Wednesday

Good morning world. I have exactly ten minutes to down the coffee and write a post while the munchkins are occupied.

We were up a total of 6 times last night. . .yes, 6! 3 times with the stinkerella and 3 times with the child in pull ups. Stinkerella needed to nurse twice and she is teething. Pull Up boy had a pee accident and then another one. How does that happen when he wears pull ups? I guess I did not do my job in limiting fluids last night at dinner.

Ugh.

I let Sam sleep in so that he could be better rested for work. So I go into to wake him up at 8:05. As we rehash the night adventure and the terrible tantrum B threw about having poop in his pull up (A total lie!!!!), Sam jerks his body up and remembers he has a work evaluation in, um, 45 minutes. Woh.

I let B climb into his sister's crib to occupy her, I dash downstairs, brew a pot of coffee, make his lunch, and decide I need to pray. I call Hannah. She answers the phone, "Hey Vanessa" in such a perky way that inwardly I am so jealous that she probably got more sleep than I did. (I am always comparing sleep these days). I then ask her, "Is this a bad time to pray?" Her reply, "Well, I am here with Grace. They just broke her water." Me, "Oh, wow, ok, get to work, bye."

So my friends, our friend Grace is having her baby today. I am flooded with fond memories of having Aliya. She was induced. But then I am having some bad memories of having Benjamin. He came in the middle of the night, and I had not slept at all prior to his delivery. Wow, and he still doesn't let me sleep :)

So I leave you with my prayer today:

"Lord, supply my dear husband through his evaluation and please don't let him fall asleep on his boss. And Lord, supply me to make it today as You know how many times I was up last night. You have to be lived through me today to my children and everyone else around me, because if not, it will be a terrible, terrible day. Lord, I pray for a healthy delivery for Grace and a healthy baby boy and supply her husband Luis to care for her and baby by not passing out at the delivery. And Lord, I need you. . .really I do. I love You too. Have mercy on me that I don't lose it today with Pull Up boy and Stinkerella. Keep me coming to You again and again today."

when the cat's away, the mice will play

Ya'll. . .

I came home from a lovely time with my girlfriend at Starbucks to this. . .



and then this. . .(which is NOT our t.v.)


and finally this. . .



And then these were the faces of the very disappointed boys after the Longhorn loss. . .


But ya'll, if you could have seen the victory dances these boys performed the times Gilbert threw a touchdown pass. . .you would have been rolling on the floor laughing!

Coming up. . .vegan chocolate cake. . .oh so good! I promise!

and a P.S.

So I think no one reads my blog except my faithful two commenters-Hannah & Stephanie (thank you!!)-- and lo and behold, today at the Sunday evening meeting, a friend of mine handed me a HUGE bag of coffee beans from Ruta Maya (a local company) organic coffee. I was thinking, "How did she know I needed some coffee beans? This is too good to be true!" She smiled at me and said, "I read your blog." I started laughing with sheer embarrassment.

So my friends, I have a third reader!!!!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some beans to grind for the morning.

Happy New Year

We spent the new year with some friends of ours in Houston. We had a great feast of roast and potatoes accompanied with some good laughs.

And New Year is not complete without fireworks.
Benjamin and Kayla (our friends' kid) loved it depite how chilly it was.

The last pic is of the two kids watching NYC's festivities of ringing in the New Year.

What did you do to bring in the new year????

2009. . .Goodbye

Today was a cold day.

It was one of those days you just want to cozy up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and good book and let the time pass you by as you flip the pages.

I don't have the liberty to do such a thing in my stage of life.

Yes, this stage of life. Two little ones. Since we rang in the new year just a few days ago, I have had some time to just think and contemplate this last year. I have considered what I will remember, what I will regret and how I want to learn from 2009 for the future. I wish I could share some profound, heartfelt thoughts with you, or perhaps some fond memories of the little ones, or some paradigm shift that took place. I only have two words for you:

SLEEP DEPRIVATION

These two words sum up 2009. Yup, that's it people. Nothing deep, nothing creative, nothing to gloat about. Pure tiredness. 100% sleep deprivation from January all the way to December. . .and guess what? This week started off on a high note of severe sleep deprivation. The baby has teased us once this week with sleeping through the night, but she quickly held to her guns and had us up about every 3 hours last night.

I decided that for the new year when someone asks me how I am doing, I will do my best to hold my tongue and say something other than, "I am so tired. I need coffee."

I can't even tell you how much coffee I drank last year despite the pregnancy and having a newborn. There was a point that my consumption of the black stuff caused a little hole in the wallet. . .really! So I had to make the switch from good ole Anderson's coffee to Folgers (GASP!!!!). Lucky me I have my trusty percolator that can make cheap coffee taste like a good cup of Joe. . .or maybe it was just that I was so tired I couldn't even taste the cheapness.

So my friends, I started out the new year tired with a cup of Folgers in my hand. But that's OK. It can only get better. Right? Perhaps I can bump up my coffee brand to HEB's San Antonio blend? Now that would be a nice new year's resolution.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Taking a time out

Just a little fun one afternoon with play dough.

A tower of ice cream on a cone.

The artist at work.

Contemplating the next choice of color.

I treasure the times when I get some one on one time with my children. Just yesterday I found myself resonding to B's request for play time with, "Not now, I need to clean the house," or "I need to change your sister's diaper, " or "I need to do a load of laundry," or "I need to cook for so and so who is coming over tonight. Sure, all the reasons are true and valid, BUT I had to take a step back yesterday and re-evaluate the situation. I know in his little mind, mommy was saying, "I just don't have time for you right now. Everything else is more important." I am such a bad mother sometimes. . .live and learn, right?

I am learning to take a time out from the grown up world to be a kid again with my kids.