She's Growing Faster than I Think I Can!

A favorite book of mine as a child was There's a Monster at the End of this Book. Lovable, furry old Grover from Sesame Street spends the pages of the book begging the reader not to turn the page because he is afraid of the monster at the end of the book. Of course, the delighted reader turns each page only to discover that an embarrassed Grover is in fact the monster at the end of the book. I'm sure I laughed every bit as much as my children do each time we read that story. Since the book is so special to me, I suppose it isn't surprising today that I feel a bit like Grover.

This morning, right before Ann's dentist appointment, I discovered that one of her top teeth is loose. I did the whole mom thing and shook my head in disbelief that she could be possibly losing her third tooth when she just finished teething, or so it seems.

I felt the same way last week when she discovered Silly Bandz. Now, she proudly sports a wrist full of those and other bracelets. How did my baby get in on a fad?!

I could go on and on about the things she does that make me realize that she is getting older and bigger. There is that little fact that she is soon going to full day kindergarten.

Meanwhile, I feel like Grover wanting to "block" her way. It isn't that I'm not happy for her and excited about all she has yet to discover, it's simply that like Grover, I'm a bit scared, for both of us. Until now, I've known what she is doing almost every minute of the day and that is now about to change.

So, like Grover I've wanted to keep her from turning the next "page." Of course, the pages of life must be turned. And so, the story goes on.

Yet, a week or two ago, I felt like Grover does at the end of the story...almost embarrassed. You see, as I drove along thinking about Ann going to school, I told God that I just love her so much and can't bear the thought of the world hurting her. Though I know it will and must happen, I still don't like to think about it. After I prayed those words, I heard Him whisper, "I love her more."

I couldn't help but smile and sit up a bit straighter. Though I can't understand it, I do believe it. God loves her more than I do. I know how much I love her so I know that's a whole lot. It's hard to be too frightened when I know she'll be constantly watched over by One who loves her more than I know.

I suppose it's time to switch my mindset to another favorite story from my childhood, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...." I think I can be confident about my sweet girl going to school. It's going to be great!

He Knows How to Melt My Heart

A couple of weeks ago, thanks to a great sale combined with a coupon, I became the lucky owner of a carpet cleaner. It's something we should have bought over five years ago. In fact, we should have been advised to put it on our baby registry, but that is besides the point.

I finally assembled the cleaner and used it this past week for the first time. My little man is enthralled with any type of tool and for him, vacuums and carpet cleaners qualify as tools. He loves using my beloved Dyson. He also likes using the hand held vacuum to clean our stairs. In fact, he likes this so much that he gets upset if I vacuum the stairs instead of him. He does a decent job so you better believe I let him do it whenever he wants as long as no one is sleeping.

As you can imagine, he was quite interested in the carpet cleaner. However, I told him that he was going to have to wait until he was older to use that one. He took it pretty well. He went off to play and came back a little while later.

"Mommy?" he asked.

"Yes?" I said.

"When I'm a daddy can I have one of those (carpet cleaner)?" He wanted to know.

"Sure buddy, " I replied.

"But Mommy, who am I going to marry?" He asked.

Thinking there might be a funny response I asked, "Well, who would you like to marry."

Very seriously he replied, "Well, I'd really like to marry you, but you're already grown up."

My heart melted on that very spot. Once I recovered, I told him that God would have a special wife just for him. I told him the most important thing was to have a wife who loved God. He looked at me and said, "I love God," and then he ran away to play.

Once again, my heart melted and I felt so very thankful for having that special little man in my life.

Out of Practice

This summer has been a busy one? (Hasn't everyone's?)

Between vacations, Tony being out of town and early evening swim lessons, dinner has been hit or miss. All that to say I've done very little cooking that doesn't just involve making a sandwich or heating something up. That's why I'm pretty much feeling like a gourmet chef right now.

As I sit here, I have chicken in the crock pot and bread dough kneading in the bread machine. I've chopped the lettuce, carrots, celery and onions for our salad. I realize it's a very simple meal, but it's home cooked and more importantly it isn't pizza, macaroni and cheese, quick spaghetti, sandwiches, or gasp, hot dogs (and I'm not talking about the all beef variety).

