Well, now what?

At dinner this evening, I warned Elaina that if she got up from her seat one more time before she was finished, she was going to sit in time out.

To this she replied, "Okay. Momma, I like time out. I'll go now."

Me: (crap. crap. crap.) "Sit down young Lady. You need to finish two more bites before you leave this table. Tell me why you would like time out."

Elaina: "I like time out because it's comfortable and quiet to myself. Mommy, can I go now?"

Me: (crap. crap. crap.) "TWO BITES!"

Custom Made Kids: Ours

For as long as I can remember, I've never wanted any more out of life than to be a wife and a mother. The kind just like my own mom.

And as long as I can remember, I've always wanted 2 kids; my daughter first followed with my son, 2 years apart. And in the most round about way and in a way that I would have never in a million years would have imagined, I got exactly what I wanted. Without flaw, without mistake, but pure perfection wrapped in sweet Elaina and Lincoln packages.


One of Ava's nurses from the NICU once told me that if it weren't for Ava's passing, Elaina would have never been a part of our family. On the same token, we would have never gotten Lincoln if we weren't already prepared for adoption.


It's these reminders that I hold dear when I look at our family dynamics and how our children came to be ours. It's for these reasons that I started blogging in the first place. It's been plenty healing while at the same time, pure and honest. Having adopted both of our children makes our bond of love even a little bit more unique than that of having biological children. Even though this isn't the way that I dreamed our family would be created, this is the family that I've always wanted. From the moment we held our newborns in the hospital rooms, we gazed upon the faces of little strangers. Little people who would change our lives and capture our hearts. With minimal family history at best and hardly a description of their biological fathers, their stories would be unfolding in our homes as they shared our last name. All the while knowing that their lives and their futures were changed from that very moment.
With promises of love, happiness, family, faith and abundant spoiling, our bond was cemented. While I'm not naive enough to believe that raising our kids through the hormonal teenage years won't always be sunshine and rainbows, our kids will always have that extra "circumstance" of being adopted to cause a potential riff in our Fairy Castle Dreamland. I'm using our time right now to capture these pure and celebrated moments to remind our kids that there wasn't a day in their lives that they weren't loved. That there's not a single thing in this world to suggest that they weren't meant for us and us for them.

One of very reasons that I began blogging all those years ago was to have a keepsake to come back to. A time capsule of pure and honest tales of our kids growing up and the happiness they have brought to everyone around them in the process. Memoirs so clear that I can just about hear their throaty, little giggles in the hallway while each of them thinks that the other looks the silliest. While they chase each other from one room to the next until finally realizing that they both want to crash atop mom and dad's bed with the silky comforter to squirm around on.

To remember the tender moments of the eldest convincing her mother that she wants to lay with "Lil'Lincoln in his crib so that he doesn't get lonely." And then laughing and playing with each other for nearly an hour before either lets the other rest.

And at the end of our crazy, long days, finding a mom that is most happy and satisfied with both of the little strangers who have made her life even better than she could have ever dreamed.

Friends and Family

This evening is the first time all week that I've actually been able to breathe in some down time. A big deep breathe of QUIET time. Quiet time for me means kids are in bed (obviously), husband is home, house is clean-ish, and every little preparation I do for the next day has all been squared away. Deep breath. Aahhh.

It's been like one crazy, zippy, fast roller coaster ride for much of this last week. Hence, no blogging which I so much wanted for. Somehow this time of year shoves Eric's work schedule into full swing, however unrelated to weather his job duties are. Our calendar is like a hopscotch pattern of multiple overnights dates that he'll be out of town. And this past week and weekend weren't any different. It's nice to finally have him home.

Speaking of traveling, my parents have returned home from Florida and since we were dog-sitting for them, we were the last stop on their almost 3 week trip. Which, coincidentally panned out beautifully for them to be here when I had to take Elaina to a very structured open-house at preschool (which Lincoln would have never sat through) and I was set to host our monthly girls' Bunco night at my house on Friday. And boy, did grandparents ever come in handy! Eric actually returned home late on Thursday evening, which we took full advantage of my parents being here by asking them to put the kids to bed while we high-tailed our way out the door to have a grocery shopping date at Wal-Mart of all places at 8:30 on a week night! Let it not be said that the romance has died after all these years!

As for girls' night, playing Bunco, it totally rocks! (I'm over 30; not sure if I'm allowed to be using that expression.) I've taken the commitment to hosting our group in our garage since it's plenty large enough and we can be as loud as we want to be. No one has to clean and prep their house, kick out their family, shush their friends for sleeping children or cram 12 people and 3 tables into one room. A garage party it is!

Bunco was initiated by a friend of mine almost a year ago and we've been trying to pull together our (girl) friend group and commit ourselves to one girls' night each month. So far, it's been awesome. It's the one night we hoot and holler, laugh until we cry and eat until we want to burst. And then we walk to the local bar and drink, dance and tell secrets that ought not to be revealed. It's the best night ever! And this time, it was my mom and dad that saved the day by taking care of the kids all day and night and even the next morning while I did a little bit of much needed recuperating. Thanks mom and dad for allowing me a few extra punches on my Mom-Off-the-Clock-Fun-Card. I really needed that!

