And baby makes 6

2012-01-10T11:49:00.000-05:00

Because I am chronically late for everything, I waited till a week into the year before deciding what my resolutions are. I don't really have many but the ones I have are important to me so here they are:
**By the way, I'm sorry that my return to blogging has startedwith a bunch of lists that are not important to anyone but me. I'm rethinking what I'll blog about since Ace and Hayley are getting older. My main purpose in keeping a blog is so at some point the kids can go back and read it and now that they are older I feel like they should be the ones to decide what stories to tell. I'm trying to work out a way to still share my memories and moments without stealing theirs, if that makes sense. So, for now, my writing is pretty blah. Sorry.

1. Travel. I want to see at least 3 new places this year or revisit old places that the kids haven't seen or don't remember. (Washington DC and Savannah are the top of my list). Since Andy is focusing more on home improvement projects, this may be tricky but I'm determined to make it happen. It may include some camping which is so out of my comfort zone.

2. Embrace my homebody-ness. Besides the traveling, I'd like to stop wasting my time on errands and pointless activities just to fill time and instead, enjoy time at home. It is the last year that Julia will be home most days with me and I don't want to spend it shuttling her to the the grocery store three times a week. I've found that my favorite moments with the kids are the unscheduled times. Like doing a puzzle with Ace, watching the girls create a city with their figurines, reading with Hayley on one side of the couch and me on the other. I love those times and want more of them.

3. Grow our own vegetables. More Andy's goal than mine, we are trying our hand at gardening and hoping that it leads to healthier eating. I'll update that in the Spring.

4. Give Hayley more respect/responsiblity. She will be 10 in March and she is capable of so much, sometimes I feel like I hold her back by my parenting (smothering?) style. For example, if I'm going to bug her about getting dressed on time, I need to respect her enough to let her pick out her own outfits. Some things I'm still on the fence about whether she is ready. Fixing her own snacks in the microwave? Choosing her own bedtime? Walking the dog? I feel like I missed the chart where it tells you when it's time to let go and let your kids do these things. I tend to "baby" my kids a wee bit (I did spoon feed Julia her soup for a half hour yesterday which may have been bit extreme even for me) and I know Hayley is responsible and mature so, I've got to let go at least a little.

2011

2012-01-09T23:32:00.000-05:00

Before I throw out last year's calender, here are some memorable times from 2011 (note that I didn't actually buy a calender until mid February so I may be forgetting some from January and early Feb, that's what I get for procrastinating)
January: Julia turns 4, we take her out to the movies and her favorite resturaunt to celebrate. Ace starts Ice skating lessons, Hayley starts basketball.

February: Ace turns 6, we go to Friendly's for dinner and he later has a small party with his buddies.

March: Andy turns 39, Hayley marches in the St. Patrick's day parade, we celebrate her 9th birthday a week early with a trip to Boston to go the the American girl doll store and the cheesecake factory. We spend a week in E. City, househunting. Our first offer on a house is turned down but our second is accepted and we begin the process of buying our second home. Hayley has another small party to celebrate her birthday.

April: Hayley is in the robotics club at school, she "graduates" to being a Junior girl scout, Ace performs in the ice skating "Night of a Thousand Stars"

May: My last Mother's day tea at Julia (previously Ace's) preschool, we start to prepare for our move and finalize our house.

June: My mom, dad, Julia, and I travel to upstate NY for a wedding, we close on our house, Ace finishes kindergarten, Hayley graduates from 3rd grade (her previous school was k-3). We say goodbye to dear friends over dinner at our favorite pizza place, pack up our essentials, our family of 6 and 2 dogs and head down south to our new home.

July: We move into our new home, celebrate the fourth of July with a trip to the Outer Banks, I turn 33, we buy a small pool and spend the rest of the month in it to adjust to the heat. My sister visits and we get to meet my nephew for the first time, the kids and I spend a week at my parents house.

August: More adjusting to our new home, Andy starts his new job, my sister and niece visit and we go to the beach again, Hayley starts 4th grade, Ace starts 1st.

September: Julia and Lucy start preschool, Lucy turns 3 and we have a party with lots of new friends and (not new) family.

October: Julia goes on her first field trip to a fire safety show, we go to the pumpkin patch with their preschool, Ace stays overnight at an aquarium with his Cub scout troop, we go to the state fair with my sister, niece, and parents. We go trick or treating in our neighborhood with friends.

November: Hayley, Julia, and I go see a local theater group perform "Annie", We go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving and while there, we go to my 15 year high school reunion, my Aunt and uncle visit.

December: Ace is in the Christmas parade on a float with the boyscouts, Julia and Lucy are in a Christmas program at preschool, Hayley is in a concert at her school, Ace gets his bobcat badge at Cubscouts, my parents visit to see the concerts and boy scout ceremony. My sister and niece visit for Christmas, we throw a Christmas Eve open house, my parents come for Christmas dinner. We have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Five

2012-01-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

Julia is FIVE today. She is excited because five year olds take showers, not baths. Five year olds ride in the backseat of the van. Five year olds use phrases like "Seriously, guys?" and "Okay, okay, this is getting crazy".
Five year olds even, ready for this? Go...to... KINDERGARTEN!
She is excited about presents, she keeps asking me if there are any wuggle pets in the wrapped packages by the couch. I say I don't know, we'll have to wait and see and be surprised. She says let's open them now and be surprised now. But we are patient because five year olds and their mommies are well known for their patience.
I catch her eyes and she curls up next to me in the morning (because one thing five year olds do not do quite yet is sleep all night in their own beds) and I remember one morning when she had a stomach bug. I was very pregnant with Lucy and I knew this would be one of the last mornings that Julia would be my smallest baby so, even though I was sad to see her sick, I was savoring this moment of cuddling her close and rocking her. I felt that way again this morning. I know soon she will be sleeping all night in her bed and we won't have that many more mornings of cuddling up while Lucy sleeps and the big kids are already in school. Soon she will be at school too. But this morning, I got a few precious minutes.
She still has never had a big big birthday party. I thought about it this year but at our Christmas Eve party I watched her sit at the snack table, a little nervous and overwhelmed by all the people. And on New Years at a friend's house she sat on the couch with her other quiet, introvert friend and they put on headphones and watched the DS together, silently but happily. I thought, no, not this year. I want to honor who she is and acknowledge what makes her comfortable and what does not. I want to make her happy. So we had a family party, with a pink cake made by my mom. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sara, and cousin Naomi were our guests. It was a perfect day.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Julia. I love you just as you are and I always will.

Well, this is awkward.

2011-12-23T13:42:00.002-05:00

Yes, I broke up with my blog for while. I was drawn away by the flash and glamour of Facebook and Pinterest and blogging just seemed to have lost it's spark. So I left to pursue my dreams of making every nutella recipe Pinterest had to offer and reconnecting with my third grade music teacher over witty status updates and shared "likes". Since I'm the only one who reads my own babbling it didn't seem important to keep up here but I missed the old blog, and here I am, seeing the error of my ways and crawling back. I was reading through the archives to find a Christmas quote I like and found myself reading my entries from the fall/winter of 2008. Ace was in his unpredictable, tantrum-y stage, I was still counting Lucy's age in weeks, Julia was in diapers, and Hayley had just begun school. I have pictures and memories from those days but seeing in words what our days were like is something worth keeping up with. Because the time, it flies.
We are getting the house ready for my sister's visit and for our other Christmas activities. Lucy is going bonkers. Sara is her "dinosaur mommy" and all around favorite person. One of her favorite games is to have me pretend to be Sara so she can live out her dream of having Sara as a mommy. The rejection stings a little but Sara is pretty awesome so I get it.
Julia is going about twice as nuts as the other kids because she is also excited about her birthday after Christmas. Last year she called us out on the lack of presents on her birthday (we ended up giving her some of her b-day presents on Christmas because we are awful about waiting) so she only had one gift from us. This year I'm doing my shopping for her after Christmas so I'm not tempted to do the same this year.
She will be 5, which is unbelievable to me. One more semester at preschool and we will be sending her off to kindergarten. Un. Believable.
I hope everyone is feeling the peace, joy and love of the season. If you have a little bit of all of those things in your life, you can stop shopping, you have the only gifts you'll ever need.

October

2011-10-17T15:35:00.000-04:00

I was worried that when we moved to a small town we would have fewer opportunities to do fun things with the kids but October has set out to prove me very wrong. Every week our calender is full of great Fall activities and each of the kids (except our poor perpetually Left Out Lucy) has a special activity just for them. I love it, Andy is exhasted, and the kids are now going to expect every month to be as jam packed as this one.
Here's a peek at what we've done and what we have planned.

Last week Julia went to a fire safety program put on by the local firefighters. It would have been perfect for Ace but his class didn't have a bus so they had to cancel their trip. That turned out okay because it was Julia's first field trip so it got to be all about her. Also, I got a glimpse into her preschool world and was happy to see that she has made a lot of sweet friends and her teachers are as awesome as I've heard they are.

Saturday we went to a birthday party at a small hands-on science museum downtown. Everyone had fun (even if Hayley refused to smile the entire time)

Sunday was military appreciation day at the zoo so we got to go for free. With a family of 6 to pay admission for, we will happily battle the crowds if it means saving all that money so we were there bright and early (which means 10:30 for us). We spent 5 hours seeing every animal, keeping all the kids happy with snacks and drinks and lifting up child after child so they could get a better view of the animals. Then we missed the last train ride of the day because we had to go get tokens and were not in line in time. That means that the previous 5 hours were instantly forgotten and all they will remember from our trip to the zoo is that we missed the train. But, I have pictures. See, they were happy, it was fun!

Hayley had a field trip today to learn about the Civil War. I'm not sure what she learned but I did hear every detail about the bus ride, the picnic lunch, and that she learned how to play MASH on the way home.

Ace is going to "sleep with the sharks" at the aquarium with his scout troop and his dad on Friday and Saturday we are packing up and heading to my hometown for the State Fair. I've been looking forward to that for the entire month so I hope the kids love it as much as I did!

Lucy Claire, 3

2011-09-22T20:25:00.001-04:00

I thought today would be hard. I thought I would feel sad and lost because my baby is not a baby anymore. She is the Big 3. The age of wonder and discovery and (let's hope) potty training. But instead of feeling sad I have worn a smile all day. Because if there is anything at all that could be better than knowing Lucy, the baby, it is knowing Lucy, the big girl. She is something to behold, let me tell you. Clever and silly. Stubborn and bold. Funny and thoughtful. Even as the youngest of four children, she finds her own way in the world. She has her own unique personality and the strongest will of any three year old I know.

She is our baby, our wild card and she is so, so loved. Today on her birthday and EVERY day.

New

2011-09-02T13:48:00.003-04:00

We are trying some new things this school year, some of them are successful. Some, not so much.

1. THE BUS. Back in Ma. we lived only 2 miles from the school so it was easier for me to pick up and drop off rather than buy both kids a bus pass (which was over 100 dollars if you lived within 2 miles). This year, we are a little further away and the bus is free so we decided to give it a whirl. It was all Ace could talk about for weeks before school even started and he was so p'oed that I drove him and picked him up on the first day. So starting the second day, they were on the bus in the afternoon. And now, even though it comes at the unimaginable hour of 6:15, they insist on riding in the morning too. I have to say, not having to get all 4 up and dressed just for a 10 minute drive to and from school and not having to stop what we are doing every afternoon to go sit in a carpool lane for 45 minutes has made my life easier. And the kids are so flippin proud to ride the bus, it makes my heart melt when I see them climb on that big bus everyday. The added bonus is that they get two breakfasts. They eat here at 6 am but since the bell for classes to start isn't until close to 8 I send them with money for a school breakfast as well. The first day they got a honey bun. I think that is one reason Ace is such a committed bus rider, he'll do anything for a honey bun.

2. NAPS. The jury is still out on whether we will stick with the new enforced nap time for the little girls. They get to sleep in as long as they want now that the bus comes for the big kids and they still have to go to bed early so it isn't really necessary. Lucy was becoming a huge tyrant from about 4pm until bedtime and we realized that if we let her throw a tantrum to it's end, she would inevitably end up asleep (once face down on the floor of the playroom, it looked like she was planking). So I tried a nap one day and she was in such a great mood after that I thought it would be good idea to do this everyday. My decision had nothing to do with the fact that I got to read 3 chapters of my book uninterrupted and eat a kit kat without sharing, of course. Some days it goes well, some days I spend an hour yelling at them to get back in bed before giving up and throwing a tantrum of my own.

3. Meal planning: This isn't so new, I've been trying to get organized for years and I have found some strategies that work. Now I'm just working on getting more organized with what I buy so that I don't have to go back to the store more than once a week. I try at least one new recipe a week and also try to make at least one meal that we can have leftovers from (this is hard with 6 people, even my biggest casseroles usually only have enough leftovers for 2 or 3 lunches).
Each day has a "theme" so I have some idea of what I want to cook before I make my shopping list. Here's our basic list:

Crockpot Sundays: I find that Sunday is worst evening for cooking because we have to get everything else ready for the week and try to get the kids back to bed early. The crockpot also means a few more lazy hours in the afternoon. My fave crockpot meals are: chili, pot roast, pork carnitas, and beef stew. I also signed up for a recipe exchange on Facebook for new ideas.

Meatless Mondays: Mondays are a common grocery shopping day for me and Saturdays we have the farmer's market so I usually have fresh vegetables. It is a good day to toss a big dinner salad (last week I topped it with leftover grilled steak so it wasn't really meatless at all). After a weekend that usually includes too much snacking and not the best food choices, it feels good to start the week off with something fresh and healthy.

Taco Tuesdays: We don't always have tacos but I love Mexican food so once a week is not too much for me. I also make quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas or the carnitas if we didn't have them Sunday. I the winter I love to make tortilla soup or black bean soup.

Wednesday: This is another day I try to fix something ahead of time. Any kind of casserole that I can make in the afternoon and then cook for an hour after school. This week we made a cheese and broccoli casserole from a recipe on the back of a pasta box. Next week I think I'll do a tuna noodle. Chicken pot pies are great too, and really easy if you use a store bought rotisserie chicken.

Thursday: No real plan for Thursdays, by this point in the week I usually need to head to the store for basics like milk and bread so it is a good day to look up a new recipe and get the ingredients. Yesterday we had Greek salad pitas from the food network website with some grapes and carrots. They were good and easy. Thursday we are already looking towards the weekend so I don't like to spend too much time in the kitchen.

Friday: Another easy day (actually that is kind of the theme of the whole week, "keep it simple") These are the best days for make your own pizzas, sloppy joes, spaghetti, etc. Spaghetti is a favorite any day here and perfect if the kids have friends over or we go out Friday afternoon and get home to late to fix anything big.

Saturdays: Something on the grill, take out, or a mix of whatever is leftover. Again, whatever is easiest. I don't mind cooking but I don't like to miss out on our weekend time together to fix something complicated.

Anyway, that is just what has been working for us lately. Or, two things that have been working. The nap seems to be a big fail today since Lucy has spent the whole time I've been typing sneaking out of her bed and trying to get to the twizzlers I hid in the pantry.

So far, so good

2011-08-30T09:57:00.000-04:00

School started last Thursday (for those keeping track, that is 2 days after the earthquake and 2 days before the hurricane, sheesh). I spent the week before wringing my hands and losing sleep over all the What-Ifs. What if they encounter a bully? What if they are scared? What if they miss their old school? If you've ever read Wemberly Worried, that is an accurate description of me the days before school started. The best description of Ace before school started was a friend's comment on my facebook: "Ace is all in, baby, all in!" He left the orientation giving complete strangers high fives and practically leaping into the car on the first day. Hayley was not so enthusiastic but she was happy to be going back and optimistic about making new friends. I asked them after the first day if it was a one thumb up day, a two thumb up day, or a thumbs down day and Hayley said "I wish I had three thumbs!" so I think it's safe to say they still have a positive attitude about school.
Next week Lucy and Julia start preschool and I will have 2 mornings a week all to myself. Whatever will I do with my freedom? Start a bookclub? Plant a garden? Plan and prepare elaborate meals? Watch marathons of My Redneck Wedding while eating handfuls of cereal straight out of the box? The possibilities are endless.
The girls are as ready for school as the big kids were. The day before school started we had a back to school party with cupcakes and candles and we went around the table telling what we wished most for the new school year. Lucy wished that she would "Not be mean all the time" and Julia pondered the question for a while before shrugging and saying "Just that it will be great and also awesome". My girls, they aim high.

2011-08-07T12:55:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago when I looked at the calender and realized that the kids would be starting school about two weeks earlier than usual, I told Andy I would not be ready when it was time for them to go back. We still had so much Summer to do. I was wrong. This past week has felt like an endless loop of whining, tantrums, complaining, and arguing. It was the first week that we weren't unpacking or traveling or babysitting and I thought I would appreciate the lull in activitiy. Again, I was wrong. With no plans, our living room quickly began to resemble the commercial for Planet of the Apes. You know, where the apes (my kids) are throwing cars and bellowing and the humans (me) are running scared.
So, yes, I am ready for school to begin. I think the big kids are too. But we also still have a lot of Summer. The brief moments when no one is losing their mind have been precious. We swim in our little backyard pool every afternoon. Lucy and Julia are getting braver and braver in the water everyday (which makes me more and more nervous). The pool is very shallow but it is wide enough that they can actually swim across it and float around. Lucy says we are mermaids together.
We also have daily concerts put on by Julia and Hayley, they dance and sing and I'm supposed to vote on who wins. They are surprised everytime by the two way tie.
Ace puts on Fire prevention presentations. He lists the important safety rules: 1. Don't swim in a storm. 2.If you want to set something on fire, call him, Firefighter Ace. 3. Don't smoke in bed. (he read this one in a children's book on fire prevention that was published in the early 70's and he wasn't quite sure how you would know if you were smoking in bed or not, we had to explain that one).

33

2011-07-24T12:58:00.000-04:00

We are beginning our fourth week in our new house in a new state and I'd say we are finally beginning to feel settled here and beginning a normal routine (well, normal for summertime, which allows for 10 pm bedtimes for the kids and popsicle lunches). I think the transition was so easy for me because NC was my home for 22 years, so coming back meant returning to the familiar. For the kids, it was a bit more of a shock. We did our best to make things as easy as possible for them and giving them what we felt was the right amount of information at the right times. They have known for months that we would be moving, they came with us househunting in March so they could see the area, we tried to find a lot of time to spend with thier friends in the days and weeks before we left Ma. It was hard to say goodbye to their home and they are still a little rattled by all the big changes but we have been so lucky to meet wonderful new friends already and they love the house so they have adjusted really well.
My sisters came to visit me last week and then we traveled together to my hometown for some more family time. It was so great to have all 7 cousins together and see how they all loved each other. Moving closer to family is definitely at the top of the list of the best things about moving to NC. It was the best birthday present ever!
Speaking of birthdays, I feel like I should have some reflections on turning 33. Not that it is a milestone birthday (although my dad did point out to me that I am now exactly half his age). 33 is significant for me because 23 was a very significant age for me. On my 23rd birthday my parents gave me a card that said "On your birthday if life surprises you...Let it." A few days later I found out I was expecting Hayley. Before my 24th birthday I had a new husband, and new home, and a new baby girl. 23 was a year of the sweetest surprises. So my wish for my 33rd is that life continues to surprise me, and I continue to let it.

