A New Year for Ally

This weekend Olivia, Katy and I went to Maryland to celebrate Ally's first birthday. The drive to Beth & Rob's was generally uneventful, barring some torrential rains between Petersburg and Richmond. The girls rode like champs, and gorged on snacks and watched movie after movie to pass the time. The ride home was a bit less smooth ending with Katy pitching a fit of royal proportions, and Olivia throwing up from what appears to be her first brush with motion sickness. But all of the driving was so worth it to spend that special day with Ally, Beth and Rob!

Ally is at that wonderfully endearing, charming, sweet, delightful stage where the world is just incredibly exciting, fun and new. She's clapping and dancing and standing and crawling and bouncing and laughing and exploring. I can't believe that a whole year has already passed and that we are celebrating her birthday. That first birthday is such a bittersweet one--the changes in that first year from newborn towards toddler are so monumental. And I know that Beth will be kind of emotional tomorrow as she thinks back to where she was, going through labor, giving birth, holding that tiny little baby for the very first time. What a miracle new life is! The OB who delivered Ryan commented soon after he was born that he doesn't understand how anyone can hold a brand new baby and not believe in God. He is so right.

And so, as this first year ends, and a new one begins tomorrow, I pray that Ally will continue to be the sweet soul that has touched all of our hearts. And that Beth and Rob enjoy all of the "firsts" that are going to occur during this next exciting year. I love you guys!

Ally checks out one of the cool toy "cubes" Grandad made for her.
















Beth & Rob--yeah! They made it through the first year!


























Ally shows off her dancing prowess to Laurie Berkner's "We Are the Dinosaurs."















Let her eat cake! (And smoosh it and smear it and make a fabulous mess for our amusement!)

Monday, Monday...

thank God it's over! Not that there was really anything wrong with today. It was just one of "those" days that seem rather pointless and result in a general feeling of insufficient accomplishment. Bah.

Sure, I fed my family three generally healthy meals, cleaned the kitchen, planned the meals for the week and went grocery shopping, straightened the playroom, pulled all the board books from our shelves and sorted out which ones to keep and which to donate, assembled a new shoe organizer for our downstairs closet, cleaned the shower, vacuumed and re-cleaned the kitchen, supervised Ryan's homework and read him 2 chapters of our current book, and even played with the girls for a little while this afternoon...

Okay, so maybe I did get a lot done today and I'm just being too hard on myself. But there is so much that still needs to be done: clean the rest of my bathroom, clean the kids' bathroom, vacuum the house, wash/dry/fold/put away at least 4 loads of laundry (not counting sheets and towels that need to be done this week). And as I look around the house, it just isn't obvious that I got anything done today. But hey, at least I posted something in the blog--and here's some cute pictures for you:
Ryan being his cool self.



Look who learned to swing all by herself!



And look who was inspired to learn to swing by herself too!



Taking a walk with Grandad.

Success!

Last night, both Olivia and Katelyn went to bed WITHOUT A PULL-UP and more importantly, they both STAYED DRY!!!! They've been day-time potty trained for a year now, but only recently have they started staying dry at night. So we decided to take the plunge. Could it be that I've actually bought my last package of pull-ups?

April 16 - A Tough Day

We had no idea what kind of a day we were going to be faced with when the alarm went off on Monday morning. It had rained most of Sunday, but we were expecting sunny weather on Monday. Dad was going to play golf at Mallard Head golf course (just around the corner from us). All we noticed was that it was a bit windy outside. When Kevin returned from taking Ryan to the bus stop, two of our trees next to our driveway had been blown down. Now, these were not little trees. They were easily 35-40 foot tall pine trees, but the wind had blown so hard, and the ground was so soft from all the rain on Sunday, that they were literally blown over with the roots lifting up out of the ground. Wow.

So Kevin borrowed our neighbor's chainsaw to begin getting rid of the mess. He played lumberjack while Dad and I worked to move the debris to the empty wooded lot across the street from us. The wind was blowing the whole time. Dad decided that playing golf was probably not going to happen that day!

Around 10 a.m., we noticed two more of our trees had been blown down in the same general area as the first. These trees were somewhat smaller, but still. While Kevin and Dad were working to remove these trees, they noticed that another tree was starting to show signs of being blown down soon--its roots were beginning to lift up out of the ground as the wind blew and it swayed. So they decided to take it down themselves before it fell.

Meanwhile, a huge gust of wind (an updraft) blew across our deck and managed to lift and open our closed umbrella and shatter the glass top of our table! What a mess! Olivia and Katelyn were quite upset about this latest development.

Finally, around noon, I received a phone call from Stephanie telling me to turn on the news because there had been a shooting at Virginia Tech (Kevin's alma mater), and so far 21 people had been killed. As the wind blew, and our trees kept coming down, we watched the death toll climb and felt so blessed that all we were dealing with was some lost trees. Our hearts go out to the families whose lives were torn apart that day. And while it is difficult for Kevin to keep hearing his beloved VA Tech talked about in relation to such a horrible event, he knows that this tragedy will serve to make the university a stronger, safer institution that he still hopes to send our children to in the future. Go Hokies!

