Mucho Familia

Last weekend Jaime, the boys and I made the 7.5 hour trek (YES! It took 7.5 hours, blame boiled peanut stands and who the hell knows what else that made this trip two hours longer than usual) down to Wilmington to keep my sisters 3 children for the weekend. From Friday to Monday we would be responsible for Lila (1), Oliver (1), Josiah (3), Luke (4) and Kayia (7). Read: That is 5 children under the age of 7.

Friday night was rough. We were totally out of our element and had no idea that 5 kids would be so hard. We are so used to the craziness that comes with 2 that we honestly had no idea it could get any worse...until we doubled our two and added one more. This coupled with older kids who simply don't like going to bed at 7pm (WHY?) made everything super scary. We ate take out pizza and watched a lot of TV on Friday. Forget good parenting, it was all about survival.

Saturday morning I awoke with a new attitude and was moving along quite well making breakfast for all of the kids who woke up before the sun and were running hot laps through the house screaming. My cheeriness was put on hold when Jaime burst into the kitchen. "I can't watch this many kids!" he panted, completely out of breath. "Go take a break", I told him.
"Oliver just fell down the stairs! I can't watch this many kids!" he repeated. And so began Saturday.

We somehow managed to get all 5 kids dressed and to Luke's T-ball game by 9am. We were only 4 minutes late and forgot his hat, glove and water. Still a success! After playing at the park we went home to attempt naps. They had to be exhausted, I could barely stand up. Everyone laid down quietly and Jaime tells me he is going for a run. Later gator, he was gone. 15 minutes later, everyone woke up. From this point until around 6pm it is all a blur. Their were tears and temper tantrums (mostly from Jaime and I) and tons of laughter and love (the kids). They were having the times of their lives. Seriously, the love between those cousins was almost enough to make me agree to do this again. At 6 O-clock Lil and Marty showed up. I overheard Lil ask Jaime, "What can I do?" and he replies like a steadfast business man in charge of the accounting department, "Get into that kitchen and do WHATEVER Kelley tells you to do." After that, I knew things were going to be okay. Lil was washing babies, I was cooking and watching out the window as Marty took a screaming Lila on a walk through the yard. When the kids were clean and in their pj's we put them down in front of a movie and the Conley's went and fetched us grownups a fabulous smorgasbord of Chinese food. Their kindness and generosity nearly brought me to tears. You see, there is not much that I can't handle. And there is even less that I will admit I can't handle. But I was in way over my head and they saved the day. THANK YOU Yaya and Grandpa!

Sunday morning we were up again with the sun. Jamie looks at me with renewed look of hope in his eyes, "This is just like a basketball game you know you're gonna lose. From here on out, its all about running down the clock baby". And that's exactly what we did. We took them all to a berry farm out of town that was an hour drive each way (2 hours down!) and we left them in that field picking berries for over 3 hours (5 hours down!). We ate snacks then took them to the beach for for 3 hours. Lila and I walked the loop and ate more snacks. Before I knew it was dinner time again and guess what? Sunday is a school night, time for BED! I have never seen kids so exhausted. After they went to sleep Jaime went for take out and we ate approximately 1,000 french fries and a gallon of ice cream in a celebratory effort. I crawled into bed and briefly awoke at 11:30pm to hear my sister close the door behind her. Ah, freedom.

So in hindsight, nearly a week later, I am actually looking back on the trip with fond memories. I remember some of the best times of my life were with my family at my grandma's house. Josiah has talked non-stop about his cousins all week and I think he may have had the greatest trip of his life. Here are some pics from the weekend. Enjoy!

Josiah goes to the Dentist

Yesterday afternoon Josiah had his first official dentist visit. He went when he was around 18 months and had all of his teeth counted but now that he is a big 3 year old it was time to have them cleaned. I have always been fanatical about teeth. Having had so many issues with my own teeth due to repercussions from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever medication (that saved my life but ruined my teeth) I have been brushing my boys teeth since they've had teeth. I never sent them to bed with a bottle (I breastfed them both for a year) and have to stop myself daily from freaking out if something not 100% from the earth goes into their mouth. They have treats but they are limited to birthday parties and special occasions. We don't drink juice or eat candy or processed sugary foods very much at all.

So, imagine my surprise when after a very successful cleaning (seriously, Josiah was a rock star in Spiderman sunglasses, chillaxin to the max in the laid back chair) to find out he has 3 cavities! Two of them so aggressively decayed that he may require root canals. I was so upset. I mean really, really upset. I mentally zipped my lips together while I received the bad news that was accompanied by a lecture on diet and tooth brushing. I was pretty sure any minute DSS was going to arrive and drag me away for slipping Mountain Dew into his sippy cup and I was prepared to start screaming, "STOP, I'm Innocent!" But I mentally zipped and listened. Then we left with our little referral card to the specialist who will no doubt sedate my little boy with anesthesia and saw off his two back molars and replace them with crowns and send Mommy and Daddy a bill for one million dollars for being such bad parents.

The rest of the night I was racking my brain thinking of crappy food that I may not think is crappy but actually is. Here's what I came up with besides the obvious cupcakes and juice boxes from the birthday parties we seem to attend every weekend now: Pretzels, wheat thins, raisins, goldfish, pancakes and cheerios- all carbohydrates that eventually turn to sugar. But doesn't every other kid eat this stuff too? I have been to my fair share of play dates and I know what kids eat. If he doesn't eat this stuff what will he eat? Unfortunately, I am not going to have much success in sitting him down with a plate of steamed broccoli for dinner and believe me, I have tried. We don't eat meat and aside from cheese what am I supposed to do? This is not a rhetorical question. Seriously, what am I supposed to do? Why are my little boys teeth, "Aggressively decaying?" I don't want to be one of those people in denial who shows up at the doctor 250 pounds with diabetes and heart disease and says something like, "But I don't eat anything bad, I swear."

