Why everyone needs an Aunt Leanne

 Why everyone needs an Aunt Leanne...

She's affectionate

...very, very affectionate!

 She comes to visit and brings gifts

 ...then she helps unwrap them!

She tidies up!

(A good quality even if it does mean wadding up outfits with tags on them and shoving them in the blanket drawer for me to stumble upon later - hey, at least they're put away!)

She dishes up a hearty meal

...and reads a captivating story!

And it's the little things in life that go a long way in expressing our gratitude to Aunt Leanne; the little things like "footies".  If you don't know what footies are, they're warm, furry socks. But don't dare call them "socks" - Leanne will get mad!  They're footies darn it!  And Leanne collects them and wears them every day - all year long!  So it was like winning the lottery when Leanne was gifted with 8 new pairs of footies.

She literally threw them in the air and let them rain down on her - talk about a dream come true!  We received the following email expressing her gratitude:

deareliabeth frired rice and tavis star fryhead

thanks for lunch diecliceious

chcken damplings carrtos

thanks froties

red pink blue green halwoeen

you best love leanne

No, Leanne - YOU are the best! 

Murphy's Law

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".

And that pretty much sums up our weekend.  Travis woke up on Saturday morning with this brilliant idea to pack up the girls and drive 85 miles to the nearest outlet mall to buy Josie some much needed clothes in size 18M.  So we started loading up our stuff and hustling to get out of the house and on the road. 

About halfway down the interstate, I realized I brought my breast pump but I forgot the accessories.  I could not go all day without pumping!  Luckily, there was a Target between our house and the outlet mall so Travis ran in to buy some accessories.

Then we pulled over to get lunch and feed the girls.  I went to get Merryn out of her car seat and discovered that she had produced the single biggest blow out I had ever seen!  It was all over her and her car seat.  Fabulous timing, kid!  Travis laid out a blanket in the back of the SUV and I laid her down and realized it was too cold and windy to undress and change her with the hatch open. 

Travis: "What are you going to do?"

Me: "I'm going to climb back there with her and you're going to shut the hatch."

Travis: "The double stroller and all of our stuff is back there - you won't fit!"

Me: "Watch me!"

So I climbed into a space about the size of a shoe box, squatting with my knees against my chest, and insisted he shut the door.  He threw the keys in there with me in case the claustrophobia overwhelmed me and I needed to pop the hatch and escape, and he ran into Wendy's to get us some lunch while I tackled the poop explosion. 

The blowout was horrific!  I kept wiping and wiping and wiping...baby wipes were not going to cut it.  The kid needed a bath!  If there had been a public fountain nearby, I would have submerged her.  But that was not an option.  I tore through our supply of baby wipes and ended up having to finish the job with Clorox wipes.  Desperate times call for desperate measures! 

Being the seasoned mother that I am, of course I know it's important to always bring along a change of clothes for circumstances like this, right?  WRONG!  I had nothing!  So I wrapped Merryn in a clean blanket.  Luckily, Sam Walton was smiling down on us and we spotted the bright lights of Walmart.  I sent Travis in to get Merryn something to wear.

He returned with hodge podge ensemble:

The purple socks were all that was left of the adorable outfit that she left the house in (a gift from Grammie Deb that once belonged to Josie).  She no longer coordinated perfectly with her sister but it didn't matter because when I went to get Josie out of the car, I found this:

Nice pigtails!

In just over an hour, my cute and coordinated kiddos had morphed into a couple of rag-a-muffins!  Had I known there would be "After" pictures, I would have taken "Before" pictures!

We completed our shopping and returned home.  I went to throw the soiled clothes in the wash and discovered our dryer was broken.  Right about then, Merryn decided to projectile vomit all over our bed, comforter, and carpet...bringing the tally of waiting loads of laundry up to about 8 - with a broken dryer.  Sensational!  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

I told Travis "These are the parenting moments that we will always remember and tell stories about." 

"I dont sing that bad!" - Another Aunt Leanne video

Since the last Aunt Leanne video was such a hit, here is another one for your viewing pleasure. Please note that this was not scripted; no one prompted Leanne to sing. This is simply a random moment captured while we were out shopping, waiting on Mama Hop.






In case you're wondering (I know I sure was),  Leanne won some sort of stuffed chicken playing the carnival games at the fair.  She put it in her closet, intending to give it to Josie for Christmas. 

Baptism

As we've referenced several times, both girls were baptized over Labor Day Weekend.  When we adopted Josie, she experienced health issues, hospitalizations, and winter-long quarantine, and as a result, many of our relatives did not even have a chance to meet her.  So we decided to turn the baptism into a big celebration and invited almost 40 of our closest family members to join us so they could meet the girls and celebrate this special occasion with us.

We don't have any relatives in town so we were absolutely touched that so many people traveled a long way to join us.  My sister, Leanne, was the godmother (or "Mother of God" as she calls herself) and my cousin, Jeff, was the godfather (he even set the theme to "The Godfather" as his ring tone on his phone).  Both of them did a terrific job. 

It was a beautiful celebration that left us with memories we'll cherish.  I've been meaning to upload photos from the baptismal weekend but things have been so hectic and there were so many photos to sort through so I just threw together this little college...

