That's our house?

It's not until your child take a photo with your camera that you realize how messy your house is. What is up with the bubble wrap?

Mia Jacobs: the lost years

I discovered a couple videos from Christmas that I didn't upload. Oh no! Here they are.

Daycare pals

I thought I better take a minute to snap pictures of Mia at daycare before she gets too big and graduates from high school.

Mia shows off the cots where everyone naps. She enjoys this part.

Mia steals books from the bookshelf. Luckily, she isn't 18, so this isn't a felony yet.

Her pal Troyce has been in the same class with her since they were 6 weeks old. They are what I like to call frenemies.

Mia and Abby are best friends. I tried to take a picture of them together, but they were too busy squishing together in ridiculous hugs.

Maddie has also been in Mia's class for a long time, and they are good pals.



I'm on to you, slide

Like her mother, Mia is generally suspicious of everything. Take this slide, for example.

But at least she enjoyed one of the little bouncy cars, which she immediately told me to get on with complete disregard to physics.

Tiny socks, tiny paws

What do you do when you have a dog and a bunch of tiny children's socks? Clearly, you do this:

From one kid to three

Our wonderful friend Michelle let her two kiddos spend the day at our house. Let me just say this: having three children all of a sudden makes you feel less in a hurry to have a second baby.

We had so much fun with Noah and Izzy. Mia adores them. They adore Mia. It's a lovefest. We went to the park, played the piano and bounced on the bed.

But to be honest, it was kind of crazy.

We were unprepared on many levels, particularly the food level. We didn't have the snack situation taken care of, and Leigh made a mad dash to Crest. Turns out, kids compound each other's emotions. One is hungry? All of a sudden, three become really, really, really hungry - right now! At the time, it was terrifying. We were sure we would be eaten by a tiny, adorable herd of cannibals, but the pizza bagel bites arrived just in time.

So I'm in less of a hurry to have a second baby. I like the 2:1 ratio of adults to kids that we have now. Mia needs to be a little older and I need more snack-planning practice before we add a baby to the mix.

The Grouchy Ladybug

Mia got this adorable ladybug raincoat, and I've been waiting forever for 1) her to be big enough to wear it and 2) a rainy day.

Well, it finally happened! I wrapped her up and immediately went to get my camera. I lifted it up to my eye and she said: "NoooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Then she fell on the floor, rolled around and cried her face off.

Darn it. I took a picture anyway. Then I realized maybe she was reenacting one of her favorite books: "The Grouchy Ladybug."

Time out!

Mia has been putting her baby time out and telling her to be nice. A sign of someone on the brink of the Terrible Twos? Indeed.

Daddy-daughter smiles

A new way to drink through a straw