the best years of my life

They are trying to hold hands while eating breakfast.... if only they were always this sweet to each other :)

I'm currently deep in the toddler trenches.  We have temper tantrums, whining, dirty diapers, dinnertime battles, meltdowns over peanut butter and jelly :).... all the usual toddler fun. Sometimes it is tiring to refill sippy cups 22 times a day, make those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cut them just right for the sixth day in a row, wipe the kitchen table, kiss boo boos, wipe noses, make dinner with "helpers" nearby, fix socks that the two-year-old just can't seem to get on quite right by herself, wipe the kitchen table again.... all while I wish I could just sit on the couch for a while. Last week was especially tough with the Officer working crazy hours, a 3-year-old who seemed to be testing me with her every action, and two little girls who have been sick for almost 2 months straight (hello ear infections that never go away). So after a few of my own cry sessions (what will I do when I can't blame those on hormones anymore!?), I needed a little perspective.

 

Sometimes I catch myself thinking "oh I can't wait for someday when they can make their own sandwiches" or "I can't wait until they can put themselves to bed" or "Will there ever be a day without timeouts?!" Then I remind myself to slow down. That "someday" will come way too fast, and I know I won't be ready for it. That "someday" will mean girls who go off to school; girls who are busy with sports; girls who don't think their Mommy is the greatest thing in the whole world; girls who don't need me all the time and don't ask for hugs and snuggles.

Yes, I will happily kiss those cheeks 1000 times a day

These are the best years of my life. A kind woman at school whose children are all grown reminded me of that a few weeks ago. I think raising teenagers is going to be so tough. Not knowing what my girls are doing every second of the day, protecting them while giving them independence, dating rules (which will be fun with the Officer and his girls ha).  No, I don't want to rush to that part of parenting..... instead I'm going to soak up these toddler years. Sure these years can be physically tiring, but they are wonderful. These are the years I get to spend playing and being loved by my girls. Yesterday I got home from school, and before I could take my shoes off Bug demanded, "Dance with me Mommy". Moments like that make these the best years of my life. Right now I treasure morning snuggles with Belle, dancing with them, being part of their little imaginary worlds, and finding trucks and school buses when we're driving ("I think that one is magic" says Bug every time). When I was in college I thought those were the best years of my life. Those carefree years were nice..... but these years are way better. It seems to get better and better..... who knows maybe those teenage years will surprise me with their own joys =)

She is so fun... most of the time ;)

The competitive marriage

I have been on Spring break this week, and the Mik family has been on lots of exciting adventures all over the place. I'll have to post about our 10 hour drive and fun visit with my sister and her 12 kids, but another highlight of this week was celebrating our 4 year anniversary.

Best moment of our lives

Four years ago I made the best decision of my life. I said "I do" to the Officer, and I made a vow in front of God and our family and friends to spend the rest of my life loving that man. We have been so blessed with 4 incredibly happy years of marriage, and each year has truly been better than the previous year. After only a few years of marriage I certainly don't have enough experience to offer any wise marriage advice, but I'm going to do it anyway ;). Well maybe not so wise, and not exactly advice. If I were to give real marriage advice there are many things I'd say that have already been said by much wiser people about faith, prayer, trust, respect, laughter, making a decision every day to love.... instead I'm going to keep it light and tell you one surprising thing that works well in our marriage. Competition.

Can't you just see the competitive love?

It's not for everyone. The Officer and I are both very competitive people, and if you have ever joined us for a game night you know this. So it is no surprise that we are competitive in marriage. We like to turn almost everything into a little competition. It makes for a happy marriage for us, because we secretly compete to be the best spouse possible. If he has spent a day working hard, then in return I want to work hard to serve him dinner or put the girls to bed... We compete to make the other happy and make the other feel loved. We also compete just to make things more fun. When we first got married we would do our grocery shopping together, and as we waited in the checkout line we each guessed the price of all our groceries. It was Price is Right style and whoever got closest without going over was the winner. It always made a boring errand a little more fun. The winner of all our competitions usually gets a foot massage.... which means I've had many foot massages in 4 years, and the Officer has only had a few ;) 

Our biggest competition has definitely been anniversary celebrations. When we got married we copied one of my sisters and decided to take turns planning our anniversary each year. I plan the odd years, and the Officer plans the even years. It works perfectly, except that it's getting a little out of control already. I started it out nice and simple enough with a quiet dinner date night for our first anniversary. Then for our 2nd the Officer planned an amazing afternoon at a nearby spa. So I decided I needed to step up my game for our 3rd, and I planned a little historic afternoon trip, dinner, and then an overnight stay where we had our wedding reception. It was great but I realized now we are in the habit of "one-upping" each other each year, which is going to get expensive quickly. We celebrated our anniversary last weekend, and the Officer certainly raised the bar for anniversary planning. 

