Being a one and a half income family of four, there’s not much money left over for things like decorating the house. And by not much, I mean ZERO MONIES are available for decorating the house. I’ll admit, before I had kids, I was house proud. I loved decorating and redecorating. I was on a first name basis with the staff at Pier One and Pottery Barn. Nowadays, I settle for a clean(ish) house that has all toys put away every night at bedtime. (Only to be up to my knees in toys by 8:00 am the next morning, of course. But while we’re all asleep? It looks FABULOUS.)

Lately, I’ve been craving a change so I took a look around and repurposed some of our existing decor and used some things that were just sitting around. I was able to change both kids’ rooms and their bathroom without spending a single penny out of pocket. The only thing that cost me imaginary money was the ink and paper I used to print some pictures. I was lucky to stumble across Indie Fixx’s Feed Your Soul Art Project and I printed out some for Sam and let Maddie choose her own. My decorating style used to be pretty matchy (but not matchy-matchy) but for Maddie’s room, I let her pick just about everything, decor-wise. I picked the furniture, but just about every other aspect is her choice. So, you’ll notice the pictures don’t match each other or follow a cohesive theme, but we’re cool with that. We love them and that’s all that counts.

Don’t pretend you don’t want to see pictures, Gladys Kravitz.

The kids’ bathroom was already decorated with Swell linens so it was bright and cheery. I found some wall decals in Maddie’s closet that I had gotten from Ikea to match her toddler bedding and they matched perfectly with our colors. Maddie helped choose the location for all the stickers and both kids really like it.

This is Maddie's favorite part

These are water animals, so they have to be by the bathtub, according to Maddie.

Sam’s room used to be decorated in Classic Winnie the Pooh, but he’s too old for that business. Since I don’t want to put too much time and money into decorating his room until he’s old enough to tell me what he likes, I just did the bare minimum to make me happy.

I made letters for Maddie when she was a baby, so of course, Sam got them, too.

I ended up moving the duck picture right underneath the birds on swings. It helps Sam stay stil long enough for a diaper change.

Over the crib, but high enough to avoid grabby hands.

Over the love seat.

Sam loves ducks and while coloring with Maddie, she asked for me to color her a picture to hang in her room. Sam got one too.

Maddie’s room:

Here's Maddie's coloring page. All colors were requested.

These letters used to be green apple green, but Maddie requested that they be pink, so I repainted them.

Her only really annoying habit is demanding to be in my lap when I’m working at night. She’s of the opinion that my laptop is infringing on her real estate. Luckily, we’ve come to a tentative compromise:

She’s also a good nurse. Maddie had strep throat this week and Trixie made sure to keep Mad’s feet warm while she rested on the couch.

* Once she was feeling better, Maddie decided that my hair needed some help:

She’s available by appointment only. If you’ve got a special occasion coming up, you’d better call soon. She’s booked solid for the next month.

* Sam is working on getting his top teeth. And by “working on,” I mean drooling, chewing on everything and generally being miserable. Except when he’s playing with daddy and giving him kisses.

* We’re planning our family summer vacation. We’ll be going home to Cleveland to visit my family. We haven’t been there since Maddie was four months old, so it’s long overdue. I can’t wait for my kids to meet my family. And to see them all again. I miss them terribly.

The downside is that we’re driving. And it’s 19 hrs. With two young kids. Why are we doing this? First of all, because it’s $1000 for three plane tickets. Secondly, both Gerald and I are completely opposed to the TSA bullshit that’s going on these days. I’m not about to let the airport see my babies naked in a scanner or, God help them, touch my babies in any way. Also, driving lets us control the environment for the kids and that seems better than being stuck on a plane. We’re doing the drive in two days, so hopefully that will make things easier. We’ll see. It’ll be awful no matter what, but let’s hope for the least amount of awfulness possible.

* This weekend, I’m having dinner with Jennie and Julie and going to my monthly book club meeting. I’m extraordinarily excited about both of these things.

* In two weeks Gerald will be gone for three days/two nights on a business trip. This will be my first time alone with both children for an extended period of time. Let’s hope we all survive it.

BUT

While playing with Maddie today, it struck me that she says some really funny stuff that I want to record for posterity’s sake.
1. Her new favorite color is chartruth.
2. Everything that tastes good is Scrumptious.
3. She calls scissors “zizzors.”
4. Last night, as she got herself dressed for bed, she announced to me that she is “the best feetie mimi putter-onner in the whole wide world.” (Mimis are what we call pajamas around here. Which is also a Maddie-ism. She couldn’t say “jammies” when she was little and called them mimis instead. I picked it up and they’ve been mimis for all of us ever since.)
5. Every night at dinner she tells me I’m the best “cheft” ever. Even if she refuses to eat what I’ve made.

She may act like a devil-possessed hell beast on a daily basis, but she’s the most adorable hell beast I know.

