Legoland

Wow, thanks for the kind comments! My shameless adoration for Jude and Eli must have been in overdrive the past few posts. But while it's effortless to gush about my boys, I can't say I am handling this thing called motherhood, or what I affectionately call the total and utter chaos that is my life, with any form of grace. But oh, how I wish it were true!

I think this is most notably marked by Jude's recent imitation of the phrase "Oh my gosh!" How did he learn it? Most likely from the countless times I've said it after having taken my eyes off one of my children for a millisecond which, wouldn't you know it, is just enough time for Jude to get into something he shouldn't, eat something chocolatey he shouldn't, or use Eli as a tool for something he definitely shouldn't. My poor Eli, the human sticker book:

And then there is the issue of food.  A few times on my way to work I've realized I forgot to make rice in the morning for Jude's lunch that day. And the sesame oil and soy sauce levels in the cooking pantry have barely dropped since Eli was born, because we've had to order out more than I'd like. My poor Kwang. Of course, he never complains... but this is probably because take-out tastes better than most of my home cooking, but that's really beside the point. And then there are the times I think I have more hands than I do and feel the sudden need to prove my multi-tasking capabilities. In a brief moment of insanity I wonder why I can't prepare Jude's dinner, throw in a load of laundry (seriously, why is there so much laundry?), watch my recorded Oprah, and hold Eli simultaneously without having something go terribly wrong. One day Eli is going to turn to me and in baby talk lovingly remind me that such dim-witted idiocy is my own pet peeve.

So since I've had Eli and returned to work, I still haven't gotten the mothering thing down quite yet. But I'm learning to better organize my time and do things on a more reasonable schedule. Of the two "careers" I have, the one at home is far more rewarding and fuels me for the one at the office. The two things I thank God for every morning are my salvation and my family. And if I think about it, when it comes to smothering the boys with hugs, snuggling with them and a good book, singing them a song albeit slightly off key, or kissing them until they literally have to peel me off, well, I think I just might be the most fantastic mom!

Having said that, we now return to our regularly scheduled shameless adoration.

This past weekend we took a trip to Legoland where kids under three are free! Jude had a blast. And we had even more fun watching him. Can you believe the mini New York below is made entirely of Legos?

  

Eli spent the majority of the day looking up at the sky from his stroller. But he seemed to have the time of his life as well.

Finally, as we were leaving Jude ran into three of his great friends, Dora, Boots the Monkey, and Diego. Their contribution to Jude's education has been to teach him how to count from 1 to 10 in Spanish... uno, dos, tres, cop-to, cinq-to...

 

 

Here he is with Diego saying "Goodbye Legoland! I had a fantastic time!"