Mommy who??

You know how some people bring nannies on vacation with them. Well forget the nanny, I want to bring a photographer along!
By looking at our vacation pictures you wouldn't even know I was there. Why, because my husband sucks at taking pictures! He never thinks to pick up the camera and capture a moment of me playing with my kids. I, on the other hand, not only take awesome pictures but later make them into books and read them with my kids so they can relive the memories of their vacations...with dad!


Here are some pictures that I took:

Daddy teaching Dylan to ride a bike without training wheels

Daddy napping with Camryn on the beach

Daddy playing football with his son

Daddy roasting marshmallows with his kids

Daddy frolicking in the waves with his kids


And here are the pictures he took of me:


Here's a great shot of me pushing Camryn in the hammock


One of me jumping off a bridge...I'm the big splash in the water


Look the kids and I are having so much fun in this one


And my personal favorite that will evoke so many memories....


So I guess I'll have to make sure our vacations are so much fun that the kids won't need to look at pictures to remember them!

Some more Smore's!

Smore's are a big deal for my kids. Even though they have ice cream for dessert more times than I'll admit in a week, there is something about smore's that gets them excited.

For Camryn it's probably the unlimited amount of chocolate and incredible mess that goes with it.

















But for Dylan it's definitely the marshmallows. I don't even think he has ever eating a smore. He takes pride in roasting the perfect marshmallow. From a little boys perspective, what could be better than eating off a stick and playing with fire without getting in trouble!

His love for marshmallows reminds of a story when he was younger. It was the middle of winter and I thought making rice crispy treats would be a fun project for us. I knew I had bought a new bag of marshmallows for hot chocolate, so when I couldn't find them I was a bit confused. Talking to myself and not really expecting an anwser, I asked: "Dylan, where did those marshmallows go?"

To which he replied: "They're all gone. Every morning while you and dad are asleep, I come down and take one."

Surprised and humored I said: "You do, do you?"

And he said: "But just ONE a day!"

Nose Nonsense

In the car last night, Dylan was doing anything to stay awake. He usually rambles on about nonsense just to keep himself engaged. I try not to answer him and figure that he will eventually doze off. He kept saying something about scratching his nose and I ignored it, hoping for a sleeping kid by the time I pulled into the driveway. Then his nonsense turned into complaints about his nose hurting. I turned around to find him with his finger digging around up there. I told him if he took his finger out maybe his nose would stop hurting.

That's when he informed me that he had put something up there. Still not completely convinced that he really had put something up there, I told him that if he had, he might have to go to the doctor and have him take it out with tweezers. He started to sound concerned about the looming doctor visit and then proceeded to sneeze uncontrollably. That's when I knew he wasn't fibbing. There wasn't much I could do while I was driving so luckily we were almost home.

I unloaded the kids into the house and laid Dylan down on the couch to get a better view of the foreign object. I could see something blocking his nostril, so I dove right in. I gently used my pinkie and successfully got the long dried up piece of string cheese, that he found in his carseat and then thought would be fun to stick up his nose, out!

When asked 2 days later by my sister why he stuck something up his nose, his reply was: "because I thought it would help pull my boogers out!"

Annoyed!

On this rainy Sunday afternoon, John and I decided to take the kids out to lunch for lack of a better idea. Bobby Flay opened up a new restaurant in the casino, about 25 minutes from our house, so I've been dying to try it. It's a burger joint, so we figured it would be kid-friendly and Dylan could play a few games in the kids zone afterward.

In true Bobby Flay fashion, the food was delicious and the kids were well behaved. In order to get to the kids zone, you have to walk through the casino, without going onto the gaming floor of course.

Just a side note, we are NOT the only people who bring their kids here. There is plenty for families to do, even though it's a casino environment. I actually never thought twice about my decision to take them there.

Until today, when a women in a motor scooter on oxygen, due to obesity, said: "Babies in a casino...that's disgusting."

Now here she was wasting her last breath (and dime probably) judging me for taking my kids out to lunch. Other than this little rant, I was the bigger person and bit my tongue. For no other reason than to show my kids how to be polite!

