Jesus Flag

Lauren goes through these stages where she will just suddenly come up to you and want hugs and kisses. Fine with me. Soon will come a day when she won't want them as much anymore... that will be sad. But in the meantime, I relish in these days.
Anyway, she came up to me and wanted hugs and kisses. So, I obliged.
Then, strangely, but not really cause she is a silly little girl, she wanted to kiss my shirt. No, this isn't like the pope and his ring, I am just wearing the ever so elusive and stylish 2005 Old Navy flag shirt.
I asked her if she knew what was on my shirt. (fortunately, I had no spit up on me this morning). She said "Flag". ( I will spare you the actual annunciation she gave, since she still works with the letter "L".)
I asked her if she knew who's flag it was. She looked me square in the eye and said "Jesus's".

And there you have it.
It is amazing what you can learn from your child. Things that you thought that you knew. But you forget the basics.

The Real Monet

I was always decent at art. My macrame and clay handprints were always the envy of the other 5th graders. But never in my wildest imagination would I think that I would be held to the highest standard of artistry.
Since I had Lauren, I have become the QUEEN of drawing. I do snowmen, cats, bears ... I even learned how to draw Minnie Mouse. But, the absolute best thing I do is Veggie Tales. Apparently, my husband isn't any good at Veggies... Mommy is the one to draw Bob, Larry, Junior, Mommy and Daddy Asparagus and the Gourds too.
Whenever there is a crayon and a blank peice of paper, Bob must be drawn first.
It is nice to know that I am absolutely the best at something.... at least in my daughters eyes. It is a big boost to my spirit.
Maybe someday I will post some of my "art".
In the meantime, it will just be for my girl.

Projectile Vomiting

Projectile Vomiting. I had never heard this terminology until I had my first child and was flipping through my Dr. Spock book during her naptime one afternoon. "Ha ha. That's funny. Seriously, that only happens in the movies"

Little did I know.

I was reminded of this early this week when after feeding my son his bottle, I received what we can call "the fountain of Enfamil".

Fortunately, my husband was still home so he could answer my scream of "AGHHHHHHHHHH" with a hand towel. (You know you are a real mom when your kid is vomiting... into your cupped hands. :) )

But you know, little kids are so "hearty" I guess you can say. Tyler spit up his entire 6 oz then smiled. "All better", I am sure he was thinking.

This makes me think of Jeff Foxworthy... You may be a redneck if...
In my MOPS group, we take time to share mom stories... "Real Moms..."

I once shared the following: "Real moms... use their t-shirt to wipe their kids nose when a Kleenex isn't available."

You can get real sentimental about this... "Real moms give up buying themselves things, so they can provide for their families", but most moms do that and that isn't really funny.

These should be things that you are afraid to admit, but are pleasantly surprised when you aren't the only one who does this. "Real moms lick off their baby's pacifier then give it back after it falls on the ground in Walmart".

I love those real mom moments. They do still freak my husband out sometimes... but he just doesn't get it... he isn't a mom.

Sleep

I went on a women's retreat this past weekend. I initially was very excited about this for a very strange reason. According to Lynda-Logic, "Retreat" was synonymous with "Get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep". (Just to clarify, my son is sleeping through the night, but he hasn't yet learned to stick the paci back into his mouth AND we still haven't trained the dog to let herself out to go potty. There is nothing better than being woken up at 3am to "pant-pant-pant")

Isn't that sad? Looking forward to sleep...not the content or the girls I was going with, but the sleep. (BTW, the retreat was EXCELLENT!) I will share some of my thoughts on that at another time.

Anyway, in all my foolishness, I neglected to remember that I was going on a ladies retreat with LADIES!!! Ladies = Talking. So my 8 hours turned into 5 hours. But it was uninterrupted. And I wouldn't trade the time I spent chatting with my roommates or the other ladies for 3 more hours of sleep.

To top it off, when I got home Saturday, I had to deal with the depressing fact that Daylight Savings Time was starting. YIKES! I really hate it when my sleep is taken from me. Sleeping, Showering, Naptime. Gotta love those.

Little Girls

Little girls crack me up. A year or so ago, a girlfriend of mine asked me if my daughter liked to change her clothes several times a day. I looked at her confused and replied "No. Why, does yours?" Sure enough, she told me that her daughter liked to change her clothes at least 3-4 times a day. Hmm, just think of the laundry.

So lately, my daughter has adopted this behavior. Most of the time it is driven by this deep need to wear her minnie mouse shirt whenever she sees it. If it is in her laundry, she will pull it out, then put it on. Day after day after day. If it is in a stack of folded laundry...instant "Want Minnie Mouse".

But it doesn't stop there. Just today, she was playing in her room. She went in wearing one outfit, came out dressed for bed (although she had her pull up on over her pajama bottoms), went back in and came out in a different outfit. She seemed satisfied with the third outfit, at least for the time being. It isn't even naptime yet.

But what a little personality she has. I can't figure out if she is going to be a tomboy or a girly girl. It is one one day and the other the next. Doesn't matter to me though... she is MY girl!

Favorite Time of Day

You gotta love naptime. 1 1/2 - 2 hours of peace and quiet. Sometimes I feel guilty for enjoying it so much, but then my 2 year old wakes up and it is non-stop once again. Toss the 5 month on in and it is a sprint for the rest of the day. Today my oldest is at MDO. Gotta love MDO. Good for her, good for me. My youngest is sleeping now and so I get to catch up on my email and take surveys...someday I will win that promised "$500". Sure.

Got an email from a friend this morning about my neighbor. She has lymphoma. She also has 2 kids and a husband. Her youngest and my oldest are 2 months apart. She is WAY TO YOUNG to have to endure what she is going through right now. Anyway, she is currently in ICU. She had to be resuscitated last night. Lord, if it be your will, save her! If not, comfort and prepare her family. Fortunately, she is blessed with extended family that is nearby and willing to help as well as numerous family friends who would give their right arms for them.

Thinking of her makes me give thanks for what I have. 15 extra pounds. But I am healthy. A messy house, but I am home to play with my children. Lots of laundry, but I am here to fold it and bury my kids in it...

Opening Day

So I thought that I would just share some of my stay at home mom stories with anyone who cares to read them.... Mainly grandparents I am sure, but those others that come across these pages, I hope that you enjoy these silly stories.