Friday, July 30, 2010

Karma is a B*tch and so are you


Foursons


To the woman in seat 20C on our flight home from Oregon,

I saw you sitting in the terminal before we boarded...at 5:45am. I pretended not to notice you as I tried to occupy my 3 year old and feed my hungry baby while my husband went to fetch us some food and much needed coffee. Your judgmental stares and whispers to your husband were the last thing I was concerned with at the moment. I was overjoyed when I noticed you were seated in the aisle seat adjacent to the row in front of us. Your obvious glares and self righteous head shaking every time my toddler was louder than a whisper were rude and only added to my anxiety. Do you really think I enjoyed the mini tantrums my son was having?? Didn't you notice my husband and I were doing everything in our power to keep him calm?? Maybe you failed to notice the 90 minutes that he was quiet watching a movie. Maybe you were too busy judging that you failed to see us trying to redirect and occupy our toddler EVERY time he peeped or kicked the seat in front of him.

Your rudeness could have been overlooked IF you hadn't crossed the line. My husband stood up to walk our son around, in an attempt to distract him and get some energy out, and apologized to the woman and her child (who was the victim of the seat kicking) in front of us, and even offered up our DVD player to him. The nice woman said, "It's OK, my son was just like that at 3. I understand how hard it is on a plane". My husband did not get two steps away before your bitchy comment of, "It's NOT OK. That kid is a brat!". First of all, let me tell you that you are lucky that my husband was the one in the aisle and that I had a sleeping baby on my lap. His calm response of, "Mind your own business" would NOT have been what came out of my mouth. The fact that you then took it a step further than insulting my 3 year old with your reply, "He's a brat and it is because of lack of discipline!", was astounding to me. I wanted to stand up and slap you. My hands were shaking, I was sweating and I wanted to scream in your face! My level headed husband's stern reply of, "MIND YOUR BUSINESS", could have easily been followed by many expletives, but he didn't stoop to your level.

The next time you feel it necessary to judge another person's situation, maybe you should sit back and contemplate the possible circumstances behind the behavior. The fact that my toddler was on the tail end of a 2 week vacation, where he slept in 4 different locations, had already been strapped in the car a collective 26 hours over 11 days, and had been woken up at 4am to go get on a plane where he is expected to sit still, not talk and not walk around MAY have contributed to his inability to control his impulses. Oh yeah, and the fact that he just turned 3 could have played a tiny part too!!!!!

I won't waste my time trying to convince you that my toddler is normally a good boy and that I do, in fact, discipline him. I just wanted to thank you for making the 3 hour flight from Portland to Chicago an even more miserable experience than it already was....and I hope they lost your luggage.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Vacay Part Deux

How long is too long after you get back from vacation to still post pics? Well, this is my blog and I think a week and a half is just right so here goes! This will be a long one so if you'd rather just look at the pretty pictures and skip the writing, I will understand!

The second leg of our West Coast adventure landed us in Olympia, WA. My cousin Alex was getting married so we drove the 4 hours from OR to WA the morning of the wedding. The baby slept. The boy watched a DVD. It wasn't half bad. We dropped Natey off to hang out with Aidan and Heather's mom so we could enjoy the wedding without chasing 2 insane-o toddlers around all night!

Of course we brought the babies. :o) These 2 baby girls were as sweet (and quiet) as can be.

Imagine the embarrassment of Heather and I showing up wearing the same baby carrier. Ha! Didn't you know Ergos are the latest in wedding attire? No? Now you do!


Arielle loved my Aunt Kat. She loves everyone, really. I have yet to go somewhere with her where people haven't asked me, "Is she ALWAYS this happy?". The answer to that is yes. She rarely cries. It is a blessing. It saves my sanity because, well, you've met her brother...

