...and a gallon of milk

Mothers Day for me was very nice. For the third year in a row, My Aunt, Delilah and I walked in the Network of Strength's Breast cancer research walk-a-thon. This requires us to get up at 4:45 a.m. to get to Downtown Chicago in time, but it is worth it. I am glad that I am taking the moment to do this with Delilah so she can see how awesome it is to help. I would LOVE it if I could talk the boys into it also, but a part of me truly loves that it is just us girls. We walked and walked and then we always go to a Nice restaurant for brunch. The one we wanted wasn't open yet, so we chose another. ATWOODS was decorated with the 20's art deco and was very stylish. Unfortunately I had packed by snobbery in my other bag. The staff there was trained in the "look". The " you are not good enough look" . Throughout the meal I just wanted to start banging my head on the table or scratch something to give them justification for acting this way. We came home after that and the boys had gotten me a card and a flower that Bobby could plant. Very sweet. Bobby heated dinner up for the kids and I, and then when I was tidying up after dinner, I saw the best gift. Not the one that is coming in the mail that I am also excited about, but the one that I received without ANY asking, nagging, or reminding. The one that Bobby saw and said she needs that, and with all his own initiative, he bought it. A gallon of milk. I think I might of teared up a bit.

It's not a full day without at least one call to poison control

A typical day for us does not include doctors or panicked phone calls to poison control, but as my kids get older and more active I realize that I should probably put them on speed dial. My oldest went to the doctor yesterday morning and was diagnosed with the flu. Why, you ask, would I pay to have someone tell me what I already should know? Isn't the flu obvious? Well , no, its not. I know the flu as the puke-y diarrhea-y sickness. Apparently that's not "true flu". True flu is when you are feverish , achy, and whiny. And that is what he has. Yesterday afternoon my middle baby started getting it, so I passed out doses of children's ibuprofen. They are good medicine takers and I try to make it fun by adding a little cheer, "Through the lips, over the tongue, watch out tummy! Here it comes!" (I knew all those years in a sorority would finally pay off). As I sat back down in the living room my oldest comes out to tell me that his little brother is drinking from the medicine bottle. I laugh because I remember putting the lid back on, but go to look anyway. And there he is, in the middle of the kitchen, OPEN bottle in hand, and some on his lips. Now I figure that he on top of what I gave him probably has 3tsp or there abouts in him. I call poison control and they tell me what to look for, said that he might gt a little sleepy and to just tickle his feet if he does sleep to get a reaction out of him. Really? Sleepy? Hm. Okay. So she tells me to watch for the peak in 2 hours.
2 hours later, he is running around in circles playing. Sleepy? I think not.

I left the house...

I left the house one day leaving my husband as warden to the duo of destruction. I left for 23 minutes.23. When I came back my husband was walking around wiping black marks from the wall. When I walked into the house both babies greeted me happy and chattering about soap and washing hands. I came around the corner and he looked at me, as if what happened was my fault for leaving him in charge, which it probably was. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Well the phone rang, (translation, I left the room and the children unattended) and when I walked back in they had gotten into your make-up. (Again I might add he knows they have done it before) They took the mascara and drew all over the doors and each other. Wow honey, you aren't kidding when you call them the duo of destruction." NO kidding.. All I could do was laugh. If I took any of his dirty looks seriously I would never be able to leave the house. Its ridiculous but true. This is a picture of my little rock star.

Just because its easy for me..

I have found that when I want my husband to do something for me I am taking it into my own hands that when I get back there will be something for me to clean up, rearrange, fix, console, or put away. Because I am the only one who can do all that, apparently. Once, when I left, the babies got ahold of some vasoline and rubbed it all over the couch. Another time they got into the dryer and emptied all the clean clothes onto the floor. And another time the oldest ordered an adult movie off of the satellite. Now my question would be the obvious, where the HELL was the father?? He says he was just in the other room. I know they are quick, and can get into something before you blink somedays, but I have seen him holding our oldest while talking on the phone to his dad, and Tanner totally ordered WWE while Bobby was looking at the t.v. HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS CAN THIS BE???? And Bobbys excuse?...I was on the phone. Well HELLO its called parenting, everything, EVERYTHING you ever do from the moment the first one is born you HAVE to multitask. Have to. What makes him think that it is okay to talk on the phone in the other room when all the kids are awake and be excused from the things going on in the house? Why is he exempt and then I have to multitask for us both. Are you Freakin' kiddin me? Because I can give birth makes me more capable? Whatever.

