Shower Talk

Our usual morning routine includes John waking up, him waking me up, my getting in the shower while John plays or reads or watches Curious George or climbs into his sister's bed.  Today started out the same.  John chose the 4th option and was in with Annie, when suddenly I hear him SCREAMING:

MOM!!  MOM!!

What?  John, what!??

MOM!! MOM!!

John!  What!  Are you OK??  

John comes tearing around the corner and is standing at the shower while I'm frantically trying to get the shampoo out of my hair.  And he asks:

Mom, was God ever in the real world?

I think I need to add a cup of coffee to my pre-shower routine in order to deal with questions like this.

Hot Mama

This morning John said, "Mom, you look like a mom."

By this I am sure he meant, "Mom, you look like a smokin' hot mom and I can't believe you've had 2 kids and you are rockin' those skinny jeans."

We understand each other.

Messes and Smiles

I am trying very hard these days to balance teaching the kids to clean up after themselves and also letting them play and have fun and letting myself enjoy the moment.  It's a tough line to figure out.  If doing an alphabet puzzle turns into a spontaneous dance party singing the ABCs, do you stop the dancing to clean up the puzzle?  Do you put away the sand toys while still playing in the backyard, or wait until we're going inside and clean up the entire yard at once?  What if they want the sand toys again and you just put them all away -- the toys are for playing with after all.

Here was the scene in Annie's bedroom this morning, after John heard her wake up and had to go make sure she was OK.  He suggested a game of Library, and Annie was all for it.  The result was 2 shelves of books tossed one by one into Annie's crib...and 2 kids squeezed in there reading away.

I peeked in, saw the mess...and the smiles.  The smiles won.

When you're going through hell, keep on going

Dead car battery. Check.

Dead car battery while nanny has both kids in the car. Check.

Broken furnace. Check.

Broken furnace during heat wave while best friend is visiting with 9 month old baby. Check.

Wind storm strong enough to blow down the fence and our tree branch onto the neighbors' garage. Check.

Call about said tree branch ringing during gyn appt. Check.

BL

Annie has mastered pronouncing "bl"...as in "blue". She over-pronounces it is the cutest most serious way.

Gobi Girl

My kids have fully adopted Auntie's dog, Gobi. Annie won't go upstairs without her, and needs to be sure Gobi gets extra hugs hourly.

And John's just a lover.
Gobi's quite tolerant of it all :)

The Mouse!

Take 2 kids (the cuter, the better), add 2 parents, 2 shuttle trams, 2 airplanes, 2 grandparents, and 2 Disney Parks, and you get a summer family vacation!!!! Add layers of 60+ SPF and you get our family vacation :)

John was SO excited to see Maka and Papa and also to go to Disney. And for the airplane. And for the books he was going to read on the airplane. And to take the shuttle tram at the airport (it's in his train book).

Annie was happy to go along for whatever...happy until we landed in Florida and a storm rolled in. We were stuck on the tarmac for an hour (at our gate, but on the plane). She entertained the passengers by literally standing on her tray table and screaming "OUT RIGHT NOW!" Luckily she's damn cute. And adapted quickly to the Florida lifestyle.

Our big highlights included swimming at Maka and Papa's, during which John proclaimed, "Wait. Mom. I actually think I can swim!" And he kicked and stroked and realized all those swim lessons lead to something fun!!!! Annie mastered, "Mama, come here," followed by her run and jump into the 6 foot pool. Fearless.

Disney was insane. We got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Goofy, 3 princesses and the Chipmunks. John LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride, and he and I got to go on Splash Mountain together (Annie had to sit that one out).

It was all quite exhausting.
John has already requested we repeat this trip every Spring break. And I know Annie will not be satisfied until she gets to see her zebra at Animal Kingdom (all of the zebras were on vacation at the animal lodge). So I guess we're going back....
And next time I'll remember to put the sunscreen on my feet, too.

John's 4!

John turned 4! WOW! He was so excited about his birthday, it was adorable. As is he.

