Oy. I suppose this should be under a Trouble Spot Tuesday, but well, I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with this yet.
Spring always brings out my inner clean freak. It makes me want to move furniture, wipe baseboards and well, clean out every nook and cranny. And yeah, maybe throw out ½ of the house. All of a sudden, all the accumulated crap just suffocates me.
I have no problem with clothes. I personally do not have a lot of clothes, nor does Hubster. And I’m good about moving those along. The girls – well, we’ve recently come into a HUGE amount of hand me downs. Which is great! I’m not complaining. Mouse is “just” about out of 3T, but some still fits for now. And Baboo is “just” about out of 18 m, but some still fits now. So we have way more clothes than we really need and are on the cusp of a season change as well. The nice thing is that Baboo will inherit a lot of Mouse’s stuff in time, and while I don’t keep EVERYTHING, I do keep most of it. It’s a lot to store and kind of a pain. But it bothers me more to have to buy it all again. So, I can deal with clothes, generally.
The hard, hard part for me is toys. Sigh. My kids really don’t play with a lot of toys. Yes, we do have a lot of toys – not as many as some people, but a lot. Before we moved, we had a tiny little house and all the toys were in our living area. Overall it worked, but it bugged me that we always had toys all over the living room.
So, when we bought this house, we designated a whole room for the toys. It’s big, it’s bright, it’s fun … and they rarely play there. We have a space down here as well, that I set up for the days when I teach Pilates, and they do play with some of the stuff there, but not very often.
They have a play kitchen, but don’t often play with it. They have blocks, but don’t often play with it. They have a bin of baby dolls and accessories, but almost never play with those. They have puzzles, but again… rarely play with them. We have Little People stuff – a house, bus etc… and again, they rarely play with it.
So what do they play with? Baboo plays with a beautiful Victorian doll house my Mum made. But she’s not very gentle with it. Mouse plays dress up with her dress up clothes and a lot with her regular clothes. They jump on the couch, sometimes ride bikes, run around, color, play outside.
I feel like I barely know my kids toy preferences. What’s a bit frustrating is that if I see Baboo is interested in something, we may get it for her (occasionally) or she gets something for a gift. Mouse will INSIST on having the exact same thing… which has happened a few times… and then she never touches it again. It’s like she just wants it to have it to say she has one, and to protect it, but won’t use it. That kind of thing makes me crazy.
Mouse will play with something if “I” sit and play with her. She will not often go and play by herself. Baboo will go and play with just about anything, especially on her own, but doesn’t seem to have a big preference.
Right now, they’re playing on the couch – “rescue” something-or-other… with pillows a blanket and some weird octopus thing from McDonald’s (that will eventually end up in the trash – in about a week or so).
Mouse loves electronic games – computer (and she’s good!), L-MAX, playing outside, acting out animals etc. She wants to do what I’m doing, be where I am and be entertained by any other adult around. She likes to be silly and jump on the bed and make noises and hide under covers and “rescue” things. She’s obessed with princess dress up clothes, and will play with them, but again, I think she just prefers “collecting” them, versus actually pretending to be a princess. She loves to draw and paint and do crafts, but can’t just make them to make them. She MUST GIVE them to someone. I’m generally the recipient. I’ve got a huge collection. (sigh).
Baboo goes along with just about anything Mouse is doing. She loves to run around but will sit and look at books or will play with blocks or little people and things like that. If left alone, she will go and cook up something in the play kitchen, but often gets distracted by big sister. She also loves to do just about anything I’m doing. She also loves anything electronic – computers, L-MAX, anything with buttons. And what’s scary is that she’s good at them.
But… my dilemma is that Baboo plays more than Mouse does with toys in general, so I’m hesitant to get rid of much until she’s a bit older and grows out of them. But, it kind of burns my butt that it’s just sitting there. I’m passing on the baby toys, and a bunch of other junky stuff.
I’m trying to decide what to do. And I’m so, so hesitant to buy anything new. Gift giving occasions are torture for me. I’m so rarely sure of what they’ll like and just getting gifts to have them makes me crazy, especially when I’m pretty sure they’re not going to use them.
I feel like I don’t really “know” my kids. I feel a bit like they are outside the norm. I also feel very “needed” for their entertainment at times, which can be wearing and I wonder if I’m helping them or hindering them. I also shelter them from some of the toys right now – Barbie, Petshop stuff (to a degree), anything Bratz (growl – NEVER). Am I sheltering them too much?
In some ways, I’m glad they’re learning and experiencing “real life” stuff, but on the other hand, I want them to be creative and imaginative and be able to do things on their own for longer than 5 minutes. In some ways I don’t feel like I relate to them very well. As a kid, I spent HOURS playing by myself, maybe not at this very young age, but just a bit older than this, I would create whole lives for my dolls, play house with friends or my brother, build with Legos for hours, create adventures camping etc, I played with baby dolls a lot. That’s what I remember playing as a kid, and so I’m not sure how to related to what my girls are looking for in play. I have to stop myself from buying things just because I think they are “classic” toys, or under the pretense that they SHOULD be interested in this kind of toy or MIGHT become interested in that kind of toy.
Anyway… I guess I should re-title this – “Musings on my Kids Play Habits”. And of course, if I try to get rid of anything, even under stealth, it will suddenly become “THE THING WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT!”. Sigh. I guess I’ll keep picking through things, censoring myself from buying things and try to be more observant of what my kids really want and need.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Potty Training 101
Yesterday was the BIG DAY. The day to POTTY TRAIN Baboo, aka “The Diaper Shedding Bandit”.
I borrowed the “Potty Train in 1 Day” video from the library, watched it 3 times and took notes. I stocked up on training panties, snacks/ treats/drinks, bought a fancy new big girl sip cup and got out our “peeing” baby doll. Hubster planned a movie/lunch date with Mouse so that I could have most of the day to just work with Baboo.
After Hubster and Mouse left, Baboo and I “trained” the baby to go potty. I had made panties for it by cutting holes in the seams of some old baby booties I had (worked great, by the way, well enough to convince my 2 year old). “Baby” did well, with only 1 accident that required the “wet pants, hurry, hurry” potty practice drill as per the dvd videos. “Baby” did so well that she got a treat and we proclaimed her a “BIG GIRL” now.
Then it was Baboo’s turn. She’s worn panties before so this wasn’t something new. I plied her with water/juice/milk and snacks. Made a big deal out of the new cup and practiced going potty a few times. Within an hour, she had it down. She consumed snacks/drinks/m&ms and gummies all morning. We read books, played with blocks and just were quiet. She went potty many times. She even started going on her own, without me prompting her.
She almost pooped her pants, but we caught it in time and had to celebrate with a few m&ms! Whoo!