Spring Breaking

2011-04-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

I can not believe it is Spring Break already. It doesn't feel too Spring- like when we have only had a handful of days where the sun was shining and the temp was over 50 degrees. Also, the first three months of the year have gone so quickly. The move is coming up on us so quickly too, I am so excited and nervous and stressed and happy and sad all at once. In short, I'm an over-emotional mess. I cried watching Oprah which is not unusual for me except this time the show had not even started, it was just a promo with Paul Simon singing. Darn you, Paul Simon, going and making me feel things! (I don't know what movie that came from, if you recognize it, tell me because it's going to bug me until I remember)
Ace and Hayley had playdates today. I'm so glad my kids are well behaved at other people's homes. It makes me forgive them for behaving like wild monkeys here at home. It also means they get invited back for more playdates so I can enjoy more afternoons of relative peace (Hayley and Ace spend a lot of vacation time fighting because they are not used to so much uninterrupted sibling bonding). I went to pick Ace up this afternoon and the mother of his friend told me that he was quite the ladies man. She said she put on a tv show for them and Ace said "Let's sit together on the couch and watch Scooby-Do, it'll be like a date" and then put his arm around his friend. I'm impressed with his bold moves but did clarify that parentally surpervised cartoon watching would be all the dating he can do for the next 10 years. He accepted my terms.
We have a few more plans for the week, including skating, having friends over, a movie, and some library activities. I like having time to just be together but an entire week is exhausting and hard to fill. Sometimes all this "together" time makes me feel like I am actually spending less time than usual interacting with my kids. I'm used to our routine which has kind of built in individual time with each of them. Lucy and I have 3 mornings while everyone else is at school, Julia has afternoons while Lucy is resting (naps are a thing of the past around here). Hayley has homework time and Ace has afterschool while the girls are playing together. And then by the weekend they have all missed each other so they play well and we usually have plans that keep us busy. But over this long stretch there is either so much to do that we are rushing around or we are bored and cranky and I send them off to the playroom so they aren't driving me crazy. So, I'm guessing by next Monday I'll be more than ready to get back into our groove and send them back to school! Until then, I guess I will enjoy watching Transformers every day at 7am with Ace!

In a nutshell...

2011-03-30T20:33:00.000-04:00

The post-holiday part of our winter was eventful, with long stretches of nothingness in between events. We celebrated Ace turning 6. We had his b-day dinner at Friendly's and a small party over winter break. They played kinect, played some Transformer's themed party games and made "allsparks" from construction paper and shoeboxes. It was very low key and fun, Ace is in his element with just a few friends who share his interests (toys, food, fart jokes) so he was well behaved and so were his buddies. A few weeks later we celebrated Hayley's 9th birthday early with a trip to the A. Girl doll store and a "fancy" dinner out in Boston. The night before her birthday she had a friends over for more kinect, a dance party, and a movie. Again, it was perfectly simple and fun. For anyone with more than one child, I highly recommend lowering expectations for birthday parties (actually, I recommend lowering expectations all together). It has taken so much pressure off this year not to plan parties and the kids have enjoyed their birthdays as much as any other year. In fact, I think they may have had more fun because the day was really focused on them and they had more than one celebration.
We spent a week in NC, househunting and getting to know our soon-to-be home. It was busy and the kids were pretty bored but it was a nice break from the ordinary and got me feeling really excited about our move this summer.
So, that was the rest of our winter. I'm leaving out some very important events of course, like Lucy's continued resistance to potty training. If you ask her if she will try to use the potty she will look at you like you suggested she try snorting pepper and say "I do that later, Mommy". Hayley has lost 2 more teeth, one while she was eating her first half rack of ribs (the girl is 40 pounds soaking wet and she ate those ribs like they were a light snack, our waitress was astounded.) Ace is into all things Transformers, he watches the DVD's on the mini tv in his room while acting out the scenes shot for shot with his toys. Ever since the week that Julia was sick and spent the day in front of the tv she has been really into cooking shows. She loves to watch Giada and the Neelys and then request whatever they are making for dinner (ironically, her favorite food is still ramen noodles).
One more thing and then I will end this rambling. As the weather has improved I've started a new routine of taking one of the kids at a time with me on my evening walk with the dogs. I used to resist taking them because it was my time to have some quiet but now I've started taking my own walk earlier in the day and I've discovered how much I enjoy the one on one time with the kids. Ace will open up and talk to me without getting silly and distracted. Hayley gets to talk without being interrupted and Julia and Lucy mostly love to ask questions and anxiously await one of the dogs' pooping. I hope they don't get tired of it because I love it.

Weekending

2011-01-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

I slept way, way in this morning and woke up to Lucy picking my nose and telling me that I am her best friend. Then she listed her best friends: Daddy, JuJu, Hay-ey, Ass, Buddy, Coco, and Mama. She calculated that that equals 2 best friends. And all her best friends were coming to her party in the living room. If that isn't a good excuse to get out of bed on a Saturday morning, I just don't know what is.
I helped with the PTA Game Night at the school last night. I pulled it together in 10 days and when it was all set up and we were waiting for the kids to show up I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself and my organizational, party planning skills. Then the PTA president informed me that my fly was down. Still, the night went well and I think I did a good job, wardrobe malfunctions aside.
We get through the winter months by indulging the kids (and ourselves) in random surprises and frequent trips to Dunkin Donuts or out to dinner or anything to break up the monotony of getting up, bundling up, defrosting our car, and heading off to the same old places. Monday we took the kids shopping and to Red Robin for dinner. After dinner Lucy hopped off her booster seat and, without prompting, went over to Andy and gave him a hug and said "That was a yummy dinner, thank you Daddy". It was simple but so sweet, and made me proud that she has such a grateful heart. She says "Thank You" at least 20 times a day and she really means it. That impresses me, as do many things about my Lucy.
Julia was a rockstar at her 4 year check up yesterday, she is 29 lbs and on target with all her milestones. When we left she asked why the doctor called her a peanut and I said it was because she was little and cute like a peanut and she said "Oh, I thought maybe I smelled funny". I don't know why but that was the funniest moment of my entire day.
I don't know why I still can't post pictures but after the kids are in bed I'll try to post an all picture update. I have some good ones of the kids bowling and game night. Luckily, I don't have any that capture me with my fly down.

2011-01-16T16:15:00.003-05:00

I sure am glad I didn't make a New Year's resolution to update my blog more often because I would be failing miserably. Other things I'm glad I did not resolve to do: eat less bacon, watch less television, take fewer naps. Because the first 12 days of 2011 have included a lot of bacon, television, and napping.

We also had a birthday party for Julia. Not a Party! party, because those are overwhelming for our sweet, shy princess. But we went sledding that Saturday, and then to a movie and out to dinner and she had a play date with her best friend at the end of the week. We did things that made her happy, and celebrated 4 years of having her around making us happy.

We welcomed my nephew into the world, except he was in Texas and we were welcoming him from all the way up here. I'm sad I wasn't there but all the excitement and love we were sending was enough to travel halfway across the country.

It is probably for the best that I was not there when he was born because I was a big stack of cold germs all week. That explains the excessive amount of napping and television (I have no excuse for the bacon.)

p.s- I know it is actually 16 days into January but I typed this out a few days ago but didn't post it because I wanted to add pictures. But then I tried to add pictures and Blogger was all "No. I hate you." so I just decided to go ahead and post it picture-less. In short, I am a huge blogging failure.

2010

2010-12-31T22:08:00.000-05:00

Whew! This has been a long, cold December with no internet. But, thanks to my handy dandy husband, who got this baby up and running, I am back just in time to recap 2010.

Winter: Julia turned 3. After a busy Christmas trip to NC, we kept her celebration low key and went to the 99 for dinner followed by a pink doughnut cake and presents. She got a keyboard that she used all year to keep us entertained with her sweet musical stylings. Ace turned 5 and had a spaceman party. We visited the Boston Children's Museum over Winter break, tried out ice skating, enjoyed a few too many doughnuts and anxiously awaited Spring.

Spring: Hayley turned 8 and had a spa party. Family friends came up from New Jersey for a visit and Hayley reconnected with one of her first friends from back in Texas. Ace started his second year of Tball and Hayley started soccer. We went to the Franklin Park Zoo. Julia made her television appearance on Sprout's Barnyard Boogie which she watched daily for at least 2 months.

Summer: Ace and Hayley took swimming lessons twice a week at the beach while the little girls enjoyed a lot of mornings with Grandma. We took a lot of beach trips, afternoon naps and picnics. My sister and niece came to visit for the Fourth and we were in the parade, had a barbecue with my family and watched fireworks from the beach. My cousin and her family came for another fun week. We ate a lot (which leads to my one and only NY resolution to lose some weight before our move this summer). Hayley starred in her fourth community musical theater production. Andy took Ace and Hayley to a monster truck rally. Hayley got stung by a jellyfish and I sprained my ankle falling in a hole on the beach. At the end of the summer, after months of refusing to get more than her feet wet in the ocean, Lucy finally decided to go for a swim with Grandma. She discovered she loved it, just in time for summer to end.

Fall: Ace started Kindergarten, Julia started her second year of preschool, Hayley started 3rd grade. Lucy turned 2 and we celebrated with a picnic on the beach and a party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Andy started a new work schedule which (thankfully) means he is home more often. We went apple picking for the first time. We had a fun weekend with my aunt and uncle visiting from NY. All the kids went trick or treating together. We celebrated Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Julia asked me a bazillion times when the snow was coming.

Winter 2010: Hayley started basketball and Ace started skating lessons. The first big snowfall came just a few days before Christmas and just in time for my sister and niece's visit. The girls dressed up as Sugarplum fairies for a Christmas Eve party at Grandma and Grandpa's house and we loved having my niece with us for Christmas morning. I made black eyed peas for dinner on New Year's Eve and we played board games and twister and now the kids are watching a movie and trying thier best to stay awake until midnight. We talked about our favorite moments of 2010 and what we wanted to happen in 2011. Ace wants to go down a waterslide, Julia wants to have Emily over to her house. I'm just looking forward to seeing what the New Year holds in store for us. Praying for health, for more time with family and friends, for more fun and more laughter. And I'm wishing you all the same.

Still here.. just not here, here.

2010-12-03T13:10:00.000-05:00

Our computer must have heard all the smack I was talking about it's broken keyboard because now it has completely shut down on me. It won't even turn on, no matter how much sweet talk (and a few threats of throwing it out the window thrown in) I try.
There are certainly frustrations to not having high speed internet access. Like yesterday when I was watching Celebrity Rehab and I was racking my brain trying to remember if Jeremy or Jason London had starred in Party of Five and I had no way of accessing that crucial information (it was Jeremy, by the way). But, I'm finding plenty of benefits as well. We take more excursions to our wonderful library, I read more books, I go to bed earlier. I do miss blogging though, and reading blogs rather than skimming them.
So that explains my long absence. As soon as we get the computer to forgive me, I'll be back with an update and some pictures.

Rainy days

2010-11-05T14:51:00.000-04:00

The rest of our week has been rainy and gloomy, and non-productive. This weather has not been helping me with my plan to be less snippy. In fact, I think the weather is mocking my ambition to be cheerful. So I'm mocking it right back by trying to cozy up the indoors and ignore the fact that my lovely, crisp Fall is turning dreary and cold and the yellow and red leaves that made me feel so very happy just a few weeks ago are now almost all on my lawn, which is not nearly as lovely.
Ace has been to school only 3 days this week, and two of those days he was late. He woke up every day not wanting to go to school and his morning he hid my keys in an attempt to delay us as long as possible. I had already sent Hayley off with our neighbor so I wasn't in a big rush. I did tell him it is not okay to hid the keys and I told him that if it was too late the school may decide to open up a weekend school just for him to make up for the time he missed so he shook a tailfeather and went and got my keys from his pillowcase. Then I fixed him a second bowl of cereal and we sat at the table for a few more minutes. He said that last night he dreamed of flurries and transformers. He learned the word flurries from the news and now thinks that they must be the most exciting weather ever. He may be disappointed when he sees them. I was tempted to keep him home all day and stay at the kitchen table hearing more about his happy dreams. But we were late and Julia was eager to get to school so off we went.
Lucy and I went grocery shopping and then cuddled on the couch to watch Curious George. We picked Julia up from school. Julia wanted to swing and was upset the swings were wet. I told her I understood, this weather was just no fun. About an hour later Julia told me she likes the rain, because when her pants get wet she could go home and put on her ballerina suit.
I should take a tip from Julia and look on the bright side.

What a Week

2010-11-03T22:50:00.000-04:00

Halloween and the preceding celebrations were fantastic. The kids wore their costumes pretty much the entire weekend, starting with Friday's school dance. Saturday we spent the day with friends, crossing some of our Halloween-ish activities off of our list (including "scary" movies like Ghostbusters, which meant we ended up with 3 kids in bed with us at midnight because of nightmares). Sunday we carved our pumpkin, suited up, and Andy took all the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood for Trick or treating. Lucy came home and announced, in the cutest toddler squeak ever: "Guess what een here? Ess Can-day!"
I went to bed thinking what a perfect holiday it had been and just as I closed my eyes, Ace started coughing. An hour later we were bundling him in blankets and Andy was zooming off to the ER. He is FINE, thank God, just a bad case of croup but no one got any sleep that night. Ace got a shot in the batooney and came home talking about his pretty nurse and how cool it was to watch Transformers on Andy's phone. The shot must have done the trick because he didn't cough anymore that night. He was fine Monday but since croup often recurs during the night, I kept him home from school for two days until I was sure he was all better. As boring as it was, he loved being at home. He cuddled with me on the couch and watched cooking shows, we read books, and he announced he was hungry every 5 minutes (I think one of the things he dislikes about kindergarten is the limited access to snacks).
We were so lazy the past few days, it was hard to get back into routine today. I tried hard to shake my crabby attitude from too little sleep and no schedule but I'm still feeling out of sorts. Lucy must be feeling it too because she told me today for no apparent reason that Hayley and Ace are "so mean" and she threw her toothbrush in the toilet on purpose when I tried to help her brush her teeth. The only thing that cheered her up was the candy bucket. She loves to reach in a grab something and then look completely shocked that "Ess can-day!"
Lucy also now climbs in and out of her crib with no problem. We were watching tv one night about 30 minutes after bedtime and she just came strolling out of her room like it was no big whoop. The next night I went to put her in her bed and as I was turning on her noise machine she plopped right into her bed and pulled up her covers. So, time for a big girl bed. That is on the to do list for the weekend.
Also on the to do list, get a good night of sleep and stop being such a snippy mommy. And hope that no one else has to get a shot in the batooney.

On a soapbox

2010-10-27T21:06:00.000-04:00

I don't know why this article:

http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/dating-blog/overweight-couples-on-television

upset me so much but it hit a nerve. For one thing, I really like the show she is ridiculing. Besides the fact that I think the show itself relies too much on the character's obesity for laughs, I think it is a sweet, romatic comedy and I think Melissa McCarthy is beautiful and so funny.
It also made me think of my girls, and the messages they are going to be getting from everywhere once they are at an age where they are influenced more by magazines and television and the internet. The messages that being overweight makes you less of a person, that it is okay to ridicule or be disgusted by someone because of the way they look.
And I also thought of myself. How I sometimes think I'm not as attractive or valuable because I weigh more than I did 5 years ago. I try not to pass that along to my children, I am learning to say "Thank You" when they tell my I'm pretty instead of laughing and rolling my eyes as if to say "Oh, I wish!" But then I read an article like this and think, do people really look at me and think that? Do they see me kiss Andy, (who still fits into his high school jeans, by the way) and wonder what he is doing with me? It plunges me back into the insecurity that I am working so hard to fight. That is why I took the time to leave this comment. I don't know if it will ever be read and I toned it down a little from my original comment. Then I reconsidered printing it because it seemed a little of an overreaction. But I left it up because I believe what I wrote, no one should be made to feel less than because of the way they look.
Oh, and I won't be buying Marie Claire again (not that that makes a big statement since I can't remember ever buying it before).
Here's my comment:
"I am the mother of 3 young girls. As hard as I work to teach them to respect others, it makes me sad that they can pick up a magazine and learn it is okay to tell people they are disgusting because of the way the look. That they can tell people they shouldn't be seen kissing because it is offensive to others. It's all free speech, right? We have the right to bully people in print because it is our opinion and we should use our right to free speech to tell people how disgusted we are when we have to watch them cross a room. Should we be applauding Maura Kelly for her honesty? Does it really take courage to be honest about how much we hate an entire group of people just because they don't look the way we think they should?
No, I don't think I'll applaud that. I think I will continue to teach my girls compassion, kindness, acceptance, and courage. It is courageous to hold your head up high no matter how you look. If you waddle a little because you are overweight, if you aren't as thin or as rich as the other people in the room, if you walk with canes because you were born different. Everyone has the right to walk through a room without being ridiculed or humiliated and to kiss the people they love without fear and shame. And if someone looks at them and feels disgust and then chooses to write an article to shame and bully that person, SHE is the one who lacks courage. Hate is easy, feeling superior to others is easy, writing some lame apology when you don't get the reaction you expected doesn't take courage, and it certainly doesn't deserve any applause."

2010-10-25T10:54:00.001-04:00

My goal to update my blog at least once a week has been derailed by three factors. One, this computer stinks and I have to jiggle the power cord frequently to keep the battery charging so I cut my online time down significantly because I'm lazy. Two, the energy I had in the Summer has been replaced by my Fall mood, in which I lose steam after the sun goes down (sooner and sooner each day). Also, I'll admit it, there is a lot of good tv on these days which fills up my evenings. In fact, I'm typing this at warp speed so I can tune into Boardwalk Empire in 6 minutes (Steve Buscemi can pull of the steamy sex scenes without totally creeping me out, who'da thunk it?)
Ace had another great week at school, I think (knock on wood) that we have turned a corner and he is adjusting really well to the long days and new rules.
Just as the dust settles from the emotional transition into Kindergarten, I am dealing with the transition from little kid to "tween" that Hayley is going through.

I refuse to accept that she is really in the tween category already but 8 is definitely a year where she is stuck in the middle. She comes home some days exhausted and moody. Some days she comes home with an attitude I don't even recognize (like the day she got in the car and asked if we could go buy an Ipod and/or a cell phone.) I'm trying to figure out what my role in all this is. It feels as if I was just getting the hang of this parenting dance when someone came along and sped up the music. I am constantly questioning if my expectations are too high or too low. I wonder if I am giving her enough space, if i am asking the right questions or if I am smothering her with too many questions. She comes to me and tells me about something that she needs to talk out and sometimes I don't listen well, I brush off what is important to her because I am distracted. Sometimes I jump in and tell her what to do instead of just taking in what she wants me to hear without trying to come up with the right answer to a question she isn't really asking at all. We both get confused and easily frustrated with one another. I try not to lose my temper when she rolls her eyes at me or slams her door. I try to remind myself in those times to take a deep breath and remember that this is all part of the the mother/daughter dance. We step forward, back, trip over our feet, and sometimes fall down in a grand fashion and have to get up and start all over.

