One Year Ago

One year ago I got the surprise of a lifetime. I still am in awe of the fact I have two children. I stare at my son in disbelief wondering how life got that one by me and so unbelievably grateful that it did. I can make lists and carefully plan out every little detail all I want to and ultimately it's all for nothing. God has a plan and I firmly believe that every child is a miracle from God that should be celebrated. That being said, if perhaps the next miracle could wait a year or so.. I'd prefer not to be pregnant three summers in a row...

And you thought I forgot...

Just now making it at the last minute. Gotta represent for NaMoBloPoMo! Happy Birthday Andrew!! We're at the beach celebrating with the fam. Had to come over to the indoor pool (don't ask) for the WiFi. Pictures coming later in the week!! I like exclamation points!!!

25 Things - Andrew

In honor of his birthday tomorrow:

1. He always leaves one bite of food on his plate. For the trash gnomes he says.

2. He hates mushrooms and peas

3. He likes to rub Maggie's belly on his head for good luck

4. He wants to be a cartoonist

5. He likes those really awful chocolate covered doughnuts from the grocery store

6. Outback is his favorite restaurant

7. He always sends me flowers for Administrative Professionals Day.. except this year. And I won't let him forget it.

8. He sleeps incredibly soundly.

9. He is slow deliberate a perfectionist

10. He and his brother William like to wrap each other's gifts so that they are very hard to open

11. He used to enjoy a good toga party, and I believe there are pictures to prove it

12. Whereas I like to make to-do lists he prefers to make tallymaster lists that make choosing a movie to watch take four hours

13. He procrastinates. Really badly.

14. He hates the color yellow

15. He nearly died in the hospital after surgery

16. He ran his hands under hot water so they would be warm immediately before walking to the altar. I probably didn't notice because I was too distracted by Gypsi.

17. He cannot tolerate even the tiniest little glimmer of light when he is sleeping

18. He hates things that smell strongly even if it is a nice scent.

19. He is frequently late.

20. He picked out our china pattern

21. His hair was super blonde when he was little

22. He loves dipping green onions in blue cheese dressing although I haven't seen him do this in awhile

23. He eats his cereal without milk

24. He has an instant breakfast almost every night

25. He has a monkey tattoo (not really)

The Outlaws

I spend a lot of time online in the mommy "cyber community." Between the two dozen or so blogs I read and the bulletin boards I am a member of I see a whole lot of discord between women (and men too... not to shortchange my daddybloggers) and their inlaws. I am well aware of how lucky I am. My inlaws are without a doubt the nicest people I have ever met. They have welcomed me from day one as a member of their family and have never been critical or made me feel out of place. It is obvious to everyone that meets them that they are down to earth, dependable and 100%, without a doubt, honest to a fault. My mother in law puts flowers in our room whenever I visit and always goes out of her way to make me feel welcome. She's been having a hard time lately but hasn't let that get in the way of her efforts to show how much she cares for her family. Family is always first. There are those that put up a front, obsessed with keeping up appearances. But then there are those like Momma C and Bill Daddy that actually walk the walk. They have passed their solid ethics on to their children and God willing we will be able to pass it on to ours. We are so blessed to have them in our lives and I could not think of anyone I'd rather have as grandparents for my children.

Top Ten

In what may very well become a recurring theme here on HA(wk) here is my Sunday top ten.

Top ten things to do on weekends

10. Cookout

9. Breakfast at Cracker Barrel

8. Costco!

7. Head to Asheville

6. Sprinklers

5. Let the kids stay up past their bedtime

4. Eat too much

3. Dogsit Shauna

2. Home Depot, you can do it, we can help

1. Visits from Cici and Granddaddy!

Sweet Dreams

The bedtime scene as it really should unfold:

I give the Peanut his bath before Andrew gets home. Dinner is in the oven ready to go. I feed the Peanut and put him down to sleep. Andrew, Weebles and I have a nice dinner around the table. I tidy up the kitchen as they are finishing up. Andrew gives Weebles her bath while I feed the Peanut again and get him re-settled. The Weebs and I spend some time keeping the eczema monsters away and getting her in her jammies. The three of us climb into bed and read some bedtime stories and then I nurse Julie to sleep. Time = 8pm

The scene last night (most nights resemble this in some form):

