My conversation with Dani this afternoon:

Dani: I am going to get married.

Me: Who are you going to marry?

Dani: Daddy.

Me: Daddy will be a good husband.

Dani: Daddy IS a good husband.

Dani reminded me no fewer than 27 times tonight, "Daddy is a good husband."

Given the day I had, Big Man really needed to be talked up, so Dani did him a solid.

Where are you going my little ones?

Last night, I fed the girls dinner at their little tykes table, which meant that Tori sat in a chair at a table for the first time. I took a few pictures, and when I went to upload them to the computer, I saw that Big Man had taken a number of photos as well. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones working overtime, but I was just a little blown away by how big they looked.

I took this one of Tori, sitting like a big girl, eating a tomato. It was so sweet to see her climb in the chair and sit like a big girl across from Dani to eat. She was trying to use a spoon and making a huge, adorable mess.

The rest of the pictures, the ones Big Man took, looked like this one. The first thing I thought of when I looked it was Dani's first day of school. I actually got a little choked up (damn hormones). Dani's got her backpack on, paper in hand, and looks like she can conquer the world. But she's not 5, headed to kindergarten, she's 2! It just really gave me pause. It seems like only minutes ago she was just a little blip on an ultrasound. And now she's a chatty little powerhouse.

Tori's trying like heck to catch up with her and it seems like every day there's a new word and something new she can do. Tonight she held up their Mickey Mouse nightlight and announced "Mickey". She also learned to climb into the overstuffed chair, a task that she tried, and failed at, yesterday. When did my two babies turn into kids??

It's called a skull.

We are tearing through the summer here, with only 3 weeks to go until Tommy-time! I'm seriously doubting that I'm going to make it the distance, although I hope I can, as we've already scheduled help and flights and time off and such beginning on the 15th, and it would be chaos to have it happen early.

The kids are keeping us entertained. Tori's finally showing an interest in talking to the rest of us. So, there are lots of "hi daddy" and "hi mommy" and other cute things that she is starting to come out with. And, she continues to be little miss mischief. The second you blink, she's into a cabinet, or trying to climb something, or trying to eat something she shouldn't be. She'd definitely the reason that cabinet locks were invent, and probably baby leashes too. She's such a silly little kid--and is often stomping around with a giggly little dance, until she gets pissed (oops, I'm not supposed to say that out loud, because Dani repeats it) I mean upset, and then she flings herself onto the floor screaming and kicking. She did it tonight and Dani suggested, "Mommy call the doctor for Tori. She scream her head off."

Dani, on the other hand is so terribly two. She is adorable and snuggly, and then adamantly defiant and whiny all in one breath. I can't leave the house without "Mommy, I need a BIG kiss and a BIG hug," followed by tears of "Don't go mommy. Don't go to work." It makes it hard to leave. And, she's always trying to boss Tori around, leaning in her face and saying NO TORI, and other angry commands, despite the fact that I'm constantly reminding her to be polite.

She also talks up a storm, and is so creative. The littlest thing can turn into a story for her. And some of the things she comes out with...yesterday it was, "I have a head bone. It's very hard. It's called a skull." She told us this randomly during breakfast.

She also loves dressing up--here she is in a party dress someone gave her, dancing like a ballerina princess. She also loves sitting at my makeup table and telling me, "I love makeup!" while playing with my brushes and trying to draw on her face when I'm not looking. It's pretty adorable. She's our little charmer when we take her out, saying "hello" and "excuse me" to people in the store, exiting by telling everyone goodbye, and just being pretty damn personable.

It's pretty fun, this mommy thing. I'll be happy when we can meet Tommy, and certainly am looking forward to never being pregnant again. Ever.

Cute things my kids say.

Tonight Dani asked, "Mommy can I go in the TV and say hi to Mickey Mouse?"

Sisters.

Now that Tori's getting bigger, she and Dani are playing and interacting more. That often means more yelling at each other or trying to grab each other's toys. There's lots of "NO TORI" and Tori yelling "DADADA" in response and shrieking at the top of her lungs.

