This week felt really, really long. But in a good way. A full way. Something about going away for the weekend to Mom 2.0 changed things at home – maybe we ALL needed a break from each other – and we’re all happier to be around each other. Despite spending an awful lot of the week in various waiting and exam rooms, we ended it in NYC proving our kids are really good sports (we made them walk everywhere) and really fun (when they aren’t driving us crazy).

Sunday:

These are my “before” flowerpots, but that didn’t stop her from trying to take care of them.

She asked for purple flowers to plant (I don’t even know what these are).

Mother’s Day at Chili’s (again) calls for finger guns

Monday:

Freezing, FREEZING cold water

The gingers are unphased by cold

So excited about her chocolate frog she forgot to take the plastic off.

Tuesday:

She tied that all by herself.

Thank God for iPads (during my NST)

Wishflowers

Wednesday:

Pweeeese we swim some more Mommy? Pweeeeeese?

We bought cat food and paper towels and batteries at Walmart. She is hugging the batteries.

Fawkes Phoenix is Evan’s new BFF

Thursday:

Looking pensive about the rain

In case you thought they were GOOD at posing for pictures.

Sleeping Beauty

Friday:

What is this weather even??

Next year, SHE is going to be coming home on that bus.

Another day, another visit to L&D

Saturday:

When you get the Metro-North seats with the power outlet, you get to play Angry Birds all the way in to the city.

Shake Shack is actually as good as everyone says.

I think our last family picture (selfie or otherwise) was in October. We heart NYC.

And now I am literally going to crawl upstairs to bed because my left hip is broken (out of joint? sprained? can you sprain a hip?) and I can’t walk. I finally found my sense of direction in New York, but unfortunately it was because we walked EVERYWHERE. I’m pretty sure even the gingers are going to sleep in tomorrow.

Although I did get a super awesome new stroller that’s inspiring me to get back to Stroller Strides. Maybe if my hip pops back in we’ll actually make it this week.

Late, so late, but Mother’s Day was spent planting and napping and today was spent at the lake enjoying our very first 80+ degree day of the year so I’m just patting myself on the back for getting it done and not decided 183 weeks straight is enough.

Sunday:

Hello New England, you look lovely from the air.

May the Fourth be with you!

Exhausted and swollen but shocked by how much I missed these kids.

Monday:

Yay Spring!

Caroline picked me flowers

Moe’s was as close as we got to celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Tuesday:

Preschool drop off shenanigans

Weirdo is obsessed with this basket

Evening family walk is my new favorite

Wednesday:

First of many non-stress tests for Baby #3

They’ve graduated to the deep end (with help) and it stresses me out

Who doesn’t love H&M?

Thursday:

Three going on sixteen

Not mad, just showing off the guns

Super happy Daddy is home

Friday:

Someone threw money in this statue which only has 2 inches of water in it. I made the gingers put it back after they fished it all out because it felt like…stealing? Ruining someone’s wish? I’m not even sure.

The best ice cream in Connecticut @Mystic Drawbridge

Green

Saturday:

Back in the hospital birthing center, my new home.

Humid weather gives her curls

The sky after the wedding I photographed

The beautiful, sunny weather for the past couple days means I’ve been carrying my camera around again to take pictures, so they’ll be a bunch of those to post this week. Probably. Or they all might end up living on my hard drive indefinitely because I’m too busy sorting and then editing the 1000+ photos I took at that wedding. Luckily I can do all of that sitting down, since being 30 weeks pregnant plus carrying extra amniotic fluid means doing anything for more than about 30 minutes straight is uncomfortable. So hurt. Much huge. Wow.

I was transferring photos off my phone for this week’s round up and I couldn’t believe it was THIS WEEK that Caroline broke her chin. It feels like a million years ago. Well, except for the part where she had the stitches out on Friday, because the screaming is still echoing in my ears.

Sunday:

Goldfish crackers – Pretty much the same as lidocaine when it comes to relieving chin pain in toddlers

Waitress, this coffee is TERRIBLE.

Get in my face.

Monday:

Wall painters

This pizza place had a bin of toys for the kids. And also really good pizza.

No filter

Tuesday:

Does my fancy hair distract you from my exhausted, dirty face?

Dashing through the family room

Magical winter scene, complete with giant jingle bells and pine cones? Sure!

Wednesday:

No words.

Hanging twinsies

Evan is making that face because Caroline is SCREAMING her head off. The grocery store is torture.

Thursday:

Weirdos.

My favorite and my best cookies

Glow-y

Friday:

Pantsless emergency!!

See my beluga, Mom? DO YOU SEE IT???

Evan acted as photographer while Caroline had her stitches out. There was video too, but I deleted it because OMG WHO WANTS TO RELIVE THAT?!

 Saturday:

Too early for life.

I mean, yeah, it’s gorgeous. But who’s kid could wear that without RUINING it?!

Last of the party prep. NEXT WEEK!!

I have three weeks worth of stuff and three days to do it before my parents get here so the next week is going to be crazy-full. And with E on shift work (AGAIN) I’m doing it all while solo-parenting. I really hope the kids are ready for Elf on repeat. I love smiling, smiling’s my favorite.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

Here is a timeline of our weekend.

3 pm Friday: E calls to tell me he might not be able to come with us to Sesame Place for the weekend.

6 pm Friday: E calls to tell me he can PROBABLY come with us but not until 11 am on Saturday.

