Alyssa's First Day of School

The first day of preschool came and went and the big announcement is that there were NO TEARS on the part of Alyssa or me. I'm not sure about Adam though. ;) She seemed really excited for the most part, but she did get pretty clingy once she was dressed and her hair was done. Evidently it doesn't hit home until she's all gussied up. When we got to school Alyssa was really quiet, but she didn't put up any fuss or try to get me to stay, which I was relieved about. I don't know if I would have made it without tears if she seemed sad to see me go. She settled down quickly to make a bead necklace at one of the "stations" they had set out on the tables in her room and I was on my way. The first thing she said to me was that she "did NOT have fun", but upon further discussion aka interrogation in the car she started to get more excited and seemed like she had fun. She told me that there's another Alyssa in her class (but not the Alyssa that is in her dance class), she played games outside, dressed up as Aurora, had Goldfish for snack and dress a picture of herself wearing a dress. Sounds like a pretty full morning! She told me that her teacher told her she got to come back in two days and then I told her that she gets to come back lots more days than that. She's convinced that she's only going back one more time, so we may have to work on that one. :)

Joel and I met our friend/neighbor across the street Sherry for breakfast after dropping Alyssa off at school. Sherry had dropped her son off at a different preschool for his first day this morning, too, so we've decided that we're going to do breakfast every year on the first day of school since Alyssa and her son will go to one more year of preschool after this and then start "big school" together. Joel and I got into the car after breakfast and I was a bit lost as to what I should do with myself for the 45 minutes - an hour that was left until pick up time. This schedule will take some getting used to for all of us, but I'm looking forward to watching Alyssa "blossom" at preschool and spending some one on one time with Joel.

Extra-special adorable for her BIG day

Alyssa's face = EXCITEMENT
Joel's face = Isn't she gone YET?

On the way home ... she survived her first day!

Joel's belated Birthday present

My mom's good friend Mary who is one of the kids' "adopted" Grandmas quilted these adorable wall hangings for Joel for his first birthday and gave them to him today. A little late, but well worth the wait. They match the colors and dinosaurs in his border almost perfect and I absolutely love them!

Breakfast

This morning Alyssa spilled her grapes and chips all over the floor. She didn't want to pick them up, but lord help her if her brother get anywhere near them, so she kept clothes-lining him with her arm when he tried to get anywhere within a 20 foot radius of her spill. I finally had to pull out the "mommy means business" voice and insist that she pick up her mess (and to anyone who notices that my child was eating grapes and chips for breakfast ... hey, its a holiday!). Alyssa kept telling me that she didn't want to eat them because they were all "Lexi-y". I immediately replied that I just vacuumed, so they would be fine. And by "just" I mean on Friday. But I did think to tell her that she didn't have to *eat* them after she picked them up, she could throw them away.

Fast forward 3 hours (okay, maybe 5 minutes) and she proudly proclaimed that she picked everything up. I congratulated her on a job well done which is when she proceed to tell me that she put everything "in there". "In there" translated to the air conditioning vent. Enter speech about how we don't put food down the vents. "But, Mommy, you can't see it anymore". Oh, well then ... perfect.

And now Joel is running around looking pleased as punch and thinking of himself as a genius because he put HIS breakfast of toast in a butterfly net. Breakfast on the go. Because when you put your breakfast in the vents, its gone for good. Lesson learned.

This is why I feel the need for regular medication.

Back to Dance Night

The night that Alyssa has been impatiently waiting for for weeks finally came!

Our little mommy

It seems like ever since Joel was born I've gotten comments on what a great little "mommy" Alyssa is. And she is. She's the sweetest big sister I've ever seen ~ oh she has her moments where she loves to terrorize him, but overall she's awesome. She's comforting, she always wants to make sure he gets the same things as every one else, that he's taken care of, etc.

She's getting to that age where its fairly common for her to start taking about imaginary friends (or in the case of another little girl in her preschool class imaginary siblings). Sophie has her best friend "Alyia" that comes over to play when Alyssa can't come over. And I never really thought about it until yesterday, but Alyssa always talks about her kids. Its "my girls" this and "my boys" that. They don't always have names (or if they do all the girls/boys have just one name), but its kind of funny that she refers to them in kind of a mothering manner.

I see you, Mommy!

Otherwise known as "outsmarted by an almost 19 month old".

Yesterday Joel ran a fever on and off, which I'm betting is due to teething. Last night he was really restless, so I was up a couple times with him rocking and cuddling. I started thinking after I had gone back to bed that maybe the reason he would starting crying/wake up when I put him down was because he was cold (I put him to bed in just a diaper and pair of shorts because his fever was high-ish when we went to bed), so after getting up with Alyssa, I decided to sneak in and toss a blanket over him. BOOM! Insert awake Joel. So, in my up since 1AM brilliance, I decided to dive to the side of the crib so he wouldn't notice me and then once he went back to sleep I could safely leave the room. Yeah, right. The side of the crib that you can't really get to because there's a TV tray in the way. It worked for awhile ... I kept checking on him and he was just staring intently at the door because of course I left it open when I came in to do the covering. He started moving around a bit, so I "dove" back into my non-so-great hiding spot, crouched down next to the TV tray, hoping that he was just going to give up and go back to sleep. After a couple minutes of silence I tentatively lifted my head to peek into his crib and there right next to me was a little blonde head, peering over the side, grinning from ear to ear because his silly mommy was attempting to play hide and seek at 2 in the morning. Busted. Oy.

That damn dog

At least 3 evenings in the past week I've been sitting at my computer finishing up odds and ends as Adam is doing his part of the bedtime routine with Alyssa and doggy fart comes wafting into the room. Lexi is always laying at the bottom of the stairs, so its not like she's close to me - I can't even see her, but I smell her. Its like the gas shoots out of her butt and makes a bee line around the corner and across the room to me. And the smell just keeps going and going and going. Its not a passing thing.

