As I get older, my shadow gets younger

 

Aren’t we all just a little bit nosey?  Don’t we all wonder about the people around us, wonder what’s going on in our neighbor’s homes?  Well, today I've decided to satisfy your nosey side and let you see a little bit more of me.  Here’s a little taste of my day:

Good morning!  Here’s the view I wake up to:

 

It’s time to eat breakfast!  Here’s who I eat with:

Now we’re getting a little more personal,  it’s time for me to take a shower.  Here’s my view:

 

Naturally, after my shower I need to get ready.  Here’s what I see while I’m doing my hair and makeup.

Obviously, with a family of 7, a lot of my day is spent in the kitchen.  I’m lucky because a lot of people do not have any help in the kitchen, but I ALWAYS have a helper.  Here’s what I see when I’m cooking:

 

And at the end of a very long day, who doesn’t like to relax in front of the TV?

 

Of course, more often then not, my view of the TV is a little more like this:

 

Whew, what a day!  I’m exhausted, and as much as I love my children, it’s time for me to have some kid-free time and some much needed rest.  Here’s my bed:

nuts and drains

The other day CamCam found a special treat of The Dada’s that he just loved:

Eventually, though, he tired of the salt and pepper coating.  Now, how do you think a two year old would deal with this situation?  Stop eating them?  No way- he decided to take the jar up to the bathroom sink and rinse them off.  I had no idea all this eating and rinsing was going on until “Mr. Trouble” came to me and I asked him where CamCam was.

“Eating peanuts in the bathroom.” 

“He’s going to the bathroom?” I replied.

“No,” said Mr. Trouble, “He’s eating peanuts up there.”

I went upstairs to see what on earth was going on, and found CamCam sitting in the bathroom sink with the water running, holding our sink drain stopper thingy and a tube of toothpaste.  I pulled him out of the sink, and was greeted with this lovely view:

CamCam had dumped the jar of cashews down the drain, threw in the cap, and was squeezing and rubbing toothpaste all over the sink. 

I think I’ll blame all this on The Dada- he should know better then to leave his snacks laying around.

 

 

Check Out My A/C

Ohhhhhh, so THAT’S why my house smells like plastic baggies and fishies.  It all makes sense now.

 

 

It’s a Good Thing There Isn’t a Bus Driving By

I thought that one of the benefits my children would receive growing up in a large family was that they would always have people who would support and protect them.  I always thought that’s what having siblings was all about.

Boy was I wrong.

My kids would throw each other to the wolves if it meant protecting themselves. 

Foremost, this comes up anytime they realize they are going to get in trouble for something.  The fingers start pointing the minute I walk into a room, before I even have a chance to say a word.  If one of them happens to not be there, you better believe that’s the one who’s going to get blamed.  It’s much easier to pin things on someone who’s not there to defend their self.

The other day I had a pediatrician appointment for “The Baby.”  CamCam is now old enough to understand that pediatrician appointments are not all fun and games.  He knows about shots.  He knows it hurts when they look in your ears.  So on the way to the doctor's, he asked me who the appointment was for.

“Who doctar, ma?  Who doctar?”

I told him it was for “The Baby”, and he was happy with that answer.

“Day-don doctar.”  (Day-don is CamCam’s name for “The Baby”)

We get to the appointment, and, naturally, had to wait for a ridiculously long time.  Finally it was our turn.  I picked up “The Baby” and walked over to the nurse, but CamCam ran on ahead of me. 

“Day-don doctar,” he says to the nurse. “Day-don’s turn, Day-don doctar.  It’s Day-don.  Day-don doctar.  Day-don, Day-don.  Not me, Day-don doctar.”

So much for my ideal of the supporting and protective older brother.

60 Seconds Is All It Takes

The majority of “naughtiness” occurs in my house in under a minute.  I know for a fact that it is done this quickly, because the majority of “naughtiness” happens while I run up to the bathroom.  Even at a very young age, my little boys can discern that during that 1 minute window they have complete freedom.  It’s the one time I cannot stop what I am doing and run to stop them from what they are doing.  I should learn to limit my fluid intake so I don’t have to pee as much.

A lot of times I will bring “The Baby” with me, just so that I have one less munchkin to worry about. 

A: So I don’t have to worry about him getting into things and, more importantly…

B:  So I don’t have to worry about CamCam and “Mr. Trouble” attacking him in my absence. 

Or opening the gate and letting him climb up and down the stairs. 

Or opening the door and letting him wander outside.  I found out the hard way that they were doing this.

Yeah, heart-attack moment.

However, I learnt the other day that bringing “The Baby” into the bathroom with me doesn’t guarantee he will not get into trouble.  He stayed just out of my sight, and found himself a lovely bottle of baby powder.  And then he discovered that if you shake this bottle of baby powder up and down as hard as you can, a fabulous cloud will form. 

Everywhere.

You should have seen my bathroom.  And me, in one of my dumb moments, rushed “The Baby” into a bath before cleaning up the mess in the bathroom.  And of course CamCam heard the water running and so he came up for a bath too.  And of course 2 young boys in a tub of water are going to form a lake on my bathroom floor.

Which mixed rather nicely with the baby powder.

Yay me, way to make a big mess even worse.

Brotherly Love

Today we had one of those moments that makes my mommy heart melt.  I told CamCam and “Mr. Trouble” to go and wash their hands.  “Mr. Trouble” starts pushing a bar stool over to the kitchen sink, and CamCam runs up to the sink.

“I can’t wreech it,”  CamCam said.

“Don’t worry CamCam,” replied “Mr. Trouble.”  “I got this stool for you.  There you go.”

”Thank you Nolie.”

It was so stinking sweet!  “Mr. Trouble” let his brother go first, then he got up on the stool with him to wash his own hands.

I was beaming from ear to ear.  THIS is what having brothers is all about!

Then “Mr. Trouble” reached across the sink, and pushed the spray nozzle.  It was aimed right at CamCam and shot him in the face. 

He screamed, then cried.  “Mr. Trouble” laughed and laughed.

Ahh, yes…. everything was back to normal.

I Don’t Even Know What to Say About This One

Exhausted from being woken up by a sick baby all night long, in desperate need of coffee, I stumble down the stairs in the morning and am greeted with this view:

I just had to crop this and get a close up of the amount of animal crackers CamCam had in his little fist. 

It’s quite impressive.