Kids

Let’s be honest.  You don’t want to hear my tirades on this blog.  BOR-ING.   You want to read about the kids, right?  Well, here is some kid news.  The girls had their 5 & 7 yr. check up today.  Elyse is in the 15% for height and 25% for weight.  OK, maybe that’s not really news.  We knew she was small, and really what hope does the poor kid have?  Chris’ mom is my height, my paternal grandmother is shorter than me.  We have a lot of short jeans (I mean genes, but jeans too–I always have to find the “short” size).  Camille is in the 50% for height (does this mean she may be a normal heighted adult??) and 75% for weight.  That  is weird…she seems perfectly svelt to me, but whatever.  She and Elyse are just 3 lbs apart.  No wonder they can wear the same clothes!  The nurse said that based on Elyse’s current growth and the booster seat requirements she would probably be in a booster seat until she’s 10 yrs old.  Wow.  She is small but strong.  She got a hepititus A shot today and didn’t even flinch.  She bravely hopped up on the examing table and got her shot like an adult.  I was completely impressed.  This from my girl who, if I recall just 6 months ago, had to be dragged in to the doctors for a flu shot.  Camille lucked out today because for some reason her medical file didn’t get transferred from Cleveland and so they weren’t sure what shots she needed and what she already had.  She will have to go back another day.  One little snipit about Camille though.  She had a pair of underwear that she couldn’t wear anymore.  SO, my little 5 yr old clothing designer took scissors to the underwear and created a hankerchif for her bear, and then tied it around its neck.  Then she tied a scrap piece of fabric around the bear for a shirt and drew a belt on it, made a lasso out of ribbon, then secured the bear to her pony on a stick, and voila, her own “Build a Bear Cowboy”.  That is my girl.  How about the little guy?  Well, Harry is happiest outside.  He crawls around the deck, knows how to navigate down the stairs safely by crawling feet first on his belly, and then climbs up to the play area to examine the rocks.  Doesn’t seem to mind the hard rocks as he crawls, or being covered in tree pollen or being wet from the previous night’s rainfall.  For the first time when I put him down he actually stood unsupported on his own today.  That was fun.  But, I don’t think he’ll walk before his birthday.  He is very strong with his “K” sound…says “caw caw” for crows, “cack cack” for cracker, “key key” for monkey blanket, and “key key” for kitty too (have to use the context to decipher those 2 words).  Da da is still his favorite,  “mma mma” when he is sad, and “ba ba” when he just wants to be cute.  He signs more  and all done at meals and likes most foods we give him. He seems like he wants to eat like his sisters though, with a bowl/plate and spoon/fork.  This is all fine and good until he is suddenly done and throws the entire plate of food or bowl of sticky oatmeal onto the floor.  I need a splat mat.  Maybe I’ll get him that for his birthday:)  or a water table…nah.  He’d probably much rather have the splat mat because he knows that will keep his mommy’s nice wood floor cleaner.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what he wants…

OK, so my last post is dated April 17.  I have no idea what today is, but I’m pretty sure that the 17th was a while ago.  I don’t know what day it is because it doesn’t really matter–all my days are the same, all I do is clean up the kitchen, meal after meal, and wash laundry, load after load.  OH, and I also don’t know what day it is because this $%^&*(O computer says it’s Sat. January 1, 2000.  I also don’t know what year it is, but I’m certain it’s not 2000!!  This g-d computer has been set and reset and it still tells me that today is January 1st 2000.  I am out of patience.  I know Chris needs down time when he gets home from work,and on the weekends, but can I please have a functioning computer??  Don’t buy me one, just fix the broken one.  That one has yoga videos on it that I like, and doesn’t missfire emails after only 3 or 4 words in the subject.  I just sent an email to 2 friends saying “I was hoping”.  That is it.  I was hoping.  That is the story of my life.  I was hoping…
Anyway, on to more positive things.  In addition to the fact that it is difficult for me to blog on this piece of crap, I also have been a little too busy to blog because my friend Heather and her daughter Mackenna (4) were here visiting last week.  They arrived on Tues night and flew back to Albany on Sun, but we packed a lot into those 4 days.  We went downtown 3 times!  That’s as many times as I had gone since I moved here.  I gotta get out more.  We went to Pike Place Market, we went to the aquarium, and we went to the Children’s Museum.   We got to do a little shopping at REI and Old Navy. Mackenna went to school with Camille one morning.  The girls got along beautifully, although there was a bit of difficulty when Elyse was around because Camille felt like Mackenna liked Elyse better…but that’s just Camille.  Later on she said “I really like Mackenna even though she sometimes likes Ellie better”.  Heather was really good at taking pictures while she was here…so you can view all 222 pictures on picasa.  You’ll have to copy & paste this because I don’t know how to make it an actual link because I am technologically challenged.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.browder/HeatherSVisit

