Sunday, July 12th, 2009

This marks the end of one of the busiest, most fun weekends I have had in a long time. It just so happens that I have barely seen my children since Friday afternoon, as well. Coincidence? I'll let you decide! :) Molly and Scott Martin got married yesterday. I was lucky enough to be a part of their wedding as a bridesmaid. So Tommy and I were invited to the rehearsal dinner Friday night. My parents, Uncle Crabby, cousins Ian and Jason, Claire and Finn all chipped in to baby-sitt. Yesterday, everyone dropped me off at Farrell's at 8:30 a.m. Tommy then dropped Jack off at my parents' house so Papa could take him to soccer (which ended up being cancelled). Then he took Annie to Claire's while he went to swim lessons with Mallie. After collecting everyone back at home, he got them ready to spend the afternoon with Meghan Nowlin (who is a trooper to volunteer her service being 8 months pregnant) and Uncle Brian. At 4 p.m. the shift change occured when Hannah, Tommy, Lauren and Emily arrived to stay with the kids for the remainder of the evening. When they say that it 'takes a village', they aren't kidding- especially in this case. I write all of this both to remember all the sweet people that helped this weekend, and because I feel so lucky to have such an unbelievable support system in place that help nurture our kids. I barely had to ask any of these people to help- they jumped on it as soon as they caught wind that we were going to the wedding and had such a marathon weekend ahead. I was able to completely let go and focus on my friend on her happy day without any concern that something might be wrong at home.


Yesterday afternoon, Emily, Lauren and Tommy took the kids for a walk to Bohlken Park. On the way, Jack noticed a statue of Jesus in someone's front yard. This started a whirlwind of questions including, "Who is that?", "Do we love Jesus?", "Why do we love Jesus?", "If God is already in heaven, then where will he go when he gets old and dies?", etc. Emily, wisely steered clear of answering these and let Lauren field them instead- seemingly to Jack's content. At the park, the kids went on the swings and Emily was telling them, "Yeaaaa! The swings! Aren't they fun? Don't we just love the swings?" Jack replied at the top of his voice, "YEAAA!! WE LOVE THE SWINGS AND WE LOOOOOVE JEEEESUS!!!!"


The other day I took all the kids on what normally would have been a quick trip to Target. There were several meltdown and blatant, in-mom's-face misbehavior. On the way home, I stopped to get myself a coffee at the Dunkin Donuts drivethru. As we waited in line, Jack continuously asked, "Mom, can I get a donut??" and I continuously answered him, "No, your behavior was ridiculous in Target and you're not getting a treat." When we pulled up to the speaker to order, I rolled down my window. Before I could open my mouth to order, Jack was yelling from his carseat in the way-back of the van, "YEAH! UMMMM- COULD I GET A DONUT PLEASE??? A DONUT WITH HOLES IN IT!?" I don't think they heard him, so they really must have thought I was a kook when I pulled up to pay with tears of laughter in my eyes and unable to speak to them!


Tommy "put Jack to sleep" the other night while I finished watching my show on T.V. When I came up for bed, Jack and Tommy were laying in our bed flipping between boxing and rugby on T.V. Tommy said he had tried to get him to sleep. But as soon as Tommy laid down in our bed, he heard Jack calling for him saying, "Ummmm...DAD!? Ummm... I'm having a rough day in here!!!"


Mallie's temper tantrums have been getting pretty lengthy and outlandish lately. I think we're hitting our terrible 2's. The other day, she screamed for 1/2 hour because she wanted to leave her tennis shoes outside. Others involved not wanting to stop washing her hands or brush her teeth. And most recently because Tommy borrowed my flipflops to take the trash out. There is nothing to do but ignore these, but they are becoming fierce. We had to take her to Costco the other day with her face full of red blotches and her eyes all puffy.



When Jack is trying to be a part of an adult conversation or tell an adult a story, he jumps into a new persona. He uses his hands alot more, takes his time getting his story out (because he really enjoys the attention on himself) and uses the phrase, "it was like..." a whole lot.

Jack was giving us a piano concert this week. As he banged on the keys, he sang, "OOOOHH Patty!!!! (our next door neighbor) I think your cuuuuuuuuuute!!! I love you!!!!!"

Before 8 a.m. yesterday Birdie girl had: a full-blown tantrum because she had finished brushing her teeth and didn't want the water turned off, emptied her entire pajama drawer, and smeared 1/2 tube of Desitin all over her face.


Tommy was driving the kids today after rushing out of the house without Jack's glasses. From the backseat, Jack called, "So, Dad, we decided to go without the glasses today?" And Tommy said, "Yes." To which Jack replied, "Hmmmm.... that's interesting."


Annie is becoming a force to be reckoned with. She is EVERYWHERE and can get there quickly. Her newest trick is to stand on her feet and hands as though she is about to do the bear walk. It is still so strange for me to see her do these thing, even crawl. I always marvel at how strong she is getting and how quickly it's coming along! I honestly believe she'll be walking in a month.

When I put Annie to bed at night, I lay her on her side in the crib. She take her little hand that is free and rubs the sheet next to her, up and down, up and down up and down, really fast. It's her little comfort move that helps her calm down at the end of the day.