edited to add

I got an overwhelming amount of birthday wishes sent my way today. My thanks to all of you. It is lovely to be remembered.

I wish someone had sent the Captain the memo that today was supposed to be pleasant. He's been rather prone to lengthy fits of hysteria. (On top of the waking up two hours early). I'm ready for him to move on to a sleepier phase.

My lemon birthday cake was wonderful, as were all the people who helped me eat it. (And Mr Renn ended up making it, which make me happy).

And here's a late-night photo of the Captain's jumper for all two of you who wanted to see it. It's simple and sweet and I love the luxury of real buttons and buttonholes. Obviously I would not love them if I had an emergency diaper-change moment, but today I was spared.

party, mom style

A: What you don't want to find decorating your kitchen on your birthday.



B: The culprit
C: When it's your birthday you can do irrational things like decide to dress the baby in the gorgeous impractical thrifted jumper with tiny pearl buttons then cover it all up with a bib.
Um, to be continued?.....

happy happy

I am older today than I was yesterday.
Wahoo.

To celebrate the Captain woke up two hours earlier than usual, Sir O refused to eat his breakfast and is watching Oliver and Company (while pretending to be a dog) for the 800th time. Sound like a party?

Mr Renn left this for me on the kitchen table.Gotta love napkin origami. I hung the flower on the fridge.

I will be baking my own birthday cake today. Sometime, maybe, if the boys let me.

Getting older seems a bit over rated at this moment in time. Can't I just be 22 again? Or at least have my 22 year old body back?

(I am in the throes of post-partum body issues. I am in the uber-shedding phase and seem to have an innertube inflated in my innards. Not a fan.)

sunshine

a

We are all sniffles and coughs lately. Between allergies and colds it's gotten a bit out of hand. I won't even venture to guess how much sleep it is costing us. Luckily we've all put on our brave faces this morning and we're going to attempt business as usual, starting with laundry. That really requires a brave face.

Sir Oisms

Sir O's vocabulary is always taking in new territory.
And the more he figures out how to voice his opinion the more his opinion amuses me.

When he doesn't want to do something he says, "Sorry, can't"
Which is much more difficult to argue against than a simple "no"

He's taken to saying "That's good" over and over again when he likes what he's eating. (Especially when it's being fed to him by someone who's not me)
And he says "not good" when he really doesn't like something..... and when I ask him why he wants me to stop singing in the car.......

He's unfortunately figured out that "okay" gets us to stop nagging, even if it's not what he means. Which is a really nice way of calling him a liar.

"Oliver you need to pick up your trucks/trains/blocks/books now."
"Okay"
But no picking up actually occurs. Drives me batty.

He's still got wonder ears that always hear the Captain crying before I do. "Mommy, baby's crying" Followed by "I'm coming baby g____!"

Never a dull moment. It kind of makes me happy to belong to this entertaining little family we are becoming.
What a great thing to become.

it's true

I started another blog.
An impersonal, idea-riddled happy place.
Because I read about 50 such blogs and I enjoy them thoroughly, but such stuff doesn't quite seem at home here.
So I made a home for it.
So there.

seriously

I'm not really wanting this blog to become a study of Sir O's messes. But they are such a large part of my life right now it can't be avoided.

Here's what Sir O managed to do during ONE of the Captain's feedings this morning:

empty an entire box of kleenex into the garbage

unmake his made bed

scatter all of the Captain's blankets around the house

uproot a plant and dump the container of dirt all over the kitchen floor

smear an entire container of baby lotion on his wall and changing table

So when you see me walking around with a glazed over face and a slight twitch, just pat me on the head and walk away.

futility

Welcome to the latest mess.
Looks like paint? No, paint would be too easy to clean up.
It's padding compound (think paint + glue)
In the panic that followed this incident Sir O flailed, coating both of our clothing and chunks of my hair in it.
Luckily the kitchen rug has long been ruined.
One of those rare moments when I'm glad I don't own anything nice.
Only using the word "glad" right now just seems wrong.