Mr. Baseball

Ryan has played teeball and coach-pitch baseball for two years prior to this, and Kevin has always had a role as an assistant coach due to the amount of time he had to spend commuting. One of the great parts of his not wasting so much time on the road is that he can be the coach of Ryan's coach-pitch baseball team now! And he has thrown himself into that role completely.


When they got back from their first practice (about a month ago now), he was feeling a little overwhelmed because so many of the kids on the team didn't have any skills (catching, throwing, hitting) to speak of. He was a bit concerned about their safety, since Ryan can throw the ball HARD and FAST already. Not every child has been blessed with natural athleticism and a Daddy or Mommy who spends lots of time outside playing catch (Ryan sure has, though!).


Anyway, Kevin must be doing something right with his team, because they looked pretty good at their first game this past Saturday! All the parents were commenting about how much he's done with the kids. I was so proud! Every kid got at least one hit, and they were all feeling so good about themselves. They are so lucky to be on a team with Kevin as their coach--he doesn't just run practice drills, he really teaches them the skills, and does it in a way that makes it fun to learn.

Poodles here, poodles there...

poodles, poodles, everywhere!


That's how it felt around here the past few days as we prepared for and cleaned up from the Pink Poodle Party. The day was quite a success with 10 little girls (2 5-year-olds, 2 4-year-olds and 6 3-year olds) running around our house. It is amazing to me how different the party was with 10 little girls from Ryan's party
with 7 boys. Anyone who tries to say that boys and girls can be the same just hasn't been paying much attention. They are fundamentally different creatures!

Little girls will sit quietly and color their placemats quite happily for as long as you let them. (Boys will color for a little bit, but then they will soon start
making a lot of noise and running around!)

Little girls will walk up stairs in a nice neat line without being prompted to do so. (Boys will push and shove and race each other up those same stairs, also without prompting).

Little girls will happily find their square to sit on, and will stay quietly
on that square without any reminding while each child takes a turn playing the various organized games. (Boys won't. 'nuff said.)

Anyway, the party was a success. And apparently I was pretty worn out because I fell asleep in Ryan's bed some time before 8 pm...

Olivia's Favorite Meal

This morning as I was making my menu plan and grocery list for the week, I asked Olivia what her favorite dinner was (since her birthday dinner is on the upcoming week's menu):

Me: Hey Liv, what food do you like best for dinners?
O: Ummmmm, hotdogs!
Me: Good, we're going to have hotdogs after your poodle party on Sunday. What do you want to have for dinner on your birthday?
O: Ummmm, how about......... applesauce and water!
Me: What else?
O: How about, ummmm..... ice cubes in the water!

That's my girl.

Pink Poodles

Olivia and Katelyn are having their first "real" birthday party this year. By "real" I mean that we sent out invitations to their friends at school and a few friends from our neighborhood, and we're planning games, and have a theme. They are beyond excited! We have been counting down how many days until their party ever since the box arrived with all the party stuff in it (nearly a month ago).

I had thought for sure that they would want a princess party, given their current affinity for all things princess. But when we got a catalog in the mail from Birthday's Express that had all types of party supplies and tons of themes, they went positively gaga over the Pink Poodle theme.

And so we are having a Pink Poodle Party (I love alliteration) on April 15. We'll be playing Pin the Tail on Fifi the Poodle; Poodle, poodle, where's your bone?; and Pass the Poodle Bone. If we have time, we'll play Fifi Says (think Simon Says). There will be cupcakes with pink frosting and pink lemonade to drink, and pink M&Ms, and pink & purple candles and balloons and streamers. Gaaa. But Livvy and Katy LOVE it. And that's what really matters, right?

Love to Read

I have always loved to read. My mom would read to me all the time when I was little, and was faithful about getting us to the library every 2 weeks. Growing up where I did, there weren't other kids to play with very often, so I spent a lot of time reading. I can even remember getting together with my friend Laura sometimes, and we'd end up reading side by side. I probably made my eyes go bad with all that reading--particularly the reading done in VERY poorly lit situations (like when I was supposed to be sleeping).

Stephanie has kept me busy through the years passing on books that she's read, and has turned me on to some excellent authors (like Jodi Piccoult--I'm reading her latest, "19 minutes" right now and it is excellent, if you're looking for a good book). And Beth has also introduced me to some exceptional books--to think I hadn't read Harry Potter until she loaned it to me (and I just bought "The Poisonwood Bible" and am looking forward to starting it soon...)!

Recently, my neighborhood has started a book club, and several of my new neighbors are bibliophiles just like me. This month we read "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, which I also really recommend. After reading about this woman's mother, I feel like I may still have a shot at "Mommy of the Year!"

I am doing what I can to pass this love of reading on to my children. We read books together often--it is the one thing that I will drop whatever it is I'm doing to do with them whenever they ask. Ryan is reading chapter books now (he's reading on a late second grade level according to his most recent report card), but still loves for me to read to him. And I'm having a blast re-reading some of my childhood favorites with him (like Charlotte's Web, and Encyclopedia Brown), as well as discovering some new favorites (like the Magic Treehouse books).

