Sister love

     Sister love is hard to describe.  I know from having a sister it can be a love hate relationship... you know: You Love getting them in trouble, and Hate sharing your toys with them. You Love spending hours playing games together, but Hate loosing. You Love having someone at school you can hang out with, but Hate how they always know when you are getting in with the wrong crowd. You Love having them bale you out, but Hate admitting to them they were right. You love getting advice, but Hate how you make the same mistakes anyway. You Love sharing life together, but Hate living 13hrs away. 

     I see this sister love/ hate thing playing out with my three!! Morgan LOVES that she has two sisters, one to boss around and one who is pretty much a live doll to her, but she HATES how they get into her things and take mom's attention away from her. When she is in the mood, Morgan will go all out to make a day special for her sisters. She will make them gifts (usually drawings), or get them snacks, play with them or just be silly to entertain them. She will start fun dance parties, tell silly stories after they go to bed (lots of giggles usually followed by a loud "Go to Bed Girls" by me). In General Morgan just loves her sisters, so long as they keep out of her things, and are willing to do as she says.  

     Maya LOVES tagging along with her big sister and pretty much doing whatever Morgan tells her to do, except when she HATES it. Maya is very much a follower except when she isn't. It is really hard to pin point just exactly why Maya Loves or Hates Morgan on any particular day. Maya is basically the "the girl with the curl". "when she is good she is very good, when she is bad she is very bad".  Well when Maya loves, she really loves, but when she doesn't, she really doesn't. Some days it feels like there is never middle ground with Morgan and Maya. They either play super well together or they fight constantly. (totally unlike me and my sister at that age!!) 

     But Maya and Mercy......... Yikes!! This sister love relationship has had a rough start. From the first day we brought Mercy home Maya was not thrilled. She would not look at or talk to whoever held "that baby".  Even 9 months after Maya mostly doesn't seem to like her baby sister...we would see a glimpse here and there, but usually when copying Morgan in front of other people. I simply didn't really think Maya would ever like Mercy, until today.

     Today I had to pee (yeah moms do need to do that every now and then, especially after coffee cup #...um 4?).  I put Mercy down by the couch at the furthest point away from both the bathroom and our stairs to the family room and ran to the bathroom hoping for a minute to myself. Just then I hear Maya Yell, "Mercy NO!" I hurry up and get out of the bathroom to find Maya, who is 3 by the way, holding Mercy right outside the bathroom by the top of the stairs. Mercy in the minute (maybe less) I was in the bathroom had crawled through the living room/ dinning room all the way to the top of the stairs where I find Maya and her. Maya then looks at her sister and says, "You can't fall down those stairs. You will get hurt and you can't get hurt because, I love you." (insert balling mom here!!) Yeah! Maya really does Love Mercy! Good thing too, or I might never be allowed to pee again.  

     I know there will be ups and downs to my three girls love for each other, but Sister Love always prevails at the end of the day (or at the end of the week...). I should know! My big sister has always been there for me, loving me, and just wanting me to stay out of her stuff. She has always wanted me to join her in her way of doing things, and for that I am grateful and blessed!! I would not be the person I am if it weren't for sister love. I hope my girls grow up knowing they can count on each other always, even on days their sisters just annoy them. 

Newest Olympic Event!

In the spirit of the Winter Olympics I have discovered a new sport I strongly think they should add!! I have been training for at least 5 years, but really started the hard core training this winter.

The Olympic Ice and Snow Stroller push.

YEAH!!  I would at least get a bronze medal!

Here's how the event could look.

Stage 1: Loading kids up in the stroller in full snow gear. Point deductions for missing boots, hats, gloves etc.

Stage 2: pushing stroller through freshly fallen snow, about 1-2 inches. Point deductions for any swerving.

Stage 3: pushing stroller 3 blocks after side walks have been shoveled, but were plowed in by each street causing several mountains of snow to climb. Point deductions for getting wheels stuck in mound. Added points if you can shovel the mound quickly enough to not loose any time.

Stage 4: pushing stroller through ice and sludge as some snow has melted and refrozen, you never know where the black patches of ice will be or if it's a thin layer of ice with a large puddle underneath. Point deductions for any falls or stroller skidding. Other deductions could include a popped tire on a sharp icicle.

