Mom! Dude!

2009 began with a bang, but how could it not with my three boys? It was the first weekend of 2009, a Saturday morning....ah, let me reflect briefly on my life BC (before children). Saturday morning meant sleeping late, waking up to throw in a load of laundry and a start a pot of coffee. I would sit in the kitchen of my old, old as in former, house, at the kitchen counter and beside the sliding glass doors looking out over my backyard. I would watch the birds and squirrels in my backyard, thinking over various gardening projects, drink my wonderful, hot coffee, cup after cup, smell the freshly scented fabric softener I used in my load of laundry, read the newspaper, leisurely, and listen to the soothing sounds of Bach, Brahms or Beethoven on my CD player. My morning would slowly unfold as I would plan my day, my weekend, and the next week. The first Saturday of 2009 began with the Triple A Threat careening through the house like rabid monkeys on espresso, with a Red Bull chaser. A...

It being close to a year since I've blogged regularly, I'm just gonna wrap up the year 2008 in one post. Nah, it would have nothing to do with the fact that, as a full-time-office-working mother of 4 kids...well, 5 including the hubs, that I can hardly remember last night's dinner, much less almost two years ago. I actually had to go back and look at my scrapbook pictures to remember anything at all. Thanksgiving of 2008 had only two pictures. Yup, that's right...2. In a family as large as ours, and as OCD as I am about photographing every moment of my children's lives as humanly possible, to only be able to find two pictures of a major holiday like Thanksgiving is disturbing. That must have been a real hair-puller of a day. Which also does not make a lot of sense, because according to the pictures, we dined in a nice restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner that year. Although, given the chance, my kids act worse when eating out in public, just because they know i...

We arrived in Orlando around 9:30 PM. We stayed at the same condo complex as we did back in May...only this time, our condo was right by a big pond. We unpack and the boys, naturally, are wired and stayed up until around midnight. But this time, we expected that...so we knew to just go with the flow. The only really remarkable thing about our first night, other than the ridiculously late hour at which the boys went to bed, was that after dinner, Pete and the boys all got gas. I don't know from what, and why it didn't happen in the van on the way down (Thank God), but as soon as everyone got inside and started running around, they all got gassy. Pete, too. Even baby Andrew chimed in with a few tiny toots of his own. Must be a guy thing. And I said as much to Pete, or, to be exact, I complained in an exasperated tone, "what IS it with you all? Why are all of you doing this to me?" To which Alex replied, after overhearing me, "Mom, we can't help it....

We celebrated July 4th, in big style as always. We took off Thursday after I got home from work. The 2-hour trip to Tampa took about 3 hours. We got to our hotel around 9PM. We were prepared for the boys to get all excited and knew it was hopeless to try to put them to bed right away, so we let them stay up and horse around while we unpacked. We did NOT expect them to still be up and wired and running around and playing and carrying on after 1:00 in the morning, however. Those boys would not settle down. And the real problem was Andrew! He would not let his big brothers sleep. He would pick at their feet, pull the sheets on the bed, grab their fingers and hands, crawl all around, bellow out; in general, make a bunch of noise and mess and would not go to sleep! Even Alex was ready to give it up at this point, but the baby would have none of that sleeping nonsense. So the next morning, after about only 2 hours of combined sleep, the boys were up and raring to go before 7AM. We went to br...

So 2008 was well underway....we celebrated Valentine’s Day with candy and small toys, and then went on a few days later to celebrate Austin’s 1st birthday. I could not believe it....Austin, a year old already. We kept the celebration small. Pizza with the family at my parent’s house, then with a chocolate cake to dive into and gobble up afterwards. What a crazy year it had been We got home early from Austin’s first birthday party because baby Andrew was scheduled for surgery the next day. I have not mentioned it yet on this blog, but Andrew was born with Amniotic Band Symdrome. You can learn more about it at While Casey was pregnant with Andrew, he at some point during his development got his right hand caught in the amniotic sac. The amniotic sac, which is fiberous in nature, wound around the middle, ring and pinky fingers on his right hand, causing a disfigurement. His middle finger is intact, and has full function, mobility and circulation, but looks a little creased at the...

