Mushrooms, Slugs, Sloth

We found a trail near our home. 

It's very kid friendly, meaning it's short, flat, and loops around. 

Perfect for when we need to just get out of the house.

Avery sounding the alarm,

"this way mommy!"

Jimi sloth was a huge hit with the kids. 

Mushrooms and slugs. 

Traveling

Every time we fly, we figure out a new trick to make the experience easier. 

This last trip's discovery was buying a smarte carte.

5 bucks. 

5 bucks and now we don't have to juggle/lug all these free hand. 

I'm not really sure how we did it before. 

If you'd like to know, it goes like this:

Jimi drops Me, Avery, Andrew and all the luggage off at the front airport door. 

We set up camp and wait.

Jimi and Evan drive to the employee parking lot,

park,

and get on the shuttle back to the airport.

Together we get checked in, now with the help of a carte. 

Go through security. I carry Andrew in the bjorn.

The kids take off their shoes even though they don't have to...every time they tell us the kids don't need to take off shoes. Every time the kids do it anyway. 

I get my hands swabbed for bomb residue because I'm carrying a baby in a bjorn.

We wait at the gait. Sometimes the kids sit nicely and watch the airplanes...sometimes they run around like it's a playground. You roll the dice to see how the kids will behave.

We board the airplane, and sit preferably in the very last row so the loud engines drown us out.

Jimi sits with the two older kids; I sit with Andrew on my lap. 

We buy the kids pack snacks. 

The kids pin wings on their shirts.

We land. We are the last off the plane.

Baggage claim. Smarte Carte, bless your 5$ heart.

Evan and Jimi take a shuttle to go get the rental car. 

Me, Avery, Andrew, and luggage set up camp and wait for them.

Avery has to poop. 

I laugh at that because...look at me. I lug all this stuff into the bathroom. I even wipe her with a baby on board, sleeping.

The boys arrive with the mini van (which we have never paid the actual price for. We reserve the full size and the guy out in the lot upgrades us every time.)

We buckle in the car seats. It is hot in Vegas. We usually sweat.

Once we are all buckled in...take a deep breath.

Oh, yeah. Don't forget to return the Smarte Carte for a quarter rebate.

(I'm blind!)

Have some good times for a week, then do it all over again.

Hello Sophia

 

I have discovered the wisdom in taking my kids out and about during the day - to the park, grocery shopping, to the water...

It burns up time until Jim gets home, and if they aren't at home, they can't make a mess you see.

 

So today we went to the dollar store to buy stuff for Avery's birthday party, and then to the park.

 

At the park there was this girl with a visible dark cloud over her head. She was bossy and wore a frown the whole time. Avery was in the best mood and flitted between sidewalk chalk with Black Cloud, and going down the slide. Black Cloud would just say negative things to Avery and took her ball away for no reason.

 

The girl just wasn't pleasant. I wouldn't want to be her friend.

 

Eventually a new family came, and as I was strolling a fussy Andrew around, I noticed Evan was getting really shy and hiding behind my legs. Then he started pointing to a little girl. Low and behold, there was the famous Sophia from his preschool class.

Sophia is the cute little thing in his class picture that he points to and smiles.  He always sings "hello Sophia, hello Sophia, hello Sopheeeeeaaaa!" (which is the welcome song they sing every day), and talks about her in his Evan way.

"Beea"

 

(pink dress, blue boots)

 

And there she was in the flesh.

 

Of course I talked with her mom and dad and met the other members of their family, and all the kids played together...once Evan and Sophia were done being shy about their worlds colliding.

Her mom said Sophia talks about Evan too...he pulls her around in the wagon.**

 

Later...Sophia's dad told me that the older sister got her feelings hurt by Black Cloud, and was kind of sitting by herself off to the side. He said that Avery came over to her and said,

"I'll be your friend!"

 

As we were driving home, I told Avery that she made a good choice. I told her if someone is being mean to her, she can always choose not to be their friend. She made a good choice to go be friends with someone nice.

 

And then Avery said, "I think I made Black Cloud mad."

"Why? what did you do?"

"I didn't want to draw with her. I think she needed to sleep. She will be happier if she sleeps."

 

Such wisdom.

 

 

 

**Incidentally, two MORE kids from Evan's class came to the park! It was so fun to meet his friends.

First Bites

 

Here's how he feels about food from a spoon...

St. George Tri 2013

 

Setting up the transition area.

Butterflies.

 

It was just us three this year.

Jim coming out of the water.

Why am I smiling?

I don't know. Because I know my picture is being taken?

I should be running to the transition area right now, but I'm pooped. 

 

Ok, I kind of don't even want to talk about this, but I found out via these pictures that my helmet was on crooked.

So I looked super lame the whole time.

I thought for sure I looked something like Lance Armstrong while riding a bike, but nope. I don't.

