Air Travel with Kids Is Fun

Our big summer trip to California began at 3:30am EST, when we woke the kids up and buckled them in the car. Forty-five minutes later we were at the airport and being informed by Southwest that to have Asher fly as a lap child, we needed to have his birth certificate or immunization record to prove his birth date. We had neither. I used to fly with the boys' birth certificates, but then no one ever asked me for them so I stopped bothering. Not to worry, the airline informed us. We could simply purchase Asher a seat right then, and they'd even give us the infant rate. And we would "probably" be reimbursed by the airline later if we sent them the receipt and proof of Asher's birth date.

It was 4am. Our suitcases were packed, our car was in the long-term lot, our boys were full of anticipation, we had a rental car scheduled for pick-up in Sacramento at noon. We bought the seat.

This is Asher.

This is Asher's new backpack.

This is Asher pulling his backpack.



Apparently, this is some kind of magical cuteness formula, because never in my 5 1/2 years of being a mother has any of my children garnered the kind of attention Asher and that backpack did. People of all ages, genders, races, and nationalities stopped to stare and giggle as he pulled it down the terminal or ran with it down the moving walkway. Even groups of tattooed twenty-something young men commented. It was like traveling with a B-list celebrity, without any autographing. Scott has decided that if I'm going to die, I should do it soon so that he can use Asher and his backpack to find a new wife.

So we're at the airport in Chicago. The airport in Chicago has lots of moving walkways. The boys LOVE moving walkways. We went up and down the moving walkways while we were waiting for our connection until I found myself chasing Caleb, who was running gleefully away from me in the wrong direction on the moving walkway, while what felt like the entire terminal stopped to watch and everyone on the walkway jumped out of the way to let him go by rather than, I don't know, stopping him for me. That was the end of playing on the moving walkway.

I've already blocked out the details of the actual flights except for a general recollection that Asher reinforced my belief that kids from 18months to 2 1/2 years or so are the worst to travel with.

Once we finally arrived at the airport in Sacramento Scott had to go get the rental car while I waited in the terminal with all the kids and bags. Caleb continued to enjoy running away from me, so he got to spend some time sitting in his car seat on the curb while a very nice airport police officer on a Segway tried to distract him. The getting of the rental car took longer than expected (doesn't it always?), so I let Asher out of the stroller to run around (with his backpack, of course). While I was chasing after him and talking to Scott on the phone about when he was going to be there, Evan, who was sitting in one of the car seats on the curb, pulled one of the plastic car seat bags the airline had give us over himself. A couple of women walking by stopped him and then proceeded to give me the longest, dirtiest looks I have ever received in my 5 1/2 years as a parent. Apparently they were unimpressed with my parenting and supervision skills.

Eventually Scott arrived with the car, we discovered the only way we and all of the luggage could fit was with half of our stuff sitting on our laps, and then we were off. Caleb fell asleep in about 30 seconds and Evan spent the next 2 hours asking us 162 times if we were almost there. Finally, a good 16 hours after we left our house in Massachusetts, we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Redding.

Hiking to a waterfall on a very uncharacteristically cold day.

Scott explaining rock formation, erosion, or some such thing to the boys.

Throwing sticks in the waterfall.

Asher trying to fling himself in the river.

3* Reasons My House is Rarely (Never?) Clean

1. Asher seems to take any and all of my attempts at cooking and/or cleaning as a personal affront. As soon as he sees or hears any indication that I am about to engage in one of these activities, he pulls on my pants and makes this face, usually accompanied by whimpering and/or all-out crying until I pick him up, which seriously slows and sometimes halts said cooking or cleaning.

2. Reading one of the books I've checked out from the library is much more interesting.

3. When I am cleaning one area of the house, one, two, or all of my children are making a mess like this in another part. It's like we're on a rotation schedule.

* Of the approximately 1,257 (and counting).

My Three Valentines

Aren't they cute? For those of you realizing that I said 3 valentines and noting my dear hubby's conspicuous absence from the above photo, no need to worry about marital discord in the McEuen household. Scott is not -- and never has been -- a believer in V-Day, so it's not something we celebrate as a couple.

So instead, I spent my Valentine's Day making cupcakes for Evan's preschool class. Fresh strawberry cake with whipped cream cream cheese frosting, one of the best frostings ever. I may, or may not, have licked the frosting bag clean when I was done frosting them.

The hearts are fondant and I piped in the names of each of the kids and teachers in Evan's class. (Clearly I need to work on my piping skills.)

Fortunately, there were enough cupcakes left for each of the boys to have one after dinner as well. Evan and Caleb decorated theirs with these little heart-shaped flags that came with the cupcake cups. They were much more impressed with the beauty of their flag-draped cupcakes than they were with my fondant attempts.

Evan and Caleb (what am I going to do with his hair?!) being very proud of their design.


And clearly enjoying the end product.

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the Ash-Man enjoying his 1/2 a cupcake (which he kept referring to as a cookie -- what does it say about my parenting skills that he can only say about 10 words, but cookie is one of them?).

But here he is in the bath (another of his favorite words) afterward. And no, that is not poop floating in the background; it's an overturned purple duck. Just in case you were wondering.

Asher is 1!

Er, ok, so he turned one three months ago. We were still at our short-term rental house then and life was particularly crazy, so no blog post until now. I made Asher a cake in the shape of an airplane and a little smash cake as well. It's funny, I spent way more time on the big cake, but I think the smaller one, which I frosted and decorated in 5 minutes, looks better.




As soon as Asher saw that cake, he knew he wanted some, and he half-cried, half-whined and did his patented hand-waving technique (see video) to ask me to please give him the cake immediately, thank you very much. But then as soon as we started to sing to him, he stopped abruptly, looking very confused about what on earth we were doing. (Again, see video.)



(Or, if that's not working, try pasting this link into your browser:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53322490@N05/5275839267/)

Once he eventually got the cake, he rather liked smashing and eating it.


Asher was very lucky to have his Aunt Michelle come for his birthday. He had lots of fun opening his presents and playing with his new toys.


Asher (a.k.a. Ash, Asher Baby, Ash-Man) is an adorable, cuddly mama's boy who seems to be personally offended by attempts to make dinner or do the dishes, at which point he decides he must be held or the world will end. He took FOREVER to start crawling regularly (even though he knew how to do it) and nearly drove me to the brink of insanity from about months 7 to 10 wanting to be held constantly. Then he figured out he could entertain himself better by crawling and life for everyone has been better since. Now, at 15 months, he is really starting to walk and is so proud of himself! He even applauds his own efforts. He love crawling up and down stairs, and -- after a few falls of varying severity -- is quite good and amazingly fast at going down them. He loves to mimic (talking on the phone, writing with a pen, combing his hair, etc.), "help" load and unload the dishwasher, hang upside down, put small objects into and out of larger objects, and push things around the house (push toys, chairs, baskets, the kitchen garbage can). He does not like having his diaper changed, getting dressed, having to stay in his crib for more than about 30 seconds after he has woken up, or being ignored.

He talks in his own very authentic-sounding baby language and loves to growl (something he has done since he was a small baby, when he sounded quite a bit like a baby dinosaur). He also says mommy and daddy and, quite recently, hi. I think I've heard bath in there a couple of times as well, but it's hard to be certain. He's a fairly smiley kid, but is not easily amused and doesn't laugh much. He's definitely his own little person, one who we think is pretty great!

It's been a long time....

I am realizing that this will be only my third post in 2010. Yikes. That's pretty pathetic. (And as a side note, it's amazing how fast time flies, because it doesn't seem like it has been that long.) Perhaps the truly sad thing is that I often think of things that I would like to write in a blog post, but then I never actually do.

We live in a house now. It has a backyard. And a garage. And a deck. With a grill. We're surrounded by trees and you can't see our house from the street. My kids are cute and drive me crazy. Right now Evan and Caleb are being superheroes. They just saved me from a tornado.

Every fall since Evan was a year old, I have taken pictures of the boys in the leaves. Here are this year's pictures.

All three boys:


The Ash-Man in all his adorableness.


Caleb and his crazy hair.


