Making Friends

Lately I have been working hard at pushing myself to get out there ... to make new friends ... to make friends with other families ... and to do more things ... this whole family is very happy to stay in our house and just spend time with each other ... but I know that it is good for us to get out there ...

So we have started making play dates ... and family outings with other families ... and it is good ... we already have tickets for next month to see Go Dog Go at Adventure Theater ... and this Saturday we are going to a big farm to get pumpkins with 3 other families ...

It may be changing how I have been doing stuff for several years now ... but I am going to work hard and make it happen ... I think everyone in this family needs this ...

Our Shenandoah Trip

This is a long post about our weekend away ... with just a sampling of my favorite photos from all the ones I took ... I'm almost finished with the video montage of the trip which has more photos and some funny videos ...

We set out for our big weekend away at 9:30 (that is after getting coffee of course) ... so we did fairly well ... we put Lincoln's big car seat in the car which he was thrilled about (he never ever really liked the infant seat) and we hooked up Skye's movie player to the seat in front of her and she got a new movie for the trip ... Mickey Mouse Playhouse in Wonderland ... I also remembered to bring headphones which schwoooo for that one ... she watched the movie the entire trip ... never changed the DVD ... we only had a 2 hour car trip and all in all we had a great time on the road ...

When we got to the caverns we had planned to visit I decided it wasn't the right one ... it was deserted and very cheesy looking ... just didn't feel like it was going to be good ... and we saw tons of signs for Luray Caverns and I had seen commercials for the place before ... so we looked up the address on the Pre (have I mentioned before I am in LOVE with this phone) and plugged it into the GPS ...

Once we got there everyone was a bit hungry and needed a bit of a break ...

After lunch we headed into the Cavern ... and it was AMAZING ... a little tough getting down all the stairs with a stroller and an excited 3 year old but we made it without any stumbles or falls ... Skye was worried it would be really dark down there so we got her a head lamp and she was way excited to get that puppy on ... let me tell you it was a big hit with everyone down there ... she got so many comments about how cute it was and what a great idea and not once did anyone get annoyed that she was shinning that thing right in their eyes ...

The formations were gorgeous ... Skye thought it looked like a cave from Dragon Tails ... and she oohhhed and aahhhed the whole way through ... so did David and myself ... even Lincoln stayed awake the whole time craning his neck to get a look at everything ...

We stopped for a quick push-up break when we got out of the caverns ... and to get a look at the garden maze we were about to enter ... it looked amazing from up above and we couldn't wait to get inside ...

The maze was so cool ... there were cute butterfly and bee wind socks that spun around ... and misters all over the maze ... tons of dead ends ... and 4 stamp stations ... I think that was Skye's favorite part because she got to stamp her card herself ... so each time we would finally find one she ran to stamp her card ... we did pretty good ... and no one got frustrated even though it could easily happen ... and the secret message from all of Skye's stamps ... "Mazes Around The World" ...

After the maze it was time to head to our hotel ... Skye has stayed in a hotel before but doesn't remember at all ... she thought it was so cool that it was "her home for tonight" ... she checked everything out and was excited to find out there was a playground right outside our room ... after a bit of rest we decided to take a drive around town and through the countryside ... saw lots of farms and the most amazing full moon ever ...

After our drive we wound up back at our hotel at the Johnny Appleseed restaurant ... Saturday night was Prime Rib night and David can't miss that ... he got the biggest piece of prime rib ... even the waitress was impressed with the weight of the plate ... Skye was just excited to get some strawberry ice cream as a vacation treat ...

Once back in the room we all just hung out having fun ... lots of tickling going on ... movies to watch ... snuggling ... it was awesome ... everyone was just so happy to be together ... hanging out ... new scenery ... it just rocked ...

I loved seeing Linc and Skye hanging out together in the morning while I got everything together ... they are going to have such a great time when he is finally big enough to play with her ...

After a quick breakfast at Burger King (where they had what I can only say was a 3 story play land area with the longest slide) ... we hit the road to drive through the Shenandoah National Park ... we were really hoping the trees would have changed more and that fall was more apparent ... but regardless it was gorgeous ... the drive was wonderful and peaceful and beautiful ... you can't go over 35 MPH while on Skyline drive so it was just a nice relaxing Sunday drive ... we stopped at several of the lookout points and the view just takes your breath away ...

