A Day in the Life....

DISCLAIMER: The purpose of the below is to document what it is I do with my day. Both for me (since my memory is totally shot and I can't even remember what I wore today) and for my friends who wonder why it is that I'm so forgetful. And disorganized. And on some days, haggard.  No, this was not written because I think I'm busier, cooler, craftier, blah, blah, whatever negative/passive aggressive adjectives some women like to use when they are waging their own internal battle but taking it out on someone else.

5:10 a.m. - Alarm goes off. Painful. Why, oh why, must it come so early? Oh yeah, because I have a flight to catch.  And since I'm flying into 1,000% humidity, one must attempt to shower and tame the hair.  Wait... maybe if I don't smell nice and clean, and I look a little like Bill Nye the Science Guy (or Doc Brown from Back to the Future), I'll terrify opposing counsel and intimidate them into getting whatever information I need.

5:12 a.m. - Wait! That's not logical. Get out of bed and SHOWER!!!!!!

6:10 a.m.  - Open the door to Walter's room to wake him up for daycare. It take 2 full minutes of talking to him for him to peel his eyes open and stop stretching. But he doesn't stop smiling the entire time.  Angel.

6:20 a.m. - Open Henry's door with Walter on my hip to get Henry ready for daycare.  The second I open the door he pops up and says something like we've been in the midst of a conversation.  I can't remember what he said this morning.  I feel like I've heard it all: "Dinosaurs!" "Bread." "BIIIIIIGGGG airplanes." "Huuuuuuunnngry!"

6:30 a.m. - Get the kids loaded up in Paul's car and we all pull out of the driveway. I head towards the airport, Paul and the boys head towards school.

7:10 a.m. - "Holy crap, why didn't I leave earlier?!?!?" I decide to try valet parking, which is new at LUV. This is necessary to ensure I actually make my 8:00 a.m. flight since parking at the airport lately has been a beating. 

7:35 a.m. - Walk straight onto my boarding flight - what the heck is the point to an A5 boarding pass if I'm loading up as A61? No, old man, I'm not okay with you taking your suit jacket off in the aisle, folding it neatly, and trying to find the perfect bin space to set it down.  Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't notice that you were holding up an entire FLIGHT of people trying to board an aircraft?!  My bag is HEAVY, and I would like to be able to set it down, thank you very much. I double dog dare you to put it over that seat that I'm laying claim to in the aisle behind you....

9:00 a.m.  - Land in Houston.

9:29 a.m. - Get in massive fight with new Ford Explorer as I try to figure out how to start it, turn down the radio, and then tune to a station where they speak English.  I felt like a 90 year old who'd just seen her first iPod.  We GM drivers don't know what to do with push starts.  Or touch screens.  Or steering wheels that have approximately 25 buttons and nozzles and toggles and whatever else Ford thought up.

9:30 a.m. - Obtain rental car.  Remind myself that I'm a Christian and should not be nasty to employee who took 10 minutes to get my car in her computer, despite the fact that (1) I had a reservation, (2) I'm an elite member, and (3) her coworker managed to get 4 cars through the line as I continued to sit there.

10:00 a.m. - Walk into deposition out of breath.  I may or may not have gone an average of 80-85 mph to get there on time.  Note that my reflection in the glass indicates my attempt to tame hair was 100% unsuccessful.  Immediately place hair in ponytail.

12:00 p.m. - Complete deposition and head back to the airport.  Realize halfway there that one of the daycare workers' birthday is tomorrow.  Oh crap, the overachiever/organized mom that assigned us workers last year to treat on their birthdays no longer has a child at the daycare.  Crap, crap, crap.

12:45 p.m. - Arrive at security to realize that I can finally take a breath. I have a whole 45 minutes to go find a seat and frantically check my emails. Oh yeah, and organize who will handle birthdays this year.

3:00 p.m. - Land in Dallas.  Head back to the office to grab some papers in my chair that I need to look at tonight.  Swing by a co-worker's office to figure out what it is I need to do with the papers that were left in my chair, because 4 years later, I'm still clueless about the practice of law. 

3:30 p.m. Arrive at local mall to buy a giftcard for our daycare worker.  Yeah, that's right, I volunteered to handle the birthday since I think I was the only one who knew about it.  I quickly am distracted by the Dillard's shoe sale. 

