Our (Mostly Honest, Slightly Sarcastic) Christmas Letter

Dear Family, Friends and General Acquaintances, 

Paul began his 9^th year at Mentalix, a fingerprint software company.  While he still runs around like a headless chicken most days doing everything from IT for the people in the office, handling the Help Desk for client issues, managing the new Card Conversion Division (including HR related drama for those employees), traveling to fabulous places like San Diego, CA and also not so fabulous locations like Keene, TX, performing software tests, He was promoted to Technical Operations Manager and enjoys being familiar with so many aspects of the company.  Occasionally he is able to go sailing either at Lake Grapevine or Lake Lewisville with some racers who enjoy winning. I’m not sure if this helps appease his desire to own a boat or only makes it worse.  Once he is making millions from the code he writes for various apps in his spare time he will buy his own boat so our boys can grow up sailing like he did.

Caryn is mostly a SAHM (the chauffeur, event organizer, errand runner, repair technician and lately a lot of refereeing) and continues to work part-time in her pajamas (aka working from home) as the Director of Finance for the Christian non-profit, Sigma Phi Lambda, Inc.  Most notably she cooks fresh meals daily and the house is never dirty.  In her spare time she enjoys catching up on the last years “must read” books, scrapbooking….can’t remember the last time that happened  and finding more projects on Pinterest that may or may not get done.  

Gabriel turned four in October and now tests our patience as a bossy pants and arguer is such a big help with his little brother and practices his debate skills for what will surely be a lucrative career as a lawyer.  He is a giver and a helper especially if the helping involves being outside with his daddy.  He is bilingual and is currently learning his 3^rd language because he is a genius and and clearly Harvard bound.  Gabriel enjoys building with LEGOs and playing with his wooden train set.  He is so advanced with his building and problem solving skills that the Dallas Transport Authority will be contacting him soon to help find a solution to the traffic congestion across the North Dallas metroplex.  We as parents take all the credit for his highly developed abilities. 

David had his first birthday in June.  As a child in the 90^th percentiles for height and weight we will begin investing in our retirement plan by training him for football as a defensive end next year.  He gets into everything and is the reason Caryn is physically exhausted and keeps a large bottle of ibuprofen stocked in the cabinet is an inquisitive child with a lot of energy. He loves his big brother (Bubba) and has a great encourager in him for things Mommy doesn’t want him to do.  David is an expert at locking himself in closets, emptying drawers and cabinets in record time loves playing hide and seek and finding new things to play with.  Having mastered his ABC’s by the age of one and memorized The Lord's Prayer by fifteen months, David is now learning to count to 100.  We are so blessed to have two  gifted children!

Merry Christmas!

The Bells

Celebrating 9 years of marriage this month (but it only feels like 3 1/2).

David's Christmas Story Moment

  

From the movie "The Christmas Story"

Today was the special Christmas Carols program by Gabriel's preschool class so I came prepared to get stuff done between drop off and the program.  Seventeen month old David was bundled up for the 30 degree weather in a sweater and thick sweater hooded coat and knit cap.   When I hoisted him out of the car he was determined to carry his lunch box.  On the way in I had David's hand in my right hand and my left arm was full of purse, books for work and David's backpack.  So we began the trek from the parking lot to the church.  Halfway to the sidewalk, we are crossing the lane of traffic of other parents arriving when David trips.  I manage to keep him from hitting the pavement by holding his arm.  But he dangles mid-way (still holding his lunch box) and makes zero attempt to stand up again.  My go-with-the-flow child decided it was too difficult to try and stand up with all of the layers he had on and would just lay down.  In the middle of the parking lot.  My left arm is full.  I cannot lift a 28 pounder with one arm.  Not when he WANTS to lay down in a lounging position in the street.  Cars were beginning to pile up as they waited for me to drag his lifeless body out of the way.  But I knew someone would call CPS if I resorted to pulling him by the hood.  So I squatted (wearing boots by the way) and managed to get my arm half way around his middle and I hobbled us to the sidewalk where Gabriel stood patiently waiting.  And Gabriel was probably wondering how David gets away with stuff like this.  So it begins, my eldest child.  So it begins.