After our drive through the park we all got situated again for our ride home ... several times on the way home Skye would just proclaim, "I had a good time!!" ... which made me so happy to hear ...

I did post to the blog from my phone on Sunday morning ... I am going to start planning these little trips more often ... it is good for all of us to get out and do something different and fun ...

Commute Convo Two

So as we were getting close to the school Schuyler was growing ever more impatient at the last stop light before school ... we hit it as it turned red and it is a long light ... (as a preface to this convo Skye uses the phrase "Its time for _____" ... like when it is time to leave the house Schuyler announces "Its time for go")

Finally she yells:

Schuyler: Mommy it is time for hurry up.

Me: Sweetie we are at a red light. I can not go until it turns green.

Schuyler: Mommy all my friends calling for me. It is time for hurry up it is time for go.

Me: Your friends are calling for you? Can you hear them?

Schuyler: Ahhhh no mommy we are still kinda far from school.

Me: Well then how do you know they are calling for you?

Schuyler: Because they want to see me - it is 40 o'clock and they all need their hugs from me. So it is time for go.

(Schuyler says everything is 40 o'clock - except the other day she looked at the clock and said it was 3 o'clock and it was)

Well she was right when we got to school half a dozen of her friends ran up yelling Schuyler with their arms open for their hugs ... took her a good few minutes to get through all the hugs ... it was almost like watching Richard Dawson and his kisses during Family Feud ...

Commute Convo

While on our commute this morning Schuyler and I had the following convo:

Schuyler: Excuse me

Me: Did you fart?

Schuyler: No ... I ... I ... I farted with my mouth ... like Lincoln

Me: You mean a burp sweetie?

Schuyler: No a fart from my mouth ... it was stinky ...

First Bath Together

Well tonight Schuyler and Lincoln took their first bath together ... I unfortunately do not have photographic proof of this event since I was home alone with the kids and was trying to hold a very buoyant and slippery 5 month old in a tub full of water ...

I know Linc isn't quite old enough to take a bath in the big tub with his sister but I am one tired mama this week and I just didn't want to have to do two baths ... I decided while Skye was in there playing I would go ahead and give him his bath too ...

Lincoln LOVED it ... maybe a little too much ... he was kicking and pushing to float on his belly ... it was crazy ... it was like trying to hold on to an eel in oil ...

The also really liked being in there with Schuyler since he idoloizes her ... he kept trying to hold her hand ... but she was busy putting soap on a washcloth for me ...

I am now really looking forward to a time when they can play in the tub together ... because they will both have a blast and it will be a nice little break for me ...

Next time I'll make sure David is around so he can get a photo for me ...

Long LONG Weekend

So this has been a long long-weekend ... to say the least ... and I still have one more day off ...

Wednesday I got a call from the school that Skye had a sore in her mouth and that they sent an infant home with hand/foot/mouth disease ... there was no cross over between the 3's and the infants but Skye and another girl in the class were complaining their mouths hurt ... so off I went to pick her up ...

I made a doctor's appointment for first thing Thursday morning with the doctor we love (so glad about that) ... Skye was in OK spirits Wednesday night but would complain here and there about the bumps in her mouth ...

So Thursday morning we headed to the doctor ... including Lincoln ... he was coming to work with me and I figured the doc could have a peek in his mouth too to make sure he doesn't have something ... Dr. K checked out Skye's "bumps" and said it wasn't hand/foot/mouth ... it was cold sores and since we caught it so fast he could prescribe medicine (ahhh a doc not anti-medicine - love it) ... but he said her throat was red ... then he checked Linc to see how his mouth and throat were ... he has been rather inconsolable at night ... turns out his throat was redder than hers ... so it was throat cultures for both of them ...

You get the results in 6 minutes at our doctor (love love love this) ... turns out his was negative ... even after 2 more days and Skye was saddled with strep and cold sores ... poor thing ... so we filled the perscriptions and even though she wasn't feeling great headed to work ... my dad was the only one in the office and needed a bit of help and I had a couple of things that had to get done since everyone else was out ...

We lasted about 4 hours and headed home ... everyone was crying (well not me but I felt like it) ... I decided I was staying home with Skye on Friday and my mom was going to watch Lincoln ... keep them apart as much as possible so he didn't get sick ... and it gave Schuyler all my attention for the day ...

