Nintendo has been good for my marriage

When I didn't make enough money from the Mothers of Multiples resale to cover the cost of membership to Sherwood Park Pool this summer, I was bitter. Mostly at my husband for his rare moment of fiscal responsibility.

So I had a couple hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket, and I did what any responsible adult would do, I bought a Wii. I don't know why, I'm not a game fan. But I bought it, and then our good friend Johna came over a couple days later with the whole Rock Band kit and caboodle. Love her! So now, almost every night, we play Rock Band. Our band is called "Kids in Bed" - we have Mad Dog Lacey on guitar, Johna on vocals, and "E" on drums. I have to say, I've surprised myself with my percussion proficiancy. Even when Johna's out teaching, Jeff and I play. It's been so much fun to be on a team together and we're pretty good at saving each other. We've even unlocked the "Endless Set" - 84 songs in a row, with no stopping... we're waiting for babysitting for that one!

Jack stats and smells

Little Jack Sprat is truly my littlest... he's a svelte 19 pounds and not quite 30 inches. For a baby that was born almost 10 pounds, he's really slimmed down this year. Doc says it's probably cause he's so active.

Poor Jack had a bad day though, three shots at the doctors, and because I'm a paranoid mom, I mentioned another issue to Dr. Field. Jack has the stinkiest pee, I mean, really rank, and I'm somewhat of an expert on kid pee. So before we left, the doctor fitted Jack for a "urine catch", which basically means a sandwich baggie gets stuck to his penis and scrotum with a sticky note. So after grabbing a quick bribery Happy Meal for big sister Ellie, we headed over to LabCorp to get his blood drawn and turn in the bag o' pee.

Here in Delaware, it's mandatory that all one year olds get tested for lead poisoning, and Dr. Field recommended that we go ahead and get a renal panel done, just in case the pee turns out to be a problem. With the girls, the blood draws were no problem at all, in and out, no tears. Jack... well, that was another story all together. She first stuck his left arm and got nothing. My kid apparently has no blood at all in his left arm. Then she stuck the right arm and got a "flash", and then nothing. By this point, Jack is screaming his fool head off. I'm a strong woman and I can take a lot in the name of good health, but it was nearly too much for me. In both arms, she was basically fishing around for a vein and kept saying "the baby's roll terribly". I'm sure that they do, but wow. I pulled the plug on the fishing expidition, and we'll just have to go back on Monday. At least it made him pee, and we got the baggie off his bits.

As if to demonstrate his extreme displeasure, Jack proceeds to take the grossest, smelliest crap while I'm getting my bag and Ellie together. Stunk up the whole darn lobby. Whoops!

Lacey Bed and Breakfast

Some of you may already know that my friend Andee and her son are staying with us for an extended stay while she awaits the birth of her baby. Her son is also named Jack, so by way of clearing things up, we're referring to him as "Big Jack". Big Jack is just a couple weeks younger than Ellie and she's pleased as punch to have a friend to play with who "gets it". Though we call him Big Jack, he's actually a peanut - actually shorter than Maggie and he only weighs 29 pounds. By contrast, Maggie is 38 pounds. So Big Jack is taking some lumps as he gets used to being in a house with two girls that can seriously throw down.

Andee is expecing a second baby boy and hasn't yet picked a name for this little man. I'm amusing myself by throwing random names at her to see if any of them stick. So far, no good, but there's always hope. The most exciting part for me is that I get to see this baby be born. Andee has asked me to act as a kind of doula at the birth and I'm honored to fill the role. I'm a little nervous, since I've never been on the other end, so to speak. I can't wait to meet little... Andrew? David? James?

After Andee leaves, we will be welcoming Caroline Amie, a young lady we met when we were in France last year. She has asked if we would be willing to host her so she can work on her English. She's written to say that she also knows how to cook, do laundry, iron and wants to help with the kids... can you say Au Pair? Woo hoo! Actually I'm looking at it as a great experience for my kids to meet someone from another country, and who knows, maybe when Ellie's 15 she'll be able to go to France for a couple weeks!

I guess that it may seem like a lot to have people staying all summer, but we so love having company and our house is set up nicely for guests to have privacy. Just call us Motel 1116 and we'll leave the light on for you.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Today my littlest person turned one. Of course I spent all day thinking about what I was doing a year ago....

The day started like every other day for the last two weeks... I was still pregnant. This despite Jack being my third child in three years and the fact that he was due on June 19th. The adorable "Gemini Baby" onsie still mocking me from it's spot on the floor in the back of the closet where I had thrown it in disgust on June 22.

I got up and went to the bathroom, and when I was finished, I got up and checked the bowl, just to make sure the baby hadn't come out while I was peeing. (Why does that happen to those crazy "I didn't know I was pregnant" people? Those women are either certifiable or flat out lying. ) So there was no baby doing the backstroke in the bowl, and I wandered down the stairs cranky and mad at the girls for daring to be awake and happy. Just when I was considering how much longer I could sleep on the couch while the girls watched Curious George, it happened... a contraction. Nah, couldn't have been. I'm a circus freak who doesn't go into labor. Look kids, it's the amazing pregnant woman! She's been pregnant for 400 years. Wait... there's another! Woo hoo... bring the pain.

