The Wedding

Wow, I was gone a lot longer than I expected to be. Our trip down to Florida went very well. Besides some traffic in Georgia things went smoothly. Connor slept a lot of the time, we made a few stops for him to run around, and he watched Bolt (his current favorite) many times on the portable DVD player. When we finally arrived, it was great to get out of the car but there was lots to do. 

My mom was doing a lot of the preparations for the wedding which kept her pretty busy. So, one of my sisters, Melissa, and I spent the bulk of the time watching the kids. There was Connor, Alex and Isaiah (all 2) and Liliana (6 months). The boys had a lot of fun playing together, but I think we said "You need to share." and "Don't fight." every couple minutes. By the time the kids were all asleep I was exhausted. I fell into bed soon after. I have new respect for moms with multiples. I don't know how they do it full-time. 

Finally, the wedding day came and we rushed to get ready. Of course the ceremony was perfectly timed with the boys' naps so they fell asleep on the car ride to the beach. We had to wake them up and then carry them down the makeshift aisle while a couple beachgoers hummed the wedding march. The ceremony lasted about 10 minutes and then it was time for some pictures. My sister Jen's 6-year-old daughter cries "I didn't want you to get married!" My mom calms her down and we head to the reception. 

The clubhouse in my parent's community was beautifully decorated with the beach theme. There was even a playroom for the kids. But, the back doors opened to the pool area, which is also where the food was. When the boys all saw the pool they took turns trying to get in. It required an extra watchful eye to make sure they didn't get too close. Soon after dinner, the exhausted kids became very accident prone and we decided to take them home. They fell asleep pretty quickly. It was a great day, but a lot of time and energy went into it and I couldn't wait to fall asleep. 

Road Trip

Connor has taken many road trips with me before. His first was at 2 months old. Since then, we've driven up to NY from Virginia at least a dozen times, if not more. The trip takes about 7 hours with minimal stops. I try to get on the road around 4-5 am so Connor sleeps most of the trip. He's awesome in the car. 

So, we're taking a road trip down to Florida for my oldest sister's wedding. Hubby won't be joining us unfortunately because he has to work. It's a 15 hour trip that we're breaking up over 2 days. I plan on getting on the road at 5 am Sunday morning so that Connor will sleep for the first part of the trip. When he wakes up we can stop, have breakfast and find a park for him to play in for a few hours. Then around lunchtime we can get back on the road and he'll be able to take his nap in the car. We should arrive in Jacksonville around dinner time, where we staying for the night with a friend we haven't seen in a while. The next day we'll get back on the road for the next 4-5 hour leg of our trip before we get to southeast FL where my sisters and parents live. 

It should be an interesting trip and definitely an interesting visit. My 4 sisters, 2 nephews, 2 nieces, 3 grandparents and, of course, my parents will all be there. It will be the first time our family has all been together in a year, and the first since my 6-month old niece was born. So, yeah. I'm expecting lots of great stories next week. 

But in the meantime I'll let you know how our preparations for the trip go. 

Visiting

I'm in NY again this week, visiting my brand new nephew. :) He's adorable and I wish I could stay longer, but alas, I must go home soon. 

In the meantime, check out The Hunger Site, by clicking a button you can donate a can of food or a mammogram to someone who needs it. It's absolutely free and you don't have to register so check it out now!

Pillow Fight!

I am addicted to tv. Seriously, I could watch tv all day, even when there's not much on worth watching. I don't know when it started because I didn't watch a lot of tv growing up. When I was in high school I did get a tv in my room that I would have on at night. I go to school, stay after for drama club, track, or some other activity, come home, do homework, eat dinner, do more homework, and then go to sleep watching tv. This is how I came to watch shows like "Oz" (the violent show on HBO set in a jail) and late-night Showtime (you know, when it wasn't kid-appropriate anymore) and not much else. 

In college, we didn't have cable access. The only channels we got were through bunny-ears. If we were lucky, we got two channels. But some of my friends were tv majors. Or film majors. Or ad majors. I was a journalism major. So all of our lives revolved around some type of media. Then in junior year, our campus gave us cable tv. I think tha'ts when my downfall began. We would spend Sunday mornings watching the Food Network. We would have show viewing parties every week. But still, I had much more important things than watching tv all the time. Then I graduated and moved away from all my friends and family. My nights were spent watching tv, because there wasn't much else to do. Fast forward to today where I can tell you the schedule of pretty much any show currently airing on a major network. 

Now that I'm home full-time, it's a bit of a struggle not to have the tv on all the time, every day. Now and then it's fine. But I don't want my son to be a couch-potato. I want him to learn, be curious, do things. Plus, when the tv is on, all three of us tend to sit around like logs; this is not quality family time. So I've been making an effort to keep the tv off for most of the day. We watch primetime. And I'll allow some cartoons in the morning. But other than that, I want to keep the tv off. 

That in my long-winded way brings me to last night. What did we do with no tv? We had a pillow fight! It was our first as a family. It started out with hubby and I doing our sorta bickering. Then he's tossing pillows at me. So I toss them back. Connor sees this and thinks it's a lot of fun. He goes and grabs his little pillow and joins in. There we are, playful hitting each other with pillows. For a good half hour. It was a lot of fun. 

Do you try to limit tv time? If so, what do you do instead? 

In the Beginning

Hello all!

This being my first foray into the world of blogging, I'm not quite sure where to begin. I feel like I've come a bit late to the party. Blogging has been around for a while, and yet I haven't had time to participate. Well, today that changes. 

So, let me introduce myself. My name is Kat. I'm a work-at-home mom to a 2-year-old boy and wife to a sailor. I grew up in the Northeast, but the Navy move us around every few years, and we currently reside in the mid-atlantic. Until recently, I worked full-time with aspirations to be a freelance writer someday. Then, the economy forced my company to do layoffs and I was a casualty. So, now I'm pursuing my freelance dreams and trying to be a good mom at the same time. I'm quickly learning that both take a lot of effort and hard work, and I plan to chronicle my efforts in this blog. Hopefully, this combination of kids, work and random things will be interesting to you. 

Please visit often as I find my way!