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we did it! last night we went to the columbus clipper's game & we even stayed for most of the game! we had our girls & then my brother's twins. you would think that a ratio of 8 adults to 4 kids would be a good one. it helped, but the kids won out eventually (we left early). highlights? well, there was this huge jumping-room thing for the kids. pay $1 for 3 minutes of pure jumping joy. then the kid must exit jumping thing. if the kid is adeline, the kid will NOT want to exit & will crouch in the corner of the jumping thing & scream like her life is ending. of course, grandma is with her & is not the most excited about crawling into the jumping thing to retrieve screaming child, especially since she had amelia with her. thankfully, uncle cal was walking by & offered to go in & grab screaming banshee child who is making quite a scene. (the dude running the jumping thing asked cal: are you her dad? of course, cal is not but somehow the guy let cal take her with a simple 'i'm her uncle'... not sure how i feel about this, know what i mean? could anyone have said 'i'm her uncle' & taken a screaming kid away? so glad it was cal, anyway.) wes & i were watching the game! (no worries, we soon resumed our parental duties). as usual, i have inundated you with pictures:
aunt kristi getting some amelia lovin'
the not-so-smiling mascot.
aunt kristi getting some amelia lovin'
the not-so-smiling mascot.
chloe & zoe, the smiling mascots
addy is so grown upOR
big body, little girl head.
millie is a fan of baseball! the older gentleman sitting beside me, while i was holding the clapping & shouting baby turned to me after millie had *thrown* her rattle maraca at him (& as i tensely awaited his reaction, is he friend or foe of babies?). anyway, he turned to me with a smile & the maraca & said 'she throws better than half of those guys out there, get her a uniform!' (*mama sigh of relief, he's a friend of babies)
millie also got a heat rash yesterday, which didn't freak us out at first, but as it continues to come & go & then get worse, then much worse, we are starting to worry. we gave her a dose of benedryl to hopefully help the healing...nose shot of cal & kristi & my dad.
part of the fam (left - right): cal (my brother in law), my dad, my brother, leila (sis in law), uh, chloe & zoe (i am a terrible aunt & can not for the life of me tell them apart).
cousin hugs!
the clippers did NOT win. ah well. when we left (top of 7th inning?) i believe it was 11 to 0. oops.
prior to the game, we all met at our house for some pizza & to ready ourselves for what we were about to do: take 4 kids 2 & under to a minor league baseball game. nope, we didn't need beer (yet) either. we needed our wits about us, lol.here is 3 of the adults pushing 3 of the kids on the swings.
(aunt) leila holding the baby amelia.
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my parents came here friday morning to take care of the girls during the garage sale. here is a peek into their fun times (hint: dora is on tv).
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& this, my friends, is what adeline & i created a few days ago. it is titled "daddy at work"
& this, my friends, is what adeline & i created a few days ago. it is titled "daddy at work"
& yes, that would be wes, the weird smiling thing in the open window. this was addy's idea, i promise.the stupid freakin annoying fuchsia hollyhocks. grrr.
little bear playing the emotion game with adeline & i. she is *surprised!*
adeline playing the emotion game. she is *sad*
***
so since i last posted, i have put together a garage sale, sold nearly nothing during the 7 hours of garage sale operation, & then torn down that stupid garage sale. we made about $80-some dollars (if you count what my friend judy owes me still, ahem, lol). it's really a good thing that this garage sale wasn't about making money!!! b/c we didn't. what was it for, then, you may be wondering? distraction. & for that, it worked beautifully!
i went through the first 12 months of baby clothes. remembered all the times they wore this or that & where & when that certain stain came from. i put aside some of my mama-favorites, like the squirrel outfit adeline had & the 'love me' super soft outfit millie wore most of the first month. i put aside the first outfits grandparents purchased for the newbies & then also some outfits just in case my sister does have a kid in the next decade.
i am not so much an emotional person over things like that. for instance, during our wedding ceremony, wes was the one crying. i get upset over travesties of life (like harold) or a child/baby/anyone dying or being terminally ill, i cry over heart wrenching movies & when my adeline gives me that garbled up 'i love you' sound. but not over certain things that others do. so i didn't cry watching the very few people who did buy our clothes walk away with our memories. b/c the clothes are just that, memories. & hey, we have pictures right? well, for freaks sake, we have the kids still, that's enough for me.
i did love organizing the clothes & cleaning out the garage. what i didn't love is waiting & waiting for people to show up. then when certain people did & saw it was obviously a baby sale, & then quickly turned around to walk away or the quick drive by's...not that pissed me off. i was on the verge of throwing tiny pebbles at them *smile*. but i didn't. so within 1 hour of shutting the garage door, all the stuff was dropped off at 'once upon a child' & is awaiting our pick up to see how much stuff they didn't buy. at which point i will post those on free-cycle or give to certain ladies-in-waiting expecting girls. i called our local once upon a child store & wow those ladies are gummmp-y! yikes. i wanted to know how much they give for onesies & such. she said something along the lines of 'we're full, maybe you should wait until july' to which i replied 'well, i just want it gone, so are you buying or not?' (i said this in a nice voice) & she replied 'yes, of course' & i was like 'uh, okay, we're bringing our stuff then...' ??? but they refused our bouncy seats b/c they are 'so full' blah blah blah. so we have some bouncy seats! i think i'm going to try craigslist...
