Over-helpful Husband

I have an awesome husband. Rubin is always willing to watch the kids so I can go out with friends or get my hair done. He's really very helpful. Sometimes too helpful.

My mother-in-law gave me a copy of her house key in case I ever need it. For weeks this key sat on my dresser because it looked too much like one of my other keys. I was planning on distinguishing it with fingernail polish or something like that, but never got around to it.

One day Rubin borrowed my keys. When he returned from work that day, he handed my keys to me with a big smile on his face. Here's how they looked:

Did Rubin label only the two keys that looked similar? Nope. He decided to label all the keys on my ring. I was slightly annoyed and asked if he labeled his own keys. "No," he said, "I'm not confused by my keys."

Now every time I use my keys I feel like a dunce because I apparently need to have my keys labeled to know which one to use! Oh well, I am happy to have a helpful, or in this case, over-helpful husband.

Cocoa Pebbles

Graham came up to me the other day and excitedly told me some news.

"Mom, Cocoa Pebbles are more chocolately! Yay!" he gushed.
"Where did you hear that?" I asked.
"From TV," he said.

He made sure Dad heard the news when he came home from work. And Grandma when she came to visit. Apparently this is big news for our household.

This reminded me of another story from when RJ was three. One day as I was fixing my hair RJ came up to me.

"Mom, I need your phone." he declared.

"Uh, what do you need it for?" I asked puzzled.

"The man on the TV said to call him right now!" he said.

"Honey, when the people on TV ask you to call them, they just want your money," I informed him.

RJ was shocked and appalled. From then on whenever we saw a commercial he would shake his head, turn to me and say, "Mom, they just want our money." What a wise little man!

Rooster Cogburn

I neglected to tell the story of our little pest/pet, Rooster Cogburn.

There is a man who lives behind us, we call him Farmer Bob, who owns a few cows and occasionally has a sheep or some other random animal in his field as well. One day we noticed a new animal in Farmer Bob's field, a white rooster. We affectionately named him Rooster Cogburn.

At first it was kind of fun seeing that rooster wander around. He would cock-a-doodle-doo at the cows and chase away other birds. 

Then one day, we were sitting down for dinner and there was Rooster Cogburn right at our sliding door watching us eat! After that, he started coming out of the fence anytime we were outside. One day he was right under our bedroom window doing his loud cock-a-doodle-doo at 5 a.m.! But the final straw was when he chased my poor Graham across the yard, pecking him in the buttocks several times. My kids started being too afraid to go in the backyard. After that it was war between me and Cogburn. 

One day I saw Farmer Bob outside and decided to confront him. Here's part of our conversation:

Me: "We're having a little problem with your rooster."
Farmer Bob: "It's not my rooster, it's your rooster."
Me (thinking Bob is joking): "Umm, okay. Well, is there any way you could keep your rooster in your fence?"
Farmer Bob: "It's not my rooster, it's your rooster."
Me: "What are you talking about? I just have a normal yard and you have a field with animals. Why would you think he's my rooster?!"
Farmer Bob: "He was always in your yard, playing with your kids."
Me: "They weren't playing with him, they were running away from him!"

Farmer Bob and I determined someone had probably just dropped the bird off near Bob's field. This was wonderful news to me because now I could be rid of Rooster Cogburn!

I knew that rooster would be too hard to catch inside of Bob's fences and so I hatched up a plan. A few days later I lured the rooster out of the Bob's fence (using my children as bait of course -- Rooster Cogburn could never turn down an opportunity to chase my boys) and then called animal control once he was in my yard. Animal control turned out to be the local police. It took myself, three officers, a big net, Wonder bread, and more than an hour to finally catch ol' Rooster Cogburn! 

My husband was actually very sad about the rooster's relocation to the animal shelter. Do I feel bad? A little. Would I catch and send him off again? Probably. Good luck with the rest of your life Rooster Cogburn!

Rooster Cogburn watching us eat dinner (or is he plotting our demise?)

