Kid Quote of the Day

"They just gave me the cupcake when I wasn't even finished with my lunch!!!"

-Sarah, excitedly telling me she had gotten a cupcake for a classmate's birthday. In her three-year-old class they would always make the kids eat their lunch before they got the cupcake, but apparently in the four-year-old class they don't give a damn.

One Year, 2.5 Weeks

I took Amanda to get her one year pictures today. Charlie was teasing and giving me a hard time because her birthday was over two weeks ago, knowing full well that if he was in charge of it there would be no one year pictures, but he's right. With the first two kids I was there on their birthday, or the day after. I never would have waiting this long. Here's the problem. I was going to get them taken right around her birthday, but then I remembered I would have to bring the older kids and it would turn into a circus and I would be very unhappy by the end of it. Every once in awhile I want to do something with Amanda that is just for Amanda, and doesn't involve the other two trying to upstage her. She doesn't get that very often, so this time I wanted to make sure they weren't present.

It started out a little shaky. To start, the photographer was the same woman who asked me if I was pregnant when I came in for Father's Day pictures. So, I was a little agitated when I found out I would be spending the photo shoot with her. As for Amanda, unfortunately the studio is at the mall and they don't open until 10:00 a.m., so it was getting close to her nap time. All she wanted to do was sit in my lap. Then I had to take her snack away so we could take the pictures. She was not happy.

She finally warmed up with some bells and blocks and by the time we brought out the cake she was in a pretty good mood. Cake, you ask? Why would there be cake at a photo shoot? Well, I got this idea from a friend. For each of the kids on their first birthday I brought them and a cake to the photo studio. I sat the cake in front of my almost naked baby, of course they were wearing a modesty diaper, and let them go to town. I have fabulous pictures of the kids covered in frosting with the biggest smiles you have ever seen on their faces. It is a ton of fun to do and everybody loves the pictures. So by the time we finished the cake pictures she was one happy baby. Who wouldn't be, it was pretty good cake. I brought home the extra for the older kids. It's a little messed up, but they won't care.

I'm glad that I was able to suck it up and use that photographer, because she really was awesome. I had asked someone who was the best for kids that age, which is why I got her, and the person was spot on. She did a fantastic job. The pictures turned out great and it was impossible to choose. I will post some tomorrow, but I have to scan them first and since I have become so computer illiterate in my old age I will need Charlie to help me with it tomorrow. Suffice it to say if today was any reflection on how our next year will be, it's going to be sweet!

Kid Quote of the Day

"Does she still drink your stomach milk?"

-Max, 8, Andy's friend asking if Amanda was still nursing. I guess since she was always under a cover he wasn't sure exactly where she was drinking from.

Starting Over

Ahhh, peace and quiet. The two older kids are at school and Amanda is upstairs napping. I'm not sure if she is actually sleeping, but she's quiet, so I don't care. Unless she's dead, which I'm pretty sure she's not, and then I would be quite sad. Sorry, tangent.

Adjusting to "Back to School" has been a lot easier than I thought. Andy wakes up before any of us, and pretty much takes care of himself in the morning. Sarah wakes up soon after and I rarely have to prod her to get going. Amanda wakes some time between 6:00-7:00 a.m. so I am up as well. It's weird, but this week the whole family has been up and ready to go very early. Yesterday we were all eating breakfast at 7:30 a.m., which is definitely a first. It was strange, but I like it.

The person who has had the hardest adjustment to our new schedule is Amanda. The last six weeks of summer were pretty hard on her. Since we were traveling so much and staying in other people's homes or staying in rental homes with other people, as well as the whole family sleeping in one room, we were very careful to to attend to her quickly if she even made a tiny noise during the night. I would grab her and nurse her and often let her go back to sleep in our bed. Bad, very bad. Charlie and I know this is bad, we've known it for a very long time, but at the time it seemed like the only solution. After doing that 1-2 times a night for over a month, her sleep schedule was shot. Remember how I wrote that post about how she had finally turned a corner and wouldn't even cry when I put her down to bed? Yeah, shot. Now she was crying as soon as I walked in the bedroom and continued to cry the entire time I was getting her ready for bed. If Charlie was holding her and it was time for bed, she wouldn't even make eye contact with me because she knew I was going to take her and get her ready for bed. Cute and funny, but not so much after she started screaming.

At the same time I am pretty sure she is cutting teeth. A lot of teeth. Right now she has four on top and two on the bottom. So not only do the other two bottom teeth need to come in, but she's has four molars on the way. Her gums are swollen and red and she is not happy. In addition to that, we still haven't gotten her allergies under control. At her one-year check-up her doctor agreed to let her start taking Zurtec, but she is still snotty all day long. Her nose is constantly running and she hates it when you wipe her nose. Everything together makes for one very cranky baby.

So, Charlie and I decided we had to do something and we had to be a little bit hard core. We couldn't be nice about it anymore, because nice wasn't working. On Sunday night, she started screaming in the middle of the night. After awhile I went into her room but this time refused to pick her up. Instead, I just lied down on the floor. She cried and cried and cried, but finally realized I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't going to pick her up, and eventually sat down then lied down then went to sleep. About two hours after I left my bed I made my way back in, only for her to wake up again an hour later. Ugh, hard core sucks for Mommy and Daddy. Unfortunately Sarah hasn't started her Monday Nature School yet, so I didn't get to try my new nap routine and we were all out of whack. However, Monday night she was tired. She cried in the middle of the night and this time I stayed in bed. I waited about 10-15 minutes and was about to go into her room when she stopped. She went back to sleep. Yay! She was up at 6:00 a.m., but that's okay. I almost got a full night's sleep. She's been getting better every night. She cried again last night, but only for about five minutes, and then I actually woke her up after 7:00 a.m. I think we might be getting there, but I'm not going to make any bold statements that are going to come back and bite me.