So imagine how I felt when I came downstairs a few days ago to see this going on in Kevin's office (yes, Katy picked out her own clothes that day).

Another one bites the dust...

Ryan lost his second tooth this morning while eating a jelly bean! That makes two missing baby teeth. He asked me if he could keep this one since it's so cute, but only if he could still get some money for it from the tooth fairy. I told him that the tooth fairy may be understanding, but that he'd need to write her a nice letter asking that she leave it with him.

My, our house is becoming quite the busy place -- last night a visit from the Easter Bunny and tonight a visit from the Tooth Fairy -- perhaps we should check with CPI to make sure that our security system is working properly...

Happy Easter!

Brrrr! What happened to our beautiful spring weather? The past few days have been down right cold. Yuck. We had to bundle the kids up in layers under their fleece-lined windbreakers to go out for the egg hunt yesterday. As you can see, although our neighborhood has considerably fewer houses than our last one, there are still a LOT of kids!
Enza (one of our neighbors originally from NY) put a lot of effort into planning and orchestrating the event for the kids. They each got a little bunny basket to collect their eggs, and each child got 25 eggs! They were thrilled, but I was a bit less thrilled about bringing 75 (!) more eggs into my house. If she does this again next year,
I'm going to donate all these extra eggs towards the effort. This Type-A mommy can not tolerate having hundreds of plastic eggs underfoot when the Easter stuff comes out each year. The 60 eggs that we had was already excessive to me. After all, while this part of Easter is fun, it is NOT what Easter is about. This morning, before heading
downstairs to find the eggs hidden around our house, I sat down with the kids and we talked about why we celebrate Easter, and why the eggs are a symbol for Easter (they symbolize new life, just as Jesus' dying for us, and rising again on Easter is how we can have new life in Him). I also read them the "Jelly Bean Prayer"
RED IS FOR THE BLOOD HE GAVE.

GREEN IS FOR THE GRASS HE MADE.
YELLOW IS FOR THE SUN SO BRIGHT.
ORANGE IS FOR THE EDGE OF NIGHT.
BLACK IS FOR THE SINS WE MADE.
WHITE IS FOR THE GRACE HE GAVE.
PURPLE IS FOR HIS HOUR OF SORROW.
PINK IS FOR OUR NEW TOMORROW.
I hope that you have a blessed Easter, and that you have embraced the message of new life in Christ.

Almost 4?

How did it happen that my sweet baby girls are almost 4 years old?

How did this tiny 7 pound bundle of snuggly dependence:
















Become this 33 pound articulate, compassionate, wise ball of energy and vivaciousness and fierce independence:


























And how did this tiny, quiet, patient 6 1/2 pound package:




















Turn into this bubbly, sometimes demanding, meticulous, LOUD, almost always endearing 32 pound force to be reckoned with:


























And if my daughters have changed so much in just 4 short years, where will they be in 4 more? I have no idea, but I know it's going to be quite an adventure to get there...

Stuff

Ryan's home sick, again. With strep throat. Again. This is the 4th time he's had strep in less than 6 months. His pediatrician said that if he has another year like this one, we should probably go see an Ear Nose Throat specialist to talk about having his tonsils taken out. Sigh. I guess it shouldn't be that big of a surprise since Kevin had to have his removed, and so did most of the grandparents. But if he *does* need them removed, I promise I won't save them in a pickle jar with formaldehyde for our visitors to check out... (sorry, mom!).

I can't believe that Easter is this weekend. How is it already April, anyway? I think there must be something wrong with the calendar, or the clocks, or something... I need to go buy some egg dye tomorrow, and probably a bunch of eggs too. Oh yeah, and I also have to go be the Easter bunny and pick up some stuff to put in the kiddos baskets.

This year, the only candy I'm getting them is a chocolate bunny (and I'll be sure to warn them to eat it before Aunt Beth comes to visit this summer...), some jelly beans and some marshmallow peeps. I can not believe how much candy there is at Target for Easter baskets! The girls love getting a stuffed animal, and I've had my eyes on a stuffed pig and a stuffed frog (also from Target--gosh I love that store!), and I may get them each a Barbie ballerina movie. I've no idea what to get Ryan, maybe some more books... the boy is reading so well, now!

Our neighborhood is having an Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning, should be a bunch of fun. We have such a nice mix of teenagers and younger kids here. The teenagers are all helping out with hiding the eggs and kid control. I'll take a bunch of pictures for your amusement.

Later that afternoon our neighbor next door has invited several of the families over for a cookout and suggested we could hide eggs in the woods behind her house for the kids to have something to do. Funny thing... the neighbor having us all over is Jewish. She was raised in a Catholic household and married a Jewish guy and that is how they are raising their children. She thinks it's quite amusing to be doing an egg hunt. Gotta love her twisted sense of humor!

Easter itself will be low key again this year. I have GOT to find a church that I really like before next Easter... I'd love to just pick one and go for the Easter morning service, but I don't want to be one of *those* holiday people, you know?

