That's What Little Boys Are Made Of...

My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby any moment. Literally! We've been waiting with baited breath since yesterday because it seems as though my sister in-law is in early labor, and every fiber of my being just wants to hop into our van and drive the four hours to be with them RIGHT NOW as they welcome this precious little soul into the world.   I'm going to be only slightly less annoying, however - and just blog about how emotional I get about the people that I love having little people of their own to love.  Because I know that won't annoy my brother AT ALL.

I can't quite believe that my little brother is going to be a father.   A part of me still expects all this new baby-ness to be one of his legendary practical jokes (like the time he told me that he backed my parent's car into a lawnmower just after I actually DID back their car into a lawnmower.  I was SO FREAKED OUT that there were evil lawnmowers lurking behind every bush and boulevard ready to jump out and bash themselves into us - all while he laughed himself to tears every time I drove anywhere - for DAYS.  Not that I'm an easy target or anything....).  But, I've seen the evidence firsthand - in the form of my unfairly gorgeous and glowing sister in-law - and all signs are pointing to BABY! 

Mansoor and Nadia's baby boy is already so loved, by so many of us - at our house, Inara has already been telling everyone she meets that, "I have a sister named Issie and a baby brother and his name is Ameer and he is coming really SOON!" - at which well-meaning and ignorant strangers look down at my belly and say, "Oh! You're expecting again!  And so soon!"

And that's when I regret eating that Post-Day-From-Hades bowl of ice cream after my little cherubs have gone to bed.  Again.

Ahem. I digress.

Right. So apart from the fact that Inara is clearly over her little sister and is now yearning for a little boy counterpart (to which I say I AM NOT READY TO DO THIS AGAIN. Yet. Ever. Probably. Maybe.  Oh but babies smell so good....Ack!  I must remember the sleeplessness and the non-stop fighting and the needing and wanting....and oh, the smell...the squishy cuddles....and, oh crud...I...just...can't....resist....) - we're all eagerly anticipating Baby Ameer's arrival.  I'm personally looking forward to being the Aunt that buys him cute clothes, keeps him up late, and sneaks him unhealthy treats.  So basically the things that Mansoor and Nadia have been doing with my kids for years.  DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE, GUYS.

So, hurry up and come on out, sweet baby!  We can't wait to meet you - and your mama REALLY wants to get some sleep!

Ameer, my little prince, I am so looking forward to gazing at your genetically-blessed face and marveling at your amazing metabolism (which you surely will not have inherited from me!).  I know that you and I are going to have so much fun together in the years to come. I can't wait to tell you about the time your daddy ate dirt, or snuck out of the house or the many times that he stood up for me and protected me, his big sister, when nobody else would.  I love him, and your mommy, and YOU more than words will ever be able to express.

Sweet little lovely boy, you've already melted my heart and you're barely even here.

Look Out World...

It's been a pretty huge week for us at the VeniVidiHousehold.  We had back to back birthdays last weekend - on Saturday Inara turned the big 0-4, and then on Sunday I turned...yeah, I'm not telling you how old I turned. It's far too depressing.

Ahem.

And now this!  This, my friends, this is HUGE.  Talk about icing on the cake...and talk about a big week for our family.

Before you get all your skivvies in a knot, let me just preface this by saying that I AM NOT PREGNANT. So let's just nip that in the bud right there.

And yes, I am totally screaming like a middle-aged mom at the latest Twilight movie premiere.  Not that I'm a fan of Edward (Go Team Jacob!) or anything.

Ahem.

Check it out!  THIS IS HUGE!!!  I personally think the ending is the best...

Wanted: Stylish, Sleep-Inducing Window Coverings

One of the first things that attracted us to this old house was the windows.  The house may be on the smaller side of life, but it is brightbrightbright, because of the numerous and very large windows scattered throughout our home.  Now, however, what started out as a beautiful and attractive feature is quickly becoming a pain in my backside, and something needs to be done - fast.

The problem becomes complicated by the fact that I don't really want to do anything with the windows, and mostly I'd just like to leave them the way they are, showing off their beautiful trim and crown moulding.  Check it out...so pretty, no? 

 The window at the top of the stairs.  So dreamy...until you see the parking lot right outside.

However, I also don't want to look into my neighbor's kitchen when I come out of the bathroom, you know what I mean?  Right now there are really, really not-so-pretty plastic blinds on the bedroom windows, and I'd like them to be gone, like yesterday.  It sounds like it should be a relatively easy task to take out the blinds and replace them with something modern and stylish, like a printed roman or inside-mounted roller shade - but again, it's a little more complicated than that.

That little complication comes in the form of two angelic cherubs who, given the opportunity, will wake up at the bumcrack of dawn if even so much as a sliver of light enters their room, at the right angle, at the EXACT WRONG time.  In our house, bedtime is a complicated ritual that involves bizzare light-eliminating acts from every single nook, cranny, crevice, gap, and crack...everywhere.  We basically walk around smoothing down every bumpy surface around the windows and doors, and then cross our hearts and hope to die, stick a needle in our eye and pray to the heavens above to not be woken up at 5am by two little people who don't NEED TO SLEEP IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.  They freak me out, man. Especially when they're staring at me with their wide, non-sleepy eyes and their heavy, non-sleepy breath and saying, "Mama!  MAMA!  Look...I can see the light! The light...the light...I must go towards the light....."

