So I got on here yesterday to post, but then I got distracted by the new designs blogger has. I saw the books, and I had to have them. Then I had to fix all the colors, and by the time I was done with that I ran out of time for blogging. But it's okay, because it's so cute!
This is catch up for June, so it's going to be kind of a mammoth post. Sorry! I'll try to spread it out a bit more this month!

So the other day my friend Leah invited us to OMSI with her, and the girls had tons of fun.

Flubber kept them entertained for a long while:

Then they played in the water:

And the sand pit. Of course my kids are the ones inside the tub in the middle.

We went to see a move at the huge IMAX screen. The last time I went I was just a little kid, and I threw up. Luckily this time was not as bad for me. The girls hated the first 10 min of it, and I had to give Aimee her pacifier and Katie a tootsie pop before they calmed down enough to watch. But it was awesome! It was all about the Hubble Telescope, and we saw amazing stuff like this:(This is the jellyfish nebula)

Then I saw a photo booth, and I am a total sucker for those. And it let you use a debit card! So we got these:Aimee kept getting distracted before the picture.

Then yesterday I was checking our bank account, and there was a charge from Foto Fantasy Inc. I thought for sure someone had gotten my card number and was buying dirty stuff. Then I remembered the photo booth. Really, legitimate businesses should not have the word "fantasy" in them.

Just some other of the kids' shenanigans:

An Aimee Photo Essay

May:

It started like this.(The "Mommy Accidentally Takes a Nap and Wakes Up to a Huge Mess" Incident #37)

Aimee loved sleeping on the floor.
She doesn't get to any more. Why? We had to throw away her rug.

(The "Mommy Accidentally Takes a Nap and Wakes Up to a Huge Mess" Incident #38)

This is the only photographic evidence of the mess. This one involved painting the walls with poop, and I really would like to clear that from my memory forever.
I had to do about four loads of laundry to wash everything that was in her room, including the babies. When I threw them in the washer I had to take a picture because it looked so creepy.

Aimee found a headband, and put it on like this.
Adorable. She wore it for two days straight.

The girls ran up to me one day and told me they were ready to go. This is what they looked like:
Also Adorable.

And finally, I was straightening my hair, and Aimee came and asked me what I was doing. So I straightened her hair too.
My real life troll doll.

She is a pain, and makes messes, and hits me when she's mad, but she's also the goofiest, cutest, silliest two year old, and I love her so much. I wouldn't change her at all.
(Okay, maybe an aversion to poop would be nice.)

Aimee-isms

pooky = spooky (as in pooky monsters)
spider-wib = spider
What's happening? = every time she hears a noise
It's not my favorite = when she doesn't want something
My eye is mean! = she got something in her eye
That's not fair! = always used in a way that doesn't make any sense
I'm a kitty = roughly 100x per day

Happy Mother's Day!

This is what Aimee gave me:

Blogging Drought in Effect

I have nothing to say lately. I don't want to complain too much on the blog, so I've been avoiding it instead. I'm on my second ear infection, I haven't been able to hear out of my left ear for almost a month, and I'm tired all the time. And grumpy. As you can tell, I'm a joy to be around. Everyone has been so nice to me though. My mom took the kids for a weekend, my sister took them for an evening, Jon's parents watch them regularly, and Jon has been awesome. He lets me sleep in on the non-school days, and watches the girls so I can go to class and do homework.
Being sick is really hard. Especially when you're wimpy.

So you may not hear from me again until I'm better, and by then I'll be in the midst of A&P and Medical Terminology, and British Lit.

So I'll leave you with pictures of the girls.
(And proof that they sometimes go outside)

screaming, a decision, peace, then not so much

This morning, I grabbed my camera, and followed the girls around and recorded as they cried at different things. I'd post it, but 1) my house was super messy, and 2) you don't really want to hear them scream and cry that long. They are torturing each other, and in so doing, are torturing me too. I'm waiting waiting for the day when Aimee won't see a cup and immediately dump it out regardless of what's in it, or where it is. I'm waiting for the day when Katie will not turn into a limp noodle when I ask her to do something. I'm waiting for when Aimee will eat a meal and less than half of it will end up on the floor, on a regular basis. I'm fairly confident those things will happen. I'm also confident that torturing each other won't stop any time soon.

I'm okay with that. (As long as they occasionally get along. Or go hang out at friend's houses to give me a break.)

Today, Jon went and got his hair cut. While he was gone the above mentioned screaming/crying/torture ensued. After the kids were fed/changed/put in their rooms, I confessed to Jon that I was totally done. I don't want any more kids. He confessed the same. Then he pointed out that Aimee is older than Katie was when Aimee was born. (Did you follow that? I had to have him repeat it.) So we have officially dodged the bullet that is another kid two years apart from the last one. I could cry I'm so relieved. If it weren't totally sacrilegious, I would worship my IUD. I would marry it. I would probably not have its babies though. (I have to draw the line somewhere!)

We are totally done.

Then we talked about maybe in 2-3 years from now we'd think about it.

So obviously nothing permanent has been decided, but I felt such a profound peace when I declared I didn't want any more, and Jon said the same. It's right for us, for now.

After that, the day went much better. Katie was kind of charming when she was supposed to be having quiet time, so she got to hang out with me instead.

We tried to get her to name a Barbie. Her babies are all named baby, dolls are all named dolly, etc. So we tried to get her to name the Mariposa Barbie. Then she remembered that her name was Mariposa! So we got her to name the boy fairy. After like 20 minutes of suggesting names, she picked Jared. It's the first thing she's named! It was fun.

