No, seriously, does this kid look like me or what?
I’ve shown the kids my old photo like a thousand times and they know it’s me but every time I show it to them again, they’ll instinctively want to say it’s Kirsten and then their brain memory override kicks in and they’ll pause for a split second before going “no, it’s mommy!”
I’m secretly thrilled because the only thing better than having a daughter is having one that looks exactly like you, amirite?
Once, there were two brothers who loved to dance. They loved dancing everywhere and they loved dancing all the time. Whenever they heard music, their feet would start movin’ and their bodies would start groovin’.
But most of all, they loved dancing together because dancing together was magic.
Sort of.
If you happen to be their mom or you’re squinting or something. Watching them dance together makes me all squishy inside and suddenly I don’t feel so bad about adding one more boy to the mix because it turns out that boys are all kinds of sweet too. Right up until someone bumps into someone else and one of them falls over and starts yelling the house down and then I think “3 BOYS??!! WHAT WAS I THINKING???” Yeah, that happens a lot, that last part.
First thing you should know, is that I have a love-hate relationship with long weekends. I spend far too much time waiting for each one to arrive and there are all these expectations of how awesome they’d be but they get here and they always turn out to be never quite long enough. I’m sure they have a name for this condition, like whenever I’m having a good time, instead of just getting lost in the moment and soaking it in, I start a mental countdown of how much time I have left to enjoy it and how bummed I’d be once it ends. It’s just how this brain is wired.
This Easter break was good though, one of the best in fact. It felt like much-needed soul time sandwiched between two pretty crazy weeks.
For one, I’ve been parenting solo since the start of last week while the husband is off serving the country and going away on some super secret mission. I like me a macho soldier man but a 2-week reservist is really tough, especially with 3 kids and another on the way.
I’ve been thinking, I’m glad the husband doesn’t have to travel for work. How do people do this? I have a new respect for moms who have to deal with this on a regular basis. I get so used to having a tag-team partner around to play with the kids and bathe them and tuck them into bed whenever I need a breather. Even if I don’t activate the tag, it’s comforting to know that there’s someone there to hold the fort when there’s too much mayhem, or just to understand. Moral support and all that. Having to do it alone just feels alone.
Anyhow, the kids seem to think that daddy is Captain America Singapore every time he puts on his military gear and they’ve been saluting each other a lot the past week (ok, kind of cute), plus they’re thrilled to be sleeping on my bed all night while daddy is away in camp.
But then they suddenly realise that they miss having daddy around and they’re like “Why can’t daddy come home now? I don’t like daddy to go to the army anymore.”
I know, I miss him too.
On the bright side, the long weekend couldn’t have come at a better time and I’m glad we managed to have the husband back with us for 3 whole days. There was church time, playground time, park time, pool time, ice-cream time and a whole lot of family snuggly time, just the way I like it.
Just one more week of solo parenting to go. Wish me luck!
Tru: Mom, what’s the meaning of get lucky?
Kirsten: I know! Lucky means that means good things happen to you, right? But it’s not really luck, it’s because God makes good things happen to us.
Me: That is a killer answer, how do you even…ok consider me impressed.
Kirsten: You told me before what. Also, I have brains in my head.
Me: Well done, those are some superior brains.
Tru: Then what is “I’m up all night to the sun, I’m up all night to get some, I’m up all night for good fun…?” Get some what?
Me: Uhm, uhm, uhm, well, clearly this person doesn’t want to sleep and he’s having a special uhm…party all night long. Maybe he needs to get some food and party supplies?
Kirsten: JUST LIKE ME! Sleeping is for babies, I wish I can party all night.
Tru: YEAAHHH THIS SONG IS AWESOME, I LOVE PARTIES TOO AND I LOVE THIS SONG!! <Bursts into song> Like the legend of the phoenix…
I don’t know if I just dodged a bullet there or made it worse. Now they’re going to listen to it on repeat all day.
Me: Guys, guys, let’s listen to Let It Go for the 200 millionth time instead! Let it go, let it gooooooo…
It’s been raining a little more than usual lately and I love rain. Specifically, I love to be snuggled up nice and cosy in my blankie whenever it rains because the only way to enjoy rain is not be caught in it.
