Reasons I will miss D to the J when he goes away!!!

My eighteen-year-old son is just weeks away from graduating from high school and leaving us; going to basic training, college, a church mission, and on and on.  He will be missed.  For his graduation party I was assigned to make a poster that encompasses  the essence of DJ, sort of an homage of sorts.  In Minnesota, grad parties are huge; we are combining with five other graduates for one party, so that is a relief!  So, after working on this poster I decided to list some of the reasons that we will miss our DJ.
1:  He eats all the leftovers!  Really.  Everyday for his after-school "meal" he dishes up a huge plate of leftovers; and likes it.  He never complains about them, he likes leftovers.  Moving on. 
2:  The silly things he does that makes us laugh.  A lot.  Example - one morning I went downstairs to wake up the boys and notice one of my nice tablecloths (a cute green-striped number) hanging off the edge of the bunkbed.  I inquire as to why my tablecloth (that I had actually wondered about, how does a tablecloth disappear!) was hanging off DJ's bed.  His answer - it is a sheet, not a tablecloth.  Lest you think this was a preadolescent error, it happened just a few months ago.  His explanation was that on laundry day he saw it all nice and folded and thought, "oh, a nice pretty green-striped sheet, thanks mom!"  He then grabbed it and put it on his pile of clean clothes and took it all downstairs.  That night he slept on a lovely green-striped sheet - no top sheet, no elastic corners, but whatever.  The funny thing is that Preston, our 11-year-old that sleeps in the other bunk, knew all along that DJ was sleeping on a tablecloth.  I guess he figured that his is not to ask why his big brother does what he does!
3:  OK, I'll say it - he is a great taxi boy!  I will have to take over this task until Karly has her license.  Ugh!!
4:  The way he loves his new baby brother.  Like all of our kids, he was so excited for out little China baby to come home.  He plays with him, watches movies with him, changes his diaper, takes him to the park, and is an all-around awesome big brother to all of his siblings.  He has made a facebook page for Mason, asks where Mason is the first thing whenever he walks in the door, and even had a birthday party for Mason with all of his friends.  Cute!!  I love this kid.
5:  His kindness, his sense of humor, his willingness to help out (well, mostly), and his effort to just be a good kid.

Why having a two year old is SO fun

Today I faithfully went to the gym to ride a bike for forty minutes while reading a book.  The best example of multi-tasking I can think of.  So I am getting ready to do my hair after a peaceful stint in the steam room and shower when my name is called over the intercom to come to the childcare center.  The reason they call moms to the center is usually to change a diaper - so I was prepared and hustled over there with my wet hair and make-up-less face.  When I got there I see Mason sitting in the corner, big alligator tears running down his face.  The childcare director then told me that Mason was in time-out for hitting,  throwing, and you-guessed-it, biting.  In fact, he bit someone on the arm and apparently didn't un-bite until forced to.  Yes, the trifecta of bad behavior was exhibited by the little angel you see sleeping in a picture in a very recent post.  I started mumbling apologies, grabbed him while they continued to regale me with the specifics of his misbehavior, and beat a hasty retreat.  I think we will take a break from the gym for a day or two.  The book I was reading wasn't very good anyway.    

Jim's refiners' fire!

