Oy.

Well, I would like to apologize in advance to any of the family members that may be attending Cohen's party today. He has been a GRUMP! I'm not sure if it is due to some teeth that are coming in or if we are on the verge of another ear infection but he is just not his happy little self. He was up from 5am-6:30 and is back in bed now which means the normal schedule (that I planned the party around) is shot. Mom and I called that one last week! So just don't expect great things from the birthday boy today. Or the birthday Mom for that matter.

What were you doing at 1:00 AM?

Well, here's what I was doing....

Brian was out of town for the night and I was so desperate for company in the middle of the night that I called on Ozarks finest to keep me company. But really, my smoke alarms were going off and wouldn't stop. I didn't smell smoke or see fire but I thought it was worth checking into. Of course, now that I am a mommy I don't ever leave things to chance! So they came out and looked around with their heat gun thingy (yes, that's a technical term) and their gas fume smeller (another technical term) and gave me the all clear! They said that it is likely that either the battery in one detector was going bad and causing problems. It could also be the actual detector or a wire that connects them that is going bad. They said to start by replacing all of the batteries and then if that doesn't work to call an electrician. (We may be calling you Uncle Keith!) So, we were awakened about every 30 min. to the detectors having a fit. I didn't want to take them down since I was home by myself and afraid of going into too deep of a sleep just in case there really was something that they might have missed. Stranger things have happened! Cohen slept through the whole thing. Claire was my little superhero sidekick. She just watched everything and said that she was "Just really pretty irritated Mom." Then she said that she didn't really see the firemen because she wasn't wearing her glasses. (She doesn't have glasses but I think she was all hopped up on Benadryl). The best part was when I went downstairs to turn on the lights for them I was about knocked over by a TERRIBLE smell. Apparently, a few days ago, Claire had gone down and "Dropped a Deuce" as she now says (referring to pooping, Thanks Brian) and had forgotten to flush. It simmered for a few days and was really bad. I was so embarrassed! I'm surprised it didn't set off the gas fume smeller! So needless to say we are all a little sleepy today! BUT no rest for the weary! I've got cupcakes and a birthday cake to make for the big party tomorrow! It may be a crazy one.....but I LOVE MY LIFE!!!

When?

When will my little mister EVER walk? My back hurts. Two more days until his birthday party!! Claire and I are headed out tomorrow afternoon on a secret mission to get a special gift just for the birthday boy!

Claire's new house

Here is our masterpiece for the day! Claire had to have this house for her "talent show"** people. She looked and looked for the perfect house with a working door and we found it! We painted it today and she picked out the colors. She said, "Mommy, you are going to help me paint because that's what friends are for!" I wanted to kiss her face off! Please note her name on the front of the house. My little 3 year old painted that herself! I had to put the "e" on there but she did the rest! I can't believe how quickly she is learning stuff these days!

**Claire's defintion of talent show:

"You get a character and I get a character and we both talk actual."

We have been playing "talent show" for about a year and a half now. Thank goodness she is starting to play it by herself. We are totally over it.

Just call me "Pupcake"

Yesterday by 9:30 I had heard my name at least 150 times. "Mommy can you?" "Mommy will you?" "Mommy come wipe me!" "Mommy I'm hungry!" So in the middle of the 151st time I interrupted Claire and told her that I would be changing my name for the day. I asked her what she would like to call me. (Pretty bold on my part, but I was desperate!) She decided on "Pupcake." So I told her that for the rest of the day I would only answer to "Pupcake." It worked out great! Every time she would start to ask for something it always started with "Mooommmmyyy" and I would stop her and ask her to call me by my new name. She would usually get so tickled that I was responding to "Pupcake" that she completely forgot that she was going to ask me for ANOTHER package of Carebear fruit snacks. (which I would be telling her no AGAIN) So Mommy's...I would recommend the name change for a day! The only thing is, she wanted to be called "carrot" all day and I had to call Cohen "bean." Small price to pay.