Social-er

Yep. I've been slacking. Gimme a break, will ya? Nothing and lots on my mind these days - simultaneously, if that makes any sense to anyone else.

On a different note, I realized something this morning (I'll tell you what it was that made me realize this today) I don't didn't like company. Husband has always been the people person. Always inviting, always hosting, always the first one to agree to be at whatever meeting place for coffee, dinner, drinks, and whatever else. I am was the complete opposite. Always the one to decline, to pass on dinner and drinks, eager for everyone to leave if we were the one hosting dinner or a barbeque, to forego even good friends' birthdays because I liked being home (preferably, alone) and constantly finding ways to wiggle out of plans. It was just the way I was wired. Not because I'm shy, but because I'm wired to recharge best alone and being around people depletes my energy source. Or so it used to. I don't know when this happened, and I'm likely to believe it was after I had my Jellybean, but I started to recharge well with people around just as well as I recharge when I'm alone. So back to this morning - let's call him Phil (because that's his actual name) texts me and randomly says, "oh, so SuperBowl at your place?" and generally my response would have been "uh, no, I don't think we can because of (insert excuse here). Sorry." But I surprised myself rolling right along with a "Sure, who's coming?" response. Then it made me realize, every week, some group of people are over. Whether it be moms with kids, friends just stopping by, some shower/event/party or another every (other?) weekend, and I've actually enjoyed it. I can't really remember the last time I thought to myself, "Gaddd, why are they still here???" which is usually my first thought after the second hour or so of having company. I guess it could be that I don't work anymore and so the people interaction is not as overwhelming and even welcoming, but I'm not sure that's it. Maybe it's because I'm always home - even if never alone - with the Jellybean everyday, but I don't think that's it either. Could it just be that I started to *gasp* like people? Well, maybe that's pushing it, but I've definitely moved on from being the typical ISTJ to - dare we say, social-er? Whatever the reason, credit goes to

 My, how the Jellybean loves to eat....

Gymbo

It is a great place to deplete some of the overflowing energy in a kid, but oh schmoly... Germs germs germs and more germs. Gymboree, admittedly, is a really cool place for kids to play, climb, socialize, eat dirt off the floor kinda place - especially during the winter months when both parent and child are bouncing off the walls, but there has not been a time that she's woken up without a runny nose after spending some time there. Eh, whatcha gonna do? Builds immunity, right? We have an actual "class" every Tuesday, but every day of the week, different times each day, they have what is called "free gym time" (I assure you, it is not really free - we pay good, hard earned money to be enrolled). It is just a big indoor play park for kiddies. A tad pricey for membership if you ask me, but if you take advantage of their *not* free gym time, I think it's worth the cost. She is super happy there. That alone makes it worth the pennies. Even if it means I'm itching - literally - for her bath as soon as we walk in the door.

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Socks!

I caught her pulling all the socks off the laundry rack and trying to put them on her foot. I had to sneak up on her to catch a glimpse before she came charging at me for the phone.

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OMG! I'm Late! ... Oh Wait, It's The Weekend

You know those mornings where you find yourself leaping up out of bed at 8:30 in the morning, run half way to the bathroom before realizing it's a Saturday only to crawl back into bed to go back to sleep? You working folks know exactly what I'm talking about. The Jellybean totally had one of those moments today. She went to bed around her usual time and I was just laying there with her fiddling with my phone when suddenly she leaps up out of her sleep to waddle over to the door like she was missing something. She stares at the light creeping under the door for a moment, looks back to where I'm laying down and crawls back to where I am, flops on top of me and promptly falls back to sleep. It was so totally one of those "Holy Crud, I'm Late!" reactions. I mean, what could she possibly have been thinking or dreaming about? "Oh no! What if there's no more milk left in the morning for me!?!". I'm still laughing about it. Hahaha. Funny kid.

Cleaner

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Happy Birthday, Hunter!

I think we are done with first birthdays for a while. It has been a crazy, crazy period of about a year. Baby boom galore. It was shower after shower. Then when the kiddies started coming along, birthdays after birthdays. 

A truly big, big thank you to Corina. I am still sucking on those lolli-cakes you brought me. MMMMM~



And the birthday boy, happy as ever. Happy Birthday, Hunter! Sorry, Phil. Your head got cut off here... But then, it was Hunter's day after all. Not Hunter's DAD'S day, ya know?