So, today after breakfast I pined Josiah down and scrubbed his back teeth. Not an easy task let me tell you. And I did the same thing after lunch. Unfortunately, though it appears that I am too late. I guess I should have been doing this all along.

I guess now I will have the first kid with a broken bone and the first with three cavities. I am WINNING in the Mom category right now. Thank goodness I am a mom and have to behave as such or I may just walk outside and scream out the F word super, duper loud. F*CK!!!!!!

One for the Books.

This weekend we celebrated Josiah's 3rd birthday as well as Mothers day and had plenty of family and friends in town to help join in all the fun.

Saturday began early with The Ramble Run 12K and I have to say that in 4 years of taking running somewhat seriously and numerous races, this one was the best yet. It was an intense experience and I loved every second. Having no clue of the course or elevation changes I was prepared for anything but hoping for the best. Here is a map of the hills:


Like I said, it was intense. As one runner said to me, "It made the Shamrock look flat" or our other friend who placed 18th overall and ran it in just 47 minutes,"Brutal." I don't think I would personally describe it either of these ways, just intense. There was a lot of up hill and some of them were crazy big but then we got to run down hill, then up another one etc, etc... And the scenery was so picturesque and lovely. Most of it was on gravel roads and trails and at one point I found myself all alone just as the sun was shining through huge oak trees. I was listening to some Indian spiritual chant on the Slum Dog Millionaire CD and for a brief second thought I was in heaven. It was really fantastic. I beat my estimated finish time by 2 minutes and came in at 1:08 which works out to about a 9:05 mile for 7.5 miles. I was so happy! I told my friend who did 47 minutes to slow next time and he may have more fun. Such a great way to start the day!

After the race, we were greeted by Jaime's brother and sister who made the trip from Boone, NC and Atlanta, GA for Sisi's big day. My mom arrived a day earlier and was a great help getting everything ready for the party. And finally after 3 weeks of non-stop asking, it was time to go! Hickory Nutt Gap Farm was a beautiful spot for Josiah and 35 of our closest friends to party down.
Such a great party with such perfect friends. Thanks everyone for making my little boy's day so special!

Sunday morning we kept the celebrations rolling and woke up early enough to head to the Pisgah Mountain Inn on the parkway for a Mother's day Breakfast. After stuffing ourselves rotten, we hit the hiking trails and for the first time ever, HAD A SUCCESSFUL HIKING EXPERIENCE! Josiah hiked almost to the tip top of Mt. Pisgah and Oliver rode in the backpack without screaming. Do we really want to add another baby into this easy going family of ours? It was so awesome! It made me remember I actually like living in the mountains when I am able to be a part of them. Thanks kids! Mama was a happy camper.

It was such a blessing not only to spend Mother's day with my 3 boys but with my Mama as well. Without her, none of these extraordinary experiences would be possible. Thanks for giving me life!

Now I just have to make it through Josiah actually turning three this Wednesday when the lump in my throat may finally find its way out. Why does it all go by so fast?

I've got that Boom Boom Gloom.

I see a flash of light. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand...ten one thousand, BOOM! 1o seconds divided by 5 tells me lightening just struck two miles away. Even worse? Flash, Boom. Lightening just struck in the yard.

To compare my temperament to a crazed golden retriever at any sign of a thunderstorm would be putting it mildly. Images of Chicken Little running through the town screaming, "The sky is falling!" may be more accurate if I wasn't hovering under a pile of laundry in the closet. Last week, I nearly puked. Read: The only thing I hate more than the word hate, is lightening.

And to make my life even more exciting, we get a violent thunderstorm accompanied by tornado warnings every week now. Today thunderstorms are supposed to begin at 4pm and go through 10pm and I know this because I look at the hourly forecast every single day. OCD? Yeah, but you already knew that.

So this brings me to another point... Dooms day. Go ahead and laugh or insert a silly comment but something is UP. Tornadoes, tsunamis, shattering earthquakes so large that they are changing the earths alignment, hurricanes, 3 wars in the Middle east, nuclear eruptions, the future is not looking bright. And just to be clear, I do not think May 21st 2011 nor, December 21. 2012 will bring the end of time and I am aware that natural disasters have been happening for centuries and the only difference today is that we know about them as soon as they happen via world based media outlets. However, I don't think the earth can sustain population growth and its environmental and economic toll forever. I just hope that today (between 4-10pm) isn't the last day because I am not prepared.

But if today is it, or tomorrow, do I really want to spend so much time fretting about it? I never take a single day for granted and thank my lucky stars every morning I get my sleepy PJ clad boys out of their beds...and then I spend the rest of my day worrying about something. Having a background in psychology (ha, that fabulous 4 year degree that = unemployment) I know that a lot of psychological disorders don't present themselves until mid to late twenties and I have to wonder, am I cracking up? I mean, what normal person spends so much time worrying about being struck by lightening or other totally unlikely events? I will do back flips off of rocks into slightly shallow water no problem but am scared $hi*tless of the wind blowing or having an unknown brain tumor that only my dog knows about.

I think so much of my fears have to do with in spite of how crazy I am, I am happier than I have ever been...and I am so scared of anything messing that up. I don't want anything shaking my family unit or touching Jaime, me or the boys. I wanna live happily ever after forever and ever. Now, could someone just guarantee that for me so I can stop worrying about it? Thanks and good luck.