You Eating Cat Litter Box??

First things first:  (Pregnancy Update)  I am feeling better!  Yay!  The past few days I have felt so much better.  I had another doctor's appointment last week and the baby looked great.  The heartbeat was 172.  I go back in a month.  Yay again!

Secondly, Maleah has started school and it is going well.  She really likes her teacher and the kids in her class.  She has been completely worn out when she gets home. 

Here are some pictures of her first day of school.  She was disappointed that school only lasted a little over an hour on that first day.  She sure looked cute though!

On her first full day of school she came home with a migraine.  She gets these occasionally.  I think that they are usually triggered by low blood sugar (this is my gut feeling as a mother, but not confirmed by a dr.).  All of the excitement of school and the heat probably didn't help anything either.  My Mom picked her up that day (because I was at my doctor's appt.) and Mom could tell she was sick.  Maleah ended up sleeping at my Mom's office for an hour and a half until five o'clock.  I made it home shortly after that.  Poor kid was so sick.  She threw up all over the couch and the bathroom.  She felt better after that but I really really hope that she doesn't get another one for a long time.  The next day she and I talked about what could have caused it.  Here is a portion of our conversation:

Maleah:  Recess was so hot.  I got really really hot.
Me:  Did your headache start after that?

Maleah:  Well, I sort of had it all day but it got worse after that.  Mom, they wouldn't let us go in.  They tortured us by making us stay outside.  The kids were begging to go in and Mrs. ____  wouldn't let us.  Mom, the kids were so hot, some of them were sweating black!

Me:  What?  Sweating black?  Do you think maybe their faces were just dirty and they were hot?
Maleah:  No.  They were sweating black, Mom.  It was that serious.

Carissa has been pretty funny this week too.  Today we were at IGA and we were in the checkout lane.  Carissa said "I got to go potty!!!"  I said "Okay, well, wait just a minute.  We have to pay first."  She said "I am freaking out!!!!"  I couldn't believe she said that.  Of course she has heard her sister say it, and me too, probably, but it still took me by surprise.

And then tonight, we had a very funny (and slightly strange) conversation in the bathroom.  She had been in her bedroom, trying to go to sleep, but then decided she needed to make one more trip to the potty before she fell asleep.  I had been in the living room eating a bowl of cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats, Baby Cooper's favorite).  She apparently could hear me eating something.  Here is our conversation:

Carissa:  What you eating, Mom?
Me:  Cereal.
Carissa:  You eating cat litter box?
Me, trying to convince myself that she didn't say that:  What?  I'm eating cereal.
Carissa:  You eating cat litter box, Mom?
Me:  Are you saying cat litter box?
Carissa:  Yeah, you eating that?
Me:  No!  I'm eating cereal!
Carissa:  Oooohhh!  You eating cereal...  (Like she finally got it.)

Okay, the cereal was not really that crunchy but do you think she heard me eating it and thought it sounded like I was eating litter?  Gross!!  She is the only person who has been known to sample that so maybe that's what it sounded like to her.  Who knows!?  Crazy kid!

I know it's been awhile since I shared any skating pictures and you all have been dying to see some more pictures of my kids in roller skates.  The exciting thing about these new skate pictures are that Carissa is in them.  She is learning to skate in the kitchen, just like Maleah did in the same old trustworthy Barbie skates.

They love each other so much.  Maleah's Christmas socks are funny.

This past weekend we had a surprise birthday party for Jason's Mom, Sherrel.  She was very surprised and all of her brothers and sisters were there.  That doesn't happen very often that all of them can get together at once so it was an extra special day.  Jason and Craig grilled burgers and hot dogs for everyone and we had lots of side dishes.  The party was held at Johnsonville Lake and it was a beautiful day. 

Grandma Sherrel Cooper (4th from left) with all of her siblings

The past two Sundays we have gotten our boat out of the garage and went boating.  It has been so much fun.  We should make more time for our boat but we are so busy with other stuff that it just doesn't happen very much.  The girls are really into it this year.  They like to go fast for a while and run up and down the lake and hit big waves that are left over from the skiiers.  Then they like to slow it down and look for turtles on logs and blue cranes.  Carissa will say "I wike Bwue Cranes!"  Spooking them and making them fly away is tons of fun.  It doesn't take too long though and the girls are ready to go fast again.  The first weekend of this we had to stop so I could throw up but this past weekend I didn't have to.  So yay for progress!  I didn't feel that great but I was still able to enjoy the day with the family.

