Euro Disney

Well, it goes without saying that our family does love Disney vacations. Here are some details...

HighLights:

- Eurostar trip to Paris, with TWO iPhones, one for each of the older kids. It was actually a rather relaxing ride.

- Our New York themed hotel complete with pretend ice skating rink named Rockefeller Center and a great pool and workout area that Mickey and Minnie also visited while we were there!

- The BBQ themed character lunch in the park

- The Mickey Mouse Wild West Dinner Show was fantastic, complete with real horses and buffalo

- The half day tour of Paris for Cynthia, Danny, Chris Sr. and Josephine

- Miss Maddie's incredible ability to be happy, sleep and/or smile in her stroller no matter time of day

- Ordering Beers, chips, nuts and cake from room service! Yum!

- The view out of our rooms and Cyn enjoying watching the 'ice skaters' whipping out

- The weather, simply could not have been better... 65+ and sunny every day.

- Danny calling the front desk for anything he could possibly need more of... towels (he asked for 3 more), pillows (he asked for 4 more), a blanket. It was quite comical.

LowLights:

- the transfer to subway to complete our journey there. Because of the limited time of day for the direct train we transferred in Paris, and this was quite a journey with all of our luggage and children

- Overpriced food, even more expensive than London, which is hard to believe is even possible.

- Our room needed some TLC when we arrived, tub was clogged, phone was broken and AC didn't cool enough. All was remedied quickly.

- Wishing more of our extended family was there to enjoy the trip with us... next year Grammy and Grampa Boutwell are planning to make the trip :))

Enjoy the Pictures:

Exhausted after the long journey there we enjoyed lunch a Planet Hollywood.

Wild West Dinner Show

Half Day Trip to Paris

Thurmbs Up! from Chris Jr. as Danny Rode the bull

BBQ Character Lunch in the Park

Trying for a decent family pic with all three kids

Watching the Parade

Endlessly Asking for a Sword. We compromised and bought him two guns instead!

Trainer? Diet? Carbs? Ughhh...

Well, as you might be able to tell by the title, it's time to get serious about losing the baby weight. My friend Jen and I split 7 dual sessions with this crazy trainer, also named Chris, and we met with him on Tuesday. Funny, when he measured our body fat mine was 23% and Jen's was 20% and we were both pretty excited. I mean low twenties is usually thought to be pretty good for a woman, meanwhile the adonis that is our trainer had this look on his face that said "oh man, look at these fatties I have to work with!" Ha! It was really funny. He's given us a very strict diet in addition to a few other suggestions. Jen had poached chicken and leeks for breakfast this morning, I had a bagel with peanut butter and half a bowl of granola. Hmmm... I wonder which of us will be more successful!? lol

The kids are great, Josephine is preparing for her upcoming role in her K2 play, Goldilocks. She has "the lead in the play." And is VERY excited about all the preparations. Little does she know that her grandmother and cousin Danny will be surprising her that week for her birthday. We will all be going to Euro Disney in Paris for a long weekend. Should be a lot of fun.

Chris Jr. is back in school, but has moved to three days a week so that he can nap the other days. He's seeming a little more rested, though he's got another cold so it's hard to tell. Maddie is also a bit under the weather. She had her second set of shots on Tuesday and I think her legs are a little sore. Also, she's definitely working on some teeth and seems to be quite bothered by them. She was so upset last night she slept with me all night. I loved every second of it!! :) It's nice to be able to relish all of these small moments with our last baby.

Chris Sr. had a great trip to Asia for work, although he ate a lot of unusual items and drank so many Chinese toasts at one lunch that he was quite sick for the rest of the afternoon. His jet lag seems to be gone and he's back to running to work as usual. He still hasn't missed a day since we moved here! Very impressive!

More Weekly Pics:

Heading to the Zoo with Grammy and Grampa

Posing at the Zoo

Napping after Chris Sr's return from China

Black Tie Weekend

Well, our big night out was a success! ASL held it's semi-annual PCA auction fundraiser last weekend and Chris and I decided to attend, despite having a 12 week old at home. To ease my mind we had our sitter bring a friend for a few hours to get through bath and bedtime and everything went well. And you'll be impressed to hear that Chris and I didn't get home until after 1am! REALLY late for people who are typically in bed by 9! ha!

