Summer Flies

Is it seriously August?  I always look so forward to summer.  No strict school/homework schedule.  We kind of bail on extra activities to free up our evenings.  But between different camps and visits with relatives and family reunions and beach trips and weddings...the summer just flies by.

I think I last wrote on Cohen's birthday and so much has happened since then.  SO MUCH!!

Let's see.  We went to the beach.  It was not our typical beach trip with extended family, in a big house, in South Nags Head, for a whole week.  Instead it was 5 days, in a hotel, in Kill Devil Hills.  And it was just the 5 of us.  It was nice to have a vacation with just us.  Not that we don't love the big family trips, those are awesome.  But it was low key and relaxing to just do our own thing for a few days.  It was expensive, since we had to pretty much eat out every meal.  The hotel was, ehh.  I guess what you get with a beach hotel.  The beach was crowded.  But we had such a great time.  We had one day where the water was so calm and shallow that the kids played all day and there was no worry about waves or riptides.  We played putt putt and ate crab legs and drove bumper boats and had fun drinks.  I would have loved for it to last a few more days.

Then we celebrated Ainsley's 9th birthday.  I'm not even sure how that is possible.  She is growing up so fast and everyday I'm slapped in the face with the realization that she's that much closer to being a teenager and an adult.

We are skipping parties this year so we took a couple of friends to Chuck E Cheese and then out for ice cream.  Then we had dinner at a hibachi place.

Next we headed to North Carolina for our annual family reunion.  My dad is one of 7 siblings.  The alternate locations every year so the planning falls on each of them once every 7 years.  My dad is not in the best position to throw a family reunion for 50 people, so my sister and I took it on this year.  I got to spend the whole week with my two nephews (one of them just a few weeks old) and my sister.  And we shopped and cooked and cleaned all in preparation for the arrival of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  The reunion was great and I think everyone had a great time.

Then Monday it was back to camps and work and reality.  And back to a big decision that we had to make.  Let me take a step back.

About three weeks ago the organization I work for presented me with a non disclosure/non compete agreement.  Originally they had wanted it signed  by the following Friday.  Due to questions and issues, it got put off a few times.  I spoke to a lawyer and some HR people and some recruiters about the document.  And here is what I gathered from all of that.  It was enforceable and it was very broad.  It would have definitely limited my employment opportunities after I chose to leave my job.  It would have also limited my employability if I was let go from my job.  Usually these types of agreements are given to high level people (which I am not) and are used to deter the sharing of proprietary information (which I don't have).  It is also usually presented upon employment and can be used to negotiate pay and severance packages.  The organization would not even consider a bonus or a pay raise tied to it.

Monday was the deadline for signing and I chose not to sign.  I was then told that I was no longer employed with the organization.

So boom!  I am unemployed.  Yesterday was a tough day, but I think that had more to do with my lack of sleep than not having a job.  Today is better.  But it is a strange feeling, not having work to do.   I've either been working or in school since I was 15.  And to be basically fired?  Wow.  That's new too.  I've never left somewhere like that.  I'm friends with all of my old employers and coworkers.  Seems like that won't be happening this time.  Supervisors are not so happy with me.  The organization apparently couldn't care less about me.  But it is what it is and I don't regret my decision at all.  I'd rather take my changes now without restriction than sign a document that would completely tie my hands.

It's hard to know what to do with myself, but I will work out and clean my house and do some projects I haven't had time for and look for something new.  From the very start of all of this I've felt like it's one of those "a door shuts but a window opens" situations.  I've been looking to leave my job for awhile, but haven't managed to gain the nerve to do it.  So really, though it's hard to be so idle, I'm glad and I'm not worried.  I know I'll figure something out.

And that about catches you up on all the happenings.

My Temporary Life

Hello! It's been awhile, I know...and I kind of left without a word. See, I wasn't planning on being away all summer. I tried to write...I really did. But I had some other things going on.

I guess the last time I really wrote, I was getting ready to have baby #3 and be a stay at home mom for the summer. And my thought was that I'd write all the time. I'd post so much, you'd be sick of me. But here's the thing...I barely looked at a computer all summer long. I mean, I had my phone...I wasn't totally cut off from the world. But blogging on the phone...not easy.

Well, I had him. June 9th. One day after his due date, just as scheduled...

Meet Cohen Flynn.

He was born early on a Sunday morning and he weighed 9 pounds flat. We brought him home and he's perfect. Beyond perfect. I just don't know how it's possible to love someone so much. The day we brought him home we had parents night at Cheerleading practice and in-class dress rehearsal for the big dance production.