Changing Times

The biggest recent change in our home is that Rubin James started school a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit I'm having a little bit of a hard time with it. He started first grade and I didn't realize how much harder it would be to send him to first grade than to kindergarten. Kindergarten was only three hours, but first grade is seven hours! I miss RJ around here during the day. He gives Graham something to do and is Uriah's buddy a lot of the time. Most of all though, I miss not having someone understand me, even if it was just a little bit. There were times when Uriah was screaming at me and RJ would come up and say, "Gee, the baby's being feisty today!" and I would nod and sigh with frustration. This small conversation meant so much to me because I realized someone noticed the hard time I was having. Now I have Graham and Uriah quarreling at home during the day and I really miss my confidante.

One piece of exciting news is that we switched RJ to a local charter school. This charter school is really great and has a lot of good programs. But the main reason for the switch is simply because we felt good about that school. He loves his new school and we're happy to see him happy.



RJ on his first day of school. He looks so grown up!

What does Graham do during the seven hours RJ is at school? (I mean, besides picking on Uriah?) Why, he takes care of RJ's stuffed animals of course! It is a big job because the animals are often lonely, scared, tired, and hungry. Graham is such a good caregiver. He juggles the comforting of his and RJ's animals with ease. He is always telling RJ's newest animal, Little Rexy, "Rubin will be home soon. I'll take care of you while Rubin's at school." Then he gives Little Rexy a big hug and tucks him under a blanket so he can take a nap. It's all very sweet!



Graham and Little Rexy

Last, but not least, Uriah is still not saying Mama. He says doggie, woof, meow, tweet, ball, bye, Daddy, and even Grandpa. But he will not say Mama. We actually have this little joke where I point at myself and say, "Who's this?" and he throws his head back and laughs like I have said the funniest thing on the planet. Laugh it up, Chuckles.

Here's Mr. Helpful himself. He is truly helpful except when the vacuum is actually turned on. Then he runs away in terror!

From Texas to Utah

Rubin, his brother Trevor, and I survived a driving trip from Texas to Utah around the first of August. Once again I trusted Rubin way too much with the travel plans. He assured me that I would have the entire backseat of the car to relax in for the whole ride. I guess it's been a while since I've seen the Mini Cooper. I spent the better part of four days crammed in a space the size of a shoe box. Luckily, Trevor was nice enough to let me use his pillows to sleep on.

First we went to a Six Flags park, where the heat was so intense I blacked out during some of the rides. Good times.

Next we went to Carlsbad Caverns. This was my favorite part of the trip. We spent the whole day wandering around on the clearly-marked paths of the cave. The National Park Service's self-described goal is to have minimum impact on the natural cave formations. In an unrelated note, they had a restaurant, gift shop, and restrooms deep inside the cave. Hey, wait a minute...



Rubin and I having a romantic lunch in Carlsbad Caverns. The bat droppings were a nice touch.

That evening we waited in the amphitheater for the Bat Flight. This is where the bats all leave the cave at twilight to go feed. The ranger instructed everyone to be completely silent and keep all electronic devices put away so as not to frighten the bats. The rangers were pretty hardcore about this rule -- one lady was even "escorted" out because she wouldn't turn off her iPad!

Rubin, Trevor, and I waiting for the bat flight outside of the cave.

Then we had to make a quick trip to Roswell, New Mexico, to visit the alien museum. What a quirky little town Roswell is! Every store has aliens painted on the windows! For example, the furniture shop has pictures of aliens sitting on couches and the Mexican restuarant has pictures of aliens in somberos! It's a good time down there in Roswell!
 

At first, I was afraid of the aliens in Roswell.

But they're not so bad once you get to know them.

Well, the drive was long and hot and uncomfortable, but I can still say I had a good time on my trip with Rubin and Trevor. Hopefully Trevor has recovered from being subjected to a play by play (by moi) of the novel Edenbrooke, a nineteenth-century romance where Marianne Daventry falls for the dashing Philip Wyndham.

