A New Perspective

This morning, like many mornings, Jay, Rose, and I lounged in my bed for 20-ish minutes, talking and snuggling, before getting up for breakfast.

After my run, we made awesome blue playdough together. I watched Jay and Rose play with it for a while and then joined in with the squishy blue stuff.

Jay made a family of gingerbread men.

Rose tasted the playdough…see the blue speck on her lip? Evidence.

I got on the computer, and as usual, Jay kept asking me to play with him instead. I checked Facebook, emails, and worked on our February food plan for a while—month-long meal plans always take me forever to construct.

I made neon Kraft-mac with hot dogs in it for lunch—the most kid friendly treat of all time! Jay and Rose chowed it down and lived it up because I rarely make that garbage for lunch (something about the color is just wrong…well, and I did live off of it for a brief period when I was sick, but we won’t go into that).

I called my Mom and talked with her.

We read some stories. I did NOT sneak off to play my violin.

Laynie came over again, and we admired her and played with her and fed her. Rose took a nap. Jay played with his toys. I took care of Miss Layne and finished the February meal plan, kind of thinking “oh yeah, I’ve still got it—getting things done with a baby in the house!” Then Jeff came home and I made dinner while he played with the kids.

During Jay’s bedtime prayer, all he said was “mommy didn’t play with me today.” It about BROKE my heart!!! Can we say guilt trip? Here I am cruising through the day, feeling like a good mom, whipping out sweet blue playdough and mac n cheese, taking cute pictures, reading stories, making budget-saving meal plans, and hugging my kids any time they come to my knees. SLAP!  CRASH! Reality check. All my kids really want is for me to sit down on the floor with them and make up goofy Star Wars-Nutcracker-Sesame Street stories and build with blocks.

I know this, and yet it’s a challenge every day to act on it. I love being with my kids, but it takes extra effort to be with them and do the things that they want to do instead of the things that I want to do with them.

From my perspective, I was dividing my time between kids, housework, and personal time rather well today. But from Jay’s perspective, I was so NOT. Sigh, it’s easy to let this realization get me down and make me feel like a failure, but I’m doing my best to notice the lesson in perspective and learn from it!

So far, here are my lessons:
a. the things that I think are cool and fun and important are DIFFERENT from the things that my kids think are cool and fun and important.
b. as Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “Love is really spelled T-I-M-E.”

And as Anne Shirley said, “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?…There must be a limit to the mistakes one person can make, and when I get to the end of them, then I’ll be through with them. That’s a very comforting thought.”

Here’s to a fresh start. And lots of block towers with Whiteguys and Elmos on top.

Three Happies

1. ORGANIZATION! A Target sale tempted me into doing our February home improvement a week early (we have budgeted in one home improvement per month). All we did was put a cube shelf in our family room. But oh, that thing is ahh-mazing. We can hide all of the toys in the bins and the room looks so deliciously organized.

You’re probably wondering what the big deal is, but I get DEEP satisfaction from a well-organized room. Every time I look at that corner, I feel happy!

ALL of these toys can be tucked away so neatly! We only clean up once a day—right before the kids’ bedtime, so allllll day I endure (and sometimes enjoy) the room in its cluttered, toy-crusted state. 12 hours of that mess makes the 3 hours of evening cleanliness I get between the kids’ bedtime and my bedtime so much sweeter.

Add some fresh vacuum stripes to the carpet, and you’ll experience Shaina-nirvana.

The cube shelves only came with enough cardboard pieces to cover the backs of half of the cubes. So I got sneaky and we stapled some brown fabric to the backs of the openings with cords poking out, like a tent flap. It’s a fine line I tread between ghetto and genius.

 

Before and after my sneaky fabric stapling—see how nicely the flaps hide those ugly cords? It is so satisfying.

Ok, enough of my weird gushing over brown fabric and boring ole shelves. But really, it’s the little things, people.

2. DE-MULLETIFICATION! That’s right, I got my mullet removed today. It sounds so surgical when I say it like that. Really, it was a quick wash 'n chop. I was in and out of the salon in record time—I came home less than half an hour after I left. Zippy snippy.

SEE the neck?

My hair cutting girl likes to POOF. She can coax more body into my hair than anyone I’ve ever met, my pillow included. I always lose count of the products she rubs, sprays, and pats into my hair. I’d better not light any matches till I’ve washed it all out.

I can’t say that I like the fluff. I’m tall enough without it! Right after these pictures, I quickly wetted it down to tame it a little.

After 26 years of being a girl, I STILL can’t figure out SASSY. Maybe I need some lipstick. Makeup? Something to be sassy about? Probably all of the above. Whatever.

3. LAYNIE!!!!! Today I got to watch my dear little niece Layne for almost five whole hours and she is such a darling little squishy.

I mean, that smile?

Those cheeks!

Her voice!

“Aunt Shaina is camera-happy”

She loves watching her cousins, and they love sharing with her. Today Rose shared her prize pink bunny.

Jay shared his toy screwdriver. When Layne squealed at him, Jay said “Layne, are you speaking baby French?” Jay and Rose hovered around Layne for an impressive amount of time, bringing her toys that she doesn’t know how to grab yet. They love her.

