My Three Funny Valentines

I am so excited to write a post this morning. We have one of those flurry snowstorms going on outside....the kind where the snow just kind of floats around. I love them. They make we want to sit and cuddle my babies and drink hot chocolate all day long. Unfortunately one of my babies doesn't like to be cuddled for longer than 15 seconds. He needs to climb on me and kiss the baby and get off the couch and back on again and then off again to show me something and then grab my hand to pull me to what he wants.......and then either beg me for the thing he wants or throw a tantrum if I won't get up because I'm feeding the baby. However, I love this whole process just as much as I love cuddling, so I don't mind.

I have a few thoughts I'd like to share today about each of my three boys. These are some of the little things I just can't get over lately, and I don't want to forget them.

We'll start with Cpc. I still absolutely adore his shoulder dimples. I know, I mention them all the time....but I just couldn't resist bringing it up. What a fun physical feature. I am also still thoroughly enjoying his passion for learning. Maybe it's the fact that I love seeing that he is like me in that way, or maybe it's the fact that I get to look at the world through his eyes; either way I love it. I love that he watches everything I do throughout the day, and tries to imitate it. In particular, I love that every time I sweep, he opens the kitchen garbage for me to dump the dust pan. He also helps me get clothes out of the dryer, and empties the drain strainer in the kitchen sink for me throughout the day. I'm not sure if I ever brought up how he gets a hot-pad out of the drawer whenever he hears the oven timer go off. Whenever the microwave beeps he gets my attention so that I know the microwave is done. He also tries to get my attention whenever he hears Cdc cry. He also enjoys going to the window to tell us about the weather. Just now he walked to the window and said "No" while signing "Snow." Yes, Cpc is very observant of how things work in this world. A while back we bought the "twilight turtle" for him. This significantly helped his "going to bed" routine to go smoother. Well, I really have no idea how he came up with it, but he has a specific code for turning on the turtle. The turtle has three different colors of light. It turns on green initially, and then you can push three different buttons to select which color. Cpc knows that as soon as he's done brushing his teeth he can turn on his turtle and then he's supposed to climb in bed. Well, he doesn't just turn it on and select blue (which is his color of choice). He turns it on, then with a steady rhythm selects "orange, blue, green, blue." Occasionally he will mess around with it just to make us laugh, but before he climbs in bed, without fail he punches in that code. It NEVER fails to make me smile. The last thing I want to share about Cpc today is that he has learned how to open his bedroom door. I'm not the type of parent to put a kid-proof handle on there to keep him locked in, at least not yet. So far he's been pretty good about it, I mean he's still sleeping well. But now in the morning when he wakes up (like clockwork at 7am), he simply comes downstairs to our room. Since I am up often throughout the night with the baby I am LOVING that one of us doesn't have to go upstairs to get him. This also means that the first thing we hear from him isn't a cry to let us know he's awake. All we hear is little footsteps coming down the stairs. I think it's a fantastic way to wake up!

As for Cdc, well he's melting my heart as well. I still can't get over how cuddly he is. Pmc says I'm going to get tired of him needing to be held all the time. I doubt it, because it's more than just a need to be held. He nestles his head in the crook of my neck, and his face into my chest. I cannot resist him. He has increased his awake hours to around 6 per day, which I'm loving. Those eyes of his, with his blond eyelashes, just mesmerize me. I also adore his forehead wrinkles....I know I already brought this up. We'll need to get a picture of both he and I, so you can see how we match. But I did at least get one of just him, even though you can only see about half of the wrinkles.

Cdc also has angel kisses, and lots of them.....they're on his forehead, his left eyelid, and the back of his neck. He is so patient with his brother. I love watching his face when Cpc comes at him. You can see just a slight grimace behind his eyes, but he doesn't cry unless he really gets hurt. He gets the privilege of already having the virtue of patience, which makes me jealous!

And last, but only because I save the best for last.....let's talk about Pmc (My real Valentine)! We celebrated Valentine's Day last night. Usually we do so on February 15, but we decided a Friday night would work best this year (no class the next day.....SU doesn't celebrate President's Day apparently!....LAME). Anyway, first Pmc took Cpc with him to run errands yesterday afternoon, leaving me a bit more free to accomplish tasks and cuddle Cdc. Then I got the kids to bed a little early before being greeted by this FANTASTIC dinner.

It looked even better in the candlelight than in the picture too. I got to enjoy my very favorite food cooked by my very favorite chef. Seriously, I would much rather have this meal cooked at home than at a restaurant. We had Coconut Shrimp, a full rack of BBQ Baby-Back-Ribs, and Mashed Potatoes......followed by Chocolate Fondue. Can we say "yum?" Then when Cdc woke up to eat, Pmc did all the clean-up. Cdc went back to sleep and I got to enjoy my other favorite thing, cuddling with Pmc on the couch while watching a classic old musical - "Funny Girl." I seriously think I have the most skilled husband at creating simply elegant, and affordable, dates. He has worked so hard over the last two weeks to balance everything he has on his plate at work/school with everything we have going on at home. I have felt like I have plenty of support here at home, and that he takes more than his fair share of responsibility for child-care, and housekeeping. He's changed so many diapers, reminded Cpc that he needs to go potty a thousand times, carried Cpc and Cdc around on our errands everywhere, taken out plenty of garbage, shoveled the sidewalk and driveway over and over, cleaned up the kitchen many times, and disciplined Cpc with grace! On top of that he's made sure that I never feel like I can't handle Mothering 2 kids, and always made sure I get some time for myself.

And finally, I'll post a few other random pictures....

Cpc had his tongue hanging out ALL the time while he had this cold that lasted for a month...he also started sucking on his fingers. Gratefully the cold is gone (which all of us ended up having, including Cdc, which was AWFUL - I HATE watching a newborn suffer like that and will NEVER have a winter baby again, I hope), now he just picks his nose!

I think Cdc looked adorable with that hat on!

Cpc is loving the fish, which has officially been named "Fishy." He remembers to feed him throughout the day, a responsibility he will hopefully be able to keep when we eventually get a puppy! Actually, the first fish died after a week, so we're on number two. This one doesn't have the cool white tail, but he seems to be adjusting a bit better!

And here we have Cdc's second bath, and proof that he's starting to chunk up and leave the newborn phase! We sure love this cuddly boy!