(not just a) MommyBlog (dot com)

I’m signed up to run a half marathon in June, and Saturdays are my long runs. Saturdays are also the day that Casey takes Kenny and Cooper out to a diner for breakfast. Since we all “slept in” this morning (Hey – in a house with three boys 5 and under, sleeping past 6 am is considered “sleeping in…”), I took my cell phone along, and told Casey to text me when he got to the diner, and I would meet him there to get the baby.

Three miles into my run, the sky let loose and the rain poured down on me and Dudley, who hates to be wet under any circumstances. Just as I ducked under an awning, my cell phone sounded an incoming text. This is what I read, verbatim:

“Charlie had giant runaway poop. Everywhere. Coop yelled, “I have a poop too!” Remember you left him in pajama bottoms only. No diaper. 🙂 Charlie crawled in Cooper’s poop then stuck his hands in toilet. We are leaving house in 2 min. All good.”

I looked at the rain coming down. Looked at the text. Maybe running in a downpour wasn’t so bad after all…

I just need to write a little about my littlest!  After all, if Kenny had every sneeze documented for his first few years, and Cooper got at least every milestone analyzed and written about, my 11 month hiatus from writing as left my tiny man without many permanent records.  Here is some excerpts from a letter I wrote him when he was 8 months old…

Letter to Charlie, January 17, 2011

Dear Charlie,

My sweet little guy!!   It suddenly occurred to me that I have never blogged about you, and I wanted to write a few things for you, about you.

You are an incredible little person.   It’s hard to begin to describe you.   You are amazing.   Sweet, mellow, fantastic napper, loving, funny and did I say sweet?   I am smitten with you, 100%.  Your smile can light up any face you meet, and people are constantly stopping me and telling me, first, how gorgeous you are, and second, to ask if you’re really always so happy.

You are about to crawl any day, but you can get to most any where you want to go by rolling, scooting and pushing yourself.   To get my attention, you yell, “AH!” but you don’t cry unless there’s a pretty serious reason.  You say, “Da da!” and “BaBa” and make all kinds of other sounds that melt my heart.   Your little voice makes my heart sing.

You have red hair that is so long and shaggy it’s begging to be cut, and piercing blue eyes.   Gorgeous.   Is this embarrassing to read??

Oh, and I have to tell you about the time Daddy and I took you to Las Vegas.   You were about 5 months old and we left Kenny and Cooper with Grammy and Grampy, but took you along because you were still nursing.   It was a total Babymoon!!  Daddy had a bunch of meetings, so you and I hung out and played and rolled around together on the big luxury bed.   I took you swimming for the first time (which you loved) and we walked the fancy shops and in and out of casinos all day.   You were the perfect date.   It was so nice to get away with just you and enjoy you without distraction. My Charlie:

We call you all kinds of funny nick-names: “Charlie Chicken,” “Chicken Bone,” “Tiny Pants,” “Smallest,” “Tiniest of Men,” “Beautiful Guy,” “Charlie Pants,” and all sorts of variations there of.   You were a little chicken bone when you were born: skinny legs that I could easily ring with my thumb and forefinger: but now you are chunk-city.   I love it.   When people comment on your “healthy weight” I always retort with, “Yeah, he could live for a week on his cheeks!” It always gets a laugh.

Last night you had one of your most charming moments ever.   It was past bedtime — about 9 — and Kenny had fallen asleep, but you and Cooper were still awake.   We had accidentally bought a birthday cake for Grammy that had tree nuts in it and after Kenny started reacting, we gave him a huge dose of Benadryl.  I was holding you and came into Kenny and Cooper’s room to check on Kenny, and you and Cooper started talking to each other.   It was hysterical!   You would shout, “DA DA DAAAAA DEEEE DAD ADDA!” and Cooper would imitate you, then you would lunge for him, wrap your arms around his head and kiss him with your mouth wide open and your tongue hanging out.   This would make Cooper squeal and laugh, and then you would laugh and then the whole thing would repeat.   So sweet.

