You know you are the mother of three when...

You know you are the mother of three when...

You find yourself strangely excited by the prospect of cleaning, yes I said cleaning and I'm not even the OCD type, the house for an entire afternoon because your husband has planned to take the children to grandma's.

Yes, I have been looking forward to this afternoon for a day and a half.

What is wrong with me?  "Nothing", say you moms-in-the-know because what you know is that this arrangement will mean no interruptions for, well, hours.  Can that be?

So, yes, I am looking forward to tacking some organizational projects, and even quite a bit of cleaning, and feeling that sense of victory of seeing a project through from beginning to end in one sitting.

Plus, I know where all of the chocolate is hidden.

I have graduated

We had a block party this weekend, and I found myself frequently... how should I put this... well, sitting on my ass.  I mean, I was struck by how much sitting down I was doing.  There was no physical reason for it.  I wasn't injured or sore or in any other way required to take it easy.  But at one point I noticed that while I was sitting and chatting with other sitting moms, there were other moms definitely not sitting.  Other moms were on their feet, on the move.

And I thought to myself, why am I sitting here?

And it wasn't like I was supposed to be doing something per se.  It's not like I forgot to get the limbo dance going or anything like that.

And then it hit me.  The youngest children of the other sitting-with-me moms were in Kindergarten and 2nd grade.  The youngest children of the not-sitting-down moms were toddlers.

My youngest? A freshly turned four.  FOUR!  I no longer have to be up on my feet ready to lunge, reach, grab, dive, intervene, dive-roll, scoop up, snatch up, pick up 95% of the time.

I have graduated!

If baby-face needs to go potty, she will find one and do all that business by herself.  If baby-face wants another juice box she will find me, ask me if she can have one, and then go get one by herself (and you better believe she figured out very quickly how to treat herself to another juice box all by herself).

Baby-face can even bring me a drink or another brownie while I... you know... sit there.

I have graduated too.  Life is good.

on rainy days, we paint

What can I say about Tulip, other than she is the loveliest little flower in the garden. She's happy, and friendly, and has a great sense of humor and appreciation of life. She finds a way to enjoy every minute of every day. Happy birthday my lovely blooming beauty.

Today is her 6th birthday and among other things, she got 10 new bottles of paint.

Tulip's painting. Can you tell what 10 new colors she got?

Luna's painting. Mama, Luna and Tulip going for a walk and defending the world (pink and purple stuff) from a dragon (the blue guy at the top). Pretty typical day for us Saavedra girls.

Wolfie's painting. Ultrabot. Of course.

Just read the first line

"Mama! You better get in here and wipe my butt before Papa does it!" Luna calls from the bathroom.

Yes, it's true.  My husband and I love our children sooooooo much that we knock each other over in the mad dash to the bathroom to be the one and only parent who gets the privilege of wiping butts.

At least, that must be what our children think.  It's pretty darn close to the truth, though.

Bedtime questions

Luna was up a bit past her bedtime.  So she was giddy.

Luna also had Mama all to herself in her own bed (Tulip fell fast asleep in the top bunk).  So she was even more giddy.

Mama had just come home from a boot camp class at the Y and try as I might to prop myself up with my arms while I leaned over to smooch my Luna, those arms just quivered and quivered which made me a bit giddy.

I sat on the edge of her bed, neither one of us ready to separate.

"Oooh, I like your ring, Mama."
"That's my wedding ring.  It's very special and I never take it off."
"What happens when you take it off?"
"I never take it off."
"Oh.  What happens when you take it off on Thursday?"
"I never take it off."
"Oh.  Why?"
"Because it's my wedding ring and I never take it off because it means I'm married to Papa and that's very special to me."
"Did us kids watch you get married to Papa?"

My arms are shaking.  This, and her question, make me laugh.  Hard.

"No.  You weren't at our wedding.  You weren't born yet."
"You mean, you left us at the house with no Mama and no Papa to watch us?"

I have a laughing fit.  Like, I actually look and sound like I'm crying.

"No.  We didn't leave you at the house.  You weren't at the wedding because you weren't born yet."
"But what happened when you left us at the house?"
"We didn't leave you at the house.  When we got married, there were no babies.  Then after we got married we had one baby, Wolfie, then another baby, Tulip, and then finally we had baby number three, Luna."
"What. Happened. When. You. Left. Us. At. The. House?"

She knows how to make me laugh so hard.

"Good night, Luna."
"What. Happened. When. You. Left. Us. At. The. House?"
"Good night. Luna."
"Mama?"
"Yes?"
"I like your ring..."
"Nice try, Luna.  Good night."

Legoland (or, the review I am writing on my own)

Our spring break staycation (do people even say that anymore or has it gotten old, like how my students tell me YOLO is old?  anyway...) is coming to an end.

We went to Legoland earlier this week and thanks to a tip from a friend, I am now passing along this tip to my loyal readers.

Stay at the Marriott in Schaumburg.  I am in no way being compensated for this review, but it is just too good to keep a secret.  The Marriott has a Legoland package for four people.  For $149 (okay, so after the hotel adds their taxes the package actually costs $168 and change) you get:

• a one night stay
• 4 tickets to Legoland (right there - that's $60)
• 1 free in-room movie (we watched Rise of the Guardians - typically $16.99)
• 4 free breakfasts (and this is no continental breakfast - okay, maybe it's a souped up continental breakfast but there is a real omelet chef waiting to cook you something delicious to order and there are crepes, bacon and sausage, biscuits, potatoes, fresh fruit, all the typical continental breakfast breads and cereal, oatmeal and salmon and cheese - yes, salmon ) 
• and there is a pool (priceless)

I'm serious - you get all of that.  What a treat.  Thanks Pam ;)

A bigger treat for mama and papa was an afternoon at IKEA.  Wolfie built his first IKEA item - a new chair for his room.

the babysitter forgot her "things"

Last week we had a babysitter.  Since then, it has come to my attention that at bed time, Luna asked her for some mama's milk.

Oh brother.

I couldn't resist.  I had to ask Luna about it to get her perspective.

"Luna, did you ask [the babysitter] for mama's milk?"

"Yes, but she didn't give me any.  She forgot her things."

"What things?"

"You know...the things with mama milk in them," she replies as she pulls up my shirt and pats my breasts.  "These things."

"You mean breasts?"

"Yeah, she forgot to bring her breasts."

Like I said, oh brother.