"Master of Stealth and Destruction"

Matthew and I woke up at 8 this morning. My guess is that Pooka woke up at least an hour before that. Examine the trail of evidence...

This is how I found her, eating a nutritious breakfast of uncooked shells from a shells and cheese box. At least she had enough sensibility to sit nicely at the table.


As much fun as you can imagine she had making the mess, just imagine how much fun she had cleaning it all up!

Spoiled

Today Mom had Pooka for the day, just for old times sake. After leaving her in the study for five minutes, Mom came back to Pooka talking on the cell phone to none other than....Auntie Megen!

"You're going to come get me, Auntie, and take me to the carousel and we can ride the purple horsie! Yeah, the purple horsie. Come get me Auntie!"

After a quick chat with Mom, it was decided that Pooka would indeed get to ride the purple horsie at the carousel tonight.

3 things come to mind in this situation:

1. I'm glad she didn't call China.

2. How did she know which button was Auntie Megen's speed dial??

3. What am I going to do with the spoiled little child when she is returned to me???

Sleep issues

On Sunday, Matthew found out the Stake needed a few more chaperons for the Grad Bash celebration at Disneyland. It was completely paid for, so why not?

He left about 4:30 in the afternoon yesterday and didn't get home until 11:00 this morning. As an avid Disneyland fan/freak (i say it with all the love in my heart!) he, of course, had a great time. Me...not so much.

I DID really have a great time spending the evening with my folks and two of my sisters. Pooka curled up on the floor next to Auntie Ambie and watched Wall-E all the way through - I think that's her first complete movie.

It was really nice until we got home. I absolutely HATE sleeping alone. I didn't even own my own bed until I was around 6. #1 the folks couldn't afford it (with 8 kids, few could). #2 they had no where to put it. So up until then, I switched between 2 of my sisters' beds. Needless to say, I have always had issues sleeping alone. Call me psychologically messed up, or whatever you'd like.

I really thought I'd be ok with Kipper, though. As long as there is another "person" in the room, I'm ok. I'm sure I would have been fine if the ruddy dog would have just gone to sleep! He kept looking around for Matthew, like he couldn't possibly go to sleep without him. 2am was when he finally shut up and stopped trying to kiss me or eat the cat. Then my lovely daughter woke me up around 6 am asking me if I had seen her daddy.

I think God is trying to prepare me for this second child. Problem is, I'm 100% sure I'm failing miserably.

Does it always mean a preschooler is watching too much Kipper the Dog when they start talking with a British accent?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Meet Kipper

Our newest family member!

A few months ago, one of my Beehives came to church just bubbling to tell everyone that her dog was probably going to have puppies. A neighboring Pomeranian got into their Beagle's yard and her mama caught them in the act. A few weeks later the entire family was stoked to find out that she really was having puppies. And thus, the wheels in Matthew's head began to turn. He has wanted a puppy for a really long time, and we have both been obsessing about getting one for Ivy. I only had one condition: it couldn't be a monster dog. I just can't handle the big oafs.

We entertained the idea, and we decided if they didn't ask for too much money we would get one of the puppies. We both loved that it was guaranteed to be a small dog.

Then I found out I was pregnant. Didn't look like such a good idea anymore, at least from my perspective. Then I got sick, and I told Matthew he was out of his mind.

So, what changed? Just like when I was pregnant with Ivy, Matthew has been golden. He is truly one of the most sympathetic and caring people I have ever known. I haven't had to do anything for the past two months. Occasionally, he would ask for help and I would try, but he understood if I couldn't do it. Better than gold. So I knew when he said the dog would be 100% his and Ivy's responsibility that he meant it. Even better, the family decided to give the puppies away instead of selling them. Score!

So on May 16th, Matthew and Ivy brought Kipper home. Ivy named him after her favorite tv dog personality, a soft spoken British cartoon. Super cute. And she absolutely adores Kipper. They are still learning how to play together, but every day gets better and better.

Lots of too-passionate hugs and kisses, a few nips and a few tears, but I'd say things are going pretty well.

Welcome to the family, Kipper!

My Little Negotiator

Tonight when we got home just, Matthew let Pooka know that she could have two little muffins. She just loves these muffins and can't seem to get enough, so she was obviously displeased with the fact that she only got two. Thus began the tantrum:

"I want to hold the bag!"

"No, Ivy, you can have two."

"I need the bag!!!"

"Ivy, you can have two, or none at all. Which do you want?"

She stopped for a moment.

"I want three!!!"

Oh, Pooka... you can only image how long it took her to calm down when she didn't get any.

And so it begins.

Change of Subject

Since no one seemed too excited about commenting on my bowel woes, I thought I might hastily change the topic, lest people believe (correctly) that my newest pregnancy issues are my only interest.

But what to discuss?

Pooka's birthday party was a great success again. We were going to have it at the Aunties' house, but unforseen circumstances led us to have it at the park for the second year in a row. We had kites, an amazing castle cake courtesy of Auntie Meggie, and lots and lots of really melty ice cream. The kids had a blast running all over the place dragging kites on the ground and then on the playground, Pooka's favorite. She didn't even want to come sit down until we told her she got to open her presents. That my Pooks - active till the last second.

I wasn't any use for the party. I more or less just sat on my bum while everyone else did everything. Matthew and Megen took up the bulk of the work, while Angie and Chris helped set up and decorate. It definitely wouldn't have worked without everyone doing what I should have done.

Most important: Pooka and the other kids had a BLAST. Its so wonderful to hear the little squeals of laughter and the giggles, or Ryan screaming "Help Pooka!! Pull me up" as he pretended to fall down the slide. Good times.