Hi everyone!  I made it through my birthday with minimal funk, thank goodness.  As is kind of the standard (I’m learning), the funk was really only the day before my birthday.  The day of was really rather pleasant.  Kile got up on Saturday morning and fixed me eggs benedict and I ignored my diet and relished his fabulous hollandaise sauce.   Truly, I’d rather have his eggs benedict than any I could find at any restaurant.  He has ruined me for other eggs benedict. The english muffin was whole grain though, so maybe that does count towards my diet after all!

I was able to take a nice shower, sans worrying about the kids.  And it snowed snowed snowed!  I wanted to go out, get a few things at the craft store for making Christmas gifts and such.  Kile started to shovel the driveway but soon came to the conclusion that if we wanted to get out of the house, perhaps we had better do so before conditions got much worse.   We had lunch at Burger King (thanks, Angela!) and went to Michaels where I got a few things of yarn and a pom pom maker.  Oh the excitement!

Kile dropped me at Walmart while he went to get gas at Sam’s Club next door.  I ran in to fetch a six pack of Hornsby’s Hard Cider and check out the Redbox and see if there were any good movies I could get with the free code I had.  But that was pretty much a bust as an older couple rudely cut in front of me in line and the Redbox was pretty cleared out of anything that has been released in the last three months.

The snow was really coming down so we just headed home.  The snow was outrageous!  I wondered if maybe I went a little overboard in wishing for snow for my birthday but then decided that I loved it no matter what.  There’s no such thing as “too much snow” in my vocabulary!

I got some knitting done that afternoon and then we fed the kids dinner and put them to bed in the evening.  We sent Harry up to watch TV in our room and Kile fed me an utterly fabulous meal of lobster spaghetti.  Can you believe it!  For dessert, I had cherry pie instead of cake, at my request.  I even ate the crust, another diet no no.  But, it was my birthday.

We watched a movie while I knit some more.  Never not knitting!

All in all, it was a really nice day.  It’s hard to have decent birthdays when you get older.  They just lose a lot of their magic.  But I think I did pretty good, considering.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have about a billion things to finish knitting before Christmas.  Busy, busy, busy!

It’s Harrison’s birthday today. He turns 10.  I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this.  I mean, on the one hand, he’s officially a “tween” now and that sorta scares the pants off me because “tween” is right next door to “teen” and I’m DEFINITELY not ready for that.  On the other hand, I like to see him growing out of little boy-hood and into bigger boy-hood.  He’s into different things, more responsible, more independent and in certain cases, more helpful.

Still, I’m having a hard time believing that it was 10 years ago that he came into our lives.  It feels much more recent than that.  He turned our lives upside down, and in a very good way.  We haven’t been the same since, and I’m so grateful for that.  I think back on the years when it was just us and him and while those years were marked with grief and a deep desire to add to our family, those were also wonderful years spent as a close family.  We went everywhere and did everything together.  He was such an easy kid, we could take him with us anywhere we went without much fuss.  During the day, I never thought anything of taking him with me the store and around town and to doctor appointments.  He was my little side-kick.

I miss those days now.  Now he’s less interested in spending time with me.  He comes home, does his homework, and is outside riding his bike or playing with the boys up the street.  It’s more and more challenging to find things to connect with him on.  But I’ve done my best, opening the world of “High School Musical” to him, and talking about important subjects like music and movies and all that.

Ten years.  Double digits.  This is huge.  I’m so proud of him, every day, for what a great kid he’s growing up to be.  We expect a lot from him, and hold his feet to the fire on a lot of things, but it’s only because we know he’s capable of it.  And as sad as I am that the little boy is no longer here, I am excited to see what sort of man he grows up to be.

As referenced in this post here, I was a guest vendor on a “congo” over on Hyena Cart yesterday.  I was very excited and nervous about it.  I have my own little Hyena Cart shop, I pretty much only sell slots on my customs list and maybe the occasional stitch marker.  It doesn’t get a lot of attention and I get most of my customs from my message board pals.  I was nervous about stocking something already made.  Would anyone actually WANT it?   Or would it be a spectacular fail?

It wasn’t a fail.  Far from it.  I’m stil in shock today.  I sold the shorts I made right away, sold both of the customs slots I stocked and the auction on the skirt I made is currently at $170.  This, quite literally, blows my mind.  Unbelievable.

***

Liam’s birthday was a RAGING success on Tuesday.  He had a great day, which I think is the best thing we could have done for him.  Liam really responds to the gift of “quality time”.   We picked up Kile from work to go to Evie’s 15 month pediatrician appointment and he took the rest of the day off.  We went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch (which was like crack for that kid, he LOVED IT).  After, we ventured next door to Toys R Us to spend some birthday money from his grandparents.  He walked out with a ride-in toy car (that we literally have to keep out of sight in the garage or we will never get him out of it), a “Cars” pillow for his bed (that he keeps trying to cart around with him) and a couple more “Cars” cars to add to the ever-growing collection.  This was on top of all the “Cars” stuff that we got him as presents.  We did a little shopping before heading home and after playing hard for a couple hours, we all went to McDonald’s for dinner: Liam’s favorite restaurant.  Then it was home to cake and ice cream and presents.

