Momma's Little Helper

I loved this picture so I had to post it. I don't know how long this stage will last, but Nikolai loves to help out around the house. If you are sweeping, he wants to sweep. If you are washing off the table, he wants his own rag to wash off the chairs. And he still thinks it's fun to put his blocks back in the toybox! I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts :).

Entitlement

A friend and I were talking today about some people she knows who are getting divorced after 30+ years of marriage. "Why?" is all I could say - couldn't get my head around it - can only imagine how their kids feel - like coming to the edge of the world and falling off. My friend suggested that perhaps the woman felt entitled to more than what she had - that she felt entitled to more passion, more romance, more understanding than she thought she was getting from her husband. We live in a society that makes us feel entitled to so many things that we aren't entitled to. We're given a chance to come here and given agency - I think that's all we are actually entitled to. The rest is just frosting. Made me wonder what things lurk in my "I'm entitled to" bin. Also made me grateful for what I have. So here are a couple things I'm grateful for:

1) Niko's darling smile -- especially his I teeth :)
2) another little boy arriving soon
3) a husband that I trust and love to pillow talk and laugh with
4) baby skin
5) central A/C and heat
6) phone calls to and from family
7) disaster averted :) - especially when living with a 2 year old
8) pink, red and orange gerber daisies all smooshed together in one vase
9) Panang Tofu from Thai Shirlington
10) my home, that has no insulation, but has room for guests

Easter Pics

Here are the promised Easter Pics of Kolya as well as a couple of him cuddling with his blanket -- One of his favorite pastimes.

Master of the Universe (for 2 more months)

Here are two of my all time favorite pics of Nikolai. Thought I'd post these until I get the Easter pics from today uploaded. Here is the story for the day.

So we are in church and one of Nikolai's favorite friends was sitting behind us. . They kept leaning over the benches and imitating each others really loud noises -- they were obviously really in to the spirit of the day. Finally they get annoyed with eachother, Nikolai tries to launch a car at his friend's head and I take Nikolai out of church and into a quiet room to sit on my lap and calm down. He is bawling and starts yelling out "See Max. See Max" (the friend whose head he tried to whack not 2 minutes ago). When that doesn't work, he starts crying, "See Kristin. See Kristin." Kristin is Max's mom and whenever I am doing something Nikolai doesn't like, he asks for Kristin -- I think she must be nicer than I am :). Finally I tell him that if he can stop crying we can go back in and see Kristin. He manages to stop the tears and in a shaky voice tells me, "All done crying. See Kristin." He said it over and over -- the closest he could come to begging to go back in to Sacrament. Seriously, what 2 year old wants to go back in to church? But hey, whatever works right? So we head back in where he was somewhat better behaved. . Luckily it ended about 7 minutes after we went back in. The other trick I've found that helps keep in under control in sacrament is to use nursery as a reward. . . as in, "If you can be quiet, we'll let you go to nursery after sacrament." As if we aren't just counting the minutes till we drop him off at nursery :). . . some day he'll realize. I just love that kid!!

COO of the Hales Household

So, I'm finally giving in to the familial/friend pressure to blog:
1) Because I'm hoping this will make me keep better records of my two, soon to be three, favorite boys and myself.
2) To buck the fear of failing at keeping a blog :)
3) And mostly because I want a blog that while it doesn't sugar coat it, also shows how fun it is to be a mom. I love being COO of the Hales Household. I guess anyone in my family would tell you I've always loved directing (they might call it by another name, bossing perhaps) what was going on.

So here we go. . . I wonder if I'll delete this tomorrow morning?

The Stats:
President: Steve Hales
COO and Executive Vice President: Mary Hales
Board of Directors: Nikolai Hales (2 in May), Baby Boy #2 (due June 14th)

And just in case you were wondering:
"A Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a corporate officer responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the corporation. The COO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, monitoring the daily operations of the company and reporting to the Board of Directors. The COO is usually an executive or senior vice president.

The chief operating officer is responsible for operations management (OM). The focus of the COO is on strategic, tactical, and short-term OM, which means he or she is responsible for the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm's products/services. Managers need to understand the real work behind the company's core operations, and the buck stops with the COO, whose primary concern is operations improvement."