Watching Supernanny, Feeling Smug

Holy crap. You need to sleep train your children. Do it when their tiny and they'll always be well rested and feel safe. Wait and they will suffer and you will suffer. It just seems so clear to me.

Also, keep the clutter to a minimum. No one needs that many toys. If the toys aren't contained in the kids' room, there are too many toys. Be a good example and clean up the house once a day just like they should clean up their room every day.

We are very lucky that we have such healthy, happy girls and that Nathaniel and I agree on parenting them to be a part of the family, not the center of the family.

That being said, where is Super Pet-Taking-Care-Of Show? We are bad, bad pet parents now. Chester is actually at the vet's this weekend, getting sown up from a cat fight with a some wild farm beast. We didn't even see the wound for, like, three days. And we looked! But not well enough, obviously.

Ava peed on the basement floor again yesterday after going a week without a mistake. We didn't throw a stick for her all day. Then she knocked over a beer with her tail while Amanda and I were watching "Becoming Jane" and lapped up quite a bit of Corona while I was fetching a dishcloth. Cooper, meanwhile, was on my bed, eating a diaper. His second diaper of the week. Son of a monkey.

Cooper and Sonja have a darling and loving relationship. She gives him open-mouthed kisses on his nose and he licks her cheeks. She loves both the dogs so much-- she waves at them and they wag their tails back at her. It's all too cute.

I'm really digging my 30th year.

It's the best yet.

Is this the peak? Will I spend the rest of my life longing for this time? There's a lot of pressure to fully appreciate how much I have right now, how lucky I am, and how rich my life is. Like, if I don't appreciate what I have enough or take advantage of this golden time, it will be taken away from me. So, there's a good way to glass-is-half-empty the situation.

Nothing to say

Even when I had a tiny baby, I never was up at 2:00am. But apparently I can sleep with an infant better than I can sleep without my man. Nathaniel's been in NYC for 5 days. And I am not sleeping on the couch. The bed doesn't even have sheets on it. I'm having a blast with the girls, the house is cleaner than it's been in a while, I threw a party and cooked dinner from scratch for everyone, but I'm spiraling out of control once the girls are asleep. Obviously, since I'm writing this blog entry.

Here's what I got at the Swap Shop today:

2 little soy sauce cups, blue

"Cinderella" golden book (which it turns out we already have)

about 1/5 of a roll of Christmas paper

a fake apple for the girls' grocery cart

a super-cute duckie soap dispenser

What I didn't get:

A couple nice wool pillows

An ugly flowery three-legged stool that Maddie says, "is just my size!"

A bunch of Christmas porcelain crappolas

Day Fifteen: 3280 miles

Setting Mrs. GPS for home...

Home Sweet Home

After 12 hours in the car, we pulled into Gould Farm and our family and our puppies and our kitties and our log cabin Friday night! It was a long day but the girls were little troopers. We got a big heaping chunk of perspective on our trip and feel ready to enjoy the Spring on the Farm. The girls have shown us that we can take road trips with them and all enjoy it!

We said goodbye to Tom and Cathy and Dylan and took a nice drive through Charlottesville on our way out of town. We didn't stop until Maryland and then again for a last Chipotle lunch. We took our last stop in New York and had some ice cream while the sun set. Maddie and I decorated a pine tree with fallen pine cones (poor, confused tree) and sang Christmas carols to it.

Playing in the sunshine in Maryland

Poor baby Sonja, trying to get her Dad's ice cream cone

The dogs were excited to see us but not overly so-- they had a great time with Angie. It was so good to be home and put the girls in their own beds. They slept well and we woke up to a beautiful Berkshire morning-- breakfast at Main House and playing with cousins. What could be better?

Day Fourteen: Fun and Too Much Driving

Slept in until 8:00 today and then had a hotel breakfast with all the old people who stay at the Quality Inn. I am feeling better but Fox News was on and I’m sure my blood pressure was reaching a dangerous level by the time we left the dining room. Nathaniel said that having that drivel on in a public place is as bad as having the most radical anarchists screaming at you about revolution and burning the country down while you’re digesting your waffle (yes, he had another waffle).

We packed up and I stole two pens (!) from the room. Of course we didn’t get too far before we hit South of the Border and bought presents for Ben and Myra and Maddie spent her Easter money ($2.60) on a thimble and a sticker. And we may or may not have bought some fireworks. Who knows?

Holding her Pedro sticker and her South of the Border thimble-- yippee!

Fun with hats! And two pink flamingoes for Ben and Myra

My girl, trying on some Nicole Richie glamour

Then we drove right into a traffic jam and spent almost an hour sitting in the 95 North parking lot. (Que sara, says Pedro.)

Every Lincoln Towncar that we see, Maddie asks, “Is that Nana-Papa?”

We’re stopping at Chipotle’s for lunch and we just had the following conversation with Maddie:

“Do you like burritos?”
“No.”
“You like burritos!”
“No. Like chips.”

**************************

After Chipotle deliciousness (Maddie and I shared a burrito with just a little bit of rice and lots of veggies-- very "Eat This") we didn't stop again until we reached Tom and Cathy and Dylan in Charlottesville, VA. This was a mistake. Our car was on empty, Sonja slept too long, and Maddie lost her damn mind. Nathaniel and I spent about 40 minutes singing Christmas carols, trying to keep her from screaming her head off. We were so glad to get out of the car at 8:30pm and Tom's mom had made a strawberry pie that we ate with ice cream and called dinner (very "Not That").

Dylan was so excited to hold baby Sonja again and was just in love with her! It was awesome and she grinned and grinned her little Sonja grin at him. This is a great place to be!

