peelosophy

My husband John is the most amazing man I know.  He’s 32 today, always a year younger than me, and I wanted to celebrate him in this post by listing 32 things that I adore about him.

1:  He is SO thoughtful.  I really fall short in the thoughtfulness department, especially in our marriage.  If he is getting “a treat” at the store, he always picks up my favorite too.

2:  He is very generous with his time.

3:  He has a great sense of style.  I know this sounds crazy, but ask him his opinion, you’ll see.

4:  If he knows I’m interested in something, he’ll be interested in it too.  For example, I went to a purse party and asked him to look on the company’s website before I left to see what he thought of the bags.  He looked and pointed out a few, but we couldn’t pick one I loved.   At the party, I was undecided.  And without me calling him first, he texted me, “Check out the Charlotte (the style), it’ll be perfect.”  he was still looking for me even after I went to the party.  What guy does that?!?!

5:  He has amazing taste in women.

6:  He knows how to fix stuff.  From water heaters to Transformers to cars to gadgets.  And if he doesn’t know how to fix it right away, he’ll learn how or point you in the right direction.

7:  He understands and appreciates the fine art of teasing.  This is a big deal to me. I can’t really explain it.  But I like to be able to laugh at myself, and teasing allows us to not take ourselves so seriously.

8: He goes clothes shopping with me.  He brings me different sizes and some that “you should just try”.  He shows me the freedom of looking beyond the sale racks.

9: He is a good friend.  If a friend is in need, he does whatever he can to help out.

10: He rubs my feet whenever I ask.

11:  Every night when John comes home, the boys run to the door when they see his car and try to lock him out of the house.  They will be pushing with all their might from the inside, in turn, he will be pushing with “all of his might” from the outside.  All the while saying “Oh no! I can’t get into the house, how will I ever get into the house?” He eventually get in and they all hug and love on each other. This happens every night.  The boys think it is a riot and I am giggling just thinking about it.

12: He takes my ideas seriously.

13: He takes me seriously.  When I was suffering from chronic nightmares about zombies (i love zombie movies), he made the nightmares go away.  He came up with a plan.  He told me, when the zombies came, and he was still at work (which always happened), I would take the boys and the animals and drive to our friend JP’s house in Sullivan, MO.  John would meet us there.  He reassured me how perfect this plan was because, Sullivan was in the country and zombies migrate towards the city to feed.  JP has lots of guns and we would be safe.  And that was all it took, no more bad zombie dreams.

14:  He lets me know when I am being too serious.

15:  He knows my limits and picks up up the slack, most of the time without me asking.

16:  He exercises humility regularly.  When he is wrong, or if he is unsure he’ll admit it.

19:  He’s practical.

20:  He is a patient teacher.  He has taught me how to do a lot and is very patient when I don’t catch on right away(which is always). He is also like this with the boys- they are going to learn a ton from their Daddy.

21:  He’ll watch chick flicks with me.

22:  He gives great advice.

23:  He tells me when I am being crazy, in a nice way.

24:  He loves his mom and his sisters very well.

25:  He has alot of forethought.  He’ll be going to Walmart for something for him, and without me prompting, bring home some new socks for the boys because he noticed them getting holey.

26:  Henry said, “I like it when Daddy wrestles with me.”

27:  He is a great kisser.

28:  JJ said” That he plays Lego Star Wars with me and he lets me buy guys.”

29:  He knows so much stuff.  This can drive me crazy, but sometime it comes in handy.

30: He makes sure I have time for myself and time with my friends.

31: He makes me laugh like no one else does.

32: He loves me unconditionally and very well.

Kara is the little girl I have babysat twice a week for over four years.  I have cycled several kids in and out of babysitting, but Kara (and her brother Jacob) have been the ones that have gelled the best with our family.  The dynamics just work for us on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I do love the time I get to spend with her, the house gets an extra shot of estrogen twice a week – it’s great.

My friend Dana, Kara’s mom, sent me this email a couple of days ago and I thought it was the sweetest thing ever.  Here’s what it said:

I had to email you before I forgot this.  Yesterday when Jacob was napping,
I heard the sweetest thing come out of my daughter’s mouth.  She was
playing hard core with her barbies, and all of a sudden went into prayer.
It went something like this.  “Dear God.  I really want you to give Ms Jill
a baby girl.  She really really needs one.  Thanks.”

Adorable.  She might just know what’s best for me or maybe she thinks that they’ll be Barbies at my house if I have a girl.  If Kara can promise that the baby girl will come out with her sweet personality and excitement about everything under the sun – I’ll take her.

F.Y.I. I won’t know till July….

John disagreed with me this morning. (that’s not abnormal)  He asked what my plans were for the day, I replied that it was going to be a day to get things done inside the house. He said I had it all wrong and, that in fact, today was a “free day”.  That nothing had to be done.  Like a gift to do nothing.  And that’s about what we did.  But it took me a while to get used to this idea.

The morning included, but was not limited to, a game of adult Monopoly played by JJ and Henry and supervised by us.  This was not fun for us by any means, but the boys thought it rocked, especially since it was their idea.  Lunch followed with takeout sushi from Dierbergs – in the spirit of Memorial Day, right?

Princess Bride was the movie of choice for afternoon lounging.  Then for the Memorial Day haircuts.  We started a tradition last Memorial weekend, the boys (including dad) get their heads shaved as sort of a rite of passage into the summer.

It’s funny because without hair, the boys look like different kids.  I always want to change their name because they look so different.   So JJ and Henry turn into Dusty and Travis. They just look like some good ol’country boys to me.   Next year, I’ll have to think of a name for George…maybe Cody or Shane.

Last year there was some fear of the clippers, but it was a relatively painless experience.  This year was completely different.