Carolina in my mind

I always loved this song from James Taylor, in fact I think it's probably one of my favorites by him. Funny how I never realized when I listened to it years and years (and years...) ago that some day I'd be living in Carolina. At times I can't quite believe that I'm so far from home, but then there are other times, most of the time actually, that I've never felt more at home than I do now. Is it because of where we are? Or is it maybe that Kevin and I have grown much closer as a result of our move?

Before the move my life was quite full with all sorts of distractions from friends, neighbors and family. But now it's really just us. I mean, we're beginning to make some new connections with people, but those relationships are all so new, and I really haven't made the effort to take them to a different level. So Kevin is the one that I talk to, and share stuff with, and it's his office that I wander into when I'm looking for a bit of adult interaction. And that's a good thing. I'm so glad that after nearly 12 years of marriage, and over 15 years together, he is still such a vital part of my life. I feel like we're stronger now than we've ever been.

So I guess it's not so strange that I'm feeling more at home in North Carolina after only 8 months of living here. The reality is that home is so much more a state of mind, than the state where you may live, ya know? And my home is where Kevin is. Gosh I love that guy! I am such a lucky girl to have a man like him to come home to.

This isn't where I had intended to go when I first wrote the title for this post. I was originally thinking that I'd write about how much we are enjoying the weather down here--spring sure does spring early around here! And working out in the yard is one of those things that Kevin and I really enjoy doing together. And we sure do have a bunch more yard to work on. Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what we want to do and trying to get it all done, which means we'll be spending LOTS more time together! There. It does all tie together, doesn't it?

Sorry it's been a while but...

I got a new computer AND an iPod last week (did I mention the sinus infection?)! It is a really nice new Dell XPS 410 with dual processors and the new Windows Vista. I'm having so much fun with the Media Center too. I've been busy, busy, busy loading all of the pictures (over 6000 in 3.5 years *gulp* and that's just the good ones--who knows how many I've deleted?!) from my old computer onto the new one. I can't get over how much faster the new computer is when I pull up my photos to edit them in Adobe Photoshop Elements (had to go and get the 5.0 version too... *wink*).

There have been a few frustrations, such as several discs that I had off-loaded photos onto from 2003 and 2004 became partially corrupted, so I've lost several hundred of those photos (not included in the count above). Fortunately, all of those photos have been printed and most of them have been scrapped, so I just need to get my scrapbook pages scanned and sent to Iron Mountain so if there's ever a fire, the photos will still be recoverable. That should only take about a month or two...

And then Kevin went and got me an iPod nano (8gb) for Valentine's day! The romantic stinker. He even got it engraved! And got the red one, since he knows how red is my favorite color! Sigh. We may not be a wine and roses and candlelight kind of couple, but he still knows how to make me weak in the knees. So I've been having more fun loading the songs that I like from all of our old CDs into my iTunes library and shopping at the iTunes store. Fun! It's reawakened my love of listening to music--I've realized how quiet this house has been (noise from 3 kiddos excluded) in the past years.

Here are a few cute kid pics for anyone missing them!


Katelyn workin' it for the camera--what a little poser she can be!


Olivia learned to put barettes in her hair today


Ryan tearing down the court at a basketball game--check out the muscles in those skinny little legs!

Snow!

Last Thursday we were treated to a snow day in North Carolina. This is a rare occurrence, so we did what we could to embrace it. Our neighbors from New York were joking about it being an "almost snow day" since schools were closed before a flake had even fallen, and we got maybe 2 inches, not a speck of which stuck to the roads. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. And perhaps this is the part of winter weather in NC that I like the most:

1. Snow falls
2. Everything looks pretty and magical that day
3. By the next day the snow is gone

We don't have to shovel our sidewalks. We don't have to shovel our driveway. We don't have to watch the snow get ugly and dirty as we wait and wait and wait for it to finally melt. And from what I've heard from NC natives, this is the norm. Sure, there are the very rare instances when we'll get up to 8 inches in one storm (like every 10 years or so), and the snow will hang around for several days, but for the most part, it will be gone the following day. I know that some folks would not enjoy this, but this is the way I like snow!

We bundled up the kids and I took the girls outside. The snow was a nice wet snow, great for snowballs and snowmen. Ryan and his friend Brandon worked on building a snow fort to stage an epic snowball fight. Katy, Olivia and I built a snowman.

After I took some pictures of the snowman and fort, I took my camera inside because the snow was starting to change over to sleet. When I came back out, the snowman was on his side, with Olivia grinning next to him. I asked her what had happened:

O: "I knocked him over, Mommy."
M: "Why did you knock him over?"
O: "Because I did not like him anymore."

Well. Not much to say to that one, eh? Fortunately she waited until after I had a picture before deciding that she didn't like him! We trooped over to Brandon and Sydney's house for some sledding in their back yard. The track was fast, and we had fun with that for about 20 minutes, and then the sleet turned to rain.

Ryan went in to Brandon's to warm up and play, the girls walked home with me for hot cocoa with marshmallows and graham crackers. We turned on the fireplace and got toasty and enjoyed our brief foray into winter weather. The weather people had warned of up to 1/2 an inch of ice, but this never came to fruition. And by Friday we were back to school with nothing left from our snow day except pictures and good memories.

