Quote of the Day

With all this hot, hot weather my walking and physical activity in general has been pretty limited. 
Yes, it is that hot. 
So not only am I feeling large, but with the limited physical activity, my hands and feet are getting a bit swollen.  I plan to get up early tomorrow (barring four hours of  severe thunderstorms like we had last night) to do some walking and get back on track. 
While it is still far, far too early to complain about anything in this pregnancy, I was doing a bit of whining earlier tonight.  It went something like this:
Karen:  "I'm going for a walk in the morning.  I haven't walked in two days and I feel like a ugly, fat lard butt."
Caroline:  "Mommy - you're a big, fat beautiful lady."

Thanks, CJ. 
Thanks a lot. 

A Slow Friday

Our friends from Worcester, the Klofft family, just left. 
To keep the moping to a minimum, the kids are watching The Lorax, but to be honest, I'm a bit mopey, too. 
I think today will be a day we try to keep things simple.  Between the kids missing their friends, recovering from being a 5 child household and the 100 degree heat - I just don't see much getting done. 
And I'm okay with that. 
Totally and utterly. 

On Tuesday we rounded up the kids and went to the Museum of Natural History.  No pictures from the actual museum because we were too busy chasing five children, but they were stationery long enough on the train to take a picture...

Oh - and we met "Mr June" for the next Firefighters of Frederick calendar...

 The kids spent a fair amount of time in the pool and sprinkler.  We also spent a fair amount of time doing not much of anything, which was wonderful.  Not trying to cram a bunch of stuff in a short amount of time kind of made it feel like we still lived 3 houses apart instead of 450 miles away...

So now we're walking the line between moping and going crazy, so I think we're going outside to hunt us up some bunny rabbits (really).  The kids are nostalgically wearing their Tye-died shirts (that came out great!) and waiting until we get to see our Kloffts again...
Me too.  

Lots of Posts, I Know...

The kids are quiet and behaving, but my toes are rapidly becoming the size of cocktail sausages, so I'm going to put up some pics from this past week and (maybe) attach some captions later.

First Pitch

My Dad got to throw out the first pitch at the Trailblazer's game last Saturday. 
Let's just put that new shoulder to the test, shall we?

Adirondack Trailblazers

The other night we got to go to Geneva to see Uncle Matt's team play the Red Wings. 
We had a wonderful time.  It was just as going to a baseball game should be. We saw the Trailblazers win, the kids got to run around between the picnic tables, there were lots of autographs given out, Caroline got a foul ball, Sam got a home run ball and Nate got wickedly dirty. 
Who could ask for anything more?

Here are some pics that Pops took of the action.  Pretty good, huh?

And here are the kids collecting autographs before the game.  A really nice group of young men.  They made Sam and Caroline feel like they were the only kids in the world.  Thank you so much.  It meant so much to them.  Sam is still smiling. 

The aftermath of the autograph session.  They love how their gloves look. 

I wasn't joking when I said Nate was wickedly dirty.  And sticky.  And blue.  And did I mention sticky?

Q

Dear Q,
I love that you are a strong, active boy.  I love that you're growing right on schedule and all your parts are in the right places.  I love looking at the pictures of your beautiful little face we got a few weeks ago at our ultrasound.   I love that you are head down and starting to get ready to make your appearance.

However, with all that said - Please, please, PLEASE stop kicking me so hard.  It hurts.  It makes it difficult for me to breathe.  And words cannot quite describe what it feels like when I think your feet are going to come out of my mouth.  
Remember I love you very much and the sooner you get used to listening to me, the better it is for everyone.   
Trust me.  
Love,
Mama

Also -

We are going password protect the blog.
We can track who is on and what they look at and there are a couple hits that we just can't figure out where they're coming from.
So, if you want the password, e-mail me.
=-)

Quiet.

Now that's not something that happens around here every day.
Nate is asleep.  He has been up since 4:30 - so I consider this nap of his very well earned.  We even went for a walk in the wee hours and saw seven bunnies. He should be tired.  I know I am. 

