Tuesday Fun!

We were supposed to go to the zoo yesterday with Jenny and her son Monty (who will be one in September), but it was Too Darn Hot, so we decided to hit the Children's Museum instead.

Since gas isn't free, we put Monty's seat in my van, and hit the road. It isn't easy to coordinate the schedules of 3 kids under two, so we figured we'd leave at 11 am and hopefully some of them would sleep on the way down there... Um, yeah.

Oh, the screaming. There were times when all three of them were crying at once. Jenny and I were ready to move to wherever we were, just so that we didn't have to brave the ride back with three babies. Holy moly. We stopped twice on the 45 minute trip (not including the traffic we hit - all those red brake lights in front of us, babies crying in the back, I've never seen a scarier sight!), but we made it.

The kids had a blast at the museum:


(that's Monty in the stripes). We spent a lot of time in the Playscape, which is designed for little kids. Monty had never been there. I think he and Jenny both liked it a lot. When you're a stay at home mom, you worry that your kid isn't getting enough interaction with other kids. You worry that the same old toys, day after day, aren't as good for her as going to daycare might be, where there's a new experience every day. So, it's good to find places where you can provide that stimulation. I've got a lead on a gym here in town that does "open gym" for toddlers on Saturdays - we're going to check that out soon, too! It's all about wearing them out, really. Then they sleep.

Claire even got in on the act this time!

Mary Grace was so good! Even though she had a minimal nap, she was awesome. She is getting to be such a sweet little girl (sniff! She's almost officially not a baby anymore!!). She says "please" and "thank you" and she stays with me in crowds, and she listens... Geez, I guess I might be figuring out this parenting stuff!

On the way home, all the kids fell asleep! Unfortunately, Jenny and I were dying of thirst, so we had to stop, and then Monty and Claire woke up. We had discovered on the way down that we could buy good behavior from Monty with M&Ms, so we wanted to give him a few, but he was all the way back in the van... So, Jenny starts soft pitching them from the front seat to him in the back. 11 month olds aren't really known for their hand/eye coordination, so she was trying to get them close enough to his hands that he could grab them and eat them. Monty's crying, and Jenny's pelting him with candy, and we're both laughing like maniacs. Monty had this classic, "What the hell are you doing to me, woman??" look on his face. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Maybe you had to be there, it's not as funny in black and white (or gray and pink, really).

So, almost immediately upon coming home, I started to feel a tickle in my throat, then my nose got stuffy and runny, and now I have a full-blown cold. So, today is a day of lowered expectations. MG is going to watch a lot of Lola, and I'm just going to have to live with it. I figure, we had enough fun yesterday to cover today, too, and since I can barely breathe, it's not going to be a red letter day for this family. Oh well. Pray that the babies don't get this from me. That's all I need, to be sick with two sick kids! I sure hope that I get better by Saturday! This is the wrong week to come down sick. Ugh...

If all goes well, I'll be posting a video later today, so check back.