Those Magic Moments

This morning when I came downstairs, the girls were perched at the island with an array of drinakable yogurts spread in front of them. Each of the eighteen (yes, you read that correctly, 18), containers had at least one straw protruding from its top. They announced with much enthusiasm: "Mommy! We drank ALL the yogurts!" I replied, with significantly less enthusiasm: "What do you mean, you drank ALL the yogurts?" To which they replied: "All the yogurts in the whole refrigerator!" We had just been to BJ's on Friday and had bought a package of 24 drinkable yogurts that were supposed to last for the entire week. And now they were all gone. Although, as I lifted each of the opened containers spread over the island, I noticed that few of them were actually "all gone."

I took a deep breath. It was supposed to be a cleansing breath to make sure that I didn't yell. It turned out to be a breath to help my lungs be even fuller so that I got a LOT of volume when I said "YOU DO NOT DRINK OR EAT ALL OF THE YOGURTS IN THIS HOUSE EVER AGAIN!!! YOU ONLY DRINK ONE (!) YOGURT A DAY!!! IF I EVER FIND YOU DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN, I WILL NOT BUY THAT FOOD FOR A WHOLE MONTH! AND NOW YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY YOGURT FOR THE REST OF THIS WEEK UNTIL I GO TO THE GROCERY STORE AGAIN. NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!" Whew. That felt pretty good.

I ate my breakfast, and drank my tea, and headed upstairs to start getting everyone showered and dressed to go to the circus. I ushered the girls into the shower with me and quickly scrubbed them clean and shampooed their hair with the brand new bottle of watermelon-scented kids shampoo that they had chosen at the grocery store on Friday. I was finished and they begged to stay in just a little longer to play in the water, and I was feeling benevolent and let them do so. I dried the parts of my hair that had gotten a little damp in the shower (today wasn't a shampoo day for me), and then went to tell Ryan to come up for his shower.

When I returned to the bathroom, I discovered that the girls had emptied the ENTIRE bottle of shampoo, the new shampoo, into their body puffs to make a "bubble shower." Now, if this was all that had happened this morning, I would have probably handled things a bit differently, but since we had JUST had the discussion about using up all the yogurts, I was no longer feeling remotely benevolent towards my daughters. I began shouting again. For a long time. Things were pouring out of my mouth that were so cliched that I cringed as I said them, but could not prevent them from coming out. As I pulled them out of the shower and wrapped them in towels and took them to their rooms I was saying things like: "there are poor children in this world who would be GRATEFUL to use special shampoo just ONE time, and you go and pour out a whole bottle to just PLAY in?!?!" and "the next bottle of shampoo I buy for you girls is going to be the kind that will REALLY STING your eyes when it gets in them!" and "how could you just throw your daddy's hard-earned money down the drain like that?!?!" and so on... as I carried their little towel-wrapped bodies down the hall and put them into their rooms and shut their doors. As I closed their doors I finished with a "don't you DARE open this door because I don't know how badly I may end up hurting you if I see your faces before I'm ready!" I guess I made my point, because not even Katelyn banged on her door or tried to open it, which is really amazing.

Ryan seemed to be enjoying the whole scene, taking it all in with the sick fascination we reserve for when we drive past car accidents. I guess it was nice to see somebody else on the receiving end of my anger, and to know that it was not directed at him (for a change!). He was being an angel child (thank goodness), and quickly took his shower and allowed me to put Eucerine all over his legs and arms without a single complaint (this is very rare). Quickly got dressed in a turtleneck and sweater, again without complaint which is rare because he generally dislikes layers. I wasn't sure if he was being so good because he knew the mood I was in and didn't want me to snap at him too, or if he was trying to be the "good" child.

After about 15 minutes I had calmed down enough to go to talk to the girls calmly about what they had done and why I was upset about it. They were thoroughly contrite, and apologized to both me and Kevin. And we put it behind us. In our house, we have the policy that once you apologize with sincerity, you are immediately forgiven (just like God forgives us). Of course, it is sometimes difficult to forget...

Later this afternoon, we were sitting together at the circus, and the performers were all parading around the ring in the opening spectacle, and I was given the gift of seeing the circus anew through the delighted eyes of my children. The looks of wonder and excitement on their faces, as they stared, enraptured with what was going on before them, helped me to forget the earlier events of the day, and to just live in the moment with them. It was one of those rare magic moments that we are blessed with as parents of young children. I was, am, grateful.

Why People Should NOT Have Pets Before Kids...

Many, many couples make the mistake of purchasing sweet little kitties or puppies before they have children. Some think of it as a practice run to see if they're responsible enough to keep these creatures alive and happy. Others look at these little furry bundles as objects upon which to shower their love and affection before they have children. And of course there are lots of other reasons we indulge ourselves with "fur babies" before we have the human variety.

But we need to think about what is going to happen to those "fur babies" after the human one(s) arrive on the scene. Now I know that some who read this may vehemently deny that the following will EVER happen to their beloved pets, but trust me, it will.

