The Last of the Big Girl Beds

The crib we used for all three girls converts to a full size bed. Last summer, I ordered the conversion kit so we would be ready whenever we decided to switch Charlie from her crib to a bed. I would prefer to just leave her in her crib until she's old enough to understand how wonderful beds are, but the dang thing (Charlie) keeps growing. So, we decided it's time. We also decided summer would be the transition period, when both of us are home and able to deal with the complete insanity of a two year-old at bedtime. Last night we discussed the fact that this week we would have a few late nights, with it being the 4th of July and us having various parties to attend. We figured it would be a perfect time to start the transition, when we knew she would be tired and not up for too much of a struggle.

We just needed to get a full size mattress and box spring. I decided to assemble the bed frame before we went to get the mattress so when we got home we would just need to plop the mattress in and call it a night. I very quickly realized our conversion kit did not have the necessary parts. We were missing the parts that allowed us to screw the side slats into the headboard and footboard. We were also missing some of the hardware pictured in the manual. We attempted to put the frame together using only the wooden dowels for the connections, but then we found that the slats that go across the frame to hold the box spring were too long. I called Buy Buy Baby, where we had ordered the conversion kit. The very helpful lady told me they would order a new one for us right away. It would be here in 14 to 16 weeks. As in more than three months. As in October. I asked her if there was anyway to get it sooner and explained to her that we were sitting with a half assembled bed, a half disassembled crib, a two year-old who needed a place to sleep tonight, and a husband who wasn't going to deal with putting a two year-old in a bed in the fall when I would barely even be home with school and cross country. She said she would try to expedite the order. It didn't sound very promising. Sorrelle cribs and Buy Buy Baby, I am not happy with either of you.

So, we decided we would just do half-ass job putting the bed together and let her sleep in it. Yes. We did. We even said out loud, "Well, if it falls, she's only six inches off the ground." Yes. We said that. We were experiencing enormous amounts of stress and that disappointed feeling when it seems like you should have had a handle on something but then it all just goes to shit. We were going to put the bed together without screws and run the slats at an angle.

We loaded up the car and headed to Big Lots because they had Serta mattresses on sale. If you have insider information that buying mattresses at Big Lots is the stupidest idea ever, please do not tell me because I just need to believe that it was a good decision. I'll tell you what is stupid, though. 99% of the people working at Big Lots. We went to the store, which is just a couple miles from our house. We scoped out the mattresses. I asked an associate at the front checkouts if somebody could help us and she paged somebody. A few minutes later, the teenage boy she paged walked towards us at a speed that would make you think he was running some sort of reverse race where the goal was to take the longest amount of time to get from point A to point B. I told him the mattress we were interested in. He went to the back storage area. He returned about five minutes later. "Yeah. We don't have that one in the full. But we do have queen if you're interested in that." Oh yes! Wonderful! Could you please get me a queen size mattress for my full size bed? That sounds perfect!

Meanwhile, our normally somewhat well-behaved kids were climbing all over the furniture at Big Lots and even running up and down aisles. I asked him to check the back and see which mattresses they did have in full size. He came back five minutes later to let me know that one of the mattresses that was $80 more was available in a full.  He told us, "The other Big Lots has it." Not, "Hey, let me call the other Big Lots to see if they have it." Not, "The other Big Lots might have it." He told us the other Big Lots had it. Jayson asked, "Where is that one? By the stadium?" and the kid confirmed that was where the other Big Lots was.

Back in the car, and we headed towards the stadium. Once we got close, I pulled out the navigator on my phone and looked up directions. There was no Big Lots by the stadium. In fact, the other Big Lots was 17 minutes from the stadium, according to my phone. We pulled into a Wendy's and Jayson got Frostys for everybody. Because that's what you do when everything else is going wrong. Eat ice cream. Then we headed towards the other Big Lots.

We got there and the girls were covered in melted Frostys. So we gave them a baby wipe sponge bath and went into the store. We asked for somebody to help us with the mattresses. It took a while, but somebody finally came. They had NO mattresses in a full size. None. Back to the car.

