Favorite present

For weeks now I have wanted to share one of my favorite (and most fun) Christmas presents that I gave this year to Will’s side of the family; but for obvious reasons (most of the recipients read this blog) I had to wait until after Christmas to disclose my secret:

Cousin pictures!

Okay, I know I am slightly biased but are these not the cutest kids on the planet?!

One of my most trusted internet stores, Macaroy Kangaroo, had a special on monogrammed shirts in November and I jumped on it.  Kristen (the owner) is fantastic and incredibly fast – I had all four shirts in less than a week from placing my order.  Once they arrived, Becca and I scheduled a cousins play date for the next Saturday morning and the rest is history:

I captured a lot of cute moments, but the three I chose to frame for Will’s parents are below:

It felt like a small miracle that all four kiddos cooperated for their persistent mother/aunt and her camera.  But at the end of the day they all did great and I was so happy and relieved to have caught a moment (albeit it fleeting) in these little munchkins’ lives.

Happy Saturday everyone!!  That double exclamation point symbolizes the fact that not only is it Saturday, sunny, and 70 degrees outside, but that Will and I get a date night tonight courtesy of his parents.  I don’t even care what we do as long as it does not involve George and his bladder.  Double exclamation point indeed. 

Day 6 and counting

Yes, friends – George, Frances and I have made it to day 6 of George’s potty training boot camp and we are all still alive, breathing, and talking to each other.  I make no additional promises on how we are otherwise; but I consider the fact that I am able to type coherent sentences a victory.

Details aside, George is making progress but he is as stubborn as a mule and I am certain that David Copperfield himself could not hold a candle to the mental gymnastics that I have performed this past week trying to will my son to perform one simple task.  Or at least I think it is simple, but I must constantly remind myself that for over two years George has been wearing a diaper—and considering the difference in diaper versus no diaper, he is doing pretty well.

I am also trying desperately to ensure that Frances isn’t getting lost in the shuffle, which is no easy feat.  Thankfully she is a natural-born cheerleader and has embraced the “reward system” wholeheartedly—when George performs, we get to do something FUN.  Playground, Monkey Joe’s, children’s museum, movie time.  Obviously she would rather be on the playground than stuck in our tiny half-bath with her dry-as-a-bone little brother, so he has lots of encouragement from the women in his life (now that I think about it, I am pretty sure that must drive him crazy).

So that all is not lost, I have learned some interesting tidbits these last six days:

First, boys have bladders of steel.  Three hours after downing two full water bottles, George was still going strong.  Amazing.

Second, I am surprised and slightly ashamed to admit how much stress I have felt during this process.  I knew it would be hard (I do have a four-year-old after all); but unlike with Frances who was in full-time daycare at 2-years-old, I am the sole adult driving this potty ship and it is hard.  Really hard.  And I haven’t just felt the mental anguish I anticipated but I have been having physical reactions to the stress—I want nothing more than to curl up in my bed and watch the “Kardashian” marathon in E! or Style or whatever channel is currently showing it (and I don’t even watch that show).  My motivation to be productive has dwindled to zero.  But the saving grace has been that I don’t have the option to give up or hide from reality – I have two sets of eyes looking to me to guide them through each day.  But for Frances and George, I would very likely be in my bed and feeling miserable.

Third, this process is all-consuming and I need to find a way around that if for no other reason than to make my blog posts more interesting.  My promise to all of you is that my next post will not be about potty-training (or at least not entirely).  Maybe that pledge alone will keep me from going completely bananas by the weekend.

And on that positive note, I will end this post with some unrelated pictures of Frances in her new ballet clothes from Nana.  She acquired these during her week-long visit and are the 1,230^th reason Frances loves Lynchburg:

And here’s the boy (also in Lynchburg), sitting in a diaper, happy as a clam:

I wonder if he’s upstairs now dreaming of the good ol’ days of diaper-hood.

Happy Thursday everyone!

New year, new banner, new appreciation for my mother

Day four of my captivity.

We’ve had some successes and many failures during these first days of George’s potty training and I can safely say that this has been the most challenging aspect of stay-at-home motherhood thus far (and yes, I am well aware that you parents of teenagers are snickering at this notion that I can become so undone by wet underpants).  Please excuse my bluntness, but I never imagined that I would find myself staring so hard and for so long at one tiny appendage silently begging it to do something it has no interest in doing (only to beg it not to do that very same thing while its owner is racing around the local playground).  I have been warned not to stop the training midstream (no pun intended) and that at 2 years and 3 months George is physically ready, so onward we plod.  I’ll keep you posted, if you dare to read.

On a happier (or at least drier) note, I toyed with the idea of using a quote in my blog banner this season but decided against it in the end (maybe aesthetics; maybe fear of coming across too “preachy,” if that’s even a word).  It’s a quote that has kept me going these last few months as I am learning to appreciate my new role and this new life I have:

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”  ― Mother Teresa

I love everything about this idea; it is a great reminder for me to enjoy each and every moment of my day because once they pass, those moments are gone.  Will and I both are forward-thinkers by nature.  We live frugally and save nearly every penny we can for our future (F&G’s college, our retirement, that much-coveted vacation house).  We both exercise and eat as well as possible, not because we necessarily enjoy it but because we hope such a lifestyle will benefit us in the future.  We teach Frances and George the joys of anticipation, recently demonstrated by our excitement over Christmas Eve (for the life of her, Frances could not understand why the heck Will and I loved Christmas Eve so much when clearly the greatest day of the year was Christmas Day when you actually got presents).  But with this eye on the future comes the downside of often failing to appreciate today.  And to Frances and George (and all children), today is the only day that matters.

