The Long Story About The Long Vacation

Thank you, Kat (A.K.A. Aunt Dat), for watching my babies for me! (and for updating my blog, I love the big juice/zapatos story)

So we flew my sister in to babysit our boys so we could get away. We wanted to do something really fun for Steven's big 30th birthday. We went on a cruise for Andre's 30th birthday then the boys grew out their beards and dressed like lumber jacks and we drove to South Carolina to chop down our own Christmas Trees for Darren's. We put them in the back of our RV we rented. Steven had wanted to sail to Bimini (in the Bahamas) for his big day. Well, they're not exactly checked out on a sail boat and would have surely been lost at sea. Instead, we decided to rent a regular deck boat from Key West. Darren and Andre organized the whole thing. It originated as a "long weekend." The keys aren't that far away - like an 8 hour drive. Kat took a whole week off so she could have some fun in the sun before being a mommy the rest of the week. We left Wednesday after work and didn't get back 'til Sunday evening. That was waaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long for me. Our van had 6 of us in it, so I couldn't drive back early. I took my boys to get pictures taken so I could stare at them whenever I wanted (and I did). I said it was for Father's Day, but admitedly didn't really care if that's what HE would want or not. I opened my wallet many times to sneak glimpses of my babies. I got home sick. Not for a home, obviously, but for my babies. I missed them so much. I held back tears lots of times. I couldn't hold them back after the 3rd night. What the heck was I doing? My babies were maybe awake and wanting me. I was feeling selfish. Nothing is worth leaving them for that long. I had fun snorkeling the first part of Thursday (before I got sea sick) and lots of other times of course, but would have gladly left after Thursday's trip.

Wednesday:

I took the boys for a photo shoot where they printed the pictures for me right there. I framed some for a Father's day gift. I got the oil changed and loaded the mini van up with baby supplies. I dreaded going to drop them off. I left Kat with sooo much stuff. It was hard to find room in the deep freezer for all of the milk I had saved up. I kissed my babies good bye and had a sad ride to pick up Steven. We left later than anticipated, but I was secretly NOT rushing to leave. We made it in time to go to the airport to surprise Luiz and his lady friend, Jenny. We were all really nervous. I was biting my nails. We weren't sure if it was his flight from NYC or not that we were waiting for. Steven bought a big marker and a legal pad to make a sign to hold. We didn't know if Luiz would be happy to see us or if he wouldn't know what to do. He may not have had enough time to warn his girlfriend about us. He is always up for antics and spontaneous fun though, so what the heck. We hadn't seen him in so long and couldn't wait to see him anyway. Success! He yelled when he saw the six of us. Yay! He had changed his mind about hanging out with us that night b/c he wanted to see his family there in Miami. We knew that part already. That night we passed lots of hotels with "no vacancy" signs 'til we finally found one with a price we were ok with. We all crammed into one room since we had an air mattress. Steven and I didn't wake up to Andre whisper-yelling "Steven, Steven, .... STEVEN! You're snoring really loud! Steven, STEVEN, roll on your side!" Everybody else heard it and it ended up being pretty funny. Steven's high moment of the trip was the fact that he ruined everybody else's sleep when we went to bed at like 2am and were up at 6 to go to our snorkel trip. Corrie couldn't help laugh when we would repeat that loud whispering. That was her high of the trip. It was so miserable for them apparently. I have no idea how I sleep through that but hear the boys when they get up in the middle of the night.

Thursday:

We woke up not well rested and I took two Dramamine. We boarded the snorkel boat and went out for a 6 hour trip! Andre and Rita lathered on layer after layer of sunscreen. We thought it was pretty funny, but they're the only ones who didn't get burned somewhere. That'll teach us! My high moment of the trip was that first place we anchored. I've been snorkeling before and it's always different. This was amAzing. The water was so clear. Here's my fish face.I saw lots of different fishies everywhere I looked. One of the crazy things was that I got to swim with sharks. I looked up, and there he was! A shark that was taller than I am. He was a little away from me. I stayed close to Steven and got on the other side of him so Steven was between us. Steven was chasing the thing trying to get better pictures. I followed behind Steven until I realized the shark could turn around and head for us. I pictured it in my mind and stopped following. Then there was another one to my right. I wasn't scared at all. I did kinda scream a little when I looked down and was swimming in the same direction as a shark below me. It was about as far away as if he were laying on the bottom of the deep end of a regular home pool and I was on the top. I was startled, but not scared still. I felt calm and like this was so cool. Steven took this video as I stayed back.

