Sound Sleeper - Role Reversal

When Mike and I were first married he was the very light sleeper and I was the very sound sleeper. Somehow once we had kids those roles became reversed. When Mike stayed overnight with me in the hospital after Clayton was born, I'd have to page the nurse to wake Mike up to bring the baby over to me. By the time Clayton was done eating Mike would be sound asleep on the other side of the room and I'd have to page the nurse again to wake Mike up to get Clayton back in his bassinet. (So we decided for this baby that Mike would just sleep at home and I'd just page the nurse to bring baby out of the bassinet...cut out the middle man.) I also remember a few times during Clayton's first year of life that I'd ask Mike to go in to either change his diaper or bring him into our room and I vividly remember him stumbling out of bed, going into Clayton's room and coming back a few moments later - without the baby...he was just that out of it. And the point of this story....last night I got a probably much needed reminder that I shouldn't plan on Mike's help during the night with this next baby either. At around 11:45 p.m. my back was hurting so I asked Mike if he could go get me some Tylenol from the kitchen cabinet. I heard him stumble in to use the bathroom, then I heard him go into the kitchen and open what sounded like Tylenol, then he shut off the lights, came back to bed, crawled into his side of the bed and was snoring within seconds. Hmmm... I tapped him and asked if he brought the Tylenol back with him. He looked very confused - woke up a bit more and then thinks that he recalls taking the Tylenol before coming back to bed. Yeah - that's not going to help my back pain any... So he wandered back into the kitchen and did come back with the Tylenol for me this time. It gave us both a good laugh and me a good reminder of the future!

A favorite picture

Mike captured this photo the other day and I just love it! Two year old boys can obviously cause frustration on their way to figuring out independence, yet submissiveness and how to control their emotions and use words rather than tantrums - but with these smiles and his silliness the frustration just seems to melt away. I just can't help but laugh with him when he breaks into uncontrollable laughter over the sounds a near empty Hershey syrup bottle makes...it's contagious!

A quick, funny Clayton story - he was playing with two cars on a race track the other morning and all of a sudden he put one of his cars in timeout. I then hear..."no pushing car, you get time out" A few moments later he brings the car back out of time out and has it apologize to the car that it "pushed". So apparently at least some discipline items are processing in his head...even when his own reluctance to apologize to Brooke shines bright.

Brooke's Interpretation of Life

I don't always remember the things that Brooke says through the day that make me laugh, but this week quite a few of them stuck with me.

Brooke on Money: We recently started an allowance for Brooke. She earns or loses quarters through the week based on chores, behavior, etc. She can earn up to $6/wk. and whatever she earns is divided evenly between church, savings and spending. So typically she'll get between $1-$2 to spend at the store (usually Wal-mart). Keep that in mind for these next stories...

• Grandma Nancy, Clayton and Brooke took a trip to Target (prior to going to Wal-mart on Friday). Brooke picked out a small dog figurine to spend her money on. They get to the checkout and Brooke only put up her change that was left from a previous week. Grandma told her to use her dollar bills too - Brooke's response "I can't Grandma, those are my Wal-mart dollars."
• Brooke pulled out $2 and told me she had $11. I explained to her that $1+$1 = $2. "I know mom, but a 1 and a 1 by each other is 11." (I like her math better!)
• Mike stopped with the kids to pick up lunch today and Brooke was not listening in the parking lot and opened up the drivers door into the car next to them. Thankfully, no damage to the other car's side mirror, but I have yet another dent in my car door. When they got home Mike made Brooke explain that she made a bad choice and dented my car. I asked her how she was going to pay to have it fixed. She went hysterical when I suggested that she lose 50 cents from her jar and replies, "MOM! This money thing is not going so well for me!"

Brooke on furniture arrangements: Mike took Brooke with him on some errands this afternoon while Clayton was napping. She started explaining to Mike that he and I would have a lot more room to play in our room if we got rid of the big bed and slept on bunk beds instead.

Brooke on how much fun mom is: We started a calendar to help Brooke know who would be taking care of her each day and also to count down the days until mom is done "resting" and subsequently when the baby is born. There should be about 2 weeks before baby's arrival that I can care for the kids with minimal restrictions. Brooke was examining the calendar and looking to the time that I could care for her during the day - her comments, "Mom - when you can take care of us again are we going to be stuck in the house all day."

3rd of July Party

This year was our 8th year of having our annual 3rd of July party - since we've lived at the house there has only been 1 year we haven't held it (Mike and I went to DC for the 4th in 2003.) Mike did most of the prep-work for the event and it was another great year of celebrating our nation's independence with our friends and family. The evening starts with a cookout, then everyone moves down the street to watch the world's longest parade (it's usually a full 2 hrs long) and then back to our house for a front row seat to the Menomonee Falls fireworks.

Brooke and Clayton both stayed awake for the firework display, but I think Clayton was much more interested in his glowing necklace and bracelets than the fireworks!