My embarrassment and frustration were replaced with laughter by the time we got inside.  Because if we can't laugh at ourselves, well, that's just no fun at all.

The Art of Planking by Gabriel

To be fair to Gabriel's mad planking skills, he comes by it honestly.  We never told him about planking.  He just calls it "making a bridge". A week or so ago Gabriel discovered that he is juuuust long enough to make a bridge in the entryway.  David appears to be taking mental notes as he watches bubba plank.

Next comes the brotherly instructional time.  

David tries in vain to apply the tips big bro offered him.

Maybe when David grows another foot or so he and Gabriel will attempt the LBJ and 75 interchange bridges.  But lets not give them any ideas.....

Gabriel's 4th Birthday Party

We had Gabriel's birthday party at one of the Frisco Fire Stations.  It is free to residents and there is more space than at our house so it sounded like a fantastic idea to me!  

Fireman Joe and Fireman Bryan talked about fire safety (stop drop and roll, calling 9-1-1, jumping out windows, etc.) and then demonstrated what a fireman looks and sounds like in the suit! The Darth Vader impression was for the adults.

They also took the kids on a tour of the garage.  They got to climb through a firetruck and an ambulance.  

(a couple friends arrived after picture time so we missed them here)

This particular fire station has the CareFlite so we took a walk across the yard to see the helicopter.  They weren't giving out free rides though.

Back inside we played a cut-throat game of musical chairs to the song Fire Burning.

The kids circled up for a story with Paul about Little Critter's visit to a fire station.

After some yummy Chick Fil A lunch we played a hydrant hunt game I found online.  This blog site has the hydrants for printing.  After printing hydrants in a variety of colors we created a "Found It!" card for each child.  

Next up:  CAKE!  Brandy Sexton made the cake again this year.  The pictures were not able to capture the cool factor she surprised us with:  working flashing lights for the top of the truck!  Thank you, Brandy!

Now that Gabriel is four he says he'll be bigger when he is five and that is when he can drive.  We'll deal with clarifying that issue next year.  For now, he's "not bigger yet".  Love my Gabriel!

**Special thanks to Katie Hayes for capturing great photos for us!**

Rule #3 – Wear It Or Toss It

The season premier of my favorite show has inspired me to number my organizing tips in a Leroy Jethro Gibbs fashion.  Please take note of the important Rule #3.

Fall and winter clothing have been in stores since August, the temperatures finally seem to be dropping without the 100-degree spike thrown in the middle of the week and fall decorations and Halloween costumes are available for purchase.  Women are anxiously waiting to bust out the boots, sweaters and anything that says, “I am prepared for the slight chance I could get a little cold today”.  Maybe you store your winter things during the warm months or maybe they just hang in a separate part of your closet.  However you do it though, now is the best time to set the stage to PURGE all those things you aren’t wearing.   It seems that most women own so many clothes they can barely make space to squeeze in the clothes that are freshly laundered and ready to be rehung.  When you have a closet jammed packed with clothes I guarantee you are not wearing a majority of what you own, because you can’t see it!  So why own it?  It is probably a little worn, or needs repair or isn’t the most flattering style or color for you.   There is a reason you aren’t wearing it. 

I don’t remember where I read about this idea but I’ll call it the Hanger Trick.  This is the easiest most time efficient way I’ve seen and I do it myself twice a year.  As a clutter-hater I must warn you that I practice tough love when it comes to organizing.  So if you are faint of heart or easily offended, don’t read on.  No pain no gain, ladies.

First, turn all of your hangers backwards on either all of your clothing or just your cold weather clothing.  You can tackle the warm-weather items in the spring if you want.  The open hooks of the hangers should all be facing you instead of the wall as they rest on the rack. 

Second, when you wear and wash something just rehang it the normal way.  By the end of the season you can see every item you didn’t wear by the way it is still hung backwards.  It’s pretty much magical.