One time I was chasing some fish with Steven for a while then finally looked down. I couldn't believe all I had been missing by looking ahead instead of down too. Then I thought how lucky I was. Every direction was clear and there were fun things to see. I wasn't afraid to dive down to get closer looks at things because it was so light and clear. My underwater camera's latch broke so it works, but it's not water proof until I get it fixed. I'm so glad that Andre and Corrie have newer versions of it so we could use their cameras. I started to feel yucky and Steven headed to the boat with me. We were almost done with that stop anyway. I waited to get sea sick until we were moving. I didn't feel good enough to go back in at the next two stops, but I was happy. I could have gone home after that first stop. And I do mean HOME, to my kids. It would be a long next couple of days . . . We ate and checked into our condo on Key West. It was a 2bed, 2-1/2bath with balconies, a hot tub, washer and dryer, and everything. We had 10 friends go all together, but only 3 couples stayed there. We met up with Dave and Stacy but not with Luiz and Jenny. We had a packed day but it's the KEYS! We wanted to make the most of it. We went to a cool little bar where a guy was singing anything we asked. Of course we wanted Buffet. Steven and I left our business cards with a trillion others stuck to the walls and ceiling. We didn't stay out late because we had a big day planned. We thought about TPing Luiz' car for not going out with us since he has done it for less, but we got tired. Steven even bought a roll of toilet paper and everything. Luiz was staying on the other side of the island from us so it didn't seem worth it after a while.

Friday:

We went on the boat we rented, this time with Luiz and Jenny while Dave and Stacy stayed on land. Steven drove the boat out to the reef and we did our own snorkeling. I didn't really go out much because we didn't have enough fins and the current was tiring without them. The highlights of that excursion were attaching to the anchor, loosing, finding, loosing, then finding Darren's sunglasses, and the sand bar. Oh, and the high seas crashing over and drenching us when Andre drove. I had over done it with the Dramamine and was soooooooooo tired. Now I realize that's why I was too tired to kick with out fins. I was drugged up! We ate lunch and I didn't say a word. I couldn't wait for a nap. When I got up, we had all 10 of us over for a cheese and cracker party. There are lots of memories from that evening. We didn't have big plans for the next day, so we had planned on that being our big night out. We did some dancing and hanging out, but that's when it hit me the most. I didn't get to say good bye to Luiz (he left early) and realized that we could be hanging out with the rest of our friends back at home. There wasn't anything extra tropical about the table we were sitting at and I wanted to kiss my kids goodnight. I wanted nothing more than to squish Isaac's smushy thighs and to bury my lips in Dylan's resilient cheeks. I didn't let it show because there was nothing I could do at that point and everyone else was loving life. It's supposed to be a care free place. That night, I cried myself to sleep in our couch bed. I've said that Isaac sleeps in the crib. Well that's kinda a lie. He starts out there, but I always bring him in bed with me when he wakes up needing me. I need him too. I was thinking about how he needs me and poor Kat is the one getting up with him. She was sleeping on the floor with him because she was worried that he would roll off of her bed or that he would roll and put his face down on it. It felt so un natural to be so far away from my baby. No other mother mammal in the world is away from her nursing baby for this long. I was feeling like this was not a good excuse to be away. Whatever happened to it just being for a weekend? I know it's my fault. I could have backed out, but we were flying Kat in and nobody else would have understood. I had been feeling like I needed a vacation from Dylan and Isaac. They are a handful for me. Dylan had been so clingy and nagging. He doesn't do it for Steven or Corrie as much, but he is stubborn for me. I didn't miss that, but I would have tolerated it. When Dylan's sweet, he's the sweetest.

