Socks in the Backyard

Any time you come to a point where you suddenly realize that your once glorious (in your opinion, which is all that matters, right?) vocabulary has been drastically reduced to a handful of words and phrases, it's a rather sad day. Today was that day for me. My average working vocabulary these days now seems to consists of: "No", "good girl", "thank you", "one", "two", "three", "can you please pick _____ up for Mommy?", and my personal favorite, "night-night". I realized this change fairly early this morning, which rather set the stage for the rest of the day. Loads of laundry were washed and folded, the kitchen table was unearthed, the kitchen (minus many dishes) was cleaned, and dinner was ready at 5 o'clock on the dot. However, those were not the significant events of the day. Those events were saved for moments which may make many of you laugh but, if you put yourself in my shoes, you will realize why it wasn't as... cute from the mom perspective.

As I said before, there were many eventful moments today. One of them was during Em's morning nap while I was folding laundry. Lani decided that she didn't like any socks or underwear to be put back into the laundry basket. I didn't really notice she kept taking them out until Em woke up and started to play this game as well. That was when I discovered the stock pile on Lani's blanket of a dozen socks and ALL my underwear. I put Lani outside, closed the security grate across our back door and thought that was the end of it. However, when I was double checking everything before taking it upstairs (stairs are hard these days, I make sure it's a necessary trip!), I realized that again, there were no socks or undies. That was when I saw them... brown ones, tan ones , white ones, and even large pink fuzzy ones (large pink and fuzzy ones are socks.. not underwear). Somehow all of them were scattered all over the BACKYARD. Now, this is the point where I started to use the lamaze 'deep, slow breathing' technique and tried to grasp how on Earth socks and underwear could just walk outside. I was standing there trying to figure this out when Em, in all her wonderful helpfulness, goes over to a pair of socks I'd been sitting on, and took them to the grate, where she shoved them through to her accomplice, where Lani took them, and then they both looked at me, beaming with pride at their joke! It's one thing to get pranked when you're older, but I just got punked by a 14-month old and an 8-month old puppy!!

Needless

to say, I was annoyed (at myself) and impressed at their sneakiness (I honestly had been watching them throughout my folding, honest!). That was only the first of the eventful moments, all of which left me exhausted by the time Todd came home, but at the same time, all of them were so HARD to not laugh at- those two can be so stinking cute! It's hard to discipline when you just want to laugh and congratulate for a job very well done.

For those needing their Em fix - Here's Em playing on the pillow I made for the kids' room... so much for it staying clean until getting into the room!

Domestications

I was told that during pregnancy some women become more 'domestic,' they clean obsessively, among other things. I have never had that urge. In fact, with Em as with this child, my house sinks deeper into mayhem the bigger my belly gets. I have, however, felt the need to 'get things ready.' The kids' room is halfway through the painting stage (I'm not allowed to touch the brushes, let alone get near the paint, which is probably a good thing since we had to ask for the lead-free stuff!). Fabric is almost here for me to finish up a few sewing projects (I can do straight lines, that's all, don't get too excited) and, the blanket that I had started for Murray, was halfway done when Todd and I both decided the yarn, which appeared to be a multi-colored type, was more red/purple/pink than anything else (which wouldn't work if this kid is a boy). Not wanting for it to go to waste, I pulled it all back out and started on a little hat for Em.

Now, my Nana taught me to knit and one thing you have to know about Nana is that she taught herself. What that translates to is, nothing is done properly, but it always turned out beautifully (for her anyways!). I've tried many times to learn ways from others on how to fix my issues, but alas, they're stuck. So, I had the yarn, I had a cute little hat that was given to Em by from Ella as my pattern, and I set off. It doesn't look quite as good as the store-bought fleece one, but I love that I had to figure out on my own how to make the flower, the tassles, the ear covers and ties... Again I say, all the proportions are wrong, and I realize that, but it's done, Em will outgrow it in a few weeks anyways, and I'm proud. So, while the dishes are still in the sink and I'm heading to bed, at least I can say that today I accomplished something- I made a hat!

