Living in Munchkinland

We are in New York City right now celebrating my sweet husband's birthday. We heard a hurricane might be heading that way as drve to the airport on Wednesday. On Friday we knew it was on it's way and as soon as the airline allowed, we changed our flight from Sun to Sat to try and get away ahead of the storm. We were really disappointed because we would miss our one broadway show we had planned, but it seemed wise to get out. Then Friday night we heard ALL flights on Saturday were cancelled. We frantically spent over an hour trying to get through to the airline to rebook for Monday. We were lucky enough to keep our hotel room, but could not move to a lower floor as the hotel is sold out. my in-laws reassured that they would keep the kids and that all was well on the home front. This morning was dark and rainy but we went out and got foodfrom Zabors, hit lots of drugstores till we finally found flashlights and stocked up on wine. The transit system in the city shut down ...

We have continued moving furniture around and changing up the house. We decided to change our dining room into a "lounge". We'll watch TV in there and then we can make the focal point of our living room our fireplace instead of the television. Earlier this week, my parents gave us their couch and two chaise lounges that I have been coveting for a long time. Michael and I were so grateful and thrilled. When we got the furniture in our house and arranged, we realized we needed to paint the new "lounge". Michael was not thrilled about it, but we bit the bullet and painted it this weekend. The kids "helped" and that was harrowing for a while, but we got through it and they even gave themselves a bath and put on their jammies all on their own after they painted. That was a miracle in itself. We think the room looks fabulous! I am thrilled with the deep "purple twilight" color and think it looks great with the berry colored chais...

Davis performed in his first musical on Friday. This performance was the culmination of his two week study at the Texas State Theatre Camp. Davis played one of the seven dwarves in a rock-style version of Snow White. His name was "Big Mike". Michael got off work early in time to see the show and some of our friends came too. Davis was very proud. He looked so cute and small up there. His singing was great and he remembered all his lines. He consistently started his choreography off on the wrong foot (so like his mama) and was a bit too quiet for the large theatre, but we still thought he was brilliant and wonderful. We were proud too. We brought him a Cars 2 balloon and took him out to dinner at his favorite restaurant, Japanerios after the show. We'll receive the DVD soon and tuck it into his memory box. It was really special for me to see him travel down his mama's footsteps if only for an hour and 15 minutes.

I'm keeping my parents' goddaughter this week from 8-5 while her mom works. I have known this beautiful girl since she was eight months old and have kept her lots of times. There was an extended period of time I kept her when she was 18 months. She is eleven now and is sweet as sweet can be. It is a joy to spend time with her (though she never stops talking!), and she is helpful besides. Today we did kid yoga, cooked together, she read starwars to Sam, held his hand across streets, played pretend, cleaned everything up, ate everything I put in front of her and hugged me when it was time to go and begged to stay. Tomorrow we're going to the library where she's promised to let me introduce her to Little House on the Prairie. Sweet, sweet girl.

This morning I saw an ad on craigslist for some Ikea Bunkbeds. Michael and I emailed them right away and around 1:30 this afternoon we picked them up! Our boys insist on sharing a room and we figured this would give us much more room. It would also give us an extra trundle bed that we could move to our extra-playroom-that-used-to-be-Davis'-room and make ourselves a guest room! We've always wished we had a guest room and now we do. We spent all afternoon disassembling, assembling and moving large pieces of furniture. We still love each other. Check it out.

I just spent some time online researching rough and tumble play. It runs out that the boys are pretty normal. Sam is experiencing a typical four year old surge of testosterone. Their joy over their games indicates that it is not real aggression and the constant touching each other is fulfilling their needs to be touched. (if they really need that much touching, why won't they allow me to smother them in kisses?). All it seems that I need to do is remind the boys what kind of touching is appropriate (no punching or biting) and make sure both kids are enjoying it. I am relieved by this research, but still totally befuddled by boys. Anyone have any raising boys how to book suggestions? Right now I'm at the jumpy place letting Sam burn off some rough and tumble energy on soft bouncy things. And then I will attempt further smothering of kisses.

The last week I have been off work and so I have been home with the boys. Davis has been in theatre camp all week and I spend most of the day with Sam. It has been a quiet week. After the drama and emotional rollercoaster of Monday, I sort of nestled into solitude. I'm feeling insecure and reticent. And it's not just that. It's hot. So hot. And dry. The ground is cracking and brown and I can't even force the kids outside at 7:30 in the morning for longer than half an hour because they come in drenched in sweat and complaining. And my mom and dad are gone for vacation and I miss them! And my friends are busy or on vacation. And money is a bit tight. So for all these reasons, my days this week have revolved around staying home with Sam and dropping off and picking up Davis from camp. Michael's job so far is good. He likes it and we are finding our new rhythm. But I miss him so much. We have started doing our runs at six in the morning in the d...