Daddy's Orange Shirt

Anneliese is a very stereotypical girl in that she loves to dress up.  Baskets of laundry are oh so tempting to her.  Abandoned grownup shoes on the floor are just asking to be worn.  Even her own drawers of clothes will make for good fun if we leave her alone in her room long enough.

But most of all, she loves Daddy's orange shirts.  Loves. Them.

For a while, we laughed because it was always the first thing she'd pull out of the laundry and drape around her neck.  Then, she learned how to go into our closet and pull one off a hanger.  (There are many to choose from.  We have no shortage of orange t-shirts around here.) 

Then, we decided that was really annoying, and we don't want to have a kid who thinks she can just help herself to our closet any old time she wants, so Mark donated an orange shirt to the dress-up cause.

Now Anneliese finds a reason to wear it almost every day.

It's her go-to outfit for building blocks, or playing with legos, or reading books, or snuggling Hattie, or racing cars and trains, or doing music, or causing any of the general chaos that an almost-two-year old can cause.

And every time I see her wearing this shirt, I'm reminded of this picture and this memory:

Anneliese and Daddy (and the orange shirt), Nov 2009

In my mind, this picture was just taken a few weeks ago.  I can't believe she's such a big girl already, with opinions and personality... and fewer and fewer snuggles.

But I'll still take them when I can get them.

Zoo Firsts

Nathan and Anneliese and I went to the zoo on Monday with my oldest friend Jenny.  We needed one last North Carolina playdate before she leaves our home state and moves to a land far far away (Georgia).  Jenny is so awesome and so wonderful and always easy to talk to and hang out with, and even if it's been months since we've seen each other, it's so comfortable with her.  One of those people I can always truly be myself around.  I love her and I can't believe we've been friends for more than twenty years.

Anyway.  The zoo.

This isn't the first time Jenny and I have taken our babies to the zoo together (see: last summer), and it's also not the first time I've found myself wandering the zoo on a hot summer day at eight months pregnant (see: the summer before that).  But we did have a handful of other zoo firsts:

1.) Anneliese's first time not sleeping through the zoo. In fact, she was wide awake and curious and (of course) called every animal a puppy, and pointed and laughed and seemed to love it.  She rode in the stroller about half the time, but when we let her roam free and explore, she didn't hesitate.  Puppy!  Puppy!  Puppeeeeeeee!!!!

Yes, it's a special kind of puppy.  Called a zebra.

2.) My first time making a predictable mom comment about my kid being the one who belongs in the zoo.  I texted this picture to a friend, saying something along those lines, and immediately had to send a follow-up text apologizing for saying the most predictable mommy thing of all the mom things I've ever said since becoming a mom.  Wow. 

But no, seriously, he kind of looks like he belongs in the zoo... right?

3.) Our first time with kids who are old enough to notice the animals are naked.  *sigh*  Nathan and Katie were fascinated by the chimpanzees; they kept their attention longer than any other zoo animal we saw.  They made noises, they climbed trees, they hugged and kissed each other (so cute!) but most importantly (when you're three), you could see their bottoms.  And that's apparently hilarious.  Anneliese laughed and stared right along with them, but I am very sure she had no idea what was so funny.  Also: Nathan now knows the word booty.  Awesome.

4.) Our first time with a kid who will sit on the statues without crying.  Nathan and Katie?  Notsomuch into this.  But mommies love the photo op, and once Anneliese did it and smiled about it, the big kids were more likely to try it out too.

5.) Our first time with kids who incessantly ask questions.  Where are the polar bears?  Why are they sleeping?  Why do they like to sleep inside?  What's your favorite animal at the zoo, Mommy?  What's that chimpanzee's* favorite color?  Why is that lion sleeping when it's not alone time?  What's Daddy's** favorite animal at the zoo? What does the lemur like to eat?  Does the puffin not like the penguins?  Does the giraffe like to eat the tree but not share with the zebra?  Why does Anneliese think that's a puppy?  Hey Katie what's your favorite animal at the zoo?  Hey Katie what's your favorite color?  If this still sounds cute to you, it's because A- you don't live with it, or B- you can admire the inquisitive nature of bright children.  For me, both of those things are true, so I waver between cute and ohdearlordpleasestoptalkingnow.

