My doll babies...

Washing dishes...scraping food....mind flying over the never-ending to-do list...

From the other room ...."Hey mom...look at us!"

Turn and walk into living room - and there they are.

Through the front door ... on the front porch.

Sitting in the doll's little pack-n-play.

My two dolls.

How is it that my 3 1/2 year old and my 13 month old are roughly the same size?

Seriously - how did they both fit in there?

And who was responsible for this idea?

My guess? The redhead was responsible.

But it made me smile from my head to my toes.

I love those two little dolls!

That's My Girl *Sigh*

Danika has so much...well.....PERSONALITY. :) She just cracks us up because we never know what she is going to pull next. And the daycare we take her to is just top-notch. They love her as if she were their own child, and they know how to handle her little "moments." But there are days where we show up to get her and we have to be informed of some difficulty she put them thru while we were gone.

And then there are the days that it can't wait until we pick her up.

I was working on February 5th and I received this picture message on my phone from Leah, one of the daycare workers:


"This is your daughter after she filled the toilet with toilet paper...she got a time-out but it was hilarious!"

"...we sent her to the room and she put herself in the corner....haha"

Yes...a whole role of toilet paper. That's my little girl. *sigh* And I can't even blame it on Doug, because we both know that she is me on the inside...through and through.

That means this is only the beginning....she is going to torture us when she becomes a teenager.

Cooking with Dad

Danika recently turned 3 and we had a little shin-dig for her. It was tremendously fun.

One of the gifts Danika got was just plain awesome....our friend Courtney made Danika a fancy little apron, and made a bigger version of the same apron for me so that we could match in the kitchen. Danika was SO excited....and so was I! What a fun gift. My little mimic will get lots of use out of this thoughtful present!

So...she has been dying to wear it, but the next night when she was very, very vocal about wanting to wear the aprons I was busy feeding John and it was Daddy hard at work in the kitchen doing dishes and clean up. I confess that I may have whispered in her ear that Daddy would look good in Mommy's apron. :) That was all the encouragement she needed. She pulled her stool right up next to him and started begging to help him with dishes and looking at him with those big brown eyes asking if he would wear an apron to match her.

What could he do? Daddy's little girl was asking so nicely with those giant brown eyes looking at him. :)

He's going to kill me for this. But it is SO cute...I have to post it. :) The things we do for the love of a child. :)





I love him all the more for doing that.

Look Mommy! I'm Ariel!

My little princess loves Ariel, the Little Mermaid. And since both of them have red hair, I kind of capitalized on it and used it to my advantage... to persuade her to help me wash her hair. :) I told her that when she lays in the water, her hair swirls around her and she looks like Ariel. Now when she takes a bath, all I have to say is: "It's time to look like Ariel," and she puts her head in the water with no fight. I sometimes bring the mirror over so she can see what she looks like. :)


It's pretty similar don't you think???
:)
Every once in a while I stumble on a good idea. :) She just cracks me up.

Look Mommy! I'm a Bucket Head!

Those were the words I heard.
This is the image I saw.


Boredom causes strange behavior. That's what I'm blaming it on. She has been home sick and stuck in the house Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues. That's a long time for a 2 year old. :)

I think she looks brilliant, don't you?

It's normal.

Our little girl has some quirks that just crack me up. And part of what cracks me up the most is how "normal" these things have become at our house. Is it true that anything can become normal if you are exposed to it long enough?


Doesn't everyone where patent leather dress shoes with jeans???? on the wrong feet????





Don't you put every sticker you receive immediately on your face????


And band aids...everywhere....all the time. EVERY injury requires a band-aid if you ask Danika.


And to be honest...those poor little knees take such a beating, sometimes I prefer she just keep them bandaged up....they get hurt less when she falls!



My poor little girl. It is yet to be seen if she truly inherited my clumsiness or Doug's incredible eye-hand coordination...but one thing is FOR SURE. She falls down a LOT. I don't think those poor little knees were without band aids all summer long.

