Yesterday at the library someone asked me how old Luke was. I automatically responded with 4 months, and then it dawned on me that Tuesday was the 8th – meaning yesterday was the 9th and so Luke is actually 5 months old – not 4. We’ll blame it on sleep deprivation.

So here is the latest round of “Bear in the Chair” pictures (a day late).

And of course Adam had to get in on the fun too – mainly because I wasn’t trying to get a picture of him. He’s much more willing to “say cheese” when it’s on his terms.

I just did a little bit of internet research on George Vernon Hudson. Let me sum up all you need to know about old George.

1. He was born on 20 April 1867 in England.
2. At age nine he started collecting insects.
3. He got picked on a lot in school for being a weird kid that collected bugs.
4. At 13 he wrote his first small manuscript on insects (with detailed paintings).
5. In 1881 his family moved to New Zealand.
6. He got a job at the post office in 1883.
7. He completed his first book (An elementary manual of New Zealand entomology) at the age of 19; it was published in April 1892.
8. He married Florence Woodhead Gillon in December of 1893.
9. On 16 October 1895 he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing daylight saving time.
10. He died in 1946 on April 5th, survived by his daughter.
11. Despite having had a daughter of his own, he hated parents of small children.

Okay, I may have made up #11. 

I used to love “falling back” an hour each year. That extra sixty minutes of sleeping in the next morning was fantastic! And that feeling would continue the next several days – waking up before my alarm on work days, knowing that I didn’t have to get up yet and could relax a bit longer.

Then I had kids.

Yeah, it’s not so cool now. And my alarm, which used to go off at a pretty consistent 7:30 AM, now starts saying, “Oh Mommy” at 6:30.

There is no snooze button anymore.

Combine that with Adam refusing to go to sleep at bedtime lately and both boys taking turns waking up the past couple of nights and you’ve got one exhausted “Oh Mommy”.

This kid really needs to adjust his internal clock to recognize daylight savings time soon – or move to Arizona (where the entire state refuses to observe it).

The title of my last post (There’s a place you can go) was supposed to refer to a different story. It wasn’t until right before I went to sleep that I realized I never wrote about what I had intended to – however that lyric from the YMCA song, when taken out of context, did work with the picture of Adam on his “chair”.

I meant to comment on how well Adam is doing when I leave him in the childcare room at the Y while I workout. He barely even acknowledges that I’m leaving and runs right for his favorite toys. We’ve come a long way from the handful of times we tried this a year ago, when he would alternate between crying and screaming the whole time I was gone. They said he did get a little upset yesterday when some people he didn’t know were admiring Luke. He’s pretty protective of his little brother – which I love.

I also love that rather than calling it the YMCA, Adam refers to it as the YACD.

This kid cracks me up. We haven’t started potty training yet, but we do have the seat waiting for when do. I think he’s got a decent handle on what he’s supposed to do with it.

My dad called me earlier to tell me that rotating this picture makes it look like the boys are jumping on the couch.

I’m sure it won’t be too long before they are actually treating the furniture as a trampoline and I don’t need to manipulate photos to see it.

Dear Luke,

Despite what your older brother may have told you, babies in this house do not stay up all hours of the night. There is also an “Anti-Crankiness” policy in effect for all members of this family under the age of 21. Being cute does not make you exempt from these rules.

Okay, maybe it does.

 ♥ Mama

PS: Getting away with whatever you want just because you’re so freakin’ adorable will most likely not work forever. Eventually I will grow immune to the cuteness.

I hope.

Earlier this evening Adam informed me several times that Luke was his baby.

I actually don’t have a problem with this new arrangement at all. I just need to wait for Luke to get a little bigger, put him in charge of Adam, and I am completely off the hook.

Last night Adam was trying to get Luke to roll over.

Once we told him that he was not allowed to physically turn his brother, he decided to give Luke a demonstration on how it’s done.

No Luke, look over there.

Oh, you want me to roll over? Why didn’t you say so?

Good job Luke-a-Duke!

Tonight I am even more thankful than normal for my healthy, happy babies. Even if one of those babies is actually a two-year-old tornado. He is a sweetheart of a tornado though and just ran in from the next room, said “I miss you Mommy” and gave me a huge hug. He also blatantly wiped his nose on my shirt during the hug – but I don’t mind.

Adam had a minor surgical procedure today.  I won’t go in to details here, but he handled it like a champ and really was amazing. Several of the nurses commented on how well-behaved he was and how they wished all their patients were as easy to work with. He charmed them all by singing an impromptu concert and telling them all about Luke (leaving out the “and” of course, as is his way, and letting them know that “PapaLuke home”).

He really only had two complaints about today’s visit to the hospital. He didn’t like the tag in the back of the gown (“Cut out please Mommy”) and really didn’t like the IV that was in his hand when he woke. He had a small fit when it was time to go home; he wanted to stay and watch cartoons. I was more than ready to leave though. Even though we’d been there less than five hours, I couldn’t wait to take my little guy home.

We’ve been doing a lot of snuggling, sleeping, and probably a bit more spoiling than necessary, but he’s earned it. Hopefully we’ll have more of the same tomorrow. Convincing a two-year-old tornado to “take it easy” is a pretty impossible task, but I’ll do my best.

Thanks to everyone that was praying for Adam today. Even though it was a simple procedure I was still a nervous wreck this morning and am glad to have it behind us. Thank you especially to my Dad for coming out last night and spending the night so he could hang out with Luke this morning. I am guessing that being there for your “babies” isn’t something that changes with age, whether your baby is 2 or 32 and it meant a lot to me to know that he was here holding down the fort.