Bicycle built for Two

Ryan is doing a rotation on ultrasound right now. This means he makes his own hours as long as he gets all the pictures he needs and meet the minimum number of hours of practice. So we have been fortunate to see a lot more of him lately. First for Ava's birthday last weekend, then most evenings, and now this whole weekend. ...So we packed a picnic lunch and the whole family (including our dog Sam) and went to the park on Saturday. Elizabeth and Ava received this tandem-trike for Christmas from Gram and Bub. They got a few chances to ride it in DC, but with such beautiful weather in Texas the opportunities have been more bountiful. They had a blast racing around the playground on their bike as well as playing on the equipment, before we got into the afternoon peak of the Texas sun and it was time to go home for naps.Today, I think we will head to the pool, since it only 9:30am and already the sun is blaring.

Weddings: Love'em or Hate'em

Our good friends from medical school, Beau and Ally, got married on Friday night in a small ceremony. Both girls were asked to participate, Elizabeth as flower girl and Ava as ring bearer. This was Elizabeth's second gig as a flower girl and she was pretty excited to participate. I think most of the allure centered around the idea of eating cake. I know that is why Ava willing went along. However it tough for a 2 year old to behave when the wedding is scheduled right at her bed time. Plus, Ava took an earlier nap then usual because we had to got to the doctor to get shots for school. As for Elizabeth, she was pretty giddy because I don't think she napped at all. She has taken to laying down and resting quietly but it is not the same as "sleeping." Needless to say, the girls added their own unique flair to the wedding as only little kids can.

Instead of preceding the bride down the aisle, Elizabeth stood at the base of the stairs tossing all her flower petals on the floor while the bride passed her. Even some coaxing from the audience couldn't get her to leave her post. She insisted that she had to pick up all her flowers before coming to sit down with the rest of us. As for Ava, you could hardly get her to sit still. She kept stomping around the room, looking out the window, pulling dead leaves off of the plants, and tossing a small plastic sheep at the bride. Finally, we got her contained and she managed to hand over the ring pillow at the appropriate time. By the way, Casey was an angel the whole time.

Note the cute, but totally useless baby shoes.

Anyway, we managed to survive the ceremony and the girls added some humor which covered up our giggles at the officiant who spoke with a strange accent (but only during the ceremony).

Elizabeth willing posed for some pictures, and helped with the cake. Ava did her own thing. The only time she sat still was to share some cake with Dad and Elizabeth. I believe that Ava's opinions of weddings are that they are a lot of work just for a piece of cake and that she rather stick to birthdays.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

The kids and I went to the zoo and met up with a friend of mine, Cara and her 2 year old son Frankie, who I met when we lived in DC. Also being a military family, she and her husband now reside in South Carolina and of course we are now in San Antonio. Luckily her parents live in San Antonio and her husband is traveling this month, so she is out here for a long visit and we get to hang out together. Our adventure this week was an outing to the San Antonio Zoo with the kids in tow. (I think our next meeting with be without all the munchkins.) Actually, we just saw mostly birds at the zoo. In fact, I think the San Antonio zoo has more birds than I have ever seen at any other zoo, but maybe that is just because San Antonio put their bird exhibit right at the entrance of the zoo. It is almost impossible to avoid, and this way the poor birds feel loved, because really who comes to the zoo to see birds! There are some cool things about the birds, like you can feed them. Cara brought dog food, so we didn't have to spend the quarter to get little food pellets from the machines. For the record, birds like dog food and so do fish and alligators. We did splurge and spend the dollar to buy nectar to hand feed the parrots. Lizzy and I thought it was pretty cool to feed the parrots. I did have to yell at one of the birds for flying on to my shoulder and trying to eat my diamond earrings. Ava was less than impressed with the parrots and sat in the stroller eating goldfish crackers, while hanging out with Casey. She and Elizabeth did enjoy brushing the goats, and Casey like the air conditioned tiny tot play area with a water bed for him to play on while the girls "fished" in a little indoor stream. It was a really nice morning, topped off with a picnic lunch next to the zoo lake, where the girls continued to feed the birds...this time pretzels and bread crusts. Sorry there aren't more pictures, but I had my hands too full most of the time to pick up my camera, but this is a place we will definitely visit again. For the record, we didn't see the poor little snow leopard at the zoo this time, obviously the 95 degree heat was too much for him.

