I'll Never See You Again

Yep.  They're mine.

Back in the day when I didn't know anything, I used to think that you could judge parents by the way their kids turned out or by what they did.  Oh, how wrong I was.

For the past few months, Skyler has had a favorite phrase.  He uses it when I send him to time out.  He uses it when I tell him to eat the rest of his dinner.  He even uses it when he's happy and it's just such a habitual saying to him that it just slides out for no reason at all. 

"I'll never see you again!!!"

To which I either reply with, "Skyler, that's not very nice.  You need to say sorry,"  or "Alright.  Have fun changing your own diapers."  It usually depends on how many times he's used that phrase in the last hour and how exhausted I am. 

Where he learned this phrase, I have zero idea.  We've tried the time out thing.  And then if he yells it again while he's in time out he gets an extra minute.  This has landed him in time out for 10ish minutes several times, and over half an hour one horrible time. 

Then on some desperate days I actually consider telling Skyler that I'll never see him again while I leave them at home with Ben for a few hours.... just enough to shake him up, you know?



But then I think about how depressing life would be without my Little Handsome.  Who would need snuggles after naptime?  Who would have a potty mouth every time he gets excited when a truck goes by, just because he can't say the "tr" and replaces it with an "f"?"  Who would get all melted everytime we see any kind of animal?

The truth is that I hate him saying it because that is my biggest fear.  I can't imagine life without my kids, and even though a 2 year-old can't see everything clearly, I know that there are moments when he truly thinks life would be better without me. 

From what I know, Skyler is a reincarnated Ben, both in looks and temperment.  So Skyler, when karma gets around and you have have a Skyler, Jr., I want you to read this and remember that it'll be worth it to get through the colic, the 16 months of not sleeping through the night, and the many shouts of "I'll never see you again!"  Oh, and also that you should never stop seeing me.  Because I'm pretty sure of 2 things: 1) We would really miss each other.  And 2) If you have a baby with as big of cheeks as yours, you won't have a choice as to whether you'll see me or not.  I'll be around.

Dinosaurs and Monsters and Mommies! Oh my!

Hibernating with his winter supply hidden in his cheeks.

My mom always told me that "2 are easier than 1."  She's not the only one, either.  A bunch of people say that.  But whenever people told me that when I had a 15 month-old and a 2 month-old (who wouldn't sleep through the night until 14 months later) I just smiled and nodded.  Uh huh.  Yeah right.  I bet my toddler daughter could kill my son in about 5 seconds with my copy of What To Expect The First Year.

But now I see that my mom and all those other child-rearing veterans were right.  Lily and Skyler are BFF's now.  On any given day you can find them in the kitchen rolling a ball to each other.  Or hiding in the kitchen cabinets from dinosaurs.  Or playing tag in the castle upstairs. 

One of the best times to see their bond is when they wake up from their naps.  If one of them wakes up before the other, they're absolutely miserable.  I mean, I thought I was cool, but apparently I'm not that cool.  The entire time they're alone with me they're basically just asking me if they can go ahead and wake up the other. 

But most of the time they wake up together.  I mean, they don't even share a room.  How does that work?  I would say it's some Irish twin connection, but that would really be pushing it.  It has more to do with the fact that they bang on the wall that they share and yell, "Are you awake?!" until the other one responds. 

And do I go up and get them right away?  Nope.  Because even though they can't see each other and they have to yell through the wall, they still manage to play "Monsters and Dinosaurs" from different rooms.  One will yell "ROAR!!!" and then I'll hear, "Oh no!  We need to hide!" followed by the sound of both of their closet doors banging.  This goes on for about a half hour until they start pounding on their doors and asking me if they can move their game into the castle.

You just can't make this stuff up. 

So since I've seen how close Lily and Skyler are, I kind of/sort of want to have possible baby #4 13 months after baby #3 so that we can do this all over again.  But then reality hits me and I realize that's probably not the best plan. 

So I'll just be thankful for my Irish Twins that I already have. 

And I know that this is kind of a topic I talk about a lot. 

But I kind of love them a lot.

So it's kind of only fair to gush about them a lot.

Even when they switch their wording from, "Oh no!  The Monsters/Dinosaurs are coming!" to "Oh no!  Mommy's coming!"

Princess

Snow White

Lily has a pink cardboard trunk filled with Disney princess clothes.

Each day, without fail, she matches each outfit perfectly (well, she's actually wearing Cinderella's choker in this picture... tisk, tisk).

She plays in them.

Eats in them.

Sleeps in them.

She even went to a birthday party in one this week.

She's slightly obsessed with them.

Then this week she informed me that she's going to marry a prince.

Which prince?  I have no idea.

I just hope he's not a cartoon.

But Lily is so convinced that she's a princess.

I guess the fact that we have a 2-story castle upstairs doesn't help.

Even Skyler calls all of Lily's Sunday dresses "Princess Clothes."

And Ben always says, "Goodnight Princess" when we tuck her in at night.

So when Lily watches Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty, or Belle, or Snow White,

I hope that she really knows that what I think of a princess has so much more to do with her divine potential.  That she very literally is a princess.

Someday, I hope that Lily will read this blog about all the adventures that we have been and will go on together as a family.

