Cold Heart, Cold Bath

Last Wednesday my boys had a baby sitter while my husband and I were out. Since this is a regular occurrence the boys know the routine when we are gone. I, of course, reiterated the necessary things to be done while we were gone (mostly for the benefit of the girls who were watching my boys).

1. Take a bath.
2. Brush your teeth.
3. Put on underwear and pj's.

After you are ready for bed you can watch some tv or read some books.

Being a school night with the boys having to get up the next day at 6:30am and us not generally getting home until 8pm, it is important to have this stuff done so they can get in bed as soon as we get home.We get home and absolutely nothing has been accomplished (since they were playing soccer, in.the.house). Grrrrrr.....

So, I tell the boys to get in the bath, and "I mean now." The bath water did not have enough time to warm up. You would have thought I was killing the boys with all the screaming and howling that was going on. To make it so much worse, I insisted that they sit down in the tub while bathing and dumped LOTS of water over their heads to make sure I got all the shampoo out of their hair...he he. Oh well, guess next time you will take your bath when I tell you or I will be hauled away by DCF after the neighbors complain.

Cosmic Laughing

Really? Are you kidding me?

After going through the miscarriage last year and having time to really just appreciate my family for they way it was, Kevin and I came to the conclusion that we were okay with things the way they are. Two boys. Perfect. We are all okay.

Then bam! Out of the blue...I am pregnant. Currently at 13 weeks. Baby is strong and healthy. I have already had 3 ultrasounds. So weird to be considered at advanced maternal age due to me being 35 when the baby is born. However, it is pretty cool to see the baby so often.

We did not tell anyone about this new baby until now. Not even the boys knew until Sunday. I am a touch paranoid and of course I really do not have a physically easy pregnancy. I am blessed that for the most part every bad feeling I have is "cosmetic." I do no have any real health issues, for me or the baby. Being sick all day, every day is awful. This time I am not taking any anti-depressants as I have been off medication for well over a year now. Depression is terrible and insidious. I think I may be turning the corner.

Now to the really funny part...

Kevin and I did a lot of talking and thinking over the last year. We decided that what was best for all of us was to not have any more kids. I started giving away all the baby clothes, most of my baby furniture sold at consignment. Kevin had a vasectomy in December.

Again, really?

So, I have determined that my sense of control over my life is actually a very pretty illusion. There are greater forces out there at work. Kevin's procedure was about 3 weeks too late...I was already pregnant. Good for him we did not know that at the time. Now knowing what all is entailed I am not too sure he would be so quick to agree.

There you have it...an auspicious start for who will be our youngest and very last baby.

Don't Move Me

Kevin and I have tried really hard since Kyle was born to not allow the kids to sleep in our bed whenever they want to. Some may think this is selfishness on our part but honestly we just wanted to keep our room and particularly our bed sacred to just us. Of course, just like every rule, there have been many exceptions. For example if one of the kiddos is sick, they can sleep with us. If one of them is scared and comes into our room we certainly do not kick them out and tell them to "deal with it" (I think I may be losing some worst mama points here).

Since the boys have been older (ie we are able to reason with them) we have been allowing more sleeping in our bed. Mostly it started with Friday night movie in our bed. We generally use Friday night as our "fun night out" with the boys. We go to dinner (their choice...groan...pizza again...no wonder I can't lose weight) and then either buy a movie (if it is like say $5 or less) or rent a movie. The kiddos then get to watch said movie, staying up way too late but hey, it is Friday after all. Kevin and I have seen lots and lots of kids movies...many, many times...so we tell them they can watch their movie in our room because there are only 2 dvd players. One in the main room with big tv and one in our room. Needless to say this practice has recently developed into the boys wanting to sleep in our bed all night. I think Kevin just gives in, not sure, but somehow the boys end up in bed with me all night.

So, the kiddos slept with me Friday night. Well Saturday night came around and the boys wanted to sleep with me again. Kevin was like....uh, no. But giving in we let them watch a movie and then fall asleep in the bed with the intention of moving them to their own bed later. I am the first in bed, Kyle just went to sleep but considering it was somewhat late for him I thought he was really asleep. Apparently not. Kevin comes in a little after me and goes to get Kyle and move him. Everything is all quiet and dark...the only sound is the kiddos slow, even, deep breathing. Kevin leans over and right as he is about to touch Kyle...Kyle says very loudly and very clearly...Don't MOVE Me. Kevin, somewhat startled, starts to laugh. As quietly as possible. I start to laugh. Kyle, hoping to impress on both of us that we can all sleep in the same bed then says in his sleep mumble...again, don't me move, I move over, and then proceeds to toss Todd half way across the bed to make room for Kevin. All poor Todd did was get up close next to his brother on Kevin's side of the bed. All I can see is Kyle pushing Todd and Todd violently rolling over with a very loud grunt. By now Kevin and I are laughing so hard, still trying to be quiet and not really succeeding (bless Todd, he slept through the whole thing). At this point there is really no way to move Kyle without a huge fuss. While we are still laughing and Kevin is trying to decide what to do Kyle says very clearly....It's NOT funny!

