So I Just Gotta Know . . . .

. . . Who is my friend in Paton, Iowa? I pride myself in knowing all the little towns in Iowa, but Paton - that one is new to me.

Hi Baby Girl

Little Natalie Lorraine Keller made her way into the world yesterday, and we are so happy to have her next door. We got to see today, and she's adorable. But it made me so sad - the Kellers are in the same room we were in when we had the twins. It brought back so many emotions.

Well, we couldn't be happier for you guys. We are delighted to be able to share in your joy. We love you much!

It's Saturday!

Emma and Faith

Eddie and Joni


Joni and Mom


Grace's program last night was fantastic! Seriously, I can't say enough good things about it or the music program in general at her school. She was so happy - thank you all for coming.

All Four Down the Hill

Grace Says, "Best Day Ever!"

I don't think any more children could have fit on the tube. The twins had such a huge smile happening. This is livin!

Jessica Allowed This to Happen

Bring on Prom - I'm ready!

Bad Little Babies

I'm aware that my picture quality isn't as high as normal, but I've been playing around with posting directly from my Blackberry - which means instant good times.

The girls have been pretty naughty lately, and we had to have a stern talk last night about behaving because we love Britni and we do not want her to quit!

The latest trick involves taking off their diapers. Since they are doing so well at potty training, they think the diaper thing is for the birds. In an instant, and I mean instant, they can strip down to their bare bottoms. If one twin encounters difficulties, the other will bend down and help her sister. Sometimes those tabs can be tricky when you're in a hurry.

Nap time is such a pain. You walk out of the room, only to find that they are diaperless when you peek back in.

The video is from last night. I had just changed them, and ran downstairs to change laundry. When I came back up, Josie was white with lotion and Jennie thought she needed a bath. No diapers. BUT Josie did go over and use the potty.

Maybe this is worth it . . . .

Twitter

I'm sitting in my board meeting right now and I'm all excited about twitter. Blog is getting better!

Update: Ok, I'm doin' it. Humor me in my interest in multimedia and social networking - "follow me" and my tweets. I also added a "follow the blog" icon. Hook up on that, too. Eddie, thank you, you already did it!

Mellencamp Knows Just What to Say

I realize no one cares about the fact that it has been an "all Mellencamp all day" day, but I'm just going to put it out there, anyway. I'll take ugly for a soul as beautiful as his lyrics.

Kissing Babies

They take turns being the aggressor when it comes to love. Usually, one tries to play hard to get - much to the delight of the other one. It's more fun that way. A hard-earned kiss.

I love that they have so much empathy, too. Faith was in time-out last night, sobbing from the injustice, and both twins wrapped their arms around her.

And then Jennie, my sweet, sweet Jennie, gave Faith her blanket. The ultimate gesture of true love.

Potty Mouth

I sat outside the bathroom the other night holding my video camera, thinking I was happiest girl in the world.

There were four little girls inside. Two on the potty. One providing verbal prompts. One playing the role of cheerleader.

There are two little potty chairs in there for the twins. They sit side-by-side. Josie thinks the blue one is hers, and Jennie straddles the pink one.

Josie means business. The baby girl that won't stop moving all of a sudden becomes glued to her potty. Glued. Focused. She has a game face that resembles a strained expression. She's there to prove something.

Jennie, whose potty is probably a little too high for her, works pretty hard at getting on the thing. And since the journey to the top is so much fun, she immediately slides her bottom off, and then turns around to do it again.

Josie starts clapping. Clapping is her sign of victory. Jennie springs into action. She knows how she can be most helpful. She runs over, unrolls a square of toilet paper, and hands it to her sister. Jennie can be counted on every time for backup support. She's a gem.

The prompting sister prompts Josie to wipe. And she does. Then she proceeds to wipe her nose, too. Same square. Different parts wiped. I have the "grossed out" moans on tape from Grace and Faith. I remind them that Josie's actions must be learned behavior. No one wants to take credit.

High fives all around. And clapping. And happiness.

All on tape.

The Chronicles of a Crazy Lady

Yep. I be that crazy lady.

*So outside my window is a conversion van for sale. Burgundy and pink striped. It's hard to tell from my vantage point, but it seems like the curtains are plaid. I've been thinking all day long about driving that bad boy on a grand adventure. Or at least to Billy's.

*Grace got that "How To Be Glamorous" book for Christmas, and she's really poured over it. She's been wanting me to add perfume to the wash cycle and has worn lipstick the last three times we've been out of the house. I'm thinking maybe I should hide the book, however. The other night, based on the book's suggestion of a mood board, she cut pictures out of a magazine and pinned them to her bulletin board. This morning as I was trying to determine which panties were clean and which were dirty in her room, I took a good look at the board. She'd cut out all these pictures of beautiful women. Perfect and airbrushed. She's 8. And I'm obsessing over the fact that I did this to her. My standing in front of the mirror, fussing with some shirt that doesn't hang right, and complaining about my too-thin frame and stuffing my bra with chicken-like aids. I have done her no favors. I really haven't. So I'm becoming more aware of my messaging. I'm want her to know what beautiful really is. I'm going to swap her book out for some poetry and tell her to stay away from men.

*I read my book "Revolutionary Road" with great excitement, imagining Leonardo on the big screen, only to find out that the movie is not playing in a theater near me. And I think that's shit.

*Grace, Faith, Emma and Josh made up a song that talks about Europe being a "throw away country." Ok, despite the fact that Europe is not, in fact, a country, the lyrics are truly moving.

*God, I could go on forever. That's the problem.

After you fall in love, it is really hard to say goodbye.

So there were a few lessons learned from this experience . . .

1. Nellie didn't really eat too much.
2. An afternoon spent witnessing the births of puppies is really an afternoon well spent.
3. It's a lot of fun to watch little girls fall in love.
4. Sometimes you just have to listen to your inner voice even though the result might be harder.
5. When puppies smell, they need a bath.
6. It's no problem if it makes a little girl feel better for a little bit.
7. Sometimes logic doesn't make the hurt go away.

I guarantee you, they won't forget this.