This is the face of a kid that is only satisfied eating his dinner if his mother is making a fool of herself by singing to him while he eats. His favorites are The Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald had a Farm and Holla Back Girl (for when he’s eating bananas). He also enjoys when his mother is getting really frustrated but trying to stay calm by singing a new verse of The Wheels on the Bus about how the mommies are getting off the bus to go have margaritas.
When we saw friends Karen and Patrick in January, Patrick issued PW a put up or shut up on a visit to Chicago. Patrick has been living there for nearly the last decade and Peter is always saying we need to go. You can only make your wife cheer for the Cubs for so long before you actually have to take her to see a game. (side note: I’ve now been to two more major league baseball parks than Peter. Which kills him. )
So, we booked tickets, PMac and Karen’s guest room, and dropped the kiddos at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. The party started at the airport when we decided we had time for margaritas (plural) before our plane ride. Patrick and Karen had planned a full weekend of baseball, great meals, a little sight seeing and a lot of fun. It kind of went like this: arrive, drink, drink, eat, drink, sleep, eat, drink, drink, baseball, driiiiink, eat, drink, eaaaaaat, drink, drink, sleep, repeat. It was, in a word, fantastic.
Game #1, Cubs v Astros. Bleacher seats.
We actually believed that it was going to miss us. We were wrong.
Three hour rain delay felt much shorter with the assistance of many many beer vendors. And a batting helmet full of nachos. No really. Like an actual sized batting helmet. With nachos.
How do I know our friends are professionals? They brought their own ponchos. $0.69 v $10.
Watching the mechanics of rolling back the tarp was so cool.
I love the ingenuity of the people that own the buildings across the street from Wrigley. They remodeled the rooftops with bleachers. Genius.
The ivy. Properly trimmed to keep jerks like me from picking it.
After the game, we headed home to change and then back out to The Loop for dinner at The Girl and the Goat. Reservations in June were booking for August…thank goodness Karen is a smart thinker and booked our reservations in February! It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Tapas with amazing ambiance, good wine, great servers, no time to take pictures because we were too busy eating a drinking. But I did manage to snap a picture of the Chicago River from the cab – so pretty.
Saturday brought sunny skies and game #2 – or as PW called them “the really good seats”. We were in the 6th row behind home plate. I’ve rarely seen Peter as excited and happy as he was for the pregame, game and post game.
Panorama of our view
Post game bar crawl. Happy camper.
Our last stop of the night was Red Ivy – an all encompassing Chicago sports bar. We caught game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals and it was a blast. Everyone in the bar was electrified – it would have been hard not to cheer for the Blackhawks.
Duh duh du duh duh du da da da duh duh!!
(Chealsea Dagger. Look it up)
Check out that mullet.
We went home tired, a little hung over but oddly well rested. It was the break from parenting that we very much needed whether we knew it or not. Getting to laugh with old friends, swear, sleep in, drink at will and have conversations that were only inturupted by more food, drinks or funny comments was amazing. Big hugs and thanks to Patrick and Karen for being the most amazing hosts! Can’t wait to see you in the desert in July and for the big day in 2014!!
I always worry that I’m not doing enough for the kids. Not reading enough. Not playing enough. Not being patient enough. And that I’m going to give them permanent issues because they are sharing a room. Worry worry worry. You want the best for your kids so you work to give them the moon…but sometimes the moon isn’t totally necessary.
When my sister was in kindergarten, she was sent to the nurse for a bump or bruise. She came home from school that day enamored by the fact that the nurse had “made” ice. She begged my mom to ask the nurse for the recipe. Perplexed, my mom agreed. She realized later that the nurse used ice-cube trays – we had an ice maker so Ali had never seen a tray before.
My niece Madi used to beg my step sister to please turn on the “normal” radio in the car coming home from school. Her friends didn’t have satellite radio so she wanted to listen to the free radio that her friends were listening to.
The other night while getting Baylor out of the tub, she told me how she had been in the bathroom at a friend’s house recently and how she thought they had a HUGE window in the bathroom. But when she pulled back the curtain, she found it was actually the bathtub. Better yet, the bathtub HAD A SHOWER IN IT!! The look of pure joy on her face over the idea of a bathtub and shower together was priceless. This as I’m pulling her out of the claw foot tub that took weeks to get, was installed incorrectly, had to be removed and then put back into place and cost a small fortune…if I had only known she would have been more impressed by a tub shower.
The moral that I need to remember is this: no matter what the gift is, the box is most likely going to be more fun. And that’s a good thing. They are going to enjoy the fact that Baylor used to climb into Auggie’s crib in the morning to play and that they used to wake each other up in the middle of the night. They will laugh about how they put stickers all over each other behind me as I scrambled to get a few things done in the office (hell, they do that now).
At the very least, this will all be good things to talk about at therapy some day. So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.
It’s my own fault really. I was encouraging her by buying her the stationary…nothing like a homemade birthday card! And this is also what I get when I don’t “Mason proof” prior to that little hurricane’s arrival. He apparently needed to sign the card too – alll over.
I’ve been back into yoga for a few weeks after several years absence. And it’s been awesome. It was easy to jump back into plank position and the added stretching of the tight muscles created carrying around my 25 pound squishy baby (totally worth it, but the hunch back is sooo not in) is fantastic.