But there's also tons of laughing, running and general silliness. Dani will, literally, run in circles around Tori, while Tori shrieks with Glee. They both "talk" on the phone. Dani is actually somewhat capable of carrying on a brief telephone conversation with grandma and grandpa before she decides it's more fun to push the buttons on the phone than talk.

They usually aren't too far apart when they're in the playroom, and are generally cracking each other up.

Tori is unquestionably Daddy's girl. No matter what we are doing, she's always keeping an eye out for Daddy. Yesterday, I had her in the pool while Big Man was doing some yardwork, and she kept yelling "DA or Daddy" and would fuss until I brought her to the edge of the pool where she could watch him work. It's pretty adorable. And she's now giving kisses. Not the halfhearted Dani-kiss, (Dani puts her cheek next to yours and kisses the air) but adorable puckery smooches. Even Big Man describes it as the cutest thing ever.

Dani's very excited about baby Tommy. She is now announcing to people, "We're having a BABY." And, she tells me that she is going to feed him and burp him and change his diapers. I think she's the perfect age to be a helper and not really jealous. Tori, on the other hand, is going to have a problem I predict. She's starting to be a bit of a biter, and she really will flail at you if she gets angry...I think we are going to have our hands full. Plus, given the fact that she can now climb anything and everything, the new baby distraction will allow her to get in to way more stuff than she can now...dreading that! Seriously, it's often the cuteness factor that saves her from trouble!

So big!

Everyone around these parts is getting SO BIG!

First, my 34+ week belly is about to require it's own zip code, it's so big. I'm exhausted and cranky and hot! I've been doing a terrible job with updates because I'm just so darn tired.

But so many awesome things have happened this summer! Big Man was promoted to Lieutenant, and his hours changed to 3-11pm, so he's home for the night, and not exhausted all the time. We need a few hours of child care a day, but our super-star sitter, Miss Ruth, is a lifesaver. The kids go to her house for a few hours of fun every day and she feeds them an early dinner so that when tired mommy picks them up after work, I don't have to come home and cook.

Dani is talking nonstop. The kid is amazingly creative, telling stories all the time, pretending to be characters and just is tons of fun. She is already telling me that when Tommy comes, she is going to feed him and hold him and burp him. She keeps asking when we can unzip my belly to get him.

Tori is still our little handful. I thought Dani was a silly, happy baby, but Tori is exponentially more so. She's always smiling and laughing, and getting in to something. If you turn your back, she will have swiped something off a shelf, or will be in the cat's water bowl or just doing something she shouldn't be--and she laughs like heck when caught. When she swipes the phone, or remote or something she shouldn't have, and you notice she shrieks with glee and sprints away as fast as she can.

She makes tons of animal noises, and says a few little words, like hi, daddy, mommy, kitty and a handful of others. But she understands a ton and can follow commands, when she wants to. She also reacts with a fiery, screamy rage when you stop her from doing something she wants to do, often sitting on her butt and screaming bloody murder. I'm sure my neighbors appreciate that.

Fortunately for her, she's really cute. It's her saving grace lots of days. They keep us entertained, and I can only imagine the trouble they get into when Tommy gets here!

A traitor among us.

We played a practical joke on Big Man this morning: He was not as amused as I was.

GO BEARS!

Family visit. Schu's in the house!

My parents, brother Todd and his family came to visit for the long weekend. We had a family reunion with my Dad's family, and it was great to see family members that I hadn't seen in many, many years. Everyone came. It was great!

The kids enjoyed their time with grandma and grandpa, and Uncle Todd, Aunt Amy and baby Peter. Grandma rocks Dani on the hammock:

Grandpa sits on Dani's lap!Big Man and Amy were taking the pics and Tori was napping, but we got some of the family! Too bad we didn't think about a group pic before we left the party!

Dani had lots of sillytime with Grandpa.

Tori tried to outrun Grandma, but she's pretty quick for an old broad!

Lots of laughs were had by all!

As Dani likes to say, "I love my family." Although it's much cuter when she says it...