My kids' philosophy when getting their picture taken...

"Why be difficult when with a little effort, you can be impossible?"

I don't even hope for a smile anymore. I just try to get them all in the same frame, preferably when no one is crying. Even that seems to be asking too much.

A Day Out with Thomas

This post is upside down...pictures before text...because, as usual, blogger is not working properly, and I can't move the text. Scroll down to see the story behind the pics.











The B&O Railroad Museum Roundhouse. This building was spectacular inside. The woodwork in the ceiling was gorgeous. I couldn't post some of the pics my dad took of the inside and the lovely old engines as I had to sign an agreement not to publish photos from the museum. I've never had much of an interest in trains (although I'm learning a lot because of M & J's interest), but trains are part of my history: My Grandfather Myers worked in a roundhouse like this one during World War II.

Thomas himself pulled our train

Sir Topham Hatt waved at Mercy. We could have had her picture taken with him, but the line was enormous, and as much as she wanted to go stand beside him, she didn't have the patience to wait. So we had to be satisfied with a wave.

Mercy and mommy in an old boxcar.

On the train. Zion, along for the ride. He pretty much slept all day on Nana or Papa's shoulder.

On the train. The glazed-over look (or hundred-yard stare, as Benj calls it) does not bode well for good behavior.

On the train. Mercy and Daddy.

Two exhausted children, ready to head home. They don't look happy in the pic, but they had a lot of fun. Mercy asked if we could go back to see Thomas "tomonow."

As you may have gathered from some of my comments in previous posts, both Mercy and Judah are obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. It's not a bad thing. I actually enjoy reading the Thomas stories to them--they're gentle, wholesome, and teach a good work ethic. Plus, it gives me no end of amusement to hear Mercy say "Well, bust my buffers!"

Before Benjy went back to work from his "paternity leave," my mom and dad took us all to the B&O Railroad in Baltimore for A Day Out with Thomas. There were coloring activities, balloon art, story and movie times, train tables, a chance to meet Sir Topham Hatt, and the highlight of the day: a ride on Thomas.

We left the house at 6:15 in the morning (yes, I'm THAT good!) and met Mom and Dad so they could ride with us. We arrived at the roundhouse in downtown Baltimore with no problems (thanks to a friend's GPS) and with plenty of time to dress and feed the children (Okay, so maybe I'm not THAT good...we left by 6:15, but the littles were still in their pajamas and I packed breakfast). When we walked into the roundhouse, there were about a half dozen train tables set up with the the Thomas and Friends engines. We could have stopped right there. Judah didn't want to do anything else the rest of the day. He literally stood at the tables for hours. When it was time to head to the platform to get on board Thomas, Judah actually threw a fit because he didn't want to leave the train tables--even to ride on Thomas!

The funny thing was, neither Mercy nor Judah were impressed with the train ride. They wallowed around, fought over Mercy's balloon flower, and whined. As my friend Regina says, it's amazing how quickly toddlers can turn warm fuzzy family moments into big stinky meltdown moments. Anyway, it is true that we weren't exactly observing the lovely countryside on the little trip...more like the backside of a dump in the armpit of Baltimore. In fact, about the only thing of interest that we could point out to the kids were the four armed police officers on motorcycle that accompanied us on either side of the train for the whole ride. I naively wondered out loud why the police were riding beside the train when my dad answered that a train full of parents and toddlers being hijacked would probably be bad for business. Oh. Nice. Clearly, I wasn't thinking about safety when I booked tickets for Baltimore. Fortunately, we made it back to the roundhouse without needing the policemen's services or seeing any crimes which would have necessitated our being placed in the witness protection program.

When we arrived back at the station, we headed out to the parking lot to eat lunch/change diapers, etc. I only include this bland detail because when we went out to our truck, Benj wound down the windows since it was an unseasonably warm day. About 20 minutes later, when we were finished eating and ready to go back inside, the windows wouldn't go back up. Our battery was dead. Just like that.

