Mother's Day 2011

The arrival of the balloons


However, trying to get a successful picture with three kids and three balloons is not so easy!






Ooops, there go the balloons...

Success at last! (Well, sort of-if you count that we can see part of the balloons!)


It's a little easier without number three! :)

Don't I have the greatest job in the world!

A Family Lives Here

Since we have a baby at our house we have to keep little things off the floor. So, my dining room table frequently ends up covered in playmobiles and all their tiny little accessories. At times the mess drives me crazy, but I do enjoy seeing R and J playing together for hours with their little scenes. They're great friends and I'm so grateful for that.

This post is part of Queen Scarlett's "A family lives here" series. I love that lady and that her beautiful home is a family's home. She lets the kids LIVE and I admire her for that. I have been to her home. It is not chaotic. It's beautifully decorated and well taken care of. But it is not a museum where you're not allowed to touch anything, either. There are signs that children live and are loved there.

Saturday morning breakfast: an 11 month old's perspective

If your sister is only giving your a few "Lucky Charms" (because momma told her just to put a few of them on the chair for you) and you are a resourceful 11 month old, you just pull said bag of cereal off the edge of the table where sister had put it in plain view. The contents of the entire bag proceed to spill all over the clean floor. You laugh as if that's the funniest thing you've ever seen and sit down and begin your feast.

Momma who was sleeping on the couch heard the sound of spilling cereal with dismay. She wishes she would have taken a picture. But the mommy instincts kicked in which were: sweep this up before it gets dragged all over my house!!!!

Moments like these...

I love motherhood. I have been so happy lately. I feel like I have grown a lot these last 7 years of motherhood and have gained greater appreciation day by day for the little moments. I love it when my kids dress up and put together random outfits. I love stumbling upon their little games and happy moments with each other. I'm truly incredibly blessed to have this opportunity in life and I'm trying to treasure each day.



Theo has discovered he can climb! He decided to get into the lincoln log box.

Post-Valentines Day trauma?

(Yes, I did eat those by myself, and yes, I ate a lot more than that over the past couple of days!)

Happy day after Valentines Day! Holidays in the blogosphere can be tremendously guilt or jealousy inducing, take your pick. All you have to do is blog hop for awhile, or read blogs you follow (my own amazingly talented and wonderful friends that I admire and love dearly included) and you'll see everything from home made valentines for the kid's classes, to delicious cookies, cute decorations, and tales of romantic plans and festivities all around you. I know, I know, my last post about the roses could be seen as one of those things, but let me tell you the truth. I made those for the young women at church, it was a craft that caught my attention because of how easy it looked but fancy at the same time. And yes, easy it was, but what a pain. I don't like having sticky fingers, so working with floral tape is NOT my idea of fun. I honestly don't know if I'll ever do them again, because it just plain wasn't a super fun craft. Pretty? Yes. Fun? No.

But back to Valentines Day.
Lest any of you were feeling jealous or guilty over things you read and saw out there in blogland, let me enlighten you on a different kind of Valentines Day.

Valentines for Rebecca's class: They were the store bought kind, you know, where you have to tear them apart at the perforated edges? Yes, those. And it took all the energy I had just to get her to write everyone's name on them and sign her own.

Oh- I forgot. We got really fancy. We put some double sided tape on them and stuck one Hershey's kiss to each card. Some fell off in her backpack, but she was resourceful and just stuck them back on before giving them to the kids. She made one rose for her teacher and wrote a little note.

Valentines Day consisted of letting the kids watch lots of TV, while I cleaned three bathrooms and did three loads of laundry. I did make a yummy dinner, but nothing complicated and we had a 5 minute family home evening where I quickly cut out 10 hearts and we each wrote one nice thing about everyone else.

Oh, and as far as my number one Valentine goes... well, he sent me an e-card from work (it was a really funny one-made me laugh), and finally made it home after a very long day at 1:30 a.m. He didn't even get an e-card from me. I think the only thing I did for him was the one note at FHE. Yep, that's real life people. Our lives might be stressful right now, but at least we have each other and for that I'm grateful. We're happy, we're in love and we're in survival mode right now.

I have to add that Joseph had another febrile seizure on Friday while at a friend's house. They called and asked, "has he ever had a seizure before because we think he just had one." I rushed over there feeling badly that I had sent him anywhere in the first place. He's had a high fever ever since. Today was day 5 and the fever was lower, so I'm hoping that it's over by tomorrow. Considering I've had a fussy, teething baby, too, who just wants to be held, the fact that I got all that cleaning and laundry done yesterday was truly a Valentines gift, and something that made me happy. Now there's something to be jealous of! :)

I had a great Valentines Day. Hope you did, too.

