and then i fell asleep

i keep meaning to update my blog. there is so much to say about the little ones and i feel like i am going to forget all of these moments because there are just so many to remember. from ge saying things like the mini adult he is a chunk running around growling like a bear; there are just so many moments in our day i wish i could capture. but by the time i have a minute at the end of the day to sit down and update - i am completely asleep. gone to this world. last night i was asleep in bed by 8:45. i haven't seen 10:30 pm in weeks.

i love that chunk is walking by her first birthday because she is finally sleeping through the night, but i spend all day chasing her around the house screaming things like, "ahhh!" and "oh no!" and "please, for the love of mark wahlberg, don't do that!" because she is full of evil, that one. she has mastered the art of full body on the floor tantrums and will throw one if you don't allow her to take things out of the fridge when she sneaks in during food time. she also throws them when i don't let her eat paper, or crayons, or kittens. ok, maybe not kittens, but if we had one i would fear for its safety. she is so cute, and when she looks up at me with her big dimply smile and bright blue eyes i almost forget for a moment that she is trying to drive me mad. i often look at her and i pause for a moment just to take her in because she is the cutest thing i have ever laid eyes on - even if that means in those 2 seconds she has moved on to destroying my most prized possessions.

ge is 3 going on 40. we asked him to play trains the other day and he declined stating, "we will have to wait until charli goes down for a nap because she will wreck my trains and i will just freak out." true. oh. so. very. true. he is still, and always has been, the most responsible child in the world. he is the child that has every piece to every toy he has ever owned (which is a lot of toys) and is now becoming irritated by chunk's inability to maintain order and longevity in toys. he is so full of imagination and loves to tell stories. he can tell you the story of his day in roughly 5 minutes and will makes sure you understand every word of what he says. his favorite bed time book is cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and he insists you tell it in your normal voice and let him repeat his favorite moments. he loves to visit monuments around towns and have them explained to him so he can take them in for next time to be a mini tour guide of our beautiful area. we learned about canal locks yesterday and already this morning he has told me about water flow by our big river. he is a little sponge, soaking up moments and lessons and is able to release that information at all of the right times. i marvel at his intellect daily, and fear for the day when he is smarter than me. that could be any day now.

husband and i are doing well, aside from the exhaustion from that thing called life. work is going well for the husband and they ended their fiscal year in an exceptional place. he is so amazing at his job and i love watching him grow in that position. we had his mother in town for a few days which was a learning experience. ge enjoyed getting to know her, but chunk was weary of her which is strange for our little girl. we attribute it to her age, but it was quite funny watching her size her grandma up constantly. we visited landmarks and ate ice cream and had a lovely visit. husband and i are both looking forward to more people being in town this coming weekend to celebrate chunk's first birthday and also her cousin's birthday (they fall on the same day - celebration time!) we have many things to celebrate aside from birthdays now, too, which makes this coming weekend all the more exciting.

things are going well. i never though i could be that person that is asleep by 9 and up at 6:30 am with coffee in hand, but here i am. i cannot believe how quickly the last year has gone and how much all of us in this house have changed, but i have never learned more in a years time and i have never had such a full heart.

ruff

let me just start off by saying - these last 10 pounds are totally kicking my ass. losing these last 10 pounds is made more difficult because my children do not like to eat things that are only vegetables. ge likes things like chips and chunk's favorite food is mac and cheese, and my will and power are weak. i am a weak, weak person. plus, i am a person that indulges during stressful times and having 2 children with strong personalities makes things stressful at times. hence, a potato chip here and there more often than not. damn. 10 pounds.

chunky is officially pretty much walking and loving every step. her sleep patterns are a lot like one of those posters where you have to focus your eyes to see the picture - i think they call them optical illusions. she is still stubborn, still loud, and finds hitting people with objects across the face to be a hilarious daytime activity. my favorite thing she does is crawl over to me, stand up, crawl into my lap, and bury her head into my chest. buried deep within her chaos is sweetness. sort of like a cupcake that will burn your mouth when you eat it. a hot, delicious cupcake.

ge is brilliant, controlling, and full of crazy imagination play ideas that are a lot of fun and occasionally confusing. he and his dad play carnival a lot where his dad makes up these crazy "games" that he wins for prizes (random toys from his room), and he often will walk up to me during the afternoon and say, "mom, let's play that game where we stand and then there is a ball and things happen and yay! prizes." so i try to recreate, but mostly i just fail, and he ends the games with, "you're just not good at this like dad." but i am better than him at mario. and cooking. and i am always right - so there. i am pretty sure the little man is finally going through a growth spurt because all he wants to do right now is consume and that is so not like him. who knows - maybe one day he will actually grow into new clothes. for now we are celebrating the cost cut that comes with him being in 3t clothes for another winter. yay for clothes recycle!

we have a busy september coming up and i am filled with the need to clean. my mother-in-law is coming into town over labor day to meet her grand-daughter for the first time and explore philly for the first time. the other grand parents are coming in for chunk's first birthday and we are having a big ass celebration of family goodness proportions. chunk and her cousin share their birth-day and we are going to eat extra cake and food to celebrate. like i said, damn you 10 pounds!