Simply no hiding it.

This is a picture of my leaf laden floor. Grandma brought us these beautiful glitter encrusted, bionically sticky, thick, leaf and pumpkin adornment thingies that we all love. I would call them stickers, but they are much cooler and thicker than stickers. The kids love them. We had been using them to adorn all sorts of art projects and windows and clothing. They are awesome. They were even more awesome before Luke learned how to peel off that super thin layer of paper backing on the sticky side, and decided to make a foresty sticker path through my kitchen while I cooked dinner the other night. In order to avoid getting angry, I decided to embrace the woody path and not peel the stickers up as I am loathe to see what the residual damage to my floor entails.




Meet Jack o Lantern and Winky the Wily Spider, our new friends who live on one of our kitchen light fixtures.



The playroom is now plastered with preschool art du jour. There are 4 windows and a sliding glass door in the playroom.....but every single surface that is not glass is wallpapered with finger paint/stamp/spelling/counting/art. I have friends who have lovely hand painted walls. Beautiful paint, furnishings, chandeliers, oil's. Artifacts from prehistoric times. We have finger paints and scotch tape. We are fancy like that.




This is Julia's first pen and ink on plaster. Or on drywall, or whatever our bedroom walls are. While I was out lunching with a dear friend last weekend, and Daddy was taking a shower, Julia was overcome with the need to create. My darling found a pen, be-lidded it, and expressed herself passionately in the 2 minutes Nate was in the shower. This is the result, directly above Nate's side of the bed.

A confession.

In the old house, with only one child, I was all "baby proofing is for the lazy and not paying attention not attached disassociated uncaring parent!". All, "I will use redirection and positive reinforcement to keep both my darling baybee and my darling possessions safe and intact!". "Baby proofing is for the negligent parent!" (Self congratulatory pat on back for such free thinking anti baby proofing rebellion.) About 5 minutes into having a wildly crawling 6 month old, or a wildly walking10 month old, or two mobile children under the age of 19 months, I re-evaluated those noble sentiments. I was so wrong.

Because you know what? That is a super idea! Really cute and sweet and indulgent and whatnot. And then, life comes in. And you had no idea that your child could unlock your bedroom door and run out. Or you had no idea that their body weight could pull over their dresser when they decided to climb up it. Or you had no idea that someday you would have another baby, or perhaps simply a phone call/delivery man/urgent bathroom need like puking from morning sickness with your second child etc. that would drive you away from your precious baybee at the very moment that your darling perfect one decided that throwing a pen in the toilet would be a fun experiment. (yes, the pen one was us. $185 and countless toilet plunging later, the pen was removed by a plumber.)

They keep us on our toes, these chilluns.

So ~ If anyone ever comes over and wonders where the fancy furniture, the nice paint, the anything not utterly destructible is.........I will refer you to another house. That will all come, in time, I am sure. For now, we are firmly esconsed in kidville. Drawings on the wall and spiders dangling from the ceiling.......and never, EVER rage about something "precious" being destroyed.

Pigtails, Pumpkins, Party Hats and Pig Flu

Those four P's pretty well sum up our October. NO, we don't have the dread pig sickness, I am just sick to death of reading about it, talking about it, and worrying about it. Our Pedi is not even offering the Vax. We are still undecided. On the decided front, we are way down with pumpkins. Painting, stickering, carving, drilling, eating, roasting, picking.....you name it, we've done it (I'm obscenely excited about throwing them off of the back deck on Nov 1st, I can't wait to watch those suckers explode!). Party hats are the new uniform around here, with Julia demanding to wear one every day. Can I formally recommend that everyone add some party hat to your ever day life? Really ups the ante on the good times! Anddddddd, (drum roll here) PIGTAILS! My 'bald is beautiful' baby girl actually has plenty of mullet to share amongst two darling little pigtails! I feel like I'm going to blink and my wee baldy will be wearing a bra, but lets not go there.