(....still happy to be dancing with you.)

A list

2010-10-11T20:25:00.001-04:00

Because my computer hates me and keeps freezing up on me mid-sentence, I have condensed everything I wanted to say into this quick and easy list of 6 things I don't want to forget about this particular moment in time:

1. That Julia's favorite toys and constant companions are Iggy (a stuffed lizard) and Naomi (a yarn doll that her cousin gave her). Tonight we made up a story about Iggy and Naomi moving to Paris and opening a bathing suit shop.

2. Lucy's new bossy attitude. Two nights ago at dinner she told everyone we had to keep our hands down. It is hard to eat a meal with your hands in your lap but if we lifted them, we got a very stern look from Lucy. She would also yell at us. I don't like to admit I was intimidated by my 2 year old but, man, she is not messing around.

3. Ace stayed on green all week and told me every day that he "Definitely did NOT fool in the bathroom" So, for those of you who may have been concerned, it is now safe to shake Ace's hands because he knows not to touch the urinal cakes.

4. Ace announcing on the way back from the grocery store that he "Definitely needs to buy a car" so he can go to cooler places than the grocery store. He enjoys throwing around the word definitely lately.

5. Hayley writing an acrostic poem with her name for school and misusing Edible for the E. She thought it was a synoym for Incredible.

6. Lucy announcing "I here now" loudly and enthusiactically any time she enters a room. She thinks we've just been waiting for her all our lives (she's right, we have.)

Apple picking

2010-10-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

Friday started out on a bad note. Ace has been getting in trouble at school and I will be the first to admit, I perhaps overreacted to the situation. I may have become a little defensive of my only son. I may have declared Kindergarten a soul-sucking institution that was stealing all the joy out of my poor, innocent child's life. I may have called my sister and neighbor and gone on and on about how Ace was doing the absolute best he could do and why, oh why was that not enough for his teacher? And then I may have found out that my poor, innocent only boy child was juggling urinal cakes and throwing soap on the walls in the bathroom at school and maybe, just maybe, his teacher was perfectly justified in reprimanding him. Lesson learned: it is not always wise to rely solely on your 5 year old's account of why his card has been frequently flipped at school, there may be more to the story than you are told. We have talked to him about it and he knows now that there will be consequences at home if he keeps messing around in the bathroom so I hope this is the last we will hear about urinal cake juggling because, eewwwww.
The rest of the weekend was a big improvement. Saturday we went apple picking at a farm about 45 minutes away. I have never been apple picking before and I loved it. The kids all had a great time too, Julia was on a mission to pick more apples than anyone else and Lucy was on a mission to eat more apples than any 2 year old has consumed in a 2 hour time period.

On the way home we stopped for pizza and I noticed that Ace was looking a little spacey. I thought maybe he was just tired from all the walking but turns out he was coming down with something. By bedtime he was running a fever and had trouble sleeping. As much as I hate to see him sick, at least he felt good enough to enjoy the apple picking and now he has a full day to do nothing but rest and get better. I'll keep him home tomorrow and hope that he feels better by Tuesday.
Today we are home, prepping for a yard sale next weekend, catching up on laundry, and watching Football. It feels like the ideal Fall weekend. I love that it is just barely warm enough to open the windows and let the smell of wet leaves blow in the window. I love pulling extra blankets out of the closet to put on the end of everyone's bed. I love the smell of the apple muffins I baked (from scratch, go me!) The busy-ness of getting back into the school routine is settling down and I feel like there is more time to savor the change of seasons now.

**Edited to add: I went back and forth on my decision to include the bathroom story in the post. There are things about my kids that I try very hard not to share on the blog and embarrassing stories are one of the things I think are off limits after a certain age. But truly, if Ace reads this at a later date and doesn't get a laugh out of the fact that he was almost pink slipped in Kindergarten for bathroom horseplay, than I will have failed as a mother. One of the important lessons I hope to pass along to them is the importance of not taking yourself to seriously.

Lucy Claire 2 years (and 4 days)

2010-09-26T22:08:00.000-04:00

Lucy is 2. I hope she enjoyed her birthday celebration(s) but I'm not sure she ever really got what we were celebrating. Every time we wished her a happy birthday she would wish us a happy birthday too. It didn't help clear things up that her brother and sisters were all up in her presents and cake, I'm sure she thought they were meant for all of them instead of just for her.
We had a party with Grandma and Grandpa

A birthday picnic on the beach

And a special family party afterschool on Wednesday.

So now she is 2. She wakes up every day happy. She lights up our lives with her funny snort/laugh and her bright smile. She loves birds, pictures of birds, songs about birds, books about birds. She is both terrified and fascinated by bugs. She likes Curious George and Elmo and Angelina Ballerina. If you ask her where she wants to go, she will choose Grandma's house 98 out of 100 times. If you ask her what she wants to eat she will say Dunkin Donuts or pizza (but she doesn't really want pizza, she wants pasta but she gets the words mixed up). If you ask her what her name is she will say Emily (because that is what Julia tells her her name is), if you ask her who loves her she will say "Me!"

I love you roo, Lucy. Happy Birthday to The wonderful Wooz.

(there are pictures meant to go with this post but my phone is being wonky and I wanted to get this up before too long, I'll try again tomorrow)

Lucy Talks

2010-09-13T09:36:00.000-04:00

All three big kids are off to school this morning so Lucy and I have the house to ourselves. You would think it would seem quiet but Lucy is going through a major language explosion so there isn't much quiet time around here. It is amazing to watch her vocabulary grow. Ace and Julia both had speech delays and at two they were still speaking mostly in one word sentences so I had forgotten how talkative an (almost) two year old can be.
If Lucy is awake, she is talking. And, if she feels she is not getting enough of a response, she is YELLING. Yesterday she did not feel Andy was interested enough in her commentary on Ace's pet ladybug so she grabbed his face, pressed her face to his and yelled "Ladybug! Inna cup! Dee it? Dee? Dee?"
She blows me away with how smart she is and all that she has picked up on just by observing her brother and sisters. She knows the names of characters in her favorite books, she can count, recognizes most colors, shapes, and the letter L. I love listening to her make connections all on her own. I also love the times when she doesn't quite get it. A few minutes ago I was so impressed that she showed me a triangle block and said "Triangle". I showed her a circle block and she said "Cir-dle", what a smartie! Then I showed her a square and she said "Buddy!" (our dogs name). Not sure what connections were firing in her mind on that one but I give her an A+ for effort.
I love hearing about what is on her mind. The other day in the car she couldn't stop talking about seeing airplanes with Daddy. We had gone to meet him for dinner at his work and we went to sit on the helicopters and airplanes. I knew she had a good time but it was so cool that she was still remebering and thinking about it the next day. When she wakes up from a nap she will tell me what she was dreaming or thinking about, it is the sweetest moment. Usually the first thing she says when I go to get her from a nap is "My guys? At school?" ("her guys" are Hayley, Ace, and Julia and she always looks forward to picking them up after naptime).
It is hard to narrow this list down but here are some of Lucy's most frequently used words and phrases:
Grandma (used for both Grandma and GrandPa)
Coco going? (when she is looking for her favorite playmate, the dog)
Dinner ready?
I do it
You help me
I help you
Read it to me
Angelina (her favorite book)
Big huggies (this is reserved for Daddy)
I hungry
Carry me
I walk
I put my head down (one of my favorites, she says this right before she leans her head back when she is swinging or someone is hugging her. I love that she tells us beforehand what she is going to do, it makes it that much sweeter)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

2010-09-06T22:18:00.000-04:00

The little girls and I have enjoyed the relative quiet of the house while the big kids are away at school. We keep busy so we don't miss them too much (we still do, a lot). It is nice to go to the grocery store and not have to argue with Ace about why we can't buy every product that has a picture of Buzz or Woody on it and since it is just the three of us we can get the mini carts and Trader Joes to push around. We usually get home with our errands around 11 so we have lunch and plenty of time for relaxing at home. Here is are some of the ways we've been keeping entertained:

Lucy entertains us with a song (obviously folding the laundry is not high on our list of things to do)

Taking an afternoon drive to explore the backyard

\
Sometimes we just lay around and watch tv

And sometimes we get our geek on and dress up in goofy glasses

One Last Splash

2010-08-31T20:30:00.000-04:00

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.
-John F. Kennedy

A slightly-biased theater review (and some other stuff)

2010-08-31T00:30:00.001-04:00

This weekend we went to see Hayley perform with her musical theater workshop in a star(fish)- studded performance of "Don't be so Shellfish". My parents went to see opening night, Andy and Ace went Saturday, and Julia and I went for the finale yesterday. It got rave reviews all across the board with everyone agreeing that the stand out performer was the sailor/mermaid/starfish/eel (Hayley was all of these characters, such range!)
Lucy also had a big moment this weekend, she went swimming in the ocean with Grandma and Grandpa. After countless beach days spent playing in the sand or sitting in a bucket, she finally decides she is a waterbaby 3 days before school starts. We plan to go for one last splash tomorrow so at least I'll get to see her enjoy the water before the summer ends.
We got our school supply shopping done tonight which was only mostly successful because I left the lists at home and was going off my (bad) memory. I forgot soap, wipes, paper protectors, and I don't think I got the correct gluesticks. I wouldn't worry so much if it wasn't Kindergarten. I feel the pressure to get everything just right so I don't owe Ace any money for therapy in future years (I've heard that a lot of people have mommy issues because she didn't get them the correct school supplies for the Very First Year). He is already mad at me because he had to get size 4 pants instead of 5 (like I'm to blame for his tiny hiney). I cut off the tags when we got home so maybe he'll forget.
We celebrated the second to last night before school starts by going to Red Robin, which even made Lucy cheer. She was so happy with us and thought we were the best family in the world but then on the car trip home we asked her to stop singing so loud and now she thinks we are lame. And she didn't stop singing, she just paused every few minutes to announce "I singing! This song! I sing it!".
I love Lucy. And Ace with his tiny hiney. And Hayley the Superstar. And Julia who didn't get much of a shout out in this post (she is still super cute).

All about Ace

2010-08-22T21:37:00.000-04:00

I keep starting and re-starting a post about Ace starting Kindergarten but I can't seem to find the right words. I write about being anxious (and I am) but then I worry that I am not getting across that I am also optimistic and excited about his bright new start. I am mostly (93% to be exact) excited about kindergarten. I know he is going to be a shining star, because he just IS. The other 7% of me is having trouble dealing with the fact that he is 5 years old because yesterday he was 5 days old and I don't really know what has happened and why time likes to screw with me this way. Also, I get anxious when I think about Ace dealing with the big world of School. If I could protect my children from ever having anyone be mean to them ever I would, and I don't care what anyone says about it being part of life and making them tough. (If there was an immunization from broken hearts, I would be the first in line.)
When Ace sees an opportunity to make a friend, he doesn't dip his toes in to test the water, he jumps right it. The other day at the beach, a little boy asked to use his shovel and Ace decided he had found a soulmate (he has about a dozen) and talked all the way home about his new friend and all the fun they had. I love this about Ace and in most cases, everyone else does to. But sometimes, just sometimes, he is rejected. Or worse, sometimes his "new friends" aren't nice to him. That is okay and I know it is part of being 5 (and 32). But I worry because Ace takes it so hard. If someone is not nice to him in return he assumes it's because HE just isn't cool enough and it makes him so sad. And if someone who he has befriended starts treating him unkindly, he has trouble speaking up for himself. At baseball practice once he found a "friend" who chased him around with a giant pixy stick and hit him in the head over and over. When I told this new "friend" to stop, Ace insisted he didn't mind. I'm terrified that Ace will walk into his kindergarten class with his heart right there on his sleeve where he always wears it and have it crushed by too much rejection.
I do worry, I am anxious about sending him off to school. But when Ace started preschool I lost a lot of sleep worrying that he may be a trouble maker and he was amazing. This past year he was called the mayor of his class and his teacher raved about him every day. He always surprises me. He overcomes obstacles (real or imagined) every day. That is why, tenderhearted as he may be, I know in my heart that he is going to be nothing but a rockstar in Kindergarten.
Rock on, Ace.

(Ace, obviously not too concerned about Kindergarten. Julia, giving him props)

Big Girl with Big News

2010-08-14T21:42:00.001-04:00

Julia now, at the age of 3.7 years, sleeps IN. HER. OWN. BED. Big news, no? Yes.

I am all for co-sleeping if everyone involved is actually sleeping but in our case Julia was really the only one getting any zzzz's. I was clinging to a a few inches of mattress while trying to ignore the occasional toe digging into my back or not-so-occasional 3 year old diaper butt in my face and Andy gave up altogether and would sleep most nights on the couch. Even Lucy didn't like sharing the bed with Julia the Octopus and would nurse and then decide it would just be more fun to start the day (at 3:02 am).

I feel silly for allowing this to go on so long and throwing my hands up and declaring that there was no way to get her in her own bed. Because, as it turns out, there is a rather simple way to get her in her own bed. It's called a nightlight.

Andy asked her the other night when she would sleep in her own bed and she said. "Um, maybe when I'm four. Or five. Or eight.". So we suggested maybe she should sleep in her bed now, since school starts soon and she'll need lots of sleep to get up for school. Andy asked her why she didn't like her bed and she said it was too dark. I have tried the nightlight approach before. In fact, there are 2 nightlights in her room. One that plugs into the wall and one that projects pictures onto the ceiling. But it turns out Julia wanted her own nightlight that she could control. Andy put a taplight on the underside of Hayley's bunk, so Julia can turn it on and off. She loves it. I love having my bed back. Andy loves not sleeping on the couch. The battery industry loves the fact that every few nights we have to change the double A's in the taplight because she leaves that sucker on ALL night long. Oh well, I'm still so proud of my Big Girl.

August

2010-08-14T19:34:00.000-04:00

(August, 2010)

Signs continue to pop up all over that Summer is, indeed, coming to an end. Swim lessons ended (with a carnival, fun, fun fun), letters arrived with school supply lists and teacher assignments, the air conditoner is no longer running on high day and night. In fact, today we shut it off and opened the doors, allowing cool air to come in, bringing along thoughts of Fall. I do love Fall, but I'm not quite ready to let go of this summer just yet. I'm savoring a few more nights of listening to the kids playing long after dinnertime in the yard. I'm leaving our beach bag packed and ready hanging by the door for a few more weeks before it is pushed aside to make room for backpacks and lunchboxes. I'm leaving the mattress on the floor for the kids to collapse on for an afternoon nap. I'm not letting go, not yet.

(August, 2009)

Pictures!

2010-08-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

Only one month left of summer vacation and I want to officially recant all my statements regarding the "summertime slump". Because overall, this summer has been so spectacular that I wish I had never complained about the moments that were spectacularly awful.
Swimming lessons are wrapping up and watching Ace do this:

brings me more joy than I can say. I spend so much time in wonder about how big he is this summer that it is refreshing to see his little body in the big, big ocean and remember that yes, he is still a little boy.

Hayley started musical theater dance workshop today. It is the summer camp best suited for my girl that turns everything into a grand performance. I think it will be a perfect wrap up for the end of summer.

I paid Julia's tuition today to guarantee her spot in the 3 day preschool program in September. She asks me at least 4 mornings a week if she is going to school so I think she is ready for a step up from the 2 day program. Plus, her BFF is in that class and she would not forgive me for separating them. Julia's special day was Saturday and we went to see Toy Story 3. I loved that movie, I think it is the best one I have seen all summer. Then we went shopping and she picked out a new dress. It was hot pink and denim and $7.99 and I had to steal it from her while she slept to wash it. She woke me up at 6am to accuse me of taking it and demand I go get it out of the dryer.

Lucy is living up to (one of her) nicknames this week: Scrappy Lu. She is itching to pick a fight with someone so she usually aims her scrappiness at me. Too bad I've got her number and I just put her in her crib. Too too bad she has my number and she starts pretending she sees a bug. She is sincerely scared of bugs and although most of the time she is faking, I'm always scared that it is the one time she really does see a bug and I don't want her flipping out so I go check on her and she stands up says "oh, no bug" and offers me one her precious hugs. So I get her out of the crib and she goes back to being scrappy. I love, love, love Lucy, she makes me laugh so hard and so much. (ps: she tried to get scrappy with Grandma last week and she swung out to whack her in the head but she missed and fell out of her chair. Grandma felt bad for her but I thought it was hilarious-but only because she was only embarrassed, not hurt).

Friday we have company coming from New Jersey, Ace is thrilled because there are 2 boys close in age to him so he can do boy stuff (legos? burping contests?).
Oh, and YIPPEE! I got a camera. It's not super fancy so don't expect fancy photos, but at least I can prove that this spectacular summer did happen and wasn't all just a dream that I had during one of my marathon summer siestas. I got it in a hurry Saturday so Andy could document the Big's first trip to a monster truck rally, they had a blast!

2010-07-26T18:21:00.001-04:00

As we walked onto the beach this morning I was blown away by the beauty of the day. The sun was glistening over the ocean, the water was so clear and calm. I normally like to sit on the shore for most of the lessons and the kids have to pester me to get in but this morning I was looking forward to dipping into the cold water. I wondered why there seemed to be so few people in the water on such a perfect day. Turns out, looks can be deceiving. That beautiful, clear water was teeming with jellyfish. Some were clear and harmless. Some, not so much. Hayley had the bad luck of encountering one of the not so harmless ones. She was with her class for swim lessons and I was collecting shells with Ace. I turned around and saw that her class was out of the water. I rushed back, thinking it was later than I thought and I didn't want Hayley to wonder where we were. But she was already at the bathhouse with the lifeguard, getting a baking soda and vinegar treatment for the sting. Some friend who had seen the incident said she looked fine and that it seemed to be a little sting but when I saw her my heart just sank, she was obviously in so much pain. I took her right home and left her in Andy's capable hands while I went and got whatever treats Ace and I could find that might make her feel a little better. I got to the counter at the drugstore with pringles, ice cream, a movie, some swedish fish, and a pack of gum. I was talking to the cashier about what happened and she said "Well, this will make her feel better, it's better than medicine." That's when I remembered what I was supposed to be buying: medicine. So I had to go back for tylenol. The combination of all the treats and the tylenol did seem to ease her pain and now she is back in action and her welts have faded. Now she just has one bright red mark and a few pink marks.
Andy says he got small stings plenty of times in Florida but besides him, Hayley is the first one of us ever to encounter a jellyfish. I hope she is the last but with all the time we spend in the water, that might be wishful thinking.

