The Princess Obsession

Susie started Elizabeth's princess collection...thus leading to her princess obsession.  "Pincess," she tells me EVERY time we see anything with the Disney princesses on it.  A little girl at the Y has a Princess bag that Elizabeth has to point out every morning.  For her birthday, her Grammy bought her a princess hat and blanket.  Well, the blanket hasn't gotten much use because it's been so hot, but today she asked for it at nap time...which resulted in playing with the princess hat this evening...which resulted to the battle over the princess hat.  ha!  Enjoy the pics!

Cranky Elizabeth, emerging from nap time with the princess blanket

Mama!  Hat!

Look, baby!  Hat!

No, no baby!

Baby, Peet-a-boo!!  Whe aw you?!

See baby?  Pincess!

Ha!  No, no baby!  (cue Rachel protest)

Cheese!

Pile on Dada!

My husband, in heaven

They just say the darndest things...

Random things heard around the Shipman household...

Elizabeth, peeling Rachel's name tag off her back and reading it to me: "R ...A...C...H...E...L......baby!"

Scott this weekend:   "Woah, when the light comes in the kitchen, you can really see the dirt under the microwave table."

Me:  "I know.  That's why I never open those curtains."

Elizabeth loves going into Rachel's room and waking her up from her naps.  "Mama!  Rachel up!!" she yells for me.  Then, she climbs in her crib to be with her sister.  She knows that this isn't allowed but will think of any excuse to go in there...

"Baby's toy!"  - runs to the door.
"Bubu" (burp cloth) - runs to the door.
Well, this morning, she was "talking" on her play phone to daddy and I hear, "Hi dada...yeah...baby?  Otay!"  - runs to the door.

Ah, and my favorite from a while back...Scott had gotten Rachel out of the bath and was cooing to her about what a good bath taker she was.  I hear the following conversation from the kitchen...

"Yes ma'am and you are such a good bath taker." (insert Rachel laugh) "And you smell so good when you get out of the bath, all nice and clean.  Your mommy takes baths at night and she smells clean too.  Sometimes she smells like vanilla...and that's where you came from."

Sigh...  :)

Just another day in Paradise!

Elizabeth got a little holographic picture in the mail.  It has little Publix cartoon characters on it.  Well, Rachel wanted it.  Hence, the battle of the book.

Rachel:  Grunt!

Elizabeth:  No, no baby!

Rachel:  Giggle.  Elizabeth:  No, no baby!

Rachel:  Satisfied Coo... Elizabeth:  Mama!

Mama: Rachel?

 Rachel:  Grunt.  Elizabeth:  NO, NO baby!!

 

PRICELESS

My daughter the daredevil

I swear, she wears me out sometimes...you know which one I'm talking about.  The one that jumps, climbs, runs and creates general havoc wherever she goes...Miss Elizabeth Rose.  Yesterday was an eventful day in that she figured out how to get on the bed - our bed: the high one.  And she can get on the spare bed.  Of course, this scares the ever-loving be-jeezers out of me because, while she displays Scott's athletic ability, her grace is all mommy.  I watched her scamper up there while Rachel was practicing her rolling and barely miss her with a flying elbow.  *sigh*

She can also get in Rachel's crib and loves to whether Rachel is in there or not.  (I know...imagine our horror when we found her in there jumping WITH Rachel!)  Last night, Scott caught her STANDING on the top of the crib rail and falling in the mattress.  He told me that if I could catch it on video, he'd pay me...ha!  Hopefully, the money would cover the cost of her cast!

Luckily, he found a way to contain her while he got Rachel ready for bed.  She had fun for a while, until she figured out that she couldn't escape!

Mickey Mouse Song

Ok, I just have a second, but had to write about this before I forget it.  One of the reasons I love keeping the blog is that I can put down memories for the girls to have later on.  Anyway...I was just cleaning the house and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse came on.  If you haven't watched Mickey in a while, the theme song has changed completely and it goes a lot faster than the old spelling of Mickey's name.  The rhythm is in straight quarter notes (one beat) with the last letter getting two beats and then two rests before Mouse begins.  So... M - I - C - K - E - Y (hold two beats) (rest, rest) M - O - U - S - E (hold two beats) (rest, rest). 

