Stick

I should start out by saying we have a new toy, a big climby thing for the backyard that is tall enough to have a McKenna-approved slide but not too tall to give the kids one more way to climb out of our yard.

So with the addition of a new toy usually comes the addition of a new game.  My kids seem to make up a lot of their own games, if you could call them that.  They are more like words they say over and over to go with some strange activity that their two and a half year-old little minds think is fun.

The latest game is called "Stick."

Now you could guess the rules of "Stick" all day long and I promise that you would never figure out this one.  Only children as strange creative as mine could come up with this one.

The first day we got our new climbing toy the kids had a blast on it, climbing in and out of the tunnels and going down the slides and eventually, they ended up flinging off their diapers from the top of the slide and continuing on their way.  They were saying something and giggling on the slide but we were just laughing with them, not realizing this was the beginning of the game.

Day two of the new toy the kids are playing on it for maybe two minutes before the diapers come off again and they start saying the same thing they were saying the day before.  We decipher between giggles that they are saying "stick."

"Stick, stick, stick, stick." More giggles.

So after watching this strange new activity our adult brains put it all together and discover the rules of the game.  Very simple, yet VERY original.

1. Go to the top of the tall slide
2. Take off your diaper
3. Make sure your butt is firmly against the slide.
4. Yell "stick" the whole way down the slide as you try to peel your butt cheeks off the plastic and make it all the way to the bottom.

Little geniuses aren't they?

They have a blast playing their new game and the giggles are contagious.  We just can't have any company over that does not have an extremely good sense of humor.
Not everyone appreciates a good game of sticking your bare butt to plastic.

Oh and last but not least Sawyer is walking.  Not, completely, independent walking yet but he is getting braver by the day and will take about ten steps on his own before resorting back to crawling.

My baby days are quickly coming to an end :(

In my head

I have realized that I talk to myself.
Not out loud, just in my head.
All the time.

Mark has been off for a few weeks and I have had zero inspiration for blog posts.  Nothing has come to mind that has made me want to sit down and blog away and then today, Mark left for a few hours, I had all of the kids, and within 5 minutes my mind was spinning with blog-worthy ideas.

Apparently, in the absence of adult conversation, I am able to do all kinds of mindless child related activities while thinking of a million other things.  And a few of the million things turn into blog posts.

Is this normal?  I hope so.  I'm assuming that it is.  There is a limit to the depth of conversation that you can have with a two year old, a one year old and even a teenager so you are bound to talk to yourself, right?

Now that I write this though I am starting to feel guilty that I am not 100% focused on whatever the activity of the moment is.  I'm not just sitting back in my own world though, I'm always playing something.  I'm usually the cashier or the doctor or the Barb.ie dresser or the one who pulls them off the top of the kitchen table once things get out of hand, I just happen to be daydreaming a little bit while it is all going on.

Mark will be off for a few more weeks so I will probably either have a few uninspiring posts (heavy on pictures, light on words) or just not even attempt creativity until the month in over and I'm back in my old little stay-at-home-mommy world.  If you don't tune back in until August I completely understand!

A few more years home with the kids and I will have written a book all in my head.

Oh and I would appreciate it if someone could comment with a "this is all normal, you are not neglecting your children" comment very soon, thanks :)

Me, very much in the moment with my little ones because that hose could turn on me at any
second.

Staycation

I haven't been blogging lately because we have been spending all of our time doing this...

Mark is off for a few weeks and we have more kids than pack-n-plays so we are spending our time at home in the water.  Oh and don't worry, my toddlers are not tubing, Daddy attached the "inkertube" to our dock and they are floating around while the lake is quiet.... exciting bunch aren't we :) ??

I'm off to put on my suit, put in a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, get the baby up from nap, cover him with sunscreen, make lunch then head out on the water.

Reality is the only disadvantage to a staycation.

Happy Independence Day

Strawberry Jam

How to Make Strawberry Jam with your Nana:

First find a good taste tester to check the strawberries

Then find some girls to mash them up

Bring them more strawberries whenever they ask (girls do not have much patience)

Put on your cheesiest grin, grab a masher and help them

Stir, stir, stir (have Nana hold the bowl because this could get a little wild)

Carefully put the jelly in the jars (can you believe they are letting us do this part?)

