Brown Bear, Brown Bear

On Sunday as I was getting ready for church, Miss Mouse went out of the bathroom on a mission to get books to read to her little sis. She came running back in (I peek out of the shower curtain regularly) with a stack of books. First was Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She read the whole thing to Baby Mouse who listened attentively. It sounded like: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What see, Brown Bear, Brown Bear?" then each successive animal, "Purple Cat, Purple Cat, What see, Purple Cat, Purple Cat?" until she got to "T-shirt, T-shirt, What see, t-shirt, t-shirt?" That would be, uh, "teacher". Close.

The next book was The Three Little Pigs which came out "Piggy, piggy", turn the page, "Piggy, piggy", next page, "Piggy, piggy". And so on and so forth.

Then was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. That was "Light. Moon. Egg. Leaf. Warm sun. Berry hungry! Two pears. Two pears. Two pears. Still berry hungry. Cake. Cheese. Sausage. Tummy ache!!! Green leaf. Felt better. Big, fat caterpillar. Nibble hole. Butterfly!" She got the main ideas, I suppose.

I took a longer shower than planned because it was just so sweet to listen. As I blew my hair dry, she read Baby Mouse a 'touch and feel' book. She took her hand to touch each page. Baby Mouse looked at me like "I'll put up with this, Mommy, because I am such a sweet baby". I laughed and laughed. I'm hoping to get the whole process on video sometime.

Rollercoaster Week

It's been a rollercoaster of a week here. It seems like a long time ago, but just one week ago we were celebrating Mothers' Day. Mr. T. took me out for frozen yogurt on Saturday night since he and a friend were leaving immediately after church on Mothers' Day to make it to another friend's wedding in Wisconsin. It was a beautiful day with the girls. The kids at church sang a song with "Happy Mothers' Day" in it. Miss Mouse picked up the chorus and sang it around the house all day. Pretty special. In the afternoon we went out to eat with a friend, her daughter (they happened to be the significant others of the friend Mr. T. went to the wedding with, so they were having a 'girls day', too), and my mother-in-law. It was a good time. Miss Mouse ended the meal with food from ear to ear. Baby Mouse slept right through. Then the girls and I and Grandma headed out to the lake. It was a treat to be there overnight. We made it back right before a rain storm hit on Monday afternoon. Mr. T. was already back from the wedding, so we had a nice evening together.

Mothers' Day is a tough day, as well. One of many, I guess. It's such a blessing to get to celebrate with my two girls now....but the memories of my first Mothers' Day are still close. The WELCA at church presented us with a check for the gift of our choice; they wanted to hold off on the shower until after the baby was born because we hadn't found out whether we were having a boy or girl. They wanted to recognize Mothers' Day for us, though. We went out to eat after church to a pizza buffet, and I was offered a sundae - they were free for mommies that day. I declined. I was watching my figure after all....watching it get bigger, that is. Anyway, the excitement, expectation, joy, and optimism of that day were shattered not a month later. The women who were so excited to throw a baby shower and help babysit ended up throwing a funeral instead. It left us feeling loved and supported, but it certainly wasn't the way anyone expected to support us on Mothers' Day 2005. I suppose those memories just make the current Mothers' Days even more precious. These days are like a dream that I don't ever want to end. I've lived somewhat of a nightmare, and this, with a wonderful husband and two beautiful, healthy little girls, this is a dream. Sometimes I have to take a deep breath, sort of like sucking in mountain air, to try to take it all in.

So, that emotional rollercoaster started the week off. Tuesday the girls and I went to a going-away party. It was held in one of my former classrooms. Again, there were a lot of ghosts and memories there from a time before Hope. A more naive time, I guess. I'm glad we went. Another alumnus of my graduate program recognized me and talked to me about her daughter and son-in-law who had lost a baby girl last year. Can't say I ever wanted to be recognized as the woman who lost a child, too, but it's healing for me to be able to talk with other people....I'm not sure I ever say anything helpful, but sometimes I think it's more just giving them a chance to talk to someone who they know understands what they're saying.

By Friday, we were happy to wake up to a warm, sunny day. I had a hair appointment (long overdue) for myself and Miss Mouse. It's a 50 mile drive or so for our hair appointments. By the time we got there, it was pouring rain and freezing cold! Terrible Mommy hadn't even brought Baby Mouse a blanket!! Miss Mouse had her first professional hair cut, getting her bangs trimmed. She did great and sat like a perfect little lady. All the way down she said "ask her. trim my bangs. ask her" because I had told her we'd have to ask and see if there was time (I hadn't mentioned Miss Mouse when I made my appointment). She was so excited that Jill had time to trim her hair.

