Ummmm, let me bring you up to date

I last posted my views on love and stuff on Valentine's Day but here's what's been going on with the Crabb Family since then.

February: Was hella cold here in Iowa! So we thought we would go somewhere warmer like Springfield, Missouri and visit our best buds the Rice Family. Lucky for us they got their one snow fall and below 30 degree temps for the entire year during the very weekend we were there. Fourtunately though, we were also there to celebrate my best friend Lindsay's 27th birthday, so the cold became an after thought as we were basking in love, friendship and red wine. Campbell had a blast playing with Tatum and Dalton Rice and Jack loved being showered with attention. Lindsay and I had a blast doing what we do best...It is also very important to note that Chad and Dan Rice played on the Nintendo Wii ALL weekend, and that in all of the years of a friendship never wanting for laughter I don't know that Lindsay and I have ever laughed as hard as we did watching our husbands hula-hoop. It was a sight to behold, let's just say that next time I am getting video and then I am going to make millions riding the media circuit after the video hits U-tube. Of course you are invited Linds--you give great interviews!

March: It got a little warmer--and the kids got bigger. We played a lot, we danced a lot. Jack spent some quality time getting to know his walker and defending himself against Campbell's barrage of blankets and burp cloths that she threw at his head. Like always I made corned beef at cabbage for Saint Patrick's day, mmmmmm. I also was under the brief delusion that I was super mom and decided to take the kids downtown to the St. Pat's day parade by myself. It was a beautiful spring day which led to the biggest turnout ever. I knew I was in over my head when the semi rolled by blaring its deafening horn scaring the bejesus out Jack and causing him to scream until we basically cleared the premises and noise of the parade. And parades are REALLY noisy by nature. The trip back to the car was way longer and we all took naps when we got home. March became sad when my BFF Jess got promoted by the Von Monster and moved to Kansas City. For the last few years she has always just been a phone call and 5 minutes away whenever I needed her, she knows that blush is a must AND she understood my deep love for all things BBQ. I miss her a lot. But I've become a pro at long-distance relationships, ie. Chad and Lindsay, so Jess and I don't have to break-up...we just have to make the most of it.

April: Well, in case you don't watch the news, I turned 30. That meant drama, which beget more drama in the Crabb household ( I love you Chad). See, the thing is that birthdays have always been a big deal in my family. My father actually has gone as far as to practice "birth-month" at one point in time. Surprise parties with bands, luaus, trips to tropical places these things are not unheard of in my family as part of birthday culture, especially when the first number of your age is followed by a zero. Even as I write this I am basking in the after-glow of a birthday get-together last night for my step-dad Dewey. It was complete with extended family and a non-chain restaurant private room and he didn't even have a zero! So, when April came around I was totally psyched! Even though the "dirty thirty" (as Lindsay likes to call it) was staring me down, I was cool with the milestone because it meant that everyone that I love was going to get together and celebrate fabulous me and my fabulousness. You know the daydream sequence in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie fantasizes about getting his Red Rider BB Gun and he saves the day...yeah, silly me my birthday party fantasies ran that deep. The truth is that I couldn't even get a babysitter to watch our kids so Chad and I could just eat dinner at a local restaurant. Yes, there were some extenuating circumstances, and I'm not bitter, anymore, well maybe just a little. But turning thirty immediately granted me the wisdom of knowing who in my life really "gets" me and who loves me enough to turn a derailed fiasco into a good memory complete with a banner, balloons and a Top 30 playlist. I would now like to give a shout out to my husband for being awesome and supportive and for not having me commited and for being the best human being I know and I wanted to say thank you for trying to understand my craziness. I would like to say thank you to my best friend Lindsay for sending me a box full of presents that show that you understand who I am and what I like which meant more to me than the actual contents, but yes I kept them...and to my BFF Jess for taking me to a fun but disastrous lunch that led to the discovery that our favorite place to wine and dine was ran by jerks(that's being G-rated) to which we are never going again, oh, and for listening to my horrible singing...and my brother Henry for going through what he did to dig the original Nintendo and games out of the storage unit and gifting it to me (and Chad for fixing it)...and Jake and Mollie Mae (who understands) you guys are awesome and my good buddy April for hooking me up with a much needed spa treatment....um, I feel better now. We had a lovely Easter and had a nice family get-together, I got to put everyone in matching outfits and Campbell had a blast hunting for Easter eggs. Chad also won our family's Biggest Loser competition...he has been working his butt off since January and deserves lots of praise for his accomplishments. Chad also completed Waukee Leadership Institute in April. I am so proud of my husband, not only is he hot but he is smart and civic-minded to boot! At the end of April we went down to the Saint Louis area to see my dad for HIS birthday (no zero). Jack was teething like a madman then and was up all the time at night so we decided to stay in a hotel. This came as a suprising delight to Campbell who shares her mothers love of all things 'spensive. Campbell LOVED everything about the hotel. She loved that we all slept in one big room that had a big bed to jump on, and a TV that she could reach so she could turn it on and off a ba'zillion times. She loved the breakfast buffett and running down the long halls. She also loved planting flowers with her Grandpa Bob and hanging out with Grandma Di and Great Grandma Hill. It was good to see everyone and we had a nice visit, I hope my Dad had a good birthday. It took us like ten or eleven hours to get home (usually 6 1/2), the children were conspiring against us,complete with a blow-out from Jack which led to a 45 minute clean-up at the greatest Walgreens EVER! All happy memories now:). Yeah, April was a wild month.