We drove back to the original Big Lots by our house and decided to buy the one that was a little more expensive. It was after 7:00, the kids were being awful, and Charlie still needed something to sleep on. I tracked down the big dumb kid again and he went back to get the mattress we wanted. I explained to him that we needed the mattress and the box spring. I had caught onto the mental capacity we were working with and clearly explained, "We need the mattress and the box spring. The sign here says it's called a 'foundation.' There should be two pieces." He returned with the mattress and asked us if we wanted him to bring it up front. No. Please, leave it here. I think we will just camp out here at Big Lots for the night. Once we got up front, I told him, "And the box spring? We need the box spring too." He looked surprised, as if this was a new development to him, and went back to get the box spring. He returned after a few minutes. No box spring. They were out.

I almost threw a tantrum in the store. Then, the girl working at the service desk took over. She determined that they were out of box springs. She called the third Big Lots in the area and they were also out. She told us she would give us the sale price and we could come back for the box spring when their delivery came. Yes. Perfect. Done.

We came home with the mattress. We tried to put it on our jerry-rigged bed and the bed fell apart. We tried to put it back together (oh, yes, we did!) and attempted it again, and it fell apart again. We came to the realization that even if we could get the mattress to balance on the frame, it probably wasn't safe for sleeping. So, we put the frame downstairs and Jayson got an old metal frame from the garage and cleaned it up. We did have to improvise with some wooden slats, but it was stable. We made the bed. Charlie laughed and cheered and climbed into it.

Once it was time to sleep, she was not so excited about it. Jayson spent about fifteen minutes putting her back in bed and telling her not to get out, but it eventually stuck. She is currently sleeping very soundly in her big girl bed. The plan is to get the box spring this week, and then in a few months when the new conversion kit comes in, we'll switch her to the nice wooden frame and headboard.

I am currently exhausted and will now be going to bed in my big girl bed.

Baseballs to the face and dunking babies. No really, it was fun.

Today was Lydia's second baseball practice. She got hit in the face with a ball and didn't cry, and that moment has gone on Jayson's list of Top Ten Proud Daddy Moments.

Audrey had swim lessons so I swam with Lydia and Charlie. Charlie's new favorite thing to do is go under water while I put my hands on her waist and glide her around. She asked me to do it over and over again. Just to make sure the other moms and lifeguard didn't think I was abusing my child by constantly dunking her, I made her say, "One, two, three, GO!" and then she would push her face in the water before I would glide her. She loved it. I loved watching her underwater with her big round eyes and huge toothy smile.

Charlie, the Coffee Addict

On Sundays, Jayson and I like to bring coffee to church. Usually he makes it. I teach Sunday school two Sundays a month, but on the other Sundays, it's really the only time I get to just sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. Today we got our coffee at Caribou because for Earth Day they had free coffee if you used a reusable mug.

We also put Charlie in the nursery at church. Today, though, she screamed the whole time because she hadn't gotten a chance to say good-bye to Jayson before he dropped the other two off. So, about ten minutes into the service, the Sunday school director came up to get him. He went downstairs and she was pretty upset, so he brought her up to church with us.

When Jayson makes coffee during the week, Audrey and Charlie are usually eating breakfast and they insist he bring the bag of coffee over to the table so they can smell it. Today in church, Charlie took that one step further. Or, actually several steps. Jayson had taken the lid off his coffee and she kept insisting on smelling the coffee in his cup. She would lean over the cup, inhale completely, and then let out a satisfied exhale. Then yell, "More coffee! More coffee!" and she did it over and over again.

Then she asked for the lid. And licked it. And kept putting it back on the cup to get more coffee on it and then licked it again. She did this through most of church. When Jayson's coffee was gone, she moved on to mine. The opening in the lid was small enough that after I took a sip, it still had a film of coffee covering it, kind of like a bubble wand. She excitedly stuck her finger in it and sucked on it. She tried to get the lid off, but I convinced her it didn't come off. So, she improvised and licked the top of the lid.

Jayson and I have always said that one of the girls needs to be a barista so we can have good coffee all the time. I think Charlie will do just fine.

More Food

Today after dinner, the girls were still hungry, which is pretty standard. Jayson and I gave them some hummus and pita chips. They ate happily. Charlie was confined to her high chair and screamed every time the hummus got too far from her, but her sisters made sure she got some too. After a while, the chips were gone, so Lydia and Audrey got down from the table and played. After a few minutes, I realized Charlie was still in her high chair, and she wasn't screaming like she normally would when everybody else was away from the table and she was done eating.

