Baby Bumps and Nieces and Deadly Weapons (Oh My!)

I don't have much for baby bump pictures yet. At over 19 weeks along, there isn't much of a bump yet. I was bigger with Cailin at 19 weeks for sure. Any day now I will wake up looking like I swallowed a watermelon in my sleep. I will have to rig up the tripod and timer for the camera to get a few pictures soon.

Last week I took an afternoon for myself and got a bunch of running around done. My favorite part of mommy's afternoon off was a tie between getting my hair cut/highlighted and finding the perfect paint chips at Home Depot. We are freshening up the paint in the whole upstairs of the house and painting our 'new' bedroom downstairs. The bedroom is going to be a pale peaceful blue. I'm very excited to get started next week. We've also been in the process of talking to a contractor about putting in a new vanity in the downstairs bathroom since the current one is all but falling apart.

I also managed to fit in a very quick (and refreshingly sane) trip to Walmart and got Cailin her first raincoat and matching rubber boots. She pretty much hasn't taken the boots off since I presented them to her. I also indulged in a Happy Meal and felt delightfully naughty at not having to share my child sized pop with anyone. Or the fries. Hee.

Also last week, Cailin's cousins arrived via the Papa Express. Cailin loves Kelli (8) and Grace (3) and has really enjoyed playing with them. She especially loves to follow Grace around and participate in whatever Grace is doing at the time.
They get on either side of the dolly playpen and push/pull it all over the house. Despite the many obstacles in their way, they manage to navigate that playpen without any issues. Cailin makes sure to put on Grace's Dora boots the second she comes in the door and away they go with the playpen between them.

For the most part, they get along and share pretty good. There were a few fights over Grace's pink baby, but once I brought out Cailin's blue baby, they were content to each have one.
Cailin can really get around for someone her age. She can climb and walk backwards and jump on furniture. Imagine my surprise when she climbed up a toddler armchair and deposited herself into the big playpen. Grace can climb in and out at will, so they spent a lot of time in there together. At some point, Grace snuck out to the kitchen and scooped a big handful of gummy worms, brought them back to the playpen and together they had a feast. What you can't see in this picture is Bailey hanging over the side begging for candy.
Grace and Bailey get along famously too. Bailey is a nice sturdy size and can handle toddler 'love' and affection. She doesn't mind getting a pet or a snuggle here and there, even if it's a little violent. Grace makes sure to update me on all of Bailey's activities. She and Cailin follow Bailey around to keep an eye on her. For the most part, Bailey seems very flattered with the attention. Kelli and Bailey on the other hand... Bailey loves Kelli. The feeling is not so mutual. But, since there are two toddlers running around with tasty snacks, Bailey leaves Kelli alone for the most part.

We managed to take a trip to downtown Beaverlodge and get a few things while wrangling all the kids. We went to the grocery and hardware stores first. Cailin loves to go explore and picks the most boring aisles to lolligag around in (engine oil anyone?). You have to actually chase her around or carry her to the toy section. Once there, she found an electronic dog that plays music and dances. There were two on the shelf and she kept turning them on and dancing and having a grand old time. Nana bought her one of course. The older girls needed no help to find the toy section. Grace selected a baby doll feeding set and Kelli picked a Bratz doll.

Then it was time for the quilting shop. That's kind of like a toy store for mommies/aunties if you ask me. Last time we were in there, Cailin wandered over to the classroom area and helped herself to a bag of jelly beans in a lady's purse. She remembered the candy the second we opened the store door and she made her way back to where the purse had been. Sadly, there was no purse bearing candy this time.

No matter. Cailin and Grace decided to fight over the status of the bathroom door. Open or shut? Cailin said shut. Grace said open. I said, OOOH FABRIC.

I went in there with an idea to make our son a green flannel blanket, preferably with some kind of froggy print. We've decided to paint his room a nice sage green and decorate with froggies. Of course, what I left with was a multicolored flannel kit to sew Cailin a quilt. I didn't see any froggy prints I liked at all - except for one that had girl frogs with pink lips, pink hearts and pink lillypads. Decidedly too girly for a little boy's room.