Day Thirteen: Sight Regained

Eating some Cheerios after a good night's sleep in the Florida outdoors

We tucked the girls into their tent beds after some hot dogs and hamburgers. Maddie wasn’t a huge s’mores fan but she ate up some graham crackers right quick. Nathaniel and I stayed up late, in front of the fire, in our camping chairs—watching “Six Feet Under” on the laptop. While we were enjoying the wilderness, we heard someone come into our dark campsite. They walked up right behind us so we turned the flashlight on and no one was there! But there was a scuttling and crashing in the bushes next to us so I jumped on the picnic table in case it was an alligator. Nathaniel couldn’t see without his glasses but I was able to pick out a little grey body under the leaves—an armadillo! It was so cute and armor plated! I saw another one on the way to the bathroom and boy, they are not subtle when they are snorting in the dirt and moving through the woods. I bet alligators can hear them a mile away.

So we all slept well—it’s perfect camping weather, no bugs, cool but not cold, and not crowded. Sonja woke up at 7:10, right on schedule and said, “Ummmm” and looked over at Nathaniel and gave him a big smile. She is just a little angel. You’d have to go a country mile to find another baby as sweet. My dad said that you can tell she’s going to have a really warm personality. I think that’s totally true. Maddie has shown herself to be super warm and friendly this trip, too. She says “Thank you” to all the cashiers and servers and tour guides who’ve helped us. Two different strangers have expressed to us their concern with how friendly she is. Is it such a dangerous thing to be? Stupid dangerous world. Most people like how friendly she is. Especially since we’ve been teaching her how to say “sir” and “ma’am” while we’re down South.

My sweet Sonja, sitting up all by herself and hanging out in the tent while we break camp

My friendly little camper playing on the slide

We GPS’d our way to two phony Waffle Houses (one closed, the other non-existant) before finding one in Jacksonville. Sonja actually fell out of her car seat in the restaurant while it was sitting on the floor and she ended up under the table on her back. But we didn’t even know about it because she’s so chill that we only noticed when Nathaniel happened to see her on the floor, smiling up at us. From the brown-tiled floor of the Waffle House. Parenting award, here we come.

One of the actual locations where Mrs. GPS told us there would be a Waffle House

We headed up to Savannah, calling our insurance company and various eyeglass places on the way. We went to a Sears but there was a super cheap Eyeglass World across the street so Nathaniel went there and for $70 left with a pair of contacts. They charged extra to show you how to put them in, so I helped him in the parking lot and we had some laughs.

We drove until 8:00, our first night driving of the trip! Nathaniel started to get a little silly towards the end and I got pretty excited by all the South of the Border signs we started seeing. We barely got a room in Florence, SC and then had an okay dinner at the Olive Garden. Everyone admired our sweet Sonja, just hanging out in her seat, watching everyone go by. Of course, they all thought she was a boy because she wasn’t in pink. I don’t mind, I think she’s beautiful in blue.

She slept well in the Quality Inn and so did Maddie, except for one horrible coughing jag in the middle of the night. It was a fun road trippy day!

Goodbye Florida!

Day Twelve: Now this is Vacation!

Coloring with Jessica while the adults keep an eye on the weather

One of my favorite vacation days! We woke up at Ruth Ann’s after a nice family sleep together and there was a wild storm raging, even threatening tornadoes! Very exciting. We got clean and Maddie had her appetite back so we fed her some good stuff and she played with Jessica. Jessica was home from school and showed us her impressive collection of grasshoppers. She is so nice to Maddie and Maddie thinks she’s terrific!

My parents and Uncle Walt came over to say goodbye. Maddie got so excited that she stood at the open front door, watching for them through the rain and screamed when they came in. She’s going to miss them so much! We finally left and Nathaniel was a little crabby. I drove through the rain and traffic while the whole family slept. We stopped for some fast food for a late lunch and Nathaniel had Taco Bell. He brought Maddie with him but she wisely refused the burrito he bought her. He ate everything he ordered: A burrito supreme and a baja gordita. I got a Wendy’s salad and chili (sans finger) and Nathaniel made me promise to never let him eat at Taco Bell ever again. I felt pretty superior about my fast food choices… until I spilled chili all over my white shirt.

We stopped outside of Jacksonville at the Kathryn Hanna campground and set up camp in a fabulous Florida site, dripping with Spanish moss and shaded by tall trees. It was beautiful and had three playgrounds and a lake (full of alligators!). Nathaniel and Maddie gathered fire wood and kindling and Nathaniel made a soft bed of Spanish moss to set the tent up on. Sonja sat in her Bumpo and supervised while I unpacked and organized our stuff. Then we changed into bathing suits and headed for the Atlantic Ocean, which was about ½ a mile away.

Better than a tarp!

What a fun playhouse, Dad!

We walked out this long walkway, past dunes and gazebos, to a empty beach. It was just us and the waves and the seashells. It was definitely our “True Romance” moment that I’ve been fantasizing about. There were cool pools for Maddie to play in and Sonja, our sitting up baby, sat and watched us from her blanket. She loved grabbing the sand in her fat little hands and she didn’t even try to stuff it in her mouth.

My beach babes

Nathaniel and Maddie dug a huge hole and I wrote “Rundle” with seashells in the sand. Then Nathaniel went for one more swim in the ocean and lost his glasses in the waves. My poor, blind sweetie! Oh, well, at least it wasn’t his wedding ring.

Nathaniel, looking very abashed after being bashed by a wave and losing his glasses!