Henry went first and did pretty well.  JJ lost it.  We shave them on our front porch, and I’m really surprised the cops weren’t called.  JJ wailed so much and so loud.  We had to stop and start.  Go shower and start again.  After about an hour his head was done.  But I don’t know if our tradition will continue with us doing the shaving.

We ended up with mohawks – for something different his year.  But that just means we will have to clip them again in the next week or so – not looking forward to it.

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Downtown Chic – Design Mom: I agree with Gabrielle’s review of this book.  I splurged on it and LOVE it!  It’s part the design ideas and the other part the big family and the other part that this couple is living their passion together and doing it with six kids.  Unbelievable and really cool in my book.

Seven Prayers a Day – Bring the Rain: I pray for my kids throughout the day, but nothing like this.  I think this is amazing. I love how the prayers are derived from scripture and how she prays them out loud.  And how it could be applicable to anyone I might be praying for, to think of them seven times a day and pray for them.  It’s amazing the example this is to her children and the impact it will have on their lives.  Wow.

Mothers Day and Narcolepsy- Annie’s Garden: I love my friend Maddie’s blog and getting a chance to peek into her the life she shares with her daughter Annie.  Sometimes I read it and think, life with three boys seems less adventurous then life with Annie.  I don’t want to ruin her post, but it is one of my favorites.  My reaction to reading it was like actually finding Annie – just read it.

East Village Apartment Makes Amazing Use of Space- Unclutterer: I need to go pick up this issue of Dwell Magazine.  The picture of the Transformer-type bed.I even got a little closterphopic looking at it.  Still deciding if that is cool or not.

For a background on how/why we do Tot School, click here.

So I haven’t been doing anything formal really during our time together.  The reason is two-fold; first, I’ve been really nauseous and second, the weather has been amazing.  So, lots of exploring and learning has been going on outside, which is what summer is all about in my opinion.

We did manage to work on our D pages and play with dominoes…

We went to the Zoo with our cousins in town from Colorado…

Played with the hundreds of cardboard coasters we have and never use…

And enjoyed the outside where clothing is optional…

I have been asked this question over and over again – probably about once a day.

I understand why people ask it, I probably would too.  I guess it’s a logical question since we will have 4 kids come December and live in a 2-bedroom house.  Just with the repetition of he question- all I hear is “What is wrong with you?”

The fact of the matter is, we are fine where we are right now.  We are not crawling up the walls or begging for privacy.  We are very happy.  So if that makes us weird – so be it.  I’ve found that it definitely makes us outside of the norm, which is something I’m fine with, but in this situation, I find myself questioning our feelings.

This questioning has led me to late googling; the specific search, “big family small house”.  Wow.  That search was very comforting.  I found myself from feeling “little old woman who  lived in the shoe-ish” to feeling that our 900 square feet was spacious and sharing rooms was normal.  Try it.

The other thing I did, in search for peace with our decision, was rented the first season of Little House on Prairie.  My goal was to figure out how Ma did it?  Family of five living in a cabin surely smaller than our house.  Where did she put all the toys?  What about clutter? How did she organize the closets effectively?  Honestly, it took me about 3 episodes into it to realize that it was a movie set and watching the rest of the season was not going to answer my questions.  I know I was/am crazy.

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The origins of our Tuesday playgroup began when John erected our swing set a couple summers ago.  “If you build it, they will come” right?  Greta started coming over on Tuesdays and eventually a couple more friends, some friends of friends, some cousins, some husband’s work friend’s wives and other random connections.  It’s basically been, if you are a mom (or a nanny) and you need a place to connect with other moms, someone told you about playgroup.

We’ve mainly met in my backyard, but has moved to other houses in the winter and in rain.  Now Missy has a new playground so we are meeting their for May.  I’m excited to start back up again.  I enjoy the old and new people there each week and the encouragement I receive when we are together.

I have lots of hopes and dreams for playgroup.  Tangible and intangible.  I want it to be a place where new moms feel welcome, where encouragement is felt, and where supermom facades can be deconstructed and we can all just be real with each other.  We are not there yet, I don’t know if we will ever be, but it’s still a hope I hold.  Hopefully, this intangible hope is more attainable than the following pie in the sky ideas I have for playgroup…

1- Our own Starbucks Barista.  Actually, Starbucks/Kaldis it doesn’t really matter.  I do want coffee provided and not only that, served to our very deserving moms.  Somebody must have a marketing degree that we can use to go solicit this one to Rock Hill Starbucks.  I’m sure Starbucks can write it off as an act of goodwill or something.

2- Next, is some sort of invention, that when the kids leave the backyard to go home, they would be instantly clean.   Think Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory…the Wonka Wash.  Except without the Oompa-Loompas – they freak me out a bit.  The idea is that it would be fun for the kids and it’s always nice to have clean kids (so I’ve heard).

3- Lastly, a bit of pampering for the moms.  Massages would take too long; and I don’t know how relaxing it would be to hear screaming children outside.  So, what about an esthetician on hand?!?! I think it’s genius.   My brows have likened to that of Salma Hayek in Frieda because I’m terrible about doing my own and the time to get a sitter for a (maybe) 10 minute appointment seems ridiculous to me.  The possibilities are endless and what a time saver that would be!  I can hear it now, “Hey, can you watch the boys for 5 while I go inside and get my lip done?”  I’m not crazy…someone else agree with me!!!

For the last four years, John has gone on a fishing trip and I throw a girls party.  Its usually the first weekend of May, so this year it was last weekend.  The party is something I look forward to months in advance, because I enjoy it so much!

I wish I had pictures to share – but I didn’t think about that…next year for sure.

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For a background on how/why we do Tot School, click here.

We had a great week with Tot School.  The rain kept us in a lot.

We are working on our C pages in our ABC book this week…

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