Heaven is in South America

Every morning, as the kids and I drive to school, we usually sit in relative silence listening to whatever music Ellie requests that day. 6:00 am is just too early to engage in conversation. But this morning, Ellie was in a very talkative mood and started asking me all sorts of random questions like "Why do we need signs?" and "Why are trees important?" Those were pretty easy to answer. Then she asked me why her "other name" is Edna. I explained how Daddy's grandma was named Edna and Daddy loved her so much. When she went to heaven, Daddy
wanted to remember her and so that is how Ellie got her middle name. Suddenly, the conversation took a turn that I was not prepared for…especially so early in the morning.

Does everyone die and go to heaven?
Yes, when they are really, really old.
That's horrible!
No, it's not horrible. You get to see your family that is up there and everyone is happy.
Will Daddy see his grandma when he dies and goes to heaven?
Yes, but not for a long, long, long time.
I don't want Daddy to die!

So, I spent the next minute reassuring Ellie that her daddy wasn't going to die until she was really old and married and she had kids and her kids were all grown up. Then, she moved to more theological questions about what heaven is like and where it is located. Really?
How do you explain to a 4 year old where heaven is? I went with the old standby that it was up above the clouds. She then asked, "Is it in South America?"

Drama Mama

I am becoming a regular fixture at the pediatrician's office these days. I received a phone call from the daycare during my 2nd period class. The director informed me that Jack had fallen and split open his head just above his eye. She wanted me to come immediately. Having never dealt with stitches or really any sort of emergency (knock on wood), I kind of went into panic mode. In my head I was trying to remember if pediatricians can give stitches or if that is an emergency room sort of thing. Then, I thought about the daycare's propensity to exaggerate any and all illnesses and injuries so I decided to hold off on calling the doctor until I inspected the cut myself. It wasn't deep, but it was split rather wide so I drove across the street to our awesome new pediatrician. I snapped this shot of Jack while we were waiting for the doctor. The worst part was holding Jack down while they irrigated the wound and applied the Dermabond. Afterward, he was completely fine so I took him back to daycare and returned to work. So, my first minor emergency went smoothly, but I have a feeling that with Jack I am going to have lots more of them.

I was actually planning to write about Ellie and her flair for the dramatics. Last night, she was missing the brush for her My Little Pony. She wanted me to drop everything and help her look for it. When I declined, she dramatically declared, "My life is ruined!" Flash forward to this morning when I tell Ellie that she cannot have a piece of gum. She responded with, "Today is the worst day ever!" I don't know where she gets it from....certainly not from her mom who manages to take a little, tiny cut and turn it into an emergency that requires a lengthy blog post!

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

After a particularly long night wherein I was woken up by a teething Jack multiple times and by a thirsty Ellie once, I finally dragged myself out of bed this morning only to discover this near the ceiling in my bathroom:
In case you are wondering, that is a big bubble of water behind the paint. It seems we have some sort of plumbing issue. Anyway, my mind was on plumbers and how much they cost when I rushed out the front door this morning with my two small children in tow. My hands were full of lunches and blankets and bags. Unfortunately, I did not have my keys in hand. So, not only were we locked out of the house, but I couldn't even get in the car. I didn't bother with a jacket for myself, but luckily I had a moment of stellar parenting and put jackets on the kids so they didn't freeze to death as we waited for 30 minutes in the rain. Tom finally came to our rescue, but he was none to happy about leaving his team of 40 girls on their own. Then, on my way to work, my mom calls me and tells me I should turn off my water so I don't come home to a flooded house. It is too late for me to turn around at this point so I just crossed my fingers and said a little prayer that our flooding days are over. Of course, a light was out on my route to work so I got stuck in traffic. At this point, I just had to laugh. Naturally, I was late which is a bit of a problem when you have a roomful of students waiting on you. It is days like today that I have to remind myself that some days are just like that...even in Australia.

Ellie's first (and possibly last) mani/pedis

I can't believe I am admitting this, but Ellie has been secretly biting her fingernails and toenails for years without my knowledge. It wasn't until after Jack was born and I had to cut his fast growing nails all the time that I realized I couldn't remember the last time I had cut Ellie's nails. Her nails were always so short so maybe I just thought they grew very, very slowly. I don't know. But once I realized what she was doing, I made a deal with her. I promised her I would take her for a manicure and pedicure as soon as her nails were long enough that I could see "white."

