Random pictures

Why else would you have a camera phone except to be able to take random pictures during the day to post to your blog? Today at soccer camp, it was picture day, so all the kids got team shirts. Here's the next Mia Hamm decked out in her gear...

Lauren at soccer camp, August 2007

Then, we went to DSW to find a new pair of black shoes for the black tie wedding we have to attend on Sunday. These are bad pictures, and really, cropped knit pants don't do much for flattering black pumps much...



I went with selection 2, even though they are a little higher than I would've liked. Alec is, well, Alec-sized, so a heel this high means we are about the same height. I love the style of the open-toed t-straps...very sexy...but the rhinestones made them look gaudy, I thought. They would've been okay with a simple black dress, but mine is pretty involved, with a black tulle sequenced overlay.

I want you to know that after trying on these shoes, I spent about 15 minutes in the public restroom cleaning poop off of a toilet with bathroom tissue and a hijacked can of spray labeled disinfectant. Oh, mommyhood is glamorous.

Here I am

I keep meaning to sit down and write the story that goes along with all those pictures of my family that I shared this past week. We'll put a bookmark there and I'll get back to it.

My real life outside of blogging is pretty hectic these days. I realized now that we're 2 weeks until school starts that finding a babysitter was critical. I signed up for a service called Sitter City, which is an online database of babysitters indexed by area. You can either browse through those sitters, or post your own jobs and have the sitters send you their cover letters and resumes. My time this week has been largely consumed in sifting through electronic paperwork, and scheduling and conducting interviews. This became very critical since my mom is too sick to take care of my kids this weekend, my husband's family has a black tie wedding we're obligated to attend. Soccer camp is really the best thing Lauren's done all summer - I am thinking about signing her up for another week. It is, however, about a half hour away. The upside is it's 5 hours, so Lindsay and I have some alone time, and I have some quiet time.

I've hired a sitter for Saturday, who will be able to help me out with weekends during the school year. In addition to my regular course - this semester it's an ethics course about bio-medical issues - I'm taking a reading comprehension workshop in October. I read very fast, but often I have to read each chapter of text 3-4 times before I really understand key concepts. I'm hoping this class with help me hone my study skills so I can spend less time doing it.

Monday morning soccer camp

From the San Diego Zoo

Life's a beach

SeaWorld San Diego

Pictures from Petco Park

Lauren, Maria, Ben, Diane, James, Epiphany, and Lindsay

Lauren, Maria, and Ben

Lindsay and Alec

A new adventure

At 6 AM, we will gather luggage and sleepy children and drive to Newark airport, where we will board a plane bound for San Diego. The sunny city where my baby brother lives.

James, rocking at X-Fest in May

I've never been. And worry too much tonight about screaming 15-month-olds on planes for 6 hours. I have to let it go.

I haven't taken a vacation that included my brothers since I was 15 years old. Ben and I got caught in a frenzy so many months ago when we started planning this. Airline miles. Hotel points. Our collectively absent spouses mean we get to pay down time lost on shmancy vacations. But more important, this will be the longest I've spent with both my brothers since I lived with them. Four whole days. A baseball game. The zoo. The beach. So cool.

Let me enjoy this, instead of fixating on everything that's not perfect. Relax despite the stress of getting there.

Overheard at the pool

"I think the crab is much more comfortable with his shell off..."

Yeah, if by comfortable you mean dead.

Reason number 137

To say Alec has been on a marathon of travel lately is really to underestimate the number of cities he has logged in the past few weeks. At the end of August, he will have been home less than a handful of business days. Mostly, it's that time after dinner before we get into our bedtime routine that's hard here.

"I miss Daddy," Lauren says sadly, every night he's not here.

"Daddy," echoes Lindsay emphatically.

"I miss him too," I reply.

"I miss him so much," Lauren widens her eyes for effect, "that it makes my tummy hurt."

It struck me today that reason number 137 why I love this man so much is that he's so damn funny that things he did 15 years ago make me chuckle still. The memory was from Green Bay, Alec was watching the Olympic games on the small TV that's now in our bedroom perched atop the kitchen cart, sitting on the futon that Lauren now sleeps on. Among his favorite sports was the luge, and whenever it would come on, he'd imitate it, straightening himself sideways on the couch. When I refused to ride in tandem with him, he would ride with Seamus the cat, who didn't really think this was much fun, but loves Alec too much to struggle. The last Olympics, Alec announced he was going to have a new luge partner, and Lauren would be excited about it.

