sun, please come back (just not too early in the morning)

I'm hoping if I post pictures showing how much we enjoyed the few days of beautiful, sunny weather we just had, then it will come back. We tried to spend as much time outside as possible. I was finally able to take the girls to one of Connor's soccer games (most Saturday mornings have been too cold). Forget the pictures of Connor playing though. I still have to figure out how to use the camera and hold Camryn while making sure that Emily doesn't run onto the field! We also spent time planting, weeding and just enjoying the weather.

here comes the sun

(I'm singing the Beatles)...Here comes the sun, little darlin', here comes the sun and I say, it's alright. Well, it's NOT alright. The sun is coming up way to early these days and when the sun comes up early, the girls get up early. The birds start chirping around 5:15 a.m. I can hear the birds through the kids' monitors and outside my bedroom window so it's like a concert...an early morning concert that I did not buy tickets for! I can see light outside at 5:45 a.m. Are you serious?! Between the birds and the slivers of light coming through the sides of the shades, Emily thinks it's time to get up. Camryn does too, but at least she'll hang out in her crib forever. Emily stands up and wants out immediately. "You ready to get out Mom!" is what she yells. I've tried to talk her into laying back down but she usually says, "You want to lay in Dad's bed with you and watch something" (I don't know why it's "Dad's bed" by the way).

So, I bought room-darkening curtains to put over the room-darkening shades because I'm hoping if I cover the sides where the light is peeking through, that will do the trick. We'll see.

public displays of awful parenting

For this post title, the word "awful" can be substituted with "appalling", "terrible", "horrendous" and/or "atrocious". Take your pick.

Being a parent...it truly is a gift from God. That's why I have to wonder sometimes why He allows such awful people to become parents. I know the answer really...it's all part of the plan, even for those kids, but it still gets me everytime when I see public displays of truly awful parenting.

A few weeks ago, I came across two of these instances right in my own pediatrician's office. A woman came in with her teenage daughter, both looked miserable. Mom looked like she just crawled out of bed and only because she had to drive her daughter to the doctor. Daughter checked herself in while mom went to sit down. A few seconds after they were sitting there, mom basically dumped her purse on the seat because she couldn't find the insurance card. I honestly don't know how she could find anything based on the mess. She turned to her daughter and said in a very annoyed and demanding tone, "I can't find the insurance card, go to the car and look for it. I can't go all the way back out there." I'm not sure why mom couldn't go look for it but I think it had to do with the fact that she could barely make it in the door in the first place. She didn't look as though she could handle much. So, without saying a word, daughter gets the keys out of the mess, gets up and heads for the door. I think she rolled her eyes, which is why I guess mom felt compelled to look at me and Camryn and say to Camryn, "Don't grow up to be like her." Nice huh? I didn't see if her daughter reacted. I was hoping she didn't hear it. What a freakin' loser.

The second example of stellar parenting skills was displayed by a dad of a preschool-age boy. Dad was in the waiting room while mom and son were being seen. When they came out to leave, the boy ran up to his dad and reached out to hold his hand for the walk out of the office. Dad shoved, literally shoved the boy's hand away and told him that "boys don't hold other boys' hands". What?! I couldn't believe what I heard. The little boy looked completely defeated, like he did something wrong. Mom then says to dad, "don't say that" and I could see her looking around in embarrassment. Dad replies with more of the same, but in a louder more annoyed tone. The entire office now knew that it was clearly not okay for his little boy to want to hold his hand. And now his little boy knew for sure that he had done something wrong because now mommy and daddy are arguing with each other. I swear...what the hell is wrong with people?

And today, while in Wal-Mart, I heard a mom tell her son that she was going to "beat his ass" if he didn't "shut-up". He looked to be about 4 and was singing while riding in the cart. I'm not a violent person but I wanted to physically hurt her, but before that I would tell her what a low-life, disgusting person she is.

emily's 2nd birthday

It's about time I write this post. I'm all about deadlines, keeping organized, and on top of things so not having blogged about Emily's 2nd birthday by March 14th has been driving me crazy! Just haven't had the time.

