Takin' Trains, Matthew Style

Around here one of the only "back pocket" moves we have with Matthew is taking his little wooden Thomas trains and placing them on top of the fridge until he's doing Good Boy Things again. If you're at our house and you hear, "Okay, do I have to take a train?" means its either time to eat or time to sleep.

Tonight we've put him to bed, and Rachel's sleeping, and we're finally both sitting down with laptops and some Biggest Loser. And then we hear him in there, "Mommy, Mommy, it's NOT dark outside, it's LIGHT outside ..." which is clearly building his case for the next one, "It's NOT nght night time."

Keep in mind Michael's already been in there twice and I've been in there once to shush him and it's now well after 8 p.m.

So now we're shooting looks back and forth, "Do we go in again? What next?" while all the time, Matthew's in there, "I got poo poos!" and then, "I need a TIS-UUEEEE!" - all his best whoppers - when suddenly my husband's had enough.

He definitely pushes up from the chair and says, "All right, that's it. I'm TAKIN' TRAINS!" to which I cannot help bust out laughing.

I realize it might not translate how funny this was, but imagine Mike doing this in a very serious and semi angry way. In the same tone I might imagine him committing to joining some bar fight back in college..."Ok, that's it, go time, let's DO this thing!!"

So in he went, threatening all sorts of train taking. However, he didn't actually take one because the boy buckled and acted like he'd sleep.

Naturally in a few minutes, he's yelling "Mommy!" again and this time I go in. "Matthew, if you don't go to sleepy, Mom's gonna have to take a train. And I don't want to, I don't like to take trains."

To which he responds, "Yeah, DADDY likes to take trains." Yep, that's your daddy. He used to golf. Now his only hobby left in this world is taking your trains.

How's It Going?

Today is the day before my daughter's one month birthday so I felt my first post in 3 weeks might be in order. SOooo... Here's what's going on over here with me and the two (completely the boss of me) short stuffs:

Lots of sitting on the couch marathon breastfeeding sessions while watching endless morning/daytime/middle of the night TV. Which means CNN is about to cut me off as a junkie because it's the only thing that's dependably decent.

Lots of negotiating. Matthew, if you let Mommy feed Rachel, then I'll play Play-Dough. Matthew, if you let Mom finish pumping, I'll play cars. Matthew, if I let you watch Thomas, will you sit here next to us? (This just in) Matthew, if you let Mommy do the computer, I'll let you watch Wheels on the Bus (Thank you, YouTube, for not being a totally useless time waster but also a helpful childcare device. There are LOTS of cute videos out there. Such as 20 minutes of kittens playing/falling off things... he LOVES it).

Lots of guilt about what I'm NOT getting done every day. Sure, I would tell anyone of YOU just having babies, don't worry about laundry, dishes, thank you notes...and certainly not blogging or posting photos. Yet every day these chores and more loom over my head on most days where getting out of my p.j.'s and feeding us all our 3 squares a day (or 8, as the case may be) should be a big accomplishment.

Lots of borderline neglect of my toddler when I decide, dammit, I AM going to get on the computer or make this call or do X for just ten minutes. Such as right this minute when Matthew is in our room, opening and shutting the door, probably in between going through all our drawers and ingesting something poisonous I don't even know I have in there. And asking me for the zillionith time already this morning, Mama, what you doing? What you doing? Which reminds me...

Lots of endless answering of the same tiny toddler-voice-asked questions. Mama, where Baby Rachel? Mama, what's DAT? (in response to any noise we hear. all day long). Mama, where's Daddy? Mama, where's Maya (cat)? Mama, where's (someone we haven't seen in 3 months)? The amount of questions I am asked and answer each day should qualify me as the all time winner on the world's MOST annoying game show.

Of course, I love him so dearly and on "easier" days am really enjoying the time with him but... OH MY GOODNESS, THE CONSTANT ATTENTION WE NEED.