I don't doubt it.

It's actually a pretzel

Lindsay talks about her favorite food

A moment of total spazz

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time this expression came up this week. On Tuesday, before Lindsay's bloodwork didn't happen, I'd thought I'd locked my keys in the car. My keyfob has been behaving unpredictably these days, and though I hit the button to unlock all the doors and trunk, the car responded by unlocking only the driver door and the truck. I closed the trunk, leaving my keys inside, and found it locked. A glance at the back doors revealed they were locked. I was on the phone with the locksmith when I realized the driver door wasn't locked.

Today, it is terrifically humid. I turned of my air conditioners last night and opened the windows, anticipating the cool down after the storm. The air has been on so many days now that it's stale in the house. It hasn't cooled down, and there's no breeze despite the rain.

I got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around myself and noticed the doorknob wouldn't turn. It was as though it was locked from the other side. I sighed. Who is around today who could come over and free me from the bathroom, which possibly needs its knob removed and can get in despite my house is still locked down from last night, I thought. Oh I am such an idiot, I didn't bring my cellphone in with me! Um, who the Hell brings a cellphone in the bathroom to take a shower?!

I have to somehow get Lauren upstairs from the sun porch. Then get her to find a name in the phone, click send, and communicate to some unfortunate friend of mine that I'm locked in my own bathroom. It could be an hour before she gets distracted enough from playing that she wanders up here to let me know she's hungry for breakfast, bored with Barbie, or that the light is off in the downstairs bathroom.

Just as my mind reeled into a full panic, I tried the doorknob again and it opened.

Befuddled by technology

Here's the answer to why Lindsay keeps saying, "Hello? Hello?" She thinks Alec's iPod is a cell phone. "Hello?!"

The blood tests that weren't

Lindsay has a prescription to have some routine bloodwork done, which she received at her 9-month well visit...yes, I know I just scheduled her 15-month well visit. I've been very slow getting to it. My friend Mary's son Ernie (you remember, Ernie - he shares his beverages) also needs bloodwork done, so Mary and I thought we'd take our 4 kids...that way the older ones could play in the waiting room while we braved taking the younger ones in.

We arrived in our separate cars, with 2 kids each, to discover the lab was empty (yay!) and two very nice techs were hanging out in the lobby. Of course, they had no pediatric needles. They aren't due to get any until later in the week. They called the Quest Diagnostic Lab in Somerset, which had the right needles.

"Well, let's head over there!" Mary said enthusiastically. "Since we went to all the effort of getting out. It's only about a 5 minute drive, anyway."

After the 5 minute drive, and a wrong turn resulting in a U-turn, I met Mary coming out of the second lab. "We're not going. That room was absolutely packed."

"Ah well." I replied. "Another time."

Instead we had a nice play date at Mary's, and a very yummy pasta lunch.

Promised pictures

About a week ago, I was having some problems getting pictures off my phone, so here are some gems from the last couple of weeks...

Nicole, Paul, Lauren, and Fred build a sand castle at Pt Pleasant

Lauren's flower girl hair

Lindsay looks on at Lauren and Nicole

Bathtime

"Lindsay, did you want the duck duck?"

Lindsay shakes her head. "Duckie."

"You want the duckie?"

"Duckie." She reaches with both hands.

"Here you are..."

At the grocery store

"Did you get milk?"

"Yep. Why do you ask?"

"Because it's the first item on the list," Lauren replied.

"It is?"

She gestured at the list. "See?" Sounding out slowly, "Milllk. Milk."

"Wow, good reading!"

More sisterly love

"I love you, sis."

"Lolo. " Smack.

"It's not nice to hit, Lindsay."

Smack.

"Lindsay, no!"

Smack.

"Moooooom!!!"

Just tired

Too hot for the park today, even though I'd planned ahead and packed lunch. I worked with Lauren on her reading and workbooks. She carefully copied her letters, and read a 4-sentence story. "Play a game with me, Mama," she said.

Tired from waking in the wee hours again. Playgroups are good for socializing, but I always leave feeling more tired. One of the mommies announced she's pregnant (14 weeks) with her second child, so we talked animatedly about that - us three other mommies have second children all born within a week of each other.

Instead, she's playing Caribou by herself, narrating like a sportscaster. When Lindsay wakes up in about an hour and a half, we're heading to the pool.

Maybe it was the talk of school today that has me feeling tired and put out?

Or maybe the result of the 3-day break?