Then I looked over at her and realized she had the container of hummus in her lap and was scooping it out with her finger and licking it off. Jayson rescued it before she was able to finish it off.

Night

On most weekdays, I've been out of the house for about an hour and a half by the time my kids wake up. I absolutely hate that I miss wake-up time. It's one of my favorite times of the day because the girls are at their absolute cutest. They crawl into our bed, their hair a mess and their eyes still puffy (I know, because I DO get to see this on the weekends). Their internal sleep meters are completely charged and they are at their sweetest, giving hugs and kisses to us and even each other. Sometimes, before coming upstairs, we can hear Lydia and Audrey talking on the monitor and then hear the thump of their feet as they run out of their room, down the hall, through the kitchen, through the living room, up the stairs, and into our room. A short time later, we hear Charlie yelling, "Daadaa! Mommy!" and go get her to discover her standing in her crib, holding all of her stuffed animals and blankets and asking us to put her socks on.

On the other hand, I will admit to sometimes being relieved when I miss bedtime. Not every time I have to miss it, but sometimes. When the week has been long and trying, and when Jayson has texted me that he needs a beer. Or three. Those are the days that I feel a bit of relief when I'm not there, but also a bit of guilt and a bit of sadness. Bedtime has been overall a fairly easy time for us. Well, except for when Lydia was about one and a half until two. During that time, we moved her to a "big girl bed" and she would NOT stay in it. Jayson and I made the new parent mistake of laying in bed with her. Then we were trapped. It took us months to finally be able to get her to sleep without us in the room. Then more months to get her to sleep without us in the hallway, sitting where she could see us, working on our computers or reading a magazine.

We did not make that mistake with the others. In fact, Audrey STILL won't get out of bed on her own most mornings. She yells for us to go in her room and get her, despite the fact that she is in a regular bed and could easily get out on her own. Bedtime now is pretty easy and brief. Jammies, teeth, book, hugs and kisses, draw a nightlight for them on their Crayola Glow Station, and then bed. There are definitely nights where they stay up giggling or yelling or crying, but those are getting more and more sparse.

It's not so much bedtime being stressful as it is that time between dinner and bed. One of my friends calls it "The Witching Hour," when it's too early for bed, but the kids are tired and cranky and their internal sleep meter is urgently flashing red. Sleep is required and it will come soon, but not yet. That is probably my least favorite time of day. When bedtime finally comes, and for us it is early because our kids don't nap (even Charlie is outgrowing her naps) and they get up early, it is a relief. The bedtime routine starts and ends and Jayson and I collapse on the couch.

Then the house quiets down. And then I start to miss them and wish they were awake and want to peek at them sleeping but don't want to risk waking up the cherubs that just an hour ago were devils. It is this part of the day when I want to just hold them and stroke their hair and put their cheek to mine and whisper songs in their ears and just love them. When they were babies, a cry in the night brought a grumble and ruined a good night's sleep. Now, on many nights, it's a special treat. One more kiss and hug in the night and they're back to sleep. Or with Charlie, who is by far the best snuggler, ten minutes of rocking under a blankie with her head tucked into my neck. Those are times I cherish.

Little Sports Fans

Audrey likes to say she's a football fan. She claims she likes the Packers. She can name a few of the players. But, when it comes down to it, once the game has been on for two minutes, she's done. She's hungry. She wants to watch Dora. Lydia has never shown any interest in football. She will happily sit on the couch and color in her journal while we watch, and she likes to know names of the people on the team, but she couldn't care less about the game. Charlie is happy just running around and doing whatever her sisters do.

Until this past Sunday. The Packer game was good. It was close. It was the kind of game that makes you jump off the couch and yell at the TV. Audrey said she wanted to watch it and intently asked us who everybody was and told us to let her know when Aaron Rodgers was on. Lydia sat on my lap and watched and when things got tense, she actually paid attention. When I yelled, "First down!" she yelled, "Touchdown!" (Hey, at least it was close.) At one point, when a Packers receiver dropped a pass, she even groaned. SHE GROANED! She had an inkling of what was going on. We taught Charlie to throw her arms in the air and yell, "TOUCHDOWN!" All three of them were into the game!

When it was all over, Lydia said to Jayson, "Daddy, can we watch football every Sunday?" I think it was one of his proudest fathering moments.

