A Good Dose of Reality

Truth be told, I have been known to have a pity party or two.  Like when Ryan is throwing food on the floor and when Thomas is throwing a tantrum because I won't let him watch Frozen for the 20th time.  I want to scream, "Calgon, take me away!!"  It's usually short-lived, this pity party of mine.  But these moments of weakness are just that, moments.  I was reminded just how fortunate I am on a trip to the doctor's office on Sunday.

We are in Florida already for Christmas.  I have pink eye and needed to go get drops prescribed before I contaminated the boys or Nana and Papa Wuff.  Waiting in the reception area of Spring Hill was an enlightening experience.  People there are obviously sick; they're at an emergency clinic on a Sunday morning.  But in addition to their cold or rash or whatever, they looked beat down.

The 50 minute wait in the waiting area highlighted that our family is extremely fortunate.   Right from the start of this trip, we have been so lucky.  We are blessed with great friends who are willing to drop us at the airport. 

Thankfully, the boys were exceptionally good flying.  Thomas pretty much occupies himself and as long as we feed Ryan continuously and let him crawl all over the place, he is a happy 17 month old.

We had the good fortune to see Santa at the Philly airport.  Miracle of miracles, Thomas walked right up and said, "Hi, Santa."  This is remarkable since this summer he begged and pleaded for me to call Santa and ask him NOT to come.  He told me we had enough toys and Santa should just go see someone else and NOT come to our house.  This is the first time he has seen Santa and not cried, run the other way, or virtually ripped off my jeans holding onto my leg.

Nan and Papa are extraordinary in their willingness to do anything in the world that Thomas suggests.  Every single morning Thomas awakens and rounds up Papa to make fresh OJ with oranges from the tree they planted together the last time we visited them.

Then in some order or another, we ride bikes, play golf, read books, play tennis, practice cutting, do "projects" with Nana, make lists of fun things to do, ride in the golf cart, meet Nan and Pop's friends, and impress just about everyone in the community with how awesome our kids are.

Dressing the girls of Frozen with Nana

Tennis time!

"Hey Nana!"

Thomas made 25 shots in a row over the net!!

Taking Papa prisoner with masking tape.  He was strong and busted out of it.

Backyard golf

One of the "projects" with Nan.  Rudolph is in the middle of two bears.

Cutting pipecleaners has become a favorite activity

 So when I teeter on the edge of a pity party or whine about the craziness of our lives, I think it will be best to go back in my mind to the patients that I saw at that clinic.

Thanks

We are very fortunate to have spent an extended Thanksgiving week with Mike's family in Oklahoma this year.  Here are some things we are especially thankful for:

Thomas is thankful that all the family who live or work out on The Farm let him have free reign.  Thomas especially enjoyed feeding Cousin Tim's cows. 

"Here Skiiiiiiip!" is how Thomas called the cows to come eat

Tasting the goods

And here they come!

 I am thankful that the staples in Thomas' head came out cleanly, especially since I did the removal in Aunt Nee's guest bathroom. *note: the staples are from a tackle football injury sustained at home two weeks ago.

Before

After

After, after

I am also quite thankful that it took more than four years for a substantial injury to occur.  I am not so optimistic for our dare devil Ryan.

Mike is thankful he had good weather here before he had to leave for work meetings in AZ.  He had great playing out in the hay weather.

Checking out the horses

Ryan is thankful for new territory to explore.

Checking out the farm equipment,

the cows,

and the hay, just like his brother

And Cousin Samuel who had the misfortune of sleeping on the couch in the morning.

We are all thankful that Nana Honey and Papa Bear, who meet us in OK, had the great idea to hit up a local children's museum.  The museum had a little bit of everything for everyone.  We all had a fabulous time.

Bubbles!

Doctors Anita, Thomas and Toney

More bubbles!

Firefighter Thomas to the rescue

Mama on a bed of nails...literally

Nana Honey and boys on the news desk

Gigantic Light Brite

 We are so thankful to everyone in our family for making our trip such a wonderful time!

Please Remember

Every night and into dawn, a magical thing happens to moms.  They forget.  They forget all the horrors of the day, all the screaming or crying (both themselves and the kids), all the direct disobedience in the name of newly found independence, all the arms reaching up to be picked up, all the food that fell on the kitchen floor, all the "Hey Mom, look at this!"  And that, dear readers, is how mom are able to start fresh, excited to see little buddies waking every morning.  It is a miracle.

The flip side of this memory reset is that you don't always remember the things that launch you into hysterics, keep you smiling broadly, or things you hope that you kids never outgrow.  Lately, it seems I have been thinking this an awful lot, so before I forget anything else, I'll chronicle some of the funny, outrageous and miscellaneous here.

These boys move on their own schedule.  From Thomas' late arrival to his down-to-the-wire potty training in time for preschool, he has done it all on his schedule.

Five days after his due date, Thomas arrived

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it's comical that I worried about these things.  Hopefully, our worries will always be so small.

Ryan also tends to adhere to his own timeline and he's only had 14 months here with us!  From his amazingly quick entrance into the world to his eating preferences to his walking timetable, he goes at his own pace.

Barely waiting to get to the hospital, Ryan arrived a day late.

Carbohydrate anyone?

Or a sweet?

No stopping him now!

In case these memories were not enough, Thomas commanded that Mike play soccer after dinner one night.  Mike suggested they take a quick rest.  Thomas quickly told him no, that he wanted to play soccer and he was the boss.  For the record, he isn't the boss, but he certainly does have his own very strong idea of time and activity!

Thomas was the best two year old on the planet.  Apparently when a kid skips right over the Terrible Twos, he makes up with it with the Freakish Fours.  Thomas is almost bipolar in his behavior these days.  He's either super helpful and loving or obstinate and surly.  Fortunately, this is a very common mom complaint on the preschool circuit, so I am not overly worried, but I am fairly aggravated by it.  This is why it's important to remember how wonderful he is.

Helping feed his new brother at three years old

Yardwork, yardwork, yardwork!

Teaching his brother the finer points of cleaning

Kids say such funny things.  In a completely selfish way, you hope the cute things they say will stick with them forever, but that's doubtful.

3 year old Thomas: "Des smuse me." (Excuse me)
Ryan: "Bra!" (Brother! Said in a way that conveys sheer excitement)

1 year old Thomas:  the "d" sound-kind of like duh, but emphasis on the d (deer)
Ryan: the "d" sound-kind of like duh, but emphasis on the d (deer)

A conversation from chatting with Thomas in his bed at bedtime.
K: Little Buddy, do you think you'll ever get so old that you won't want to snuggle with me anymore?
T (without hesitation): Yeah.  Probably.
K: How old do you think you'll be?
T: Like NINE-TEEEEN!
K: Wow!  That's old.  I hope that you snuggle with me until you're 19.
T: Do I have preschool tomorrow? (moving right along)

These are only a few of the things I aspire to remember deep into my life.  These boys keep on providing fodder at a pace at which I cannot keep up, but I'll try my best to capture our highlights here.