The Restaurant

I’m quite positive it would be a hard task to find grandparents better than we have: for my parents:  before retirement, my mom spent a great deal of her vacation time coming out to help us in one way or another, a few weeks after my last two babies were born. My dad has changed more  diapers on my kids than he did on his own, when they are visiting, they are like extensions of us and swing into our family so well, they help out with household tasks and do fun adventures with the kids.  For my husband’s parents, they jump in when we are back visiting and host some great adventures with the cousins, and provide some quality cuddle time.  My mother in law has that crafty gene that I just didn't get and the girls love their activities with her.  My father in law has tickets to the MN Gophers basketball- need I say more?

This summer, my mom spent nearly 7 weeks with some combinations of my kids. It was awesome (grandpa spent a few of those weeks too, but he had to work.  J )  Mom came out to help my husband cover when I had an event across the country and then spent a lot of one on one time with the girls doing Grandma and girl dates, and then the girls spent nearly 2 weeks with both of my parents back in MN.  They had a great trip, and hopefully an annual one- they got to do awesome grandma and grandpa type activities. When I went to stay with them and finish out the trip with my youngest, C, I truly think they had grown up a lot during those two weeks.

With 3 young children, one of the things we don’t do very often is eat in restaurants.  To me, it not worth the hassle for all of the work while there.  However, with all of the time with Gma and Gpa, they got to eat out a lot- and they loved it.  My favorite part of their return to “real life” as I call is was during our first meal.  A sits down at the table and says: “ Mommy, I’d like to order a grilled cheese, some apple sauce and Chocolate Milk, light on the chocolate”.  O “I’d like Pizza and grapes!”.  Me “Sorry, my friends, the restaurant is now closed.  Tonight we’re having Chicken, peas and white milk.”. 

The Last Firsts

I think I start to get a little weepy thinking about it this being the "last firsts"… My husband has decided no more kids (at least for the moment).  It is probably a fairly fair statement, especially after the week we’ve had with 2 out of 3 being sick, dentist appointments, doctor appointments, eye appointments, etc.  There is really no time for work!!! 

But I still start to get a little sad thinking about this being the last round of firsts for us…  C is moving right ahead, he’s had his first bath, his first ride on an airplane, his first solids, he scooted for the first time, crawled for the first time, had his first cheerios.   He’s standing up on things and very proud of himself.  Maybe it’s just that pure joy to see someone truly believe that anything is possible and not realize that someone telling you you can’t do something isn’t really true.

My other 2 have started to believe they ‘can’t’ do something, and I really don’t want them to feel that way EVER.  We talk about it a lot, we talk about how saying can’t really isn’t true- that no matter what, together, we can find a way to make it happen, sometimes you just need a little help.  You might not be perfect every time and you may not every really be good at some things you try and do, but nothing should hold you back. 

And to me, that can be the best lesson they could ever learn in life and can take them so far.   I think we should all take a little lesson from C, and every time I try to tell myself I can’t do something either, I just need to take a look at the smaller picture and imagine him, for the first time, picking up that cheerio and actually hitting his mouth.  Ah, it’s like magic.

5-1-5-0

A few weeks ago, A and I travelled to Nashville and Atlanta for a work trip.  My cousin was great and came and hung out with A while I did my meetings, tours, etc.- A was in hog heaven.  My cousin and her 2 kids, ages 8 and 10 are a wee bit like 'older celebrities' to A, they do big kid things, like play tennis, dance, sing songs, have their own ipods, and get to drink soda!

Since our return, we have spent a lot of time listening to music and I finally downloaded some of the favorites to my new iPhone.  If I asked A, her definite favorite from the trip was a Taylor Swift song, "Never ever, getting back together".  Her and O sing the song a lot, they like to serenade daddy with it. 

But since we now listen to the radio a bit more, I didn't realize how quickly they pick things up until we were out for breakfast recently and while waiting for our food and out pops- 5-1-5-2  somebody call the 'po po'.  5-2-5-3 somebody call the 'po po'

I started to laugh and then gave A some props for continuing her counting, what the heck, it is kind of a catchy toon.

Satellite Radio

Since having my posse and moving out of the state where I grew up, one of the biggest changes in my life is the time I have for my old friends. Working full time and just doing our day to day stuff makes our plate already full.  I do manage to catch up with my college buds though about once a year, even if it is a crazy car and zoo trip.  Those trips certainly are different too, if the three of us are able to get together, at least one of our combined posses (we have 6 kids under 6) are having a meltdown or running frantically.  Sometimes it makes me laugh at how crazy our lives have become.  But at night, if we can swing time for a sleepover, with the kids asleep, and we have time to whisper and catch up over a few glasses of beer, It is those moments that get me through to the next time... 

The moments in those trips seem to always get tied to a song we hear on the radio (or in the last case, a song that was playing in the mini-van dvd player).  Those memories and many others are tied to songs that were playing around that time in my life, good memories and not so great memories too. Memories of hanging out with friends or family, or of a particular trip or just a point in time.  I like to think these songs are creating an album of my life.