Mom found some Precious Moments jungle themed flannel and is making Jellybean a quilt out of that. It's going to be so cute.

It took much longer in the quilt shop than I thought it would. Cailin was past her naptime, and the girls were tired and hungry. Sensing meltdown central, I herded them out to the car while Nana paid for her fabric.

The following is not for the faint of heart or stomach. And let me tell you, I'm lacking both these days.

The girls got in on one side of the car while I struggled to buckle a wriggley Cailin in on the other side. I had put the child safety locks on so they couldn't open the door from the inside once it was shut. In hindsight, this was a BAD IDEA.

I tried to direct seat buckling from my side of the car. Grace refused my help. "Nana do it!" I told her Nana was in the store and she would be right out. Grace burst into tears and it soon escalated to the point where she was gagging. I went through the stages of denial in a nanosecond: no, she is not going to barf in my car; she better not barf in my car; she is going to barf in my car.

I told Kelli to hurry out of the car, but because of the child lock, she couldn't open the door. I finished strapping Cailin in in record time, but I wasn't fast enough. I then heard the sound that every auntie dreads so much to hear: the sound of a small child vomiting.

Kelli hit the door and flattened herself against it. "I don't like puke!" she cried. "I don't either!" I said in just as much pain. I ran to the other side of the car and swung the door open, intent on saving Kelli from her doomed fate. Instead, Grace was standing there and I had to jump back a step to avoid the vomit flying towards me. I lifted her out and told her to stand beside the car. Now I had my work cut out for me to lift Kelli out and around all the barf without getting any on her. I'm proud to say, mission accomplished.

That's about the time Nana came out to find two crying kids on the sidewalk (one still barfing) and a very unhappy auntie hurling curses at the heavens in the quilt store parking lot.

Surprisingly enough, auntie has quite the potty mouth. I know, you're all as shocked as I am.

Thank goodness I had brought a warehouse pack of baby wipes with me that day. While Nana cleaned Grace up, I went to town on the backseat of my poor car. Baby wipes are pure awesomeness. And leather seats? Are a godsend. Making a pregnant woman clean up vomit that did not originate from her firstborn? Certainly funny to watch - from a distance, of course.

*sigh*

I think I need a hug.

All About the Bailey (B! Ahhwooo!)

We had a delightfully domestic day today. Which means I had to drag my family around town to do errand type things. First we went to the post office. Ryan and Cailin decided to stay in the car. Fair enough. I would have too, except I had a very important card to send out for a special 24th birthday next week and it wasn't going to mail itself. (Pssst, Happy Birthday Dani!!) Since the post office is in the grocery store, I bought sesame rolls for dinner while I was there. Everyone was in a very cheerful mood. It's definitely the weather.

I have it in my mind that this Easter is going to be the Easter that I finally get the bunny I've wanted for years. So the next stop was the pet store under the guise of "but Cailin wants to see the puppies." Actually, Cailin loves the birdies. She will stand next to them and watch them for as long as she has ever watched anything. She can't peel her eyes away from them. Birds kind of creep me out, but they are pretty to watch. I'd have to say that Cailin is going to have to do some serious begging to get a bird through my front door.

Cailin also got a kick out of the chinchillas. She was watching them in their cage and before I could do anything, she poked one right in its fluffy behind (and laughed). It took off for the far end of its cage and gave her the stink eye. Ryan gently led her away to look at the puppies. I may have laughed a little too. Or a lot.

Of course we spent a good long time admiring the Lionhead Bunnies too. I showed Ryan which one I want. It came out of its little cabin and sniffed my hand. It's so stinking cute! Ryan pointed out that a rabbit will create odour and stink up the house. We wandered over to the bunny houses (cages) and had a look at what was available. The initial cost of getting a rabbit is huge to say the least. But that's not my biggest issue.I'm worried about Bailey. Since she is a puggle, that means she is half pug and half beagle. Guess what beagles do? That's right. They hunt wabbits (hee). The pug part of her? I'm not sure what it's responsible for. I'm guessing it's the part that makes her take naps in sunbeams while she's not running around like a monkey on glue.