Back to the story. We were all bummed that Luiz turned in early. That didn't seem like him at all. Steven had told him that if he left us, then he would slash his tires because we had let him off the night before. Steven decided it was a good idea to let the air out of all of his tires. I wanted nothing to do with is since I knew it must have been his girlfriend's decision to go in. The Luiz I know would never have left early. He is the guy who comes into town with little notice and expects us all to go out all night. We certainly used to, but since kids, just the boys usually go. This was a treat because Corrie and I never usually go out at night. I could tell he was torn on what to do. Anyway, Darren was all about it, so they TPd the car and let the air out of the tires. Steven was going to help him in the morning since I have tripple A. He just wanted to get the point accross that we missed him, tough love I guess. We would have called a truck to go inflate the tires and Steven thought Luiz would have been upset, but would have understood. Yea, I'm pretty sure Luiz and Jenny hate our guts. Jenny hadn't been to the Keys before and didn't get to see anything besides what she saw from the boat. Seriously, that's sad. She's so nice but I'm pretty sure she hates us and I certainly don't blame her. She doesn't know us. We got to know her some and I thought she seemed so perfect. Steven and his friends always put each other down and give each other a really hard time for some silly things. We didn't see Luiz again and I'm still bummed about that. It's all rediculous. These boys never change.

Saturday:

I called Kat and had her check the cost of flying from Key west to her. I wanted to cry but didn't. It would have been about $450. I asked Steven what the shuttle boat costs. He reminded me that that only went as far north as Ft. Meyers. Kat assured me that the boys were happy and that they had fun plans for the day including going to the Rays game. Dylan loves baseball, so I felt better. I figured I may as well take advantage of having a babysitter, so I got my hair done. (What a way to waste away precious time in the Keys, but I had tried to get Steven to come home early and hand't been able to and it was way over due.) We all rented scooters and cruised the island. I had to share Steven's the 2nd day because mine wouldn't start. Four of us went to the historic cemetary. Two of the plates read "I'm just resting my eyes" and "I told you I was sick." We took a picture by them. And of course we went to the southern most point of the continental USA.Steven and I split off and we found a Key West Key Lime Shoppe and tasted some samples of lots of stuff made with the little Key limes. We got a slice to share in their quaint tropical back yard. I liked it, and the pie. We browsed some shops and saw a typical Key West parade. That was funny. That's Andre:)It was cloudy so we missed seeing the sunset from Malory Square, but we met up with everybody for a while anyway. I was pushing for us leaving that night. We did get a lot of pictures of just me and Steven. That rarely happens since Dylan and Isaac are so much more photogenic.
Sunday:
It was Father's Day. You'd think these dads would want to see their kids. Corrie and I got Steven and Darren a Publix cake and some other things. Darren had been upset that I hadn't gotten Steven a Publix cake on his real birthday. In fact, I had gotten him a key lime pie that I had the bakery write on. Anyway, even though we got up at 6 something in the morning, I didn't get to squish my baby's fatty thighs until after his evening fussy time. We cut the scheduled stops in half, but some times people can't hold it. When they gotta go, they gotta go. We did stop at Robbie's to feed the tarpon. You should do it!I saw the most gators on Alligator Alley than I've ever seen before. I tried to not be a complainer on the way home since it was Father's Day. I knew that there was nothing I could do to change the situation I had placed myself in. I was fine until about 3-4 hours away. I kept my mind off of my boys, but then got overwhelmed when I called my mom. Isaac was crying. All my mom said was that Isaac was not happy and she asked how far away I was. I was so sad that I was not there to comfort my baby. I knew that it was probably his time when he gets sad and wants to cuddle in the dark and nurse himself to sleep. Sometimes he gets really worked up, but it's only at about 8:30pm usually. He was doing it early. I wondered if he would still be crying when I got there. I hoped he would be calm, but then thought that if he were calm, he would probably be sleeping and I would miss seeing him awake for the night. I missed Dylan so much too. The anticipation was too much. Then I had stupid thoughts like what if we got in a car wreck and I never got to see them again. I know, dumb thoughts, but I was sad. We dropped Corrie and Darren off at their house. Malia ran out and wrapped her arms and legs around Corrie with the biggest smile. All of her tiny spaced apart teeth were showing but not her squinted eyes, her smile was so big. I had to look away because it was like one of those Hallmark moments where girls cry in those movies. I was so happy for Corrie even though it was cheesy or something. I was jealous and couldn't look. I wanted to say hi to Malia too, but Steven took care of that and rushed us out of there. Steven kicked Andre and Rita out there even though they live close. He knew I needed to see my little boys. I felt so helpless. Steven told me I should have anticipated not getting in 'til this time, but that was not consoling. When we finally pulled up, my mom was outside holding Isaac talking to a neighbor. I was totally rude and didn't say hi. I snatched my little guy and cried some more. I missed him so much. I went inside to Dylan too. I held both of them and we walked through to the back. Isaac didn't want to eat. He was tired and started crying again. I was happy. Steven was so good and filled the van up with all of their stuff then unloaded it into a humongous pile when we got to Maria's. I had packed more for them than the six of us adults had all together. Poor Dylan said "Mommy! uh, bu bye?! uh, Dita's house, now?!" He had lots of fun, but was ready to go back with me. Kat had told me that my boys liked her and that she would miss them. On that long ride back, I wondered if they would like her more. I was worried that Isaac would like the bottle more too. It's ok though.