She looks a tad frumpy here, but really, she was just being nosy. She wanted to see what was going on past daddy's camera

My little Trooper


All in all, it was a great time, but I have to say - these parties can be draining. The little Jellybean goes to noone. That leaves mommy on patrol from the moment we leave the house right up until the moment we return. She won't sit still, but she won't let anyone else hold her - EVER - anymore. On the flip side, while she gets a bit clingy, I can't complain too much because it can be so much worse and it seldom gets to that point. Despite the fact that she was exhausted and we didn't get home until well past her bedtime, she was truly a great sport. Good job, Jellybean. Great party, Kang-er Family!

Just Two More

We had a house full of kids, and I realized, this...

and, this...

and, this...

is what it must be like in a household with triplets except it would be one adult against three energy balls. Odds not so good, me thinks. I'm sure it's a little different with children of different ages, but the three that took over this home today are all about the same age. In fact, Brian was born only a half a day before Squirmy, and Ryan is about 17 months (a rounded guess). Wow! What a tornado!

Every time we have a playdate with other boys, I realize just how different my girl is from the boys. The boys throw, snatch things away from eachother, fight for the toy the other one is playing with while my girl - she picks up the ball and hands it over. If something gets snatched from her, she moves on over to something else with hardly a care. She also spends more time obsessively inspecting bags or cleaning the floor.

 How...

(a tad out of focus there)

...interesting~

OOOH! P.S. She pee pee-d in the potty! I've never been so excited about pee before. In. My. Life.

What Does Motherhood Mean?

It means:



having to wash 52 rainbow squares and letters each week



washing bottles and sippy cups and binkies all day



buying every sippy cup available on the market until you find one your kid finally takes



spending the wee hours of the night cutting slits into all the binkies in hopes of weaning your kid off of them and hiding the ones you're keeping "just in case"



having to wear these to sleep as a temporary fix for all the blisters you end up with on your fingers from prolonged water exposure



To all the mommies out there, a big kudos because mommies need praise too and a good pat on the back every now and again. The bars are set high for a lot of moms out there. Too high sometimes. I can't speak for anyone else, but with all that I feel I do now, there are many more things I feel I "should" be doing that I just can't get around to. The days lack the amount of hours I need to get everything I want done. I also think society in whole sets the bar too high that we feel we should be that "super mom" and so what we do manage to get done is hardly "good enough". It is true that not all women are, or choose to be, homemakers anymore. More women now than ever before stand tall in highly respectable positions, have high powered jobs and social stasuses. However, once she has a baby, (I think) it is still expected of them (a subconscious expectation even - of themselves and others alike) to not only hold their positions in their social and publicly known status, but also remain capable of running in perfection with everything from home made dinners, a perfectly behaved kid, a spotless home and never have a hair out of place. That may be an extreme example, but I personally don't think it's that far fetched. I stay home with my daughter and sporadically do some work from home, and most days I'm still disheveled, barely conscious, constantly cleaning, feeding, changing, running after her, and it's far from easy. It's worth it, but it's not without cost. So - Kudos mommies!

Water Funness

These are one of my favorite times a day. Bathtime! It's pretty safe to assume that it's probably the best 20-30 minutes of every day for Squirmy too. Maybe it's because I took her swimming very early - a week shy of her 6th month mark. I only waited that long because the classes didn't allow babies younger than 6 months. Maybe she was born with a love for water, but whatever the case, bathtime is one of the best parts of any given day for the both of us.

Baby Processer

You ever wonder what your baby is trying to say when they're babbling "gah" "bah bah" "mumumum". I mean, they must mean something, yes? Squirmy will point to an object and enthusiastically say "bah bah bah bwwah!" and seem disappointed somehow when I am staring back at her with a blank look on my face so I try to quickly recover and smile, but by then, the moment has passed. This is one of the many reasons why I thought to teach her sign language - to understand some of this indecipherable language. I want to know what she is talking about! Anyway, until only a week ago, she was mimicking signs rather well, but it was pretty clear that she didn't really know what she was signing all of the time. She was limited to "more, milk, and all done" which she got right away, but signed a lot of other things at random times. For instance, she would throw the ball across the room, sign potty and start clapping super excitedly; or, eat a cracker and sign hat. Then when I least expected, as I was showing her a picture of my friend's new daughter and said "Look Leah, Baby!", she looks over at me in that moment and signs "baby". Now the words, the signs and its meanings are coming together in her little brain, and it's so exciting to watch. Babies are pretty amazing creatures and I am all the more convinced that they know so much more than we big people give them credit for.



Snow Bunny!

Doesn't she look so determined?