What we did during our 3 days without kids

...went out for a lovely dinner in the city complete with frozen watermelon margaritas.

...saw 3 movies, 2 of them back-to-back.

...cleaned the car and the house.

...during every lull, said, "I miss my girls"...

Where's our hero?

So, I took a great picture of the kids playing at the park. And another of the kids at the beach. And yet another of Lauren having her hair done yesterday morning before the wedding. The two pictures you haven't seen are inside my cell phone which is angrily flashing at me because I forgot my charger.

We Stolls went together to have our hair done yesterday morning. We settled on big curls over the top of the wreath Lauren had chosen. Then, Lauren and I went to have our nails done. She sat excitedly as her toenails were painted a cheery pink, eyes wide as the young technician painted a flower on each big toenail.

Later, she reiterated the experience to Alec:

"Then, they give your feet a bath! But just your feet, so you don't have to take any clothes off! They wash your feet and then put lots of cream on them, and that kind of tickles, but I didn't mind it at all..." She showed off her matching white flowers on her index fingernails. "I thought when she first started that it was a butterfly, but then she took out the white and made a dot in the center, and then she painted a green stem..."

I know it may cost me some Worst Mama Points, but I can't really think of a better way to have spent $20.

Today, the girls head off with their GG and Grandpa Paul for the shore. Our fun includes a trip to a museum, dinner in the city, and catching up on movies. Oh, and sleep. Lots of sleep.

Isn't this what summer should be like?

Paul, Lauren, Ross, Nicole, and Lars

Gold shoes at dawn

Last week, Lauren selected a pair of gold shoes at Marshalls. They were on sale for $10, and as adorable as some of her grandparents think those plastic high-heeled dress up shoes look, those who surely remember how graceful I was as a child can't possibly think that my child does anything but fall off them crashing into things and yet they buy them for her anyway...she can't actually walk in them. These look a little like Dorothy's shoes might if they were gold flats. Fancy enough that they look princess-ish with one of those frocks, and yet walkable enough to make it to the grocery store.

At 6:30 AM, after waking me at nearly 2 AM screaming Mommy! in the dark for me to find that she was still asleep, Lauren stuck her gold shoe in my face. "Is this on the right foot?"

"No." I replied. I rolled over and fell back to sleep.

Ice cream at the park

Happy birthday, Jules

Lindsay with her Auntie Jules, Christmas 2006

I know you can't read this where you are, but I'm thinking of you. Happy 22, sis. I hope this year holds healing for you, and that by 23 this whole mess is far behind you.

I love you, Jules.

Flower girl

Almost perfect

I'll always be your sister
Your sister, your sister
I'll always be your sister
and I love you

And yet, somehow I think Lindsay would appreciate the sentiment more if Lauren weren't sitting on top of her.

If Lauren was a rockstar

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair

from Rockstar by Nickelback

"That doesn't sound like any fun at all." Lauren replied.

"Hmm?"

"We just won't eat?!"

"Oh, it's just a song..."

"I like to eat. I like to eat often, actually. It would not be any fun to be hungry all the time."

"No, I don't think so either..."

Some of that cute stuff

Lindsay, July 2007

Lauren, July 2007

One vote no

But why won't she say Mama??!

Lindsay has just a handful of words so far. She says yes. She doesn't actually say no, but she shakes her head emphatically. She also indicates when she wants more. She says kitty [kiiiiy] and down [dun]. She has been saying Daddy [not Da or Dada] meaningfully for about 2 weeks. When my mom was visiting this week, she said "G.G." and indicated with a pointing finger that she wanted her grandmother. Today, she said Jack, the name of a 2 and a half year old friend.

I think I see a little twinkle in her eye that she doesn't say Mama. It's that same twinkle that she's taken a couple of steps that Alec has seen, and G.G. and Mimi saw, but not me.

Songs from the back(yardigans) seat

Because I'm not only beautiful
I'm extra extra tough!

Nobody told me there'd be days like these

[Scene: Farmer's Market. Several tables are piled high with local produce, wildflowers, freshly baked breads and pies. A pickle stand is surrounded by barrels.

EPIPHANY enters, pushing a stroller with LINDSAY within. A diaper bag is slung over the rungs of the stroller which is flanked by LAUREN on one side.

As she eases her way toward the the tables with her purchases, EPIPHANY'S load grows heavy. As she approaches the pickle stand to speak with the proprietor, a YOUNG BOY comes around the back of the stroller, at the very moment LINDSAY stands up. The stroller crashes back, leaving YOUNG BOY looking surprised.]