Speaking of kissing, yours are adorable and gross all at the same time.   I love your kisses, even if I need a towel to dry off afterwards.    I love you my Tiny Chicken.   I love you so much it hurts.

Love,

Your Mamma

This weekend was a doozy.  First Charlie was sick and ended up at the doc first thing Saturday – at the exact time that Kenny’s T-Ball game was to start.  He was noble about it (“I understand, Mamma…”) but bummed.  Even more bummed that the game was rained out in the second inning.  I was secretly doing a rain dance in the waiting room at the pediatrician.  Is that bad?  Hey – I love to see that kid play!

Back to Charlie; something viral.  Mimicking Strep, but since babies don’t get strep apparently,  it’s just “nasty virus, sore throat, fever” that there is no medicine for.  Boo.  Cooper tried to play sick while we were there, too, but I honestly couldn’t tell if it was a ploy for attention or the real deal.  By the time we got home, pulling into the driveway at the same time as a soaked Kenny and Coach Casey, they were both dripping boogers.  Then Casey mumbled, “I don’t feel good… ” and within the hour was in bed asleep.  Charlie napped for 3 hours and Kenny and Cooper and I stared at the rain pouring down and settled on making cookies.  And eating all of them.

After getting all the kids in bed, Casey and I decided to rent a movie.  Halfway through, Kenny came barreling down the hallway in a sleepwalking / night terror episode.  He was shaking so badly we could barely hold him still.  He has no memory of it this morning, though in his sleep he convinced us to watch a little ESPN.  We should have called it a night right then, but we finished the movie, which was long and kind-of boring when it came down to it.  We turned out the lights a little before midnight and it wasn’t two hours later than Cooper showed up, wide awake and needing consolation from “hearing a loud sound that said words.”  I took him to his room and laid down with him, only to hear Kenny shout in his sleep, “We need to microwave that!!”  I said, “Cooper, is that the sound with words that woke you up?”  “Yeah,” he said, “I’m going to tell him in the morning that he was really loud.”

After two full hours of his 34 pound body tossing and turning and kicking me, Charlie woke up with a raspy wail.  I went in his room and nursed him then held him for nearly an hour before he settled down again.  By then it was closing in on 5am and I fell back into my bed, only to feel Casey next to me burning up with a fever.  At 6 Charlie was up again and so was Kenny.  Casey and Cooper were both snoring and the sun was out, so I rallied Kenny and Charlie and Dudley, and we headed out for a walk, ending at our favorite coffee shop for a bag a bagels to bring home.  I came home to a Casey who was so sick he could barely stand, and a Cooper whose face was completely covered in dried snot.  Nice.  Casey dragged off to the doctor and came home with the verdict of Flu and Strep.  Waa.

He went to bed with a stash of prescriptions and Kenny, Cooper and I headed out to the annual street fair taking place right outside our back door.  Lots of fresh air and retail therapy in the form of a handmade dress, an antique console table, used children’s books, pots of fresh herbs, face painting and hotdogs and lemonade perked the boys and me right up.  Kenny made an impression with the vendors with a bag of his own money that he pulled out for each of his purchases (and to cover the $2.55 tax on one of mine!) to count out and hand over.  Charlie was ecstatic up in his backpack, looking at the sights, and Cooper was proud to be without a stroller and holding onto my hand.   Irish bands were rockin’ and the crowds were a great diversion.

After that, Kenny started heading downhill and ended up in bed with Casey (though the ESPN may have had something to do with it).  Cooper fell asleep as soon as we got home as well.  After a sluggish dinner of eggs and toast, everyone is down for the night and I have a disaster of a house to pick up.  Not to mention the things I usually get caught up with over the weekend completely undone.  There must be 4 loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away, and another 3 in the hamper.  Bummer.

My throat is getting sore, too, but whoever heard of a Mommy who gets a sick day??  Even if I end up with what they all seem to have, there’s not a whole lot I can do about it.  Maybe I should get myself to bed right now… Right after I post an add on Craigslist for a nanny, housekeeper and nurse who does house calls…

I had my interview live on the radio yesterday with Mel Robbins and it was so much fun!  After listening, Casey said, “Wow!  You did great!   You sounded like a real person!”  Coming from anyone but him, that might raise an eyebrow, but I know exactly what he meant.  I love you, Baby!