The older Gruesome Twosome are at Vacation Bible School.
So what's a Mama to do?
Well, besides picking up the toys, cleaning the kitchen, folding laundry, putting the finishing touches on Father's Day gifts, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms and washing some windows...I just don't know.
So I'm boycotting it all - at least for 10 minutes and listening to some music (I love The Bridge) while putting my feet up and digesting the events of the past couple days.

I tried to bring myself to write last night, but just couldn't.  It's been a rough year for cats in this house.  Smokey died yesterday.  We miss her a lot.  She was so sick at the end that we know it was the right thing to do and we also realize that we probably should have done it sooner, but after what we went through with Junior last summer, we just couldn't.  Nate is going around the house looking for her.  Sam and Caroline are comforting themselves by hanging out with their toy cats.
Jim and I were reminiscing last night about how she used to run to the end of the hall to "catch" the discs that we would shooot as soon as she heard the whirring of the Nerf gun.  About how she would run so fast she couldn't stop and when she would try to turn around, she would bang into the stove.  About how she used to "chirp" at the birds and wiggle her butt, ready to pounce, when she saw birds through the window.  About how some heartless jerk threw her out of a moving car when she was too young to be weaned from her mother and was so small she could sit in the palm of our hands.  When Jim first got her, she had to learn to eat solid few and would meow while she was chewing-it sounded somewhere between the Meow Mix song and Homer Simpson eating a donut. 
 She was our first baby.  In typical cat form, she loved you on her own terms, which made those snuggles and  "kitty kisses" all the more special. 
I hope that she is making Junior just crazy - in the I'm going to whack you as you go by because I'm so much smarter than you - sort way she did whenever he walked by.
Soapy - I hope you feel better and can run and jump and catch all the birds and mice you want.  I hope you get thoroughly drunk on catnip socks.  I hope there are warm computer printers to sit on and lots of tuna to eat.
Know that we miss you and hope you rest well. 

Now, after a good cry, I'm going to get my housework done.

Mama Said...

It's going to be one of those days. 
So far
-Caroline and Sam have been at each other's throats.  Constantly. 
-Sam had an utter, complete and total breakdown when I tried to get him to wear his VBS shirt over his Batman shirt(after getting a verbal dress down from one of the staff members yesterday).  The preschool teachers were all okay with him being out of uniform...The kid was IronMan.  He's four.  Let it ride.  Please?  I only have so much energy to fight.  So, after much screaming and yelling and tears, he's Batman today because he has yellow in his cape.  Sigh. 
-Jim just took Smokey to the vet.  I think the end is near. 
-The house looks like some sort of tornado went through it. 
-It's 8:25.  Nate is already on his second change of clothes because our little acrobat is now able to get himself up on the counter without a stool or any other external aide.  While arguing with Bruce Wayne,  I heard Nate screaming way too happily and found him sitting in my bathroom sink with the cold water running.

Mama needs a glass of wine.   

Progressing.

I can tell this pregnancy is progressing.
Not only am I as big as a house (with 2 months to go - ugh), but 10,000 steps is starting to feel like 20,000.

The good news is that I was able to get in all my steps.  And I got 3 loads of laundry done and put away, the kitchen picked up, meals planned for tomorrow, grocery shopping done, the upstairs picked up and vacuumed, the kids started on their sewing / weaving projects, more laundry to be switched to be ready for tomorrow morning and jell-o jigglers for 50 (YES - 50) kids made.  Add this to it being the first day of Summer Vacation and having all three kids around the house for most of the day (thank goodness for Vacation Bible School in the morning for the older two) and I think that makes for a full day.
Nate and Sam even "helped" a lot with dinner.  I showed them how to chop and skin garlic and they helped me make bruschetta and roast potatoes.  Mmmmm.  Now if I could only get Sam to eat the stuff that he helps make.  Good luck to me with that.  If it doesn't have Cheerios or yogurt, it just ain't going to happen...
Dinner prep was pretty uneventful until Nate picked up half a tomato and ate it like an apple.
Seriously.
Ew.
I didn't even bother to try to stop him.  Resistance is futile. 

