Flashback Friday: Cellblock 13

New Years 2008

We can't have nice things.

After too many naptime shenanigans, we re-did the boys' room...

More Typical Than I'd Like To Admit

Eight O'clock: lights out for the girls

Eight-thirty: lights out for the boys.

Last night the boys are bouncing off the walls, come out of their room to check on their Batman tattoos several times.

Girls, huddle in the corner by the night-light in their room with every book from the shelf. Have an absolute panic attack when they somehow spot a bug.

Finally, sleep.

11:45 Ben

We both startle out of bed to the sound of banging in the half-bath downstairs.

Ben has decided to make a pit-stop, downstairs, and then start slamming his feet against the foot stool as loud as he can.

Go back to bed Ben.

2:30 Alida

She's wandered down, made it to our bathroom. I hazily wake to hear her rustling around. As I'm trying to process where I am, she walks in our room and announces she's just used our bathroom. Well, way to go pumpkin.

Go back to bed Alida.

5:30 Elaine

She shows up as I am brushing my teeth, wanting to watch a movie.

Go back to bed Elaine.

6:45 a.m.

The one with a reason for disturbed sleep after being sick this week, still snoring.

When I'm Not Around

Grandma loves to watch movies with the kids.

Ben got glasses and a medal?

Grandpa entertains with flight videos on the computer--for amazingly long stretches of time.

They load up and hit the airport to watch the real airplanes.

Starting to see how they got the name grandma and grandpa airplane?

Awe, shoe shopping.

Yep, airplane building.

And big group piles.

Here We Go Again

Okay, we'll work on the face later. Everyone come here!

Thanks Ben. Okay, everyone else, come on.


Where's Elaine?

Okay. Wait, what's so interesting out there.

Oh, we'll try later.

Okay guys. No. No, I'm squatting, but you don't need to squat.

Quit squatting. Elaine, it's not very lady like. Really, look at me girl, does this look appropriate? Stand up!

No. Nicholas. No.

Oh Forget it.

I'm Just Here to Observe

Grandma arrived last week to provide some relief to Patric, who has proved he can do it himself, but really how much fun is that?

Because while each minute is new and different, it can get tedious all at the same time.

This day the table and chairs were a robot. Nicholas usually dictates. And yes, those are the girls' Christmas pajamas.

There was the trip to the park that wouldn't have happened without grandma. The girls are getting more and more brave.

And then there was this. I am completely unclear how this was accomplished but surely grandma had something to do with it.

And girls playing to catch together in the yard?!

Thank you grandma for helping stand guard and feed these people this week.

What are you putting in their food? I didn't know they were still capable of taking a nap.

The Sunday Inning: Days Like This

Saturday we made a trip to Hobby Lobby. That's it. The End.

And then Patric and I got to go out on our quarterly date Saturday night. We like to pretend we get out once a month, but who are we kidding?

So we came home, got to bed, and about 2 hours later this guy arrives in our room.

He's throwing up. A lot.

From 2 to 5 we traded holding a bucket for this little man and having him fitfully sleep between us. Sometime in the early morning, he finally got to sleep. That was about when Benjamin came looking for him. So we're up. Nicholas too, not being one to miss anything. And he suddenly feels all better. The picture above is from 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon when he finally just crashed in a literal ball.

With this going on around him because we were all in fine moods yesterday. Clothing was optional and attire was casual. Ben didn't make it out of his pajamas; Alida made it all the way out; and you can't see that Elaine has her brother's swimming suit on in this picture.

It was a muddle through it kind of day.

The rain will apparently never stop here.

Patric is out playing army again this week.

And, we may just wind up having mud play in the backyard by Wednesday if we get too on top of each other in the house. It couldn't be any more messy than giving them chocolate so they'll stay in their chairs for five minutes while you clean up the dishes.

Easter Traditions

Scream through the group shot.

Nicholas was the only one who understood that smiling for the camera would get him candy. Too bad he looks a little crazy.

Pile on top of Easter baskets

That calmed them down for a moment, until a fight broke out over those sippy cups each has in a hand up there. And then off to church. At least no one threw up on their Easter clothes.

Having no sense of holiday tradition, carry on like it is a normal day.

So we dumped some chocolate milk down our shirts and piled on top of dad to watch a movie.

Tradition.

Things Too Aggravating To Get Up From Nap and Grab the Camera During

Saturday.

Valentine's Day.

When one wasn't throwing a fit, they were both or all throwing a fit.