Remind me again why we don't send her to the glue and/or sausage factory ...

Let them eat ice cream

Last night I was a bit "miffed" at Adam because he had polished off the last of the ice cream. But trying to look for the silver lining, I decided to eat some of my "strawberry daquiri sorbet" instead ~ because of course sorbet is healthier than ice cream, right? Its God's way of intervening and guiding me towards the healthier alternative. Right?

WRONG!

Yes, the sorbet is fat free, but its still 3 weight watchers points per 1/2 cup serving. The EXACT same as a 1/2 cup serving of vanilla ice cream. So why the heck am I wasting my 3 points on that healthy "crap" when I *could* be eating the good crap?! Unfair. And now my so called "healthy" treat is tainted and doesn't make me feel so good about eating it anymore.

TGIBLD!

Thank Goodness its B's Last Day!

Today is the last day for one of my daycare kids. I have to confess, I am not sorry at all that he's leaving. I can't think of anything he had to "offer" my daycare ... unless it was more stress and gray hairs for me. I will miss his mom; she was a really sweet person and I do hope that maybe we can get the kids together from time to time. But as for "B" ... he caused so much stress and frustration on my part, he antagonized Joel, he was rough with toys, kids, Lexi, etc. Not a good "vibe" to have in the house.

There went my streak ...

I was motivated by my friend Christy's challenge to blog every day, so I was trying *REALLY* hard to post something every day. But then our house was invaded by a visitor from the East and everything fell apart. ;) Just kidding, Paula!

My wonderful friend Paula arrived Friday morning to spend a long weekend with us. I loved having her here, getting to spend time with her and having the kids spend time with her. We had a great weekend of all things girly ~ a trip to the zoo, shopping, pedicures, more shopping, chick flicks, ice cream, more shopping, lots of great food, laughs, and a little bit more shopping.

Today my mom came to town and we took Joel to get his 18 month pictures taken. We also did some fall shopping for the kids. I think they are pretty well set, although Alyssa doesn't have a whole lot of skirts/dresses. Not very practical for preschool, but if the "fancy" trend continues, I may have to go out and add a few more pieces to her wardrobe. I'm anxiously awaiting cooler weather now.

Overheard at daycare

I told Adam one time that I wanted to do an "overheard at daycare" blog after reading some of the "overheard in the office/new york/high school/at the beach" blogs. I don't know if I would really have enough stories to entertain people, but here's an "overheard" from today.

"Last time, when I was playing football, I saw a wasp. And that wasp ATE me on the arm. I was just looking at it and it ate me. And then it ate me on the other arm. And I didn't get the football! And then I died. Forever. "

The Blame Game

Yesterday morning Alyssa asked me if she could have a fruit snack. When I told her that she needed to wait until snacktime, she screamed "NO!" and hit me. So I told her that because she argued with and hit me she wouldn't get any snacks at all yesterday. About 10 minutes later she asked for a fruit snack again and when I reminded her that she argued with and hit me so she lost fruit snacks for the day she tried to convince me that it was Joel who hit me. I don't think so, kid.

Then this morning I heard some suspicious "scribbling" sounds coming from the closed laundry room. Upon investigation I found Alyssa looking wide-eyed with a purple crayon in her hand and purple graffiti on the back of the door. First thing out of her mouth was "Joel did it!". Riiight. So she had a time out and then she and I talked about how she's Joel's big sister and she has to think about what she's doing because he learns from her. And now she's trying to scrub off the crayon from the back of the door as the rest of her "punishment". Although I think she's rather enjoying using the sponge and "spray-y stuff", so I'm not sure how great of a punishment it is.

That which does not kill you ...

makes you stronger.

I went to my dreaded 10 year high school reunion this evening, and seeing as I'm blogging about it, you can see that it did not kill me. I'm not sure if I'm stronger, but I did have a really good time. I'm glad Eric and Hope guilted me into going. And I'm glad Adam went with me and had a somewhat enjoyable time ... what's more enjoyable that watching (mom, don't read this) your wife having too many drinks?!

I can't really explain why I was dreading this evening so much, but there was a part of me that felt like I would be 10 years older Christi in a room with my stilll 18 year old classmates and that I would stick out like a sore thumb. I was right on some level, probably 65 percent of the people there were still in the "let's chug beer and talk about how we kicked some _______ (insert other 3A school here) ass! Yeah!" type. But I really enjoyed spending time with the people that we spent time with. Most were people that I had at one time been pretty close to in high school and for some reason or another had drifted from during our years inschool. It was really nice to see that we had left that past behind and evolved into somewhat mature adults (I still stole Heidi's drink when she wasn't looking) that could enjoy each other's company while talking about kids, jobs, and of course the incredible device known as the Wii!

I get happy when ...

1. Joel sleeps until almost 10 allowing me to do important stuff like:
a. Give Alyssa my undivided attention so that she doesn't cry (tear free since 8:03!!! ... what's the remind you of, Boomer?)
b. Load dishwasher, sweep and mop breakfast nook, and declutter kitchen counters slightly.
c. Chat it up with my girl Angie for our daily "check in".

2. Alyssa and I cleaned her room with minimal fuss from her and minimal help from me. She probably did at least 75% of it on her own. Its amazing what the promise of chips for lunch and "winning" monies (she earned 23 cents for cleaning her room) can do to motivate that child.

3. I feel like I've accomplished something. See items 1 and 2.

4. There's the promise of 2 children napping at the same time today ... miracles happen, people, miracles happen.

5 MOST IMPORTANT! See sidebar for countdown ... Paula will be here in less than a week! One week from now I'll be touring the zoo with Paula and the kids; I can't wait!!!

I get crabby when ...

Okay, a lot of things make me crabby, but I'm having a crabby day, so I'm hoping that by identifying the things that are making me crabby today I will get said crabbiness out of me so that we have a somewhat pleasant day. Because Alyssa has burst into tears 3 times already this morning and its only 8AM. And I can't take much more of her emotional-ness in my current crabby state.

