Odds And Ends

1) Loving my new stove :) It's so easy to clean, it heats up quickly, and our pots sit flush on the burner. Nice.

2) And that's all very good since David and I are trying a No Eating Out in September plan. We've stopped by Sonic twice and picked up drinks, but otherwise are doing quite well. The month is only a third done, but I'm proud of us :) Oh, since we've started the Fireproof study at our church that meets Wednesday nights, we do eat dinner at church on Wednesdays. That's a really nice break for me and gets Julia an extra day to go to her favorite place. I'm choosing not to count that as "eating out."

3) Potty training is going. We're still working on it. I'm still not brave enough to take her out shopping or on errands in her panties yet. She asked to go to church in her panties last Wednesday, but she wet them and I think that made her sad. On Sunday she emphatically stated her preference for diapers.

3a) Julia has caught on. She now says, "Mommy, I go pee in potty. Get MnMs?" She doesn't want Pez, she wants CHOCOLATE!

4) Dax is doing well, too. He's such a happy guy (as long as he gets fed large quantities of food on a regular basis). He cracks us up all the time with his faces and noises. He'll be headed to the doctor for his 18-month checkup soon so we'll have some new stats to report.

5) My brainwashing of my children is taking hold. I tell Julia all the time, "Dax is your brother. He's your best friend. You've got to take care of him." And I tell Dax, "Julia is your sister. She's your best friend. You've got to take care of her." Yesterday the kids were running up and down the hallway and Dax fell. Julia looked at me and said, "Uh oh! Dax fall. I go help him." She ran back and I could hear her cooing to him, "It okay, buddy. You alright? You hurt? It okay." She ran back to me and said, "Dax my best friend ever. I take care-a him." (The brainwashing idea was stolen from another blog I read: vitafamiliae.com ... That site is also responsible for my desire for this mattress and a Wii. She's also given me a wonderful idea for Sit Time ... so I think I'm still allowed to read it.)

6) We bought Julia new tennis shoes this weekend and she now wears a size 10. I'm not sure how she got so big so fast.

7) And we ate cereal and smoothies for dinner last night, but at least we didn't eat out! :)

Mess

"Gee, I'm so glad the kids are learning to play well together so that I can get some work done. It's so great that they're becoming such good friends. I haven't heard a peep out of them for fifteen minutes ... uh oh ... "

Fun Stuff

When Julia counts things, she points emphatically and says "Twooo, Nine, Twooo!"

Dax looked up at me last night as I was rubbing his back to try to stop his coughing and said, "MAMA!"

Julia has been waking up in the morning and asking, "Church today?"

Last night on the way to Parents' Night Out at our church, Julia kept telling Dax, "Dax, church today! Church today!" Until we started to pull into the parking lot when she yelled, "PEE-BA!!!" And I told her, "That's right, sweetie! You get to eat pizza at church today!"

Dax loves to walk now. He will crawl over to something to get himself up to a standing position, but otherwise he's walking. I wonder when seeing him walk down the hall will stop being a cause for Dave and I to tell each other, "Look at him go!"

Julia is really starting to remember people now. At various points during the day she'll ask about "Matt and Tanty?" (our friend Matt and his dog Candy); "Da-Da home 'sippi?" (Yes, Grandad is at home in Mississippi); "Tan home 'sippi, too?" (Yes, Gran is at home in Mississippi, too); "Un Cee-two-fer home?" (Yes, Uncle Christopher is home); "An Tee home, too?" (Yes, Aunt Jamie is at home, too); "Pa-Pa home?" (Yes, Pappa is home); "Nanna home?" (Yes, Nanna is at home); "Bay-bee Tay-son home?" (Yes, Baby Grayson is at his home) ... the trick is that she doesn't do it all at once so you have to listen closely to figure out who she is talking about.

Dax loves to come over and lay his head in your lap or shoulder and snuggle down. He won't stay for long, but he gets his cuddle in and then goes back to exploring.

Julia loves to follow "big girls" (5-8 years old) around. She'll do whatever they suggest or try to copy whatever they are doing. She's nearly fallen off more than one piece of park equipment because of this.

Dax is jealous of anyone around his mom. If Julia is getting a hug or kiss or standing near me, he heads over pronto and starts wiggling his way in between us, pushing Julia away.

