Happy Mother's Day! (#3)

Breakfast of champions, Brady, his pink bowl, cheerios and mom's flowers!

Well, on my 3rd Mother's Day, I've definitely been reflective.  My boys are healthy and happy and HILARIOUS - who could ask for anything more?  My day began yesterday with lovely tulips Curt brought home from my folks and the boys.  They were so bright and cheery it made me feel like it was spring!  Then this morning, i got some nice warm snuggles from the boys as they were getting up.  After everyone had been changed and we were heading down stairs, Aidan says "I want to hold Brady's hand!" (they've started doing this when we are in parking lots and walking down the stairs together just for fun)  As soon as he says this, Gavin says "I want to hold Brady's hand" as well and goes for Brady's other hand.  Brady does as any 2YO would do and says "No!" and proceeds to get everyone crying as they clamor to hold his hand.  Finally Aidan grabs ahold of it and they head down the stairs together.  Poor sweet Gavin didn't have anyone want to hold his hand and mom and dad's hands just weren't good enough.  This broke my heart into 100 pieces.  He is standing at the top of the stairs SOBBING and throws his ducks down the stairs and just WILL NOT come down the stairs.  Curt says to Brady and Aidan when they get down stairs "Boys, you hurt your brother's feelings.  He wanted to hold someone's hand to walk downstairs and you wouldn't hold his hand.  Brady, would you go upstairs and hep him feel better and hold his hand to walk downstairs?"  Sure enough, Brady rounds the corner at the bottom of the stairs and says "Hey Gavin, come here!  Come here, honey!" and begins to walk upstairs to get Gavin.  Gavin immediately picks up his ducks and begins coming down the stairs and he and Brady hold hands giggling the whole way.  Mended my heart up as good as new.

Cool glasses I bought at a yard sale for 1QR.  worth all $0.27.  Isn't Gavin SMASHING?

We had a lovely breakfast of the boys telling me they loved me and wishing me "Happy Mother's Day, Mom!" (is there anything better in a 2YO voice?)  then off to work counting down my last SIX WEEKS OF WORK!  WOOHOO!  Curt took me out for a mother's day lunch - it was fun to get his sweet card and it still get to be just the two of us - is that ironic on mother's day?  Then we got home from work, had friend's over for dinner and the boys went down surprisingly well after having ICE CREAM and friends over! :)  It always makes for a more energetic night.  As curt was getting ready to read a book to the boys, Aidan and Brady decide they want to put EVERY blanket and stuffed animal on his lap in the rocking chair and then climb in to sit with him and all of their stuff.  He finally convinces Brady this is not a good plan and is able to move stuff and get Brady in his lap.  Aidan is still persistent and finally Curt tells him "No. You may not put all of this stuff in my lap and try to sit here, you won't all fit."  Well, this just sets Aidan OFF.  He starts to cry and then decides to be angry when crying gets him nowhere.  He takes his pacifier and violently THROWS it onto the ground and then looks at Curt.  he then picks it up again and THROWS it a little further on the ground again and looks at curt with WILD EYES.  Then he starts picking up the blankets and throwing them up in the air (i'm laughing as I type this b/c we both had to hold it in for this little spectacle) without really making any sound at all.  He then grabs his little rabbit (which he has seen get taken from Brady for a whole night when Brady used it to hit Curt) and walks over to Curt and hold the rabbit up and move like he is going to hit Curt with it.  Then do the same movement again.  All the while - silent.  hilarious.  He then settles down after his show and gets on curt's lap for his books.  As Curt said, "he WANTS to let it all loose like Brady does, but he has clearly learned that when that happens, things happen he doesn't want, whereas Brady is like "i'm a good boy! I'm a good boy!" after he has been really naughty."

Brady wanted Puppy to be able to wear sunglasses too.

Easter cupcakes from Lindsay Coco - Aidan likey.

Brady can't believe his luck - CUPCAKES!

Gavin and his creeper mustache from Lindsay Coco's cupcakes.  adorable as always.

