Big and Small

Diving home tonight Tate was watching all the houses that went by and called them out according to size.
Giant
Giant
Super Giant
Super Giant
Super Giant
Giant
Super Giant
Giant
Giant
Super Giant
Small (we had pulled into our driveway)

Filling the seats

Sitting at the dinner table the following conversation occurred:

T: There are two empty chairs.
M: Huh?
T: At the table. Two empty chairs.
M: Oh yeah.
D: A chair for Corbu and a chair for Matisse?
T: No. Not for the cats. FOR TWO MORE BABIES!
M & D: NOOOOOoooooooooo.....

Young v. Cheap

I got carded at the liquor store today!!

Was it because I looked so young? Or was it because I was buying two really cheap bottles of wine?

Lessons on Parenting

I have learned a very important lesson tonight.

Two days ago I brought Tate to the pediatrician's office for his 5 year check-up. All was well until the doctor checked his throat and said, "Oh. He's got some red dots in there. If he gets a sore throat or fever or throws up, you might want to bring him back here right away." I ask why. Doctor says it could be strep throat. Oh. "Ummmm... he threw up a few days ago. But only once and was totally fine right after. No other symptoms and was eating and bouncing off the walls the rest of the day." Doctor looks at me. Looks at Tate. Gets the throat culture swabs out. Positive. Crap. I bring in a symptom-free kid for a well visit and I walk out with strep throat, antibiotics and a 24-hour no contact order.

The lesson I learned tonight is... do NOT wake up Tate to give him a forgotten dose of medicine. After talking gibberish, flopping over and finally seeming like he was awake enough - he took a small swallow, then took in the rest of the dose, swished it around his mouth like mouthwash (uh oh...Tate swallow it.... swallow it) and then promptly and expertly spit it out. All over clutchie. He lied back down and closed his eyes and will not remember it even happened in the morning. He'll be awfully surprised when he sees pink all over clutchie tomorrow.

Oh no no.

I mean really?? Why would she sleep all night two nights in a row? Why would she give her tired, worn-out and very loving mother a break? She decided last night that 12:30am would be a good time to say hi. I think I'd been asleep for 45 minutes when she woke me up. It was very disheartening. Now, I really didn't expect her to sleep through again, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit there was a tiny, teeny shred of a glimmer of hope that she might do it again. But I expected more of a 3am wake up. Not 12:30am. It's the total inconsistancy that is doing me in. This is the worst part of babies.

Now the best part of babies... so cute, sweet smiles, silly giggles, warm and cuddly, witnessing growth and watching them master a challenge, and the relief you feel when they finally and consistently sleep though the night - pure heaven.

My tired, sorry ass.

I don't really have anything else to say other than....

SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!

I awoke at 6am to the glorious realization that I had indeed not been woken up during the darkest hours of the morning to drag my tired, sorry ass out of bed and gather up a warm, sweet, cute baby for snacking and cuddling. Then came the very awake anticipation of forthcoming cries to indeed drag my tired, sorry ass out of bed to gather up the warm, sweet, cute baby for breakfast and cuddling. Her demands did not surface until 7:30am!

What are the odds she can muster up a repeat performance?

Encore... ENCORE!!!

Oops

Hmmm... missed a few days. I blame the party-action happening over here. It's been non-stop. Emily's birthday party, Valentine's Day, my birthday, Tate's kid party, Tate's family party, Tate's birthday and then Tate's party at school. This weekend there is still a family party to celebrate my birthday and my mom's. It's been fun, but tiring. Add to that Simone's move into Tate's room, which requires me to get out of bed once in the middle of the night to feed her, as she has decided that she still enjoys a late night snack and cuddle. Oh and then there is the damn Olympics and late night coverage. Sometimes you just cannot tear yourself away. Time to get back on schedule - with blogging and with life.

Daily Joke

Tate: Why did the chicken cross the meatball?
Me: I don't know. Why?
Tate: Because he wanted to get to eat the meatball and he was hungry!!!! hahahhahahaha

Yup. They are all this bad.

Mom's Birthday

Birthdays used to be all about me. Totally selfish. Whatever I wanted. Then I went and had some kids. Not only that, but I had one kid only 4 days after my own birthday. I remember 5 years ago on this day - I was 11 days from my due date and Dave and I went out to dinner (Redlefsen's for all you RWU graduates) and I sat there soaking in the very last dinner out we would have before our lives changed forever. We relaxed and really enjoyed it, although I was secretly scared that I would go into labor right then and there.

