Is Six Months Too Long?

Can I still say, "I just had a baby" and expect sympathy, or should six months be ample time to get over it?

City league soccer started yesterday. I didn't play very well. But, I mean, I just had a baby, right? So I'm allowed to be out of shape, right?? Hmm. Maybe if I omit the italics: I just had a baby, so I'm a little out of shape. Then it doesn't sound like I had my baby yesterday, but still fairly recently.

Honestly, the reason I didn't play very well, aside from lack of oxygen to my major muscle groups due to poor cardio-pulmonary performance, is that I'm just not very good at soccer. Two seasons in junior high/high school didn't turn me into a star. Who woulda thought? I never figured out the strategic part of the game, like where should I be on the field and when should I be there? Also, I'm a little bit scared of the ball. There. I said it. I don't want to have the wind knocked out of me, or get a black eye or a bloody nose. I feel like I'm just too old for that. All that being said, I'm very glad to be playing. I had forgotten how much fun it is to just get out and run around like crazy.

And, it's very fun when our team wins our first game 3-1, especially against one of our arch rivals*!

*I'm probably the only one who considers this team a big rival. But there is a guy on there who drives me crazy! He's a total trash-talker and he just acts like he's all that and then some. He's pretty good at soccer, but honestly? It's co-ed city league. Lighten up.

Samantha's First Bouncing

We got these Bungee Bouncers at the Spring Fair a couple years ago when Drew and Owen were babies. They absolutely loved them.

Tonight, as I was sitting in front of her swing, Samantha kept kicking my leg making the swing go. She giggled and squawked so I thought maybe she'd like to try out the bouncer. She also loved it. Here's the proof:
The video was cut short by Drew climbing on my arm. Here's why it's such a classic amateur video: it's a little dark and if you listen closely, you can hear Pa Grape (from Veggie Tales) reminding kids to share their doughnuts.

I can't get enough of her extra chins and chubby elbows...

The original Bungee Bouncer Boy. I don't know why I have no photos of Owen bouncing; I have some sideways videos* but that's all I can find. And he loved bouncing even more than Drew did.

*I took the video while holding the camera vertically, thinking after I uploaded the image, I could just flip it to be right-side-up. But apparently it doesn't work that way.

In Unrelated News...

This post includes a bunch of random stories relating to the craziness that has been our household lately.

*The boys have been playing "Hamburger King" with the box from our new water heater. Yesterday, Drew came up to me and said, "How you doin' today? Hamburger? Fries?" I think we need to reevaluate how often we go out to eat. Maybe tone it down a little. But the in laws usually invite us and pay for us, so it's hard to say no.

*David had hiccups for almost 24 hours. They started yesterday at 3 p.m. They continued even while he was at work from midnight 'til about 8:00 this morning. He was able to sleep for a few hours until the hiccups came back and woke him up. He eventually went back to sleep, and when he woke around 4 p.m, he resumed the hiccuping. He ate a spoonful of honey (he read online that it would "cure" hiccups); it worked for a couple hours, but he had to eat another spoonful after dinner. He's at a ChurchBall game right now--I wonder how he fares?

*Our "roommates" are moving out. They got their apartment key yesterday, so they've been clearing things out. I think it would've been fun if they had found a place in the neighborhood. Then we could see them at church and such. But I have to be honest: it'll be nice to have our house to ourselves again. And I'd be shocked if they didn't feel the same.

*Drew has been coming up with some interesting observations lately. He doesn't like to be corrected, though. Here are a few examples:
***
Drew: It's an orange four wheeler, Mom!
Mom: It's actually a blue four wheeler.
Drew: It like an orange four wheeler.
***
Drew: Diaper is wet!
Mom: It's really quite poopy.
Drew: It's like it's wet!
***
Drew: That's a boat, Mom!
Mom: It's a car.
Drew: It's like a boat!

*Owen has been sick. Again. He had a fairly high fever on Tuesday. He had some nasty burps, too. I'm a wait-and-see-er, so I didn't take him to the doc right away. I guess he threw up sometime during the night, and Wednesday morning he was pretty messy, but feeling quite a bit better. But also quite a bit more tired. He fell asleep on the couch downstairs and didn't wake up even with people moving furniture, vacuuming, and the rest of the kids playing and yelling. Today he's been really chipper and energetic, but he has a stuffy/goopy nose and drippy eyes. Just now he went up to Drew and said, "How doing, Drew? In the house fries and hamburgers. Right back." He walked over to the cardboard box, rustled it around a little, walked back over to Drew and said, "For you." Drew said, "No thanks" so Owen brought it over to me and said, "For you, Mom!"

*Samantha is getting a tooth. She has a little line on her gums that is the very tip top of the tooth. She likes to rub her tongue over it, and also the inside of her lips. She makes a face that looks a lot like an old lady who took her dentures out.

Samantha rolled over the other day, from her back to her tummy! She didn't like being on her tummy much, so she paused for a couple seconds then kept on rolling onto her back again. I felt like I should have given her a treat. Since then, the furthest she's gotten is onto her side, but with both knees touching the ground. It looks pretty uncomfortable, but it makes her laugh.

*My brother Mike came to visit yesterday, too. He brought his little girl Rowan, who's about 3 months old. She is such a doll. She and Samantha enjoyed smiling at each other. After Mike left, Drew kept asking, "Where Rowan go?" Poor Owen slept through the whole thing and didn't get to see Mike or Rowan, but at least he couldn't get Rowan sick that way. I was silly and didn't take any pictures, so I'll have to get them to come visit again real soon!

How To Spend Your Tax Return

• Go on Vacation.
• Buy new tires for your car.
• Get the front-end axle fixed on the same car.
• Buy a new water heater.
• Buy new pipes to attach said water heater to the main house pipes.

By now, your tax return should be just about gone. Good thing you went on vacation first, so it's too late to feel bad about spending that money when everything in sight seems to be breaking.

A Picture Post

The Hamburger Kings:

We went to Burger King (or Hamburger King, as Drew and Owen call it), last week. We usually go through the drive-thru, but we felt like staying out of the house a bit longer, so we went into the joint and ate our food. Drew and Owen were cracking me up in a sort of "Ssshh! Not so Loud! Sit down!" kind of way. Every time a customer placed an order, an employee would call the order back to the kitchen with their little microphone. and the boys just had to repeat it. Very loudly. And sometimes from a standing position. So we'd hear things like "Spicy chicken sandwich" while we were eating, and then the boys would yell, "Spicy chicken sandwich!" a few times over in case anyone missed it the first time.
Drew and Owen enjoy the "birthday hats" they got. They weren't so good at putting them on by themselves, though.

Toe Suckers

Samantha discovered her toes recently, and simultaneously discovered that they taste good or feel good on her gums or something. I'm not sure what her reasoning is, but in her mouth they go... Drew and Owen thought it hilarious and had to give it a try too.

Just Being Cute...

Samantha makes some cute faces. My camera is a little slow so I haven't been able to get any good smiling ones. And the flash on it is absolutely blinding, so I try not to pursue it too heavily. I think that genetics-wise, our kids are doomed to have bad eyesight. I don't want to intensify the problem.

Love These Jammies.

Wal*Mart had a sale on pajamas since winter's almost over; they're just clearing out all the cold weather stuff. So I bought a few for next year's traditional Christmas Jammies, and a few lighter ones for Spring. The boys dig 'em 'cause Drew's have cars and Owen's have aliens and spaceships. I dig 'em 'cause they're just so dang cute. Samantha has a pair in bright pink which, as it turns out, is a great color for her. I haven't gotten a picture of her wearing them yet, though.