AMS

This last weekend, Josh and I took our much anticipated kid-free trip.  Christine was getting married in Amsterdam, so we thought this would be a perfect way to have a little time away by ourselves in a city that we love with people that we love!  It was a great weekend.  A few things that I learned/took away from the weekend:

• Traveling overseas without an infant in your lap is (to be honest) far more enjoyable than having one your lap.  You are able to: a) eat; b) drink (free wine!); c) watch movies (Bridesmaid is pretty freaking funny for those of you who haven't seen it); d) spend $12 on the "All My Children" finale special PEOPLE magazine and actually read it; e) when you are done reading that, you can read the other "normal" PEOPLE magazine as well as the US magazine - both of which have the same stories and the same pictures, but you don't care because you don't have an infant on your lap while reading them; f) sleep!!!!; g) sleep!!!!!; h) sleep!!!!
• It is pretty freaking cold in Amsterdam when you land on September 22 at 5:30 AM.  Highly recommend NOT wearing shorts or a skirt and flip flops.  Or, if you choose to, take a taxi vs. taking the bus and then walking 8 blocks to your hotel.  All of that said, it was a refreshing walk, which was welcomed after only sleeping for 3 hours.
• Consider yourself to be VERY lucky when arriving at the hotel only to find that your room is in fact available because really, what the hell would you have done if it weren't????  We're glad that we didn't need to figure this out.
• When you are eating lunch at your favorite Tapas restaurant and the waiter mentions that the amount of food that you just ordered is normal for dinner time, what he is really saying is "you are typical fat Americans..."

• If you go to Amsterdam, be sure to invite us, because we apparently bring the sun.  It has never been bad weather when we have been there.  And, this time was no exception - high 60's and sunny the entire time, which was especially great as most of the wedding was outside.  Christine was thrilled, to say the least. 
• Taking a boat ride on the canal really is as cool as it looks.  One of Friso's friends had a boat and we all went on it one day.  We were FINALLY one of those people in a boat who I've always envied.

Although, little did I know that, really all we ever needed to do was to tie a picnic table to 2 things that float and we could have had our own boat all along when my parents lived there...

• There are quite a few differences between weddings in Holland and weddings in the states:
• First of all, the bride doesn't need to worry about a thing.  ALL of the details are taken care of by the wedding party.  AND, the "ceremony master" takes care of the organization of everything - making sure everyone is where they need to be at the right times, making sure everyone has their own allotted time to give speeches, etc.  It is truly amazing.  I'm not sure brides in America could handle not having that much control.  I'd like to think that I could have, but who am I kidding?
• The "rehearsal dinner" is held on Thursdays.  Not sure this is how it is for all weddings in Holland, but it was that way for Christine's.  And, let me tell you, I'm glad it was on Thursday because, as it turns out, drinking approximately 57 bottles of wine in one night results in a pretty horrible hangover the following day.  One that you wouldn't want to have on the day of a wedding.
• Also, at the rehearsal dinner, there are a significant number of speeches and, speeches in Holland?  Pages.  Numerous pages long.  That said, of the ones that were in English, they were pretty freaking funny and entertaining and I have to assume by the amount of laughter that the ones in Dutch were as well.  I did give a speech (after only 2 of the 57 bottles of wine) which ended with everyone in the room (including myself) crying.  Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad?

• On the day of the wedding, there is a get together which includes the wedding party and the bride and the groom.  We all come together and get to witness the bride making her grand entrance and the groom seeing her for the first time.  This was pretty cool.  Quite romantic, I have to say.

• When they say that you need to wear a hat, don't stress about it.  As it turns out, as with all weddings, people show up in a variety of outfits, some of which will include a hat and some of which won't. However, if you have brought your hat all of the way to Amsterdam, wear it and wear it with pride! I mean, really - how many times are you going to get to wear a hat in your lifetime (unless of course you are from somewhere like England, Scotland, Holland, etc). But, for us in the states? Not many.

• Wedding days in Holland tend to be long.  Long in a good way, but long nonetheless.  That whole presentation thing?  That started at 11:30.  Then, the ceremony was at 2:30.  Then, the cocktail hour was from 4-6pm.  Then, dinner from 630-800 (which only included some of the guests, which is another difference between the states and Holland).  Then, dancing from 8 until lord knows when.  Point being - GREAT day, but long.  Needless to say, the "how do we all stay looking (and smelling) fresh for over 12 hours?" crossed all of our minds.  Then again, by the time the party started, we were already 8 bottles of wine into it, so we could have cared less. 
• The Dutch know how to party.  Holy crap.  I mean, weddings in the states are fun.  Don't get me wrong.  But, in Holland?  Wow.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died prior to the reception so I have no pictures to prove it, but let's just say that there were numerous times throughout the night when the groom and all of his friends had their shirts off and had the uncanny ability of taking them off all while jumping up and down (consistently) to techno music.  Enough said.  
• Something about the way sororities work in the US works.  Not really sure how dragging us out of bed at 6 am to run 3 miles with one another every day (after keeping us up all night yelling at us) creates life long friendships, but it does.  I hadn't seen Leslye and Nancy for over 10 years and yet it was just like we had seen each other yesterday. It was great catching up with them and hanging out with them for the weekend. 