And the winners are...

Nighttime wakings:

Rebecca: 1
Joseph: 2
Theo: 3
Mommy: 6
Daddy: unknown

Number of beds slept in during the night:

Rebecca, Joseph, Theo: 1
Mommy: 1 bed, 1 rocking chair
Daddy: 3

Heat wave

The heat has arrived! Happy summer!

I don't know why, but on the first extremely hot day of the summer the kids decided to take their toys outside right during the middle of the day. They asked if they could have lunch outside. I said yes, and even brought them ice cream sandwiches for dessert (I'm such a cool mom, right!) for which I got big smiles and thank yous. Then, because I'm such a cool mom, I brought them spray bottles to play with, which of course turned into getting soaked with the hose which led to finally getting bathing suits on and getting in the teeny tiny wading pool, which is where we probably should have been to begin with. After all that heat and water we came in for a fun afternoon of relaxing to a movie and some good air conditioning (thank goodness). In the evening we joined the youth from church at Bolsa Chica Beach. The weather was perfect and the sunset incredible. I felt so blissfully happy. It was simply a perfect summer day.







Rebecca and friend Erika

Little One

Little One,

Our first journey together is almost done.
Our second journey together has almost begun.
I look forward to your birthday.
I hope to hold you soon.
I pray for your health and safe arrival.

With Love,

Your Mommy

Life with 2 and 6

Who needs a pregnancy workout DVD when all you have to do is take your kids to Souplantation for dinner without your husband present, and chase your 2 year old around the whole restaurant, including looking for him after a few sudden disappearances only to have friendly people (upon seeing your face-even without words) say: he went that way. You proceed to find him circling the salad bar, darting between the hoards of people with trays full of food. And yet he miraculously didn't cause any accidents. It was the 6 year old who for the first time ever actually had the accident-her plate slipped off her tray, disposing an entire plate of food onto the floor, but luckily onto carpet so there was no broken glass.

I was prepared for this emotionally however, due to an incident we witnessed last time we were at Souplantation. The 3 or 4 year old at the table across from us spilled his completely full glass of red juice onto the floor and bench. It was an accident, he wasn't misbehaving or doing anything wrong. He said to his mom: "I made a mistake!" The mom proceeded to lecture him in a foreign language. Then the dad returned, saw the mess and said very loudly: "You stupid!" and also lectured him in their native tongue. Warren and I had been mildly laughing at the cuteness of the little boy's sincere "I made a mistake" apology, but were saddened once we saw how mean the parents were to him. You don't tell a kid he is stupid when you were the one who gave him the tall drink in the first place. Anyway, this time it was my kid and remembering the scene from last time I was able to smile and say, "it's okay, it was an accident" and just go find someone to help me clean up.

In other events of the day, Joseph and I were talking about how big he was, and how he will grow up to be as big as his daddy someday.

I said: "You will even BE a daddy someday!"
Joseph answered (emphatically) "YES, like MOMMY!"
I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that, but it still made me laugh.

And from Rebecca: she accidentally drew on my only currently nicely fitting, good looking pair of maternity pants with dry erase marker. I of course responded: "Rebecca, you need to be more careful when you're using markers. These are the only pants I have that fit me right now."
She was very sorry and asked me if I would be able to forget that the mark was there. I tried to get it out as much as possible and later that evening showed her that it looked much better than before. She was very happy about that and asked me again: "When we were at Souplantation did you forget that the mark was there?" It almost broke my heart. What impression have I been giving my kids? That I can't forget a mistake? I hope not. I will try to do better.

The best job

Rebecca: Mom, when you were a little girl did you ever want to be an astronaut?

Me: Yes, I did.

R: I think that would be fun, too. At school they have this book where they have pictures of all the things you can be when you grow up. Except they don't have everything.

Me: (thinking) I wonder what she might be talking about. I wonder what she wants to be.

R: They don't have 'Mom.' That's what I want to be the most.

There are some moments in life that truly melt your heart and make you feel like you're doing something right. I love my girl.

As if I didn't have enough to do...

No comment.

My life as of late

(Rebecca took this picture. It's pretty accurate about how I've felt lately.)

Now that I've finally made the online announcement about my pregnancy I can finally talk about how rotten I've felt. It's been my hardest first trimester yet, the nausea, the exhaustion, hormone induced moods (translation: lots of crying.) I'm so grateful to be expecting another child, but I'll sure be glad when I'm feeling better.

This is an example of my house lately.

