Main Entry: jux·ta·po·si·tion

: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also : the state of being so placed

  Used in MY sentence:

The juxtaposition of my 2 year old melting down in her carseat in the backseat and the uber-sweet “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” on the radio was too much for my sleep-deprived brain to handle while driving in traffic.

We have been praying with the kids at dinner time and at bedtime.  Tonight before bed we were all together and I asked if anyone wanted to pray.  My 4 year old son started out by saying, “Dear Laura…”

My daughter chimed in with “Dear Norm.”

Perhaps we will replace “Dear Lord” with something like “Dear Jesus” or “Heavenly Father” just to avoid my kids thinking that Laura and Norm have some place in our spiritual life. 

Tonight, I was chasing after my 18 month old.  I was following her down the hallway to get her to her room for bedtime.  I was walking at a brisk pace and she was running her little heart out in her <2 year old “I don’t bend my knees when I run” way.  Here is where my life reminds me of a slasher flick… Even though she is running, I’m able to get within grasping reach of her just by walking aggressively.   She even does the look over her shoulder and then scream routine!

I don’t think I’m as scary as say, Michael Myers, but you’d never know it by her reaction!  Boo!

Yesterday my mom was a little under the weather and lost her voice. When I told my son this (and he tried talking with her on the phone) he said, “Who took Grandma’s voice?” “She talks like a mice.”

Last night before bed, my sleepy son laid in my bed with us. I love to cuddle with him, but he just kept putting his feet on me and it was driving me nuts! When I finally said to move he said, “But Mom, I’m just loving you.” Geez. Melts my heart!!!

This morning, we had a loud thunderstorm. My son came into my bed to snuggle. It was so cute… because of the loud thunder, he was cuddled next to me with one hand and thumb in his mouth and the other hand tightly covering his ear!

The other night we went out to dinner. The kids were both so well-behaved we were able to have a really nice time. When we were leaving and packing up our things, my son walked over to the table next to us, a young couple, and said, “I’m going to see grandma!” The couple laughed and chatted with him briefly. Kids are great because when they’re excited about something, they can’t help but share their joy! We should all be so open.

Kids are cute. They drive us crazy, stress us out, take all of our energy, but if we don’t take a minute to remember all of their little sweet comments and nuances, we will miss out on what makes children so wonderful.

Note: Here are a couple more from our car ride this morning:  I said we are going to Wal-Mart… He said “Walnut?
I told him that his Daddy had to go to  jury duty… He asked, “Why does Daddy have dirty dirty?”

I recognized the smell, but I couldn’t place it.  When I asked him to show me, he brought me my very expensive Lancome face moisturizer.  Thankfully, this was just a sample, but it still hurt.  I should have been watching!

In any case, his legs are velvety smooth and smell very expensive.

We were having a dance party in the living room listening to Black Box “Everybody Everybody”. If you remember the song (who doesn’t remember this song?), you’ll know that the word “Oww” is used throughout. Well, my husband was singing along, but my son got very concerned about his daddy. When he heard his daddy sing he said, “What’s wrong Daddy? Are you ok?”

Awww.

This is my family circa 3:30 in the morning.  Between the 2 kids and the cat, my husband and I seem to wander the halls of our house way too much.  We’re both hunched over, feeling our way around the dimly lit house.  I am decidedly more freakish as I also wander without my glasses.  We sleep wherever we can catch a few zzz’s, rummaging for a blanket to cover our bodies even if the entire blanket only covers from our feet to mid-thigh.  We move kids (who are often inexplicably bare-assed) from one bed to another, take plastic bags away from an annoying feline, and try our hardest to pretend during the following day that we are well-rested.

Humans by day, nocturnal trolls by night.  That’s us.  (Note: this picture was taken this morning!).

Sadly, the gross-ness of motherhood hasn’t left our house yet. Here are just a few of the nasty things that I’ve lived through in the past few days:

The bottle… several days later. I think this happens to everyone. Somehow a bottle (full or partially full) of milk slides itself under a dresser or under a car seat. You don’t even know it’s missing until you happen upon it. If it’s a clear bottle the chunks are easily visible. The question immediately comes to mind, “Should I just throw it away?” In my case, I’m leaving it up to dear husband. If he’s up for opening the can of stank, then he can put it in the dishwasher and hope for the best.

Back to baby spit-up. When babies are small, they have small spit up (in most cases). As a one year old, they’ve got more room in their belly, hence more juice. The other night I had given the baby some milk before bed. She had her head on my chest so sweetly then put her head up, looked at me, then heaved her vomit all over my chest. The crazy thing is how helpless you feel when this happens. I was afraid to move because I didn’t want the yuck to hit the floor, yet if we didn’t get separated soon, the goo would clearly solidify and stick us together. After yelling for assistance from my honey, I got an unexpected shower out of the deal and went to bed 3 times more traumatized than she.

Speaking of gross… somebody smells like they need a new diaper… GROSS!