A Short Tribute

To my wonderful husband. He constantly amazes me with his ability to give what I need when I need it. Whether it’s a break from the kids or a simple hug he’s there to give it, freely and without expectation. He is the most amazing man. I must have done something pretty great in a former life for god to have given me this man to share my life with and raise my daughters with.

When I think of how unbelievably lucky and blessed my two little girls are to have such an involved and caring father it brings tears to my eyes.

He keeps me a float and helps me to be the best mom & woman that I can be.

Happy Birthday Dave!

The Budding Beautician

The girls are playing with the cat as I clean up from lunch. Or so I think. I go into the kitty's room (which we used to call Rachel's room but our foster cat has pretty much taken over) and start cleaning out the litter box when I hear Alex say, "Hey, Rachel. Want a haircut?" followed immediately by that horrible snipping sound.

"Noooooo. Alex STOP! Stop - come out from under there right now."

Silence. AT this point they know there's trouble and they're probably thinking that if they don't make a sound I won't be able to find them and will go look somewhere else.

"Alex. Come out right now and hand me those scissors!"

Silence.

I look under the crib and Alex says, sheepishly, "Rachel's in the way."

"Come out of there. Both of you." I say as I pull them out and find what appears to be a sizable clump of wispy blonde hair. Hmmm, not good. I quickly assess the damage. Doesn't look too bad. Rachel now has somewhat of a layered look going. Pretty sporty actually!

As I'm checking out Rachel's new 'do,' I give Alex the requisite lecture on the dangers of playing with scissors. "Yes, even little kid craft scissors." (Can you believe they make kid scissors that actually cut hair!?!)

So - that crises dealt with, I go back into the office for a quick IM session with Dave. While I'm telling him about the budding beautician in the family, in comes Alex to see what I'm doing. I turn to tell her I'll be done in a minute and to wait in the other room, when I get a look at her for the first time since pulling them from under the crib

"OH ALEX!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR!!??!!"

Both sides are chopped almost as far back as her ears in so many different layers and lengths that I'm stunned.
Where is the hair she cut off - it wasn't under the crib and I have the scissors. Ahhh, she did this BEFORE cutting her sister's hair. No wonder she didn't want to come out from under the crib. She didn't want me to see her head!!

Back in the kitty's room I find a big pile of beautiful brown and golden curls lying behind the rocker. :-( I guess we'll finally have to get her hair cut. & Rachel too.

Another rite of passage in the Hart house :-)

A New Religion

"Alex, where are you going?"

"I need to get Anna."

OK.

She get's Anna and heads outside.

Hmmm.

"Alex, Anna doesn't go in the pool."

"I'm not going in the pool."

"Where are you going?"

"Surfing."

"Alex, Anna doesn't go in the pool."

"Mom, I'm looking for the surf god."
and off she went.

Damn! She's a quick study!!

Of all the developmental milestones, this is definitely not one that parents ohh and ahh over and brag to their friends about. This is one of those little milestones that happens and parents wince a bit. Definitely no shouting to the neighbors about how brilliant the little one is.

OK - I may be the exception. Because not only did I have to bite my tongue to stifle a laugh, I think I told anyone within ear shot during the following week.

Last weekend, Julia and Gama Amy came over for lunch. The two were chatting about something at the table when I heard a very soft, "Damn!"

"Ehh Uemm," I cleared my throat.

"Oh! Sorry!"

No worries. I didn't thing the little ones had heard anything.

Oh - but little Rachel proved me wrong. Later that day I was putting her to bed and she definitely didn't want to go. Rather than simply fussing, as usual, she exhibited her newly acquired verbal and comprehension skills and, as I laid her in the crib, said, "Damn! Damn! Damn!"

And then promptly went to sleep.

Brilliant!

Defiance? What? At 23 months old???

Wow - we might be in trouble with number 2.

OK - maybe not outright defiance - but Rachel has definitely exhibited a level of testing that we haven't seen with Alex.

Hmmm. Possibly more like me that I'd like to admit?

