A Real Princess

Allie was all done playing with one of those sparkly princess wands when she noticed that her hands and forearms were all glittery. She looked up with big eyes and said,"Mommy, my hands are all sparkly, that must mean I am turning into a real princess!"
I think she really meant it.

People Are Interesting

I took the kids to feed the ducks today. Before we went we had to stop for bread. I always buy two loaves of that super cheap white bread that has no nutritional value for the ducks. They seem to like it a lot. So we are in the store. I am with my three girls and the two other kids I watch during the day, so I had two five year olds, two two year olds and a three year old with me walking to the bread aisle. They are all well behaved most of the time and we do things like this often so I didn't think twice about it. Until...an elderly man came around the corner and saw the kids and started smiling and pointing at the kids and counting them. So I smile and we head to the check out. We pay for the bread and head outside only to find that the man has retrieved his camera to take pictures of the kids. Now, It's not as if we have twenty children or something so I thought this was odd. We just continued on our way, I hope that he was just a nice person who thought they looked cute, but I guess you never know. We finally made our way to the park to feed the ducks and the kids had a great time. Thinking back, I should have whipped out my camera to take a picture of the man taking pictures of my kids. Now that would be funny.

Truth in Advertising

We are walking down the aisle of the grocery store when I start mumbling, "I can't believe how high the prices are going...they have gone up just since last time we were here." Lilly, who is next to me and therefore listening to me mumble, says "but Mommy the balloons all say 'New low prices, not new high prices' ". I looked up and sure enough, 'New low prices' right above my head. Apparently not on what we buy. Go figure.

Too Much Fun

I hear hysterical laughter coming from the bathroom where Allie and Maya are supposedly getting a drink. They are having too much fun for water drinking.
Me: "Allie, what are you guys doing?"
Allie: "Ummmm...getting a drink."
Me: "Come in here right now!"
Maya comes in SOAKED from head to toe, with Allie close behind.
Me: "Allie did you throw water on your sister?"
Allie: "No, I was getting a drink..."
Me: "Tell the truth, did you throw water on Maya?"
Allie: "It was an accident...I didn't mean to throw water on her, I was just getting a drink."
Me: "Soaking your sister is not an accident, you had to throw a lot of water for her to get that wet, please go sit on your bed."

Lillyisms

Lilly's foot fell asleep just now and she looked at me with all seriousness and said,
"My foot is all Frizzy!"
I think that's a pretty accurate description.

Pitter Patter

Last night at about 10:30, I hear running down the hall to my room. I mean running. Allie came flying into my room, jumped into my arms and promptly fell asleep. I told her that I would carry her to her room and cover her up. She snuggled down, looked at me and said, "Mama, when will Spring be here?" and closed her eyes. Sweet little pea.

Baby Books

I have never kept an official baby book for any of my girls. You know, the kind with the blanks and the fill ins and the what happened whens? I do not like those books. It feels like an awful lot of pressure, especially after you have more than one sweet little person going through all of these momentous things. I have always kept a journal for each of the girls. Lilly's first volume is nearly full, and I am on the hunt for a new book to begin for her. The books I have are completely blank, and I like to write to them when something memory worthy occurs. The entries vary according to age, business, and of course, trouble making. When Allie was about two, she went through this phase where she thought that writing implements of any sort were fair game. She used a furniture touch up marker on nearly every piece of molding on the first floor of our house, and made a striped wall next to our fireplace. Where were we while she was doing this? Who knows... She also discovered a bottle of Ketchup on the kitchen shelf one day and proceeded to sneak it out of the room, and to the hallway, creating what can only be described as a crime scene re-enactment. Three quarters of a bottle of squeezy ketchup all over the floor. Nice. So that story is in there, along with some of her famous one liners, my most favorite of which was, "Mommy, this is a great fuckin' party!" At age 2. Thank You, Daddy. I also keep the obvious stuff like growth, milestones, and anything I think they might want to know about if they have kids of their own some day. I used to only write the good stuff, but I didn't want them thibkibg that having kids was all peaches and cream, so I started writing about the not so great stuff, the really hard stuff, and the times they drive me nuts, too. I have to admit, I only write in these books every couple months these days, and I am sure as they get older, they entries will become fewer, but I really enjoy putting down thoughts that I would otherwise forget, or things that I think may help them along the way. I am not sure when I will give them these books, but I hope the pages of their Mom's handwriting will be comforting to them in times of difficulty, and give them joy when I am gone. I love these girls so much and want them to feel it always.

Lilly's First Full Page of Writing

Lilly came to me after dinner and told me that she had written a whole page full of a story. She sounded out all of the words herself, and was extremely proud. I am proud of her, too. This is her story exactly as written, then translated. She is five and a half.

thare ouns wus a mothr ho livd with hir chilgrin. Ounz namnd Lilly AND Allie AND Maya AND tha wet too the stor tha bot Sunscren AND Bathing sots AND SoDU AND wipdcrem AND tawuls AND sum toys too AND tha Want too the chacout AND tha all liVD Happyly evr aftr. the enD.