So, now what am I going to do? I figured this was going to be a long day and it would take my parents at least two hours to get to my house, so I rounded everyone up and went to Andrea's house for playgroup. It was freaking hot, and she had the sprinkler out. I informed the moms that I was probably in early labor, and that I would not be managing my own children today. Of course, the girls had other plans and I was refereeing and keeping Maggie's teeth off Ellie's back (we called her Marv Albert most of last summer). As playgroup wore on, the contractions kept coming and at some point I decided I should go home before I couldn't drive. Those of you that are locals should be amazed to know I navigated through White Clay Creek while having contractions.

By the time we got home though, woo nelly. Now they hurt. And no one was here yet. I desperately tried to talk the girls into a nap, but they weren't biting. I called my parents and thankfully they were close. Jeff was also on his way and his parents weren't far behind. My parents walked through the door at about 12:30 and I checked out of parenting. I have no idea what the girls did for the next four hours while I labored at home.

About 5PM, we finally went to the Birth Center. By that point, the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was not really able to talk much during them. When I had Maggie, I went to the Birth Center for a false alarm labor and before I had even finished walking through the door, the midwife told me I was smiling too much to be in active labor. We all trucked to the Birth Center, well, the granddads stayed at home with the ladies, and settled in for the big show.

This is the point in the story where I'm obligated to tell you why I choose to have babies without drugs... Having a baby without drugs is much like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer.... it feels really good when you stop doing it. I didn't choose the Birth Center cause I'm anti-drug, I often say that the anethesiologists of the world are good people who should be very proud of their work, but the people at the Birth Center are so incredible, I can't imagine going to a hospital. Dorinda, Peggy, Katie, and everyone else there is as caring and as warm as you could possibly imagine. The feeling of belinging to their family is something you cannot get from a hospital where 2000 babies are born a year. People should make whatever choice works for their family and this was the one that worked for us.

It seemed like we were there at TBC for a very long time. There was time to sit in the living room and hang out on the birthing ball, time to take a bath, and finally it was time to make the magic happen. Johna was there to videotape and I kept telling her that there would be more shouting by the end and I don't think she believed me until it was go time. By the time I was in the birthing room, which is really a bedroom, I was in the stage of labor in which every woman says "I can't do this, I have to stop". I was feeling the urge to push and was devastated when the midwife, Katie, told me I was only 8-9 cm and I shouldn't push. I think I could have pushed a SEPTA train up Everest at that point, so it was pretty big task to wait. I thought it would last for hours, I thought I couldn't do it, I wept and cried into my pillow... and then, something changed and it was time to push. 8 minutes later, Jack was born. He was born in his amniotic sac, meaning my water never broke. Dorinda spent the last few minutes of my labor expecting to get showered, cause apparently the sac was like a big water balloon coming out of my hooha. I'm working on balloon animals for my next labor. In the end, she had to cut it with scissors and yank it off Jack's head.

Being born in the "caul" as the old wives call it, is a sign of second sight. I attribute Jack's laid back nature to the fact that he's psychic and he knows that I am going to get his food and that he is going to get whacked on the head by Mags, but it's not going to leave a scar.

He was a gorgeous baby, a perfect 10 on his APGAR. Pink and plump and 9 pounds 8 ounces. Born at 9:04 PM, and perfect in every way.

A year later, he's made our family whole. His sweet smile and great giggles keep us all happy. He's starting to walk and even more exciting, he's starting to sign, so soon I hope to be posting about what Jack has to say!

Happy birthday to Jeff's mini-me, my main squeeze, Ellie's little Meatball, and the love of Maggie's life. John Moran Lacey


(Oh and when I called one of the moms who was at the playgroup the next day to tell her that I'd really had the baby that day, her response... "I figured you would, you were really bitchy yesterday." Love you Trish!)

Sappy sentiments ahead.

So, if you know me, you know that I love Facebook. I have over 250 "friends" and I keep saying I'm going to go through and edit them - you know, cut it down to the people that I really keep in touch with. Then every time I try, I end up thinking about how I really like all these people and though I may not send them messages all the time, it's comforting to know that they're out there in cyberspace and I can find them if I want to. Maybe it's a product of moving around so much, maybe I'm just a sucker for people, but in the end, I just keep adding friends and being glad that I've met so many different kinds of people.

That's my sappy sentiment for the day.

Home again, home again, jigetty jig

We're back from the epic trip to Pittsburgh. Let me tell you, my mom is a brave soul - 14 hours total in a car with three kids under age 5 and their stressed out mother... yikes. The kids did really well, honestly. Jack was a little angel, hardly heard from him the whole way.

