March, In A Nutshell

I'm going to try and pick this up again. And, in order to do that, I figure a recap is in order.

• March 12: We were sent home from the hospital (at our request) on Sunday afternoon, and had a nice day at home with the grandparents. Jen's parents and my parents were there to meet the baby and help out however they could. It was a great first day with Julia at home! But, we were tired at the end of it for sure!
  
  
• March 13: Our niece Sammy's birthday (she's 14 today, and her cousin Julia is 2 days) :-) It was my first day of being fully responsible for three kids, a recovering wife and a house that really needed some help. Somehow we made it through - even with several errands to run. We even made our regular trip to the library... just, later than we hoped to! :-) Alex got to join the pre-school reading group that night. We were tired at the end of that day.
  
  
• March 14: Ian had a piano lesson. The days are beginning to blur together. They are all a jumbled mess of kids, meals, laundry, taking meals up to Jen in bed and various and sundry errands. We also had some visits from friends, to see the new baby. I was tired at the end of this day.
  
  
• March 15: I did not play basketball as I usually do on this Wednesday. I was too tired, and didn't really want to leave Jen alone with all the kids, even if they were all sleeping. So, I didn't go. But the kids and I went up to the gym after we all had breakfast. That was fun. We called Mr. Stupin to wish him a happy birthday, but found out that Mar 15 was the day he picked for JULIA to be born. Her birthday, not his. That was funny. We are also enjoying the new walkie talkies we got for easier communication with Mom. :-) It was a nice day, but I was pretty tired at the end of it.
  
  
• March 16: My Dad's birthday. On his birthdays he's 25 years older than whatever I am. We called and wished him a happy birthday. Sent him a cool Amazon gift certificate too. We're so "e". :-) I really don't remember anything else about that day. I think we were just trying to survive still. :-) I do know that at the end of the day, I was quite tired.
  
  
• March 17: St Patty's Day! We all wore green! It was great! Michigan State played their first (and last) tournament game that night. We watched on our neighbor's laptop, since it wasn't on TV, nor were they smart enough to use a CROSS PLATFORM VIDEO FORMAT. (That angered me.) It was also the first day Chill and Grill (our favorite local eatery) opened - so we went up there for lunch. It was Julia's first offcial outing. And, ours as a family of six. I got the one-pound hamburger. With everything. Wondrous. Such a great day. As I recall, though... I was still quite tired at the end of it. See, what I did that entire week was, take care of kids all day, then clean the house and do dishes, laundry, check my work emails, and other stuff I needed to do from about 11pm till 2 or 3 am. That made me tired.
  
  
• March 18: Saturday. We did mostly the same routine... wake up, read the bible with the boys, get everyone dressed, get breakfast, clean up after breakfast, do some morning activity, a few household chores, get ready for lunch, eat lunch, clean up after lunch, do some quick thing before Kirstie takes a nap, me and the boys do something while Kirstie naps (it might have been a Superman movie - we watched Superman I, II, and III over the past week), get kirstie up, do something fun with everyone, get dinner ready, eat dinner, clean up after dinner, do some fun evening activity (sometimes Jen and Julia would join us at this point), 9pm head upstairs to get ready for bed (which might include bathtime/computer time), I'd get Kirstie dressed for bed, read her a book, then the boys and I would read something together, pray together, then I leave their room at 10pm. After that, I would check email for the day, answer anything I needed to, and then clean up the house before going to bed to do it again the next day! Crazy, eh?
  
  
• March 19: According to my financial records, we went to Wegmans this day. Out shopping as a family. And since we were out near lunch time... we also ate at McDonalds. As I recall, that was fairly enjoyable. :-) Nothing really spectacular other than that on this day. I do recall that at the end of the day, I was tired. :-)
  
  
• March 20: A friend of ours offered to take our kids while I got to take Jen out for lunch (along with Julia, of course) and get her out of her mom role for a time. That was nice. Except I was sick. Real bad. (That phrase made me think of Mr T for some reason...) We did have a nice lunch (other than that) at Wegmans Cafe. They have great subs. After lunch we got the kids, and went up to the Apple Store for fun. Kirstie had been asking to go all week. I'M SERIOUS. Every time we would go near our coats or shoes, she'd point outside and excitedly say, "APPLE!!!" She really likes the Apple Store. :-) So we went, and then came home and spent the rest of the day recovering from so much activity! Oh... we did get out to Chill and Grill, too, though. :-) I was VERY tired at the end of this day (I was also sick, so that's probably why I added the "very".)
  
