Whittsville

Hiding

2011-06-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

It always makes me nervous when the room the boys are in is suddenly silent. And then when I hear a stifled giggle - the nervousness turns into fear.

Even worse, I walk into the room where I heard the little giggle and I can't find either child.

Oh hey mom, we're just hanging out. You know how cool it is under the Excersaucer.

Bike Riding Success!

2011-06-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

As soon as the weather turned warm, meaning over 40*, the kids were ready to ride their bikes again. We spent all last summer helping Lily try to ride without her training wheels. This year she didn't have much of a choice. All of the bikes that were her size didn't come with training wheels...or at least there weren't any in stock at Toys R Us when we went.

She desperately wanted this bike and since it didn't come with training wheels a deal was made. If she wanted this bike then she had to commit to learn to ride with two wheels. Within three days she and Brian worked hard enough that she was riding on her own.

Jamison's goal this summer is to stick to the side of the road. He gets distracted looking around and drives all over the place. Lily drives in the same circle over and over and never changes her path. Only once has he ran into Lily, which I consider a success. She freaked out because she didn't want to veer from her path and Jamison was just wavering all over the place. Such insight into their personalities.

And speaking of insight into personalities....

Irresistable

2011-05-31T05:26:00.000-07:00

There aren't very many differences between these pictures.

And I debated on posting them since I have a thing about my children's modesty.

But who can resist the rolls?! Rolls definitely needs to go into the "pro" column when deciding on whether or not to have children.

Saturdays from 10-11

2011-05-26T08:48:00.001-07:00

Jamison was so excited to start soccer a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, there is something about my children, possibly a chemical reaction, I don't know, that causes them to love the idea of soccer...but not so much the actual game. He gets so hyper when we drive by the soccer fields, but once he gets on the field his attitude down-shifts. Brian is assistant coaching Jamison's team like he did for Lily's.

I've grouped these pictures into different categories.

PLAYING
He does try to play the game a bit when he's on the field.

POUTING

This is most of what he does during the game. There are a variety of reasons: he wants the ball more often, it's not fair that someone else got the goal, there are too many other kids on the field, his legs hurt, he's hungry, he's thirsty, etc...

This one wasn't so much pouting as it was funny that he just stood in the middle of the field scratching his stomach.

LILY & PATRICK

Our friends, the Lizzi's, also have a daughter that plays soccer. Her older sister and Lily are friends.

Patrick even tries to get involved.

I just love the glam sun glasses with the missing tooth.

DAD-TIME

I'm starting to think that Jamison sees soccer more as spending time with dad more than anything else. And we're ok with that....if he didn't also pout every other 5 minutes.

Jamie likes to head butt Brian's legs, and while usually it's saved for play time at home, he has no qualms doing it in the middle of a soccer game.

Or telling a secret. Although he could have been trying to give Brian a headlock, I'm not sure. I just take the pictures I don't usually know what's going on.

Bathtime

2011-05-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought this post would be all about a chubby 9 month old baby. Since you expected it, I won't let you down:

He looks so innocent in the tub...(don't babies have great posture?!)

so happy and peaceful....

until he splashes. Then it gets serious and violent!

I used to bring a book into the bathroom during his baths but he kept drenching all the pages.

And here, doesn't he look sweet? Not doing anything dangerous or unsafe...

until he starts to crawl in the tub. There have been a number of baths when I have sat him up from the crawling position over 20 times...but he kept going back. A few times he would slip and his face would go under water before I scooped him out. I tried to explain that will happen when you attempt to crawl in a slippery tub, but he was not convinced.

But really, the Master of the Baths in our house is Jamison. The kids take 2-3 baths a day. Oddly, he still never comes out 100% clean.

He takes baths for entertainment purposes only. Since he stays in there for about 20 minutes at a time, I'm more than happy to pay my water bill and be eco-unfriendly.

And yes, he is wearing his swimming shirt in the tub with goggles. I don't care - 20 MINUTES OF FREE TIME PEOPLE!

The only restriction I have put on him for tub time is no food. He endlessly asks for me to bring him some scrambled eggs or cheese and crackers while he's in the tub. I put my foot down there.

Unfortunately, since we have three bathtubs, he tends to rotate and leave a mess in his wake. Again, I don't care, should I repeat that he stays in the tub for 20 MINUTES??!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

I took a lot of pictures this weekend - don't say I didn't warn you.

Our Easter weekend started with an Easter brunch and egg hunt. The kids decorated cupcakes and were over-loaded on sugar by 11am.

Patrick was just happy to sit and watch.

He also took his first sip of water from a cup.

He wasn't quite sure about it but kept taking sips when I offered it.

That afternoon Lily and Brian made Grandma's rolls for Easter lunch and Patrick watched.

Later, the kids opened up their gift package from Nana and Poppa, which they always love to receive!

I know these pictures are almost identical, but the kid is so smiley! I can't help it.

For some reason, Jamison is in this "cool guy" phase and he says it whenever I ask him to take a picture. He'll also declare something a "cool trick" if he does something impressive. I have no idea where it came from.

Next, we dyed eggs. You might notice that my kids are always in pajamas. I promise that they do wear regular clothes, they just change out of them at every chance they can. I can only say I'm glad that Jamison is dressed, as naked is his other everyday outfit. I've honestly gotten into arguments with him over the necessity of underpants.

Patrick munched on some crackers.

Next, Lily put her grand Easter scheme into action. Little did I know she had one, until I saw her intensely writing and running around the house. When she finished, she showed me where she posted multiple instructions to the Easter bunny on the wall. Since the note was written in yellow marker, I re-wrote it word for word, including the adorable typos:

There are eggs. We hid them for you! In the one that doesn't look like the others has candy. Find the puzzal pissis next (this word is circled) to the eggs (this word is also circled). Easter puzzal. Leave a toy for the baby? please?

Please write me a note right here

ps can you put a egg in our bedrooms? Put in baskets. I love Easter!

She then proceeded to hide eggs and puzzle pieces around the house. I didn't think about it until 9pm that night but then I realized I had to be the Easter bunny and collect all the pieces of the puzzle. I then had to find the one odd egg that had candy in it. This took me about 30 minutes. Lily is really good at hiding eggs and puzzle pieces. This is a talent I did not know she had and I wished I had known it earlier in the evening. I still couldn't find the last piece and had to make up some excuse that the bunny was very busy last night and didn't have the time to find all of the pieces.

Easter morning

Jamison was not given one of his gifts because he found it in its' hiding place in the basement a few days earlier. After I told him to not go in that area of the basement he decided to try again. Lily ran to tell me that he was hiding behind the couch opening his toy. So Jamison lost the toy.

Lily can get a little competitive, finding Easter eggs not being an exception.

The boy loves his Reese's.

Patrick's basket

The toys were interesting, but not as much as the basket itself.

We hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Patrick - 9 months

2011-04-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Patrick is 9 months old today! I unofficially weighed him on our scale this morning and he was 20lbs 3oz. His 9 month appointment is next Thursday so I will get the official weight and his length then.

Patrick is a very happy baby. He truly laughs more often than he cries. Both Lily and Jamison are pros at making him bust out laughing.

As you can see, he has some teeth. He has four on the bottom, four on the top, and some more must be trying to poke through this week because he is leaving a path of drool and snot everywhere he goes.

He has been active for a few months - rolling or scooting around on the floor. Often, if I left him on the floor to make a quick trip out of the room, I'd return to a game of "where is the baby?" Here he is hiding underneath the bed. Luckily I was able to follow his toys to find him.

One of his favorite places to roll was under his excersaucer. I think he liked playing with it from a different perspective.

And then earlier this month he started crawling. I loved the look he had of "finally! I figured it out!" Ever since then he has been moving all over. Lily and Jamison have been quizzed numerous times on what items Patrick could choke on and have somewhat learned to put those things away. It's tough for Jamison, though.

Another thing that's tough for Jamison isrealizing that Patrick can touch Jamie's toys. Patrick knows exactly what to grab in order to get a reaction from Jamie. I frequently have to remind Jamison that there is no "my toy" or "his toy" or "her toy" in our house. I own them all and I share them with all three of them. He's not a fan of that philosophy.

You might notice Patrick's amazing yoga abilities. This is downward dog. He also has great form doing the plank position. Or is that pilates? Either way, he's really good at it.

Yes, I know what you're up to. But go ahead, Jamie isn't home.

And if I am in the kitchen cooking, I keep forgetting that he can follow me. It's a little unnerving looking into the next room to check on him only to see he's sitting right behind me.

I can't believe there are only 3 months left of his first year. He still seems so much like a baby to me. Soon, Brian will have to lower the mattress on the crib. I walked in to get him this morning and he was kneeling in bed looking over the edge. The pride that he felt with that accomplishment overshadowed that twinge in my heart that told me he is getting big, quickly.

Another Post! This Could Be A Trend!

2011-04-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here are just some random pictures of the past few weeks:

My birthday cake. Brian took me out to dinner while Miss Sarah watched the kids. They decided to decorate a cake for me but we were out of frosting. Of course, we have plenty of decorative icing. Lily ALLOWED Jamison to have the lower left hand portion. Please notice the portrait she drew of me in the upper right hand corner.

Last week we had a trade show in Nashville. Since my sister lives there we took the whole family down. During the trade show (Sunday-Tuesday) Kristen and my mom watched all five kids.

Here are me and Brian working. I'm sitting down because I got DEATHLY ill the second night of the trade show and the next day I had to take it very easy in order to survive. It was not pretty. On a positive note, I lost 2 lbs!!

And if you couldn't tell, our booth had a golf theme. We showed Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore while potential customers played a putting game. The winner won...a putter. So exciting.

The day after the trade show Kristen and Brian took the kids to the zoo. I had to stay at home with Patrick or else my body would have zero capacity to travel the next day. The plague that attacked me was not in a playing mood and if I dared to push myself it would have pushed right back. Both Brian and Lily took pictures of the zoo trip.

This is Jamison's "cool guy" pose. We have no idea where he got this. Maybe The Electric Company? PBS is such an evil influence.

Lily took pictures of the zoo for a book she decided to make. The next week was "Z" week in her class so her teacher suggested Lily make a zoo book to bring in for Z week. Lily thought this was the best idea in the world and set out to make a zoo book that would be unsurpassed. She was slightly OCD about it.

Brian took a picture of his subject in her natural habitat.

Lily took the following pictures to document who went to the zoo. Why? Not sure.

Auntie Kristen. If Auntie Kristen is smiling at Day 6 of five kids then she truly is amazing. Or she is thinking "I want my life back with a Cherry Limeade and cheese fries from Sonic!".

My handsome husband.

Miss Ruthie with her new glasses.

Maddie Moo.

Jamison.

Lily obviously wanted to get a picture of the elephant but was reluctant to let go of the chocolate chip cookie.

When I saw this picture on her camera, I asked her - "Why did you take a picture of the sign?" She said it was because she couldn't get a picture of the bird. She then tried to convince me that this bird was called a Banana Bird because it's beak looked like a banana.

Brian was able to capture a picture of the elusive "Banana Bird".

We had a fun week in Nashville despite my deathly illness, tornado warnings, electrical failures, and a few flight delays. It's always an adventure when all the cousins get together but we wouldn't have it any other way. Right, mom?

A Post!

2011-03-12T18:18:00.001-08:00

I have no excuses so I'll just leave it at that for the reason I haven't posted in two months. Back in February (I know, I know, it was a long time ago) we had winter break and needed something to do with the kids. Mom and I decided to drive to Rochester to see some family and spend time in a hotel with a pool. Before this trip, the kids have always been exited about the idea of a pool but once in it for five minutes, were essentially done. For some reason, they decided during this trip to love the pool - and I was ok with it since we had plenty of time on our hands! Jamison's mode of entry: sliding down the rail. And Lily figured out how to swim with her face underwater (she's behind Jamison in all pink). He was a little hyper during the trip (at Uncle Loren and Aunt Linda's house).

Since all schools were out this week we knew we were asking for trouble, but we had no choice but to go to the Strong Museum of Play. It is such a fun museum and the older kids are the perfect age. We arrived at 2pm, hoping to miss most of the crowd and knowing that my kids couldn't spend more than 3 hours there anyway.

Here they are shopping at the kid-sized Wegmans.

Jamison has been HUGE into action heroes from Marvel comics lately. I've had to really search for age-appropriate shows that have these characters in them since they aren't exactly made for three year olds. The museum has a nice size area devoted to Marvel comics.

He studied this display for 5 minutes. I took a nap during that time since he never spends that much time on one thing. Must take advantage of opportunities when they come up!

"That is so cool, mom!!" He's a fan of spider man.

Of course, since it is a museum, there are lots of learning activities in each area. This activity was to balance on a black line that appeared to go across two buildings. Jamison was not as impressed by the challenge as with the detail work of the city below. During this shot, Lily was lecturing him about his behavior since he was preventing her from finishing the task.

And then she just gave in and did what he was doing.

My attempt to get them both to sit in Big Bird's nest. Lily pretended to sleep and Jamison wouldn't even sit. (But I got him in it! HA HA for little victories).

I wanted a picture of all three of them but it just didn't work out.

Patrick is apathetic and the older ones are focused on their milkshake.