Then I went in Aimee's room, and she had taken off her diaper. And she was stinky.

So the peace was short-lived, but still, it was there. And I'm grateful for it, because all that crap about enjoying the moments is totally true.

Now, for another perspective on not being ready for more kids, go read An Announcement on my friend Morgan's blog. She is awesome, you won't be sorry!

And special thanks to my mom and Jon's mom who have watched my kids a lot recently. I don't think they will ever know how much I appreciate it.

Also, special thanks to the girl scouts outside of Fred Meyer that allowed me to buy their Samoas. Sweet sweet Samoas.

Sad.

Katie cut her own hair today. I thought I would be mad, but I wasn't. I was just really sad. She tried to blame it on Aimee again, but this time Aimee was taking a nap. I am also sad that she won't get to do locks of love for a long time, since my kids' hair grows so slow. I am reminding myself that it's not a big deal. And hiding all the scissors.

This is what Katie's hair looked like a few days ago:
And now after I cut it.
The arrow is pointing to where most of the damage was. It's still pretty bad there, but it looks a bit better now. I had to cut all the light part at the bottom off, and her hair looks so dark!

My wonderful mom is picking the girls up tomorrow, and taking them both for the weekend.

I am so ready.

They drive me crazy

Dolly gets a haircut

The kids. They drive me crazy. Crazy! I have an insanely long list of homework to do, so this will be short (but not sweet).

I came home from school this morning and Jon told me that Aimee had dumped valentine's day glitter/confetti in her room, and he hadn't had a chance to clean it up yet. It is impossible to clean up a mess in our house without finding a new one when you're done. Anyway, I was fine cleaning it up while he watched the kids. Except that he went and got the vacuum for me, and the kids got andes mints and shoved them in their mouths as fast as they could. Katie, with a mouth full of chocolate, said Aimee did it.

Fast forward 10 min, Aimee locks herself in her room. I run and open the door, and she is sweetly reading a book to herself. Fast forward 10 min, Aimee locks herself in her room again. I amble over, open the door, and silver glitter is everywhere. Glitter is now outlawed in our house.

Then Katie gets sent to her room until she's ready to wear pants. I am an ogre, I know. She beats on the door with a broom handle, rams the stroller into the wall, knocks over her easel, and I long for a padded room.

Then lunch. Every meal involves Aimee throwing her food on the floor at some point. Why would today be any different?

The girls go play in Katie's room, and I am enjoying the quiet so immensely I forget that quiet=an awful mess I have to clean up. Dolly got a hair cut today. Katie said Aimee did it, and I was so upset I sent her to the naughty corner. Then when I had calmed down, I was telling Aimee she's not allowed to touch scissors, etc, when she looked at me like she was wrongfully accused. It hit me that there is no way Aimee cut all that hair, she is not that proficient with scissors. Katie (eventually) confessed and got sent to her room.

Aimee is taking a nap now, and Katie is playing in her room. I have approximately 47 minutes until the little monsters are back.

On the off chance I ever talk about having more kids, please direct me to this post. Thanks!

They make me laugh

• Aimee likes to pee on the potty. She isn't trained (or even being trained) but she likes to get treats.

Here she is trying on underwear.

• We were talking about cutting Katie's hair (I was talking, Jon was objecting) and I thought she might like doing locks of love. So I asked her if she wanted to grow her hair, and then cut it and give it to someone who needs it. She very enthusiastically said, "Yes! Like Aimee!" Not quite what I meant, but Aimee could use some hair!
  
  
• Jon's mom watched the girls on Friday (thanks!) and all day Saturday and Sunday Katie called me Grandma-I-mean-Mommy.
  
  
• Aimee is a little parrot. Not only does she repeat what you say, but she gets the tone right. It's funny to hear her little mad voice telling me to go in the naughty corner.
  

The Car Seat Safety Enthusiast

Last term I wrote a research paper on extended rear-facing. Let's just say I became even more enthusiastic about rear-facing. I'm not going to ask anyone to read the whole paper, I'm just giving you the highlights!

• Most people have heard (and some doctors still say) that you should turn your child forward facing when s/he is one year old AND 20 pounds. This is outdated. Those are the absolute minimum requirements. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that you keep your child rear-facing to the limits of your car seat (usually 30-35 pounds)
  
  
• "Children are 5 times safer than when riding in a forward-facing seat into the second year of life." (From the AAP's Pediatrics Journal)
  
  
• It is not true that children's legs are more likely to be injured when rear-facing, in fact the opposite is true. "Some convertible child restraints indicate in their instructions that a child should face forward when his/her feet touch the vehicle seatback, or alternately when the legs must be bent. This prohibition is not justified by any accident experience or any laboratory evidence, and we are hoping that these instructions will soon be revised." From this article. If you have time, read the whole thing, it is awesome, and not too long.
  
  
• The National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration has a list of every carseat produced in the U.S. along with ease of use ratings, and weight and height limits.
  
  
  A picture of what happens during a crash in a rear-facing car seat vs a forward facing car seat. You can see how far the head extends. It's possible for children to have their spine detach from their skull in frontal crashes.
  
  
  
  
  Here is Aimee still happy in her rear-facing car seat. She's about 31 pounds, so she still has about 4 pounds until we turn her around. Which if you know how much she eats, you would think it would be soon!

You are free to think I am weird for being adamant about rear-facing. I don't care, at all. My kid will be safer in a car accident than yours, and I try to be "better safe than sorry". Honestly, the "convenience" of forward facing is not anywhere near the added safety of rear-facing.

*Now I am done. I will resume using my blog for posting pictures of the kids.*