To the Dentist

Because I didn't want to go to Camden's 3-year well check up in a few weeks and continue to tell his pediatrician that he hadn't seen the dentist yet... I scheduled a "happy visit" appointment for the little bugger two weeks ago.

Like an idiot, I scheduled his appointment for 1:00pm - just saying "OK!" to the first appointment time the receptionist threw out at me.  Normally, I wouldn't have missed a beat and said, "sorry, no - that's during nap time."  But for whatever reason - I had a momentary lapse in judgement and didn't really realize what I had done until the day before.

Since he's been waking up at the ass crack of dawn the past several weeks, I knew I could get away with putting him down for an early nap.  But I also knew that would mean having to wake him up from said nap.  I shudder just thinking about it.

I woke him up at the last possible second and he cried the entire drive to the dentist.

Strike one.

We get to the office and he immediately calms down at the sight of a train puzzle and soon after says he has to go potty.  I'm excited by this because it means that (hopefully) we'll get through his dental appointment without having to excuse ourselves.

He sits on the potty and then starts to move around, trying to get "comfortable" on his new perch (since he's used to the potty seat) and he immediately falls in the toilet.  Cam's scream-crying and I'm laughing.  I can only imagine what the receptionists heard at this point.  No doubt he upped the dramatics thanks to being woken up from his nap.

Strike two.

Right now I'm thinking, "we should just cut our losses and leave.  I am just asking for trouble."

Camden gets called back and the sweet lady asked him if he wanted to sit in the robot chair and meet some new friends.  He was intrigued and while wearing some super cool sunglasses, got to meet Mr. Sunshine (the light), Mr. Thirsty (the sucker), Mr. Squirter (the water), and Mr. Spinner (the polisher).

The treatment coordinator introduced Cam to all his new friends then polished and brushed some fluoride on a few teeth.  The dentist checked and counted his teeth and looked at his bite, and we were all done.  A happy visit indeed!  I didn't strike out!

There was no pressure or fear whatsoever and it was a really good first dentist visit for my little dude.  I had to go back this past Monday to get a cavity filled and he said he wanted to go with me.

Let's hope his next visit goes just as well.  And he keeps his heiny out of the toilet.

Take Luck,

LP

Pumpkin Patch

I came to write my Halloween recap post and realized I never posted about our trip to the pumpkin patch!  The past few weeks have been nothing short of crazy so, better late than never.

There's not much to say about our trip to the patch.  And of course, my goal was all photo-related.

Cam was not super interested in looking at the camera, or smiling, for that matter.  All he wanted to do was try to pick up and heave any pumpkin in his sight. 

And then I forced them to sit for a pumpkin-patchy siblings shot.  Clearly, Cam was thrilled and thankfully Zoey is still little enough to oblige my photo requests.

I had just waved my white flag in hopes of getting a decent picture of Cammy with the pumpkins and he said "Mommy, take my picture!  I sitting on the pumpkin!"

Not the greatest family picture ever, but considering we don't have too many of these - it'll do.

And why I didn't take their little sibling picture here is beyond me.  I'll blame the oversight on my mind being focused on getting out of the patch sans-potty accident.  I really wanted to take Cam through the corn maze but I just knew that we'd be deep in the maze (or lost, for that matter) and he would say, "I gotta go potty!"

We came home with a couple pumpkins, dry undies, and some cute pictures to document the adventure.

With two young kids, that's called a success.

{Pumpkin Patch 2014}

{Pumpkin Patch 2013}

Take Luck,

LP

Mariner's Game

Back in August I had an idea for taking Camden to his first baseball game.  I knew I wanted to do a day game and due to our travel schedule and commitments, the only day game left was the Mariner's last game of the season.

We told Cam about it and when he would ask when we were going to the baseball game, our answer was always "October, buddy."

Well, October 4th came and this little guy was excited.  And newly obsessed with his tongue.

I had no idea how long he would last because he's quite the busy child and the first pitch was scheduled for 12:10pm (aka nap time).  Thankfully, we were on the main level and only a few rows up from right field so he could see everything.  He was in awe.  And it helped that whenever an adult got up to use the bathroom - Cammy tagged along to stretch his legs and distract himself from being tired.

Of course, Zo Zo was there too and (hallelujah) didn't make a peep the whole time.  She was happy to eat, sleep, or watch the game.