2010-07-21T15:10:00.001-04:00

We are hitting that mid-Summertime slump. The kids are getting tired of so much time all together. Right this minute they are having "quiet time" downstairs. Quiet time that I can hear all the way upstairs, because Julia is yelling at Ace to "weave me Alooneee!!!" That explains why I have been hiding from the blog, I don't want to admit that things are falling apart a bit here, better to leave up our Fourth of July post, from when it was all sunshine and fireworks.
We have been saved on many days from complete craziness by our sweet neighbor, who sends her teenager daughter over to babysit and invites the kids over to play with her 8 year old. Last night Ace went completely ape-sh!t because Julia got to use a jelly jar as a milk cup and he wanted it and I sent him out to the deck to get some air. While he was out there he yelled over to our neighbor asking if Timmy (8) could come over and that saved the day. We set up the bubble machine and they played freeze tag (Timmy kept changing the rules if he seemed to be losing). I brought out a big bucket of soapy water and they washed all our backyard toys. By bedtime we were all feeling much better.
We have started our special days with each of the kids. At the beginning of the summer each of the kids started planning what they wanted to do for their day. Ace wanted to see Despicable Me so Sunday we had a great date day, just to two of us. We went to the mall first and he was so cooperative, even giving me fashion advice while I tried to find shoes to go with a new dress ("You should find some big shoes that have Ironman on them, and then get me a pair so we match!") He held all the doors for me, even the big heavy ones in the theater. It was the first movie I've ever seen in 3D and I think I was as impressed by it as Ace.
Oh, and I had a birthday (and pictures to prove it, thanks to my mom) We went to the beach and out for pizza. I asked the kids to wear something special for my birthday. I dressed Lucy in a new jumper and she kept showing off her new "pretty". Ace dressed like a pirate. Saturday we had a party with my parents. Julia recommended strawberry cake and it was a great choice.

I wish I had a better way to pull all this together to wind up this post but I don't. Again, I blame the Summertime Slump.

Home.

2010-07-04T23:31:00.001-04:00

This was the first year all the kids went to see the fireworks. Hayley went once when she was younger and, if I remember correctly, we brought Baby Ace along too but he would not remember that year. The past few years we have been content to watch on the TV but this year we were just crazy enough to load up the van and take all 4 kids to the beach to watch the fireworks over the bay. I am so thankful we did! We had cousin Naomi along too which was sweet icing on the cake. The kids ran and played (and peed) in the sand while we watched some smaller fireworks come from the boats. Just when everyone started to get a little restless and Lucy started chanting "Home? Home? Home?", the show began. Some kids might have sat in silent wonderment and watched the magic but these are my kids we are talking about. There was a running commentary through the entire show. Ace was curious about what happened to the fireworks in the sky, where they went after we saw them, what role firefighters might play in setting off fireworks. Naomi talked about, well, everything. Including how a good firefighting name for Ace would be Fred. Lucy ran from my lap, to Grandma's, to Andy's and back again, kissed me full on the lips over and over again, repeated important words from the day "Home, pocket, potty, pretties" and occasionally glanced at the fireworks. She also clapped, she was big on clapping. One of the funniest moments was when she sat on my lap and I sang along with the music "God bless America, my home sweet home" and her eyes got very wide and she started yelling "Home? Home! Home?"
It was such a memorable night, and the perfect end to a great holiday weekend. Yesterday we marched in our town's parade. Julia was a rock star riding her bike for the first year, Ace rode his motorcycle bike, Naomi rode the scooter (but mostly walked and collected candy) and Hayley walked. We played games afterwards and then rewarded ourselves with a treat and root beer at the candy store. The day before we had a long, relaxing day at the beach and dinner at our favorite pizza place.
The weekend has been amazing but somewhat bittersweet since we will probably be moving next year around this time. That means this could be our last Fourth of July here. It breaks my heart because I love our town and this season reminds me why. I love our friends here, I love being so close to my parents for a good part of the year, I love all this town has to offer. But I know that this is what being a military family is about. We set down roots, find people and places that we love where we live and then, before we are ever ready, we have to say goodbye to them. The sweet part of that is knowing that there are new people to meet and new favorite places to discover in our new home and we can always cherish friendships and memories from our old home. But I understand Lucy's longing for "Home! Home! Home!", because I agree, adventures are fun but nothing beats the comfort of home.

Lucy-21 months

2010-06-26T21:23:00.000-04:00

It seems like my 5+ year streak of nursing may be coming to a close. For the third day in a row, Lucy has not nursed at all during the day and for two days we have replaced the before bed nursing with a cup. She did wake up during the night last night and nursed back down but only for a few minutes. I think there are a lot of reasons she has lost interest. 1. I'm not offering at all and during the day if she wants to nurse I offer her a cup or snack and she'd rather have those. 2. We moved the rocking recliner to the basement to make room for a different couch. The recliner was "our chair" and every time we sat in it together she tried to nurse. Now we just cuddle on the couch. 3.We bought her 2 new cups that she loves to use and will sit with those at nighttime with some water. 4. She is eating more and not using milk as a snack anymore, now she heads straight for the kitchen when she is hungry or thirsty.

I expected to be sad when I was really done with nursing but I have to say, I'm not feeling many mixed emotions. I was very ready, starting when she was about 18 months and have been anxiously waiting for signs that she was losing interest. Now I'm relieved and enjoying finding new ways to have those moments of connection with Lucy. Tonight it was playing on the bed for almost half an hour with her pretending to tuck me in, me pretending to fall asleep and, .02 seconds later, having her wake me up by jumping on my head. Then we would giggle together and hide under the covers. Our game happened to coincide with an awful gas attack (Lucy's, not mine!) so every time she would get laughing really hard, she would let out a big toot which just made us both laugh harder. I loved those days of nursing a newborn, and infant, and then a toddler, but I have to say, laughing with my farty little lady may be even better.

Summer To Do list, continued

2010-06-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

Hayley, Ace, and Julia have added onto our list of things that we want to do by the end of Summer (which, with yesterday being the last day of school for the Big H, has officially begun) Here are the additions:

Julia:
See a play (lots of Children's theater here so it should be easy to find a good show)

Ace:
See Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me
Swim lessons

Hayley:
Go to Sandy Neck Beach
See a movie at the drive thru theater
Have a lemonade stand with T.
Swim lessons

Today we kicked Summer off in style with a trip to the beach. My bathing suit is missing-most likely at the bottom of a massive laundry pile somewhere so I didn't swim but the kids went in with Grandma and loved it. We also went to a a magician show and watched some tv. Tomorrow we take Lucy to get her head checked out in Boston, I'm hoping that it is just a quick in and out visit and they tell us there is no need to worry about her lumpy, beautiful little head.

2010-06-18T22:07:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those days that I hope stays firmly lodged in my children's memories. It was spent in places we love, with people we love, there was abundant laughter and sunshine and we enjoyed it all.
We slept in and then joined Ace's classmates for a party at his friends house. Julia and Lucy and I invited ourselves to stay and enjoy the celebration. The kids ran through the sprinkler, slipped and slid on the slip and slide, enjoyed a delicious spread of food, and then walked down to the beach for more fun. We came home just in time to met Hayley coming home from school and our neighbor babysat while I grocery shopped (alone!). We fixed a picnic and spent the evening on the beach where nobody fought, nobody ignored me when I told them to stay only ankle deep in the water, and nobody complained about being bored. It was near perfect. The one not perfect moment was when a seagull dive bombed down on Lucy trying to steal her cheese puff. She flipped out for a minute or two and sat on my lap. I told her just to shoo that mean old seagull away and she took it one step further. She chased him down yelling "No Duck!" and got close enough to throw a bucket at him. I'm not condoning throwing buckets at seagulls but I have to say, that stinker was asking for it. Lesson: Don't mess with The Wooz.
We came home and every scrubbed off the sand and salt and everyone was about to crash out on the couch when our neighbor stopped by to show off his fireflies. We talked for a while and the kids marveled over the fireflies and within minutes of saying goodbye, all the kids were tucked in and exhausted.
I hope they remember these days because I know that I always will.

Some more about Summer

2010-06-14T20:58:00.001-04:00

6.5 days until summer (un)officially begins here at the R. house. That means only 6.5 days until I can return to my natural state of sleeping until 9am and staying in my pajamas until at least 10:30. This does not mean that our summer days are not busy, is just means that busy-ness in the house must not occur before 10:30. Don't ask me why, those are just The. Rules.
We will get a sweet, sweet taste of what I hope the rest of the summer holds for us tomorrow since Ace's school has Beach Day and Julia, Lucy, and I have invited ourselves along. Our picnic lunch is already packed and I spent the afternoon at the store stocking up on even more beach toys. This poses a small problem because last summer our beach toy collection outgrew my beach bag and I had to move them to a tub. The tub is already hard enough to carry onto the beach while balancing Lucy on one arm and piling the cooler, the towels, and the beach chair on top of the bigger childrens' heads to get to the sand. But now, I have more toys than will even fit in the tub. I'm not sure what to do. Logic says I could just leave some toys behind but logic does not have to listen to four children whine that they don't have their yellow sand sifter and can we drive back home and get it because the beach is 100 percent boring without it. I'll have to figure something else out.
That last sentence reminded me that Ace now likes to complain that he is 100 percent bored. Or 100 percent hungry. Or he loves the movie 100 percent. I'm not sure where he picked that up or what he thinks it means but it melts me a little every time he says it.
Another thing that melts me is the fact that in 6.5 days Hayley will be a third grader. I have memories of third grade being a strange year. I remember feeling left behind by some of my friends that year. They talked about things that didn't makes sense to me yet, like how cute boys were and who they like- liked. I had one friend who would spend the entire recess recapping the Nightmare on Elm Street movies in gory detail for all of us who weren't allowed to watch them yet and teaching us jumprope rhymes that included the word ass. I remember half of me wanted to go back to swinging and playing foursquare and half of me wanted to be cool enough to say ass without whispering and watch R rated movies. I spent a lot of time in third grade feeling uncool and not even knowing what cool was supposed to feel like. Everybody warns you about teenage angst but that is the thing, everybody warns you. By the time I was a teenager I pretty much figured that everyone else was feeling just as awkward as I was. When you are 8, you don't even know it's coming. I'm not sure if I'm ready to face third grade again, this time as a parent.
But, between now and then, we have Summer. I'm definitely ready for Summer.

2010-06-02T16:34:00.002-04:00

Andy took my van to work yesterday so we were stranded at home until late afternoon, with nothing to do. I would normally have been flipping out because the kids get bored and when they get bored, things around here quickly go haywire. But everyone was tuckered from a busy weekend so they were content with computer games, toys on the living room floor, frequent snacking, and a little too much tv. So was I.
Today we are back to normal, busy with Spirit Month for all the kids at school. Sunday night we spent a half hour locating a suitable hat for Hayley, a pirate costume for Ace, and something green that Julia would actually wear (she prefers to rotate her 3 favorite dresses for months at a time). Today I'm at a total loss because it is Whale Day at Ace's preschool and Ace does not own one single item of clothing that has a whale on it. And we have to make an emergency trip to Grandma's house so she can mend his firefighting pants in time for the field trip tomorrow. Ace wants to bring all his firefighter gear to show his fellow firefighters. Considering that all his gear takes up 3/4ths of his closet, I told him he can only take what fits in the backpack. He is not pleased with the compromise.
My parents are here and I am loving life with two extra adults around to even up the child/adult ratio. We met them last week for dinner at Julia's favorite joint and blueberry pancakes on Friday morning. And Sunday we had ice cream and a walk on the beach with them. Lucy has a huge crush on Grandma. A few weeks ago she started wanting to walk more rather than be carried and wouldn't tolerate excessive cuddles. That all changes when Grandma is around. At the beach I was so flattered when she came over to me and raised her hands to be carried, then I realized she was only using me to get closer to Grandma and when we got close enough to her, Lucy leaped out of my arms like a spider monkey to get into her arms.
I'm seriously wondering how all four of my children remain in the 25 percentile for weight. In the time it has taken me to type this post, they have consumed an entire bunch of bananas, 4 packages of chocolate chip muffins, and crackers. This constitutes a typical "small snack" for them.
Sorry, but that's all I've got for today. I miss posting pictures so much but we still have not replaced our camera. It was in the budget for this month but then Andy's truck died so a new (to us) car moved from the want to the need list. The kids are way more excited about the new truck anyway but I'm going crazy missing all these photo opportunities.

Summer Resolutions

2010-05-24T22:06:00.000-04:00

I have a habit of setting goals and making resolution that I have no intention at all of keeping. I say "I think I'll stop watching so much TV after the kids are in bed" But I love tv, and therefore, have no actual plan to stop watching it. I say I'll get up an hour earlier everyday and go for a walk. But you know what? A walk at 7am is really no different than a walk at 11:15am except for the fact that I am less likely to get lost in the cranberry bog because I am actually functioning at 11 as opposed to 7. So this summer, all my goals are things I actually want to do. I think that significantly ups my chances of fulfilling them.

Here they are, my Summer 2010 Resolutions:

1. Travel, but not too far. Visit Boston, Nantucket, and take at least one camping trip before the summer is over.
2. Keep in touch with Julia, Hayley, and Ace's classmates and try to meet up with them for a playdate or a trip to the park or beach at least once a week.
3. Teach the kids the joys of sleeping late and eating breakfast at 10am, in our pajamas.
4. Keep the tv off during the day but don't be an stickler about it. If the kids want a movie day with blankets on the floor and popcorn, I'm all in.
5. Use rainy days wisely to get the house clean and organized, use sunny days wisely to get outside and enjoy the beach.
6. Take a walk alone at least three times a week. Try to run for at least a few minutes of it.
7. Take a lot of pictures.
8. Eat as many meals as possible outdoors (bonus: cleaner kitchen floor)

I'm sure I'll add to the list as the summer gets closer, any suggestions are welcome!

Busy

2010-05-23T21:28:00.002-04:00

I knew this weekend was off to a good start when I realized at 8:20pm on Friday night that Friday Night Lights was on (and recording). For those who do not possess my skills at the fine art of the DVR, 20 minutes after a show begins is the perfect time to start watching if you can't wait a second longer to see a show but don't want to have to sit through 18 minutes of commercials. And just as my beloved FNL did not disappoint, neither did the rest of the weekend.
Saturday was T-ball (Ace "nailed it"-according to Ace) and soccer (the game was a tie which is the best possible outcome for Hayley because she doesn't like anyone to be disappointed). Then we went to McDonalds. Since we moved here we have been really good at avoiding fast food but our fridge had no lunch food to offer except one slice of bread and a lot of string cheese so I caved and went through the drive thru. Ace proclaimed it the Best Lunch Ever because we got a collectible Shrek glass AND the happy meals were in boxes, not lame-o bags. When Andy got home from bike riding we went to run a few errands and ran into one of Julia's teachers at the Home Depot. The rest of the time in the store Julia was peering down every aisle searching for her other teacher because she thinks they do everything together. She was disappointed not to find her and had trouble understanding that her teachers had lives that did not involve each other and the school. When we got home Andy watched a movie with the kids and started dinner so I could take a long walk alone. It felt great and wore me out. The kids were wiped out too so that made sleeping in on Sunday even sweeter.
This morning (and I use that word loosely since it was close to noon before we did anything today) we had pumpkin pancakes and bacon, cleaned up the house, and went to the park. Lucy took our breath away with her bravery on the big slides. We cooked out tonight and watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs before putting the kids down for an early bedtime.
It was such a great weekend, I hate to see it end. Andy works a 7 day work week this week to get in some flight time so it will be a while before we have this kind of family time again.
I asked all the kids before bed if they had a fun weekend and they all said yes. Except Julia. She said she did not have any fun. I asked why not and she said, "Because, I wanted to go to dunkin donuts and I don't know how to drive there." Just goes to show you, you can't please everyone.

Brother and Sisters

2010-05-20T11:05:00.001-04:00

The sun is back, it is our first week without story hour on Thursdays so we have a free morning and I'm using it to catch up on facebook and blogs and enjoy the breeze coming from my open windows. Lucy is feeding me her yogurt pretzels and Ace is in his firestation practicing manuvers (although to the unknowing observer it may look like he is in his bedroom dancing with a foam battle axe).
Lucy has slept the past two nights from 12-7 (she goes to bed at 8 but gets up around 11:30 to nurse). It may be a fluke but boy, does it feel great to get 7 hours of sleep. She also doesn't ask to nurse much at all during the day. After 5 years without a break, I am ready to stop nursing but my heart does hurt a little thinking that this is really it, my babies are all kids now. You know what is great, though? Watching them be kids together. I love to walk into a room and see them all doing something together, hiding out in the rocket tent, reading books together, running in the yard playing sardines (although Lucy always gives away their location by yelling at whoever is supposed to be finding them, she is worried that they are the one that is lost). When Lucy wakes up in the morning, it is usually Julia that gets to be the first to say good morning. Sometimes I don't understand what she is trying to tell me and Hayley knows right away. The other day I made Lucy mad by wiping yogurt off her face and she ran to Ace for a hug. Maybe sometimes I wish I was her only Most Important Person but seeing her get closer to her brother and sisters everyday melts my heart. My childhood revolved around my sisters. My mom and dad were there of course, someone had to provide the popsicles. But when I think about who was there when I was happiest, it is my sister's faces that come to mind first. They invented personalities for my dolls, they helped me reenact our favorite episodes of The Brady Bunch, they played with babydolls when it wasn't cool anymore so we could be "grown ups" together. I know how lucky I am to have them so I know how lucky my children are to have each other.
(Ace taking Lucy for her first walk, July 2009)

2010-05-11T20:59:00.001-04:00

I was up late last night and up early this morning. When Julia came home from school, she wanted to rest so we could go to the playground after we picked up Ace and Hayley. I had a long list of things that needed to be done around the house and I wasted a lot of time trying to find a pogo ball on Amazon so I didn't get it done in time. But I told Julia we could go to the playground anyway. When I picked up Ace he started fighting with Hayley and I got annoyed quickly. I told them if they could not stop fighting we would not to the playground (I secretly hoped they would fight just one more time so I would have a good excuse not to go to the park) and they kept fighting, and we didn't go to the park. It was a sunny day and we missed it because I was too tired.

Ace wanted to sing all his songs for us tonight but he kept stopping and starting and shushing everyone. I got irritated and told him he had 10 seconds to sing us his songs or we were going to just go to bed. He kept shushing and stopping and starting the same song and we ended up going right to bed.

I never did get my long list of housework done either. It wasn't a great day, and tomorrow it is supposed to rain. I think I''ve learned my lesson, when God gives you a day of sunshine and a chance to listen to your child sing, just shut up, soak up the sunshine, and listen to the music.