Julia's favorite thing to say right now is "I sorry." Anytime Dax fusses, "I sorry, Dax" or one of us gets hurt "I sorry, Mommy" "I sorry, Daddy" She also says "Thank you" a lot. We have several conversations a day that go like this:
" 'Scuse me, Mommy"
"Yes, Julia"
"Hep, please"
"You can do it. Try again."
...
"Thank you, Mommy!"
"I didn't do anything. You figured it out for yourself."

Yesterday, Julia climbed in the Pack 'N Play and wanted Dax in with her. I put him in and the two of them entertained themselves in there for over an hour :)

Not My Blog

Through clicking on various links from other people's blogs, I found myself over at My Charming Kids and became slightly obsessed by the story of little Stellan. I spent some time poking around her blog and found this poem that I loved. It's such a great reminder to me as I struggle to keep in mind that the growing up babies part of my job takes priority over the checking things off my to-do list part of my job ...


Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
(Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.)
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.)
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.)

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

first published in Ladies Home Journal (1958)

Jumping On The Bandwagon

This has been making the rounds on some of my Mommy blogs ...

DISCLAIMER: No one, not any of my friends or family, has EVER made me feel like I need to justify my choice or rudely asked, "But what do you DO?" And for that I am thankful. But there are days when even I'm confused. "What did I do all day? Why didn't I get more done? I was busy all day, but can't really explain why!" Dave hears that last one a lot! I like the way she explains it in this article. My favorite quote: "It's resisting constant temptations to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense." Because I'm really working hard on that one ... and most days not doing so well at it. But it's now written on a big note card in pretty turquoise letters and hanging on my fridge as a reminder.

And It's Only 10 am ...

So far today I have ...

... called and ordered five replacement straws for Julia's cup.
... comforted Dax each of the THREE(!) times he's fallen backward onto his head while trying to cruise along the edge of the couch*
... (accidentally and unknowingly) given Julia a cup full of spoiled milk and then fussed at her when she tossed it on the floor.
... helped Julia create her daily fireplace masterpiece.
... changed two poopy diapers ... for EACH kid!
... cleaned Crayon off a number of doors and bookshelves.


So far today I have not ...

... managed to vacuum the rug, unload the dishwasher, cook breakfast or change out of my pajamas.


*anytime I read an article or hear someone say that "boys are no different than girls" I laugh and laugh and laugh.

File Under: Things You Never Pictured Yourself Saying

QUIT EATING MOMMY'S CHAPSTICK!!

BWAH!

As we were leaving the nursery after church yesterday, we were looking at some of the artwork lining the walls. One group of pictures was done by kids that filled in the blank for the writing prompt "My family likes to ... " and then drew a picture.

My family likes to play in the sand.

My family likes to eat ice cream.

My family likes to walk the dog.

The guy in front of us saw one of the pictures and started laughing. He called his wife over and said, "I want you to see what your daughter wrote ... The kids could say anything they wanted ... "

My family likes to clean up.

I started laughing so hard I nearly snorted and told the lady, "I'm so glad I'm not the only one!"

Now, Where Did I Leave My Brain?

As has been well-documented in this blog, I've been losing my mind over the past couple of years. And here, for your amusement, is another illustration of the slide ...

Last weekend I went to The Fresh Market to get more dried blueberries and peas for Julia. They were out of both so I ended up ordering off the website. Since I was already paying shipping, I added on another two items. The box arrived in the mail the other day and Dave opened it. He got a really weird look on his face and said, "I understand three of the things in the box ..." And he pulled out the three items that made sense ...

dried green peas

dried raspberries

dried blueberries

And then he pulled out ...

dried green onions

I wasn't really thinking when I placed the order. I just thought "Oh, eight ounces. That'll be about a cup" and added the onions to my cart. If I had not lost most of my mind already, I would have figured out that the blueberries, peas and raspberries (all of which we've purchased before) are each only around two ounces! So quadruple that amount and you end up with a LOT of freeze-dried green onions!!! And Dave can't really eat onions! So, I've divided them up into bags and vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer. But if anyone would like some, just come by and I'll give you some :)

Glass Half Full ...

Some days your kids get fussy and you look at the clock and realize it's 2 pm, they haven't eaten since 10 am and somehow the day has just raced by ...

Other days your kids get fussy and you look at the clock expecting it to be lunchtime and it's only 9:30 am ... These are the days I know I'll get a lot done because each hour is 180 minutes long!

