I'm such a slacker!

I know, I haven't updated in a long while. Things have just been busy and I've been more than a little stressed out. Jeremy has been doing a lot getting ready for his little "trip". He leaves in roughly a few weeks, though he can't discuss exact dates. I'm ready to just get this whole thing over with...

Jeremy was scheduled for some training in Washington, D.C. this week. Originally, he was going to go by himself. However, Monday night he came home and requested that I (and Lucy, too) go along. So, at 7:00 we decided I was going and I was up until midnight doing laundry and packing. We left bright and early on Tuesday (thanks to Lucy getting up at 5 AM). The trip turned out pretty well, with a few minor hiccups. We stayed at the Willard, which was amazing. This was the view from our window:

Nice, isn't it? If we had been up a few more floors, it would have been perfect. It was wonderful being so close to everything.

I toured the Holocaust museum on Wednesday with Lucy (who slept through the entire thing). It is one of the few museums surrounding the mall that I haven't seen and I've really wanted to. It isn't recommended for children, so we just haven't been able to go in before. It was really nice, though not a very uplifting experience. It left me quite sick to my stomach, though I would highly recommend seeing it if you are ever in DC. I didn't go through everything thoroughly (it just got too darn depressing after a while), either, so I would like to go back again sometime.

On Thursday, Lucy and I rode out to the Eastern Market in the morning. It is a really neat area, however we got out there too early and a lot of stuff was closed. Lucy was nice enough to have a big poopy blowout while we were out there. I had her in the sling, which meant I ended up with it all over me, too. So, I headed back to the hotel, which took 30 minutes. Lucy screamed for 95% of the trip back. I stayed in the hotel and let her nap there, as I didn't have the patience after our poop experience to go back out by myself.

By far, though, my favorite thing about DC is the food. There are so many neat places to eat! Plus, there is a little dive of a pizza restaurant in Bethesda that has THE BEST cannolli. Mmmmm...I'm hungry again just thinking about it. And, if you ever go to DC, you have to try the chili cheese fries at Ben's Chili Bowl. Yum!

I did have one condition to going on the trip: we had to return in time to take the boys trick-or-treating tonight. The costumes turned out pretty good, I think anyway! Not too shabby for duct tape and a couple inexpensive sweatsuits. And Lucy made the sweetest puppy (maybe a rabid puppy -- check out the last picture!). We took the boys around the block and only hit about 1/3 of the houses, but that was plenty for them. I think they both enjoyed passing out candy when we got back just as much, if not more, than they enjoyed getting candy themselves. After trick-or-treating was over, the boys ate popcorn and watched "The Great Pumpkin", which is becoming a bit of a family tradition here.

The shirt says...

...that "Mommy's under my spell". Grandma M. (who got Lucy the shirt), says it is true. She's probably right! Lucy wouldn't cooperate, though, for this picture, so I'll just have to tell you it has a cute little witch on the front, too!

I'm addicted...

...to Gymboree (well, and Janie and Jack -- the upscale Gymbo store -- to a lesser extent)! Yes, I have a shameful addiction to shopping for Gymboree clothes for Lucy. I haven't, however, purchased a single thing for her from a Gymboree store. Where I am getting her clothes? Ebay. And Jeremy says it is a sickness with me. Everyday I have to surf for the new things posted. So far she has gotten quite a few things -- all of which were new or almost new and cost a fraction of what they would new. She has almost all the items from two entire lines, plus a couple other dresses. This is bargain shopping to the extreme!!! Can you tell I'm enjoying shopping for a girl?

Oh, and I've also discovered you can have custom bows made to match the Gymbo lines, so that is my next task -- order this little girly some custom made to match bows!

Today she sported one of her new dresses. Isn't it sweet? Who would have thought mushrooms and hedgehogs could be so adorable?


Oh, and Reid didn't want to miss out on the fun. Plus, she's smiling in this one!

And now I'm off to do some shopping.

I don't get Halloween.

I really really don't (I don't have any huge objections to it, I just don't get what is so much fun about it). However, I'm letting the kids dress-up and go tricker-treating this year, simply because I don't want them missing out on the normal fun kid stuff. So, the theme this year is firemen. Reid and Ross will be firemen and Lucy will be a dalmatian. Jeremy thinks I should make Ross a fire hydrant, and while that would be cute, I can't get over the implication that Lucy should be peeing on Ross in that scenario...

