Things I could have only learned from being a parent.

On a daily basis my kids teach me about as much as I teach them.  They have taught me how I talk to other people which has been hard to take...I tend go from one extreme to other, one side bossy and just about rude and the other patronizingly sweet with the "you can do it sweeties".  Other than those type of obvious things they have also taught me that the wood they make dinner tables out of should be featured in the Smithsonian.  We paint, draw, scratch, etch and last but not least eat off of that poor piece of furniture.  Some nights I don't know how it is still standing, perhaps it is the chunks out of my daughters heads that it gets to rip off that allows for the table to get some joy out of life.  Also, I have learned that everything you sleep with or on besides the mattress can be washed in a home washing machine. The last two nights in a row Austin has gotten into a coughing spell that then turned into throwing up in her bed.  I promise you that I would not have known that you could wrap up bedding including pillows and stuffed animals and throw it in the wash.  In fact I am pretty sure if I had puked in my bed when I was single I just would have thrown it all away and started over.  On a side cute note, Austin calls it "pick-up" not puke, which I guess is her mixture between puke and throw up...so I can't help but smile when she comes out of her room and says "Mommy there's pickup in my bed.". :-)  Cracks me up every time.

My Mom and I have started calling Lil' Bit "Me Too", since everything that Austin gets Tyler says me too.  Our real challenge will be to keep Austin doing good and Tyler should just follow right along behind her.

Here's Me Too and her idol decorating Christmas Tree rice krispies.