Nap time went well, with just a bit of a wet pull up.
And, despite my worries, when she was playing with Mouse last night, she stopped and went potty when she needed to. No accidents ALL day.
Bed time was tough. She kept wanting to take her stuff off and did actually go potty a few times. We did have to change the pull ups a few time because they were a bit wet and it took her a while to settle down.
Today, she had her well child visit at the doctors. I was going to put her in a pull up, but decided against it. She wore big girl panties and again… no accidents. She did ask to go potty oh, about a dozen times, but she did go just about every time. I’m ok with that. Reinforce that we’re taking her seriously.
So, all in all, I’m very pleased with her progress. I do ask her to check her undies a few times a day, just to remind her about the potty. I know that there will be accidents, and I’m ok with that. And I don’t expect her to be dry over night either. This is good considering she’s only 2.
She’s very proud of herself and that’s the big thing. She loves that she can do it “by my self!” and that’s what it’s all about.
I borrowed the “Potty Train in 1 Day” video from the library, watched it 3 times and took notes. I stocked up on training panties, snacks/ treats/drinks, bought a fancy new big girl sip cup and got out our “peeing” baby doll. Hubster planned a movie/lunch date with Mouse so that I could have most of the day to just work with Baboo.
After Hubster and Mouse left, Baboo and I “trained” the baby to go potty. I had made panties for it by cutting holes in the seams of some old baby booties I had (worked great, by the way, well enough to convince my 2 year old). “Baby” did well, with only 1 accident that required the “wet pants, hurry, hurry” potty practice drill as per the dvd videos. “Baby” did so well that she got a treat and we proclaimed her a “BIG GIRL” now.
Then it was Baboo’s turn. She’s worn panties before so this wasn’t something new. I plied her with water/juice/milk and snacks. Made a big deal out of the new cup and practiced going potty a few times. Within an hour, she had it down. She consumed snacks/drinks/m&ms and gummies all morning. We read books, played with blocks and just were quiet. She went potty many times. She even started going on her own, without me prompting her.
She almost pooped her pants, but we caught it in time and had to celebrate with a few m&ms! Whoo!
Nap time went well, with just a bit of a wet pull up.
And, despite my worries, when she was playing with Mouse last night, she stopped and went potty when she needed to. No accidents ALL day.
Bed time was tough. She kept wanting to take her stuff off and did actually go potty a few times. We did have to change the pull ups a few time because they were a bit wet and it took her a while to settle down.
Today, she had her well child visit at the doctors. I was going to put her in a pull up, but decided against it. She wore big girl panties and again… no accidents. She did ask to go potty oh, about a dozen times, but she did go just about every time. I’m ok with that. Reinforce that we’re taking her seriously.
So, all in all, I’m very pleased with her progress. I do ask her to check her undies a few times a day, just to remind her about the potty. I know that there will be accidents, and I’m ok with that. And I don’t expect her to be dry over night either. This is good considering she’s only 2.
She’s very proud of herself and that’s the big thing. She loves that she can do it “by my self!” and that’s what it’s all about.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
URINE-SANE
Maybe “YOU’RE” not, but I am. I’m drowning; drowning in pee, and laundry covered in pee.
Baboo has turned into the Diaper Shedding Bandit on top of WAKING UP 2 last week (that’s a whole ‘nother post) and I’m going crazy. Seriously. Every time I turn my back for 2 seconds, she is taking her diaper off and then summarily peeing all over the floor or a bed somewhere. Nap time yesterday was a nightmare with 5 diaper changes in an hour and a half. And 2 at bed time (with the expensive night time diapers with liners) and several more accidents on the floor in the afternoon.
Sometimes we get lucky and she’ll pee in the potty, but we have way more misses than hits. Way more. We’ve tried pull ups and we’ve tried just plain undies with no difference. It doesn’t seem to matter.
I’ve asked her NOT to take it off, demanded that she not take it off, and she looks at me and says “Ok, Mama” and then proceeds to do it anyway. ARGH. Then she asks me “You happy, Mama?”. Uh.. no. Not exactly as I clean up more pee. What’s funny is that when she takes the diaper off, she puts it in the garbage and goes to get another one. I wouldn’t really care if she could get it on and not make a mess, but well… she’s 2.
This morning, after I hear “Moooom, Baboo took her diaper off again”, and before I completely snapped, I resorted to bribery. Baboo LOVES m&m’s and I happened to have some left over from her cake. I filled 2 jars (with tight fitting lids because I know she’ll try to get into them) and showed them to her. I said – “if you put the pee in the potty, you can have an m&m” and then placed the colourful jar within her view. She said “right now?” And I said YES… even at 8 am. She sat down and tried to pee, but nothing. But she really tried, so I gave her one to show I was serious. She tried again later, made it and I rewarded her with praise and an m&m. And then she started asking every 2 seconds for them. And then Mouse wanted to know if SHE could have m&m’s every time Baboo got one. We have not gone pee on the potty again today, BUT we've had 2 accidents on the floor and 3 changes of clothes. Uh yeah.
Sigh. I think that bribery is going to backfire on me big time.
Anyway, I don’t know if she’s really READY for potty training, though I had thought that we would try it more intensively next week while Mouse is out on spring break. It will mean that I do nothing else except shadow her everywhere so I can catch the pee-pee moments and encourage her with positive reinforcements instead of trying not to have an aneurysm every time she does this. I don’t want to “punish” her, but I’m not really sure how to deal with this.
Any suggestions? Please! Help! Throw a book! Throw some towels! Throw some advice! Throw a life boat!
Baboo has turned into the Diaper Shedding Bandit on top of WAKING UP 2 last week (that’s a whole ‘nother post) and I’m going crazy. Seriously. Every time I turn my back for 2 seconds, she is taking her diaper off and then summarily peeing all over the floor or a bed somewhere. Nap time yesterday was a nightmare with 5 diaper changes in an hour and a half. And 2 at bed time (with the expensive night time diapers with liners) and several more accidents on the floor in the afternoon.
Sometimes we get lucky and she’ll pee in the potty, but we have way more misses than hits. Way more. We’ve tried pull ups and we’ve tried just plain undies with no difference. It doesn’t seem to matter.
I’ve asked her NOT to take it off, demanded that she not take it off, and she looks at me and says “Ok, Mama” and then proceeds to do it anyway. ARGH. Then she asks me “You happy, Mama?”. Uh.. no. Not exactly as I clean up more pee. What’s funny is that when she takes the diaper off, she puts it in the garbage and goes to get another one. I wouldn’t really care if she could get it on and not make a mess, but well… she’s 2.
