January 15th, 2004

"Tinkle. Tinkle. Wittle staw." Ireland sang dancing around her room. "Ow I wunda ow you are. Bove da world high. Mond sky. Tinkle. Tinkle. Wittle Staw." Lyric crawled into Irelands bedroom and stared at her sister. "Wic smells! Wic smells! Wic smells!!" Lyric giggled clapping her hands.

"Wan!" She squealed. Ireland stood in front of Lyric with her hands on her little hips.

"Sit. Good." Ireland said squatting in front of her, "Me Momma."

"Wan!"

"No Wan. Momma." Ireland said. Lyric giggled at her sister. Ireland ran to her closet and pulled down one of her pink flowery dresses. She ran back over to Lyric and put it on her sister. The baby giggled and drooled all over it. Lyric started to crawl to Irelands toy chest. "No. Baby seep." Randi walked into Ireland's bedroom.

"There you two are." Randi smiled as she looked at her daughters. "I've been looking for you. What are you doing?"

"I Momma." Ireland said.

"Oh I see." Randi chuckled, "I thought I was the Mommy."

"Nana." Ireland said. Randi burst out laughing.

"I am not the grandmother!" She smiled.

"Wic Baby." She said.

"Yes, Lyric is my baby. You are my very big girl and I'm the mommy." Randi said. Ireland moaned. "Do you want to go out and play in the snow? We can build a snow man and make snow angels."

"No." Ireland said.

"Okay. You want to just stay in here and play?" Randi asked taking Ireland's dress off of Lyric.

"Yeah." Ireland said.

"Okay. Come here." Randi said taking her daughter's hand, "Let's go play with some of Mommy's things." Randi led her daughter's into her bedroom and put them on her bed. Randi went into her closet and pulled out some scarves. "Which one?"

"Dat!!" She pointed to the blue one.

"The blue one? Can you say blue?" Randi asked.

"Boo." Ireland said. Randi smiled and grabbed a brush and a couple of clips.

"Very good choice, My darling. Let Mommy do your hair." Randi brushed out Irelands long brown hair. Ireland was smiling from ear to ear. She loved received attention from her mother. Randi slipped a clip onto one side of Irelands hair "There."

"Dare." Ireland smiled. Lyric looked at her sister and then lay down on the pillows. Randi wrapped the blue scarf around Ireland and tied it.

"It looks great on you, sweetie!!" Randi said with a giggle, "We're missing something though…Ah!" Randi grabbed her make up off of her dresser top and knelt down in front of her daughter. She put a little lipstick on Ireland's lips. Ireland giggled softly.

"Cool." She said.

"Now some blue eye shadow." Randi giggled wildly. She always wanted to play dress up, but she didn't have any sisters or even a mother to put make up on her. "Close your eyes. Good girl." Randi put the blue eye shadow on Ireland's eyelids. She blew the excess make-up off. "There! All done!" Randi held up a hand held mirror and Ireland looked in.

"Like Momma!" She squealed. Randi chuckled.

"Yeah sort of. You'll need to get older and develop some things to be more like Momma." She winked. Someday, Lyric and Ireland would be stealing away in her closet to dress each other up. Randi smiled to herself. This whole Parenthood thing was great. Randi took Ireland downstairs leaving Lyric asleep on her bed. "Oh Daddy!"

"Daddy!" Ireland said.

"Yes?" Dave called out from the den. Randi put Ireland down and the child ran to the den.

"See?" Dave looked at his daughter and he burst out laughing.

"What happened to you?" He asked her as he put his book down.

"I Momma." Ireland said.

"You sure are." Dave chuckled as Randi walked in. "Playing dress up?"

"Yeah. We were bored." Randi winked.

"I'm going to have a lot of trouble when you're old enough to date boys." Dave kissed Ireland's nose.

"We have thirteen years before she can start dating. Don't make her age too fast." Randi said.

"I'm not the one who put make up on her." Dave winked. Randi stuck out her tongue.

"Having little girls is fun." She said.

"I'm sure having little boys will be just as fun." Dave chuckled as he turned back to the book he was reading.

"Someday we'll have one. Next try I promise." Randi said.

"Right." Dave chuckled. Randi giggled and took Ireland. Having a little boy would be fun. They'd just have to wait.

February 2nd, 2004

Dave rested the mattress on his back and began to haul it up the stairs. Ireland was now two years old and she was getting a big girl bed. Of course there would be guardrail on it, but this was a big moment.

"Careful of your back." Randi said.

"Too late." Dave groaned as he walked into Ireland's room. Randi walked over and helped him put the mattress on top of the box springs. "There." Randi smiled.

"A big girl bed." She said as Ireland tugged her new set of daisy sheets, comforter, and pillows over to the bed. They were yellow, green, and of course pink. The dust ruffle and pillow cases where plaid. Randi really loved it.

"Here." She said.

"Thanks, Sweetie." Dave said as he made sure the guardrails were snug.

"Can you believe she's in a bed now?" Randi asked.

"No." He said as he put the fitted pink sheet on. "We need to start to whole potty training thing soon."

"I know. I'm not looking forward to it." She said laying out the sheet on top of the bed. Ireland stood next to the bed beaming proudly.

"I big girl." She said proudly.

"Yes you're a very big girl." Dave said putting her comforter on.

"Wic a baby." Ireland said. Randi chuckled softly throwing the pillows on her bed.

"Yes, Lyric is a baby, but she'll be a year old next month so she's becoming a big girl too." Randi said. Ireland sighed. "You can get on your bed if you want." Ireland squealed with happiness and jumped onto her bed.

"Do you like it, pumpkin?" Dave asked.

"Yes." Ireland said hugging her white and pink daisy pillow. "I wove." Randi smiled softly as she picked up Lyric.

"I'm glad." She said.

"The trick now will be keeping her in this bed at night." Dave said. Randi groaned.

"I don't want to even think about it." She said wrapping her arms around her husband, "When do you think we'll be out of the diaper stage?"

"A year or a year and a half, unless you get pregnant of course." He said.

"Not getting pregnant for at least three years." Randi chuckled smacking his chest. "I need to check on our other daughter." Randi walked out of the daisy room and entered the bee nursery. Lyric was playing quietly in the corner. "Hi pumpkin."

"Mama." Lyric held up her baby doll.

"Can you say baby?" Randi asked as she sat down in front of her. "Say baby."

"Bebe." Lyric smiled revealing her new teeth.

"Very good, Sweetie." She smiled watching her daughter. "Lyric, can I confess something to you? I don't like this. I don't like that you and Ireland are growing old. She's in a big girl bed and you're turning a year old. Ireland is ready to use the potty and I miss the baby days. I miss when you could fit in my hand."

"Mama." Lyric cooed as she crawled onto Randi's lap. Randi smiled softly.

"All right. I happen to like this too." She chuckled. "Just don't grow too fast from now on."