To Three or not to Three.

Seriously, December 20, huh. I knew it was getting bad...but we're already 1/6 of the way done w/ 2009 and I have yet to post anything. For shame.

It occurred to me that you go through stages in life after high school. Forgive me, I'm sure there are many more stages than this, these are just the only ones I've been a part of. First, there's the "everyone is getting married stage". My brother is currently in this stage. You know, the one where you buy 15 wooden salad bowls at Costco in April and just make the rounds for the rest of the year. Then, 3 years or so laters there the "everyone's having a baby stage", where you go through obscene numbers of baby gifts bags (countered only by the fact that you RECEIVED obscene numbers of said bags, so that one is at least free). Like me, I've been out of wedding gift bags for about 4 years. I'm nearing the end of the baby gift bag stash as well. (Warning, if you get a gift bag from me that is hanous....well, you should've poped out the kids a bit earlier. I used up all the cute ones already.) Somewhere admist those stages is the "everyone is buying a house" stage. With the house and baby stage, you kind of stop going out w/ couple friends bc you a) can't find a sitter or b) can't afford a sitter or to go out bc of your house.

Well, I'm currently in the "everyone is making the #3 decision". What stage is this? Well, one kid is a pretty SOP (Standard Operating Proceedure). And 90% seem to think the #2 follows #1. However, there is much dissent in the post-high school-life stages calendar to whether or not a #3 follows a #2. It's like the great divide in families. You spend time talking about it with strangers and friends. You weigh the pros and cons. Because, let's face it, the family of 5 (or 5+) is different than the family of 4. For us, unless God has some kind of sense of humor, #2 is the end of the baby road for us. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm FAIRLY certain that I can keep the two I've got alive. I'm thinking the odds fall pretty drastically if I add another variable into the mix....by variable, I ofcourse mean yet another strong personality into our house.

Little Miss has profected the "death stare" for when 'her majesty' as I call her when talking to Hubby is unhappy. Let me run you through the sequence of events at night:
About 2:20 in the morning, on the dot
1- I awake to crying. It's probably gone on for at least a half hour. I lay there debating whether to go downstairs because it is frigid in the house
2- I get up and go downstairs (sometimes I fall back asleep, but she'll cry for hours until I come down. If I've fallen back to sleep, the "MOOOOOMMMMY" scream usually wakes me back up)
3- I walk count the stairs in the dark to avoid falling down them on my butt
4- I enter her majesty's chambers (aka the bedroom)
her: "MOOOOMMMY ROCK!! ROCK!! ROCK!!" (translation: do what I want or I'll scream)
me: "Mommy will rock you and sing the I love you song, then it's back to bed"
her: a scream/grunt combo that is terrifying to hear first person
me: picks her up
her: "BLANKET"
me: "No, we're only singing one song, you dont' need a blanket"
her: death grip on my right arm.
me: sings lovely song about how much I love her, even though I'm on the fence about that fact at the current moment
Then, I stand up. You know, we agreed on the fact that she would go back to bed, remember? Death grip increases in strength. It is a dance we both know all too well.
me: "Little Miss, Mommy's going back to bed. You are going to bed. You can either lay on your pillow w/ your blankets nicely, or I'll just stick you in the crib and you can cry."
her: grunt scream combo w/ death grip
me: "Fine, you can cry, I'm going to bed"
her: relenting. "blankets?"
me: "yes, I'll put your blankets on." Puts blankets on, gives kiss.
her: "bye mommy, luv you"
It is our little 2am dance. In the end, we both think we won a bit. though, the jury is out on who is correct.

See, probably not a good chance for three to survive, right? :) So, you can count me out of this stage. I'll catch you on the "everyone's kids are starting school" page...plus I'll beat you to the "everyone's kids are out of the house stage". :)

In other news, the plane ride to vacation was not as bad as I thought. Not much fun, but probably doesn't have to be rated as the 8 most excruciating hours of my life.

There's lots more to say, but nap time is over (Buddy has a fever again??), and I'm really supposed to be working.....