It's been a year?

It's hard for me to believe but my last day of work (the kind where you get dressed up and get a paycheck) was January 31, 2008. One year ago. To commemorate the occasion I would like to share a list of things I have learned as a stay-at-home mommy of two little boys...

Top ten ways to tell you're "mommy"-fied:

1. Your clothes are covered in smeared snot more often than not.

2. You love the snotty little cuddler so much that you don't care about all the snot.

3. You know what it means to treat mornings like a plane crash (take care of yourself first, aka shower if you want one, and then worry about the other oxygen masks).

4. You have been forced to secure the premises (cage the 11 month old) prior to your own bathroom break.

5. You remember what lunch is, and you prepare/feed it to others, but it never seems to cross your lips.

6. Your wardrobe consists of a couple pairs of jeans you wash every couple of days.

7. Nothing makes you more upset than arriving at the store just after they've cleared every cart from the parking lot. Really? I'm supposed to lug both of them from the car to the store in my arms?

8. You have ever placed your hand in front of the mouth of your choking/gagging child to catch whatever might come out.

9. You know which McDonald's are closest to the Starbucks.

10. And finally, you have ever emptied the pockets of one of your two pairs of jeans to find: a pacifier, 2 band-aid wrappers, a toy ball of trash, and a used kleenex.

Aaaah, snow...

I love snow. I love the glittery whiteness of it all. I love snow angels. I'm not sure I've ever successfully made a snowman, but that sounds fun too. And I love hot chocolate and warm cookies and all the things that should go with snow. I love snow even more now that I generally have no obligation to go anywhere in it. No employer to care whether I make it in to the office in time to lug 35 files over to court on a wobbly cart that's bound to tip just outside the door of my destination (oops, sorry, flashbacks).

But those pesky weathermen forever make promises that they cannot keep. Until Tuesday. It began to snow and just kept falling. Beautifully. This is much easier for me to say since I'm not the one shoveling out the drive. I'm the one who has to stay in and keep an eye on the boys. Speaking of the boys, this seemed to be Luke's opinion of the whole thing:

Okay, maybe not really. We went out during his morning nap so I don't think he ever really noticed all the snow or cared. But he did enjoy hanging out with Seth to watch Daddy clean the driveway.

But for Seth this was his first time to play out in it all. This is the biggest snow we have had since he has been able to walk and run and enjoy it. The bundling was a bit of a mismatched attempt at warmth, not style!

In typical 'Seth-style', it took a little while for him to warm up to the whole thing. Guess he'd never survive in Quebec, huh Jill? Although, in his defense, it was a first and it was about 1/3 of his height so I'm gonna give him a bit of apprension on this one!Bue, once he got used to the feel of it all and realized he wasn't going to be lost forever in a pile he seemed to enjoy himself! He kept saying he was going skating. And it was a little slick so we ran with it. Someday we can introduce him to the concept of ice skates but let's just enjoy the snow first!Covered in snow (and debating whether it's time go in...)And finally, my favorite of the day. I do believe the plan was to be sure I was as covered in snow as he was...

Kicking myself...

I will keep this one brief, as I could drone on forever and cry, yell, throw things, etc., but since I've already participated in most, if not all, of those activities, I'll just issue a cautionary statement to all:

BACK UP EVERYTHING ON YOUR COMPUTER

Ours died. Just out of nowhere died. No long goodbyes, no warning. I used it last Wed afternoon. Signed off, walked away. Dave tried to use it Wednesday night and it said, "no thanks." After some time with a help desk, and then subsequent time with Matt (our resident computer geek/brother-in-law - not sure what order he prefers that in!), the diagnosis was that the hard drive was gone. THANKFULLY, I had backed up all but 16 days of photos. Unfortunately, I was not so smart with the little log I had kept of all of the 'firsts' in Luke's life. A good friend lost her wedding ring and finally calmed herself down by realizing that she had lost a ring, not her husband. That was a great lesson for me last week! Plus, Luke is a boy. He'll never ever care when he first sat up on his own or smiled at me. And I still have all the pictures. Besides, I've moved onto obsessing about what's lost that I've not thought of yet - other things I don't access often and haven't occurred to me as lost yet.

But, nothing to do about it now. The hard drive was replaced Tuesday and we are up and running again. Now begins the process of loading all my picture CD's back onto the computer so I can try to estimate dates for Luke's scrapbook. Oh, the fun of it all...

Busy, busy

Today I said to Seth, who was sitting at the kitchen table watching me pack his lunch for our little outing, "Could you check on Lukey and see what he's doing?" Seth's response? "I don't have time right now."

FYI

Never ask your two year old to bring you the paper towels.

Away in a manger...

I think this is Seth's favorite Christmas song. Not only does he ask me to sing it repeatedly - one night I probably sang it 20 times in a row - he can also be heard singing it in his bed, via the monitor on our nightstand. He has most of the words down and you can tell what he's singing. One night I had to go in and ask if he could sing a little quieter so as not to wake Luke in the next room! Unfortunately, I have zero singing ability and I fear he may be joining me. Anyway, we have a Little People manger/nativity set and when you push the star on the top, it plays Away In A Manger. Seth has enjoyed becoming acquainted with Baby Jesus this season. The day that we first put up the Christmas decorations and unpacked the manger scene, Seth added some of his own accessory pieces. Can you pick out which item does NOT belong? Yes, the orange and yellow truck was probably not present at the time of Jesus' birth! Although in Seth's 2 year old mind, everyone digs dirt. One day he asked me, "Did you see Baby Jesus digging the dirt?" Then there was the night of the attempted Christmas card photos. When Seth decided he was done with pictures, he announced that Baby Jesus was cold and would need to be held. I thought the picture had potential, but, much like the other pictures, not so much...The same night there was an unfortunate earthquake nearby. Called Luke...And finally, poor Mary (or Married as Seth prefers to refer to her), has had some interesting jobs this holiday season. You will notice she is driving the fire truck and Baby Jesus is in the basket above. I believe this was the night that they came flying across the slick kitchen floor and Seth yelled, "Jesus is in the fire truck, kick them back to me!" Umm, we do not kick Baby Jesus anywhere! I hope you can all appreciate the mind of a 2 year old and not think less of me for allowing Mary to drive the fire truck or for allowing Baby Jesus to be "played with." My hope is that next Christmas season Seth will be using those same toys to tell Luke the Christmas story. Of course, he'll have to wrestle them away from Luke and his new Little People tractor where Joseph will probably be busy planting crops!