Girls and Genie's

If the very reason I blog ever slips my mind, it's stuff like this I want to come back to.

As Elaina was going about her business on the potty tonight, she identified a sound and asked if it came from her tongue or from her tongue-butt. Hmmm.... give Mom just a minute here Kid, did you just say 'tongue-butt?"

When I replied that I didn't know what a tongue-butt was, she motioned to her "girl parts." Okay, so I already know that I'm a wimp for not plunging into proper anatomy terms with my 3 year old, but for now, "girl-parts" is working for us. She told me that "it" looks like a butt and a "that thing looks like a little tongue." Although I'm dying a little bit right within my skin at this point, the conversation proceeded.

Mom: "Elaina, that is not called a tongue-butt. Those are your girl-parts and we just call them girl parts."

Elaina: "Mommy, boys have boy parts. And sometimes, they're long. But not always. Girl parts are long too-- but not too long. They just look like butts-- but little butts. And they're fat-- but not too fat. Mommy, we're both girls, right?"

Mom: "Yes Honey, we're both girls and there's a lot of special things that go along with being girls."

Elaina: "I wish that Daddy was Lincoln and that Lincoln was Daddy and that you are Elaina and that I am Mommy and if I had a Genie, I would have lots of wishes and there would be purple clouds and I would be the Princess and Aladdin...."

Comeback

Well, would you lookey there? Darned near 2 weeks since I cut out for a very impromptu blogging hiatus. And the more unusual twist was that it was for no reason at all. Well, unless you count laziness, procrastination and my total, utmost addiction to facebook. Darned friends talking all over there. Actual conversations. Almost.

I think that my sudden lack of blogging was that I simply needed a break. I mostly save my computer time for late at night, after a long day of working, wrangling kids, cooking dinner, looking over my favorite websites and then, and only then, do I try to kick-start some creativity and imagination of what I want to post about that night. And quite frankly, sometimes I have no imagination, no creativity and not even an ounce of energy to give back to the blogoshere. Sorry.

So, in my nearly 2 week blog-cation (vacation from blogging, that is) our world most definitely hasn't been standing still. In fact, the simple act of forfeiting midnight blogging sessions hasn't even afforded me earlier bedtimes. Oh NO!!

Last week I registered Elaina for preschool. I made my very last official Tastefully Simple order, which as you may remember, I was calling that side business QUITS clear back in October, but that's another long story. The paw-licking-stinkering bundle of fur next to my feet is reminding me that we have been dog sitting for my parents while they are visiting my grandparents in Florida. The time of year where Eric has to travel out of town for days at a time is upon us once again. I've taken advantage of some severe bouts of OCD and tackled some nagging projects around the house which have left me with a great sense of accomplishment. I am in desperate need of ONE ENTIRE day to clean out baby clothes from my attic and attempt to resale or pass along mounds of outgrown sizes which we no longer have need for. I scored an autographed print of an OSU football player AND money just by numbering some prints for a friend. Eric and I enjoyed a night out with a group of friends to listen to an 80's rock band that I enjoyed more than I ever thought possible. And finally, FINALLY, I think that it may be safe to say that I am headed to an upswing on my blogging initiative. Really!

That's all I've got Folks. I feel like a severe novice trying to get back in the swing of things over here in my old neighborhood. I hope no one was beginning to think that I had moved out. I'll be back.

The other side of sick

The one (and only) thing I don't mind about our kids being sick is being able to stay home from work to take care of them. So what if I did use up nearly 30 hours of my sick time to be at home with my kids. And so what if I found myself plucking an almost-gone roll of toilet paper from the toilet bowl on a random afternoon at home. And who can blame me for wanting to stay in my pajamas the whole day long when I have no place to be?

By Wednesday afternoon, I could pretty much tell that Lincoln was turning the corner to feeling better. His fever was gone, his appetite was improving and judging from his less-croup sounding cough, the breathing treatments seemed to be doing their job. The only pitfall was that he was still fairly cranky and still possibly contagious. So, we stayed home. The whole week long.

Lucky for all of us, my parents paid us a visit which was actually twofold in their purpose. Of course they wanted to lend a hand in simplifying our week with a sick child but also, they were leaving their dog behind for us to dog sit while they headed to Florida. Elaina and Lincoln were totally beside themselves with having new people around rather than same-old-mom and same-old-dad day in and day out. Grandma and Grandpa even stayed home with them on Friday which allowed for Eric and I both to go to work. Simultaneously.

In juggling all of what last week threw at us, I've become more completely aware of a couple things. First of all, I would be happiest working my day job only part-time. And secondly, stay-at-home moms never really get any kind of break. Nap time hardly constitutes a 'break." Har. That's the time that you clean off the highchair tray for the 37th time of the day, chase millions of loads of laundry through, prepare the next meal, clean up and hide all of the "projects" that you would prefer not to tackle with a 3 year-old and go to the bathroom in peace.

In my days of staying home, I would admit that leisurely sleep-in mornings beat the crap out of our morning rush of dressing and feeding 3 people to leave the house at an exact time. Spending time painting banners, baking cookies and drawing pictures albums with my eldest and reading, singing and holding my youngest on my lap are things all more valuable than a paycheck.