Doubling up on the pacis...today's new trick!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Things that make me laugh
Recently Laney walked up to me and said
"Mommy, I want to piss in your ear."
Of course I burst out laughing, and then tried to wade through that statement in the hopes that she did not actually want to give my ear a golden shower. I finally deduced that she wanted to whisper "psssst" in my ear, and tell me a secret. This is a tickle game I play with the kids to get them out of a funk. After I pssst (not piss) in their ears I nuzzle the spot right behind their ears and then give them a big raspberry. I used to call this game Mommy wants to tell you a secret. Maybe I will call it pee-pee-ears from now on.
On Monday I told Laney a joke and she just looked blankly at me and asked why I said that. I told her I was just telling her a joke to be silly and make her laugh. She looked at me in all seriousness {side note: she was sitting on the potty} and told me "when you tell jokes my mouth doesn't know how to laugh at them." At this point I mentally entered the sound effect that is played at the end of every losing game on the Price Is Right. I thought I was funny, but I guess not.
Laney turns 4 (Pump It Up Party)
On Laney's actual birthday, we hosted a birthday bash at our local Pump It Up! for Laney and all of her friends from school. The kids got to play in the jump zone for 1 1/2 hours and then were treated to cookies shaped like number 4s. Jumping is one of Laney's favorite pastimes, and she adores Pump It Up. Liam demanded that Sonia follow him around in the round ball pit/jumpy and was only content if she was chasing him, no sitting down allowed!
The party was sooooo easy to pull off. The staff lays out all of the food and monitors behavior within the jump arena so all you really have to do is write the check. They even provided a clipboard for writing down who gave what gift, bagged all of the gifts, cleaned up the party room, and schlepped all of the gifts to my car. Too bad all birthday parties can't be like this! {ie Mom's dream come true}
The party was sooooo easy to pull off. The staff lays out all of the food and monitors behavior within the jump arena so all you really have to do is write the check. They even provided a clipboard for writing down who gave what gift, bagged all of the gifts, cleaned up the party room, and schlepped all of the gifts to my car. Too bad all birthday parties can't be like this! {ie Mom's dream come true}
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| Liam and Anneliese had a ball chasing each other |
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| Brodie was with us for the day, and the cousins had a great time running around together. |
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| Laney divided her time between the mega-slide and completing the obstacle course with her friends. |
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| The inflatable gift opening throne on the party room! |
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Laney turns 4 (Ladybug Party)
Laney turned 4 last week and we had a great time celebrating, multiple times. I hosted a ladybug themed birthday party at our house for the family on Saturday. The decorations were simple, but I think the whole thing turned out very well. Red and black paper, red and black balloons, red and black crepe paper streamers, red and black plates and napkins, a few circular paper punches, prizes from Oriental Trading Co, and voila! Tres chic bug party :)
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| I actually made this, and it was DELICIOUS! A major coup for me since everyone knows that I don't bake very well... |
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| Made this garland with green felt and wooden ladybugs. It will hang in Laney's room after the party is over. |
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| My $3 centerpieces looked precious. Muchas gracias to the Dollar Tree and Oriental Trading Co. |
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| Gift bags for the kids Laney really loves pinatas, so we ordered her a ladybug one and filled it with candy and prizes. All of the kids had a great time hitting it, but none more so than Patrick who got to make the final blow! 
 
 Then I brought out a jar of live ladybugs for the kids to release into the garden. I filled little cups with squirming red beetles and let the kids explore the fascinating world of bugs. They all agreed that was their favorite part of the party.  
    We served vanilla cake with butter cream frosting, topped with little ladybugs made out of sugar. Laney had me dye the cake batter blue.   Look, I finally make it into a few pictures! What a great birthday party.  |
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| Happy birthday Buggy! Can't believe you are already 4 :) |
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| Silly faces are our specialty! |
Erik has arrived!
