This is how I feel most of the time

Today's picture comes to you courtesy of my friend, neighbor, and fellow blogger.  I have to throw in that "neighbor" part while I can, because we put in an offer on a house yesterday that would make her no longer my neighbor.  I find this inexplicably sad.  The idea of breaking up the girls and possibly their future rock band career has been in the back of my mind throughout this whole process.  However, in the front of my mind is the fact that we no longer fit in our house.  Furthermore, while I might lose two blogger neighbors, if we buy this house I would gain another.  

At any rate, DH has been working a lot lately, which means a lot of one-on-one-toddler-time for me.  Anyone that knows MJ knows that means constant activity, constant defiance and constant energy.  She's usually a barrel of fun, but that is intermixed with plenty of tantrums and lots of death-defying stunts.  This photo pretty much captures it.  I'm not sure why she's been in the habit of sticking her hand down her diaper lately, though it's probably related to the fact that we FINALLY got her back into cloth after fighting off a series of nasty diaper rashes.  And those letters scattered all around?  She made sure I was watching, got a twinkle in her eye and dumped them all over the floor. 

Cute? Creepy? I'll let you be the judge.

 

Continuing in the vein of omg-it's-so-fun-to-dress-up-little-girls-in-matching-outfits. We added a holiday twist, and our neighbor donned a Santa suit. The girls were a little unnerved by this, and this is one of the few photos I snapped before MJ was over it...

ZOMG-this-toy-has-flashing-lights!!!  Strange man behind me?  Don't know anything about it.

Of course we tried again, but just because we tell her something's okay doesn't mean she believes it.  At least she has learned the stay-away-from-weird-looking-strangers lesson early on.  And now she has more pictures to add to her teenage-grudge-file.

 Plotting her revenge, I suspect.  That's probably what the hourly wakes up that night were all about: flashbacks to her santa trauma and her way of getting back at us. 

Snow.

Same girls, same flail, but I swear they just keep getting cuter.

God, I love my neighbors.  I love their babies.  I love how much they have made this first year of parenthood sane (parents), fun (parents & babies) and adorable (just the babies).  I think I had the best snowed in Saturday ever.  There will be more pictures, don't you worry. 

The only time matching outfits are acceptable

is when they're accidental. Prepare to be bowled over by cuteness.

Remember the fiasco/joyous time that was the cabin I told you about? It involved two other babies. The only thing cuter than my child is my child surrounded by OTHER babies (I'm a little partial over here.) When we all realized that we had independently bought the same outfit for our children, in 3 different colors (thank you Carter's for spamming the world with your clothing) the natural conclusion is a lineup. We really should have given them numbers.

And then, on top of it, our neighbor the photographer shone his talents on our daughters. Naturally, my favorites are the ones with MJ front and center, but they're all pretty darn cute.

We already have a rent-a-cop keeping the boys from entering our block without an escort.

See my child in the back there? This is one of MJ's favorite poses. Tears don't convey enough of the dramz, the backwards head flail really seals the deal for her. This is because we just took away her cell phone and told her her boyfriend can't spend the night. 

But, thankfully, the offense was quickly forgotten. Happiness, smiles.

This is the face she makes when she's about to kiss Baby Boy S. It works for now but once she has braces she may go for a more subtle approach.