Twinkle Twinkle

Charlie has started to put words together at an alarming rate. I thought she was saying "tickle tickle" the other day, and realized she was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Sunday Sillies

I love my job, but I cherish the time I get to spend at home with my family. Sunday afternoons are one of my favorite times of the week. This Sunday after lunch Jayson watched football, Charlie napped, and Lydia and Audrey laid in my bed with me and watched Finding Nemo. The intent was to get Lydia to take a much-needed nap, and it worked. And I got to sneak one in to. Until I woke up to Audrey in Lydia's face whispering her name and trying to wake her up. Luckily, I woke up first and shooed her away.

Often, Jayson and I will just sit back and watch all three of them run around like crazy. Today, Lydia and Audrey were playing some game where they ran from the living room to the play room and back to the living room over and over again, giggling and squealing. Charlie followed them with one dress-up shoe on, clomping down the hall once as they made their rounds at least three times to her one.

We also love to hear them talk to each other and to us. I could go on and on about the funny things they said this weekend. Audrey is obsessed with brussel sprouts and begs for them with every meal. She likes to pick out the smallest one she can find and say in a high-pitched voice, "Look at this cute little baby one!" Charlie says "NO!" to everything and has started repeating many, many words and phrases. Lydia is hilarious. She has been giving her phone number out to boys at school. Today a bunch of people walked past our house and we talked about where they might be going and Audrey suggested they were going to the fair, to which Lydia replied, "The fair? Fair's over, kid." Lydia also asked me yesterday if I wanted to hear all the bad words and I said I would, so she said, "STUPID!," and I replied, "Oh yeah, that's one is really bad!" Then she said, "HATE!," and I said, "Yes, you're right, another bad one!" Then she said, "SHIT!" and I suggested it might be best not to repeat that one.

Baby No More

In the past month, Charlie has been replaced. With a toddler. You see, just last month, she was scooting around on her knees and pointing at things and grunting. Now, she walks. She talks. She knows what she wants. It seems almost over night, she has transformed from a baby into a toddler. When she's done eating, she throws her arms in the air and yells, "All done!" As people leave the house, she casually waves and says, "Bye." She asks for her baby, her bike, her shoes, and crackers. She runs up to us and hands us random items and says, "Thank you!" She yells for Mommy. She yells for Dada. She's also very feisty. If she doesn't get her way, she gets angry. Very angry. When her sisters take toys from her, she screams and holds on for dear life. When we ask her if she wants to go to bed, she gets a disgusted look on her face and yells, "Nooooo!!!" When we ask her if she wants to brush her teeth, she toddles to the bathroom and puts the first toothbrush she can grab into her mouth. You better not lay down on the floor anywhere near her because she'll jump on you and bounce up and down.

This week, I switched the girls' clothes over. Summer out, winter in. Anything less than size 12 months got put away. No more baby clothes. No more tiny little onesies. No more socks that seem impossibly small. We also put away some old toys, ready for a rummage sale. No more play mat. No more walker. No more bouncing swing.

No more baby.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't bring a tear to my eye. I'm so excited to see what they become, how they grow, watch them learn. But, sometimes I just wish it could all stop. I want to kiss boo-boos, rock sick little babies to sleep, come home to shouts of excitement and giant bear hugs. But I also want them to go to bed without it being a huge ordeal, feed themselves without making a giant mess, and I'm ready to be done with diapers.

It is definitely bittersweet.

911, What's Your Emergency?

Tonight was a milestone in our household. I had to call 911 because one of the girls was hurt.

Before I get to the story, we have been incredibly lucky in that we have never had to take the girls to urgent care, the ER, or call 911 ever. Lydia almost made it to the ER when she was three. She had not been feeling well, and then got a fever and started complaining that her neck hurt, so my first thought was, "Holy crap, she has meningitis!" I called the doctor on call for her pediatrician's office and he told me that if it's painful for her to put her chin to her chest, take her to the ER. So, I calmly asked her to put her chin down and she looked at me and whined, "I can't. It hurts too much."

I called Jayson (I think he was out with the guys after his softball game), and he came home to stay with Audrey while I took Lydia to the ER at Children's Hospital. As we drove, I kept asking her to put her chin down and she kept crying that it hurt too much, but then between the chin-to-chest requests, she seemed completely happy and as though she had make a remarkable recovery, until I asked her to put her chin to her chest, and the drama started again.

