The Circus Comes to Town

This past weekend we took our first (but not last) family trip to the circus.  And it was AWESOME!  On Friday I noticed some buy one-get one free passes at the dry cleaners for the Shrine Circus.  I picked a few up on a whim.  Our parenting bible study kept reminding us of the importance of having fun as a family and how you really have to make an effort to do things - the whole "the family that plays together stays together" thing.  This was a really last minute decision to go and we weren't sure if tickets were still even available, because we couldn't purchase them online, so we didn't mention anything about the circus to Liam until right before we left on Saturday morning.

Growing up in Albuquerque, the Shrine Circus was the only circus that I remember coming through town. I loved the excitement of eating cotton candy, watching the acts and buying those glow in the dark necklaces.  Since I moved to the metroplex and saw advertisements for Ringling Brothers, I assumed that the Shrine Circus was probably a little hockey by comparison.  But upon revisiting the Shrine Circus this past weekend, I fell in love all over again with the excitement of the big top!

This was obviously Liam's first time, but I also learned that it was Eric's first time to attend.  This surprises me since my husband is a man-child who loves this sort of entertainment.  We had no problems getting tickets, and as a bonus Liam and Ansley were free. Eric and I utilized our 2 for 1 coupon so it ended up being cheaper than seeing a movie.  Liam was soooo good.  We rewarded his behavior (and his repeated requests) with one of those glow in the dark light sabres.  Ansley, although missing her morning nap, alternated between being wide-eyed and snoozing on my chest.  While we didn't have any cotton candy, Eric did buy the most syrupy slushy that turned our mouths bright red and gave us a smidgen of a kool-aid mustache. 

Our seats were great since the venue was small and the Saturday morning show has the slowest traffic. The show was really amazing.  The acrobats, trick performing dogs, show-stealing elephant act, and death defying stunts, left us wanting more.  We left at the intermission because we didn't want to push our luck with the kids.  For those of you who haven't been to a circus in awhile, the show is about an hour and a half, followed by a 30 minute intermission where the kids (and parents) can ride the elephants, camels and ponies and have their faces painted.  Then the second half begins.  We missed it, but we saw them setting up the trapeze, bike cage (the big metal cage), and the canon for what I assume was the finale.

Liam, waving to the clowns.  He obviously has yet to see Stephen King's "It" and does not share his mommy's grownup fear of clowns.

Ansley in awe of the laser lights show

Eric loved "the big cats."  I was a little freaked out by the 8 very large tigers.

My favorite act.  This was one beautiful and talented creature.

Young Jedi knight

Enjoying the sights and sounds, safe and snug

Recovering afterwards

Enjoying the beautiful spring afternoon

We had a blast and Liam keeps asking to go again.  Maybe when Ringling Brothers comes this summer we might make the trek to Dallas. Hope you had a great weekend!

Back to the Burque

It is hard to believe that it had been over a year since Eric and I had been back "home" to Albuquerque.  We made a special trip back so that several people in our family could meet Ansley and see how big Liam had gotten.  This was the first time in a really long time that I was able to go for more than a long weekend.  It was sort of strange to not have to rush back to work upon our return to Dallas. 

Liam had been super excited about the plane trip.  He had been watching an episode of "Calliou" where he goes on a plane, and I think he thought that it was going to be the exact same experience.  He kept calling it "Calliou's plane."  Both he and Ansley did great.  And Eric and I didn't look too much like pack mules in transit.  When we first arrived we went out for breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants, The Range Cafe.  After breakfast, Liam was heartbroken to learn that we were not getting back on the plane to go back to Texas. 

After breakfast with Eric's parents we went to my parents home so that my dad could finally meet Ansley.  It was great to hang out with them and Eric and I kept joking that we were going to go take a nap while both of the kids were being adored. 

Proud grandparents, Marty and Gladys Martinez

 

 

Liam playing in the sandbox that is the state of New Mexico. 

 

Later that day, my best friend Stephanie, her husband Gabe, and their adorable baby, Annabelle, all came over to Eric's parents house for dinner. Stephanie is pregnant with their second baby, Everett.  Guess who gets to be the God Mommy!  Stephanie and I have been besties since we were in 7th grade.  It is always so much fun to be around her, and I love that our husbands get along too!  We vowed that the next time we saw each other, that neither of us was allowed to be pregnant!  We had awesome green chile and sausage pizza (don't knock it til you try it) and enjoyed the beautiful weather. 

