Weekend Update...

This weekend, my mom came for a visit. Jake and Emily were in the van with us and Chris commented that emily " Is a nice Girl" Piper asked Chris with a straight face, very seriously " Do you like her better"? Awwww, so cute. We also took them to get christmas pictures on Saturday. Pictures with 3 is tricky, but we got an o.k one, not stellar but send worthy. I think we were spoiled the last 2 years with good pics so it was our time for one that is not my fave. Atticus looks pretty cute though with a black painter hat and his arm - oh so casually draped across the bench they had perched on. You will see soon. Lucky duck. So no pics from the w/e as, once again, the charger was off.
Atticus has been a potty going machine. Every hour he goes 1 oz. I am absolutely amazed at the consistency. I have learned alot about potty training a boy and have decided girls are easier. There is alot of boy "potty culture" that you could never be aware of unless training a boy. Example, boys shake they do NOT wipe. That is a no no. Also, boys underwear are meant to be worn backwards as the picture is always on the butt. Who wants to wear Handy Manny if you cant see him, right?? Lastly, teaching them to stand is very, very messy. Atticus has taken to using the potty in public places which has been challenging because he feels he needs to be completely undressed to toilet. I mean off with the shirt, the shoes, socks everything. We inadvertently went without a diaper to the market the other day and while I was packing groceries Atticus started taking off the shirt. " I have to go potty". At choo choo Bob's the other day, we had 1 hour to play. He went to the bathroom 3 times and I believe we spent 30 minutes pottying and 30 minutes playing. Now add a nursing infant and we have very busy outings...... but, worth it.
On a side note, Mazie has started smiling with intention. I have tried to catch it on film but for some reason the flash seems to anger her. I DO give her 6 inches. Unfortunately she is unable to verbally express her temporary blindness problem. She has also started making sounds. They sound an awful lot like pirate gibberish. AIIIIGGG. Aaarrrggghhh. She also found her hands and seems to think that they are pretty interesting. She spends a great deal of her 3 hours of awake time looking at those beauties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of our holiday weekend was spent visiting and decorating for christmas. My girlfriend Tina, visiting from Arkansas, came over on Friday for our house light launching. This was easy as we did not take down the lights from last year. We had fun giving our neighbor grief as he slaved away to get up his lights to launch with us. Chris worked all year on the perfect line for this occasion. In the end, both houses looked very festive and lit up spectacularly (that is not spelled right, I am aware and too lazy to spell check). After the launching of the lights and decorating of the christmas tree, we set up a toy train I got on BLACK FRIDAY special at home depot. The train has kept both Jake and Emily amused for the last 2 days. This morning, Tina and I (and Mazie) took a road trip to Stillwater to have breakfast with Jen. That is the 2 ladies at breakfast(more like lunch).

Thanksgiving Day

 
This is the only pic we got at thanksgiving because we forgot to charge the camera. OOPS!. We had a great day though, and Piper ate a feast of only "fruit salad" which is actually mandarin oranges and whip cream. She literally ate nothing else. At dinner she declared the turkey " too spicy" and the cloud puffs (mashed potatoes) uneatable. So she opted to eat nothing. I did, however, see little finger streaks in the "fruit salad" and towards the end of the evening PIper was at the table with a bowel of salad (fruit) even she could not finished. I was not surprised when A.) it appeared that noone else was interested in the fruit salad and B.) when Piper actually THREW UP fruit salad when we got home. I know, lovely.
At dinner, when we said what we were grateful for, Piper said she was grateful for Halloween. Atticus concurred. To her credit, she was also grateful for her mom. (Of course, who wouldnt be grateful for me, Right?). Mazie demonstrated that she DOES cry, just noone had heard it yet. She has been awake more in the evenings and eating like crazy. I did not know that babies could be so quiet. We actually have moments where we forget she is there she is so quiet., funny that as I type this, she just started crying, she must be on my mental plane.....