10.17.2010 -- Hmmmph

Time is running out. I'm not doing anything about it, but I feel it. Less than two weeks and we're at Halloween. After that, Thanksgiving and Gabe's birthday. Then Christmas. Then BT's birthday and then another birth day. Or maybe it will be the birth day then his birthday. Either way, time is running out.

This past week has seemed to take at least a month. Gabe, Lucy and I have had a croupy cold that has laid us low. No school. No gym. I've tried to get us outside at least once a day, which I will be the first to admit is pitiful. Sometimes, though, things just are what they are.

However: we've turned a corner. School tomorrow, and real life.

P.S. Have I included how Gabe says "I love you?"
Just in case, here it is: "Da doo."

09.30.2010 -- Sickening, Really

One day, Facebook as we know it will be in the rear-view mirror. These days, however, it sucks up a lot of time and energy from a lot of good people. For myself, I spend time looking at what people post there and the benefits may just cancel out the detriments. More specifically, I am much more up to date with certain loved-ones than I would be otherwise, and I am also much more current with people who may not be as important.

The point of this post is to say what I don't say every day on Facebook, where it gives a prompt for a status update: "what's on your mind." What's on my mind, Facebook? What's on my mind? Well, it's a little sickening, really: sickeningly sweet. I am so in love with my family that the love songs that run through my mind are more geared to my kids than my sweet, sweet husband. Case in point: the David Gray "My Oh My" song. For some reason, this refrain is the most common muzak in my head when I'm holding Lucy or Gabe. (Please no over-examination of the lyrics. I've checked, and they don't fit very well, only certain parts: "My oh My, you know it just don't stop.")

Status update: I am so so so so so so so in love with my family. (Told you it was bad.)

Yesterday, we went to the rec center for an afternoon of swimming--I was hoping that the outdoor section would still be open, the temperature being in the high eighties yesterday. It wasn't. Still, the kids and I had a blast.

Lucy is now a true swimmer. I must have been around her age when, after swimming in the presence of my Grandmother, she remarked that I "looked like I was drowning." Lucy is a chip off the old block in this respect: she too, looks like she's drowning, but she can actually swim! Gabe is a little water baby. He has NO FEAR, which is a little scary, but entertaining. He loves to be on his own in the water. And when I say on his own, I mean completely on his own. His preference is to jump into water that is about twice his own height and spend a few seconds swimming. He is then content to be fished out--sometimes sputtering, but always grinning.

As Lucy told Brian last night, we "met a classmate" of hers at the rec center--red-headed Will. He was there with his family and Lucy, true to form, ended up tight with his sisters--especially his older sister, Addie. I had to drag her away from the pool and the slide when it was time to go.

Afterward, I "let" Lucy and Gabe play on the climbing wall. Let in "quotation marks" because no one has to try too hard to get me to let my kids spend time doing something like climbing.

Such a good life!

09.14.2010 -- Five, etc. (Or Maybe Etcetera and Five)

These two are great kids--and they are my life right now. Lucy is enjoying kindergarten, especially math, PE and music. After school, because we have very few obligations, it's normal for us to spend an hour or so at the school playground just messing around. Good times.

In this picture, Gabe is sporting a small cut below his lip. This came from a fall at said playground where he bit THROUGH his lower lip. Booo! I was there and caught him before he hit the ground, but not before his chin hit the tower he was climbing.

Gabe is into jumping, standing on unlikely things "surf style," and wearing clothes that he considers "ball" clothes. Last night at a soccer game, his cousin, Gabe (not a typo), let him ride his three-wheeled scooter--he was a natural.

Last night was spent at Lewis Park to watch our nephew, Luis, play soccer. Fun! Lucy, Gabe and I showed up in time to see the game start. Luis did great, by the way, and his team totally spoiled the opposing team's undefeated record. Monica and Scott brought pizza for dinner and I brought popsicles for dessert. I wasn't sure if Brian would eat with us, but I knew he was planning to come right after he hit the gym. When he showed up, I was talking with a friend, standing at the far side of a roofed eating area. He gestured toward the end of the pavillion, to the tables where Monica and Scott had the pizza laid out and asked if we were eating here. I was mostly paying attention to my friend, but heard Brian and answered that "yes, there was food," and that he should go say "hello."

A few minutes later, I glanced around and saw my husband going through a potluck line that belonged to a different party.

This food was in the same general direction that "our food" was in, and we knew quite a few people in the group, but it was definitely not for us, as we had contributed nothing and had no business with their party.

I was a little mortified for Brian. He had no idea that he was crashing a party. What did I do?

I loudly explained the misunderstanding to the group of people that we mostly knew, acknowledging that it was my fault and not his. They were great and invited him back for seconds. (Not that he took them up on their offer.)