And I hope, as I firmly believe myself, that she will come to learn that the truest stories are the best ones.

She'll never be treated like a servant.

She'll never need a magical gift to be considered beautiful.

She'll never be imprisoned.

And she won't have to run away to feel safe.

Lily, you're only 3.

So I will oooh and aaah every time you dress up in princess clothes.

And I'll snap lots of pictures.

But someday, someday, you will learn that you are special all on your own.

And when those moments hit when I can't believe you are mine,

I know that there are two Heavenly Parents who are doing the same.

I love you, Princess.

Fish

This past Saterday Heather and I decided to take the kids to the pet store so that they could see different kinds of animals. As we pulled up to the pet store Heather leaned over and said, "we are not bring home any pets!" We went in and saw hamsters, birds, snakes, frogs, spiders, and FISH!!! Yes, we decided that it would be a good thing for our kids to have a few fish.


We got 12 fish. One black molly that Lily name White, a white molly named Blacky, a red and black molly named Monster, 3 guppies named Tiger, Princess, and Pok-A-Doc (Sklyer's Name), a silver tipped shark named Jaws, and 5 small tetras named Red, Grandmum, and Pop Pop.

As you can see our family has an amazing talent for naming things. Just wait until you hear what we are thinking of name our next child.

If You'd Feel Squeamish Reading About My Leg Hair Then This Is NOT The Post For You

This is a picture of Skyler.  Not leg hair.  You're welcome.

It started a couple of Sundays ago.  I was listening to Sacrament Meeting and Skyler was sitting at my feet with a couple of his IKEA trains.  He usually just choo-choo's them around in a circle but on that day my legs became the train tracks.  They went up and down, up and down, over and over again.  Then, Skyler put his hand on my bare leg and started going up and down.  He pulled his hand away, stared at it in horror, and said, "Owww!  Owww!  Owwwwwwwww!"   For the record, I had shaved.  On Saturday.  So sue me for having day old leg hair. 

My pride was broken for about a day and then I figured that I shouldn't be offended by a 2.5 year-old. 

But then Lily had her turn.

Ben was sitting on the couch with her one morning this week before I got out of bed.  She was rubbing her hand across a furry stuffed animal.  Ben asked her, "Is that so soft?"  And she said, "Yep.  Just like Mommy."

Umm... Hello!!!  Have they never even met their father?  Have they never noticed that the amount of hair he has is about 50x the amount I have?  Have they never noticed that he can grow a full beard in about 5 minutes?  Have they never seen the irony in the fact that Ben can make a perfect Wookie impersonation? 

If I get one more hair joke aimed in my direction you'll be able to find me at the Social Security Office.  I'll be officially changing my name from Heather Faith Macbeth to The Sandpaper Beast.  Groupon certificates to get laser hair removal are always accepted.



Pregnancy So Far

I wasn't lying when I told you people that I show early.  This is me today at 10 weeks 6 days. 

Photo courtesy of Ben and my phone, NOT my MIA camera.

So pregnancy started out rough.  The norm for me is having sickness throughout my entire first trimester.  Well, I think I had a concentrated dose of all the sickness in the beginning and then it went away after just 3 weeks.  But those 3 weeks were completely un-fun.  The idea of eating anything was basically an invitation to get to know my toilet up close and personal.  As usual my weight gain has gone backwards instead of forward because of it.  But don't worry, that just means I get to eat way more Carolina BBQ or whatever else I'm craving in my 3rd trimester.  It all works out just fine and I'm sure I'll pop out my typical 8 pounder.

Also typical is my sleepiness.  Asking me to stay up until 10:30 is the equivalent of asking me to pull an all-nighter.  Even if I've had a nap.  And rested on the couch all day.  And pretended falling asleep for my kids after they've tucked me in with their blankies and a song while they run up to the castle for some mischief. 

Ahh.... pregnancy.  I only have two complaints so far: the pinched nerves that make me collapse out of nowhere, and the fact that I've had to give up my daily gummy vitamins for prenatals.  But sometimes sacrifice is needed.  And if I'm going to be honest, there are some days when I skip the prenatal and pop a couple of gummy vitamins instead.  I'm sure the baby loves it.  And it's all about what the baby wants, right?

Sunbeam

How this day came, I have no idea.  But I officially have a child in Primary now.  Meet the world's newest Sunbeam.  Last night I mourned over it (as I do about every milestone, much to Ben's dismay, although he comforts me anyway).  But I put on a really excited face for Lily, despite my true feelings.

It didn't work.

She wanted the toys.  The snacks.  The ability to run around and yell "Yeehaw!!!" on the rocking horse.  Not to mention there are 13 boys and she was the only girl there today.  So not realizing that one day (MANY years down the road) this could really have potential, she broke down and cried.  And Ben had to stay with her the full two hours of Primary.

But, I did get to teach her first sharing time. And if the schedule remains the same, I'll get to teach Skyler's first next year, too.

Why do they have to grow???

Every night before bed we sing a song to them in bed.  And when I say we sing a song, I really mean that we sing 5-10 because they keep begging for more.  Skyler went through a whole month when he was obsessed with "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam."  This was captured two months ago.  Please tune out my key shifts and lame singing and listen solely to The Little Handsome.  This song captures his personality perfectly.