Let's get the show on the road!

I didn’t think I’d be ever saying this, but miraculously we’ve made it to full term on the longest pregnancy known to man. Yeppers, you read that right. This baby could be born today and (crossing fingers) would go home with me tomorrow! But let’s not jump the gun here.

As a typical hormonal pregnant mommy, I’m actually feeling pretty darn emo. I guess when I went into labor at 23 weeks, I assumed that I would be meeting this bambino a lot sooner than now. The past 14 weeks have been rough. I’ve seen a 1.5 lb baby, and that’s rougher. The shots, bed rest, meds, compression stockings, dr. appointments every week, diet, inability to exercise, heartburn and nausea, 1000 daily contractions…they all did their best to bring us down. But God’s grace held us up. Our little family of 4 is stronger thanks to the presence of another human being who has yet to show his face.

So what’s next? I know it’ll be hard. The kids will be jealous and vying for my hugely sleep deprived attention. Our house will be in shambles and we’ll eat pizza every night. The TV will replace me on the floor, playing and breaking up fights over who gets which toy. Eli will come home after work to start his second job of picking up my slack. I’ll be sore, cranky and relearning how to nurse and get a baby to sleep. However, pulling together as a team, each one of us will learn how to adjust and enjoy the new family dynamic. Even though these are small sufferings, they'll still bring us closer to Christ. We look forward to giving more of ourselves and become servants, just as Jesus called us to do. Our kids are especially blessed because from such a young age they naturally learn the virtues--Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, Prudence.

Our latest sonogram measures the baby to be 7 lbs, and I’m fully effaced and dilated 2 cm. Let’s get this show on the road! We can't wait to meet you baby and find out if you're a boy or a girl. But baby, could you just wait until after this Thursday? We're a bit busy this week:)

Back to school, to prove to dad you're not a fool!

Dear Emily and Leo,

There I stood, same usual place and time to wave goodbye to Daddy, but today it was different. It was so quiet that I could hear the morning runners’ feet pad the sidewalk. As I looked out, your two tiny faces were craning to wave to me from the backseat squished with a princess backpack, nap mats, lunch boxes and a “nigh-men-men-keen” (lightening McQueen) backpack. It’s the first day of school. I held back a tear and showed my best smile and mouthed I love you.

Emily you’re a lucky girl. All the 8th graders at your school (classmates of Aunt Teresa) practically shove through a crowd to yell hello and ask for a hug. You love all the extra attention, and pride yourself in being your teacher’s “good helper girl” since you know the drill from last year. For the past couple weeks, you’ve awakened with the squeaky yet raspy voice of a 4 year old asking “today, mama? Can I go to school today?” You’ve had your uniform set out for weeks, have been planning to spend lots of time in the home center and hoping the boys don’t take over the block center like last year. I can’t wait to hear all about your new friends and what new tattle tales you’re excited to tell me.

Leo you‘re a lucky boy too. “Pe-NA, mommy? Fwiens?” Yes, Leo, you’ll have a blast with Mrs. Pena and your friends. At the meet the teacher day, without any prompting from me, you marched straight up to your teacher and said Hi Pe-Na with a big hug. She already loved you and couldn’t wait to meet the nephew of her former students. You went from 2 yr old to 2 yr old waving, hugging, saying hi. I knew from that moment that I just have to stand back and marvel at all you can bring to the world. Mr. Independent--not afraid of being curious, sensitive, generous, rambunctious. This morning you’ll insist on buckling your carseat all by yourself and carrying your very own big and heavy backpack. I can’t wait to see you grow up to be a boy full of character, but for today (and everyday until the new baby is born), you’re still my sweet baby boy.

I love you,
Mommy

Terrific Two's

The first year of a child is a constant whirlwind of changes and milestones. As new parents, your entire world has been flipped upside down and you begin to obsess over how much or little your 10 lb. chub eats or sleeps. Over time, the sweetness develops some kind of sleep pattern, and you sigh with relief after crossing the first hurdle of parenthood. Whew, you think to yourself, thank goodness I'm such a great parent and totally have this new baby thing under control. With each new challenge mastered, you pat yourself on the back and march forward with your chin up. Each new milestone is documented with 127 pictures and carefully marked in the baby book. When Emily first rolled over at 8 months, I called my parents so excitedly that they thought we won the lottery. All of the hours reading child development books have paid off!

