21 Weeks Old, and so happy about it

Such a *terrific* picture of all three. Best yet.

A solo parenting weekend

Friday afternoon Tom took off for Chicago to spend the weekend with his brother and to watch the Redskins play at Lambeau Field. (too bad we lost) I pumped myself up for my solo parenting weekend by listening to some Prodigy on the way to pick the kids up from daycare. The first night was okay although it definitely took longer than it should have to get Lexi down for the night. And I when I woke up in the middle of the night to feed Tommy I found her in my bed taking up about three quarters of the bed. I left her there since I didn't have it in me to move her. Saturday morning we got an early start so we could have breakfast at the coffee shop before dance classes began.


This was Lexi's second class and she was better behaved than she was the week before. Stasa is really blossoming in her class, but this is also her third year, so she's used to it now and she has the same teacher as last year and Miss Kerrie runs a tight ship. After dance we took a quick trip to Target and I let the girls pick out a new Barbie. After showing them their options ten times and explaining that I wasn't going to buy a $40 Barbie they both settled on one. Lexi chose an astronaut Barbie (and I should have gotten her on video saying astronaut - cutest thing ever) and Stasa picked an oversized Barbie head to practice doing hair. Since it was gorgeous outside we put the Barbies away, changed and headed out to burn off some of their energy.



Stasa was being a bit too bossy about where Lexi could and couldn't ride her trike.


Lexi didn't pay any attention and just went about her business. She's finally getting the hang of pedaling and will slowly make her way around the court. When she tires of that she and Stasa go up the neighbor's driveway and then coast down with their feet in the air. Right before we went in for lunch and nap we spotted a giant fuzzy caterpillar. That sucker was the biggest caterpillar I've ever seen and it moved with lightening speed. We watched it for a bit and then went back to the street to collect our toys. All of a sudden I heard Lexi yell at me for not watching where I was walking. I looked down and found that I had accidentally stepped on the caterpillar. In my defense I had no idea he had gotten to the street already - I mean we had *just* left him halfway up the driveway.


RIP fuzzy.

I got Tommy down for a nap and then convinced the girls to take a nap with me in my bed. Well, at least Lexi and I got a nap in. After nap we had a bite to eat and then I loaded everyone up in the stroller and we took a walk to a nearby playground. I was doing my best to let the girls burn off as much energy as possible before bedtime. Stas even walked to and from the park.


After showers and brushing teeth I got Tommy and Stasa down for bed and then had to content with Lexi. That girl did not want to sleep. She insists she needs to go potty at least five times, but it's just to prolong bedtime. It took forever to get her to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night to her climbing in my bed and snatching the pillow from under my head, explaining that it was HER pillow and then watched as she rolled over and fell asleep. I was hoping to sleep in Sunday morning, but both Tommy and Lexi woke up before dawn so we trudged downstairs and I put on some coffee and got Lexi set up with breakfast while we waited for the sun to come up and Stasa to wake up. We visited with the Bishops later in the morning and then I tried to get all three kids down for a nap after lunch, but only successfully managed to get Tommy and Lexi to sleep. I told Stasa she could watch the game with me if she could be quiet. Yeah, that worked out well. LOL Not that it mattered, we played an ugly game and lost.


Sunday night was my breaking point. Stasa and Tommy went to bed easily. Lexi cried and screamed and banged on her door for over an hour. I went in again and again to put her back in bed, tell her I love her, and to go to sleep. Again and again. She finally stayed in bed and fell asleep. I was drained and crawled into my own bed at that point and prayed that she stayed put for the night. So now it's Monday and the kids are in daycare and Tom's on a plane headed back home. I survived. The kids survived. I've read how people think dads should be able to take care of all of their kids on their own so the mom can go out for a girls night and vice versa. Yeah, I agree we all should be able to manage, but damn it's easier if you have help. I'll be heading to LA in a couple of weeks and am taking Tommallama with me, so pretty soon it'll be Tom's turn to have a solo weekend. Hopefully Lexi is over her bedtime mess by then.

