The Littlest One

Brookie is the youngest of our three, and for some unintentional reason, has gotten short shrift on photos. So, a short posting all about her. She is, by far, our easiest going child and for that we are forever thankful. She has the longest eyelashes and the largest eyes as well. Heartbreaker material. Brookie eats and after nearly 3 years of trying to feed a non-eater, is a great relief and joy. We all love her dearly and I promise to try and post more equally in the future. (Apologies to Auntie Harriet, Brookie's godmother, who watches out for her!)

Caroline Crawls and Other Tales from the Crib

Caroline crawls, which is terribly exciting and a little sad, as it is a great relief that our babies are healthy and growing, but also a reminder that they are growing up! J and I talk a bit about the grind of having 3 little kids, but we try to remember the Trace Atkins song, "You're Going To Miss This...", which basically is a tale of parents being tired and irritated during childrearing, but once they grow up, you'll really miss those times. (We know Trace because Jack is a huge fan of country music. I guess when your name's Jackson Wyatt and you live in the heart of America, that's inevitable. Well, that and Trace was on Celebrity Apprentice and we watch bad TV.)Brookie, remaining the most cheerful of our children, is not crawling, but is sitting up with great confidence for about 20 seconds and falls over just as I get the camera out. I'll work on my speed.

Last week, my little public affairs firm received a request from a big company for a proposal to lobby for them this coming session. Of course, we are overjoyed, but trying not to get too set on the prospect as we are the most untraditional choice. Fingers crossed.

Justin is in trial this week with a manslaughter case for one of his pd clients. It's very stressful and he's having his back pains and spasms because of it. His new suits look great, though! He'll give his closing tomorrow, which will be a relief to us all.

Next month we will celebrate Jack's 3rd birthday and the twins's baptism. Today we go to preschool orientation, if you can believe it! Jack is a curious and demanding child, preschool will really, really help him. Hopefully his teacher will be great. We're excited to meet her.

A few currently irritating phases but sure to be fond memories.....Caroline rolls over any time you change her diaper, which can be quite messy. Jack is refusing to wear shorts and insists on a coat and tie (we use the term coat loosely, as it is usually a sweatshirt) so as to look like dad. After several days of Caroline taking the Winnie the Pooh phone away from her in the playpen, Brookie has begun to take it back (and the sibling squabbling begins.) J keeps thinking that he left important trial folders at home once he goes to the office, there's a mad search by his office staff and me and then he finds it in his briefcase or that his co-counsel took it to organize. Practicing our yoga breathing.

In the pictures, Caroline crawls and the twins play with their music boom box. I love seeing their two little heads together. Brooke and Jack splash in the tub. Jack plays "Slip and Slide" with our neighbors on a lazy Sunday. Jack at the Museum of Transportation at the children's play room on the ship.

Summertime

We had a tough day today. I knew it was going to be bad when Jack came into our bedroom this morning and began the day with jumping on our bed, kicking his feet out in front of him and landing in a big "plop." This was around 6 a.m. Sigh. I ended up taking him to Monkey Joe's, in an attempt to induce a nap. He did take a 2 hour one, which is the only way we made it through the day. The twinnies went along for the ride and were well behaved, for the most part. It was bath time tonight. For those who have participated, you know how the baby triage goes. All are currently asleep, one more feeding to go.

Pics include Caroline and Brooke at the dress up room at the Children's Museum of Edwardsville (ok, but not worth the drive overall. Better to go to the Magic House.). Jackson at Monkey Joes. Grandma and kiddos at the Missouri Botanical Gardens and Jack checking out a calla lily at the same gardens. Good night, sleep tight.

Health Scare

I am slightly irritated when people say in response to bad news, "Well, at least you have your health." It's true, though. Not much else matters if that fails.

J and I are hypochondriacs with addictions to Mayo Clinic's website and webmd. Terribly unhealthy, because their symptom checker makes a runny nose out to be cancer, but it's our hobby. This is also an undesirable trait that we will undoubtedly pass onto our children, but I'm hoping that one of them will become a doctor just so I have someone who will take my many calls about my sniffles in my old age. My hypochonria comes from my experience with my dad who died of lung cancer when I was 20. When I was 16, his eye started turning inward, he went to every doctor available and had a myriad of treatments before a tumor was found on his optic nerve. He had radiation and went into remission. I went to college. When I was at the end of my sophomore year, he relapsed into lung cancer, which killed him in about 7 months. This was a great tragedy for many reasons, but particularly so in our family's case, mostly because mi madre is, to say the least, an unconventional parent, and we didn't realize how weird our situation was until he died. We were lucky to have him as long as we did. J's hypochondria is a family tradition, from what I can tell, though both his parents are cancer survivors and it likely stems from those experiences.

