top 10 things i want to remember about our trip to disney

we had a fantastic trip, pictures to follow. but before the memories start to slip into the oblivion of my mostly useless brain, i wanted to record some of the things i want to remember:

1. f., who sometimes gets carsick on the 20 minute trip to granny and pops only got carsick twice in the 30+ hours we spent in the car. thank you dramamine.
2. getting some special mommy, daddy and f. time to spend one night at the t-rex restaurant at downtown disney and f. wanting to do a bit of shopping for his brothers.
3. our first ride with the whole family, the safari ride in animal kingdom. m. was way more interested in the other jeeps full of passengers than the animals strategically placed along the way.
4. m. and k. enjoying the tram ride from the parking lots just as much as any of the other rides in disney.
5. m. falling asleep in the "finding nemo" musical in his daddy's arms.
6. m. and k. being a bit more brave then their older brother in any show that included 3D glasses.
7. going to the nighttime parade and fireworks and listening to m. say "the hurrade is coming sooooon!" fivehundredandtwentysix times.
8. the character breakfast with all my family. k. loves characters soo much, but apparently not soo much after his food has been delivered. i think he thought pooh was trying to eat his fruit.
9. skipping through the magic kingdom listening to christmas music with my family all wearing shorts.
10. listening to f. giggle uncontrollably while m. shouted "this is lots of funny" when we were trying to get everyone to fall asleep in the hotel on the way home.
11. floating around the lazy river at the townhouse resort with my whole family. (ok, i know thats 11, but deal people, it was super cute!)

quarter to stress AM

i have been alternatively staring at the ceiling and the clock for the last hour; finally giving up and hoping that getting some thoughts out will relieve some of the stress i am feeling. we had the boys official IEP meeting today with the wonderful people at Child Find. everything went wonderfully, in fact it could not have gone better. yet somehow i am still up at quarter to stress AM worried about how all of this is going to play out. i think part of it comes from having to sign official school documents today stating that both boys have disabilities in order to receive the necessary services. disabilities. the other part is my mind working overtime trying to figure out all the logistics of getting three boys ready for school in the morning on time. drop off of f. can be stressful enough, now how am i going to add two other kids to the mix?!

we were wrapping up the meeting this morning and the Child Find lady says, "ok, so i will call you to arrange a class visit to meet their new teacher." being the planner that i am, i needed to know when she might be calling. suddenly this idea occurs to her, "you know, we could start the boys right after thanksgiving instead of waiting until the new year. unless of course that would be too stressful for you?" and after i calmed my heart which was threatening to leap clear out of my chest, i agreed. now i cant help but wonder, am i stressed because she suggested it might be stressful?! was i wrong to be so looking forward to my boys going to school that i jumped at the opportunity to start them earlier than expected? did i really just sign papers that become part of their permanent record that states they are disabled?

turns out that writing all of this down isnt so much relieving the stress as labeling it more clearly. so here i am at quarter to stress AM. hoping that i am being a good mom, doing all the right things for my children. its quarter to stress AM, ever been here? what does quarter after stress AM look like?

resolved

today while i was trying to get the house back in order after a weekend that was full of neglecting anything indoors it occured to me that we have too much stuff. this is not exactly a revelation, but nonetheless, it bothers me. really, why do we have all this stuff? remind me when its time to make resolutions that i am going to motivate once the little boys start school in january and make an effort to get rid of some of this stuff.

can you smell it?

thats the magic in the air. perhaps my happy pills are working better than last month, or it might just be that i have gotten better about remembering to take them, but this weekend was wonderful! we got outside both weekend days and just enjoyed the season. the boys played in leaves for hours while daddy blew them around with his leaf blower. it was soo wonderful to enjoy the perfect weather; and even better to enjoy watching my three boys play together and not fight. the only breaks we took from the outdoors this weekend seemed to be to nourish ourselves and finalize our plans for dis.ney. magical!

nicu days

i visited my boys every day when they were in the nicu, except one day when i couldnt because i had a fever. the next day when i returned i found a cd with over 100 pictures of my babies from the day i missed. there were even some with the boys dressed as rudolph and santa as it was nearing christmas. if ihave said it once, i have said it 1,000 times, nicu nurses rock. nurse cheryl took time out of her day on that day i couldnt be with my boys to make memories for me that will last a lifetime. i just came across the cd today while looking for something else and thought i would share. here are few of them...

highs and lows

this week was crazy, here is a brief run down of some of the highs and lows:

1. spent good portion of a day convincing two two-year olds that in fact halloween only comes once a year and that in fact we would not be going door to door screaming trick or treat again this week.
2. listened to my 6 year old read a sponge bob joke book, laughing along as we got the jokes.
3. had a fun playdate with some good friends.
4. sorted $5000 worth of gift cards for the MOMs club.
5. barely survived an 1.5 hour long tantrum by an undernourished, not well rested preschooler.
6. drank a half a bottle of wine by myself.
7. cancelled the private speech therapist for k. because the boys got accepted into the early childhood intervention preschool starting in january for 5 days a week.
8. nursed a sick 6 year old who departed the school bus laiden with a fever; cancelled girls night out plans.
9. loaded the car up with the whole family to go to h1n1 shot clinic. spent two hours in waiting room while hubby entertained the kids in the car with videos. got shots for all the kids, returned to find car with dead battery.
10. drank other half of bottle of wine by myself.

seriously?!

have you read about this?

come on people, did you really buy the DVD or CD thinking it would turn your child into Einstein? shame on you!

in our house baby einstein is also known as "baby crack" - because when popped into the DVD player its like magic, the kids just sit and stare, much like a drug addict who has just hit the crack pipe. the real beauty of the DVDs are that you have just bought yourself 24 minutes to use the bathroom, return a phone call, sip your coffee, fold a load of laundry and all without an audience! if you are really clever and choose "repeat all" you can accomplish even more while your babies sit in a stupor and watch toys in action and listen to classical music.

i will be keeping my baby einstein DVDs and my kids will not likely becoming members of mensa anytime soon. and that is just fine by me!