at any rate, what shall i do next? the way i explained this to some people this week, this urge i have right now to hunker down in my house & organize or clean or purge things: it's like nesting at the end of a pregnancy. i want to have pictures up of the girls, i want our bedroom finished (complete with pictures of the girls, lol), i want our basement organized & our garage cleaned & our windows washed. i dunno, this may sound crazy to some. but the less i focus on harold & the upcoming surgery, the less anxious i am, the better mom & wife i am. there is a time each day, or several times, that i let myself sink into the thought of this tumor. then i cry & try not to let myself think of all the possible outcomes of surgery (or the much higher death rate if surgery is not chosen). my mom called this 'mourning', taking time to mourn the loss of this part of my life, this short while & then move on from those thoughts.
i usually am not a busy person. a perfect vacation to me is finding a place to sit in the middle of some sort of beautiful/stunning nature scene & not moving for quite a while (usually a book would accompany this not moving part). so this whole business of being busy is unusual to me & is possibly wearing me out, but the other option of freaking out on a near constant basis is much less appealing. so what's in my plans for the next few weeks?
we also checked off our to-do list getting the grandparent visits organized & scheduled for around harold-abduction time. it's a relief to have that done.
gah, enough of harold-esque situations!
phew, long post.
i went through the first 12 months of baby clothes. remembered all the times they wore this or that & where & when that certain stain came from. i put aside some of my mama-favorites, like the squirrel outfit adeline had & the 'love me' super soft outfit millie wore most of the first month. i put aside the first outfits grandparents purchased for the newbies & then also some outfits just in case my sister does have a kid in the next decade.
i am not so much an emotional person over things like that. for instance, during our wedding ceremony, wes was the one crying. i get upset over travesties of life (like harold) or a child/baby/anyone dying or being terminally ill, i cry over heart wrenching movies & when my adeline gives me that garbled up 'i love you' sound. but not over certain things that others do. so i didn't cry watching the very few people who did buy our clothes walk away with our memories. b/c the clothes are just that, memories. & hey, we have pictures right? well, for freaks sake, we have the kids still, that's enough for me.
i did love organizing the clothes & cleaning out the garage. what i didn't love is waiting & waiting for people to show up. then when certain people did & saw it was obviously a baby sale, & then quickly turned around to walk away or the quick drive by's...not that pissed me off. i was on the verge of throwing tiny pebbles at them *smile*. but i didn't. so within 1 hour of shutting the garage door, all the stuff was dropped off at 'once upon a child' & is awaiting our pick up to see how much stuff they didn't buy. at which point i will post those on free-cycle or give to certain ladies-in-waiting expecting girls. i called our local once upon a child store & wow those ladies are gummmp-y! yikes. i wanted to know how much they give for onesies & such. she said something along the lines of 'we're full, maybe you should wait until july' to which i replied 'well, i just want it gone, so are you buying or not?' (i said this in a nice voice) & she replied 'yes, of course' & i was like 'uh, okay, we're bringing our stuff then...' ??? but they refused our bouncy seats b/c they are 'so full' blah blah blah. so we have some bouncy seats! i think i'm going to try craigslist...
at any rate, what shall i do next? the way i explained this to some people this week, this urge i have right now to hunker down in my house & organize or clean or purge things: it's like nesting at the end of a pregnancy. i want to have pictures up of the girls, i want our bedroom finished (complete with pictures of the girls, lol), i want our basement organized & our garage cleaned & our windows washed. i dunno, this may sound crazy to some. but the less i focus on harold & the upcoming surgery, the less anxious i am, the better mom & wife i am. there is a time each day, or several times, that i let myself sink into the thought of this tumor. then i cry & try not to let myself think of all the possible outcomes of surgery (or the much higher death rate if surgery is not chosen). my mom called this 'mourning', taking time to mourn the loss of this part of my life, this short while & then move on from those thoughts.
i usually am not a busy person. a perfect vacation to me is finding a place to sit in the middle of some sort of beautiful/stunning nature scene & not moving for quite a while (usually a book would accompany this not moving part). so this whole business of being busy is unusual to me & is possibly wearing me out, but the other option of freaking out on a near constant basis is much less appealing. so what's in my plans for the next few weeks?
- finishing our bedroom
- pictures
- ikea trip (to help finish our bedroom...they have this hamper... & their picture frames are a deal)
- trip *somewhere* alone with hubby
- clean basement
- set up a daily schedule for adeline to follow. (this was recommended by our pediatrician as a way for her to cope with being moved from grandma to grandma & being out of her house for awhile & then also suddenly have her main caretaker -me- switched to her grandmas. it will be complete with pictures & rewards & snack breaks & such. wes is excited to help set it up & print it off).in between that would be a 4th of july out of town (w/ my parents & nieces) & a few gatherings with friends here & there.
- 4th of july in ashland w/ parents & nieces & brother & sis in law.
we also checked off our to-do list getting the grandparent visits organized & scheduled for around harold-abduction time. it's a relief to have that done.
gah, enough of harold-esque situations!
phew, long post.
