Santa Fe = Modified College Behavior

I went last week with my best girlies to Santa Fe for a much needed girls trip. So, I take the boys to school and meet Casey to head to the airport. What happened after that? Well, I think as soon as we got on the plane we started pouring cocktails to celebrate the start of our long weekend. We get to Santa Fe and continue the cocktails later in the afternoon and then again during and after dinner. I thought we might be getting off to a good old college start but then we petered out about midnight and all headed to bed.

I was feeling good about having not stayed up too late. I got to sleep in and it was heaven. No little hands poking me asking when I was getting up, no screeching in the living room fighting over toys, just me and a big, comfy bed. So, I roll out of bed and we all get ready for a fabuous day at the spa.

We sweated out all of the impurities of the night before in the sauna and then headed off to our private jacuzzi, sauna and cold plunge. So, all the girls are in the sauna and I start to get in but I misjudge the step and fall face first into the jacuzzi and twist my ankle in the process. So starts the name Cannon Ball and it sticks!

We finish at the spa and go back to the house for a little R&R before we head out to dinner. Dinner was great, the evening was perfect and we head back to the house where we proceeded to slowly turn into our former college selves. By that I mean drinking cocktails, dancing and staying up until the rooster crows (well, not that late).

The next night, same thing happened, it must have been the altitude :). However, that night we went dancing and danced all night. I decided Ryan needs to take dance lessons and then we would have a blast dancing together. I ran this idea by him and he said no bueno. Oh well.

It was a blast, although I do realize that I am no longer in college and cannot rebound quite like I used to. I think it took me 3-4 days to recover once I got home. Aren't you supposed to come home rested after vacation?

Anyway, the weekend was just what a busy frazzled mom of three boys needed. Already looking forward to next year!

Sardines

So, you know that when you have kids you know that they will inevidetably end up in your bed at some point. Times that by three at our house.

We have had sick and injured boys so our bed has had at a minimun of 3 occupants by 4:30 a.m.

Little Hayes-y can expertly climb his gate. Which by the way, the only reason we have the gate is because he is a little jack-in-the-box who has trouble staying up in his room. Ben has this same problem so he has a gate too. Albeit his gate is shorter than Hayes, we got extra tall for Hayes. Does that matter? Noooooooo. He gets his monkey toes wrapped around the gate and climbs his way out.

I have a tendancy to ramble, so let me continue.

The last several nights, when the sun starts shining and the rooster starts crowing (thank goodness not really) we have at least two little darlings in our bed. And, kudos to their dad whom they adore, but they want to be by their mama. Oh my goodness, sometimes I wake up and I feel like I am a poor little sardine.

Now, I do love and adore sleeping next to their warm tiny little sweet bodies. Oh how they are cuddly and smell so good. I could cuddle my babies anytime, anyday. However, I usually prefer to do it one child at a time. Two is not too bad but three is impossible. The twins will sometimes come down and be in the bed on each side of me and in the morning I wake up to Sam's stink eye. "Where am I going to be?" he says. "Why don't you get next to daddy?" I say. "NO" shouts Sam, "I want to be by you". I understand completely and totally. He is my firstborn and we have a bond but my goodness, let Ben and Hayes who have had to and will have to compete for everything have me to themselves.

So, my point is, even though I feel sometimes like a sardine, I would not trade it for the world. My little babies snuggling me through the early morning hours until it is time to get up is just bliss. When they wake up they are so happy. They are so happy to just be alive and up and ready for what the day will bring. What happened to me that I am not that happy when I wake? Oh, that is easy, it is becasue I have slept like a sardine a lot of the night. Ha! Just kidding, I am happy. I am tired, definitely, but I am sooooo happy. No matter what any day brings, they bring me more joy and happiness than anything else in this world!

Do I feel like a sardine and get irritated sometimes? Yes, but I would be a sardine any day of the week if it means they are my babies and they are in my life.