I also chaperoned my first school trip last week, to the Royal Academy of Art. Although it was a beautiful building and had a very good British Sculpture exhibit, I think the subject matter of many of the pieces of art was a little old for the kids, who were regularly overheard saying "hey, there's another weenie statue!" But I did enjoy spending the time with Josephine and her classmates and teachers.

This week we are preparing to have Josephine home from school for spring break and then working on plans for her birthday celebration. Should be a lot of fun, more details to follow. Chris Jr. is separating much better at school and his key teacher says he spent most of this week showing off his big muscles and even demonstrated how strong he is by hitting one of his classmates in the head with an empty milk bottle! Oops! Thankfully the kid hit him back with a frying pan so I didn't feel too bad! lol Little Madeline is still feeling better, although she's not sleeping as well as she has. She spends a lot of time in her car seat being dragged from one place to another, but she seems content and is really filling the role of third child well.

All in all it's been a fun couple of weeks and we're looking forward to a week off from school to relax and not rush in the mornings.

I can't stop eating peanut butter!

Well, being off dairy for the little girl's reflux has pushed me in a whole new direction of eating. I'm testing the limits of what tastes good with peanut butter. So far my favorite is my bagel in the morning and apples for a snack. Without cheese I just feel so hungry all the time! The other day Chris Jr. dipped is carrot in peanut butter, but I have to say it wasn't my favorite. haha

Chris and I are getting ready for our first big night out. ASL has is having it's black tie fundraiser this Saturday and we've decided to go. I'm actually wearing a dress that I had from before the baby and it fits!

Chris Jr. is doing very well in preschool and he even has a little girl friend named Sophia. He is very attached to her and his teacher says he finds her everyday and greets her with a hug and a kiss. Adorable!

Pictures of the week:

Maddie's first English tea, in St. John's Wood with Cynthia and Ron

We are playing a lot more. I'm finding all the kids are better behaved if I just stop and take a few minutes to sit down and play with them. Here are the kids with the baby.

Josephine drew it and then we built it. This was a lot of fun.

Last weekend we happened upon a really cool event. We went up to Alexander's Palace to show the kids a skate park and playground and when we got there we realized there was also an international custom bike and trike show. Chris Sr. was in heaven! It was a lot of fun, complete with a trick motorcycle demonstration. I'm sure that Maddie was by FAR the youngest person there! haha

First Night Out

Maddie's first tube ride

Well, I'm just back from our first night out without the kids. Chris' parents Cynthia and Ron are here visiting and they suggested it, so we booked a hotel room and took off for the entire night! I was really nervous. Despite having three children I still seem to worry a lot about little Madeline. I would have guessed that after having two other children the anxiety would have subsided. And I'm sure it has a bit; I doubt we would have left Josephine for a night this early in her life. But despite our concerns we decided that a quiet, full night of sleep was worth it!

In the words of my mother-in-law Cynthia "you guys take this all a little too seriously." AMEN sister! She is SO right. Of course, everything went well in our absence. So as it turns out the kids CAN survive for short periods of time on TV and junk food! Ha! No, just kidding, everyone was great and the kids slept well and hardly noticed that we were gone.

Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed our night at Le Meridian Piccadilly, which was actually quite nice, and I came home refreshed and ready to tackle another day of babies, toddlers, exercise, shots for the littlest one, and dinner. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. Josephine is off from school along with Chris Sr. so we're planning a fun morning out with Grammy and Grampa, perhaps to the National Gallery. Then we are scheduled for high tea at Grosvenor House. Should be a fun day.

"Illegal" Picture of Cyn inside Westminster Abbey

Ahh... Livin' the Dream.

Vacation Pictures:

Pottery on the wheel at Blue China in Totnes, Devon

On Knowle Farm, Devon

Chris eating his sundae at the Pizza Express in Plymouth

Chinese New Year Dinner with Cecilia and her kids, Isabella, Alex and Chloe

Well, here we are people. Smack dab in the middle of life. You'd think there would be a lot to report, and in the larger scheme of things we do have quite a bit going on. Three kids, including one that is just eight weeks old. A two and a half year old who's just starting pre-school and our oldest in Kindergarten. Chris Sr. is very busy at work and I'm... well, let's just say that at this point I AM.

