tag teaming

It's almost 11 and Brenda has been throwing a tantrum for nearly 2 hours.

First it was a glass of water.  I got the wrong cup.  Mercy me.

Then it was clothes.  She was wearing the wrong pajamas!  Heaven forbid.

Then it was the clothes again.  I gave her the option of the pajamas she was in or just wearing her underwear.  Oh the humanity.

A couple more rounds of water confusion...

...aaaaaand now we're stuck in a solid, unstoppable tantrum.  

Doesn't she know it's my birthday week?

A few minutes ago I recognized that point in my own sanity where it was either shut down for a few minutes or be a really bad mommy.  I scuttled off to my room, locked the door, and started to blog.

Mike took over.  He calmly took the reigns.  I don't care what he does, it's his call now.  (OH!  Sounds like Garret just broke something!  ...I'm staying put.)  I'll just savor a few more minutes of peace...

So to all my dear, single-parent friends-  If there's anything I can do for you, let me know because GOOD GRIEF.  Hats off to you...

P.S. Not even 10 minutes later and the house is quiet.  Hat's off to you too, Mikey-poo.

dress this nest

First of all, I love my house.  We've put a good amount of work into making it sing and the music is lovely.

But today I'm looking for some help.

As the Spring cleaning fairies start to dance in my head the unfinished, undecorated, awkward spaces of my home start to stare me down with impatience.

Here's our great room:

Whoops, wrong picture.


Here it is:

It's an awesome, big room that while being cozy and serene can also house a vigorous lite-saber battle.

Here are some dilemmas (in red for drama):

The odd shape of the living room has had me scratching my head, thinking there's a perfect way to situate everything, if I could just think of it...

The fireplace ought to be a sitting/reading nook that looks like a corner right out of a classy, cottage magazine.  But for now it's defined by cat stuff and a couple running stollers.
 

Mike stopped me from painting the brick as he believed I'd regret it.  He's probably right.  We'll never know.  But he probably is.

The piano corner is... well, a mess.

 And this is me while Suzie plays with my phone camera.  I put the picture here as another guide to the living room but really I just dropped a little weight and hey, let's hear a little praise...

 So I'm stuck between freakish-frugality, indecision and confusion.  If only Ty Pennington, Nate Berkus, or Emily Henderson would just stop by!  I'd bake them cinnamon rolls, charm them with my itsy-bitsy-spider dance, and they'd leave me with a completed living room. 


So OK people, somebody tell me what to do.

New lamps?

Rug?

Take out the middle couch?

Floor cushions and disco balls?

Maybe stop storing strollers in here?

And would you come do it for me?  Keeping the place even somewhat clean is work enough...

SUPERmyMAN

I can't remember if it was Thursday or Friday afternoon that I was packing the kids into the car to go rescue Mike who was stranded with an unresponsive car.  ...But just as I'm buckling child number three, Mike calls-

"Hey hon.  Never mind coming out.  The car's running now."

"Great!  What was the problem?"

"I found a shloopido that was bliggertripped and with a little duct tape I managed to squiderate the kipperdeedoo."

"Wow.  I totally got that.  Good job!"

 
Later that day we crouched around the access hole to the crawl space as Mike burrowed his way to the under-the-house-water-debris-pump-...thingy.  After a while he climbed out with cold wet limbs and uh, said some words-

"Well, the gligglespit is working.  Might need to get a new wonglirump..."

"Ah yes.  Just as I was thinking..."


Did I mention he cooks too?

from the photo archives: Mike and Brenda

For all my local running friends...

Meet me on the street.

Bring your canoe.

2 less skeletons in my closet

Suzie's babyhood is a blur.

I remember the hospital...

12 years ago I sinned and judged my soon-to-be mother-in-law.  I was sifting through stacks and books and more stacks of family photos.  (As a teenager, when I babysat, my favorite thing to do after the kids went to bed and the ice-cream was gone was pour through every photo album I could find.  Is that sad?  Weird?  Bad???)  Anyway, I noticed that for about every 5 pictures of Mike there was 1 picture of a sibling.  Now before you gasp and sin like I did, know that Mike is the oldest of 6 kids.  But ignorant me thought to myself- MY kids will be equally loved and photographed because I will be dutiful and perfect like that.

Are you laughing yet?

And while I'm purging sins here I might as well add the one from when I was 14, sitting in the back seat of a lady's car on my way to babysit her kids ...and check out a photo album or two.  As I sat between two messy boys trying to ignore the stench of the oodles of old french fries stuck to the seat, I assured myself that my motherhood car would never smell and never be gucky and never be yucky and never be like this.  ...Because I would be perfect like that.

.
.
.
Please don't go near my car.


But with sincere apologies to my dear MIL I admit that if it weren't for the miracle of digital I'd have maybe 2 pictures of Suzie.  And if any of my babysitters have gone through the old photos in the closet they've seen the stacks of chubby little Garret smiles, a few Brenda smirks, aaaaaand not much else.

But I do love my kids equally.  ...Cause I'm perfect like that.

Today we went into the city and didn't die.

...which means another tally mark under my name.  (finger lick and sizzle...)

Sooooo,

Does your Garret flee out the back doors of the Lego store requiring you to weave through boxes and secret displays in the "employees-only" warehouse area at top speed?


Oh well I guess I've seen things you can only dream of...


Does your Brenda barrel into the doc's office with a confident smile and announce to the audience in the waiting room- "I'm ready for my check up!"?

No? 

(awkward silence filled with pity)


Hang in there Champ.


Does your Suzie laugh at you from the safety of her car seat while you chase the stroller across a wet, windy parking lot, saying upon your return, "Mommy, you so silly."?

Yes?  

OK, but does she then take a picture of you and call you pretty?

smirk

Yes, I might be a bit arrogant, but when your full time job is to basically keep three kids alive you tend to get a bigger head with each passing tragedy-free day. 

I just mushy-love these kids.

Like mother like Suzie.

If you were to sit and watch old family videos over at my parent's home you'd know that as a child I was blissfully unaware of my loud, shrill voice.  It was like a superpower that could bring down villains. 

Too bad there were no villains around, so it was just my parents who suffered...

I grew up and became quite sophisticated (yup) assuming I had grown out of my childish superpower.  That is, until a desperate turn at Catch Phrase where getting your girlfriends to say fluffernutter proved to be the breaking point.  "Ummm Lindsay?  You're really loud."   We laughed.  I apologized.  Our friendships bloomed and grew ...until they all quickly upped and moved away.

hmmm...

So for all the pain I've caused over the years it may bring comfort to know that Suzie is honorably getting revenge. 

Watch out villains...

All aboard!

 Yesterday Brenda came tearing into my room and exclaimed, "BRENDA!  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??!  ...Now you say it Mommy."

Uh oh.

I hesitantly ask, "Brenda?  What have you done??"

This seemed to satisfy her and she went on her way.

I guess she just wanted some attention for her accomplishment which turned out to be a grand voyage in the bathroom.

Garret wisdom

There are parts of living with Garret that I've kept somewhat private when it comes to the blog.

Perhaps he would never know or even care, but I try to protect him as that is part of my job.  (Though I've alluded to things, I hope to never use his more embarrassing quirks for entertainment.)

So in all seriousness I want to share something exciting.

When 3 months ago we started him on the GFCF diet we hoped to calm his hyper fits and improve sleeping habits.  Since then neither of those things have changed much but we're discovering other small steps of growth.  I'm not yet certain it's the diet, but it's enough to keep us going.  ...For now.

This morning (he's home from school with a cold) Garret had been doing his typical bouncing from room to room, laughing, throwing laundry, and just having fun Garret-style.  He suddenly approached and handed me a new diaper.  Sometimes he hands me random things to get me to the kitchen for a snack, but upon inspection I realized he had taken his diaper off from under his long pajama shirt.  "Good job Garret.  Thank you for letting me know!".  I was pleased with his alertness.  He was redressed and off to continue galloping through the house.   A few minutes later he returned to the living room, sat on his favorite chair and began to cry.  He wouldn't look at me and put his hands over his face.  For a moment I figured he just wasn't feeling well, but with a whiff I knew he had used that diaper for a good purpose.  I went to help him freshen up and was surprised that he no longer had the new diaper on.  When he was clean and redressed he followed me to his room where I found the mess.  As I cleaned his tears quickly turned to giggles and bounces.  He leaned on me with a smile as I praised and hugged him.

When it comes to these delicate matters he hasn't shown much awareness.  Could that be changing?  Time will tell, but it's looking pretty good.

BY GOLLY he's handsome.

You're going to be glad you read this...

The stretch marks on my belly look like spaghetti.

(See?  Paying off already...)

And no matter how many sit-ups, how many 10Ks, how many diets...  they are a permanent part of me.

You know how us mothers like to hold our 86+ hours of labor against our children as though they intentionally came into this world to torture us?

I could get so many more miles out of just "showing-off" my spaghetti and with a horrified look and a raspy voice say, "What have you done???"


So Suzie turned 3. 

I guess turning 3 is hard.

From cakes that must not be touched (?)
to insensitive mothers,

it's a real drag.

One might even fall to the temptation of the sippy cup.

Those of us who have been there can be a comfort to those less experienced.

If Garret could speak he might calm Suzie with a simple shrug and a, "Hey, aging just means that the candy on the fridge will be within reach soon..."

I say go ahead and be a diva on your birthday, Suzie.  Because just as this spaghetti-belly is permanent, you are too.  And there's nothing I can do about it. 

Well, I guess I could put you down for a non-negotiable nap and eat the rest of your cake...

Happy Birthday Little Miss Suzikins!

"When I turned two I was really anxious,
because I’d doubled my age in a year.

I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I’m five

I’ll be 64."

-unknown

this run was meant to be

When we found our current residence it was home at first sight.  Great size, perfect price, shnazzy shop for Mike...  We drove away with a simple nod to each other.  "Yup.  That's it!" 

Crazy.  It was the first and only house we looked at.
 
Since that day I've had additional moments of awe knowing we are where we are supposed to be.  From wonderfully-wonderful new friends to the local school's special needs program, we've been stupendously blessed. 

And yesterday on my run through the neighborhood, armed with just my phone camera, I snapped views that seemed to sing to me, "Hey Lins.  This is for you!".

You're welcome to come run with me.  But no, you can't move in...

first post for 2012 contains questionable material

First question: Can you look at this without smiling and/or tearing up?

nabbed from my facebook running page

Second question: Does my coolness "rating" go up now that I have Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" on my running playlist?

Third/Fourth question: Can I accept The Versatile Blogger award if I only pass it on to 1 person?  (15 just seems so non-special)  (BTW, thank you Julia and Christy!!)  And do I have to list 7 things about myself?  (If you don't know me by now.  You will never, never, never know me.  Ooooooh...)

Fourth-and-a-half question:  You got that song stuck in your head now right?  heehee

Fifth question (Depending on the outcome of the third/fourth question): Bailey, would you like this award?  I think you're adorable and am glad you married my cousin!

Sixth question:  Wanna see a hippo?

Seventh question:  If you get your husband a manly-blue snuggie and he never uses it, is said-snuggie up for grabs? 

Eighth question: Wouldn't you agree that this picture my dad took is divine?

Ninth question:  What the heck?

Brenda's latest and she won't tell me...