A lot to say

If you have met Myka, you know she is a talker. My day is one long conversation. As a kid-less adult, I remember hearing parents tell stories of things their kids would say (at VERY young ages) and I would think, "Yeah, right. A 3 year old said that."
Now I know.

Here is a tidbit from lunch today:
Myka- When was God born?
Me- A long long time ago.
Myka- Like when I was a baby?
Me- No, before that.
Myka- When there were just mommies?
Me- Even before that. God was first.
Myka- So who made God?
Me- That is a good question.
Myka- Yeah. Next time we see him we'll have to ask him that.

And just to prove that not all of our conversations are quite that serious:
(As I am coming around the car to get her out of her car seat I see her with her finger in her nose.)
Me- Hey, don't pick your nose.
(I unbuckle her seat belt and her finger goes into her mouth.)
Me- and eat it. Gross.
(She jumps down to the pavement and takes my hand.)
Myka- I wasn't. I just had an itch in my nose. And then I had to pick my teeth.

One long conversation.

A metaphor

The birth of a Son  Sun

There was much anticipation. Days of preparing and gathering everything we would need to get ready for the big day. Myka was excited and kept asking when the time would come.

It was a labor of love. It took about as long as I expected, and I knew the end product would be worth all of the effort. I had to remind myself that while he looked a little messy at first, once he was cleaned up and properly accesorized he would be beautiful.

I knew I would have an enthusiastic helper for awhile, but ultimately I would be doing all the work.

He was larger than everyone had thought he would be, but I knew all along he would probably be pretty big compared to others.
We had a wonderful time dressing him up and making him look just perfect before we revealed him to our friends.

Myka was so excited to show him off to everyone. There were many comments and compliments, and he was definitely the highlight of the party.  And while everyone enjoyed looking at him, they were really all there just to see what would come out of his backside...

Birthday Month

June is a big month around here. Everyone has a birthday except me and Father's Day is thrown into the mix as well. And this year we have the added bonus of the kids' birthdays landing ON Father's Day, which would be cool except that means it is a Sunday, so they will basically not see their father most of the day and I will be alone most of the day with them on their birthday. (And in case you were wondering, their birthday will land on Father's Day again when Myka is 10 and when she is 15, and I'm assuming about every 5 years after that.)
Kurt's birthday was on June 3, so we spent the day channeling Myka's excitement of knowing that after Daddy's came her birthday, and we decorated a little while Kurt was at work.

What you can't see are all the balloons we hung up, tables we decorated, and popcorn cake I made for him (right before I remembered that he can't eat it anymore). This of course all got Myka very excited for her own big day and the last 13 days (and probably the next 5) have been spent getting ready for that.
Check back soon for pictures of the giant pinata we are making...

Breakthrough!

He is finally hungry.

A month ago Eli would put the following things in his mouth: banana Gerber puffs, rice cereal, oatmeal cookie with frosting, and bread with absolutely no crust. (One time a piece of crust was included and he refused bread for the next week.)

As of today our list includes all of the above plus:
pear, peas, green beans, sweet potato flavored TARGET puffs, formula (a test run before the good stuff runs out), one cheerio, club crackers, crayon, kleenex, and applesauce.

It may be time to move the dog food.

Together Again

Myka and I spent the Saturday before Memorial Day hanging out with my college friends and their "big girls" for a special day together. Since all three girls have had a baby join the family in the last year and all happen to have a birthday within a month of each other, we decided to meet in the middle (Bettendorf) and do something fun (Children's Museum). It was a blast!

The Bohemian Rhapsody exhibit?

The stars of the feature presentation "Two of the Three Sisters and the Scary Dragon"

There was a water exhibit. There were aprons and buckets and lots of play tables to stand at and play. Our girls decided these were hot tubs and all needed a change of clothes before heading back inside. We will bring swim suits next time.

Myka (almost 4), Kelly (almost 3), Michaela (newly 3)

Luckily the sheep and the donkey didn't move too fast so we could snap a quick picture before we rode home.