Who needs a plastic bucket?

If only I'd had these on hand:

http://www.morningchicness.com/

that plastic bucket

Remember when you were growing up and you had the designated "barf bowl"? In our house it was a burgundy plastic mixing bowl. It came out when you had that icky feeling and needed to lay on the couch. Just the sight of it made me want to hurl.

Unfortunately it was the only bowl in the house big enough to contain the product of our super duper hot air popcorn popper, so that was the bowl's dual use. Gross maybe, but not a lot of actual barf ended up in the designated bowl, in our defense. However...popcorn still = barf, in my mind.

So when faced with 3 boys with stomach flu in the house, I had to make a decision about what bowl to designate "barf only". The metal mixing bowls seemed to be a good choice, but they're not quite deep enough (if you've seen me with martini glass you get the idea).

I sacrificed our Madagascar 2 promotional movie bucket for the cause. And when the imminent danger of projectile vomiting ceased, Alex and the gang ended up in the recycling bin. Unfortunately the original contents of the promotional bucket was movie theatre popcorn...the circle of life?!

me = my mom / benson = ???

me: "I'm not your slave, you know"
B: "Yes, you are!" (in a "duh" voice). Duh.

Teething. Ouch.

Then comes the baby ogre?

Every night, B and I have a little chat about things. He usually likes to talk about his family and friends, so it reminds me a little of the going to bed routine I had as a child ("and bless mommy, and daddy, and teacher, etc").

I completely adore the randomness of the people who come up in Benson's night-time shout-outs. Last night:

B: "I love my family. You, and Marshall, and Daddo. And girl Alex."
Me: "Girl Alex is your friend, but not your family...unless you want to marry Girl Alex?"
B: "No. I marry Daddo."

So, I almost said, "Oh, you have to marry a girl." But I don't really believe that. So then I almost said, "You have to marry someone your own age." But I don't really believe that. "You have to marry someone your own size?" Nope. And...come to think of it, you don't have to marry someone to be in their family! I decided to try to explain the concept of marriage/family a l'il bit more:

Me: "See, I married Daddo and we became a family. I am Daddo's wife."
B: "Oh you are a wife princess?"
Me: "Oh yes." (yeah, I know, not really - but it had SUCH a nice ring to it. Even though I'm sort of anti-princess, especially this time of year.)
B: "And you are a ogre?"
Me: "Yeah, I guess you're right."
B: "You are a princess ogre wife?"
Me: "I think you have it covered."
B: "I like Daddo to be my wife now."

Oh yes, we're all straightened out now. Thanks, Shrek.

6 months...and it's just the beginning.

As I await the news of baby K...I'm going over my entire experience with Marshall's delivery in my mind as I imagine H going through it, from the sleepless night beforehand to the heightened awareness and brightness of the baby's BIRTHDAY!

And I think it either feels like yesterday, or a lifetime ago. In reality it's been 6 months. Marshall is an amazing 6 months old. No longer a newborn (at 21 lbs, check these biceps!)...it's all gone by too fast, much like the rest of life. But it feels like he has always been here.

Once you have one child, you realize how much your life changes, so you think you know how having another child will feel. I had no idea how much another baby would change our dynamic. It's fantastic. And just like the Grinch, my heart grew at least 3 sizes bigger.

Watching Benson learn how to be a big brother, and the absolute adoration for him in Marshall's eyes, is possibly the best thing ever. I think that's why baby K means so much to me, because I can't wait for the Ks to have this experience, too.

You betcha!! Wait...WHAT?!!

The last week or so, Benson's been responding to everything with a "You betcha!", which I thought was sort of cute and I assumed it was something he picked up from one of the preschool teachers (although I can imagine neither of them actually saying it, now that I think about it)...but I just caught up on my PVR and Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin...so I'm left wondering...how did Benson pick up a Palin-ism?!!