Happy Mozart's Birthday!

Today is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Birthday! Yay! As many as you know he is my all time

favorite composer! As I write this I hear the soft strains of his music coming from my girls room. Katie can work her CD player quite well and the CD she picks to listen to most of the time is "The Mozart Effect; Mozart for moms or moms-to-be". It's also the CD I've played for them as they go to sleep each night since Katie was born (with the exception of a CD 'Mozart for Relaxation' and a Christmas CD for the month of December). So here's a quick salute to Mozart!

Last night we were watching some tv and munching on some gummy bears when there was a reference to Mozart's work. I'm not sure how many people would have recognized the nod but it made me bounce up and down and exclaim happily! So here's the reference- the whole episode was about this guy trying to find the restaurant that made the 'perfect burger' that he had eaten the when he had first moved to NY eight years before. So finally his friends get fed up with him moaning about it and start out on a quest to find this burger shop.

At one point they think they've found the place but he takes a bite and says "No" and then he goes into this explanation about how wonderful this burger is and as he starts in I comment how much it sounds like Salieri in the movie "Amadeus" as he describes a particular piece of music Mozart had composed Serenade for Winds, K. 361(this happens to be my almost favorite piece of Mozart's work). Then that exact piece of music starts playing in the background and his speech is unmistakably Salieri's just with burger vocabulary stuck in in place of music! It made me laugh so hard!

Anyway... Here's to Mozart-a crazy (literally), happy drunk who somehow managed to write the world's most beautiful music that has endured through the ages! Well, God does use the

foolish things of this world to astound the wise!

Confessions of a Tired Mommy

I am tired. Do you know what mommies do when they are tired? Well, I'll tell you what this mommy doesn't get to do-nap. The whole "Nap when baby/child naps" never flies at our house, does it in any home anywhere really? This is the #1 advice I've gotten on how to survive mommyhood and now I want everyone who ever told me that to come to my house. When they arrive I'll point them in the direction of my children and dishes, run up the stairs, slam my bedroom door shut, lock it, and then bury myself in blankets until I don't feel tired anymore which could quite possibly not be for another 18 years.

Of course most of the reason I never nap is because of my brilliant, tireless Katie Rose. That petite little angel stopped napping around the time she turned 2. A month or two before the big 2 she only napped every other day, then it was every two days and then by the big day she decided she would just skip the next 3-5 years and go right to no napping.

Now before any of you get alarmed Katie goes to bed at 8:00 pm and generally wakes up between 8-9 am so she gets plenty of sleep at night. I can make her lie down during the day but it is not worth 2 hour battle for maybe, maybe a ten minute snooze and then we have miss cranky pants for the rest of the night followed by 2-3 hours of laying in bed keeping sissy up.

So anyway, mommy had a hard night last night. I had disturbing dreams all night (I've told 2 people who was featured in them and they both agreed it was horrifying!) couldn't get back to sleep for almost an hour after having to go potty for like the 10th time that night and then the neighbours woke me up at 7, sigh!

I tell you all that so I could get to this...what happens when mommy is tired! After dragging myself out of bed five seconds after I got back in it after seeing my hubby out the door to work I escorted our afore mentioned non-napper downstairs for breakfast. When tired Breakfast = living room picnic in front of an episode of Curious George while mommy makes coffee and splashes cold water in her face.

After eating (what did I eat? I think maybe it had something to do with oranges...hmmmm) I get small one #2 out of bed and give breakfast to except now George is over so I break my own rule and let the children play with Katie's alphabet snowmen that are for school time only which I had meticulously cut out, colored, laminated, and cut out again the night before. We now have 3" snowmen scattered all over our living room.

I really don't have much memory what happens in the next hour or two, I know I did two loads of laundry at some point and I washed a sink full of dishes. Well, at least I was productive! For lunch I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bananas and we had another picnic in front of "Martha Speaks" and "Word World" and I battled with mommy guilt for allowing so much tv as I fixed myself a much yummier ham, cheese, and pickle sandwich.

As soon as I sit down the girls decide they do no want banana's, they want fruit snacks and I who am more interested in quiet than nutrition at this point let the naughty little ones have them. Not just one bag, two bags and then a cookie! I did make Katie drink her milk though, yaaaaaaaaaay me!

