Hey Dad. Did you see what I saw?


That guy just scored a goal for the other team!

Make a Life List

SuperViva

Out of Doors

I learned how to clean my iron today...something I never knew (or thought of if I was honest) before. The queen of domesticity I am not.

Celebrating the fact that grass does grow back despite the best efforts of one's overzealous gardener who thought those precious sprigs to be weeds two weeks ago (and then same gardener proceeded to uproot the jade tree he had so viciously trimmed because no mas apparently cannot mean no more cutting but must mean, "I don't want this jade tree no more.")

Speaking of the outdoors, we've been spending a bunch of time there.

Tracing full-body outlines with chalk:


Bouncing the ball:


And climbing the fountain while mommy is too busy taking a picture of her bougainvillea to supervise:

On that note, Luke continues to be crazy-silly. So we're waiting for the activated charcoal to arrive. It is supposed to flush out the yeast that has died off after taking the antifungal. Sounds dreadful doesn't it?

So how about let's have some coffee. Save $10 on Lavazza (Rob's favorite) now through the 30th at Amazon.com.

Expelled

This is worth your next 7.5 minutes.
Watch it all. Then watch the movie.

And Then Again in Sepia

Leila: "Lukie, do you know how much I love you?"

Like we need another shopping site. But here's a fun one.

A sign of things to come?

Then There Was the Visit From the Pope

• Hello Kitty glasses found. When I explained to Leila that losing something means it is actually gone she said, "Nevermind, we can buy some more." 'Twas, not my proudest mom moment but it just might have been when she turned to the store manager and said, "Thank you for finding my glasses."

• Son one could hardly get on and off the bus today because of silliness. The antifungal we've been giving him is causing the yeast in his brain to die off, causing some pretty severe behaviors. This includes giggling straight for one hour and sleeping very little. And biting.
  Hopefully the effects will wear off in a week lest we have a few less fingers in this household
• With the worst of the cough gone, little guy is starting to seem a tad more content:
  

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Blowing Bubbles, Soft and Fine

I remember vaguely that it gets easier after three months but for the life of me I can't remember how.

Drowning in a flailing frantically kind of way to keep up with the meds and supplements and diets and diapers and back pain and guilt of not exposing toddler to enough fun

and so therefore taking children to the mom's groups despite the need to exhale.

So then, I find myself shopping for carry-in egg puffs and the perfect fruit tart.

All the while, I'm schlepping through the grocery mart with crying baby and toddler looking for mislaid Hello Kitty glasses.

Things

• Liam's breathing has been assisted by a nebulizer for the last two days. The cold symptoms are gone but the raspy chest and breathing remains. Hopefully a couple more days of the breathing machine will do the trick.

• As it stands, one of our boys would make the cut for a HairClub commercial:

The other? Possibly not:

• We started Luke on Methyl-B12 injections. I was pretty nervous but with a little distraction in place after the shot there was merely a simple rub of the bottom and a sort of hmm, what was that? look. I never thought I could give a shot to my own kiddo. The things we can do when we have to.
• Luke walked up to the kitchen counter today and said, "I want water."
• Spring Break is almost over which means Leila, Liam and I will be able to see the light of day next week (Luke's s had therapy all day every day which means being at home all day every day).
• Those ICYHOT patches one can get from the Back Pain section of one's local Target are not an effective match for the searing pain which is the result of improper nursing positioning. Just sayin'.

The Clueless Mama's Emergency Activity List

Sidewalk chalk
Bath paints
Hide and seek
Bubbles
Bike ride
Wagon ride
Bouncy house
Sing/dance session
Bake/cook together
Picture books
Singing session
Keyboard/piano play
Puppet show
Easel painting
Board games (memory game, cat in the fiddle, candyland)
Ball play (catch, soccer)
Catch butterflies/insects, make a home for them
Face painting
Plant a garden
Dress up and make-believe (pirates, princess, animals)/photos
Build a fort/tent/castle
Books on tape
Play house
Beauty parlor (complete with spa and pedicures)/barber shop
Instrument play
Aquadoodle
Chase/tickle/horsey
Woodblocks/duplo
Art/scissors/paper/glue/think collage
Crayons/paints/playdough
Waterplay/swim/water balloons/water guns
Hopscotch

Open forum... what are your ideas?
(Thank you, Bek for your inspiration both to make this list and as a mom in general)

Linkage

An amazing book/staircase

A modern twist on macrame

Nautilus House

• In the Motherhood is an honestly hilarious portrayal of motherhood. Thank you, Cheryl for this link.
  
• Organic Nesting Pillows: My friend Donna has an incredible home business called the Blessed Nest.
  

Oster, Thompson and Dansk

We spent the morning in the doctor's office for the treatment of Liam's newly developed cough. He's already having to go through his first round of antibiotics at five weeks. Luke didn't get sick until he was a year old. Leila about the same. I suppose things are a little different when you already have toddlers who love close contact with their fellow playground, bus, and classroom buddies but I feel an overwhelming burden of guilt. Since this morning he seems to have made a lot of progress and I'm feeling better. I was a little bit of a wreck early today.

My purchase less in order to invest in real-estate plan has been a challenge. I realized that I get a sort of high from purchasing things. Just anything. Yes, I understand this isn't ideal. I was at Costco on Saturday and impulsively loaded a set of dishes, (well I have been eying them for a couple of months so it wasn't exactly impulsive) a salt and pepper grinder and a new blender (I had dropped my old blender two months ago and shattered it on our stone floor -- nothing survives this floor) into our cart. So one might argue these are all things we've actually been needing but I got so much pleasure out of actually putting them in the cart. Does this happen to you?

For three days now I've been contemplating taking everything back. I've used money that I could have put into the real estate plan and that Rob and I could have used to build our future together and that of the kids'. It isn't that much money but it adds up. Thus I torture myself on a weekly basis. I hope that for the most part of working on a habit of consuming less generally. At least I'm feeling buyer's remorse. That's a start right?

Yael Niam

I leave you tonight with this fun video of an awesome song.

I have spring fever and have planted some grass in our grandma back yard. We only have a tiny space for grass but I'm determined to fill it in with the plushest I can find by golly.

When spring comes around I also start thinking of all the general things I'd like to see done to this house. The list is unending. But I sort of have a plan for getting them done. Patience, patience.

Of course none of them are free so it requires various transactions and hubby negotiating. Rob's been an absolute dream I have to say about everything. He's amazing with the kids and really trying is best to be handyman sal. But even with all that, it's hard to keep up. But even so, I'm just sayin I'm motivated to do some stuff. Which is a start.

From Today

This was the look I got after hearing Luke's ear-piercing, Leila-leave-me-alone howl from the bathroom and careening through the house to inspect the damage she most assuredly must have afflicted on his troubled person. When I saw this see-how-innocent-I-am-mommy look I did what all good mommies do...I grabbed my camera.

One Month and Some Pancakes

After Rob treated Leila and I to banana pancakes from the Original House of Pancakes
we made a family outing out of Liam's well-check. At 11 pounds he shows a healthy bit of promise. No major concerns although we'll have to go in next week to get le frenulum clipped. It's supposed to be painless (according to our doc) but sounds horrendously painful to me. I'd rather not think of it. It happens next Tuesday.

Luke is becoming surprisingly calm and stim-less. This evening I looked at Rob and asked, "Has it ever been this calm for us in the evening?"

We're dreaming of lofty possibilities for Luke more these days than we have in a very long time.