TGIF

TGIF! Today was a great day, not only did I get to catch up with my friend Kelly and her son Henry who were visiting from Seattle but we also got to have a fun play date late this afternoon. 

I am really looking forward to a weekend that is relaxing and looks like this….

But let's be honest I will probably have a weekend that looks a little more like this. 

Go Fish

Mae loves playing Go Fish. She got the game for Christmas from my parents and she asked to play it everyday for what seemed like months. She also never allows just one game to be played in a sitting. We always have to play many, many times once the cards come out. I got wise to it and it hid it for awhile. Then today out of the blue she asked to play it saying that "we hadn't played it in a very long time." I was actually pretty excited about it because I really enjoy playing games with her now, she actually gets how to play, her attention span is long enough that she sits still, and she doesn't care yet about winning or losing.  The only thing about playing with her is that she refuses to hold the cards in her hands, which makes cheating way too easy. That is cheating to make sure she wins! I am sure there will come a time that I actually want to win and can't without cheating. 

While Mae loves playing Go Fish, Whitaker has taken to playing the harmonica the last couple of days.  He has been making music and making me laugh and smile with his musical talent as of late. 

Enough Already!!

This is a picture from Whitaker this morning. Yep, he is donning the full snow gear on March 17th. 

It snowed AGAIN here last night and into this morning, dumping about 8 inches of snow everywhere. Enough already!! I am over snow days, putting on kids' snow boots/pants/gloves, feeling like all I want to do is eat, and trying to entertain my kids indoors.

We had a beautifully, glorious 60 degree day this past Saturday and it just made me ache for warmer weather. Since Spring is officially only 3 days away, I can only hope that winter gets the hint and gets the hell out of here. 

Monkey

Too often, I wonder what is Whitaker's motivation for doing what he is doing. I guess he thought eating  with his toes tonight was better then eating with his hands. What you really might be wondering is why was I not stopping this immediately and why did I videotape it? Honestly, I had been up since 4:53 am, by dinner time at 6:10 pm, I was pretty much cashed out and was happy for no more crying. (Whitaker seemed to have shed a lot of tears today). So instead I rolled with it and watched it unfold. 

And it continues...

So after our car conversation the other day about the baby in Julie's belly, I thought that might be the end of the conversation but it hasn't been. Today on two separate occasions Mae brought up the conversation of babies.

The first she lifted up her shirt and in weird voice said, "look at the baby in my belly."

Then as we were cuddling in bed tonight she asked me this.
Mae: Is the baby in Aunt Julie's belly real or pretend? 
Me: Real. 
Mae: Yes that is what I thought. 
Me: But the baby is really, really little right now and is going to grow bigger and bigger. Kinda like you have grown since you were born. 
Mae: But doesn't it all get squished in there. 
Me: No it expands to fit the baby. 
Mae: What does expand mean? 
(And then more talk about expanding and stretching skin and who knows what else). 

I do love how her little mind is working trying to figure it all out, I just wish maybe she asked Pearson some of these questions. 

"Does it hurt?"

This morning we were driving to meet my younger sister Julie to walk around Old Town. As we were driving to meet her, Mae and I were discussing the possibility of maybe going out to lunch. And then this happened…

Mae: I will let Aunt Julie decide where she wants to eat. 
Me: That is very nice of you. Yes, she gets to decide because she is having a baby. 
Mae: Mom, how does Aunt Julie's baby get out of her belly? 
Me [pause deciding how much to say]: Uhhhhh, it just comes out.
Mae: Will she get a headache? And how does it really come out? 
Me: Well, actually the baby will come out of Aunt Julie's vagina.
Mae: Does it hurt? 
Me: Yes, but it is well worth it. Also they give you medicine so it doesn't hurt that terribly. 
Mae: So one day I can have a baby because I have a vagina but Whit can't. 
Me: Yes, that is correct. 

PS - I know I have yet to share the information about Julie having a baby but it isn't really my news to share but I realize many people don't read this so I hope I didn't spill the beans for her. However, I feel that since she is almost half way there it isn't much of a secret anymore. In case you were wondering Julie is due on July 19th and they aren't going to find out the sex of the baby but we are rooting for a Baby Girl in this family. Or at least Mae and I are!

PPS - Writing this post brought up a memory about my Grandma Kogut. I remember her telling me that when she gave birth to my dad [her oldest] she actually didn't know where the baby came out of UNTIL she went into labor. As she explained it to us, no one, at least in her family, talked about "those types of things" at that time. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around this information and still find it a little unbelievable - although I know she wouldn't lie about that type of thing. It just shows you how far we have come in talking about these types of things.

Can't Get Enough Of Your Love

Mae and Whitaker just can't get enough of each other.

The two, when in the same physical space, are inseparable. This is good and bad. Good because they generally enjoy each others company, adore each other, and keep each other entertained. Also together they are absolutely adorable. It is bad because the close proximity to each other seems to end up with someone always getting hurt - intentionally and unintentionally. Even when I tell them to separate and go to their own rooms, they generally just end up in one or the other's room to commiserate together. 

I love how close they are and I love that they cherish, comfort, and care for each other. I love how they protect each other against the big and bad mommy [me] on days, which I hope translates into being partners for life. I love how they make each other laugh and are each other's friends. 

This morning when the big bad mommy reared her ugly head because I told Mae at least 10 times it was time to get dressed and she couldn't have any smoothie until she did, she went off to her room to cry with the door shut. As I was in my room getting dressed, I hear a knock on Mae's door and then hear Whit's sweet, sweet voice say, "Mae, I cheer you up." Whit repeated his words again. Then I look out at him in the hall with a smoothie in his hand. Mae opens the door and he hands her some to take a sip. 

At that moment my heart just melted into butter and I felt bad for being the big bad mommy but were so happy that they were able to defeat her with team work. 

Here are photos of them dumping water on each other's head. It went on for about 10 minutes but of course ended up with tears when Whitaker accidentally knocked Mae in the head with the colander. Always good and bad. Always the good outweighs the bad. 

Sign

I have started exploring the possibility of going back to school for a new career. Today I even went so far as to go to an information session at one of the local colleges to hear more about their program. As I was driving home from the school, I talked to Pearson and told him that just attending the session made me excited about going back to school but don't know if it really sent me down the path of committing to going back to school for the prerequisites for the degree, then going back to school, and then actually being in a new career. My exact words to him were, "I need a sign. I wish someone would just give me a sign that this is the right thing." His reply, "Well that isn't going to happen so you just need to make a decision."

So, I am going to seriously explore this in the next few weeks. In the meantime, hopefully I will be given some sort of sign. 

Five

Yesterday Heather and Matt had to sign some papers at the bank so we got the pleasure of watching our nephews for a short bit. With impending snow on the horizon for the start of the week, we decided to take advantage of the clear and sunny, albeit cold morning, and take everyone out for a little scooting/skating, rock throwing, and walk through the woods. 

We were quite the sight to behold on the trail and I can only assume everyone that smiled and commented on our brood of kids thought we had a 7 year old and two sets of twins, which would be craaaazzzzyyyy. I love watching my nephews, have a wonderful time doing it, and love seeing all the kids together but rest assured, we will not be having five kids ever. 

Such a Whit face. He is mad about something.