Gabe's repeated attempts to take our picture resulted in....really bad pictures.  Here Stephanie is using her death ray vision to blast a hole in Gabe's head.  This was the best picture we got.  No, seriously. 

Liam and Belle

While we were in town we also went to the aquarium. This was my first visit to Albuquerque's aquarium, but Steph has a membership so we took the opportunity to visit.  It was....an experience.  Between a very pregnant Stephanie, Belle and Liam being very active toddlers, and Ansley having all the needs of a hungry newborn without a morning nap, lets just say that we won't be going again for a very, very long time. 

Liam trying to use the sea star as a seesaw.  I was corrected several times by the employee in the room when I called it a starfish.  It got to the point where I was like, "OK! I GET IT.  Leave me alone while I try to stop my child from jumping off of your precious 'sea star'!"

I guess it was a big deal that this particular exhibit was open because it is rare.  Personally, the thought of petting a stingray holds no appeal for me.  I imagine it is like petting a large, deadly mushroom.

Once again, I was corrected by another employee for referring to the jellies as "jelly fish."  They are, as I learned, NOT fish.

At one point, I had to go capture Liam, while Steph held a fussy Ansley.  Annabelle, in tow with her monkey leash, took sharing her mommy very well.  Very well. 

I love Albuquerque's ability to embrace their ghetto-ness.  Here is a special aquarium showing what the Rio Grande holds.  Yes, that is an old tire, Coca Cola bottle, and other various debris.

Eric's parents took Liam for his first ride on a carousal at one of the local malls.  Liam LOVED it.  But as with all things, he does not understand that there must be an end to all good things.  Especially when it costs a good chunk of change for each ride!

Not handling leaving the carousal very well.  He cheered up when we "got" to ride the next ride: the escalator.

Grandma Becky bought Ansley lots of new headgear while we were in town.  Here she is sporting some of her new accessories at breakfast at Wecks, another favorite restaurant of ours. 

While we were in town my mom and dad had a big lunch for us and 35 of our closest relatives.  Not kidding.  We have a massive family!  It was so great to see many of my family members.  

Uncle David and Ansley

My Aunt Lydia and my mom

My other Aunt Lydia.  She is a leap year baby, but she just turned 92!

My cousin Debbie, who has always been like a sister to me, and another cousin, Isaiah.

Since Eric's parents had been living in D.C. for the past few years, we had spent very little time at their house in Corrales.  But now that they are back, it was nice to relax out in the country. They have a beautiful backyard and Liam loved playing, and exploring in it. He also loved playing with their new dog, Moses. Plus Eric's mom has kept a ton of the toys the boys grew up with.  It was so much fun to see Liam and Eric play with his old cars, Lincoln Logs, Micro Machines, etc. 

The rocking chair that Liam is sitting in actually belonged to Eric's mom when she was a little girl. 

Grandpa Ron and Ansley

I just love this!  Eric is reading Liam a bedtime story in what was Eric's old bedroom. 

Lessons learned

Now that I am a stay at home mom, there are certain things that I am learning along the way.  I have had to really lower my expectations in terms of what I have to show at the end of the day.  I have to be okay with the fact that the house rarely looks put together, that my daily wardrobe now consists of sneakers and sweat pants (I think I actually teared up at a recent visit to Ann Taylor when realizing I have no more use for their clothes), and that showering has now turned into a marathon sport.  I am also learning that my interactions with adults have been limited to texting my BFF, Stephanie, no less than 43 times a day, stalking my mother in law with pictures of the kids via text, and my conversations with Eric over dinner.

Eric: "So the meeting went really well today and they liked my idea. How was your day?"

 

Me: "I changed 6 poopy diapers and scolded Cooper for destroying Ansley's flowered hat." 

Cue crickets

Me: But we also got our electric bill in the mail and it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be....And your kids are alive and wearing relatively clean clothes!

Our neighborhood has a really active Mom's Club that has weekly play dates, occasional weekend outings, mother's night out, etc.  So back in December, only a few weeks after Ansley was born, when I signed up to "officially" join the club, I also (in what I can only describe as a fit of postpartum delirium) offered to host a play group at our house.  