First, when that new baby comes home freshly minted from the hospital, the "fur babies" suffer from neglect. We are either constantly holding the baby, making our laps unavailable, or we are too tired to be bothered with playing with the pet, or too exhausted to offer anything more than the most basic needs of food, shelter and a walk (if necessary). The "fur baby" is typically demoted to the status of pet, which can be quite hard for them to handle.

Next, as our sweet little cuddle-umpkins gets older, we begin foisting him or her upon the pet in an effort to teach lessons of gentleness and kindness. The pet is so starved for affection, that s/he will typically submit (grudgingly) to the less than gentle attentions of our offspring.

Then sweetpea gets a bit older, and mobile, and begins hunting down the pet on his or her own to administer their special, groovy kind of love. They will pommel, I mean pat kitty or doggie with much intensity, and not much gentleness. They will pull on tails. They will generally poke, prod, chase (to the best of their ability) and annoy the pet as often as they can. And let's not forget that with mobility comes the discovery of the snack dish and splashing bowl. So now poor Fido or Kitty has to either share their food and drink contaminated water (assuming any water is left in the splashing bowl), or have their bowls moved to less accessible locales (like near the litter box--eww).

Oreo has recently discovered the next phase in this timeline. Along with being held, tightly, by Olivia any time she sees him (notice her leg hold in addition to her arms for added control).

















He now gets to be taken for rides. I wonder what's next? Perhaps he will get to be dressed up in doll clothes... if so, I'll be sure to post pictures!

Traveling Mama

I'm feeling excited, and a bit nervous, about my upcoming adventure sans kids. It's the way I feel before scrap weekends, or any time that I am away from them for more than an hour or two. On the one hand, I CAN'T WAIT to leave bright and early tomorrow morning without having to fix breakfast for anyone, or remind anyone to put on their shoes or jackets, help with seat belts, prepare water cups, fix anyones hair (other than mine), and all the other minutiae that accompanies leaving the house. I only have to pack for myself. I'm bringing along several books (one I'm almost finished, and another for the flight home) that do not have any pictures on the pages--grown up reading. I am planning what yummy beverage I'm going to choose from Starbucks (skim Chai latte or skim, sugar free, cinnamon latte?), probably grande, but who knows, maybe I'll get a venti! And once I arrive in Baltimore, I get to see my beloved sister and her family, and then I get to spend some time with my parents at a dear, childhood friend's wedding. All sans kids! Sigh. It sounds heavenly.

But then there's the other part of me, the mommy part, that is feeling a bit nervous about going away. Not that I am not completely confident that Kevin will hold down the fort wonderfully. I know that he will have a great weekend with the kids, and that they will have a great time with him. I don't have to worry about the things some moms do before leaving their children with their husbands--he knows their routine without my having to write it down, he can safely pick out their clothes, he isn't afraid to take them out to eat (he's not real big on cooking dinner while I'm away), he is as strict and consistent a disciplinarian as I am. So I'm not nervous about this part of the leaving. It's the silly, irrational stuff that has me a little nervous. Like, what if something happens to me and I never make it back home again? Or what if Ryan loses his first tooth while I'm gone? Or what if one of them gets hurt and I'm not there to kiss and comfort them? It's the little things that are completely out of my control that give me tiny flutters in my belly every so often. It is at these times that I am grateful for my faith in God, and my confidence that He is looking out for my children when I'm not, and that whatever is meant to happen will so there's no sense in my worrying about it.

At any rate, I am looking forward (mostly) to my little excursion, and can't wait for it to hurry up and get here!

(added after the trip)
My beautiful sister and thoroughly kissable neice

















My dear friend (not to mention longest--34 years-ack!) Susan and her new husband Chris

TEN MORE MINUTES!!!

Only 10 more minutes until the newest season of 24 begins! I can not begin to tell you how excited I am. How lame am I?! But I just love this show, might have to do with that crush I've had on Kiefer Sutherland for almost 20 (ack!) years now... He's just so hot, and as Jack Bauer, he's even hotter... Tick, tick, tick, tick only 8 minutes to go until the fastest hour (but longest day) in TV begins. Again.

We're Done.

I can remember when I was first bitten by the "baby bug" when I was around 27 years old, or so. Every time I'd see a baby, I'd just go "awww" and would find them irresistable. I knew I wasn't quite ready for one of my own, but looked forward to the time when Kevin and I would start a family. Those feeling intensified for several years, and then we were blessed with our first child, Ryan. I was positively smitten. Babies were wonderful! I loved babies! I knew I definitely wanted more, not right away, mind you, but I knew we weren't done yet.

