Really, you stupid freaking bird?

El bird, alive. In the morning. While playing baseball outside before school as we were all dressed and ready to go way too early. The kids were freaked out about this stunned bird. They wanted to help it. They wanted to, like, kiss it's mean, shiny, SHARP ass stunned beak. I held them at bay, and called my Mom. My MOM, who is famous for picking up snapping turtles and wounded birds who then peck her to death or get eaten by snakes, and other famous family incidents of "kindness". I figured that she would tell me to help the bird. She DIDN'T! She told me the bird was stunned, to take the kids to school, and that she would be gone by the time we got back. Awesome. Bird and beak freedom. So, I took it. We all were extra quiet and reverent due to the bird. I may actually buy a fake hurt bird and position it strategically around the house, now that I know what it is that I know. The power of the bird, and all.

So, the whole way home we talked about the bird. As she had moved from laying to standing before we left, I was 100% on team "better" for this freaking bird. So we talked about how the bird was probably at home talking about how she met this awesome family of baseball players and about how respectful they had been and whatnot. So as I drive my gigantic SUV into the garage I'm breaking my own neck to make sure that the bird is gone! It's gone! We all cheer! HUZZAH! El bird LIVED and is talking about our awesomeness in a beautiful happy little nest.

Except. Except that while I walked around to unbuckle Jake, Luke and Julia, (who let themselves out, now, thanks to Luke) ran into the driveway and tripped upon the dead freaking bird. Dead. Upside down. And super dead. Somehow my gigantic tires escaped rendering the dummie the final indignity of smashedness, but it wasn't pretty.

Of course, Jeannie and Henry, and the "dishwasher man" bringing us a new dishwasher, were all due in 15 minutes. No pressure, bird. Jerk.

I had to quickly shut the garage, rescind my plans of "you can play outside while I cook" and have like 30 awesome and spontanious talks about death! Because that is super fun! And when you say that you are going to bury the bird, and then throw it down a hillside with a snow shovel while your kids are eating, and they want to know where you "barrrrrried that birrrrrrrd", and you want to super stab yourself in the face for not remembering to dig a fake shallow dug up spot, you get really mad at birds. I had to explain how she died, too. It went something along the lines of "she was looking to meet a husband........" and really went downhill from there. I give my kids way too much info. If you are that parent at school who doesn't want your kids to know about where babies come out or how birds mate, don't send them to my kdis school. I don't even mean to be honest, it happens by accident. How the heck else do you explain some vain ass birds death in our driveway? Shooting? No.

Playground. Day 1. We are now in the eve of day three and I Love my life in new ways. Spring is where it is AT, baby.

Yes, that was me who accidentally dressed them all the same. Weird how that happens, literally unintended. Will say, learned a new lesson ~ At the playground (or pool) we are going color coded. As we spent 3 hours at the park with friends that afternoon it was SO easy to find my kids!

Three big kids on swings!

Three cheers to death, and to death visiting us in our driveway! Thanks, bird! Happy week over 70, to everyone on the east coast. This is some crazy wonderful stuff, and I can't believe it. The kids are already turning blonder and I have sock tan lines. Crazy.

Minnesota Musings

We are safely home from Minnesota, after a wonderful visit with the Otto's. It was so much fun seeing Luke interact with Will and Julia! He was particularly enthralled with Julia and watched her whenever she was in the room with him, and she doted on "Baby Uke". Will was verrrrry interested in Luke and delighted in "patting" Luke on the head. The awful bridge collapse happened while we were out there ~ This whole becoming a mother thing forever changes how you react to any sort of tragedy. All that I could imagine is "what if" we had been on that bridge.....with 3 babies strapped into car seats in the back seat.....I got teary just thinking about being in any situation where Luke was behind me in his car seat and I could not get to him. Loving someone so much makes you just oh so vulnerable. Its not something you can dwell on for long or you would go crazy, but every now and then something happens that gives you a brief glimpse into the "bad place" where something horrible could happen to your child. I just hug him tighter and pray a lot. A whole lot.

The flight situation was a bit of a nightmare, as we had over a 3 hour delay on the trip out, and over an hour delay on the way home. Luke was a total trooper, and I felt pretty well prepared with various diversions like food, toys, books etc....we basically camped out on the airport floor on a blanket to kill the time. Luke was great on the flight out, although he was a lot tougher on the return flight. Ugh. I am really looking forward to our NEXT flight being all together as a family.......two sets of arms will be much appreciated when flying. It's really hard to eat your meal with a baby in your arms (read: impossible), its really hard to sit still with a baby in your arms, its really hard to change your babies diaper on your seat because the aircraft is not equipped with a baby changing station.....(especially in first class, I felt like I had snuck up from the cattle car based on some of the looks that I got for that move...but what choice did I have, thank God it was just wet?!?) its even hard to just have a glass of water with a baby in your arms, especially a 17 lb 27 inch ball of energy with flailing limbs just aching to knock it over into your lap. I found myself staring at people who were drinking a beer and leisurely reading a magazine.....not that I would trade Luke for a beer and a magazine....but still. I'm not sure that I was fully appreciative enough of the ease of pre baby travel.

I loved meeting Jen's girlfriends, I fell in love with "The Green Room", I am almost angry that I had Punch Pizza because I don't know that I have ever had pizza that great before......and now I don't know how to get it again. I miss "The Cabin" and my lazy afternoon naps in the cool dark with my naked little baby beside me. Thanks guys. We love you.

So this goofball

And I are leaving tomorrow to visit Jen and Mike, Julia and Will for the next 5 days. I cant wait! My house is a mess and I have not started packing...and I'm sitting here on the computer putting it all off until later. Wise.

