I'm a good mom x2

Remember this post from yesterday?  Just keep it in mind as I tell the following story.

This morning as I'm rushing around the house getting ready for church, I'm in the kitchen packing the kids' lunches when I hear strange voices in the playroom.  I go to investigate.  It's Greg and Rex playing dolls.  Alice's doll had turned into a zombie and was attacking Rex in a low gravelly voice.  I question their game and Greg explains:

The baby drank gasoline, went crazy.  It then tried to get a singing stuffed dog to drink gasoline, which it refused to do.  So the baby drove the car with both of them in it,  into a chair killing both the dog and the baby.  BUT when the car crashed the gasoline dripped into the baby's mouth, thus reviving the baby and turning it into a crazy baby zombie.

Apparently this zombie baby game had been going on for quite some time (Greg said an hour, but probably more like 40 minutes).

When I entered the room the baby was drinking more gasoline.  Rex was playing with a brush.  Then Zombie Baby told Rex that they should attack me.  The baby then attacks me.  I tell Rex he should not attack his mom.  The baby (Greg) and Rex then go back into the playroom and I hear Rex tell the baby:

"You should not hit."
Zombie baby in a low gravelly voice: Rex, why didn't you attack Mom?
Rex: Because you should not hit.  That's not nice.
ZB: But we are friends.  We had a plan.
R: That's not how friends act.  We don't hit.  Friends don't act like that.

That's right.  My kid taught a zombie baby life lessons about being friends.

As a side note, Greg is 1. pretty creative to come up with these games, 2. does not know how to play dolls, 3. I'm not sure I'll leave my real baby (toddler I guess) alone with him anymore...

I'm a good mom

Me and Rex in our matching shoes--so cute.  Alice also has a pair but this post is about Rex and Alice doesn't like to wear hers.

And I meant that seriously, without the slightly hint of sarcasm.  How do I know?  Rex told me so (ish).

As mentioned, Alice got a stroller for her birthday, which Rex soon commandeered and made his own.  He has his own little doll that he put in it, took Alice's purse and put the one toy bottle we have into said purse, and hung the purse on the back of the stroller.  Just like Mom.  After playing for a while, Rex said to me that playing with the stroller is the most fun toy, by which he really meant, "Mom, even when you feel like ripping my head off because I unfolded and threw into one big pile all the baby girls clothes you'd spent all morning sorting and folding, you still make being a mom look like fun."  That's right, even when I'm super mad I'm fun.  That means I'm good at my job.

And what about Greg?  According to Rex, he just makes money all day.  Rex to me a few weeks ago: "Mom, why does Dad just make money all day?  How much money does he need?"  That's right.  I'm more fun than money.  (Rex also suggested that we make money at home.  Maybe we will so he can work on his counting and adding skills).

The point is: I win.

9.28.12

 Today is Alice's birthday.  It feels like she's been one forever already.  She's a fairly mature baby, I mean toddler.  I have nothing profound to say about her.  I love her.  She loves Greg.  Rex...uses her to get his own positive reinforcement (Oh Rex, you're such a sweet boy.  Thank you for playing with your sister.)

My mother requested lots of pictures so here it goes:

We started the day off with a bathroom photo shoot.  I'd offer a comparison to last year, but we were a bit too occupied to get any pictures.

Then Alice took the longest nap of her life (2 1/2 hours) while Rex and I made cupcakes, decorated, played with Alice's new toys and then wrapped them.  Alice woke up and we all got dressed and headed to the mall to look for one last gift.

After a second nap, we had dinner.  Boxed mac-n-cheese (not even Kraft) and grapes.  Because that's Alice's favorite. She's mad in the following picture because we used her cupcakes as a center piece and she wanted to eat them for dinner.

 After dinner, we opened presents.  Rex was the special helper--he was the present-passer-outer and present-helper-opener-upper.  He did quite well with Alice getting all the toys.  Though later he told Alice she couldn't play with several because they were his....umm

 Alice got the same baby she got from my parents for Christmas (I saved it and re-wrapped it).  She didn't care at Christmas.  She took it to bed with her tonight.

 Rex opened more presents.

 Alice fed her baby.

 Rex continued to open Alice's presents.

 And trying them on.

 Alice took a hit for herself.

 Then she tried out some of her dress up toys--not a huge fan.

 Rex got Alice a camp chair.

 Then she took the baby for a ride in her new stroller.

 Then Rex did.

 Picked up this baby at the grocery store for $20--what!?!  I know right.

 Then we ate cake...well I ate cake.  Alice rubbed hers all over her face.  Rex licked the frosting off.  Greg's tummy hurt.

And there you have it Mom.  Lots of pictures.  Alice loves her new toys.  Rex loves Alice's new toys.  I have lots to clean (I only allow the kids to have 1 small book shelf of toys out at a time.  The rest go up in Rex's closet for future rotating).

Alice: The Genius

You must get pretty sick of reading this blog and realizing, time and again how much better my kids are than yours.  They are practically perfect in every way.  Aside from being so adorable, they are smart--way smart, almost too smart.  This post will be dedicated to Alice's genius.

A few nights again, she was hungry.  She was waiting not so patiently in her high chair (she's not know for her patience--I did say practically perfect didn't I?) for the family to join her at the table.  Once we all sat down, she immediately folded her arms, knowing that food comes only after prayer.

She has made up a few of her own signs: open palm to mouth: water...ok just one so far.  But she also signs milk, the real way.

She says Dada to mean Dad and "moma" to mean milk.