I give Peanut his bath while Weebs tries to throw heavy plastic objects at his head. Dinner is on the stove in danger of burning any second. I jump out of the tub and run dripping wet to the kitchen to stir everything then run back to appease my grumpy toddler and screaming infant. Peanut doesn't want to sleep so I end up nursing him throughout dinner while we all sit in front of the TV watching TiVoed Daily Shows. Weebs throws 93% of her dinner on the floor then screams for "SKEEEEM" pointing towards the kitchen. I figure I'd rather she eat something rather than nothing so I grab her some ice cream and then try to put the Peanut down again while I start the bath. Tonight was special in that the lawn really needed to get mowed and there isn't any other time before we leave town to get it done. So, Andrew took off outside to do that while I climbed in the tub with Weebs. Right about the time we got in, Peanut started wailing. I frantically try to get the soap out of her hair and then plop her out while I run to fetch the baby. By this time she wants to know where the hell Daddy is and starts up a signature toddler tantrum. She sees him going by the window on the mower every couple of minutes and gets freshly angst ridden. She's running around totally naked while I realize the poor Peanut had managed to leak out of his diaper and his whole sleeper is soaking wet. So, I change him while the toddler is at my feet wailing loudly. I put the baby on the bed and chase the Weebs around with lotion trying to get at least most of her covered having realized only today that pollen causes her eczema to flare up. Then I wrestle her (and you parents of toddlers know just how literally I mean this) into a diaper and her PJs. Off to nurse the once again screaming baby after throwing on the damn Backyardigans. Weebs' eyes instantly glaze over at she gazes lovingly at the screen. I get the baby settled down and put him to bed, soother going. I dose up the toddler with Benadryl (it's recommended for her eczema dammit... it had almost nothing to do with the way bedtime was going so far). Then it's teeth wrangling time and finally into the bed we go with a few books. After nursing her to sleep I try to sneak away because Peanut has started to meck in his crib and I'm terrified it is going to wake her up. She keeps inching closer to me every time I try to sneak away. Finally I get out of bed and turn the soother back on to keep the baby quiet for a few minutes longer. Then, I have to run upstairs and make up the crib because I washed all the bedding. Again, if you've never put a sheet on a crib mattress you are missing a particular brand of hell on earth. Finally, the Weebles is tucked in and the Peanut has dozed off. Time = 9:30pm And the kitchen is a total wreck in case you are keeping score. G'night!

Frantic Friday

I don't know what it is about Fridays that makes me want to undertake waaaay too much. I think subconsciously I think if I get everything done today then I can just kick back and hang out with the family all weekend. Ha! I think we all know how that turns out. Added to the usual Friday "cleanupthewholehousedotenloadsoflaundryandgetallnextweek'sgroceryshoppingdone" madness is the fact that we are leaving for our first vacation as a family of four mid-week and my to-do list to get ready to leave is about four pages long. We did manage a trip to the park this morning and the Weebles had tons of fun on the slides. I think I must be overprotective. There were other kids her size there and their parents just sat at a picnic table a good forty yards a way eating lunch and talking. Meanwhile I practically had my arms in the air ready to catch my baby at a moment's notice in case she fell. Guess by the time the Peanut gets to be almost 2 I'll just drop them off at the park on the way to the spa...