Since we were so close, I had to make a stop at the cemetery. I don't go regularly. This time of year, though, I feel a strong pull there. We'll go again on June 2nd. Again this year someone beat me to putting flowers out. She has a beautiful little bouquet of bright pink ones. It was pouring still, so I just jumped out and left the Mice in the car. Baby Mouse was still sleeping, but Miss Mouse had questions this year....

Miss Mouse: "What doin', Mama?"
Me: "I want to visit Baby Hope's grave."
Miss Mouse: "Oh. I visit, too."
Me: "No, honey, it's raining. You can visit next time if it isn't raining."
Miss Mouse: "Oh. I visit next time! I visit Baby Hope!"

A little while later when Miss Mouse notices I'm crying (the flowers get me every year....it's just awe-some).
Miss Mouse: "Mama crying. Why Mama crying?"
Me: "Mama's crying because I miss Baby Hope. I wish she lived here with us."
Miss Mouse: "Oh. I love Baby Hope. Baby Hope loves you." (sidenote: She calls herself "you").
Me: "Yes, I'm sure she would have loved you."
Miss Mouse: "Baby Hope loves you. Baby Hope loves you. Baby Hope loves you."

On the way out of town:
Miss Mouse: "Baby Hope lives here."
Me: "No, Baby Hope lives in Heaven."
Miss Mouse: "Oh. Yeah, Heaven. Baby Hope loves you."
Me: "Yep, yep, yep. Baby Hope would have really loved you."

At home, she decided she wanted to look at pictures. She found Hope's book and sat down with her Daddy to look. She pointed out Baby Hope in all the pictures as well as who was holding her.
We were both pretty quiet when she saw the last picture and said "Baby Hope covered blankets. Baby Hope trying stay warm." Yep. What else do you say at this point.

Ugh. Things I never imagined having to explain to a 2-year-old.

When we got home, I began my routine of parking the car, unlocking the door myself, going back for Baby Mouse and her carseat, and then bringing in Miss Mouse. I stopped at unlocking the door because I smelled burning in the house. Aaahh! I sniffed around and felt the basement door and ascertained there was not a flame fire anywhere. I was still worried about something electrical, so I grabbed the phone and called Mr. T. Then I ran the girls over to the neighbors. Poor Baby Mouse hadn't eaten in four hours, and the neighbors had carpet layers at their place. They pulled the girls in the door right away anyway, and I met Mr. T. at the door. We figured out it was likely the blower fan burning out. Thankfully we were able to get it fixed before five on a Friday night. Quite the bill, but at least we have a fan.

I was heading back to our house from the neighbors just as our guests for the afternoon were walking up the driveway. Close friends of ours from Enderlin were in for the day and wanted to stop by to meet the newest Mouse. The rollercoaster continued as I saw one of the men carrying a faith chest up the driveway. He began making faith chests for every child baptized in that church a few years before we left. I was sad that Baby Mouse wouldn't have one like her older sister.....now she has one. So special....of course, I cried. What a puddle I am!

Oh, to top off the adventure on Friday, Miss Mouse had her doll, Mickey, going tinkle in the morning while I was feeding Baby Mouse. Normally this is fine. That day she decided Mickey had to wipe. And wipe. And wipe. And wipe. I was yelling "pretend!", but before I got there, she had the whole roll in the toilet. She solemnly says she will not ever do it again. I had no time to dig it out before we had to leave for our hair appointments, so, with the chaos of arriving home to a burned out fan and the fact that the basement bathroom wasn't put together yet from the flood (it is now!), we had no useable toilets in our house when our guests arrived. Good thing they are close friends!

What a week. What a rollercoaster. What a ride!

Milestones for us all

As you can tell from the heading picture and the picture of Miss Mouse above, the crocuses were outstanding this year at the farm. A friend recently mentioned that she didn't realize they grew in the wild. My response was that until a couple years ago, I didn't realize they could grow anywhere else.

We've all had quite a few milestones lately.

