Gracie's Big Bathtime Production

A silly smile from our tech savvy 4-year old...Gracie!
Ella is pooped from her diaper change!

The following was overheard while I was on the computer and Gracie was bathing!

In the following production Gracie will be playing the part of the duck, the mermaid mother, the mermaid daughter, and the mermaid son. I will be playing the part of the real Mommy.

Duck: Can I play with you?
Mermaid Daughter: No. We don't like you. We don't want you to swim in our ocean. We only want mermaids and princes to swim in our ocean.

Duck: I'm so sad.

Mermaid Daughter: Mommy? Where is my mommy? I miss her so much.

(At this point I enter the bathroom thinking she is missing me, but no, it's part of the play.)

Mermaid Daughter: Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? (Oh, wait. She does want me now!)

Mommy reenters the room.

Gracie: Where is my blue Mermaid Mommy?

Mommy: I don't know what you are talking about. What Mermaid Mommy?

Gracie: You know the one that is blue in my dollhouse. (spoken with much exasperation)

(Mommy retrieves the now named blue Mermaid Mommy and gives it to Gracie.)

Mermaid Mother: Hello. I have missed you so much. Where is my son? Oh there you are. Are you going to marry my daughter? Son, I want you to marry my daughter so that she can be a princess. (Someone new enters the bathtub.) Keep your eyes off my son! He doesn't want to marry you. He wants to marry my daughter. Swim away son!!!

Mermaid Son: I can't. I don't have legs and my tail won't work fast enough. Aaahhh!

This is the liturgy you get to hear almost every night when Gracie takes her bath. The bath in progress is turning into the makings of a major Broadway production. It's probably not funny to anyone but me, but I'm cracking up as I hear her imagination at work. Someday we will have a discussion about boys not marrying their sisters and such, but not today. Not when Brent isn't here to join in the discussion! :-)

Meanwhile, as all of this is going on, Ella is tuckered out and has fallen asleep on her changing table after a rough diaper change. She's the best baby! Even if she does like to eat 3-5 times a night!

Weekend Fun

What a fun weekend. We had a big surprise for my parents on Friday. My brother, who doesn't get home much due to his busy schedule, called me a while back and said he would like to come and visit over his spring break. Friday was the day! Brent and I had asked my parents to come and babysit so that we could go out. That should have been their first clue that something was up! We never go out alone. Anyway... they had already made a commitment to help at a Relay for Life event in Moberly, so Dad decided he would do the Relay event and Mom could come babysit. When my mom arrived I told her Gracie was in her room and I handed her Ella. Gracie asked Nana to sit on her bed because she wanted to show her something in her closet. She made Mom close her eyes and she opened the closet door. My brother popped out of the closet and the picture says the rest. She's was completely shocked. We had a good laugh over the surprise then went out to supper. Later that night Dana, Mom and Gracie went to Moberly to surprise Dad. I guess it didn't go as well thanks to Gracie's over excitement. She might have spilled the beans early, but Dad said he was still surprised. Saturday Ella and I went to Moberly to join in the fun and we spent some more time with Uncle Dana before he had to get back to the big city. We went over to visit Nana Kaser and got to have a 3rd surprise since she didn't know Dana was in town either.

Now today, Sunday, we are back to reality. Brent had to leave before church to go to the Lake of the Ozarks for some meetings for work. He will get back Tuesday night. So far so good, but I know Gracie will start missing him pretty quickly. Tonight we will go back to church and that will help distract her for today anyway. Tomorrow is another story.

Smile...It's Friday

Sleeping through the night!

We had a miraculous thing happen in our house last night. Gracie slept through the night! YEAH! That may sound funny to most of you, but it is nothing short of miraculous. She realized that she had done something wonderful because she said, "I woke up and thought...it's morning already!" Maybe we are about to start a new trend...or maybe I've jinxed it by sharing it with the world on our blog. Either way, we were exceptionally proud of our big 4-year old! We won't talk about Ella's night, OK? It's a work in progress.

Gracie is getting very good at talking to Ella and trying to comfort her when she's crying. She's really quite good at it. Her favorite thing is to go get a toy that plays music and lay it by Ella so that she will stop crying. Well, today I was putting up Gracie's laundry so I laid Ella on Gracie's bed and she started crying, so Gracie curled up next to her and talked to her and stroked her head until she quit crying. It was very sweet.

Tuna Salad and Tears

Gracie loves to help in the kitchen, so I asked her to help me make Tuna Salad today. I peeled the eggs and then asked her to slice them with my Pampered Chef egg slicer. This is practically her favorite task in the kitchen. Anyway, she sliced an egg and it just fell to pieces all over the cabinet instead of staying somewhat in the shape of an egg. She looked up at me and said, "Well, that was slick!" She started laughing hysterically. I think she was laughing because she knew she had said something funny, not because of the egg falling apart. Our little girl is reaching the age of comprehending humor. Small wonder with Brent for her dad! He keeps us laughing!

