Jan 18
Everyone,
Today my goal was to get through the laundry. ALL OF IT. I’m great at washing. The washing part is fun! I even do well switching the clothes to the dryer. It’s the folding and putting away that I suck at. I had spent Saturday washing about 7 loads so today the goal was to fold and put away. Plus wash all of our Sunday stuff.
Since we decluttered our room on Saturday, the kids have been running back and forth through it. It’s probably the longest room in the house. Basically, our master bedroom is a regular sized room with a sitting room attached and a master bath. I love how big our room is. But because it’s so big, it accumulates a lot of junk. Now that the junk is out of the way, the room is back to being big(ish).
Pirate turned on my music for me while I was trying to do some exersizes and I just left it on. All three kids were running back and forth through the room, jumping and dancing. It’s just so so cute! I wish my video camera was charged or you would have gotten pictures. Find out what were they dancing to.
With the peppy music, I was able to fold all kinds of laundry today. Yay!
In other news, Butterfly is OBSESSED with being a princess. I don’t know what happened but now all she wants to do is wear dresses and dance and go on adventures. Oh, wait. I do know what happened. We bought her a Disney Princess Wii game. Yeah. Great game for her, not so much for the aftermath.
I also got a round of “I don’t want to be a part of this family anymore!” That’s a fun one. She moaned for a good hour before I sent her to her room (“If you don’t want to be a part of this family, then stop making it so miserable and be lonely upstairs!”) I think the boys are getting to her. They so want to do what she is doing. I can’t wait until she goes to school and has a little bit of time away from everyone.
She also got up to use the potty late last night and forgot to open the lid before she sat down and peed. Icky.
Do you think I could use this with my Sunday school class this year? We’re learning about the Old Testament.
Safire
SafireButterfly-isms, dancing, ipod music, laundry
Jan 09
Everyone,
Today was a busy day. I spent the morning at the grocery store with my mom. It’s fun to talk and push carts around and talk about the up coming week or the past week with her. I bought some socks for Butterfly and some more wipes. Yes, I forgot to bring any more socks for Butterfly than the ones she had on. Oops.
After the store and some lunch, I went to the big outdoor store with my dad. We looked around at a few things and I bought myself some new pants. I was down to one pair of pants so I really needed some more. Although now I’m not happy about having to take them back with me!
We were able to get everyone ready for the viewing tonight and we made it there on time. Everyone was talking about how bad traffic is and to make sure we left on time. Uh, I hate to break it to you guys, but this traffic is nothing! Nothing! It was rush hour when we were driving through Salt Lake. It seemed like mid-day traffic in DC. Juice and I talked about how much DC has changed us now. We’ve been there long enough.
The viewing was nice. My Nana was looking good in her casket. Her nails were done in a pretty pink nail polish. The flowers were very beautiful. They had several tables set up with a few of her things and a bunch of pictures of her and my family. Butterfly discovered her fans on the tables and carried them around all evening. The boys were pretty good. Juice was awesome and kept tabs on them so I could talk to my family. Then my cousin Bee came with her parents and helped Juice out. So helpful!
Butterfly was very excited to see everyone. She almost bowled over a few of my cousins that she’s seen maybe twice in her life. But she was happy to see them! She also told everyone why we were here. “We’re here to see Great Nana’s body. She died. Her spirit is gone.” She’s asked a lot of questions about death the past few days and it’s been interesting to figure out what to tell her.
She was also very interested in looking at Nana’s body. She asked me why she wasn’t breathing and if she would ever sit up again. She asked Juice why she was holding flowers. She pointed out Nana’s nail polish. She really wants to stay through the whole funeral tomorrow and hear “all the scriptures and all the prayers.” Okay then.
I really had a nice time seeing all my cousins and aunts and uncles. My aunt has twin boys too and she and I had a great talk about the fun of having boy twins. I was also able to see my great aunt and uncle who lived in Maryland when her kids were small. My other grandparents came as well as several members from my mom’s side of the family. I did not think we were going to be able to come to Utah this year so this is a nice treat for me.
As far as a funeral goes, I guess.
