One of THOSE Days

So today N wakes up and is sick. Sinus stuff, feels like a cold is coming on. Praying the rest of us can steer clear of it. He decided to stay home today. But since he was parked behind me in the driveway, I just took his truck. I don’t like driving it. It’s too big. Or I'm too small. My feet seriously can't touch the floor and that's with the seat moved down to the best position possible. I feel like I'm driving a semi. But I didn’t really feel like re-parking on the street, so I just grabbed his keys and took the boys to school. Bubby has a meltdown and won’t go to even his favorite teacher who he lunges for every morning. I leave him behind in tears. Monkey has a meltdown because I only packed regular pancakes and not the chocolate chip pancakes. I forgot the boxes of baby clothes I promised Monkey’s teacher for her new grand-nephew and we’re out of checks, so I have to go to the bank to get a money order to pay for this week’s tuition.

Can I go back home and start this day over?

As I drive into my parking spot at work, I hit the car next to me. It’s just a scratch, but it’s a 2 foot long deep scratch and the lady will probably have to get her whole rear quarter panel replaced. (Probably because the truck is too big and I have a hard time judging how much space I need.) To top it off, we just bought the truck from N’s mother and the insurance isn’t even transferred over to our name yet. So whatever we do, it’ll be cash out of pocket, because I don’t want it to go on her insurance.

I think I want to run away to Australia.

Fishers of...

Dinner time is usually the time we get a funny conversation or two with Monkey. Last night was no exception. He was talking about what he wanted to do after dinner.

I need to preface this with the fact that we have two outdoor dogs. Just keep that in mind...

JK: Go fishing!
MM: You want to go fishing? But it's raining today. Where are you going to go fishing?
JK: Fishing outside. (pointing to the backyard)
MM: Fishing in the backyard? But there's no water to go fishing in. It's just grass.
JK: (mulling over what I said)
MM: You want to go fishing in the grass? What are you gonna catch?
JK: Dunno.
MM: Are you gonna catch frogs?
JK: No! (giggling)
MM: Are you gonna catch snakes?
JK: No! (giggling more)
MM: What are you gonna catch?
JK: (thinking...) Poop!

Hmm. Yep. That's about right.

Dinner Conversation

Tonight at the dinner table:

JK: (Flapping his arms and hands as I wash off his face with a washcloth) Momma I flying!
MM: You are?! Are you flying like a bird?
JK: Yeah! (more flapping)
MM: Are you flying like a cow?
JK: (giggling) No!
MM: Are you flying like a kitty cat?
JK: (more giggling) No!
MM: Are you flying like a bat?
JK: Yeah!
MM: Are you flying like Bo (our dog)?
JK: (Very seriously) No. Bo no fly. Bo lie down and seep.

*sigh*

I'm so jealous.

Thanksgiving Play Date!

This past week we've had some gorgeous Thanksgiving weather. So another mommy friend and I decided to get our boys outside to run off some energy before the holiday got started.

Things started off in the sandbox...







Then moved to the slides...








Then there was a little hangin' around the monkey bars...







And swingin' on the swings...







Watchin' the biggun's jumping to the next section of the castle...



And deciding to jump around and dance instead...



Peace out!

What I'm Thankful for Today: Ms. Kamlah

Some of you have heard me talk about one of the baby teachers at the boys' school, Ms. Kamlah. I so wish you could meet this amazing woman in person. I can't sing her praises enough!

Back when Monkey first started going to school, as a new mom, I had a hard time with going back to work. I had to have N do the drops in the mornings, as it was just too emotional for me. I get to do the pickups after work. After one particularly tough day at the office, I arrived at Monkey's school in tears. Tears of frustration, but so happy to see my little boy. I will never forget Ms. Kamlah cheering me that evening. When I told her I was having such a hard time with working, she said something very profound that made me considering working motherhood in a new light.

(Ms. Kamlah is from Trinidad, so imagine her saying this in a thick West Indies accent.)

"Your son is a special boy, Momma. He is so little, but he has a God-given job to bless those people around him. He's too little to do anything else. If you were with him at home, he would not be able to have such a wide audience of people to do that with. By working, you are allowing God to use your child for His glory."

It was one of those moments that I felt like God was speaking to me directly.

Even though it was still hard, I started going to work with a renewed sense of purpose. If not for myself, then for my child.

Two weeks ago, Ms. Kamlah announced her retirement. She has worked at this school for 13 years, all in the infant room. She has told me many times that when she lies down every night, she imagines all the name-tagged cribs in the room and prays for each child individually. The idea that my two boys have had somebody, besides Mommy and Daddy, pray over them DAILY, is such a huge blessing to our family.