25 Things - The Weebles

1. She carries my old blankie and Widget everywhere
2. She prefers pacis with the mouse or duck logo over the bear logo, even though they are the same otherwise. She checks the logo every time.
3. She refuses to use her potty unless she is allowed to close the bathroom door, the girl demands privacy
4. On the weekends she generally calls both Andrew and I "daddymommy" or "mommydaddy"
5. She seems to actually enjoy the taste of bubble solution
6. She is allergic to eggs
7. She likes TV and I'm not too happy about it
8. She has learned how to operate my iPod touch and can turn on her Yo Gabba Gabba video by herself.
9. She hides things in the back of her chair
10. She is totally obsessed with socks. If she finds one of her brothers that has fallen she will take it to him yelling UHOH SOCK SOCK BRUDDER SOCK. She also likes to get socks out for herself and her brother. Sometimes several pair.
11. When she was a little baby she loved to watch hockey with her dad.
12. By the time she was three months old she had already been to five states.
13. She says please, thank you and I'm sowwy.
14. She has already gone through 10 large diaper boxes full of clothes. Having another girl one day just makes good financial sense...
15. She seems to take great pride in carrying lots of things at a time.
16. She likes to collect rocks in the backyard.
17. She is a little wary of plants.
18. One of her favorite things to do is look at pictures of family and point everyone out.
19. She likes to sneak into the laundry room and clean the litter boxes. I will put this to good use when she is a little older.
20. Her favorite book is What do Cows do?
21. She hates being covered up when she is sleeping
22. She doesn't like to eat vegetables most of the time, except at Cracker Barrel. She will eat anything you give her from Cracker Barrel. Even if it is take out. How does she know?
23. She has always liked hip hop. Strange, I know.
24. She enjoys trying to find things that fit into the DVD player on the side of the laptop. I'm not sure it even works anymore...
25. She managed to lock herself into a hotel room and the police had to come to cut the dead bolt off so we could get to her.

:)

Wordless Wednesday

Lessons learned

Valuable lessons learned today:

Do not assume that it is a simple task for a Home Depot employee to take down your name and address. It can take 45 minutes.

Do not assume that just because you always have tons of painting supplies cluttering the garage up that when you actually need something, say for example a roller, that it will be there.

Painting ceilings pretty much sucks.

Painting anything without a roller sucks twice as much.

Surfaces painted with a brush alone look like hell.

Do not, under any circumstances, paint anything bright yellow. No matter how many coats of white you put over it with your sad little 1 1/2" brush, it will still show through.

Class dismissed.

25 Things - The Peanut

I'm not ashamed to admit it, my feelings are a little hurt nobody ever tagged me for 25 random things. But I'm so random dammit. They are missing out! So, since this is my blog and some days I have a heck of a time thinking of things to write about and I loooove documenting the tiny little details of my children's lives so I can go back and read about it when they are no longer speaking to me... wait where did this sentence start? Anyway, without further ado here are 25 random things from my little Peanut's first 3 1/2 months.

1. He likes to eat, a LOT
2. He always kicks the right sock off first (according to his dad)
3. He scootches like nobody's business
4. He thinks squeaky toys are the bomb
5. He has his granddad's toes
6. His belly button took forever and a day to heal
7. He will not take a bottle or paci although we think we might be making headway in paci negotiations
8. The boy is LOUD. He screamed LOUD for the first two months of his life and now he laughs LOUD and squeeeees LOUD
9. He is happiest first thing in the morning
10. It is in your best interest to feed him first during nighttime feedings before attempting to change his diaper. He will LOUDLY let you know that he disapproves otherwise.
11. He likes to suck on his upper lip. Random, no?
12. He refuses to sleep in his crib unless his fuzzy blue blanket is under him.
13. He gets very frightened when someone sneezes.
14. His favorite time of the day is getting his hair washed
15. He gets a really big smile on his face right before he spits up everywhere.
16. He refuses to go to sleep for the night until his sister does.
17. He is ticklish under his chin
18. He loves to be fussed at
19. He wakes up nearly every morning having managed to get his entire sleeper dirty (see #3)
20. He will conk out every time if his daddy bounces him on the bouncy ball
21. He sleeps best with lots of white noise. It has been raining for several months in my bedroom.
22. He doesn't nap more than 30 minutes at a time unless in the car
23. He stays awake for shopping trips until you get to the check out. Then he falls asleep every time.
24. He loves to watch his big sister
25. He likes to chew on his t-shirt

Stay tuned for random things about other family members...

Top Ten

Top 10 Ways I am a Bad Mama

10. I drink caffeine, lots of it both while pregnant and breastfeeding.

9. My kid loves McNuggets

8. Which she insists on eating in her car seat on the way home. I don't know where she learned that.

7. She also enjoys chocolate milk and even dum dum duuummmm juice on occasion.

6. Both our children have always slept with blankets

5. My daughter has known how to turn on the TV by herself since she was able to sit up and reach the buttons.

4. My toddler does not attend any sort of organized class because she's not even two years old and I'm not particularly concerned yet about her preschool entrance interviews and the ramifications the right preschool can have on her Harvard entrance exams.