The other sleep issue I needed to fix was Amanda's nap schedule. All summer she had been napping around 10:00 a.m., but was slowly starting to nap less and less. That makes sense because she's getting older and doesn't need to sleep that long after just getting up three hours earlier. That would be fine, except she doesn't take an afternoon nap. It just doesn't work with the kids' schedules. She gets to take cat naps in the car most afternoons, but never a full in her bed nap. So I needed to move her nap to later in the day so she would sleep longer and could make it until bedtime. The problem was, she was tired at 10:00 a.m. She didn't want to wait and if I didn't put her down at the right time I missed my window and she wouldn't sleep at all.

I started on Tuesday. Fed her lunch, then put her down for a nap. She cried for about 30-45 minutes and slept for about the same before I had to wake her up to go get Sarah. She would have slept longer, but we had to go. Yesterday was craziness so she didn't get any real nap but I tried again today. Fed her lunch and then put her in her crib. She cried for about five minutes. Done. I'm sure all the stuff we are doing at night helped and so did the later nap time and maybe even a lunch food coma, but I don't care. I just hope it can continue. The only bad part is that I can't be out running errands and doing thing past 10:00 a.m. or she'll fall asleep in the car and ruin everything. But that's okay, now I can write when it's light out instead of at midnight.

It's not perfect, but we'll get there. I know I've said it before, but what else can I do but keep trying until everything sticks. Our older two are great sleepers, except for minor issues with Sarah having bad dreams lately, so I know she'll get there too. All her activity and almost walking should help as well, because by the end of the day she is pooped out.

Speaking of poop, another thing I need to get back on track is her infant potty training. She was doing really well most of the summer and was going almost every time I took her, about every two hours. But something happened towards the end of the summer, and now she refuses to sit on the toilet. Or, she'll sit on the toilet but won't go. My friend, Ellie, who did it will all three of her boys, says it's quite normal that they have a little rebellion stage and to just back off a little but keep trying gently. Eventually she'll get back in the groove. Well, she's definitely letting me know she doesn't want to play my way. The last two nights I've tried to get her to go before a bath and she wouldn't. Then I set her down on the floor while I got everything ready, and she peed on the floor. Not nice, but luckily it's tile so easy to wipe up. Today she went one step further. I tried to get her to go and again she sat there but wouldn't go. When she started to fuss I put her on the floor. I left the room for about 15 seconds to go get another diaper. When I came back she had pooped on the floor. There is no way she didn't know she had to go when I had her on the toilet, she's just being difficult. One more thing we need to get back on track in the next couple of weeks, ugh!

On a happy note, Sarah is doing fantastic at school. She hasn't cried since the first day and today even wanted to go to school early. I can't remember the last time she asked me if it was time to go to school yet. Her teachers are AWESOME. This summer I kept telling her I hoped she got Miss Martha and if not Miss Martha then Miss Lorena. It would be okay if she didn't get either, but we were hoping for one of them. Well, they switched the teaching schedule around and she ended up getting both of them. It's like the dream team of teaching. I could not have asked for a better situation. They are wonderful and she loves them and she is starting to love school. I know this is going to be a great year!

Alone Again

Today was the first day that both kids were at school and I got some time to myself. Well, I had Amanda with me, but she's usually pretty easy when she's not screaming (and that post is definitely coming!). I even got about an hour to myself when I put Amanda down for a nap. Silence. I can barely remember what it's like.

The last time I had five hours in the middle of the day without the older kids was the first week of June. Times were simpler then because Amanda wasn't moving that much or that fast. I could get things done. I got some things done today, but not as much. I spent a lot of time dragging Amanda off the stairs. I think she goes up there just so I'll come get her, because she has a huge smile on her faces and reaches her arms out to me when I go to get her.

Anyway, I got a little time to myself today. It was nice. I could get used to this. I started working on a project that I started when I was pregnant with Amanda. A photo book of her first year. I finished making the book before she was born. That was the hard part. All I had to do after that was take a weekly picture and then print it and put it in the book. The plan was to print it on our cool Epson photo printer and fill the book as her first year went by. Today I selected the pictures I want in the book. All of them. Ugh! Not printed, not in the book. Oh well, when I get the pictures back from the printer, because we're not going to print over 50 pictures at once off the home printer, it shouldn't take me long to fill the book and then it will finally be complete.

I was also able to get things ready for the big Fort Worth consignment sale. Now that we aren't having any more babies I can get rid of all the clothes I have been saving since Andy was a baby. I've been going through buckets and bins to decided what goes to consignment, what I can sell on eBay, and what just gets donated. With a few gems I've saved for a couple friends. I can't believe how much stuff we have, but it's about six year's worth of clothes. I'm running out of space to hang all the stuff before I take it to the sale. Luckily the sale starts Labor Day weekend so I have a goal and my house will be seriously purged in the next two weeks. Yay!

