Memorial weekend overload

When it rains it pours, right?

We usually go through months worth of nothing to do outside of normal household maintenance activities and/or events other people have planned and graciously have invited us to. But this weekend was different. Ha! Finally! And Mr. "Realistic" (I say sarcastically) predicted a Mommy meltdown.

Friday started with a fabulous trip to the farm, followed by an unplanned trip to the car dealership to have the tires re-balanced from a routine check-up on Thursday. (Is tire balancing really that hard?) That in itself was enough to make me crash later on that night because it meant unloading two car seats and two kids into the shuttle van to take us home for lunch and lay them down for naps. Then, loading the car seats back inside the shuttle van with two sleepy kids along with all their stay-the-night paraphernalia. Unloading and loading it all back inside the newly re-balanced car to head south.

This is where I must digress . . . Have you ever seen a woman carry a car seat from one car to another with a child in it? Twice? I haven't either and I know why. They (the car seats, that is) are way too heavy, bulky, awkward and full of dead weight. The woman, with diminished arm strength compared to a man, has to hunch over, bear hug the car seat and use the top part of her thighs to help hold it all up, while annoying latch straps dangle and get caught underneath the seat after she's managed to heave it inside the car. So why would a woman do this? Ironically enough, laziness I guess. I was the hunched over woman who was frankly so sick of loading and unloading all that crap, because someone couldn't balance the tires correctly, that I was willing to take some short cuts. And boy did I look like a beauty queen in training while doing it.

Back to the story... Thankfully, the in-laws were bravely going where few choose to go on purpose, and were watching the four middle munchkins overnight and all the next day. We were on a time crunch trying to get out of the car dealership so mommy and daddy could have some big people time. So I rushed south, dropped the little angels off, rushed home and at the last minute we headed off to our most favorite restaurant of all time, The Columbia.

The Columbia has ranked extremely high on my list of all-time favorite places to eat since way before kids. Their 1905 salad was my first official pregnancy craving with Katherine and anytime we get a chance to "get out", we'll usually head to St. Augustine to sample their exquisite cuisine.

So off we went to St. Augustine. We decided to stay the night and chose a hotel on the beach just north of there. I've always loved beaches. Jim hasn't. He pretty much only goes to them because of me. Isn't that love? We had a lazy walk along the water's edge the next morning while collecting shells for the princess, made a trip to the Outlet malls nearby and ate way too much.

Later on that evening, we pick up the exhausted kids and headed home. The next day Sunday, was pretty routine until that evening. We took both kids to my grandparent's pool and Jim got to see how much of a fish Nathan is turning into (or his lack of respect for the water, whichever it is). They both swam and swam and swam. It really is tiring to watch them constantly because they both are so eager to get in and enjoy the water, but their skills aren't there to support it.

Monday morning, we woke up and headed to the lake to meet my dad and brother's family. Dad brought his boat, which I was a little apprehensive about, but much to my surprise Nathan was extremely still as long as he was "driving." Go figure. We did the usual grilling of hamburgers and hotdogs, ate too much again and got back in the water. The kids swam and swam and swam, again and were crazy-tired that evening.

One important side note: Katherine reluctantly learned how to use the bathroom while at the lake. Let's just say, no one ever says they have to go pee while at the lake, they just take care of it. (wink, wink)

And then, to top it all off, we visited some friends for some more grilling and to let our kiddos play some more.

Needless to say, we opted to not go to our usual day of school today and chose to stay home and take it easy.

I am proud to announce there was no Mommy-meltdown, but there were some seriously tired kiddos with a tad bit of 'tude. But, it was all well worth it. They are so fun right now and I so enjoy spending time with them.

Catching up

Boy do I have lots to catch up on...

These were taken back on Jim's birthday and show some of Nathan's personality...
(I'm pretty sure the middle picture is the face he makes when he's pulling my hair or torturing the cat. Jim swears it looks like he's wanting someone to scream 'Uncle!' before he lets go of a first full of hair.)

I think he likes what he sees...

On Sunday, Jim was mowing the grass while Katherine was pushing around her shopping cart searching for rocks and grass to buy. Nathan wanted to go outside also...


Nathan got to go outside, now he doesn't want his knees to touch the grass...
Nathan ready to drive, anything...
Sunday night, little lady came down with a fever. I'm pretty sure it was just a tummy bug because by Tuesday morning she was feeling fine. Although on Monday for her nap, I got some precious, worth waiting for eye-gazing time in with her. She asked me to cuddle her for her nap. I was more than happy too and after some fidgeting around we ended up facing toward each other. Then, she said, "Mommy, I just want to look in your eyes." I got the chance of a lifetime to gaze into her 3-year-old beautiful big blue eyes, uninterrupted, with the soft sunlight filtered through sheer window shades. She willingly looked into mine, was still and quiet and let me gaze into hers. I studied everything about her eyes and they were beautiful. Her pupils kept changing size, even though the light was constant in the room. Her irises are stunning: colors of medium to dark blue, with splashes of green and light grey and I'm pretty sure I saw some silver. I saw my own reflection when my focus changed and her eyelashes are so long and plenty. Then the blinks started getting longer and heavier. She fought it for a while and the last blink led her to a very needed and productive rest. I gently caressed her face, careful not to wake her, and watched her some more. It was another perfect moment to pray for my child. I cried to God with overwhelming thankfulness for my children's health. Her tummy bug was nothing compared to other friend's and family's battles they've had to face with their children. For some reason, God's will for our lives right now is to have two very healthy children, and I am so grateful. I loved getting the chance to stare into her eyes and I'm glad I chose not to clean the floors that afternoon. That's 15 minutes I'll cherish forever.