All day long.

It was a loud day at the Stuber house.

And then it was nap time. The girls went down pretty easy being worn out from being maniacs and all. The boys. We don't really expect them to take weekend naps any longer. We do expect them to spend an hour in their room quietly. In a rare instance on Saturday, we decided to take a nap ourselves having been screamed at and beaten and chased and on time-out duty and all.

And we were far more exhausted than we imagined. It was the kind of nap where a loud noise makes you close your eyes a little tighter, perhaps even pull the covers over your head. It was the kind of nap where we lay playing a silent game of resolve--each hoping the other would break first. Why? Because those boys did not stay in their rooms. We know this because Nicholas does not have a quiet voice it seems, and we heard the pitter patter of feet racing back and forth across the upstairs hall for what seemed like an eternity. And then they broke for the main floor. And we heard them run around down there for awhile. But neither of us broke. And then they were standing in our doorway.

"Mommy, I need changed."

Oh crud. My side of the bed is closest to the door of course. I looked up and saw wet pants. Really? You both had accidents?! What? Come on guys. And we both got out of bed in a nap haze and went to help these little people we were responsible for even when we decide to take an hour off. And I put my hand on his head to turn it and head him out the door. My hand recoiled and my mind raced as I touched down in his hair to find it soaking wet. Ewww. What on earth happened here? And I woke up then and realized that there were no accidents; these people were soaking wet from head to toe in water.

And then we found the bathroom soaking wet from ceiling to floor in water, and we still don't know what happened. All of the commotion woke the girls from their certainly fitful sleep, and we began again our game of the screaming meanies.

The bright spot in all of this is that everyone was in bed by 7:20 Saturday night. I'm pretty sure I didn't last much longer than that.

The Morning Routine

Perfect World: We leave our blankets in the crib when we leave the crib.

What We Generally Hope For: They take their blankets to the living room with them and leave them on the couch.

This Morning: We hauled the blankets downstairs. We hauled the blankets around with us. We stomped on the blankets. We wrapped up in the blankets and tripped on the blankets. We fought over the blankets and knocked each other down. We had breakdowns loading the car and wound up taking the blankets with us and screamed when we had to release them to go into daycare.

Perfect World: They forget that liquid exists.
What We Generally Hope For: They take a cup of milk, drink it, and leave it on the couch.
This Morning: We threw down the milk and followed on any adult's heels using our new word "juice," alternating with screams. This started a general juice chant from the children. I managed to find one abandoned juice cup by the time we left; two are fermenting in the back of my car, and I will forget about them until I see someone guzzling from them on the way home tonight; and one is lost somewhere in the pile of toys.

Perfect World: We sleep until 6:00 and get ready. They sleep until 7:00 and wake up one at a time so we can get them ready in peace.
What We Generally Hope For: We sleep until 5:30 and creep around our own house. At 6:40 we divide and conquer. He goes to the boys room and gets Nicholas ready while Ben snoozes. I go to the girls room and pluck Elaine from sleep taking her downstairs to get ready while Alida snoozes.
This Morning: At 6:20 both girls start screaming to get out of jail right in the middle of him trying to eat a bowl of cereal and me doing laundry. The more leisurely act of eating was trumped by dirty laundry duty, and he got to share his meager corn flakes with the birds up there. That extra 25 minutes we generally hope for is when we get their toothbrushes ready, vitamins lined up, get cars packed, drink a cup of coffee, finish getting dressed ourselves, find all of their shoes and coats, and tune up the cartoons for the other hopeful part of our morning. We finished all of that this morning while babies chased us around screaming for juice.

Perfect World: We are greeted with smiling faces who quietly say, "Good morning mommy. I love you."
What We Generally Expect: Nicholas will wake happy. Benjamin will wake a grump. Elaine will be okay once she gets juice. And Alida (at the current time) will walk around screaming and throwing herself on the floor in various dramatic fits that have no meaning to us what-so-ever.
This Morning: Nicholas didn't want to get out of bed or anything else for that matter until he remembered that he needed to start hoarding toys, then he took off in his socks only to scream at the girls for taking his gloves, to find his Ironmen, to stuff it all in his medical kit, and then start going after Ben's comic book. Benjamin was a grump, but stayed to himself once he got some juice and a comic book. At least he stayed that way until Nicholas started a fight with him. The girls, well they were up at 6:20, and that was plenty of time for both of them to dream up dramas to fling themselves to the floor over.

