Enough said

Our usual

This is a small account in a day morning hour of the house-O'babies. After I started narrating the beginning of the day I figured an hour was plenty. If you've had little ones at home but they are now grown you will enjoy remembering the typical morning. If you don't have kids yet you will sip your latte at work and relish in the quiet lunch you just had your desk and not be so bothered by your annoying coworker. And because there are most likely more than 60 entries - meaning more than 1 per minute I decided to leave out actual times but just imagine....there isn't a nano-second in between entries unless I have locked myself in the bathroom to attempt to go to the potty alone for 32 seconds. I have this down to an art.

"Bye, honey, have a good day. Enjoy your lunch at Chops today." Door Shuts. Let the fun begin...... {B=older boy, W=younger boy}
Mommy, I need oatmeal, mommy.
Clean up stacking toys from the morning - all 10 of them - thinking "if I just hide them, they won't be found again"
Wipe spit up from W's front side.
Re-hide wires under tv stand for the 3rd time already.
W crawls to the wires anyway.
Mommy, I need oatmeal, mommy.
While preceding to put himself in his chair B spills the entire Costco size container of blueberries.
W crawls to scavenge any runaway blueberries, pulling tv wires with him.
Oh, then he spits up again.
Fasten B in the chair so he won't step on anymore blueberries.
Amos eats atleast a pint.
W eats the other pint now on the floor.
Who cares? Blueberries are a super food.
Eww...with the blueberry W eats a leaf.
Spit up.
Mommy, I need oatmeal, mommy.
Oh yeah, oatmeal. That's right!
Dang it! I burnt the steel cut oatmeal. Why did I think I needed steal cut oatmeal anyway? Organic living can come later.
Who burns oatmeal?
I turn to walk into the kitchen and slide on said spit up. Aren't they supposed to grow out of spitting up by now?
Pull out the 24th wet wipe of the morning. Seriously, I counted. I've never felt such a love/hate towards a product before...
Wipe up spit up and place W in his chair to eat for the 3rd time. Eating is merely entertainment at this point.
Mommy, I need oatmeal. Mommy.
Mommy, I need milk, mommy.
Hey, buddy, can you not say "mommy" at the beginning and end of each phrase?
I turn to finally get the oatmeal and squash 3 blueberries. Thankful for wet wipes this time.
I actually get the oatmeal and remember the milk.
Mommy, I need blue cup, mommy.
Dang it, why did I teach him his colors?
No, B, use the green cup it's fine.
Mommy, green cup dirty, mommy.
Oh, right, I took the green cup from you last night and told you it was dirty. How did you remember that?
Crying ensues from W. If he could he would be saying, FEED ME. FEED ME.
Blueberries will have to do. Here comes pint number two!
Mommy, I need "bwuberries", mommy.
Sure thing. I can do that.
Mommy, I need "seben" bwuberries.
Why did I teach him how to count? I swear kids are easier when they are not so smart!
And by the way, you don't"need" anything...you "want" it, B.
Phone rings.
I check the fridge for my phone.
No lie.
Ironically, that is where I left it.
W wiggles his feet more ferociously expecting something more than blueberries asap.
I find a leftover chicken finger from yesterday's lunch. Chicken for breakfast? Perfect.
Mommy, I need Bernstain Bears, Mommy.
Again, bro, you don't need anything....

Let's end there. It's only been 10 minutes. I have heard my name 32 times. Again, I counted. And by then end of the hour I had picked up the stacking blocks 4 times and the basket of socks 5 times. You would think after this hour is repeated every single morning I would learn that I just shouldn't pick up until nap time. But I am a stubborn learner and somehow I have seemed to make the small task of feeding two growing boys a healthy breakfast much more complicated than it should be.

But....it is all worth it when B chases W around the house while pushing a dump truck. He giggles incessantly, thinking W was merely made for his entertainment. All the while W has picked up this new goofy tongue thing so his tongue hangs down to his chin as he motor-crawls around the house chasing B. He babbles and sings "da da" and for the next 10 minutes I sit and watch as the two learn about each other and their world through silly play. Then I realize I still don't have any pants on and it's now nearly 10am but nothing matters when youre home with babes. Nothing but their innocence and development and the way they look at you when they think you have all of the answers. Except why your phone was in the refrigerator.