Final Stage: dodging school aged kids as they dart out a building. Point deductions for running into them or over any feet. Bonus points if you can keep a straight path.

I think you could even have 4 separate events: Single stroller, and Double stroller events.  With a short run (just stage 1-5), and a long run (doing stage 1-5 then 5-1 back home) event for each stroller type. You could go crazy and have a category for jogging strollers and a separate one for regular strollers.

So who's with me? should I call up the Winter Olympic board or who ever organizes the events?

Mercy Lynn 9 Months Old

Some how Mercy reached the age of 9 months... I didn't notice this until 2 days after, (not bad for #3) She is now as old out as she was in. Time has flown by. I still think of her as a new born quite often although she would really rather be thought of as a toddler. Mercy is very observant and learns quickly.  Always trying to keep up with her big sisters.  

In the past month Mercy:

 ~ has perfected crawling (learned this around 7 1/2 months old)

 ~ Learned to pull her self up to standing

 ~ Started cruising around furniture

 ~ Discovered that it's way more fun being under tables than anywhere else (except for maybe next to the dog's water bowl...) 

 ~ Still sleeps well

 ~ Says nanana, & mama (and I swear it really means mom though Ben argues that one.) 

 ~ has learned how to fully protest anything! mainly her snow suit, car seat and anything that might keep her contained (crib, bouncer, highchair) 

 ~ loves eating real food in little pieces 

The Wonder of Winter

Wow! This has been (and still is) one COLD SNOWY WINTER!
I want to be positive here (still working on not complaining) so Here are a few things we have done to enjoy this season called winter.



Well first off, this has been the best year I could really think of for Disney to release the movie Frozen. My girls have been making several versions of Olaf, the snowman from this movie. I love listening to Maya sing "In Summer" while building them. Though the funniest time was after her sister finished making a very small Olaf. I called them inside to warm up. Maya then went over to her sister's snowman and stomped on it then came inside. She really wasn't trying to be mean she was in a silly mood thinking about melting snowmen. (or what "frozen things do in Summer") As you can well imagine Morgan didn't see it quite the same way. Maya's humor is usually lost on Morgan. Ben and I held back laughter as we took time to explain to Maya how that wasn't a nice thing to do. I'm still not sure she got it.



Morgan loves to collect things and this winter she started an ice collection. Whenever we go places she finds something and brings it home. She originally wanted to keep the collection in our freezer but we convinced her to keep it outside in the back yard. The Sunday after new years she found left over pieces from the ice sculptures and brought home some ice blocks, triangles and balls. She has also collected several icicles.  Her prized one was about a foot or more taller than she was. I am just glad that she knows ice melts! She has all ready told me she is going to come up with something else fun to collect once all the snow and ice melt. Big question: when will that be??







I wish with all the snow we would have more days warm enough to take advantage of it. We have gone to the park a couple times, like 3 maybe. Morgan loves the slides in the snow. Maya not as much, but she enjoys sledding. I would think they are the same, but to Maya a slide shouldn't have snow on it but a hill, bring it on! Mercy was able to go in a park swing for the first time this January and she loved it... or at least she couldn't protest too much all bundled up in her snow suit. Maya Discovered a shovel and bucket are great for playing in the snow as well as at the beach in the sand. She has enjoyed moving snow around the yard with her little bucket and then dumping it on the just shoveled side walk.




The Ominous walk to school!! Yikes. I'm working on not complaining right...OK...
sigh....... not complaining................ yeah...
Let me just say a double jogging stroller can get through quite a bit but a few inches of snow can really make it hard to push that thing! (by a few we have totaled about 60+ inches over the course of the winter so far)
I do have amazing neighbors who have been absolutely wonderful and have helped me out SO unbelievably much! On sub zero days one neighbor would drive Morgan, on other days after more inches of snow fall other neighbors would walk her to school for me. I don't know what I would do without such great neighbors!



~~~~~

We have had to endlessly shovel our side walks/ driveway etc. One day while Ben was out at the crack of dawn shoveling the snow again so I can get the stroller out of the house. Maya looks at me and asks, "mom, why do we have to keep doing this?"
Me,"doing what?"
Maya, "Shoveling the snow."
Me, "Well, because it keeps snowing."
Maya, "You should tell it to stop."
(I wish I could!!)