I am not sure why, but as the date neared I got anxious about the upcoming event.  What if nobody came?  What if too many people came?  What if our toys weren't challenging/numerous/coordinated enough?  What if I didn't have enough snacks?  What if someone had a gluten allergy?  You get the idea.  Neurotic to the bone.  But that is what happens when you stay with two kids under 3 all day and are hungry for adult interaction.  

So leading up to the day, I baked, cleaned, etc.  I wayyyyyyy over thought the day.  Because at the end of the day, the kids didn't care what we ate, or what they played with.  And the moms didn't care either.  We were just all looking forward to meeting with other people in our same stage of life.  

And as for the cleaning, well, you can see the before and after pictures.  Lesson learned: Lower expectations yet again.  

Nobody cared that I made three different types of muffins.  That's right people!  Three.  Except for Eric and Liam who were not allowed to eat the muffins prior to the play date.

BEFORE: Notice the absent layer of dust and doggie paw prints on the floor.

AFTER: Not visible were the turned over chairs, fragments of all three types of muffins ground into the carpet and couch, foot prints on the coffee table, and puzzle/toy pieces spread to all corners of the house.  That is what 10 kids will do!

Mommy's idea of a real play date.

Do NOT lick the toilet!

If you weren't already judging me and my offspring based on this title, you probably will after reading a few more popular phrases heard around the Pate Household these days.  

Directed towards Liam:

• We do not touch our poop. 
• Stop putting your shoe in your mouth. 
• Do not tee tee on the carpet (oh boy is potty training fun). 
• We do not go up to strangers and hug them (this after a particularly fun afternoon where he hugged the guy who mowed our lawn). 
• Put your clothes back on! We do not run around the house naked!
• Son, not every male who wears glasses is Daddy. So stop calling strangers Daddy!
• Do not put clothes on the dogs.  
• Stop wearing my bra as a hat. 
• Get out of Ansley's crib/bouncer/swing
• No Liam, I cannot put Ansley down for a nap because you want to play air hockey. 
• If you don't eat your pizza, you cannot have ice cream.
•  No, you may not have popsicles for breakfast (this was probably my fault since I asked him what he wanted to eat).  Followed by: No you may not have jello, ice cream, pita chips and hummus, and pizza.  As an aside, he will have to be very careful freshman year of  college.
• Do not put soap on your toothbrush.  
• Do not throw bubbles in the swimming pool (this after an entire container was thrown in the pool). 
• Liam, when you are praying, you do not need to tattle tale on Mommy.  "Dear Jeezus.  For Daddy, Mommy, Cooper, Chloe.  Mommy spank me if I don't listen. Amen."

From my mouth:

• Is it normal to have a golf ball sized lump on my breast? (Ah the joys of milk production).
• Can I squeeze in a glass of wine before the next feeding?  (Calculations required here; not compatible with post-pregnancy brain drain).
• How did I go from knowing what is happening in the world and politics to only knowing the theme song for Calliou? 
• Would it be possible to train one of the dogs to throw poopy diapers away? If so, would it be possible for one of the dogs to give Ansley one of her night feedings?
• I forgot to brush Liam's teeth this morning.  That's ok right?  I mean he is going to loose these teeth anyway.  
• No Eric, I really just want a massage. 
• To follow up, I promise I am not using the breast pump to woo you.  
• When did I turn into my mom?   

Ansley's look is totally like, "Seriously Mom?!" 

Elmo Palooza

Eric and I have recently discovered the merits of taking Liam out on mini-dates where we can give him a little one-on-one time.  It might be as simple as Eric taking him to Home Depot or the park.  Or me taking Liam for a donut at our neighborhood bakery.  We have stayed away from taking him to big events that would confine him to a seat for long periods of time.  Frankly he just hasn't been ready.  But this past weekend, Liam received an invite from two of his besties, twins Tristan and Gracie to go see Elmo at the Verizon Theater. 

All week long Liam had been living in anticipation of the big event.  Somehow, how he saw the day playing out, was different than reality.  We are taking a trip soon to visit our families in Albuquerque, and Liam had it in his head that we were going on a plane with Tristan and Gracie to go see Grandma and Grandpa....and Elmo.  Despite how many times I explained how the day was going to work, he still had a certain idea of how it was going to go. 

