Sleepless Besties

Nathan and Anneliese are keeping me hopping these days (Charlotte? easy as ever). There has been a rash of naptime and bedtime and wakeup naughtiness over the last month. Because even I am tired of hearing myself complain about this, I'll just bottom-line it: they keep each other up, they wake each other up, and MOMMY IS OVER IT. 


But.

They are best friends. It's easy to be mad at 6am when they wake up the whole house, but it's hard to stay mad when we see how well they do together. If they're keeping each other up at night, it's to giggle through closed doorways, or holler songs to each other, or slide books to each other under door gaps. If they're waking each other up in the mornings, it's to stage-whisper conspiratorially to each other about yogurts and spoons and which movie they want to turn on in the bonus room. It always always wakes us up, but at least it's cute seeing them, like... on the same team? Or something?

happy friends on mommy's lap

I hope they're always this close. Every day for the rest of their lives. Between the hours of 8am and 8pm only.

If I Were Gutsier...

Five things I wish I had the guts to do...

1- Get a tattoo. The main reason I've never done it isn't a needle thing, it's a Mark thing. He hates them. Like, hates them. So I know it'll never fly. But if the day ever comes when he thinks it might be kinda sexy or kinda cool, it's happening. I don't know what I want or where I would get it, but I love the idea of getting inked with something that's the perfect combination of artsy and meaningful. (In the meantime I'm also halfway attempting to get him on board with a nose ring. I secretly think I could totally pull it off.) (It'll also never happen.)

2- Do zumba. I have been to a knockoff poor-man's-zumba class and it kind of kicked my ass. Those people are intimidating! With their workout clothes! And their dancing! And their pretty sweating! True story, folks: I am notsomuch pretty at the sweating. I wish I were the kind of person who could throw caution to the wind and just join into something I don't know, and not care how dumb I look.  In many situations, I am that person. But not when it comes to fancy latin dance workouts. Nope.

3- Eat weird buggy things. Don't get me wrong, I am not a picky eater. I'll try almost anything new, even in foreign countries where the food isn't exactly identifiable. I like fancy food and junk food. Again: not picky. But I can't eat weird things.  Like... bugs. And goat brains. And eyeball juice. And I am very sure that this ability is the only thing standing between me and a Survivor championship, or a million bucks for winning The Amazing Race. Actually, for a million bucks, I could totally choke down goat brains or eyeball juice. But having to eat a bug (or, let's be honest, just let one crawl on me without freaking the eff out) is way past what I have the guts to do. Just thinking about it, I'm fighting the urge to run into the bathroom and vom. I know, I know, I wouldn't be able to choke it down.

4- Cut my hair super short. Do you know how much I wish I could pull off a cute celebrity short-but-girlie look? A lot. But... I can't. I went down that road in like seventh grade and the results were not pretty. (Being called a boy, consistently, was actually the least of the problems.) My hair is flat and straight and stringy and basically everything you don't want it to be when you're trying to pull of short and textured and trendy. Oh and also I think it might make my face look fat. Someday I will be old enough that I will have to be brave enough for shorter hair (longish hair on older women? not my favorite) but for now, I will stay scared and boring with my coif.


5- Write a book. If I had a nickel for every time Mark or my mom told me to write something, I would go on vacation or something. And not write. Because here's the thing(s): Marky- writers aren't rich. It's really really rare for a writer to make a ton of money at it. True story. And mom- I'm not that good. I know you think so, because I'm your kid, and I admit that I do have a propensity to put down words in pretty much the exact order and sense that I'd say them or think them, which I know I'm lucky to be able to do. But there are really really good and talented writers out there. I don't think I have the bravery to try to be one of them. If I ever have a truly brilliant idea though, or something real to say, I just might try... Isn't this everyone's secret dream they wish they were brave enough to do?

Charlotte's First Swim

It's probably a huge fail that Charlotte is over ten months old and we've never really taken her swimming. Especially since we have a pool in our backyard. But she was born late in the summer, so by the time she (and I!) were pool ready, it had cooled off a lot. And it's been a really cool spring and summer here. And the handful of times we've been swimming so far this year, we've just plopped her in the bumbo or something, and let her watch -- usually because I was alone, and three in the pool is too much to manage by myself at these ages (and also because we couldn't let her have her first swim without Daddy there!)... anyway. We hadn't done it yet.

But now we have.

Warm day, warm(ish) water, Daddy home, and my swimmy Bumgarner genes were kicking and screaming to take my new little fish in the pool with me. So we did.