Here are a few from Miss Mouse:

*Gave up her pacifier at about 25 months....right after her two year molars all came through and surprisingly close to when Baby Mouse (avec le pacifier) moved in. One night the white pacifier was lost, so I thought I'd try out how it would go if I told her the two green ones were lost as well. She said "oh" and hasn't had one since. I held off until after the molars were through because the sucking motion helped her ears drain. Apparently she was ready to give it up!

*Potty training is still going strong. We're in "pretty pants" which are basically reinforced panties without the plastic outer covers now. There are still accidents fairly often, but she's really into being a "little girl" instead of a "baby". There are little girl privileges such as turning on the tv for the news, helping Mommy cook, etc. that she doesn't want to miss out on by wearing a diaper except for naps and bedtimes.

*Gave up rocking to sleep around 24 months. Right around the time we brought Baby Mouse home, Miss Mouse decided she'd rather go to sleep in her bed. I still stayed and sang until she was asleep and then tiptoed out of the room. This turned into a bit of a struggle, as she would force her eyes to stay open so that I would sing longer. We instituted a rule called "you have to have your eyes closed, or I won't sing". It helped for awhile but turned into one more thing I had to be 'bossy' about (obviously I'm bossy a lot as the mother of a toddler....). The past few weeks, it has been working just very, very well for us to read a book, say prayers, and for me to sing "Kitty, Kitty" (my family are likely the only ones to know this song....who knew it would be passed onto another generation!!!) and two verses of "How Great Thou Art" and then to just leave the room after goodnight kisses. There were many times during the teething months where I wondered if I'd be rocking her until she was 15. I thought I must be crazy still rocking a toddler, especially when almost all the literature and "research" on proper child development tells parents not to rock a child until she is asleep. Everything I've read says that she couldn't possibly have learned how to fall asleep on her own unless I let her "cry it out" at some point and "trained" her by forcing her....I'm sure that is true for some children. All are different, and so, of course, the smooth transition we've had with The Mouse wouldn't happen with some. But, I'm glad I held out for this transition. Waiting until she was ready to fall asleep on her own is, perhaps, the best decision we've made so far. Keep in mind, I don't post the bad decisions! :)

*Counting - up to three is really solid. We're shaky but can sort of go up to ten. We're working on French numbers now. She used to yell at me when I'd speak it to her...most days she likes it now.

*Talking - five word sentences are very common. She repeats everything we say.

*Praying - We still pray every night for Grammy's cats. I guess she can sense any cat of her Grammy's would need a lot of prayer. We also pray for Baby Mouse's tummy ache and Daddy every night. Everyone else gets a varied amount of prayer, but those cats, Baby Mouse, and Daddy are regulars.

Baby Mouse:

*She is a super-smiley little gal. Super, super cuddly, too. She naps on my chest in the recliner or in the Moby Wrap if we're outside with Miss Mouse. She'll sleep a solid three hours that way. Miss Mouse was a cuddly baby, but this little Baby Mouse just outdoes her older sister in that way completely!

*She's gotten lots less fussy. This is a major accomplishment for all in the household! Miss Mouse also talks about how it is "hard when Baby Mouse cries", so for all involved, especially Baby Mouse herself, we are thankful for this.

*She slept from 11-6:30 when she was 10 weeks old. Now if we can just get this to be a trend we'll all be doing really well!

*She had her first hotel stay at nine weeks for my small business conference. She did just as well as her sister did with her first stay. We'll hope this trend continues, as well, even though we don't do a whole lot of hotel overnights.

The Mouse King:

*Has grown a full beard.

*Has full range of motion back in his shoulder and, consequently, has completed therapy!!! Yay!!!

*Has gotten back on his bike.

Movin' On

We're slowly moving from the above scenes back to normal. I loved the snowman at the end of our block, holding a bucket. Auntie Laura was confused; I had to explain that his bucket was for water. The military trucks are rolling again, this time to take down the dikes that were raised so quickly last month. Miss Mouse keeps telling me we should find a different (diffant) park (park) without a dike in front of it (big, pile, mud). Hopefully one of these days, we won't have to find a different one and can just use our old favorite!

We've had a busy week, starting with a trip to the circus last Saturday night. Daddy took care of Baby Mouse (who decided that night that she would not take a bottle - I was welcomed home with two sets of open arms! Thank goodness we skipped out at intermission!) so that Miss Mouse and I could have some time together. We went with two friends, one my size and one her size :) A shriner handed Miss Mouse a small stuffed bear on the way in. That bear was cuddled and "oooo-ed" about through the whole circus. Miss Mouse loved the real performing bears, the ponies, and the elephants. Unfortunately we didn't see the elephants perform; we just saw them giving rides which both girls thought would be really fun. The mommies agreed that it would be fun when they are older.

Some circus observations:
*Either people don't know what to do when our country's flag is around, or they don't care. Hardly anyone put their hand over their heart during the national anthem, and everyone just sat down as the flag was being marched out of the center stage. One man across the arena from us stood at attention until it left. Respectable. I wish I could say we did the same, but I caved in to pressure and sat down. Miss Mouse did learn how to put her hand over her heart, though. Her Great Grandpa Don never let Auntie Laura or I sit down as the flag went by, and it was just assumed that a person would have their hand over their heart. I got a little teary-eyed thinking of that....it made me more determined that Miss Mouse and Baby Mouse will know how to properly behave. I certainly have no illusions on the "devout Christianity" of our "forefathers" (i.e., Ben Franklin, Washington, etc. - they were children of the Enlightenment, looking at God as a great "clockmaker" who just set things in motion and let them happen as they would....belief in miracles, Divine intervention, the Resurrection wasn't really on their radar of "rational" things to believe in....); often I disagree with the choices our country's leaders make (i.e., we seem to help people who are oppressed mainly in countries that are beneficial to our own interests - truly understandable that we can't be everywhere, and yet....I digress).....Still, I think it is respectful to act properly. Many people have died and continue to die to protect our right to disagree with our leaders' policies....it seems that makes it more proper to show respect to the representations of our country and to those men and women.

*It was sad to be at the circus again without Grandpa Don. I have to say he wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as the one last year in Williston where we were center stage, first row....the one here was much farther removed from the audience (probably safer, too!) which made it harder to feel part of the action. Still. It was neat.

*Why did I constantly smell rank cigarette smoke? It was like being on the train in college. Humph.

Enough about the circus. Tuesday we took off for a state annual meeting of small businesses. It was great! I got so many ideas for how to market my products (on my tight, nearly non-existent, budget), how to package them, even how to price them in a better manner. We met Grammy, Auntie Laura, and Great Auntie Linda there. The girls had a great time, though Baby Mouse again really preferred that I, instead of the plastic container, feed her. After my meetings were done, we ate at the Olive Garden - the girls were both great! One slept, and one chowed down on my Mom's shrimp and peppers.

Before leaving yesterday, we stopped to visit Great Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandpa Milt. It took Miss Mouse a long time to warm up. She was really tired and, I think, worried that I was going to leave her again (she had a babysitter Sunday evening, Monday evening, all day Tuesday.....not our normal routine!). Eventually she warmed up and visited a bit. It helped that Great Grandma Dorothy gave her as many red pepper slices as she could eat!

The way home was wonderful. I was worried. The drive down (3 hours) had been great, so I was sure the way back would be a disaster. Not so! Baby Mouse slept for half the trip, woke up and ate, and slept the rest of the way. Miss Mouse played with her doll most of the way. She dropped it 20 miles from home, and I couldn't reach it. So, soon I hear, "I love blueberry applesauce. Blueberry, blueberry, blueberry applesauce". It was put to a tune, too. That got us the rest of the way home! What a pair of girls we have!!! I sure do miss my sleep, and it is hard to be tied to everyone else's schedule all the time....but it is going to be sad when these days are gone.

There are no words

To describe how fun this is!!!

He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!

That is one of my favorite things to say in church, and we only get to say it once a year. This year, I missed it! Somehow making sure the girls both looked adorable and that one of us leaving the house had beautiful hair became a focus on Easter morning. Miss Mouse had a pink Easter dress (to be seen in future posts when I have a chance to download the pictures), a white Easter bonnet, and two little braids with bows clipped on the end. Baby Mouse wore an Easter outfit, as well, with a special Easter blanket made by a very special grandma we know (not one in our family, though). Thank goodness I had my Mom to help out; we did make it to church with both girls in tow, missing only the "He is Risen" salutation and the first song. Not bad, I guess.