Mother's Day Tea

2010-05-06T20:52:00.000-04:00

Today was the Mother's Day Tea at Julia and Ace's preschool. As well as being a day to celebrate how incredibly lucky I am to be their mom, it was also study in how different two siblings can be.
Julia is in the morning preschool. She has been so excited about the performance they were going to do, she has been counting down how many "sweeps" are left until the Mother's Day tea and this morning she was up bright and early dressed in the ladybug dress my mom made, her sparkliest shoes, and her Birthday Girl crown. I laughed (on the inside) at how funny it is that the girl who wants the least attention loves the most attention-grabbing clothes. All the way to school she talked about the songs they would sing and the dancing they would do. She kissed me goodbye in the classroom and suggested I go home and shower and get into some prettier clothes.
When the kids came walking out, Julia was all smiles. Then, she realized how many people were there. The smile faded and her eyes got wider and wider. She danced about half the time, the other half she stood with her hands in her pockets and unintentionally flashed the audience by pulling her dress up over her head. In other words, she was Julia, and perfect. I loved every minute of her performance and was so proud of her. After the 10 minute show was over, she was so exhausted. She is an introvert by nature, these situations where she is expected to be extroverted (which may or may not be a word) just suck the energy right out of her. We shared a cookie and some lemonade and I told her I was so proud of her. I asked if she had fun singing and dancing and she said "No." and ate another cookie. We went home and she just wanted to lay down and watch her shows. It had been a very long morning for her.
At 2pm I went to see Ace, who is in the afternoon program. He had also been talking about nothing but Mother's Day Tea for days. When he walked out with his class, he waved to everyone, blew me a kiss, and skipped up to the front of the room. When it was his turn to read from the dinosaur book, he read his rehearsed line and then continued on with two or three extra facts. When they sang, he sang loud. When the danced, he danced with enthusiasm. After his 20 minute show, he was totally energized. He wanted to recap the entire performance, talk about our favorite parts, show off his dance moves some more. He was still bouncing around talking about the day at 6pm. He was Ace, and he was perfect.
They are so very different, and I am so very lucky.

Zoo pictures

2010-04-30T17:25:00.000-04:00

I am going to keep my words in this post to a minimum after reading what I wrote last week, especially this quote:
"Sometimes it takes us 2 hours just to pick up a bag of birdseed or a birthday present for a friend, but we get out of the house and spend time together and the rest of the day I feel a sense of accomplishment."Could that sound any less impressive? If I had to fill out a resume today I doubt any potential employer would be blown away if I listed my recent accomplishments as: "Managed a trip to the Stop and Shop with 4 children without laying down mid-aisle in surrender"

So, here are the promised pictures from the zoo, including the ones Ace took before figuring out that the camera was backwards (you can click on them to enlarge)

Spring Break Part II

2010-04-26T19:04:00.001-04:00

Some days just the thought of taking all 4 kids to the grocery store exhausts me and if I do attempt to run errands with all of them in tow, it easily unravels and ends in tears and humiliation (both mine). Other days, when the sun is shining and we are all full of happy energy, I love driving around town listening to Ace sing along to the radio and Lucy yelling at large trucks (she doesn't like them, I have no idea why). We don't get too much accomplished and I usually forget some essential items at the store. Sometimes it takes us 2 hours just to pick up a bag of birdseed or a birthday present for a friend, but we get out of the house and spend time together and the rest of the day I feel a sense of accomplishment. Last week I was lucky enough to have a lot of those days. We went to the park a few times, we went to the bookstore, the grocery store, soccer practice, the pet store. It was a great week. Friday Andy had the day off which was the best news because even though the week had been fun, by Friday I was exhausted and out of ideas for entertainment. We drove to Boston to go to the Zoo. It was small enough that we could see all the exhibits in just a few hours. After the zoo we went to Red Robin and watched Lucy tear her food into small pieces and then try and sneak them onto everyone else's plates. We even made it to Walmart where we got some things we really needed, like crates to put away the Christmas decorations that have been on the table in the basement for months. The kids all got to pick out one thing, 5 dollars or less as long as they could think of two reasons they needed it. Ace got a headlight because 1. All firefighters need them and 2. It would help him if he wanted to go in a tunnel. Julia and Hayley got watches because 1. Hayley could tell us what time it is if we are outside with no clocks and 2. Julia found one that had Belle on it and wanted to wear it every day. Lucy got a baby doll because 1. Maamaa! Babbbeee! 2. Babbbeeee!!
Saturday after sports I declared that the rest of Spring Break must be dedicated to resting up for the return to school and the kids mostly cooperated with my declaration, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.
I bought a disposable camera for the zoo and let Ace, Julia and Hayley take all the pictures, I'll get them developed and try to post them tomorrow. Ace took at least 5 pictures with the camera backwards so I'm especially looking forward to those close ups of his face.

Big Doings

2010-04-20T18:45:00.001-04:00

It's school vacation week and so far, Mother Nature has cooperated and given us 2 beautiful sunny days to enjoy. Unfortunately, I still have no camera to capture these days. That might not be the worst thing. I've had fun playing with the kids and following them around the park without rushing to get my camera or catch the perfect shot.
My parents were in town this weekend and we had a great dinner with them on Friday at the 99. Lucy is out of the phase now where she is constantly trying to escape the highchair and we don't have to bring her own food with us which makes eating out a fun outing rather than a chore again. It was sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go home on Monday so to cheer everyone up we went to our favorite store to create our own Spring Break Survival Kit. One of the items we got was a huge roll of paper so the kids could color. Usually a roll that big lasts us a few weeks but yesterday the kids decided to spend the afternoon drawing a zoo and used up the entire roll on animals that they taped along the wall of the playroom. I am not one to discourage their creative endeavors (and I got to watch last weeks DVRed episode of Glee) so I don't mind, we'll just go back for more paper tomorrow.
Today our only errand was to buy a bag of birdseed but on the way we decided to go to the big park and then we spent a half hour or so checking out all the animals at the feed store except the lizards. I told Ace the lizards gave me the willies and he was confused and asked the clerk why they named the lizard Willy. Then the clerk was equally confused and I didn't want to hurt her feelings by explaining that I found her lizard creepy so I asked what the cat's name was to change the subject. The cat's name was Misty. Ace kept calling her Willy. He was obviously more confused than I realized.
Julia was on tv this morning. She did the Barnyard Boogie with Danisha on the Sunny Side Up Show. If you have a child that likes PBS Sprout I highly recommend submitting a picture of them for the Barnyard Boogie dance. I have never seen Julia so proud, we've already watched it 3 times today.
Lucy is going through the 18 month sleep regression phase. For the past two weeks she has been screaming her head off whenever we even approach her crib at bedtime. And she still wakes up multiple times at night. Yesterday we skipped naps and she went down without much fuss at 8 and stayed in her bed until around 11. Then she woke up and I brought her to our bed where she proceeded to stretch out and take up the entire queen sized bed. After a few hours of clinging to less than a foot of space I tried (unsuccessfully) to take her back to her crib. At 2:30 Julia came to the bed too and I was considering just giving up the bed completely and sleeping on the floor. Instead, Andy took her to sleep in the couch. We are all exhausted.

I don't really know how to wrap up this entirely too long update, so here is the picture we submitted for Julia's television debut. Seriously, if I had known she would really be on tv, I would have spent a lot more time choosing the photo. This just happened to be the first picture of her face that I had on the desktop. She didn't mind but Andy was confused as to why in the world I would have picked this goofy shot for her first chance at stardom.

Long days

2010-04-12T14:34:00.000-04:00

I took the kids to the park a while ago and was busy snapping pictures when Lucy demanded that I take her down the slide. Smart cookie that I am, I stuck the camera in my back pocket and took her down the slide. The camera objected to being pressed between my butt and the slide and has not worked at all since. I'm bummed because it was 2 days before Easter so I had to take our Easter pictures on Andy's crappy camera phone and now I'm missing all the great photo opportunities that Spring brings.
So what does this mean to you? It means that instead of cute and precious pictures of the kids, you get my sappy ramblings about how cute and precious my kids are.
Or maybe not. I had a bad day Friday. It was rainy and we had no plans for the day (besides a mountain of laundry that I had put off for almost a week). The kids had no idea what to do with themselves. My day sounded a lot like this: "MommyI'mthirstyMommyI'mhungryMommycanwewatchamovieMommyIwantanotherpretzelMommyIthinkthatispooponthe couchMommyI'mhungryagain"
Seriously, it was nonstop. I sent the kids to bed at 7:45 and Saturday and Sunday were much better. But Friday, that was a doozy.
That is life with 4 kids, some days just suck the energy right out of you. Even on those days, I can at least count on a few laughs out of them. Friday it was the fact that Ace was wearing underwear that were 2 sizes too big and kept losing them when the fell down into his pants. He didn't want to admit his underwear were too big so when I asked what he as doing he shouted "Give me some privacy!" while standing in the middle of the living room with his hands down his pants. And Lucy, who fought bedtime everyday last week but fell asleep on the couch and started snoring so loud I thought it was the dog.
That too is life with four kids, the laughs and joy they bring me can transcend even a mountain of laundry and 12 hours of whining preschoolers.
(I'm still dreading the next rainy day)

Take me out to the ballgame.

2010-04-08T20:32:00.000-04:00

Now the commotion of Easter weekend with five house guests is over and Spring is kicking into high gear here in New England, we are getting ready for...da da da da... Spring Sports! No one is more excited about this than I am because, well, no one else is excited about this. Ace was excited about T-Ball until he found out that Greyson and Jack are on the Royals and he is on the Marlins and now he asked if we could just stop talking about T-ball altogether. Hayley keeps forgetting what sport she is signed up for (soccer) and Julia is bummed that she isn't four yet because there are no sports for 3 year olds. So, Saturday is not a big day for anyone but me. I love the routine of getting up early(ish) and heading out the the ball field and I love that after the practice and game and celebratory stop at Dunkin Donuts are over the kids are so pooped out that the don't mind if we spend the rest of the Saturday watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians and laying on the couch (and by "we" I do mean "me").
I love Spring. But then again, I love almost all the seasons, especially in the early transitional days when I really appreciate the new-ness of the season.
And because the seasons change but some things never do, Ace still loves everything related to firefighting. In fact, just tonight he informed me that he does not have enough gear. When I asked what he still needed his number one request was the jaws of life.

8

2010-03-31T21:34:00.000-04:00

Dear Hayley,
First of all, I'm very sorry that this birthday tribute is 4 days late. Second of all, I'm sorry that it does not yet include the super awesome picture that I took of you on your birthday with you newly pierced ears. Third and finally of all, I'm just flat out sorry that your mommy is so lazy.
Anywhoos, now you are eight. Can you believe it? I sure can't. You may not know this but your birth brought about some kind of freaky deeky time warp and now the years fly by at super speed. I can't explain it but trust me, these 8 years have gone by in a flash.
Your seventh year was a challenging for us both, there were so many big changes. Sometimes I think I pushed you too hard to be responsible and mature and I should have let you get away with more. We butted heads some but not really that much because you are such an easy going girl, it is incredible. You allow me room to make mistakes as a mom and are so fast to forgive. You allow your brother to be pesky and still love him unconditionally. You understand that your sisters are still little and don't understand the world as well as you do and you take time to teach them and guide them. I could not be more proud of who you are right now, exactly as you are.
Your sense of humor is still one of the most beautiful things about you. You laugh and make others laugh along with you. You are beautiful. Your smile makes a room light up, (even with your missing teeth!).
I know this year is going to be another great adventure with you leading the way. We love you so much, our little Peep.

Sunny days, chasing the clouds away...

2010-03-21T21:15:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated much because we've been out in the sunshine welcoming the first signs of Spring. I hope you are finding the sunshine wherever you are, and soaking it up.

2010-03-11T14:16:00.003-05:00

I have to warn you ahead of time that this post is going absolutely nowhere. I have no theme whatsoever to write about and the kids have not done anything story worthy this week (except Ace got this new fighter pilot coat and he strutted around the library to show it off and double high fived everyone he saw because he felt so awesome. But that doesn't translate well in writing. Trust me, it was so adorable it made 2 people cry and only one of them was his own mother.) Where was I? Oh yes, so I have no real focus here but I feel like writing and have 45 minutes till I have to rush to claim a prime spot in the carpool lane.
I'm so tempted to nap because I've had this awful cold for days. It started as just a little itchy throat and I thought it would pass and I'd just have the stuffy nose that the girls have had for days but instead it transformed into this horrible body aches, sinus headache, feeling like I've been hit by a truck cold. I spent much of yesterday in bed and now I'm much better. Then, since I spent the day in bed, at night I didn't know what to do with myself and was up until well after 2am. That sucked, what else can I say.
I was listening to a morning new shows on the radio and they were interviewing Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The interviewer asked him how his faith in God has changed as he got older. The closing line to the answer was about how he used to go to God with his long "shopping list" but now has learned to block other things out and just be with God. He compared it to sitting by a fire in winter. He said you don't have to be smart, you can just sit close to the fire and it will warm you. I was so moved by that, I've been thinking about it all day. Faith can be such a simple thing. I tend to complicate it by trying to find answers to everything big and small or worrying over different philosophies or interpretations. It was like taking a deep breath, to accept that being close to God can be as simple as just holding still and feeling the warmth.
Lucy is up now, she took such a short nap because Andy let her fall asleep on the couch while they watched CMT cribs. I'm always mad when he does that because she wakes up when he moves and then won't finish her nap but they look so cute cuddled up that I don't have the heart to move her.
Our DVR has ruined Julia for regular tv. She's screaming at me now to start Yo Gabba Gabba over again because she knows they are wrapping up the show and doesn't want it to end. I can't seem to explain to her that I can't just rewind it.
Well, don't say I didn't warn you, this is quite possibly my most random post to date. I will try and make it worth your while by addind a picture of Ace in his new jacket tonight.
Edited to add: In order to finish up this riveting piece of writing I got Lucy out of her crib and sat her at the table with a spoon and a little bowl of hummus. I just turned around and every inch of my girl is covered in hummus except her right hand. That is because she is using that hand to hold the spoon at a safe distance from the hummus so it too is spotless. And I just saw her stick her entire face in the bowl. Neatness and decorum matter to Lucy.

Focus

2010-03-09T10:26:00.001-05:00

Lucy has been in the bathtub for almost 20 mintutes. She has a tiny plastic cup and a Wall-E toy and she is filling the cup and pouring the soapy water on Wall-E. I ask what she's doing and she says "Wash" and continues on. It soothes me to watch her. She has a skill I don't possess, to focus on a singular task for such a long time and block everything else out. I want to spend a few moments in her mind and I wonder if I would be surprised. Is she really thinking of nothing but Wash? Or are there dozens of other thing running through her mind? Instead I just watch and she brings me a quiet moment to start our day.

The worst of me.

2010-03-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a morning person, I hit the snooze button over and over again in order to grab hold of those four extra minutes of sleep. That makes our morning routine rushed, to say the least. On mornings that my only duty is getting Hayley to school on time I stay in bed until the last possible moment, directing her from my half asleep state to get dressed, find her homework, find her shoes and socks. Then I roll out of bed, fix her breakfast, throw on something halfway decent and drive her to school. Not much quality time there. That process wakes me up enough that by the time I get home I have energy and motivation to get out of the house or play with the kids here. By the time the afternoon fade kicks in Ace is off to school, Lucy is down for a nap and Julia is either tired from her morning preschool or happy to watch Yo Gabba Gabba so I have some downtime. So with the little ones our days have a good rhythm and I feel like they get the best of me, we play and laugh and there is plenty of quiet time during the day to spend with each of them, cuddling and talking and being together. Then, when Hayley comes home we kick back into high gear. We have a few hours for errands, extracurriculars, dinner, homework, baths, stories, and bedtime. In between there are sibling squabbles to settle because everyone is tired and cranky and constantly hungry. Again, not quality time. It makes me feel horrible because that is what Hayley gets from me 5 days a week, rushed morning and hectic evenings. It is hard for her to get a word in edgewise to tell me about her day, much less have my ear long enough to tell me her deep feelings. I would like to keep her up later than the littles so we can talk and have "our time" but she has the longest and most exhausting day of anyone so she is always the one the most ready for bed. I feel like she gets the worst of me. I know the day is coming at me fast that there will be even fewer opportunities to be at my best for her, she will be doing more with her peers and less with us, busier with school work, less likely to chose an afternoon with us rather than a chance to hang out with her buddies. I want to give her my all every chance I get and instead I feel like she gets the leftovers after a long day of meeting the needs of her younger siblings. But, I'm going to keep on trying, maybe tomorrow I will do a little better.

"It's so sweet you don't even know how sweet it is"

2010-03-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

Ace is at the kitchen table putting together his lego firetruck and Julia is watching, this is the conversation:

Julia: I like your firetruck Ace.

Ace: I know. It's awesome.

Julia: Yeah, it's awesome.

Ace: And sweet. It's so sweet you don't even know how sweet it is.

Julia: Yes I do.

Ace: No, no you don't. You don't even know.

Julia: Oh. It's awesome?

Ace: Yes. And sweet.

Julia: I know.

Ace: No you don't.

2010-03-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

I got Hayley an alarm clock for her room so she knows when it is time to wake up. The problem was not that she would oversleep but that she tends to undersleep and wake everyone in the house up when I still have 45 minutes left of precious sleep. Ace got our old alarm clock too for the same reason and I set them up this afternoon. 5 minutes later Ace came racing into my room freaking out because his clock kept changing. I calmly explained to his that that is what clocks do, the numbers change to show the accurate time. 2 minutes later he yells "Mo-om, the numbers changed again, this clock is so broken!" After about 15 minutes and 15 freak-outs he finally calmed down and accepted that it was okay if the numbers changed every minute. Then Hayley realizes that her clock is one minute slower than Ace's and this sets off a whole new round of problems.
Who knew that a new alarm clock would cause so much commotion?

My task for this week is organizing the playroom. I've been sending the big kids down there after Hayley gets home from school so I can get things done upstairs and avoid them begging for food and television. But even though the room is overflowing with toys, they can never seem to find anything to do and they end up doing the same thing everyday. Unfortunately that is finding Ace's plastic sword and chasing each other with it. So I've got to clear out some of the clutter so they aren't so overwhelmed with choices. I'm also going to throw away all the weaponry.

I landed myself in the emergency room last week and I fully blame it on giving up caffeine. I was so tired in the shower at 8 in the morning and I went to adjust the temperature with soap all over my hand. I'm not sure why I was putting so much force into changing the temperature but when my hand slipped off the handle I went face first into our built in shelves. From the looks of it I had no doubt it was broken but it turns out it is just really badly bruised. When I was getting x-rays at the er I got my left and right side confused and was embarrassed because the tech had to help me get my chin on the correct spot for the machine. She was very nice about it and said not to worry, that happens a lot because of all the drunks that come in from barfights with broken noses. I'm not sure what she was suggesting there. Anyway, as embarrassing as my swollen nose and black eye are, at least I can claim it happened in a barfight.

(picture: Julia, a few seconds before her latest barfight)

OLD.

2010-02-24T14:29:00.001-05:00

Here, because it is rainy and I have some extra time to blog is a short list of why I feel extra old today.

1. I've given up caffeine. I don't drink coffee so I got all my caffeine from soda. Lately I've been smacked in the face with the truth of how much damage regular soda drinking can do to your body so I knew it was time to give it up (the daily consumption, not soda altogether, that would be crazy talk). But seriously, how is a mama supposed to make it through the day with no caffeine? I'm struggling. Which leads me to #...