There once was a mother who lived with her children. One's named Lilly and Allie and Maya and they went to the store and bought sunscreen and bathing suits and soda and whipped cream and towels and some toys too and they went to the check out and they all lived happily ever after. The End.

I love that shopping is what she wrote first about. I guess we go pretty often. I love that she can write down her thoughts now. She is also constantly reading everything she can see. I am so proud of her and love all of the funny misspellings that make total sense. I can't wait to show her the actual page when she is grown up.

A New Running Milestone For Me

Today I went running with my Dad for the first time. I have been wanting to do this for years, but have found one excuse or another not to get in shape. This past March I started to get fit for the rest of my life and I have been sticking with it. I started working out at the gym, and integrated running with the Elliptical machine. Running has always been hard for me, but I have always wanted to be a runner. I am running a 10k in August...6.2 miles, more than I have ever run. I am doing this race with my Dad, and I know I can do it, but I also know that it will kick my butt. I am very close with my mileage per week, only adding about half a mile to each of my longest runs a week, which will get me to exactly 6.5 miles on race weekend ( I know, I'm cutting it kind of close). Today I was slated to run 3.5 miles. That is more than I have run in years. There was a huge thunder storm before we went out, and it was still drizzling when we left, but that is my favorite kind of weather to run in. It was hard, it was satisfying, and was great to run with my Dad, who ran along side me, though I know it was a painfully slow pace for him. At the last half mile we were blessed with a downpour, and we both let out a cry of joy. It was a truly fulfilling experience.

One of Those Moments Where You Just Have to Laugh

I was getting dinner ready tonight, and I thought I would get the "pink milk" out and poured for the girls. Pink milk is special strawberry milk from a local farm which we only get as a treat every so often, so it's sort of sacred to the girls. I grabbed the brand new glass quart bottle out of the fridge and started to open it when it launched itself out of my hands and shattered into a bazillion pieces on the floor. Pink milk and glass splattered as far as you could see. Allie started wailing because the precious pink milk is all over the floor and is no longer drinkable. I tell her to pleasestopcryingaboutspilledmilksomommydoesn'thaveabreakdown, and picked up all of the shards that I could see, big, small and in between and then tried to soak up all the tiny unpickupable pieces with paper towels. Then I took out the mop...I hate the mop. My husband picked it out and it is not one of those self wringing mops, it's the old school string mop you have to push through the squeezer on a bucket to get the water out. Why he had to have that mop, I will never know, but I hate hate hate it. So I mop, mop, then vacuum, swiffer wet jet, vacuum and mop one more time. On the last round of mopping, I am really aggravated with the damn mop and lean a little too hard into it as I am trying to get the bucket to squeeze the excess water, the mop bends, my hand slips and I punch myself in the face. No joke. Now I am so mad all I can think to do is laugh and try not to throw the mop across the room. I finish the job and put the mop in the garbage. I guess I know what two things are on my shopping list tomorrow...pink milk and a mop to clean the next spill.

Aaht

Maya has a lovey. She calls him Aaht. He is a monkey, well...they are monkeys, and monkeys say, "aaht, aaht aaht". Actually she has three of them, all the same, but one is the original and only I know the difference. She used to just carry one around, and generally still takes only one, but she insists on sleeping with all three of them. Aaht comes with us everywhere, and we even lost him in a Rhode Island hotel and had to have him mailed back to us. Maya likes to sniff the tip of his tail when she is super sleepy, and sometimes she puts his tail in her ear. I love to see the way she falls asleep with all of her monkeys around her, and I love that she has something that makes her feel so secure. Here are some pics of Aaht over time.

My First First Grader

Lilly's last day of school is tomorrow. I have tried telling her that after tomorrow she will be a first grader. She is having none of it. She actually flat out refuses to acknowledge that she is no longer a kindergartner. I am not sure why, but I find it curious. She loves to be the oldest, loves telling everyone she was born first, and loves being in charge when I go down to throw in a load of laundry. She does not love the idea of being in first grade. I keep talking up the new class she will be in, her teacher, and all the cool things that come with first grade. She thinks she is not a first grader until September when she turns six. I asked her what she will say if over the summer someone asks what grade she is in. She says, "first grade because you say I am" but I don't think she is convinced. I guess I am not convinced either. It seems like she was just born...I can't believe my baby is almost in first grade!

Rainbow Power

My girls love to race up the stairs at night. Actually, they like to race at anything race-able. Last night Lilly was winning, and Allie had a rainbow Care Bear in her hands as she was racing. She saw that Lilly was going to win, so she stopped, held out the Care Bear with it's rainbow belly facing Lilly and said, "Rainbow power, suck her back down!" We all burst out laughing, and the distraction allowed Allie enough time to catch up and tie the race. Way to go rainbow power!

More Pictures from the Beach

Pock-a-lil

Maya: "Mommy, I have pop?"
Mommy: "What is it that you want, Maya?"
Maya: "Ummm...a Pock-a-lil"
Mommy: "Yes, you can have a popsicle"
Maya: "Aank you, Mommy"
Mommy: "You're welcome, Maya"
Maya: "Rywee, you want a pock-a-lil?"
Ryleigh(Rywee our 2yo friend): "Ya"
Maya: "Rywee, say 'pock...a...lil' "
Ryleigh: "Pa"
Maya: "Oood job, Rywee!"

