Let's Play Pretend

My favorite anecdotes about Eva are the things I hear her pretending to do: Here's a great example

Eva: I'm Cinderella and you're Bob (to Clementine)

Clementine: (Skeptical Look)

Eva: Let's go, Bob

Clementine: (Stands up, looks ready to go)

Cinderella grabs Bob by the collar and starts leading her through the house

Me: Eva, what are you doing?

Eva: I'm not Eva (belligerently), I'm Cinderella, and this is Bob (points to dog). And, we're going on an adventure.

They happily scamper off and I can't follow because I'm feeding Mr. Quinn lunch. On any given day, Eva spends play time reading to stuffed animals, putting them to bed, and reminding the rest of the house to be quiet because her babies are sleeping.

I guarantee that funniest parts of my day are watching Eva play pretend. The things she says are unbelievably funny to me. Especially since we got Clementine. To Eva, Clementine is a very large stuffed animal that can walk. Cool! She pushes, pulls, drags, and sometimes tries to ride Clementine all over the house, trying to get her involved in all her imaginings. Unbelievably, at only 6 months Clem is already calm enough to take whatever Eva can dish out. I think they are truly the best of friends.

Holidays, Holidays

Well, I'm back to a typical daily routine. The last week or so have been very busy for us. Of course, last Monday was my birthday. Quinn's 1st birthday was Friday, my mother-in-law's birthday was Saturday and John and I's anniversary was Monday. Whew!

Ellen flew in on Wednesday. We all had a really great visit. We took the kids to the zoo (check out some pics at secularpickle.spoon.cx) on Saturday. The weather was perfect, if a little warm. I got a bit sunburned and felt wonderful for not looking so pasty :) Eva cracked us all up by saying hello to all the animals personally. "Hello, Mr. Mountain Goat". Even Quinn seemed pretty interested in the animals he could see from his stroller. I think he liked the bear the best, he kept watching the bear pace back and forth in his cage.

On Sunday, we had a small birthday party for Quinn (again, go look at some pictures:). He ended up with quite a pile of loot. He seems quite happy with his new toys. Also, everyone commented about how quickly he inhaled his birthday cupcake. It was there...and then it was gone. He beat Eva by several minutes, which made us all laugh.

The other exciting thing we did this week was Ellen and I made a quilt. Well, started a quilt. We got the whole top pieced together. She is going to take it home and hand quilt it for and grandbaby of a friend. I have to say, it turned out just adorable. Also, I had so much fun quilting with someone. I generally sew by myself, as I don't have any friends or family who are interested in quilting. I would say overall, we did a pretty great job. We she's all done with the quilting I'll get a picture and put it up on the website.

Well, this is more a catch up kinda of post, I suppose. Now that John has told his mom I'm pregnant, I think everyone knows. So, I'm 11 weeks and counting. I have no idea why, but I strongly suspect I'm having another boy. Does anyone else have an opinion? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Congratulations.......It's Quadruplets

I was on the phone yesterday with my sister-in-law, Randa. She called to ask me a couple questions about buying some baby gifts for some relatives on her husband's side of the family. Apparently they are having quadruplets! Even more amazing than quadruplets (which is pretty freaking amazing), is that they were not using any fertility treatments. They just luckily ended up pregnant with 2 sets of twins.

I must admit, I feel very humbled, not to mention a bit embarrassed about my last post. How on earth can I possibly complain about lack of sleep? These parents probably will not get a solid night of sleep for many, many years to come.

In any event, I wish them the best of luck and happiness with their new family:)

In more personal news, yesterday was my birthday. We had a pretty calm day. The weather was gorgeous, so the kids and I played outside quite a bit. John brought me home BLT pizza (my favorite) for dinner and he bought me a DDR pad and game. We tried it out last night after the kids were in bed. It was so fun. I've only tried it once before, so I wasn't very good. But, I do think (or fervently hope) that I'll get better with a little practice. John is very, very good. I know he hasn't played for a couple years, and he still was dancing circles around me. Go John!

Sleep anyone?

As the parent of a new baby, you don't expect to get much sleep. You're ready for the midnight, 3 am, and 6 am feedings. You know there will be nights of walking floors and humming into tiny ears. As a parent, I handled all of this. I knew what was expected of me and I rose to the occasion.

Once we made it through the sleepless nights with Quinn, we thought we were home free. What people don't tell you is.....it's very likely you'll get less sleep with a young child than with a baby in the house. Eva has become a monster of the night. I have never slept so badly in my life. And I can't help but think that every parent of a colicky baby is thinking "Ha, now it's your turn."

See, Eva was a perfect baby. She rarely cried, slept extremely well, and was just a pleasure to be around. Many, many people told me she was the best baby they had ever seen. Then I became pregnant with Mr. Quinn. Everyone told me that this time I'd get a "real baby". And still, my luck held out. He cried a bit more, slept a bit less, but was still fairly easy to cuddle and soothe to sleep.

For the last nine months, Eva has gotten out of her bed every single night for a little trip down the hall. She wanders into our room begging to sleep with us, for a glass of water, because she's lost her duck/giraffe/zebra (insert favorite stuffed animal here). When we exhausted every single thing we could think of to get her to stay in her bed, we turned to the experts. Yep, the internet. I've read posts and forums and every parenting website out there all guarenteeing success. Nope. Nope. Nope.

I have lost all hope of getting her to stay in bed. We have tried rewards (nothing works like bribery:) , punishments, incentives. We have tried the stick-to-your-guns approach and the cajoling, pleading, begging approach. We are completely out of ideas.

I always thought once your kids starting sleeping through the night you were home free. To date, this has been my biggest misconception about parenting. It's EVERY NIGHT. For NINE MONTHS. And the best part is, she only wants Mommy. Daddy simply will not do in this case. It must be Mommy or we have a tantraum of such epic proportions that suddenly we have two awake screaming children on our hands.


I certainly think this qualifies as my rant for the day. I'm sure there are those out there who can sympathize with me. And I'm sure there are those who are secretly laughing at me, thinking "of course kids don't sleep, you schmuck" All I can count on are the words of John's mom, she said, "Megan, I'm sure she won't go off to college still sleeping in your bed." True. But how many nights are between here and there?

My New Blog

Hello all! I've decided to join the millions of people who feel the need to publish private and intimate details of their life on the internet. Ye who look for juicy gossip be warned..... this blog will probably be mostly comprised of family anecdotes. It seems like a good way to keep family and friends in the loop with what John, I and the little ones are up to.

Of course, as the title suggests, it may also serve as my personal vent. Expect rants about family, weather, pregnancy, kids, or anything else that may irk me on any given day.

In a matter of acknowledgement, I need to send out a special thanks to John who helped me create this weblog (I'm easily confused by technology). He suggested many titles, none of which we chose, including - Meg's Steak House and Mustache Waxery. Ah, yes, the humor of my husband. Since all who may be reading this know John, I really feel no need to explain.

That seems to be a suitable introduction. There will be more later.....just as soon as I figure out what one is really supposed to write about in a blog with an intended audience of family and friends. (I.E. can't complain too much about hubby - his family will probably read this too :)