A Day in the Life of the SutherSons

Eating disorder at 2?

2012-01-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday night:

T comes out of her bedroom, door slams. Walking upstairs. Door slams again. I head upstairs to see what is going on. She is back in bed so I start to clean a few things up. Then the door opens again. T is standing in the doorway with a bag of pretzels. T hands over the bag.

Sunday morning:

The bag of pretzels is on the counter. T walks by and taps it, looks at me and says:

'Mommy put these up high please because I want to eat them.'

Some background - things that they like and eat when they are not supposed to go up on high shelves. I thought that was pretty funny. Please take it away from me because I can't control myself!

Colored Pencils

2012-01-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

We got the kids colored pencils for Christmas. M wasn't doing much drawing or writing any letters and T was a little behind in fine motor skills. Colored pencils were recommended more than crayons and markers for these areas. So each kid received a box in their stocking.

I was very happy/proud when I started to see letters spelling M's name different places:

Then the little one took colored pencils into a timeout. That is a picture of the wall next to the stairs and the actual damage is much large than this picture. Pride was not the word I was feeling:

Can we get a new couch?

2012-01-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

M and I are in the car. He is telling me about how he made a bed on the floor because his bed isn't comfortable.

M: My bed isn't comfortable so I made a new one on the floor.

Me: Is it too small?

M: No. The one on the floor is even smaller.

Me: Okay. When we move I was thinking we could get you a new bed. And you could help pick it out.

M: Yeah! Can we get a new couch too?

Me: Maybe, I hadn't really thought about it. Why?

M: So we can jump on it.

Me: Jump on it? You can't do that.

M: Well M2 said that we could jump on his house when he moved into his new house so I want to do that too.

It all makes sense when you have the right context.

Karate!

2012-01-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

We tried soccer.

M: Yes I want to do Soccer!

Reality - We get to the soccer field, he spends his time on the team blanket distracting other kids. Kids leave the soccer field, he is out there on the field playing. At the end of the season he actually played a little but with one kid. I guess I should call that a success.

Me: Don't you like soccer?

M: Yes.

Me: So why don't you go out on the soccer field to play.

M: I want to play soccer but not with other kids.

Well that is going to work well!

He likes basketball but again - doesn't want to play with other kids.

I am thinking what can you do that involved other kids directly but isn't quite a team sport at the age of 4? Golf - I would love to have the next Tiger Woods (golf-wise that is) but I think golf might be a bit much. Swimming - we do that but he often throws up in the pool because he drank too much water. Tennis - maybe a little later. So the kid is low on confidence, doesn't socialize well, and needs an activity because the little people are getting crazy in the house all weekend with this weather.

Someone suggests karate. I email his best friend's mom asking what they think about it because I know M is more likely to participate with M there (I will call him M2 because they have the same initials) and they kind of have the same personality and they have had the same luck with M2 and activities. They are in. Now where to go. My girlfriend lives by them, her son goes to karate, they love the place, it is a 25 minute drive or so for me but we do it.

First day or karate:

We have a tour of the place and they get an individual evaluation to make sure they are placed in the right class. It goes well. They the sensei asks them some questions and lays out some rules. When to use karate, when not to use karate, how you should be a good listener her, you should look people in the eyes when they are talking to you, etc., etc. This is great! The boys where really good and they 'earned' their first belt. Now if only I could actually follow some of these rules.

Sensei: You don't just hit people at home and use karate on them. What would happen if you hit your Mom?

M: You get a timeout.

Me: In the background, I start to giggle a little and turn red. Not bad though I don't think they encourage giggling at the dojo.

Sensei: One time that you want to use karate is if a stranger comes up to and trying to get you into a car. (My mind is thinking this is great! Good life lesson!) Do you know what a stranger is?

M: Pause.....A Witch!

M2: Someone you don't know.

Me: In the background. I still haven't recovered from giggling from the other questions and now I lose it! I start laughing. Start to control things and then M2's Dad starts laughing. Well I am now crying!

M2's Dad and I decided to sign up for it because they kids did a great job in the individual evaluation. There was some crying when they went to the first class but I think they will get over it. M is showing me his straddle stance and we have to work on another one this week. I am hoping to have a stronger and more confident 4 year old after this experience. Now there is also an adult class at 9 AM on Saturday that I could take. Though I don't think they would appreciate the giggling. :)

Here is a little karate meets Star Wars at the play date after karate!

Can you go all day without saying 'Good Job!'?

2011-11-29T09:55:00.000-08:00

I know I can't. I have read a lot of articles on the subject of parenting becoming their kids best friends, being totally supportive of everything, and always being there to pick them up before they can even start crying. I can say I do this and I see a lot of it going on around me. I am going to make a point of letting my kids play by themselves, fall down and figure out how much it actually hurts, and let them experience some failure. It is a lot better to have this happen now instead of at a job interview. Here is an interesting article on the subject.

Article

How stubborn is your child?

2011-10-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well I can tell you that mine is!

We arrive home from a play date around 9 PM. So yes the kids are exhausted and probably a little tired as well so a little crying and whining is expected. T never really wakes up so she is shuttled upstairs. M wakes up and starts to walk in. He makes it in the front door and then refuses to walk up to the second floor. A is carrying a ton of stuff and M is demanding to be carried. A says I will carry you if you go up to the 4th stair, M refuses and throws a huge fit. A comes upstairs and we watch a little TV. M starts yelling that he has to go to the bathroom. Time goes by. M comes up the stairs to use the potty. As he is getting off A goes in to say okay now that you are upstairs I will take you up. Before his pants are even up he starts screaming NO NO NO!!!! He sprints out of the bathroom and somehow goes back down the stairs and gets his pants up without killing himself on the stairs and goes back down to the bottom of the stairs again. Another screaming fit....Then A goes down and offers a compromise of 2 stairs instead of 4. Now keep in mind that he is already on the 1st stair. And what happens? Another fit. Then A comes back up stairs.

It was a true battle of wills! Honestly I thought I was going to die laughing when he came out of the bathroom with his pants down screaming no. I think he got the stubborn from both sides in a big way. God help us all!

What's for dinner?

2011-10-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

I think that is a constant question that everyone faces. How many cookbooks, cooking shows, etc. exist just to answer that question. I find it hard. I work full-time and I have two small kids. That doesn't give me much time. I am exhausted and starting, they are exhausted and starving and no one is going to wait more than 5-10 minutes for dinner once we walk in the door. I actually really like cooking though at times it is yet another thing that is exhausting and hanging over your head. But when you do it, it is so good and I find it makes people happy. But you have an awesome week of food shopping, food prep, and then a week of good nutritious meals and not buying quick bad food for lunch at work and it is then followed my a horrible one. Why? Because you didn't make it to the store, you made it to the store but then you are too exhausted to make it, or sometimes honestly cereal is just good stuff!

In September I finally joined a CSA. A CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. I am definitely not early to this bandwagon but my husband still calls me super 'green' because of things like this. I decided I would start with a fall share because I generally like these vegetables so I thought there would less waste, there would be fruit, and I also signed up for eggs. I pick up each Tuesday evening for 9 weeks. I am three weeks in. I couldn't do one week because we were out of town so I gave it to a friend. So far so good. There are some leafy greens that I can't get through but luckily I found a guy at work that loves them so I just give it to him. You have no control over what you get and honestly I don't know what some of it is. But I have gotten my groove back as far as cooking is concerned. The summer was all about grilling - loved it! Barely any prep, I don't do the actual cooking, and there isn't as much clean-up because the grill is your skillet. So we are past that and now it is time for slow cookers, casseroles, and soup.

So Tuesday comes and pick everything up. Then Wednesday is figure out what the hell you are going to do with this before it goes bad - and BTW - it is organic and from a local farm so you have 2-3 days and you have already lost a day. I try to do what I can but I have found that it is better to at least cook it and then freeze it - so now my freezer is full. Or you can also double the recipe to get through the produce and put the second casserole dish in the freezer to have a little later. Result - a very full freezer! But it is nice. We are trying new things, supporting the local farmers, and I have to say eating pretty well. They have a winter share as well and I think I might sign up.

Here are a few things that I have cooked and the family was happy:

Apple and Pear Crisp

Sausage and Eggplant Stuffed Shells

Dumpling Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Maybe I am turning a little green but cooking with local, in-season produce actually saves you money. And it is healthy for your family. Hopefully this helps you with your meals this week. Enjoy!

My 'I don't know how she does it' moment

2011-09-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

I read this book years ago before I had kids and I thought it was hilarious! I especially loved one piece when she goes to work to give a presentation, most of her co-workers are male, and she is very happy that everyone really seemed to be paying attention and was very interested in her presentation. Well it turns out she had a sheer light colored blouse on with a bright red bra that you could see right through the shirt.

Fast forward to me this morning:

It is Monday morning. It was a good weekend - the weather was nice, we had soccer game, I got my hair cut, colored, and done, we had an adult only party on Saturday night, Sunday we went to the park and watched the football game while a few people cam over to help us eat some of the leftovers. And I was finishing up the sangria around 7 PM which was quite good the second day.

I am up on time instead of 20-25 minutes late, T has slept pretty well though not great, and I am excited to go into work with my professionally straight hair. I catch the earlier train, it is packed but I have some personal space standing and I start to read the paper. A woman behind me taps my purse and the only thing that I can understand is 'open'. My purse is a little open so I say thank you and turn back around and continue reading. Fast forward a few stops and another woman says your skirt is open. So the open a few stops back is making a little more sense now.

I embarrass very easily and I also turn very red very easily as well. The combo of these at times are even more embarrassing. Maybe it was the fact that I was on the subway and not at work (I would have been horrified at work) or the fact that I was just too tired to care. So I simply let the people get off on the stop, zip my skirt up, and sit down in the open seats.

Honestly it was pretty bad. I guess at least I had underwear on though it wasn't covering much. I guess it gave all of those people something to talk about when they got to work on a Monday morning. I just hope they don't remember this too long considering that I ride the same train almost every morning with pretty much the same people.

First day of school

2011-09-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

M has moved to a new school for pre-K. I wish I could tell you that I have these really cute photos but they just wear a t-shirt and blue sweatpants. I ordered the correct t-shirts late so we don't have those. And really he has been going to daycare since he was 10 weeks old so it isn't like this is the first time he is going off. Though I have to say that the amount of tears, crying, snot, screaming, etc. that we have had this week would make you think that he has never gone to school before. It has been a very hard and long week. One of those weeks that makes you question your choices that you have made as a parent for your child. He needed to move on from where he was, I know that, but now I am questioning if this was the correct move. But then I think what was our other option, nothing because we were on the waiting list for every other school we applied for. My fingers are crossed that it improves over the next couple of weeks because there is only so long that this can go on before it breaks me. I am definitely already cracked but all it would take is one good day to wipe out all of those other bad days. So here is to hoping for that good day - we could all use it!

Storyland and Santa's Village

2011-08-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

We have all survived our first vacation that was truly all about the kids. Yes we have been on vacation with them before but they were always places that you would go even if you didn't have kids. Storyland and Santa's Village is not a place that you go if you don't have kids. I have to say that I wasn't that excited for the weekend. The drive up with tons of traffic and construction didn't really set the mood either. But we go up there, checked in, and T woke up at 5 AM the next morning to experience it all! We had a great time, we went on rides, ate some bad food, went swimming, and T even got a fat lip in a fall that I thought was going to result in a trip to the ER. But it didn't and she recovered quickly. The kids are already talking about the trip next year.

Potty Training by T

2011-07-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

Me: If you sit on the potty and poop or pee you can have a treat.

T: Okay. She sits down. One second later...

T: No poop, treat?

Me: No you have to poop or pee.

Then the above happens about 10 times with no poop or pee.

I start to upload pictures to the computer.

T: I tooted. (She is now in the corner of the room)

Me: Okay great.

I look in that general direction. There is a puddle of pee.

Me: T you are supposed to do that on the potty!

T: Oh my goodness!

She says this while looking at the pee like how did that get there?!

Fun at the park

2011-07-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived. We head to the park with the sprinklers after school and work. At first no one would go in but as you can see that didn't last very long. I just need to remember to bring a change of clothes!

I am the same age as my daughter.....

