my how time flies

Tomorrow my baby turns eighteen months old. What is it about this age that they suddenly transform into a talking, curious, silly, messy all the time, feisty toddler??? Brady talks a lot, explores, plays with pots & spatulas constantly, uses a hockey stick, and continues to tug on my heartstrings all the time.

Surely he will be a baby forever right???

Well

Maggie went to live with a new family today. It's been a bittersweet week. She has been so good. Maggie is the best cuddler. I didn't know a big dog could be so tactile. I miss her.
Thad says he is fine, but I can sense some resentment. I can't blame him, and I hope he won't be bothered with me forever.
On another note, today my friend Jenny and I went to Albertville. Thad has been gone so much that we decided to get away. It was fun to gab, giggle, and of course, shop! I even bought a cute and slightly out of character dress for Vegas. What's funny is that it's nothing too reckless, but I am one boring dresser.
I was ready to see my family after my twelve hour absence. The house is quieter than I like it. I expected Maggie to clobber me upon my arrival. I hope she is happy where she is at. I still don't fee like we've seen the last of her. Call it denial, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got her back....she is sort of a handful, and we found out that this new family has another dog. A small dog. Yikes.

Typical

Thad and I decided (okay so I called him yelling last week threatening her life) that Maggie may be better off with a family that a) isn't so busy and b) doesn't have so many kids with needs that must be tended to over giving attention to a dog. Even though we discussed it, he was busy working on the flood. Then he went to the cities. I was caring for Kate, Olivia, Brady, and Maggie. The girls had the ice show. We were distracted.
Thad put out the word that if anyone knew of anyone who may want a busy (or as I say psycho) dog, let us know. We, okay I, certainly didn't expect a call last night that some people are interested.
Guess what Maggie is doing now? She has (for the most part) behaving, listening, and when we told the kids, they flipped. How typical. Kate who complains daily about Maggie, has been crying her eyes out. Ryan, who has never paid much attention to Maggie other then when she makes him angry a few times a day, isn't happy. Olivia and Maggie get along okay. Since her siblings don't want her to leave, she doesn't either. Maggie's biggest ally, Brady, has no clue. Thad is sad. I am sad....
We told the kids that we can't back out of this offer. They know that if the interested party finds her to be too much, we will take her back and come up with a new plan. I have said that God (or fate depending on how you look at it, but really what child can grasp the concept of fate?) will decide what is best for Maggie.
So on that note, why does this always happen?

Maybe I am a bad parent

I have a few confessions to share with you all. They won't make me look like a great mom, but I feel like venting/telling it like it is.
As you know, we have four children. Four children is wonderful, rewarding, tiring, and busy. When three of your four kids are in activities, you can't be at everything. When you have a toddler who has become wild, you can't be at everything. Well you can, but you will just be chasing him whereever he wants to go. You are at his beck and call.
Anyway, Thad and I tend to split up the crew when we do things. Last weekend (I promise I will post on this when I get more pictures from my friends) Thad and Ryan were in the cities, so I had the three kids to myself. Two of the three kids were in the ice show. Here is my confession....call me a bad parent, but I had no urge at all to watch my child in all three performances of the ice show. Dress rehearsal was fine. One night was fine, but by Saturday I was dreading it. I had Brady, so we had to leave early anyway, but frankly, I think I was relieved.
I do not enjoy watching multiple performances of my children--yet.
I have no urge to ever just go and watch my child practice their sport for fun. I think I went to hockey practice once or twice when Ryan was a Rookie, but since then, no thanks.
I find myself turning into my father. I can barely sit still through one anything that my kids are in. I talk more than I watch. I use any excuse to get up and move around. Dear lord I am becoming Wayne.
I went to two or three of Ryan's in house games this year. Give me a travel game any day. In house..sorry bud, but it's boring.
When I do have to stay at a practice: skating or dance, I choose to visit with people I don't normally see. Rarely do I pay attention to my kids.
I care, but I just.....get distracted by other things. I love my children passionately, but I am finding that especially this year, I am not the best parent when it comes to attending my kids' functions.
On that note, I am equallly passionate about not dragging my kids to every Ryan event. They get enough hockey, baseball, and football games already. If I get restless, why would I do the same to them. I used to be all about family supporting family, but I also have to accept the fact that it always ends up being the little kids going to watch the big kids' stuff. By the time Brady is in baseball or hockey, I am pretty sure the big kids will be 'too busy' to take more than one or two evenings out for him.
Okay enough of my rant about being a bad parent..
Oh well, the first step is admitting the problem right?

Ice show...et al

I won't bore you with the details of our last few weeks. Let's just leave it at BUSY between ice show practice, the flood, appointments, work, our psycho dog, and life in general.

Here are the girls tonight before their first performance in the ice show. A friend facebooked me tonight and told me he got some good shots, so I really look forward to seeing those...

Olivia is Cupid and Kate is a Fourth of July girl. Guess what song Kate skates to???? Living in America--only one of the best songs from one of my all time favorites--Rocky IV. I know, my taste rules right?

This little guy is my hunka burning love. I can't tell you what fun it is to have a insanely loveable albeit BUSY BUSY BUSY baby boy again. Ryan wasn't really cuddly, so I am milking this one for all he's worth. We bought that little police car for Ryan's first birthday....it still works.

Speaking of my other child, Ryan and Thad are in the cities this weekend where Ryan is playing in some hockey all star thing...not exactly sure what it's called. My 'big' boy had some braces put on yesterday too. He got six brackets on top, and four on the bottom. I will post pics of those when he gets back. Maggie ate my other memory card, so I just started using a new one....

consistency, consistency

I need to remind myself more often that even though things don't go according to my plan, it's best to stay consistent for the sake of all involved.
Example #1: Ryan had a game at 11:30am today. Brady, who was fussy after being awake for just two hours, was put down at 10am for a quick snooze. He still isn't up to par after having a double ear infection earlier this week. He is draining like crazy and oh so fussy.
At 11am, I got lunch started. Then the trantrum from Olivia began. It was a doozy. She was sent to her room. She came out. She was sent back. She came out. She was sent back and told that she will be napping as she had proven that she was much to tired to function appropriately. It was right after that I said it that I realized, "Oh crap, what am I going to do about Ryan's game?"
This is the story of my life, and I am sure yours as parents. We say one thing and in that instant we realize that we can either crawl our way out of it (which I have done more than once) or stick to our guns. Sure enough, Olivia came down after collecting herself, ate a quiet lunch, and fell asleep quickly.
The good that came out of this is that Brady ended up sleeping until 12:30. I was a little irked at the situation, but that is life with kids I guess. We might plan one thing, and many other things happen in their place.
Ryan had another game tonight at 7:15, but unfortunately uber fussy Brady was sound asleep at 6:45pm tonight. At least for tomorrow night I hired a sitter to watch Ryan AND Thad play against each other in a dads vs. kids game...

Brady...

Just a typical day with a VERY busy, VERY messy, VERY sweet little 17 month old (today!) boy.