Anyway, we left the viewing and the boys fell asleep in the car almost instantly. Professor even fell asleep with out his binkie which was huge. Butterfly pointed out all 5 temples we saw on our drive and played “I Spy” with us on the way home. She is really congested and sounds very gravelly when she talks. It’s very cute to hear her little voice crack when she gets excited.
I played photographer for my dad tonight so I have no pictures to share with you. (Plus, my lapple is getting an upgrade!) Hopefully I’ll be able to share something with you tomorrow. Until then.
Safire
SafireButterfly-isms, funeral, my family, shopping
Dec 28
Everyone,
Butterfly has been bugging us about going to the fair. The county fair. The one they have here in August. She wants to ride “the really big wheel, the fast roller coaster and the spinning dragons.” She would also like to stay there when the lights
come on. She promises she will be good and not cranky if it’s past her bed time.
I don’t think she gets the concept of A LONG TIME AWAY yet. I started telling her the list of every one’s birthday that has to come before we can go back to the fair. (Which would be every one’s but mine.) She got so excited about her birthday and realized that she will be turning 5 soon.
“And when I’m 5, I get to go to school like Vinny!” (Remember, Vinny is her BFF who is already in school.)
“Yep, honey.”
“And when I get tired, I’ll just come home and go right to nap!”
“School is all day long here honey. You will go there in the morning, and you’ll have lunch there with all of your friends, and you’ll come home in the afternoon,” I told her.
There was a pause in the back and then I started to hear her sob. Big tears rolling down her cheeks.
“But I might get tired! There won’t be a place for me to nap! I won’t be able to watch my mooovie!”
She’s not worried about school, she’s worried about her movie time! Juice and I laughed silently in the front seat while we tried to tell her all the good things about school. Like recess, and gym class, and reading, and math. She was way too upset about loosing her movie time to even care about anything else. She only calmed down when she asked if she could have a movie when we got home. Yes!
Of course, she was so tired she slept through it but at least she feels like she watched part of it.
That girl and her movies! Sheesh!
Safire
SafireButterfly-isms, conversations with Butterfly
Dec 11
Everyone,
Butterfly climbed up into my lap today and said, “Mama, I have something important to tell you.”
(Happy that she left the calling me Mother behind) “Yes, honey?”
“There are a few things that I like best.”
“Oh?”
“They are words. And when you put those words together they make my favorite things. Want to hear?”
“Sure.”
“These are the words: Mama, can I watch a movie? Next favorite is, Mama, can I play outside? And then the next one is, Mama, can I play out in the snow? And then the very last one is the last thing that I like to do a lot that you don’t let me do enough. Mama, can I play the Wii?”
“Those are all your favorite things huh?”
“Yes but you don’t let me do them enough. Especially this one, Mama can I play out in the snow? That’s the one that you don’t let me do enough. I need to play out in the snow more!”
“Honey, I can’t make it snow for you. We take you out in the snow when it snows here, but it doesn’t snow every day.”
“Why not?”
“It’s just not cold enough here.”
“Yes it is. It’s too cold!” There was a big dramatic pause here while she had her thinking face on. I’ve learned not to say anything while she is ‘thinking’ otherwise I get yelled at. “Mama?” she asks. “Mama, maybe we better do the last thing I said.”
“Play on the Wii?”
“Yeah, it’s much warmer than snow.”
Okay then. Guess we better find some snow games for the Wii for her. 
Safire
SafireButterfly Sayings, Butterfly-isms, snow, Wii
Nov 16
Everyone,
In the car on the way to dance class:
“Mama, I don’t like it when you call me that name.”
“Uhhh….what name honey?!” I could not figure out what she was talking about. This declaration came after about 2 minutes of silence in the car while she was eating a snack.
“I know I am one but I don’t want you or Daddy to call me that anymore.”
“What honey? What are we calling you that you don’t like.”
“I don’t like to say it but I will,” big dramatic sigh, “a person.” She said it in that toddler whisper that’s not a whisper but more of a breathy way of saying something.
“You don’t want me to call you a person?”
“Yeah, I don’t like it. I know I am one, but I don’t like it. I don’t, I don’t! I just don’t!”
