A Hunger for Beauty

Our spring break trip to New York was mostly spent in my sister's home in Eastchester, where I watched the kids (with my Mom's help) while Craig put down tile in a small room in their basement.  My other two sisters were very generous about coming out to see us there (and even bringing along some in-laws one day!), so we were pretty busy there.  But I was bound and determined to get into Manhattan at least one day.

So finally on Thursday my Mom and I mapped it all out and made our way-- with four kids in tow-- to the city.  We hit our first snag before we even parked the car: NO PARKING!  After driving aimlessly for a bit, we finally nosed into a 15-minute parking spot, unloaded everyone, and told my Dad to take the car back for us and pick us up in the evening.  So Dad got cut from our New York adventure.  As crowded as it was, that was probably a good thing.  Dad hates crowds.

With the car out of our hands (and my Dad's GPS very carefully programmed for him), we hopped onto the train, and then the subway, and finally lugged the stroller up the famous steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Now, I know that an art museum is not a great place for little kids.  In fact, our plan was to just be there for a very short time and then hit the Museum of Natural History, which is much more interesting for the grade school crowd.  The only reason we went to the Met at all was because Bentley's class had been studying Egypt and China, and I figured it would be fun for him to see the Egyptian temple there and some of the Chinese art.  And then maybe, since we were already there, we could see a few Monets or something...

I forgot how bad my Mom and I are in a place like that.  Kids in a candy shop have NOTHING on how my Mom and I were acting.  "Let's just look in that room really fast!"  "I see a Van Gogh!  Quick, let's go there!"  "Ooh, I forgot Joan of Arc was here, look!  See how beautiful her eyes are?"  "Ooh, early Picasso!  I like his earlier stuff better!"  We couldn't stop ourselves.  There was just too much to see.  There was too much that we loved.


But it all really hit me this time how much I love the beauty of these works of art.  I think often I've been so excited to see the things I'm familiar with, that I forget to slow down and savor their beauty.  Now, there certainly wasn't much slowing down and savoring this trip, either, but I could feel the desire for it in me.  Mostly we went dashing about helter skelter and it was insane, but, oh-- so much lovelines!  I think it was the first time I really felt the "Art for Art's Sake" cry running through me.

One wall had a small exhibit with-- of all things!-- Chinese snuff jars in it.  I stood staring in awe of these little snuff jars.  Who knew they could be so magnificent?  With such rich, sparkling colors?  They were magical!  (Probably should have held opiates rather than plain old snuff...)  I loved them so much I made my Mom (who'd been sitting in a different room with a napping Ryder) go and check them out, too.  I loved them so much I did a Google search so I could show them to you.  Check out a few here and here (and note that this last one is one page out of five, and this isn't even including them all, I'm quite sure!).  I never could have guessed that I would find a bunch of snuff jars to be so moving...  (For you New Yorkers out there, they're only there until June 25th-- go see them!!!)

Another time, as we were searching for an elevator (cursed stroller!), we passed through the Lehman Gallery and I saw a large vase that was glazed so beautifully-- red and blue and purple shimmering through-- that I could have stared at it for hours if we hadn't been on our way to the cafeteria and we were all starving by then. 

It was almost torture not having more time!  And I'm quite sure the kids thought they were being tortured because we took so long!  But I just couldn't tear myself away!  I hardly took any pictures, but the last one in this set is one of my new favorites:

Excited to see the Egyptian temple

I have no idea what that woman behind my kids was pointing at, but you have to admire her line, right?  Also, you can see on Kendra's arm where I wrote my phone number, just in case she got lost.  I was kind of proud of that idea...

Nap time for Ryder

And for Colton, too, stuck in the Ergo carrier...

I love this picture so much.  I actually have a photo on my dresser of this sculpture that my brother-in-law took.  You can't see it well in this picture, but the lady has three babies all clinging to her.  It always makes me smile, thinking of trying to be a patient mom like this woman who seems so calmly pleased to have babies all over her.  So here's me, with three of the kids, smiling away like my role model!



Anyway, to sum up the rest of the day: we finally dragged ourselves away from the Met and got on a bus (which was super crowded, and several people got up and offered their seats to us!  New Yorkers are delightful!) to head across Central Park and hit up the Museum of Natural History.  On our way, we managed to add Craig to our group, so that was happy.  It meant I could make him carry Colton for a bit!  At the next museum we realized that this week was spring break AND Holy Week AND Passover for most of the city.  And I'm pretty sure that everyone who had more than one child had gone to that museum.  I've never seen so many Hasidic Jews in one place before!  But even though waiting for an elevator was a bit of a nightmare, it made me happy seeing so many families doing things together.  So it was still worth it.  Even if we were pretty much beyond exhausted at that point!

