Out of the mouths of babes
When I was pregnant with Noella, I took Mariel shopping with me in pursuit of a reasonably professional looking maternity suit (a difficult task).  I also discovered on that trip to the mall that size small was really not going to work anymore.  After some unsuccessful try ons, Mariel, age 2, ran out of the dressing room yelling "Mommy needs bigger pants!"  Fabulous.
Today, Noella carried on the tradition, although (thankfully) in a private setting.  After I got her dressed we went into my room so that I could get dressed.  As I stood there in my underwear holding up clothes she looked at me and my belly sadly, shook her head, and said "Mommy, that no fit."  Thanks kid.  And it did fit.

The list that never ends...
Our household projects have taken over our lives.  More of Patrick's life than mine, actually, but when he is devoted to tearing down closet walls and using power tools, I get the task of weekends and evenings unassisted with our girls.  So we are both TIRED.  And the weekends are busier than the weekdays.  Of, course, we are hindered by the fact that my body is just worn out by getting through the day.  On days when I teach I generally can do nothing else that requires physical effort- washing dishes is an accomplishment. 
The good news: Downstairs bookshelves, done.  Master bedroom closet, done.  (well, both still need trim, but in the grand scheme of things, I consider them done).  Guest bedroom to be, half painted.  Guest bedroom closet and girls' room closet- pits of despair, clutter, and disorganization.  Girls' room to be, definately not painted.  So were are at least halfway there.  And it seems like these projects are easier.  We are also looking forward to some visitors and may be pressing some of those visitors into service!

In Mariel's preschool classroom they routinely work on identifying emotions and discussing how to deal with them. This is a very good exercise for our passionate child, although she sometimes comes up with some odd examples of what makes her feel "sad" or "happy" or "excited."  Not as odd as some other children, such as a classmate who said that feeling "peace" was like a "refrigerator," however.
Today I saw the list of things that make them feel "embarassed" and had to laugh.  On the board:
"I feel embarassed when:
Mariel: My dress is not long enough."
I guess she does actually pay attention when we tell her to put something on under her dress because we can see her underwear!  Patrick hopes that this feeling of embarassment over too short clothes lasts through her teenage years...

New words
We are enjoying this phase of Noella- excuse, me- Ella's language development.  While there are still plenty of things that we can't understand, her growing and creative use of words is exciting.  It is also reminding us of the funny things Mariel said when she was two.
Some examples:
"Hair Dog"- hair dog is everywhere in our house.  On our clothes, in the tub, even on the dogs.
"Caper"- blanket.  We have no idea where this word came from, but we really love our capers.  The dozen or so baby blankets that have filled our house for 5 years with no real purpose are being used every day.  They wrap babies, they make hats, we just carry them around.  Really, you can't have enough capers.
"Rogi"- Macaroni.  Our favorite food.  The next favorite is pizza, which is now pronounced correctly by Noella even if I sometimes still refer to it as Peetzey.
"Wake it up."  This is how she likes to greet me when I come into her room in the morning.  "All done bed.  Wake it up."  If Patrick is still in bed she likes to tell him to "Wake it up" too.  It reminds us of Mariel use of "Shut it up, Mommy" when she was two.

Room to Grow
There is definately a baby in there.  He is kicking, streching, and doing his best to keep me from sleeping at night.  It is hard to imagine that I still have 14 weeks to go (and likely more, considering the reluctance of the girls to be born).  Here are long overdue shots- the first taken when I was about 20 weeks pregnant, just after Christmas:

 And this one from this week, at 25 weeks.  While my belly may be growing, apparently the rest of me may not be.  At my last checkup, the doctor, nurse and I were all quite surprised to discover that I had somehow lost weight.  Odd, that my very first experience of having lost weight without any trying or intention is not pleasant.  I am also trying to figure out where it came from, as I am feeling very large and am to the point where I waddle rather than walk.  For the last week and the next three I have assignment of consciously trying to regain 4 lbs. Cheese and peanut butter are my friends.  And even more perplexing than the discovery of unexpected weight loss is the discovery that when you HAVE to eat fattening (but still relatively healthy) foods, they suddenly become very unappealing. 

The other big news is that Mariel registers for Kindergarten on Monday.  She is feeling VERY mature.  At the informational meeting last night, the biggest reaction from the crowd came when they showed a slide of "Kindergarten class of 2011; Graduating class of 2024."  Funny to think about, isn't it?