Now, for the members of the New Testament Praise Band, this part is for you. When I got Gracie home from Preschool today she came upstairs ahead of me while I got Ella out of the van. By the time I got inside she was crying. I couldn't imagine what had happened in such a short span of time. She said, "Mommy, I really miss those people from our old church. You know Mommy?" Then she started naming all of you off. I told her it was sad that we had to leave our old church, but that it was so much fun going back to visit. Then I tried to explain that now she has new friends at our new church. She kind of perked up, but it took a while for her to resume her good humor. I just wanted you all to know that it has been 8 months since we left, but there is a 4 year old in Macon who still thinks of you all and misses you. Truth be told, her parents do too!

Growing Up

Today when I was getting Gracie dressed, I threw a shirt on her that has become a staple of her fall/winter wardrobe. It's just a shirt that goes with a lot of her pants and sweats. Anyway, as I was putting it on her I noticed it was almost too small, so I said, "You are growing too much and your shirt isn't going to fit before too long." She started to whimper and said, "But I will miss my shirt. I don't want to grow too big for it. I love my colorful shirt." I said, "Well, you have to grow up. Maybe Mommy can find you a new colorful shirt that you will love." She said, "OK. But make sure it's big enough." I just thought it was funny that she was so attached to an old, somewhat stained shirt. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since she's still attached to her tattered, stained, ripped pink teddy bear blanket! Did I ever mention that I had to sew a pocket on teddy bear and put Gracie's name in it because we read the story about Corduroy getting lost and needing a pocket with the owners info. in it? Well, after we read that story, teddy bear needed a pocket with Gracie's info in it, and it's a good thing because Gracie is always dragging that bear around to stores, church, etc. and then leaving it. Maybe the pocket will help teddy bear to always return home.
People are always asking me if Ella is a good baby. My standard answer is, "Yes, she's a great baby." I added this photo of Ella in her swing because that's just one of many things that keep her content. Gracie hated her swings, bouncy seat, and other tools we tried and Ella is enamored with almost anything. Her favorite activity is to bounce with me on my big exercise ball. It almost always lulls her to sleep. I'm so glad she's a content baby (at this stage) since Gracie is pretty high maintenance! Gracie still gets up every night, multiple times, and keeps us wondering when in the world she will ever sleep through the night consistently.

Easter Weekend Fun

Gracie had her picture taken as a newborn by the Easter bunny hanging on my parents door, so we had to do the same with Ella. It's eerie how much Gracie and Ella resemble each other when you compare the photos.

Gracie was an expert Easter egg finder thanks to 3 hunts on Easter day. I suppose the multiple pre-Easter egg hunts she held in our living room probably helped her skills.

This is the 2008 Doolin Family Easter photo. Ella didn't enjoy the photo shoot much thanks to her hunger pangs!

I promise that I did feed Ella shortly after this photo. She sure wasn't happy about having more pictures taken with Wapa and Nana, though.

Poor Ella is destined to a lifetime of hand-me-downs. She is wearing Gracie's first Easter dress.

Gracie loves to dress up in pretty dresses, so it was no chore to get her to put on this years Easter dress!

The Easter Bunny brought Gracie one whopper of a lollipop. It was a huge hit. We think Mike is probably jealous!
How many licks does it take to get to the center of this lollipop??? We'll let you know! It's almost bigger than Gracie's face.
Gracie didn't look like the big girl that she is until we had Ella. Now it's obvious that she's not a little girl anymore.

Gracie, Ella and cousin Callie hung out for a while on Saturday afternoon. Gracie loves her big cousin Callie.
Ella has 2 cousins born shortly before her, and they all got together for the first time on Saturday for a short visit. They slept for the majority of the time, so they will have to bond later! (Ella, Corbin and Seth)
Gracie was eggceptionally proud of her Easter eggs she decorated. Wocka, Wocka, Wocka!

Gracie and Ella's Big Play Day

Ella was a good sport about being put in the baby doll's stroller. She won't fit in it for long. She weighed 10 lbs and 9 oz. at her well baby check-up yesterday!

Gracie tried to teach Ella how to play Barbie dolls today, but it exhausted Ella.
Gracie still loves to dress up in "princess clothes." She loves to get out a classical music CD and do ballet. She always has new moves to show off.
I continue to try to capture Ella's smile. This time the flash didn't go off, but you can still see a sweet little smile on her face. Well, maybe the general public can't, but Brent and I can!