Thousand Little Things

There are so many random little things that have happened in the last week which have all contributed to making me totally exhausted! Em now has 4 teeth. The first three came in without any mention or notice, but the last one, her top middle tooth, caused a high fever for a few days and much fussing over. We felt so badly for her and so badly for us- we were all having to wake up in the middle of the night for medicine or not feeling well snuggles. Todd has started painting in the kids' room, which has four separate colors, so that means four separate layers. We also visited a fabric store that had a small "shack" of remnant and scrap fabric. Found some great stuff to use for accent pillows and such to make the room look pulled-together. A few packages arrived within weeks of each other, leaving me with the ability to scratch my baking itch I always seem to have these days (I tell you, nothing is better than chocolate chip cookies with real brown sugar when you've been craving that for months!). I, obviously, have been growing and (with much moaning about back aches) trying to share my hip and/or lap with two children. Em seems to be in a "Mommy" phase and I'll be honest, I'm excited for her to go into the "Daddy" phase soon! She uses my belly as lumbar support, but tries to 'fluff' it if Murray has something too poky sticking out... if it didn't hurt, I'd laugh hysterically. As it is, though, it generally means Mommy needs to take a few breaths. I wish I could say I'm counting down, but I'm not. I'll just be glad when the room is finished with the paint, so I can finish with organizing everything. I'm to the point where I just want things to be done and ready, because, as the last appointment confirmed, this kid is lined up and totally ready to come whenever he/she so chooses (I still say this kid is going to go over just like Em, but everyone else disagrees with me... deja vu). With less than 50 days (overdue or not), I was hard-pressed to put this photo up, but I figured it'll probably be the last... so enjoy!!!

Hunting Tail

Now that there are less than 50 days until Murray makes his/her appearance (even IF this next one decides to come late!) many people are asking me, "are you ready?" The honest response to this question is: NO! Unlike Em, who I wanted out and in my arms around month four, I'm fully aware of how much more work Murray will be on the 'outside' as opposed to the 'inside'. I'm okay with being big and awkward if it keeps me sleeping relatively well at night and not having to lug an infant car seat AND Em into a grocery store.

That said, one thing I am looking forward to about having this baby come is that I will have regained my lap. I haven't seen it in months, and Em went to sit in it today while I was sitting cross legged, and all she was able to get was ankles. It didn't feel too pleasant to read a book while a (albeit, cushioned) bum was sitting on those bones. During the book, and at many points throughout the day, Lani decides that there's not enough activity going on. At which point, she starts stalking and hunting her tail. It's almost like she's Elmer Fud from Loony Tunes, "be vwery vwery quiet... I'm hunting rwabbit". She's actually scared herself a few times when she's gotten a hold of it a bit too hard. Em has caught on to this action as well. If she wants more action, especially if Lani is sleeping, she will take Lani's tail and walk it to her mouth. Once there, she will remind Lani of her arch nemesis and the saga of "How Crazy Can it Get in the Leslie House" continues... most dogs, at some point, come to terms with the thing following them around all the time. Others at least stick with just chasing. Lani, however, will stalk, hunt, pounce and even flip herself over trying to get the better half of that 'waggly thing'. Remember, as you're laughing picturing all this watching Lani, that this is no laughing matter! This is real life for some of us!!! :)

Knee Hugs

We're enjoying the last few weeks of just the three of us! Em wants to be in my ever-shrinking lap all the time, but it's wonderful to have that time without worrying about anyone other than her.

Christmas In July

With General Assembly being this year, we had the wonderful opportunity to have some very generous friends offer to bring back a bag of goodies for us. Warren (Todd's dad) listened to one day of the Assembly online and decided he needed to go (he'd been asked to do some work in FL, but had said he wasn't going to be attending... everyone was glad he changed his mind!) He and Aunt Terena frantically got some things together that I have been wishing I could get myself, especially for Em and Murray. For many reasons, I was extremely excited to get an entire suitcase of things from family and friends. I was thrilled to open the clothes that we'd had for Em (and stored because we had no idea we'd be needing them so soon!) and start sorting and washing them. Em thoroughly enjoyed playing with all the baggies of goodies that were snuck in as well. She and Lani made use of the suitcase for over an hour of fun. Her new favorite game is emptying all of Daddy's Tootsie Rolls and then making him count them up as she puts them back in- which is also great for me so that I can tell if Daddy is over-doing the sweets on any given day!!!