The beautiful resort

Our balcony

We spent the night at a beautiful resort, and he spoiled me with an entire day of spa treatments. My afternoon started with a prenatal massage (amazing!), followed by a facial, and a pregnancy pedicure. Then we went to a fancy dinner and hit up the resorts' arcade for an evening of even more competition. He hates that I always win at air hockey, but he definitely kicks my butt in all other arcade games. We had a beautiful room with a huge balcony where we sat talking late at night, and the next day we got to sit with our feet in the hot tub talking about future anniversaries. Even the 2 hour country drive out to the resort all alone was so nice to just talk. I love long talks with the Officer. 

The spa section of the resort

The arcade

The Officer certainly set a high standard with this anniversary, just like he sets a high standard every day as a spouse. I can't say enough about what an amazing man he is. I'm so glad our girls get to grow up with such an incredible father showing them how a man should love his family.  Happy 4th Anniversary to my love! It has been an exciting 4 years, and this year we get to meet our newest baby, so I know this year will be great too.

On our actual anniversary my sister and her family watched the girls and we went out to a nice lunch and a walk on the river.... we've been so spoiled this week!

Next year I am in charge of planning our 5th anniversary, and obviously 5 should be a pretty big one.... so no pressure for me. I guess I should start planning now.... feel free to send me any creative ideas that the Officer would love =)
Happy Easter!!

My Cuppa Irish Tea

Happy Birthday to my big sister Michaela. She is one of the most kind and generous people I know, and there is no sound in the world better than her laugh! She is living in Ireland with her kids this year, so we are missing her lots and lots, but she will be home again this summer. You should head over to her fantastic blog to read all about their adventures in Ireland. Go to My Cuppa Irish Tea you will learn a lot and be very jealous!! Hope you have a wonderful day Michaela!

11:00 pm meltdown

Last Saturday night we went to a friends' house for dinner. They are an awesome couple with an adorable little girl the same age as Bug. We had a yummy dinner and then hung out while the girls all played happily. We had planned to put the girls down at our friends' house, so the adults could hang out some more. The girls are such good sleepers, and we figured it would be no big deal to put them down there for a while. Wrong. We put them in the same room, which always means they think it is party time. So after they talked and laughed for almost an hour they were finally quiet for maybe 30 minutes, and we thought they were asleep. Then we heard Bug yelling, so I went in to find a nice little diaper that needed to be changed, which meant Belle was up too. By then it was 10:30 and the girls were obviously not getting any sleep, so we packed them up to take them home and had a delightful trip home.

Bug is usually very easy going and smiley, but that girl does not function without her sleep. We had a 30 minute drive home at 10:30 pm, and Bug screamed in her carseat for the first 20 minutes. I can't blame her.... I'm a grump too when I don't get my many hours of required sleep, and I was feeling really bad about keeping her up so late. The really frustrating part was that she was yelling for something specific over and over again, but the Officer and I could not figure out what she was saying. Even her translator (Belle) couldn't figure out what she was saying. She's 2 and sometimes hard to understand, and she was crying so much it was just impossible to tell what she was saying. I knew she was tired, so I guessed everything logical for bedtime.... her lambie, her blanket, her crib, water, a diaper, snuggles, kisses.... we had a long 20 minutes in the screaming car. Then as we got off the exit 5 minutes from our house I finally figured out what she was saying......

 "Peanut butter jelly!!!!!" That is what she was yelling nonstop at 11:00 pm. The day before I had given the girls PB&J in the car when we were driving at lunchtime, so I guess she thought that was the standard now. All she wanted was for us to understand her. Once I finally figured it out and told her, "No we do not have any peanut butter and jelly right now, Bug." Then she was completely content and silent the rest of the way home.  We made it home, she fell asleep immediately, and slept in until 10:00 am the next day. Ever since then whenever someone has been acting irrationally (which happens quite frequently in a house with toddlers and a man ;) the Officer and I just say, "peanut butter jelly!!" and laugh about Bug's middle of the night demands.

Toddler Talk

Toddlers are always so funny. I hate that I forget all the funny little things my girls say, so here are a few of our recent conversations that I want to remember when I need a smile.

Belle was reading a book and sneezed:
Belle: I got my bless yous all over the page!!

Belle: Why don't we have a dog?
the Officer: Mommy is allergic, so it would make her sick to have a dog in the house.
Belle: Mommy, you can go outside, and then we could have a dog inside.