Kendra with the styracosaurs (one of my favorite dinosaurs)

Colton is angry that someone other than Mommy is holding him.  To which I said, "Too bad, kid!  Mommy's tired!"  Then I took his picture.

Bentley imitating the gorillas

And ever since he started playing Minecraft, he's a big fan of gems, crystals, and diamonds

And last but not least, I leave you with this video of Ryder taking his first look at the dinosaur bones in the museum's entrance.  Priceless.


I sure enjoy the city.  Winding up our day by hitting the Shake Shack and hanging out with three of my four sisters was perfect (okay, okay, it would have been MORE perfect if Natalie could have been there, too).  Apparently Aunt Leah also taught Kendra how to hail cab after that, but I missed that.  My Mom, who also got to ride in the cab since her knees were sore promised me that it was super cute.  (I was back to carrying Colton, walking to the train.)

But all that beauty.  Wow.  I appreciate it so much more now.  I'm surprised by how happy it made me, how much I wanted to just stay and look and look and look.  Some day, when my kids are all grown up, I'm going to spend a full month just living in New York and going to the Met every single day.  Maybe then I can begin to be filled by it...

AllergiesPlus

Those allergies blossomed into a terrifically nasty head cold.  Even benadryl and nasal spray couldn't help, and in the morning when I woke up, I was sore all over like I'd been run over by a car or something.  So I've been resting a lot.

I realized (and made the huge mistake of saying out loud and thus cursing my luck) that I hadn't been sick all winter.  Imagine that-- with all the strep throat my kids (and Craig) have had, and all the vomiting that's been going on all around me, plus all their colds and snotty noses, I'd stayed healthy the entire time!  That really does feel like a miracle.  But I guess even miracles must come to an end.  And really, I am being a big baby about this.  It's not like having a cold is the worst thing in the world.  But since it's my first in at least 6 months, I figured I was due for a sick day or two.

So I've been letting Craig take care of things for me.  And, as always, he's stepped up to the plate beautifully.  On Friday he took all the kids with him (after I pointed out that if he was sick, I would be taking all the kids) to run errands: they went to Dick's Sporting Goods, Costco, and picked up a Redbox movie.  Then he set up our new tent in the backyard and let Ryder and Colton play inside it while he and Bentley grilled burgers.  Once everyone had eaten, they roasted peeps over the fire.

Completing requirements for his Wolf Cub stuff, right here!

Honestly, I should probably take more sick days.  The kids are so happy getting to do everything with Daddy.  The house does get messy pretty fast, though!

I was sad to miss a baby shower yesterday and now church today.  But no one wanted to listen to me blowing my nose, that's for certain!  And they would have been even less happy if they'd been forced to sit near me!

So I'm keeping my germs to myself and enjoying some extra time in bed watching Grey's Anatomy (my total guilty pleasure) on the iPad.  And still blowing my nose.  A lot.

Allergy Woes

I can remember exactly one instance of suffering from spring allergies as a kid.  My Mom bought me some sort of antihistamine, I took it, and nearly fell asleep with my head down on the kitchen counter.  I made it to the couch-- barely-- and slept the rest of the afternoon.  And never had allergies again.

Until we moved to the east coast.

Now I have them.  And I would like to utter a very sincere apology to anyone else suffering from allergies whose sufferings I didn't take seriously before.  In the past, my reaction was along the lines of, "So you have a runny nose!  Big deal!  How bad could itchy eyes really be?"

How bad indeed.

Bad enough that when I was pregnant with Ryder, I couldn't sleep because my eyes itched so bad.  Bad enough that my nose drips like an actual faucet, as in there's nothing I can do to stop it other than having tissues placed all around the house for instant access.

But this year is even worse than the other years.  Because this year I also have skin that itches all over (no apparent dryness, bumps, or rashes-- I just can't stop scratching).  I look like I have bedbugs or something.  And my eyes are still itching, and thanks to my lack of self-control, they are now completely bloodshot, too.  I look like I should have been an extra on the set of Breaking Dawn or something.  I'm afraid to go to the grocery store because little children might be frightened by me.

What kills me about it all-- besides the obvious discomfort-- is the fact that the weather is absolutely GORGEOUS.  I want to open all the windows and let the fresh breezy air float through my house!  I want to walk the kids to school and back!  I want to lay down in the grass and look up at the sky!  But instead I'm huddled inside (blogging, mind you) because I can't allow myself anything that will make this any worse than it already is.  I'm thinking about googling what would happen if I mixed claritin and allegra AND benadryl, since I've already got the first two coursing through my veins with no apparent relief in sight.