Sir O's self

Sir O is such a character.
Sometimes (most of the time) I forget to to step back and enjoy him.
Luckily Mr Renn is better at it. I suspect it's because he's not with him every waking moment.... just a suspicion.
For example Mr Renn is good about letting Sir O "help" with the dishes instead of shooing him away. Granted, this is only possible because I'm off keeping the baby safe and occupied. Doing the dishes by myself during the day is usually 1/3 washing dishes and 2/3 trying to keep Sir O from sitting on his brother. Still, I could learn from Mr Renn's approach.




And today was our first official day of playing outside for a substantial amount of time... without a winter coat. Luckily our neighbor Amy made this about a million times easier and more fun than it would have otherwise been. Sir O was occupied and the Captain and I were able to lounge about and watch. It was lovely. Sunshine is really great stuff. I really ought to help myself to more of it. If only it were that simple... still, yeah for the Sun!

In which the Captain makes fuzzy faces

I wish I had a camera that could focus indoors without a flash.
That comes right after the washer and dryer on the list of
"Things I Must Have Once We Have An Income"

The Captain has one of those "necks" right now that is so pudgy that my Grandma would want to kiss it incessantly... were she several thousand miles closer.
Those cheeks are pretty tempting too.

Of boys and heads of hair

all 3 boys pre-haircut

More than one person has begun referring to us as "Em and the boys".
I'm finding I can be quite fond of boys.
But the thing is, or has been for me, that boys seem to require frequent haircuts.
Especially those that come out of me.
The Captain is almost 11 weeks old and has had 2 haircuts.
Sir O is 2 and 1/2 and has had far more than I can number.
And Mr Renn likes his hair so short that he wants it cut nearly every other week.

Unfortunately I hate cutting hair. (Nor am I especially adept at it, but let's not go there...) Especially on squirming miniature heads. And I can't at this time afford to make someone else do it.

But someday......

Just saying.

Where your treasure is..

After naps today (glorious naps!) We decided to have a treasure hunt for signs of Spring. We found far more than I'd dared to hope for and the birds were out serenading in full force, albeit from a thousand hiding spots. Sir O still thinks rocks are more exciting than flowers, but all in all it was a lovely hopeful little jaunt.

Zoobilie

Does anyone remember that show?
Ah, the incomparable and slightly creepy Ben Vereen.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We hopped over (meaning we waded through sluggish weekend traffic) to the PhilaZoo to celebrate their 150th birthday today. So many people, what a......zoo.
The Phillies World Series Trophy was on display.There was cake (although the line to eat cake was so long we decided to nix it)And we finally visited the member's treehouse - now that we've been members for a year, and will not likely be renewing. I'm glad we got to see it once! (PS the Captain was with us, he just slept the whole time and we failed to document him)
Happy Spring!

Look into my eyes

Red is such a pur-dee color.
And this is after a "good" night's sleep.
I may just age 10 years in 10 months.

(which is worth it, by the way. But only just...)

Late Night Mood Swings

In case you wondered what I do instead of sleeping at night.
The Captain has a zero-to-sixty method of deciding to be upset.

everybody's doin' it, doin' it....

I cannot tell a lie, this is a desperate attempt at raising money for the "diapers and gas" fund.

Welcome to my etsy shop.

Humble beginnings, I know.

"Stuff" added at least weekly.

I am a renaissance crafter, after all.

home alone

my attempt this morning to document the Captain's knit blessing outfit
after keeping it clean the day of the blessing, he spit up on it during these pictures, naturally

It's always the contrast that kills me.
I go from having lots of arms anxious to hold and entertain my children to being just me and them.
All.day.long.

It was quite frankly depressing to come back to PA this time. Back to the reality in which I am stuck in the apartment with the boys all day every day and expected to keep all three of us entertained for free, forever. Back to the reality in which nobody finds what I have to say very interesting, and complete sentences are scarce. The reality that is simultaneously boring and stressful.

You get the idea.

Sir O is mad- M.A.D. that he can't play with his cousins or aunts and uncles today. For that matter he can't even play with me because I've got my hands full restoring order and holding an uber-cranky Captain. (travel does not seem to agree with him)

Wish I could say it was good to be home.
I am working on my attitude, there is hope for improvement.

visitation

Today was chuck full of extraordinary people. I am extremely lucky to have some fabulous friends - truly magnificent human beings. And I got to have so many delightful visits today that I have a very real sense of well-being and feel like my saw is sharpened and my well is full.