You guys love it when I talk nonstop, right?

I don't know what he's chattering on about, but *I* love it!

Anyway it was a happy HOT fun day at the zoo! 

*repeated question for every. single. animal. we saw.
**repeated question for every. single. person. we know.

Unlikely Pooper

So.  You'll never guess which family member has had the most proud moments on the potty in the last month.

Ok, you probably could have guessed that.  But it still surprises me that she's doing this!  It's only really been six months (maybe less?) since Nathan's potty pooping issues have legitimately sorted themselves out, and now we have another little one to haul up there and do her business.  Already?  Really?

Anneliese is by no means potty trained, or even at the beginning of starting to.  But about a month ago, she had her poop face on, and Nathan (because he is three and he's Nathan) announced to us, as usual, that she was pooping.  Then asked her if she wanted to poop on the potty.  She nodded and trotted off to the bathroom.

Ummm...

So I thought, why not? I put her up there, and she pooped, and Nathan pretty much threw a giggling dancing shrieking sticker-sticking party for her.  Which sealed the deal.  She was oh so proud of herself.

Anneliese definitely can't/doesn't tell us when she has to go, so we have to watch for signs (I know this makes me sound like a hippie anti-diaper ECing mom, but I promise I'm not) or wait for Nathan to tell us.  So now when we catch her about to go, we put her on the potty.  I think I've only had five or six misses in the last month, and most of those happened when Nathan wasn't around.  Yes, I am admitting I'm totally reliant on my three-year-old for parenting help.  {sigh}

Hey, it's not really potty training, but I figure every poop she does this way is one less diaper I need to clean.  And if this becomes her norm, then maybe it will make potty training less of an issue later?  Here's hoping.

Kissing Cousins

So as of today, I am 35 weeks pregnant, which means there are 35 days left* in this pregnancy. Assuming Sprout comes on time.  Which we all know she won't.  (From the looks of the birthday guesses, you people are just as convinced as I am of her inevitable tardiness.)  And is it just me, or does thirty-five days sound very very close?

Trying not to freak out.  Trying not to make mental (or physical) to-do lists that I am way too hot and tired to complete anyway.  Failing at both of those.

Anyway.  Sprout's arrival is getting closer.  And as my belly is growing, so is Ashley's! 

28 weeks and 33 weeks

(Which doesn't explain why she is suddenly as tall -- or taller? -- than I am in this picture.  I promise in real life I have at least two or three inches on her.  This is not my I-am-tall complex; it's really true!)

It's secretly more fun than I want to admit, having my sister pregnant at the same time I am.  Just yesterday, I bought our babies matching lime green Born in 2011 onesies.  Yep, I did that.  I'm cheesy and I don't care.  I'm excited for us to have babies together!

True story: the first time I saw Ashley after we knew we were both pregnant, she came running into the living room at my dad's (and might or might not have squealed a little) and mashed her belly onto mine and said "my baby wants to kiss your baby!"  And now I think of that every time we hug (or pose for a pic) and our bellies (and babies) touch. 

Kissing cousins.  In utero. 

(It's ok if you don't get us.)

*Oh, the things we wouldn't notice without Merritt in our lives. :)

Under Contract

This sight is such a relief to my eyes:

Sold!

Yep, we accepted an offer on the old house and we're under contract!

I know nothing is done until it's actually closed, but we have every reason to be optimistic about this: a super-reasonable offer ($5k below list price, which is already ridiculously low but that has nothing to do with the buyer), in as-is condition (hopefully reducing the potential surprises that could come from the inspection), with a relatively small due diligence window and a closing date of July 15th, less than a month away.  It's a relocation something or other and it even looks like their loan is already lined up and in order.  We're cautiously hopeful.  And mostly relieved.

Hugely, hugely, relieved.

(And the pool renovation at the new house is already tentatively scheduled for two days after the old house closes.) (Squeeeeee!!!!!!)

Sleepover in Millers Creek

The last leg of our road trip last week, after Mark and I spent a couple days in Asheville alone, involved collecting the kids and driving back up towards the mountains to spend a few days with my grandpa in Millers Creek. 

Which we had never done before.  Visit, yes.  Spend the night?  With both kids along?  Nope.  It's been only daytrips for probably the last ten years. 