Friday she took naps and we hung out in my bed while I worked ... it was great ... and despite how horrible I knew she was feeling she was a trooper ...

By Saturday she said she was feeling better but I suspect it was because she was invited to her "best friend" Sophia's birthday party ... it wasn't until 4 so I told her if she took all her medicine and rested she could go ... but by 1 she wasn't feeling good and wanted to stay in bed ... and she wasn't the only one ... I picked Lincoln up ... kissed him on his forehead and knew instantly he had a temp of 101 ... which he did ...

It is now Sunday night and his temp has been either 99 or 100 since then ... Tylenol isn't doing much for him ... and his gums are bright red and swollen ... so he is either teething big time ... or teething and fighting off a virus ... I'm betting on the latter ...

Schuyler was much better today ... ate a little more ... drank a little more ... and wanted to blow lots of bubbles outside ... hopefully with the extra day of rest tomorrow we all will be feeling in tip top shape come Tuesday morning ...

A worn out tired care-giving mommy can dream can't she ... ??

Rock Band

So we have our own Rock Band now ... and it is the favorite family activity lately ... Skye wants to do it every night ... once we move it downstairs it will be even better ... more room to really rock out ... but I gotta say for a 3 year old she is doing really well ... and even David and I are getting better with every jam session ...

Rock Band 8/29/09

What Would You Do?

So that has been the big question lately around here ... what would you do if you won the Mega Millions ... tonight's jackpot is up to 333 Million Dollars ... that is one of the top prizes ever ... I think the biggest was somewhere around 360 Million Dollars ...

After I came to, my goal would be to make the lives of those that are close to me better ... and I think that would bring me more joy and excitement than anything I could do for myself ...

David and I were talking about it last night ... with a 333 million dollar jackpot the yearly payout is a bit over 12 million dollars ... TWELVE MILLION A YEAR  ... that means I could easily pick 10 people ... hell for 2 million a year I could pick 20 people and say, "quit your job ... spend time with your family ... I will be giving you 100K every year that I get my lottery money and by the way we just paid off your mortgage." ... How freakin incredible would that be ... to do that for parents and siblings and close friends ... it brings tears to my eyes think about doing that ... I wouldn't know who to call first because I would be so excited that I could do that for people ... (wow I am all teary) ...

Think of the circle of people around you and how it would change every aspect of their life ... I just can't help but get choked up about it ... it would just be amazing ...

I think the thing I would do for myself ... my big indulgence ... I would get pregnant again ... I want more kids so badly but we just can't afford to have another one ... so that is the very first thing I would do for myself ...

And to get ready for that new addition ... my family would need a vacation ... because it has been over 2 years since we have gone anywhere ... and I want that time together away from everyday life to just have fun ...

So those are my lottery dreams ... lofty I know ... but a girl can dream ... and let me tell you I dream about them all the time ...

New Header

I've had the same header for almost a year ... because I realized that I read blogs from my google reader and never see what the actual site looks like (or very rarely do) ... but I thought it was time to add my son to the header ... I'm not as thrilled with it as the last one ... and I don't have a great photo of the two of them together ... but it is what it is ... and I am glad he is now added ...

Back Up and Running

So for the last week or so I've been working on setting up a new server ... so any spare moment has been allocated to that ... it has kind of been like old times for David and I working on a server together ... seeing as when we met I looked forward to the times he and I worked on a server together ... in fact I started to reminnesse about it today with him and he just rolled his eyes and said "yea ok whatever" but for me it did bring back sweet memories ...

but I digress ...

so our new server is all set up and with that I also set up a new domain for my blog ... it will always be accessable with the http://familyandthesuburbs.wordpress.com ... but also familyandthesuburbs.com comes to the same place ... now if I could just find a new photo that includes both my cuties for the header ... especially since the last one is from October and we are almost at October again ...

Anyway there were a bunch of technical problems we encountered while setting up the server and I must say I am very proud of us ... we worked and researched and tried different things until we solved the problems ... very satisfying ...

Now that I don't have to worry about what I posted to move it to the new server I can get back to posting ...

How to Respond?

So what do you tell your child when they ask to see a friend of theirs when you are no longer friends with that family? It is such a difficult situation ...

