Hello My Name is Joe

And I work for a button factory

I have a dog, a house and a family

and one day my boss, he said to me 

he said "Joe? Are you busy?" 

and I said no

"So turn this button with your right foot"

I'm sure you haven't heard this song, but it describes my life beautifully. And I imagine every other mom's life as well. Joe's boss keeps piling it on until poor Joe is turning buttons with both fee, both hands, his head and his tongue! It's only when he's using his tongue that he finally says "YES!" when his boss asks if he is busy. It's actually a really cute, funny song for kids by Andy Morse that you should all go out and find. 

Anyway, we had a whirlwind of a busy week last week for school break. We were home for 3 days, but hosted playdates on all of them, and were out the rest of the week. It was, as the kids say, off the hook. I think. I'm not really sure what off the hook means. Except when it's referring to a phone. Ooh, which would make the phone busy. Ha, so it is applicable! That my friends, is my thought-process. Yeah, busy week. It was wonderfully busy, but I thought that I should take this week off to get everything back under control and do all the things I didn't the week before. I had to write a couple of articles. I had to plan my next preschool playdate (L is for Listening). I had to pay bills (still have to). I managed to get some laundry done and straighten up the big messes that accumulated after a week of children in my house. I just had so much to DO. Not to mention get on the treadmill (3 times this week). But my week did not go as planned. The Princess is usually so good about entertaining herself, but she might be getting to the "I need to play with YOU" stage. Or maybe it was just too much attention the previous week. Or maybe Venus was in retrograde. Once again, I don't really know what that means. Luckily we had a snow day on Wednesday that coincided with the Princess's ultrasound so Daddy was already scheduled to be home. That kind of broke up the week of no-fun. By today we were both a little punchy. I think we need more balance (how many times have I said that!). We need to have some at-home time but an entire week is just too much. 

Who am I?

So yeah, by today I felt like I was turning buttons with all of my limbs trying to keep everyone fed and happy and out of trouble. The biggest problem is that I am getting up too late and staying up too late and that makes me get up too late the next morning and I'm stuck in this cycle. And I really wish I could go back to the me 10 years ago and say, hey, you sleeping until 10 am, someday you will get up at 6:30 and you will say "damnit! I'm up late again!". Yes. 6:30 is LATE to me now. I need to just suck it up and get out of bed and then I will be tired enough at 9:30 at night to sleep. I also need to stop watching TV at night and get off the interwebs. Like now. Gah. 

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DGPMs

I am no longer a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). Why? Because I don't STAY AT HOME. I need to schedule an at-home day. For reals. We have turned into people who are busy. I was supposed to stay home today and clean for my mother's visit but we had to go to a make-up gymnastics class. Between gymnastics and preschool playdates and regular playdates we are BOOKED. It's all good, but tiring. On most of the days we are home we have friends coming over. It is simply amazing. Therefore, rather than refer to myself as a SAHM, I shall henceforth use the term DGPM (Doesn't Get a Paycheck Mom), because while I certainly work, I don't get a paycheck for it. I get snuggles and cuddles and kisses and spit up on my shirts.

I should be doing a great number of things right now. But I needed to sit and blog. I've been staying up late watching television and getting up late (6:30ish). I haven't had the nap time mojo I need so I haven't been getting my me-time. While I do get time after bed I spend nearly all of it watching TV and on my iPod touch. I really need to have that time in the morning to myself so I can start the day the right way. I always thought I wasn't a morning person--getting out of bed at 10 or later--but really I just take a long time to wake up. I need silence. I can't let my kids wake me up... the constant chatter drives me crazy. But if I've been up for a couple of hours I can deal with it. I need to stop watching TV. 

The Princess is talking SO much. All day. She's doing good in gymnastics. She's starting to get less clingy and having less tantrums and I think we might be over the 2-year-old hump. Might. She's currently upstairs not napping. I hope she gets in bed before her brother gets home. 

SkyWalker is doing good in school. He doesn't want to miss it and have to do the work at home. He's made himself a friend and seems to be doing well. It's so cold that I drive down to the mailbox to pick him up. He acts as my navigator telling me to "keep going... keep going" because I have to back up the driveway. Yes, I've driven on the lawn. When we get to the garage he helps me get in straight and then tells me to "stay there... stay there" because he wants to be the first one in the house. He repeats "stay there" until he gets to the door and then yells whatever silly phrase he has come up with to tell me I can get out of the car. Cheese doodles. Chocolate Milk. That kind of thing.

Chewie is over 8 months now. Still no teeth but she's workin' on it. She sits if I prop her up but has no patience to do it herself. She's too busy pushing her butt in the air and rocking back and forth and trying to crawl. She's moving backwards and will roll her way to where she wants to go. I need to be vigilant with her siblings that we not leave small toys on the floor now. She's getting over bronchiolitis but seems to be doing much better now. I took a couple of days to just nurse her every couple of hours and that seemed to really help. The power of mama's milk... We're back down to our normal 4 times a day now. I make sure to nurse her before I give her solids and she's doing really well. I have no fears about my supply or that we'll make it as long as I want to (14-15 months). 