 I must say I can not believe how incredibly lucky we are with these kids.  Sure, they give us a run for our money some days, but for the most part they are pretty well behaved, they are already showing some signs of altruism toward their brothers, they are learning and developing something new and fantastic nearly every day it seems.  Gavin is catching up in the speech department.  He does a lot of mimicking his brothers (which is so cute) and I truly think he will be our first reader.  He is able to pick out quite a few letters and has associated them with his brother's names/his name/animals etc.  He definitely knows A, B, G, E and W by sight. (at least upper case) and is close on S, C and D.  Gavin got up a bit earlier than his brother's from his nap on Saturday (so that's what it would be like with just one . . .) and he and I spent some time reading Baby bear, Baby bear.  He was clearly trying to annunciate better (we practiced Mountain Goat and Striped Skunk A LOT!) and he was pointing to the words as we would turn each page to announce the next animal.  he was on a tear . . .

Aidan thought it was HILARIOUS he could pull his PJ pants up so high.  So did we. :)

 Brady is by far our most sensitive.  It sometimes comes out in bursts of anger, screeches, etc that are not so fun, but he truly wants to make his brothers and mom and dad happy.  He has started saying things like "Play with me mom/dad" and he'll ask a question and then answer it with "Maybe Later" (i guess we say that a lot).  He regularly brings his brother's their stuffed animals when they are getting changed and says "here you go honey".  He also likes to insist that his BROTHER'S bring him his stuffed animals when he is on the changing table.  I think he is truly surprised they haven't already thought of it themselves.  Gavin is probably his go-to-guy in terms of actually doing it, but he gives them both equal opportunities. :)

At the QF sponsored carnival at Gondolania in Villagio.  Gavin was ALL ABOUT getting his tattoo/face paint.  Brady was content to be held most of the time (loud roller coasters)

I can't get over how grown up Aidan looks here.  He loved running around the trampolines.

Aidan is our hobo child.  He ALWAYS needs to have his pockets full of trucks (he doesn't like wearing shorts without pockets), carrying just about as much stuff as he can get in his hands if he is going to "go" somewhere (upstairs, outside, etc).  He has even started filling the large yogurt buckets (see helmet/hats he likes to wear) with trucks, men, you name it, to carry around with him.  He has also really taken to my dish washing gloves and likes to put those on as he pushes his trucks around in the little stroller.  It is a sight to see.  This weekend at the grocery store, I look down to see Aidan folding himself in half to fit UNDER the basket (where you would put flats of soda) with one of his feet dragging along in front of him and his head on his knee.  I lean down and say "Aidan, honey, we have a few aisles to go, do you want to get out from under there?"  he looks up at me with a big grin and whispers "no." and tries to shake his head from side to side.  Giggling to myself, I push him across 5 or so aisles with Gavin riding on the side "like a garbage truck"(that always gives us looks in the store when they say that) and then stop to get whatever it was I needed.  Curt and Brady come from another part of the store  I look to see Gavin trying to get under the basket with Aidan, where of course there is no room.  I then tell Curt to look at Aidan.  It was quite probably the funniest and most shocked face I have ever seen Curt have with our kids.  He literally stood there for like 10 seconds with his mouth open.  After a few minutes, Aidan decides to unfold himself and crawls out to ride on the side of the cart like a garbage truck with his brothers.  Good thing he is made of rubber.

The carousel was pretty sweet too.

Gavin digging everything he did that day. :)

Brady was finally convinced to be put down and do something on his own.  He looks delighted, yes?

Be More in B'more!

Wow.  Where has the time gone?  I honestly don't really know what we were doing between March 8th and March 24th - just trying to get by I guess . . .

A,B, G checking out the plane on the way to US

Well, we had a great professional/family trip to Baltimore the end of march.  We arrived in Dulles the evening of March 24 after a nice 13 hour flight from Doha to Dulles with the boys.  How did they do?  I guess it depends on who you ask.  I think they did pretty good, considering they are two and a half, they move around non-stop about 10 hours a day, they were in a cramped space between economy seats, etc.  Curt says the flight was ROUGH.  Now, they NEVER had a meltdown and cried or screamed and they didn't really touch any strangers or wake anyone up.  And they really only napped for about an hour and a half out of the flight (when ordinarily by the time we landed they should have slept closer to 6 and a half hours - ouch).  But all three were pretty interested in the people sitting behind us and the guy in front of us who reclined his seat ALL THE WAY BACK THE ENTIRE TIME.  i nearly let them "touch" him . . .  I don't think I have ever crawled around in such a nasty place myself - looking for little toys, little men, etc.  We had one rule we used on the flight and one we learned from the flight.  Rule #1: No parenting.  Unless someone is going to hurt someone else or annoy another passenger.  you want your paci?  fine.  You want to snack on something? fine.  You want to watch Dora back to back without (or with) headphones for the 47th time?  fine.  whatever will make you happy.  Rule #2: DON'T bring tiny toys on airplanes.  Only giant monster trucks, big stuffed animals, board books, etc.  Did i mention i had to crawl around about a million times looking for lost little men???  Boo.

Why didn't we think to put the boys in suitcases for the trip to the US?! (Brady)

Aidan chilling out

I love how Gavin somehow got the smallest of the suitcases!

After our 13 hour flight, we had an hour and a half ride to Baltimore and arrived at our lovely hotel.  We had a 2 BR and they provided us with three cribs, already in the room - no waiting!  Curt went to get us all Micky Ds' (welcome back to America after being out of the country for 9 months) which the boys barely touched (i guess they have good taste). :)  By the time they got into bed, it was 7PM B'more time.  and they slept until 5 AM the next morning when Gavin was up and crying.  The other two slept the full night.  How crazy is that?  Anyway, we still experienced some jetlag for them, but not nearly what it was a week later at home.  Either way, it was a gentle re-entry for us.  hallelujah.  Our first day there it was COLD!  thank goodness for friends with hand-me-downs!  we bundled them up and strapped them in the stroller to get some groceries and fresh air.  we also wandered to the inner harbor and then had some friends come visit who were in town for the conference.  Grandparents (with the truck) arrived on saturday around lunch time after a trip to the convention center for mom and dad to check in and a visit with Finn, Dave's little girl.  Everyone was very excited to see them (mom and dad included - break!). :)

Aidan and Grandma with the Yellow Truck

Wonder what Brady was feeding Grandpa K?

Grandma with Greta gives Gavin a breathing treatment and reads his favorite book.  Brady and Gavin had memorized the Curious George books by the time we left!

Grandpa V reads Brady Chicken Licken.  Which is what Gavin called his Chicken Noodle soup while we were there.

Grandparents (with Greta) arrived Monday evening around dinner and it was equally rowdy for their welcome!  The boys had a trip the the aquarium while mom and dad were at work, spent some time walking around the Inner Harbor area and rode some free buses.  all in all a fabulous week with interesting things to see and do.  THey showed off their Hawkeye fight song at the Iowa Social and in general experienced a major word explosion for all three.  it was delightful to see. :)  Here are some pictures from the fun . . .

G, A, B at the National Aquarium with mom and dad.  How fun to eat goldfish while looking at fish! :)

B, A, G check out the birds in the Inner Harbor, Baltimore

Entertaining the boys before our flight home,  just before Aidan's big fall. (G, A)

Gavin has a stalker shot in the mall

Aidan checks out Doha as we land on our trip home.

Weirdest. Thing. Ever.

OK, so tonight at dinner we have some awesome stir fry (made by yours truly) that of course the boys barely touched.  punks. and ended dinner with some fresh cut pineapple.  It was pretty acidic, but nothing that was really bothering me (and my lips get swollen if i eat a whole orange).  I look over at Aidan who has been sucking down piece after piece and it looks like he has bitten his lip and is BLEEDING like crazy.  I ask curt if he had fallen earlier while I was making dinner and he doesn't remember anything and I asked Aidan if he had bitten his lip and he said "nope". (really, "nope" - too funny)  I don't think too much of it b/c he is still asking for more pineapple.  I then notice that the pineapple is yellow and pink from all of the blood and his hands are covered in blood.  Curt is in the kitchen and I grab one of the rags and ask him to open his mouth.  Both his tongue and the whole inside of his lower lip looks like someone has taken a tiny razor to them and he has DOZENS of spots where blood is pooling up and coming out.

Aidan gets a haircut!  He held on to that sucker FOREVER without finishing it . . ..

It doesn't seem to bother him, but it bothered me - bleh.  so that was his last piece of fresh cut pineapple for awhile and we had him start chugging cold water with the hope that it would wash away some of the acidity and gave him an "ice cube popsicle" to cut down on any swelling he might have.  has anyone ever seen this???  it is quite possibly the strangest thing I have ever seen . . .