Oh so Sick and for once it's me, not them

If you've ever been sick in the summer, you know it is unpleasant. Now picture a fever of 103 in a heatwave. I don't think I have ever been so sick in all my life. Today is the first day I feel like I am at least partially human again. My dear dear husband has been alone with the girls for two days...I am afraid to go downstairs.

So Much Fun at the Beach

We went to the beach again this morning. We got there about 8:45, and stayed until after lunch, it was great. I got some fantastic pictures, the kids played so well, and I enjoyed the whole thing. We found starfish, snails, and this time we found hermit crabs. Maya immediately said, "I no likey him, get him away" Lilly and Allie did not care to hold them, but liked watching them scuttle about. I really wanted the girls to hold them, but they wanted nothing to do with that. Just as it was time to leave, Lilly worked up the courage and actually held one. I was so proud of her. Allie and Maya played in the littlest tide pool. It was probably five feet across and maybe a foot or so deep. They sat in it for a good hour while Lilly and I played in the waves that were getting increasingly closer as the tide came in. I had so much fun watching the girls and taking pictures. Here are a few from today.

What I Always Wanted to be When I Grew Up

I didn't. I had no plan. I was never one of those kids who said, " I want to be a doctor, or vet, or something else. My mom says that when I was three, I wanted to be "a window washer, a teacher, and a baby's mother". I don't remember that, but I know that I have always wanted children, and that I never wanted them to go to daycare. I miss them too much when we are apart. I went to college and took classes in social work and education, in equal numbers, and around my junior year, my advisor made me pick a major. I knew I liked helping people, so I thought social work, but teachers also help people and are in desperate need (as I am sure are social workers) plus they get lots of vacations (Joan, please let's not have this argument again), so I chose education. The problem was, I never really wanted to be a teacher. I had a few jobs after college, and liked them all ok, but nothing really stood out. I worked in daycare, I substitute taught, I took care of my in-laws who were sick, and I worked in a classroom with behaviorally challenged children. I knew I loved kids, and when Lilly was born I went back to work in daycare so I could spend the day with her. The problem was, I still had to pay for her even though I was caring for her all day. When Allie came along, I couldn't afford to work and put two in daycare (nor did I desire to) so I decided to stay home and do daycare out of my house. This has worked out really well for us, but when Maya goes to school in three years, I will no longer keep the business going. I finally figured out what I want to do when I grow up. I figured it out two weeks after Maya was born. Maya was admitted to the hospital at thirteen days old with a right side Chylothorax. What is that you are probably wondering? It is when there is a hole or tear in the Thoracic Duct in the chest. The Thoracic Duct processes fats, and if there is a tear in it, those fats and proteins spill into the chest cavity, and surround the lungs. Not good. She was breathing faster than normal so I took her to the doctor and she sent us to the hospital for a chest x-ray. Needless to say, her chest was full of fluid. She ended up staying in the hospital for 25 days. I never left. I couldn't. She was my baby, and I couldn't imagine her being there without me. I didn't care who else was with us, I wasn't leaving. My husband brought the girls by often, but because of Maya's weak immune system, I didn't get to see them for a week. This was the hardest time of my life. My Mom was with us most of the time, and she's a nurse so that was helpful, but the thing that made all the difference (besides my family) was the amazing team of nurses we had. I cannot express how amazing they were, and how much it helped having a few really experienced, caring, consistent people shaped our experience. They inspired me so much that now I know what I am supposed to do. I am going back to school to become a pediatric nurse. I have done most of the pre-requisite work, and the school nearby has a 15 month program where if you already have a bachelors degree, you can become an RN in that short period of time. I can't wait to begin. I think I finally found the thing I am destined to do, and I can't wait to start.

From Anudder Mudder

Anudder, mudder, brudder, this is what we've been hearing since Allie could speak. We like it, think it's cute, endearing even, but lately things have been changing. Another would squeak out, but than anudder would reappear. Mother would stop in for a day, but then anudder mudder would come home. Recently, brudder must have relocated, because it seems that brother is now residing at our house. It makes me slightly teary to lose all our old friends, but I am happy Al has made new, everlasting relationships.

Mommymommymommymommmmmmmy!

Does anyone else get this all the time? Now multiply that by 3. All afternoon. I escaped to the gym and left it to Daddydaddydaddydaddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyy.

Running and Music

I started exercising (again) mid-March. I have been very faithful about going to the gym between four and six times a week. I have lost about 35 pounds, and now I am running. I am running very slowly, but I am running. I was able to do 2 miles without stopping last week, and I have not been able to do that since before having children. I am training for a 10k in August (6.2 miles). That is a long way for me, but I know if I work really hard I will be able to accomplish it. I am having some trouble with music, though. I loaded what I thought would be great music onto my shuffle, only to find myself shuffling through the whole time I am running. I need some really good get-up-and-go music that works. I like everything as far as genre, but find myself gravitating toward more Black Eyed Peas, Fergie type music whens any I am running. if anyone has suggestions on good tunes, I would love to hear them. In the mean time, I will run on.