Bailey recently turned seven. Seven years old! I can hardly believe she's been with me that long. It feels much longer than that sometimes (go figure) but at the same time feels like it's only been a short while. She's officially a senior now, but I'm guessing someone forgot to tell her that.

Anyways, I spoke with a pet counsellor at the pet store and told her my worries about Bailey chasing the rabbit (or worse). She said it would have to be trial and error. Seems like the error part might be kind of permanent... for the bunny anyway.... She gave me a pamphlet and some advice and another counsellor told me about her bunny and how much she loves it as her pet. They both seemed to think Bailey would be fine with a rabbit as long as the rabbit remained in the cage and Bailey didn't harass it too much. Apparently rabbits are prone to catching a fright and having heart attacks. Sounds like fast food with a speed bump - and the predator wins again!

Mom told me that Bailey looks at Bella funny sometimes too. I don't think that means anything - we all look at Bella funny sometimes. I really don't think Bailey would do anything with a bunny in the house. If anything, Bailey might be scared of it...
The trip to the pet store rounded out with watching Boston Terrier/Pug cross puppies playing in the open pen. Cailin was pointing and talking about them in her own language. She thought they were pretty cool. Ryan mentioned that he would rather get another dog than have a rabbit. I looked at the feisty pups in the pen and shook my head. No thanks. Bailey still doesn't sleep through all the nights in a week and she's seven. It's hard to believe how much sleep I've donated to chasing a dog around the backyard in my nightgown in the wee hours of the night. With a baby coming, I can't see getting another dog. Like, ever. Ever ever.

I also made a quick (ha!) trip into Walmart for a blackout blind for Cailin's room. Ryan refused to go in, so he sat in the car with Cailin. Of course, Walmart didn't have the hardware or the proper blind for her window. They only had the kind of blind that randomly rolls itself up in the middle of the night and causes bladder leakage to the person sleeping right under it. While Cailin wears a diaper to bed, it's probably best not to mess with my currently squirrel sized bladder. Luckily I had measured the window and got two neat roman shades in a soft chocolate brown color that fit nicely. Let's just skip the part where I installed said blinds with a toddler hanging off my ankle while the husband played Playstation shall we? Okay then.

Of course once we got home, Bailey immediately picked up on my intentions of letting a bunny into our lives and proceeded to act like a real weener the rest of the day. I swear it's the weather that gets into that dog. It's like the sun is a radiant heat source of puggle catnip. She was absolutely bananas.

Cailin is also still working on those bottom eyeteeth and was, well, sort of cranky herself. Bedtime really could not come soon enough tonight. I installed the blinds, made supper, fed the troops, talked Ryan into doing the bath (moohahahaha) and cleaned the kitchen.

We got a new popcorn maker today since our old one has been sorely abused. Ahem, Cailin. The new popcorn maker is a big dome and it works pretty good. The maiden voyage (so to speak) resulted in bowl of burnt popcorn and much gagging on my part. Burnt popcorn smells like pure evil to my pregnant nose. After a quick perusal of the instructions, the second try was much better. I threw the bowl of popcorn on Ryan's lap and let the vultures swarm him. Cailin loves popcorn. So does Bailey. Ryan had his hands full balancing bowl, toddler and puggle.

After her snack and toothbrushing, I tucked Cailin into bed all snug. She hasn't been sleeping very well lately due to her teeth. I hope she gets some rest tonight.

As for Bailey, the second her kid was in bed, she turned inside out. Running, jumping, playing all through the house. I kicked her outside to burn off some energy, but the snow is apparently too deep for her liking. Inside she flew, running up and down the stairs and throwing her rawhide chewies all over the place. What the heck has gotten into that dog? She has pretty much solidified her 'only pet' status for now. I really couldn't handle any more crazy in this house.

Of course, I've always wanted a turtle....

And Back to the Middle of March

After all the excitement of finding out we are having a boy, today was surprisingly back to the norm. Except for it's not, because we're having a boy! I can't get over the fact that we will have both a girl and a boy in August. Million dollar family, here we come!

