Dear Amazon,

Are you stalking me?  'Cause you're starting to freak me out. 

I appreciate how you make suggestions about the books you think I might like..  That is. when I voluntarily stop by your website.

I know you assume I have a baby at home due to the many diaper purchases I've made, but, really, you don't know me.

So, when you sent me an email suggesting it's time to move up to size 3 diapers, it weirded me out.  Are you following me?  Reading my thoughts?  How do you know how big my baby is?

You need to back off.

Don't call me, I'll call you.

There are many things I really love about you, but if we're going to remain friends, you need to give me some space.

So, trusted and helpful Amazon, let's agree to meet on my terms, and I think we can get along.  Just let me make my own decisions about my familiy's personal items, and we'll be ok.

Otherwise, like I said, you're freaking me out.

My Brother, the Foreign Diplomat

When my brother called a year and a half ago to tell me he was moving east, I thought he must mean Virginia or New Jersey or some exotic place such as that.  He said, "further east."  Now he and his sweet family live in Hong Kong. 

Of course I'm very proud that his company trusts him enough to let him run their Chinese office.  He travels a great deal, his title is 'Director of Foreign Trade,' and he gives speeches to big crowds.  I had no idea my booger-picking, nerf-ball-slam-dunking little brother would grow up to have such an important job.  In my mind, he wears a shirt and tie every day and walks around with an intimidating smile and sits behind a big desk or in first class on a business flight. 

Here's reality:

I'm still proud. 

Birthdays

 On the 13th, Child #1 turned 11...

(Isn't this a nice picture of her with Aunt Emily?)

On the 22nd (party on the 21st), Child #4 turned 5!

#5 is 1/2 (well, almost), so he got to try his first solid food (mushed bananas).  He was pretty much nonplussed. 

His second 'real meal' thanks to big sissie who took it upon herself to prepare his lunch.  He's getting the hang of it, I think!!  :)

Accomplishments

A couple years ago, one of my favorite websites had a weekly exercise encouraging bloggers to link in with 3 small but important accomplishments of their weeks...  It's a vital thing to think about when you're a mom and often it seems that the very task you just completed has already been undone.  Or maybe you feel like you haven't done anything all day, but really you've done all kinds of important things...  they're just not the sorts of things you can really check off a list.  You know, like, for example, comforting a teething baby, wiping up 42 spills, helping a child learn to tie shoes (again)... 

So, today, I happened to make note of some big, or not so big, accomplishments by various members of our family....

1.  In spite of a late start, everybody got a math lesson yesterday.  I also discovered that my almost-ready-to-make-his-first-confession child already knows his act of contrition prayer (Go CCD teachers!!).  Yippee. 

2.  I killed a yucky spider with only a tissue then cleaned up his guts with an already-been-used bandaid (thus saving a tree).  Those who have known me for a long time will understand that close contact with an arachnid is no small achievement for me.

3.  My non-native-english speaker child knows the lyrics to an entire bruno mars song including falsetto runs.  Nice.  Credit there goes to his sister's ipod.  And her generosity in letting him borrow it.

4.  I made scrambled eggs and bacon for dinner while breastfeeding.  Yes I did.  Including cracking the eggs.  I am a true nursing professional.  That's what happens when you arrive home from one activity at 3:30 and need to get everyone fed and back out the door by 4:30 for a full night of activities.  Wednesdays are ridiculously crazy for us. 

5.  I spent a little mental energy considering what needs to be done to babyproof the house.  Somebody is inching his way around here, not quite crawling, but rolling and moving nonetheless.  I know that we'll need some big-time modifications around here.  Haven't actually done anything about that, but my brain did move intthat direction for a few moments.  Hey, it's something. 

have a great Thursday! 
:)

We interrupt this school year...

...to clean the house!

After 9 months of pregnancy and a few months of newborn life, Momma is back!  Good buddies are coming this weekend, so it's a good excuse to get things in order.  And let me tell you, it's pretty bad around here.

Now, I do intend to honor my pledge about cherishing baby days and avoiding freaking
 out over  the state of things on the home front.  So, something's got to give, right?  This week, it's curricula.  Don't worry - there's still plenty of learning to be had, just not of the textbook variety.

We are vacuuming closet floors, organizing sewing stuff (thanks, Luce!), putting and throwing away school books from last year (!), and sanitizing some sorely neglected areas.

We're not done, but I feel better already.

The kids?  I'm sure they'll have new appreciation for their math books when we get back to it next week. :)

Happy Thursday!