As a follow up to my last post...

And, just so you all don't think that I'm completely naive in thinking that little boys are the only mischievous ones out there, this is what happened when Avery was unsupervised in the back seat with her crab stamp that she won at a fall festival.....

A New Rule

Disclaimer – yes, I’m generalizing in this post. Yes – I realize that not all boys are like Alex and not all girls are like Avery. Just run with it….

Ok – I’ve made a command decision – there should be a new rule that needs to be followed by whoever is in charge of the whole having-a-baby process (which I guess is the father??).

So, to all of you fathers out there – PLEASE make sure that if you are going to have a girl and a boy that the boy needs to come first. Why you ask? Yes, it is cute to have a big brother to watch over the baby sister and to make sure that no mean boys take advantage of her, etc. But, that is not the reason. The reason is that boys are mischievous, they are a handful, and they get into EVERYTHING. That said, it is unfair for a couple to have a girl first because it is a big trick. It is a trick to make them think that they will never have to baby proof the house or that they won’t have to keep their eye on the baby AT ALL TIMES. Because, if they don’t? THIS is what that baby boy will do:

1. He will get into every cabinet in the house and pull out everything in it – leaving things like risotto, cheerios and life cereal strewn across the floor.

2. He will get a hold of the portable phone and then proceed to crawl around on the hardwood floors while holding said phone in his hand and banging it on the ground as hard as he can while crawling.

3. He will get into the dog dishes and splash water all over himself and the mudroom right before you are about the walk out of the house.

4. He will take the phone, which has now gotten the c$%p beat out of it and decide to stir the dog’s water with it.

5. He will get a hold of the chalk that his big sister has in her easel and will either a)throw all of it on the ground or b) eat it. And when his mother tells him not to do it, he will look at her with a mischievous, “I don’t give a s$%^t what you say” look and do it again – just to piss her off.

6. And, the one to top it all off – He will CRAWL UP THE ENTIRE FLIGHT OF HARD WOOD STAIRS ALL BY HIMSELF WITHOUT HIS MOTHER LOOKING and will then thank the lord (not really even realizing it) that his father was there to catch him right before he fell down the stairs that he just crawled up.





All that being said, he will also wake up every morning with a huge smile on his face and immediately reach out to hug his sister when he gets out of the crib and then give his mom just as big of a hug when he is done….

Surprise!

Well, this past weekend was the long awaited 30th B-day surprise weekend for Lexi in Houston. I have to give all of the credit to William, as he is the one who came up with the idea of me flying to Houston to surprise Lexi on her 30th. Then again, who am I kidding? I flew out there by myself with a 15 month old on my lap (except for when he decided to crawl on the lap of the girl next to me on the first flight – that was pretty funny) - because of this, I’m going to take a little bit of credit as well.

Alex was definitely a trooper on the flight out there. He had been really sick all week and had just started to get better that Friday, but he hung in there and in hindsight, it may have worked to my advantage as he slept nearly the entire way there.

We didn’t get in until 11 pm that night, so we decided to surprise Lexi at breakfast the next morning. Lexi and Will are staying at a hotel until their new house is done, so the plan was for Mom and Dad to meet them down at the breakfast at 8 am that morning. Well, they did – except Dad was holding Alex in his arms when he walked in. I didn’t see it because I was behind the corner, but my mom got this photo and as you can see, the look on Lexi’s face was priceless. I think that her first question was “Who the hell is that??”

She had a hard time figuring out how Alex would get to Houston when he hadn’t been there just 12 hours earlier. At that point, I walked around the corner and surprised her. We both started crying – it was pretty cool.

Saturday - we went to see Will and Lexi's new house, which was beautiful! After that, Lexi was hosting a baby shower, so I went to Jess's house and hung out with her, Owen, Amy and Olivia for the day. It was great seeing everyone and although our topics of coversation now cover things like what our kids eat, whether or not they pick their noses and what we do about it and nap schedules (vs. how much we drank the night before (although, had this get together been on Sunday, I could have chimed in on that (see below)...), who we kissed the night before and what the gnomes ate for dinner the night before (yes - this is an inside joke and yes - we were not "sober" at the time), it still felt like we had just seen each other yesterday...

It's scary to think that someday these sweet, innocent looking kids may be talking about the same things we did back in the day. Lord help us...

The rest of the weekend was spent getting manicures and pedicures, having a VERY nice dinner (and way too much of VERY nice wine and champagne) to celebrate her birthday

Going to Discovery Green (aka, mini little playground/waterpark/concert venue for kids) for a picnic





Going on walks

Stealing toys from our cousin

Playing in our cousin's crib



Going the zoo (the picture of which is not cooperating, but picture alex pointing at an elephant...)

and most importantly hugging our cousin...