Jimi does though. He always looks so cool.

By the way, look at the background in all these pictures. It's a lovely venue for a race. 

Waving to Sharley and the kids.

I absolutely love riding/running by my kids. It is the highlight for sure.

 

 

Please just get me to the finish line.

 

This tri was hard. I didn't get very awesome times.

Excuses...excuses...here are my excuses.

Let's see...

I just had a baby?

Um...

I trained at sea level? Altitude difference killed me.

 

I got a cold from my kids earlier in the week.

 

I did something weird to my back/tailbone/hip/glute muscle while running a few days before.

 

I don't know, but I just didn't do as good as I would have liked.

My swim was my best time ever, but I think it was a shorter course.

My bike ride was pretty slow. My helmet was on crooked. I chugged too much Gatorade.

My run was really disappointing. Slowest ever. Slower than when I was 6 weeks pregnant last year. It kind of bummed me out.

 

My favorite was after the race when me and Evan went and got the free lunch.

We found some shade, sat on the ground, and shared bites of sandwich. While chewing we would do this weird dance thing with our arms to the beat of our jaws chewing.

He would giggle and giggle.

 

Braxton got first place in his age division.

The other kids pretty much come to his knee caps.

 

 

Our times.

Big Baby, Little Baby

Andrew: "Damon, we will be buddies forever."

Damon: "Woo hoo!"

Andrew: "She takes my picture, like, every day."

Damon: "I know. We're cute."

Andrew: "I eat a lot."

Damon: "I sleep a lot."

 

Ha ha, nothing like talking baby jokes, huh?

Poor Jamie sat and shivered the whole time we were there.

Not cool, mastitis.

I had to shoo Sammy out of the couch crack to make room.

Ugg, we miss our cousins. They have so much fun together.

Yesterday

8:00: Avery performs gymnastics for us while we sit in bed, the dutiful audience. I hold Andrew in sitting position, his head bobbling around. Evan waltzes in from driving cars and chirps, "hi guys!". I've never heard that from him before.

9:00: I'm upstairs holding a crying Andrew, who won't sleep and won't let me put him down. Evan comes up whining about a blob of yogurt on his shirt. Who gave him yogurt?
I go down to find yogurt spilled on the couch and the carpet. A kitchen chair has been dragged over to the fridge, the fridge door is wide open. That sound the chair drag makes is currently my least favorite sound.

We play a game of go fish for a while. Evan joins us...he just takes cards off the go fish stack whenever he wants. Andrew is fussy.

10:00: Andrew is still crying. I decide to get us ready early to go to the doctor and Costco. Andrew will fall asleep in the car.
I went to Costco a few days ago, but the coupons weren't valid then, and I need a million boxes of diapers. PS I have an unopened box of size threes, but Andrew blows out of those like smoke up a chimney. He has been comfortably wearing Evan's size fives for weeks. I need to take that box back.

11:00: Get everyone into car seats, get some snacks and juice boxes. Somehow Evan helped himself to another yogurt.

Andrew falls asleep in the car.

Evan yells, "what's that?" every time we drive by a vehicle. "Truck! School bus! Car!"

Costco: Me, one cart, a child hanging to the left, a child hanging to the right, and a car seat on top. After a while Evan drags his foot while hanging on to the cart. I run over his foot. He walks slowly in front of the cart so that I will run into him. He giggles. People stare. I can barely navigate with my cart full of diapers and wipes.

Check out line: Evan lays on the ground and plays with the cart wheel. His hands are black, his face has black streaks. I pick him up to put him in the child seat. He turns into the stiff, unbendable child. I origami him into the seat.
I sweat.
The lady behind me, while watching my circus performance, asks "can I go ahead of you? I only have one thing".
Yes lady, please. You go ahead. I would love to stand in this line an extra ten minutes with my wild animal showcase. Go on. After all, you only have yourself and one item to purchase. You must be in a hurry.

I glare at her for the extra ten minutes at the checkout.

12:00: We are early for our doctors appointment, so I find a park across the street and we play for a while.
I feed Andrew on a bench, then we lay on a blanket in the shade.
Evan poops and somehow gets his pants muddy (but not poopy!). The only extra pants in the car are some emergency supply girl jeans. They are tight in the thigh and flare at the ankle. His boy emergency pair of pants weren't ever replaced after we used them when he got muddy at the tulip festival.
I only have a size 3 diaper (well actually I have a whole box of fives now, but I'm in a hurry so as not to leave Avery and Andrew "alone" for too long). I put that in him. He's tall and skinny and it fits fine. Jimi's actually put him in size threes for the night a couple times.
So if you're keeping track, Evan and Andrew have essentially swapped diaper sizes.