Last week was just a tough week. I was up late almost every night between the Springsteen concert, the Phils, and being out with friends. Nate was away some of the week. I was feeling a cold coming on. I was, uh.....overly emotional? Sensitive. Pregnant. Tired. Ugh. I felt as though I was being really short tempered with the kids, and as though surely they were taking annoying pills. This weekend was fantastic, I got caught up on rest, caught up on time with my sweet husband, and took a gander in my kids mouths on a whim. NOOOOOOO, it wasn't annoying pills, it was molars. Luke just popped his bottom two two year molars, and Jules just cracked BOTH 1 year molars, BOTH eye teeth, and another tooth. So, the good news is that my bad mood and impatience did not forever ruin my children and turn them into whiny demanding needy brats, the onset of a collective 7 teeth in one week did. Big relief. Thankfully other than the slight case of brattiness, they slept fantastically and the worst seems to be over already. Luke is back to being my cheerful little lover, and Jules is just killing me with her funny faces and phrases lately. At 19 months old the child is pretty much carries on entire conversations and is capable of making all of her needs or wants known.

After sleeping till 9 and then taking a 4 hour nap on Sunday, I knew something was up with the kids. Sure enough, they woke up from their marathon nap with fevers. We have been hunkered down for the past two days, relaxing and keeping our germs to ourselves. The fevers are gone, and Luke is fine, Julia slightly snotty. Being housebound isn't too bad now that the little critters are back to being themselves.

I hit a point last week where I was SO ANNOYED. Just frustrated beyond belief. I wanted the kids to just get with the freaking program, to stop acting like uncivilized demanding task masters. I was quite sure that they had not only figured what the most annoying sound on all of the Earth was, but that they had figured out how to make it in tandem. I wanted the "MAMA I WANT A NAPKIN NOOOOOOW! NAPKIN MAMA! NAPKIN! MAMA CAN I PLEASE HAVE A NAPKIN?" while I was doing 5 other things at that exact time insanity to stop. I felt frustrated at their neediness in the face of all that I felt that I "had" to get done. I began to understand how people spank their kids, or scream insanely at them, or have adult temper tantrums.

Sunday night I was cuddled up with Luke in my bed as my feverish little guy watched Dora. Jules was asleep. Luke was pink cheeked and clean and so sweet smelling I was literally huffing him. His thick dark lashes were so long and beautiful over his green/blue/brown eyes. He reached over to me and held my hand. I found myself utterly transfixed. I look at Luke and Julia all day long. But somehow, after such a hard week, I found myself just LOOKING at Luke in a whole new way. I was struck by how entirely small and soft and new and fragile he is. It hit me that just a moment ago, really, he didn't even exist. Just three short years ago he was still a dream in my belly, not even at the point of viability yet. I was struck by how hard it feels for me (at 34) to cope with the stresses and frustrations of life, at times. I suddenly became aware of how much I expect from this little critter ~ This tiny person who is fully conversational, yet only 2.5. His easy going nature and his sunny personality sometimes allow me to overlook or to forget his utter inexperience, his total lack of understanding of some of how the world works. WHY on earth do I get surprised that the briefest of delays in the procurement of that freaking napkin might feel like such a tragedy to him? OF COURSE it does. Problems that I deem so inconsequential can seem so large to someone so small. With no sense of past or future, the MOMENT is very important to a toddler.

Its all obvious stuff. Motherhood is really just a continual state of remembering and forgetting. As soon as I "remembered" how little, how new, how busy my little ones are with learning all that there is to know in this crazy world, I felt refreshed. It's hard to be a toddler. It's hard to be the Mother of a toddler, too. With just the simple remembering of those truths, I felt patience come pouring back into my body. Thank God.

Balancing Act

We are slowing down. I watched Luke cross the balance beam with ease at the PTM, then watched Jules fall off about 20 times, and realized in that moment that I have been a lot more like Jules than Luke on my personal balance beam lately. I have been feeling pulled in too many directions and it's time to take it down a notch. Late nights, concerts, sports, girls nights out, city trips, preschool, gym, Nate's travel, house demands, play dates, cooking, Internet, noise, noise, noise.

More being, less doing, right now. New motto for at least the time until the Holiday's are upon us.