1. Children that wake up early. Thus waking me up early. And because she got up waaay early and didn't go back to sleep, becoming beside herself over the simplest things and crying/whining.
2. Children that go into their closet and take all their clothes off the hangers, then pile the hangers up in the middle of the room, but hide the clothes so that mommy won't suspect anything. Because I wouldn't notice that the normally full closet is empty. And then insert crying when I tell her that the first thing we're going to do today is clean up her room. Because she didn't do it, Joel did it. She means, Sophie did it. (Sophie did it once I pointed out to her that I didn't think that Joel could climb up and pull all the hangers down; but maybe I shouldn't underestimate him).
3. Kitchens where you can't see the counters. I cleaned the kitchen 3 times yesterday; I don't understand how it gets so trashed so quickly, but I hate, hate, hate looking at it. And I hate, hate, hate feeling like I do nothing but clean the kitchen all day.

Well, my favorite child Joel* will probably wake up soon, so I should go get the dishwasher loaded before I have to add "children who climb on/in and try to unload dishwasher while I'm loading it" to a thing that makes me crabby.

* disclaimer, Joel is only my favorite child because he's still sleeping and that DEFINITELY doesn't make me crabby. Things may change once he wakes up. ;)

I love school supplies!

I'm sure there will be a day that I dread buying school supplies because it means my babies are growing up and going out in the world to fend for themselves, but for now I LOVE it. To me it means cheap crayons, glue, and paper, which we can never seem to have enough of around here (because Alyssa doesn't understand that "less is more" and Joel likes to just destroy/rip/break things).

This morning I was at Target, so I picked up a few boxes of crayons, some glue sticks, colored pencils, etc. And since Alyssa has never really had a pair of her own scissors, I got her some "starter" scissors. And I couldn't resist the High School Musical folder. :) So for the last almost 30 minutes, the kids have been coloring together with new crayons, then Alyssa is cutting their papers and putting them in her new "holder". Okay, maybe Joel's eating a crayon or two, too. Its got fiber right? ;)

Guess who

is almost 23 pounds, almost 33 inches tall, and 18 months and 1 day old! Its our boy Joel!

Dear Joel,

You are absolutely everything I could have wished for in a little boy. You are a cuddle bug, yet fiercely independent at the same time. I'm so proud of everything that you have accomplished and I love watching you grow more every day. It makes me sad that you're quickly leaving babyhood behind, but each day with you had proven to be more and more amazing, so I try to enjoy and treasure the moments we have together each day and look forward to watching you continue to develop into your own little person.

You are brave. You will climb anything and everything that stands still (and sometimes try to climb Lexi). Your recent conquests have been the swingset and Daddy's ladder. I cannot believe how quickly you have mastered slides and ladders; you definitely are gifted in the climbing area.

You are a lover. We have finally gotten you to the point where you will (most of the time) give sweet, close-mouthed kisses. Although you do save some big sloppy ones for me, and honestly I love them. :) You really love your big sister and are constantly giving her hugs out of the blue. And she thinks that's the best thing ever. Lately when I've been dropping you off in the childcare room at the Y you'll let go of me, cling to Alyssa for a few moments, and then its like you know that you've got your big sister to protect and comfort you, so you're on your way to play. The last time I picked you up you didn't want to leave, which is quite the change from you bursting into tears as soon as I walked back in the room and rushing off to get our red bag so that we could get out of there ASAP!

Your favorite word right now seems to be "see". You use it to point out things that you've done as well as things that excite you and you want to share. You love to put other people's shoes on and you'll clomp around the house saying "see!? see?!" as you point out your accomplishment to anyone who will look.

We struggle with your love of hitting and pulling Alyssa's hair. I keep trying to tell her that you're just jealous of her curls and long hair, but I don't think she's going to buy that much longer. You do seem to love to hit whether with toys or with your hands. Its not always out of frustration or anger (although you do do that often and I can't say I always blame you because you're sister needs to work on her sharing and compromising skills); sometimes I think you just don't understand "nice" touches. It'll come. And you're always ready with kisses and hugs after you hit someone, so that helps.

Another love of yours these days is Lexi. You love to lay on her, climb on her, and give her hugs and kisses. It makes me miss Joey because I think you would really get a kick out of her being close to your own size. You're such a little fire ball of energy, I think you could really give her a run for her money. Of course, maybe that's not such a great thing. Maybe someday we'll talk Daddy into getting a smaller dog again. :)

I love you buddy bear.
Mommy

Note to self

Alyssa is a little too obsessive compulsive and/or panty-losing to be ready for day of the week underwear. It just causes stress.

I think I've mentioned that our girl is currently completely addicted to "High School Musical" and "High School Musical 2". So I, being the enabler that I am, bought her HSM panties. But it wasn't until we opened them that I realized that they were day of the week panties. Maybe they'll help her learn the days of the week, I thought.

This afternoon she was running around naked asking for panties and since I didn't know where her Saturday panties were I just handed her Tuesday ones. And here's what went down:

A: What these say on them?
M: T is for Troy and for Tuesday.
A: Tuesday? Today is Tuesday?
M: No, its Saturday, but I don't know where your Saturday panties went, so we'll just pretend those are Saturday ones.
A: My panties say "Saturday and T is for tea parties".

Okay.

Conversation with Alyssa 8-1-08

This may become a weekly installment, so I dated the entry. Here's a conversation that Alyssa and I had on our way to the bank/gym this morning. A couple months ago they broke ground on an elementary school down the street from us; the elementary school where Alyssa (and Joel) will go to school. We started talking about how they were building the school and that's where Alyssa and Sophie would go and eventually Joel would go when he got big like Alyssa, etc. So here's what she had to say today.