Who says parenting is hard?  Just put one of them in a cage/hamper (B, A, G)

anyway, other news.  i am constantly amazed by all of the new and different things the boys can do.  They have all started yelling "I did it myself!" after they do random things - climb into a chair, buckle themselves into their boosters, zip their hoody (with help), etc.  It's so fun to see that independent spirit, even though i'm sure i will one day sob b/c they don't "need" me any more.

The boyz (B, A, G)

Brady is a WHIZ with his manners these days.  He regularly says please and thank you without suggestion, and he also loves to bring his brothers their stuffed animals.  He wants them to return the favor, but Aidan and Gavin don't often think to do it unless Brady says "I want aidan/gavin to get it".  Sometimes the brother will hear it and respond, other times we have to ask (b/c if we get it for him, it's just NOT good enough).  Brady also likes to direct others' play.  we will often hear "come here honey" or "sit here" in his sweet little voice as he tries to convince his brothers to do whatever.

Snuggles for Brady and Dad

Haircuts mean SUCKERS! (G, A, B)

Aidan is QUITE the broom/guitar player.  He has all kinds of dance moves and LOVES to play along to just about any song on.  he also LOVES eating my tomatoes right off the vine.  I usually pick them when i get home from work and he is always right behind me asking if he can hold them.  He then eats at least one or two right then and there.

Sheriff Gavin is in town

Gavin knows all songs and the order in which they come on our CDs.  His FAVORITE song right now is "I've got a feeling" from the Black Eyed Peas.  His favorite thing to do to it is to jump.  the whole time.  I have some great video i need to play with to cut it down, but so you can see the magic from beginning to end.  Gavin also knows if you skip a page in any of their books and he will make sure you go back.  It's pretty incredible what he must have stored up there.  He also likes to recite from some of his books if you say a word that triggers his memory.  If you don't know the book, it sounds like gibberish, but when you realize it's from "One Fish, Two Fish" or whatever, it also clicks with you as to why he's saying it.

We love playing in the puddles from mommy watering her tomato plants! (B, A, G)

Aidan and Dad chill

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

No, i'm not talking about the movie with Steve Martin and John Candy.  Yesterday Curt and I had the Planes, Trains and Automobiles of having children.  All within about an hour.  It was ridiculous.

The Singing Dunes of Qatar - the people look like ants!

We were invited to head to the Singing Sand Dunes west of Doha with a caravan of other families from the compound for the late afternoon/dinner time.  It's probably the longest car ride the boys have been on and they loved it.  When my folks were here in December we moved one car seat to the "WAY" back and the boys fight over who gets to ride int he back, so we never moved it.  It was an extra special car ride for Gavin on the way there and Aidan on the way back.  But I digress . . . anyway, so we get to the dunes, it's breezy and cool as the sun is beginning to set, there are some Qatari guys duning in 4 wheelers that the kids were at once scared of (loud) and fascinated by.  We get out of the cars and all of the big kids hit the dunes like swarming ants climbing as though they had a biological imperative.  it was hysterical!

Curt and Aidan checking out the scene

The boys loved climbing the dunes, playing in the sand and in general chilling out and watching their surroundings.  After about an hour, we all slid down the dunes (also quite fun) and had a picnic dinner with lots of other folks.  We were in the car by 6PM and headed home.  The boys were tired but they didn't even fall asleep on the way home - i think they were too wired from all of the excitement! :)

Curt has Gavin, Heidi (purple) has Brady and I have Aidan - Up we go!