I need to refocus ~ Less time spent getting everything done, and more time spent enjoying these fleeting days of toddlers and mess and slight chaos. If nothing else, pregnancy is a great (albeit forced) reminder of how sometimes we can get caught up in running and doing and not take enough time to simply enjoy how simple and good life can be if we just allow it to be.

When I realized that there is nothing wrong in my life, barring things that I am self imposing (artificial deadlines, distractions, over scheduling, etc) I recognized that it was time to make a little shift. Not a big one, just a slight adjustment.......I need to take the opportunity to focus more on every single good thing, and let some of the other noise fall aside. I know in my heart that the kids, and Nate, and mostly myself will benefit greatly from a little focus. A little more gratitude and patience and slowness.

A giant pancake and bacon and coffee breakfast, a long day of enjoying my kids and napping and rain and football, and an evening with friends seems to be just the band aid that my soul needed today.

Why is it so hard to maintain balance? Why is it so easy to lose focus on what matters?

Pumpkins pumpkins everywhere.

Pumpkins ~ Check.

The kids had fun making our decorations for the front door and a jack o lantern. There are more to be made tomorrow at play group and again this weekend at yet another fall festival. I feel as though I am going to turn into a pumpkin. Scratch that, I am turning into a pumpkin.Or at least growing one under my shirt all too quickly.

Normally I don't complain about Nate's work travel. In fact, I generally really like it, the work from home and travel thing is a great deal for our family. I know that travel is a part of his job, and that the travel enables the income which enables me to stay home full time with our kids. I enjoy all the extra time I spend with my girlfriends when he is away, and I love having him around all the time when he is NOT traveling. This week though is his third week in a row away from home, and I am feeling it. I feel like his being home this weekend was simply enough time for me to do his four loads of laundry before I was groggily saying goodbye to him again Monday morning. I know that the early mornings, the hotels, the airports and a million meetings are hard on him too, so I try to have everything organized and good food made for him when he gets home. The fact of the matter is that no matter how cheerful he is, or I am about it, there are certain weeks when it just feels hard. This is one of them.

I feel like I only have it in me to be a good Mom for the entire morning, or the entire afternoon, right now. I am having a hard time stringing together entire days of "involved caring patient Mom-ness". I know its pregnancy, I know it, but man do I feel like crap as I climb in bed at night (at 8 pm) wondering how I feel as though I didn't stop moving all.day.long yet I still feel as though I accomplished nothing. On top of that, I feel as though I have been impatient with the kids and the dog and just about everyone else I encounter.

Need a booster shot of patience or something. A bolus of good cheer. Maybe I need to stop cooking and cleaning for a few days. Or SOMETHING. Being a stay at home Mom has no part time option, unfortunately.

/gah.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month

A big thank you to my friend Karly for posting this video on her beautiful blog. I was so moved by it I had to shamelessly steal it. This past Thursday was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. I have never lost a baby, but have way too many friends and family members who have. My heart goes out to each of them, and to every parent who has lost a child at any age of gestation or point in infancy/childhood. We love these little creatures long before they are born, and they carry our hearts in theirs way before we even know them. I found this a beautiful message of love, and of hope, even in the face of sorrow and loss. I made it to 18 seconds without being a weeping mess, and ended the video with a prayer for Eliot's parents and for all of the gifts that this sweet boy bestowed upon others in his short time on Earth.

Rain, Rain, Dance, Dance.

We are in the grips of a Nor'easter. Driving home from the gym this morning my car told me that it was 38 degrees out. 38 and pouring, that is. Nate has been out of town most of the week and will not return until late tonight.

I got flashbacks to this time last year ~ More specifically of Nate's trip to Germany (And Amsterdam! Let's not forget Amsterdam! :)). He was gone for a week. Both kids got sick. It rained the ENTIRE week. And life was really, really hard. Jules was 7 months old, crawling and eating solids, and Luke was only 19 months old and into everything. I remember feeling slightly panicked at times. I had very little help that week (I'm terrible at asking for help) and felt very isolated with sick babies and lousy weather.

