Saturday, June 28, 2008

Sick sick sickies

So I am sick, Evelynn is sick, and now Eloise is sick. Nothing too major, just a cold, but I do so hate snot and now it is all over my shirt from both daughters. It's amazing the nasty things you end up doing as a parent. You think diapers are bad enough before you become a parent, and so you try to avoid changing someone else's kid as much as possible. But when it's your own, you do what you got to to do, sometimes three, four, five times a day. And then comes the diarrhea. Nothing seems quite to bad as that. My sister and I were out on the porch yesterday and Evelynn came up to us with snot dripping out of her nose. With no tissue handy, I did what I hoped any mother has done before--I got it with my fingers and then wiped my fingers on the grass. Lori looked pretty disgusted, but oh well. I think it's good that she's living with me because there will definitely be less surprises when she has a baby. Her husband should thank me later. In fact, I'll try and make sure of that. Where else would she get this kind of hands on education? Not a school, and not at home. I mean, she was 2 when Lizzy was born and 5 when Mark was born. I should run a school, Child Care College, (aka CCC). I'll offer courses in diapering, dealing with tantrums, how not to scream at your child (well, I still need work there, so that one might be an optional course) how to tell when your child has had enough sugar, and nasty things you will encounter 101. This will require a lot of one on one time with the child, and I will have to observe from a distance (say like at the mall or the movies). This seems like a good idea to me! Any takers?



Ok, ok, enough of my fantasies. Here's some cute videos of the girls. The first one is of Evleynn singing. It's her new favorite past time. She sometimes sings songs we know, like I Am a Child of God, I Love To See The Temple, Wheels on the Bus, Three Little Speckled Frogs, etc. etc. But sometimes she sings whatever comes into her little heart. I hear odd phrases like " I love nursery," and "What do you think you are doing?" and "It's ok," and "Stop it," (oddly this one is always sung loudly with much feeling).





This other video is of Eloise taking a bath and big sister coming to help. Just too cute.



Thursday, June 26, 2008

Brain Damage!

Being a mother is hard. Well, let me rephrase that. Being the mother of a two year old is hard. It reminds me of Bill Cosby and his skits about kids having brain damage. Like any normal person without kids, I laughed when I first saw this and thought how clever it was. Now as the parent of a young child, I am amazed how accurately he captured children. Anyone who has to have something repeated to them and/or repeat something to you a minimum of 1,000,000,000 times has brain damage. For example-

Evelynn: "Where's mommy?"
Mom: "I'm right here honey."
Evelynn: "Where's mommy?"
Mom: "I'm right here."
Evelynn: "Where's mommy?"
Mom: "I'm right here."
Evelynn: "Where's mommy?"
Mom: "I'm right here."
Evelynn: "Where's mommy?"
Mom: "I'm on the moon."
Evelynn: "Oh. I want to go to the moon!"

This conversation takes place almost everyday in my house, almost exactly the same way. I don't know who is more brain damaged, the child, or the parent who responds every single time. You'd think I would have learned by now. I guess that explains where she gets it from.

Since summer is here in force, my daughter loves to be in her swimsuit. We play in the backyard in her "pool" (or the plastic storage bin we fill with water), sometimes with the neighbor kids. Sam is 9 months younger than Evelynn but they still have so much fun together. In fact, the seem to be sweet on each other since they are continually kissing and hugging when together. They even kissed over the pews at church (scandalous! I wonder where she learned that ;) ). So here's some pictures of fun in the sun.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Another Day Dawns

I am not a morning person. I know I'm not, I've known it for years. Ever since that third day of early morning seminary when the shine wore off and I realized that I still had to get out of bed and get in the car and go to a slightly smelly building for four more years before the sun was up. I've known that I am not usually a happy person before 8:00 am on a good day. And yet I now get up at 5:40 AM and go running with a friend in the hopes that I will lose this baby weight that just doesn't seem to want to come off. I give myself a peptalk the night before: "You can do it. It'll be worth it! Just think of the cute clothes that are somewhere in your closet that you'll be able to wear. Just think of how good you'll feel knowing you accomplished something for yourself. Just think how you're prolonging your life.." blah blah blah. And yet I do it. Have I lost weight?.... sort of. One day I'll be able to explain to myself how running up hills at in the upper elevations of UT at an unholy hour is easier than giving up chocolate. But until then, pass the snickers and don't get in my way.