A Wacky, Wild Wednesday

Today when I took Gracie to Preschool, the teachers were all taking a peek in the car seat at Ella. They started talking about who she looked like. It doesn't take long for people to say that she looks like Gracie or Brent. Duh, they look like each other. I just said, "Well, I'm pretty sure she'll look like Gracie when she grows up." A little African American boy was listening and he stepped up and said, "Well, I think she's going to look like me when she grows up." He was just as serious as could be. I smiled and said, "Well that would really be something, wouldn't it?!" It was too funny. The teachers laughed until they were crying because the little boy was so serious.
This afternoon the resident Easter Bunny hid all of our plastic eggs and practiced finding them. She managed to "hide" a few on her sister. You can tell it's the work of a 4 year old Easter Bunny since they were hidden pretty much in plain sight. We also got out all of our stuffed Easter rabbits and Gracie managed to pose for a picture. It's a rare occasion when she will let us take her picture, so you have to snap quickly! Gracie has decided it's more fun to take pictures than to be in the pictures, thus the picture of 1/2 of my face. She's practicing. Maybe next time my whole face will make it in the picture!

It's Been a Long Time a Comin'

Uncle Dana asked for a post from me for Christmas and I have lacked the stimulation to have anything to write about. My neck is out of place and sending sharp pains up the back of my skull making a dull ringing in my ears which means I am probably in the perfect frame of mind to type something really stupid on this thing. There are 2 references to popular movies and songs in this blog, so let the competition begin. The title of the post is the first reference. If anyone can guess where that is from I will be impressed. Matthew Maher and Bob Ikerd probably have the best shot guessing where the title of this post came from so that might be a place to start asking if you don't know. I took 2 Tylenol #3 so this could go downhill quick, so I had better get started.

On to my inspiration for writing, and the movie reference. Does anyone else think the TV show Deal or No Deal should change the name of the show to, "Should we or should we not follow the advice of the galactically stupid?" Seriously folks, how do they time and time again find people with friends that are willing to come on the show and say, "Don't take 215,000 dollars for your case. You might have a million dollars in your case." Not one friend on the show has ever said, "You know John, there is always a possibility that you could have 5 dollars in your case, and selling it for 215,000 might be a pretty good idea." They're always saying things like, "No Deal. I know you have the million. I can FEEL it." I am always sitting there thinking, "You can FEEL it? Really? Why don't you search your feelings O-B-Won and start telling me which cases to pick starting with the smallest amount? Better yet, just use your Jedi mind tricks to make Howie give up which case has the million dollars." My other favorite advice from these so-called friends goes something like this, " You have 3 huge amounts left... No Deal!" Oh, I have 3 huge amounts left and 5 cases to pick on the next round. Thank you very much for that statistical reasoning, genius. Howie isn't much better in this area. He is always saying things like, "You have a 1 in 8 chance that the million dollars is in this case that you picked. Which also just happens to be the same exact probability of every other amount that is left on your board. There is a 1 in 8 chance for whatever amount is left." I am sitting there thinking there is a 1 in 1 chance that the contestant could have just received the dumbest advice in the world. This show is funny, interesting, irritating, and ridiculous all in one. There is no skill involved. I love how people pick their cases. "Five is the difference between my birthday, and the number of bananas in a pound." Open case number five. And the million dollars goes off the board. Should have went with the number of brain cells left in your head. The show boils down to risk,tolerance and greed. Which one is going to be the stronger emotion that controls your decision? Finally why does the banker have to be an anonymous secret outline of a person sitting in the dark? I think the offers would be much more generous if the banker had to show his face and everyone would know what bank he worked for. However, I kind of understand why the banker has to remain anonymous. The next day at work he would have to face people who would come in for a 15,000 dollar loan for a vehicle, and they would know that the night before he bought a $75 case for $175,000. It would be hard to turn anyone down for a loan after being the guest banker on Deal or No Deal.

Well hopefully you have enjoyed my insights into this irritating, irresistible, retarded show. Good luck to all of my loyal readers on guessing the references to the movies and song. I realize that there is a 3rd reference to a movie with the Jedi mind trick stuff, but I figured Star Wars was way too popular for me to even count that in the contest. The 2nd reference, which is in bold up above, is from a movie. There are no prizes for this competition due to the legal proceedings still in court about the 1 hour of Doobie Lovin' from the last contest. Thank you for wasting your life reading this. I hope you waste much more time trying to figure out where the references are from. :)

Rain, Rain Go Away

What a yucky, yucky, rainy day we had. Gracie kept singing "Rain, rain go away, come again another day, little Gracie wants to play." We are starting to go stir crazy from being cooped up so much. Once it's nice we will walk down to the neighborhood park and get some fresh air. Gracie is anxious for Easter. In fact, yesterday she woke up asking if it was Easter Sunday. I told her it was still a week away and she got pretty sad. She's probably more excited to wear a pretty new dress to church than she is to hunt for eggs. Gracie spent the night with Grandpa and Nana last Friday night and they bought some eggs at Wal-Mart and practiced hiding them and hunting for them. Gracie told me today that she couldn't hardly sleep at Grandpa and Nana's because she just kept thinking about those eggs! Oh to be young again and have nothing to worry about but Easter eggs!