I can get used to this me time. Hopefully it will make me a much happier and relaxed person and my house won't be so cluttered. The only problem is the days that both kids go to school, they are both cranky and tired and extra mean to each other when they get home. You would think since they haven' t seen each other all day they could be nice. No. It's the opposite. They've been on their best behavior all day and now they need to release it all on somebody else. It does not make for a fun afternoon, but it's the best trade off I can arrange right now. The real joy comes next year when Amanda starts preschool a couple days a week. Who knows what I will be able to do with myself then.

Kid Quote of the Day

"Can I keep it forever and ever and ever?"

-Sarah, when her new backpack with light-up wheels arrived in the mail.

Back to School

Thursday was Meet The Teacher at Andy's school. They post the class lists at 4:00 p.m. and then Meet The Teacher is from 6:00-7:30 p.m. I really don't understand why people rush up to the school to check the list at 4:00 p.m., only to come back at 6:00 p.m., but lots of people do it. It's funny, I don't think the kids realize what a big deal the first day of school is to their parents. Just like the kids want to be in class with their friends, the moms want their kids to be in class with their friend's kids. Sometimes it can seem kind of clicky, but you hope the parents are beyond that. You hope.

So, there was a picnic put on by the PTA from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Free hot dogs, chips, drinks and ice pops so that you will come out, fill out all your PTA paperwork, and pay them your money. I'm always looking for someone else to cook dinner, so I took the kids up around 5:00 p.m. We would have gotten there sooner but Sarah was having trouble following the directions of "put on your socks". I would have waited for her forever, but I didn't think it was fair to Andy that he miss or be late for his Meet The Teacher because his little sister refused to put her socks on. Oh, the joy!

When we parked the car, the first thing I asked Andy was "Do you want to check the list now or wait until 6:00 p.m.?". He said he wanted to wait. I love that about him. When Amanda was born and he didn't know if she was a boy or a girl, I asked him over the phone if he wanted to know or if he wanted to wait until he got to the hospital and he said wait that time too. I think it's cool that even though he really wants to know something he would rather find out in the moment than ahead of time. So we skipped checking the list and went to the playground and the picnic. I saw two moms from his first grade class and the first thing they said, after not seeing me for three months, was "Who'd he get?". I told them I didn't know and that we weren't in any rush to find out. I can't remember exactly what I said, it was four days ago I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, but they seemed pretty turned off by my answer. I guess I wasn't excited enought about finding out. I'm not sure why they asked anyway, because they seemed to know and were perfectly happy to tell me. Oh well, in the end I needed to put his teacher's name on the PTA forms, so someone had to look it up and verify that those two moms were correct. Man, I wish I had the brain power to remember my kid's teacher and all his friends' teachers but I definitely do not. The only reason I can remember his teacher's name is because it's Mrs. Presley and there once was a very famous singer with that name. Last year Andy's teacher's name was Mrs. Hall, but she was out on maternity leave for the first nine weeks and had a sub, Mrs. Ball. It took me months to remember what his teacher's name was after she came back. I could never remember if she was Mrs. Hall or Mrs. Ball. Maybe if I had been getting more sleep it would have been easier, but I think it was just a mean trick the school was playing on me.

We met Mrs. Presley and she seems really nice. That's all I can say. I talked to her for five minutes. However, our neighbor across the street had her last year and said she is super sweet to the kids and she is a great communicator with the parents. Sounds good to me. Best of all, Andy's buddy, Mark, is in his class this year. They both went to the Spanish Schoolhouse for Kindergarten but were in different classes last year. They are the only two kids from the Kindergarten class to go to this school, the others are spread throughout the district. So it was great that they are together, and nice that Mark's mom, Larisa, and I will see each other more than we already do.

Today was his first day of school. I got up around 7:20 a.m. so I could take a first day of school picture before he left. As I came down the stairs he was waiting on the bottom step, backpack on his back, lunch already packed, 20 minutes before it was time to go. I guess he was ready! Charlie had made his sandwich the night before and Andy had packed everything in the morning. I guess Charlie had also included a first day of school note in his lunch, because after they left I found a post-it note on the counter that said, "Dear Daddy, Can you please not write those notes? - Andy". Apparently he didn't know it was only a first day of school note, not an everyday in your lunch note, and found it embarrassing. Good thing he found it when he was packing his own lunch because his lazy parents weren't downstairs in time to do it for him.

When I picked him up from school this afternoon it was like nothing had changed.

Me: How was your first day of school?

Andy: Fine.

Me: Do you like your teacher?

Andy: Yes.

No wonder Charlie changed the rules in the house that if you can't remember what you did that day you don't get dessert. It's kind of frustrating trying to get the kids to talk.

Overall, it was a good day. He wants to go back tomorrow, so it couldn't have been all that bad. He even enjoyed his Spanish class with Senora Keith. All is right with the world.

Kid Quote of the Day

"The light-up Twinkle Toes are the most coolest Twinkle Toes."

-Sarah, referring to the blinged-out shoes made by Sketchers that she has got to have. She can't have the regular ones, she must have the ones that light up. In her defense, they are pretty cool.

