Glimpses of me

Most anyone will agree that I am pretty much surrounded by Dan in triplicate. I get it from strangers and family/friends alike. Truman is a little copy of Harrison who is a little copy of Dan. I consider myself fortunate and enjoy my little men being so much like their daddy. But I've got to say that I take great pleasure when I suddenly see something so unmistakably ME in them. It happened twice today. First, Harrison and I were partaking of some cake our sweet neighbor brought by (um, Dan, if you're reading this, you'll just have to take my word for it that they were incredibly small peices and didn't taste that great anyway...) and H-man stopped eating to point out the frosting and tell me he liked that part in particular. I guess I'd never taken the time to really discuss frosting with him before or how I can eat disturbing amounts of it. This is coming from the girl who is still known to snack on brown sugar when in a jam. Too sugary? Puh-lease, don't be a wuss. Anyway, it just gave me comfort to know that Harrison seems to have my sugar threshold. Some could look at it as cause for alarm, but I'm not worried; the kid eats veggies with the best of them.

The second little glimpse-of-me I got today was when we were coloring. We've got a big 48 color box of Crayolas and we like to wind down with them while Tru is napping and we're waiting for Daddy to get home. We'd been chatting and coloring for probably about half an hour when he started doodling with the plain green crayon. After a few scribbles he pronounced it was his favorite color. Maybe that doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but anyone who knows me that well, or has ever bothered to ask me what my favorite color is has heard me say that I love that green you get when you take the classic green Crayola and scribble as hard as you can. It's vibrant and beautiful. It just made me sentimental that Harrison saw beauty in the same thing I do.

Psst! I've got a secret!

Okay, you may have attributed my silence on the web all to busy mom stuff. But I've got to tell you what is taking up all my spare minutes right now. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a cheapo about a lot of things. Why did none of you introduce me to the art of the coupon? Seriously, looking back I think I was an obvious candidate. Think what could have been clipped and saved if I'd started on this obsessive road years ago. I've been doing it for a couple of months now I think, and it's hilarious how giddy I can get about it all. For instance, take the picture below. On this particular Saturday morning, Dan and I made a couple of stops (Target and Kroger, and got everything pictured for $30 and change. If you were to look closely, you'd see that there are 32 items there, and some are bigger ticket items, like 4 jars of peanut butter, cheese, 3 lbs of beef, bags of apples, etc. It's absolutely fascinating to see what you can get for ultra cheap and free. We've got Pepperidge Farm Goldfish coming out our ears because we hit a big sale where we could get them for $.50 each, and then we had COUPONS, so they were FREE! I've taken the goal of trying for a percentage savings of greater than 50% everytime I shop. With a little planning I usually hit around 57%, but on my trip to Publix two days ago I hit a new record of just over 70%! See what I mean? I'm totally obsessed. And don't get me started on what you can get for free if you're willing to jump some rebate hoops. I don't think I'll have to buy toothpaste or toothbrushes for a long time. Anyway, I thought I'd hang out a little dirty laundry today so you know what I'm really up to.

It was bound to happen...

Here's what we have to show from our first little urgent care trip with Harrison. Luckily we didn't even need stiches--just some super glue for skin. All-in-all, it was pretty pleasant for what it could have been. The gash is a result of a fall off of his Big John tractor that he thought would be fun to ride downhill.


We visited the fire station with a friend, Camden, last week. Fire men are so nice. They showed us all around, gave us hats and badges, let us sit in the truck, and took pictures with us. It was either a stroke of luck or a sign of my lax parenting that Harrison is sporting yellow rain boots that look appropriate with his hat. They were not donned especially for the occasion.

Truman is crawling everywhere and is obviously happy about it. The kid cracks me up.

Rocky's been having to pay the price for Tru's early mobility.

We're really loving the weather and enjoying Tennessee in the spring. So fantastic!

All part of the plan

The real reason I wait so long between posts is that then I have exciting impressive news to report when I come back. Such as:

--We're potty trained. For real, I think. All I can really say about it is that Harrison has proven to me how very intelligent he is, and it was really easy once he was ready.
--Tru is army crawling and sittying up! In that order. The sitting up "for real" just happened a couple of days ago, after he was 7 months old, but that kid has been doing an impressive army crawl for a while now. I've had to get the baby gate back out, but that's a fair trade because I caught him spit-shining my floor today. I train 'em early.
--Truman is also eating a ton. His favorites to date are unmashed banana, peas, raw ground pear, and um, whole french fries. I know, the mom I used to be just shuddered, but the new hey-I'm-doing-good-to-remember-both-their-names mom that I am now thinks it makes eating out SO much easier.