Monday:
So anyway, Corrie gave me the day off. Her mother-in-law was still in town. It's the first time like ever, that we didn't leave the house that day. I breathed in the smell of my two sweeties with each kiss. Well, not the ones that Dylan got annoyed with. Then I started tickling him. How fun. The electricity went out for hours at Steven's work, so he got sent home early. Yay for us! And we lived happily ever after.

The End

Guest Blogger: Aunt Dat

Tiffany and Steven are out celebrating Steven's 30th birthday in the Keys with Andre and Rita, Darren and Corrie, and other friends, so they flew me into town to play with Dylan and Isaac until they get back on Sunday. I'm not as good at blogging as Tiffany is, and I don't know anything about photo editing, so I think this post will mostly be for Tiffany, since she's homesick for her boys and wants to know everything they've done while she's been gone.

Right now we're a little past the halfway point of Tiffany and Steven's trip, and already I've learned quite a bit about these nephews of mine. Here are some random ramblings.

Dylan knows exactly which movies he likes and when he likes to watch them. “HOH-sees” means Prince of Egypt. “GAY-go RAH” means the movie about Diego and the dinosaur (a Dora the Explorer movie). And “DIS un, Dat” means “this one, Kat,” so he wants to watch the one in his hand. Oh, and “big ho!” means the “Deliver Us” song from Prince of Egypt, at the end of which the chorus of Hebrew slaves says “Hohm” in unison. Who would have thought a two-year-old would notice that and remember it? But every time that song plays, Dylan looks over at me with a big grin and says “big ho!” in anticipation. Then at the end of the song he tries to say "Ho" along with the chorus—and he’s usually not very far off.

The boys playing with Uncle JT and watching Prince of Egypt. Dylan was willing to give me a fake little smile for this photo, but he wasn't willing to turn away from his movie for long enough for me to get a good shot. :P

When Dylan asks for “bread an UH-nee” or “bread an BUH-duh” every other hour, he’s serious. He really can down a half a peanut-butter-and-honey sandwich—minus the crust, of course, unless he’s REALLY hungry—that often. He can be talked into eating other things though, so he’s not really eating 8 peanut-butter-and-honey sandwiches every day. Also, I figured out pretty quickly that "GEE-gog" means hotdog, but corndogs are an acceptable substitute. :)

Eating a corn dog with Uncle JT in Grandma's backyard. This was after swimming on Thursday afternoon. (And no, they didn't swim in the pond in the back of the picture. They swam in Grandma's pool.)

Whatever he's eating, Dylan knows that at "MYAH-mah's house" (grandma's house) he's supposed to eat on the "snack rug."

Isaac does NOT like to be taken out into the brightly lit kitchen when he’s trying to sleep—even if I’m taking him there to get his bottle ready. He’d much prefer I anticipate his needs by having the bottle ready before he starts fussing. Then I can give it to him in the dark and he’ll go right back to sleep rather than staying up for another hour in the middle of the night! (Wow, I was zonked after that first night. I was starting to feel kinda grateful that I’m still single and don’t have any kids of my own!)

