Archives for July 2007

Priorities

Yesterday, The Princess wanted so badly to play with a friend, so when she called her good buddy L and found out that L already had company, she invited them both over.

Moms, you know this – three is never a good number when it comes to kids playing. One is inevitably left out – and even if that isn’t the case, the dynamic is certainly funky. The Princess was not on her best behavior. Neither was L. I don’t know enough about the Other Girl to know what’s typical for her (she lives across the state, with her mom and is only visiting her dad for a bit).

After an hour of playing, L and Other Girl went home. The Princess was upset. When Hubby asked what happened, The Princess said that Other Girl twisted her ankle and so OG and L left. The Princess had asked them to help pick up all the toys they had taken outside to play.

Apparently, L said to The Princess, “Would you rather we help you or would you rather Other Girl DIES?!” (Um, the girl walked home fine… wasn’t even crying… I don’t expect death was near on the horizon, but love girls and their drama).

Hubby asked The Princess what she replied. The Princess said, “Duuuuuuh. I told them to HELP me! Every one knows the rule – you get it out, you put it back.”

My "Baby" Is 2!

Dear Pumpkin,

Happy Birthday, Doodle. By the time you had woken up this morning, we had passed your “official” birthday (you were born before 6 a.m. – an early bird right from the start!), so you’ve been two all day so far. You were so excited to see your brand new tricycle, a Dora the Explorer DVD, and – the best part of all – the purple bouncy ball! There were other small things, but you didn’t seem to notice or care about them. And you spent a good chunk of the morning in the trike box, which I should have expected: it’s just the right size for sitting in.

You are amazing – and my goodness how you’ve come so far from last year. For starters… you have teeth. Your first tooth didn’t start poking through until days after your first birthday, so you spent a good chunk of this year teething (lucky us). You have this unstoppable appetite and love to eat – and you tell us when things are “ummy” or “uck” – cheesecake: ummy.

You may not know it yet, but we’re going to be ditching your pacifiers soon, and I imagine you’re gonna be pretty ticked off about it. It was so easy with your sister – she didn’t much care about the paci – but you? You LOVE it. Right now, you only get your paci for naps and night-night. I tested out cutting the tip off a paci a few weeks ago – and you were so mad at me: “Pacipier broken. Mommy cut it!” I may end up having to do that for the rest of them, just to get you weaned off those crazy things (why didn’t I do this sooner?!). You’ll be pretty peeved, and I anticipate that bedtimes are going to be rough for awhile. Lucky me.

You have gone potty on the potty two times now – yesterday, when you went, I had to tell you NOT to put your hands in the pee, and NOT to play with it. Daddy said, “But it’s sterile!” I think he was just trying to gross me out. It’s never a good idea to play with pee. Keep that one with you – it’s a life lesson.

When we’ve asked you what you want for your birthday, you keep telling us, “Ice cream”, so, ice cream you will get. I picked up some green ice cream, per your exact specifications (picky like mommy already).

You are fearless and you are brave and you love to explore and test your limits. Consequently, I spend a lot of time chasing after you – you sure do keep me busy. You love the slide, the playground, and you are learning to love the water. You spent much time in the water in Traverse City last weekend – even climbing right up to the top of the slide on the dock, and sliding right into dad’s waiting arms in the lake. Barely any hesitation at all!

I don’t know where this year went. I started it with a baby, and now I have a toddler. I love to watch you as you grow and change, and become even more amazing. Happy birthday! We love you!

Love you with my whole heart,
Mommy

Not Always Easy, But Always With Love

This morning, I woke up and thought to myself, “Two years ago, I was getting ready for work, not knowing it was my last day in the office… ever.” I worked right up until the day before Pumpkin was born (she was born at 5:57 a.m. after about three and a half hours of labor).

I felt ROUGH that day, July 26, 2005. Really rough. So rough that my co-workers kept telling me to go home. I was tired, worn out, and just ready for a nap (serves me right being pregnant in July!). I didn’t want to leave early, though, because I didn’t want people to accuse me of taking advantage or “playing the pregnancy card” to get out of working. So, I stuck it out the whole day. Woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning in labor. Who knew.