It was so fun though, and it brought back childhood memories of late(ish) nights in front of the Braves on tv and waking up to roosters crowing (not as cool now that I'm a sleep-deprived mommy) and just being in that house overnight.  It was kind of cool to see my own kids doing what I spent so many summer weeks of my childhood doing. :)

We did fabulous Millers Creek things, like hit the kfc buffet for dinner, drive the tractors, ride out into the pastures to see the cows, let Mark and his friend Justin have some guy time to go fishing while the wives and kids visited and played, and sit on Grandpa's front porch and enjoy watching Nathan and Anneliese run around together.

I think my Grandpa was so happy to have us there for a few days, and I loved that both kids had such an easy time with him even though we only see him a few times a year.  Nathan talked his ear off (I'm not sure that Grandpa could hear more than 50% of it... which might or might not be a blessing in disguise) and Anneliese couldn't get enough hugs.  It was all very very sweet.

driving the tractor

Don't worry, Mommy, I can totally climb backwards down these stairs!

no shortage of treats at Great-Grandpa's house

climbing a tree?  who is this child??



I probably didn't step in a cow patty less than thirty seconds
after reminding my husband and children to please avoid them.
Probably.
I definitely didn't get it all over my pants so Mark had to take a picture.

 

They both love the cows.  Anneliese called them puppies.  Many, many times.



*frantic waving* "puppy!  puppy!" *blows kisses*

riding a tricycle for (I think?) the first time

the tractor rides wore her out!

And clearly exhausting:

best road trip sight in the world: asleep at the same time

For more pictures of our visit, click here for the photobucket album.

Roadkill Made Me Cry Today

When we started renovating this house, we kept noticing a rabbit out and about.  A brave brown little thing that we'd spot in the mornings and evenings, scampering anywhere from the very back of the property to the hedge we share with the neighbor in the front yard. 

Surprisingly, he stuck around through the chaos of the renovation, and after we moved in with Bowden (who has access to the back yard but not the front) he seemed mostly settled under the front porch and the front hedge.  The kids and I would see him almost every day when we played outside and we started calling him Andy (after our street) and we talked a lot about why we don't touch him and play with him, we just watch him, so he doesn't get scared.

Andy the rabbit

Well a few weeks after we moved in, we figured out why he had been so persistent in sticking around a dangerous construction zone -- a mate and baby!  We saw a smaller grayer rabbit (I assume that's the female?) and a wee little one scampering around the hedge and eating grass several evenings during playtime.

Aw.  :)

baby rabbit

Something that had been on my list to blog about -- the sweet rabbit family who lives here at our new house.  (And how we like them better than the kinky frogs.  Just sayin'.)

Which brings us to today.  When I was pulling into our driveway and had to swerve to avoid what I assumed was a dead squirrel in the street, swarm of flies still overhead.

You know where this is going, right?

It was Andy. 

When I looked twice, it was clearly a rabbit, which made my stomach drop in the fear that it was one of our rabbits.  And then when I got up into the driveway and parked, I saw the grayer rabbit and the baby running around the yard.  Around lunchtime -- the middle of the heat and sun of the day.  We never see them then.

And I knew, I just knew, they were looking for him.  So I did what any rational pregnant woman would do.  I sat in  my car and cried.  And cried and cried.

I cried for mommies and I cried for babies and I cried for Simon and I cried for my pastor's recently deceased pet rabbit Fred.  And then I cried because I think our family, including Bowden, might have forced the rabbits to live closer to the street than they were really comfortable doing.  And then I cried for the deer I see running around the interstates at night, and for deforestation due to the development of urban societies in general.

Yeah.  I'm that pregnant lady.  It was a lot of crying.

Until my sweet little Nathan offered up so many words of reassurance that I thought I might do him permanent damage if I didn't get it together.  (He can't stand it when people cry, especially me; it troubles him immensely.) 

So I unloaded the kids and put them down for naps and went upstairs to work on Sprout's nursery and I cheered myself up a bit. 

But I can't stop thinking about Andy and his rabbit family.  :(

Eight Months Down, Guess How Many More to Go!

I'm eight months pregnant!  Know what that means?

(Besides the fact that I look like this?)

