Cirque du Soleil

Just a quick update because I think I'm coming down with a cold and I want to head off to bed...

Brian, Tina and Payton were here this weekend for a visit. :) Mark and I were talking about how much we miss them... didn't really realize it until they came up. They're "our kind of people." And Payton is just a little doll. Those curly little pigtails just kill me. :) We went out for lunch at The 99 Friday afternoon... it was so funny... Ronni, Brian & Jill, and Sarah, Dave & Ian were also there so between us we had two toddlers, three babies and a baby-to-be-born (Tina is almost 18 weeks pregnant). The poor waitress!! Mark and I were a little peeved at the restaurant manager, though... You know those wooden restaurant high chairs? Well, if you tip them upside-down you can put an infant seat in them. So we did and Jillian was actually quite content sitting there eye-level with me - which, if you know Jillian, you don't mess with it if she's content. The store manager, however, came over and told us that the Board of Health says they can't tip the highchairs over anymore... well, okay, but offer us an alternative, then, because the seat doesn't fit in the booth, and if you put the highchair right-side-up, you can't fit the seat on there properly and I was afraid that someone would walk by and knock Jillian in the seat right off the chair. The manager just stood there, staring at us struggling with the seat and then walked away. As soon as he did, we tipped the chair over again - I mean, it was already "contaminated" at that point anyway, right? And what else were we supposed to do? 10 minutes later the manager came back out with another type of seat that you can put infant seats in... said that he "wasn't supposed to use these" but he was "willing to make an exception." Thanks, but give me a break! Of course, the minute we started finagling with the infant seat, Jillian started flipping out... so I ended up holding her for most of the meal.

Friday night Tina, Brian & Payton and Dave, Sarah & Ian came over and we ordered pizza. Payton and Matt had a good time playing together and it was nice catching up with the adults. :) We always have such a good time with them.

Saturday Matt had his first gym class. It was awesome!! He had a blast! It's a toddler class at this place called My Gym, so parents participate, too. We sang some songs, played some games and played on the apparatus. Matt's favorites were popping bubbles with the other kids, singing "Tony Chestnut" (Toe, knee, chest, nut/head... LOL), and playing in the ball pit. He'll be going every Saturday from 9:00-10:00 for 10 weeks. Katy came with me and took care of Jillian because Mark was at the beach, closing up the cottage for the winter.

Something happened right before the gym class that I haven't done in a looong time. I haven't had a car accident (that was my fault) since... well, probably almost 10 years. It was a stupid, stupid thing... I backed into the Cavalier with the SUV!! I still can't believe I did that. I can't even tell you what happened. I just heard a sickening crunch. The bumper on the car is dented and the head light is broken on the car... there are just a couple of scratches on the SUV. I thought Mark would be pissed, but he took it well, actually. He said that the damage isn't bad and that he knows that I'm normally a cautious driver (I'm usually over-cautious). So now I just need to forgive myself. ;-)

Saturday night we went to Cirque du Soleil with a big bunch of people, including Mike and Andy, and Mike's parents. I loved it!! It had a lot more acrobatic stuff than the one we saw in Florida. Michelle babysat for us. It was nice getting out without the kiddos. We went out to dinner, just Mark and I, before meeting everyone and we actually had some adult conversation. ;-) We got a little lost on the way there, and, man-like, Mark was hesitant to ask for directions. We found the place by sheer luck and arrived right on time for the show.

Today we went over Ronni & Bryan's for brunch before Brian, Tina & Payton left to go home. There was the same cast of characters from the 99 the other day, plus Brianna, Dave & Luke (Luke is about 2 weeks older than Matt). Brianna is also pregnant... so we were laughing that 2 years ago, none of us had kids, and now we had 3 toddlers, 3 babies, and two unborn babies. :) We took some really cute pictures of Jill, Ian and Jillian together on the couch. Jillian is crying, of course. ;-)

Oh, one funny (and gross) story before I go (so much for a short post). Last Sunday we went to Michelle & Paul's for supper. After dinner, Matt was running around and Paul went into the dining room for something and called me to get Matt because he thought the dog pooped on the floor. Jonathan (or Ryan, can't remember), made the comment that it didn't look like dog poop and Paul said that maybe it was a hairball from the cat... so anyway, Paul cleaned it up and we were getting ready to leave and I stepped on something (ewww...). It was another "hairball." I decided to change Matt because we smelled something at that point (I still wasn't putting two and two together yet... but I bet you can see where this is going). Lo and behold, I opened his diaper... and it was the same color as what was on the floor in the other room. I literally paused and considered not saying anything and continue letting them think it was the dog... LOL!! but 'fessed up. I have no idea how his diaper leaked like that, but he had it all in his shorts and down his leg... NASTY!! We had to stick him in the tub before we left. Luckily I had brought a pair of PJ's with us. Paul said he's going to call Matt Hansel from now on, because if you want to find him, just follow the trail of turds. Sorry for that TMI (Too Much Information), but I thought it was a funny story... guess you had to be there!

On that note, I'm going to bed. ;-)