Museum Field Trip

On Saturday Janelle & Janessa were kind enough to join us on a field trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum. This is why we take more adults with us when we go on outings - Archer behaves better around strangers than just his two parents. He's entertained by everything the new people have to say, and forgets about arguing with us over which direction to go. Someone always wants to hold Shelly. So thanks, guys, for coming with us! We had a great time!

Archer, of course, was the star of the show. He especially enjoyed throwing pennies into all the fountains we passed (courtesy of Janelle). He also liked the butterfly garden. He was excited about letting them land on his hands but the butterflies were too busy for us, and we got lucky to just see one that Janessa picked up on her map.

And Shelly was too helpless to prevent a ride on the giant bug we found. Archer refused to get near it, but Shelly sat there with a slightly dazed look and went along graciously.

All in all it was a fun family & friends outing, and I'm glad we went, it brought back lots of memories of elementary school field trips!

Hugs & Kisses

I have been really impressed lately with Archer's willingness (and even eagerness) to help me with Shelly. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since he wants to help with everything else around the house. But I've really made a point of not asking him to do things he might not agree with when it comes to Shelly. I don't want him to think of her as a burden, when I know he has a good chance of seeing her as a distraction of my attention. So I haven't asked him much to get things for her, or play with her, or even asked him to give her hugs or kisses or hold her. I want it to come from him. And lately, it has. I've heard him say, "Oh, honey, no no, you can't have that." Or, "here you go Shelly, you dropped your bottle." And he picks it up and gives it to her. Or feeds her cereral. Or hugs and kisses her. And tells her he loves her. It warms my heart. What's better than seeing one child welcome the next into the family? And what's better than seeing your children showing concern and affection for each other? I can't think of much that's better. And that makes me feel that even though our lives aren't perfect, they're pretty darn good.

Obsessions

I wonder about Archer's fixations on random things. For example, if you look at my last post of just picutres, in the first one you'll see him with the hands on the car door of his grandma's car. He has a fixation with either opening or closing the door for you, or with pushing you out the door on your way to work in the morning. (That's a literal push, by the way, with his hands on your bottom and you'd better be ready to go cause he gives it everything he's got and pushes you on your way.) In the second picture, and also the second to last picture, you'll see he's filing his toenails with my nail file. He pulled it out of a drawer and carried it around for a couple of hours, insisiting on filing his toenails. I'm not sure why, since I've never filed my toenails. But that was his entertainment. And tomorrow, when I have a little more time I'll put up some pictures of our weekend trip to the museum. And you'll notice that he has the musemu map in his hand in every single picture. I guess its his way of being more grown up. And that's ok, I guess, but its a little scary too. He's only three, for goodness sake!

Pictures

I was reminded that I should be posting more pictures, so here you go!

Acher's head injury

The gang: Austin, Annika, Amberlyn, Archer

Choo's new hairdo

Shell pretty in yellow


Action shot


The gang again


The rest of the gang: Brock & Shelly Belly Boo

Band Aids Cure All

As I was about to go to bed last night, David and Archer came in to look for band aids. This was moments after I heard a big bang and some crying. Archer said to me, "I need a band aid." David said to Archer, "Ok, just keep pressure on it." Archer was holding his hand on his forehead and I thought - this doesn't sound good. When Archer forgot to keep pressure on it I looked and saw... nothing. He banged his head on something but didn't actually cut it open - what a relief! But Archer truly believes that a band aid will make it feel better, so David was just performing his duty as curer of all pains. David put a big piece of gauze over the bumped spot, and taped it onto the boy's forehead. But Archer still wanted a band aid, so David stuck a band aid over the top of the gauze. He looked ridiculous. He felt better. Mission accomplished!

Mom's Talents

A new skill I had to learn today: unknotting a tangled slinkey. I've done shoelaces, and clothes that get all tangled in the dryer, and wire wisks and spatulas in the kitchen drawers. But today, I unknotted a slinkey. It took some time, and was a little complicated by Archer asking "are you done yet?" and Shelly constantly grabbing the end of the slinkey. But aftrer about an hour I had it done. Another victory for me!

P.S. I had to cut the bottle open with a saw to get the magnets out. Thanks for the advice Dad. Of course I didn't follow it until after I tried to break the bottle open with a hammer but it just smushed, it didn't break. So, out came the saw.

Ship in a Bottle

We've all seen it - the ship in a bottle. It's amazing. It takes skill, careful craftsmanship and a lot of hours to accomplish this feat.

Enter Archer. He likes to play with the magnets that we use as keys to lock/unlock our cupboard doors. He lines them up all in a row and pretends its a train. He stacks them up and holds them near each other and watches as they jump towards each other. He holds them against the tv screen (don't try this at home, folks, it produces a rainbow pattern around the magnet and ruins the equipment). And today, he put four of the magnets into a baby bottle. Amazing. They went in so easy. And now they're stuck to each other and impossible to get out. Good thing I only gave him four of the five! Its a little puzzle and I'm curious if we'll be able to solve it without just breaking the bottle. Any suggestions?

Programming for Kids

David and I had "This Old House" on in the background as we were cleaning yesterday. I sat down for a moment to feed Shelly and watched them visit a factory that makes sinks and toilets. And then they demonstrated their quality testing, and flushed big gobs of toilet paper. And lots and lots of other miscelaneous stuff. And then came the finale - a bucket of two dozen golf balls - dumped in, flushed, and swirled effortlessly away. At this moment I turned my head and saw my son standing about two feet away from the tv, completely fascinated. Taking it all in. And that's when I realized that even something harmless, like a home improvement show, was going to come back to haunt us down the road. "Archer," I said, "don't EVER EVER do that. Do not ever put balls in the toilet, do you understand?" His response, "Why? But they do that! They put balls in the toilet!" When I told Dad about this, he said, "Your only hope is that he forgets."