This year, not so much. I'm rather enjoying the cozy cold rain, and the afternoons spent eating popcorn together on the couch as we read book after book. When the books get old its time to DANCE. Julia has found her dancing groove all of a sudden, and she and Luke will spend up to an hour ~ him doing this crazy flailing armed seizure-ish dance, and her shaking her diapered booty as she waves her hands in the air. Every few minutes they grab hands and sing "round and round" or "ring around the Rosie" as they spin around the modified dance floor until they crash to the ground in gales of laughter. I am grateful for good friends, a warm house, warm food, and healthy babies.

Have you guys heard about this thing called H1N1, or the "illness formerly known as Swine Flu?". Yeah, just kidding. You can't escape it. The hysteria is high ~ whether it is valid or not is not for me to determine. I have had several friends who have had it ~ all took Tamiflu, all have recovered nicely after a week or so of being down and out. I vacillate between fear and annoyance at the whole thing. As of right now (after talking to our Pedi, friends who are nurses, my OB and our prospective Midwife) we are choosing to not get the vaccine, but I am open to any and all information about it, and I reserve the right to change my mind on the vax at a moments notice. I'm not worried about the safety of it, necessarily. I feel it is no different than the regular flu shot as far as safety. Just like everyone else, I know nothing about the effectiveness of the vax, and don't know that I can justify injecting my kids (twice, three times if you count the regular seasonal flu shot) with something that has in no way been proven to be effective. None of us have ever gotten the flu shot before (nor have any of us ever gotten the flu). A new report which seems to indicate that those who got last years flu shot are MORE susceptible to getting H1N1 has me nervous ~ What's to say that there will not be another epidemic bigger and badder than this one next year preying on those who got this vax? Why not rely on natural immunity? My kids are healthy, they are fabulous eaters, they are fabulous sleepers, they have no underlying conditions like asthma or auto immune issues.

To throw another wrench into the decision is the fact that I am pregnant. That (if you read the papers) means that I will die. Okay, not die necessarily, but I am the equivalent of a swine flu ticking time bomb according to some news sources. That might make me more likely to get the shot ~ But for the fact that I am not just thinking of me, but the baby I carry. If the vax is not recommended/safe for babies under 6 months of age, why should I feel confident that it is safe for babies in the womb? Are they not even MORE delicate than newborns?

Anyway. I ramble. I know that there are strong feelings on this one on both sides of the issue. I respect those who are lining up to vax, and those who say NO WAY IN HELL. I get it that any and all decisions that we as parents make concerning this flu are coming from a place of love for our children. I am grateful for vaccines, in general. I feel 100% insanely confident that vax have NOTHING to do with Autism. I am grateful to have the luxury of not fearing polio, or whooping cough, or smallpox, thanks to vaccines. Our kids have had a slightly delayed schedule, and skipped one or two, but are fully immunized by the age of 2. I am a big believer in herd immunity, and believe that choosing to vax my kids is something that helps ALL kids, not just my own. I feel grateful that we can travel internationally with our family without fearing things that may not exist in our country these days, but surely do exist in other parts of the world. I think that *some* parents get on board with the trendy "Vax are so evillllllllll" bandwagon without enough research. Not all, but some. I admit, I was a bit that way before I read and read and read. Anyway. I'm so all over the place here. I have to bundle up the wee ones to get out to the farm this afternoon, and then we are all putting on our pajamas, ordering pizza, and settling in to watch the Phillies with Dee. I can't wait. Enough worrying about super flu's and vaccinations for the day.

Storybook days.

Some days just go well. Some days all feels right with the world. Yesterday was one of those days. After a hectic weekend of entertaining and parties and errands, we were thrilled to wake up on Monday morning knowing that the Phillies had won and that Nate had the day off.

We were up and out early and were grateful for the help of my Mom, who came to watch the kids. For those of you who have been reading my blog, you may have noticed that I have been talking about things making me cry for the past month or so. From the Giving Tree to Orange Day to Nate eating the last cookie, I get teary a lot lately. The trend continued yesterday morning when we got to see the heartbeat of our newest baby flickering away on the ultrasound screen. I think that I could have 19 kids a la Duggar and still feel my heart race and my palms sweat as I await that first confirmation of life beating away. Luke and Julia's new sibling is due May 28th. We are positively thrilled.