Aside from one drizzly morning, the weather was really pretty nice considering the forcast called for rain every day.  I think that’s Seattle’s strategy.  Forcast rain, and then if other weather arrives instead will be a pleasant surprise.  Works for me.  I’m always greatful for a sunny day.  Camille and I sat outside this afternoon and read.  Harry crawled around the back and front yard while I pulled weeds later in the day.  I need a sign that says:  Sunshine always welcome here!  But I digress.  There are 2 important things I realized while Heather was here.
1.  It is hard to be a good tour guide when you yourself don’t really know your way around the city.  At one point I missed the exit and cut across 4 lanes of traffic to get off at Mercer St. which was the next exit but on the left side of the highway.  Gotta love those left side exit ramps just to confuse the dumb lady from Ohio.  I was the blind leading the blind, but lugging a baby and constantly checking my watch.  It is also very hard to be a good tour guide when you have a baby who naps both in the morning and the afternoon (in his crib), a preschooler who has to be taken and picked up from school 4 out of 5 weekday mornings, and a 1st grader who needs to be met at the bus at 10 til 4.  Needless to say we didn’t have very big windows of time to explore the city.  Heather was such a good sport about all of this.  She couldn’t have been any more easy going or accommodating.
2.  The other thing I realized is that Chris is right (well, not about everything, but 1 thing).  He has said before that whenever the kids act up I always say that they are tired or hungry.  I have very little expectations of my kids if I think they are tired or hungry.  Heather, on the other hand, never let this be an excuse for Mackenna.  Bless her heart, Heather does a very thorough job of making sure Mackenna is never hungry.  She is always trying to get her to eat, although it was funny at one point because Mackenna was actually hungry at one point in trip and was very surprised by this.  But my real point is that Mackenna got very little sleep while she was here and Heather never once let her get away with using a mean tone of voice, or whining, or any other bad behavior which I would have surely let slide.  I was so impressed with her firmness, her calm but consistant approach to these behaviors.  It was inspiring.  It is so great to be able to learn and watch from another very competent and confident parent.  I hope I can replicate her technique.
Speaking of parenting, I am going to put a link here to my favorite new parenting blog.  My friend Elizabeth has a friend Katie, who I have had the pleasure of hanging out with on several different occasions.  Katie’s blog is what I look forward to each day.  She makes me laugh.  SO, all you parents, if you’re knee deep in kids and need a break, check it out.
http://monkeymamablog.wordpress.com

