A Moment in Parenting

As a parent, how do you respond when your three year old comes out of the kitchen saying, "I don't want a time-out! I don't want a time-out!" and this is what you discover on the counter and floor?

Clearly he feels guilty and realizes it wasn't a good choice (you agree), but you haven't actually told him not to get into the sugar bowl...

I mostly found his reaction funny, and did not give him a time out. He did have to apologize, though, and we discussed why getting into the sugar is not a good choice.

Our Big Exciting Weekend

This is MY version of events:

This past weekend Jim decided he was going to have a three day backpacking trip on Pikes Peak...let's just remember that this is the month of JANUARY and Pikes Peak is located in COLORADO. Anyway, I was geared up for a boring uneventful weekend alone with the kids while my husband and his buddies froze up there. The first day I received my phone call from Jim (there is a rock at the camp that you can stand on and hold your phone over your head to receive a signal) letting me know they'd had an uneventful, fun day. So had I. Great so far.

The second day I received a phone call at 1pm during which Jim informed me that he'd left his buddies and was going down the trail alone back to camp. (He had a great signal because he was above timberline.) Hmm...not so sure he should have left his buddies, but I really wasn't worried. It was a beautiful day and he had a trail to follow! Or so I thought. At 3pm I received another phone call informing me that he hadn't been on the trail for a while and that he was now below timberline and in waist deep snow. LOST. Wonderful! And the sun was going down in a couple of hours in JANUARY in COLORADO on PIKES PEAK. I may or may not have been worried at this point, and I may or may not have called Search and Rescue (because they could easily call him and tell him where the trail was compared to his location unless he climbed lower), and I may or may not have paced back and forth crying during the next little while. The important thing is that this little event caused some contractions to start. At 3:45pm Jim called me back to let me know he'd found the trail. Truly wonderful! But the contractions had started. He made it back to camp in no time, and I attempted to relax the rest of the evening. I then attempted to go to bed at 9:30...surely the contractions would stop then? Three hours later I was on the phone with the doctor praying that I wouldn't go into labor 10 weeks early AND when my husband was out of reach (he certainly wasn't sleeping on that nice rock). I do know what Braxton-Hicks contractions feel like, and these weren't them! My doctor asked me to come to the hospital and I responded that I was alone with two sleeping children because my husband was on Pikes Peak. She was pretty baffled that he'd want to camp out on Pikes Peak in JANUARY. Anyways, she told me to try Ibuprofen (!!!) and Benadryl first...maybe that would calm things down and prevent a trip to the hospital. I very nervously took the Ibuprofen (because that is a HUGE no-no when you are in the third trimester of pregnancy) and Benadryl and went back to bed. Thankfully it worked.

So the third day, I was trying to take things easy and was eagerly waiting my husband's return because I was paranoid about lifting children, climbing the stairs, etc... and we all missed him. Well, on his descent he had an encounter with the mountain that rendered his right arm useless (and of course he was sore and blistered and tired). I was still having Braxton-Hicks contractions; not a big worry, but I didn't want to increase anything. Jim went to the Urgent Care for x-rays and I sat around. He came home feeling no better and having learned that he'd cracked a bone (at least he didn't fully break it). So neither of us could really lift the kids or climb the stairs or do much of anything; pathetic!


This picture is unrelated and wasn't even taken during our big exciting weekend, but I love catching photos of my sleeping babes!

Monday Morning

This morning I knew it was going to be one of those days that the kids created their own adventures (because I was planning to clean) so I decided to document their day to show Jim later. It turned out a little more exciting than I'd expected!

I woke up in the morning 'bout a quarter to nine (Annie really did) and I feel really fine! So I brushed my teeth!

We LOVE to brush our teeth around here (not kidding) and because we watch Mommy floss, we like to do that too! (I swear I've never actually encouraged or taught them to floss, but because they are fascinated with it I let them have their own sticks and they do it every day!)

Next we had an impromptu picnic on our "spaceships".

Then we built a really BIG SPACESHIP! (I'm loving his imagination.)

Just had to show off the tongue and the tummy...

We decided to have our own climbing exercises. (Annie learned how to climb IN her crib! To my knowledge this is the first time she's EVER done that!)

After Mommy decided that climbing on the "big spaceship" was too dangerous, we built it in the crib! (A disclaimer here: If I've ever babysat your children before, I PROMISE this is not an activity I would allow...)

We played in the crib for more than an hour!

Finally, Mom decided it was time to clean up so we got out of the crib, but we were thirsty! We brought Mom two bottles of juice, and she said to put them away until lunch!

I (Logan) decided to open the juice myself, and Annie tried to take a drink straight from the bottle. Boy was Mom surprised when she found the bottle of juice pouring straight onto the carpet and we were both crying! (And boy was I relieved it was the apple juice and not the grape!)

Pet Request

Last week, Logan said to me:

"Mom, we can't have a baby cow in our house because it would make a mess."

"That's right buddy."

"Mom, we can't have a baby pig in our house because it would make a mess."

"Yep, no baby cow or baby pig."

So then on Monday, Logan had more to say:

"Mom, if we had a giraffe in our house I would be SO happy!"

"But a giraffe wouldn't fit in our house bud."

"A baby giraffe would fit in our house."

"What would happen when the giraffe got bigger?"

"I don't know."

He thinks for a minute...

"Mom, a baby giraffe would fit in our house and it wouldn't make a mess! That would make me SO happy!"

Someday when we really do have a HOUSE, I think this kid needs a dog.

The "New" Zoo Times Two

On Friday night, we learned that the Denver Zoo was having a free day on Saturday so we decided very last minute to go as a family yesterday. I was SO glad Jim was there to help with the kids and push the stroller! We really had a great family day!

