Frazzle Dazzle

Tonight as I was putting the girls to bed, I thought about all the housework I still needed to do before falling into bed myself. There was the usual end-of-the-day tidying, some extra cleaning for a playdate tomorrow, fixing the mess that Laureli made, fixing the other mess she made while I was discovering the first mess, washing yet another load of predominantly pink laundry, unloading the dishwasher, sweeping the floor... the list went on. I tried diligently to complete my tasks, but the next hour and a half felt like an exhausting game of Whac-a-Mole as all three girls took turns popping back up as quickly as I could get them down. I grew more and more exasperated until I eventually found myself standing in a messy hallway, hollering at my children to "just go to sleep already!" Then it dawned on me...

I REALLY COULD BE A FANTASTIC MOM,

IF IT WEREN'T FOR ALL THESE KIDS!!!

It's Only Funny Once the Mess Is Gone

Sigh. It happens at least once a day these days. I walk into a room in search of a pencil or some other such benign object, only to discover a colossal mess and two very guilty-looking girls. "Laureli did it!" is Abby's knee-jerk reaction, and usually that's true, although the innocence of watching in delight as one's little sister trashes the house is debatable. Today, I walked into a room and found Laureli alone, caught in an act of blatant tomfoolery. She jerked her head up to meet my glare and quickly blurted the first thing that popped into her head -- "Laureli did it!"

Having Girls

So what did your kids do today?

Mine took turns giving birth -- several times each!

Laureli went first while Abby attended.

(Here's Abby cutting the umbilical cord.)"You did great, Laureli. Congratulations!" Then Abby said, "It's my turn!"

and proceeded to give her impressions of labour.Dr. Laureli stepped in to make sure everything was okay.Not to worry. Abby pulled through.

Another safe delivery and another (rather familiar) baby girl!

Your kids played with blocks, you say?

How very normal of them.

Blogged Down

Because we're already three weeks into January and I would have liked my blog to start from the beginning of the year, I'm trying to catch up. This explains why two of today's posts are in disjointed list form and bear a strong resemblance to my most recent facebook updates. I plan on writing proper posts from now on, though, so don't worry. This is just the beginning.

• We were getting ready for bed after a long day driving home from Abbotsford when Abby suddenly turned to me and gasped, "Oh, no! We forgot!" "What did we forget, Abby?" I asked, worried that we might have left something important in Abbotsford. With eyes wide and palms spread, Abby exclaimed, "Mommy! We forgot to go on a jungle adventure!"
• Reece and I woke up quite festive one morning, since Laureli had decorated us with Christmas trimmings while we slept.
• I was stuck in an enormous line at Superstore while Reece went to get something from one of the aisles. (It wasn't like we were short on time.) Realizing that Laureli wasn't beside me anymore, I scanned around quickly and spotted her one line over. She had both arms lovingly wrapped around some bewildered man's leg and was softly nuzzling her cheek into the denim. I didn't want to go and physically peel her off the poor guy (whose wife was getting a real kick out of the situation), so I kept calling, "Laureli, that's not your daddy!" But she had her eyes closed and just continued to blissfully slow dance with the man's pant leg until he finally picked her up under her arms and held her in front of his face. Amazingly, she didn't cry or anything. She just looked slightly mystified and began searching for her real daddy. Thank goodness Reece reappeared just at that moment, or else Laureli might have freaked out and provided even more entertainment for the other people in line!
• I wiped Laureli's face after supper the other day and was indignantly told, "I want my wips back!"
• Coming into my room, Abby sat down on the bed, put her head in her hands, and sighed the deepest of sighs. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "I'm upset because we're only three sisters, and I need a brother too!" I quizzed her a bit on what a brother would do that her sisters couldn't, and it turns out that she really wants a boy dance partner so he can dip her "like this"! ("Like this" involved Abby jumping up and demonstrating an elaborate back bending ballet move that clearly lacked the proper support. Then she flopped back down onto the bed to resume her despair.)
• Abby and I were watching the Opera Australia version of Pirates of Penzance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3aClrCG874&feature=related), when she turned to me and said, "Hey, that girl looks like you, Mommy!" The girl in question had long red hair, so I was a little surprised and asked what it was about her that reminded Abby of me. "Well," said Abby, "she just has a smiley face!"
• Last night I had a beautiful, long bedtime cuddle session with Cariana, kissing her cheeks and exchanging smiles with her as I watched her eyelids flutter and finally close. Deciding it was time to put her in her crib, I gently lifted her onto my shoulder and whispered a soft, "I love you," into her ear. "BUUUURRRP!!!" came the jarring reply, and judging from the wide-eyed expression on Cariana's face as I shakily laid her down, I wasn't the only one caught off guard!
• Nothing particularly funny happened today, but I did get yet another picture to add to Laureli's "Lucky You're So Cute" scrapbook or "Pill Box" or whatever we end up calling this growing collection. Sheesh.