"There's my Sool!!" *after some thought* "They need to put a topper on it. And books in it. Books in it, and doors and windows and a teacher and then put the topper on. Right Mommy?".

Exactly.

Weirded out

All I can hear in the house is the sounds of "High School Musical". I'm guessing that my children have finally offed each other. So in honor of that I was just surfing around on facebook. And I was surprised to find that one of my best friends from college is friends with someone I worked with on an RMP film. Doing further investigation I realized that they graduated high school the same year and I'm sure they were probably both involved in the drama department, so I guess it it understandable. But it still seemed really strange to me.

Then I found another friend is "friends" (I added the "" because you can't really tell how close people are just because they are friends on facebook) with someone I went to college with. I think. I don't know that I really knew her, but the name sounds very familiar.

I guess its a small world after all.

Ah, back to the joyous screams and slaps that has been the soundtrack of my day. The children are alive and "well".

Commando

I fear Alyssa going to college. Not just because I'm going to miss her terribly, but if I can't keep underwear on the girl at 3 1/2 what the heck is going to happen when she's introduced to liquor and her "inhibitions" are lost?!

I cannot keep panties on the girl to save my life. She's quite the little nudist, but I try to at least keep panties on her. Or some sort of "bottom covering" article of clothing. I stress that no one needs to/wants to/should see her "pee parts". She's been trying to get away with wearing dress up clothes instead of regular clothes lately to get as naked as possible and sometimes I don't notice her lack of clothing, but when she strips every thing off but a tulle tutu you can't help but notice her in all her naked little tushy cuteness.

Travel

Booking airline tickets makes me want to throw up. Its not the thought of traveling/flying that makes my stomach upset, its just the actual booking of the trip and dealing with scheduling. I need a personal assistant for this kind of stuff.

Mamma Mia

Amy and I went to see Mamma Mia yesterday afternoon. What a great movie ~ it gets two thumbs up from both of us. Amy rushed out immediately after the movie to Target and bought the soundtrack and I bought it off of iTunes last night and put it on my iPod this morning before heading to the gym. I didn't really know the story line behind the musical before seeing previews for the movie even though I was very familiar with the title and I also didn't realize how many songs I would recognize while watching it. Although now I wonder if I'll really appreciate seeing the musical live ... I was always so glad that I saw "Rent" with a live touring group before seeing the movie.

I was watching the bride-to-be welcome her two best friends to her wedding preparations and the mother of the bride-to-be do the same and I started daydreaming about Alyssa's future. I wondered if Amy and I would be preparing for our daughters' wedding days together like we prepared for their other firsts like their first day of dance or upcoming first days of preschool. I wonder if Alyssa and Sophie will be as close then as they are now or if time will draw them apart. And then I started thinking back to my childhood best friend and wondering what it would have been like if we would have continued to grow up practically next door to each other. Distance is hard on a friendship when you're 10. We have several kids right around Alyssa's age in our neighborhood; I'm looking forward to seeing how they/if they play a role in each other's lives as they get older. But I'm willing to be patient; they don't need to grow up too quickly.

A new kind of motherhood

This morning I had the great honor of becoming a Godmother for the first time. Our friends Eric and Angie, who are Alyssa's Godparents, asked me to be their daughter Janika's Godmother and I am so, so excited. I told Adam that I can rest easy now because I reached my goal of having 3 kids ... 2 girls and a boy, doesn't get much better than that. :) Isn't Janika stinking adorable? Thank you to Eric and Angie for allowing me to be an official part of their family ~ and thanks to Boomer for taking pictures today!

Gas

As in gasoline, not as in "offending odor coming from Adam's side of the bed". ;)

I spent less that $3.50 per gallon of gas today. I'm beside myself with excitement!!!

How did I accomplish such feat? For some reason instead of the usual $.03 off per gallon with a receipt from Hy-Vee, I got a receipt that offered $.10 off per gallon. And then an additional coupon for an extra $.05 off per gallon. AND I paid cash, so that saved me ANOTHER $.05 per gallon! So that was $.20 saved per gallon for a per gallon price of $3.49. Nice.

Jackpot twice in one weekend ~ I should go pick up Angie and we should hit the boats!

Jackpot!

My shopping trip to JCPenney's today in a nutshell:

Number of items purchased: 13
Amount Paid: $22.05
(for you non-math whizzes, that's $1.69 per piece)
now that I think about it, 2 of the shirts I bought included 2 layered shirts, so I actually got 15 items, which brings my total to less that $1.50 per piece.

But anyway ... I SAVED ... drum roll please ... over $135! Awesome, huh?

They had a ton of infant - 4T stuff marked down to $.97 or $1.97 and a bunch of the size 4-6 stuff marked $1.97 or $2.97. I got some new clothes for Alyssa for school that I feel okay about getting destroyed by paint or whatnot when I only paid a couple bucks for each of them. I know that she's going to a very "hands on" preschool, which I love that she's going to get to experience so much "muck", but I also dread spending money on new clothes that are just going to get stained, etc.

So that's my great find for the day ... fellow moms, go check it out!

Holiday Goals

I've been inspired/motivated/challenged by the fantastic job that the adult Dwights are doing losing weight lately, so I decided to sit down and put some goals into writing. I've found that small goals are the easiest for me to achieve. When I think "hey I want to lose this much total weight", that seems really overwhelming, but if I break it down into 5 - 10 lb increments, its easier to swallow. Today I figured out that I want to lose about 30% of my total current weight, so I broke my goals down into 5% mini-goals and assigned a holiday to each of them. Here's my schedule.

