4 years ago
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Dane's glimpse into pregnancy
No, Tara isn't pregnant again. However, I (Dane) came down with a stomach bug and began feeling what Tara describes as early pregnancy symptoms: nausea, bloating, gas, aches, and tiredness. Tara was reminded why she doesn't want to get pregnant for a while. :) I'm just glad this will be over in a few days. Having the "privilege" of developing empathy (as opposed to sympathy) is overrated. :)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter
We told Aria today that the Easter Bunny wanted to visit, but since he's really shy, he didn't want anyone to be around when he came, so Daddy took Aria for a walk to go and smell flowers and roses. When we returned, we saw that the Easter bunny had left a spattering of chocolates.
Although the Easter bunny could be seen by some to distract from the real meaning of Easter, we don't think that it has to. We just told Aria that the reason the Easter bunny comes and leaves presents is because he's so happy about what Christ has done for us that and he just wants to give little presents to remind us of how sweet Christ's present is to us.
So where is Zade in these pictures? Sleeping! It will be fun when he can join in on the fun, but for now, he'd probably just eat the candy, wrapper and all.
Although the Easter bunny could be seen by some to distract from the real meaning of Easter, we don't think that it has to. We just told Aria that the reason the Easter bunny comes and leaves presents is because he's so happy about what Christ has done for us that and he just wants to give little presents to remind us of how sweet Christ's present is to us.
So where is Zade in these pictures? Sleeping! It will be fun when he can join in on the fun, but for now, he'd probably just eat the candy, wrapper and all.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Shearing
Little Zade has always had a bunch of hair, and it has now gotten so out of control that we were forced to take action. Yes, yes, we gave him a buzz and now we can see that cute little melon again. :)
BEFORE (although it doesn't show the mini-mullet that was forming)
AFTER
BEFORE (although it doesn't show the mini-mullet that was forming)
AFTER
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Hunger pains, lipstick and family rides
NOCTURNAL HUNGER PAINS
Aria awoke at 4:00 AM last night screaming, "I'M HUNGRY!" I brought her a banana and a glass of milk. She said she didn't want the banana, so I gave her the milk and told her to go back to sleep. Just as I was snuggling deep into my covers and trying to relax my brain, I heard her yelling again. "I WANT MY BANANA!"
I threw off the covers, feeling annoyed, and walked back into her room. I peeled the banana and handed it to her, then I sat on the chair next to her bed and watched her eat. As she took little bites, with her bright eyes wide awake, I had to smile.
"Mom, I love you," Aria said in between bites of her banana.
"I love you too Aria."
"Mom, we were a family in heaven," she said.
"We were a family in heaven," I agreed.
Aria handed me the last fourth of her banana. "I'm all done." I popped the rest of the banana in my mouth, told her not to bother me again, and went back to my room. I tossed around in bed, trying to get comfortable. Just as I was beginning to get settled, I heard her yell again!
"MY ROAD! FIX MY ROAD!" Aria's "road" is her stuffed animals that she has placed in a perfect line along the side of her bed. If any animal falls to the side, or is covered by her blanket, she becomes upset.
"MY ROAD! MY ROAD!" Ugh! I couldn't bear to get out of bed again. Thankfully, Dane got up this time, fixed her "road" and lectured her about waking us up. She finally went back to sleep and we were not woken again until 5:45 AM, when Zade was up for the day.
LIPSTICK
I let Zade play with my make-up bag today in a desperate attempt to keep him entertained while I got dressed. Aria called me out of the room for a couple of minutes and I returned to my lipstick half eaten and smeared in about 5 splotches of dark red on the carpet. No more make-up for that boy!
FAMILY RIDES
We spent the day fixing up our bikes. We had to reconstruct the front of Tara's bike since her child seat had bent the stem. We were directed to a Bicas, a non-profit shop with tons of random, donated bike parts and art. When we got there, we felt like we were right back in Eugene. I was able to fix up Tara's bike for just $2. What a deal. It was a fun place:
Finally we were able to take the kiddos out on a ride to the park in the late afternoon. It was fun to ride bikes as a family. On the way back though Aria was so tired that she kept crying out, "Cranberry juice! Cranberry juice!" like a broken record player for at least 15 minutes. (The child is incredibly spoiled when it comes to beverages and will not drink water.) Suddenly her crying stopped and we realized she had passed out in the trailer, her little face pressed against the plastic screen like a smashed bug. Zade seemed relieved to have the screaming over.
And here's a glimpse of one of Zade's most endearing faces. It's the one he does when he see's something that surprises and interests him, and lets out a little "Ooh! (with an upward swing in his voice).
Aria awoke at 4:00 AM last night screaming, "I'M HUNGRY!" I brought her a banana and a glass of milk. She said she didn't want the banana, so I gave her the milk and told her to go back to sleep. Just as I was snuggling deep into my covers and trying to relax my brain, I heard her yelling again. "I WANT MY BANANA!"
I threw off the covers, feeling annoyed, and walked back into her room. I peeled the banana and handed it to her, then I sat on the chair next to her bed and watched her eat. As she took little bites, with her bright eyes wide awake, I had to smile.