2011-06-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

No T hasn't gone all bizzarro Benjamin Button. D turned 5 this month so if you multiply that by 7 that makes us both 35. D has really gotten the short end of the stick since the two small people have come into existence. She really is my original baby and she has been through a lot. I was looking at puppies online for awhile and they were all gone. Then suddenly one reappeared. I took it as a sign. I emailed the woman and drove probably almost 3 hours to go see this little puppy. Well she wasn't very interested in me, she was more interested in food and the other dogs. And her name was Stella - I kept thinking of Seinfeld. So was returned because the woman thought she had spinal bifida which is pretty serious. I was nervous about getting a dog that could have that though something like that should be totally obvious and this dog was running all over the place so I took a chance. And I had already driven 3 hours and I had another 3 ahead of me, now with sleet, so I threw her in the backseat and started my drive home. About 10 minutes in she was in the front seat and after 20 she was in my lap. I brought her into the house and put her on the ground in the kitchen as a surprise for Andy and I believe his reaction was 'What the hell is that!?'. I think he thought she was a rat.

Poor D has been through a lot. She was about 3 days from being fixed and she got her period - that wasn't fun for anyone. After having her about a month I got pregnant so I was tired and not much fun. Then we went on our final vacation, the 'babymoon', and had some very serious issues with the construction of our house. This resulted in the use of an aerobed for my entire second trimester. D was right there. She slept with her head between our pillows and snored all night. She has had 4 major surgeries - eyes, being fixed, and two knees. She is just coming out of her second knee. She is definitely no longer the same dog. She is scared of a lot of things and at times I honestly think she is depressed. Plus she has had to deal with LOTS of construction which honestly I think has made her hate blue collar workers - she can pick them out on the street. It is odd.

D was a very good prep for kids. I discovered that there really isn't anything on at 7 AM or 8 AM on Sunday mornings. I started to watch a lot of ESPN. Somehow I could tolerate Sports Center a lot more exciting than infomercials. I thought Outside the Lines was on super early! Little did I know that about a year or so later it would seem like I was up for hours by the time it came on instead of the first thing I watched.

Hopefully her next 5 years is a little smoother than the first 5. I am hoping for no more surgery and like the surgeon said, she doesn't have any more knees so that is good news. I sure hope so!

Bathroom talk

2011-06-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

M & I are in the ladies room at the beach:

M: One of my poops looks like a turtle.

Me: There is a turtle in the toilet? ( I didn't catch the info on the first round)

M: No! One of my poops look like a turtle!

Me: Oh great, make sure you flush the toilet.

Woman walks into the bathroom.

M: There is red in it. Do you think that is a strawberry?

Me: Could be. How about you wipe and flush.

M: I think there is some yellow in it as well, it could be corn.

Me:Hoping the woman doesn't realize what he is talking about. So I saw 'Sorry about that'.

Woman: Don't worry we are at the beach with young kids as well. And then she walks out.

At least that is better than last year when M wasn't toilet trained, we didn't have any swim diapers, and he let one go in a very wet and sandy. I will leave that to your imagination but I can tell you that is seared in my memory and we still talk about it.

Thank you Uncle H!

2011-06-17T11:15:00.001-07:00

Back in February we got a second computer from H and it sat in the back of the car for awhile. Then it made it into the house and sat in A's office for awhile. I found a table, chair, and stool on craigslist and that was finally the catalyst to get it out of the box. I put the desk and chair together while A put the computer together. Software was ordered and M was using it a few days later to work on his letters and numbers. Hopefully this helps us turn the corner when it comes to letters and such. I know the computer is going to eventually be a fight but right now I think it is a better option compared to cartoons.

School Photos

2011-06-10T15:09:00.001-07:00

This year at school instead of doing the regular photos where you dress your kids up you had the option of letting them pick out a costume and dress up that way. I went with the costume option. This is the first year M has smiled and as you can see T is following in her big brother's foot steps.

The sad one:

And one was finally happy:

Here are the rest of the photos:

Another goal accomplished

2011-05-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

Each year I find myself choosing to do something that might not make that much sense. Right now I am talking about a goal related to working out. I choose to do a lot of other things in my life that don't make sense everyday. Yesterday I ran a half marathon. I have never been much of a runner and after the pain I felt in the third leg of the triathlons last year I thought if I could improve that piece maybe I could get better overall. So I decided to work on my running and then decided that why not just signup for a half marathon. So I dragged the L into it, the same fun living girl who agreed to do the triathlons with me last year. The training starting and it wasn't bad. I actually felt pretty good. Then I started to get past 7 miles and it started to hurt a little, I got sick many times after the run, it took time away from my kids and husband, and I was even more exhausted than I was before. I finally was able to not get sick after running over an hour and then I literally got sick and could barely workout, and this was about one month before the race. I made it out for my long runs and I made it to race day. I trained in overcast weather when it was 50. What was it like on race day? It ended up being over 90, overcast and becoming sunny, and about 89% humidity. Not exactly what I was used to. So I started off slow and stayed that way through the whole race. I felt good for about 7-8 miles and then it started to hurt a little bit. Around 11 I really wanted to walk. But I had three goals - #1, to finish, #2, to run the whole thing, and #3, to finish in 2 hours. I made 2 out of 3. I knew by mile 3 that 2 hours wasn't going to happen. I would really need to pick up the pace and with the humidity like it was, the sun coming out, and the fact that this would be not only the longest race I have ever run but the longest I had ever run I decided that finishing without injury and not walking was the bigger prize. I finished in 2:14:34. I was 3343 out of 5232, and I was 611 out of 1068 in my age group. L finished in 2:06:40 and she was 374 out of 1068 which is awesome! So I finished and said to L okay I did that no need to ever do that again! Then we texted today and decided maybe we would and that basically said that we needed psychiatric help. I will see how it goes. That is a year from now and my joints are pretty sore right now. I would really like to finish in the top 50% of my age group which would mean taking off about 30-45 seconds per mile. So until I figure out the next goal I am going to go back to the gym and do some shorted 4-5 mile runs and maybe do some interval training to see if I can go a little faster.

And are you wondering about the flowers? Those are peonies from my garden - another goal I have in life - to have a nice garden. Gardening is not really my thing. Maybe I will start to enjoy it when things in my life settle down a little, though when will that happen? :)

Did he just say that......

2011-05-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

M: I want some milk PLEASE!

Me: Okay let me get the milk out and a glass.

M: I want some milk now PLEASE

In my head - Do you not see me getting the milk out of the fridge and getting your cup out!!!!! Please doesn't make the rest of what you are saying okay.

Today while I was making breakfast:

M: Mommy, after you finish with that, can I have some milk please.

Me in my head - maybe he is actually listening when I constantly say 'I can only do one thing at a time','I only have one hand','Do you know see the milk and cup in my hand, what do you think I am doing?'

I sure this will go as soon as it has come but it was a pleasant surprise when you are up with two kids while your husband is in bed very hungover.

Happy Earth Day

2011-05-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yes I know that Earth Day was almost two weeks ago but I just got this from M's school. I thought it was cute/funny. The teachers asked the kids the following question and you can see the answers below. Please see the M entry vs. the rest.

The Earth is Worth Protecting because......

Kid #1 - To make the Earth healthy.

Kid #2 - Don't cut down the trees.

Kid #3 - If we don't protect it the Earth will get sick.

Kid #4 - Because the Earth is so big.

Kid #5 - Grow a flower in a garden.

Kid #6 - We should grow a tree.

Kid #7 - It makes good grow.

M - So T can live here.

Kid #9 - So it is so healthy.

Kid #10 - So the Earth will be healthy.

Kid #11 - So it will be healthy.

Kid #12 - So we can play outside.

Kid #13 - For the beans to grow.

Thank you Ellen!

2011-04-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I just love the mail - especially when you get something that isn't a bill, a catalogue you don't care about, or totally random stuff that you want but isn't all that exciting. I love getting my InStyle but it comes every month because I think I have paid my subscription past the date I will die. But getting a card with someone's hand writing on it or an unexpected package is the best. At least to me. In this day of emails, text messages, and ecards sometimes getting a good old fashioned card in the mail is the best. I am totally guilty of the gift certificate via email, sending an email to you for your birthday, etc. Often times even my email shows up a week after your birthday. So it was so nice to receive an unexpected package from Georgia. The Byrons always send something fun and exciting for both the grow-ups and the kids. Andy got some 'zombie gifts' and T got some new dresses. But one thing I wasn't expecting was the reaction from T and the pictures that resulted from the dresses. M & T were so excited! M kept talking about the beautiful dresses and showing T the flowers and such on the dresses. T immediately striped herself down to her diaper to get one of the new dresses on.

And then there were the pictures. I have two kids that usually run away from the camera, never stand still, are never in a photo together, and usually do really stupid smiles if you get anything at all. I honestly think this was the first picture ever of the two of them standing together with 'normal' smiles and looking cute.

So thank you Ellen not only for the dresses because that is so nice and thoughtful of you but also the unexpected memories that you gave me. No one else will remember that evening except me but I don't care. I love the picture with M resting his head on T.

On vacation without the kids

2011-03-26T15:18:00.001-07:00

First I would like to say thank you to B&T and A. Without them we wouldn't have been able to go on vacation without the kids. We went down to the Dominican Republic for 6 days and 5 nights. I bought a package online one day at work - sometimes I tend to buy things when I have had a bad day. Sometimes my shopping is very close to an addition.

It snowed the day before we left. We woke up at 3 AM to catch the first flight out. We had one connection and the whole thing was going very well. Then we arrived in DR. We had transportation taking us to the hotel so I looked for my name on a sheet of paper after we made it through customs. No name. We ask at info if they can help us, no dice. So I just say let's just get a taxi and eat the 30 or 40 dollars. We go to the cab stand tell them the name - no idea. So I get the sheet of paper out - never heard of it. Now the husband is thinking that this whole thing is a scam and we will be walking back into the terminal and we will be home before dinner. They figure out where the hotel is - yah! It will be $200 and it is 2 - 2.5 hours away! What! So we call the travel agent. She has no idea how this could have happened. She calls the hotel and the taxi stand calls the hotel. Finally the hotel says just take a cab and they will pay. We are flying down the highway and I thinking we will be there in an hour. Then we hit the mountains. Washed out roads, waiting for other cars to pass so that we can use the road, and very steep drop offs. Both of us are thinking this place better be great after all of this!

We arrive and it is. We have a 3-bedroom suite with a roof deck. We totally don't need all of that room but I am lovely it! So dinner, bottle of wine, and we are back at the room and I think I was in bed before 9!

We basically had the place to ourselves. I think maybe 20 other people were staying at the resort. When we were at the beach there was no up at 8 just to get a chair. You could sleep in, casually stroll to the beach and easily get a chair that wasn't by anyone else. And did I mention that no one ever used the pool so that was always an option. You could look up and down the beach and maybe see 10 people and not a single structure. It was odd. We kept looking for people, wondering what the deal was, why is no one here, etc. The hotel was under a little bit of construction so that was part of it and I don't think we were exactly in the hot part of DR. We talked with one couple that was there with their 3 kids. And that was pretty much our only interaction for the whole time.

I read 2.5 books, I slept until 10 every day, except when we planned something, and honestly I think I was in bed before 9 almost every night. I know a lot of people would say what did you do on your vacation? What was the point? And before kids I would have said the same thing. We planned something every day, if we didn't go out every night I felt like I was really missing out on things, etc.

It was so nice to wake up and then just lay in bed and drift in and out of sleep, not worry about feeding other people, only have to deal with putting sunblock on one person, read a book at the beach for hours, and not have to talk to or listen to someone talk for long periods of time.

When we left A said we need to see if my parents can do this again next year because this was great. I love my kids but I have to say that was the best couple of days I have had in quite awhile.

Deep thoughts by M

2011-03-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Me: M what are you doing?
M: I am watching Scooby Doo, it calms me.

Babysitter: M that Caillou song is in my head and I can't get it out.
M: Walks over to inspect her head, I don't see it.

Me: M I need to cut your nails.
M: The Incredibles don't need to cut their nails why? They don't have nails?

Letting go.....

2011-03-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

M has been in daycare since he was 10 weeks old. And technically it has been longer because he had a transition period. So one would think that he was used to being dropped off and he would be an old pro. Not true. In the infant room he would scream. In the toddler room the only way we could leave would be to hand him to a teacher and run out. And now in Preschool it is a little better but he would hold onto your legs and scream Mommy stay, Mommy I need you, etc. So needless to say by the time you did that, commuted into work, and started to work I was already exhausted. This has slowly started to change and I really saw it this week when I dropped him off. Most of his friends were already there, which I think helps a lot. I dropped T off and we gave her hugs and kisses which she had no interest in and she went to play with her friends (she has been like that since the beginning). I am thinking that now I will drop M off, hopefully we will play for about 5 minutes, and then one of his friends will distract him. Well I went in with him and he never looked at me. I asked for a hug and kiss, then a hug or kiss, no response. I then said may I have a hug or kiss or all you finished with me for the morning? His response - I am all done with you! So I got to work in record time.

