So, I haven’t written in awhile because I have been busy spending time with my family while summer is still here.  While my husband has been on holidays, we have enjoyed going to the zoo, waterparks, and relaxing.

As we are approaching “back to school”, it is my first time around with school and kids.  My oldest daughter Natara, is starting school this year.  She is incredibly excited about going on a school bus and learning about numbers and letters.  However, she is very shy also, so I am a little concerned of how the transition will go.  But isn’t every parent a little anxious when their oldest child starts school?

Today I decided to take her shopping for some back to school clothes.  I was expecting to hear some major complaining.  But no…I guess its a sure sign she is growing up because she kept throwing clothes into the cart.  I didn’t think 4 year old girls were supposed to like going shopping.  And how she knew her correct size….I will never know.  She told me, “Its fun being grown up”.  Now I know my baby is ready for school, sniff!!!!

It was an exhausting and a very expensive affair.  She started complaining of a sore head as we were leaving the store.  I offered her Mc Donald’s for lunch, she said NO.  I guess that should have been my first clue that maybe she wasn’t feeling well.  I went through the Wendy’s drive thru for lunch, and she started screaming because I went past our turnoff for home.  She said “I want to nap first, then eat”.  Clue number 2 that she may not be feeling well.  Clue #3 came when she told me that “I don’t want to swim in the pool later.  I will just watch you and Talia”.  What???  My little fish???  What is going on?

We get home and she vomits all over the living room floor.   My poor baby.  Now I realize why everyone is in such a craze to get hardwood flooring.  Vomit is really not fun to take out of carpet.  Yuk!!!

Enjoy your babies, because before you know it…they are off to school.

My husband always loved that I used to say “I am never going to drive a van”.  There was nothing I liked about vans.  I found them to be big and bulky and slow.

Then I had kids………

Everything changed when I had my first daughter.  I suddenly ONLY wanted a minivan.  I loved the storage of it and all the room you could have when driving inside of it.  My oldest daughter was born in April of 2005 and by September of 2005 we traded the car in for a minivan.

I loved how I felt like I was a queen driving it…so high from the road.  However, the one thing I never liked about it was learning how to park the beast.

I have an extended minivan, which makes it kind of long.  And I must admit, I have never been a master parking queen.  However, it has been 4 years, and do you think I have mastered parking the minivan?????   NO!!!

Inconsiderate people like to park over the parking lines.  I have friends that like to do that so that nobody will park next to them.  This just peeves me because when you are carting around two kids, a diaper bag, and snacks, you really want parking that is up close.  And ofcourse I just love the parking garages.  Those parking spaces are so tight, they are really not meant for big extended minivans. 

I have gotten much better, but people can still view me from afar taking about 4 attempts to straighten out my van so that its just so in the parking spot, taking care that its not too close to the adjacent cars.  Maybe some men may read this and think the stereotypical “woman driver” and ofcourse I am a blonde too, so that doesn’t help the sterotype.

I think I need one of those audible signals like those large trucks have that are carrying a “wide load”, to warn other people they are coming. 

Anybody else feel my parking pain?????

Yesterday was my father in-law’s 70th birthday out of town.  He only lives 2 hours away, so we figured we would be okay to drive home that night.  We aren’t really always adventurous enough to pack up a million bags, the booster seat, the pack and play, toys, and other things just to spend one night away from home. 

We started driving home late (approx 8:45pm), and it was starting to get dark.  Are kids usually go to bed at 7:30pm so we were already off to a bad start.  This summer we have seen horrible amounts of rain, and yesterday was no better.  It starting pouring buckets on us, making it very difficult to see the highway and it was dark and slick.  We decided to do the safe thing and pull over and spend the night in a hotel.

We got the last hotel room in a small little town.  We had nothing with us, only a diaper bag and a change of clothes for the kids.  Luckily we did pack pajamas so that they could wear them on the way home.  We had  to stop at a drugstore for some extra diapers, some toothbrushes, toothpaste, a hairbrush and homo milk.  All the essentials. 

We get into our hotel room and the kids are running wild and free.  They think it is time to party!!!!!    They are jumping on the bed like a trampolene and dancing around the room.  We then made the mistake of putting them in the same room together, while we were in the other room.  This was a massive mistake.  The kids just talked back and forth to one another, and Talia was bouncing up and down in the crib, shaking the crib rails.

My oldest daughter then wanted me to sleep with her in her bed like a sleep over.  Because we weren’t planning on staying overnight, we never packed her security blanket dolly named Mary.  Natara always sleeps with Mary.  She was sad, wanting her bed at home.  So we shared the King size bed. 

Next, we put Talia in the bedroom by herself in the crib (it was a suite with a living room).  Finally, with the lights dim and nothing to stimulate her interest, Talia finally fell asleep. 

Needless to say, Daddy, Mommy, Natara and Talia are all tired tonight.  We are all looking forward to our comfy beds to curl up into.

The saying is correct…..There is just no place like home.