Thursday, September 29, 2011

'Look what I found, daddy!'

Ever hear those words sputtered by one of your offspring?

"Look what I found, daddy/mommy/Grandma/etc?"

It's usually a boogie, bug, or an old, dried up raisin that resembles a boogie.

Well, let me take you on a hilarious short story that I was just told by my wonderful, loving husband (based on my awful memory).

***

While sitting in the barber's chair at my husband's hair cut, my girls were sitting very nicely watching cartoons in plastic, waiting room chairs. All was well with the world and they are usually better behaved when they are with him.

Until he heard this:

Ava: "Daddy, look at what I found, daddy!" racing around from the other side of the corner of the waiting room.
Daddy: "What did you find, Ava? Bring it over here!"

Ava races back to the waiting room side and brings back her treasure for daddy.

(Can you guess what it is?!)

Ava: "Look daddy! Look what I found!"
Daddy: "What is it? Who's is it?"
Ava: "It's Emma's. Emma did it."

Daddy thinks it's a chewed up piece of tootsie roll that she found on the ground. He holds it or gives it back, I'm not sure. I'm guessing he throws it away.

Ava: "It's Emma's!"

Once the haircut is over, he goes to Ava and smells her hands.

It was a piece of poop.

Daddy is speechless.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

'You are at war'

After having a lovely morning commute conversation with my dear Grandma, she asked how we were doing!

"Oh, we're doing great!" I said.

"That's great, honey!" my Grandma responded.

"Well, we are potty training Emma. And that's hard. And she's refusing to go and then five minutes later is peeing on the floor. And I've had it. I know she's wining and I know I need to control my anxiety and patience. But I can't. It's so hard. Why is this happening? She knows what she's doing. She knows that she can do it, but she isn't," I said over and over and over again.

"Well yes, you are at war!" she said.

"Yes, that's it. We are at war, so I guess we aren't doing so well," I finished.

'Bon-bon' time

You know. That phrase or statement. Stay-at-home moms just sit around and eat bon-bons all day. Yeah, right!

Well maybe. After cleaning, wiping noses and/or butts, changing the sheets, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms and tubs and sinks, making mental notes for Christmas presents, making sure "Calliou" is on again, taking out the chicken out of the freeze so it's ready for dinnertime, etc.

We do have 'bon-bon' time! At least I do. It's called naptime. Naptime is not only for the children, just as much as it is for the mommies/daddies. Taking care of children and households is exhausting! And right around 2-3 p.m., when the house is finally quiet after skipping back upstairs to tell the children that it IS naptime, to go to sleep and stop climbing into the other bed. That's when you quietly and carefully scour the kitchen for the hidden chocolate/ice cream/candy bars/energy drink that you have been thinking about all day.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Happy 'adjusted age' birthday, Ava!

Today is Sept. 19. This was Ava's due date. As you know, she was born early at only 32 weeks and 2.5 days. Sept. 19 will forever be ingrained into my mind as every doctor, physical therapy and NICU follow-up always brings it up.

Luckily, our girl is perfect and you'd never know how frightening the first few weeks of her life were.

And... If the girls REALLY hate sharing their birthday, Ava can always have today.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

How do you say: 'you were born very early' to a 3-year-old?

The girls and I were sitting one night on the couch looking at pictures. Pictures of birthday parties, pictures of their Nana, pictures of Emma as a baby, pictures of Lucy and Sabath, and pictures of Ava as a baby.

Ava became very upset about her baby pictures. She was sort of afraid (for a split second) about the NICU pictures we have of her. She didn't like them. She said "noo, mommy! That's not baby Ava, that another baby." I wasn't sure of what to say, in the proper wording so I wouldn't freak her out.

I told her that she was born so very little and that she had to be kept in the hospital so that she could grow and grow and grow. That she needed the bandaid on her face so she could eat through her eating tube.

Right there, "No mommy! That's not baby Ava. This is baby Ava" (pointing to a picture of baby Emma).

I'm wondering, what are the right things to say and explain about just how special she was and still is, to a 3-year-old?!

Potty girl Emma! .. take two!

I have a goal this week, starting tomorrow. A goal I've had since Emma was born.

I am going to potty train Emma this weekend and will hopefully succeed.

My plan is to do what I did with Ava. Take off the pull-ups and let the girl roam free. She has her big sister to cheer her on and for moral support (and to share the win for those tasty, colorful M&Ms).

Wish us luck! This is the hardest week (besides the first week of infancy). The days of having to bring numerous outfits everywhere we go, changing peed on clothes in parking lots and lots of frustration.

Let's go EMMA!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

We will never forget.

We will never forget what happened on 9/11. Thank you to all that protect our freedoms and those that appear to protect us after we call 911. And prayers and thoughts to those that have to relive those horrific events that happened 10 years ago.