More Diapers

These diapers are very interesting. If I hadn't already invested all my money in cloth ...

Observed

Julia and I went to meet Dave for lunch last week. Travelling on I-640, there was a little old man in a gold car driving in the middle lane a few miles under the speed limit. Every time a car passed him in the left hand lane, he would honk at it.

Spring

How do I know Spring has sprung? Because I'm finally sick of waking up feeling like I have a fever because the down comforter is still on the bed.

In past years (the four that have gone by since we bought the comforter), when I replaced the down comforter with our cotton quilt, I've dropped the comforter off at the dry cleaners for its once a year cleaning. (We have a comforter cover that gets washed fairly regularly.) However, since the dry cleaning costs around $60 I'm wondering if I could just drape it over our shower rod, dowse it with Febreze on both sides, let it air out for a few days and then store it.

Julia's Asleep ...

... so I can be all dorky and discover that

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

I'm so happy to learn this since I love, love, love Rome and have been wanting to return from approximately 10 minutes after we left! :)

We Rock!

I recognize that this accomplishment is not all that impressive to most, but it's quite an achievement for us:

Julia and I will meet Dave for lunch today, and this will be the first time in TWO WEEKS that we've gone out to eat!

As soon as I'm done typing, I shall pat myself on the back. :)

(Maybe one of these days, I'll feel particularly ambitious and declare a MONTH of "No Eating Out." Heh. This will probably occur around the time Julia starts feeding herself. That will be a skill better learned at home, I think.)

Super Powers

I've always wanted my Super Hero Power to be invisibility. My choice had more to do with my (less than honorable) wish to listen in on conversations than from any do-gooder motive.
I've changed my mind. After two months of sitting down with Julia only to realize I've left the burp cloth, pacifier, phone, remote, book, blanket, etc. across the room, I want my Super Hero Power to be the ability to move things with my mind. Once I mastered moving the little stuff, I could move on to cooking dinner while feeding Julia over on the couch. Or switching out the laundry while rocking her to sleep. Or changing stinky diapers from the next room!
That would be awesome.

I'm glad there are TV's in the delivery rooms

There are several bowl games that are "must sees" for Dave and I this year:

The Sugar Bowl
LSU vs. Notre Dame
Jan. 3 at 8 pm on FOX
This one is a given. Who doesn't want to watch LSU beat up on a bunch of Irishmen?
Geaux Tigers!!

The Outback Bowl
UT (Tennessee) vs. Penn State
Jan. 1 at 11 am on ESPN
In the interest of fairness, if LSU is a given, I guess UT has to be as well.

The New Mexico Bowl
UNM vs. San Jose St
Dec. 23 at 4:30 pm on ESPN
We finally get the chance to see my sister-in-law, Laura, on TV!!

The Alamo Bowl
UT (Texas) vs. Iowa
Dec. 30 at 4:30 pm on ESPN
We'll cheer for Jaime's team.

And of course, we have to keep track of all the SEC teams in bowl games and watch Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Auburn and Arkansas beat up on their opponents. And, even though I hate to cheer for them, we've got to see Florida try to win the National Championship.

It made me giggle

At church the other day, I told Dave that if we went to a church that did the Birth of Jesus play, I'd make a perfect "Before" Mary.

Cheese and Marriage

Even if I watched the show, I love reading the episode recaps for Gilmore Girls and House on the Television Without Pity website. (It's also the site where I found out what happened on the last episode of Dawson's Creek. Sad that I was even interested enough to look.) Today, they rewarded my weekly visits with my favorite simile of all time:

Marriage is like cheese. Sometimes it stinks, but if you've picked the right one, it's tasty anyway.

Hee.

Go Vote!

The chances that someone is both a country music fan and as anal-retentive as I am are slim, but if the lyrics in the song "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews have always annoyed you ...

"If I live to be a hundred
And never see the Seven Wonders
That'll be alright"

Yes, I certainly hope so since the Egyptian pyramids are the only one left!

... go vote for your choices in The New Seven Wonders of the World. It probably isn't something I should admit, but this vote interests me more than the one earlier this month. Perhaps it's because the Roman Colosseum won't be running TV ads every five minutes telling me why the Eiffel Tower or Machu Picchu are poor choices for the list! Even more important, I doubt I'll receive any phone calls about the issue or be asked to answer "just a couple" of questions regarding the candidates!