Bad Mom

It's not secret I'm a bad mom. Here is just another piece of evidence. Yesterday Brian flew out to Houston for a quick overnight trip. He told the kids the night before about his plans and that he would be home today. The day he left he would take Ben to the bus like normal then return for an hour or so before he left for the airport. Ben got pretty upset. It wasn't fair that Maddie got to play with dad while he had to go to school.

I know what you are thinking. I'm not the bad parent here. Brian is. That's what I though too. But I was wrong. In the morning we had family prayers and Brian took him to the bus. When Brian returned I asked him if Ben was okay or did he seem sad, you know, considering he couldn't come play and all. Brian told me that he was okay with the whole trip thing. He was definately sad though. Ben had been totally depressed that Mom hadn't noticed how sad he was during prayer time and didn't even ask what was wrong (guess the snow melting and loss of his snowman tipped the happiness scale). Guess his melting snowman ruined his morning and my complete dismissal of his feelings crushed what was left of any spec of happiness in the child.

Oh brother!

While You Were Out

Dear Daddy, While you were out I learned how to wave hello and goodbye, climb DOWN the stairs alone, clap my hands to celebrate great stuff and give high fives. Missed you while you were gone. Love, Jacob

Brian is Back in Town

I was just noticing that my blogging has taken a sharp decline in the number of posts, from six a day to one every other day or so. Can you tell Brian is back in town and shouldering some of the daily load of parenting again? It is so nice to have him around to talk to and give me a breather. I give him some serious credit for his great arrival this time. Sometimes, understandably, he's exhausted when he arrives. Especially when he comes from Europe. When he walks in the door, it is usually about midnight his time, early dinner time ours. He came home so totally happy, maybe he was just mirroring the kids, because they were absoluetly giddy with joy. Maddie kept running around in circles squeeling she was so happy. Don't you love when a little person is so overcome with joy that their tiny bodies can't even contain or express their emotions? They are just on overload with a grin from ear to ear and run wild. It was totally cute. Of course, who doesn't love a homecoming like that? I realized I'd get one too if I was gone all the time, but I'm pretty much always here. When I went to camp this summer it was like that when I got home. Honestly, it felt amazing. So after Brian gave hugs and kisses and chased the kids for a few minutes, we went out to dinner for some BBQ at a fun place called Red, Hot and Blue. The kids were so well behaved and it was nice to leave the house with help. Then it was straight to bed for everyone, two tired and happy kids, one jet lagged daddy and a very pregnant mommy. Sweet dreams to all of us. At 4:30 am Brian returned to bed (he never actually sleeps at night, just wanders the house I think) and I woke up. Neither of us could sleep, so we talked until 7:30 when Ben came in. It was so nice to have him around, plus, I couldn't tell you when the last time we had time to chat for 3 hours. First thing we did was ask him how his stomach was feeling since he had been so stress sick for so many, many days. "Just perfect," came the reply. Go figure. He's healed by having his family and his reality all put back as it should be.

This Week So Far...

This week so far: released from 2 of 4 callings, finally water heater leaked and flooded the basement Maddie has been up every hour from 8pm to 6 am crying found the outdoor shed I've been searching for on Craigslist for 8 months and am never fast enough to get it, paid $150, costs $550 one adult bike stolen from my backyard bike had child seat mounting brackets, chair is useless in my basement now the best eye doctor I've ever had doesn't take my new insurance this year Ben failed his eye exam, really, really bad and I believe he needs glasses 3 days without warm water or a shower our fan to dry out the basement was broken when I got it out of the box to use carpet is squishy wet front yard over run with hundreds of bees so friends don't like to come over the weather is beautiful, we spend hours every day outside blowing bubbles, playing at the park and drawing with sidewalk chalk wed the whole garden and am ready to plant (I know, it's a joke compared to the NM Robinsons, their garden is twice as big as my entire yard... :) but it still gives me fresh tomatoes and peppers... ) taught kids at preschool this week and they were really well behaved Brian doesn't get back for 7 more days That's what's up in Virginia.

Nice Bedspread and other news

I found mom & dad's listing online today. I like the new bedspread and the garage looks so organized! Can you come do my basement storage. It's the only room left in the house that is a real mess and needs organizing. Dad, I think you should come see our place now. You'd be proud of me. I've finally gotten the organize bug the last year or so. I got a lot done before you came, but the odds and ends got thrown into the storage room and other corners over Christmas. I am proud to say that there is zero junk on the floor of my bedroom for the first time in 27 years or so. It is actually a little weird. It was so much work because I really have thrown out bags and bags of junk and been to the good will with a truck load of stuff. It does feel great though. I keep my motivation being our trip to Italy. I really don't want to take a boat load of junk overseas... :) In other news. I was called to the Stake YW Presidency this week. It should be fun. I was okay at first, but now I'm starting to get real nervous about it. I guess I'll find a way to make it work though. I really love YW. Maddie Mae is really starting to talk a ton. Today she did her first string of two words together. She walks around saying doggie all the time and loves to watch for squirrels, dogs and birds out the windows while she eats. She brings me her shoes and coat all the time so we can go play outside, even if it is 31 degrees outside. Cute girl. Ben loves his preschool and is doing really well with letters and numbers. That means we can't fool him anymore at dinner time telling him to have 5 more bites and keep changing the numbers to make him eat more. Oh well. It worked well while it lasted. Brian has a trip to Italy in March. He'll check it out and see if we really would want to go and try to network so he can make them want to hire him. Angie