Thursday, May 31, 2012

Count Down

I am trying so hard not to be anxious about this baby...but it is so hard!
Last week my doctor asked me if we were "ready" for him to come.  I sat for a moment and thought about all the stuff that still needs to be done, but then my arms began to ache.  It was then that I realized I am just aching to hold my little guy! 
I remember before Lilly was born how terrified I was to become a Mommy.  I even had a crazy moment and told Tim I didn't want to do it after all.  He just laughed at me and walked out of the room.
Then when Graham came along I was apprehensive about the whole 2-kid thing.  But it was Tim that had the crazy moment.  He flipped out on me at dinner about a week before Graham was born.  But after he got it out of his system he was fine.
And now it is time for my Ezra to arrive.  I don't know if it is because I'm turning 30 in 3 weeks and I'm a bit more mature than I was 6 years ago when I had Lilly, or if I just know somewhere down deep that this is my last one and I'm cherishing everything a little more, but either way I am more excited right now than I was at this point with the other two. 
I know life is about to flip upside down.
I know I will have sleepless nights again.
I know all of these things...and yet he cannot get here fast enough!
So come on little man!  Your entire family is excited to meet you!!!!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Dora wears house shoes

I have a pair of unlucky house shoes.
I never thought I would have anything "unlucky" but I do. 
I have decided they are only unlucky if I let them stay on my feet to leave my house...and this is how it all went down...

Last week was my week to drive.  We carpool with a good friend and we switch off each week.  When it is my week to drive I drag my big 'ole belly out out of bed and somehow manage to get both kids fed and dressed and in the car.  I usually forget someone...and that is myself.  My wardrobe in the carpool line consists of pj pants, xxl falcons t-shirt, a light jacket and my beloved house shoes.  My hair is never done and my beautiful daughter likes to point out that I look like Dora in the morning...sigh...she does speak the truth.  If only I could learn Spanish...
Anyways...
Last Monday I threw us in the van and flew out the door because we were running late.  I was once again sporting my super hot carpool get-up equipped with my oh-so-old house shoes.  About halfway there my gas light came on.  This is usually not a problem because there is always a gas station to be found...not on this trek of Henry county!  I made it to school and dropped the kids off and started heading towards home.  I knew the only gas station was still another 13 or so miles away so I started looking through my purse to make sure I had my phone.  Of course it was missing!  At this point I started sweating just a little, so I took off my light jacket.  Immediately the worst-case scenarios start running through my head:

"If I run out of gas I will have to walk!  Wait...I'm in my pajamas!  And I only have on house shoes!"
I glance at myself in the mirror:
"Oh geesh...I LOOK LIKE DORA!!!  And I haven't brushed my teeth!  How am I going to talk to someone and say I'm out of gas!"
Then I hear Graham talking:
"Oh crap!!!!  I will be carrying a 2 year old down the road trying to get help!"
Then I feel the baby kick:
"I am going to look like a crazy lady!!!!!  They are going to call Defax on me!!!"
(And that is exactly how the conversation went in my head)

During this intense moment in my head I realized I was also praying.  I was praying that I would make it to the gas station.  It was reminisce of when I used to ride roller coasters and would pray that if God would let me live through this roller coaster I would never do it again.  I was begging God to let me make it to the gas station and I would never let my tank get that low again.
Thankfully I made it.  I pulled up to the gas station and got out...in my house shoes...and pumped the gas.  I quickly climbed into the van while it pumped, because I looked like a deranged Dora, and watched as my van had more gas pumped into it than it has ever had in its lifetime!  I only have a 17.5 gallon tank (according to the manual) but I put 18.4 gallons in it...oh geesh that was close.
Once it finished pumping I went to open the door...but it wouldn't open. 
I hit the unlock button only to set off the alarm!
I scrambled to turn it off..but it would not work!  For a good 3.7 minutes my horn beeped and beeped and beeped.  And yes, every single pump was taken so all the lovely Kroger patrons could watch the psycho Dora-look-alike figure out how to turn the alarm off.
Finally it turned off and I climbed into the van to head home.
Needless to say...I was exhausted once I got home.