Here are a few of my favorites that have popped out of H-man's mouth lately:

"The sun is happy today!" (Spoken on our first sunny warm day after a cold snap.)
"My hand is lonely." (Said when he wants Dan or I to hold his hand in the car.)
"You're the best mommy EVER!" (I swear, I don't know where that one came from, but it wasn't coached. I'll also admit that I was a total sucker for it, and he says it a lot now, just to butter me up. I'll take what I can get.)
"I fall in my pee, Mommy." (Okay, maybe that one's not as cute as the others, but if you had the mental image of what he looked like when he was saying it like I do, then you'd be laughing pretty hard.)

Anyway, we're filling our days with parks and picnics, walks and sunshine. Life is good.

The Great Communicator

No, Ronald Reagan is not the topic of conversation today. I'm giving that title to Harrison for now. Not that Tru doesn't qualify. It's amazing how infants can quite clearly express emotions at impressive decibel levels. But I'm referring to the adult that is living in my little H-man's body. He snuck in a while ago and is getting quite bold and not even trying to disguise himself anymore. Did he think I wouldn't notice? Like a two-and-a-half (almost) year-old is really going to stroll by you in the kitchen and pause just long enough to amiably mention, "Pretty cold outside, Mom." Or, "Shhh, Baby Trumanator, Mommy here," as he distractedly peruses the contents of my shopping cart. And what about the time I ran upstairs to grab my wallet, came back down without it being in my hand (hey--moms have a lot on their minds) and he just cocked his head to one side and said with just a touch of, dare I say, pity in his eyes, "Wallet?"

Who ARE you? Of course, he'll be quick to tell you if you ask, "Me Air-sin, Mom, me Air-sin." But I'm not so sure.

I've got the bug

Something about the change of seasons brings out the poet in me. Don't get me wrong, I don't like to write it, but I keep having bits of prose and stanzas of delicious morsels that I read a long time ago pop in my head as I drink in the sunshine and breeze on my skin. I'm going to bless you with a little Thorough for anyone who is also feeling similarly inspired. Love that guy:

Man was born. Whether that Artificer of things,
The origin of a better world, made him from the divine seed;
Or the earth, being recent and lately sundered from the high
Ether, retained some seeds of cognate heaven."

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring. In a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven. Such a day is a truce to vice. While such a sun holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return. Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors. You may have known your neighbor yesterday for a thief, a drunkard, or a sensualist, and merely pitied or despised him, and despaired of the world; but the sun shines bright and warm this first spring morning, recreating the world, and you meet him at some serene work, and see how it is exhausted and debauched veins expand with still joy and bless the new day, feel the spring influence with the innocence of infancy, and all his faults are forgotten. There is not only an atmosphere of good will about him, but even a savor of holiness groping for expression, blindly and ineffectually perhaps, like a new-born instinct, and for a short hour the south hill-side echoes to no vulgar jest. You see some innocent fair shoots preparing to burst from his gnarled rind and try another year's life, tender and fresh as the youngest plant. Even he has entered into the joy of his Lord. Why the jailer does not leave open his prison doors -- why the judge does not dismis his case -- why the preacher does not dismiss his congregation! It is because they do not obey the hint which God gives them, nor accept the pardon which he freely offers to all.

Amen, Henry David, Amen.

Okay, Grandpa...

I've received a few gentle nudges from people mentioning that blogging seems to have taken a back seat to other things in my life lately (it's more like it's hanging on by its fingernails from the back bumper...). I've taken these in stride, but when my sweet Grandpa Griffith starts talking to my husband about how I'm being outblogged by Kate and Kent (and we all know that Kate's doing all the work) then I've just got to do SOMETHING.

I've got cute kids. I'm not afraid to show them. I'm not reluctant to tell you things like how Harrison has started designating certain things as "special" and I just love it. For some reason, it always sounds really sweet when he uses that word. "What are you playing with, Harrison?" "This guy." Pause. "He's special, Mom. He's special." (By the way, in that particular conversation we were discussing an evil-looking, sombrero-wearing, hat-popping dude from his McD's Kids' Meal.)

