I Must Be Doing Something Right

Wednesday night, I couldn't muster up the effort to make dinner. It was getting late. I was bummed because my husband, Randy, got called in to meet a customer at his part time job. As if 2 nights this week weren't enough to miss him, now we we were on our third in a row.

So, my two boys and I headed out the door and drove up the highway and into the "country" to this nice diner nearby Randy's job. We popped in, said "hi", found out his customer hadn't come in yet, and proceeded on to dinner at the diner.

The Rayanne diner is seperated into two rooms. One has a counter and booths, the other small tables of 4 all lined up in rows. This is not the place to go if you want an intimate dinner. We were seated right in the middle of a very crowded dining room full of seniors, families, and assorted "regular looking" folk.

Now it's always an adventure taking my sons out. They're not exactly the quietest kids. You think it's something taking toddlers out to a restaurant? The toddlers would be staring at my kids, maybe wishing they'd sit still, eat their dinner, and lower their voices.

Picture my two sons. "Big Red", as he's been dubbed in his crowd is 15, as tall as me and still growing, has a shock of long, curly red hair, and a comical demeanor. My little guy, AJ, who's 11, tries to keep up with his brother. He can upstage him sometimes, but usually comes across as the typical annoying little brother. AJ also has long hair, but it's mostly wavy/straight, and blond. Both my sons are real lookers- if I do say so myself. You just have to ignore that their hair is seldom combed well, they're often wearing ripped or spotty clothes. (Because those feel the best.) Also, as far as Big Red is concerned, the only color shirt one needs is black, as in a black concert shirt of a heavy metal genre. I don't know which one I like better-the Slayer shirt with the big Pentagram, or the Metallica shirt with the skulls.

I get a little self-conscious sometimes when I'm in a place like Rayanne Dinner-a place frequented by Mennonites and other conservative people. It's smack-dab in the middle of Mennonite country. I tell my sons to be discreet, lower their voices, watch what they say. Usually, we are quite liberal in the lack of censorship of our children's rhetoric. Big Red and AJ were doing their typical impersonations which are a combination of their friend's Bi-Polar dad, Big Red's former guitar teacher, and....

the two boys in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure?

Big Red, especially regaled me with the most hilarious stories which are something straight out of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, or The Sandlot. "You should really write all this down, Red; it's great material for a story". The stories are mostly of a PG-13 nature, and at that I am getting nervous that we may offend some of the other diner patrons.

Then I stopped worrying, enjoyed my children's zany conversations, and relaxed because all of a sudden I realized....

My 11 & 15 year old sons are babbling on to me-their mother! They were sharing their lives with me, as most boys that age would not. They knew I'd laugh, reprimand them, say motherly words to temper their musings, but they kept on chattering away. So we enjoyed our meal, and if we offended anyone sitting nearby, I'm sure we also made some other people chuckle. It wouldn't be the first time. More than once I've had a little old lady pass my table, and tell me what wonderful children I have. And if a little old lady can look at two long-haired, boisterous-yea, sometimes obnoxious boys wearing ripped pants, & black shirts with skulls and Pentagrams, and tell me how nice they are....

then I must be doing something right!

Piggy Movie = Moment of Silence

"PIGGY MOVIE!!!, PIG-GEEEE MOVIEEEE!!!!" G is hysterical, Jac is looking at me tentatively, binky in mouth, as if to say, "I'm good, just put on the stupid piggy movie if that's what he wants, as long as I get some quiet." I expeditiously scan the room for the VHS cassette of Babe. Most of my children's movies are on VHS. DVD's didn't become popular till my kids were out of the kiddie movie phase. It's still in the VCR, the last VCR we bought, a kid proof VCR that cost $99 and either was built much better than any other we've owned, or is still alive due to the fact that we bought our first DVD player not long after.

Babe is, in my opinion one of the best children's movies ever made-seriously. It is much more digestable than most of the crap Disney's churned out.

I blanket the moppets down one more time, and plead with them to stay laying down. I rush back to Jules to finish off her bottle. Wistfully I pray to the sleep gods to lull everyone under 3 into a short coma so I can monitor Holden Caulfield's Algebra.

"Why don't you let me just do it by myself, and then check it when I'm done?"

"Because if you do it wrong, you'll have to start all over."

We compromise; I watch HC do two practice excercises correctly, and release him to his room to finish.

Baby Jules, tanked full of milk is slipped into her portable baby swing, and rocks blissfully to sleep.

Now here I am, crashed in front of the computer-my lifeline-my sanity, enjoying these few moments of quiet, and debating on whether it's wrong to eat a yogurt, after the hash brown, Toaster Strudel, and 3 cups of coffee I've had this morning. Guess I should go for something more substantial, but that would take more effort.

