What I’m Loving (this week)

Micah
* will FINALLY sit and read a book with me and it doesn’t even have to be a touch and feel book, we made it through Dr. Suess’ Foot Book three times today!
* won’t go to bed without kissing and hugging his sister….seriously, cutest thing ever!  He also loves to crawl in her bed and pretend he’s going to sleep there….tried it, it doesn’t work, but cute nonetheless!
* his enthusiasm every time he answers a question, whether it’s “are you ready for bed” or “do you want to go outside” the answer is almost always an cheerful “yah”…unless of course the answer is “uh-uh”
* tries to mimic EVERYTHING his sister does, her gymnastics moves, the way she spits her toothpaste out after she brushes her teeth, holds her stuffed animals…seriously Pete and Repeat.  Love it! 
* is cooking, cooking cooking….I love that he loves to help me cook, pretend he’s cooking…anything to do with cooking! 
* his love for EVERYTHING BOY –sticks, locust shells, anything he can turn into a weapon (although I don’t love it quite so much when he uses his new found “weapons” to beat his sister which also happens on a regular basis)
Makenzie
*  loves “bynastics”…and I love even more than she calls it “bynastics”
* has an uncanny ability to make her brother giggle – I love that she recognizes when he’s getting sick of the situation (particularly at the grocery store or any where else we might be shopping/running errands) and she goes into entertainment mode doing whatever she can to entertain Micah man.  The two of them laughing together is no doubt the best sound on earth! 
* is my favorite little helper!!  She loves to help with everything – she folds all the towels and washcloths on laundry days, she helps unload the dishwasher, cleans the lint trap on the dryer everytime we change loads of laundry, and LOVES to crack eggs when we’re cooking (which may or may not have meant daddy got egg shell in his birthday cake this week!)
* talks like she’s 3 going on 16….this week I’ve heard, “also,…” and “mom, I was going to tell you”
* tells me everyday “I love you and I like you….”
I think its safe to say I am blessed!! 

Growing Up Too Fast

How does it happen?  How did my "baby" Makenzie get big enough to go to gymnastics?  I managed to avoid all "big girl" things like preschool, for one more year but Makenzie decided this year that she wanted to do gymnastics, so we said goodbye to Kindermusik and signed her up.  Tonight was her first class and I was about in tears.  Pitiful, I know.  It's only a 45 minute class and she spends 9 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays in daycare....it's not the leaving her that gets me (although even after nearly 4 years of that it's still not easy), the thing that really gets me is just how grown up she is.  All of a sudden she's not even a toddler anymore (Micah man probably fits in that category....and I still think he's my baby)....she's a little girl.  A little girl who will start preschool next fall and Kindergarten the following year.  Oh my!  Time goes too fast! 

But it was super fun to watch her little gymnastics class and the smile on her face as she showed me all the things she learned was priceless! 

Have I mentioned lately that I love her?

Those of you that also stalk facebook have already seen this, but it’s too good to not share here too:

Makenzie: "I like to listen to God talk to me when I go to sleep."
Me: "Oh really, what does God say to you?"
Makenzie: "Well, last night when I was falling alseep God told me not to get up early or my mom would be crabby."

I had high hopes that Miss Makenzie would have another chat with God last night and we would all get to sleep in.  Not the case.  Might have had more to do with the promise of doughnuts this morning….but whatever the reason, she was up at 6:25 and was determined that she was not going back to sleep.  I managed to get her to snuggle with me for a whole 5 minutes before she decided she had to go potty and conveniently made enough racket while in the bathroom to wake her brother so that we all had to get up.  Anybody else wonder why children don’t like sleep?!?! 

We made our doughnut run though, so the morning is looking up.  Micah man is sitting in his highchair eating his with a spoon….just how doughnuts are meant to be eaten.   Love him too!! 

Barely functioning

That’s me…..barely functioning.  As in so tired I can hardly function when I get home from work.  Dishwasher is full of dishes that I’m going to leave until morning when I “hopefully” have more energy.  A load of laundry has been in the dryer since Tuesday because I haven’t found the motivation to fold it.  A blog that hasn’t been updated since August 24, and even then it was only a picture update.  Both babes are sleeping tonight and Tom’s gone for drill….normally the perfect time to get my house in order, my blogging done, read a good book, and just enjoy some “me” time, but instead I’m headed for bed.  At 9 pm on a Friday night.  Mercy!  I just keep telling myself, “maybe tomorrow…” 

Pictures (as promised WEEKS ago)

The kids and I spent a day at the Lincoln zoo during Tom’s drill weekend earlier this month.  I had forgotten just how great the Lincoln zoo is….so much smaller scale than Omaha, but totally “doable” for a mom by herself with two kiddos!  

Sorry the pictures are all you get today – I spent most of naptime taking a nap myself!   We get an extra couple days at home this week….poor Micah man has hand foot and mouth disease, so no daycare for us!  And, I probably lost my mom of the year award – the poor guy fevered all day yesterday and was a drooling, slobbering mess. I attributed it to his 2 top eye teeth that are just about to burst out of his poor swollen gums and when the fever was gone today I sent him to daycare.  He had a rash on his buns, but I blamed that on the fever yesterday…..less than 2 hours after I dropped them off at daycare, the babysitter called to say Micah had broken out in red spots on his hands, feet, and mouth.  Like I said…mom of the year.  Or maybe not. 