Anyway--here are a few select moments from our world in the last little while:

Harrison was highly anticipating Grandpa Griffith (my dad, not MY Grandpa Griffith, who was mentioned at the beginning of this blog) and Grandma TT's visit so that he could eat a can a sardines with Grandpa. I thought I'd start him out easy, so I provided the packed-in-mustard variety and held my breath to see if he'd enjoy sardine time with my dad like I had. It was a success. He took it down without blinking. Look out, Uncle Kent--here comes a major eater.

Truman really only has eyes for Harrison if his big brother is around at all. Complete and total adoration. And H-man loves him back just as hard.

When big brother is asleep, then I can get a little lovin' from Mr. Truman-dous himself and that's when we have moments like this:

When we started gearing up for Valentine's Day, I discovered that Harrison loves getting crafty. We've started going to our library for story time mainly because afterward we get to make some rockin' crafts. He loves gluing, cutting, stickering, markering, etc. And he associates all of this with Valentine's Day, and continues to daily plead for me to make valentines with him well after the holiday is over. Luckily, he's got a mom who's a sucker for messy projects that involve pipe cleaners and yarn. Good stuff.

We did it!

After a lot of hard work (see above) and hard play (see below), we have made a cool upgrade to Harrison's bedroom. Over Christmas I was looking at a magazine and saw a built-in bed that caught my eye because of all the storage that came with it. WELL, I just happen to be married to Mr. If-I-Don't-Know-How-To-Do-It-Right-Now-Then-I'll-Figure-It-Out-Pretty-Fast (Actually his name is Dan Gilbert) and he said to just give the word and he'd make it for me. Sigh. It is a charmed life I lead.
Anyway, I couldn't get a picture to truly do it justice. HUGE drawers underneath the bed, floor to ceiling bookshelves, and a beautiful built-in armoire. Now when y'all try to picture what I do with the boys all day, you can think of us all cuddled up there with a pile of books having a reading party. (I'd rather you picture that than some of the other not as sweet things we do every day.)

Thinking of you, Dot

My grandma, Dorothy Jean Patton, passed away this morning, and I can't help but feel the world is a little less of a nice place to be because of it. I know it's human nature to remember only the best of someone after they are gone, but I promise you that I esteem Grandma Dot as one of the best good women of the world.

One of my earliest memories of Grandma happened while she was taking care of my sister and me. We must have been just horribly rotten and given her quite a time because she got frustrated and told us that she was going to come down and swat us on our bottoms. We'd never been threatened with violence from her before, and we took this challenge seriously. I can just picture Michelle and I intensely discussing the problem before coming up with a solution. We scurried into the bathroom, stuffed as much toilet paper as our pants would hold into our underwear, and then went to face our punishments. We thought we'd outsmarted her for sure. And down she came (I can only imagine what she thought when she saw our bulging behinds). I turned around and bent over, only to be shocked and almost disappointed at the little tap she planted on my rear. It was certainly like no spanking I'd received before. And that's when I learned something wonderful about grandmas in general, and mine in particular. They love us.

As a grown woman, I've had the chance to learn lots of other things about Miss Dorothy Jean. She believed in people like I've never seen anyone else do. As she attended all sorts of plays, concerts, and performances by her grandchildren she would tell us all so earnestly that we should go professional in whatever endeavor it happened to be. She wasn't just saying it to be nice; she really saw talent in us and wanted us to shoot for the moon. She always made me feel like I could do anything, with a wholehearted support I haven't encountered many other places. She loved my husband's malts and if I wasn't in love with him before she met him, you can bet she would have convinced me to be. I think she had a special soft spot for him--they were kind of kindred spirits in a lot of ways.

Grandma loved to blare her all-Elvis radio channel and I think she only turned it off when she was watching Fox News. I love that she loved Greta. Grandma could take in stride Harrison's "No way, Dot! No way!" first thing in the morning and still be ready and willing to bribe him with M&M's all the live long day. She watched an entire season of 24 in a three-day period with Dan and me. It'd be verging on midnight and us youngin's would be ready to turn in after three episodes in a row, but she'd have that gleam in her eye and say, "Are you ready for one more?"