We Belong Together

Well, summer is over, and that means the summer library program is over too. Did I win anything from the weekly drawings you ask? No! Can you believe that? I had to read a book a week simply for the joy of reading! Oh well, such is life. At least I got a funny story out of the experience.

Twice a week in the summer the library has a program called Canopy Capers. Everyone brings a picnic lunch to the library and enjoys stories and puppet shows under a canopy on the lawn. In order to be the best mom ever, I decided to take the kids the very first week. Since we were coming right after swim lessons, we even arrived an hour early. I thought we could scout out a spot for our picnic blanket and check out some books with the extra time. We walked to the canopy and saw that the library had thoughtfully placed blankets under the canopy for everyone. I told the kids to pick out a blanket for our family to sit on. We walked around the many blankets, looking for the best spot. Finally we picked one we liked. I then noticed out of the corner of my eye, that a woman was looking at me with a very concerned look. That's when I put two and two together. These blankets were not thoughtfully laid out by the library! These blankets were brought by individual moms for their own families! I had to laugh at myself for not realizing this earlier! I can only imagine the horror that woman felt watching me choose which blanket to steal for my own use. But in my defense, we were an hour early and no one was actually sitting on the blankets. Who in their right mind has the time to come to the library an hour early just to stake out a spot for Canopy Capers? (except for me, of course!) It was a baptism by fire moment.

Canopy Capers about to start (which is why people are actually sitting on their blankets!)

Rubin laughed when I came home and told him the story about my Canopy Capers experience. It was quite the story in our family for a couple of weeks.

Later in the summer our sprinkler broke. Rubin ran to the Home Depot to pick up a short segment of PVC. He wandered down the plumbling aisle, but all the pipes on display were much too long. Luckily, he then found a store cart displaying various odds and ends. He started digging through hoping to find the piece he needed. And there he found it, a foot-long piece of 1/2 inch PVC! He looked up triumphantly only to catch a mortified man staring at him. At that moment, Rubin realized that this was not an odds and ends cart! This was that man's cart filled with items he intended to buy! Rubin quickly fled the scene, dropping the pipe and muttering an apology along the way.

We had a good laugh about these encounters. I guess this proves that we truly belong to each other!

Surviving Summer

So, I took two months off. I deserved it. I mean 10 posts so far this year? That’s like 8 more posts than I usually do in a year. I know there are probably some of you who wondered if something terrible had happened to me. A valid worry as it is summer and that means I have three very active, crazy boys home all the time. But not to worry, I am surviving the summer. Here are some of the things that are pulling me through these months.

Rookie Baseball

We enrolled Rubin James into Rookie Baseball this spring. It was so fun to see him learn a sport and be part of a team. His coach was a former Marine and acted like it. My favorite line from Coach B: “Rubin! If I see one more dirt mound being made over there, the whole team will do 10 push-ups!” Ha ha – classic Coach B!

Coach B no doubtedly trying to decide if Rubin James needs to do some pushups. After the first couple of games, RJ no longer needed that tee and could hit from a pitch.

After a few of the first games, Rubin James was getting discouraged that he wasn’t doing very well, so Dad did a couple of hardcore practice sessions with him and after that, Rubin James did much better! He learned a good lesson about practicing and working to achieve something. Plus it was a complete riot watching 5-year-olds play baseball. Some kids would tag a runner and say, “You’re out!” only to have us realize that they didn’t even have a ball in their glove to tag with! You want entertainment? Go to a rookie baseball game.



Our little Rookie!

Swimming Lessons

I find my kids do so much better with something to do on a regular basis. Swimming lessons have provided that outlet this summer. I have always had a fear of water, and consequently I do not swim well – or at all. Okay, maybe I freak out when my face gets wet. But, I do not want my kids to be like that. So they will take swim lessons every summer, every year, until they are not afraid. On the plus side, they love it.

