out a 'damn it' and Paul cutely said something to the effect of 'Mommy, I'm not damn it - I'm Paul'. -I can just imagine Penny (my bff who watches the girls) getting a chuckle out of Izzy or Maddy one day yelling a frustrated 'are you frickin' kidding me??' at the other.

We're finding it interesting that Izzy has a personality quite like mine - Maddy has a personality much like Mike's - and we handle / they respond to the 'unlike' one of us much better than the one 'like' us. Maddy & Mike tend to struggle a bit - Iz & I have our little clashes...when I'm unintentionally riling her up, Mike can say one thing & she'll start chillin'...and the same w/Maddy & Mike - they push each other's buttons & I can occasionally get her to respond & settle down. That's not to say it's a catch-all...just something we're noticing.

Isabelle Mae is all sensitive & passive agressive. Her form of rebellion is usually ignoring me w/a little smirk to boot - which - SO gets under my skin. Or when I tell her to look at me when I'm talking to her, her eyes get all wide & after a split second of looking into mine, she smiles & her eyes shoot up to the right. My. Oh. My.

Madalyn is a hitter and a yeller. She can belt out a 'NOOOOOO!' like nobody's business. When we put her in time out for hitting her sister, she glares at us & throws a smack at the wall. She also growls. She'll squish up her face w/ pursed lips & furrowed brow & literally growl. In the heat of a reprimand, it's not funny. But there have been plenty of times we've had to excuse ourselves to laugh our booties off. She is a trip & a half...if ever there was a strong-willed child, she hath been born to us. My initial reaction is 'holy crud, we need to nip this in the bud or the teenage years are going to be hell!' - But the part of me that wishes I hadn't been such a wimpy push-over all my life - secretly wants to whisper in her ear - 'YOU GO GIRL!' - She isn't going to let anybody push her around - she is smart, sweet, cuddly-lovie - and determined to be in control of her own destiny. She's not afraid of anything (except the occasional loud noise of the vacuum/blender/toilet flushing). She is fiercely independent. Just this morning, she got dressed almost entirely herself - picked out the clothes she wanted to wear & put them all on w/minimal help - even put her own coat on - zipped it up & got her socks & boots on (seriously - just the slightest bit of help was all she needed).

They're both awesome kids...complete w/all kinds of 'spirit' & spunk - the good and the bad kinds.