snapshots

We had another busy weekend. I have to laugh that Justin is beyond exhausted at the end of every Saturday and Sunday with the kids. He juggles the girls, going to the gym, family outings, dinner, bedtime, date night or adult movie night at home (HA! I meant grown-up movie night like Inception over Toy Story 3). Days at home with the family require more physical stamina than his days in the office. Sunday he even took the kids to the park for an hour so I could do our taxes (thank you Turbotax and thank you sweet house that is our rental property right now). Justin is an awesome Dad and husband to put up with me, our two girls, a female dog, and our helper on a daily basis. That's a lot of estrogen to deal with.The girls are busy and cute as ever. Adelaide soared through another ballet class on Sunday. I caught her shrugging off another little girl who was tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention while teacher Alice was talking. She's so focused it's crazy. Luckily I caught her smiling and giggling along with the other girls too. As long as she gives me a big long tight hug before class to "squeeze the nerves out" she's fine.

Right now the world is her make believe oyster. Her imaginary games and worlds are amazingly detailed and layered. One minute I'm the queen with a thorn in my kitty paw, the next I'm the doctor checking her newborn baby's ears for fever. I love this stage where anything and everything can be a play thing.

Addie's extremely perceptive. She's always asking questions and making clever arguments about why things should be the way she wants them. We think she might make a good lawyer with all the rationalizing she does with us. It cracks me

Arabella is one clever little girl. She has tried to tick us out of giving her a bath at night by claiming she has to pee so she'll get taken out of the water and on the potty. The other night she upped her game by asking to brush her teeth while on the pot and then saying "night night" after done brushing. I guess she was hoping we didn't notice she still needed to be bathed. Our little Bean is so happy for the most part but still throws monumental tantrums. The worst are in the elevator as we hit our floor and she refuses to stand up; I'm holding the elevator doors, willing her to stand. It's insane.She's entirely obsessed with airplanes still. So much so that at dinner last night out for pizza she asked over and over for an airplane to play with (which I had forgotten at home). Justin knew we wouldn't get peace to eat until he took her upstairs to the Toy's R Us and bought a Matchbox car airplane. After their little errand, she gobbled down her meal while flying her little metal 747 in the air. Airplanes are the end all be all for this girl right now.

Arabella's discovered her elbows and that she can hold up her two fingers and count "1, 2". She's pretty remarkable. The countdown to leave Manila has begun. Justin and I are longing for the United States right now. Four months feels like a long wait now that the things about this country that used to be mildly annoying are now monumentally maddening. It might be best if we hole ourselves up in our condo for the next few months so we don't blow our top on some unassuming stranger who's just being completely Filipino. My husband quoted me on Facebook the other day after saying "every third person I see, I want to punch." We were at the park and a million things were bugging me; the Filipino shuffle on the sidewalks, the fried Bangus smell in the market, the squashed cockroaches under my feet, etc. It wasn't one of my finest moments.

12 more weeks.