Countdown to Boots...

This picture was taken on Tuesday, exactly 5 weeks to Boots' due date!  Mommy has lost 6 lbs over the past 7 weeks.  Thanks for the head start, Boots!  This is Mommy's smallest pregnancy so far - only 19 total lbs gained - though Mommy still manages to feel like a sausage in a too-small casing by the end of the day and Boots is literally a pain in the - well, you know.  Has Mommy been exercising, you ask?  Ha ha ha, ha ha ha - excuse me, while I laugh.  Has Mommy been eating, the man at the gas station checkout counter asked her today?  Yes, Mommy eats everything and anything she wants, which is awesome and fun except that everything gives her heartburn so she eats more Tums than anything else.  But we're plugging along, counting down and getting ready!  Can't wait to meet ya, Boots!
Love,
Lilly and Anna

This One Is For You, Daddy...

"Right derrrr, Daddy, I poopood..."
Love,
Anna

I Play Soccer. Sort Of.

 I play soccer!  Since Wee Ball was a bust, Daddy thought he'd try again with another popular team sport for toddlers - soccer!  These pictures are of my first game and practice.  We were all ready to go but then I yelled, "Wait!  I need to put my makeup on!" at which time Daddy glared right at Mommy, and Mommy was like, "What?"  Daddy snorted.  I put on my makeup and off we went!

 To the soccer field!  You see Daddy standing next to me?  No, he's not the coach, but I flat refused to get out on the field if he wasn't right there next to me.  You can do that in soccer for 3 year olds...

 Action shot!  My first drill!  Dig my costume?  Eh, I mean, UNIFORM?! 

 My loyal cheerleader...if you like the color on her lips it's called, "Princess Pink."

 Action shot!  My first game!  I got this one, guys!

Pretty cool!  We don't keep score in this league which is a good thing.  I didn't score a goal in this game, but I did have an assist (for the other team *cough**cough)
Maybe there's a future for me in team sports...maybe...
Love,
Lilly and Anna

"Daddy, Tell Me a Secret..."

"But don't tell me you love me, because you've said that a lot today."
Lilly, at bedtime.
Love,
Lilly

Ode to Aunt Tracey...

Mommy was going to blog about something completely different today but instead has decided we owe an "Ode to Aunt Tracey."  We love Ollie's Blog and we love seeing his pictures and reading about the fun things they do out and about NYC...  Aunt Tracey is one of those Mommies who really has her shit together and so do her little hipster Mommy friends.  For instance, probably they wouldn't let their kids out of the house dressed like this:

...for church.
And probably, they wouldn't think it's a whole lot of fun to get out ink pens and permanent markers and color this:

Because, why not?  Who needs paper when your body is a blank canvas?
We are also willing to bet that Aunt Tracey and her Mommy friends do not think an idea of a healthy breakfast is:

A Pop Tart, that we may or may not have found on the floor of our van, split in half and ate on the way to school in our minivan.  And lo, is Anna barefoot?  Indeed, she is...we don't need shoes round here in these parts.  Not every day...

'Specially not on rain days!
Finally, Mommy does not envision Ollie grabbing a rotten 2 by 4 and swinging it around the backyard garden just for fun:

all while about a foot and a half away from the car - and people.  But lest you think Mommy is not safety minded, note the helmet Anna was wearing whilst swinging said 2 by 4.  See - always thinking around here!  Safety first!
(I wonder if television writers crack themselves up when they are writing as much as Mommy does when she is?)
We have a book we read called the City Mouse and the Country Mouse.  Mommy tells us Ollie is a City mouse, and we are Country.  And variety in life is good!
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

 ...So we fell a little behind our "Blog a Day While Daddy's Away" - Mommy got a little busy, y'all.  No worries, though - Daddy is HOME NOW!!  Yay!!  He's trying (in vain) to get us to take a nap with him while Mommy sits here, blogs on my behalf and chuckles silently at this.  She gives it 5 more minutes...

We have a lot of pent-up, saved up energy just ready to unleash on Daddy.  We hope you're not tired, Daddy and if you are, that's just too bad!  We've been waiting for you...
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Silly Face!

Hi there!  We miss you, Daddy.  We miss you so much that Mommy actually got out the door this morning 1. on time and 2. with no fussing, crying, or whining!  AND we were dressed and fed!  A monumental accomplishment worthy of accolades and a trophy.  Mommy has decided while you're gone she's going to enforce a 9:00 bedtime and gradually get it down to 8:30.  This is because all the good TV shows come on at 9:00 - no, actually it's for our little bodies to rest and grow (and so she doesn't miss the first few minutes of Modern Family on Wednesdays, let's just be honest) and a 7:30 wake up time (I know, right?  Mommy has to wake us up at 7:30 - oh, POOR Mama!  How horrible to have a 2 year old and 3 year old that sleep in!)  So don't come home and ruin all of Mommy's hard work with your fun Daddy play time and rough housing six minutes before bed or Mommy will make you sleep outside!
Mommy had a Dr appointment today to check on Boots.  Seven weeks from today until he's due but Mommy's holding out for 6 weeks and 6 days from today for a Halloween baby!  We still don't have a name for him (besides Boots).  Boys are hard to name!  Got any names or ideas?  Drop them in the Comments section - and no Snoop Dogg but Mommy might consider Eminem Maurer.
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Missing Us?

