Vacation - All I Ever Wanted

Life with a young family often causes me to envision a sine curve. You remember. That's the one with the repeating peaks and valleys. That curve is my life. Sometimes we get to a peak where there is excessive volume of the crying kind. Everyone is high in negative energy, and Robbie and I look at each other as if to ask, "Where did all of these children come from?" The dip in the curve exists in my life when all of the children are asleep. Quiet. Peace. Luckily, most of my interactions with my little children take place in the middle of the very bad and completely silent. That's life, and I love it.

We recently took a long car ride, and I was co-pilot. I ran the iPod, and answered the hilarious call to Henry's request, "Turn on YMCA." The boy loves that song, and we played it for him again and again. He finally had to take turns with Evelyn, for her request was the Vacation Bible Camp cd. Henry noticed the view out the window as we traveled through Kansas and Oklahoma, and I think we heard a comment about cows about 599 times. "I see cows. I want to see MORE cows. I see cows right there." It was funny.

Vivian was an excellent trooper in the van. The little one honestly did not make a sound for the duration of the five hour drive. We even discovered a massive shitastrophe once we stopped at McDonald's. My friend coined that term, and I haven't found one that better describes the mess that baby poop can make when it escapes a diaper. Vivian had poopy up to her armpits. Once in the restroom I began changing her. I kid you not, the hand dryer was called the XLERATOR - Excel Dryer. It was the loudest one I have ever experienced. As each patron started it up my little baby's eyes grew very large and worried. However, she never cried. Olivia would have flipped her lid as an infant upon hearing such racket. Not Vivian. She didn't cry in the van with a terribly messy diaper, and she didn't cry from fright with the XLERATOR. What a good baby girl.

We left home at 8:30 am, and we arrived in Edmond, OK around 2 pm. Henry went to sleep at 1:55 pm. Upon setting up his bed and putting him down for a much needed nap, he proceeded to crawl out of his Pack-n-Play. That was a dreaded first. He repeated his bold move upwards of 20 times. Naptime and bedtime turned into a nightmare. We just couldn't keep him in his bed. Traveling with children is hard, but that turn of events moved me toward exhaustion.

Henry also demonstrated his protectiveness over Vivian. Both in Edmond with 2-year-old Brianna and in McAlester with his same age cousin Isabella, Henry acted as a brute around the girls. "That's my baby sis. You don't touch her." He pulled hair and squeezed their arms, shoved, and more. It was awful. We understood how he felt, but he could not be allowed to harm little girls who simply wanted to look at Vivian.

Uncle Lee and Aunt Corrine met us for mass and then took us to the Museum Cafe for brunch. As we approached the exquisitely set table, Master Henry knocked a small plate off the end of the table and cracked it into five pieces before anyone had even taken a seat. Robbie and I were mortified. Evelyn then had a meltdown over her food not getting cut by the proper person, and we spent the meal trying to survive.

Olivia has been as good as gold on this trip. She played nicely with our Edmond friends. She had a ball with her boy cousins from Tulsa in McAlester. She has devoured many books. She's been easy.

In Wilburton at Grandma Gloria's house Henry pulled the pom-pom balls off of her bedspread and tossed them into the air without a care in the world. I never witnessed this behavior, but I heard about it. We followed him all over the place. He escaped us long enough to sprinkle pepper all over the table and get a mint out of the trashcan. He's a mess. I think we should have named him Busy, rather than Henry.

Today during mass at Sacred Heart he pointed to a life size crucifix and said, "Jesus has boobies." He said it very loudly, but we were in the back away from the other church-goers. Robbie's high school math teacher commented, "I see you have three very quiet girls, and one very curious boy."

The highlight of our vacation included the celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary. Robbie convinced his mother some time ago to keep all four children overnight to allow us to drive to Tulsa for a getaway. Robbie kept our itinerary secret, and I was thrilled as each surprise of the day was revealed. We dined at the Philbrook Museum for lunch, and he invited two of my friends from college, Amy and Renee. I was shocked when the waiter filled the third and fourth water glasses on our table, and I was very excited when the girls walked into the restaurant. Our hotel room was in a corner, and it was so spacious that it was like a fancy little apartment. Very nice. We had our traditional french dinner at The Brasserie, and the meal was wonderful. He even got theatre tickets, and we saw Kiss Me, Kate. It was a great July 1st! I am so thankful for Robbie and our marriage. He brings me so much joy. The only downside was that baby Vivian was not happy one little tiny bit with the bottles and formula that I left for Gwen. She went through the breastmilk with coaxing, and then she wanted nothing to do with her bottle. I don't think anyone really told me how bad it got, but I think there was A LOT of crying. I was extremely thankful for the gift of time alone with Robbie. I just wish I would have left more milk for her. I thought formula packets would be faster to prepare than defrosting and warming my milk. What a mistake! Gwen is a wonderful mother-in-law. If you read this, then Thank You!! She even had help from Pam, a co-worker friend, and two of Robbie's young cousins. We are very lucky and appreciative.

Well, we have a return drive ahead of us. Thank goodness for cows and YMCA. I think we'll survive. Yes, my friend Dana found a tent cover to her Pack-n-Play, and with an adult in the room where Henry slept, it somewhat discouraged his climbing. All was not lost.