Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Hello.

I'm finishing up Stephen King's newest, and it's all I can do not to go back and edit my previous two horrendous posts. I'm embarrassed that those of you who read my blog and know that I'm an editor and sometimes writer...know that I'm an editor and sometimes writer and posted those blogs.

Oh well (I say, cringing). There just isn't time.

What there IS time for is rearranging my living room/dining room area, cleaning and playing with babies. One of them is tapping a small mirror on my knee while slobbering all over herself and saying, "a duh duh duh...aaaaaaaa....*spittle spittle gurgle*...yAAAAAAA....ah yuh yuh...guh guh," you get the picture.

It's Drue.

Just kidding. Drue is napping. My napping QUEEN! She reigns on her sleepy throne! I love her.

Paigey, on the other hand, does NOT like naps. Oh, no. She does nap. I would not let her not nap. But she fights it and will never sleep as long as Drue does. Luckily, she's also really pleasant and happy to play by herself for long stretches when she's awake.

We watched "The Bear Movie" the other night (aka "Over the Hedge"), so Drue's into that these days. I'm cutting down TV time though, so we watch it in spurts (and I always skip the scary chapters, especially with her having nightmares lately, which are getting better btw). We are down to 3 hours of TV a day. That might sound like a lot of TV to some, but it is NOT. It is difficult to watch only that much TV, and mostly because I'm so super selfish with my time. I really don't mind clunking them down in front of the tube. I can get my stuff done! But lately I've been feeling less OK about it, especially as Drue is getting older and I'm realizing that she just isn't good at PLAYING.

We're a couple of weeks in, and she's already playing better! Paige loves to play, so we're good there. We're listening to more music and doing more activities together. And it's HARD, but so good. So worth it. It's a discipline for all of us.

Other things are happening, but I don't have time to write about them in detail. Let's throw a list out there. A list of VERY important things, starting with:

I'm parting my hair in the middle now.
Nobody is commenting on ANYTHING I post on Facebook, and so I'm convinced EVERYBODY has blocked me.
Being married stuff.
I am picking up Little Caesar's Pizza tonight for community group and couldn't be more excited because Little Caesar's makes me think of home (i.e., Norman, OK).
I think about writing a book again almost daily, and never start.
We're getting an Elliptical machine any day now, and that's why I just rearranged our living space. Yes, we're putting it downstairs for everyone to see.

That is all.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Groceries and Griperies

Do you love grocery shopping? I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love it when I make it within budget, which lately is pretty much never, which is probably why I'm so frustrated and writing this post.

Making the grocery list is like putting a puzzle together. Part of me likes this, because it feels satisfying when I've made a good list. Part of me loves sitting down with my big recipe book and magazines that I haven't torn the recipes out of yet, and deciding. Most of me hates it.

Let's just gripe for a minute. At the moment (and that is very important here), I:

* am tired of thinking about how to feed four people lunches.
* am tired of stressing about the amount of produce I can buy without going over budget.
* have a (previously mentioned) huge book of recipes and still feel like I have nothing to cook.
* feel like I have no go-to recipes other than spaghetti and burritos.
* want more go-to recipes.

Okay, now let's be happy...

I am thankful I have three other mouths to feed; it's just hard sometimes, and that's probably normal.

Occasionally I get to go to the grocery store by myself or with just one baby, and even going with two can be really fun because I have two great girls.

We have a Trader Joe's reasonably nearby.

There is food in my house.

I have no right to gripe about anything, but man, let's just get it out there: yesterday was HARD. I have come down with the cold that the girls just finished having, and we had a "playdate" at 10:30, so I decided, because Monday is grocery and laundry and basically just clean all day day, that we'd go ahead and get our errands run before the playdate and just leave the groceries in the car while we were there (it was cold). Never, if you're me, plan to run three errands before a 10:30 playdate, especially on a cold and wet day when you're all in huge jackets and boots and etc.

Trader Joe's was fine.