3. We eat dinner every night in front of the TV. My children think Jon Stewart is funny.

2. The Weebles was nourished in utero primarily by breakfast burritos while the Peanut was mostly built with chocolate chips.

1. I spend way too much time on the internet leaving my little ones to tear up the house entertain themselves

Weekend Update

Today has been a really great day. The weather is just beautiful and we've both gotten a lot done AND had fun with the kids. A lot of times we only manage one or the other. The Weebles spent the morning hanging out with her grandparents while Andrew and I ran separate errands. Then Andrew steam cleaned the wood floors and I finished up the new guest room while the kids napped. This afternoon we went over to Raleigh to the playset warehouse and got a better idea of what kind of playset we are looking for. The Weebles really enjoyed the slides and the "weeeeee!" (swings). Her little fingers must be tired from all the signing "mo! mo!" Unfortunately it is really easy to get carried away with all the options so we're going to have to reign ourselves in a bit to start. Here's hoping for an even better day tomorrow!

TGIF

I am SO ready for this weekend. Gorgeous weather has the next two days full of promise for getting the kids out of the house. The problem is there are just so many things I'd like to do and it is going to be hard to choose which to do and which to leave for another time. While I'd like to run around like a mad woman getting tons of things done, I also sort of look forward to the idea of a lazy weekend around the house. What to do, what to do? I had thought about starting the weekend today and getting out with the kids this morning but I never could decide what would be best for us to do. I'd like to take the kids to the mall to get The Weeble fitted for shoes at Stride Rite, I need to get the oil changed in the van before we leave for the beach, I'd really love to go over to the indoor playground showroom and pick out a swing set for the back yard and I'd also love to hit up Home Depot and pick out the new washer and dryer I have been dreaming about. Yay for the UNC Basketball Stimulus Check! :) Of course I also want to finish up the attic and get the office/guest room back in order. Then I can start decorating the Peanut's new nursery. What? He's only four months old. He likes bunking in with us thankyouverymuch. I'd better go ahead and figure some things out or the whole weekend will be spent trying to decide!

Try it, you'll like it

The Weebles occasionally get to look at my iPod during diaper changes. There is an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba on there that I know we've seen on the TV before, but not so much that I have it memorized. (And believe me, I have LOTS of Noggin episodes memorized) She can't hear it on the iPod of course because I haven't used my headphones since.. um.. never and I have no idea where they are. Plus can a toddler use headphones? Anyway, I noticed she was singing today while watching it and when I looked to see what episode was on there anyway I realized she was singing the song from that episode. One of the damn oversized muppets doesn't want to eat their yougurt snack and everyone is trying to encourage him/her to try it. Either my kid is a genius or I really do let her watch waaaaaay too much TV.

Wordless Wednesday - Daddy's Little Girl

Sweet Dreams

For the first time ever both of my children slept through the night last night. I didn't even wake up to worry until about five. It's funny how I look forward to the nights that they sleep well and then worry something is wrong when they actually do. I have a video monitor on the Weeble but it was easier to see her on the ultrasound than it is on that blurry piece of junk. I'm tempted to get a different one but haven't been able to justify the expense. My mind started racing today thinking about life with sleep and all its possibilities. Ha. I try to rein myself in and remember that just because they sleep one night, or even one month doesn't mean they'll be doing so the next. Teething, illnesses and even new milestones can leave us back watching the dreaded Oobi in the wee hours. But I'll take what I can get...

Another child lost

I love being part of the mommy blogger community. I have learned so much and laughed so much and even occasionally cried reading the words of amazing women that are moms just like me. In the darkest days of PPD they gave me something to smile about and more importantly gave me hope that I would find myself again one day. But of course, their words are their real lives and not every day is finding the dog fingerpainted or the camera in the fishtank. Some days are bad. awful. unthinkable. Not a week ago our little community was sent reeling at news of the loss of one of our beloved children Maddie. Now just yesterday we lost another. Maddie was almost the same age as the Weeble. Thalon was the same age as the Peanut. Both were victims of routine childhood illnesses that spiraled out of control. It could have been my child. Days already feel like they are slipping away. I won't remember exactly how it feels to hold them against me. To feel them breathing as they sleep. Their little sounds, their baby smell. How the Peanut likes to put all his fingers in his mouth except his pinky, or make loud slurping sounds as he chews on his blankie. How the Weebles brings Widget to her brother when he cries to cheer him up, or demands DADDY BUBBLES! in the tub. Or points to the kitchen and says "Peese Mommy, skeem" (ice cream). But unlike Thalon and Maddie's moms I am able to see them grow another day and for that I am eternally grateful. I wish they still had their little ones to hold close tonight.