Happy Birthday Captain Destructo

Ava (aka Captain Destructo) turned 2 this weekend. We celebrated this milestone with Ryan's family in New Braunfels with a family dinner on Sunday. Ava of course picked out a red/pink cake for her birthday and couldn't wait to dig in.

Note the Captain Destructo T-shirt that Ryan got Ava for her birthday. I got her one of her other favorites, balloons, as a gift.

Some of the other weekend fun enjoyed a picinic lunch in the backyard, some pool time, and of course popsicles.Ava continues to lead from the front. For example, she is sporting to new horns on her head from crashing her bike and take a spill down a few stairs.

She also enjoys "tearin' it up," which include running and biking at super sonic speeds.

We are hoping that "2" is going to be a great year for her, but first we need to get her screaming and whining under control.

Masters of the Indoor Play Gyms

Due to the blazing Texas summers, indoor play areas are a booming business here in San Antonio. Personally, I think it is a great idea for just about anywhere in this country to entertain kids whether it is too hot, cold, wet, etc. It is nice to have somewhere to go besides McDonald's. This was our second visit to an indoor play area this week. First on Monday because of rain, and today for a playgroup with other military spouses. Dynamoze's had 10,000sf of real estate for the kids to run, jump, ride, and play. A plus is that you can bring in your own food and drinks for snack/lunch time, so that you don't have to feed your kids garbage and you can let them stay and play right up to nap time. (I have noticed that the indoor play gyms' business sharply declines between 12-3pm.) These places are a big hit with my kids, who always seem to behave better when I take them out in public. It helps me keep my sanity and my house a lot cleaner. I even got to read two magazines and interact with some adults while the kids played.

The Elusive Ryan and the Mighty Casey

Casey is a bit over 4 months and is "stretching" like a weed. He has jumped from the 10 percentile in height up to the 50th, and is now a towering 25 inches. However due to this growth spurt his weight percentiles have dropped from 25th down to 10th at 13lbs, and to compensate for the growth spurt he is waking up once to twice a night to consume extra calories. I am looking forward to introducing solid food in the next couple of month and I am sure he will chunk up. Ryan has wrapped up his stint in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit where he was putting in a lot of long hours and he was lucky if he got to see the kids 30 minutes a day. We are hoping the his shifts in the emergency department the next 4 weeks will give him a bit more time to play with the kids when they are awake.

Disclaimer

Many of you have asked for more pictures of our house. I snapped a few of the interior and will post them, but remember our house is not staged for sale, it is where a family of five and a big dog reside on a daily basis. So I try to keep up with the chaos, but it seems never ending. The kids do their part in making a mess but they are getting better at cleaning up also. The house is a one story ranch style home built in 1978 with around 2400 square feet, plus a 3 car garage set on about 1/3 of an acre. The layout once walking in the front door is a great room in the center of the house, with the kitchen, breakfast nook, dining room, laundry room and garage on the left side of the house, and the 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on the right side. View from foyer. The GREAT room! The Kitchen. The Breakfast Nook w/ French doors to patio. Dining Room. Main Bath. Office/Guestroom. Liz's Room (soon to be the girls' Neverland Room w/ bunkbeds and lots of pirates). Ava's room (soon to be Casey's Jungle Room, formerly a "car" room). Master Bedroom (w/ Casey). Master Bath.