Give your brother your extra tools to keep him happy

Grab a quick taste

Then show off your finished product.

And the next day when it is time to try it on your toast?  Go ahead and slide your whole body into the back of the chair and eat just like that.

Tastes much better that way.

Tiny Dancers

Parker and McKenna had their first dance class this week.
I took years and years of ballet and would be lying if I didn't say that was hoping this would be the beginning of McKenna's career as a ballerina.
As for Parker, I enrolled him in hopes that it would help us get his sister to actually walk in the door and to  burn off a fraction of his never ending energy.
Plus my kids REALLY need to socialize, they both cling to me the minute we meet new kids and I'm trying to avoid being that mom who is peeling my children off of my legs their first day of school.  

After I registered them I kept thinking about what it would be like to get McKenna ready for dance... the tutu, the shoes, the hair.
I had to keep pushing the thought out of my head because, as much as I am excited to do it with her, every ounce of me wishes I had two beautiful little girls to wriggle into ballet slippers.
Dance classes seem to be next on the list of bittersweet events in my ever-evolving life as a loss mom.  (quick break in my story to say that rainbows always remind me of Hadley)

So the evening of dance class I was trying to keep myself together while I got McKenna ready and showed off her complete cuteness to her daddy.

I eventually managed to get them into class without a trail of mascara running down my face.

So the kids barely moved through the door of their classroom, and I spent the first half hour of their dance career sort of dragging them around the room moving their arms and legs in hopes that one of them would snap out of their shy stupor and join in.  

Parker slowly warmed up a little bit.  

Actually little is too strong of a word.  

Parker moved once in a while without me lifting his limbs for him.  

McKenna continued to master her "I am not going to let on that I like a moment of this" face and I continued to pull them along as my ballerina dreams fluttered out the window.  

The last class exercise started with piano lullabye music which left me blinking back tears while the teacher began blowing bubbles for the kids to catch.  The bubbles seemed to cast some miracle spell on my children because they let go of me and started running around the room catching them.  I was thrilled with the fact that they were actually moving and smiling and just as I was feeling the all-familiar if-only-Hadley-were-here ache Parker ran up to me, pointed at the bubbles circling my tiny dancers and said...

Look Mommy, there is a rainbow in all of them.

Wordless Wednesday

I know this is supposed to be Wordless Wednesday but I have to explain this one before my husband sees it and I have to take it down... I was trying to get a better picture of McKenna's new braces, which she is doing GREAT with by the way, and ended up getting this cute shot.  It wasn't until I was editing it that I realized Parker was wearing my heels.  He has been wearing them ALL the time. In his defense, I don't think it is so much the heels he likes it is the obnoxious sound they make each and every time they hit the wood floor.

For sale

Has anyone out there sold a house with three small children??
At least if someone responds I will know that I will live to tell about it.

We have had our house up for sale for a while now and trying to clean it for showings, get all of the kids out of the house while they walk through AND maintain some sort of a nap schedule is going to do me in.  I actually got a slap-on-the-hand call from our realty because I think I have said "no" one too many times to showing requests so I sucked it up and let them show the house yesterday.
At dinnertime.
When Mark was working late.

They came early.
Right after naptime, no diapers changed or snacks handed out, early.
No time to stuff the rest of our crap in every inconspicuous place and load the kids in the car early.

The realtor said she had twins so she understood but she didn't look like she understood and as the showing went on it was very clear that her nanny keeps very long hours.