A sad little Halloween

No trick or treating for us.


We were dressed...ready to go....and then we heard those dreaded words..."Mommy, I don't feel very good."

Indeed. Danika had a fever of 103.3 - and when we asked her to open her mouth so we could look at her throat, she threw up. That was it...the end of our trick-or-treating adventure for 2009. Doug said I was way more disappointed than Danika...but that's only because I knew how much fun she was going to have this year, and she had no idea what she was missing out on. She looked so darn cute, too!

Here is our cowgirl.

Since we were all dressed, I made our little family sit down for one quick picture before we changed back into normal clothes and took her to Urgent Care.

Here we are - the whole Bierer family - 2 farmers, 1 cowgirl, and a cow. :)

We made it to Urgent Care just a few minutes before they closed...and they were still SO nice to her. Gave her stickers and a baggie of candy and everything. :)

The verdict? Strep throat. She is on antibiotics, but still feeling pretty lousy. It was a sad little night. She had to stay home the next day from church. I stayed home with her (and John, too)...and she got to hang out in Mommy's bed and watch "PBSkids-dot-org" in there. She loved that part of being sick. :)
**Side story here: Danika is VERY influenced by advertising we have found. The only TV we let her watch is some of the PBS cartoons...and they don't really have commercials, but they do advertise their own website. She used to ask for PBS...then she started asking for "PBS kids" because that is what they call it between shows....and now she asks for "PBSkids-dot-org"...she uses the whole phrase. It is very cute...and yet slightly disturbing. :)

Big Girl Bed!

All the credit goes to Doug. Somehow, he just knew she was ready. I wasn't there yet - I didn't think that it was a good idea yet. I have a new baby that refuses to sleep - I wasn't ready for a mobile 2-yr old that can let herself out of bed. Besides....she is so tiny she still fit in the crib just fine! :) But Doug told me he thought she was ready for a big girl bed. He was right.

So - the 2nd week of September, Danika got a "big girl" bed - and Nana was here a week later and put the icing on the cake when she bought Danika a Tinkerbell bed set for her new toddler bed. Danika LOVES it.

The really funny part is that once we put her in it, she won't get out...at all.... no matter what. She just calls for us over the monitor as if she is stuck in the crib still. Doug has tried to reason with her that she can get out and come downstairs on her own in the moring - but she is having none of it. It has been two months...she won't even get out if she drops a blanket or stuffed animal...she just cries for us. It cracks me up. But, it is also kind of nice - if you put her to bed, she stays!

These pictures are from the first night with the new sheets and comforter - we even got her the matching pajamas. She was so cute...she couldn't wait to sleep in it.







Is that pure joy or what?

"Come Here Cats!"

Sept 3, 2009 Danika & the Meerkats
My precious little girl - we went to the zoo a lot while I was off work on maternity leave. It was really so much fun!

On this particular day, we were at the zoo and when we got to this display, she asked what the animals were called. I told her they were "meerkats".... at which point she started to laugh and yell "Come here cats!" for 10 minutes. ;) We were pretty much alone at the zoo that day, so I let her have fun. It was cracking me up. :) And then the one little creature just started mirroring her and running back and forth whenever she did. I watched thinking that it couldn't last long...but when they kept playing their little game with each other, I pulled out my cell phone and filmed this short clip. John was sound asleep in his snugli strapped to my chest, and it was just a wonderful "mommy" kind of day. I love watching this because I just remember how much fun we had together that day.

Oh - and those little shorts and shirt she is wearing? Yes - those would be 12 months clothing. She is 2 1/2 years old. Will she ever grow?

Only a mother could love that....

***WARNING - This post could make you sick - WARNING - Grossness to follow - WARNING***

August 18th - 4:30pm
The call came to my cell phone - it was Daycare - Danika was sick and had just thrown up on one of the workers.