If you’d like to hear it, click here, select the show from Monday, April 11, and skip forward to the 48:00 minute on the timer.  Voila.

Mel Robbins is a lifestyle and relationship coach and just talking to her for those short 8 minutes was invigorating; I was full of energy by the time I hung up the phone.  She has a great website, with her own blog, and she’s on the air every day both interviewing various personalities and taking calls.  The only thing that was not perfect about my interview was my name… I had done all the prep work with her producer via email and I never thought to pronounce my first name for them before I got on the air.  Then the ball was rolling and I didn’t get a chance.  So she introduced me as “Kristina” but my name really is “Kristjana.”  Small potatoes.  After all, it’s the blog name people are going to remember.  I’ve known people for 10 years who still call me “Kristina” and still others that have always greeted me with “Hey You!”  And my university diploma was handed to me with the name “Kristianna.”

So what’s next??

I mean, besides folding the 80 onesies on top of my dryer and changing 8000 diapers and cleaning the purple stuff my dog just vomited on the rug?  I guess just that.  That is my job after all.  And it’s a really good one.  It’s maddening, especially when Kenny, Cooper and Charlie have all seemed to synchronize their growth spurts and I swear I fed them each 8 full meals today, and none at the same time.  When they all need me right now and they all need me in completely different ways and I feel like a piece of silly putty that’s being pulled in too many different directions.

I love those little guys!!

I don’t really know what’s next.  I want to write again.  I also want to run a half marathon in June, which I’m training for.  And did I mention that we spent the winter living in Arizona for Casey’s work again?  This is the third winter we’ve been out there (among other short trips), and let me tell you, with 3 kids it was a whole different ball game.  We had 6 suitcases with us on the plane and shipped another dozen boxes there and back.  And Dudley was driven out for us by my parents in their luxury RV and flew home on a charter jet.  I’m totally not joking.  Go google “Pet Airways.”  We’ve only been home for 10 days or so and I’m just now feeling like we’re settling back in.  It’s been chilly and rainy almost every day since we’ve been home, so it’s been a tough transition.  But we made it!  Now if only I could get that last box to unpack itself…

I know, it’s been a while…

What can I possibly have to say after nearly 11 months of absence??  Actually, I’m being interviewed on The Mel Robbins Show on Lifestyle Talk Radio tomorrow at 11:30 am, so I thought that it was high time to think of something intelligible to write!!  If you have found me here after listening to the radio, welcome!  If you are a former reader who happened to (faithfully) check back here, welcome back!

What’s new?

Well, for one, my tiny baby turned 11 months old yesterday!  Last time I wrote he was barely 8 pounds; now he’s crawling at lightening speed and trying to stick his tongue in the electric sockets.  Madness.

I have to admit that, though I’ve been thinking of getting back into blogging quite a bit lately, I’ve been a little daunted.  I mean, where do I start?  Do I do a bullet-point catch up of the last year?  Do I write as if no time at all has passed and pick up at today?  I guess that brings me to the bigger question of why I stopped blogging last year.

That’s actually a good question, and one that I’ve been frequently asked and mull over quite a bit.  I love writing.  It’s a great outlet.  I do miss it.

First, once Charlie was born, I found myself swallowed up with a whirlpool of busyness.  One newborn is a zoo in itself, but added on top of an almost 2-year-old and a four year old, it caught me halfway to the crazy house.  Suddenly I was up till midnight folding laundry and scrambling online ordering groceries and diapers.  Taking a shower became a fantasy.  I couldn’t even sneak in a bowl of cereal without someone pulling on my pants and asking for a bite, then proclaiming that they were starving, and could I please make some scrambled eggs?  When I nursed, I’d have one on each side of me, squeezing as close as possible, and begging me to read a book, play a game, tell a story.  Right after Charlie’s birth day, Casey also suddenly found himself needing to travel much more than usual for his work.  I did hire a mommy’s helper 20 hours a week for the first 6 weeks, but even with her help, I could barely keep things caught up.  I really had no time to sit down at the computer and do anything.  And I was so tired I couldn’t have strung two words together if I tried.