  
• March 21: Ian had another piano lesson this day. I was recovering from being sick. The two middle kids were sick. Not too bad, but definitely "off their game". I'm not really sure when but, somewhere in these two weeks, Chris and the Stupin girls came over for Skyline and the new VeggieTales video - I think it was this night. We'll just say it was. I went to bed that night not as tired as other nights - but still tired.
  
  
• March 22: Ouch. I went to play basketball at 8am on this day and... sprained my ankle. Real bad. I pity the fool. It was quite swollen. And painful. So, I went to the hospital with the boys to see if it was broken. Not broken. That was good. But, it still hurt. Since we were in Canandaigua at the hospital, and it was lunch time, we went to Taco Bell to get some food (we don't have one close to us). And since we were there, we went to Aldis to get some groceries (we don't have one close to us.) That was quite a site. Dad with a freshly sprained ankle hobbling through the grocery store, loading up the cart and trying to verbally restrain to small boys. Spent the rest of the day icing it and elevating it. We watched a Superman movie. Actually, I think that's when we watched the first one. I slept for some ... no... most of it. :-) I was tired. OH! Funny part of the day was our friends were to bring us dinner - which was good timing with the ankle injury - but they FORGOT! Ha! :-) They ended up bringing it out (and I think making it!) late that night! It was quite alright... we had lots of other food... but it was definitely a funny story! :-)
  
  
• March 23: A recovery day. An errand day. A full day. We also bought a new TV. It went in our living room. The TV that was there went up to our bedroom. The TV that was there went down to our basement, where the Nintendo NES and Sega Genesis systems are. That was a lot of stairs and carrying on a bum ankle. Jen thought I was dumb. (Perhaps I was, but it was a fun project.) :-) Our babysitter and friend Kristin Anderson brought us dinner that she cooked. She's 14 I think. Very nice. And... as I recall... I was quite tired at the end of that day.
  
  
• March 24: My sister and her family came to visit. They have three girls who are 4 years old and younger. Needless to say, it was chaotic. But, we had a great time. Went to our local pizzeria with them - all 11 of us. Quite overwhelming, I am sure. And loud! Argh! :-) They left about 8pm, and I was tired, so we did not go to the hockey game I was hoping to go to with the kids. Instead, I took the three older kids to the local coffee shop - Coffee Creek. Nice place. We got some hot chocolate and chocolate chai and played Pass The Pigs and the Dukes of Hazzard card game. We had a blast. Then we went to sleep. :-)
  
  
• March 25: Grandma Walker came over to make lots of food, and bring lots of food and she even kept the three older kids so Jen and I could go out shopping for MORE food. Oh my. It was a very nice day though. We watched some basketball and ate chicken pot pie. My ankle also continued to improve. I was also starting to get sad that my days with the kids would soon end. I think I was less tired at the end of this day.
  
  
• March 26: Jen's brother Andy and family came to visit from Buffalo. They bought us pizza and wings (and a sub for Jen.) We watched some hoops and just chatted. Aunt Connie loves little babies, so she just held the baby. :-) We had a great time again, and when that was done, I recorded a Buffalo Bills Review. So I was up kinda late already - and decided to spend my last day away from the office by watching Pirates Of The Carribean, which I had borrowed weeks ago from a friend, but had not yet seen. Fun movie. But at the end of the day...

I was tired. :-)

So, now you're caught up... and I'll try and do this daily as was my original plan. When I came up with this idea, I wasn't counting on the COMPLETE change of life that the new baby (And me taking time to be Mr Mom) would have on me. It was all quite nice though - so, I'm not complaining. :-)

[Posted from the HOME OFFICE in Palmyra, NY.]