Bomb Diggity Dad

I am a little emotional at the moment, so please excuse me if this post is overly sappy. But, you see, the topic is very near and dear to my heart, which makes it harder not to be...well...enamored.

                      This guy:

  Oh, I just love him. The more time I spend with him, the more I realize I love him completely- every last little bit of him.

And so, I have to write a post to toot his Father's Day horn. He is the bomb-diggity of fathers. This guy has, for the last 4 years, spent every waking moment of his life not only providing (as in work) and presiding (as in still taking on the majority of the familial stress and decision making) but also teaching his children to be the best person they can be. Every minute was spent doing what he needed to do to be the best he could be in his 3 lives:

Work, School, Family.

 

When he was at work, he gave it 100%. He took extra shifts. He took extra responsibilities. And he took an awful lot of crap with very little appreciation.

At school, he managed to impress his professors so much that next year  he'll be teaching for TWO of them. Not to mention that the numbers speak for themselves- the man graduated cum laude (yeah buddy!) with a 3.67 general gpa and over a 3.85 in his chosen major.

BUT, while those lives are impressive indeed, it is the man he is after he fulfills those responsibilities that I love. It is the husband, it is the father. He comes home, and he manages to take our children out for Daddy-kid dates regularly. He never faltered on date nights twice a month with me. We went to bed together to spend time with each other every single night (minus about 5 when I fell asleep on the couch while he worked feverishly on papers).

 Our kids know he loves them, they know he will ALWAYS take care of them, and they know they want to be like him.

Why? Because, like I said, he is the Bomb Diggity.

Talking Tanner

It seems like Tanner is picking up a few words a day lately, so I thought it might be fun to write them down and see how fast he really is learning! So, here are the words of Tanner:

Honk

Ball

Balloon

Me

Mom

Dad

Ian

Howie

Morgan

More
Uh-oh

Shoe

Fish

Woof Woof

Neigh

Night Night

Door

Light

Poo :)

Ow

Apple

Yucky

Hat

This
Bubble

Meow

Nan Nan (nanny)

Darci

Mac

Eggs
Book

Hi
Bye Bye

Whoa
Yay

I think he may have a few more, but that is all I can think of at the moment. It just seems like he is doubling his word count every couple of days! I love this stage of babyhood!

Fun at the Beach

We did a lot of fun things while we were in California, but I think our day on the beach was my favorite. There is just something so nice and relaxing about the sun and the sand- it's good for the soul :)

  We made a few discoveries on the beach, Morgan discovered that she is quite magical. Who knew you could throw sand at the waves and make them roll back toward the ocean?

 Ian discovered the water is really, REALLY cold, and that he does not like to tempt it into touching him.

And, we discovered that while it may be good for the soul, the sun is not as good for the skin :( Morgan definitely got the worst of it, but as long as we kept applying "aloe-raw-ma" every couple of hours she was alright. 

More to come on California later!

Forest Park

About 5 blocks from our house is the sneakiest, coolest little park. Not very many people know about it, but we love to go down to Forest Park. Every time we go I catch myself walking around thinking how cool it is to have a place like this right in the middle of town.

We always find lots of creatures and today was no different. This guy was a highlight- he was one HUGE beetle! The kids thought he was so super cool- that is until he flew and once they saw that guy could move with any sort of speed they were outta there :)

We found a GIGANTIC turtle too. (He might not look so big but he was at least the size of a pizza box) Apparently its giant critter day at good ol' Forest Park.

But the kids' favorite was not the big things, but the small. Morgan and Ian spent a decent amount of time trying to catch some teensy fish. And, all those fish have them 3/4 of the way convinced that we should let our turtle, Bernardo Antonio, come live in the pond and feast his face off on those fish. That is a huge success in my book! 

Reflecting

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking...thinking about this, that, and the other. But mostly, thinking about me. And not in a selfish, all about me, sort of way- but really in a "I can be better" type of way.

Now, before you start thinking that I am walking around my house moping about what a failure I am, I want to assure you, that I am, in fact, not moping. Not anymore. I have done that for a LONG time. I have stood in front of the VERY stinking sink full of dishes, thinking that if I could just be better at keeping a clean house, then I could just be better at being a mom. I have cried over my insurmountable pile of laundry because my son is in the other room watching LOTS of tv so I can conquer it, because if I could just be better at staying on top of this every day, it wouldn't take an entire guilt ridden Curious George marathon to just get things to the point where I can look at them without getting a case of tacchycardia.