Of course, we had a name picked out for the girl that we were sure we were having. We couldn't come to any kind of agreement on a boy's name, so we simply left it alone and didn't choose one. The idea was to wait until the ultrasound, see if the gender would be revealed and then worry about the name (and placement of the kids' rooms) later. Now we have four and a half months to agree on a boy's name. There's a couple of strong contenders, but nothing is final yet.

Still reeling from the news that I.am.having.a.boy! this morning, I came quickly to the conclusion that feeding my first born was going to be tricky considering the lack of tasty edibles in the house. On the heels of that conclusion was this: putting a trip off to the grocery store 'just one more day' wasn't going to fly.

We had some delicious toast (out of fruit), got ready and off we went. Cailin was happy to see the cart with the little car on the front of it (they look kind of like those Little Tykes red and yellow bubble cars). Grocery shopping took a good long time, but I'm sure we got everything we needed. You know those trips for groceries, the ones where you are out of absolutely everything in the house? We had one of those today. When the cashier told me the total, I felt my knees go weak.

Cailin has also started noticing things. Things like candy and chocolate bars. Specifically, strategically placed candy at the checkout. On our trip around the store, she would spy interesting items and ask for them. I gave her a granola bar for distraction. She promptly sat on a piece of it and melted it into her pants. At one point a boot came flying out of the front of the cart, followed by a sock. By the dairy aisle she was sitting with her wee bare feet up on the dashboard letting her tootsies air out. The Sock Allergy strikes again. Ahem, Nana.

She is a model citizen in the grocery store. I'm so proud of her. In the movie store, she insisted on carrying her blanket and ran around collecting random movies from the shelves. Needless to say that was one quick trip through Blockbuster. The cashiers thought she was adorable.

On quick trips away from home, I've been leaving the baby gate up. Bailey doesn't care for this much since her water and kibbles are on the other side. However, once Cailin has been put down inside the house, she immediately makes a beeline for the gate to see if she can get downstairs. And every single time lately she has burst into tears at finding the gate up. That's my fault; I had a bag of candy downstairs last time she was down there and she helped herself to it. Now she thinks downstairs is a magical place filled with candy and rainbows.

Cailin continues to call Bailey by howling, "Ahhhwooooo!" at her. When you ask, "What does B say?" she replies, "Ahhhwooooo!" Sometimes to cut the chitchat down, she simply tells us, "B! Ahhwooo!"

Also? Cailin has been singing parts of Old MacDonald Had a Farm. She sings the E-I-E-I-O part and it's hilarious! She nails it every time.

Cailin also counts to three, "One, two, fee!" Actually, she's just repeating it back to us. I don't think she's counting for real.

The potty humor is evolving. Once some type of gas is emitted, Cailin will point at the offending orifice and laugh hysterically. Especially when it happens in the tub. I may or may not be laughing hysterically with her.

So. The time change. I do not enjoy changing my time. It takes months for me to sort out that one measly hour difference. I don't have a good opinion of time change. The best way I can put it is a quote I got in an email once: "Only a white man would think cutting the bottom of a blanket off and sewing it to the top would make a longer blanket."

Cailin doesn't seem to be affected all that much. She has firmly stayed on her former schedule. She still sleeps at the same time and eats at the same time, only now the clock says it's an hour later. This means she now sleeps from 9:00pm to 10:00am, naps at 2:00pm to 4:00pm and eats dinner at 7:00pm. I realize just how lucky I am to have a kid that sleeps, I really do, and I'm extremely thankful. I am taking full advantage of naptimes and sleeping all night while I can. It's unlikely that my second born will sleep as well as his sister does.

Ugh. In other news, Cailin is now cutting her bottom eyeteeth. Both of them. She is hot, cranky and feeling kind of mean these days. I thought cutting molars was painful, but these darn eyeteeth are really taking the cake. So to speak. The above mentioned sleeping pattern? Yeah. It hasn't been exactly like that lately.

