Thankful.

So many things to be thankful for.

Three little munchkins.

Big Man.

Relative health, wealth and peace.

Friends and Family.

Work.

Hearing words said by little mouths for the first time.

Hearing songs sung by little voices.

Silly breakfasts.

Family, party of five.

Baby Plague.

It was bound to happen eventually. It's actually pretty amazing that at nearly 3, Dani's never had a sick visit to the doctor, and neither has Tori. Dani still hasn't. Last Wednesday, Tori was a mess; she's had a low grade fever and bad cold for a few days and it seemed to have settled in her lungs. Tommy was starting to sound sneezy and Big Man was a mess too. We piled in the family truckster and headed to the doc. Tori had an ear infection and bronchitis; Big Man had bronchitis and Tommy was deemed to only have the sniffles. Antibiotics were prescribed for Tori and Big Man, and (as Dani would call it) the "snot snucker" with saline drops for Tommy's nose.

It's kinda hard to keep germs to one's self in this house. Dani and Tori share everything from sippy cups to toys; they are also always helping themselves to whatever Big Man and I have.

They are constantly picking up Tommy's pacifier and toys and playing with them or even trying to help give them to him.

He's even been known to sport a play 'stache or two. So it should have come as no surprise that Tommy woke up from his afternoon nap on Thursday and sounded like he couldn't breathe. He was hoarse and congested and had spiked a fever. I called the doctor's office, who heard him breathing and instructed me to go right to the Emergency Room. I did. It's croup. The whole way there in the car, I was convinced he was going to stop breathing. After a few hours at the ER, he received a shot to open his airways and a prescription for steroids.

After a rough couple of days, Little Dude got his smile back. Now mommy can breathe again.

Where do they learn this?

So smarty pants here even surprised me tonight.

We're looking for creative options for milk delivery that minimize spilling when Dani's not supervised. I'd like to move away from soft nipple sippies to have Dani drink the milk quickly, but she makes a mess with a big cup.

So, in a flash of brilliance, I decided to open the cupboard for a new, Dani-sized drinking vessel:

(Yes, it's a Stoli double shotglass, but it's the perfect size for toddler hands.) So I fill it with milk and hand it to Dani, who remarks, "This is a real glass." Okay, okay, so that doesn't make her the smartest toddler on earth, I understand.

Then she inspects the glass, and the decorative garland on it, and says, "It's a Christmas glass, mommy." And I tell her that it's mistletoe or holly leaves or something that sounded holiday-related because I wasn't really paying that much attention (to be totally honest). And, I'm pretty sure I told her it was mistletoe and berries, but upon further inspection I was dead wrong...

And then she says, "But mommy, that is saturn."

SATURN? SATURN?

Little kid, you are not even 3 years old, and we don't even have a book about the planets, last time I checked. Yet, you have managed to identify a Christmas-themed saturn on a milk-filled shotglass correctly?

The UC grad in me is totally high-fiving you, Dani, my little smartypants!

Not-so Little Dude.

Hey, smiley little dude, or should I say not-so-little dude?

You aren't even 3 months old yet, so why do you fit in 6-9 month clothes? Don't get me wrong, I love that you're pretty much sleeping all night, but do you have to rush everything else?

You're still kind of a snuggle bug.

And you know your big sisters adore you, but you're getting SO BIG, SO FAST!

You are literally pushing yourself up so high on your arms that I told your daddy tonight that you'd be crawling by 5 months.

You can even sit up a little bit, if you have something to lean on. Come on, little snuggle bug, you're my last little one. Don't rush me!