Robin's Chicks

Nudge The Nest & Pray They Fly

We Were Just Talking About Elephants…

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I bought Sadie a Bumbo Seat for Easter. (They are great little chairs that help babies to sit up and strengthen the muscles they need to learn to crawl.) She’s only 3 months old, so a chocolate bunny isn’t going to do her a lot of good, unless I eat it! And bless her little heart, with 2 older sisters, everything she has to her name is a hand-me-down.

Of course if there is ANYTHING new in the house, Aubrey(4) and Emma(2) are going to fight over it. Even if it’s not their’s. Sadie had her time in the Bumbo, and as soon as she was out of it the fighting began.

What exactly they were fighting over is beyond me…the chair is too small for either one of them. After a good 5 minutes of shrieking and carrying on, I snatched the Bumbo out of the middle of their tug-of-war and put it in “toy time-out,” i.e., the top of the entertainment center.

Aubrey and Emma cried and fussed for a few more minutes while I finished making lunch. Then they got quiet. Very quiet. TOO quiet. I tiptoed into our living room and hid (yes, I hid from 2 toddlers so I could spy on them.) I listened as they whispered and plotted on how they were going to get the chair off the top of our 7 foot tall entertainment center. They had my broom, and a detailed plan of how they were going to knock it down.

I jumped up from behind the wall, scaring the BEJEZZUS out of both of them and yelled, “WHAT do you think you’re doing?”

They jumped about a mile, dropped the broom and Aubrey said without even a glance at her sister…”We were just talking about elephants!”

PeePee Patrol

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FINALLY! Some progress in Emma’s Peepee Antics. Today, instead of peeing in the floor Emma grabbed her princess cup, drained the juice out of it, placed it in the floor and “copped a squat” over it. I walked in the kitchen just in time to see her pulling her panties up. It’s not the potty, but hey, it wasn’t the carpet either!

A Few Hours of Maternal Bliss

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Aubrey(4) and Emma(2) just had their first spend the night party…away from home. For almost an EN-TIRE 24 hours, it was just me and sweet baby Sadie. I had thoughts, in complete sentences. I went to the bathroom, without anyone telling me how to wipe. I ate 3 meals without anybody asking for a bite or touching my food. I took a bath without anyone pounding on the door and screaming, “MOMMA, I NEEEEED YOU!” I went to sleep when Sadie did and didn’t have to play musical beds for 2 hours after she was asleep. I woke up and went for a walk and didn’t have to stop to examine every rock and blade of grass.

Emma did her potty tricks in someone else’s floor. They went to sleep in someone else’s bed. (And no, I will NOT give you my friend’s name. I know how you think…and you’re not going to steal away my new BFF so that she’ll take YOUR kids for 24 hours!)
They were ALMOST gone long enough for me to miss them!

Gettin’ My Fitness On

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Trying to get back in shape after having a baby isn’t near as fun as it sounds; especially when you have to go through the whole rigmarole of packing everything your kids may possibly need or want for the hour you will be at the gym. You also get the pleasure of discussing every grunt and/or nuance your kids might have and interpret these communications to a nursery worker who can’t quit texting her boyfriend long enough to pay attention anyway.

The first time I went to the gym here in Mt Pleasant I took Emma, then around 18 months, to the nursery. I hopped on the treadmill and started to run…ok, jog. I was 5 miles into my run…(FINE) 1 mile, and the nursery worker came out to tell me that Emma had a dirty diaper.

“Her diaper bag has her name on it,” I said as I gasped for the extra oxygen I needed to keep my pace and talk.

“Oh, we don’t change diapers.”

I was almost flung across the cardio room, I stopped so abruptly on the treadmill.

“I’m sorry. What?”

“We’re not supposed to change diapers.”

I had to get off the treadmill to change my child’s diaper. My child, who had just stopped crying from the first time I had left the room. She clung to my leg and screamed as I tried unsuccessfully to extricate myself to finish my run.

What exactly are these people getting paid for, I wondered. Shouldn’t they change the sign from “Childcare” to “We’re Just Going to Make Sure No One Dies While You are Exercising?”

For this and many other reasons, I have purchased hand weights and an exercise ball to exercise at home when it’s too much trouble to leave the house. I prefer to go to the gym, I need someone yelling at me to work harder. Left to my own devices, I would stop at the first beads of sweat, pat myself on the back, say “good workout,” and head to the juice bar.

This morning I got the weights out and started to workout, Aubrey(4) and Emma(2) jumped right in with me. As we started doing sit-ups, Aubrey said, “Look Momma, it’s easier if you do this,” and propped her elbows up on the floor under her. I laughed and said, “Yes, but that’s cheating. You can’t use your hands.” Aubrey glanced at me then put her hands under her head just like I was doing. After about 2 more crunches Aubrey said, “Momma, this hurts my tummy. Can we stop now?” She is DEFINITELY my child.

Emma stopped doing crunches long enough to grab her waffle, stuff it in her mouth and resume crunching on the floor while chewing. A multi-tasker, Mommy is SO proud.

Hide-n-Seek

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We are smack dab in the middle of a game of hide and seek. Yes, even as I type, my kids are scrambling around the house trying to find someplace to hide. Aubrey ran out of the room and yelled: Hurry Momma! Count to 2!
Me: 1…2.
Aubrey: Oh, oh, wait. Count to 3!