Pix

Well,  I officially outgrew my album for 2011.  So, I now have two albums to divide it into.  It's kind of exciting to me to think that I have that many memories of the year.  I am already thinking of how I want to change things a little for 2012, but I am definitely going to continue the process. Unfortunately, I've been a real picture slacker this week so I need to get back on it!

Here are a few of my recent faves:

The baby elephant at the zoo.  The boys and I went the day Dave left for his lake trip.  It was my attempt at diverting and wearing them out.

Cherry tomatoes from our garden, cradled in sweet little hands.

S'mores caramel corn.  No explanation necessary.

At the fair.  Seth and Luke enjoyed touching all of the animals.

Seth's first day of school.  Actually, Seth's first few minutes of kindergarten.  We were asked to drop him off in the car line, but then we could meet him in his classroom for pictures.  I love his sweet expression of genuine joy to be back at it.

Some days, it is just too much trouble to stay awake for lunch.  I feel like, with school starting and a little schedule change here and there, we are all living life in this ready-to-crash mode.  Hoping we get adjusted quickly. 

My Grandma and Dad at their birthday party.  Their special days are just one day apart so the whole fam went out to dinner - 17 of us.  Well, 16 of us and Luke, who accounted for about 4 extra kids that night.  He was in rare form and we didn't last the whole time. 

Luke, waiting for the cookies to bake in the oven.

PTSD?

Well, the computer has been down more than it has been up lately.  I have been frustrated, annoyed, and now scared to even use it for fear of breaking it again.  Argh.  As a result, there are many fun things to catch up and, probably, some honest thoughts to share.  But, for the moment, this is what's on my mind (or in my gut). 

Six years ago Hurricane Katrina ravaged the southern portion of the US and every news story was about the death, destruction, sadness, etc.  I was barely pregnant with Seth and so very sick - puking many times a day for weeks and weeks.  Ick. I didn't realize how much these events were linked in my head (gut?). 

But now as part of the country braces for a possible hurricane, everytime I see a hurricane related news story, I can feel that same sick feeling in my stomach.  I am not (I repeat am NOT) pregnant.  And I do not feel sick to the point of actually puking.  It's just very very odd to me that just a news story can cause those sorts of feelings.

I am not minimizing 'real' post traumatic stress whatsoever.  Actually, as long as I'm sharing...

When I worked for the prosecutor's office, one of our courtrooms was this little tiny oddly placed room.  We were all in court one day.  The judge sat at a long narrow table just one step up from everyone else.  The bailiff sat to his right and the paralegal sat immediately to his left and I was seated the next seat over, at the end of the table.  The prosecutor (not me, I was still in school) stood in front of the judge with the parties.  As we sat there we could hear glass shattering.  It's a busy building and that seemed odd but didn't directly affect us so we just went on.  Then all of a sudden there was a loud disturbance in the room next to us.  That room was accessible via a never-used door right by my chair.  There was a different door that was actually used by the public to enter our courtroom.  At that point, the prosecutor - a big guy - walked over to open the door and see what was going on next door.  From my chair by the door I had a front row seat of a handful of deputies, guns drawn, attempting to apprehend the defendent (from a different courtroom) who had just ran through a locked glass door and was attempting to throw himself out of a closed second story window. 

All that to say, for the longest time any kind of breaking glass absolutely freaked me out.  And no, neither of those stories has any point, but it's my blog - I can do that, right?  How about you?  Any PTSD you'd like to share?

I'm here, I'm here....

Yikes!  I guess it's not really been that long since I last blogged.  It just feels like forever because I was unable to, maybe?

See, my computer died.  And while I could spend lots of time here droning on about how much I dislike the company that makes our computer or our internet provider, I'll skip that and opt to be a nicer person.

So, what have you all missed in my absence?  Not much really.  Dave got his little vacation/escape/guys' trip to the lake.  I actually found it was MUCH easier for me to solo parent for those few days knowing that Dave had just survived the same thing.  However, in addition to Dave being gone, my sister and her family went on vacation and my parents joined them for a couple of days.  All of these vacations overlapped so I was completely solo for a few days.  It was during that time that the computer/internet stopped working!  Argh - no one to call and I couldn't even socially network.  Thankfully, Lynette and her kiddos came over one day which definitely broke up the boring (thank you!!).

So, now we're up and running and I have about seven posts swirling around in my head, which will likely never be posted.  Maybe written, but never posted.  I do a lot of that - therapeutic writing, only to delete it later.  Who knows?  Maybe someday I'll get brave and post them. 

But, for now, I'm just going to share some photos of a recent outing (?) that the boys enjoyed with David...

Setting up camp.  Notice the extremely rustic conditions of our backyard.  Hey, the boys didn't care where the tent was, just that it was a tent!

Welcome to my humbe abode...

Really?  I thought dirt was required in a tent.  I guess in my story it's the Prince and the Pea.

Time for bed!  Please ignore that the boys are wearing Christmas pajamas.  Oh, and I'm sorry I forgot to photograph myself, sitting in my bed, painting my toenails and reading while Max slept in his crib in his bedroom and Dave texted me from the tent.  Guess he's not used to a 10:00 bedtime (a little late for the boys, but I guess they were all compromising).

No boys allowed!

