Halfway

I am 19 weeks pregnant now. That means I am halfway there. Those of you wondering if I failed math in school, rest assured, I am right. See, 19 times 2 is 38. And that's as far as this baby is going to go. I don't want another preemie, I don't want another induction, but I think 38 weeks is a nice respectable amount of time. I don't consider it early. So 38, here we go. 

That plague that descended on us last week is lifting. The Princess's fever has broken. They both just have coughs and snotty noses. My sinus infection is getting a little better now that I have antibiotics. 

The Princess has been doing okay in her toddler bed. Nap time is the hardest and sometimes she winds up sleeping on the floor. But she's doing good at night and she always goes into her bed herself and falls asleep there first. The first night I put her in her bed and stayed with her a little but then I started making her get up in it herself and that works out better. It always works out better when she thinks something is her idea. It's amazing how different the toddler bed looks in her room. Instead of Thomas sheets there are flower sheets. It looks so girlie. 

SkyWalker has been sleeping in the monkey bed--the twin-sized bed in his room. He's been doing well, as I expected he would. There's not much transition from a toddler bed to a twin bed. The newfound freedom of the toddler bed from the crib is the hardest to handle. Anyway, he's doing well and and has started getting up on his own to pee at night. Unfortunately his pull up is still soaked each morning. Vader has stopped going up there and helping him pee. I don't know why. And I'm too tired to do it myself consistently. I think I'll wait until the summer to really start pushing it. Our pediatric urologist surgeon said he wouldn't look at him before the age of 5, which kind of makes me think that he should be dry all night by the time he's 5. At least most nights of the week anyway. 

I spent the whole day yesterday sleeping on the couch. Sounds lovely... but it wasn't. I was all foggy and confused at dinner time and I got nothing done. I hate starting the week and feeling behind. I still have two loads of laundry to fold but they are upstairs and the Princess is napping. I managed to get some things done today. 

While it's been so cold and snowy my mom's group has been meeting at Panera in the morning. SkyWalker is at preschool so it's just me and the Princess. It's been working out really well . Nobody kicks us out after we finish our coffee/tea/hot chocolate. Nobody stares at the kids (well, not this time. The last time there was a freaky woman who was staring and touching and about 3 seconds from me putting the smack-down on her). It's nice and roomy. I would still prefer to be chatting at the beach, but it's nice to have somewhere to go right now. What would really be nice is someplace with a big playroom for kids to run around. Someplace on this side of the river that is...

Random updates: Vader's job is as safe and secure as it's ever going to be. Whew. One less thing to worry about. Isaac's leg is still limping but is getting slightly better. I think we're going to wait and see a little longer and keep him on the leash. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. He doesn't like the cold so there are some days that I don't even have to wake him out. He just waits until Vader gets home at dinner time. The Princess's surgery is scheduled for March 2. Our level 2 ultrasound to see if #3 has any plumbing issues is Feb. 12. 

I leave you with this little gem:

SkyWalker: staring into space at dinner.

Mommy: C'mon buddy, get eating.

SkyWalker: I'm thinking.

Mommy: Well, think about eating.

SkyWalker: I can't think and eat at the same time! I'll choke!

Mommy: BWAHAHAHAHAHA

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Hodgepodge

I drove to work in the dark today. I hate doing that. It makes it seem so late and just so *wrong*. I should be home snuggling with someone.

We met friends at the State Museum today and it was just we needed. The kids seemed happy to just walk around be pushed around while we moms chatted. We rode the carousel and lunched at Subway and despite the fact that my daughter spilled milk all over herself (my fault) or my son needing to go to the bathroom on the first floor AFTER we had just left the bathroom on the 4th floor, it was a lovely time. It's stressful taking children out especially two of them--my husband would never do it--but it's worth it.

A couple of weeks ago we were using the iChatting with my brother and his wife and he started doing funny things with his video--distorting his face and then riding roller coasters and things like that. SkyWalker was beside himself laughing so much. We've had to call up at least once so he could do it again. Then I discovered that we could do it ourselves with Photo Booth. This has been the greatest thing since cheese doodles. SkyWalker has taken OVER 100 pictures of himself with distorted faces or different backgrounds. He cannot get enough of it. It *is* pretty funny. The Princess even gets into it and laughs with her brother at all the funny faces they can make.

Speaking of cheese doodles, I have procurred some white cheddar cheese doodles. These are indeed the greatest things since, well, cheese doodles.

The bigwigs are on their way to vote for our new head honcho here at the library. I wonder if "will screw the staff the most" was one of the criteria. We shall see....

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Drama, part deux

Just to follow up... 

I got e-mail today from the mom who quit my group. She apologized for her harsh message and said that about an hour before she got my e-mail she got devastating news about her youngest daughter and that her whole world had collapsed so she responded inappropriately. Her daughter has hydrocephalus and chiari and has had multiple brain surgeries. There's only one thing that I would label devastating and I really hope it's not that. I e-mailed her back right away and said I was so sorry that things weren't going well and that I hoped she got a miracle and it wasn't as devastating as it could be. 

It kind of makes sense now. I really wasn't expecting that response from her and now I know what's going on, kinda. Part of the reason I e-mailed her in the first place is because I knew her daughter took up a lot of their time--constant traveling to specialists--and I didn't want her to be stressed out worrying about the group. I still think that she overreacted but it's so miniscule compared to the important things in life. She apologized and recognized it and I feel better that there isn't any weird unsettled business. 