The Library

So we have a pretty awesome library. They have this summer children’s reading program. If your children read every day for June and July, they get a halfway prize (which turned out to be a thrilling glow-in-the-dark plastic bug), a free book, and a ticket to a pool party. Of course, for some reason the pool party is from 8:30-10 p.m. on a Wednesday night. But we’re still going - I mean, a pool party is a pool party! And that’s not all. If your child goes to 8 library activities (storytime, crafts, etc.) they will get a ticket to Trick-or-Treat in July. Pretty great, huh? It’s been fun for the kids to keep reading and work toward something fun. By the way, I’ll have you know that we are currently only one sticker away from the July Trick-or-Treat.

Reading

Since I’ve had kids, I’ve read maybe three books a year on average. But this past Christmas Rubin gave me a Nook. It was the present I never knew I wanted. Now I have read 21 books so far this year. I forgot how much I love reading! I’ll also have you know that I am part of the adult summer reading program at the library. They have a drawing once a week and as long as you’ve read a book that week, your name gets entered. It just so happens that I’ve been entered in all of them, but have had no luck in winning the prizes. Yet. There are three weeks left and then a grand prize at the end. All I can say is that I better win something (besides the free bookbag that everyone received as long as they read 3 books).

We’ve also done many other great things this summer such as water parks, the zoo, miniature golf, Lagoon, frog catching, and taking naps (my favorite!)

Uriah having a conversation with some sort of animal (and no, it is not a kangaroo)



Rubin and Graham on the Airplanes





Graham on Bulgy the Whale

 

Frog Catching (actually turned into bug catching since we couldn't find any frogs)



Graham taking a nap at Lagoon.

I think we can all agree that the McDougal Summer of 2012 will be counted as a great success, possibly the greatest summer of all time. Only time will tell.

Why I Hate Getting Flowers

What woman doesn't enjoy getting flowers from her beloved husband? Who would be so cold-hearted that they would dread the thought of receiving this thoughtful gesture? The answer to both questions is, of course, Me. But I have my reasons.

The minor reason is that flowers are expensive, especially if you are getting them on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. I, for one, would rather spend that money on a delightful evening out with my husband, Rubin.

But the main reason I hate getting flowers – it's too predictable! Every Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Wedding Anniversary, my husband brings home a very lovely, though very expected, bouquet. The flowers are often even from the same store – Albertsons, which is on the way home from Rubin's work. As a side note, I refuse to call Albertsons by their new name, which is Fresh Market, because if you look up the definition of a market, it is a place where people meet to buy and sell goods. Since I am not allowed to set up my own booth inside the Fresh "Market" store, I will continue to call them by the only name that made sense for their establishment.

Before you start judging me too harshly, you need to know a couple incidents that led me to admit this hard truth. First, there was the anniversary where we were more than a little late for a play we had tickets to and yet we "had" to stop at Albertsons because Rubin said we were out of, I'm not lying, window washer fluid. He came out of the store with several bags, replaced the fluid, and we drove on our way again. Later that evening, you can only imagine my surprise as a bouquet of roses was mysteriously produced from, yes, an Albertsons' grocery bag.

Next there was the day before Mother's Day where we had arrived home around 11 p.m. after a 3-hour drive to visit my brother. We had just finished putting the kids in their beds when Rubin announced that he needed to go get gas for the car. You can guess how much gas that car really needed! But, I let him go. And you can also guess how shocked I was the next day when flowers were presented to me by my loving family.

That being said, I don't hate the flowers, just the predictability. So, I had a talk with my husband where I requested that instead of getting flowers on these three standard days a year, he would pick three other times a year that he would get me flowers. I actually love getting flowers when I'm having a bad day or just because he is thinking of me.

When I found out my third baby was a boy, instead of the girl I was so sure of, I was a little devastated. I was still feeling sick and at the time this was very discouraging news. The next day, I discovered a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the table. These flowers from Rubin meant more to me than any of the holiday flowers.

So, to the many guys out there, who I am sure are reading a blog with a title like Training Wheel Mom, I suggest making a flowers punch card with 3 punches. Every year, you must get flowers for your wife at least 3 times. And here's a hint, for those "predictable" holidays you could think of something different *gasp* such as a card and her favorite candy.