Happy Easter

A nap by any other name...

The Weebles' didn't get a nap today. I came home from work and tried to get her to settle down but it just didn't happen. Not surprisingly she then passed out in her high chair halfway through dinner. Our bedtime routine is pretty much set in stone in terms of dinner, bathtime and then bedtime. Tomorrow being Easter her bath just couldn't be skipped. We have family coming in the morning and there isn't any time to try to get in a bath then. I have never seen another human being so sound asleep. Andrew got her up and undressed. We put her in the tub, washed her hair and gave her a bath. All while she was totally asleep. I was thinking hells yes this is going to be an easy bedtime tonight thank goodness. I really needed it after wrangling with her at lunchtime. We got her out and wrapped her up snug in her towel only to have her wake up as we were about to get her jammies on. And we are talking wide awake here. I immediately snuggled her down and tried to get her good and warm thinking surely she'd go right back to sleep. The girl had been so fast asleep I was actually a little concerned about her just moments before. That was an hour ago. She's been nursed, read to, cuddled, and even strolled and she is not showing any signs of slowing down. I, however, am about to crumple in defeat. There are more moments than I'd like to admit that I have the urge to throw a temper tantrum. But I want her to go to sleep dammit! I want to read my new magazine and take a bath! Not to mention isn't it bad for your kid not to sleep? I think I need somebody to put me to bed, I'm cranky.

The Incredible Edible Egg

Daddy Guest Post

On Wednesday I stayed home with the kids while Mary was working. It was the first time I have done so since the Peanut was born. The kids did great, but I did have some help. Not only did Mary come home for lunch, which gave me a break, but she also left me with a great idea for snack time.

After the Weeble woke up from her afternoon nap, I put the kids in jackets (and the Peanut in the stroller), and we headed out into the yard. I directed the Weeble around the house, as I pushed the Peanut along (thanks to our uneven yard, it was a very bumpy ride for the little guy). I found a not-so-sunny spot to park the Peanut, and then continued walking along with the Weeble.

This next bit required a little bit of acting on my part. After we walked a little ways, I let out an excited gasp and looked at the Weeble (which is enough to make her look at me and do this excited face that I, unfortunately, neither have a picture of nor can describe in words). Then I pointed to the grass. What is that???? She was immediately interested. The acting worked. She toddled a few feet forward and found a plastic egg. She promptly handed the egg to me, watched me open it and, to her surprise, reveal two or three Chocolate Bunny Grahams. Suddenly she was captivated...once she ate those bunnies, she was ready to see if she could find anymore eggs hidden in the grass. Way better than snackin' in front of the old TV.

Side notes:

-The Weeble was temporarily distracted during our hunt by the noise of some sort of large vehicle approaching from down the street. I assumed it was a dump truck until she started yelling "bus! bus! bus!" Seconds later, sure enough, a school bus went by. Either the Weeble has an innate ability to identify vehicles by engine noise, or I brought her out at the same time of day that Mary brings her out.

-I realized after we finished that putting Bunny Grahams in the eggs was a little weird. I mean, considering the Easter bunny "lays" Easter eggs...having little baby bunnies inside them might have been taking the symbolism too far. I dunno.

Day in the life of...

3 am: Got up and fed, changed and tucked back in the Peanut.
4:30 am: Got Weebles back to sleep
5:15 am: Got up and fed, changed and tucked back in the Peanut.
6:30 am: Got up and fed and tucked back in the Peanut.
6:45 am: Snuggled Weebles who then decided to get up on her own and find her dad instead of going back to sleep
7:00 am - 11:30 am: Picked the Weebles' books up off the floor. Fed the Weebles breakfast. Restocked the diaper changing stations, cleaned up the living room, bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. Picked the Weebles' books up off the floor. Defrosted chicken for dinner. Trimmed 40 tiny toenails and fingernails. Vacuumed the downstairs. Took a shower and got dressed. Fed, changed and tucked in the Peanut. Emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. Washed and put away three loads of laundry. Picked the Weebles' books up off the floor. Got both kids dressed. Fed the Weebles' lunch. Changed Weebles' clothes due to spaghetti mishap. Brushed Weebles' teeth, read her stories and put her down for a nap. Fed, changed and tucked in the Peanut for his nap.
12:00 Went to work
4:00 Home from work, got everything for dinner ready to go in the oven, Picked the Weebles' books up off the floor, changed and fed the Peanut, Fed the Weebles' a snack.

