Robin's Chicks

Nudge The Nest & Pray They Fly

Countdown to Disney

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T-Minus 10 hours and counting…I’ve purchased a ridiculous amount of sunscreen, bottled water, and snack food. I’ve packed diapers, pacifiers, blankets, cameras, camcorders, and enough Elmo and Tinkerbell panties for every toddler likely to show up while we’re there. I have yelled at every member of my immediate family in the last 6 hours (save Sadie and Shuggie-Thanks be to God for them both) and almost cried twice. Isn’t vacation FUN?

I don’t remember any of this when I was a kid. I remember going to sleep in my bed, briefly waking up in the wee hours as someone carried me to the car, then waking up THERE. I didn’t have to deal with the slave labor aspect of vacation that all parents become familiar with. Deal with it…geez, I didn’t even realized it existed!

As much as I am NOT looking forward to being strapped in a moving vehicle with my dearly beloved for at least 8 hours tomorrow, I AM looking forward to the memories we will make. I can’t wait to see my little girls’ faces light up when they see the Magic Kingdom for the first time. Then it will all be worth it. I hope.

Aubrey Said: Heaven

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I have a Tiffany Lamp that was given to me by a dear friend who has since passed away. It’s been in the closet for a long time because I was worried one of my children would break it and I would have to call DHR for preventative measures. It’s beautiful, the shade is made of glass in shades of pink, green and white. Once Sadie was born I just had to get it out. It made me happy to think about my friend when I saw it. And I knew it would make my friend happy to know her lamp was beside my baby’s bed.

(Don’t get nervous, it’s not broken-Blair.) I had childproofed the door to Baby Sadie’s room, after catching Emma in the bed with her tiny infant sister. So I felt safe having the lamp in the nursery. The big girls rarely go in there, now that the door is childproofed.

This afternoon, while cleaning the house, I caught Aubrey(4) standing on a chair (a rocking chair, at that) to turn on my lamp. I explained to her the importance of the lamp and told her, “One of my very good friends gave that to me and it makes me really happy to look at it. My friend is in heaven now, and if you break it Mommy would cry and cry.”
Aubrey said, “Is there a store in Keben?” (She calls it Keben, I have no explanation for this…)
I said, “No, Aubrey-er, I mean I don’t know. There might be but I can’t get another one.”
Aubrey asked, “What would make you stop crying Momma? If I go to Keben and get you anudder one?”
I sighed, the way mother’s do and said, “Just don’t touch the lamp. OK, Aubrey?”

An Open Letter to All Clothing Manufacturers

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Dear Clothing People,
I am 31 years old. I am not yet a Mee-Maw, and no longer a 14-year-old-hoochie (Read “skinny enough to wear short-shorts). I would like to purchase a pair of shorts that cover all of my privacy without also covering my kneecaps. If I was a size 2 or a size 18+ I could find shorts a-plenty on the racks of stores everywhere. But I am not. I am an average American Mom, still working to lose some baby weight and not ready to move on to the “culottes” phase of my life. Please. For the love and comfort of mothers across America, stop with the mass manufacturing of coochie-cutters, and HELP A SISTER OUT!

Emma’s Antics

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The big girls have been a in “dress stage” for the last few months. This means anytime they are wearing clothes (which I’ve already admitted isn’t very often) they want to wear dresses. I have tried to accommodate them as much as possible and have bought more sundresses as they have grown out of their clothes.

A few weeks ago, a little boy got busted trying to peek at Emma’s panties. Today, her teacher told me I need to start sending her to school in bike shorts because when the class is on the playground, Emma’s dress is spending a lot of time over her head AND “last week when she wore her green sundress, she completely took it off on the playground.”

I asked her this evening if she was pulling her dress up at school. She looked at me with those enormous blue eyes and said, “No Momma, I not!” As solemn and serious as a preacher on Sunday. Aubrey gasped and said, “Oh, Emma! Yes you did! God told me!”

I think I need to start asking Aubrey to intercede for Emma at night.

Emma Said: Nekkid

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My kids are mostly naked most of the time, or Nekkid as they like to say. If you show up at my house anytime of day, unless we have just walked in the door from somewhere, they are probably BOTH Nekkid.
Occasionally, they will don princess dresses and/or cowboy boots. But they prefer to be in panties and nothing more. Unless we have somewhere to go or someone is coming over, I really couldn’t care less if they are Nekkid or not.
Today, I drew a line in the sand and MADE them put clothes on. Anything. I didn’t care what it was. I was tired of their little nipples staring at me. There was a bribe involving Jell-O Jigglers, so Emma (the Bottomless Pit) RAN to get a shirt. She threw it on and sat down to finish her lunch. Aubrey walked in the kitchen, still in nothing but her birthday suit, and sat down at the table to finish eating. Emma looked at her condescendingly and exclaimed like a true Redneck, “GIT YOUR CWOTHES ON, NEKKID!”
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