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.

Things we've been doing...

Hey, look, I finally got the camera back to good!

Mary Grace had her first haircut yesterday. It was ok. She wasn't too thrilled, but the sucker really helped. I only had her take off about an inch, because I thought it would help it curl more neatly. I was right - she's got ringlets again. Too cute!

Bonus points if you can figure out who the stylist reminded me of. I have no idea, but she looked so familiar. I'm sick of BJ making fun of me for going through that whole conversation every time we leave the house, though, so I only do it when it's driving me insane.

Today we went to Barnes and Noble - Mary Grace left her calling card, misplaced cats.

She is too funny. Later, she lined up all the engines and said, "Look at all the trains! Housans and housans!!!" It took me several minutes to decipher - thousands and thousands! We have no idea where she picked that phrase up. Clearly she inherited my penchant for exaggeration.

And here's our Claire, with her customary expression, which I interpret as her way of saying, "Dear God, who dropped me into this looney bin??"

I did about 8 gazillion loads of laundry (see?), and everything that is dry is currently folded, and a large percentage of it is even put away, which is a minor miracle. I also kept the kitchen clean and made dinner, not from a box! I made chicken florentine, and while I did use jarred sauce, I made the chicken from an actual whole chicken, not parts, so they cancel each other out and I can still call it "homemade." (Seriously, I made one chicken yesterday and I got three full meals out of it - I made casserole yesterday, froze half for later, and then saved the other 1/3 of the chicken for tonight's dinner. You can call me Fiona Frugal!)

We're headed to the Children's Museum tomorrow with Jenny and Monty! Stay tuned!

And today had been going so well...

Claire slept until 10:30 am this morning. If I didn't have the stretch marks to prove it, I would never believe that she and Mary Grace are related.

I am never going to get the house clean in time for the party. How on earth did I let him talk me into having it here instead of at the park???

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While I was writing that, Mary Grace BIT MY NIPPLE through my shirt because she was ticked that I wouldn't nurse her. Good God, sometimes a time out just isn't enough. Ouch!!!

Tattle Tale

We were at Tim and Fran's house last night, when MG said the following:

"The bathroom's not clean! The bathroom's not clean just like Mommy's!!!"

*sigh*

More Freaking Lead Paint!

There has just been another massive recall of toys due to more Chinese lead paint. This is really starting to tick me off. Here's info about the recall:

And, because this isn't just a blog, it's a service, I wanted to share a hack that BJ and I have used, in light of recent lead paint catastrophes with toys:

I bought some of these. They are easy to use, they work quickly, and that company, Professional Equipment, delivered really fast. We had a couple of toys (no, I'm not saying which) that I thought were questionable, and so we took matters into our own hands and tested them. They were fine, but knowing was a big relief. Better living through science!

I guess if the companies that make the toys won't do it, and the government won't do it, we're going to have to take matters into our own hands and protect our kids ourselves. We also don't buy cheap jewelery - particularly out of machines and from dollar stores - because those are recalled often for lead, and they fall apart and become choking hazards.

When it comes to lead poisoning, I don't think we can be too careful. Be well!