Mother's Day at the Zoo

Since it was Mother's Day I got to pick the destination on our outing to the zoo. This time I decided that even though the kangaroos are my favorite, we should give the Gorillas a try. I'm not sure if I am to happy that I picked the Gorillas because they weren't too nice to us. Lyla's frightful look is because the Gorilla had just thrown a stick at us. He was lazily eating leaves off a stick and while I turned away for a second he decided to hurl the stick at us. It landed right next to us on the viewing deck - another two feet to the right and he would have given Lyla another black eye!

Thank goodness they were giving moms free ice cream to diminish the impact of the Gorilla stick toss. One of Tommy's fellow docents-in-training took this photo of our family. It was a great day to be a Mom!

She's a bruiser

My baby girl has officially had her first black eye! This picture is pre-bruising but she did get a little black and blue as the scrape started to disappear.

I was taking the kids somewhere - I can't remember anymore, the trauma was so impactful - and I didn't have enough hands to contain everyone and everything while trying to lock the front door. It seemed like a mere second after I let Lyla and Steven walk out the door onto the front porch that I was flying over to the steps trying to catch her from falling. She face planted on the first step right as I caught her. It really wasn't too bad, she barely cried but I felt like a terrible mom.

It's 2am

"Mommy?" I hear a small voice calling from the room next door. "I want funny snacks. Mommy? Funny snacks?" Pause. "I want funny snacks, Mommy?"

For those not familiar, funny snacks are fruit snacks. Those little gummy snacks that kids love.

Needless to say, I didn't get out of bed to bring him any funny snacks at 2am.

Stories from the visit to Minnesota

Saturday morning we went to Quarry Hill Nature Center for an hour or so. Steven had fun looking at all the turtles and fish. Lyla enjoyed the tactile table and watching the animals, too. We walked around outside for a bit and let Lyla roam in the grass.

When we got home we had an early lunch and Steven took a nap. Lori got to finishing sewing Eleanor's dress and we all just hung out for awhile. Steven came down with a fever just before mass. I was a little nervous about taking him but I really didn't want to miss Eleanor's big day so I gave him some tylenol and crossed my fingers.

We loaded everyone up and headed out to Holy Spirit. Lyla fell asleep in the car and Zack helped me get her in the stroller and into church - still asleep! She slept until the Gospel and at that point Steven got really restless, too. Lori's church has a HUGE gathering space just outside the sanctuary. A blessing and a curse. It was a blessing to have a place to go so that my loud kids did not disturb everyone but it was a curse to have a race track available to him. I swear that he took about 10 laps at full speed and then he found the table full of big, cardboard blocks and started kicking them. That resulted in a time out in the corner. The tylenol had definitely kicked in.

After mass we went back to the house for an excellent dinner - kudos to Scott. Me and the kids were the first ones to leave church and I told Scott that I would start the water to boil when we got inside. Well, it turns out that we were actually the last ones to get into the house. Why am I surprised by that?

Dinner was funny. Lee and Gail, Scott's parents, came over and Steven was chatty with them. He called Lee papa and Gail grandma all through dinner and just wanted their undivided attention. He put on quite a show. All while Lyla sat in the high chair behind me (there wasn't room at the table) and chowed down on her pasta.

That night was pretty tough for Steven - he had the night sweats and I think a bad dream, probably from the fever. I wasn't looking forward to the ride home. We left at about 9:30am and the kids fell asleep before we even left the neighborhood. I made it all the way to Iowa without stopping, so I decided to take them for a picnic at a pretty nice rest area with a visitor center. Steven was very excited for the picnic but not really interested in eating. Lyla was a hoot - she would toddle around on the sidewalk but didn't want to even touch the grass. It was great, an automatic fence!


After about an hour we loaded back in the car and headed for Ames to meet Uncle Dave. He was in Ames to start his new job so we were able to see the model and lot where they will build. The basement of the house is awesome! I can't wait to visit and camp out there!

The whole time we were in the house Steven was whining and his fever was coming back. I had to cut the tour shorter than I wanted to get him back in the car. When I put him down I saw some blisters in his mouth and had a momentary freak out. Dave was the calming, experienced parent. Suggested some illness and told me to call Tracy, who also reinforced that he was going to be okay and that I was going to be okay.

Poor little guy, he was just miserable the rest of the way home. He slept on and off, cried more than I care to remember, and just generally was sad. Turns out he has hand, foot and mouth disease - not really a disease but a virus.

All in all the trip was, well, an experience. I knew from the start that it was going to be tough on such a long drive with the two of them. Now that Lyla is mobile it is definitely harder to keep them corralled but I wouldn't trade my time with those two for anything in this world.

Eleanor's First Communion

It was so nice to be with my neice on her First Communion. She looked wonderful in the dress that her mom made her and I think she really liked the prayer box charm bracelet that I brought for her.

Poop fest revisited

So this episode isn't as good as our trip to Ark City last fall but I certainly had some vivid flashbacks...

Lori asked if we would come to Minnesota for the weekend to attend Eleanor's First Communion. As her Godmother, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. Tommy had to work on Saturday, so it was just me and the kids for a 6 hour drive (mind you, that is without stopping and I am no fool, I knew there would be stops).

I picked up the kids from school around 12:30 and loaded them into the car and off we went. The first two hours were realtively easy because I timed the start of the trip during nap time. Upon waking was when the fun began. Steven had on pull-ups and they really aren't too absorbant. Our first accident was pee pee; I had pulled off to get gas and that was when he told me. I got him out, changed him, put on some new shorts and we were back on the road in no time.

Then, about 30 minutes later Steven told me he went poo poo and I got to the next exit. I didn't even bother pulling into a parking spot for this one because I knew there was no way that I'd be able to handle him and Lyla in the bathroom for this change. I pulled to the edge of the truck parking lot, laid him in the grass and got out the box of wipes and a plastic bag for the discard pile. Vivid flashbacks.

After this event I knew better than to put a pull up back on him. Diapers it was until the end of the trip!

Our longest stop was at the McDonalds in Story City. We never eat at McDonalds, I don't think our kids even know what a Happy Meal is. Since they are such picky eaters I went straight for the yogurt. Steven loves it and this was Lyla's first try ... what a hit. Of course, we then had to order ice cream. Another big hit.

By the way, just because Lyla only has a little bit of fuzzy hair doesn't mean she is a boy. Look at the outfit she has on - how could anyone mistake that pink shirt and big strawberry for a boy?!?! As you probably guessed, another McDonald's customer called her a boy, ugh.

Stats

Lyla's 1-year stats:

21 lbs, 11 oz = 50%

31 inches = 90%

We don't know where she gets the tall genes. Maybe Papa Gene?