M has started to get more and more independent, I will do that, I don't need your help, etc. But there has always been this issue when we drop him off. Both of us have been saying why can't he be like the other kids and just run in and play because when you pick him up he doesn't want to leave so clearly he likes it there. Be careful what you wish for....

I was thinking about all of this on my walk from the train to work. How I am slowly becoming a smaller and smaller piece of his life, how he really does need me less and less, etc. And for one second I was sad. Then I thought, wait a second you have been wishing for this for literally years and it is now here and now you are sad. Snap out of it! So instead of dwelling on what is being lost I thought about what we were gaining. As parents we want to strong independent free thinking children that no longer need us. That is just sometimes a hard pill to swallow. But then I think about M at 30 - do I really want him still in my house, most likely somewhere like the basement so it seems like he has his own apartment but yet somehow his laundry shows up in the bins with mine, he asks where his cinnamon cereal is, and that he needs help wiping? I think not. When I entered work I had a big smile on my face and pride in my heart for my smart independent young man.

Finally a warmer day....

2011-03-06T12:30:00.001-08:00

We have been buried by many many feet of snow. It has been dark, cold, windy, and my lower back still hasn't recovered from the shoveling. But we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. So we took advantage of a few hours of warmer weather before the rains started. It was sunny but it was still so nice to be outside. Funny how you take the kids and dog out for a few hours and suddenly there aren't any many timeouts and crazy dogs dropping balls on your feet to throw across the room. I can't wait for the warmer weather!

Penis Talk

2011-02-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Wednesday Night:

M: Where is T's penis? (while bent over in the bath looking between her legs)

Me: She doesn't have a penis sweetie.

M: Why not?

Me: Because boys have a penis and girls don't.

M: So Daddy has a penis and T doesn't and you don't?

Me: Yes that is correct. (And grateful that I didn't have to get into vaginas right then)

M: T touch my penis. Come on touch it! (While smiling and laughing)

Me: M please don't make her do that she doesn't want to.

Thursday night, A arrives home from travel:

M: Dad I have a penis.

A: Yes you do. (Clearly wondering where this has come from).

M: And so do you.

A: Yes I do.

About 30 minutes later while A is going to the bathroom.

M: Your penis is really big!

You can't buy publicity like that! :)

A Black One and a White One

2011-02-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

If you have kids and they can talk I am sure you have been out in public when they say something that makes you grimace and you hope that no one else heard that. There are times when the lack of a filter can be very cute and funny and other times when it isn't.

I went to look at a preschool for M this week and when the open house was finished M saw some kids playing basketball in the gym on the way out and wanted to watch. Exhausted and thinking this will take up some time that could otherwise be spent at home with two kids running around wild before bed. So we stayed and watched for awhile. There were two groups of girls each with a coach. They were probably tweens or maybe early teenagers so they knew what they were doing but they still needed some coaching. The coaches both invited us in to play but M in his normal fashion turned his head slightly so he didn't have to look at them but he wouldn't leave at the same time. So we talked about the coach and how you have to listen to the coach otherwise you will end up on the bench.

As we were talking M said 'Hey there is one white one and one black one'. There were two coaches both of them were black but one had on a white shirt and one had on a black shirt. This struck me as so nice - M didn't notice that they were black he was just identifying them by their shirts. When your kid starts to say 'Hey Mom there's a black person' you want to shrink and die sometimes. But this time it was nice to see the world through his eyes.

The best parents in the world.....

2011-01-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

The damage:

What was lost:

The result:

She had 4 center bottom teeth and after the fall she has three. Pour girl. She smiles with her bottom teeth. For the next 5 years or so one will be missing. At least it was a baby tooth - that is really the only thing that makes us feel a little better. T cried for about a minute and then it was over. She is eating, laughing, dancing, drinking as if nothing happened.

Please come back to this post if you ever feel like you have had a bad parenting day with your kids. This is one of our worst ones.

Time in bed with my favorite guy

2011-01-15T11:45:00.001-08:00

Note to self. If you child wants to go to bed with his light on you should remember to go in and turn it off before you go to bed. Otherwise he will be up earlier than normal which isn't good for anyone.

I forgot to turn M's light out Tuesday night so he was in my bed around 5:45. Normally this would be a very bad thing especially when your husband is out of town. But it was snowing and I was working from home the kids might have school so lacking a bit of sleep wasn't that big of a deal.

M crawled in and I usually get the 'Mommy get up!', 'Mommy let's eat pancakes', etc. But today M was a little tired as was I so he agreed to crawl into bed with me and laid down to watch the snow in the trees. He stayed there for about 30 minutes and it was so nice. We whispered about the snow and how much was falling, how pretty it was on the trees, how windy it was, etc. He just laid on my pillow with me and didn't elbow me in the stomach or knee me in the face.

I wish I could have stayed there for hours. But the day must start, whining must begin, and people stop listening. I wish I had a pictures or video of the experience but to do that would be to ruin it. So I have my memories and the feelings from that 30 minutes that sadly are already starting to fade.

Baby it's cold outside

2011-01-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

A left for Vegas early Saturday morning. Luckily my in-laws extended their visit a few days to help. After an action packed weekend including my first 4 year old birthday party with about 30 kids they left Monday morning. My Mom arrived late Tuesday night just before 2 feet of snow were dumped on us overnight. Working from home today and both kids are home so it is not my most successful working day ever. Shoveled some though several more inches have fallen. At this point there is no where else to put the snow so the snow may just stay there and I will hope that it will melt with the sun in the next couple of days. The kids didn't even go out in the snow. I really need to get at least a sled and put them in it for a walk around the block. I am sure the drop off at daycare and commute to work tomorrow will be great!

A arrives home on Friday at some point. I am just hoping to get through the next couple of days and T doesn't decide to play from 2:30 - 4:30 and then my alarm goes off at 4:45 because I am slowly dying. A leaves again on Monday but he will be back on Wednesday so at least it isn't a week. And I am getting my hair cut and colored on Saturday morning at 9 so that will be about 2 hours of time to myself.

I could really use a snow blower right now.....

I'm working on it.......

2011-01-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

M has been going to to daycare since he was 10 weeks old. So you would think that by 3.4 he would be an old pro. Sadly for the parent that has to drop him off that isn't the case. We have discussed it many times that we would like a drop off that doesn't involved crying and whining. I picked M up the other day:

M: I cried when Daddy dropped me off.

Me: I thought we were working on not crying and whining when we go to school.

M: Mom, I'm working on it, I'm working on it....

It was so cute. Now he says that all of the time and it makes me smile every time.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

We held our New Year's celebration around 7:30 PM which was just fine with me. We celebrated our second Christmas on New Year's Day so I had some cooking and cleaning to do. I think I fell asleep about 10 minutes before the ball dropped. Wishing you a safe and happy 2011!

I'm working on it....

2010-12-29T17:32:00.001-08:00

Picking them up from daycare.....

M: I'm tired.

Me: Me too.

M: I cried when Daddy dropped me off.

Me: M I thought we were working on no crying and whining during drop off.

M: I'm working on it Mom, I'm working on it....

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

We have seen Santa about three times, kids have cried within 3 feet of Santa, other have sat on his lap but didn't talk and finally we got a smile as long as Mom was there with them. We have decorated cookies, made gingerbread houses, and wrapped presents. This is the first year we have really introduced Santa and they know who he is but I don't think they totally get the presents at this point. M has asked for a scooter and two fire tools. I wasn't sure exactly what fire tools meant so I went online and he pointed to what he wanted on Amazon. The rest of the gifts are coming from Craigslist - I have been searching for things for months! I got pretty much everything I wanted and saved a ton of cash. These aren't all of the pictures but I am posting some. I think tomorrow may be the last one where I am asleep past dawn. I can't wait to see their faces when they come downstairs and see all of those presents! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and that you are all safe and heathy.

A trip to Santa and then a party, the kids were exhausted at the end of the night:

Setting up the Christmas tree (it was pouring down rain when we picked it out so no pictures from that), though M did pick this one out by himself.

A Christmas cookie party, M go into it and started to ham it up a little for the camera:

Some Christmas fun with Uncle H and L:

Dirty night at home

2010-12-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

Here is what you have when you eat a marker and then eat your dinner (BTW this is T's favorite new face):

Here are the rest of the photos:

Pumpkin Waffles!

2010-12-04T06:50:00.001-08:00

M made pumpkin waffles at school last week. They sent the recipe home with a picture of him helping out. We made them for Thanksgiving breakfast and we have had them about 4 times since. They are awesome and a little better than normal waffles. And if you add some banana slices to the top it really makes it better. Here is the recipe - enjoy!

http://pumpkinwaffles.wordpress.com/ultimate-pumpkin-waffle-recipe/

Oh Deucey!

2010-12-02T12:21:00.001-08:00

We got a new dog walker for Deucey - I won't bore you with the details and drama of why. She has been with the new guy for a few weeks. I was texting him the other day and I got this back from him:

'Deucey has been great. She sure hates getting humped though- she tells them where to go!'

That provided us with a good laugh.

Damn It!, Damn It!, Damn It!

2010-11-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

M: Damn It, Damn It, Damn It (then a little giggle)

Me: M don't say that any more that isn't nice.

M: Damn It, Damn It, Damn It!

Me: M say that again and you are going to get a time out.

M: Damn It!

M on his way back upstairs. 5 Minutes later:

M: What does that mean.

Me: No answer but throwing A a bad look - I am pretty sure I don't say Damn It!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Pumpkin Day!

2010-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Costumes for M&T - Check!

M&T actually want to wear the costumes - That is about a half of a check.

Trick or Treat! - What is that says M?

Happy Halloween - Again, what is that? M is calling it Pumpkin Day!

First time out Trick or treating - Check. Though it took a little convincing. We went out in a friend's neighborhood. On our street you would have no idea it was Halloween. And to be honest all I did was buy two uncarved pumpkins and put them on the steps. At first M didn't want to put his costume on and it was cold so he wanted to go home. But after a few houses I asked:

Me: 'Do you want to go back to car and go home or do you want to go to one more house?'

M: One more house.

Me: After the candy at the next house, 'Do you want to go back to car and go home or do you want to go to one more house?'

M: One more house.

That happened for about 10 houses and we finally called it a night.

After we got in the groove M was pretty good at saying Happy Halloween and Thank you or Trick 'R Treat and thank you for the candy. Two houses I thought were pretty funny. We went up the door after some older kids and I could hear all of them saying 'Ah man, granola bars!'. Basically saying these suck! M's reaction:

M: 'Happy Halloween'

Guy at the House - 'Oh another Spiderman, here you go!'

Me: (Fake enthusiasm) 'Oh a granola bar!'

M: Looks right at the guy and says 'Oh I LOVE these!'

The Other house:

M: 'Happy Halloween' or something like that

Lady at the door: 'Here you go Spiderman' She was giving little zip lock bags of four pieces of candy. I am not sure why you would go through all of that trouble to make all of these bags especially when you can just give the kids one piece, but anyway...

M: 'WOW!!!! Look at all of this candy. This is A LOT Mom! Thank you!'

So funny. The joy and fun he was having was such a good things to share.

Final funny story:

We went back to the car and we were looking at the various houses that had really cool decorations that we didn't visit because people were falling apart and there was this really cool one with spiderwebs and witches all over the front yard.

M: 'I want to go to that house!'

Me: 'Well we have to go home now.'

M: 'Tomorrow we can go to that house then.'

Me: 'Honey Halloween is only one day so we won't be going to get candy tomorrow.'

M: Silence

T was right there with the big kids. She was so cute in her dragon costume (thank you Ellen) and it was even better when she waddled down the street in her little walk. She kept trying to eat lollipops with the wrappers still on. :)

Pictures to follow.

3 Years Old!

2010-09-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

How does this:

Go to this:

Then to this:

And is now this:

M has turned three. He is the love of my life. (Don't worry T you are as well) He came into my bedroom the morning of his birthday as he does every morning. He came up and I said 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'. He got a huge smile. He climbed into bed with me and I asked him for a birthday hug. He gave me a huge one and said 'Thank you Mom'. I almost melted.

I have always thought that I should really get the presents on my kid's birthdays. I was the one who literally gave blood, sweat, and tears on that day. They did as well but they can't remember it. But after that hug I wanted to celebrate M and the fact that he came into my life 3 short years ago. I didn't think it was possible to love someone that much and that completely but it definitely is. I know soon he will ask me not to walk with him and to drop him off at school before we get there. So for now I am gathering as many hugs, snuggles, and kisses (especially our special nose kisses) that I can because I know they will soon just be a memory just like everything else. I was just looking at videos around his first birthday and it doesn't even seem possible that he looked like that only two years ago. How our memory fails us!

