in a nutshell

We watched Cinderella this week, which the boys had never seen. They loved the singing mice and birds. As it ended (Cinderella and the handsome prince get married and ride away in a carriage), Ian said "Hey, that ending is just exactly the same as Robin Hood!" They all end that way, kiddo.

And JJ will now imitate mommy and pretend to throw up. The first time he tried it with food in his mouth, now he just makes a gagging noise and leans over. I tried to discourage it, but I was laughing so hard I don't think I got my point across.

And now you know everything we've been doing for the past few weeks. I'm in the middle of the worst stage of morning (ie all day long) sickness and John is doing midterms. So, the boys watch movies while I go from the couch to the bathroom and back again.

Real World Math

Pop Quiz everyone!

choose the best answer

1. How many loads of laundry will I have left to do when the dryer breaks?
a) None - I'm always caught up on laundry
b) Half - because with laundry, you're never really done
c) All - who needs clean clothes? They'll just get dirty again anyway
ANSWER B

2. How much does the dryer in the communal laundry room cost?
a) 50 cents
b) 75 cents
c) 1 dollar - in quarters only
ANSWER C

3. How many quarters will there be in the house at 10:00pm when I have to finsh the laundry?
a) Tons - everyone loves change
b) Almost enough - I just need 50 cents!
c) None - Quarters? I have plastic. . .
ANSWER B

4. Where do I look for just two more quarters?
a) In the couch
b) In my husband's pockets
c) The abyss that is the bottom of my purse
d) The change jar
e) In the car
f) My son's piggy bank
g) All of the above
ANSWER G

5. Do I find them?
a) Yes
b) No
ANSWER B

6. How many candy bars from 7-11 do I have to buy to get two quarters back in change if each cost 65 cents? (After this, I need the chocolate)
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
ANSWER B

7. On average, how many trips up and down the stairs will I have to take for each load of laundry?
a) 1 - one load, one trip
b) 2 - once down and once back up
c) 3 - once down, once back up, once more to carry whichever child decides to stop and cry in the middle of the steps
ANSWER C

8. How long before we decide that the problem is worse than we can fix on our own and just call someone to fix it?
a) 2 days
b) 1 week
c) 2 months and counting. . . .
ANSWER C

On the plus side, laundry is now a really good time to teach numbers. "Count the quarters boys. One. . . Two. . . Three. . . "

Something Better

A while ago I read If Life were Easy, it wouldn’t be Hard by Sherri Dew (I highly recommend it, by the way) and in it she taught a concept about prayer. She suggested that when we pray, we should ask for what we want “or something better.” We so often think that getting what we want would be the best, when really, we are limiting ourselves because we don’t realize what is available. I really liked this idea and discussed it with my husband. [His crack: “What would you get if you were praying to have a baby boy, or something better?” my response: “A girl. Or twins.”]

So we’ve been adding this to our prayers. It has been wonderful. But, as CS Lewis put it, “Whenever there is prayer, there is danger of [God’s] own immediate action.” And I think in some ways, it is dangerous, especially if you want to stick with your own plans. This is the reason that we are not attending the school we planned on or living in the apartments we picked, and (da da da daaaa) I’m pregnant.

When we made our plans for having our next child, we knew what we wanted. And since we were able to plan the other two down to the month, I figured this would be no big deal. But in keeping with our routine, when we prayed about it, we added the “or something better,” and now we are expecting our own little divine intervention. I couldn’t be more excited. I am so pleased. I never could have imagined a life as full of love and joy as mine is, I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who continually gives me, not what I think I want, but something better.

My personal miracles

Why?

Ah, the endless conversations sparked by this word, the never ending explanations. I love this stage. I love that my three-year-old is so curious about the world around him and how much he notices and wonders about. I love that his vocabulary and understanding have grown to the point that we can have such complex conversations. And I love that we can pass the time with nothing to entertain us but each other. However, I admit, it occasionally gets old.

The other day we were running errands, and Ian started his favorite car game, asking questions. I was already frazzled from the number of things I was trying to get done and with keeping his younger brother happy, but I answered as well as I could for about twenty minutes. But we got to the point where I had had enough (Why is the bus following us? Why is our car red? Why are we waiting for the light to change?) I could feel myself loosing patience, so in the nicest voice I could manage I said “Ian, I’m out of answers.”

His response was (of course) “Why?” I didn’t answer. We had several minutes of blessed silence.

Almost home now, I hear a little voice pipe up from the backseat. “Mom, you are out of answers; but I’m not out of questions.”

Awwww, and also no kidding.

And yesterday, while Ian was doing his thing again, JJ looked up at me and said in a perfect imitation of his brother‘s tone, “Why?” I laughed, rolled my eyes, and had to leave the room to sigh in frustration.