Another Week Gone...

Okay, so maybe Tuesday's post made it sound like we've had a bad week. Well, I got eight hours of sleep last night.

Eight.

Hours.

That means you can officially ignore Tuesday's post, because this week is FABULOUS. Even though Mark started crawling in earnest this week, and I now have to watch him every second.
Eight. Hours.

Even though first thing yesterday morning, Gracie walked into the bathroom and "helped" me by giving my glasses back to me - with one earpiece perpendicular to the rest of the frame. It's OK. Really.
Eight. Hours.

As you know from Tuesday's post, Grace found my make-up bag on Monday night. Robert and I were both just fifteen feet away, and I had barely set my purse down two minutes prior to the "photo shoot". We were supposed to be heading out the door, but Robert had a quick question... and the rest, as they say...

So without further ado, here is Another Week Gone...

Uh, Mommy? Have you seen Grace lately?

Wait! I haven't put the lipliner on yet!

 

Kisses! Kisses make everything better!

Daddy falls for it every time....

Kisses? That's all it takes to get out of trouble?
I am SO using that next time!

The very next morning, Grandma DeeDee called to see if Grace could come to her house. Mommy had the bags packed in less than fifteen minutes.

As usual, Grace had a blast: 

Papa and Gracie enjoying the fall evening

Gracie watching Elmo on her Elmo chair...

Grace did NOT want to come home. When she saw me pull up, she said to Grandma happily "Mommy!" Followed immediately, and not so happily, by "No Mommy!". Smart girl. We all know how different life is at home compared to life with The Grands...

On the way home, she was back to her normal self. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw this:



Where is Gracie?

There she is! (One of our favorite "games")

I finally got Mark showing off his crawling skills: 

Okay Mom, you ready?



Ta-Da!



Oh yeah, I'm on my way to trouble now!


No matter what kind of week you've had, I hope you get a chance to appreciate the fun that your little ones bring to your life and find something to be thankful for....

Eight. Hours. (I couldn't resist.)

One of those Weeks...

This week has already been one of "those" weeks. You know, the ones where you want to grab someone off the street and beg to exchange lives with them, if only for a few days. Preferably, that person will have just stepped out of a limo on their way into Neiman Marcus, but still. I was ready to trade with anyone who looked like they had a decent wardrobe and no children.

Here is just a sampling of the various things that happened:

1) I turned the coffeemaker on, and when I went back ten minutes later, I found a carafe full of tepid water. I had forgotten to put the water into the coffee pot before turning it on. I did this twice.

2) My daughter has decided to test every rule that is put before her, just to see if it "sticks". My best example is when I was in the kitchen finishing up the dishes. I checked on her and Mark, then went back to the kitchen. I put away four more dishes,put soap in the dispenser, shut the door and hit the Pots and Pans button.

In this amount of time, she had gotten into the hall closet, grabbed a roll of wrapping paper, unrolled the remainder (about six feet) and was hitting her brother on the head with the empty cardboard tube. Lovely.

By the time Robert came home, I was ready to hit myself on the head with a cardboard tube. It was either that, or look up the number for the closest convent and ask if it was too late to join.

3) Mark decided, in true boy fashion, that misbehaving must be some sort of contest, and he needed to get in on the gig. By Monday night, he worked out a plan. He couldn't yell "NO!", but he could cry... and so he did, with all his might.

He also decided that he would only fall asleep on his own as long as it was light outside. Every night, he would wail when put into his crib. He would get to the point where his face would get bright red and he would be so angry... it was almost funny. Of course, it might have only been funny because I'd pretty much lost my mind by ten at night. It's hard to say. Is it possible to be afraid of the dark when you're only six months old? I mean, just seven months ago, he didn't know what light was...

4) Robert came home from his business trip to all this chaos. I'm sure he was debating on catching a flight back to North Carolina. Getting away from the insane people he came home to probably would have been a relief to him. I know it would have been for me.

5) A good portion of the cookies we made at my friends house last week came home with us. Mysteriously, they all disappeared by Monday afternoon. Robert swears he had none. Gracie only got one and a half... and Mark - well, he didn't help with the icing, so why should he get to eat any? If my math is correct, that means I ate an entire plate of cookies in three days.

But I've always been really bad at math.

6) Remember how proud I was to have lost a few pounds a couple of weeks ago? Well, it turns out they weren't really lost. They were just on a mini vacation. Apparently they went to visit some cookies... they're back, settling in on my thighs. Welcome home blubber, I didn't miss you a bit.

Looking back, the week wasn't all that bad. It's just that when you're actually in those moments, it can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, I have very few pictures of life at our house this week. Friday's post may be a bit like the haunted houses popping up all over town... there's stuff going on, but it's hard to see what. Until then, I leave you with one photo I did manage to snap last night:

Gracie is at Grandma's today.

I'm sure she's being an angel...

Happy Birthday Uno, Dos, Tracey!

I know, I know, just last week I promised to stop with the networking badges and blogger love. But I can't resist today. My good friend Tracey just hit the one year mark over at her blog Uno, Dos, Tracey. She inspired me to start up this gig, and it just wouldn't be right not to wish her a happy anniversary. If you like my mom-isms, then stop over and check her out - she's a riot.