“Uh-NEW-ning, Dat?” means, “What are you doing, Kat?” And Dylan asks it OFTEN!

Dylan has some kind of sixth sense that tells him when I have some kind of food I’m trying to hide from him. Even if I’m completely certain I’ve kept it out of his line of sight, he can tell I have something, and he wants it. Uncanny. Can’t I just eat my cookie in peace???

After 48 hours of this I think I'm starting to get the hang of things, but sheesh! I don't know how moms do this everyday! I haven't brushed my hair or put on makeup since Tiffany left, and the house isn't exactly orderly. Okay, it's not orderly by a long shot. It's a good thing I'm not the mom all the time!

So far I've taken the boys somewhere in the car four times, and there was definitely a learning curve on that . . . for me!

My first foray out I forgot just about everything. It was kind of a rush, because my mom usually takes Jonathan where he needs to go, but she was at the hospital with my stepdad, who was being admitted for an appendectomy. So at the last minute, when Jonathan realized that he needed to be at the church in 15 mintues, I got both kids (and Jonathan, of course) into the car, but that was about it. We weren’t even to the end of my mom's street before Dylan asked for his “Lett-lett” and I realized I hadn’t even thought about it. But Jonathan was already late, so we braved the trip without it. Dylan was a trooper and didn't even whine. When we got to the church, Dylan wanted to get out of the car and go play inside. It was then that I realized the blanket wasn’t the only essential I had forgotten. I hadn’t even grabbed a diaper bag, for pete’s sake! So staying and playing at the church wasn't an option.

My second trip went a little better. It was also a rush, since Jonathan called from the church saying that nobody was able to bring him home, so I needed to go pick him up--and he was ready right then. When he called, I had just gotten Dylan out of the bathtub and it was time to put Isaac to sleep. But I just got Dylan into his PJs really quick and stuck Isaac in his car seat. Thank goodness that child doesn't mind his car seat. He fell right to sleep. (Dylan kept me informed about that, saying things like "eyes closed" and "i-gick nigh-nigh." The trip was short and we didn't need anything in particular, but I remembered both the diaper bag and the blanket. Whew!

The third trip I also remembered not only both kids but also the diaper bag and the all-important lett-lett. But I completely forgot the Diego cup for our trip to play in the park. Poor little Dylan was soooo thirsty! We found a water fountain in the park, but it wasn’t a very good one. Dylan fell asleep before we got home, but when he woke up I made sure he had his Diego cup first thing!

Dylan had lots of fun swinging and running around the park getting all hot and sweaty, but Isaac didn't even wake up the entire time we were there.

The fourth trip was a success. We went to go visit a friend and her baby, and we had everything we needed. We had frozen mommy milk for Isaac, and we had Dylan’s blanket, Diego cup, and snacks. Dylan was so good the entire time we were there. He was really sweet with both Isaac and the other baby, and my friend said that she could tell Tiffany is a really good mom by how sweet her kids are. Isaac was absolutely perfect—smiley and cuddly and friendly with everyone.

And here's a funny moment for the day. My mom took Dylan outside for a while after dinner. I didn't know what they were doing, just that they weren't in the backyard anymore. Well, after a while they walked in looking like this. I saw Dylan's wet shorts first and asked, "How'd you get wet?" My mom thought I was talking to her, so she's the one who answered me. She said simply, "He watered me." Apparently Dylan was helping her water the plants, and when she sat down on her porch bench, he decided to water her as well. Her legs got most of the watering, but he even got her hair! Notice the wet jeans and shorts in these photos:


And here's my proud-aunt brag for the day. Dylan is a problem-solver, and he’s a smart one! Tonight he was trying to tell me something and I couldn’t figure out what he wanted. It sounded for all the world like “big juice,” but we don’t have any juice and I don’t know why he’d say big juice anyway. So I asked said, “What?” and he said “big juice” again. I told him I didn’t know what that was, so he made the sign for shoes and said very clearly, “s’patos.” When I couldn’t figure out what he was saying in English, he said it in both Spanish and ASL so I’d understand. He wanted his “big” shoes, a.k.a. his tennis shoes rather than his sandals. What a smart kid!