Fast forward a few years, and we decided to try for another little bundle. I had decided that I would really like 3 kids altogether, Kevin was happy with one, but decided 2 wouldn't be bad. I can remember joking with him that I'd just have twins and then I could have my 3. Huh. Guess I need to be more careful about the things I say in the future... Pregnancy with twins was tough. I was fortunate to not have to deal with bedrest and premature babies, but carrying 13 1/2 pounds of babies, plus all that other gunk around really wreaked havoc on my poor little 5'1" frame! We were pretty sure, like nearly 100%, that we wouldn't want anymore children, but I hesitated to do anything to make that decision permanent during my c-section. What if I lost a child and we wanted to have another? I didn't want to deal with the added grief of knowing that we wouldn't be able to have another. Silly? Probably, but in my hormonal state, it really did make sense. Honest.

Since then, there have been a few times that I've thought it would be fun to have a baby around the house again. Not that we would actively be trying to have one, but if it happened, I thought it wouldn't be too bad. And honestly, if something did happen, and God decided to bless (ahem) us with another child, I know we would love him or her as much as we do our other kiddos.

That being said, this week I had a weird stomach virus thing. It started off with dizziness on Wednesday. And from Thursday to Saturday I had a lot of nausea. No worshipping of the porcelain god, just intense waves of nausea and some of the "d" word mess. It felt an awful lot like morning sickness (you know, the all day variety). It made me quite nervous. Even though AF had just ended her visit on Wednesday, and Kevin and I are quite careful, I started thinking "what if I'm pre.....?" (sorry, not gonna say the whole word outloud--see the earlier reference to twins...). The intense relief I felt when I woke up this morning feeling relatively normal again has shown me (once again) that the baby bug infection has worn off of this mama. And I have to say that it actually feels quite nice to know that we're done with the baby-phase of our lives.

Gross. Gross. Gross.

If you don't like gross, yucky, poo stories, then don't read any further. You've been warned....


Okay, silly me, I thought that my days of ooky poo-related stories, at least current ones, were behind me now that my twins are potty trained. Unfortunately today that myth was debunked as the frantic call of Katy rang out from upstairs: "Mommy! I made a poop in my pants! Help!" My stomach sank as I climbed the stairs, weighing whether I should be moving quickly to minimize any spreading of the poo against the impending nastiness that I was fairly sure I was going to face.

You see, when Katy has too much juice, her little body does not respond well, and it takes several days to fully recover. In the meantime, she has, shall we say, loose poos... According to her version of this incident, she thought she was just going to toot. Oh, if only that had been all!

My first instinct after pulling down her pants was to put her on the potty, in case there was any more, even though she told me that she was all done. I didn't realize that it was ALL over the backs of her legs (and now the potty), until she slid over the potty seat a bit too easily... So I gingerly lifted her from the potty, and slowly began pulling down her pants, thinking to myself that these leggings and undies were headed to the trash receptacle.

But then Katy noticed that the poo was all over her BRAND NEW DORA panties (!) and burst into tears. So after moving her ook-covered little body to the tub, and washing her off and then drying her and re-applying liberal quantities of Eucerine creme to her dry little body (did I mention that she had just been bathed this morning?), I began cleaning and disinfecting the potty and the tub. And then it was time for her clothes. Urgh. Thank goodness for the utility sink. And for a washing machine.

Ah well, it could have been worse. She could have needed to "toot" while we were at the grocery store earlier today...

Merry Christmas!

So the stockings are no longer hung, in fact they are quite empty. And there are no longer any piles of presents under the tree - they have all been torn open with much glee this morning. The cookies are starting to get more crumbly with each passing day, and I am quite tired of preparing large dinners! We've watched "A Christmas Story," assembled lego kingdoms, played John Madden '07 football (some are still playing...), eaten
cinnamon pastry, egg bake, bacon and fruit salad for breakfast. I've read at least 9 stories (including the Christmas story), some more than once, and Kevin has read a few too. The girls (me too!) enjoyed watching "The Little Mermaid" this morning (I have to confess to a bit of shut-eye sometime after Ariel got legs until about the time those nasty eels tipped their rowboat over and delayed her first kiss with Prince Eric--after all, we were up QUITE early this morning with some excited kiddos!).

We've sipped hot cocoa and egg nog, and hot Chai tea (guess which one I had?!), and munched on leftovers at lunch. Olivia has been playing with her new electric keyboard. A lot. And Katy has had great fun with her Animal Rescue Center. The fighting over new toys has been minimal. Oreo has thoroughly enjoyed his cat nip mouse and cat nip sack and endured much affection from Olivia. Ryan continues to wiggle his loose tooth on the bottom, but has finally given up on the notion of it falling out before Christmas. Our new goal? A new tooth by the new year! Hmmm, we'll see. It's not THAT loose yet...

The rain has not stopped since some time last night, and the lake is higher than I've seen it in some time and quite muddy as I look at it from one of the windows in my scrap room. I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner (have I mentioned that I am REALLY tired of preparing elaborate holiday meals?!), and the thought of Chinese food is sounding quite appealing... perhaps I can find some dogs to eat up our leftover roast chicken from last night?

All in all it has been a wonderful, relaxing, intimate Christmas day with our little fivesome. I miss our families, but look forward to seeing everyone in a few more days (some for the 2nd time this month!). And as I sit here, I am hearing strains of yet another showing of "A Christmas Story" from below--you've gotta love TBS! So, Merry Christmas to all of our loved ones. I hope your day has been as special as ours. See you soon!


