There are days when the babies have gone home and my own kids are in bed and the house is quiet for the night and I look forward to enjoying some quiet time by myself or just sitting on the couch watching something from on the DVR with my husband (who patiently pauses whatever we're watching everytime I think of something I want to tell him).
Then there are days like yesterday afternoon when one of the babies snuggle with me on the couch for a half an hour all sweet and content. Or there's this morning when the other baby lays her head on my chest as I rock her for a minute as she falls asleep in my arms and I contemplate whether I should lay her down or hold her for a few more minutes, inhaling her sweet baby smell.
There are also times when my daughter will give me a hug for no other reason than just being glad to see me or sad to see me go even if it's just to go out with the girls from the neighborhood for a couple of hours. Or when my son will tell me I'm the best mom in the world and actually give up one of his rare hugs and kisses because I've done something that has made him truely happy.
These times are so rare that you just never want to let go of that euphoric feeling that it leaves you with. It's times like those that give you the biggest payoff possible - the payoff of knowing that you're doing something right and are truely loved and appreciated.
I am so ready for my kids to go to bed. So very ready. It has been such a long day. Too long of a day to form any kind of sentence that makes sense. Do you think it would have been too much to ask that a volume control have been included when they were born?
Just when I thought I had the world figured out, I'm now questioning what's really out there. Tonight after Ashley's volleyball tournament, we (Ash, my mom and myself) headed over to Applebee's for dinner and the creepiness factor was off the charts. While waiting for our food to be served, a man was seated by himself at the table across from us. We didn't think anything of it until he started talking to himself. At first we thought maybe he was talking into a blue tooth phone through the ear that was facing away from us, but once he turned his head we uneasily threw that explanation right out the window when we saw nothing there.
Soon, his "conversations" went from short "Yes.", "I know." and "That's right." phrases as if he were answering someone, straight to alarming things like, "God will save us.", "Only he knows what really happened to you.", "Satan will come." and then a lot of unintelligible words strung together.
Creepy, right? While this was going on, we exchanged uneasy glances with those dining around us. Everyone was hearing all of this. All of the waitresses and waiters were huddled around down at the end of the aisle whispering and stealing glances at this man. No one knew what to think. Was he just plain loosing it and talking to himself? Did he think someone was there with him? Was someone or something really there with him? What? I really want to know - I think.
When we were done eating, we figured it was best to just leave before it got even more creepier - if that were even possible. Ashley was with us and I didn't really want her to witness anything that might keep her up with nightmares tonight - or worse - get her started asking questions that I didn't have the answers to, so we quickly paid our bill and left. It's just that with all of the recent nightmare headlines in the news lately, how can you really be sure someone like that isn't dangerous or unstable? So we left. Probably nothing else happened after that, but still it was creepy all the same.
So, I might have the opportunity to add a newborn baby boy to my daytime bunch next October. I'm seriously considering it. Am I crazy? One of Ashley's teachers is due in August and is looking for a sitter. You can't beat a teacher's schedule. But three kids under the age of 1? Hmmm...got to think about this.
Ashley's back with all of her stories about White Pines, including one about a girl from a different troop that got bucked off of her horse yesterday after screaming at a rabbit that jumped out of the woods on their trail ride. I am so glad she's back in one piece.
We really wore Mitchell out on our walk through the woods surrounding the park area. He was walking pretty slow by the time we were back in sight of the parking lot.
It's been Ryan's mission to turn Mitchell into a fellow Jedi. Must also be Bret's intention since he went out and bought Mitchell his own light sabre while he was napping.
After dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood and found that our neightbors were having a bon fire in their backyard. It seems there were backyard parties everywhere throughout the neighborhood tonight - a definate sign that the weather has gotten nice again. The boys had a blast having light sabre fights in the dark and sitting around the camp fire. The funny thing is that Mitchell is with us because his parents and sister went camping for the weekend, and here we are kind of doing the same thing.
Ashley is off and on her way to her horseback riding trip and Ryan will soon be over at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Bret and I are going to see The Bob & Tom Show down at the Civic Center with some friends and I'm not really sure what to expect. I've heard some of their stuff when Bret's alarm clock goes off in the morning, but still couldn't tell you anything about it. I have been warned that I will probably pee my pants from laughing so hard, so we'll see. It should be a good time, especially since we're meeting for drinks before hand.
