Making Memories, Dammit!

Christmas this year was pretty low key coming off about 3 weeks of sick kiddos (and Mama). Every year we spend Christmas Eve with our wonderful family friends. I knew we would be keeping the kids up too late and messing up their schedules, but I was trying really hard not to care this year.  I tend to like to stick to our normal routine because it leads to a happier EVERYONE, but sometimes you just have to let the fun happen. 

Two sick kids fussing in the car while we get our Christmas tree? Too bad! 

 

Lily freaking the freak out when we forced her to see Santa? Don't care! We are making memories dammit!

{Can't tell who was more thrilled to be in this picture, me or Lily...}

So Christmas Eve came and we packed up the kiddos and went to make some gosh darn merriment. Even though Mila decided to squeal and laugh all the way there instead of the expected car nap, she still survived. 

Please excuse the following highly grainy photos that I took with my phone... someone may or may not have received a very big gift this year that should remedy said poor quality photos. 

{Lily is an expert in provoking the Mila giggles.}

Then came Christmas morning. After a very early Mila nap brought on by a very late bedtime, we headed to my parents' house to open (way too many) presents. My sister called the dinosaur gifts for Lily this year and just COULD NOT *eyeroll* wait to give them to her. Unfortunately that meant Lily didn't care about opening the rest of her bajillion presents. We had to take a break. Go $2 bag of dinos! I tried to get everyone to calm down on the gifts for the girls this year, but no one listened. I think it is just too much fun to buy them stuff! I forgive them.

 When you are little, Christmas is so magical, but over time it becomes less and less so.

 

It is magical again.

At a Loss

Last Friday as we all took in the terrifying news of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a lot of us had the same automatic impulse to grab our kids close and never let them go, an understandable reaction to witnessing every parent’s worst nightmare playing out on our televisions. I was not surprised to see many of my friends make the same comment: “Looks like home schooling is in our future.” While I shared in this reaction and completely sympathize with the reasoning, it also raised some red flags in the back of my mind. Let me start by saying there are many many valid reasons why people choose to home school their kids. I am in no way against home schooling, though it is not part of our family’s plan. I am, however, wary of the reasoning behind many of our reactions to Friday’s news. I know I personally said several times “I am never letting my kids leave my house,” and while that is obviously an exaggeration, the idea behind it is the same: there are scary monsters out in the world and I am going to do everything I can to protect my kids. But where do we draw the line? Do we home school our kids just in case some disturbed individual decides to go on a rampage? Do we never let our kids get on an airplane again? Go to the movies? Go to the mall? The bottom line is that as much as we might want to (and oh my would I love to), we can’t wrap the whole world in bubble wrap. We can teach our kids to look both ways when crossing the street, to not eat questionable berries, to not date guys with motorcycles, but we simply cannot protect them from unpredictable, unimaginable tragedy. That is terrifying. Our impulse to hunker down and hold our babies and never let them leave our sight is instinctual, it comes from the deepest animal parts of us as parents. The question is: is that really the life we want for our children? A life lived in fear of the unknown is not a life truly lived. I’m no expert, but isn’t that the point of these sort of attacks, to incite terror?

I don’t know the answers here, I’m not even sure of the questions anymore. I am at a complete and total loss at how to deal with a tragedy so unthinkable. We all frantically search for meaning, we shout aimlessly about gun control and mental health reform. I can’t fathom the “everything happens for a reason” here, but it is our nature, it is how we function, how we comprehend, and so we set out to find the good. We find good in the stories of heroic teachers, in the support of a community, and we are reminded to love loudly and with abandon. 

So this is me, at a loss, trying to comprehend.

Supreme Ruler of the Universe: A List

In non-child-rearing-related news, here are a few things I will make absolute law if I ever become Supreme Ruler of the Universe. (Let’s be honest, that will never happen, there are too many questionable pictures of me out there on the internet.)

 Thanks Facebook. 

{You are telling me you could meet someone dressed as "Gaytoven" and NOT take a picture with his bedazzled underoos?}

Laws:

1. If someone orders a peppermint mocha at Starbucks, do not ask whether or not they want whipped cream. The drink clearly comes with whipped cream. If I didn’t want whipped cream I would say “no whip.” Now that you pointed out the possibility I obviously have to get my drink without whipped cream so as not to appear gluttonous, thank you. Special points go to the guy who asked me how I FELT about whipped cream, to which I replied, “I feel good about it.” 

2. All of the grown women in a family will have the same size feet. The fact that my mom, sister, and I cannot share shoes is the great tragedy of our time. 

3. When merging on the freeway, if someone slows down to let you in you are required to give a friendly “thank you” wave. If you hesitate a few seconds before you wave and I fly into a premature rage, I’m sorry man, I totally jumped the gun there. 

4. While at work, if you spot someone trying to discretely stash their freshly-pumped breastmilk in the fridge, you are not allowed to make conversation. Please turn and leave, this is awkward for both of us. 

5. If you are a mom at the playground and you hear a little girl go up to your kid and say “Hi I’m Lily, what’s your name?” and your kid ignores her, you are required to bribe your kid with ice cream or threats of “No Dora” so they will play with her. I don’t care if they are older and think a two-year-old can’t play their game. Look how cute she is. Listen to her say “want to play with me?” Stop breaking my heart.

Ok, so those last two were child-rearing-related, sue me.

Where Have You Been?

You know when people first fall in love and they kind of fall off the face of the earth and all they have time for is making mooney eyes each other? This is where we've been for the last 4 1/2 months:

July

 

August

 

September

 

October

November