I'm Here to Tell You

Have you ever wondered what the bridal party does right before the wedding starts, while everyone is finding their seats?


Well, I'll tell you.


The bridesmaids take pictures of themselves.

The bride updates her Facebook status.

Someone says something about singing a song.  I don't remember exactly who it was, but my money's on Kelli.  She can usually be counted on to instigate that sort of thing. 

The first thing that pops into my head is that song All American from the movie A League of Their Own. So I start singing it.  Everyone quickly joins in. You know the one:

Oh, we're the members of the All-American League

We come from cities near and far

We've got Canadians, Irish Ones, and Swedes

We're all for one, we're one for all

We're All-American 

Totally appropriate for a pre-wedding song, right?

The flower girl stares at her singing mother. 

"What are you doing?"

Or maybe just "Lame, Mom.  Lame."

And now you know.

Weddings and Horses and Stairs, Oh My!

Some days are more eventful than others.  Today?  We have a few things to do, but not so much that I feel like I'm running from sun-up to sun-down.

Last Saturday?  Busy, busy, busy. 

We started the day with a wedding and all that entails.

My baby sister and her new husband.  Congratulations guys!

Then we returned to Derek's folks' house.

Caedmon finally conquered the stairs.



Adelaide rode a horse with her cousin Aria.

Aunt Stacie led the way.

All the kids took turns riding on the four-wheeler with Derek.

Then we put the kids to bed and collapsed.





Back In A Jiffy

It was a busy weekend.  And now it's looking to be a busy week. 

Tomorrow, I will post something long-ish with some substance.  I don't know what that substance will be, but it will be there.  You'll take what you get and like it.

Today, you'll just have to content yourself with gazing soulfully back at our middle child. 

You're welcome.

Pobrecito

If you have ever read any kind of parenting book, magazine, or random online site about babyproofing your home-

Quick side note: by "babyproofing," I mean making your home safe for babies by adding outlet covers, placing cleaning supplies and radioactive material out of reach, etc, NOT nailing shut windows and doors to keep babies out of your house.  Just so we're clear.

-you know that the best way to go about doing this is to crawl around on all fours, on your baby's level, so to speak, so you can spot potential hazards that may not be immediately obvious from an adult's point of view.

I have to do this every so often, usually when I start finding odd substances in Caedmon's mouth.  This morning I finally figured out where he's been getting those white foamy pieces:  Atticus had shredded and then hidden a magic eraser in a shoe in the laundry room.  It was only by crawling around that I was able to follow a trail of evidence to the stash.

Doing this always makes me feel like I'm stumbling into the strange realm of babies.  Ordinary items appear very different from the floor:  large and looming and interesting.  I had this in mind when I sat down to go through the photos taken over the past few days.  It made me feel particularly sympathetic toward our youngest child. 

I wonder what he was thinking when all these shots took place?

   

"Why does this woman insist on sticking that flashy-thing in my face?"

"And I wonder what happens when I do this?"

This one makes me want to cry.  See the older two kiddos in the background in the pool?  Although they fight a lot, Atticus and Adelaide love to play together, and Caedmon is getting to the age where he wants to play, too.  Half the time they want nothing to do with him.

  But then Daddy comes outside, and all is right with the world.  I'm not sure whether Spud is hugging Derek or cozying up to the Viking on Derek's shirt.

Either way, they're both happy.

Not Obsessed

I am not what you would call trendy.  I am rarely, if ever, on the cutting edge of what to wear, what to do, what to watch.  That includes stuff on the internet. 

A few day ago, I finally broke down and checked out Pinterest.  I know, I know, most of you have probably already heard about it and are pinning experts.  But just in case I've caught a fellow straggler, I'm going to write about this newest time-sucker of mine. 

I first heard about Pinterest a few months ago, but thought to myself, Don't you dare, Kristy!  You do not have time to devote to clicking and clicking and clicking around a new website.  And up until a few days ago, I remained steadfast in that conviction. 

I had been shuffling things around in our closets and bins, organizing and tidying as I went.  I was feeling pretty smug and virtuous, and what with it being the kids' naptime and all, I decided to reward myself with fifteen minutes of time online. 

What I should have done was update this blog.  Instead, I broke down and signed up for Pinterest.  The next thing I knew, Caedmon was awake and over an hour had gone by. 

Basically, (again, for my fellow stragglers) Pinterest is a virtual pinboard- a website that allows you to install a button for your toolbar that reads "Pin It," and as you're checking stuff out on the internet, when you see an image of something neato, you click on the Pin It button, and it "pins" that picture onto your profile on Pinterest.  You can arrange these pictures on different boards, like Home Decorating, Movies, Recipes, whatever.

 Say you're planning a wedding.  Every time you see a photo on a website that has a great idea for flowers, dresses, favors, etc, you can pin it on there, and then all those images are in one place for you to access.  The best part is, once the image is on Pinterest, if you click on it, it takes you right back to it's original website. 

There are, of course, tons and tons of people already on there, and they each have lots of boards and pins to peruse.  I use it as a great big cache of neat ideas to copy.

You have to request an invitation, but that took all of about five minutes to receive via email- or, let me know and I can "invite" you to become a fellow member.  All the cool kids are doing it!

Try To Keep Up

See the guy on the left?

His name is Clinton.  He is getting married next week. 

This is the girl he is marrying.  Her name is Stephanie.  She is my sister. 



See this guy? 

His name is Aaron.  He got married almost a year ago.  He is one of Clinton's brothers. 

This is the girl he married.  Her name is Kelli.  She is also my sister. 



That's right.  By the end of next week, my two sisters will have married two brothers. 

This is kind of neat and kind of makes me feel like I'm trapped in a Rogers and Hammerstein production.  I keep half-expecting our families to break out in carefully choreographed musical numbers.

Actually, the wedding would be the perfect venue for something like that!  I better get started...

It's About Time

With all three of my children, I had relatively uncomplicated pregnancies.  I experienced some of the more common aches and pains, but thankfully my babies and I were all healthy.

I was working full-time when pregnant with Adelaide, and spent my workdays on my feet.  This resulted in some pretty severe lower-back pain.  The only thing I found to alleviate the pain was to sit on the arm of the couch while Derek laid down behind me, and used his enormous feet and all the strength in his legs to push/kick/massage my back.  It was heavenly.  The most comfortable way for me to sit on any soft couch or chair was with a basketball behind me, pressing against my lower back. 

Then Adelaide was born.  When she was ten months old, she said her first word.  It was "Da-da." 

I tried not to feel betrayed.

A year and a half later, I was pregnant with Atticus.  Not as much lower back pain this time, thank goodness.  Instead, I had sciatica.  Every time I stepped onto my left foot, I experienced shooting nerve pain up my left thigh all the way up into my lower back.  It was unpleasant.

Then Atticus was born.  When he was ten months old, he said his first word.  It was "Da-da."

Again, I tried not to feel betrayed.

Are you seeing a trend here?

Last year, I was pregnant with Caedmon.  I felt pain all over, from my head down to my toes.  I ached with every step, and couldn't get comfortable to save my life.  My weight gain was still well within the normal range, so I couldn't blame that.  It felt like my body was saying to me, That's it!  Enough with the babies already! 

Then Caedmon was born.  I was amazed when, about an hour after he was born, I got up from the bed to walk across the room, and all that achy discomfort had vanished.  Magic. 

Our Spud is now ten months old.  A few days ago he said his first word.  It wasn't Da da.

His first word was "Ma-ma."  I guess the third time's the charm.