Read and post comments

Oh the drama

I've been having some meetup problems. I go back and forth between laughing at the absurdity of it and getting really annoyed with things. The background: I started this meetup because I had joined another across the river and it was just too much of a pain with my kids' schedules to get over there to do things. But I liked the people I met and I liked the idea. So I asked the meetup organizer if it would be okay for me to start my own for over here (because I'm a geek like that... I didn't need permission but I liked her and didn't want to offend her). She was totally supportive. So I started one over here. And made some wonderful friends who have made my life so much better than the dark depressing days of October 2007. My group now has 33 members in it. There are LOTS of inactive people. People I have never met. But they keep coming to the site and at least checking it out so I'm not removing them yet. Then there are some that come to things that I REALLY wish wouldn't. I don't know how to get rid of them. I'm sorry I don't like you doesn't seem to be a good excuse. Because the group got larger and I got busier I had a couple of Assistant Organizers. They turned out to do NOTHING. Now that SkyWalker is in preschool 3 days a week and the Princess naps right after we get home, my time is pretty limited. So I really NEED the asst. organizers now. I e-mailed the other meetup organizer for advice, which she nicely gave, and I e-mailed the 2 assts. and very nicely explained that I really needed help and if they were too busy they could step down and that would be okay, no hard feelings. I had expected a somewhat less than favorable response from one of them but not from the other one. The other one e-mailed back that she would be leaving the group and then before I even got a chance to say "hey, you don't have to do that" she left the group, with a snarky comment no less. I so do NOT need this drama. I could e-mail her and try to explain and make her feel better. But you know what? I'm not. Because I don't need drama. 

And because I'm kind of hoping that one of the annoying people leaves when she sees that this person has also left. 

So I did what I should have done in the beginning and had one of my actual FRIENDS be an assistant organizer. And it's actually perfect since she just got a job (boo hoo) so she'll focus on nights and weekends. PERFECT. 

It kills me that I pay for this too. $75 for 6 months. And of course I do all 6 months at once because it's cheaper that way. And of course I just renewed it. I should not be paying for drama! 

Read and post comments

Apple picking

Gah.

When I first told SkyWalker that he would be apple picking, the first thing he said was "With Littleman?" I said "No, honey, he's in Texas, we're going apple picking with other friends." He said "Tony?" I said "No, honey, his Mommy got a job, he's in daycare now." He wanted to go to the one we went to last year (with Littleman). I said no, we're going someplace else. I think he thought there was a slight chance if we went to the same place Littleman would miraculously be there. We went someplace near our house. I had told him that the little jobber would be there but the poor little guy boycotted his naps today, so he had to bow out. SkyWalker said "So who's going to be here?" and I wondered the same thing. We waited around and then we went apple picking by ourselves. The Princess enjoyed pointing to the "balls" and picking them up. SkyWalker asked where all the good ones were. We got the bag half full and half an hour later SkyWalker said let's go home. I said sure. As we were walking to the car, I asked him if he wanted to get a cider donut and he got excited by that. A car pulls up--the homeschooling mom. It is now 4 pm and we were supposed to meet at 3:30. She sees us and proceeds to complain about us being done already. Um, I have a 4 year old and a 16 month old, who was walking on her own, and you're half an hour late. How long did you think we'd last? She and her kids had a donut and chocolate lollipops with us and she continued to complain about A) the length of our meetups and her commute and B) no one else showing up. She asked if it was even worth it for her to come out. 

I was so nice people. So nice. I said everything I could to convey, No it's not worth it, without saying it. I wanted to say, I'm sorry that you have an hour commute, but that's the risk you take when you join a group that far away. We have little kids, we can't have meetups that are 3 hours long, and things change at the last minute! People cancel, I cancel. These things happen. If you can't deal, don't come. 

So apple-picking sucked. 

Which leads me to Halloween. 

Last Halloween was um, rather traumatic for us. The trick-or-treating was fun--our first time--but after that was well, traumatic. I really REALLY want to make nice happy pleasant memories this Halloween. The only problem is our friends all seem to be busy or won't be around here. The library is not having it's program this year. I have no idea where I'm going to take my kid and more importantly--with who. I know it's only one day and I know he will have fun Halloweens in the future, but this one, this one I really need to be a good fun one. And if it's not, that will suck donkey balls.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Please don't call me Pollyanna

The more we get together together together The more we get together the happier we'll be. Because my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends. The more we get together the happier we'll be. 

I kind of overbooked myself this week. I still have towels to fold from Monday, but it has been such a great week it was totally worth it. Monday we wound up at the library because we were rained out of the beach and both of my  children mostly behaved. They each had friends to see. On Tuesday we had a spontaneous unscheduled playdate which was exactly what we needed. On Wednesday we went to the beach for approximately 4 hours and SkyWalker was barely by my side. He played in the sand and ran around with trainboy and forgot I existed. We went to a school playground today and the same thing happened. They ran and ran and sang ring around the rosie and had the best time. I was able to talk to my friends and enjoy just watching my kids play. Tomorrow we have a playdate which means I'll be cleaning the house after work tonight. 