This morning, after I hear “Moooom, Baboo took her diaper off again”, and before I completely snapped, I resorted to bribery. Baboo LOVES m&m’s and I happened to have some left over from her cake. I filled 2 jars (with tight fitting lids because I know she’ll try to get into them) and showed them to her. I said – “if you put the pee in the potty, you can have an m&m” and then placed the colourful jar within her view. She said “right now?” And I said YES… even at 8 am. She sat down and tried to pee, but nothing. But she really tried, so I gave her one to show I was serious. She tried again later, made it and I rewarded her with praise and an m&m. And then she started asking every 2 seconds for them. And then Mouse wanted to know if SHE could have m&m’s every time Baboo got one. We have not gone pee on the potty again today, BUT we've had 2 accidents on the floor and 3 changes of clothes. Uh yeah.
Sigh. I think that bribery is going to backfire on me big time.
Anyway, I don’t know if she’s really READY for potty training, though I had thought that we would try it more intensively next week while Mouse is out on spring break. It will mean that I do nothing else except shadow her everywhere so I can catch the pee-pee moments and encourage her with positive reinforcements instead of trying not to have an aneurysm every time she does this. I don’t want to “punish” her, but I’m not really sure how to deal with this.
Any suggestions? Please! Help! Throw a book! Throw some towels! Throw some advice! Throw a life boat!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Smack down
So tonight, the girls are sitting at the little table in the kitchen, that I've yet to move back to the playroom after the party last weekend (and maybe I won't as they seem to enjoy it so much... but uh, I'm sidetracking myself)... and having a snack before bed.
They're chatting and kind of playing around and I'm not really paying too much attention. That is, until I hear:
Mouse: Baboo, let's play a game.
Baboo: OK! I like games!
Mouse: It's called Spider Smacker. You be the spider and I'll be the smacker! Put your hand out on the table and pretend to be a spider. And then I'll SMACK you!
Baboo: Uh.... I dwink my miwk. (slurp, slurp her milk)
Fortunately, there's no follow up smacking sounds or crying for that matter. I'm hoping it was Baboo's self-preservation instinct that kicked in and stopped her from getting whacked and not just an misunderstanding of the game.
After I stopped silently laughing behind the counter with tears running down my face, I reminded Mouse that hitting of ANY kind is not allowed. Not even disguised as a game. Oy.
I guess this is a reflection of what we do to spiders in the house around here. Sorry, Becprints. I know one day karma will turn me into the bug headed for the windshield.
They're chatting and kind of playing around and I'm not really paying too much attention. That is, until I hear:
Mouse: Baboo, let's play a game.
Baboo: OK! I like games!
Mouse: It's called Spider Smacker. You be the spider and I'll be the smacker! Put your hand out on the table and pretend to be a spider. And then I'll SMACK you!
Baboo: Uh.... I dwink my miwk. (slurp, slurp her milk)
Fortunately, there's no follow up smacking sounds or crying for that matter. I'm hoping it was Baboo's self-preservation instinct that kicked in and stopped her from getting whacked and not just an misunderstanding of the game.
After I stopped silently laughing behind the counter with tears running down my face, I reminded Mouse that hitting of ANY kind is not allowed. Not even disguised as a game. Oy.
I guess this is a reflection of what we do to spiders in the house around here. Sorry, Becprints. I know one day karma will turn me into the bug headed for the windshield.
Friday, March 20, 2009
How Do I Spell Relief?
N-something-methrone-something –roxodine. (kidding). That was what I was on before and it didn’t work.
Actually, it's Bactrim – a sulfa-something antibiotic. After 1 dose and a good night’s sleep, I’m already feeling better. Better than I have all week, which reminds me how long of a week it’s been. Oy.
Yesterday was a bit of a run around day, way more than I anticipated, and yet a few things fell into place just by chance. First, as I was running out the door to drop the kids off before my therapy appointment, I happened to grab my book (Twilight… didn’t plan to read it but it was a great story. Sometimes I hate it when the masses are right) but did not grab anything to entertain the kids at the doctor’s office. I realized this ½ way to my friend’s house. Argh.
So I’m dropping off the girls and my friend says “take your time, there’s no rush”. And finally a very delayed lightbulb goes off and I ask her to watch the girls for me so I can go to this next doctor’s appointment. She’s more than willing and as I’m leaving says “let me give you our numbers just in case you need them”. (This will be important later).
So, off I go to therapy, where he gives me a few things to think about and I’m a bit late getting out and am grateful that I didn’t have to pick up the kids as well. As I’m driving over, I remember that I didn’t plan anything for lunch for myself – duh. And I’m kind of hungry. However, I don’t have time so I figure I’ll get something after I’m done. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait forever at any point this time and things went quickly. My doctor figures that the infection isn’t responding to the unpronounceable antibiotic and gives me a scrip for a new one. And then says, “I’m worried that you might have a kidney infection or a kidney stone. I’m going to send you for a scan. Go check out and then I’ll tell you what you need to do.”
I’m a little shocked, but ok. So I check out, and come back. She tells me to go to the hospital, check in and get the cat scan done.
Uh, WHAAT!?
I mumble around for a minute trying to figure out what the hell to do and she asks if this will be a problem. I don’t think so, but uh, it’s just unexpected. They tell me it’ll be a couple of hours and laugh that it’s good I brought my book. Yeah, no kidding. I stupidly as if this is something I can reschedule, and she says “No. Go now”.
So I call my friend and ask her to watch the kids a bit longer – and she’s wonderful. I’m so, so, so lucky. She just says “the girls are fine, having a great time. It’ll take as long as it takes, don’t worry”. Sigh. Then call Hubster and let him know what’s going on.
I pick up a sandwich at Subway and I think 16 yr old nerdy geek is trying to flirt with me, but maybe it’s the shock of the twist in my day, and as I’m driving to the hospital, I marvel a bit at how things have turned out. I don’t have to worry about entertaining the girls for hours at a hospital. I have my book. I had my friend’s numbers to let her know what was happening. Just funny how things work out. I just pray as I’m driving over that I don’t have an insurance fight over this.
Anyway, I was at the hospital for about 2.5 hours, which isn’t bad. Things moved pretty quickly. The scan only took a minute and apparently I do not have kidney stones, thankfully. And I had time to finish my book, just before they came to tell me the results.
When I went to get the girls, they didn’t want to come home. They wanted to keep playing, so at least I know they had fun. And when I stopped at CVS to fill my prescription, which I wasn’t going to do because it had been a long day and Baboo had not napped, they were super fast and we were out of there in 7 minutes.
So, all of that is to say, it was an interesting day. I’m glad it’s over and I’m very happy to be finally feeling better. Oy.
Actually, it's Bactrim – a sulfa-something antibiotic. After 1 dose and a good night’s sleep, I’m already feeling better. Better than I have all week, which reminds me how long of a week it’s been. Oy.
Yesterday was a bit of a run around day, way more than I anticipated, and yet a few things fell into place just by chance. First, as I was running out the door to drop the kids off before my therapy appointment, I happened to grab my book (Twilight… didn’t plan to read it but it was a great story. Sometimes I hate it when the masses are right) but did not grab anything to entertain the kids at the doctor’s office. I realized this ½ way to my friend’s house. Argh.
So I’m dropping off the girls and my friend says “take your time, there’s no rush”. And finally a very delayed lightbulb goes off and I ask her to watch the girls for me so I can go to this next doctor’s appointment. She’s more than willing and as I’m leaving says “let me give you our numbers just in case you need them”. (This will be important later).
So, off I go to therapy, where he gives me a few things to think about and I’m a bit late getting out and am grateful that I didn’t have to pick up the kids as well. As I’m driving over, I remember that I didn’t plan anything for lunch for myself – duh. And I’m kind of hungry. However, I don’t have time so I figure I’ll get something after I’m done. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait forever at any point this time and things went quickly. My doctor figures that the infection isn’t responding to the unpronounceable antibiotic and gives me a scrip for a new one. And then says, “I’m worried that you might have a kidney infection or a kidney stone. I’m going to send you for a scan. Go check out and then I’ll tell you what you need to do.”
I’m a little shocked, but ok. So I check out, and come back. She tells me to go to the hospital, check in and get the cat scan done.
Uh, WHAAT!?
I mumble around for a minute trying to figure out what the hell to do and she asks if this will be a problem. I don’t think so, but uh, it’s just unexpected. They tell me it’ll be a couple of hours and laugh that it’s good I brought my book. Yeah, no kidding. I stupidly as if this is something I can reschedule, and she says “No. Go now”.
So I call my friend and ask her to watch the kids a bit longer – and she’s wonderful. I’m so, so, so lucky. She just says “the girls are fine, having a great time. It’ll take as long as it takes, don’t worry”. Sigh. Then call Hubster and let him know what’s going on.
I pick up a sandwich at Subway and I think 16 yr old nerdy geek is trying to flirt with me, but maybe it’s the shock of the twist in my day, and as I’m driving to the hospital, I marvel a bit at how things have turned out. I don’t have to worry about entertaining the girls for hours at a hospital. I have my book. I had my friend’s numbers to let her know what was happening. Just funny how things work out. I just pray as I’m driving over that I don’t have an insurance fight over this.
Anyway, I was at the hospital for about 2.5 hours, which isn’t bad. Things moved pretty quickly. The scan only took a minute and apparently I do not have kidney stones, thankfully. And I had time to finish my book, just before they came to tell me the results.
When I went to get the girls, they didn’t want to come home. They wanted to keep playing, so at least I know they had fun. And when I stopped at CVS to fill my prescription, which I wasn’t going to do because it had been a long day and Baboo had not napped, they were super fast and we were out of there in 7 minutes.
So, all of that is to say, it was an interesting day. I’m glad it’s over and I’m very happy to be finally feeling better. Oy.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Crap
I was hoping to feel much better by now, but I don’t. I’m still nauseas, not sleeping and I think it’s moved into my kidneys, my left one specifically, as I’ve got some back pain about where my kidneys are. And its’ pain I can’t ignore. Crap.
So, that stress I’m supposed to be reducing has just been increased. I was hoping to have a quiet afternoon, but now I’ve got to run the kids to a friend’s house so I can go to my therapy appointment (which is a whole other issue in itself – which is why I should probably go even though I’m trying to talk myself out of it), then rush back to pick them up so I can rush over to my other doctors to find out what the hell is wrong. And none of the appt times the office offered me was good – I’ll be lucky if I make this one on time, but at least it's not in the middle of my therapy appointment or in the middle of Baboo's naptime.
Double crap.
So, that stress I’m supposed to be reducing has just been increased. I was hoping to have a quiet afternoon, but now I’ve got to run the kids to a friend’s house so I can go to my therapy appointment (which is a whole other issue in itself – which is why I should probably go even though I’m trying to talk myself out of it), then rush back to pick them up so I can rush over to my other doctors to find out what the hell is wrong. And none of the appt times the office offered me was good – I’ll be lucky if I make this one on time, but at least it's not in the middle of my therapy appointment or in the middle of Baboo's naptime.
Double crap.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Will I Ever Learn?
One day I will learn that stress manifests itself physically for me. And not in a good way. Sure, I try to outsmart it, recall that last week I mentioned taking some Zicam to fight off a cold I thought I was getting. I didn’t actually GET sick, but, well… I fought the stress and the stress won.
Sunday morning I woke up with pee of fire, the tell-tale sign of a urinary tract infection. I drank a bunch of water, took some Advil and soldiered on, planning to buy some cranberry juice and get some rest later in the day. I did those things and felt better most of Monday. I figured that maybe I caught it early enough…
Until last night. I could feel my back getting a bit sore and I didn’t sleep well last night and this morning I really felt bad. I had planned to take the girls to the zoo with a friend and had to cancel. I was able to get an appointment for 11:30 so we had most of the morning to kill. It was a gorgeous day, so despite feeling like I was going to wet myself every 2 seconds, we went to a state park just down the street from us. Luckily, it not only had several playgrounds and nice walking trails but lots of clean, convenient bathrooms. Which I used. Often.
Anyway, the diagnosis is a UTI and I’m on antibiotics and some UTI painkiller than turns my frequent urine to a triple tang coloured orange. Fancy pee, that’s what it is.
I’m hoping by tomorrow that the antibiotics will have kicked in and I’ll feel better. Right now, I feel really crappy; nauseas, achy, crampy, not fun. I’m supposed to be assisting in Mouse’s class tomorrow and she’s very excited that I’ll be there. I hope I feel well enough to actually be useful.
Damn that stress. It gets me EVERY time. Grr. One day I will learn that… or hopefully learn to balance things better.
Sunday morning I woke up with pee of fire, the tell-tale sign of a urinary tract infection. I drank a bunch of water, took some Advil and soldiered on, planning to buy some cranberry juice and get some rest later in the day. I did those things and felt better most of Monday. I figured that maybe I caught it early enough…
Until last night. I could feel my back getting a bit sore and I didn’t sleep well last night and this morning I really felt bad. I had planned to take the girls to the zoo with a friend and had to cancel. I was able to get an appointment for 11:30 so we had most of the morning to kill. It was a gorgeous day, so despite feeling like I was going to wet myself every 2 seconds, we went to a state park just down the street from us. Luckily, it not only had several playgrounds and nice walking trails but lots of clean, convenient bathrooms. Which I used. Often.
