And she's back!

Hey to everyone out there who has been waiting on pins and needles for my return to blogland...

I'm baaaaaack!

Ok, not so exciting. But here I am anyway.

I am now the seasoned mother of two. I have thankfully passed through the valley of the shadow that is early life with newborn/two children, and think I might survive this crazy experiment after all. Folks, I think we are finally hitting our stride.

For anyone out there who hasn't done it, or for those of you with older kiddos who don't remember...

IT. IS. HARD.

Man. It has been a roller coaster. But there is definitely an advantage to having done all this once before. I'm so much more laid back about, well, everything, then I was with Cameron. Caleb is the easy one...all he does is eat, sleep, and sit around in his bouncy seat. Cameron, sweet boy that he is, is definitely the challenge. I mean, come on, the kid is 2 1/2 years old. It is a daily struggle with his demands, frustrations, and boundary testing. But he's also hilarious! No kidding...this kid is funny.

Anyhoo...that's a brief overview of life around Casa Clem. More to come, now that I'm back in the land of the living and getting regular sleep.

If you're a cutie and you know it, raise your hand!

Sweet Caleb
(Ignore Daddy's legs in the background)

Is this wrong?

We have been running around like crazy people trying to get prepped for D-Day on Friday. Last minute home projects, baby gear to pick up, groceries to buy, meals to plan, etc., etc. Frankly, it's all rather exhausting.

Here's the screwy part. I'm actually looking forward to Friday. Sure, the having a baby part...but what I'm really looking forward to? Four days and nights with no responsibilities. No meals to plan or cook. No groceries to buy. No toddler (sweet and precious though he may be) to entertain. No dishes to do. No laundry to fold. Nothing but hanging out in bed for four days. Now, granted, I have to have abdominal surgery to get this great vacation. And then I have to go home and try to survive life with a newborn. But right now, I'm just looking forward to 4 relatively easy days in the hospital.

I know...it's kind of sick. But there you go.

Happy Holiday?

Why do we insist on terrorizing our children at the holidays? Why do we think our tiny 2-year-old is going to want to go anywhere near a 6-foot rabbit? I mean, I don't even want to go near a 6-foot rabbit. And Christmas? Think enormous bearded stranger wearing fire-engine-red from head to toe loudly exclaiming, "Ho Ho Ho!!" It seems as though the photo of your precious punkin' sitting on Santa's knee screaming and crying is a childhood rite of passage. And don't even get me started on clowns.

We had a big Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, which Cameron loved...well, minus the run-in with the Easter Bunny.

Here are the boys headed to the Easter Egg Hunt.

Looking too cute.

Mmmm...chocolate!

And here is Cameron's meeting with the Easter Bunny.

Not happy.

I can't blame him. That thing is a bit frightening.

And in case you're curious, here's me at 38+ weeks.

As if I weren't busy enough...

I have such high hopes for my blog, and then fail so miserably at staying on top of it. It's embarrassing, I know. Oh well...no one's reading it anyway.

We are having a baby in 10 days. We don't know what kind of baby...we love a good surprise. Some days, like today, I'm not sure I'll make it until the 26th. Some days, like today, I hope I don't make it until the 26th. However, I also know that about 3 days into mothering a newborn I will wish that little troublemaker were back inside where they were a whole lot less trouble.

While I'm looking forward to meeting the little munckhin, I'm not sure I'm ready for the reality of Life With Two Kids. I know, whine whine. People do it all the time. I'll admit it...I'm a wimp. And I'm really lousy at being tired. Just ask my son, he'll tell you. Mommy is impatient, short tempered, irritable, cranky, moody and generally no fun when she hasn't had much sleep. My poor sweet son is going to have a rough few months dealing with a new little spotlight-stealer and a mommy straight out of Night of the Living Dead. Good times.

Other then that, we've been finishing home projects, surviving major snow storms, dealing with days of power outages, going to ultrasounds, and waiting for spring to finally arrive...which happened this week. There's just something about a day over 60 degrees that makes you believe you can survive anything. Let's hope that's true...

Anyway, the Clems 3 become the Clems 4 in 10 days or less. I'll post details for the brave remnant who still check my blog on rare occasions. Hopefully your faithfulness will be rewarded.

Happy Spring!

Seriously?

Last night, Kevin and I were sitting at home, mostly watching the Fiesta Bowl, when Kevin comes across this "interesting" show on the guide. It's called "Conveyor Belt of Love." Just stop, and say that again to yourself..."Conveyor Belt of Love." People, we have reached a new all-time low in our society when shows like "Conveyor Belt of Love" are not only pitched to networks with serious intent, but some network executive somewhere says, "Hey, that sounds like a good idea."

Here's the premise, to save you from being sucked into the inanity if you happen to see it on your TV - that's assuming it endures past the initial episode. 5 women form a panel and have signs that say "Interested" and "Not Interested". Then, one by one, 30 men roll through on, yes, you guessed it...a conveyor belt. They then have to do or say anything they think will catch the attention of one of these women. These guys were doing everything -- reciting bad original poetry; serenading the women on a ukulele; performing lame magic tricks or Sean Connery impersonations; doing yoga poses. One guy had nunchucks. Another guy, who was actually picked, rolled through in a speedo cradling his dog, who's name during the day is Princess and at night is Rambo...the dog, that is, not the guy in the speedo.

And we watched it.

We spent 60 minutes of our all-too-short time on this earth watching - say it with me - "Conveyor Belt of Love". After having a wonderful conversation over the weekend about our family New Year's resolutions, and the things we want to do as a family to bring us closer to one another and to God, we then spent a slow Monday night watching mind-numbing, intelligence-sucking reality TV crapola. I am dumber for it.