Serenity now

Was that from Seinfeld or The King of Queens? I know it was Jerry Stiller saying it - either as Frank Costanza or as Arthur Spooner - but I can't remember which. Either way, I chanted it to myself several times this weekend.

Thursday evening, we drove down to Virginia to visit my best friend, Tori, and her two sweet children. She and I were roommates in college and lived together for a while afterwards too, until she got married. Driving four hours in the car with both boys was tough. PJ does not love the carseat, and gets his ear-splitting wail on sometimes. And just at the time when we've all had enough, Jack starts crying too - he can't take it either. Serenity now. Patrick and I would just look at each other and start laughing because there was nothing else we could do.

Anyway, Tori lives near Washington, DC and we went into the city Friday morning for the ordination ceremony of one of Patrick's friends. It was a beautiful ceremony. I forgot my camera, but that's ok (serenity now), because I spent most of the time out in the lobby shushing one or both of the boys who were taking turns crying or fussing, so I wouldn't have been able to take pictures anyway.

Saturday morning, we all went to the National Zoo. Jack and PJ looked so cute that I thought I'd take a picture of the two of them together. Here's how that went:

Ok, boys....look at Mommy. Ready...Set...Jack, don't do that. Sit next to your brother!


Ok then, here - Jack you sit in the corner and just let PJ lean on you. Hey! Don't pull away - you're making him fall down.

Come on, Jack - stop that! He's not hurting you - he can touch your arm! (PJ's reminding me, "Serenity now, Mom")

Ok, that's fine. Now look at Mommy. Jack, look at Mommy! PJ? PEEEjaaaaay? Hey, look at Mommy. Boys, look! Look over here. Hey - what's Mommy doing? Hey, look! Yoohoo? Look at Mommy! Oh forget it.

I had such a great time hanging out with my friend. I don't get to see her too often because life just gets busy, but she's the kind of friend that you can just pick up with where you left off - even if it was months ago - and not skip a beat. She's having a hard time in her personal life right now, and I was so grateful that she was able to take the time to visit with us. She's the best kind of hostess because she makes me feel immediately at home, and our kids played together so well.

Jack really had fun with the cat, O'Malley. His cat sound has evolved over time. It now sounds like "Mow-mow" - not mow like mow your lawn, but mow, rhymes with cow. Oh, here - you can hear it for yourself.



And we did have some moments of serenity. Tori captured a few of them for me.

I can't believe my baby is six weeks old now. Where does the time go?

You know, I'm not a big country music fan, but Patrick is and sometimes we listen to it in the car. I got to know Trace Adkins through this season's Celebrity Apprentice. (Did you watch that? It was my first time watching any Apprentice shows, and I was SOOO addicted!) Anyway, Trace was one of the final two in the competition, and he was just such an upstanding, soft-spoken, all-around good guy that I really came to admire him. One day, I was driving in the car with Jack and a song came on the radio - the country station - and I instantly recognized his voice. As I listened to the lyrics of the song, I just started bawling. It's called "You're Gonna Miss This." Here's a verse:

There's a plumber
Working on the water heater
Dogs barking, phones ringing
One kid's crying, one kid's screaming
She keeps apologizing
He says "They don't bother me.
I've got two babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.
It's hard to believe..."
But
You're going to miss this
You're going to want this back
You're going to wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're going to miss this

It's so true.

Even in the midst of my Serenity Now moments - both kids crying in the car, up several times at night, attempting to get two babies and myself dressed to go out somewhere, Jack barging in on me in the bathroom saying "Mama? Mama? Mama? Mama?" a million times - I like to take a moment to recognize that soon they'll be able to dress themselves. I won't be able to just pick them up and cuddle them. They'll have upsets that are bigger than the fact that Blue's Clues is over or they can't find their blankies, and I won't always be able to make the tears stop.

I have to say, I am looking forward to being able to poo in peace, but for now, I'll take the crying because some day soon, I'm probably going to miss it!