He is a third child. There were exactly 2 days of Mommy/Daddy/Cohen time before school was out and Daddy returned to work and Grandma came to stay. In those early weeks, he spent most of his time in a car seat running to preschool and end of year picnics and dress rehearsals and play dates and birthday parties. Then June was over and school was out and dance was done and most of our friends were on vacation and we were able to breath.

I spent the summer with these three.

We went to the pool, we rode bikes, we baked, we spent some rainy days watching Disney Jr in our PJs, we went to the beach, we threw parties, we rode trains, we saw animals, we did it all. And Cohen just tagged along. In the stroller or strapped to my chest. He's a trooper...but he's a third child...I guess he has to be.

I can't write it all out in this post. I'm going to try, once a week, to post summer adventures since I didn't do it as it was happening and I want my kids to always have this summer. The memories, even if they can't remember them. The summer that the four of us spent every moment together. No day care, no camps, no school, no babysitters. The summer that I got to see how the other half lives. My temporary life. So basically, this post is just to say...I had a wonderful summer, I hope you did too...but now it's over. I'm back at work, they're back in school, and I will probably be writing and reading blogs again.

This summer there was just no time for that.

Off to the Pool

We joined a pool this year.  And like everything else in life, I've realized that a pool visit with children is way different than a pool visit before children.  I mean, this is pretty much the case with every endeavor, but for some reason I never learn these truths until I am plummeted into them.  So to help all you fellow pool-goers out there, I offer up my advice on the proper pool visiting steps both before and after having children.

Going to the Pool: the pre-child days

1) Spend the afternoon before looking for a new book.  You've just finished the Twilight series and Water for Elephants.  Think it might be time for a mystery/thriller.  Look into new Vince Flynn or James Patterson novels.

2) Wake up the morning of. Have a relaxing cup of coffee on the deck while starting your new book.

3) Change into bikini, throw on a cover up.

4) Pack towel, SPF 15 lotion, book and water bottle.

5) Arrive at pool.  Pick out best spot for optimal sun exposure.  Sit, read, fall asleep, dip in water, repeat every hour.

6) Head home 4 hours later, tired from all the sun and catch a quick nap before dinner plans with friends.

Going to the Pool: with children

1) Spend the evening before in Target buying new swim suits, SPF hats, flip-flops, life vests, sunscreen in bulk, toys, pool friendly snacks and princess beach towels (because you absolutely refused the Ariel swimsuit and this is the only compromise that stops the crying).  Notice a shelf full of books that you've never heard of and will, most likely, never read.

2) Wake up early the morning of because toddler is up early.  Fix a cup of decaf tea because...still breastfeeding.

3) Spend the morning packing a diaper bag, a cooler and a pool bag.  It's not quite done when husband and preschooler get up because you are also trying to keep the toddler from drinking household cleaners, eating dog food, ramming a broom through the window, pushing buttons on the TV and riding the dogs.

4) Get dressed in your tankini/skirt bathing suit that covers as much as humanly possible and is still considered appropriate for swimming.

5) Get kids dressed...but first cover them in SPF 50 sunblock.  Toddler hates this and runs around naked while you chase and spray him intermittently.

6) Really get kids dressed in new pink-polka-dot-pink-tutu bathing suit, and pirate swim trunks with matching swim shirt.  Swoon over cute baby feet in tiny flip flops.

7) Find tea.  Re-heat in microwave.

8) Finish packing bags and make 3 trips to the car with bags, swim gear and children.

9) Remember tea.  Decide luke warm is better than cold and chug.

10) Arrive at pool after being asked 17 times in 5 minutes if we're there yet and why the pool isn't at our house.

11) Manage to get everything into pool area.  Pick a chair in the shade that you will sit in once everyone is settled.

12) Put on life vests.

13) Preschooler goes with husband to big pool.  Take toddler to baby pool.

14) Put toddler in water and sit on side.  Begin conversation with another mother.

15) In the next 30 minutes, pull toddler off the fence, rescue toddler from drowning no less than 10 times, help toddler down the slide, stop toddler from stealing toys, wipe sunblock from toddler's eyes, forget other mother's name and don't even notice when she's gone.  What were we discussing?

16) Discover that toddler has pooped in swim diaper, which is not actually a diaper and now poop is all the way up his back and down his legs.

17) Take toddler to locker room and place him on changing table and pull all swim clothes off of him.  Rinse poop out in sink.  Decide the shirt is a lost cause.  Rip swim diaper off toddler because otherwise poop will be smeared even further down his legs. 

18) Realize there is no poop in the actual "diaper."  Curse Huggies.

19) Clean up toddler and place swim trunks back on him. 

20) Return to pool.  See #15.

21) Break time. Re-apply sunblock.

22) Feed children snacks and regret not giving toddler nap before coming to pool.

