Forward Roll

One of our favorite things to do this summer has been to go to Music on the Porch at the Mordecai House.  It starts at 6 every other Friday night, it's family friendly, it only costs $5 for each adult and you can bring your own cooler.

Abby took this picture on Friday night.  I think it says a lot about Quincy as a father and a husband.

It's not monumental, but he's helping Clara learn to do a forward roll right in the middle of a crowd of people.  He doesn't care what anyone thinks, he's going to show her how to do it.  She loved doing it and she loves her daddy.

Our marriage is not perfect and neither one of us are perfect parents, but Quincy is a really great husband and father.

Life in the Nut House

It's been a crazy week.  At 1:30 in the morning on Thursday we heard the loudest sound that can only be described as "SCCCCHHHHLLOOOMMMFFFFFFTTTTTTTT."  Quincy was up with the baby and I popped out of bed.  We met in Clara's room, both fearing, since the sound had come from the back of the house, that it had gone through her room.  Thanks be to God, it did not.  She was standing in her crib, happy to see us, saying "Hi Mommy, Hi Daddy, watch Mickey Mouse, squeak squeak?"

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

The aftermath has been crazy.  Quincy didn't work Friday and there's been a series of meetings and calls with contractors and insurance representatives.

Even still, Saturday was fun.  We went to the pool in the morning and to the Downtown Kings' house in the evening.  Here's Clara doing her best impression of McKayla Maroney (not on purpose and not staged).

Julia started daycare:

She's sleeping better, though!

Day in the Life

I keep getting asked the same question.  What's your day like?  So here goes:

MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2012

1:00 a.m.  Julia starts stirring.  Go in and give her a binky.  No dice, she needs to be fed.  Get her changed and reswaddled, nurse her, and get her back into bed by 1:15.  Try to get back to sleep.

5:50 a.m.  Really?  Yes, Julia is awake again.  I head in and she's got her head popped up, meaning she thinks it's morning.  I'm still hopeful.  I keep her swaddled as I nurse her.  She finishes and starts cooing and giggling.  All right, I get it.  I take her out of her swaddle and change her.  I bring her into our bedroom at about 6:15.  Quincy and I have the "who wants to shower first" conversation.  He decides to go first.  I take Julia downstairs and make a cup of coffee.  I play stand up/sit down/giggle with Julia.  She spends a little time in the exersaucer.

6:40 a.m.  Quincy comes downstairs after his shower and takes over with Julia.  I run upstairs to shower before Clara gets up.  Shower in 5.  Makeup in 5.

6:50 a.m.  Quincy comes back upstairs with Julia and Clara's milk.  He thinks Julia is sleepy so her puts her down.  She doesn't normally sleep at this time but hey, I will take it.  I start drying my hair.

7:00 a.m.  Clara wakes up.  Sunday night I put 5 outfits in a basket in her room.  Quincy gets her dressed and brings her into our room.  The shirt doesn't match the pants.  Oh well.  Clara's drinking her milk and asking for "Mickey Mouse squeak squeak."  Quincy puts on Mickey Mouse and kisses us goodbye.  I finish getting ready.  I decide to change Clara's shorts.  She announces she wants to wear the ones she has on because they have "animos" (animals) on them.  I go and get a different shirt.  Clara says "thank you mommy!"  I fix Clara's bed head and put a bow in it.  I run downstairs and get Clara's shoes, run back upstairs and put them on her.  I grab a clean blanket and alligator for Clara, plus an outfit for her cubby to replace the one she came home in on Wednesday.  I put it all on the stairs and then think better of it and throw it down to the bottom--more likely to make it to school.

7:30 a.m.  Julia wakes up.  I nurse her for a minute and get her out of her sleeper and dressed.  We go in to sit with Clara while Mickey Mouse is finishing up.  We all head downstairs.  Slowly.  I hand Clara a cheese stick and some water.  Clara goes to color.  I put Julia in the bouncer and put a couple of things in the dishwasher. Julia starts to fuss. I grab her.  Clara hands me a drawing and announces that it is "beautiful."  I agree.  We repeat this for about 20 minutes until I realize I don't have my phone downstairs and that Julia needs socks.  I run upstairs.  While I'm up there I put Julia in her swing and tidy up her room a little.  Back down the stairs about 3 minutes later, Clara is still coloring and Alex is walking up.

8:00 a.m.  Alex arrives.  Over the next half hour I talk to Alex about things that have changed over the weekend.  Take Clara to the potty.  Take Clara to the potty again.  Change Clara's diaper.  Kiss Julia.  Take my bag and pump bag out to the car.  Put Clara's shoes on (again).  Kiss Julia again.  Look in the fridge for something to bring for lunch.  Tell Alex I'm going to go grocery shopping at lunch and that I will bring us something to eat.

8:18 a.m.  Head back into the house for the clothes/blanket/alligator.

8:20 a.m.  Clara and I leave for daycare.  We listen to Feist's 1,2,3,4 song the whole way there.

8:30 a.m. Arrive daycare.  Wash Clara's hands, wash my hands.  Fill out Clara's daily.  Talk to teachers.  Say goodbye to Clara.  Check her in at the computer.

