"The Strange Guys are stupid!"

And other inappropriate words and actions from playgroup!


Our church has started a Friday morning open gym playtime. We have been a few times. The crowd has usually been rather small and calm with my boys knowing at least 75% of the other kids. They have greatly enjoyed this free running, large motor playtime. Thy have gotten along well with others and overall had a grand time. Today, wow, today was a bit different. Today was crowded! Today was loud! There were lots of boys! This was the kind of group that when I just had a daughter I might have turned around and left, because those boys are just nothing but loud, rough, trouble makers! And now, I am their mom. I am the mom that I'm sure at one point I wanted to tsk and shake my head at. This doesn't happen when you have girls, or even 1 boy. It happens when you have your second. I'm guessing it amplifies with each additional boy. Begone the days of sweet princess dress up, temper tantrums that involved weeping at the unfairness of the world, and adorable hats. Now it's all "booty", throwing things, lego guns, and "fire hands" (hands that shoot fire). Granted, they are brimming over with comedy and their messy little faces and sweet "I love yous" melt any momma's heart, that doesn't change the fact that they are still loud and rowdy.


Today Finn stood in the middle of the room and held a ball. Seems he just wondered around with his ball and watched people. He knocked down his brother's block tower once, but mostly he just played the observer. Dax on the other hand had some real issues with all these "strange guys'. Strange guys included anyone he didn't know or anyone he might know but doesn't usually go to our church. At first they were just intimidating. Then he started to play "Super Dax" (his new favorite past time). I did have to intervene when I noticed another child beating him with a folded jump rope. It's hard for a mom to know what is truly in the spirit of the play and when her kid is going to get welts. I guess I should have taken the rope away because I turned around seconds later and someone was trying to capture "Super Dax" by roping him around the neck. This time the rope was taken.


I guess all the rope play got him wound up, or maybe it was the lack of oxygen to his brain from the noose...I'm not sure...but the next time I turned around he was shoving a little boy to the ground because he knocked down his tower. He refused to apologize. He spent the rest of his time at the "mommy table". I thought we were safe. Clean up time came, he volunteered to help clean up. I then see him standing in front of a little boy he doesn't know. I hear his sweet little voice "These strange guys are Stupid, Mama! They just keep breaking my toys!!"

Sigh...what happened to hats, tights, dresses, and coordinating shoes? What about that little three year old girl too timid to peek out from behind my legs?


Just for extra measure at that moment, Finn came over and knocked down the whole stack of "cleaned up" blocks.

Tsk Tsk, what is that mom doing? Hasn't she taught those kids anything about sharing? respect for the church? kindness? The word stupid? Maybe she should stop spending so much time at the mom table chatting and harness those heathens! Tsk...


***pictures below are from a calmer, more successful play gym day***

Where oh where did my baby boy go?

Praises

An amazing service Sunday at church with a sermon from our Bishop. Let's just say he was not what I was expecting a Methodist Bishop to be. I was incredibly impressed and so thrilled I didn't miss his message!

A fun trip to a local paint your own pottery place with 11 8th graders. We missed our other confirmation 'Mamas' but I think everyone did a great job putting themselves into their work!

Feeling better! Well, this sneezing, sniffling cold thing stinks, but compared to the last 6 weeks, I'll take it! I have actually been vacuuming and tossing boys around! I'm loving heading in the direction of normal!

Speaking of feeling good, I felt so good tonight I turned down a friend bringing a meal. I think I'd feel guilty taking one now, but I did catch some flack for it! Lily overheard me on the phone and lectured me about how could I turn down someone who cooks like Nicole. "Everything she makes is so good, Mom! I can't believe you didn't say yes!" I know, that thought went through my mind too! =)

My friend, Traci, is feeling a bit better. Little Tess made it home for a great week of birthday fun with her family and friends. Kim and Shaun are recovering with humor (and too much time on Facebook!) They all still need prayers as they continue on their journeys, but boy it's nice to hear good things!

New friends on Facebook. Congrats, Leslie, you've been sucked in now! Sarah and Amy, I am waiting for you!

Evening chats with Mom. Even better when the munchkins are actually all asleep and the phone doesn't die!

A Husband who is pretty good at putting little kids to bed, at least most nights!

A three year old that may not nap, but falls to sleep the minute he stops moving!

That same three year old that is loving going to school, his mama, being a big brother, and being a "Mighty Helper".

My husband's humor. He's dictating to me what I should praise about him, but this is a family friendly site, so lets just say I love his humor!