5% - September 1st (Labor Day)
10% - October 12th (Columbus Day ~ actually Alyssa's birthday was my original goal, but then I realized that I could keep with the national holiday theme because she shares her b-day with Columbus day! Convenient, eh?)
15% - November 27th (Thanksgiving ~ although I'm hoping that I hit this goal closer to Halloween for my trip to Raleigh, but I'm trying to make these pretty "easy" goals ... the weight didn't come on overnight, so its not going to come off overnight, either)
20% - January 1st (New Years Day)
25% - February 14th (Valentine's Day)
30% - May 5th (Cinco de Mayo ~ closest holiday that I could think of to my birthday)

Fancy Alyssa

Idon't really remember who first told me about the "Fancy Nancy" line of books, but they are really adorable books for little girls. We recently added "Bonjour Butterfly" to our library and "Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy" is tucked away in the closet as an upcoming "Staying dry all night" reward. But I think the Fancy Nancy books are backfiring a bit because Alyssa is convinced she needs to be "fancy" every day. Which involves wearing a dress every day. But she is awfully gorgeous, isn't she? Too bad 80% of her wardrobe is currently in retirement.

No Cavity Club

Alyssa and I are both proud members of the "no cavity club" after having our check ups with the "tooth doctor" today. She does such a great job at the dentist; so much better than I expect. I'm always waiting for the fits to be thrown with refusing to open her mouth or attempting to bite Dr. F, but she gladly opens up. And I think she tolerate the "spit sucker" better than me because I always freak out slightly because I feel like my tonsils are going to get sucked out. Maybe they use a lower power suckage on her, huh? ;)

Today she turned to me as we were sitting in the chair after having our teeth cleaned and were waiting for the dentist to come in and said "I'm proud of you, Mommy". Thanks, baby.

Weekend Entertainment

Saturday night our family was invited over to our friend/neighbors for a "Lightening Bug Catching" Party. Complete with special guest appearances by "Adam the Amazing Fire Juggler" and the Sleep Fairy. All in all it was a pretty cute evening. They served s'mores and milk for the kids (had a keg and wine coolers for the adults) and the kids could make their own lightening bug craft or play tag while waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireflies to come out. Adam was quite the hit with our neighbors ~ I wouldn't be surprised if he starts getting booked up quickly! ;) Amy's niece Samantha dressed up as the sleep fairy to read the sleep fairy book to the kids as the party "closer". She looked beautiful and I loved the picture of the kids all sitting around listening to story time with their glow bracelets.

Dear Joel

I realize you're "fairly" new to this planet, but you should know that 5AM is NOT an acceptable time to wake up in the morning. I'll let it slide this time, but do NOT let this happen again. I may have to tender my resignation if these working conditions continue.

Love,
Mommy

PS ~ Although you were awfully cute cuddling up next to me in the big chair and pulling the blanket up over your lap all cozy-like. And you did let me catch up on a couple TiVoed shows, so it could have been worse.

Say What?

Today on the way home from my parents I found myself trying to count up all the words that Joel is saying lately (that we can understand). It seems like they have kind of come pouring out of him in the past couple weeks. And it also seems like he only has one volume ~ LOUD ~ when he says them.

Mama
Dada
Grandma (ra-ma)
Poppa
See (new today ~ he said it in the car when he had gotten Alyssa's shoe on his foot by himself, when I found him sitting in the toy shopping cart, and when he got applesauce on his spoon at supper)
Tickle (usually said three times fast and sounds like tiki-tiki-tiki)
Cracker
Grape
Cheese
Ball
Nee (trying to figure out if he calls his binky his nee or if he's trying to say "need" in reference to a binky and/or blanket)
Bye-bye
Uh oh
Me
go
bird

I feel like I'm forgetting some, so this may be a work in progress.

I'm in trouble

Alyssa enjoys the "celebration" I throw when she wakes up in the morning and still has pumpkins or flowers on her pull up (a sign that she hasn't peed during the night). So much so that she's started taking off her wet pull up and putting a new, dry one on before coming out of her room. If she can figure that out at 3 1/2 what the heck is she going to come up with when she's a teenager!?

Today Joel moved a kitchen chair across the kitchen and over to the counter where a bowl of grapes were. Evidently the boy wanted some grapes. He came around the corner squealing "mama! mama!" and looked pleased as punch as he held out a bunch of grapes for me. 17 months old.

I'm glad I'm a young mommy ... I think I'm going to need all the help/energy I can get to raise these two.

4th of July pictures part 3

Joel ... for the first time in his life, I think I took more pictures of him than of Alyssa. But he was completely hamming it up yesterday, so maybe that was part of it. Adam was playing around at supper trying to balance his spoon on his nose. Joel thought that was a pretty cool trick, so he started trying it, too. He thought he was HILARIOUS (of course all the laughing adults might have encouraged him a little bit). I was really surprised/impressed that he wasn't scared of the firecrackers that Craig would sneak away to set off when no one was looking. Honestly, I almost cried a couple times because they surprised me. Overall, I think he had a great time taking in all the people, food, and new things to see.

4th of July pictures part 2

Alyssa ... she was in her element yesterday at Craig and Judi's annual 4th of July party. She was having a "slumber party" in Sarah's bed with Sarah and Amelia. While they read books to her, she conked out on Sarah's shoulder. So Sarah took advantage of the downtime to catch up on some phone calls. One of my favorite pictures of the day. She also got to paint her beloved Anna's fingers nails, which she thought was awesome. And I thought was awfully brave of Anna to allow. :) She and Becca started singing "oooh! ah! oh, what's next" at the fireworks last night, which went along well with the "Firecracker, Firecracker, boom, boom, BOOM!" chant that Amy and I taught the girls the night before.

4th of July pictures part 1

Tell me these aren't two of the cutest kids you've ever seen. Although they aren't that great at being photographed together. Alyssa kept trying to "hold" Joel in her lap (aka had a death grip on his neck), so I kept telling her to put her arms up and wave them around saying "Happy 4th of July!". Then Joel started playing peek-a-boo back to Adam and my mom who were trying to get him to look/smile at the camera and Alyssa decided to get in on the action, too. These are the moments that make my heart melt.

