(More than) Fourinarow.net

I’m not talking about the edible ones.  Although, now that I think about it, maybe I’ll make some tomorrow.  Yum!

Today was Maria’s first official day as a Brownie.  She has been looking forward to it ALL YEAR.  The boys start at the beginning of first grade, but the girls have to wait until the new year, which makes it all the more torturous.

She looked adorable in her new uniform! She earned her first patch today (heaven help me), played games and made a Valentine craft.

This isn’t the best picture of her, unfortunately.  It’s hard to snap one of her without her eyes closed, or enroute.  But, you can get the idea of how cute she was!  (Much cuter than the girl in the other picture 30+ years ago.)

Luke wins the Question of the Day yesterday.

He came up to me and asked, “Mom?  One day can we take a blimp to South America?”

Me:  “Ummmmmm…. No.”

I hate to be a party pooper, but I don’t want him planning on it, ya know?  Where, or where does a 5-year-old come up with an idea like this?

Okay… I promised pictures, so here they are:

That’s Jack’s anaconda.  Did you know that if you look at both width and length they’re the biggest snake in the world?  And that the mommies have up to SEVENTY live babies?  Thank goodness I’m not an anaconda, although right now it sure feels like there’s more than just one sweet little baby in there.

Here’s a picture of Maria’s class display:

And some things the preschool boys did:

The science fair was interesting, and impressive.  We not only looked at the projects our own kids worked on, but we looked ahead to what the older kids did, so we’d know what we’re in for.

Pretty scary when you find a couple of moms in the eight-grade area doing a little jig because it’s their last science fair.

This is the big Science Fair weekend at the kids’ school.  I never thought I’d be excited about a science fair, but I am!

Jack has taken his project and run with it.  He chose to do his project on Anacondas (much to his father’s dismay) and the diorama he created is wonderful.  While I think there is NO WAY any second-grader could have done a better job, Dan assures me that we’ll see some other things at the fair that exceed it.  Humpffff. Chalk it up to pregnancy brain (or laziness), but I failed to take a picture, otherwise you could see for yourselves what an outstanding artist my first born is.  I WILL take some pictures during or after the fair so you can see, but for now, you’ll just have to trust me.  It’s AWESOME.

The preschoolers are not to be left out…  They have been working hard on a large display of various animals that live in different parts of the world.  As I was the mommy helper on Wednesday, I was bestowed the honor of stuffing and stapling giant penguins.  For THREE HOURS.  I’m still having trouble using my hands since completing that task and am beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get all the feeling back…

Maria’s class has been studying teeth (hers are VERY clean lately) and I’m looking forward to seeing the fair display they’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks.

My project?  Apparently I’m gestating a dinosaur, although I doubt he’ll be ready to make his appearance in time for the science fair.  No… he’ll probably wait until he simply BURSTS THROUGH MY SKIN one day.  Seriously, I don’t know if it’s because I’m so old this time around, or if it’s because my body is worn out from the first four, or if I’ve just completely lost my mind and forgotten what it’s like, but I don’t see how I can be this big and still have SEVENTY NINE more days left.  While I certainly don’t want this baby to pull a Sam and come 8 weeks early, I’m desperately hoping he doesn’t try to wait the whole SEVENTY NINE more days.  (Don’t expect pictures of this project in progress.)

Maria and I just got home from spending the weekend in Tampa, FL.  Neither of us had ever been, so we were thrilled to be “obligated” to go for our newest Goddaughter’s baptism.

It was odd, going from winter to summer in just a few hours.  The climate was wonderful – warm and balmy and breezy.  And the view from the house was incredible – the water came right up to the back of the house.  The view inside the house, though, topped everything, as this was where Savannah Grace spent most of her time.

Maria had a blast with her good friends Riley and Max and loved doting on Savannah.  I mentioned to her that she’ll love having a baby brother, too, and she agreed, but also informed me that “girls are better than boys.”

I was so happy to have some time with one of my favorite people (Kristina!) and her family.  Everyone was very entertaining and the food was heavenly for a pregnant woman!

Baptised!

Godsisters

Not only did we have a great time, but I came home to uninjured boys, an exhausted but happy husband, a clean house and virtually no laundry!