This is a picture of my warm weather shirts today.  After going through this process a few times over the past couple years there are not many items left ignored.  Wear it or toss it!

Next comes the hard part.  When the weather begins to change in your neck of the woods, you MUST follow through with this part of the plan or its pointless.  (If you are turning all hangers backwards and are going to make this an annual thing, mark the date on the calendar and consider using Labor Day weekend as your date.)   Pull out every single item that you didn’t wear all season (or year).  Pile them on your bed.  Be very discriminating as you consider each item and remember:

A)            You CHOSE not to wear it.

B)            Its now already out of your closet so you are halfway to donating the item!  Don’t lose your nerve now.

If you need further convincing on some items ask yourself these questions:

A)            "Do I need it?"  I know this is a matter of perspective considering we live in the gluttonous country of America.  Most of us are considered filthy rich on the world average.  But if you have three black sweaters can you convince yourself to part with one you didn’t choose to wear all season?

B)            "Can I live without it?"  Reread (A).

C)            "When did I last wear it?"  I know special occasion and formal items are a little different here.   But if there is a reason you go shopping every time you have a special event to attend, WHY are you not wearing what you already own?  As they say, “take a picture. It lasts longer”.

D)            "Is it damaged?"  If so, why hasn’t it been repaired?  Is it not important enough to mess with?  Has something else replaced it?  And…..

E)            "Is it a duplicate or substitute?"  For instance, I am well aware of a woman’s desire (“need”) to own at least six pairs of black dress shoes:  flats, platform, open toe, sling back, wedge, pointy toe, rounded toe, etc.  But again, if you haven’t worn it in a year or two, give them a hug and move on. (As a shoe-lover I say this with great empathy!)

F)             "If I didn’t already own it, would I buy it?"  I LOVE this question.  If it weren’t already sitting in your closet, would you spend the money to own it now? 

G)            "Is it out of style?"  I am aware styles come back around.  My dad has a pair of leather flops he has owned since college.  We used to give him a hard time about them but you know what?  That style came back around a few years ago and now my brother wears them.  There are some fads you should not participate in twice though.  Jelly shoes, leather mini-skirts and shoulder pads, just to name a few examples. 

Maybe after all of this you still need to have a little fashion show for an honest BFF or significant other so they can help you let go of some things.  My patient husband is a great help through this part of the process (he probably considers this skill of his more of a curse than a blessing though).  But the longer I do this the easier it is to let go of things on my own and the less he “gets” to help. 

Before I set you loose to attack your closet and rehang your hangers, please let me put one toe on my soapbox.  My dislike of clutter has been significantly enhanced as our family tries to be intentional with our choices and focus on others. With our almost-4 year old son we call these “loving choices”.  The sight of things we haven’t been using and stockpile to just “have” has gone from just an annoyance to a matter of the heart.  Show some love.  Give it away. 

LEGOLAND!

We had a lot of fun with my parents and youngest brother when they came up to visit this past weekend.  We went to LegoLand in Grapevine, grilled out, created our own yogurt concoctions with many flavors and tons of toppings (who puts poptarts on yogurt?!?), visited another new church and had a movie night with Gabriel as he watched Bugs Life for the first time.

But I think the boys would say the highlight of their time with the grandparents and uncle was LegoLand.  It's the only time I pulled my camera out all weekend so here you go!

It was finally our turn to buy tickets and enter LegoLand!

We watched Bob the Builder in 4D.

 Grandpa and David played in the Duplo section.

Gabriel, CJ and Paul all built race cars and raced them on the big track!

David pretended to drive whatever this thing was....

Snack time with Nana!

David kept coming back for more of this slide with Grandpa.

“I Will Give Them My Toys” - Giving With A Child’s Heart

We made another donation trip to the Friendship House this weekend and it reminded me of the first time Paul took Gabriel earlier this year…….

God gave my eldest son a thoughtful, kind, empathetic heart.  My job as his parent is to encourage him with opportunities to show the Love of Christ and maybe discover a thing or two myself along the way.