So they are in the house for two minutes and someone stinks.
I'm trying to casually sniff behinds and once I figure out the offender I am then debating on what is better, changing a stinky toddler in a room they may pop into or letting him walk the house and hope that our potential buyers have no sense of smell.  McKenna solved that debate for me by feeding the baby a price tag so I moved on to fishing it out of his mouth and Twin Mommy realtor starts asking me to come open doors that have child proof handles (more evidence of the amount of overtime her nanny must work).
So I'm carrying the baby, McKenna is hanging onto the back of my leg for dear life and Parker is following with what I assumed was a trail of flies at his diaper by this point.
By now we are pushing dinner time and since the price tag didn't fill Sawyer up I had to feed him.  While feeding Sawyer, Ashlyn began a mini meltdown over mexican dip and Parker and McKenna began screeching and beating each other over a bubble wand, while standing on the chair that I was sitting on to feed the baby.  Oh, and did I mention at this time they are taking pictures of the main floor from our loft, capturing this whole lovely scene??

At this point I tell them the kids come with the house.  They barely smile because I'm assuming they are horrified by this whole scene and telling themselves they will never have children that act like this and all Twin Mommy can say is that this age is so fun.  That is just what I was thinking.

They thanked me for my time and left quickly so they could get to their car and shake their heads over the insane asylum they just visited.  I continued to feed Sawyer, untangled a bubble wand from my hair and calmed two toddlers with toys and a teenager with mexican dip and prayed that these people buy our home because we are never showing it to anyone again.

The Proposal

I had to do "Show Us Your Life" from Kelly's Korner this week because I love the topic--- Proposal Stories.

So here is how our fairytale :) began...

After we had been dating for about a year, Mark took me to Chicago for Valentine's weekend.  Our second night there, Valentine's Day, we went out to dinner at a great seafood place and then ended up in a really neat, jazz bar with amazing live music.  There was a piano player and singer who sounded just like Frank Sinatra and we were having a great time dancing.

I have to stop here to brag for a second... among all of the other things he is good at, my husband is a phenomenal dancer.  He has amazing rhythm and can swing, salsa, waltz, you name it and is that guy who everyone is asking to dance with.  Me, not so much. I'm not bad (I don't think) it is just not my favorite thing to do.  I think I have always been a little too self conscious to let it all go and just dance.  We always laugh about how I, one of the few women who doesn't like to dance, ended up with Mark, one of the few men in the world who actually can.

Anyway, back to the Chicago... so we were dancing and "The Way You Look Tonight" came on and before I knew it he was down on one knee and we were the only two people in the world.  To this day I still have no idea what he said because the music was so loud (and he won't tell me!) but I'm sure it was amazing and I do know it ended with "Will you marry me?"  I said yes of course, and the whole bar cheered and clapped for us.  Everyone came by our table to congratulate us and see my ring and since we didn't have a camera, one of the waitresses took our picture with a camera they had behind the counter.

We called my parents to tell them and then headed to the top of the Sears tower.  When we got back to our hotel room it was filled with dozens of roses and champagne.  I still have no idea how he pulled all of this off without me suspecting a thing but it was an amazing night.

The next morning I sat at breakfast with a phonebook on my lap trying to find a jeweler in the area who could size my ring immediately.  I was determined to wear it, fitting perfectly on my finger, home.

We were married August 5, 2005 and it has been a whirlwind ever since... some may say more like a tornado or a hurricane but the one constant has always been how much we love each other.  We never could have imagined in our wildest dreams, where we would be today and the five years we have to look back on but I absolutely love him more this minute than I did the day we said "I do."

Oh, and months went by after our engagement and we never did receive that picture the waitress took of us after we were engaged.  I was so disappointed.
Two years later, pregnant with the triplets, I received this in the mail...

Mark and I right after I said yes

and waltzing to "The Way You Look Tonight" at our wedding.

Love you Mark!

Dreams

I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, 
to the highest of your hopes, 
to the windows of your opportunities, 
and to the most special places your heart has ever known.
-- Author Unknown

Ashlyn completing 8th grade with honors

These Two

Someone tell me that 3 is easier than 2.  

I always feel guilty for complaining about our days, especially since they should be one more little person busier than they already are but these two are running me ragged. 

I am just hoping that the minute they turn 3 all will be calm and there will be no more squealing, fighting, climbing the walls, squeezing out the toothpaste, telling me no, dumping their food, throwing their diapers, refusing to get dressed/come inside/get in the car/clean up, etc., etc., etc.  