After being subjected to puppy-dog-eyes and earnest pleading I break down completely and let them watch "Dragon Tales" which doesn't have anything bad about it except the show gets on my nerves... a lot! To solve this I leave the room and print off things for Katie's lessons in school. I assume the program is over when I hear screaming coming from downstairs that went like this: "MOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYY! ABBY HAS MY SNOWMAN AND SHE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE IT BECAUSE HE HAS A RED LETTER ON HIS TUMMY AND SHE KNOWS THE RED LETTER ONES ARE MIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAABBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

After taking a moment to sob quietly I run downstairs tell Katie to share and find out that the "A is Abby's letter because Abby starts with A but its red not blue and Abby has the blue letters not red and besides I need it to make my name so the snowman really is Katie Rose's not Abby's so-" at this point I cut Katie off and because again I just want quiet I find Abby a snowman with a blue D which is "daddy's letter" so it becomes special and thus satisfies her need for a special letter. I suppose I could have just scooped up all the snowmen and put them out of reach... O well.

Right now the girls are playing with my bedroom door, something they are not allowed to do. I could let them learn the hard way why this is a rule or I could be a more gracious mommy and remove them from the finger-pinching situation. I am sooooooooo tired I'm about to keel over onto the keyboard but you know I guess I love them or something because I'm going to make them stop. Or maybe I don't want to deal with sobbing, bruised fingers, and band-aides if I don't stop them...hmmmmm...where are all the gypsies when you need them?! I'm sure I could make a wonderful profit on our girls cuteness.

.

Oh joy! It's Abby's nap time! But as you know this means really nothing except the house will be a little quieter. Oh and nap time means school time at our house. I hope I can find all the snowmen. Or maybe we'll have a holiday and she can just make words by herself with the lettered snowmen while I pass out on the couch...or I could pop in "Wall-e" and drift off to the sound of clips from "Hello Dolly". Why? BECAUSE I AM SO TIRED I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT I ATE FOR BREAKFAST!

Okay, I'm done complaining now...I know my babies are completely worth it, I mean just look at them!

Seeing their little smiles and twinkling eyes makes it all worth it, especially when dressed up like cute monkey princesses and ladybugs. :) I may be sleep deprived and half crazy but I do love my little ones and can hardly wait for the third one to join the craziness! Now to go find that Wall-E dvd...

Kickin' Back!

Yesterday I had an appointment with my OBGYN. The visit was went wonderfully! When the doctor put the microphone thingy on my tummy to get the heartbeat Baby Pumpkin took personal issue with it and started kicking! He/she kicked so hard the instrument bounced right of my stomach! The baby's heartbeat was good and strong and of course he/she was very responsive to outside stimuli which is a very good sign. :)

I thought I had imagined half of the "kicks" I felt but now I think most of them must have been the baby. It is incredibly easy to get little Pumpkin started! All I have to do is lie down and put my hand on my lower stomach and off he/she goes! Last night Joel felt Pumpkin kick for the first time! Aren't babies fun?!

During our trip to MI the baby would kick along the seat belt until I repositioned it and whenever I lay on my left side the little one kicks the mattress for all he/she is worth! I think we might have a little soccer player in there!

The "he/she" thing is getting kind of old so you'll be happy to hear I have an ultrasound scheduled for February 3rd where (God willing!) we'll find out if the baby is a boy or girl and then I'll be able to use the appropriate gender! Yay! Last night we were at the mall looking for dress pants for Joel and I saw the sweetest baby outfits! I had to resist buying any even though there were some really cute yellow ducky outfits! I suppose I can wait two and a half weeks before buying anything, maybe!

So that was my happy news...Baby Pumpkin is healthy and strong and having fun kickin' back!

We Made It!

Well, We rolled into our driveway last night, or rather early this morning at 12:10 a.m.! We had a wonderful trip and I hope to post some pictures soon but for now my avid readers will have to make do with this very short post! Here are some answers to the questions I've had recently-

My morning sickness is starting to fade, I only throw up once everynow and then...

The girls and Joel have colds but are on the mend...

Yes, I got completely spoiled while I was in MI, my in-laws rock!

Joel's parents and 2 brothers were there in MI plus one of the brothers girlfriends.

The afore mentioned girlfriend is awesome!

We will hopefully find out the gender of our baby in about 3weeks...

Yes, I am actually enjoying getting the house cleaned up after the ravages of packing!

I got lots of cool stuff for Christmas including a much wanted biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder and new pots and pans which I was equally excited about!

Until next time... :)