It was almost time to get her anyway, so I rushed over to daycare as fast as a mom juggling a newborn infant can, and scooped her up. She was acting as if she didn't feel quite right...but she seemed "better" after getting it out of her system.

On the way home, I snapped this picture to send to her Daddy and tell him she was sick.
5:00pm


As we pulled into our driveway I hear that dreaded sound that no mother wants to hear. We were still in the car - she was still strapped in her seat...there was nothing I could do but sit and watch it happen and wait for it to be over.

5:10pm


When she finished tossing her cookies, there was so much mess, I just unbuckled the car seat and pulled her and the seat out of the van still strapped in it. I sat her on the ground and snapped a picture and texted it to her Dad so he would know what to expect when he pulled in from work. Then I left her strapped there while I went in the house to get a bucket of soapy water and some towels and washclothes...and then we worked on extricating her from the seat and cleaning the poor little thing up. She was so pitiful....she just sat there, without complaint, and looking really sad.

She was fine after that, although I kept her home for a day from daycare just to be safe. But it was definitely one of my more disgusting "mom moments" since becoming a parent. That was one nasty smelling little girl, and cleaning her up was an exercise in gag suppression.

God makes them cute so you don't toss them out and start over. ;)
Just kidding. I love that little girl!

Beach Bums

After we got home from the hospital with John, my Dad arrived to spend the weekend. Mom was already here so Dad rode out on the Amtrak. He said it was an interesting experience. :)

Anyway - after he got some rest and we all got a little stir crazy from being in the house, we thought that it would be fun to get out of the house and go down to the beach to watch the sunset one night.

I love the beach and the sunset and these kids and my family.
What a fun night!

My little beach bum.
Danika and Papa Jerry.
Danika loves having Nana and Papa Jerry around. She gets spoiled!


The beach isn't Doug's favorite thing, but he was kind and we all went together.








SUCH a Daddy's girl!
So far we have had no jealousy - she just loves her baby brother. That's been pretty cool, too.




We just had a wonderful little family outing.

Pregopotamus

So a friend of ours recently posted on his Facebook page this comment: "Things not to call your pregnant wife: Pregopotamus." When Doug and I saw it, we pretty much laughed until we cried. It has become our favorite pregnant description...I would say we use it roughly 3 or 4 times a day. Everytime one of us says it, we both just crack up. (Thank you Brandon. :))

D: How are you feeling today?
A: Pregopotamus.

A: How do I look?
D: Pregopotamus.

D: Um...can you move, Pregopotamus? I'm trying to get through this door... :)

D: How is my favorite Pregopotamus doing?

You get the idea... a special thanks to Brandon for adding to our humor here in the last few weeks of this pregnancy...we appreciate it!

Anyway...here are some pictures from this past weekend to help you truly appreciate the Pregopotamus. :) I am SO ready to have this kid on the outside and NOT on the inside anymore! He is way too big and he is being evicted from him current home. :)
We met with the doctor this week and they confirmed that a planned c-section is the better choice for me this time around, so we will be having this baby on Tuesday, July 28th at 9am. :) I've got to say...knowing what time and day is kind of fun! I'm very, very excited.

Danika has no idea what is about to happen to her world...but to her credit she is VERY excited about having a little brother. I'm just certain she doesn't really know what that means. :)


Anyway...that is the update on us. These pictures were taken over the weekend. Doug's cousin Lindsay got married and we also celebrated Dana's birthday. It was a fun family weekend together.

Danika thinks that my enormous protruding belly makes a GREAT tent to hide under....I have to tell her to get out from under my belly all the time. It ranks right up there with other statements I must now make as a mom that I never would have imagined I'd be making out loud. "Don't bite the cat." "Please stop sticking your toe in Daddy's eye." "Please don't eat the chicken nugget that fell on the floor....at Wal-mart." Yep. Welcome to "Momhood". And soon I'll be doing it times two. :) (What have we done???) :)