Monday, January 26, 2009

My Kids, My Motivation

Mike and I awoke this morning to a much greater burden placed on our shoulders. While we recognize our present life is not what we planned, we still believe in our future.

My hope is this unexpected jobless adventure is short-lived. I expect the next few weeks (please not months!) to be difficult and filled with tough decisions. I also am keenly aware that our life is full of so many blessings, and these little creatures who never run short of smiles or giggles are depending on us to make the right decisions, no matter how difficult they may be.

Oh how I love these little people.

Sam's First Car

Snow White Crashed on the Couch

Sam the Panty Destroyer

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sibling Kisses


Sibling Kisses
Originally uploaded by mbowling
Right now, this is one of my favorite photos. My heart just melts looking at this photo. I love my kids, and I love, LOVE that they adore each other.

In the interest of full disclosure, Ella tested every last nerve of her parents today. She drove both of us mad! But a quick call from a co-worker with devastating news instantly put life into perspective.

My heart is heavy tonight. My heart breaks for a family in St. Louis I don't know but has a heart wrenching story. My heart breaks for a family preparing to gather in Iowa for a final goodbye. So I sit here tonight just thankful for the day I had and quite fortunate for all my blessings.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Interesting Facts about E&S

No time for a full blown post. Instead, here are some oddball and interest facts and tidbits about the little people who inhabit my house.

We are attempting to teach Sam some basic sign language. Right now, we are working on eating, more and all done. Each and every time I sign to him, he just laughs at me. It's almost like, "give up mom, I ain't interested."

Ella wants to be on twitter. Perhaps, this is a sad commentary about Mike and I, but Ella picked up my blackberry the other night and started fiddling around with it. I asked what she was doing and she said, "I need to Tweet this."

Teething sucks. I'm sure Sam would agree with the statement. The bottom two teeth have been in for awhile. Right after Christmas, the top two started bothering him. One has completely pushed through but is still coming in. The corner of the other has poked through, but the rest of it is still fighting the gum. He was quite miserable for about a week. We missed our happy little guy (he also was battling a cold and exposure to strep.)

The girl child was given her own toddler MP3 player for Christmas. It's quite cute, durable and came pre-loaded with music. The upside is the girl LOVES it. The downside is the girl LOVES it and we are already having battles over volume.

Now that Sam is a crawler, he has discovered an entire new world. One of his favorite things is the toilet. More than once, we have found him clinging to the side and splashing to his delight. He hates being taken away from the porcelain toy, but he calms down once he is repositioned at the sink, where the splashing continues. Ella never showed any interest in the toilet, so his level of interest has slightly dumbfounded me.

Sam's other loves include doors, the dishwasher and the fridge. The kid can sit for what seems like hours and swing a door back and forth all while wearing the goofiest of grins. To witness Sam crawl at hyper speed, you only have to open the dishwasher or the fridge. The boy comes charging in to the kitchen the moment he hears either door open. It makes cooking dinner or unloading the dishwasher slightly difficult.

With Sam crawling, the overprotective side of Ella has emerged. If Sam starts trekking up the stairs, Ella races ahead of him and darts into the bathroom to check that the seat is down. A microsecond latter, she runs from the bathroom yelling, "mommy, daddy, the seat is down." If Sam is crawling around upstairs and decides to head to the staircase, Ella will sit at the top of the stairs with her legs spread and announce that she is blocking the stairs for Sam. She is such a good sister!

As we were taking down our Christmas ornaments, Ella was helping me match ornaments and boxes. As she plucked the White House ornament off the tree, she said to me, "Momma's this is where Obama is going to live." My jaw fell to the floor. I know at some point we must have discussed the White House and Obama, maybe when the tree went up, but I don't recall it. Either way the child blows me away at times.