So there I was again, standing in front of a stinky sink. The feelings of failure started to creep into my mind, but then there was this voice in there, one that I haven't heard for a while that said to me, "You are not a dish washer. You are not good at keeping a clean home. That is not your talent. But you are NOT a failure, because you can be an amazing mom. You can be an amazing wife. It is possible to be those things while not being an amazing housekeeper."

I put down the sponge and we went to the park. I left my guilt at the door and my phone in the car. We crossed long monkey bars and conquered slides, Ian learned how to pump on the swing. I was a good mom for a couple of hours and I allowed myself to feel good.

That night I had a Relief Society activity, the speaker was very involved with those in attendance, and at one point she started asking people (and not rhetorically, she demanded a real answer), "What do you love to do?" I sat there, terrified that she would point to me next. I don't know what I love to do. I know what I love- my kids, my husband....but what do I love TO DO? I have no idea....I spend my time cleaning and cooking and wiping faces.  But then, again, this voice in my head said, "Laugh. You love to laugh." And I felt this warmness overcome me, a testament to the truth behind the words.  The speaker went on, saying that we love the things that we do, so that we can share them with others, so we can bless others.  It started to click, and then, like it was being spoken to me right inside my head, "You love to laugh. Share that. Bless others with your ability to laugh. Make them laugh when they feel like they can't. This is what I have given you, this is what you are here for."

I am so overwhelmed and grateful that I get to have such an amazing calling. I get to apply the medicine of laughter to my children's wounds. I get to lift their fallen chin, and wipe their tears, and smile at them so they know things aren't so bad. I get to have joy, I get to give joy.  I get to feel at peace with my grimy floor for now, because I wasn't sent here to make my floor shine, I was sent here to make every day shine. That is an amazing thing to me.

 And so, what am I supposed to be better at? Better at being me! Better at laughing- better at bringing joy to faces and places filled with sadness. I have spent so much time wondering what I will be, wondering who I really am underneath the Mommy- it has been such a relief to know that who I am, what I am, is happy.

I can easily say that I am happy about that.

Growing up, I went through several phases of things that I absolutely loved. I tend to either be obsessed with something, or not really care so much. These phases would come and go, and there really aren't very many things that I LOVED during my childhood that I continue to LOVE today.  However, I did bring one great love with me into adulthood: Harry Potter.

I know what you're thinking, "Sheesh what a nerd." Yes, it's true. I am a Harry Potter nerd through and through. (and apparently a poet)  And because of this, I could not have been more excited than I was a few weeks ago, as I cracked the very first Harry Potter book open to read it to the kids. Ahhhhhh....it was a delectable moment. Okay, actually, no it wasn't. Morgan kept asking what book it was, and I kept not telling her, dancing around the question, because I knew if she knew what it was before she was hooked, she wouldn't want me to read it anymore. And, true to form, as soon as I caved and told her it was Harry Potter she insisted I stop reading. But oh no, I wasn't gonna give up on my love that easily, nope, nope, nope. So I told her we would read it for 3 nights and if she still didn't want me to read it, we could stop. It didn't even take 3 pages :)

Since then, we blew through the first book in less than 10 days and are now about half way through the second book. Morgan and Ian pretty much always play Harry Potter together. Ian always has something sticking out of his pocket that is serving as his wand.

A couple of highlights from the minds of my babes:
  Ian: "Mom, I think the slytherins are slytherins because they slither. Like so they are slitherers. But really actually slytherins."

 Morgan (while pretending to be a professor at Hogwarts) : "Gryffindor, that will be 10 points awarded to you for fine work. Slytherin, you may go now, you are never good."

 Morgan spends a good amount of the time upset about the injustice in the Hogwarts teaching system. "The teachers NEVER listen to Harry! They always just make him be quiet so they can take points away when REALLY he wasn't even doing anything wrong!" She is currently holding a grudge against Dumbledore for leaving Harry with the Dursleys and she is holding out hope that he will be able to live with the Weasley's from now on :)

 Morgan is also phenomenal at guessing the plot line and twists in the story before they show up. I don't know how she does it, but so far, she has guessed about 90% of the things before they happen. I'd say that's a pretty good success rate for a 6 year old!

Ian pretty much perks up when there is talk about boogers, quidditch, or the word "muggle". Anytime I read that word, he screams at me to not call him a muggle. Apparently it's pretty bad :)

It has been so fun sharing something with them that I love so much. And, as you can see, I think they love it too :)

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow, You're Only a DAY AWAY!

Betcha didn't see that one coming when you saw the title of this post. Booyah.