(And that yes, Another Nathan, you may now refer to me as "very pregnant.")

It's time to guess when Sprout is coming!

This was really fun for our family last time.  I think we had almost forty guesses, spawning almost a month's time, yet none of you (none of you) guessed the right birthday for Anneliese.  Maybe someone will get the actual date this time!

So like last time, we'll give you some background info, then whoever gets closest wins a prize!  We won't pick the prize until we have a winner; it'll be something specifically for that person, so you know you'll like it if you win!  :) 

For those of you who want or need background information in order to make an "educated" guess, here you go:

1.) Sprout's official due date, based on last cycle and assumed conception, is August 1.  I feel pretty sure about her conception date.

2.) In each ultrasound, she has measured a little small -- anything ranging from 7 days to 3 days smaller than average for her gestational age.  So based on size she could be due anywhere from the 3rd to the 7th.

3.) Nathan was four days late and Anneliese was six days late.

4.) My mother's intuition says she will come around the 10th.  My mother's intuition has always been wrong on these things before.

5.) I came on my due date.  I still can't get a straight story on Mark's arrival.  :)

6.) Both Nathan and Anneliese were middle-of-the-night babies, making their first appearances at 1:42am and 1:47am respectively.  Apparently quarter to two is last call in my uterus.

7.) Once again, I will beg and plead and delay as far as possible to avoid an induction.

8.) I am carrying her high, like I did Anneliese, and I don't think she's dropped yet.  I have no idea how effaced or dilated I am at this point, if any, because I am currently beating those exams off with a stick.  (A stick in this case meaning, a sparkly light-up wand with Dora on it, because I am a mommy.)  (Just kidding, it's a hypothetical stick.  You knew that already, right?)

9.) The next two full moons are on July 15 (just shy of 38 weeks) and August 13 (right at 42 weeks).  I officially hope full moons have nothing to do with when moms go into labor.

10.) If I am in labor anytime shortly before or on July 26 (Nathan's birthday), or anytime during the week of July 17-23 (when Mark will be in Kentucky on a mission trip), I have an official plan to squeeze my legs shut and hold her in there.  And it'll totally work because erin-science always does, and also I am stubborn.  So don't bank on a birthday in that time frame.  And if you guess one in there (ahem- Brad), I'm mad at you.  Full disclosure.

You can make a guess via blog comment, email, text, facebook, snail mail, however you can get through to me.  We'll keep track of them on this page.  If only one person gets the date right, that's the winner -- if more than one person (or no one) gets the right calendar date, then we'll chose the winner based on whoever got closest in terms of hours.  You can enter guesses til the end of the day on July 17 July 21.  Make sense?  Ok ready... set... guess!

Up Up and Away

So the original impetus for our trip to Asheville last week was this groupon that came available many many months back, for a flying lesson. Like, an airplane flying lesson. Which is something Mark has wanted to do for a long time. And since this one was first of all cheap, and second, located in a beautiful part of the state, over the blue ridge mountains, I jumped on it and hatched a plan for a little getaway.

And somehow I managed to keep it a surprise from Mark until the very last minute. I'd say he didn't even have enough time to get nervous, but yeah... he totally did.

Not that I'm judging. I was sort of blasé and unworried myself, until after lots of back-and-forthing (is it ok at this stage in pregnancy? if a passenger comes is it considered a scenic flight? are we following faa rules for scenic flights? if she just happens to be out there and hop in the plane will anyone care?) I found myself sitting in the back passenger seat, along for the ride on his lesson... and once that plane fired up, I was totally nervous too.

And by nervous I mean terrified. And by terrified I mean panicking. And by panicking I mean, moved the headset completely away from my face so that neither Mark or the instructor could hear my freakout. Yeah.

It's not that I didn't trust him. Okay, it's totally that I didn't trust him. He didn't know what he was doing! And he was about to take my unborn baby into the sky! And in case you missed it, he didn't know what he was doing! Also the fact that he steered the plane down the runway in a not-dissimilar fashion to an out-of-control wii mariokart driver* didn't instill a lot of confidence.

But.

Mark did fine. And he loved it. And we were all safe. And the instructor was right there and could easily take over the controls when he needed to. And once I got over the feeling that we were going to fall out of the sky at any time, and opened my eyes to look around, it really was beautiful up there.

