Exorbitant

Checking the price of her dreams... 

Someday

Someday is going to be a glorious day when it arrives!

Someday we will dance with animated blobs of toothpaste as we brush our teeth.
Someday we will magically transform into cheetahs.
Someday we will visit Seaworld.
Someday we will own a pink car.
Someday we will be workers and wear pretty orange shirts.
Someday we will ride rockets to space.
Someday we will drive at night.
Someday we will stay up all night and play.
Someday we will buy a princess backpack and go to school.
Someday we will ice skate.
Someday we will slide with penguins.
Someday we will visit a carnival and a circus and eat cotton candy, ice cream and cake.
Someday we will ride in Kangaroo pouches.


Someday a filter will be in place and I won't get to hear all of these crazy wonderful ideas that roam through her head.

Technological Genius

One for internet, the other for music... Now I just need to get the ancient desktop up on the counter and I can do a little Photoshopping as well!  (this is ridiculous!)

The Birds Series: The Castle

Those that know me know that I have an irrational fear and hatred of birds. (Actually, I think it's perfectly justified!)  "But Why?" you might ask. There are a number of traumatic experiences to point to and, in an attempt to bring some levity to your day, I'm going to chronicle as many of those moments as I can remember.  So...keep a look out for The Birds Series.
 

On our way back to the States from Kenya we stopped in Germany to visit some friends who were living there at the time. The days were filled with beautiful scenery, castles and history, cobblestones and fun. We explored, we laughed, we ate.

One day we took a tour of a castle. I don’t know which one although I do know that it was partially destroyed in a fire because at night they had this light show that reenacted the fire. The other attraction at the castle was the bird show…

Heidelberg Castle.
Don't know if this is where I was but it also was partially destroyed by fire.
(picture from Wikipedia)

Ok, I get it. Hunting with hawks was a big sport back in the castle days. It’s neat to see how people lived back then. I just would have been more interested in a show about the clothing or anything else; how about a joust?!

It was a standard show. Bring out the various hawks and have them fly so low over the crowd that everyone ducks and screams as they go by. Of course, my screams were probably the only ones of terror as they flew over with their talons mere inches from my head.

Harbinger of terror

Picture Source: Stars and Stripes

The final act was demonstrating how hawks grab their prey right out of the sky. Yes, this is impressive. It gives flesh to the term “eagle eye”. I get it. What I didn’t get was why they thought it was necessary to demonstrate this skill with actual dead baby chicks.

I KID YOU NOT!!!  Dead baby chicks thrown into the air as a hawk swoops by and grabs the yellow, downy, floppy thing out of the sky.

And then...one of the hawks didn’t quite have his technique down.

He grabbed half…

And a dead baby chick head comes falling out of the sky to land in the aisle next to me.

Other postings in this series:
Birds, not just your feathered friends
The Birds Series: The Chase
The Birds Series: The Feeding

12 Months

Dear Sweetpea,

One year ago you took Daddy’s sigh of relief over a hard week finally ending as gospel truth and rocketed yourself into this world the next morning. We all laid there stunned for a few minutes before it really sank in that you were here. And then the world brightened a few more notches.

It’s been a busy year and my lack of memory is testament to that. I’ve worked hard to try and capture your moments on paper and “film” (What do we call it now? Pixels? That doesn’t sound nearly as nice.) because I just knew I wasn’t going to remember on my own. What I do remember can be summed up in a word.

Happy.

It’s been such a happy year with you. You are simply joyful almost all the time. You smiled early and smile often. You laugh and giggle without prompting. You clap and dance and wiggle. You talk about everything, a running commentary of coos and exclamations.

In those early months when you were learning to sleep you just wanted to be close. No long hours of inconsolable crying, we would lock eyes and gaze at each other quietly. You were content in your swaddle and my arms, happy just to be. I was a little more bleary-eyed but oh so thankful.

Now, you’re sleeping through the night (hallelujah!) and you wake me up with a thump against the crib slats and then a riot of happy exclamations as you realize your day has begun and your sister is just a few feet away to talk to. It’s not hard to get out of bed with a smile when laughing and chatting are your alarm clock.

My baby is growing up so quickly and before I know it you’ll be walking and talking and running after The Princess rather than clutching my arm. I’m sad about that. I love your weight on my hip and your head on my shoulder as you wrap your little arm securely around mine. But, I’m also excited to see who you are becoming. It’s a delightful surprise every day and I’m so glad I get a front row seat.

I love you.

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mommy

Organized

I now have one tiny corner of my house well organized. When I am drowning in baby and kid clutter and that stack of papers threatening to tip over and submerge the entire floor I just look over to my baby-gated entryway and feel the calm settle over me again.

Behold, the shoe cabinet!

Miscommunication

The Princess has been very fascinated with school lately. Reminding me often that when she's 6 she'll go to school too! Yesterday we had this conversation.