We walk in the front door about 6:45PM and Gavin promptly pukes in the entryway.  Luckily it was all on tile and his shoes (some clothes) so it was fairly easy cleanup.  We managed to keep Aidan and Brady out of it until we could clean it up and clorox the floor and Gavin seemed like he was OK.  I took A&B upstairs so they could see Grandma and Grandpa V and i could start getting them ready for bed and curt could give Gavin a  breathing treatment since Curt's back was bothering him.  The boys basically jumped on the bed FILLING it with sand since Aidan's new trick is to unmake our bed.  I get Brady on the changing table and I hear Curt say "Belle, I need you to come down here".  pretty calm, considering.  i start to leave, then remember to get Brady down so he doesn't fall and hurt himself and then i think to grab a few towels.  I get downstairs and Gavin has puked all over himself, the nebulizer mask, curt, etc.  he is pretty calm, as is curt and  begin to wipe the puke off of everything I can.  I cover gavin in a towel and begin to bring him upstairs to put in the tub when I hear Aidan screaming bloody murder.  I get to the top of the stairs and he is bleeding from his mouth.  kind of a lot.  So I put Gavin in the tub with the towel and no water, turn on the light and then tend to Aidan.  He has either fallen on his toothbrush or off the bed and somehow bit his tongue, which of course, bleeds like crazy.  he is fine.

Aidan says "Onward March Mommy!"

Dad, Gavin and Brady enjoy the scenery and sand between their toes . . .

The Happy Family BEFORE the mess (G, A, B)

So, as I begin to get Gavin's diaper off and the water going to be able to spray him off, Curt comes up, still in his puke clothes.  Still not sure why he didn't take them off and leave them downstairs where the washer is, but it wasn't the time to ask. :) So all 5 of us are in the bathroom, curt trying to take off his puke clothes without getting more on himself or the floor, Aidan and Brady trying to climb in the tub and Gavin sitting calmly in the water.  I get Aidan ad Brady in the tub and then with Curt's back being bad he says since he is already on the ground, he will wash them if I can get the bed ready with towels, PJs, etc.  I am laying out towels and creams and stuff and I hear "Dammit!"  I think, oh no, Gavin has puked again.  I run into the bathroom and ask what happened. "Aidan pooped in the tub."  I begin DYING LAUGHING.  Curt is not.  the boys are all standing up looking at the floating turds (there are several) and trying to avoid them (smart).  we drain the tub, pick out the poops, spray the boys down, the tub, each of the non=slip things on the bottom of the tub and start the baths over.  I am still laughing.  We get everyone washed, lubed up, and in PJs.  Aidan then asks for a book - child after my own heart.  we read ONE BOOK. they are in bed by 7:45 PM.  yes folks, 2 pukes, a bloody lip and poop in the tub all in one hour.  Gotta love life with multiples.  We still have about 45 minutes of spraying off and cleaning and beginning laundry, and cleaning out the car, etc. before we sit down to watch The Daily Show to pick up the pieces of the last hour of our life, but otherwise Curt and I are intact.

Gavin, Brady and Aidan enjoy a picnic dinner at the dunes before we head home  How cute are they?!

Mom on the Run!

Well, 3 months after thinking i might, just might, train for and run the Half Marathon in Marrakech, Morocco I packed my stuff and hopped on a jet plane sans hubby and rugrats for 5 days with colleagues/friends and made my way to Marrakech.  It was GREAT!  Now, it did take me nearly 2 of the 3 months of training to decide FOR SURE i was GOING to take this trip and leave curt and the boys (i think i booked my ticket 29 December for a 28 Jan departure).  Some of it was feeling guilty that i'm at work all week, i'm doing these long training runs AND i'm going to leave curt to fend for himself and not spend weekend quality time with him or the boys.  and it was so worth it.  I really feel like (even though I didn't know I needed it at the time) my mood has been lifted 150%.  While exhausted, i am relaxed and really enjoyed being able to just go with the flow with the other 12 people i was with.  My time wasn't too bad either.  The last 1/2M i did was Big Lake in NH in 2004 in about 2 hours 4 min.  7 years and 3 kids later (and a LONG day of traveling coupled with air sickness and not eating well the day before the race) and I only added about 10 mins - 2 hours 14 mins 48 seconds thankyouverymuch. :)

only part of our group - in the casablanca train station 3+ more hours to go!