Anyway, the diagnosis is a UTI and I’m on antibiotics and some UTI painkiller than turns my frequent urine to a triple tang coloured orange. Fancy pee, that’s what it is.
I’m hoping by tomorrow that the antibiotics will have kicked in and I’ll feel better. Right now, I feel really crappy; nauseas, achy, crampy, not fun. I’m supposed to be assisting in Mouse’s class tomorrow and she’s very excited that I’ll be there. I hope I feel well enough to actually be useful.
Damn that stress. It gets me EVERY time. Grr. One day I will learn that… or hopefully learn to balance things better.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Baboo's Story
On this day, 2 years ago I woke up with Hubster’s alarm at 6:30 and KNEW I was in labour, finally, but I didn’t say anything because this wasn’t the first morning I woke up and THOUGHT I was in labour.
I stayed in bed for just a short while, but I got uncomfortable pretty quickly, so I got up. Hubster asked me if everything was ok, to which I replied I was fine. Then, very carefully, he asked if he should stay home and very firmly, I said “No. IF anything happens I’ll call you”.
To say that I had been prickly at the end of my pregnancy would be an understatement. I was a bitch with a capital B. I was HUGE, cranky, uncomfortable and DONE being pregnant. I was 2 cm dilated for 2 weeks, having steady contractions for days with nothing happening and a bunch of people WAITING for something to happen. The day before my labour really started, I finally gave up “waiting” expectantly for labour to pick up and said loudly “I don’t CARE if I have this baby in the SUPERMARKET” put Mouse, almost 3, in the stroller and walked about 2 miles to an outdoor playgroup in the beautiful spring-like weather. I distinctly remember my parents, who had come the week before thinking that I’d have the baby any minute, watching me from my front step, admonishing me to be careful and to have the cell phone ON as I waddled my pregnant self down the street.
That night, after a lovely day outside, going shoe shopping and whining with my mother, I realized that my baby wasn’t in the right position. I could FEEL the head banging against my right hip. So I got down on my hands and knees with my enormous belly resting on my big purple exercise ball and I rocked and rolled for hours while I watched tv. I was hoping to get my baby to get into the right position… and it worked.
So, back to birth-day: I went downstairs and started to get some breakfast. The contractions were noticeable and pretty steady, but again, I wasn’t going to admit to anyone that THIS time, I really knew that this was it. I figured we had plenty of time. As I was making breakfast, I would have to stop a bit for a contraction. They were not painful, but getting a stronger. As I sat to eat, my parents asked “So, is something going on?” and again I replied “I’ll tell you when I know” because I was so afraid to say anything out loud only to have the contractions peter out to nothing. AGAIN.
A few days before I’d also woken up in, what I thought, was labour. The contractions were very regular, about 6 minutes apart. I’d gone down stairs and told everyone. Hubster still went to work, but we all kind of waited around for things to continue to pick up. And then… there was a shooting RIGHT in front of our house, the whole street was closed off and there were police everywhere. My Dad went out to tell the cops that I might be in labour and asked what we needed to do to leave the house (and they offered a police escort… good grief!), but under all that pressure and fear my contractions died out pretty quickly.
So I labored for a while at home, on March 15, 2007. I knew my parents KNEW that this was it, even though I hadn’t said anything. They started to quietly make plans and get things ready. They left me alone mostly. I’d gone upstairs to get dressed and start getting ready myself when the contractions really started to get stronger. My Mum suggested that we call Hubster so that he had time to get home. This was her way of saying, “it’s time, we need to get cracking”. So I called him to tell him to come home. He’d JUST gotten to work, it wasn’t even 9 am yet and had just missed the train home. He said he’d catch the next train and was home for about 10.
Meanwhile, Mouse was starting to ask a lot of questions. “Mommy, are you going to have the baby TODAY?” “Mommy, are you ok?” “Mommy, why are you stopping?” I was really trying to be nice and answer her questions without alarming her, but the contractions were strong and it was hard for me to focus. I wasn’t hurting, but I definitely had to stop and work through it. My Dad offered to take Mouse to the park as it was a beautiful day and said he’d stay there until we called him.
With Mouse gone, there was just Mum and I and Hubster was on his way home. Mum said “I think we should start getting ready to go” and I agreed. We got the food ready, the bags and then I started to clean. I figured I had HOURS of labour left. When I was in labour with Mouse, I had HUGE contractions for hours and hours. I didn’t want to go to the birth center too early.
Hubster came home to bags by the door, and me sweeping the floor and making beds. I think he was a bit confused. He asked what he could “do” and I just said “nothing, we’re good”. I think he wasn’t sure what to do as I didn’t really seem “in labour”. I was up, walking around, just stopping, breathing and hanging on to counters, couches etc when a contraction hit and then moving on. I still wasn’t in pain and wasn’t really needing to work through the contractions very much. I still waiting for it to get harder.
While Hubster watched the end of a James Bond movie (he feels bad about this but there wasn’t much else for him to do), I decided that I MUST clean the fingerprints off the living room window and when I stopped for a big contraction, he said, “I’ve been timing these and you’re less than 5 minutes apart. When are you going to call the midwife?”
I got a bit angry and said I wasn’t going in too early and I’d wait a while longer. I really did think that I had hours left and kept waiting for the really HARD labour to start. He said “I’m giving you 15 minutes” and then you have to call. It was 11:30 am.
So, the contractions kept coming and he made me call. I talked to the midwife on call and explained what was going on and then I had a huge contraction. She said “Hmm, that was a big one. Are you ok?” I said yes that I felt fine. Then she said “I think you need to come in soon, when can you get here?” I told her that Mouse was at the park that I had to get her lunch and finish getting ready and said that it’d be about an hour or so. She replied “I think you need to get here sooner. Like, now-ish.” I trembled out an “ok”, hung up, and started to sob.
It was confirmed, I was going to have this baby TODAY. I could admit that this was IT.
Then I had an enormous contraction that left me clinging to the couch and starting to moan… generally a sign that things are moving pretty fast.
Hubster and Mum started racing around, getting things to the car and calling my Dad to tell him to come home NOW… which he interpreted to be “take your time”. When he didn’t show up, we drove by the park told them to follow us to the birth center “NOW!”
Sitting in the back seat of the car was TORTURE and really the only time I had felt “pain”. Our back seats kind of reclined a bit and I kept trying to hang on to the front passenger seat to pull myself forward. Every time Hubster accelerated or changed gear (we have manual transmission cars, usually) I would sob out… “STOP THAT! DON’T GO SO FAST. SLOW DOWN”. It was crummy. It took about 20 minutes to get to the birth center and 2 stop lights before the building, I felt a pop and a gush. I cried out “MY WATER JUST BROKE” and then Hubster sped through the next 2 lights to get us there. Thank goodness we put a towel under me when we left the house.