But then, something very strange happens:

The age of 2.

You see, kids are smart and they've heard about the infamous terrible twos, and they know they have to bring their A-game. They don't mess around. There's only 365 days to live up to this terrible two phenomenon, and boy are they going to live it up.

It's all gotta start somewhere. They make one sly move of independence just to catch their parent off guard, and then BAM! It's on.

When Emily turned two, she got lucky. Eli and I were drowning in a pool of new baby Leo plus buying our first money-pit (errr...house) Nothing quite says "now is the time to make my 2 year old debut" as 2 adults running around like chickens with their heads chopped off.

So wouldn't you know, Emily took charge of her life on August 11, 2009. That night, she decided that she was just flat out too old to sleep in a crib. In fact, she's too old to sleep period. Absolutely no naps ever again. And while she was thinking about it, she decided to refuse the high chair too. And sippy cup. She was on a roll. No more diapers. She'd rip that sucker off with disgust. "I dooooo eeet" was her favorite phrase.

Have you ever met a 2 year old? She weighed about 20 lbs and couldn't reach the door handle. I'll show her who's boss, I thought. I'll whip her into shape in 5 seconds flat.

At least, that was the plan.

The next 2 years were slightly a blur.

Leo's 2nd birthday brought the gift of stubbornness. He's slowly unwrapping it, savoring each moment. You see, he has an older sister who's still hanging onto that 2 year old gift of stubbornness, and she's about to be 4. So he's got plenty of time to use it up and wear it out.

Looking back on pictures, I have to tell you the truth. I'm a bit scared of the future. 3 kids, 4 and under. We're definitely outnumbered now. However, there will come a day when Emily will harness this fortitude and perseverance into something positive. And absolutely nothing will stand in her way. So watch out world!

Here's a look back at some of Emily's favorite ways to assert her independence and creativity:

The facial.
We'd had a long summer of applying sunblock, and by then it was just second nature to rub something all over your face. Nevermind if it was lotion, mayonnaise, glue, or diaper rash cream.







The Sneakout.
Remember how Emily liked to protest cribs and naps? We'll just skip the part about her extreme sleep issues all together and look at these cute pictures. Even as an almost 4 yr old she still fights sleep with all her little might and continues to be an insomniac. I'd go to her room in the middle of the night and discover her missing, panic, then find her sleeping under a chair or on a shelf.
Or on the cold tile floor.


The Robbery
We finally drew the line on the pacifier when we realized, hey! You're completely potty trained...you're too old for this! Then commenced the frequent sneak into baby brother's crib and take the paci right out of his warm mouth.


The Baglady
This phase followed an intense basket-lady period wherein an urge to clean turned into hording and clearing out drawers and cabinets compulsively. Personally, I loved all the time spent working diligently to fill the laundry baskets. If ever a friend or family member gave me the "I'm in the neighborhood and would love to swing by and see your new house" I'd put her to work. Not so handy if you're looking for your toothbrush or keys or clean underwear and need to sift through 10 bags real quick.


As you can see, Leo has some very large 2 year old shoes to fill. He's not quite as willful as his sister, but he's a boy. And I hear that's a whole different ballgame. Wish me luck!

Summertime Fun

Can you believe it's almost August? AUGUST!! Us Danzes love summer because we love to keep insanely busy with traveling and super awesome summer projects. Us Danzes also despise summer because it goes waaaay too fast and we're left doing a bazillion procrastinated chores. Like 6 loads of laundry. A day. Fun.

So what on earth have we been doing that's so super awesome??

Celebrating!!

On Father's Day the kids helped me make pancakes with whipped cream from scratch (if you have not tried this, you must. bisquick + cool whip just ain't cuttin it these days)for Daddy's traditional breakfast in bed. Best dad ever right there.


We also drove out the the Rock to spend Father's Day with Eli's dad and family. As per usual I dropped the ball on getting a picture with the Danzes, but I got lots of sweet Daddy pictures playing with his fearless kids. Thank goodness there's a gate there.

The next weekend we went to Austin to celebrate Great Grandpa Leo's 80th birthday. You know those times when your toddler and preschooler skip naps? By 6pm they're rather fun to be around. I mean, seriously, throw in a fancy restaurant and relatives who actually want to converse and you've got a real party!

But we wouldn't miss this for the world. After all...we did name our firstborn son after Great-Grandpa!