Spring break recap

It’s already thursday, and I’ve been meaning to recap our spring break since my last entry, but I am dealing with a completely SUB-par laptop.  My old one, or I should say Chris’ old one he handed down to me is broken, and so I’m using an even slower, smaller laptop which, I’m greatful for, but also completely frustrated by at the same time.  It’s better than nothing, but some of the keys are in weird places, and I frequently have to reboot, and wait too long for it to pull up an application, etc. and since my computer time is limited, I just don’t have the time to deal with its ideosyncracies 9 out of 10 times.  So I use it for bare minimum stuff like when I really need an email fix, and then hope for an opportunity to borrow Chris’ work laptop to do anything  and everything else. 
SO our spring break was quiet and relatively uneventful.  We didn’t do much.  We had beautiful weather the first couple of days and so the kids played outside.  I made the mistake of taking all 3 kids to Costco the first day.  HELLO!!?  Costco is a nightmere without kids.  Usually Chris goes after he plays soccer on Sat. morning and I complain that he is gone all Sat. morning.   But, the truth be told I should actually PAY him to go because I hate going.  It takes too long to get through there, and the quantities are big and HEAVY which is hard to manage when I am also carrying Harry who has, 5 minutes into the shopping trip, decided that sitting in the shopping cart sucks and would much rather me hold him.  I actually will bite my tongue next time I want to complain about Chris being gone Sat. morning until 11:30 am.  I think he even likes going?  Bless him.
So the second day was so gorgeous (weather wise) and since I forgot bananas at Costco and needed to buy Harry’s baby yogurt (which Costco doesn’t sell) we decided to walk to the neighborhood grocery.  The getting there and back actually went beautifully, but I had to spend 99 cents/lb. on bananas which was difficult to swallow.   I think at Costco you get a bunch of them for a buck or something.  The girls each ate one on the way home (so did Harry) and everyone was happy, so I guess a 50 cent banana  is an ok splurge so that I can enjoy a walk with my 3 kids, right?  That afternoon my neighbor came over with her 3 yr old and the girls played outside.
I don’t really remember Wed or Thurs but Friday we went over to the neighbor’s for dinner and that was fun.  They have  a 9 month old daughter(who by the way naps 6 hours/day and sleeps 12 hrs. at night, uninterrupted) in addition to three yr. old Ava.  The girls love playing with Ava and don’t seem to care that she is quite a bit younger than they are.  The child has an attention span of a 6 yr. old (she sits and reads to herself for 20-30 min. at a time) and I’d like to say that it is because of the factors above that their house is IMMACULATE.  We are having them for a cookout on Sat. night.  It will take me all day to get ready and I will still not be near as tidy and uncluttered as she is.
Sat. the girls went to the neighborhood egg hunt at the park (lame– but they liked it) and then we all went to the Fox Hollow Equestrian Farm in the next town over for another hunt.  There was the promise of inflatables and baby farm animals in addition to 2000 “hidden” (they use that term VERY loosely) eggs.  As it turned out, out of the hundreds of people there, we ended up standing next to a fellow 1st grader, Lydia, from Elyse’s school who she knew, waiting for the egg hunt to begin.   Lydia has a sister Claire who will be in Kindergarden with Camille next yr. so she at least knows 1 girl at her school now.  But I digress.  The farm was gorgeous (see a couple of pics http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.browder/Easter09# but the pics. don’t do it justice).  It was nestled between two ridges covered in evergreens and the landscaping was lovely.  It was very pretty even despite the grey weather.  Unfortunately the inflatables were really wet and so the girls opted out (they didn’t want to have to wear wet clothes).  The farm animals were fun though.  There was a huge clidesdale horse  and a miniature pony, and baby chicks , ducklings and bunnies (I got to hold one and the girls pettedit).  I liked that Harry actually got to see real farm animals so that when we play with his toy farm animals he has some point of reference.  He now makes a duck sound “Cack, cack cack” which is pretty cute.
Easter eve I spent at Target, Rite Aid, and OshKosh trying to find stuff for Easter baskets.  (Yes, I should have done this weeks ago, but that is not how I opperate.  For example, I bought the b-day present for todays party this morning on the way to drop off Camille at preschool).  It was all I could do to put the baskets together after hours of wandering around aimlessly trying to find stuff that was inexpensive, but not cheap crap.  I was exhausted and went to bed at 9:30 and didn’t hide eggs.  I hoped by going to bed early I would wake up early and have time in the morning.  NOPE.  Still tired in the morning. Luckily the girls were tired too so Chris was able to hide the hard boiled eggs while I fed Harry.  But it was a bit chaotic trying to get all 5 of us ready for the 9 am Easter service and hunt eggs, and look in their Easter baskets (not that there was much in those).  We made it, but on the way home the girls started to talk about how the real Easter bunny had probably come while we were at church to hide the candy filled eggs.  Uh oh.  We have a problem.   We didn’t hide any candy filled eggs.  My sister said last year Elyse seemed to be getting wise to the fact that the Easter bunny was actually M&D.  SO, when I accidentlly slipped first thing that morning and said “Daddy did a lousy job hiding the eggs” I didn’t worry too much about ruining their innocence.  Hmm, how to try to restore their innocence??  Lucky for me I’m pretty clever.  I had the girls clean up the family room while I sent Daddy upstairs to hide the eggs in the girls bedrooms.  I think it worked.  They were pretty excited about the bunny coming and we just said “we were in such a big hurry getting ready for church that we didn’t even think to look upstairs”.  Who knew the REAL Easter bunny only hides candy filled plastic eggs??!!
Fast forward to today.  Chris worked from home.  I spent 2 hours in the car shuttling Camille to and from school and then to and from the above mentioned b-day party at 321 BOUNCE.  Too much time in the car on a beautiful day.  BUT, since Chris worked from home, I had the pleasure of going for a run all by myself!!  while Harry took his morning nap.  No stroller, no kids, just me and my mp3player.  I got to see 2 mountain ranges, 2 lakes, 2 city skylines, and SUN.  That made the day GOOD.