"fun with siter house" - Another Blog Post by Aunt Leanne

Aunt Leanne Blogs

dear everbody
you fun with siter house
speed
wholle week
help with babybaby
we fappcino chololcate chips
whipped with cream
chololcate chips
starbucks eat meal
feed
catfish
with ketchup
bath
reed books
josie
chaange ing
table
walk away
trouble
dangers
chicken
grilled
noodles
than llasgugnag
gailic bread
applle juice
for
dinner
lunch
stream
chicken
for
breakast
tukrey sauasge biscuit egg
love leaanne

Yes, Aunt Leanne was here for a whole week helping with the babies and she agreed to write a blog post about it.  She originally wanted to list every reader by name after "Dear...".  I had to convince her that was not the most practical approach so she reluctantly settled on "Dear Everybody".  As usual she references her meals and Starbucks (the fine folks at Starbucks should really pay for all the promotion Leanne gives them on this blog).  She also references a little incident we had where Leanne learned a very important lesson: do not leave the baby on the changing table and walk away - it's dangerous.  Rest assured that no babies fell off the changing table; everyone is fine.  But Leanne now knows she can only set Josie on the floor if she's going to walk away from her. 

Leanne was an excellent helper all week.  She got a first-hand taste of how exhausting caring for two babies can be.  On her first day, she fell asleep on the floor of the playroom while entertaining Josie.  When I walked in, it startled her and she sat up quickly.  I said "Leanne, do you need to go take a nap?"  and she looked embarrassed and said "No, I'm fine.  I'm watching Catfish with Ketchup." ...lying on the floor...with your eyes closed...snoring?  LOL!  I understand how you feel, Leanne - trust me!

When my mom came to get her, Leanne insisted she was going to stay "forever" because Catfish with Ketchup said it was ok.  However, they had things to tend to back home so they packed up and left.  Suddenly the doorbell rang three times in a row.  Travis opened it and there was Leanne who announced "I need a hug from Catfish with Ketchup" so Leanne made the rounds.  She said one last goodbye, gave us each a hug, and even gave Lilly one last doggie treat.  Suddenly we heard the impatient honking of the horn and Leanne announced "Gotta go - my limo is waiting" and she darted out to Mama Hop's car and they drove away. 

Thanks for everything, Leanne! 

I'd also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my wonderful husband who took two weeks off of work to help me with the girls as I recovered from my C Section.  After walking in my stay-at-home mom shoes, he concluded that it was much easier to go to work!  Thank you!  On behalf of all the stay-at-home moms out there, I must say, it's nice to have that validation.  It is a tough job!

No one knows that better than Travis' mom, who also deserves a big thank you for spending a week helping with Merryn and Josie.  Boy did she sleep well after putting in long hours with our two little ones!  She kept the pat-a-cake going and taught Josie how to "Woo Hoo" with the best of 'em!  Thanks T Woww!

And I can't sign off without thanking Mama Hop, Grammie Deb, Maggie, PaPa and all of the friends and neighbors who were willing to lend a hand during the last few weeks.  We are a lucky little family to have such a wonderful support system and we are very grateful. 

Josie learns to crawl

The other night, our wonderful neighbors, Clark and Lynn, stopped by to bring Josie and Merryn gifts - colorful, waterproof bibs that Lynn made especially for the girls. Josie loved hers so much, we used it as incentive to get her to crawl. But as neat as that bib was, it wasn't what Josie was after. The newfound freedom to explore her surroundings? Nope! The exciting prospect of being able to chase the dog and maybe actually catch her? Nope! The appeal of watching mom try to maintain her sanity while trailing a mobile baby and caring for a newborn? Nope! All Josie cared about was being the center of all the attention and soliciting as much applause as possible! Mission Accomplished: With Mom, Dad, Merryn, YaYa, Lynn, and Clark all watching and anxiously anticipating Josie's next move, she had us right where she wanted us and boy did she exploit the situation...

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Hair Do's and Don'ts by Aunt Leanne

My mom called me in tears yesterday.  She had dropped Leanne off at the salon for her usual cut & blond highlights.  She wanted her to look really nice for the big baptism this weekend since Leanne will be front and center as the "Mother of God" (godmother).  Apparently my mom's definition of "really nice" and Leanne's definition of "really nice" are not in sync, because when my mom went to pick Leanne up, she found Leanne perched in the chair with mahogany hair and auburn streaks! 

The stylist had given Leanne one of those hairstyle books and Leanne had selected this funky, asymmetrical cut that was long on one side, shaved on the other, with shaggy bangs hanging in her eyes.  Thank heavens Mama Hop arrived in time to put the kibosh on that! 

Leanne: Mom, am I in trouble?
Mama Hop: We'll talk about it later, Leanne
Leanne (facetious grin): I'm a prankster!

Synopsis: After a long talk with the director of the salon, a tearful apology from the stylist, and a grand total of FIVE HOURS in that chair, Leanne's hair was restored to a strawberry platinum version of it's previous state.  While not ideal, it is far more tolerable than the "vampire/goth" look Leanne was sporting earlier that day.  While no formal punishment was issued, Leanne suffered enough because she missed lunch AND bowling thanks to this little hair fiasco.   Notice in the "After" shot, Leanne can't be bothered to smile for the camera - she's too busy inhaling a plate of food.  You know how Leanne cherishes her meals!

Note to Self: Never leave Josie unattended in a salon

Before

(this was actually taken mid-repair so it doesn't do the "before" color justice but you can get a feel for the red)

After

"I liked it better RED!"

- Aunt Leanne