Girls Weekend

Yesterday, I made my way back across the country - coming off the tale-end of a much needed girl's weekend in Cleveland, OH where my youngest sister Ashley lives. My middle sister Lorie flew up from Tennessee and we all met for 3 1/2 days of non-stop fun. Matt graciously agreed to play single dad for a few days to offer me some get away time to recollect, rejuvenate and have the opportunity to act like I am 25 again.

Lots of things have changed since having kids and that is most evident when you hang out with your ultra cool, uber hip, just married, urban dwelling sister and her awesome husband. But even with all the changes there are some things that will always remain the same and those were very evident this weekend. Here is a run down:

Same Ol' Same Ol'

*The Collier girls are notorious for a good laugh. There isn't a time or place that is too sacred for a belly laugh that has the potential to wet your pants. Luckily we had many of these moments this weekend. I am pretty sure that there were at least five times that Lorie, who has the weakest bladder of the three, had to turn and run away with legs crossed to the closest ladies room. I could try and provide a few examples but from previous experience I find that we laugh at things that others don't necessarily think are funny - you know, it becomes like an inside joke that we repeat over and over and over. We laugh and no one else understands. Honestly, that is what makes it all the more fun!

*Being involved in a conversation with the three of us is a challenge in itself. We have the tendency to talk over each other and have 3 separate, distinct conversations going at one time. Most people who witness this often feel like their head is going to implode - outsiders are even more freaked out when they realize that we are active participants in all 3 of the conversation and are able keep up each other without much effort.

*The three of us can still do some real damage in a shopping mall. We have the capacity to shop from dawn to dusk on very little rest or food. Although we each contribute our fair share to the economy, we have just as much fun browsing and dreaming.

*Even with all of our "growing up" and engaging in "adult" lives, we are never too good to have a good old fashioned slumber party. Ashley has one bed in her apartment so we kicked her husband to the couch and the three of us slept 3 deep in her queen size bed.

We are looking forward to Girl's Weekend 2009 already. Next year we have promised to take photos since neither of us thought about snapping any still frames to savor the memories. Who knows maybe we will even get crazy and make matching t-shirts for next year's big event.

Puke on Demand

Have you ever met anyone with a sensitive gag reflux? You know those people that smell something weird and start gagging and then throw up? Or they eat something that is less than desirable and instead of inconspicuously removing it from their mouth, they just barf? Before having Collier I was convinced that people who claimed to have this issue were up in the night. I thought is was an exaggerated way of getting some attention. But, like my change of heart that occurred during my pregnancy regarding carpal tunnel, I have become a believer of "puking on demand" as well. I have become so close to the issue that I could start a support group or 12 step program.

First off, you must know that Collier is like a Hoover vacuum cleaner without any sort of bag filter. He takes in a great deal of things that are not necessarily edible. In addition, he also has asthma so he is preconditioned to bouts of excessive coughing. Those two activities alone are a land mine for someone who has a sensitive gag reflux. There is probably not a day that goes by that one of these activities goes a bit too far and we are chanting to Collier "stop gagging you are going to make yourself throw up." We have done this so often that we have even heard Harper coaching Collier from another room when he sees it coming. You just learn when you see certain facial expressions paired with disproportionate coughing to stand clear or you might become a victim to the after effect.

Interestingly enough, Collier now plays games with us and when we start our chanting of "please don't puke", he will intentionally make himself cough more and even throw in fake coughs for dramatic effect. He is learning early that having a twisted sense of humor can often put you in the spotlight - and trust me, our little Collier is starting to feel right at home in the spotlight!

Steering Wheel Plinko

A new thing has started to happen since Harper turned 3. He has always been a curious kid, but now his curiosity often leads him to test the limits of things and experiment with the concept of cause and effect. For instance, he will sometimes drop things to see what happens when they land - often full drinking cups of water or things that are made of glass - neither of which are easy to clean up.

Yesterday we were sitting in the parking lot waiting on something and we allowed the kids to get out of their car seats to move around a bit. Matt actually got out of the car to stretch so Harper made his way to the driver's seat.

Beyond his curiosity for how things work, he has also convinced himself that he knows how to drive. He has even found an old set of keys and a wallet that he has claimed as his own which makes him feel more grown up and for some reason he tries to rationalize that these two things will somehow make us think he is now ready to drive. A picture from school serves as his "driver's license". For those of you who are thinking, "oh dear I'm worried that they are encouraging his behavior" - no worries I promise we will never leave him alone in the car and we always lock the car doors when we get out (even when the cars are inside the garage). Trust me, I am fully aware that Harper's confidence level is such that trying to crank the car and back it out of the driveway is not beneath him.

Anyway, back to my original story. Harper was sitting in the driver's seat yesterday doing his normal "song and dance" of pretending that we are driving to Disney World. He then begins to get a couple of coins out of the ashtray for gas money. This is where the story gets a little foggy because I was obviously not paying as close of attention as I should have been. All of a sudden I hear a coin drop and it doesn't sound like it hits the ground. I look over and Harper is laughing and reaching for another coin so he can repeat his fun. I realized right way that he had dropped a coin in the steering wheel - he had managed to slide a penny in the crack where the horn cover meets the edge of the steering wheel. Luckily I was able to impede any additonal mishaps but we have been unfortunate in trying to release the coin and daddy is not happy with either of us.

Now when you turn the steering wheel it sounds like the game of Plinko from the Price is Right. Every turn is a clink, clink, clink of the penny moving from one side of the steering wheel to the other. Too bad that each turn doesn't produce the opportunity to win a prize. Something tells me that this is one that we are going to have to shell out some good money to repair rather than having the potential of winning a boat load of cash from Mr. Bob Barker himself.