• You truly do start to miss your kids after being gone from them for that long.  We were lucky enough to have Opa and Grandma fly out to stay with them while we were gone, so we didn't have anything to worry about.  They had a great time with the kids and the kids loved having them there.  But, man!  It is a good reminder of how much you miss them when you are away for 4 days.  And, if it wasn't enough to come home to 2 kids (and 2 grandparents, but for different reasons!) who were thrilled to see you, we got to come home to this...

Yep - Josh and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on the day that we flew home.  We couldn't have asked for a better anniversary weekend and I'm thrilled to have been able to share it with such an amazing couple.  Christine and Friso - thanks for everything!  We had a great time! 

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I mentioned it briefly in my last post, but thought that it was so important that it deserves its own post....2 weeks ago, the Holland family got new mattresses!!!!  Well, except for Alex.  He is still in his crib, so he doesn't need a new mattress.  And, yes - he is nearly 2 1/2 and still in his crib.  He hasn't tried climbing out yet and the idea of him not having bars surrounding him and therefore enabling him to follow me out as I leave his room at night?  That, in my opinion, is not fun.  So, he's staying in his crib until the age of 16, if I have anything to say about it. 

Anyway...this is very big news as A) Josh and I have been sleeping on his mattress that he has had since HIGH SCHOOL.  Yes, people.  High School.  He is currently 37 years old.  I'll let you do the math.  So, needless to say, I have a sneaking suspicion that half of my neck pain is attributed to this mattress and as a result, we needed a new one.  B) Avery was still in her toddler bed and it was clearly time for her to graduate to a real bed.  Now, if I had my choice, it would have been a twin, as I'm not sure a 4-year-old necessarily needs anything larger.  However, the crib that we bought conveniently converts to a double bed, so a double is what she has.  I have to say, it looks great in her room and she LOVES it.  She loves it so much that she has even MADE it every day since we have gotten it.  Although, this morning, she informed me that "it isn't fair" that she has to make her bed every day because it is "just too hard," but whatever.  She made it, so score 1 for Mom.

And, just because I really think that baby butts are cute, here is a picture of Al looking for the moo-moo cows as we were putting together Avery's bed.  And, no, I don't remember why he was naked.  I think we were in between diaper changes and pee pee on the potty...

And....we're done.

Avery had her first soccer game this last weekend.  I will admit - this was a learning experience for us both.  Josh had to stay at home to wait for our mattresses that were being delivered, so I was the chosen one who accompanied Avery to her first soccer game.  I mean, first of all, I have never in my life played soccer, so I have no idea what to tell her in terms of how to play the game.  Secondly, I have never had a toddler involved in a team sport, so I had no idea what was typical behavior for a 4 year old at these things.  It started out great.  Avery was really excited to do the warm ups and loved kicking the ball and running after it. 

However, once we entered the actual game and there were 7 other kids who also loved running after the ball and kicking it?  Avery wasn't feeling it.  In fact, this was her favorite position - defense.  Where she just stood there and protected a "castle" which, as it just so happened, was never visited by the other team...

I blame most of this on Josh and I.  I didn't really realize until then that we have never really prepared her for playing in a team sport.  I mean, I explained to her the general object of the game - kick the ball either to someone else on your team or into the goal.  But, I didn't really go into details regarding the assertiveness and the sense of competition  that one needs to have in order to do well with a team sport.  So, I think that she was just very confused as to why the kids weren't playing "nicely" and didn't really get the fact that, at that age, it is to each his own and that you have to be aggressive if you ever even want to touch the ball.  It also didn't help that her first game was on the first Saturday after her first full week at her new school.  Oh -it was also at 8 am (clearly the soccer gods were punishing me for never playing by making me get up at 700 am on a Saturday), so she was EXHAUSTED.  And, this became clear when, with about 10 minutes left in the game, the ball was wide open and close to Avery, so I yelled from the sidelines, "Avery - there's the ball!  Go kick it!" and she looked at me, nearly broke down, ran off the field and.....quit. 

