Two year olds...

Anyone with a two-year old will tell you that taking a shower is problematic. The two year old is too old to sit in a swing, bouncy seat, etc. and too young to keep himself occupied while coloring or playing a game. Generally, Quinn will amuse himself by playing with cars or another toy, but not today. Today, he came running into the bathroom yelling what I thought was "school bus" but turned out to be toothbrush. I got his toothbrush for him and went off to dry my hair. I kid you not, only two minutes later I went to find him, thinking he would still be happily brushing his teeth. Instead, he had gotten into his bath toys, found a boat, and was sailing it around... in the toilet. Disgusting. I pick him up, he's soaking wet - yuck, from toilet water - and walk him into his room, past Riley's room, where I see he has taken every sticker off her "No no boys allowed in my room" sign (can you tell she is the only girl - the extra "no" on her sign must be for emphasis). So that will be fun to deal with when she gets home and sees her artwork has been destroyed.

The thing is, it may get somewhat easier as they get older, but that poses its own challenges. For example, the other night Conor asked "How much would I cost if you sold me?"... my little Alex P Keaton. So we tried to explain that not only would we NOT sell him, but that we could NOT sell him because that would be ILLEGAL! He was persistent though... "But if it WASN'T illegal and you COULD sell me, how much would I cost? More than a car?" Hmmm... depends on the day.

And then there is Riley.... sweet, funny Riley. It's actually her that concerns me the most. Not because she is bad... just the opposite. She's easy and independent and loves school... but she has her own devilish side. The one where she sneaks her new webkin to school in her backpack AFTER I told her not to, the one where she told her entire class she got a new kitten for Christmas - no cats here!, the one where she knows just how to make Conor mad and then get him in trouble for acting on it. The boys have nothing on her. My sweet, funny Riley is also the sneaky, smart one too.

Maybe I should just be glad Quinn is only two. :)

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is a big day... Quinn turns 2! So this morning I was thinking about what I was doing exactly two years ago today. Conor and Riley both had preschool. Josh came home early because I had an afternoon appt with my midwife, Colleen. I knew this baby would be coming soon. Number one, he was huge - which meant I was huge, not to mention uncomfortable. My due date was fast approaching. I had been having sporadic contractions for a couple weeks. I had a good feeling overall that something would happen at this appt. Colleen measured my belly, gasped a little... I told you he was huge. She could tell I was having contractions. And she left it up to me. I could go home and wait it out. Or I could go home, pack my things, grab my husband, get my kids situated and head to the hospital. Seeing as Riley was born in about a millisecond... not really, but less than 2 hours from start to finish, I was already nervous about a fast labor, would I have time to find a place for the kids and get to the hospital, etc. So I chose the latter. It wasn't the easiest labor but I knew it would be the last, so I put on my game face and made the best of it. And just after 3 am the next day, there was Quinn. As soon as I saw him, I felt as if I had known him my whole life. I actually looked at him and said "I know you." It was so strange. Maybe because he looked so much like the other two, or maybe because I knew for a long time that I wanted one last baby and he was in my heart before he was in my arms, but I did already know him.

Truly, Quinn has been the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of the sundae, the sweetest and most loving little person I could have ever dreamed of. I can't believe he is already turning two. Happy birthday to "our baby"!

And more pics!

They're just so darn cute, I figured I'd add in a few more...

PICS!

Here are some pictures over the last few weeks... the zoo, Quinn's 2nd birthday (we celebrated a few days early with my family). Enjoy!

My future Cleveland Indian!

Conor has been obsessed with baseball since birth (or shortly thereafter, it's all a blur). In honor of the hours and hours that many of us have spent throwing him pitch after pitch, playing catch, watching baseball with him on tv, cheering for him at games, patiently sitting through two hour practices, I'd like to say thanks and let you know that it has paid off! Conor not only earned the game ball at his game Saturday (he got the last two outs) against an undefeated team (who is now tied with his team at one loss), he was also nominated by his coach for the all-star travel league baseball team at the park where he plays. Even though we are passing this year (the time commitment is way too intense for our summer plans and his 7-year old self), we are sooooo proud of him.

Spring Break

This past week was spring break. Since we are going to Hilton Head for a week at the end of May, we opted to stay home and just enjoy the week off. Of course, I jammed in more activities than most people would during any period of time where the word "BREAK" is involved, but hey we like to stay busy.

So here are the hightlights...

Conor had golf camp all week at Eagle Watch (our golf club/neighborhood where we live). He loves to golf and is actually pretty darn good for being all of 7 1/2 years old. The golf pro did have to buy the entire group (maybe 12 kids or so) Wendy's after losing a putting bet, which Conor was quite excited about. And he also had to do push-ups once for swinging his club around. That's my Conor.

Riley did an art camp for two days. She came home the second day COVERED in chalk. She even had it under her nose (seriously, she looked like a very pretty little Hitler). And later that night, she had a Daisy scout Pottery Painting activity, and when I suggested she needed to shower/change her clothes, she was astonished. Seriously, you should have seen her. She looked like Little Orphan Riley.

Quinn - well, he enjoyed having the big kids around. No activities for him, but I did attempt to take them all to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who on Wednesday afternoon. No dice. He made it about 30 mins in and got tired of the candy and the movie and we spent the rest of the time in the lobby. Luckily we met one of Riley's friends and her mom there, so the big kids got to stay and watch with them.

Then Friday, Josh took the day off and we took a mini-vacation in Atlanta. We headed to the zoo, then downtown, checked into the Hilton and got the stroller out, walked down to Centennial Olympic Park, toured the World of Coca-Cola (HUGE hit with my kids who thought they had died and gone to heaven in the coke-tasting room), and then to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Then back to the room (which, my schmoozing husband managed to wheel and deal us into an executive floor suite) so we had the bedroom and then a GINORMOUS room with a full kitchen, bar, big screen plaza, couches, another bed, etc, where we ordered room service for dessert and watched movies. Such a fun trip. And it helped that it was 82 degrees and beautifully sunny.

I do have some zoo pics to post. Gotta learn how to do this myself one of these days.

Unfortunately, Riley woke up this morning and ran into our room saying "mom, is my eye pink?". Well, I couldn't tell because if it was pink, it would have been under the yellow, crusty goo all covering it. Yuck. So now we have pink eye. I say we because even though only Riley has it so far, we're bound to all have it by mid-week. So we ended the trip with a quick trip to the pediatrician (thank God for Saturday hours!) and some eye drops.

Move over, Zac Effron

There's a new star in town... and it's my very own Conor. As many of you know, Conor is not known for his dancing ability. He is king of the "white boy" dances - the robot, the lawnmower, the sprinkler... it's quite sad, actually.

So imagine my surprise when he did AWESOME in his class musical. He sang all the words correctly and even got the motions and the dancing spot-on. I was so impressed.