It is often said "be careful what you wish for, for it might come true." Jessica lamented to me about a week before her scheduled c-section that she had made her peace with having to have the procedure, but was a little bummed that she wouldn't get the whole "I'm in labor! Let's get to the hospital!" experience. Well, ask and ye shall receive. My parents and I were all set to arrive Thursday, May 24th and have a nice dinner out with Gavin and Jess before the procedure the Friday morning. Instead we got a 5am wake up call from her Thursday morning telling us that her water had broke at 4:30am and they were on their way to the hospital for an emergency c-section.
Everything turned out perfectly, and I got to meet my newest nephew Thursday afternoon. Erik Paul Birmingham arrived at 9:46 am on May 24, weighing 7 lbs 10 oz, measuring 19 inches long. He had fantastic Apgar scores and was an angelic newborn dozing peacefully away in my sister's arms. I have to say that this was my favorite meet and greet of all the nieces/nephews I have (5 on Patrick's side!). Of course I love all 5 of them, but meeting my sister's baby was just different. Erik feels more like a piece of me than any of the previous 5 did. Meeting Erik and placing tender kisses on his wee baby head that first day will always have a special place in my heart.
Enjoy my photos of his first few days!
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| PS--I knit this hat. |
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| At just a few hours old he only had eyes for Jess. |
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| My proud brother-in-law had never held a baby until we made him hold 5 lb Laney in the hospital, and look at him now. He seems like a seasoned pro! |
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
To my sister: What to expect when you are expecting
I feel like everyone around me is pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or having a baby soon (like this week, Jessica!) Punctuating this feeling was my recent trip to the movies to see "What to Expect When You Are Expecting." My friend Amanda and I laughed through the movie as it poked fun at the whole experience of thinking about having a baby, trying to make a baby, finding out you are having a baby, growing a baby, and finally popping that baby out. I think the movie was so funny to us because it was relevant to our lives and something we had both recently been through. And that got me thinking about what it was like to be pregnant. Not just what it felt like to have a baby inside you, but what it was like to be pregnant with your first child and wonder about your life after the baby had come. This idea is what has inspired me to write tonight. Trying to describe what it is like to have a baby to someone who has never had one is hard. It is practically indescribable, so enormous in its scope that you don't even know where to begin. But here I go:
What to expect when you are expecting: words of wisdom from a 2 time mom to an expectant one.
Tears.
Tears are what you can expect when you are expecting. Surely you had a dose of uncontrollable crying while you were pregnant, I know I sure did. I cried about everything, from sweet Hallmark cards, to funny commercials to news stories that would have previously not really have registered on my radar. I thought that all this crying would end when I delivered my little baby Laney, but I was wrong. The tears just kept coming. During my delivery they were tears of pain, mixed with tears of nervousness. I cried relentlessly into the waning hours of the night as the contractions gripped my body and I tried with all my might to push my baby out. Suddenly there she was and the tears that wet my cheeks were now tears of joy as I watched my baby suck in her first breaths of air and heard the wobbly sound of her first cries. I cried more tears of elation watching my family pass that baby around the delivery room at 2am, amazed and what I had made and welcoming the newest member of the family. Later that night I cried silent tears as I watched my husband snuggle her blissfully in a chair by my bedside as the doctors were caring for me, not wanting to disturb a man who was clearly falling in love with his daughter.
I didn't sleep at all that night and by the next afternoon, the tears became symbols of exhaustion. I was so busy falling in love with my baby that I forgot to take care of myself and began to pay for it emotionally. My body was a physical disaster from a long labor and delivery and I felt overwhelmed at the level of care the baby required, something I was not prepared for. Soon I began to cry tears of self-doubt, wondering if I was fit to be a mother and if we had made a terrible mistake. I had no idea how to care for a baby and could not find it in me to trust my insticts. This feeling lasted for weeks for me, and the tears kept coming. I just couldn't stop crying and I didn't feel like a mom. I felt out of sync with my life and my baby. My doctor had me take extra antidepressants, and a friend loaned me a copy of Brooke Shield's book "Down Came the Rain." Slowly, the sad tears stopped and the happy tears returned. I began to find joy in the smallest things: a coo, a sweet sigh while Laney was sleeping, and the list goes on. I woke up one morning to find myself deeply in love with my baby and even that made my cry again.