Also? It may be mean, but it's completely necessary: when I head to bed, I lift Bailey up (all sleepy and snuggly and warm) out of her bed and force march her outside. She gets a little miffed at me, but it's the only way I have found that keeps her from waking me up at three in the morning to go outside. It's not a for sure thing, but it has definitely kept the times I get up with her down during the week. I just have to say, Bailey is now seven years old and still hasn't slept all the nights in a week through yet. Who would have thought a dog would prepare me so well for the night time wakings of children?

Jellybean Update!

There he is, our little Jellybean at 18 weeks. It's a boy! We are so excited, we can hardly wait to meet our son in August. I have yet to receive our adjusted due date after the ultrasound, but we're pretty sure Jellybean will arrive the first week of August via c-section. My next doctor's appointment is on Thursday. Soon I will be leaving our family doctor's office to be treated by an obstetrician. I've been feeling very good, if not a bit tired. And the heartburn is legendary. Oofda.

Look at his tiny sweet little foot! Soon it will be joyfully kicking me at all hours of the day and night:

At lunch, I asked Cailin if she wanted a baby brother. She gave me a very cheerful, "Yes!" It was so cute. Every time I asked her, she replied the same way. She probably thought I was asking her if she wanted some kind of tasty food.

Then she chased Bailey around with a spatula (which I confiscated of course). Things are definitely going to be interesting a year from now. Bailey may feel the need to move away from home when the new baby gets mobile and Cailin teaches him how to pick on her...

Cailin's First Haircut

Ever since Cailin was just a wee sprout, I've been trimming her hair myself. For the most part I've left the back alone and just trimmed her bangs. For a while there, if there was a strand in her eyes, I would trim it to bang length. I realized her whole head was going to be bangs if I didn't stop cutting every single piece that hung in her eyes. The last few trims I've given her look a little - well, homemade. Like her mother cuts her hair.

I knew it was time for a professional cut, so I made the call this morning to my hairdresser. I was completely surprised when Zorda had an opening today. I booked the appointment and got nervous about cutting off my baby's beautiful hair.

Then, on a crazy fluke, my Blackberry popped out of my pocket and did a nose dive into the washing machine. Horrified, I pulled it out and began life saving measures - towel, hair dryer and an afternoon nap drying in a baggie of rice. It seems to be working now, but it wasn't operational when it was time for Cailin's hair cut. I pulled out the huge digital camera instead and off we went.

Of course her first hair cut would have to be in a snow storm. It couldn't be nice or sunny or anything. The drive across town was a little hairy. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

We had to wait a few minutes when we got there. Cailin sat on my knee and pointed out interesting things in the salon. She would point out the window and say, "Snow!" We took off our coats and hung them up, and then it was our turn!

Cailin sat on the booster seat in the salon chair and gawked around. She was unsure, but doing fine. Once Zorda tried to put the froggy smock on her, the little lip came out and we were sure the tears would start.

But, so far so good. Until Zorda sprayed her hair to dampen it a bit with water. The Sad Face came out and it looked like she was going to meltdown. But she held on just a little longer.Once scissors and a comb were involved though? The Sad Face came out to stay and this time there were tears and a burst of crying. There were no more pictures after that point because Zorda had me sit in the chair and hold Cailin for the rest of the hair cut. As soon as I had my smock on and she was standing safely on my knees, the hair cut resumed and Cailin just stared in the mirror. Once in a while she would whip her head around to check out people going by, but she did very well. Eventually she sat down on my lap and finished the hair cut without a peep. She got her bangs trimmed of course (how straight and nice and even!) and even though it broke my heart to be parted with even a fraction of her hair, she got the back trimmed up nice and even with the sides.

I thought about getting a swatch of hair to keep, but to be honest, there wasn't enough to gather up. There were just wisps on the floor.

After she was finished, Zorda let Cailin pick a pretty hair clip. She liked the little green butterfly, but was too shy to reach for it. I picked it out for her and she allowed it to be placed in her hair and kept it there until dinner time (that is a record). Once I put her down out of the chair, she marched proudly to the counter where they bribed her with a lollipop. Again, too shy to reach for one herself, I got her an orange one and handed it to her. She managed to be patient while I booked myself a hair appointment. Once her coat was on, she was waving bye-bye like crazy and going for the door. My wonderful hairdresser didn't even charge me for her first hair cut. That is so awesome!