Last Friday night, Dan and Jack spent the night at The Field Museum in Chicago.  It was a scouting event and a ton of boys got to do some really cool stuff late into the night.  I haven’t been yet to the museum, but I’ve heard it’s one of the best.

After seeing a few pictures, however, I’m not sorry I missed out on this particular event.

That is essentially a GIANT cockroach, people!

I have no words for this one...

P.S.  One of the moms reported to me that NOT ONE ADULT partook in the holding of the creepy crawlies!!!

About 1 a.m., Sam came down to my room, ran over to my side of the bed and told me he wanted to sleep with me.

“Do you need to go potty?” I asked.  “No!  I want to sleep in your bed!” he responded.

“Okay,” I told him, “but do you need to go potty first?”

“No.”

“Okay.  Get in.  But you better not pee in my bed,” I told him.

“Okay.  I won’t,” he told me, as he snuggled in.

Now, being almost 40 and expecting my FIFTH baby, I don’t claim to be the Queen of Pee Control or anything.  I mean, I pee when I laugh.  When I cough.  When I jump.  Or run.  Or sneeze…

So I don’t really get too upset when Sam has the occasional accident in his (or my… or Maria’s) bed at night.  He did go to bed last night at 6:30 p.m. and didn’t wake me to tell me he had peed in my bed until 11 hours later.  That’s a long time for a little boy.

But, by the time he woke to tell me, I had ANOTHER little boy in bed with me.  This one snuggled right up next to me, practically suffocating me, as is his norm.  Not wanting to disturb Luke and wanting to keep my sleep interruption to a minimum, I had Sam strip while I placed towels under the mattress pad and on top of the sheets where the accident occurred.  Then I threw another sheet on top, so that it would be a little more comfortable to lay on.  (Sorry, but there was NO WAY I was going to disrupt Luke and wake myself up enough to strip the bed and remake it that early in the morning.  Plus, it was just a small spot. Really.)

I got Sam dressed in dry clothes and as soon as I finished, he grabbed his blankie and made his way quickly around to MY side of the bed.  As if to sleep there.  Ha.

“Um… no.” I told him.  “I put towels down and a sheet.  You can still sleep on ‘your’ side until morning.”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” he screeched and stomped his feet.

“Yes,” I told him.  “Or you can go back upstairs and sleep in your own bed.”

He screeched some more, started bawling, and ran up to his room, crying the whole way.

To his nice, warm, DRY bed.

Seriously?  I must have pissed someone off royally.

This morning, I woke poor Jack early so he could shovel the several inches of snow off the driveway so we could get to school.  Even if his dad HAD done it before going to work, at the rate it’s snowing, Jack would have had to do it again anyway.  He’s a champ, though, and did a terrific job!

So, I shoved my four kids into the Accord – our small, but reliable vehicle – and off we went.

As today is Sam’s day for school, I parked in the lot and we all walked in together.  After getting his boots off and his shoes on and seeing him to the classroom, Luke and I headed back out into the snow.  The car was already covered!  With just the two of us, we were able to get in, buckled and settled quickly.

Only to find that the car WOULDN’T START.  Hahahahahaha.  I laughed at first.  Thought maybe it wasn’t in park.  It was.  I tried again.  NOTHING.  The accessories were working, so it isn’t the battery.  But nothing else.  No noise, no NOTHING.  I took it out of park, put it back into park, made sure my foot was on the brake, turned off all accessories, took a breath and tried again.

NADA.

Is someone trying to play some sick kind of joke on me?  What did I do???

I called Dan at work and told him of our plight.  I think I heard tears falling to his desk.  Or, maybe it was the sound of him ripping what little hair he has left out.

With nothing left to do, Luke and I trudged home.  In the snow.  Which continues to fall.

Luke told me, “This is the baddest day in my life!”

At this point, I couldn’t agree more.

Did I say something really stupid last time?  Like, “It could be worse?”

Well, it’s worse.

As I headed to the mall yesterday  morning (still in St. Louis) with my cabin fevered kids, the Honda service guy called.  “Blah, blah, blah, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, blah, blah THURSDAY.”

Somehow, I managed not to wreak my father-in-law’s car at hearing the news.

I called Dan at work. “Blah, blah, blah, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, blah, blah at least THURSDAY.  Boohooohoooo.”

