Sitting Up

I've been derelict in my duty to mark a milestone. Earlier this month Claire just started sitting on her own one day. It was the strangest thing. One day she was floppy and the next sitting on her own. Although if she tires to follow the boys too much she will just face plant. Poor little thing.

Costumes Part 2

When Gage was about three and started wearing costumes I thought it was so so cute. I mean what is cuter than a boy who wants to be Prince Phillip and have a pillowcase tied around his neck and sword? If I only knew then what I know now I would have gathered all things that could even remotely be construed as a costume and I would have built a big bonfire and burned them all!!! When Gage turned four I thought, "Man, he must be getting to the tail end of costumes. Just bide your time." I think I have been unearthly patient with all of it. I mean he was Captain Moroni for awhile and buckling him in his car seat with a breastplate on was no small feat. Sometimes I feel like yelling, (after he has told me who he is for that day and not to make the mistake of calling him Gage), that I just want my little boy who I named GAGE who may not have special powers but is still pretty stinking special to me.

I guess Luke noticed how cool the costumes are because now he is into them too. Luke is so into it that I think he actually believes he is Batman. Yesterday my Dad was tending the boys while I ran some errands and my Dad was telling Luke that a tow truck had come and taken his truck away. Luke told him, "I'll have to put my Batman costume on and bust them up!" I don't think I can handle two kids wearing costumes. Two kids that I have to call by different names. Two kids who won't let me into the laundry room because it is the Batcave. But like the sucker I am I think it is pretty cute that Luke wants to be Batman, Spiderman, anything ending in man. In fact I plan on granting his Birthday wish with his very own Batman costume. (At least that will cut down on the fighting) I must be a masochist.

All I can say is, "Bring it on Claire. Or should I say, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora?"

This is actually kind of cool. I think this picture could end up in a comic one day.

If this picture had sound it would say, "Boink, Zonk, pow!"

Luke looks a little perplexed does he not? I guess he can't decide whether he is Spiderman or Batman. Just call him Spiderbat!

Screwy Hair

Most parents count fingers and toes after their baby is born. I did that, Claire has all ten, but then I started counting hair swirls and the poor thing has three. A double crown in back and one on her forehead, the right side. I knew this would not be good. The longer her hair gets the screwier it looks. The left side is in a battle with the right side to decide which way the hair is going to lay and in the back she is working on a nice peacock tail. The second I found out I was having a girl I was stressed about fixing her hair. I can hardly fix my own hair let alone a child with two too many swirls.

Rascals....Both of 'em

The last couple of days I've been amazed at what rascals Gage and Luke have become together. On the one hand I love that they love to conspire with each other so much and that they giggle so much and on the other hand I wonder why they have to enjoy destruction so much. In the words of Grandpa Burt, I wonder who slung a nickle in them.

Last night the boys were so hyper by the time we finally got them into bed. I read to them for a half and hour thinking that would calm things down a bit but once I shut the door it is like the circus is going on in there. They laugh and make weird noises and that makes the other one laugh and then the other one is laughing because the other one is laughing. You get it. Tim was listening at the door and he heard Luke in a fit of giggles say to Gage, "We better keep this up!"

Yesterday Luke came out of his nap all sleepy eyed and hair sticking everywhere. He came and sat on my lap and I gave him a kiss on the cheek. He told me there was poop on his cheek. Not exactly something you want to hear after you just kissed something. I couldn't see anything so I asked him to show me what he had been doing in his room. I went in to find that the poop was actually butt cream and he had painted with it everywhere. That stuff does not wipe off. What the crap dude? Why would you do that?

Along the lines of, why would you do that? Gage and Luke got art sets from my parents for Christmas. Which is great....they LOVE them. Unfortunately they have little bottles of glue and paint in them. The boys had been drawing furiously all morning and Gage came in Claire's room to tell me that he wanted to put his drawing on his wall. I told him to wait until I got done with Claire and I would get the tape. Oh that wasn't necessary because he got out his handy glue and glued it to the wall. Great.

Today, while I was putting on my make-up I could hear the boys laughing and causing a ruckus downstairs. Gage comes charging into the bathroom with an old mop and starts telling Luke I'm the bad guy. I took the mop from Gage and got him started on his chores to re-direct the craziness and I'll be if Luke didn't pick up the mop and yell, "I'm going to mop your face!" He didn't quite get my face but he mopped my back pretty good and he went yelling down the hall, "Hey Gagey, did you see that? I mopped her face!" To which they erupted into yet more fits of giggles.

And finally in my rascal roundup, the boys were in the tube while I was on the phone with a friend this morning and they were being so loud I thought I would check on them. When I got to the door I could see water seeping out and I thought, "Oh, Sugar." Seriously, the scene was like water WWF. There was at least a quarter inch of water on the ground. Gage was laying in the tube and so much water had gotten out of the tub that his face had no water over it....thankfully, because Luke was holding onto the soap holder and standing on Gage's stomach. I promptly started shouting that they had to knock if off before someone broke their head open and that was apparently hilarious and they covered their mouths laughing. I just threw up my hands. What do you do when your kid thinks the prospect of breaking his head open is funny and you just yelled at your kids with your friend listening on the other end?

Rascals.

Do You Blog Stalk?

I'm a stalker. I'm stalking Tim's cousin's wife's blog. She's a Lady Macgyver. You know, one of those women who with 5 bucks and some string can throw a fabulous party that would impress even Martha Stewart? Her house looks perpetually spotless. Her children are adorable and flawlessly dressed. Her blog looks like a professional photographer took the pictures. I'm utterly fascinated. She has one project that I LOVE and want to copy and I want to talk to her about it. So, what is the proper way to tell someone you are stalking their blog? I would kill to see her house. Some people want to tour the White House, Museums etc...No, I just want to see her house. It makes me a full blown weirdo.