Hunts

I could write about the wonderful Easter meal (oh wait, we didn’t have one–I don’t like ham), or the beautiful trupets that played at church (didn’t have that either), or all of the warm sunshine we enjoyed (nope-rain) but what I really need to express is my utter frustration at egg hunts. They call them Easter Egg Hunts right?  But there is absolutely NO HUNTING at these things.  They practically dump the eggs in a grassy spot and call it a hunt.  It takes all of 2 seconds to find bright pink, yellow, blue and even green eggs lying in the grass.  I mean, aren’t we doing these kids a bit of a disservice here?  Let’s give the kids a little credit shouldn’t we?  I mean, I know a lot of kids will probably cry and whine if they don’t find an egg, but isn’t the fun in searching and finding the really hard ones?  Even Harry could go around a grassy field and put eggs in a basket, and he’s not even one yet.  But some of these kids are 5 and even 7 and should be made to dig around a little, lift things up and look underneath things, maybe even (dare I say it) climb a tree branch to reach a high one??!!  No, probably someone would fall and then the neighborhood association who puts on the egg hunt would get sued.   (Did you know even neighborhood associations have insurance to protect them from this sort of senselessness??)  I am afraid I sould like my mother, but even I am annoyed.  Must we CODDLE them so??  Next thing we know they will be wearing helmits to the egg hunts so they don’t get injured knocking each other in the head while scrambling on the ground to grab their eggs.

Chris’ B-day

We spent 1 1/2 hrs. in the car to arrive at just the right spot for Chris’ b-day picnic lunch.  We went to Federation Forest which is one of Washington’s State Parks south of where we live.  The drive was long, but the sunny spot where we picnicked was warm and the short hike was very beautiful. 
http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.browder/DaddyBirthday#

When we got back Chris grilled and we ate an early dinner on the back deck.  Then we finished with cake and ice cream.  I think Chris had a good 40th b-day despite the fact that he had to do a couple of chores before the girls went to bed.  He had to hang Camille’s new shelf, and Elyse’s  bed canopy.  For that, he got an extra couple of scoops of  mint chocolate chip ice cream with extra chocolate chips on top before bed!

(oh and yeah, he’s only 35–I was just joking about the 40th birthday part).

Elyse Birthday

http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.browder/ElyseBirthdayParty

On April 1st we woke up to snow–not a funny April Fool’s Day joke.  April 2nd (Elyse’s actual birthday) it poured just about all day.  BUT, we were blessed today with absolutely beautiful weather for Elyse’s birthday party.  6 of Elyse’s friends came over for pizza, a scavenger hunt in the neighborhood, hoola hooping, dancing and cake.  We spent the entire 2 hour party outside.  It was great.  I think the kids had fun too.  Elyse got many Littlest Pet Shop pets and I think Camille was as excited or more about the new toys.  Really the pictures show everything best.
In other news, Camille has given up sleeping with her bunny blanket.  She has gone several nights blanket free, and got a special shelf today at Ikea for her bunny to sit on.   

Harry gave me my first real conscious hug, a long hug, and when I looked at him afterwards he was smiling.   He also likes feeding me bunny grahams (unless it’s the last one–that makes him cry, oops).  He closes his fist up so tight and I have to dig into his fist with my mouth in order to eat the graham cracker and he laughs and laughs.    These moments are worth more to me than any paycheck at any job could ever pay.