Evan. Look at those dimples!

A Surprising Announcement

At least it's surprising to me. No, it's not what you're thinking. I am not pregnant. Scott got a job and we're moving!

Now, most of you probably have no reason to be surprised by this announcement, but if you're really on top of our life plan -- and you should be because it's an exciting plan -- you know that we were planning to be in Boston for another year-and-a-half while Scott finishes his PhD at MIT. But then, a few months ago, Scott received an unexpected email about a possible job opportunity that he was highly qualified for because of research he did for his Masters degree. In our consideration of the opportunity, we learned of a little-known MIT policy that would allow him to work full-time while simultaneously pursuing his PhD. Even better, he was able to align his PhD research with this job opportunity, effectively killing two birds with one stone. We received final approval from MIT this week, and so we've decided to take the job.

The job is for a small company recently acquired by GE and located in Northampton, MA, which is about 2 hours west of Boston. It's a beautiful area (as you can see from the top photo), and Northampton manages to have simultaneously a quaint New England feel with a vibrant -- even alternative -- lifestyle.

It seems like a fun place. We're excited about this opportunity -- I'm especially looking forward to having a house with a yard -- but we're also very sad to be leaving Boston. We've had a great experience here and have made good friends. Two of our three children were born here. Boston has been good to us.

At George's Island


Checking out the fort at George's Island


Throwing rocks in the water at George's Island


Scott and Evan at a PawSox minor league game


The adorable Asher, who likes to show off his tongue


The 'Bub enjoying the game


Evan and Caleb at the zoo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear family and friends,

We hope you had a merry Christmas! This is the closest we're going to get to sending out a Christmas card this year -- and possibly ever.

The last year has been a good one for us. We've enjoyed having family visit and visiting family. The boys and I got to travel to Utah and California in the summer to visit grandparents and cousins. Scott and I also had a wonderful, no-kids trip to France and Spain. It was awesome! (And we owe a big thanks to the grandparents -- both sets -- and Shelly for making it possible.) Scott passed his Qualifying Exam, we added a third little boy to our family, and Evan started preschool.

We continue to live in Boston while Scott finishes up his PhD in mechanical engineering. He decided on his project earlier this year and will be developing a needless injection device. He spends the vast majority of his time at school -- in class, being a T.A., or researching in the lab. We see him some, but not as much as we'd like. What little free time he has, Scott spends reading Presidential biographies, running/biking, and hanging out with his doting wife and children.

The last year brought many changes for me as well. I had our third child in September and left my job as an associate at Ropes & Gray to stay home full time with our three boys, who keep me quite busy. The transition to being at home full-time hasn't been -- and still isn't -- easy for me, but I know it's where I need to be right now. I have managed to squeeze in a little work as a contract attorney, though. In my spare time I like to pass out on the couch, read my latest book club book with Scott, sleep, and go to the grocery store without any kids.

Evan turned the big 4 this year. He's in preschool for a few hours each week and is loving every minute of it. He also got to take a sports class earlier in the fall, where he was able to try playing several different sports. He especially enjoyed field hockey, but was disappointed they didn't do any bowling. He talks a mile a minute and is endlessly full of questions. He aspires to be a garbage truck driver. In his spare time, he loves to play with trains, ride his bike, play with his brother and BFF Colby, and build lego towers.

Caleb is two and really working on his talking skills. He is an extremely happy child and ridiculously cute. He wants to do everything himself and can hold his own against his big brother. His big accomplishment this year is learning to be comfortable in nursery. He loves to play with trains, do anything Evan is doing, throw and kick balls, and watch Curious George.

Asher is four months old. He's smiley and sweet, but not sleeping as well as we'd like. He's quite the mama's boy already and is very much doted upon by his older brothers. In his free time he enjoys eating (as long as it's not from a bottle), sleeping, sucking on his pacifier, playing pat-a-cake, looking around, and watching his mobile.

We hope all of you felt the peaceful spirit of the Christmas season and enjoyed time with friends and family. And we wish all of you a wonderful new year, full of renewed hope and promise.

Love,

Scott, Maren, Evan, Caleb, and Asher