Easter was really special this year as Miss Mouse is getting old enough to start really partaking in the events, like coloring eggs. She had a blast doing that with Auntie Laura and Grammy. Mommy watched, videoed the fun, and fed Baby Mouse (messy-ness is tough for Mommy sometimes!). The "Mice" got Easter baskets that the bunny had left at the lake (shuttled here by Grandma and Grandpa Dick) as well as ones that the bunny had left at the farm (delivered by Grammy, Grandpa Bob, Great Grandma Muriel, and Auntie Laura) in addition to the ones that the bunny left at our place. The bunny left alphabet magnets and a game for car trips at our place. Miss Mouse "hunted" for her Easter basket after she woke from her nap (we have to do things a little differently at our place seeing as how Daddy obviously can't be around on these holiday mornings!). So sweet.

We've been enjoying getting out on stroller rides now with the nice weather, too. I found a car seat cover for Baby Mouse so that she can join us. That means we can actually get out on our own schedules instead of having to figure out how to work it so that Daddy can be watching Baby Mouse. That was rather tough, especially now that it is biking weather again. Yes, indeed, he is out again on his bike! Yay for the reparative surgery! It appears to have worked, so we are all enjoying the spring weather. We're also all very thankful that the NWS has revised the flood crest prediction down. It's looking like our house might get put back together sometime soon!

In other events, I'm preparing for a small craft show next Monday and an annual meeting of the statewide small business group of which I'm a part next Tuesday. That meeting will mean a 3-hour car trip with the girls on my own. I'm hoping it goes well. Miss Mouse is really interested in pointing out the colors of passing cars these days, so I'm actually hoping for a lot of traffic on the Interstate! I suppose a lot of livestock in roadside pastures would work, as well, but with all the water around, that is less likely to be a possibility.

Miss Mouse has really begun speaking in sentences now. The other day she said "Miss Mouse (well, she used her own name, of course) can't reach it!". If Baby Mouse is crying she emphatically says "Mommy, pick her up!". She is also repeating absolutely everything we say. Usually that isn't too dangerous, but it is going to definitely keep us on our toes as there are many things that don't sound nearly as awful out of an adult's mouth as out of a 2-year-olds! Such fun!

Baby Mouse is no longer yellowish. She's so sweet, and it is so fun to see how much more comfortable she is now. We're still fairly sure there isn't a more gaseous baby out there, but at least she is comfortable! It's hilarious to me to look at her and truly see my baby pictures staring back at me. Miss Mouse has features and certain looks that resemble me, but she is very much her father. Baby Mouse is me with a few features and looks of her dad. The really funny thing is that comparing their baby pictures, in similar poses, the girls look a lot alike. I'm not sure how that works. We're just having a blast with our little princesses!

Back to Normal.....

My first solo attempt at a braid. It lasted about 2 hours before being torn out during a meltdown.

My Precious Moments Doll.

My newest doll.

It's a smile - a real one!

They love to play "together".

Miss Mouse fell right into the older sister role of explaining all things to Baby Mouse. Baby Mouse is so attentive!

Miss Mouse doesn't want to hold Baby Mouse very often, but when she does, she does a great job.

Baby Mouse in Mommy's baptism outfit.

The newly expanded Toomey Family.

My side.

A view from the back. Lots of hair. Lots of cowlick.

About a month ago - sleeping so sweetly.

We're slowly getting back to normal around here after basically losing a week as evacuees. We had a wonderful time out at the lake; Miss Mouse played nonstop with Grandpa Dick and Grandma (and Auntie Steph for the weekend while she was there!). Miss Mouse and Baby Mouse both traveled really well both ways. I was thankful for that as my nerves might not have handled screaming very well from either one of them. Likely there would have been a meltdown of tears in the front seat as well as the back!

Our house survived just fine with only a minimal amount of water seepage through small cracks in the floor. The carpet is up drying in the spare bedroom, and there is a heater going nonstop. Hopefully we'll prevent any mildew, and hopefully we won't have another scare when the river crests again - that's forecast for mid-April. Our mayor and the National Weather Service disagree on how high the crest will go; the mayor thinks it will be much lower than the first crest. The NWS predicts it could go just as high again. For the sake of all the sandbaggers and exhausted people in this town, we are trying to be optimistic and side with the mayor's prediction. I guess he was the only one who actually hit the crest nearly right in 1997, so he must have some sort of ability to predict these things....

Finally, I've posted a few pictures from the last month. With a baby who has not been very good at sleeping at night, it's been tough to have time to post any (I sleep when the girls are sleeping).