Things are going well, they keep me on my toes, and it's all good.

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Do me a solid?

I just started writing about YA Fiction. And getting paid for it. Amazing. It's hard having to write in complete sentences and use grownup words, but I think I can do it. Anyway, the more people subscribe and read it. Or well, really, you just have to look at it. You can click on the little link and then take a nap, that's fine. As long as the computer thinks you're reading it, I'll make some money. So far I've made a whole dollar. So subscribe bitches! http://www.examiner.com/x-36817-Albany-Young-Adult-Fiction-Examiner

Are you watching Modern Family? You should be.

My girls have yet to fall asleep. The dishes have yet to wash themselves. But it's all good. My heart is filled with glee and I burst into song randomly. All is right with the world.

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A-ha! Not the band

I *should* be on the treadmill right now but I am not. But I am also not eating the bag of cheese doodles in my closet so I think it's okay.

I've had a breakthrough. One of those breakthroughs I have to blog about right away. One of those breakthroughs that make me say "Duh." The best part of my new life--the social talking to people one--is that every once in a while one of  my mom friends will say something or do something that is so obviously want I need to hear (most often said unintentionally).

I've always felt that I had more control over SkyWalker when he was younger than I do over the Princess now and I never really understood why. I know that they are different children. He was much calmer than she is now (although he's CRAZY now). But I think I finally realized that I did this to myself. I'm not saying that she is out of control--she's not--or that she is "in charge"--she's not. But I often feel like I'm walking on eggshells with her or that everything is a struggle. Anyway, this is not an excuse, but I realized today that when I got pregnant with Chewie she was only 17 months old. 17 months! From that time until she was 2 I spent much of it with my head in the toilet. Pregnancy is hard enough without "morning" sickness that lasts for months. So at the very same time that she started to test the limits, I was at my weakest. I didn't have the energy. I couldn't fight TWO children when I was running to the bathroom. So I didn't. And there's also the fact that I have worried about her since I was 20 weeks pregnant with her--she has had THREE surgeries. She has gone under anesthesia THREE times. Been cut open. I think it's natural for me to want to just make her happy. She's also way more emotional than SkyWalker ever was and prone to tantrums over the most ridiculous things. So when I go upstairs in the morning to feed Chewie and she starts whining that she wants to go downstairs and I know what she really wants to do is watch Curious George and I really don't want her to, I wind up feeding Chewie downstairs even though I don't want to because I don't want to deal with a tantrum in the morning. I don't ever want to deal with a tantrum. There are so many things going on--I don't want the tantrum; she's more emotional and prone to it; she talks so damn well I forget she's only 2 1/2 and I think she will listen to reason; I just want her to be happy. I will frequently say "Stop the whining, I don't want any more whining!" as I am fulfilling whatever request she is whining about.

And then my friend mentioned how when her daughter is whining or crying she does not respond at all. Seems simple really. She just doesn't even listen/talk to her daughter at all. She doesn't try to reason or explain. So the last two days I have been standing my ground a lot more and I have been completely ignoring the tantrums. And we have had the most pleasant time. She eventually gets over it and moves on. I'm not rewarding her with the attention she's looking for with the crying. I think I keep forgetting that she's only 2 1/2 because of how well she speaks and I'm also forgetting that I can't use the same techniques on both her and SkyWalker. He's 5. He needs the explanation, he listens to reason most of the time, he's a big boy. She's still very much a little girl. 

I focus so much of my parenting behavior on SkyWalker and sometimes forget my Princess. Someone remind me of this 2 years from now when Chewie starts going crazy.

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What the haps?

It's increasingly difficult to find the time to blog... sometimes I really feel like my entire day is spent feeding people and cleaning up after them. If it wasn't for the iPod touch I would never be online at all. 

1. Chewie is doing great with the solids. I am so glad I waited until 6 months. I just started her on lunch this week. I've done everything on my own, except the cereal and prunes. She's had peaches and pears and sweet potato and green beans. I think I'll start peas soon. I did prunes this past week and they definitely worked. She seems to have her brother's habits and if I can get her to like prunes now I can avoid the miralax later! She's still nursing great & sleeping great and I barely remember her not sleeping 12 hours a night. Which is why I need to blog more so I'll remember things like that. 

2. The Princess just got over a bad fever. It must have been a virus, but the only real symptom was the fever. Her urine was clear and that was the big thing we were worried about. She complained about her tummy hurting, but never vomited or had diarrhea. She is almost never sick so it's always weird when it's her... it was much better than when she was 10-11 months old though. At least this time she could communicate with me and tell me what was going on & I could see that she wasn't in any pain peeing. But 104 fevers are just no fun, regardless of the source. It's funny, whenever I see someone say something about a fever and it's 99 or 100 I feel like saying that Crocodile Dundee line "That's not a [fever], *this* is a [fever]!" It's tiring when the others are sick, but when it's the Princess there's an extra level of worry that makes it emotionally exhausting.