I could barely walk across the parking lot and when Mouse saw me soaking wet and sobbing, clinging onto Hubster and Mom she became HYSTERICAL. She didn’t have the chance to see me progressing through labour and thought I was dying. I wasn’t hurting really, it was just soooo intense that I felt like the only place for the overflow was through crying. I couldn’t have stopped if I wanted to. So I tried to tell her I was ok that it was time to have the baby, but it didn’t help much. It was about 12:30 pm when we got there.
The midwife and nurse met us at the door, and said to me gently “Oh, I see some tears, I guess it’s a good thing you came in now” and took me into the bathroom. She and Hubster helped me get my soaking bottoms off and checked me while I was standing. She stood up, took off her glove and said “Well, you’re 9 cm and any time you want to push, just go right ahead. A few pushes and that baby is going to slide right out”.
I think I nearly fell over because I had NO idea I would be that far along. The whole time in the car, I was saying “we’re going in too early”. I think Hubster felt like he had bragging rights to being right. Ha.
So, I moved into the birth room, got to the end of the bed and felt like I had to push. I held on, squatted and started to push. The nurse was right behind me, Josh and everyone else was to the side. I knew I couldn’t stay there long as my feet felt like they were slipping. The midwife said “pushing on hands/knees is just like squatting, let’s try that.” So they helped me onto the bed and I started to push. I know at some point, Mouse found it too intense, and just before the baby crowned, my Mum took her out to get some lunch. Unfortunately she missed the birth, because the baby was born in just a few minutes. My midwife told me I pushed and breathed like a champ; she felt like she didn’t have to tell me to slow down, or to just push a little bit and to be honest, I could hear my doula training in my head telling me to do just that when the time came.
The baby slipped out and was put under me on a towel. I looked down and saw that it was a GIRL and I yelled “It’s a GIRL! ANOTHER GIRL”. I was stunned as I was sure it was going to be a boy because my pregnancy had been so different this time. And so Baboo was born at 12:50 pm. At 7 lbs 1 onz, she was only 2 onz smaller than Mouse at birth, but she looked so tiny and fragile and had skinny little bird arms.
We left the house at about 12 noon, had Baboo at 12:50 and were home by 6 pm - the earliest we could leave the birth center. We ordered a pizza, said hello to the neighbours and basked in the joy of a new baby and a fantastic birth. We went into the birth center in t-shirts with the warm sun on our backs and came home to cold, sleety rain.
Baboo was an easy baby; a champion nurser, a good sleeper and generally a happy baby. We braced ourselves for the colicy onslaught we had with Mouse, but it never came. Mouse adjusted to being a big sister and now they’re good friends… most of the time.
Baboo: I worried when I found out that I was pregnant that I couldn’t possibly love you as much as I loved Mouse, but oh, you have proved me wrong. You’ve shown me that my heart is capable of a love bigger than the universe.
You’re a totally different person than your sister, and yet I see a lot of her in you. Sometimes the way you tilt your head and say “wellll…” sounds exactly like her. You light up a room with your smile, and shatter our eardrums with your cry. There’s not a lot of gray area with you, you’re either happy or…. Not. You are your own independent little person – you like to do things yourself and figure things out yourself. While there are things you can’t do now that your sister did at this age, there are many things that you do that your sister did not do.
This has been a big year for you. You’re starting to use the potty, your vocabulary astounds me, and your comprehension of things knocks me out! You can put your own shoes on, do the “flip” with your coat and love to wear mittens and hats. You play really well with other kids, would eat chocolate until you puked and love to watch the birdies at the bird feeder outside. Swinging is one of your favourite things to do outside – and you come by that honestly. I love it too and so does your sister. You don’t really like to wear dresses, but feel special when you do and are most at home in a tshirt and comfy pants and you love your rubber boots.
You love your blankie and now your pillow and whatever your “special fwiend” is for the day. You drink more water than another other person I know. You aren’t interested in Sesame Street AT ALL, but love Curious George and anything Princess… much to my dismay.
In many ways, you seem so much more grown up that your sister did. There’s lots of baby things that you didn’t do because you were exposed to the “bigger and better” earlier by your sister. And you love nothing more than trying to keep up with Mouse. You adore her and I love nothing more than hearing you two shrieking with giggles when you play together.
Today, I look at you and I can barely remember the last 2 years. They’ve gone so fast. I look at pictures and think “is that really YOU?”, but I see your smiling face, and feel your little arms around me, hear you say “I wuv you Mama” and I know that you are here and you are real. I am blessed in more ways that I can count and I’m so happy that you’re here.
Happy Birthday, Baboo! My big 2 year old girl. I love you with all my heart and more.
I stayed in bed for just a short while, but I got uncomfortable pretty quickly, so I got up. Hubster asked me if everything was ok, to which I replied I was fine. Then, very carefully, he asked if he should stay home and very firmly, I said “No. IF anything happens I’ll call you”.
To say that I had been prickly at the end of my pregnancy would be an understatement. I was a bitch with a capital B. I was HUGE, cranky, uncomfortable and DONE being pregnant. I was 2 cm dilated for 2 weeks, having steady contractions for days with nothing happening and a bunch of people WAITING for something to happen. The day before my labour really started, I finally gave up “waiting” expectantly for labour to pick up and said loudly “I don’t CARE if I have this baby in the SUPERMARKET” put Mouse, almost 3, in the stroller and walked about 2 miles to an outdoor playgroup in the beautiful spring-like weather. I distinctly remember my parents, who had come the week before thinking that I’d have the baby any minute, watching me from my front step, admonishing me to be careful and to have the cell phone ON as I waddled my pregnant self down the street.
That night, after a lovely day outside, going shoe shopping and whining with my mother, I realized that my baby wasn’t in the right position. I could FEEL the head banging against my right hip. So I got down on my hands and knees with my enormous belly resting on my big purple exercise ball and I rocked and rolled for hours while I watched tv. I was hoping to get my baby to get into the right position… and it worked.
So, back to birth-day: I went downstairs and started to get some breakfast. The contractions were noticeable and pretty steady, but again, I wasn’t going to admit to anyone that THIS time, I really knew that this was it. I figured we had plenty of time. As I was making breakfast, I would have to stop a bit for a contraction. They were not painful, but getting a stronger. As I sat to eat, my parents asked “So, is something going on?” and again I replied “I’ll tell you when I know” because I was so afraid to say anything out loud only to have the contractions peter out to nothing. AGAIN.
A few days before I’d also woken up in, what I thought, was labour. The contractions were very regular, about 6 minutes apart. I’d gone down stairs and told everyone. Hubster still went to work, but we all kind of waited around for things to continue to pick up. And then… there was a shooting RIGHT in front of our house, the whole street was closed off and there were police everywhere. My Dad went out to tell the cops that I might be in labour and asked what we needed to do to leave the house (and they offered a police escort… good grief!), but under all that pressure and fear my contractions died out pretty quickly.