One Down, One to Go

Sarah started school yesterday. It went about how I thought. She was fine the whole way there, and as we walked into the building she started to get quieter. The closer we got to her classroom the more withdrawn she was and as the teacher welcomed us she started to cry. I was really hoping that three months off and some trips to summer camp would cure the need to cry, but not so much. Maybe it was just that the first day is so overwhelming, maybe she just fell right back into the same routine, maybe she was just petrified of me leaving her alone. I don't know what it is, but it doesn't give you a lot of warm fuzzies as you walk away and can hear your kid crying back in the room. The only kid, by the way, crying in the four-year-old room. Because by four years old, your kid should not be crying when you drop them off.

I don't feel great about leaving her, but I'm more annoyed than sympathetic. Her school is awesome. Her teachers are awesome. She has a great time there. She just makes the whole drop-off thing difficult for everyone - me, her teachers, the other kids. It sucks. By the end of last year I was so pissed off every time I dropped her off at school that I almost stopped taking her. Except then her little four-year-old brain would have been reeling with the power of knowing that all she had to do was cry and I would give in. Unfortunately for her I can be pretty strong willed and competitive myself and I am not going to lose to a four year old. So I continued to take her and leave her kicking and screaming only to pick up the happiest little girl you had ever seen. I don't know how long I'll be able to take it this year, but she has the most amazing teachers and hopefully the are going to nip it quickly.

Wow, this isn't exactly where I thought I was going with this post, but I guess I had to get some things off my chest. Anyway, Andy is in art camp this week so I dropped him first and then Sarah and then got a taste of what life will be like next week when Andy starts school. I had three hours with just Amanda to do whatever I wanted. Even better, she fell asleep, so I really could do anything without having to pay attention to anybody else. It was heavenly. Of course we went shopping. I bought shoes for the girls because I am a shoe aholic. That is another post that may never be told because Charlie does read this and I'm not sure I want him to know how bad it is. Needless to say when Amanda does finally start wearing shoes she is going to look fabulous all the time. I half-heartedly looked for shoes for me, but it was more just to blow some time. Either way it was relaxing. Lovely. Brilliant.

Andy starts school next week. We will finally be on a schedule. We've been pretty good and kept them on their bedtime routine and time for most of the summer, so we haven't and won't have issues getting them out of bed. It's been kind of nice to not have to be anywhere for the last few months, and that's going to change significantly next week, but there's good in the schedule too. We'll all sleep better, our lives will be a little less chaotic, and the kids will do all the things that are going to mold them into the people they will become. Scouting, art class, gymnastics, soccer, you get the idea. I'm excited about what they will be doing, but also glad to have a little time each week when I can get a break, rejuvenate and work on being the mom I want to be. You know, the ones that's a little more sympathetic to the little girls she leaves crying in the classroom.

Hey Jack!

Last night was a momentous occasion. I got to go out. Pause for effect. Okay, that wasn't that momentous, I do get to go out a couple of times a month and Charlie is great about it. But last night was different. For the first time in a year and 8 days, I did not put Amanda to bed. That may sound like small potatoes to you, but for me that is a big deal. A huge deal. A, well, momentous occasion.

I went to the Jack Johnson concert with my friend, Melanie, and her friend, Shelley. I love Melanie. She is so fun and tells fabulous stories with great detail. Shelley was loads of fun too and I hope to get to see her again. They both made me laugh more than I've laughed in a long time and you know what they say about laughter? It's good for the soul. The $14 margaritas and all of Shelley's red wine may have had something to do with it (I didn't drink it but she did), but that just makes it all the more fun.

We had to be some of the oldest people out there, and since I am three years older than Mel and Shelley that made me the winner of the "Oldest Lady at the Concert" contest. Maybe not at the concert, but definitely sitting in the lawn. With all the young twenties smoking cloves and pot. I swear when Amanda woke up in the middle of the night and I rocked her she fell asleep extra fast because of the second-hand pot smoke in my hair and oozing out of my pores. The girl next to us put on an amazing show with her dancing. It was almost, no actually, it was more entertaining that Jack himself.

I got home so late, even later than I normally stay up, and got up early due to Sarah having a nightmare or something else she refused to tell me about (aren't four-year-olds fun?) and was totally dragging all day long, but that did not dampen my spirit from last night. I felt this extra sense of freedom. Like now that I've done it once, I can do it again. It's all starting to balance out. Maybe next time I can go for more than one night. Wouldn't that be fabulous? It's not that I don't want to be around my kids, because I love them dearly, but I am around them A LOT. It is good for them, and for me, when I get a little time for myself to do grown-up stuff and I'm not always mom. Plus, then they get to spend quality time with Daddy, who they love more, and Daddy appreciates me just a little bit more when I get home.

Overall, a great way to spend my first night of freedom.

Kid Quote of the Day

Me: Woohoo, 75!

Sarah: Woohoo, 92!


Me being excited that the speed limit in Denver was 75 after driving around 40 the entire way back from Estes Park. Sarah, not really understanding but throwing out her favorite number after I said one.

Puking in Myrtle Beach

I've been meaning to catch you up on this last vacation for several days now, but I was so annoyed that I couldn't post video that I stayed away from blogger for awhile. Plus, the kids are still at home, so I don't have a lot of free time to tell stories. Luckily, Sarah goes back tomorrow and Andy starts on Monday, and then life will get a little more scheduled and back to normal. Thank Neptune! That still sounds weird, April.