I Knew It!

Reece and I lived in Saskatchewan during our second year of marriage, and while we were there, we had two cats: Selina Kyle and Paddington. Selina, Reece's cat, was black, sleek, and sophisticated (meaning house-trained), and Paddington was a marmalade cat with soft, puffy fur, a heart-melting personality, and no sense of feline decency. He was my baby. Before moving back to Abbotsford, Reece and I decided to give both cats away, since we knew our BC apartment wasn't big enough for two cats and we just couldn't bear to separate them. They used to wash each other (okay, Selina did most of the washing), and when they slept, we often found them curled up together with their heads at each other's tails. It was adorable.

I've sometimes found myself missing Paddington over the years, but when Laureli was a baby, I told Reece that her personality reminded me of Paddington's -- warm, affectionate, and irresistibly cute. Then Laureli got older and developed a mischievous streak, and I thought, "Ha ha. That's just like Paddington too. Always getting into trouble." Now, we are taking steps in the direction of potty-training, and watching Laureli pee all over my floor lately has brought back even more Paddington memories. But the clincher came when we were in Abbotsford and I woke up one morning to find THIS!

We really should have named that girl Paddington the Second!

Memories from Our January Trip to Abbotsflood, BC

• Laureli suddenly bellowing "I need to go HOME!" halfway through our first day of driving.
• The girls nicknaming our van "Rocket Van" and singing the Little Einsteins theme song at the top of their lungs over and over again throughout the trip.
• Abby looking around the one-room, single-bed condo unit where we stayed and asking gamely, "Is this our new house?"
• Abby clasping her friend, Tobin, in an exuberant (and awkwardly long) embrace, until he finally asked, "What are you doing?" She answered, "I'm just hugging you, Tobin, because you did a great job!" (I think this was in relation to the dancing lessons she'd been giving him earlier.)
• Laureli deciding that decorating Mommy and Cariana with stickers while they slept was much more fun than trying to take a nap.
• Abby introducing herself to a boy in the Burger King play area with "Hi. I'm five, and my name is Abby," to which the boy replied, "Oh. I have a cat named that." And off they went to play.
• Abby trying to pronounce the name of our friend, Manelda, who was always "Melda" when Abby was little. We thought Abby would have no trouble saying her name now, but even after several attempts, the closest she ever came was an exasperated "Mermelda!"
• Abby telling everyone not to look under my purse because she'd hidden my dad's birthday card there "so Jim wouldn't find it."
• Abby announcing on the drive home, "Look! Laureli has dreadful feet!" at which Laureli stuck her feet in the air to show us that she had removed both her boots and socks. (It wasn't that dreadful.)
• Reece driving through a stretch of potholes so deep they actually made us bounce up off our seats. He was gritting his teeth, but the girls thought it was the best thing ever as they giggled hysterically in the back and yelled, "Wee!!!" at the tops of their lungs. They recreated the experience several times afterwards, whenever there was a small bump in the road, or occasionally without any reason at all.