A Public Service Announcement a la Stephanie

This is a PSA to anyone who has never had children, raised children, or been a parent of any kind:

Please keep your thoughts, opinions, parenting suggestions, dirty looks, heavy sighs and remarks to your self.

As annoyed and upset as you may be by the sound of a child crying I guarantee you that the parent of the child that is crying or throwing a fit is far more upset and possibly more annoyed.

When a child under the age of 18 months or so is crying, chances are strong that they have a need that needs to be met. Imagine being hungry with no way to make, cook, buy, order, open, pick up or cal in something to eat. This defines every meal period for any child under 12 months of age (for early talker for late takers we'll say 2 years of age roughly). So they cry. As parents we deduce they are hungry. As non-parents you deduce they are a disruption. Dare to imagine how you'd react to sit in your own pee or poop?

As for those older children who throw obnoxious fits in public? When you are ready to open your mouth, remember the last time you got cut off in traffic or found out that you drove across town to discover that the store was out of what you came for. Your fits are none the prettier. Trust me.

I know it's very hard for some people to begin to process breastfeeding. As a proud nursing mom, let me explain something to you. That milk you reached into the refrigerator to get this morning- it came from a cow. A cow boob to be exact. Baby bellies cannot digest cow milk. So they get milk from their own "cow". However, this cow's name is MOMMY. When you are out in public strolling by drinking your latte or diet coke or bottled water, do not stare at a mother who has herself covered up and is nursing her baby. Ironically you and the child are doing the same thing, only the child's beverage of choice doubles as a perfectly digestible, completely balanced, and nutritional meal. In a restaurant and witness this "lewd" act? Remember that at least the nursing baby is quiet when they're eating. Unless you'd rather you make your comments about a screaming baby. In which case, refer to paragraph 3.

While I know that children are inquisitive and curious and it can be somewhat of a burden to smile back at a child or say "Hello" when they say it to you. I won't begin to describe how long it would take you to answer a question like, "What's your name". Try to remember that questions are how children learn. Also remember what lengths you go to trying to get the latest dirt on celebrities or to gossip or hear gossip about your friends.

I also understand that a child fidgeting, kicking around, moving around, talking, or daring to behave like a child can be somewhat frustrating. I know that children moving around at a table or on a plane or in a movie theater is the ultimate annoyance. I realize that adults never fidget around or send text messages while eating a meal or watching a movie. You'd never hear some one's cell phone ring loudly or answer and talk loudly while in a restaurant.

Finally I realize that parents, especially with parents of more than one child or parents of a young child carry a large amount of loot with them. This is not to invade upon other people's space or make anyone inconvenienced. It is however a requirement to have things like a wallet, diapers, diaper wipes, changes of clothing, snacks, etc. in order to help prevent all of the above listed behaviors and occurrences from happening. Overlook my loot and I'll look your over priced bag that is larger than my diaper bag. Please do not stalk me for my parking space as I try to carry all of my loot out to my car from a shopping trip. It will not make me go faster. Giving me dirty looks and rolling your eyes at me as I try to load my gear and children and groceries in the car will not make me move any faster. In fact it is likely I'll move slower.

A wise friend once said, "I was a great mom before I had kids." So as you go out in the world today, tomorrow and every day until you have children reflect upon this. And when the blessed day comes that you become a parent, then you can put all of your thoughts, opinions, parenting suggestions, dirty looks, heavy sighs and remarks in to play. And watch the reactions of the people you used to be.

Family Fun

Last week we finally settled in to some sort of a normal routine. While surgery was almost 4 weeks ago, and Gabe's been back at work for the past 3.5 weeks since, we just hadn't been able to really settle in to things until now. Two of the past 8 weeks Gabe worked 6 days to make up for the extra time he had to take between Tate being born and me having surgery. Then there's been doctor's appointments and playing catch-up.

This week we had none of that. We were able to fill Gabe's two days off with our normal activities. We ran a few errands as a family, played a 4 night long game of Monopoly, brought dinner to a very dear friend and took a trip with the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. Connor has been put through the ringer this summer and we really wanted to give him a chance to burn off energy and have some fun "being a kid". Mommy and Daddy both played too and Tate slept through the entire adventure!