I'm sure the age of 3 is not going to be the miracle cure but for my sanity I'm going to pretend it is.   

In the meantime I will just try to keep playing the lyrics to "You're Gonna Miss This" over and over in my head.

That is if I can hear myself think through all the noise.

Craziness

To call the last week wild is an understatement.  

Wednesday morning, Mark called bright and early on his way to work (he never does this, in fear that he might wake us on a day that the kids decide to sleep later than the crack of dawn).  What is it that causes them to wake so early as soon as warm weather hits?  In the winter they will sleep until 7:30 or so but the minute it starts getting warmer the whole house is up by 6.  

Anyway, back to Mark's call... apparently, while he was driving he heard an extremely loud noise and his entire sunroof shattered and came crashing down on him.

He was not hurt, or so we thought, so he came home, changed out of his glass-filled clothing and took the van to work.  By mid-afternoon he noticed he was losing vision in one eye.  He headed to the ER, while I stayed home with the kids freaking out that he had some sort of head trauma.  

To make a long story short, after a night in the ER and two long days with an eye specialist, they finally found that he has a form of retinopathy caused by the pressure of the explosion of his sunroof.  Thank goodness he is fine and that laser surgery will hopefully correct the damage to his vision but can I just say that we are very tired of hearing "I have never heard of such a thing before" when it comes to things that happen to our little family.  Seriously, we have had one medical mystery after another for YEARS now and wouldn't mind just a few, normal, run-of-the-mill months.

Speaking of medical mysteries, I realize it has been ages since I have updated on McKenna.  She is doing better than she was after her initial illness in March but still has poor coordination and strength in her lower body.  She was fit for braces on her legs last week which I thought was going to be a hugely traumatic event but ultimately turned out to be an "everyone is fussing over my feet and showing me new shoes and I love it" appointment.  So her braces should be in this week and my fingers are crossed that she continues to enjoy them as much as she did when she tried them on.  Most likely I will be posting next week about the fights that have ensued over her new shoes since these days ANYTHING that someone has someone else wants.  At least if they fight I know a timeout will be had since punishing her siblings is McKenna's new talent.  I have caught her twice this week disciplining Parker and Ashlyn.  Here is her strategy in case anyone is looking for a new one:

McKenna (in a long drawn out tone) "No, you do not say that.  You have three seconds or you will go to time out.  ONE, TWO, THREE.  Now you go to time out until you are ready to say sorry."

We have used counting to three, time outs and sorries but not all together, I think I like her technique :)

Of course, this sweet little boy will never need a single time out...

Especially with such an innocent brother to look up to...

(He may look like he is part of some sort of strange toddler tribe but it's just the combination of fixing his own hair, lots of sunscreen and one of Daddy's tools.)

Sawyer's first year

Happy Birthday Baby

My sweet little Sawyer is one today.  

I can hardly stand it.  

It has already been a year since I first laid eyes on this little guy.

The year has gone by so quickly and I can't believe that we are already celebrating his first birthday.  

I love him so much and am constantly reminded how lucky we are to have him.

Happy Birthday baby boy!!

An Autism Story

Yesterday, Ashlyn and I had a great car talk.  We had a long ride home, the little ones where falling asleep and I can't remember how it came up but we started talking about what she feels people do not understand about her.  She amazed me, not for the first time, with how well she is able to articulate how it feels to be her.  Here was her list...

1) I just want to be like everyone else 

2) I listen the best when I don't have to look at you

This is the one that blew me away...

3) My art teacher says "Draw what you know not what you think.  Don't draw what you think a tree looks like, draw what you see when you look at a tree." That is how I am, don't tell me something if it is what you think, only tell me it if it is a fact.  It is too hard for me to figure out the other stuff.  

There have been a million times when Ashlyn has gotten upset over something not happening like it was supposed to and I always thought it was just the change in schedule and never thought about the deeper meaning of why.  The more we talked about #3, she helped me to understand that it has so much more to do with needing things to be concrete and factual.  So telling her "I think we might go to the park" is like nails on a chalkboard.  Either we are going or we are not, she does not need the fluffy stuff in between and I can appreciate that.