Spring is taunting me.  Showing off her lovely perfectly warm weather and then snatching it away with a sneeze.  It's downright cruel.

Now excuse while I go blow my nose.

Progress on the Colton Front

I feel like after a winter of army crawling around our little home, Colton is blossoming along with the spring weather.  He's been really full-on crawling for a while now, but I keep forgetting to mention it here.  He crawls with an adorably proud strut that brings to mind a lion cub, lifting his hands high and deliberate in front of him.  I love it.  Every time I watch him, it makes me laugh.

And while I know I blogged about him standing for the first time right after his doctor's appointment, I need to also explain that it took him a few more weeks to figure out how to get down from standing.  During those few weeks it just became habit to put him down for a nap, and then go back every ten minutes and keep laying him down until he finally fell asleep.  It's nice not having to do that any more!

He's very good at climbing stairs and does it every chance he gets.  And I finally got that other baby gate up, so I'm not going crazy trying to keep him away from the stairs.  We still haven't tackled going back down again.  I'm just not ready for that yet.

And then this last week, he has started standing without holding anything.  Sometimes he'll let go of whatever he's standing against, and a few times he's even tried standing up with nothing to hold onto at all.  These are, of course, big steps towards walking, and I'm excited for him to get to that stage.  I know, I know-- it will mean chasing him down and worrying about him running into the street.  But it will also mean taking him to the park (it's no fun trying to crawl through the bark there right now!) and outside in the grass (he's still afraid of the grass right now) and maybe even not having to carry him the entire time we're at the library and picking up the kids from school.  So I feel the perks outweigh the difficulties here.

So let's hope for some walking-- they can't ALL wait until they're 16 months old, can they?

Cutest Picture EVER

One of my self-imposed rules when I started this blog was that I wouldn't use it just to brag about how cute my kids are. Whether or not I've succeeded in that goal remains to be seen, but I NEVER said I wouldn't brag about how cute other people's kids are. So, I present the following cuteness for your viewing pleasure:

This is my little nephew Caleb (Natalie's second son), trying on his Grandpa Rex's glasses.

{Squeeeeee!!!!}

The Best Laid Plans...

It's spring break!  And this year, unlike last year, we're actually having perfect, warm-but-not-humid spring weather for our spring break and we are loving it.  Everything is blooming (even my reluctant cherry blossom tree!) and it feels like the Garden of Eden.  So naturally, we're leaving town.  This made me a teensy bit sad (even though I'm the one who planned this excursion).  But the trip is to see most of my family, so I can't complain.  But it did seem a shame to leave Virginia when it's so perfect like this.

The plan was to leave this morning as soon as possible.  And we told some friends of ours (who used to live here and are coming back for a quick visit) that they could stay in our home tonight.  Everything was set!

But when I got all the kids breakfast, Kendra mentioned that her throat hurt.  And then she proceeded to curl up in a blanket and lay on the couch looking sad and dejected.  Poor Kendra!  When she's sick, it's like every part of her just droops. As we scurried around trying to gather everything and shove it into suitcases and leave the house clean for our guests, Kendra fell asleep on the couch.  Not a good sign.  I finally began to believe her claims that she had strep throat.

Just for the record, you need to understand there hat Kendra just HAD strep throat.  In fact, she just finished her antibiotics 6 days ago.  She had it, and so did Colton and Craig.  So for her to think she had it again put me in a quandary: do I believe her, because she knows what she's talking about?  Or do I not believe her cause who gets strep throat twice in one month?!

Oh, that's right.  My best friend and her kids just had strep twice.  That's who.

So I opted for believing Kendra.  And rather than loading up the car and driving to New York, we loaded up the car and stopped at Tyson's Corner, where an Urgent Care center was located.  And while Kendra was being tested and waiting to see a doctor, I got on the phone and managed to convince the Powers That Be to test the entire family.  (They actually listened to me when I pointed out how much it would cost them if I saw a non-Kaiser doctor in Manhattan!  Amazing!)  By the time the doctor was done prescribing her antibiotics, our results were in and it turned out that ALL of the kids had strep.  Only Craig and I had escaped unscathed (knocking on wood as I type this).  So the doctor very nicely prescribed antibiotics for all the kids, and even gave them the same drug and the same time frame (different dosage, though), so it would be easier for me to keep it all straight.  Four prescriptions for the price of one co-pay!  Look at Craig and I working the system!