3:40 p.m.  - I manage to snap out of my selfish deviation through the shoe sale.  Okay, by snap out of it, I mean that I have to leave because they have NO SHOES IN MY SIZE. Arg. Size 11? Plenty.  Size 5.5s? A gazillion.  Size 8.5s? Sure. If you want a gold stilleto covered in clear plastic with neon pink piping.  No, thank you.  I gave up my stripping hobby after having my second baby.

4:00 p.m. - Realize the Dillard's employee has sent me in the opposite direction of the mall concierge.  Maybe she overheard me mumbling offensive statements to the shoes in my size?  I have now walked approximately 1 mile, but manage to obtain the gift card.  Now to walk back to my car.  Oh, did I mention that the heels that were once comfortable at 6:30 a.m. now feel like torture devices strapped to my feet. Blast Dillards for selling all non-stripper shoes in my size!!!!!!!

4:45 p.m. - After fighting traffic that is typical for 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. in these parts, I manage to pull into the grocery store parking lot to purchase breakfast/cake mix for the birthday girl.  I hobble into the store, grunting and groaning and looking like a crazy person.  And since my hair was attacked by Houston, it's not helping with the crazy look.  I hope I'm not leaving a bloody trail behind me.  I wonder if they have flip flops at the front of the store I could wear just for shopping?

5:15 p.m. - Arrive home to three smiling boys. 

5:15:01 p.m. - Kick shoes off. Resist temptation to throw the shoes in the trash and remind yourself that you probably walked 2-3 miles in them today.  Typically not advised for 3-4" heels.  Make a mental note to write someone in Washington and let them know that heels should be used as a form of punishment in jail. I did see a striking, sassy pair at Dillard's...

5:16 p.m. - Henry has a great meal in front of him, and I get to feed Walter some real food. Henry then proceeds to throw a giant fit and decide he doesn't feel like eating corn and peas tonight, and thinks it is fun to play with his food instead.  After it's clear that he's done eating (and after multiple warnings by Paul and me), we get him out of the highchair.  Not without protest, however.  "My tray! My plate! My highchair!, etc." were all screamed as things were taken from him and we got him down.  Oh, the drama.

5:45 p.m. - We let Henry watch one TV show, while we climb on the floor and play with Walter.  His fourth tooth has popped through, and we would have never known if we hadn't been feeling for it for the last week.  No fussing, no drama.  Like I said, angel.

6:15 p.m. - Bathtime for both boys.  Walter now leans out of his bumbo at a dangerous angle so he can grab for toys and splash.  He never leans forward, always up and over one side.  I'm just waiting for him to dump out of the bumbo - thank goodness for thigh rolls!  Henry proceeds to throw a tantrum - over what, I can't really remember.  I think he wouldn't sit down.

6:30 p.m. - Henry and I go upstairs and start reading. Walter comes in with Paul to say goodnight, but ends up sitting on my lap to finish a book.  While reading a book to both of them is physically exhausting (Walter's trying to grab the corner and shove it in his mouth while Henry's got about 10 stuffed animals in his arms so I'm stretched to the max just so my arms fit around them), it is the best.  Walter doesn't make it long, and ends up in bed a few short minutes later.  Henry and I proceed to read 3 books (where he correctly identified a few letters, so we'll count today as a win!), sing 3 songs, pray only once (Henry's request was to thank Jesus for blankets), and walk out the door.

7:05 p.m. - Mix cupcakes and get them in the oven

7:20 p.m. - Eat dinner. In front of the series finale of Dexter.  Which is cut short by a phone call. Then the cupcakes. Then Paul needed to grade papers.  But we finally finish it at some point.

And the rest of the night was comprised of getting ready for bed and checking emails.  So tomorrow, or the next time you see me, when I look a little haggard, or when my shirt is on inside out, don't hold it against me.  But if I'm limping, would you mind letting me borrow your flip-flops?

Brothers

There is no question that these two little men that have completely stolen my heart are brothers.  Can you guess who's who?!?

     

If the eczema and cleft chin didn't give it away already, Walter's on the left and Henry's on the right. :)

And this little guy got his third tooth a few days ago! Top right tooth is on its way down!

Baby McAlister!

Sadly, a little over a year ago, some of our dear friends became traitors and moved north of the Mason-Dixon - all the way to Connecticut!!  Since it was a great move career-wise, and since they promised they're going to do their best to return after a few years up there, we've decided to forgive them.  Oh yeah, and to throw them a party to celebrate THE UPCOMING ARRIVAL OF THEIR NEW BABY!!!!!!  They were kind enough to allow our children to join the celebration, which meant no babysitter searches. 

