It's FINALLY Friday!!

After what seems like the longest week of my life, it's finally Friday! With sick kids, a sick daddy, a sick mommy and now a sick daycare provider ... throw in some dust and a flooring job that took 9 days instead of the two it was supposed to ... and you have a mommy who is REALLY happy it's FRIDAY!

Two quick kiddo updates ...

On Monday, I picked Riley up from daycare and was bringing him back to my mom's for dinner when we had the following conversation ...

Riley: Mom, if I'm good Santa will bring me real toys!
Mom: Real toys? Instead of what?
Riley: Instead of rocks!
Mom: Oh, yes, you need to be a good boy or else Santa won't bring you toys ... he'll bring you coal!
Riley: YEP! (pause) Mom, I'm going to be a good boy for the whole WEEK!


Paige ...
In just five days, Miss Paige will be 11 months old. It's SO hard to believe I need to be working on her first birthday party invitations. (And before you ask ... YES, they will be princess themed ... it's against Ryan's better judgment ... but mommy won out on this one!)

It's at this point when, as a parent, you begin to realize that your child is probably smarter than you give he/she credit for. You want to believe that your child is still a small baby ... in no way could she be growing up at all. Paige proved this very point to me last night.

Ryan and Riley had gone out to get dinner (can I just say how SICK I am of eating out!) and I had started cleaning the house. I was working on the trim work by the steps and Miss Paige was trying to "help" me. She's been pretty good with keeping her distance from the steps but she still makes me nervous ... especially now that there's no carpet. To distract her, I asked her where her baby was. I watched as she looked around the room and suddenly her eyes lit up when she found it. She turned back towards me in a "it's over there, mom" kind of way ... and I told her to go give it a smooch ... at which point, she took off crawling as fast as she could across the living room, picked up the baby and gave it smooches all over it's head.

It was such a small thing but it hit me like a ton of bricks. She's really starting to understand what we say to her. She's not my totally helpless baby anymore ... she's growing up. :(