The Chart

I don’t really remember being much of a chart family growing up (mom, correct me if I’m wrong, here), but I’ve decided that the Holland family (or, more specifically, the 3 year old member of the Holland family) needs a chart. For what, you ask? Staying in her bed!!!!! My lord. Let me fill you in on the issue here. I don’t know if all 3 year old’s are like this or if mine just has an overly active imagination and is overly emotional, but wow – she wakes up nearly every single night with a dream and/or nightmare. One of three things happens:

1. She sits up in bed and screams until we come in and calm her down

2. She starts screaming in her room and then walks down the hall screaming and then enters our room screaming until we pick her up and carry her back to her room, praying the entire time that this screaming doesn’t wake her brother who sleeps right next door

3. She doesn’t make a sound and just comes into our bedroom and taps us requiring us to pick her up and put her back into her bed

I don’t get any of the above, but especially #3. SO – anyway, the new rule is, she gets to put a sticker on the chart every morning if she stayed in her bed the night before. And, once she gets 10 stickers, we will take her to Chucky Cheese. But, every time she gets out of her bed, we take a sticker off.

I thought of this chart idea a long time ago, but never did it because I never got to Michael’s to get poster board and markers, etc. to make the chart. Well, finally, last night, I decided that my desire for sleep could not wait for the creative side of me to come out (because, really, I have no idea when or if that will ever happen), so I made a chart. Right then and there – after dinner. And, here it is…





Fancy huh? And, if you will notice, empty.

The sad thing is that she did actually sleep in her bed all night last night, but this morning, when we went to put the sticker on the chart, she wanted to put 2. I said 1. She said 2. I said 1. She said 2. I said none. And, we left for daycare. Sticker-less.

An Enjoyable Kind of Hectic

Our trip to WI started at 3 am on Wednesday morning. Holy crap. That’s early. Somehow, (not to toot my own horn here), I managed to be relatively organized the night before (which was a miracle given all of the last minute Xmas stuff I had to do that Monday and Tuesday), which allowed for me to have just enough time to get up, throw on some clothes, get the car packed up and then wait until the very last minute before we left to get the kids up and in the car. We attempted to do this and not wake them, but Alex immediately woke up in his typical chipper morning mood and screamed, “Dada!!!” as soon as he saw Josh and then did not sleep the rest of the way. Avery slept until we put her in the car and then when asked, we told her where we were going. From that point on – she talked. And, talked and talked and talked. The one good thing about flying that early is that there are no flight delays. We managed to get in on time, get the car and get to Opa and Grandma’s house by 1:30 that afternoon. The rest of the day was spent sledding (first time for both kids – they loved it)

and relaxing while waiting for Lexi, Will and Annabel to arrive. The rest of the time at Opa and Grandma’s entailed more sledding, hanging out with Opa and Grandma





putting stickers on our noses



and then on our cousin's head



going out for all you can eat prime rib (which, in true Epting fashion, I managed to eat a portion and a half of even after being sick all that afternoon. I'm including a picture of just because I think that it is hilarious that Lexi has stickers all over her belly and left them there for dinner)




baking cookies

, terrorizing poor Annabel (this look on her face is pretty much a constant when around my children - I think that she was still mad about the sticker incident)



decorating the tree, wrapping gifts, getting ready for Santa (note - broccoli was about the only thing on the menu for Rudolph - we figured he wouldn't expect much from a house that had only been lived in for 3 days prior to his arrival!)




and then finally – opening gifts. Wow. There were a lot of gifts. Avery was in heaven.


Now, this is where the slightly more hectic part of the trip starts. That afternoon, we packed everything up (which is a job in and of itself – for any of you who know the Hollands, we aren’t the most “organized,” so, as you can imagine, our stuff and the kid’s stuff was EVERYWHERE) and headed down to Nancy and Tom’s for Xmas dinner. Of course, on the way there, we first had to stop at the hotel and check in. Then, we had to swing by Sara’s house to get the pack n play for Alex. Anyway – once there, it was great.

We had a great time seeing everyone and, as always, enjoyed our time at the “Kid’s Table.” To think, I used to be so angry when I had to sit there growing up. Now, it is the happenin' place to be - I think that it has something to do with the mass quantities of wine.

That night, we stayed at a hotel, which was a bit of a challenge, as Alex had no interest in going back to sleep once we got there. I think that we all finally got to sleep around 12:30 AM.

The next morning, we met up with Sara and her whole family for our annual Christmas get together. That afternoon, we went back to Sara’s to hang out and let the kids rest – note – Avery wanted nothing to do with a nap, as Chad no longer sleeps during the day and heaven forbid she can’t hang out with one of the big kids (not to mention, she was pretty obsessed with Chad – at one point, letting him have more toys than her “because he is a nice man.”)

