December 12, 2007 | Mama Smith

december highlights

Here Baby Jesus is resting among our dishes. Finally out of Brighton’s reach, who was using his head as a spoon to scoop up his cereal this morning. Our sacrilegious little boy. The same boy who will only let me pray with him before bed if it includes a simultaneous back rub.

Mid-December has crept up on me before I’ve had a moment to blink. Yes, I’ve stunk at taking pictures. Yes, I’ve stunk at posting. Yes, I am ignoring your phone calls and emails. Ha, only joking :) But my lack of writing this month is definite evidence of the chaotic happenings around the Smith household.

Happenings that include a few bouts of stomach flu, plenty of downtown excursions with friends, Christmas baking, a job/nanny search that has almost come to fruition, a massive shed being built by Matthew in our backyard, preparing our home for the arrival of my parents and siblings next week, and an all-day grueling trip to Atlanta’s IKEA yesterday.

We are pooped, but at the same time, charged by the events this month has offered us thus far.

My parents arrive next week with my sister, followed by my brother and grandmother, who will join us for a South Carolinian Christmas this year. We cannot wait to have a full house, with comfort food in the oven and a den full of laughter and story telling. Although we’ll all be missing my sister, Callie, who’ll be spending her first Christmas away from the family in Honduras. A care package will hopefully arrive safe & sound for her soon…

The job search has been fruitful and hopefully in a few weeks I’ll begin assisting a local interior designer. Which is becoming a long-term goal of mine, to complete some classes when the boys start school in a few years and begin a more full-time role as an interior designer as the years and experience unfold. I never thought I would miss work this much, but I think a few hours of freedom a day will bring me home to the boys a more healthy and whole mom. Plus, finding a crazy good nanny always helps ease a mom’s mind.

As for the previous weeks…

• Levi has begun cruising around now on foot, threatening Brighton’s treasured “space”, which of course has that specific two year old in quite a tizzy. I often find them in the playroom with Brighton frantically hoarding every toy on the floor and Levi simply offering him a quizzical look, as if to say “You have got to chill out, buddy.”

• Brighton now refuses to refer to Matthew as “Papa”. As much as I try to encourage the “Papa” thing, Brighton always responds to my “PAPA is over there, Brighton” with “Oh Matthew. Where’s Matthew? I’ll go get him…MAAAATTTHEEW!” It’s humorous to me, totally annoying to Matthew.

• At 2am Matthew blearily headed downstairs last night after hearing Brighton crying, to find him stumbling around his bedroom in the dark with his firetruck flashlight, crying and searching for his misplaced pacifier. It is time to get rid of that thing.

• The curse of the “snakes”. If you hang around my family long enough, you’ll hear the many stories of abuse I inflicted upon my younger sister. One of these stories involves me forcing Callie to lightly rub my back, which we referred to as “snakes”, for hours on end…well past the time of her pudgy 6 year old hands cramping up. But retribution has come. My son now pesters for his own back to be rubbed constantly. Before nap time, before bed time, during story time. I thought retribution had come when Matthew insisted upon back rubs after marriage, but now I have two demanding men in the house. My hands are cramping, does anyone care?

• Speaking of pain and cramping hands, my entire body is being arce-whooped by my Ranger uncle’s physical trainer, who is determined to kill me, I know it. I foolishly scrounged around our house and sold boxes of items on ebay to fund, what I thought, would be a few fun little training sessions to hopefully get back into a triathlon mindset for next season. Instead I was subjected to an ab machine that left me hunched over for a week and an aching chest. I am both terrified and somewhat excited at the same time. Now I just have to convince Matthew to go see this guy so my whining can be empathetically justified.

To close this scattered post, a few pictures from a downtown excursion last week. We’ll hopefully get some up soon of our house after the new overhead lights are installed and a much-longed for “hominess” is slowly coming about in our abode.

The downtown carousel…

Snow in Greenville? Ha, or rather soap suds, but B liked it none the less. Today is was almost 80 degrees. Did I fully express just how much I like living here! If not, read some of those snowy, home-bound posts after Levi was born in February. UGH.

Matthew having way more fun than B.