 

Henry had to show Lily the proper way to use the racecar track (I highly doubt she has many of these at home).

These two were born exactly two weeks apart, and tend to tower over other kids their age.  They are pretty much the exact same size.  I'm pretty sure that if we dressed them in complementary outfits, we could convince strangers that they were twins. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, gigantic twins! :)

This is the only picture I got of Paul's mini-me Walter. And this was pre-throwup.  This sweet baby had a double ear infection - can you tell from this picture?

We moved a lot of the playroom stuff downstairs.  It took approximately 10 minutes and 4 children to destroy it. :)  But they played nicely (for the most part). I think Henry may have assaulted Evie a few times with a piece of his foam mat, but fortunately, there were no permanent injuries.

 

Love this kid.

 

I just love this picture of Lyndsey.  This is how I think of her - shining from the inside out.

Love these girls!

And I LOVE this couple!  I couldn't be happier for them - baby McAlister doesn't know how lucky he is, but he's about to figure it out in a few short weeks!!!! Can't wait to meet him.

6 Month Check-up!

We went to the doctor today. Again.  But this time, it was only for a well visit - yay!  Nevermind that Henry tagged along because he's been running a fever since he arrived at school yesterday morning.  Well, we figured out he was running a fever only at school only after he upchucked all over the sidewalk on his way in. But I digress.

Henry loves going to see Dr. G because that means he gets "pop-pops" (lollipops), "steekers" (stickers), and he gets to watch "MEE Mouse" (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).

 Walter could barely contain his excitement.

 We found books with airplanes and trucks in the room - we were entertained for a whole 4 minutes!  Once those got boring, we skipped, marched (while we sang "The Ants Go Marching"), and counted how many jumps it took to go from one side of the room to the other.  <Sigh.> Boys.

 Walter got his measurements, and the first thing Dr. G said when he came through the door was, "Well, I'm concerned about Walter's growth."  My heart hit my stomach and I must have had a dumbfounded look because he quickly grinned and said, "Just kidding!"  Apparently, Walter's working to catch up to his brother.

Walter's 6 month stats:

Weight: 19 lbs, 5 oz. - 79% (up from 48% at his 4 month)

Height: 28.3 in. - 96% (up from 88% at his 4 month)

Head: 18 in. - 96% (up from 87% at his 4 month)

We then got two shots, and I am not exaggerating when I say that he cried for about 3 seconds, and then looked right at the camera with this look:

 Yes, he is that sweet. And that happy. He is the light of my life. I want to kiss that double chin right this very minute, but will refrain since he's sleeping peacefully upstairs.  And unless something weird happens, I don't expect to hear from him until we wake him up at 6:30 a.m. for school. What a rockstar.

We still haven't conquered sitting up on our own.  I tried working with him on it today while I was home with Henry.  I want to make sure he has a little independence, but is also not a danger to himself, so I had him on the floor between my legs so that if he fell back, he'd fall into my lap.  He never really does a face-plant into the floor like Henry did, so I only really worry about him flying backwards and hitting his head.  At one point, I turned to say something to Henry (because he was doing something crazy). I don't really remember what he was doing, but it got Walter all excited, which then caused him to perform some kind of gymnastic/cirque du soleil maneuver where he went from basically sitting cross-legged to launching himself forward (he went from sitting to standing to flying face first) INTO THE BASE OF HIS WALKER! AGH!  I mean he did a face-plant onto his walker.  To say the child cried screamed is an understatement  Poor, poor baby.  I already have one child that's a danger to himself and most around him - now I have TWO!?!?!  Lord help me. I mean that.  That is a written prayer.  He ended up with only a minor bump, but I'm not sure how he doesn't have a permanent dent.  Of course, we do have a helmet appointment on Monday (yes, my child has a flat head - stupid "Back is Best" movement), so they may inform me he has some weird indentation on his forehead when they do the analysis. We'll see!  Until then, I'm going to kiss all over this sweet head in case he needs one and then I'm stuck looking at a helmet head for a few weeks/months.

Underachiever

As soon as we become Moms, we quickly figure out that we're not always going to look, feel, or be 100% put together.  Even if we felt that way pre-baby (thank goodness I didn't - I think this helped me smoothly transition to full acceptance of this fact once the kiddos came along).  We also quickly realize that there are a lot of things out of our control, and we can only make do with what we're given (i.e., the little personalities that come with our children).

For some things, however, we assume things will come easy.  We may not even realize we've made such a rookie mistake until we figure out that these things aren't easy. Or natural.  And for some of us unfortunate suckers, we may have even maintained some pride in certain ideas.  But, as is typical with pride, we're quickly brought down to earth and humbled at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.