Every six months or so, our satellite radio will come up for renewal, and my husband and I will have a long chat about the cost and do we really need it.  I convince myself we do, because it is just my little secret, but it was what keeps me in touch the most with those memories of that album of my life.  I'll drop the kids off at school and spend my next 10 minutes, cruising the radio, searching for that perfect song.  And on those hardest mornings (when I barked at one of them to 'rock and roll, we gotta go!', or 1, 2 or 3 of them are crying at drop off, and I'm running late for my first meeting), someone must be watching out for me, because I'm almost guaranteed to hear the 'Friends' theme song, 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' or just a little 'Dust on the Bottle" and I go back to those college days, and think, for just one minute, that we're all back there, living together, and having a few too many beers.  To me, that's makes my satellite radio priceless.

So tell me, what songs are creating the album of your life?

The "Santa Cam"

We don’t tell ‘lies’ around our house, we do, however, often tell some “tall tales”.  (Whatever, don’t judge, the “tall tales” vs. lies makes me feel better).

On our recent family trip to Las Vegas (this isn’t posted to discuss the merits of whether “Family” and “Las Vegas” are massive contradictions), my husband pointed out that all of the cameras in the ceilings.  “A” misunderstood, and thought he was pointing out all of the ‘sprinklers’.  We head into our room, and A points out all of the cameras in there too.  We roll with it, behaviors and the ‘craziness’ seemed to wander away when we could point out that someone else was watching.

Last night, over dinner, I’m rushing around cooking dinner, setting the table, feeding C, putting bottles and b’milk away, and cleaning up a broken glass (all within 15 minutes) and A ends up kicking her sister.  I told her to apologize, she had a little fit and then all of a sudden looks up and yells, “Mommy!  There are cameras here too!”, I looked up and said, “wow, I’ve never noticed that, good eye, A!  I bet they are Santa Cams! OH no, Santa just saw you kick O!!! What do you need to do?”  She looks up, doesn’t skip a beat and says “Sorry Santa!”.  I corrected her and said she needs to apologize to O, not Santa. 

Daddy gets home, and A and O start yelling at him, “Daddy, Daddy!  There are Santa Cams all over the place!”  Confused, he looks to me for direction.  I just whispered “the sprinklers…”

The next hour after dinner is spent wandering throughout the house,

“Mommy, there is a camera in the bathroom!”  “A, I bet that is so he can see if you wash your hands and flush when you’re done!” 

“Mommy, there is one in the toy closet!”  “I bet that is so he can see if it is messy!”

You get the idea, we have LOTS of sprinklers in our house…

So fess up, what ‘tall tales’ do you tell around your house?

It takes a village

I heard ions ago that it takes a village to raise a family and I guess I never really thought that much about it until I had my own.  My husband and I have made the decision to live thousands of miles away from our families and while it is a hard realization, understand that our kids will have different relationships with their grandparents, aunts and uncles than we did.  It doesn't mean that California will always be our home, but for now it is.

Our family village works hard to maintain relationships with the kids is not an easy feet for our far away families, but they do a great job.  They have special ways that they interact with the kids, and in some way, shape and form, at least A & O hold them to almost a ‘super hero’ status. 

For our local village, we have been blessed with some great neighbors.  Our neighbors Miss Trishy and Mr. Gar Bear (I’m sure he loves that moniker), are in their mid-50’s, and are about as great as we could hope for.  They are the ‘stand in grandparents’ that march over to see the ‘dry run’ for our Halloween costumes, check out the new Lego house that was built or join us for birthday cake.  My favorite though, has to be, as soon as their garage door opens, it is almost as if a little beeper goes off in our house to alert the girls that Miss Trishy or Mr. Gar Bear might be ready for their presence, they run out and yell (in their loudest voices)- “Hi, MISS TRISHY!!  We’re here!”

I laugh at the daily interactions our neighbors have with our kids and one particular recent conversation still makes me chuckle, and be it a little ‘Dennis the Menace’ like…  this is out of our living room window with 0, my three year old.

“Mr. Dave, watcha doing out there? Your new deck is looking good (He has been working on this new deck for nearly 4 months, I’m sure he appreciates the kudos). Have you seen my ball? I have a little brother. My Daddy is taking a nap. Mommy is making us do some cleanin up. We are selling all of our toys at our rummage sale unless we start putting them away.".

Later that night, at a neighborhood picnic, I relayed the conversation to his wife.  She laughed, I said I just appreciate his patience and often his responses are just about as priceless.  She commented that he often just doesn’t even know what to say, because he never had kids of his own.  I think he does a great job, just the way he is.

Tell me, who was/is in your village either now or growing up?

Introduction

For my social media class, I am tasked with creating a blog about a topic of interest to me.  I thought about writing about event management or about my company.  I decided the company was a no go, way too many regulations and approvals required for cyberspace, and while event management is definitely a passion, it just isn't as entertaining as raising my posse.

About me, I am a married traveling, working mother of three kids:  A is 4, O is trailing about 19 months behind her at 3 and C, our little prince, is 8 mos.  To say life is crazy at times is an understatement, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope you will enjoy and interact with me on our journey, and if nothing else, this will be great to have for my children some day, since baby books are really only a dream right now.