Sibling Rivalry

Sorry for, yet again, the long wait between posts. I turned in a project on Thursday that I have been working on with my team for almost 4 months. Of course, now we have to go through the editing & revision process, but I am pleased to at least have finished and briefed the first draft...and I briefed the shit out of that mutha'!* Some of you may have noticed that I completed my project on Thursday and it is now Monday. To those people I say, have you met my kids? Speaking of which, I have to share a little annecdote that I can't decide whether it is amusing or disturbing or, quite possibly, a little of both. Recently J has had a couple of incidents where she sneaks into A's room after he's been put down for the night and pulls his legs through his crib. We noticed this because a) A screams like a maniac and b) his legs are through the slats of the crib. Of course J gets into big trouble for this, but this last time I felt compelled to ask why she would do such a thing because, seriously, who does that?! I asked her very nochalantly over coloring:

Me: Why did you hurt A?
J: I not hurt A.
Me: But, why would you pull his legs through the crib? That's not very nice.
J: I didn't want that.
Me: What didn't you want?
J: *very matter-of-factly* A.


We then discussed that regardless of what you want, you still can't hurt other people, and J has not done anything like that since, but still...is that not totally crazy? Apparently my older sister used to toddle up and stroke my hair while my mom was nursing me and then yank on it when she wasn't looking, so I guess siblin rivalry starts early in our family ;)

Here's some pics of the kids that my mom took. I wish I had one of V to share with you, but she was having none of the picture taking as you can see from the one with her & J!











*Only someone as white as I would punctuate mutha'

Pity Party Averted; Hormones Closing In

My sister shared this in the comments section of my last post, but I know a lot of people don't go back to read those, so I wanted to share it with you all because it really touched me. We are not poor but any standard, and I somehow lucked into working in a field I love that also pays me extremely well. I have a wonderful family and beautiful, healthy children who have never had to wonder where their next meal will come from or where they will sleep tonight. I am truly, truly blessed. Thi is one of the most amazing aspects of blogging. Reading other, ordinary peoples' experiences can lift you up or make you feel like there is someone else out there in the world who feels just like you. For example, I choked up when she talked about missing the babies her boys once were. A is still a baby, and yet I sometimes feel like crying when I snuggle him in my arms and smell his warm, whispy baby hair. Now I understand why the youngest is usually the most spoiled of children. (generalizing here, youngest children, please don't come after me with pitchforks like the scientists did! ;) Because I know this is probably going to be the last opportunity I have to hold a little baby in my arms, I spend as much time as I possibly can holding him, tickling his fat little tummy, and covering him with kisses. My heart delights and yet aches with each little milestone he hits because I know I'll never go through those steps with another baby. And that is why, despite my greatest efforts by blogging about the absolute misery I endured during my pregnancy with A, I will always long for another baby even if logic insists that we really don't need any more children. Damn those mommy hormones!
Toddler or Psycho

Now I'd like to introduce a new segment here at Pu's Corner called "Am I a toddler or a psychopath?" It's simple, really. Just read the following and ask yourself, "Am I exhibiting the behavior of a psychopath or emulating the average toddler?"*
1. Do you, at every opportunity, remove your clothing and run around the room screaming in delight, "I'm naaaaked! Naked, naked, naked!" while swinging your naked butt from side to side?
2. When asked what you would like to do for the evening, do you throw a plastic eggplant across th room and shout, "No! I would not like any vegetables, Sam I Am!"
3. When it is time to go to bed, do you run and hide under your covers shrieking loudly, "There's no one here! There's no one here!"
4. When you hear a place flying overhead, do you run around your backyard squaking like a bird trying to find it? When you do manage to locate the plane, are you then extremely disappointed to find that it is, yet again, too far away for you to catch?
5. Do you randomly run up to people and ask them, "Sing song wit' me?" and then cut them off before they can answer, "Okay. A, b, c, d, hmm hmm h, i, j, k, lemmeno b, hmm hmm, s, t, u, v, hmm hmm and z! Now sing again, okay? Okay. A, b, c, d...."
Pu Party
Hubs and I decided to forego a long planned night out for my birthday in favor of a family party that didn't cost us a dime :) My fabulous father de-I cooked all my favorite foods (poor Hubs and Mrs. De-I had to suffer since Hubs dislikes fish, Mums is not crazy about lamb and neither of them are fond of mushrooms). Um, I was going to write more, but I got interrupted (amazing, I know, that never happens). Now that I've put all children to bed (several time thanks to the no-sleeping phase J is going through right now) my mind is finally clear enough that I've completely forgotten everything else I was going to write. Oh, now I remember, I totally got the good quality digital camera I have been begging for for over three years (Canon Powershot S5IS). My old camera was a piece of shit to being with (it wasn't very good quality and had a terrible delay that gave me many pictures of the back of my children's heads as well as consistent red-eye any time I managed to catch them with their head turned around the right way), but then A went spilled a drink on it and now it's a piece of shit and the shutter doesn't open properly. So you could say that this was the perfect time for a new camera. Luckily Hubs agreed and also he bought the camera before we got the news about the IRS and the dental bill, so he didn't know we were going to be strapped for cash when he bought it. Happy birthday to me! ;) In all truthfulness, I was so excited when I got it that I did not even care about any of the practical things we could have used the money on. I needed a new camera, damn it! Now I can have my memories captured in many more megapixels and without the constant red-eye. It was totally worth it!
*I only ask these things because Hubs has started making comments about my behavior as of late ;)