The list continued with things like "I don't like cleaning my room" and "I want to be on the honor roll" and other less philosophical statements but I thought that what she started with was amazing.  I wish there was someone like her for me to talk to when she was younger and could not articulate what it was like to live in her world.  Teenage Ashlyn could have helped me out immensely with little Ashlyn.

I have been thinking about our conversation all day and about the journey we have been on that has gotten us to where we are today, a few weeks shy of her 8th grade graduation.  Ashlyn and autism have taught me so much.

So I am adding this to my long list of things that Ashlyn has taught me...

There is no perfect road to follow and no matter what path you take it is a long, bumpy, exhausting ride.  But there will be a day like this, when you feel the rewards of all of your travel and you can look at the only tour guide you've ever had and thank God that they are able to read you part of the map.

Memorial Day

My wonderful husband served in the Air Force.   We spent a great day with him today remembering how lucky we are that he and so many others have made the sacrifice to serve our country.  

I have a feeling years ago, when he was traveling around the world in camouflage, he never thought he would be spending a Memorial day in a plastic baby pool but I know he wouldn't have it any other way.

We love you Daddy!

Working hard

Parker did lots of "man stuff" in the yard today with Daddy.  He is Daddy's little shadow and during the week while Mark is at work he will head off to a wall, do a little banging and turn to McKenna and I and explain to us that "Parker's doing man stuff" because we just would not understand since we are girls.  Then he goes back to his invisible job.  

He is available for house calls but generally breaks much more than he fixes :)

29/31

I'm almost done, we're on day 29 of our month of pictures.  I love having all of the pictures when the month is over but by about day 20 I usually start running out of steam.  So today's picture is an "it's almost bedtime and I forgot to take a picture for the blog" shot.  The kids were very serious about their new play-d.oh ice cream maker and concentrated on making "sparkly's" (sprinkles?) and drinks for us with a little extra time spent smooshing it all into our floor with their feet.  What else would we do once they went to bed if we didn't have play-d.oh to peel off the ground? 

Amazed

...that this little guy is mine.

One last visit

Today we went for our NICU follow up with the developmental clinic at the hospital where the triplets were born. The kids' growth and development are great and they were very impressed with how smart they are.  We have been officially discharged from their developmental clinic and it feels great to know that my little survivors beat the odds.

I, however, pratically had a nervous breakdown going to their appointment.  We have not been back to that hospital since their last developmental check up over a year ago and I have a complete love/hate relationship with the place. 

I hate it because it is the place where Hadley died. 
I love it because it is the place where Hadley lived. 

While we were there today I had visions of myself coming back there for years and years to come just to hang on to the only place where she ever lived outside of me.  We took the kids up to the NICU floor so they could peak in the window and someone opened the door and I was consumed by the NICU smell that surrounded us for so many weeks.

I want to go back again and go inside and just sit there and listen to the sounds and remember our time there but I also never want to go back again and hear any of it and remember the awful day our lives changed.  It is so conflicting to have the place where your children began their lives also be the place where one of your children never left.

I am reading the book "I Will Carry You" by Angie Smith, a woman who chose to carry her daughter to term despite being told that she would not survive to her birth, and I have to say I am not in the place where she is on her journey but I am trying to get there.  One thing she talks about over and over is being grateful for the time she did have with her daughter and not getting lost in the grief of her death.  I am trying so hard to do this.

I am so lucky to have had the experience of carrying triplets and am so lucky to have carried Hadley for 28 precious weeks and to have gotten the chance to meet her and hold her, even though the first time was also the last.

I remember the day after they were born being in the NICU with Mark and going from baby to baby to baby, getting updates from each of their nurses and feeling completely, happily overwhelmed by the fact that we had just had three babies at once.  We were giddy with the excitement of our new babies but didn't get to live in that moment very long.  I keep trying to hang onto that feeling because we were blessed with three babies and I want to have good memories of the place that brought them into the world.

