CORRECTION!!! Justin's b-day is 12/8 not 12/6.

Happy 5 month Birthday Ilwy and almost 2 years Jutin

Thats how Justin says his and her name. Actually, her 5 month mark was yesterday. Well, she is officially rolling all which ways now. I knew she was because she wouldn't be where I put her, but I hadn't seen her do more than a single roll. This past week has been full of back to fronts and front to backs and wiggles and squirming to get ahold of something she sees or just "taste" whatever is close. Neither of the boys were army crawlers, but I wonder if she will be. Her back end just wants to get up and go, but the front hasn't figured it out yet. During the last bath she had, she rolled onto her belly the entire time, each time taking in water through the mouth and nose. The boys both did that 1 time and never again after that. She must have a harder time learning some lessons.

Justin will be 2 on the 6th, and he is all boy. He always has bumps and bruises and scrapes and ouwies. He can count to 10, he is trying to learn colors (He seems to have "ilber" down really good. That would be because of the silver balls on the tree.). He is doing ok with shapes, altho octagon is his favorite to say. He sings along to a lot of the songs we sing regularly, and when Austin says prayer at breakfast and lunch, he chimes in. He seems to be interested in taking off his diaper to sit on the big potty, but not interested in making anything happen.

Confessions of a shopaholic

I need help. I mean REAL help. I need a 12 step program. I need to cancel my Sunday paper and throw away the grocery store ads before I even open them. It's just that when I see them in the ads "On Sale" and I happen to have coupons for them, I buy them. Lots of them. I mean, really, LOTS of them. It's the thrill of how cheap I can get them. We can't even eat anywhere close to what I buy. I don't even like most of them. But I buy them anyway. The ones I do like I REALLY like. And a couple I actually cook with. I will be giving LOTS away as gag Christmas gifts. It's a disease. It's a silly disease, but a disease none the less. I think it stems from us kids not having them around when we were growing up. Mom had them, but they were yucky ones. Yes, I am speaking of boxes of cereal. I bought 24 more tonight. I already had about that many, not including the additional 10 I had set aside for Christmas gifts.

Clarification....the golf ball was under my lower back but NOT in my pants. Thank you.

First laughs, Found fingers, Finally mobile?, Finally sentences, and a Golf ball

Lily began laughing out-loud , for the first time, a couple of weekends ago. Matt was making faces at her while she was lying on the bed. (I believe that is the same way Austin began laughing out loud.) This past Saturday night I caught her staring down her fingers, for the first time, as if they were little aliens. That always cracks me up. (Side bar: Austin said to me the other night, "Mommy, do you crack me up?") Anyway, Lily started rolling from her back to her right side yesterday. Still just 1 roll 1 time.....I thought.....until today when I laid her on the floor, head facing the kitchen, between the living room and the kitchen. (I have found that if I turn the hall light on she sorta hangs out there for a bit w/o fussing.) We sat down to eat dinner and I would glance over at her just to see what she was doing. (I can't talk to her too much or watch her too long if she is watching me because then she tends to start crying.) At one point when I looked at her, she was gone. Part way down the hall, head facing down the hall, on her belly. I have no idea how she did it. She was wriggling a lot. But while I watched her for several minutes, she didn't actually get anywhere. So, did she roll several times to get there? Did she wriggle around just enough to push herself there? Got me.

Justin has been talking in longer sentences for the past couple of weeks, and answering with the right words to certain situations. For instance, when I call his name now, instead of coming to me he answers back "What?" When I tell him to do something, or not to do something, he asks "Why?" And, 2 days ago I was pretty sure he was trying to tattle-tale on Austin, due to the words that I understood in his very long sentence "Austin.......Justin....." and the ever-popular tattle-tale pitch in his voice. That was confirmed when the very next day he came to me crying and very clearly said, "Austin pushed Justin down." Oh boy, here we go!

A few nights ago when I was in bed for the night, in between Lily and Justin, I was reading something. As I lay there for awhile, I was a little preoccupied with a slightly uncomfortable feeling in my lower back. I assumed it was just the tag and seam of my pants being in a jumbled mess. When I was certain the kids were asleep, I got up to do some work, as I often do. I reached back to fix my pants when what do you think I found? Yes, a golf ball. Thank you Justin.

From the freezer to freezing.

That's me with my head in the freezer, using my hair dryer to defrost our "frost free" freezer, sitting on a cooler full of frozen food, holding what soon became a sleeping baby. The picture says it all.











A very cool zoo pic from this past Monday, the warmest day of the week (the news said). I froze, and the ENTIRE rest of the week was nicer than Monday. Thank you God for a family day at the zoo .

Lily at 4 months

She weighed in at 14#9oz and she was 25" long. The Dr. took notice of her extremely sculpted abs as she watched her do stomach crunches during her check up (that's what she looks like she is doing as she raises her head up as far as she can while lying flat on her back).