Target (there are almost always a few things I can't find at TJ's, which is another issue) was not as fine. Starting to sweat; girls starting to get tired...

Bed, Bath and Beyond was a MISTAKE. Really sweating now, and the girl who's helping us find this alarm clock for Drue is taking FOREVER, and I can't put Paige down because what she wants isn't down (because I would have put her on any dirty floor at that point) but to EAT and NAP. This poor girl helping us; I was making it very clear that I'd appreciate it if she'd just STOP TALKING TO US AND LOOKING THIS UP ON YOUR COMPUTER. I'VE CHANGED MY MIND AND JUST WANT TO GO! My throat is also starting to hurt at this point, which is frustrating because that means I'm getting this stupid, snotty cold.

We get back into the car and buckled in (over the huge coats - that's a feat) and nobody is straight-up crying, but there is whining. "We're going to Miss Kate's house, guys. It's right around the corner. We'll eat some lunch. It'll all be good. Let's try not to whine."

I pull out my phone to text our friend and tell her we're coming. I have a text message waiting for me. "Did you get Kate's message? She can't have anyone over till 11:30. Rough night with Addy." (Addy is Kate's brand spanking new baby.)

Well, the selfish bastard in me was frustrated. My plans had been foiled. Kate...poor Kate...she was up all night with a new, screaming baby and dealing with that "all I can do is nurse and I feel like a cow" feeling, plus the zombie feeling, and I'm thinking about ME?!?! I'm such a good friend.

We drove the 15 minutes home, and it wasn't as bad as I'd made it out in my mind to probably be. Paige fell asleep. Drue became content (by the mercy of our Lord), and I prayed for Kate and repented about my ugliness. No, we wouldn't be coming back at 11:30, but that was probably best anyway, since I was coming down with a cold. We'll see Kate and her sweet, precious Addy another day. And not after running three errands.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Memorization

It finally struck me the other day while driving and singing a random song from the early '00s to which I knew ALL the lyrics...that if I have this huge compartment in my brain full of song lyrics (literally thousands of songs, I would think), then my children have the capacity to memorize SO much scripture. That I had that capacity as well, and maybe still do?, but that I probably ruined it by filling my brain with noise, etc. Granted, many of the lyrics in my head are hymns, so that is good; it's not calling to mind scripture, but it's close. All to say, when we talk about how people in biblical days were able to memorizes passages of scripture (BIG passages), it's not just something to laugh at and go, Yeah, right. Because I did that. I didn't REALLY believe it. But why? I believe it now. I wish I had had a classical education, or at the least an education that utilized more memorization, and specifically memorization of scripture. Why didn't I get this until just now? OK...gotta go play in a tent with a two-year-old (who, by the way, is having a terrible time with emotions lately; more on that later).

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

May I join you in the bathroom? Why, yes! Of course!

I once read that a mom who wants alone time should utilize the bathroom. In my experience, this does not work. And it's hilarious.

This morning...

I needed to wash my head, so while Collin was downstairs ironing his work clothes, both girls happily playing around his feet, I snuck upstairs to do so: alone.

NO more than 120 seconds later, upstairs comes Drue, her new, gigantic pencil in tow.

"Mommy? Mommy! What you doing?"

"Hey, baby. I'm--"

"You washing your hair?"

"Yep."

At this point I'm kind of laughing because I realize, again, that I will not be alone between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. until I'm 40 years old - unless the girls go to school, but that's another conversation. It *feels* like I won't be alone until I'm 40; that's for sure.

"I splash it for you?"

"What?"

She makes a motion to splash the water with her hands, and I say no thank you. Then the singing begins.

"La la la...la da daaaaaah!" And chanting. "Mommy's elbow! Mommy's elbow!"

All the while she's either marching or "drawing" on my back with her gigantic pencil and then laughing. And all the while my eyes are burning because I've gotten next to no sleep, but I'm also thoroughly enjoying it because, well, who wouldn't?