For Moms - Remember?

I'm going to try very hard to describe something that I know a lot of you moms out there will remember, so that hopefully you can relive it, and I can relive it later on.
So, last night, I'm lying in bed (my apologies if the grammar is wrong - STILL can't remember lie/lay, depite Mrs. Oden's and my mom's best efforts), and I'm holding Chunk to help him sleep. (He's in the middle of a breakout and needs the snuggles to sleep). I, being of the they'll-sleep-fine-on-their-own-when-it's-time camp, don't mind doing this. For reference, Chunk is a big, squishy 8 month old baby with lots of fluffy hugginess. And, as he is all snuggled up with his soft, just-washed head tucked under my chin, I can feel his sweet breath on my neck. My arms are around him, his legs are tucked into my tummy, and his breathing is baby-slow and gentle. He makes those little "oh I'm so content" sighs, and then nuzzles his head closer to me.
(exhale......) It's these little baby moments that Mommies miss SO much. When we can fix it all just by being still and holding our precious gift from God.
Thank you, Lord, for letting me have these amazing, heart-filling moments!

P is for Peanut Butter and PopPop

Monkey wanted some bread, and then decided she needed some peanut butter on it. So, as I'm getting the Pnut Butter out of the pantry, I ask her "Okay, but what letter does Peanut Butter start with?". I'm figuring that she'll tell me "A", like she usually does with words that she and I haven't "learned" yet.
Not so. Not only did Monkey inform me that Peanut Butter starts with "P", she then preceded to remind me that P is also for PopPop! And, then of course, she had to tell me that SueSue was a girl. Both things being true, of course. :-)

The Food Channel

"Hi, I'm Rachael Ray and I make 30 minute meals. That means that in the time it takes you to watch this program, I will have made a delicious and healthy meal from start to finish". Ahhhh - Rachael. We love Rachael. Rachael has 2 shows in the late afternoon - one at 5:00 and one at 5:30. More specifically, Monkey LOVES Rachael. She IS Rachael. She repeats that entire intro with all the hand motions and smiles that come with it. And then proceeds to cook along with Rachael. Of course, she also has to come in and "help" cook with whomever is fixing supper in the kitchen at the time. But, Rachael buys us quite a bit of time in the afternoon on most days. Okay..... now, if anyone is out there clucking their tongue thinking that we shouldn't let the children watch t.v., come come. If you had two children under 3, and one of them could be somewhat occupied during the Witching Hour of 5-6, your almost 3 year old would be able to repeat the intro to Rachael also. Which, I might add, is adorable, of course. (grin) Watching her little mouth curl around the letters as she says "EeeVeeOhOh" makes you smile every time.

Mr. Mom......

Well, today was daddy's first adventure at the grocery store with both (yes, BOTH) kids. Of course, daddy played it off like it was no big deal (altogether he was internally freaking out) because if mommy knew that daddy felt iffy, she never would allow it. And daddy's ego would NOT have that!

So there we are at the store....just daddy, Chunk and Monkey. We got the rice. One down, one to go. We're looking at the nacho chips. Monkey is practicing her ballet moves in her metallic purple high-heeled flip flops (that mommy LOVES for her to wear out of the house), when CRASH! Down she goes, right on her tiny-hiny and immediately screams bloody murder. So I scoop her up and try to get her to quit calling attention to the inept father.....i mean quit crying. I look over at Chunk and he's laughing!! At 8-months old, he's laughing at his sister in pain!!

Well, anyway, we got the rice, we got the chips, we paid and headed out the door. And daddy survived his very first trip WITH both kids and WITHOUT the mommy safety-net.

Of course, before we left, we did trip and fall on the big carpet at the front of the store.......needless to say, we will not be wearing the metallic purple high-heeled flip flops out of the house anymore.

Toofies, toofies

According to this nice chart I found at ada.org, I think, Chunk has had numbers 25,24, & 23 in for awhile. #10 broke thru a week ago, #8 is almost thru, and #'s 7 and 9 are very close behind. I don't think he can tug on his mouth any more than he is right now. I feel so bad for him. Not sure what happened to 23's buddy, #26. Just hasn't come in yet. It will later. (For anyone who knows the difference between adult teeth numbering and baby teeth number, I realize that this system is technically for adult teeth!)
The good news, after this current round of teeth break thru, he SHOULD get a break from active teething for a little while. (Lord willing!) Which will hopefully mean some better sleep at night again.
Oh please oh please oh please oh please.

Gulp.... My son likes......