So today, we made good memories there.  We took our little survivors up to the place they spent the first three months of their lives.  We talked about how far they had come to anyone in the hall who caught onto the fact that they had once called the place home, we visited my favorite nurse who took care of me during my 10 week stay before the babies came, we showed them incubators and just let them roam the place.

Today was a good day at the "baby hospital", as the kids called it, and I was so grateful to carry Hadley's memory with me as we walked out the door one last time.

Mark and the kids looking in the NICU window

The kids, on the other side of that window, two and half years ago

Before the bath

Parker asked me to take his picture after he rubbed himself down with spaghetti sauce tonight.  He was such a mess but even through all of the goo this picture came out so sweet.  It may make everyone else want to climb through the computer with a washcloth but I love it.

A Potty Story

At some point last night, when my hands were more than full and no one was wearing a diaper, Parker announced that he had to go potty.  As any mom who has cleaned more than her fair share of pee off the floor would do, I told him to RUN to the potty.  McKenna followed behind him to supervise as always and just as I was wondering if the little boy pee shield was up on the potty, McKenna came out to inform me very seriously that "Parker's pee pee did not go in the potty."

I finished diapering Sawyer and headed in the bathroom.  As I was cleaning a smaller than usual puddle and Parker was emptying the two drops of pee that did make it into the potty into the toilet I looked up at McKenna who concentrating on the whole scene with her hands on her hips and a wet stripe going down her dress from her chest to her knees.

Apparently she was in the line of fire.

I wish, wish, wish the camera was in reach for a picture but I just couldn't get to it.

Here is my picture for today but I had to cheat.  Today was not a good day.  My poor Sawyer was sick and miserable and the only time the doctor could see him was during our coveted naptime so everyone was either sick and crying or tired and crying ALL DAY LONG.  I kind of figured no one needed a sick baby/crabby toddler/frazzled mom picture today and found a cute one from the other day instead.

Keep us in your thoughts that the little sunglass-wearer does not get her brother's virus.  The last time she was sick was when everything went downhill and she lost so much coordination and strength.  She is in rehabilitation now but doctors are still trying to find a diagnosis and until they do we really don't know how her body will respond to another illness so I am hoping that we can keep her healthy!!!!

Sunbathing

I know I am biased but I can't stand how cute this picture is.  
He is upstairs napping now and this makes me want to run in there and wake him up just to kiss his chubby little cheeks.
Sawyer is an amazingly good baby and will be one sooner than I am ready for.  I was choked up the whole time I was making his birthday invitation.  
Poor Sawyer, I am going to blubber through all of his firsts knowing he is my last.

A Sunday drive

Pigtails

McKenna was unbelievably cute today in her little pigtails today (this was the best picture I could get, someone would not stop running in front of the camera).  So cute that I think I could feel my heart breaking while I put them in.  I should have had another set of pigtails to fix.

Loss sucks.

Happy Day

I'm not sure what landed up in Happyland today but we seem to be there.  The kids have been sharing, playing together and just generally sweet all day long.  

I am surprisingly not burned out for a Friday.  

They ate breakfast and lunch without protest and no one sat on top of the table or told me they were finished by dumping their bowls onto the floor.

I even had a chance to hang back and watch them play a bit today and think about how amazingly cute they are and how lucky I am to be their mommy (I think this every day but not usually in this peaceful of circumstances).  

While they were playing Take Sawyer's Toys Away (not the nicest game but everyone was entertained by it, even Sawyer) McKenna asked me to get the camera and take their picture.

Sawyer was totally happy to see the camera as always

and the other two turned into goofballs shortly after the first picture.

We finished off our morning of bliss climbing through their tunnels where they crawled to each end and waited for little Sawyer to make his way to them.

When he would finally reach them they patted him and said:
"Yay, Sawyer, you did it, Mommy is so proud of you."
I'm sure they meant that they were proud but you get the point.

Oh and when I said it was time to go up for a nap, Parker replied:
"I'm coming Sweetie"


I am not kidding myself, once nap time is over they will more than likely be whining at my feet, fighting over a toy we have ten of and launching their dinner across the room but for now I am contently blogging and not even worried about what crazy hour my husband will get home from work at because I still have patience left over from the morning.