So this is where Lily cracked me up. Her personality really showed through with the following progression. There is a stage in the museum that has a bunch of different features. Naturally, there is the stage and the dress up area. But there is also a sound board, a lighting board, and a movie camera. While many children can dress up and perform, only one at a time can man the sounds, lights, and camera. Lily's goal: conquer each of these areas.

Step One: Look nonchalant.

Step Two: Show interest AND (this is key) boss the kid around until he runs away.

Step Three: Swoop in for the seat!

Step Four: Expertly keep a trained eye on the next goal (camera) until the seat is vacant, then swiftly move in.

Step Five: Proceed to last goal - Music! Success! (Please pay attention to my mother in the background talking to a random person. She is obviously incredulous about something)

Step Six: Re-Write the title of the play - The Dress Up Play.

Step Seven: Sit in the dress up area and critique everyone's choices. I'm so proud of her strategy to utilize every area except for getting on stage.

While Lily was slowing mastering all activities for the play, Patrick was content chewing my mother's purse. I am sure he was watching and learning from his big sister, though.

Jamison found an area that completely appealed to him. Loading and unloading construction vehicles.

On our way out we found a video game area that had a Zelda character on it. A few nights a week they play Zelda with Brian - they were so excited when they saw this! They had me take a picture and email it to him right away.

So now you're caught up on our life through February! I will try to post more often!

The January of Our Discontent

2011-02-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

January was not the best month for our family. Now, this is completely subjective since we live in a free country, have loving family, are free to worship as we choose, and thankfully, have health care. So when I say "not the best month" it's purely from our perspective understating that there are many people around the world who would give anything for the month that we had.

First week of January we all got a stomach bug. Oddly, we didn't all get it at the same time, but two to three days a part. First Lily got it. Then two days later, Brian had it. Next, Jamison said his stomach hurt but didn't produce anything (yay for tiny victories). I am a firm believer in mind over matter and I had told myself that I would not get this thing. It did try to get me but I was only down for a day and if I stayed very, very, very still then I would be ok. Patrick didn't exactly seem to get it, only had a few fussy moments. It's hard to tell with a five month old.

Then it was the snow days. Normally snow days don't bother me. Rarely is school cancelled - maybe 2-3 days a year. Except THIS YEAR. The snow has been unbelievable. When the kids are stuck in the house for more than one day it gets scary around here. They have so much pent up energy. I put them on the treadmill, on the trampoline, and try to create more structure in the day. But it's not easy.

I know what you're thinking - just throw them outside. And I do. It takes 10 minutes to get them dressed and then they spend 20 minutes outside; falling down everywhere because the snow is so deep, getting stuck in snow drifts, and if you're Jamison, face planting without the ability to lift his body up. Then it's 10 more minutes to get them undressed without (and this is the key) getting snow everywhere. They come inside all red and snotty and cold. And demanding hot chocolate. We do this twice a day.
Then, on January 21, Brian's Granny Pat lost her battle with cancer. She had beat it 20 years ago, but they found it again in August and it was advanced. Granny Pat was the first of Brian's grandparents to pass away. I was trying to think back and I think the last time I saw her was in 2008, when I took this picture of her on the couch with Lily at Jim and Karan's house.

Granny Pat was a very classy East Texas woman. Always put together, always level-headed. She was a wonderful woman - so wonderful that we named Patrick after her. Brian was already in Lubbock for a church conference when she passed; so Patrick and I flew down to Texas to meet him. We met in Dallas and drove to Troup (just south of Tyler, if that helps anyone with a knowledge of Texas geography) to get together with family and celebrate her life.

Patrick to a liking to Pa as soon as we arrived.

Four generations. We have the same picture with Jamison when he was 6 months old in 2007.

We returned home on a Tuesday. By Thursday Patrick's nagging cough turning into wheezing. So Friday morning we headed to the doctor and he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis. We were sent home with a nebulizer machine and instructions to treat him every 4 hours.

Within 24 hours he went from wheezing and couging to wheezing, coughing, panting, and not eating. It was scary. Our pediatrician is open on Saturdays so we headed back. They took chest xrays and decided it was just a really bad case of bronchiolitis. It's been five days and he's no longer panting, but still wheezing. I feel that it's slowly getting better.

I really hate this, mom.

It works best if I strap him in his high chair and let him mess with it a little. As long as it's near his mouth and nose I think it's being inhaled.

Needless to say, I'm thankful for February. We're still dealing with Patrick's breathing and more snow days then I'd prefer, but we've got God to get us through whatever else may come.

Mysteries

2011-02-01T06:12:00.000-08:00

Like many mothers, I frequently ask my children, particularly my three year old: "what were you thinking?!?!" And he normally replies: "I love you, mom." That is never a good response.

Jamison hoards items in his bed. When I go to change the sheets enough toys, stuffed animals, and miscellaneous paraphernalia to fill a dumpster come flying out.

This weekend, his nerf ball came bouncing out when I changed his sheets. It looked like a methodical destruction, not the usual carelessness, so I was concerned.

And then I found the pieces under his bed. At least he attempted to clean up. I focus on the baby steps.

So I had to ask him.

Me: Jamison, why did you bite off half of you ball?

Jamie: I only wanted a blue ball.

Me: So you bit off all the orange?

Jamie: Yes, but it's still not blue. I'll go get a marker.

Me: NO. I have to throw it away. It's not even a ball anymore. It's just a lump of foam.

Jamie: It's a phone?

Me: No - I said foaM. With a M.

Jamie: I need a phone....

and he wanders away.

And not five minutes later I find a secret message of some sort from Lily. Apparently the English language does not have adequate vocabulary for her so she decided to use hieroglyphics of some sort. She later read it me but it still didn't make sense.

Car Meets Deer - Not A Love Story

2011-01-20T06:44:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, Brian and I put the kids down to bed and then I drove to my parents house to help package cards for my sisters' business. I had barely turned out of our neighborhood when I saw something out of my left peripheral vision. Luckily, I wasn't going very fast since a deer decided that was the perfect time to cross the road.

And it didn't touch the hood, so that was another good thing. It rammed into the van and then rolled to the side of the road; where my dad said it was probably knocked out and would run away when it woke up. But it was still "sleeping" two hours later, so I fear the worst.

Deer evidence.

Thankfully, the kids were not in the car with me; or who knows what kind of emotional truama I'd have to deal with. "Mama kiled Bambi!" And I could predict that everytime we would get into the van, from that night on, I'd hear - "Are we going to hit another deer again?"

Uncle Ken's Election

2011-01-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

Back in November we traveled to the hot spot of New York state - Watertown. My uncle, Ken Blankenbush, was running for NY state Assembly and we wanted to be there for election night. In the back of my mind I knew what the NYS Assembly did, but as a refresher I went to their website to get all the details. And sadly, the best explanation was on the Kids Page: http://assembly.state.ny.us/kids/?body=assm2

We brought Patrick (who was 3 months old) and my cousin, Denine, brought her son, PJ (who was 9 months old). They wore matching onesies that said "If I were 18 I would have voted for Uncle Ken". My Aunt Linda is holding Patrick and mom is holding PJ.

PJ is huge. And he is very adorable. He'll be one year old in a week and Denine is already in her second trimester for his brother or sister. We're hoping for a brother.

Uncle Ken is not a fan of getting his picture taken. Kinda unfortunate for a politician. Here he is with his "angels" - his wife, my aunt Sheila, and his sisters - my mom and aunt Linda. There was some confusion getting the picture arranged when Sheila (it might have been Linda, I was laughing so hard at the time I just know it wasn't my mother) wasn't sure what to do because she never has held a gun. We quickly brought her up to speed that past experience with a firearm was not necessary - think "Charlie's Angels".

Wanna know what nervewracking is? Watching all the polls being posted on the tv. Here Uncle Ken was less than 40 votes away form his competitor.

And then you see numbers like this and it feels MUCH better!

He won! (it was pretty much expected).

Ken graciously accepted the win on the 11:00 news that night.

On January 4, uncle Ken was sworn in as one of the newest NYS Assemblymen. There were 17 new Assembly-persons sworn in and each got to make a short speech. I was prepared for the long-haul and texted my babysitter that this was going to be a while. But luckily, each of the speeches were short and most were entertaining. It helped that we cracked jokes the whole time. We definitely were not the most reserved group during the swearing in.

Afterwards, we took a family picture. I only noticed later that Denine hid behind her huge son. Not fair, Denine!

The Jeep

2011-01-12T06:50:00.001-08:00

We have had to restrain my father from purchasing a Power Wheels for Jamison for a few years now. While we all thought Jamie would love it, we were concerned about his safety. I don't know if you've picked this up, but Jamison is a tad bid accident prone. Every time it was mentioned I pictured Jamison driving full speed into the retaining wall in my parents back yard.

So when my parents decided this was the Christmas for Power Wheels I asked that a helmet be included. I was denied. Apparently that was considered too over-protective. I will admit, I was also the mother who asked that Jamison wear a helmet on the jet ski as well, so maybe I am a little cautious with Jamison. But COME ON! Have you seen my previous posts?!?! He's been to the ER twice, has broken his arm, and has had to have stitches on his nose. That's not even including the silly eye surgery he needed. I actually have a page in his baby book devoted to hospital bracelets. That is just not normal.

So Christmas afternoon Jamison was told to go into my parents garage and see what gift was there. I'm so glad I caught this shot of pure joy on his face - since my parents and Brian were behind him, they couldn't see it.

And then he took off! And despite his training driving with the golf cart, he immediately drove onto the lawn. Or maybe that was because of the golf cart training, who knows?

It took a lot of coordination to figure out how to make it "go" and steer. He was a little timid at first because he just floored it but couldn't steer accordingly. Lily drove it after him and her golf cart training paid off - she loved it!

After driving the Jeep outside for a while it was put in my parents cavernous basement with the bikes. When Maddie and Ruthie came up to visit it was a comedy of errors watching them all try to ride bikes and the Jeep while avoiding the beams that support my parents house. More than once a crying child came upstairs to say they got run over. We considered it a good learning experience for them.

Christmas

2011-01-07T07:34:00.001-08:00

The night before....

The morning after....

Santa brought Jamison The Bat Cave with a whole bunch of characters that I don't understand. He was captivated and declared it "exactly what I wanted!" and "the best gift ever!". This warmed my heart. And then he made those two statements for each and every gift he opened. Somehow, it was hard to believe that a mechanical toothbrush fell into those two categories. But he was incredibly enthusiastic every time he said it.

Santa brought Lily a whole bunch of fun paints and some random lights that she chose out of a catalogue. One is a glitter bubble lamp and the other makes a rainbow in her room. She still was more interested in Jamison's Bat Cave and Jamie was happy to share it with her.

Lily wrapped random gifts for her dolls. That she then unwrapped and acted all surprised when she showed them the gifts.

This kid has the funniest facial expressions and voice inflections. It's hard to explain in writing - you just have to listen to him. Here he is trying to explain why there are half eaten carrots in our den.

This is the Reeve (Brian's mom's side) trademark sign of concentration.

Brian and Lily are still reading the Harry Potter series so when Lily saw Hermione's wand at Barnes & Noble, he didn't need any further prodding to get it for her for Christmas. Naturally, all it does is sit on her dresser because what in the world do you do with a light up wand?

Patrick woke up a bit later in the morning then the other two. I should mention that Lily and Jamison were told not to wake us until 7am. Lily came in at 7:01, but Jamison was still asleep. She was perfectly fine with crawling into bed with us and waiting until Jamie woke up around 7:30. I couldn't believe her patience AND her desire to wait for him to wake up.

A teething toy! How appropriate!

He did not like being a reindeer.

The kids each took turns opening gifts so it was a nicely paced morning. By 9:30am they were trying to stay awake on the couches while watching a SuperFriends dvd. Since they are somewhat interested in the Marvel comic book characters, we have to go back to the old school shows in order for them to be age appropriate. The more modern super hero shows - not for my children! I couldn't believe some of the situations and topics that were on a show labeled as Youth.

Not the best picture, but we're all together and dressed up.

Jim and Karan were up for Christmas this year. They were up for a bit longer than they wanted to be due to flight cancellations but it was still a good visit.

Lily's 6th Birthday

2010-12-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful that Lily wanted a smaller birthday this year. Since her birthday is within a week of Christmas, it makes it easier on me when things are simple!

Since the summer she has wanted a decorating party. Easy enough! They decorated gingerbread families and cupcakes. It was incredibly messy and made me miss having a dog to clean up the floors.

Lily's cupcake:

They boys weren't as interested in the decorating as much as the girls were.

Lily's gingerbread family. After completing it she took a bite and realized how DISGUSTING all that frosting really is. They escaped their demise, unlike the undecorated gingerbread family that she did end up eating.

Jamison's gingerbread family. His look like victims of a shooting spree.

An American Girl Story

2010-12-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, there are a lot of pictures on this post. Since this event was 13 months in the making I had to document it to the fullest.

Since November of last year Lily has been obsessed with the American Girl dolls. You might think I'm exaggerating but I can rattle off dozens of examples of her single minded obsession for these dolls. I could compare it to her former love, Disney Princesses, except that now she can read so add another level fascination.