Sometimes You're Up

...and sometimes you're down. Today, for example, we learned that Hubs needs dental work that is probably going to run into the thousands evenwith insurance, my car check engine light ame on meaning I'm going to have to take it in to the shop for the third time since we moved to Abq, and I got a letter from the IRS indicating that they think we owe them $1800 from 2006. So, um, yeah, pretty suck-ass day. On a somewhat positive note, I managed to turn 23 again yesterday, so yay for aging backwards ;)



Just so I don't completely spoil your day, here's a cute tidbit from the front lines. As I was making dinner tonight, I noticed J kept throwing her Pez dispenser across the room. I yelled at her to stop, but she kept doing it. Then I looked around the corner and saw that A was fetching the dispenser and returning it to J so she could throw it for him. Apparently fetch is just as fun for infants as it is for puppies! ;)
Also, the stepkids have headed back to Texas, so we're down to just three little munchkins to do our bidding. Here's some random pics from the summer:

The Year of the Goat...Billy Goat, That Is

We had a small family party for J's third birthday when I got back from my trip. These pics were actually taken by my mom since our camera appears to not be working properly (it might have something to do with the strawberry margarita A spilled on it when we were staying with John & Shelley...darn kids, they just can't hold their alchohol! ;)

J Gets Down to Business

Everybody Wants to Help!

A Shopping Cart of Pure, Unadulterated Joy (ah, to be three again!)

What Did You Say About Birthday Cake?

Yay! Birfday Cake!

We also had some birthday party crashers

I don't know where they came from, but they appeared to have been hitting the alchohol pretty hard!

Trip Report

So, I totally posted about my Olympics love*, but I forgot to mention how good my trip to the Springs was. I got to meet up with my girlfriend, L, who I hadn't seen in two years. It was so great to hang out and reconnect with her after all this time. It seems like it gets harder and harder to keep in touch with the people I care about as the years go by. As my family grows and we get caught up in every day errands and responsibilities, and your free time goes down to next to nothing, it makes it so difficult to pick up the phone or even write an e-mail! Anyway, my point is that I had a fabulous time hanging out with L, and I am super excited that I'm going to get to see her on a regular basis now** I also ran into a very old friend that I hadn't seen in almost 9 years. We were once so close that she sang at my first wedding. On top of all that, I saw another old friend from my SMC days, and I'm making plans to see yet another old college friend who is now teaching at the Academy for the next time I go out to CO. It'll be a Det 910 reunion! :) I also really like my reserve job. We are standing up a brand new Wing, so there is just a shit-ton of stuff to be done. One of my main priorities is to meet with all of our geographically separated units at some point in the next 6-9 months, so I may be traveling to some other exciting places in the near future! I also managed to find someone who can watch A for me while I'm up there in Sept for two weeks, so I don't have to leave poor Hubs with all the kids again!


* side note: Hubs is seriously losng it b/c there's a break in Olympic coverage and they're playing a story about panda bears. Poor Hubs!

**I wish I could come see all ya'lls so regularly, but the military won't pay for that :(

Pu's Olympic Coverage

So, I don't know about all of you, but I friggin' love the Olympics. I mean, I am just slightly obsessed with making sure I catch every single moment of my favorite sports event. I can still remember watching Janet Evans when I was a young, impressionable girl and thinking how someday that could be me. I get all choked up when I see the medal ceremonies and watch the emotion on the atheletes' faces. I just love everything about them. Hubs and MIL, however, do not share my enthusiasm. Hubs is watching the US-China basketball game only because of his great love for Kobe and not so much for that feeling of national pride. I have also mentioned my excitement to several others in the days leading up to the start of Olympic coverage only to be met with the same sort of tepid response. Most people seemed rather indifferent, which go me to thinking. Am I the only one who still carries this childlike adoration for the Olympics? Is the excitement something most people grow out of, or am I just abnormal because I once dreamed of Olympic gold myself? What do you all think?

As a side note, though the kids were bored to death watching the opening ceremonies (yes, I made them watch the whole thing), C has become a lot more interested since watching Michael Phelps win his first gold. I may have spurred a new generation of Olympic fans by talking him up to her (she keeps asking me when he's going to swim again!) Goal achieved! ;)