Quick 5 (Things I LOVE this week)

1.)  Makenzie’s new night light.  Less than $5 at Pamida and seriously a miracle worker!!  After I left for Texas for 4 days (which came at the end of Tom’s 30 days away from home), Makenzie went into some sort of crisis mode and decided she couldn’t sleep through the night.  Literally, EVERY.NIGHT.  She’d be in our room sometimes as many as 4 times…and each time I’d take her back to bed and lay in her bed with her until she fell asleep (sometimes I’d just sleep there the rest of the night because I’d fall asleep before she did).  Anyway…she always told me she was scared…so finally one day, I got smart and asked what her help her to not be scared.  She said leaving a light on….not really an option, particularly since she and Micah share a room….but we compromised, went to Pamida and bought a night light.  That was 10 days ago and she hasn’t been up a single time since!  LOVE that nightlight…and that girl….and the fact that the nightlight keeps the girl in her bed all night so I can stay in mine!

2.)  Micah’s pacifier.  Another miracle working tool at our house.  I tried to take it away today and after 20 minutes of screaming his head off at nap time, I gave it back.  I promise I’ll get rid of it before he starts Kindergarten, but for now it provides me a much needed break from Micah man’s high pitched screaming.  And, I just can’t resist when he looks at me with those big blue eyes and says in his saddest voice, “pa, pa, pa.”  LOVE the paci….and the boy….and the fact that my boy still takes 2 naps a day and sleeps all night if he has his paci so I can sleep too!  I promise not everything on this list has to do with me getting sleep!    

3.)  My new tomato cages….correction, tomato towers.  Pricey yes, but I love them.  For the first year ever, my tomatoes are actually still standing tall in their cages and I will actually go pick them.  Before I always made Tom pick because I was sure I was going to find a snake digging around on the ground through the huge mess of fallen tomato plants and cages.  

4.)  Netflix….actually, I THINK I’m going to love Netflix.  And yes, I realize I’m totally behind the times and any “cool” factor I might have had going for me is completely gone….but I’m okay with that….and I’m still excited about Netflix!  We don’t have cable/satellite etc.…..haven’t for 4 years and honestly I haven’t really missed it.  Tom cringes every year at football season and we talk about getting cable, but for the few football games a year we can usually find a place to watch the games (Thank you Bruce and Sharon!).  It started as just a way to save money –when we first moved to Holdrege, we still at our apartment in Lincoln, I was still in school and Tom had just graduated, so in an effort to cut back on bills, we decided not to get cable.  And I never missed it, so we just never got it.  (If Tom has missed it he hasn’t complained much…other than football season.)  My neighbor told me a week or so ago that I could get Netflix for $7.99 a month and watch it on tv through our Wii.  Hello, why didn’t I know this before now!!  I was hoping to try it out tonight but that didn’t happen, but hopefully by next week I can report that I really do love Netflix as much as I think I’m going to! 

5.) Cooler weather.  LOVE the weather these past few days, LOVE having my windows open, LOVE being able to play outside with the kids without thinking I’m going to die.  Makes me ready for fall. 

I’m off to bed (after all, its nearly 10pm on a Friday night, isn’t that what everybody does?!? )  Someday I’ll get pictures off the camera and onto the computer….and on here for you all to see!   Someday when I haven’t chased kiddos all day, cleaned out my flower beds and filled them with new mulch, sprayed roundup on all the weeds out front, chopped the weeds around the garden and cleaned my house so its ready to show tomorrow.  

A Love/Hate Relationship

I haven’t decided yet if I’m bipolar or just what causes me to have such a love/hate relationship with things….
1.)  Micah sharing my breakfast.  Every. morning.  Micah gets up and eats breakfast with Tom and then as soon as I sit down to the table, he’s ready for round 2…..but round 2 must consist of whatever I’m eating (and not his own version of whatever I’m eating…we’re talking share the same yogurt and eat off the same spoon….alternating bites.)  Cute, yes, but sometimes I just want to eat my own yogurt!!
2.)  Makenzie deciding she’s a mama’s girl.  She is almost always a mama’s girl and 99% of the time I love it (who doesn’t love being the favorite, right?)  But lately Micah has decided to be a mama's boy....and one mom demanded by 2 kids 24/7 equals a mama sometimes just needs a break! 
3.)  Building a house.  Tom and I bought two lots about a month ago and building is something I am SUPER excited about, but it is also causes me way more anxiety than it should.  I want to get started NOW, but we have to wait on the city to put in water/sewer/utilities (yes, it would be good to have indoor plumbing in the new house!) which will probably take until at least spring.  This means we don’t even start building until spring, but I’m antsy to get started on plans etc…..and getting a budget into place for this new house because the potential cost also has me freaking out! 
4.)  My job.  I absolutely LOVE my job, but I’ve spent most of the last two weeks trying to answer interrogatories and respond to requests for production of documents (translation: sorting through ridiculously huge stacks of my client’s records trying to decide what to give the opposing party)  I HATE discovery! 
5.)  Drill weekends.  It really is a lot of fun to spend a weekend in Lincoln once a month….it’s a great chance for me to see lots of friends I probably wouldn’t otherwise see, but it’s also such.a.pain.  Every light in the motel goes at at 8 pm when the kids go to bed.  At the slightest noise, Micah is standing up in his pack n play yelling “mama, mama”.  Morning nap = nonexistent.  Saturday afternoon naps generally go well….for all 3 of us, because after all  wouldn’t want to make any noise and wake the sleeping babes!  Sunday afternoon naps are nearly impossible – checkout time is noon, even with a “late” checkout, they want us out by 1 (aka naptime)….and we never know what time Tom will get done.  Sometimes as early as 1:30, sometimes not until 4…..totally stresses me out, and it never fails, if I lay kids down at a friends house, Tom is done as soon as kids are out.  If I keep them up or plan on naps in the car, he’s not done till  4 and I’m stuck trying to entertain two way too tired crabby kiddos. 
On a happier note, the kids and I spent Sunday at the Lincoln zoo….SO.MUCH.FUN.  Pictures coming soon!