Stats

Y'all, it is bizzz-eee over here and it's the kind of busy I don't mind hanging around. Though I always like a full calendar and atleast something on my agenda each day I really do not like to run myself and the babies into the ground with activities, doctor's appointment's, and the like. Luckily, this hot summer we really have very little "to do." We didn't sign up for summer camp. yes, I said summer camp. I had no reason, really. I just didn't get around to it but I do think it is funny that I would have considered camp for my 2 year old! More so, we have done most of our travelling (though I am hoping for a girls trip to Charleston or Savannah, hint hint coastal friends) and we really have nothing to do but to grow up and to get ready for a wedding next month.

Speaking of growing - that is where we have been busy. Not-so-little-anymore-William started crawling right around his 10 month birthday and it so entertaining. He is fear-less! I've said it before but I love watching it play out....Brooks is cautious and reserved while William goes straight for the wires and the cliff! We were really able to "house-proof" the baby with Brooks but I have already started baby-proofing the house for the chubby man on four wheels now.

We are grateful for this new stage though as it allows William to sustain his ever increasing appetite. The other night I made a casserole - the good kind, gooey and full of cream and fat! I rarely do it that way but I was needing some comfort food. I fed William probably a cup and then left for the night with Mr. B in charge. I called him 20 minutes into my trip for some reason and he said he was feeding William casserole and that he had eaten half the pan. "I already fed Willy-B," I exclaimed! This was the first time I really felt guilty about his caloric intake. He will eat anything in front of him and he won't stop himself. My brother, who is a doctor, says he is fine with him being a little plump until he turns two but I am afraid at this rate he'll be on a tv show in 10 years. Luckily the crawling has to be doing something for the food consumption. My new motto for Willy-B is "calories in =calories out," so we just make him crawl all over the house chasing after us if he wants to be held. {Not really but sort of :) }

He also sings "da, da' da" all day long even if I insist that the right words are "ma, ma, ma." Everyone is bias towards the cuteness of their own child and I get it for sure. With this little guy though we just keep quiet because we just know he is that stinkin adorable. I mean Brooks makes us laugh and his eyes light up a room and he certainly had his cute pre-one moments but W doesn't even try and you can't help but munch on his cheeks when you pick him up. Oh, and smiles.....he owns them. I know the babies have caused some commotion with my hormones but every smile and belly laugh makes it all worth it. God surely knows what he is doing when he plops you in the hardest stage of life you'll ever face but gives you a chubby baby (and a toddling-toddler) to entertain you. Often people offer to take the boys for a few hours or even days and while the break is needed and nice - I just don't like not having them around. They have made this year battling insomnia a happy year to remember. As I sit here with less than two hours of sleep under my belt I can't believe I can say that - but it is true. What a treat - and challenge it is to have young children!

But as cute as they are awake, they both happen to be sleeping right now and I need to go try to take care of this sleep deficit as much as I can. Happy official summer!

Brooks in his cowboy boots that he is OBSESSED with! He wore them in honor of my cowboy boot wearing grandma!
And all of my boys helping me grocery shop. They are as helpful as they look...

Not so normal

My grandmother passed away last week as many of you saw on the blog. Nothing has really felt normal since and I don't know when it will. It's true - all of the praying and meditation and vitamins in a day can't prepare you for the death of a loved one. Especially, an unexpected death. I know it is pretty not-cool to talk about death on a blog full of pictures of smiling children but I think there is a sweetness in her passing that I am clinging to right now and I couldn't miss writing about it.