P.S. Sorry for the rambling--just was trying to capture everything as it was running through my mind.

December 12th

December 12th. It's a day that changed me in so many ways. On the morning of Saturday, December 12th, 1998, I officially began miscarrying Kevin's and my first child. I had been spotting for several days prior, but my OB wasn't willing to call it a miscarriage just yet. But on that morning the spotting became too heavy for me to believe that this baby would survive. The miscarriage was confirmed the following Monday. The grief I was feeling was incomparable, yet I buried that grief in preparation for a holiday Open House that Kevin and I had planned at our home for that evening. I know that may sound cold, that you may wonder how I was able to function to prepare all that food, and get the house ready for nearly 30 guests, but it actually really helped to be so busy. It allowed me to not think about what my body was doing to me. How it was betraying me. And to not dwell on the thoughts of "what if..." What if I'd never get pregnant again? What if this was my punishment for the "choice" I made nearly ten years earlier? So I cooked, and I didn't have to think. It makes me chuckle to think of how I identified with Izzy and her muffins from Grey's Anatomy. Sometimes it is so much easier to focus your energy somewhere else.

Around 8:30, the evening of Saturday, December 12, 1998, I received a phone call from Seattle, WA in the midst of our Open House. When I first saw the number on caller ID, I almost didn't answer the phone. After all, we were having a party, and I would just call Dreama back the next day. But then I decided to talk to her, I wanted her to know about what was going on--that I had gotten pregnant, and that I was having a miscarriage. So I went upstairs to my bedroom, but when I answered the phone it wasn't Dreama on the line. It was Rick. Her boyfriend. And he was saying something about how she had died. I didn't know what he was talking about. I thought he and Dreama had put together some prank to make me feel bad that we hadn't spoken for a few months. But then he got through to me when he started crying. This wasn't a joke. And he detailed the events of her final week, as I sat there dumbfounded, speechless, uncomprehending. How could a vibrant, amazing 28 year old just die so suddenly? How could the person who I had shared so much of my life with during the previous ten years just be gone? How was I ever going to make it through this day?

Obviously, since I am typing this blog entry 8 years (eight YEARS?!?) later, I managed to survive that day through God's grace, and my husband and family's love and support. And I am a stronger person because of it. I have been blessed in so many ways the past eight years--3 healthy, beautiful children, several new close friends and a new best friend. But each year on this day I feel a little twinge as I think about what might have been. I wonder who I would be if things had worked out differently on this day in 1998. And I feel regret that I didn't get to share these years and these blessings with my friend Dreama. I really miss her.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I have had such a good time decorating our home for Christmas this year. It is usually an enjoyable process, but I guess since it's a new house, all of our old stuff somehow feels more new too as I figure out where it should go. We have WAY fewer shrubs at this house than our old one, so I don't have quite as many lights outside...this year! But I'm prepared for when we do more landscaping! My big investment in decor this year was on red berry wreaths to hang on the inside of all our windows on the first floor. It is so cheerful to see all those wreaths--I'm going to be sad to take them down. Who knows, perhaps some will stay up year-round?

For the first time ever, we have room in our family room for a Christmas tree. It is so nice to be able to sit by the light of the tree while watching TV in the evenings. We're actually enjoying the tree so much more than in the past when it has always been in a living room, which tended to be away from our daily activity. Of course, its home in our family room has had a down side--the girls have been much more interested in it and we have lost (and when I say "lost" I mean "broke") 2 of our ornaments so far this year... Ah well, such is life. They weren't ones that I absolutely loved! I also justified the purchase of a large mirror for over our fireplace as a "Christmas decoration" although I am going to keep it up all year long! I got it for $45 at Ross, and love finally having something large and substantial above the fireplace.

So now that the house is decorated, I've moved on to the Christmas card project. I can't believe that it's only December 6th and I already have all my cards made, the letter written, and the pictures taken and developed. Now all I need to do is sign them, address the envelopes and stuff them. Sigh. Still a lot to do, but at least it's the 6th and not the 16th!

Mom and Dad are coming down to visit us on Friday now, and we have some fun things planned for while they're here: we're going to visit Santa (it'll be interesting to see who sits on his lap this year...), build and decorate a gingerbread house, bake cut-out cookies, and mom is going to teach me to make yeast bread. It should be a fun visit for all of us.

And two days after they leave I'm hosting our neighborhood's cookie exchange! We're up to 10 definite participants with three days left to RSVP to me. Given the fact that I only invited 24 other women, I'd say that's a pretty good response. So I'll be dusting off Aunt Melanie's egg nog recipe, whipping up 7 dozen cookies to exchange and a variety of appetizers for us to munch on (changing it up a bit this year). I think Kevin's looking forward to the exchange even more than I am, cookie monster that he is. Imagine his disappointment when he discovers that I've turned into the cookie nazi and am not allowing anyone to bring chocolate chip cookies this year!

And as we prepare our home for the holiday season, I am also working to prepare our hearts for the celebration of our Savior's birth. What an exciting time of year!