I've tried saying they live too far away ...
The response was that we needed to get in the car and go there

I've tried explaining it is too far away to go by car ...
The response was we could use a plane

I've tried we can't take a plane trip now, mommy and daddy need to work and you need to go to school
To that I was handed the phone and told to call so she could talk to her best friends ...

There is no way to explain to a 3 year old what happened ... and why you no longer see your best friends ...

It has been over a year since she has seen them and a good 10 months since she spoke to them on the phone ... hasn't deterred her want to see and talk to them ... it breaks my heart ...

She got teary when I told her we couldn't call them ... her bottom lip pushed out and she told me she needed to go to her room and be alone for a little while ...

When I went up to see her she told me she was sad and that she was just going to lay on her bed and hug her kitty for a while cause that made her happy ... she said she would be happy again tomorrow at school when she could see all her other best friends ...

Poor thing ... I hate seeing her this way ...

Girls Afternoon

This afternoon Schuyler and I decided to have an afternoon just us ... so we headed to Barnes & Noble ... first we had a coffee (well chocolate milk for Curly Top) and sat and talked ... then we explored the store ...

I found a journal called "Listography Your Life In Lists" created by Lisa Nola and Illustrated by Nathaniel Russell that is just awesome ... it is a journal that helps you create kind of a biography all through creating lists ... and since I so love creating lists I thought it would be quite a fun project that would give me force me to take moments for myself ...

After I finished in the journal section ... or more like when I couldn't take hearing Skye say, "come on mommy ... come oooonnnnnnn ... lets go  up the sclator ... come on come on mommy" anymore we headed upstairs to the kids section ...

She checked out the train first but there were a bunch of people over there so she asked if we could get some books and read on the other side ... once she saw the stage though reading took a back seat ... I found myself a seat and she got up and put on a dance show for me ... it was FANTASTIC ...

Once she noticed the Eloise cut out she wanted her photo taken ...

Then she said, "Wait I want to stand just like Eloise. Take another one please." ...

After dancing around with some other kids we headed to the train table where she could stay all day long ...

I was so proud of her ... while we were at the store she asked to use the bathroom twice and did a great job ...

Once we paid for our stuff and got in the car she said, "Mommy I had a great day." ... I got all teary ... she just says the sweetest stuff and she has no idea how much it means to me ... every moment I spend with her is fantastic ...

I Love Numbers

12:34:56 on 7/8/2009

Right now all the numbers go in order ... (although I can't be sure I am hitting submit at 56 seconds but you get the idea) ... kinda cool if you ask me ...

David and I had originally wanted to get married on 6/5/04 ... but that date didn't work for anyone but us so we just settled on July 4th ... probably a good thing ... he actually remembers the date ...

Gall Bladder Period

So one year ago today I went in for surgery for my gall bladder ... had that sucker removed and of course started my period that day ... that was my last period before getting pregnant ... and at this point in my life was my last period ... which is a bit weird ...

With Skye it was 6 weeks to the day after giving birth that I started again ... now we are over 3 months since having a baby ... and I don't breastfeed so that isn't it ... and still no period ...

The thing that scares me ... no I don't think I am pregnant again ... I think with my age ... I am starting menopause ... is that freaking scary or what ... I think my mom started sometime around this time ... she has her hysterectomy when she was 42 I believe ... that is only about 2.5 years from now for me ...

So the debate in my head to have a 3rd child might be silenced by mother nature ... that bitch ... I think it is very different if you decide not to have another child than having the decision made for you ... I guess we'll see ... I just feel young at 39 ... but the idea of all this ages me quickly ..

Poop Glorious Poop

So we finally had poop in the potty ... and I don't know that David or myself would ever be so happy to see shit ... but there we were cheering and clapping ... all while Skye kept saying, "too loud mommy ... not so loud" ...

And she did it all on her own ... she went to the potty a lot yesterday with no results so I just figured she was trying ... or just wasn't totally sure when it was going to happen or what not ...

But then while I was feeding Lincoln I saw her jet to the top of the stairs and then back toward the bathroom ... I asked David if he would go check because she either needed to poop ... pooped in her underwear or pooped in the potty ... when I heard him cheer I know what the answer was ... she kept telling him not so loud so Lincoln and I had to run right up to check it all out ...