Paul and I began looking for opportunities to serve with our children this year.  Typically I just set out our donation bags for pick up when we receive the little postcards from charities in the mail.  (Those who know me know how I feel about clutter so you can imagine how often I have bags ready for donation!)  But here was something we could do differently so that our eldest could actively participate in giving.  FBC Carrollton has something called the “Friendship House”.  They accept donations and people in need can go there and receive help.  At the beginning of the week we were going to encourage our eldest to go through his toys and consider putting some in the donation bag.  I had no idea what to expect because you know that for a three year old just SHARING is sometimes difficult.  And we were going to ask him to GIVE some toys away.  Honestly, I wasn’t anticipating more than a couple old, forgotten toys to be tentatively dropped into the bag for the first trip. 

The Monday morning before D-Day, (Donation Day), Gabriel was “helping” me vacuum with his toy vacuum.  I asked him to please put a certain toy in his closet.  He replied that there wasn’t any room in his closet because his closet was already full of toys.  I seized the opportunity to talk with him about giving and put my vacuum aside.  It wasn’t a longwinded or impressive speech because I know a three year old’s attention span is short.  After I introduced this giving opportunity to him, he hugged his vacuum and said, “I will give the boy my vacuum.  And my fire station.  And my new car.”  “Obviously he doesn’t get it,” I thought, “because he likes to use his vacuum, he likes to play with the fire station he just received for his birthday and he just got the new matchbox car this weekend!”  So I tried again, “Gabriel, when we give toys, it isn’t the same as sharing.  You and Daddy will take them to a special place at the church and leave them.  Then little boys will go with their mommy or daddy and they will get to take the toys home and play with them there.”   My son listened to me, nodded and headed to his room.  I followed and watched as he took some trains off of his train table, pulled out a handful of cars and trucks from his matchbox case and placed them on his bed.  Then he opened his closet and began to pull out more things.  I just stared and thought “How am I going to make him understand so that he doesn’t have a meltdown when they take the toys to the church and LEAVE them there??”  But at the same time I didn’t want to encourage him to only give toys he doesn’t play with anymore thereby putting in his head that he should give God his “leftovers”.  So I knelt down on the floor and tried again, “Gabriel, why are you giving your toys to other boys?”   Then my amazing, wonderful, precious first baby looked into my eyes and said, “Because the other boys are sad because they don’t have toys.  But I will give them my toys and they won’t be sad anymore.”  His empathy and selflessness left me speechless.  Before the tears could spill I gave him a hug and left the room.

It’s amazing my husband was able to decipher my watery words on the phone that morning as I told him what was taking place in our home at that moment.  Afterwards I went back into Gabriel’s room and asked him to set aside anything he wanted to give and explained that when Daddy got home they would go through it all and then put them in the bag.  In the end, Gabriel filled a large shopping bag with his toys. 

When Paul and Gabriel returned from church on D-Day, I saw a tearless, happy boy walk through the door.  My husband smiled and said everything went well.  I know my job as a parent is to teach my children, but sometimes children are a few steps ahead of their parents and it would be wise of us to learn from them.

You Can't Put These Skills on a Resume

Since "retiring" from property tax, I have acquired a new set of skills.  These skills don't require a conference or training seminar to grow or expand.  Necessary, on the job training, is provided every day in this work field.

New Job Skill #1:
As my oldest son and I were decorating cupcakes last week, I stood on one leg.  We were not pretending to be flamingos.  One leg was not in a cast.  I was standing on one leg at the kitchen island while icing cupcakes because the other leg was needed elsewhere.  It was at the dishwasher.  My 14 month old realized that he could do more than push buttons on the dishwasher.  He can, while it is running, turn the nob.  This was quite exciting to him because he quickly learned that turning the nob changes the types of noises coming from the dishwasher. Because I wanted to get the dishwasher clean and unloaded I tried the "Distract Method".  With the "Distract Method" you must drop what you are doing and remove the offender from the premises and attempt to entertain him with a toy in another area.  I tried this three times.  Gabriel patiently stood on his stool at the kitchen island and waited for another cupcake to douse in sprinkles while all of this was going on.  Then I tried to hold the baby in one arm and ice cupcakes with the other.  It wasn't happening.  So I moved the boys' little table from in front of the bookshelf (where it was previously blocking David from books he wanted to "read" and by "read" I mean bend or rip) and put it in front of the dishwasher.  David has brute strength though and he pushed it across the kitchen in about half a second.  Finally, my moment of genius arrived: hold the table against the dishwasher with your right foot.  Aha!  I am happy to report that I am now trained in art of icing cupcakes while standing on one leg and using the other leg as a prop to allow the dishwasher to finish its cycle. 