Before my husband gets home in 2 hours I will also give the Peanut a bath and get him ready for bed, cook dinner and do two more loads of laundry. Just since starting this post I have stopped to rewind a mobile, clean YoBaby off the floor and toddler chair, change the Peanut, reverse look up a phone number for dad, call the number when there was no information online to see who it was, answer a telemarketing call, and chase down the Weebles who had stolen my watch.

Just wanted to see if I could figure out why I'm so tired at the end of the day.

My blog has turned purple in honor of Maddie.

The Family of Parenthood

There's this little girl I've never met but I feel like I've known her all along. Her name is Maddie and I read her Mom's blog. When I became a mom this strange thing happened. All of a sudden children took on a whole new meaning. When I see a little boy scared at the doctor's office my heart goes out to him. When I see a toddler about to crawl out of the cart at the store my heart jumps as I quickly alert their mom or dad. When I see a little girl look at Santa at the mall with amazement in her eyes I can't help but smile. Their little faces are so expressive and innocent. No false pretenses. So when I first visited The Spohrs are Multiplying I easily fell in love with Maddie. Her whole face smiled, her eyes crinkled and the happiness was contagious. You could just tell this little girl was spirited so I quickly bookmarked the site. I enjoyed catching up on Maddie's activities and her photos always made me smile (it doesn't hurt that her mom is all kinds of funny but the real star was Maddie.) I hated to hear that she wasn't feeling well and was concerned when she had to go to the hospital. My husband had lung problems when he was young so I mentioned her condition to him last night as we gave our toddler a bath. As I nursed my newborn in the middle of the night I clicked around to various sites as I always do to pass the time. I was excited to see there was an update on Maddie but when the page loaded my heart immediately broke. I hugged my son close to me and cried. The world has lost such a beautiful little person and it doesn't seem right. Please support her parents by donating to their March of Dimes walk on my sidebar in Maddie's memory.

A Monkey A Workin' For a Livin'

Maternity leave has come to an end with the Heels' victory last night. I'm back at work as of 6 this morning working in shifts to go home and feed the Peanut since he still won't take a bottle. The kids are with their grandma today but Andrew is staying home with them tomorrow so he'll be doing another guest post so stay tuned. GO HEELS!

Quality Time

Guilt! It is everywhere for me these days. I feel this enormous responsibility when it comes to the kids about everything. One thing weighing on me lately is the amount of one on one time I get to spend with each of them. The Peanut is only 3 months old so his attention span isn't that great. I try to get in several sessions of about ten minutes (that's as long as he really wants to spend with me at a time, I don't blame him) each day just making faces, talking, tummy time, sitting up all that kinda good stuff. And of course there are dozens of other times that I am feeding him or changing him or just hauling him from one place to the other that he is getting interaction also. He's in the playmat/swing/mobile stage where he likes to just sit and watch things and he also likes to practice his hand/arm coordination by batting at toys. The Weebles on the other hand is into everything. The entire day is pretty much spent in a conversation with her but I still feel like we're missing concrete time to just play together. I try to give her my undivided attention while her brother is napping but unfortunately he's not a big napper. I'll get 3 sometimes 4 periods of time during the day where he'll sleep for 30 minutes or less. We play blocks, stickers, her current favorite is cars or dance around to music. The girl has some moves. She also loves loves loves books so she gets probably a half hour or so of reading and snuggling in before naptime and then again after her bath at night. Writing it all out makes me feel a little better because it is hard during the course of the day for the times I am not focusing on them to jump out at me. Time spent Shredding or cleaning the house and of course time spent reading and writing on various blogs. How much time is enough?