Here is to you my birthday boy. Thank you so much for coming into my life and giving me so much love, joy, pride, and happiness. I honestly didn't know it was possible.

Joint Birthday!

2010-08-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

We had a joint b-day party on Sunday. T was a few weeks past 1 and M was a few weeks from 3. We did it at a park close by and we had a great time! The weather was awesome and a lot of people were able to make it. My parents were up so we had the party and we went to a State Park on Friday but they have all of those pictures because I forgot my camera. Funny things from the weekend:

-T turning on my breast pump and then proceeding to dance to it.
-M putting his hands on his hips every time he doesn't agree with you
-The funny sound of joy that T makes when you are helping her 'run' around

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

2010-07-25T05:02:00.000-07:00

T turned 1 yesterday so I thought I would put up some pictures of her at each month. Last night when I was putting her to bed I could have been there all night rocking her to sleep. I was so filled with love that I think I could have done that all night long and I had an incredibly uncontrollable urge to squeeze her. Things I want to remember:

-She loves crawling up the stairs
-She will play in her crib quietly in the morning - thank you!
-She has a funny laugh that almost sounds like a smokers cough
-She loves her brother and he can always make her laugh
-She loves food
-She loves to stand up on the couch and just let go - so far no injures
-She loves her blankets though there isn't a favorite
-She loves her Dad
-She can crawl and then suddenly switch to her turbo speed
-She can grab your glasses off your face without you even knowing what happened.
-She smiles are almost everyone
-She drops her food on the ground when she is finished - Deucey loves her!
-She sleeps all night
-She is a dare devil
-She loves her bath time, especially with her big brother
-She can screech!
-Those two bottom teeth when she smiles!
-She loves carrots

Here are the pictures for each month:

Me on my due date, she didn't feel like coming out for another 10 days and even that required some intervention, and yes I swore I would never show anyone a pregnancy picture but for some reason I just don't care at this point:

The day she was born:

One month old:

Two months old:

Three months old:

Four months old:

Five months old:

Six months old:

Seven months old:

Eight months old:

Nine months old:

Ten months old:

Eleven months old:

ONE YEAR OLD! No pictures with icing all over her - she spit her cupcakes right out, maybe next year:

I love you so much my baby girl! I don't think you will ever know how much until you have your own kids - I didn't. I am so proud and happy.

Putting myself out to pasture

2010-07-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

For the better part of the last 4 years I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding. Both of these were my choices but it was still a hard 4-years. At times it definitely felt like I had put my life on hold while literally giving my blood, seat, tears, and milk to someone else in order to help them grow and be healthy.

Tomorrow T turns 1 so my tour of duty is officially over. We aren't having any more kids and there will be whole milk in that bottle tomorrow. T stopped breastfeeding around 8 weeks so I have just been pumping so I am not going to miss the time we spent together because we weren't spending any time together - she is in love with her bottle.

I am looking forward to having a glass of wine at 9 PM without thinking, Oh that means I need to wait at least an hour which puts me at 10 PM to pump and I really should have been in bed at 9. And if I am exhausted I can put my kids to bed and walk right down the hall to go to sleep instead of having to go back downstairs to pump and clean up all of the 'equipment' that goes along with it. I definitely won't miss the small bottles, the pump pieces that I wash 4 times a day, and a breast pump sitting in my hotel room. I also don't need to carry it on an airplane - inevitably someone asks what it is - usually during security - last time as soon as the guy asked me what it was and I said breast pump he let me move right though.

Tomorrow I am hoping to have a post dedicated to my beautiful baby on her first birthday.

Giving each other comfort

2010-07-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

When M moved schools it was a pretty good transition but he would visit T in her room for some hugs and smiles. Every time he passes her door she lights up and often times emits a high pitched scream of excitement. It goes the other way as well. If T is crying M will get her pacifier or blanket. But the cutest thing is when she is crying and he goes up and gives her a hug and says 'It's okay I'm here T.' It melts my heart every time.

We're Baaaack!!!

2010-06-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome vacation. The first one that we have taken as a family of four. It was exactly relaxing but I don't think any vacation with kids is relaxing - unless you hired a full-time nanny. Everyone had a great time, didn't get a sunburn, and I am hoping they sleep in tomorrow morning because they were up really early every morning!

We went to the beach, went to a lighthouse, walked down a bunch of stairs to get to the beach from the bluffs, ate a lot, built sand castles, watched boats, drank a lot, saw a camel, tortoise, emus, ducks, turtles, deer, and a lot of other wildlife - M loved it!

My favorite quote of the week - while M and I were walking out on a pier made of large rocks he kept saying to me, 'Be careful with me Mom', he didn't want to fall in between the rocks, I thought it was so cute!

T was starting to let go of things to stand on her own and she now has several 'gears' when crawling. She still hates the grass but she tolerated the sand.

Here are way too many pictures.

So sweet but it makes me tear up....

2010-06-18T04:08:00.000-07:00

We finally have both of our kids consolidated into one school. Anyone who talks to me on even a somewhat regular basis knows the long story of how it came to be that my kids were in two different centers. They are now together which makes our daily lives much better. I am sure I will be complaining about something else in a month.

While M was at his old school he had a BFF A. These two were almost like twins:

-Curly hair - check
-Little behind with words - check
-Cute as hell - check
-Crazy little guys - check

A is basically a darker version of M. There have been pictures of both of them on the blog from time to time. A moved onto preschool because he was a few months older and then we discovered that M would move to T's school so when he was ready to move to preschool he moved. Shockingly the transition hasn't been bad at all - at least relative to what we were expecting. M has basically always cried when we drop him off even though that is what he has been doing since he was an infant. So the new school, new friends, new teachers, etc. we thought would be horrible for everyone. I am very happy to report that he is doing really well and I couldn't be more proud of my little guy - I hate going to new places where I don't know anyone.

I got an email with A's Mom this week, please take a look at what he said:

'Yesterday I was talking to A about preschool and his friends, and he said he missed M. Then he said "maybe M doesn't want to be my friend anymore." (No lie - I actually wrote it down, because it was the cutest/saddest thing I'd heard come out of his mouth!)'

I was instantly in tears at work when I read this. A playdate was instantly set up. I can't wait to tell M the news that morning when we go to see A. And I can't wait to see the two of them together again. A's Mom has said several times that she thinks they share a brain. :)

I survived!

2010-06-14T04:46:00.001-07:00

The race was awesome! It was cloudy but the sun came out as we were putting on our wetsuits, stayed relatively sunny during the race, and then it started raining when we were driving back. I was in some pain so I need to do some more training and my times in the transition area where horrible. I finished in 1 hour 23 minutes and I place 325 out of 500 people. Not great but when I think about the fact that if I could have come in 5 minutes earlier I would have been 250 I am feeling pretty good. Some people were being pulled out by kayaks so at least I was doing better than them.

It was a little humbling to have 60 year olds passing me but I honestly expected that. I really don't have any pictures - A stayed home with the kids so it was just me and Lindsey. I have a few at 5 AM in the parking lot where we left to drive down but we aren't looking all that great.

Now I just need to start training for my next one in August. It is slightly longer so I won't be able to compare my times directly but I am leaving my times here for future reference.

Place No. 325
Name
Hometown
Final 1:23:30
Div/Tot 38/81
Div NEWB-F
Rank 119
Swim 10.33
Tran1 4.26
Rank 364
Bike 39.00
Tran2 0.47
Rank 318
Run 28.46
Penalty N/A

Tomorrow I might be able to call myself a .....

2010-06-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

Triathlete. I don't know if you can officially call yourself that after only one race but I think I am going to go ahead and do it.

After having my second child I went back to the gym to lose the weight and get back in shape. I accomplished that goal but after I lost the weight I felt like my workouts really weren't doing much and I didn't have a true goal in mind. How I decided on a triathlon - I honestly have no idea. I swam for about 15 years, I used to run but honestly I don't enjoy it that much, and the last time I road a bike I ran into a telephone pole. I had a pool at the gym, I could start running but I didn't own a bike so I decided to start with spinning classes. So I got a little better at each piece but it was still just an idea - I needed to actually sign up for one and I needed a partner. I tried to get my brother-in-law to do it but he wouldn't commit. I was having dinner with a guy I work with and his wife and she mentioned that she runs half marathons. We had a really nice time - especially considering that we had never met and I ask her husband if he would ask her about the triathlon. She agreed and we are now less than a day away from our first one.

I have had such a great time - it has been some time away from the kids so that is a nice mental break - you need to have some time to yourself and away from the kids. Lindsey has been great - I have made a new friend which I find hard to do. And I am in better shape. We have done the whole thing twice so I feel pretty comfortable that we will be able to finish it. Our goal is to finish and have fun.

In my book I have come a long way. Still a little nervous - the swim is in the ocean which isn't exactly warm right now and I am still a little nervous on a bike so the large number of people will be a little scary but if I just stay behind someone the whole time and never pass anyone that works for me.

Now I am just hoping for a good night's sleep and no rain tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

The Strength of Hormones!

2010-06-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

Today the hormones are going crazy - I am baby hungry. Why you ask when you hear about all of my complaints and tired I am. Today the Husband gets his vasectomy. We have discussed it, agreed upon it, and obviously we have acted on it but now that the day is here I am in a little bit of a panic. It makes no rational sense so I am blaming it on hormones and countless generations before me that tells my genes to want more kids. So when I think about it rationally what do I like about it?

-Pregnancy - no not at all. The first one seemed like forever. The second was fast but I was sick the whole time.
-Delivery - Honestly the first was a little traumatic but the second was so easy. So not my favorite thing to do but I think I could handle another one of those. But at the same time something could go wrong.
-Breast feeding - NO! I am less than 2 months away from finally retiring my body as a vessel for other's use and let me tell you - I can't wait!
-Waking up every 3 hours to feed someone for months - don't want to do it!

There are a million other things that I don't want to do but honestly I want another baby. I love the babies! Before I had kids I wasn't sure if I wanted them at all and honestly I had them because the thought of not having them and suddenly wanting them and being too old was scarier than having them. So here I am with two kids and desperately I want another one but I know that isn't a rational thought at all. It is just hard to think about the fact that never again in my life I will have suck complete access to a baby. How many other people are you allowed that much closeness to without it being weird? You can hold them pretty much all of the time, kiss them as much as you want, I love to rub their soft little skin, and I love to hold them and watch them sleep. Maybe there will be grandchildren at some point but still there isn't that same bond. There are times when it is so hard that you are the only one that can help make your baby stop crying but there are other times when it is so nice. Sitting the dark with a baby sometimes is the best thing in the world.

I think the other problem I am having is that a chapter of my life is closing. So far this has been the hardest one. There are days when I wish I was back in college because I can sleep in but honestly I am really happy with my life. College had a lot of drawbacks. I can't think of the last time I wanted to be single again so getting married so closing the chapter on my single life and opening one for my married life wasn't hard at all.

So I lift my wine glass to a long week of bags of peas and kids screaming that they want to see Dada who is locked in the room with a beer, video games, and pain pills. I just hope I am not in there with him by the end of the week.

Our visit

2010-05-27T04:02:00.001-07:00

We had an awesome time in Georgia! I have my own pictures but with my history of inability to download pictures I thought I would send a link to Ellen's pictures before these are so out of date. I thought the pictures where great!

http://byronladybugs.blogspot.com/2010/05/summer-adventures-murdoch-thayer.html

A trip to the fire station

2010-05-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday M took a trip to the fire station with his class. The pictures aren't great but he had such a good time. He was talking about it all night last night when he got home.

Last year after they went he used everything as a hose and went around saying Wee Wee Wee - I guess that it the water going. That is one of my favorite memories of him.

Tomorrow we are off to visit Ellen and whole clan. I can't wait! It is going to be hot and humid but the kids are going to love it! Swimming, running around, going to pick strawberries. Hopefully the adults will have a little relaxation in the form of a beer or wine after they have all gone to bed.

Getting rid of more junk mail

2010-05-18T04:29:00.000-07:00

I had a previous post about a service you sign up for that helps get rid of junk mail and also plants trees. I am still a member of that but the other day I went to their new website to get rid of a couple of catalogues and I couldn't find the login page. I sent them a note because I thought I was losing my mind. The new company, Precycle won't be handling catalogues in the future so they recommended the following website. It is free. I signed up and added a few catalogues. Hopefully it works! Sign up now before they start to charge a fee!

http://www.catalogchoice.org

Family Photo

2010-05-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

This was taken while I was done in Charleston with Ellen. How often do you get all five people (three of them being little people) looking at the camera at the same time?! I thought this was great.

Updates - what has been going on?!

2010-05-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Deucey went back to the surgeon today for her 10 week check-up and she has been cleared! They said that the bone has grown back perfectly and her leg is very stable. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. It has been a long road though I am now so scared of her either blowing the other knee our or having it happen to this knee again!