20 Weeks Old

18 and 19 Weeks Old

Camping with the kids

After work on Friday we packed up the kids and the car and headed out for a weekend of camping in Gore, VA at The Cove. I found this place on a website of Virginia campgrounds and was somewhat skeptical since it wasn't a national park and didn't really have any reviews, but we figured we'd give it a shot. We had made a reservation for the weekend and were given a site within walking distance of the latrines. We didn't get on the road until after 7:00 due to some packing mishaps and a quick pitstop for dinner so by the time we arrived to check in it was already dark. The folks running the place were super nice and marked a map to show me how to get to our site. Unfortunately I'm not the best navigator and wound up leading us down an ATV trail. Poor Sexy Flexy roughed it, but managed to make it over a quarter mile on it. After a few more wrong turns we finally found our camp. Thankfully Tom and I had the foresight to do a dry run of putting up the tent so it went up pretty fast in the dark. Of course, our headlamps helped quite a bit, too. The girls ran around with a couple of the headlamps while we finished setting up camp for the night.

We weren't sure how big the site was since it was dark so we set up our tent closer to the firepit and picnic table (which we were grateful for because we left our big table at home). We initially put the girls in the same bed, but that lasted all of 30 minutes of "get off of me!" and "leave me alone!" before we split them up. So Tom slept with Lexi and I took a bed with Stasa and Tommy slept in the middle of the tent. I didn't sleep too well thanks to my air mattress slowly deflating through the night. I woke up on the rocky ground with a sore hip. I was happy to get up and out of the tent as the sun came up. Tom and Tommy got up with me and we got the coffee started while the girls slept.

Lexi woke up next and had fun walking around and digging in the dirt while Tom fried up some bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Our camp site was actually much larger than we thought and we could have easily fit a couple of more tents on it, even with our 10 person tent and large canopy. And the bathrooms were just a quick walk downhill and were pretty clean for a campground AND they had showers with hot hot water and plenty of toilet paper. And we discovered that they cleaned the bathrooms every day around lunchtime, which is when we took the kids down to hose them off. 

The girls were happy to explore our campsite and grounds after breakfast while we planned out the rest of our day. 

While the girls explored, Tommy snoozed in the tent. He's officially a tummy sleeper now. He took many a nap in the tent over the weekend.


After Tommy's nap we got dressed in our swimsuits and headed down to the beach. It was so much easier navigating in the daylight and we found the beach without any trouble. The sand was clean and white and the water super clear. We found a spot and got settled and the girls ran off to play in the sand and water.


I found myself so much more relaxed at this beach. I'm not a helicopter parent by any means, but I was glued to the kids sides when we were in Virginia Beach. That beach was (and always is) so overcrowded. This beach was much, much smaller, but even when it got busy it wasn't really crowded. And since it was a lake it was pretty shallow in the swimming area so we felt comfortable letting the girls run in and out of the water without us. There was a pontoon at the deepest point of the swimming area and Stasa kept asking to go out to it. I wasn't sure she'd actually make it since she's never really liked not being able to touch the bottom, but she happily swam out in her inner tube and then spent a good amount of time jumping off the pontoon.




After a few hours at the beach we packed up and headed back to our camp to rest and get ready for dinner. Stasa insisted she was tired and laid down in the tent.


She was *thisclose* to falling asleep and then Lexi ran in to play. Naptime never happened except for Tommallama.


Since the girls didn't want to nap and were going stir crazy hanging out at the camp site, Tom took them on a walk to let me and Tommy snooze. They came back bearing a bouquet of wildflowers for me.


This one was perpetually filthy. Like she would get hosed off or wiped down and minutes later we would find her looking like this.