November of 2007 went something like this for me: cough, cough, hack, hack, wrap, wrap, pack, pack. Between being sick for the 8th month in a row, we were packing to move. I do not recall a lot of that month, for between working, taking care of an almost-3-year-old and two babies, packing to move, and dripping, sneezing and coughing up my body weight every week in phlem, I was exhausted. I did rally a few days near the end of the month for three giant, celebratory meals. The first being my parents' wedding anniversary dinner on Monday night, and for Thanksgiving just three days later, and then the babies' baptism, three days after that. I realized just in time: "Hey! Thanksgiving is in a few days." My house was a wreck and I was still weak from being so sick, so it was Grill Masters for the anniversary dinner, and the Holiday Inn to the rescue for Thanksgiving Day dinner. It was a wonderful, lovely, delicious buffet. And don't tell Martha Stewart, but ...

So we settle into life as "My Three Sons". For someone who used to imagine that I'd only have one child, and a girl at that, how I ended up with 3 boys under 3...I'll never know. BUT: I'll forever be eternally, completely grateful. I just couldn't have imagined the fun three little boys can create! Noise, dirt, crying, screaming, clutter...all that and more would now rule my home and my life! Andrew was 8 days old when he had the first party thrown in his honor. All the usual suspects showed up and a great time was had by all. Now, with not just one, but TWO little brothers to show off for, Alex really began letting his personality shine through. One night while Uncle Albert and Aunt Nell were visiting, Uncle Albert kept trying to tell a joke. And apparently Alex understood that it was a joke his Grandpa was telling, because he kept slapping the table with his hands and laughing, out loud, ridiculously, obnoxiously laughing, at each pause for breath that Uncle...

So our third son was due to arrive. We had spent the summer exchanging phone calls and emails and letters with his birth family, and even managed another visit with them, this time with Alex and Austin along for the fun. What a fun time that was. I think Alex developed a crush on Andrew's birth mother, and she just adored both of them. Alex was really puzzed by how his baby brother Andrew managed to get inside her tummy....he didn't understand why he couldn't actually see baby Andrew and one time just reached up and pulled down the zipper on her zippered jacket, as if baby Andrew would just now pop out from inside her jacket. Baby Andrew's birth mother had placenta previa and was scheduled for a C-section. He would be arriving about 3 weeks early. So we made our plans to be there for his arrival, and took Aunt Chris along to help us out with the other two boys while we would be at the hospital. So the big day arrived. The C-section was scheduled for 12 noon, so w...

Before Andrew's birth, we were lucky enough to meet, get to know, and spend some quality time with his birth parents. On the day of our first meeting, at 4PM in a city 2 hours away, my car began acting a little funny, but nothing that I thought a full tank of premium gas wouldn't cure. We wanted to leave the van with the car seats for my parents, who were going to watch Alex and Austin that afternoon and evening, so we could have quiet, peaceful time with the parents without the distractions created by a two year old and a 5 month old. So, off we go on the interstate. As we are gathering our speed on the interstate, the car starting acting very sluggish. We had left on time, but I'm afraid we'll be late if we turn around, go back home and switch out car sears and vehicles. Pete swears that the car will be fine. I actually prayed, out loud, 'Dear Lord, please get us to there to meet these parents on time. I don’t want to be late, I don’t want to break down, I ...

We returned from our Sea World adventure happy, relaxed and proud of ourselves for tackling that adventure without any real mishaps. At least, no criminal, legal, financial, medical or majorly life altering mishaps. Dirt, dishevelment, embarrassment, tears, frustration...well, all that just goes with the territory, right? So summer begins. We celebrated Father's Day with a trip to St. Augustine, Florida (one of our favorite cities), where we visited the fort, shopped and rode the river boat on the Matanzas River. On July 3, 2007, Austin's adoption was final and we celebrated with a party/BBQ at the house. We invited our usual group of friends and family to join us, and as usual, it was a lively bunch. July 4th that year fell on a Wednesday, which I hate because I only the THE DAY of the 4th of July off from work, and without it falling on a Friday or a Monday, I never get a long weekend out of it. So we didn't do anything on the 4th of July itself, just used it as a bon...

Alex was now 2 years old....and talking. Because we, his parents, had taught his how to talk. Apparently, however, we never taught him how to SHUT UP! EVER! The child talked non-stop. He went on a bug kick. He loves his bug book, and decided to re-name every family member by a bug name. Daddy is now "roach", mommy is now "lady bug", Austin is now "beetle" and Alex himself is now a "grasshopper". He even gave our social worker, Candace, a bug name when she came to the house to do the final homestudy visit for Austin's adoption: Candace is now "lightning bug". When he told her that, she just melted. He can really charm the ladies, this boy. Not long after the bug kick, it became a fruit kick: but mostly, we're all apples or bananas. Or something called a "rootie-tootie". Don't ask, coz I don't know what that is, except at one time or another, all last month, we have all been "rootie-tootie's". I t...