Protected: Sleepless night

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Protected: There’s a monkey on his back

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Mommy drinks because you cry

I’ve tried to explain to my children that they are only allowed to cry one at a time, but they just don’t seem to understand.

This is what happens when they miss their naps.

 

And, in case you didn’t get the full effect from the photos, check out the video here.

Protected: My “woo hoo” was a little premature

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Fourth of July takes on a whole new meaning as the mom to three small kids

What kind of a**hole sets of fireworks at 12:30 in the morning?

Favorite Photo Friday – Bachelor Party

This is the only photo I have from Christian’s bachelor party (Christian is in the front row in shorts).

Others photos from that day/ night may exist, but this is the only one anyone cared to share with me. They look like a respectable group of guys, don’t they? Well, don’t be fooled. This was early in the day. And I imagine this is when the drinking started, which would explain why Christian didn’t even recognize me by midnight.

Funny Faces

One of the only shows Noah, Zoe, and Colin can all agree on is Yo Gabba Gabba! Seriously, that show is like baby crack. Colin can be completely fussy, but when we turn on Yo Gabba he’s suddenly in a silent trance.

In one of the segments on Yo Gabba, a bunch of kids make funny faces, and now Noah and Zoe like to re-enact them.

Out of the mouths – “Happy now?”

Last week my mom and I took the kids to visit my step-dad at work. As we were getting back in the car, I asked Noah and Zoe to climb in their carseats while I changed Colin’s diaper. Noah climbed up, but Zoe kept stalling. I asked her several more times, but she wasn’t cooperating.

Finally I got mad and yelled at her to get in her seat. She begrudgingly climbed up, and with mega attitude said, “Are you happy now!?”

Oh that girl. I’m in trouble.

Backyard fun with (Facebook) friends

Though I have resisted Twitter, I have been sucked into the Facebook world. I even have it on my BlackBerry now, so I can post and read status updates on the go (who doesn’t need that, right?!). Mostly it’s just an excellent way to waste time, but two good things have come out of it: 1) I got in touch with a high school friend who now runs an animal rescue, and I got Leo for my parents, and 2) I re-connected with two friends (one from college and one from high school) who now have kids the same ages as our kids, and we have had some fun playdates. 

Stacey and I were good friends in high school. Our families knew of each other because they both owned restaurants, so it was kind a small world when we met at school and became close. We spent the night at each other’s houses and got into some trouble, too (but that’s a story for another day).  Anyway, Stacey and her husband Shane have a four-year-old daughter named Jasmine, and a two-year-old son named Jahnu. The kids get along really well (and I think Noah has a little bit of a crush on Jasmine).

One thing that’s kind of interesting is that Stacey is Chinese and her husband is Caucasian, so obviously Jasmine and Jahnu are Asian/ Caucasian. I think people have a hard time figuring us out when we go places together. We went to one of those bounce house places and a lady looked really confused when Zoe called me “Mommy” instead of Stacey. It’s also interesting that Noah is the one who doesn’t look like everyone else, since he’s the only kid in the group who doesn’t have black hair!

Anyhow, Shane, Stacey, Jasmine, and Jahnu came over Sunday and it was an awesome, relaxing day. The weather was gorgeous (much cooler than our day with Thomas the Train) and the kids had a blast playing in the sprinkler, in our little inflatable pools, and on the swing set. I know the kids had a blast, because ours all took three-hour naps afterward (and Mom and Dad managed to shut their eyes for a bit, too, which made the day even better).

 

Jahnu and Noah

 

Jasmine and Colin

 

Colin, Jasmine, Jahnu, and Stacey

 

Colin and Jahnu having what appears to be a very serious conversation. Maybe Jahnu is passing down two-year-old life lessons to his one-year-old friend.

 

My phone rang while we were in the backyard and Noah ran up to the deck to answer. Whenever the phone rings, Noah says, “Mommy, it’s Grandma,” because it usually is. Of course, it was, so this is Noah telling Grandma, “We’re playing with our friends Jasmine and Jahnu,” and describing the scene in the backyard.

 

My amazing little boy

 

My amazing little girl

 

My amazing little baby boy

 

Zoe was a bit intimidated by the playset at first, but she’s got the hang of it now.

 

Colin decided he didn’t like the feel of the grass on his knees, so he crawled around the backyard on his hand and feet. Noah and Zoe said he was walking like Mowgli (from the Jungle Book).

 

Tired little woman

A Day Out With Thomas – 2009 edition

Friday we went to see “A Day Out with Thomas.” We went with my mom, my cousin Shannon and her son Michael (5), and my niece and nephew, Sophia (5) and Will (7). We all went last year, too (except Colin of course, since he wasn’t born yet!), so it’s kind of fun to look back at the pictures from a year ago. Of course, I was once again the crazy camera lady, so this post is very photo heavy. It doesn’t seem like I have as many smiles in the photos from this year, but I think that’s just because it was so stinkin’ hot this year (95+ degrees), and not because the kids didn’t have fun.

 

We started out on the mini train:

 

Then we were off to the pony rides.

 

“I’m not so sure about this, Dad.”

 

Next came the petting zoo.

 

Zoe checked out the bounce house while the other kids went inside some sort of cave thing.

 

Colin was mostly just along for the ride. I’m sure he’ll have a lot more fun next year.

 

We saved the train ride for last, and the kids anxioulsy awaited Thomas’s arrival:

 

Here he comes!

