Happy Fourth of July!

We celebrated a day early with Mr. P's family in Queens. His sister and her family are in from the West Coast this week, which means we finally got to meet sweet Mary Cate for the first time. Four months older than XL — and the only girl in the family so far. We hadn't seen them in over a year, so Kiddle really got his first taste of big-brotherhood now that Tag is actively in his business.

We spent a big chunk of the afternoon at the local playground. Very NYC with its black rubber surface, chainlink fence and giant dragon sprinkler (if only it was an open fire hydrant!), but a great park, really.

Beautiful Mary Cate.

Kiddle chillin' with the dragon.

Extra Little chillin' in the double wide.

Uh oh.

Just got back from an ultrasound where Extra Little's CURRENT size was estimated to be 8.5 pounds. Yikes! That's the same size Kiddle was when he was born and I couldn't get him out. So I definitely might be looking at another c-section. I really don't want to go through labor only to end up with major surgery again.

Here's my big dilemma. My parents just left yesterday for vacation in Florida, returning to Oklahoma on May 10th. My mom is scheduled to come up here on May 12th and my due date is May 14th. Based on a couple of conversations with my sister, I had pretty much decided not to tell them when I went into labor, but just to call after the baby arrived. My mom is already more excited/stressed about my impending delivery than anyone else — including me — so if I call too early ... vacation OVER. Not only for my dad, but also for the other couples with them. She's just too high-strung to be relaxed (and silent) about this.

But if I schedule a c-section? Ay yi yi. Not sure what to do. I still think my instinct is just to let them know after it's all over. I don't need her to change her travel plans, so why create drama any earlier than needed?

Right?

I'm going to burn in hell for this, aren't I?

Happy Birthday Kiddle!

Three years old today! It's hard to believe. (And, yes, I know I said that last year and will continue to say it every year of his life. As my mom still does about me!)

We had a birthday party for him at the house yesterday. I admit it was somewhat last minute, because eons ago I thought we might be moving before his birthday, so I had pretty much put party planning out of my head. I finally realized a few weeks before that it might be a good idea to do some celebrating, especially considering that the imminent arrival of a major life disruption is looming.

But, despite my procrastination, it all came together quite well. The theme was Old McDonald's Farm since he's still obsessed with animals. The kiddos wore cowboy hats, decorated farm-animal-shaped cookies (made from scratch by me, thankyouverymuch), sang a spirited version of "Old McDonald" complete with cow, horse, pig and duck visors, and, of course, had the staples of three-year-old birthday parties — pizza and cupcakes. I kept the guest list tiny — just LK, Jack, Mabel and Liam, plus Grandpa, Grandma and all the parents — mostly to keep the cookie decorating manageable. Kiddle had a fantastic time and really seems to be grasping the "birthday" concept.

Today has been pretty low-key. We spread out the gift opening by tying a helium balloon to a gift every couple of hours and sending him off to look for it. He got lots of puzzles, books, a giant John Deere tractor and wagon, a new backpack, a kid-size wheelbarrow and a BIKE. (Well, one of the pedal-less ones so he can learn to balance.)

So, it's been a pretty successful birthday weekend so far with still more to come: a celebration at preschool on Tuesday, then one last chance to blow out the candles with Mr. P's family at Easter dinner next weekend.

Happy birthday, my little one! I love you more than words can describe.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays from Oklahoma!

We arrived late last night after an already busy week of celebrating.

Monday: Mr. P's family came over for dinner and to exchange gifts. Kiddle doesn't yet grasp the concept of Christmas, but he certainly got into the idea of opening presents.

Tuesday: Kiddle's Hanukkah party at preschool. Shockingly he actually tried a potato latke, even though he was mostly interested in sucking the applesauce off it.


Wednesday morning: Santa came a day early to our house. Kiddle came down the stairs and saw all his gifts laid out: "Wow. Wow. Wow." Too cute. He also thought getting gifts out of his stocking was pretty cool. One item was a tiny Slinky in a box. He pulled it out and said, "Oooh, a box. A box." It's the simple things at that age, isn't it?


