Tribute to Long Haired Guy

Don't know why this is a bit fuzzy, but this is one of my favorite pics of Long Haired Proud Daddy. Here he is with Little One, I think. *whistles quietly to self* At first I thought this was Daddy and Dancer Girl when she was a few months old. Motherkitty and I are sitting here trying to figure it out. Going by the date on the pic, it HAS to be Little One. But, man, it sure looks like Dancer Girl.

I love my husband's happy face here. He is such a good daddy. He comes in the door after work, and he is clobbered by two little girls, running at full force. Then comes time for laughing, playing and frolicking.

Anyway, I wanted to post this in honor of Father's Day, coming up....

We have been at Motherkitty's house due to loss of A/C fun, where we were forced to do our penance in the pool :). Ha Ha

Today we are going home to check on Long Hair Daddy, the kittens (about 5 weeks old), and the house situation. Also, Dancer Girl will be going to her first Vacation Bible School this week with some of her friends. Lots of fun! I am sure we will be spending the hottest part of each day at friend's houses or the library or some other cooler place. Good ol' Mom and Dad are sending me home with a box fan and a small A/C window unit, for good measure. Next weekend we will be spending some long overdue time with Long Haired Daddy's mom and dad, aka Grammy and Papaw.

All Puffed Up

They say pride comes before a fall, but I don't think it means this kind of pride.

Dancer Girl went on her first sleepover with all her little girlfriends (picture 6-8 four and five yr olds). Sure she's slept all by herself at Grandma's house without mommy and daddy. She had soooo much fun. But last night she was telling me more, even though it was a week ago.

Mom, I had trouble going to sleep at my sleepover. Emma's mom just read one story. So, I just laid and thought a while. And then I went to sleep.

Now, here comes the proud mama part. I was asking about sleeping with her stuffed animals, and she said that she gave her very favorite pink bunny to another little girl who forgot to bring one. And then, she let another little girl borrow her very, very favorite soft green blanket because that girl had forgotten a blanket. *see puffed up mama, that's me* I was so proud and astonished. All on her own, my sweetie gave away her favorite stuffed animal and blanket for a night because she knew she had plenty. And then she said....

I knew that was why I brought extra!

All this and she's just 4. That's my girl!

(click the hen if you want to read a little about the Partridge Family)

Hotsy Totsy

Apparently our air conditioner unit is out. The thermostat reads 81 degress. I left messages with 3 different heat/air places this evening, and hopefully someone will call back in the morning. Thank God for ceiling fans, and also that our place has plentiful shade, and lots of trees. I don't worry so much about husband and I. I just don't want the girls or the kittens to be so hot. Would have to look back at my calendar but I think they are only 4 or 5 weeks old. They were born on the Monday that marked one week from mom's surgery, so I guess that would have been April 17.


too bad we gave away all our oscillating fans....

Meaningful posts

It has been a while since I have written anything but quick updates. I have been so busy with little ones and helping mom as she heals from knee surgery that I have not shared much. Not much about me, not much about what my yarn is doing. Not much about what my kittens are doing (yes, there are cute fuzzy kittens at my house)

As usual, Little One is climbing on my lap for her morning "milkies." So any typoes from this point on are entirely unintentional ;). So for those of you who don't know, I like to nurse my babies til they say they are done. My Little One is just a little over two, and if that grosses you out, I blow you a raspberry.....ppptthhh. My Dancer Girl, who is now 4.5, nursed til she was 2.5. Actually, I thought I might be tandem nursing, as she nursed through my whole pregnancy with Little One. And then, three weeks before Little One was born, Dancer Girl just said, "All done," and that was that. She said she was sharing with baby sister, and was so sweet about it.

I have this love/hate thing with natural & attachment parenting type stuff. Now that my girls are 2 and 4, and mostly still sleep with us, I can squint my eyes and see a pinch of value in the cry it out thing. Just a pinch. I also can see gobs of value in eating healthy, whole, raw foods, no hormones, preservatives, etc. etc. in my food, but that didn't stop me from eating chocolate cheesecake for breakfast yesterday, right after I had a small bowl of Honey Smacks (with organic 2% milk, of course). Yes, I carried my babies. I wore my babies. I slung them on and tried to get things done. I love, love, love my sling, unused as it is now. But there always came a certain point in each day where I just fizzled out (usually nap time). I would find myself asleep on the couch (sitting up) with two little ones sleeping on me. After that I would rearrange big sister on the couch and try to lay little one in her bed. There are only so many times you do that and get screaming and crying and not staying asleep (no matter what you try to do to soothe them), when you just give up and sit back down on the couch and nurse the baby back to sleep.

As soon as you sit down, you are also giving up the entire afternoon of "household productivity." You know, putting a load in the washer, carrying all the dirty dishes to the kitchen, picking up the garbage, scooping the litter, putting some laundry in the dryer, picking up the scattered dress-up clthes & dirty towels in the bathroom, trying to unload the dishwashwer....Waaaaaahhhh! Maaaammmmaaa! That was a mistake. Note to self: unload dishwasher when children are awake.

Then, when they wake up, the children want a snack (= more dirty dishes).

All this....and I still love being a stay at home mom. I don't like being drained. I don't like the mess, but I love my girls. And I don't regret most of the parenting decisions my husband and I have made.

So know you know how much I ramble when I type, because I type a little like I talk. Nonstop, my husband would say. Or at least he used to say that. On a car trip recently, husband looked over at me, and stared in awe at how quiet I was. Juxtapose this to the happy NONSTOP singing and jabbering coming from the backseat( he calls Little One his little burning bush, like in the Three Amigos with Steve Martin). He couldn't figure it out, and all I could do was smile.

p.s. Don't you like how many sentences started with "and" and "but"? Kind of annoying, isn't it?

Just a moment, Dear...

I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes.



Don't you wish we could all feel this angelic while tending to all of our motherly duties? This girl makes it look so easy. Soft and pretty, too. Peaceful, even. Hey, where can I get a job as an artist's model? I can do that! I only have two children, but I bet I can get the same effect!

Somebody probably even feeds her grapes, too.

Surprise!

We did it! We surprised Motherkitty! Dancer Girl, Little One and I showed up at Motherkitty's house yesterday with roses for Mother's Day. And, boy, was she surprised! Tomas, too. She said, Let's go out to eat. So we headed for the local pizza joint, & then we went to a local store because Motherkitty (aka Grandma, around here) wanted to buy the girls something. So we went back to MK's house with leftover pizza, new puzzles and games, and chocolate snacks, thanks to Tomas (aka Grandpa). We will sleep over 'til Tuesday, then go back home. Dancer Girl has gymnastics Tuesday afternoon. The girls kept lots of secrets this week, my Mother's Day present from them and my husand(a shiny, sparkly), and our surprise trip to Grandma's. For 2 and 4 yrs old, that's pretty good.

Mom is getting around pretty good, sometimes with no walker, sometimes with. She needed no assistance at night this time, and I think she is fixing Dancer Girl breakfast in the kitchen right now. The girls woke up this morning and the first thing they wanted to do was climb in bed with snuggly Grandma. That was a sweet picture(though no pix were taken).

Have a good Monday.

Just in Case

I wanted to write this now, just in case everything gets crazy and I forget. All week, all month I have been thinking about Mother's Day (actually all year off and on). I love all the women in my life who are moms. I especially love my mom and don't know what I would do without her.

In this season of my life, the roller coaster time of life with little ones, I never know what I will be able to accomplish in a day, and I don't mean just dishes and laundry. Every moment is exhilarating and draining. You are filled with wonder and fear and frustration at all the cute, wonderful, and surprising things your children can do(not all of them good), at any moment of the day, in front of anyone. The proud moments{one day your child just announces that she is ready to sleep in her own bed, just like that), the embarassing ones (your child falls out of a shopping cart in a crowded store).

All of you who are mothers are wonderful. God picked you for your children. And He picked your children just for you. He equipped you especially to handle all of your child's joys and frustrations. He filled you with the love you would need. He gave you the motivation to sacrifice when needed, and say, "Enough!" when needed. I hope someone fulfills some of your secret desires this year. You know, all those silly ones. Flowers for your garden, the moisturizer you would never buy for yourself, a new broom for the kitchen, new towels or sheets, thirty minutes alone in a bookstore. I don't know, those are your things to dream about.

Here are the children, all piled up on my lap, asking to type here, asking to send Daddy a card. Following me wherever I go, laughing and playing, learning to share...
so, here is a message from Dancer Girl and Little One

ohkgukfj,j;'kgguk;l;41k,m,m jhhnmhjugy7t54556tttgb@
fhm.// zdfffffffffffffffddddddddddddddddddddddfffgbbbbnm,dfv fv cvcdddddeeee

btw, you don't have to buy me any flowers, the pretty picture the girls picked just happens to be associated with things for sale

Yarn addiction

Well, I have done it again. I have purged my yarn stash, and given away more yarn. All my yarn and unfinished projects (mostly afghans) now fit in one large plastic tub, and one smaller one. For those of you out there who are also yarn addicts, you know that this is a big deal. Apparently the earlier standard I set for myself was unattainable. I told myself that I couldn't buy anymore yarn until I use some of the yarn I had. By getting rid of the yarn, if I want to make something now, I would have to buy new yarn. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ah, the sacrifice is apparently a thinly veiled attempt to disguise my desire to buy new yarn for another project. All right, now I just need a pregnant friend who would just love something made out of soft yarn for her little one to drag around. Any volunteers? The white kitty Duchess is sleeping on the afghan I made for my Little One


the other one is one I made for Motherkitty

Tiger and His Dad

I actually watched the news the other day, and saw that Tiger Woods' dad, Earl Woods, had passed away. The news program showed how Tiger always gave his dad a big bear hug after competitions. What a wonderful example of a father/child relationship. I will have to admit that I never watch golf. I know who Tiger Woods is, but had no idea about his dad. The love his father had for him is obvious and inspiring. I am adding Tiger and his dad to my list of heroes, and examples of people I want my children to emulate.




Tiger says,

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model,

and I will miss him deeply."

Kittens

Five little kittens were born Monday afternoon between 5 and 7 pm at my house, on my bed. Eeek! I have not been home to see the damage but can anyone say, Steam cleaner?

Still at mom's house. Talked to brother Eli today and MK's sister, Desert Gardener(check Motherkitty's links). Tomas is still at his convention. I plan on making BLT's for dinner, and am going to put a roast in the crockpot tomorrow morning, so mom and dad will have lots to eat when I go.

Dancer Girl has ballet and gymnastics today, and a choir performance tomorrow evening, at the First Baptist Church. She surprised me last week by singing, "Oh, how I love Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me." She is learning it in her little choir, and I had no idea she even knew. How's that for something sweet to bring tears to a mother's eyes?

I was having fun with Motherkitty's digital camera today, and she might even let me post some of her and Little One, they were so cute.....


here is one, they are reading books, Elmo watching...

Visiting & Helping

I am at Motherkitty's house until Wednesday. Tomas is off to his retired federal employees convention. Little One & I are here, and Dancer Girl is home with Daddy and Uncle Brent for an adventure of her own. I haven't seen mom in 1.5 weeks, and the difference in her progress is amazing. She is 200% better. Better in moving around, better in pain. She is walking pretty quick(with her fancy red walker), and it surprised me. I am pretty proud. She is finishing her shower, and we will be going to physical therapy after lunch. Have a good day