For months prior to November of 2009 I had received American Girl doll catalogs in the mail. They promptly went into the recycle bin - there was no way I wanted Lily to even know these dolls existed. They are $100 a doll and their clothes cost the same as human clothes. Each of the historical dolls tells a story about a certain era in time - Felicity is 1774, Kirsten is 1854, Addy is 1864, Rebecca is 1914, Kit is 1934, Molly is 1944, and Julie is 1974 (side note - as I'm typing this I ask Lily - which of the dolls is 1974? Lily: Julie. She has long blonde hair with brown eyes. Her best friend is Ivy. Me: Thanks, if she ever goes missing at least they can depend on you for identification. Lily: Thanks.) So these dolls have a lot of educational value. We read "Meet Kirsten" and Lily learned all about being a Swedish immigrant coming to America and having a friend die of cholera. That was a lovely conversation with my five year old. I've totally avoided Addy because I have no desire to explain slavery to Lily.

The books and dolls are geared towards 8 year olds so I was going to wait until she was older to introduce the books to Lily. As you can tell from the story lines, they are meant for older girls and the dolls need to be taken care of properly. So, we told Lily she needed to wait until her 7th birthday.

And then it began. Her complete CONSUMPTION of anything American Girl. The website, the books, the catalog. Everything. At one point she brought the catalog to me and wanted me to see if underpants were included with all the accessories. I look at the catalog and tell her that underpants are not described so that doll may not come with underpants. Lily: are you sure? Why don't you read it out loud to me? So I read the description. Lily: you missed the last part. Me: No, that's just the item number, in case we were going to order it. Lily: Can you read it, just in case? Me: Really? Lily: Yes. Me: JYX1007. Does that help? Lily: No. Me: I know.

That is just an example of a conversation that would happen at least once a day. She had catalogs everywhere - her bedroom, the art table, in the car, and at my mother's house. They were worn, falling apart, and well loved. When a new one came in the mail it was declared THE BEST DAY EVER!!

So around June I lost all sense of sanity. A 32 year old woman should not have this much knowledge of American Girls unless I invented them or managed their store. I called my mother and I said that I could not wait until her seventh birthday. We had to get her an American Girl for her sixth birthday - there was no way I could do another 18 months of this.

Our New York City trip was planned for December 16. We would spend an hour at the store, eat in the cafe, and then head to the Rockettes before catching the train home. Jamison and Brian ended up coming as well so it was a small family event.

While we were at AG, Brian took Jamie to Toys R Us to pick out something with his savings account money.

Lily in front of Lanie, the girl of the year.

Mom and Lily examining all the past Girls of the Year.

And then came decision making time. We tried to get her to commit to a doll beforehand so we wouldn't have a potential breakdown on hour hands. Mom was definitely going to get her a doll and I told her I could buy her another one or I'd buy the accessories to the doll my mom bought.

Reading the description on the box carefully to make sure we know exactly what is being purchased. Lily had saved $8.00 of her money to buy glasses for the dolls. Since Brian and I have worn glasses since we were young, we have told Lily that she should prepare herself for glasses one day. She took it a step further and made sure her doll had glasses as well. I just liked the idea of her saving her money for something specific and waiting until the proper time to spend it.

Looking at the Kit display:

And the Rebecca display:

And this is when she whipped out her pen and paper to list what she wanted, with prices, and come up with a final decision. Another positive thing that AG has done is help with Lily's math skills. I have Lily add up all the prices of the items she wants so she can see how much things cost.

The faces of decision making:

And she finally decided on Kit and Rebecca.

At the American Girl cafe for lunch. My mother unsuccessfully tried to alter Lily's doll choice. Rebecca was acceptable. Kit, on the other hand, not so much. See, Kit is set in 1934 - right in the middle of the depression. So her clothes express the depression era - they are not very colorful and are pretty drab. Her overcoat is actually her dads old coat that they re-lined for Kit (told you that I knew too much about these girls) and it looks like a mans coat. So mom was directing Lily towards dolls that had prettier clothing options. It didn't work and she ended up with Kit and Rebecca. This is a story that I will tell at my mothers funeral one day.

Blowing out her birthday candle.

And then we headed to Radio City Music Hall. This was the third or fourth time I've seen the show and Lily saw it when she was three. She appreciated it a lot more at six years old. It was very sweet to watch her fascination with the dancers.

And Jamison took a nap during the performance. Ever pay $85.00 for a nap? My mom did! Thanks for the tickets mom! It might be the most expensive nap ever, but it was worth it since he had been up since 6:00am.

What else did Jamison do during the trip? He plastered his face to the train window:

Because it is a beautiful train ride. It follows the Hudson River all the way down.

He hung out with his sister and was SO HAPPY for her. His pure sweetness is heart warming. (Ignore his bloodied lip. Seconds upon entering the church building on Wednesday night he fell flat on his face and split his lip.)

He played with Batman and Robin during lunch.

At Rockefeller Center.

And then there were no taxis so we had to (gasp) walk the 20 blocks to the train station. Luckily, the weather was nice and there wasn't wind to knock you over at each block crosswalk. Lily has never been one to express extreme happiness or sadness - she's always emotionally in the middle of the road. But she obviously enjoyed her day and had a good time.

Lily's Christmas Concert

2010-12-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

Last night we attended the first of 18 more years of Christmas concerts. Lily's kindergarten class sang three songs during the Elementary concert. Since the class only has eleven students I was afraid we wouldn't be able to hear them at all. And then the teacher handed out the microphones. One thing Lily should never be given - a microphone. Granted, I would put her in the "shy" category (how is a child of mine shy?!) but once given a stage and a little bit of confidence she is usually ready to shine.

(I was in row four and my camera still has lighting problems. Also, the "Director" chair in the back was for a small play that the 1st-6th grades performed during the concert)

That being said, I should clarify that Lily has tons of passion when she performs. TONS. A HUGE ABUNDANCE. But as of now she has yet to find her talent for singing. Maybe it just hasn't been developed yet; or possibly she hasn't tapped into it. Either way, her passion far outweighs her talent for singing. But it is all about the heart, isn't it?

They performed Silent Night in sign language. So it really was silent. And then they sang/belted out the song without sign language. It was highly entertaining. And not silent.

There was also a small scuffle over the microphone that was being passed around the class. Thankfully, Lily stayed out of it, although I noticed that she was restraining herself. It's hard to see in this photo but she was starting to get annoyed at something.

And then I zoomed in. Hands on hips, eyes rolled. Everyone else appears satisfied but something has clearly not met her approval.

Luckily, she pulled it together for the final song of This Little Light of Mine.

One the way home, in between calming down over-tired children, Brian and I reflected on our school concerts. I (mostly) loved our chorus concerts around Christmas. We remembered Jingle Bell chapel at Harding where everyone jingled keys along with the song. I also remembered the very long band concerts that I had to sit through while my sister played the flute. Apparently my mother was thinking about that too while she cried through the 5th and 6th grade band last night. I texted to Kristen about moms emotional state and we agreed that mom was probably crying over all the lost money to finance Kristen's flute lessons and equipment. Way to go Kris!

In the end we decided that if elementary school Christmas concerts do not put you in the mood for Christmas, I don't know what will. If you don't have young kids, find an elementary school close to you and attend a concert. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Gift Ideas

2010-12-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

I am a huge coupon shopper. Every Sunday I look forward to clipping coupons for deals. I also look at the coupon websites but unless I'm buying something with a brand name, they normally don't work for me. Why would I buy three boxes of cereal to save $1? They want my $12 immediately when I'd rather keep it in my checking account and gain interest (small as it may be). I only need one box anyway and if I buy the generic kind I save way more than $1.

And that's how I feel about brand name coupons.

Anyhoo.

In the coupon packets in the Sunday paper they also advertise some very unique items. And, in case you skimmed over them too fast, I thought I'd share my favorites. I think they would make lovely Christmas presents. (side note-if you own these items, I'm not making fun of you. I get made fun of for my Spice Girls mug all the time. Except that my dad stole it so now he gets the eyebrow raise when he goes into the break room for a refill.) I have even categorized the gifts for you. First, let's head to the Apparel Department.

Ahh, Bunny Wisdom. Since I have no technical capabilities whatsoever you can't really read what's on this beautiful shirt. If I was classy and knew how to use Photoshop this would probably work out a lot better. But I digress. Back to Bunny Wisdom - the shirt reads - Take Time To Relax, Enjoy the Simple Things, and Slow Down. That is the wisdom bunnies have. I always thought bunnies were very skitterish and fast so I'm not sure where these wise bunnies came from.

Our next item is Spirit of the Wilderness. I feel like this would be perfect for Sarah Palin but I have no reasons to back that up. It's just a gut feeling. This is a fleece jacket and features wolf art in various places on the jacket. There are even sculptural wolf zipper pulls on the front and the pockets - to "add to the unique styling". I feel so bad for the copy person who had to write up this advertisement. To make this fleece even more special, you are limited to only ONE per order. And that's a shame; because I was looking to outfit the whole family for our holiday picture.

Our last apparel items is for the ladies only. And this one, too, is only limited to one per order - that's how special these jackets are! This one is titled the "Magic of Christmas". Don't we all want a little Christmas Magic?! It states - "A cozy wardrobe essential embroidered with OVER 20 (their emphasis, not mine) of your favorite Disney characters!" It also features a sculptural metallic snowflake zipper charm. I think "sculptural metallic snowflake zipper charm" is code for "will fall off the first time you try to zip this up."

Our next department is Knick Knacks, or Tchotchkes, if you will, depending on where you are from.

When Jamison saw this little lady, he wanted to know why "that cat looks like that" and I had to explain, it's not a cat, it's this unusual dog called a Chihuahua, but deep down I believe they are part of the rodent family. He thought I made up the name and was laughing hysterically. The he ran around the house for 20 minutes saying chihuahua over and over. Not one of my best teachable moments with my son.

This dressed up gal is "never short on personality!" Which is high praise for a piece of ceramic. She also features sparkling faux gems (what?! I thought they were real! It would have been such a good gift idea if only the gems were real.) and a (as in one) real feather!

This delicate piece is a cat. But I didn't show Jamison because I would have no answer to his inevitable question as to why the cat had wings. "Hello Sunshine" features lifelike whiskers and glitter - which our cat has as well after walking across Lily's craft table. There are more faux gems on this cat - 10 of them, in fact. The advertisement also notes that the "glittery sun is suspended on a springy wire!" But the real question is why? Why is there a glittery sun on a springy wire? For the Cat Lady's 100 cats to continually paw at it so that it moves its glittery sun? This gift is definitely for the cat lover (and faux gem lover) that you have in your life.

Who does not like Gone With the Wind? This piece actually hurts me to look at because I like the movie so much. This is the Premier Issue of the Gone With the Wind Figurine Collection. That means there WILL be more of them. Someone produced this and said - this is great! Let's make more! It looks like the next one will be of her Curtain Dress, which they fancy up and call "The Green Velvet Dress." We all know what dress you are talking about and everyone calls it the Curtain Dress. Call it what it is.

There is only one item in our Jewelry Department. But really, after seeing it, one item is all you need. It's PANDA MANIA! There are no faux jewels here, ladies and gentlemen. There are real diamonds on this ring....tiny as they are since the piece is only $55 (plus shipping and handling, don't forget). As stated in the advertisement - "the panda strikes an endearing pose as he contentedly sits amid bamboo stalks lavishly plated with 24k gold, and nibbles on delicate diamond studded leaves". I've see bamboo. This ring does not look like bamboo. But I must give credit to where credit is due. The copywriter paints a picture with their description of the ring. I feel bad that they are stuck in this job; but in this economy - a job is a job.

And lastly, gifts for the kids.

"An Old Fashioned Disney Christmas" is a snow globe with lights, music, and continually swirling snow. It plays 8 (timeless) holiday classics. If this snow globe was in my house there are a variety of things that would happen to it:

1. Lily would confiscate it, declaring it to be the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. It will then go into her room where it will be lost among all the other "most beautiful things she has ever seen".

2. Jamison would casually walk by it and without evening meaning to (or noticing that he did it) would knock it down. Questionable snow globe liquid and faux snow would be splattered everywhere. Jamie would then step on the sharpest piece of glass and slice his foot open.

3. I would throw the thing outside because the kids wouldn't stop playing the "8 timeless holiday melodies".

This one may not exactly be for the kids but I know my kids would be captivated by it. Does Thomas Kincaid paint anymore? Or does he just keep endorsing useless items like this? There is a Santa and reindeer at the top that actually circle the Christmas tree when turned on. Four trains continually drive around the tree. The one thing that it doesn't offer is music. And thank goodness for that.

Lastly, this is an item that I saw in one of the gizillion magazines that arrive at our house daily. It is a Japanese Sand Garden for children age 3 and older. I thought - this is perfect for Jamison! I can easily see him lovingly tending his sand garden. With the little wee rocks and little wee rake, he would gently carve designs in the sand. And of course the sand would never leave the container! No, he would never dump the sand on the ground to create a beach for his McDonald's Megamind figure. No, those rakes would never be broken and turned into spikes to stab his hot dog. And there is no way on this green earth he would ever throw one of those rocks. Not Jamison.

I hope I've given you some ideas for this holiday season. Enjoy your shopping!

Brotherly "Affection"

2010-12-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

I took these pictures a few weeks ago (as evidence by some pictures with Jamie's cast on).

Jamison has a tendency to express his love for Patrick in less-than-gentle ways. So what do I do? Do I risk Jamison having his feelings hurt or risk Patrick have eternal fear whenever his brother comes close to him. It's a toss up. So I try to keep a close eye on them when Jamie feels the need to hug/strangle his baby brother.

Jamie, please put your feet down, that's dangerous.

And then he actually listens to me, puts his feet down, and the whole thing almost flings into Patrick's face.

Is there a baby under there?

It was supposed to be a kiss but I don't think Patrick appreciated it.

I was always terrified whenever Jamie came close to Patrick with the cast. Jamison had no idea how heavy and lethal the cast could be when he swung it around.

I don't know how to explain it but there are hidden magnets in Jamison's hands and Patrick's face. It must be some weird genetic mutation. My new goal everyday - to tell my children "I love you" as often as I say " Get your hands OFF OF YOUR BROTHERS FACE!".

What? You Want More Pictures of Patrick??

2010-12-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Well, ok.

And just in case you're interested, at his four month appointment last week he weighed 15lbs 8oz and 25 1/3 inches tall.

My Little Pilgrim

2010-11-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

The week of Thanksgiving Lily's kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving party. But it's not a little thrown-together type party. They kick it up a notch at this school. The kindergartners dress up like Pilgrims and the first graders dress up like Indians. They meet for story time, games, and then a Thanksgiving Day feast.

While story time was going on, most of the moms waited out in the hall. The third graders had displays out on tables in the hallways and this caused a bit of conversation. Apparently all third graders are assigned a Native American tribe. Then they have to re-create the home of that tribe. And when I write "they" I mean the PARENTS. As in, I will have to do this in two years. Look at these things:
Those are Q-TIPS as corn stalks!! And after talking to the aunt of the student who did this I found out the girl thought of that on her own. Then she told me that the dad actually made his own clay for the Native American home. He actually harvested clay from his backyard. She said it took about two weeks to get it right. Did you read that?!?! Two weeks to make CLAY. This is something that can be purchased in two minutes.

Moving on to the next village-a bark home complete with stream and Native American figurines. Another mom gave me a heads up to head to Michael's early for the figurines. They sell out quickly since all the third graders need them. One unlucky mother said that she had to resort to using Hispanic figurines since Michael's ran out of the Native American's. She said this as if it was a complete failure on her part. I tried to encourage her, letting her know that they really are so small it's hard to tell the difference. But she was not to be comforted.

This is another one made from birch tree bark. I hope Lily understands that she has more creativity in her left ear then I have in my entire body. I'm already thinking ahead and I'm pretty sure her Native American village is going to be made out of Lego's.

Surprisingly, most of the moms said that their kids were really into the project and all they had to do was guide them and help assemble the projects. Two of the moms were on their second child in the third grade and they said that the teacher keeps track of which families get what tribes so that they can't re-use a model. Ugh. That was my other plan but I'm foiled again. So I took these pictures to remind myself of what needs to be done. Maybe Lily will fail second grade and I'll have an extra year to prepare myself. Cross your fingers!

My assignment was to man the fishing stop for the Native Americans (**note** all day we called them Indians because back in the 1600's, they were called Indians. It was less of a mouthful than Native Americans, anyway.) and Pilgrims. Here is Lily's group. Hers was one of the calmer groups. Some of the others were a little crazy with their magnetic fishing rods. It was quite challenging to get the fishing lines untangled while the kids continued to pull on them. They really wanted to fish.

Lily with her friend Sophia. They are in small groups together during the school day as well so they are pretty close.

First grade boy Native Americans.

Lily pointed out her turkey to me. She's thankful for flowers, mom, teachers, friends, earth, grandparents, and brothers. Where did "earth" come from? Since when is she thankful for the earth?! This is a girl who draws through a ream of paper a week. And when I suggest that she color on the other side as well I am given the "are you for real mom?" look. And then I looked at all the other turkeys and most of them had earth listed as well. Obviously they were all moved by something and felt the need to be thankful for the earth.

The Thanksgiving feast consisted of sugar cookies in pumpkin shape, turkey sandwiches, goldfish crackers, Swedish fish candies, corn muffins, a popcorn ball, and a rice krispie treat turkey with candy corn feathers. It can't get more accurate than that. Take a visit to Plymouth, MA and they will tell you that this is the exact meal that the Pilgrims and Indians ate back in 1621.

Luckily, these Pilgrims and the Native Americans have remained friends. Lily has already told me she wants her hair in braids for next year when she is a Native American. I didn't bring up the Native American villages yet and I'm hoping she doesn't notice them. She would want to get started immediately.

Patrick's First Flight

2010-11-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Our family tends to travel a lot. Unfortunately, it's usually to no place exotic but instead it's flying to visit family. November 2 was Election Day and my mom's older brother (or MUCH older brother as she likes to clarify) was running for New York State Assembly. This was a first in our family so mom, dad, me, and Patrick decided to fly up to Watertown for election night.

Lily looked like this for her first flight:

She was 7 weeks old and we were flying to Texas for a sales presentation that I had in Dallas. I dropped her off in Temple to stay with Brian's parents while I went to work.

I don't have a picture of Jamison's first flight. It was an early morning flight so I was focused on staying awake and getting through security quickly and efficiently. No need to worry, though, it obviously hasn't turned him against airplanes.

Patrick was the youngest of my parents grandchildren to fly in my dad's plane. We had to bundle up because there isn't much heat in the second row of the plane where Patrick and I were sitting. I had a sleeping bag around my feet for the flight.

The plane isn't pressurized so it's very loud. All of us wear a headset to talk to each other and block out the noise. Patrick's headset was a little large on him. I wasn't very worried if it slipped off, though, don't you think my womb was probably pretty loud? Maybe it would bring back warm in utero memories.

My mom had some problems trying to work my camera so I had to take our picture. (that's my excuse for my appearance, at least).

Mom and Dad. Obviously it's a small plane.

And now, it's time for some New York State geography. Grab your paper and pencils.

The Mohawk River flowing into the Hudson River.

Sacandaga Lake from above....

Sacandaga Lake from below....
(where we vacation every summer)

Patrick wondering what is this thing on my ears?

Barren upstate wilderness. We worry about the people that willingly live up here. There is NO Target within a reasonable driving distance. The Adirondacks are in the distant background.

These wind turbines freak me out. They look alien-like and I don't trust them.

Flying into the Watertown airport (it's really just a landing strip, let's be honest) Lake Ontario is to the west and Canada just beyond.

On the flight home Patrick took it easy and napped.

It's Not Like I Wasn't Warned....

2010-11-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

You Meddling Kids!

2010-11-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

Lily started planning her Halloween costume back in August. She was undeterred when I told her we would not purchase a costume until October. She changes her mind so often that I would end up buying and returning five different costumes before October 31.

But she proved me wrong! Back in August she wanted to be Velma from Scooby Doo and she never once waivered from that decision. My kids have been Scooby Doo fans for about six months so her choice of Velma wasn't a surprise.

On October 1 I asked Jamison who he wanted to be for Halloween and he had no idea. So I decided he would be Scooby Doo and Patrick would be Scrappy Doo. Lily suggested that Brian be Freddy and I could be Daphne. Dressing up in a purple mini skirt at the end of October three months after giving birth was NOT on my agenda so no, Brian and I did not dress up.

I ordered the costumes and the kids loved them!

How cute are they?!?!

But five minutes after wearing Scooby Doo Jamison declared that he was not going to be Scooby Doo and wanted to be Spider Man for the second year in a row. Of course - after I pay shipping charges on a costume he decides to have an opinion. So here are Velma, Scrappy Doo, and Spider Man (who is trying unsuccessfully to turn Scrappy Doo's head toward the camera).

By the way, this was the day before his eye surgery. After the surgery, I realized that Brian and I were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My plan was that after he woke up out of the anesthesia I would look him in the eye (little did I know they would be swollen shut) and say "And that's what you get for eating too much Halloween candy!!" But Brian persuaded me that would be incredibly cruel. I thought it would be best for his health - it could prevent years of over-eating Halloween candy but whatever. OF COURSE I was just joking. I would never do that.

The wig freaked me out. Since we were down a Scooby Doo she carried around my Scooby Doo stuffed animal from 1985.

Scrappy Doo was really just a dog costume from the Carter's outlet.

I tried to rush things along and see if he would crawl at three months, but it didn't happen. It definitely would be more in character with his costume, though.

And it wore him out.

Velma, SpiderMan and I started making the rounds around 5pm while the sun was still up.

They were excited about the candy but didn't think it was worth the effort to walk to each house. So after five houses they were done and we went back home. It helped that it was freezing outside and neither one would put on a coat. Luckily, each of the houses gave multiple pieces of candy so I was able to get a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Now the following pictures should probably be in a second post but I need to move on past Halloween so I just threw them in with this post.

Again this year my lovely mother in law sent plastic face pieces for the pumpkins, so we didn't have to do any carving. Yay!

Ignore the purple colored Bumbo. Patrick is very secure in his masculinity. It was a hand me down from my nieces.

I just realized that Lily dressed up as Cinderella to decorate her pumpkin. Very clever, Lily. And it would have saved me $22 if you would have worn this costume for Halloween instead of Velma.

Even Patrick participated!

After they finished their pumpkins Brian had a surprise for Lily. He had just finished reading Harry Potter with the kids and Lily had been begging to see the movie. He took the movie out of the bag and I caught her reaction.

The kids proceeded to watch the movie 14 times in a row, with Lily critiquing the movie as to whether it followed the book accurately enough or not.

Now we're ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas! I've already set my radio stations for the all-Christmas music all the time!

Not a Halloween Mask

2010-11-02T09:27:00.001-07:00

Jamison had successful removal of the random chalazions yesterday. Thank you to all you prayed for the surgery! All of the pictures that we took were with our phones since I wasn't about to stick my huge camera in Jamie's face post-op.

Before surgery they gave him a wonderful medication that doped him up nicely. He SAT STILL. He was QUIET. I was about to steal some of the stuff for use at home. He was in a great mood most of the morning, just complained (a lot) that he was hungry.

The surgery didn't even take an hour. My sister has gone through this kind of thing with her kids (especially Ruthie) a time or two so she had already enlightened us that coming out of the anesthesia is a tough process. This was nothing compared to Maddie's heart surgery but it definitely brought back memories of THE WORST NIGHT OF MY LIFE.

When they brought us back to recovery they had two orderlies holding Jamison down and he was screaming. Well, screaming might be an understatement. Do you remember what the velociraptors sounded like in Jurassic Park? Yeah, he was doing that. With no words - just screeching at the top of his lungs and kicking. His eyes were swollen shut and he had bloody tears. It was very traumatic to watch.

There was nothing we could do to calm him down until he came out of the anesthesia. I just held him on my lap while Brian held his arms so that he wouldn't pull his IV out. We did this for an hour and a half before he screamed himself to sleep. We could tell he was coming out of it when his screaming evolved from no words to "my eyes" to "my eyes hurt" to "my eyes won't open." Progress!

This picture was taken about 2 hours after the surgery. His eyes were still swollen shut but they looked MUCH better than in the recovery room. This would have been very appropriate for the day before, Halloween.

When they moved us to a single room (thanks to his hysteria) somehow his IV came out; but we didn't realize this until blood had pooled up everywhere. So thankful he couldn't see that! I had to focus on my happy place since I have a slightly negative reaction to blood. This whole time Brian was cleaning things up, getting directions from the staff, and helping me and Jamie get comfortable. I would not have been able to handle yesterday without him! I was so focused on Jamison that I wasn't able to do anything else.

Brian tried incredibly hard to put cold compresses on Jamison's eyes so that the swelling could go down and he would be able to open his eyes. As much as Jamie complained about wanting to open his eyes he hated the compresses more. So we moderated our technique to one compress at a time and a popsicle to make him be quiet.

Seven hours after the surgery he was spider man again and one eye could open. This morning, both eyes are open but there is still some minor swelling. He is acting himself - jumping on things he shouldn't jump on, trying to go outside in 40* weather with no coat, shoes, or hat, and running around the house with his superman cape on. Why, oh WHY, didn't I swipe some of that stuff that doped him up?!?!?

Baby Blues

2010-10-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

A lot of people assume that I'm the one that has the blue eyes that all three kids have. Believe it or not, my eyes aren't blue but are more of a grey-ish greenish hazel color. Brian is the one with blue eyes and all our kids have 'em.

Jamison's are by far the most blue out of them (so far) and up until about 6 months ago, he had beautiful eyes. And then he started to get random bumps on his eyelids. I ignored these since I was in my third trimester for Patrick and as long as Jamie wasn't in any pain, what were a few bumps?

And then another bump developed on the bottom lid of the other eye. I was starting to get suspicious but I was also starting contractions, so I ignored the bumps.

I should point out right here that Jamison was not in any pain and the bumps did not interfere with his vision. Most people didn't even see them until recently when they appeared to get larger with the change in seasons.

At Patrick's one week doctor appointment, big brother came with us. I think it is incredibly rude to try to combine two kids in one doctor visit. Doctor's have a tight schedule and do deserve a co-pay (I hate to admit it) for every appointment that they have. Trying to squeeze two kids in one appointment is just not polite. But I was dealing with our new addition, not sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, and those bumps were looking weird. So I did what I am against - I casually asked our pediatrician to look at his eyes and tell me what's going on.