Bullet points:

*Yes! They will be close in age. Luke will be 3 yrs 3 months and Jules 2 yrs 2 months when wee babe arrives.

*Yes, we actually meant it that way!

*Yes, we will be finding out the gender.

(we plan to check as soon as it is born, it will help in naming the baby!)

*Yes! I am looking forward to another VBAC.

*Yes, I am feeling really great. So great that I was worried that something might be wrong with the baby. It was very reassuring when the the Dr. said to us yesterday before we walked out "You walked in here with a 15% chance of miscarrying, and you are walking out with a 3% chance!". I like those odds. Of course, we are still in the first trimester, so any prayers or good thoughts would be much appreciated.

We came home with the requisite pic of "baby" ~ Which at this gestational age is not much more than an amorphous blob of life with a beating heart somewhere towards the center. Our beautiful blob is hanging on the fridge. Luke knows that there is a "Baby in Mama's belly". When asked what that means, he will tell you that it means that "Mama is hungry and tired". He also says that "It's dark in there" and "Mama that baby not gonna come out yet?". Correct to all three. When asked if he wants a brother or a sister, he replies that he wants a Julia. I don't quite know how we can manage that (we did not use cloning to create this baby) but I have 30+ weeks to figure out that one before I have to actually address the issue.

We spent the day enjoying our existing family after meeting our newest member. We went to Linvilla for a day of pumpkins, hayrides, animals, lunch and laughter. As I snuggled Jules in my lap and watched Luke settle into his Daddies arms on the hayride I had to keep blinking tears back. To know that Nate and I are embarking on this journey again feels like a gift. To look at my husband laughing with his kids makes me feel so lucky. To see my kids loving one another, and to know that they will have a new person to love on and laugh with overwhelms me. To know that there is another little family member on its way to us is just a joy beyond comprehension. I have none of the nervousness that I had my last pregnancies. I know that our love will simply grow again, never divide, and that this baby is going to fit in to our family seamlessly. A giant pot of homemade soup and a Phillies series clinching win rounded out our perfect day (for the sake of "perfect day-ness" I will leave out mention of the Jets loss ~ Sorry, Nate). Thank you to all of you who have shared and who will share our joy over our new arrival.

Orange you glad I'm not YOUR Mother?

This is Jules, talking to Daddy on the phone while he was out of town this week. She signs off with a giant smacker of a kiss directly onto the phone.

In other news, Thursday was my first school failure. Orange Day. STUPID "Orange Day".

Orange day was written on my calendar. Luke's (orange) "Orange Day" shirt was picked out and clean. His "Orange Day" show and tell item was picked (his basketball). Yet Thursday morning came and went ~ Nate out of town, the kids sleeping late, me rushing around feeding and dressing and only thinking about me and my stupid boxing class and WHERE ARE MY BOXING GLOVES and JULES STOP THROWING OATMEAL ON THE FLOOR! and MULLIGAN YOU STINK! and LUKE STOP DROPPING DOG FOOD IN THE WATER BOWL AND LAUGHING WHEN IT SWELLS UP LIKE A BALLOON...............

and forgetting all about the shirt, and the ball, and my calendar.

And when I got to school, and saw the other kids (the ones with the good Mom's) in their Orange Day orange shirts and with their Orange Day orange items, I felt like a failure. I had my stupid boxing gloves, but forgot everything my kid was supposed to have (even including his bucket ~ epic fail day for me).

I confess to getting teary as I pulled out of the schools parking lot. Luke could not have possibly cared less. The entire concept of Orange Day mattered not to him, all he cared about was playing with his friends. Didn't phase him at all to be the kid with the sucky Mom. I know that. I do. But it phased me. Babies are easy ~ You can't forget to feed or change a baby ~ they have wickedly effective ways of letting you know when you are forgetting something. I started having visions of being the same Mom as I was student ~ rushing to cover my kids books the morning of school while the bus is outside waiting, forgetting to return permission slips, forgetting field trips, or special days. Argh.

I need practice.