When the show started he got worried and wanted to sit in my lap.  I thought that he was going to cry.  Awesome.  My kid is afraid of giant puppets. And who can blame him?  I used to be deathly afraid of the giant animatronics at Chuckie Cheese.  But after a few musical numbers and enough lights to produce seizures, he started to get into the show.  Throw in a few Goldfish and some juice and he was having the time of his life.  I will say that the folks at Sesame perhaps give kids (and adults) too much credit on attention spans.  The show was an hour and forty five minutes with a brief intermission.  Thanks to our friends, the Gragerts, we had amazing seats and had a great time! 

Besties enjoying the traffic filled ride to Grand Prairie

Holding hands! So cute!

"Where is Elmo?"

Playing Elmo's piano. 

Chillin' in the trashcan

Death by insomnia

It is, of course, no surprise that parents of a newborn would expect not to get a whole lot of sleep.  However, it is widely assumed that the sleeping/eating patterns of the newborn would be the culprit of long sleepless nights, and not a toddler who has regressed to waking up multiple times a night...just.because.he.can.  Liam has always been a pretty good little sleeper, except for occasional illness, travel, etc.  Yet we have found ourselves in a horrible sleep/wake cycle with Liam that is leaving us desperately tired during the day.  Let me also spend a moment pitying myself for not being able to have caffeine yet.  Or more alcohol (judge me if you will) than an occasional glass of wine.

Nights filled with pumping, feeding, and waking with Liam has left both me and Eric desperate for sleep.  Add to it, two dogs who occasionally hear the wind blow, prompting a series of barks that may or may not wake the kids.  The worst part is that Liam cannot seem to be comforted.  He does not want his dad.  He does not his mom.  But he doesn't NOT want us either!  The moment we start to leave the room he screeches, "don't leave!"  We used to be able to give him a sippy cup of water to comfort him, but with potty training that seems to have gone out the door.  And because the kids rooms are next to each other, one child usually ends of waking the other one. 

As a result of this pattern, I find myself with much less patience during the day to deal with situations involving a Mother Theresa amount of grace.  He is really testing his boundaries with the full intent of someone heading into the "thre-evils."  Sometimes I wonder if it is just me and my struggles to reign him in, but Eric seems to be having the same battles when he is home.  Liam is spending so much time in time out these days, I half expect to see his name carved in the wood of his bed with little tick marks showing the days.  I know that this is just a season of my life, but sometimes I freak out, wondering if I made the right decision to stay home.  I realize that regardless of whether I was working, we would still be having certain long nights and battles on behavior, I can't help but wonder again if the grass is really greener on the other side.  Damn other side.  Did I mention that lack of sleep makes me mean?

Even Ansley looks a little sleepy here.

Three Months

Ansley is three months old!  I can't believe how quickly it is all going by.  Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that I was in the hospital having her.  But it is hard to remember life before her.  Our family of four just makes my heart want to burst!

Yesterday she had her well child visit at the pediatrician's office.  She is between the 25-50th percentile for both height and weight.  Her head (in Hamby tradition) is in the 75th percentile.  Large heads to fit their large brains, I like to say.  She is still sleeping good stretches through the night.  Her pediatrician said that I could add rice cereal to my breast milk before her nighttime feeding to see if that would encourage her to sleep through the night.

She remains such a happy baby.  She loves to watch her big brother and her eyes follow him around the room.  She also likes television, a fact of which I am not proud of nor do I support.  If I am feeding her, I am apt to let Liam watch a few minutes of Calliou on t.v.  She tries to arch her body in the direction of the t.v. to watch the magical glowing box.  If I try to turn her body away from the t.v., she breaks suction and is done with her meal.  She has made her decision on what is more important, and entertainment has won.

She doesn't mind tummy time the way that Liam did.  She is pretty good about raising up on her forearms and lifting her head for short periods of time.  She also likes to sit upright in her bouncy chair or super positioner. She loves to smile and has recently started squealing.  She also "found her hands" a few days ago and spends long stretches of time analyzing her fingers and arms. 

My mom had bought all of these adorable outfits for Ansley, and despite the fact that we have had a few beautiful Dallas days (a few days ago it was 83), it has been a little chilly to put her into many of them.  Now that she is getting ready to grow out of her 3 month wardrobe, I am rushing to make sure that she can wear each outfit at least once!  I remember with Liam we would look in the back of his closet and realize that there were clothes whose tags were never taken off!  However, I have several pregnant friends, so the clothes will always be put to good use.

I love my little Ansley Claire and I feel so blessed to have her!