Surprisingly, it worked! Monday, we had the day off so I took Ellie for the promised mani/pedis. She was very excited and picked her own colors (hot pink and gold glitter). She didn't realize the lady doing her nails didn't speak English so she kept trying to make conversation with her. I am glad the lady didn't understand because Ellie was asking her things like, "Do you live here?" Also, Ellie noticed that a man was at the front desk, but only women were doing nails so she informed her pedicurist (is that a word?), "So, the boy is the manager and the girls are the painters, right?"

Her nails turned out great and she proudly showed them off to Tom when we arrived home. However, the next morning when I woke her up, I noticed that she had picked the nail polish off all of her nails!

Jack attack

In the past two days, I have had three people (2 teachers and the director) from Jack's daycare comment on how "busy" he is. "He is always trying to climb everything!" they said. Yes, yes I know. We used to have a fairly childproof home. All I would have to do is make sure the bathroom doors were closed so he wouldn't eat the toilet paper. Now, every door has to be shut and I have to follow him around constantly. If he gets in the kitchen, he goes straight for the oven door, pulls it down, and attempts to climb in. If the dishwasher isn't clicked shut, he does the same thing with it. He has learned he can move the little chairs around and climb on them to access what he wants. He also attempts to use his ride-on toy as a step stool. Unfortunately, it rolls right out from under him. When he isn't trying to reach the highest of heights, he is finding things to throw across the room. Preferably small, heavy objects that he can throw with force. He is exhausting. Maybe that is why his daycare tried to send him home today with a 103 fever. "103?" I said in shock when I picked him up from school. "But he was completely fine this morning!" So, I took Jack across the street to our speedy, new pediatrician. Oddly enough, his temperature there was only 99.8 and everything else looked fine. "Are you sure they didn't say 100.3?" his pediatrician asked me. Yes, I was sure. I think they just needed to make it high enough so that I couldn't bring him back the next day and they could get a break from his "busy" self.

Monster Jam!

My little girl who is obsessed with princesses and wearing dresses went to Monster Jam last night. I like to dress Ellie for the occasion, but what does one wear to a monster truck show? I called to ask my sister and she told me "the most white trash outfit you can find." Well, of course I own no such thing so Ellie wore a dress with black leggings. By the way, the orange thing you see in her ear is an earplug. She still had one in when she woke up this morning!
My two brothers, brother-in-law, and Tom were the ones taking the kids. Thank heavens I didn't have to go. I chose to take Jack with me over to Dianna's house so I could put him down early and we could have a little movie night. It was a lot of fun.
Tom seemed to think Ellie wasn't that interested in the monster truck show, but that is all she talked about this morning as I got her ready for church. She told me about how one truck lost its tire and how another crushed a bunch of trucks. Clearly, she was entertained. But I don't think she will be trading in her princess dolls for monster trucks any time soon.

For your viewing pleasure

Remember how I told you how much Jack likes to rock? Even in his highchair? Well, Tom bought me this cool new video camera for Christmas and so I am now able to actually document it. Lucky you. Jack is usually more forceful, but he was a little
distracted my the camera. I particularly like him finishing it off by blowing a kiss at the end.

After watching me capture Jack on video, Ellie requested a chance to perform as well. I was thinking something along the lines of "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas or "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany. She took it in a whole other direction.

A Farewell to Christmas

Last night I finally accepted that my Christmas vacation was truly at an end and took down my tree and decorations. Ellie was almost as excited about taking down the ornaments as she was putting them up. She sang “Deck the Halls” while she carefully placed each ornament in the box. After everything was put away, she asked if she could watch “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Once it was over, she asked if she could watch it again. She also has insisted that we still listen to my Glee Christmas CD while in the car. I tried telling her that Christmas is over, but she sagely replied, “If Christmas is over, that just means it is coming again.” This coming from the child who recently told me, “Look, Mom, I’m growing up. Soon I will be going to college.”