Anywho, our second vacation was to Myrtle Beach. We got home on Thursday evening from Estes Park, I did laundry and packed on Friday (with a short trip in to see Sarah's therapist because her new braces were causing enormous blisters on her sad little feet), and we were on a 12:40 flight to Myrtle Beach on Saturday. The packing wasn't really that bad. I had already set aside clothes for the kids when I was packing for Colorado, so I just need to pack myself (Charlie packs for himself) and repack things like shampoo, hair dryer, etc. that were already near the bags. Somehow, even though we finished packing early for once, we still managed to stay up until midnight. We suck that way. We just can't go to sleep because the kids aren't around to bother us and it's the only time we ever get to do anything for ourselves. Every time we go on a trip we say that we shouldn't stay up late the night before, because we get really cranky with the kids when we are lacking sleep and that does not make for good flying, and yet we do it anyway. This time it really came back to bite us in the butt.

We had been asleep for about 30 minutes when Sarah started crying in her room. Charlie went to check on her and then brought her into our bathroom. It seemed like it was taking forever, much more than just a trip to the potty, so I got up to see if everything was okay. Everything was definitely not okay. Sarah had thrown up all over herself in her bed and then a couple of times once they got to the toilet as well. Charlie was in the process of getting her into new pajamas and cleaned up. I went into her room, stripped the bed, started a load of laundry and then came back up to see what I could do to help. We got Sarah situated on the futon in our room and not 30 minutes later she threw up again. And again. And again. More laundry and new pajamas. I'm not sure when she stopped throwing up, but it was probably around 3p. I can't even remember if I got up with the baby at some point in the adventure, but knowing how she was sleeping during that time period I'm sure I did that as well.

We were finally all back asleep when Andy came into our room around 5 a.m. He said his stomach hurt and he thought he might be hungry. Uh oh. We gave him some soda crackers just in case, but within the hour he was throwing up as well. Super. What a great way to start a trip. We called to pediatricians office as soon as they opened (thankfully they have Saturday hours) to see what we should do. I know it sounds funny, but our kids never throw up. Seriously, NEVER. In Andy's seven years of life I think I can count on one hand the number of times he has thrown up and before that incident Sarah had only done it once. So, we weren't sure what we needed to give them, if they needed to come in the office, if they were contagious, if we could still travel. That was the big question. Could the kids get on a plane to Myrtle Beach that day and would they contaminate all of our friends once we got there. The nurse assured us that as long as we washed our hands carefully and frequently that it was only a 12-24 hour thing and they wouldn't give it to anybody else. She also told us that after the vomiting using comes diarrhea, so watch out for that.

So now the decision was, what to do. This was our first family vacation in months. We were meeting our friends and didn't want to miss out. We were paying a lot of money to stay at this house and we wanted to make sure we maximized our money spent, and trying to reschedule our flights and car was going to be a super mess. We waited around until 10:30 a.m., the kids were keeping everything down, in fact Sarah was pretty much over it by then, and decided to go for it. Probably not the best parenting decision in the world but we were kind of at a loss of what else to do. Andy threw up two more times that day. Once at the airport lot where we parked, and once on the plane. He really was a real trooper. We made it to Myrtle Beach without anymore issues and thought we were done with it.

That night, we went out for Mexican food. I'm sure you can guess what happened next. Not the kids, me. I started feeling bad on the way back to the house, and by 10 p.m. felt awful. Charlie was sweet and tried to help but there wasn't much he could do. Let's just put it this way, I didn't have to worry about any calories from that meal or anything I had eaten for the previous day or so. The next day I felt gross and weak all day, but I didn't get sick again and the kids were back to normal. So, it seemed like it really was a 12-24 hour thing and then gone.

We enjoyed a trip to the beach on Monday. Amanda was a maniac. We've never taken her to the beach before and she absolutely loved it. She kept crawling towards the waves and wasn't afraid of the water at all. I got a great workout chasing after her. Andy and Sarah had a blast as well, and enjoyed playing with Amanda on the beach and making sand castles with Charlie.

The guys golfed on Tuesday and we just hung out around the house, and the girls got the afternoon off on Wednesday to go to the outlet malls. I don't know why I love going to the outlet malls so much, but I do. When we finally got home from shopping, Charlie wasn't feeling well. He didn't get sick, but he had a migraine most of the afternoon and went to bed early. Of course he was okay to golf on Thursday, so he bounced back, but it still was a little nerve wracking. Thursday night, however, the craziness began. Jason was feeling awful and went to bed super early. The next morning, we found out that he was feeling better but his wife, Lisa, had gotten sick. Then, April told us that her husband, John, and kids were all throwing up all night long. Ugh. The only people who never got sick that week were April, Amanda, and Jason and Lisa's little boy (who is six days older than Amanda), Joshua. What a crappy week. I was really worried that we had gotten everyone sick, but come to find out John was sick for several days after we left, April ended up getting a fever and a headache for a few days, and their daughter, Anna, had a couple days of fever and a rash all over her body. I don't think our 12 hours stomach flu four days earlier gave them that, or at least I really hope not.

So, overall we had a good time in Myrtle Beach this year, as well always do with our friends, but it was very weird from previous years. One of the families couldn't make it, everybody got sick, we didn't stay up late and drink and play crazy games like usual because nobody felt up for staying up late, and I didn't gain any weight. I always gain weight at Myrtle, but if you aren't drinking and eating junk late at night and lose a couple of pounds purging yourself of all remnants of food at the beginning of the trip, it's a lot easier to keep the pounds off. The one positive thing is that we weren't as sad to come home this year. Plus, our friends are coming to visit in October, so we have something to look forward to.

