Packing for 3+ weeks

I LOVE LOVE LOVE vacations and spending time with mi familia. Packing, I do not love. I especially hate the months of anticipation and preparation for a vacation and then the unavoidable last minute rush of packing. There are just so many things that you absolutely cannot pack until the very last minute. As I type this Brian is attempting to put ~200 lbs of clothes into 2 suitcases and a couple of 'carry-ons.' Since we're going in the RV we have more space than a regular airplane flight. Brian keeps telling me not to overthink it and that if we were flying it would be way more stressful. True enough. I think the problem is that it's cold as crap in the mountains in MT at night in the summer and hot during the days. You basically have to pack for two seasons. Add the fact that there are no washer/dryers at the cabin and this causes me to stress about the essentials. With a child with a severe case of eczema this is a little stressful. Isabel needs her clothes clean and dry and preferably organic cotton in nature or the little monster called eczema really flares up. I distinctly remember the only thing I wished I had packed more of last year are heavy sleepers. I tried to get loads of those ready for this trip, especially since Isabel leaks through her PJ's many times during the week.

I'm sure we'll eventually end up severely overpacking for the kids and having about 1 pair of underwear and 2 socks for ourselves. We'll manage. Helena is just 45 minutes away. As long as Grandma and Grandpa get there shit together and buy the AED I'll start to relax.

Once we get going I'm sure my heart palpitations and insomnia will relax. Kidding. Sort of. I'm looking forward to some fun motorcycle riding, hiking, diluted coffee drinking, pond gazing, bubble blowing, ball kicking, pinochle playing, belly laughing, and general running around like a kid with my kids, in Montana. One of the greatest places on the planet.

Following Simple Steps

This morning I asked Logan to go play me a song on the piano and he did! He's starting to follow simple requests. Around the 15 month mark is one of my favorite stages. You can see the wheels turning and they get so excited to show you that they know what you mean even if they can't talk yet. The meltdowns can still be managed pretty easily with distraction and there isn't talking back yet. Ahh, love it! I think Logan is getting some more molars. He's been chewing on his foot for a couple of days.

Isabel is talking a lot and likes to narrate 'Boos a Bees' for you. She thinks Gaston is Daddy, so I'm not sure she really gets the story yet. Tonight is movie night and we're hoping we can convince her to watch 'The Little Mermaid.' We've all had enough 'Boos a Bees' for the next 5 years. Isabel has been having a sort of tough time going to sleep these days without her paci. Last night she insisted that we change her PJ's because she leaked (she didn't) before going to bed. She's also been trying to get Brian to change her sheets even when they're not wet. She leaks through her 2 diapers about 2-3 times a week, so Brian goes in there and changes her sheets often. She's now trying to use this as a stalling technique for bedtime. There was lots of screaming last night when I told her I wasn't changing her sheets. Silly girl. After she finally went to bed she slept through the night. Yay!

We're starting the packing process for the big trip this weekend. So.much.stuff.to.pack. It's difficult because it's very cold at night, but gets warm during the day. We have to pack long and short sleeves, shorts, jeans, jackets, heavy sleepers, etc. Not just for the kids, but for me and Brian as well. Oh yeah, and there's Tank to think of. I keep forgetting that he's going with us. I hope the giant RV can handle everything. We're heading to Houston Wednesday to see (hopefully) the MNT play in the Gold Cup semi finals. Brian is driving the Jeep back to Austin Thursday morning to work Thursday and Friday and then meeting everyone else either in Wichita Falls or Amarillo Friday or Saturday. Let's hope it all works out!

All this before 3pm

Today I:

-Took a 5:30am spin class
-Showered and got 1/2 dressed
-Picked up screaming kid and finished getting dressed
-Got up other kid and fed 2 toddlers breakfast
-Played with toddlers in the baby pool
-Cooked 1/2 of dinner
-Baked 3 dozen cookies
-Put baby #3 down for a nap
-Cleaned dishes and unloaded the dishwasher
-Washed and put away 5 loads of laundry
-Mopped kitchen floor
-Got baby#3 up from nap and fed both lunch
-Took a 'quick' trip to Target and ended up leaving with only 1/2 the things I needed because baby #2 decided to have a full on screaming tantrum. I ignored it and got some lovely looks.
-Unpacked groceries and got snacks ready
-Put both kids down for naps
-Finished the other 1/2 of dinner and put away washed the rest of the dishes.

I'm exhausted today. I still have to clean the kid's bathroom, but at least I did the master bath last night so I don't have to worry about it. I'm taking dinner to a new mom tonight and tomorrow a friend and her 3 kids are coming over for the day. I think I need to go to bed right now.

Movie Night, Pictures and Paci Update

We've designated Friday night as movie night at our house. Isabel seems to really look forward to watching a movie upstairs in the playroom. She's recently become fascinated with blankets and pretends to sleep and wants to be covered in blankets now. She doesn't have a blanket in her crib, so I guess it's new and exciting for her. Last night Brian opened up the hide-a-bed and Isabel watched 'Boos a Bees' (Beauty and the Beast) on it with her blankets. She had a good time.





Isabel did pretty good the first night without a paci. It took her a long long time to get to sleep, but once she was out, she didn't wake up until 7am. Naps are proving to be more difficult. She goes to sleep with a bit of a fuss and then only sleeps for about 45 minutes to an hour. This is a drastic reduction in napping. Last night she went to bed after about 15 minutes of freaking out, so we're making progress. She was up around 6am, but after changing her clothes and sheets Brian was able to talk her into sleeping a couple more hours.