So I'm winding down by listening to the Dodgers game.  The Red Sox game made my ears bleed.  Bleh.  Hopefully Vin's storytelling can lull me into enough relaxation to get a decent night of sleep.  My coughing has been better.  Thank goodness.  Nate has ended up in our bed the past two nights, so that has been an impediment to sleep.  He likes to snuggle and play with Mama's hair and Nate does not do anything half-heartedly.  When he snuggles, it is a full contact sport.  Think Bruce Smith taking on Drew Bledsoe.  It ain't pretty.

Last Saturday we took on 200,000 Girl Scouts and ventured into DC.  We took it as an opportunity to see some of the less popular museums in the Smithsonian.  We got to the Freer Gallery and the Museum of African Art.  Both were very nice and not crowded at all.  Well worth the trip in. 
The kids were most impressed by the water fountains.  Hey - whatever it takes.  Art comes in all forms, right?

We ran into my old boss from Connecticut that I haven't seen in at least 7 years.  She was down at the Jamboree with her daughter.  It was wonderful to see her.
We also ran into some people that live down the street from my parents.
How random.  
I can't go anywhere without seeing someone I know! 

Baby Q is getting rambunctious just in time for me to go to bed.
Figures.
Grammy and Grandpa sent down some new undies for Nate.  He loves them.  Now all we have to do is get that potty thing going.  He tells me when he has done something and wants to change his diaper and shows enough gross motor control that I think toilet training would be possible at this point, but I'm still not sure it's one of those things that is worth it to push.  We'll try it and see.  Not like we've got anything else to do...

Who Wants to Make Mama Crazy?????

I Doooooooo!
It's a good thing this kid is cute. 
And that's all I have to say about that. 

Friday Night

A year after this we get this.  June 1st must be a very unlucky day when it comes to tornadoes.  Either that, or they just follow us around.  It's actually the third warning of the day for our county.  Enough already.  I just want to sleep and don't want to stay up monitoring the weather. 
 Caroline was a little freaked out because the first warning came when she was in school and they made the kids sit in the hall with their heads covered.  Like most things, though - when forced to think logically about it, she took it in stride.  Seeing that she thought she had small pox (it was really an ear infection - she has been reading a book about colonial America) earlier this week, a tornado must have been almost a relief!  If I could live in her world for just a day, I think I would be in awe of all I could learn and just how that girl's brain works...

If this post becomes non-nonsensical, be glad.  It means the Sudafed is working.  Caroline was nice enough to pass her head cold to me, where it has become a nice little head/chest cold.  The coughing is the worst part.  My body has released just enough elastin to accommodate Q that if I'm not in exactly the right position when coughing, things like my coccyx, sacrum and ribs pop out of joint.  And they don't go back in as easily as they come out. 
Ouch.  Just ouch. 
The cold has also made sleeping difficult to come by.  While I do love me my Scully, the Dodgers are on a road trip and the Arizona announcers aren't nearly as entertaining.  So, to pass the time when we should be sleeping, Caroline and I took eight of the potholders we've been working on and sewed them together to make her a small pocketbook.  We have the handle braided and almost ready to be sewn on.  I'll post some pictures of it - she is so proud that she made it.  It IS pretty cool, especially considering she is six years old and I'm about as non-crafty as they come. 

When Pops was out, he got some great pictures at the T-Ball game.  In a couple of the pictures I looked at of Caroline, I felt myself staring back.  Kind of weird. 

It is taking me some time to get used to the new Blogger system (either that or the Sudafed IS taking control)...I have tried to post a video of Nate being crazy, but it has refused to upload after 16 minutes.  Yikes - so I will just put up some pics of the kids in the pool this week.  While the neighbors seem to think that Nate's desire to be naked just adds to his charm, sometimes I really wish the kid would keep his freakin' clothes on...

Caroline has also been asking to do "belly pics" of her with her belly and me with mine...for now - this is as close as it gets.  Let us just say words like beluga, whale, "ate a basketball" and "Yes, there is ONLY one in there," come to mind...