Benj called our State Farm agent, and they called a Baltimore State Farm agent, who gave him the number of a local towing company that could jump start us (Ah, I miss AAA). Mom, Dad, and I took the children back inside where they played until they were ready to drop over of exhaustion, while Benj waited outside for the service man. After the truck was running, Benj called me and said that he needed cash to pay the guy (then State Farm would reimburse us). We never carry cash, so I was heading for the ATM when my dad handed me two twenties, which was $10 more than what I needed. I took it to Benjy, and he said that he hoped the service man could make change. He couldn't. Seriously, he would only accept cash, but couldn't make change. I was beyond annoyed. If he thought I was going to say "Oh, just keep the change" for a tip, when he was charging us an exorbitant amount to jump our vehicle, he was sadly mistaken. So I marched into the gift shop and changed the bills. After that ordeal, we were ready to head home. Well, everyone was ready to head home except Judah. It was WAY past naptime, and he had a complete meltdown when we made him leave the tables. Fortunately, although his behavior was atrocious, I didn't feel embarrassed because I was surrounded by two year olds throwing fits. Benjy was waiting out at the car, and he said EVERY group that came out of the roundhouse had at least one child screaming his/her head off, so we were in good company.

Remarkable

Most parents take photos of their children doing something amazing...

Or history-making...

But in our house, a sleeping baby is rare...

treasured...


and remarkable.

I'll be losing some weight

This morning, I was eating a muffin. It was my second one. It was a homemade coconut flour pumpkin muffin: low-carb, high protein, almost no sugar, and very nutritious. So I didn't feel guilty eating a second small muffin. I was hungry.

My beautiful firstborn walked up to me and said, "Mom, I wouldn't eat so many if I was you."

Great. My own food gestapo.

I was so flabbergasted that I didn't even correct her improper usage of the subjunctive tense.

Apparently, I have bigger problems than my daughter using was instead of were.

The cure for overeating? The brutal honesty of a three year old.

Do you think I could make a fortune from this new diet sensation?

Quick! Someone Call CPS...

...no one around here feeds me.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I haven't done a "Not Me" in a while, but I haven't done some doozies recently and thought it was about time.

I didn't have a cloth diaper cover come up missing and STAY missing for several weeks. And I didn't come to the conclusion that I inadvertantly threw away that very expensive diaper cover rather than throw it in the wet bag where it belonged, since the cover is nowhere to be found in my house. And it wasn't my favorite "ocean blue" cover. No way. I'm not that addle brained.

I did not tell Mercy that we didn't have to have berserk rather than desert every night, because that's what she calls it, thanks to Sandra Boynton's beloved Hippos Go Berserk book. The book has nothing to do with desert. Just hippos. But somehow, Mercy apparently likes the word berserk, and uses it in the place of desert so regularly that I started saying it too without thinking. The words kind of sound alike. Or not.

I did not catch myself before nearly setting my 6-week old on the floor, thinking sub-consciously that he would walk away, after I changed his diaper. I mean, that would be silly. After all, he's not AS BIG AS MERCY WAS when she started walking. Really, what was I thinking?

I most certainly didn't walk out of the house without a skirt on (just a blouse and slip and shoes) because I thought I was dressed and ready to go. That wouldn't be modest at all, and I would never do such a thing. And I absolutely do not leave the house more times than I can count without even looking in the mirror...which is probably why I didn't walk out of the house without a skirt on.

I did not just FINALLY get Zion's birth announcements addressed this week. And I didn't realize when I was on my way to the post office that I hadn't glued the envelopes shut (I can't lick them as there's gluten in the glue--go figure). They are certainly not still sitting on my front seat waiting to be glued and mailed. Of course not. I won't be sending out his first birthday announcements till I get the birth announcements mailed, especially since I didn't pay to have them shipped overnight to me so I could get them out as soon as possible...three weeks ago.

