The 21st of March

March!

It's March!

This means warmer weather (not that we've had a really cold winter in Texas this year), shorts (noooo....) and longer days.  All signs are pointing towards Summer (which, let's face it, SUCKS ASS in Texas...but it's better than freezing...mostly...).

And today was one of those beautiful Spring days that is totally worth remembering.  Even though we didn't really *do* anything.

When I started this, way back in September, I really hoped I'd have some exciting events to record.  Alas, it's been mostly mundane.  And today was no exception, except it was really, really pretty outside.  And I went to Starbucks (always worth recording that!).

So, March 21st, 2012?

It went a little something like this.

9:30 AM

It's 9:30!  And I've forgotten, until just this second, that Claire is EIGHT MONTH'S OLD today and that means we are supposed to do a morning photo shoot.  Which I forgot all about.  And Charles had a work meeting.  So we missed the nice light we get in our room in the morning.

Oh, well.  It will be the Eight Month + 1 Day photo shoot, tomorrow, I suppose.  

But this picture of Claire sums her up right now.  She's always coming, or going.

10:30

With Claire and Jack following me everywhere I go (EVERYWHERE!!) I clean the ever-loving crap out of the bathroom.  This includes the bathtub and shower, which I clean in my bare feet (using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide) - literally scrubbing the floor with one hand and blocking the baby from climbing into the shower with the other - while Jack cheers me on, "Good job, Mama!  Good cleaning!"  

I also had to include the closet in this picture because I *finally* cleaned it like it deserved to be cleaned after literally months of not being able to see the floor properly (as you can see, the closet is big - and this is where I did all of my Christmas wrapping - and I was reminded of this pretty much every day for the last three months because there was still WRAPPING PAPER on the floor...not to mention rolls of ribbon half-empty tape dispensers...everywhere).

11:30

Nap time!  I hold her for awhile, and then decide to go ahead and put her in her crib and see how that goes.  She stays asleep for...any guesses??

12 minutes.  12 FREAKING MINUTES.  Long enough for me to eat lunch though.  And...hard to be mad when I walk in and see this face peeking out at me.

1:30

Diaper time!  And no, diaper laundry is not nearly as awful as it sounds.  I find it...relaxing.  Kind of therapeutic.  Not unlike cleaning stalls or raking a barn aisle.  It's...satisfying work (I know, kinda weird that I like all these jobs associated with poop, ha!).

And with this...the house is clean.  

Well, mostly.

It's clean...except for Jack's room.

Because OMG.  This is what Jack's room looks like.  And cleaning his room with him in it is...not easy.  So, I decide to wait until he's at school tomorrow before tacking this disaster.

2:30

Claire turned exactly eight months old today, and she learned a new trick.  She taught herself to sit up (from a laying down position).  Now, I am not sure when Jack learned this trick...but it's safe to say it was much farther down the road.  

This new trick was great fun, and resulted in more than one rescue as Claire tried to sit up in inappropriate places.  For one, I had to get her out from under her jumper (which is behind her in this picture).  Also, in one of those put-the-damn-camera-down-and-take-care-of-your-kid moments, I had to retrieve her from under this end table right after I took this picture. 

So, after rescuing Claire I got her all dressed up and we went to STARBUCKS!  Yay!  This is kind of ridiculous...I put a bow in her hair so we could drive-through...but that is the fun of having a girl.

Jack reads his new volcano book on the road, which he received in the mail from his Aunt Polly. And while we are on the topic of volcano books, it appears that every volcano book in the United States that is geared towards children uses the same fifteen or so pictures with just slightly different text.  So if your kid is into volcanoes, let it be known that one book will suffice.

3:30

I try to get a picture of the three of us, but this happens.  Claire tries to get the camera, Jack tries to get Claire, and so on and so forth.

4:30

It's sooooo nice out today.  So, we walk to the park.

And to my surprise, we have the place to ourselves!  That is, until some kids come and find a duck egg (I am assuming it's a duck egg) under a tree.

Then I see this cloud, and it reminds of the scene in Up when Ellie and Carl are watching the clouds floating by and all of a sudden they all turn into fluffy little cloud babies.  <3

As we walk back home and I see a streetlight that looks like it belongs in Narnia.  Not Random Suburb, Texas!

6:00

Yoga!!  The bottoms of my feet feel like they've been burned off from all that standing around in baking soda and hydrogen peroxide earlier today.  But I'm a trooper and I vinyasa my way through it.  

Seriously - I love yoga more and more each time I take a class.  Not only because it gives me a much-needed break, but also because it helps me find my center.  And makes me stronger.  And clears my head.  

You should try it sometime.

9:00 

Do you see this?  This is my bathtub.  The one I cleaned earlier this morning.  The one that was full of toys and a baby bathtub just hours ago.

I kicked the kids out.  They can use (and pee in) their own tub.  I am claiming this one for ME.  And after Claire went to bed tonight (well, after she went to bed and then woke up and then went back to bed again...), I soaked in this big, clean tub and remembered why I wanted a big bathtub to begin with - because it's awesome.  

11:00

And here's me.  In all my makeup-less, wrinkly glory (getting old's a real bitch!) in the light of my laptop, trying to get a picture that's okay enough to intentionally put on the internet as quickly as possible because I know my time is limited, and Claire will be up (again! I've already put her down four times tonight!) before I know it.

I don't think my forehead is that big in real life.  But who knows. 

And while the baby is still asleep, I think I'll actually take a few minutes to edit this.  Imagine that.

Peace out!