Aunt Dat continues . . .

I thought of another funny thing Dylan did. On Wednesday evening, just a few hours after his mom had left, he was jumping on the trampoline, and I was standing beside it holding Isaac. Dylan kept saying, "Watch dis, I-gick!" When he was sure Isaac was watching, he'd jump around in a circle or land on his rear end or something. After a while he got tired of that and asked where his mommy was. I told him that she was driving to the Keys, but that we could call her. Dylan seemed happy with that idea, so I called Tiffany and put her on speaker phone. I then held up my cell phone and told Dylan to say hi to his mommy. He obeyed, then promptly said, "Watch dis, Mommy!" and started jumping around again. Then he stopped, repeated his command in the direction of my phone, and jumped some more. I guess it only makes sense that if he can hear his mommy through the phone, she should be able to see him through it too!

Pool party

On Wednesday I took another field trip with my Fun Four. My friend (who does not have any kids of her own) invited me over to her kid party. She assured me that there would be some young girls who would help take care of some kids while I watched others. It was a treat to get to go swimming with Dylan and Malia in the day time. She had pool toys since I didn't think to bring any. Dylan golfed to her with the pool toys. The girls played "baby doll" with Isaac and Noah. I put Noah to sleep in the beautiful crib she had set up - yea, she's ready for kids, but they're waiting for some reason:) After the pool, she had a full lunch for the kids. She cooked mac 'n cheese, finger sandwiches, peeled apples, cheese, turkey, cheese, juice, water, etc etc etc. Amazing! Then she put on one of her many Baby Einstein DVDs and got out books. I could have stayed all day.

Bravery

I had some extra energy last Monday and took all 4 kiddos to the park. I loaded up the mini van by myself with these four for the 1st time.
Dylan and Malia can walk and Noah and Isaac are almost big enough for the double stroller.
We saw a crazy spider. Malia LOVES bugs of all kinds. Dylan was trying to hold her back b/c he was worried about her. I fed all 4 while there. There was another mom and her 1yr old. She was watching me then later said she wanted to be a nanny and was taking notes. Ha! She was about to leave then came back when she saw I was having trouble. I went to this play ground specifically b/c it is mostly in the shade and because it is fenced in. Well, Malia opened the gate to chase a squirel then Dylan followed - yikes! I got them, but Noah moves off of the beach towel I had for him. Then Isaac woke up and didn't want to be put down, then there were lots of messes with spit up and pee etc. It was worth it and was so much fun b/c the kids don't get to go to the park that much any more.

Later that day, Jake noticed that Isaac was really watching Dylan's movie. It was so funny that he had turned his head and found something interesting to focus on. The screen is on the left of the picture below:

The big 3-0!

My Steven is 30 today!

I think he has accomplished what he should have by this age - and then some. He married me, had two kids, finnished school, then finnished another school, got a real job, bought and sold a house, left the country a couple of times, and even did a triathlon and went sky diving. I just thought he wouldn't still be living with his mom by age 30 :) Just kidding Ü

I love you, Steven!

And use my brother's business www.securingmemories.com to digitize your favorite pictures so you too can blog some old memories.

Baby Triathlon

Darren and I did a triathlon that was pretty short. I thought we did pretty good since we haven't trained, but look at our competition:)

Our age is written on our legs.

Then I painted, see next post.

What would YOU do?

We are spending spare time doing whatever it takes to move. Well, we don't really have spare time. I had a birthday party and a house warming party and something else I was supposed to be at, but we painted instead. I am ALWAYS double booked it seems. We didn't really plan ahead much and had Dylan and Isaac with us. It was cool that my mom and Don were at the house when we pulled up. They mowed our lawn for us since it's still technically their house. Then they took Dylan home with them - hooray! I thought Isaac would sleep, but all he wanted to do was eat. And eat. And EAT some more. I would take a break and feed him, but painting was taking for EVER. He wanted me to pacify him by BEING the pacifier.

Then I had an idea.

So what would YOU do?

P.S.
We are using the environmental friendly paint w/ minimal fumes that's safe for pregnant moms and babies and immuno-compromised/lung issues mother-in-laws.