So I decided to do it all over again the next day!!!!

Again, I was wearing my oh-so-chic costume and headed off to school.  Tuesdays through Thursdays I have 4 children in my car.  There have definitely been some interesting moments with all 4 kiddos in the car, but on this day I was just trying to get us all there quickly so I could return home to my beloved shower that was waiting on me.  In the carpool line I was doing what I always do...multitasking:
-Tell the kids to unbuckle
-Grab book bags, lunchboxes, folders, show-and-tell-items
-Make sure everyone is still dressed properly
-Hand Graham his milk
-Turn down the Imagination Movers CD
-Tell kids to stop arguing
-Oh yea, and drive (this was the part I messed up on)

As I was awaiting my turn in the carpool line, and managing the lives of 4 little ones, my foot slipped off the brakes. 
I was turned around when all of a sudden I hit the suv in front of me!!  Thankfully it was just a light "love" tap.  But it was hard enough to throw 2 unsuspecting kids into the floor.  I did a quick assessment of the kids and realized all was well (since they were cracking up and all) and then hopped out of the car...ONCE AGAIN IN MY PJ'S!!!
The lady glanced at her bumper and said, "don't worry about it honey...I saw you handling all those kids...I would probably do the same thing." 
I noticed that she really didn't make much eye contact with me...it's probably because I look like Dora.

I managed to drop all 3 kids off at school with every limb in-tact and head for home. 

Since then I have learned my lesson:
I now wear real shoes to school! 
If there are other lessons to learn...well...I haven't figured them out yet.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

I Guess They All Love 'em!

I love having a little boy!  It is so much fun...and so funny!
This face really says it all.

The morning this picture was taken we were very surprised by something Graham said.  He is talking in complete sentences and sometimes we are completely taken back by what are almost 2 1/2 year old knows.

On this particular Saturday morning we were all eating our usual breakfast together...pancakes and eggs.  This is a treat that we all look forward to every Saturday.
Lilly and Graham almost always sit by each other at the table on the bench seat and this morning was no exception. 
As Lilly was eating she got cold and pulled her knees up and then proceeded to pull her nightgown over her knees.  I smiled because that is how I used to eat my breakfast every single day as a kid. 
Graham ate a few bites and watched her.
Then he ate a few more and looked away.
I could tell he was thinking.
Finally he looked back at her and in the most puzzling/curious way he made his move:
He cupped his hand
Reached over
And grabbed her nightgown covered knee.
At the same time he asked (very innocently) "Ninee have boobies now?"
Lilly absolutely lost it.
If pancakes could have come out her nose I believe they would have.
She was laughing hysterically...and of course we were too.
Probably not the correct parenting move...but I don't care who you are...that is funny!
This only encouraged the trapped teenage inside Graham and he continued grabbing his sister's knee and chanting "Ninee have boobies!  Ninee have boobies" in the little kid taunting style voice we all used to use.
Finally the proper mommy came back to me and I showed him it was just her knees and that he did NOT need to grab other peoples body parts.
I glanced across the table hoping to get some man help but all I saw was supreme pride beaming out of my husbands eyes towards his son.
All he could say was "see...we all love 'em!"

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Baby Bird Drama

I'm sure you have heard of Baby-Mama Drama...but have you ever heard of Baby Bird Drama?
Well welcome to my new soap opera!

We recently watched a mama and daddy bird build their quaint little nest on our front porch.  It is right outside our living room window so we have had a front row seat for the whole thing.  It's been a great teaching tool for the kids because we have been able to talk about the science behind birds building a nest and how COOL God is to give a bird such smart intuitions on building. 
After the nest was built we watched the sweet little mama sit on her eggs for almost two weeks.  And then one day it happened...little bitty birds were there!  The kids were THRILLED!  The babies are about a week old now and we have seen them double in size.
Well yesterday was when the drama began to unfold...

So let's give them all names:
We will call mama bird Jane and we will call "the other woman" Sally.

So mama Jane has been a resident of the Holland front porch for about 3 weeks.  From a distant tree, hoochie Sally saw how nice and cozy Jane's home was and decided she wanted to build her nest on the other side of the porch.  Tim and I were not too thrilled about this one though because it was right outside our bedroom window.  Plus she had nest stealer written all over her. 
After a few days Sally gave up on her nest.  We are not sure why but she just stopped building it.  We did notice, however, that she kept hanging around the porch watching Jane's little family. 
Yesterday I was watching the baby birds when I noticed one of them was lying lifeless on the ground.  I was incredibly distraught!  My hormones kicked up a notch at this point and I tried to see if the baby was moving at all.  I was completely willing to give the baby bird CPR (call me crazy but it's the truth!)  With my teary eyes I looked up to see a very guilty looking Sally watching me.  I will not call her a murderer...but she looked pretty guilty.  Could she be trying to steal Jane's nest?  Did she realize she was not going to lay eggs and postpartum depression set in and made her crazy and she was trying to rid the world of baby birds?  Either way she was definitely a home wrecker of some sort. 

After a fun evening out we came home and saw that mama Jane was not in her nest.  This troubled me because every evening she would curl up with her babies around 8:00 and stay there with them for the entire night.  I stayed up until 11:45 and still there was no mama bird!!!  However, Sally was always lurking around the porch.  I even went outside to water my hanging baskets and she attacked me!!  Tim and I watched her all evening and at one point she flew up to the nest, peaked in, and then made herself puff up to about 3 times her size!!  She flew off after that and we didn't see her again. 

At this point I can't figure out what to do.  Tim and I both felt that mama Jane might have abandoned her nest because that home wrecker wouldn't leave them alone.  Or maybe Jane was so distraught over losing one of her babies that she left the rest of them.  Either way, in my mind I went to bed thinking that today I was going to take over the job of mama bird.  I planned out what I would feed them, where I would keep them, and watching them grow up into fine young big birds! 
Since this was the last thing on my mind I proceeded to dream about those sweet little birds all night.  My dreams were much more dramatic including an all out war on home wrecker Sally and Tim fighting a snake that was trying to eat our young.  It was very real, and not restful at all.  I woke up exhausted!

The first thing I did when I woke up was look out the window.  Still, mama Jane was nowhere to be found.  But guess who was lurking in the shadows?  SALLY! 
After about 10 minutes I saw a joyous sight...MAMA JANE HAD RETURNED!  And she had a mouthful of breakfast.  I almost screamed with joy!  I was so happy to see those babies eating.  I was also incredibly relieved that I was not going to be taking on the role of mama bird. 

So I will continue to watch my exciting bird soap opera and keep you updated.  It really is a lot more exciting than tv.  =)

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Never A Dull Moment!!

We took the kids to the Braves game over the weekend and had a blast!!!  It just happened to be Ultimate Kid's Day...and Tim's birthday!  So that worked out pretty well.
As we were sitting in our seats the vendors would walk up and down the aisle shouting whatever they were selling.  Sometimes it would be "Get your ice cold water here!" Or sometimes they would shout "Frozen Lemonade!"  But one guy really caught the attention of my little man.
He would walk up the aisle and say "Cold Beer!"  over and over again. 
I didn't think anything about it because the kids were really into the game.
But then I started hearing Graham say something over and over again that I couldn't really make out. 
He would say, "Co Beeeeeeaaa!" 
and then again, "Co Beeeeeaaa!!"
I started putting two and two together and realized what he was repeating.
Tim realized it at the same time too.
We made eye contact, turned our heads, and quietly burst out laughing (so he wouldn't see us).
Lilly has become quite fluent in her brother's language lately and quickly picked up on what he was shouting as well.
She said, "Mommy...what is cold beer anyway?"
Suddenly the game stopped. 
It felt like everyone in the stadium turned to see what I was going to say...even Chipper Jones on third base!!! (ok...a little exaggeration...but that's what it felt like)
I simply stated it was a gross adult drink...and that seemed to work.
She went back to doing the Tomahauk Chop, and Graham went back to saying "Co Beeeeaaaa!"
It really was a great afternoon.