Anyway, she’s been complaining intermittently of an upset stomach. I’ve tried to get more information out of her as to what’s wrong, but all I can get out of her is that it hurts like there’s a boo boo in her tummy. She doesn’t vomit or have diarrhea or anything. A few times I’ve given her a Tums and she says it makes her feel better. I’m taking her to the pediatrician for her four year check up and she keeps asking me to talk to her doctor about her tummy. Of course, I’m going to, but… I’m nervous.

First of all, how can the doctor get Maddie to articulate what the problem is? She’s not going to be able to because Maddie’s four for crying out loud. So what’s that mean? A bunch of tests? This scares me.

So this is the part where you tell me that everything will be fine and that pediatricians have experience dealing with little kids and prying details out of them, ok? Kthanx

How can you be four? How is that possible? I swear you were just born five minutes ago, and now here you are walking around like some sort of Big Kid. Please stop growing up, ok? I’d like it very much if you’d stay little enough to snuggle forever.

Today has been great. We woke up and had chocolate frosted doughnuts with sprinkles for breakfast. Then, you tore into your presents. (Hungry Hungry Hippos, a pair of Twinkle Toes, a new “pretty pretty princess” outfit and a stuffed Rocket from Sam.) Per your request, you and I went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science to see the dinosaurs. We spent three hours playing everything we could get our hands on and seeing the dinosaurs over and over again. We had your favorite “Old MacDonald’s” for lunch and came home. You’re passed out in bed right now, but later this evening we’ll have your birthday dinner of cheese pizza and your rainbow birthday cake. I think we’ve officially exceeded your expectations for the day.

Riding the sheep on the farm at the museum

Playing in the water is always a favorite

Baby girl, you are the most imaginative, precocious, intelligent, well-mannered, infuriating, stubborn person I know. You are a know-it-all, a musician, a paleontologist, a whiner, a drama queen and a snuggler. You’re made of both stinging nettles and pink puffy hearts.

Four years ago when I finally got to see your beautiful face and kiss your smooshy cheeks I had no idea what was in store for us. Life with you is so many things, but boring isn’t one of them.

I love you as big as the sky,
Mama

(Also, the stylist had a very difficult time believing that we wanted Mad’s hair cut so short. She kept questioning us over and over and tried to talk Mad out of it. I finally had to politely tell her that we knew what we wanted and could she please just do it. She ended up leaving Maddie’s bangs pretty long and then put a pink clip in her hair to make it look more girly. We took it out as soon as we got home and I trimmed up her bangs. She looks amazing and she loves her new hair and the fact that it doesn’t get in her face anymore.)

Before

During

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I was going to use this to illustrate the fact that my son is STANDING, but instead I'd like to draw your attention to the attitude Miss Priss is displaying. Pity me greatly.

Couldn't you just DIE?

Sam got some swanky leather moccasins from Alaska for Christmas. Guest appearance by Sofie the giraffe. Whom he loves more than me.

Maddie completely loves this creepy Santa at my dad's house. Personally, I'm afraid it's going to come to life and kill me in my sleep.

Trying to take a picure of Sam yields this result more often than not.

We started a new family tradition of Mexican food for Christmas Eve dinner. And look who's a big boy and sat in a high chair for THE FIRST TIME EVER.

Again with the dying, amirite?

Maddie and my dad about to pass out presents.

I hope your Christmas was filled with laughter, love and shrieks of joy. Or at the very least, a large quantity of alcohol.

Love from the Dressed Up family to yours.

Maddie: Mom! Look! I drew a turkey!

Me: Awesome! Don’t forget to draw a face on it.

The Result:

Well, she certainly followed directions that time, didn’t she? I love that girl so damn much.

I get it. Really, I do. She’s almost four and there’s not a whole helluva lot she gets to control in her life. I try to give her choices often and let her take the reins when it’s appropriate, but still, she gets bossed around an awful lot. She learned that, along with sleeping, eating was one thing where she had total control. Dinners went from being a nice time for us to be together as a family, to us fussing and Maddie digging in her heels.

Last night I finally had enough. I pick my battles and I don’t choose this one to fight anymore. This isn’t kitchen colosseum, for crying out loud. From now on I put food on the table and she can choose to eat it or starve. That’s all there is to it. I’m not getting mad. I’m not taking away bedtime stories. I’m not threatening. Nothing. I cook, I serve, the end. Gerald was willing to give it a try, so I made dinner tonight and called everyone to the table. Maddie started her usual routine of “What’s that? I don’t like it. Is it spicy?” Armed with my new attitude, I answered her questions and then said “Eat it if you want to, or don’t.” I didn’t make any kind of fuss about it whatsoever and you know what? She ate it without any fussing or prompting or fighting. Gerald was concerned that no longer forcing her to eat dinner would essentially let her “win,” but I maintained that she can’t win if there’s no one else playing the game. And it friggin’ worked. I can’t believe it.

Now, this ain’t my first rodeo. I know this isn’t how it’s going to be every night but damn if it didn’t feel good tonight. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. I’m guessing there are probably one or two of you out there who’re having this issue with your own kids. Maybe we can figure this out together.