 You missing us yet, Daddy?  We're missing you!  Just remember while you are up North there - do NOT fail this test or Mommy will kill you.
SO!  Wanna hear about what you've missed?  Here we go!
- We got a Beta fish from Babi and Duda yesterday!  His name is Rainbow.  He's dead.  Mommy found him this morning, told me he was "sleeping" and he's still "sleeping" in the tank because she can't find the net to fish him out.  So he might even still be here when you get back, waiting for YOU.
- I've started telling TALL TALES!  I told Mama I didn't want to go to Mary Lou's today because she's "MEAN" so Mommy said we better have a talk with her about that, thinking (erroneously) that I might retract my statements (I didn't) and when we got to Mary Lou's house Mommy said, "So, Mary Lou, what's this I hear?  You are MEAN to Lilly?  MY Lilly?!"  to which Mary Lou responded, "Oh, no meaner than you, Mommy - I hear stories all the time about how you send Lilly to time out in the closet" (which is not true, I lock her in the bedroom...)
- We watched TV yesterday.  LOTS of it.

One more exciting thing, Mommy slept upstairs last night - you know she loves "Grandma's" room and almost always sleeps up there when you're gone...well it's great because she can sleep with the windows open and last night she heard a gun shot!  Just one!  Then at about 3:30 AM she heard men talking outside of the window.  This did not freak her out in the least...she went and got the Louisville Slugger and slept with IT.  Nothing scarier than an 8 month pregnant woman with a baseball bat.  Then thought when in Kentucky, why not do as Kentuckians do?  Get herself a pretty little gun, you know the kind with the pink handle?  It will come in handy when I start dating...  Think about it, Daddy.  That, or a dog?  A real big one.
Love, 
Lilly and Anna

A Blog A Day...

...While Daddy's away.  We miss you already, Daddy.  Mommy thought it would be fun to post something new for you every day while you are in beautiful Ann Arbor, the happiest place on Earth yesterday evening around midnight for a few minutes...
Hail to the Victors Valiant...
It must have really been love for Mommy to marry into a family of Fighting Irish/Buckeye fans but Mommy has held true to her BLUE BLOOD roots - through all the pain and agony of the last 8 years or so - as have you, Daddy, you loyal Leprechaun.  Mommy, Duda and Babi almost felt bad for you last night, all by yourself in that bar in Ann Arbor, cheering for the WRONG team - it must have stung a little but c'mon - WHAT A FUN GAME TO WATCH!  Mommy even got up on her feet for a second there and that's no easy feat when you are 8 months pregnant.
Oh, Mommy could go on and on and on but she knows she doesn't need to.  She knows it was an ugly game.  She knows Michigan probably didn't "deserve" that win but like Duda said, "We'll take it!"  So that leaves ol' Big Blue undefeated so far this season (yes, yes, we know it's early) but where oh where is "Old Notre Dame?"

Heh heh heh...
Love,
Mommy, Lilly and Anna
 

Farewell to Summer

And how!  Saturday it was 102 degrees here and today it only got up to 65!  That went fast!  And of course, Mommy was ill prepared for this change in temperature.   Good thing we M----- gals are resilient to heat and cold.

Here are some overdue pics from our 4th of July trip to Greenville.  At least, I think it was 4th of July?  Actually, I really don't know.  It was about that time.  This was a festival we went to in Simpsonville and it was FUN!

And this picture is precious, and adorable!!

Team Lilly!  Go Summer!
Mommy is so glad to catch a break from the heat.  She is looking forward to long pants to cover her "prankles" or "pregnant ankles."  Truthfully, they're not that bad.  And her butt isn't as big as it was when she was pregnant with Lilly.  So Boots is giving her a little break.  Mama is 32 weeks pregnant now, which means in probably 7 weeks we will have a baby brother.  *GASP!* Shit!  That is not enough time!  This poor kid has no room (well, he does, it's pink), no name (ohkay, Boots!), only one pair of shoes (that is all Mama has bought so far), some stained girly onesies that may or may not pass as gender neutral (RE-cycle!), a Mommy in denial that he's really a boy (at the last ultrasound the technician gave Mama only one picture - just one - very clearly a penis because Mommy asked her to double check 25 times) - oy.  A boy.  Right now he is squirming all around in her belly - also very weird because it is so apparent to anyone who looks at Mommy's belly for a few minutes real good, you can see it moving from across the room.  Mommy can actually identify for you Yes, there's his leg, his arm, his foot, his elbow.  Isn't that weird?!  It IS weird!  It's VERY weird.
Anyway we welcome Fall with open arms around here.  We can't wait.  This is the BEST time of the year from Labor Day through New Year's it's the BEST time of the year - until Anna's birthday through Labor Day, which is also the BEST time of the year!  We could do without January and February though, because really, what are those months good for?
Happy Fall Y'all!
Love,
Lilly and Anna