Hopefully next year we will be back on track and our 11th year at Myrtle will be one worth celebrating!

A Good Night's Sleep

Last night Amanda slept all night long, or at least she didn't cry out for us to come get her, for the first time in over a month. Of course, I still woke up at the times that she normally gets up because my body is so used to waking up then. When I finally woke up at 6:37 a.m. and had not heard a peep out of her all night about four different thoughts went through my head simultaneously.

First, she's dead. I know, that's a horrible thought, but that's truly the first thought. It's partially because every time I see my friend, Lizette, she tells me horror stories of weird ways that kids she knows or knows of have died, and partially because why else would the status quo change? You might think I'm nuts, but the first thing that Charlie said to me this morning is, "Is she dead?", so I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

Second, that Zurtec is really doing the trick. We went for Amanda's one year check-up on Tuesday and the pediatrician finally agreed to put her on allergy medicine. He didn't want to do it before she turned one, but the day after she turned one she was good to go. She's been taking it for a couple of days now. Her nose is still running incessantly all day long, but I think she's starting to sleep better and have less drainage at night. I love drugs for babies.

Third, the fact that she's about to start walking is really tiring her out. So many people have said that their babies started sleeping much better right around the age of one, when they began walking and exerting a lot more energy. Amanda isn't walking yet, but she's on her feet all the time and cruising all over the place. Plus, even when she's not trying to walk she is always moving. It really takes the whole family to keep up with her.

Fourth, and this really was the last thing that may have sort of kind of had something to do with her sleeping through the night, is that I've tried to be a little bit of a hard ass this week getting her back on schedule. I've refused to nurse her when she wakes at night and I've only been rocking her for a few minutes and then putting her back to sleep. It took four days, but that's about right. I seriously doubt this is the answer, but I'd like to believe it is. It would make me feel better about my parenting lately.

Obviously we don't really know what caused it, because Amanda isn't telling, but I just hope this wasn't a fluke and becomes the norm. If it was a fluke, I certainly needed and enjoyed seven hours of uninterrupted sleep (except for the bathroom break at the time she should have been up), and if it wasn't, at least I got a one night reprieve so we can work on it some more. Whatever the case, the first year of sleeplessness is over and it's only going to get better from here. Imagine what I could do if I got seven hours of sleep every night? But wait, what would my excuse be for being such a slacker? Maybe she should still get up at night for a bit longer.

More Than a Little Bit Mobile

People are always so excited when their kids start to move and are quick to announce that they are "mobile". I think there are different stages of mobile. There's the first stage, when your kid learns to roll over and can get from any two points in the house by rolling the whole way there. Then there's the second stage, where the baby is trying to learn how to crawl but goes backwards more than forwards. Next comes the army crawl, then the scoot, then the regular crawl and eventually they work themselves up to walking.

Amanda isn't quite at the point where she's walking yet. She is crazy with the walker, we can't figure out if she is going really fast or just trying to keep up so she doesn't fall down. Either way, she moves quickly, until she bumps into something and doesn't know how to right herself. She pulls up on everything, can stand in one place without holding anything for 3-4 seconds, and creeps (that's walking while holding onto something - couch, table, person, bed, wall, you get the idea) all over the house. She is also a lightening fast crawler and can easily get away from you in her quest to get into trouble and put something hazardous in her mouth.

When Amanda first started crawling, she really didn't have much interest in going very far. She crawled, but stayed in her comfort zone of the living room and kitchen. Now that she is almost walking, she's become more reckless and fearless. She goes everywhere and she's not afraid of anything. Her favorite place to visit right now? The steps. She is actually very good at climbing the stairs, and if you take your eye off her for too long that's where she will be. She can get up them very fast. It's not that she wants to do anything that is upstairs, she just wants to go up the stairs. We've been trying to teach her how to go down properly, but so far I don't think it's really sinking in. If she is this adventurous now, we are in big trouble.

I've been trying to post a video for the past three days that shows her climbing up the stairs, but blogspot sucks and I can't get it to work. So, you're going to have to take my word for it and envision her climbing about 16 stairs in 30 second. Ugh!

Bear Wresting in Estes Park

Charlie, Andy, my niece Allie, Sarah, my niece Ella, my sister Kathy and my niece Sarah.

The first of our two "vacations" was a family reunion (on my mom's mom's side of the family) in Estes Park, Colorado. I say "vacations" because before we left I didn't really think a family reunion counted as a vacation. For one, my parents bribed the whole lot of us to go and didn't really give us much of a chance to say no. For two, I've never been that close to the extended family (I'm talking really extended, like my mom's second cousins and their kids and grand kids) so it didn't seem like it would be that much fun. Of course, I was wrong. I have a theory in life that if you have super low expectations for something it is almost always going to exceed those expectations, and of course I was not let down.

We started the weekend by visiting my old (she's not old, it was just a long time ago) college roommate, Kim, in the Denver area. She has two kids that are about Andy's age, so our kids had a great time playing with them for the weekend and I had fun catching up with my friend. We don't get to see each other as much as we used to, and it was fun to see all the new endeavours in her life. From there we went to Estes Park. We stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies. You think YMCA and you don't necessarily have warm thoughts, but it was really nice. We were in a lodge that has only been open for a year or so, so everything was brand new. Everything except the TVs, because there were no TVs in the room. I thought Andy was going to have a heart attack when he figured that one out, but it really was a good thing. We were able to get up and moving much faster in the morning and everyone was more willing to leave the room and try thing since there was nothing to do in the room.