So the long and short of it is that we are now planning to head out to New York tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.  Hopefully that will keep my kids from getting my sister and her family all sick.  And I told my friend who was going to stay here that they were still welcome to come, but that if I were them I'd stay as far away from us as possible (she agreed that this might be more prudent).  And while it's disappointing to not be in New York by now (or at least New Jersey, at this point?), and while I feel bad letting down my friend, I will say that I'm enjoying one more day of looking at all my flowers.

So I guess it could be worse...

I Want to Break Free

In the last two days Colton has mastered the art of climbing stairs.  Despite my best efforts to keep him from even trying.

And while he has been quite successful and seems to be very energized by this new endeavor, I am exhausted by my failures.  Every thirty seconds, I have to jump up from whatever I'm doing to pull him off the stairs (or hover behind him while I allow him yet another summit attack).  It's been awful.  There is nowhere in my house that is safe.

The best I can do is to stick him in the crib or a high chair if I need to use the bathroom.  Or occasionally I have been known to put him downstairs with lots of toys and then roll the love sack in front of the stairs.  I using the piano bench to block the stairs once, but he just went right under that.  It didn't even faze him a bit.  But mostly I just drop what I'm doing and race to get him before he can fall.  Once he's at the top, he crawls gleefully around the upstairs rooms for a few minutes exploring, and then is drawn-- almost magnetically-- back to the stairs to contemplate how to get down them.  So far I have NOT allowed him to try this, although it's just a matter of time before I'm too slow and he tumbles.  And our stairs are wooden, so it's going to be really awful when that happens.

He also has discovered the joys of opening and closing things, so I have to keep cupboards locked up and nothing fun in the lower drawers.  Even my pantry turns into a war zone if I leave it open.

This is all fine and good and part of babies learning, and I get that, but here's what irks me: THIS KID WON'T WALK.  AT ALL!!!!!

Why would you be more interesting in climbing up and down the stairs than in walking, for crying out loud???

Anyway, we've had one baby gate up for months now to keep him from falling down the stairs.  But the gate that would keep him from climbing up the other half has been employed as a plant holder.  The plants aren't really ready to move outside just yet, but I'm afraid they'll have to.  Because I need that baby gate for its original purpose again. 

I'm not sure I can take this any more...

Photo Dynamic

Since I'm bombarding you with pictures, I may as well show you pictures of my children, too!  Because as fun as these little chicks are, I like my kids even better!

So here are some of the random pictures that have been skipped over recently as this blog has focused on birthdays and chickens!  Um, but there might still be some chicken pictures mixed in here, too...

Panorama of one of our more recent snow storms.  This winter has been horrid.

Ryder inspecting the chicken coop and pretending to be a chicken

Coop in the works (it's closer to being done now-- this was a few weeks ago)

Love those eyes

Kendra wearing her ballerina costume

Colton planking

And getting into my pantry

Ryder doing his best Salvador Dali impression

Playing with Colton while Craig cooks up some burgers and s'mores (and takes my picture, apparently)

Ryder's craziness seems to be bothering everyone...

Ryder, post-s'mores...

I love this picture of Kendra

Baby asleep with his butt in the air.  Classic.

Sleepy morning snuggle time.  At least, I'm still sleepy...

Colton trying to join his siblings downstairs...

Daddy is very nice about painting Kendra's nails for her

Bentley engrossed in Harry Potter

Colton laying on the couch reading.  He fits right in around here!

Colton devours a slice of bread

And then, a few days later, decides he doesn't like bread any more.

Sporting one of his new birthday outfits

Just woken up and hungry

A newly minted bottle officianado

Hot Chicks!

Colton has questions

When I first picked up Emma

Walking to school on a beautiful spring morning

I love Kendra holding Ryder's hand!

Colton grabs a quick car nap

And then smiles sleepily when my camera wakes him up

I'm exhausted from all that uploading.  Peace out, readers!

More Chick Pics

And you thought you were done looking at pictures of my chicks.  Ha!  HA, I say!  They only stay little for a couple weeks, so we've been trying to document them and play with them as much as possible. 

Also, we managed to get Emma on Monday, as planned, so naturally we need to show you pictures of our little lady.  Here she is:

She is the tiniest chick by far.  I was glad we were able to get her pretty freshly hatched.

And here are all three of them being held by various children (one of whom is not mine)

Our little flock!

Sophronia takes a closer look at the camera

Lucy Mack manages to look incredibly goofy

Huddled together, with Sophronia trying to get some shuteye

This is not the last of the chicken pictures.  Consider yourself warned!