Only a moment

It's official, we've entered busy season.  It's deadline time for my job, Jon's got a crazy amount of work trips over the next few weeks, not to mention all the holiday traveling we have between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And the boys, well they're just always busy.  But somehow I've managed to squeeze in one small moment with the blog.  In other words, all three offspring are napping, at the same time.  Normally this would be a huge accomplishment but I couldn't get the prettiest one to sleep in her bed.  After several tries I gave up and tied on the Moby wrap where she's been contentedly breathing heavily into the phone while I talk to students and easily lulled back to sleep by the rhythm of me mopping the floor.  Oh, yes.  Other great accomplishment this week.  After a month of neglect, my floor is no longer sticky.  Too bad that will only last as long as naptime.  Meanwhile I'm going to enjoy my moment...

... And that's it.  The moment is over.  Girlfriend's awake and has been licking my neck, so the rest of this post will be typed with one hand.

Speaking of whom, don't you think she's changing her looks somethin' fierce?

Jon likes to say she's "getting cute" but I won't stand for it since that would imply she wasn't cute before.  She's simply the greatest.

I suppose you're wondering how I've managed to finally get her hair to stay down. Simple.  It's called "too busy to give the poor thing a bath" a.k.a. natural hair grease.  Works like a charm.

Anyway, we went to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. This was actually my first time home for Thanksgiving since before I got married.  Marmie did not disappoint, and in typical Marmie fashion made plenty of extra for leftovers and doggie bags.  The boys also did not disappoint and were quite well-behaved at the dinner table.  Definitely something to be thankful for since mealtimes are often my greatest source of frustration these days.

And while we're talking about things to be thankful for - Julia's been sleeping 9 hours at night for over 2 weeks now.  The first two nights at Marmie and Poppa's were a little less than stellar but ever since she's been going strong.  I've never had a baby start sleeping through the night this early before.  Maybe she's trying to make up for all the gassy-issues and fussy evenings.  Either way, I'll take it! 

The kids and I actually headed up to Pennsylvania a few days before Jon.  Jack didn't have preschool the whole week and I was tired of managing things on my own while Jon worked late.  So I got a little assistance from the grandparents and Jon got to spend extra time at the office without feeling guilty.  I know some people think I was a little crazy for attempting a 200 mile drive all alone with 3 kids.  But I was desperate.  And actually, other than Jude's incessant whining, the trip went quite well.  We had to make one potty-break/baby-feed/diaper change/might-as-well-get-the-kids-snacks-while-we're-here stop.  And it ended up being at a shady diner off of Route 11/15 (the shadiest highway in the state in my opinion).  But the waitresses were very friendly and gave us an empty corner to stretch our legs in.

We made it to my parents in less than 4 hours and Julia only started to cry as we pulled onto their road.  Unfortunately, the drive back is a much, much different story.  I should've known better than to attempt a trip between 4-9pm.  Those are Julia's fussiest hours at home and they were no different in the car.  I ended up stopping every hour and being tortured by her cries in between.  Jon, on the other hand, got to enjoy a nice quiet ride all by himself in his own car, free from baby cries and Disney movies playing in the background.

But hey, it was all worth it to enjoy some time with both of our families.  My parents helped with kid-duties and I was able to get a lot of work done.  They took the boys to a big play castle in town on one day, and a children's museum on another.  And as usual Marmie cooked, Poppa entertained and everyone snuggled. 

We spent the second half of the week at Jon's parents.  And while I did not participate in Black Friday (just the thought of all those crowds makes me shudder), my mother-in-law did encourage me to visit the mall on Saturday.  She's very good at asking her son to watch the kids and taking me out shopping.  So I was able to get a few quiet hours to myself (well quiet when Julia wasn't hungry) and find something that fit to wear to Jon's class reunion that night. 

One final aspect of the holiday weekend was Julia's dedication.  It was so nice to get back to our home church on Sunday, it feels like it's been ages since we've been able to worship with our old church family.  It also feels like it hasn't been that long since we were there to dedicate Jude (I guess it hasn't!).  Baby Girl was so content and didn't make a peep.  And we were honored to have the same pastors that dedicated both Jon and I as babies do the same for our third child. 

It is now hours after I first started typing this.  My original moment is long gone, the nappers awoke, my freshly mopped floor was littered with sticky rice at dinner, Julia's been fed and burped and paced, and fed and burped and paced again.  And now I'm borrowing time from other tasks in order to wrap this thing up... And trying to add new meaning to "live for the moment."  Until the next moment!