Once buckled into her seat, Cailin demanded I pull the wrapper off her lollipop and I complied. She managed to get orange stickyness on every surface she could reach by the time we got home. Did she ever have fun doing it too. Now I have to wash her coat. Ewww. She even managed to get lollipop in her hair, down her chin and soaked through her shirt.

My Blackberry seems to be working, although it has some condensation in the camera lens. When Cailin noticed I was taking her picture with it, she made this funny face:

Goofy kid! Her hair is kind of sticky with candy, but you can see her new hair cut. We both managed to live through it. She's getting so big and grown up.

Getting Closer to Spring (Kinda)

I can feel the fog of winter lifting. We are over the 'hump' so to speak and warmer days are only weeks away. While it's still unseasonably cold, we're getting out more and doing more these days. There's more sunlight, and it's not dark at 4:00 pm anymore.

Every morning lately I wake up to sweet calls of, "Mommy! Mommmmmmm-eeeeeee!" followed by Cailin's version of Bailey's howling, "Ahhh-woooooo!" So she calls me and howls like a dog until I bring her a bottle. It's pretty funny. And so our day starts.

Since Ryan has been on days off, we've really been enjoying going places with him. Cailin and daddy even did a special trip by themselves to the Rhino dealership to pick up parts. She enjoyed herself thoroughly (actually they both did).

We did a quick trip through the laserwash carwash yesterday. Cailin freaked right out when the water jets started. I was completely surprised; the last time I took her through the carwash she was fine (Ryan pointed out that was a very long time ago according to the state of my car. Humph). I ended up unbuckling her from her carseat and pulling her onto my lap. She liked the soap part since it's rainbow colored, but once the jets washed over the cab she slammed her hands over her ears and pushed herself hard against me. By the end of the wash she was perfectly fine. And the truck looked pretty sparkly too.

We spent a couple days out at the farm this past weekend, working on the Rhino and the truck. The Rhino got new exhaust (it's loud) and the truck got new chrome box rails. We stopped at Tim Horton's on the way out to the farm for a sandwich, cup of soup and some Timbits. Cailin was napping so I got back into the truck very quietly. As I was handing the box of Timbits to Ryan, Cailin's eyes popped open and she demanded a num num. She savored that Timbit halfway out to the farm.

Cailin got to spend lots of time with Nana and Papa, and even went shopping in Beaverlodge. We went to Fields where Cailin found a bag of cheesie poofs and developed a death grip on the bag. "Yummy yummy num num!" she said as she brought the bag to me. She packed the bag all over the store. We bought it for her of course.

Cailin also enjoyed sitting in the rocket ship cart at the grocery store and spinning the steering wheel. She has discovered a new love of Chewy granola bars and we were sure to pick her up some. On the way home, she fell asleep with a cheesie in her hand. The first thing she did when she woke up was to take a bite out of it before being carried into the house. Girl's got priorities.

This morning I decided to make blueberry muffins and Cailin was right there helping me. I pushed a chair up to the counter and let her help away. She started out in her jammies, but quickly covered herself from head to toe (and the whole corner of the kitchen) in batter. She helped me stir the batter, taste it and pour it into the muffin tray. She loved every minute of it too! Then she thought maybe I needed help sorting the mail with her jam hands:

You can see her 'battered' jammies on the counter right beside her. Naked baby in the kitchen, oh my! Bailey also had a heyday since all sorts of batter was flying from the counter above (you can see her head right behind Cailin). She came away from that splattered corner of the kitchen with blueberry muffin batter on not one, but both of her ears. Lucky dog!

There was absolutely no help for Cailin's mess; she had batter gluing her hair to her cheeks, down every side of her and she was standing in it on the chair. I had my work cut out for me scouring the kitchen after! As for Cailin, she went straight to the tub for a very early bath.
I love that since Cailin is older now we can do more stuff like this all the time. I have the fondest memories of baking with my mom and grandmothers and I'm so happy to share these moments with my own daughter. We have a lot of cake decorating in our future, I can tell.

