Chaos in the End

One week from today I will be heading to the hospital to deliver beast #3. No, he still doesn't have a name either. I know I was getting pretty good about posting, but then life got in the way again. Just to prove that point, this has been our schedule recently.

Last week I had rehearsals every night but one. Then I had a 4 hour dress rehearsal with the NC Symphony and turned around and did three full out concerts with them. I was doing a Disney show and had a blast, but man was I tired in the end. In the middle of all that, Jerry went to the doctor, I went to the doctor, Jerry went to the ENT and got surgery scheduled. He is having tubes tomorrow morning. All that is in addition to the usual teaching, shopping, keep the house going schedule. Oh yeah, and don't forget to clean the baby room, clean the guest room (aka get all the junk out), climb up to the attic to get all the baby stuff, sort through and throw away nasty puked on clothes you wonder why you kept, and wash everything. Did I mention Tyler is working insane overtime through the whole thing too? WHEW, It makes me tired all over again just to think what we have been doing the last week. The chaos keeps up until I go in the hospital, then I get a break. Of course, then the chaos starts all over with a new baby in the house. To quote one of my favorite movie lines, "It's our lot in life. It's not a lot, but it's our life." If I weren't pregnant or trying to come up with what movie that was from I could probably tell you, but for now, I have no idea.

Thanks for keeping up with us and all your help in me trying to keep my sanity. We will get pictures and stats up as soon as we can. Wish us luck!

Every Day's an Adventure

If I said my life is boring, I would be a big, fat, liar. OK, so the big and fat part stands, for now, but that is baby no-name's fault right now.

When asked how I'm doing or how is it being a stay-home mom, my response is usually something along the lines of "every day is an adventure." Some days are just more of an adventure than others.

Let's take a look at yesterday

The boys have dump trucks, if you read the blog you have seen and heard about them. Yesterday, as I was checking my email, I heard Jerry screaming. The boys had been playing with the trucks as usual, so I was paying not much attention to them at the time. Anyway, this was not the typical "I didn't get my way" or "I'm mad about something" scream. This was a "I am hurt" type of scream. Any parent can tell you there is a difference in the screams of their child. Poor Jerry is walking towards me with huge tears pouring down his face and a bloody mouth. As Jerry sadly sat in my lap, I noticed his legs were red too. Thomas later told me that Jerry was trying to climb into the truck to get pushed around. Lesson learned, don't do this on the hard wood entry, save this stunt for carpet. My best guess is that he slipped and scraped all down the front of his left leg and now has a lovely bruise to show for it. He also managed to scrape his right leg pretty good too. Back to poor Jerry. He was sitting beside me on the couch, but was trying to get down. He got down, went for a blanket, then climbed back up next to me and snuggled in the blanket. This child loves to snuggle blankets!

Later, as I was putting him in his chair for lunch, we had another incident. Pregnancy brain seems to be taking its toll on the kids. Next thing I know, Jerry is screaming once again. I look down to realize I have just smashed his tiny finger between the booster and the table.

We had several other incidents throughout the day, but I can't seem to remember them at the moment. Just a little while ago, however, he tried to go down the stairs on his head because he was carrying a toy down with him. Luckily I was going down in front of him and watching this time. Poor kid just can't catch a break.

So, in my life, every day is an adventure, some are just more exciting than others. Happy adventures to all you moms!

Ride 'em Cowboy

Today was the big day!

I loaded up the boys and a picnic lunch and off we went on our big adventure of the day, maybe even the year. Both boys got the chance to ride Cheyenne and loved it. Thomas has no fear and was happy to ride with Elise or just by himself. Jerry even got in on the fun and rode around the ring a couple times with Elise. Thomas was having so much fun and even got to trot and canter around the ring a bit. Both boys had a blast petting and loving on Cheyenne. Thomas also got to feed her apples out of his hand. Little fingers and hands make it a little difficult to feed a horse, but with some help he managed. After our fun horse adventures, we got to have a picnic lunch on the lawn. Also, the boys played with Walter the dog the entire time we were there. The weather was perfect, so we all just enjoyed being outside. Thanks so much to Elise for letting us invade her zoo, and thanks to Bradford for helping lift and wrangle and protect the kids (little boys need protecting from excited chocolate labs).

If being dirty is any indication of having fun, both boys had a blast. Both had dirt in all kinds of places from hair to ears to between toes. Maybe next time Jerry should wear something a little better than sandals. Hey, maybe next time I might even get to ride. Not very often that I'm jealous of my kids, but today definitely qualified. If I got up, we would have been riding to the hospital to get me off. I don't think the doctors would approve of horseback riding 18 days before my delivery date.

Thanks again to everybody for helping us have such a fun and exciting day. I am sure I will be hearing about it for weeks to come, as well as a chorus of "when can we go back?" Next time you see the boys, ask them about their horseback adventures.

And for all you Granberry's, we passed the NC State chicken coops on our way to see the horse. I pointed out the cows and chicken coops to Thomas. He asked if we could go catch one of those chickens. All I could do was laugh and say I didn't think the school would like it if we did that. Good thing we didn't have a leash in the truck too.

Keeping Secrets

Connections are a wonderful thing. Knowing the right people can be very helpful and lots of fun for all of us.

Thomas has decided he wants a horse. Yes, I know most kids go through the "I want a pony" stage. Thomas wants a horse with spots, black and white big spots. We looked at pictures of horses of various breeds online the other day and the one he picked is called a Gypsy Vanner. These beautiful horses were bred specifically to pull gypsy carts across Europe. They look a lot like a Clydesdale, one of the breeds mixed to create the Gypsy. Maybe he likes it subconsciously because my mother used to threaten to sell me to the gypsies. Hmmmmmmm, sounds like a fitting threat for him now too :)

I decided to see if we could get Thomas close enough to touch a horse. Yes, he got to pet Aunt Libby's horses a while ago, but he doesn't remember that. As much as we would love to go back down to Charlotte for this adventure, my body just won't allow it at the time. So, we turn to closer alternatives. We have a new friend, I think Thomas is in love with her, who happens to live not to far from us and has a horse of her own. Saturday we are taking Thomas and Jerry to meet Cheyanne the horse and take a little pasture ride (while I sit and watch with camera in hand).

Many of you know little four year olds get most excited at any adventure, no matter how small. Well, this is a huge adventure. To save my ears and sanity, I am not telling the little guy what we are doing. Maybe I'll tell him Saturday morning, but it might just be better to surprise him altogether when we pull up to the house. So next time you see Thomas, don't spill the beans on our next great adventure.

Stay tuned for pictures and tales from the day, you know they are coming!