Misses

I miss my Grandpa. I miss him saying, "I'll be out the door at 6 a.m. for my morning walk. If you want to go, wake up before then and be out the door with me at 6". He wasn't kidding. 6:01 a.m. He was already down the sidewalk. Those walks were great. We'd walk to the beach (he was like maybe a ten minute walk away) and by the bluffs. We'd get to see all the sea lions hanging out on the shore and rocks which usually only happened really early in the morning since there was hardly any people around at that hour. I miss my Grandpa and Grandma saying, "Whoever loses this card game will buy you and your brother ice cream". I loved it when Grandpa would lose because he would get us the double scoop! And it was always a fun walk to the nearby Thrifty's for the ice cream. I miss catching tadpoles with my Grandma and Grandpa under the nearby bridge, in the creek. We'd ride our old Schwinn Beachcruisers and walk them under the bridge, jars in our hands and try to collect tadpoles which would change into teeny tiny frogs. It was so exciting.

I miss sitting on the lawn at the university with my mom and brothers for Fourth of July and getting ice cream from that Mexican ice cream cart with the guy who pulled it and the little bell that would ring as he was walking. I miss going with my older brother Chuck to the store in the mall where my mom worked to wait for her to get off. I also missed doing that when she worked at this headquarters building, and my brothers or my little brother and my dad and I would sit in the grass waiting for her.

I miss having pet ducks and the nasty water in their wading pool had such a funky smell but it was so exciting to go to the backyard to chase around the ducks every day, pick them up and pet them (except for "Rambo", my little brother's duck, that one bit).

I miss wearing the same awesome Snow White costume my mom made for me year after year for Halloween. That was the best costume ever! She is seriously the best mom ever.

I miss going to my Great Grandma's and her always having fresh bananas for me (I loved bananas when I was a kid, still do, but when I was a kid it was as good as mac'n'cheese).

I miss my Uncle telling me funny stories about a belly button that would run away, those made me giggle so much! Along with other great stories he would tell, he was always so good at that. It was so cool to see him doing the same thing with my kids a couple weeks ago! I got all nostalgic and what not, ha ha!

I hope I can do for my kids what my mom, my dad, my brothers, my grandparents and my uncle did for me. Kids, if you ever read your mommy's blog....maybe you should be out catching frogs, chasing ducks or getting ice cream instead! Or take a walk on the beach. I hope I'm doing for you what my family did for me....

Like the night before wasn't action-packed enough with my 4-year old throwing her typical 4-year old tantrum and hitting her older sister along with a baby that did not want to be rocked let alone go to sleep. I woke up this morning looking like an after shot of a stunt man in an action movie....my nose was bleeding and not just drip drop, more like that gushing as if someone just knocked me square in the nose. But nope, there was no fights, no hits, no fists or feet in my face. Just woke up with a bloody nose. I knew within seconds this wasn't going to be it....there it was. Baby needed his diaper changed. Then the alarm went off (yes, I always happen to wake up minutes before my alarm goes off, it's so fun! Not.) and I had to get my oldest child up for school. So here I am, tissue in my nose (actually a baby wipe since I couldn't grab a tissue quick enough and wipes were the closest thing to me), changing a baby diaper, trying to make sure the younger daughter who happened to fall asleep with me wasn't kicking her baby brother off the bed in her sleep (notorious wiggle worm) and trying to shout out my oldest daughter's name to get her to wake up and get ready for school. Done.

Baby on hip, wipe in nose, 4-year old still in bed and me trying to spread cream cheese on a bagel one-handed in order to feed my 10-year old before I send her on her merry little way to school. Oh the beauty and mystique of it all.

Two hours later I realize my older daughter has an eye doctor appointment. Back to the school, get her out. But now, they are happily playing outside with their Papa and I have a nice quiet minute to enjoy my own bagel, a glass of pomegranate juice and blog. I would take a nap but I know the second my head hits the pillow one of them will come in because someone hit someone else, someone had an "accident", someone HAS to have this new toy they saw on TV, so on and so forth.

All this but it's moments like last night, where I watched my 4-year old dance in her tap and ballet class. She listens to the instructor so intently (something I wish she would do for me once in a while) and is so focused on getting each little step and kick right. Even the thought of it lightens my mood, along with watching my other one finally find something she truly enjoys as far as sports go. She started archery and it lights her up like nothing else has. She's tried soccer, ballet, tap, basketball and a couple other things. Granted, she did enjoy tennis and still does, but not half as much as she loves this. It made my (pardon me for sounding super cheesy) heart so happy to know something makes her this happy.

So that's it....that's my thoughts for today in a nutshell, aside from the monotonous errands and odds and ends that need to be done. Hopefully my certain little Mr. someone will start sleeping through the night soon so I can blog more. It feels good to let it out once in a while. Yeah, that's right, 7 months old and still not sleeping through the night. I don't want to hear anymore of this "Oh he'll sleep through the night soon" or "try rice cereal" or "make sure he naps less in the day". No no and no. He hasn't slept through the night "soon" just as everyone keeps saying. He has had rice cereal, baby oatmeal and other baby foods and nothing. I tried supplementing formula. Nothing (except spit up that stinks more). And he hardly naps, and when he does it's like little tiny cat naps. Okay, enough said. What my point is, whenever this "soon" is, whenever he will sleep through the night, maybe I can blog more. I hope everyone has a glamorous day as I did. I wouldn't change it for the world!

Carry on....