The day after the wedding we drove an hour and a half to go to A Day Out with Thomas with Heather, Chad, Aidan & Lilah, or as I will refer to it from now on, Thomas the Trainwreck. It was hot, humid, both of our toddlers had missed their naps (no bien by the way), the train was about 15 degrees hotter than outside, the windows did not open, a good 50% of the kids on the train were crying at first and the train ride lasted all of 8 minutes. At least there was cool things to do after we got off of the train!
Of course the minute we boarded Nate says he has to pee. Seriously kid?? I asked the guy if we had time to take him to the bathroom before the train left and he said no. So what's a resourceful mom to do?? That's right, I pulled out a size 3 diaper belonging to little sis, yanked his pants down, strapped it on him, pulled them up so no one would wonder WTH was going on and let him pee into the diaper.

When we got off the sweat box train car we went to explore the rest of the festivities.

Aidan almost got burned by a "real steam miniature train" (Why would they have this where curious toddlers will be running around?  I have no clue!)

At least he had fun exploring the RR tracks.

Nate watched a puppet show and thought it was hilarious

Nate got his first ice cream cone all to himself and only made a medium sized mess.

 

We went up to my Aunt's cabin at the base of Mt. Rainier for a couple of days and it was gorgeous. We hiked 2.6 miles (while wearing or carrying a baby and a toddler), explored the woods near the cabin, picked some flowers, saw some Elk, hung out and had a little down time of movie watching and book reading. Ahh....








Last but certainly not least we went to Lakefair with Heather and the crew. I made matching shirts for the boys (along with matching Mini Boden shorts) and I sewed matching open backed dresses and ruffle butt bloomers for the girls. It was hard to get the boys standing still long enough to get a shot, but we tried.





All in all it was a nice trip. I got to see family and friends. I wish I got to spend a little more down time just hanging out, but we did have fun.

However, the equation of 2 munchkins + 11 days + 4 different different places to sleep + 1 room to share + x naps missed or cut short + 26 collective hours spent driving + 4 different plane rides + 2 days of waking up at 4am to catch planes = exhausted kiddos and parents. It also added up to one liiiitle scene on the flight back home...but you'll get to hear that rant tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A little R & R

By a "little", I truly mean little. We just got back from vacation and, while that may sound relaxing, let me assure you it was pretty far from the serene image you see above! My grand dream of a relaxing 2 week vacation to visit family in Oregon and Washington was packed with go-go-going and interrupted sleep, but I was so happy to see everyone while we were there that I have almost forgotten how much this trip kicked my butt!

Our whirlwind adventure started by going to visit my dad, and my 3 siblings and their families in Oregon. We had a great time hanging out, BBQing, having a family picnic by the river complete with rides on my brother's boat (well I didn't go on the boat, but I had the baby) and a trip to the Oregon Country Fair (as visitors instead of working like I normally do) all in the span of 3 1/2 days. I know, I'm exhausted just thinking about it again.

This is why I can't have 3 kids! It's hard enough just trying to get 2 looking and in focus for a picture, but we had fun trying to get a decent shot! My niece Megan was like a built in baby sitter. I'm pretty sure every time I set the baby down she was there to swoop her up and tote her around!

                 
Uncle Ryan getting some girl time in. They are pregnant, well not him but you know what I mean, and are hoping for a girl this time around! Oh and for all of you doubters who keep asking me where Arielle's blue eyes come from, here is proof that they're in the family!
My daddy with some of his brood.
Some baby decided that she was going to start officially crawling and pulling up to standing on the second day of our vacation. I guess a change of scenery motivated her.
Finally we spent time at one of my favorite places, the Oregon Counttry Fair. I have only missed going a couple of years since I was 6 years old. I usually work on staff, but this was the first year I came as a commoner (ha!) and it reminded me why I usually wait for the public to exit before I go inside! It was hot and crowded, but we ate some amazing food, got faces painted, did some great people watching and most importantly I got to show my real family off to my fair family. I'm pretty sure they were starting to doubt their existence! All except the baby that is, since she was in my painted belly when I was there last year.



{yes, my man can rock a pink and leopard print back pack, thankyouverymuch}
Sadly, I was to busy taking pics of the kids and trying to figure out the manual settings on my camera to realize that this was the only picture I got with my sister Kiersten in it. I miss my family a lot and, as hectic as it was trying to shove a bunch of fun into a short time, I enjoyed seeing them all!

...stay tuned for part deux of the trip where we go see these people. :o)