Making a Mess to Clean Up!

It seems that any time we try to do a "major cleaning", we end up with a bigger mess in the process! My friend and work buddy, Tara, returned the twin bed that her daughter had used for the last 3 or so years (it was Lauren's before she got her loft bed). So, with the borrowed bed now returned and sitting in our family room, we figured that it didn't really make sense to haul it up to the attic or down to the basement for just a little over a month (it is going to be Alaina's bed). We also didn't really like the idea of incorporating the bed into our Christmas decor, so we took Lauren's loft bed down (she is moving into the guest bedroom - aargh!) and moved the twin bed into Lauren's old room/Alaina's new room. Wow - like the title said, we made a huge mess in the process, but it's done now. We still have a few things of Lauren's to move to her new room, but that will happen another day (like tomorrow!).

Lauren and I have been spending some time each night in her new room as well. It has been our guest bedroom/catch-all room. For several years, I just put the clothes that Lauren had out-grown in the closet, as well as our winter coats, etc. I now have about 7 or 8 bags of stuff to haul to Goodwill next week. AND, the bad part is that I'm just getting started! Maybe that is the good part - that I'm actually inspired to DO it! I told Lauren that we should have taken a "before" picture, but I would have been too embarassed to post it!

Ally continues to have a cold and cough and runny nose. She seems to feel fine, for the most part, but can't shake that cough. I need to write down some of the funny things she is saying these days.

• One of my favorites is how she answers me when I ask her a question. She will say, "Yes, mommy!" Her 'yes' still sounds a little like "yesh" and she says it so happily!
• Another thing that is really cute is how she arranges things (toys, blocks, plates, cups). She will work at it and move them around and look at them, then say "perfect" once she has them arranged just so!
• Sometimes if she doesn't hear me all that well, she will say, "What'd say, mommy?"
• If she can't find me, she will run around saying (well, screaming), "Where are you, mommy?" It sounds more like "Where ah oooh, mommy?"

Christmas is right around the corner and we are getting started (nothing like adding a few Christmas decorations to the above mentioned mess!). We got the pink trees out for each of the girls room (oh no - I guess I better pick up another pink tree!), but tonight Ally decided she didn't want that pink tree in her room! She said, "No tree, mommy!" And she was rather insistent! So, her tree is sitting in the dining room now! We'll see, maybe I don't need another tree.