Having children is a funny business. They're like open books and constantly chattering and moving streams of consciousness. In some ways, I wish I could be more like a child - you know, to have the ability to say exactly what I'm thinking and do what I feel like doing whenever I want, but I'd probably lose a lot of friends and rack up a couple of felonies if I didn't follow a social code. I will say that I am happy that God blessed me with a certain level of tolerance and an ability to find humor in the business of child rearing, however.
So anyways, we had an incredibly busy - and fun - weekend. Nana and Boppa are in town for a bit before leaving for Florida tomorrow and so they came up on Friday with pizza. My sister and her boys joined us as well and Wim stayed the night for a sleepover. Jeff was out of town for a plaintiff's conference and so it was me and the three kids flying solo. It actually was a lot of fun, although by Saturday night, I could barely keep my eyes open.
My parents and sister helped me get the kids in their pajamas and then we all climbed in to our bed and watched Despicable Me. I put Wim down in Jack's bed and I had a tough time falling asleep myself because I was concerned that he'd get scared in the middle of the night or wake up and wonder where he was. But the night was blessedly incident-free and Wim slept pretty late the next morning. So, we all woke up and got dressed and the boys played for a while in the basement while I picked up the house, wrote out a grocery list and did a few loads of laundry. And then all THREE of us went to Target. Again, this was pretty easy. I told them we'd go to the park after the store and I held that over their heads like a carrot. You know, if they didn't behave themselves then we'd just go straight home and skip the park. It worked well.
In any case, I took them to Adventure Peak after the grocery store - and it was totally insane there. But it stands to reason - Minnesota is freezing right now and everyone is looking for an indoor play area to get the wiggles out. So, I let the boys go crazy and Nora even played a little bit. There's a toddler area at the playground and it's filled with mirrors, so she had a good time laughing at her reflection.
So we had some lunch and then I took Wim back to my sister's and the kids and I headed home for naps. Unfortunately, Jack fell asleep in the car on the way home and he pretty much bucked the whole idea of taking another nap when we got in the house. I made him stay in bed though so I could catch a break and finish cleaning up the house - and my car. I had/have salt stains all over the back seat because of little feet. On Saturday night, we went over to a friend's house for dinner - Jeff's new law partner. Jack was a little excitable because he didn't take a nap, so we made a quick exit after dessert. Plus, I had a drink and I could barely keep my eyes open. Nora was a delight, of course, and the girls had so much fun playing with her and she entertained everyone - smiling and cooing and showing off her cooking skills in the kitchen:
I am so happy for Jeff and, as a consequence, myself as well. This new law practice is going to be wonderful - he's getting cases in the door and he genuinely likes his law partners and their families. I do too. It's so much fun that we can all get together because we enjoy each other's company and not because we're obligated to do so. It feels very familial and the change in Jeff is wonderful. He's excited to go to work every day, he's hustling, and he comes home from work a happy guy too. It's such a change and I'm hoping that things will only continue progressing.
Also, have I mentioned how happy that little girl is? I call her my little Gal Smiley because she is always smiling. I ended up in Jack's bed last night with her and she was up at the crack of dawn laughing and chattering away, trying to grab my lips and my nose and she perfectly content to just hang out in bed while her mom kept dozing. And sure enough, her big brother heard all the fun we were having and he came padding down and climbed into bed with us for a little morning snuggle - and there's really no better way to start your day. One baby in each arm, loving up on Mom, and playing with each other.
As of late, when I get home from work in the evening, I'll get everything unpacked and the kids settled - Jack likes to do his "puppy puzzle" and watch a show and Nora will hang out in her Johnny Jumper and squawk and squeal while I get dinner ready. When she gets bored, she likes to sit on the floor with her brother and play with her toys. Jack loves to make her laugh. And this is easy to do - she's a happy baby, completely enamored with her brother, and he's a funny kid. Anything he does elicits a belly laugh from her. I took this the other night, hiding in the doorway, when they weren't looking:
I am so happy for Jeff and, as a consequence, myself as well. This new law practice is going to be wonderful - he's getting cases in the door and he genuinely likes his law partners and their families. I do too. It's so much fun that we can all get together because we enjoy each other's company and not because we're obligated to do so. It feels very familial and the change in Jeff is wonderful. He's excited to go to work every day, he's hustling, and he comes home from work a happy guy too. It's such a change and I'm hoping that things will only continue progressing.
Also, have I mentioned how happy that little girl is? I call her my little Gal Smiley because she is always smiling. I ended up in Jack's bed last night with her and she was up at the crack of dawn laughing and chattering away, trying to grab my lips and my nose and she perfectly content to just hang out in bed while her mom kept dozing. And sure enough, her big brother heard all the fun we were having and he came padding down and climbed into bed with us for a little morning snuggle - and there's really no better way to start your day. One baby in each arm, loving up on Mom, and playing with each other.