Annie got all dressed up to wish him a happy day and blow him kisses through the window as mommy and Johnny headed off to preschool.
John picked pancakes as the snack at school, and his awesome teacher busily prepared the feast. I got to read Jamberry to John's class (his pick) and eat some yummy pancakes, too.
In true modern day fashion, we had birthday cupcakes at home complete by Face Time with Auntie so she could be part of the singing and eating while in New York.

And to top it all off, John said next year he wants both mom AND dad to go to preschool for his birthday. My heart melted :)

Annie's 2!

My baby girl is 2. Does that make her not a baby anymore? Not sure. I still call John my baby...and he corrects me with, "I'm not a baby! I'm a big brother!" I told him when he's 83 he'll still be my baby.

Birth Day

Annie's Turns 1!

Baby Girl is 2!!

She's amazing. Any only 2. I can't believe how grown up she is...she makes her own decisions (and is sure to let us know when we're not cooperating with them), picks her own clothes, and likes to lounge around in her bed. And how sweet she is...a laugh you want to take with you everywhere, facial expressions that you can't help but melt to, and so many kisses and hugs to give. And how tough she is...John better watch out. And so better anyone that crosses him.

First Time's the Charm

Bath night in our house has morphed into an amazing display of ginormous bubbles, swimming kids complete with goggles, and maybe a bit of washing.

And last night we got to do it twice.

First Time

Happy kiddos!

Bubbles!

Swimming! Goggles! Splashing!

Out of the bath...

Bedtime lotion. Favorite monkey jammies for both.

Ready for books.

But then...

I drained the overly-bubbled bath.

And there was a POOP.

A POOP. IN THE BATH. Which means basically the kids had been playing in the toilet.

Second Time

Confused kiddos.

No bubbles.

No swimming. No goggles. No splashing.

Out of the bath...

Crying, overtired (but squeaky clean) kids. No more favorite (now poop-infested) monkey jammies.

Oh, you poop.

Heard Last Night

John (from the bathroom): Mom! I'm done! I pooped! One got stuck so I pulled it out with my fingers.

Sleepy Time

When you're a new mom, you quickly learn that everyone has advice on how to get a baby to sleep.

Rock them. Don't rock them. Hold them. Let them cry it out. Let them fall asleep in your arms and then move them to their bed. Make sure they fall asleep on their own or they'll never learn.

The one thing that I found to be true is that all babies are different. They have their own needs/wants, and as a mom, your approach is right. Whatever it is. You do what you need to do to be sure your baby is safe and healthy, and that you retain whatever bit of sanity you have left.

I have 2 beautiful kids, both of whom I feel I treated pretty much the same way at bedtime. And each has evolved into a very different sleeper.

John's bedtime routine consists of jammies, teeth brushing, face washing, 3 bedtime stories, potty time, 1 in original Goblin story created and told by mom in bed with the lights off, cuddling in bed, waiting for him to fall asleep, and then every night he wakes up and joins us in the "big bed." (I know several moms cringe at this.)

Annie's routine starts similarly with jammies, teeth brushing and face washing. Then we read books for about 10 minutes, turn on her music, get her blanket (which she sucks on), and put her in her bed. And she's down for the night. Don't bother her. And in the morning, she's roll around in bed until she's ready to admit it's time to get up.

There's something to be said about nature vs. nurture.

This past Saturday night, John's routine some how got interrupted. All of a sudden, he was downstairs, crying out for me. Tom was in the basement watching TV and I was upstairs sleeping, and there was John, half asleep and screaming. I brought him back to bed, and he calmed down. The next day he told me he had come into our bedroom but didn't see me, so he walked to the basement and the door was closed. So there he was, alone, scared, not sure where his parents had gone. We found him very quickly, but it still breaks my heart that he had a moment of feeling abandoned.

Of course, his sister slept happily through the whole episode. I'm sure if she had been the one who had woken up, she'd decide to deal with it in the morning, after a good night's rest.

This one's for the girls

You may think Annie fits in well with the ladies in my family...but little do you know that she's taken control of our group and has quickly become our leader. Not sure how she managed this in just under 2 years...didn't see it coming. It's all part of her master plan.