last night

8:00 pm:  rock baby to sleep.

8:30 pm:  tuck big brother (who has a cold) in bed while Daddy rocks screaming baby back to sleep.

9:15 pm:  rock baby to sleep again.

9:45 pm:  soothe big brother who can’t sleep.  For the third night in a row.

10:15 pm:  go to bed.

12:00 am:  check on fussy baby.  Work some binky magic.  Go back to bed.

1:00 am:  change and feed baby.  Go back to bed.

2:45 am:  sit through big brother coughing fit, exacerbated by exhaustion and autistic tendencies.  
               Administer love, patience and Mucinex.  Toss all plans for the day out the window because he won't be
               going to school.  Go back to bed.

3:30 am:  you can't sleep because your stomach is growling.  Climb out of bed and head to the kitchen.  Eat cold
               pizza while checking Facebook and reading about Haiti.  Go back to bed.

4:00 am:  feed baby.

4:20 am:  watch baby’s eyes pop wide pen when you put her down to sleep.  Pretend to be asleep on couch while
               listening to non-stop super-adorable-but-can’t-it-wait-until-daylight baby babbling.

5:15 am:  rock baby to sleep.  Again.  Watch those eyes pop open when you put her down.  Again.  Throw your
               hands up in defeat and call in reinforcements.   

5:30 am:  head for the kitchen while Daddy takes over.  Because you’re a breast-feeding momma and
               you’re hungry.  Again.  Go back to bed. 

7:?? am:  groggily wake up to super-adorable baby babbling.   At least it’s daylight this time.  Almost.  Reach for
              a Kleenex and realize you’re probably coming down with Kiddo’s cold.

I think a nap is in order. 

big brother, little sister

I know I said I was taking a blogging break, but how could I not post these?

Kiddo is the only one who can make Little Sister laugh.  I'm so thankful for the special relationship they already have with each other.  I'm sure one day they will drive each other crazy, but for now I am savoring these moments and praying for many more.  :)

hiatus

Yes, we're still alive!

Yes, Baby Girl is growing cuter by the day.

Yes, we are all doing great.

Yes, I am (obviously) taking a break from blogging for a while.  I hope to be back eventually, but I can't tell you when.  I would love to stay in contact with my bloggy friends - please come find me on FB (e-mail me - thanks 4 lemonade [at] gmail [dot] com - I'll tell you where you can find me...as long as you're not a crazy axe-murdering stalker).

stopping in

I've been chastised from several directions for not updating the blog lately.  I guess that means this post is long overdue.  I can't do justice to all that has happened in the past three(!) months, so I will just say that I have been using my time wisely, enjoying every moment with this little pudge muffin:

She. is. scrumptious.  We are drinking in the joy of having her in our lives.  Kiddo adores her, regularly smothering her with hugs and kisses.

I kind of love being a family of four.

barefoot and pregnant

After Ashley's post, there really wasn't any choice.  It had to be tried.  No one in our family likes hard-boiled eggs, anyway.

We assembled at my parents' house in the woods, got a quick lesson in loading and firing an air rifle, set up a hay bale and some empty cartons to hold the little guys up (it was windy!), and started shooting.

It was harder than I thought.  A lot of those holes in the cartons are mine.  After several misses, I marched up to the poor, defenseless things and started shooting from about 6 feet away.  I felt kind of sorry for the eggs - I almost offered them blindfolds.

Kiddo wanted no part of it, so I handed him my camera and turned him loose, with strict instructions to stay behind the firing line (all pics in this post are complements of him and my mom).

With so many cameras around (my dad and a friend were snapping shots too), my "barefoot and pregnant" status was well-documented for all posterity.

blogger neglects blog for weeks {and other headlines}

PREGNANT MOMMA PASSES GLUCOSE SCREEN
(and there was much rejoicing in the land)

*****

NEWEST NASCAR FAN BUILDS RACE TRACK

 (construction paper, cardboard, and yards of scotch tape)

*****

SPRING ARRIVES

(and laundry suddenly increases...)

*****

KITTEN MANIA STRIKES AGAIN

(he then went home and built a dozen kittens out of LEGOS...)

*****

In other news, Kiddo moved to his "big brother" bedroom this weekend and, while the move went well, we are all a little sleep-deprived as a result.  While he really likes his room, he's not yet comfortable enough there to sleep very well.

I am having a hard time with the move, which is unexpected (my emotions, not the move).  Our master bedroom and the nursery are downstairs, while Kiddo's new room is upstairs.  I don't like it that he is so far away and up there all by himself.  I almost cried when I walked by his dark and empty old room last night on my way to bed.  I miss peeking in on him whenever I walk by, watching him sleep and stealing kisses in the middle of the night ("but at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed...")

Lots of moms cry when their babies go off to kindergarten.  I didn't - he was excited to go, and I knew he was more than ready (and on some days, so was I).  For me, this is a far more momentous milestone than the first day of school.  He's growing up and becoming more independent every day.  As someone reminded me this morning, he's halfway to his driver's license already.  But tonight, he still wanted to curl up in my (shrinking) lap and settle in for a snuggle.  I'm going to soak up those snuggles for as long as they last ("...and she sang:  I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be.")

keepers

I think I'm going to keep these two...

           

february 10 on 10 {cheater style}

Last month I totally missed it.  So I wrote it on the calendar for this month, reminded myself as I crawled into bed the night before.  "10 on 10 tomorrow...10 on 10 tomorrow..."  And then I forgot my camera when we left the house in the morning.  And after running around town for a couple of hours sans camera, I got a call from school telling me to please come and pick up my sick kiddo.  So instead of 10 pictures taken on the 10th, you get 10 snapshots from the past three weeks, since I also can't seem to remember to blog regularly any more...