And so follows my New Year’s resolution to ensure that at least once a day I take the time to appreciate and truly enjoy at least one special moment with each child—crashing cars on the kitchen floor with George, reading to Frances, playing Zingo or (the dry-heave inducing) Dora game with both of them.  I want them to lay their heads on their pillows and close their eyes each night thinking back on their days with smiles.  We have only today.

How lucky we are. 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Happy 2012!

Or at least Happy last day of 2011!

George and I have just returned from Lynchburg on a mission to retrieve Frances from what will surely come to be known as the best week of her life so far – i.e. a 5-day visit with Nana and Pop.  I am almost embarrassed to say how much I missed her and it’s so wonderful to have her back in the house again (which was eerily quiet even with an active 2-year-old boy running the show – that should tell you something about Frances’s presence).  Without a doubt George missed her the most though, which he has been kindly demonstrating by tackling her, pulling her hair, taking all of her Ariel dolls, interspersed with laughter, hugs and endless hide and seek games.  And Frances has loved every minute of it.

Today also begins “Adventures in Potty Training” for George, a phrase I have dreaded from the moment the ultrasound technician uttered those wonderful words, “it’s a boy!”  So, in light of the fact that our next 36-236 hours will revolve around Mickey Mouse underpants, Tide, Lysol and lots and lots of patience I thought I should go ahead and write my last blog post bright and early this morning.  If I am M.I.A for a few days, I know you will all understand why.

2011 was a great year, or to use a Frances-ism it was “by far my favorite” year.  It was so wonderful in fact that I would feel silly and very selfish to ask that 2012 be any better.  I will simply close this post saying “thank you” to 2011 for 365 days of memories.  I started this year a full-time working attorney mother and have ended it a much happier full-time non-attorney mother—and little did I know when I started 2011 that the first position would lead to the last.

A very happy 2012 to everyone!

A Very Homiller Christmas

Just when you thought I had beaten the Christmas metaphors to death, I find another zinger to end the season.  This is the last one this year, I promise!

We had a fantastic Christmas this year – the perfect balance of low-key foursome time and crazy wonderful extended family gatherings.

Christmas Eve included church:

Bless them for the "friendly note to parents" message:

The children’s story

We have a wonderful church that we do not attend nearly enough.  The people are always welcoming and have never once made me feel uncomfortable for our all-too-infrequent appearances.

After church came dinner, hanging the stockings, and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas:

A candid picture perfectly summing up our evening - Frances ensuring the stockings are securely attached, George desperately wanting to touch Frosty on the tree, Daddy filming, and Marshall and Max just happy to be in the fray.

Not to be forgotten – milk and cookies for Santa and an apple for Rudolph.

And after all that preparation, Santa came!

We spent a lazy morning at home, opening presents and playing, playing, playing.

Nana and Pop showed up with some of the favorite presents of the day – American Girl twin dolls.

Somehow my mother found a doll that looks exactly like George, hair and all.

And if anyone else needs convincing that Will just might be the nicest person on the planet, take a look at my gift:

Yes, he printed out each and every entry of my blog from 2011, laminated it, and included a table of contents.  I was blown away.  I can only imagine how much time and effort this took and he did all of this this while working himself to death this year.  I thought I was doing well giving him a personalized desk calendar from Snapfish.  See what I mean, people?!  It’s tough to be married to someone so perfect.

The rest of Christmas day was spent at Will’s parents who host an incredible Christmas dinner and gift-opening explosion, of which I have zero pictures except these of Frances lurking over the Barbie doll cake from Aunt Alison:

That look says, "It's Christmas and I'm going to eat a Barbie cake."

And now Will and I are enjoying a quiet evening at home after a full day of post-Christmas cleanup and new/old toy merging (and much-needed toy culling).  Frances left with Nana and Pop today, bursting with excitement to spend the week in Lynchburg.  She didn’t even flinch when I buckled her into her car seat and kissed her sweet cheek, saying with a lump in my throat, “I’ll see you on Thursday.”  I am so proud of my girl but miss her terribly already.

George, on the other hand, is very happy to be an only child for the next four days.

Let the kitchen dance parties begin.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Christmastime is here

A little of what we've been up to this week:

Gingerbread house decorating

Thankfully the kiddos forgave their sleep-deprived mother who mixed up the roof pieces and the side pieces creating more of a gingerbread diorama.

If you look closely you can see the owner of the house hiding safely inside from hungry bellies.
George was nice enough to throw some M&Ms his way though.

Our daily visit from Gram-E

What would the kids and I ever do without her and Mr. Pyles?

Gingerbread men (and princesses of course)

We can't forget Princess Ariel

Our elf is getting trickier by the day



His roost yesterday.



George shows off his current spot

ELF!



A little stalker-like?  Maybe.  But even I'm being better than normal today so I know it's working.



This may be my last post before the BIG night (depending on how the next 36 hours goes!).  If so, a Merry, Merry Christmas to all of my wonderful readers (particularly those compulsory ‘fans’ like my mother, Barbara, Brooke, Julie, Eileen, and especially Will!).  I have loved hearing from all of you at various times and on various subjects and I am very thankful that you all take the time to read my silly anecdotes about my life at home.  This blog has been one of the greatest and unexpected pleasures of 2011 and I am very excited to see what surprises 2012 holds in store for all of us.  Please continue to keep in touch with me...

...and I’m happy to take everyone along for our little ride!