Again with the tongue!

There is a Seattle Children's Hospital-sponsored playground at the ball field, but being that this game was "Kid's Appreciation Day," you can imagine how crowded it was.  It was so crowded that you had to schedule a time to play.  Yeah, sorry buddy. 

Instead we walked around a bit and got our picture taken with the Dave Niehaus (Mariner's announcer from 1977 - 2010) statue.

One of Cam's favorite songs is "the baseball song" (Take Me Out to the Ballgame) so my goal was to make it to the seventh inning stretch so we could sing it loud and proud.  The look on his face when the song started playing was hysterical and full of confusion.  It was like "whyyyyy are all these people singing my song?"

I took a video of it but you can hear me singing horribly off-key (as if there was any other key for me to sing in?) so I will absolutely spare you.  He sang off and on (again, because he was distracted by all the other people singing) but gave me a big and enthusiastic "... at the old ballgame."

We wanted to catch the 3:00 ferry so we fled the stadium and walked briskly to the ferry terminal.

The poor kid was falling asleep in his carseat on the way home but it was after 4:15 and I wanted him to stay awake so he could have an early bedtime, so every time he would start to nod off I would wake him up.  I'm so mean, but seriously - early bedtime.

It was a great experience and I hope to get him to more than one game next year.  And the Mariner's won!!  How about that?  Such good luck charms, we are.

Take Luck,

LP

Aloha {Part Two}

Ah, Wednesday. Glorious, Wednesday.  There was a planned group tour to go to the USS Arizona memorial but when our meeting leader said, “arrive 1-2 hours before tour time,” “no backpacks,” and “there will be a short 25 minute video prior to the tour,” all I could think was “red flag, red flag, red flag.”  This is horrible but I was envisioning my happy Camden at this somber place excitedly yelling, “Mommy, wook!  There’s a boat down there!”

Instead, we made it a family day and had as much pool and beach fun as we could stand (after we had our coffee, of course).  If you follow me on instagram, you are well aware that I over-grammed my heart out on this day, setting my personal record for posts.  And guess what, I’m not even sorry!  I felt like I was taking advantage of getting to capture some memories of our trip.  Let's face it, Ryan was having a hard enough time on his own - he wasn't at all worried about snapping pictures.  

After a busy morning, we retreated back to the room for a snooze-party before embarking on the hour drive to Paradise Cove in Ko Olina, where our entire group was attending a luau.  Like I said before, I was really worried with how Camden would do at this event.  I figured he would be entertained enough, but I just pictured him absolutely melting down.  The luau was four hours long for goodness sakes.

I think it was during our snooze-party that my sister-in-law, Cara, text me about a huge earthquake off the coast of Chile and a tsunami warning being issued for Hawaii.  Fan-frigging-tastic.

He was thrilled to get dressed in his Hawaiian best, but I promised dancing and fire throwing, so he agreed to tag along.

There were a ton of activities that you could do while waiting for dinner to start - spear throwing, kayaking, Polynesian tattooing, bird handling, and hula lessons.  We threw some spears, listened to the musicians while watching the kayakers, and the boys got tattoos from the pretty hula ladies.  Ryan got a Mike Tyson (I mean, Polynesian tribal) on his face.  Obviously.  Because where else would you get a tribal tattoo? And Camden got a sea turtle on his arm.  Zoey was fast asleep in the Ergo and stayed that way for almost the entire luau.

The show started after dinner and Cam was pretty much captivated.  He sat next to me on the lap of my co-worker's wife, Margi, and behaved far better than I would have ever imagined - insisting that all of my co-workers around us participate in the clapping and hollering of "aloooooooooha!" when prompted by the master of ceremonies.  

There were some amazing dance performances and Cam's new favorite thing - the "fire man" (the man spinning and twirling the blazing fire sticks).  A co-worker of mine was brought up on stage by the main hula girl, told to take off his shirt, wear the coconut bra and grass skirt, and dance.  I heard Cam tell Margi right before the "fire man" that he was getting tired, but she said his little body perked right up when the guy came out and started his routine.

We fled as soon as it was over and got the kids into their car seats.  I had asked my boss if we could drive our own car versus riding the tour bus with everyone else just in case we face a meltdown and needed to excuse ourselves.  Camden immediately leaned up against the side of his car seat and was asleep before we left the parking lot.  Zoey, on the other hand, woke up from her peaceful-Ergo-slumber all happy and smiley for about six seconds and then cried the whole drive home.  Thankfully, there was no traffic and we got back to the hotel in about 20 minutes.