As a household that's already had to replace a toilet because of a rubber duck clog, I was not happy to see an innocent, family friendly program demonstrating how to ruin another toilet. What's a parent to do?

Weekend Update

Today Archer and I were gardening (me pulling weeds, Choo sitting in the dirt playing, throwing rocks and dirt) and he said to me "I can hide my hand in the dirt, you know that?" I looked and he was burying his hand under the dirt. Later we went to the store and I rubbed his head and happened to notice there was about a pound's worth of dirt in his hair. Ahhh childhood, summertime, dirty face and hands, and hair and everything. I was amazed at how clean his face was and just as I was thinking that he started wiping the sweat off with his dirt-covered hands and that capped it off, every inch of him was covered. Ahh, sumertime...

When I leave Shelly in the living room and go to the bedroom to get a book and then come right back I have to be careful not to trip over her in the hallway, she's pulling herself around in an army crawl that's surprisingly quick. Today she ate sweet peas for the first time and afterwards looked as if she's been bathing in a tub of Dad's split pea soup. I was telling David at supper time that the doctor said Shelly could have anything she din't gag on. And just as I said that she started gagging on the peas. Great timing Shelly!

The Power of Song

With children, anything can be a song. And any song can be turned into anything else, change the lyrics and just run with it. Except... Except when Archer says, "That's not a song!" He's been especially crabby lately. I try really hard to be positive about things when I write what's going on in our lives. But I'm so tired lately, the kids are really wearing me down. I fantasize about having two hours of nothing but quiet time to read a book or go to a coffee shop and just talk to my husband or go to a movie. There's a baby stage in the very beginning of sleeping all the time - they wake up every few hours to eat but otherwise they sleep all the time. And then there's the later period, when they can move around and find things to entertain themselves, the whole world is new and fascinating. But the middle stage is when they're awake a lot but can't move around on their own and that's where Shelly is right now. When I'm not holding her she's crying.

And here comes the power of song. Just give up on the other stuff I think I want to do, lay down on the floor between the two kids, and sing silly songs, roll around, pull on their toes, let go of everything but the moment in front of me and just let myself laugh and enjoy my kids. Remind myself of the joy I get from seeing my son laugh and my daughter smile. What a beautiful miraculous gift I've been given. The gift of family.

Most Expensive Thing

The question of the day (see link list on the right) a few days ago was "What's the most expensive thing you own?" Of course the first thought to come to my head was our house, my car, our t.v.... things along those lines. But really, the most expensive thing is probably our kids. If you add up the stuff we have to buy for them (diapers, clothes, formula, food, toys, movies, books, shoes, on and on and on for the next 20 years) it comes out to a lot of money. Add to that the increased healthcare costs, time lost from work in not working longer hours, taking off on days they're sick, and so forth, and they're the most expensive things in our lives.

When Archer was first born one of our neighbors said to us, "I wish I had kept track of everything I spent money on for my daughter." At first it sounds like a novel idea, it would be fun (or horrifying?) to know exactly how much money the kids are costing us. And then, when I thought about it more, I thought - its not something I really want to keep track of. What would be the point of that? Nothing good can come from a list of expenses. Here is the thing about parenthood - you can never get in the mindset that you deserve repayment for everything you spend for your kids. If you did that, where would it leave you? With empty pockets and probably an empty heart. Kids give and give and give but not in the same way the parent gives. So keeping track completely dismisses everything they give, since you can't really list it as a tangible object.

Its also got me thinking, though, about how I can give to my kids without spending money, since what they really need from us as parents isn't more stuff, its more time. I find myself so often getting caught up in the daily stuff like cleaning and cooking and getting work done, that by the time I go to bed at night I realize I've hardly spent much quality time with my family. And so the balancing act continues...

Starring...

Here's Archer, the lead actor in the movie of his life and he's happy to be the center of attention whenever possible. He's done amazingly well at sharing the spotlight the last six months, I'm really proud of him for that. I know we'll have tough times in the future but so far its going ok between them and I know we'll be able to minimize any bumps in the road to come, because we've got a good foundation to start with. (At least that's what I'm hoping for!)

I've posted a bunch more pictures, click here to view

Caution

Becoming a mom made me much more cautious. I used to have a dream of going sky-gliding but when I got pregnant with Archer I knew I would never go sky diving. I never had a problem flying in an airplane before. It makes me nervous now. And David told me that the circus was in town and his nephews rode on an elephant this past weekend. When I heard that, the first words out of my mouth were, "Our kids are never doing that."

Since when am I so worried about things? I know the plane I'm on won't crash. I know that elephants that go crazy and rampage through the city tossing people left and right are in the minority, its not something that happens every day. But parenthood is about assessing the risks to your family, and not ending up on the evening news for people to say, "Why would she let her kids do that?" Its my job to be on the cautious side with my kids, and with my own activities, too, because they're counting on me.

First Foods

Its time to start feeding the girl real food. The signs? Milk just doesn't satisfy. She grabs everything within reach and shoves it in her mouth. She follows my hand going from the plate to my mouth, trying to grab the food out of my hand.



With Archer, the day he turned six months old I wanted to start feeding him anything he could swollow. With Shelly, I'm not so quick to push things to go faster, I want to wait, enjoy this stage, not let it end so quickly.

I've given her some oatmeal a couple of times and she gulps it down and grabs for more. There's only a little bit of milk left in our freezer and its making me a little sad. Not because we're running low on inventory, just because it means the end of the baby time period. Ok, so not the END of babyhood, just halfway through it. I always hear that time goes too fast, and there's no denying it. Its flying by. I feel like David and I have been married for such a short time and already we have two kids. Time flies faster and faster. Is there ANY way to slow it down?