I feel like it was a long long road to get here but we've finally made it. 

[aside--my daughter can never have enough Nilla Wafers. She has 2 hands and just one mouth and yet 2 wafers are not enough for her. She whines and points and wants as many as she can grab.]

Not everything is wonderfully peachy... I'm pretty sure my place of employment is sitting on the hellmouth... but the important things are good. The Princess goes in for her deflux procedure on September 3 but I just have to have faith that she's going to be okay and this will be the end of it. It's a pain in the neck, but it's not heart surgery or brain surgery. It's not fatal. She has working kidneys. She'll be okay. 

This weekend is our wedding anniversary. It's been 6 years we've been married. But next month, on SkyWalker's 4th birthday, we will celebrate 15 years of being together. I can't quite believe it's been that long. I was just 18 when I met him which means I'm in my 30s now and that's just not right. 

Snack time is nearly over and I have less than 2 hours before I have to leave for work. I haven't gotten a nap out of the Princess yet. I'm hoping that now that her belly is full she will at least sleep long enough for me to shower. Otherwise I might be a little stinky at work tonight. Sorry Bee. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Things are going swimmingly

No, really. 

Since I've changed my outlook on things and decided to be more proactive about certain things, everything has gone well. Even when SkyWalker did everything he could to drive me nuts yesterday, it was fine. Not great, but fine. 

We went to a local beach today, one that I had no idea existed before now, and had a wonderful time. It's on a lake so the Princess was slightly disappointed with the lack of waves or salt, but she still had a grand time in her float, as did SkyWalker. There was a boy there who decided to help SkyWalker by pushing the back of his float. SkyWalker did not like this. Nor did I. When I saw SkyWalker with the "I'm going to cry because I'm scared/freaked out" look, I went over and told him to stop pushing the float. SkyWalker stopped using it and was in the water by himself when the kid (roughly the same age, maybe a little older) decided to push HIM instead. I ran as much as I could in water while holding the Princess and said very loudly that he'd better stop pushing my kid. If I knew which inattentive parent he belonged to I would have had a few words with her, but alas, she was not stepping up to identify herself. 

Aside from the beach bully, it was a great time. SkyWalker played a little with TrainBoy and said he had fun and wanted to go back. And he did talk in front of other people if not to them. The Princess enjoyed seeing her friend, the little jobber, and would have gladly stayed all day--as long as she was in the water and doing what she wanted to do. It was hard for me to sit and talk to anyone because most of the time I was being led by the Princess. But I did manage to talk to a couple of moms and that was nice. Next week I'm going to bring my "mother's helper" (how sweet is that? To get paid to go to the beach??) to help me keep my eyes on the two of them. 

Aside--I am totally JD. Scrubs. I give everyone nicknames. It's not really a privacy thing, although I don't like the idea of someone being able to recognize a picture of my kids and knowing their names as well, I think I just nickname people. Except for myself. But I don't often talk about myself in the 3rd person. Often.

When we got home from the beach we had snacky-snack and then the Princess took a two hour nap (after napping an hour in the morning). She must have been wiped out. I woke her up at 5:30 for dinner. SkyWalker played Elmo on his computer and I had some peaceful moments to myself to cook our chicken nuggets and green beans and carrots (requested by SkyWalker). It turned out to be a lovely afternoon.

I still have laundry to fold and swimsuits to wash out. And I really need to clean the bathroom before our playdate on Friday. But I highly doubt that will get done tonight. Vader should be home from the store soon. Which means I need to clear off the island for all the grocery bags too. Instead I am blogging. Really just blathering. Blather blogging. Ha.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A hodgepodge of numerous things

The hideous wallpaper in the kitchen (if you look closely you can see the blue counters):

Before & After:

100_2590

100_2878

100_2593

100_2879

100_2591

100_2881

100_2592

Even without being painted the walls look so much better without that wallpaper!! I am nowhere near being done in the kitchen though. My goal is to finish that and then have someone else do the rest:

100_2594

100_2596

Who puts wallpaper in the shower? Who DOES that kind of thing??

I had to laugh at how many people suggested yellow for our kitchen... When Vader first laughed at light green he said "Well, it's not as bad as yellow." It's going to be fun in my house when we have to make a decision.

We had lunch at the park again. We're enjoying it so much. SkyWalker doesn't really talk to anyone, but he laughs at the other kids and he's not running away from them. He felt comfortable enough to pull his pants down and pee in front of everyone. Twice. The second time his little train buddy stood right next to him and was fascinated with his progress. They looked like they were standing at urinals... in the middle of the grassy park. Good times. We're getting used to going to the park every week. I don't know what we'll do in the winter... I guess go to the library. ;-)

Speaking of which... I try not to talk too much about work because that's not who I am anymore but this just is so overwhelmingly ridiculous... instead of hiring another children's librarian to help do programs and improve services to the town, the board has decided to pay a "guard" to deal with the teenagers who hang out here after school. I'm assuming that's what his responsibilities are but I'm not sure since there still has been NO memo notifying us of who this person is and why he's here. That's another post. Anyway, the town taxpayers are paying this man (a hall monitor from the school) to sit outside the building and sun himself for a few hours. Is that not a colossal waste of money?? A librarian would be working! I am so glad I am not a taxpayer in this town. This in addition to the unnecessary 9-5 hours on Saturdays in the summer... at a time when taxes are going up and up, gas is going up, everything is going up, to be wasting taxpayer money is just so wrong.

