The One-Armed Wonder

If I were a superhero, that would have to be my name - that or The Magnificent Multitasker. Since Jake was born I've become exceptionally proficient at doing things with one arm (yes, I'm grateful that I actually have 2): cooking, washing dishes, making beds, vacuuming, even ironing. I'm still working on sweeping and typing, but I might get there since Jake's favorite position is on my shoulder at just the right height to gnaw on his fist. What makes it even more insane is that I'm usually carrying on some kind of debate with Haley about wearing shoes outside or how much floss is an appropriate amount for a 3-year-old.
We decided that if you could extrapolate from her current behavior, we would guess that when she grows up Haley will be a lawyer, a hostage negotiator, or a flight attendant. She's very persistent and logical when trying to convince us of something, will always try to negotiate for less vegetables and more bedtime stories, and sounds like a Stepford Wife when talking to Jake (see previous post). Sometimes she just seems too grown-up for a 3-year-old. Like the other day when she spilled her dry cereal on the kitchen floor and I asked her to clean it up. A few minutes later I heard her with the DustBuster and she was in there sucking it all up. Or the other night when Rob and I were busy doing something terribly important like watching Desperate Housewives and we heard her go into the bathroom, brush her teeth, and dry her own hair (this is the girl who refuses to potty train). She also regularly cracks us up with things she says. Some of the more recent ones:

-While driving in the car: "Oops! Can you hold this for a sec? Cause I just made a big mess."
-While getting tickled: "Look at all the fun in my eyes!"
-Getting tucked into bed: "I hope you have awful dreams. Wait, is that right? Oh, awfully sweet dreams."
-During a debate about the benefits of eating carrots: "Well, I have a flashlight so I don't need to eat those carrots."
-Out of the blue while we were shopping at Target: "Maybe baby sister really isn't in my tummy. Because Jake came out of yours and I haven't been to the doctor in a while...so I guess she wasn't really in there."

Did we mention she's a prodigy? Haley loves letters - here she's practicing writing "Happy Mother's Day". Yeah, yeah, we know pride's a sin...

You Light Up My Life

Jake started smiling at us last month, and we just can't get enough! He gets so excited when we hover over him, talking like idiots and grinning. He starts wiggling and kicking and his eyes light up, and just recently he figured out how to get his mouth, tongue and throat to all work together and coo at us. It's great! Haley really loves it and runs over whenever she hears me talking to him. She'll open her eyes wide in this exaggerated (and slightly hilarious) way and say, "Hi, Jake! Hi, hi, hi!" in a loud falsetto. From his reaction it's clear these two are going to be good friends growing up.


Above: Jake slumps and smiles.
Left: Jake after church in his blessing outfit - so snuggly!

Big Girl

HALEY TURNS 3!

Last Saturday we celebrated Haley's 3rd Birthday, complete with balloons, gifts, and a "fairy princess castle cake." She was so excited to get started with the celebration that we had to beg and bribe to get her out of her pajamas before opening presents (that's what I get for leaving them on the coffee table). So the gifts were opened before breakfast, which left a long, rainy day ahead of us. She and Rob played with her new toys (roller skates! Cinderella doll! Littlest Pet Shop! Candyland!), which gave me a few minutes to put the finishing touches on the cake that had taken me most of the night to decorate...

For lunch Haley had asked to go to The Green Mill, a local restaurant. We thought this was a really cute and grown-up preference for her to have, until we got there and realized she was really after the mints they have by the front door (oops, looks like she inherited my sweet tooth). One lunch out + fussy, hungry infant + birthday excitement + lots of mints on an empty stomach = toddler meltdown. Thankfully she's not old enough yet to have unrealistic expectations about how things are supposed to be (another of my weaknesses I hope to not pass down), so she didn't hold a grudge and fell asleep in the car on the way home. Rob and I were very grateful at that point that Haley hadn't wanted a party with friends - it might have just been too much for us all to handle. Instead we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with balloons, eating cake, and enjoying our giggly, gorgeous 3-year-old.
Haley thought it was great that Jake could hold onto a balloon all by himself.

The Fairy Princess Castle Cake!














This girl has an amazing sense of balance - we'll try them outside if it ever stops raining.

It's becoming a tradition that she gets to help bake the birthday cake. Yum, cake batter!

Ramblings Resulting from Rain

I woke up early this morning to the sound of rain, which isn't very remarkable except that it was the exact drizzle, the very same pitter-patter and drip-drip-drip that ran like a very wet soundtrack through most of my childhood. Rob often teases me about my "super-senses," but as I lay there in the pre-dawn hours and listened to raindrops my mind was flooded with random memories and I was suddenly very homesick. Maybe that's not the right word, since my home now really is wherever my husband and children are. But it made me think, and I hope that as I go throughout my days trying to get to Target without Jake screaming in his carseat or thinking for the hundredth time that I really should mop the kitchen floor or worrying about getting the sweet peas planted - I hope that I'm taking enough time to create a home that Haley and Jake will one day feel homesick for...