"Mom, I love you," Aria said in between bites of her banana.
"I love you too Aria."
"Mom, we were a family in heaven," she said.
"We were a family in heaven," I agreed.
Aria handed me the last fourth of her banana. "I'm all done." I popped the rest of the banana in my mouth, told her not to bother me again, and went back to my room. I tossed around in bed, trying to get comfortable. Just as I was beginning to get settled, I heard her yell again!
"MY ROAD! FIX MY ROAD!" Aria's "road" is her stuffed animals that she has placed in a perfect line along the side of her bed. If any animal falls to the side, or is covered by her blanket, she becomes upset.
"MY ROAD! MY ROAD!" Ugh! I couldn't bear to get out of bed again. Thankfully, Dane got up this time, fixed her "road" and lectured her about waking us up. She finally went back to sleep and we were not woken again until 5:45 AM, when Zade was up for the day.
LIPSTICK
I let Zade play with my make-up bag today in a desperate attempt to keep him entertained while I got dressed. Aria called me out of the room for a couple of minutes and I returned to my lipstick half eaten and smeared in about 5 splotches of dark red on the carpet. No more make-up for that boy!
FAMILY RIDES
We spent the day fixing up our bikes. We had to reconstruct the front of Tara's bike since her child seat had bent the stem. We were directed to a Bicas, a non-profit shop with tons of random, donated bike parts and art. When we got there, we felt like we were right back in Eugene. I was able to fix up Tara's bike for just $2. What a deal. It was a fun place:
Finally we were able to take the kiddos out on a ride to the park in the late afternoon. It was fun to ride bikes as a family. On the way back though Aria was so tired that she kept crying out, "Cranberry juice! Cranberry juice!" like a broken record player for at least 15 minutes. (The child is incredibly spoiled when it comes to beverages and will not drink water.) Suddenly her crying stopped and we realized she had passed out in the trailer, her little face pressed against the plastic screen like a smashed bug. Zade seemed relieved to have the screaming over.
And here's a glimpse of one of Zade's most endearing faces. It's the one he does when he see's something that surprises and interests him, and lets out a little "Ooh! (with an upward swing in his voice).
Friday, April 15, 2011
bikes, fingers and garages
Dane was so kind to put together the new bike trailer that my parents purchased for my birthday last night, and I couldn't wait to try it out with the kids today. Zade was not a fan of his helmet and kept crying and trying to wrestle it off his head, and since it was a little big and looked awkward anyway, I took it off him. After spending a great deal of time adjusting all the straps, making sure the kids had their drinks, and Aria had her purse, I felt like we were ready to go. Unfortunately, our garage door is broken right now, so we have to manually open and close it. There is no handle to pull down the garage on the outside, so I just try to pull down as best I can. Well, today as I was pulling down the garage, I put my fingers in between the cracks of the garage door in order to pull it down. It closed quicker than I realized, trapping and smashing my fingers inside the crack! There I was with my fingers smashed and stuck in the garage and my two kids strapped in the bike trailer, with no other person in sight. I tried to pull my fingers out, but I couldn't. Thankfully, after a few moments of utter panic, I was able to stick my foot under the bottom of the garage, and lift it up with my foot, freeing my now white and purple fingers. After a few moments of crying, mostly from shock, I was able to get over it and still go on the bike ride with the kids- which turned out to be a lot of fun. I look forward to taking them again. As for my fingers, they've been hurting throughout the day, but I think they'll be fine.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Daily Moments of Motherhood
I'd like to start writing down the daily memories I have with my kids and since I don't really keep a journal, the blog seems like the place to keep everything together.
Today, after running for 45 minutes at the gym, I took the kids to the library. From the moment I put Zade down on the floor, he became a little terror. He headed straight for the puzzles where he began to push them all off the shelf and scatter the pieces, then he speed-crawled to the book-shelf and managed to pull off at east 12 books. I picked him up to try to contain him, but he started making screeching noises and squirming so I put him down again, whereupon he immediately speed-crawled (like he was in some kind of baby race) for another bookshelf and before I got to him, managed to rip a few pages out of a couple of magazines! A librarian came back and started picking up the mess, and feeling a little embarrassed, I tried to help while holding my squirming terrorizer. Needless to say, we did not stay very long at the library today.
Aria has had a baby doll for a couple of years now that she still loves to play with. She has me help her change the dolls clothes almost daily, and we help the doll use the potty and change her diaper. Today Aria declared me her baby was sick. I took the dolls temperature at Aria's request and put a band-aide on the baby to make her feel better. Aria kept calling me "Doctor Mommy."
"You're a very good mommy to your baby," I told Aria as we walked up the stairs, with Aria holding her baby doll, and me holding Zade. "Thank you Doctor Mommy," Aria replied, "and you're a good mommy to your baby too."
Today, after running for 45 minutes at the gym, I took the kids to the library. From the moment I put Zade down on the floor, he became a little terror. He headed straight for the puzzles where he began to push them all off the shelf and scatter the pieces, then he speed-crawled to the book-shelf and managed to pull off at east 12 books. I picked him up to try to contain him, but he started making screeching noises and squirming so I put him down again, whereupon he immediately speed-crawled (like he was in some kind of baby race) for another bookshelf and before I got to him, managed to rip a few pages out of a couple of magazines! A librarian came back and started picking up the mess, and feeling a little embarrassed, I tried to help while holding my squirming terrorizer. Needless to say, we did not stay very long at the library today.