So I labored for a while at home, on March 15, 2007. I knew my parents KNEW that this was it, even though I hadn’t said anything. They started to quietly make plans and get things ready. They left me alone mostly. I’d gone upstairs to get dressed and start getting ready myself when the contractions really started to get stronger. My Mum suggested that we call Hubster so that he had time to get home. This was her way of saying, “it’s time, we need to get cracking”. So I called him to tell him to come home. He’d JUST gotten to work, it wasn’t even 9 am yet and had just missed the train home. He said he’d catch the next train and was home for about 10.
Meanwhile, Mouse was starting to ask a lot of questions. “Mommy, are you going to have the baby TODAY?” “Mommy, are you ok?” “Mommy, why are you stopping?” I was really trying to be nice and answer her questions without alarming her, but the contractions were strong and it was hard for me to focus. I wasn’t hurting, but I definitely had to stop and work through it. My Dad offered to take Mouse to the park as it was a beautiful day and said he’d stay there until we called him.
With Mouse gone, there was just Mum and I and Hubster was on his way home. Mum said “I think we should start getting ready to go” and I agreed. We got the food ready, the bags and then I started to clean. I figured I had HOURS of labour left. When I was in labour with Mouse, I had HUGE contractions for hours and hours. I didn’t want to go to the birth center too early.
Hubster came home to bags by the door, and me sweeping the floor and making beds. I think he was a bit confused. He asked what he could “do” and I just said “nothing, we’re good”. I think he wasn’t sure what to do as I didn’t really seem “in labour”. I was up, walking around, just stopping, breathing and hanging on to counters, couches etc when a contraction hit and then moving on. I still wasn’t in pain and wasn’t really needing to work through the contractions very much. I still waiting for it to get harder.
While Hubster watched the end of a James Bond movie (he feels bad about this but there wasn’t much else for him to do), I decided that I MUST clean the fingerprints off the living room window and when I stopped for a big contraction, he said, “I’ve been timing these and you’re less than 5 minutes apart. When are you going to call the midwife?”
I got a bit angry and said I wasn’t going in too early and I’d wait a while longer. I really did think that I had hours left and kept waiting for the really HARD labour to start. He said “I’m giving you 15 minutes” and then you have to call. It was 11:30 am.
So, the contractions kept coming and he made me call. I talked to the midwife on call and explained what was going on and then I had a huge contraction. She said “Hmm, that was a big one. Are you ok?” I said yes that I felt fine. Then she said “I think you need to come in soon, when can you get here?” I told her that Mouse was at the park that I had to get her lunch and finish getting ready and said that it’d be about an hour or so. She replied “I think you need to get here sooner. Like, now-ish.” I trembled out an “ok”, hung up, and started to sob.
It was confirmed, I was going to have this baby TODAY. I could admit that this was IT.
Then I had an enormous contraction that left me clinging to the couch and starting to moan… generally a sign that things are moving pretty fast.
Hubster and Mum started racing around, getting things to the car and calling my Dad to tell him to come home NOW… which he interpreted to be “take your time”. When he didn’t show up, we drove by the park told them to follow us to the birth center “NOW!”
Sitting in the back seat of the car was TORTURE and really the only time I had felt “pain”. Our back seats kind of reclined a bit and I kept trying to hang on to the front passenger seat to pull myself forward. Every time Hubster accelerated or changed gear (we have manual transmission cars, usually) I would sob out… “STOP THAT! DON’T GO SO FAST. SLOW DOWN”. It was crummy. It took about 20 minutes to get to the birth center and 2 stop lights before the building, I felt a pop and a gush. I cried out “MY WATER JUST BROKE” and then Hubster sped through the next 2 lights to get us there. Thank goodness we put a towel under me when we left the house.
I could barely walk across the parking lot and when Mouse saw me soaking wet and sobbing, clinging onto Hubster and Mom she became HYSTERICAL. She didn’t have the chance to see me progressing through labour and thought I was dying. I wasn’t hurting really, it was just soooo intense that I felt like the only place for the overflow was through crying. I couldn’t have stopped if I wanted to. So I tried to tell her I was ok that it was time to have the baby, but it didn’t help much. It was about 12:30 pm when we got there.
The midwife and nurse met us at the door, and said to me gently “Oh, I see some tears, I guess it’s a good thing you came in now” and took me into the bathroom. She and Hubster helped me get my soaking bottoms off and checked me while I was standing. She stood up, took off her glove and said “Well, you’re 9 cm and any time you want to push, just go right ahead. A few pushes and that baby is going to slide right out”.
I think I nearly fell over because I had NO idea I would be that far along. The whole time in the car, I was saying “we’re going in too early”. I think Hubster felt like he had bragging rights to being right. Ha.
So, I moved into the birth room, got to the end of the bed and felt like I had to push. I held on, squatted and started to push. The nurse was right behind me, Josh and everyone else was to the side. I knew I couldn’t stay there long as my feet felt like they were slipping. The midwife said “pushing on hands/knees is just like squatting, let’s try that.” So they helped me onto the bed and I started to push. I know at some point, Mouse found it too intense, and just before the baby crowned, my Mum took her out to get some lunch. Unfortunately she missed the birth, because the baby was born in just a few minutes. My midwife told me I pushed and breathed like a champ; she felt like she didn’t have to tell me to slow down, or to just push a little bit and to be honest, I could hear my doula training in my head telling me to do just that when the time came.
The baby slipped out and was put under me on a towel. I looked down and saw that it was a GIRL and I yelled “It’s a GIRL! ANOTHER GIRL”. I was stunned as I was sure it was going to be a boy because my pregnancy had been so different this time. And so Baboo was born at 12:50 pm. At 7 lbs 1 onz, she was only 2 onz smaller than Mouse at birth, but she looked so tiny and fragile and had skinny little bird arms.
We left the house at about 12 noon, had Baboo at 12:50 and were home by 6 pm - the earliest we could leave the birth center. We ordered a pizza, said hello to the neighbours and basked in the joy of a new baby and a fantastic birth. We went into the birth center in t-shirts with the warm sun on our backs and came home to cold, sleety rain.
Baboo was an easy baby; a champion nurser, a good sleeper and generally a happy baby. We braced ourselves for the colicy onslaught we had with Mouse, but it never came. Mouse adjusted to being a big sister and now they’re good friends… most of the time.
Baboo: I worried when I found out that I was pregnant that I couldn’t possibly love you as much as I loved Mouse, but oh, you have proved me wrong. You’ve shown me that my heart is capable of a love bigger than the universe.
