Friday video: Blossom shower

 

 

I’m not going to say that I will do a video EVERY Friday, but maybe some Fridays?  Or, you know… today, which is Friday?

I will start small.

 

 

 

These pictures are from a little over a month ago;

who can guess what my boys are doing in this photo?

Did you guess that they are about to jump and hit our blooming tree with their swords to create a “blossom shower?”

Because that is correct!

I know that my boys are at the age where they won’t really remember these days when they are grown

(some for Joseph)

(probably none for Isaac)

(I will pause to cry with exhaustion and let that sink in)

But my dream is that they will remember the spring of 2013 as a swirl of blossoms

 

PS:  My neighbors had to (got to?) see me in my robe so that I could capture this video.

PPS:  What was more embarrassing is that it was about noon.

 

Somewhat emotional ramblings from a pre-school Mother

(you’ve been warned)

The schools in this area let out for the summer next week.

As these final “school year” days draw to a close, I can’t help but think about how, when they start back up again, we will be a part of it. 

Kindergarten!

These are my final days with all of my little birdies in my nest, while the rest of the world buzzes by.

And I know that I will miss it.

But, what, exactly, will I miss?!

(too bright!  Poor little lambs)

Will I miss the lazy, non rushed mornings?

The days when I don’t have to worry about getting any makeup on because I will not be seeing anyone?

Having all of my children safe and within hugs reach?

The parks, museums, and zoos to ourselves while everyone else is in school?

Or will it be something else that I haven’t thought of and am currently taking for granted?

I also know that, someday, I will miss having these three very little boys around all the time!

It is one of the things that strangers love to tell moms with little children;

“You are going to miss this!  Enjoy it!”

Well, miss what exactly?  Enjoy what?

 

Is it the sweaty smell of their little boy heads?

Their little hands in mine?

Their fierce, unashamed hugs?

The laughter?

The thumping of little feet?

What??!!

Or, is it everything?

 

But, please, don’t say everything, because how can I enjoy EVERYTHING?

Maybe there is a reason that all of these things seems so sweet in retrospective.

Do people not remember that sometimes those little sweet heads smell sweaty because the little head-owner just screamed for 20 minutes straight?

Or that the hugs can turn into a noose around your neck while you are just-trying-to-get-dinner-in-the-oven-for-Pete’s-sake!

The laughter can be from passing gas on a screaming/protesting siblings face? (true story)

That the thumping can wake up baby brothers?

And have they forgotten the mind-numbing-boredom and the fact that no one seems to sleep, stop producing bodily various bodily fluids, or hold still ever, ever, ever, ever?

Will I forget this too?

Will the hardness of three at home fade along with the exact feeling of Joseph’s hand in mine?  Or Isaac’s hard hugs?  Or Samuel’s two-toothed grin?

Where am I going with this?  Why do I feel so panicky, nostalgic, overwhelmed, and under qualified whenever the house quiets at night?

I don’t know how to wrap up all of these feelings.

 

So, lets reign it in for a summary:

 

 

1)  It is almost summer, and in a few short months I will embark on a 20+ year journey of children in the school system.  And it is…strange.  Let’s say strange.

 

2)  Should you tell me what you miss most about little children so that I can ponder and savor?  Or is it too varied and tied to personal experience?

 

3)  Be careful when you tell strangers that they will miss these days and that they should “enjoy their little children.”  They are (hopefully) trying to!  But little children are HARD, and sometimes less than enjoyable.

 

4)  Additionally, if one more person tells me to “just wait until they are all teenagers…”  I will hit them with my overflowing clothes hamper.  Or with some wet superhero sheets.  Or with a screaming, flailing 3 year old. 

Maybe it will be harder, but that boggles my mind.

And, in this case, ignorance is bliss.

What You Need To Know

 

(note: I use the term “need to know” quite loosely. You don’t really need to know any of this.  But I choose to tell you anyway!)

About Joseph:

- Somehow, he has turned five and a half!   

 

- He drives his little brother crazy, and enjoys it.

- He loves his baby brother fiercely. 

He is always on board to talk to him/tickle him/snuggle him, and he tells me, literally, every day how “Lucky we are to have a baby in the house” and how he thinks “Samuel is the cutest, chubbiest baby in the whole world!”

 

- If you let him, he will play computer all. day. long. (we don’t let him)

- If he didn’t have a brother who wants to talk, and a Mama who institutes “Talking breaks,” he would talk  ALL THE TIME!

And about SO many things things! 

Boba Fett, God, math problems, the human body, “Do ninjas really live in China?”, “How come they chose those words to put on money?”…no topic is off the table. 

 

-He has an incredibly sweet, tender heart.

 

-On a related note- he sleeps with about 20 stuffed animals. (His current favorites are super soft kitties of various colors and sizes.  If you want to make him smile- buy him a stuffed kitty!) 

Some of them he is not so attached to anymore, but he doesn’t want to boot them off of his bed because “it might make them feel bad!” 