On Friday, J woke up achy and had some swelling in some extremities. He saw a friend of the family who is a doctor on Saturday, who prescribed CIPRO, which is a heavy duty antibiotic. On Sunday, his limb pain became worse and by Monday morning, he was having a hard time gripping the toothpaste tube and couldn't pick up the babies. We stupidly and arrogantly, did not have a primary care physician. It took me a solid hour and 1/2 to find a doctor who would see us and run some tests. Yes, we thought about the ER, but given our experiences there (it's like the sick room at Ellis Island) I really wanted to at least have a doc refer us for testing. So, I finally found a reputable doctor who would see us, though she is a partner of a physician whose sister happens to be our neighbor who called ahead for us (FINDING A DOCTOR SHOULD NOT REQUIRE A PERSONAL CONNECTION FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN? I don't know what the solution to health care and providing it as a right and not a privilege is. It is VERY expensive and I do think that it is very difficult to tell people when and if they should continue treatment for chronic conditions, etc., among many, many other issues, but we should really think about this issue. Requiring hospitals to take in all indigent and underinsured patients for sinus infections in their emergency rooms does not make any sense. I know nothing about this issue other that what I read. I'm sure that I am unaware of the many problems with providing health care on a different basis other than tying it to one's job, but I do think that it is a subject that I would like to turn my advocacy talents toward. I don't know how exactly, but perhaps that's my new career. Giving that some thought.) I digress. Anyway, yesterday afternoon, with J unable to open a car door, we finally get to the doctor. She spends a good deal of time with us (Susu came to sit with the kiddos) and took blood and urine tests. To make a very long story short, he's fine and is suffering from a difficult and weird virus. Some of his tests indicated a higher enzyme than preferred in his liver, but the doctor thought that might be related to his virus. He's going back next week to be retested and to make sure that all is well.

I tell this story to update everyone but also to say that life without J would not be worth living. He made me believe in love again and gave me a family, for which I will be forever grateful. My utmost wish is that we both live a very long time and see these kiddos grow up and bounce our grandchildren on our knees. J has stayed home for 2 days with this illness, which is unheard of in his world. I don't think he's taken a sick day in the whole time we've been together. In the picture, J in his resting phase, playing his video game (Yes, he's a gamer. Sony Playstation is his current fave, I think he's into college football now. But, he only plays it after the kiddos go to bed. He calls it his alone time.)At least we have our health.

The Guilt of the Motherhood

In addition to recycling more, reducing my road rage, and not cussing, in my quest to be a better person, I am trying to reduce my tendency to be judgmental. I get it from my mother. Yes, I would tell her that, so I do not write 'out of school.' Boy, was I wrong about stay-at-home moms. I always sneered at the mommies at home as I rushed off to work in the mornings. "Lucky sons o'....." I had no idea. Staying at home with the kiddos is the greatest conflict. I feel guilty being home, I feel guilty when I don't read to the twins, I feel guilty for letting Jack climb on his jungle gym with only one eye on him, I feel guilty about wanting to go back to work and then I panic about how and who will take care of them if I go back. Staying at home is tough, emotionally and physically exhausting. I don't miss the gut worry when I am away from them or the desperate panic if I'm on a plane and there's terrible turbulance, but generally speaking, I miss being part of the larger working world.

It's weird. Most people I encounter laud the fact that I'm taking some time off to be with the kiddos, but in the next breath say, "Gosh, all that education. Wasted." Or "Well, what did you think would happen?" Or, "If you were working, you'd probably be at the Cards-Cubs game right now!" If there is one topic that everyone has an opinion on, it's child rearing and mothers. I'm taking myself out of the conversation and worrying only about my own flock, but I'm also not going to judge other mothers, be they working outside the home or not. This is a heavy enough load to hoe already.

I am happy to report that Jack seems to have passed the biting, hitting, shoving phase. Yes, I know, it's just one of those things, but it was quite upsetting. I'm reading a discipline book recommended by our pediatrician, 1-2-3 Magic. It's genius. We had a quiet 4th and stayed here. Aunt Emmy came into town and we had a bbq, etc.

In the pictures, Jack cuddles with Brooke and Caroline, Brooke and Caroline cuddle, Daddy tries to comfort the twinnies, Aunt Emmy feeds Caroline and Nana with all her grandbabies. Happy Tuesday

Dracula's Mommy

Parenting is a tough gig, it goes without saying. Jack is in a nursery school class and over the last two weeks, has gone from being a teacher's pet to shoving, biting and kicking his classmates. I am printing out this blog so that the children have a momento of our life, I mention this so that when they have issues with their own children they can have this little bit of advice. So....in my limited experience, I think that Jack is mad about the twins, or rather, the decreased attention since their arrival. I guess. Though we work very hard at making sure he's getting enough attention. Plus, he's officially a "strong willed" child. Sigh. This shouldn't be much of a shock given his parents, but it is a little upsetting. He has also been kicking and biting me and his sisters. And he's really a very, very gentle soul. Parenting experts say that aggression is really fear or anxiety and that this too shall pass. I really yelled at him today, to my great chagrin, but the upside is that he had a great day in school today and received the STAR of the WEEK award for such behavior improvement. He also got to be the line leader, which made him proud. Living with patience and compassion is hard. Here's hoping this little phase is over. In the picture, Jack in time out, yet again. Time out for scratching his sister's arm, not for watercoloring his face. Time out reserved for violent acts.

Road Trip

In the great American tradition of the summer road trip, we headed south this weekend to J's family's favorite lake, Bull Shoals. Just south of the Missouri border in Arkansas, it really is an unspoiled, lovely lake. We saw our cousins and Nana and Mike. The kiddos were, for the most part, great in the car, though we had several breakdowns. There was, as to be expected, some family drama, but overall, only one walk out during dinner, so I consider that a success. Jack rode on the innertube with his cousins and Daddy, we were all so proud. No fear. The twinnies took a boat ride and given the rather high heat index, a very cautious dip in the lake. J had a great time driving (or piloting? Not fluent in lake lingo) the boat the second day, Caroline was his second in command. J was a trooper and barbequed for the family both nights and hosted the second night. He also drove all the way home, practically, which was a rest for me. All in all, a good escape for a few days. We're back to the grind today.