Before you pass out: this is NOT my belly!

My friend Nancy was due almost two weeks ago with her baby boy, but apparently he's nice and snug and not in a hurry to come out...so we were able to get some pregnancy shots last night, just in time for her to be induced this morning!  Talk about last minute.  This was one of my favorite shots.

You Know You're Tired When...

Earlier this morning I was changing the kids from pj's to play clothes when a Don't blame me, I only got three hours of sleep last night total-moment occurred.  I retrieved clothes from their drawers and then proceeded to undress Ellie from her syrup-covered jammies.  As I began to dress her she kept saying loudly, "Mommy, Dak dirt!!  Mommy!!  Dak dirt!"  I wasn't really paying much attention until she got really loud and in my face.  I squatted down in front of her, frowning, trying to figure out what she was saying.  Suddenly all the pieces came together in my fog-brain: I had dressed her in "Dak's dirt," i.e. Jack's shirt!

This post is full of self-pity. But it's short.

We still don't have our missing luggage!  

The airlines has called every day to "check in" with us on the "status" of our bag (um, hello: STILL LOST); it's driving me crazy because each time they have called they ask for more "specific information" about the contents of the bag.  When they called again tonight I felt like saying, "So let me see if I understand correctly.  You have found a large black suitcase with a light blue Pottery Barn Kids blanket in the front pocket along with a birth certificate for Elisabeth Durbin; inside there are a pair of men's Doc Marten sandals and black dress shoes and black belt, a girl's pair of pink sandals with flowers, boys' brown sandals, a grey GAP sports coat, men's khaki pants, a small black make-up bag with pink writing on the outside (full of make-up), a black toiletry bag containing a hair brush, an expensive electric toothbrush, contacts, toothpaste, hair product, and deodorant; a bunch of Huggies diapers size 6 and Pampers size 1, lots of children's and baby clothing; a black woman's hoodie, two children's swimsuits, and women's khaki pants and red zip-up sweater...and you want to know MORE SPECIFIC ITEMS to be sure that you have the right bag?????"

I'm starting to think they've lost our bag for good.

Ugh.  This sucks.  Poor me.  (See? Self-pity.)  

*Addendum: SK, it's not the make-up that kills me, but that's because I'm so cheap about make-up that I just buy the Maybelline "black" mascara and I'm good to go.  (Which I did this morning, walked with all three kids to CVS, to get make-up because we have a work dinner tonight.)  No, it's the clothes that kill me.  For starters, everyone knows when you go on a trip--especially for one day--to see friends you haven't seen in awhile and to meet Grandpa, you don't pack your "play clothes."  So some of my favorite outfits of the kids' are in there, especially a little sundress for Ellie and her cute little blue swimsuit, and Jack's Cubs t-shirt, and a darling little (Gymoboree!) outfit for Samantha that was a gift from a friend.  And a really nice grey sports coat of Eric's that is very versatile and he wears all the time...not to mention his black shoes that also go with everything (poor guy--not much of his wardrobe goes with his brown shoes, so he's had to be VERY creative this week!).

But selfishly, it's MY clothes that are really getting to me...  Any mom knows how hard it is to find well-fitting clothes during and especially after pregnancy...sometimes you wear maternity for a little while afterward, sometimes the lucky few fit into normal clothes again pretty soon.  I'm at an in-between period where some of my shirts are maternity still and some are regular, same with pants.  So both pairs of pants I took this weekend were my absolute favorite--one a pair of khaki maternity that still fits and looks good worn after pregnancy--and my only khaki pair!  The other was a gift from my dad, that I JUST GOT, a black pair that fit me perfectly and are SO comfy and go with almost all my shirts.  And then just last week I had finally gone and bought some new shirts for myself and found exactly what I needed and they all FIT (a miracle!) and mix and match well and I was so thankful...all of that, gone.  Sigh.

I know there are more important things in the world, but it's so frustrating when I can't afford to go out and replace all this.  So now, instead of being down the new clothes, I'm also down some of the old, and people, you don't want me to wear my black and grey yoga pants all the time.  Believe me.  Do you think they'll let me wear jeans to church?  Cause that's what I've got left.  Jeans and yoga pants, and some very old (i.e. from Jack) maternity shirts.  (Don't worry, SK, I didn't lose any of your stuff!!)