My parents, sisters, and Nona came over to celebrate our 5th anniversary and my 27th birthday. Have you ever tried fondue? YUM! We broke in our new dining room table handed down from my great great aunt...if that table could talk!!


The Harkins reunion came next--in Florida! 28 hours total drive time and the kids did GREAT. I had no idea it was even *possible* to have a tolerable road trip with my kids. We survived with a couple things: movies, dramamine, junk food, and about 10 presents each from the dollar store. Then being the center of 45 Harkins' love and attention was just enough to spoil them completely rotten. Life couldn't get any better! The waves were pretty intense compared to the TX coast, but that didn't stop our sand-diving-wave-jumping-football-throwing kids.

Leo turned 2 at the beach along with his 2nd cousin Mae Rose. He was a champion candle blower-outer.


But Wait! There's More! We spent a weekend in Ft Worth to congratulate my smarty pants sister Lauren's entrance into MEDICAL SCHOOL! We're so proud of her hard work and perseverance.



We've had the best summer ever and fully intend to enjoy every last second of the 2 weeks we have left before school starts!

How to survive a Texas summer

Summer is in full swing here and Texas has decided to be extraordinarily hot and dry this time around. The weather always behaves nicely with my pregnancies and naturally Emily was born on a 104* August day and Leo was born on the 60th day of over 100* weather. Right around 6 months is when I start to feel fat, hot, out of breath, and tired all day. Joy! We always plan to bring out the big guns--the coolest most awesome activities for the days when I can barely function in the AC. But then, life happens, and I just stick to my goal of trying to keep all 3 kids alive daily and forget all the fun stuff.

But we can't just stay in the house all summer long! If we did, well, you could guarantee that this house would resemble a nuthouse much more than a peaceful abode. Did I mention that I like to make life really hard and don't allow TV watching (other than an occasional saint movie)? OK, OK, so we've started to slip down the slippery slope of staring into the glowing box from time to time. And they love it...love it! It's madness--if we watch one movie, it's whining and pleading all the time everyday until I break down and just give in. It's not like they actually watch it, anyway. They just leap from couch to couch and make forts and throw pillows and ignore the tv. Silly little spider monkeys.

So what in the world are we doing for 13-14 hours a day?!?!? Beats me...but here is some proof that I dont lock them in their rooms to read all the time:)

Slip n Slide. What a fantastic invention! Leo is not a water discriminator and is just as happy to play in a small muddy puddle of week old water. Eli is Mr. Water Police and regulates how often we can actually fill the baby pool or slip n slide. But look at those smiles!! You just dont get too many moments that just absolutely melt your heart.



Something else you can do to avoid chores is build your toddler an intricate train track. If you have an engineer-type brain, this will take you 5 minutes. If you have my brain, it will take you about 37 minutes to figure out how to make a loop inside a loop and throw in a bridge for good measure. Your toddler will love you forever and run his beloved trains round and round till the sun goes down. Or, in my case, he'll just take the track apart and throw the pieces in all directions and ask you to start over.


Play dress up or pretend. Recently Emily's been on this princess kick and tries to get Leo to waltz everywhere while singing "I know you, I've walked with you once upon a dream". Leo is always a good sport and humors her ridiculous scenarios and copies every move she makes. I love to hear the hilarious things Emily says while she thinks no one is listening. Yesterday I could hear her telling a tiny dolly "no mother, I cannot do as you say because God is calling me to follow Him now. I'm divinely inspired." Whaaat?? That came out of left field. Hope she doesnt try to pull that line on me in a teenage fit of rage.


Another great activity to take up time is to pretend you know how to grow things and plant a garden. I will spare your eyes the blinding monstrosity of a jungle our backyard has become, and rather show you a pleasant shot of one of the cucumbers we've produced. Not only can you teach your kids about the food pyramid, but also about opossums, raccoons, drought, rotting compost, and lots of other lovely topics.

We go swimming almost every day. Where else can I float weightlessly and feel slightly cooler than before? Plus the kids are encouraged to jump, scream, and act like maniacs for a couple hours before dinner. Win Win. Throw in a couple Popsicles and they're in sweet sticky oozy drippy kid heaven.


If all else fails, try bribery. Be a good girl today and mommy will give you candy. Not just any candy either...pop rocks. So good they'll knock your socks off!