squeaky clean

[whenever i hear the phrase "squeaky clean", regina spektor's "consequence of sounds" pops into my head.  it's probably going to be there the rest of the night.  great.]

the infamous tesla glare.  he does it on command.

Tesla has been in the 'helpful stage' for quite a while.  I find it to be incredibly endearing, if not terribly convenient.  His two favorite things to help me with are laundry and cooking (which includes "washing the dishes", or, more accurately, splashing dirty water everywhere as he pours it from measuring cup to measuring cup when my back is turned).  

He often tries to help me when I'm not watching, so I'll turn around from the stove to find him standing on a chair, attempting to chop vegetables (PUT THE KNIFE DOWN, SON).  Or I'll turn from the counter where I'm prepping veggies to find him on a chair in front of the stove, vigorously stirring a pan of sauteed onions (half of which are now on the stovetop or the floor).  But I usually catch him before he's done any real damage.

He's getting sneaky, though.  Yesterday, I pulled a load of laundry out of the dryer and carried it to the bed to be folded.  A small handful of dryer sheets had worked themselves loose from the pile and I picked them up and chuckled to myself at the evidence of my well-intentioned little assistant.  I folded two shirts and uncovered three more dryer sheets.  A pair of pants yielded another two.  And so on.  I called Silas into the bedroom to see the growing pile I was amassing.  It was then that I noticed the grimy residue that coated all of the freshly washed clothes.

Apparently Tesla had taken it upon himself to grace that particular load of laundry with approximately FIFTY DRYER SHEETS.  

I'm not kidding.

I don't know when or how he did it, but over half of the box made it in there.  At least the clothes smelled extra fresh.

He'll make a good housewife someday.  

mini-man antics

Nothing too exciting is happening around these here parts.

The menfolk are up to their usual shenanigans.

There's a pair of siblings, a 6 year-old named Isaac and his 3 year-old sister Hera, that likes to come over [every day] and knock [overandoverandover] on the door to see if the boys can play.

Here's a typical afternoon.

Isaac:  *knockknockknockknockknock*

Me:  ignore.


Isaac:   *knockknockknock*  *DING DONG*


Me: put down whatever i'm doing at the moment and shuffle to the door.  open it a crack.  Hey, Isaac.

Isaac:  Can they play right now?

Me:  No, they're napping right now.

Isaac:  No they're not.  They're right there.

I open the door and peek around to find this.

Me:  ....

Hera:  So can they play now?

Me:  Um, no.  It's still naptime for another half hour.  Come back after 4.


I'm so mean.


But hey.  Naptime is sacred.  I treasure it.  There is no way in heck I am going to cut it short.  I love my boys, but I also prize my alone time.

I'm sure you understand why.

belated birthdays

Tesla turned 2.

and silas finished his first quarter of podiatry school!

We made him a sign.

Desmond turned 1.

We made him cupcakes.

The boys are big fans of the candle-blowing ritual.  After Tesla figured out what to do, he had us re-light his cupcake candle 4 or 5 times so he could blow it out before we called time and made him eat it.

They got bikes/trikes for their respective birthdays.  They like them very much.

hell's angels.

Oh, you noticed the pacifier (and the smoothie on T's face)?  Fine.  So, as you may know, neither of the boys had much of an affinity for pacifiers in their youth.  However, one day when he was around 19/20 months old, Tesla found a pacifier and decided it was his new best friend.  It seemed fairly harmless and I found his sudden attachment rather endearing (not to mention convenient), so the paci stayed.  For a while.

A few months ago, we I decided to ditch the pacis.  And after much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, Tesla accepted his bleak fate.  

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago.  Desmond has begun sucking on his fingers.  His poor hand is all red and chapped, so in a fit of genius I decide to go buy a couple more pacifiers.  I would rather have him hooked on a pacifier (which can easily be thrown away) than his fingers (which, barring invasive and costly surgery, cannot be removed).  

However, while Desmond (unfortunately) remains indifferent to pacifiers, Tesla (unfortunately) does not.  So it's back.  For a while. 

