Happy New Year

Today, Cora was asking me what made New Year's so special anyway since there weren't any gifts or anything.  I explained the calendar starting over, resolutions, and how it was the same day as the anniversary of her mama and dada's wedding.  Cora being Cora and never missing an opportunity to dress to the nines asked me what the appropriate New Year's Eve-wear was for the little neighborhood party we will be attending tomorrow night.

Me: "Well, most of the time when people go to New Year's parties they wear a lot of glitter and sparkles and colors like gold and silver."

Cora: "Oooh I got a lot of that in my dress up box.  What about tiaras?"

Me: "I actually bought New Year's tiaras today to help us celebrate!  You, me and our girlfriends can wear them and I got hats for the daddies and little boys to wear!"

Cora: "Mama, did you buy plastic tiaras?"

Me: "Well, I think they are made out of plastic? They are very pretty and gold and silver with lots of glitter."

Cora: (silent for a minute) "Real Princesses do not wear plastic tiaras."

Me: Silently agreeing but for once speechless, then wondering if I should add "stop buying Cora Princess related stuff this year" to my New Year's Resolutions. I can hardly imagine what it is going to be like with two little girls around here soon and am already having sympathy for my parents and them raising me and my sister.  At least Allen will be the "buffer zone" so to speak.

***

Speaking of New Year's resolutions and Allen, I am bound and determined to do everything in my power to make the transition from 2-3 kids as "smooth" (hah) as possible... preparing the nursery and baby gear, making meals to put in the freezer, sorting baby girl clothes, catching up with friends as much as possible, ect.

But the biggest challenge I anticipate with the transition will be Allen, who has until now, always been my baby in every sense of the word. I know you are probably gagging because until the past three years, I would have been too.  But, here is the truth of the matter: No one has ever adored me like my little guy.  I am incredibly grateful for this as there have been so many times that I am not sure I would have made it through the day without his smoldering hugs and the tenderness he brings to our home.

While the word "Mama's boy" used to make me shudder (as I dated one in college), most mothers of sons agree with me that there is just something intangibly special in the mom/son relationship.  For a long time, we weren't sure there was going to be another baby Thakkar so I confess that I may have indulged myself in spoiling Allen in more ways than I would like to publicly admit.

But the reality is that the world as we know it around here is about to change in ways that I can only imagine.  While our hope is that the more than four year age gap between Allen and #3 will make things a bit easier than our many friends who had three kids under three years old, I am bracing myself for unfathomable chaos.  In the spirit of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst and all of that.

Anyway, part of the preparations have been to gently steer Allen towards being reasonably more independent.  He finally has one pair of shoes he can put on himself- his rainboots, which thank goodness are also is very favorite and he pretty much wears them every day, rain or shine and is so stinking cute in them.  He is finally 100% potty trained, can finally put on most of his clothes with a small amount of help and has finally become accustomed to having regular quiet time in his playroom when Mama needs to get something done for real.

However, until today there was this one thing left on the list that was making me crazy.  Since the kids were born, one of my top five least favorite things about mamahood is car seats and the loading and unloading and buckling and unbuckling that is becoming increasingly more like manual labor now that I am approaching my third trimester.  Cora and I have been working on teaching Allen how to do this by himself for what seems like months with very little progress and much frustration all around.

The other day I got so desperate I told Allen if he buckled himself in I would even share the chocolate covered popcorn I was secretly hiding from the rest of the family.

Me:  "Allen.  Listen.  Please' please just use your That-Man (in Allenspeak= Batman) muscles and try to pull really hard to get the seatbelt in the buckle."

Allen: "Mama, I not a big boy yet.  I still got mine teeny-tiny muscles."

*awe!*

After that conversation, I decided to throw in the towel for a little while so imagine my surprise today when he jumped in his carseat and buckled himself in like he has been doing it all his life.

I cheered and we high fived and he beamed and said "I a BIG BOY now!!! Choc-corn now please!!"

I hugged him and told him how proud I was.  He proceeded to pull up his shirt sleeves and asked me to "feel his big boy muscles".  Which I gladly did.

Cheers to two kids getting themselves in and out of car seats!!

Now resolving to enjoy the "calm" before the storm...

 Happy New Year!!!

Elf on a Bar

Cora with Jingly Mistletoe's Elf Cottage.  Jingly is sitting on her finger in the photo.

