reality lives in my rear view mirror

sometimes you are in a hurry and
a very long train comes....

Today it happened to us.
My instinct was to be frustrated....
until...
I looked in my rear view mirror

I saw two little men full of
joy, awe, excitement, and happiness.

I realized:
Reality lives in my rear view mirror

In my rear view mirror:

Big freight trains are cool
Seeing one pass by is awesome!
and time is not an issue
So.....

I forget about my reality of schedules and time.
I choose to live in the reality of my rear view mirror.
I put the car in park, and rolled down the windows so we could hear the bell, clanking, and clackety, sounds of the train.

Guess what?

We still made it to the doctor.
And, all day the boys talked about the train.
Totally worth it.

I hope every time I am stopped by a train, even if it is long after the car seats are removed from my car, I will be reminded of the simple joys of life.

The big news is in.....

We took over the waiting room.....

Quint and Russell waiting to see the baby on the TV

I couldn't wait to see all the fingers and toes...

Getting Ready!

It is official......

our newest family member is a

BOY!!!!!!

We are thrilled!

I will be outnumbered, but I love my big man and my little men so much,

I am excited to have another one in the mix!

We are all anticipating HIS arrival in September!

Daddy celebrating:)

New baby makes 5!

I realized I never posted about number 3! BK, Quint, Russell and I are very pleased to announce to the blog world we are expecting #3 in September. BK and I are a little anxious about being out numbered, but couldn't feel more blessed to have another little one joining our family. We took the boys to hear the heartbeat at 12 weeks and I think they are beginning to get excited. Quint often asks when is the baby coming out of your belly? I thought to blog, because our ultrasound is tomorrow! Everyone in the family is excited to see if we our new addition will be another brother or a sister!

We will keep you posted!

12 week picture:)

Tornado Season

I babysit two awesome kids one afternoon a week. Usually it goes smoothly and last Thursday seemed to be on track. Three of the four were napping and David and I were just hanging out. It had been a strange weather day, rain, then sun, thunderstorms etc. Just then it got very dark, the wind was blowing, and began to hail. I am a weather wimp. I think if this weather had happened at my parents house in NY I would have thought "wow, crazy storm".

BUT, I live where there are tornado's.

I don't know much about them.

I have never seen one.

I hope I never do see one.

**FYI**

we have loud speakers all over town for tornado warning sirens

Back to the Story

While I was trying to remain calm about the crazy wind, hail, and darkness, someone began speaking over the tornado siren speakers. I have only heard the practice sirens, and I have never heard someone speaking on it! I didn't know what it meant. There was not a siren, but because of the hail and wind I could not understand what he was saying.

I was officially freaked.

My mind was racing, do I wake all the babies and go to the basement? I called Lauren. She has lived here a while and knows about weather. She was so nonchalant. She said "let me turn on the TV and see what they are saying"

I was thinking "we could be dying it could be coming right now!" I woke up Quint and Russell, I figured then I would only have to grab one baby if it was bad. It seemed like forever, but Lauren said it was just a Tornado Watch so not to worry unless we hear the sirens. Oh sure....don't worry. I am sure they will spot it in time, turn on the sirens so we have time to go to the basement......

Ultimitely, it was fine. We did delay our trip to Sam's club till the next day because even our local friends said it is best not to drive around in such volatile weather.

I know I am excessively dramatic, but after what just happened in Oklahoma....and has happened very near to where we live in the past.....I like to lean to the side of caution...or drama....however you want to describe it.

Quint loves sunglasses too?

I blogged a while back about Russell possible sharing my love for sunglasses.

Quint might be catching the bug too!

He found this old pair of mine, but I might need to get him a more manly pair:)

He still looks cute!

Homemade Footie PJ's

Quint is growing fast, and currently we only have 2 pairs of footie PJ's that fit Quint. I have not rushed to find more because it is spring. Tonight it was going to get a bit chilly, and Quint's 2 pairs of footie PJ's were in the dirty laundry. He was distraught.

Quint was worried he would be cold. I had a mommy genius moment.

We put on his regular PJ's and we added big daddy socks over his feet and legs. It was a huge hit! Quint loved his homemade footie PJ's.

A win for Mommy:)

Quint showing off his new feet warmers:)

The full alfit

Both boys warm and cozy

Face Plant

Is it just my children, or does everyone's children get injured at the park?

We have had our fair share of episodes were I have left the park with a crying child. Fortunately, we have never been to the emergency room from a park incident....(knock on wood!)

Today was gorgeous. We headed to the park to play and have a picnic lunch with friends. It was great.....until........the face plant.

It seemed harmless, I was pushing Russell in the swing. Quint was swinging on a big swing on his belly.

All the sudden:

FACEPLANT

Quint leaned a little too far on his swing and flipped the swing. He landed face first in the wood chips. I grabbed him and his face was covered in dirt and wood chips. He calmed down after a bit, but we headed home.

Is this just our family?

My fear is it is either a side effect of having two parents who are very uncoordinated on land, or a mommy who has attention issues.....

Peaceful

Russell just fell asleep before nap on our bed.

He looked so cute

I snapped a picture before I moved him to his crib.

Quint's first roadside bathroom stop!

We were on a family drive which takes about 30 minutes. We were about 10 minutes from home, and I heard a voice in the back of the car say "Mommy I need to go pee pee". I asked very nicely "can you hold it we are close to home?" He responded "I have to go pee pee". We were on a 70 MPH freeway. I did not want to pull over but BK said we could. BK was the hero jumping out and teaching Quint how to pee outside. He even found a tire scrap for Quint to aim at. He did great, although as the momma I was a little nervous having my men on the side of the road.

Here was the view out the back window

Daddy helping Quint get started

Quint had a nice view for his bathroom break!

Russell thought the whole thing was funny