This is what I came downstairs to find when it was time to walk out the door for church. I was the organist that morning. Needless to say I didn't get there much before the meeting started. Just because you're feeling sick doesn't mean you don't have responsibilities anymore. We're just getting through this day by day and hope it won't last too long. But other than that, life is good!

Coming April 2010...

...our number will be expanding!

My little sleepyheads

Here are my two little sleepy heads. See how Joseph wraps himself up in his blankets? It was wrapped even tighter the other night, completely around his middle. Joseph calls them his "baby" and recently has been telling me while cuddling his blankey, "Baby happy." I presume he means his blankey makes him happy? Who knows, maybe he has a happy blankey. He also likes to rub his blankey on my cheek once in awhile. He smiles when he does this. I think he feels like he is sharing the joy. I love it.

And here is my sweet Rebecca. I wanted to take this picture to show how hard she is trying to stop sucking her thumb. Since she does it in her sleep she has decided to wear a sock every night so she won't do it. So far so good. I'm really proud of her because this really means a lot to her. Were that we were all so determined to reach our goals.

I'm here

Friday night. Warren and I had just gotten home from a date (or rather a work social obligation event!). My kids were fast asleep in bed. I had to leave home early, 4:00 to get there on time because it was at the Hollywood Bowl and traffic on a Friday night is horrendous.
Every time I leave the kids with a babysitter (no matter how much I like the babysitter or how much fun I know they probably had) once I get home I feel this really strong urge to go in and wake up my kids to tell them: "Mommy's home, everything is okay now." I don't know what it is, the maternal instinct I suppose, but even though they are sleeping I want them to know Mommy is there.
I went in to check on them. Joseph's blanket was wrapped so tightly around his waist I wanted to loosen it. In the process it did wake him up. He was so tired but kept trying to open his eyes to see me. It was as if he wanted to make sure I was real and was going to stay.
I rocked him for a few minutes and put him back down. I resisted the urge to wake Rebecca (of course I never wake them on purpose) but a few minutes later I heard her drinking her water so I knew she was awake and I went in and said goodnight to her.
My kids want to be around me. I have two little shadows much of the day. If they aren't in the same room they at least want to be on the same level of the house. Sometimes Rebecca will just yell out: "Mom?" I answer: "What?" She says: "Nothing, I just wanted to know that you were there."
I'm glad I'm here. It's a lot of work sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. It won't always be this way. Life moves on. Things change. But for now, they want me here.
And here I'll stay.

Rock-a-bye Baby

Today was dress like a rock star day at school. I did my best to create something on the spur of the moment that would at least make Rebecca feel like she was dressed like a rock star. (Notice the silver hair)

Tonight I had a hard time getting the kids to bed. Warren wasn't home. Joseph finally fell asleep. Rebecca kept finding things to talk to me about. I finally said: "You need to get to sleep or you'll be grumpy tomorrow morning like you were tonight." Rebecca replied: "But daddy said if I'm awake when he gets home he'll rock me." That kind of melted my heart.

You see, she's been complaining a lot lately that we only ever rock Joseph in the glider and never her. And that I only take care of Joseph and not her. It's pretty hard being the big 5 year old when you have a little 2 year old brother who needs a lot more help than you do, but you still need just as much love. I get frustrated because I need her help, I need her to be good, I need her to act perfectly ALL the time! Yes, I'm sure my expectations are sometimes unfairly high. But when you have one kid that you can communicate with and one who is just learning to communicate, it's natural to expect more from the first one, I suppose.

Anyway, when she said she was waiting for daddy to rock her I asked if she would like me to rock her. She said, "sure, just for one minute." So I held my little girl on my lap, and rocked my grown up rock star. I held her tight and loved her and let the tears roll down my cheeks. I held her till she was almost asleep and put her gently into bed. All the frustrations melted away. All I felt was love. Maybe I need to rock her more often. Because someday she won't ask to be rocked anymore.

