Sick Day

I think one of the hardest things about being a stay at home mom is that you never get a sick day! I could really use a sick day today. Sore throat, headache, tired, cough, runny nose...the whole nine. I wish I could just lay in bed all day with a cup of tea and a book, dozing off when I feel the need, only to be awakened when I have to go to the bathroom. HA!!! Reality is that I woke up with Morgan at 6, fell back asleep with her at 7, woke up again with both at 8:30, now they are napping and I need to fold laundry and put away some toys, then they will wake up and need to eat and want to play and listen to Raffi. (By the way, Nathan, if you are reading this, we have been listening to Banana-phone these days and it makes me miss you so much it hurts.) Ugh, and it won't be much easier when hubby gets home either. There's dinner and clean up and baths and bedtime and more cleaning. He's not the most helpful these days. But that's a whole other blog in itself...
Anyway, any ideas on how to keep an 18 month old and a 5 month old occupied while I lay on the couch and wallow in this cold?

A Kid Again

Do you have people in your life that instantly transport you back to your childhood whenever you are with them? I do. I am reading a book in which the main character talks about a friend that always makes him feel 8 years old and it made me think of the people in my life that make me feel this way. It's the good kind of feeling like a kid, not the "You're only 8 and you don't know anything" kind - which I have plenty of also, especially being the youngest. Anyway, my grampa was one of those people and so are my godparents. My grampa always made me feel like a little girl again. I loved the way he would always refer to me with either a nickname (ReeBee, Baccala or Pooh to name a few) or my full name, never Becka which is what everyone else calls me. And he would try to get me with the same jokes and stories that he did so many years ago. I miss him terribly and I wish my kids had the chance to meet him and hear the stories and jokes.
Also, my godparents, good old Auntie Flo and Uncle Frank. I never fail to feel like a little girl when I am in their presence. Even when I introduced them to my husband and my children. The first time they saw Oliver I felt like saying "Look what I made! Don't you want to hang him on your fridge for everyone to see?" I love that my Auntie Flo works in the nursery and takes care of my babies while I am at bible study. To see Morgan asleep on her lap, in the same way that I was so many years ago is amazing and wonderful.
Sometimes it is good to feel like a kid again. I wonder who those special people will be in Oliver and Morgan's lives.

Cleaning House

You know when you are having company and it inspires super-human cleaning power? You clean and de-clutter and dust and sweep and scrub so that your company is fooled into thinking that your house always looks like this. Well, I'm feeling this way about my blog this week. I got an e-mail telling me that my kiddos and my blog are going to be featured in the Fabulous Friday over at Diary Of a Playgroup Dropout. Basically there will be a little blurb about us, some pictures and a link to this blog. I'm excited. (It's the little things, people!!) But, I feel this incredible pressure now to make my blog interesting and witty and worthy of millions of comments so that I feel loved. So, if you have any suggestions for how to improve my blog before Friday, let me know!

Torn

I had a job interview today. It was at a school for children with autism. I am completely overwhelmed and confused. On paper, everything seems great - I'm qualified for it, the pay is great, the benfits are good, not too far away, etc. but I'm just not sure. I've never worked with kids like this before and, to be honest, I was a little uncomfortable . These kids can be violent and have some strange behaviors. For example, they bite, kick, punch, pull hair (which I observed today), undress, touch themselves, and one even smears his poop all over the place when he goes. I'm not 100% convinced I can handle that. I also am struggling with not really wanting to go back to work full time because I just want to be at home with my babies. That's why I had them, so I can be with them. Unfortunately, if I want them to have a place to live and food to eat, back to work I go.
So, I'm torn. I think I'll take some time to think.

I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt

Check out my nephew! He's modeling for a friend's new t-shirt company. The pictures are great, but Im not sure about the shirts. Funny "small world" story about this guy. He went to Wheaton at the same time I did and my roommate and I were in love with his roommate. So, we hung out a bit all together. I remember going to see The Net with both of them and feeling so cool that we were out with sophomores! Anyway, fast forward nine years and I start hearing Matt talk about this new cool youth leader he has with the same name as my college friend. "Hey, I used to know someone named (new youth leader)!" Sure enough, at church one night I saw him and it was the same guy! Now Matt is really good friends with him and hangs out at his apartment. Everyone sing, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world...
By the way, isn't my nephew a cutie?

I Should Blog But...

My children have been keeping me awake at all hours of the night. Therefore, I have mush-brain and I cannot put together a sentence, never mind a whole blog entry. Really, it has been bad! Monday night I got about 4 hours of sleep and half of that was on their bedroom floor, wrapped in a Sesame Street comforter, using a Boppy as a pillow. The problem is, we moved little Morgan into her crib in Oliver's room. The first few weeks were fine and then Oliver decided that he can't live without me - even for a minute. Everywhere I go it's "Mama, mama." (Not that I am complaining, I love hearing that little voice call me Mama. Melts.My.Heart.) BUT, at 2am when Morgan wants to eat, little Ollie decides he needs his mama and Mama just wants to be back in bed. So, most of the time I stand in there until he is back asleep, or almost asleep so he doesn't realize that I'm gone. But, Monday I was so desperate for sleep that I just crashed on the floor. They were tag-teaming me - one up, one down, the other up , the other down and so on... until I felt like I just wanted to yell at them, "You're being such a baby, stop crying and go to sleep!!" Oh, right, you are just a baby. My bad.
We bought Morgan a Pack-n-Play for our bedroom and she will be joining us again in there until she can sleep through the night. Lastnight was the first night with that, and I was only up twice to feed. Glorious!

Anyway, there's more to say, like how awful that shooting in the Amish schoolhouse was and how I can't get over it, and how I've been having weird dreams lately and wondering why we dream, and how Oliver (and Joel) had roseola last week, and how I have already started thinking about what to get (or make) for people for Christmas and how my famliy has decided to do home made Christmas gifts this year and I need help, people, BUT it will have to wait. Now, I shall get dressed, finally, and try to get something done while the kids are asleep.