New Job Skill #2:
One day I realized that a handful of "little errands" had accumulated.  A "little errand" is defined as follows: a purchase that requires a trip to a retailer where only one or two items are needed.  (That can be found in the Mommy's Dictionary - Momma Bell v1.)   So I decided to power through all of the errands in one morning.  With both boys.  I mapped out our route based on store location and hours of operation.  Hobby Lobby and Lowes were open by 9am so we hit them first.  We were in and out much faster than I expected and the next store didn't open until 10am.  So we ran into Michaels even though I wasn't prepared with their coupons but we got lucky.  They had what I had failed to find at Hobby Lobby AND it was on sale.  By 10am we had hit three stores and had two successful purchases. After realizing I forgot the stroller we persevered and headed into a bookstore.  We were the only customers in the store and the two workers were enthralled with my boys.  The lady ended up holding David while I considered a book and the grandfatherly man talked with Gabriel in the kids section and watched the movie that was playing.  "Would they notice if I left the diaper bag and snacks with them and went to another store to finish my last errand?"  The thought did cross my mind.  Baby David assisted the sales lady at the register and I managed to convince the boys to get back in the car.  After considering nixing the mall since I didn't have the stroller, we powered through and went to use our Gymbucks anyway.  The second we entered the mall Gabriel asked if we could go to the Lego store.  No trip to the mall is complete without a stop at the Lego store.  Thank you, Nana.  Snacks in hand, I sat the boys on the bench in front of the tv and instructed Gabriel to keep doling out the goldfish to his little brother, it worked fabulously.  Next we headed to the Lego store and once we made a slow lap around the entire store and commented on every item, we headed back to the car.  When we arrived home from our trip I had logged 6 stores and 4 purchases with my two boys in 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I felt like I had just qualified for an Olympic sport.  The key to my success:  patience AND snacks.

New Job Skill #3
Ahhh..... the much anticipated GNO.   A Girls Night Out during the week is typically seen as a nice little oasis to break up the routine.  However, depending on the age of your children, your preparations for your night out may only increase the need for time away.  Icing a cupcake while holding a 13 month old didn't work out so well for me.  But desperate times call for desperate measures. While waiting for Paul to get home from work so I could go meet friends for dinner, I realized I had to get ready with the boys underfoot.  Really it is just David that is underfoot.  He is too young to lock in his room yet and I'm not sure that it is safe to let he and Gabriel wrestle without adult supervision, so he had to be in the bathroom with me.  Getting into everything. My desire to leave the second Paul arrived inspired me to try multitasking.  I held David and applied makeup simultaneously.  Including mascara and eyeliner.  There are witnesses (my three friends) that can tell you I arrived without the evidence of having had a small helper.  The key to my success:  determination and long arms.

New Job Skill #4
I think I'll call this one "fishing".  If you've ever had to pull your three year old out of the middle of a round clothing rack you know what I mean.  My brother was the one who pulled these kind of stunts with our mother.  Shouldn't this kind of behavior be reserved for HIS children?  As I groped around for my eldest I realized I wasn't the only mother attacking the rack.  Another mom assumed it was HER son in there.  "Nope.  This one is mine," I said as I retrieved my son.  She found her son in the adjacent rack.

