Home Sweet Home

Oh my, it's been forever since I posted.  Work and home life have been crazy busy!  I made it through my first trip away from the boys.  5 days and 4 nights in the 9th largest US city, Dallas, TX.  Corey and I dropped the boys off the morning I headed out.  Joshi was first and as we walked out of his room I was thinking to myself "ok, that wasn't so bad... I can do this."  Then we dropped Jack off and the look he gave me broke my heart into a million pieces.  It was like this unspoken mini-conversation we had with only our eyes in just three short seconds.  Needless to say, I left his room in tears and still had one more kid to drop off.  I managed to collect myself as we made our way to the other end of the daycare to drop off Jamison.  Once in his room, I was surprisingly calm and I think it's because there was another Mommy dropping off her little Alden and she had just returned from a four night trip to Mexico - without baby.  She survived... so I knew I could too!  No more tears - until I hit security anyway.

I checked my hot pink Elle Woods suitcase and was feeling pretty good.  Security started off well and quickly went downhill as my "mother" bag (pump) made it's way across the beltway.  The x-ray guard kept moving the beltway - forward, backward, forward, backward, forward, backward.  The belt was squeeky so it suddenly became a bad rap song.  She finally decided to use her secret hand signal and flag a couple of additional security personnel over.  They came rushing over and said "who's bag is this???"  "It's mine", I said.  "We need to search it as well as your backpack, follow me."  I'm a pretty calm and collected gal most of the time so I followed him over to the official search area like it was no big deal, I do this every day.  He began by wiping some cotton looking things through my bags and inserting them into the drug residue machine.  Then it was time to unload.  Out came the bottles, the parts and all the other embarrassing stuff that goes along with pumping.  He was embarrassed too so he quickly stuffed them back in, with the exception of the 8 ice packs I had just bought the day before to use as my travel cooler on the trek back home.  He painstakenly inspected each and every one under a special light - I can only assume he was looking for a weapon, drugs or a shoe bomb hidden amongst the blue gel.  Just as I  thought he was done, a "supervisor" was called over.  She saw them and immediately said "nope, compiscate."  I explained how I need them for the way home and I didn't have a car to buy more, and, and, and.  Surely she would understand being a fellow woman, right?  Nope, she was evil.  Threw them ALL away along with my $40 facewash that I mistakenly put in my backpack and forgot to transfer to the Elle Wood (I'll take credit for this dumb mistake.)  This, along with being slightly emotionally unstable after leaving my boys for the first time, caused a perfect meltdown.  I think it was all an unfortunate case of breastal profiling (ok, bad joke, I know!)  Nothing a very large $13 bloody mary couldn't cure.

The trip was extremely busy so I hardly had time to think about what was happening at home.  Everyday began with an 8am breakfast, followed by a full day of meetings with newspapers and was topped off with a fancy dinner out.  Meanwhile at home, Dad was handling the boys beautifully!  In fact, Jamison slept through the night the entire time I was gone.  What!?!  The little stinker has been playing me like a fiddle for 10.5 months.

I arrived home on Tuesday and made a b-line for daycare.  I was so scared my baby boy wouldn't remember me (sounds so silly, right?)  As soon as I walked in the door I knew - he didn't forget!  He gave me his famous scrunchy nose, big tooth smile and practically dove out of Ms. Ashleigh's arms to see me. Whew!  Jack and Mosh were so excited to see Mom too, but not nearly as excited as I was to see them.

I had a great time and it was nice to be away for a few days - but there is nothing better than coming home to my sweet angels.

Grumpy Little Singer

Jack sang in front of the church today.  Do you think he enjoyed himself?

Put it in Perspective...

I've been stressed about leaving my babies to go on a business trip, my first in a few years, until I stumbled across Super Nanny on Friday night.  We don't normally watch this show which makes it all that much weirder that I happened upon it on this night.  Super Nanny was called upon to help a Dad with three little boys.  Their Mom had recently passed away from cancer and these poor little guys were grieving their Mommy.  I've been thinking about these little angels all weekend and my heart is broken for them, but it also helped me to realize that being away from my babies for four days is nothing compared to the lifetime that these grieving little boys will be without their Mommy.  So off I will go - I will have a great trip and enjoy myself knowing that I am lucky enough to come home to give my boys a million more kisses.

Happy Birthday Easter Bunny!

The boys and I tackled an ambitious project on Saturday - our first Easter Bunny cake!  I love baking and am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to decorating my baked goods so I've really had to learn to tame my perfectionist demons when the boys are my little baking helpers.  They helped mix everything up, poured it in the pan, patiently watched the oven as it cooked, helped Mommy make and spread the homemade pineapple-coconut buttercream frosting (YUM!), and decorate of course.  Besides the fact that he looks a little shocked (or afraid?), I'd say our little white friend turned out pretty good. The boys were certainly very proud of him!  As they were showing Dad the masterpiece, they decided that we had to sing Happy Birthday to the Easter Bunny.  Only logical, right?  It's a cake that is the Easter Bunny so it only makes sense it would be his birthday.  So the whole family broke out into an impromptu Birthday celebration for our beloved Easter Bunny.  It is moments like these that make being a parent such a JOY!

On a side note - Happy 10 months to our newest baby boy today!  

Not So "Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie"

Kudos to Dad for trying something new tonight!  He called to ask if he should make some dinner for the boys.  I said "oh, we have hamburger. Why don't you whip up some Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie." Crickets.  "Hello?"  "O-ah-ok, I'll give it a try."  When we walked into the house it smelled delicious.  Is there anything better than walking into a house with something cooking in the oven?

Immediately he said "I really screwed this up so you may want to take a look."  I peeked in the oven and other than the fact that it looked like impossibly easy cheeseburger bars (wrong pan) it looked rather edible.  Since they were much flatter than they were supposed to be and therefore cooked much quicker than they were supposed to cook (again, wrong pan) I pulled them out just after the nick of time.  Unfortunately, the boys were not big fans (take this with a grain of salt as they are VERY picky) but Corey and I thought they were surprisingly delicious.  Now don't get me wrong here, he is actually a great cook.  But not so impossibly easy cheeseburger pie actually falls under the "baking" category.  Way to step out of your comfort zone Dad!