Me: "Guess what! In a couple of weeks you and I are going to start doing something really exciting!"
Princess: "What?"
Me: "We are going to French school!"
Princess: "Are you going to come with me?"
Me: "Yes. We're going to go together. It'll be something special we do together on Saturday mornings."
Princess: "You're going to come into the school with me?"
Me (in a very reassuring voice. It's scary to think of going to somewhere new and strange all by yourself.): "Oh yes. I'll come with you. You won't have to go by yourself."
Princess: "But you're not supposed to come. You need to go somewhere else!"
Me (WHAT????): "You don't want me to come with you?"
Princess: "No. Mommies and Daddies are supposed to drop their children off at school and then go somewhere else."
Me: "Oh."  (pause while thinking hard) "well, this first class is for children and their parents but after that I'll leave you alone. Okay?"
Princess (somewhat mollified): "Okay.  Can I get a princess backpack?"

Um, where did this independence come from???!!!

Ready to gallop off on her own!

Sailing through the IKEA Aisles

I met a friend and her two girls at Ikea the other day. We chose IKEA because I'd seen an advertisement that "kids eat free" and who doesn't like a free breakfast?! Not until I got home did I realize that we had actually paid for our breakfasts...maybe I dreamt up the whole "free" part of it...

So, here we are tooling around IKEA with four girls all under the age of four. A mad circus of babies throwing peas on the ground, opening every single drawer and cabinet we pass (imagine, if you will. The whole store is about storage in small places!) and the two moms calling out ineffective instructions. "Girls! move over to the side. No, to the side by the rugs. Okay, the other side. No just stand there and don't move. Yeah, right in the middle of the aisle, that's perfect!" While they stood there holding hands looking at us like we were speaking Swedish or something. Good thing they're cute! (yeah right. Like that would have helped when I was childless and wandering IKEA without a care in the world and some kids were running free around me.)

I was really only going to look at a couple of storage options. I mean, I'm trying to keep track of two kids, I don't have enough arms to hold onto bookshelves and light fixtures and that cute throw pillow and those cheap glasses and those napkins and that spice rack that would totally revolutionize my kitchen!  But there were two adults...and we're both female so we're good at multi-tasking...  And before you know it we had one of the carts loaded with boxes and little girls...

So, there we were. Two women each pushing a small baby in a stroller/cart with one hand while trying to navigate the box loaded cart together with the other. Down the aisles of IKEA. A massive barge of boxes and kids sailing down the aisles, practically rudderless and certain to knock over something or someone. Shouts of "keep your feet up!" warning anyone in our path to make way...

We got ice cream as a treat when we finally made it out of the building.

We are women! We can do anything crazy! Even IKEA - 5 large boxes, 4 kids, 2 "strollers" and 1 successful shopping trip!  Next up, trying to put the furniture together...

Giant barge coming through!
(notice the wary onlookers behind us.)

Princess Slumbers

I pulled out clothes the next size up for Sweetpea the other day and The Princess was OVER THE MOON to find a bunch of shoes. They weren't her size but she improvised. No way was she going to let those shoes go to waste on Sweetpea's feet!

Beds for everyone!

Car Throne

Sweetpea has grown like crazy and she's just about grown out of her carseat. Time for a new one!  I was going to get the same one we got The Princess. I did a bunch of research and have been really happy with what we got. It's skinnier than the more popular one so there's the potential of actually fitting three people in the back seat. It's gray which blends in with the car upholstery. It folds up which is nice when you have to haul it with you on the train or plane.

That was my plan until I found a carseat on sale at Target. 60% off of the brand that's the #1 seller for those of us without an unlimited income. I couldn't pass it up. So I came home with one giant box of a good deal.

And then I pulled it out of the box and discovered that I had bought a throne for Sweetpea. A large, loud, bright pink throne. She's going to be riding in some kind of style.

Sweetpea discovers that, in fact, she's royalty
and now has the throne to prove it!

Exhilaration

We spent a week at my parents in Eastern Washington. (That's where the sun lives) It was the perfect week of summer. Warm; not hot, relaxed, fun and easy. I've stocked up on summer, that's all I need, it was that great.

The perfect water park!

The Woods of Whining

It's mostly good around here. Lots of love and giggles, kisses and hugs and general wonderment over spectacular little details.

But. There are the challenges too.

I surprised myself with the enjoyment of parenthood. I was doing a pretty good job at it. Then The Princess turned three...now she's almost four. I have entered the phase of parenting where "keeping them alive" isn't good enough.

Now I must think quickly, dole out suitable punishments and figure out when ignoring is appropriate and when it's just lazy.

Sometimes I feel like I'm lazy more than appropriate.

My brain just doesn't work fast enough...  Will it work faster when Sweetpea gets to this phase (I'd like to live in denial that she'll ever enter the whining, displaying her own will phase but that would be foolish, right?)