This tiger was pretty pathetic; he (?) was looking at that window and it sounded like he was moaning to be let in.

Are you as tall as a polar bear?

The kids were glued to the fish tanks again. This one was their favorite because it had some really big fish.

This turtle is named Bob, and Logan was fascinated with him. After we left that area, Logan kept asking to go back, "I want to see Bob!"

Riding a hippo...

As we were leaving, Logan put his arm around Annie, and they rode like this for several minutes.

I'm so glad my children love each other!

We were all pretty tired afterwards, but the kids had a nap in the car on the way home. So THEY were refreshed, but we were totally wiped out once we came inside. Jim attempted to lay down, but the kids were a little too enthusiastic about Daddy to let him get any rest. I don't think Jim found it funny at the time, but it really was.

Surprise!

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in the living room feeling very satisfied with how clean everything was looking. The kids hadn't made any big messes that day and things had been really calm! Then I decided to check on them in their room. This is what I found:

Fun Times

Last week we had a fun evening with some friends. Our zoo does a holiday lights event every year, and since we were members it was free! We bundled up the kids really well and had a great time.

I didn't take many pictures, but I did get my favorite part. Jack Frost came to feed the hippos some melons that the kids had decorated (Logan's name was on one of them). Annie was right up front totally trapped below all the people. I was the mean adult who wouldn't let children step in front of me because Annie kept checking to see that I was RIGHT behind her. I couldn't even back up to get a better picture of her.

Although we have an amazing zoom on our camera, I didn't need to use it for these shots. If I'd leaned over the rail I could have touched that hippo.

Those are some HUGE jaws! I am totally fascinated with this animal, but am very protective of my children when we are near their exhibit.

They would catch the melons and chomp down making the melons pop like a balloon. It was VERY cool.

Another evening last week, Annie sat through an ENTIRE movie. It's the first time she's ever done that. Upon inspection I discovered why... She fell asleep holding Daddy's hand! I had to share just because it's so sweet!

A New Year

It's a new year, and one thing that means for our family is a new schedule for church. This year we are on the 1pm-4pm time...not our favorite because that is nap time! The kids handled it well yesterday, though. They were really quite happy during church; they were just SO exhausted by the time we made it home!

I thought Annie was unbelievably cute with her pigtails and dress yesterday! (I have a wonderful video of her from last night as well; I'm hoping Jim can help me figure out how to post it!)

Logan is now a Sunbeam! (In our church, the children attend Nursery until the January that they are three. Then the join the older kids in a group called Primary. The class for three year olds is called the Sunbeam class.) He was a little hesitant about some of singing time, but he LOVED going to class and had so much fun with his new teacher! Every time I passed his classroom (I was the designated roamer yesterday so I was keeping an eye on all the classes) I heard lots of giggling. When his class came back to the Primary room for closing exercises, he borrowed scriptures so he could put a sticker on our scripture chart. (In order to encourage the kids to bring their scriptures, every week we sing "Scripture Power" and any child who remembered to bring scriptures can put a sticker on the chart. We have scriptures available for anyone to borrow if they don't have their own.) Our only dilemma with him during church happened right after the closing prayer; he did NOT want to return those scriptures! So I decided he would bring his own every week from now on. I was trying to figure out if I had a little bag that would make it easy for him to carry them, but ended up deciding to just make one. So, last night after the kids were in bed I spent 30 min. on this little project. I even embroidered an "L" on it so everyone would know it was Logan's.

I gave it to him today and tried to get him to pose for a picture, but didn't have much success.

A Sore Back

...is a good indication that I had a productive day. Humor me for a minute here because I am very pleased with what I accomplished this morning.

First, I neglected to comb Annie's hair... (I also have no intention of doing so because I think it's cute.)

Second, I failed to get Logan dressed... (In this picture he said he was camping and that the cushions were his tent.)

BUT we weren't going anywhere and I got a LOT done! I scrubbed, mopped, vacuumed, polished, picked up, washed dishes, did four loads of laundry,...

...put away our Christmas decorations, found the top of my dryer (that's where things live before they have a home), AND finished organizing the kids' closet! I took a picture of the closet because I am VERY happy with it. This closet was one of those that you opened CAREFULLY because everything was going to fall out on you and you could not see the wall at the back of the closet. I managed to clear out a big tub (the size of that gray one), four diaper boxes, two hiker packs that kids can sit in, a fan, and a humidifier and found a new place for them (AKA storage). I also reorganized EVERYTHING. Now I can get to EVERYTHING (especially the baby boy clothes that I will soon need) and there's tons of room for more stuff! (Some may be skeptical about that, but bear in mind how much I took OUT of there; I can fit a lot more in!)

So I am very pleased with myself today; it's just a shame that I probably can't get off of the couch until tomorrow. :)

Alarmed

After last week's fiasco, I have been a bit wary about taking a shower when the kids are up. So today I did it while Annie was asleep. I shut the door, got in, and then Logan and I had ANOTHER interaction through the closed door:

"Mom, I need to go potty!"
"Use the other bathroom!"
(Is this sounding familiar yet?)

A couple of minutes pass during which I am frantically trying to finish my shower so I can catch him before he unrolls all of the toilet paper... I just can't get rid of my paranoia especially since I'd just scrubbed that floor again TODAY!

I get out, and hear the fan in the other bathroom go on.

"Mom, I am stinking up my bathroom!"

Alarm bells go off in my head and I bolt out of the bathroom to discover that he only went #1. He just thought it would be fun to turn on that fan (because in his mind that is HOW you stink up a bathroom.) I am NEVER taking a shower again...without a babysitter.