She took a look and gave me the number of a pediatric optometrist. After that exciting visit where Jamison's eyes were dilated (fun to watch a three year old try to walk with eyes dilated) and poked and prodded it was determined that he had three chalazions. Chalazions are clogged eyelash ducts. Usually they go away with hot compresses but Jamison WAS NOT A FAN IN ANY WAY of warm compresses. Chalazions are common in those with fair skin (an understatement for my kids) and even if these go away, it's possible that they will happen in other eyelash ducts. GREAT.

So the only option to get rid of them is surgery. Surgery on clogged eyelash ducts. There are so many surgeries that make sense to me - appendectomy, open heart, and gallbladder to name a few. But really? Surgery on clogged eyelash ducts? Apparently yes.

At yesteday's pre-op the doctor noticed that another duct was clogged and a possible fifth. Awesome. He suggested that we give Jamie a teaspoon of flax seed oil everyday to try to prevent the clogs but that the oil isn't foolproof. Awesome times two. It is entirely possible that these clogs can continually happen and he will need multiple surgeries whenever they do happen. The clogs are not dangerous, they are just superficial, but if they are not drained then they can solidify and become hard, fiberous bumps that are there forever. My prayers have been that these are just random clogs and that the flax seed oil will prevent any future ones.

Jamie's surgery is scheduled for Monday, November 1 at 10:50am. Please keep him in your prayers. The surgery itself is not dangerous; the anesthesia is the biggest danger. But if you could pray that the anesthesiologist doesn't mess up the dosage in any way, that would be a big help.

Spider-Man Basketball

2010-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

If anyone knows Jamison, you understand why most of the time I say the following to Jamie:
"no"
"please don't do that"
"that's not safe"
"you are not going to like how this turns out"
"that is not a good idea"
"remember your broken arm? you're about to do it again. SO STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

He hears all sorts of negative responses to his requests and/or demands. So if I have the ability to say "yes" to something I make the effort to do so. Recently, that meant that I was recruited to his team to play Spider-Man Basketball.
1. I am not a sports fan. Unless it's ice skating. Which is up for debate as a sport.
2. I have no knowledge in any form of comic books characters.
3. I don't like games.
So when I agreed to be his teammate (his words) I was really making a sacrifice.

First things first, roll up Spidey's pant legs so they transform into shorts. (see previous post about his shorts obsession)

Next, grab basketball that was randomly thrown into the front lawn.

Position yourself onto porch stoop. I was assigned the other stoop with the instructions to - "sit there and wait until I miss."

Make the shot!

Fist pump and celebrate!

Race to other porch stoop, ask me to move, crouch into sassy Spider-Man position.

Luckily, I did not have to find a mommy-sized Spider-Man costume for my turn to shoot. That would not have been pretty and I'm sure the neighbors would not have appreciated it.

My Pumpkins

2010-10-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we squeezed picking out our pumpkins between the windiest soccer game ever, Patrick's naps, and dinner. I was on a pumpkin-finding mission.

Have I mention Jamison's new fashion statement? Little did I know how much shorts meant to him. When I put all his shorts away because HEAVEN FORBID it's FALL and the temperature is in the 40's, it caused a tad bit of a disruption. After a few (few=a bigillion) temper tantrums screaming for the return of the shorts I had to come up with a compromise. The compromise is that he must wear pants, but they can be rolled up. Yes, he looks ridiculous. But surely it can't last forever. Definitely not all winter - right? I keep telling him his legs will fall off because it's so cold but I don't think he believes that's a good enough reason to unroll his pants.

Lily took FOR-EV-ER to pick out a pumpkin. She had some kind of weird requirement about the weight in proportion to the appearance. After about 20 minutes I had to tune her out.

While Lily was reviewing her pros and cons list for her gourd selection with Brian, I was trying to get some cute pictures of Patrick (fail). That meant Jamison was somewhat unsupervised. I turned around to find that he was running in circles in the parking lot.

And the first of my many attempts to get all kids smiling, looking at the camera, and minimal drool.

Patrick is still too squishy for this pose. He kinda rolled up like a pill bug every time I backed away so this was the best one. This is what I was doing when Jamison decided to use the parking lot as a race track.

And then they were done.

Thumb Sucker

2010-10-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

It took him long enough but Patrick finally found his thumb! Just like his daddy, mama, and big brother, he is following in the family tradition of thumb sucking. Lily's soothing technique is a bit abnormal and doesn't involve her thumb at all.

His method is pretty cute - he covers his entire right side of his face with his hand. Unfortunately, he still cannot just put his thumb in his mouth. He stuffs his whole hand in, and through the power of deduction, eventually finds his thumb. It is a messy, slobbery approach. But if it works for him, it works for me.

Get Money!

2010-10-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

I am an unabashed fan of our local paper, The Times Union, but due to the fact that it is very much a local paper, I only get it on the weekends. If I need to be updated on any news outside of the Capital Region I go online because The TU dedicates about 10% to national and international news.

Two of my favorite parts of the paper are the obituaries and the birth announcements. Some of the obituaries are so beautifully written and I love when the family really invests in a good one with the whole life story. And as much as I enjoy them I'm not sure Brian agrees so much when I force him to listen to me read a good one. "Ohhhh - look! They met in high school and married right after WW2!" or "Listen to this one! This man immigrated here from Poland in 1939, do you think it was before or after the German invasion?" Brian - "mmm-hhhmmm."

Birth announcements aren't nearly as detailed but I like looking at how many births took place on a certain day (full moon?), how big the babies weighed (epidural, please), and of course - their names. For the past few weeks I've been waiting for the July announcements so I could clip Patrick's birth announcement.

When I opened Sunday's paper I saw that the announcements started with July 21. Grrrr. I missed July 20th somewhere. I was already all settled with my coffee so I read them anyway.

A certain one caught my eye....

Now this mom has high expectations. Not only is he reminded daily that he should live to be a Prince but also that he has to Get Money! Now how can this child NOT be a prince among men?!?! It's unavoidable. And with a middle name like that he is bound for success!

I did find Patrick's announcement in my mom's recycling bin in the Thursday paper. Alas, Brian and I did not choose a name with as much potential as Prince Get Money Forte and I can only hope that if we raise him up in the Lord and pray a lot that he will be a man we can be proud of. Why didn't we think of that name first?!?!

Closet Space

2010-10-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Brian and I moved into our house in September 2002. We purchased it at a great price because it was a rental property and hadn't been updated since about 1984. Throughout the years we have done projects to update the house - installed wooden floors, put in new windows, gutted the kitchen, and lots of painting.

If there is one things Brian and I equally hate, it's painting. I walk into Sherwin Williams and I immediately tense up. I HATE being responsible for a paint color. There are too many to chose from and while paint is cheaper than other wall covering options it is not financially prudent to purchase 20 gallons of different paint colors because none of them look perfect.

We have both analyzed our aversion to paint color choices and we think it stems from the fact that we are both decision makers - me even more than Brian. When I'm presented with some options I can easily make a decision and stick with it. But you put me in front of a wall of paint colors and I am completely overwhelmed.

Recently we did a huge renovation involving our master bedroom and a portion of our downstairs. SIDE NOTE - if you're ever considering renovating your master bedroom, try not to time it with the birth of a child. It is not convenient. While I was glad of our idea to take on the project, the timing was not the best. Take it from a lady with experience on the matter. We put Jamison back into the toddler bed in the nursery and we took over his room since he has a queen sized bed. Patrick slept in the bassinet next to the bed; which he would have no matter what room we were in but he didn't have a changing table until last week. YES - as in the last week of September was the first time the 2 month old boy was not changed on the floor or our bed. Additionally, I could never find any clothes to wear since I packed them all somewhere in the basement. All I had were my maternity clothes. It was annoying; but I did it to myself by telling everyone back in May- "Of course we can do this! What's the problem with not having a bedroom with a newborn to take care of? What are we waiting for?!?"

This is a picture of our closets before the remodel. It's kinda hard to see since I (and by "I" I mean Brian) had already shoved a lot of our belongings to one side of the room to accommodate the contractors. But out closets are those two openings on the far wall. They were small-ish and the lighting was horrible. More than once I ended up wearing something black that I thought was blue.

So our plan was to make them walk-in closets by bringing them forward a bit. Once the contractors started framing I was (pleasantly) stunned by how much room that actually was.

Fast forward three months - this mountain of fabric and garbage bags is our wardrobe. Over a period of two days I dragged all of our clothes out from where we had stored them - in Lily's bedroom, in Jamison's bedroom, and in the basement. There was no order to this. My main goal was to just get the clothes in our bedroom.

This is what our bedroom looks like now with the clothes put away. And no, those chairs were not in the first picture - in case you thought we had that big of a mess. I'm still not sure how to arrange the chairs but that's where they are for now.

This is Brian's closet before the clothes were put back in.

And after....

I hung his shirts up according to style, sleeve length, and then color. Long sleeve button downs, long sleeve polos, short sleeve polos, long sleeve t-shirts, short sleeve t-shirts etc.. If you're like me, all your shirts face the same direction on the hangers and then all the hangers face the same direction. After I spent all afternoon and evening on his closet he decided to "help" and put some of his clothes away. He obviously did not catch my pattern of arranging the clothes. Or, if he did, decided to ignore it. As long as he keeps the door closed and I don't have to see the hanger facing the wrong way I can accept it. I'll just pretend they're all facing the correct way.

My closet before....

My closet after:

And I know I'm not crazy about closet organization since my cousin Erin organizes her clothes the same way - according to sleeve length and shirt style. If it is crazy, it's genetic, and I'm glad to share that gene with Erin.

The left side of my closet accommodates my long dresses and pants (which are never folded over a hanger, but are hung up with those clip hangers).

Two empty closets:

Two full closets:

If you like to organize (and who doesn't?!?!) this was a dream come true. I was so happy while I was doing this. Everything has a place and there is even some extra room for all those little odd things that I never had a proper home for. Some nights, after the kids go to sleep and Brian is watching tv, I go into my closet and shut the door. And I just look at the organization of it all. It's incredibly peaceful.

60th Anniversary - North Carolina Trip

2010-10-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

The last time we were in North Carolina to visit my grandparents we looked like this:

It's been a while. Jamison was 6 months old, Lily had just turned 3, and the twins were 4 months old. Now look at them!! L-R - Carter, Maddie, Ruthie, Jamison (looking very confused), Harrison, Madeleine, and Lily. The two babies, Charlotte and Patrick, are the only two missing. It probably wouldn't be safe to put the babies on a stone ledge anyway.

The Meeks side of the family all gathered in NC to celebrate my grandparents 60th anniversary. Mammy and Grandpops had four children, who all had two children. And now there are nine great-grandchildren. It was very crowded but so much fun to all get together.

We decided to drive from New York to North Carolina. In preparation for the trip I bought some cheap toys, some movies, and made special snacks. And then I wrapped them. Because who doesn't like to unwrap gifts?! I even wrapped rice krispie treats and banana bread. They thought it was great and I forgot what a mess wrapping paper made.

I spaced out the treats with the toys. Every hour I threw something from the front seat to the third row in the minivan and hoped that it would satisfy the beasts until the next rest stop. Note to anyone who likes the toys in the picture below:do NOT, I repeat - DO NOT, purchase the stupid wooden toy cup with the ball attached. It is not safe in the car - especially if you have a son named Jamison. He almost gave himself a black eye and we came very close to losing a window in the van.

The headsets for the DVD's created an especially unique hairstyle on Jamison.

I was determined that Jamison should wear pull-ups in the car so we wouldn't have to have as many potty breaks. Jamison was determined to not wear pull ups. As a result, we had to make a few emergency pull-overs.

When we all finally converged at my grandparents home we quickly discovered that shoving the kids in the motor home and turning on a movie was a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, it took about an hour to get the movie going. But eventually it worked and we had peace for almost 30 minutes.

On Saturday, we took advantage of this cute park with kiddie rides. There were boats, trains, and cars for the kids to drive. Lily and Maddie holding hands in line for the car ride.

All the cousins (minus Patrick-6 weeks- and Charlotte-7 months) lined up, in no order. Carter and the twins are a week apart and they were all about to turn 3. Jamison turned 3 in June, Harrison will be 4 in December, Madeleine turned 6 in July, and Lily will be 6 in December. Such a fun group! And Lily and Madeleine turned into best friends. We barely saw them when we were all together.

All of us crammed onto a very tiny train.

On the last night we took some professional family pictures before our big family dinner. This one was not professional. Lily was done smiling and I had to bribe her with gum.

And Jamison was REALLY done with pictures.

Patrick (thankfully) fell asleep and stayed that way for most of the night.

Until big brother came along to love on him....

All the kids were at one table and kept somewhat occupied.

Madeleine and Lily - I'm so glad that they bonded over the weekend. They were very cute together.

And this picture was randomly on my camera while I had left the room. Mark and Stewart - I hope you're proud of yourselves.

Mammy and Grandpops sat at the head table with their children and the spouses.

Mom and Dad

The head table from left to right - Aunt Vickie and Uncle Jim (Daytona Beach, FL), Uncle Nick and Aunt Kathy (Little Rock, AR), Mammy and Grandpops, Mom and Dad (Albany), and Uncle Paul and Aunt LuAnn (Albany).