Once the babies woke (and after I dealt with a massive meltdown due to Avery getting no sleep), we went to Becky’s house and spent the rest of the afternoon and dinner there with her kids and Melissa and her 3 boys. Clearly, Alex wasn't as thrilled with this photo op as we were...





As always, it was great to catch up AND to meet the newest member of the clan – little Brayden.



The next morning, we called a cab (which was somewhat chaotic, as I had to install 2 car seats in the car - the guy thought that I was crazy) and went to the airport. All in all, the flights home weren’t too bad. Although, we were 3 hours delayed, which was somewhat of a challenge with 2 kids in an airport that wasn’t at all kid friendly with about 100000 people running around and 4 sets of stairs which were ever so tempting for my 18 month to walk (aka, fall) down, but we managed. As you can imagine, I had no time (nor any interest) for photo taking during this airport adventure.


Poor Josh had attempted to leave one day before us and got stuck in Chicago for the night, but did get home the same day as we did and was able to deal with plowing the driveway and fixing our heat that crashed while we were gone. On top of it, he managed to get the flu somewhere along the line, so he got to deal with that while also dealing with the lack of heat and plow.

To top that all off, we arrived to find our car seat had been totally busted by baggage claim and then it was so windy and cold when we went to the car that the car door slammed shut on my head. It was at that point that I lost it. Calmly and Quietly, but I lost it. Just kind of sat there and cried for a minute with Alex looking at me going “Mamma. Mamma.” As though he was trying to say, “It’s ok, Mamma. Don’t cry.” But, there was no stopping me at that point.

So, yes, although, hectic, that last part of the trip was still very enjoyable. Until that moment. At that point, enjoyable hectic turned to really #$Q#$%ing, get me the hell home hectic.

Here's to a flu-free, less windy 2011...

The Wizard

Scene - Just landed in Chicago - sitting, waiting to get off of the plane:

Whitney - "Avery, you have to be really careful and hold onto my hand because we don't have a jet bridge like we normally do - you have to walk down the stairs and then outside."

Avery - "Why isn't the jet bridge working, Mommy? Maybe it is because of the Wizard!"

Whitney - "The Wizard??" (thinking - wow! My child has gotten to be so creative - she thinks that a wizard took the jet bridge!)

Avery - "Oh, I meant, the LIZARD!"

Whitney - "The Lizard??" (thinking - OK, this is getting a bit more weird than creative at this point)

Avery (clearly thinking very hard) - "You know, Mom - all of the snow!"

Whitney - "Oh! You mean, the BLIZZARD???"

More Christmas stories to follow....

Testing Limits

Ok, so I kind of thought that it was funny and cute when Alex received a time out for the first time the other day....until I was the one who he hit and consequently had to be the one to issue the timeouts.

We are clearly going through a "testing our limits" phase here.

The problem is, the first couple of times this happened, I put him in time out and told him (sternly - some may even call it "yelling") that he can't do that, yadda, yadda, yadda and he then started to cry. This is good. This means that he gets it and that he feels badly about it. Recently? He just sits there and slowly looks the other way. As if to say, " I can't hear you, Mom. This isn't sinking in. I'm about to hit you again for making me sit here." So, now I'm at a loss! I mean, what more can you do to a 17 month old boy to make him realize that he can't hit people? Why can't he be this happy, smiley kid every day???

Daycare Moments

Avery: "Miss Anne, you can come over to my house whenever you want to for dinner."

Miss Ann: "Oh really? Thanks! What will you be serving?"

Avery: "Well, because you are an adult - you have a choice of what you want to drink. You can either have fizzy water or a gin and tonic."



And, then there's Al....

Al decked a girl yesterday at daycare and received his first ever time out.

Tis the Season!

Holiday festivities have officially begun in the Holland household. December started off with a great birthday party for one of Avery’s friends from daycare. They rented out the top level of an Italian restaurant in Bristol and all of the kids got to make their own pizzas. After all of her practice in TX, Avery was a pro (and happened to be one of the only ones at the table to finish nearly all of her pizza – that’s my girl!).

That Sunday, we went to get our Christmas tree. Santa happened to be visiting the tree farm that day. One of my children had no qualms about sitting on his lap



But, clearly had qualms with our idea of putting the tree in the back of the truck vs. tying it to the roof of the car




the other child? Refused to even come within 5 feet of the building that Santa was in.

Later that afternoon, Avery and I went to Grammy and Grampy’s club to see a shortened version of the Nutcracker. She was thrilled that she got to wear her Christmas dress for the first time (and, that it is VERY spinny!)

Avery was mesmerized by the entire performance. However, afterwards, I asked her if she wanted to do ballet some day. Her response? “Yes, but I don’t want to do it with a mouse and a nutcracker. “ I had to explain to her that ballet didn’t always include a mouse and a nutcracker. She didn’t seem impressed. I think that we’ll stick with soccer for a while…

Last weekend, we went to a “Drive-In Movie” night at Lindsey’s house. Lindsey made a bunch of little cars out of cardboard boxes –equipped with side trays and all – and then served the kids hot dogs, carrot sticks, French fries, popcorn, and M&M’s while they watched the Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Rudolph (it was a double feature night).

