A day in the life ...

With three children, you can imagine that there is never a dull (or at least quiet) moment in our house. So come along for a taste of a somewhat typical day at the Healy house:

We start the morning slowly, since Mom decides to actually shower today. That means by 9 a.m., only Mom and Kelsey are dressed. But it also leads to some quality time for the siblings. Brendan holds Kelsey. As you can see above, they were deep in conversation. Brendan mostly tells Kelsey how beautiful she is and how much he loves her. From her expression, she likes his sweet words.

We have much sibling rivarly in our household between Brendan and Ryan. Lately, that has translated into attention on Kelsey. Brendan has given her much attention since the day she was born. Ryan has only lately started talking, touching, and kissing her. So if Brendan holds her, Ryan immediately finds his way next to them and demands time with his sister. (Unfortunately, Kelsey doesn't look pleased here. She is starting to smile more at Ryan. He has very little volume control, so she often winces when she hears his loud voice.)

Ryan is obsessed with wearing Ken's shoes. If Ryan's quiet, you can guess that he's in our bedroom picking out a pair of shoes. Within a minute or two, he'll round the main hallway with them on. Today, he's chosen Ken's hiking-style shoes. He'll take them off shortly when our playdate arrives. Dallas and his mom Rebecca came over for 90 minutes or so to play with the boys. Dallas is one month younger than Ryan. We met the Colemans through Doug Roemer, an old Dayton friend of Ken's. The Roemers and Colemans used to be neighbors in Louisville.

Kelsey plays in her activity gym while I get the gang ready for the swimming pool. Some days this is easy, others it is not. This is not an easy day. Ryan likes to play chase now whenever we want him to change clothes. He also insists on rubbing in the sunscreen on his own. Brendan is helpful but is moving at a slower-than-usual pace. And if you know Brendan, you know that means it can be a painfully slow pace. Kelsey just enjoys her playtime. She'll be three months on Tuesday.

Look closely in the photo above and you'll see Kelsey is joined by Ryan's friend, Froggy. This is his new baby. He walks around patting Froggy on the back or putting Froggy down for a nap on the couch. He carefully covers Froggy with his bedding or blankies. Right now, he's decided Froggy should play with Kelsey.

We spend three hours at the pool, longer than usual for us. But Ken leaves work early (very unusual!) and we grill burgers to extend the pool visit. Once home, Ryan gets straight in the tub and Brendan puts on his jammies. Then he creates this family of Mr. Potato Heads. The dad is on the left, followed by two sons who appear to be identical twins.

Mom takes several pictures of Kelsey since she'll be three months old tomorrow (Tuesday). It's amazing how quickly babies grow. Though she is a newborn, she's changed so much since those first few weeks.

Safety Town

Before we went on vacation, Brendan spent eight days in Safety Town school. When Ken saw this camp description in our Plymouth-Canton school district book, he had no clue how popular the program is. Now we realize this is the event for children headed to kindergarten, and has been for the past 20 or so years.

Each day has its own focus, such as fire safety or stranger danger. Brendan's highlights: getting inside a firetruck, ambulance, and police car; riding a school bus, including driving by our neighborhood; drawing various pictures for us; and riding big wheels.

The cafeteria is set up with a small town that the kids use to role-play safety situations. They use big wheels for cars.

The final day, parents were invited to join in carnival day. Louie the DTE Lightning Bug was in attendance. (Brendan wasn't impressed by him.)

For me, this was a preview of what's to come when Brendan begins school in the fall. I was not prepared for Ryan's reaction the first morning we dropped off Brendan. He was less-than-pleased to be separated from his brother. However, by the second day, he was easing into the routine and began blowing his brother kisses as we left the cafeteria. So sweet.

This week, Brendan is participating in a sports camp, with a focus on baseball, basketball and soccer. So far, he's learned to dribble.

Vacation recap: Winding down and heading home

Friday was all about the pool, family and friends. Brendan was in and out of the pool all afternoon. There's nothing better on a summer day than living in your swimsuit, sitting in the sun to get dry.

Brendan, Kylie and I go rafting in the pool. Kylie tried several times to tip over her aunt. No luck. We also had a few swimming races and invented Kylie's own stroke.

Later that afternoon, my friends Sunshine and Stacy arrived for a short visit. Sunshine, her hubbie and daughter made the drive from Lubbock to see us and meet Kelsey. Stacy and her girls came from Shawnee. It was so wonderful to see them, though the visit was much too short. All of our kids swam in the pool and played together. We glimpsed our future. The girls were in a tent playing. Brendan came up on them with his new robot and "scared" the girls. They screamed endlessly. Why do I think we'll see this scene played out again, when Kelsey's having a sleepover and the big brothers are playing along?