At least until we come back from South Dakota in January.  Having a pacifier-friendly baby is a mighty convenient thing for an airplane flight.   

cheeeeeldren.

we were at the library the other day.

(i love the library.  they have TONS of toys and i can let my children run rampant in a contained area while i read and sort of keep an eye on them.  plus it's air-conditioned.  which, in phoenix, is a huge plus.)

i'm sitting there absorbed in my book watching my children, of course, because i'm super responsible like that and i love nothing more than to gaze upon them for hours on end while they amuse themselves and eat the library's trains.

"excuse me?"

i didn't hear him at first because i was so focused on my book my kids, but once i realized i was being addressed i looked up to see a sandy-haired little boy staring pointedly at me.

"they're arguing with me."  he told me, sounding miffed, and waited expectantly for a response.

"um...what?"

he pointed over to the train table, where tesla was gathering some trains into a pile and desmond was attempting to digest the remainder of them.

"those babies are arguing with me."  he repeated.

the indignity.

i stifled a laugh.  "sweetheart, those babies can't talk.  i think they're probably not arguing with you."

he crossed his arms.  "well they are and i'm FOUR."

"oh you are?  that's so neat, are you in school?"  i steered the conversation away from the arguing babies and we talked for a little bit about his school and his friends.  then he frowned.

"why are all these babies here?" he demanded, gesticulating wildly at the supposed preponderance of infants.  "this is supposed to be for big kids to play, not babies."

again i covered a smirk.  "well, they just wanted to play for a little bit, do you think that would be okay?"

he considered my request for a moment.

"okay," he sighed.  "but only for two hours."  he glared at me and i hastily accepted his conditions, promising him that we would not stay for more than two hours.   ;)

ah, children.  such an unwitting wellspring of humor.

i bring you the gift of laughter.

Go watch this.

(Look, I know how it is when you're going down the list blog-checking and someone puts a video in their blog post and you're all like "meh...next."  But don't be like that.  Go watch it and cry tears of hilarity.  And then go watch the rest of them.)

Gratuitous pictures:

desmond a few months ago

 tesla a few weeks ago.  practicing his "i have a dark and mysterious past" look for a future career in modeling.  i think he's got the eyes down.

ici

i should not be blogging today.

I am so cranky and agitated.  Everything is driving me crazy.

(Everything.)

but this unfortunately-angled picture of desmond makes me laugh.  he looks SO FAT.

Tell me something funny.

honestly...

Sometimes, by the end of the day, I'm ready to toss them into their room, lock the door, and pass out on my bed (on top of the pile of laundry that I do not currently have the energy to fold).

Truthfully, motherhood is a great gig.  I'm my own boss and my hours are flexible.  I like not having deadlines and people breathing down my neck.  I like that I can dress however I want and that I am free to pursue my own interests.  And, hey, I like my kids.  ;)

But sometimes it's tiring and isolating and monotonous and lonely.

And that's okay.

Or at least it will be tomorrow morning.  :)  I need a to sleep off a headache and some cookie-induced nausea.

All my love.

TONIGHT

is the night I've been waiting for!

I will be watching

ici

and eating

ici

with

what a cutie.  good thing he doesn't read my blog  ;)

I can't even tell you how excited I am that Psych is back.  Shawn and I go way back.  

(Actually "Magic Head" Gus,  possessor of the Super Sniffer, is my fave.  I quote him...all the time.)

Fun fact:  I actually watched Psych on our laptop when I was in labor with Desmond.  It was a welcome (and hilarious) distraction from the pain.  

(Who needs an epidural when you have Shawn and Gus?)  ;)

Observe.

Nurse:  How are your contractions?

Me:  Hahahaha!  They hurt like %@#*!   Hahaha!  Crank up the Pitocin, lady!

You know that's right.

trouble.

That's what they are.

A little crime duo.

They don't stay in their beds.

They ruin a beautiful loaf of rising bread by eating chunks out of it.

They play in the toilet.

