stuff you should read

April 13, 2012 · 3 comments

in gazette, hubby, kids are funny, Little Missy, mommy-ness, random-ness

  • Why not start things off with my column from two weeks ago, wherein I discuss the competition between me and my daughter.
  • And then follow up with my nearly-stopped-wavering on the More Kids issue.  Because I think there is this spectrum, with Individual Attention for Each Kid at one end and My Alone Time/My Alone Time With My Husband at the other.  With each additional child something has to give.  You’re either going to take time away from one of your existing kids or you’re going to take time away from you and your spouse.  For our family, I think we’ve just about hit the right spot on the spectrum.
  • I never dug her bits about beauty creams or fashion at the end of each Lucky issue, but I really like her bits now in blog form.  Makes no sense to me, either.  Anyway, one of my new favorite blogs.
  • Bet you didn’t think of all these as you raise your kids.  Especially #3, to which my husband is a testament.  That boy is not oogied out by germs.  One time he told me that as a kid when his grandparents would make him wash up for dinner he’d think, Why?  Because, as his youngest brother pointed out on a different occasion, he’s pretty sure he rolled down hills of cow-poo as a kid and had the best time.  Hubby’s grandparents knew their farm held germs, and said germs should be washed away before dinner.  But Hubby didn’t adhere to that kind of pesky germs-cause-problems hoolabaloo.  AND my husband never gets sick.  Which is only a bit of hyperbole.  Because really, he does not get the flu or colds.  Maybe he’s sick once every couple of years?  Anyway, long paragraph to say that #3 in the above-linked Cracked column rings true with my husband.
  • Finally, read this.  Then put away your computer/iPad/iPhone and take Heidi’s challenge to write some handwritten notes.

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April 12, 2012 · 1 comment

in Baby Tres/Baby Chickadee, family togetherness, mommy-ness

Things I really love about my baby, who is not really a baby but since she’s the youngest I get to call her a baby for a while still:

  1. She smiles at me when I pick her up out of her crib in the morning, then lays her head on my shoulder for as long as I’ll let her, sometimes for up to an hour.
  2. She walks with a puffed chest and huge grin anytime we’re in public.  At the grocery store, at church, around the block, when we walk to the door of G and Little Missy’s school to pick them up.  She thinks she’s big stuff when I’m not carrying her.
  3. She places a fat baby hand on each of my cheeks and then gives me a big kiss on the mouth.  This happens multiple times a day, sometimes even when I haven’t asked for a kiss.
  4. She loves her babies.  She cuddles them and changes their diapers and places them in the highchair to eat and has me wrap them in her favorite blankets.
  5. She fake laughs when G and Little Missy are in the truck.  She may not know what they’re giggling at, but she sure is going to be a part of the fun.

These are all things I need to remember when she won’t leave me alone.  I am her playmate, and she wants someone to play with nearly all the time.  This means I have to entertain her while folding laundry and while cooking our lunch and she helps me make my smoothies in the morning.  This means that we’re down on the floor playing or reading or coloring TOGETHER.  Always together.

I’m slowly realizing this is not a phase.  I thought it was, but it so is not.  Now I’m looking forward to the time she’ll understand, “Sweet pea, this is Mommy’s time to read a magazine while you play with your babies by yourself.”  Right now, at 21 months, is not that time.  But maybe (hopefully) soon.

 

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my sister

March 30, 2012 · 0 comments

in bragging

I don’t know how to introduce this link, other than to say that Hayley does a great job tackling a tricky subject.  You should read that blog post.

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look! i let them outside!

March 29, 2012 · 1 comment

in Baby Tres/Baby Chickadee, friends, gazette, Little Missy

Because usually I don’t.  But today Mia was home from school and she made sure Daphne stayed out of the street while I buckled in Baby W.  Such a happy day for a walk!

The littles don't show it, but they really are happy to be outside. I think they're just shocked at this point.