Sunshine (center), Stacy, Kelsey and I pose for a photo. We still look as young as we did during our college days!

Our children: Ryan (almost 2), Kirby (4), Brooke (5), Brendan (almost 5), and Kelsey (2 months). Skyler wasn't in the mood to have her photo taken.

Saturday we had breakfast at our favorite OKC spot, Jimmy's Egg. Then we let the boys swim before putting Ryan in bed for a nap. Our flight was at 4:30, and we made it to the airport in plenty of time. The kids were great on the airplane, though Ryan became restless toward the end. I'm sure the rest of the passengers thought his screaming was annoying, but I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't scream more. Brendan, on the other hand, spent most of his time coloring and playing games in his activity books.

Though we were all sad to leave, we were happy to be home. It's always fun visiting our families. Some day, we hope it's just a short drive to get home.

Vacation recap: OKC Zoo & a small meltdown

Thursday morning we let the kids relax some after a late night. Then we headed to the Oklahoma City Zoo. I hadn't been in years, so I was excited to see the changes and visit the new Oklahoma exhibit.


As soon as we arrived, it started sprinkling. That may have been consecutive day #22 of rain for OKC. We thought we were safe when it quickly passed. Little did we know.


Everyone enjoyed seeing the animals and walking through the Oklahoma Exhibit, which is similar to the Texas-themed exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo. All of the animals and plants are native to the state.

Now, we didn't expect to spend more than a couple of hours at the zoo. My experience with kids is that they tire very quickly and two hours is more than enough. So it was no surprise that at almost exactly two hours into the visit, Brendan began his meltdown. It was hot and he was tired, which only made it worse. So as we were dealing with him, the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down. Kelsey, Uncle Kenny, Aunt Jenn, Aunt Amy, Kylie and I got stuck under the trees. Kelsey wasn't amused, as it was also time for her to eat. Finally, my mom and I decided to run to the car, which wasn't too far away. By the time we made it to the car, the rain had let up but my mom couldn't find the car keys. So Kelsey and I sat in a very hot, humid car so she could nurse. Ugh.

This zoo meltdown marks the third zoo that Brendan has left crying and screaming. Not a good stat to be keeping. The first meltdown came at the Columbus Zoo, in which I had to carry him from what had to have been the farthest point from the entrance to the car. The second meltdown was at the Denver Zoo with his cousin John Mitchell and Uncle John along for the fun. Lesson learned, finally: Keep visits to the zoo short and sweet.

That evening, Ken and I left the children with my family so we could enjoy a night out. Ken shopped at Harold's for some shirts and then we enjoyed dinner at Iron Starr, an urban BBQ restaurant.

Next: Winding down and heading home

Vacation recap: July 4th

July 4th is one of our favorite times of year in Plymouth. The community celebrates with a fabulous parade and community event at the local park. So we were bummed about being away.

Our Oklahoma City celebration didn't disappoint. I dragged most of the family to Bethany for a parade at 10 a.m. My sister once marched in this parade when she played in the band years ago, so we weren't new to the event. We were surprised, however, that the skies cleared and temperatures quickly rose after milder days earlier in the week. So Brendan, who is clearly a Michigan kid, complained midway through the parade that he was too hot. Hmmm ... we'll have to toughen him up. (Note that he can handle the very cold winter temperatures here, which I cannot.)

Both boys loved the float with Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks from the movie Cars. We got a laugh from the Ford police car that stalled just as he was revving the engine to take off. Several floats played off the flood conditions to add some humor. The best part? The free hot dogs that they were serving on the corner.

The parade had some only-in-Oklahoma moments, such as the train of tractors.

We swam the afternoon away before going to a RedHawks game in Bricktown. This is the Rangers' minor-league team. Again, fond memories for me. Growing up, we attended countless 89ers games during the summers and ate ice cream out of the little plastic baseball hats. Well, now the team has changed to the RedHawks, they have a new stadium, and the only ice cream available is Dippin' Dots. But that was the only disappointment. Brendan loved watching the game. When the boys were restless, I took them to a small play structure in the outfield that was crawling with kids. It was difficult to keep tabs on the boys, but they enjoyed the 10 minutes of running wild.

Kelsey, Ryan, my mom and I left during the 7th inning to get the littlest ones to bed at a reasonable time. Brendan had dutifully taken a nap earlier in the day, so he was rewarded. We let him stay for the entire game and watch fireworks afterward. (Generally, he doesn't do well the next day after staying up so late, so we knew we were rolling the dice.) He loved the fireworks -- another first for him -- and was particularly impressed with the big booms. Now, he says he wants to be a baseball player, firefighter, and police officer when he grows up.