Feeling Crafty

The countdown has begun to one of my favorite holidays ~ the 4th of July! I have tons of great memories of the fourth from when I was growing up: watching fireworks in my hometown with my parents on the hill at the local baseball diamond, vacation weekends spent at Lake Okoboji with fireworks explode over the water and, of course, the occasional illegal fireworks excitement hanging out with my high school friends. The 4th of July also is pretty significant in the beginning of Adam and my relationship, which makes it special, too.

Ever since Alyssa's first 4th of July, we have been lucky enough to spend the holiday surrounded by my amazing adopted/honorary family and I look forward to that time with them every year. The past few years my dad has also driven his tractor in a parade in a small town near my hometown, which has become a fun tradition to share with Alyssa; I think she gets a kick out of watching her Poppa "in action". Last year both kids slept through all the sparklers and firework action, so I'm excited to see Alyssa's reaction this year ~ I fully expect Joel to sleep through it again this year. :)

In anticipation for next Friday's festivities, I was feeling a little crafty tonight and wanted to share my masterpiece that I created for Alyssa. I think I may make a pair for me, too.

Before

After

Spent about $4 on those cuties ... can't beat that!

Born too late ...

She SOOOO could have been a child of the 80's, don't you think? ;)

Cute Alyssa-ism

Tonight Alyssa was talking about watching The Backyardigans (one of her current faves and I love the way she pronounces it, so I guess its one of my current faves, too). I asked her if she wanted to have a Backyardigans birthday party this year and after thinking for a moment she told me that she wanted her birthday party to be "Beauty and the Beast". I had been thinking lately since she had been really into watching B&B that it would be cute for Alyssa and Joel to go trick or treating as Belle and Beast this year, so I mentioned this to Alyssa. And then went on to say that Daddy could be Cogsworth and Mommy could be Mrs Potts. Alyssa thought this was a grand idea, then started going through all the characters in the movie and decided who would dress up as them.

The best one by far was Joel, who in Alyssa's words should be the "Ki-o-e ... oooooooooooh". Honestly, had she not added the Coyote howl at the end of saying "Ki-o-e" I would have had no idea what she was talking about. Isn't that the cutest?! And its so funny to me that she sees the coyotes as being a "main" character in the movie. Even more than some of the supporting household "objects".

Those damn ears!

I thought that once the turmoil of whether we were going to have to have tubes put in Joel's ears or not, and then the trauma of actually *having* them put in, were past us we would be in the clear. No more thinking about ears, worrying about ears, stressing about ear.

I was wrong.

Everyone had been telling me that if Joel got an ear infection with his tubs in "gunk" would start pouring out of his ear. Hard to miss that, right? Well, yesterday I was handing him off to one of the babysitters in the childcare room at the gym and noticed a big piece of "gunk" and some crusty stuff around one of his ears. I immediately thought "Ah ha! Here is the pouring forth of gunk that I'd heard about". So immediately after getting home from the gym I called Dr. K's office and pronounced that Joel had gunk, so must have an ear infection and wanted to know what to do. The nurse called me back, asked a few questions, and then called me back a second time to let me know that they had called in some ear drops for him.

But then the uncertain feelings started creeping in. It wasn't like said "gunk" was *really* pouring out of his ear. Maybe it was drainage from his nose that dripped into his ear during the night. He hadn't been pulling on his ears, But he had been difficult to get to sleep, so ... But I figured we would do the drops and it couldn't hurt anything.

Until we got the estimate of $100 for the ear drops. Then I *really* started questioning myself.

3 phone calls to the nurses line at Dr. K's office and a personal phone call from Dr. K who wasn't working today, by the way and called me from his home, I finally feel some closure. But I have new worries that I hadn't even thought of, so now I share them for any other poor, clueless mom out there.

Dr. K told me that because there had been no more "gunk" there were two possibilities.
1) the meds that Joel had been on for his sinus infection had nipped the ear infection in the bud and there was just a little bit of infection to leak out of his ear.
Okay, I can handle that.
2) his tube is plugged and the infection is building up against the tube.
Whaaa? That happens?! Why have I never heard of this before?!??!?!! Vision of a tube flying out of my son's ear due to insane pressure of puss are flying through my brain.

Then I remind myself that the tube is about the size of a pin head and will not destroy anything in its path when it flies out of my precious Joel's ear. And that scenario is *probably* me being *slightly* dramatic.

But still ... just when I thought I didn't have to worry about the inner workings of my child's ears anymore.

And I bet that's more than you wanted to know about Joel's ears and/or tubes, huh? ;)

Going Green

I'm not sure if its Adam's supreme desire to be more "green" or the fact that I'm growing up and becoming more mature or the influence of some of the moms on my moms' boards, but I find myself thinking more and more about being green from day to day.

The running joke in our house is that I'll proudly proclaim that I'm taking my canvas bags to the grocery store with me (to avoid using plastic bags). And then I'll add that I'm going to the grocery store in my big 'ole SUV. Kind of defeats the purpose, huh? ;)

Our garage company recently teamed up with this great website/program called RecycleBank where we are give points based on the amount that we recycle and then we can cash in our points for coupons off groceries, free movie tickets, gift certificates, etc. But I think its also really neat that when I sign into the website to check our "balance" it tells you how many gallons of oil and trees that you've saved from the amount that you've recycled. Kind of cool to have it in print.

I finally got the clothes line that I've been bugging Adam about since we moved in together 7 years ago a few weeks ago. Granted, its a small, retractable one that goes from the side of the house to the swing set and not a 4 lined, free standing "professional" one like my parents, but its a start. Today I felt very proud of myself for saving energy by line drying our sheets instead of drying them in the dryer. PLUS we get that great "freshly dried outside smell/feel" to our clean sheets. And we need all the freshness we can get after all the germs that have been floating around this joint the past few days.

Baby steps.

