Takin' a ride...on the potty train

Finally! Leah celebrated her third birthday on Father's day. It was not only a milestone, but a deadline of sorts. I have been trying to potty train her for a year. We decided that it was time to draw the line...no more sippy cups, no more diapers, no more...baby. So Leah got her choice of underwear and we got serious. I won't say that it is perfect, but we are almost there. Like so many other moments in motherhood, this one is bittersweet too. It means I am officially out of the baby business. According to Leah, "I'm not a baby. I drink big girl cups, I pee the potty, I brush my teeth, that I can do." Yes you can, baby, yes you can. "I'm not a baby."

It's so true. What do I do now that the years of being completely devoted to my babies are over? I guess now I have to turn some minute part of my focus back to myself. I am forced to stop rocking back and forth even when I'm not holding a child. I will have to relax when I hear a baby cry, because more than likely, its not going to be my own. I am now willing to pick up any baby, whether I really know their parents or not. It's scary but still so exciting. Happy Birthday Leah!

Miracles do happen

This week was a fun week for the boys. For over a year they have been asking for a Nintendo DS. Most people know what this is- a portable video game system. Needless to say, it isn't cheap and Santa has yet to come through. The boys have been saving their money and we have been talking about ways for them to get to their goal. I explained that when you are a good person and you do the things you are supposed to do, good things happen. If you do more than you're expected, you can make your own miracles. Thursday there was a mysterious package on the doorstep when we got home from the store. I whipped out my phone and caught it all...

The joy of summer

It is finally here- summer, and the bliss that comes with it. No obligations, no practices or games, no early morning starts, no lunches to pack. We can wake up when we want, eat when we want, go where we want, play in the water, have Wii tournaments, etc. It has been a great week so far! I love this calm and the fun of watching the kids work out their disagreements and interact in the way that only siblings can. It makes me remember all the summers I spent as a kid in Idaho. We have such great memories! I was talking to my dad about the way we were raised tonight and he was saying that there are things he regrets- being too strict. I feel so bad that he would worry about that. We got to do such amazing things. I rode in a tank, sat in a helicopter and an F-16, and shot a machine gun. I raced sailboats and rode mountain bikes in Moab with Hans Ray. I rode and wrecked motorcycles before the age of 10. We had Smartie olympics and made salads with weeds. We searched for Oregon Trail artifacts, survived a tornado in a tent and camped on the trampoline more nights than we slept in our beds. If anyone asked I think we would have said we had a normal childhood. I think looking back I can now say that we had an exceptional childhood. We didn't just grow up, we were raised. We were taught and loved. I know that my kid's stories will be different, but I hope that someday they will look back and tell people that they were raised to be exceptional people.

A night at the ballpark

Here come the fireworks!

Leah loves all you can drink!

I am so over this baseball thing!
Can I just watch the game?

So Glamorous!

Tonight we had our yearly company picnic. Every year we go to a Midland Rockhound's game and enjoy a really great picnic before- barbecue, hamburgers & hot-dogs, all you can eat and drink everything...my kind of party. It is a long night for the girls, who don't really get baseball and frankly have had enough from the little league season to last them a very long time. The game was exciting though. I took one or more kids twice to the souvenir store (didn't buy anything) twice to the bathroom, twice to buy drinks and cotton candy, twice to get ice cream, and I guess that's it! We got free ice cream, but with the temp at the ballpark at 106, it didn't even make it back to the seats. The poor boys and I were covered in ice-cream soup. To add an extra dynamic to the situation, there was a stiff wind blowing in the twenties. At one point it was creating a sort of chocolate mist that would make any mother cringe. Can you say Tide-to-go? Needless to say it went straight into the trash! Keeping Anna calm and Leah in her seat was a challenge, but when the post- game fireworks started, they were in heaven. I think this year Leah actually looked at them with thrill instead of fright. She was in awe- it was so fun to listen to her comments on the stars and sparklies.

Dorks

Last night I was talking to my sister Elisa. She said she was so excited because the new Lego Indiana Jones game was coming out soon. She and her husband were really looking forward to it. I told her, funny coincidence that I had pre-ordered it in February.