Today is Ms. Kamlah's last day at our boys' school. While we are so grateful for the time she's been called to care and love on our boys, we are very sad our time with her is over. But after all her years for caring for so many children, it's time for her to relax and enjoy herself.

Ms. Kamlah will never know exactly how much of a blessing she has been to our family. But we pray that God watch, keep her, and bless her. We will miss her very much!

Fall Has Fallen

Saturdays are my favorite day of the week. The smell of N's famous French toast and hot coffee. The sounds of lawns being mowed in the neighborhood and clothes being fluffed in the dryer. And it's beautiful outside today! Blue skies, light breeze, cool temperature. Ahhh...fall in Texas is really my favorite time of year!

Monkey LOVES to be outside, so this morning we hung out together while I cleaned a little bit of the garage out. I realized about an hour into it, that it'd be much more fun to play in the fall leaves. So I got our rake and initiated Monkey in this fabulous autumn tradition. We didn't have enough leaves in our yard, so I "borrowed" some from our neighbor.

Hoping our neighbor won't be too upset at me raking up their front yard? Some of you know our neighbor. He's a bit...um..."particular"? So yes, there is a chance it's not going to make him happy. Me? If you wanna rake our yard, rake away! I'll even pay you.









I had him get his step stool out so he could get a little more air...










The Nestea plunge. Some of you are probably too young to remember that.

I'm Toast

This morning I woke up about 3:30 to Monkey crying. He settled down pretty quickly so I didn’t get out of bed. But then I was wide awake. I laid there until 3:45 waiting for Bubba to wake up to eat. He'd been asleep since 9:00! But he never woke up, so I went into his room to wake him up for a dream feeding. I was engorged, but I knew if I went ahead and pumped, that he’d wake up immediately after and I’d have nothing to feed him. As I lifted him out of the cradle, he woke up quietly and then fed hungrily. Half way through, I put him on the changing table to change his dirty diaper, but I couldn’t see anything. I draped a blanket over his lamp and turned it on. Brighter than I wanted. I could see his squirmy little body. All the books say not to make eye contact with an awake baby in the middle of the night. They fall back asleep easier if it’s all business. So I changed his diaper quietly and with great difficulty, ignored his cute little noises and funny baby stretches. But when I went to pick him back up to nurse again, he smiled the biggest silly smile at me with his tongue sticking out.

*sigh*

How on earth am I supposed to ignore those???

Even though it’s in the middle of the night and I’d like nothing more than to go back to sleep, I smiled back and nuzzled on his milky-smelling neck. I love this boy so much! We had some more precious cuddle time as he nursed himself back to sleep. If these boys only knew how much control they have over us with just a tiny smile or a precious hug. It’d be total anarchy.

Getting Creative

Because the batteries on the baby swing went out...



...so we're using Daddy's rocker-recliner. Don't worry. I'm sitting right next to him watching that he doesn't roll over. :-)

Coming Up For Air...

I just cannot believe it's been almost two months since EK was born. Everyone says that when you have a child, that life flies at warp speed. And that once you have more than one child, it goes even faster. The speed at which time is going right now is positively taking my breath away. And not in the happy way either. :-(

A few things that are going on...

EK: Wow. This kid is so doggone cute! I still can't believe we're going through infancy with another child. I've forgotten how much fun this stage is. Funny little noises, precious baby snores, curled toes, and super soft skin. I love it all! He is growing leaps and bounds, which makes me sad, yet I love watching at the same time. He LOVES to eat and would do it around the clock if I let him! He has rolls that JK never had, so having a little chubba-chubba on our hands has been fun! We are looking forward to seeing his little personality come out more.

JK: This kid amazes me with his sense of humor and intelligence. We've struggled with a little extra whiney-ness, but otherwise, he's adjusting to being a big brother very well. He finds all of EK's funny baby noises funny and is quick to give his baby brother kisses and pats on the head. Recently, he's been going to the pool a lot with Daddy and has quickly gained confidence in the big pool. If Daddy doesn't watch him closely, he'll jump into the deep end without floaties and without a shred of fear. This kiddo has so much confidence! I pray all the time that God give us the wisdom to steer this child's independence and strong will into a healthy direction.

Daddy: I can't say enough about my sweet husband. He is so patient and helpful, both with the state of the house and the needs of the baby. He understands my love languages so well: quality time and acts of service. While we don't really have the opportunity at this point to spend much quality time together, he totally gets that helping around the house really makes me fall in love with him so much more.

