Happy Father's Day

My Dear Husband,
This picture of you always makes me laugh. Not just because of your pose, but because I know you took this picture of yourself, alone in our room. I can just imagine you striking that pose and waiting for the timer to go off on the camera. You're so funny. And I love you.

This has not been an easy season with our two little ones. But I feel like we're making some progress. And, by God's grace, we only completely lose it one at a time. So I think we're doing okay. Parenting is so hard, and I feel really blessed that I'm learning how to do this with you by my side. Thank you for loving me and our children so well....and for making us laugh.

Daniel: Not your average 4 year old.

My sweet Daniel,
As you well know, you are 4 years old now. At your check-up today you weighed 46 lbs. and measured 43 3/8 inches. You are in the 95% for height and weight which means you are a big boy, just like you keep telling me. Something magical happened to you when you turned 4. Now you can make your own bowl of cereal, you can get mostly dressed by yourself, you can help your little sister open the car door, you can ride a scooter, read a few letters and numbers, and recite countless facts about cars, animals and sea creatures. You have a huge imagination and can make the most mundane activity into an exciting chase ending in a fiery crash. And you are fast. At your first race they mistakenly put you up against 5 & 6 year olds. You didn't win, but you beat the kid who trash-talked you at the starting line. I love your tender heart that breaks when you hurt someone. And I am excited to see the next big boy thing you can do.
Love,
Mom

"Watch Mimo, peeease?"

This is the summer of Finding Nemo (or "Mimo" as the kids call it.) The kids are obsessed with the movie. Addie asks to watch it every 20 minutes or so. And gets really mad when I tell her no because we just finished watching it. But their obsession came at an ideal time. Last weekend we went to Atlanta to visit Uncle Jason, Aunt Marie & baby Tucker and to celebrate Tucker's baptism. The Georgia Aquarium is also in Atlanta. We spent a good part of Saturday there, petting the sting rays and sea stars, seeing some crazy gigantic manta rays and bazillions of other fish besides. Addie could have spent the whole day petting the shrimp. But Daniel loved everything. He was so into it. He asked lots of great questions and told us facts about the different sea creatures. But the end all be all for him were the whale sharks. He was so excited to see them he was shaking. Too bad the kids ran out of steam (and Mommy ran out of patience) before we got the see the coral reef exhibit. Guess we'll have to make another trip to see Mimo and his friends.

On The Menu

We started a vegetable garden this year. My first time growing anything but flowers and tomatoes. I thought it might entice the kids to eat a veggie or two if they helped in their creation. This is very wishful thinking. And just so it wouldn't be a total bust we planted watermelon seeds. Can you guess what is the only thing that doesn't seem to be growing in our garden?

I'm sure I went through this phase as a kid. I don't remember not liking vegetables, but I'm sure I wasn't always a fan of green beans. The only veggie Daniel will eat is corn, and I'm not even sure that counts. If you ask Addie what she wants to eat her answer is almost always "fruit snacks" which contain no fruit whatsoever...and really nothing else of any nutritional value.

The garden is growing and the kids are sincerely excited to see tiny green beans and tomatoes getting bigger everyday. Daniel asks every time, "But Mom, where are the watermelons?" The watermelons may be purchased on a late night trip to Schnucks in early August, and plopped suspiciously among the squash vines.

Neuropathways or Not

About six months after Daniel was born I was in the waiting room of my OB/GYN and saw a Discover magazine cover blurb that read "Why Moms are Smarter." Since I had been living the last year in the mental haze of pregnancy and subsequent sleep-deprivation I could use a little good news. According to the article, the hormones released during pregnancy and after create new neuro-pathways in the brain, making women biologically smarter. At the time, I was really looking forward to when that would kick in. And it seems almost 4 years, and an Adalyn Joy later I am still hazy, scattered, forgetful and a little slow most of the time.

Prekids I had a knack for remembering details. Now I look back at their baby pictures and can hardly recall them being so small. So this is a record of the little things from June 16, 2009 and forward.