Her hair was a rat's nest because she refused to let me put it up and I only managed to get it up a couple of times because I bribed her. I walked around with the kids while Tom made dinner - grilled chicken legs and tuna with corn on the cob and grilled potatoes. We were in the middle of dinner when we looked over and found this:


The sun and fun caught up to Miss I Don't Need a Nap. She fell asleep around 5:30/6:00 and wound up sleeping straight through the night. Stasa and Tommy stayed up with us for some campfire fun.


He was such a happy little camper.


Earlier in the day Tom foraged for fire wood and chopped up a couple of small felled trees and had quite a good amount of nice dry firewood for our fire. Stasa was his helper for the night. She was quite the pyro, just like daddy and Pappou, and Tom even found a good fire poking stick for her.


They made a nice fire - with just one match according to Tom - and Tom taught Stasa campfire safety. She was a great listener and was really cautious around the fire. She really enjoyed poking and stoking it, but always waited for Tom's permission before doing it. She even found her own rock to add to the fire pit and Tom etched an S on it for her.




Once we got the fire going, we broke out our s'mores ingredients and taught Stas how to roast marshmallows. She really enjoyed catching her marshmallow on fire so she could blow it out and she LOVED s'mores.



After we demolished our s'mores, we hung around and enjoyed the fire. We even read some bedtime stories by the fire.


Around 10:30 Stasa decided she had enough campfire, doled out kisses and crawled into bed. Tom and I enjoyed the peace and quiet and warmth of the fire (and a few drinks) before calling it a night. Tommy didn't sleep as well that night and I was only half asleep most of the night. I got up and out of bed as soon as it got light out. Tom was up with me and we almost able to have our first cup of coffee before the girls woke up. Before we knew it the girls were up and ready for the day.


Stasa dressed herself in her dirty clothes from the day before, put her hair up and brushed her teeth. Miss Responsible.


After breakfast and 100 trips to the bathroom, we got ready and headed off for the beach. Because we all woke up at the butt crack of dawn, we arrived at the beach at 9:00 am, well before anyone else. It was nice to have the beach to ourselves for awhile and the water was so peaceful. The lifeguard offered the girls some leftover sand toys and a small fishing net. We all tried catching some of the many minnows that were swimming around, but were unsuccessful. Those suckers are fast. Stasa spent 90% of the time in the water and went under quite a bit. I bet if we were there another two days she would have learned how to swim. She was so close.



Lexi was content playing in the sand and building and destroying sand castles. She ran in and out of the water a lot and wanted us to take her out to the pontoon like Stasa. I ended up taking her halfway out in her inner tube and then just splashed around with her in the shallow water.


Tommy played for a bit and then promptly passed out for HOURS on the picnic blanket. Once he woke up we packed up and headed back to camp.


When we got back to camp Stasa insisted she was tired and wanted to be in the tent. I tried talking her out of it since it was wicked hot in there, but she went in anyway and passed out in like two minutes.


While she napped, the rest of us hung out and snacked while we decided what to do about dinner and the rest of the night. It was supposed to storm later in the night and we had already planned to leave first thing Monday morning, so as the evening arrived and the thunder rolled in, we settled on leaving that night after dinner and s'mores.



While Tom grilled dinner, Tommy joined Stasa in the tent for a short nap.


After their nap we all ate dinner and finished packing up camp and started another camp fire to let Lexi have some s'mores.



Lexi took a few bites and then announced that she didn't like s'mores and only wanted the ingredients separate and uncooked. Whose kid is this? We got packed up and back on the road around 8:30 and headed home. Good thing, too, because it started raining as soon as we were on the road.

Our first family camping trip was a success. The girls really enjoyed it, so much so that Stasa was in tears when it was time to pack up. All said we really loved this campground and said we'd like to make this an annual trip with the family. Everyone we talked to was really friendly and a lot of the families come every year. We would definitely try to get one of the sites near where we were this time. It was super close to the bathroom (definitely a plus with kids) and felt far enough away, but was a quick hike or drive to the beach and main office. They have snow tubing there in the winter and tons of ATV trails and fishing spots.