They tear apart the closet.

They're always getting into things.

And making messes.

But dang...

They're pretty cute.

happy weekend.

From the boys.

(yes tesla is wearing lip gloss.  easy waiting room entertainment.)

overload.

I think I might have overdone it today.

I'd always assumed my affinity for sweets had no limits.  When others were throwing their forks down and protesting that the five-layer double chocolate mousse-filled ganache-iced fudge cake was too rich, I was helping myself to a second slice.

While these same people complained about the raspberry filling being "too sweet", I merely gave them a quizzical look before finishing the discarded remains of their cupcakes.

Today, however.  Today I met these.

Cinnamon rolls, yes.  But not of the ordinary variety.



These happen to be vanilla-glazed chocolate chip cookie dough-filled cinnamon rolls.

there are cookies lurking inside.  deliciously overwhelming chocolate chip-studded cookies.

And also lemon-glazed blackberry-filled cinnamon rolls.  For balance.  (Fruit, you know.)

 Perhaps it would have not been so nausea-inducing intense if I hadn't spend the earlier parts of the weekend noshing on cupcake batter and prior batches of cookie dough and...maybe Ben & Jerry's.   (Maybe not.  I admit nothing.)

However, the sum total of this weekend's sugar-laden exploits was enough to make me consider never eating sugar again.  EVER.

Ah, if only my resolve could last a single morning.

desmond has a doctor's appointment today.  we have to leave in fifteen minutes.

the boys are supposed to be napping.  

(they're not.  i hear giggling.)

do you know what my favorite thing in the world is?

taking my kids out in public when they haven't slept.

.....

but the bright side is:

 

 EARLY BEDTIME!

:)

ummm...hello.

Yeah, so remember how I was all like, "Imma totally do a post on cloth diapers for you guys!"

And then I didn't?

And remember how all of my friends who were asking about cloth diapering HAVE ALREADY HAD THEIR BABIES?

For shame. 

Anyway.

Where have we been?

taken by morgan's mamacita when we were in cali for labor day weekend.  i love this.

After Silas graduated from BYU, we moved to South Dakota for the summer to mooch off of live with his parents.  (We had a wonderful summer with them and it was incredibly generous of them to let us live there for free.  Seriously.  The basement we lived in and the furniture we used was nicer than anything we've ever had.  And they adored the boys.)

Silas was supposed to be working, but the job never came through.  However, it ended up being a blessing for us.

  

Some/most of you know that I've struggled on and off with depression for several years.  (I know, join the club.)  Well anyway, it started getting a lot worse towards the end of spring, and I began having anxiety attacks.  It got to the point where I would just shut down sometimes because I was unable to deal with things.  It was a huge help to have Silas there to help with the boys when I was having an 'episode'.  

Anyway, long story short, I'm on meds now.  All is well.

(Or I was.  I actually ran out of pills a few days ago and rather than call my prescription in like a responsible adult, I'm toying with the idea of seeing how I fare without them.  We'll see how that goes.)

So, the overshare was to explain some of the reasons why I took such an extended blogging hiatus.  Because no one wants to hear me whine about being depressed.   (No one probably wants to hear me whine at all, but I'm making no promises.)

the 'mundo!  crappy pictures in this post brought to you by my empty camera and the 136 pictures that i haven't figured out how to get off my phone.

Now we live in Arizona!  Phoenix.  (Glendale.  Whatevs.)  And....I like it.  I know I was always hating on AZ before, because it was hot and ugly, but...I love it here.  Who knew.  :)

Silas is doing well in school.  Lots of studying.  I feel for him.  But he doesn't have to work, which is a first, and I think it makes focusing on school much easier.  

The boys are wonderful and challenging.  ;)  Their favorite activity is playing in the toilet.  Every time I turn my back.  You may be hearing lots of stories about them.  I know people get sick of moms always talking about their kids but...guess what.  I spend ALL DAY with them.  They're basically my only material, peeps. 

 That's all.  I leave you with this gem:

May your days be merry and bright.