It really was a great weekend.

I’m pretty certain Alex’s teachers were cursing my name on Tuesday morning, as we didn’t get in until 1 AM earlier that morning, but whatever. It was worth it. And, if it makes them feel any better, I thought that I was about to die when the alarm went off at 5:30 for me to take Deacon out. In the dark. In the cold. In the rain. With Coyotes howling in the background. Ahhhhh how I missed the country life (insert sarcasm)….

Girls' Weekend

Christine came to town again this weekend for a visit! Unfortunately, Alex was sick for most of it, so he didn’t get to join in a lot of the festivities. However, it did give us an opportunity to have some girl time with Avery, which I think that she needs and enjoys. Saturday was a jam packed day, starting with Avery’s Might Mights practice at the YMCA. I’m pretty certain that Christine is now fully prepared when she comes here, but for those of you who haven’t been to visit and especially those of you who don’t have kids – beware. You will be up at 7 am (if you are lucky – sometimes anywhere between 530 and 630) and you will be going all day long. But, don’t worry – I do provide wine and food to help you get through it.

ANYWAY – Avery enjoyed t-ball and did very well at it, but had a hard time focusing because she knew that we were going to a fall festival afterwards.



The festival was great – lots of stuff for the kids to do, great weather, etc.









On the way back, Miss Avery fell asleep, so we decided to stop off at a coffee shop to enjoy a cup of coffee and to let her sleep for a bit longer in the car. One of the many luxuries of living in the country – where else could you just leave your kid and dog in the car while you have coffee? Don’t worry – we were all of 10 feet away from them and all windows were down. They were fine.

Saturday night, Christine and I decided to motivate and make a fire in our fire pit (which we have had since we were married in 2004 and just now used for the first time, but that’s another story…). I have to say – I was rather impressed by Christine’s fire starting abilities. We weren’t planning on having a fire, so we had limited paper to get it started, but that proved to be no obstacle for Christine! She got right in there and blew on that puppy until it started and we ended up with a rather nice fire as a result. In fact, Christine was so excited by her success that she just continued to blow on the fire even after it was raging. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t necessary, but I wasn’t going to spoil her fun (and, it was kind of funny watching her sit there and blow on the fire for so long).





Sunday, we took Avery with us on a long walk with Deacon on the beach. She actually did a good job of keeping up, which was impressive.



That afternoon, we did take Alex with us and went to a restaurant for lunch, which was of course, Avery’s highlight of her day.

Overall, it was a great weekend.

And, just for kicks (and, because poor Alex didn’t get too much attention in this post), we’ll end with a cute naked picture of him…

Without naming any names....

SOMEBODY

was getting into something that he shouldn't have, which meant that

SOMEBODY ELSE(who happened to be wearing mis-matched socks in this picture, which should be ignored by all readers...)

was left unattended and also got into something he shouldn't have...



But, don't worry, because

SOMEBODY ELSE

immediately got on the phone with the cleaning lady to ask her to come and help clean it up - oh, and to please bring Mommy some olives and wine. Mommy's not quite sure where that last request came from, but she liked it...

Our own little Beckham and Phelps

This last weekend, Avery played soccer for the first time and Alex had his first swim lesson at the YMCA. We signed Avery up for the "Mighty Mights" – a program that runs for 8 weeks and each week, they focus on a different sport. This last weekend was the first class and it was soccer. Josh was so proud. So proud that he spent all week preparing Avery by teaching her how to “trap” the ball and to dribble the ball and most importantly, to do all of these things with just her feet (that was very tricky for her to understand). Anyway – she did very well and seemed to have a great time.

Until…..she realized, on the way to see Alex in his swim class, that she was not going to go into the pool with Alex. Man oh mighty. She was not a fan of that idea and let us know about it the rest of the morning.


Anyway – while Avery was playing soccer, Josh took Alex to the pool ( I conveniently couldn’t find my one piece suit, so Josh got pool duty for week one). By the time we got there, everyone was just standing around with the babies – not really what I had in mind for $75.





Josh confirmed that, for the first 25 mins, they did songs and dancing (which I would have paid money to see Josh do), but after that, it was kind of a free for all. Which, looking back, was somewhat comical actually because all of the mothers were doing things like lifting the baby high into the air yelling “Wee!!!!” and taking them around the pool on their bellies saying, “kick, kick, kick!!! Good job Johnny!!!” Or, holding them and saying, “splash, splash splash!!!!” You get the picture. The dads? Just standing there. Maybe every once in a while, there was an occasional bob in the water, but really? They just stood there. And, they didn’t even talk to one another. Just stood there. I suggested to Josh that maybe he take Alex around the pool for a bit of a swim and he looked at me as though I was crazy.