Going on Vacation

My best girlfriends and I have been planning since Christmas to go on a fun long weekend trip to Santa Fe. Well, we are going this week and as of Monday, I was getting really excite. Well now I just plain need it. This has been a stressful week starting with:

Monday:

Took Benny Boo Boo to the doctor for what I figured was a sinus infection. Hell, all my kids just love to get sinus infections. But nope, that's not it. The docotr says "it may be the beginning of pneumonia" so off for a chest x-ray we go. At this point, I am going to need help. I have all three boys and we all know that they turn from sweet baby angels to hooligans when they get in public places (probably because I have kept them homebound so long). Especially since we had just been to Dr. Daniels office. There is no way I was taking them into the radiology place.

I call my sweet dad who is always willing to help the monkeys but luckily I tried Ryan too and he could help me out. We met and he took the other two for lunch and a drive around the block. Ummmm yeah, 1 1/2 hours later we finally get it done. I am stressing because I know Ryan needs to get back to work and it was just plain taking forever and a day. So we finally get it done in the nick of time, Ryan had to get back to work for an appointment and was getting ready to bring the little cute monsters in with me.

Out of all that, thankfully, no pneumonia.

Tuesday:

I am running on my treadmill (again with my goal of good health) and Hayes comes in and starts playing near me. Next thing I know there is a huge thud. I whipped around and saw in slow motion a ball that was my boy rolling down the treadmill into the wall. I slam it into stop and scoop him up. Of course, he is screaming - it probably hurt like hell and scared the bejesus out of him like it did me. I get him to the kitchen and cleaned up and he is covered in road rash. It looks worse today than it did yesterday. Poor baby. I told him we would go to Target and he could have whatever toy he wanted - thankfully it was only some matchbox cars.

Now, at this point I know my mom is going to kill me when she finds out and threaten once again to take and raise the boys. And there is no option of not telling her as she and daddy are picking up all the boys from school tomorrow and you can't touch his back.

Today:

Sam wakes up with the dreaded swollen eyes, running nose and cough. He has been working on it for over a week and I know that this means SINUS INFECTION once again. So, I had to take him to the allergist at 3:30 with all three boys again! UGH! I specifically asked them to all be on their very best behavior. Unfortunately for me, their humiliated and frazzled mom, their listening ear were not on today.

So, anyway, I NEED THIS VACATION!!!!!!!

Don't have a dog but it sure feels like it

In the process of the potty training the boys like to be commando from the waist down. No problem, it makes the job of training a lot easier. Well, that is not exactly true, there is a problem. The boys love to play in the backyard and for some reason almost as soon as they hit the great outdoors they feel it brewing. I swear, we have more poo in the yard than if we had a dog.

At least they do come in and tell me. Then, lucky me gets to clean little hands, bottoms and poo out of the yard. Little hands because they just have to touch it, right? GROSS!!! Ben must be the smart one because he never touches it. Only Hayes does, even if it isn't his, he apparently can't resist the temptation.

Am I grossing you out yet? I know I am myself.

Potty Training and Death of a Bug

I am super excited to annouce that I finally think we may be seeing diapers as a thing of our past. My sweet Hayes has been showing interest for quite a while but now he has worn undies for 3 days!!! And, Ben who could have cared less and looked at the potty as evil torture is showing interst too and has worn undies for a day! My goal is to have it done by Monday - keeping fingers crossed.

So, I am on the phone to my mom telling her about the boys and their progress when I notice a bug with a hard shell (my brother and his wife and probably both of their kids could tell you exactly what kind of little bug it was, but to me it was a bug on its back with a hard shell). Its little legs were a-kicking in the air, probably on its way to a slow death but luckily, bugs will not have to suffer a long death when Ben and Hayes are around. I see them go grab a toy hammer and they start hammering that poor bug until it had squashed into a nasty juicy puddle. Then they stepped back and looked at each other and laughed.

Hopefully, this is not a predictor of a future filled with torturing bugs. Surely not as they are sweet precious souls.

Poor bug, he never even got the chance to tell his little bug friends to avoid the Walton twins.