Realization

Mark and I are planning a big garage sale. We have furniture, baby things, toys, all kinds of stuff to sell. It is going to be a rather large garage sale. So we have been going through old tubs of things from the other house that we just never unpacked. We also went through most of the toys in the basement and made a keep pile and a sell pile. Finally, tonight was the night that I began going through the many tubs of baby/kid clothes that I have had...forever. As I find myself excited about the possibility of earning a lot of money from this sale, I suddenly was faced with a harsh realization. My kids are NOT babies anymore. It's funny because I still think of them as babies, I really do. You know how people tell you to enjoy your kids because they grow up too fast? Well, I never thought that applied to me because my kids are still little. Boy, was I wrong! As I am sifting through the first box I am faced with Nicholas' things. Since I gave all of his itty bitty baby clothes to Katie, I was dealing with 12 months and up. I found a onesie I had saved from when he was born that said, "Dr. Morgan really delivers!" (Dr. Morgan didn't even deliver Nicholas! It was Dr. Graber!) Ialso came across an array of truck t-shirts and little shorts. As I pull out each item of clothing, my mind takes me way back to the time when he wore that outfit. Vivid memories of him throwing ball or playing in the backyard or helping Daddy in the yard came flooding back to me. I found the Christmas sweater he wore for Christmas when he was decorating the tree with me one afternoon. It hit me all at once how fast time had gone by. Then I begin to go through Maggie's clothes. This time I do have her itty bitty baby things. As I look at these tiny pieces of clothing I am filled with memories of when she was an infant. The many outfits she wore in the hospital when it was just the two of us with no visitors. I also recalled the moment I was shopping for some of those outfits. I remember the excitement I felt at finding these adorable little girl outfits and thinking about how cute they would be on her. Going through Maggie's clothes was a bit of a different emotion than going through Nicholas' things. On one hand, here are Nicholas' clothes- my first child, my only boy, the one I have seen grow so much over the past six years. Then on the other hand, there are Maggie's clothes- my baby, my teeny tiny little girl, the one that is supposed to stay little forever because she is the little sister. I was shocked at how much emotion I felt going through these clothes. All I could think was "They are clothes- what is the big deal???" But each outfit I looked at brought back just one more memory of time that had already passed. It made me realize that although they are still little, they have grown so much in such a short amount of time. It makes me want to slow down and appreciate all the little things a little more.

Safe!

Nicholas had a T-Ball game this afternoon. He LOVES it! In the last few games there have been a few kids who slide into home plate as they come in. We haven't so much as talked about sliding but the kids think it is really cool. Nicholas watches everyone intently at every ball game so it is really hard to know what he is thinking about any of it. I know he enjoys it, but as far as anything else he is thinking it is really hard to tell. He can be a mystery when it comes to his thoughts. Anyway, at this particular game we were all in the dugout cheering on our teammates as they were batting. Nicholas had his turn, hit the ball and got on first. Yay! We continued to watch the other batters as the runners made their way around the bases. Pretty soon it was Nicholas' turn to run home. He ran so hard and so fast, and then just before he touched home plate with his shoe he came to a dead stop, fell down on his knees and touched home plate with his foot. It was the funniest thing in the world! I wanted to just laugh hysterically but he looked up at me with this giant, proud smile on his face seeking my approval. I just yelled, "Good job buddy!! Way to go! Good slide!" He was SO proud as he walked into the dugout and showed me the dirt on his pants. (The dirt that was gone the minute he brushed it away.) It was the sweetest moment. I loved to see him so proud of something he had done. I could tell he felt like such an awesome baseball player.

Strawberry Picking

Today Maggie and I had a girls day. We went strawberry picking. She was so excited and said that "no stinky boys were allowed to go...only girls" (except she says geeeehhls). I wasn't sure what to expect. We went last year and it was a little bit of a headache. Both kids running back and forth, eating strawberries, throwing strawberries, TONS of people, etc. Despite the experience last year I decided it was totally worth it and we would try a different place. What a great thing because we were the ONLY ones there! It was this little strawberry patch in Goshen. I think the season was about over since we were the only ones there but we still found some great strawberries. After we got our box and Maggie's very own little basket, we headed out to the patch. It was so adorable to see how excited she was. She held my hand and we walked out together, Maggie talking the whole way about which way we should go. As we walked the rows looking for strawberries, she would pick one and come running over to me saying, "Oh Mommy! Isn't this a good one???" Sometimes they were good and sometimes they were almost completely white. It didn't matter to me though because she was so excited to find them, how could I tell her it wasn't a good one? As I picked strawberries, I just listened to Maggie talking and saying things like "This one is a little mushy" or "This one is the BIGGEST one yet!" When she found one that wasn't quite good enough she would chuck it across the field. Every once in awhile I would look back and there she was eating a bright red strawberry with juice all over her face. I loved every second of it. It was one of those moments that I realized how special these moments are and how lucky I am to be able to share these moments with my kids. I also realized how important it is to spend time alone with just one child at a time. I was able to just enjoy her little antics and discoveries. She not only had fun picking strawberries but she also had fun chasing butterflies, picking flowers and of course, throwing strawberries! I am so glad we decided to go and I know now that it will be a tradition every year!

