Our No Nap Afternoon

Afternoons are usually quiet at our house.  The kids go down for a nap around 2:30 or 3:00.  Christian is easy and goes to sleep in his room with just a kiss on the cheek.  Tes is a bit tougher, she lays down on our bed with a movie on, but she also usually naps for at least an hour.  While they sleep I run around cleaning and trying not to wake them up.  Lately this system has begun to break down.  For the past few days neither child has taken an afternoon nap but today I tried again anyway. 

At first it seemed like I was in the clear.  I left a seemingly sleepy Christian in his room and headed upstairs with Tes.  She went potty, picked a movie, and crawled into bed.  I sat with her for a few minutes while she watched the previews.  Just then, over the sound of Mozart playing from the baby monitor, I heard a little voice start to chat.  I sighed, but instead of the yelling I was expecting, Christian continued to talk to himself, happily, and so I just listened.  I started the movie for Tes and lay next to her listening to Christian chatting to some unseen toy about movies, balloons, and how he was going night nights.  Soon Tessie started chatting to me as well, obviously not anywhere close to napping.  I just relaxed for a minute and listened to both of my children talking about nothing. 

After a while Tessie turned to me and said “Mom, I just heard Bubbi say he wanted to come sleep with Tessie.”  I hadn’t heard any such thing but I smiled and said I would go get him.  When I walked into Christian’s room he was laying there wide awake and happy to see me.  We went back upstairs and I sat him on the bed next to his sister.  They watched the movie for a while, finally quiet now that they were in each other's company.  Even though I didn’t get my quiet afternoon I was happy to be a part of the beautiful moment of sibling togetherness. 

Baby Toy Nostalgia

Both of my children’s bedrooms have gotten out of control.  I’m pretty sure a herd of wild animals ran through both of their rooms tearing clothes out of drawers, and toys out of containers as they went.  I could no longer remember what their floors looked like so today I started operation Kid’d Room Overhaul.  Christian’s room was first. 

I decided that I should purge some of the hundreds of toys cluttering the floor.  As I picked through and sorted toys I found that getting rid of Christian’s old toys was harder than I thought.  Each little rattle or stuffed animal came with a picture in my head of a tiny little guy.  I was surprised how much this little project affected me.  I really had to remind myself that Christian is a big boy and he would no longer be playing with these baby toys.  In the end I toughened up and managed to get rid of a lot of stuff. 

Later I was in the living room with Tes and Christian watching them play with a miniature toy train set.  Christian was sitting exceptionally well and he and Tes were making choo-choo noises and pushing the trains around the floor.  Recently Christian has made a leap to big-boy play and I sometimes find myself still expecting him to behave more like a baby.  His physical skills have finally allowed him to move past rattles and teethers and now he plays with trucks and action figures.  It’s a funny feeling to want to hold on to that baby stage when at the same moment I want him to be such a big boy.  As silly as I felt about getting sentimental over his old toys, watching him play like any other two year old boy was wonderfully beautiful. 

The Rescue of the Red Balloon

Super Tessie

We have had quite a crazy weekend at our house.  I threw not one, but two birthday parties this weekend.  Within 17 hours of each other.  Saturday night was Nick’s birthday BBQ and camp-out, which became a camp-in since it rained all night.  Sunday morning was Christian’s Incredible Birthday Party, themed after his favorite movie, The Incredibles.  I cooked tons of food, made deserts for both parties, and even created a custom cocktail.  I stayed up way too late, had way too much fun, and this morning I got off to a late start.  It all came together in the end however, both parties were great, and we all had a ton of fun.  But by about 2pm I was spent.

Christian went down for a nap without a single complaint, Nick was out like a light the

The Red Balloon

moment his head touched his pillow, but my darling girl would not fall asleep.  This of course meant there was no nap in my future.  I was concerned that I would be spending the afternoon with a very cranky child but on the contrary, she was amazing.  While I cleaned up Tessie played quietly in the living room with some of Christian’s new toys.  She played outside on the back porch for a while and I joined her for a snack.  That was when she turned to me and asked if I wanted to go on a nature walk.  Well, how could I refuse?

We walked barefoot, hand in hand, down to the river to dip in our toes.  As we were standing up to go explore somewhere else I saw a flash of color downstream.  Upon closer investigation it turned out to be a red balloon from the party, caught in some branches in the stream.  Still channeling the super hero vibe of the party, we decided to rescue the red balloon from it’s certain demise.

Another day saved!

Super Tessie and Super Mommy carefully approached the mass of branched holding our dear balloon captive.  It looked dangerous, but we weren’t afraid.  We knew the only way to save the balloon would be to work together, so I lowered Super Tessie down and she reached out for the balloon.  At first it seemed our efforts were in vain, but then Super Tessie used her Super Reach and grabbed the balloon from the clutches of the evil branches.  I pulled them back to safety and the day was saved, yet again!

As we walked back to the house with the red balloon Tessie looked up at me and said “Mom, that was a fun adventure.”  I smiled and said I thought so too.  What a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

The Disaster Cake

There was a moment today when I was standing in my kitchen, surrounded by dirty dishes, half made appetizers, covered in flour and powdered sugar, tears streaming down my face.  This was the moment my husband walked in and said “You really didn’t have to do all this.”

I have a tendency to throw huge parties, cook everything, and not ask for any help.  Today was Nick’s birthday and, true to form, I was going crazy but insisting it was all under control.  The breaking point occurred while I was trying to frost a cake for Christian’s birthday party (which I’m crazy enough to hold the day after Nick’s party) while at the same time making three different appetizers.  The cake started to crumble and before I knew it, it was a complete disaster.  I couldn’t control the sob that bubbled up and I fell apart.

