And there were tears all around

Yesterday, the boys started daycare. T, of course, greeted school as an adventure. He ran off to play, barely noticed that I left, and even chose to stay for the afternoon when I came to get F at 12:30. He talked excitedly all evening about all the fun stuff he did at school and was super excited to go back this morning.

F's reaction was very different. He was completely happy as long as I sat on the floor with him (yesterday, 2 hours and today for an hour). If I so much as got up to walk across the room the waterworks started. After I got him down for his morning nap yesterday, I left him for about an hour and half. The teachers said that when he got up he was in a good mood and only cried a few times. So I guess that's good news. Today was much the same. I stayed for an hour today, because I have to leave to get a tooth filled (woohoo!). He was happily eating puffs when I kissed him on his fuzzy head and told him goodbye. The teachers distracted him, but he saw me leaving and the crying was loud and constant. :( When we got pregnant with F, I thought "well, he'll be almost a year when I start school." Of course, I expected another baby like T. T would have been totally OK with daycare at 10 months. F, not so much.

Yes, I know it's going to get better. Yes, I know school is the right thing for our family. Yes, I know it's only 3 days a week. None of those things stopped my tears or made it any easier. It makes the idea of just delaying school for a few more years seem very attractive. Is this actually the right decision?

Hooray!

The rate of circumcision of newborn baby boys has dropped to 32.5%, as of 2009.

A new marriage and old friends

The primary reason we were back in Oz this week was that one of Ry's best friends got married. We convinced the grandparents to watch the boys for 30 hours of uninterrupted, kid-free time with good friends. It was one of the most fun and certainly the most interesting weddings I've ever been to.We got all dolled up. We clean up pretty good I think.

E and his new wife are both of Israeli descent. The wedding was conducted in both Arabic and English by two Byzantine priests. It was beautiful, even if I didn't fully understand what was going on. The reception kicked off with these dancers. They were pretty impressive, especially when they brought out the swords a few minutes later.

We got to hang out with our friends, have a few drinks, eat delicious food and make merry.

And the table centerpieces shot fire. No, seriously.

E and N spent most of the reception dancing or lifted above the crowd, as they danced around them. It was a beautiful wedding, a beautiful day and a beautiful couple. I wish them the very happiest of marriages. Congratulations!

Holy Moley, He's Eating Pizza!

We had lunch with Ry's Mummu and Papa, who were traveling through Oz on their way home. They hadn't seen F since he was about 4 months old, and so were quite impressed with his ability to put food away. He had some blueberries and raspberries, some bread and then some pizza. Mummu kept mentioning what a good eater he was "A good Finn!" Then she looked over and said, "Holy Moley, he's eating pizza!" Quote of the day.The boys got along famously with their Great Mummu and Great Papa, and we had a great time catching up with them. As much as I love our home and our friends, I always get bummed that we don't live closer to our families. Still, we had a great visit.

Spelunking

Technically, we didn't spelunk. Our path was clearly laid out and lit, but we certainly felt like explorers when we went to visit Carlsbad Caverns last week.

We came prepared with good walking shoes and light jackets for the steep, wet trek into the caverns. I read this sign and giggled, saying to my mom "that's hilarious." The very earnest park ranger told me that the sign wasn't meant to be funny, it was meant to make you aware of the rigors associated with the walk. I was thoroughly chastened. Of course, every time I saw one of the rangers in the cavern I thought "We here at the Park Service have no sense of humor that we are aware of."

Even after the stern talk from the Park Ranger, we were excited to go.

This is the natural entrance to the caverns. It's crazy steep.

And this is the last glimpse of daylight from the cavern. They call it the Twlight Zone because a lot of animals get lured into the caverns only to fall to their deaths. It's a fairly full fossil record down there.

There were lots of interesting formations that would have looked more at home underwater than underground.

F was less than intrigued.

They also made really good use of lighting. This particular formation is call the Whale's Head because, well, because it looks like a whale's head.

My Uncle J was excellent with T. He let him look into all the nooks and crannies and helped him peek over the walls. T, for his part, is an outstanding spelunker. He whispered and walked slowly so he "didn't wake up the bats." He even had to remind us loud adults a few times.

F was sleeping or crying. But I guess you can't expect a 9 month old to get too excited about a big cave.

I highly recommend the Caverns. It's an otherworldly experience and one you're likely to remember for a long time.

9 month baby

Yesterday, F had his 9 month check up. As normal, he's, well, normal. He weighed in at 23 pounds, 3 ounces and was 30.5 inches long. That puts him in the 90th percentile for both. He also hit all of his developmental milestones (if barely), like waving bye bye and pulling up on the furniture. He has 5 teeth, eats everything we put in front of him and looooves his bath. He thinks his brother is uproariously funny and often gets in giggling fits just watching other people laugh.

He's a big, gorgeous, normal boy. I wouldn't have him any other way.

Highs and lows

Yesterday the boys and I flew from El Paso, TX to Philadelphia after our fun visit with family. I'll get some pictures of our trip up soon. My stepdad travels like crazy and he was able to get us first class tickets for the flight home. It rocked.