LAUREN: Mom, can I have a pickle?
YOUNG BOY: Sorry!
YOUNG BOY'S MOM: What did you do, Jeffrey?! Oh my God. Didn't you see there's a baby in there?!
EPIPHANY[tiredly]: It really wasn't his fault, ma'am. The groceries are too heavy for the stroller. And the baby is just fine...
LAUREN: Mom, can I have a pickle?
YOUNG BOY'S MOM: You'd better say you're sorry, Jeff.
EPIPHANY: He did say he was sorry. But it really wasn't his fault. The groceries were too heavy.
LAUREN: Mom, can I have a pickle?
PASSERBY: You know what the problem is? You have too many bags on the back of the stroller.
EPIPHANY: Oh, thank you.
LAUREN: Mom, can I have a pickle?
PICKLE VENDOR: That's 11 dollars.
PASSERBY: You really should fix the stroller so it doesn't fall down again...
LAUREN: Mom, can I have a pickle?

[Scene.]

Beautiful butterflies

Lindsay

Katie

Lauren

These were from our trip to the Bronx Zoo today. The butterflies were amazingly beautiful. Far more so than I can manage to capture with my camera, but I hope you can see it reflected in the wonder in their little faces.

Of course, their favorite part of the day was the very dark Mouse House, where we got to see baby rodents of many sizes.

We will likely return when the heat of the summer has passed. When the humidity isn't such that even the act of sitting down leaves your bottom merged with the fabric of your jeans, and walking up hill leaves you breathless. Maybe in September when the crowds thin a bit, and "free" Wednesdays aren't jam-packed with camp kids in matching t-shirts.

We still had a lot of fun.

Katie, Mackenzie, and Lauren

Watching the fireworks

Alec and Lindsay

Lauren and Grampie

The fireworks

Lauren and Grampie watching fireworks

Confirming what I already knew to be true

Lindsay took 2 steps yesterday. Of course I didn't see this happen. Of course it wasn't documented for posterity with pictures and video. She took 2 steps to reach something on the coffee table, gave Alec an "ooh, you caught me" glance, and promptly fell on her butt.

She's been walking this whole time. I just know it.

And if she's anything like her older sister, it will be a week before she attempts this again. That's just long enough to stop remembering to always have a camera handy.

Because sometimes life is just that sad

Fourth of July

The party winds down, as seen by Lauren:

Epiphany tells a story

I love how this looks like Sybil's having visions.

Lauren and Karen

Strange days indeed

For The New Girl who is dreading the long hours of the night as a new mom, Lindsay at one of her best moments:

Lindsay and Lauren, June 2006

Lauren's thinking, Can we send her back now? I think it was about this time that she asked if could bring her back to the hospital yet.

I'd love to say the days are full of sunshine and rainbows, but they're not. They are usually are at least a bit better than this...

Good kitty, bad kitty

Seamus has taken to stalking, "killing", and presenting Lauren's small stuffed animals to us. Cute, yes. During the day when this happens, we praise him for being a good hunter. But, problem is, he's taken to gifting us at 3 AM. He will stand with the stuffy in his mouth meowing until acknowledged.

The first time this happened, I dropped the stuffy in my bedside stand and rolled over to go back to sleep. Now that it's become nearly a nightly occurrence, I sometimes momentarily lose my faculties and place it on the top of the table. Ohh, bad choice. This means he snatches it up again, spends about a half hour stalking and "killing" it, and then presents it again at 3:30 AM.

Ohh sweet sleep. How I crave thee...

The girls

Lindsay and Lauren, June 2007

Difficult things

"It's hard to be quiet."

"Yes."

"But it's usually worth it..."

"Okay..."

"Because usually we have huggle time and I like hugs."

"Me too."

A better picture of Lindsay and her drinking buddy

Lindsay and Ernie, June 2007

Lindsay at playgroup

Sorry these are a little blurry, these were captured on my camera phone. Lindsay is hanging out with her friend, Ernie, who is 2 days older than she. Ernie had a sippy cup of water. In the bottom frame, he's helping Lindsay have a sip. Seriously, does it get cuter than that?

Flashy shoes

We've been working on learning to put shoes on the correct feet, and for the butterfly sneakers we bought last week (the third pair she's owned) that means they don't "kiss", but rather they live on the outsides of her feet.