Thank You, First Baptist Carrollton Family

We tell our oldest son, “Listen and obey the first time”.  This summer we have struggled with that in our own adult lives.  Over the past eight years our church home has been at First Baptist Carrollton.  We served in numerous capacities including spending five years teaching in the youth group.  This church family met us at the hospital when we rushed Gabriel to the ER at 6 days old because he was vomiting blood and then continued a natural flow of visitors/helpers/friends the entire day so we were never alone (and never had to eat hospital food!).  Over these eight years we have “checked in with God” a few times to make sure we were still where He wanted us to be.  The first couple times He confirmed in different ways that we should still be involved and serving at FBCC.  But the most recent time we sought His opinion the answer was different.  It was then that we realized He had been pruning and working in our lives for over a year to prepare us for this - to let go and step out into something new and …… unknown. 

As a planner, organizer and complete “Type A” personality, you can imagine my horror when we realized God was calling us away from our church family with only the instruction to invest ourselves in our more immediate community.  So today we treasured our last “normal” day at FBCC.  Every familiar face that said “hi” or stopped to speak to me felt like a tiny kick in the gut.  “How long before we have this again, God?  This is HOME.”  So I have to believe that although we are sad that our time at Carrollton is over, God has something amazing ahead of us.  I hold to the hope that in a few years we can look back at this point and see how everything fit together and flowed perfectly.  But as we walked towards the doors to leave this morning, I admit I pulled out my sunglasses well before we got outside in an attempt to hide the tears. 

Thank you to everyone at First Baptist Carrollton who has loved on our boys, who was there during the difficult times, who served with us, and who we will still call friends.  I know we aren’t going far away and we’ll still be around, but it already isn’t the same.

Cruising Through "Hotter'n High School Lovin'" July

Back in my highschool days, I heard a youth minister say it was "hotter'n high school lovin'" outside.  Every summer that quote is in my head but probably never so much as this summer with all of the 100+ temps.

I'm not sure how it happened that there is more summer is behind us than in front of us for 2011, but here we are at the end of July.  My boys are keeping things interesting (understatement) and I've captured some of their moments below.

I sure wish this actually worked!  Both boys now take turns "helping" with their vacuum.

D waited patiently for the 4th of July fireworks and once they (finally) began at 10:15pm, it seemed anti-climatic for him because he went to sleep immediately.

D - "So since this toy spins the cars around....maybe I can take a ride too....."

"Peeks!"  The boys like to hide behind the glider in D's room.

D found big bro's hat and managed to put it on his head.  By the time I got the camera I was getting this view of him walking off.  I love how you can tell that he is strutting!  He thinks he is big stuff!

I moved the table and chairs to try and prevent D from pulling books off the shelf and bending/ripping them.  However, he found a way......

Looks like D is ready to "bust out!" Time to lower the crib to its lowest level!  

Both boys were ready to help!

Double splash time!!                                                                       My little monkey.

Mimi & Papa John's Visit

We enjoyed a visit from Paul's parents this past weekend.  Gabriel was very excited and talked about it all week!

Gabriel helped his dad and Papa John put up the new sails for some sideyard shade.

Gabriel got to show his grandparents how he is learning to swim at his swim lesson.

David enjoyed deconstructing with his new Mega Blocks toys from Mimi. (Gabriel calls him "The Wrecking Ball" for a reason!)

David and Papa John watched a show with Gabriel (the current fav is Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

Gabriel hurt his toe in a jumping-off-of-Daddy incident so Mimi shared her special post-surgery pillow with Gabriel and read a story to help him "recover".

Gabriel built finely engineered lego inventions with the help of his Mimi.

We tried out a breakfast place that specializes in crepes.  David sampled his daddy's chicken crepe, his mommy's egg florentine crepe and his brother's banana crepe.  But his most favorite of all was the strawberry crepe.  Daddy couldn't cut it fast enough!  Then we had to say goodbye to the grandparents after our yummy brunch so they could go back to Corpus Christi.

This morning we got to play outside in our newly shaded sideyard!  Thanks for helping, Papa John!

 (Yes, David is wearing stylish Shark-Crocs!)

(Don't worry, Gabriel is blowing bubbles in the water, not drinking it.)