Today we had pictures at JCP. What a disaster. I knew we were in for it when she wanted Brian to pose on his stomach with the kids on his back. Hello 1985. There were some really cute moments that she didn't catch because her stupid camera wasn't ready or 'didn't take.' What a joke. I could have taken much better pictures. Isabel was super uncooperative, but Logan was a superstar and was all smiles, although you can't tell from the pictures we got. It didn't help that it was approximately 105 degrees in the studio. She also made me move one of my arms for the family shoot in front of Brian. It was super awkward and I knew looked bad. Sure enough, it looks like my right arm ate a small child in the proofs. I should have just said something. On the positive...it was cheap. I had a 50% off coupon that made it around $50 for all of the pictures. We've had some really nice pictures with JCP in the past, but the last 2x's they've been rough. I guess you get what you pay for. I think we'll get a 'real' photographer for our Christmas pictures this year.

We're off to root for the US MNT in the Gold Cup tonight.

Bye Bye Paci

It's only been 9 hours since 'Operation No Paci for Isabel' and I'm already about to crack. Isabel decided that she can chomp off the end of her paci, so it's a choking hazard and has to go. She really wanted me to paint her fingernails like mine so I told her only big girls can have their nails painted. I suddenly decided this was the perfect time to kick the paci out. We went upstairs and collected the 6 from her crib and grabbed the 2 from the car and Isabel tossed them in the trash herself. She had no problems doing it, so I was hopeful. We painted her nails and she was super excited. A ride in the car was the first test. She whined for the pacis, but I was able to distract her pretty easily. When we got home it was nap time. TOTAL disaster. She full on screamed for 20 minutes about no pacis. OMG. I thought I was going to have a panic attack or go for the vodka at 3pm. She slept for 20 minutes and then woke up and decided to scream more. She woke Logan up, so I had two kids on 20 and 30 minute naps. Awesome! I told Isabel she was a big girl for taking a nap without pacis and that she could watch 'Boos a Bees' because she was such a big girl and big girls can watch movies. She's watching the rest of it now after dinner and bath time. I'm crossing my fingers that there are minimal hysterics tonight when it's bedtime. We'll see. I texted Brian on his way home that he needed to get some beer to get through tonight. Who knows, maybe it'll go off without a hitch?

Logan's Ticker

Logan saw the pediatric cardiologist for his yearly checkup yesterday. All sounds good. They did an EKG, like they always do, but didn't do an ECHO. EKG was fine and didn't show any signs of long QT. Unfortunately Logan sees a different doctor than Isabel because at his 2 week visit Dr. Finnegan wasn't available. I like Logan's doctor, but Dr. Finnegan is just fantastic. We talked about them getting cardiac MRI's when they start playing sports and don't have to be sedated for it. Probably around middle school they'll get their first one.

While we were out meeting Brian for lunch and then seeing the doctor our refrigerator was valiantly trying to meet the demands of cooling off with the door wide open. I'm not going to say who left the door open, but let's just say that Isabel knows how to open the door. It usually closes itself, so I'm not sure what happened. I think I may have left the snack drawer open or something. Anyway, we had to toss a ton of food. $$$ down the drain. I'm ok with eating sketchy yogurt, but I'm not going to feed it to the babes. At least I got the scrub out the empty fridge. It was overdue and now looks sparkling!

It's the start of the Gold Cup today, so I'll try to get a picture of the kids in their red, white and blue up.

Grandpa's bday and potty training fail.

Isabel was pretty excited about her 'big girl panties' and picked out some princess ones that she likes. I accidentally bought one package in the correct size and one in the wrong size. It turns out that you can't potty train with only 2 pair of panties. Oops. We had a fun accident while having a girls' afternoon on Saturday. It involved a full on puddle in the middle of a store 2 minutes after I took Isabel to the bathroom to try and go. Em.barr.ass.ing. I guess I should get used to it. Brian had the brilliant idea of trying potty training again when we go to Montana. It actually may work since while we're at the cabins the only place we'll (probably) head to is Lincoln. The Lincoln folk are much more forgiving of accidents in stores than the most. At least that's what I think. But seriously, Lincoln, and its folk, are fantastic and we can't wait to get out of Texas.

Last weekend we headed to Houston to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. It's so convenient that his bday is right around Memorial Day. Good planning GGB. Here are a couple of pictures.

Eating a lovely BBQ by Grandma. Yum!

Grandma man-handling Logan.

Grandpa helping Isabel fish in the pool.

Isabel waving Bye to an airplane.

Cake at 10am? Sure, why not! Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Uh-oh!

It's June already!


Logan's favorite and first recognizable word that he uses correctly is 'uh-oh!' He likes to say it when he drops things, throws things, or just wants attention. He still says 'mama' when he's really upset, but he uses 'uh-oh' pretty often these days. He's becoming quite the little walker. He's constantly defending his treasures from his big sister.

Isabel just got a new haircut. She's in a 'no bows' phase, so therefore she has to get her bangs cut because she's constantly pushing them out of her face. She's a little parrot and repeats everything we say. She loves to watch her movies and we let her watch one on Friday nights. Brian hooked up the TV in the playroom, so we watched 'Aladdin' up there this week. Isabel wasn't too sure about it at first, but then she got into it. She can also rip off the door handle locks if she really wants too, so that's fun.

Isabel had her last day of school on May 25th. It was a sad day. Izzy really loved going twice a week and had a fun time playing with her friends. I couldn't have asked for better teachers for her. Ms. Becca became her special friend and I know she's really going to miss her. Ms. Nicole and Ms. Traudl has offered up babysitting services this summer, so I think I'll take them up on it! They both have teenage daughters, so more babysitters. Score!

Isabel eating breakfast on her last day of school.

Ms. Becca, Ms. Traudl, and Ms. Nicole