Things I Know

1) My mom is awesome - she flew down here for two days when the kids' daycare/preschool was closed just to take care of them and then turned around and flew home.

2) I'm looking forward to seeing Straight No Chaser in concert in two weeks - my Mother's Day gift from Matt and the kids.

3) The end of school is bittersweet. I LOVE my job. I do not love waking up at 5:45 or rushing around with the kids in the evening.

4) There are more books I want to read than I could possibly hope to finish in ten lifetimes. And yet I persist in watching television.

5) I would like to give up caffeine, or at least drinking pop.

6) Kids smell nice after a bath.

7) Our dog is rather neglected these days.

8) I love my friends.

9) I have a lot to be thankful for.

10) I might work next year or I might not - either way is probably okay.

11) I have failed in spectacular fashion when it comes to blogging three times a week in May.

12) I will try again in June.

What do you know?

Look at That!

I cheated and I still didn't get three posts in last week! Oops!

Here's another quick one for tonight - a couple of shots of a sleeping Harper from last week. All I can say is that she is a girl after my own heart:






I think that's pretty much how I fall asleep most nights, though my books don't usually feature Mickey Mouse.

Cheat

Okay, so, if I'm going to get three posts in this week I have to do two tonight. Which means one of them is going to be a cheat of sorts. Here is Michael dressed up in some of Harper's gear, right down to the sandals...



He really does love his sister, especially when she isn't touching his stuff.

Little Miss Harper

One of the very hardest things about this full-time gig is that I don't have flexibility to shift my schedule around. That means I haven't gone on a single field trip or attended any special event at the kids' preschool/daycare. There are lots of great things about working on a school schedule, but flexibility isn't one of them.

On Tuesday they had a "Farewell to Fours" event/breakfast during which the children sang, there was a slide show of photos, and there was a short presentation of each child's "All About Me" poster. I know this because Matt attended and was a good sport about video taping the Harper-centric portions.

The above picture features Harper with her poster, as well as with several pieces of work from her "Clay Creations" enrichment class. I love how proud she is - never been a problem for Harper.

The poster includes details like her name, a self-portrait, a family drawing, a photo of her dressed up like a dentist (I think it's possible she just wanted to be able to stick a tongue depressor in another kid's mouth for the photo op.), and a list of wishes and favorite things.

Harper's wishes were:

1. That she was Ariel
2. That no one would throw trash on the ground
3. That no one would die

Harper's favorite things were:

1. Ariel
2. Reading a book to Mommy
3. Going to Magic Castle (a birthday party/pizza/game/mini-golf place)

Not a bad snapshot of her five-year-old self.

Here are another couple of Harper-isms from today:

When Matt went to wake her up for school this morning she said to him, while her eyes remained closed, "I'm not finished with my dream yet, but it's almost done."

As I walked into the kitchen on my way to the car Harper looked at my outfit and exclaimed, "Mommy those clothes DO NOT match!"

"That's good," I said, "Because it's mismatched day at school."

"Your school has mismatched day?"

"Yes, it's a special day."

"Well," Harper scoffed, "It isn't as special as someone's birthday."

Then as I was leaving she came to the back door and whispered to me, "Mom, what if it was mismatched day and someone's birthday?"

Man, spirit week is really gonna blow her mind in a year or two.

A Mother's Day Message

What I hope all of your children are saying to you this weekend:


In case you can't read the toy writing, I'll break it down for you (and, er, please ignore the dirty carpet). That would be:

"I"

"Love"

"You"

Hey, if the kids aren't going to pick up the toys, at least they can spell something nice with them!

???

Oh, I'm really having trouble putting things into words this evening, but I am so frustrated and discouraged right now.

We've been meeting with a new early intervention specialist to work on some of Michael's delays - mostly dealing with speech. This is a good thing, important, something I am totally behind in theory. And I really like the woman we're working with. I don't know her very well yet but I think she is good at her job and knows what she's talking about. And I don't know if it is just bad timing or me being hormonal or if Thursday night isn't a good time to meet because we're all so tired by the end of the week, but I have just felt awful after the last couple of meetings and I cannot figure out why. I can't pinpoint any specific comment or interaction or any reason at all that I should feel badly after these sessions. It doesn't make any sense and yet...

I really, really want to be on board with what she is trying to help us do with/for Michael.

This summer we are going to make some adjustments since our schedule will be much more open. Maybe some of those changes will help. It is entirely possible that it's just Thursday night and I'm tired.