We have another playdate at our house tomorrow. I didn't even attempt to clean today since I know it will all be a mess again. I'll do the guest bathroom tonight or tomorrow morning and try to get the kitchen organized, but with two little tornadoes throwing toys around the living room there was no point in doing anything today!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Picnic perfection

We went to the town park again for our picnic lunch. We've been doing it (or trying) every week. Last week it rained so we had our playdate at an apartment instead. SkyWalker and the Princess played with trainboy and did really well. We met him and others at the park today. It was a beautiful morning. SkyWalker ran around and was near other boys even if he didn't talk to them. There were 4 other moms there and it was great. We all talked about how hard it is being away from family (one is from Ireland and has left her family there while her husband's family is just 20 minutes away and is not helpful at all! She has the best Irish accent.). One's best friends have all just moved away and so she's starting from scratch building a new network of friends. It was so nice to just sit and talk to people in the same boat. And the Princess! She crawled away from me MULTIPLE times to climb up on the playset. It was hilarious. At one point she and trainboy were "playing" together. And then something happened and she was crying and he had to apologize and said "sorry baby" in his 2 year old voice. SkyWalker was too busy elsewhere to notice, but he did seem to really enjoy her trying to play too. It was just the perfect morning.

Some of them will be coming to the house tomorrow for our playdate. I have gotten the bathroom cleaned but I'm not going to go cooky-crazy. A large part of our conversation today was how hard it is balancing things and how it's better to have happy kids and a messy house. I hope they meant it!

I just did the best thing. Ever. One of my former teens is back in town on break from college. She's EMT certified and has loads of babysitting experience. She's going to come over once a week, for 2 1/2 hours, and play with the kids while I clean the house and strip wallpaper and do things that I don't want to do with them hanging on me. It'll cost me $20 and lunch but it will be SO WORTH IT. I'm hoping that the kids will get used to her and then by the end of the summer maybe, just maybe, Vader and I can leave the house without them. MAYBE.

I hope my DVR doesn't screw up LOST tonight.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

dog

Before I forget them:

SkyWalker: I'm eating too much because I'm still hungry.

Mommy: You're growing. 

SkyWalker: I not growling like I-ac!

Mommy: No, GROWING. You're getting bigger. Someday you'll be bigger than me.

SkyWalker: You'll get bigger too.

Mommy: Nope. Unless I get fat. Do you think I'll get fat?

SkyWalker: No! Only Daddy get fat.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Princess: WAAAAAHHHH

SkyWalker: Her teeth are coming through! I'm so pressed!

Mommy: What?

SkyWalker: I'm so pressed her teeth are coming through. 

Mommy: oh, IMpressed?

SkyWalker: Yeah, pressed. 

Mommy: groan (for menstrual reasons) while standing awkwardly.

SkyWalker: Just hold it in Mommy!

Mommy: No, it's not pee honey, I don't feel well.

SkyWalker: Awww. Maybe you need some prunes.

**********

We went to the local town park yesterday. They added a huge play area with slides and climbing things and fun stuff for little boys. One of the little boys we met there said "Hi SkyWalker!" and SkyWalker looked at him, turned around and ran away. But I did catch him making smiley faces at a girl. He claims he talked to her. Unfortunately she and her family were not part of our meet-up so I don't know who they were. The Princess did okay but it's clear she's still not at her best. She smiled a little at her friend, but she was really tired and not happy that I woke her up to go in the first place. She didn't cry at all and she did take her medicine and eat her lunch well while we were there but she wasn't her smiley self. We went back today for a picnic lunch after storytime but there was no one else there. I think I'll do that now--instead of being forced into Burger King when we're out I'm going to pack our lunches and we'll find a place to eat. Or just go home and it will be all made already. 

SkyWalker and I played outside at home a bit but I'm having trouble standing right now so I'm letting him watch Curious George and he's letting me sit on the couch. The Princess slept nearly 2 hours, woke up with diarrhea, ate some ritz crackers, and went back to sleep. She's been napping for the last 25 minutes. She barely napped this morning because of storytime and the park though. I got her a sippy cup with a straw and she's doing much better with that than the classic sippy cups. She's doing so much better than last week. But the diarrhea is still horrible. She didn't have this with the daily amoxicillin so I think it's just the augmentin. And probably the mix of all of them in her system last week! She's eating her yogurt (with live cultures) but refuses applesauce. She's never liked bananas either. I'm going to try to give her some rice tonight at dinner. Other than that I might have to start sprinkling acidophilus on her food. I hope she's not still having diarrhea when we're driving to North Carolina at the end of the week. 

I really wanted to be cleaning my house today. I cleaned the kitchen floor yesterday so I didn't have time to do any of the regular stuff. The bathrooms are gross. No matter what I do the guest bathroom (now SkyWalker's) smells like pee. I can't wait until he gets rid of the potty seat insert since he tends to pee all over it when he poops. 

I have no idea if my husband is having dinner with us or not.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I just love you all day

SkyWalker has been very lovey lately. He's constantly telling me that he loves me (and the Princess and Daddy and the dogs). He'll say "I just love you" and I'll say "I love you too." and then he says "I love you too!" It's very sweet. Yesterday he looked at me and said "I just love you all day!" It was the funniest thing ever.

