Thank goodness Joel is a boy

The kid can be sooo moody and prone to mood swings that I can't imagine what he would be like when he was PMSing, so I am INSANELY thankful that he's a boy. Or maybe its just that his big sister brings out the worst in him. Oy.

Overheard at daycare

From an almost 4 year old after taking a big swig from a sippy cup of apple juice:

"mmmm, this is good beer. I love this beer."

I think I may have to mention that one to his daddy when he comes to pick him up today.

At least Alyssa didn't add "If you like beer, you should try some Boone's!". ;)

The power of observation

I evidently have no observation skills tonight.

1. Adam and I are going out to dinner with some friends tonight, so I told Alyssa we could go get pizza for her, Joel, and Jessica (our babysitter). I sent Alyssa out the door with her shoes and told her to get in the car while I found my keys. Of course instead of getting in the car, she played around in the driveway until I came out. Per usual. And in the back of my mind I told myself that she probably left some toy behind my car and I should go check. But I didn't. Fast forward about 2 minutes and crunch went the sound of her scooter being smooshed by my big, bad SUV. And I'm not sure if I'm more upset at myself for not looking behind the car or mad at her for not listening to me and getting in the car when I told her to.

2. So she lost the chance to go get pizza with me and I made my way to the pizza place and picked up a $5 cheese pizza that actually cost me $5.94, which just seems wrong, but I'll ignore that for now. I got home and was looking at the "cheese pizza" with Alyssa only to notice that there was hamburger all over that pizza. Not a big deal because both my kids will eat hamburger, but now I don't know if I should be mad at myself for not checking the box or mad at the pizza guy for giving me the wrong thing.

I wonder if the Chinese place we're going to serves grown up drinks ... I don't think hot tea is going to cut it tonight.

A familiar face

Last night Alyssa and I met Amy and Sophie at the mall for a little Friday night getaway. Note to self, there are some creepy people hanging out at the mall at 7:30 on a Friday night. Anyway, the girls were sidetracked as we walked by the calendar store by a display of "Hannah a'tanna!", so we decided to walk in and look at some of the calendars. I was immediately drawn to a Pomeranian one. *sigh* I held it up and asked Alyssa who the picture on the front looked like and she immediately gasped "Joey! Oh, its Joey!!!!!!" and tore it out of my hands to show Sophie. "Look, Sophie, its Joey! Joey!!!!". Sophie wasn't too impressed.

On one hand it warmed my heart that Alyssa still gets so excited over "Joey sightings" and that she obviously still has a lot of love for her, but on the other hand it makes me a little sad because I don't think she really gets yet that Joey is not coming back. Lately she's been talking a lot about her "girls" or "boys" (imaginary friends if you missed that post) being dead. They're usually "dead" at Grandma and Poppa's house or Robb and Crystal's house, so I don't think she entirely gets that Joey isn't coming back. But maybe that's okay. I don't know if I totally get/accept that Joey isn't coming back.

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? ;)