8:50 a.m.  Get back into the car.  Start it.  Look over and see clothes/blanket/alligator.  Shut off car and head back in.  Duck so she doesn't see me when I'm handing over clothes/blanket/alligator.

8:55 a.m.  Arrive work.  Deep breath.  Begin by getting a cup of tea.  Work as fast as I can.

10:12 a.m.  Realize it's time to pump.  The phone rings.

11:00 a.m. Off the phone.  Really time to pump.  Pump.

11:15 a.m.  Back to work.  As fast as I can.

12:30 p.m.  Alex texts, she thinks Julia will be up around 1.  Rush out of the office.  Grocery shop in 15 minutes.  Grab Subway.  Get home at 1:15.  Throw dinner in the crock pot.  Play with Julia.

1:45 p.m.  Think I better leave to go back to work.  Wait another 5 minutes and then leave.

2:00 p.m.  Arrive back at work.  Think I better pump.  The phone rings.

2:45 p.m.  Off the phone.  Really time to pump.  Pump.  (are you sensing a pattern?)

3:00 p.m.  Back to work.  Pretty much panicked because there is so much left to do.

4:45 p.m.  Pump again.  Finish up everything I possibly can before I leave.  Send out emails.  Run lots of spell checks.

5:15 p.m.  Look down and realize it's 5:15.  Finish trying to send things out.  Outlook crashes.  Restart Outlook.  Final email won't send.  Forget it until later.

5:30 p.m. Leave the office.

5:40 p.m. Walk in the house.  Thank God for little favors--dinner is ready.

6:00 p.m.  We all eat.  Julia baby cereal and apples.  The rest of us BBQ chicken on kaiser rolls and corn.

6:15 p.m. Clara's out of the high chair.  Chaos ensues.

6:45 p.m.  Julia's fussing, time to start winding down.  Bath/jammies/books/nurse/swaddle/bed by about 7:15.

7:15 p.m.  I am walking out of Julia's room as Quincy walks up with Clara.  He starts her bath.  We all hang out while she plays in the bath.  He gets her out while I run downstairs and load the dishwasher and grab her milk.  45 seconds in the microwave.  Back up the stairs, he's putting on her sleeper.  She asks for me to read.  She's in bed at about 7:40.

7:45 p.m.  Fall onto the couch.  Remember the final email.  Log into my work account and send it.  The rest is a blur!  Somehow we end up in bed for the night.

And the thing is, I don't know that I would/could change it.  It's nuts, but it's our reality right now.  Clara is absolutely thriving at Bright Horizons, and Alex is providing good one-on-one care to Julia, so I know we're making the right choice as far as child care is concerned and I know I have it a lot better than most only working 4 days/week.

But this morning (it took me until Thursday to publish this), I was so tired my eyelids felt swollen!

This is what Clara does when you ask her to smile for the camera!

3:30

It's 3:30 in the morning.  The baby ate at 2:15 and my list was so long I decided to try to cross a few things off.  Not that she woke me up.  I woke up on my own.  I'm done with what I can do for now and my mind is still racing, so here I am.  Blogging and drinking a cup of some kind of tea that is supposed to be soothing.

Let's hope it does its job and I can get a few couple hours of sleep before the babies get up in the morning.

(As an aside, I am sitting on the sectional in the front room.  I absolutely agonized over this thing in January of 2008.  After I settled on this couch after about a month of looking, I spent a week comparing fabric samples, looking online and getting opinions.  I finally ordered it and when it came, I wasn't happy with the seams and sent it back to be redone.  I didn't receive it until September of 2008--9 months after we ordered it.  Now?  It smells like sunscreen because a certain mischievous 2 year old cannot seem to stay OUT of the pool bag!  I think that I see red crayon on the next cushion, but I'm going to hope it's just the glare of the computer screen.)

And honestly, this is how it looks to be a working mom with a job like mine.  Race home to get some time in with the babies.  Feed everyone.  Bathe everyone.  Feed self.  Run around trying to get everything under control.  Fall out exhausted by 10 pm.  Wake up with a start at 2 am because of everything you left undone at work at 5:30.

But anyway, that's not why you're here.  I need to do a full post of our family photos from the other week, especially since I got such good advice on what to wear here.

But for now, here's a pic to whet your appetite.  It's my favorite one from the shoot, even though it probably wouldn't be considered the best shoot and none of us look perfect.  OK, we never look perfect, but less perfect than we could.

Clara's Birthday Party

When Clara's birthday approached I originally thought we wouldn't have a party.  After talking to a friend, I decided to do something low key.  So, we reserved the shelter at our pool, got some pool toys, an Elmo cake, Sesame Street party supplies, a bunch of packages of goldfish and a cooler full of juice boxes, water and beer and called it a day.

And guess what?  Despite the fact that it wasn't pinterest-worthy, everyone had an amazing time!  And I didn't break the bank or my fragile spirit trying to get it together to put the thing on.

Here's the results in photos:

Clara and her Daddy

Sophia and Erica

Sweet Friends.

Evan--a boy worth fighting over.

Crowd

Clara and me.

Julia and my dad.

Crowd shot.

Clara and Uncle Tucker

Blowing out the Elmo candle.

The birthday girl!