Soccer Mom

Can't say much is going on down here. Typical soccer mom stuff..1 trip to the doctor, 3 play dates, 6 trips to the pool, 2 trips to gymnastics, 2 visits with the in-laws, and 1 birthday party. Included are some pictures from their step-cousin (Ryan's step-brother's kid), Chance's 6th Birthday Party at the Inflatable Wonderland. The girls had a blast jumping to their hearts' content and eating lots of cake and ice cream. Unfortunately, I am now dealing with a bad case of diarrhea from Elizabeth. We have now moved onto a new phase in or life...worrying about education. The highlight of the week has been researching pre-schools for the one/both of the girls. In Texas, most of the programs are called "Mother's Day Out" which is pretty much an excuse to get rid of your kids for a couple of days a week from 9am to 2pm. The programs, most hosted by churches, offer a varied degree of structure (free play to pre-kindergarten curriculum)and some will take kids as young as 3 months. As chance would have it, we are lucky to live less than 2 miles from the pre-school, St Marks, that Ryan attended when he formerly lived in San Antonio, so we are looking at enrolling Elizabeth there 3 days a week. I may still enroll Ava in a Mother's Day out program so that Casey and I can have some piece in quiet a for a few hours each week.

Tribute to Mothers

This week my sister gave birth to her second son, and my sister-in-law found out she was pregnant again. So in honor of them, I am publishing this post. I have been meaning to share this with all mothers before, but I haven't taken the time to type it out. However, this is something that my mother-in-law, Gina, found in a publication and wanted to share with me one Mother's Day. Her note to me was: "This touched my heart and soul - eloquently expressed many thoughts throughout the years that I have had. Thought you might enjoy as well. You are a beautiful mom" Love, Gina

Thank you Mother

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of “starting a family.” “Mom, do you think I should have a baby?” “It will change your life,” I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. “I know,” she says, “no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations….” But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable. I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper with asking, “What if that had been my child?” Every plane crash or house fire will haunt her. When she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child become sick or even die. I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to a primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. An urgent call of “MOM!” will cause her to drop her best crystal without a moment’s hesitation. I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for childcare, but one day she will be going to an important business meeting and she will think of her baby’s sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right. I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy’s desire to go to the men’s room rather than the women’s at McDonald’s will become a major dilemma! That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of a five-year old’s independence and becoming a man will be weighed against that possibility that someone in that men’s room could be lurking around looking to hurt that five year old child. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but that she will never feel the same about herself. That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. She would rather give it up in a moment to save her child, but will also begin to hope for more years – not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her children accomplish theirs. I want her to know that a caesarian scar or tiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter’s relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child. I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic. I wish my daughter could sense that bond she will feel with other women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice, and drunk driving. I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my child’s future. I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike, or that pain of sitting on a cold hard bleacher instead of your car at a soccer game so that you can hear your child ask, “ Hey, mom, did you see me make that goal?” I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or cat for the very first time. I want her to taste the experience of giving birth that is so real it both hurts and brings intense joy in the same breath. My daughter’s quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. “You’ll never regret it,” I finally say to her. Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter’s hand, and say a silent prayer for her, for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings. This blessed gift of God…that of being a Mother. (Author Unknown) ***So take a moment to reflect on what a great joy it is to be a mother, and keep up the fantastic work!

Big Top Kidz

The vote is in... Big Top Kidz was a big hit for me and the kids. We headed up there today for a playgroup. We were there for 3 1/2 hours and I still had to literally drag the kids out of the moon bounce to take them home for naps. All the the toys were just the right size for toddlers. The play area was the perfect size with plenty of room to run but you could still comfortably keep and eye on your kids. Plus, they let you bring in your own food and drinks, so you can really stay and play for a long time. Today, Big Top Kidz was celebrating their 1 year anniversary and had a huge birthday cake, plus I won a free pizza in their drawing. We ended up ordering my free pizza while we were still there since the natives were getting restless. Therefore we ended up with pizza and cake for the entire playgroup. I took a bunch of pictures. There were lots of smiling and silly faces, and fortunately no tears.