 

Michael relaxing on the train:

 

Here’s my ticket!:

 

Tired monkeys:

 

Zoe, about 30 seconds after we got in the car to go home:

My little (almost) walker

Colin was a little slow to get moving (rolling over and crawling), but he’s caught up with record speed. It was like he started crawling, then started pulling up and cruising the very next day. He can crawl up a complete flight of steps (only with me right behind him of course) and he can stand on his own for a several seconds. Lately he has been pushing this toy and walking behind it, so he may just decide to take off on his own soon!

 I can’t believe he’s almost 1! The big birthday is only 11 days away!

Favorite Photo Friday – Bachelorette party

This is me before my bachelorette party in 2003. Notice the traditional bachelorette attire: veil, “Suck for a Buck” t-shirt, mini purse of $1 bills, and a pretty penis necklace.

 

 

Christian and I had our bachelor/ bachelorette parties the same night. We went out separately, and then our two groups met up later. By that time someone had added a pink feather boa to my bachelorette attire, so I was pretty hard to miss. So, I have to guess that my husband had a little too much to drink by the time we passed each other on a narrow staircase at the bar and HE DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE ME. Um, hello? I looked ridiculous, not to mention I was his future wife! I’m never going to let him live that one down.

Not the Farrah Fawcett you were looking for

Update 11:10pm: Another 356 views today? Seriously?

Farrah Fawcett died yesterday, and almost 250 people have clicked on my blog in the last 24 hours after Googling her name (spelled various ways) because of this post.

Sorry, it’s just my mom with a Farrah hairdo, not the real Farrah.

I heart Jimmy Fallon

I’ve mentioned before that I have a special place in my heart for Saturday Night Live, so it should come as no surprise that I watch Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, since he is an SNL alum. (Weekend Update with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon was my FAVORITE.) 

I was watching Tuesday’s Late Night show tonight on DVR, and I just had to share this joke from Jimmy’s opening monologue:

Jon and Kate announced yesterday that they are getting a divorce. They’re not sure who’s going to get custody of the kids, but Madonna’s already called twice.

Another day of backyard fun

This one kills me. Colin is totally lounging in the pool while Zoe plays. He looks like he should have a drink in his left hand.

 

I love these close-ups of Noah and Colin:

 

 

 

 

 Zoe wouldn’t hold still long enough for a cute close-up, so I got these:

 

Fun on the swings:

 

And again with the hose and the sprinkler:

 

I’ve just started to notice lately how grey Toby’s face looks. Poor Tobe. He was a rescue dog, so we don’t know exactly how old he is, but we are guessing about 9-years-old.

 

My tired girl after too much fun, with Emily’s hair up her nose (If you enlarge the photo, you can also get a glimpse at Emily’s back fat, since Zoe has taken off Emily’s shirt):

“I’m a Celebrity” wasn’t a total loss

OK, even though I admitted that I’m a Celebrity was craptastic television, I continued to watch it (and I actually thought it got quite a bit better). But, sadly, Stephen Baldwin left the show last night, so he won’t be taking home the grand prize for the charity he was playing to support, Love146.

However, it wasn’t a total loss. I wanted to share the following e-mail from Rob Morris, one of the founders of Love146:

Hi Tracy,

Just wanted to say thank you for the shout out about Love146 and “I’m a Celebrity…” on your blog. Painful to watch…I know. But it has generated an incredible amount of awareness. (The Love146 website went from an average of 150 visits per hour to over 5000 the hour after Stephen talked about our work on the show). It has the potential to generate significant funding as well. So thanks for supporting us!

 Your kids are beautiful!!!!

 Best,

 Rob

 

If you haven’t already, please check out the Love146 website and the Love146 blog!

Backyard fun

Noah takes his garden hoses very seriously:

 

Sprinkler time:

 

Colin enjoying the pool:

 

Doesn’t Zoe look so sweet in these?

 

I love this one of Noah, too:

 

For some strange reason, I think we might need a bigger pool. It seemed so much bigger last year.

The Book of “Why”

From Christian:

Both Noah and Zoe are in the “why” phase. I’m sure most of you know what I’m talking about.

“Please don’t jump off that stool.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you and I don’t like to see you hurt.”

“Why?”

“Because hurting doesn’t feel good.”

“Why?”

“Because it hurts.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

You can only travel down these paths so many times before you are ready to take a long vacation a nice resort where the robes look curiously like straight jackets. So, to honor this phase in their lives, I’m going to post a real gem that I myself would like answered. Here goes…

“Why do our dogs and every bird that visits our yard consider the swing set to be a suitable place to evacuate their bowels?”

Thoughts?

I might try to do more than one of these, but we’ll see…

The Madonna Effect (Check it out!)

If you haven’t read my last post, please check it out and read the comments. Christian even jumped in on this one. (See, I told you my husband rocks!)

Make sure you click on the links in that post, too. If you haven’t read them, I know that my position on this might be hard to understand. Mercy is better off with Madonna than in an orphanage, right? Well, yes, if the issue was that simple.  But Mercy is not an orphan. Her mother died in childbirth, but Mercy still has biological family members who want to take care of her, and Madonna and the government of Malawi have ripped her out of their arms.

The Madonna Effect

If you haven’t heard by now, Madonna’s appeal to adopt Mercy James from Malawi was approved. And I think it sucks.

You can read my thoughts about it here, but please also check out Christina’s post on Voices for Vietnam Adoption Integrity and this piece titled “Misguided Madonna’s just helping the baby traffickers.”