Till then, all I have to say is LOOKOUT black day (next week).......I am going to be all OVER you. I OWN you Black Day.

Public Bathrooms, Private Conversations

Luke came with me into the bathroom at the gym this morning. There were several other people in there.

He came in the stall with me, and he went the bathroom. He stands. My turn next. I don't stand. Which prompted Luke to ask (in his new 1000 decibel voice) ~

"Mama you gonna make a poop? Mama you gonna make a biiiiiiiig poop?".

I started to launch into an explanation of how, NO, girls go potty differently than boys do and Mama was going to go pee just like Luke did......... but halfway through my calm and enlightening anatomy lesson Luke yelled ~

"GOOD JOB MAMA! You did it Mama!, Mama you gonna wipe your butt?" and I simply could not even talk as I was laughing so hard. I heard laughter from at least two women around us. I felt confident that they had all been there at some point.

Maybe it's time we started working on more PC bathroom talk around our home.

Yes, a year apart is close. I hadn't noticed.

This was the kids tonight waiting for Mom Mom to get here for dinner. They stood transfixed at the window holding the books that they had picked out for her to read to them for about 10 minutes before my Mom called to let me know that she was running a little late. I told Luke to read a book to Jules while they waited, and they plunked themselves down right in the middle of the kitchen floor and Luke "read" the entire book to her. I have to tell you, I get/got a ton of comments about how close my kids are in age. Some kind, some worried, some bordering on rude, or at least thoughtless (You DO know how that happens, right?" or, "Wow! Your life is over!" sort of comments during my pregnancy with Jules. It was annoying, but not bothersome to the point where it actually made me angry. I got comments like "Oh I would just HATE having two in diapers!". That one in particular always made me laugh. I just don't understand the logic. If you have three kids, say, 3.5 years apart each, and each potty trains at 3, that is 9 years of wiping bottoms and dealing with dirty diapers. To have two in diapers takes years off of your total time spent dealing with diapers. I may only have, say, 6 total years of dealing with wiping bottoms due to the close spacing of my kids. I have no idea what the point of this diaper illustration is, other than to say that I absolutely love how close age Luke and Jules are, and I have no idea why anyone ever feels the need to comment on the spacing of another couples children.

So here is my random list of things that I adore about having my kids so close in age.

*They entertain one another and Luke will never remember his life without his sisters presence in it.

*There was no jealousy or regression to deal with when we brought Jules home from the hospital.

*My maternity clothes were all still in fashion ("fashion" being very loosely used here, of course).

*They are in the same phase at about the same time. They will ride the elementary school, middle school and high school bus together almost every year.

*They will have friends and social lives in common.

*They will look out for one another at school.

*Everything is fresh in my mind. I didn't have to re learn all of the infant care/fever/dosing etc sort of things.

*All of their gear works (like car seats, which expire after 5 years for safety reasons).

*They learn to share and to take turns as it is something that they do on an hour by hour basis, not just in school or on play dates.

*My kids will be off to school sooner, I won't be home living life around the schedule of a baby for years upon years on end. I will be able to work, or play golf, or volunteer, much sooner than if I had a newborn every 4 years.

*Laying in bed while two toddlers throw their arms around you in the mornings smothering you with kisses and telling you how much they love you might just be the best thing on earth.

I have no idea why this is even on my mind. Consider it my PSA for the week ~

Don't worry about how people plan their families. Some people can deal well and enjoy closely spaced kids, some would not. Some people like small families, some large. I love the fact that many people have made clear to me that they would not like such closely spaced kids. I recommend that those people DO NOT HAVE CLOSELY SPACED KIDS. YOU WOULD PROBABLY BE LOUSY AT IT. I would probably be lousy at having mine all far apart, I fully admit that. I would have a hard time going "back" to baby world after moving into school age kids. I know that about myself, so made choices accordingly. I also recommend that those people who feel the need to opine on the choices of others remember that everyone is different, and those differences are what make the world so much fun.

Luke, at school.

Luke's teachers just sent out some photos from the first couple of weeks of school.

It was so strange to open an email containing pictures of my child that I didn't take. He looks incredibly serious. So serious that it made me laugh. Do I know this serious Luke?

It is so bizarre to think about Luke having parts of his life that are his own. It's strange after spending every single moment of his life with him to realize that for several hours two days a week Luke is entirely his own little person. I don't know that I am explaining what I mean very well......but it is crazy to me that people suddenly know him just as "Luke" and not just as "Melissa's baby". I am a million things other than just Luke's Mom, but for the past 2.5 years he has been just my baby. Suddenly he is becoming more than that. He is Julia's brother. He is a student at school. He is a kid at the gym. He is a boy at church. He is a lot more than just my baby, suddenly.

Still not explaining this well. It's 9 pm and (sadly) long past my current bedtime.

Luke is growing up.

Falling into routine

October first!

I can hardly believe it. We experienced our first truly cold morning and blustery chilly day today on the first of October. Luke and Jules came in from playing with runny noses and pink cheeks and smelling like crisp air and woodsmoke. Fall is really upon us.

Life is settling into a lovely rhythm. Luke is in school Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I drop him off a bit before 9 and head straight to the gym with Jules. A workout and some relaxing in the cafe, then my girl and I go on one errand running date. Doing ANYTHING with just one child vs. two toddlers is so much easier, and so much fun. She is a delight, and I think that the one on one time is really good for her. I don't know exactly when Julia became so much easier ~ but she did and I feel the need to sing her praises. After being in a bit of a clingy/demanding place this spring she has completely come into her own. Her sense of humor has really developed and she loves to copy anything that any one of us is doing at any time. She has a tenderness that I love, and just melts into my arms when I pick her up. I'm loving my time alone with my girl. We pick Luke up at 12 ~ the kids are out on the playground so Jules get to play some while I talk with the teachers and the other Moms. I get excited to pick up the infamous bucket, which is always crammed with some sort of artistic creation. The teachers tell me that Luke asks to make two of every picture ("One for my Julia").....so he frequently comes home with two creations. To say that he has made the adjustment to preschool easily would be an understatement. One day when I got there he looked at me, his face lit up, then fell, as he instantly said "I don't want to go home yeeeeeet Mama!". I felt hurt, and proud (and hurt) all at the same time. Tuesday when I picked him up he also had a Scholastic book order form in his bucket. I was hit with a visceral physical reaction of shock and awe ~ I had completely forgotten about those things! I instantly remembered bringing them home from school and spending hours agonizing over them, reading each description over and over, and circling and starring the books that I most fervently hoped that I might be allowed to order. How it is possible that I went from there to being the MOM of a child ordering those books so quickly is beyond me. I can't wait to place his first order (after spending hours reading all of the descriptions and circling and starring my favorites, of course).

Wednesday is play group, which has been a happy staple in our lives for almost 3 years now. That leaves Mondays and Fridays to go the the PTM, Zoo, moon bounce, or to get together with friends. The kids sleep so long in the afternoon that we have to keep it to short adventures when they wake up, a trip to the library or to visit family or a walk around the borough. Somedays it is just fort building and lots of book reading while cuddled under blankets in the living room. Today that time was spent exploring outside with Daddy and climbing all over a huge tree that fell down in Buddy's yard. Then it is home for the eat dinner/bath/bed routine. Jules is in bed by 7, and Luke between 7.30 and 8, depending on how long he slept at nap time. Sometime around 7 or 7.30 am the whole routine begins again.

We have escaped illness thus far, but I am sure that it is lurking right around the corner. Between school, and the gym, and the million other kids and people that we interact with on a weekly basis, there are simply too many germs to avoid them all. You can't swing a dead cat these days without hitting a story about H1N1, and there is a ton of conflicting information and fear mongering going on in the media. We have been and will continue to follow common sense procedures like tons of hand washing and good nutrition and lots of sleep and we hope to avoid serious illness this winter. Happy fall and may EVERYONE who reads this stay healthy this winter!

Going Private

My blog is going private this weekend ~ If you would like to still be able to read it, please please please email me at lifewithluke@gmail.com ASAP so that I can add you  to the list of readers!

Thank you!