So yesterday I was atempting bakasana or crow and I was doing quite well. Feet off the floor and holding steady. And then Mo, the instructor, had me try to it up a notch. Crow transitions to a head stand – eek. So as I tried to sloooowly go from this:
to this:
When I did this:
That’s right. I was the girl who very ungracefully fell over at yoga. And made a nice loud thud as my knee slammed into the wood floor. Thankfully it didn’t hurt all that bad and the class was either into their own pose or chatting to notice so it wasn’t too embarrassing. And I guess better my knee than my head. But until my crow starts looking a little better, I’ll leave the handstands to the professionals.
to me!
This morning, bright and early at yoga, the instructor asked us to set our intention for the day. The first thing that came to my mind was gratitude. I’m grateful for another year of life, for a body that can keep up with two happy healthy kiddos, an amazing husband, a happy home and a wonderful family. Thank you for all the Facebook posts, texts, calls, emails and cards. I love birthday celebrations so all the of these things make me feel so loved.
So from my first birthday…
To this 31st (eek) birthday and many more!
The problem with sisters is that they tend to express their love in sticker form. And when you’re a boy, this may not be desirable…
Today, Ms. B turns 4 years old. It’s not officially official until 11:46pm tonight, but we’ll say it’s close enough. After a week of parties, special outings and presents, we are spending today quietly. We’re going to play with all the new presents and put a candle in everything she eats and sing and cover her with kisses.
Happy birthday big girl! Stop eating those green beans that make you grow so fast!
Birthday rewind: last year
Second birthday
First birthday
The real birthday
I know that having your kids ask a ton of questions is a great sign that their minds are working and growing. But holy moly does Ms.B come up with a lot of questions. I try to answer them as truthfully as I can, but it can be a challege. If you have any good answers to the below questions, I’m all ears. These are all actual questions Baylor has asked :
Why does red mean stop and green mean go?
Who decided that red means stop and green means go?
Why doesn’t your car have a trunk? (we have an SUV)
Why do trucks have a bed?
What is the National Guard?
What is the army? (follow up question when I tried to tie it into the army…)
Who are these brave men and women? What are their names?
Why doesn’t Curious George have a tail? Monkeys have tails. (that’s actually a good one. I’m curious too.)
Why is that person riding the bus?
Why don’t they have a car?
Where is that person going?
Why don’t you know where that person is going?
Why is running good exercise?
Why do green beans make you grow?
Why is there a sign that says ducks cross here?
Why is that person running?
Why doesn’t Auggie have teeth?
Why do your teeth fall out?
Why did that lady on TV say that we need to make Arizona a nicer place? It’s already a nice place. (That one was pretty cute).
Why did that man on the news say California?
Why did that man on the news say Washington D.C.?
When are we getting a dog?
Why does that sign have a picture of (insert picture of anything here) on it?
Why do bees make flowers into tomatoes?
Why do babies not go poop on the toilet?
Why are you wearing that shirt?
Why do you think that shirt looks cute?
Why do you volunteer to help at school?
Why can’t I wear sunglasses at school?
Why does Henry get to wear sunglasses at school?
What is a medical condition?
Can I have a medical condition?
Usually one or two of these lead to follow up questions and explanations. It is also the reason I generally can’t talk or think by 7pm most nights.
I thought about writing a post that called out some of my friends for the amazing things that they do and that I admire them for. After starting a draft, I found myself worrying that I might accidently insult someone. Like if someone wrote about me “she works hard and keeps her house and family pulled together!” my first thought would be that’s so nice! I love when my friends lie to me and my second would be wait, but I am a good mom to my kids too, right?! People think that part too, right?? So I decided I would write out the things that I’ve learned from my momma friends sans names. Because at the end of the day, the lesson is the important part so here goes:
~Laugh. Make simple things funny. Instead of responding with an honest answer all the time, give a funny answer once in awhile. Your kids have their whole lives to be serious. Make them laugh now while they still think you’re funny.
~Work it. Work hard at your job and then work hard at giving your kids your full attention.
~Be cautious. They’re little and sometimes delicate While it’s good for them to learn cause and effect (jumping off of the couch will hurt), it’s equally important to not let them learn the effect of their cause all the time.
~Give in. It’s ok to lose the battle BUT, lose graciously.
~Listen.
~Shut up. Don’t be quick to give the answer to their question. Let their imagination wander and ask them what they think the answer is and then be gentle when giving the real reason.
~Save the drama. You are not always going to win every day. Some days you’re just going to survive. Don’t dwell on the negative, look at the positive that happened in the day and then get ready to make the next day better.
~Rest. You are not a robot. It would be cooler if you were but since you’re not, let the laundry sit and you do the same.
~Be kind. Teach your kids that not everyone is as lucky as you are and that it is our duty to care for those around us.
~Don’t judge others. Mostly because we’ve all been that mom that is walking the SCREAMING kiddo into preschool while the baby is still in his jammies with a dirty diaper and blueberries on his face.
~Don’t judge yourself. Some days you’re the mom who got a shower AND both kids out the door. Some days you’re not. Both are ok.
~Laugh. A lot. Enjoy the simple things. Smile.
So thank you to all the lovely moms I get to call my friends. You are all an inspiration, whether you know it or not.
Happy Mother’s Day!
The Goon Room 