Who else can say they have a potato chip floor

Last night we had some friends and family over to watch the Superbowl. None of us really cared about the teams playing but hey...it is the Superbowl, the last real football game of the entire season and a good reason to have a get together. Needless to say the kiddos did not get as much supervision as usual. My kiddos (of course!) along with one of their friends, a boy who is 1 month older than T (so that makes the three culprits one 5yo and two 3 1/2yos) decided at some point that they needed to eat some chips. The bags had been left on the kitchen counter...well within their reach. Okay. Not that big a deal they are eating chips at 9:30pm. Except of course to keep this interesting they had to take not one but two almost full bags of chips and throw them all over the floor in their playroom. I still have no idea why. The best part is that K comes over to me in the kitchen and tells me very seriously...T and B are throwing chips all over the playroom. When I go to check it out...T very seriously throws his big brother under the bus (in response to K telling me in the first place I'm sure) by informing me that K was in on the action as well. Lovely.

You Did What?

Last night Kevin was working late so the boys and I went ahead and started eating dinner. As usual when Kevin gets home right in the middle of dinner, the boys stop eating and start talking to daddy. You would think the boys had not seen their dad in forever the way they attack him every night. So last night the conversation went like this:

Todd: Daddy, Kyle peeded on my head.

Kevin: What!? Kyle, that is disgusting. How did that happen, in the bath tub?

Kyle: No daddy. I did not pee on Todd, I peeded in my face.

Kev: (again) What?

Ky: I was at the potty going go pee pee and it was facing up and pee hit me in the face. It also hit Todd in the leg.

T: concurring with this...he apparently got it wrong about who got pee in the face

Kev: (laughing) Kyle, when that happens you have to try to push it down and aim for the toilet.

Ky: But daddy it was hard, and it hurt to push it down.

Kev: (laughing so hard he can hardly breathe) Well, you have to stand back from the potty and arc it in...

Really, is this what I have to put up with living in a house of boys. It was rather hysterical watching Kevin demonstrate and explain the mechanics of peeing when "it" is hard. I thought I was going to fall out of my chair laughing. Of course Kevin gets this duty as I have no clue about any of that boy stuff.

And....it finally happened to me. Some random "well I must say something" lady corrected my children on a supposed infraction with me not an arms distance away. Also last night, on the way home from picking the boys up from school I stopped at Fresh Market (the special grocery store according to the boys). I was looking for shallots. Why they are in the cool section away from all the other onions I have not a clue...does not seem like smart placement to me. Anyway, looking for the now impossible to find shallots, I am half distracted and keep telling the boys to stop it and don't touch. They, not more than an arms reach from me, go right up to the section where the lettuces are. Of course they reach up to touch them...according to Kyle he "wanted to touch the ice." Two little sections over 2 red peppers and a celery root roll of the shelf and fall to the floor. This random, I don't know who she thinks she is, lady looks at the boys and says..."I don't think that is the way to behave in the grocery store. You should not throw the vegetables." Ummm, excuse me. My kids did not even touch the peppers. I look right at her and tell her..."They did not touch the vegetables." She comes back with some lame comment and I again tell her...."they did not touch them." She proceeds to pick them up off the floor and put them back. About a minute later the celery root rolls off on the floor again. I did not see her any where in the store after that.

I told Kevin this last night and he was quite in awe of my restraint. My kids are not perfect. They misbehave and half the time do not listen. However, they will never willfully destroy any property. I know the kids did not touch or even mess with the peppers or celery root. Things fall off those shelves all the time since the grocery store powers that be seem to think the best way to display stacked fruits and veggies is on a slant. Really, a slant?

So, what I learned is that my kids will get blamed for things that they did not do in snotty, stuck up grocery stores for the mere fact that they are kids.

Poet? Nope. Scientist

Two mornings ago when I was driving the boys to school, the sky was a little overcast with long rows of grayish clouds. The sun was sitting just above the cloud level and was making the sky look pink. Kyle asks me, isnt that pretty. I ask what he is looking at and he replies the sky off to the right. So I look and agree, the sky does look really pretty. He then follows with how it looks like the sun is melting into the clouds. I am thinking...how sweet, he sounds like a poet. That lasted all of 15 seconds when he followed that comment up with how the clouds are cold and the sun is hot so the clouds must melt when that close to the sun, etc etc etc. Well, no poet but scientists are not too bad either.

Immersion Blenders

Are so very cool! Paige got me one for Christmas and I am so totally hooked on this thing. I decided tonight that I would finally use the thing...honestly I was a little intimidated by it at first. Anyway I made a really yummy roasted red pepper and tomato soup. I originally saw a recipe for roasted tomato soup by Tyler Florence but did not ever attempt it because he says use an immersion blender. Now I have all the pieces. Using his base recipe I added a few things and voila...really yummy soup. Even Kevin ate it and I do not think I ever see him eat soup unless he is sick.