Now if my teenager comes home happy too I'm playing the lotto.

Cheeeese

Soccer

Tonight our varsity girl's soccer team held a practice for Ashlyn's Special Olympic team.   The girls were great with all of the kids and Ashlyn definitely got a workout.  She was exhausted by the time practice was over and so were the little ones.
While I was nursing Sawyer tonight, Parker wiggled in right by my face and said "So, um, what's the deal?  Parker needs to go to bed."  I'm totally with Parker on this one and need to go to bed too so don't have an ounce of creativity left for this post so on to the pictures...

Ashlyn practicing (and far enough away that she couldn't scowl at me for taking her picture)

The peanut gallery

The band

Believe it or not my little Sawyer was the one who started this.  Parker and McKenna have advanced to getting into much more sophisticated trouble than taking things out of low cupboard.  He proudly began unloading the pots and pans so I figured I might as well toss everyone a spoon and fill my ears with cotton while they played their little hearts out.

A girl and her fish

At some point in Ashlyn's long career of being spoiled by my parents she talked my dad into buying her a stuffed fish.
This is totally not the little stuffed animal you are picturing.
It is a five foot long, tacky multicolored, monstrous creature.  One of those things that you find in an outdoor hunting/fishing store that you would only buy someone if you are 100% positive that under no circumstances will it ever be in your own home.  Also one of those things that you cannot get rid of if it is in your home because it either
a) leaves a gaping hole in your child's bedroom so that they notice its absence right away or
b) sticks too far out of a trash can to be thrown out inconspicuously

So this morning I had to get all of the kids ready and out the door by 7:30 am for a doctors appointment.  I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but Ms. McKenna is a total pack rat, she holds onto everything, literally.  Anytime we head to a different area of our house you can find her scanning the room for what she desperately needs to bring with her to the next room.  Heaven forbid she leave El.mo, a doll or a half-eaten apple 20 feet away in the kitchen while we play upstairs.

So back to the fish....

Since we were up so early this morning McKenna was in her big sister's room before she left for school and she spotted it...  that stupid lovely, never to be gotten rid of, fish.  So this morning, while trying to get everyone ready, everyone up and down the stairs, everyone dressed, fed and in the van, I had to walk Parker, carry Sawyer, and keep steady an already wobbly McKenna who was now pulling a five foot long fish.

Somewhere along the way I found myself arguing with my headstrong little girl about the fact that the fish needed to stay home for his nap so no he could not come in the van for our hour and half long drive.  Ultimately our need to make it to her appointment outweighed my need to leave Fishy at home and there I was stuffing that stupid thing across the back of the van.  I thought maybe once he was all the way across the backseat and over her lap that Ms. Stubborn would relent and say Fishy could stay home but nope, she just rested her hands on his fins and grinned at me with complete satisfaction.  I did however, put my foot down and not allow Fishy into our appointment.  I draw the line at lugging in two toddlers, an infant, a double stroller, a 50 pound diaper bag AND a five foot long fish.  But the moment we left our appointment she was thrilled to climb back in the van with her fish.  Talked to him most of the ride home and couldn't wait for me to bring him in the house when we got home (on my fourth trip back to the van-- one for their lunch and sippy cups, one for Sawyer, one for Parker and McKenna and one last time for the fish).

Fishy is now upstairs, blocking the entire hallway, waiting for his new best friend to wake up from her nap so that her mommy can continue schlepping him around for the rest of the day.

Update on the rest of the afternoon... the new found love for Fishy did not die.
We lugged him up and down the stairs with the rest of the crew many times, had a HUGE fit because he was not able to scoot on his butt down each and every step, dragged him down the hall with Parker clinging to his fins and even squeezed him into the bathroom while we all sat squished together even more than usual waiting in hopes that someone would pee on the potty.

My little dictator is now asleep and Mommy is dreaming of putting Fishy in the lake where he belongs :)

Asked her to show me Fishy and got a fishy face instead