A couple relatives brought to my attention that the local newspaper, The Star Tribune, was having a cutest baby contest. Naturally I had to enter in Rory. I didn't end up using my favorite picture of her - stupid human error, and really, cutest baby is in the eye of the beholder but would you mine going there, creating an account and voting for her?

If I win, I plan to use the money towards our playground fund. Think of how big the playground could be if we won, or even became a runner up?!

So go to the link here and vote ever hour through today:

http://startribune.upickem.net/engine//Welcome.aspx?contestid=15579

(She is currently on page 16, I don't know if they'll move her or not.)

Max had his very first accident free day! He stayed dry all day long and he even used the big potty for one bathroom visit. I couldn't be more proud of my little man! Hopefully he keeps it up; I have one more week to meet my 2nd birthday hope.

Of course, I expect him to have the occasional accident but we're still averaging at least one if not two accidents a day. I need a few more dry days in a row before we upgrade to the regular big boy undies. Wish us luck!

Auntie Andrea and Chris live directly behind us. There are about 4 acres between our two houses, so it isn't like we can look into each other's windows, but they share the backyard border with us. With the warmer weather, Andrea has taken to yelling out her kitchen window at Max whenever we're outside and she's home and see's us. It's cute, although Max doesn't seem to get that he has to yell back. He usually just stares or talks very, very quietly.

Yesterday morning while we were getting ready for our day, Max walked over to the window and started pointing outside and saying "Auntie" and "Chris". This isn't anything new and I just did what I normally do and say yes, they do live over there. Well then he started yelling "Ove you!, Chris!, Auntie!, Ove you!". Then after he didn't get any response back he just turned from the window and went on with his day. So, he doesn't quite understand that you can't just yell at the window and they'll magically appear, but it was cute to see him at least trying!

We also had a bit of a photo op yesterday so I figured I'd better post a couple of my favorites. We've been working with Max on saying that he is "two" and showing it with his fingers. If you ask him how old he is, more than likely he'll say "tree". Why he says three instead of two I don't know, it's quite frustrating. And then he'll usually hold up four fingers, but that is because he's still learning to hold down two of them. So here he is practicing showing two fingers.

Rory was having a grand old time watching Max play and mommy chasing him around saying "two" to his "tree". She's been very much enjoying spiting, by blowing between her lips or sticking her tongue out saying "plllllll". It is funny and she loves when you do it back.

She also started to attempt clapping. Whenever we'd clap she's slap her left hand into her right. We should have her clapping with both hands in no time! Also, apparently she was waving to Max and my parents this weekend. We weren't successful in getting her to copy us at that last night, but she was really into the clapping so we'll try again tonight!

Dusty and I got our weekend away. He insisted I couldn't call it a staycation since we left the state. (Yeah, we went to Minnesota, a whopping 15 minute drive to the border from our house. He's such a dork!) The week leading up to it and then the weekend was, well, for lack of a better word at this moment, I'll say full of irony.

To start, Monday I got my hair done and my eyebrows waxed only to hate the color and then spend so much time thinking about it I wasn't paying attention to the woman waxing my eyebrows and she made them way thinner than I've ever had them. They aren't pencil thin, so I can't complain too much, but by Tuesday my eyebrows were surrounded by a major break out. Yeah, so much for trying to look cute for my husband on our weekend away.

Thursday Dusty's car started to leak coolant and on Friday Dusty was about 10 miles from home in the truck when he lost power steering and his breaks stopped working. I came home to him exasperated and also feeling ill. We quickly loaded the kids up and shipped them off to my parent's house where we left them with the van and used my mom's car. Now my mom loves her car, Dusty on the other hand, hates that he can't ever sit comfortably in it. My mom has a Ford Mustang convertible. I believe it is a GT too but I'm not really into cars so I can't be positive. It would have been nice to have the convertible had the forecast not called for rain all weekend, as we would have had a bit more head room with the top down. Instead Dusty was crammed in and I was forced to do most of the driving. Either way, it was nice of them to let us trade cars since I had promised them the van and we no longer had another car to get us around.

We were determined to do something Friday night, even if it was just to get dinner and then go to bed early. So we stopped at General Sam's which we know we like and the service is usually really fast. (Plus, Andrea was working so we could stop and see her too.) Well the service was horrible, the worst we had ever seen. It took us forever to get out of there but we didn't leave without a $10 gift certificate for our troubles, so at least we know General Sam's cares about our patronage when they are short staffed! I'd still recommend them. We returned home to crash and slept for almost 11 hours! Yeah, we needed it after our horrendous week.

We woke up and were determined not to do anything around the house. So we ended up leaving around 10:30am. Yup, we had to leave the house to prevent ourselves from doing anything. We did some shopping on our way to our hotel which was fun. We stopped for lunch in Woodbury and to our dismay were seated in what we can only assume was the family section. So here we are, childless and I am enjoying my 2 for 1 Sangrias and Dusty his beer while surrounded by children crying, laughing, talking, and screaming. Dusty just looks at me and says "is this a sign?" We finished lunch, checked into our hotel and then went to MOA to shop. We ended up spending so much time there we didn't have enough time to return to the hotel so I could change and dress up for our dinner date. Yet another chance to look good for my husband and have it fall through. So we checked into the comedy club only to find out that the comedian we were supposed to see ended up falling ill so there was a sub instead. We did get complimentary tickets to go back before July in exchange, which was nice, but it just summed up our weekend away, not quite up to our expectations.

But here's the thing, Dusty and I laughed the whole time. Some people would have let all of this just get them down and put them in a horrific mood. Dusty and I were so happy and excited to just have some time to just the two of us that it didn't matter. When we realized that we were cutting it too close for a return trip to the hotel we decided to go on a rollercoaster at the mall's theme park instead. If you know Dusty, you know he gets motion sick, so the fact that he was all for going on the rollercoaster with me just shows how much he still cares. And I was so excited to get to go on my first rollercoaster in over 2 years with him. It was great! I'm so glad I married a man that I can laugh with at the worst of times. I hope we can always be that way.

So that was the end to our ironic week and weekend. Sunday we left the hotel, stopped to pick up a 4th vehicle for Dusty. He worked on cars and I cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. But you know what, it was nice for us to get our alone time too. I mean, it isn't often we are childless for a whole weekend and don't already have a ton of plans in place, so I know we both benefited from being alone also and getting the things done that we wanted to get done. And that is also why I know I married the right man, he and I respect our needs for independence just as much as we understand our desires for quality couple time.

OK, I'm done with the sappy stuff. Just don't let it be known that I never said I love my husband on my blog, because I certainly do!

Last night was not so great. Dusty took Rory to the doctor and we were correct in assuming she has an ear infection. She only had the infection in one ear with some redness in the other so at least we're getting better at reading the signs and catching them early! They decided to give us a different medication to try and help with all the mucus coming out of her eyes. Yes, as previously noted, it is disgusting.

We put her dosage in her evening bottle and Dusty put her to bed afterwards. About an hour later she woke up unhappy and I went and consoled her. She never fully fell back asleep, but she was flailing all about while snoring so I put her back in her crib. She settled down, Dusty fell asleep to the TV and I got wrapped up in the book I'm reading. (Will Grayson, Will Grayson - uber good.) I finally put the book down and turned the TV off to hear Rory screaming. Dusty woke up and looked at me and I said, "how did we miss that?" I went upstairs to see that she had thrown up in her crib and got herself  in the process. So I changed her, calmed her down and gave her some Motrin in hopes it would help out.

I have her sprawled on my chest and she has relaxed but is turning her head back and forth. Next thing I know she is vomiting all over my chest. And not just a little bit! I saw food she must have had for lunch because I know we didn't feed her some of the food that ended up on me. I get Dusty to come upstairs and he grabs Rory and gets her in the tub. I, meanwhile, strip off my shirt and am walking around topless trying to hurry up and gather everything that needs to be washed. Well, all our shades were wide open so I'm doing everything I can in the dark in case the neighbors - who live acres away - see me. Yes, it was late and I was tired so I didn't want to go all the way downstairs to get a new shirt figuring I'd just do it after we got everything cleaned up. I know, I know, I'm still chuckling about how stupid that whole scenario played out to be, all I can say in my defense is that I was a bit shell shocked. I had just been vomited on and I couldn't run away, I had to clean it all up too!

After her bath Dusty and I give her more Motrin figuring that she didn't get any from throwing up and he gives her a bottle while I go downstairs to get a new shirt and crawl into bed. I just got into bed to have Dusty yelling at me that it's my turn. Rory threw up all over him halfway into her bottle! So this time I call the nurses line and am putting in my message while cleaning up. Luckily it wasn't as big of a mess and we mainly just had to get Dusty some clean clothes, get Rory clean clothes (pajamas #4 now) and strip the guest bed. Dusty is of course smarter than me and gets clean clothes right away instead of trying to hide from the neighbors - ha ha!

By the time the nurse actually called back we pretty much could tell Rory was going to be fine and that the meds for her ear infection probably just didn't sit well with her stomach. We think she made herself throw up the first time from crying so hard and that the other two times were because of the Motrin. Both times she got Motrin last night she threw up within minutes and when we gave her Tylenol she slept the rest of the night.

She's at daycare today. I didn't mention the vomiting since she's obviously not sick and that would have kept her out today; she was just reacting to the medication and isn't contagious with anything. They know she has an ear infection and that the meds weren't settling well so they are keeping an extra good eye on her. She did great with her meds this morning and we'll just make sure to medicate her with her dinner tonight to put a bit more in her tummy beforehand to aid with its digestion.

Dusty and I, well we are still shocked that Rory was the first to vomit on both of us. Being that Max is older we figured it would have been him, but nope, Rory wanted to be the first at something!

Teeth and ears. Why can't babies just be born with teeth already in place and ears that are slanted to help with draining?!

Over the past 4 days Max has been extremely clingy, whiney, easily upset but of course, a perfect angel at daycare. First we saw the tip of one eye tooth, then we saw another, yesterday we saw the third so I can only predict that the fourth is going to show up tonight and it will be official - Max will be sprouting all 4 eye teeth at one time! The poor guy, I know it hurts as he cries a lot at meal times when he tries to bite down on something. Thankfully Motrin seems to work for bedtime and he hasn't woken up more than once this week yet.

Rory has had her cold now for a couple weeks. She has been so congested that her eyes are getting stuck shut because the boogers are coming out of her eyes too. Yes, it is really gross. She has been perfectly pleasant when you're not wiping her nose or eyes and she hasn't had a fever but we know our Rory; she will be visiting with the pediatrician this afternoon to see if an ear infection has sprouted. She has woken up 3 out of the last 5 nights which is very unlike her so that is our sign to get her checked out.

This is when I feel I need to break out into song and sing something like "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love ya tomorrow..." just to remind myself it isn't always going to be like this. One very adorable story to share. Max is getting better and better at combining words to make phrases. Last night Daddy brought him downstairs to give me a kiss and to say I love you Mommy. What does Max say? "Ove U....Mommy"! It just melted all my tensions away.

Ten years ago today, Dusty and I became an official couple. We've been together for a decade now and I'd like to tell you it has gone by really fast, but the reality is we've changed a lot in those ten years and while at times things have flown by, I can say it has felt like 10 years - in a good way.

This is at prom our junior year, about 2 weeks after we became an official couple. It was a great night of dancing and laughing and just being young! I suppose I should share the story of how we met since it really was only about 2 months before this, but I think I'll save that for another time.

I wish I could say we had a great anniversary but Dusty still isn't home and I was running around all afternoon with appointments. Dusty did put a delicious bar of dark chocolate in my car this morning that I found while leaving for work, he obviously knows the way to my heart! Plus, my parents are taking the kids this weekend so we will get to have some one-on-one time.

Rory also turned the big 7 months old today, so I had to squeeze in her pictures with all our plans. I have 2 favorites, I hate choosing. I mean, I should choose the smile one but the other one catches just how big and adorable those blue eyes are.

Which do you think I should use?

Rory started saying "Dada" this weekend. She isn't so much saying "Dada" as she is saying "dadadadadada" but of course Dusty insists that this counts. Plus, that is how Max started too, and a short while later he shortened it to "Dada". So now I have a talking baby and she isn't even 7 months old yet! I guess we know who takes after her Mama with the love of gab!

Rory was busy talking and entertaining all weekend and she had good reason too. We spent a good chunk of our time outside working on our yard. We brought in over 4 ton of rock to put around our house, which meant moving the mulch that was already there then unloading all the rock. It was tiring and I had plan that evening so I was really pushing myself to help get it done.

Auntie Ta-Ta came over and she helped watch the kids and even did some manual labor. (She'd be mad if I didn't mention the manual labor part.) Randy and Ashley also showed up in the evening to help out since I had to leave. I think they enjoyed the pizza I ordered as a thank you. Tara forgot her sunglasses so Sunday morning we took a couple pictures to send her on Facebook.

Yeah, they were pretty excited to play with the sunglasses!

The rock looks great, now we just have some other small projects to do and most of our yard work should be done. Of course, this will all have to be done over the course of the week in the evenings since spring has sprung and with it comes lots of plans. I seriously don't understand how my weekends can fill up so quickly and so quietly. At least they all should be fun!

I knew there would be moments that my children would make me laugh out loud. I didn't realize there would be moments that laughing out loud would be inappropriate.

Take for example the other night at dinner, Max was not happy with eating (he usually isn't anymore as he'd rather still be outside playing) and was dragging his fork across the table rather violently. Dusty took the fork and once Max calmed down Dusty asked him if he was ready to eat his dinner.

Max : "Yes"
Dusty: "If I give you your fork back are you going to eat with it nicely?"

Max not only said "No" but also gave Dusty what I can only assume is the warning look I give Max as a warning when he is being naughty. You know the look: the eyes that glare at you with a sideways glance and the stern face that says "you're pushing me to the edge here".

I instantly broke out into a huge grin and tried to cover my mouth so it wouldn't show but Max saw my eyes and knew I was smiling. He breaks out in this triumphant grin and says "MAMA". That's when I lost it and let loose a huge laugh. Luckily it defused the situation and we were all able to eat our dinner rather peacefully.

Now the question is, did I encourage him to act out again? Did I encourage him to use that look to get out of trouble? I've only seen him use it three times now, and all three times I've broken out into a huge laugh. This has to stop, I need to get control of myself. The last thing I need is for Max to learn he can give me a warning look to get out of trouble. How do you stop laughing at these inappropriate times when he looks so cute with that grown up expression on his face?!

I am struggling with where to start with this blog as I have adorable pictures to share, exciting potty news and a terrible, terrible story. I think I'll post the terrible first so the good sticks with you more since you read it last.

Dusty, that loving man that my children call "Daddy" was laughing as Max picked his nose Sunday morning. Max has recently discovered this new ability and I was teaching him how to put the boogers onto a Kleenex. (Yes, I would have loved to stop the whole deed, but that isn't working so I might as well teach him to not rub the boogers everywhere!) My lovely husband decided to tell Max to eat his booger on his finger. My disgusted cry out of "No!" only encouraged Max more and in pops the booger. Seriously! His father taught him that! I would have predicted an uncle, but no, his own father. Not even 30 minutes later Dusty is crying out disgustedly, "No Max" and then tells me Max picked between his toes and put that in his mouth. Well? What did he expect!

So now that the horrible story is documented for always, let's get on to more exciting stuff, like adorable pictures of Max, Rory and their cousin Lyla.

We had a fun weekend with Lyla as we hung out with them most of the day Saturday. We went over there to play for a while and then later we all went to Randy and Ashley's to celebrate Cecil's 20th birthday. Here they are getting into trouble behind the shed at Lyla's house. Doesn't Lyla's face just give it away?

They had a great time going down the slide at Randy and Ashley's. Max was doing it like a pro in no time!

Lyla...well, she did figure it out, but this picture was too funny not to post! Curt's face at the top of the slide is just perfect. You knew she wasn't hurt so all you could do was laugh.

And my sweet Rory got her first tastes of crackers and loved them!

It was a nice weekend with family and the best part?! Max stayed dry whenever we were in the house. We only had accidents when he was outside, otherwise he would tell us when he had to go potty. You'd think that would be great enough, but even greater is that on Sunday evening he told us he had to go potty while we were still outside! So he may even start working towards not having accidents outside. I couldn't be happier and more proud of my little man!

As most of you probably expected, the parent teacher conference was fine. It wasn't nearly as exciting as I built it up to be in my head. They pretty much just went over all of his developmental milestones and filled us in on the goals they have for him right now (like learning colors) and made sure that we didn't have any specific goals that they weren't working on. Like I said, it was fine, nothing too exciting.

Max did surprise Dusty and I the other night though by deciding to read to Rory. We had set Rory in a chair so she could still watch everyone in the kitchen as we prepared dinner and Max ran around. Well the next thing you know, he has decided to grab a book and crawl into the chair with Rory. It was so cute.

Dusty snapped a couple pictures of it while I continued to act normal so Max wouldn't get excited to see the camera and jump up.

Dusty was crouching at our island to prevent Max from seeing the camera. Yes, these are the things parents do to try to capture those special moments. He really is a great big brother, and Rory loves him for it!

We have our first parent teacher conference today at daycare. We only have the conference for Max; Rory is too little so they don't set them up unless requested by the parents. I know, he isn't even 2 yet and I'm going to a parent teacher conference!

I actually think this is a great idea, they are trained to be teachers in a classroom taking additional education courses twice a year, and they learn to watch out for troublesome signs. Of course, they don't diagnose, but they at least can give parents a heads up if something seems off. Now, knowing all of this, it makes me a bit nervous going in.

Don't get me wrong, we have excellent communication with Max's teachers as it is. So really, I don't know what they could discuss with us that we haven't already discussed. But that is just it, the unknown, that is what makes me nervous. When did I get this old? And more importantly, how did it come so fast?!

Here's to looking forward to my first parent teacher conference and hearing them sing their praises of my bright, amazing little boy! (Or so I hope.)

Easter was fun. I couldn't get over how much stuff the kids got for Easter and enjoyed making the occasional Christmas joke but in reality it is great that they are so loved. Here I am with the kids showing them everything they got.

They also had another set of Easter baskets at the lake with Bopa and Nana. (As Max has taken to calling her.) Since they spent the weekend up there with them and their Aunties. (As noted in my previous post about my day off.) So they were very spoiled little kids, luckily they don't show that too much. Rory wasn't very interested in her toys, she wanted to eat the plastic "grass" in the basket.

Obviously not a good idea, but cute to see.

We headed over to Dusty's parent's house for Easter where we got to spend time with the family. It was a beautiful day and most of us spent it outside. Thankfully there was sunscreen to hand around or else a lot of us would have looked like lobsters. We kept Rory in a stroller and out of the sun, I'm still too nervous to put sunscreen on her. I'll do it, eventually, I just didn't want to get her all blotchy for Easter. Max had a great time and even got in a nice swing with cousin Anna.

Yeah, they're cute!

I hope everyone else had a great Easter. Now on to yet another busy week!

A day to myself means:

I get some shopping done, but don't find a pair of jeans which are desperately needed.
I forget to eat lunch while running around trying to find said jeans.
I stop myself from impulse buying for Dusty, the kids, or the house more times than I can count.
I get a pedicure.
I love my pedicure.
I come home and tear apart my house getting everything ready for the garage sale that is over a month away.
I run to the store to get price tags.
I tag all the stuff.
I repack and move all the stuff to storage since I don't want it in my way for the next month.
I sit on the couch and watch "Sweet Home Alabama" on TV even though we own the movie.
I finish a bag of Doritos.
I love Doritos.
I fall asleep.

Don't you wish you had such an amazing life? haha

Anyway, I wasn't kidding about tearing my house apart. Look at this:

I'll be ready come May!

Andrea is on spring break from school this week and decided to pick the kids up from daycare and take them to the zoo. It sounds like they had a really great time as Max told me about all the animals they saw. Rory greeted me with this beautiful face:

OK, so maybe the face isn't quite as beautiful as we're used to. She had a reaction to the sunscreen while at the zoo. So she did get sun burnt, but most of the red is actually a reaction as she also has patches in her neck which would not have seen much sun. We were actually fortunate that this happened yesterday because Rory already had an appointment scheduled to get her ears checked. The ears were clear and the pediatrician gave us some suggestions for sunscreens for my sensitive skinned baby. So it was good timing for her to have the reaction - whether we like it or not.

Andrea and Chris stayed over and played with the kids for a while. They got Max a giant "honeycomb" ball for rolling in and decided to inflate that and try it out. Max liked climbing in and out of it, but he didn't care so much for the actual rolling part. Here he is hanging out with Auntie after a little rolling. Hence, the watery eyes.

Chris was a champ and when he wasn't pushing Auntie or Max around in the ball he did his part in swinging with Rory on the porch swing. Aren't they adorable in their white shirts?

So it was another fun day in the sun for the kids. I do enjoy this warm weather, especially because it gives me a chance to find things to blog about on a more regular basis. Nothing like journaling the growth of my children and being able to look back and enjoy these little stories. Don't get me wrong, I love sharing all of this, but I really keep this blog just so I know I have a place that records the everyday moments. How else will I remember all of this as they grow?

Before you call child protection services, please note that the blade is not on the lawn mower. Otherwise, this Mama would not have been behind the camera and instead chasing down and beating her husband. He He. 

The kids were outside enjoying the beautiful day and Daddy decided it was time for Max to learn how to steer and Rory to go for her first lawn tractor ride. It was pretty cute!

Look at that concentration - tongue out and all!

Max also got to take Rory for a stroll in the yard. He really likes pushing her around now.

Unfortunately, Rory doesn't enjoy the slow pace and getting the sun in her eyes. So Daddy had to go save her eventually.

Outside of this Rory seems to really enjoy the outdoors just like her brother. I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time outside this spring. Of course, that doesn't upset me at all, who doesn't want to play outside in 70 degree weather?