Sunny afternoon

Didn't you get the memo that summer was already here? No? Well we like to celebrate any 70+ degree day with some summertime fun after being cooped up in the house all winter. Andrew took the Weebles outside for some playtime in the sprinklers. The poor Peanut was stuck inside with me while I got the Daily Shred out of the way. Bleh. Have I mentioned how much I love weekends? It seems just wrong that parents have to spend the majority of their waking time (well, maybe I should rephrase that to daytime waking time) away from their kids. Both kids are so much more animated and happy when we are both here with them. I am lucky to get to stay home with them during the week but it makes me sad to think about how much more fun they would have if we were both here all the time. Or, maybe that's what make the weekends seem so fun, that they are different and special?














Enjoying a snack post sprinkler-run

Feeling judgemental

I feel really guilty for this but I have noticed recently that I get upset when I see a mom using formula. Yes, of course there are medical issues that can interfere with breastfeeding but they are rare. Breastfeeding is hard damn work and I'm the first to admit it but it is such a personal bond to share with a child not to mention the very best nutrition they can have. I don't understand people that have children and then don't expect it to be a really huge sacrifice. I cried every feeding (and that's like 12 a day minimum at first folks) for the first couple months of my daughter's life. We really struggled to get it right. But we finally did and the payoffs are enormous. Not only do I save a hell of a lot of money not having to buy formula but I also don't have to make the goopy stuff nor do I have to wash dozens of little bottle parts every day. Plus did I mention it's the best thing for the kid! The people that actually upset me the most are the ones that don't even try. And the excuses they give! Oh.my.God. From "it's icky" to "I don't want my boobs to get messed up" I have read all manner of idiotic reasons. The people that claim they have to work and "dont' have time to pump" really get me too. I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to stay home with their children but they still do need to be some sort of priority in your life. You can't find a few minutes a day to pump while at work? How much time to you spend checking your email I wonder? And of course I try so hard to toe the "hey we're all moms in this together let's not put each other down" line and so I feel really awful for feeling judgemental about these moms but I just can't help it. I find myself going down a hormone fueled path looking into those little tiny faces. What else will their parents decide it too much trouble to do for them? Okay, rant over. Back to being just plain mental.

Daddy Guest Post

Mary asked me told me last week that I would be doing a guest post for the blog. Ever since, I have been wondering what the heck to write about. Then, the other night, while giving the Weeble her bath,it hit me. The Weeble was completely surrounded by wall-to-wall plastic toys floating around her (while waiting for her bath to cool down enough to get in, she spent a few minutes taking every toy she could find and then tossed each into the tub). For a moment, my thoughts drifted to Star Wars, since the Weeble in her bath resembled Skywalker & company stuck in the Death Star’s trash compactor.

I looked around. Outside of the bathtub were the rest of the toys that didn’t make it in. I wondered, does she actually enjoy all of this mess? She giggled as she collected all of the dolphins from her Water Symphony Bath Toy, trying to hold as many in her hands at one time as possible. Clearly, the answer was yes. At that moment, I had an epiphany regarding the laws of nature as they relate to toys owned by toddlers. I thought back to a conversation I had with my wife over the phone earlier that day:

“What’s the Weeble doing?”

“She’s in the living room yelling ‘NO NO NO’ while she’s grabbing all the books off of the shelf and tossing them onto the floor.”

Then I thought back to another time, when I was cleaning up the living room while the Weeble was playing with her stacking blocks. One by one I picked up the various toys and put them in the basket, as she watched me out of the corner of her eye. As soon as I put the basket on the shelf, she toddled over with a smile, and dumped its contents onto the ground. After glancing, for a moment, at the disorderly pile of little people, finger puppets and forgotten happy meal toys freshly laying in a pile on the floor, she returned to other pursuits.

So my conclusion is that the Weeble doesn’t dump the toys out because she’s looking for something in particular. She’s not even necessarily looking for something to play with. At times, she’s actually making life harder on herself (it would have been a lot easier to find all of the dolphins in the bathtub without the unrelated foam bath letters, cups and squirt toys in the way). No, none of that matters to her. Something else is going on here, and I think I’ve figured it out.

Like Hydrogen, Oxygen, or any other gas, toys owned by toddlers are governed by the following characteristic: they will diffuse readily, in order to spread themselves apart within any container. Our attempts to organize and isolate the toys to a limited area are a violation of this natural law. The Weeble is simply setting things right.