My mom flew the first leg with us. We had 4 first class seats between the 4 of us. They didn't serve a meal, since it was a short flight, but we got all the drinks we could drink and crazy lots of room to kid-wrangle.

Our second flight was over 3 hours. I was looking forward to it about as much as I'm looking forward to having my second cavity filled. While we only had 2 seats, they seemed huge. T and F both took a nap for the first 45 minutes of the flight, so I got to snuggle a baby, pat a boy and have a glass of white wine. (I figured I should at least partake of one free adult beverage in first class). Then we split a plate of pasta that the flight attendant had so helpfully saved for us. T was in little -boy heaven when the ice cream and caramel brownie came out for dessert. He played DS, I baby wrangled and we chatted for the rest of the flight. Both boys were complete angels. Our flight attendant and the nice folks sitting around us complimented the boys as we were leaving (one even gave a little round of applause!). It was a lovely time. I wish the boys were always such darlings.

Ry met us at the airport and we got home, got kiddos in bed and spent some time catching up. We didn't get into bed until midnight since I'm on mountain time at the moment. Then, around 3:30 am I was laid low with a nasty GI bug that kept me in the bathroom every 15 minutes for about 12 hours. So far I've kept down a glass of room-temperature Sprite today. I'm not pushing my luck, but did manage to get a shower when Ry took F to his 9 month check up. Thank God for my husband. I'm not sure how I would have gotten through today if he hadn't stayed home from work. Now I'm off to do some more re-cooperating.

Stunning

These pictures are some of the only known color pictures taken of Depression-era small towns and rural areas. They are breathtaking. Go take a look.

So funny, so wrong

4 Generations

That's me-age 30, F-age 9 months, GGJ-age 77, my mother-age 52, and T-age 3. It's pretty amazing, really.

8 Things: The I've been gone a long time edition

1. My Unlicensed Assistive Personnel course went beautifully. The boys loved being with their Mummu and Tantie. In fact, by the end of the 3 weeks, F would play with someone else even if I was in the same room. I couldn't have asked for a better transition for the boys. I think daycare will go much more smoothly because of their experience.

2. After 3 days in the hospital, helping people with baths, taking vital signs, feeding and caring for patients I feel even more convinced that I've chosen the right career (finally). I'm really looking forward to getting into the nuts and bolts of nursing.

3. I have decided that I will care for my parents at home for as long as humanly possible. I saw some sad stuff during my brief stay at the hospital.

4. That said, I also saw some great stuff. I want to be the 90-year-old lady I cared for who had us all in stitches.

5. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are awesome. That's all.

6. I'm really glad that nursing school is not 5 days a week. I went into serious kiddo withdrawal by the end of the first week. Three days a week is going to be the perfect balance of school and kiddo time.

7. A day after class was over and the family left, the boys and I got on an airplane to go and visit my Aunt, Uncle and Grandmother in NM. While both boys were very good, I still don't recommend the 2-on-1 flight to anyone any time soon. Thankfully, my mom met us at our layover and helped with the second flight, baggage claim and car rental.

8. We're having a great time, but that's a subject for another post. I promise it won't be another 3 weeks this time.

Here we go

My bag is packed. The groceries are purchased. Mummu knows the routine. And tomorrow I begin my 2 year journey to nursehood.T is totally in love with his Mummu. He thinks she's the best thing since sunbutter and jelly sandwiches.

And I'm feeling very good about Mummu and F. They seem to be getting along beautifully. I still don't think Mummu knows what she's gotten herself into, but she's excited and ready to go.

And me? I'm as ready as I'm going to get. Here we go.

It is official

I'm a nursing student. I have the hospital ID to prove it.

In one swell foop

Our lives are about to change pretty dramatically. I've been feeling pretty bi-polar about school starting next week. One moment I am very excited to be starting a new adventure. The next I'm on the verge of tears thinking about F's reaction to being away from me for 8 hours a day. Then I am looking forward to having some time to be a regular adult, without a tiny person permanently attached to my hip. Then I'm back to super anxious about how I'm going to balance full-time student with mom and wife.

I always know that something is really bothering me when I start having bad dreams about it. In this case, I have been dreaming that F cries for all 8 hours ... every day.

Sometimes I'm sitting with my family and have this overwhelming sense of peace and rightness with the world. I'm just praying that my new adventure isn't going to upset the delicate balance of our lives ... too much.

Finally, really done ... mostly

Apparently, it's not a holiday weekend in our house unless we have a project. This weekend, we worked on the bathroom. We've been working on our bathroom in tiny baby steps since we bought the house 5 years ago. This is what it looked like when we closed on the house. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, it was was just kind of boring and ugly. I especially hated the light fixture. First we painted and put in new hardware (towel racks, toilet paper holder, etc. Last summer, we finally replaced the vanity. Then we had to look for a new light fixture and medicine cabinet. I found a fixture pretty quickly and we bought it last September. It's been sitting in the basement ever since, waiting for a medicine cabinet.

Then we finally found a medicine cabinet at Ikea, of all places. We got it and promptly went on vacation. This weekend, we finally (and by we, I of course mean Ry) took down the old light and vanity, replastered and painted and installed the new.
Ta da! Isn't it lovely? I have happy.