Me: I'm tired. And happy. :-) I've chosen to nurse EK, which is a new experience for me. It's been a tough road, as there was a very steep learning curve for both EK and I. I was not prepared for how exhausting and WONDERFUL this experience would be. I was also not prepared how hungry this would make me. My daily schedule right now consists of eating, nursing, pumping, eating, sleeping, eating...you get the picture. I've always been a bit of a grazer, but now I'm grazing and eating a solid 5 or 6 meals a day. And we aren't talking the little meals, we're talking normal full-sized meals. I hope I can stop this rollercoaster once Evan decides to wean. I'll be big as a house otherwise. Ha!

Work: I go back in less than 10 days. I'm REALLY not looking forward to it. But I know that until N or I win the Lotto (which we don't play, so the likelihood of that is low) me being a FT working mom is just part of the picture. I'm trying to be okay with it, but still praying that the Lord provide an alternative so I can spend more time with the boys.

Housework: Hmm. This is a bit on the backburner right now. We're doing good to keep toilet paper in the bathroom at this point. But my husband really helps me keep perspective when I fret over the fact the house hasn't been dusted since before Evan was born. Today he said, "Perhaps. In a few years, I’d think you’d rather say: “Wow, I spent some great quality time w/ Evan during my maternity leave", than: “Wow, I got a lot done around the house on my maternity leave.” I love this guy. Keeps me focused in the right direction so many times.

Pictures: Yeah...when folks say you don't get as many of the second kid as the first, they're right. I love bragging about how cute the little turkey is, so I'll prove it by posting some shots soon.

Anyways, the little guy is hollering at me, so time to run. Will try to be back in less than a month. Ha!

A Couple Grease Monkeys

This week, N decided to put new brakes on the Eclipse. I just love how he's handy like that! (So does our bank account!)


And of course, our busy body toddler has to get involved in anything that Daddy's involved in...




What amazes me is N's patience in situations like this. He let Monkey pretend to loosen lug nuts and play with all of his tools. While if this were Momma, I'd be having a stroke over him getting hurt, too dirty, or losing an important piece of equipment.


But like everything else, N takes it all in stride and just let's Monkey learn and grow and in the meantime, have some wonderful male bonding time.






And get filthy dirty...




I honestly can't remember Monkey having such a good time with his Daddy...






So much so, that when Daddy was done, Monkey had a hard time coping...




The Meltdown...





...that carried on for 15 minutes and into the bathtub. Which took an entire bottle of baby soap to wash the grease off and left a ring around the tub that will take forever to wash off.

One thing I love about kids (and sexy husbands): they're washable. :-)

Every Day Father

I had planned this past week to have this wonderful, sweet, poignant little Father’s Day post. But Father’s Day weekend was a bit of a bust. Father’s Day gifts and plans did not quite pan out the way we had intended, due to the heat, the fact that I have the energy of a slug in hard hibernation, and somebody else giving N the exact gift I had intended to give.

Funny now, but not at the moment type of thing. I felt my thunder was stolen. I pouted for awhile, but now I'm over it. LOL!

So this weekend, while I cried at the drop of a hat due to physical pain, frustration with my physical limitations, hormones, and limited patience for a toddler that is exercising his independence, N, again, has taken everything in stride and dealt me many hands of grace. His patience with me and Monkey and energy to just do what needs to be done amazes me. I really cannot say enough about this sweet husband of mine. I have seen him grow over the years in so many ways, but it seems the past few months, he has really just stepped up and become so much more than I ever expected. I am humbled and grateful and I know I do not deserve such a man. But for whatever reason, God has given him to me and I'm so happy for it.

Last night was a tough night. Monkey was up a few times and I hadn’t been sleeping well anyways. So I brought him into the living room to snuggle and sleep on the recliner with me. He'd had another bad dream and I just felt it “right” to snuggle instead of being the tough momma and make him go back down in his own bed. He sat in the recliner and in his little vocabulary told me about his dream. (Which I will post about at another time.) After talking for a few moments, we both drifted off. I awoke to the sunlight streaming into the living room and immediately knew that we had overslept. But I didn’t care. He was sleeping soundly in my arms, tiny rosebud lips slightly parted, curly hair askew, and the sweetest of toddler snores coming out of him. So precious! I felt like God was giving me a little gift and I didn’t want to miss it. So I sat for a bit just enjoying the moment. After a few minutes he started stirring, I think because he was too warm against my oven of a stomach. So I gently rolled him over on his side and stuck a cool pillow under him, while I struggled like an overturned turtle to get out of a rocker recliner without waking him.

