Waterbabies

  I lost count.  Today was something like 6 hours in the pool.  I just can’t get them out. 

And then this happened approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds after we entered the car. 

I luuuurve the pool.

The ladies

If I told you that my husband showers with 10 women every morning, some of them sans-clothing, would you believe me? Maybe you would if I said there was a troll involved as well and that they are all made out of plastic.  

Quite frankly, it’s getting a little out of hand.

I can do anything better than you…

“No you can’t!”

“Yes I can!”

Okay enough of that.

Having two girls and zero boys I often wonder what I’m missing.  Cuz…well…take a look:

 

We’ve got dirt. And blood I might add.  Poor girl sliced her finger open on her daddy’s bike right after I snapped this picture.  I never realized such a tiny finger could produce so much blood.  Holy cow.  But it’s all good and healing now.  And she loves her Barbie Band-Aids.

             

We’ve got reptiles. 

We’ve got game 6 game watching. Hooray for Mavs! 

And we’ve got sports.

We also have bugs, namely rolly pollies and ants which they love to bring into the house and keep as pets.  Yeah um… let’s not.

Really though, I remember that they are in fact very girly when they scream about their hair, whine about their lack of skirt choices, prance around in princess dresses, change their clothes 75 times a day, make beelines to anything or anyone adorned with rhinestones or sparkles, compliment strangers on their earrings, necklaces, pedicures or outfits and live their lives in a generally dramatic fashion.

But hey, at least we’ve got balance. 

The baby whisperer

            I love being an aunt!  I have the cutest, happiest most delicious little nieces and nephews! Unfortunately most of them live in other states, with the exception of this handsome little fellow.  So thankfully I see him often. 

              

And guess who just can’t keep her hands off him? 

               

I overheard her saying to him, “You are just soooo cute!  I don’t know what to do with you!”  Methinks someone is a little parrot.  Also, adults say weird things to babies.  Myself included.  Various phrases like, “I’m going to eat you.”  “You’re just so adorable I can’t even handle it.”  “I want to squeeze your guts.”  “I’m going to steal you from your mommy.”  Maybe this is why they are born without any understanding of language.  They’d be freaked. For sure.

“Mom! Stop taking my picture and let me hold him!”

We get restless

 

It kills me not having a backyard.  There are those days that I just want to be able to get stuff DONE and not have the girlies all up in my grill or fighting or screaming or continuing to ransack the house.  I wish I could just shoo them outside without the need to have my eyes on them every second.  However being the hyper-paranoid parent that I am, for fear they will be snatched up by some scheming, vile, scum-of–the-earth,  it’s just not possible right now. (But in a few months it will be!!!!!  Yay for bigger house and cheaper rent! boo to the moving part!)

So we end up doing a lot of bike riding.  I made the mistake of taking off Diva’s training wheels to help her figure out her balance.  I seem to always forget that me+teaching her a new skill=drama.of.life.  I might just have to have a neutral third party come in and take over, or just defer to Dad.  So back on they went. 

Also, the words, “Stop picking the flowers” are always on the tip of my tongue.  They pick the poor flowers and surrounding plants to make various princessy, girly things or use them to make “dinner.”  If we happen to be outside when the landscaping company shows up, we run like heck. 

We do things like play in the back of my car.  For some reason they find this thrilling.  I think we need to get out more.

And when I finally just can’t take it anymore, we head to the grandparents’. 

  Totally just realized the watermarks are on these pictures and absolutely too lazy to re-export them sans watermark. 

I get to sit back, relax…

…and the girls have their uncle, Will, make them silly snowmen out of homemade playdough. 

Did I mention I can’t wait to have a backyard again?  I CANNOT WAIT!!!

Freeze Frame

I’ve shared a lot about Diva on this blog, her antics, her ‘isms’, her photos, her videos. I’ve shared a lot about what frustrates me and the difficulties we’ve had in trying to “get along.”

But as year five is both slowly and far too quickly melting away, she is becoming one of my most favorite people.  And of course, that sounds silly because our children should always be our favorite people right?  Oh definitely not.  Ask any mom.

So I’m saying miss Diva is changing, which in turn is changing my attitude toward her.  She has been more helpful and less demanding.  She has been so much more loving, caring and kind.

I see it in the way she hugs me tight and tells me she loves me, when she explains how much she’ll miss me when I’m gone (no I’m not dying, just when I leave the house), in her overall attitude when she attended preschool, her love for her friends, her determination and intense focus when she’s creating a masterpiece of art for whomever had been on her mind that day.  Just last week she busily prepared two beautiful, heartfelt cards, most of the words she sounded out herself, scoured the house for random yet meaningful little gifts, wrapped them with minimal help from daddy, placed them in her favorite princess bag and asked if we could deliver it to her “Best friend, Beaumee.”  Beaumee was her adorable little Korean friend in preschool. She will be attending a different elementary school and unfortunately we will rarely see her again.

I drove her to her house and Diva very firmly told me that I was not allowed to come with her to the door as she dropped off the gift.  She wanted the whole thing to be 100% her idea.  Which it was. 

And later when Beaumee’s mother called and the two girls spoke to each other, Diva beamed with pride. 

At her preschool graduation, the teachers handed out little “awards” for each child’s unique talent and personality.  Diva had received, “Talented Artist and Sweetheart.”  Sums her up pretty well.

I just love seeing the evolution of her maturity, her sense of self-awareness and the world around her, her curiosity and imagination and her love for others.  I love my little Diva!

Now this girl on the other hand…

$%#$&@!*

The wind is awesome.  It slammed a door on my finger. 

I feel like I can handle pain pretty well but holy $%*&# @#*$&@*#$*@ this hurt like hell. (That rhyming was unintentional) I screamed and almost hyperventilated and would have probably reacted with much more gusto had my 5 year-old not been standing two feet away.

No, it’s not broken. 

Yes I blogged about this.  For posterity (almost said prosperity, maybe money would actually make it feel better.)

So for now, my middle finger is out of commission and as a friendly PSA: don’t ever slam your finger in a door. You’ll regret it.  I promise.