5

The Buzz is F-I-V-E!

I held him the morning of his birthday and told him again the story of his birth - 

how I laid on the couch 24/7 for weeks to let him cook, 

how I first saw him kicking when he had been in my tummy for only 10 weeks, 

how he peed all over the doctor when they pulled him out,

how he made little grunts when he breathed,

how he is my favorite boy in the entire universe and I'm so happy that he's five.

He wriggled free when I finally came up for air and went to play with his monster trucks.

Nothing gets between this boy and his monster trucks.  No-thing.

So that was his birthday party!  We pretended we were at a monster jam - invited a few of his friends, got loud, ate junk food, and celebrated one very cool boy.

The Orange Crush pop was his very favorite part of the day, scratch that, his favorite part of his entire life. He popped one open when the first friend arrived, and polished off three by the time they left.

Treats for friends....a monster truck, peanut butter crackers, chocolate milk, and a gold medal necklace.

What a cool, cool kid.  And what great friends he's been given.   I love you, Buzz!

The Rules

The stud I live with was gone for a whole week to God's Great State (see here).  

When the time approached for her to be delivered, she brought forth...

Oh wait, that's not it.  

When the time approached for him to leave, I got out of the house - with friends, to Target, to the bathroom, well, anywhere - keyword being by myself - for the 3 days leading up to him going.  I was gearing up for what I thought would be the worst week of my life and those grays I'm dreading would for sure make their appearance.  I do most of the kid-care because I'm at home with them, but we are a team after 5 pm every day.  Also, I've developed this morning habit of sitting like a lump for a good 10 minutes after I wake up and drinking the coffee he's made, while he makes their breakfast.  Not to mention that I would just plain miss the man.

But I was praise the Lord so wrong!  Well, I did miss him a little.  But...

The week went fine.  You know how you just sort of Woman Up and do the things you don't want to do because YOU are the woman to do them?  That's what I did.  Mix that together with the serious miracle of no one breaking any bones or appliances breaking down and toss in the following rules, and ta-da.....One Great Week!

So....The Rules for When Dad's Gone in no particular order:

1.  No heroics.  This includes makeup, blogging, laundry, all of it.

2.  Move all clocks forward one hour.  Bedtime comes early and no one knows but me.

3.  Facepaint free-for-all every day.

4.  TV is our friend.  Obscene amounts of TV is our BFF.

5.  As long as they eat, it doesn't matter what they eat.  Call any meal - including hotdogs and halloween candy - a Win.

6.  Go to bed with a movie as soon as the kids go to bed every single night.

7.  Bathing is optional.

8.  Unless done so by the nanny, toys will be picked up once and only once.  Right before Dad gets home.

9.  Midweek, schedule an evening with Grandma and Grandpa.

10.  When all else fails, remind yourself of the serious equity you're earning this week for a trip to the Bahamas, or ok fine, to the spa as soon as he gets back!

Serendipity

"Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love."

- Rumi

Fall, you do not disappoint!!  We didn't plan it...we meant to bike River to preschool and bike back home, but Sage said we should go to the arboretum and to me that sounded like easy entertainment for her and the little friend we gained at drop-off.  I thought we would take a lap and then head home to toys and snacks and to do lists.

But it was an absolutely breath-taking fall morning. These two played with sticks and leaves and tree berries and literally walked me through the most quiet, joyful, Slow-Down that I never knew I needed.

They played for 2 hours.  I got restless and thought of the books I should've brought and things to be done at home and work, played on my phone, texted, paced.  And f.i.n.a.l.l.y. slowed enough to sit quietly and watch and remember what it is to play with such inhibition. Their silliness and unplanned play gave me permission to just plain get simple in my brain.

Gerry, a man with two daughters and grandchildren of his own - that I learned to know at that spiritual direction day (click here) - stopped and spent some time with us. He took some of these photos, and with his quiet presence encouraged me to stay quiet and breathe in this space.

I'm so dang lucky to be living this life...tripping over myself with happy accidents like this this!  Fills me to my brim.

Dance it out, People!

Just in case you haven't already seen this.

Deb (the patient) requested a dance party before she laid down in the O.R. for a double mastectomy.

Dance it out, people!!  

Dance dance dance.  

Drop your purse or your baby or your laundry or your drink or your pen or your whatever.  

Crank up the stereo and dance it out!!!!

Dont.wait.one.second.longer.

Crank it and DANCE!

13 for 2013

When your daughter tells you she wants to dress up as an astronaut for Halloween, it might go something like this...

1.  You check yourself and notice that you're stressed out and too busy for costume making this year.

2.  Show her the cool princessy, fairy-ish rockstar costumes at walshart in hopes of convincing her to choose that instead.

3.  Check yourself and notice that your daughter said she wants to be an astronaut and realize that is the coolest thing ever and heaven help us you're trying to raise a strong woman who can do anything including fly to the moon.

4.  Check yourself before you wreck yourself, and make the dang costume!!!

5.  Make your first ever ebay purchase....an astronaut helmet for $4.99.

6.  Go to your favorite Sherwin Williams for white painters coveralls for $7.99.

7.  Send your daughter on her bike to the hardware store for red duct tape.

8.  Get out your stapler and that duct tape and work your magic.

9.  Dress up your easy-to-please other two children in walshart costumes because you gave all your energy to your astronaut daughter.

10.  Dress up as a witch because a) your closet is full of black stuff b) fake eyelashes are a tradition and c) on this one day of the year you get to let your witchy self out to play.

11.  Find some friends who will host you for dinner and wear the pink mullet you bring along.

12.  Line your kids up for a picture.

 13.  Pimp your kids for candy on one very gorgeous October night!

Halloween 2013, you were so good to us!!!!!