A Case of the Mondays

This past Monday was one of those days I should have never left the house. I had decided the night before that I would take the girls to get their pictures "professionally" taken, because Sonya had the day off of school for a teacher work day. It is always better to do these things in the morning. Most of the time. I usually get their pictures done twice a year. Once in their Christmas dresses and then in their Easter dresses, and hadn't had a chance to do the later yet. I would love to have someone come over to the house and take their pictures, or go someplace better, but I just go to Sears. I know, my brother-in-law just cringed at that last sentence. It's too bad he doesn't live closer, because he's a fantastic photographer. And I know he's shaking his head right now and mumbling something about if we didn't live on the "wrong coast". I would just like to point out that WE didn't have to shovel snow out of our driveway for the last 5 months just to go get groceries.

Anyway-I booked an appointment at 11am figuring that would give us enough time to take the pictures, pick them out, get something to eat, and get home for naps by 1pm. That would have been fine if the people I was dealing with for the next tow hours were competent at what they did. I suppose I shouldn't complain. I mean it's not like Sears is a fantastic place for pictures, but it's easy and cheap, so that's why I go.

We got there at 11 and I ran in and told the photographer we had to run to the bathroom. Even though Lana went right before we left, she has this thing about going to the bathroom EVERY PLACE WE GO. Even if she's already seen it before. So I indulge her, because who am I to say she doesn't actually have to go?

We got back to the portrait studio and I started to change the girls into their dresses. We were ready to go in five minutes, so at this point it was about seven after. There was only one girl working and she was helping a family, who was there before us. They were picking out their pictures, and paying. It was taking a bit longer than I thought it should, but I was trying to be patient, since the girls were starting to not be.

She finally finished with them about 11:25 and I thought for sure she would take my girls pictures before helping the other customer, who also looking to pick out and purchase. I thought wrong. I looked over to see her sitting down talking to this woman, meanwhile, my girls are starting to take apart every prop they had in the studio. At first I was trying to get them to stop and put things back, but then I started to get annoyed and angry at how long we were waiting. I finally said to the girls through clenched teeth,

"Do whatever you want."

Recognizing the mad mommy face, Sonya said, "No, mommy we'll put it back."

"No, really it's okay," I told her. I mean they were bored and I couldn't blame them. We'd been waiting there for over a half hour at this point. I don't know if any of you have tried to take pictures with three kids, especially young ones, but your window of opportunity is not very big. Mine was about two inches from being closed completely. I finally asked the ONLY girl working in my best- I'm getting mad and about to get REAL bitchy- way if it was going to be much longer. She told me five minutes. Uh-huh.

It wasn't until 11:45 that my girls were finally having their pictures taken. Georgia and Lana were on the verge of complete breakdowns. Needless to say, they weren't the best pictures we've had taken, but I was over it at that point and they were all hungry. Lana was starting to lose it because sometime during the photo shoot, I promised her peanut butter crackers. Turns out I did not have those in my backpack, and she didn't want to accept that answer. So she started to whine, cry and throw a good ol' fashioned temper tantrum. I decided we'd come back to look at the pictures and we got out of there to get some food.

We were in the mall and there is a certain restaurant in there I wanted to go to . I won't say the name, but it rhymes with Ronny Jockets. I've been to this location before and been disappointed but decided to give it another chance. It had been a while. I wanted to go someplace we could sit down, but get out in about thirty minutes or so. I should have known better when I walked in and saw how frazzled the ONE waiter and ONE cook looked. Especially because there were only about five people in the entire restaurant. There was no reason to look that stressed.

We sat down and waited about ten minutes before he even got to us to take our drink order. I placed our food order at the same time. Lana will only eat two things. Peanut Butter and Jelly and Grilled Cheese. I try to get her to eat other things and she will sometimes, but those are the two foods she will definitely eat. She opted for the PB&J, probably because she was still jonesing for the peanut butter crackers I didn't have.

I tried my best to keep them all entertained while we waited what seemed like forever to get our food. At least forever for a couple burgers and such. When it did arrive, Lana started to take a bite of her sandwich but it looked a bit big for her to handle, so I offered to cut it for her. When I took it out of her hands I noticed it looked like A LOT of jelly and not much peanut butter. Then I opened it up and saw there was NO peanut butter. Just jelly. Just white bread and jelly. Hello sugar coma!

I picked it up and tracked down the server to show him there was no peanut butter. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he thought I said just a jelly sandwich. Which is stupid, but maybe.