Wednesday afternoon: I finally packed and we headed out to brave the crowds at Newark airport. And it was a total disaster, as expected. We totally thought we were in the clear for our 3:00 flight -- unlike everyone else in the terminal, snicker, snicker -- until they announced at 2:15 that our plane hadn't yet left Halifax. Um, you didn't know that a little earlier? We finally got out of there sometime after 7:00. Six hours in an ultra-crowded airport with a two-year-old? So much Christmas cheer.

Needless to say we were thrilled to finally get here. We had our traditional white-trash Christmas morning breakfast of monkey bread, bacon wraps and sausage balls -- yum! And Kiddle and Cooper opened one million more presents. It's hard to say, but I think his favourite gift might just be his Cars Mack truck/race car launcher. Pretty cool.

Trains, Boats and Helicoptors

My parents were just here for another visit (they had free tickets on American as a result of being caught up in the MD-80 fiasco in April) and Kiddle continued his love affair with Ahdah. It's not that he doesn't like his dad or my mom, but for whatever reason my dad is the only person Kiddle will hang out with and not even notice I'm not around. I can't explain it, but I'm not going to fight it.

We had a great visit with them. They're so laid back and don't expect to be entertained. But I was feeling a bit guilty that we haven't done anything really fun the last few times they were here, so we went into the city on Tuesday to see the new Waterfalls public art exhibit. And it was beautiful, interesting and a bit of a let-down all at the same time. We did a half hour Circle Line tour which took you right by each waterfall, but really the best view was from the end of the South Street Seaport where you could see all four structures at one time.

Transportation was the theme of the day. Kiddle was fascinated and a little scared with each new encounter. First was the train ride into the city. I should add here that he doesn't like things that move (shocking, I know, since he's typically a daredevil baby). Last time he rode the little train at the zoo he cried the whole time, and has refused to get on it since then. He even freaks out if you put money in the little truck/car/horse ride-ons at the mall. He'd been on the subway as a baby but this was his first ride as a conscious-of-his-surroundings toddler. And, just as I expected, he wasn't thrilled. Fairly upset, wouldn't get out of my lap. But by the time we got into the city he'd calmed down and realized that trains are ok.

At the seaport, he stood at the railing of the dock saying, "Boat. Boat. Boat." At least until the line started moving to board ... then he was not interested in being a passenger. Of course, once we got underway he decided boats were the coolest thing ever and spent most of the trip running around madly. He had better sea legs than the rest of us (definitely inherited from his dad's side of the family). The river was filled with barges and police boats and speedboats and helicopters and sailboats and trucks and buses crossing the bridges. It was transportation overload and he was in heaven.

Then the return trip on the train was a totally different story: he ran onto the train like he was a seasoned commuter and sat himself down in his own seat with a smug little smile on his face. Such a big boy!

Two Already?

How is my baby two already? I know I'll be saying this every year for the rest of his life, but really ... how is he two? Although sometimes I think it's not so much that he's two, but that I haven't been in my former career for TWO FREAKING YEARS! That means even though we worked waaaay in advance, all the programs I developed there are done and gone. My legacy is over! Damn.

Anyway, moment of mourning former life over. Back to the Kiddle.

Grammy and Ahdah came up for a week-long visit. Kiddle is totally, completely, absolutely enamored with my dad right now. I have to say having him around finally gave me a nice break. Kiddle is such a mama's boy right now that he wants me -- and only me -- no matter who else is around. But that all changed when Ahdah arrived. Woo hoo!

Still reeling from last year's 55-strong birthday blowout (who would've thought everyone would be able to come on Easter weekend?), we went low-key this year. Just us, both sets of grandparents, his uncle and future aunt. He seemed really excited about all his presents but I think the favourites right now are the sandwich set (we're offered bites of a wooden hamburger several times a day; it's important to say "yummm" after each bite), a stuffed horse named Nutley (intended to replace the very large, very hard plastic elephant he insists on taking to bed with him), and ....

bubbles!

He's always thought bubbles were pretty cool, but to get his little hands on his very own bubble blower? Awesome!




Happy 2nd Birthday Kiddle!!