Once things settled down, I kind of didn’t want to blog anymore.  I love my little circus, but at the end of the day, in between catching up with housework and personal hygiene,  I really didn’t want to sit down and write about them.  I needed a break from them.  After playing with them all day, I didn’t want to relive it online, I wanted to decompress.

This is funny, too, but I also started to miss the anonymity of blogging.  When I first started, all my readers were strangers.  Then after a while, as more family and friends started reading, I got more self-concious about my writing.  I would write a post, then end up deleting it because I knew my mother or whichever relative would be reading it, and it wasn’t something I’d want that person to comment to me later on.  Or I would miss a few days of writing and someone would call me and say, “Is everything ok?  You haven’t updated your blog in a week!”  Once my audience became partially familiar, I had to constantly edit what I wanted to write.  And that wasn’t so fun anymore.  I actually have thought of starting a totally new blog under a pen name, just for the joy of writing, without the nagging.  That’s silly, isn’t it…

So here I am.  I’m going to try and get back into the habit of writing regularly again.  I don’t know how much “Mommy” there will be all the time, but that might be more interesting anyway…  I mean, is mommyblogging still “in” these days???

… I hope that’s true, because I don’t have time to type any words!!!   I promise that the Birth Story is forthcoming… it’s a good one!!   In the meantime, just so I don’t lose all my readers again…

Here’s Charlie!!!

He’s a keeper!!

This is Daddy reporting in that……

Charlie Campbell — 7 LBS, 15 Oz

Was Born 1:44 am, May 9th 2010.

Story to come.   But for now a few pictures.

Kenny and Cooper and I went out for dinner with my parents a few nights ago, and we settled on my favorite sushi place, even though my menu options are a bit limited, at least for the next 7 (!) or so days.   We were the first ones there, and it was one of those rare nights where both boys not only behaved perfectly, but ate everything that I put on their plates, from the edamame and sticky rice to the chicken katsu.

Halfway through dinner, Kenny started yelling, “Ahoy!” every time someone came in.   I laughed as soon as I realized that he was hearing the traditional shouts of “Irasshaimase!” and translating them into a word that he knew.       Cooper joined in not much after, and a fun time was had by all.

I ate as much wasabi as humanly possible,  but the old, “Spicy foods trigger labor” hogwash didn’t work.   Waa.   Next on the list?   A massage.   And a little jumping rope…

I went to the grocery store today and now as I open the fridge looking for a bedtime snack, I see that all of the expiration dates staring back at me are past my due date.

Whoa.

Kind of funny to see that my pregnancy will expire before the milk and the meatloaf mix…

Not much new to report.   It’s all “hurry up and wait” for me at this point.   Most everything I needed to do is done.   I’m sure I’ll panic and think of 8 projects the day before my date that I need to do Right Now, but at the moment, most of my To Do list involves compulsively trying to keep the laundry at bay.   Boooooo-ring.

I’ve been talking to Cooper at night about the baby coming, and though he doesn’t make it obvious that he understands, I hope that some of it is sinking in.   He does comprehend much of the goings on around him, and I don’t want the baby coming home to be a complete shocker.  

He is so funny, too, with the things that sink in and make impressions on him.   Every night when I’m tucking him in, we play a little game where I tell him all the times I love him, and he will answer with, “more!”   “I love you when you’re silly; I love you when you’re running around; I love you when you’re spilling milk on the floor…”   But there is one that he always tells me before I can say it: “You love me when I cry.”   It’s so funny, that that is the one he reminds me of.   Then when the game is done and I’m about to leave, I always say, “Mommy is in Mommy’s room.   I can always hear you, and if you need me, you call me and I’ll come right in.”   Tonight he beat me to it: “You always hear me all times!”

I can hardly believe that in 9 days, he’ll be a big brother!