Did I mention this is only my FIFTH day alone with both of them? Not fiftieth. FIFTH. All the other days I've had moms or helpers thus everything felt deceptively manageable.

I know it will get easier. And I do love taking care of my own kids. But right now I don't have my hard protective "living with a toddler all day" protective shell built up. So it's all feeling overwhelming at the best of times. I'm sure I'll make my bones just about the time I go back to work, right?

Of course, it's not all frustration. There are moments of pure "OMG, how perfect are you kids?" Such as this:

I want to post a lot lot more...birth story, daily observations of being a mom of two, whining comments on sleep deprivation and of course, more on miss Rachel and her emerging personality. As I told EEJ, I have constant blog posts running through my head.

I just need that psychic Star Trek type magic translater to get them straight from my brain into my blog, along with suitably charming photos updates and captions. But until that time, I might be on the slow post schedule. Either that or one of you experienced mommies needs to teach me to type one handed while I feed her.

In the meantime to redeem myself, there are some photos of our first 2 weeks at home posted on my Picasa link here.

Baby Sisters and Stuff

Matthew Mike and I had a nice little chat about new baby sister tonight. Want to know how it went?

Are you gonna be a good big brother?
Yuh. (Whispered, monotone, eyes glazed over staring off at nothing while rotely answering affirmative as he always does no matter what ridiculous question we ask, such as, Matthew, did you see a dinosaur today? Yuh.)
Are you gonna love the baby?
Yuh.
Are you gonna kiss the baby?
Are we gonna have a baby like Baby Shane and Baby Amelia?
Is baby gonna drink milk?
Is baby gonna sleep in the crib?
Yuh. Yuh. Yuh. Yuh.

But still, he did seem to be listening. At one point I told Mike, "I think it's sinking in!"

At which point, Matthew pulled his shirt up to discuss the baby in his tummy, and demanded Mike do the same. Oh well, maybe not totally sunk.

Yet again someone today had asked me, Is Matthew excited about his little sister? For some reason although I know the answer is "no because he is less than clueless on this" it always prompts me to go home and try again.

I think there is a very good chance I can walk in with that baby and it still won't "sink in." In a way I hope it doesn't. Sinking in might mean he gets he's not the big kahuna round here anymore. A realization I suspect will not make my life easier with the two of them here.

I would rather he just realizes after about 5 months, oh, that little lady with all the pink stuff is still here. Okay, guess that's fine.

Heartwarming Sibling Moments #1 and 2 Down, 999,998 to Go

Last night, Matthew and I were comparing belly buttons. Why, you don't? And instead of saying "button" and poking mine, he poked it and said... "Baby."

WHAT?

I cannot tell you how many people - who maybe haven't been around not-quite-two-year-olds in a while - have asked me what Matthew thinks about the baby. What baby? He knows less than nothing about the baby. He knows one baby and his name is Baby (even though it's William) and he's our neighbor who our nanny Libby also cares for. That's The One Baby of the World.

But with everyone asking, we both felt the need to make lame attempts to teach Matthew about the baby, is there a baby in mommy's tummy? there's a baby in here! etc. Maybe 2 or 3 times. I got embarrassed. Who are we kidding? I felt as dumb as when I try to talk to to the baby in my belly (anyone out there good at that? I feel like a weenie).

Anyway, when the other night happened it reminded me that toddlers are never not listening. They are always, thrillingly and terrifyingly, taking. every. word. in. As evidenced by his also proudly exclaimed "SHIT! SHIT!" tonight after hearing his Daddy loudly struggling with something in the kitchen. But I digress...

Moment #2 was tonight. We're reading something with a baby. I decide to capitalize, pat my tummy and ask what's in there. He says baby, poking my belly button and leaning down for a peek in. Then we talked about, The baby's hungry! The baby needed uppies! And that the baby needed crackers!

I needed a video camera and a Mensa application. I don't care that he can't read yet. HE IS MY BABY GENIUS.