Well, can't have nanny mom passing out, so I'm going to try and eat something decent now.

Gio Likes to Push Buttons

I'm not used to this anymore. Little Gio keeps pushing the buttons on the TV, VCR, phone, computer, anything he can find.

Gio is also trying to push my husband's "buttons". It's taken 4 short days at my house for Gio's personality to appear. Gio is taunting my husband. First he took Randy's chair when he left the room, and proudly thumped his chest saying, "My chair." Then, since that wasn't enough, he stands next to me and says, "My girl." He's got the most devilish look on his face.

He really is a sweet kid, though.

My Monday with 3 Babies

" Borrowed Baby III" arrived yesterday. It's a boy, roughly 2o some pounds I guess. Gio will be 3 next month. He likes "cool cars" (Hot Wheels). He has an affectionate side; he spent a great deal of the day cozying up to Jules and giving her kisses on the head. Gio can hold his own in toy disputes. He likes to dance. He also has no problem making himself right at home.Yesterday was a really chaotic day for me. I had forgotten what happens when one puts two 2 year olds together! I'd say I handled things well, though, especially considering I had to strap the two 2 year olds, and the 3 month old into their car seats and take them to the orthodontist with Red. Instead of spending my lunch hour writing on the computer and chatting it up with Randy, I was scrambling to get everyone fed, changed, and ready to go out for Red's appointment. I anticipated the two 2's would take a nap by the time we got back home. They had other plans. By the time everyone left for the day, all I could do was zone for 15 minutes, then off to Big Box Mart for a 6 hour shift. I spent most of the night hiding behind my computer at work.

I learned something yesterday. I learned that 2 year old achondroplasic dwarf children can not be picked up the same way as average sized, typically proportionate 2 year olds. I went to pick Gio up, and his head started to dive. I hadn't realized how top-heavy he was! The center of gravity is entirely different. I've been picking up small children for years, so it really caught me off guard. Luckily I swung backwards and didn't drop the poor little guy on his head. Hmmm....I think there may be a physics lesson there.

Borrowed Baby Three

We've got a new baby. He's coming on Monday. 2 1/2 year old Gio was referred to me through Lee. He'll be here 4 days a week. He came over yesterday to meet us. He was a little shy at first. Then AJ pulled out the Hot Wheels cars and he started to warm up. Randy also "broke down his barriers", by laying on the floor and rolling a ball to him. By the time the visit was up, the boy didn't want to leave.

Everything is falling into place for our family. Randy's full time job is going well. He also has a Saturday and Monday night job selling used cars. I've got 3 children to take care of during the week for pay. It's a big turn around from this time last year. Being on track financially will be a big step into getting our family unit running smoothly.

Rescuing a Cardinal

Friday night after dinner, Randy and I suddenly hear "shrieking". It's one of the first signs of spring, Dog-Cat has caught something. We both got up to head outside & see what Dog-Cat had got a hold of, but we didn't have to go far.

Dog-Cat had brought his prey in the house.

It was a cardinal, a young one, probably just out of the nest. It was in his mouth flapping it's poor defenseless wings like crazy. Dog-Cat ran under the table and hunkered down so Randy couldn't snatch his prize. I reached down, grabbed Dog-Cat's tail, because I didn't know what else to do, and he let go.

The liberated cardinal started frantically flying around my living room, trying to get out. Poor thing tried to fly through my living room window-SMACK! I yelled for AJ to put the cats in the basement, as Randy and I scurried to open windows and doors, so the stunned fledgling could fly to freedom. It didn't take long; we herded the bird toward the door, and out he/she flew.

I can just see poor little cardinal back at the nest chirping, "You won't believe what happened to me!"

I Paused Today

I paused today for just a moment

a moment of stillness

from my hectic world

I heard the windchimes at my door

tinkling in the breeze

I felt the softness of my comfy couch

and the smoothness of the baby's cheek

smelled her sweet baby head

and the aroma of spring

I saw a boy absorbed in a book

and a little girl engaged in blocks

I sipped my warm coffee and thought

Life is good

Peaceful Afternoon

Like clockwork,
it is now 1:45, and both BB's (Borrowed Babies) are down to nap. Jac actually said, "I need to go in my crib." Jules was fussy, so I held her. Then she fell asleep.

Red is doing his Algebra practice work. AJ is working on reading questions from Animal Farm.

All is right with the world.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

BB1, who is 2 years old, just informed me that Buddy (her brother) got F***ing toothpaste on the G-Damn rug.

Children, aren't they precious?