For Those Who Asked...

Everyone,

I've had several people ask me what the title of the book that my MIL sent me. It's called "A Mother's Book of Secrets" by Linda Eyre and Shawni Eyre Pothier. The subtitle (which I've just now read) is- Keys to Making Motherhood Memorable, Meaningful, and Magnificent. It's a collection of essays from a grandma and a mom. I've only read the first 2 or 3, but one has stuck with me for a few days. It's called Trenches Don't Last. It's all about being in the moment and enjoying whatever moment you are in. Whether it be the baby moment, the teenage moment, anything.

They quote another essay by Anna Quindlen, "The biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make...I did not live in the moment enough. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and getting it done a little less." I've thought a lot about this today. About how I am always rushing Butterfly to get to the next thing when all she wants to do is talk to me or be with me or play with me. I thought about it as I picked up Pirate for the 100th time today after he just asked to be put down. I thought about it when Professor crawled into my lap and gave me his killer smile and lightly pointed at my nose and said, "Oooo." (We've been working on body parts. Nooose.)

I do feel like I am in a big rush to get to the next thing. I do feel like there are a lot responsibilities that need to get done. But I think that laundry and cleaning and food prep/clean up are small things. They will always be there. But my responsibility as a mother to these cute cute kids, should be my priority in my mind. I feel like the days go better when I get into what Butterfly is doing that day, or have 15 minutes of ball passing with Pirate, or push cooking lids around the kitchen with Professor (his new favorite thing).

This essay was a good reminder of the important things. Because all too soon they will no longer be pushing pan lids around my house or pretending to be dogs in Soot's kennel. It also reminded me I ought to take more videos of them because then they can see what it was like right now.

So expect some videos in the near future, and also some stories from Butterfly. I'd like to document what they are doing a little more on here.

Safire

PS- Pictures by Lolli, of course. (Well, not the one of Butterfly.) It's so much fun having a friend who loves to take pictures. :)

Crisis to Crisis

Everyone,

Today has been one of those days. I went from screaming kid to screaming kid. At least they all took turns screaming. Let's see...Butterfly screamed because she said it wasn't time to wake up this morning. And it also wasn't time to wake up at nap time. I don't know why she is so cross when she gets up but she is. Oh, wait. I think I know. She stays up playing with her toys and then is really tired when she gets up. Or it could just be that today is Monday and Mondays are always really hard.

Pirate cried today every time I moved more than 2 feet away from him. He is big into being right next to me all the time lately. It's nice, but he's also learned to bite because he is frustrated. So when I put my computer somewhere where he can't touch it, he bites me. Then I put him down. And he bites me. This is a not so cool development into frustration.

Professor takes the cake today though. He cried because he got stuck. He got his legs stuck in the crib slats today during his second nap. Poor boy! When I went up to get him (I was on the phone several times and couldn't make it up there right away), I expected Pirate to be sleeping too. Nope. Professor was very unhappy and when I didn't pick Pirate up too, he was also screaming. So after I got them calmed down, they were awake. Needless to say they didn't have their second nap today.

When I went to go wake up Butterfly (who had a nap...a 2 and a half hour long one), Professor pulled the vent cover off the vent in her room. He went from looking at the the vent cover to climbing into the vent in about 2 seconds. I was busy waking Butterfly up and didn't see him. When he started to scream because he was stuck, I think I freaked out a little bit. His clothes were caught on something and it took me a minute to get him unstuck. He is grabbing onto me with all his might and screaming. Butterfly has rolled off her bed and is trying to lay down on my back and crying because "it's NOT time to wake up!" And Pirate is really interested in what I'm doing with his brother and is trying to back into the vent too.

Needless to say, I needed a little bit of space this evening.

Safire