Thursday meant back to the work and daddy duty grind for me and Ryan.  I survived death by presentation and a late side-meeting, and Ryan survived the day by taking the kids on walks around the resort.  I took the babies to the pool as soon as I got back to give Ryan a break.

Friday gloriously arrived and we got done with our meeting early.  I raced back to the hotel so we could soak up what was left of our "family vacation."  We spent two hours at the pools and beach before eating a ridiculously expensive lunch.  That's what we get for eating at the resort, I guess.

My co-worker and his wife had offered to watch the kids so Ryan and I could go have a much needed dinner date and we jumped at the offer.  We left the kids and practically ran to the Yardhouse and started reminiscing how we were there just over six years ago celebrating our engagement.  

We met back up with Jody, Margi, and the kids just in time to watch the fireworks show being put on by our resort.  Cam was clinging to me for dear life but loved the show and kept saying "they go boom in the sky!"

Saturday morning came and of course it was the first morning the kids slept past 7:00am local time.  We got all our crap packed up and headed to the "school bus" and airport.

Both kids were kind enough to poop before we got on the plane.

Zoey fell asleep right when we got on the plane but woke up when we were taking off and was not happy.  After that little episode she was fine.  Her brother on the other hand went through periods of being fine/quiet/easily entertained to bouncing off the walls and driving me within an inch of my sanity. Cam wasn't terrible by any means but this was by far our most exhausting flight with him.  No doubt he was just "done" being contained and ready to be a free wild beast.

We made it home safe and I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to be able to put the kids in their own bedrooms and close the doors behind me.  That sounds awful but staying in one room with four people is not super fun.  I think we were all very happy to be home. 

I lost count of the number of Japanese women who stopped and pointed and tried talking to our blonde haired, blue eyed boy.  At first I didn't really get what the fuss was over, but then realized that in Japan - they probably don't see too many little blue-eyed blondies.  So many women (mostly European) also came up and touched his face/cheeks and I about died because I didn't know what to do but was thinking, "stop touching my kid, crazy lady!"

This "vacation" wasn't really a vacation at all - more of a trip, if that makes sense.  It was easier and harder in ways that I didn't expect.  Easier in that the kids did amazing and harder in that Ryan and I were not communicating very well and struggled.  At the end of the day, even though it was really hard - I am so glad they came with me and we were able to share the trip and experience together.  I know Zoey won't remember but am hopeful Camden might some day - even if it's through pictures. 

s still talking about the "fire man" and walking around the house saying "aloooooooooha," so I'm hopeful.

Aloha.

Take Luck,

LP

Aloha {Part One}

Aloha.  We survived.

I agonized and agonized over two things in preparation for this trip.  The first was what to pack for our week-long stay.  I didn’t want to over-pack, but also knew we wouldn’t be able to do laundry and didn’t want to spend a fortune buying things once we arrived.  So, I packed everything but the kitchen sink in three bags.  One bag was for Ryan and me, one was for Cam and Zoey, and the other held the rest – beach towels, diapers, Cam’s puddle jumper and boxes of favorite snacks, and Zoey’s water carrier and beach tent.  The second was sleep.  I have a tendency to obsess over the kids' sleep even when we're at home so you can imagine how much anxiety it was causing me considering the time change and that we'd all be sleeping in one room.

We left from Seattle on Saturday evening.  There was an early morning direct flight and an evening one, and I thought the later one would help the kids adjust to the time change better.  Camden did great on the six hour flight, despite not sleeping a wink.  He discovered the Fruit Ninja app on the iPad and was hooked.  I'm sure the plane loved his squeals after slicing each and every watermelon. Zoey did well too – smiling, eating, and sleeping as she pleased.

We landed in Honolulu at 8:30pm local time (11:30pm on our bodies) and Camden started to lose it while we were waiting for our luggage.  Of course, three bags and one car seat came out instantly, but we were standing there waiting and waiting for what seemed like forever for the second car seat.  It got to the point where all the other passenger bags had been retrieved and I was standing there looking at Ryan like, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”  An employee must have noticed my WTF body language and told me they had pulled it off the conveyor belt and set it aside for us at the opposite end of the baggage claim.