I dropped my car off this morning to get it inspected and an oil change and I got a ride to the library from one of the guys. I thought I was going to have to walk and run in at the last minute. Instead I got here 30 minutes early.

The meetup playdate went well yesterday. SkyWalker hid in the bathroom at first. I had 5 moms each with one kid. The oldest was a 2 year old boy who loved trains. SkyWalker did not play with him. But he did sit next to him at lunch time. There was a 17 month old girl who liked looking at all of our toys and playing SkyWalker's guitar. A 12 month old boy who had a bit of a mad scientist look with crazy hair and wild eyes who SHRIEKED at me (in a funny way, not a whiny way) the entire time. It was hilarious. Then the 10 month old the Princess played with at the library and the museum. And then a 2 month old. Who weighed 8 pounds. He was 4 lbs 11 ounces at birth, only one week early. I thought SkyWalker was small! I was a little stressed because SkyWalker was so antisocial and because the Princess cried every single time I put her down. She just wanted me to hold her. It was so odd. She's a mama's girl, but it was different. She was off the entire day so I think it had more to do with her top teeth coming in. We wound up having lunch, or at least the kids had lunch. I had a turkey sandwich but none of the moms actually ate anything. They must have some eating secret... if I don't eat when my kids do I don't get a chance to eat. I'm looking forward to the time the Princess drops her morning nap and we can do things earlier without needing to worry about lunch. The dogs were in the bedroom since it was wet and rainy outside. They only barked when people came and left. Otherwise they were pretty good. I was hoping we could play outside but it was too wet. Although there were mostly little ones and we only have 2 infant/toddler swings... I hope we get some older kids for SkyWalker to play with. Had he not been a nut he probably would have enjoyed playing with the 2 year old. After he hid in the bathroom he decided to play downstairs by himself. We all went downstairs, he came upstairs by himself. Then he ran around the house with his trucks. Part of the reason I decided on having lunch, besides trying to quiet the Princess down, was to get him to sit down and maybe socialize.

I've been thinking that once Vader is through this week (he leaves tomorrow for the trial) that I can breathe again and things will change. He says he knows he needs more than 2 days for the trial, so he had me take this week (my two nights) off from work just in case. He just told me that the other attorney told him she's booked for the rest of the week so there's a good chance that the trial won't even be done. There's a chance that she's bluffing to try to get it postponed because of the MOUNTAIN of documents that he sent her that she has to go through. Anyway, once the trial is actually done he has to write the brief. He has THREE huge boxes of paperwork. He has a month to do the brief and knowing him it will take that long. I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can't even tell it's a tunnel right now. It just looks like a big dark hole. I might have to chuck a birkett.

The library is now open so it's off to work I go.

( chuck a birkett )  

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Firsts

Last week we had a meetup at the state museum. The Princess went on her very first carousel ride. She seemed to enjoy it, as did SkyWalker (also 10 months old when he went on HIS first carousel ride). The meetup was fun and it's nice to do these things with other people.

Later that day the Princess had another first.... she crawled all the way up the stairs! She got to the top, turned around to look at me like "That's right yo!" and then realized "Crap, where the hell do I go from here?". I brought her back downstairs. She crawled right back to the top. SkyWalker was over a year when he did that.

She is also decided to stop being a baby and get her hands on some real grub. I haven't given her a baby food jar at all this week. She's eaten fettucini alfredo, grilled chicken, oven baked chicken, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, as well as her vegetables because she is a good child. I wonder how she's done tonight with Vader. She's still nursing 3-4 times a day. She's a bit behind with the sippy cup. I give her water but she doesn't really know what to do with it. I don't know how breastfeeding moms are supposed to do sippy cup training. I don't give my kid a bottle, I give her a boob. And I'm not replacing my boob until I have to. I split her bottle tonight so Vader can give her the sippy and then her bottle later. I'm sure she'll get the hang of it once we switch to whole milk and I stop boob-feeding during the day.

Last week I was sure I was going to get a cleaning lady because I just couldn't keep up with the bare minimum of cleaning. This week I have washed all the windows, including the outside ones I could reach, washed the living room floor (!) with the floormate thingy (!) and cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms. We're having our first playdate at our house on Friday and it looks like rain so I'll have babies crawling around the living room. Unless I can keep everyone downstairs in the office/playroom. I hope there's someone for SkyWalker to play with since he is why I am doing these meetup things.

I'm not sure if I actually came out and said this or not, but I started my own meetup. The one I joined before is great, but there are 90 moms in it and a lot of the events are kinda far from us. So I decided to go completely against my nature and started one for over here. I have 21 moms now. We've had a few meetups and it seems to be going well.

SkyWalker was very funny today. He told me "Don't you dare run out of napkins!" at lunch time. I should really jot things down when he's saying them because it's hilarious and then by the time I post I have forgotten most of what he said.

Part of the wallpaper in the kitchen is peeling off. I have this really strong urge to just start ripping and see how far I get. What's the worst that can happen? I'm either paying someone to take it all down or I'm paying someone to fix what I mess up right? I just want to see how much I can get off. It almost seemed like it would just pull off.

