Well, he's only the father

Every now and then Daniel does something that has me just shaking my head and laughing to myself. This happened the other day when I went to the mail box to find a small package in the mail addressed to Madison but not from anyone we know. It is rare that we would ever have anything come in the mail for her here since we are not her primary residence. I began examining the package, frisking it like a cop placing someone under arrest, trying to figure out what it was. It felt like a DVD but there was only one that I had been expecting for months, and it had nothing to do with Madison.

I opened it up and saw that my guess was right, of course. After all, I am the one that is responsible for managing ALL the craziness of our day to day lives like playgroups, dance classes, doctor's appointments, birthdays, etc., etc., etc... If Daniel had to remember all of these things, I think I would eventually come home to fine him in a dark corner, curled up rocking, and muttering incoherently to himself. So I do all the heavy lifting with these things. I just didn't realize that I had to add one more to my list...

So, I open the package to find a DVD. Madison's name is plastered all over it proudly stating that this is her Swan Lake performance. Awesome...it finally arrived after months of waiting. The only problem is Madison does not do ballet. She hasn't since she was 4yo. No, Ava is the one who does ballet and had a Swan Lake performance that is captured on this professional quality DVD to keep your memories preserved well into the senile years. Apparently, those years are coming sooner for Daniel than they are for me because he clearly can't tell his kids apart when asked to do things like fill out an order form for only one of his daughter's.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. This is a man that often mistakes their names. I suppose having four daughters does make it difficult to distinguish between them. I mean, he is only their father.

Working on our future

Over the past couple of months, my playgroup has established a home school co-op group for our pre-k age children to participate in for the summer. Being a part of this group has really opened my eyes to how exciting schooling my children at home could be, and how it can really create children that are interested in learning whatever they can. This has had me in full-on research mode trying to figure out if this is something I like more in theory or if it is something I can really do with our girls.

There are a few obstacles I am having to work through. First and foremost, I have been trying to get Daniel on board with the idea. I think he is really intrigued by the idea of developing our children to be thinkers instead of children that can just regurgitate information for a state exam. We are seeing a lot of the downside to public school with his daughter who is in the fifth grade. She is doing fine for the most part, but we certainly don't think she is learning at her full potential. We have very little control over that, though. His other concern is just the stigma home school education still has and if that will create any issues with college admissions down the road. Thankfully, I am finding all sorts of promising information that supports colleges desiring home school children because they are well-developed thinkers. In fact, ivy league schools are even recruiting them for that reason. I have been trying to put together information for him to read through that will help his concerns.

This does lead to the other concern Daniel has about it. We have always discussed the fact that I stay home will end once the children are all in school. We definitely could use a second income eventually to secure our financial future. So, I am trying to really put together some skills that I can use in a work at home capacity. Photography is something that has me pretty inspired at he moment. The creativity and flexibility are very appealing. I am really working on improving my photography skills in the next few years to put some kind of business together.

Looking into all of this has had me more inspired than I have been in recent years. I am trying to put together a list of goals to meet. I am also spending a great deal of time coming up with lessons for the girls. We are going to San Antonio in a couple weeks for Madison to do a school choir performance at Sea World. I have a two weeks worth of material to work on with them about sea life and the Alamo. I am really excited about it all.

I am just trying to take things one step at a time to see if this idea is right for our family. I am hoping it is the start of something wonderful for all of us. I love the idea of teaching our children in ways that work for them in particular, and that they will be exposed to the things we feel are appropriate for them at such young ages that emphasize our values. It would also be a way to really grow and bond as a family. After all, Daniel works evenings and often weekends. He would be missing out on so much time with our girls. We are very tight knit, and I want that to continue. I suppose time will tell now.

Now he can, too.

I finally got a picture of Daniel baby wearing. He hasn't been able to wear any of the girls until I bought my wrap just over a month ago. I love how versatile it is, and that everyone can use it. I will have to get a pic of Madison wearing Violet, too.

Here is Daniel and Violet. While it is not a secure hold, it served its propose for him sitting still with her. I need to really show him the ropes with it now.

Nocturnal Supervision

This is what Daniel calls his new style of parenting. *big eye roll*

I left Leila home with him yesterday morning while I took Ava to ballet class with Violet. Leila had been overtired from all of our activity with company in town and therefore acting up like she had been abducted by aliens and replaced with a bad version of herself.

So, I leave the house with Daniel relaxing telling me he has things covered. He suggested to Leila that she color at the kitchen table. Anyone who knows us knows we keep the house clean. Crafts, coloring, anything messy is contained to the kitchen...period. Leila, in particular, knows that she is restricted to the crayons unless told specially otherwise. So it was quite entertaining when I got a rather annoyed phone call from Daniel about an hour and a half after we left the house.