3. SkyWalker has been home for a week and goes back to school tomorrow and I think we are both glad. It's been a good break with Vader home a lot & holiday distractions, but we both need to get back to our routines. And the girls and I need to leave the damn house.

4. Vader and I saw Clutch at a local venue. I enjoyed the show, but Vader was disappointed that they played all the songs from one of his least favorite albums instead of a mix of all 6. I'm glad we saw them in NYC first because they were much better there. I spent half the night worrying about the Princess (it was the first night of her fever) but it was still good to get out.

5. Christmas was good. SkyWalker got a big boy bike. The Princess got a little girl rocking chair. Chewie got the shaft. No, not really, she got her first doll & lots of practical things. They were all happy with the socks & underwear in their stockings (Chewie got diapers in hers because Santa is wicked funny). Because SkyWalker was happy with the long johns & underwear & crayons & chapstick & non toy items, the Princess was too. Santa did good with the bike & rocking chair and a couple of small things, but the rest was up to us & it seemed to work out well. 

6. We HAD New Year's Eve plans, for the first time since before I was pregnant with SkyWalker, but alas we could not attend because of the Princess and her fever. I was bummed & seeing the happy fun pictures of everybody made me bummed more, but I'm focusing on the fact that we had plans at all & that I was prepared to leave my children (for the second time that week) to do so. Which is huge for me. We DVR'd the ball drop since we didn't stay up and then we all watched it together the next day.

7. 2/3 children are now awake. I'd better pee while I can.

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Sailing with Good Character

Not enough time for a long post, but SkyWalker had to talk at morning program this morning at school. The video for those of you logged in and in my neighborhood:

Morningprogram

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Insert clever title here

Chewie had her first spoonful of cereal at Thanksgiving dinner and followed it with the whole bowl. You know how they say start out with 1 tablespoon and go slow? No such thing with my girls. She did not gag once, she did not refuse once, she ate and ate and ate and finished a full serving. The next day she did refuse it at dinner because she was tired so it's not like she doesn't know how to say no. She's been doing good with it, except she started getting a little constipated and was up at night again (to put that in perspective, she was up at 10 and then again at 4/5. So really, who am I to complain?). I started oatmeal yesterday morning to try to help in that area. Last night was the worst in that she was crying quite a bit and then this morning during breakfast she was crying A LOT. She had poop when she woke up this morning and I don't think she's stopped since. I decided to skip the cereal this morning and give her a rest. I gave her oatmeal at lunch and might just stick with that today instead of doing the rice for dinner. She is at least smiling now and she was NOT doing that this morning. I think she really needed to get her poop out and now that's it coming all at once her little heiney is getting sore. And this sounds SO FAMILIAR does it not? I'm going to start fruits soon and hopefully she will balance out and get regular again.

Speaking of balance--the Princess started gymnastics today with her usual "Hold my hand/pick me up/help me" attitude but when it was time for the bars and a new young teacher she told me she didn't want my help, she wanted "someone different." I sat on the floor next to Chewie and the Princess did all of the bars with the teacher (a girl in her 20s I think) and didn't even look at me. It was amazing. It was exactly how I thought she would be when I signed her up in September. Unfortunately the teacher was just a sub, but the teacher who would normally be there on Wednesdays (we just switched to Wednesdays because 9 am on Fridays was too hard) is her best friend so I am hoping she is also young and able to bewitch my daughter.

I have officially given up on the Couch to 5k. I gave it up a while ago actually. It's just too hard when I have no idea if Chewie is going to wake up after 45 mins or take a whole nap. And sometimes all I have is 45 mins before I have to get SkyWalker off the bus. I can't be on the treadmill that entire time. Not to mention the fact that I just don't like running. Well, I don't like distance running or running for any length of time. I discovered when I had to chase after SkyWalker's school bus that I actually like sprinting. I'm not sure how I can really do that on the treadmill but maybe when it's warmer I can sprint down the damn driveway. Anyway, for now what I have been doing is just 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill. But to make the most of those 10 minutes I use the incline feature and walk uphill. It's working out well. I can feel that I am actually doing something and I have enough time to do other things. 

Speaking of other things-- I need to figure out how to show 3 toddlers how to make a fireman's hat. Which means I need to figure out how to do it first. I might need Vader to decipher the instructions for me.

OH and one last thing--if you used to see pictures of the jedi children and now you don't, well sucks to be you. I decided to make them viewable by neighborhood only. My husband had me sign the form at SkyWalker's school saying he can't be photographed because he's in law enforcement--my husband, not SkyWalker. And here I am with pictures on the internets. So if you were a lurker before but you know me and want to see any pictures I may post of them you'll need to get an account and make sure I add you to my neighborhood. Then you can just make sure to always be logged in when you read this blog. If you're a lurker and I don't know you, well, you're who I'm trying to avoid.

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