After pulling myself back together I put the cake in the fridge and told myself to deal with it tomorrow.  As usual, I pulled it off and as everyone arrived the food was on the table, the house (not including the kitchen) was clean, and I was tear free.  We had a great party, filled with kids laughing, friends visiting, and plenty of stories told. 

At the end of the evening we were standing outside in a light drizzling rain around the campfire, only the die hard party-goers still remaining.  Kids were sleeping in various beds and on couches.  I looked around in the firelight, filled with good food, a little wine, and the comfort of friends, old and new.  The disaster cake still waited for me in the fridge  but I knew that somehow I would make it work.  For all my flour covered craziness earlier, I had managed to end my night with the beautiful sound of friends voices drifting up with the campfire smoke.

Beauty and the Dump

Today’s moment occurred while we were at the dump.  That’s right, the dump.  What could be more beautiful than trash, especially trash in my lovely new car?  Okay, it had nothing to do with the actual trash.  Before leaving the house I always make sure Tessie goes potty, as a rule.  Occasionally, however, once on the road she will insist she has to go potty, like right now!  So of course, that is just what she did on the way to the dump.  There were no ideal places to pull over for a “nature pee” so I just kept urging Tes to hold on and we pulled into the dump.  Lo and Behold, the dump had a porta-potty.  Now don’t be concerned, my moment of beauty did not happen in the porta-potty, it was parked next to it.

As we pulled up close to the porta-potty we couldn’t help but notice the giant yellow tractor that was parked right next to our car.  The kids’ jaws dropped.  I had to remind Tes that she had to use the rest room.  Christian sat in his car seat just staring.  By the time Tes and I returned to the car Christian was chanting “Tractor, tractor, tractor!” 

It got even better; the transfer station attendant walked over while we were admiring the machine and climbed up into the cab.  The kids almost almost lost their marbles as the tractor roared to life.  He drove it over to one of the trash compartments and started packing down the trash bags.  Tessie was so excited she couldn’t even speak, which, believe me, is a rare occurrence.  Christian’s eyes grew wider than I thought possible.  “Cool, mama!”

As we drove away the kids were chatting in the back about the tractor.  I glanced back in the rear view mirror and smiled.  Watching my kids bonding over the dump-yard tractor was pretty special.  Who knew the dump could be so beautiful.

Empty Arms

Tonight we had dinner with friends at their home.  Our daughters are very good friends and they have a four month old son.  Although I look forward to dinners like this I also dread holding Christian in my lap all night because he won’t sit by himself or let anyone else hold him.  Don’t get me wrong, or start quoting from my other posts, I love cuddling with and holding my son.  But I really do love the idea of grown-up time, and as all parents know, this usually happens while your kids are playing with your friends kids and you are having wine over the sounds of (hopefully) happy cries.  Christian doesn’t usually let me have these nights.

Tonight was different.  He sat in a chair in the bedroom with the girls and gleefully watched them play.  I stood in the kitchen with my girlfriend with a glass of wine and listened to him laughing while the girls danced in front of him.  During dinner he ate happily in a borrowed highchair and I ate my entire meal without him in my lap.

I do love to cuddle with my kids but there are times when you look forward to them playing without you.  Tonight Christian gave me a great gift in the form of Mommy free time, although technically I wasn’t free it’s about as close as I get.  And even though I snuck back to the bedroom to check on them maybe a million times, my night with empty arms was beautiful.

Spying on the kids playing

Birthday Boy

One week old

Two years old! (this is the same bear)

My first experience with childbirth was magical.  Seven hours start to finish and I was handed a rosy, chubby baby girl.  I got to snuggle with her for thirty minutes before they even weighed her.  It was amazing.  When Christian was born I was unconscious and he wasn’t breathing and didn’t for about five minutes.  I didn’t come to for hours and he was definitely not being snuggled.  After three days I finally made it to Albuquerque to see him but my snuggles were limited because he had to stay under special lights.  It was hard to imagine a time when snuggling wouldn’t involve monitors and oxygen tubes.

Today Christian turned two.  I went to bed last night thinking of him and couldn’t wait to wish him Happy Birthday.  When I woke up this morning I could instantly tell it was much earlier than I usually get up and I lay there for a while wondering if I would be able to fall back asleep.  Thats when I heard a little voice over the baby monitor call for Momma.  I got up and groggily headed down stairs.  As I passed by the kitchen I glanced at the clock.  5:25.  Christian was born at 5:26.  When I walked into his bedroom this morning it was at the exact moment he was pulled from my womb.

He quieted when he saw me.  I lay down next to him and he snuggled into me.  I usually get about a minute of this before he asks for milk and a movie, but this morning was different.  He pressed his forehead against mine and I draped my arm over his little body.  We stayed that way for half an hour.  The whole time I lay there I thought, This was what should have happened the first time we met.  I think it was his birthday gift to me.

Finally he pulled away enough to look into my eyes.  I smiled and whispered “Happy Birthday Bubbi!”  Christian immediately broke into a huge smile, giggled, then asked for milk and a movie.  We went out into the living room and I set him on the couch, put on Despicable Me (one of his favorite movies) and poured him some milk and myself some coffee.  We sat next to each other and laughed whenever he quoted the movie.  It was perfect.

My son amazes me.  He was so tiny at birth, 3.06 pounds, that it was hard to picture him as a little kid or even a chubby baby.  We couldn’t see that far down the road and it scared us.  I look at him now and am continuously blown away by his sense of humor, his amazing vocabulary and his charming smile.  We may not have had an easy, perfect start, and things might not be what we were expecting but I have been given a gift in this little man of mine.  Our birthday snuggle was pure beauty, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.