During the months that followed the birth of my first child, a rocky trail of tears followed me. Most of the time the tears were squeezed out of me by the grip of sheer exhauustion wracking my body. Getting up every 3 to 4 hours at night is a hazard to your health. Sometimes I would cry because I was so tired I couldn't even fall asleep. Over time Laney began to wake up less and less at night and I began to feel better and better. Eventually I felt normal again, except for the tears. The tears never stopped, but that became a good thing. Here's why: Once you have a baby, you have no choice but to stop and smell the roses. Children have a way of making you focus on the little things, and that is where the tears come in again. Being there for all the special moments of your child's life is awesome, and every day with them seems like a gift from God. That feeling right there has leveled me to a crying mess many a quiet night as I rocked my children to sleep in their bedrooms, softly singing each of them their special lullabys. Children also have a way of putting the world in perspective. Slowly the things you thought were important once just fade away until being a family is the first thing you think of in the morning and the last thing you think of before you go to bed. The first time you see a news story about a child being hurt or injured after you have a baby will drop you to your knees with sadness. You won't be able to watch the evening news again without thinking about the "what ifs?" and the fear you can dream up will make your eyes well up as you squeeze your baby a little tighter.
Tears. I never knew how much of a part of my life they would be after I had children. I like to tell people that being a mom means that you just become a softer, kinder, gentler version of yourself. I like to think that being softer means that you feel more deeply, hence the free flowing tears. Just a sweet hug or a big happy smile from one of the kids can make me feel all misty, and I'm good with that. My tears are an outward expression of love for my children and for being a mother. My eyes well up with tears most days not because I am sad, but just the opposite. Being a mom has opened my heart to a kind of love that I never knew existed until I held Laney in my arms. It overflows me heart daily, and that is the real reason for the tears, my little drops of love.
So, what can you expect when you are expecting? Hopefully, you are expecting some tears. You won't regret them. Just make sure to pack some Kleenex.
What to expect when you are expecting: words of wisdom from a 2 time mom to an expectant one.
Tears.
Tears are what you can expect when you are expecting. Surely you had a dose of uncontrollable crying while you were pregnant, I know I sure did. I cried about everything, from sweet Hallmark cards, to funny commercials to news stories that would have previously not really have registered on my radar. I thought that all this crying would end when I delivered my little baby Laney, but I was wrong. The tears just kept coming. During my delivery they were tears of pain, mixed with tears of nervousness. I cried relentlessly into the waning hours of the night as the contractions gripped my body and I tried with all my might to push my baby out. Suddenly there she was and the tears that wet my cheeks were now tears of joy as I watched my baby suck in her first breaths of air and heard the wobbly sound of her first cries. I cried more tears of elation watching my family pass that baby around the delivery room at 2am, amazed and what I had made and welcoming the newest member of the family. Later that night I cried silent tears as I watched my husband snuggle her blissfully in a chair by my bedside as the doctors were caring for me, not wanting to disturb a man who was clearly falling in love with his daughter.
I didn't sleep at all that night and by the next afternoon, the tears became symbols of exhaustion. I was so busy falling in love with my baby that I forgot to take care of myself and began to pay for it emotionally. My body was a physical disaster from a long labor and delivery and I felt overwhelmed at the level of care the baby required, something I was not prepared for. Soon I began to cry tears of self-doubt, wondering if I was fit to be a mother and if we had made a terrible mistake. I had no idea how to care for a baby and could not find it in me to trust my insticts. This feeling lasted for weeks for me, and the tears kept coming. I just couldn't stop crying and I didn't feel like a mom. I felt out of sync with my life and my baby. My doctor had me take extra antidepressants, and a friend loaned me a copy of Brooke Shield's book "Down Came the Rain." Slowly, the sad tears stopped and the happy tears returned. I began to find joy in the smallest things: a coo, a sweet sigh while Laney was sleeping, and the list goes on. I woke up one morning to find myself deeply in love with my baby and even that made my cry again.