Ummmm. She didn't love it.

Oh she'll come around. Don't you worry.

Tae Kwon Do

Nathan started in Tae Kwon Do today. Kind of random (for us) right? It's something brand new to Mark and me, since neither of us did anything martially-artsy (that's the technical term). And it's not that we had ever planned anything sports-specific for our kids, but I think we were picturing things like tennis and baseball (him) or swimming (me), not.. tae kwon do. But somehow this feels right for Nathan. It seems to be a lovely blend of athletic and social, without being overwhelmingly athletic and social. 


We wanted him to do something active, a sport where he could work on confidence and coordination, and be around a new set of kids and grownups. He loves the gym stuff they do at preschool (nowadays it's called "movement" in case you were curious) and several people have suggested tae kwon do could be a good fit for him. So we're trying it.


He'll do classes twice a week for the next month. His age group's class is called the Little Tigers. Nathan was the only new one yesterday.  And the only nervous one. 


And yes, it really was this adorable.

I die of the cute.


He might have started off timidly (it's his way, after all), but it took him no time to plaster a silly smile on his face that stayed the whole time. HE LOVED IT.  I don't know enough about Tae Kwon Do to really say what was going on, but I know how happy it made me to watch Nathan so clearly loving something new. Who is this child??? 


And even though Mark and I know nothing about this, and never pictured it, we're glad to learn as he goes, and let him do something that's all his, for however long it lasts. 


I'm proud of him and excited for him.

Your Tree Falls in the Street. If you Don't Blog it, Did it Really Happen?

Hey remember that night a huge ass tree fell in our front yard and blocked our driveway and part of our street, and took down a bunch of lines with it so Mark called 911 while I was kinda giggly from being tipsy on box wine? 

Yeah.

What possessed me to take these pics in complete darkness, I don't know (see: tipsy on box wine) but I'm glad I did, because after many attempts at brightening them, you can KIND OF see what happened.

from across the street, looking up our driveway

from the top of our driveway, looking at the street

the tree (and downed lines), from over the hood of Mark's car

Things to know:

1.) Everyone is fine THANK GOD. (Including house and cars.)

2.) A tree crashing in the yard is a lot louder than your daughter falling out of bed (which was our first thought about the sound, um no).

3.) Even louder than the tree falling is the sound of a truck and crew with chainsaws and wood-chippers AT TWO A.M. under the blue flashing lights of a cop car. (Still classin up the neighborhood.) 

Kiddie Crash

Earlier this week Mark and I found the big kids in the bonus room, playing some new game they thought up, which involved Nathan holding pillows and Anneliese racing into him and knocking him over.  Future linebacker training?

The best part is her reaction when we told them to switch roles.


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Bottle Love (Hate) (Love)

Y'all, look at this.

It's my baby. Holding a bottle. My baby. WEIRD, right?  This is not something Nathan or Anneliese ever did very well. It's not a sight we're used to in these parts. It's something I see in other babies and in magazines (true story though, I mostly avoid parenting magazines like... well, like the exploitative fear-mongering literature they are. That's a post for another day). But anyway my babies haven't been bottle babies. We've always been happy being pretty much a boob family.

Except, we aren't anymore.

Now that we're doing strict calorie counting with Charlotte, and since she still isn't back to eating solids, we're (quite suddenly!) very much a bottle family. Mostly for two reasons:
1- we can count the exact calories in a bottle.
2- we can add extra calories (formula powder) to a bottle.
Neither of those things are possible when she gets it straight from the tap (as it were).  So, she's getting a lot of bottles these days. Like, a lot. A LOT.

I don't know how I feel about this.

On the one hand, I hate it. She only nurses once or twice a day now and it's really difficult to keep her undistracted, and it makes me sad to think she'll wean before I had assumed she would. (I definitely will not have a nursing toddler on my hands again.) While it's true that (before she got sick and we changed her feeding plan) she was already less into the boob than her brother or sister were at this age, she's even less interested now. And if she's not interested, she sometimes doesn't nurse long enough for a good letdown. Fewer good letdowns means lower demand for my body's milk, which means lower milk supply from mommy, which means... she's less interested. I am starting to see why all those people teach that adding bottles/formula makes breastfeeding harder. It's kind of true. Totally true actually. It's slowly killing this wonderful part of our relationship, this thing that is the healthiest thing I can do for my baby, nurturing in terms of both food and emotional bond. We're hanging on, but I know the end is near. So that's what I don't like about it.