1/23 - another doughnut date!  This kid has had a lot of days off from school recently (and another one next week).

1/26 - happy birthday, Kiddo!  (I'm still trying to figure out how to take a good candle-blowing pic).

2/2 - For Baby Girl's nursery.  Happy happy happy.

2/2 - making valentines (copied from here).

(I love that tongue that appears whenever he's working on something)

2/2 - copying hymns out of the hymnal and teaching himself how to play. 

2/4 - first-ever "friends" birthday party.  I will admit to being a little nervous about the social aspect of things, but he was a kind and gracious host.

(and yes, there were boys at the party, too, although you wouldn't know it from most of the pictures)

2/5 - our house (or at least the living room) is being taken over by LEGOs.

2/6 - the "story kit" Kiddo made for my birthday.  Only he couldn't wait until my actual birthday (yesterday - happy birthday to me!), so I got it several days early.  Since then, he's added a few "expansions" with extra scenes, characters and props.

2/9 - LEGOs again.  The ducks have come to town.

I already shared this on Facebook, but couldn't resist documenting it here, too (paraphrase of a conversation between Kiddo and Mom Mom while playing with LEGOs):

Kiddo: The mean ducks are coming to your house and they're going to take all of your stuff!
Mom Mom: They can't get me, I have a great big wall.
Kiddo: The mean ducks knocked down your wall!
Mom Mom: But I have mean duck repellant sprayed on my house.
Kiddo: The mean ducks dug a tunnel under your house and came up through the floor!
[and on and on as Mom Mom tries to keep the mean ducks at bay and Kiddo thwarts her defenses]
Mom Mom: Well then, I'm going to send Jesus to the mean ducks.
[long pause]
Kiddo: What would that do?
Mom Mom: Well, Jesus could change their hearts and then they would be nice ducks.
[longer pause] 
Kiddo: Yeah, that should work.

2/10 - the one picture I actually took on the 10th - sick Kiddo crashed on the couch (he was much better the next morning).

And now I'm off to go write it on the calendar for next month...

bump {22 weeks}

almost 8 {and a date}

Kiddo and I celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by going on a date.

First stop:  Dunkin Donuts.  Strawberry frosted with sprinkles for him.  Plain old glazed for me (but it's my favorite).

Second stop:  thrift store.  His choice.  And where he excitedly spent some of his savings on a giant duck.

I have an aversion to buying stuffed animals at thrift stores, but when you have a son who collects ducks and is absolutely tickled when he finds one so huge and soft and fluffy and irresistible, and for the bargain price of $3.50 instead of $27.99 (or whatever), you are willing to make a few concessions.  Or, at least, I am. 

We also spent $7 (of Mommy's money) on a stack of books that should keep him busy for a while.

Actually, at the moment, they are keeping me busy instead, as half of them are favorites of mine that I haven't read in more than 20 years, and I've been having fun getting reacquainted.

Final stop:  Staples.  Also his choice.  Really.

 

And then we were home, where Kiddo built a giant blanket fort in the middle of the living room and busily organized important papers (like grammar worksheets and old spelling homework) with his new office supplies.

And, speaking of this child of mine, he turns 8 next week.  EIGHT YEARS OLD.  How can this be?  

It has been so fun to watch him grow and learn, to see glimpses of the little boy of the past, the bigger boy of the present, and the you're-growing-too-fast-please-slow-down-but-wow-I-like-who-you-are-becoming-grown-up boy of the future.  

This morning on the way to school we were planning his birthday party (I'm starting a little late.  Oops).  In the past, we have always had small informal family parties here at home, with grandparents and occasionally a few cousins.  But this year he wanted a party with friends.  I asked him who he would invite.  He listed some kids from church and two or three kids that he plays with regularly at school.  "And I want to invite [boy from school]" he says, "because some days he doesn't like me and I want to see if I can be better friends with him."  

I am one proud mama.  Friendship comes so effortlessly for most kids, and he has to struggle and work hard every day to feel included and to figure out the complex social ebb and flow of his classmates.  And yet, because of that, he is willing to go the extra mile to make a friend.  Where I would be happy to ignore the boy-who-doesn't-like-me, he is willing to reach out and risk himself to make a relationship better.  Sure, I'm scared of him being hurt if it doesn't work out, but I am so stinkin' proud of him for having the courage to try. 

He may have trouble making friends, but at 7 almost 8 years old, he sure knows a lot already about how to be one.

potatoes and googly eyes

The fun thing about having kids is that, when you see something cute and crafty on Pinterest, you can make plans to have a "Mommy and me" craft session.

And then, when your child wants nothing to do with your best-laid plans, you can sit down and do it yourself (and snack on mint Oreos).

And you don't have to feel silly, even when you get distracted and spell something wrong, because everyone will assume that you had help.

And your friends will all think you are super-creative and a wonderful mom, when really, you just wanted to copy ideas off the internet and play with potato stamps and googly eyes.

the stable's getting crowded...

10 (+1) on 10

Jess talked me into it.  Ten pictures on the 10th of the month.  Except I couldn't help but add one more.

8:37 a.m.  Making a list.

9:16 a.m.  On the move.

9:47 a.m.  Plinking Christmas carols.

11:10 a.m.  Christmas musical rehearsal at church.

12:19 p.m.  Oops.

2:00 p.m.  Schmaltzy movie.  Advent calendar.  Rubber ducky nativity.  Fisher-Price nativity.

2:39 p.m.  Mommy-and-me craft that ended up being a just-Mommy craft.

3:00 p.m.  Making videos, trying to be quiet while a sick Daddy snoozes.

5:49 p.m.  Convinced feeling-slightly-better Daddy to play the game he invented earlier in the afternoon.

8:36 p.m.  Bedtime story.

And the extra pic that I couldn't stop looking at all day - our little GIRL's foot and profile.