During the months that followed the birth of my first child, a rocky trail of tears followed me. Most of the time the tears were squeezed out of me by the grip of sheer exhauustion wracking my body. Getting up every 3 to 4 hours at night is a hazard to your health. Sometimes I would cry because I was so tired I couldn't even fall asleep. Over time Laney began to wake up less and less at night and I began to feel better and better. Eventually I felt normal again, except for the tears. The tears never stopped, but that became a good thing. Here's why: Once you have a baby, you have no choice but to stop and smell the roses. Children have a way of making you focus on the little things, and that is where the tears come in again. Being there for all the special moments of your child's life is awesome, and every day with them seems like a gift from God. That feeling right there has leveled me to a crying mess many a quiet night as I rocked my children to sleep in their bedrooms, softly singing each of them their special lullabys. Children also have a way of putting the world in perspective. Slowly the things you thought were important once just fade away until being a family is the first thing you think of in the morning and the last thing you think of before you go to bed. The first time you see a news story about a child being hurt or injured after you have a baby will drop you to your knees with sadness. You won't be able to watch the evening news again without thinking about the "what ifs?" and the fear you can dream up will make your eyes well up as you squeeze your baby a little tighter.
Tears. I never knew how much of a part of my life they would be after I had children. I like to tell people that being a mom means that you just become a softer, kinder, gentler version of yourself. I like to think that being softer means that you feel more deeply, hence the free flowing tears. Just a sweet hug or a big happy smile from one of the kids can make me feel all misty, and I'm good with that. My tears are an outward expression of love for my children and for being a mother. My eyes well up with tears most days not because I am sad, but just the opposite. Being a mom has opened my heart to a kind of love that I never knew existed until I held Laney in my arms. It overflows me heart daily, and that is the real reason for the tears, my little drops of love.
So, what can you expect when you are expecting? Hopefully, you are expecting some tears. You won't regret them. Just make sure to pack some Kleenex.
Swim lessons part 3 & 4
4 weeks of swim lessons have come and gone, and I for one am thrilled. I am thrilled at the results just as I am thrilled to not have to make the daily trek to the swim complex. Schlepping 2 less-than-thrilled kids to the pool Monday through Thursday put quite a kink in my schedule, and now that it is over I am enjoying my new found "free time", which I am using to catch up on laundry, gardening, etc. {amazing how my definition of free time has changed since having kids} Anyhow, my kids can swim and that is what truly matters.
Mother's Day weekend fell between weeks 3 and 4, and Patrick and I found ourselves without kids overnight as we attended a wedding in Newport Beach. The kids stayed with Shesh and PopPop and did a ton of swimming while we were gone. The amazing part was that Liam finally found his comfort level in the pool. My mom got him to start swimming to her in the jacuzzi and he has never looked back. By the time we went swimming with him Sunday afternoon, whe was happily floating along and putting his face in the water, even jumping to us from the steps. We were truly able to enjoy swimming as a family and it finally made tropical vacations seem doable some day. Laney continued to swim back and forth across the jacuzzi for hours on end, even braving the chilly waters of the pool to splash around in the beach area of the pool and play with the dogs. After a full day of swimming she tells us that it looks "froggy" inside, and we have to douse her eyes in saline drops.
Week 3 of swim lessons passed with Laney being able to swim the entire length of the swimming pool, stopping to float and catch her breath and then flipping over and paddling some more. Liam finally figured out how to float on his back after being weighed down with a bulky sweatshirt in the water. Week 4 found both kids working on survival skills and learning what it felt like to fall into the water fully clothed. They had to go in in street clothes as well as winter wear and then flip themselves over and float. Both passed with flying colors, and Laney was even wearing swim fins and swimming through underwater hula hoops to pick up toys off the bottom of the pool in the shallow end.
All in all, I am really glad that I put the kids through their paces and had them do this program. It was hard-core and so gnarly at times that I began to doubt myself and whether I had made the right choice. I am so glad that we stuck it out though, because the results were worth it. Peace of mind is something you can't put a price on, and these lessons gave me a pretty big dose of it. We will continue to remain hyper vigilant around water with the kids, but just knowing that they aren't totally helpless should the worst happen makes me sleep a little easier at night.
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