On the other hand, I love it. I've spent a lot of years talking about how easy breastfeeding is compared to bottles: it's free, portable and always ready, fast. And I still think all of those things. But bottle feeding is also easier than I thought it would be.  It's not that hard to get bottles ready, and since she can feed them to herself, it actually takes less time these days than nursing. Well, less of my time. (That's a relevant point when you have three kids.) And since she accepts them at room temperature, bringing them on the go has also been no problem. Basically, Nathan and Anneliese (rather, the bottle finicky-ness I allowed from Nathan and Anneliese) trained me up that bottles = hard. But it turns out, it's fine. More importantly, IT'S WORKING. Not vomiting or staying hungry is doing wonderful things for Charlotte's mood and her strength. She's back to her sunny self! We measure out her calories, she drinks them, she keeps it down, and she's gaining weight. I just really can't say anything bad about that. It's so much simpler than I thought it would be.

Also? It should go without saying, but this all-milk, mostly-bottles thing is far easier than baby food.  Stupid slow messy baby food. Curses!

(I would have done this bottle system with Nathan and Anneliese til they were at least 1, and delayed solids even longer, if I would have known it could be this easy. DOWN WITH BABY FOOD.)

Anyway so yeah, we're totally adjusting to it. It's really no big deal, it turns out. And that's the update on Charlotte and her new bottle life. Thriving.

Oh and one more thought on all this: ALSO DOWN WITH PUMPING. That is all.

T-Rex Hug

The other day Nathan was busy making his t-rex arms and then suddenly proclaimed I should do it too, and then "we should t-rex hug."

So we did.

your daily Nathan

Remind me never to say four-year-olds are anything less than awesome, ever again.

Anneliese Agrees

I don't know if you've heard, but neon is having a moment. Anneliese totally agrees.

*Thanks for letting me play with your goggles, Annie!

Daddy's Home!

Marky's home! And just in time for father's day.

Reunion day included some hanging out with the girls...

... some push-ups with Nathan (of course?)...

... some good old fashioned Daddy wrestling (poor daddy)...

... and even some snuggling with me, too.

Between his mission trip, me being stuck in the hospital with Charlotte the week before that, and Mark's fishing trip the weekend before that, it seems like we haven't seen each other in forever. I'm so glad to have him home. I won't get all gushy and sentimental on you, but... yeah. Really glad he's back.

Happy father's day, darlin. I love you.

Charlotte's Belly Scoot

I might or might not be feeling the teensiest bit defensive these days about how Charlotte is growing and developing. It's hard not to be, when medical testing turns up (so far) very little clarity, and all eyes are on Mark and me, and our ability to create a safe and nourishing home for our (chronically delayed) children. It's a judgy ugly post for another day (or never) but ANYWAY my point is, when Charlotte does something spectacular (and by spectacular, I mean any progress is awesome progress) I kind of want to shout it from the mountaintops.  That being said, guess what.

1.) A week after being discharged from the hospital, eating nothing but milk, the gym scale says she is up about a pound. WE WILL TAKE IT. Yay growth.

2.) In the past few days she has started trying to crawl. No, she's not exactly doing it yet. But she is trying oh so hard. She lies on her tummy and uses her left leg (only the left) to push and roll until she gets where she wants.

I love seeing it.  You will too.


(Ignore the whatever-that-is stuck to her face, and the kinda-whiny big sister trying to steal the show.)



(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch it on YouTube.)


We're so excited to show Daddy her new tricks when he gets back in town!!

I Missed This Girl

My dad brought Nathan and Anneliese back on Wednesday afternoon, and I am so glad to have them home.  My Charcation was nice (awesome actually) but my house really is too quiet without all my babies. Anneliese especially is such a loud presence. At its worst, that means fits and tantrums and general grandparent withdrawal (has anyone said no to her in a week?  I'm not sure), but at its best, it is contagiously joyful.

Withdrawal symptoms and tantrums aside, I totally missed this sweet cheerful face.

Now it's just the kids and me for the rest of the week until Mark gets home from his ASP trip. Solo parenting... readysetgo!

Three Big Boy Things

So besides the whole going to kindergarten in three months thing (!!!) Nathan just keeps doing big-boy things that startle the heck out of me because (warning: predictability ahead) I just can't believe how much he is growing up.

He went to his first sleepover at his friend Alex's house a few weeks ago. I totally didn't expect him to last all night but he did. They played, he slept in a new bed, they woke up and played some more, he didn't cry, he didn't have a bad dream, he did fine. Better than I did. I probably wasn't at home sitting on the couch crying. Ahem.

Also, in the interest of having my friend Sarah sleep in his bedroom a few weekends ago (while the guest house a/c is out) we did a major purge of his bedroom. Well, I tried to do a purge, but he was right there alongside me, freaking out about all the crap he wanted to keep, panicking and negotiating like he's on an episode of hoarders. The stage where I can just go in his room and *I* can be the one to singly and uncomplicatedly choose what stays and what goes? Those days are apparently done. His room is no longer anything close to a "nursery" -- it's his own space full of his own moods and he's basically a teenage packrat. Super. BIG KID ALERT.

(Yes, I still trashed all the crap. Except the damn chair. Note: the chair lives on.) (Besides that, isn't purging wonderful and cathartic?)

And then, then, he took a page out of the Sweetness Book and decided to step up his sentence writing game. When we told him he could write sentences and mail them to people, his little eyes lit up and he got busy, writing a note for his baby cousin Liam (Hi Liam I love you I miss you Love Nathan) and one to Mr. David of the orange shoelaces (Hi  David can I go on an airplane with you Love Nathan). Two people he likes and wanted to write to, so he just made it happen. My kid. My baby. What??

Yes, Mr. David instagrammed the heck out of this sweetness.

Sure it's not very much, and it takes him forever but he's doing it and he's so proud and sweet about it. And it floors me no less than it did the first time, with Curious George and the dinosaurs.

I almost can't wrap my brain around it. He's so not a baby anymore. Am I happy or sad?

Dinos at the Zoo (Of Course)

While Mark is out of town this week, I've been using some of my quiet time to sort through a month's backlog of camera pictures. Oh, the things I find.

Mark took the big kids to the zoo a few weeks back, one day right after school was done for summer. Nathan is entering that (apparently requisite) Obsessed With Dinosaurs stage, so when the zoo advertised a new dino exhibit, it briefly caught my attention. It somewhat crossed my mind that it was weird. But I assumed hey, they are indeed animals, a zoo is a place to learn about animals, it's not that much of a stretch to have a dino area, not that weird, right? And then I saw the pictures.

Um. It's weird.

It's a far cry from the outdoor fossil museum exhibit I was picturing. These are not skeletons with educational signs describing each species. They're huge, and colorful. Big ol dino statues. Oh except they move. And also make noise.

What.

They... roar, I think? The video sounded like roaring to me. Do we know that dinosaurs roared? Do we know what sounds they made at all? Really? Anyway they make noise and move their head and arms (arms?) and yeah they're kind of like... robot dinosaurs.

Y'all, our zoo is full of robot dinosaurs. Weird, right?

But, Nathan and Anneliese* loved it. Of course they did.

Just riding a dino robot at the zoo. Like you do.

Did you know the brontosaurus isn't a Thing anymore?
Well, yes, but apparently never WAS a Thing?
I know. My son has told me. Many times.
We say *brachiosaurus* now. #themoreyouknow

Careful babies! Good thing it's only an *extinct* animal at the zoo!
And also a robot.

Gotta get the souvenir photo of your... dino safari prom? Okay.

In case this sounds like less than a ringing endorsement, it's not. The kids liked it, so I like it. It keeps them engaged and having fun and playing outside and chattering and spending a day with Dadddy, and I don't care  at all that it only makes half a lick of sense. Dinosaur win.

Weird but win.

*Mark loved it too. Don't let him tell you otherwise. He was verrrrrry into the t-rex dino robot. Facebook told me. Facebook doesn't lie, y'all.

Neon is Having a Moment

I'm not sure if y'all have looked around at any stores recently, but neon is totally back. And I am not one ounce sad about it. I am ALL IN.

Yes, yes, there are lots of tacky things about the eighties. Neon wasn't one of them. Color is fun. Bright color is more fun. And I intend to ride this wave as long as it lasts. My in-real-life peeps are probably sick of hearing me say this by now, but... yeah. Neon is having a moment.

I'll say that again, because a gabillion times over the last few weeks isn't enough. NEON IS HAVING A MOMENT.

My teenage friend Olivia (yes I take fashion cues from high schoolers) (no I have no shame about taking fashion cues from high schoolers, especially classy ones like Olivia) had a neon orange shirt and told me exactly which Gap to go to get myself a pink one. So I did. And I tweeted her from the dressing room. Like you do when you have high school friends.

I got this bag back in the winter when the first neon started to peek out at Target. It is awesome. You will not tell me otherwise. I needed something to consolidate all three kiddie "diaper" bags into one non-diapery bag so I went with a large neon purse. Obvs.

These sunglasses (more neon than this pic shows) were a $5 outlet find. Commence jealousy, all ye people.

Hot pink toes are awesome. NEON pink toes are even better.  (Also more neon in real life.)

Know what makes a rainy day brigher? A neon yellow shirt. Normally I don't like myself in yellow (love yellow, hate myself in it) but neon? Totally fixes that. All hail the power of neon to make me look okay in yellow.

Oh and in case you didn't notice, I'm still on the cell phone self-pic train. All taken with my new phone which just happens to be covered in a neon green case. Go back up and look at that pic from the gap dressing room if you didn't notice it the first time.

Neon. Moment. Please stay awhile?

Charcation

At some point last week when we were at the hospital (I can't remember exactly when; everything that was happening in the real world remains a blur), all the grandparents rallied together and worked it out with Mark to take Nathan and Anneliese for a couple of days, then it turned into staying through the weekend, then that turned into staying until Wednesday, when my dad was already planning to come this way.

After such an awful week, I feel so grateful to have some time to regroup with just Charlotte, and adjust to her new feeding schedule, and just... rest. Because LIKE WHOA are hospitals exhausting.

We had some good downtime with her on Friday and Saturday, and then yesterday when Mark drove away for his week-long ASP trip, it left just Charlotte and me here. Home alone. Just the two of us.

Because we haven't spent enough time together in the last week? HA.

My house is too quiet and I have that something missing feeling without my big kids here. And even with more "free" time, it seems that without the pattern of their daily routine, I am slow and wandery and don't get nearly as much done. But.

BUT.

Honestly it just feels so... wonderful. It's unsurprisingly liberating having only one baby around, a super easy, very flexible, finally happy girl.

I am drunk on freedom and high on Charlotte.


It feels like vacation. Well, a staycation. Oooooh, a charcation!


I have no schedule, I have no to-do list (well, not one I'm paying any attention to), I have no agenda at all.  It's lovely and quiet and easy. Without potty schedules and sit-down meal schedules, and impending naptime breakdowns...

I can have lunch out and be as slow as I want. I can get caught up in a store picking out anniversary presents and not worry about what time it is. I can go to the gym whenever I just happen to get there. I can spend almost a whole afternoon with my baby girl, lying on our backs on the bonus room floor waving toys in front of our faces.

I'm being entirely unproductive and I don't even care.

Charlotte and I? We so need this.

The moral of the story: grandparents rock.

Charlotte at Ten Months

In all the chaos of the hospital this week and our discharge appointment today, we barely noticed that Charlotte is officially ten months old!

I'm sure that much of the past month has been delightful, full of smiles and giggles and proud moments of learning to sit (and now wave! adorable), but right now all that's at the front of my mind is vomiting and doctors and questions and medical stress. And it still feels hurtful and ugly and overwhelming. A better mommy would see through the cloud and write something lovely, and I will be that mommy again next week.  But for right now, I can just say this:

Charlotte is wonderful and perfect. Exactly how she is. We love her and we are glad to have her home.

And that is the official ten-month update.

Know What's Great About This? Hospital Edition

Well we are home from the hospital. Whew.

After four days there, we still don't have a great answer about exactly why Charlotte got so sick, but what is clear is that her sensitive little tummy isn't ready for the volume or variety of foods she had been eating.  Since babies don't technically need solid foods til they're one or so, we are just going to stick with a mostly-milk diet for the next few months, and only offer solids for... well, for practice, basically.

I will keep breastfeeding (nature's perfect food! #shoutout) and we will give her lots of bottles of pumped milk (also from her milk sister Sally's mom, emu! #shoutout) fortified with formula powder.  Yup, it's Charlotte's very own Baby Bodybuilding Shake (patent pending).

It's been an emotionally exhausting stay in the hospital (aren't they all?) but instead of dwelling on the hard and ugly parts, we've kinda decided our new thing is going to be the "hey you know what's great about this?" approach to frustrating situations.  We've had to force it, but it's there.

Know what's great about being sick in the hospital? 

Lots of baby-sleep photo ops that mommy would normally miss. Oh and the half-gown, half-PJ look to keep warm and accomodate an IV? totally the newest trend in hospital wear.

Being in the hospital means having mommy all to myself.

Learning to do ultrasounds is kind of fun. Next time I do this, it might be to hear my first baby's heartbeat!

Get-well-soon faces from Daddy make me laugh.

Wheelchairs! This is how the hospital insists on transporting us anywhere. Which mommy says is ridiculous but I say is fun.

A hospital bed means brother and sister will climb up and make me smile.

Another Nathan surprised us by bringing Wednesday coffee date to us in the hospital! He made us laugh, worrying every time the IV pole beeped.

Hospital procedures are exhausting but when I finally fall asleep, boy does mommy have eyelash envy.

And coming home feels soooo good.

Thanks for all the encouraging words and messages, everyone.  We feel so loved.

Oh Sicky Charlotte

This will be a quick and not-funny blog update because... well frankly that's all I've got in me right now.

So... underneath the giggles and milestones, Charlotte hasn't been feeling so healthy recently.  She's been throwing up most of her food for a couple of weeks -- not a great way to pack on the pounds like she's supposed to be doing. Remember how she's underweight and her growth has slowed pretty significantly since February?  Yeah.

Over the weekend she seemed to be getting worse, so we took her to the doctor on Monday and they admitted her to the hospital, which is where I'm writing this.

After a day on IV fluids for dehydration, and cutting all food out of her diet except milk, Charlotte has perked up considerably.  The vomiting has been quelled and she's in much better spirits. And now that the IV is out of her right arm and she has her thumb back, she's even sleeping a bit better.

Ummm, as well as anyone sleeps well in a hospital.  That's to say... not well.

I can't keep any food down, but this IV cord sure is tasty!

As of today we are finally putting together some information about what's going on with her. She has a mild kidney infection (and an ongoing kidney issue which will make her prone to infections in the future as well) which is probably what caused her dehydration and weakness over the last few days, but doesn't explain the weeks of vomiting.  Sadly we still don't have a clear answer about what caused that, but we do at least know that putting her on an all-milk diet is working for now.

So for now, Mark has been home with Nathan and Anneliese (who are going for unexpected grandparent visits starting tonight) while I have been at the hospital with Charlotte. For now, we are just waiting on a few more tests and results, and for her to regain enough strength and weight to go home, hopefully before the weekend.

Please pray for our baby girl?

Sitting Charlotte

Guess who (at ten months) is finally sitting up on her own?! Exciting weekend for Charlotte!

Look, my mommy's super friend Sarah is in town! And she helped me perfect this cool new trick I've been hiding up my sleeve. SITTING!

Wait what's happening? Why are Mommy and Sarah so proud? I'm not tipping over? Whoooooa, dudes.

Wait, I think I hate it. It's scary! I think I have to flail now. I am ten months old and flailing is one of my few options. Stop gawking at me Nathan, haven't you ever seen a baby sitting and flailing before? Just let me flail!

Yeah the flailing is helping.  Maybe this isn't so bad after all. Hm. Do I like this after all?

Yeah, it's pretty cool.  I dig it.

So, that's it. I can sit.  No big.  If you need me, I'll just be here, looking casual while you tell me how talented I am. Okay then.

Everyone (No One) Needs a Blow Up Chair

Hey speaking of grandparents and toys that drive me nuts, remember when my mom (yes I'm calling her out on this one MARMIE) showed up with two giant plastic disney inflatable chairs?  And remember how despite the fact that the kids loved them (and Mark too, I suspect; sad but true, yes you may judge him), I hated them and found them tacky and huge and annoying and the cause of lots of ruckus and silliness?  And remember how I was praying for them to pop?  And how by "pop" I meant I WILL POP THEM MYSELF?

Well, I haven't done that yet.

Praise me.

See? I Can Totally Be Spontaneous and Fun-Loving!

Today started with something not that weird: we brought Another Nathan to the airport.  Something we've done a hundred times so he doesn't have to pay for parking, although today was earlier than we'd normally go. But because of his little acci-doo (and when better to leave your car at an auto shop than when you're going to be out of town anyway?) he was carless, so driving himself and parking wasn't an option. So we got up early and took him. (Gladly, for the record. He's our most helpful friend, remember?)

And since it was so early, I basically threw the kids in the car straight out of bed.  Mostly without breakfast, loveys in hand, and wearing their PJs. Car rides wearing PJs are fun!

Related to said earliness, I hadn't banked on any airport playtime. It was early. We already had a playdate scheduled for later this morning, so I didn't think the kids would even care.

Um, I was wrong.

Cut to us sitting on the observation deck at the ass-crack of dawn, eating chick fil a biscuits, watching planes take off. In the rain. In our PJs.

bye-bye, friend!

Oh, the things it never occurred to me I would I do as a mommy.