I got to talk to curt and the boys on the phone a couple of times and it was so great to imagine them clamoring around the phone trying to figure out 1) why they couldn't see me on the computer like they usually can with people we talk to and 2) if i might actually be somewhere in the house ("Mommy downstairs?").  The other great thing was (and I knew this when i was considering the trip in the first place) was everyone (curt included) was FINE without me!  Curt said they would ask about me, but when they got their answer (Mommy's in MOrocco running a race) they were fine with it.  I knew they would be OK with it but they are pretty mommy-centric right now (everything from they only want me to change diapers - gee thanks! to only want me to put them to bed, hold their hands goign downstairs, buckle them in, blahblahblah).  Knowing that they were cool with me being gone means I can do it more often, right? :)

By the time i got back, curt was sick, then the boys began to get sick.  it's taken me nearly 10 days to actually post this fool post because we have had puking, and fevers and LOTS O' DIRTY DIAPERS and more fevers and it's been pretty much since i flew through the night to come back from MOrocco that we have slept through the night.  We took the boys to the dr. on 13 feb to find out aidan and gavin are wheezing to go along with the nasty coughs all 3 have and brady has a double ear infection.  we have our follow up appt on 16 feb and it's the night of 15 feb and gavin is coughing LIKE crazy and pulling at his ears - i have a feeling we are goign to have more ear infections reported when we go in tomorrow.

Some other cool stuff about the trip.  we stayed in this riad (like a house.B&B, only cooler) called Riad Zineb.  it was BEAUTIFUL inside.  Each room had amazing details and there was a small (and very cold) splash pool in the center of the courtyard.  you had to go down some WICKED narrow and scary-ass streets to get to the place (we arrived in Marrakech around 1130PM and 4 of our friends who had arrived the day before met us to walk us there.  we would probably still be searching for it had they not guided us there!).  The caretakers (Kidezia and I never got the names of the otehr two) were SO wonderful.  They made us fresh squeezed OJ, yummy all thigns bread, fresh made jams and jellies and sweet mint tea.  it was ridiculous.  Marrakech was also pretty cool.  We tried snails our last night (didn't want to be too daring before the race) and shopped for pottery and leather.  i got Fes hats (look like shriner's hats and yes, aidan LOVES his) for the boys for dress up and these wizard robes that all of the local men wear.  the boys won't even try them on :)

post race pic

the courtyard of riad zineb

my bed room

breakfast room

my bed room looking into the bathroom

one of the many shops in the market

babouches

snails - really, they weren't so bad.  and little kids were just SUCING them out of the shells!

i was like a turtle getting my souvenirs home!

The SCARY alley we had to turn down to get to our beautiful riad.  you would NEVER guess what beauty lay down this path . . .. 

In other fun news - in about 4.5 months i will be a stay at home mom! :)  i told my supervisor and AVP the week before i went to Morocco that I would not be returning to QF next year.  it felt like a huge weight was lifted just by making that decision.  while we haven't decided 100% if we are staying, if we do stay, i know I won't be working and it feels GREAT! :)  Especially after weeks like these where the boys really seem to need some extra snuggles and of course BOTH curt and I are frazzled from missing work for dr's appts, needing to do work stuff at night (either from home or to go back in) when we both could really use NOT having to also hit up the pharmacy, grocery, etc.  of course i am somewhat concerned that if we stay, when the school year is starting back up i will be standing on the other side of the proverbial fence saying "OMG!  what did I do?!".  truthfully, i don't think i will feel that way, i have already been plotting things I will do in addition to spending time with the boys - working on my social class game to market it to educational users, get my certification to become a personal trainer, read student affairs literature each week (WHO does that in their jobs?!), put all of our damn photos in albums!, and the list goes on . . .

anyway, i will post more soon as the boys have been doing funny and not so funny stuff lately (OK, quick story.  curt was at work saturday night and i had 3 sick coughing, snotty, cranky kids.  iw as heating up soup for dinner and i hear brady say as sweet as could be "excuse me" about 8 times.  I look from the kitchen and see him on his motorcycle with gavin in between the wheels squirming around.  Gavin had been laying on the floor playing with his car and brady RODE THE MOTORCYCLE OVER HIM.  he had a red mark on his spine and everything (but didn't cry b/c he has a freakish pain threshold apparently). So I "took" brady off of the motorcycle, put the motorcycle int eh storage closet and explained to him why what he did was naughty.  brady laid on the ground with super pouty face which i ignored and I checked in with gavin (i really didn't even yell - weird).  at dinner Brady asks where his motorcycle is and I tell him he was naughty and rode his motorcycle over Gavin's back and hurt him and Brady says, clear as day, "I said excuse me."  I nearly died as i tried to explain to him that you couldn't JUST say excuse me.)