We flew around Asheville and over the mountains and (most excitingly for Mark) (no I am not kidding), a power plant (or something). But man do I love the sight of those blue mountain ridges, it's so very homey and carolina-ey for me. Gorgeous.

Mark even landed the plane pretty much by himself, and did a great job. It ended up being a really fun little adventure for both of us (and baby Sprout!) and a very cool way to spend an afternoon.

And yes, I'm glad I went along for the ride. :)

For more pics of our Asheville flyover, click here for the photobucket album.

*Ahem. Another Nathan.

Eight Years

Eight years

Seven world adventures

Six Christmas stockings

Five churches

Four homes

Three babies

Two puppies

One awesome family...

And I still do.

Happy Anniversary, Marky! 

Asheville Getaway

Well, after almost a week of road-tripping through the western half of the state, we're all home and back to reality.  I am still sorting through the bajillion pictures I took while we were gone (no one's really surprised at that, right?) but here are a few from the first leg of our trip, the kid-free part in Asheville.

We dropped Nathan and Anneliese for back-to-back visits with my mom then my dad, and Mark and I took off for the mountains.  We stayed in a nice hotel in downtown Asheville, with great mountain views from our room.

And it took approximately four minutes for us to get down to business and do exactly what parents do in hotel rooms the second they're away from the kiddies: sleep.

(What did you think I was going to say?)

We had a lovely dinner date at the gorgeous Grove Park Inn.

Our table was amazing -- right by the window, surrounded by mountains, and we were there right when the sun was setting.  A romantic cliche come true.  Oh and the food was delicious and my date was cute and sweet and fun.  So, yeah.  Awesome date night.  :)

We slept late every morning, took naps every afternoon, ate when we wanted, explored downtown when we wanted, took long showers in our fancy hotel bathroom, and generally made a huge mess of our room without worrying what stuff needed to be off-limits to pups or babies.  It's the simple mindless things that make a getaway great, you know?

I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to have a few days away with just Mark.  With the house and the renovation (and the whole paying two mortgages thing), a big vacation just wasn't in the cards for this year.  So I'm especially glad we got to make this little trip work.

For a few more pics of our time in Asheville (including that beautiful shower), click here for the photobucket album.

My Daddy (Nathan's Perspective)

Remember how Nathan answered a bunch of questions about me for mother's day?  Well I was kind of bummed that no one at school or Sunday school asked him to do the same with Mark.  I thought it would be funny, and also good to capture Nathan's here-and-now impressions of Daddy. 

So I found something similar on the internet, and interviewed him myself:

We should totally do this every year.  :)

The Bedtime Stair-Climb

One last pre-scheduled post.  It's Friday, and our little family should be tucked away in Millers Creek at my Grandpa's house.  Where *I hope* all babies are sleeping soundly after a day of farm fun and visiting friends.  We'll be home tomorrow, and I daresay we'll be ready to be back under our own roof!  

Things I'm Inevitably Missing #4: The Bedtime Stair-Climb

I remember when I was little, Ashley and Brad and I had funny going-to-bed routines. 

Sometimes there was a parade down the hall, dropping off each kid in our respective beds.  Pretty sure our parade music was the Carolina fight song.  You know, rah rah Car'lina, -lina, etc, but instead of ending the song with go tar heels! we'd have a family shout of let's get naked! which was (apparently) (of course) the best way to convince us to undress and put on our PJs. 

Sometimes there was a silly (read: inane) game of "where are the girls??" during which Ashley and I hid in plain sight under our sheets and our parents pretended they couldn't find us.

Sometimes there was a post-lights-out hushed (or not so much, knowing Ashley and me) round of "let's! play! grandma!" from our bunk beds where we (I think?) pretended we were about to go visit our grandparents (or something?)...

And then there was the occasional situation in the room I shared with Ashley, where one of us would pass gas (we Bumgarners did not say the f-word!) and then try to blame it on the other, which is ridiculous because with only two people in there, we both know exactly who did and didn't let one rip, even at only four and five years old. 

Anyway.