A Cat Named Daddy

My husband's work always has a group of stray cats milling about the building. One day as the kids and I were driving away after visiting the cats, Rubin James said, "I wish we could have a kitty."

"I do too," I said, "but Daddy's allergic so having one in the house would make him sick."

"So we can never have a cat?!"

"Nope. I'm sorry honey."

He thought for a minute then said in a quiet voice, "If Daddy died we could have a kitty." 

"Um, I guess that's true," I said warily. "But we would be so sad to not have Daddy that we probably wouldn't even want a cat."

"Well we know Daddy would be happy in heaven. Hey! I know, we could name the kitty Daddy!" he said triumphantly.

Maybe I should cool it a little on the heaven-is-the-best-place-ever lessons. Luckily, my husband is a good sport who just laughed when I told him about this little conversation!

Looking for those moments

Lately I’ve been a little discouraged about being a stay-at-home mom. Not that there is anything else I really wish I was doing (although I’ll have you know that I had a lot of potential as the editor-in-chief of the famous, or infamous Daily Universe!), but still sometimes the higher purpose of motherhood gets forgotten in the midst of the mundane.

So today, I decided to reread a talk I heard a few years ago about motherhood. It helped a lot. Jeffrey R. Holland said, “recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.”

I’m going to look for these “shining moments” more. Like today at lunch, Graham was sitting at the table, arms crossed tightly, refusing to eat because he was mad about something or other (I ask you, when is Graham NOT mad about something!). Instead of threats or time-outs I went over and put my face near his and started doing some silly faces. He tried valiantly to stay mad, but his lips were quivering with the effort of suppressing his smile. Finally he gave in and started laughing with me. We hugged and I said in a growly voice, “Now, eat that hot dog before I do!” It worked. It doesn’t always work that easily, but this time it worked. And I was glad to have that moment.

I think what I need to realize is not every second of every day is supposed to be super fun and rewarding. It’s just life to have a whole lot of frustrating and mundane moments in between the few wonderful, thought-provoking moments. In fact, we wouldn’t recognize the amazing moments if we didn’t have the not-so-amazing ones.

To show that I am serious about this I will now put the nagging thoughts of cleaning up the lunch dishes (yes, I know that lunch was two hours ago) and folding the laundry out of my head for a while. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Lego tower to build!

The Week of Weaning

Yes, it is past 3 a.m. and I am awake writing a blog. Is it because I am so dedicated to telling the incredible stories of being a mom that I will even forgo sleep to do so? Um . . . no.  It’s because I have decided this is the Week of Weaning! Uriah is now over a year old and while I love breastfeeding my babies, I am also very ready to be done once they turn one. My other two boys were much easier to wean, I just gradually cut out a feeding every once in a while until by the time they were one, I was only nursing them at bedtime or done completely.

Uriah is a little more attached though. He does not take a binky and I have become his replacement. He likes to wiggle around during breastfeeding sessions, often trying to watch what his brothers (or anyone else, if I am in public) are doing while nursing. This is annoying, uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing. I think if you in public and your one-year-old walks up and starts pulling and shaking at your shirt, that’s when you know it’s time to start cutting back!

But the worst is that I have let him develop bad bedtime behaviors. Even though Uriah is one, I have still been feeding him once in the night. I actually blame Uriah himself for this problem. He was such an easy-going baby that I hated to let him cry for anything. Not that I was happy to let my other two cry, but I kept in mind that sometimes it was good for them so they could learn to sleep through the night. I am also a much better mommy when I get a full night’s sleep! Anyway, so here I am with a one-year-old who I am just now training to sleep through the night and to only nurse at bedtime. Better late than never, right?!

Well, it sounds like Uriah just finished fussing for this small round, which means I better try to catch a few more hours of sleep. By the end of the week, I hope to report that, after an entire year of broken up slumber, we are both getting a full night’s rest!

First Birthday

My little Uriah turned one last week. It was a bitter-sweet moment for me. This past year has gone by faster than any year of my life! I remember every detail about the day he was born. It seems like he was a tiny baby for such a short time. He grew so fast in this year that I felt I couldn’t blink, for fear of missing things. It seems like just a few weeks ago he was so small he could barely keep his eyes open. Now here he is, one year old, walking, laughing, and playing like his brothers!

