Definitely with children

In America there are two classes of travel - first class and with children.
(Robert Benchley).

Last Tuesday we left for a little road trip to Las Vegas to visit relatives. The road trip was long, the kids were good, the visit was wonderful and our Thanksgiving holiday was terrific and so worth the drive.

We packed my little Volvo wagon to the hilt and took off around 9pm. I was thinking that if we left at night my kids would sleep the whole way (just like on a red eye flight). We would drive an easy 4 hours, spend the night and do the rest of the trip in the morning.

Um. Not so fast. Who knew that a four hour trip could take six and a half hours? But it actually felt longer when Addison woke up hungry (translate screaming) and all we could do was listen to her for an hour while we were cruising along at about 10 miles per hour in tons of traffic with no place to pull off!
Note to self: try checking the traffic report before you leave on a big trip like that.
So there we are on the road. We arrive in Bakersfield at 0330 (Another note to self: Liz, do NOT leave so late next time). Sleep until 0730 (when our kids wake us up, aren't they tired???) and start the process over. We only have 4 more hours to go. The scenery changes and we start the elevation climb.
Eventually the kids do nap and the miles pass by a little faster.

We cruise by Caliente, Tehachapi, Mohave and Boron. I wonder who lives in all these little desert towns. We pass Edwards Air Force Base. I remember my 5 years in the Air Force and realize that I would be a Major now if I had stayed in the military. My life would be completely different. I think that being stationed at Edwards AFB would be too boring for me. It's literally in the middle of nowhere. Outside my window the desert landscape changes a little and we start to see tons of Joshua trees. I think of U2. I want Mark to stop the car so I can jump out and get a really close picture of a joshua tree with the sun setting in the background. But I don't ask because I want us to just get to Las Vegas already.
We hit Barstow and now I start to get excited. We only have 2 more hours to go. The kids are excited. We drive over a peak and we can start to see Nevada.

We are almost to Las Vegas. Very soon we will be with la mia famiglia.

Note to self

I'm a list maker. I rely on household lists because I have a horrible memory and I have to confess that home management does not come easy to me. In fact, I'm horrible at it. There are days where I wish that I could go to work more just because I'm so organized there. It's so much easier to prioritize while I'm at work and I'll give you an example. Who needs to be assessed first? In labor room one we have a woman who came in grunting and groaning. In triage I have "my baby has had the hiccups for an hour" patient. See? It's easy. It's a no brainer. I have to hustle to room 1 before she has her baby without me. I can ignore "my baby has had the hiccups for an hour" until after my delivery is done. At home the prioritizing is so much more vague to me. Do I grocery shop or clean the bathroom? Do I sit with them while they practice piano or do I work on dinner? It always seems to me that the answer to all of the home questions is YES. I have to do it all and it all needs to be done right away. That's why I find it all so confusing.
But it seems that Katie will not have to suffer my same affliction. I think she's one of those "born organized" gals.
She has a bunch of post-its notes stuck to her desk. They are her "calendar" of upcoming events.
Here is her first one:



So Ava..wherever you are. Katie is looking forward to seeing you. And she won't forget to show up. She's got you in the calendar.

Blue funk

You might just want to keep clicking and move onto another blog. This is your fair warning, okay? I'm a little bummed out tonight. I get this way every now and then. Whenever I have read too much of the news I feel a little despondent over the pure evil exhibited by humans.
I generally avoid the news. And whenever I actually read it I always happen upon a story like this tragic one. Mark and I have been following that story and have been bothered ever since. Here's the condensed version: some dude (who has already served time for killing a 3 year old boy years ago) may have lured his latest victim with promises to see her baby. She's dead. And her sweet baby is missing.
After I read it I immediately went in to go see my little Addison sleeping so peacefully in my bed (sshhh! don't tell my pediatrician). How anyone can harm a baby or a child just has to be possessed. Don't you think?
Why does the news never report anything positive?
Slightly off topic: I'm really into medical blogs ( I love reading gory stuff). Tonight I went to Danielle's blog and found a nice little pick me up. Although her post is a little sad (she's a pediatric resident) it has a heart warming tone (all the heart warming is done by her). Why can't that be the headline? "Dedicated Pediatrician takes time out of her busy night to go hold a lonely patient".
I'm sure that kind of news just doesn't sell.

What Grandmas do...

Mark's parents left this morning. Goodbyes were said last night as the grandparents left for their hotel. Riley sobbed hysterically. He's very close with his grandfather and already misses him a ton. The kids had a wonderful visit with their grandparents. Here is a little of what Grandmas do:

Grandmas can hang out and watch TV with you:


They admire homework:


They give sewing lessons...


and make sleeping bags and pillows for Barbies and GI Joe's (Jennifer, it really is like Army wives over here):


Grandmas get taken to tea:


and they look through scrapbooks over and over again

and pretend that they've never seen those pictures before.

A big first

As parents we had a big "first" yesterday. Riley and Katie both performed in their very first piano recital. They've only been taking lessons since September and their pieces were VERY short. But the fact that Katie walked right up there (without needing any handholding) was a major success. The recital was in a beautiful church in our town. The church is a historical landmark in California. I've never been inside before but it was built in the Gothic style in the mid 1850's. The inside of this church felt like a mini cathedral. The layout was similar to a cross and the acoustics were great. The grand piano was situated in the middle of the cross, so to speak.
Katie and Riley didn't seem nervous at all. And the biggest achievement may have been Katie's ability to keep both clippies in her hair the entire time.

Once Katie realized that she was first in the recital line-up she got a little quieter.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Riley when he was all done. He was all smiles.
They both did well and we are so proud of them!

And as Mark said to me last night, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" will always have a special meaning to us.

Who needs a Snuggie when you have a sister?

Katie is on Addison like (as I've heard the saying) "white on rice". They are rarely apart. I hope Addison always adores Katie and vice versa. And in other breaking news...our sweet baby is rolling over from her back to her tummy. And the Snuggie bit is all due to Kristina P who introduced me to the myriad of benefits of the Snuggie.


I'm looking forward to tonight: date night with Mark while the grandparents babysit. Free babysitting. Wow. It boggles the mind.

GI JOE: Fighting man from head to toe....again.

As a testament to my husband's ability to always take care of his toys his parents brought along Mark's old set of GI Joe dolls, or were they action figures? Whatever. They brought the entire set to pass along to Riley. These GI Joe's are 40 years old and look great for their age. I think Mark was happy to see these guys again too.


BTW. Did you see that Mark shaved his beard? He did it for me! I'm so happy.
Talk about looking great for his age.. I'm a lucky girl.