My Mawmaw, my mother's mom, and a mom to six other daughters, was self-less. This had to be written with a hyphen for the emphasis.....she cared most about others - not about her self. She literally lived to make other people smile. Last Friday my mama wanted me to take the boys to Mawmaw's pool to swim but as they often do, the boys naps thwarted any of our plans. Of course today I despise that I let the naps of my babies interfere with the last time I could have spent with my grandmother. I now have an answer to one of my biggest regrets. I had just literally been too busy and too exhausted lately to make the effort to visit anyone - even the long overdo dentist, and in this season of life I had sort of thought that the rest of life would wait for me to catch up. You know, wait for me to get back to normal sleep and wait for me to feel good again. And for a long while life seemed to be just standing still for me. I had just told Brad that I felt like my feet were in quick sand and I was watching as friends and family around me graduated, got engaged, started a business, or even more close to home - were healed from an ailing sickness. All the while, life wasn't waiting for me as I had thought. My grandmother, for one, was experiencing the joy she had created through her many grandchildren and through pleasing the people around her despite how she may have felt on the inside. She made three cakes last Wednesday on the day that will now be put on the other end of her hash mark. She literally squeezed every ounce of life and joy out of each day and she lived like it may be her last....even on a seemingly normal Wednesday.

If for some reason my day was today I would be appalled at the things I left behind that day....certainly not cakes! Anyway, there is a sweetness about her life that is all around me right now and it is so refreshing amidst such loss.

There is a for sale sign in our front yard right now. I have yet another doctor appointment tonight - number 14. Our boys are only getting farther away from being babies and there are letters I want to write and things I need to do in order to take care of my family tomorrow but for right now I just want to enjoy the sweetness. Mawmaw's passing has allowed me to be okay with life passing me by. I feel as if time has stopped for everyone who knew her and we will all just catch up sometime down the road....but that's okay. Now is the time to remember and to store away the lingering taste of her chocolate pound cake and the beautiful memories of her last months on earth among so many friends and family.

I am grateful for this "not so normal" time. I am thankful to really feel sadness for my mother and her sisters and for all of us whom grieve the loss of her earthly life. Life sometimes seems too much about the things to get done during the day and while alot of that is just the reality of having two young ones - I don't want to live that way. It's too frustrating to live that way. Nothing will ever be fully done but there will always be invaluable conversations and embraces that we have all been a part of each day....none of which were part of a to-do list. I am just so glad that I have enough of those to keep my mind drifting from one memory to the next during this time.

And I am grateful, too, for smiles like the one below. Life is a full circle. My mawmaw in her 70's knew just how to make a little child smile. I think she got it. She knew there was a richness to life and it wasn't found in doing a certain amount of things each day but more about enjoying enough people each day and relishing in the smile of a little child or even a grown daughter. Our boys are lucky to have four grandparents to make the same impact that my Mawmaw made on me. Life really is a circle....with a cloud of "sweetness" around it if we can slow down enough to take it all in.

My sweet Mawmaw

I don't know all of the details but my grandmother has gone to kiss her groom that passed away many years ago. My heart is broken for my mother and her six sisters and the huge family that she leaves behind. What a legacy this woman has made! I know God will make all things new and that He will comfort us all in our time of need....espceially her seven daughters.

Here is a post I wrote about her years ago. I miss her cooking, crazy stories, and her smile already. . .
***

Sunday night's at Mawmaw's

baby bro found himself a perty little wife

And they're gonna have a pretty sweet life. And really cute kids. One day.
Unfortunately, for them and us, they have spent too many a dinner times with our family of four to not want children for an unreasonably long time. My lifestyle in the past has caused people to want to run long distances or to live a little more "unscheduled" but never have I caused such a dramatic conclusion. No kids!

Anyway, last night Brad and I left the monsters with an insane saint-like babysitter right during the 3 hardest hours of a little person's day - a bath, a dinner, and an attempt at bed. We travelled across town for the first of the festivities for the wedding. There have been some bachelor/ette type parties before now but ironically both Brad and I were given "passes" to not attend. I never before knew how OLD thirty seemed until I appeared to out dated for a bachelorette party! {I'm just kidding, little bro and sis-to-be......we both know it would have been so fun and comfortable to sit around and talk about your honeymoon rompings with your turning-grey-haired-sister and brother in law. So fun!} So last night was our first wedding activity and it was so perfect! {Except for the fact that I didn't remember until we pulled up that it was a couples-fiesta-shower and I had told Brad to dress in his finest. Forgive, honey? Please?} My littlest brother and sister in law to be have some pretty cute friends and for a few hours I was back in the middle of "how can I find a job that I actually like" and "where do I actually meet girls in a big city" type of conversations that I hadn't been privy to in many years.....and I loved it! I can't wait for the big day in July! Not only will this be the most fun wedding I have ever attended because that is just how they are....it will also be such a thrill to have another girl in our family and a little bit more complete family dynamic. I am so grateful to have something other than baby milestones and food intolerances to keep up with for a few months.