Nappy Free

There are many things we've encountered in our tenure here in South Africa that we have found ourselves having to ask friends about, and often we have found these items to be nothing more than 'cultural' differences... but, as we discovered over the weekend at our child-birth classes, there are some things that are weird no matter what culture you're in. For example, we had a gal come and talk to us about neonatal and infant stimulation. I got the baby part, but I was rather lost when she was telling us how to 'play games' with our unborn child while he/she is still in the womb. People are always coming up with new ways of making kids more intelligent, so I just assumed this was one of those things. Then, however, (and I kid you not because you can't make this stuff up!) she moved on to ways of reducing the carbon footprint of our little ones-to-be. I'm from California, so I could follow her on trying to be eco-friendly, or at least as much as possible until these words came out of her mouth: "Nappy Free". You may think this is a euphemism for a club or environmental group supporting cloth diapering, but let me assure you, it is exactly what it sounds like. She told us how, if you so choose, your baby could go without diapers and you had three options for when they used the restroom 1. catch it 2. use a basin/tupperware (as a testimonial from one parent said they used and loved) or 3. get the child quickly to the toilet or garden. Now, at this point, I started looking around to see if this was one of those 'cultural' things, but to my relief, I found the shock and horror written on my face mirrored in 99.9% of everyone else there. I still can't believe this is a big enough movement (no pun intended), where there are testimonials and people educating would-be parents about it... Todd and I are still laughing and have firmly decided to keep saving the planet one cloth diaper at a time, but if you want to know more information, I have the lady's contact info for you. All I can say is, you'd be a bigger tree hugger than I!!!

Purses, Crates, and Carseats

I always assumed that "girlie-girlie" activities performed by little girls, such as trying on make-up, wearing their mom's high heels and needing a purse, was a mimicked behavior... they had to see their mom or older sisters doing these behaviors, and then they would want to do them as well. One morning, about a week ago, I found Em dragging Todd's overnight sundry case around on her arm. It is an old case, and rather grosses me out since I know I haven't cleaned it, so I opened a cupboard where I keep all my messenger bags and backpacks. The one that Em chooses? My small, petite little Vera Bradley purse my husband bought me for our anniversary a few years ago. It was so cute, I let her put her 'keys' and 'lipstick' and such in it. She takes it everywhere, but one morning, she apparently couldn't find it, but rather, found the gym bag we use. So, here she is, in a bag I can still fit her in collecting her "needed purse items" to put into it!


Not long after she started carrying a purse, it became nice enough each afternoon for a few hours for us to be in the backyard. I came to the discovery that we need to get her a slide or sandbox or something because she's totally fascinated by the dog's crate. They spent a good two hours going in together, one would go out and shut the other in, then that would switch, and finally, they would both go in together again. I am completely convinced they have a language none of us know about, as proven by my daughter lowering her head and holding on to a piece of furniture, so that the dog can lick her hair into place each morning... what can you do? They're so cute!
The last new and rather strange realization was that Em, who likes to move and explore, is perfectly happy to play with a car seat for untold hours of time. She's done it to her own infant seat in the past, but I always assumed it was the novelty of being in the seat without being placed there. We just bought another infant car seat (still haven't gotten the original one from the airlines when we moved) and brought it home. That was over a week ago. Em is still playing with it! A friend told us to take a picture the day she came home from the hospital and then again in that same seat when she was a year. Well, we didn't have the same seat, but these are from the same company and the same style... I can't believe how BIG she's gotten!!! I think this week, Mom's learning curve has been slightly steeper than Em's... unbelievable!