Grandma used to come to church with us on General Conference Sundays. There was always a bit of strategery going on because we all wanted to sit by her. Not just when we were little, either. Sitting by Grandma at church meant that you'd be treated to one of those drowsiness-inducing hand massages that she had a special knack for. Heaven-on-Earth. But not to worry, even when you were beat out for the coveted seat, all was not lost. You could always count on a little blue roll of Certs, or a box of Tic Tacs to make its way down to you during the meeting. Not too long ago, I got to go to church with Gram and Michelle and her family. During the service I happened to glance down and saw that the tradition was being continued with Luke. I'm so glad he had the chance to get a Grandma Patton hand massage. Nothing like it.

I know I'm rambling. I had envisioned being able to sit down and write an eloquent, fabulous tribute to one of this blog's most ardent supporters and biggest fans. I'm failing at that, but I do want to at least express this. I love you, Grandma. I'm so glad I've had all the chances I've had to be with you, learn from you, love you, and be loved by you. I'm so happy that you've moved on to a place of greater peace and joy. I'm just sad for the rest of us that have been so spoiled by your attention and affection and are now at a loss. You are missed.

Things on my mind tonight

I'm back, trying to stay afloat in the blogging world. It can be tough, getting back here often enough to keep your readership feeling satiated and not wanting to roam to greener pastures where the text is not only more frequent but much wittier. So here's a sampling of what's running through my mind tonight:

Here's a glimpse of the boys hanging out this past Saturday morning. I don't know why I love these kind of shots so much. I think it's something about the tired "I just woke up" eyes and the sweet little jammies. My favorite pictures of myself as a kid are morning p.j. shots like this and I want to make sure I have good ones for the boys.

Not to change the subject, but Aldi rocks. I'm munching on a delicious orange I purchased from said store today and get this--the whole bag of oranges cost 99 cents. Nice. Once in a while I'm mocked for driving half an hour to get to an Aldi, but people just don't know how much money you can save. Not to mention it's a block away from the day old bread store. That alone is worth the gas to get there.

I was making soup today and found myself with no onions. If I had realized I was out of them when I was at Aldi, I assure you I could have picked some up for a handsome price, but alas, I thought I had just got a bag. So, in the kitchen, without onions. Then I remember--a couple years back I purchased a number 10 can of dehydrated chopped onions for food storage. I dug through my food storage, found it, and now I have a heck of a lot of dried onion to go through. I'm feeling up to the challenge.



I'm becoming more Southern or something. In the last few months I've been catching myself saying "fer" instead of "for" and I'm not joking. Horrifying. I don't know how to stop it because I'm not even cognisant of it until after the fact. Also, my use of "got" has been annoying me. I don't know if I'm using it differently, or if I'm just becoming aware of it. Hmmm.



Oh!! This really belongs at the top of the blog, not here, but I'm on a roll and not gonna stop. Tru rolled over on Monday! That'd be January 7th. Not even four months old. I realize that may not be remarkable to a lot of people, but I'm coming from the vantage point of the mother of Harrison (Baby Lardo). He didn't roll till he was sitting up at six months. You put on one of those sumo wrestling suits and then you'll see why he was a late bloomer in that regard. Anyway, I'll post a pic of Tru doing a little tummy time soon.



Lastly, I wanted you to check out H-man loving on his tool bench he got for Christmas (Santa found it at Goodwill for $6!)

Another little nibble...

Here's a couple more peeks into the Christmas vacation. Don't you love that wistful look on Tru's face when he's being held by Aunt April? I think he's thinking in his head how nice it would be to go home with her.... But he looks pretty happy with Aunt Jamie too. The kid loves his aunts! Almost as much as H-man loves his cousins. I'm finding that I didn't get hardly any pics of Mimi, Walker, and Lizzie. I'll try to search through what other people took, because they're just too cute to not show off.

You eat an elephant one bite at a time

I have so many things I want to report on and several musings I'd like to ramble on with for a while and I'm overwhelmed. I'm starting with just the snow fun Harrison had with his Daddy up in Michigan over Christmas. I knew he loved being outside here in Nashville, but I wasn't sure how he'd take the cold. Please. I should have known by now--the kid loves the outdoors. He took like a fish to water playing with his Alaska cousins Bradley and Clayton. They were his instant idols. Here are a few of the highlights from his snow fun.