2. Lucy STILL does not sleep through the night. 17 months and counting of the same schedule she had as a newborn.

3. Whenever I was pregnant I would get the worst heartburn. Then magically, after the baby was born it would disappear and I never had any problems with it. But ever since Lucy was born, I still get it. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with getting older and the soda drinking (another reason to cut back). It isn't so much painful as it is embarrassing. I was out to dinner with Andy Saturday and just knew that my fajitas and beer were going to end badly so I went to pop a preemptive Tums. As I walked past the bar I noticed that everyone at the bar was about a decade younger than me. They were laughing, eating mountains of nachos and chugging soda and beer like it was going out of style. It was barely 7pm so I'm sure they were at their first of many stops for the night. And there I was, clutching my little roll of Tums, planning to go home after dinner, unbutton my jeans, lay down on the couch and maybe make it through the first half of a movie with Andy before falling asleep.

See? OLD.

School Vacation Week

2010-02-24T14:22:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday we had so much fun at the Boston Children's Museum. After a long vacation week without much to do around the house we decided we needed to end the week with some adventure.

I would have more pictures but it was nerve wracking trying to keep our eyes on all the kids at all times. The kids did a great job of sticking together and not wandering away but there was so much to see and do and so many kids around it got a little crazy. There was something fun for all of them, and by the time we left they were all totally wiped out. They slept a little in the car and we had a yummy Mexican dinner at a nearby restaurant when we got home.

Not much to report about the rest of our vacation week, I spent most of it at home trying to keep the peace. Andy took each of the kids out on their own special dates. Ace went to pick out his birthday present with Grandpa and Andy (a new bike), Hayley went ice skating and out for lunch, and Julia went out to breakfast. Lucy actually had her date with me because I wanted to shop for some new clothes so I took her to her first tumbling class and then we went to the mall.

I have to admit, dropping the kids of at their schools this week was a welcome relief for all of us!

Valentines

2010-02-14T13:05:00.001-05:00

For Valentine's Day I got a new camera so stay tuned, more and better pictures are coming soon to liven this blog up a little.
I hope everyone is enjoying a day filled with love and chocolate. I let Lucy eat a big chunk of a milk chocolate bar when I finally got out of bed close to 11am this morning (Andy got up with the kids and let me sleep late because I stayed up way too late playing Rock Band and watching Couple's Retreat with him last night) so now I am her favorite Valentine EVER.
My mom made homemade Valentines for each of them with their pictures on them and last night I was putting them up on the mantle and it took my breath away, how beautiful they each are.

Speaking of beauty, here is my Valentine this year and forever. He'll be 49 next month. Okay, not really, he'll only be 38 but I like to annoy him by telling people he's at least a decade older than he really is. It's okay because he could easily pass for 5 years younger than his real age. He laughs at all my jokes, even the lame ones. He tells me I'm good at Rock Band even though he has to turn it on No Fail mode so I can make it through a song without getting booed off the stage. He is strong and smart and can do tough math problems in his head in less time than it takes me to do them on a calculator. He can fix anything. When Hayley was little I knocked a breast pump off of a really high counter and broke it and then I got mad because I was hormonal and tired and I threw it and it broke even more. And Andy fixed it. Sometimes I'm afraid that people will think he's grumpy because he is very quiet and doesn't talk much at all (see where Julia gets it?) but he is actually one of the most open hearted people I know and once he is on your side, he will stick with you through anything. I'm lucky he's stuck with me. Happy Valentine's Day, Andy, I Love You.

When you were 4....

2010-02-01T20:37:00.000-05:00

You had a birthday party with a Knights and Princesses theme. Your friends came and we played games and ate a yummy chocolate cake that Grandma made for you.

You joined a T-ball team. You tried to catch every ball, even the ones you hit with the bat. You made a good friend, Jack and your teammates called you "Mr. Incredible" because you wore an Incredibles baseball cap.

You started sleeping in your own bed, all through the night (most nights) and talked in your sleep frequently. Mommy and Daddy would be in our bed in then next room and giggle at the silly things you would say in the middle of the night.

Your Grandpa Alvin, Grandma Karen, and Aunt Chelsea came to visit. You went fishing with your Grandpa Alvin and he told us it was a dream come true for him, he didn't even care if he caught any fish (but he did, and so did you)

You went fishing later with Mommy and Daddy. We ate slim jims and you pretended they weren't too spicy for you. You caught a fish that day too.

We spent most of our summer at the beach. Grandma and Grandpa would meet us there late in the afternoon and they would take you out into the water. You loved to play in the sand too, building castles and digging holes. And Grandma would take you for walks to find shells and crabs.

In the Fall, you started going to preschool 4 days a week instead of 2. You were so popular with your friends and teachers, they called you "The Mayor". You always had a big smile and hug for your friends and they loved you right back.

Sara and Naomi came to visit and we went to see The Nutcracker. You sat through the whole performance and used excellent manners. I think your favorite dancer was the Arabian princess, you wanted the binoculars to watch that performance. Daddy thought that was really funny.

We went on a trip to North Carolina for Christmas and you met your new cousin Caroline for the first time. You loved to play with her and you sat down to teach her how to have a tea party. Your favorite Christmas presents were your firefighter toys and your helicopter. You and your Daddy spent hours putting together the helicopter and you have taken very good care of it.

I put you to bed on the last day you were four and told you I better hold you for as long as I could because tomorrow you will be Five and who knows how big you'll be. I might not be able to lift you. You told me maybe I won't even recognize you because you may have a mustache and be tall and I may think you are a firefighter.

I can't wait to see what you do when you are five. It will be the best year ever, all over again.

2010-01-28T17:37:00.000-05:00

We were driving to storytime this morning and talking about the friends that would be there. Ace stopped and said "I wish my heart were bigger, like this big [stretches out his arms really big] because there are so many people that I like. I want to love so many people and have so many friends."
Ace, trust me, your heart is plenty big.

3am

2010-01-23T13:43:00.000-05:00

At 3am Lucy's cries woke me from a dream of my past self, a time before I was a wife and a mom and had a baby who woke me regularly at 3am just to say Hi! It wasn't a particularly good dream and I woke up feeling anxious and regretful. It seemed like all the mistakes I made had decided to pop into my subconscious all at once and I couldn't shake the bad feeling. I wished I could go back and do so many things over. It was 3am and I thought "I did so many things wrong".

I went to Lucy and brought her back to my bed. She nursed and stuck her feet in my face to kiss them, she giggled and opened one eye when I thought she had finally fallen back to sleep. My dream and the anxious feeling it brought on started to fade away. I turned around to try and convince her that playtime was over and she snuggled into my back and soon started snoring away. I turned back towards her and watched her sleep. I didn't want to go back in time, I wanted to stay right where I was. It was 3:30 and I thought "Well, I must have done something right."

Parent/Teacher Conference Highlights

2010-01-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

Some quotes from Julia's portfolio:

"...a delight to have in class. She has spunk and is always smiling. ..a smart little girl, who picks up on concepts and will answer most of the questions asked on circle time. ...she has confidence in herself and has been a pleasure to work with in class."

And from Ace's:

"Ace is one of the those children who you would describe as wearing his heart on his sleeve. He is one of the most social and caring boys I have had in a class in a long time. He cares more about his friends than he does about himself."

I'm so proud of my little scholars. I pray everyday that they succeed in school and do well academically but above all else, I want them to have confidence in themselves and be kind to others. I'm so happy that they are in a school environment that nurtures those qualities and recognizes them for their individuality and strength.

We Love Lucy

2010-01-19T17:41:00.000-05:00

Lucy has 2 new habits. One is sticking things under her armpits. If she doesn't like the dinner I serve, she will tear the food into small pieces and stick them in her armpit. At bathtime, entire slices of torn up pizza will fall out from her shirt when we take it off. She also does it with small toys that she wants to keep from her siblings. Julia has a wooden birthday cake with small decorations. Lucy doesn't show much interest in eating them but we still try and keep them away from her. When she finds one she doesn't want it taken away so she stores in under her arm. All of her shirts have stretched out necklines from where she tugs on them to stick things in her armpit.

Her second new habit is wiping her bottom. Perhaps this is an early step towards potty training so I encourage it. Plus, it is funny. Anytime she has a paper towel or a baby wipe she goes right to wiping. She also tries to wipe her brother and sister's bottoms. And the dogs. Dolls. Her Dad. But mostly her own bottom.

There are many reasons we love Lucy but one of them is definitely her ability to do something that we would otherwise consider socially unacceptable and slightly gross and turn it into charming and adorable. Don't even get me started about how much she loves to make people smell her feet.

Here is a picture of what Lucy was doing a lot of one year ago:

Some of this and some of that....

2010-01-12T20:33:00.000-05:00

After our holiday travels and Julia's birthday celebrations, we are falling into our winter hibernation mode. Partly to avoid germs and try to have a healthy winter but also, I admit, because the cold weather makes me lazy and what I most want to do is cuddle under the blankets and sleep the season away. I want to come back in a future life as a bear.
We can not possibly survive a winter with four very active kids on DVDs and hot chocolate alone though, so we do have some fun plans for the next few months. I have set aside some "mad money" to fund ice skating and bowling afternoons on the weekends and the kids have their busy school routines. We got a new dog, Coco, who is big and needs a lot of exercise so on days when the weather is tolerable we want to take her out to run and play. And of course we have 3 more big birthdays to celebrate (Ace in Feb, Andy and Hayley in March). So, winter may be long and cold but we'll make it fun.
I've been impressed with how hard Ace is trying to be more cooperative, I think he must have made a secret New Year's resolution. He is having fewer outbursts and is not using his "bully" attitude to try and get his way as much anymore. He is even remembering to use his words to show affection, instead of just frustration. Tonight I told him he was my favorite boy in the world and he said "You are too, Mommy". Then he thought for a minute and realized that wasn't quite right so he said "No, your not my favorite boy, you're just a girl that I love." I was the best moment of my night.
There are about 10 stories that I would love to share about Hayley because she is at this age where almost everyday she does something new and great (like today, when she decided at 7:30 am to write an Ode to Butterflies and asked me how to spell eerie) but once in a while I'll tell someone about something cute she did or some funny story and then realize that she was embarrassed because she thought I was making fun of her. I don't want her to feel that way so if you realize she is underrepresented in this blog, that is why. It's not because I don't have great stories about her, it's that they are now her stories to share when and where she chooses. Maybe she'll start blogging, she would rock the blogosphere.

3

2010-01-02T23:44:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Julia Marie

You are so cool.

3 years

2009-12-29T21:39:00.001-05:00

3 years ago I spent New Years Eve preparing for Julia's arrival. This year is a little different, I'll be preparing for her to turn 3, a departure from the baby years. Not the Big 4 yet. That is the year that with Hayley and Ace I searched for but could not find the visible signs of their babyhood. 3 is a bit easier, Julia still has her diaper bottom (at night, at least) and her munchkin voice and her need for me more often than not. But still, 3 is not a baby anymore.
So instead of timing contractions and packing and repacking my hospital bag, I'll be wrapping big girl presents and putting up decorations. She doesn't want a big party, she would rather go to the 99 with us. Big parties can be overwhelming for her and all that attention focused on her is not her idea of a good time. We lucked out this year and her friend from school is having a party on the same day as Julia's birthday so we get to go to a party but not have to be the "Official" Birthday Girl. She also gets to go to the toy store and pick out her own presents. She got so many surprises for Christmas that we are fresh out of ideas and thought she may have fun choosing her own special gift. And then the next week she will get a party with Grandma and Grandpa which is, well, grand.
Oh my Sweet Julia. Our second daughter, our peaceful princess. She is the one that Andy sees the most of his personality in and the one I spend the most time trying to figure out. She is our quiet introvert and me, being so NOT an introvert, am so intrigued by what makes her tick. She doesn't like to be alone and she will not be ignored but she doesn't like it when all the attention is on her. She has a lot to say and she loves to laugh and giggle, you never know when she may break out of her shell for a few minutes of pure silliness. When we are out and about, you won't hear a peep out of her because she is too busy taking every moment in and watching people. She likes seeing new places but is happiest in her house (or Grandma and Grandpa's). She does have a few other favorite places, Dunkin Donuts, the 99, Trader Joes, School.
I could write a billion pages on the wonders of Julia but most of you know her and have seen those wonders in her smile, heard them in her laugh, caught a glimpse of them in her smiling brown eyes. She is our Sweet JuJu bean. She's been with us for almost 1092 days. Every one of them a miracle.

Christmas Memories 2009

2009-12-26T22:49:00.000-05:00

Julia repeatedly getting confused and thinking it was her birthday (which is exactly one week from tomorrow). Grandma was cooking a cake and Julia thought it was her birthday cake. The presents were "Burfday pwesents" and she was going to be 3 on Christmas morning.

Ace trying and failing to keep his cool on Christmas Eve. Andy appeased him with a small rocket toy while they shopped for stocking stuffers and Grandpa had to threaten that if he didn't stop his shenanigans he wouldn't get to open any presents. Finally, he got to open a present. It was pajamas. He was not happy. But he is a man of manners so after a few minutes he thanked Grandma for the most super awesome pajamas. He spent a good portion of the night making sure that Santa knew he already had pajamas and would not need anymore, just toys.

Hayley and I playing checkers and she kept calling me "Mom" (she has never called me anything but Mama or Mommy but her cool Uncle Stan was nearby). I pretended not to know who she was talking to until she got so annoyed she would finally say "Mommy!" She also beat me at checkers.

Lucy trying to steal her cousin new fluffy purple high heels when no one was looking.

Lucy eating 3 big plates of Christmas dinner.

Lucy running towards the staircase any chance she got, just so someone would chase her and pick her up so she could laugh and laugh and snuggle.

Ace picked out my Christmas gift. It is a fluffy hot pink robe with lips and polka dots and a hood. I love it and laugh everytime I wear it.

My niece trying to keep Lucy away from her legos. When we told her Lucy was not bothering the legos and not to scold her, N. said "But I can see her getting attracted to them!"

My Holiday Challenge to You

2009-12-19T18:40:00.002-05:00

Every day from now until Christmas, answer your home, work, and cell phone with the following greeting:

"Hi! I'm Buddy the Elf. What's your favorite color?"*

If it does not brighten you Christmas season, nothing will.

*Line shamelessly stolen from Will Ferrell's stellar performance in Elf

Christmas

2009-12-19T17:00:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to write and keep sitting down to update and then stall out when it comes to starting a paragraph. There is so much going on and so much excitement that I feel a little drunk on Christmas spirit (not eggnog, really) and it's hard to follow through with an update.
We are spending the afternoon cleaning and packing and getting geared up to celebrate an early Christmas tonight. We will let the kids open some presents and have a quiet family meal before we head down South on Monday for a big family Christmas with my side of the family. We are also awaiting a powerful winter storm that may throw all of our plans out the window. I'm just breathing deeply and trying not to stress. I'm fairly powerless over a blizzard so my freaking out is not going to make any difference, I'll just enjoy watching the snow fall and not borrow worry from Monday. I'm just praying to make it to NC by Thursday.
My favorite niece that is 3 was here last week and we had such a great time with her. I love her so much, being around her constantly makes me laugh. My sister and I took the 3 oldest kids to see The Nutcracker last weekend and in the middle of a dance N. stage whispered to my sister "Boys should NOT wear white tights!" They were surprisingly well behaved through the 2+ hour performance, the only disruption was during a performance by a scantily clad dancer when Ace yelled at me "I need the binoculars, NOW!"
We also saw Santa at the fire station and, although she still did not want to sit on his lap, Julia did not insist on leaving the minute Santa arrived. Maybe he's growing on her. She still doesn't get what all the fuss over his is about and if you ask her what she wants him to bring her she answers with a firm "NOTHING!" She would just like him to take his sleigh and keep right on going, thank you very much.
I love Christmas and I hope I'm keeping it simple enough that the kids are having time to just soak it all up. We try to have some quiet time every night when we sit by our little tree (we just put up a little one since Grandma has the big one) and read stories and listen to music. I kept the shopping to a minimum and we only got 3 gifts for each child, one big one and two smaller ones (because as my pastor said, "If 3 is good enough for Jesus...") The kids are spending way more time talking about our trip and seeing family than what Santa is bringing so I know that the big gift this year is the time we'll have with our favorite people. And if the blizzard hits and we are stranded in Cape Cod, maybe Santa will stop by and offer us a ride on his sleigh. Maybe then he would win Julia's heart!

Sisters

2009-12-05T18:27:00.002-05:00

Lucy loves games. She dreams of the day she will be included in all the games she sees her older brother and sisters play. The other night we all played Junior Monopoly and she was in her exersaucer (which she is really outgrowing but we set aside specifically for these times) with cookies to keep her entertained. She got agitated after a while and the game was ending anyway so I let her get out and join us on the floor. She immediately picked up the oversized die we were using and rolled it just as she had seen us do and then started moving a piece around the game board and "counting" the spaces. She kept looking at me as if she was saying "See, I know what to do!"
Now Julia and Lucy are playing Hide and Seek. Lucy will go into a room and Julia will come running out and hide in the exact same spot every time. A second later Lucy will come out of the room and look in the exact same (wrong) spot and then just stand there, wondering what the next step is. Luckily she doesn't have to wonder for long because Julia lasts about 5 seconds before she jumps from behind the couch and yells "Surprise!" They laugh and squeal as if it really is a huge surprise. When they switch places Julia counts in the room and Lucy runs out here, then runs right into the room where Julia is counting and screams her closest imitation of "Surprise!" and they squeal and laugh some more.
I love watching my daughters be sisters. They take such good care of each other but they also delight in each other, I hope they always do.

Full

2009-11-30T21:01:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving was 4 days ago but I am still full

of pride

of smiles

of laughter

of gratitude.

Lies I've told my kids over the long weekend purely for my own entertainment.

2009-11-29T22:50:00.003-05:00

1. "We can't buy toys today because if you buy toys in December, Santa may get confused about what you have and not know what to give you for Christmas."

2. "Buffalo wings are the wings of tiny, flying buffalo. They only live in Texas, we used to see them all the time. Don't you remember?"

3. "Daddy spent all day cooking that turkey so we better eat the whole thing tonight. But I'm not hungry at all, so it's up to you guys."

4. "There are no children's shows on TV after 10am."

5. "Sure Ace, it's possible that your Nutcracker he may come alive and take you on a magical adventure. I wouldn't count on it, but it's possible".

Week of Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T16:58:00.004-05:00

Confessions of a CF Husband http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/ posed this questions today:

"What would it look like if I spoke only words of gratitude the week of Thanksgiving?" and he invited his readers to join him in the challenge of trying to do exactly that, starting today.

I didn't read the entry until this afternoon so I'm a little late but I'm going to do my best to follow through and spend the entire week expressing gratitude for the abundant blessings in my life, even the ones I often overlook and take for granted.
I spend so much of my holiday season talking about how busy I am. There is so much to do, so many places to be. What I overlook is that each of those chores and errands and events represents a blessing. Why do I chose to complain about how long it can take to prepare a meal instead of stopping to give thanks that we are provided with plenty of food to eat? Why complain about my messy, loud house instead of stopping and appreciating that my children are here in it, healthy and happy enough to create messes in every room? Even on days when I seem to do everything wrong, I can go to bed thankful for the hope that I will do better tomorrow, and the opportunity to try.
So this week I'm going to dig a little deeper than just going around the table on Thursday night and thinking of something I'm thankful for. I'm going to try and think thankful thoughts and speak words of gratitude and to really feel the gratitude, not just speak empty words.
I'll start by saying Thank You to Nathan for the inspiration (today, and any day I read his blog).
Happy Thanksgiving Week to everyone.