Since all my siblings were there with their families as well, my kids were in heaven with the amount of time they got to spend with their cousins. There was a great playground, or park as Sarah likes to call it, where Sarah and Ella played at least twice a day and there was a fantastic craft center that the kids unfortunately did not visit until the last day and then I didn't even go with them. They made tie dye shirts that my sister picked up and still needs to send, I can't wait to see them. Andy also spent an afternoon driving through Rocky Mountain National Park with my brother and his family. My sister-in-law said he fit right in, just like one of their own kids. I'm not at all surprised and am so glad they had so much fun together. Andy's cousins, Kevin and Jack, also taught him to play black jack and euchre. They are both 13, so it is reasonable that they would be playing games like that. For a seven year old, not so much. Now Andy thinks he is a euchre genius and is always asking me to play with him. Have I told you before that the kid is not lacking in confidence?

The only negative thing about the trip was the dining situation. It was all cafeteria style. That would have been fine if Charlie was staying all week, but he only came for the weekend to drop us off and after that it was up to me to go through the line with three kids, putting food on plates and carrying more trays than is humanly possible. Lucky for me I had a mini breakdown the evening Charlie left, only to my mom and I tried to be quiet about it, that I couldn't handle everybody on my own and my family totally stepped up. Everybody helped by taking my kids and helping them through the line and making sure I never had to eat alone. I was so thankful.

I thought I would have all these crazy stories from the family reunion, but it was relatively tame. The only thing I got fired up about was my brother convincing Andy that he wrestled bears. Truly, I wasn't as annoyed with him for telling Andy the stories, because that is my brother to a T, but more annoyed with Andy for believing them. Not just for believing them, but continuing to believe them after asking me whether or not they were true and me confirming that they weren't. So, in a nutshell, he chose to believe that his uncle declawed, muzzled and wrestled bears instead of believing his mother who said it was not true. When I asked him why he believed his uncle over me he said, "What (he always starts an argument with what), he's very convincing". Yes, he should be convincing. He's a highly paid lawyer in a large city. If he can't convince a seven year old how is he going to convince all those juries out there that his clients are innocent?

Anyway, my nephew, Jack, finally fessed up to Andy that they were pulling his leg. This was after I gave Jack a look of death because I was totally fed up with my "you don't know anything I know everything" son telling me that I was wrong, and because we were up on an 11,000 foot mountain in the Rockies and were perilously close to Charlie missing his shuttle to the airport which would have resulted in either me driving him two hours to the Denver airport or him flying out the next morning and being very late for work. I hope Jack didn't hold it against me but I was pretty stressed at the moment and he didn't seem to be bothered the next time I saw him. He's a great kid by the way, even if he gets great humor tormenting his little cousin.

The worst part of the trip was getting home. I really hate the Denver airport. You have to go up and down and back up again, which is a big pain with the stroller, and their security is very cumbersome. Throw in three kids who just can't seem to get along no matter how much candy you bribe them with (Yes, that is our weak attempt at getting good behavior when we travel now, candy. Generally they don't behave but somehow get the candy anyway. This third kid has really messed up our travel mojo.) and even though you get to the rental car return two and a half hours before your flight you still get to the gate about 15 minutes before boarding. Despite that, we made it home alive and ready for our next adventure.

Overall it was a great trip. I got to spend some quality time with the family, the weather was awesome (I even got to wear jeans and a sweatshirt in the evenings) except for a few rainy days, and even that didn't stop the fun, and my mom and dad were so happy to have us all there. To be honest, I didn't spend too much time with the other relatives, which is kind of the point of a family reunion, but I kind of had my hands full. Maybe by the next one I can mingle a little more.

Not Zero Anymore, Now One

This morning at 5:27 a.m. Amanda turned one year old. She chose to celebrate the momentous occasion by screaming and yelling. Not in a good way. Seriously, I think Charlie was in the room with her when the clock ticked 5:27 a.m. Either that or he had already brought her into bed with us so he could get some sleep. Yes, there it is. We have blown her sleeping routine so far out of the water from all the traveling and "don't wake up the other people in the house/room" that she gets up at least twice a night to eat/yell at us just because we have let her for the last month. Okay, maybe me more than Charlie, but he knew about it and didn't make me stop.

So anyway, back to the fact that my lovely baby turned one today. I cannot begin to tell you how quickly the last year has flown by. I know everybody says it, but it's true. It's one of those weird things though, because although it has gone amazingly fast, it also seems like she's been around forever, like she's always been one of the family. Maybe because we never were truly complete until she came along, and now we are. I don't know, but I can't imagine our family without her.

The kids absolutely adore her. Especially Sarah. She is Sarah's friend and playmate. I've never seen anyone play with a baby the way she does. Sarah just loves her completely and is so sweet with her. I find it especially cute when she speaks to Amanda in a baby voice, as if her voice isn't baby enough. She is constantly telling me that if something happens to me she will take care of Amanda (a little unsettling, like I should watch my back, but I think said with the best intentions) and has asked countless times if she can have Amanda when she grows up. I'm not sure Amanda is going to be jiggy with that when she's an adult, but I don't know that Sarah will still want her then anyway.