We pulled into the parking lot, and as we walked to the entrance, I had a brilliant mom moment. As the thought of staying in an ER for hours and holding my baby while she got a spinal tap went through my mind, we stopped outside of the automatic doors. I pointed to a monkey on the chest of Lydia's pajamas and said, "Hey, look at this silly monkey!" She immediately pressed her chin to her chest to look at the silly monkey and laughed. She looked up at me and I scooped her up and said, "Back to the car. NOW."

Lydia's dramatic side, which is enormous, almost got us through the ER doors, but I outsmarted her that time.

Tonight, again, Jayson was gone at a meeting for our Scenic Shore 150 bike ride, and I was getting the girls ready for bed. I put Charlie on the couch because she loves to play on it and throw herself against the cushions. As I reached for a diaper, she fell backwards off the couch. My hands reached her just as the back of her head hit the wood floor. She immediately took that long, deep breath kids take right before they start wailing, but she just kept breathing in and the wail wasn't coming and she looked terrified.

Finally, she let out a tiny little whimper and her eyes rolled back into her head and her eyelids fluttered shut. I immediately grabbed my phone and called 911 as she opened her eyes and started wailing. If it had just been the wailing, I wouldn't have even called, but the passing out scared me. She kept wailing as we waited for the ambulance. I was worried Lydia and Audrey would get scared, so I said to them, "Girls, an ambulance is going to come, but Charlie is fine. They're just going to look at her and make sure she's OK. We don't need to worry." My concern was for naught, because they instantly got excited and clamored to the window to wait for the ambulance.

By the time the ambulance arrived, Charlie was done crying. We live in a small city with not much going on, so two ambulances and once police car (for a total of four paramedics and one policeman) showed up to pretty much just stand there and look at my baby, who was perfectly fine. They did take her heart rate, which I'm pretty sure was just so they could say they did something and could leave. Don't get me wrong, if she had been hurt, they would have done whatever they needed to do, but I'm positive they thought I was an idiot and just wanted to do something to make me feel better about it.

So, I felt better about it, and they left, and thankfully, it was a pretty anti-climatic night.

Baby Steps...

Charlie is following in Audrey's footsteps. Which is to say that she's not making any. Audrey did not walk until she was 15 months old (one week AFTER she was supposed to walk down the aisle in a wedding). Charlie has shown similar laziness. (Because really, what else does a fourteen-month-old have to do? It's not like she's busy.) She does walk around on her knees, flailing her arms around, prompting Grandma Deb to call her "the Thalidomide baby". We asked the doctor about it and he said he actually hears that a lot about babies in homes with hardwood floors like ours, (not that their grandmas call the kids socially unacceptable names, but that the babies walk on their knees) and in addition to that, Charlie is apparently very flexible and often babies who are very flexible walk late.

Yesterday, Charlie started doing a new trick where she would just stand up in the middle of the room. No holding on to furniture or anything to help her up, just straight up standing in the middle of the room. She would do it over and over again, and laugh as we applauded her, and clap for herself until she fell and then start it all over again. Tonight, she did it again, but also took a couple steps! So, I think within the next few days, she'll be walking. Apparently, she wants to be impressive about it and skip the part where she hangs on to furniture first. We'll have to see how that works out!

Happy Mother's Day

I never thought I would have daughters. I always knew I would have kids, there was never a doubt in my mind that one of my callings in life was to be a mother. To sons. Not daughters. I knew I would have sons. Four of them, to be exact. I daydreamed of my little clan playing football in the back yard and wearing matching jerseys to baseball games. Aside from being athletes, they would also be very smart and have top-notch personalities.

I told people that I didn’t even know what I would do with a girl. I rarely wore make-up, my clothes were fairly basic, and accessories were an afterthought. Even my job, a construction engineer, required me to wear steel-toed boots and an over-sized fluorescent orange vest. I felt I would ruin a girl. I was too uncoordinated to be considered a tomboy, but I definitely was not a girly girl. I just didn’t care for girls, especially that six to nine year-old range where they play with Barbies and My Little Ponies. Luckily, Jayson felt the same way, and was looking forward to raising our brood of boys.