I'm also unsure what to do about Jack's blankie.  It's been his special blankie since he was little, and he is really missing it.  Every morning when Eric leaves Jack says, "Daddy go find Jack's blankie on airplane?"  :( :( :(  Today he was watching a Dora and they were going to the "Lost City" where all the lost toys go, and he turned to me and said, "Mommy!  Jack's blankie!" pointing at the TV.  :( :(  :(  Do I go out and buy him a new one?  Will he even want a different one?  Do we just let it go and consider this a good time to cut him off from his comfort item?  Last night he woke up multiple times just whimpering.  I think he was looking for his blankie.  

Sorry.  This is now a LONG post full of self-pity.  I don't mean to be so down about it all--it's just so frustrating; the airline called this morning and said now that it's been five days they are transferring our case to the AA Central Baggage Claim department in Dallas, and they are going to send us forms to fill out that we have to return within 30 days.  30 days!!  

I'm quickly losing hope.

To Tejas and Back

So Jack fell down an escalator today.

We arrived at the Dallas airport later than expected this morning and the curbside gate agent was rushing us upstairs to see if they could still get us on the flight back to Chicago.  As he hurried up the escalator with our suitcase, I followed behind with Samantha in her car seat and two carry-on bags in my arms.  Eric put Jack onto the escalator and then turned back to get Ellie in the stroller (with Jack's car seat atop it), not realizing that Jack would totally freak out.  He lost his balance and was reaching out for anything to steady himself--unfortunately I was too far away to grab his hand and was fearful of setting Samantha down in her car seat on the escalator steps, as we were nearing the top, in order to run down to him.  So to my horror I watched poor Jack try to grab the wall, which as you know does not move with the escalator, and after fumbling for a few seconds he suddenly went toppling backwards, head-over-heels, down the stairs.  I screamed to Eric, who lunged forward to catch him, and in doing so he let go of the stroller, which then tipped over backwards with Ellie in it.  All I could see were her little feet dangling in the air as the stroller calmly continued its ascent...so scary.   By the time we got to the top of the escalator there was a crowd of people standing around (drawn by my frantic yelling, "Eric! Eric!" no doubt) and our hearts were pounding fiercely.  Both kids are fine, miraculously.  Jack managed to come out of it with only a scraped knee and a need to be held for much of the afternoon.  I am so thankful they were not hurt worse than those boo-boos.

Early last week we decided to head to Austin, TX for Eric's ten-year high school reunion that was planned for this weekend.  Originally we had planned for just Eric to go, until a generous donor (thanks, Dad) offered to help the rest of us accompany him.  We left our house on Friday around 2:30pm (Jack, as we pulled out of the driveway: "Okay, Mommy!  Hold on tight!")  and arrived in Dallas at 8:30 pm (after missing our original flight and having to pay $150 to be put on another flight all together), then had to pay $100 to upgrade our rental car because all the cars we tried were too small to fit three car seats!  Maddening.  We arrived in Waco after 1am at the home of our good friends, Rishi and Amanda.  We stayed up way too late talking, then Eric and I were up the remaining four hours of the night with our kids who were taking turns waking up and FREAKING OUT.  Bad, bad night. 

We spent Saturday morning with a bunch of friends in Waco, enjoying a delicious leisurely breakfast and watching our kids run around and play together.  We haven't been back to visit since before Jack was born so it was wonderful to see everyone again!  

After lunch we drove up to Austin to spend the afternoon with Eric's dad and Connie.  The kids enjoyed frolicking in the wading pool that Papa Marc bought for them (pictures to come) and chasing/being chased by Marc and Connie's new dog, Kiska.  Eric and Rishi went to their reunion in the evening while Amanda and I hung out with Marc and Connie (and my three kids slept in one room together--awesome!).  When Eric and Rishi returned well after midnight we had a hard time saying goodbye and ended up staying up way too late once again.