I was just beyond proud of her ... and she was beaming herself ... so even though I told her I was taking the dollhouse toys back she asked if she could have one so we went downstairs to pick one out (she picked out the nursery furniture) and we went and laid Lincoln down and sat and played dollhouse till dinner time ... it was fantastic ...

While we were playing she said, "Mommy I so did it. I soooo did it." ... I told her how proud of her I was and she said, "It is so much better to poop in the potty." ... I told her that is what I have been trying to explain for sometime now ...

And woohoo check off potty training Skye before returning to work ... with a few hours to spare ...

Five Years

Five years ago today David and I got married ... it really was such a great day ...

Last night we sat outside after the kids went to bed reminiscing about our wedding weekend ... the flat tire I got while picking Kris and Heather up at the hotel while David was off golfing ... the huge thunderstorm on our wedding morning and my awesome bridesmaids went and got David and I breakfast ... the killer suite we got to stay in ... the fact that the minister forgot to say, "you may now kiss the bride." so as he was announcing us married I stopped him and said, "Do I get to kiss him now?" ... how the photo in this post was taken in pitch blackness and we both felt so weird posing for photos when we couldn't see anything at all ...

So first thing this morning we put in our wedding DVD ... we hadn't watched it since the day after the wedding ... and it was awesome to see ... and it was great watching it with Skye ... she kept calling me a princess ... and asking where she was ... and she couldn't believe how little Ellie was ...

And seeing all of our honeymoon footage ... our cruise was awesome ... just made me think that we need to find some way to take a cruise ... it was so good for both of us ... and it would be so good for the whole family ...

It has been an amazing 5 years of marriage ... highs and lows ... ups and downs ... unwavering love and unmitigated anger ... but at the end of each day I couldn't be happier about laying down next to him ... and so hopeful each morning about starting the new day with him ... with my family ...

I'm so glad we picked the 4th of July for our wedding day ... it is one of my favorite days of the year for 2 reasons now ...

Back To School

So I am beyond excited that starting next Tuesday Schuyler gets to go back to school ... first of all it has kicked our asses into gear to ditch the pull-ups ... she has been wearing big girl underwear exclusively since Monday morning ... we have had 2 accidents ... and a poop in the underwear but otherwise she is doing awesome ... even underwear to bed ... she said she is done with pull-ups ...

And on a side note I have to say ... Pull-ups are a crock ... they are just more expensive diapers that come in smaller packages ... maybe they work for some kids but for my kid she didn't treat it as underwear at all ... they were just diapers she could put on standing up ... I don't think we will be using them the next time ... it will be sink or swim when it is potty training time ... go right to the big boy underwear ...

So back to my original thought ... because she is going back in the 3 year old room ... potty training was a must ... which means I need to send a whole bunch of extra underwear and clothes to school with her ... so we are prepared for anything that might happen ... I logged online to order labels for her stuff (I was always bad about that in the past and you might remember how we lost her favorite hat) so this time I want to label everything ... but it takes about 3 weeks for the cute iron on labels to put in clothes ... and I don't really want to just write in them ... I mean where is the cuteness in that ... hahahaaaa ...

So I am going to attempt to make my own ... and I think it will work ... I found a whole bunch of those iron on sheets that you can print in your computer (in reverse ... keep reminding myself in reverse) ... then iron them onto your clothes ... so I figure I could design a bunch of cute ones with her name on them and even pictures of her favorite stuff ... butterflies and flowers and what not ... and then iron them into her underwear and clothes and towels ... sounds like a cheap and easy solution to the tracking clothing right?

And I think we are going to make some shrinky dinks tags for her bag ... should be fun ... I love Shrinky Dinks ... unless of course I am out of time ... then it gets one of the many luggage tags laying around this house ...

So as my time at home gets shorter and shorter ... my list of things to do gets longer and longer ... maybe I should get off this computer and get to work ... I have mountains of kids clothes to sort and put away ...

The Bad Tour

It was some idle Tuesday ... November 8, 1988 to be exact ... Michael Jackson was close to the end of his solo tour at Irvine Meadows, California ... my dad and I were sitting around with nothing to do so we decided to head over and see if we could get tickets from scalpers ...

We scored 2 tickets in about the 10th row of the Orchestra Pit ... really really great tickets for about $50 a pop ... we waited till just about show time and talked a guy down ... but still a bit high for 1988 ...