A side note: All three children slept in until 8 a.m. the next morning, another first. Ahhh ...


Another side note: You forget how un-family friendly so many venues are until you are nursing a newborn. Kelsey was hungry during the RedHawks game. I didn't search too far before choosing a bench off the beaten path where I could nurse her with a wrap over us. Later, I discovered the "cool zone," which would have offered more privacy and air conditioning. (It was hot that night!) I had searched the RedHawks website for family information, but it didn't offer much. Don't they realize how invaluable this information is for parents? Even tips on whether to bring a stroller would have been useful.


Next up: The zoo

Vacation recap: Recuperation and amusement park fun

Editor's note: Due to technological difficulties, I'm missing the photos I had hoped to post with the remaining vacation posts. Those will come later.

Monday was a day of relaxation in OKC for most of us. We did swim, despite cloudy skies and cool water temperatures. The boys slowly warmed up to the water. I have fond memories of my childhood, in which I would swim until my lips turned purple. It was fun to see them do the same, though I did worry that they were too cold at times. (More than Ryan's lips would turn purple. The skin around his mouth was purple, too!)


The highlight of the day: Having lunch with Uncle Kenny and Papa in downtown Oklahoma City. Brendan enjoyed walking through the underground tunnels to the restaurant. I did not enjoy forgetting the stroller, which meant lugging Kelsey's car seat and carting Ryan when he tired of walking. At least I got a workout in.


Tuesday meant amusement park fun for Brendan and his cousin Kylie. After taking a portrait of the four grandchildren for my parents, Brendan, Ken, Kylie and Aunt Jenn headed to Frontier City. It's much smaller than a Six Flags park, so we thought Frontier City would be a good introduction for Brendan. He loved it. After quickly conquering the kiddie rides, he graduated to a few of the bigger rides such as the Wildcat and Renegade Rapids. Though he doesn't care for getting splashed, he loved getting soaked on the water rides. Go figure!


Now we're certain he'll be ready for our August trip to Ohio. We'll visit King's Island, which Ken visited often while growing up in Centerville, Ohio.


Next up: July 4th

Surprise!

More than a week ago, we surprised my Dad for his 60th birthday by flying into Oklahoma City to celebrate with him on a Friday evening. He had no idea we were coming! He truly was shocked when Brendan ran into the living room and yelled, "Surprise, Papa!"

That night began days filled with celebrations and fun during the July 4th holiday week. I'll recap everything with installments, since I know I can't get through it all in one post.

First: Celebrating the birthday

My Dad's birthday isn't until today (July 13), but we chose the week of July 4th for his celebration months ago, based on work schedules that no longer exist. (My mom (retirement), sister (boss closed his office), dad (new job), and brother-in-law (new job) have all undergone career changes in the past few months.)

Saturday night, our longtime family friends Carol and Randy Titus hosted a party for my Dad. Our favorite BBQ joint Earl's catered the event. The surprise of the evening was seeing our old neighbors from Houston, Tom and Lana Waters.

Dad cuts the cake at his first birthday party at the Titus' house.

Sunday, we enjoyed the largest family get-together we've had in years. The Briggs side of the family showed up in full force to wish my Dad happy birthday. That included all of my aunts and uncles, three of my cousins, and several of their children. We swam all afternoon and ate more BBQ. (Kelsey loved meeting everyone!)

We managed to get everyone together for a family photo. It's been too long since the family had a get-together so big!

Next: Recuperation and amusement fun

Caution: Bats!

Yesterday afternoon I noticed something at the top of our bedroom window. At first, I feared it was a dead mouse, though not sure how it would end up there. After a closer look, I realized it was a bat. We have seen bats flying at night in the field behind our house, but I hadn't seen one this close. It was hanging upside down. More amazing to me -- it was lodged between the window and the screen! (I'll add a photo soon.)

I kept checking on it throughout the day and saw it move a few times. When Ken came home, I guess I couldn't stop talking about it. He finally went in to move it around 9 p.m. He closed the bedroom doors and first tried to catch it using Brendan's sophisticated bug-catcher equipment from Aunt Di. When that proved no match for the bat, Ken put on his work gloves and grabbed the bat. He took him outside and let him go.

Of course, I was a total wimp and watched from the hallway with the door cracked. I can still see the bird flying around in our woody room in our Tipperary house. It was not easy to catch that bird! I had visions of the same happening with this bat.

We're going to keep our eyes open in case he decides to return anytime soon.

Updated: The bat finds shelter between our bedroom window and the screen. He wasn't too pleased when Ken grabbed him.