2008 July 17

Ya know how they say Mom’s have eyes in the back of their head? I’m not sure exactly when my extra set will arrive… do my children have to reach a certain age, or do I need to have a certain number of children? Seems that with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and an almost 1 year old… I could really use those extra set of eyes…NOW!

Here is a video clip I took 1 month ago of my baby girl playing with a sword. Yes, when you have a big brother you grow up accustomed to such weaponry. I was actually on the phone with my mom when I saw her playing with the buttons on the TV and got out the camera. You can hear I was quite taken with her, cooing at her and what not. But, pay careful attention to what is going on behind me. That’s right… look at the reflection in the TV behind her, there you will find the real nugget in this home video. Thanks to my hubby for the slow motion replay at the end of the clip.

Yes, that would be my son leaping from couch to couch. See him running and jumping on my furniture? Until reviewing the video this week I was completely oblivious to the shenanigans that had gone on behind me. Guess this circus mommy isn’t quite as good at multitasking as she thought! So, while I am having a precious little video session with my baby sword fighter, it seems there is a whole other circus act going on behind me. Wonder if that is what my baby is babbling to me about? Yup, I definitely haven’t reached the "eyes in the back of my head Mommy status" yet. Not sure where I need to go to pick them up, but I need them soon, before my kids realize the extent of Mommy’s oblivion.

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This week I celebrated my birthday. As I mentioned yesterday, I love birthdays. Even though I am a "grown up" now and I am not supposed to care about my birthday, I do. A lot. I don’t just look forward to it. I count down the weeks and days until it arrives. When I was a kid I used to have my parents wake me up to say Happy Birthday at the exact minute I was born. 1:52 AM (I have since outgrown that birthday tradition)!

My husband and kids went all out this year and treated me like a princess. Can I tell you I enjoyed every minute of the attention and fuss? I slept in and was treated to breakfast in bed… my favorite, home made blueberry muffins with milk chocolate Ovaltine. I was then crowned with my tiara and flower lei which I wore all day.

I had mentioned to my husband recently that I would love to see a penguin in real life. We’ve been to the National Zoo twice with the kids, but never to the Baltimore zoo. So my dear hubby took a vacation day and surprised me with a trip to the zoo. This zoo had penguins, and polar bears. I think I shouted louder than the kids when I saw the polar bear jump into the water and swim right in front of us. It was amazingly close. We found a quiet spot for a picnic lunch. At the time we sat down not much was going on behind us. Shortly after a whole camp of kids started crowding us out. I should have realized that animals had arrived. When I stood up to get out people’s way, I saw that the once rather empty space previously occupied by a lonely rhino, had been filled with an African safari. There was rhino, ostrich, and zebra all scurrying around behind us while we at our Subway. I love the zoo. Seeing the animals up close, makes me feel like a kid myself and I am continually amazed at our awesome Creator God as I observe the beauty and exquisiteness of His creatures. My favorites today were the giraffe, elephant, polar bears, and penguins.

After a fun afternoon at the zoo, we went home I was treated to my favorite foods for dinner and my hubby and kids made me the traditional cake and ice cream. When I blew out my candles, I didn’t even make a wish… my dreams have all come true already, what more could I wish for?

A few things that made me smile today…

While opening a musical birthday card. My two year old’s face lit up and she instantly started dancing. When I opened my next card, which was a normal card, she took it, opened it again and remarked, "Uh-oh it’s not working!"
My two year old looked over at me at breakfast, pointed to my lei and said, "You’re cute!"
At the zoo, when my son saw the ostrich, he mistakenly called it a peacock. I corrected him and told him they were ostriches. A few minutes later he said, "Aren’t these supposed to be pink?" Wrong bird again.
My son sang me a song called Birthday Rock this evening. When we asked him where he heard it he responded, "I dreamed about it a long time ago and have been waiting to sing it."

While some of the pictures in this post will most likely make it to a scrapbook (even though the grown adult wearing her tiara on her own free will is great black mail material for someone), I think this lunch shot which captures 4 different people all taking a bite at the same time and each looking in a different direction, probably won’t. For more fun or embarrassing pictures and stories, visit Kristen at We are THAT Family.