Now we just have to pull out the awful tub surround (which stains if you so much as look at it with colored anything) and tile the tub. That is a project for another day.

Really?

Happy Independence Day!

Go Blind Squirrels!

After yesterday's fireworks fiasco, we weren't sure if we were going to catch any fireworks this Independence Day weekend. Today, T was in a great mood and took a (short) nap, so we thought we'd give the fireworks at Sesame Place a try. As it turns out, this was probably a better solution than the township fireworks would have been. It was shorter, set to Sesame Street music, and the exit was well-planned and executed. It was also about an hour earlier than the township fireworks went off. It turns out that a blind squirrel does occasionally find a nut. I've decided that blind squirrels are our new family mascot.

This goes down as one of my all-time favorite pictures of F. He wasn't scared. Not one bit.

And of course, T thought they were pretty swell too. This is an interesting shot, because it looks like it's the middle of the day. It's not. It was dark. Cameras do funny things.

Anyhow, we had a lovely evening, ate some delicious ice cream and saw our fireworks. Go blind squirrels!

Niagara Falls: The Rest of the Story

I'm sure that pretty much anyone who reads this blog has already looked at the Niagara Falls pictures on Facebook. So this post won't include any of those pictures. Instead, you'll get some less touristy, but probably funnier pictures that have nothing to do with the falls, except that they were taken there.

We started out on our 436 mile journey bright and early Tuesday morning. It was the longest one-day journey we've attempted with the boys. The googles estimated that it would take us 7 hours and 15 minutes. In true family-with-young-children style, it took 10.

Once we finally got to our hotel, T was entranced with the shoe polisher. I hadn't seen one in many years. Do you still have one, Dad?

We also indulged in a glass of wine or two. Dad and Lala had stopped and picked up some bottle-sized box-o-wine. It was taaaaaasty. Then we ate dinner and watched the falls' illumination. Blah blah blah.

Day two started with a bang when we attempted to feed the kids in the hotel room. This was a bad idea.

But we made it through and started off towards the falls. F, of course, fell asleep.

We went on the Behind the Fall exhibit, where we all got fabulously wet and T and Lala made temporary hand print graffiti on the walls.

F and Lala size up each other. This was about as close as F got to being OK with someone other than me for the entire week. Sigh.

As you can see, he's a bit of a mommy's boy.

We went on the Maid of the Mist. F was asleep again. It was awe-inspiring, blah blah blah.

We attempted to get a picture with Dad and T. Not so much. T is not a big fan of posing these days.

We had dinner at the Keg, overlooking the falls. It was super tasty and a beautiful view.

Then I gave the boys a bath in the GIANT HOTEL TUB!!! T loved the whirlpool setting.

Dad and Lala found a golf course on Day Three, while we walked about, ate some ice cream and found a play land. That night, we went to see Oh Canada, Eh, a dinner show of all things Canada. It was fun. T tried (and liked) pea soup. Om nom nom.

We had to switch hotels this day. F was pretty tired in the morning, so I nursed him and he passed out. We packed around him.

This was the view from our second hotel. Not quite so impressive.

We hung out and took some cute pictures of F.

And that night we went out for ice cream. F has a thing for teeth these days. I suppose it's because he only has the two.

The next morning, we went home. It was a great trip and even better to see Dad and Lala. I was happy to get home though, and get the boys back into their regular beds, where they sleep much, much better. Ahhh, sleep.

Discipline Sucks

Right now, we are supposed to be headed out to see the Independence Day fireworks. Instead, we're hanging on the couch. Why? Well, here's the thing.

We've been talking with T about the fireworks all week. He's been super excited. All week, I've also been telling him that he had to take a nap the day we went to the fireworks because we were going to be up late. He's a monster in the evenings if he doesn't get a nap. And so. And so, today I put him down for his nap, with a reminder that he had to take a nap so we could go see the fireworks. Then I put F down. Then half an hour later, I heard some suspicious noises coming from T's room. He was sitting up playing with his toys. Then we had this conversation.

Me: T, you need to go to sleep so we can go to the fireworks tonight.

T: OK Mommy.

We continued to have this conversation every 30 minutes. I tried rubbing his back. I tried sitting in his chair. I tried scratching his head. Nothing. None of my usual get him to nap tricks worked today. I told him that if he didn't sleep, we weren't going to be able to go to the fireworks.

Finally, around 4:15, I went into his room (where he was playing with his matchbox cars), and told him that if he would like to get up that was his choice, but it would mean no fireworks tonight. He got up. Ry asked him to take a nap so we could go. "No Daddy, I choose not to go to the fireworks." (Yes, he actually said it, just like that.)

So here we are, sitting on the couch. Fireworksless. T, of course, threw a fit tonight before bed when he realized that we really weren't going to the fireworks. He also lost dessert tonight for kicking his brother, had to go to bed early for hitting him with a toy, and lost one of his bedtime books for not listening to his father. Can't you imagine how joyful he'd have been in a crowded park 2 hours past his bedtime? Delightful.

Sometimes, it sucks to be the parent.