Big 3rd Birthday

John turned 3 :) What a big boy!

Overall, his birthday was very fun. But it started off a bit rough. John's birthday was on Saturday, and Tom got home from a work trip on Friday night. John heard Tom (after some very mysterious lady rang our doorbell at 8pm with a delivery from Amazon...did not open the door) and then John was up, up, up. Tom and I tried to tuck him in for a nice sleep, but he would have none of it.

John called to me, "Mama, I need to go potty!" and I asked Tom to go help him. John screamed like a crazy man. He ONLY wanted mama. So I went to help. Then back downstairs. "Mama, I need to blow my nose!". Again Tom went. Crazy man screaming. Mama to the rescue. Downstairs. Screaming. Mama just laid on the floor next to John's crib til all was calm and quiet.

The next morning (John's birthday), Tom and John had Wiggleworms (their usual song/dance class). They LOVE it. But that morning, John didn't want to go. We had snacks for all the kids for John's birthday. Tom got John's push-car loaded up with the snacks...John was throwing a fit and didn't want to go...they started off...got about 1 block away...and John jumped out of his car and ran home. Tom was so sad.

Things got better and we had a fun lunch at John's favorite restaurant (Prairie Joe's, where they have a bin of castoff toys to play with and cross-contaminate), and then John got to pick out his birthday cake at the bakery (no, I didn't bake him one. Shame shame.)

And then we met John's cousins at CHUCK E. CHEESE. People, if you have not been to Chuck E. Cheese recently, you are lucky. That place is INSANE. I had a reservation (because I always make reservations) but didn't realize that without one the line is over 50 people long and OUT THE DOOR. There were at least 10 other birthdays around us. The wait staff communicated by walkie talkie. The games were PACKED in (and NO skeeball!!! WHAT?????). John got to go into a ticket booth with tickets that fly all around him (I'll load pics later). Pizza. Cake. Tokens. Clapping. A big mouse who gave him a crown and a birthday medal. I was overwhelmed. But John LOVED it :)

And so did Annie.
The next day, Tom left again for a week-long college-scouting trip with Sean (for realz). My life-long friend Jin Ho came over to visit (and help!). And the very first thing John said to him was, "I go to Wiggleworms with my dad." I called Tom and he was thrilled :).

17?

Is it just me, or can you see a glimpse of John at about 17 in this picture?

Due Date

Today was Annie's due date...1 year ago.
Of course we change all of that when we decided to have her induced (very happy about that decision to help give Tom and me some peace of mind during such an emotional time!)

So now I am the mama of a 1 year old and a 2 (very soon to be 3!) year old...oh my.

We had a birthday celebration this past weekend for 4 people (Annie, John, Sean, Dan) complete with 4 cakes and a magician...it was really quite fun...and finished with John sitting at our table with all of the cake-leftovers in front of him...and a fork.

I'll post more pictures soon (after I get my act together and upload them...promise...before Annie turns 2.)

To welcome today, I had a terrible dream. I dreamt that we found out Annie wasn't our baby. Some red-headed lady showed up at our door, and she was Annie's mom. And I hated her. (No offense to the red-heads in my life). I did exactly what I would do if this happened in real life -- I took Annie and ran. Not sure where we went. All I know is I couldn't let that lady near Annie. (And a special thank you to Eugenia who offered to beat her off with a broom if she showed up today while I was at work.)

Yes, I know this could never happen. But, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that I can no longer watch shows like CSI or Criminal Minds (which I used to love) because any show that depicts a child being part of a crime in any way makes me want to simultaneously vomit, fight and cry. So this dream put quite a damper on my day.

And to top it off, please see my previous post about Cindy being taken hostage. For realz. And then I found out John preschool was evacuated because of smoke that set of the fire alarm (very cool and fun for him...not so much for his mama).

Oddly, since this all happened in 1 day, it's really not upsetting...I think I may still be dreaming.

Some things should NOT be texted.

Got this text this morning from my darling sister...who's in Zanzibar:

"Just got taken hostage for 30 mins. Really very benign. All ok. But crazy. Driver called hotel mgr who came and told the villagers to let us go."

So taking of my mama-hat and putting on my sister-hat, WHAT THE F*CK?