You may not know this about me, but I have this funny little personality quirk. I can't sit and watch tv. I can't sit and do any single thing. I have to multi task even when I relax. I sit most nights with either the Nintendo DS or my laptop on my lap even when I eat or watch tv- sometimes all three a once. It drives Tod crazy.

I have a collection of games that impresses the boys' friends, but I feel a little silly admitting it. Don't worry, sometimes I read while I watch tv too!

I am such a dork. I wondered last night what other women I know do to relax. Do they have any silly, embarrassing pastimes? Let me know!

Adventures in motherhood

When I got married I never thought that my career would choose me. I had ambitions in medicine, but it was almost as if I was hijacked by my own life. Sometimes I am jealous of friends or family when I hear about the places they've been or things they've done. I catch myself being ungrateful for this fantastic adventure that is mine.
Aaron is just getting to the point where he has an attitude. It is hard to give him the space he craves more and more. He sees himself as he will be and I see him as he was- a tiny, perfect, soft, sweet smelling armful. In reality his feet are as big as mine, he has a smart mouth and I actually had to buy him his first stick of deodorant the other day. This is not the motherhood I have become good at! As a control freak, I feel overwhelmed by all these things I have no control over.
Josh is on round three with his glasses. His third pair in 6 weeks! You gotta admit, the kid is happy though- his feet never touch the ground. To have the kind of optimism and faith that this kid has. Everything is good and possible in his eyes.
Oh, to have the sweetness of Emma. Emma loves to such a degree that I think it may actually cause her physical pain sometimes. It is so sad that she's the middle child, she is so tender and good natured, if you didn't seek her out she might just disappear!
Anna is a lesson in irony. We wanted her so badly, prayed for her, and she takes it out on us every day. She is the extreme of everything- clever, angry, smart, calculating, hilarious, heart-breaking. Jekyll and Hyde, joy or pain- we just wait to see which one wakes up in the morning.
Leah is just fun. She's still at that fantastic age where she will lay down next to me for a nap, but old enough to know that it's funny to sneak up on her brothers and sisters with the garden hose. It is still cute when she's stubborn.
So these are the adventures that fill my days- baseball games, cartoons, school programs, laundry, cooking, refereeing, organizing, cleaning, doctoring, and the list goes on. Everyday trying to decode all my kids behavior, even as it changes from one minute to the next. I might have stumbled into this career by chance, but what could be more challenging or fulfilling? No other career could ever have taken me through such a spectrum of experiences. So- here's to looking forward, never back!

Growing up Huffman

I have been encouraged by a few people to do some writing. I have all these funny little stories in my head, things from growing up that I am starting to write down for my kids. I thought it would be fun, especially for the Huffmans to hear them (and not to mention the fact checking). So here it is, the first installment of Growing up Huffman:)


The Badger

My dad thought that as long as we were educated in the risks of the area that we were safe enough in our 180 acre paradise. In our little patch of heaven we had many types of snakes, coyotes, rabbits, badgers, deer, antelope, and you never knew what you might encounter on one of your adventures.
There were holes of every size in the ground. Our days took us around too many to count. Some we called ankle breakers- those were the rabbit holes. The smaller ones were snake holes, and the ones you never under any circumstances messed with were the larger ones- the badger holes. When we played in the field or wandered the property, we never encountered a badger.
One day when we were playing in the yard my mom quickly gathered us up and shut us in the house. We watched with great anticipation out of the sliding glass doors as my dad climbed onto the roof of the house next door with the garden hose. She explained that he had seen a badger go into a hole just behind that house, and he was going to flush him out. We had never seen a badger before and the idea of this mysterious, vicious animal was exciting! The water poured from the hose, and the anticipation and danger grew. Finally, a very perturbed animal, roughly the size of a big cat emerged from the hole. His head shot back and forth as he searched for the perpetrator, never imagining that he was cowering on the roof of the house just behind him. His little claws flashed in the morning light, and then he was gone. It was a bit anti-climactic considering everything we had heard about them, but a new experience just the same.