Creative

or not.....This post might not be my most creative ever. I want to get some pictures up because I obviously haven't posted any in awhile, but after starting the day with a rather hellish doctors appointment for Baby Mouse, the creative juices just aren't flowing so quickly. I basically have no idea how much my 15-month-old Baby Mouse weighs or how tall she actually is nor do I know what percentiles the "estimated" figures fall into; both our nurse and doctor were fairly irritated that Baby Mouse was frightened during the whole ordeal. I guess she wasn't supposed to be. The weight that is written in her chart is 19 pounds, 6 ounces, and the height written in is 29 inches which may be accurate, but I have a hankering for Grandma to do a more thorough weight and height assessment one of these days....

Unfortunately, after thinking about the situation at the clinic this morning, I've realized the shiveringly cold atmosphere at Baby Mouse's appointment today is likely my fault. After the horrendous atmosphere at our walk-in clinic visit in March (the one where I was told I was akin to a milk cow....), I wrote a somewhat nasty letter suggesting that the nurse practitioner we saw should perhaps receive more education on breastfeeding and the value of positive relating to patients. Mr. T agrees that the cold shoulders I got consistently today were probably the result of that letter being shared (or someone asking for input about my complaint, etc.). I'm sad that that could be the case because my complaints had nothing whatsoever to do with our primary physician, but, unless there was some sort of negative event that set a bad tone at the clinic for the morning today, I'm afraid I may have to take responsibility for being such a verbose patient. Sooo.....lesson to self: no more assertive behavior. It's not worth destroying relationships that have worked well for six years. It's not like my letter probably had any effect on the educational level of the staff of the childrens' walk-in clinic on current breastfeeding best practices anyway.

Ah. In spite of today's misfortune, we continue to have a blast around here. These pictures should catch you up on some of what we've been involved in lately!

How did she go from baby swing to big girl swing with such frightening speed? The past two years were supposed to feel like, well, just that - two years....not two minutes! We have such fun at the park.

Lots of fun at home, as well.

Our May Day butterflies. Butterfly starts with "B".

Baby Mouse loves to sniff. This is her "sniffing face".

Baby Mouse also likes to help compost. She is ripping a paper bag in this photo. Miss Mouse was helping me get bread in the bread machine, but she was so proud of the bread machine bowl that she held it consistently in front of her face for the pictures. I didn't think anyone really was interested in my bread machine bowl, so I didn't post those pictures.

This is Baby Mouse's "thinking face". She furrows her eyebrows and looks very serious.

Finger painting outside. Budding artists' and Mommy's dream combination!

Baby Mouse tried to be a finger paint thief. She was caught red-handed. Hardy, har, har.

Hubert likes to drink from the girls' table. They love it, too!

He looks like he's supervising, but he's actually waiting patiently to see if he can grab some chalk for a treat when I'm not looking.

A random picture of my foot for anyone who was wondering what a foot looks like when it has run 13.1 miles in socks that were soaked at mile 1. Miss Mouse declared it looked like a "puh-ruuuuunnne!" Thank you so much to Grandma and Grandpa T. who cared for the girls so that Mr. T and I could run!! Oh, and sorry to anyone who is reading this after eating....this foot picture should maybe have come with a warning label or something.

I thought Baby Mouse would be fascinated by the animals at the zoo. Turned out she was more interested in the herbaceous life than anything.

Miss Mouse could have studied the animals all day. We had learned about camels - Camel starts with "C"; some camels have one hump while some have two; they have extra fat for energy in their humps; they are used for their hair and meat, and as an important means of transportation in deserts which are like super-huge sandboxes, etc., etc. So, in the afternoon, we headed out to the zoo to see some real camels! She was more impressed with the ducks and birds, but I'm glad she did get to see a real live camel, too.

Baby Mouse not really sure why she's supposed to be on the other side of the side walk looking at semi-hidden animals when she could be exploring the soil.

Miss Mouse thought the goats had teeny-tiny ears and were "beautiful".

Today Miss Mouse collected what she decided were "seeds". I thought it was a cool picture. She had asked me to photograph them.

She and Daddy had a picnic lunch outside after going shopping this morning. I think Baby Mouse got the raw end of the deal by far.

Our first pool day of the summer.

She was braver than Baby Mouse and I. For the most part, we only waded while Miss Mouse went in full-body.

I thought this screamed "summer! freedom!"

Baby Mouse and Hubert treed a squirrel. Again.

I took this picture because it reminded me of how cool it is to look up at tree branches. One of many things I think we forget after childhood. Thank you, Baby Mouse and Miss Mouse, for reminding me of such things.

Our garden. There are currently five sprouts, not counting the marigolds. If we get some lightning tonight, maybe we'll have more in the morning!