Before 9am On A Monday Morning

7:45am           David was cruising around while Gabriel and I finished breakfast.  (You know David is done eating when he purposefully throws his food off the tray one piece at a time.)  David does like to share his snacks with the dog just like his big bro did at his age.  But this morning I see him pull a paci out of his mouth and hold it out to the dog.  The dog then licks the paci thoroughly and David thoughtfully considers his “clean” paci.  For my part things go into slow motion as he begins to put the paci back into his mouth.  Thankfully I made it to the paci before the paci made it to his mouth.  I don’t care what Myth Busters says about a dog’s mouth being cleaner than a human’s mouth.  That’s just gross.

8:22am           Gabriel finally finishes eating his breakfast.  Every morning this is a monumental feat because he prefers to display his “silliness”, catch up on the words he didn’t get to use while he was sleeping, and report every action of his little brother.  My ears hurt and my mouth is on auto-pilot “Yes, Gabriel.  Please eat, Gabriel”.  While putting his dishes in the sink he sees the last remaining pot that was used to make last night’s dinner.  I had filled it with water and soap to “soak” overnight.  (That is code for “I was tired and wanted to get out of the kitchen”.) 

Gabriel:  “Mom.”

Me:      “Yes, Gabriel.”

Gabriel:           “I see dirty water in there.”

Me:      “Yes.  The pot is dirty and needs to be washed.”

Gabriel:           “Well, I don’t like it.”

Me:      <brief pause of consideration> “Do you want to wash it?”

Gabriel:           “Ok.”

And that is how it came about that my 3 ½ year old was standing on his foot stool washing the grease and sauce coated pan.  It lasted for all of about 30 seconds.  Then,

Gabriel:           “I’m done.  It’s your turn, Mommy.”

It’s probably a good thing “his turn” didn’t last much longer.  At his age it might trigger a call to CPS or something.

8:36                Gabriel and David play chase.  I’m not sure who is chasing whom but they are both laughing and entertaining themselves so I quietly peek around the corner to watch. 

8:47                I am speedily putting laundry away in both the boys rooms and then taking two minutes to brush my teeth and swipe on some deodorant.  My precious “Mommy time” is interrupted with the suspicious sound of water sloshing in the dog’s bowl behind me.  David has grabbed a freshly cleaned towel off the rack and was either cleaning it again or using it to scrub out the dog’s bowl.  I’m not sure but the basket for whites that was gloriously empty just moments before has now begun to pile up again.

8:58                Gabriel comes into David’s room and while he is talking I can’t help but notice he is grabbing himself “down there”. 

Me:      “Gabriel, do you need to go potty?”

Gabriel:           “No Mommy.  I just have a bit.”

Me:      “A bit?”

Pants and underwear are promptly dropped around his ankles and he is looking intently for the offending chigger bite.

Me:      “Would you like some medicine on it?”

Gabriel:           “Yes please. But I can’t find it.  I think it’s hiding from me.”

It’s not even 9 o’clock in the morning and I am on the ground with anti-itch cream searching my son’s manhood for the hidden “bit”.

Anyone who says the life of a SAHM is idle has never been to my house.  

Our Favorite Word

David has said a few words (da-da, ma-ma, dog, ball, bye-bye) but seems to prefer to jabber, grunt, smile and point.  Why talk when your big bro communicates so well for you?  Well, yesterday David said our family’s new favorite word! Now please know that I am not one of those mothers that hears a word like “gleeba” (Rachel on Friends) and gets all excited about it.  So understand that David didn’t jabber a bunch of gibberish with the sound of a real word thrown in the middle somewhere and we all applauded.  Not so! 

David was watching his big brother be silly (a usual occurrence around our house) and I said Bubba was being silly, Bubba this, Bubba that.  David pointed at Gabriel and said “Bubba”.  The rest of the day, whenever he heard Gabriel come into the room or saw his face in a picture he would point and say “Bubba”.  Gabriel is quite excited about this new progress by his little bro.

In other developments David has learned to climb onto the sofa all by himself.  Which means he has now discovered at least another ten ways to harm himself.  I wish motherhood came with the ability to be in two places at once.