So, this morning, I stopped at the costume shop to look for costumes for the boys. I already have Lucy's -- I got it at a consignment sale earlier this summer. Before I get too far into my rant, let me clarify that I am cheap. Yep, I'm cheap, though I usually prefer the term frugal. I buy the kids clothes on clearance at the end of the season and keep most outfits to less than $10 each. So, you can imagine my shock when I see that the costumes I was looking for would run $25 for Reid and $20 for Ross. Yeah, and they looked like they came off the rack at the dollar store. Um, yeah, no way is that happening. So, I go searching for just fire hats, so that I can make the rest myself. They were $6 a piece!!! A brilliant thought occurs to me...they must have hats in the party section, so let's see what I can find. Yep, finally find them for $2 a piece. Okay, I'm feeling better. I still need to make the rest of the costume. However, I couldn't bear to do anymore shopping today because the stores were INSANE. It was like Christmas Eve out there! I found a cute link to a blog where someone made fireman outfits out of sweat suits and, believe it or not, yellow duct tape. Now all I have to do is find that site again, which is easier said than done.

Another picture from last weekend...

So, perhaps, she is too big for the swing set. What do you think?

We had a busy weekend!

We spent the past weekend in Ohio. We had a nice visit with Hannah and my parents. The trip down went amazingly well -- both Jeremy & I were surprised at how well the kids did. Well, things went downhill a bit on Friday when Reid broke the DVD player. Who'd have thought that kicking the plug would break it?!?! We'll need to rearrange the seats next time so that no one's feet can reach the outlet...that is, if we have a working DVD player by then. Note to self: next time, get the built in DVD player!

The weather was beautiful while we were there, so on Saturday we took the kids to Leader's pumpkin patch/corn maze. The kids enjoyed that, even though Hannah says she is getting a bit too old for most of the stuff. And before we went to Leader's, the kids all got combine rides with Grandpa. Reid wasn't too sure about the combine at first. He wanted nothing to do with it other than watch it from a safe distance (he shut himself in the van at one point). He took the first ride, though, and really enjoyed himself. Ross, of course, had no fear and was excited about the combine from the start.

Oh, and Hannah has officially surpassed me in the height department. She probably has a good 1 1/2 inches on me.

The trip back was, well, not the best. The kids were already wound up and tired from the weekend, which didn't help matters. We got stuck in construction traffic in Virginia. We decided to take an alternate route, to avoid sitting on 77 for an extended amount of time. This detour took us by the Blue Ridge Highway. Jeremy wanted to drive it for a bit. I thought it was a bad idea, but consented (hey, who knows when I'll want to drive out of our way to do some shopping). For the record, it was REALLY REALLY bad idea. Don't get me wrong, the drive was beautiful (and we managed to get some local apples to make applesauce). However, it is really hard to enjoy the drive when there are 3 kids screaming at you from the back of the van. It ended up adding a good 1 1/2 of driving to our trip, plus two extra stops to feed Lucy. I'd love to do it again someday, just perhaps without our little monsters along for the ride.

Anyway...here are a few photos from this weekend. Enjoy!

The potty train.

Tonight, while helping Reid with the potty, we had this conversation:

Me: Reid, you're doing so good using the potty.
Reid: Uh-huh.
Me: You're all potty trained, aren't you?
Reid: I want to ride the potty train next week (said with much excitement).

The things they say...

That went fast!

Lucy was a month old on Monday. That month sure did go fast! I can't believe how big she is getting -- she's already starting to outgrow the 3 month sized clothes. Of course, she isn't big enough for the next size yet...I've tried a few things on her and she swims in them. I fail to understand how my child can be too big for one size and way too small for the next. What exactly am I supposed to put on her? I forgot until just before bedtime to take her one month picture, so this is the best I could do. She was tired and wasn't interested in pictures (and natural light works so much better than indoor light). Just look at those chubby cheeks and (though you can't see them real well in this picture) all those chins!