They say what they mean, and they mean what they say.

2009-11-19T16:40:00.007-05:00

For a few weeks now Julia and I have had a deal on the table. If she sleeps in her own bed all night, she gets lunch at the 99. As much as she loves the 99, she apparently likes sleeping at the foot of our bed with her head on my ankles even more because she has not cashed in on the deal until today. Last night she went to bed, in her bed, at 7pm and didn't emerge until 7:15 am. It was an amazing feat considering that Lucy (who shares her room) was up crying at least 8 times between 10pm and 5am so she really earned today's lunch. Of course there were other factors. Like the fact that she has been fighting a stomach bug all week that has wiped out all her energy which may have helped her reach this goal. I know it seems ridiculous to reward behavior that was brought on by a stomach bug with a hearty meal of grilled cheese, fries, and an ice cream sandwich but my parenting style is pretty much a study in ridiculousness so, well, there you go.
So it was off to the 99 after school today. She was so proud and excited, she announced to the greeter and our waiter that we were there because she sleeps in HER bed. Then we sat in our booth and she looked around and her face fell. She looked at me and said:

"There's no one here."
(It was lunch hour so the place wasn't packed but it wasn't exactly empty.)

"Babe, there are a lot of people here, see?"

"No one that I want is here."

"Oh, like who?"

"Grandma and Grandpa, I want to come back when we can meet them here"

See, even the awesomeness of the 99 is nothing when compared to being with her peeps.

Ace is doing so well at school but by Thursday after school he starts having trouble dealing with his emotions. He is overtired and rude and spends a good part of Thursday afternoon kicking his toys to express himself. At first I said it was okay for him to kick things as long as he wasn't near people but then it started to annoy me and ruin his toys so I'm working harder at getting him to express his feelings in words. Obviously we are making progress because today we had this conversation:

"Mommy, can you buy me a Thunderbird jet?"

"No."

"Mooommmm, I can't ever feel good at all when you say that to me! You make me so angry in my whole body when you say NO!"

It really doesn't get more clear or expressive than that.

It won't be like this for long...

2009-11-15T15:36:00.003-05:00

This song by Darius Rucker

was popular when Lucy was just a few months old and I would listen to it, tears streaming down my face as I was up late with her. We would be up at 4 am for the 3rd time that night and I would rock her and nurse her and treasure each moment, thinking that in a few short weeks she would be sleeping in her crib not in my arms and those days of late night feedings would be a thing of the past. Well, now she is 14 months and we are still in "those days". She is still up many times between her bedtime at 7:30 and the time we start our day around 7:30 am. I'm still up with tears streaming down my face at 4 am, but now they are tears of pure exhaustion.
You never know, tomorrow she may decide that she doesn't need to check on us every few hours. She may give up nursing every 3 hours and suddenly decide that milk in a cup isn't the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard of. And then these days really will be over. Maybe that will be harder than I think. Maybe I will miss these days and find out that sleeping for more that 2 hours at a time is overrated. But you know, I think I'm ready to find out.

Lucy vs. The Wall

2009-11-09T19:55:00.004-05:00

I woke up today optimistic. Monday isn't my favorite day of the week but today felt like a fresh start. We had all had a good night of sleep, everyone was healthy. We had plans. Plans that involved getting out of the house and being busy and productive. And then Lucy hit a wall. I mean that literally. She hit a wall. With her head. Hard.
I wasn't in the room, I was putting on makeup and I heard a thunk and some crying and Ace came running talking about blood so I ran. There was so much blood. And she was crying so hard. I just swooped her up, yelled at Andy "ANDY! Hospital! Now!" And he came running and tried to calm me down and then he saw the blood and the cut and went suddenly very pale. He grabbed a dishtowel and told me to hold it on her head and get in the car. He ran out with a shoeless Julia and a freaked out Ace and we were at the hospital in record time. Before I keep going at this dramatic pace, I have to point out that it really wasn't so bad. It was a deep, scary cut and faces tend to bleed a lot but it was okay. It was really okay. I have to keep reminding myself of that, even hours later.
At the hospital we were rushed to our little "room" and the bleeding and Lucy's crying had stopped so I was breathing normally again. I think Lucy was wondering where we were and why everyone was in such a rush and all she wanted was everyone to stop rushing and yelling and crying and give her some milk and hugs. So I sat and did just that while we waited for the doctor. After a minute she sat up and smiled at me and I took another big breath. The doctor came in and checked her out and a few minutes later she was wrapped up in a "papoose" and it took 3 nurses to hold her down because my girl is no one to be trifled with. I stood at her feet and secretly unwrapped her toes so I could hold them. She got four stitches and a popsicle. By the time we left the hospital she was laughing and wanted me to chase her around the lobby. I just held her so tightly and didn't want to set her down. All day everything seemed very dangerous, even our new soft rug in the living room seemed hazardous. So I just held her all day which annoyed her. But I needed to keep her safe. Because this morning for a minute I didn't and I can't always. I just needed to hold her close, maybe tomorrow I'll be able to let her go a little. But probably not.

2009-11-05T12:59:00.005-05:00

I have a Halloween post waiting in the wings but it needs pictures and my camera is malfunctioning so that will have to wait. I'm now thinking that all those times I've handed over the camera in order to quiet a whiny toddler and let them take 1000 pictures of their fingers over the lens maybe were a bad idea because now it won't even turn on.
After a great Halloween, our week started off with Andy getting sick. Now Andy, Ace, and Lucy have some sort of virus, Julia still has a runny nose, and I am extra tired because everyone is up so much during the night it is hard to get a good night of sleep. Hayley is the only one who has kept a normal schedule so it has been an off sort of week. Thankfully, everyone seems to be on the upswing. Yesterday I finally got out for a bit with Ace and Hayley to Trader Joes and realized how long it had been since I had been out of the house wearing actual pants. I had pretty much lived in sweatpants since Sunday. Today was storytime and Ace and I went to the park before school. It was so nice to have a busy morning for once that didn't involve a marathon of Fresh Beat Band. I'm ready for wellness.
The end of Daylight savings time is also throwing me off a little. Lucy refuses to acknowledge the time change so now she's been waking up at 5 am and is ready to start our day. By the time I convince her that it is not time to get up and she finally dozes off, it is 7 am and I have time for a 25 minute nap before everyone else is up. We've been taking a lot of afternoon naps. Also, just to keep things exciting, Andy has left a few of the clocks set to Daylight Savings time. This guarantees that at least once a day I will glance at the clock and freak out because I think I'm an hour late to pick someone up at school. It keeps me on my toes.

And here, since I have no new pictures, is an old picture of Hayley holding a Happy Bucket:

Playing Favorites

2009-10-31T10:41:00.002-04:00

Since I came back from my trip to NC, the kids have invented a new game. When we are getting ready to go out they always ask "Are you going, Mommy?" and when I say yes they dramatically sigh and say "Oh, we don't want YOU to go. Just Daddy. He's more fun" I think that this is their passive aggressive way of saying they are still a little peeved at me for my trip because they did the same thing to Andy for weeks after his trip in August but still, it stings a little. And sometimes I get back at them by making them listen to NPR in the car instead of their Animal Cracker CD. Hey, two can play the passive aggressive game.

Even after 7 years parenting together I still am competing with Andy for the Fun Parent Award. I spend hours and hours training, yet I'm always at a disadvantage. I blame 2 things: one, my terrible aim and two, my weak bladder. My terrible aim came into play in one of the main events in the Fun Parent Olympics: The Bedtime Toss. Andy is a pro, he can spin the kids around and release them at top speed, yet they still land softly and gently on whatever soft surface they are being tossed onto. He makes it look so easy, I was sure I could compete. Then came the night in 2007 when Ace asked me to step in for Andy for his bedtime toss. I did the spin, maybe not as fast as Andy, but still not bad, then the release, then the...THUNK. Ace missed the bed by a good foot and a half and landed on his (Thank God, carpeted) floor with the THUNK. One really embarrassing call to the pediatrician and an icepack later and I knew that my bedtime tossing days were over.
My weak bladder has caused me to be disqualified from countless Tickle Mommy and Jump On her Belly competitions. Let me state for the record that I never have actually wet my pants, but it has still put a swift end to many tickle fights. You can't be the fun parent and the potential pants wetter at the same time.
So no matter how many games of Crazy Eights I play with the kids, no matter how much time I spend pretending to be Freddy from ICarly or staying up late to sew patches on Ace's Fireman costume, I still only get the Silver, never the coveted Gold Medal of Funness.
My niece is only 6 months but my sister already knows my pain. She carried C. for 9 months (and a few extra days), nurses her day and night, cares for her lovingly even when she is sick and exhausted, but still my brother in law is the one rewarded with the biggest grins and all he has to do is walk in the room. I'm not saying that my brother in law isn't a great dad too and he certainly deserves those big grins but come on, what's a mom gotta do to win? Katherine,I suggest you start practicing the toss immediately.

Sometimes being the less fun parent has it's advantages. Like today for example, the kids have requested that Andy take them trick or treating. And someone has to stay home and guard the candy and test it frequently to make sure it is still fresh. I supposed that that is the job of the less fun parent, and that doesn't seem so bad.

Now and Then revisited.

2009-10-29T13:44:00.005-04:00

Remember a few days ago when I was having a crazy day but I was feeling so happy and appreciative and blessed? Remember how I was peacefully folding laundry and smiling upon my children as they played happily at my feet? Yeah. That was nice. Today, on the other hand, I yelled at Andy because he had to go to work early, kicked the pumpkin on our front stoop because it tripped me, and told Julia that the Wonderpets were not coming on TV today because they gave mommies headaches. Yeah, today is not my best day.

So, to cheer myself up I'm posting these pictures. Because for some reason beyond my earthly comprehension, God made these children and thought they belonged here with me. Maybe He didn't know they would be exposed to unprovoked pumpkin- kicking. Maybe He didn't know just how much I would need to look at these faces every single day, headache or not. Or, maybe He did.

Then and Now

2009-10-26T09:29:00.004-04:00

When I was 20, I was under the pressure of attending classes (a solid 60% percent of the time, I think. And sometimes in my pajamas), student teaching 4 days a week, and keeping my job as the worst waitress in the history of the profession. Every few weeks my roommate and I would take what I felt was a much deserved break and do nothing but sleep past noon, watch movies, drink mountain dew, and eat pringles and peanut m&ms for a day. It was my Do Nothing Day, and it was glorious. College life was good.
Fast forward 11 years, today is Monday and Hayley and Ace are the only ones who have school and there are no extracurricular activities. So from 6-12:30, I have a Do Nothing Morning. Here is a little peek at my morning thus far:
6am-8am: Woke up to Lucy throwing up. Changed sheets. Bathed upset baby. Cuddled upset baby. Tried to convince upset baby that eating my apple cider doughnut may not be the best idea. Failed. Cleaned up regurgitated apple cider doughnut. Called pediatrician to report Lucy's status, pediatrician recommends pedialyte and cutting back on the doughnuts.
8am-10am: Breakfast for big kiddos, tried to keep baby occupied so she wouldn't notice the apple cider doughnuts. Failed. Wrestled doughnut out of baby's vice grip. Comforted angry, crying baby. Hayley off to school. Fancy Nancy tea party with Juju. Dinosaur tea party with Ace. Fold 2 loads of laundry. Turn my back for 1 minute. Refold 2 loads of laundry that Lucy has thrown across room. Remember that I haven't changed out of my pajamas the Lucy threw up on and decide I need to take a shower. Decide to go get computer instead and write about my morning.

So, no there are no movie marathons or potato chips in my Do Nothing Mornings anymore. Sometimes I miss the days when I thought I needed 12 hours of sleep to function and could actually get them. But nothing compares to my Do Nothing Mornings now. I don't even mind refolding the laundry because as I do it I get to watch Lucy entertain her brother and sister by pulling a pair of Ace's underwear over her head like a ski mask and giggle wildly. And I learned that dinosaurs discuss fire safety over tea and don't allow any unruly guests to try and bite the other dinosaurs' bottoms.

Life is good today. Life is very good today.

2009-10-18T17:36:00.004-04:00

It is rainy, cold, and windy here in New England and Julia is sick so my mind just won't focus on a good blog subject. So, because I'm lazy, here's a wrap up of our week and other tidbits in no particular order of importance:

Hayley got an extra 3 hours of school this week thanks to a new program at her school where she gets to stay 2 days for an extra hour and a half. They have some homework and reading mentoring time and then an hour of active games and play. She loved it. I think if they offered her Saturday school, she would cry tears of joy.

We went to a Fire Safety event at the mall and Ace had the chance to point a fire extinguisher at a screen with a pretend fire and put it out. Do you ever have moments when you see your child do something and the look on their face tells you that they are doing what they were made to do? It was one of those moments. He was so focused, you could tell that in his mind, he was Firefighter Ace and he was saving the day.

Julia is sick and we don't know what it is. She keeps spiking a fever and gets super tired and just lays on the couch looking tiny and miserable but then within a few minutes of taking ibuprofen, she is up and running. Then 6 hours later she fades again and runs the fever. No other symptoms. If the same holds true tomorrow we will check in with the doctor.

Lucy just ran past me and I realized I put her diaper on crooked and her left cheekie is completely exposed. It's really cute. And it reminds me of my baby niece because the same thing kept happening to her last weekend and it was really cute too. And now I miss her and want to fly to California just to scoop her up and zerbert her belly.

Because Julia is sick and the weather here is icky, we have done nothing at all today. Except I had to run to the grocery store for more ibuprofen and football game watching food (I only watch football so I have an excuse to eat potato skins, chips and queso, taquitos, and bagel bites) and on the way home I stopped to get Andy a coffee at Dunkin Donuts. As I stepped through the door I fell. I didn't hurt anything but my pride and as I was getting up off the floor I looked at the Wet Floor warning sign right in front of me and realized that I had fallen in exactly the same shape as the figure on the sign. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wet_floor_-_piso_mojado.jpg

That is EXACTLY how I looked as I went down. Now I wonder if everyone falls in a similar fashion on wet floors or if this was a coincidence? Either way, I'll be steering clear of the Dunkin Donuts until my pride has had time to recuperate. I'll just send Andy to get my pumpkin donuts for me.

You CAN go home again.

2009-10-12T19:46:00.003-04:00

Lucy and I had a wonderful trip back to my hometown this weekend. I think 31 is the magical age where it is possible to return and not feel anxiety rise up from the past. I still feel a happy nostalgia for my 18 years growing up there, but it isn't tainted by regrets and embarrassments from the past. Although if I ever were to come face to face with the skater guy I professed my love for back in the 10th grade, I would probably hide behind the nearest tree for, oh, maybe 5 years.

My newest niece is unbelievably precious, I've loved her since the moment she was born in May but I fell more in love with her this weekend. She is an "old soul" baby, she seems to understand more than the average 5 month old. She is interested in everything that is offered to her but never reveals too much of what she is thinking. It takes effort to draw one of her smiles and giggles out of her but when you do it is so worth it.

I also met the new baby of one of my dearest friends and she is also a beautiful girl. She was contentedly snoozing most of the time we were together so I resisted the urge to swoop her up and kiss her toes, but it was a strong impulse, let me tell you. Jodie and I talked about how in the 20 years since we've met, our lives have gone in so many directions and yet here we were, two mommies sitting back in our hometown with our baby girls.

And I got to laugh and talk with my 3 year old niece who is as smart as the day is long. My number one favorite thing about her this trip was her refusal to use contracted words. If you ask if she would like to go upstairs she will tell you "No, I am not going upstairs", if you have the Wiggles CD set at a booming 24 volume level she will tell you for the 4th time that "No, I can not hear this music", and if you ask if she would share her ice water she will tell you "No, I will not be sharing my ice water". The best thing is that she is not disagreeable in any way, I never once have heard her whine, she is simply very clear about her intentions. I love her.

It was a great 48 hours in North Carolina, but it is also good to be home. I think Julia grew a foot since I left, she seems much, much bigger than she was Saturday. And Ace has been so nice to me since I got home, if I didn't know any better I would bet that he missed me.

Little Splinters

2009-10-08T19:49:00.003-04:00

I'm finding that one of the hardest parts of watching my kids grow up is learning to handle the everyday heartaches that THEY must endure. Not major heartbreaks, just little splinters that naturally come along when you are just beginning to make friends for the first time and every year seems to present a new social rule that no one clued you into.
Today I drove Ace and his 2 carpool buddies to school and we stopped at the park for a picnic. The park is called Armstrong Kelly park so Ace was telling his friends where we were headed. His speech delay is all but unnoticeable now but he has problems that many four year olds do with certain letter sounds. He kept pronouncing "Kelly" "Kerry" and his friend was correcting him. His friend certainly didn't intend to hurt Ace's feelings and I can't even be sure that Ace was hurt but as I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him struggling to get the word right, I gave him a little smile and wink and asked everyone what was in their lunchbox to change the subject. A few minutes later, Ace said "Some people are very strong. And some people know how to say a lot of words" And there was the little splinter. I fought back tears for him and dropped the boys off at school and went on with the day.
Later, when I went to pick him up, the teacher stopped me. She told me that Ace had bitten his friend on the playground (not the same friend from the carpool so I don't think it was related to what happened in the car). He had not bitten hard, and it seems to be that they just got carried away with a game and Ace took it a little too far. The teacher was worried that Ace had taken the incident too hard, because he had spent the rest of recess hiding under the slide crying and had kept talking about it with the boy he had bitten. I had him apologize again and talked to the mother, apologizing to her and making sure she knew that Ace was sorry. I talked a little about it with Ace in the car but let the subject drop after I saw his face, he was still fighting back tears and I could tell nothing I could say could make him feel any worse than he already did. Another splinter.
Julia had a cough this morning and missed school, she watched everyone leave and thought we were leaving because she hadn't gotten her shoes on fast enough, she was rushing and when I told her it was okay, she should lay down and watch cartoons until she felt all better, her little lip was quivering and her eyes were watery. Andy took Hayley to school so I could fix her a special breakfast and cuddle her. But still, another splinter.
I don't know if anything hurts worse than watching your child hurt and not knowing what to say or do to make it better. I know all these little daily hurts are no big deal and I do count our blessings. But it all piled up on me today and I am having a hard time brushing it off. I think it is because Lucy and I leave for 2 days on Saturday and I'm just going to miss the big kids so darn much. Because the one thing that is worse than being there to see your child hurt, it is not being there and wondering if they are hurting and if they need you and miss you as much as you need and miss them.
Ace is in my bed now, with his firefighting gear. I went in to tuck him in and told him how cool his new haircut is. I asked if he had a good day and he said yes. But that some things were bad, like biting. We talked about how everyone knows he is sorry and his friend isn't mad anymore so they can play more next week at school. Those little splinters will heal and tomorrow can be better than today.

