I love my husband.

So right now the stages that the girls are in effect Mars and I in completely different ways.

I find Jane's stage right now completely endearing. She is using logic more and more, she wants to talk all the time, she likes to snuggle in bed, she likes routine, she is very funny, and is quickly becoming her own little person (and a very smart one at that). She says things like "But mama, I was thinking..." and "Um, so ... how are you?" She enjoys running errands, and going to new places, and she is very polite in public most of the time. Yes, she still throws tantrums sometimes, she runs away from you at inopportune times, and she tends to use a whiny voice when she wants to get her way. She is still a 2 year old. But I love hanging out this this ever developing family member. Mars on the other hand finds her logic newly manipulative, and the whining and constant talking a bit grating.

Macy and I on the other hand are having a harder time. She is a very demanding 5 month old. She likes being held ALL THE TIME, she is hard to put down. She is still waking up a couple times a night, and she is quick to temper, especially if it is about her bottle or being put down to play by herself. And I swear I find her so exhausting right now. She cries in the car seat, she cries in the ergo carrier, she cries in the swing, and she cries in the bouncer. She can finally roll one direction (back to stomach) but once she gets there she is mad, and then cries some more. She has been sick on and off (more on than off, by far) for nearly two months, and she doesn't seem happy most of the time. She is probably teething and has a rash on her face, and she doesn't like having her picture taken. If you are holding her, she is squirming and wants to be adjusted every several minutes. If you put her down, she is only happy if you are sitting right next to her staring at her. She has not developed any ability to soothe herself. And mostly she just wants to have a bottle, and you can see from prior blogs what an experience that is. I did an experiment the other day. I gave her a 6 oz bottle, and 40 minutes later she was fussing, and I gave her another bottle, and she drank all 6 ozs of that, and still cried when it was done. I swear she just seems never happy, and I have no idea what is wrong most of the time. Arg!

Ah, but the joy of a two parent household. Mars and Macy totally connect right now, he says that sleep and food make him pissed-off too, so he seems to get her. She likes his patience to sit and do the same thing all the time. She seems to respond to his love of staying around the house, and since he is just plain stronger than I am, he seems to lug around her 15 pound body with more ease.

I feel bad about this some of the time, but I know this hasn't always been true, and the tides will change again soon enough, and I for one am reminded how wonderful my husband is, and how glad I am that there are two of us doing this.

The most interesting things about the Brownsens... What A Pity?

So my friend Heidi pointed out that something great/horrible will happen, and it is a big news for a few days, but then life goes on. If you don't happen to talk to someone (even someone you are very close with) in those few days, you may discover that you never share it with them. Heidi and I recently found out that as much as we talk about our kids, I never told her that Jane had to go in an ambulance to the hospital in August because she was having difficulty breathing. Jane is totally fine, and it ended up just being really bad croup. When I mentioned it, I couldn't believe I hadn't told Heidi.
See pictures...

So I was thinking that I would share a few interesting (though not as monumental as breathing difficulty, a 911 call, and an ambulance ride) stories with our blogging public. Get you caught-up by way of anecdotes with the Brownsens.

First, Mars: the best story about Mars right now, if the huge fence he has been building in our backyard for the past week. So Cooper officially has a 7+ foot straight leap, and he kept getting out of our yard and into the neighbors yard, so Mars is retrofitting all of our 6 foot walls with the addition of a 4 foot fence on top, and we have a lot of walls around our yard. He is kind of taking a huge joy in it, it looks beautiful, it is way too well made (I swear this fence will withstand a tornado should we ever get one in LA), and it is taking way longer than either of us thought. I will put pictures up soon, but know Mars's (and my) biggest fear is that the fence will finally be finished after much time and money, only for us to discover that Cooper actually has an 11 foot leap. In which case we will officially make him a "house dog" with a small grass patch in the den, and a tire tied around his neck.