Finally, there was no way I drank 16 ounces of green tea, and then drank coffee on top of that before grocery shopping with all three children, which did not result in a frantic need to pee (an urge that cannot be denied so soon after having a baby!). I did not wedge my shopping cart, bearing all of my children and groceries, past the "No merchandise beyond this point" sign, only to find that the handicap/family stall was unusable. I did not leave the stall door open with the cart in front of the doorway while I peed. No indeed. I would never give up my modesty for the health and well-being of my children. (After all, if you think of what we do to bring them into this world...)

Glad I know I'm not pregnant, as some of my behavior would be seriously suspect for pregnancy brain. What have you (not) been up to this past week?

To stem a revolt...

I know there's going to be a revolt if I don't soon post more pics of the children, Zion in particular, but my computer is complaining incessantly about the memory issue, and until I add memory, I'm having trouble uploading photos. In the meantime, I thought I'd entertain you with some Mercyisms.

Me (when we got in the car and Hero of the Rails started playing yet again): "Mercy, don't you want a different Thomas dvd?"
Mercy: "No, I want to watch this one."
Me: "Well, maybe Judah wants to watch a different one. You've already watched that one."
Mercy: "I said no, and I mean no."

Wow, where have I heard that before?

*****

Mercy and Judah recently had 48 hour viruses, which involved only a fever. I had settled Mercy in our big leather chair with her blanket and pillow when she requested her sippy. I gave it to her and was walking away...

Mercy: "Mommy, can you do something for me?"
Me: "What's that, Baby?"

Mercy: "I really need you to fold the laundry."

Apparently she couldn't relax because the laundry waiting to be folded on the ottoman was disturbing her.

Raise your hand if you think that if she's old enough to ask me to fold laundry, she's old enough to help.

****

Me (after Mercy had asked me a question, then contradicted the answer I gave her): "YES, it is. Don't argue with me."

Mercy: You're arguing with me, Mommy!"

****

It is nearly impossible to pull anything over on Mercy. My mom and dad came up to visit last Sunday, and my mom helped Mercy catch a toad and put it in Mercy's new bug-collecting jar. Mercy carried that poor toad all around and even took it into the bathroom with her while she and Judah got a bath. Mom tried every angle to convince Mercy that we needed to release the toad back into the woods.

Mom: "Mercy, his mommy is probably looking for him."
Mercy: "No, I think she is not."

Mom: "Poor toad. He needs to go home so he can get some food."
Mercy: "No. I will be velly lonely if he leaves."

Mom: "Oh, Mercy, he's crying for his mommy."
Mercy (on inspecting the toad): "No. I do not see any tears in his eyes."

****

I was lying on the couch in the playroom nursing Zion while Mercy and Judah were playing nicely.

Mercy: "Mommy, what's wrong? Are you all right?"
Me: "Yes, Baby, I'm just tired."
Mercy: "Are you tired from yelling at us?
Me:"MERCY! I haven't yelled at you today, have I?" I'm not saying I never have...I tend to be loud even in the best of times, but I'm really trying not to raise my voice at the children when I'm frustrated or angry. I was puzzled (okay, and a little concerned) why she would say such a thing, especially since we had had a good day, and I couldn't really remember either of them getting into trouble that day. When I was telling Benj about it later, I realized why she said what she did. Here's an example of an almost daily occurence at our house. I sit down to nurse the baby in whatever room the children are playing in. Nearly every time, they disappear into another room. After a few minutes, I decide to check on them.

Me: "Mercy, what are you two doing?"

Silence.

Me: "MERCY, WHERE ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?"

Silence or scuffling in another part of the house.

Me: "MERCY AND JUDAH GET OUT HERE THIS SECOND!

Mercy (indignantly): We right heah in da playroom. We not doing anyfing!"

Me: "Why do you make me yell? I get so tired of yelling!! Just answer when I call!" ( I just hate how hollering back the hall destroys the peace in a house!)

And that explains why she asked if I was tired from yelling. Sigh.

****

Happy Mothers' Day!

Feeling very blessed today!