Its Luke's first trip on a plane....and it's just he and I.....I'm a little nervous. I just hope that Luke is his usual cheerful self and does not have any crying jags during the flight....less worried about dealing with him crying than I am keeping my composure if I get any dirty looks from the people sitting around us....I'm not always kind and generous when I get dirty looks. I will update on Friday when we return. Minnesota here we come...........

The Bachelor

Lucky Luke lunched with the ladies last friday. We spent the day with Ellie, Maggie, and Gracie ~ swimming, eating and laughing. While the young ladies did not seem all that impressed with Luke's mad skills, all had a great time. Luke seems to have a thing for older women, although you would not have known it to see him pee all over Aunt Jenny :)
It's so good to have friends ~ Jenny, thank you again for the fantastic lunch and swim ~
We love you.

The dog is in jail

The little bugger is driving me mad. I returned from getting a pedicure with Dee and the baby at around 7 pm last night, to find that he had escaped the kitchen, and then escaped the yard, and was no where in sight. All this and I was only gone for about 40 minutes. Upon checking the voice mails I found out that the AKC service had called and someone had found him. Dee went to the pick him up while I threw the salmon on the grill. I had to have quite the talk with him when they got back. I wanted to beat him silly, but I know that he is simply a dog, and would have no idea why I was punishing him that long after the fact. His smiley little face was staring up at me, tail a wagging, totally oblivious to the fact that he had scared me, and that with me, anger always follows fear. So instead of an ineffective beatdown we had a talk.
It started out the same way I remember some of my Dad's talks to me going when I was a petulant teenager ~ "Mulligan, I love you very much but I sure don't LIKE you right now". He didn't burst into tears like I used to when I heard those words, and quite honestly, as the conversation didn't feature the words "Biscuit", "Walk", "Dog Park", or "ride in the car" I don't think that Mully got a single thing out of it. I cant say that it made me feel any better either, so today he is still in the frozen tundra of my love and affection. He is getting the big freeze. Its a terrible thing to give a dog a version of the silent treatment, but I am. I am not a very mature person, obviously. How on EARTH am I going to discipline my SON when I give a dog the silent treatment?
Speaking of my son, he is sleeping upstairs. We have a big day ahead of us, as its Thursday. Every Thursday we have lunch with Mom Mom Jule (Luke's Great Grandmother and one of my all time favorite and most important people). We go down to her house and take her to the very chic and overpriced farmers market for lunch, then hit up Trader Joe's. The Farmers Market is one of those places where you can buy, flowers that were imported from, like, Zimbabwe just that morning and only cost like $18/stem. Whatever. The prepared food is great though, and Luke really seems to like looking around at all of the hustle and bustle and the colors of all of the foods and flowers. After that we head to my Nursing Mom's group at the hospital that Luke was delivered at. He gets to see his little baby buddies, and get naked for the big weigh in. Usually between 30 and 40 Moms are there with their little ones, and its just so fun to see these babies ranging from a few days old to over 9 months old getting stripped down for the weigh in. Its like a Dr. Seuss book featuring babies instead of dogs. After that we are heading to the Devon Horse Show with my Mom. Luke is doing all right today getting in time with his Grandmother and Great Grandmother. I cant wait to show him the horses.......and to show him off, of course. Nate comes home tonight and I am so excited to see him!

Playgroup Ponderings

So I have one session of playgroup under my belt. How is it that I got to be old enough to have a kid who playgroup's??? I feel like it was just yesterday that my Mom was having all of the neighborhood mom's over to our house for playgroup down in the basement. I remember that Becca was a biter, it was quite the playgroup scandal. I am happy to say that she did eventually grow out of that. Perhaps I have picked up where she left off? When words fail me I find myself resorting to biting lately. More on that in a moment.

I am thrilled to say that I really enjoyed it. There were 6 of us, the babies ranged from 8 months down to 9 weeks. There was none of the competitive mom bullshit that I so dread and the eats were good. Luke was a little charmer as usual. I had no choice but to bite him mid-playgroup......something about him laying on a blanket on the floor just waving his arms and legs and "talking" up at me in spazms of delight was simply too much for me ~ I had no other appropriate response but to scoop the kid up in my arms and bite him silly. Its too endearing. Emotional overload. His grins instantly twist my heart into this CRAMP, no one ever told me that happy love could actually hurt. Luke has started to seemingly live for the sound of his own voice. He does a whole operetta ~ a gurgling gargling study on the letter "G". His little legs kick up in the air to help him hit the high notes. I watch this for hours. Nate got some of it on videotape down at the beach as Luke was singing a love song to the ceiling fan. The fan seemed nonplussed by the whole thing, but Luke's determination never faltered. He is hell bent on wooing that fan.

His newest way of wrapping me around his finger involves pulling off the nip while nursing to look up at me with a giant grin. As soon as I make eye contact with him while he is eating BAM comes the grin. Again, too much. I have to pick him up and bury my face in his smelly little neck in utter disbelief that this sweet little creature is really my SON. This morning we had a little mutual admiration love fest in my bed. Luke was looking fine in his best white trash onesie, I hadnt even buttoned all of the crotch snaps, so his diaper was bulging out (not a great look). I made him laugh, he made me laugh, so forth and so on. I leaned in for a giant kiss ~ just as his mouth suddenly turned into the wellspring of a chunky breastmilk/stomach stuff stew ~ it literally just guysered out of his mouth and down both sides of his face into his aforementioned stink neck. Missed my mouth by a hair. Nate would have absolutely joined in had he witnessed such an event. It was disgust-o. That ended the love fest session.