Next, Me: Well I have discovered that over that past few weeks when I have been dealing with my gall bladder issue and now finally having it removed, that people say the most inappropriate things, even when their hearts are completely in the right place. For instance a co-worker who I love dearly said "It's no big deal. My mom had her gall bladder removed and she lived for 30 more years" Um I would like to live past my mid-sixties. My insurance agent said, "wow you are too young to have your gall bladder removed" which instantly made me think I was some how in horrible health, even though my doctors have said that I'm pretty healthy, in general. And a doctor said "I mean the worse that can happen is you will have chronic diarrhea and maybe not absorb enough fat from your food, but that is kind of how those fat-blocker medications work for weight loss, so maybe that's no so bad" Arg, a life of loose stool sounds wonderful. Now that I have taken this to a dark place... just know that 9 days post surgery, and I am doing great. I feel good, not very much pain, and everything seems to be working as it should. This time off at home would actually be relaxing if there weren't some guy in my back yard using an air compressor and a nail gun.

Okay now for the comedians in the family....

Macy: she is a super laid back baby, until you cross her. I mean she hasn't rolled over, she seems to be very excited about sitting up, but mainly is happy to have life come to her. She watches everything, she is cautious and loyal, but don't mess with that girl when she is hungry. My Grandma Pat has been visiting, and she has even said that she has never seen a child so into their milk. So if you are feeding her, and you take the bottle away to ...you know.. let some air in and release the super lock vacuum she has on it, or to shake it to make sure the formula is well mixed, or to check the nipple to see if it is blocked, she freaks out. Her face turns instantly red like she has been painful hurt, loud scream that starts as a silent wail, and frantic flailing of arms and legs until she grasps something to hold onto (like your shirt or your neck skin), and seems to pull you toward her, as if to say "Don't you f- around with my stinkin' bottle!" Also no matter how much bottle she has had, she will try this technique to convince you she is still hungry. If she has had like 9 ounces of milk already, all you can do is walk her around and make funny faces at her until she is distracted and gives up the fight. She has convinced many an unfamiliar feeder that she is starving and needs gallons of formula immediately.

And now for Jane: Jane's quintessential characteristic is still her unbelievably beyond belief vocabulary, verbal aptitude, and propensity to conversation. Recently this took the form of her acquiring a new turn of phrase "What a pity."

So she walked up to me and said, "Mama, what is, whatta pity?" and when I didn't understand she repeated it.

So I said "Do you mean, what does 'What a pity' mean?

"Yes."

"You say it when something happens that you are sorry happened, or that you regret."

Blank stare "What is a pity?"

"Pity is the emotion of feeling sorry for someone else."

Blank stare "wutta pity, wutta pity, wutta pity... what is pity made of?"

"Well Jane, I guess let me give you an example. If you were wanting to go to Manah and Patah's and you didn't get to, I would say "You didn't get to go to Manah and Patah's house, what a pity."

Jane then laughs and says "Oh, I like that. Tell me another one."

"Cooper and Molly didn't get dinner yesterday, what a pity."

"More pity, please Mama."

This continued as I gave nearly twenty examples, and she just ate it up.

"This new mattress is uncomfortable, what a pity."

"There will be no chocolate for the next year, what a pity."

"It is hot and there is no air conditioner in the Jeep, what a pity."

Later that night she turned to me, when I said I wasn't hungry for dinner, and she said, "You don't want to eat Papa's delicious dinner, what a pity."

Keep in mind here she is 2 years and 4 months old. Crack-up.

More than a month, is anyone out there?

So sometimes I wonder if any one reads our blog at all. I mean, I get some great comments every once in a while, but sometimes, it feels like I just out it all out there into the electronic nothingness.

So in the past month, I went back to work, Macy started daycare, Jane started potty training herself all on her own, and I had my gall bladder removed. All of them are much too long of stories to get into, but know that we all seem to be doing okay, and on the right track again.

The girls had a great Halloween, enjoy the pictures, if anyone is out there. Jane was a giraffe, and Macy was a cowgirl. Very cute.