Sucka

Mary El is thinking... "Check it out momma, I cry and Grandma Mary will instantly pick me up. Sucka."

Yup.

We are those people. Those people with the dog in clothes.

In our defense:
1. She (Mocha-dog) really does get cold. I would get cold too if I was a freakishly-skinny-horse-looking dog. I am keeping my baby weight on in order to get through the cold middle winters. Of course, this thinking would work a lot better if it would actually get cold here. This is the first and only snow we have had this winter. By the way... I thank the good Lord above each and every day for this. I am not a fan of blustery cold weather.
2. It was a Christmas gift from Grandma Mary and Granddaddy, you should always be polite and wear the gifts you are given.
3. Yes.. it is big on her, but again, she has the body of a greyhound that has been starved for 6months. PS. She is not starved. Though she would have you believe otherwise if you were to come eat at our house. She is also oddly long, so she has to wear the large size so it will fit her in length. She is like her daddy, tall and skinny, jackets don't fit him in length either unless they are larges. Someone needs to make dog clothes in medium talls.
4. I am not homemaker enough to make the dog her own wardrobe. Give me a year.. maybe next Christmas I will have knitted her a sweater. Right after I get the kids' baby books done.

She actually does like the jacket. On the few days it has been pretty cold she has waited by the door for me to dress her. She has no shame.

First Laugh

Mary was helping me clean her brother's room today. She thought it was funny I was trying to clean it. Listen closely at the front of the video... it's one of her first laughs ever.

Mary El Laughing from michelle buckingham on Vimeo.

A 4-yr old lives here

The plan: Paint L's really dark blue room yellow.
The plan: Accomplished.
New plan: Organize and purge long forgotten toys.
New plan: Not so much accomplished.

He choose to get rid of exactly 2 toys. And one of those is a broken McDonald's toy. Perhaps I will be going through the room without his help when he goes to preschool on Friday morning.

Sidenote: He did remember the name of two dragons he had not played with in at least a year. I mean really. Sam and Charlie must have made a deeper impression than I had realized. Needless to say, those squishy dragons will make the cut on Friday.

So as I was trying to make sense of the bomb that hit his room (and not step on a car, dragon, superhero missile or some other toy that would impale my foot). This is what he was doing downstairs.

In Pol's words: "Our house looks lived in. By a 4-yr old. No one else."

Three months old

Time is flying! Mary El is already 3 months old (yesterday)! I should be a better SAHM (this is short for stay-at-home-mom. I had to learn this when I became one, it's important to know the lingo). So.. I should be a better SAHM and post a fancy calendar, with a fancy picture, with Mary's achievements in her three months of life. Perhaps I will have this done for the next month... don't count on it... in case you thought I might actually do this. I am still working on L's baby book. When I say working on it, I mean, I thought about it once on his first birthday. Plus, do you really want to know each and every drool, burp, and poo that my child does? YOU DO? Well, I don't blame you for wanting to know, but alas, you will just have to wonder if she pooed on me today.

Sidenote: she did poo on me! In an airplane. In the air. She also peed on me. In an airplane. At take-off.

For fun. Here are the highlights I can remember at this moment:

• I have no idea what she weighs (many people ask me this, and I do not know). She weighs less than L and more than a beer mug filled with yummy cider.
  
• She drools. Some. Not a lot.
• She burps. A lot. She will cry as if I have done some evil wrong to her when I know she needs to burp. Then about 1min into the beating on her back she will calm down and let it rip about 10 secs later.
• The hiccups come, pretty much right on cue, about 30mins after she has eaten.
  
• After the hiccups comes the crankiness, if you keep her up.
  
• She does not settle down easily if you try to rock her to sleep. If you insist on rocking her to sleep (grandparents), make sure to pat her butt, it's about the only way she might possibly fall asleep in your arms.
  
• She sleeps with her eyes partially open. It's a bit creepy.
  
• L can run screaming bloody murder right past her head and she will not flinch. She might look lazily in his direction.
• She just moved into her room. Until now she has slept in a bassinet in our room.
• Caffeine does not effect her. Perhaps because it's like crack to her. She needs it. I bet she would get a headache if I deprived her. I know.... I KNOW... this might be the one case where "experts" would say formula might be better for the child than the mother's milk
• She smiles. This makes me smile, even as I type it.
  

She is wondering what the heck is that on her head.

Sweet baby sister

L loves his sister. Good thing it looks like she doesn't mind getting a hug/tackled.

Cousins

Us

The Buckinghams on Christmas morning.

Yup, we look good.

A Super(hero) Christmas

Take a wild guess as to what L's obsession is this year.






I was pretty excited as well.

BFFs

J to L: "Eum... tonight when we go to sleep, we will still be best friends.. right?" Eum to J: "Yes."



AK to M.: "I love you. You are the prettiest baby ever. I don't just like you, I love you."

Shop-a-holic

This is the look Mary gave me when I told her daddy doesn't like to shop at Kohl's. Sort of a perplexed, yet amused look.

"Santa has elves, You have Target"

After 4 years of never meeting Santa, L has finally met the man. I have to admit, this Santa was so good and so real I wanted to tell him what I wanted under the tree on Christmas morning. He was downright magical. For me, it was as if Dumbledore had dressed up like Santa. For L, it was as if someone had reached into his dreams of riding the Polar Express to the North Pole then pulled him onto the sled to be presented the first gift of Christmas.

For Mary El, it was just another warm body to hold her close.

L's conversation with Santa went something like this "you know.. the one at Target. The superhero, Green Lantern - he is a super hero... I want his castle. I also want the other superheros. They are at Target. Dr. Doom. Silver Surfer. The yellow guy.. he is a good guy, he has a mask, kinda like Batman but not on his head, on his eyes. You know his name? My daddy knows his name. I want him too."