“Okay okay honey. Don’t get so worked up about it. I won’t call you that if you don’t want me too. What can I call you?”
“Um…honey. Butterfly. Bolt.” I thought of Flower and how she had to deal with watching Bolt the movie over and over and over the month she was here. (Miss you Flower! Come back and watch Mulan over and over with us!)
“What about a young lady. Can I call you that?”
“Nope.”
“What about a little girl. Can I call you that?”
“Yeah, that’s okay. And when I’m me, you can call me a human. But when I’m Bolt you can’t call me a human because Bolt is a dog.”
“How about Young Sister Maryland (insertlastnamehere)? They called you that at church on Sunday.”
“Nah, that’s just my Sunday name. But today is not Sunday! It’s dance day!”
“What about my sweetheart, can I call you that?”
She got a very pleased smile on her face. “Yeah, that’s the best name.”
She really is the sweetest girl.
Safire
SafireButterfly dance class, Butterfly-isms
Nov 10
Everyone,
Butterfly asked me today what I was going to do when I had no more kids. I thought about it for a second and figured I’d probably miss these days with the kids always with me. (But not yesterday!) I told her that I would probably be a grandma.
“No, you’d be a Nana,” she replied.
“Yes, I will be a Nana.”
“You can be the Nana in Maryland!”
“We may not live in Maryland by then honey,” I answered.
“Well, I am going to marry Vinny (her best friend) and we are going to go live near Nana (my mom) because I love Nana and she loves me. We will live in Utah! You can’t have two Nana’s that live in Utah. So you will be the Maryland Nana and Nana will be Utah Nana.”
“Okay then.”
Seriously, what do you say to that? Besides, I think it’s cute that she is planning her future. It will be fun to see how it turns out.
I guess it’s made me think on what I will do when the kids are all out of the house. There will be no toys all over. Books will stay in bookcases. Buttons will not be pushed. Food will stay on plates. Shoes will always be put away. Boxes will not be played with. Book castles will not be built. Trains will not be formed on the slide. Hand mixers will not turn into cars and then into puppy dogs to be walked around the house by their cords.
Wait…they are growing up too fast!
Safire
SafireButterfly-isms, growing up
Dec 07
Everyone,
Here is the conversation I had with Butterfly this morning as she sat next to me and ate her sucker from Santa.
B: Is Christmas over?
Me: No, not yet. He hasn’t come to our house yet or done presents for us.
B: But he came last night to church.
Me: That was so he would know what to bring you. Did you tell him what you wanted for Christmas?
B: No.
Me: That’s okay. I think he’ll bring you something nice.
B: Like a carriage?!
Me: A what?
B: A carriage. You know, like one you push a baby in?
Me: You already have one of those.
B: No, I want a different one.
Me: Oh. Well, you already have a stroller so maybe Santa will bring you something else.
(pause)
B: We don’t have Christmas day. We have Christmas time.
Hope your Christmas time is going well!
Safire
SafireButterfly Sayings, Butterfly-isms, Christmas 2008, Santa
Oct 07
Everyone,
Tomorrow I am crazy and driving with all the kids to Pennsylvania to meet up with my parents and have a mini-vaca with them. Every year they always come out in October and do something with us. Last year we went to Chincoteague. This year, Philadelphia. We’re all about being tourists here.
Anyway, Fern the Van is packed to the gills already and I only have my stroller, the potty and the pack and play for the boys. Yeah. Why do I think I can do these things?
I’m excited to see my parents again and show off the boys and how much they’ve grown. And boy have they changed this week! I have pictures, but I can’t find my camera cord so you’ll have to do with some milestones.
Pirate: He’s getting teeth! Or at least, I can see the craters where the two front teeth will be. They are sometimes sharp and sometimes not so he’s into peekaboo teeth like Butterfly. Yay horray. He’s really not interested in sitting up but refuses to nurse if Butterfly is in the room. She is just so interesting! He laughs all the time. Laughs when you pick him up. Change his diaper, roll him over, walk by, talk to him, smile, tickle, wave, anything. He sucks his thumb and I have to say it’s one of the cutest things. I love how he hooks his pointer finger over his nose when he does it. And his eyes are so bright and wondering all the time. He gets me to just stare at things sometimes and wonder what he sees.