1:00: Doctors office.
Waiting room is fine, I'm just refereeing three while trying to fill out a questionnaire about Andrew's development.
"Does he grab at toys you dangle in front of him?"
I don't know, let's see..."yes".
"Evan don't scream!"
"Avery come sit down please."

We get called back to the room. The nurse shuts the door and...Evan is not with us. I was leading the pack with a giant 19 pound baby, so I didn't realize he wasn't following us. I run out to the waiting room, and there he is looking around, lost.

I don't know, people.

Andrew gets his shots and for some reason Avery is kneeling on the floor screaming playfully pretending to be Andrew crying. It is loud and annoying. And weird. The nurse looks at her and leaves the room. She cried louder than Andrew.

Back in the car, all of you.

2:00: The drive home is one of my favorite parts of the day. They're all strapped in, I don't have to juggle a handful of balls while holding a 19 pound baby. I even turn off the radio and the quiet is a tangible thing.

Nap time. Both boys, three hours. Me, half hour.

5:00ish: Remember that size three diaper on Evan? It leaked. I strip the bed and throw it in the washer.

Mow the lawn.

The day ends with a primary meeting at my house, Evan throwing dirt at Avery and Vienna, baths, books, bed.

So...yeah. What I mean to say is that this job is hard. I don't know why the urge to write all this down coincided with mother's day. I don't think it was on purpose. Life has just been...crazy lately. Hard.

There's nothing colossal that makes this job hard. It's just a bunch of little things. Like the boxes I've been keeping because we might move to a cheaper house - being used as trampolines, or the spray bottle I bought for primary singing time and told Avery twice not to play with - the nozzle on the floor in Evan's room and the bottle in the play room. Or striping Evan's bed AGAIN today because he spilled milk in it, or the vacuum used as a toy - the cord undone and taking up the whole living room. I hate winding up a vacuum cord. It's the worst part of vacuuming. Or the library book page ripped out. Just little things start to add up.

I was holding a fevered Andrew tonight, worrying, taking his temp every minute watching the numbers go down, fretting, calling the pediatrician. Jimi told me to go run off my stress, and for a minute I really didn't think I could lay my sleeping fevered baby down. Something might happen to him in my absence.

I came back and his temp was down to normal.

There is great stuff in this all, too. Like the bedside gymnastics performance first thing in the morning, or when Avery told me that I looked so cute in my outfit. Or when I tell Evan to give me a hug and kiss and he smiles and totally does.

I just hope my kids know that I was once a really fun and carefree individual. I didn't always turn down go fish because I needed to do the dishes.

Also, we did this today...
and I remembered that kids are so much fun to hang out with when they are happy.

rock throwing

log walking

thumb biting

Wow this is super long. Those of you up in the middle of the night nursing, you're welcome. 

Everyone else, don't feel bad for scrolling to the end to see the pictures. You didn't miss much. 

****

 PS, the big asterisk to this post is I love my kids so, so much. 

I am so, so thankful to be a mom.

**** 

Take Your Time

There is a marquee at a garden nursery here with the quote,

"nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished".

I saw that last year and I think about it all the time. My tulips took their time blooming, but sure enough they bloomed. (Somehow I planted them as separatists. I think I thought all the bulbs were one color.)

Along those same lines, babies transition from one phase to the next so slowly, its almost undetectible. One day you just realize what used to work - no longer works. 

Recently, my mommy radar recognized that it was time to stop rocking Andrew to sleep and let him figure it out on his own.

It's a time of tough love.

For a few days he cried hard and heavy, but now he just blinks himself to sleep slowly and quietly in the corner of his crib.

I was reading Jamie's blog the other day, and she mentioned that postpartum isn't a flattering time for moms. I believe I have described it as an "ugly" time. 

But I don't think that's true. I think that every mom recognizes that postpartum look, and identifies with it, and if I may speak for all moms, even feels a bit of nostalgia for those wistful six weeks of "ugly". 

It's just such a special time, a hard time, and really - a short time that you only get to experience a few times in your life. So I've decided that postpartum look is beautiful and quintessential "mother". 

So there's that. Just in time for mothers day: I've declared the post partum look beautiful.

And we continue to wear princess dresses, and treat Andrew like a doll.

We went for a drive-about the other day...found some baby goslings.

and this perfect scene.

We also went for a walk-about. Evenings are a fussy time, so the baby backpack got its first use.

My kids are gaga about blowing dandelion seeds. The dandelion population is in good hands.

He forgets to be fussy.

This is me, at Costco, in the bathroom waiting for Avery. 

We were at the front of the check out line when she decided she couldn't hold it a second longer.

From dinosaur week.

Avery wanted to write a story for Jamie.

She made it up herself. I told her how to spell each word while I did dishes and she sat at the table.

(the missing word is on the other side..."witch")

Evan finds it hilarious when Andrew makes the raspberry noise.