Sleep Sacks

A few months ago a fellow missionary family was having some visa issues in their assigned country here in Africa. Due to the nature of the problem, they needed to leave the country, so they came here to Johannesburg and lived in the guest flats that are owned by the church. It was great having them around (another family had been evacuated at the time as well, so it was just a bunch of kids and families here, which was wonderful). The family with the visa issues had been with us in Kansas City during the assessment process a few years back, and now that we were neighbors we would find ourselves catching up while playing games and having dinner together. So, when it became apparent that the husband/father would have to travel to the US Embassy in order to sort some things out with their visas, he offered to bring back some items for us. I, of course, jumped at the chance and immediately asked a friend in the same area as the embassy if she wouldn't mind helping me out. It was wonderful to receive frivolous things (nothing was life-or-death obviously, but it's amazing what a pregnant lady will crave!) like chocolate graham crackers and scented tea lights. She also put in a number of things for Em, among them were two sleep sacks.

Now, I'd seen these things before. They looked like tiny sleeping bags with a zipper up the middle and two little arm holes. When Em was an infant, it didn't make any sense to me as she loved to be swaddled. We always wrapped her up as tightly as we could, and when it got colder, we just added outer layers to her cocoon. When we got here, and she had her first real crib, it was summer and her favorite thing was to nap in her diaper, which was fine with me. It never occurred to me that once it started getting cold again, we'd run into issues... and run into them we did (it was more like a full-speed-ahead collision with a brick wall!). Once it became colder than just her fleece sleepers could handle, I started putting a blanket over her. No big deal, right? Um, well, she had different plans! She'd gotten so used to moving and squirming all over the crib that when she tried to roll, the blanket would inevitably come off or impede her mobility. This went on for a few weeks, until I remembered the sleep sacks, which I had immediately set aside upon arrival. Those seemed to be the answer to the problem, and I was so thankful for someone else being willing to bring them back and the wisdom of another mom to send them!!! (she also sent snow pants.... to Africa! Who would have thought that these would end up being the second most used item in the care package)

So I tell you that story so you can understand what happened this morning. We, like most Tuesdays and Thursdays, went to the gym for an aerobics class. Em had a great time playing with a few other kids in the day care and I had a wonderful time trying to keep my balance and exercise, all at the same time. We came home, cleaned up a bit, and then it was time for Em's nap. She was rubbing her eyes with both fists (always a good sign of a long nap to come) and I immediately took her to her room. The sleep sack was laying on the changing table and as soon as she saw it, she started trying to put it on! Such a well-trained little girl; she does all the work for her Mommy!!! Now, all I need is a written guarantee that all of them will turn out just this good!

4th of July

The morning was pancakes with peanut butter and homemade syrup. Then, after breakfast, all three of us just hung out in the living room. Em loved that she had TWO people to read her books, and she routinely picked a book, had one of us read it, and then immediately got down to have the other read it. It was a lot of fun (for me, I only had to do half the work of a normal morning!) and Todd kept cracking up at my reading voices and noises (they entertain me but this fact seemed rather lost on him).


The 4th was slightly different here... all the food was hot (as opposed to chips and dips and slaws and such) but it was good. We went out to the seminary to visit with another couple. Todd, who has been pining for a rock garden in the small ally between the house and the garage and John went out for a while and dug up rocks (not exaggerating, you can't make that stuff up). The day, over all, was nice and quiet, which is rare for us.

Holy Chair Batman!

Todd went to put Em to bed, as usual, tonight, and rather than turn on the light above the stairs, so that he could see where he was going, he just walked into what he thought was the bathroom entrance.  What he forgot was that this morning, I told him I wanted to move 3 or 4 of our 9 dinning room chairs upstairs.  So when Todd yelled, "holy chair Batman!" as I heard his shin hit one, my first response should have been pity or concern, but I have to tell you, with a mouth full of mediocre store-bought cookies, halfway up the stairs, all I could do was sit down and laugh while trying not to choke or spit my cookie out.  The next thing I hear is Todd yelling some primitive warning call as he got hit in the face by the shower head because he thought the faucet was on, not the shower.  Again, showers of laughter from me, who has now made it 2/3 of the way up the stairs.  Todd comes to the top of the stairs, still holding Em who is patting him dry, and says, "well, this is a fitting end to one of our anniversaries!"