Sadly, we had to get up at 6:30 am this morning in order to make the three-hour drive to Dallas for our flight that left at 12:30.  We were of course running late and dragging like molasses, so we ended up getting to the airport too late to check our bags on our flight, so they had to be checked on the next flight to Chicago.  Then, to our surprise, Jack and I were flagged at security and endured a very thorough "check."  There I was, standing in this roped-off area, holding a fussy Samantha in my arms, trying to keep my kids from running all over, while they nit-picked through our diaper bags and stroller and car seats.  Then they conducted a pat down of both our bodies--can you picture a little three-year-old standing in the security section with his arms held out to the side while a security officer searches him for weapons?  He had this look on his face like, "What the heck?"  This held us back once again from getting to our scheduled flight, and upon arrival at the gate we were told that for some reason Jack and I had been taken off the flight and listed as stand-by, but the flight was full so we would have to take a later flight!  Fortunately they were also willing to bump Eric to the same flight at no extra cost.  We were able to feed the kids and ourselves without inhaling the food, so in the end it seemed to work out for the better.

Until we arrived in Chicago.  Without our bags.  Our bags that contained our toiletries, as we cannot bring these items in our carry-on bags any longer.  Our toiletries that contain such items as contacts and toothbrushes and deodorant...

Have I mentioned that Eric starts his new job tomorrow? (I know, I know, such a tease; but this is a topic that deserves it's own post, which I'm working on!)

Overall, it was a whirlwind trip but we enjoyed almost every moment and are so glad we made the tremendous effort.  The kids were beautiful on both flights, well-behaved and cheerful and patient.  We had been talking about our "trip" for a few days, so as we left home Jack was so excited and kept "oohing" out the window at various strange things as we drove to the airport.  When we arrived at the terminal he said, "Look Daddy, trip!"  He was thrilled to get to ride on an airplane; I packed little backpacks for each kid with some new traveling toys: coloring books and crayons, stickers (a BIG hit), snacks, and a toy airplane for Jack and a little stuffed puppy for Ellie.  Jack had his little American Airlines model plane in his hand most of the weekend.  Both times we landed he kept saying, "Go back up, Mommy!"  We also had the laptop along for the first time so they enjoyed a little Diego and Elmo on the flight as well.  We were a little disappointed because we were seated in the very last row for both flights, with a perfect view of the engine out the window.  I was mainly bummed for Jack's sake, not that he even knows what he's missing.  But as crazy as travel is with little munchkins, and with the exception of the escalator topple and missing luggage, we agreed that this was one of our most successful travel experiences with kids.  What a relief.

So good to see you all this weekend...Waco folks, Papa Marc and Connie, and those of you that Eric saw at the reunion who apparently read our blog and already knew all about our family.  (Creeps me out just a little.  Okay, a lot.)  Thank you for feeding us and housing us and being such gracious, thoughtful hostesses.  We are so glad we got to see you all!

Pictures are coming, when I get another minute.  (haha...so like, November?)  I must get to bed right now...

And then there were three

Don't try this at home...

Not Mom's idea, but when Dad put the real baby in the dolly stroller and the kids posed like this, it deserved a picture (after all, I AM a photo-holic). I'm just thankful Samantha didn't fall through the ripped stroller seat!

What My Daughter Wore to Church on Sunday, Boots and All

I didn't feel like fighting her on the boots, considering that I was taking the kids to church by myself that morning, and considering that we don't have many shoe options since she tossed one of her shoes off while in the stroller recently (ala Sophia, right SK?).  All was going fine until we got into church and Samantha blew out her diaper up to her neck, and then after I got her all cleaned up and changed we entered the sanctuary (in the middle of the communion service) only to have Ellie take off running down the center aisle, clomp clomp clomping in her galoshes, with me running after her while holding Samantha.  Not my idea of the debut of my new haircut, especially considering that I'm having trouble styling it and was very self-conscious about it that morning.  Argh.  But what's motherhood without a little kid-chasing and self-humiliation?
This is what she does when she says "please."  We tried to teach her the sign language for the word please, and this is her version, this funny grabbing-her-tummy while saying "Peasss."
This is like her second time on a "big-girl" swing and she's already being dare-devil about it, in perfect Ellie fashion.



This picture makes me think of Eric's nickname for her...it started as "Punky Brewster" and somewhere along the way was shortened to "Punky."  Boy, did she love wearing Mommy's sunglasses!

And a few of our littlest Punk doing her favorite thing: