St. Pat's Mall Rats

On Tuesday of our Spring Break last week, we had another OB check-up in the morning. I'm down to my every-two-week appointment schedule! My, how time has flown. I was glad that we were able to finagle the appointment to fall on J's Spring Break week so he could be there too. Baby Boy's looking great and is on schedule to arrive in early May.

After our appointment, the Dees Girls lost out to J's motorcycle again. He ended up out all day with his mom and stepdad on a ride. But we cooked up some fun of our own and met some dear friends at the nearby mall for a playdate!

I was so captivated watching Rosie enjoy herself among all the kids. (It was crowded!) I realized that day that she hasn't had as much play area exposure as her big sister. I don't know why that is--maybe the increased difficulty in getting two vs. one child out the door, maybe the increased anxiety of keeping track of two vs. one child in a sea of other kids, maybe my heightened germophobia now that I'm responsible for the health of two children?

I fully expected her to come back to where I was stationed to regularly "check in" the way M used to at that age. It was crowded, so I expected her to be a little anxious about the fray. And it's not her usual territory! But she didn't come back to me. She caught my glance every now and then, but that was it! I was so proud of my brave girl among all the older-kid chaos. Perhaps I don't give her enough credit--I think she's more confident and independent than I let myself believe!

She had so much fun, and I had equally as much fun watching her sweet excited expressions and hearing her squeal and giggle with enthusiasm.



She was really amused by trying to climb up the side of this "plate" in front of me, and then letting herself slide down it. She spent a good bit of her time here!

The trio of friends: Rosie, Hud and M. (This photo makes me giggle...it reminds me of the classic evolution "from-ape-to-human" diagram! Which I don't believe in at all, just for the record...)

Nik and I decided to stay at the mall and shop past the play area cleaning time since neither of us had anywhere to be. (She's preg-o with her second and has been sick as a dog for weeks until now, so she's rarin' to get out of the house all she can!) Above, here we are taking a pretzel break. (I crave mall pretzels all the time now.) Our creative children made a new play area of their own. :0) We can always count on Hud to have his car collection with him! I don't let the girls travel with toys really, so they're always excited to be at the mall with him to share his collection. And it's good practice for assimilating to big brother's world!

Hud's "green" for St. Pat's was his green balloon. Check out Rosie ever-so-slyly trying to nab it!

Speaking of nabbing things, my little klepto was successful at securing her big sister's drink, too! I think this is the first time she's held her own "straw" drink. (Not that you care...just documenting for myself!)

So proud of her conquest. (I live for this face!)

This is my absolute favorite shot from that day. Actually, I'm embarrassed at how many photos I took of her drinking from this cup! But I'll spare you the montage and leave it at these.

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I don't know why I love this so. I just think she looks like such a big girl!

I'd not heard from J all day, so I ended up sticking around for dinner with Nik, her husby and our kids too. We ate at Los Cucos, a new-to-me Mexican place. Yum! And kid-friendly. The waitstaff was great with us!

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Obviously, Rosie enjoyed her enchiladas.

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And they serve French fries along with beans and rice on their kids' plates. How cool is that?! For the kids, I mean... (wink!)

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So you might wonder why this post is so Rosie-intensive? It's not that I favor her. It's just that she's the only one of my girls who will pose for my camera these days! When I get the camera out lately, M runs. Or tells me she doesn't want her photo taken. Or she tells me "that's enough for now"...

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Say it ain't so! Though I've never experienced it (yet), I imagine that's right up there with hearing your child tell you "I hate you"! (OK, maybe not that bad...)

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Hopefully this is just a short phase. A day without photographing my girls is like a day without breathing!