If it were possible, would I turn him back into a newborn again? NOT A CHANCE! As much as this was a year of fawning over his cute tiny features, it was also a year of trying to make sure those features didn’t cry. I was a crazy woman this year (even more than normal, that is!). I was running from one child to the next all the time. I would just get myself settled to nurse the baby when Graham would suddenly need help going potty or Rubin would need a drink before he died of thirst. I became an expert on crisis management while simultaneously nursing an infant! There were countless sleepless nights where I was up four, five, and even six times with the baby. Looking back, I know why this year went so fast – I was a zombie the whole time!

Don’t get me wrong, I love babies. The knowledge that I will, one day, have another comforts me when I think of Uriah turning into a toddler. But I am glad that he is now past some of the most physically exhausting stages. The year between ages one and two has been my favorite with my other boys and I am looking forward to this time with Uriah! Happy birthday little man!

Such a Boy

Yesterday I needed to cut some fabrics for a quilt I am making and so I decided to cut while watching the cartoon movie Anastasia. As I was cutting on my card table in front of the TV, I was singing along with the songs. I watched this movie many times as a child, so I know every word. It was on the song where Anastasia is singing about how she is scared to go to St. Petersburg but wants to find her family. In the middle of the song, Rubin James sighed loudly and said, "When is she going to stop singing and actually go to St. Petersburg?!"

He is such a boy.

Crazy Woman on Aisle 9!

Okay, so I will finally admit that I’m a bit of a crazy person at the grocery store. But that’s only because I’m efficient. You see, even if I go to the store while my oldest is at kindergarten, I still have my 3- and 1-year-old boys with me. That means I have two ticking time bombs in my cart. The problem is, you never know when they will go off! This means I have to be fast, while still getting everything I need. So I walk quickly down the aisles, barely even coming to a complete stop to grab my items. I’ve really got it down to an art!

However, there are a couple of things that do manage to slow me down. First are grandparents. Not mine of course, just your generic, run-of-the-mill grandparents. I like to go to the store early in the day and that’s when many of them are there too. I actually have quite the track record of old men stopping me and talking to me and my boys in a grandfatherly way. Some of these old men are really sweet, like the one who told me he could tell I was a great mom, doing a wonderful job. On the other hand, some are downright odd. One told me he worked for NASA and had searched the entire universe for something cuter than a human baby, but couldn’t find anything!

The next thing that ruins my fast pace are the men at the store. I’ve noticed guys who are grocery shopping are usually very inefficient. I can always spot a husband shopping on his day off. He walks in the middle of the aisle, exactly in the middle, so no one can fit past him on either side. He moves at a snail’s pace, staring with a dazed expression at all of the food possibilities surrounding him. Finally, he spends eons trying to figure out which size, brand, and flavor to take. It drives me crazy!

Sadly, even the grocery shopping master (me) makes mistakes. The last time I took my husband and all three boys. I'm not sure what I was thinking! We procured two carts and put two kids in one and one in the other. Then we proceeded to shop. At the first I would pick what I needed and then turn around and wait for my husband to catch up. But after a few minutes of this, I realized the ticking bombs were not going to make it at his pace. So, I decided to ditch the wisdom of the Marines and left the man behind!

I weaved in and out of the aisles, dodging men and senior citizens, only occasionally catching sight of my husband. At one point I realized I forgot the toilet bowl cleaner, but I was already several aisles away and I could see Graham getting antsy in the cart. So I abandoned hope of going back for it.

An hour later, my husband managed to catch up with me. Now I had two carts full of groceries. This secured a full-blown eye-roll from the cashier. But, I had avoided major tantrums and gotten everything I needed (well, almost everything). So the next time you see a woman zooming down the aisles, just pull your cart to the side and let her past. There’s no telling what she’ll do in the name of efficiency!

