Lily the tall girl?

We just went to the doctor yesterday. 

Lily gained 4 pounds in the last year.

She grew 4 1/2 inches.

No wonder she looks taller and leaner ;)

The duct tape years

A little more than a week ago, I talked to my friend Pamela after duct taping my vacuum back together.  She sighed in commiseration and said we've entered that stage of marriage.

You know the stage...your shiny new wedding gifts are starting to fall apart, but you don't have enough money yet to replace them.

Year 25, silver.  Year 50, gold.  Year 12 of marriage...duct tape.  Who knew?


BTW...after duct taping the hose back together, the roller brush and belt exploded into pieces on Saturday.  -sigh-  But it was cheaper to just buy those new parts than a new vacuum...so we keep clunking along with what we've got :)

Random pictures

What happens when Lily and I go shopping alone together? Shadow costume, that's what.

Random shots of Lily's 3rd birthday celebration...the one with Grandma and Grandpa.
Grandma is so smart...she brought flashlights for everyone. I don't think the 3 year old could have handled ANOTHER day of presents for no one but Lily.


Andrew had a "Star of the Week" poster to finish. We needed a shot of Shadow. Dumb dog is scared of the camera. So she kept rolling over in her submissive pose. We'll just add this to the list of things she's terrified of. Her food bowl being #1.
Morning of The Race. They took shots of us crossing the finish line, but I think that you had to donate a kidney in order to get a copy. (read: REALLY EXPENSIVE). Just in case you can't read the sentence on my shirt it says, "If it weren't for me, you'd have no one to pass" The back said, "If you can read this, then I'm not last!" It was a great conversation starter...and it made people laugh (at me? with me?)

After the race, we enjoyed Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Here's the view from lunch. That's the National Aquarium that we toured for a few hours.
Here's Baltimore's Inner Harbor from across the harbor at Federal Hill Park.
I have no idea where this photo came from. But it's cute, so I'll include it.

Field trips!

The preschool that my kids attend (and Andrew attended), goes on just one field trip a year. To a farm in the fall. And I have never gotten to go with them, because they don't allow younger siblings and Michael would totally freak out when I left him somewhere...and I just couldn't do that to my friends.

But this year was different. Michael is fine with being left behind now, so on Monday, I dropped him off at a friend's house and joined Lily at the farm.

Lily is simply a blast to watch with her friends. Everyone loves each other and they just run around hugging and playing and dancing. Cute. Well, the girls did that. The boys stood quietly by their mothers and held their hands.

The first thing we did was take a hay ride behind a tractor. All the girls hurried on and sat together...leaving no room for their mothers. My guilt at having missed these events quickly evaporated. Lily was totally fine. She hardly even looked at me. The boys mostly sat next to their mothers and on their laps for the hay ride. The girls barely looked out the sides and chatted like a bunch of ladies playing ma-jong.

Once we got off the tractor, it was time to pick apples and look for pumpkins. I took a motherless boy under my wing, since it was instantly apparent why mothers are needed on these field trips. Mother guilt...back on. So Lily, B., and I reached up high for apples and put them in our bags. Then we wandered over to the pumpkin patch and looked for the perfect pumpkin. Lily wanted "cute". B. wanted "clean". I just hope that other mothers looked out for my kiddos when I wasn't able to be there.

We had fun. I was grateful to be there and spend the morning with "just my girl". Lily must have been excited to, since she repeated that phrase 25 times that morning. Even though she ignored me for half the trip. Whatev's.

Michael's field trip was Thursday, when Lily was conveniently already at school. A friend of mine took Lily to school and Michael and I were off to a different farm. I was really excited about this trip, because I don't know any of the parents or kids in this class. Also, Michael only tells me horrible things about his horrible behavior (his teachers continue to deny this)...I was ready for some first hand observations. ALSO, Michael doesn't know anyone's names...when I ask him who he plays with, he tells me things like, "It's a boy. He has brown eyes and light skin." Gee, thanks for the info, Riddler.

We showed up and all the kids were hiding behind their mother's legs. What a difference a year makes in the socialization of the kids!