The Great Cupcake Massacre

We put in another longish day today. This latest cold snap is getting pretty rough. I'm running out of things (that aren't horribly messy) for Cailin to do.

The dishwasher obsession is getting old. Cailin opens the door, climbs in, unloads the dishes (clean or dirty) and plays with the toaster oven on the counter. I wasn't at all surprised the other day to see she had unloaded the dirty dishes from the dishwasher and thoughtfully piled them onto the bathtub mat. Down to the last spoon. Bailey was ecstatic of course, and more than helpful in licking the dishes clean on the bathroom floor. This means that the dishwasher has to stay empty during the day - meaning the dishes pile up in the sink and on the counter until they can be safely washed at bedtime. Her antics also dictate that I must remember to unplug the toaster oven after breakfast so she can safely touch it.

When she's not messing around with the dishwasher, she's building a ladder out of toys or using her chair to repeatedly push the TV power button. On and off. On and off.

When she's not doing that, she's underfoot, beating the dog, playing in the toilet, unloading kitchen cupboards onto the floor, throwing toys around... and did I mention beating the dog? She is such a busy kid it makes my head spin. No sooner have I cleaned up her latest debacle, she is knee deep into her next one.

In so many words: we've completely had it. Rather, mommy has completely had it. I long to open the back door and as GG would say, "throw the bum out". With Bailey right behind of course.

Meals for example, would be a lot easier outside. Inside, a meal isn't truly a good meal unless it has been played with, art-ified and used to decorate the table, chair, underside of the table, floor and any other surface within reach in the dining room. Bonus points for dropping food on Bailey's back where she can't get it off by herself.

Cailin has informed me that she will be following the Atkin's Diet until further notice - but hold the veggies. Meat and fruit (with some dairy and not many grains) is all this kid will eat lately. For dinner all I could get her to eat was steak. I hid a brown bean in her pile of steak pieces hoping it would go down the hatch. Not so much. Eagle-eye Magee there found it immediately and tossed it to the dog. Same with the green beans. Also? Cailin managed to get a piece of steak to stick to the underside of the table. That takes a lot of talent - and approximately half a second for Bailey to find and devour.

After she'd had her fill of meat (NO BEANS EVAH!) she demanded dessert. We've had cupcakes for dessert for a few days now and they are getting, shall we say, a tad dry? I plopped one in front of Cailin and turned to get myself one. When I came back to the table, my jaw hit the floor.

It looked like a dozen cupcakes had met their cruel fate on my dining room table. There were sticky, icing-y crumbs everywhere; on the table, up the walls, on the underside of the table, on the dog and all over the floor. I had no idea one single cupcake held that many crumbs within its sweet deliciousness. Cailin had a perfect white Santa beard and moustache of icing and was busy licking icing off her fingertips. "Peese!" she demanded another one.

Obviously that first cupcake spontaneously combusted and she had gotten to eat very little of it. At least, I imagined she ate very little of it since there wouldn't have been much left over after most of it exploded onto the floor.

I put another cuppity cake in front of her and watched with scientific interest. Sure enough, when she picked it up, it fell completely to pieces except for the top cap part with the icing. Which she jammed into her face and sucked the icing off like a wee sugar craving vampire. Well, she comes by it honestly; I've been known to dive face-first into candy bags myself.

Of course, the magic self imploding cupcake had a generous boost of toddler help in bursting apart and getting spread to various surfaces within reaching distance. The rest fell like confetti to the floor - much to Bailey's delight. Those sticky icing-y hands? Smeared icing as far and fast as they could reach.

As I surveyed the damage to my dining room and eyeballed my icing covered dynamo, I realized there was only one option for my little destroyer of cupcakes. A very early bath. As for the icing/cupcake corpse on the table, I strategically pulled out a chair from the table and walked away and let nature (Bailey) do the rest. That's why God invented Lysol.