Andy loves her too, and loves to try to make her smile. He is big enough that he can carry her around and does it more willingly than he did a few months ago. He doesn't play with her as much as Sarah does, but he is always trying to make her laugh and distract her and wants to push her in the stroller.

When I was pregnant with Amanda, the entire family wanted a boy. Well, except for me. I would have been happy with a boy, but I really wanted a sister for Sarah. A brother for Andy would have been fine, but they wouldn't have been that close in age and may never have developed a close relationship. When she was born everybody else was a little disappointed, although they were still very excited she was here, but I knew what a great gift a little girl would be. With Andy and Sarah, he is the constant antagonist, always trying to push her buttons and torment her. She loves and admires him, but takes a lot of crap from him. But with Amanda Sarah gets to be the big sister, be the one who is admired and loved, and instead of tormenting her in return, she shows her so much love. Amanda really is the perfect addition to our family and makes it work and balanced.

Now for my sweet little girl. She is definitely coming into her own. She knows what she wants and goes after it, no matter how much we try to distract her. She is constantly moving and doesn't want you to get in her way. She has no fear. Of the steps, the swimming pool, the ocean. At the same time, she is quite a Mamma's Girl. Except when it is time for bed and then she won't even look at or acknowledge me. She is smart, dare I say the smartest one yet. I have no doubts that we are going to see amazing things from this little girl. Before we know it she will be in charge of all of us. She is the spitting image of her sister. Someday I know that I will look at pictures and I will only be able to tell which is which by what they are wearing. Even then I may not know. Two curly haired girls may kill me. I am convinced their craziness is directly related to the number of curls on their heads. She is sweet and loving and always willing to stop and give me one of her wet, juicy, very French kisses that someday I will truly miss.

When I told Charlie time and again that I wanted one more baby, I thought I had the whole thing under control. We had already done it twice, how hard could it be? Unbelievably hard. Harder than I ever imagined. I don't know if it's because I'm older or I forgot everything or the age gap between my kids just makes things a little more challenging, but this past year has been crazy difficult. And yet, I wouldn't change it for the world. I would not change the family or the life we have now for something a little less intense and a little less chaotic. A little quieter, maybe. I would have loved for the last year to be easier. I thought that after having two kids I would have been able to figure out how to get my baby to sleep through the night a little sooner. Or at all. I thought I would have everything down by now. But I don't. I'm tired and stressed and could really use a vacation (really, just by myself this time, or at least just Charlie and me) but I still love what I do, all of it.

Amanda is a joy to have around. Even with all her new found independence and her inability to tell me what she wants and all the crying, still lots of crying, she is a wonderful, fun, cute little baby. I'm sorry, little girl. I guess technically she's not a baby anymore. However, I am the youngest of four and still to this day my father introduces me to people as his baby, so I guess she can stand the title for a little bit longer. I cannot imagine what we would be like without her. Life would no doubt be easier, but not nearly as exciting and fun. I can't wait to see what the future has to bring.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

We're Back

We're finally home from the vacation after our vacation and from two weeks of no wifi. I'm not sure how that's even possible, but it is. Luckily I had my phone so I was able to get email through all the spotty coverage. If I had had no internet and no email a little part of me would have died inside. We got home late last night, in time to pick up a gallon of milk so we could have cereal for dinner, a favorite of the whole family, especially on nights when we get home from a trip and there is nothing else to eat in the refrigerator, and get the kids to bed at a reasonable time. Instead of starting to unpack last night and leaving stuff all over the house, Charlie and I also opted to go to bed early and tackle it all today. Good thing since Sarah woke us up to pee around 1am and Amanda woke us up because that's what she does some time after that.

Today we just got used to being home again. Luckily I did tons of laundry while we were gone, more often than I would ever do it if we were at home, so we mostly came home with clean clothes. I love that, it makes getting home from the vacation so much better. I was still able to find two loads, but at this moment the only dirty clothes in the house are the ones that we wore today. Now if we could just put away the last few things that we unpacked the house would be back to normal, or as normal is it usually is. We spent the day hanging out at home, mostly in our pajamas, playing Wii as a family, which is pretty amusing since Sarah is horrible at it, and just trying to get in the mind set of not being on vacation. We did a little swimming, had a simple dinner, one of those there's nothing in the fridge so what stand-by staple is available dinners, and put the kids to bed on time. Yes! We've actually been pretty good about keeping to our set bedtime this summer, so going back to school shouldn't be too tough.

I can't believe all of our travels are over for the summer. I had a pretty aggressive travel schedule for the kids and myself, a result of two many things being scheduled that were out of my control this year, and was worried that we wouldn't survive. In actuality, it was the exact opposite. We thrived. Because we were on the road and busy and visiting so many people, my kids didn't have that much down time to get on each other's nerves. They still found a way, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't half as bad as it could have been. They got to strengthen their relationships with their cousins, meet and see lots of friends, got to see new things and places, and had to be very flexible with all of the things we were doing. They really did great. We totally messed up the baby's sleep schedule, but other than that she did great too. She was forced to be with so many people over the last month that she lost some of her need to be with Mommy all the time. The best part of all? School is just around the corner. Sarah starts next week and Andy starts the week after. Hopefully we can survive two more weeks, it shouldn't be that hard, right?

Surprisingly I don't have that much to write about, even though we were gone for so long. So in a couple of days we should be all caught up. Then, once school starts, I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about. We're talking about my kids, remember?