So, my honey runs away once or twice a year.  No girls allowed.  Usually it's a nice lake house with lots of guys or Vegas for basketball tournaments.  A couple of the other guys' wives and I are good friends and usually we just complain about how the guys get to have all the fun.  Well, David decided it was our turn (LOVE that he decided and that I needed to be talked into it, not the other way around).  Of course, now I have to just smile and nod next time he wants to go, but I can live with that!  We finally decided on Chicago as our destination and with much planning, e-mailing, and a playdate for 6 kids, found a few days that worked for the three of us girls.

We set out a little after 11 last Wednesday morning.  About time to go I decided I felt sick and would just stay home - ha ha!  I've never left Max overnight and I've only left Luke overnight to go to the hospital to have Max.  But, I did have to leave Seth for five days when he was about 16 months old.  Because of that, I knew that once I was gone and wasn't somewhere the boys had been with me, it would be okay.  And I was right.  But, walking out that door was ROUGH! 

So, what do three moms do on vacation?  Here's a brief recap:

Wednesday - leave home and drive to Chicago.  Stop for a quick lunch on the way and stare at fast food menu, clueless as to how to choose our own meal rather than order it as an afterthought once the kids meals are squared away.  Check into hotel.  Iron clothes [this was when I realized that I don't relax well - my two friends are sitting there doing nothing and I'm ironing!].  Take a little self-guided tour of the hotel.  Get cleaned up a bit.  Head out to wait for a trolley to Navy Pier, stopping off at the [free] manager's reception for some snacks.  Melt into a puddle of sweat Glisten while waiting for the trolley to Navy Pier.  Ride non-air conditioned trolley to Navy Pier and melt a bit more consider kissing the person who invented air conditioning.  Arrive at Navy Pier and marvel at how much cooler it is by the water.  Shop.  Enjoy dinner looking out at the boats on the water.  Shop some more.  Share a funnel cake.  Watch really pretty fireworks over the water.  Grab a cab back to the hotel.  Get comfy and rent a movie.  Go to bed really late.  Awaken in middle of night to trash truck (?) picking up trash, outside of window, five stories down.  Resist urge to yell, "Boys, it's the trash truck."  Ugh.  Back to sleep.

The boys on my first night away.  I had recorded a book for them so I could still "read" them a bedtime story.  David did the same thing for his last trip. 

Thursday - sleep, glorious sleep.  Enjoy complimentary (warm) breakfast at hotel.  Discover that I eat a lot of ketchup.  Hmm.  Back to room to do nothing.  I started to improve at this 'task.'  We had decided to go to a play Thursday night so we spent some time researching our options, buying tickets and deciding where to eat dinner.  Then we sat around and read.  My super fabulous husband got me a Nook a few weeks ago so it was loaded up with books and games, plus the hotel had free wifi for the summer.  The Nook is the coolest thing ever.  But, I digress.  Next up was a little walk/jog on the treadmill.  Yes, *I* got on the treadmill on vacation.  Then back to the room where I crawled into my bed - in the middle of the afternoon - to read.  Did I mention it was the middle of the day?  Insanity!  Later, get all cleaned up and dressed up a bit and head out to the theater to see "Peter Pan."  Worry a bit as we arrive at theater that it's an odd looking tent-like place.  Replace worry with awe and really enjoy the production - round stage/theater, lots of flying, humorous spin on the story, etc.  Take cab to dinner, reservations at 9:45 - white tablecloths and waiters in tuxes, appetizers and dinner and dessert.  Mmmmm...   Back to hotel to read a bit and sleep!  Repeat trash truck experience from night before.

Friday - up at a reasonable time.  Breakfast at the hotel again and then out shopping!  Oh, with a quick stop at Starbucks.  It was attached to the hotel.  It had to be done.  We were just two blocks from Michigan Avenue so it didn't take us long to get started.  First up - Crate and Barrel.  Then spent lots of time digging at Filene's Basement.  Wound up with a junk jewelry bracelet and pajamas for the boys (yeah, I know how to live it up).  Wandered into lots of other little places along the way.  Late lunch of "real" Chicago style deep dish pizza.  Offered to cut up someone's food so I didn't forget how.  Both friends declined the offer.  Then lots more walking so we would be hungry enough for dessert.  Stand in a long (but totally worth it) line at Garrett's popcorn for caramel crisp popcorn with cashews.  Great dessert  On to Hershey's store for a peanut butter chocolate cupcake and cold glass of milk for dessert.  Then a bit more shopping.  Finally, after all that shopping and eating, back to the hotel room for a little resting/reading/regretting - not what I purchased, but what I didn't purchase (of course, something for the older boys).  Then some room service for dinner and a trip to the hot tub for our weary legs.  Watched another movie and then went to bed really really late!

Apparently I wasn't the only one indulging in food.  Powdered donuts.  And a smirky smile.

Saturday - up at a reasonable time.  Laid in bed for awhile thinking about whether or not I still wanted to go back and get what I didn't get the day before (it's a Christmas gift so I'll just be vague).  Decided I did.  Got up and got ready and packed and skipped breakfast with my friends, opted instead to walk back over to Michigan Ave and grab what I wanted.  Might have stopped at Starbucks again on the way back.  Got back from my little excursion to hear that they had deactivated our room keys (almost 2 hours before check out time) while the others were at breakfast and they had had to hang out in the hallway waiting for someone to fix the situation.  Then we headed home, stopping at McDonald's on the way home (had to ease back into the mom thing).  I love vacations, but when it's time to be home I have NO patience for travelling.  When it's over, I just want it to be over and be home! 

I even returned home to a mostly clean house, nearly all the laundry done (except what I brought home, of course), two bouquets of flowers, and lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles.