I'm sending out my Christmas cards today.....

...so please don't think, when you get our card in a few days, that you are the only one getting their card so late. I guess I can at least claim the distinction of treating everyone in my life equally, although that just means equally poorly.
See, the thing is........Well, I didn't get the cards out in time for Christmas. I just didn't, I have no real excuse. Then, once the holiday was over and I had the time to settle down and finish them, we made the mistake of going "hard core" on potty-training Claire. And that went very, very badly. So badly, in fact, that we are just now finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The point is, the Christmas cards were kind of pushed to the end of the to-do list. Behind things like clean the bathroom for the 5th time today and pin screaming toddler on the toilet and force her to stay there until she "tinkles" so that she doesn't get a UTI from holding it all day. So, anyways, I apologize for how ridiculously late these cards are. It's a mixture of my own irresponsibility and a really bad month. But hey! I hope you enjoy the picture!

Medievable Times

Here are some pictures from Claire's birthday!

Her birthday presents some difficulties, since she is so limited in what she can eat without throwing up. Cakey, doughy things are absolutely out, so I had some trouble trying to figure out what to make her for her cake, and what to do about breakfast. Some traditions have sort of evolved here, especially involving breakfast. The girls like to wake up to a kitchen decorated for the birthday girl, and have some sort of "big treat" for breakfast. Usually they request cinnamon rolls, but if Claire eats them at all, she usually throws them back up. Coffee cake is out for the same reason, as are pancakes. So what to do? The plan ended up being piling the girls into the car at 6:30am and making a run to Dunkin Donuts. Claire can usually handle the donuts, so that's what we got. Plus I got them some hot chocolate; they see Chris and I getting coffee all the time, so it makes the hot chocolate extra good to them if they can drink it from the styrofoam cups like we do. Plus, they thought it was really cool to go out in their PJs. :)

For her cake, I made a giant chocolate chip cookie. She had requested a Raggedy Ann cake for her birthday, and I was worried that the cookie wouldn't turn out well in the pan, but it ended up just fine and she loved it! Then for dinner we took her to Medieval Times ("Medievable Times," if you ask Beth). Chris and I went to the one outside Chicago back when we were dating, and we just loved it! We had watched a family walking around with several little girls all dressed up as princesses and we, almost admittedly falling in love and both secretly dreaming of what it would be like to start a family together, were just enchanted. I've been dreaming about leading my own troup of little princesses through there ever since. I was so excited, then, when they opened one up here, but when we found out what the ticket prices were (and let's just say, there is not much of a discount for children) we despaired of ever being able to go. However, wonder of wonders, they had a special deal in January where kids could go for free! Ha ha ha! A dream come true for me, and something I knew the girls would just love.

Well, naturally, they just went nuts once we got there! Claire was actually standing on her chair, jumping up and down and yelling at the top of her lungs is support of our knight. Incidentally, our knight was the black-and-white Warrior-Priest, the same knight Chris and I had all those years ago when we were dating. And he won both times!

So Claire had a very happy day, and she was dead asleep in the car before we got home. The 3rd birthday always seems sort of magical to me -- it is the real transition from babyhood to being a "big girl," and Claire had this adorable mix of the un-self-conscous happiness of babyhood, and the sweet, proud excitment of childhood. So cute. Happy Birthday Claire!

More pictures

Okay, I'm going to try one more time to put more bday pics up. If this doesn't work, we'll all just have to wait until my main site is back up and running.

Happy Moment

I just had the best hour of my life..........well, maybe not THE best hour, but it was definitely up there.

You know how working hard makes you appreciate resting more? Or how giving up certain foods make you appreciate just how delicious they are? Well, the same thing goes for time by yourself. I hardly ever get any time truly to myself, and I realize that this is a blessing, to be so surrounded by these sweet little girls. But......quiet and peace are nice, too, and it's a good thing to get a little sometimes, if you can. :)

Chris was home early tonight, so I was able to leave Katie, Beth and Abbie with him while I took Claire to her ballet class. So after dropping Claire off I walked to Starbucks and got myself a big old uber-yuppie skinny latte! And it was the BEST coffee, I drank it while slowly walking back to the gym where the ballet classes are. I could just walk in silence and think, and it was just so wonderful.

Hooray for husbands who help out! And hooray for disgustingly yuppie neighborhoods with Starbucks on every corner! And hooray for little girls, who are so cute when you get away from them!

Exercise in frustration

This morning, I decided to put in a Pilates video that has been gathering dust in our t.v. stand. With Claire still not quite there on the potty-training, going to the gym has become more hassle than it's worth, with the nursery workers pulling me out of class every ten minutes or so to take her to the bathroom.

So I thought it would be less frustrating to just do a video.

Well, 45 minutes later and I have at least worked up a sweat. For any of you who have ever tried Pilates, you should appreciate this: it is MUCH harder to do when balancing a baby on your hip, or having said baby straddle your chest while doing floor exercises. Not to mention the many, many times I had to pause it in order to re-allign the girls (who all, of course, decided to do the video with me) so that no-one got kicked in the face. So, all in all, I got some kind of work-out, but I'm not sure it's the one Denis Austin had in mind.

This is the story of my life right now. Before putting that video in none of them had any interest in me whatsoever. Abbie was happily playing with her drums, Katie and Beth were playing some kind of store game, and Claire was wandering around in her own world. But the moment I ever try to actually get something done they all suddenly swarm like locusts; Abbie desperately needs to be held, Beth suddenly falls ten times in a row, injuring herself in ten different ways, Claire decides that part of her must be touching part of me at all times, and Katie invariably picks this chaotic time to give us all a sound lecture on where we have failed in life.

But while I was gritting my teeth and desperately trying to just get through the video, I knew in the back of my mind that, could I see the scene in my living room through third person, what I would see would be hilarious. Babies hanging off a hassled mother's pants' leg, threee tiny little girls earnestly trying to follow an adult workout, with no idea that they were constantly getting in the mother's space....it's comedy gold. As a way to start your Saturday though...well, I guess there are worse ways!

Things to consider when dealing with me

My mom sent me this email today:

Becca,

In one of our business mags there is a little column- "Did you Know"

the third one down says


On average,a 4-year old child asks 437 questions a day( ask any parent and we already knew that one!!!)


So I figure you listen to:

481 Katie ( 437 + 10% 44= 481)
437 Beth 437
393 Claire-her's may be statements (437 - 10% 44= 393)
305 Abbie- I want (393 -20% 88=305)
24 Chris (men less verbal- no time to get it in)

1640 verbal requests,responses a day.

I bet the best customer service rep in the world does not deal with as much in one day as you!!!!!!!!!


Something to ponder if you have time.

If I have time, indeed!