Night at our house ... for Adam

I was sitting at my computer a few minutes ago and Adam was sitting across the room from me playing with the kids. The gate was obscuring my view of Joel, but all the sudden I heard the familiar "zerberting" noises coming from my second born. I looked up and asked Adam, "did Joel find a car?" ... sure enough Joel was racing a car across the carpet complete with "bbbbttttpppppbbbbtttttttttt" car sounds.

Update ... evidently Mickey Mouse and cars sound exactly the same.

* Adam asked me to blog about this so that he doesn't forget about it. So, HB, this blog's for you!

Night at our house ... for Adam

Stopping to look at the lilies

I've been anxiously waiting for my lilies to bloom ever since I planted the bulbs last fall. My first yellow bloom appeared last week and today as I was looking out the window I noticed more yellow ones and some beautiful orange ones! Its amazing what you see when you take the time to look around ... a good life lesson!

More makeup than mommy ...

Did you expect a picture of Alyssa?! ;)
(in case you can't really tell, he has powder all over his face/shirt/hair)

Slipping and sliding

I know I've seen several movies, comedy sketches, etc where you'll have a person who slips on some ice. Just a little slip; enough to get the adrenaline pumping. This person catches him or herself before they actually fall, but will stand frozen in time for a few seconds as if by standing still the ice will disappear. Then, just when they feel its safe to make their way on, they slip again. And catch themselves again. And feel safe. And then slip. And the vicious cycle continues until the land flat on their back, their body aching in the middle of a big sheet of ice with the seam of their pants ripped and granny panties hanging out.

This is how I feel today. Like I just can't quite get onto safe ground. No matter how hard I try, I just can't quite get there. Maybe I should just throw myself down on the ground, take a nap, and wait for spring. ;)

Medical Woes

We've had a lot of health issues in the extended family over the past couple weeks. I've avoided blogging about it because one of the people effected was/is Adam's grandma and since he's not blogging about it, I don't feel like I should. The other person is my sister and I just am a complete jumble of feelings about her situation that I didn't want to ramble on and on and on about her on my blog. But tonight we got news about both of them, so I feel the need to comment on both.

My sister was diagnosed last week (wow, it feels like its been a lot longer than a week) with MS. Tonight I was talking to my dad, who had talked to my brother (nothing like a good old game of "telephone" to spread news) who relayed that after more testing they determined that her MS is "severe". I'm not really sure what that means. But it doesn't sound good and she's not even 40 years old yet, so she could be in for a long ride. My brother also said that because of their insurance coverage (or lack thereof) the hospital is refusing to do any further treatments. All of the sudden in my mind my sister seems very old and tired.

Adam's grandma fell last Sunday in the shower and ended up having surgery to relieve blood buildup/pressure in her brain. We were warned immediately that she probably would never be the same. Today is the first day that she's really responded to anyone by opening her eyes or wiggling her toes, but it sounds like she still won't/can't do it on demand. My mother-in-law and her siblings signed paperwork today to have Adam's grandma put into a nursing home. Which absolutely breaks my heart. Because she is not a nursing home grandma. She's a little ball of fire that always seems to be off and running in 15 different directions whether its spending time with her friends or volunteering at this or that or getting her hair done. I feel like her being put into a nursing home means that her life, her spirit, her energy is broken. I keep thinking about walking into my inlaws house when she comes to visit and seeing her pitter patter her way out of the kitchen to say hello and hand out hugs and the thought that I'm never going to see that again makes me so sad.

Alyssa and I were looking through her baby scrapbook a few weeks ago and she very happily pointed out great-grandma to me. I loved that. I was so glad that even though she only sees her great-grandma a couple times a year, we've been able to instill a relationship and a memory of her in Alyssa's mind. I'm so grateful that she has "good" memories of her and I hope that we will be able to help her hold onto those forever no matter what the future may bring.

Saint Sandy

My friend Staci and I are having a garage sale this weekend and my saint of a mother agreed to come down yesterday morning and spend the day to help watch the kids. The kids being my two children, Staci's three children, and my three daycare kids. 8 kids equaling 3 1 year-olds, a 2 year old, a 3 1/2 year old, a 4 1/2 year old, and a 6 1/2 year old. And then she spent the night so that she could take Alyssa to "ladybug camp" this morning for me. Did I mention that she's a saint?

Tonight I was telling Staci that I wish there was a way to express to my mom how much I appreciate everything she did for us the last two days and Staci made the comment about how it seemed like every time she went into the house my mom was folding laundry or washing dishes or doing something "helpful" and she would think to herself "damn, I wish that was my mom".

So here's my attempt to show my appreciation ... a blog shout out to my mom ... thanks for everything! From donut holes to diaper changes (complete with poop on your arm) ... you're the BEST!

Wood Floors

When Adam and I were looking for our first house, we immediately ignored any house advertising wood floors. He was currently living in a house that had all wood floors and the wood floors and Lexi were not a good mix. After we moved in I got a "wood floor itch" and felt like I was constantly trying to talk him into letting me put wood floor in the kitchen and dining room areas to spice things up a little. No go.

So when we started shopping for our second house, partial wood floors were high on my list of wants. And wood floors we got.

But now that I listen to children (whoa, I just typed chicken, what kind of Freudian slip is that?!) pushing strollers, shopping carts, cars, etc over the wood floors the thought crosses my mind that I would kill for all carpeting ... its so much more quiet. Or maybe I should carpet the wheels of the various "driving" items to cut down on the noise pollution.

Recital Pictures

As previously mentioned, Alyssa's dance recital was last Saturday night. She did such a wonderful job. She was adorable and confident and I'm so, so proud of her. The silver outfit was her ballet costume and they danced to a kind of disco-y version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the the orange outfit was tap, which they performed to "Rugrat Rap" (evidently from the Rugrats movie.) I got misty eyed Friday night at rehearsal and Saturday night at the performance when they did their ballet routine ... probably didn't cry during that tap one because they were having such a great time jumping around and showing off their attitude.