What a great day!  And what a lucky kid!

***

As I said, Evie had a pediatrician appointment on Tuesday.  She’s doing great and had a fabulous time ripping around the room in her diaper while we waited for the doctor.

She comes in at 50% for weight and 40% for height.  Yay for my average girl!  She did have to get a couple of shots, which she did NOT like.  And, quite frankly, they made her a Crankapotomus for the next day or two.  So far, she seems fairly genial today, so I hope that means we’re in the clear.  Whew!

***

I can’t blame any crankyness on Evie’s part on lack of sleep these days.  We got a room-darkening shade for her window this weekend.  Her room gets the bulk of the morning sun and since the sun is up at an ungodly hour these days, she was waking up rather early.  And I always got the impression that she was still tired but she would NOT go back to sleep.

With the shade up?  She is sleeping in until at least 9am EVERY DAY.  Now, this may even out after she gets used to it… but for now?  OMG, I love it.  It keeps her room a little cooler too.  The boys have a shade too, but theirs is “light-filtering” which means it doesn’t make it darker at all.  However, Liam is a fantastic sleeper and I never have to complain about him getting enough sleep or waking up too early.

I just LOVE having some time in the morning to get some things done and have peace and quiet.  I better enjoy it while I can, because who knows how long it will last!

***

I recently discovered “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” was playing on the “Gospel Music Channel”.  I didn’t even know we GOT that channel, but apparently we do.  I used to watch “Dr. Quinn” back in high school and it was something my friends and I would giggle and talk about.  We even passed notes about such subjects as “courtin’ and sparkin’”, Sully’s braid, and our dislike for Matthew’s girlfriend, Ingrid.  Good times, man.

Now, watching these episodes again, takes me RIGHT back to those days in high school and hanging out with my friends.  It’s been a wonderful walk down memory lane.  I’ve been DVRing the episodes and watching them while the kids are napping or at night after they’re in bed and Kile is playing his computer game.

Oh the memories!

***

We finally got some strollers for our trip to Florida next month (gulp!).  It’s feeling more real all the time that this trip is actually going to happen and I’m scared stiff.  I know it’s going to be loads of fun.  But the plane trip scares me.  Mostly, the fact that we’re doing a plane trip with two small children.  And that one of those children, Evie, doesn’t have her own seat booked.  So she’s on my lap.  CROSS COUNTRY.  This is not good, my friends.

The airport(s) and the plane trip are easily what I’m most nervous about.  I think once we get there, we’re all going to have a marvelous time.  I’ll have the almighty Jesus Phone (read: the iPhone) with me, so hopefully I’ll be able to post quick updates and snapshots here and there.

Oh and pray I don’t blind anyone at the pool when I wear a bathing suit with my pasty, white skin.

***

We’re getting SOD tomorrow!  SOD!!  This is HUGE!

We’ve lived in this house for over 5 years now, and just NOW are finally getting something of a landscaped backyard.  The sod will be delivered at the crack of dawn and Kile plans to get out there and lay it before it gets hot.  I sure hope he isn’t expecting me to join him.  I’ll cheer him on in spirit, as I’m sleeping soundley in my cozy, cool bed.

Seriously though, this is a great thing!  The kids will be able to run through the sprinklers at last (we’ve always been reluctant to do this before because the front yard is so exposed and the grass patch out there isn’t terribly large) (or flat).  And the dogs will have some place to crap!  SIGH.  Oh well.  The good with the bad, yes?

The next step will be to pour a cement patio (I have NO idea when this will happen, only that it’s the plan so far) and to buy some trees and plants and such to finish stuff out with.  But the grass?  That’s a huge chunk of it.

***

So that’s all I’ve got to say.  For now. Are you glad I shared?

Today is Liam’s birthday.  It’s been three years since that wonderful, AMAZING day where he was born.  I can say without hesitation that it was the best day of my life.   Even now, thinking of it brings a big smile to my face.

It has been a wild and crazy three years with little Liam in our lives.  He’s the sort of child that will NOT be pushed to the side, that will NOT be not noticed, that will NOT be just your average “middle child”.  He quite deftly marks his place in our lives and it’s all we can do to just keep up with him.

He’s a ball of energy, a life-force to be reckoned with.  It’s easy to forget that he is small and just as frail as the rest of us.  Because he’s a “tough guy”.  I’ve never seen a child fall down quite as much as Liam does.  And mostly, he picks himself back up with a yell of “I’m okay!” and he’s back at it again.