Breathe…

With that much money at stake, we needed time to think.  But, I also needed to get back to Chicago.  Dan had missed enough work playing Mommy, and Luke, Sam and I needed to be at home.

I abandoned my mall plans and headed back to my in-inlaws’ house.  Dan had already called them with the bad news, so they were ready with sympathetic faces and food.  God bless them, they lent us one of their vehicles so I could take the boys and get back home.  We’d figure the rest out later.

Five long hours later, we were HOME.  Still van-less and in a financial predicament, but all together again and at our own home.  The boys were thrilled to see their Dad again and Maria doled out the hugs as if we’d been gone for a month.  (I think Jack managed a “hi!” before getting back to whatever it was he was doing before our arrival.)

So.  The van.  Right now it sits in St. Louis in pieces.  Part at the dealership, part at the machine shop.

I don’t know much about cars, but apparently the timing belt that was put on the van last year was bad or went bad and f*cked up the engine, along with a bunch of other stuff.

To fix or not to fix.  That was the big question.

After a lot of conversations with several different people, we decided to fix it.  Dan called this morning and Honda was going to order the parts today.  (The parts are coming out of Iowa, which is in the midst of a snow storm at the moment.  Go figure.  Hopefully they won’t take too long to arrive, says the service rep.)

At this point, if all goes as planned (which it never seems to do in our case), the car will be ready by Saturday and Dan will drive his dad’s car back to St. Louis to retrieve it.  Then we’ll be back in business.

At least until the next disaster.

P.S.  There was a bit of a silver lining in all this…  The Little Boys got to spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa, and their cousins, while I got lots of sympathy and several great meals!

Sam and Joey

It could be worse… It could be worse… It could be worse…

It’s what I keep telling myself and everyone that asks.  But, it’s still frustrating.

We’re stranded.  Yes, it’s at my in-laws (who have food, heat and a washer and dryer), but we’re still stranded.  Unable to get home and back to the things we need to get back to.

We came to St. Louis to visit family for the New Year.  On Saturday morning, we packed the van, stripped the beds, cleaned up after ourselves and were preparing to head over to our niece’s birthday party on the way out of town when we discovered that our van wouldn’t start.  This wouldn’t have been too disconcerting, except that two days previously, we had had a brand new battery installed.  So, it wasn’t something as simple as replacing the battery.

We made some calls to see who would be able to work on the van THAT day, so that despite being delayed, we’d still be able to head home to Chicago.  We ended up having the van towed to a nearby Honda dealer who told us they could work on it – they were open until 5 p.m., and the service manager thought that would give him enough time to diagnose the problem and make a repair.  Things were looking up!

A few updates later and things were looking expensive (go figure), but still doable.

Getting a jump on things, Dan had his dad bring him over to the dealership at 4:30, anticipating being able to pick up the finished van, get back, pack her up (again) and get a move on.  No such luck.  No luck at all, it turns out.  Not only was the van not finished, but the problem was WAY worse than anyone thought.  It’d be Tuesday at best, before the repair could be done, and cost several thousand dollars, to boot.

Happy F-ing New Year to us!!!

After much discussion and debate, we decided that Dan HAD to go to work and Jack and Maria really couldn’t afford to miss school.  So, at 6:40 a.m. on Sunday, Dan, Jack and Maria boarded a train bound for Chicago.  I stayed behind with Sam and Luke to wait on the van.

On Sunday, I ran out of deodorant, prenatal vitamins and the always-needed-while-pregnant-Tums.  And I had to do another load of laundry.  During which I shrunk to doll-size my newest, most comfortable bra EVER.  Also the only one I had with me, as we thought we’d only be here for two days.

Not only do I now have saggy boobs, but very COLD saggy boobs, as it’s 15 degrees here and dropping.

I’ve had one call from the dealer.  As of 11:35, they were taking things apart and were hoping to have an estimate for us sometime this afternoon.  So far:  nada.  Not looking good for a reasonable departure time tomorrow, IF it’s even ready tomorrow, is it?

Have I mentioned that a nasty storm system is headed our way beginning Wednesday?  Nothing like driving six hours through a snow storm with two young kids, is there?

So, while we could be stuck halfway home, missing work and school or paying for a hotel, it’s still a little hard for me to see the bright side of things right now.

Guess I can fill the day tomorrow with bra shopping… that should be fun a fun thing to do with The Little Boys.