And THAT would be my birthday present

Yes, yes....extravagant....but my husband thinks I am worth it!

PTG VS ATG

Giving birth the The Girl completely flipped my world. I have become a totally different mother and wife. There is something about adding that second child that just changes everything. It reminds me of the speech Uma Thurman gives in Kill Bill (with a bit of creative license)....

"Before that strip turned blue, (creative license ensues) I was a mom to one. I was your mom. I would have a fall birthday party planned and in place my spring. Before that strip turned blue, I would have feed you all homemade and organic foods and had a place for everything and everything in its place. For you. But once that strip turned blue, I could no longer do any of those things. Not anymore. Because I was gonna be a mother to two." (end of creative license)

But I do want to be that Super Mom I set out to be--I really do. I want to have a house that is clean, organized and efficient. I try to get inspiration from the things around me. For example, I watched Jon & Kate Plus 8 last night scouring for organization ideas from her. But the show--as interesting as it is--really never addresses specifically how she handles 8 children all day long. However, she did make one comment that reverberated in me. Kate said, "I am never behind because I refuse to fall behind." I am always behind anymore. I cannot believe I ever had it together enough to plan an entire party months ahead of time. Now, I forget to send out invitations, much less plan the menu. When we went on vacations, not only would I have all activities mapped out, I would pre pack up to a week ahead of time. ATG (after the Girl) I pack the morning of. And kids activities--forget about it. With The Boy, I had activties lined up almost every day--including reading time, music time, art time, and imaginary play time. With The Girl, if Elmo doesn't do it with her, it isn't getting done.

Maybe I am too hard on myself or maybe I am just lazy. But I'm trying real hard Ringo....I'm trying real hard to be the Super Mom. (ok, ok My apologies to Quinten Tarantino) I still manage to send out home made Christmas cards every year. I just redid The Girl's room in fairy theme--hand making the decorations and painting the pictures on the walls. I joined PTO. I let my child sleep in a cardboard box because he uses it for his clubhouse and wants to camp out on weekends. I make dinner at least 3-4 nights a week (maybe more). I drive a mini van and I even manage to clean the bathtub time and again.

I suppose in the grand scheme of things, all of us do our very best. No one is perfect. No one is broken either. We just do our best, muddle along and pray that one day our children will not drag us onto Oprah and talk about what bad parents we were. Although a free trip to Chicago would not be that bad...

Another Science Lesson

The Girl developed an attraction to a plastic giraffe today. She played with it all morning and even took it to nap with her. When she got up, she wanted to bring it with her. So, during diaper changing time, I made small talk about said giraffe. It went a little something like this:

Me: So, what is your giraffe's name?
The Girl: roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Me: No, what is his name? Not his noise....
The Girl: What? His name?
Me: How about Bob?
The Girl: No, not Bob! (laugh)
Me: OK Larry?
The Girl: Not Larrrreeeee (laugh)
Me: Sue?
The Girl: No.....(laugh)
Me: Is it a boy or a girl giraffe?
The Girl: What?
Me: Is your giraffe a boy or a girl?
The Girl: I dun know. It a giraffe!

Goodnight to me---forever?

Me: You are my little baby boy. (hugging The Boy goodnight) Even if you are big. Look at you--you are like a giant. How did you get so big?

The Boy: I will always be your little baby boy. Now matter how big I get, I will always be your little baby boy and also your big boy. (putting his hands on my shoulders and giving me a serious look) And if you die, I will always remember you.

What a goof....

Things I love

A tribute to love on Valentine's Day

my husband

my kids--snot and all

cheese

movies--even sucky ones

I think I love my netti pot--but I am still not sure

crafts

finding a really good sale

pay day

vacations

car rides--long ones that require napping

eating out

napping on the beach

waking up on the beach

Disney World--it really is the happiest place on earth--really!

chocolate chip ice cream

the smell of industrial glue

my body pillow

long showers

salsa

cilantro

blue

green

John Taylor

collecting sea shells

planning my kids birthday parties

Yoda

baby feet

kittens

Pottery Barn

shorts

yoga

when a new magazine comes in the mail

picnics

painting the wall a new color

Coca-Cola

Dr. Pepper

Cherry Dr. Pepper from Sonic

our wedding picture

shade

rocks

sleepy medicine

store credit

catching fireflys

getting my point across

As I write this, Wow Wow Wubzy is singing, "Love, love, love.....love is all around..."

Happy Love Day :)

A Science Lesson

The scene: We are watching some show and beavers are on...PBS versions of beavers that is.

The boy: It's a dam!
Me: That's right. Who made that dam?
The boy: Beavers make them.
Me: Why would they do that?
The boy: They make them to stop the water from getting from this side to that side.
Me: But how do they build them?
The boy: They use their teeth and they eat through a branch and then they pile those up and it blocks the water.
Me: oh, ok

The end.

Boogie Woogie Blues

I have been sick since last Friday and not really in the mood to write, soooooooooo I want to share what I made a couple of weeks ago.

Look! A pretty picture for the girl's fairy themed big girl room.

I am slowly transferring everything over to

faith,

trust

and pixie dust

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