Do you stalk blogs? If so, can you share the address? I'm not opposed to stalking strangers.

See You Later 2009....Good Riddance

I wasn't too sorry to see 2009 go. To me 2009 represents a lot of change, stress, and tears. I have a tendency to dwell on the negative but I couldn't help myself by remembering all the truly great things that happened last year. On New Year's Eve Day I decided to really clean the house. It was like a purging and it gave me a new lease on life. I know it is sad that a clean house can do that, but I felt like I was packing away, dusting, and mopping all my bad feelings away and now 2009 is gone. I will only remember what I loved about the year...and there was plenty to love! Here are some of my favorite highlights of that last year.

*The best thing that happened is we had Claire!

*We found out for sure we were having a girl. No surprise for me, but you should have seen Tim's face.

*We experienced the fear of thinking she might have Downs Syndrome to the peace that came with knowing she was fine.

*I sewed my first quilt.

*We found out that the old adage, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." is true. Farewell Springview ward.

*I got a Master Bathroom. Ah heaven on earth.

*The boys got a play room.

*I experienced the tender mercies of the Lord - Andrea, I count you among them...I never could have survived my pregnancy without you to put my pelvis back together. Michelle, you called and told us you were selling your van the day I was crying and thinking I could not handle car shopping one more time.

*I got to decorate a girls nursery....complete with refinishing furniture for the first time.

*Gage had his yearly ER visit with a mild concussion.

*Luke slept in a big boy bed.

*The boys were euphoric with sharing a room.

*Gage, Claire, and I survived the Swine Flu

*Claire out-grew 4 wardrobes

*Luke put his pee in the potty...a few times!

*I decided that I could cut hair...it is not pretty.

*Gage started Kindergarten.

*We had wonderful visits from Rach, Todd, and Nate and co.

*The boys sledded for the first time and Luke is a dare devil.

I don't really believe in resolutions but I guess I don't know what to call the following. So here are my resolutions for 2010.

*Read to each child for at least 20 minutes a day. That will be a chore for Gage because he will want to read for longer, Luke won't want to sit on my lap for 20 seconds, and Claire just wants to eat the book.

*Make an effort each day to reinforce my children's individual worth.

*Don't say everything I think.

*Give people the benefit of the doubt more often.

*Pray.

*Read Scriptures.

*No yelling, shouting, or raising my voice at the kids.

*Go to Disneyland

*Paint Master, Boys room, and Living Room...we all know that's on Tim's honey do list so consider it done.

*Remember and acknowledge birthday's.

*Invite people over for dinner.

*Learn to play the piano.

*Acquire a piano.

Christmas 2009

My overarching emotion when Christmas finally arrived this year was relief. It felt like I barely got everything done that absolutely needed to be done and my list of "just didn't have time/desire/energy" grew daily. All I truly wanted for Christmas was for the boys to enjoy it and not complain that their brother got something cooler than them or to fight over their toys. I am happy to report that I got that wish! The boys were totally content and played all day blissfully with each other and I was thrilled.

I had a difficult time catching the spirit of the season this year. Frankly, I felt icky about the whole thing. Tim worked way too much all month and our traditions went to the crapper I'm afraid. I think I've been guilty of taking my spouse for granted. He really is my partner, my best friend. Since I've had Claire I feel like I need another team-mate more than ever because we are out-numbered and when he is gone I'm playing zone defense. I didn't realize until he was gone so much that I probably don't communicate enough of my appreciation for him. When he is gone it is like a black-hole sitting in the living room. We had no shopping trips together where we conspired about what each child would like the best. We didn't plan any surprises. We didn't hide the gifts together and devise a plan to keep the kids away. We didn't see the lights at temple square. We didn't read a scripture a night or enjoy the warm fuzzy of a Christmas story. We didn't deliver the neighbor gifts together and drink hot chocolate afterward. The magic of Christmas is most serene when seen in the eyes of your child. I saw the magic so many times but I found myself looking over Gage's or Luke's head searching for a pair of hazel eyes as if to say, "did you catch that?" but I found only the wall and it made me sad inside.

Christmas Eve came and my mom commented that Tim and I both looked like we'd been pulled through a knot backwards which is Burt talk for, "you look really tired." We did have a great eve with my parents and Pammy. We had a great dinner and Dad read the Twas the Night Before Christmas and delivered his famous line, "I bet that hurt!" after the part in the story where it says, "I threw-up the sash." Pam looked properly annoyed. Tim read the scriptures and I finally got to watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas. Gage spread out some reindeer food he had made at school and told me if it was gone in the morning that THEN he would believe in Santa. I feel pretty sure the gig is up with him on the Santa front and I'm sure I screwed something up for him not to believe at such a young age. Gage wrote a copious note to Santa outlining all that he wanted and he took it upon himself to write one for Claire. She apparently wanted bottles of formula. The boys were so tired they actually went to sleep and Tim and I started wrapping since I hadn't wrapped anything yet. 2 hours later we finally made it to bed ourselves! Christmas morning was great and we spent the whole day in our PJ's which Gage loves because he hates getting dressed and I love it even more because I don't have to dress any child who doesn't want to be dressed!

For a Family Home Evening, early in December, we made snowflakes and wrote on them the gifts we were going to give the Christ Child, then we put them onto the Christmas tree. We talked about the only gift we can give Jesus is our behavior.

Luke gave the gift of sharing

Gage gave the gift of obedience and sharing

Tim gave the gift of being more thoughtful and reading his scriptures

I have the gift of not yelling at the kids, reading my scriptures, and praying daily