So it makes me kind of dumbly happy to see Nathan and Anneliese developing their own little bedtime patterns.  Not every night, but most nights, they (well, mostly Nathan) are quite insistent on going upstairs together, and it's hard to convince either one of them to get a move on without the sibling in tow.  (Now that we're encouraging Anneliese to get more places on her own instead of being carried as often, we move even more slowly than we did before, which I did not think was possible but apparently is.)

They gather themselves at the bottom of the stairs, look at each other and giggle, then do that some more, until I can't take it anymore (about twelve seconds) and I start herding them up.  They laugh the whole way.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what's so hilarious about crawling up the stairs together, but something is.  Maybe for Nathan it's that he's crawling instead of walking.  Maybe for Anneliese it's that she's clearly trying to race him, and he lets her win.  Every time. 

(At some point I'm going to tell her that her big brother might be the slowest person on the face of God's whole green earth, and it's not that impressive to beat him in any sort of race.  I won't burst her bubble just yet though.)

Regardless of motive or source of (lack of) hilarity, it does make me smile that they spend so many evenings where the last thing they do before they go to bed is have a minute of fun together. 

You know that sibling love... it gets me every time.

Watching and Waiting

Another pre-scheduled post.  It's Thursday now, so if everything is going according to schedule, Mark and I are headed to Huntersville to pick up our babies, and we're probably pretty ready to see them again. Here's another round of what I'm inevitably missing...

What I'm Inevitably Missing #3: Watching and Waiting

Round about early evening, or sometime post-naps each afternoon, Nathan will ask one of his requisite daily questions: who's coming to see me today?  Frequently it's Daddy on the way home from work, or Another Nathan coming for dinner and hugs, or a sitter coming for a mom-dad date night.

On nights when it's no one, Nathan is predictably forlorn.  On nights when it's someone, his face lights up and he tells Anneliese about it in his most excited voice and if she recognizes the name, she giggles and spins in circles.  And then they both glue themselves to the window.  And watch.  And wait.

And their similar/mirrored body language makes me smile.

Nathan did this at the old house too, and like I said before, I know it must be most awesome for the person it's directed toward.  As sweet as it is from my end, I'm always a bit jealous of whoever's pulling in and seeing those two giggly faces grinning and clawing at the bay window in excitement, and how loved they must feel.

So I'm telling myself that Nathan and Anneliese are eagerly anticipating my arrival, just like this, right now.  :)

The Morning Snuggle

It's another previously scheduled post.  It should be early Wednesday morning right now. Nathan and Anneliese should be moaning at their grandparents (not me!) in the pre-dawn hours.  Mark and I should be soundly sleeping, as late as humanly possible, in Asheville.  But if I can't be sleeping late, snuggling with my babies would be pretty okay instead. 

Things I'm Inevitably Missing #2: The Morning Snuggle

When it's Mark's turn to get up first with the kids, their usual routine (or attempted routine) is to have a pj-clad playtime in the bonus room until they either can't stand it anymore, or they hear me stirring.  At which point one or both babies will rapidly appear in the doorway of our bedroom (or directly next to the bed itself) wanting to climb up and snuggle.  And if we don't have anywhere to be (admittedly rare), that snuggle can last for a long long time.  Which I love.

two little ones in one big bed

I know, I know, not my hottest moment...
but I don't care; this makes me *oh so happy*

The Friend Cars

It's Tuesday and we're on the road!  I'm not savvy enough to be blogging by car (or addicted enough to do it during an already-too-short vacay-date with my husband), so this is one of those pre-scheduled posts.  Hey, even when I'm gone, I aim to amuse (you're welcome, Ashley), so here are a couple of posts about things I'm inevitably missing while we're away.

Things I'm Inevitably Missing #1: The Friend Cars

Like every other three-year-old boy in America, Nathan loves the Cars movie.  He first learned about it when we were at the beach with some friends a few years ago.  They had some of the little cars and trucks that are characters in the movie.  He loved them instantly.

Nathan meets his first friend car (Mack) - Aug 2009

Since then, we have let him watch the movie a handful of times, and we have slowly but surely amassed a decent collection of all the predictable stuff like stickers and books and underwear and crayons and t-shirts and even a pillowcase for special occasions.



napping in the car in his friend car shirt
(his favorite)

 And, of course, the cars themselves. He calls them his friend cars.  (I think because they have faces?  Or they're friends with each other in the movie?) Whatever the reason it started, it has stuck, and we definitely distinguish between the friend cars and the other non-movie matchbox cars and hot wheels.