The Peanut

I was sicker than sick from what I thought must be food poisoning. The Weebles was about 8 1/2 months old and still very much dependent on breastfeeding. I was so ill that I wasn't able to feed her as well as usual and she was cranky as a result. On a whim I took a pregnancy test figuring I had one lying around and "wouldn't it be funny...". I believe my exact words were "is that a fucking line?" I then called Andrew at work and told him he needed to get home cause I'm pretty sure "that's a fucking line". We wanted our children to be close in age, maybe 2 or so years apart... this was much closer than we had discussed. Not to mention a total shock. Everyone knows just how well I do with surprises... I am a planner. And I totally hate being pregnant so those factors together had me sobbing "but I don't want to go through all this again so soon" for at least the next two months. Good thing about having a baby and being pregnant is that you don't have a whole lot of time for panic attacks. Not helping matters was the fact that my mother had made it totally clear she wanted us to only have one child. I knew that I'd be hearing it for the next 7 months. We waited to tell everyone but ended up spreading the news sooner than planned because Andrew's grandfather was very ill. He, more so than anyone else, was going to be excited I knew. He had a big family himself and he absolutely loved his family. I am so glad we told him when we did. It was the last good visit he had with us. Predictably my parents started in on the whole "it's unfair to your daughter" and other similar statements. What did they want me to do? Give him away? Once again I didn't think I was really in labor for the first two hours or so. By the time I figured this was it, it really was it and we nearly didn't make it to the hospital in time. The Peanut was born within about half hour of driving up to the front door. He was a funny looking little fella, he had a huge bump on his head from the delivery. This delivery went just as I would have wished, fast with no interventions just as his sister's delivery had gone. I stayed two nights in the hospital with him because of the time he was born and I didn't want to really push leaving 12 hours or so from the birth. This caused me to be away from the Weebles for the first time overnight ever. In my head I kept thinking that this was coming between me and her.. that this was going to hurt her somehow. I held my new baby and knew I was going to have a really hard time. I cried all the time the first few weeks and so did he. The PPD was awful and I don't really know how I made it other than the fact that there just weren't any other options. You go through the motions. I didn't think I'd ever love my new baby like I did my daughter. I didn't get to spend time with Weebles because I was nursing 24/7. Day by day things changed and now I have the smiliest, happiest, sweetest little son on earth. His sister thinks he is the funniest thing she's ever seen and loves to bring him toys and socks. The girl loves socks. And his grandma has decided he's pretty cool too. I was right that I wouldn't love him like I love the Weebles, I love him in our own special way but of course every bit as much. He is the most wonderful surprise I've ever had. I read on another mama blog the following:

"Not a day goes by that I don’t realize how incredibly fortunate I am. I never imagined you, never dreamed of you, but I am so very glad that I have you. Thank you for finding your way to me."

I love you my precious little 3 month old.

Mama Mama in pajamas

Mama Mama
in Pajamas
Stays home now
that she’s a Mama

Weebles’ Froot Loops on the floor
With a smile signs mo’ mo’ mo’

Mama dresses
And does the hair
Of the Weebles
If she dares

Feeds the Peanut, reads the news
Hopes the Penguins did not lose

Mama Mama
In Pajamas
Has no time for
All this drama

Little Peanut wants a snack
Hold on Mama will be back

Mama Mama
In pajamas
Plays on the floor
Blocks-o-rama

Clean up Clean up!
It’s time for lunch
On what would Weebles
Like to munch?

Little Weebles wants her sweets
That is all she’d like to eat

Mama Mama
In Pajamas
Where in the hell
is grandmama?

Down for naptime, read a book
Mama logs on to Facebook


Kids are up, diapers to change
Always different, colors strange

Mama Mama
in Pajamas
Still not dressed,
bakes Lasagna

Check the mail and play outside
Get some rocks to bring inside

Daddy’s home!
Hurry let’s eat!
Get bathtime done,
Mama is beat.

Mama Mama
In Pajamas
Reads a book
About mad Llamas

Turns out light, time for nummies
Drifts to sleep with full tummies

Mama Mama
Clean Pajamas
Rests up for a new day’s drama.