It was the first and only time my dad and I went to a concert without a gaggle of my friends ... growing up my dad took us to all the concerts ... Duran Duran ... U2 ... Spandeau Ballet ... The Go-go's ... Cyndi Lauper ... you name an 80's band and my dad was there with all of us ...

It was a good concert ... we were seeing a living legand ... there were a few times we looked at each other like, "what the hell" ... he kept stopping mid-song and fake crying ... and then would go back to singing ... it was a bit weird but it was an awesome concert and I am so glad we decided to just get up and go that night ...

The memories of that night were my first thought today when I heard Michael Jackson had died ... that I was so glad 20 years ago my dad and I went and saw him ... that we got to experience the phenomenon known as Michael Jackson and we got to do it together ...

Client Loss

So yesterday I lost a client from my web design and hosting ... and I am trying to figure out how I feel about it ...

He has been my customer since 2000 ... 9 years ... it is a long time ... I am upset about it but not as much as I thought I should be ... I lost him because I chose family over work ... which I know is always the way to go ...

He wanted a new site design which I was happy about because that would be a nice check for us and would totally help out during my maternity leave ... but he asked about it at the beginning of March ... I thought I could put it together for him faster than I was able ... I thought the new design would be finished before the new baby arrived ... it wasn't ...

March was crazy ... work was very very busy ... and I was very very pregnant and exhausted ... most nights when I got home I spent time with Schuyler and then spent time with sleep ... it was all I felt capable of doing ... on late nights I was usually still doing office work to try and get ready for my absence ...

With the construction going on and the house a total disarray I just wasn't myself ... I really figured I would have plenty of time to work on it once I was on maternity leave ... but I was wrong ...

Maternity leave with the second child is way different than with the first child ... with Skye when she slept I had plenty of time to work on things ... clean up the house ... nap ... do office work ... it was easy ... she also loved her swing ... so she was right beside me while I did the things I needed to do ...

With Linc it is totally different ... he doesn't like the swing or the bouncy seat ... and it has taken me several weeks to realize that when I am not holding him he does well in his crib ... I hate that he is away from the rest of us during the time he is asleep but it is how it is ... each child lets you know what they like and don't like ...

But when he is laying down I want to spend time with Skye ... it is a gift that I get these few precious weeks home with her ... that I get to see her more than an hour in the morning and 2 or 3 hours in the evening ... I want to soak up every available moment with her ...

So why does it feel so wrong that I didn't just put all that aside to get a customer's site done ... I took on the task I should have done it ... but his big beef was that I couldn't talk on the phone when he wanted me to ... that I wanted to communicate through e-mail and then talk after reading it ... when it was good for me ... when I didn't have screaming kids and guests and what not ... because the few times we spoke on the phone all that was going on and 5 minutes after hanging up I forgot everything he asked for ... but he is not an email person and this didn't work for him ...

I think I am a bit upset at how I found out ... he sent an email asking me to transfer his domain to GoDaddy.com ... that was it ... nothing else ...

He is a customer of ours at work ... and I know that most people find him to be a PITA ... advertisers have fired him forgoing the money because it isn't worth it ... but I on the other hand am sad to lose the money ... and a customer ...

Sad thing is in about a month I am back at work ... and he called me at work all the time because he knew when I was there and that I answer the phone ... so 9 years down the tubes because I was putting my family and their needs first ... I am proud of myself for doing ... but it doesn't make it all any easier ...

Good-bye Dr. Cole

I had my 6 week postpartum appointment today ... it was the first time I saw my doctor since I gave birth to Lincoln because he went on vacation right after ... so I was very happy to see him and catch up ...

I just adore my doctor ... I interviewed several doctors when we started talking about having a family and he was the best by far ... I didn't know if I would ever find a doc I liked as much as Dr. Klein in Cali ... but I did ...

He told me I needed to make my yearly appointment for 4 months from now and then said, "But this is the last time I will see you. I am moving to Seattle." ... my jaw just dropped ... I was stunned and bummed and even began to tear up ... I don't want to find a new doctor ... I want him as my doctor ...

David and I toss around the idea of another child ... or if we decide not to I want to have ablation done ... I wanted him to be the doctor that does all that ...

I am just really so sad he is moving away ... I will really miss him ... it is hard finding a doctor that you really like and trust so much ...