About to burst

Who has time to blog living the life I do? Can you believe that I get to be with these boys EVERY DAY? I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

I love you guys!

Can I just gush for a minute? I have been blessed with some freaking amazing people in my life and I just need to let gratitude erupt for just a sec or I might explode.

• Two of my absolute fantastic college BFF's surprised me out of the blue last weekend to show up for my Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I want to cry every time I think about how adorable they are. Bren and Rob, I don't think you understand how much I needed that. Thank you.
• Shell, I'm becoming increasingly horrible about blogging and checking other people's blogs, but every time I check yours my heart smiles. I want to be a mom like you and write like you. I'm not sure which of those I want more.
• Dad, you drove twenty-two hours out of your way just so I could stay and soak up a couple extra days of Iowa home lovin. It makes me so happy to see my boys loving on you and Katy and Mom. It even makes me happy to see one of my boys looking you in the face, putting out his hand, and saying, "No way, Dot, no way!" (You can fill the name in with whoever happens to be around). I love that you don't take Harrison's slightly-unsocial tendencies personally. And Gramma Dot, he's still talking about you and your Ms.
• Brit, every coversation I have with you about my jewelry adventure is such a boost to my spirit. You have such a gift for giving support and encouragement and I am so grateful for it right now. I'll remember you when I'm a millionaire jewelry diva.
• Danny boy, you approach life with such enthusiasm and it helps me try to do the same. I'm looking forward to the 7pm showing of Frosty the Snowman , complete with eggnog and popcorn like you wouldn't believe. It's been the talk of the house all day.
• Kyle, you pretty much never update your blog, but your latest was so hilarious it's what made me laugh outloud and start thinking about all the people in my life that make me feel good. Where did you find that? Seriously funny.

Of course, that's not all the great people that are daily inspiring me. It's just what I could get down while both boys slept. You should be impressed that I got as far as I did. Kisses and holiday cheer to everyone!

Where do you keep the Magic Eraser?

Not words you want to hear. Ever. Right, Cora? I'm happy to report that permanent marker on vintage Formica is no match for Mr. Clean. If I was a celebrity I would insist on endorsing those things. I really think they have a little magic in them.

We're getting so excited for the holidays. Publix got us in the mood last night when we attended their "Holiday Fest." I didn't even have to make dinner. Samples galore. Good ones. Jumbo shrimp, stuffing, turkey, crab cakes, Christmas cookies, and on and on and on. The high point was when I tentatively let Harrison try the eggnog. I believe my exact words to Dan as I gave it to him were, "What if he's one of those freaks who doesn't like eggnog? I'm not sure I can handle that." Puh-lease. I didn't need to worry. I've never heard him squeal and smack his lips like he did last night. He's a fellow nog aficionado. I can rest easy.

13...the Magic Number

I think it was just a week or two ago that I reported Harrison's ability to count to three. Well, since then he'd gone a little higher and Dan and I have been shocked every time since we haven't been doing much counting with him. Yesterday morning, as we were lazily hanging out in bed (all four of us), Harrison just started happily counting. Dan's and my eyes locked and our eyebrows raised when he made it up to nine without any prompting; then we just sat there as he quickly and clearly kept reciting all the way up to THIRTEEN! We just silently laughed as he then proceeded to repeat "thirteen" at least five more times. I don't know where he picked it up, and he refuses to count at all if I try to join in or prompt him at all (he says, "Mommy, No!" while doing the Swiper, no swiping hand motion).

I had to call Mom right away to tell her about my Mensa-bound tot and she said that Grandma Dot claimed to be able to count to 100 before she was three. Is this true, Dot? I think Harrison's taking it as a personal challenge.

Fat and Sassy

That just seems like an appropriate post title after Halloween. And pregnancy. As you can see, though he occasionally gets slapped around a little by big brother, or left in his bassinet a little longer than he'd like by Mom, Tru is proving to be a man of pretty good temperament. His smiles are coming more often and he's starting to coo so sweetly to me. I love it.
Harrison has been cracking us up. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. The glasses that he got for Halloween are more of an unintentional thing. I think he likes to put them on cause they're like the glasses Mommy wears, and he'll just walk around with them for a while talking seriously to me. I have no choice but to try to take him seriously.



I don't have any actual trick-or-treating pics, but you can check out a couple great ones of Harrison hitting the neighborhood with Hunter here. It was only a matter of time before I started just referring people to Britt's blog to see Harrison's life. I can't help it. He loves hanging with his BFF.