That happened to me last Saturday.  We finally got Henry signed up for swim lessons. 

 

We meant to get him signed up at the beginning of the summer, but we looked up and realized it was mid-July before we even got around to researching it (prime example of me not having it all together). Whoops!  I didn't think too much about it - Henry isn't two until October, so we can't be that far behind in getting him signed up, right?!? WRONG! Henry was not only the oldest child in his class (by six months), he was also the farthest behind.  And by farthest behind, he was the only child who had no concept about holding his breath (despite several conversations on this topic with Mom and Dad at the neighborhood pool) or listening to the instructor. 

 Here, the child could have cared less about learning to hold his breath - he was so focused on going down the big kid slide on the other side of the pool (not in the picture).

I was mortified - I'm not exactly sure why, but it was the first time I've gotten that panicky/underachieving/anxious feeling you read about Moms getting when they figure out their kids are behind. And I was TOTALLY not ready for it.  I think I'm prepared for it in some aspects of my children's lives, but I didn't expect it in the athletic department.  Paul and I are pretty athletic, and tend to hold our own in most sports (golf is the one outlier for me).  I always assumed our kids would be the same way, so I never prepared myself for having the one kid who was acting out/whining/incapable of doing what the other kids did physically.  When Henry thought about going under water, he was choking/sputtering/whining.  When the 10-month-old next to him

wanted to go under water, she did. For EIGHT seconds! Ugh.

Needless to say, this experience was a good reminder that everything is not a competition.  Because of the eczema gene in this family, I have no high hopes for being the mother to the next Michael Phelps - our skin does not enjoy being in the water that much!  The entire reason we signed up was for safety reasons. I have a daredevil child that loves water - probably a good plan to teach him how to swim! :)  I am happy to report that during his second lesson today, he didn't whine AND he held his breath under water. Kids are full of surprises, aren't they?

And in case you were wondering, the natural mid-morning activity after swim lessons is to fetch the mop bucket and climb in it. Clearly.

6 Months!

Walter is halfway to his first birthday and I feel like I just delivered him!  It goes SO MUCH faster the second time around, and I want it to go so much slower the second time around.  I want to freeze time rigggghhhhttttt NOW:

Look at those sweet little teeth coming through.  He hasn't cut any more since his first two popped through in a 5-day span, but I'm expecting his top teeth any day now.  We are still drooling constantly, and put anything within arms reach in our mouth.

Other than the few days he was really sick with his ear infections last week, the child still smiles all the time.  I mean, ALL the time.

I can rarely make out his eye color cause his eyes are constantly squished by his giant cheeks from his grins.  This typically results in me getting distracted from whatever I'm in the midst of doing and forces me to stop and kiss all over this kid.  I swear the child gets 50 kisses every hour he spends with me. It doesn't help that he's super ticklish and ends up laughing hysterically.

Walter is absolutely enamored with Henry.  He just can't get enough of him, and Henry has finally started to interact with him in the last month.  It's so precious (an unnerving at times) to watch.  He pretty much ignored Walter his first 3 months of life, acknowledged his existence the next two months, and seems to actually like him beginning about a month ago.  I mean, clearly, we should rip the sticker off the chair and put it on Walter's head.

 Now Henry's head (which Walter eventually thinks is hilarious...?).

 Now back to the chair.

 And then we asked him to kiss Walter's forehead.  Somehow, that turned into an almost violent headbutt...

 Followed by a kiss on the mouth (no wonder they both got sick).  Paul grinned really big when he saw this picture and said, "Oooooo.... they're going to HATE this picture in a few years." Ha!

 And while Paul and I almost panicked by the headbutt/kiss moment, Walter laughed for a solid 30 seconds after. And Henry was quite proud of himself.  Goobers.

We followed our photo shoot to a trip down to the Master bathroom for bath time since I'm in the midst of redecorating their bathroom.  Henry proceeded to entertain Walter while we waiting for the bath to run.

Love those laughs!  I'm so blessed to have another little human filling my house with laughter and utter joy over nonsensical activities, such as jumping on an unmade bed!

I suspect this next month is going to be a blast.  We've started Walter on some real food, and so far, he's a fan of applesauce and bananas.  We'll see if he attempts to be a picky eater like Henry.  Poor kid tries to be picky but he has an equal match in stubbornness with me. I don't have the time or patience for a picky eater. Humph.