We took a hay ride...Michael was enraptured. I got to chat with the other mothers and observe the other kids. No one seemed to take notice of each other. Except for one little boy who was picking straw and trying to shove it down kids shirts. And hit. Interesting.

After the ride, we listened to the farmer tell us about the chickens and turkeys and horses and bunnies. Michael was quiet and polite and focused. He didn't shove and push the other kids. He got pushed around a bit, and just quietly dealt with it. Interesting.

There were lots of lines and needing patience. He waited somewhat patiently and never did any of the things he tells me about. That little boy from his class? A terror. An absolute terror...pushing and harrassing other kids, yelling at them. After he shoved Michael almost off a slide, the mother confided that she's already had several conferences with the teachers regarding her son's aggressive behavior. Perhaps Michael is just telling me what this little boy is doing every day...


It was delightful. Michael really needed me there...he is shy and easily intimidated. He was so excited to be there.

As sad as I am sometimes that I will never have another baby...I am really glad that I can now participate more fully in the lives of the children I already have. This part is really fun!

Out of Michael's mouth

Michael is discussing how everyone in our family has brown hair. I tell him to look more closely at Jeff's. Michael exclaims, "Oh Daddy! You are getting old! Your hair is like May's (Memere's)."
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The phone is ringing this morning. I find Michael holding the phone and looking at the caller ID screen on the phone. He yells urgently, "Mom! Mom! It's somebody!"
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His teacher told me that he had bad aim when going to the bathroom today. She found out because he came right over to her and said, "I'm so so sorry. So sorry. I peed on your wall."

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All three kids were fighting/playing in another room while I made dinner last night. It was the first time I heard Michael talking so clearly that I couldn't tell if it was Lily or Michael. Pretty exciting. Except that what he hollared was, "Andrew stop that! You are hurting me!"

Uncomfortable

Andrew is a cub scout now. He is thrilled. I am still trying to get Jeff to stop referring to it as a cult, as in "When is Andrew's next cult meeting." -sigh-

In order to earn patches and beads and things, he has to complete objectives in his cub scout handbook. The last item on his list to earn his Bobcat patch was to discuss Stranger safety guidelines with a parent. So they have a special little booklet for me to read and then I go over different scenarios with him. Like, "A neighbor comes to school to pick you up and tells you that your mom is sick and asked her to come get you. Your mom has never said that this neighbor will come pick you up. What do you do?" or some other more distubing prompts like, "Someone comes up to you in the bathroom and asks to see your private parts. What do you do?"

After about 10 of these, and we still had a few to go, I sum it up for Andrew, "Basically, if anyone tells you stories or asks you to do something that makes you uncomfortable, you should tell me or Dad."

Andrew speaks up with an embarrassed grin on his face, "Mom? This conversation is making me really uncomfortable."

Break to me busting up laughing and giving him a big hug. Yes. This IS an uncomfortable conversation. You got it, kid.



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As a side note, thank you for the supportive comments on my run. If I need any motivation to do it again next summer, Lily gave it to me today. She and Michael were playing house, and she asked him to take the baby. She started running down the sidewalk as Michael cheered, "Go Mommy Go!" I asked what they were doing, and Lily answered, "I'm the mommy and I'm running a race."

I did it.

I did it. I ran the entire 5K...without stopping. I ran 9 minutes longer than I've ever run.

I ran 3 miles in just under 36 minutes. That is a 12 minute mile. Which I know is terrible.

But we are focusing on the fact that I RAN FOR 36 MINUTES STRAIGHT. 6 months ago I couldn't run 90 seconds without stopping.

I didn't quit.

I did what I thought I couldn't.

I am proud of me.


(Jeff ran it in 25 minutes. He should be proud of him too...)

Race-eve

Any scrap of confidence I had before that I could actually run this 5K was destroyed when I got my period Thursday afternoon. I have never run on the first 2 (heaviest days of "the curse" because I am tired, weak, crampy...you know the deal. So I feel doomed and set up to fail anyway. But I must have had some delusions left...because it all came crashing down once we GOT to Baltimore. It immediately because clear that...

I don't belong here.