You see, neither of us remember our first one, and the second one we only remembered a week late because of a card my grams and gramps sent.  The third one was slightly better as my best friend texted me to congratulate us just after dinner, so we went to the local creamery for a shared chocolate milkshake.  This year, Todd remembered before leaving for work (a miracle unto it's own!).  Of course, neither of us had put any thought into it before the realization at 7 am, so my first reaction was to just see if I could get the house clean for Todd when he came home (he likes things clean whereas I'm okay with a bit of mess and clutter).  So off to play with the neighbor girls went Em and I got to work... and worked... and worked... by the time 4 o'clock rolled around (when I normally start dinner because Em goes to sleep no later than 6:30) I realized the only thing I had for dinner was this: fish sticks but with no way of making tartar sauce, a head of broccoli but no pepper to season it with, and some onions.  Like I said, anniversaries aren't a big deal, but IF we remembered this time, and we were going to eat fish sticks, we needed to reevaluate a few things!

Todd got home to an 80% clean house, a wife who hadn't showered just yet, and a daughter who was ready for food.  The decision to one-up the fish sticks was pretty easy; we got Chinese take-out, cookies-n-cream ice cream, and regular cookies instead.  We joked at how pitiful our 'anniversaries' have been over the years, and then we got to dessert.  I had the cookies which weren't worth the calories, but I wanted something sweet.  Todd opted for the ice cream, which he took one bit of, and promptly declared that the ice cream tasted like Oreo cookies dipped in movie theater butter (it really did, trust me!).  That declaration just set the mood for giggles and jokes for the rest of the evening... which, sadly to say, I'm hoping ends soon because I'm so tired!  If someone had told me on my wedding day that in four years, when we ACTUALLY remembered the date of such a significant event, that I'd be pregnant, with a one-year-old, eating take-out and buttered Oreo cookies, I would have laughed... but that's not much different from my reaction now!!!!  Happy Anniversary Sweetie!  I love you, even if I forget it sometimes ;)  

Jabulani

Todd named the dog: Jabulani. It means rejoice, happiness, etc. Why I ever let him name the dog this, I don't know. She was so cute those first few days, maybe it was a weak moment. Who knows. What I do know is that no one who has a 7-month-old puppy they are trying to train, in tandem with a 13-month-old they are also trying to train, would put the words "rejoice" or "happiness" with the ridiculousness of that puppy.

Now, before you go judging Lani, know this: she is excellent with Em, she is friendly to new people and she is very well-behaved for her age and breed. She sometimes does crazy things though. Last night, I woke up at 2:30 am, not because Murray was waking me up kicking, as is generally the case, not because Em had a bad dream, but because the dog was whining so loudly, we could hear it upstairs through two closed doors. Todd went to check on her, only to find that she had eaten half her new wool blanket (that I just bought because the tile floor is so cold). That's frustrating, but puppies chew, and she generally doesn't, so if it's a blanket and not the couch, I'll take it.

Then, after lunch, the sunshine lured Em and I into the backyard with the dog. Em was playing her game of "find fun things and bring them to Mommy." I had just finished spending two hours cleaning the living room of dog hair. We bought a lab instead of a retriever because of this specific issue, but she is shedding like crazy. So we're in the backyard, Em is taking about 3-4 minutes to find something interesting and get it back to me. I figured I could use that time effectively by brushing the dog to get some of the shedding under control. I told her to sit, and she did. I started brushing and she immediately laid down. Now, remember, I'm seven months pregnant. My belly isn't as big as when I was carrying Em, but it's still a seven month belly. I can't bend that far for longer than a nano second. So, we started over again. She got up, sat, I started brushing and she laid. I knew that dog breeders will often pull the skin at the base of the rump by the tail (same place we tug on sheep when you show them) to get them to stand up. Rather than stand, the dumb dog curls her legs completely up! I was mortified because what started as a gentle tug, she had suddenly turned into me holding up half her body by skin!! We talked, we tried again, and this time was slightly more productive. Em, meanwhile, has completely lost interest in the shinny rock she was heading towards and is perfectly content watching Mommy struggle with Lani, clapping her hands (making Lani think she wanted her to come) and squealing for joy. This continued for longer than I care to admit, but we finally got a decent amount of hair and my back was killing me, so we were done. Lani, whom I think I've traumatized (because I'm still traumatized!) from the first standing attempt, goes running off and gets her toy to play fetch... like nothing happened. Crazy how short the attention-span or memory of a young one is.