So, Emmy Em turned 2 on March 13th. We had a party for her on the 15th...just something small at the house (relatively speaking since small family events don't really exist for us). It was a nice day. She was very excited to eat her Tinkerbell cake. We get all of our cakes at ShopRite and this one did not disappoint. It was yummy and they did a great job decorating it. We gave her her presents on her actual birthday and sadly, as I am typing this almost one month later, I can't even remember what we got her. Oh yeah...now I remember. We got her two Little Einsteins play sets. A few days before her birthday I took Connor out to get her something from him, which he very proudly picked out himself. He got her a Little Einsteins t-shirt, and Tinkerbell flip flops and sunglasses. She loved everything.

At her party, she got some "princess dresses" from Aunt Amy, Mom Mom and Grandpop Petrilli and she has been wearing them almost daily. She wears them over her pj's or her clothes for at least some part of the day. And she was given Dora sneakers by Grandmom and Grandpop Rambo...she loves that they light up. A few days before her birthday, she received a gift in the mail from her Great Aunt Pat and Uncle Bob...a stuffed doggie that she can carry around in a little purse. Very cute. She also got some other really cute clothes, one of her favorites being a yellow and white shirt from Old Navy that she likes to wear while asking me all day, "Who got you this?", to which she knows the answer is "Cambelle" and she just wants to hear me say it so she can get this big smile on her face.

I still can't believe she's two. I feel like her life has flown by me the fastest out of the three kids. Kind of like her birth...too fast! When Connor turned five in December, I posted his "birth story". So here's Em's, it's much shorter.

I had my first contraction at 12:30 a.m. It came on strong and I could barely tell Carl to start timing them when the second contraction came. I don't even think it was 1 minute later. With the second contraction, I was out of bed and in the bathroom in 2 seconds. Then I had the third and fourth also within just a few minutes and I yelled to Carl that we needed to go. I felt like I had to push...I think we were both in shock. I remember getting dressed and sitting down in the hallway while Carl knocked on my mom and stepdad's door to tell them we were leaving (they were staying with us in case we had to leave Connor). I remember running down the steps between contractions, stopping in the kitchen during a contraction and then running to the car before the next one. The contractions were literally every 30 seconds and extremely strong. I knew that I was fully dilated and I spent the entire ride to the hospital trying to hold her in. It was a car ride I will never forget. I have no idea what speeds Carl drove at but I know we went through red lights and eventually enlisted a police officer to escort us the rest of the way when we pulled up behind him.

He pulled up to the emergency room, I jumped out and ran just hoping to make it through the doors before the next contraction. As I entered the doorway a security guard stood up and looked at me and, since I was now having another contraction, all I could get out of my mouth was "labor!" Carl followed shortly behind me. I don't even remember getting into the wheelchair but I was wheeled up, got to labor and delivery around 1:25 a.m., where they actually asked me if I was in active labor. I told them I had to push and I think because they could see me fighting not to push, they had me in a bed within minutes. I think I pushed three times and out she came at 1:36 a.m. It was unreal...all that within one hour!

sick of being sick

I used to think colds were no big deal. They are such a big deal when three kids under the age of five are all sick at the same time! We're talking fevers, runny noses, coughing, chills, sleeping and eating issues...that was our house during the weeks of March 15th and 22nd (Carl and I had it too). And a lot of people don't realize this, because it's a relatively new thing...young children cannot take cold medicine. The Dimetapp, Robitussin and Tylenol cold that I grew up on is no longer safe for kids under six. You can't even buy a kids' cold medicine with dosage instructions for the under six crowd. There is no relief from the symptoms, with the exception of Tylenol or Motrin for the fevers only. So, those two weeks can best be summarized as follows:

4 visits to the pediatrician (Camryn went twice)
2 trips to Target for more boxes of tissues
2 ear infections
1 trip to Target for an antibiotic
1 nebulizer for Connor
2 missed days of preschool

Pneumonia in December, Noravirus in January, Roseola in February and really bad colds in March. Is there anything else to even have? I'm REALLY hoping this is it!