My kids love rain too, except they have very different ideas about what to do about it. Every time it rains, they come running to me all dressed up in their rain gear, holding their tiny brollies (which by the way, is so irresistibly cute) and they flash their puppy dog eyes asking if they can go play in the rain. I suppose if I had rain gear as cute as theirs, I’d want to be out in the rain all the time too…hang on, no wait, I think I still prefer the snuggly in bed part.
Sometimes, I can resist one pair of baby puppy dog eyes. On a good day, I can even resist two. But three pairs?!! These guys are killing my uterus.
So we put on our goofy rain faces and went out for some puddle stomping.
Finn hasn’t got his own rain gear yet so Kirsten was all “it’s ok, Finn Finn can have my raincoat, I’ve got my pretty pink brolly.” This girl is born to be a big sister.
We walked and walked till the rain stopped and you’d think that it would have been as clear a sign as any that it was time to go home but these kids can continue a rain party without any more rain.
No more water falling from the sky? Look, there’s water on the floor, let’s poke at it with our fingers. Borderline gross but fine, poke away, knock yourselves out. And then baby Finn decided maybe he could attempt to swim in a particularly large puddle.
There’s a line of grossness that one doesn’t cross and that’s mine. This baby is going to need a hazmat suit the next time we go puddle stomping.
It’s been years since I last encountered the nightmare known to moms as the terrible twos. In fact, it’s been so long that I almost forgot what that’s like. Hahahaha, who am I kidding? I remember EXACTLY what’s that like and it’s not a whole bag of fun.
Finn’s been having himself a feeling explosion in the last few weeks. Like there are so much of these complicated toddler feelings bubbling inside that his little chubby body is not able to contain all of it. And then *BOOM*, his feelings are suddenly all over my living room. I mean, I adore his super cute 19-month-old feelings and I’d very much like to get to know them better over a skinny latte but right now, they’re everywhere and also, they look a little scary.
We were having some mommy-Finn time working on puzzles and there’s this one train puzzle that he loves to do over and over again. After 8 rounds, I was like “hey, how about let’s try the plane one instead!” so I swapped out the puzzles, not realising that I had just pressed the giant red self-destruct button.
Little man was M-A-D. Like MAD mad. Like full on hissy fit kind of mad.
He stood up, flung the plane puzzle with gusto and yelled NO!!!! And then he decided to protest some more but he wasn’t sure how so he stood there for a moment before deciding to…well, sit himself on the floor in a follow-up silent protest. I’ve seen some pretty epic meltdowns and in comparison, that’s kind of a cute way to protest so I was all “ok baby, protest registered, can mommy give you a hug so you feel better?” but he swatted my hand away so I just sat beside him to give him some space but then he got mad and he lost it a little bit more until finally he inched himself closer and closer to me and flopped his head face-down onto my lap in exhaustion. I mean, I was exhausted just watching him.
This ain’t typical Finn behaviour because he’s normally such a sweet, gentle soul. I was sitting there watching this feeling explosion unfolding right in front of me and I felt so bad for my angsty baby.
He’s trying to express himself and he doesn’t know how and all this frustration is stressing his little baby brain out. Like he wants me to be there to baby him but he also desperately wants to stop being a baby and it’s all so confusing for him.
I think we could all do with some happy juju and extra hugs around here.
Kirsten: I can’t believe I’m going to have TWO baby brothers, what if I love baby Finn more than baby Theo? Will he be sad?
Truett: What?? He will be SO SAD, I think he will cry everyday.
Kirsten: *looks appalled* But I haven’t seen baby Theo, I don’t know what he looks like. And I love my baby Finn Finn so much, he’s really cute right?
Truett: I’m just kidding lah. Don’t worry, when you meet baby Theo, you’re going to love him so much also because he’ll be super cute like Finn Finn.
Kirsten: How do you know that?
Truett: Trust me, he will definitely be cute because he’s our baby what.
Kirsten: Oh ya, that’s true. And then there will be THREE BOYS and just ONE GIRL!
Truett: *LOL* Yay, boys win.
Kirsten: No, GIRLS WIN. Because I’ll be the only princess, that means I’m special and you all have to protect me.
Truett: Gah! Ok fine, we all win. Fair.