Aria has had a baby doll for a couple of years now that she still loves to play with. She has me help her change the dolls clothes almost daily, and we help the doll use the potty and change her diaper. Today Aria declared me her baby was sick. I took the dolls temperature at Aria's request and put a band-aide on the baby to make her feel better. Aria kept calling me "Doctor Mommy."
"You're a very good mommy to your baby," I told Aria as we walked up the stairs, with Aria holding her baby doll, and me holding Zade. "Thank you Doctor Mommy," Aria replied, "and you're a good mommy to your baby too."
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Celebrations
TARA'S CELEBRATION
Mini Golf was a challenge with Zade crawling after every ball we hit, and Aria getting bored after hole 9, but it was still fun to be out in the pleasant April weather.
Although we had planned to go out to eat at a restaurant for dinner, I didn't have much of an appetite and since my sister Shannon sent me a gift card to Jamba juice, it seemed like a good place to go.
Probably one of the best parts of the night was going to Heavenly Feet, an Asian foot and back massage place. I went there last year and loved it, and my experience this year was the same. It's so relaxing! After getting massaged, I stopped by the store and bought myself a little cake. It seemed kind of lame to be buying myself a cake, but since no one else did it, and I wanted to blow out the traditional candles, I bought a little slice of cake anyway.
ARIA'S CELEBRATION
Aria went back and forth between wanting a Mickey Mouse party, or a Princess party, or a Winnie the Pooh party, but she finally settled and seemed to stick to her desire of wanting a Strawberry Shortcake party. I wasn't going to throw a party this year because I wanted to keep things simpler, but Aria kept talking about her Strawberry Shortcake Party, so I couldn't let her down. I bought a few decorations and invited about 10 little friends of Aria's. The kids decorated little strawberry shortcake bags, had an Easter Egg hunt, played pin the strawberry on Strawberry shortcake and musical alphabet (kind of like musical chairs, but everybody wins!) We also had a snack of strawberries, whipping cream and strawberry muffins, and then at the end, the kids each got a strawberry cupcake and Aria opened her presents. All the kids seemed to have a wonderful time and it only took me a week to recover and catch up on all the house work. :)
The kids played in the backyard as they waited for everyone to arrive.
A few days later, Dane graciously drove us all to Phoenix where I took Aria (dressed up in her little mermaid costume with necklaces and a pink tiara) to see Princesses on ice. We had a wonderful time and it was fun to see all of the little girls dressed in their princess costumes. I know some feminists out there think that we need to back away from the princess thing with little girls, but I thought it was a lot of fun, and if Aria is enchanted by everything with her eyes all aglow, then that's all that matters to me.
Mini Golf was a challenge with Zade crawling after every ball we hit, and Aria getting bored after hole 9, but it was still fun to be out in the pleasant April weather.
Although we had planned to go out to eat at a restaurant for dinner, I didn't have much of an appetite and since my sister Shannon sent me a gift card to Jamba juice, it seemed like a good place to go.
Probably one of the best parts of the night was going to Heavenly Feet, an Asian foot and back massage place. I went there last year and loved it, and my experience this year was the same. It's so relaxing! After getting massaged, I stopped by the store and bought myself a little cake. It seemed kind of lame to be buying myself a cake, but since no one else did it, and I wanted to blow out the traditional candles, I bought a little slice of cake anyway.
ARIA'S CELEBRATION
Aria went back and forth between wanting a Mickey Mouse party, or a Princess party, or a Winnie the Pooh party, but she finally settled and seemed to stick to her desire of wanting a Strawberry Shortcake party. I wasn't going to throw a party this year because I wanted to keep things simpler, but Aria kept talking about her Strawberry Shortcake Party, so I couldn't let her down. I bought a few decorations and invited about 10 little friends of Aria's. The kids decorated little strawberry shortcake bags, had an Easter Egg hunt, played pin the strawberry on Strawberry shortcake and musical alphabet (kind of like musical chairs, but everybody wins!) We also had a snack of strawberries, whipping cream and strawberry muffins, and then at the end, the kids each got a strawberry cupcake and Aria opened her presents. All the kids seemed to have a wonderful time and it only took me a week to recover and catch up on all the house work. :)
The kids played in the backyard as they waited for everyone to arrive.
A few days later, Dane graciously drove us all to Phoenix where I took Aria (dressed up in her little mermaid costume with necklaces and a pink tiara) to see Princesses on ice. We had a wonderful time and it was fun to see all of the little girls dressed in their princess costumes. I know some feminists out there think that we need to back away from the princess thing with little girls, but I thought it was a lot of fun, and if Aria is enchanted by everything with her eyes all aglow, then that's all that matters to me.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Quick Draw
I was watching Zade eat and noticed that he has developed a pretty quick "grab and stuff" reflex to compensate for how slippery the food is we often give him. Check it out:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