I am so thankful that I was able to be there to celebrate my grandparents 60th anniversary. I love them so much and it was a beautiful way to honor them and their lives.

First Day of School

2010-09-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

School is in full swing now and I'm exhausted. Lily catches the bus at 7:10, which means I'm getting her up at 6:30 to get dressed and eat. Most days she gets right out of bed but this week she's been a little slower waking up. She has got to be so tired!

Also, up until this week Jamison has been sneaking into her room in the middle of the night to finish sleeping in her bed. He is such a light sleeper so he would wake up at 6:30, too. Some mornings I heard them talking and playing as early as 6. I think he's sleeping deeper at night since school started.

I drop Jamison off at pre-school at 8:45 so we have a nice time in the morning, just the two of us, for over an hour. Patrick usually has to be woken up at 8:30 for the ride to pre-school - I hate waking up sleeping babies!

Here are pictures from their first day of school, about three weeks ago.

Her bus driver's name is Sue and she is a very patient and understanding lady. I had so many reservations about Lily taking the bus and Sue treated me like I was normal - and I know I was not.

Lily's morning bus stops at another school to pick up some more kids before heading to her school. I'm ok with that. She just has to sit there. But for her afternoon bus she has to catch one bus at her school and then transfer to a second bus at another school. I did not like this arrangement but there wasn't much of a choice.

Lily's school ends at 2:50 which is right in the middle of nap time for both boys (oh yes, Jamison still takes a 2 hour nap everyday. It is a little bit of heaven.) so my mom can't pick her up. If I decide to leave work at 2:30 and pick her up I still have to drive to my moms to get the boys and then head home. I make it home about 4. If Lily takes the bus home she gets dropped off at 3:45 - I can stay a bit later at the office and I save money on gas. Plus, when the weather gets nasty it will be less time on the roads. So it just makes more sense to have her take the bus home, even though it is painful for me to let her do this.

So bus driver Sue heard my concerns and went to the effort to talk to Lily's two afternoon bus drivers so that they would keep an eye on her. She then also found another kid who will walk Lily from one bus to another. I was so impressed that Sue did this for the psycho-emotionally unhinged-mom.

Of course, I had to also have a back up plan. I explained the situation to Lily's school and they matched her up with an older girl who would also make sure she made the afternoon transfer. And then, just because I was already BEYOND mentally unstable, I actually left work that afternoon to go and sit in the transfer school parking lot to WATCH Lily make the transfer. And then I had to beat the bus home so I looked completely normal when it dropped her off.

But now that I went to all that effort with Lily I won't have to do it again for Jamison and Patrick. I promise I won't. Probably.

I forgot to mention that on the first day I DID NOT follow the bus to her school. I think that might be my only saving grace for the bus-stress that I put upon myself. I did meet the bus at the school and walk Lily to her classroom. Her class is difficult to get to and up until this week the school actually had older kids helping the kindergartners find their class.
Me: "Lily, did you remember to say thank you to your helpers today?"
Lily: SILENCE. Long pause. "No, I forgot."
Me: "How can you forget to say thank you? If you got gum for every time you said thank you, do you think you'd remember?"
Lily: "I don't know."
Me: "Why can't I have a polite 5 year old? Why is this so difficult? And what does this say for your manners when your 15?"
Lily: Stares at me. Walks away.

So here's a picture of her getting off her morning bus to go to school. You can barely see her. She's the short, pink blob.

When we got to the classroom her teacher had two little girls ready to meet her. There are 11 kids total in her class and the other 10 all went to pre-school together. So her teachers made sure Lily was welcomed. A new friend - Lenora-was wearing the same outfit. Upon introductions Lenora told us that she would like to be called Nora and that she wanted to know if I bought that outfit at Target, because she loved Target. Yes, I did buy it at Target and I love Target too, Nora.

Lily at her table.

And while I was getting the above shot Jamison wandered around the school and found the pre-school class. He was VERY interested, especially since the kids were in there, but didn't want to venture too close. (note - cast comes off next Friday!)

So tomorrow will be month #2 of school and I think we have a nice schedule going. I feel like we're moving at 100mph all the time but I better get used to it. I have two more in the ranks.

Lots O' Pictures

2010-09-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

For two weeks (ok, maybe three. the days fly by and I really have no concept of time anymore) we've been trying to get pictures of Patrick smiling. He normally smiles immediately after eating but we're so enthralled by his expressions that we never think of getting the camera, we just sound like crazy adults talking to an infant: oooh you's smiling? yezz you are! tell me all about it! what a pretty smile! is your tummy full? yezz it is. yezz it is!

And then last week he started laughing while doing this and we just laugh back at him, the whole time forgetting that we should record these moments. I got a great shot on my phone but it is really blurry and the flash made him close one eye. So here are our attempts at getting his smile on camera. I tried to title each one just for kicks and giggles.

Blank Canvas

Kind of....no...not really...

Yes! There it is! But you can't really see it.

Hey you! Yes you! I'm talking to you!

You might think this is his smile but his REAL smile is even bigger. He's putting in minimal effort here.

And now he's done. He refuses to play with me when he gives me this look.

"I am very suspicious of you and the blinding flash on your camera."

Now I'm surprised!

Yay! I'm happy! (and a bit scary looking)

"No WAY! I just DON'T believe it!"

GRROWL!

Slightly cross-eyed....

Exhausted. It drained all his energy trying to smile for the camera.

Look at that belly!

Can you see that smile? I know it's not close up, but that's the smile I'm talking about.

This is as close as I've gotten to capture his best smile - it's not too bad! I'll keep working on it, though.

Patrick turned two months old today and celebrated by sleeping last night from 8pm until I had to wake him at 8:30am to take Jamison to school. His well child appointment is next week and I'll post his stats then.

And no, we have NO IDEA who he looks like.

Broken

2010-09-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

Anyone want to guess what this is an x-ray of? See on the left side where there is that horizontal dark line where it should be a solid white bone? That's right! It's Jamison's broken wrist!

I had wanted some privacy when I was feeding the baby so I closed the bedroom door. I know, crazy - right??! Why should I expect privacy?! Jamison didn't like the idea of the privacy part, the door being shut part, or me feeding the baby alone part and decided to ram into the closed door.

He SCREAMED. I wrapped it in an Ace bandage and gave him some Tylenol. The wrist was clearly not broken since he could still move it. Isn't that a sign of just a bad sprain? I thought so, too.

For the next week (or two....I'll be honest, it took me a while) his wrist was usable, just sensitive. Why spend the money on a co-pay if they're just going to tell me it's a bad sprain? So finally Brian and my mother basically told me that it had gone on a little too long and he needed to see our primary. Our doctor was just as upset as I was that it wasn't a sprain.

He can't get it wet so bath time is incredibly fast. Which is unfortunate since he normally stayed in the bath for 20 precious minutes. We wrap it in plastic, secure it with tape or a rubber band, and it still gets wet.

The cast hasn't slowed him down at all (unfortunately). He has problems putting on his socks, shoes, and long sleeve shirts but that's it. He also hasn't complained an iota - which is wonderfully unexpected.

There is one small problem with the cast....he has no idea how hard it is. Especially when he is flinging his little body onto the blanket that the baby is laying on, barely missing the baby's fragile, and not completely closed up skull with the incredibly hard cast. Can a two month old get a concussion? Hopefully we won't find out.

Kristen and the Bird

2010-08-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

My parents have HUGE windows in their house. They let in beautiful sunlight, give us 180* views of the backyard (so we can make sure Jamison isn't escaping), and kill an inordinate number of dumb birds who try to fly through the windows.

Normally my mother notices these victims relatively quickly and quietly disposes of them. In the spring Jamison discovered one and my mother turned it into a "doesn't God make beautiful animals?" lesson. And then she got rid of it during naptime. Naturally, it was the main topic of conversation with the kids for the next week. They are enraptured by death.

A few weeks after that I sent Jamison into our backyard to play in the kiddie pool and burn off some energy. He came back into the house about 15 minutes later to inform me he was swimming with chipmunks. I was incredibly confused since I wasn't aware of any toy chipmunks that we had laying around. And then my heart stopped and I almost threw up. THERE WERE DEAD CHIPMUNKS FLOATING IN THE KIDDIE POOL.

I tossed Jamison into an almost boiling bathtub and scrubbed him down for 30 minutes. He was miserable and crying, I was freaked out, and Lily wanted to go see the chipmunks. Needless to say that was the end of the kiddie pool and the summer hadn't even started. I couldn't deal with the thought of my children swimming with DEAD RODENTS.

So when Kristen secretly waved me over to my parents back porch to see the dead bird I was not pleased and went slightly ballistic. I think I had a right to do that. She had to be the one to get rid of the thing since I was still pregnant and used that as an excuse not to get near dead animals. A very valid point, in my opinion.

Just do it Kristen, and get it over with!

I am slightly confused why she didn't put any shoes on to perform this task. What if the gross, dead bird had fallen on her feet? YUCK! (although it could be that she had a hysteric 8-month pregnant woman whisper-screaming to her to remove the bird from the play area immediately)

And that was the end of Tweety. Rest in peace somewhere in the weeds. I just wish he had stayed alive long enough to twitter to his friends to stay away from the windows at the Meeks house.

Strawberry Picking

2010-08-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

Back in June my sister and the twins came up to visit and we took them strawberry picking. Strawberry picking is perfect for little kids - the plants are low to the ground so all they have to do is squat. Despite the labor laws that prohibit children from working, we set them to work in the fields. Strawberry picking is such a pain for adults - you have to bend down and hunt around in the leaves for ripe berries. Unlike apple picking, which is the opposite. You spend the whole time lifting the kids up into the trees so they can pick an apple. Or, if you're lazy but have enough attention to detail, you can pick up the ones on the ground as long as they're not mushy.

And that's my short dissertation for strawberry picking vs. apple picking in regards to child labor laws in upstate New York.

Another reason I love putting the kids to work at strawberry picking is that I really don't have to feed Jamison lunch that day:

Ruthie and Maddie refusing to look at the camera.

I took about 8 shots with the kids in the same pose. All I asked was that they all look up and smile....and this is the best one I got.

Kristen didn't want to carry Ruthie back to the car but it was either that or Ruthie would be picking strawberries until nighttime. And that is definitely against child labor laws. And probably some law about abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child.

If only the sign said "Pick Up Your Own", then it would be more appropriate. But this works, too.

Lost Tooth

2010-08-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Since I took about two months off from blogging I'm behind on a few things. I did keep up with taking pictures of everything, though.

Back in June Lily was convinced that one of her teeth was loose. She wiggled it almost as much as she talked about it. So one morning Brian decided to help her pull the tooth with dental floss. I had to leave the room at that point because this type of thing makes me squeemish. Just typing about it now makes my hands sweat and go limp. BLECH.

After 15 minutes of whines and hearing her say "ok, pull it. NO DON'T PULL IT", the tooth popped out. (Note-this happend so long ago that her adult tooth has already come through and is basically in).

I then spent the rest of the day thinking of ways that the tooth fairy can make her first appearance. The best suggestion I received mentioned glitter and a new toothbrush and toothpaste. I never made it to the store to get the toothbrush but I had plenty of glitter on hand to write her note. I sprinkled glitter all over her pillow and made a little trail to the window.

We had to borrow the tooth pillow that I used as a little girl since we were not at all prepared for a five year old to lose a tooth. Even though it was 28 some years old the tooth fairy still honored it and a dollar was left. Nana sewed Lily her very own tooth pillow for the next tooth....which might be any day now since she claims that she has four loose teeth, all on the verge of falling out.

Snuggles, a bath, and more snuggles

2010-08-17T17:43:00.001-07:00

I am thrilled that Lily and Jamison are crazy about Patrick. I would rather they be absolutely in love with him then jealous of him. Unfortunately, they have actual fights over who gets to sit next to me while I'm feeding him. Luckily, that argument is easy to solve since I have two sides. Then they fight over who has hugged him the most or who has given him the most kisses. And the whining. Oh my gosh. I don't even know how to type whining. "But I looooove him mooooooore." "No, I loooooove himmmm mooooooooooooooooore. Mama, Lily said she loves him more and she doesn't! I do!" That last bit is yelled with his face two inches from mine.

So I make a point of dedicating time for both Lily and Jamie to have snuggle time with Patrick. This does not stop the arguing and whining. But at least I can say I tried.

Jamison's snuggle time has to be very supervised. He has minimal concept of the following vocabulary words and phrases: be gentle, nicely, not so rough, don't pat so hard, remove your thumb from Patrick's mouth, and do not poke him in the eye. As he does this last one he is talking in high pitched, sing-songy voice - "hi cutie, how are you sweetie? i'm going to put my finger in your eye now, ok cutie pie?"

Whenever Jamie approaches Patrick there is an initial look of fear but then he relaxes and just goes with the flow.

He really likes to be held and loved on. If he could cheer "AWESOME" he would.

Patrick had his first bath about two weeks ago. He wasn't phased at all by the new experience. After giving him more baths I'm starting to wonder if he can even tell the difference between being in a bath and being out of a bath.

Welcome to Patrick's social hour! Nightly from 8:00-10:00.

Sacandaga "Vacation"

2010-08-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our vacation at Sacandaga Lake was slightly interrupted this summer by the birth of Patrick, but I tried to get as many pictures as I could while I was there.