Perfect World: Once we're all dressed, we watch cartoons until it is time to leave. Then we line up and head out the door.
What We Generally Expect: Someone will linger upstairs playing with toys. The other three will stay in the general area of the television with one throwing a manageable fit over something. This will give us time to get coats on, shoes on, brush teeth, and hand out vitamins.
This Morning: We scattered to the far corners of the house after getting our juice. One was off to hoard toys. One was off making a dirty diaper. One was in our faces throwing a fit. And the other was actually in front of the tv so enthralled that when it did come time to leave, he threw a fit.

Perfect World: Everyone is ready a few minutes early and lines up at the door to go to the van in an orderly fashion.
What We Generally Expect: We will be able to herd everyone out the door with perhaps one melt-down and holding two juice cups and a handful of Fruit Loops. One child will take off into the yard if it is warm enough for a bit of a chase.
This Morning: Benjamin decided he was not going to school today, so he threw a fit. Then he wanted to ride in daddy's car. No, he wanted to ride in mommy's car. No he had to go potty. OH bother. The girls threw fits until they had their blankets in hand in the car. They have also become expert in arching their backs to make it impossible to buckle them in their seats. Nicholas wanted to ride in daddy's car. So when I tried to help him into daddy's car, he threw a fit because he wanted daddy to buckle him in. The daddy that was inside taking Benjamin to the potty. When we arrived at daycare, the drive-up was full of cars, so we parked in the lot and dumped three out of the van, one out of the car, and shoved juice cups and blankets back in the van all while clutching girls to keep them from taking off across the parking lot. And we both settled into our cars hoping for a long commute this morning so that we could relax for a few extra minutes.

The Saturday Outing: From the Mundane to the New Chaos

Friday. Daycare was open and we took advantage.

Patric's new tools were put to good use right off the bat.

And this new set has found a place of prominence in our house.

More on what this is about later.
(No, we don't wonder where the Nicholas hambone gene came from.)

That drawer was cleaned out to make room for the new tools. The drawer that had become the that-looks-dangerous-shove-it-in-the-drawer-drawer.

And the tree was tucked away, the floor cleaned and the toys set so pretty until they got home and managed to turn the shopping carts into distribution carts to ensure each room and each corner had a toy.

And that thing was cleaned out--ick.

I'm telling you, we are a crazy bunch when left home alone without children.

Enter the New Chaos.

Out the door Saturday morning to the Children's Museum. And this time we braved the trip sans double stroller on the very day that all of Memphis decided the Children's museum would be a good time.

So we spent an hour and a half yelling across exhibits:

"How many do you have?"

"I have three."

"I have one. We're good."

"Wait. Where'd Ben go?"

"Elaine come back here! No you cannot climb the maze. I lost one!"

"I have two."

"I have Ben now. And there's Alida. Is Nicholas with you?"

"No, but here's Elaine. I've only got one. Nicholas?!"

"There he goes."

"Okay. So you have two and I have two?"

"No. I thought you had Nicholas. He was headed your way."

"No, Alida needs new pants."

"I left the bag in the car. You have the three and I'll take care of her?"

"Okay."

and on. and on. and on.

And when we got them wrangled into the little dentist room, we breathed a quick sigh before we started screaming at people not to brush their own teeth.

Nicholas gave a swipe to the dummy and declared them clean. Ben wanted nothing to do with the whole thing.

And then we stumbled across the heavily gated small children's play area. And I slumped down in a heap in the corner as the girls ran off to all things new and Patric took off with the boys to climb on the life-size motorcycle and fire truck. And I have no idea how long they ran and played and enjoyed their freedom before I thought to sniff them out. And then it was time to take them kicking and screaming out of the fun to find their brothers to pony up and be on our way.

There are days the Stubers look like an outfit in public.

Saturday was one of those days.

And because we are gluttons for punishment, we went on a walk after nap time--without the stroller. And we stopped by a friend's house in the neighborhood to welcome their daddy home from Iraq. While we were there everyone decided they needed to use the potty; we took some ornaments off the tree; we spit on their glass-top coffee table; and we found the access drawer to the knick-knack display. After fouling the air with an obvious diaper explosion, we took our leave. And I can imagine the looks that were exchanged as we strolled back down the street to head for home.

If we could only know in advance when we were going to have one of those diapery kind of days...

The Sunday leave-the-stroller-behind disaster we'll leave for another day soon.