On the way up, we drove scenic Route 30 through PA, past the Elephant Museum, Living Treasures Animal Park and the Land of the Little Horses. Some day, I swear I'm going to take week and drive on that road and stop at all of those places. There's also Idelwild and Storybook Forest, I mean, what more could a girl want, right? Mom did her best to entertain everyone, but she mostly entertained me by throwing stuff at the kids. In her defense, it's really the only way to get stuff to the girls when they're all they're all the way in the back. So they'd ask for some drink or something to eat and Mom would whip it at them and pray they caught it. This worked great until we were about 30 miles from Opa's, when Mom threw the last sippy of milk at Mags, and she dropped it. Tragedy. Anyone who knows Mags, knows that this was a disaster of epic proportions. She screamed about that damned sippy the rest of the way.

It was great to be in the city of Champions for the Pens win. I'm not really a hockey fan, but hey, who doesn't like to see their team win?

Jack had a little first birthday party at Beth's house with my Hoover family. It means a lot to me to have birthday's with my family, probably because we moved when I was young, and I didn't celebrate my birthday with them very much. He got lots of cute clothes and some great toys. Poor kid is probably getting tired of playing with dolls, so it's good that he finally has some trucks to push around.

The funniest thing that happened was when we went to South Park to meet my dad's sister, Alice. South Park is an enormous green space with tons of small playgrounds. Alice knew of a nice area to have a picnic, so we followed her there and set up all our food. Well... don't you know, the bathrooms were all locked and of course, Ellie and Maggie had to pee almost immediately after we arrived. So the girls learned to "camping pee" - drop trou and pee in the breeze. Maggie ezpecially thought it was the greatest thing in the world. She spent most of the rest of our lunch naked from the waist down, peeing. I'm going to have to watch that she doesn't start peeing in the back yard I think. She wanted to try pooping, but I told her that I wasn't equipped to deal with poop.

I wasn't with Ellie most of the time. She spent most of her weekend with my mom and my grandfather. I'm going to admit her to an inpatient detox so she can get off the Oreos and orange juice, not to mention the undiluted GoGo time. She was in her glory - anytime I came to the house, she'd tell me to leave and to take Maggie and Jack with me. She even went fishing with her Great-Uncles Boo and Cherry. (On a side note, everyone of the "adults" in this family have a goofy kid name - Mimi and Cherry, Gigi and Boo, GoGo and Uncle LiLo) All in all, she had a great trip and was really not in the way of wanting to come home.

But home we had to come and the drive home was a little less relaxed - Turnpike the whole way. About 2 minutes after we pulled out of my grandfather's driveway, the DVD player gave up the ghost. So there was a detour to Target, where a new and improved DVD player was purchased, thanks Mom for the kids' birthday present. Of course, I got a chatty Target guy who wanted to talk features with me and I had to cut him off saying "my kids are in the car with my mom and we're on the road, now... just give me this one!" By Lancaster, PA, the kids were toast and Ellie and Maggie disolved into screaming at each other for fun and I actually had to stop the car and take Ellie out onto the curb and threaten her with leaving her behind. I asked her if she wanted to stay on the curb and she said "No" and then I asked if she wanted me to tie her car seat to the roof rack, and she said, "will it be fun up there?"

Finally we arrived home and picked up our $5 pizza, where of course I ran into Noel, like I always do on Tuesday nights at Valle, and then I threw the kids at Jeff and went out for an hour, by myself!! Hooray! Of course, where did I go? Babies R Us... kids are a sickness!!!!

Okay so I'm serious this time

I keep saying I'm going to start a blog, so here it is. No really. It's here. This is it, you're reading it now. I guess I should start being witty now...

This weekend was the second First Friday Happy Hour of the summer. Of course, this month, the month of rain here in lovely Delaware, First Friday happened on the first Saturday. The regulars were all here - I guess we ended up with about 14 adults and 10 or so kids. Jeff bought new sand for the sand box, most of which ended up in Tyler's pants, I believe. That kid is going to be well exfolliated.

Today was the Blue Rocks game - Maggie and Jack's first baseball experience and Ellie's second. Ellie was largely interested in all the food options, which should be a surprise to no one at all. She's not a fan of Cracker Jack, so I'm not sure at all if she's my kid. Maggie had a good time in the moonbounce they have there and managed to figure out that Daddy couldn't fit in the little hole to get her out, so she bounced away in the back where he couldn't reach her. Stinker.

The Jack man continues to amaze us with his eating abilities as well. Tonight he had chicken, peas, asparagus, 8 oz of milk and then still wanted to nurse. Good Lord, when he's a teenager, I'm sunk. I'm going to need to have three jobs to keep my kids in food.

Mom and I are preparing for our big trip to Pittsburgh. Should be a good trip, though I'm anot looking forward to the ride. 6 hours in a car with three kids under the age of five. I think that's a prison sentence for some crimes. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing everyone, especially Opa. It's so much fun to see him playing with Ellie, it's like her personality was made to play with an old grumpy man.

Well, eventually, I'll get a new camera and I'll post some pictures to this site as well... Have a good day party people!