This came out after I made him choose an animal to put away (he had just gotten a new one) and I made the chosen exiled pet wave to him and say, “I will miss you, Joseph!” 

Tears ensued, and he cried, “That’s what I was afraid of!!”

Mom fail on that one.

 

-He sleeps with two “soft blankies.”  Not ONE….TWO.

 

- Also don’t forget to turn on the bat signal, the hallway light, the moon-to-sun night, and crack the door, or be prepared to come back and set things right.

 

- Sheets must be smoothed.  No tangles or wrinkles.  Smooooth.    A nice “cover fluffer” before bed will delight him.  Don’t worry, he will wake you up later if he gets tangled again!

- He also needs a tuck in kiss and hug from his Mama.  If his kiss on my cheek doesn’t land right, he will redo it several times.

 

- He loves morning snuggles.

 

- EARLY morning snuggles.

- Starts almost EVERY sentence with “Mama?…”

 

- The only main dish meal items he likes are:  Hamburgers (no lettuce/tomato/onion and EXTRA pickles), macaroni (sometimes), pbj, Double Noodle Soup, Chicken nuggets (if you have lots of ketchup), plain noodles, homemade bean/cheese burritos (easy on the beans),  pbj, pancakes/waffles, and white rice. 

Fruits: All of them!  Although watermelon can be a bit messy, so that is sometimes rejected, and oranges can “seem strange” to him (direct quote)  (I don’t know what it means either) if they are not peeled correctly.

Vegetables:  Cucumbers in circles with lots of ranch.  Corn on the cob, cut off (until he gets some in his teeth- then it is SO OVER).  Carrots in ketchup.

Sure glad that I started him out with vegetable baby food so that he would have healthy eating habits, love veggies and not develop a sweet tooth! (I read an article, see…)

(Samuel is getting bananas first.)

- Prefers showers to baths.

 

- Cries/whines about showers….cries/whines about having to get OUT of showers. 

 

- Always up for earning money.

 

- Crusts on.  Triangle-cut preferred.  Chunky peanut butter if there’s an option.

 

- Skin on apples.  Sliced.  Or whole until, you guessed it, skin gets stuck in his teeth.

 

- Bananas sliced and served with a toothpick for spearing.

 

-  Smells food first to see if he likes it.

- Calls slivers “slithers”.  Please don’t correct him of this adorableness!

And HEAVEN HELP YOU if he ever gets a “slither” because you will have to either try to remove it on the spot (He would prefer this be done without ACTUALLY TOUCHING the slither)   (yes this is impossible), or have everyone wonder why you dragging a screaming, limping, potentially physically disabled child to the car.

- Prays to himself.

 

- LOVES Legos- but not if Isaac is playing. (I don’t blame him)

 

- Reads at least 10 books a day.

 

- Tells me that he loves me 20 times a day.

 

- Plays chess with himself.

 

- Told me the other day, “When I am a parent I am going to be waaaaay nicer than you are.”

 

- Told me today, “You are kind of chubby, Mama.  And its cute, like Samuel is chubby.”

 

- I LOVE him so much it hurts.

 

 

On how not doing dishes saved my life. (Or my childrens’ lives) (Or just my sanity)

 

Mornings are my least favorite time of the day.

(Except for 4:30 pm, of course, which is EVERY mother’s REALLY least favorite time of the day.  Are you with me mothers?)

It’s interesting, because I would consider myself a morning person! 

Until I had these here children!

This is how my morning goes:

I open my eyes to a child crying about whhhhyyyy can’t they uuuuuuse the compuuuuuuter?? (Our new rule is only on weekends.  More on that later.)  Can they watch a moooovie?  When is breaaaaakfast??  And then “snuggle time” which lately involves me trying to protect Samuel (did I not mention that Samuel was in my bed?  Oh I will mention it later, trust me), and them arguing over who gets to be “next to me” meaning “breathing stinky morning breath in my face and poking me with razor sharp elbows.”

Next up, diaper changes, and breakfast which involves “I don’t like oatmeal, how much do I have to eat?, can I have juice?, why???, I need more cereal, I need a fresh bowl for my cereal, I need more, I need more, I need more….”

And then I am moping up the milk on the table, and picking up the rice checks and oats on the floor, and trying to unload the dishwasher with last nights clean dishes, and loading the breakfast ones.

Then its clothes on x3 and then my clothes, and start the laundry, wipe up some bodily fluid incident in the bathroom and then-

Someone is hungry again.

Hold me.

I have tried waking up earlier so that I can get some stuff done before they wake up- oh how I’ve tried!  But HOW IN THE WORLD can I wake up earlier than children who wake up at such a horrible hour?

In fact, listen to this:

I have set my alarm for 5:45am every night since Samuel was probably 2 months old.  Thinking that, if I wake up before Samuel joins me in bed for nursy/snuggle/don’t move or I’ll wake up time, or before Joseph comes in with some excuse as to why he is out of bed before the allowed time, then I will get up, start the coffee, and start my day.