So, here comes the dilemma my friends....it was at that point that I got a glimpse into how I'm going to be as a "soccer mom."  Do I push her to go back in because, after all , this is a game, you can't just quit when the going gets tough!  Or, do I accept the fact that she is just 4 and realize that if I push her to do this, I may scar her emotionally and she will never again want to be part of a team sport????  The decisions one has to make as a parent!  So....I kind of went with the middle of the road.  Because, you see, about 1 min after Avery came off of the field complaining that she was too tired, she then turned around and asked me if we could play on the playground.  This is where I just had to put my foot down.  So, I didn't force her to go back out and play. But, I did explain to her that we were there to play soccer -  not play on the playground and if she was too tired to play soccer, she was too tired to play on the playground.  I thought that was reasonable.  So...the plan was to practice with her this week, but considering she isn't napping at school and is exhausted when she gets home and has to go to bed by 7:30 at the latest, this leaves us with approximately 5.2 seconds from the time that I walk in the door to have dinner, take baths and get to bed.  No time for soccer.  I don't even know what we will do when there is homework involved.  So, for the time being, we'll just bank on the fact that she will eventually get used to it and that maybe she will just take after her mama and be the unbelievably talented singer and volleyball player that she once was....:)

Two Reasons We are NOT Winning Parents-of-the-year

So, the first has to do with Alex.  This last weekend, all of Josh's friends from high school were in town, as one of them lives in China and was back visiting for a couple of weeks.  Well, one of the guy's parents had rented a house in a small beach town about 15 mins down the road from us, so he had everyone over there for the day.  The neighborhood was gorgeous - the house was on a dead end street (like, not even a culdesac.  like, the road just stopped) with a decent size yard and a bunch of houses all around it.  It was also probably 3 houses back from the water and on a hill, so you could see the ocean from it.  It was beautiful.  So, anyway - it was a gorgeous day and we were all outside talking and the kids were playing in the yard.  All of the kids but one - the Big Al.  Of course, I didn't even realize that he wasn't in the yard until Josh asked me where he was (ok, so there is another reason - I guess there are 3 reasons why I won't be parent-of-the-year and just 2 for Josh).  So, we started looking for him and just as I was about to start panicking, HE WALKS OUT OF THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE!  Yep!  Apparently, he was being his curious self and just walked right into this poor guy's house.  Can you imaigne?  This guy was probably 75 years old and he was just sitting in his living room when all of a sudden Alex walks into his house.  Too funny.  And, for the record, had we not been in the neighborhood that we were in (hence, my thorough description of how gorgeous and quaint it was), we would have been a bit more worried.  Also for the record, we have both agreed to come up with a plan going forward whenever we are out and about with Al - one of us will be fully responsible for his whereabouts. 

And, the second reason why we won't be winning parents-of-the-year?  They are doing construction on our road and today, on the way to work, Alex asks, "What truck doing?"  So, Avery answers, "Alex, he is digging up the Ass Holes."  Uh....what?????  Clearly she didn't say what I think she said.  So, I ask her to repeat it and sure enough, "they are digging up the Ass Holes!"  OH!!!  "Digging up the Asphalt??"  Avery - "yeah.  That's what I said!"  Overall, this is a rather funny story.  However, the point is - she has clearly heard "Ass Holes" somewhere.  I blame her father.  That said, we're back to 2 reasons each.

"Progression" of Al's Musical Talents

As promised, below are more recent versions of  Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle, Twinkle, and ABC's.  As it turns out, all three have the exact same melody and just 4 words per song. 



A Week of Firsts

Two very big things happened this last week:

1) Al got his first haircut!!!! I'm sure any of you who have seen pictures of him have wondered when in the hell that was going to happen.  Well, I had initially not wanted to do it because of the horror story STILL told by my family of my cousin having these gorgeous blond curls and then getting them cut off during his first haircut, only for them never to return again.  I was convinced that is what would happen with Al.  I did manage to get over this fear, but only when his curls in the back were getting so long that, when not curled (after waking up, etc), his hair was so long it practically reached the middle of his back.  I mean, look at his hair pre-cut!

So, while I loved the curls, I am not a fan of mullets and decided to get his hair cut. 

2) Avery started Pre-K at her new school!  She started last Thursday and then had off on Friday for a long Labor Day Weekend, so she was only there for one day last week, but it was enough to completely wipe her out.  Wow - I've never seen her so exhausted.  But, I guess that is a good thing?  She didn't have to wear her uniform until the following week, but of course, I still needed the official "first day of school" picture (please tell me I'm not the only one whose parents insisted on these EVERY year until COLLEGE!)...

And, then, the "first day of school in her uniform pictures..."

She had a very weird smile that day.  Disregard.

I have to say, this going to school thing is a bit tricky.  First of all, our schedule in the mornings.  I mean, just to give you an idea of everything that went wrong on that first day....

1.  I had anxiety about the day starting at approx. 2 AM and it didn't end until approx. 430 AM - about 45 mins before my alarm went off


2. Part of the reason for the anxiety was remembering that I didn't fill out the THREE IDENTICAL cards with all of Avery's emergency info on them (one would think they could make copies of ONE card?????)