T is crawling up a storm, now she is pulling herself up to a standing position, and yesterday at school she went up the three stairs of the climber! I think we are in big trouble. Two mobile kids is much different than one crazy guy running around the house. It is so funny how much she laughs, the fact that she wakes up in the morning and you hear her talking to herself (read in-between the lines not screaming or crying!) and the fact that you can just put her down awake and she goes to bed. She has two teeth, she feeds her the bottle now, and she gets very upset if someone else has a banana she gets very upset if she can't have one. She loves to wave like the queen and she loves to spin in circles on her bum. So cute!

M is crazy! Talking up a storm - there are new words every day. Now I ask him to 'read' stories to me - he tells me what all of the pictures are. He has learned to be dramatic - sticking his lower lip out if he is pretending to be sad and kind of slumping over if he doesn't want to do something. I laugh every time. He is now building 'spaceship's - which are basically all of his toys in a big circle. T is allowed in and she just chews on things while she is in there. M now loves to draw - I tape paper to the ground so it doesn't get too messy. We are planting strawberries and they are HIS strawberries as he likes to tell us. I thought him how food goes through his body so he now says esophagus. So cute! He still holds my hand, gives me kisses and hugs, and wants to lay around with me. I am so going to miss when that is gone. He also leans to the one side of his bum to toot and then let's us know that he is doing it - I wonder where that comes from?! He runs around singing nursery rhyms - that entertains me every time. Andy got him a little hockey net and stick - he shots them in and then T crawls in and gets the ball/puck and puts it in her mouth.

4 Small Words

2010-05-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

I'll have another drink.
Yes I'll have dessert.
Let's take a nap.
What an awesome weekend!

Ellen and I traveled to Charleston this passed weekend for a girls weekend. We left our husbands, kids, and stress at home and escaped for just over 2 days and it was awesome! I loved Charleston - I ate too much, caught up on some sleep, saw some great houses on our walks, and I had such a great time with Ellen. The weekend was great - get up eat, walk, nap, and then have drinks and dinner. We walked the town two separate times but we didn't do any true sight seeing and I have to say I am so happy about that. It was so nice to go to a new city and just do what I wanted - we was tired in the afternoon so we napped instead of feeling guilty about not seeing all of the churches, forts, etc. in the area. It is so nice knowing that there is no real agenda that has to happen when I am with Ellen. We talked about our kids, our husbands, our jobs, aging, our crazy 20's, and a million other things. I didn't have to think about editing what I was saying and I knew that I could talk about my kids for 30 minutes and Ellen wouldn't mind at all. It is so nice to be in someone's company like that. Plus she is a lot of fun and makes me laugh.

Bumps and Bruises

2010-04-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

M and I were having dinner together last night and he was telling me about his day including all of the bumps he had received at school - he had a big scratch on his face from one of the other kids, he has a big bump under his eye which happened while playing with a bucket, a scratch on his hand, etc. We reviewed all of his battle scars and then he asked me if I had any boo boos. And I said yes I do, someone pushed me on the train when the door was opening and my arm got pinched in the door so I had a big bruise. He was basically obsessed with seeing it and I had to pretty much take my shirt off because it is on my deltoid. M inspected the whole boo boo and then gave me a big hug and asked me if I was okay. It was so nice.

He then proceeded to sit back down in his seat to eat dinner, he leaned a little to his right and farted. All I could do was laugh.

Pause or Paws

2010-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

I took French for many years in middle school and high school and honestly I pretty much sucked at a foreign language. When we got to the concept of past perfect my small brain just didn't get it and I was just hoping to get through the semester without failing. As much as I hated French and the classes in my mind I would still like to speak a foreign language though at this point in my life I think I would basically need to move somewhere or have a job where I used it every day, otherwise you just lose it.

Last night M and I were talking about parts of the body and counting how many thing we have - like feet, eyes, etc. As he often does he will ask if everyone in our family has something. Last night we were talking about feet and he said in his normal fashion - T have feet?, Daddy have feet?, You have feet Mommy?, Deucey have feet?. I said yes except that Deucey's feet were call paws. Murdoch's response to that was 'Yes, Daddy pause the TV for me'. :) I don't envy him having to learn a new language.

During French they always said that French has 1000 rules and 10 exception. English has 10 rules and 1000 exceptions. Poor M! This weekend he also learned esophagus - he knows food goes through it after it goes in his mouth but I don't know that he really gets it. It sounds funny coming out of a little person so I ask him to say it all of the time.

Seriously?!

2010-04-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

Yes this should be an Earth Day post but I read this article and it really pissed me off. It was in my free newspaper I read every morning on the train and I saw the title on the front page, 'Get Your Partner to Pitch In', and I thought oh that might be useful, until I read the article. Here are a few highlights:

Do not boss him
This leads to an unhealthy dynamic and makes you more of the pain-in-the-butt mother than the loving girlfriend. Being the mother will have a profoundly negative impact, especially in the bedroom as resentment builds. Be polite and courteous, and treat him as you want to be treated.

I think the way I would like to be treated is not as a free house cleaner that has to run around picking everything up and vacuuming in order to keep the roaches away!

Empower him
Ask him what chores he might want to do. By letting him choose, he can tap into what he is comfortable doing, providing a sense of control and independence that might be necessary during this new phase in the relationship.

I don't really want to clean the toilet either but someone has to!

Define clean
Are your expectations realistic? You and he may have different opinions as to what clean means. Reach an agreement as to what are new, mutually acceptable standards for cleanliness. Focus on the end goal, making it about “our house.”

I would simply like to walk on the floor without my feet sticking to it - is that so wrong?!

Compliment him
Acknowledge what your boyfriend does well. This will provide a much needed positive reinforcement and encourage more of the same behavior.

Wow! You really work well with that glass cleaner!

Get in the mind of a man
Tell him: “I find it sexy when a man can clean.” Indirectly he’ll get that housework can lead to sex.

How about - There will be a Gucci bag on the bed if you do that load of laundry!

This article was written by a man and it was in response to a woman writing in about her boyfriend not cleaning and that it was ruining their relationship. I think this is a common problem for people but I found these suggestions a little crazy! No one compliments me about how well I fold the laundry or that the kids aren't covered in grass, dirt, and god knows what other types of stains - that is just what I do. I wipe down the table not because I like to do it, I do it because there would be a layer of crap where my toddler eats everyday that would eventually not come off. Sometimes you just have to get it done without talking about it, defining roles, etc. At the end of the day I think everyone likes a clean house and a little relaxation time so just shut up, wash the dishes already and then you can sit down with a beer to watch the game!

A Month of Earth Days - Food

2010-04-12T04:25:00.000-07:00

I find that organic food is the big one. I try to buy organic but it is very expensive and not as easy to find. My family has decided that we will go out and pay a little more for groceries and less money in other areas so we shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joes a lot. It is more expensive but I have also found that I am pickier about what I buy so I tend to buy less - I buy closer to exactly what I need and I end up throwing out a lot less food. I have also found organic products at unexpected places like Target and Walmart. Target has a brand called Archer Farms that they carry and it is all organic. A half gallon of organic milk in my area is $3.69 at Whole Foods - and that is the cheapest for their 365 brand. At Target it is $3.19 every day and it often goes on sale for $2.99. I don't have a Walmart near me but my Mom had a brand new Walmart built near her and she said they carry a lot of things like organic cereal and other packaged items for very good prices.

I know it is hard to find the money to buy organic so I thought I would look up where you get the 'most for your buck' when buying organic. Meaning where you really should buy organic and where you really don't have to. This is what I found on www.thedailygreen.com:

Top 12 Foods to Eat Organic:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Kale
Leafy Greens
Grapes
Carrots
Pears
Potatoes
Tomatoes

The on the flip side, 10 things you don't have to buy organic, just try to buy local:

Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Sweet Potato

Out of the buy organic list I find peppers to be very expensive especially when I consider how many I buy and how much our whole family loves them. So this summer in addition to tomatoes I am going to also grow peppers. Most of the other ones on the list are a little too hard for me to grow. And when I think about the cost of local and organic lettuce that is one of the cheaper ones on the list so I am going to continue to buy that at the store.

Another way I think is an easy way to save money at the grocery store - don't go in with a list unless it is just the things that you really need. I find if I decide what I want before I go into the store I spend more. I go in and look for what is in season - it is fresh and usually on sale - and then I just look at what meat is in sale - that is what we end up having that week. I also buy meat that is on sale and freeze it for later when I feel like having that dinner.

A month of Earth Days - Cleaning House!

2010-04-07T05:30:00.001-07:00

As I sit here drinking my organic tea, that costs me about 3 cents per cup, out of my reusable cup I think about the million other people that are doing the same thing and that makes me feel like I am making a big difference instead of just thinking of it as one cup at a time.

I started thinking about issues that people have in life (issues I have in life) and how people can help themselves, help the environment, and save some money all at the same time.

At work and at parties some people make fun of me - oh you make your own baby food, I don't have organic fruit so I don't know if there will be anything for you to drink. I honestly don't find myself to be very green and all that. I find that there are a lot of aspects to a green lifestyle that people just can't relate to so it is like talking to a wall. One thing I feel that everyone has in common is too much stuff and the desire to get rid of it and declutter their lives.

Mail/Catalogues - the first area that I feel where everyone has an issue. You order a $20 pillow from Pottery Barn and suddenly you not only get that catalogue but a million other catalogues. I find this incredibly obnoxious. Several years ago I saw an article about a company called GreenDimes. They offered a service where you sign up and pay and one-time fee and they will stop the catalogues that you request, so you don't have to stop all catalogues, and they will also plant trees with the fee that you pay. That company is now called Tonic, http://precycle.tonic.com/. When I signed up it was $15 and now I believe it is $30 but I would still sign up. I can't tell you how well this has worked! We barely get any catalogues now and I love it! All of that stuff that just comes in the mail and you throw away in the recycling bin you can stop. I know that recycling is good but it is even better if it is never produced. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Mail/Credit card offers and such - Every time I get one of these in the mail - from the airline that you have a frequent flier account with or the hotel where you stayed, I call them and have them remove me from all of their marketing mailings and let me tell you it worked.

I find with mail - if there is anything that you constantly just throw in the recycling bin there is a way to get rid of it.

Tennis Shoes/Sneakers - we take a lot of things to Good Will or get rid of them on craiglists.com or freecycle.com but old tennis shoes were one thing that I had no idea what to do with and I felt guilty about just throwing them in the trash but I knew that no one wanted to wear my old shoes. I found an outlet - http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/. You can either go to one of their drop off centers or mail your old shoes in and they use the materials to build playgrounds for kids. Check the site out - it is pretty cool. They have a whole video of how the process works. I have a drop off center about 3 blocks from work so I let people know at work I am going to drop some shoes off that week and I have had several people bring their shoes and we drop them off and then go and grab a coffee now that it is getting warmer out.

Newspaper - I read most things online now - I can't seem to keep up with newspapers and they end up laying all over my house and the husband gets mad. So the newspapers have been canceled and we are saving a little money. I do read a free newspaper every morning on the way to work and there is a little recycling center right when I get off the train so I usually throw it in there. But for the past couple of months I have been collecting them to help in my garden. I had heard this trick from a few people. When you are working in your garden if you lay down newspaper, about three sheets deep, wet it and then put down mulch it is a chemical free and cheap way to help with weeds. I have done this for the past two years and it works well - it doesn't stop all weeds but it stops a lot of them and I feel better about that compared to the other alternatives. I do use some organic food for the vegetables and such but that can be expensive. Plus it gave M a chance to play with the hose and be an very helpful assistant one Saturday.

I know there are a million other things that you can do to get rid of clutter so please share them. I loved that The Gap was taking in old jeans to recycle them into insulation and then they gave you a discount on a new pair - I think that is great! Does anyone know of a service, kind of like Nike, that takes jeans for insulation from the public?

A Month of Earth Days - Making one small change

2010-04-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

Every couple of weeks or even months I try to take a look at my day and see how I could reduce my consumption or do something else that is 'green'. Everyone's day is different so everyone will have a different change. Over a year or so ago I decide to no longer go down to the cafeteria to get my tea every day. I brought a mug in from home, bought a box of tea for about $3, and I bring in my own milk because I like skim with tea and they only have cream at work. So not only am I saving the $1.50 for tea each day - now I have about 100 tea packets for about $3 but I am also saving that cup each day. I am getting rid of that extra trash as well as the energy that is takes to produce that cup and top.

I realize that tea is much different from coffee. People love their coffee and it isn't quite as easy to make your own coffee at work like it is to make your own tea. But you can still get rid of the cup and save money! Most places including Starbucks will give you a discount on your coffee if you bring in your own mug.