Now, I do realize that since I've gotten a bit prideful about my meal prep, I'll more than likely fall back on Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets and tator tots tomorrow. Baby steps, right?

For now, I'm just wondering if I'll be able to convince Tony that I don't remember how to clean up the kitchen after all this time "off."

Happy Monday!

Princess Belly Button

Our sweet Jane (2), has become quite fond of princesses. The same Disney princess that I was determined not to let my oldest daughter become obsessed with. (That's another story.) Lately, Jane has been pretending to be a princess and also pretending that I'm a princess.

"You're Sleeping Beauty," she'll say. "I'm Belle,"she'll explain. Then, she'll spend the rest of the day calling me Sleeping Beauty. If I call her by her name, she says, "I'm Belle."

Typically, Jane decides which princess she is by the color of clothing she is wearing. If it's pink she is Sleeping Beauty. If she is wearing a blue shirt, she is Cinderella and so on. Sometimes she is wearing princess pajamas and it makes it quite easy for her to decide who she is at the moment.

A few nights ago, as Jane was getting dressed for bed, I asked her which princess she was that night. She looked down at her bare belly and said, "Belly Button." Too cute. I love conversing with two year olds, especially my sweet two year old girl!

It's Going to Happen

I haven't seen my big girl since Tuesday morning. It's Saturday afternoon and I'm anxiously waiting for her to finish the drive home with her great aunt. I've missed her presence tremendously!

The past few days without her have made her starting full-day kindergarten more of a reality. If you'd asked me two months ago how I felt about it, I would tell you how sad it makes me to think of my little girl getting so big. However, over the past few weeks I've caught her excitement.

I just love the back to school season. In fact, I just bought myself a new planner and the thought of filling it up with fun things makes me almost giddy. (Silly and maybe a bit pathetic, I know.) We've also already bought Ann's school bag. She really wanted a tote bag like her friend next door has. I attempted to get her to choose a sensible and quality back pack that would last a few years, but I had no luck. Fortunately, the bag she chose seems well made and was less than ten dollars!

The other day, I stooped and rested my chin on Ann's head. I told her that I thought I wanted to stop her from growing up and she could be a preschooler forever. She laughed and then looked at me very seriously and said, "It's going to happen." Yes, yes it is. Fortunately, she's more than ready and I'm getting there!

For now, we're going to enjoy these last few weeks of summer! Just as soon as my big girl gets home. I can't wait!

Patience

Patience can sometimes be defined as waiting more than 24 hours to knock down a big sand castle.

At our recent family reunion, my little man had the honors of knocking down the castle some of my family had labored on for quite a while. To say he was excited is an understatement.

There are some things that only a young boy can truly appreciate.

Road Warriors

Well, hello sweet blog of mine. Has it really been more than a month!?

A month goes by quickly when it includes lots of summer fun including more than 3,000 miles logged in a minivan with three children ages 5 and under.

Now that we are home from our second and final big road trip of the summer, I'm left pondering some big questions. Mainly, I'm wondering how in the world we fit all of this stuff into a minivan!

Not pictured are various other small bags and of course three children and their parents! (The dog didn't make the cut. He took his own little vacation at the kennel. Poor guy!)

The house is a mess, but the van is now nice and tidy!

The other big question I'm wondering is who these people are that made it into our vacation pictures. They are standing in line getting tickets to ride up the St. Louis Arch. Our camera was in the hands of our five-year-old. Apparently, this seemed worth remembering to her. It makes my husband and I chuckle. (Hmm, I wonder if they mind being remembered on my blog?)

My third and final question I'm thinking about is whether the fact that one of the first things I did upon getting back from a big road trip was take a picture so I could blog, means that I'm back to blogging regularly. I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, I have a husband asking, "Are you seriously going to blog right now?"

If you'll excuse me, I've got some unpacking to ignore while we visit Chick-fil-A and go swimming. Priorities, you know!