Aug 01
Everyone,
That is a sigh of relief in the title, not a scream for help. We have help again! My wonderful cousin is here for about 2 and a half weeks. She is 15 and so fun and cute! We’re going to call her Bee on here. Anyway, it’s been so nice to have another set of hands, although Pirate screams bloody murder whenever she picks him up. I think it’s a combination of a few things with him. (I’ll get into it later.) And Professor is happy as long as he’s full and someone is holding him.
Today we went to a park with my mom’s group. One of our members had moved away and was here visiting and settling on her house. So we went to the park to visit with them and let the kids play. Butterfly was so cute. At one point all the girls were in the train, she found me, got a huge smile on her face and said, “Mommy I’m playing with all my friends!” She was so happy. It was so cute. I like that friends are starting to be a big part of her life.
Wednesday night I was able to go out with the ladies in my church and have a nice dinner and some kid free swimming and conversation. It was great. Just what I needed. Although I did worry about leaving Juice with all three kids. He did fine and there was no one crying when I walked in the door. Little did I know that Professor was breathing in between screams when I came in. Still, he was easily calmed and I was happy to be home.
On Thursday, we had a dentist appointment in the morning. It was fun to show off the boys to our dentist. She is very nice. I got x-rays, the first time in about 18 months. And I have a cavity. Yay. It seems like every time I go to see her I am either pregnant or I have a cavity.
From the dentist, I had to rush off to the airport to pick up Bee since her flight was about half an hour early. Apparently they had a good tailwind. Juice had another bout of 3 kids and no mommy. I walked right up to her at the baggage claim and we walked right back out to the car. We hit a little bit of traffic on the way home but nothing the HOV lane couldn’t fix.
By the time I got home, Pirate had had enough! Where was his mommy! He spent most of that night plastered to my side wanting to nurse. Poor kid. And Professor was grumpier than normal. Butterfly took right to Bee after a moment of shyness. She keeps saying that Bee and Flower are her best friends.
Oh, I hear someone waking up so I have to go. Pictures soon! And the other contest!
Safire
SafireBee, dentist, helpers
Jul 04
Everyone,
Flower went home yesterday and I am so sad. 
When Juice took her to the airport, I realized just how much help it was to have someone around. All I really need is someone to hold a fussy baby or help Butterfly find a toy while I’ve got someone eating. It really is a huge help just to have an extra set of hands willing to entertain small people around here. I’ve got about 3 weeks before my cousin comes so wish me luck.
The other reason why I’m sad is because having her here gives me an excuse to play tourist. I love living in this area with so much to do all the time. We have been here almost 5 years now and still haven’t seen everything. There are a ton of things that I have seen 80 gazillion times though *cough*airandspacemuseamjuice*cough* and I do not wish to see them again. Right now I’m into very kid friendly things to do in the area. I did not like going to Monticello and being told that my child was too loud.
Butterfly is an amazing traveler. She loves to eat at restaurants and is mostly beautifully behaved. She walks a lot, is interested in things, and is generally pleasant even without her nap. The boys are actually turning out to be fairly easy travelers as well. This is good because we are flying to Utah in a few weeks and I’m pretty terrified of the flight there. The only thing I have to watch out for with them is that they actually eat and eat enough. It also leads me to nurse them in different places, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Metro, a blueberry field, watching dolphins and then watching sting rays, sitting with my feet in the ocean and in the front seat of our new van. 
So, a list of things we did with Flower:
Kiddie Pool, Sandy Point Beach, monuments, Smithsonian, Baltimore Aquarium, ice cream, blueberry picking, Annapolis, mall (not the one down town, a mall with stores), the Amish Market, baby doctor visits, the movies (we went to see Wall-E…so cute!), a few kid concerts, Youth Conference with my church, the resource center, and the farmer’s market. We’ve had a busy month with her! I loved it and I miss her already even though she hasn’t even been gone 24 hours.
She was fun to talk to when we got lost in Baltimore when we went to the aquarium. She was fun to talk to when we got lost going to the mall. (Okay, I’m getting lost a lot these days!) She was a huge help in carting the boys around the aquarium, and running around with Butterfly when I had to stop and feed them. She was just a huge help all around.
Thanks again for coming!
Safire
SafireDC outings, Flower, helpers, Juice's family
