A 10 Second Update

We are back from the wilderness, and I am happy to report: I DIDN'T HATE IT! In fact, I mostly liked it! I am far too fatigued and sick of my own smell to give any more details than that, but there is a thorough description of our family camping adventure coming soon, and 1,000 photos to go with it. Raise your hand if you're excited to see photos of me greasy and dirty!! Anyone?

But for those who can't stand the suspense, I'll leave you with the vitals: number of snakes seen or bitten by: 0. Number of salamanders seen: 1. Number of mosquito bites: 1. Number of times my precious friend Liz tried to punch a raccoon through our tent: 1. Overall number of bottles of wine consumed: tons.

Hi-Ho!

It's off to the wilderness we go! If you recall, one of my many camping fears was the unfortunate possibility of meeting up with a snake, and our lack of preparation for such a moment. Last night, Dan was unpacking all of his camping gear from the good ol' days of bachelorhood, and beaming with pride, he unveiled his trusty pocket camping knife. The sheer joy it brought to his face was classic- it was like two lovers being reunited after years apart. I decided it was time for a test- THE test: I asked him if we should cross paths with a snake, and if I should deem it necessary (which I would), could he kill a snake with the camping knife? Would he do it? Could he do it? I'm pretty sure he scoffed at me and replied, "Babe, are you kidding me? Of course. You don't need to worry about anything."

Congratulations, Husband! YOU PASSED THE TEST WITH FLYING COLORS! And now, back to my hourly camping mantra, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....


Stay tuned; obviously, a full detailed report of Dewig's First Camping Trip will be given as soon as possible.

Take 5

This week I am so grateful that, without even trying, my kids remind me to take a break from the stress of life, slow down, and enjoy something as simple as a popsicle. Lime and grape flavored. In my grown-up world of checklists and must do's, I almost missed this moment of innocent sibling silliness, and I'm just so grateful I forced myself to take a break from whatever "important" thing I was doing, and grabbed my camera. Also, it should be noted that this little photo shoot ended in a hilarious water fight with two naked kiddos.

T Minus 3 Days

Image via Wikipedia

The family's first camping trip (EVER) begins in 3 days. Here's how I'm handling the nervous anticipation and tackling my camping fears: basically, I'm expecting to hate it.

I realize to some, this might sound like a terrible attitude problem that needs some adjustments, but in my mind, all I'm doing is placing zero expectations on the experience. That way, it can only exceed my presumptions and pleasantly surprise me if things should happen to go well. It's my own version of "expect the worst, hope for the best". So you see, it's not that I have a bad attitude; I just have a disappointment-proof outlook. And for the record, I've noticed that the more wine we plan on bringing, somehow the trip becomes even more disappointment-proof.

Alright, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, bring on your bugs and dirt and smokey hair campfires and meals from cans! Let's do this thing!

Christmas in June

Last night, Ben was throwing a tantrum about- oh I don't know- EVERYTHING, and being the Mother of The Year that I am, I snapped, and not in the rhythmic carefree way. I was fatigued, tired, and out of patience and parenting steam. I wish they sold Parenting steam at Costco, or at least on ebay because I would buy it in bulk, build myself a parenting steam storage shed, and give it away to all my parent friends at Christmas. Maybe I'd even sell it on the black market.

Anyway, when World War III kicked in around the moment I announced it was time to brush teeth, I was 1) on the verge of throwing myself on the floor in a screaming tantrum to join him, and 2) struck with a genius idea. Note to self: ALWAYS wait for option #2 to come to you, even if it takes 10 minutes. DO NOT EVER go with option #1, experience has proven it will always end badly.

The genius idea? Santa! But of course! Santa is watching! SANTA IS ALWAYS WATCHING YOU! Ben, don't you remember the song we sing, where it specifically states he "knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake"? This is one of those moments. In fact, June is Santa's biggest sneak attack month. He knows that most of the children think Christmas is way too far off to really behave, but this is when it counts the most because he sneaks in and watches you even more closely. The month of June is like behavioral overtime in Santa's book.

I'm not saying it was my best progressive parenting moment, but that boy stopped his screaming, opened his mouth wide, and let me brush his teeth for a full 60 seconds, sweetly hopped into his bed and slept a solid 11 hours. So I played the Santa card in June, no big deal, right? Isn't that like 90% of the reason Santa even exists, to help ease the parenting load?

I have a very strong feeling Santa is going to be crucial to our survival this summer.

God-babies

Dan & I have never been godparents before, and then much to our surprise (and sheer delight), we were asked to be godparents twice over in the span of one week! I cannot tell you the tremendous joy and deep honor this has brought both of us; I feel so blessed to spend my lifetime developing special relationships with these two sweet little angels. And I know I might be slightly biased, but I think even Cinderella's fairy godmother would have to agree that I have the world's cutest godchildren. I don't know if body nibbling was in the godmother job description, so sometimes I have to stop myself from nibbling their cheeks, thighs and toes. Can you blame me?

Also, did I mention that they're cousins, and about two months apart in age? I'm in heaven. And I'm in love. And when they spit up on me, it's so adorable that I don't even mind.

Cyberspace, please meet Baby Siobhan and Baby Mick:

(See? I wasn't joking. The cuteness factor is off the charts. And the thigh rolls of love??? To die for).