Yesterday I had to drag my kid out of the library screaming. He didn't want to leave but the Princess was cranky. GAH--interrupted by North Greenbush Granny knocking on the door! GAH! Anyway, we left the library and we didn't even get out of the parking lot before he was completely fine. He's the bipolar one. He begged me to go to Denny's but we couldn't. I did get Burger King for him and the Princess though. Which means driving past Littleman's former home. I try to avoid that as much as possible. He once again said "That Littleman's home?" I said "It used to be. He doesn't live there anymore remember?" which is what we said last week. He said "Who lives there now?" I said "people. Do you remember where Littleman lives now?" He didn't answer. I repeated. He said "Don't tell. I don't want to talk about it." It was funny in how mature he sounded, but really really sad.

Gah. I didn't even get to my yogurt. The ONE time I forget to put the sign on the desk.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

One of those days

It was one of those days. 

One of those rare, everything is going right sort of days. I know. You thought I was going to complain about something. 

I got up later than I should have, but early than I have been lately, so it was still good. The Princess was sitting in her crib patiently waiting for me without making a peep. SkyWalker got dressed with a minimum amount of complaint. The vet called and Isaac is just fine--all of the tumors were benign. We left the house on time. Got to Cartwheels for our meetup, had a blast, SkyWalker ran from me to play with things and even let me go to the potty while he stayed and played with other kids. The Princess cooed at the other meetup mom who could make it and let me walk away from her as she played. It was amazing. There was only one mom there from my meetup, but it went great. And I have found a new reason not to complain.* Anyway, her 16 month old daughter gave the Princess hugs and the Princess seemed to like it. She was also very interested in SkyWalker, as are all the little girls. Her son is SkyWalker's age but he was off playing with someone else he had just met. He seemed like a nice boy though and one who would get along well with SkyWalker. It was a great meetup. 

From there we went to our favorite place to eat and met up with one of my friends. SkyWalker was amazingly cute and hilarious. Aside from the Princess's insistence on shredding napkins and dropping them on the floor, they were both very well-behaved and I couldn't complain about anything. 

SkyWalker requested that we not go home but instead go "somewhere". He had earlier asked that we go to the internet to find the numbers he wanted (I told him I didn't think they would be in a store and we'd have to get them on the internet)... so I said how about checking out our favorite store and we went to Target, despite the Princess not having had a decent nap yet. They were both pretty good at the store. I bought myself a $4 1000-piece puzzle and some storage bins. We checked the toy section and didn't see the numbers or any mats at all. A clerk came walking by as I said to SkyWalker "I just don't see them." The clerk asked what I was looking for, called someone and led me to the spot... where they had one package of the mats left and it was... numbers! Amazing. And it was cheaper than what it would have been online. The only problem is that they are bigger than the letters we have at home so they don't interlock. I don't know where my MIL found letters so small... SkyWalker's solution is that Grama needs to find new letters. He's a funny boy. 

I am hungry and tired and waiting for Vader to come home from grocery shopping. But it's all good. 

* So this adorable 16 month old girl with little glasses on her face and the sweetest little smile had brain surgery in January! Her brain was just too big and she had to have part of her skull and vertebrate shaved down to make room. She developed complications and there was fluid in her brain so she had to have a shunt put in. She'll probably have to have some type or shunt surgery every 10 years or so as she grows. Can you imagine??? She's tiny, the size of the Princess, and looks young. But you can tell she's a fighter. She was independent and walked away and played and showed no fear of anything. She was so amazing. Really an inspiration and a reminder that when you think you've got it bad there's always someone else who has it worse... and her mom was so calm and together. This is her 3rd child and I think I would have pulled my hair out. The surgeries have been in Rochester so there's been lots of driving back and forth. I'm sure she had her dark moments, but she was inspirational too. It would be easy to be pessimistic and negative and I didn't get that from her at all. Just amazing. 

And with that the Princess has decided to cry out. She slept last night, but lately she's been crying for no apparent reason in the middle of the night. I think she just needs a little cuddle. But she doesn't go back down easily. The other night I had to just leave her crying. She was done by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, but it was still not the best way to spend the middle of the night. Ah, she has quieted herself. This is what all the sleep training is about. 

It is now 9 pm. I am hungrier. Time to eat and watch some How I Met Your Mother and hope the dogs don't bark when Vader gets home.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Sad lips

Shinesalot is going through what I did just a mere 2 months ago; her FIL passed away early this morning and now she has to pick up the pieces and juggle her responsibilities to her husband and her son. Never an easy thing. I wish I could hop on a plane and be there.

I spent the afternoon outside, first with SkyWalker running around with the soccer ball, and then with both SkyWalker and the Princess on the swings. The Princess wasn't quite sure what to make of the swing at first but she liked it. She especially liked when her big brother was swinging right next to her.

She did wonderful at the meet-up today. She was cute and flirty with a baby just one month younger. They teamed up to move one of the chairs. She held his hand. SkyWalker said she made a friend. He did okay. He was quiet but then he started to warm up and say silly things. There was another 3 year old girl there who was non-verbal and with her therapists and then a 2 year old so SkyWalker really didn't have anyone to play with. I talked a lot with the mom of the baby. It went well.

