Ice Cream and Cacophony

Lola is 7 today!

I had to work (boo) so I could not spend the day with her. But she did get to pick sugar cereal for breakfast -- went to the grocery store after bedtime last night with dad to buy Cocoa Puffs. I didn't even know she knew what they were: I've never bought them before. But kids get to pick a sugar cereal for their birthdays around here, and I barely had the question out of my mouth before she shouted "COCOA PUFFS!"

So, the lady had Cocoa Puffs.

Not one to go lightly with the sugar fest that is a birthday, I took them for ice cream after picking them up from Auntie Debra's this afternoon. {Side note: Auntie Debra rocks, plain and simple.}

Taking five hyper, dirty-from-playing, tired-of-each-other children to the local Baskin and Robbins was quite exciting. I can't decide which was my favorite part.

Was it the mommy mommy mommy I want mint chip I want mango tango I want chocolate I want M&M flavor I want cookie dough I want a sugar cone I'm first she's pushing me I want a double scoop I want I want I want I want I want?

Was it one child dropping his double scoops of ice cream in his lap? And then doing it a second time? And then another child dropping her double scoops on the floor? And then me dropping my own single scoop on the table? (Excuse me, but doesn't this sound like faulty ice cream-packing? Four scoops tipping off of their cones? User error? I think not! Scooper error, thank you very much!)

Was it the many times small children wielding sticky cones bumped into some part of me? My nose, my fore arms, my elbows, my jeans? I exhibited some truly delicate, boxer-like contortions, trying to keep away from Tallulah's drippy mint chip mess.

Was it the sheer number of napkins we went through? (Yeah, I've heard all those arguments about large families wasting the world's resources, seen the bumper stickers that say "make love not more" [on the bumper of an SUV], and heard all about population control. What can I say: I like me some babies.)

Oh, I know what it was! It was the rubber-necking fascination of the mom-of-two sitting at the table next to us. You know how people can't NOT look at a train wreck? Well, whatever that phenomena is called, cute little mom-of-two was suffering from it big time. She was speechless and, I think, a little horrified. Yup, that was my fav. I just love being on display for folks who cannot fathom having this many children. It's like living under a great big microscope. I almost asked her if she'd like to pull up a chair to get a better view.

And really, all of the other "favorite" contenders can be wrapped up into this one, because cute little mom-of-two got to see it all. The ice cream mustaches and beards, the tears when scoops went plop, the mommy mommy mommy, the arguments about who got to sit next to whom, the whole lovely, chaotic, definitely un-tidy cacophony that is the Alatorre Family out for ice cream.

We had a great time. No, seriously, we really did. Even those who came in grumpy left happy. Ice cream does that, thankfully and predictably.

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Lola wanted a turtle for her birthday, a real one. Who knew how expensive a turtle can be? After recovering from the shock of the $300 price tag for a turtle plus accoutrements, I happily settled for a cute little stuffed one from Barnes and Noble, which she promptly named Glitter. She told me Glitter is more fun than a real one because she gets to play with her and bring her places and she doesn't have to feed her.

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Seven years ago today, Lola arrived in a whirlwind. I woke up around 12:30am and realized I was in labor. After getting Rick up, and alerting Grandma that it was "show time," we both took showers. Rick made us sandwiches. We took our sweet time. Both of our boys took 11+ hours to arrive; we expected the same with #3. One the way to the hospital, the contractions really started coming, fast and furious. We made it to the maternity ward registration desk at 3:10am and Lola screeched into the world 37 minutes later, my biggest baby at 9 lbs., 4 oz. Rick almost missed it because he had to move the car from the temporary "drop off your laboring, crazed-from-pain wife" lot." She arrived in time to let us watch the South Korea vs. Italy game of the World Cup 2002. She'll tell you now that she saw her very first soccer game that day.

Happy Birthday, sweet, funny, tough, charming Lola: we love you more than you will ever know.



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