I know one cup once a day doesn't seem like much so I try to think about 100 people or 1000 people deciding to do the same thing that I did. Then when I think about 100 cups everyday and the 36500 cups a year that really adds up!

Now I just need to find my next small change that can help make a big difference.

A Month of Earth Days - Entry 1

2010-04-05T07:55:00.001-07:00

Earth Day is this month so I thought some entries of easy things to do or change in order to become a little more green was appropriate.

I think the issue with becoming Green and the whole movement is that people think it is expensive and that it takes a lot of effort. For some things this is very true - an organic apple is just going to be more expensive compared to a conventional apple. But I think there are a lot of other areas that can be cheaper and some only require a little more effort.

Just think about recycling today. Most people I know recycle, maybe not as much as they could/should, but they still recycle. If you think about recycling and trash it is much easier to just throw everything into your trash can instead of having separate cans for trash and recycling. I think one reason is works so well is that it has become so mainstream. If you are over at someone's house for a beer it isn't odd to ask where you should put recycling.

I think the recycling piece of the reduce, reuse, and recycling is very accepted. Those other two pieces are ones that are a little harder for some. A lot of people don't like consignment stores - my husband was part of that, until we had kids. Most of my kids clothes come from consignments shops - this helps us save money because it is so much less expensive, and we are helping to reduce by not buying new clothes which would increase the demand to produce more and we are obviously reusing because we are reusing other people's clothes. In this case if you can get over the whole other people's clothes thing - by the way I find plenty of clothes at these stores that still have the original tags on them - I think this could go a long way and it is saving you money.

So as you go throw your day looks for ways that you can help reduce your intake of things and reuse them in original and new ways. I wash all of my plastic bags and use them several times before I throw them out. Again - this is saving me money because I don't buy as many and it just takes the effort of washing the bag.

Let me know what you are doing to help reduce, reuse, and recycle this month.

7 Year Itch

2010-04-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

So 7 years ago today I got engaged. We were down in Turks & Caicos for about 4 or 5 days before we went to the Bahamas for a free work trip. We got up early that day, around 6:30 or 7 which is now sleeping in, and we went diving, hung around the pool, watched the sunset in a hammock, Andy proposed, and we went out to dinner. If he reads this he can logon and do a post for the whole proposal - my response didn't involved tears and not being able to speak so he was a little disappointed.

Now here I am 7 years later. Up at 4:30 to get ready before the kids get up, take the dog out and do her PT, get the kids up, people are screaming and crying because it is too early to get up, get them out of the house, at work now, pick M up early then T. Hoping maybe I can get some caffeine on the way home. I made a casserole but I will probably end up eating cereal, get kids in the bath and then to bed. Do Deucey's PT and then prime a door. We are putting our first floor unit on the market and there are some last minute things that need to happen. So I am hoping to make it to bed before 11. Andy is traveling in case you are wondering why his name isn't listed anywhere.

Then this weekend the weather is supposed to be nice so I am hoping for the best. I think some yard work needs to happen but I would also like some time with the kids relaxing. Deucey seems to be getting better so maybe we can all go on a walk and hang out at the playground.

I would like to say that it has been an awesome 7 years and all that stuff. There have definitely been some good times but I can also see why they call it the 7 year itch - and we haven't even reached that for our anniversary - I am still just talking about being engaged that long. I don't think the issue is with the other person, at least it isn't for me, it is the fact that you have so many other things going on that your marriage and your relationship tend to take a backseat to everything else.

I am not exactly itchy but I think I could defintely use a little Benadryl with my wine.

More pictures!

2010-03-29T04:25:00.001-07:00

But these are the professional kind. Andy use to work with Owen. He got married and they had two kids - a boy and a girl each one year older than our kids. After I had T, Kristina was kind enough to give us a free session. She used to work in the corporate world but quit to follow her dream and as you can see by our pictures and her entire blog she is doing quite well. Here is the link to some of our pictures.

Closing out March

2010-03-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have to say that 2010 has been pretty rough so far. I am sure you can tell that from my posts. We have had a lot of fun though so I thought I would finally post some pictures of the kids from this month. This weekend has been a nice one. Coldish but we got some things done around the house and we are having fun at the same time.

Pictures of M&T.

Pictures of T.

Pictures of M.

I think April is going to bring us warmer temperatures, some teeth, maybe real crawling instead of dragging your body across the floor, and hopefully a dog that is a little closer to her original self. I am looking forward to a boring April.

My baby is 8 months old!

2010-03-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

So I looked back at my blog when I had M and he had a video every month. Poor T - she is lucky to get a picture. By 8 months M was crawling - T has no interest - she just pulls herself around and gets things or she screams and she gets what she wants. However she can stand somewhat by herself if she has something to hold onto. I am so not ready for two mobil kids! I hope she doesn't move for months! If this was M I would have been freaking out because he was 'behind'. This week T started waving hi/bye bye - I don't think she knows exactly what she is doing but everyone else loves it so I am sure she will do it more and more because of the reaction. Still no teeth - poor girl! Her hand is constantly in her mouth. They look like they are so close but still they haven't come through.

I really need to find the video software and load it onto my computer - I have about a year of video backlog. I look back at the blog with all of this stuff about M and what he was doing and T is really getting only a small percentage of that. I know that happens with the second kid and I always thought it was bad but now I am able to enjoy my time with her. I am not quite as obsessed with pictures, videos, and documenting. It would be nice to have all of that but sometimes you just have to shut that computer down and have fun with your kids.

On a more positive note...

2010-03-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have been a little negative and complaining a lot lately. It just feels like 2010 hasn't been that kind so far. Q1 is almost over and I am hoping Q2 is a better one. It should be lighter and warmer so that is something that is guaranteed even if everything else isn't. Here are some things making me smile:

-M's has changed from want to 'NEED IT!' He not longer wants the toy he NEEDS IT! He needs milk, he needs Manny (tv show) he needs tools, etc.

-M was pointing out bridges to me on the way to school the other day - it sounded like he was saying bitches.

-M tells everyone that he loves them.

-T is starting to hold her bottle - that will be so nice!

-T will smile back at your when you smile at her 99% of the time and she has the cutest dimple on her right side - how can you not smile when you see that.

-T sounds like she is saying Bye bye, ma ma, and other words. I know they aren't real words but I still love hearing it.

-M will hold up two fingers (instead of one) and say hold on I will be right back and run to get something and bring it back.

-M will give T stuffed animals, kisses, and hugs, when she is crying - that is so nice to watch.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

The week in review

2010-03-17T11:10:00.001-07:00

Andy has been gone for one week as of tomorrow but he is getting home after the kids to go bed so for all intensive purposes he is gone until Thursday.

Day One, Thursday - Andy leaves for Vegas. Pick kids up, I honestly don't remember too much about the day so it couldn't have been that bad

Day two, Friday - drop kids off, take Deucey to get her staples out, they say she looks awesome and she is right on schedule if not ahead of schedule - so thrilled and pleased! Grand plans to do some painting because I have taken a vacation day but I decide that Deucey's ear looks nasty so I make another appointment with the regular vet. Mom is schedule to come in, the flight is delayed so I decide to pick up T first not after the airport. I get there, she is sleeping. Leave go to airport, go to pick up M, he is thrilled to see my Mom, who he calls Gray, and actually runs up and gives her a huge kiss and hug. Now if you know M you will know that this is highly unusual - he usually won't talk to you for quite awhile. Go to pick up T and we head home. Evening is nice - M even wants Gray to put him to bed - shocking again! I think this is going to be a great weekend. The rain starts...

Day three, Saturday - we go to the Science Museum, we have a good time. Try to keep M awake on drive home in order to get a real nap at home. Again he asks for Gray to put him down for the nap. Catch up on TV via the DVR, again should be painting but I don't. M wakes up crazy. Evening is good - at least I don't remember anything about it. Still raining....

Day four, Sunday - We hit the mall as on 'outing'. I had some thing to return and we got there early with the time change so there weren't a lot of people there and there is a Starbucks. Have fun. Small fight over tools. Leave the toy store and the tools but M is good for the rest of the mall so we go back to get the tools. Now we have about 300 different tools at my house. Go back to the car, kids are in the car, putting the stroller in the trunk, back go out. I can't move for 5-10 minutes and after that it is extremely painful. Somehow I get into the car. We have no food so I go to the store, the one that will load your car with the groceries because at this point I can barely walk. My Mom stays in the car with the kids who are now sleeping - that god she was there and thank god they were sleeping. Do the shopping, head home. Deucey still needs to be carried up and down the stairs. What do I do? I do a little of her doing it and me still carrying her. No dinner made, ate cereal. Andy is due to arrive at 5 AM the next morning so at least I don't have to carry the dog until Monday night. He makes it to LA then flight is canceled. No help in the morning there. Email from renter - there is a stain on the ceiling in the apartment - I am reading this as I am getting into bed around 10:30. Get back out of bed, go over to that house. Find the problem in the attic - the roof is leaking. Go and find things to collect the water while in a lot of pain - going up and down ladders and in the attic wasn't the best idea. Get home around 1 AM. Still raining....

Day Five, Monday - no way I can make it to work because I will have to meet with someone about the roof. Get up, get kids ready, ice back, and send Mom in a cab to the airport because the kids are still sleeping due to the time change which I hate!!! Kids don't just automatically go to bed an hour earlier! Mom is off. Kids are ready and I go back upstairs to change. Come back down to brown sugar all over the dining room - I resist the urge to throw M out the window. Finish getting them ready and off to school. Get back home, logon to do some work. How do you clean up all of this brown suger? I let it just sit there and dry and get hard - much easier to vacuum up. Evening is relatively uneventful.

Day Six, Tuesday - M wakes up crying and whining and didn't really stop all that much until we dropped T off. Get them to school, run to work late due to drop offs. Work, work, work. head home. M has another round of crying and screaming. Finally get them down and I try to clean up the house - it is awful by this point. The rain has stopped - that was the highlight of my day.

Day Seven, Wednesday - Small crying in the AM but otherwise good. Wednesday is trash day and M is scared of the garage truck because it is so loud - that is a very motivating thing to use when you want to get a kid into the car quickly. They are dropped off and I am at work. I am hoping that the evening is a good one. Everyone needs a bath but I am not sure my back will allow that so I will probably send in dirty children to school tomorrow. Oh well.

Here is to a better 7 days starting tomorrow.

How to get your child to eat his/her greens....

2010-03-11T04:14:00.000-08:00

On Monday night M had this dinner right when he walked in the door, as usual. We started our dinner and had that after he was finished. He walked over to check out what we were eating and announced that he wanted it. We were having steak, mushrooms, and asparagus. He wanted the asparagus. Andy responded by saying the following:

'If you go around and clean up all of your toys you can have a plate of asparagus'.

Now let me just say that he has liked asparagus in the past. So M ran around gathering up most of his toys and then sat down for his plate of asparagus that he loved and said 'I ate that all up!'. Somehow we got our child to eat vegetables and clean up toys without cookies or other bribes. I don't know if that will work again in the future but for one night all was right.

Week #2

2010-03-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

So we have started week two of Deucey's recovery. It is actually much better than the first:

- 15-20 minute walks 3 times a day
-Anti-inflamatory - 2 times a day
-Pain pills - 2 times a day - though we run out tomorrow - hopefully she isn't in too much pain
-Massage as needed - that is happening less because honestly she stinks! I think with that collars on stuff is getting caught in there and not getting out. I honestly don't want to pet her because she smells! And I don't want to take the collar off because then I feel like she would know somehow it comes off and she would try to do it herself. It already has many rips and breaks after only 10 days. We had to tape it back together after only a few days - she doesn't really get the fact that she can't take tight corners and she has to lift her head up when walking.
-Icing - Honestly that has totally fallen off the map. Sitting there with a dog for 15 minutes on the ground holding an ice pack doesn't seem like much but with two kids running around and total exhaustion happening due to earlier mornings for the walks and later nights for the walking and such.

So we are going to enjoy the 'easy' Week 2 & 3 because Week 4 comes back with a vengence. Deucey gets her staples out on Friday and my Mom arrives on Friday to help out - Andy is leaving for Vegas on Thursday so I needed to call in the troops.

Excuse Me, Excuse Me, Excuse Me

2010-03-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

Murdoch has mastered 'Thank you', 'Please', and a few other polite phrases. You have to reminder him but he will pretty much always say them. We have now started to teach him to say 'Excuse Me' if you burp or make any other bodily noise or if an adult is speaking and you want to say something. The Excuse Me when someone is speaking isn't going that well but the other one is as I witnessed the other night.

