Creativity

As a parent, I was told not to give my kids toy guns to play with. I obeyed the "powers that be" and sat back and watched while my kids made guns from straws and paper. And I watched while they scoured the woods for the perfect stick that looked just like a gun. :) So when those people say that my kids shouldn't play with "violent" toys, I laugh because I know that if a straw can be a gun, then anything can be violent.

For example, a week or two ago, all of the stuffed animals in Jacob and Cole's room apparently decided that they were going to commit suicide. The only way to save them was if Reid could catch them as they flung themselves to their doom. Reid was a valiant hero and saved many a stuffed animal.

So when I downloaded the pictures off my camera to bless the world with cute Kira pictures, I wasn't terribly surprised to see the following images come up on the screen. I suppose you could say that these Lego Bionicles are violent by design, but I still enjoy the creativity that is being expressed by posing them and taking the pictures.

I don't know how he's going to get out of that one!

Not That One

The counter offer on the house was just too high. We could potentially afford it, but I would prefer to have a little extra room in our budget, so we'll look for something else.

Possible New Home

So we put an offer on a house today. Kind of scary.

The house is really nice and super huge. Kind of embarrassing. :) But it will be a good deal if we get it at our offering price, so we're hopeful.

Here is a link to the listing of the house. There's an "Add'l Photos" button on that site to see pictures. If we get the house, you are all required to come visit. There will be plenty of room!

Taxes in the area are pretty high, but there's no state income tax, so it all works out to be pretty equal to things in North Carolina.

We should know about our offer within a few days and I'll post an update then.

Sorting Socks

♪Which one of these is not like the other ones?

Which one of these just doesn't belong?♪

It is SO fun to have a little baby in the house. Especially a little GIRL baby! She provides such a contrast to her big brothers.

On the Brink

Kira is SOOOO close to rolling over. I got some pictures of her in the process of trying her hardest.

First she rolls on her side. She can do this quite easily.

Then she starts turning her head down into the floor.

She scrunches up.

And turns her head more and tries SO hard for about a second or two. Wow... you're just sure that she's going to be able to do it! She works so hard!

And after trying over and over and over again, she rotates herself around on the blanket. She is about 180 degrees rotated in this picture from when I laid her down. Funny baby!

Dreams

So I believe in dreams. I've had many dreams that were more than random things. I had one dream that allowed me to put an emotional issue in my life behind me. And another dream that basically told me that I would one day have a daughter. And yet another that steered me away from a potentially bad situation. I appreciate my dreams, so I pay attention to them when I remember them.

Don't get me wrong... it's not as if the universe passes wisdom along to me each and every night. I have my share of crazy, nonsensical dreams. And lots of recurring "nightmare" type things, too.

Like the one where I'm sitting on a toilet that's in the middle of a room and there's no walls around me. I have to try to figure out how to get up without showing everyone my booty. :)

There's this one cool one where I can kind of fly. Float, actually. I can jump off high houses or trees and I'll just sort of float down to the ground. I love that.

One that's not so pleasant is that in my dreams I can't run and I can't hit people. I try to fight in my dreams and it's just impossible. I can't remember who I'm running from or who I'm fighting for the most part, but it's very frustrating that I can't do either.

And lately, I've begun to have dreams in which I am really, really angry. Like the other night, I dreamed I was driving down a hill and there was this flock of guineas. (There is a flock of guineas that roams the streets a couple of blocks from here... and there's even a "Guinea Crossing" sign that someone put up in their yard.) So, I see the flock of guineas and get all vindictive and step on the gas and try to run over a couple of them.

A good friend of mine says that me not being able to run or hit in my dreams signifies that I feel like I can't do what I want to in life. Well, who can, really? I think I enjoy my life, but it is true that I can't do what I want. I mean, who wants to do laundry and dishes every day? But I love my kids a ton, so I'm happy. So what does the guinea killing spree represent? That I'm a serial killer at heart? :) Actually. I really appreciate these dreams. I think they are releasing stress that I'm feeling during the day. And yet doing it in such absurd ways, that I can kind of laugh at it when I wake up. And I wish I could say that there's not much stress in my life right now, but that would be completely untrue. I'm glad to have Kira and I know that coming to Austin was the right thing to do, but it takes very little these days to cause me to totally stress out. I'm glad that my dreams are there to help me out. I really did feel better after trying to attack the guineas. :)

What it must be like...

I have begun wondering what it must be like to be Kira. A little baby girl born into a family with a bunch of really big boys. She is really lucky, I can tell you that. And sometimes that luck rubs off on me. On Sunday night, we were watching a movie. I can't remember what now, but here's the picture of us on the couch. Notice the little head barely peeking out of the blanket in Reid's arms.


Kira fell asleep while Reid was carrying her around the house. So he sat down with her on his lap and she napped like that for close to two hours. I enjoyed lounging on the couch while our movie was playing. It's nice to have an older kid who so clearly loves this new baby. I can't imagine what it will be like for Kira to grow up in this environment, but I know I like seeing the older boys fall in love with their baby sister. (And I certainly don't mind having people around to help take care of the baby.)