The same families were at the lake - over 20 of us - so there was always someone for the kids to play with.

Lily was excited to swim. Or what she thinks is swimming.

My mother found the perfect fly swatter - it had a fake flower on it in hopes to trick the flies to land on it. You would think a fly would be stupid enough to fall for this, but none of them did and I'm not sure any flies were killed. But Jamison had fun waving it around.

Jamison begged to go on the jet ski but once he was on it, didn't want to go too fast.

Lily, on the other hand, was all for going fast and even liked it when Brian went over the wakes and got some air.

On Sunday night (two days before I actually had Patrick) I decided a boat ride might jar the baby enough to put me into labor.

There are reasons why we joke, with some seriousness, about how dangerous Jamison is. He didn't like me holding on to his life jacket and would have preferred that I let him fly into the water.

And then this lovely shot was sent to me while I was in the hospital. Jamison made a diving board out of a lawn chair. Luckily, the water wasn't deep and there weren't any rocks for him to crack his head on. He's intuitive, we have to give him credit for that.

So, vacation 2010 wasn't exactly a vacation for me and Brian, but the kids had a good time while they were there. I'm very thankful that my parents took care of them while Brian and I stayed in Albany. Next year, Patrick will be able to splash in the water with Lily and Jamie.

Patrick Brian - July 20, 2010

2010-08-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

On July 19 Brian and I arrived at my OBGYN office for my 40 week appointment. Before the doctor even came in the room he called the hospital to schedule my induction for July 22. I thought that was as close to perfect as it was going to get - the whole family (and them some) were up at Sacandaga Lake for the week and that meant I could spend most of my time at the lake with the kids, and not at the hospital.

Unfortunately, Patrick was not pleased with that plan. I went into labor that night. Also unfortunate was that I had decided to spend the night with my parents and he kids up at the lake and Brian went back home (an hour away) to work in the office the next day.

I will admit, I had been having contractions all day long but they weren't organized and I had been having contractions on an almost daily basis for over a month. So I didn't see the big deal. My mother thought otherwise and was 100% convinced that I would have to have a water birth in the lake. So I was a little timid at 1:00am when I woke her up to say that I was in labor and needed her to drive me to the hospital. But, due to her foresight she claimed "I knew it!" and got dressed. She stuffed her curling iron in her purse and we were out the door.

Now, my mother has some minor problems driving at night and staying awake while driving. But I had to take what I could get in terms of drivers at 1am. By the time we got in the car my contractions were two minutes apart and she was driving like Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights) - going through red lights, going 10 MILES OVER THE SPEED LIMIT! and lastly, banging on the door of the toll booth on the thruway because the teller wouldn't take her 55 cents fast enough. She made it to the hospital in 45 minutes despite completely missing the entrance.

Brian met me at the front door where he had already checked me in. He's helpful like that. They wheeled me into the delivery room where I promptly notified everyone that I was ready for my epidural. NOW. And they let me know, in their kindest terms, that I had to finish half a bag of saline to make sure I was hydrated enough. Fine, I could do that. What I could not do was wait the 30 minutes it took them to get an IV in me. I can't remember what the problem was with my veins but I had nasty bruises for a few days to prove their efforts.

I was only 2 centimeters dilated when I entered at 2am, 3 centimeters when they gave me the epidural at 4:30am, and at 6:30 I was 8 centimeters. And when they told me I was ready to push this is what they saw:

only not so cute and not clothed. Patrick was rear-end breech. And due to health concerns about him intaking meconium in his nose or mouth I was forced to get a c-section. I was pretty verbal at this point about my displeasure of this policy. I think I told everyone who came in contact with me that I was not happy about the c-section - anesthesiologists, a plethora nurses, at least three doctors, and random people in the recovery room.

Patrick was born at 7:24am weighing 7lbs 15oz and was 20 inches long. I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to see him. I don't know if was exhaustion, the medication, or a combination of both.

This was taken a few hours later when I was still heavily medicated but at least conscious.

Later that day my parents brought the kids over to meet Patrick.

They are enamored with Patrick. They want to hold him, pet him, kiss him, change his diaper, be next to him, and smother him - ALL THE TIME. Granted, I'm thrilled that they love him so much but it's a little too much sometimes.

He was only a few days old and already had that "please help me" look.

I don't know why this picture uploaded vertical but I love how content Jamison looks next to Patrick. And poor Patrick is reaching out to me with his hand - Heeeeeeelllllp meeeeeeeeee.

And this is why we are constantly telling Jamie - please don't touch your brother without us in the room. It turns into a tackle.

But as always, Jamison has a sweet heart and makes sure that his sleeping brother gets a bla bla (Jamie's word for these special kind of blankets). Although I have had to remind him a few times that blankets do not go over Patrick's head, just his legs.

So we are all doing well (three weeks later) and with the help of family (my mother and father let us live with them for the first week after my c-section) and friends life is getting easier every day.

Jamison's Third Birthday

2010-07-13T18:12:00.001-07:00

Don't ask where I've been. I've been here and I've been doing nothing except waiting. Lots of waiting.

Jamison's birthday was last month and while I had the pictures uploaded I just didn't have the gumption to actually post anything. I still don't have the gumption but I am motivated by plenty of guilt!

Birthday morning-

and no, I have no idea why he didn't have a shirt on.

He loves garbage trucks and his favorite color is green - that was a no-brainer gift!

Birthday walk in school

Handing out his cupcakes at school. Lily asked to join his class for his birthday walk, which I thought was incredibly sweet. It wasn't until cupcake time that I became highly suspect of her request. I'm not saying she didn't care about her brother or his birthday. I'm just saying the girl loves her some cupcakes.

We decided to have Jamie's party at my parents house due to some "minor" (har har) renovations at our house. There will be pictures of that in another post....hopefully sooner rather than later.

This picture epitomizes how Jamison and I interact. He goes 100% into something (blowing out his candle) and I'm giving a lame attempt to stop him (waving my hand - like that would do any good). I wanted him to wait until we at least had started singing "Happy Birthday."

And the minute I turn my back to grab a knife for the cake he just dives in to grab the decorations.

His many facial expressions while opening gifts:

Daddy's are always needed to quickly pry toys out of their boxes.

Or you can just take your own initiative to try to open them. At least they're his baby teeth and not permanent.

Finally able to play with his toys.

So I'm not even going to try to promise to update more frequently. I can't imagine that I'll have any more time or energy once Patrick is born to post but I'll do my best!

Tea Parties

2010-06-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

Tea parties have been so popular lately that they even hosted two at my kids school. Of course, it wasn't the political tea party, but an actual tea party.

Jamison's tea party was first. The dress code was not exactly formal, but more dressy than normal. I put Jamison in his tie and sports coat and sent him into his classroom to helps his friends prepare for the party. Fifteen minutes later he comes out to escort me into the room with his coat missing, his tie unzippered all he way and just hanging around his neck, and his shirt untucked. So much for dressy.

We sat at our table with his classmates Isabella and Kerem. Since both of their mother's are also pregnant we were lucky enough to get the three "big person" chairs in the class room as our seats. I love special treatment! Their teachers probably just didn't want to see the three of us struggle in and out of the toddler seats. Kerem's mom was due that week with baby #2, I am due in July, and Isabella's mom is due in August.

One of the many things I love about my kids preschool - Isabella's family is from Columbia and Kerem's is from Turkey. What a great cultural experience just at our small table!

Jamison carefully brought me my tea.

And then he proceeded to act like a monkey.

This lasted through the children's performance...which he refused to participate in for some unknown reason. That's very unlike him but I just ignored him and applauded his classmates.

He also refused to smile for our picture. But overall he was a gentleman and we had a nice mother/son tea party.

Lily's tea party was a few days later. Since this was her third year of having a tea party she knew what to do. She looks so sun-kissed in this picture!

She was very generous with the snacks that she brought me - I'm glad they were all healthy.

Her class performed two songs and Lily sang right along with the rest of them. There was a 50/50 chance that she would just stand there so I was happy that she decided to participate.

Please ignore the pregnancy face....I will look normal again in a few months...

This was Lily's last tea party in her preschool - I'm pretty sure that her kindergarten won't host tea parties. But we'll have many years of school events to come!

My Fantastic Photography Skills

2010-06-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

On our sunset cruise, when we were in Charleston, we saw some dolphins playing in the water. I quickly grabbed my camera and started snapping away. Take a look at the magic that I captured!

Did you see the dolphin? No? Try this one:

Did you see the fin? It's right there!

And no matter how many pictures I took.....

That stupid dolphin was faster than my camera. But I promise there was a dolphin there.

Charleston - Day 3

2010-05-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

My mammy had suggested that if Brian and I had the time we should visit The Hunley. This was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. After sinking the Union sloop of war Housatonic it never made it back to shore to celebrate. The sub disappeared for over 100 years with no reason as to what caused The Hunley to sink. It was brought to surface in 2000 and research has been underway since then to determine the events of the night that it sunk.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the sub itself and it would have been a little difficult anyway since they have it submerged. This is a little replica of the submarine:

This prop was used during a movie or a documentary and is the same exact size of the original. Eight men squeezed in there. They must have really believed in the Confederacy because there aren't many things that would persuade me to go in that metal tube and let someone drive it under water. It was a really neat tour and once they raise enough money for an improved museum it will be amazing. Just the story of the sub itself is captivating.

That afternoon we hired a tour guide and took a three hour tour of the city of Charleston. I am so glad we did this because we got personalized information about the different buildings, homes, streets, and Charleston history. We were going to take a horse drawn carriage tour but frankly, the horses smelled really bad. This tour was in an air conditioned car...not exactly as charming as a horse drawn carriage...but air conditioned! personalized! and it didn't smell!

That night we took a sunset cruise to wrap up our trip. It was a beautiful sailboat and fit about 20 of us. The first thing we saw was the USS Yorktown that is open for tours. We didn't make it to that side of the river because of a very large bridge that I refused to go over. We don't need to discuss my problem with bridges at this time. The particulars about this phobia can get a little weird for some people.

So I'll just show you a picture. Yes it's pretty. But it's very long and it isn't as flat as it looks. My palms are sweating just looking at it. I should never have taken a picture of it.

The homes on the river...very old and expensive homes...

How's this for exciting??!? Brian and I had a long conversation about sailboats during the cruise. We've been married 10 years, there aren't many topics we haven't covered and we realized sailboats have never been discussed. Our conclusion - sailboats are very picturesque and definitely relaxing when the wind is blowing. But they are a lot of work! There's so much to do with all those sails. Yanking them up, tying the ropes, swinging the sails over. It was exhausting watching the crew. And you can't water ski on a sailboat. (That was more my problem than Brian's). Brian also felt compelled to help the crew since we were just sitting there. That was a little weird that they were working so hard and we all just sat there and watched them.

Sunset with the Charleston skyline...which isn't much since there is a law about how high you can build.

We also saw a few dolphins swimming but the pictures I took of them were less than perfect. They were quick little swimmers and apparently very camera shy.

This is the best picture we got of Fort Sumter. If we had another day or hadn't gone to the spa (heaven forbid, but I guess we didn't have to) we would have gone to Ft. Sumter. From talking to the concierge and our own research it sounded like a large time investment to go out the to fort.

This is a rare picture. Not just because we were on vacation and we didn't have the kids but I don't take pictures when I'm pregnant. I'd prefer to not remember what I look like.

And that was our trip! We are very thankful to Sarah Pope and my mom for co-watching our kids. It would have been a difficult and less-than-romantic anniversary trip with a five year old and a two year old. And I am very thankful to Brian who came along on a plantation tour and was patient with me as I walked around Charleston at 1/4 mile per hour, stopping at every restaurant to drool over the menu. I'm blessed to grow old with you.

Charleston - Day 2 (This is mainly about food. And there is nothing wrong with that.)

2010-05-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

Our second day started with an entire morning spent in the spa. My number one requirement for our hotel was that it had a spa that offered maternity massages. I was so excited when I saw that they had a maternity massage table. I have gone to 4-5 different spas for maternity massages and none of them had a maternity table so I always had to have a massage laying on my side :(

After our pampering we walked a few blocks to go eat lunch at Sightly North of Broad (S.N.O.B.). It reminded us of a french bistro but with a southern twist. We started with the house salad each. For our entree I ordered the shrimp and grits - whenever this dish is mentioned it should have angels singing in the background. It was INCREDIBLE. Unfortunately, since the baby takes up so much room, I couldn't even finish it. Brian ordered the beef carpaccio which I didn't taste since I wasn't sure if I should eat anything raw. We asked our waiter what the most popular dish is and he said for lunch it was the shrimp and grits (angelic singing) and for dinner the BBQ tuna.

We shared a strawberry shortcake for dessert. I had to take a picture of it so I could re-live that dessert. The shortcake was actually cornbread with ice cream instead of whip cream. Since Brian is a die hard shortcake and whip cream fan it wasn't his favorite but he still managed to force over half the dessert down his throat.

We walked back to our hotel to grab our car and head to the Magnolia Plantation. I had planned on us visiting the Middleton Plantation but since our hotel room came with a free pass to Magnolia the plans were changed. The house itself wasn't very impressive but it was interesting to learn that the same family has owned it from the very beginning and only moved out in 1975. The current owner is over 90 and she still lives somewhere on the property.

The circular driveway has the required Spanish moss that all plantations should have.