This started a short discussion on how easy it would be to crash potluck parties--as no one said a word to Brian about him helping himself.

Fairy Party

Here's a confession: Lucy wanted a water party outside. She never mentioned any fairy party. However, so many of her friend's parties were outside and featured water and princesses, that I made an executive decision and announced that she would be having a fairy party this year. Happily, Lucy liked the idea, so we went with it.

Last year, we tried to include EVERYONE. It worked--but the idea of doing it again exhausted me, so I set my limits this year. We also had some of the older girls in the neighborhood over as helpers: they helped paint faces, make fairy skirts with strips of tulle, and put together fairy houses.

The party went well, but things got a little rowdy there in the middle when the girls made up a tag-chase game called "fairy free." We had an accidental run-in with a very hard, very mean banister that left a black eye. Oops. (Sad!)

Lucy loved the make-up and nail supplies the most, her phrase of the day being, "I can't thank you enough!"

08.25.2010 -- Turning a Corner

Lucy had her fifth birthday this past weekend, her first day of public school Monday, and declared last night that her front tooth is really loose. I didn't expect to get too emotional dropping her off her off for kindergarten, but I did get a little teary-eyed. Why? Because I was leaving her alone to deal with the new teacher and a room full of new kids. I knew she would do fine, even would probably do great--it just pulled at those old heart-strings.

Gabe is (hmmm--how to explain it?) ...obsessed with sports clothes. It's cute unless it's Sunday and he's wailing (for half-an-hour) because we won't put a jersey on him to go to church.

They're both adorable and sometimes maddening. Love 'em to bits.

07.08.2010 -- Showing Up

Since showing up is 50% completion in my book, I am making a special effort to show up on my poor neglected blog.

A friend texted me recently and said something like this, "you've been MIA on your blog... that means one thing!" She was right.

I'm due January 4th.

Woot. :)
I went back to look at blogs written when I was expecting Gabe and discovered that when I was at the same stage, I didn't have much to say about my state. That was a little disappointing. I'm pretty sure I didn't focus on that for a good reason, I'm just a little disappointed.

For the record: at 14 weeks, I have gained 10 lbs and don't feel too bad, just "puffy" and nausea/heartburn afflicted. I get tired, but mostly from herding Lucy and Gabe (whom I adore).

Since I posted last, the biggest event around here has been a (drum roll) WEDDING! My very own sister got married at our very own house. It was....fun and a little stressful--ann experience I wouldn't trade. :)

Fast People

Tonight during one of the five minute stretches of my Yin Yoga class, it struck me that there are some very fast people in this world. I seem to know a few of them. It struck me that these people who do things so quickly and efficiently must get a lot more done than us slow ones... And it made me wonder who, ultimately, was more satisfied...

Me--I have no problem holding a stretch for a few minutes... But I've worked into that. It used to be less easily enjoyable. I wondered tonight if it would drive some of my fast friends crazy, doing 8 or so stretches during one 70 minute class.

Yep, pretty sure it would.

Well, I'm trying to learn from my fast friends. I'm trying to learn speed and decisiveness. Like Paulie Zink. Apparently, he founded Yin Yoga, but he moves pretty fast. Enjoy!

05.25.2010 -- Little Cooking Writer Pants

Lucy is certainly growing up. Her latest accomplishments are bit of autonomous cooking, and a taste for writing longish notes (composed and written by her, spelled by me). Here's an example:


See, she wanted Kelli Jo and Zoey to know that AS SOON AS they could play, they could come right in.


Later on in the day, when it was time to clean up, Lucy adopted the deck and organized it herself. She did a good job. After she tidied it up, she prepared it for friends. (It's hard to see, but she has made a name tag for the back of a chair. She made four.)

Dinner was the last project of the day for me (before Daddy got home), so, as often happens, it hadn't even taken shape when he got home. He went right to work on the yard. I offered to start dinner but we didn't come to any consensus, so I continued with the laundry. Lucy came in and told me that she would make dinner (Gabe had fallen asleep just recently). Our four-year-old making dinner? I was intrigued, so I encouraged her. About 5 - 10 minutes later, Lucy came in and told me that dinner was ready. I walked in to the kitchen to find three bowls of "cheesy rice" on the kitchen table, complete with a fork for each.

Lucy and I sat down to our deliciously melty cheesy rice and brought Daddy's outside.

Lucy now feels confident preparing chocolate milk, Kraft Easy Mac (n' cheese), peanut butter and honey (or jam) sandwiches, microwave oatmeal, cheesy rice (with precooked rice), thai noodle soup, and cold cereal. She's more interested in letters than numbers, so to get her using numbers more, I've encouraged her to dial up loved ones on the phone and use the microwave to cook (of course, only when I know she's using it).