Guess how many times that has happened?? ZERO!!!  Haha!  Not even once!

I kind of giggle about it when I turn off my alarm at 3:00, 4:23, 3:13 or what have you, to climb out of bed and get a crying Samuel. 

Although, my giggle sounds a bit like a sob.  Who can really tell at that hour? 

(Is the middle-of-the-night-but-only-when-I’m-awake-against-my-will allowed to be a least favortie time of day?  Because it totally is mine, now that I think about it.)

 

Anyways, all this to say: I have found something to make that early morning rush a little more bearable! 

It’s so easy!  It’s so simple!

(look away Mom.)

 

I DON’T DO MY BREAKFAST DISHES!!

I don’t even unload the dishwasher!

I pile those dishes on into the sink and WALK AWAY,

To face them at a more reasonable time.

Like during one of Samuel’s 20 minute naps.

 

 

Maybe you are all already doing this? 

Maybe your moms weren’t overachievers in the cleaning department (hi mom! I knew you would keep reading!), and you thought of not doing your breakfast dishes in college?

You guuuuys, is saving me like 15 minutes a morning!

How did I not know this was an option??!

 

 

Waaaaait a minute.

Do I have to do lunch dishes?

Or dinner ones?

Is this one of those things that I get to choose now that I’m an adult??

(Like eating as much candy as I want?)

 

How long until my not doing dishes become a problem?

(Like how all the candy made me chubby?)

 

Are exclusively-used- paper dishes a socially acceptable alternative?

 

Does all of this not-doing-it things extend to laundry?  Food prep?  Small-child-booty wiping?

 

Please advise.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday video

 

Fresh off the presses- a thrilling video of our breakfast this morning!!

There is burping!

And a baby choking mildly! (actually, he is just gagging because he has a chunk of cracker stuck to his tongue.  He hates solids)

Me getting after Isaac while Isaac laughs!

And random conversation!

Hope you have a great weekend!

It is beautiful here and we are headed to my moms for slip n’ slide  and sprinkler time!

Anyone else think it feels a touch like summer?

Spring!!

 

(Our tree in our front yard.  What a gift!)

 

Spring in Western Oregon is rather idyllic. 

Assuming you don’t mind days upon days of drizzle-mist-downpour-gloom (I don’t), you will be rewarded with weeks-nay! months!- of mild weather and blossoms everywhere.

And I actually feel that the rainy days makes the sunny days better?

Cleaner, and clearer, and “We can’t waste this weather- get outside!”…-er.

I was sitting on a bench at a park today. 

Samuel was sleeping in the stroller (the only 15 minute nap he took this afternoon, but whatev.), and the boys were playing in the nearby wooded area.

Joseph kept wanting to go deeper, out of my sight, caught up in exploring and OFF OF THE COMPUTER!

Isaac was up a tree (we are postponing family photo retakes due to his recent tree-climbing escapades, and their effect on his cheeks/nose/forehead). 

The forest smelled all warm and sweet, and the sun was shining on me and I was filled with the feeling that, in that moment, I was exactly where I wanted to be.

 

 

Except for, you know, my bed.

I

Love

Spring!

 

 

 

 

 

ps,  Isaac at the Cherry Blossom festival in Washington DC in 2011

This tree was right outside the White House.

Family Pictures

 

Do you know what I love about getting professional photos?

I feel like I have officially preserved a moment in time.

This moment, right now, with three very little boys.

Check!  Here it is.

You know what else I love about professional photos?

Some day I will look back at them and remember what the boys were like at this age,

how they felt in my arms, and their sweet little smiles,

and I will NOT remember that:

1) I was a sweaty mess.

2) I yelled at Brian and was super mean before we left home because AHH! We were going to be late!! (except that we ended up being early)  (sorry again, schnookums!)

3) I brought the white shirts for ONLY the family pictures, and colored shirts for everything else, but because I was so distracted and trying to make sure things went smoothly (see #1), I FORGOT TO CHANGE THEIR CLOTHES until the photographer said, “We’re done!” and I had to ask for one more pose.

4)  One of our children was getting rough with another (smaller) one of our children (whatever.  It was Isaac being rough with Samuel, okay?) and I had to do some whisper-yelling and arm squeezing. 

5)  I panicked when picking out the picture packages and ended up buying the WHOLE PHOTO SESSION.  Whoops.

6)  The whole photo session costing 7 times more than the groupon that I originally bought for this session.  Double whoops.

7)  That I still didn’t quite get the individual shots I wanted of the boys, so I made Brian call and ask for a retake session.  For free.  With free rights to the images.   (it worked!  Retakes next week!)

 

Except, now maybe I will remember?

Because I blogged about it?

All I know is, just like motherhood, most of the crazy and the hard fades away, and you are left with the beauty of the job that you wouldn’t trade for anything.

And all I will see when I look at these photos, is how I am blessed beyond measure!