One of our all-time favorite bits of family lore illustrates one of the pivotal moments in Jim's life, one he has really never recovered from.  When Kasey was probably two months old I actually left her for the first time to go to homemaking night (that's what it was called then).  I was beyond excited to get out of the house and go to talk to grown-ups and to regain some sanity.  (Kasey was a screamer!)  I left her with Jim and detailed instructions, hoping that all would go well.  Alas, it was not to be.  After a very fun night that I still remember clearly, a great meal and lots of fun that only a night at homemaking can provide, I returned home.  As I walked in the door Jim was sitting on the couch, he was paler than usual and his eyes were kind of bugged out, big and round.  My heart plummeted.  The evening had gone awry.  I braced myself for the worst and quickly scanned our apartment looking for Kasey.  "She's in bed."  Jim spoke softly and stared straight ahead, like he was in some kind of shell shock.  I quickly asked him what happened and he finally recounted his evening, though he showed little emotion, it would take a while to actually recover.  After I had left, the crying had begun.  He could do nothing to comfort her, so he began giving her bottles.  After a bottle she would still cry, so after the second bottle he had her on his shoulder and was patting her back, trying to comfort her.  At that point she lifted her little head, turned it towards her father, and projectile vomited right into the side of his head, mostly into the ear, but also liberally covering his glasses, hair, and just generally the whole side of his face.    He cleaned himself up as good as he could with baby wipes, but could not get in the shower until Kasey finally cried herself to sleep.  At the end of his narrative, he simply kept saying "It was awful, hon, just awful!"  From that point on Jim could not stand the smell of formula, and the mere mention of vomit still makes him physically ill.  Incidentally, Kasey was a champion barf bag until she was way past two years old.  Guess who got to clean up the vast majority of it.  You guessed it, yours truly!! 

a "fun" mom!

A while ago, Jim and I had rented a movie and we wanted to have a family movie night.  I thought it would be fun to go to the store and buy a bunch of movie treats.  Usually I make popcorn or brownies and we enjoy those during a movie.  I brought home a whole grocery bag full of fun stuff like the squirty cheese in a can and some crackers, licorice and some bags of candy.  We had gone hog wild!  Preston came in from outside - surveyed the scene with awe and listened as we made plans for the movie night.  Finally he exclaimed in all seriousness:  "I didn't know you were a fun mom!"  True story.

Is this the cutest little guy you've ever seen? - This leads me to reason number nine - why being a mom is so dang cool:
9 - Watching the little cuties sleep!  Mason falls asleep like this every night, he wraps himself up in his little elephant blanky (heaven help us if it is dirty), tucks his hands behind his head and it's lights out. 
10 - Hearing the funny things they say each day; all the kids have a famous oft-quoted line or two from pre-schooler days.  Karly's is: "Mom, what was it like living before there were toilets?"  DJ's goes like this: "Dad once you start exercising you will LOSE THAT WEIGHT!"  One of Preston's cutest is when he showed me a play-doh sculpture he had created and exclaime, "MOM, this is totally remulated!"  And of course there is the famous Kasey line; upon entering JCPenney through the door that led to the lingerie, she ran around amazed looking at all the bras, and finally, almost overcome by the sheer amount, turned to me and said, "Mommy, there are boobie things EVERYWHERE!!!"

11 - Waking up and realizing that for the first time in who knows how long that you have actually slept through the night.  A parent never ever takes a full nights' sleep for granted after that blessed day. 

For now, that is my list.  I may continue at a later time, but mostly, each day with kids is an adventure, exhausting, grueling, frustrating, true, but an adventure!

Why being a mother rocks (mostly)

Since my biggest role in life right now, amongst many smaller roles is that of mother, I wanted to make a list of all the cool things about mothering - we will save the not-so-cool list for another day ( there certainly is a not-so-cool list about being a mother, vomit being just the first thing that comes to mind, but I digress!)  so, without further ado, here goes:

1 - A very valid excuse for taking an afternoon nap every single day while the toddler sleeps.  I am very lucky right now because I have just one little toddler at home.

2 - Listening to the kids giggle and laugh, especially when my cleverness and witty repartee is what is cracking them up! 

3 - Holding a child on your lap and rocking them, it just doesn't get any better than that.

4 - Teaching a kid to tie his shoes and them watching them as their little fingers finallly get the hang of it.

5 - Watching amazing Disney movies without feeling silly.  I had forgotten how awesome Tarzan and Toy Story were - and I could watch Cars and Bolt every day (actually we do, those are Mason's current faves).

6 - Having built in shopping partners now that my girls are old enough to really appreciate the womanly art of shopping.

7 - Having someone to watch different movies with, Jane Austen with Kasey, Band of Brothers with DJ, High School Musical with Karly, and How To Train a Dragon with Preston - I've got someone for every genre!

8 - Making chore charts and watching the kids do all these chores that I don't have to do!!!

to be continued . . .. . .