As might be becoming more and more obvious, H-man wears his "Bones" outfit a lot. This shot reminds me of Mr. Mom when the dude is shot and falls on the chalked body outline, but then has to get up and realign himself.

As a second-time-around mom, I didn't get around to getting a "first bath" picture until now. But it's sweet anyway, right?

We went on a gorgeous family hike this morning. I just love Tennessee in the fall. And I love being married to Dan, because he drags me out for stuff like this that I wouldn't do without him but end up loving. The weather was beautiful. The scenery was beautiful. My family is beautiful.

Seeing it for the first time again

Last night, Harrison helped me see the autumn moon through fresh eyes. We were driving in the car when he first commented on how big and bright it was and begged to get out to get a better look. When we finally stopped, he stood and looked at it for a long time, then slowly lifted his hands above his head, paused to gather all his potential energy, and then jumped as high as he could (probably about three inches) while saying, "Touch. Moon. Touch. Moon." My heart melted about fifteen times while I watched him repeat again and again. He really thought he could get it. I love how taken he was by the moon, and it made me look at it and appreciate it like I haven't since I was two years old. Go out and try to touch your harvest moon tonight.

Out of excuses

Well, I know the customary waiting period for a lot of things after you have a baby is six weeks; you know, six weeks till you start working out, six weeks till you have a check-up with your OB-GYN, so I was just assuming that was the appropriate amount of time for me to entirely check out of the blog world.

Aaah, it was a nice break. But I'm back and we've been doing all kinds of fun stuff, so I've got to try to catch you up to speed.

I am so excited fall is finally here. A few weeks ago I kept pulling out my big cozy sweatshirts and wearing them around in the 90 degree weather. I was unsuccessful in that attempt to make autumn come faster. So I finally gave up on that, and what do you know, it came on its own. I'm loving having a little man to talk to all day about ghosts and pumpkins and leaves and the concept of trick-or-treating. When Halloween is here, we're going to be READY. The boys each have two Halloween outfits, so we have some sort of festive attire on nearly every day.

Baby Tru Update: He's growing like a weed and we love him to death. From early on, it's been apparent that he's an advanced little dude. His umbilical cord came off when he was three days old. If that's not a sign of how gifted he is, then I don't know what you're waiting for. It's a good thing it did come off that early because when we brought him home and Harrison saw it, I told him it was an owie so that he wouldn't try to touch it. Sweet Harrison got so concerned when I told him that Truman had an owie. He looked at it for another second, then just laid down and whimpered. It was so sweet to see the brotherly affection he felt for Tru right away.

H-man Update: This kid is a sponge right now. He knows all of his phonics and he has for a while, but now we can add that he's got his colors conquered, can count to three, and is in the process of mastering his shapes. Art projects are some of his favorite things to do right now, along with going to Goodwill and playing with all the toys in the aisle. He now sleeps in his big boy bed pretty much every night. He's growing up so fast, I'm expecting him to start shaving any day now. The other day he was given a helium balloon that he loved; over and over he'd say, "Mom, watch this!" and then release the balloon to the ceiling. It was my job to retrieve the balloon and then we'd do it again. (x 30) Anyway, we came down for breakfast the next morning and Harrison was delighted to find his balloon waiting for him. It didn't register as strange that it was waiting for him on the floor. He picked it up and said, "Mom, watch this!" and I got a little sad because I knew he was about to be disappointed. He was. He wanted me to fix it and I couldn't. He learned a sad little life lesson about the life of a balloon that day.

Jen Update: I just got contacts and am heading back to the gym. Feeling good and under control at least 60% of the time. I'm still making a few desperate "What were we thinking!?!" phone calls to Dan when things are a bit hairy, but I think he'll attest to the fact that those are getting fewer and far between as time moves on. I'm not sure I can envision being a mom to anybody else right now, but we'll see if that feeling changes once I've got this down (assuming that ever happens).

Dan Update: My better half is of course staying busy. He finished repainting the upstairs and is working on various odd jobs around the house right now. I leave him in charge of both boys twice a week when I am tutoring and he not only keeps everyone safe and unharmed, he also has the energy to carve pumpkins with them with no help from me. I would have never had the guts to attempt it, but as you can see, it was a success.