Nope. He came back and told me that yeah, they ran out of peanut butter. I guess he figured this wasn't something he needed to tell me when I ordered the food TWENTY MINUTES AGO! Plus, PLUS! They tried to pass off a jelly sandwich to my kid thinking I wasn't even going to notice??! W. T. F??

He asked if she wanted something else. NO, NO she doesn't need to eat! She's actually trying to lose weight because 26 pounds at 3 years old IS a bit too much! Actually, since it was Lana she probably would have been fine, but nonetheless I got her a grilled cheese, which of course took another 15 minutes. Poor thing. I gave her some of Georgia's grilled cheese while she was waiting.

Now keep in mind, we're about ten minutes away from nap time at this point and they were all getting a little crazy. Usually I would have made more of a scene at the restaurant, but all I wanted to do was get out of there. The girls were at the end of their rope and I still had to go back to Sears and pick out what pictures to order. I just couldn't focus on getting mad at the server there and was pretty sure it wouldn't do me any good anyway, other than being offered a free dessert or something, which I did NOT want. So instead I called the main office when I got home and complained. I figure this should be good for a free meal or two. I can't wait to see what they'll send me.

Picking out and ordering pictures went more smoothly, except Lana started to completely meltdown into a puddle of madness right before I went to pay. She had to pee and was not really happy with my, "just one more minute", answer. When are they old enough to just go by themselves? Is three to young? What if I can SEE the bathroom from where I am?

I managed to finish paying, took her to pee, and we got the hell out of there. We didn't get home until almost 2pm, a full hour past allotted nap time. I had planned on going grocery shopping in the afternoon, but after my morning thought it best to stay home and let them play. Good choice on my part. They could survive without fruit and milk for one morning.

Next time I want pictures of the girls I think it might be easier to hop on a plane to RI and have my brother-in-law do it. As far at the burgers and grilled cheese, I'm sticking with In-N-Out.

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Yesterday afternoon my sister, Megan, contributed to the growing harem in my family, when she gave birth to her daughter, Vivian Marie. I'm not kidding about the harem. Vivian is the seventh grandchild for my parents and the sixth girl. There's my three girls, Beth's daughter Grace, and Lucy, Megan's first born. Zachary, Beth's oldest, is the only boy. Even on Andy's side, his brother has two girls. The last hope for another boy in this family is the baby in Beth's belly right now. I have a feeling it's a boy, but I guess we'll have to wait until July. She won't find out now, like some of us want her to! I hope for Zach's sake it is a boy, otherwise family reunions are going to be one long Barbie and baby doll nightmare for that kid.

Megan called me at 3:30 am on Sunday morning to tell me her water broke. "Thanks Meg-is there a baby yet? No? I'm going back to bed." It was one of those nights when none of the girls woke me up for once, but the 3:30 am call did. Luckily, it didn't wake anyone else in the house up, so I forgive her. Actually, I was totally fine with her calling me, I was just mostly freaked out by the phone ringing at that time of night. A middle of the night phone call is not always good. At least this time it was.

Anyway- I just wanted to congratulate my little sister and Matt on the little sister they gave Lucy. Even though it does make for more girls in our family, I think having a sister is the best. I could be biased though.

Good luck juggling two Meg, and welcome to the life of complete chaos! Don't try to control it. It only makes it worse.

Vivian Marie Drew

April 25, 2010

7lbs 12 oz

21.5 inches

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Most of you who know me and my family know Baseball Season is a main season in our house. Just like Spring or Summer. This is all due to Andy who was raised a Red Sox fan since conception. I never really thought much about baseball, let alone the Red Sox, until I went to college in Boston. Then I didn't have a choice but to become a baseball fan, and especially a Red Sox fan. All my friends were fans and I loved going to the games. Since I had no allegiance to any other team, I was more than willing to cheer for the Sox. Even though at the time they were carrying the burden of not having won a World Series since 1918, I didn't mind, because I've always loved an underdog. I even lived right down the street from Fenway Park during my Senior year. Melissa and I could see half the park from the roof of our building. It was fantastic! Anyway, I knew that once Andy and I had kids, baseball and the Red Sox would become a part of their lives too. Well, at least we would push them in that direction.