The big weekend is finally here. Ashley leaves tonight for her weekend horse back riding trip with her Girl Scout troop. She's excited, but her mother is a nervous wreck. I've packed her bag this morning and I think it's heavier than she is - and all that's in there is everything on her packing list. And maybe (shhh) my forbidden cell phone tucked away discreetly in her bag in case she wants to call us at bedtime. (Shhh, don't tell.) This will be her first trip away from home without us. Sure, she's been to day camp and overnights before, but this is 2 1/2 hours away for three days! And we're not even going to talk about the vacation curse, so don't even think about it!
So, out with one kid and in with a new one. In Ashley's place, Mitchell will be staying with us over the weekend while his family goes camping in Iowa. Bret and Ryan are saying that they're going to turn him into a Star Wars buff so that we can have two little Jedi's in the family...lol. If Mitchell's mommy and daddy are reading this: This is your last chance to change your mind...lol.
Over in the xray department we learned that his toe was not broken. Thank God for some things!
Guess what came in the mail today with perfect timing? His new GameBoy and Star Wars games. Could that not have worked out any better? He was so excited about it that he hasn't once complained about his toe.
I never thought my kids would need or be interested in video games. Boy, was I wrong. This year Ashley discovered the iPod and the Nintendo DS, which means Ryan has now discovered it, too - and wants his own. Sigh.
We've been looking into the whole handheld video game thing for Ryan and have decided on the Gameboy Advance since it's a bit more simple than the DS. He did pretty well with it when we had borrowed Skyler's.
So, today I found an awesome deal on Ebay. It was for the cobalt blue Gameboy Advance, carrying case, home and car chargers and 4 games for what you would pay for 2 brand new games. I probably would have kept on looking, except that two of the games were Star Wars I and Star Wars II. Duh! (We all know how addicted Bret and Ryan have been to the Star Wars games on the PlayStation downstairs.) I spent 4 hours keeping tabs on the bidding until it ended late this afternoon. I watched and then swooped it up in the last minute of bidding out from under everyone's noses.
Oh, you didn't think we were going to wait for his birthday in August, did you? Nope, we're going to give it to him before we go to Disney World so that we'll have a peaceful flight there and back. Little man is going to freak out when he sees it - but not as much as he will when he sees this and this - the two things he's most excited about this Disney World vacation for.
I had to buy my daughter a pair of sliding shorts and a sliding leg shield for her softball practice tonight. They're expected to slide into home plate every time they run home. Every time. They're 11 years old. Fifth graders. Shall we guess how many girls are going to be out for the first game due to injuries after tonight? I'm just a wee bit nervous.
Ashley's turn to serve.
A view of the whole game. (Ashley is circled in yellow. Click on picture to enlarge.)
She really wanted that one.
Today was the last official day of Spring Break for the kids. I wish I could say it was as much fun as last year, but in all reality it was kind of a disappointment. Last year we spent the whole week outside from sunup to sundown, enjoying warm and sunny days. This year it rained. It snowed. It was cold and we were pretty much stuck inside all week, getting over not so much fun colds. The kids are getting stir crazy and we all need to get out of the house, hence meaning that it's time to go back to school. The days have felt really long and it always seems like it should be bedtime when it's only 7pm.
It's never hard to get Ryan to go to bed at night because when he's tired, he'll let you know that he's ready. He has this ritual at night, though, and can't go to sleep without it. Usually it's Bret that goes through the motions with him while I'm picking up the house or falling into bed myself. However, tonight Bret is out with his friends seeing some comedian downtown at the Civic Center and it's me who put the kids to bed.
After spending quite some time listening to Ryan tell me all of his thoughts and answering all of the questions that were rolling around in his head, he told me I had to lay with him for 5 minutes before I could leave. The only problem is that he tells you minute by minute just how many minutes are left - and his minutes are pretty long. The last one I remembered hearing is two. By zero he had to wake me up and tell me to leave. No wonder Bret seems to stay in there forever. He's probably out cold, too.