As of late, when I get home from work in the evening, I'll get everything unpacked and the kids settled - Jack likes to do his "puppy puzzle" and watch a show and Nora will hang out in her Johnny Jumper and squawk and squeal while I get dinner ready. When she gets bored, she likes to sit on the floor with her brother and play with her toys. Jack loves to make her laugh. And this is easy to do - she's a happy baby, completely enamored with her brother, and he's a funny kid. Anything he does elicits a belly laugh from her. I took this the other night, hiding in the doorway, when they weren't looking:
Anyways, yesterday when I woke up, I cleaned out the kids' closets to make room for the new clothes that Nana and Boppa had gotten for them. This always makes me sad and I think I cried the entire time I was working in Nora's room. And, since we're going to Florida in a few weeks, I wanted to get an idea as to whether they needed any summer clothes. Fortunately, Jack is pretty squared away, however since Nora wasn't even born until the end of last summer, she needed quite a few things. So, the kids and I went to Target to do some clothes shopping. And again, I told Jack that if he was a good boy at the store, I'd take him to McDonald's for some chicken nuggets and playtime.
When we woke up yesterday morning, Jack announced that he wanted to wear his underwear. So, we got dressed and had a long talk about how we don't pee or poop on Thomas (that's the kind of undies he was wearing) and that, if he needed to go potty, he should tell me. So we left Target yesterday and headed over to McDonald's. As we were driving there, Jack announced that he needed to go potty. I asked him if he could hold it and told him that when we got to the restaurant, we'd go potty. He accepted the challenge and agreed to my stipulation. In any case, we again talked about how we don't pee on Thomas and how proud I was of him that he told me he needed to go potty. So, we get to McDonald's and I walked in, with Jack trailing behind me. I was looking up at the menu when I noticed the people behind the counter and others standing in line kind of snickering and pointing to something behind me. I turned around and Jack was standing in the middle of McDonald's with his pants around his ankles, waving his "parts" all around and asking me where he should go potty.
Note to self: Toddlers are very literal creatures. And he was completely following directions - I did tell him that we'd go potty when we got to McDonald's. Of course, I was completely mortified and I ran over to him and started to pull his pants up. This upset Jack because, as he announced several times and quite loudly, he was a big boy and could pull his pants down all by himself. So, we had to talk about how we don't pull our pants down in public and that we needed to wait to do that until we were next to the toilet. I kind of get it though - when we got to daycare today, there were a few kids with their pants around their ankles trailing in and out of the bathroom or waiting to get their diapers changed. Jack probably thought nothing of it because it's what he does at school and, frankly, what he does at home too.
So, we took care of business, got our food and Jack went off to play. He also started telling anyone who would listen that his name was "John Storms, but people just call me Jack." Which again, is completely true although I have no clue how he figured that out. The only time he's ever called "John" is when we're at the doctor's office and they've stopped calling him that a long time ago. We're frequent fliers there.
And so we start another week. It's supposed to be cold for the foreseeable future, so I'm starting my countdown until Florida and dreaming of the time when I can be digging my toes in the sand and feeling the sunshine on my face.
When we woke up yesterday morning, Jack announced that he wanted to wear his underwear. So, we got dressed and had a long talk about how we don't pee or poop on Thomas (that's the kind of undies he was wearing) and that, if he needed to go potty, he should tell me. So we left Target yesterday and headed over to McDonald's. As we were driving there, Jack announced that he needed to go potty. I asked him if he could hold it and told him that when we got to the restaurant, we'd go potty. He accepted the challenge and agreed to my stipulation. In any case, we again talked about how we don't pee on Thomas and how proud I was of him that he told me he needed to go potty. So, we get to McDonald's and I walked in, with Jack trailing behind me. I was looking up at the menu when I noticed the people behind the counter and others standing in line kind of snickering and pointing to something behind me. I turned around and Jack was standing in the middle of McDonald's with his pants around his ankles, waving his "parts" all around and asking me where he should go potty.
Note to self: Toddlers are very literal creatures. And he was completely following directions - I did tell him that we'd go potty when we got to McDonald's. Of course, I was completely mortified and I ran over to him and started to pull his pants up. This upset Jack because, as he announced several times and quite loudly, he was a big boy and could pull his pants down all by himself. So, we had to talk about how we don't pull our pants down in public and that we needed to wait to do that until we were next to the toilet. I kind of get it though - when we got to daycare today, there were a few kids with their pants around their ankles trailing in and out of the bathroom or waiting to get their diapers changed. Jack probably thought nothing of it because it's what he does at school and, frankly, what he does at home too.
So, we took care of business, got our food and Jack went off to play. He also started telling anyone who would listen that his name was "John Storms, but people just call me Jack." Which again, is completely true although I have no clue how he figured that out. The only time he's ever called "John" is when we're at the doctor's office and they've stopped calling him that a long time ago. We're frequent fliers there.
After the McDonald's incident, we went home for naps. I got things ready for the week and Jeff cleaned out the basement to make room for a home office. I baked some scones and just puttered around, playing with the kids. Sunday afternoons are my favorite - there's nothing to be done, no running around, chores or errands to be completed and it's so nice to have some quiet time with everyone. We also talked with Grandma Jersey and Gammy and Gampy Arizona before turning in for the night.
This morning, Jack told me that he wanted to come to the office with me - this breaks my heart. He has so much fun at school, but it makes me sad that he doesn't always remember that. I also wonder if he misses his sister when he's at school because he tells me that he wants to go and be with his sister just about every morning when I drop him off. He was a bit emotional this morning too. He was easily upset and kept crying over every little thing and I just wanted to tell him that I got it - Mondays are tough for everyone.
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