We have the baseball package on our Direct TV in order to watch all the Red Sox games, since we live all the way across the country. I try to remember to turn the games on every day so the girls see it and learn it to gain some interest. Since it's only the beginning of the season, it takes me a couple weeks to remember at 4pm to turn the game on, but the past couple days I finally started to. The girls don't really sit and watch it, but it's background and they can start to get the idea. This is the reason I enjoy watching football now, because I remember it being on when I was a kid. Sometimes it was a good game and sometimes my dad would yell at the TV, stomp out of the house in anger, and take the dog for a walk to cool down. Ah memories! I love the passion sports can produce in people. So I think it's the same kind of thing. It will get into their memories and eventually it'll be an interest they will choose themselves. This is the working theory anyway.

Sonya and Lana have been through a few baseball seasons now and recognize it when it's on. They know who the Red Sox are and even know a few players. G, however, was just a baby last year and didn't quite have the retention yet. At least that's what I though. Last night was only the second night I remembered to turn the game on to watch. Sonya and Lana were in their room cleaning, and Georgia was sitting next to me on the couch clutching her blankie and sucking her thumb. Her eyes were fixated on the TV and I looked at her and said,

"Georgia, what is that on TV?" I was sure she wouldn't know the answer. Then without missing a beat, thumb still in her mouth she looked at me and said,

"Ba-ball."

I was stunned. So, it looks like things are going better to plan than I expected! If only potty training was this easy.

Liar Liar

Every day I give the girls fruit with their breakfast and vegetables with lunch and dinner. They don't always eat it, but I try. I usually make them eat at least two or three bites, even if they protest, which they usually do. Loudly. Yesterday I gave everyone cut up strawberries with their oatmeal. Sonya and Georgia ate most of theirs, but Lana hadn't touched hers when she announced she was done with her breakfast. She had barely touched her oatmeal, but what else is new?

"No, Lana you have to eat some of your strawberries before you get down," I told her.

"Urrrggghh! BUT..." she started to protest.

"LAAANNNAAA...." I started to argue back.

"FINE!" She said. Then she thought about it for a minute and asked, "Can I take them in the li-ing woom?"

"Alright," I gave in thinking I had a better chance of her eating a few as she was playing, and not confined to the chair.

She hopped down from the dining table, carried her bowl to the coffee table, and set it down. I reminded her that she had to eat them and I didn't want them just sitting there. She agreed.

I went about my business of cleaning the kitchen. I heard her take her strawberries and go back to my bedroom where Andy was getting ready for work and Georgia was already playing. About two minutes later she came running in the kitchen, excited and happy with herself. She proudly held up the empty bowl and said,

"Mama yook!"

"You ate ALL of your strawberries?!" I asked excitedly. She nodded her head with a big smile on her face.

"NA-UH!" I said joking around with her.

"YUP!" she yelled back.

"NICE job Lana!" I commended her.

She placed the empty bowl on the counter and merrily ran out of the kitchen. One minute later Andy marched her back to the kitchen holding on to her hand. He looked at Lana and said,

"Tell her, Lana. Tell mommy the truth."

"The truth about what?" I asked curiously. Lana was half hiding behind Andy now with a shit eating grin on her face. Andy asked her to tell me again, but she just kind of giggled.

"What happened?" I asked, more toward Andy now.

He prompted Lana again, "Did you eat those strawberries, Lana?" She slowly shook her head no.

"She didn't eat them?" I asked Andy, a bit surprised.

"Well, she might have had one or two, but she fed most of them to Georgia," he informed me. Then he looked at Lana again and said, "Lana we don't lie. That's not a good choice. Don't lie to us again, okay?"

Lana just continued to look at him with her guilty grin and nodded her head. I also told her it wasn't nice to lie and next time she would be in trouble if she didn't tell us what really happened. I'm not sure she understood, but I have a feeling this won't be the last time we deal with this. The thing is, it's not even her lying that bothers me, but the fact that she did it so well. She had me completely convinced she ate all those strawberries, without a hint of "maybe she isn't telling the truth". With Sonya I always know when she's lying, but Lana, I'm afraid she's going to be good at it.

Have I mentioned how scared I am for the teenage years?

You Say It's Your Birthday

Yesterday was my 36th birthday. I realized this morning that it's been twenty years since I got my driver's license. TWENTY YEARS! How's that for making you feel old mom?