I said "say cheese", and this is what I got

some Belle vocabulary:
"poodle potties"= porta potties
"alligator juice"= gatorade

After a day of the adults renovating my parents house:
Belle: Grandma and Grandpa worked hard today
Me: Yes, everyone worked very hard today.
Belle: I worked hard too
Me: What'd you do to work hard?
Belle: I worked hard to get up from my nap.

It's hard work being 3

Lately Belle loves to talk about what everyone will be when they grow up. Almost always her list goes like this: Bug is going to be a police officer, Belle is going to be "a soccer team", baby Mik will be a teacher, and our next baby after that is going to be a pilot... I guess we need exactly 4 children, because she knows of 4 possible occupations right now.

The other day when I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up this is what I got:
Belle: I'm going to be a Nun
Mommy's Catholic heart melted
Belle: Then when I'm done being a Nun I'm going to get married and have a baby in my tummy
Me: ummm that's not how that works.....

I really need to work on my theology instruction

frequent conversation with Bug:
Me: How are you doing Bug?
Bug (while holding her lower back): My back hurts
Me: ......
Bug: I need to have the Doctor check my back.

She's 2 and her back is fine, but one time Daddy hurt his back....

another frequent conversation with Bug:

Bug: I love you

Me: I love you more!

Bug: I love you Miss Frizzle!

no clue what that means except that we are too obsessed with Magic School Bus....

At least it's Saturday

It's a beautiful Saturday. We had snow to begin the week, and we might have snow again next week, but today it is a beautiful 74 degrees and sunny. I would be planning a trip to the park with the girls and some imaginary bear hunts in the back yard, but instead we are stuck inside. Belle has had some awful stomach virus, so we've been hunkered down on the couch with juice and toast waiting it out and just praying Bug doesn't get it.

I was lucky to have 3 years of parenting before I ever had to deal with vomit, but now that nice honeymoon phase has ended with a bang. My poor sweet Belle has been so sick, and it breaks my heart. Emotional mothering reaches a whole new level while you are watching your little 3-year-old hunched over a toilet multiple times a day. A Mom would do anything to make it stop and trade places with her sweet little child, and it's painful that you can't do anything to fix it. I always thought these stomach viruses lasted a day or two and might mean one or two times throwing up..... wow was I ever wrong. We've been woken up multiple times a night to our sick little girl for 3 nights now, and she has spent 3 long days barely moving off the couch. Today she finally seemed to turn a corner, so let's pray she's almost over it! During a particularly rough night with lots of cleaning and little sleep I started to have a nice little pity-party for myself (and Daddy), but instead I played my "at least" game. I'll have to explain this game in another post, but just think Pollyanna.

It'd be a miracle if Bug doesn't get sick, because she insists on being one foot away from Belle at all times

So here they are: At least the Officer (aka Superdad) has been home the last few nights to help with middle of the night clean-up duty. At least it's the weekend, and I don't have work. At least Bug hasn't gotten it (yet!)... I'm scared to even vocalize that one. At least we've had lots of basketball to watch while stuck inside (even if our alma mater already lost in a very painful game). At least my Belle is the toughest little girl in the world and hasn't complained a single time. At least this should end soon! There are a thousand more little blessings to be thankful for, but that list is good enough for now. Prayers for my tough little Belle and prayers that my happy little Bug doesn't catch it!

Feeling Grateful

Yesterday I was in a very uncharacteristic cleaning mood, and I cleaned our house and organized the girls' winter and spring clothes all day. Then last night the Officer and I went to a very fun St. Patrick's day party and stayed out way too late for this pregnant lady. So today I was completely exhausted, and the Officer had to work. Fortunately, I had a little 3-year-old angel today (and an awesome 2-year-old who likes to sleep just as much as her Mother).

they dream of a day when Mommy will let them bunk together

Belle just behaved perfectly all day today (even at Mass!), which made such a nice calm day for this sleepy Mama. When she woke up from her nap and I was still sleeping on the couch, she let me sleep. Sweet little Belle spent 30 minutes quietly sitting next to the couch reading books while I napped, and then she kept up her reading for another 45 minutes while I made dinner. Some evenings when the Officer is working during dinner and bedtime it can be difficult for me, but not today.

This was her "reading" set-up for over an hour

It's only been a few months, but 3 is such a fun age!! Of course 3 has had tantrums, whining, and arguing with her sister, but so often it is hilarious, independent, sweet and innocent..... and those are the moments I want to remember. There are days when I can't wait to put them in bed so I can collapse on the couch and have a quiet moment, but then there are days like today. Days when I look across the dinner table at 2 blue-eyed toddlers who are cracking each other up. Days when I give lots of extra kisses and super tight hugs, because I feel like my heart is going to explode with love for these 2 little girls. Days when I hope these little toddlers of mine never grow up.