23) Break is over, back in the pool.  See #15.

24) Toddler is melting down.  Sit in your chair (FINALLY).  Nurse him and read book on Kindle. 

25) Toddler is having nothing of cover up.  He pulls and kicks until you give up and just don't care anymore.  Then swats Kindle out of hand.

26) Put Kindle away. 

27) Toddler is now gaining second wind, back to the pool

28) Pull screaming preschooler out of pool and head back to car with all gear.

29) Place crying children in car.

30) Children fall asleep before leaving parking lot.

31) Arrive home and attempt to remove wet clothes from sleeping children without waking them up.

32) Fail.

33) Make dinner while children whine.

34) Eat dinner while children cry.

35) Husband reminds you that chlorine can turn blond hair green.  Remember that you do indeed have blond children.  

36) Bathe horribly tired and inconsolable children.

37) Put extremely tired children to bed.  Somehow it still takes an hour.
38) Attempt to fold laundry but fall asleep in front of TV instead.

Apparently Kids Like Going to the Pool

I am not really a pool person.  Actually, I am not really a water person.  I do like going to the beach, but I like it more for the relaxation.  Sitting on the beach (fully sunblocked or umbrella'd), listening to the waves crash, reading a book or falling asleep.  That is awesome, although doesn't really happen now that I have kids at the beach with me.  And if someone who is really good at swimming, and possibly saving my life, is willing to go in the water with me, then I can enjoy that too.

But overall, I don't swim.  I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of the water.  I know that if I venture out in still water, I can most likely get back to whichever surface I came from.  Be it a boat, dock or pool side.

However, I am not confident in my ability to take care of small children in a water environment.  But really, that is not the point of my post.

The point is, that kids love the pool.  Since kids love the pool, we have joined a pool this summer.  This basically melds together three things I don't like - 1) Water with small children, 2) Sun exposure (I'm kind of a freak about sunblock.  Have you seen my children?  They're like ghosts.  They burn, I burn.), and 3) Wearing a bathing suit.

This late in the game...probably not learning to rescue small children from water.  So most likely, we will only be going to the pool with Clif.


The ghostly-ness of me and my children?  That I can do absolutely zero about.  I will be buying lots of sunblock.

However, I've decided to try and do something about the horridness of my body in a bathing suit.  So at least when I am sitting under some sort of shade structure watching my husband take care of my kids in the water, I can feel somewhat comfortable in the most un-revealing bathing suit I can find.



Do you think I could pull off this look?


So I present...What I'm doing to get bathing suit ready and healthy too!

1 - Walking.  My cousin, Elizabeth, has started a walking competition between a bunch of us.  I have a large family and we live all over the East coast, but we all bought pedometers and we're all trying to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.  Well, I was not on the ball and did not buy mine until Saturday.  So I started yesterday (a week behind everyone else)...but I walked 17,500 steps!!!  What?!?!  I couldn't believe it.

2 - Stairs.  I work on the 7th floor of a building.  I've always taken the elevator.  But I've decided, no more elevator.  Now I'm walking up and down stairs all day.  Up is way harder than down, but I've already noticed it getting a bit easier in just a week.

3 - Water.  I used to be so great at drinking water.  But I have floundered since taking this job.  Ice is the reason.  I love really cold water.  I mean, it needs to be almost icy for me to drink it all.  There is only one ice machine in the whole building.  Second floor.  Note above...I work on the 7th floor.  So I've been lazy.  But now with my whole attitude towards stairs and walking as much as possible...I drank 9 glasses of water yesterday!

4 - Food.  This is always my biggest weakness.  I. Love. Food!  I love so many different kinds of food.  The greasier, cheesier, breadier the better!  All bad things.  So I'm trying.  I refuse to "diet."  Really I'm just trying to make some healthier decisions.  I'm trying to eat less sugar (because apparently when I got pregnant with Freddie I also got a major sweet tooth).  I'm trying to eat at least 5 fruits and veggies a day.  And most important of all, portion control.  This is really the hardest part for me.  I have a huge...no HUGE appetite.  I can eat most people under the table.  Not really something I'm proud of, but unfortunately true.

5 - Play.  Since it's been nice, I've been trying to take the kids to the playground as much as possible.  It is at the top of my in-law's hill, half a mile away.  I put them in the wagon with their snacks and sippy cups and pull the 50+ pounds up the hill.  Then we play for 30-40 minutes.  And I'm trying to really play with them, not just watch.  I taught Ainsley tag, follow the leader and dodge ball.  So this is how I plan to get my exercise...since I no longer can find the time for 6 mile runs or hours on a treadmill.

So there you have it.  Are you doing anything to get your body ready for summer?