My birthday always makes me reflect on my life, kind of like my own personal New Year's. Last year I had a hard time with 35. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm not where I thought I would be at this point in my life. I mean I was supposed to have at least two Emmy's on my shelf by now. I really did want to be an actress when I first came out here. My problem was I was afraid if I put my dream of getting married and having kids on hold for acting, neither one would happen. Living out here you see many people still working in a restaurant at 45 never getting anywhere. Acting, relationships, kids or anything else. I didn't want to be one of those people. So I chose the husband and kids. That's not to say I can't go BACK to acting at some point. Maybe I will. I do know the one thing that has helped me most in this past year, is starting this blog. Writing these stories has made me feel like I am more than just a mom, that I am still achieving another dream I let go of years ago. The one where I was a writer. I suppose I am technically a writer. I mean I have made $100 off this site. I thank all of you who have supported me in the past year with this little venture and given me feedback. I'm also glad to have helped some of you with my stories. So in that spirit, here's how my birthday went!

I decided for my birthday that we would take the girls to play mini-golf. We haven't done that with them yet, and I thought it would be fun. Well, at least I thought it would be something we could do together outside of the house that wouldn't cost a bunch of money. My only stipulation for yesterday was that I didn't cook or clean the kitchen. I didn't care if we went out for every meal or Andy cooked and cleaned himself, I just wasn't doing it. I got that wish. Plus I got to sleep in! Until 7:45 to be exact! How lazy am I?!

Sonya was the first to wake me, running into the room with pictures she had colored and drawn. Then Andy got up with all of them to take care of the morning rituals of potty, diaper changing and milk giving. I laid in bed and watched some of my backed up DVRd shows. It was nice being alone... for a minute. That was pretty much the extent of my relaxation for the day though. They all came in around 8:30 with more cards and a present for me. Then the girls decided to play the music on the keyboard in our room and dance around, while Andy played the electronic drums. This is an event that occurs daily in our house. Usually, I'm making breakfast or cleaning when it happens, but today I relaxed and watched the girls twirl in circles around the room, giggling the whole time. It was one of those moments I wanted to bottle up and let out in about another twenty years.

Andy went and picked up breakfast for all of us at a diner down the street. No cooking, no cleaning! Then we went to play mini-golf. Now, I knew up front this was NOT going to go smoothly, but I was okay with that. I knew Georgia wouldn't really care much about it and Lana was for sure to lose interest after ten minutes, but Sonya might enjoy it. It went pretty much that exact way. Lana and G were done at about hole 3. Sonya would have played all day if we let her and she was doing really well by the end. And yes, it was a bit crazy and Lana got cranky for about half of it, but we were out as a family doing something fun. Or funish.

We went home and put Lana and Georgia down for a nap, and my grandfather, who turned 83 the day before, stopped by with a card for me. Lana wouldn't nap. That wasn't going to be good for dinner, but oh well. Later on in the day we played outside for a bit, because it was a gorgeous day. Around 4pm we headed to dinner. Gotta hit the Early Bird Specials with this group! We went to a local place that is on the kid friendly side, without being a Chuck-E-Cheese. It was going okay and then Lana started to meltdown when Andy tried to get her to taste some of the mac and cheese we ordered as an appetizer. I know-what kid doesn't like mac and cheese?? Lana. The answer is Lana. So I picked her up and took her outside where she sat on a bench for a couple minutes in "time-out", screaming. I finally got her to calm down and brought her back inside. We finished our meal in peace, and they brought a little ice cream sundae with a candle in it. The girls and Andy sang Happy Birthday to me and then they devoured the ice cream.

On the way home in the car Sonya said to me,

"Did you have a good birthday mom?"

"I did, Sonya," I told her. "Thank you."

Andy scoffed at me and said, "Good? It wasn't relaxing for you at all, and you had to deal with their craziness all day."

I just shrugged my shoulders. I mean, at least there wasn't a mess in the kitchen, so I considered that relaxing. Then I started to really think about what he said, because I had enjoyed my day, despite the fact that I was mom all day and not relaxing by myself in a spa somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I do love going to the spa, but on my birthday I wanted to be with my family. I've had a lot of birthdays where I've gotten to relax and do nothing, before having the girls and I'll have plenty more in about 15 years. However, how many birthdays am I going to have where my kids WANT to hang out with me and draw me pictures? I know I'm not going to to have a lot of birthdays doing what I got to do yesterday. This is my life right now. Early mornings, diaper changes, dancing around the house, naps or lack thereof, screaming kids on mini-golf courses and restaurants, no relaxing during the day whether it's my birthday or not. I am a mom. This is what I do. I work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. So why fight it? I always wanted this and even though I do need some spa days here and there, yesterday I wanted to be a family day and everything that comes with it. I know in 20 years or even 10 years when I turn 46, it won't be like this. I probably will be sitting by myself in the spa, relaxing and missing the birthdays that were anything but. That's when I'll have to open the bottled up moment of the girls twirling around and giggling in my room, and remember one of the best birthdays I ever had.