Apparently, he had fallen asleep for "only an hour or so" while I was gone. During that hour, Leila kept herself quietly entertained. By quietly, I mean disastrously. She had decided to get into EVERY single item in our craft cabinet in the kitchen. Daniel said it looked like a craft bomb had gone off in our kitchen.

There was paint all over the kitchen table. She had plastic bowls of water going to assist with any project she needed it with. She had gotten Q-tips out of our bathroom to help her paint like she learned to do last week at a friend's house while making V-day cards. She decorated her shirt with paint and glitter glue. There was mysterious pink powder all over the place like in the cat's water dish and the powder room sink along with the white towel she was using to clean herself off with. Later that night, I finally discovered what the heck that pink powder was when I found the container of Moon Sand in the refrigerator being preserved after she filled it up with water.

My husband did do one thing right, he cleaned the entire scene of the crime up before I got the phone call and made it home. Amazingly enough, she avoided getting paint on anything but herself, a towel, the kitchen table, and paper. My precious, light-colored carpet and furniture was spared.

Because of the lack of any permanent damage to the house, Daniel was quickly able to laugh at the whole thing. He is claiming to be the best daddy in the world for letting his two year go wild with crafts for a whole hour while he nocturnally supervised her. I told him he should look for that reward as soon as he figures out how to pull my foot out of his ass.

Just can't win with her

We had a rare night out for dinner this evening and decided to make it a kid-friendly by taking them to Fuddruckers for burgers. Leila has been on a particularly big burger kick lately, so she was thrilled to get to eat one tonight.

Daniel ordered everything while I took the girls for a much needed potty break. So, we didn't hear everything that was ordered. I take them to sit, and Daniel comes back with drinks. Sodas for us and water for the girls. Pretty standard since I only let them drink milk or water.

Well, he then goes back up to the counter without saying anything. The girls asked where he was going, and I said that the food was ready. Unbeknownst to me, he had ordered them vanilla milkshakes and was proudly carrying the whipped cream loaded treats back to the table. He sat them down in front of the girls.

Ava's eyes immediately lit up with excitement, and she dug as fast as she could probably out of fear it was a mistake and would be taken away in no time. Leila, on the other hand, looks and them and grimaces. She then says in her not too happy with you voice, "But I wanted a hamburger...".

It took some explaining to convince her the her burger was still coming and that Daddy only wanted to get her a nice treat to enjoy in the meantime. After that, she was more than happy to drink it. In fact, she started to steal Ava's when she was too full to finish it.

Little rat...

Rockin' to sleep

Daniel and I have always felt that music is one of the best parts of our relationship. It has really played and integral part of things since we began dating. There are albums that immediately bring me back to specific moments we have shared. We love to go to concerts and make a point never to miss anyone we really like. The few times we have, we just kick ourselves forever after. We always have music on in the house, the car, and anywhere we can get it to play.

The girls are really into it, as well. We love to take them to see live music whenever we can. They have their own iPods, and we have filled it with really diverse and interesting music that should help them grow really interesting opinions on what they like at a young age...we hope.

Each one of them was exposed to concerts in the womb. With Ava, it was Peter Gabriel and the Foo Fighters. With Leila, it was NIN and U2. With Violet, it was Neil Diamond, The Police, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen. Now, we aren't sure if any of it set in with them, but they do seem to enjoy all of this music when they hear it.

This evening, Violet was being a bit fussy as she has not slept a ton today. We were trying to watch the Super Bowl and the half-time was starting. We were really excited to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing. As soon as they began to play, Violet perked up to hear the music and got very calm. In the 15mins or so that they were playing, she was lulled off to sleep.

Now, I have no idea if it was the music she enjoyed or if it brought her back to some memory of being in the womb, but it worked so well in settling her. Maybe I will keep that in my bag of tricks, and bust it out whenever I need to get her down for bed.

It's here, it's here!

My new wrap finally arrived today. I immediately opened it and popped in the instructional video. I followed the first set of instructions perfectly and got Violet into a great chest to chest position. I could tell immediately that this sling will work perfectly well for me. Her weight was so well-distributed on my shoulders and back. Just what I was looking for. I am so thrilled with it. I watched the rest of the video to learn how to do all the other positions that she is not quite ready for yet, but I am excited to try them out once she is.

While Daniel is thrilled that I am happy with it, he said he could have done without the half hour of instructional video saying repeatedly, "Cross over and around and wrap under baby's leg...". He asked if the video was called, "How to repeatedly drive you husband crazy for half and hour with just the click of a button". Funny boy...