Nicholas' Language

Nicholas. As I sit here and think about my six year old boy there are so many things I always want to remember. One particular thing is his voice and the funny things he says on a daily basis. Since I can remember, Nicholas has ALWAYS had a unique "twang" to his voice. I'm not even sure I'd call it a "twang" but maybe a "language." Mark has always had his own language as well. I call it Weldyisms. When Nicholas was very young and really getting into his passion for trucks and vehicles he would say, "Biiiiiiig Riiiiiiiiggg!" It wasn't a yell, but instead a very throaty almost caw like sound. There was also somewhat of a "twang" to his voice when he said this. Little by little, the cute "biiiiiig riiiiiiig" transformed into other forms of Weldyisms. When referring to his Thomas the Train characters, for Harvey he would say, "Harrrrrrr-vey!" For Mavis he would say, "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-vis!" A friend of mine once said he was pretty sure Nicholas would be a sports announcer someday.

Now when he has a conversation with someone he might say, "That is BAD news, right?" Often times he will put a "right" on the end of a question. At a t-ball game: "I'm doin good, right?" At home, "I'm strong, right?" He also adds a "for real?" to many conversations. For example, "Hey Nicholas we are going to swing outside." Nicholas: "For real?" Or "I like dogs." "For real?" He so badly wants to be just like his dad and sometimes the things he says are straight out of Mark's mouth. When he can't believe something that has just happened he says, "Gee-pa-pa!" This is a made up expression of Mark's that Nicholas has picked up quickly. Instead of "gee-pa-pa" he may say, "gee-zip!" This can be used interchangably with gee-pa-pa.

One of the things I loved so much about Mark when we first met was that he was so funny. EVERYTHING he said made me laugh. I am so happy that Nicholas is destined to have this same trait as well.

Pinkalicious

Maggie's all time favorite book (at this point in her life) is Pinkaliciuos. It is about a little girl who LOVES the color pink and eventually turns pink from eating too many pink cupcakes. Then a sequel to Pinkalicious came out and it was called Purplicious. In this book, all the girls tell Pinkalicious that pink is no longer cool, but black is in. Apparently we have read this book quite a bit because the other day used a quote from the book in reference to a pink popsicle. Maggie wanted a popsicle after lunch so we went out to the fridge to pick out a color. When I opened the freezer I said, "Ooh, look honey, there is a PINK one!" She said, "No mommy. Pink is passe. Passe is French for over." Seriously. She is THREE YEARS OLD. I just wasn't quite sure what to say next. So I gave her a blue popsicle.

Gearin' Up for the Big Game

Nicholas is in his second year of T-Ball this summer. It has been so great for him this year. He is so much more confident and aggressive. It is a lot of fun to watch him out on the field. Aside from the fact that T-Ball is so much fun to watch, it is especially fun to watch him. After each game he says, "Who won???" We always say, "We won again buddy!!!" Even though we don't keep score.

The other day we were all getting ready for the game. I had just gotten out of the shower and was drying my hair. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nicholas on the bed making this painful face. I watched him for a minute and it really looked like he was in pain, like he was about to cry or something. I said, "Buddy, are you okay? What are you doing?" He looked at me with the most serious face and said, "Ah...I'm stretchin mom." He proceeded to show me how he was stretching. First he put his arm behind his head and stretched it out, then he put his legs out straight in front of him and stretched them out. It took everything in my power, I mean EVERYTHING, not to just bust out laughing. He was so serious. I couldn't just laugh at him. I was proud at how well I held it in. I simply said, "Oh, good idea. That's really important before a game." I waited about a minute before I ran into the living room and laughed about it to Mark.

A Good Fit

Maggie is a great fit thrower. She gets so upset so quickly (she most likely gets this from me) and reacts one of two ways: a loud scream paired with a hit, OR a really great comeback that is sure to severely hurt the other person's feelings (the other person being Mark or me). This particular day of fit throwing occurred at my sister Colleen's house. We were trying to leave her house and Maggie was enthralled with SOMETHING. I still do not quite remember what it was, but it was something of great importance to her. I gave her a few minutes to do "her thing" then gave her a one minute warning..."Maggie, in one more minute it will be time to go." After the one minute was up and it was time to go, I was faced with a pleading, "Just ONE more minute mommy, just ONE more." Finally, I just picked her up and headed toward the van. Oh, she didn't like that. She got so mad and out of pure anger she yelled, "I'm not going to cut down any more trees with you Mommy!!" How does one respond to this? Do I get angry and say, "Margaret Kathleen, do not say such mean things!" Or do I laugh out loud and say, "Oh no...that is really disappointing." I chose to laugh. I couldn't help it. Who comes up with things like that? I guess I'm the one who suffers though, because now I won't have anyone to help me cut down the Christmas tree this year.