The rest of the weekend was a rather productive one for Josh and I – I cleaned out Alex’s “junk drawer” in his dresser, which consisted of onesies ranging in size from 9 months – 24 months as well as every pair of socks he has ever owned (most of which only fit his big toe at this point), every bib he has ever owned (most of which were pink) and every hat he has ever owned (which, again, cover one ear at this point). I also cleaned out all of this clothes that have been piling up in his closet since he was 7 lbs. (that was 18 lbs ago…). Josh painted a wall in the kitchen, which he thinks is too dark and I think is too blue, but knowing us, it will stay that way (including the blue edging tape) for a good couple of months (we’re prompt like that). I also finished planting the hydrangeas around the house – pictures of that to come.


Oh – exciting news! I was so consumed with my productiveness, that I nearly forgot - Alex took his first 3 steps this last weekend. He walked inbetween Josh and I a couple of times, which was very exciting. We were so proud of him. And then…..he crawled into Deacon’s kennel…..

This next weekend, Josh and I are going to Six Flags New England for our 6 year anniversary (wow – that sounds kind of WT, but it is something that we love to do together and haven’t done since pre-pregnancy days) and we are staying there and having a nice dinner.

Grammy and Grampy will have the kids all day on Saturday and then Saturday night. This means that they are in charge of the YMCA class schedule on Saturday morning. Somehow, I have a bad feeling that Alex will show up on the basketball court and given a basketball to dribble and Avery will get her wish and will end up in the pool…

We're walking, we're walking...

This last weekend, Lexi and I participated in our 5th MS Challenge Walk. Most years are 50 miles, but this year was 50 km’s (which is 30 miles – don’t worry, I had to look that one up as well), as Rash Hashanah????? fell on the Friday of the walk. So, we walked for 20 miles on Saturday (actually, 21.4 to be exact) and then 10 on Sunday. During the actual walking part of it, we were relatively thrilled that the second day was only 10 miles, but looking back, it would have been fun to have it be the 3 day walk that it typically is. 2011’s Walk is back to the 50 miles (and I’m sure, on day 2, mile 30, I’ll be wishing it was over, but whatever…).

Mom and Dad flew in on Thursday night, so we did our traditional pizza and boxed wine (because we are fancy like that) at our favorite pizza place in Providence that night. Lexi got in around lunch time on Friday, so we picked her up and hit Legal Seafood for lunch (where Alex had his second lunch of the day – and, we wonder why he is in the 90th percentile for everything?)

and then went to the Cape to get settled before the big day on Saturday. That night, we had Chinese food for dinner and realized one very sad thing – my youngest does not like Chinese food. I mean, one would think that a child who eats meat, veggies and fruit every day for lunch and dinner would enjoy meat and vegetables doused in gravy? But, nope. Avery on the other hand, enjoyed the Chinese and even liked the tea (does that stuff have caffeine in it? I guess I probably shouldn’t have given her any, but then again, she also shouldn’t have had the donuts, hot dogs, clam chowder and fried fish that she had that weekend, but she did – it was vacation, after all!).


The walk was great. It started with Lexi carrying the coveted TX flag during the flag ceremony. This is easily the highlight of the walk every year for Lexi ( I haven’t gotten the nerve to explain to her that she is probably the only one from TX doing the walk, which is probably the only reason she is asked to carry the flag every year – we’ll just let her continue to think she is special…).

I will say that I was impressed – there were 22 states represented at the walk – pretty cool.

We were definitely sore after the 20 miles, but overall, we were in decent shape given that we hadn’t really trained (oh, and, given that Lexi is 5 months pregnant!).

In order to help eliminate some of the pain, I took advantage of the free massage afterwards.


This may sound like a great idea, but there were a few things wrong with this – a) it was a massage therapy student who must have enrolled the day before, as I could barely feel what he was doing, b) I was sweaty and nasty after walking and was slightly embarrassed when I realized that he was being forced to be up close and personal with a sweaty, nasty person who just walked 20 miles, c) he massaged my butt. Typically? In the privacy of my own massage room when I’m paying $100? I’m ok with this. On a table surrounded by 20 other walkers (and, an obnoxious sister taking pictures), it was awkward, d) I was wearing shorts. He was doing crazy stretching with my legs. It was awkward. Enough said.

Opa and Grandma took care of the kids during the day when we walked. They ate at a restaurant and played on the beach – two of Avery’s favorites. They kept Opa and Grandma busy, but overall, they were reportedly well behaved.

Overall, it was a successful walk and a great family weekend.

We raised nearly $4,000 as a team, so thank you to all of you who donated – we really appreciate it!

Love, Team Sweetpea