Lily being in a good mood this week. She may not love the blatant laughter and "no" she received when putting in her 50th request, this one in writing, for a cell phone for her 11th birthday, but she seems to not be holding a grudge. I have, however, heard what type of phone every other 5th grader has. She doesn't totally get the whole, "i don't care what everyone else has, I'm not their mama" lecture. Oh how I loved that lecture at her age!! She also does not appreciate my "when you get a cell phone it'll be one of those four button things that let you dial, mom, dad, home, and 911". I'm so totally not a "cool" mom. And the older I get the more I'm totally ok with that! I love her no matter what, and I think she feels the same way. (isn't that what the eye rolling means?)

Dax telling Carrie, our hairdresser, that Finn is part of our family and we couldn't lose him. Finn decided he should go flirt with some of th other girls after his haircut, while Dax was having his done. Dax was very concerned that Finn was out of his site!

Little brothers walking hand in hand down the sidewalk. Oh how I wish I had my camera card in for that, well, that and the haircut!

Finn. Oh his orneriness grows every day, but so does his cuteness, and his vocab. Today we added "copter", "jammies', and "haircut". I think the guy aged a good 6 months to a year with a snip snip of the scissors! I did get the camera out once we got home. I had taken some pictures on Sunday so I had before and after. Dax got his haircut too, but you can't really tell! We offered to cut his like Finn's. He made a funny face and said, "no, you can't shake that!". With this new do it seems this little guy is looking the most like his "daayee".

A blog where I can post a million (or 15) gratuitous pictures of my children if I want to! =) Yes, Dax is painted like a kitten. There was a big litter of little people kittens playing at preschool today! He said only the girls could get their ears to stay on, though! Good thing, would have been hard for Carrie to cut the hair around the kitty ears!

Praises and Mamma ooze

Praises

Getting everyone up, fed, dressed, and out the door on time (even a few minutes early!) without anything catstrophic happening!

Having a great friend I can call to come chaufer Dax to school and us to church yesterday morning when I got everyone ready early and my van wouldn't start!

Let's just add, my van starting this morning!

The fact that I can make myself a chai tea latte at home, which helps ease the blow that the local drive through coffee place that provided me with my bi weekly one and only self splurge is now out of business!! I must say, this totally bummed me out this morning!

Getting to spend an hour in Lily's classroom doing Picture Person (parent led art lessons). The discussion of De Vinci was great, the art project so so, but I don't think they could tell that I hadn't decided on the project until midnight last night. Was nice to spend that time in her room, it's been too long!

Feeling good enough this week to be able to get showered and my boys organized and out of the house by 9 am the last two mornings. Lets just say, this hasn't been accomplished for a good 6 weeks.

Feeling better, doing more, starting to feel more "normal" again.

A daughter who used her library time and check out privileges to find books that her little brothers would like.

Finding all of the keys that a certain little person popped off my keyboard. Now if I could only get the last 3 to reattach!

A very interesting Bible study. It's getting deep in there.

Being able to pray for those that I love. I hate watching people hurt. I hate reading through caring bridge sites of little children who I will never meet and feeling their pain. I am so grateful for the words and the faith that let me speak their names and pray for their healing, peace, and comfort. I am grateful for the God that I know is standing beside them.

Fun family Friday nights filled with music, movies, dancing in the kitchen, Mexican take out, giggling, snuggling, and love. I can't imaging a better way to spend an evening.

3 beautiful healthy children filled with life, love, and laughter!

and the words that come out of their mouths...

*warning the following contains gratuitous mommy blogging, it's my blog, I can do what I want, besides, it may be the only place this stuff gets recorded!*

Last night Dax grabbed Mike and said "I love you daddy!" Finn jumped right up and wrapped his arms around Mike too and said "love you". First time he's ever said those words. Those are my favorite first words!


Finn started to finally put two words together, "there's Lily" "don't know" "where Dax?" "Dayee (daddy) work". He's also all of the sudden picking up adjectives. Tonight he brought me a stack of legos and handed them to me one at a time saying "ewooow (yellow)" and "gween". He picked up a big blanket and said "heavy". He is impressing me with his knowledge of colors and the fact that I now understand some of the words he's saying when he puts shapes in his shape sorter and they are blowing me away, "oval", "star", "circle", "scare", "ryangle", simmi circle". He's my latest to talk. He has had words for a bit, mixed in with a lot of signs, but it's good to hear the words really starting to flow. His favorite words all sound similar, "birry" (birdy), "booey" (booty as in shake yours), "booogy" (boogie, as in "let's boogie" when he is ready to leave). I know soon I'll wish he'd give it a rest!