And then a few days ago, while we were at the park, she did this:

Let me remind you that she is not even one.  She's a mere 11 months.

Though to be fair, a few days after this, we went to another park, and Alice walked right off the play-set and landed face down in the tan bark.  (Really, she was trying to go down a slide, I was at the bottom waiting to catch her, Rex was going down then climbing back up the slide not giving Alice a chance to come down, so she got bored of waiting and walked off the edge.  I ran to catch her but missed.  She got a little cut on her cheek and a slight bruise above her eye.  She's still alive.)

That's Pintersting

While some days I have to just ignore Pinterest because I could never DIY enough or like that or afford a million Tupperware to organize every inch of my house (I find shoes boxes to work quite well in many situations).  Other days, Pinterest let's me make dinner in peace.

A few days ago, I gave Alice a bowl of rice, a spoon and a measuring cup.  She was set for about 30 minutes.  Turns out, as her diapers later told me, that she was eating not mixing the rice.  When Rex finally decided to join us (he had been watching TV and I find it more effective to do something fun that doesn't involve the TV to entice him away than to force him to turn it off), I finally washed off the 2 dozen egg shells I'd been saving and let the kids destroy those before going back to the rice.  They had about an hour of fun with only about 5 minutes of clean up for me.

Also, this post is intended to show that I also do things for and with Alice and not just make her take naps all day.  But for the most part, Alice just likes to walk around the house...seriously, that's what she does almost all day, walk around the house.

Rex started throwing egg shells so the mess ended up being bigger than I originally planned.

Back to school

In all seriousness, have you ever considered how much life in general revolves around school?  I will not have a break from school until...I don't know when.  I started school when I was 4, went straight through college, graduated at just about 21, put Greg through school for his last two years just to start again on a Master's, which is taking longer than it was supposed to thanks to a certain move, and now Rex is in school (ish).  Once the last little Baker is through with high school, we still have college to deal with.  My parents are in their fifties (I mean forties, they are so young) and their lives still, to some extent, revolve around school because their kids are still in school.  But even after Hannah and Noah graduate, my parents will have to deal with grand kids in school.  It's not that big of a deal, but school dictates to some extent when and for how long we can visit each other.  Not that I think school is bad.  Learning is good.  I just noticed that the other day, how my life will always be about school.

Having said that...

Rex started pre-school on Tuesday and he could not be more excited.  "School" (we're just doing Joy School, which is a non-academic, co-op program that mostly teaches values and motor skills) starts at 9:30, which means we need to leave our house at 9.  Rex was ready at 8.  I showed him on the clock when we needed to leave and he began to harass me.  I decided that I would actually shower in the morning.  Shortly after getting in, Rex entered the bathroom to remind me to take a fast shower.  As soon as I turned the water off, he offered to pick my clothes out for me so we could go faster.  Taking pictures was nearly unbearable but I got a few.

He wanted to show me his "pack"

He drew a picture of himself while I got dressed.

We added his first day of pre-school to the height board

I'm not really sure what he did that first day.  He melted crayons, but other than that he was too excited to make a cohesive sentence.  The next day he cut paper and glued it, but other than that he was too excited to really tell me what he learned.  The next day (Thursday) he begged and begged to go to Joy School.  I told him that Joy School is only on Tuesday and Wednesday so we were going to the park, and he suggested that we go to the park and then to Joy School.  On Friday he requested that I make it Wednesday so he could go to Joy School again.  Isn't he cute?

Wednesday after lunch and school, we went on a run, to the library, and then to the grocery store.  Rex made it about half way through the run and didn't wake up until we walked into the grocery store.  My mom says that why moms like back to school so much.  

What did I do while he was gone?  All that stuff that I usually cram into the few hours between the kids' bedtime and mine.  And then played with Alice once she woke up from her nap.

Mom Clothes (again)

On those rare occasions that I shower early enough in the day to justify the time and lose of supplies (you have no idea how long my massacre lasts now that I rarely get dressed) to get ready, this is my favorite outfit--or variations thereof.

Let's start at the top and work our way down. 

Hair--straightened but not curled says I put some effort in--enough to straighten, but not too much--remember I'm a mom, my kids are more important than hair.

Shirt--a blouse-like t-shirt or t-shirt-like blouse shows a degree of maturity mixed with mostly casualness.  Remember, the point is to look like you have some style, that you aren't a complete slouch but that your realize that some things (most things) are more important than your looks.

Necklace--I decided to throw a necklace in for this little outfit because I was on my way to dinner with Greg's grandma and she's rather Southern (read: proper).

Shorts, yes, shorts--You ever been to the South in the summer.  I attempted to put a pair of jeans on a few days ago and my legs got stuck at the ankle.  Ever put on jeans straight out of the wash?  Yeah, it's like that all. the. time.  So yes shorts.  I prefer the slack-like shorts.   All cotton so very breathable but still put together looking.  Not like jean shorts that say, "I don't really care" but, like the shirt mentioned above, maturity mixed with casualness.

Lastly shoes--At times I wear closed-toe leather sandals but because feet and, in particular, toes are gross. Mostly I just wear my gray vans.  Yes, those are the same shoes I've been wearing since high school, except that my high school and beginning-of-marriage Vans were white.  Vans are simple enough to not draw attention to themselves, but comfortable enough to chase a few crazy kiddos around the playground.  I didn't get a picture of those, but you know what they look like because you have a pair too, don't lie.

Overall, the idea is: I tried; I'm an adult; but give me a break, I only had 20 minutes before my kids exploded.