A Wiser Boy -- and Mommy

Yesterday my oldest son was talking about expectations. He was saying sometimes you expect something to be one way and it ends up being different. Rubin is a 5-year-old kindergartener and was talking about how he thought he and his friends were going to play Transformer Tag at recess(which, by the way, is a game he made up himself), but they ended up playing a different game instead. He said he expected the other game to be boring, but it ended up being really fun.


You see, he had the opposite experience a few weeks ago when we went to a train show. We mainly went for my second son, Graham, who is extremely into Thomas the Train right now. Graham has Thomas the Train trains, sheets, pajamas, pillow pets, toothbrush and toothpaste, shirts, and probably more I can’t think of right now. The show advertised to give kids an exciting ride around the room on Thomas the Train. Both boys talked of nothing else for days before the event!

We got to the train show and headed immediately for the opposite side of the huge room where the big Thomas awaited. Of course, we found out the line stretched all the way across the room, starting clear back at the show’s entrance. But we persevered and waited in the line with the promise of a ride on the glorious Thomas the Train at the end.

Finally, after a 40-minute wait, it was our kids’ turn. They clamored excitedly into the train car and were off!

The train slowly chugged around in a small circle, reaching a thrilling maximum speed of one mile an hour! 

The whole ride probably lasted less than 3 minutes.

Graham smiled happily the whole time, but you could see the disappointment on poor Rubin’s face. He climbed out of the train car, a wiser boy than the one who had entered it.

The reason I was thinking of this is because I’ve had a blah couple of days and decided last night that I would be done with that today. No matter what, I would be cheerful and productive today.


At 6:30 a.m. my alarm went off (aka baby Uriah woke up); and even though I was dead tired, I remembered my expectation for a positive day. I decided to play his favorite game, “Pop Goes the Weasel.” The game is played by bouncing Uriah on my knees until the "Pop" part of the song where I lift him over my head and then bring him back down to my knees, where we both laugh hysterically. Today I bounced him to the tune, then lifted him over my head, and said, “Pop!”


And then I felt a PLOP on the top of my head! I lowered the baby as a crazy amount of spit-up dripped down all sides of my hair and onto my shoulders. I entered the shower a wiser mommy than the one who had woken up this morning!

In the "Moms with Boys Club"

When I was young, well younger, I used to imagine what my family would be like when I was older. I pictured myself with several daughters. I could see us playing with dolls and toy horses, braiding various styles into our hair, shopping for dresses; my imagined list went on and on. You hear people sometimes describe themselves as good boy-mom or a good girl-mom. Well, I was for sure a girl-mom! I was a fairly moody teenage girl and I felt this would mean I could easily identify with my own girls’ problems. And let’s face it, girl clothes are so much cuter than boy clothes!


So here I am, six years into marriage, with three BOYS. Instead of dolls and dress-up clothes, the toys around my house are dragons, dinosaurs, trains, and light sabers. There is constant noise in my house. My husband and I even had to make a rule that there would be no roaring at the dinner table because the boys would not stop to eat!


But despite all the craziness that is associated with boys, there are a lot of great things about them:


• When we are on a hike and there is no restroom, it’s not a problem!
• I never have to blow dry their hair after a bath, in fact most of the time I don’t have to do anything to their hair at all!
• They generally don’t care about what they wear. I could dress them in plastic bags and I don’t think they’d complain!


I have noticed there is a secret club I now belong to – apparently it is the “Moms with Boys Club.” When I go to the store with my little guys I inevitably see another mom with only boys. It only takes a second to figure out we are in the same situation and instantly we are friends. Most of the time we don’t even have to say anything to each other, a smile and a knowing nod are enough. We are definitely comrades on this child-rearing journey.


One frazzled mother of two crying boys waited in the checkout line next to me the other day. I handed her two suckers from my purse and she smiled and asked, “Does it get any easier?”


“Definitely,” I lied.


Sometime in the next few years I will try for another baby and perhaps I will get my wish for a baby girl, but for now I’m happy living in the chaos and commotion that comes with three boys!