My Mommy

My mom, like most mom's, did everything for us and always got the short end of the stick. Her accomplishments are many, though for me, at least, I never really noticed them even when they were right in front of me. As kids she drove us everywhere- to tennis lessons, swimming lessons, cooking lessons, softball, baseball, choir, to gymnastics at 6AM. She took me to the library regularly, not only to take out books, but to see magicians and puppet shows. She did crafts with us on that brown barrel-table in the den and gave me a spot of my own to plant a garden of pansies. We went to summer's world, and swimming at the town pool. She even gave me a can of Cambell's soup so that I could iron my dad's handkerchiefs while she did her ironing next to me. I remember her crushing up our aspirin and trying to hide it in a tsp. of orange juice and sitting with me while I cried of an earache on the couch. She brought my brother to the dr. week after week for his beesting therapy. She was on all sorts of committees, chaired most of them, and worked hard for our greater good. I thought it was cool just to have her volunteer in the library at Nelson Place. She kept things going when my dad was so sick (he even tried to die on her, but she can occasionally be a bit, ummmm, pushy and that day she wasn't ready to let him go) She then started her own business and led a staff of 5 during the day before coming home to my teenage crap at night. She is still taking care of me and cleaning up after me to this day. She tried hard to instill order to my chaos, but sadly it never really stuck--until now. Now that I have a family of my own and I see all the behind-the-scene stuff that needs doing. All the stuff that you work so hard at, that you never get credit for. I had an awesome childhood and I can only hope to be as successful as she was at the end of the day. Thanks, mom. You're the best. I love you!

Dear Mommy,

I hat you be kuase I don haf any fun. Sined, from Rachel.
The funny thing is that she didn't write it because she hated me, she did it because she wanted a hug and to get me to snuggle with her and tell her I loved her. Why is it that we are so concerned about our manners outside of the home and being PC, but we (I) can get so caught up in the everyday stuff in our home that our daughter has to send me hate mail in order to get a hug?
She is so precious to me. I love that she gave me this note. With her head lowered, her eyebrows up and her bangs hanging low over her eyes. Like she has reached the end of her rope with me. I wish I could capture that expression on camera. I love that even when she was feeling that mad at me, she still could communicate with me. She cleverly thought of a way to passively get my attention with aggressive words in order to get what she needed. Genius!
Don't worry....we're best friends now. We even had some extra-special snuggle time while I sang her to sleep. I love you, too, Rach.

Becoming my mom

Enough said.

..............love you, mom!

Typhoon Benjamin

My little boy is becoming quite the mess-maker. Flour, half a container of baby formula, ketchup, toilet paper from the dispenser on the second floor all the way down to the living room door (you should have heard the giggle for that one LOL). Over the last couple of weeks it has just gotten out of control. Making a mess just to see what it will look like. Not in anger, not for any reason but the pure science of it. It is a good thing he gives such great hugs!

My littlest princess

She is amazing, my little R2. Yesterday she was standing up in her crib when I went to get her from her nap. She calls me mama and claps and waves and holds her breath in anticipation of "weee, weee, weee, all the way home!"
She is crawling from room to room and today went up on all fours like she was going to stand up herself in the middle of the room. Her hair is getting so long it is starting to be in her eyes and she is working on tooth #6. She LOVES to pull herself up to standing on whatever/whoever is near, and enjoys petting the animals. Today I had her in an 18month turtleneck onsie and 12 month pants. She is long in the torso like me. Her body is long and lean but she has those ADORABLE chunky thighs which I just love. She is so very alert and "with it" that everyone thinks I am joking when I say that she is only 8.5 months. So beautiful. What a blessing.

A Golden Book

R1 has a bookshelf in her room that is full to overflowing with books. We read a book every night before bed and it is the ultimate punishment not to get a book. It is getting fun, as now she is starting to read to me. So a few weeks ago I was lying in her bed and the top corner of a book was pulled out of the shelf. The letters were pastel with little white dots decorating them. I was intrigued as we have read all of those books over and over, but I couldn't place this one. It must be one that Nana got for her and it got put on the shelf as part of a group. Hmmmmm I reached for it, pulled it out and squealed. "OMG Rachel! Look at this book! I LOVE this book! Grammy used to read it to me ALL THE TIME!" I couldn't believe it was tucked in there and I never saw it!
It is called Home For a Bunny and has a cute brown bunny on the cover. I read the first line and the rest just rolled off my tongue. After she fell asleep I ran down and called my mom.
"Mom- you gotta listen to what I just found- you won't believe it!....."Spring, spring, spring" sang the frog. "Spring" sang the groundhog. It was spring......
My mom couln't believe it either. What a nice laugh we had. .....I wonder what ever happened to The Color Kittens, Hush and Mush? LOL