But as I break down the bigger picture into smaller bite size pieces, these days I find myself consistently asking, "Really? Is this what I am meant to be doing right now?" And unfortunately I am at a loss. I mean these are the activities that make up my days:

- wake up, usually between 4 and 5 am

- don't shower

- change diapers

- change sheets

- struggle to dress the entire family

- rush through every meal, eating most standing up

- make lunches

- try to find clothes that fit

- try to exercise

- run errands

- try not to yell at the kids too much, especially Chris Jr.

- don't read anything

- sing endless Playhouse Disney songs in my head

- think of something even slightly healthy to feed the family for dinner

- try to sleep around a waking baby

- rock the baby

- watch TV with the kids

- rock the baby

- watch TV with the husband

- rock the baby

- nurse the baby every 3-4 hours all day long

- wake up, do it all over again...

So I've come to two conclusions. First, I am incredibly lucky to be living this life filled with love and opportunity, now I just have to figure out how to appreciate it more and take advantage of all that I have. And two, I'm going to try to rededicate my self to the blog, but in a slightly different, and somewhat more manageable way. I'm going to try and write shorter weekly entries that reflect on our struggles and achievements as a young family and I'm going to include weekly pictures. Less pressure to be perfect, more pressure to just document what we're doing, seeing, feeling, loving, laughing at, and fighting about. Ok, so now I just have to do it... Ready, Set, Go.

Back to Baby Bliss

Well, as things turned out, Christmas was a little extra 'Merry' this year. As most of you have already read, we had our beautiful little girl, Madeline America Olmstead, on December 13th at 8:10pm and we were home together soon after. She is adorable, eats well, sleeps well, cries well, all the things babies do best! Right? Well, not so fast Olmsteads... don't get too comfortable just yet. As it turned out there was a bit of a curve ball coming our direction.

About six days after Madeline's birth I came down with some new symptoms. I began having very severe abdominal pains that didn't go away and then the fever began. By the time I arrived at St. Mary's A & E (Accident and Emergency for you Americans) I was quite sick. Sadly I couldn't take Madeline with me to the hospital because there were so many cases of swine flu around so she had to stay home with my father and Chris and the kids, and my Mom went to the hospital with me. It was a VERY long first night, but eventually I was admitted and began what turned out to be a much longer stay than I initially anticipated.

After 48 hours of multiple IV antibiotics I was still spiking fevers of over 102 and beginning to become more and more worried. This is when the blood tests finally revealed that I had a somewhat rare but VERY serious bacterial infection caused by Group A Strep. Once they narrowed the cause of the infection and added penicillin to my drug 'cocktail' things began to improve much faster. After five nights in the hospital I was finally allowed to come home on December 24th.

And so here I am again, back to baby bliss. Although I am still on IV antibiotics, with a nurse visting me each day, there is no more pumping and sending milk home, and no more worrying about the chaos and mayhem running amuck at my house. Now I'm right back in the center of it where I belong. I will say that at the beginning of my illness I was feeling really down and sorry for myself. Very sad about begin separated from the kids, especially the baby during such special early bonding time. But after the head of Labor and Delivery came to see me and explained how serious the infection was I started to think... hmmm, maybe I should stop feeling sorry for myself and start being thankful that I'm alive and relatively well. And that is where I still am. Thankful and alive and well! :)

And it might sound rather cliche, particularly coming from me, but I really think this experience has taught me something more valuable than I could have ever imagined. I have never felt so lucky and blessed to have all that I do... my wonderful family and parents who loved me enough to help take care of all the kids while I was away. A husband who is simply super dad in every way, in-laws who bought last minute tickets to come stay so that I could have a bit more time to recover. Friends here who helped with play dates for Josephine. And best of all, I was able to come home on Christmas Eve and spend the holiday with the kids. Back to baby bliss, and let's face it, toddler hell! But in all honesty, there is truly no other place in the world I would rather be, and this experience is helping me see that much more clearly.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year XOXO,

Mere