And… Mia is out of school.  Again.  Yes, Spring Break was just last week but she is out today and tomorrow due to Kindergarten Round-Up.  Then next Friday she and Gideon will be out of school for Good Friday, then the next Monday for a Teacher Development day.

I love my kids and I look forward to when they’ll be out of school.  But why don’t we just officially change Augusta schools to four-day weeks?  A friend at Bible study joked that’s what they’d already done but decided to quietly take out random days of the week so nobody would notice.

At Bible study I hurriedly counted up the weeks and I was incorrect.  The actual number is SIX, not EIGHT.  But in the six weeks stretching from Monday, March 5th to Friday, April 13th, Mia will have been in school a full five days for only ONE of those weeks.  That means the week of April 16th is going to be cruel.  Oh so very cruel.

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spring break

March 28, 2012 · 1 comment

in Baby Tres/Baby Chickadee, bragging, Daddy, family togetherness, G, kids are funny, Little Missy, mommy-ness, sibling relations

I have to say, this year we owned spring break.  We rocked that week.

My friend Abbie posted on her Facebook wall that she was excited to not have any plans, to just spend time with her kids and craft with them and let them play baseball outside for hours whenever the mood struck.  But I am not such a disciplined mommy.  If I don’t have something planned for us then pretty soon it’s the end of the day and we’ve watched TV all morning before I finally shoved them outside in the afternoon, with the bonus of bickering all day.  Plus with the forecast for rain all week, I knew we had to plan something.

So Saturday afternoon I sat down with them and we made a list of what we were going to do that week.  Monday: Exploration Place.  Tuesday: home.  Wednesday: Geo-caching.  Thursday: home.  Friday: Nana was in town.

Monday we went to EP and it was so much more a pleasant experience than it has been in years past.  Now Gideon and Mia aren’t running in two different directions.  They’re big enough to play by themselves as I corral Daphne.  They played at the water table with friends from school who happened to be there at the same time, they all played in the vet clinic, we watched model trains over and over and over again, then the big kids played in the Castle while I watched Daphne in the toddler area.

Tuesday was a little rough.  With the rain and all there was some bickering.  But Daddy took them and cousin Gabe for ice cream that night, then they all came back to our house and watched Hugo.

Wednesday we planned on geo-caching but it was too muddy from the rain.  We went to lunch with Nana, Auntie Leelee, Uncle Todd and his co-worker Kenton, then hung out at Uncle Todd’s office for a while, then went on a scavenger hunt.  Daddy sent us a list of things to find and we drove around town and took pictures in front of them.

Thursday was another home day, so Daddy sent them another scavenger hunt of stuff to find on our street.  Gideon and Mia took the camera outside and found everything on the list.  At first they were hesitant about going in people’s yards to take pictures, something about respecting people’s property, but they eventually made it far enough into their yards to hurriedly take the pictures before scurrying off.

Friday Nana was at our house and stayed with the kids while Hubby and I watched The Hunger Games.  Woot.

Saturday morning the kids and I went to Botanica.  They painted, made thumbprint artwork (courtesy of Paint the Towne), and completed a tulip scavenger hunt.  It was so much fun.  The day was sunny and gorgeous and I took beautiful pictures of my kids.  Then we went to lunch, met up with Daddy and tried our hand at geo-caching.  You guys, it was a big dud for us.  I think we need tips on how to locate the items.  Plus it didn’t help that at the first place we were looking next to a busy Wichita street and at the next place we looked very suspicious inspecting the bottom of a foot bridge.  My friend Mrs. Y said her husband and two of their boys found stuff in Augusta the first time they tried.  Maybe we’ll try something around here next.

And now my kids are back in school.  Boo.  Monday I really mourned the loss of spring break.  But Mia will be home with me the next two days because of kindergarten round-up, then the next week they’re off for Good Friday, then the next week they’re off for a teacher development day, and I really love that Augusta schools have a RIDICULOUS amount of days off.

I’ll try to post pictures soon, because blogs with pictures are always better than the ones without.

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