When I was pregnant with our first child, we did not find out the gender. Why would we? It was going to be a boy. I bought boy clothes, and to be safe, some that would be considered gender neutral just in case it was a girl. Of course, if it was a girl (which it wasn’t going to be), she wouldn’t wear pink anyway, since I despise pink. The nursery was painted green and yellow and the dresser was stocked with Milwaukee Brewers onesies and blue outfits with puppy dogs on them.

Then, Lydia was born.  Defiant from the start just by refusing a Y-chromosome, she was born when I was induced over a week past my due date. My mom, the mother of three girls, showered us with pink clothes. Dresses, rompers, ruffley socks, onesies that proclaimed “Born to Shop!” I remember my mom calling shortly after Lydia was born and she asked me what I was doing and I complained, “Laundry. A load of pinks.”

When Lydia started to lose that newborn squishiness and stretched out into the world a bit, I realized she was beautiful. Yes, I know all moms think their kids are beautiful, but at the risk of sounding like a huge jerk, mine really was.  She had enormous blue eyes surrounded by long dark eyelashes.  Her face had a tiny delicate nose and her chin was slight and angular.  When her hair grew in, it was a mop of amazing blonde ringlets. People would stop me to tell me how stunning she was.

Then a strange thing happened. I started to enjoy clothing her in frilly pink dresses. I attempted to tame those ringlets. I painted her fingernails. I embraced the girliness. Then an even stranger thing happened. I started to wear make-up. I cared about my clothes. I wore pink. Somehow, my daughter became an accessory and I felt obligated to live up to this amazing ornament I had been presented with. I felt like a frumpy housewife who had been given a designer purse and honey, I was going to work that purse.

I still held out hope that she would at least be athletic. We signed her up for soccer and showed up with a water bottle and goldfish crackers, ready to cheer on our protégé. We watched, horrified, as she hid behind trees and ate grass. We cringed as the team took a lap around the field and she was the caboose, looking dreamily at the clouds. We gave in when she asked to take dance lessons instead. I had envisioned cleats and cups, and I was now faced with a reality of tap shoes and tutus.

Jayson and I have obviously had two more girls since Lydia.  Audrey and Charlie. I have several sets of matching dresses for them. We have drawers full of hair ribbons and nail polish. We have more babydolls than we know what to do with, and even a couple Barbies and My Little Ponies.  Last spring, Lydia had her first dance recital the day after I gave birth to Charlie. I made Jayson bring Lydia to the hospital so I could do her hair and give her a little lipstick to wear.  

So, now I have my three girls who I love more than I ever could have imagined. We're done having kids, and I know Jayson is disappointed he doesn't have a boy, but I also know he would give his life for his girls, and I also know he isn't willing to try his luck on a fourth, for fear of ending up with twin girls. We are constantly amazed by the lives we have brought into this world, and every day is an adventure. We sit back and marvel at how quickly they learn, laugh at the goofy things they do, feel our hearts swell as they hug and love each other, and just try to soak it all up before we blink our eyes and they're teenagers.

I'm Going to be Rich

Somebody get me on the phone with Hollywood because I have an idea for the next big game show. It will be one of those shows where you have to do an impossible task, but if you actually complete it, the audience goes wild and you win $1,000,000. Kind of like Minute to Win It or that crazy Japanese game show Most Extreme Elimination. The task? Put eye drops in Lydia's eyes.

Two weeks ago, Charlie came down with an obvious case of pinkeye. After a visit to the doctor, it was determined she also had an ear infection. So, off to Target we went to get her prescription. The doctor told us that if either of the other two showed signs of it, to just call and they would phone in a prescription for eye drops. So, last week on Tuesday, it became obvious Lydia and Jayson both had it. Lydia's doctor called in a prescription for her, and Jayson's called one in for him. Off to Target we went for two more prescriptions. I tried the old, "Oh, I have a $10 gift card coupon with a new prescription at home..." and the pharmacist nicely told me that I could bring it back with my receipt and they would make the adjustment. Foiled.