My many talents

I can officially add to my resume "tooth fairy". Tanner has lost his second tooth. It was so loose that Bobby and I had to hold him down to just pop it out. I was afraid he was going to choke on it in his sleep. No sort of bribery would work . Our sitter even tried to bribe him with chocolate bars. His favorite. No luck. He was totally onto us. Oh well, its out now. He came down to my room this morning and hopped into bed he was so excited what the tooth fairy left him. He was shouting, "Mom the tooth fairy left me 6 quarters!" (For those that aren't aware of a five year olds mind, 6 is more than 1.) Plus five quarters is all he needs to get a gatorade at the gym. So now he has a spare. All morning he was walking around with his fingers in his mouth swearing that there were more loose ones. I think we have created a monster.

I love the New Year...

Not really, but there are certain things that I have come to expect as I get older. Such as, no matter how bad a day is a new one starts when the sun comes up, that no matter how much you stick your foot in your mouth with one person it is certain to happen again, and every January the gym gets crowded until the first of March when everyone gives up and goes home until the middle of May.
I love the People who have the new years resolution to "Lighten up" to "lose weight" and to "eat healthier". All the commercials on t.v. are for diets and weight loss centers and do it yourself, and don't do it yourself let us help kinds of places. My favorite is for all the pills and patches and shakes. Do these really work? Are the "testimonials" in the ads made up or were the people paid off to say a certain thing? Probably. Most definitely. But it makes you stop and think anyway. What if? What if I try it? Will it do for me what it did for them? No. But you stop. And think about it. Exactly what they want you to do. My weight loss philosophy is simple. Exercise, eat right, and it will come to you. Unfortunately, my logical side of my brain and my want it now portion of my brain (the frustrated, desperate side) says the hell with it! Take a pill, whats the worse thing that could happen? Weight loss? Geez isn't that what I wanted anyway? HELL YES! I am beginning to to want that Gypsy from the Stephen King novel Thinner, to stop by and give me a little curse. Just a little one, about 20-25 lbs worth. Then they could lift it. That would be acceptable. And considering how long I have been trying to lose the weight I gained from 3 pregnancies the "right" way, I will take anything the least bit hokey or supernatural.
If I had to do it again , I would have never spent my late teens and early twenties complaining how fat I looked or felt. I would have enjoyed it and used it to my advantage more often! Now I feel like a used copy of an old record. Very depressing. So I am off on my journey of pills patches and thrills to try what the gym could not accomplish.. Wish me luck!

New Things to Try

I have joined the Myspace.com and Facebook.com networks at the teasing of my friends for one and my husbands cousins on another. I have decided if I ever have ,oh say, 3 hours just to do nothing, these are the perfect sites to do that on. I have found more people I never liked to begin with. And now I know if they are married or not, have kids, where they lived etc..Very interesting. I have a lot more fun in the Facebook application because of all the quizzes and nonsense to play on there. I feel too old and antiquated for these programs.
On the upside, my five year old has informed he knows why Santa didn't bring me anything. He says it was because I was naughty. I asked him "How was mommy naughty?" and he told me it was because I put him in his room too much last year. Figures that my kid is as much as a wise ass as me. I am doomed when he gets even more clever and creative. His teacher already says he is very entertaining in class. To be a fly on the wall of that Kindergarten class. Lord help us. my 2 year old is getting very direct with what he wants. Some days there is no pacifying him with a distraction toy. And I don't know about other peoples 2nd kids but Tucker has 2 volumes, loud and sleeping. He is so much louder than any other kid, ever. It almost seems his life mission is to see if he can actually be loud enough to be heard in every corner of every building that we go into. Delilah just watches the both of them until she decides she wants a peice of the action too. Then watch out. I actually think that her and Tucker being so close age wise will be a benefit to her and him. They are little buddies right now and it is so much fun to watch them play together. Everyday they are growing and learning so much. Amazing babies I have, I am so lucky to have them in my life.