Sir O and Peanut. They got on swimmingly, as they ought to. These kiddos were very nearly born the same day. Just one of many ways in which HSF and I are nearly estranged twins. I absolutely love it that I can have such a close friend whom I've only met in real life twice. Love.it. I wish we were real-life neighbors. We'd have an insane amount of fun. (You know, crafty artsy mom type fun)



Jeff is awesome, not only for driving up to visit with me, but for finding my life as a parent so fascinating when by every worldly standard his life is far more fascinating than mine. I have not got words for how happy this kid makes me with his eternal perspective and insightful priorities. He is going to go far and he can't help but be a blessing to everyone who knows him.


We also got to spend our evening with some of the most genuinely good people in all the world. Jake and Kori graced us with their awesome kitchen skills, and even better with some great company. The kind of a visit where you are smiling for hours afterward because they make you feel so good. It helped that Sir O adored their kids. There was lots of positive peer pressure going on for him in that house.

And on the way home we got to poke our heads in and visit my little brother and his new bride. The cute newlywed-ness is so fun to see, and reminds us of back-in-the-day...... And reminds us that wow.... you get old fast, don't you?
It has been so hard to try to see everyone we want to see and visit with them as much as we'd like. We are destined to fail miserably, but trying anyway is proving to be pretty worth it.
I love my Utahns!

side effects of spring break

Sir O with his favorite person of today, cousin Kason.

I keep forgetting to take pictures. Bad Mom.
Sir O is having the time of his life getting untold amounts of attention and playing with a myriad of new (to him) toys. He's having such a great time that he's usually overstimulated and ornery and possibly on a sugar high by 4 in the afternoon.

But he very rarely asks me to play with him, which is what makes this a vacation for me after all. Nobody would want to vacation forever, but in small infrequent doses it is lovely.

Although trying to meet up with all the principle players of the first 24 years of your life in just one week is ridiculously ridiculous. I alternate between feeling guilty for not being able to spend the time we'd like with everyone, and feeling guilty for assuming we are important enough to people for them to drop everything and hurry and make time to see us while we are here. Well that and feeling guilty for dragging Sir O lots of places and then making him leave them just as soon as he's decided he likes it there.

We had an extended family photo taken today and my kids were the difficult ones. I need to remember in the future that small children and evenings and cameras and crowds and strangers are a bad combination. Unless you want a photo of Sir O screaming and writhing, in which case it is the formula for success.

I miss being close enough to family that at the end of getting together with anyone you are able to plan your next meeting.

Utah weather/air/humidity has managed to turn my face into sandpaper. I've never had dry skin on my face before, it's quite the new experience.

Clearly I am too tired to be cohesive, time to stop.

Light as Air

Our traveling circus. We have survived the "to" part and are in denial about the "fro" part.
Learn from our mistakes. If you know for certain you will have to check baggage, investigate the airline's baggage fees before buying your ticket. If we had paid $25 more for at least one of our tickets, we could have saved $45-$60 in baggage fees. And no, of course they won't let you "upgrade" after you've bought your ticket. Feeling slightly nickel and dimed.... only $60 seems like a whole lot of nickels and dimes.

Our boys were so well behaved! Of only their GI tracks had been too. How many blow-outs can we deal with on one flight? Apparently 3. Yeah, you're jealous.

It was so nice having a row to ourselves! I didn't have to spend 7 hours trying to keep my kids off somebody else's lap. It almost made it "worth" having to pay for Sir O's ticket.

The Captain at 30,000 feet. His eyes looked awfully blue up there.

By the time we arrived I had a serious migraine, and eventually I caved and got my baptism by fire into the world of Imitrex. I was a big pansy about getting a fatty tissue shot in the thigh, but at least it worked! Although I have to say, the side-effect of uber-skin-sensitivity did not mix well with the breastfeeding. It was like having my milk come in all over again. And now you know.

'night.