Isaac was doing well when we got home. No more bloody diarrhea or vomiting. He went out a million times to pee but I think he also just wanted to be outside and I felt guilty that I couldn't just let him out. Haze spent the ENTIRE day outside, sleeping on the deck. Rubbing it in. I feel so bad for Isaac. How much does this poor dog have to go through? It's not like any of the surgeries were cosmetic. And it's not like we had a real choice. Sure, you always have a choice, but we really didn't have a choice. I hope the biopsy comes back okay. If it doesn't then we'll have a real problem.

The Princess has been very kissy lately. She usually tries to french kiss me and likes to eat my lips when I pucker up for a kiss. But the other day I was laying on her floor and she crawled to me and I felt a little soft kiss on my nose. Her mouth was closed and it was a real little kiss. And then she looks at me and smiles and laughs and it's the best thing in the world.

SkyWalker has been "bery happy" lately. I don't really know why but that's okay with me. He is constantly telling me he loves me and the Princess and Daddy and the dogs. And we're all bery happy. Except the dogs. Because they have sad lips.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Surgery sucks

Isaac's surgery went as well as it could. He looks pretty beat up... stitches on his neck, his legs. The vet had never seen anything like that big lump that was on his back leg. That's comforting. (not). We'll get the results of the biopsy in a week. He's wearing a cone--collar again and will have to be on the leash until he gets the stitches out (April 5). He's pretty doped up now and just sleeping but I'm sure he'll be a pain in the ass tomorrow and scratching at his cone.

The Princess had her checkup. She's 17 pounds, 15 ounces (she's always 1 or 2 ounces below the next pound. Always. It's hilarious.). She's dropped to the 10th percentile so I know she's mine for sure now. She's 27 1/2 inches long, I think that's the 25th percentile so she's proportionate and right where she should be. She's doing great with everything. Her ears look fine. She's probably teething. I got the go-ahead to do cow's milk early and now I probably won't. 

I have my first meet-up tomorrow. I hope it goes well. I'm trying SO hard people. So hard. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Small world

The Princess does indeed have an ear infection. Her very first cold has led to her very first ear infection. Since she was on amoxicillin forever, she's taking a different antibiotic and will hopefully get better soon. I gave her some ibuprofen at bedtime. SkyWalker got some tylenol but I can hear him making noise. Hopefully he is pooping since he hasn't done that yet today. Hmmm, is that grunting of a poop or grunting trying to get something in the bathroom Ah--"I pooped Mommy." Anyway, hopefully they will both sleep tonight. If they don't I will be very cranky tomorrow. 

I have not showered since Tuesday. I have been wiping up a lot of snot, some of it mine. I'm not as bad as I thought I would be--the vitamin C I finally managed to swallow and the extra zinc seem to be doing the trick--but I'm still not at my best. Keep this in mind....

We're at the doctor and a young um, nurse maybe? A guy who brought us in the room and took all of our info and did the temps and the weighings. Maybe he was a nurse, maybe he was a PA, I'm not sure, anyway, he says "What school did you go to?" And I say "you mean high school-school?" He says "yeah." I say "Long Island." He says, "Hmmm... you look familiar but I guess that's not it." He leaves, comes back and says "Um. This is going to be a strange question..." and I'm thinking I haven't showered in 2 days, the dude is not trying to pick me up. He says "Are you on meetup.com?" And I LAUGH and say "Um, yeah." and he laughs at says "My wife L. just e-mailed you last night!" HAHAHAHA. The newest member of the group who has a 5 1/2 week old. How funny is that? I have not met any of these people yet and here I am meeting her husband first. We had a nice talk about making friends... she's in the same boat as me. She's from Florida and she moved here for her husband and has no one here. Small world right?  I left a shout on her profile telling her that her husband stuck a thermometer up my baby's butt. 

I could be cleaning the kitchen or paying bills or doing any number of important things but instead I am blogging. I need to watch Lost tonight anyway so there's no sense in getting started doing something. 

It is windy as all hell right now. I suppose it is March but it's been so cold and winter-like, it's odd hearing so much wind. Perhaps spring is on its way. 

I just broke my caps lock key. Crap. Wait, No! I fixed it! Ha. 

Clearly I am going crazy. Luckily Vader is coming home tomorrow. He is leaving tomorrow morning so he should be home by the afternoon. I asked him if he was planning on going in to work tomorrow when he gets home and let him know what the acceptable response to that question was... so I should get a break tomorrow afternoon/evening. If I don't, I'm going to let SkyWalker wipe his snot all over his toothbrush. That's right. I'm hardcore.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Bah!

I was supposed to be having my first meet-up right now. Instead I am home with 2 sick children and 2 barking dogs. SkyWalker was up at midnight and again at 1 and it was clear that he both needed to sleep late and not be around other children. But more importantly, *I* feel worse than yesterday. I was all headachy and nauseous this morning and just not up to getting us all out of the house by 9:30. So I cancelled the meet-up. 

I've gotten yesterday's laundry folded and a new load in today and I just finished the dishes but other than that this house is a MESS. I am completely unprepared for Easter. No egg dye. I don't even have a basket for the Princess. I think I have an extra one, but I haven't done any inventory to see what I actually have and don't have. I'm completely unprepared for everything. We have no bread. I think we will just have soup for the rest of the week because that's all I can muster up. 