After the little love fest last night Lily asked Finn if he loved her. He promptly said "no" and ran off giggling. Dax barrelled Lily over with a huge hug and an "But I love you, Lil!"

I am so grateful whatever crazy monster had taken control of my three year old seems to be leaving! His words and actions over the past week or two have been such a huge improvement. Maybe it's life getting back to normal, maybe it's his heading towards four, but what ever it is, I am truly grateful! I love these kind words and actions!

Most amazing moment on a school pick up - Dax got a hand stamp for being the best cleaner upper in the class on Thursday. Now let me tell you, if there is one thing this boy hates, it's transitions and clean up time is a killer. Silly how proud was of a hand stamp!

Speaking of Dax, he spilled out some of my favorite words of the week today...

Tonight the boys had finished eating but the rest of us weren't quite finished. Finn kept bringing a book and asking us to read. We kept telling him that we could not read while we were eating. Dax climbed up on the couch and said "come here Finny, I'll read it to you".

This morning I was walking toward the door, telling Finn that Mommy and Dax were leaving church, he was running the opposite way pouting because he didn't want to go. Dax stopped and said, "but Finn is part of our family". He then ran back to the gym took Finn by the hand and said "Finny you are part of our family and we are gonna keep you forever!". Talk about melting a mamma's heart!

22 months

22 months is the age difference between my two boys. This was a drastic change from the 7 years separating Lily and Dax, or the almost 6 years dividing my brother, Ryan and I, and then he and our baby brother, Dosh.

I have many friends who have siblings very close in age and many of them did everything they could to have a close gap between their kids. I wanted 2 years between all of my kids. I didn't want them to be spaced so far apart like my brothers and I. Now as a parent, I totally see the perks! Every time my mom sent someone to kindergarten, she got a baby. We each felt like only children for bits of time. We were great helpers by the time the next one came along. Mom, like me, loves babies and all their stuff. This way she got to spread her baby time over about 14 years. I though, can also see why people who have siblings that close would want to replicate that. Watching my boys learn and play together, the way they love each other, it's amazing. I love my brothers, I even enjoy spending time with them, late night games & movies are some of my favorite things in the world, but I do think in some ways we missed out on silly secrets and sharing friends. I love watching my guys together. At the end of the day though, whoa...22 months creates a far bigger disaster than 7 years!

Speaking of 22 months and disasters, Finn is now 22 months. He is the exact age Dax was when he came home from the hospital. He has been the most social, snugly, sweet little guy. There have not been many signs of him following down the road of destruction his brother paved, well, unless directly provoked. That was, until he reached 22 months. I'd have to say, what no one warned me about having kids this close together is that as soon as one of them reaches the end of the "can't trust you alone in a room" stage or the "bull in china shop could tear down the house in a moment's notice" stage the other one is ready and waiting. Just giggling in the corner waiting for you to totally buy into their sweet as sugar act long enough that they can do this to your house...

By the time I decided to photograph it all I had mopped up the entire bottle of cinnamon that had been carefully sprinkled over the kitchen and hallway floor while I was in the shower.

I feel like I should mention, in my defense, that the one thing I really am not back up to yet is bending up and down over and over...this being the reason all of these things remained on the floor all day.

As for those three lovely, well meaning people who purchased the very educational, very fun card games in tins for my children for Christmas, I still love you, but I have learned to truly loathe those cards!

You might think that this guy might have been the mastermind behind all of it...

but no, he was either at school or snuggled up on the couch for rest time.

It was all this guy, yeah, I know, so sweet and innocent...

Can't you hear the giggling?

Did I mention he's learned to turn on the faucet and has an obsession with brushing his teeth?

Can you see that second birthday looming in the near future? I can feel it! I think this ride is about to get even more exciting!

The praise is that about 98% of this mess is now picked up thanks mostly to Lily and the threat of withholding dinner from my children till it was picked up. I know, mothering at it's best!!

On a totally different note...

My good friend Kim's husband, Shaun is headed in for a below the knee amputation tomorrow. Their family needs good thoughts. If you know them and want to do something, Kim has suggested sending Shaun a fun card (doesn't have to be a get well card), something to make him laugh over the next few weeks. She said she would love it if people would put a penny or two in the card since the first thing he does when he gets one is shakes it for money. She said what they need most is prayers for a positive outlook and some good laughter! If you don't know them, but think sending some random guy a goofy card with pennies in it sounds like fun, leave me a comment, I'll send you their address!

If you thought you might be making it through this season without my commentary on American Idol, you are sadly mistaken. Please please, someone get rid of Tatiana! For those of you not from Ohio, Brent Keith is from a town neighboring my hometown and we actually were in high school at the same time and have a lot of cross over friends. His wife is a friend of my sister in laws. He was on Nashville Star several seasons ago and finished #6. We'll see how his run on American Idol goes! He's a good guy, and I'm totally voting for him just for that, well, and he can, in fact, sing.

If you haven't been watching yet this season or you've been in a cave and haven't seen or heard this guy...

I think you'll be hearing of him soon! He is totally my favorite so far.

Trying to say something...anything...

I haven't been writing much lately, I'm sure you've taken note. Well, at least those of you who still stop by from time to time! It's not that I have nothing to say, it's simply that I'm feeling like I'm in this period of waiting. Waiting for what, I'm not really sure, but I just haven't felt like writing. I'm sure I could toss some blame at the immediate gratification found on facebook, however it's not totally their fault. It could be that the computer chair has not been the most comfortable place to sit over the last weeks or that I've wanted to spend more time with my little people (big people too). Whatever the reason, I'm going to try to toss something in the blank space tonight.

I wanted to stop in to say thank you for the good thoughts and prayers for us and for those who I have asked you to pray for lately. Finn is doing really well. We are keeping him out of the basement. He has only had one day of using the nebulizer since his hospital stay, that was after the basement door was left open and the boys ventured down. I have finally, after many complications, heard the words I was waiting to hear, "you are healing, really healing!" at my doctor's appt. last week. Little Tess is on her way home after a couple of weeks at St. Jude and is doing as well as she possibly can be. Her family will be heading back down in about a week, they will need prayers for a very long time to come! My sweet friend, Traci, is making it through her tests with courage, and a positive spirit. Keep she and her family in your prayers too! One of my Thursday buddies will be standing beside her husband through some major surgery on Wednesday and my heart is with Kim and her clan! Through Tess's website we found a little boy named Dax from our area also at St. Judes, who is struggling with leukemia and because of his sweet little name he has jumped right onto our list.

There are so many out there struggling, so many sweet little faces walking through so much. Sometimes it's almost overwhelming! But in all this, joy. On days like this I watch my older son stand between his little brother and a bully at the McDonald's play land with a stern look and a raised fist and the words 'he is my little brother!!" and my heart melts. I pour over my bible study material, getting ready to jump in with a prayer and that same little boy comes, holds my hands and we pray together. He asked his dad to pray with him tonight. He asked to pray for "My friend, Tess, and that other Dax, and Miss Traci's back because it's hurting her."

I am feeling so grateful to be healing. I am feeling so grateful to be able to watch my children grow in strength, beauty, and maybe for one sweet little almost two year old, orneriness, every day. I am grateful for a husband who is present in this home. I am grateful for the love of family close by and far away. I am grateful for the love and respect of those who may not agree with me on issues and politics. I am grateful for moments where I glimpse a tiny piece of the big picture. I am grateful for puppies who help heal. I am grateful for 8th graders full of drama. I am grateful it is American Idol time again. I am grateful for joy and laughter built into everyday to show us that through the struggles there is greatness!

Praying For Traci

I have been blessed in this world with some great friends. They have circled in and taken care of us in the midst of all sorts of craziness. pain, and heartache over the last year. There are many who have made meals, sent notes, said prayers, picked up my slack in other places, taken my kids in for ah hour or a day, but there are just a few who have been in that circle. You know that circle, the people who can call anytime and you never mind, who you call to ask for things you might not ask others for, who take your children at the drop of a hat because you just need to get some rest, those who always offer before you ask, and listen when you talk too much.

One of my friends in that circle needs some prayers over the next 24 hours. Traci has been there at a moment's notice for me. She has picked up my slack and my son(s) whenever I have needed her to. I always know my guys are safe and loved with her. I feel blessed to have this person in my world and am so grateful to have come to know her. So I ask that you join me in sending the most peaceful, reassuring, calming thoughts her way because this girl, she does not like to feel disorganized or out of control, she likes her plan to be laid out for her. =) Please pray for her doctors to be knowledgeable and for them to be able to give her the answers she needs. For my other Bible study chickas, lets pray for this one to be a "delivered from the fire" moment!