Barbie. Yes. He does. No..... not BARBIE. I mean, not the doll. No no no. He likes the Barbie MOVIE Princess and the Pauper. sigh..... Okay. Granted, it's a musical. They are singing (quite beautifully) every 3-5 minutes for at least 5 minutes at a time. All through the movie. AND, granted, the other Barbie movies we have (Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Rapunzel) aren't anywhere close to being as interesting to him. So, I like to tell myself it's because those movies aren't considered "musicals", and thus it's the singing that is attracting him. But I will put that movie in when I need a few minutes to do Mommy things that can not be done with a 23 pounder on my hip. Yes, I will put my son in front of P&P on purpose. I think that makes me an accomplice in the eyes of the Baby Police.

at the car wash, yeah!

So apparently kids under the age of one DON'T like the car wash (much to the surprise of Daddy). We were being a little fussy on Sunday afternoon, so Daddy decided that a trip to the car wash to clean Mommy's van would be a great distraction. Unfortunately for Poppop, he was in the wrong place and the wrong time, so he got dragged into the mix. So, off we went. Things were going great until about the time that the high pressure washers started working on the roof of the car. To Daddy it was the sound of a clean van without any work on his part. To Chunk, it was the sound of alien invaders hell-bent on stealing his passie!! Needless to say, MELTDOWN!!! And what makes matters worse was the phrase, "He's so laid back. He's probably going to go to sleep!" had just come out of my mouth! Live and learn!

Thus is the difference in Mommys and Daddys!!! (Mommy wouldn't have made that mistake)

Negotiating With Children

Now, in general, I realize that one should not negotiate with someone not too capable of rational thought. Two year olds definitely fall into that category. However, at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, when you really need to go take a family walk around the neighborhood, and you want to keep everyone in a good mood for Nacho Night, it becomes necessary to use sneaky parental tactics. Enter - the Bugs Bunny Approach to Sensitive Parental Negotiations. This is an exact replica of the conversation I had with Monkeytoes this afternoon:

Go get your shoes on so we can go for a walk.
I don't want to go for a walk, Mommy.
I understand, but we're going anyway.
I don't want to go for a walk.
Yes, you do.
No, I don't.
Yes, you do.
No, I don't.
Yes, you do.
No, I don't.
No, you don't.
Yes, I do!
No, you don't.
Yes, I do!
Fine, then, we'll go for a walk!

Not a tantrum in sight, and Monkeytoes thoroughly enjoyed the walk. (As much as you can enjoy a walk in this incredible heat.)

Thank goodness for Mary Kay

You know, it occurred to me this morning that if wasn't for my MK business, it would probably be a rare day that I would actually bother to put makeup on or even attempt to fix my hair. Honestly - I'd be a complete mess most days. lol..... Okay, maybe I AM a complete mess most days. But at least I have mascara on! It's a different world in the SAHM realm. A different world!!!

Houston, we have movement

I'm calling it. July 13, 2006. (Heather's bday - Happy Bday Hedda!) Chunk is officially crawling. He's been moving himself around now for a couple of weeks, but he can now get to where it is he wants to go with purpose and authority! Now, a lot of the crawling looks more like a military style crawl, with his tummy flat on the floor and his elbows doing most of the work. BUT, it's thought out movement. He's mobile. Someone batten down the hatches! He is pulling up on ottomans, couches, etc. So, I think walking won't be too far away. HowEVER, he's not quite as flat footed as he needs to be in order to really get to walking. sigh........ It came on too fast. I was expecting him to be walking as early as Monkeytoes-10 months), but hoping that he wouldn't. Only because my baby is slipping away too quickly. dramatic sigh again.............. It's funny too. He spent the morning throwing up, and this afternoon he decides to act like nothing was wrong. Mommy just LOVES that kind of emotional roller coaster. Cause, you know, it's ALL about me, of course. ;-)

Itchy Baby

Okay, eczema on a baby is tough. Just when you think you have it cleared up, and your sweet baby is soft and creamy skinned again, the next morning he'll wake up with that awful redness and dryness. His poor skin feeling like sandpaper, and his eyes telling you that he would do anything for you to get rid of it! I wish I could take it from him, you know? It definitely doesn't do much for his sleeping. And with him seemingly in a constant teething mode, sleep seems to be a distant memory for us around here!

My darling family - on Father's Day 2006

The Joy of Swinging! I wish we, as adults, still felt that. Or could feel that. I guess that's one of the many reasons children are so precious. They remind us how simple JOY can be!

Welcome to the wild world of blogging!

Test Musings from the Zoo. Because I don't have the time to figure out how to blog on our family website! I actually haven't updated that since Chunk's birth. Pretty bad, actually. Who knows how often I'll actually use this blog. I may even wait and see how often before I give out the address!
I wonder if anyone else is wondering why I always use the Zoo when describing us. Back when jmk and I married, just after we got the dog, we were a family of five including us, a dog, a cat, and a bird. Quite the zoo! Now, of course, we're minus a bird, but we've added two monkeys, so the Zoo still applies. ;-)