The two of us were sitting on the couch watching Handy Manny before bedtime and he got the hiccups. Murdoch would hiccup, then say 'Excuse Me', another hiccup, another 'Excuse Me', etc. It was so cute! He was clearly tired so he was just kind of staring at the TV and saying excuse me every couple of seconds. I tried not to giggle but I couldn't help myself. Luckily he did notice.

Aleve and Narcotics

2010-02-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

I picked Deucey up on Friday and we have made it through almost two days of PT for her. I know that plenty of other people have to do PT and it is way more than we have to do but the thought of 14 weeks of this is a little overwhelming - especially when it is only day two. So we are taking it one day at a time and hoping the light at the end of the tunnel comes soon.

One thing that I thought was pretty cool/interesting is the patch that is on Deucey's leg. The doctor told me to take it off on Monday, and that it has to be returned to them. She said that if we just threw it out and someone found it in our trash we could get in big trouble. I didn't ask but I think I should - what kind of drugs are those?! I know it is a narcotic but what kind? I wonder what would happen if I ripped it off her leg and put it on my arm like one of those patches that help you stop smoking - that is essentially what it looks like.

Here is the PT for the first week:

Ice - 4 times a day for 10-20 minutes - of course a dog doesn't just sit there while you put a bag of peas on their leg so you get to sit there with them and give them support

Leash walks for 5-10 minutes, 3 times a day.

Passive range of motion (flex and extend) for 10 repetitions, 3 times a day

Massage thigh muscles for 5 minutes before and after range of motion exercises

No stairs - so we have to carry her up and down the stairs when she has to go to the bathroom

Contain her to one room - not hard so far but she has already started to whine when we are in the other room. Not sure how well this is going to work.

Anti-inflammatories 2 times a day

Pain meds 2-3 times a day

Now this doesn't seem that bad but combining this into a schedule that is already a mess and overbooked is presenting some problems. April can't come soon enough!

Post-OP

2010-02-26T04:56:00.001-08:00

Deucey is doing well. I spoke with the surgeon around 7 PM last night and he was really happy with the surgery. Her knee is very stable now. Her miniscus was torn so they had to take the back half out and leave the front which basically means that she is going to have arthritus but I was expecting that. She was on IV pain meds all night and they are going to start weining her off and switch to oral pain meds today. Assuming she looks okay I am going to pick her up later today. I am washing all of her bedding and everything else just to try to avoid any infection in the wound and she has a brand new bed so she will hopefully be more comfortable. It is going to be a long road of PT that we have to do at home but hopefully is goes by relatively quickly and we have our old Deucey back by late Spring.

TTA or TPLO?

2010-02-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

About a month and a half ago Deucey came back from the dog park on three legs - she had hurt her back right leg. We waited a few days to see how things looked - maybe she just twisted her email - though we really didn't think so. We took her to the vet and she thought she had blown her knee out but we would need to go to a specialist. They gave us some pain pills and anti-inflammatories and said to wait a few days to see if that did anything. It didn't and then we were off to an orthopedic surgeon for animals. They confirmed within a matter of minutes that she did indeed blown her knee out and that she needed surgery. At this point they gave us three options. One that wasn't very invasive and then that were. We decided against the one that wasn't very invasive because she is so young and so active. If she was a 12 year old dog that slept most of the day we would have gone down that route. So then we were left to TTA or TPLO. We spoke with the two doctors, one does TTA, one does TPLO. They had no recommendations so we did a little research, got the expert opinion from Craig & Ellen and we decided to go with TTA.

So now we pick a date for surgery, March 11th. You aren't supposed to feed your dog past 8 PM the night before. So what do I do? Feed the dog the morning of - surgery scheduled for March 18th. March 18th rolls around, Andy's car battery is dead. Reschedule for March 25th.

So my first baby, yes I said baby for all of you people out there that don't think dogs are part of a family, is in surgery today. I dropped her off at 6:30 AM unable to tell her anything about what was going to happen. I guess in a way it is better not to know about pain because she slept well last night but the inability to explain what we are doing and how in the end it should help her brings tears to my eyes. I just hope she is okay when we pick her up tomorrow.

No stairs for 6 weeks - that is going to kill me! She weighs just over 60 pounds and let me tell you that I feel everyone of them when I pick her up, especially when she doesn't want to be picked up. So that is going to be a long road - I am going to want to shoot her even after a few days but as the weather gets warmer and the days get longer my baby will heal and we will be out on our family walks again. So I am trying to stay positive and look forward to that time. I am sure I will complain at some point about it though. That can't be helped!

Things that made me smile this week

2010-02-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

Murdoch got out of the bath last night and told me that his nipples were tired. I guess that means that it is time to go to bed!

Thayer kicks her left foot/leg over and over again when you change her diaper.

Thayer was face/belly down in her crib with both legs sticking out of the crib at a 90 degree angle when I went in to get her. You would think that she was either very uncomfortable or dead. When I turned the lights on low she just turned/lifted her head and smiled.

We got snow this week - I love that Murdoch calls it 'BIG SNOW!' with such enthusiam.

Murdoch is slowly potty training and he says bye-bye to his poo when we flush it down the toilet.

Murdoch was almost gabbing his toy dust buster on Thayer's leg and she was just laughing the whole time.

Murdoch and I were shoveling together. He enjoys shoveling with a golf club - I am sure you can imagine how effective that is.

Murdoch calls dog poop, poop dog. It always takes me a second to figure that out.

We finally downloaded some pictures

2010-02-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

It has been a tough month or so around our house. Lots of travel by Andy and lots of sickness for everyone. Andy is away for part of this week and Deucey's surgery is scheduled for Thursday so the week will still be a little crazy but I am hoping things settle down a little.

Thayer got a tutu from my Mom and Murdoch and I went to the Museum of Science for a play date this weekend. Today we are just hanging out and starting to get ready for the week. I hope you enjoy all of the the pictures.

Hoping for a better month in February

2010-01-28T04:13:00.000-08:00

So I have decided to continue my whining Wednesdays though it is Thursday so I can't even seem to get that right! :) On Sunday I ended up going to the emergency room - yes I went twice in one week. I cut a piece of my left index finger and nail off while cooking Sunday night. It didn't seem bad - it wasn't bleeding all that much and honestly I just didn't want to go to the ER again. I went to bed with it wrapped up and over my head. Well I woke up about an hour later to blood all the way down my arm, all over my head (it looked like someone tried to scalp me), and blood all over my pillow. Andy looked at me and said go to the ER - no options - this is bleeding too much. So I jumped in the shower - because there was blood everywhere and drove to the hospital down the street. Well I got there, no one else was there, thank god, so they took me in right away. I pulled off the wrap I had on there and you want to know how much it bleed - one drop!!!! I felt like such an idiot. They sent me home with band aids and bacitracin. My theory is that the combo of getting in the shower and then running out into the cold with wet hair and such made me cold enough, my hands were practically purple, that the bleeding stopped due to my hands being frozen. So back home and back to work a few hours later.

Then Wednesday comes. Deucey's appointment with the orthopedic surgeon is at 11 AM. I wait by the phone for the update from Andy - knowing that she has blown out her knee but there is that 1% chance that it is just fine and we have to do nothing. Well the 1% didn't win so we are looking at a really expensive surgery, not to mention at least 6 weeks of recovery which is really going to suck - no stairs for her at all. I barely survived three days of carrying her up and down the stairs. I think we need to have one of those chairs installed that she can sit in and it takes her down the stairs. So not shocking news but it sucked to have it confirmed that she needs the surgery.

Then daycare called - Murdoch has a 103 fever. Again - not surprised because he seemed off but once again I was crossing my fingers that it was nothing.

So I am not really sure how February is going to be better when we have a dog that basically can't do anything and it is still winter so the kids will be sick but like I have in the past I will cross my fingers and hope for the best, knowing that most likely the worst will occur.

Yoga and my BFF

2010-01-21T04:12:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Murdoch doing yoga at school with his BFF Alex. They are basically the exact same child - Alex's mother says that they share a brain.

On a separate note I am thinking of making Wednesday either Whining Wednesday or Worn out Wednesday! Laura has wordless Wednesdays where she posts cute pictures or videos of her kids. That is a much better option but yesterday I was worn out and I wanted to whine! Andy traveled three days last week which made it a long week with the drop off and pick up and then I had a three-day weekend so I was thinking yes! This will be good. It started off really well. I was sick on Friday night so I just went to bed. I got up early, ran errands, went to spinning, and then I ran some more errands. Back home to hang out with Murdoch while Andy, Thayer, and Deucey went to the dog park. Deucey comes home and she can't use her back left leg at all. Crossing my fingers I am hoping that clears up, well it doesn't. Sunday is fine. Monday Thayer doesn't have daycare and is a little off so I didn't get much done and Andy left to travel. I take the Deucey to the vet. They tell me she might have torn her ACL or MCL. GREAT! Not only is she is pain but this will be A LOT of money. And I am carrying a 65 pound dog up and down the stairs - Andy fell down the stairs on Sunday doing that when he slipped on ice. Back home. Tuesday - back to work after dropping the kids off and popping Aleve because by this time my lower back is killing me! Tuesday afternoon, daycare calls and says that Thayer sounds weird when she is breathing and they are concerned. I exchange calls with the nurse at the doctor's office and they say that if she is wheasing then they will see her the next day but if she is having an issue breathing she should come in right away. I call daycare back to get an better idea of things. I call the doctor back and now it is after 4 so I am having trouble getting in touch with anyone. I talk to daycare again. They feel like it is pretty bad so I say screw it I will go to the emergency room. I make a bunch of phonecalls trying to find someone who will watch Murdoch - I don't want to expose him to those germs, not to mention the fact that it could be hours and trying to take care of her and watch him would be a nightmare. Andy's friend came over and Murdoch loves him and didn't even care when I left. So I headed to the ER. Things were looking good when I got there but it quickly fell apart. About 90% of the ER were kids and then about 80% of the kids were babies. So we were there for about 5 hours to find out that she had a cold. By the time I got home and got ready for bed and all that I would have gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep if I was going to go to work so I just decided to take a sick day. Especially knowing that Thayer would be sleeping with me for most if not all of the night. Yesterday wasn't bad and Andy got back late last night. So hopefully we are back to normal. And I know a lot of other people have it a lot worse than I do so I don't mean to complain but there are times when I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

2010 is Here. Yeah!

2010-01-01T07:43:00.000-08:00

Since I now have 2 kids and already dedicated one post to Murdoch, here is one for Thayer.

I was always kind of scared of having a little girl because I never had a sister and almost none of my friends growing up had sisters either. Well so far she's been great. Doesn't cry or make a fuss that much. Sleeps a lot (just like her old man). And is generally in a happy mood.

Well this morning, my 2010 started off in the usual crappy way. Murdoch comes prancing into our room like a raging bull. Starts proclaiming everything under the sun as his and grabbing it to throw in a giant pile around himself. Yelling at the top of his lungs that he wants to eat. So we start to get up to get breakfast when he decides to grab some screws that had been lying around. I do the usual "Don't touch those you might get hurt!" which clearly means nothing as he smiles, laughs, and runs off. Eventually I determine the bizzare little hiding spot that he has for them so we can finally get breakfast. At which point something, I'm still not sure what sets him off into orbit in a tantrum that lasts a good 20 minutes. All I can think of is Happy New Year!! Definitely not an It's a Wonderful Life moment for me.

Then we hear some noise on the monitor and it sounds like Thayer is ready to eat. So I go upstairs to grab her, very grumpy at this point, only to find a shiny, happy face smiling up at me. And I realized, I'm so glad that I have a little girl to go along with the train wreck. Any time he makes me crazy I can run away to someone else who always seems so happy to see me. At least until she's 12....

My Girlfriend works at the bar

2010-01-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

Since I was the cause of the latest funny Murdoch story, Sarah asked me to give the Blogging a try. Here goes...

Lately on Sundays we've been taking the family down to the local bar for some good Bloody Marys, food we don't have to cook, and some football. Murdoch seems to like going and the staff is very kid friendly so it all seems to work out OK. Well this past weekend we brought along Sarah's parents for the experience and got a nice table right near the big screen. Our waitress was very nice and was trying to make friends with Murdoch who was clearly in over his head and got very shy. Just for fun, I decided to tell him that she was his Girlfriend. Well, upon hearing that he was now VERY interested in this girl and kept watching her walk all around the bar. Anytime he lost sight of her he would ask "Where my girlfriend go dada?" or when she came near the table it was "That my girlfriend". When it was time to wrap up the outing, we stopped over to the bar and said goodbye, but Murdoch couldn't hold it together and hid his head on my shoulder. She loved it though, so I think he managed to work a little magic even with no confidence. She was cute, but I know to Murdoch she looked more like this.