Meanwhile, the adults hung out in the other room and snacked on apps and wine. I must say, it is a good thing that Avery has Asher as a friend because her mom will just never be this crafty...

Sunday (I wasn’t kidding when I said that the holiday festivities had officially begun), we started the day off with baking Christmas cookies, which clearly required a lot of flour...

and then went to brunch with Santa and Grammy and Grampy’s. Once again, one child? No problem sitting on Santa’s lap.

The other? Didn’t even want to look at him. However, I will say that when I was explaining to her that Santa is a nice man and that he makes her presents, so she should be nice to him, she responded with, “ok, Mommy. I’m not going to talk to him or look at him when he is there, but I’ll say ‘bye’ really nicely when he leaves.” And, she did! I think that I even heard a “Happy Holidays!” come out of her mouth. However, this was only when she was convinced he was making his way towards the door.

Ok – last one. MONDAY – we went to our new annual tradition of “high tea” at a mansion in Bristol.


It really is a cute event. Avery had a great time, but was probably the only little girl there who insisted on tea instead of hot cocoa and the chicken salad finger sandwiches instead of PB&J.



Oh – and, yes, Santa was there, which caused quite the concern when she realized that, in order to get to the bathroom, she had to go by him. I agreed to carry her and she buried her head in my shoulder so as not to see him and then told me that she doesn’t want to see him, but she still wants him to give her presents….

Oh, and right in the middle of all of these fun festivities? Alex took a trip to the hospital after falling and busting his head open on a cubby at daycare. We did avoid stitches and instead, they used glue. I'm just hoping it doesn't scar. Although, surely he could think of a really impressive story for the ladies as to how he got this when he gets older...

This weekend, we’re busy making fudge and then going to a Christmas party on Saturday and then off to Wisconsin on Wednesday. I’ll do my best for more timely posts so as to keep them a bit shorter in the future…

Thanksgiving 2010

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that the key to a nice, relaxing (I use that term lightly, as our lives are never relaxing with a 3.5 year old and a 17 month old) vacation is HEALTHY kids who are SLEEPING. Man! What a difference that makes!

Oh, and a celebrity sighting in the airport to start the trip off is also always a good luck sign. Here is a picture of David Ortiz getting food at the same food court we were at in Logan (for those of you not from the Northeast, Ortiz is a big time Boston Red Sox player). Clearly I didn’t get close enough to get a decent picture, but that is him. I swear.

Our Thanksgiving trip started out in Houston at Lexi and Will’s new house, which is gorgeous (and rather large!) – the kids LOVED running around and getting into their cousin’s toys. Poor Annabel – I’m not sure she was prepared for the Holland kids, as most of the time she just sat in a corner reading her books peacefully and looking at Avery and Alex screaming and running and thinking “who in the hell are these two and why are they SO loud???”

Sunday morning, we got together with Amy, Jessica and the kids again. We got to meet cute baby Oliver who was only a couple of weeks old and the kids got to hang out with each other while we made lunch and attempted to catch up (which wasn’t overly successful, but that was to be expected with 6 kids under the age of 4 running around).

That afternoon, we made the trip down to Opa and Grandma’s. We planned it so that we would leave right at the start of the kids’ nap times. It worked well.

Even a movie couldn’t entertain Avery long enough to stay awake at that point…



Opa and Grandma had PLENTY of activities planned to keep the kids occupied.

We went to 2 different playgrounds

Made cookies with Grandma

Took the ever exciting trip to Walmart (no, I’m not being sarcastic – trips to Walmart are exciting for kids and as a result, the parents)

Made our own pizzas and cooked them in Opa and Grandma’s Pizza Oven

Went to the beach

Note the location of the Holland kids and the Davie child. Holland kids? Up to their ears in sand and running around and screaming (again). Davie child? Well, she didn’t like the feeling of sand on her toes. So, she stayed on the towel the entire time and was perfectly content just taking things out of the diaper bag and handing them to her mother (and, probably still wondering who in the hell these two kids were running around screaming).

And, the highlight of the trip, played in the kiddie pool naked (these are the types of things you can do when you celebrate Thanksgiving in TX where is it 80 and sunny the whole week)

Which, we thought was a brilliant idea until someone (and, I’m not naming any names here)

decided to poop. Not once, but TWICE right smack dab on the deck...

It was actually rather comical (and, unbelievable). At least she noticed it when she did it. Alex? He would just walk around peeing and have no concept of what was going on. Ah....boys. You gotta love 'em.

Overall, it was a great week. The kids were great and it was great spending time with my parents, Lexi and Will as a family. Can't wait to do it all over again in a few weeks for Christmas!