My boy is 9. I can't believe it. He was thrilled to return to the scene of last year's crime: Wahooz Fun Zone (my iphone got stolen there last year). The kids played all sorts of games, arcades, and generally wore themselves out, and nothing or no one went missing. Josh got a baseball and glove, and some legos...it was a great birthday. He is such a great kid. Kind, loving, sporty, and fun, and we are so glad he is our boy.
Healthy Baby! We had the ultrasound last week, and everything looks great. We could count the fingers and toes, see the baby sucking it's thumb, watch the heart beat, and everything else. The placenta is a little bit low lying, but a measurable distance from the cervix, so all should be well there....phew. I know, I know, it's driving some of you crazy that we didn't find out the sex, but honestly, I am just happy to have a healthy little one, and there are too few real surprises in my life to open this gift early!
What can I say...I love the desert sun. Tim and I were in Palm Springs this past week. Actually Tim is still there, playing in a golf tournament with Brandon. Sally and I weren't going to be left out, so we crashed the party for a few days. The boys golfed, golfed, and golfed. We relaxed by the pool, shopped and enjoyed the spa and resort where we were staying....ah, I came back feeling like a new woman...ready to take on the rest of this pregnancy, the new addition to the house, and anything else that crops up.
The cutest thing Coops has been doing is saying "thank you", everytime he sees something he wants, and he says it so cute and as a question, and then if he doesn't get what he wants it becomes a demand. "thank you!"
Coops is 18 months already. He went to nursery for the first time on Sunday, much to tim's chagrin. Some of the fun things about Coops right now:
Wow. Tatym is eleven. It seems she is well on her way to teenagehood. She is an awesome girl. She is sweet, responsible, smart, pretty, and throughly enjoyable. Her birthday was awesome. She picked the activites. We shopped, went and ate at Cheesecake Factory, then went to the Hotel for swimming. But oops, somebody forgot her swimsuit! Not me, actually it was Tatym, so we had to rig up the one I was going to squish my fat belly into for her...she was a little skeptical, but it all worked out. Except for the fact that I didn't get to swim...oh darn. Then it was off to the Blue Cow for yogurt and cupcakes. By then, exhaustion set in, so I took her friend Bailey home, and Coop and I went home to crash. Dad and the kids went back to the hotel for more festivities though I hear Dad and Pip fell asleep long before Tatym and Josh. It was a typical Dudley Family Birthday...(we don't do friend parties every year, so we gotta make em good) We were all partied out by the next night...it was perfect.
Check out my new blog. It's just a place for me to be silly, stretch my mind, and vent about the day to day funny stuff that happens as a mom. I have been writing these ditties in my notebook for the last couple years, just cause i think it's fun, and now hopefully this will be a place I can write the new stuff that pops up, and my family and friends that share my humor, (or just want to humor me), can follow along. Enjoy!
I can be the first to admit, that most of the time around here, it is a little chaotic. Especially if you don't know that there is in fact a method to the madness. It may look like there was some kind of explosion resulting in the clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous other crapola on the floor, but usually it is just the result of six people rushing through the day trying to find the appropriate outfit, shoes, homework, library books, bills to pay, and food to eat.
I have become accustomed to the madness, but every once and a while I am reminded that maybe this doesn't seem "normal" to everyone. For example, last night, Tim had a very nice patient and his wife stop by the house. They have been married over 20 years...no kids. During the course of the evening, Josh shut his finger in the door, a bottle of pop got knocked off the table, Josh kicked a volleyball and smashed Cooper in the head with it, Piper informed them that Tim didn't flush the toilet that morning, and provided other excellent details about Tim and his habits. It was a normal night at the Dudley house. However, these great people spent the majority of their time here, observing us like zoo animals. I distinctly got the feeling that we were highly entertaining to them. Add to that, a comment from one of our good friends, "Tim, I have started saving up so you can have a vasectomy." (and this after all the kids were already in bed) I'm starting to get a complex.
I know it's crazy at times, but I wouldn't trade it for the world, but my standards are definitely shifting. I am no longer worried about doing everything perfectly, or doing everything period. I mostly worry about keeping everyone alive and reasonably happy. I don't think that makes me an unfit mother.... And if the kids faces are dirty, or their clothes don't match....well I just don't care because I am thinking about other things, like: Does duct tape really get rid of warts? and Where did Josh's homework go, again? and "Should we put Tatym in advanced math class? and What can I make for dinner that will get the least groans? and What should I tell Josh when he feels bad about making a kid pass out at wrestling? and How do you get sharpie off the wall? and Who has what activities tonight? etc etc. And guess what? I have pretty thick skin, so go ahead and laugh at Piper's fuzzy hair, and Cooper's dirty shirt, I can take it, and smile all the while, in fact I will regale you with dozens of stories about my greatest parenting bloopers...and there are a lot of them...bring it on.
So Josh has wrestled now for a couple of years, and he loves it! This year after his first tournament Piper decided, no, demanded to start wrestling as well. So we sent her to practice thinking she would hate it...SO WRONG. She did however have many sore muscles...puny thing that she is. Well this weekend she and Josh both wrestled in a tournament. Piper did great. She was aggressive and feisty and completely unskilled. (she has only been practicing for 2 weeks) She got 4th (out of 5...all boys by the way). Josh was a beast as usual, throwing his signature move, the cement mixer on everyone he wrestled. It works well, I think he pinned five guys with it, but then in the medal round he got pinned with: you guessed it: the cement mixer. Oh well. He had a good time and was happy with a bronze. Coach Stone...you rock! Thanks for the great coaching and help at the tourny!
This was the year...the kids and Tim got passes, equipment, and had tons of fun learning to ski and snowboard. It's been great. Bogus Basin is a great hill, only 40 minutes away, and the kids absolutely love it. Maybe someday when I don't have a new baby, or am not pregnant I will join in on the fun...
Seriously...it's been a whirlwind. March was UGGGHHHH. Let's just leave it at that. There was plenty of puking, mixed in with a bunch of kid stuff like the girl's performance at Celtic Rythm, wrestling practices and first tournament, and then of course was the dreaded tax catch up that I had procrastinated as long as possible. OH, and Cooper got super sick and was miserable for about 2 weeks, coughing, fevered, snotty, wouldn't eat...awesome. Anywho we all survived it and April has been a much better month thus far. For spring break, we laid pretty low, though I did go to the grand metropolis of Rigby with the girls for a few days. We stayed at Jen's and she helped me do a HUGE project...organize about 3000 pictures and put them into albums (that is about 8 years worth) THANK YOU AGAIN!! Then I came home cleaned my house and painted the master bath (no more mauve thank you very much)...and prepared for the Dudley clan to arrive. Easter was great, we had most of Tim's family in town, and Chase got home from his mission in Chile, and we had lots of fun getting together, eating, and playing.