Twins

I went to Costco on Thursday with Lana and Georgia. They sat side by side in the shopping cart, as they always do. In the past few months, since Georgia has been looking more like a toddler and less like a baby, people have been asking me if they're twins. Usually it's when we're out shopping somewhere and they're sitting down. The other day at Costco I had four different people at four different times ask me that question. FOUR! I wasn't even there that long. I don't think they look like twins, but then again, I know them and know I was pregnant at two different times, so I could be biased. What do the rest of you think?

Girls Behaving Badly

Yesterday I broke down and decided to call the Doctor for myself. I've been feeling crappy, but mostly I was tired of getting only three hours of sleep every night. I was spending the rest of the night coughing up my left lung. Or my right. Who can tell, really?

My regular physician had no appointment times, but the nice receptionist found me an appointment with another doctor at 1pm. This was not exactly the best time for me, but I had to take what I could get. Since it was a last minute appointment, the girls had to come with me, because I had nobody to watch them. Oh, and it was in the middle of Lana and GG's nap time. I was hoping for something fun like this to happen! Then I could write about it on here!

I explained to them all, when I picked Sonya up from school, that we were going to the doctor's for Mommy and everyone was to be on their VERY best behavior. I told them if they were really good, they would get a treat later. Perhaps a popsicle when they played outside in the afternoon. They all agreed they were going to be very good and listen to me. Well, Sonya and Lana promised. Georgia would go along with whatever the other two were doing. I reminded them and gave them this speech again on the way to the doctor's and then on our way up in the elevator. They once again swore they would be extra good.

We walked into the waiting room and, thankfully, there was nobody else there. I checked in, and the girls found chairs to sit on. Then they decided to see what was in my backpack to keep them busy. Sonya and Lana found something to color and Georgia occupied herself with some shiny Mardi-Gras type beads. They were all quiet and behaving nicely. Then Lana decided she needed to pee-pee RIGHT NOW! We quickly packed everything up and the receptionist pointed us in the direction of the rest room. When we came out there was a nurse waiting to take me to a room. She led us to a bigger room to accommodate my stroller and even got an extra chair so the girls could all sit. She kept commenting on how cute and sweet they were. And they were. They were being extremely pleasant... at that moment.

After the nurse took my blood pressure, and my reason for the visit, she left while telling me the doctor would be in shortly. I praised the girls on how great they were acting and told them to keep it up. I took out some snacks to make sure we got through the rest of the appointment quietly.

Then the doctor walked in.

My quiet sweet girls immediatly left the room and were replaced with screaming, rambunctious demon children. I really have no idea what happened. One minute they were sitting there calmly eating their goldfish, and the next they were fighting over the bag and who was sitting where on the chairs. At one point Lana screamed. Piercingly loud. Meanwhile, I'm trying to referee them while telling the nice doctor lady how I couldn't sleep because of my cough. She just gave me a look, that said maybe it was more than the cough keeping me up. I apologized a few times for them, but she didn't seem too bothered by it. I, however, was a bit mortified by how my children were acting. Then, as she was leaving the room to write me a couple prescriptions, she looked around and said,

"Maybe we can find a plastic glove to blow up and entertain them with." Which pretty much translates to- "Wow! Your kids are bad!"

No, no, don't worry, because I'm going to entertain them with my mad mommy face and hushed can't-really-yell-in-here mad mommy voice. Oh and the promise of no treats. If that doesn't work, I'll take away Christmas. So after the door was closed that's just what I did. I told them how badly they were behaving and that there would be no popsicle if this didn't stop RIGHT NOW. They all looked at me wide eyed and innocent, like they had no idea they were doing wrong. Then Sonya said,

"But this is booooring!"

"I understand that, and I don't want to be here either, but we have to be so PLEASE! Just behave for five more minutes," I asked.

They did manage to redeem themselves when the doctor walked back in to give me my prescriptions. They sat and didn't fight or argue. Even if it was only for a couple minutes this time. The good news is that doctor was not my normal doctor and I most likely won't ever have to see her again. This way she can't think of me as the patient with those, "out of control kids." Hopefully, that's not the kind of thing they write down in your chart, otherwise I am SO screwed.