Confession:  I am one of the only mothers in the world, or at least the world we happen to live in, who did not feel compelled to buy an Elf on the Shelf.

Sure, seeing the pictures of wayward elves on Facebook and in my friends' homes is always cute and I enjoy getting a daily report on the shenanigans of the Elf, "Jingle", who lives in Cora's classroom.

I can't even really put into words just why I don't want to do the whole Elf on the Shelf thing because it seems completely fun and harmless but something has just been holding me back.

I anticipated endless demands for the Elf's presence in our house and wasn't sure how to tell the kids that I simply didn't want to get one and couldn't even tell them why.  I figured I would end up throwing in the towel in the spirit of choosing your battles and all of that.

Imagine my surprise when I didn't hear even one complaint about the whole matter from either kid.  So I concluded they must not feel too deprived after all. 

A few days ago, Cora came flying into our bedroom to tell me that "her Elf (named Jingly Mistletoe) had made her bed for her!" (behold a real Christmas miracle- it was indeed made, for the first time ever) and was on the way downstairs to "get the muffins ready for breakfast so Mama wouldn't have to do it!!"(the muffins did somehow find themselves on Cora and Allen's plates).

My understanding is that the Elves sold on amazon.com have a reputation for getting into mischief, something we have more than enough of around here.  So, I suppose I should count my lucky stars that this imaginary Elf is quite industrious and even willing to do family chores.  Maybe I should start leaving Jingly a honey-do list and giving Colin a break.

Although, I was somewhat disappointed when Jingly did not make Cora's bed this morning.  When I asked Cora about it, she said that "Jingly got mommy's cough germs and was spending the day in bed in her cottage". 

So what does Jingly look like?  According to Cora she has long golden hair "like Rapunzel" and and is "smaller than a grain of sand like my sister was when she was first in your tummy Mama", which explains why none of us can see her.  And "Santa flew all of the elves down from the North Pole on a tiny plane that dropped her in our house but the plane was a very quiet plane so that is why it didn't wake us up".  Jingly Misteltoe was getting cold though so Cora built her a gingerbread house to live in yesterday which she carefully placed on our bar of all places, right above the Malbec and Grey Goose, so our wayward dog wouldn't eat it.

I doubted myself for a second today when I was at a friend's house and their family Elf had delivered a letter written in green ink from Santa last night with a special message in it- it was so sweet and the kids seemed so touched by it.  And those amazon elves are so stinking cute and they do have a heirloom gift kind of look about them.

But, if I had ordered one, then we wouldn't have Jingly's presence in our lives this Christmas.  And, one of my greatest treasures is Cora's imagination and the magic it brings to our home.

I can't imagine the past couple of years without Jonathan (Cora's imaginary husband) or their 13 daughter's or Parlay and Blake (Cora's imaginary ladybug friends), ect.

Now if only I get get Jingly to finish wrapping the presents...or doing the ironing...

Jingly's home by Cora the gingerbread architect.

Playing with Jingly and the elf cottage this morning.  Cora has been sleeping in her dress-up gowns lately (which is perfectly fine with me in the spirit of choosing your battles)

Cora tried to make Allen her Elf last month but it only lasted a couple of days.

First family portrait of the 5 of us

Courtesy of L'petite artiste and her oh so wonderful imagination.  I plan to frame this and put it above Cora's little sister's crib.

Cora has been praying for a little baby sister since she could say her very own prayers for herself.  "Please God, please please give me a baby sister.  I really love my little Addy, but one brother is really enough and I don't need two of them.  I promise I will help Mama take care of her, I really will. Like how I take care of Allen already. Amen."

I love how she placed her little sister in the middle of our family, surrounded by the four of us with our smiling faces. 

My favorite things about this work of art (other than what she wrote...) is that the Baby has "big, big hair", as Cora described it.  Which is just how we make babies in this family.

Can you guess which one is Cora?

I Spy

This morning, I was snuggled up with Allen in my leather chair, reading a book called "Things That Move" and we came to the section on boats.

Me:  "Allen, see the tug boats there?  They pull other boats and you got to ride one with your friend Tug in Savannah!"

Allen (quiet for a minute, then pointing at the sailboat on the next page): "That an Allen-boat there Mama."

***

Later on, we were walking to Tug's house to play.  Allen's new thing that he learned from his Big Sister, his ambassador to the baby universe, is the game "I Spy".  