I peeked in on her finishing putting on a pair of pink socks, smiling that she managed to have the non-skid lettering on the bottoms of her feet for once. Lauren sat on the floor, the new sneakers Nanny gave her in each hand. Silver with thin velcro straps across. They would look sort of sporty if they didn't have 5 princess on the outer heel of each shoe. Lauren received them reluctantly, lamenting that they weren't the flashy sneakers she so adored. She sat examining them. "Do the princesses kiss?" she asked finally.

"No, they belong on the outsides of the shoes, like the butterflies."

"They don't like each other?"

"No, they like each other OK, they're just busy, you know. Managing a kingdom and all..."

"Oh right," she replied, switching the left shoe into her left hand. She dropped the right shoe, and then began to laugh loudly.

"What happened?"

"Mom, look!" She picked up the right shoe and hurled it at the floor. "Nanny was wrong!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look!" She threw the shoe at the floor for a third time. "Don't you see it flashing? Nanny was wrong. These ARE flashy shoes!"

Almost as much

"I love you the most of all, Daddy."

"Aww. Thanks, honey."

"Well, actually, I love you and turtle the same."

"Well, that's still nice."

"Ok, well, I love you almost as much as I love turtle..."

Last day of school

Today was punctuated with cheers and tears. The last day of school was harder on Lauren than I thought, and she cried on the way home, declaring how much she was going to miss her teacher.

I have been dreading the end of school, as our routine has slowly unraveled over the past two weeks. I was stoic, walking home from the library with the girls this evening, trying to sort out how to fill 10 weeks with fun and enrichment without parting from my sanity.

Yeah, after that, I will contemplate lesser stuff, like, say, the meaning of life...

Babies need new pairs of shoes

So, they got them. Lauren selected "tied-y-up shoes with flashy butterflies" and Lindsay's are sandals for walkers. If you look closely, you can see Lindsay's wearing nylon peds. Very classy, right?

For posterity...well, and also for those of you who become so smitten with little girls' shoes that you must purchase them and send them along...they are wearing toddler sizes 3 and 8.

Happy Father's Day

I think her secret might be "break a leg". Or was it "Elmo loves you"?

Have a great day, Dad!

Carnival

Lauren sincerely amazes me sometimes. She managed to convince the carnie operating the Frog Hopper to let this group of kids ride on it 3 times.


"May we please ride again?" she asked, sweetly. "There's no one waiting in line."

The carnie pulled a face, but instead of rejecting the request, she looked around and then hit the Go button on her ride. Lauren did it again, to the same response. After riding 3 times, she smiled at the carnie and said, "You've sure got a great ride! Thanks so much for letting us ride it."

My daughter conned a carnie.

Alec and Lauren riding on Bertha the geriatric elephant, who I believe was quite possibly older than God. Lauren pet the large elephant and announced, "Isn't she beautiful?"


We left as the sky began to darken, and a summer storm passed through.

Bedtime

"Let's say goodnight to Lauren..."

"Ni-ni, Lolo."

"Give Lolo kisses?"

"Mmmmwah." she said, planting her opened mouth on Lauren's cheek. "Lisy huhs?"

"Lindsay would like a hug..."

"Nite nite, Lin-Lin." Lauren put her arm around Lindsay.

Lindsay wrapped her chubby arms around Lauren's neck. "Ni-ni," she said cheerfully.

"Ni-ni..." Lauren echoed.

Happy birthday, Alec!

Almost 30 seconds with an almost 13 month old

Another day, another word

Lindsay sat on the floor at the ophthalmologist's office, taking items out of her diaper bag one at a time.

"Those are wipes." I said.

She set them down, and reached for a block.

"That's a block."

She put the block down and picked up a green bottle of bubbles. "Bubble." she said.

We both laughed. "Yes," I said. "Those are bubbles." I opened them and blew them above her head, and she giggled as they drifted down and popped on her arms.

To add to the whys

Lindsay: Whassat?!

Epiphany: That's Seamus.

Lindsay: Whassat?!

Epiphany: A table.

Lindsay: Whassat?!

Kindergarten, here she comes!

Things they don't teach in school

I came downstairs this morning to find Lauren sitting patiently, hands folded, at the dining room table. As I went into the kitchen, I nearly tripped over a loudly meowing Seamus.

"Do you suppose he wants breakfast, too?" I asked Lauren.

"Well, you see. The thing is," Lauren began, sighing impatiently, "I just don't speak cat."

"Oh," I replied. "Ok."

"Once someone teaches me cat, I will let you know what Seamus wants."