Okay, maybe they don't say that last part, but the fact is that my kids have an uncanny knack of sensing daylight and it must be constantly quenched in order for me to function like a marginally normal, occasionally-twitching human being. 

Enter my design dilemma:  Do there exist pretty shades that a) show off my GORGEOUS window casing, and b) keep bedrooms so dark that you can't see your own hand in front of your face?

Yousuf thinks that we should go with cellular shades...but honestly, I find them to be a bit boo-ooring.  But, I think I could learn to live with them if they really are all that and a can of beans at keeping out light.  I need your advice, oh wise and sage internet readers!  What's a sleep-deprived, yet style-hungry mama to do???

Lazy Summer...

Look, I know I haven't been around lately.  To be honest, I have about 10 posts that I've started and for one reason or another, just never gotten around to finishing up.  The truth is, we've been enjoying the heck out of this summer.  Sure, we moved, we unpacked, we're settling in - and all that stuff does take time, but there's also something else.  And that is that we're ENJOYING OUR REAL LIFE!  Shocking, I know. 

We're still not getting a lot of sleep, and there is still so much to be done to this old house, but our little family of four is having a fantastic summer.  We've only had a couple of setbacks - the biggest one was that my bike got stolen last week (which apparently is an unfortunate side-effect of city living, I'm told).  However, the good news is that it wasn't worth a lot of money, and now we know not to leave our bikes out back.  I think more than the loss of my bike was the fact that some jackwipe came ONTO our property just for an old bike.  The world really is full of crazies, I tell ya. 

Here's a few shots of what we've been up to.  I hope you won't mind my laid-back and lazy summer style of blogging over the next few weeks.  There is just so much to sunshine to soak up and lots of lemonade to sit back and sip. 

And you know what? I'm loving every second of it.

One Month Later...

Sweet internets, how I have missed thee!

Okay, enough with the small talk - let's get down to business, shall we?  It's been almost a month, A MONTH since I last blogged.  A grave and serious oversight in thebloggyverse, I am told.  I'm actually surprised that there are still people out there that are reading my little blog...and to those of you who stuck around - I LOVE YOU MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF.  I hope to neverevernever leave for that long again (which means that Yousuf has to promise that we will neverevernever move as long as we live - even the very thought of moving again is sending me into premature spazms of anxiety)!

Aside from the thrilling tale that accompanies a move with two adorable-yet-slightly-insane children who are so intent on self-destruction that one must magically grow two new sets of arms and five new sets of eyeballs to keep them from slicing themselves open with box cutters, suffocating on plastic bubble wrap, and my personal favorite - pooping bits of cardboard (Nissa clearly will eat anything.  Including boxes), there's the whole OTHER story about how extremely odd and fantastic our new and very old 110 year-old house is  (And holyhorsefish was that longest run-on sentence ever, or what?!?  Clearly I am very rusty at this blogging thing - you know, having been GONE for a month and all that.  Not that I'm drawing your attention to my gross negligence or anything).

I love our new old house.  It's kind of like Alice In Wonderland meets the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  There are all these tilted doorways and nooks and crannies and switches connected to nothing, except that I secretly believe that they ARE connected to things that we just can't see or maybe we don't know the effects until way later. You know, like that saying about the butterfly flapping it's wings in one part of the world thereby causing a tornado somewhere else.  So whenever Yousuf goes to flip a switch I'm all paranoid and like "Oh my GAWD!  DON'T DO IT!  THOSE POOR PEOPLE CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE!!!", and then Yousuf thinks I need more sleep or medication or to be checked into a psychiatric facility, which is probably all true but that's not the point now, is it? 

Sleep.  How I miss sleep.  That's another big change in our lives since the last time you and I spoke, interweb.  I have to preface this by saying that I am incredibly lucky to have a husband that will suffer the effects of sleeplessness right by my side.  Mostly that's because there is a little person in our room at night by the name of Nissa who WILL NOT SLEEP ANYMORE and usually if I snuggle her she'll fall back asleep eventually, but after she's had her midnight milk fix and a cuddle and she is still babbling about goodness knows what, well then it's time to call in the Big Guns.  Meaning,Yousuf sits up with her and I pass out.  For about an hour, until he's too tired to cope and she comes into bed with us and basically crawls around on top of our faces and pinches our arms and laughs at us while we grunt incoherently and go: "This is just a phase.  This is just a phase.  Oh please, merciful Lord above, let this be just a flipping PHASE."

I seriously have never met another baby who has such stamina for insomnia, and is NEVER in a bad mood about it the next day.  No baby hangover, no crabbiness, no nothing.  Just a happy go-lucky not-sleeping little chubface baby who looks at you, gurgles and then smiles while signing I Love You and then you pretend that last night never happened, like you're in a bad relationship and you just keep going back for more abuse. Because it's just a phase, right?!?!?  It has to be.

So between the not-sleeping and the figuring out how to not cause major weather catastrophes I'd say we're settling down pretty nicely.  There is so much to see and do in our new neighborhood and we have the most fantastic group of neighbors.  I am loving it here and can't wait to share more about our recent adventures. Stay tuned!

Oh, how I missed blogging!

(The side effects of baby insomnia may include bizarre mealtime behavior)