Maybe a little too much love?

Probably.

There are 21 months between Jay and Rose, and 21 months between Rose and Layne. In this picture: Jay—3.75 years old, Rose—2 (minus one week) years old, and Layne—2 months old.

And I thought taking pictures of TWO kids was hard.

Organization, de-mulletification, and Laynie Kay—better than my average January Tuesday.

You know what, the SUN came out for a little while today too. Make that FOUR happies in one day.

Little Readers

They love books, just like their Mama. A couple of times each day I look over and see something like this:

Ah, it warms my heart. Our current load of library books yielded one or two gems, for you connoisseurs of children’s literature:

  

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds
Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo
Baby Brains and RoboMom by Simon James

And from earlier this month:

 
Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough
Mr. Putter and Tabby Stir the Soup by Cynthia Rylant is one of my old faves but Jay and Rose started really liking it recently. They crack up every time Mr. Putter says “Jiminy!” We love all of the Mr. Putter books.

Of course we had to check out The Nutcracker again. Sigh. Luckily Jay has it memorized almost word for word by now so I don’t have to actually read it as often as before. I love hearing Jay’s little voice say big things like, “festive paper” and “his features were course.”

None of us will be sad to see January go. It  has been SUCH a cold, gray, sunless month in the Yakima Valley. I have been battling wintry grumpiness every day. It’s good for me, I’m sure, but by the afternoon, all I want to do is snuggle up in my chair with a million blankets and a stack of good books. I have been doing a good amount of reading and re-reading lately. Books that I have read in the past month or two:

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton—it was pretty good, but kind of left me feeling unsettled at the end.

Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City by Wendelin Van Draanen—possibly my favorite Sammy book yet, and it’s #16 in the series! It was just released on January 8th. If Nancy Drew has every bugged you with her perfect life, you’ll enjoy Sammy Keyes solving mysteries in her dirty jeans and high tops. I love the humor—I sit there and laugh out loud every other page when I read Sammy Keyes books.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott—I always love that one, and the movie too.

[insert guilty pleasure—I supposed I’d better admit that I read the Twilight series again recently. Seeing the last movie put me in the mood to re-read them. You can always count on Stephenie Meyer to tie up all the loose ends and give a satisfying ending.]

The Host by Stephenie Meyer—I liked it a lot better this time, possibly because I read it on my Kindle so I didn’t have to hoist and heft the giant tome around. It’s an interesting tale. Think alien invasion meets love story, with intriguing comments on soul vs. body.

Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer—LOVED it. Georgette Heyer sure  knows how to write humor into stiff upper-class Regency manners. The background banter between 3 bachelor buddies in this book was hilarious!

Second Kiss by Natalie Palmer—another fave. A short, sweet best friend-love story.

Currently I’m reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, continuing my quest to read all of her classic books. Last year I read Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion. I loved them all. And the movies.

Ok, that was long, but reading is one of our major pastimes around here, especially in the cold dark winter.

PS…we framed those 4 pictures at last:

Two Crazy Things:

1. My first pigtails in a year.

I like 'em way more than I though I would, stubby gatherings from my mullet that they are.

2. Rose’s morning hair. And her suddenly-acquired plasma car riding skills—she can actually propel herself. Brace yourself for a video with BOTH in one.

The Cardboard Queen Strikes Back

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…

zzzzzshooom!

Play Time

One of the best things about having kids is PLAY TIME! I’m always interested to see what games Jay and Rose (and Jeff) will invent next. Most of Jay’s games involve burrowing in heaps of blankets or peewing. Most of Rose’s games involve watching or copying whatever Jay wants to do. Most of Jeff’s games involve chasing, hiding, or growling. Most of my games involve reading library books, having dance parties, or inventing Sesame Street-Star Wars-Nutcracker sagas with all of the toys. For example: Obi Wan Kenobi fixes the Nutcracker’s broken jaw with the Force, and they go visit Hooper’s Store for some birthday cake with Elmo. Darth Vader crashes the party and a large battle ensues. You know, that kind of thing. Play time is our favorite!

We had FRIENDS over twice this week. What? Social? US?

Baleigh and Rose played happily with the play food and the dishes while Jay sat nearby telling them all about the Nutcracker and Star Wars.

My friend Janay and I recently started trying to get together for a “sewing day” once a month. Mostly we talk and laugh while our kids play, but some sewing has been known to happen along the way. It’s so pleasant to spend the day together. Jay, Rose, and Elsie brought up a PILE of toys for little Evelyn to play with. When Janay and I looked over, all we could see was Evelyn’s little foot kicking in the air. Can you spot the baby?

How about now? I wish you could see her face, because she is SO CUTE. I love babies.

I came home from my run on Saturday morning and found this hilarious scene. Jeff had his head under a blanket and he was saying “175…176…177…” counting while Jay and Rose tackled him and tried to get the blanket off of his head. When Jeff reached 200, he popped out and the kids squealed. Jeff said they were supposed to be hiding for hide and seek, so he kept counting till they went to hide. They were having too much fun attacking Daddy to go leave him and hide! Jay and Rose adore Saturdays because Daddy is HOME all day, and they get to watch cartoons with him, eat pancakes, and play. Roar!