This morning, Allen spied "something blue" (a door), "something red" (a fire truck, because he never misses one), and "something green" (I thought it was the grass, but it turned out to be a pumpkin on someone's steps, which I realized only after I corrected Allen and explained that pumpkins were actually only orange in color. Who knew there were green ones. Anyway.)

Then, Allen said "I spy something pretty."

Me:  "Is it those pretty flowers over there?"

Allen:  "No, it you Mommy."

<Swoon>

Then, after taking a moment to catch my breath, which had just been knocked out of me-

 

Me:  "I spy something very smart and sweet and handsome too."

Allen (not hesitating at all):  "It ME Mommy!!!"

Disclaimer:  Yes, I realize how truly obnoxious this blog is.  But my readership is small and I have come to terms with how shamelessly and helplessly head over heels I am for my two.  And how could I not record this?   Anyway.  Happy Monday!

My Allen, my heart.

superbabies

Luckily, Chickfila (Allen calls it "Chick-PLAY") had their Superhero night when Colin had to work last week.  My Mom, of course, made the kids custom capes.

With two of their favorite heroes, Batman... and who else, Tuggy!  Not sure why Cora has a hint of the Moore scowl or why she refused to wear her mask.

Freemans joined us too!!  Jack gets all the credit for being the cape trend setter!

 ***

In other news, today I decided to bury my to-do list and enjoy the beautiful day with my little guy.  We went to the zoo and for the first time ever, I told Allen that I would follow him around for a change.  When I told him the news that he was in charge, he stopped for a second, eyes as big as saucers, jaw dropping and then took off running, I mean flailing, around the zoo faster than I have ever seen him move.  I had to keep yelling until I was hoarse to get him to slow down and stop weaving in between school groups, strollers and old ladies.

So he spent the next few hours following the tooting of the train (literally, he would hear it and we would both run in whatever direction the tooting was coming from).  The only mistake I made was going to the gym first which was totally not necessary considering I was running after him for hours.  I was relieved when he wanted to visit the same reptile house three times (air conditioning!!) and finally, mercifully, demanded that we ride the train the entire loop around the zoo.

He heard the toot toot.  We ran.  Thank God we got to the elephants just in time to see the train pass.

He wanted to hang out in the photo booth and was bummed I didn't have any cash.

But, at least he got to press the buttons.  About a hundred times each.

 

On the train.  He crushed me when he wouldn't sit on my lap and loudly told me to stop kissing his head.

Colin has always said Allen's hair reminds him of a bird's nest.  I just LOVE it.  I love messing it up, kissing it, resting my hand on top of his head and obnoxiously taking pictures of it.  Only a mother could find this picture interesting.  Sorry.

Allen made this weird smiley face the whole train ride.

***

After our zoo adventure, we picked Cora up and I sent Allen up for his "nap" (which I am still pretending he has not given up) and told Cora that she and I both needed some quiet time.  She emerged from the playroom an hour later with the following gems (funny that all of Cora's princesses have crazy big hair just like she does):

This is Ariel's Mama.

Rapunzel.

Patsy, my mama, and Cora playing dress up.

Patsy and Cora playing mermaid princesses.

"Tinkerbell and her friends"

Belle in her ballgown

Cinderella and her friend at the beach.

***

Happy, Happy Friday everyone!!

L'arte du Cora or however you say it in French

Portrait of Cora and I rocking our tiaras.

I grew up surrounded by artists.  Mom had her own art business not to mention all of her creative hobbies- sewing all our clothes, quilting, table-scaping, holiday decorating, ect.  My sister now owns her own photography business and is a free lance writer on the side.  And my mom has five siblings who all are artists.

So no surprise that we find ourselves with another little artiste in the family.  Cora's little drawings have really come a long way recently and warm my heart to no end.  I love Children's art because it really provides a window into how their magical little minds see the world around us.  Here are a few of my favorites!!!

Picasso-esque dinosaur.  How sophisticated!

LOVE this one.  A queen and her castle with a dog inside of it.

Cora brought this one home from school and said "look Mama- a mommy and baby owl.  Just like you and me!"

Rapunzel's four story castle.  I asked Cora why it says "Cora's castle" if it is Rapunzel's castle and she said "well I am just the ark-tek, like Miss Kassia is so I am just the one who designed it for her."

Cora and I riding a giant pig, which happens to be my favorite animal.  If I had a choice between diamonds or this drawing, I would choose this masterpiece!

new chapter

Handsome little guy ready for breakfast.

Little did I know there was actually a dinosaur trapped in Allen's body this morning.

I hope he didn't do this at school.

This was the only non-Moore scowling photo I could get of Allensaur this morning.

I knew this day was coming.  At some points this summer, I was even counting the days until both of my babies would be in school (two mornings a week that is).  Other times, Allen was so honey sweet and generous with his smoldering hugs and charming company that I discussed actually not sending him with Colin.  Colin, knowing me better than I seem to know myself, insisted that it was time for the boy to go to school for real.

Allen, being my predictable, mostly even tempered child, was quite stoic this morning and got into his little car seat with his backpack (and Cora's doll's pillowcase filled with tiny cars) in hand and a quietly determined look on his face.  I am unsure what was going through his head but was shocked when it came time to drop him off when he took his teacher's hand without even saying a proper good bye or a hug for that matter.  Just as my heart was sinking, he released his hand from his teacher and came running for me with his arms wide open.  It was the best hug I have ever gotten from the little guy- not clingy or anxious, just a sincere, tender hug goodbye.  It actually felt like he was comforting me, his hug said "it will be ok mama."

As I drove away, the lump in my throat became real tears and I actually sat parked at the ymca, in a non-kid zone parking space for a while to compose myself.

So my morning was just fine. After it occurred to me that I had been driving 20 minutes with Cora's Vacation Bible school music still playing, it was nice to just have some quiet in the car.  But I still missed Allen and the spontaneous chasing him around the house holding his lion puppet, puzzles during lunch, his enthusiastic help cooking and cleaning and him picking up rocks and sticks ("dinosaur bones") everywhere we go together.

I think we (I mean I) will be okay.  I might even blow dry or hot roll my hair.  Read the paper and not just the headlines.  Maybe even go back to work outside of the home one of these days.  Or finally attempt to decorate the house.  Or make a dinner that takes more than an hour to cook.  Hell could freeze over and the next birthday party I host could look like something you have seen on pinterest (yeah right).

Anyway, happy end of the summer.  Happy end of an era.  Happy peace and quiet.

I guess.

adventure with the little lady

Last week, I got to spend three nights and four whole days with Cora in Colonial Williamsburg.  After all the wonderful and, well, sometimes less than wonderful chaos of the summer, it turned out to be just what we needed.  

Having a break from the real world  made it extra fun to meet up with the Thakkar clan on day 5 of our trip in Nags Head, where we reunited with Colin and Allen and Cora's four cousins and the rest of the family.  It was so fun to see them all playing together so well but sad at the same time that we don't live closer.

So, I am happy to say we all survived a surprisingly quick summer and it couldn't have ended on a better note.  That said, despite having a major lump in my throat dropping Cora off at school, being home alone was sheer bliss this morning (but I am already looking forward to our next girls trip!).    

Cora and "Pinky", her suitcase that she pretended like was a small, pink doggy she was walking around the airport.  She even made me pet it a few times.

Little girl, big bag.  Because we had to pack dresses for her Doll too of course.

moving walkways are so cool.

Cora loved the turbulence- "Mommy, the plane is bouncing like the rides at Disney World! Wheee! What a fun ride" (as I try not to lose my breakfast in the air sick bag).

Petting the sheep was the highlight of the trip for Cora.

Second place was riding the escalator.  Which we did about 30 times in the W&M bookstore.

Third place was this "pancake" Cora got for breakfast.  She was so excited when the waitress put it down I thought she would hyperventilate.

 

Loved the mermaids all over the Tidewater area of VA.

Petting and feeding horses was fun too.

Petting goats.  Seeing a theme here?

My little lady strolling in the Colonial gardens.

At Nauticus in Norfolk.

Now petting a crab.  We had to come back and do it two more times of course.

Lizard Princess in heaven.  See how big that Lizard is?  Cora called him her "Lizard King".

Cousin Lily.  Thakkar family got good hair genes.  (Moores just have good scowls)

Cousins!

Reunited!

Miss my boy.  Glad he comes home tomorrow with his Daddy.

P.s. Thakkar family reunion pics to come.  My brother in law is an awesome photographer so I threw in the towel trying to get 6 kids to take a good picture.