May: Well, on May 1st the kids and I drove around town delivering May baskets to family that we had made at the library a couple days before. It was super fun. Chad managed to avoid jury duty the second full week in May that was looming over our heads like a dark cloud threatening to destroy my dreams of seeing Billy Joel and Elton John in concert with him. Last year he missed going to Billy Joel with me because of an out-of-town business trip and I was afraid I was in for a repeat performance when the jury summons came. Fortunately everything worked out at Chad and I were off to Omaha on a Tuesday night to see the Piano Man and the Rocket Man. It's one of the greatest joys of my life that Chad and I are the best of friends and genuinely enjoy eachothers company, at least that's how I feel. It doesn't matter if we are playing scrabble or rocking out to "Only the Good Die Young," we have a blast. I had such a good time with him, the concert was awesome, we heard so many of our favorite songs performed by two living legends of Rock...but the best part was being there with Chad. Jack started crawling, clapping and climbing stairs. He follows Campbell everywhere, it's so cute. She looks at him and says, "Come'on Jackie let's go," and he is right behind her. He's also pulling himself up and cruising around which has led to lots of bumps and bruises. Watching him clap his hands is so cute, everytime he hears a song or even a rythmic beat he starts clapping and bouncing. He's actually got a great sense of rythym, something he certainly did not inherit from his mother. Chad competed in the Des Moines Dam 2 Dam half-marathon at the end of the month. He's been training for it for a few months now. We all had a great time watching him and he did awesome! He's continuing his training and looked towards running in the Des Moines Marathon in October. Memorial Day weekend was great! We had our friends Seth and Angie over for dinner, scrabble and a Mario Brothers match between Chad and Angie on Saturday night. Way fun. Spent Sunday working on refinishing Campbell's bedroom furniture and on Monday night Chad and I went to see Jake's band Douglas Acres play a benefit concert for the families of fallen soldiers. It was for a great cause and they were good as always.

June: So far so good. Campbell is potty-training. Wow, this definitely tests my patience, parenting abilities, and senses of modesty, tact and humor. My urge to vomit upon seeing all the yuckiness is lessening...I know that some mothers are unflinching rock stars when it comes to changing diapers and other smelly baby/kid unpleasantries but I fall into the ranks of those that would prefer to put on a full hazmat suit before any such endeavor. Fortunately for me, Campbell does not like messes. She's not one of those angels that plays with their poop and smashes it in to the carpet. The trade off though is that she is very independent, so we have to keep a careful eye that she not attempting to do things by herself because it inevitably leads to a mess regardless of cleanly nature. Chad and I have both discovered that we already have "Potty Power" and are so familiar with the DVD of the same name (because Campbell wanted to watch it twenty times a day for two weeks) that I checked out from the library that we now have all of the songs memorized. I used to think it sucked when I couldn't get the theme song from "Go Diego, Go," out of my head, but with chart toppers like "Wipe Your Bottom," and "I'm Proud To Wear My Underwear," pinballing in the playlists of my mind...I've got to admit I miss that chorus of jungle animals chanting and singing in my head. I also don't like surprises (unless it's for my birthday) so I have purchased a couple books on the subject of potty training. But SURPRISE, would you believe that my kid doesn't follow all of the rules in the book? She's not aware that potty traing is liken to the Mambo? So I'm back to square one: doing the best that I can. The books do give some guidance though, it makes me feel better to read that it takes some kids months, some years to get this potty training thing down. My gut tells me that my daughter is a smart kid that values playing and dancing and chasing her brother way more than sitting on an uncomfortable toilet seat, yeah, she's a smart kid. My life experience and common sense has led me to believe that she'll get the hang of it eventually. When I give it even the slightest thought I come to the conclusion that even the dumbest of the dumb dumbs that I know and have known are potty trained. Some of them can't even legibly write their names, carry on conversations or hold down jobs but they manage to make it to the can on time, pull down their britches and do the deed all by themselves. The hand washing part is questionable but the point is that if someone that is dumber than a bag of hammers is potty trained then my brilliant little princess will put two and two together in her own time. Therefore from this day forward I am leading a new revolution of mothers, we shall call ourselves the "Potty Pressure Resistance!" Our mission will be to allow our children to grow and learn as their bodies and minds allow them, without forcing and frustrating them (and ourselves). We will also swear an oath not to judge, undermine or belittle other mothers and their parenting abilities based on the performance of their children as graded by some wacked-out 1950's, Tom-Collins imbibed, super-momaholic, baby racing, Spartan-moms. I'm not saying these women don't have the best of intentions but COME ON, we are supposed to be enjoying life...and our children...and they are supposed to be enjoying life. Live and live; don't hate, celebrate! If you are interested in joining my cause let me know your T-shirt size...cause that's like a must for any good organization, a kick-$@% T-shirt.

Okay I'm spent, more to come, I've got to go put Campbell on the potty for a while...