Once again I am reminded by how crappy the timing is in my life. We should really get flood insurance because it seems like whenever it rains for us, it pours.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

"We makin' friends"

The jedi and I went to a meetup at an indoor play area that we haven't been to since his birthday--with his little best bud who is now a Texan. It was jam-packed with kids. He ran away from me and climbed on things and said "hi" and "peekaboo" to other kids and their moms (!) and smiled at people and had a wonderful time. He didn't play with anyone for real, but he climbed next to kids and didn't let them stop him from doing things. The Princess lured many a mama my way with her amazing beauty. For reals, yo. I know I'm biased, but every single mom was drawn to her and said the same thing "Wow, she's so beautiful." She sat and looked at people and smiled and crawled toward me and was perfectly fine. I made the obligatory small talk and tried to not be myself. On the way home SkyWalker said he had fun and "we makin' friends. I say hi."

I think I've reassessed what I want out of these things. I don't want friends for me. I don't even necessarily want friends for him--not real ones anyway. He'll make his friends once he gets to school. Right now what I want to do is just expose him to a bunch of different kids so that he's comfortable in social settings (unlike his parents). I don't want him to hide--physically or mentally--when he gets in with a group of kids. We're not looking for best friends. I think we're just looking for acquaintances really. We have our weekly playdates with our old friends and that's going well. It doesn't even matter if the boys become friends--each will have a familiar face on that first day of kindergarten.

The Princess is officially crawling. No more belly flopping halfway there... let the games begin! Maybe now Vader will do something about a real gate at the bottom of the stairs. One that SkyWalker can open but the Princess cannot.

It is wicked busy at the library tonight. I got blindsided when Bee went on dinner and now I'm in here pumping. I hope it has slowed down some and she's not overwhelmed. I'm actually been working in addition to the reference! So there, it happens people. Sometimes I work.

LOST starts in one hour. Sigh. I hope the DVR doesn't mess up.

The tap is dry. I'm running out of milk. The Princess is more interested in waffles and peas (what the dilly-o?) and everything but mama. Either that or she is just wicked efficient... which could be the case. She was always quicker. In the beginning she would nurse for 10 minutes but she was awake and actively nursing the entire time. Now she's down to 3-4 minutes. 5 if I'm lucky. I know she's getting something because I can feel it and she's swallowing... but can she really get what she needs in 5 minutes? She hasn't been finishing her bedtime bottle when I'm at work but I've been feeding her more often because she's so quick... so maybe she's just snacking now. Taking 2 or 3 ounces here and there instead of the 5-7 she used to do. She is getting 6 ounces mixed in with her cereal everyday... as much as I love breastfeeding I hate the insecurity and doubt that goes along with it.

SkyWalker came in the bathroom today as I was taking care of some ahem, feminine issues... He looked at the maxipad and said "what that is?" I decided to bombard him with information to make him go away so I started by saying "Well, Mommy has her period..." and I kid you not, his "I'm a male and don't want to hear it DNA" kicked in and he said "Okay" and ran out saying "I'm a piggy bank" and hitting the top of his head like he was putting a penny in it.

And now... back to work.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Meetups

Are weird.

We went to the mall to a tiny play area that I would never let my kid play in on a regular day and sat there while he said "I want to play with YOU Mommy." Yeah, um, we're here so you can STOP playing with me and maybe I won't wind up with a broken back from the millionth time you jump on me from behind. Anyway, SkyWalker played with no one else, BUT he walked away from me a couple of times and he did climb on some things that other kids were on. He did not run screaming away or want to just go home. And he was very well behaved, as usual. The Princess was her normally charming self, smiling at everybody, thrilled to be near other people despite the fact that it was interrupting her nap AND a feeding (which actually saddened me a little--can't she at least pretend she still wants my boobs and not a damn waffle??). And SkyWalker was his normal loving big brother self and a couple of the moms commented on how gentle he was with her. I managed to talk to people and even did the "walk" to the toy store across the way that followed the play area meet up and I got a laugh out of them as we were leaving and you know I'm happy if someone laughs at me. In a good way. And get this--I was reading the message board component of this particular meetup and guess what they want to do? They want to start doing crafts and stuff centered around a LETTER OF THE WEEK. That's right Daddy-O. I am so ahead of them. Now that I have met a few (some on my side of the river even) I will be more inclined to say yes to a house meetup knowing that they are not in fact serial killers.

I am eating fries (ala the kindness of Bee) and they are wonderful. As is she. For many reasons.

This writer's strike really sucks. I have not watched new TV in a wicked long time and I need me some diversion damnit.

I got my invitation to a friend's wedding and I think I am looking forward to this almost as much as Christmas with the kids this year. I will get to see many of my closest friends there.  And the children are invited! I don't have to worry about babysitters! How lovely is that??? But don't worry( slytherinlibrarian ), we all know my high standards for my children's behavior--so there shall be no crying or whining or annoying children. ;-) We do have to worry about dogsitters but it's so close (Massachusetts) that Vader and the kids can come for just the night of the wedding and go home the next morning. I think I may go out by myself the day before the wedding to engage in the pre-wedding hijinks. Of course this is all provided my FIL doesn't choose that week to leave us.

The tap has stopped flowing. Back to the grind that is my job.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend