The After Effects

Yes, the fact that I am writing this post means that Scott left for the wedding in Austin WITHOUT ME. What was supposed to be our long awaited weekend get away has become an "I hope Scott and Lawson behave without Jessica and I at the wedding while I survive stuck at home with sickly children" weekend. I am so bummed, but I just couldn't leave the house this morning at 6am after being up from 1 to 4 am with Kate last night.

In the wake of Valentine's Day, we are still experiencing some of the after effects... not sure if it is the sugar, caffeine, or all the awful red dye. I would have no idea that stuff could be the cause of our problems if not for daily reading an interesting triplet mom's blog who often writes about the effects red dye has on one of her daughters. She talks about it both here, and in more detail here . Ella was really the only one who consumed Valentine treats other than the ones that I made myself, and she's the one I'm referring to... lots of fits, whining, tears off and on all day long. I know it is all normal two, almost three year old stuff, but since we've been using Magic for Early Childhood from Love and Logic, we had not been experiencing quite as much of this type of behavior. I have forever been guilty of overthinking situations, so I suppose in reality Ella could just be extra tired or something too, but whatever the cause, I hope things improve soon!

Before the mass consumption of sugary treats yesterday morning, I overheard Ella say to Kay-Kay, "Have a Valen-time cupcake." When Kay thanked her and replied that she was not hungry, Ella said, "Well, then... whenever you get ready, just go ahead and help yourself." She has also been using words that just plain sound funny coming out of her mouth a good bit lately. Like, ak'-chully (actually), often, and including, i.e. when I told her to get ready for a bath the other night she said, "so I have to take off ALL my clothes, including my shirt, including my pants, including my socks, " etc, including every stitch of clothing she was wearing (and you've all seen pictures of the way this child layers her attire). Even with all the bad attitude today she is still one of the sweetest little gals you could hope to meet, even if I do say so myself! I had quite the enjoyable afternoon with her, in fact. While Maggie, Kate, and Sarah were napping, Ella and I went outside with her little box and searched for 5 things that God made to put inside it. Then we drew on the driveway with our sidewalk chalk. We made some shapes, put rocks in them, counted them. It was completely fun one on one time outside. We both had a blast! When I got my sunglasses out of the car, she had to have a pair too.

Kate has been feeling much better today from what I could tell. I only had to give her Motrin once for fever, and she has played right along with the gang all afternoon and evening. Last night while I was up with just her, a little bit of her personality shone through that I'd never seen before. Prior to her being up I had had to get Maggie up and change a terrible dirty diaper around 11pm. In order to not disturb the other two, I snuck her out of the nursery and changed her in the living room then put her back to bed. I left the wipes and Desitin on the couch in case anyone else needed changing during the night. When Kate got up later on I brought her into the living room. She whined until she was able to convey to me that she wanted a baby wipe, which she could see only a few feet away on the couch. After I gave her one she began cleaning the wood floors, the furniture, the fireplace... everything within her reach received a good thorough wipe down. Then she picked up the diaper rash cream and started saying "high" over and over again. I usually keep it up on a high shelf in the girls room. She wouldn't settle down and sit still until I took it and put it back on that high shelf! She was too funny. Here's hoping that I have at least one little neat freak on my hands. How great would that be?

Sarah has repeated every word I've said today, or at least tried. She said Kay-Kay for the first time this morning (though I'm sure she's been able for a while and just holding out for affect), and then later on would not stop saying it! She's told me several times today when she was going potty... after the fact, of course, but still headed in the right direction. I honestly don't remember anything that I said in her presence today that she didn't parrot back, so it's only a matter of time before my ears really are burning at night before I go to bed, what with two "chatty cathy's" under one roof and all!

Maggie is still pure mischief. She is learning from the best of the best- Ella. Since E doesn't take a paci anymore and the little gals still do, I will occasionally find her with her face in a corner and her rear in the air. That is a sure sign that she's stolen someone's paci and run to hide. Well, a few nights ago, Maggie stole Sarah's paci in plain view, and then ran and hid behind the door to the living room. She assumed the position and put her face into the corner and her rear in the air. We laughed, and I still chuckle when I think about it. Prior to doing that I saw her offer her paci to Ella and then immediately begin whining that Ella had stolen her paci. She really delights in causing trouble!

The pictures of the girls are mostly from this afternoon over at Mimi and Pop's. We headed there after nap time for an adventure on the mule, Kawasaki- not farm animal. We rode out to the barn and all through the pasture. We stopped to talk to Joe and Jimmy while they were working on a water line. We went in to see Nanny and Pop C. before they headed off on their weekly Friday night date. Then finally headed back to the shop to visit with Pop Dickie and his buddies before playing in the yard. After all this I'm hoping that they'll all sleep all night long and so will I. Oh, and yes, all these photos in this one post were taken today, and yes, those are two totally different outfits that Ella is wearing... that kid really loves to "create clothing ensembles"!