First of all, I can't believe that it's freaking May 4th. Hello? Where is this year going? Spring has rocked around here - until the last week or so. We've had beautiful weather. The flowers have exploded around my house. I've spent time barefoot outside. Sundresses have made their way into my clothing repertoire. And then... we've had cooler than normal weather and knee socks are making a comeback on my lower extremities. I'd like to register a strong "WTF?!" with whomever is handling this ridiculousness. Stop it and give me back my warm, sunny days.

Second, my children are growing up. They're officially two and a half. They're in the middle of a big "out" growth spurt. They're using pronouns correctly. They're speaking in complete sentences. Just today I had a lengthy conversation with the Bug about President Obama. She informed me that he's a good man and she loves him. Belly then chimed in that he's awesome. What politically astute little peeps! But they're still not showing a strong interest in the potty. Several times a day, the toilet sees some pee action from them, but the buck stops at poop. WHY? I've been going along and not pressuring them while promising M&Ms to anyone who wants to do their number two business on the toilet, but my patience is growing thin. I'm so tired of diapers. Today, I changed five poopy diapers between the two of them, one of which was a blowout (you non-kid-having readers should know that this is not a reference to getting your hair did but rather to a diaper that leaks). The reason for this is that my mother-in-law was here cooking for the girls and Dude this past weekend. Friday night they went out for Chinese; Saturday night she made Meat Dish Supreme; Sunday night was Country Captain Chicken. As entertaining as it might be to go into the details of these dishes, I'm not going to. Let's just say that they have wreaked some gastro-intestinal havoc upon my babies.

And why was Mimi here? Because I was not! That's right - I had a vacation all by myself! Friday morning, I flew to Denver to visit one of my best girlfriends in the whole wide world and didn't come home until Sunday night. Lord knows I needed a vacation, but I thought that I would be a little more lonesome for my family while I was gone. I called home twice a day and the girls would say, "Mommy, come home!" That certainly gave me some pangs of homesickness, but they generally subsided after I hung up and picked up my wine glass again. Oh I had so much fun. I drank plenty, I was goofy, I made French food (actually took a French cooking lesson in which we prepared Boeuf Bourguignon and mousse au chocolat), I laid out in the yard, I slept uninterrupted, I didn't structure my day around nap time, I didn't change any diapers. I was free! I was Rachael! Let me be clear that I overflowed with love for my girls when I came home and snuggled them to sleep, but I would've happily stayed away a few more days. The break was very, very much needed. And I fully intend to do it again when I can.

I think that about brings us up to speed on the bigger things going on here at Chez Belly-Buggy. Except can I say that even with only five people remaining on American Idol, I'm already getting giddy with anticipation for the next season of So You Think You Can Dance? Because I really do think I can dance, just not like that.