Lydia had to miss school on Tuesday, which was the end of the world. She cried, "My friends will ride the bus without me! What will they do at table time!??!" It was awful, but very much needed. I didn't want to be the mom who sent her highly contagious kid to school and contaminated the whole class.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, it was obvious Audrey was also getting pinkeye, so we used Lydia's drops on her. After dinner on Wednesday, Audrey was crying in pain and telling me her ear hurt. I gave her some Ibuprofen and called the doctor and got the last appointment of the day. The doctor told me she had an ear infection, so off to Target for our fourth prescription in about a week. This pharmacist was much nicer than the other one and told me that he would give me a coupon if I told him a good joke. Luckily, Audrey is practically a stand-up comedian with a cache of 1.5 jokes, and she busted out her best. ("Knock knock!" "Who's there?" "Boo!" "Boo who?" "STOP CRYING!" HAHAHAHAHA.) The next day, a student told me she saw me at Target, but didn't say hi because I was running down the aisle with the cart while Audrey yelled for me to go faster. Ha. Oops.

Luckily, the medications are working. It's pretty much a miracle, because I think only about 10% of the eye drops actually made it into Lydia's eye. We started by holding her down and forcing them in, but the screams and the looks of terror were too much. We let her close her eyes and then put them in the inside corner and then let her "blink" them in. It actually started working, but took about three drops in each eye to get enough in. Audrey did really well with them, opening her eyes wide and then laughing when the drops went in.

Now everybody is pretty much healed except for a lingering cough and a few more doses of amoxicillin. We also have $20 in Target gift cards for our trouble. Not quite the $1,000,000 I would win on my game show, but I'll take it.

One!

Today, my sweet little Charlie turned one. We celebrated with a birthday party for both her and Lydia with our extended family. Charlie is such a little trooper. She's always smiling and has a contagious giggle. She only ever really cries when she's tired, and then it's just a quick bottle and she goes to sleep like a champ. She eats whatever we put in front of her, but when she's done, she throws the rest on the floor. She doesn't talk much yet, but has finally started saying "Mama" in addition to Dada, Lydia, and dog. She waves, and she sucks her thumb when she's tired. She loves to wriggle away from you when you change her diaper. She follows her sisters around the house and laughs at them and screams when they get rowdy.

Charlie made quite an entrance into the world. Both her sisters were induced after their due dates. I was sure Charlie would also be late. I went to a Brewers game for my sister-in-law's bachelor party the Saturday before the Thursday I was due. When coworkers would say, "Maybe you won't be here tomorrow!" I would say, "Don't worry, I'll be in."

On my due date, Lydia had a rehearsal for her dance recital. I took her to the rehearsal and then we got home and went to bed. I woke up at about 1:00 am with very light contractions, and as they became more frequent, I figured I would be having her the next day, and tried to sleep some more. They got to be about 10 minutes apart, but didn't increase in intensity. I called the doctor on call for my OB/GYN office and she told me to call the delivery room to see if they wanted me to come in. I explained that my contractions were consistently 10 minutes apart, but not very strong. They said to come in, but sounded like it wasn't a big deal. We called Jayson's mom to come over to watch the girls and while we waited for her, I took a shower and got some things together.

As I walked around more, the contractions became stronger and more frequently. Suddenly, I was sitting down in pain and gasping as they came. I told Jayson I was going to wait in the car, and when his mom drove up, I forced a smile and waved. Jayson rushed to the hospital as I gripped the arm rest. Luckily, the hospital was only ten minutes away. When we arrived, the triage nurse checked me immediately and said we were ready to go. She told me usually moms walk from triage to the room, but she was just going to wheel me. When we got into the room, I asked with hope if I could still get an epidural and the nurse looked at me like I was a little kid who just discovered the truth about Santa Claus and said, "No, not enough time!"

So, we started. I couldn't even breath. I had not planned for this. I was used to slow labors without much pain. When I had Lydia, the nurse told me to push the button when I needed more pain meds, and I pushed happily away. She told me that I should still be able to feel the contractions and I smiled and said I could even though I couldn't. As contractions came, the nurse would excitedly look at me and say, "Do you feel this one coming?" and I would smile and nod and pretend I felt it, and push when it seemed like I should be pushing. Not with Charlie. Oh man, did I feel it. I think all of West Allis knew I felt it. Luckily, it took all of 20 minutes, if that, and she was out.

All 9 lbs, 12.5 ounces of her. With a fractured collarbone because she was so big and came so quickly. Charlie will always be my reminder of what I can do. This past year, when I've been afraid of something, I tell myself, "I gave birth to an (almost) ten pound baby without drugs. I can do this." And now look what I have! Such an amazing, sweet, little girl. As I look at her older sisters -- Lydia with her curly blonde hair, blue eyes, wild imagination, and zest for life; Audrey with her wavy brown hair, green eyes, serious attitude, and quick temper; and I wonder what life will bring for Charlie. I can't wait to find out.