Later when we got home he asked me where his girlfriend was and I said at the bar where she works. He repeated this a couple of time trying to work through the details in his head and then has been proudly telling any and everyone since that "My Girlfriend work at Bar!" Funny stuff. Can't wait to see what happens this Sunday. Maybe he'll even bulk up the courage to say hi.

Cleaning House

2009-12-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

One of my goals on maternity leave was to clean out the basement. That like many other goals didn't actually happen. Though I did make a good dent in the clutter but the place is still a mess. When I started the process I didn't want to just throw everything away because a lot of it was in good shape but we just didn't use it any more. There are the regular outlets like GoodWill and The Salvation Army but I wanted to see if I could maybe trade a few of these and get something back. Here is a little summary of what I found.

To Donate clothing and housewares:

-Goodwill
-The Salvation Army
-Dress for Success

To donate children's items:

-Newborns in Need - newbornsinneed.org
-Project Night Night - projectnightnight.org

To donate books, CDs, or DVDs:

-Books for Soldiers - booksforsoldiers.org
-Read to Reader - readertoreader.org

To swap items online:

-For clothing and accessories - rehash.com or swapstyle.com
-For children's items - handmedowns.com or thebabychain.com
-For books, CDs, DVDs, and video games - bookins.com, bookmooch.com, chancexchange.com, goozex.com, or swaptree.com
-For everything else - freecycle.org, neighborrow.com, swapthing.com, titletrader.com

I haven't tried all of these but I have use a few and I have gotten rid of a lot of things while helping others or trading to get something that I do want. I also ran into a way to give away gently used shoes. If you go to piperlime.com there is a link in the lower right-hand corner for soles for souls. You send your shoes to them and they distribute them to people worldwide who are in need and they send you a receipt to use for your taxes. I just sent them a big box yesterday.

So get on out there and clean your house out and help someone else out in the process! And reusing is also green!

One, Two, Tres...

2009-12-15T04:44:00.000-08:00

Murdoch has learned/is learning to count and say the alphabet. The counting has been going on for awhile. We walk up the stairs and count the stairs so he was counting to 15 pretty well. We count to three for a lot of things - one, two, three, jump, or I am going to count to three and you better stop hitting your sister or you get a timeout - he doesn't really help us when we do that :) Lately instead of saying one, two three, he has started saying one, two, tres. It is cute. It took me a couple of times to realize what he was saying. I guess they count in Spanish at school and he has started to pick some of that up.

I am loving....

2009-12-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

That little piece of her head where you can see her heart beating. And it is almost gone...

Nice!

2009-12-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

As Murdoch has started to talk more and more you start to realize quickly words that you use often. I never realized how often I use the word 'Nice' until Murdoch started using it all of the time. A couple of months ago we went out to get some new shoes together and he wore them out of the store I guess I said 'Murdoch those are nice shoes!' basically because I didn't want him to take them off. Then he started saying nice shoes to his shoes and everyone elses shoes which was kind of funny. Earlier this week I gave Murdoch a bath and then asked him if he wanted any lotion or cream - often times he enjoys a 'massage' after his bath. So he said yes and I asked him where he wanted the lotion. He told me his left foot and lifted it up in the air so I put lotion on that foot and started to rub it in. After about 5 seconds of that he said 'OOOOOHHHH Nice!' and I started dying laughing. And of course because I laughed at what he said he kept doing it over and over again.

I guess 'Nice' is better for him to pick up from me than compared to a lot of other words!

What doin'?

2009-12-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

That is Murdoch's way of asking you what is happening or what is going on. I personally love it. Not sure why but it makes me laugh. Last night we had police cars speed down our street, happens often enough to not make it alarming but not often enough to make it exciting. So three cop cars pull up two houses down, and they get out and start walking up and down the street. Murdoch and I turned out the lights and pulled up the shades so we could see what was happening. Not too much happened - I still don't know why they were there but the whole time Murdoch keep saying 'What doin' Mama?' The kid is leaning over the back of the couch looking outside with his bum up in the air and he is choosing this over Handy Manny! I am not sure if this is the best lesson to teach your children - yes go spy on your neighbors but make sure you turn the lights out so they don't know!

4 Months!

2009-11-30T03:56:00.001-08:00

Thayer turned 4 months last week and there are a lot of changes! She can roll over, blow rasberries, she wakes up with a smile (so nice :), and her smile lights up a room. I have been taking lots of pictures and videos - now I just need to download them and post them!

What is it about those Twilight books?

2009-11-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Yes I admit I have read them and I love them! Friday the new movie comes out. I am not going on Friday but maybe in a few weeks when it dies down a little bit. I was totally skeptical of the books and then I couldn't get enough. Well I feel a little better after reading the following article:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/16/older.twilight.fans/index.html
It isn't just me. Actually the more I talk about it the more I run into people around the same age that love the books as well. I was a little embarrassed but now I just don't care. I read those while I was pregnant and I loved them! It is just hard to get into new books now but I am sure I will find something. If you haven't read them go out there and read them!

Bribbing your child

2009-11-10T04:06:00.000-08:00

I am sure most parents think that they aren't going to bribe their child and then there is lack of sleep, crying, screaming, whining, etc. and suddenly you are bribing your child with anything to get them to do something small that should be easy but isn't because sometimes a toddler just doesn't make sense. Last night Murdoch wasn't eating while we were having dinner and one of the Prius commercials came on. Murdoch loves commercials, especially the Prius ones and the local furniture company ones with stupid jingles. So last night I got him to eat a sandwich by replaying the Prius commercial over and over again. For each bite he got to watch the commercial again. At the time it was a little annoying but I have to say looking back at it, it is kind of funny that a commercial gets your kid to eat a sandwich. Ah the funny things that you can't predict will happen to you as a parent.

Swimming

2009-11-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

One thing I really enjoy is working out. It is the one time of my day that is just for me. No kids asking for milk, food, read me a book, etc. And no one is showing up at my office to ask for something, calling me for something, or sending me an email asking me for something. When I was pregnant I got caught up in a boring workout routine which involved a lot of cardio and a lot of watching TV while I did it and not too much work on my part. I think I just did the same machine day in and day out. My body got used to it and it was easy and mindless for me to do.

Now post-baby and knowing that there aren't any more I have decided to re-dedicate myself to working out and really getting in shape. So today I went swimming for the first time in about 15 years. I swam for about 15 years or so before that. I swam about 36 laps and I was tired and it feels like I am going to be sore but it is a good feeling.

I have set a goal for myself - a sprint triathlon in the Spring. I don't really know how to ride a bike very well, I hate running, and I have never done an open water swim. So it is definitely going to be a challenge but having a goal I think will go a long way in getting me back at the gym on a regular basis and really working hard when I go. I will post little updates as I reach more and more goals throughout the process.

The new things they can do!

2009-11-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Murdoch is now using every other foot to walk up the stairs instead of just the left or just the right
Thayer loves staring in the mirror and 'chatting' and giggling while do that - Murdoch never really did that so it is so cute!
The word 'Why' has made a strong appearance in Murdoch's vocabulary
Murdoch gives you a play by play of everything going on around him and basically anything that pops into his head - it is pretty funny at times.

Nothing else going on here. Just getting used to being back at work and trying to get a routine down and then also trying to have a little downtime and me time.

Welcome Cooper!

2009-11-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends had a baby boy on Friday - Cooper! Love the name. I went to visit them at the hospital yesterday and he is so cute and they look great - just a little tired as all new parents are. They started a blog to track the progress of the little guy.

I finally downloaded some pictures!

2009-11-01T04:38:00.000-08:00

So these are at least a month old but they are still good.

Here is our Labor Day weekend in Maine.

Here are the pictures from Murdoch's birthday party.

Differences already

2009-10-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

I know that my two kids will be/are different but I have to share a difference between the two that is just due to the fact that one is a boy and one is a girl. I went to Target the other day to get some new clothes and I bought Murdoch some new pants and I got some pants for Thayer. I was just searching for 3T and 9M. When I got home I started to take the tags and stickers off to get them ready for the wash and I noticed the funniest thing. Murdoch's pants had a label of 3T, Pants. Thayer's pants said 9M, Boot Cut Pants. Boot cut pants at 9M are you kidding me!? I was not expecting something like that so young. I am clearly not ready for a daughter! :)

First Day Back

2009-10-30T03:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my first day back at work. It was like I was starting a new job the night before. But once I arrived it was like I never left. Everyone stopped by to say hello, I visited with people, some projects had moved forward and some where in the same place as they were when I left. I hate getting up that early because it makes for a long day but the day went by quickly and I honestly really enjoyed myself. I got to talk to some adults, I went to the gym, and I felt completely overwhelmed and like there weren't enough hours in the day to get my work done so things are back to normal :) I picked Thayer up and they said that she was smiling and talking to herself in the mirror. I was a little sad to miss that but she was so happy and smiley when I picked her up that it didn't matter. I miss seeing Murdoch in the AM but I had a really nice evening with him. I have started to get caught up in what I am missing and what has already passed me by and I need to remember to enjoy what is going on right now because it will be gone before I know it. Happy Halloween!

Things to remember...

2009-10-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

She now smiles
She loves to have Andy rub his head on her stomach
She lifts her legs up and falls to the side - the first step to rolling over!
The little lower lip comes out and then her whole face crumbles - I absolutely love it!
Huge eyes
She likes to look side to side
She likes to sleep with one arm in your armpit

Recipe - Tuna Salad

2009-10-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

I made this last night for the first time and I love it! It is not your traditional tuna salad. It is still fast and I think way better. Great for a quick dinner on a week night.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tuna-salad-recipe/index.html

Emily's Visit

2009-10-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

My sister headed out for a visit this past weekend and we had a great time. She spent a lot of time with Thayer relaxing and time with Murdoch running around. Just in case you don't think the second child gets a lot of pictures here is a link to way too many pictures of Thayer.

In one week...

2009-10-22T06:18:00.001-07:00

I will be back to work. Or I should say I will be back at my office job because being at home with kids isn't exactly a vacation. Thayer is 13 weeks tomorrow so she will be about 14 weeks and just over 3 months. I went back to work when Murdoch was 10 weeks old and I couldn't wait to go back. That leave was much harder for me and I don't know exactly why. He was a good baby, he slept pretty well, I had an easy recovery, etc. I could wait to get back to work and talk to adults again. Now here I am 13 weeks away from work with one more to go and I don't have that same drive. I am not really sure why. One part of me really wants to go back and then there is the other part that doesn't. I have really enjoyed my leave this time though I am not sure why it is so different. Is Thayer easier, did I know what to expect so that made it easier, is it because I know the amount of crazy that is about to happen, is it that I am a little scared to go back to work after being out for some long, is it because I know this is my last maternity leave, is it because I thought I would get so much more done when I was on leave? I really don't know the answer - maybe it is a little bit of all of those and more. Either way next Thursday morning and day is going to be much different than this one. I am going to try and enjoy the last week at home instead of thinking about next week and how crazy things are going to be which would ruin my last week. If I had a week vacation normally I would be thrilled. But right now a week feels like just a blink of an eye and I will be back to the exhaustion and crazy that goes along with work. Here is to the longest week of my life!

Websites I want to remember

2009-10-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

I saw these two websites in a magazine article and I want to make sure I remember them. These have coupons for green products and coupon codes good for discount or free shopping.

www.ecobunga.com

www.sustainlane.com

Recipe - Lasagna Rolls

2009-10-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have started to look at some old recipes now that the weather is getting colder. I don't like the fact that the weather person said don't expect 60's any time soon. I am just not ready for that. But ready or not the cold is coming so I am looking for some comforting recipes. Here is one I really enjoy.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lasagna-rolls-recipe/index.html

One question I have for you guys, which is better - organic frozen spinach from China or non-organic local frozen spinach? I know the organic is better but what about all of the pollution put into the air getting it here? Is local always better even if it isn't organic compared to organic from half way across the world?

Memories

2009-10-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have been getting all of Murdoch's old clothes out to wash and either get ready for Thayer or give away to one of our friends. I have so many clothes and there really is no reason to keep them all. After I washed them and finally started to fold them a lot of memories came back to me that were associated to clothes that Murdoch wore and specific events. I remember a particular outfit that he wore during a family trip to Maine, his first Halloween costume, and several others. It was a little depressing and sad to know that my little guy has grown so much. On one hand I want to keep them but that isn't going to bring back my little guy it is just going to junk up my basement a little more and be one more box I need to move in a few years. I know this will happen over and over again - different things that the kids outgrow will hold specific memories for me and it will be a little depressing but there are more memories ahead so I am trying to focus on those.