Unisex

I've noticed that the more I stay home, the fewer things rock my world. I just stay in a bubble thinking about how great my kids are. So for a change of direction; Wes and I went to California last weekend where I had a running conference and he went to play with friends. We ditched the kids at my mom's house and snuck in a few hours at Disneyland; the happiest place on Earth.

This is what I observed in my jaunt to the wide world. A few years ago I was somewhat behind this emo style. Now it's ridiculous. Why would boys and girls want to date each other when they look alike. Same clothes, same haircuts, same eyeliner.I'll admit I went through a dressing like a boy stage and about killed my mom when I bought boys shoes.I've had boy short hair and no figure to speak of.I shocked my brother when I bought a pink, flowered, sparkly wakeboard while on his mission. But at this point I've pretty well embraced being a girl, and think nothing is more fabulous than shoes like this... And maybe someday I'll stop wearing watches that look like this...I just wouldn't want to makeout with/grope someone who looked that much like me.

Dead Inside

So we had an experience tonight that makes me want to bust. My kids got through to Wes' stone cold heart. His brother frequently asks me if Wes is dead inside. I'm not saying that it doesn't make him happy that Dylan gets so excited when he comes home, or occasionally he thinks Maisy is cute; but it's pretty fleeting. But it's not on a regular basis that he thinks our kids our so freakin' great that he almost wants to gush about them. And by gushing I mean he said, "that was a Kodak moment." I feel like I have about 50 of those a day.

Anyway tonight the kids had a bath; Maisy was done first and playing in the hallway outside the bathroom. She thinks her brother is so fantastic, that she's usually pretty content if he's just nearby. After a little bit, Dylan said he wanted to get out so he could play with Maisy. I have a feeling Dylan is not that different from most 2 year olds, that he's rarely interested in his baby sister, and usually only interacts with her to humor me. So they played for a little bit, then it was time to say prayers for bed. I was just going to hold Maisy, but Dylan wanted me to put her in his bed. So after prayers he climbed in next to her and wanted her to stay and sleep with him. Of course every time she looked at him she busted up laughing and it's the best sound in the world. It was too tempting to leave her there, but I'm pretty sure she'd fall out of his bed and not for the first time. Anyway, I'm always thrilled when something good can get under Wes' skin. Especially when it's as simple as our kids being happy.

Playing Dress Up

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Bad News

That's the name of the co-ed softball team I'm on, due to sheer coersion on my brother's part. These are our intense shirts.(this picture does not do it justice for it's reflective nature.)I played quite a bit of rec league softball through jr. high and high school, but not more than whiffle ball since. Turns out I still have cleats, but no mitt. Evan and I have enjoyed the occasional game of catch over the last 10+ years since I've played, but I have not swung a bat.

Here's the run down of tonight's recent events. I struck out my first time up. I can't remember striking out since I was a sophomore and my boyfriend came to watch the game. (I was intimidated because he was on the school baseball team.) So embarrassing anyway. I was working right field the entire game, completely to my satisfaction. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, because apparently when I get the ball my instinct is to throw as hard as I can with very little aiming. Bottom line: we lost the game 20-8.

Lo an behold, there would be a second game tonight. Yes, a double header. Information that would have been good to know ahead of time, before I brought my kids. The overall rundown goes as follows: I got out twice running to second (implying I did eventually hit the ball); I hit a ball into the outfield and felt pretty awesome about myself until they caught my fly; I missed a fly ball while working the right field, but I did make friends with a blue piece of plastic. Most importantly, I caught a fly ball...with the wrong hand!I don't know how well you can see the bruised spot just below my middle finger, but it's swollen too. Man that hurt. So I stopped the fly with my right, brought it to my mitt, it bounced out of my mitt, then I still caught it somehow. My right hand would barely respond to throw it in.

We did win our second game. Now I'm going to ice my hand.

A Comparison

For everyone, including me, who thinks Maisy looks like Alayna. I think this pretty well confirms it.

We'll be OK

2 Chronicles 32:7-8
Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.

I thought this was comforting for our time. We aren't fighting Assyria, but sometimes it feels like there aren't enough of us to make a difference. I think there probably are more of us than we realize and the Lord is on our side.

Laughing

In the beginning, I was worried that Dylan would never warm up to Maisy. Now he's accepted her as a fact of life that's not going away. But tonight after baths, Dylan had her laughing more than I've ever heard. After a 10 hour day at work, and Wes at "man movie night" it made my heart happy. Having your kids laugh and play together is pure joy.

On a side note, I never thought I'd like going through this first year again. And I still think all this dependence is hard. But I want to freeze my kids so they stay like this forever. Dylan can always be two and a half and Maisy can be 4 months. Dylan is never going to get the backpack he wants so he can go to school, he's going to stay home with me and little forever. I never want him to stop saying the funny innocent things that he says. And Maisy is so sweet. You can cuddle her, she loves to smile and giggle. She's a stinker that rolls over because she can not because she wants to. And she loves her mama the most, and that's okay. I just can't kiss the 2 of them enough.