And here she is sporting her new Buckeye outfit that Grandma B. got her. Doesn't she do a nice "H" already?

Whack-a-mole

You know that game at the fair where moles pop up out of holes and you're supposed to whack them with a mallet for points? It is pretty much impossible to hit every mole every time it pops up. That is my life right now, except instead of moles, I have children. And instead of a mallet, I have to use my maternal instincts to keep my children at peace. Yesterday, at nap time, the kids demonstrated this game oh so well. I put Ross to bed first. He fought sleep for a good 45 minutes, and from the sounds emitted from his room and the debris left over after nap time, it appears he chucked every toy (including the toy bucket) at the door in his attempt to weasel his way out of nap time. While this ruckus was going on, I first paced around getting Lucy to sleep. Once I thought she was asleep, I took Reid upstairs to watch a cartoon. I had to go back downstairs 3 times to pat Lucy (she likes to have her back patted) back to sleep. The fourth time, I gave up and brought her upstairs to rock. She, of course, promptly fell asleep. I took her back down and started over with the "I needed my back patted every 7 minutes" game. I finally got Lucy to sleep and then put Reid down. Reid made a ruckus, much like Ross's, for a good hour. Shortly after he fell asleep, Ross woke up screaming. I laid down with Ross and got him calmed down and he fell back asleep. Of course, both Reid & Ross were up a half hour later. And I got NOTHING done during nap time.

By the way, today the largest of my three moles won't go to sleep at all. Right now he is playing happily on my screened in porch (which is, thankfully, on the opposite of the house as the bedrooms, as Reid has not mastered the use of his inside voice). Later this evening, though, I'm sure I'll be paying for this lack of nap.

That felt so good!

So, today I went to the gym for the first time in AGES. It felt wonderful to get back there. And it was nice to have a few hours where I got to be someone other than mom! I turned the radio up and rolled the windows down on the drive there and back and just enjoyed every minute to myself. The class I take is a barbell class and I've taken the class many times previously, but I haven't been to it since April. It sure was tough after not having worked out in so long, but it felt good. I'm thinking, though, that I should start popping the ibuprofen now. I wonder if I'll be able to walk tomorrow morning...

I had wanted to make Lucy a blanket when I was pregnant, but not knowing the gender, couldn't do it. So, in spite of my better judgement (I really shouldn't be starting more projects), I went and got fabric this week and made her one. It is pink, of course! It is bright floral on one side and a fuzzy chenille on the other. It isn't perfect, but the chenille covers up most of the errors quite well. Sewing that large (and heavy) of an item was a new experience for me. I think I'd do a lot better if I did it again...maybe she needs a purple one, too! Here is a shot of her and the blanket:


And she has started smiling recently. She isn't lavishing us with her smiles yet, though, so I'm having difficulties catching one with the camera. Here is a half smile, though:

And yesterday, one of my good friends from high school stopped by to visit. She brought lots of treats for everyone, but the boys favorite was the cupcakes she brought to decorate. Aren't these cute?

Relieved!

Yesterday Reid met with a speech pathologist from the county school system to be evaluated. He's been receiving therapy for almost a year through, which is being paid for by our insurance. However, he is now at an age where he is eligible for care through the public schools and, therefor, Tricare will no longer pay for his therapy. Luckily, while we've been working on getting him referred to the schools, Tricare has continued to cover him. However, without an IEP from the school district, his care was going to end at the end of the month. I've been really worried about this, as he really does need the therapy. When the schools initially received the scores from his latest evaluation, they said he wasn't eligible, but asked us to bring him for evaluation "just in case" they could find a reason to qualify him. Well, he must tell well, because in real conversation, he clearly needs therapy, which the schools now agree to provide. So, I go in a few weeks to get his IEP set-up and then he'll start receiving therapy through the schools. The real kicker is, that since his speech delay is severe enough for the schools to label him "special needs", they'll also continue to provide coverage, so he'll also get to continue seeing his existing private speech therapist. I don't understand it...if he had had a mild to moderate delay, neither Tricare nor the school district would provide services, but since his delay is severe, they will BOTH provide coverage. Geesh! I'm just totally relieved that he's going to get the care he needs (at least for the next 12 months....then we get to do this all over again).