After our boating adventure this past Sunday, we celebrated my Grandma Rose's birthday with a fish fry at Tim and RaeAnn's house.  After we ate, the kids and some adults swam.  Maleah had so much fun.  She swam the whole time.  Carissa swam some too.  I, however, did not.  To say that my kids were exhausted by the time we walked in the front door of our house at 8:30 that night would be an understatement.  Maleah did not want to wake up the next morning for school.  We have just been having too much fun!  We are trying hard to get back into our school year routine but it is hard.  Really hard.  But hopefully, now that we are going to have a routine again, maybe I can start updating my blog every week again!  You can only hope.  Right??

I feel bad that I have neglected my blog lately.  But it is what it is. 

I am now 8 weeks pregnant with Mini Cooper #3.  I am sick.  Every day.  I am tired.  Every day.  My house is a mess.  Every day.  I have no energy to do anything.  Every day.  The smell in Wal-Mart and IGA make me sick.  Every time.  My kids are bored because I am no fun.  Every day. 

But on the bright side, I do feel better today than I did yesterday.  I suspect my prenatal vitamins could be partially to blame for my nausea.  I have been taking them at night before I go to sleep and then I wake up sick.  Today I took half of one with my lunch and I will take the other half with my supper.  This is my new plan so please say a prayer that it works and that I can begin functioning as a normal person again.  Thank you.

Because I have been so sick, almost all food sounds terrible to me.  I am hungry a lot and know that if I eat small amounts of food every couple of hours that I feel better.  Sometimes that is hard to do because I feel so sick and nothing sounds good to me.  There are a few things that Baby Cooper likes:  fried yellow squash, fried okra, Nacho Cheese Doritos, coconut cream pie, cupcakes, and fried mushrooms and french fries from Julian's.  Anything remotely healthy sounds horrible and most meat is very unappealing as well.  At this rate I am likely to gain 100 pounds this pregnancy.  I'm not sure my blood pressure could handle that.  As soon as I start feeling better, I vow to start eating better.  Meanwhile, my blood pressure medicine is working just fine and my blood pressure has been completely normal for now.

I had my first ultrasound last week and the baby looked great.  The heartbeat was a healthy 137.  I see my doctor and have another ultrasound next week.  I see a high risk doctor in St. Louis where they keep a close eye on me.  I have difficult pregnancies and doctors in my area don't want anything to do with me.  But that's okay because I really feel like I am in the best place possible in St. Louis.  Maleah and Carissa were both born there and I doctored there with Carissa the whole time too.  I hate the long car trips over there (two and half hours in the car when you're pregnant is a long time) but I get great care and healthy babies.  That's what really matters.

In other news, Maleah is super excited about school starting.  She can't wait!  Only one week left of summer vacation for her.  She likes having a routine and she likes having something to do.  She's been pretty bored around here for the past couple of weeks.  In July she had swimming lessons and we spent a week at Oil Belt Camp.  She even stayed the nights when I came home and slept.  I was so proud of her!  But August has not been as exciting and she is ready for some fun.  She loves school and is counting down the days.

Carissa is into asking "why?"  I hear it a lot every day.  Here is a recent conversation with her:
Me:  Carissa, put your shoes on.
Her:  Why?
Me:  Because we're leaving.
Her:  We are?  Why?
Me:  Because we're going to go see Grandma.
Her:  Debby?  Why?
Me:  So we can visit.
Her:  Oh.  Okay.  Why?
Me:  Because we love her and want to see her and Grandpa David.
Her:  Why?
Me:  Do you want to see them or not?
Her:  Yes.  I love Debby and PaPa too. 
Me:  Good.  Put your shoes on.
Her:  Okay.  Why?

Errrr.  It can be pretty aggravating sometimes.  I have found that not answering her doesn't work because she will just repeat herself like a broken record until I do answer.  Sometimes I tell her that I have already answered her questions and that she just needs to listen and do as I say.  That usually puts the kibosh on all of the why's for at least a few minutes.  Also, reverse psychology works wonders on her.  I have started asking her why and she usually walks away.  Today, we had this conversation:

Her:  I have to go potty.
Me:  Why?
Her, with a bewildered look:  Because I have to go pee and that's where I pee.
Then she walked away. 

Also, she has two pairs of Crocs and she is always wearing one pair or the other.  One pair is purple and the other is pink.  If she has on a pink outfit, I used to ask her to go get her pink Crocs and put them on before we left to go somewhere.  She would argue and beg to wear her purple ones.  Vice versa if she was wearing purple, then she would only want to wear her pink Crocs.  She wants the opposite of what I suggest.  But beware little Rissy, because your Mama is smarter than you are.  Now I ask her the opposite of what I want.  If she has on a purple outfit, I ask her to get her pink Crocs.  She argues and says she wants to wear her purple Crocs.  I say "Oh, okay, whatever."  We walk out of the house and her outfit matches her shoes.  Voila. 

I think that's about all that's new with us.  I promise to post some new pictures soon.