Both N and I took showers as quickly as possible, because getting ready without a toddler underfoot is truly a gift to start the day.

Or is this just us that thinks that?


After I dried off, I walked down the hall to the front of the house and saw this…




My man and our son…




And it dawned on me...




...Father’s Day is everyday.



A father is not a once a year celebration. At least not in this family. While it's always fun to have a special day of recognition once a year, if the man is not a father the rest of the time, what's the point of that one day? What are you celebrating? And it's in these moments, like this morning, that I celebrate my son's father. My partner, my best friend, my lover, and the AMAZING father of our children.

Happy Monday precious!

WWF "Double You" Style

Just this week I had a memory resurface during a conversation with a male co-worker. We were talking about the differences between men/women and boys/girls. He’s one of the middle of four boys, so his childhood experiences were much different than mine. But upon talking with him, one of the things that I suddenly remembered was that when my twin brothers were little, they would wrestle ALL.THE.TIME! Seriously, it was like watching a couple tiger or bear cubs in those nature shows that wrestle to learn self-defense skills. They weren’t fighting (usually), but it was mostly good-natured wrestling. They were always touching, hitting, flicking, slapping, tugging, which almost always turned into an arm-flinging, leg sprawling, head-locking wrestling match. The only thing that makes this memory funnier is that more often than not, my father would be right in the middle of it. Watching the two of them as little boys pounce on my 6’ 1”, 200 lb father, like they actually had the upper hand, was always comical.

But I never got it.

As I relayed this memory to my coworker, he just sat in my cube, laughing, hiding his eyes and mouth behind his hand, like he completely related to the scenario. As one of four boys, he said wrestling was an everyday occurrence in his household. And now, even as full grown men, in their 30’s and 40’s, they still have wrestling matches when they get together.

Seriously? As adult men with wives and children?

Yep. And their mother still fusses at them that they’re going to get hurt or break her furniture, just like she did decades ago.

As a girl, this is something I just do not relate to. But then considering there is 11 years between me and my brothers, the typical sibling rivalry relationship is something I don’t relate to either, so whatever.

But now, as a mom to a boy, I see how he interacts with my sweet and gentle husband, and I just can’t believe this is anything other than how the male species is hardwired. One of the things that Monkey LOVES to do is wrestle with Daddy.

Again, I don’t get it.

When they wrestle, I literally have to leave the room. It makes my teeth and my jaw hurt because of the stress. I imagine stitches and concussions and bruises that make a stranger wonder if CPS needs to be called on us. That hasn’t happened yet (knock on wood) and mostly what I hear from down the hall is my son laughing hysterically, Daddy grunting dramatically, and a lot of tickling. It sounds exactly like my brothers wrestling with our Dad years ago. Last night, De-dah came over and for one memorable night, N handed the match over to the previous reigning champion.


With his love for hoops, Monkey somehow managed to mix wrestling with “bakket-bah”.




Monkey comes from behind...




But he's not quick enough on the draw...




Even when it was obvious De-Dah was winning...




Monkey always managed to get the upper-hand...




As this continued for awhile, I remembered my brothers. And I imagined Monkey and M2 doing the exact same thing, building the same silly wonderful memories with each other and with their Dad and De-dah. If his in-utero movements are any indication, Monkey might be given a run for his money!

I have no doubt I have some serious internal bruising from this guy. To the point where "M2" is often replaced with "Bruiser".

As for Momma, I am perfectly content to be a spectator on the sidelines. Or down the hall where I don't actually have to watch it.

Sleepy Monkey

During the week, Monkey has a pretty strict schedule because he's at school. Breakfast, snacktimes, lunches, and naptimes are almost always exact to help the teachers keep things under control with a room full of toddlers. Weekends at home with Momma and Daddy are a little more lax, but we attempt to keep things as close as possible to the weekday schedule to prevent too much transition on Mondays. This past weekend, naptime was a little skewed because we were out for the morning and lunch (thus naptime) was moved back. Little Man actually had to be woken up from his nap on Saturday, which NEVER happens!


Even after three hours of napping, he wouldn't wake up even to the camera flash in the room...




Daddy watching him try to wake up...




The stinkeye: you might have to click to see the detail on his face, but it made N and I laugh out loud...




I love the sweaty mess of curls on his head. His hair is starting to grow out again and all of my favorite curls are back...




99% of the time, he's in the sweetest mood when he first wakes up...



I just love this little guy!