Umbrellas in the house

According to a popular superstition, opening an umbrella in the house will bring bad luck to all people who reside in that home. Well it's a good thing we aren't superstitious.

On two separate occasions I saw my kids playing with Dylan's umbrella in the house. Camryn was innocently dancing around with it like Mary Poppins. She wasn't hurting anyone and look how happy she was, so I let her be.

Dylan, however was not twirling it about in a "jolly holiday" manner. He was chasing after his sister and the dog. As soon as he would get close to one of them, POP, he would open it right in their face. When I told him not to do that anymore because he could hurt someone. He replied: "It's ok Mom, the old lady shoots Ratatouille with it and he doesn't get hurt." Thank you Disney!

Letting Go

I woke up this morning, for the 1st time since he was born, without my son. At 6:30 every morning he comes to my side of the bed and either climbs in and snuggles or wakes me up with that adorable little voice of his. This morning I lie awake in bed with a pit in my stomach, knowing he's not coming into my room.

My sister-in-law and her husband have been bugging me all summer long to let him sleep over their house. He has NEVER slept away from home without me, I mean he is only 4. But he really was excited of the prospect of sleeping out, so with a heavy heart and much trepidation, I agreed.

He had the day planned from activities to meals and I knew he deserved 100% of someone's attention, which since the addition of Camryn I can't give to him very often. As I packed his overnight bag, the reality of it hit me hard. I wasn't going to be the one to read him books, sing him lullabyes or kiss him goodnight. I honestly did not want him to go.

I was indeed being selfish. There was no reason on my end that he should go. I didn't have plans that required a babysitter. I was going to be home being a mom, except half of my offspring was going to be missing. What would I do without Dylan to dictate the activities?

I was going to focus on Camryn and have some girl time. Give her 100% of my attention, which she never gets either. But I found myself struggling to interact on an 15 month old's level. She usually just plays with whatever Dylan and I are playing with. My attempt at girly activities like painting her toenails was a little premature. Baby toys weren't holding her interest or mine for that matter. Bathtime, which usually occupies 20-30 minutes, lasted 5 because she just kept standing up. With no one to play with, the tub was boring for her. Storytime proved to be a disaster. While I tried to read her books, she was pulling all the other books off the shelf. Dylan's absence was the elephant in the room. I sung her to sleep holding her tight, grateful that she was still too little for sleepovers.

As I await Dylan's return, I realize how hard it is to let go. They are little for such a short time. The breakaway is inevitable and when the time is right I'll embrace it. Hoping that along the way I've instilled all the right tools for them to soar. But in the words of Darius Rucker, "It won't be like this for long" and I intend to cherish every minute.

Welcome to my world

was all I could say to my husband as I listened to him struggle to get the kids out the door in the morning. The combination of me being a stay at home mom and John's crazy work hours doesn't leave John much time alone with the kids. So I have to admit that on the rare occasions that he does have them alone I secretly hope that things don't smoothly, just so he can get a taste of what I deal with on a daily basis.

I went to grab a cup of coffee with a friend and he was going to drop the kids to me on his way to work. When I called to let him know I was done, I ran down the list of things he needed to bring with him. I could hear the kids running a muck in the background while he frantically collected everything. He finally got them out to the car when he realized he left the diaper bag inside. One second is all it takes for my little munchkins to get into trouble and that's all it took. When I heard him swear, I knew he had come outside to an unexpected surprise.

Camryn had found a puddle to play in and was soaked from head to toe. Now he had to go back inside and get her dressed all over again. Trying to find an outfit that matches is not John's strong suit, paired with chasing around a toddler to try to wrestle clothes on her, I could hear the frustration starting to build. When he brought her back outside and she headed for the same puddle, he finally got the hang of it. He strapped both the kids in their carseats to keep them out of trouble while he finished gathering his things.

He barely stopped the car as he unloaded the kids and threw the diaper bag my way. He sped away already late to work and if he had looked in his rearview mirror, he would have seen me grinning from ear to ear.