7 am Saturday: E calls to tell me he probably isn’t going to make it.

9 am Saturday: E calls to tell me he definitely isn’t going to make it so I should just take the kids and go. I make vague “Oh I don’t know…maybe we should just cancel…” noises but decide to go because I already paid for the hotel.

10 am Saturday: We hit the road!

10:10 am Saturday: We come home, because I forgot our season passes!

10:15 am Saturday: We re-hit the road!

10:30 am – 1:00 pm Saturday: The kids sleep almost the whole way, there’s no traffic, I only get a tiny bit lost and we make it to the park right as they open for the afternoon.

1:15 pm – 8:00 pm Saturday – Super good fun time at Sesame Place!

8:10 pm Saturday – Drive across the street to super nice hotel.

9:00 pm Saturday – Everyone is in jammies and in bed, but my migraine is horrible.

9:01 pm – 10:30 pm Saturday – Caroline coughs, I cough, Caroline coughs, I cough, Caroline coughs, I cough, Caroline coughs, I cough, Caroline coughs, etc etc etc. Eventually we both coughed ourselves to sleep.

Midnight – Evan starts coughing so hard he throws up. I clean him up and get him a glass of water. He throws up into the glass of water. I get a new towel to clean him up again. He throws up again and I manage to catch it all on the towel. “Wow, nice catch Mommy!” says Evan.

12:30 am Sunday – Evan falls back asleep.

4:00 am Sunday – I wake up with my migraine pounding.

6:00 am Sunday – Caroline wakes up ready to party.

7:30 am Sunday – I decide I need a shower to relax and help my head. Caroline decides she needs to stand right outside the shower and scream.

7:40 am Sunday – I let Caroline join me in the shower so she’ll stop crying. She screams some more, rubs soap in her eyes, then tries to climb out of the tub and falls RIGHT on her chin.

7:41 – 7:42 am Sunday – Caroline bleeds on every surface in the hotel room while I frantically try to get dressed, stop the bleeding, and text my friend Kim to see if she can help me throw stuff in the car to find an emergency room.

7:45 am Sunday – Kim insists on taking Evan, I head to the nearest ER which amazingly shares a parking lot with our hotel.

8:30 am Sunday – Caroline attempts to give herself a stroke screaming her head off while the doctor gives her 3 stitches in her chin.

8:31 am Sunday – All the blood drains from my head, I start to feel hot and I ask the nurse helping me hold Caroline down if I can sit for a minute. She looks at me and says “OH MY GOD, SIT DOWN.”

8:32 am Sunday – I slump into a chair right as I lose consciousness. I wake up to a cup of water for me, apple juice for Caroline and some concerned looked medical staff.

8:40 am – 9:00 am Sunday – Caroline and I snuggle on the hospital bed until we both feel better, then head back to the hotel.

9:30 am Sunday – Caroline and I get some breakfast while Evan swims in the pool with Kim and her boys.

10:00 am Sunday – I decide we won’t be sticking around to do more Sesame Place and we head home.

2:00 pm Sunday – Home. Mickey Mouse on TV. I take 3 Excedrin and lie on the couch.

3:30 pm Sunday – E gets home and orders pizza. I basically give up on parenting and let the kids run wild.

7:00 pm Sunday – BED.

Basically, it was like a nightmare wrapped in a puke-covered towel, covered in screaming.

Except that really…it wasn’t that bad. The drive to Sesame was nice and easy. We were all dressed warmly and no one was whiny. The park wasn’t very busy and the kids got to ride lots of rides and see plenty of characters. We got to hang out with Kim and her mom and her wonderful boys. Even though we were all cough-y, Evan slept through my coughing and Caroline slept through Evan’s puking. Evan went right back to sleep after he got sick. No one complained to the hotel about our noise levels. Caroline handled her injury really well and didn’t seem to be in a lot of pain. The ER was so close, almost empty and everyone was super nice. The doctor took one look at Caroline, said “Yep, stitches” and immediately got the nurse in to get stuff started. She’ll be better by Friday and have her stitches out before her birthday party. She won’t have a big ugly scar.  I didn’t hurt myself fainting. Thanks to my awesome friend Kim, Evan got to swim and have fun with his friends instead of spend the morning in the ER with me. Our drive home was pleasant and easy and traffic-free. I got pizza for dinner.

So in the end, despite the various…disasters, we had a nice weekend. The kids had fun. Caroline has totally forgotten her chin. I didn’t freak out. It didn’t scare me into never leaving the house again. On Monday, I packed up the kids and drove 45 minutes to a super-awesome kids museum. Then we ate lunch in a sit-down restaurant with friends. We had a lovely day and I already think the whole thing is funny.

It sort of feels like a win, which is something pre-kid Suzanne would NEVER call a weekend that involved cleaning up so many other people’s bodily fluids. Motherhood is crazy.

This time last year I was lying on the couch sobbing into a pillow because I was SUPPOSED to be going to Ohio for Thanksgiving but I was too busy throwing up from pain and worrying my husband was going to think I was faking it to get out of seeing his family. I was also 35 weeks pregnant. I ended up in the hospital and spent the actual holiday having surgery to remove a kidney stone.

It was the worst Thanksgiving ever. I never got a single piece of pumpkin pie.

This year, we are with family. This year, I am healthy. This year my kidneys are behaving themselves. This year I have two perfect outside babies. This year I am going to eat a TON of pumpkin pie.