I swear, my mom must have given Elizabeth singing lessons during her visit, because ever since she left, my child can sing in tune and on rhythm.  So back to this morning...Mickey came on and Elizabeth was playing with Rachel in the exersaucer and singing with the theme song.  I overheard the sweetest thing as she sang to her sister...she threw an "I love you" in the rests.  "M...CK...Y...I ra ra (I love you) M...S...E"  I could have cried!  

The other reason why I love the blog is that I will have evidence of loving moments such as these when they're fighting like cats and dogs as teenagers!  Thanks for reading my mush!

Zoo!

Very rarely does Scott have a day off that we don't travel to see family.  So when Labor Day sneaked up on us and we were in Nashville, we decided to use the extra pitching lesson money to go to the zoo.  What a great time!  Elizabeth knew right away what the zoo was and kept telling us we were going to see "enamo's" (animals).  (Scott figured this one out. It sounded too much like Elmo to me.)  We packed a lunch and the double stroller and off we went!

Looking at giraffes.  She got her foot caught in the fencing when she tried to climb it!

Rare shot of Mommy!

I couldn't find her hat anywhere so we had to buy one in the gift shop.  Of course, as soon as I got it on her, I found the other one!  Ah well, this one is so darn cute...

At the flamingos.  She has to do a flamingo pose at gymnastics.  I have no idea if she finally put two and two together, but she did the pose perfect the day after this!

She was too scared to ride on one of the animals so we sat on the bench.  She liked looking for Daddy every time we went around.

Baby talk

I could have cried today when my little girl asked for pizza clear as day.  No "pah-peetz"...  She smiled and said it just like I would have.  *sigh*  I worked with a woman named Lou Jacobs at Spartanburg who told me I needed to keep a video camera on the girls all the time to capture all their little words, gestures and habits we think are so cute now because we'll forget when they get older.  I hate that I didn't get this one...and I feel like I video my kids all the time.  ("I know," you say!  "And we have to watch!")

Speaking of cute little habits, our often-cranky-at-night Rachel has combined her two loves: rolling over and the bath!  She has been known to roll to her side and close her eyes in the bath tub ("Ah, Father...this is soooo comfortable...") but last night was the first time she rolled completely over.  I hate to tell her that as soon as she can sit up, we're throwing her older sister in there with her and her Calgon moments will officially be over!

I know, I know!

I've fallen behind!  I'm sure you live for my updates...ha!  We've been tinkering with the nap time process lately, so my mommy-time has been cut down.  My apologies.  Please catch up on my children with the following pictures!

I have officially decided to only shop in stores that have fun shopping carts when I have to take both girls.  These were taken in Publix and the top is like a car with a steering wheel, which Elizabeth loved!  Rachel liked that Elizabeth was facing her, although anything I put in the top of the cart would get thrown down on top of her.  Pasta...wham!  Marshmellows...wham!  Eggs...just kidding!  The downfall is that I have no room in the cart to do any real shopping and it's similar to pushing a semi-truck down the aisles, but hey...my kids are happy.  Oh, side note...when I put Elizabeth in the seat, she started driving and put my calculator up to her ear to "talk on the phone"...  perhaps I should question the influence I have on my children!!

Playing defense!

She takes her shoes off every time...I need to start duct taping them on...ha!

Trapped!

Crocodile smile...she's getting ready to roll on top of Rachel.

Little teether

Mom came down to visit a couple weeks ago and I need her to come back because my house is a wreck again!  We love having her here, especially when she volunteers to watch our little children so my husband and I can go on a date!  Now, I know many of you were waiting with baited breath on how Rachel did.  Well...she took the bottle fine.  But we could hear her screaming when we pulled into the driveway at 9:30.  Scott and I had a wonderful time out and walked in and out of a couple bars downtown and listened to some no-name bands.  It was great!  Mom said we were acting like we were going to the prom!

Allergies had me in glasses instead of contacts, but that didn't stop us!

Rachel says, "Why are you just laughing, Babas??  She is mauling me!"

Take 2!

The price that comes with rolling and not wanting to let go of your play mat!

Let's go, Mom!  I'm ready!

Happy to You!

I've had several requests to hear this - so here you go!  Elizabeth sings the Happy Birthday song as "Happy to you..." and that's also how she asks for birthday cake!  This was during the week after Scott's birthday, when he conned his daughter into asking for dessert.  Enjoy!