Grocery Store Stories

Why is it that when you're in the grocery store people seem to think they can give you their life story on child raising and inform you of things you are doing wrong whether it be in looks or words?
Yesterday in the grocery store Rebecca was playing with all the stuffed animals in the Easter display and telling me repeatedly: "I want that." With a cool demeanor I kept walking, saying, no, and continued my shopping. A woman passing by overheard my daughter's demands and informed me: "We don't get everything we want either! When we go to the car lot we want the newest car on the lot but that doesn't mean we get it!" I politely answered her: "No, we don't get everything we want either." She proceeded to tell me how she had 4 kids and used to take them all grocery shopping. I politely answered: "Well, I come from a family of 5 and my husband comes from a family of 7" so as not to be outdone by her because all I had with me were my two own children. She continued to praise her own past exploits of managing to take 4 or more children shopping with her as I continued to struggle with my two. She watched my daughter put groceries of her own choosing in the cart and told her: "You have to ask your mom before you put things in your cart. She doesn't have money for everything!" Thanks a lot for that advice.
Her comments wouldn't have been that bad except that I was already ruffled by Rebecca's asking for everything and Joseph trying to reach for everything while trying to stay completely cool, calm and collected, and trying not make unwise purchasing choices, trying not to give in to my children etc etc. But then I rounded the corner, made it to the back of the store where an elderly lady looked at my children, looked at me and said: "Your children are beautiful."

And with a completely sincere thank you, I melted.

Happy Valentines Day 2009!

The amazing, creative, homemaker mom inside of me wants to make homemade sugar cookies from scratch, homemade icing and handmade valentines. The practical, busy, with a huge to-do list mom is just glad that I managed to buy the pre-cut-out heart shaped valentine cookies from the grocery store. Hey, at least I did something. Right?
Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope you feel loved. You are.

Have you ever...?

Have you ever...

....cooked a meal with all four burners going while holding a 29 pound kid in one arm?

....washed the kitchen floor with a kid sitting in your lap?

....told a kid massage oil is NOT a good toy?

....vacuumed and swept 6 times in a day?

....done 6 loads of laundry in a day for a household of only 4 people?

....breathed a sigh of relief when 8:00 o'clock came round, the kids were in bed, the house was still standing and you made it through another wonderful day?

I have.

Food meets floor

Joseph and the blueberry muffin

Last week at Costco I had both of the kids with me.  But lucky me, it was "sample" day.  Last time there were samples at Costco it was a huge hit and kept the kids entertained and even provided lunch.  Hoping we would hit another gold mine we cruised through the food isles trying to get the three items I had come to Costco for. Literally.  First sample. Chips and salsa.  Rebecca starts whining: "I want some chips, I want some chips." Joseph starts screaming. I'm sure he was saying the same thing as his sister.  A lady was talking to the sample lady.  "Don't worry, your day will get better."  I grab my first sample of chips and salsa and hand it to Rebecca.  I grab another one and hand it to Joseph.  Rebecca: "Ooops, Mommy, I spilled."  She has salsa all over her legs.  I reach down to give her a napkin.  I turn around.  Joseph had dropped his chips and salsa on the floor and was screaming.  The lady who had just reassured the sample lady that her day would get better looked at me, my kids and the salsa everywhere and said: "Or maybe not."  The sample lady starts to head over to clean up my mess, but as supermom I am faster and get to the floor with napkins in hand despite my screaming child.

Next sample.  Something hot and Mexican.  The new sample lady is telling me the rules: "You have to take it for your children, they can't grab it themselves and be careful, it's very hot."  Okay, okay, I'm responsible, just let me take the sample so baby Tetradactyl here will stop screaming.  I blow on the sample. Temperature seems okay.  I hand it to Joseph.  He tries to put it in his mouth.  It drops and lands on the floor.  Another one bites the dust.  We're feeding the trash can today.  I can't find two of the three items I came for.  Joseph is screaming his head off.  Rebecca is trying to get in and out of the cart.  A man looks at me and says: "Believe me, these are the EASY years."  Little does he know my kids will be PERFECT teens.  

A couple of days later.  I was preparing dinner for the missionaries.  I decided I had to do something with those blueberries while they were still good.  So I started to make blueberry muffins.  Rebecca had a friend over.  Suddenly the friend was moody about something, so I told them they could come help me with the muffins.  But I was in a hurry and having a 4 and 3 and 1 year old help you bake when you're in a hurry is never a good idea.  They spent most of the time washing their hands and getting their chairs into the kitchen while I stealthily kept putting in the ingredients.  They helped me stir the dough.  Somehow things got out of control.  I don't even know what happened.  Suddenly the two girls were in the bathroom without their dresses on washing the kitchen floor mat in the sink, a tomato was squashed all over the kitchen floor and my new container of chocolate covered mints had also gravitated to the kitchen floor.  So I got the girls out of the bathroom before there was an even bigger flood, had them get dressed, sent them back to the neighbors house (who luckily took Joseph for 15 minutes, too), cleaned up the tomato, the mints and got the meatloaf made while the muffins were cooking. Phew.  

Just thought I'd add this post to balance the times I just talk about how cute and funny my kids are.  Did I ever mention motherhood is messy?