So today, on MY birthday, I spent most of it getting ready for Tate's birthday. Cleaning, ordering, planning, shopping. I didn't even get to go for lunch where I wanted to. However, Dave came home with Thai take-out and sweet, sweet cake and they sang to me, then Tate and I got lots of cuddle time on the couch. The day may have been more about him, but I got everything I needed today as well.

* blog title will live on

FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY
T: eating cake
M: Tate and Dave singing

Do I need a new blog title?

When I started this blog Tate and I would spend a few moments each night talking about our favorite parts of the day. After a while he started telling me his favorite part of the day was "cuddling with you right now." I know... melts the heart huh? It melted my heart for the first several days. Then after three weeks of the same answer - even after we'd done some really cool, fun things that day - I realized he was just being lazy. Sweet. But lazy. I'll ask him tomorrow again and see what he says. If he says "cuddling with you right now" I may have to change the name of this blog.

Tired

Just really tired tonight. Simone awoke at 1am and kept me up until 2:30am then thought it would be really funny to wake me up again at 6am. In an effort to keep Tate from glazing over on the sofa in his underwear playing Wii all day, I set up two playdates for him today. So we were going from 10am until 3pm. Then I decided that I needed to start getting ready for his party this weekend, so I made 80 meatballs and a vat of sauce. And to top it off, after putting the kids to bed I headed out in the cold and snow to Target to begin shopping for party stuff and other house essentials (Just a side note here... don't drop your 12 pack of toilet paper on the driveway in the slushy snow. Kinda ruined.) So why I am still up? Damn Olympic skating.

Taste of summer

Usually around mid-February I start to get really anxious for winter to end and nature to begin to green outside. I've had enough of the snow, enough of the cold, enough of bulky winter coats. So seeing as a trip to the Bahamas was not in the cards for us this winter, I did the next best thing. I packed the kids in the car and drove to the Botanical Gardens in Providence. It opened in 2007 in Roger Williams Park and it's two large greenhouses filled with lots of tropical green things. We walked in and were immediately hit with heat and forced to take off our coats - ahhhhh. A few more steps in and the smell changed to summer - just like that it felt and smelled like summer. We saw tons of different palm trees, huge cacti, flesh-eating plants, orchids, banana trees bearing fruit, a koi pond and water fountains. The place was practically empty and not very big so Tate was able to run free and explore, as well as throw coins in the fountain. It was blissful.

So the Botanical Gardens will have to suffice for me until we win the lottery and I can spend every February vacation on a tropical beach. It's just as good, right?!?!?!

Happy...

...new room! Simone did great last night in her new room with Tate. Tate did equally as well. One wake up for the girl which only woke up Dave. Both Tate and I slept through it. I had no idea she was up until Dave was at the side of our bed holding Simone saying "Wake up!" So I fed her, put her back in the crib and I awoke at 7am to the sounds of Tate sweetly talking to her through the baby monitor.

...Valentine's Day! Everyone got a homemade card. Tate got chocolates and lollipops. Simone got a new rattle, chew toy. Everyone got lots of love.

...Chinese New Year! Gong hay fat choy!! (I think it's spelled that way - but what do I know, I'm not Chinese.) Simone got to wear her beautiful outfit - handed down from Tate - that Auntie Ali got in Thailand (is that right Ali?) Doesn't she look beautiful?

Kicked to the crib

For 5.5 months Simone has slept beside me in our room. Sometimes peacefully. Sometimes not. But always right next to me - she was always there. Which is a problem in itself... she was ALWAYS there. We were prisoners in our own room. Forced to brush our teeth in the kitchen, fear rolling over in bed, and damn that dog should she have a dream and begin whimpering and barking in her sleep. I was in constant fear of making noise and waking up Simone.

Tonight she has been kicked out. She spends her first night in a crib in Tate's room - now their room. I am sad. I am happy. I am still fearful that a noise will wake her up. But I will go to bed tonight after brushing my teeth in the bathroom, washing my face again, maybe even reading a few pages of a book before turning off the light, and making as much noise as I want getting settled. No... I'm still just sad. She's growing up.

Five guys, seven moms, eleven kids and one baby.

After school today we gathered some of the kids and moms and headed over to Five Guys Burgers for lunch (made famous by Barack Obama), where it seems they pride themselves on how unhealthy their offering is. Unhealthy, yes. But, oh so tasty. We took over a large section of the restaurant with our entourage, set up a couple of kid's tables and ordered up burgers, hot dogs and fries. Those kids were so good and so excited to be having lunch out all together. Tate sat next to his bestest girl and told me that he hopes Obama does not come in for lunch, because he doesn't want to run into any Presidents.