Welcome, Summer

 

Happy Birthday to me!

 Today, I am 44, which, as I said the other day is SO FREAKING OLD. This year, I want to be better about self care, including exercise and eating like a grown up (as opposed to a giant toddler). But also stuff like making time to hang out with friends (something I have mostly abandoned) and using expensive skincare products because I AM SO FREAKING OLD.

Between the ages of our kids and the freaking pandemic, going out is really hard. We can’t really have a sitter because the older kids ARE sitters, but 5 kids left alone is kind of a shit show. So we just… don’    t go? We need to work on this as Minnie gets older.

 I am actually writing this the night before my bday, but this is how I think it is going to go:

Ice cream pie for breakfast (made by Jack—can’t wait)

To campus to give an exam and finish prepping my fall class (with fancy coffee and something for lunch, obvs)

Phone interviews with potential fall instructors

Pedicure

Baseball with Cooper, Jack, and Minnie (Cooper plays) while Ben and Dorothy watch Harry play tennis (note these events are in 2 entirely different cities in 2 entirely different directions).

Home for sushi and champagne after the kids go to bed

I gifted myself a 75 minute massage on Wednesday, otherwise I would do that, too.

I’m looking forward to it, if you really want to know.

Minnie discovering the sprinkler

Baby’s first joke

 Oh, you know, just wandering around eating a bagel she found in the trash.

I am pretty sure she has outgrown this summer-weight blanket

You would think that Ariel is onscreen a lot during the movie A Little Mermaid… unless you watch it with a toddler who screams MERMAID when there’s no Ariel. Minnie is wicked into mermaids right now. She can say mermaid, and she also points to her chest and says Mimmie, which is as adorable as you might think. At Costco today she spied a 2-pack of princess nightgowns with both Ariel and Belle and them and lost her damn mind. “BELLE! MERMAID” she screamed to everyone who passed our cart. We bought them, obvi.

Also, I can’t stay out of Costco, and nothing I am buying is necessary. It’t a problem.

Yesterday, Minnie told her first joke. She loves the Raffi song “Banana Phone” and adores it when the banana phone rings for her. I was carrying her past the basket of bananas, and she said “Banana hi” and laughed and laughed and laughed. “Banana hi!” She’s a comedy genius.

Middle Aged

 I keep realizing that I am turning 44 this week and feeling so surprised. I don’t feel 44, or what I thought 44 would feel like when I was actually young. MID FORTIES. Like, what?

I have exactly zero plans for my birthday besides proctoring a exam and watching the penultimate tennis match of the season. And I really hope that Harry and Jack have no plans because I love hanging out with them after the little kids go to bed— even though they invite me to eat like a teenage boy, and really? I DON’T HAVE THE METABOLISM.

Amazingly, I wore an APRON to take Harry to school yesterday. I was wearing one because I actually got dressed before doing kiddie breakfast and the morning scramble, so I threw on an apron to save my white t-shirt and then forgot all about it. NON STOP GLAMOUR.

BABY LEG SEASON, you guys!! My faaaaaaaavorite

Will we always be this busy?

 Do you remember the other week when I was freaking out about our ridiculous weekend? Well, the weekend we are staring at in just a few days makes that one look leisurely. WE NEEDED A SPREADSHEET to figure it out.

L: BOX SHOES.

Mother’s Day!

 What a lovely Sunday.

I had an awesome breakfast in (Ben’s) bed with my little shadow

The kids made me lovely cards (Jack’s was laminated) and got me sweet gifts.

(Dorothy is wearing a mask above because she woke up Saturday morning feeling sick and had a fever. I felt awful because we hung out with neighbors Friday night, and she played with her neighborhood friends. She rapid tested negative, but we took her for a PCR test first thing, and she spent the time before her results came back in her room watching TV and eating things brought in to her and playing dominoes of all things. She got a negative result around 10 Sunday morning (just a little over 24 hours— not bad) and was fever free by Saturday night anyway)

We watched Coop play some baseball (after dive— hence the swim parka)

Ben joined Costco and a hippie food co-op for me (plus my usual face mask and book of the month), so after I gave Planty a traumatic new home,

Jack and I went to Costco to buy some dumb stuff

Then it was time for Dorothy to play softball and Jack to ump while the rest of us spectated

And then, I mean, what could be left but champagne and cake?

All the babies.

Here I am in June of 2006, at the ripe old age of 28, pregnant with Harry. I went into labor with him just a few days after this picture was taken (THANK GOD because I could not get any bigger) even though he wasn’t due until July.

This is April 2008. I was 29 and about to have baby Jack, born 4 days before his due date and a little less than a month before I turned 30.

I did not plan to make it to the August 2011 wedding because my other 2 kids were born before they were expected, and I was SURE I would go into early labor with Coop. HE WAS 10 DAYS LATE. I was 33 and Very Tan. Also, we built this house for Cooper, and we had only lived here for like 2 months and LOOK HOW EMPTY THOSE SHELVES ARE.

Here I am just 2 months shy of 35, squeaking baby number 4 in juuuuuust under the elderly pregnancy wire. Note that my boots are screaming for help and that there’s not enough room for my legs and my socks. Also in this picture, please note tiny Jack and small Harry. They are darling. We were just days away from meeting our Dorothy.

42 and soooooooooo pregnant with Minnie.

Oh, if only we had started having kids a little earlier. Or! If only we squeezed a couple in between Dorothy and Minnie— think of all the babies.