And for some reason now the tears have started to fall. I thought I'd make it another paragraph but oh well! I just love a good marriage. I know my brother has what it takes to make it just that. He is compassionate yet energetic. Agressive yet he certainly has a soft side. He is the person you want to show up to the party with because he is that much fun but also the person you want to sit with over a long lunch because there is a deep side, too. More so, he is the person you will want to marry because he will have the most outrageous videos shown and stories told at his rehearsal dinner. I can't wait!

Cheers to summer weddings and my big family getting even bigger! Party pictures to come {hint hint - mom!} because they are a cute couple and you'll want to see them!

Marriage retreat 2011

Just the word "retreat" makes me a little uneasy. 3 weeks after we were married in 2007 I thought it would be a grand idea to go on this women's retreat. You know, as if after 3 weeks of marriage I would be ready to get away and pick apart all of the ins and outs of marriage and my change in identity and my role as a wife and such. I was pretty much miserable. I broke every rule and not only turned on my cell phone as instructed not do but I skipped half of the planned activities to talk to my recent groom.

Last week I did not know what to think about 5 days away from the little boys. I didn't know, either, that I had forgotten how to really unwind but I had...completely. So after a full 48 hours of straightening our vacation home in Key Largo and trying desperately to suck down the best pina colada I had ever had just to maybe help the tension...I finally was able to let go and feel what it feels like to be only responsible for myself.

Thanks to the grandparents in our life we were able to hop a plane and a bus and a train and Marta and a golf cart (it took us 7 modes of transportation just to get to where we were going) we were on our way to what turned out to be a much needed marriage "retreat" for the two of us. We had the type of conversations that only happen B.K. because when you are W.K. (with kiddos) the conversation doesn't get farther than who's diaper was changed last. We rode the golf cart all over the island, took two hours to work out each day, stayed out for dinner past 7:30, and even sat and watched the stars over a bridge over the water each night.

The funny thing is that after two days of being wound so tight I couldn't even giggle, I finally let down, and then 48 hours later I was ready to come home....back to runny noses and bottles to clean because, honestly, I have come accustomed to the consistency of my life. I could certainly afford myself a little more personal time throughout the week but for two years (and the last 9 months especially) I have grown to enjoy the busyness of the day and the inability to think beyond the hour. I know I won't be like this forever - I don't think anyone could but for now, for some reason, I am a little addicted to the 90 mile pace and lack of time to "retreat." Plus, being away showed me just how infectious the giggles of little boys can be. When we left last week I said I didn't know if I would miss the voice of our two year old...constantly asking the same silly question over and over and over and over. I'll admit, the first two days I welcomed the quiet but after 48 hours I realized that I don't really like quiet right now. A quiet house will come again in many years and by that time I know I'll long for these sweet, toddler days again.

I guess that is what vacation is about though....realizing that life at home is pretty sweet!

We didn't get too many photos because we didn't take bags anywhere! I think this was half the fun - not having to carry 4 things just to go to dinner at night. But here are the very few that we took - obviously on self timer!
Window seat to Miami...what a pretty flight!
We did alot of this....nothing in the shade by the pools and ocean.
I seriously wet my pants laughing at the comedian of the bunch as we ran out of juice in the cart on our sunset cruise over the bridge.
Movie night on the island. We were the youngest of the crowd by 50 years.

This is about as good as you get with the wind, a broken camera, and no one in sight to snap a photo. I love how our memories these days are more about the actual memory and not about looking like superstars!
{Seriously needing to invest in a real camera before our good years are over!}