Daughters....

It's funny but I never expected Caroline to be a momma's girl. Yes, I know, that sounds silly to say but it's true. For some reason, I always thought Caroline would be closer to Tim then me and be "Daddy's Girl"...there are various reasons for that which will be explained in the future...

Alas, that is not that case. She is all about momma and gets very excited when I enter the room and cries when I leave. It melts my heart and I love it! And, I will admit, she has me wrapped. She cries and I'm there. She puts up her arms and I'm there. She laughs at something I do and I'm there. You get the picture...

Let's not forget Hannah though who is the quintessential momma's girl too. I love to hear her say, "I love you mom." And her excitement when I come home. HOWEVER, she loves to hang out with Daddy too. In fact, I may put her to bed but it's Daddy who has the last "Goodnight" and that melts my heart too.

I remember asking my Dad long ago did he regret having four girls and his response: "Not for a second. All of you are unique and I love you each for who you are." And I couldn't agree more...more specifically, I think Tim couldn't agree more.

Discovering pets...

Tomorrow Caroline will be officially 8 months old and I truly can't believe it! In four short months we'll be celebrating her one year birthday. Where has the time gone?! She's doing all sorts of new things from rolling constantly to scooting/army crawling to laughing to teething to discovering Felix and Ethel exist. Yes, that last part is really quite amusing.

Until recently Caroline didn't know Felix existed even when he would walk right by her. However, it's now an entirely different story. Whenever Felix is even in the room Caroline notices, squeals and tries to grab him. Most of the time he isn't close enough for her to touch but on the rare occasion he is, it's funny and precious to see them interact.

I've often said Felix is like a dog and around Caroline he is that. When she can reach out to him, he merely rolls onto his back hoping for a little belly rub, no matter what form that takes. She happily obliges but it's more of a pat and pull of the fur. But to Felix, it makes no difference b/c there's another person in the house paying attention to him and that's all he needs...

Farming...

I'm a farmer's wife. There I admitted it...yup, I know about soybeans, corn, winter wheat, John Deere and all that good stuff. I didn't start out that way...in fact, never pictured myself on a farm. At all. But low and behold, I met an engineering student in college who I fell in love with and POOF we now live on a little farm.

Okay, so I don't have animals in the barn but I do have tractors big and small, not to mention all the "extra" equipment that comes with it... sigh. Hannah, who's three, will be in 4-H soon (or so I'm told) and I'm sure animal raising is in our immediate future.

Here's the surprising thing: I actually like my little farm. But shh..don't tell Tim b/c he may just want to buy more land, and, well, I'm not up for that. Just yet!

"You know you love me!"

Hannah, dear sweet, Hannah....she may look like her father but she is all me in personality! This weekend was no exception. You see Hannah is willful...and knows it. She loves to push the envelope to see how far she can take it. BUT does it with such manners that you sorta start to question yourself as to whether you're too hard on her. But, alas as her mom, I recognize that it's just her being her and no, I need to be firm!

Her favorite phrases when she gets caught doing something she shouldn't OR, better yet, when something happens that shouldn't...."It's an accident. It happens." AND "You know you love me mom!" I'll admit, she usually has a point with both phrases...but there are still lessons for her to learn and I make sure I point them out.

Case in point: Hannah decided to play with her markers, upstairs and in her room. I didn't see her take them up there (we have a rule that she's only to play with them in the office or kitchen due to the ease of cleaning the floors!)...in fact, I think I was feeding Caroline at the time, hence, was distracted. After a few minutes of silence, I head up to investigate. And there is Hannah playing with her markers and paper in her room. Looks innocent enough at first. Then as I peer closer I see she is covered in marker as is a portion of the new carpet in her room.

One can guess what followed out of my mouth. But out of Hannah's: "Mommy, it was an accident. It's okay. It happens." And then "You know you love me mommy!!" Thank goodness she's cute... =)

Two girls and a mommy out to dinner...

I remembered the Serenity Prayer in detail tonight as I attempted to take Hannah and Caroline out to dinner. For the first time. By myself. At a sit down restaurant. Yes, that's right...I'm insane. To be fair it was Bob Evans and normally they're pretty quick. But tonight was one of those off nights and we ended up taking the food home b/c Hannah was two seconds away from a total meltdown. I thought fast and made it out relatively unscathed but it wasn't pretty and I probably had the wild "what the hell am I doing?" look all across my face.

It started out well with Hannah sitting in her seat eating yogurt while Caroline sat in the high chair happily looking around and eating baby food. As I watched both of them, I thought "Wow, look at me I'm having dinner out with my girls!" INSERT LAUGHTER HERE...

And it was like that for awhile until Hannah decided she had to go to the potty over and over again AND that she was done sitting. I had hope (still) when the food arrived b/c the pancakes intrigued her with their smiley faces made out of whipped cream. BUT then...

"I don't like whipped cream mommy!" came from her mouth and at that moment I knew a meltdown was inevitable. You see Hannah loves whipped cream and would eat it by the spoonfuls if I let her...

So, I swooped Caroline up into the carrier, motioned for the waitress, boxed up the food and tried to pay the bill as quickly as possible. Alas, Hannah managed a mini meltdown b/f we left as she spilled her cup of milk all over the floor...but the people at Bob Evans just smiled and said don't worry. I think their smile was one of sympathy...and I thank them for it.

I'll try again...someday.