Motherhood

She said…

January 25, 2012

I think 4 is a great age for a lot of reasons… one of which is the funny little things 4 year olds say…

Today we were walking to the van and she was carrying her coat, Kit, and her baby. I said, “If you wear your coat you’ll have more hands.” to which she said, “No, Mom, I’ll still only have 2 hands.”

Last week before she went into her gymnastics class I told her to work hard and have fun. “Oh Mom, that won’t be a problem at all… when I’m doing my back hip circle and I swing back from the bar and flip around, it’s just like I am flying through the air.” The look of pure joy on her face as she described flying through the air is one I want to remember forever.

A few weeks ago I served split pea soup for dinner. While my husband and sons both enjoyed it, my girls did not. AT ALL. I suppose somewhere during the dinner I said something about how I worked hard to make that meal for them and I didn’t appreciate their disgusted faces and comments about the food. And I suppose it sunk in a little even though they didn’t really eat it all that well. Because a whole week later out of the blue she says to me, “Mom, remember when you made that soup last week that I didn’t like?” “Well, it wasn’t that I didn’t like that you made it for me, it’s just that when it was in my mouth… pause… well…. when it was in my mouth it just made me feel like I had to cough.” (essentially she said, “Mom it’s not that I didn’t appreciate your cooking me food, it’s just your food made me want to gag).

Seriously, I love this girl and am not at all eager for her to grow up anytime soon.

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T-R-O-U-B-L-E

January 19, 2012

in Circus Shots,Darndest Things,Motherhood,things that make me laugh

This afternoon my smiley, mild mannered, easy going baby suddenly channeled his inner Dennis the Menace and went all toddler boy on me for 30 minutes.

First I looked over and found him standing on his tool bench (oops look who forgot to put away the advent calendar with her Christmas decorations)

I got him down and shortly after realized things had been mighty quiet for awhile and went searching for him. Found him in the master bathroom STANDING on the toilet.

After shutting all the doors in the hallway we headed back out to the kitchen/living room. He attempted to get water from the fridge dispenser but thankfully it was locked. So, instead he opted for emptying my clean dishes from the dish washer into the dog bowl.

I didn’t get them out right away b/c I figured the harm had already been done, and I would go ahead and finish emptying the dishwasher before he got into more mischief.

But, that plan was thwarted when he then decided to DRINK FROM THE DOG BOWL! While I moved the bowl onto the counter and the dirty cups into the sink, I turn around to find him standing in the dishwasher reaching for my leftover pizza from lunch.

At this point, I decide that this has TRULY BEEN THE CRAZIEST HALF HOUR OF HIS LIFE and strap him into his booster seat with my pizza in hopes of keeping him safe and me sane!

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Flashbacks

January 18, 2012

in Sleep,sleep folded in half

Every now and then, when I peek in on my oldest daughter before going to sleep, I’ll see something which instantly takes me back to her infancy.

And even though she’ll be 6 in a few short weeks, I see her as this sweet little 8 month old in her crib, sleeping folded in half.

8 mths

I’ll remember how she used to sleep like this every.single night… and suddenly all these pictures of her sleeping like this pass through my mind like a slide show.

3 and a half

Pack-n-play, hospital hooked up to IVs, crib, toddler bed, bottom bunk, top bunk… she’s done it ever where. It’s her classic sleeping position. And it makes me smile every.single.time. Sweet dreams my little girl!

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Monday, Monday

January 10, 2012

in Motherhood,real life

Today had all the ingredients to be a very classic Monday… one of those days… we got home at 1:30 AM after a 5 hr drive after losing in the first round of the playoffs after 1 play in overtime…seriously, who would want to wake up and start the week after a night like that?

But, it was actually a WONDERFUL Monday… a truly great start to my first real week back in reality since Christmas break. (last week we started back to home school but we didn’t meet at the tutorial… so we had no forced early wake ups… and we only had gymnastics one evening last week) This week we’re back to the tutorial, back to gymnastics, cub scouts, business trips, dr appointments, MOPS meeting… and I was already dreading the realness of it last week.

But it was actually a WONDERFUL MONDAY.

Thanks to….

1. Scott- not only did Scott offer and willingly stay late at my parents last night so we could watch the game with them… he drove the whole way home AND THEN arranged things at work so he could take the oldest 2 to the tutorial for me this morning! (Isn’t he the best EVER?) Not only did I get to sleep in a little b/c I didn’t have to shower and get ready to be out the door, but I only had to get 2 kids out of bed and out the door instead of waking 4 kids up and hauling 4 grouchy kids to school this morning. AND the 2 that were hauled out of bed weren’t all that grouchy b/c they got to ride with Daddy and that’s the best way ever to start the day!

2. My momma- she helped me wash all our clothes before we left her house last night which meant that I came home from the weekend with a suitcase of CLEAN clothes… Scott dumped it on the bed for me this morning and combined with the basket of clothes I washed Friday before we left… all I had to do was fold and put away the clothes and we were set. I was so set in fact that I went ahead and washed and put away the clothes we wore yesterday.

3. COFFEE

4. My tutorial- I had 6 hrs at home with just my 2 youngest and was able to take care of laundry, clean the bathrooms, clean the trashcans, unpack, AND put together a 100 piece puzzle with my 4 year old. (FYI 100 piece puzzles mark the extent of puzzle putting together skills… I can not fathom attempt a puzzle with more pieces than that)

5. SNOW- we were surprised with big white puffy flakes of snow this afternoon which STUCK and accumulated a whole whopping 1/2 inch of snow in our grass. This of course delighted my big 3 to no end and in between reminding them at least 100 times to shut the door and take their shoes off before coming in, I was able to hunt down gloves and boots ands put gloves on at least 25 times per kid AND make bread rolls, hot chocolate, and cookies. It made for a super fun, argument free afternoon for all.

6. NAPS- Love, LOVE the fact that my lil man still naps twice a day. Thank you sweet boy.

7. MOPS- I hadn’t been to MOPS in over a year but went back tonight to speak on a panel. Great evening out and wonderful to reconnect with friends I hadn’t seen in awhile.

Not sure what the rest of the week will bring, but today I am thankful for a surprisingly great day.

{ 8 comments }

A Girl Can Dream

January 4, 2012

in Darndest Things,gymnastics

When talking to my oldest daughter about things to look forward to in 2012, I mentioned to her that the Summer Olympics were going to happen in 2012.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, “I’ll be 6, can I be in the Olympics?”

I told her that when she was 6 she can try out for the gymnastics team at her gym, but she has to be 16 to try out for the Olympics.

“Well,” she said, “I’ll have the 6, I just need the teen!”

I opted to leave it at that and omitted details about the selection committee, the Károlyi’s and the slew of other things that would stand in the way of her and London this summer. No need to dash a young girls dreams!

Even though she isn’t on the Olympic team… or any team for that matter, I am super proud of the skills she’s accomplished this past year. A year ago she couldn’t yet do a pullover… now she can do a pullover, cast, back hip circle and is working on her dismount. A year ago I couldn’t have told you what any of those things meant… I guess we’ve both learned a lot this past year! Here’s a clip we snapped of her at practice a few weeks ago.

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{ 8 comments }

My Little Optimist

November 21, 2011

in Darndest Things

My four year old asked for a drink the other day. I always pour the kids small amounts since we have a propensity to spill things round the circus. When I handed her the glass she said to me, “Now Mom, that is what I call HALF FULL!” I couldn’t help but chuckle, guess we know how she sees the world.