Silly Parents, Spring Break is for Kids!

Here in Austin our spring break was in the middle of March, so I am still running at least a month behind in my posts but I couldn't allow myself to lose the memories of that week into the abyss of my iphoto gallery. So, without much clever analysis or great stories to accompany the photos, here was our spring break in a nutshell:

Either we dragged the kids or the kids dragged us all around Texas during their week off of school. The first stop Monday afternoon was The Mighty Cone, a not-so-temporary taco truck that has received a lot of notoriety and is owned by a very exclusive upscale restaurant across town. We'd never to been to The Mighty Cone but had heard about it and seen it recommended in magazines. We learned the hard way that they are only closed on Mondays.

Check it out, across the street from Mighty Cone is Allen's boots with a huge boot donning the name of our favorite Allen!

There is also a candy store downtown with an old fashioned soda fountain that has generated some buzz, I wasn't very impressed. I guess I've seen more than my share of amazing soda fountains in my day and this one was lame by comparison but the kids loved the candy!

Abbie got a cookies and cream ice cream cone at the soda fountain...

...but most of it ended up on her face!

After no luck at The Mighty Cone, we headed straight to Chuy's!!! Hardly a consolation prize and always a favorite!

Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day and last year the kids wouldn't eat the green eggs, so I went another way this year

hmm, how is there only one gone?

After an unappetizing breakfast daddy and the kids wanted to go to Rudy's for lunch.

hi daddy

Four going on eighteen

what are you looking at?

no kids were pinched today

Thursday we were finally down at the resort and we were grateful it was warm enough to swim because it's been a little cooler this year than last.

If he doesn't get to the pool soon I think this monster is going to get me!

oops, ballerina down!

I saw these swimsuits at Christmas time in a catalog at my dad's. Crazy expensive but too cute and totally worth it, right?

where there's a will...

there's a way

This is Bracken being furious and dramatic about how many pictures I am taking on our way to the pool. I remember what it was like to be six...and now I know why my parents drove me crazy taking so many pictures.

gorgeous babe in training

Tate shooting the water cannon at one of the bullseye targets above the lazy river

the uncomplicated life of a child

view of the resort from our balcony

an attempt at a closer view

It was an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, yellow polka dot bikini...and yes all three girls also have this swimsuit

we hit up DQ in a tiny town on our way home

inventing chocolate lipstick

looking very ready to move on to dairy

t

good 'til the last lick

mom, why don't you ever take a picture of me when I'm eating a carrot or an apple?

a satisfying mess

We had a great spring break and wish that we had more chances for fun getaways with the whole family!!!

From beer hat to brokenhearted break-up

My baby has broken up with me and I just plain wasn't ready for it. I have never experienced what it feels like to be dumped by someone I love (seeing as I married my high school sweetheart) but I am guessing that I may be feeling a little of what that heartache is like.

I am not great with nursing, most people who know me know that I've done my best in that arena and for some of my kids it has worked but for most it hasn't. However, somewhere during this last pregnancy I decided that I was really going to give it my all with Lexie and hope for a really positive experience for us both. So, I nursed her in the hospital and thought it wasn't so bad because I had forgotten that the real torture wouldn't begin for a few days until I was released from the hospital and home with not a le leche lady for miles around. I quickly remembered the fun of trying to teach a baby to nurse while she is swallowing way more blood than milk and while I am digging my fingernails into the palms of my hands and crying, meanwhile hoping for a great experience. Still I opted to press forward.

Perhaps I should have taken a clue from my friend Jackie who came over the day after I had come home from the hospital. She was 8 months pregnant with her fifth at the time and when she arrived I noticed her eyeing the stains on the front upper thigh of my sweat pants so I apologized for my sloppiness and explained that it was merely blood from me trying to nurse. Her face twitched ever so slightly into a look of horror and then back to a delightful smile, yet I knew she was right when she said, "seeing that much blood while trying to nurse is all I would need to make me head straight for the formula." I had formula-fed three of my babies and am all for a woman making whatever feeding choice is best for her and her baby so I am not anti-formula but for some reason I had had this desire to nurse Lexie for months before she was even born so I knew that I wasn't going to give up after merely days of trying.

Well, weeks passed and the nursing continued to be painful but Lexie seemed to do a pretty good job so I was happy with the way things were working out and by two months she was a champ and most of the pain for me had subsided. I had even spent a considerable amount of money renting a nice pump from the hospital so that I could be sure I had a good milk supply and so Lexie could get used to drinking from bottles. It didn't take long for me to realize that I had way less milk than I used to feed my other babies but everything I read assured me that supply and demand would work in my favor, so I pressed on.

Quickly I began to realize that Lexie was really only happy if she was eating or sleeping, so she spent A LOT of time nursing. When we were in Utah for my Grandpa's funeral I think that Lexie spent the entire trip attached to my body because if we went anywhere and she wasn't eating she was crying. Similarly, when we went home for Christmas she spent all of her time nursing. It seemed like I was her own personal beer hat and that she wanted me to hold her at all times---day and night---so that any time she may want a little swig or a snack I was ready and waiting. She never seemed totally satisfied and I was starting to go crazy because I had four other children who really didn't want my time monopolized by this new little parasite.