After the Civil War the owners opened up their amazing gardens to the public. We wandered around the different garden areas and came across the Biblical garden. Under the Sycamore tree was a sleeping cat. If he was only in the tree we would have name him Zacchaeus.

My Uncle Jim and Aunt Vickie recommended that we eat at least one meal at Jestine's so that night we walked to the tiny little restaurant. We had driven by the restaurant a few times and each time we saw that there was a line that went out the door. We are thrilled to see that there was no line when we got there.

This was the little hole-in-the-wall place that we were looking for and it was wonderful! There were only 17 tables and all were occupied. The menu was small but since everything looked so good, who cared? The silverware came wrapped in a large wash cloth. That was a good hint at what was to come. As soon as we sat down they plopped a bowl of pickles on the table. I am a dill pickle purist and while these were not dill they weren't exactly sweet or bread and butter. I don't know what they were but I ate them. I ate a lot of them.

I ordered the table wine (sweet tea) and then we noticed that the line had just started to form outside the door and was starting to curve around the building. Yay for good luck! Pregnant Katie + 90*'s + standing in a line = unhappy Katie (and a tortured Brian).

We started with fried green tomatoes - I could have finished the meal then and left happy. If they only shipped to Albany we would have already placed three orders for overnight delivery. I then had the fried seafood dish - fried whiting, fried oysters, and fried shrimp. This came with a side of fried okra and macaroni and cheese. Fried with a side of fried. There was only a portion of me that was going to regret this meal.

Brian ordered fried chicken with fried okra and green beans. Since I didn't want to miss a bite of my meal I didn't even try his chicken. We had no room for dessert but we were told that the Coca Cola cake would have been the way to go. I actually started to tear up when they took my leftovers off the table. It was a very emotional moment for me.

Just one more small note on a late night dessert we ate at the jazz bar in our hotel. We split a chocolate ganache cake with popcorn flavored ice cream and salted caramel topping. There was no point to the ganache cake when you have POPCORN FLAVORED ICE CREAM.

And now I'm starving.

Charleston - Day 1

2010-05-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

Brian and I had such a good time in Charleston! We went to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary...which is actually next month but that would be too close to my due date to fly far from my OB. Neither one of us had been there before so we weren't sure what to expect. Basically, if you like golf, history, eating, and shopping, you'll like Charleston.

When we were trying to choose hotels our main priority was finding one with a spa that offered maternity massages. Unfortunately, we decided against one of our favorite chains (Relais & Chateaux) because they didn't have maternity massages. So that one is on the list for next time.

We ended up choosing a vacation package with Charleston Place hotel. Each day we received a gift card - day one was a gift card towards dinner, day two was a gift card towards the spa, day three was a gift card to a Magnolia Plantation with breakfast, and day four was a gift card for a sunset sail on the harbor. Understand this - if we had the kids with us we would have been staying at the Embassy Suites down the road. We don't normally stay in lovely hotels like this when we travel with the kids.

Upon check-in were we told that due to a small conference in the hotel they had to upgrade us to the suite level. They were very apologetic about it. Yes, it is so hard to be upgraded - how will we manage? Since neither one of us ever had a room on a suite level we had no idea that it meant there was food 24/7! So we didn't have to pay for a breakfast or many snacks. We just grabbed what was laid out.

Our room wasn't a suite (we didn't need that much room anyway) but it was large with high ceilings. This hotel is obviously in an old building and they're doing their best to keep it up. This is what we saw when we opened the door:

The beautiful table in the entryway:

And the room. The tv was crammed into the armoir and it was pretty old. I hope that upgrading the tv's in the rooms is next on their list.

The turn down service each night offered benne wafers and little chocolates.

We woke up naturally at 7am since that is when the kids normally wake us up. (We haven't used an alarm clock in our house in years.) And while we wanted to sleep in a little more we were too eager to get out and look around the downtown area.

After eating our free breakfast (which Brian continually reminded me - wasn't free since we paid for a room) we went for a short walk to the Charleston Market. I loved that our hotel was so close to everything. If we hadn't planned on golfing or visiting plantations we wouldn't have needed to rent a car at all. The market is packed with tons of different touristy gifts and local hand made items. The most common being the sweetgrass baskets. I hadn't heard of these before going to Charleston but they are everywhere. And to say they're expensive is an understatement. If you wanted a small sized basket you were looking to spend about $100 at the very least. For a basket. I can't deny that they are pretty but they don't joke around about the cost.

After slowly (let's remember I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant and it was a bit warm in Charleston)walking around for about 2 hours it was time to get in the car and head to Kiawah so Brian could golf and I could read.

At the end of our trip Brian asked me what the best part was. After thinking a minute I said that it was the moment we walked into the clubhouse at Kiawah and saw the ocean through the huge picture window. Both of us just stood there for a solid minute taking it all in. Not only was it beautiful but it smelled so good!

We grabbed a light snack and sat on the veranda before his 1:00 tee time.

Brian played with two gentlemen from Georgia and we also had a caddy who gave them advice on how the hole was laid out. The 18 holes took about 4 hours. I sat in the golf cart and read the whole time.

Well, I didn't read the whole time. Once the caddy told me that the course had alligators I went alligator hunting. They weren't very large so I was a little disappointed but the caddy said the large ones usually stay hidden.

Do you see that one swimming below? He wasn't happy when he saw that I was taking his picture and he went all the way under.

A little baby one.

But with the exception of the alligator hunting I stayed in the cart. Which is why it was so surprising that I got one of the worst sunburns of my life. I'll admit - I left my SPF500 at home so I was stuck with Brian's SPF30. SPF 30 doesn't protect my skin from moonlight. I re-applied every 45-60 minutes and stayed in the cart yet I was still red. And it wasn't even all over. It was in completely random spots. It's been over a week and my left calf is still burned. And that leg was ALWAYS in the cart since Brian was driving. How in the world did that happen??!

Another surprising thing about Kiawah was the homes that overlooked the course and the ocean. I don't know if you would consider these homes. They were actually mansions. HUGE mansions. I guestimated that they were between $5-10million and after looking at the Kiawah real estate website I was pretty close. They cost that much money and they aren't even on the beach - they just have beach access! Incredible. When I was on the website I noticed that 95% of the homes all had elevators. So that gives you an idea of the age of the clientele.

The view from the 16th hole.

After Brian finished we drove back to the hotel and had a wonderful dinner at their main restaurant - The Charleston Grill. The menu was pretty unique in that it offered different genres of food - Pure (simple dishes), Lush (French dishes), Southern (no explanation should be needed), and Cosmopolitan (exotic global dishes).

I stuck to the southern menu since that's why we chose Charleston in the first place. My salad was a frisee with crispy pork belly topping. I've been dreaming of that pork belly every night since then. I then had the seared flounder with crab succotash. Brian started with the crab cakes and his entree was scallops in a lobster bisque. The best part was that the chef came to our table and we got to talk to her about the food. So much fun!

We decided to skip on dessert since we were full and the hotel offered cookies and other snacks on the suite level floor. Before we left the waiter brought us a complimentary dessert sampler with a chocolate plaque that read Happy Anniversary. It was the perfect ending to the start of a great vacation!

En vacances sans les enfants!

2010-05-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Au Revoir! Brian and I are headed to Charleston tonight to have a mini-vacation. We're celebrating our 10th anniversary on June 24, but due to the baby being...um...due within a month of that date we decided to celebrate early.

We'll be back Sunday and I hope to post some pictures next week. We're planning on visiting a plantation (or two), golfing (well, Brian will golf. I sit on the cart and read), and eating a lot of low-country food!

So What's the Difference Between a Pregnant Woman and a Toddler?

2010-05-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

In my opinion...not much.

Once I hit about five months during this pregnancy I realized that Jamison and I were similar in way too many ways. In analyzing our behavior I created the following chart:

Food
Katie - very little meat, comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, and almost any kind of sandwich.
Jamison - very little meat, comfort foods like macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese.
One outstanding difference: I usually NEED a big salad at lunch. Jamison needs a big salad too but only for the croutons...except he calls them froutons.

Bathroom
Katie - every 30 minutes if I'm drinking as much water as I should be drinking.
Jamison - every 30 minutes since he is still in the potty training process.
Outstanding difference: He sleeps in a diaper so he can sleep through the night without getting up. Me...not so much. All in preparation for waking up every 2-3 hours to feed a baby.

Clothing
Katie - anything loose fitting and flip flops. I'm big (no pun intended so shut up Brian) into dresses now that it's warm.
Jamison - any thing loose fitting and flip flops and if he can get away with it - naked.
Outstanding difference - I will always be fully clothed - no worries there. And Jamison has never been interested in dresses.

Sleep
Katie - would love to take a daily nap from 2-3. Would also love to go to bed at 9am if I could settled down, reluctantly is woken up by the sun/son at 6am. Unfortunately, have gotten into the habit of falling asleep on the couch while the kids watch tv around 4:30pm ...this keeps me up later than I'd like.
Jamison - usually needs a nap around 2. Once his head hits the pillow at 7:30 he's done until 6am. And then I proceed to put him back to bed for another hour.
Outstanding difference - I only get that afternoon nap on some Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Coordination

Katie - Not exactly clumsy but I drop everything I touch and I have to change outfits 1-2 times a day due to food mishaps. Lily has become an expert in picking up things I've dropped - almost without me asking her for help.

Jamison - He trips over dust and also will drop everything he picks up. If we're not going out he stays in his ketchup smeared outfit because I refuse to clean his clothes more than once a week.

Outstanding difference - my problems in this category will improve once I give birth (with the exception of dirty shirts since you know what babies do...) while Jamison will continue to live like this because he doesn't seem to either care or be aware of it.

Energy Level
There are no similarities whatsoever. This should not even be a topic on my chart.
Katie: I have the energy level of a lazy sloth. Or possibly even a dead sloth. A regular sloth would run circles around me.
Jamison: Meets his daily quota of trying to kill himself, destroys 2-3 items a day, and talks from sun up to sun down. Remember learning about stream of consciousness in high school? Jamison could teach the college level class on that topic.

So it has been beneficial that I'm pregnant at the same time that Jamison is a toddler. We take bathroom trips together, eat the same meals, and when he naps, I can nap. So for the next 10 weeks I'll take advantage of this. After 10 weeks....I will be living in a haze and won't be able to analyze anything.

Soccer Pre-K Style

2010-05-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

Since I'm married to a sports fanatic my kids have a wide knowledge of different sports, soccer included. Brian and I debated signing Lily up for soccer because she has the tendency to be gung-ho about the idea of something but then when it comes down to actually participating in the activity she is incredibly timid.

But we decided to risk it when she kept talking about it and the community soccer league was on the cheaper side with games only lasting one hour on Saturdays. Minimal investment in case she turned on the drama. Brian also signed up to be the assistant coach so he encouraged Lily to practice with him in the yard and they had a special outing to get soccer shorts, shin guards, and socks.

Her team is the purple team and all the coaches, no matter what team, wear green. As the assistant coach Brian was in charge of keeping the kids in line during warm ups (so much harder than you would think), making sure that there were always 5 kids on the field (they ran on and off at their own whim sometimes), and finding the parents when one started to cry. I thought I'd be bored but watching both Lily and Brian, not to mention all the other kids, was pure entertainment.

Ok, she's all smiles now. That's a good sign. They divide the teams according to grade (she's on the pre-K team) in school so she is the oldest on the team. The cut off date for kindergarten in New York is December 1 so she missed it by 18 days. Most of the other kids were 3 and 4. I was afraid there would be moaning about how there are no other girls her age on the team but she didn't say a word about it.

She was glad she was on the purple team and not the black team. She did not like that t-shirt at all.

She was a little timid at first but after a pep talk from Brian she went after the ball.

I was so tempted to take pictures of the other kids because they were hysterical. One little girl cried every time someone kicked the ball away from her. Another little boy was not restricted by the field lines - he would just keep running into the next field. One boy liked the black t-shirts better and kept trying to be on their team. And the rest of them were content with getting on the field, kicking the ball once, and then just running off again. Brian's job of keeping five kids on the field at all times was challenging.

Lily scored the only two goals for her team! I was pretty impressed by that...and slightly shocked. But her greatest fear was that she wouldn't kick the ball into the net so I guess she just focused on that and got the job done. Not that they keep score during these games, but it was a goal achieved nonetheless.

Half-time snack time was when the kids actually sat still. For all of them, this was the first time they played soccer. So it was new, an unknown, and exciting. Now snack time, they got that. You say snack time, they sit in a circle and wait patiently for it to be handed out.

We weren't sure how Jamison would react to Lily playing soccer without him. I put down a blanket and he sat and played with his car and airplane for most of the time. It didn't hurt that I kept feeding him pretzels also. He only tried to get on the field once. I think the heat sedated him. It was the first day this year where it was over 85* and it was um...noticeable. As soon as we got home the AC was turned on and it didn't go off for three days. Brian just shakes his head at us (particularly me and Lily).

After half-time she got right back into the game and scored her second goal.

Then the coaches had to teach the kids how to line up and give high-fives after the game. This was a concept that they didn't get. Stand in a line? High five the other team? Move foward at the same time? Maybe this is a technique they will refine as the season goes on. Lily put on a sober face for the other team.

And then they all got stickers. Lily put hers on her forehead.