Tuesday, December 29, 2009

2009 Redux

There aren't adequate words to describe 2009 for this household.  A year that doubled the size of our family in three short minutes. 

So many changes.  So little sleep.  So much to be thankful for.

So with that, here are some scattershot thoughts on this - our most monumental year.
  • Thanks first to God for giving us four amazing, beautiful, healthy children.  Although I do look forward to the day when I can discuss with him the logic of sending three of them at one time! 
  • Besides being the best husband in the world, Carl has now earned a second doctorate in formula preparation.  By last count he has prepared approximately 18,260 ounces of formula in the past seven months.  (98 oz/day; 665 oz/week; 2,660 oz/month).
  • Joshua - no longer my baby.  You are smarter than we are and we love it!  Who ever thought my pregnancy pillow would take on second life as a giant worm?
  • Matthew - our mover and shaker.  I'm waiting for the moment when I turn around and you are running across the room at me.  It won't be long. 
  • Paige - the Zen baby.  I appreciate your amazingly calm disposition, sweetheart.  But your brothers are on the move and you need to learn to hold your own.  Taking the book back from William last night was a good start!
  • William - my gentle giant.  I can't wait until you can sing the songs along with me.
  • Haley the dog - Don't worry, Joshua still corrects me when I say we have six members in our family.  Despite your tense relationship lately, he loves you.  You'll be running around the yard together soon.
  • Did you know that the nurses in Mercy's NICU are angels?
  • A person can function on an average of 4 hours of sleep a night.
  • We have the best families in the world.  Their support has been amazing.  Enough said.
  • Everyone knows that baby laundry spontaneously regenerates.  Just imagine that cubed.
  • On a related note, laundry is more fun when done in a fancy new cranberry red front loading washing machine!
  • Professional house cleaners are not a want - they are a need.
  • You can fashion a dinner out of eggs, breadcrumbs and peanut butter.
  • Take me down to ExcerSaucer city where the toys are great and the babies are pretty!
  • Do not wrap your three-year old's Christmas present in a baby diaper box.
  • I remember 1999 turning to 2000 like it was yesterday.  Great conversation with great friends, much port wine and child-free frivolity ensued.  While I will see midnight this New Year's Eve, I highly doubt port will be involved.  (Unless you want to make the trip out, Jaz?  Then I'm sure we could find a way to incorporate port!)
  • How can a decade pass so quickly yet an hour with a crying baby in the middle of the night seems to last an eternity?
  • At the end of the next decade of this millennium my babies will be 13, 10, 10, & 10 respectively.  When I think about it that way, time can't go slowly enough.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A Christmas Scene

FADE IN:

JOSHUA AND MOM ARE SITTING AT THE KITCHEN TABLE EATING DINNER AFTER FINISHING A ROUSING RENDITION OF RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER.

               JOSHUA
     Mom, who’s Glee?

               MOM
     What do you mean, sweetie?

               JOSHUA (EMPHATICALLY)
     Mom, who’s Glee?

               MOM (TRYING TO FIGURE OUT CONTEXT)
     Honey, I don’t know what you mean.

               JOSHUA (GETTING ANNNOYED)
     Mom, WHO’S GLEE???

MOM RUNS THROUGH LYRICS OF RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER IN HER HEAD AND IT HITS HER, "AS THEY SHOUTED OUT WITH GLEE."

               MOM
     OHHHHH!!!...as they shouted out with glee! 
     Honey glee isn't a person in the song.  It means that they were happy! 
     Glee is another word for happy!

               JOSHUA (TRYING TO PROCESS THIS IN HIS 3 YEAR OLD MIND)
     That’s dumb.

MOM LOOKS OVER AT DAD AND THEY REALIZE THAT THEY ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE - THE THREE YEAR OLD IS SMARTER THAN THEY ARE.

FADE OUT.