In other news Tate turned 8 weeks old and Tuesday will mark his 2 Month Birthday. Yes, you heard correctly. Little Man Tate is already 2 months old. The time has passed so very quickly due to all the excitement and at times I'm filled with guilt that I wasn't able to love and cuddle and spoil him like crazy. I know he's no worse for the wear, but internally I beat myself up over it and for the stress and emotion it caused poor Connor. I'm so thankful for my amazing boys. I love them so much and am very blessed to get to share my life with all three of them.

Speaking of amazing, when was the last time you saw an 8 week old that was THIS cute?

My Big Boys

My boys are growing up so quickly! While I'm in denial that Tate is 7 weeks old and will hit the 2 month mark in just 10 days, what I'm about to report is just as surprising!

At the beginning of the summer I wrote, "We joined the pool this summer as a way to give Connor something to do. We're working on teaching him how to swim, and so far it's going really well. He can swim wonderfully across the pool with his floaties on. He's not quite as confident about swimming without them, but he's working on it and getting better."

When I wrote that I never would have imagined that he would turn into a fish by summer's end! Two weeks and a half ago Gabe took Connor to the pool while Tate and I stayed back at the house. Gabe called as they were leaving the pool saying, "You will not believe what your son just did." Apparently after coaxing Gabe to jump off of the diving board he asked if he could do it himself.

While Gabe was treading water below the board, Connor jumped off the diving board, into the 12 foot deep water and swam unassisted to the side like he'd been doing it for years! He then spent the next 40 minutes doing it over and over again! Disappointed to have missed it, we returned a few days later so I could catch him in action!

All summer long Connor stared at the water slide at the pool asking repeatedly if he could go down it. We told him if he learned to swim well, without our help, and without his floaties that he'd be able to go down it. Since he had learned to swim without wearing floaties and was able to swim from side to side without any help we let him. On the last day that the pool was open Connor spent several hours going down the slide over and over again and jumping off the diving board with all of the big kids!

Our other big boy is 7 weeks old and has learned how to smile! We love his BIG, toothless grin! And LOVE that he can't smile without lifting his tongue up to the roof of his mouth! He's really growing and has the best personality! Another "best"- he's sleeping through the night! He falls asleep between 11-12 at night and is waking up between 5-6a.m. He's spoiling us!
All in all, life is going great and we are wonderfully blessed!

August Already?

I am in disbelief that it is August already. Is it really? Surely, this is a mistake! While we didn't go anywhere or "do" anything this summer, I can't think of any summer that was as full of action as this one!

The boys are doing outstanding. Connor still absolutely adores his brother. I keep waiting for him to get tired of his new toy, but he hasn't- yet. I truly enjoy watching Connor fall as much in love with Tate as Gabe and I are. At times he is almost suffocating in his love for his brother. I find myself saying "scoot back" and "that's enough kisses" quite often. Connor has also decided that anytime Tate is getting his picture taken, he also needs to have a photo snapped! It really is funny!

As everyone knows, I was so worried about the dynamics and relationship between the boys and what it would be like. I'm so relieved by what I see. I know that they'll have their moments when they are tattling on one another and don't want the other one around, but I hope and pray that they're always close and loving. Gabe is so close with his brothers, and I'm close with my sister- hopefully that will be modeled and our boys will pick up on it and can say the same thing when they're our age (and throughout).


Tate is still just absolutely wonderful! I REALLY missed being able to hold, cuddle and nurse him while in the hospital. (I missed Connor like crazy too!) It was really hard not to be able to snuggle him and bond with him. The positive is that he got to spend a lot of time with Gabe and the two of them definitely were able to bond with one another. It was harder on Gabe to return to work this week than it was after Tate was born or after his vacation was over. I wish everyone could have seen the way Gabe cared for the boys and I. He's an amazing man!


I laid Tate down for Tummy time on Saturday morning and snapped some pictures. I then left the room and was trying to get a few dishes done. A few minutes later I walked in and he was laying on his back! I called Gabe to tell him that we had both missed this "first"! So that night we let him have more tummy time and voila- he did it again! He's hardly rolling over, and it was much more fluke than deliberate action, but either way it was exciting and I DID catch it on film!

So, it is August already and Connor will be starting back at preschool in just a few weeks. I'm feeling so much better today than I was a few days ago. While I'm definitely still sore when I move around or start to do too much, I'm no where near as swollen or in as much pain as I was. I'm hoping that by the end of the week we can get outside and play more.