3. Get up at 6 am to fill out the cards only to realize that last night, I accidentally put a wipe (that I cleaned their hands with) on them, so they are all wet.

4. Left 15 mins later than I wanted to because I had to spend 10 mins drying the cards with my blow dryer

5. At drop off, the only one ok was Avery. Alex was a complete mess and screamed her name the entire drive to daycare afterwards

6. I leave Avery's school at the exact time I have to be at work and I still have to drop off Alex.

7. On the way to daycare, we get behind a bus that stops FIVE THOUSAND TIMES

8. After the bus turns, we nearly run into a COW!!!!!!!!! that had gotten out of the fence and was in the road.

9. When we get to daycare, Alex is still screaming and as it turns out, he has a huge poop in his pants

10. In order to get him to calm down, i agree to change him, which is now making me at least 20 mins late for work

11. As soon as I started work, I realized that my arm smelled like shit because he leaked through his diaper onto his shorts and then the stench got onto my arm.
 
Clearly most of this is my fault, as if I were a bit more organized, things like drying off emergency contact cards with a blow dryer wouldn't happen.
 
So, then, in keeping with a week of firsts - Josh and I had one as well - our first missed homework assignment!  You can imagine the panic that came over me when a friend of mine was emailing me on Tuesday morning complaining about the homework assignment for that weekend.  Um....what homework assignment?????  yeah...apparently when the teacher said, "be sure to check her folder every day because that is how I will be communicating with you and that is how we will be giving homework," she really meant EVERY day.  Turns out, Avery was supposed to bring home this bag and decorate it and then put things in it in order to share with the class.  So of course, since we didn't do it over the weekend, we had approximately 5 seconds on Tuesday night to get it done around gymnastics, dinner, baths and bedtime.  Awesome. 

I will say that the routine has gotten better and faster every morning.  I'm hoping that by Christmas, I'll actually make it to work on time!

We survived!

Well, the kids and I all got to experience our first hurricane this weekend (Josh was there too - it just wasn't his first hurricane) And....we survived!  Ok, I kind of exaggerated...by the time it got to us, it was considered to be a tropical storm, I guess.  But, whatever - it was still really flippin' windy and we still lost power, so I feel as though I still have bragging rights. 

Anyway - the whole thing lasted about 24 hours - it started early Sunday morning and ended early Monday morning.  Everything was fine - we were pretty well prepared with water, flashlights, candles, etc.  However, I will admit - the whole concept of a well and the fact that we don't have ANY water if the electricity is out?  That part sucked.  You don't realize how much you use water until you don't have it.  Brushing teeth, washing faces, taking a shower, washing dishes and FLUSHING THE TOILET.  We had filled the tub with water so that we could have some water to flush, but not knowing how long we would be without power, we didn't want to use too much of it, so the plan was not to flush every time and to just wait basically as long as we could handle it.  Ok - wow.  That was gross.  And, something I never want to experience again.

We did have our gas stove, which was a life saver.  Josh bought a bunch of those ridiculously high in sodium and fat frozen pasta meals, so after much preparation and strategizing in order not to have the freezer open for too long, we opened the freezer, grabbed the meals and closed it for dinners.  No joke - we each envisioned where the food was stored in the freezer for a good five minutes prior to opening it and I'm pretty certain there was even some stretching that occurred at some point in preparation of the quick moves that had to happen.  I think that our record was 5 seconds.  The only problem with this plan was the dishes - how does one wash dishes with no water?  Well, you sit on the deck and use bottled water and a kitchen sponge thing, apparently...

 

Surprisingly enough, the kids did a great job of entertaining themselves for most of the day.  The did a lot of coloring and playing with toys inside.  Josh and I actually got quite a few random things done around the house, which was good, as the house has gotten no attention all summer.  And, I decided to take on a cupcake decorating project for the women at daycare, as Avery's last day was yesterday (more on that in another post).  Wow.  For some reason, when Lindsey brought these over for my birthday, I thought that they looked easy enough to do on my own.  I was wrong.  These puppies took me a good 6 hours to decorate (and, this doesn't include the baking and freezing, which was done on Saturday).  But, it was fun and worth it - I think everyone at daycare appreciated them. 

The rest of the day was spent with various "do you want a snack?" moments in order to occupy the kids and then, their favorite - dinner via candlelight.  I'm thinking we may be eating with candlelight every night from now on given how much Alex liked it. 

We did make it down to the beach to check out the waves - wow!  They were insane.  These pictures don't do them justice at all - they were pretty incredible.

We ended up not having power for 48 hours, which stunk, but as a result, my office and daycare was closed on Monday, so I got to spend the 80 degree, sunny day with the kids at home. Not a bad way to end a hurricane!  Although, I will be honest - had daycare been closed for one more day, I would have personally hand delivered those damn cupcakes to the teachers at their homes, as they WERE going to eat them!