Hmmmmm

While getting ready to take her bath tonight, Amelia grabbed her chest, stretched it out and then told me her 'boobs were growing".  After my stunned silence, she asked me what boobs are for. After another bit of silence, I said the only thing I could think of....."Meggan....Amelia has something to ask you."  Four years in and I'm still not ready to raise a girl.

Naybe

Even though Christmas is long gone, Naybe still occasionally visits Amelia and leaves her notes to let her know he's always watching. That sneaky elf is much better at motivating her than we are. He even stopped by tonight just to say hello...and apparently while he loves the North Pole, he really misses Amelia...

Welcome Back

I officially left quarantine today....and this is what I found....




...Dear God.

Quick View

I crawled out of quarantine long enough to see Everett decide today was the day he is going to walk all over the place...except towards his sister despite her constant pleas for him to walk to "big sistie".

Tuesday Nights

I've always felt, when picking a significant other, the most important thing was to simply find someone you enjoyed spending Tuesday nights with. It's easy to find someone you enjoy going out with on weekends, going with on vacation, and even someone with whom you enjoy spending the holidays. However, if you can find someone you enjoy on a regular night - when you aren't doing anything but hanging around the house, you both have to work the next day, and neither of you is dressed in your nice clothes - you stick with them. And if you can somehow still find this person attractive if they are either sick or or wearing their "comfy" clothes, you marry them. This theory may not work out for everyone, but it certainly has for me...which is why I took the picture below even though I'm sure Meggan hates it and most people would say it's terrible because she isn't even looking at the camera. To me, this picture is our Tuesday nights...hair up, glasses on, baking cookies, and laughing at each other (or the kids)...and I love everything about it.

Never Saw That Coming

Prior to having kids, getting sick is mostly a minor inconvenience. It is a day or two of rest you probably need anyways and some mild discomfort to help you appreciate the other times more. However, once you have children, it is soooo much worse. Now, I'm not any more sick than I would be if I didn't have kids. But, since we love our children (and if you think it sucks to be sick, try taking care of sick 1 and 3 year olds), Meggan and I basically quarantine ourselves in our bedroom if we ever have anything contagious. There is something sort of maddening about being stuck in your room all day - the bed isn't as comfortable as a couch, the TV is much smaller than the one in the living room, the conversation sucks unless you are really good at talking to yourself, etc.  All those are easy to see and make perfect sense as to why being sick with kids is worse. However, today (since it is apparently my turn to be quarantined) I am dealing with something I never saw coming.- guilt. I feel guilty for missing ballet and swimming. I feel guilty for not being able to help with Everett. I feel guilty for not being available to take Amelia to her friend's birthday party. I feel guilty that Meggan has to do it all. Naturally, Meggan just wants me to get better and hasn't in any way acted frustrated by this situation.  And also naturally, there will be times where the roles are reversed either due to illness or work  But, none of that erases the way I feel when I hear Everett crying or Amelia asking for help with something. None of that will help tonight when Meggan has to do bath and bed time by herself. And none of that will matter when I don't get to tuck the kids into bed.  So, for any of us, being sick really sucks. For us parents, though, it basically removes us from our families.

Teacher

I'm trying to get Amelia to understand when she does this...

Everett does this... 

But, when she does this...

 Everett does this....

So, she has some responsibility as a big sister to make sure he knows to smile in pictures instead of stick out his tongue. So far, it is pretty evident she either doesn't understand or just doesn't care.