Three is the age I dread.  He’s already such a handful, that I’m afraid of having more heaped on my plate.  But at the same time, I have to admit, this new age and maturity has been kind of… FUN.  He’s talking more, doing more and actually even listening more.  Still, I don’t want to make it sounds like he listens to us often.  Just more than NEVER which is how he was before.

He has great capacity of cruelty when it comes to his little sister.  He sees nothing wrong with running up to her and smacking her on the head, pushing her over, tripping her as she takes her first toddling steps and stealing toys from her on a whim.  I get the impression that he feels entitled to rough her up a little, seeing as she just waltzed into his life and took his position as “baby”.   Plus, she is JUST a baby, she doesn’t need that doll/sippy cup/car/book.  Liam finds himself in “baby jail” (aka the pack n’ play) quite often because of this.

He also has great capacity to love.  Perhaps, he’s the most loving of all the kids.  He’s the most likely to run up to you in the middle of playing to give you a spontaneous hug and kiss.  Despite the frequent brutalizing of Evie, he shows a great deal of concern for her when she’s unhappy.  And he just idolizes Harry, following him around like a puppy dog and clamoring for his attention.   He’s a papa’s boy at heart and would quite happily go off to work with Kile every day, just to be near him.   His favorite place to hang out in the mornings is on Kile’s lap, sippy cup in hand and stuffed dolphin tucked under his arm.

He loves cars.  Like most boys his age, Hot Wheels cars are his vice.  And the movie “Cars” is arguably his biggest obsession.  He would watch that movie 24/7 if I let him.  I have a strict “1 ‘Cars’ per day” viewing policy.  It’s adorable to watch him get so into something.  His fondness for Disney comes next and for months now he has been able to identify the Disney logo.  And while no Disney movie is quite as fabulous as “Cars”, it still is a cause for celebration.  And I may be scared of traveling across country with this wild, ball of energy, but the look on his face when he first sees Disney World and the cruise ship will make it all worth it, I am sure.  I literally cannot wait to see what he thinks of it all.  What will he do when face to face with Mickey Mouse himself?  The child’s head might just pop off his shoulders.

This isn’t a terribly eloquent post and it’s hard to be eloquent about a child like Liam.  He’s a do-er.  He’s a mile a minute.  He’s a lot of everything in a small package.  And quite simply, I cannot imagine our lies without him.  Quieter and more peaceful, perhaps, but also emptier.

So happy birthday, Liam.  I can’t believe how fast you’re growing.  And I look forward to watching you grow some more.

Today is my husband’s birthday.  And I feel a little bad becasue there just isn’t all that much I can get/do/etc for him today to make his day special.  I’ve already explained how I don’t leave the house so going out to buy gifts is a no-go.  I let him pick out a few things on the weekend when we were out shopping (among them: new shorts, a bottle of scotch, Call of Duty 4, and iPod headphones) and he’s currently deciding what he’d like to do best for dinner tonight (have me cook, bring in take-out or go out to eat).  But really, he deserves so much more for his birthday.

He works hard.  Like most people today, he worries about losing his job and how he would take care of his family if that were to happen.  True, he’s maybe a little more insulated from that tragedy that some people, but he never acts like it.  He acts like every day is the difference between keeping and losing his job.  While it keeps him vigilant and at the top of his game, it’s an awful lot of stress to take on.

He takes care of his family.  Aside from being Liam’s “buddy” on the weekend (we each have a “buddy” and since Evie is sitll nursing, she’s my buddy by default), he does a lot to take care of the kids.  He gives the little ones baths.  He shares in the feeding and diaper changing duties.  He plays rambunctuous papa games with the little ones, the sort of things that mama never does like flipping them over to make them giggle.

He makes us dinner, almost every night (pretty much the only nights he doesn’t make dinner is when we eat out.  It’s very rare that he asks me to make dinner).  And he makes really yummy food too!  Just last night, he grilled us up some burgers that were out of this world.  I love when he makes these burgers; he got the inspiration from In n’ Out’s “Animal style” burgers.  He grills them in mustard, puts some cheese on and then tops them with grilled onions.  Just thinking about them makes my mouth water.  And what about the penne pasta tossed with smoked sausage and stir-fry vegetables.  A simple dish, but SO tasty!  And he does this every night, after working all day.

He’s also very good to me.  He goes out of his way to make my birthdays and Mother’s Days special.  He gives me a break when I need it and nurses me back to health when I do something stupid like breaking my ankle.   He makes an effort to spend time with me and we do an at-home “date night” once a month.  He doesn’t ever object to watching a chick flick when I really want to see it.  He’s a shoulder to cry on and a companion to share my life with.

I’m sad to think of him at work today, but that was his choice.  I’m even sadder, though, for him to be feeling bad about his birthday.  It’s never easy turning one year older.  And I just wish I could do more to make him feel celebrated today.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart.  I love you!