Am I the worst mom in the world?

I was enjoying 5 minutes of peace and quiet (too quiet in retrospect) while Charlie used the potty before bedtime. Charlie came out of our bathroom with a bloody chin. He tried to shave just like his daddy. Poor little dude! Lots of questions tonight about who gets to shave what when....















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chore Chart

We recently started a chore chart with Charlie. Growing up, I remember how hard my mom worked to implement chore charts for us four daughters but they never caught on (am I remembering this correctly?). Anyway this is week two of our chore chart with Charlie and it seems to be working. In theory, I want Charlie to develop intrinsic motivation for his behavior vs extrinsic. I found the real power of the chart is more that it spells out a routine for Charlie of things that he can accomplish all by himself. I like that it is flexible and we can adjust it as he develops. His rewards are smiley faces and at the end of the week a star sticker. Charlie is a typical first-born - striving to please us - so it doesn't take much. Jason and I joke that we want a sticker chart for or chores around the house. Before Charlie (and even before Liam) we relished our freedom to not be tied down to evening chores. That being said, I find that we are falling behind in things and hopelessly trying to play catch up al week. My biggest current goal is to have a nice dinner on the table by 530pm so we can have quality family time in the evening and not a chaotic scramble to bed.

  - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The video rental guy made me sad today... and Being a Boy Mom

I went to our local video rental store, Video To-Nite, this evening trying to find season 2 of the tv show Modern Family. Unfortunately I got a little hooked on it on the flight from the US to NZ -- I was laughing uncontrollably on the flight trying not to wake up Liam. That being said, NZ is not a good place to get hooked on a tv show. For starters, we don't have a tv here. This wasn't a problem in the US because we could stream the occasional episode of The Office or Saturday afternoon Florida Gators football game. The NZ gov't blocks almost all streaming video from the US. No nbc.com, no CBS sports.com, and no Hulu. As a result, the neighborhood video rental store (a relic of the past in the US) is still thriving in NZ.

When I went to the video rental store tonight, I asked about Modern Family season 2 (originally aired Sep 2010) and he said it should be in later this week. I explained that in the US we stream most of our tv shows, and he got a semi-horrified look on his face and crossed his fingers and said hopefully it doesn't catch on in NZ. I want to say to the video rental guy, "Sir, I coming back from the future to tell you that video rental stores won't exist in the near future in your country... it is time to start looking for a new profession, or consider opening a new type of store store, or a new something..." It kind of made me sad... I felt very nostalgic in the store as he advised me on different kiwi films -- it was nice, and not really possible when streaming entertainment from home...

On another note, I like being a boy mom. I'm sure it is super sweet being a girl mom and perhaps not that much different, but I really, really like being a boy mom.  Wow - I never dreamed it would be this much fun to have boys. Charlie got a Hot Wheels loopy track thing from a friend at his birthday party (pics from party later - I promise!) and I was a little mystified at how to put it together... I've seen them before, but with four daughters, I don't think we ever had one in our home. Jason (coming from a family with three sons) kept saying: "this is so cool, this is so cool." He was thrown back to his childhood and had so much fun playing with Charlie. I am thankful for these new experiences with my little men. I'm just having a lot of fun.

Charlie is BIG into imaginative play lately (of course, usually involving trains) - our whole home is a train, divided into dining, sleeping, toilet and sitting cars.  He also takes these buckets and makes them into train seats for all of us to ride. 

This Boy Mom did splurge today and got her haircut (the first one in over a year - YIKES!). It was so, so nice... I left Liam with a really great babysitter and Charlie was at creche. As I left our home, I felt naked without kids, diaper bags or strollers... it was a really foreign feeling. After getting super cute, I met Jason for lunch at work and got a few hours in at work.

This is our friend Minnie (Minneline) from church who is helping us to watch Liam.   She went to beauty school and works part time at a salon in the city.   She reminds me of my sisters!  (combination of Emily, Maria, Juliet and Ashley!)

The video below shows Charlie passed out after a dinner run.  We bought one of those coupon Entertainment books for Wellington.  On Monday or Tuesday evenings (slow times at restaurants - so we don't feel too obnoxious with our double BOB stroller) our tradition has been to run a 5k and end up at a restaurant from the coupon book.

.

 

Wild Rice Burgers

We had wild rice burgers with caramelized onions and mushrooms for dinner and they turned out super yummy. I found the recipe here: http://heavytable.com/fitgers-brewhouses-harvest-moon-wild-rice-burger/ Supposedly it is the recipe from Fitgers Brewery in Duluth, MN. I think the best part was the American Heinz ketchup that I got in the mail this past weekend. I hate to be such a picky American, but we've found most of the sauces, salsas and dressings to be too sweet.

Here is one example of why I'm having so much fun with the boys during the day and it's hard to get work done.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Once upon a time...

Here is a short story, told through pictures, that happened last weekend (quite typical of our lives right now)

Liam is doing this insanely cute kissy thing with his lips - Charlie laughs...

Charlie does the kissy face just like his little bro...

  

Laughing together...

Liam's kissy is so pronounced it cuts off air from his nostrils - Charlie is starting to be more active...

Charlie can't resist hugging his little brother...

Charlie is a little too rough and little bro topples over...

Charlie tries to help his little brother...

Liam is still upset and Charlie is listening to mommy....

Listening, but ignoring mommy...

Charlie gets a timeout...

And mommy decides to torment Charlie...

... by pretending that she a Liam are tearing up the sticker book (really terrible, I know...)

Liam misses his bro and doesn't want to torture him anymore...

 So mommy, Liam and Charlie do the sticker book together

Home Again

We made it safely back to Wellington after a really fantastic weekend away.  The boys have been down for about 45 minutes for their afternoon nap but they keep "talking" with each other so who knows when they'll actually fall asleep (I just peaked in their room - Liam was playing with Charlie's eye-yee and paci that Charlie threw into Liam's crib).   I'm about to start cooking dinner and listen to last week's episode of This American Life.   We are making Joanne Roberson's famous eggplant, tomato and zucchini casserole.
I have a meeting tomorrow about a possible AF reserve position working with Jason.  I'm excited about the possibility but also cautious about overly-committing to work.   Charlie is doing the "creche" 2 days a week and Liam can join him for 1 day when he hits 9 months (18 November).  It seems like a pretty good situation (working roughly 3-4 days a month), but I guess we'll see how the meeting goes.  Praying for God's wisdom in it all.