Tuesday we went to go visit our friends at their timeshare at the beach. It was an hour and a half drive one-way, but worth it. I waited until Katherine woke up from sleeping in and asked her if her tummy hurt. It didn't so then I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. (Insert: wild, crazy, jumping around and screeching here). So off we go to the beach to meet our friends, the E family. They were so helpful and made the trip extra special, because I certainly wouldn't try a trip to the beach by myself with two small munchkins. The kiddos must have had so much fun because neither of them slept on the way home. Uh, what was up with that? I would have suspected that the combination of sun, extra exercise and the quiet, still and comfy car seat would have done the trick coming home. What do I know, I'm just their mother.

Nathan is cutting a fourth tooth. His two 'central incisors' on the bottom are in and it looks like his two 'lateral incisors' on top are coming in, which makes for funny pictures for a couple of months. Wednesday, he surprised me with letting me cuddle him to sleep for his afternoon nap. I'm sure the crying was because of his tooth so I was more than happy to hold him and calm him down. He very sleepily gazed into my eyes, blinked for long periods of time, was ever so still and a warm feeling came over me. I thought I should get up and maybe try cuddling with him in our bed so I could rest also and as I got up, the warm feeling started to slide down my leg. Yep, you guessed it, poop. I immediately tried to squat to lessen the effect gravity might have to avoid it landing on the carpet, and not disturb my sleepy prince who might be up for cuddling. Ok, so now what do I do? Squatting, with warm poop on my thigh, holding an almost asleep baby: I made the decision that the poop was more important. I put him on the changing table and used the wipes to start cleaning myself and the little bit that eventually fell on the floor. Long story short, after all the excitement and a bath at 3pm, he wasn't up for cuddling or anymore of a nap. Blasted poop.

Little guy decided to bust a move listening to 'Row, row, row your boat,' (I still haven't figured out how to edit videos so there are some not as interesting parts I would like to edit out)...

Wednesday was also special because my grandma got to witness me speaking directly to the wall, about 6 inches away from it, because I was pretty sure the wall would listen more than my daughter was. Grandma looked a little concerned for me at first, but then realized that I was actually behaving fairly normal, or at least she thought so also.

Friday, Jim received an email from the grad school with this message, "
-->Your final submission has been reviewed and has been accepted by the Editorial Office-- congratulations!" Whoo hoo! August 8th is graduation day and short of a couple phone calls and picking up regalia, all that's left is walking across the stage. He's stoically excited. For those of you who know Jim, that totally makes sense.
That morning, my friend Amy stopped by with her 3 girls. We've known each other since middle school. That is one of my favorite things about living in the same town I was raised in: 'old' friends. Our kids had a fun time outside playing in the kiddie pool. Nathan insisted on being a pure boy and continually splashed the little girl 3 weeks older than he. Katherine had fun playing with the girls her age and 3 years older. They are cute girls and I always enjoy visiting with their mommy. We were also roommates in college for a couple years so we always have lots of stories to laugh about and we know enough about each other's quirks, weaknesses and strengths. It's a little chaotic at times with 5 of them running and crawling around, but my tolerance-meter must be on the verge of breaking or just plain about to give up because it doesn't bother me anywhere near like it used to.
Later that afternoon, Nathan woke up too early from his nap and I rocked him back to sleep. A little while later, he woke up again and I decided to trying cuddling. With a clean diaper, we snuggled in the bed and I peacefully enjoyed holding my little man until his nap was over. It was about 30 minutes of time with him I've been craving.

Today, we bought some landscaping materials to complete the play area outside and daddy surprised us with plans to go to Bamah and Papa's lake. On the way there, we were surprised to see this in the back seat.It's so sweet because their touching is still nice and loving. Now that they are able to touch each other, I dread the day when it's not with nice intentions.

So we went to the lake, swam a little, ate grilled hamburgers and hotdogs with the fixin's and sides and swam some more. Katherine inherited my carefulness in the water and the ability to attract every single mosquito in sight and Nathan inherited his daddy's lack-of-fear of the water. He's already eager to put his face in the water, most of the time while trying not to breathe. Constantly splashing anything and everything around is preferred, including his own face.

He still doesn't want to let his knees touch the ground (and the answer is no: he does not do this inside the house, only outside or other less-than-desirable-to-crawl-on surfaces)...

Daddy and daughter...
We had a busy and fun week. Next week will be busy again preparing for our trip to go whitewater rafting in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Although Nathan would probably like it, me and the kids are not going rafting, we're just going for the ride, beautiful scenery and company. Our good friends are going up there with their kids and grandkids (same ages as ours). Of all the fun things daddy would want to do, whitewater rafting is probably at the top. So, in honor of his graduation, we're taking a celebratory trip. We took a 10 hour trip with Katherine when she was 9 months old and she did better than we expected, so.....hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised on this one also.