It’s amazing that I haven’t really worked outside the home in two years. It blows my mind that I’m doing it. Granted, not every day is a good day (yesterday was horrendously bad, as a matter of fact). I don’t know that I always feel I did the right thing – some days, I’d give anything to have an office to go to, to be able to get away, to be able to turn off the “mom-part” of my brain (though, as you know, that is phsyically impossible!). Some days, I’d give anything for a commute with traffic, getting to pick the radio station, going through the whole day without peanut butter handprints on my clothes, going more than five hours without having to change a diaper.

But, I remember the days after The Princess was born and before Pumpkin. I hated being away from her. I hated feeling like she’d take her first steps without me. She would say her first words to someone else. Someone else was feeding her lunch and changing her diapers. It made me crazy.

If I was working, I know I’d give anything to be home… so it’s only natural that some days I long to be “at work”.

I’m struggling lately – juggling working from home with being a mom, being a wife, and being the live-in housekeeper. Lately, I’ve felt like I’m spread a bit too thin and I’m feeling overwhelmed.

But I wouldn’t trade my two kids for anything on the planet, and as with all things in life, “If you want the rainbows, you gotta put up with the rain.” I’m having some tough days, but getting a smooch from my kids helps. Seeing their smiles, helps. (Pumpkin deciding today that she would tinkle on her potty for the second time – that HELPED! Way to go, almost birthday girl!).

Tomorrow, my “baby” will be two. I can’t believe the time has flown so quickly.

Hi? Remember Me?

We arrived home Monday from our trip to Traverse City. Though the main purpose of the trip, a memorial service and burying my grandmother’s ashes, was rather somber, we ended up having a pretty decent time.

We stayed at the cottage my grandmother used to own – my dad and his sister along with my grandparents would spend each summer in this cottage on the lake. Though my grandmother sold it a few years ago, the new owners (who happened to live next door) continued to let her use it until the time she died, and welcomed us to use it this past weekend as well.

Thank goodness for those neighbors, because in addition to letting us have a roof over our head, they had six-year-old twins. The Princess got along with them fantastically, and she spent much time splashing in the lake, singing and dancing with her new friends. From the time she’d wake up in the morning, until the time we told her “time for bed!” she was outside and running around with her new buddies. We really couldn’t have asked for a better weekend for her – since we’d initially been concerned that she wasn’t going to have a good time at all.

While we were away, I got a reminder of the me I used to be – I felt carefree, I felt relaxed and I didn’t feel so bogged down. It was such a good feeling… and I returned home to my over-extended agenda, some last-minute schedule changes by Stepson’s mother, and cranky children who would rather be back on vacation. Pumpkin turns 2 on Friday and I’ve yet to go present shopping.

I’ve lost the relaxed carefree feeling I had and am back to the grind.

Ha ha ha ha. No.

Got a postcard in the mail from the dance studio today, letting us know that “Early VIP Registration” for dance classes is fast approaching. Um – thanks but no-way-on-earth-am-I-going-through-that-again-when-the-pain-from-last-time-has-not-yet-worn-off.

My Little Goofball

Sometimes she’s really funny… How she sleeps, and how she wakes up:

Yeah, I Know… It’s Pretty Impressive

By 11 a.m. yesterday, the girls and I had:

* gone to the dance studio in an attempt to pick up the DVD of The Princess’s recital, only to find out that they didn’t open for another 20 minutes

* went to Target to stock up on some essentials for our trip: sunscreen, laundry detergent (so I can wash everything prior to our trip – I’m NOT doing laundry while I’m away from home!), travel packs of peanut butter, and the like

* to Best Buy to use up a gift card we got FOR CHRISTMAS (Yeah, like seven months ago – that’s how slow we are) towards a portable DVD player. I know, I know – kids survived for years on road trips without getting to watch TV in the car, but I’m not gonna be the one to tell Pumpkin that she can’t watch Dora for several days. No thank you. Oh, and to make it seem less goofy: we will be staying where there is no DVD player, and we want to show our family the DVD from The Princess’s dance recital which we got when we…

* went BACK to the dance studio, which was now open, to pick up the DVD

* headed home to make lunch for the kiddo’s

Whew. And that was just the morning! It ended up being gloomy outside in the afternoon, so The Princess decided she needed to pack for the trip. She was like a crazy lady, the way she packs. I had to tell her to maybe postpone packing her toothbrush, as she’ll probably need to use it before we leave… ON FRIDAY. Oy. Nice that they are excited, though. I’ll be tossing my stuff in the bag on Friday morning as we are about to run out the door, I’m sure!