Little Updates

Lydia
Tonight for dinner we got a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. We generally don't eat meat at home except for fish, but every once in a while, we make an exception, like corned beef last week for St. Patrick's Day and a chicken today because the cupboards are bare due to Jayson being so busy with taxes and me being gone this past weekend. We needed something quick, so the chicken was a good idea.

The girls love meat when we do have it, and as we were eating, Lydia said, "Mmmmm! I just love chicken when it's dead."

Audrey
Audrey has an attitude. She gets mad when people don't do exactly what she want when she wants. If I ask the girls to clean up their toys, Lydia will usually oblige, or pretend she didn't hear me. Audrey will cross her arms, look me right in the eyes, and say, "No." Then she might give those arms a little shake and say, "Hmmph." We have made a game out of clean-up, though where we pretend they are robots and I give them their robot orders in a robot voice while holding my arms stiffly at my sides and tell them exactly what to do. ("Robot Lydia. Please pick up that book and put it on the shelf.") Audrey will sometimes get into it, but Robot Audrey doesn't follow orders very well.

The other day, I was driving somewhere with the girls. Audrey said something and Lydia told her she was wrong and Audrey looked out the window and said quietly and full of rage, "Don't talk to me." I'm really looking forward to the teen years with her.

Charlie
Charlie now says Daddy, Lydia, and dog. She also waves and gives high fives. She will not, however, say "Mommy." Lydia and Audrey both said, "Hi" for their first words. I blame Jayson. I think he's coaching her all day long to say "Daddy," and to just stick her tongue out and spit when she sees me. She does give good kisses, though. Nice, big, open mouth ones that start with her tongue plastered to your face and end with her biting your cheek.

Where Has She Heard That Before?

The other day, the girls seemed to be fairly occupied playing in the living room, so Jayson and I went upstairs to the bedroom to... put away laundry. Come on. Get your mind out of the gutter. This is a family blog.

The laundry situation is pretty chaotic around here. Jayson does not do laundry. He does pretty much everything else, but laundry is one thing he won't do. Mine is bathrooms, and I think that's a fair trade. We average about four to five loads of laundry per week. I try to do a couple loads during the week, the rest on Saturday, and then fold on Sunday. Sometimes it gets put away into drawers immediately, sometimes it sits in the baskets for a while. So, we had a couple baskets that had been sitting awhile that needed to be put away.

One bonus of putting the clothes away is that I found the missing Roku remote in the bottom of my basket. I had been folding clothes on Thursday night and I'm pretty sure that's when Charlie put it in there. Missing remotes are something that enrages me, so I was pretty happy to finally find it on Sunday. After it had been missing for less than a day, I was already telling Jayson that I was going to order a new one, but luckily Lydia reminded me we could watch Netflix on the Wii and I didn't have any shows in my Hulu queue, so I calmed down a bit and decided to wait a few days, like Jayson suggested.

So, on Sunday evening as we folded clothes, we could hear Lydia and Audrey chattering away, but Charlie was mysteriously quiet. Jayson yelled downstairs, "Hey, Lydia, what is Charlie doing?" Then we heard Lydia let out a loud sigh and scold, "Mommy. I don't know WHY you leave your things out where you KNOW Charlie can get them. UGH!" Jayson peeked downstairs and yelled back up to me, "You need to get down here." I went downstairs to see Charlie happily spreading the quizzes and tests of three of my classes all over the living room floor. She seemed pretty proud of herself. I apologized to Lydia and promised it wouldn't happen again.

Hula Hooping Hilarity

Jayson had a bowling tournament last night, and the girls and I were getting a little restless, so we went to Target. It's our happy place. Lydia found the hula hoops and begged me to buy one. Then she tried to do it and I was surprised she could actually keep it going for a while. So, I considered buying it.

Then, Audrey gave it a shot and her technique was so incredibly amazing that I decided we had to buy it just so I could show Jayson. So, we got it.

Here are the girl hooping it up this morning.

Lydia first, with her long introductions that she now has to do for every single video.

Audrey. Really. I don't think you're ready for this.

Charlie gave it a whirl too.