Nadia is starting dance lessons!

Yes, that's right! I found a Christian dance school in Scott, and little Miss Nadia will be starting ballet and tap in August. She is so pumped because she'll be doing ballet like Angelina Ballerina on PBS. The school does a dance review every other year, and this is a dance review year.
I mentioned to her that she was going to take dance lessons and learn ballet and tap. She got so excited. She started running around the house screaming, "Woo Hoo, I get to wear a tattoo! I get to wear a tattoo!"
It took me a minute to realize she meant tu-tu! It was so cute.
Dawson is crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything. Last night we had the suitcase from our weekend trip to New Orleans/Baton Rouge in front of the couch. He climbed up on top of the suitcase, and then climbed from the suitcase onto the couch. He was so proud of himself.
This past weekend we went to New Orleans on Saturday for Marissa's 1st birthday party. It was so hot, but we had a good time. It was at the park, and there was a really nice play area (if you ignored the homeless guy sleeping on the stage!). Then we drove to Baton Rouge to spend the night in a hotel. We spent the evening swimming in the pool. We got some Cici's Pizza, and ate in our hotel room. It was very relaxing, and some good family time.
We got up Sunday morning and drove to the Baton Rouge Zoo. It was nice. Dee Ann, Mark, Marissa, and David's parents came too, and we spent the day. We rode the train and the tram, and ate lunch in the outdoor cafe. I was pretty thankful for the double stroller!
I'm thinking about having Nadia and Dawson's birthday party at the Baton Rouge Zoo instead of the zoo here. The party package is much better, and it's the same cost. Plus, the zoo is much bigger. I have a couple of more months to decide, but as of today, their party will be in Baton Rouge.
Baylor is thinking he wants to have his party at the Rock Haus with just two or three of his friends. I can't believe he is about to be 11. How did that happen?

Why do I get writer's block?

Seriously, everytime I have a minute or two to update my blog my mind goes blank. I think several times a day about something I need to blog about, but when I'm blogging....nothing!
David is working hard right now putting the straps back into Nadia's carseat. We had to remove the cover to wash it in the washing maching. Apparently she had an accident in her car seat that I didn't notice until the scent of old urine hit me in the face when I opened the car the next day. Wow, what a potent smell.
Baylor is at his dad's again, and has been there for almost a week. I think he may be coming home tomorrow. Nadia has been asking to go pick up her Frere. She's lonesome for him too.
I've been home yesterday and today with Nadia and Dawson. It's been nice to just stay home and do nothing. (Well, as close to nothing as possible with 2 little ones on the loose!). Dawson follows me around the house crying all day. The ONLY time he isn't crying is if I'm carrying him. I give him formula during the day so that I don't have to readjust my milk supply when school starts, and he doesn't really like it. I think that may explain some of the whining.
Nadia found a new way to dry Penelope today. She called me into the bathroom, and was very proud of herself. She was standing over the floor vents drying her Penelope. If this paragraph doesn't make sense to you, or doesn't seem that funny, then you need this important piece of information: Nadia calls her private parts "Penelope". Now read what happened again and laugh.
It's almost midnight, and I'm going to bed. Dawson hasn't slept past 7 am yet this summer!

Finally: An Update

I haven't updated this blog in a while. I rarely have two hands available anymore, and it's really easier to type with both hands.
School finally ended this year, and I've really been relaxing and enjoying my summer. We've been spending time at the pool, hanging out at home, and just taking it easy.
Baylor has to do about a week and a half of summer school, I have a week of training in Baton Rouge in July, and a 3 hour Poverty Presentation in August when school starts, so I want some time to just do nothing. Last summer I overbooked Baylor, and then had to spend hours each day in the van bringing him from one place to another. It was not fun or relaxing.
Baylor spent a week at his dad's house, so he's only been home for a week since school let out. He bugs me daily to go swimming. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to make that happen. It's just so hard with the little ones. He's been playing video games and sleeping late. I'm making him read some, and he's not happy about that at all. My parents came over and planted some seeds/plants with him in our yard, so he enjoys going outside to water and take care of them.
Nadia is as rambunctous as ever. She is a full time job. Seriously. The girl is fearless and tireless. I can't imagine what she's going to be like when she's older when she's such a handful already. We will have our work cut out for us. She's also extremely funny. Today we were riding in the van and Baylor was saying that his room still wasn't clean. Nadia piped up, "Well My room is clean." (I cleaned it for her yesterday!)...Then, as if she realized that she was making him feel bad, she said, "But, my room IS a little bit smaller than yours." It was cute.
Dawson is crawling, rolling, and pulling up on everything. He has two bottom teeth that came out last week. He has a big, bright smile that lights up when he sees his Momma. Yes, we have a Momma's boy.
We are going on a little mini vacation in July to Houston. I think it'll be nice to get away for a few days and do some fun stuff as a family. We'll be going to the Children's Museum, the zoo, the jAquarium, and a few other family friends places. Plus, we'll be sleeping at Nanny Nola's house and hanging out in her pool in the afternoons. Ah, the joys of vacation time!
We sold some of our baby stuff today. After the fact David tells me that he's sad about getting rid of it because it seems to be officially saying that we are done having kids. Honestly, I am spread about as thin as I can handle, especially while still working full time. If I happen to get pregnant again, we can buy more stuff. Meanwhile, our house has a few less large items in it, and we have a few more dollars in our pockets! We could have made more if we'd have sold the items ourselves, but I just wasn't in the mood for the hassle.
I can't find the cord that connects my camera to my computer to update some pictures. As soon as I do, I have a lot of pictures to post!