We walk towrad the convention center to pick up our bibs and shirt. Everyone around me is sinewy and scrappy and clearly a RUNNER. There's even a guy smoking who is clearly a runner...and will likely kick the marathon's ass tomorrow. I see only one other lady who is slightly pudgy like me.

I don't belong here.

Everyone we meet seems to assume that my thin, healthy husband is the reason we are here...and I am his spectator. When we stand at the check-in desk together, the concierge asks if we are here for the race. When we say yes, he hands Jeff a complimentary bag with a bottle of water, banana, powerbar, etc., and wishes him luck. When I ask to have one, he says, "Oh? You want one too?" And I squeak out that I'm racing tomorrow too. I don't think he believed me. Later, our waiter also assumes I am just here to lend support.

I don't belong here.

The little paper/write up about the race weekend that came in our registration bag of loot describes the 5K event as, "A great way to participate in the Baltimore Running Festival without all the training." I know the 5K is a joke to real runners. I know it is a lame-ass event. But I have worked my ass off for 6 months...and I'm STILL not confident I'll finish. Yet apparently, you should be able to just walk in and run 3 miles...that's how easy a 5K is.

I don't belong here. I belong on the side-lines. I belong in the cheering section for Jeff, who deserves to be here and will kick its ass. I should be trudging along on sidewalks alone in the dark hours of the morning and away from real runners. I should be walking for my healthy and not sullying up these types of events. I am a band geek at a frat party. A Democrat at a GOP rally. The horse in a zebra herd.

I don't belong here.

Just write

I have been majorly ignoring the blog. Perhaps because last week was full of birthday-girl activities, which included celebrating on her actual day as well as a whirlwind weekend with the grandparents. Perhaps it is because I have to run a race in 4 days and I am fluctuating between scared as shit and depressed that 3.2 miles scares me this bad. Perhaps when I get back from our weekend away and this is behind me...perhaps then I will write down all the insanely cute/annoying/lovable/excruciating things my children have been doing lately.

Like Michael has been coming home from school and telling me horrible stories. Stories like, "The VIP had long hair and I told him to cut his hair or I would punch him in the stomach." Also, "This boy took my truck and I won't share so I took a hammer and hit the truck over and over." I have repeatedly asked the teachers for confirmation and they said while there is the occasional scuffle over toys, Michael seems to be acting appropriately and not overly violent. Maybe he's just telling me what he WANTS to do?

Andrew has a lot going on in his life right now. School, homework, soccer, swim lessons, now cub scouts. He also has a busy social agenda, with boys coming to our door every night begging him to come outside and join them in a rousing game of football/baseball/arguing/soccer. I work hard to encourage him to do his homework early so he can run around outside or go to practice or whatever. Homework is painfully easy, and yet it is like pulling teeth to get him to do it. And last night I asked him to either read or go to bed, since he'd been so tired all day. He just said no. He sat there and refused to do anything. My boy showing defiance? A new experience for us. He's just warming us up for Lily in a few years :)

Speaking of Lily...she is in a delightful explosion of skills. All of a sudden she is coloring in the lines and enjoying crafts and wanting to write messages. She is reading sight words and noticing words in our every day adventures. She wants to read and write and cut and do all kinds of big kid things. She is a joy to cook with, a blast to play games with, and just plain fun to talk to. Is there anything more perfect in the world than a 5 year old little girl? I think not.

Okay, that's a start.

It's MY BIRTHDAY (guest post)

***It is Lily's 5th birthday today. So she is going to write my blog for me. She took the pictures. And I'll type whatever story she tells me ***
This is me and Mommy.

Shadow is trying to find somebody to pet her.

Shadow is on the chair looking out the window.





She sees some grass and plants, but nothing tasty.

And then Mom found the perfect present...it's a unicorn helmet!

