Thursday, May 31, 2012

Are you not ENTERTAINED???

Corinne: Hey baby, come look at this!

Rob: What is it?

Corinne: Look at the rug! Do you see the spider?

Rob: Yeah, you want me to kill it?

Corinne: Not yet, look! It's stalking that fly!
(There is a fly just sitting on the rug a fair distance away from the spider)

Rob: Oh cool!

Corinne: There is no way it will get it though, its like two feet away and the fly can like, fly you know? holy cow, its still going! It's closing the gap! DUDE! That fly is just SITTING there!

Rob: Oh man!

Corinne: I KNOW! 
(Spider jumps on fly and a struggle ensues)

Corinne: HOLY CRAP, he got it! Did you see that? He totally just pounced on it!

Rob: (moving to hover over the carnage) The fly is still struggling! 

Corinne: Get your phone out and take some pictures!

Rob: Oh yeah! (pulls out iPhone and takes LOTS of pictures and video)







Corinne: I feel like Caesar watching the gladiators in the ring! "Are we not entertained???"

Rob: Oh man, I can see the where the mandibles punctured it! This camera is awesome! The fly is still struggling!

Corinne: You know we are still killing the spider. I just think we should let him finish eating first though. Ya know, let him enjoy his last meal.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Maternal Musings.

Mothers day. It's approaching. Stores have the big cardboard displays of quaint mothers day cards, and plastic wrapped bouquets of brightly colored daisies. Mothers day is one of those days that means a lot to many people, causes sadness and regret for others, and to some, is just another sunday. The fact of the matter is; we are all the result of a mother. Love her, or hate her, you are all here today because you have a mother. I am pretty lucky, because my mother is awesome, like, 'Store bought cheese is for squares. I am making my own cheese!' awesome. I'm pretty sure she gets the awesome from my grandmother, who is pretty much the best person I know.  I myself have earned to title of 'mom' and, if you know me, you know that I love it. (and if you didn't know before, now you do)
      I have always been fascinated with being a mom, but not just the basics of being a mom, though that is where it began. The stereotypical, feeding, washing, and rocking babies that I was so obsessed with as a small child.
And this. This is not my doll, but is essentially identical to the
one I owned. Her name was Mary Nicole and you could not convince me
that she WASN'T my baby...
As I got older, I became aware of 'the mechanics' so to speak, of being a mother. I remember being about five or six years old and hearing some neighbor lady spell out the word 'Sex' in hushed tones, which I thought strange, because a) I knew how to read, and b)  she could have said it aloud and the word itself would have meant nothing to me. I finally asked my parents and got the quintessential "talk" that satisfied me for the moment. It turned out to be the first in a series of "talks" that educated me based on my level of understanding at whatever age I was at the time. Being the strange child that I was, I found it all incredibly fascinating. I was the kid who took out books in the library that detailed all the internal anatomy and other things involving "puberty"(Is it just me or does the word itself sound weird and gross to anyone else? Say it out loud and think about it...). And while I knew the biological reasons behind them, some things ('nocturnal emissions' anyone?) still kinda freaked me out. 
           I could take time here to detail the 'emotional' aspect of my growth as an adolescent, and the contributions it had to my ultimately becoming a mother, but it includes a first kiss story that involves a fifteen year old me, in the bedroom of a seventeen year old, who had star wars sheets on his bed, and nobody really wants to hear about that...
     When I was married, and pregnant with my first child, I was working at a bookstore/coffee shop, and spent a good deal of my down time in the health section of the book department, reading about pregnancy, and specifically, what can go wrong. I don't recommend this as it can be  terrifying. Seriously, I dare you to google 'Molar Pregnancy' and not be at least a little bit freaked out.
 When it came time to evict my husband's and my little genetic mash up, I went in confident that I knew what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised that I was right: It hurt like a &#*@!&@%$*!$ and I came out of it with a cute little baby!
   Nearly four years later I have two of 'em, and eventually, would like more. And, as mothers day rolls around again, I am forced to reflect not only on all the 'mothers' in my life, (my own, and all the people I know who are mothers) but my role as 'mother' to my own offspring. I really do hope I am doing at the very least an 'adequate' job. I mean....my kids seem happy enough......

I am gonna go wash the peanut butter out of my daughter's hair now.

Happy Mothers day Everyone!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

"And, Aubrey was her name"


 Having a daughter has been a very different experience than having a son. Perhaps it has something to do with the differences between boys and girls, but I am inclined to believe that her personality is just that different from her brother's. As a result, my little girl is constantly teaching me things,  such as:
how important it is for me to be holding her at least 75% of every day:
(The other 25% of the time, Daddy suffices)

She has taught me how determined she is to get her hands on my phone EVEN when I have 'hidden it' under the couch cushion:

She has taught me how important the cats are to her (and what fantastic pillow pets they make):


She has taught me that I can't trust her to be hesitant of the swimming pool like her older brother is. She WILL just climb into the water and give me a mini heart attack:


She has taught me that very few children can pull off pigtails that have absolutely NO curl to them whatsoever, and stick straight out, but she can do it and still look amazing and adorable:

She has taught me the importance of PUSHING those gender boundaries!
She DARES you to replace
that truck with a doll!

She has taught me how adorable bedtime can be!

....Okay so Andrew has contributed a good deal to the bedtime cuteness.


I kinda love her...a lot.
"a not so very ordinary girl or name..."