Dawson is now mobile!

Here's the video to prove it!

24 days

That's all we have left of this school year. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
We're trying something new at our house. Dawson is asleep right now in the pack and play in our living room. I think the sounds of me tossing and turning were waking him up. Then, he'd sit up in his bed and peek through the bars with his cute little head and SCREAM his bloody head off until his Momma would pick him up. Of course he was not going to cry himself to while he was LOOKING at me.
We started our experiment last night, and he only woke up once at about 3:40 am. Maybe tonight he'll sleep through the night. Maybe tonight Nadia won't wake up and join us in the middle of the night. (That happens almost everynight, but I'm not even fighting that battle until my 24 day sentence is up.) This summer I'll get up and put her back into her bed everytime she gets up. Right now, I'd rather sleep.
I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook finding old friends and current ones. It's been so much fun reconnecting with high school people. We're even talking about planning a band reunion for sometime this summer. I hope it works out!
Nadia has been trying her hand at knock-knock jokes. Unfortunately, she really doesn't understand the concept. Here's her attempt today:
N: "Momma....Knock Knock"
Me: "Who's there?"
N: "Me!"
That girl is a laugh a minute. Really.
I've been reading the Twilight books, and quite honestly, even though I'm not a teenaged girl, I'm hooked. I read the first one in less than 10 hours, I read the 2nd one in about the same amount of time, and I'm anxiously awaiting my turn with the third one from the library or one of my students. If I don't find out soon what happens to Bella and Edward I'm going to lose it.
I wish I could come up with some brilliant idea for a book.
Dawson made an important announcement today. He's been babbling lots of sounds lately, but today he put two very important ones together: "Da Da" I actually got it on the video camera on my phone, so I'll be posting it here soon. He's sitting up really well, and will be crawling around and talking before we know it. He has changed so much since his birth. He actually has blond hair to go with those big blue eyes. His hair was black when he was born. I was so excited that I finally had a child who looked like me, and his hair all fell out! I thought brown was the dominant color???
I had an appointment after school today, and I was running so late that Baylor missed his tae kwon do class tonight. He was sad about it, and I feel really bad. We'll definitely make it next week. His teacher told him today that he was to have a certain amount of work done by the time May is over, or he will have to do some summer school with her. I'm pretty sure that was the extra incentive he needed to bust his butt to get his work finished. I'm anxious about his iLeap scores. I am so hoping that he did well. He says that he thinks he did okay on them.
I talked to an old band friend today, and he had the idea of maybe trying to get the band people together for a band reunion this summer. I am "friends" with about 25 former band members on facebook, and I have phone numbers for about five or six more.
Well, the kiddos are asleep, and I'm going to try to join them. Hopefully I'll get four or five hours of sleep in a row.

A few photos...

Dawson and Kiki at church. Dawson is wearing an outfit that was Baylor's when he was a baby.
Nadia with all her eggs at the zoo's Easter egg hunt

Nadia on the search for more eggs
Daddy with Nadia and Dawson at the zoo. We love our stroller.

Dawson in his new jumperoo. He loves the one at church, so we bought one for our house. Of course, he doesn't like it as much. So much for peace and quiet!

Don't bring a toddler to a Weight Watcher's meeting....seriously!

David has been working like crazy for days now, so I had to bring Nadia and Dawson with me to my weight watcher's meeting tonight. I knew she couldn't be quiet or still enough to stay for the whole meeting, so I had planned from the beginning to just go weigh in and leave.
In the 4 minutes we were there she managed to really embarrass me.
First of all, she notices a man standing against the wall, and while pointing at him says really loudly, "Momma, that man has a big, fat belly!" I grabbed her arm as quickly as I could and practically ran to the weigh-in line. While in line, she charming everyone asking them their favorite color and stuff, when she looks at me and announces to the room that she needs to poo-poo. Immediately afterwards she lets out the loudest and longest fart I've ever heard from a human being (including my brothers when we were growing up). She laughs and says, "I farted!"
The lady in front of us says, "That's okay, baby, we all do it."
I was mortified. I realized in the moment that it was a funny story, and I even chuckled on the way to the van, but I was still embarrassed.
Needless to say, we definitely headed straight for the van without staying for the meeting. If David ever has to work on a Thursday night again I'll just skip the meeting.
I lost 2.8 lbs...for a total of 22.8! Go me!