Pray for us!

On our way to the post office this afternoon, we passed a grand and spired church. Max said, "Look mommy, a castle!" I explained that it was not a castle, but rather a pretty church...which led to a talk about what happens in churches (praying) and why people pray (to make wishes that the people we love are happy).

Afterwards, I asked him, "Do you understand what praying means?" He said, "Yes, mommy, it is like going to the potty."

Max is May's favorite person, thing or activity. Hands down. Nothing at all comes even close. When he gets close and puts his face by hers, she reaches out with her little hands and grabs his hair and face while belting out these heavenly screeches, screams and sighs. She only makes those noises for him. When he's around, he is all she wants to look at. It is the sweetest, most innocent and true love I have ever seen.

What a blessing they both are to me. My little living prayers to the world (potty included).

May 4 mos.

12 lbs 13 oz.
45% length
30% weight
55% head circumference

I hope her genetics don't weigh her down (literally) with time. Poor thing. I'll remind her when she's 30 that she was skinnier than most when she was a baby.

Terrible Twos

Up until the past month or so, we have been spared the Terrible Twos. Now, well, there is a marked uptick in the general household volume level, what with the constant screaming, crying, protesting, throwing oneself on the floor and rolling around, etc. All the dog wants these days are not treats and ear scratches, rather just some peace and freaking quiet. He's planning to run away to the pound.

Whatever I want him to do is exactly what he doesn't have any intention of doing. Today (and everyday), asking him to sit on the potty was met with "NO MOMMA, I won't do that NEVER, EVER, EVER!" To my, "Max, let's go to the park and play," is his "NO! I no want to go!" To my, "You can have some ICE CREAM if you put on your shoes," is his "NO, NO, NO! I not do that."

His life is so defined by "no" and "I not like" that tonight, while reading "The Snuggliest Snuggle in the World", he had to tell me how much he didn't like each animal on every page, while otherwise thoroughly enjoying the story. It went like this...Crocodile's snuggles were too snappy.... "Momma, I no like Croc-o-dyels. They too sharp!" and "I no like High-ee-na. They go to zoo!" It was kind of funny, as well as great insight into his mind right now.

Meanwhile, May is sweet as can be. She has started vocalizing. I want to get it on tape because it is such a sweet sound. She coos, laughs, sighs and just is as cute and lovely as can be. She is growing so fast she is busting out of most of her little clothes. I bought her a few new outfits today. She is officially 4 mos. old today. While Max is doing his routine, she just sits quietly and watches, entralled. Probably making mental notes on how to perfect driving the parents crazy.

I have a job interview Monday. Ugggg.

Yes We Can

Hail to the Chief. God bless #44.

Cowboy hats

Yesterday, as is our routine, Max, May and I went to Story Time at the library. The librarian did a cowboy theme because the National Western Stock Show is happening right now in Denver. She read western-theme books to the kids, gave them little stickers with horses on them and had a huge selection of cowboy hats for the kids to wear. Each child picked out his/her own hat to wear during the stories.

Max picked out a brown "felt" cowboy hat that was heavy and adult size, so it hung on his head like a bowl. He thought the hat was really cool and sat on the floor by me eagerly listening to the stories and doing everything the librarian asked (like say "yeehaw!" at certain points). This is different because usually he loses interest and wants to run around the room.

Then it was time to do the Hokie-Pokie...every time they "turned themselves around", Max's body and head would do the 360 turn, but the cowboy hat never moved! It stayed looking forward regardless of what direction the head under it was doing. Hilarious.

For some people, the sky is pink

Despite our recent business failure, the entrepreneurial spirit is still strong with my husband. God bless him for it too. If ever there was an eternal optimist, it's him. It is one of his strongest and most alluring traits. I can always rely on him to boost my spirits when I despair and point out the silver lining in any cloud.

He continues to troll the "business for sale" websites just out of curiosity. The other day, he saw a business for sale somewhat near the area he grew up in Cleveland. It was a pizza delivery business run out of the lobby of a 500+ unit apartment complex. The sale price was super cheap (the guy had a heart attack and needed to unload the biz fast) and showed a respectable profit....

My husband immediately thought of his brother, who has crappy job he hates and needs to make more money. He loves to cook and has experience in the restaurant business. This gig sounded like a perfect opportunity and the price was minimal compared to the pay off. So, he gives him a call and pitches the idea. At first, he is excited and agrees to give the prospect some thought. After a day, he calls back to tell Hubby he's not interested because the customers would be black people. My husband said he expected his unambitious brother to pass for any number of reasons, such as fear, lack of funds, too much energy/work commitment, etc., but never something so small-minded and silly as the customers' skin color. Dumbass.

Still in shock, he moves on to his friend who lives in the same area...he pitches the idea...his friend is receptive, but changes the subject because he has an even better business idea. "Let's invest in an Internet porn site together!" This is the second time in five years this friend has tried to get my husband to help him start his own porn site. What?!

He said as he hung up the phone, he had this weird epiphany about who he is now versus 10 years ago, when the responses from these two people might have made perfect sense.

Resolutions

I like the idea of New Year's resolutions, but I've never been good at making good ones. They're usually too general, such as "I want to be a better person," or "lose weight." This year, I'm going to try to be more realistic as well as specific and see if that helps my rate of success and satisfaction.

1. Live in the moment. I want to enjoy every free moment to its fullest with my kids. Instead of just keeping them busy so I can get something else done, I'm going to forget that "something else" (which is usually something like laundry or dishes) and really BE with them. They're growing up so fast.

2. Document. Yes, they are growing up fast, so I want to make sure I'm getting it all down so that I can remember all the cute questions, discoveries, lessons and hugs when they are gone from me. Photos, blog entries, baby books.

3. Take care of myself too. I've definitely "let myself go" since Max was born. A few reasons for that are learning to be a mom at the same time as opening a business, learning to run it/market it, had another baby, etc. Now it is time to return to taking better care of myself on every level.

That means excercising, eating better, possibly going back to school or finding an interesting part-time job. Maybe Adrian and I can even take dance lessons or something. It is time to think about what, besides loving and caring for my kids, I want to do with the rest of my life. At 35 years old, it's certainly important to start checking more items off my "things I want to do before I die" list.

4. Re-connect. I can be a hermit. I resolve to be more social this year. I will reach out to friends I haven't seen in a while and try to spend more time with friends and family.

I think that's more than enough to keep me busy until next year.