And in other Ace related news, he is still a sleep talker. Around 5 am I was just getting to sleep after Lucy and Julia had finally fallen back to sleep when I heard this from a sound asleep Ace: "That's not a pirate ship. I don't know why there is a cat on the firetruck." I laughed myself to sleep.

October

2009-10-01T20:41:00.003-04:00

Can you believe it is October? No? Me neither. Summer is over. Long gone, just a fading memory of days at the beach and nights that don't start at 4pm. And now Lucy is One. Not almost one, about to be one, or just turned one. She is ONE. Not a infant anymore but still a baby. MY baby, always.

Despite my woe at not being the mother of a newborn anymore and the being within spitting distance of not being pregnant and/or nursing for the first time in almost 5 years, I am terribly excited about Fall. I love Fall. And I'm even more excited about my trip next week to meet my newest never before seen (by me) niece.

Now we are enjoying a great visit with my aunt and uncle and tonight we had pumpkin muffins with dinner so my house smells like pumpkins and fall and Halloween and that makes me happy. And sad. Because every change of season makes me feel happy and sad together. I miss the moments that slipped so quickly out of my grasp but I have so much to look forward too and so very much to enjoy in this very moment. So being happy and sad at the same time isn't all together a bad emotion. I'll just sit in it for now and enjoy the smell of the pumpkin muffins, the sound of Lucy snorkling a little in her sleep, and the sight of Julia who looks like a string bean in her green feety pajamas. Ahh, there. There is the happiness.

Lucy Claire is ONE

2009-09-23T22:09:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Sunday at my parent's house with presents and cake. All the big kids were inside when I brought Lucy in and they all yelled "Happy Birthday LUCY!" when we walked in. From that moment on I think she knew this was HER special day. She had not had a good nap that afternoon so I expected she may be overwhelmed by everything but she was such a happy girl the whole night. Her presents thrilled her (for about 10 seconds each and then were quickly forgotten while she attacked the tissue paper and boxes), she loved her cake, and she loved having all eyes on her every move. She has learned to say "I One" and hold up her finger when we asked how old she was and she got so much attention and applause for it that now she does it randomly, just for kicks and giggles. Like yesterday at lunch I suggested she not try to stuff an entire muffin in her mouth and she just answered "I One" and held up her little finger at me.
Did I mention she LOVED her cake. Because, oh boy, she loved that cake. She will nod her head whenever she is happy about something and her head started nodding after her first bite and didn't stop. She seemed to figure out quickly that Grandma was responsible for this chocolatey miracle and whenever she locked eyes with Grandma she would nod her head emphatically and say "Mo!Mo!" (more, more).
On her actual birthday we got her up and sang to her and then after the big girls were at school, I took Lucy and Ace to the park. Later we had a picnic at the beach and more cake after dinner.
I hope Lucy enjoyed her special day, I hope it made her happy. Because she makes me happy every day. She is our dinosaur, our Wooz, our Baby Lucy. We love her so much, she adds so much laughter and joy to our house. She makes our family complete, she makes my heart overflow with love, and she makes every day funnier and brighter.

Lucy Claire

2009-09-22T16:49:00.004-04:00

From October 3, 2008:

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since we first checked into the hospital, thinking we were going to meet our Wild Card Lucy within a few hours (turns out my cervix wasn't in on that plan and it was almost 4 days later that we finally met her). In that time, there were some memorable moments, some of which are only funny a full 2 weeks later! Here they are so you can laugh with (or, more accurately, at) me:

My doctor is, ahem, well, old. Throughout the pregnancy we would joke that he better not retire before my due date. As I was in the hospital that first day he came in a few times to check on me and update us on what was going on. At one point he talked to us for a few minutes and turned to leave and ran smack into the door. Another time he got tangled in the curtain as he was trying to push it aside to walk out. After the second mishap, I looked at Andy (after the doctor was out the door and down the hall) and said "Um, that is the man that will be delivering our baby." Andy looked back and said "Let's hope he has a spotter". We found this incredibly funny. In my defense, it had been a long, long day and we needed some comic relief. As it turned out, our doctor was not on call Monday and Lucy was delivered safely into the hands of some complete stranger. I didn't see my doctor again until Tuesday morning.

*The following stories were so incredibly NOT funny to me at the time but looking back, I can laugh*

I mentioned in my birth story how miserably itchy I was during the last stages of labor (a common side effect of the epidural that no one really warns you about). I kept sitting bolt upright in the bed and yelling at Andy that I couldn't take it anymore. Often I would make my point clear by throwing up after yelling. I told him I needed him to come scratch me. So there we were, I was squirming and moaning because every time he scratched somewhere, another part of me itched more and I wasn't getting any relief. I kept slapping his hand away and then immediately asking why he stopped and demanding he scratched me again. The nurse never even batted an eye, she must be used to seeing irrational women and helpless dads. I give Andy major labor coach points for not telling me I was acting like a crackhead.

Once I realized the epidural had worn off (another common thing that no one warns you is likely to happen) I totally flipped out. In a matter of minutes my bottom half had gone from comfortably numb to, as closely as I can describe it, on fire. I was in such pain and in my mind, I felt like the solution was as easy as changing locations. I kept looking at the floor and thinking how cool and soothing it looked and I honestly wanted to get down on the floor to have the baby. Then I thought gravity would be a help and I wanted to stand up. Then I thought that I really had to pee (turns out I just really had to push a baby out), and I wanted to be on the toilet. During all of this, I'm trying to get Andy to help me with my escape from the damned bed that I was starting to hate. Of course, the downside of a standard hospital deliver (supposedly medicated) is that I'm hooked up to all sorts of machines and my legs are the only part of me that is still numb so it is not possible to get up. But this is not acceptable to me and I keep whispering to Andy that he has to help me get up and go to the bathroom. As the pain progressed, my demands got more unreasonable and at one point I told him I just wanted to get the *blank* out of the hospital. Again, he gets more points for not calling me crazy, he just keeps looking desperately at the nurse and telling me calmly that I need to stay on the bed. When the nurse left the room to get the doctor so I could start pushing I thought this was our opportunity to put my brilliant plan of delivering a baby by myself, in another location into action and I told Andy to help me get up and out of the bed. I've never seen him look so relieved as when the nurse came back in the room to help him calm me down.

Originally from September 28, 2008
I've found plenty of time to just sit and hold her and soak in that baby love. I still feel like she is literally a part of me, the way I felt when I was pregnant. The nurse at the hospital described the mother/baby bond as being a couplet and that is the most accurate way I can describe it. When I'm not holding her I feel like I'm missing a part of me and when I do hold her I feel so at peace. We breathe each other in and soothe each other. I've been feeling twinges of the baby blues (see tub crying incident above) but it melts off me when she's nursing or cuddled close to me. I sometimes want to go back to the hospital where it was just the two of us and have a few more days to do nothing but be with her, without all the distractions of home but then I remember how I ached to be home with my other babies and I just try to recreate that quiet bond here during the moments when the other kids are occupied or sleeping.

Happy First Birthday, Wooz. We love you.

Sad Day

2009-09-17T10:16:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite songs ever.

Julia's Day in Numbers

2009-09-15T20:09:00.002-04:00

3: Hours spent in school

1: Picnic lunch and long walk along the beach with Grandma, Mommy, and Lucy.

8: Number of times she had to get in/out of the car for school pickups and errands.

900: Estimated number of laps she ran around the front/back yard with Hayley and Ace after school today

.5: Number of bites she ate out of her chicken salad and bagel at dinner.

12: Chunks of honeydew melon she ate that made up 99 percent of her dinner instead of the rejected bagel and chicken salad.

4: Number of times she got out of bed and asked for milk, iCarly, a vitamin, toothpaste, and a bagel because she just wasn't tired at all.

3: Minutes it took her to fall asleep once her head touched the pillow.

Sleep tight, sweet Juju, tomorrow will be another busy day.

2009-09-15T09:44:00.002-04:00

I am starting off my Tuesday morning agonizing over Julia's homework assignment. Yes, Julia, the two year old. She has homework. She goes to school for 6 hours a week and I've already spent close to that amount of time worrying over her homework. She brought home a small paper bag with the instructions to fill it with a few small objects that will help her teachers and classmates learn a little about her. One small bag will only fit about 3 items. I just don't know how I will be able to fit Julia's very big personality into such a small bag. Julia has many layers, like a parfait. Maybe I should put a parfait in there? Last year I went through a similar process with Ace, I spent an hour printing out some favorite family pictures, another hour going through our toy box to find 2 of his favorite toys and his favorite book, then I made a special trip to Dunkin Donuts so I could get a bag and cut out the logo. I helped Ace decorate the bag with stickers and markers and placed it carefully by the door so it would not be forgotten on the third day of school. Two minutes before we left the house that morning Ace poured the contents of the bag onto the floor, grabbed a random Power Ranger toy that he had found under his bed that morning, stuck that in the bag, and proudly proclaimed he was ready to go. Maybe I shouldn't invest so much time in the project this time around.

*The countdown has begun, ONE WEEK until Lucy's first birthday!

Saying Hello to Second Grade

2009-09-09T10:20:00.003-04:00

We watched Obama's back to school speech after dinner last night and halfway through Hayley turned to me and said
"I bet this guy is FAMOUS"

She had a fabulous first day of Second Grade and I hope she is now having a fabulous second day of Second grade.

Saying goodbye to Summer

2009-09-07T21:13:00.004-04:00

Saturday was our Back to School Feast with Grandma and Grandpa. We ate burgers and homemade fries and saved room for a Boston cream pie for dessert. We shared our favorite memories of the summer and what we were looking forward to most as the school year starts.

Sunday we had a fire in the fire pit and had a weenie and marshmallow roast. One by one the kids got sleepy and I gave them each a bath and tucked them in. When they were all asleep Andy and I watched the last logs burn and enjoyed a cool September night (I even had to go inside for a jacket).

Today we played outside and met Grandma at the beach for one more afternoon at the beach.

Tomorrow? Watch out Second Grade, Hayley is on her way!

Memories

2009-09-05T21:32:00.004-04:00

I wrote this in March 2006 and reading it today made me smile. In fact, anytime I think about Ace's chubby little baby feet I smile. You may not believe this but I remember exactly what they looked like when he was a baby. I can conjure them up in my mind at any moment, he had the chubbiest, pinkest feet with 10 monkey toes. He loved to chew on his feet and loved to push them into my face while he nursed so I would kiss and pretend to eat them. Now Lucy loves to do the same thing. She loves nursing and laughing while I kiss her toes, it is in the top 10 list of her favorite things to do. And, by they way, Lucy does have shoes but has never worn them.

Originally from March 30, 2006:
Ace has no shoes. Poor baby, he lives in South Texas where it is rarely below 70 so he spends 90% of his time barefoot. Sometimes he has socks but he likes to eat them so he takes them off. Shoes confuse him and he walks really funny with them on or else he runs into things because he can't stop staring at the foreign objects on his feet. I shared this with the priest at the church where I teach and he told me that his acupunturist says it is very important to walk directly on the earth to keep our equilibrium correct. So Ace will have extraordinary equilibrium. My baby still needs some shoes.

Last of the Summer Whine

2009-09-03T21:46:00.003-04:00

The kids have been fighting a lot this week, the last week of summer vacation. It is understandable, they have been together all day, every day, for almost 3 months now. The house can seem very small, and they all feel like they need a little space now and then.

Everyone is looking forward to school. Ace and Julia will be at the same school but different days and hours. Lucy will have some time without her 3 personal assistants. I think they are all ready for that.

But they will miss each other. They are four very unique little people but we are one big family, and we need each other.

You Go Girl,

2009-09-03T14:56:00.003-04:00

....just don't go too fast.

Dreams

2009-08-31T20:25:00.004-04:00

Early this morning I had a lovely dream. I was shopping at the local CVS and they had Charmin toilet paper on sale, 99 cents for one of those big packages with 12 double rolls. I filled the cart and triumphantly returned home with trunk full of toilet paper. Then I woke up and realized it was all just a dream. We were still down to our last roll of toilet paper. I was very sad. Then, I was even sadder when I realized that that was the most exciting dream I had all week.
Even earlier this morning I had a nightmare. It was Christmas, which is splendid. Except the problem was, it was suddenly Christmas. We had somehow time-warped 3 months ahead, Lucy was 15 months and we had missed all the fun of Labor day, her first birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, all the things between now and then. I was very happy to wake up and find it to be August 30th.
Late last night I had a funny dream. Ace sleep-walked into my room with very floppy hair and no sense of direction. He stumbled around, ran into the dresser (not too hard, that wouldn't be funny), and finally made his way to my bed where he announced "I'm tired". Oh wait, that one wasn't a dream, that really happened.

Here, for no particular reason, is a very silly picture Ace took of Julia. I'm not sure what she is so happy about but I think she was up to something. That is usually when she has that look on her face, when she is up to some mischief.

And now, for something much less poetic...

2009-08-29T14:59:00.002-04:00

I'm preparing for next Sunday's Back To School Feast (idea courtesy of NieNie, Suburban Turmoil, and other fantastic bloggers)

I'm making cards for each of our school-goers and including a little poem in them.

Here they are:

Julia (entering her first year of Preschool:

You are bold and you are clever
And we will love you for ever and ever

You will go to school and see Ms. Maureen
You will do things undone and see sights unseen.
You'll have so much fun, sweet JuJu Bean.

Ace (entering last year of preschool, moving from the 2 day to the 4 day program)

Last year you were three, now you are four
You will go back to the same school, but now even more

You will see old friends like Ellie and Mandy
And make lots of new friends, cause you are as sweet as candy.

Hayley (entering 2nd Grade)

It's time to go back to school, it's already September
I know second grade will be a year to remember

You will make new friends and learn something new every day.
And you will have our love with you, all the way!

Quote of the Day

2009-08-29T14:46:00.002-04:00

From Barack Obama's eulogy of Senator Ted Kennedy:

"We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know God’s plan for us.

What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love, and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of other human beings."

I am woman hear me...curl up in a ball and whimper like a little puppy.

2009-08-28T10:34:00.003-04:00

Andy is on his way home today after being out of town for 8 days. After a short "I am an independent woman and I'm doing it for myself" phase, I crumbled and admitted defeat. I even hid from the kids one day. They were driving me up the wall so when I heard them barreling up the stairs after playing happily without me for exactly 3 minutes and 32 seconds, I ran into my room and hid behind the bed. I would have had a moment of peace if Lucy hadn't given me away by saying "Hi! Hi Mama!" and giving away my location. That was a low point, I admit.
It hasn't been all bad. As long as I kept the kids busy, we were all happy. The tour of the fire station was the highlight of the week (perhaps the whole summer) for Ace. Fireman Frank could not have been nicer. He took an hour and a half out of his day to give us a great tour, he answered all of our questions and he gave all the kids helmets and coloring books and crayons. Ace floated out of the fire station on cloud 9. He has not taken his firefighter pants off yet.
Hayley had her last swimming lesson and was very proud to graduate from the Pollywogs with honors.
Julia enjoyed riding Ace's bike around the track at Hayley's school, she is so confident now that I can't keep up with her. At the beginning of the summer she went so slowly that I could stand in one spot for a few minutes before I had to take a step to catch up to her. Now she leaves me in the dust.
Lucy has been kind enough to save her official first steps for when Andy returns, but we've had a lot of close calls. She takes a step or two and then a stumble before she plops down and decides it is faster to crawl. If she weren't always in such a hurry, I bet she would be walking by now.
Honestly, the worst part of the week was trying to keep up with all the things that Andy does around the house that I take for granted. He does a lot of big things, like calm Ace down after he has a nightmare about lobsters, or watch Bill Dance Outdoors with Lucy at 3am when she has teething trouble. But there are also so many small things that I don't even notice. For example, our hot water heater leaks so we have to keep a pickle jar under it to catch the overflow. If we forget to empty it, we end up with a puddle of water on the basement floor. Guess who never remembers to empty it? Yep, I had to mop the floor twice while Andy was gone. I really missed him when I found a dead mole by the back door. You see, my plan of action when I find a dead rodent near my house is to go inside and alert Andy to the situation. This time I had to get out the snow shovel and move the little twerp myself. I stepped on a snake in the process. I'm still shuddering from that experience. So, Andy, come home soon, I kind of like having you around.

Oh what a night

2009-08-22T17:13:00.007-04:00

It has been an exciting weekend around here. Lucy turned 11 months, Hayley went to a birthday party where she and Julia went down a huge water slide, Grandpa went home to NC for the start of the school year, a hurricane is nearby. But nothing, NO. THING, compares to our dinner at the 99 last night. It was a night that Ace will talk about for months. An event that, less than 24 hours later, has already been told and retold by Ace at least 30 times.
What could have been so legendary you ask? I have 2 words for you: Fireman. Frank.

We saw him leaving the restaurant just as we were going in. Ace froze in his spot and, I'm 90 percent sure, peed a little.

I know Fireman Frank's wife so they stopped to say hello. She is somewhat aware of Ace's deep obsession *ahem*, I mean admiration, for her husband so she wasn't completely weirded out by our encounter. Then again, maybe she was. Here's how it happened:

Me: "Oh! Mom! Dad! This is him! This is Fireman Frank!"

Ace: (Complete Silence, huge goofy smile and googly eyes at Fireman Frank)

Grandma: Oh! We have heard SO MUCH about you.

Me: "You have no idea! Ace pretends to be you. Every day. All day. All the time. We hear about you all the time. Seriously, all the time. I mean it. All the time."

Ace: (Complete Silence, huge goofy smile and googly eyes at Fireman Frank)

Fireman Frank. "Wow."

It goes on like this for quite some time, my mom describes to F.F how Ace imitates him by lining up all his fireman gear and putting on a presentation, Ace stands there with the same googly-eyed expression, and just nods his head at every word F.F says. Fireman Frank graciously invites us to come by the fire station anytime for a tour with him and we say our goodbyes.

Looking back it is possible we looked like complete wackadoos but I also think Fireman Frank may be accustomed to hero worship from 4 year olds. I have no excuse for my own behavior, maybe they will just assume I'm a heavy drinker.

This Fireman Frank sighting and invitation to the station would be enough to make Ace happy for the entire weekend but the night was not over yet. As we walked into the restaurant, Ace was telling everyone in sight that he had a personal invitation to the fire station. One of the hostesses stopped at our table about 20 minutes later and said that there was a fire rescue truck picking up a to go order outside if we wanted to catch a look, she had mentioned to them that we had a future firefighter at the table. I took Ace outside to see and the firefighter waved him over and let him sit up in the truck. Ace was literally shaking with excitement when we got back to the table.

When I got home and everyone was settled in bed, I called Aunt Katherine. Katherine loves Ace so much and she worries that he has such high hopes that there is no way reality can live up to his expectations. I know she's right, I know there will be days that real life just isn't all he'd hope it would be. But my wish for him is that there will also be plenty of nights like last night. Nights when his hero does show up and life does feel like a dream come true.