Happy Blogger Birthday Uno, Dos, Tracey!

(If you're curious about the Blogger bit, check out her post today.)

Another Week Gone...

So much happened this week! I almost skipped some of the photos because I was sure they were from last week. It's been a long ride...

We celebrated my "real" birthday this week. After all the parties for Grace, I'm not sure she realized this one wasn't for her. Mark still hasn't quite figured it out yet. Probably because he never gets cake.
 

Grace: They're singing that song again.
That can only mean one thing...
Mark: What? What?!?



CAKE!



Monday was difficult. Apparenty, Gracie decided she needed to get all of her spankings out of the way first thing, so she cried, whined, hit her brother, screamed "No!", and participated in as much chaos as her little hands could find. Thankfully, she was back to "normal" after that - not perfect, but at least manageable.

Hello two's, very not nice to meet you.

Despite attempting to drive mommy screaming from the house, we actually had a great week and did lots of fun things. Daddy was on a business trip the last half of the week, so we made sure to spend some family time together before he left:

Mommy took Grace on a bike ride:



Mommy FINALLY learned to ride a bike.



"Dad, are you sure it's safe to be
in this contraption with mom at the wheel?"



We all went to the park the night before Daddy left:



Hi Daddy! Hi Sweetheart! (Awww...)



Daddy helped Gracie master the monkey bars



Gracie showed off for Daddy by
using the "big" swing



Gracie has been working on getting up the climbing wall,
and this time she did it all by herself!

 

Mark had fun at the park too.


Grandma Dee Dee came to help mommy out on Wednesday, and I got seven straight hours of sleep. Wow. That looks so good it makes me want to repeat it. Mark has not taken a night feeding since he was two months old, but for some reason one or the other of the kids seems to think that waking up in the middle of the night is fun. So, I was grateful that DeeDee came to help entertain the kids and let me get some much needed rest.

Yesterday we went to my best friend's house and we all had a great time. Grace loved playing with the boys, and we got to "paint" cookies! Here are the highlights:



Daniel and Grace are making Playdough cookies.
They were sure to put rock "chocolate chips" in too.

Gracie doing her favorite thing: playing in dirt and
putting things in and out of buckets.



Gracie practicing for the powder
puff showdown...

We used paint brushes to "color"
the sugar cookies. Fun!



Gracie caught on right away, and LOVED it.

   

Um, yeah. Saw that comin'.



How am I going to use these sprinkles AND get those
sprinkles away from the boys???

  

Yay! I got 'em all!



I think I'll take the green ghost, thank you very much!

Hope you had a great week too, even if you had a few speed bumps along the way. Be sure to have fun with your little ghouls and goblins, and stay "cool" until next week!

When Words Collide

You know that Seinfeld episode where George yells "Everybody knows, you gotta keep your worlds apart!!!" Well, I know just how he feels.

I recently ran into Gigi over at Kludgy Mom during my travels in the blogosphere. She is one great blogger, and I had a lot to learn from her. I brazenly asked if she would stop by over here at Sunshine SAHM and give me her honest opinion. I've been at this just a little over two months, and I'm still trying to find my way. Her response was fantastic, and she identified something that's been nagging at me for awhile, but that I couldn't identify on my own.

Quite simply, my worlds are colliding.

Kludgy Mom wrote: "[Some posts] sound like you are writing for your family and friends that you know in person; the other posts sound like you are writing for a different audience. So I would say what any other bloggy veteran would say. First you need to decide what your goals are."

Well, I started this blog because I admired my friend's blog over at Uno, Dos, Tracey. I had no idea there were entire communities devoted to sharing their experiences with one another in blogland. Meeting other people (Adults! With intelligent things to say!) was a perk I discovered after "joining the club".

I also started this blog for grandma and grandpa. And Auntie. And my best friend. You know, the people who care about my kids and our life, and rarely get to see or talk to us because I've been bodily attached to a child in one form or another for 18 of the last 22 months.

I have been trying to live with one foot on both of these worlds - letting my family know what has been going on with us while writing posts that will appeal to those who don't know my family personally. So I looked at my goals and made a decision.

Sunshine SAHM is for my family. While I enjoy meeting other people who are sharing similar experiences, my readers should know that what you can expect to see here are blurry and/or poorly lit pictures of my kids doing kid things. And semi-literate posts about what it's like to live with those kids. And while I think my kids are adorable and fascinating, you might not. Unless you're grandma and grandpa. Which is kind of the point.

I've decided to leave the networking for another day. I've also decided to cut back to two scheduled posts per week (Sorry Grands!), until I have a better schedule set up at home. Robert asked that I only blog if it didn't interfere with our home life, and I need to be sure to honor that.

I'll continue Another Week Gone on Fridays, and have one more post on Tuesdays. There will probably be more updates on the kids and less formal writing "for the public". But since I love to write, you'll still get some snarkiness from time to time. In fact, you may see more posts overall, just in SASS form, to keep you up to date on the fun day to day stuff.

If you don't know me in person, I'd like to say that I've really appreciated the friends I've made and plan to continue those relationships. You won't see any more blog hops or networking badges though. I'm going to just plant my family in this little corner of the digital world, and if you enjoy visiting, I'd love to have you.

My heartfelt thanks again to Gigi over at Kludgy Mom. My worlds are no longer colliding. I'm back to just one - where the sun is always shining.

Except, of course, when it's not. But don't worry, I'll be sure to tell you all about it.

How Grand It Is...

My children were recently in the company of their grandparents. (From here forward known as "The Grands". )
Grand: of high moral or intellectual value; extraordinarily good or great.

Grandparent, of course, is radically different than the simple label parent. Parents can reasonably expect to never receive the "grand" adjective from their direct offspring. As a matter of fact, Gracie is quite certain we are called parents because we are lacking some of the basic characteristics that define what grandparents naturally are. Grand: rich and superior in quality.

Grandpa: the father of your father or mother. / Grandma: the mother of your father or mother. Suprisingly, Webster could not come up with something more extravagant to define the apparent awesomeness that is "The Grands". Maybe it was best to leave it in simplicity than try to capture the essence and fail.

Grandstand: perform ostentatiously in order to impress the audience and with an eye to the applause. My children can practically recite this definition by heart. Especially the "with an eye to the applause" portion. This of course, is courtesy of The Grands, who have an incredible ability to turn every action from my children into a performance.

Grand theft: larceny of property having a value greater than some amount (varies by locale). I have witnessed the above mentioned larceny first hand. I drop off my children for a visit with The Grands, and when I return, my children have been replaced. The Grands, having indulged their every whim, have stolen the children I dropped off and returned little monsters in their place.

The children I left in their care had value! I put blood, sweat and tears into teaching them manners, making them obey, feeding them nutritious meals and making sure they got enough sleep. In return, I receive children who have eaten sugar cereal, stayed up past bedtime, watched lots of television, been applauded for even the slightest bit of good behavior, and are deliriously happy.

Forget that last part. It's really irrelevant.

My personal experience with The Grands was that no infraction was left unpunished. Indulgence was not a character trait known to these two individuals, and manners were instilled ruthlessly. My children's experience has been quite different. In fact, I'd say it's been almost completely the opposite.

Grandeur: the quality of exaltation of character or conduct. Oh yes, someone's conduct is always being exalted when mommy comes to pick up her brood. "Oh, they were just angels!" say The Grands.

Uh huh. It's kind of hard to be devilish when nothing is off limits.

Grandiloquent: puffed up with vanity. Didn't even know that was a word, did ya? Well, this is another one that can be defined verbatim by the replacement children my parents return to us. Yep, the kids think they are the bees knees after a trip to The Grands.

"Grand"child: noun - a child of your son or daughter. The Grands say they have waited a long time to have grandchildren. Just as my children refuse to bestow the title on me, apparently my own parents refuse to grant me the title as well. Maybe it's because I never attributed the adjective to them...

Oh well. What goes around, comes around. If I'm lucky, someday I'll have grandchildren. Guess I'm going to have to stock up on the sugar cereal.

Another Week Gone...

Mark turned six months old this week. Six months! Time to have another kid. Kidding! (Maybe.)

Mark is ridiculously close to crawling. He will get on his hind legs and rock, rock, rock. And then do a face plant. But it won't be long. In the meantime, he's mastered rolling around and scooting to get what he wants. I caught him in action:


He started out exploring toys while *almost* on
his play mat.



Just two minutes later, he'd made it across the room,
with toys left in his wake.

The highlight of the week was definitely the pumpkin patch. The kids had a wonderful time, and mommy was very happy to get some fun pictures: 

Grace: We're dressed up all cute for the pumpkin patch!
Mark: Cute? Should I check your eysesight? Get a load of
this goofy pumpkin hat I'm wearing!

If I move fast enough, mommy will NEVER
get a picture of my entire outfit! (True enough.)



Yay! The pumpkin patch! I'll fit right in...

The place we went had LOTS of activities for the little ones. A playground, petting zoo, hay stack and more were waiting to be explored.

Grace loved the playground the most:

She loved the little covered slide

Mark is contemplating which pumpkin to choose



Grace running through the pumpkins.
It's a wonder I get any pictures at all...





Mark discovers grass for the first time!



Grace on the BIG slide! Um, I think it's
pretty obvious how she felt about that.



My "Wee-Be-Little" with his pumpkin!

I turn twenty-three this week, so my family went out to celebrate:

My niece Lizzie made me a pillow for my twenty-fifth
birthday. I need the beauty sleep!

Grace decided to forego her mac n' cheese
for her crayon. It might have been
more nutritious...



Mommy decided it wasn't an acceptable dinner.
We thirty year olds are smart like that.



The napkin tasted no better than the crayon.

Mark said hello to Grandma. We offered to pay for the
eye exam she needed the next day... oops.

Hope you had the chance to spend some time with family this week. My actual birthday hasn't arrived yet, so I'm looking forward to finding more ways to celebrate my thirty-fifth birthday... got to get as much mileage as I can out of it!