Still, I did love the special bond that Lexie and I shared and I loved being able to disappear for a few minutes and have some quiet time with my baby. Though that also meant I was a sitting duck and had no way to escape the constant barrage of needs of the other four if there was no other adult to attend to their needs. One afternoon while I was pumping for Lexie, Tate came in and took one look at me then paused briefly before running out of my bedroom, he returned moments later with a sippy cup and told me he wanted me to pump him some apple juice next. Anyway, my point is that I had developed a love of nursing but was also frustrated that Lexie never seemed satisfied.

To make a long story short, my pediatrician recommended that I try and start giving Lexie more formula, so I did. I was hesitant to follow her orders but deep down I knew that Lex just wasn't gaining weight fast enough so I gave her a few bottles each day, then graduated to nursing for as long as Lexie would tolerate then immediately afterwards giving her a bottle. I noticed the time Lexie would nurse growing shorter and shorter and I felt very helpless. Finally, after my trip to Chicago last week with Justin (during which I left Lexie and did not take a pump) I sadly and silently knew that was the end. Truth be told I felt totally rejected and definitely brokenhearted. My baby who had once needed me and only me, not any degenerate with a bottle (no offense family members who have fed Lexie), had begun to be very frustrated with me because I was apparently starving her. Darn that deceitful mother nature and her lies of supply and demand.

So, today at the pediatrician for Lexie's 6 month appointment the doctor and I agreed that I was the weak link and the cause for Lexie's stunted growth. We learned that in the past two months Lexie has graduated from the tenth percentile to the seventieth percentile and that all she needed was 60 ounces of formula a day and a lot more calories. Needless to say, Lexie did not look like the chubby man at the top of this entry while I was her beer hat but is now starting to develop a striking resemblance...maybe he has formula in those plastic cups!!

RUsters turns TWOsters with a tutu and tiara party (instant gratification for my doubting sister)

Today Ruby turns two years old and I am astounded that she is so young! Usually I am surprised that my kids are getting so old on their birthday's but Ruby seems as though she has been part of our family forever. This is one little girl who knows what she wants and is packed with personality! She wears princess dresses or princess nightgowns over her clothes everywhere we go. With the exception of church, which is where I draw the line, Ruby truly wears something she deems glamorous every single day. She uses phrases like, "ooh, la, la" and calls herself "pretty" and "gorgeous". Each morning when she wakes up (wearing pajamas with a princess dress over the top) I take her out of her crib and change her diaper at which time she heads straight for Abbie's jewelry box to accessorize. Once outfitted in several necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings, she is willing to come down and join the rest of us for breakfast.

I had thought Abbie was a girly girl back before Ruby came along but now I realize that Ruby is the definition of what it means to be "girly". She wants everything to sparkle and is very much the real life version of Nancy from the children's book Fancy Nancy. She sighs a lot for emphasis and will put her head on her shoulder to be coy or cute. She clasps her hands together like Snow White does when she is being beautiful and innocent. Basically she has life figured out and is going to manipulate us all.

Don't let this darling little exterior fool you, she can also scream with the best of 'em. She is my only child so far to become rigid and stiff as a board when I try and put her in her car seat, or to go completely limp while I try to safely hold her hands near busy roads or parking lots (one time resulting in a dislocated elbow and emergency trip to the pediatrician). Like I said earlier, she knows what she wants and she knows how to get it! Gotta love this girl!!

she wasn't quite sure what to do with the present, she loved it before she even opened it

the creepy baby that Ruby had loved at Toys R Us, she spent a really long time laughing with this doll at the store (the doll laughs and moves its arms)

Bracken realized that the baby came with a bottle

Ruby has a look on her face that I'm sure I sometimes get while feeding my kids...hmm, well this'll keep the baby quiet

there's a happier mommy feeding picture

she has now opened a nightgown (which is what I requested from the grandparents because I knew she'd love them)... this is her saying "wear it! wear it!"

more princesses for our princess!!

ooh you baby, you're driving me crazy! I could just wring your neck!

the perfect princess book from Gigi along with a special nightgown

oh my, what is this? A-yay-oh? (Ariel)

AND IT PLAYS MUSIC!

this is just too much!

Princess Pez and surely something else special from Grandma and Grandpa Allen

prince charming tries to give a kiss before leaving for the airport

Oh baby, I love you!

enough sugar for several stomachaches

a once full bowl of chocolate chips before we even begin decorating

Mom, do you know that thing is on fire?

attempt # 22 to blow out this candle (check out the chocolatey drool)

you can see the huge string of spit when you make this one big

the flame finally went out, I did it! I did it!!

a princess with blonde hair, white gloves, and a pink dress...ooh, la, la (as Ruby would say)

should I be saving this?

yo, what up, no I am not too tough for pink hearts with sprinkles

we are NOT having cake in addition to cookies with this much frosting

these are delicious mom

but perhaps I'll add a little frosting

and perhaps Abbie will add a ton more

they each got their own plate with a castle, coach, glass slipper, crown, magic wand, number 2, a princess or prince charming, a horse (for the coach), and some other miscellaneous shapes

nothing would be complete without sprinkles

shocked when i realized Tate had disappeared from his plate full of confections, I turned to see this (we got our Christmas tree last night and had just started putting lights and ball ornaments on it right before the party)

almost there

perfect

how am I ever going to get that out?

She notices what has happened to her precious tutu that she wears everywhere, including to the gym

Uh-OH!!!

Look mom, it's a castle and a smiley face