These are the best toys ever...whoever brought them to me? I still like them.
And then my friend Sara gave me some toys.
The cake was the best, but I just still don't know who buyed it or who gave it to me. Huh!
My friend toys comed over...Hoppy, Teddy, and Snap comed along.
And then I said, "Hello!"
Snap said, "I want to take pictures!" So I took a picture of him. And he loved it. "Thank you!"
I was in my house. I love my new house. Santa buyed this for me.
I love my birthday but how old am I? I am 5!! Now that I am 5, I can snap my own pants...I think -heh- and then Mom helps me. That's kind of crazy, you know? I can play with my toys quietly. I am so weird now that I'm 5...but I am still cute! I'm going to eat all my dinner so I can get CAKE! AND...uh...I have no underwear on.

I am stopping this post to go put underwear on my daughter. Geez.

Let's Hear it for the Girls!

In case you aren't keeping track...Lily turns 5 this Thursday. That's right...FIVE.

-gulp-

In what has become a family expectation, Lily got to host her first birthday party. Andrew had one when he was 5, so it seemed only fair to do it for Lily. Even though Andrew's party was a bit painful. So I pulled on my "Good Mommy" pants and planned a party for 5 little girls.

We decided to do a tea party. Okay, I decided it...Lily was just ecstatic to be having a party. We got the Fancy Nancy tea party book and had fun planning what we would do. The boys were all going to be gone at soccer. Just before the girls arrived we were ready...




Jeff went out and picked up the cupcake cake I ordered. It was super cute and prevented me from having to cut cake. I have learned. Also? Planned party for after lunch so I didn't have to feed them. By the time Michael has a party, the kids won't be allowed in the house and they will be allowed one glass of water ;) Fun parties at our house!

The girls arrived and started in on the craft...a sticker by number crown. I was...shocked. They just sat there for 30-40 minutes doing the craft. And they were spontaneously singing songs from school, or talking about their dresses, or telling funny stories. They were quietly enjoying each other's company. No tackling. No throwing. No destroying the house. My jaw may have hung open in shock through this whole part of the party. Except for the part where I had to listen to Lily being bossy because it was her birthday. She was severely admonished when she told one of her friends to wear a dress at her next birthday party. (Lily! Who never wears a dress ANYWHERE...argh). I immediately pointed out that we had not told people to dress up and that I wasn't wearing a dress either. Little snot. She did quickly apologize and compliment the girl on her shirt. I have to remember that social interactions are learned and not innate. -sigh-

They did eventually want to play. So some girls started playing with Barbies, some pushed baby dolls around in prams, and some dressed up. Then Lily led them to the family room, where we had our video camera set up on a tri-pod and hooked up to the tv in live feed mode.

Needless to say, I discovered that 4 &5 year old girls love to watch themselves on tv:

Then we went back and finished our crowns. The girls helped each other finish and were so complimentary and sweet with each other.

Now that we had our crowns ready, it was time for the tea party. I had one little tea pot full of juice and one of water. The tea cups were so tiny...I think they held only a few tablespoons. Which was perfect, because pouring was the most fun part. They all politely passed the teapots and crackers and things. I explained that ladies talk and get to know each other at tea, so maybe we could ask each other questions. I asked what everyone's favorite color was, then another girl asked what their favorite animal was, and then M. raised her hand and eagerly asked everyone what their favorite kind of cake was. It was...adorable. And time for cake.

Lily blew out her candle and everybody had a cupcake. Well, a few bites. The cake looked good, but didn't taste that great.

It was time for more playing. They built with blocks and Lily taught them how to play one of her favorite board games.

I got out the sugar cookies I had made and the girls came and went decorating their cookies to bring home. The neon icing was a hit...and the cookies tasted much better than that nasty cake.

The girls were doing so well, I decided to let Lily open her gifts in front of them. In my experience this is a bad idea, since all the kids tend to pile in and open the birthday kids' gifts. These girls were different. They all sat patiently waiting to give Lily her gifts. They reminded her to read the card first. S. started to tear Lily's first gift open, asking if she could help. Lily politely told her no, it was not her birthday. S. backed right off and never crowded Lily again. Each gift was appropriately ooohed and aaaahed over. It was amazingly cute and wonderful.

Then the girls went home. It was...so easy. Such a nice little group of friends. No tears, no fights, no destruction of personal property. But I sincerely hope Lily isn't this prima-donnaish on non-birthday days. :)