Professor: Help me now but this boy is up and rocking on his hands and knees. Yes, you read it right. Oh he doesn’t stay up for very long. But he’s definitely up. He also stands on his toes and his head and makes his body into an inverted V. And he wiggles. I put him down in the living room and come back to find him in the entry way. I see baby gates in our future. And you should see the looks of loving adoration this kid gives me. It’s amazing I get anything done with the amount of time he and I spend loving on each other. Oh Pirate loves me too and loves to put his head on my shoulder and suck his thumb and play with my hair, but Professor’s eyes! And his sweet dimpled smile! And his deep chested chuckle! Can’t get enough lately.
Butterfly is beginning to resent the fact that I can’t play with her as much. I think she is feeling a little lonely. I do try and spend 20 minutes here and there playing and reading with her, but there is only so much I can do. The babies need me so much. I know she does too. And that’s why I’m feeling torn these days. It’s also why I’m not sleeping great because I stay up and do all the things I put off to be with her. Like laundry or computer time or showering. Or cleaning. Right now we’ve been running all over to get things ready for this trip and she is not a happy camper. She is also refusing to take her nap and not going to sleep until 11pm (5 nights in a row!!) so she is one cross cookie. She is sweet though and says things like, “Only girls can use this bathroom. Boys can’t. We should call Nana and tell her she can come and use this bathroom because only girls can use it.” So we did. She will also tell anyone who comes up to us and asks if they are twins “These are my twin brothers, Pirate and Professor. They are babies. I’m Butterfly. I’m 3 years old and I’m NOT the helper.” She also said, “Hi, I’m Butterfly. I’m 3 years old and I’m wearing a dress,” to our friends who invited us over to watch some tv. He was a good sport and responded, “Hi, I’m B and I’m 37 (???) and I’m wearing pants.” It was funny.
I hope the hotel has free wifi so I can blog about our amazing PA adventures. This is our last trip for awhile. I’m feeling a little relieved that we may be able to put away the suitcases for a few months.
Safire
OH! If you’re interested in going to another sale, the Norther Virginia Moms of Multiples is having their huge sale on Saturday. See here for information. And if you go, look for a fisher price aquarium high chair or rainforest one in good condition with the little tray toys attached for 50 dollars of less. Pick it up for me and I’ll give you 50 plus a little extra for your time. We are going to need that soon.
SafireButterfly-isms, P and P, road trips
Apr 05
Everyone,
This is what I heard over the baby monitor on Thursday night.
J: You can have 2 toys.
B: I have 2 toys! This bear and this bear! This bear has blue eyes and this one has brown eyes.
J: Okay, you are set then. Good night.
B: No wait! I want a drink!
J: No, you had a drink before we got into bed. Good night.
B: No! You said I could have 2 toys OR a drink. I don’t want this bear! Take him away! Take him away!
J: (now faced with a sobbing 2 year old and a bear thrust into his hands) Uh…are you sure?
B: (sobbing) Yes please I want a drink!
J: Okay. (He walks out while she is still sobbing and gets her a drink. He silently gives her a drink, she slurps nosily and then lays down.)
B: Good night Daddy. I love you. Have a good sleep.
J: (A little dumb founded) Good night. Have a good sleep.
She did not make one more peep the rest of the night. Talk about knowing what she wants!
Safire
SafireButterfly-isms
Feb 25
Everyone,
Last night we had London Broil for dinner. When I was growing up, it was my favorite Sunday dinner. Juice asked me why, and I couldn’t tell him. It was just so good. I found an awesome recipe for it (well, it’s a recipe for flank steak and I just switched meats) and it was really tasty. Butterfly loved the vegetables and had a small nibble of the meat. When we were done, Juice asked her if she’d like a bite of his meat. She said yes!
She took the meat. I told her that was good! She looked at me with a face and said,
“Except it isn’t.”
She cracks me up!
Safire
Happy Birthday yesterday to my Dad! Hope you’re getting over your jet lag from Japan.
SafireButterfly eats, Butterfly-isms, family birthdays
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