Fruit Salad

Alex had been in the potty for a long time so I went to see what was up. I found her at the sink with a handful and a sinkful of wet and shredded toilet tissue.

"Alex? Oh - this is not a good thing. This will clog up the sink. Come on - go outside while mommy cleans this up."

"But Mommy, I'm making fruit salad!"

All About Poop

"Rachel. No more poop."

"What?" I ask my oldest as I change my youngest diaper.

"Rachel is going to be a big girl and if she is going to be a big girl - no more poop!" Alex declares with some assumed authority.

"Alex, everyone poops. We just poop in the potty instead of a diaper."

Rachel is just laying there calmly waiting for the conversation to end and the diapering to resume. Opps - and I continue with the dirty diaper.

"Nu-uh. Daddy doesn't poop."

"Oh yes," I assured her. "Daddy poops BIG TIME!"

"Big Times?"

"Yep, BIG TIMES. But everyone poops sweetie. You poop, I poop, Daddy poops, Rachel poops. Everyone poops honey."

"Yeah, everyone poops," suddenly agreeing that pooping is ok. "Everyone poops. Even Uncle Scott - He makes BIG poops. Yeah - Uncle Scott really poops. BIG Times!"

Why Uncle Scott - I have no idea. But I cracked up so hard Rachel almost rolled off the changing table.

Mornings at the Hart House...,

1st thing in the AM the girls are usually watching Sesame Street and this is what my house looks like on most mornings..., (Nice Bed Head Rach ;-) )

And when Mommy decides we've had enough TV for the day....,

The worst sound and they love it...,

singing as loud as we can - just this side of shouting. Flat and off key - but they love it.

Lazy little me & an effort to get some water

"Hey." I call to Dave as he leaves the room and I laze on the couch.

"What?"

"You drank all of my water....,"

He looks at me puzzled

"....the other day."

Lots o' laughter - but no water.

Sigh.

I guess I'll have to get my lazy little booty up from my comfy spot and get it myself.

**

Costco and Kids

A quick 30 minute trip to Costco turns loony with kids - Let me share a bit....,

All goes well as Dave and I split up, instigating our quick divide a conquer strategy. Meeting up for a bit of browzing - things start to go a bit awry.

"Mommy, I have to go potty," my oldest tells me as she holds her bum!

"Uh-Oh!" I think. "The turtle is a peakin'."

And off we trot to the potty. When we get there Alex first wanted to go by herself, requesting a little 'privacy.' But the potty she chose had a 'magic' automatic flushing potty, which scares her so she changed her mind and joined me in the stall next door. She pulled down her panties, confidently climbed up on the 'mommy-sized' potty and sighed. She must have somehow cocked her hips in an odd way because as she began to pee it shot straight out onto the floor and onto my foot!! "Stop!" I shrieked as my foot was sprinkled with urine - icky!!!

Astonishingly - Alex did stop. Instantly. I was amazed at the muscle control but quickly regrouped and repositioned my girl and she finished her job as I wiped off the floor and my foot.

And we were off to find Daddy and Rachel and Daddy again.

Once we regrouped Alex spotted the bologna vendor and got a sample for herself and Rachel. Alex enjoyed her treat and Rachel split hers with Daddy or so we thought. Daddy ate the bologna and Rachel was left with the cracker. As we walked along in browzing mode Dave turned back and caught sight of Rachel and the cracker. She was 'feeding' the cracker to a group of little blue piggy banks. Not sure the pigs enjoyed the meal - but true to form they made a mess and each of the boxes is now filled with cracker crumbs!!


... and we left our mark on Costco and went home!

end of a long day at the end of a long weekend

tired and one and a half margarita down.

My littlest has a terrible cold that seems to have come from no where. She's exhausted and so sick that she can't sleep. Unlike her sister, cuddling mom and sleeping beside me doesn't offer her enough comfort to sleep. Nope - Little Rachel equates that with play time. So the most I can do is sit at her bed side and rub her back, which calms her enough to allow sleep - for a while, until the next caughing fit wakes her and it starts all over again.

my heart hurts when my babies hurt.