Whoever said "tea-parties are just for girls..."

...has never been to my house during daycare hours.


Here is a picture of Jessica with her friend, Carson, enjoying each other's company while they "feed their babies"



fyi - Jackson, as well as Jackson's daycare (boy)friends, Dawson and John, also have fun playing "house" and "feeding their babies" as well...I just haven't been able to capture the proof in pictures yet!

This gender-reversal role is also evident with my Jessica and with one of my daycare girls, Gwen. These two girls have fun "roaring" with the boys while playing dinosaurs, and running around the house "shooting" their guns made out of Legos while "hunting deer."
...also, no pictures of this yet either, but hope to have some soon...

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to...

...you would cry too if it happen to you...

It is being woken up by a very fiesty and very stubborn little 2-year-old at 3:30 a.m.!
Yes, yesterday (March 22) was Jessica's official birthday, and therefore, I can now call her my 2-year-old.
And, I guess Jessica wanted to get up nice and early to celebrate her special day.

Between the hours of 3:30 - 5:30 a.m. Jason and I took turns trying to get Jessica to fall back asleep. But, our efforts were met with little a vail.

So, at 5:30, I came to the realization our daughter was way beyond a point of reason; she was SO tired, in fact, she had turned into a walking-talking-pile-of-crabiness!

I made the executive decision (since I was the one who was going to have to be home with her all day long) to "force" sleep upon our daughter. We went into her room, I read her two books, gave her a sip of water, and made her lay down.

Did she cry?
As Jason would say, "Does a bear sh** in the woods?"
...um, yep.
But, since she was so overly-tired, her crying quickly transitioned from being sad, to mad, to just plain delirious in a very short amount of time.

It turned into a brutal 45 minutes of "forced crying" before Jessica finally gave into sleep.

What a way to start your birthday, eh?


And, here's what our tire little 2-year-old looked like by 11:00 a.m. yesterday...


Nighty-night Jessie...



Here are a few pictures taken a few days prior, under more well-rested and happier times...

Jessica's "barnyard" birthday cake.

Although this little barnyard scene took me way longer to create than the artsy-fartsy lady on my computerized video clip, I still think it was worth doing. Jessica and the rest of the kids (and the adults too) seemed to enjoy it.




I'll admit it didnt' turn out the greatest, but I think (hope) you can atleast tell from the pictures the cake is a barn and the cupcakes are one of three different kinds of animals: chicks, lambs, piglets.

More pictures from Jessica's 2nd birthday party to come...

Easy home-made fun!

This is what we did with the big furniture boxes our new recliners came in...






Jackson wanted me to take a picture of the "worms" he made from play-doh while he was busy playing inside his box...




Daycare kids had fun playing with the boxes on Monday too...






And, here's a picture of our new recliners. They are quite comfy, and match our couch perfectly!

Kids and furniture stores do not mix!

For those of you thinking, "Sure, I can take my kids to a furniture store --no problem"... Here are my words of advice:

DO NOT DO IT!

No matter how good your children are, or how much faith you may have in them to "be on their best behavior"... I strongly recommend do not to try it.

This was our experience from yesterday:

Jason and I had a very good idea of what we were looking for before we left our house(two matching recliners, smaller in size, color needing to match existing couch). Since we felt comfortable with knowing ahead of time what we were looking for, we figured we could be in and out of the furniture store in no time. So, it shouldn't be a problem to take the kids. He-he, think again.

We split up immediately upon entering the furniture store - Jason went one direction with the kids, and I went the other to search for the recliners. Within ten minutes, I was 100% sure in my choice of recliners; Jason and I agreed to switch roles, I was now on "kid-patrol" and Jason began taking care of the payment/pick-up arrangements.

I gotta tell ya, by this time, both Jackson and Jessica were getting pretty antsy --needing constant reminders to "walk, don't run"!

So, I did what any mother would do - made the "older one" walk next to me and the "younger one" hold my hand.

Sounds pretty safe, right? Wrong.

It came time again for me to need to use my hands to hike up my "constantly slipping down" pants again.
(fyi- as most of you know, I absolutely despise maternity pants and refuse to wear them; so instead, I am using a rubber-band to hold up the one and only pair of jeans that still somewhat fit me. Sounds wierd I know, but in my mind, still a better option than maternity pants).

So, I let go of Jessica's hand for maybe a total of 30 seconds to fix myself up. Within that time, Jessica finds an interesting looking glass vase sitting on a back-less shelf that just so happens to be exactly her height... need I say more?

After the sound of the crashing vase echoed through the entire store, I looked in shock at the shattered vase on the ground with the little culprit standing next to it repeating the phrase, "uh-oh, no-no." I then looked up to meet eyes with about four angry employees, a handful of curious customers, a concerned father, and a shocked brother. I was so embarrassed.

The only thing holding me together, helping me fight back the urge to cry and yell at my daughter at the same time, was the price tag I noticed hanging from one of the pieces of broken glass.

$24.99. Thank GOD!

Although I was still very disgusted about the whole situation, seeing that price gave me an instant feeling of relief. As I approached the checkout desk, holding my daughter in one arm and the price tag in the other, I could see the worried look on Jason's face. When he saw the 24.99, he seemed to have the same feeling of relief I did. According to the employee behind the desk, we got "lucky." I guess the store is filled with numerous $200-$300 vases. Jessica picked a "good one" - according to him. I was not in any mood for joking around with this guy, so I forced a tiny grin and told Jason the kids and I would meet him in the car.

Lesson learned: kids and furniture stores do not mix!

Update on Jessica's potty training progress.

Ok, Grandpa Mark and Grandma Barb, and all you other "potty followers" out there... this post is for you.

As for the rest of you, who just plain don't care to hear about what and when my child makes a poo-poo or pee-pee on the potty, please disregard this message.



As of yesterday (03/01), I quit asking Jessica to use the potty. She is at a point now where she will either tell me when she needs to go, or I can just easily pick up on her body language and facial expressions to know that she needs to make the trip.

She continues to have accident-free days. And, only wears a diaper for naptime and bedtime. In fact, today, I put her diaper on before naptime; shortly thereafter she had to go poop. Instead of going in her diaper, she came to me and said, "momma, poo-poo." She went on the potty and then I re-diapered her for naptime.

So, there you have it! --The latest and greatest potty report from the Mahlum household.
We couldn't be more proud (and thankful) for Jessica's progress.

You make the mess, you clean it up!

While the boys were VERY proud of their latest creation, they are quickly finding out what a chore "clean-up" can be...






Sure, it's fun to take all the books off the shelf and add an assortment of blocks, dominoes, and stuffed animals to the "Dora house/baby high-chair/Trio block" tower...but, cleaning it all up... now that's a different story! :)