The Parent Test

The tough questions. They always seem to come out of nowhere, don't they? This afternoon we were driving into Concord to bring R1 to a birthday party. She was sooooo excited about it she had been counting down the minutes all day. It was a bowling party and we spent the drive practicing our singing of Happy Birthday (and the Star Spangled Banner LOL), talking about bowling and guessing what colors the shoes would be. "Mom, what does it mean to go to sleep permanently?" See what I mean? Out of the blue.
You have to know R1. There is no skimming over the answer, changing the subject or trying to ignore her altogether. No only does she want to know what it means, she wants to know how it happens, how it feels, who, where, what and especially why. . I think I did OK....I hope I did. We talked, we discussed examples, we cried together about Cherrie, then I announced that we were almost there, dried our tears and laughed again about shoes being all different colors.
She stayed for two hours then I picked her up and we came home for dinner. I was still mulling the conversation over in my mind. Did I give her too much information?
She always asks such specific questions! "How did Cherrie's whole body and her bones and everything get to fit inside that little box?" That was the question a few months ago. I told her that Cherrie had been cremated and that her ashes were in the box. I later heard her tell someone that her dog had been "re-maded" and was living in her heart now. Out of the mouths of babes.
So-- you want to know the question for the ride home? "Mom, what is a heart attack?" Ugh! I guess I should have married a doctor!

Time flies

Boy, does Rebecca seem to be growing up fast! She has cut her 5th tooth -on the top left- and is working on #6 on the top right. She goes from sitting to the crawl position and back to sitting like a champ and is starting to really be mobile. Last night she pulled herself to standing on daddy's legs. Yikes! I glanced back at her first pictures today...I love the one of Rachel holding her on the hospital bed... and I can't get over how the event itself seems so long ago, yet at the same time I can't believe that enough time has passed for her to be as big as she is. She is wearing 12 mos. clothing, and even some 18mos pants as she is so tall. She tries so hard to join in with her siblings, and loves to laugh along with them. My little lamb- not so little anymore!

Reflections

From the time she was a year old, my oldest daughter has LOVED to watch her reflection in windows. As a toddler she spent much of her time in front of our sliding glass doors performing little dances, tilting her head back and forth and watching herself whenever possible out of the corner of her eye. You could hold a whole conversation with her without her ever looking at you. She was absolutely fascinated by her reflection. Doors and windows at home, in stores, at grammy's house.........didn't matter where you were-- if there was a reflection, Rachel was performing for it. It was so very cute and everyone commented on it, all the time.
For the past year or maybe even two, I haven't noticed her doing it. In fact, I had forgotten about that cute little habit from her toddlerhood.
For the past week or so I have caught her several times making faces and singing into the glass. This evening while we talked about her day she didn't look at me once, prefering instead to converse while watching herself over my shoulder. Such a simple thing which brought back so many wonderful memories. "Hit it!"

A Conversation to Remember

I had a conversation with my son yesterday. It was our first real back-and-forth conversation. Wow! Do I feel good about it. *smile* Here is the content:
I had called my mom. He said hello to her and then, after I hung up, he put his hand flat on his forehead (with his thumb and index finger sticking up), turned his head right and left and said, "Whe Me?" I said, "Grammy went home. She is at her house." He said, "pa?" I said, "Grampa is at his house, too." He then stuck his hand in his back pocket (he had overalls on). He smiled and said, "Paw". I said, "Yes, you have a lot of pockets in those pants, don't you?" He stuck one hand in his back pocket and the other in his front pocket. He looked up at me and said, "Uh, oh, stu-" I replied, "your hands are stuck?" To which he laughed and pulled them out and yelled, "tah dah!!" Too funny that kid! Makes me feel good to know that his language is coming along....Rachel was a late talker, too, so I never really worried about Ben, but it is nice to be able to interact verbally with him. *Satisfied deep breath* How long do you think I have until I am verbally sparing with him?? LOL

Yes, I know, Mom

Rachel. Age 6.5 and she runs circles around me. Tonight we read the Magic School Bus Goes to the Moon. She just got it from her Scholastic Book Club. In the book, Phoebe's dad goes on the magic school bus with them and is enjoying the lack of gravity on the moon. He is jumping all around and such. "Rachel", I said, "gravity is....." "I know, Mom-- gravity is the invisible force that holds us to the earth." Of course she knew that. What was I thinking? Silly me.

Snickers

Snickers scratched at the door to go out today----I am taking it as a victory. Hooray!

Right Before My Very Eyes

My daughter is growing up so quickly! Its funny how you don't really notice it from day-to-day but then she does something and it stops you in your tracks when you realize how big she is. This morning she did something mundane........she skipped by me and reached up to the top of the tv shelf to get the remote. When did she get tall enough to do that on her own? She didn't hesitate....didn't look around for a chair or a stool, just knew that she could do it, no biggie. I blinked and looked at her. Like really looked at her. She is growing taller and a bit more slender. She is reading up a storm and her new favorite show to watch with us in the evenings is How It's Made. She enjoys school and really likes math. She gets good marks on her spelling tests and like to play those hand-jive games (Lemonade -clap, clap, clap- crunchy ice- clap, clap, clap-) She is such a beautiful girl.........if only she was a neat freak! *wink*