What a difference a day makes

Eve and Josie and friends in Hayward, WI, last week.


Sisters. Eve's 3rd birthday, 7/17/09.



My Doodle turns 3.

Just a little taste of what we've been up to lately. The past couple of weeks have been full to the brim with birthday parties, vacation prep and vacationing in Hayward, WI. We had a total of 5 birthday parties between two consecutive weekends, along with a quick vacation (including the only slightly-soggy maiden voyage of our "new" 1972 Steury pop-up camper) at a relative's cabin near Hayward thrown in between.

Yesterday, we were crabby. The girls and I didn't bother to get dressed until 5:00 when we needed to get ready for dance class. The combination of more cake and ice cream than you can possibly imagine, along with a week of no naps, and all the excitement and let-down of all things vacation-related resulted in a big time crash yesterday. While it felt great to not have to go anywhere during the day yesterday, it was also better for everyone to not have to keep company with us. Whew. And now... today. A new day! It's cooler, we're happier (and showered - bonus!) and ready to slide back into life as we know it.

The library, grocery store and the great outdoors are calling. More later!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Eve

Three years ago on this date at 9:46 p.m., we became a family of four. "The Baby" didn't have a name for a couple hours. It was down to Claudia, and Genevieve. Eve won out, and I'm glad - I can't imagine my life without my Evie.

We spent the morning getting ready for birthday party #2, then let Eve pick where to have lunch. She chose Romolos - a classic little Italian dive not far from our house, because she wanted pizza. Awesome food, great prices, and for whatever reason seeing that there's no glitz or kid glamour, her favorite.

If you asked her how old she was going to be, her response was "Three in July." I am having a really hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that she is three. Maybe that's just how it goes with your "baby." Happy Birthday, my baby.

Holding pattern

I needed to drop off some paperwork yesterday for Pat at (his! how weird for it not to be mine!...) work yesterday regarding rollovers (nothing to do with dog training, though) and defined benefit contributions, and yadda yadda yadda - it's all Greek to me, I just signed where all the pretty little "X's" were... and being in the skyway again, near my old lobby, seeing some familiar faces... the reality of my choice finally hit home for me. I had no feelings of regret, no pangs of doubt. Well, okay - maybe I had slight misgivings when passing by my old Caribou, but really, I'm sure they're already over me and my small skim white chocolate mochas, no whip. Standing there, waiting for Pat to come off the elevator, I was just another mom with her kids, waiting for their daddy. Then, walking away, holding my girls' hands... and feeling the most confident I've ever been in a decision of my own making.

Things are good. Libraries, bus rides, zoos, beaches, parks... the stuff summer is made of. Nothing really newsworthy happening here, hence the lack of posts lately. And I like it.

The girls had "rest time" today, and I went in a while ago to tell Jo she could get up, if she wanted. Of course, she wanted, and we went to release Eve from her room. I opened the door, and she was sitting one her bed, facing the door, with this crazy little smirk on her face. I looked quickly and anxiously around for some sort of destruction, but nothing appeared amiss, and I started to turn away. In one smooth motion, Eve turned over, lifted her dress and mooned Josie and I, without saying a word. Sometime during quiet time, she removed her Dora undies, and calmly waited for me to come into her room. We're in so much trouble.

Overheard

The girls were in the tub last night, and Patrick was attempting to remove a ponytail holder from Josie's very tangled/somewhat damp mess of hair, without ripping it all out. (A task I didn't envy him, in the least. They played hard yesterday, much of it outside, and some of it in the kiddie pool in the backyard. Beautiful, long, flowing hair is great - if you've got a stylist on the payroll to take care of it.) It was taking a while, and I could tell patience was running thin from everyone involved. Pat muttered something like, "geez, we're gonna need a Jaws of Life to get this thing out..."

Josie sighed, and responded, "Daddy - are we gonna need to call in Mommy?"

Another 4th of July has come, and gone. We had a pretty low-key weekend in town. The neighbors didn't seem to go nearly as crazy with the fireworks as in years past, or perhaps my tolerance level has grown now that the girls don't wake up in tears from the annoying pops, crackles and mini-booms. This was the first year we let the girls stay up late and take in an actual fireworks display. We packed up some snacks and our blanket and headed downtown to scope out a spot across the river from Harriet Island, where the Taste of Minnesota has their annual festival and fireworks. (Sidenote - I LOVE big fireworks shows. It actually pains me a little the years when we're out of town and can't see a "real" fireworks display on the 4th. Small towns try, but just can't really compare.)

We scored a spot on the river side of Shepard Road near the Science Museum, and got down there a couple of hours early, so brought bubbles and a ball, coloring books and popcorn, all of which worked perfectly to keep the girls entertained while we waited. Our spot actually ended up being pretty much directly underneath the fireworks. IT. WAS. AWESOME. As Patrick and I sat on our blanket, each with a girl on our laps staring up at the sky with complete and utter amazement - I realized that as much as I love to watch fireworks, I loved watching their reactions even more. I whispered to Josie, "which ones are your favorite?" To which she answered, "ALL of them." Eve wanted her ears covered, and when I placed my hands over the sides of her head, she contentedly settled back against me, and didn't take her eyes off the sky again.

There's this intangible, indescribable thing that happens in moments like that, which I wish I could somehow capture in a bottle and present to couples who can't decide if they want to have kids or not - for a little extra push, if they are meant to have a family of their own. Solid, indisputable PROOF that giving up the freedom of a "just the two of us" life is so frickin' worth it. I'm never one to push an opinion, or even ask about when or if a couple is going to start a family, especially because I remember all too well the annoyance during our first 4-ish years of being married of being asked when we were going to have kids, and I don't ever, ever want to inflict that same annoyance on anyone with such a personal decision. What I have come to learn is that the moments like that one on the blanket, the weight of a warm little body filling my lap - waiting patiently and trusting that they were going to witness some sort of miraculous event, SO surpasses all the frustrations and "limitations" that (someone without kids thinks) parenthood brings. But, unfortunately, it is something that can't truly be captured in a bottle, or with words, it just has to be experienced.