I'm so in love with my children, I am just thrilled with how far Michael has come, so maybe I find these sessions discouraging because it requires focusing on all the things that need improvement rather than just celebrating who he is:


It is also possible that I'm channeling icky feelings about other things going on in our lives, in the world, etc. into this one circumstance... I don't know. I'm just glad that it's almost bedtime.

Proud Moment in a Geeky Parenthood

I don't think milestones get quite as much hype once children are past the potty-training stage. Harper has gone through a few things recently that have made me want to double-over with the shock of how old she is getting.

We hit up our local library for story time when I was on spring break and it occurred to me that Harper was probably old enough to get her very own library card. So we sat down together at a table and filled out the paperwork. Then she signed the back of her card, chose her password (for online business as well as using the self-checkout stations), and went back to the children's section to allow her to pick out books to check out with her very own card.




She even got to write her name on the back of her new library card all by herself. So proud!

We have plenty, PLENTY, of books in this house. There is no material reason that we have to visit the library. However, I feel that libraries are forces of good in the world and I want my children to grow up believing in their importance. (And then vote to support them when they are old enough to do so.) I believe by having her own library card Harper will feel, in a deeper way, that the library is there for her.

It wasn't something we did every week, but I have special memories of my dad taking us to our tiny public library in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday mornings for Bluebug books and some quality time. I hope my children grow up with similar fond memories of our library visits.

*****

On a side-note, I think I'm going to accept Mommy Daisy's challenge to blog three times a week in May, attempting to get back in the habit before I'm off of work for the summer. Wanna join me?

Two Important Things

Whew - I can't believe this week is almost over already! Where does the time go?

First of all I want to give a huge thank you to all of you who supported us in our quest to raise money for the March of Dimes. Despite being rainy, we had a great day for a walk. At least it was warm, which I'll take over rainy and cold any day.

I am setting a new goal to grow Michael's team for next year. Don't worry, I won't bother you about joining yet. But I'd like to build a network of people raising money and walking to celebrate our miraculous boy. Stay tuned...


The walk began and ended in a nearby historical park, which us pretty cool. It is one of the places very near our house that we really don't visit often enough.

My good friend, Lesley, came from Columbus to walk with me and was a total sport about being out there in the rain. We had a great time chatting while we walked (I've known her for nearly 15 years and I learned things I never knew about her) and neither of us could believe how quickly the 3 miles passed. I will admit that I was extremely grateful not to be wrangling two children through the rainy walk this year.

In the end we raised over $1,200, yee haw!

******

Okay the second thing is completely unrelated to the first, but I just don't want to wait any longer to follow-through on a promise I made to another dear friend of mine.

Probably more than any other person I know Jen is working to make her dreams come true. She is a writer with a novel coming out in the summer of 2011 (How cool is that?) and is doing all sorts of other interesting and inspiring things to share her time and talent with the world.

With Mother's Day coming up (seriously, it's in about ten days!) it seemed like a good time to tell you about Jen's gift of Love Notes and how you could use them to spread a little love. They might make a great gift for your mom, or sister, or any friend. When you order Love Notes your recipient will receive two notes a month (for one month or more) and Jen will use the information you share to customize the notes. She really does a much better job of explaining it then I am doing here so please check out her website. Just go look around, you won't be sorry!

Thankful

From this:


To this:

To This:

Support me in supporting the March of Dimes, only one day to go, please click here.

What Gets You Through

Today one of the teachers at the kids' daycare made a comment that struck me as odd. She said something about me looking professional hopping out of the van and coming to pick up my children. I am not sure what that means - I don't wear a suit to work and I don't think of a minivan as a vehicle that screams "professional!" And certainly, if she could have seen me sobbing in the kitchen half an hour later, she would have chosen a different adjective.

My day at work wasn't bad, at all, but after the kids and I got home is just became one of those days. And it isn't just the working, I have had plenty of days like this when I was home all day, and it was no picnic then either. The counter so covered in dirty dishes there is no room to make dinner. The kids not even pretending to play, just crying and screaming at each other in the family room. The zillion loads of laundry mocking me, knowing that I'll be lucky to stay awake long enough to get even one load dry and folded. The weeds that are swallowing the flowers in the front yard... it all just felt so impossible for a moment (or thirty, whatever).

So what do you do when you have days like that? (We all have them sometimes, right?) Sometimes I just need a good cry. Other things that work: music I like, calling a friend, chocolate, just going to bed already (laundry be damned), taking off my shoes and putting on slippers... Something to offer a little beacon of comfort in an uncomfortable day.

Today it was crying, They Might Be Giants, and singing with Harper at bedtime. I feel a little better. And Matt came home from practice and is folding a load of laundry. Which, to be fair, he will often do even if he doesn't walk in from work to find me crying in the kitchen.

Those of you who read often may have noticed a suspicious lack of commentary about my transition from being a mostly stay-at-home mom to being a full time working outside of the home mom. This is partly because I am pretty conflicted about the whole situation, partly because I'm too tired to write about it with even an ounce of intelligence, and partly because I'm afraid I won't be able to write anything about it without offending folks on both sides of that particular debate.

I'm veering a bit from my intended topic here... for those of you reading this one, what gets you through when you're having one of those days?

*****

Only four more days to support me (and future babies everywhere!) in the March for Babies. Even a $5 donation helps. Go ahead, click the purple box on the right!

Dapper

Something I am learning slowly about this boy of mine is that he needs his hair cut far more often than his sister does. Michael's hair was getting so long I was tempted to pull it back with a pony some days. Not good. I finally made a call and we were able to run up the street to Miss Laura on Saturday afternoon. Laura is amazing - Michael barely held still and she still managed to get a decent cut, the only problem is that he looks more grown up now!




*****

Fever update: I did end up calling our pediatrician's after-hours line when Harper's temp went up to 103.6 w/ two hours to go before she could take more Motrin. The nurse told me to have her drink some cold water and to apply a cool cloth to her forehead and take her to the ER if her temp reached 104, which it fortunately did not. Yesterday she had a lower fever and was fever-free today. Hopefully we're on the other side of that particular illness. Knock on wood.

*****

Only six days left to fund-raise the March of Dimes! Thanks to all of you who have already made donations, seriously, I'm incredibly grateful. And yet I'm still asking for money! You know, because it never hurts to ask.

Sick

At about 11 this morning I got a call at work that Harper had a temp of 101 and needed to be picked up from school. This after Michael was already home a day and a half this week. For those slow with the math that means that only two out of five days were both our kids able to be at school/daycare. Not too long ago we had an entire week where there was not one single day that they were both there all day.

You can imagine this has been frustrating.

I could go on and on here about how stressful it has been to deal with one illness after another this winter (it has been HORRIBLE) and figure out who is staying home from work, or leaving work early, or calling Matt's parents yet again to see if they would like to stay with the germ-ridden children...

Instead I'm going to talk about Facebook (sort of).

Around 7 tonight, just before I was going to give Harper another does of Motrin, her temp went up to 103 degrees. That's the threshold where I start to feel very nervous about a fever. And normally the kids don't run fevers that high. I looked online a bit to see if I could find some kind of magic number at which a fever needed immediate attention. I mean, I know 106 would be bad, obviously, but when does the real worry start, 103, 104? Anyway I couldn't find a satisfactory answer and I stopped myself before I could delve too far into Google's vast knowledge of fever-related illnesses which might turn deadly. I did, however, put Harper's temp into a Facebook status update to see what other moms thought.

I got several replies and even a phone call (thanks again Chris!), and reading/hearing them made me feel confident enough in our decision to hang on until morning and call the pediatrician, unless things take a turn for the worse overnight.

I am left feeling how nice it is that I can put a question out there and get such an immediate response. I'm grateful that I can reach out via email, Facebook, this blog, and by cell phone and get lots of good opinions on which to base a decision. It leaves me wondering what people did before we were all connected in so many ways.

I guess in moments of uncertainty you just had hitch up the wagon and ride to town to retrieve Doc Baker.

****
Don't forget, only eight more days to help me raise money for the March of Dimes - go ahead, click the purple box on the right...

Happy Brithday Mom!

It's my mom's birthday today and sadly her card/gift won't arrive in Wisconsin on time (unless the USPS has started beaming mail directly across state lines), so I thought I'd give her some virtual flowers:









That tree is next to our driveway and I swear the last couple of days its scent has fragranced the entire yard - almost makes the horrendous allergy season we've been having worth it...

Happy birthday Mom! Thanks for everything you do for us.

*****
Only ten days left to support me in the March for Babies walk - click the purple box on the right to donate!

Some Easter Shots

I figure posting more regularly for at least the next two weeks would be a fair trade off for the fact that I'm going to beg you for money every day between now and April 24th. (Donate to March for Babies by clicking the purple box on the right!) Thank you to everyone who donated after yesterday's post and to those of you who shared the link so that other people would consider supporting the March of Dimes. After all, if you aren't in favor of babies, you probably wouldn't be reading this...

Tonight I'm sharing a handful of photos from our Easter festivities. Most years we travel to spend Easter with my extended family in Wisconsin. This year we stayed in Ohio to surprise Matt's mom with a birthday gathering the day before Easter. Our Easter Sunday was low-key: church, simple breakfast, searching for baskets, impromptu egg "hunt", and a nice afternoon meal (for which I roasted an actual chicken!).

Harper's basket came with a side of sass, apparently.

I'm pretty sure Michael didn't know what most of the stuff in his basket was, fair enough because we'll be eating most of it for him, but he still liked the shiny wrappers.

Little Easter angels - er, looks can be deceiving!

I love this picture, despite the fact that we'd actually asked Harper NOT to pick up the eggs and hand them to Michael. She "helps" him so much it is a wonder the boy has learned anything!

This picture? Exactly how our spring has felt this year - which is a nice change from '09 when the weather went from ice to 80 and left spring out of it altogether.

Harper's Best Day Ever

Um, hello Internets, where's the love? It's been more than two weeks since I posted and no one has inquired as to whether we're still alive over here... I'm hurt!

I'm breaking my bloggy-silence to share the fact that Harper had her best day ever yesterday because we got to attend Jonah C.'s BIRTHDAY PARTY!

I thought Harper's head was going to explode when we got the invitation. We met up with Jonah and some of his friends and family at a very cool local park that I didn't even know existed. Score.

Jonah's mother gave me permission to tell you that his name is actually Noah B., and said it was cool if I shared some photos so you can all see the happy couple.

Last night Harper paused about every five minutes to tell us how much fun she had. When she went to bed she said she wished every day could be Noah's birthday party.



Ah, young love...

And speaking of love, if you love babies, and who doesn't love babies, please consider a donation to the March for Babies. You can support my fund-raising by clicking the purple box to the right. Less than two weeks to the walk and I've done a pitiful job of inspiring the donations thus far. Yes, I will be asking repeatedly over the next two weeks. If you can't donate, maybe send some good fund raising vibes our way? Thanks!

Tidbit

The other night Harper came into our room and started asking me about the books on my nightstand. There was one in particular, The Lightning Thief, which intrigued her. She was asking what it was about and I explained as well as I could, given that I hadn't read it yet. After some consideration Harper nodded her head approvingly and said, "Well. that sounds promising!"

Two Has Arrived

So, just in case the message that Michael has turned two hasn't gotten through to everyone yet, I present some evidence from this past Saturday...

About 90% of two-year-old fun involves creating a mess. Like reaching your tissue box and emptying it during nap time (somewhere I have a picture of Harper in very similar circumstances):

(What? I don't see anything wrong here, Mom.)

And then there's the oldie-but-goody called, "Take EVERYTHING off of your shelves!"

Harper claims innocence, but if she tried to stop him her attempts were clearly futile.

Along with an amazing capacity to mess-make, two-year-olds also come with an incredible tenacity. This tenacity can be inconvenient (any time we're late) but it can also be so enduring.

For extra two-year-old fun, go back and count how many times Michael said, "no," in that video!

Two Years

Dear Michael,

Last Tuesday you turned two-years-old. I'm lucky that your actual birth date doesn't mean much to you yet, as I spent the day in bed with the stomach flu. I barely saw you on your birthday this year. However, in what can only be described as a birthday miracle, you are the lone family member in the house who did not succumb to a horrid stomach bug. You get every cold that comes within twenty miles, but this is the second stomach bug you've avoided this winter - you must have some kind of intestinal immunity. And now that I've typed that you'll probably wake up vomiting before morning...

This weekend our family came together to celebrate another milestone in your life. You woke from your nap to find a house full of visitors, a pile of presents, and a car cake waiting for you. You were not happy that you weren't allowed to take the cars off your cake. Sorry buddy.

You are a man of few words, something we are getting around to addressing, but you use the words you have effectively. When opening gifts for example, you'd tear the paper like a pro, blow a kiss (your interpretation of the sign for thank you) to the gift giver when prompted, and then look up and say, "Mow?" (More?). It wasn't a greedy more, I don't think you cared a whole lot about the gifts when you opened them, you just loved tearing the paper. I was very impressed at the skills you'd retained since Christmas.

"Mow" is one of your clearest words, and most often used. You also say mama, dada, nana, papaw (Harper), wawa (water), and babow (ball). Aside from "mow," you are a fan of two-syllable words.

When you started to say "mow" you mostly used it to request more food. You ate and ate and ate until your stomach pressed against the tray on your booster seat. Your appetite has waned some lately, but you still to request more of things. Usually more books or more water running into your bath (playing with the running water is your favorite part). And tonight, as I was leaving for an appointment, you employed the best yet use of the word more. I came over to kiss your chubby cheeks goodbye and as I pulled away you looked up and said, "Mow!" and made a kissing noise with your lips. More kisses? Of course I obliged.

Back in January I started a long term subbing job and I'm working full time. Which means you are in full time daycare. I will admit that it does bother me in some ways, that you spend so much of your day away from me, and I away from you. It really isn't how I thought things would go and yet this opportunity seemed like a good thing for all of us. You like being at daycare, you like other kids to play with, and you like the different toys and songs and stories. You are happy there and you are happy to be picked up at the end of the day. You're cranky at dinner time, but that was your cranky time of day, even before daycare.

The best part of my day is the look that crosses your face when you realize I've arrived to pick you up - you drop whatever you are doing (literally) and run to me, often knocking other children out of the way in the process. You like to pick up the yellow paper, the paper with your daily activities recorded on it, and point to it, babbling away as though you know it is some sort of road map of your day and is very important to me.

You've always been the snugglier of the children in this home. That's still true, despite the fact that you do more running than snuggling these days, which is exactly as it should be, but I still love the moments when you collapse into my lap and lay your head back on my shoulder.

I'm trying to give you a snapshot of yourself at two years old and it suddenly feels like some kind of report, which is not exactly what I intended...

You're a miracle Michael. You are a delight. My heart gets bigger every day I know you. I just don't have the words yet, to express what being your mother means to me, how it has changed me. I am so thankful.

I love you.

Love,
Mama

The Boy

Oh, the boy, I don't mean to alarm any of you but someone with the initials MJM will be TWO YEARS OLD on Tuesday. I don't think I can explain what just happened to my heart and stomach as I typed that.

With my darling second-born I feel like I have taken better care to attend to the baby-ness as it flew by, but I still can't believe we got here so quickly.

I have learned the trick to bypassing the two-year-old "smile" (see below) is to just wait a few extra moments to snap the photo. This:


becomes this:


As we get ready to celebrate Michael's second birthday. I wanted to take a moment and remind all of you that he had a less than smooth entry into this world. It would take too many links to point you in the right direction, but you can go to the blog archives for February/March/April of the last two years if you need to learn/remember what we went through with our littlest.

Today Michael is happy and mostly healthy and quite a lot of that is due to the good work of the people at March of Dimes. To celebrate Michael's success I am once again walking in this year's March for Babies and I'd be honored if you'd consider supporting our team (Donation button to the right, no pressure!). Even if you can't support us financially - I know things are so difficult so many places right now - please keep us in mind for the next seven weeks as we fund-raise and prepare to walk.

If you're interested in helping raise money on Michael's behalf, please feel free to contact me and join our team. I haven't yet decided whether I'll be walking with the children this year (Last year that was nice in theory and a little sketchy in reality!) so I may be in the market for a walking partner as well...

Happy Oscar night everyone!

The Girl

So the days are clearly getting away from me lately. But Harper, in all the frustration that is raising a five-year-old, has been pretty amusing recently and I wanted to share.

She spent one snow day/Saturday/some other kind of day off writing furiously on sticky notes and taping them up beside the fireplace. Why? To make a princess growth chart, of course!

Each note featured a drawing of a princess and her name, or at least letters to indicate each part of her name. Below is "TB" for Tinker Bell and "PaTF" for Princess and the Frog (Harper couldn't remember that her name was Tiana).


Here is Harper explaining her system. When you are really tall you get to be Cinderella, the ultimate princess? Harper has been checking daily, but so far she's only reached Jasmine.


I have approximately 379,000,000 shortcomings as a parent, but look I'm willing to stare at taped sticky notes in the living room. I practically itch with wanting them off the wall, but I let them stay (for now) and I'm proud of myself for leaving them there.

I should note that Harper felt like the boys should have their own system. She supplemented the princess chart with a prince chart, made of tape and napkins. And that one is also still on the wall.

One other note, Harper told me recently that she is heartsick from missing Jonah C. and that she feels all happy when she thinks about seeing him again and smiles so hard she almost cries. So, we'll be locking her up from ages 13-21, no?