By the way, those of you who know Gracie at all know of her affection for her pink teddy bear blankie. Well, she bought Ella a purple elephant blankie when she was born. I have it laying in her crib and during her nap today her arm flung over on it so that she was touching it. Gracie thought that was wonderful. She's probably destined to drag around the purple elephant just like Gracie does the pink teddy bear!

Big Accomplishments

We have finally turned a corner, and everyone is feeling much better in our house. Hopefully we can enjoy this weekend without too much lingering sickness. I couldn't let the opportunity pass to share an accomplishment that each of our girls had this week. Most of you know that Gracie is a poor sleeper. She has almost always had sleep issues. Once she turned 3 years old she pretty much quit napping. That was a horrible thing because she wouldn't get enough sleep at night and then wouldn't nap, no matter what we tried. Well, ever since she was sick last week Gracie has been napping again. It's almost eerie because she is willingly napping. Today she asked if she could lay on our bed to nap, and I told her yes. When I went to check on her she was burrowed under one of our throw pillows and appears headless in the picture. She was fast asleep under that pillow. Maybe it's just because she's not 100% better, but I'm hoping we can make the naps continue.

Ella's accomplishment for the week was that she is really smiling now. It takes quite a bit of prompting, but she has shared some precious little grins with us. We don't have any great pictures because it's hard to get her to smile and then take her picture at the same time, but this one kind of captures the beginning of her smile.

Are you thick in the head?

Yesterday I was sitting in my chair talking to Ella and probably being very silly when Gracie approached us. She said, "Stop talking to Ella." I said, "Why?" I was expecting to hear Gracie say that I needed to play with her, but instead I got something I hadn't bargained for. Gracie said, "Babies can't talk." I told her, "I know that, but they like to listen to people talking to them." Gracie looked at me and said, "Are you thick in the head?" No joke!!! That's what she said. I looked at her like she was a complete stranger and said, "Where did you hear that?" She started grinning because she knew she had said something funny. Come to find out it's a line from Disney's Tarzan. Who knew that she could use a new phrase in the proper context?!

I am taking my turn at being sick. It officially hit on Sunday, and Monday I started antibiotics. I'm a little concerned that it's day 3 and I still feel miserable. I'm trying to stay perky, but it's really hard. Gracie is feeling a lot better, but is still plenty whiney. She is super clingy too, and I don't think anyone likes being clung to when they are sick. It's a challenge to not snap at her. This too shall pass, right?

We love Mama

Brent's mom has been sick for about a week now, so we just wanted to send a get well message from 2 of her 5 favorite granddaughters! Sorry Alisha! I had to steal your MagnaDoodle idea!

Finally Friday

Our household has made it to Friday. I didn't know if it would happen after all of the sickness. Brent just continues to feel yucky, but today he went back to school. Gracie woke up peppy enough to go to preschool this morning. Now it's just Ella and me and the house is a wreck from everyone being home all week. I didn't know where to start on the house, so I thought I'd start here with a funny Gracie story. One morning while sick Brent thought muffins sounded good, so I made chocolate chip muffins to interest Gracie. Miss Picky eater quickly ate one and said, "I can only have one, right?" I said, "Do you only want one?" Gracie replied, "Well, if you said I could have two I would be surprised!" I guess she's used to me saying, "Just one cookie...you can only have one cookie." It was funny enough to get Brent laughing through his pain.

Later the same day...

Well, the laundry is caught up, the dishwasher is unloaded, Brent's shirts are all ironed, blah, blah, blah. I got quite a bit done, I guess. Then Ella and I picked up Gracie from preschool. She had a fabulous time learning the letter U. When we got home however, she seemed very tired. I asked Gracie if she wanted to lay down and she didn't. Later I turned the TV on so she could watch Curious George, and the picture tells the rest. When I reentered the room, she was sacked out on the couch. I guess we're still a little bit puney. Gracie napping allowed me a few minutes to snap some new pics of Ella. I propped a blanket in her Bumbo Seat and it worked pretty well to hold her up. I can't wait for her to smile!