Enjoy the pictures ~ and we have video of her dances if anyone wants to come over and see them!

notice the missing gloves in the second picture? She told me she didn't want to wear them; I guess she just humored me while I was getting her dressed and then ditched them as soon as I left the room. ;)

Alyssa's BFF Sophie, Alyssa, and Taye (one of my daycare kids)

Hello, My name is Joel!

I can be found spending my days ...

cruising in my cozy coupe ...
(rest easy now, Dee, your Joely has his very own)

trying new foods and/or fashion statements

sporting the Mickey Mouse "mohawk"

chatting it up with the ladies ... via pink shopping cart "stool"

The circle of life ...

Tonight was Alyssa's BIG dance recital. After wresting Joel to sit through the 45 minute Christmas recital and hearing rumors of a 3+ hour spring recital I decided that Joel needed to stay at home.

Problem: Both sets of babysitters aka grandparents were going to the recital.
Solution: Ask honorary cousin Sarah to come with my parents and stay at our house to watch Joel.
Weirdness: I taught Sarah's 3 year old Sunday School class AND used to babysit her and her younger brother.

Our lunch date: Pros and Cons

Today for lunch the kids and I met up with my wonderful friend, Christy, and her 3 boys at McDonalds. McDonalds WITH one of the huge play places. I found myself making a pro/con list of the experience on the way home and decided I would share. For anyone who might be considering doing that same thing. I figure its my mommy duty.

Pro: Getting to have lunch (and gossip time) with one of my favorite mommies and some of my favorite little guys.
Pro: Being proud of myself for ordering a salad when what I really wanted was some beefy something or other.
Pro: Proud of myself for NOT going through the drive through after loading up the kids and getting an ice cream cone. There is just something abouts soft serve ice cream cones and me lately. Yum.

So overall the lunch portion was pretty pro.

Now for the play play.

Con: Sign on door saying that socks are required; available at ordering counter for $1. *mind you its summer and my kids have been in sandals/crocs and I didn't even *think* about bringing socks.
Pro: My daughter immediately takes her socks off as soon as we get in the car, so I, by some miracle, actually have two pairs of socks floating around the backseat, saving myself $2.

Pro: Alyssa fell asleep instantly when we got home and hopefully will take a good nap.
Con: When told "time to go", Alyssa talked me into 2 more slides. 2 more slides and about 20 minutes of running around in the tunnels/tubes that lead up to the slides.
Pro: My Evan was around to chase her out of the tunnels/tubes.

Con: Play place was only for ages 3 - 12. So no playing for Joel. Which worked out okay, because he was tired and didn't mind sitting with me. And now that I think about it, I don't know that I would have wanted him climbing on that monster thing because with my luck he would get stuck/throw a fit somewhere in the middle and then I would have to have a breakdown.
Con: Play place was very LOUD.

I'm not sure if we'll make this a very regular outing. But it was good to see the Kleffmans!

Pet peeve

This may be my greatest pet peeve, and I don't think I've ever divulged it to anyone. Its such a "parenting" pet peeve. Or maybe just a mommy one.

It drives me NUTS when people sit down at the table before I have the entire meal ready to go. It bothers me when people/kids are just sitting at the table waiting for a meal to be served to them. I want to scream when people start eating and I'm still running around trying to get everything set out, drinks, the kids food ready, napkins, etc. I hate how it ends up feeling so chaotic and I feel like I'm constantly behind.

In my dream world, no one else would be in the kitchen while I was getting a meal ready. I would be able to get the plates filled, drinks poured, napkins, silverware, etc on the table and then everyone would could sit down. Everyone. At the same time. Without me stumbling over people while I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

I tried implementing my "wishes" today at lunch with daycare kids. There was a LOT of crying and some yelling and a lot of pulling kids away from the table/kitchen, but once everyone sat down, then it went much smoother. There was no "I need a napkin! I don't want a spoon; I want a fork! I want a drink! Where's MY pears?!"; there was just eating. (Did you notice that we seem to lack a lot of manners during the "demanding" phase of meals?)

Dear Joel ~ a few days past 16 months old

My sweet, sweet, buddy bear,

After watching you determinedly many, many times to climb the ladder on the swingset so that you could be on the top platform with the "big kids", my heart tightened. Where did my little baby boy go? Its not going to be very long before you are constantly trying to do everything that your big sister is doing. And I'm sure it won't be very long before you get VERY frustrated that you can't do everything Alyssa is doing. But I'm sure it also won't be long before there isn't much you *can't* do.

Today you tried each ladder, but when you couldn't pull yourself up, you seemed to take it all in stride and toddled off to find something else to play with. Kind of like you told yourself "Not yet" and accepted that.

Don't grow up so fast; Mommy isn't ready yet.

Tons and tons and tons of love,
Mommy

Worm Camp

This morning Alyssa attended the first of four mini-day camps that she is going to go to this summer at the preschool that she will attend in the fall. (Yes, I finally decided/broke down and our baby girl is starting preschool in the fall). Today's camp was called "Wormology". From what I've gathered from talking to the preschool director last week and the items Alyssa brought home this morning they dug for worms, then once they found a worm, they made a worm house and brought their worms home. Supposedly "Dr Worm" (a poor schmuck college student dressed up like a worm) was supposed to visit to teach the kids about worms. Alyssa told Adam tonight that worms don't have bodies. Interesting, eh? Anyway, the worm house is a plastic container with sand, dirt, lettuce, and wet newspaper scraps as best as I can tell. A handout came home titled "The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Worm". Thankfully the first instruction is to find a safe place in your yard for your worm within 3 days of bring it home. But the thing that *really* gets me is the last instruction "you may leave the cover off for your worm to get more air. It won't crawl out because he likes the dark." I don't think so. That worm's cover is staying on tight. I don't even want to THINK about worms crawling around my house. Blech. That worm needs to move to the back yard ASAP.