I signed myself up.

I signed up to be an official co leader of the daisies this year. It goes daisies, brownies then girl scouts. Last year I co led, but the leader just grouped all the girls together. Which was fine, its just that the girls didn't get to work on their troop specific patches. We still got a lot of fun patches, just none of the ones you earn specificly for daisies, brownies, girl scouts.

So hopefully this year will be better. We can work for their badge specific things and follow a more structures group setting. I think we can still meet together and do arts and crafts as a group, but we need 30 mins as our smaller groups to work on their troop specifics. Ha. Who knew miss pink rock nancy would be a co leader in girl scouts?!

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Karl is finally starting to talk.

karl is finally starting to way some words other than mama. In the past week, I've gotten baby, truck, papa, peek a boo, juice, shoes and a few others. Yay! Way to go Karl!

"Peek a boo!" has got to be my favorite. It comes out "pee a boo" and he says it as he uncovers his eyes. I love that he can have so much fun with something as simple as covering and uncovering his eyes. Ahhh, pure baby fun.

I can't wait for the talking to progress. Being able to tell me what's up will help so much. I'm so tired of the grunting and pointing. Its like a game of charades every time he wants something.

Ella and Allison are getting into the groove at school. Allie is doing amazing, I got the report that she follows directions and is eager to raise her hand to answer questions. She loves to learn. Ella, on the other hand, is having trouble following direction. She is falling into the same pattern she had last year, talking out of turn and getting out of her seat. I don't know what to do about it other than talking to her about it everyday after school. She has the punishment of no cartoons if she ends up on a red light during class. She's also had to clean her room by herself. I just don't know what to do about it. Ugh.
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Low betas

Did any of you out there have a low beta which ended up into a viable pregnancy?

karl was my low beta. 15 @ 11dp3dt (or 14dpo). I have a friend going through beta hell and wanted to share success stories with her.

If you had a low beta, tell me your number and dpo please. Thanks!

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Best buy rules.

I bought a DVD player for the girls two years ago and I purchased the warranty plan too. The girls are rough with it, as any two five and six year olds would be, so having a no questions asked warranty plan was a good idea.

In January, I took it in because the power cord was loose and wouldn't stay connected and best buy replaced the player. I even got forty bucks back because the price had changed. Awesome. Well, that DVD player didn't work to well and I already need a new one. I took it in today and they gave me another brand spankin new one again. And the warranty carries over again to the third one. Yay!

When buying electronics for kids, I highly rcommend purchasing the extra warranty. One of the best thirty bucks I've ever spent!

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Food ideas?

Does anyone out there want to share their children's favorite things to eat for breakfast amd lunch? Karl is such a picky eater and I need suggestions of what else to try.

Right now he is eating oatmeal. And he seems to even like it. Amazing! He won't eat pancakes waffles or french toast. He won't eat eggs. He won't eat toast or English muffins or bagels. I just end up getting some fruit down in his tummy.

He eats like a bird. I don't understand how the kid evem gains weight with the amount of food he eats. It makes me feel like a bad mommy when I can't get him to eat a good meal.

So, any suggestions?

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My poor baby boy.

Karl was running into the kitchen and tripped on his own feet. He did a faceplant into the garage door. I watched it like it was in slow motion. I couldn't catch him, instead I watched him land on his face. I feel so very bad for him. He's got a huge goose egg on his forehead now. My poor baby boy!

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How much does your husband help with the kids?

It was a learning curve when Ella was born, but I must say parenting is definately 50/50 now. He used to wait for me to ask him to do this or that, which drive me nuts. I wanted him to just ~do~ whatever needed to be done without me having to ask him to do it. It took a good six months for him to understand this concept. Now he'll do anything. This includes changing diapers to giving all three kids a bath. It's nice. He is such an awesome father. I couldn't ask for anything more.

My favorite thing he does is he will take the kids with him when he has to run an errand. I know plenty of fathers who will take care of the kids when the mommy needs to go somewhere, but there are much less dads who will take the kids with them when he needs to go somewhere. Getting out alone to run errands without the kids is nice, but it is even better when I get a break from the kids alone in the house. There is something about a quiet house, sans children, that I love. Does your husband do this?

That reminds me of a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when a father refers to watching the kids as "babysitting". You're not babysitting dude. You are taking care of your own children! Babysitting happens when you are watching someone else's child(ren)!


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Babysitters and daycare.

I know some women who have never left their children with a babysitter. What do you think about this?

In my humble opinion, I think its good for a child to learn to be without their parents every now and again. I also think it is good for mommy and daddy to spend some time alone sans baby.

Daycare is also something I think is wonderful for the child. I've never had separation anxiety with any of my children and I think having babysitters and daycare played a big role in this. My kids learned that sometimes mommy and daddy leave but we always come back.

Some people are so against daycare and I just don't get it. Being around other kids is so good for them. The socialization aspect is huge in itself. And it also builds up their immune systems.

I see some kindergarteners totally freak out each morning when they are dropped off. And these are the same parents who leave with tears in their eyes. I bet dollars to donuts these kids stayed home with mommy and daddy for their first five years of life. I feel proud when my daughters give me a kiss goodbye and them run into their classrooms to start their day.

I think staying with you child(ren) 24/7 is actually doing a disservice to them. Totally my opinion of course!


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Open house.

We just went to open house at the girls' school. Its still early in the year, but its just so awesome to hear how well your children are doing. Both Ella and Allison are in the high literacy and math groups. It looks as of I have two smart pants on my hands!

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Red Robin. Yum.

Allison picked red robin for her birthday dinner. They sang happy birthday to her and she couldn't of been more thrilled.

Karl was a beast though. He simply did not want to be confined to a high chair. We ate as quickly as we could and got the hell out of there. He is usually such a good baby when we go out. But not this time. It sucked big monkey balls. We ended up having to hold him and walk around with him so he wouldn't bother the other diners. I hate it when other people just let their kids fuss in public, giving no respect to the other people around them. We are certainly not those people.

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Happy birthday my dear Allison!

Wednesday is my sweet Allie's birthday. She is going to be a big 5 year old.

I just went shopping for all the birthday supplies and presents. Now all I need is the food, but I will get that all on Friday.

How in the world I have a five year old and a six year old is beyond me. Time just flies by so quickly. I miss my little babies but I'm also excited to see them grow.
For her birthday party this coming weekend, she wants a water party. So I got water guns and water baloons for all the kids. I will put out a twirly sprinkler and the slip n slide too. Here's hoping the Colorado weather cooperates with me and it'll be a nice, hot day.

Happy birthday my sweet girl.

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Bad mother of the day award goes to me.

I was just sitting at home playing with Karl when my phone rang. It was from one of ella's school mate's mom.

"Are you coming to pick up your kiddos?" she asked.

"Why? Is it an early school day?"

"It's 3:30".

Yeah. School gets out at 3:15. I completely didn't hve track of the time and I failed to pick up my girls from school! Thank god I have a parent friend there to call me and watch them until I got there. I'm a horrible mom!

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the poop diaries.

Karl is a pooping machine, but yesterday took the cake.

I was giving Ella a bath and Karl wanted to get in so I let him. After the bath was done, I was draining the water and I saw it. Ack! Contamination! So off to the shower to clean up both kids again.

As I was drying Ella off, Karl was running around naked. He then came up to me showing me his hands. Yup. He pooped again on the floor and picked it up and smooshed it between his fingers. Into the shower again!

And then today when I picked him up from school, I noticed he was wearing different clothes. I was quickly told he had pooped during nap time and got his hands into it, spreading it all over his clothes and his cot. Gross!

Why in the world is he playing with it? I've heard stories of other kids playing with their poop but my girls never touched theirs. Is this a boy thing? Or am I just lucky I had two kids who skipped this disgusting behavior?

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three days.

In three short days, i'll have two kids in school. I can't believe it. Where did the time go?

I'm excited for Allison to start kindergarten. She loves to learn and I think being in school will come natural to her. She wants to be like her big sister so badly. Going to school is just that step she'll need to get there. Soon she'll be reading and writing just like Ella. I'm so excited for her.

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$180

I just got done buying the girls' school supplies. $180! I can't believe the amount of things on their list. Five reams of copy paper. Markers. Paint. Playdough. Paper towels. Hand sanitizer. Pencils. Erasers. Stickers. Towels for rest time. The list goes on and on.

I lucked out in finding everything I needed in one store though. That was nice. Actually, I didn't find a painting smock. Where in the heck will I find that one?
Now I have to lug it all to the school. But at least the hard part is done. Whew!

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