I managed an “Oh, thanks!” but what I really wanted to say was, “That would have been nice to know 15 minutes and one toddler meltdown ago!”

We literally schlepped our luggage to the rental car shuttle area and waited for the “school bus” to take us to Budget.  Both kids were crying while I signed our paperwork (and in the process had a miscommunication and got charged big money for an upgrade), and I’m pretty sure I sweat a few pounds off my bod while trying to secure Zoey’s car seat while wearing her and standing out in the humid Hawaii air.

During the 20 minute drive to the hotel, Camden promptly passed out despite Zoey crying the entire ride.  I got us checked in and we said “hell yes” when the bell  service offered to bring our bags up for us.  Cam had woken up when Ryan got him out of the car and he caught his 12th wind as we got into our room.  The room had a king size bed, pull out couch, and crib/pack-n-play but Mr. Camden was not super thrilled to be sleeping in an unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar bed.  I was exhausted and not willing to fight that fight so he crawled into bed between Ryan and I and passed out.

The details are a bit fuzzy now, but I think the kids woke up around 4:30am local time (7:30am on our tired bodies) so we kept them quiet and contained for as long as possible and then fled the room in search of coffee before touring the resort grounds to get a lay of the land.  The most perfect pool (of the five at the resort) was right by our tower and we didn’t waste any time putting it to use.  

After swimming for quite a while and checking out the beach, we went back to the room for naps and to get ready for my Sunday night work meeting.  Of course I worried about how the kids would do/act with the time change in general, but I was most worried about how they (ahem, Camden) would act when they were tired and we were around my co-workers and our customers.  Normally, he’s a little social butterfly and eats up attention – but I just didn’t know what to expect.  Like everything else, I set my expectations really, really low, came armed with everything possible to keep him and Zoey happy, and hoped for the best. 

He did fine at first – happy to sit with me and just take it all in.  Then we brought out the activity book, and he quickly was “over” that and wanted to be constantly held, so then it was time for the iPad.  Thank the lord for the iPad and Bubble Guppies episodes.  We lasted about an hour and half total and bolted before Camden started a fire (not really, but I'm not discounting it from the realm of possible).  Zoey was losing it too and I knew if I fed her she would be fine – but I was not at all comfortable trying to nurse her in front of my co-workers and customers (whether it’s right or wrong for me to feel this way - I felt it would be unprofessional), so we left and went to a restaurant where I felt it was more appropriate.  By that time we were all exhausted and just “done.”

Monday morning came bright and early.  To make a long story short, I was gone from Ryan and the kids for 11 hours from the time I left the hotel to the time I returned (thank you, endless presentations and Honolulu traffic).  Ryan took the kids to the pool in the morning but stayed too long and ended up having two very tired and hungry kids on his hands – one of which had chafed in-between his legs and was scream-crying the entire walk to the elevator and our room.  

He survived the rest of the day and we had dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants when I returned (and paid out the behind for it).  Our bill included a $12.50 fruity frozen cocktail that Ryan had ordered (not paying attention to what it cost, just wanting to consume alcohol) and ultimately gave me to drink.   You’d have thought for $12.50 I would be feeling pretty good afterwards, but alas – I remained stone sober (and that’s saying something because I hardly ever drink alcohol).

Tuesday morning I think he wised up a bit and watched the clock a little better in order to avoid cherub meltdowns.  I think it was this day that he said Zoey fell off the bed while he was making her bottle.  No idea how it happened but he said Camden ran to him in the bathroom, hysterical, saying “Baby Zoey fell off the bed!”  Ryan felt horrible and that incident just fueled his already overwhelmed fire.  I don’t think he got Camden down for a nap this day either, so it probably won’t surprise you when I say that when I returned Tuesday from work/meetings, I hadn’t even put my bag down before Ryan ran out the door for a beer and some alone time.   Camden and I enjoyed a gourmet ABC Store meal consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pineapple, and Doritos.  I gave the kids a bath and they both fell asleep without so much as a peep.

Lordy, I'm exhausted just writing this all out and I only got to day three.  And it was so boring, I'm sure you are now asleep.  Wednesday was a big and fun day for us, so I'll start on that positive (and more exciting) note next time.

Until then.  Aloha.

Take Luck,

LP