Honey-Do

Gearing up for a trip out of town that’s rapid approaching, I feel like my to-do list is a mile long today and I don’t know how I’m going to begin to make a dent. Dragging two kids along with me as I bop from store to store – not easy, not fun. Not to mention, I think maybe two stores into the whole little endeavor, they’re gonna be mad and want to go home.

We’ll see how much I get done…

A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place

I spent a good chunk of time today, alphabetizing my CDs and putting them on the shelf. Yeah, sounds like a rip-roaring good time, doesn’t it? Don’t you wish I would invite y’all over to organize stuff with me? The CDs had been in various boxes for the past year – we originally packed them up when we had the house up for sale last year, and then once construction started, we left those boxes in the basement. We’re gradually getting our life back to normal.

I have always liked to have my CDs in alpha order, and this is just one of those things that I’m sure drives my husband absolutely batty. With my system, you cannot just put a CD back in any-old-place. You have to find its proper spot within the alphabet. My system is this – first, CDs by artists/bands in alpha order. Second, soundtracks in alphabetical order. Finally, all holiday CDs at the end.

Now, I’m totally weird. I have a bazillion Counting Crows CDs, but I’ve just lumped them together – I don’t have them categorized by release date or anything too obnoxious.

But, Hubby still likes to laugh at me.

My organizing tendencies aren’t as obnoxious or as obvious as you would think, though. We’ve been together ten years, and Hubby JUST realized a few weeks ago that my clothes are hanging by color, and overall, they are in rainbow order (followed by white, black, brown, and grey… which, you know, aren’t in the rainbow). I have made my various subrules – like the color pink is sandwiched between red and orange, because pink is a derivative of red. Likewise, periwinkle is between blue and purple, because, visually… it IS between blue and purple.

Hubby thinks this is totally nuts.

HOWEVER, I never struggle to find clothes in my closet. If I need a short sleeve green t-shirt, I know it will be next to my long sleeve green pullovers (And yes, before you ask, within each color, there is a system… Left to right: long sleeve sweatery type shirts, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve, sleeveless. Pants and skirts are on a separate shelf – they too are organized by color).

Hubby thinks my system must take an insane amount of time to maintain, but really, it doesn’t. Once I have it in MY order, putting things away is so easy – because everything has a proper home.

So, please, tell me something about yourself that will make me feel like I’m not really that nuts.

Get Out that MP3, I’m Tagging YOU!

I’m having one of those days without much to say and saw this in someone’s archives, so I dusted it off and brought it out for your reading pleasure. Or something. It doesn’t seem to make sense – for the most part, these song titles aren’t suitable answers to ANY questions and not just the questions I was askin’. Whatever. It was fun.

The Rules: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you?
(So embarrassing that it’s even in my playlist!) “Slave 4 U” Britney Spears

Will I have a happy life?
“Low” Kelly Clarkson

What do my friends really think of me?
“Holiday in Spain” Counting Crows (not very fitting, but man do I love this song)

How can I make myself happy?
“Two of Hearts” Stacey Q (Anyone remember this one?)

What should I do with my life?
“American Girls” Counting Crows (um… ?)

Will I ever have children?
“Brown Eyed Girl” Van Morrison (Ironically enough, I have brown eyes, and two girls with bright blue eyes…)

What is some good advice for me?
“Coconut” Harry Nilsson (“Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up…”)

How will I be remembered?
“Flashdance” Irene Cara

What is my signature dancing song?
“Cover Me” Candlebox

What do I think my current theme song is?
“What I Am” Eminem (“I am whatever you say I am, if I wasn’t than why would I say I am…”)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
“Shoop” Salt n Pepa

What song will play at my funeral?
“One Fine Day” Natalie Merchant (Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yeah, fine for all of you still left here on the planet! Not so fine for me. Whatever)

What type of men/women do you like?
“What You Want” Mase

What is my day going to be like?
“My Prerogative” Bobby Brown