Normally I cringe at character-licensed stuff.  It's not my thing.  (Also I don't like feeling like a victim of Disney marketing, brilliant though I must admit it is.) But this movie tells a sweet story, we were going to be overrun with matchbox cars anyway, and oh man does Nathan love those friend cars.  He knows their names, their character personalities, which ones are naughty and which ones are nice.  His collection has grown slowly, so every time he gets a new one, he really drinks in every detail. I'm not sure what to make of it, so I'm just calling it sweet.  :)

some of his most oft-photographed subjects

I love it when he earns enough pooping stickers to pick out a new friend car.  I love seeing him ask questions about the friend cars from the new movie (due out soon; we are planning to take him to see it -- his first time in a movie theater! -- for his birthday next month) and try to figure out which characters are up to what, based on their type and detailing and facial expressions.

I can barely remember a time when the friend cars were not part of our daily conversations.  And I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I get a teensy bit (okay more than that) excited when I see new ones in the store that we don't have yet.  I buy them and tuck them away and eagerly wait for Nathan to earn another one so we can open it and look at it together.  Dumb but true.

This is what mommying has turned me into.  Yet I have no shame; I will say it gladly: I love the friend cars too, sweetie.

Cheer-Up Smiles

It's Monday evening and I am going on vacation tomorrow.  That sentence should have a lot more exclamation points, because we have some fun stuff (and surprises for Mark!) planned and it's going to be a much-wanted and much-needed getaway for the two of us.  But I am honestly so tired after so many long nights in a row, that I can't get myself worked up for it just yet.  I should be in pre-vacation excitement mode, but instead all I can think about is a clean quiet hotel room, and sleep. 

Today has been full of all the usual things mommies do on the day before a trip.  Finishing laundry.  Packing.  Sending kiddie instructions to grandparents.  Cleaning the house and sheets and dishes so we don't come home to a disaster.  Cleaning the old house for some showings this week.  Running to the store for yogurt and milk so that we can have breakfast the morning after we get back (other than that, we've pretty well eaten the fridge down to nothing).  Oh, and thinking through the logistics of having two different sets of workers here doing some plumbing and drywall repairs* while we're gone. 

Basically, a frantic effort to get things crossed off a list while we're all sleep-deprived and grumpy already.  Today hasn't been my favorite.

But then there's this smile.  And I'm not sure if you've done the math, but I live with this smile.  Get to see it every day.  Up close and personal.  And I'm not sure there's a Mood (even mine, even today) that can't be cured by enough of this:

Your daily Anneliese: the perfected art of the cheer-you-up smile

So despite my somewhat frustrating day, I am going to bask in the aftermath of sweet baby grins, the completion of a long to-do list, the simple fun of freshly-painted hot pink toenails, and try to get myself in vacation mode!!

*what? still not enough home improvement? you know it.

My Helper and Sous-Chef

The other night when we were making pretzel chicken, something Nathan and I have done together dozens of times and is old hat for him now, it surprised me to look over and notice that having him there was actually helpful.  Cooking with him has been something I was doing mostly for bonding time and kiddie entertainment, but now?  Yeah he can totally take tongs and dip chicken into egg wash and be careful not to touch raw meat.  A legitimate part of the assembly line.  Awesome.

In some ways Nathan still feels like a newborn (will that ever go away?  no, I'm really asking) so it's bizarre to me that all the time we've spent over the last few years going through the motions of helping are actually, like... real now.  Weird.

He can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich all by himself, since we now keep everything in his reach (we use spoons for spreading, not knives, of course). 

He can feed Anneliese her last few bites of whatever she's having trouble scraping from the bowl, fetch most of what she's asking for more of, and spray a washcloth to wipe her hands and face.

He clears his own place after he eats, and often clears ours as well.

He can scoop Bowden's food out at her mealtimes.  (And put her outside in the backyard when the humans want to eat in peace.)

Sometimes it feels like I'm asking him to do too much, but then I remember he's a member of the family and a reasonable about of contributing to the effort of the household is normal and healthy.  Plus, he loves helping and he's so proud of himself!