Well, well, well, Blog. We meet again. It's been far too long, my friend.

I have missed you. Really. I know that it wouldn't appear that way since I have not visited you since... hmmm.... maybe last December, the Santa! post I believe. But that's not for lack of love on my part. Life is.... well, we don't really need to get into that right now. It's a long story and I'm sure you don't really care anyhow. The longer it got after our last meeting, the more guilty I felt and the more I procrastinated and the guiltier I felt. You know how that goes. The vicious circle thing. So I have decided to try to start meeting up with you at fairly regular intervals. At least that's my plan now, but I'm not making any promises; no commitments. I also might cheat just a lil' and go back and fill in the past 11 months to make it look like I hadn't deserted you. But, again, no promises on that one either. All I'm sayin is that I'll try to put forth some effort going forward... and really, isn't that enough? Ok then, well I'm glad we had a chance to catch up and throw all that on the table. I do look forward to spending some quality time with you again soon. P.S. The girls are growing like WEEDS! Weeds on serious fertilizer! Not that they are on fertilizer, just a metaphor mind you. I'll post some pic's and video soon. No really, I will.

Sweet Teya-head turns 1

SWEET JEEBUS!! WHO STOLE MY BABY??? Oh, she's right here! She's just not a baby anymore..... Really?? A year?? Yes, I will use the cliche, thank you... time flies. Really. That was one fast year. Teya is now: speed crawling, taking 4-5 steps at a time, laughing ALL the time, getting her 5th and 6th teeth in, saying "NO!" and "ELLA!", giving smooches, thinking shoes are one of the funniest things she's encountered so far, pointing to her nose, tracking her big sister Ella like an infrared homing device and generally developing into one sassy, opinionated, adorable little gal. I just got finished perusing some photos from a year ago and, my, has she changed! What a great year it's been! Happy birfday, Bubbie. I love you so very much! Sweet baby girl, one year ago....

Tiny Pink Daggers

So, I guess Ella had had quite enough of me. I mean really, I guess upon reflection I do say "no" quite frequently... and "maybe later", "maybe tomorrow", "not right now"... you get the idea. We were visiting Aunt Michelle, Uncle Spencer and Parker in San Antonio and had been there for a couple of hours and upon the supposed last straw negative Ella turns to me and with (pink princess) daggers in her eyes, and says "I AM TIRED OF YOU." Turns to Michelle and says "Aunt Michelle, can you take care of me FOREVER?" Hmmmm... Out of the mouths of babes?? Or in this case, the mouths of babes going on 15??? If this is what 3 and half is like, I shudder to think what I am in for in approximately 10 years when estrogen surges begin.

Zen and the Art of Keeping Parental Composure

I really think, ok, I know, I scared Ella this evening. Stressfull day at work + boundry testing, non-dinner eating 3 year old + cranky, sick 7 month old + lasagna everywhere + a snow globe... well, you know where this is going. Mama lost it when the crash occurred. I mean, really? How many snow globes did we go through at Christmas? And, really, am I that stupid to leave another one within her reach? Apparently the answer is yes. I think I yelled so loud that I got horse afterwards for a bit. Now that I am calm and able to (mostly) reflect reasonably, I am not liking my actions. I really don't want to be the parent that rules militantly and through fear, however it's really difficult on occassion to stop and take that deep breath before the wrath just surfaces. So we sat down and had a heart to heart while she was in the tub and I apologized and told her I always love her no matter how loud I'm being. I hope I got the point across. I love you Ellabean and I promise to try really hard to remember that although you act like you're 13 sometimes, you still are only 3 and you're still learning how to navigate this world. Well, I guess we all are.

Suck it, Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Do you think you perhaps could work on being more symbiotic rather than parasitic? I'm just sayin'.... Seems like evolutionarily that might be more beneficial? But, what do I know. Pobrecito baby girl. She can barely breathe and then sometimes has so much gunk going down her throat she ends up gagging. But somehow manages to continue smiling through it all. Some nights are not so great, but overall she's a toughie and trudges through it like a champ!