You’re a totally different person than your sister, and yet I see a lot of her in you. Sometimes the way you tilt your head and say “wellll…” sounds exactly like her. You light up a room with your smile, and shatter our eardrums with your cry. There’s not a lot of gray area with you, you’re either happy or…. Not. You are your own independent little person – you like to do things yourself and figure things out yourself. While there are things you can’t do now that your sister did at this age, there are many things that you do that your sister did not do.
This has been a big year for you. You’re starting to use the potty, your vocabulary astounds me, and your comprehension of things knocks me out! You can put your own shoes on, do the “flip” with your coat and love to wear mittens and hats. You play really well with other kids, would eat chocolate until you puked and love to watch the birdies at the bird feeder outside. Swinging is one of your favourite things to do outside – and you come by that honestly. I love it too and so does your sister. You don’t really like to wear dresses, but feel special when you do and are most at home in a tshirt and comfy pants and you love your rubber boots.
You love your blankie and now your pillow and whatever your “special fwiend” is for the day. You drink more water than another other person I know. You aren’t interested in Sesame Street AT ALL, but love Curious George and anything Princess… much to my dismay.
In many ways, you seem so much more grown up that your sister did. There’s lots of baby things that you didn’t do because you were exposed to the “bigger and better” earlier by your sister. And you love nothing more than trying to keep up with Mouse. You adore her and I love nothing more than hearing you two shrieking with giggles when you play together.
Today, I look at you and I can barely remember the last 2 years. They’ve gone so fast. I look at pictures and think “is that really YOU?”, but I see your smiling face, and feel your little arms around me, hear you say “I wuv you Mama” and I know that you are here and you are real. I am blessed in more ways that I can count and I’m so happy that you’re here.
Happy Birthday, Baboo! My big 2 year old girl. I love you with all my heart and more.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Birthday Cake Take 2
So, yesterday I made a new set of cakes from a tried and true recipe. It’s not called “Damn Good Chocolate Cake” for nothing. Why mess with what works? I shouldn’t have, but have redeemed myself with damn chocolately goodness. So say the masses anyway, it was pretty quiet while everyone ate the cake and no one died, so I guess it turned out ok. Ha.
Last night I planned out what I was going to do… kind of. I got out my cake decorating tips, which I barely know how to use. Got a huge plate of M&M’s ready and mixed up a boat load of frosting and had at it.
I think that this turned pretty cute considering I’ve never really “made” a cake before. Yes, I’ve done cakes in pans and done mountains of sprinkles, but never made a cake that looked like anything.
When Baboo saw it this morning she said “Yehaw!”, so at least it looked enough like a carousel for her to recognize it. Then she asked if she could get on it. Uh, no.
The party today was a lot of fun and it seemed like everyone had a good time. I’m getting better about planning enough to do, but not too much so and timing things better so that they flow and the kids don’t get too crazy. We did a few simple games, bubbles outside, played with balloons and ate. Both girls did great. Whenever anyone said “Happy Birthday” to Baboo, she said “Happy Birthday, thank you” right back. What a riot!
I can’t believe that my baby is almost 2! ACK!
Last night I planned out what I was going to do… kind of. I got out my cake decorating tips, which I barely know how to use. Got a huge plate of M&M’s ready and mixed up a boat load of frosting and had at it.
I think that this turned pretty cute considering I’ve never really “made” a cake before. Yes, I’ve done cakes in pans and done mountains of sprinkles, but never made a cake that looked like anything.
When Baboo saw it this morning she said “Yehaw!”, so at least it looked enough like a carousel for her to recognize it. Then she asked if she could get on it. Uh, no.
The party today was a lot of fun and it seemed like everyone had a good time. I’m getting better about planning enough to do, but not too much so and timing things better so that they flow and the kids don’t get too crazy. We did a few simple games, bubbles outside, played with balloons and ate. Both girls did great. Whenever anyone said “Happy Birthday” to Baboo, she said “Happy Birthday, thank you” right back. What a riot!
I can’t believe that my baby is almost 2! ACK!
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Follow Up Playdate
So, the play date went well yesterday and believe it or not, we did just about finish the quilt. I'm picking it up today to finish it up. Mum, I'm never letting you look at this up close. I'll hold it up about oh, 1/2 a mile away and you can look at it. It's ok, but well, let's just say we're not professionals or even amatures. Hmm. yeah.
Anyway... Baboo did really well yesterday. She didn't destroy anything or stink us out of the house.
On the way over, I said to Mouse that she was NOT going to take all of the toys out at once and that if she played with something she was going to put it away before she got something else out. She agreed and said she understood.
Shortly after we arrived, my friend went to check on the girls who started playing right away and said pretty much the exact same thing, emphasizing that the toys not be left all over the floor. I guess there were so many toys on the floor the other day that a few things got broken because the kids stepped on them.
I said quietly to my friend "You know, Mouse is going to get you on that floor technicality".
So the big girls got involved playing "mermaids" which involved a lot of flopping around on the floor, rescuing eachother and piling of "treasures" aka toys on the mini-trampoline (which Baboo found so tasty last time).
So, it's after lunch and we check on the girls. There is a MOUNTAIN of toys; horses, stuffed toys, play food, pieces of paper, balloons, blankets and pillows on the trampoline. My friend goes down to her daughter's bedroom where the girls are now playing. She walks in and Mouse says "Look how clean it is in here!" My friend says "Yes, but ALL the toys are on the trampoline in the living room". To which Mouse replies "But, they're not on the floor! The floor is nice and clean. Just like you asked us to do".
Hmmm. Can't really argue with that. I think my friend's mouth dropped open a little. When she came and told me what Mouse had said, I reminded her that I did warn her that Mouse would be very specific about her directions, she's a rule follower to the "T".
For the record, we did stay and help put the house and room back to rights before we left and the girls definitely did their share.
It's still pretty funny, though.
Anyway... Baboo did really well yesterday. She didn't destroy anything or stink us out of the house.
On the way over, I said to Mouse that she was NOT going to take all of the toys out at once and that if she played with something she was going to put it away before she got something else out. She agreed and said she understood.
Shortly after we arrived, my friend went to check on the girls who started playing right away and said pretty much the exact same thing, emphasizing that the toys not be left all over the floor. I guess there were so many toys on the floor the other day that a few things got broken because the kids stepped on them.
I said quietly to my friend "You know, Mouse is going to get you on that floor technicality".
So the big girls got involved playing "mermaids" which involved a lot of flopping around on the floor, rescuing eachother and piling of "treasures" aka toys on the mini-trampoline (which Baboo found so tasty last time).
So, it's after lunch and we check on the girls. There is a MOUNTAIN of toys; horses, stuffed toys, play food, pieces of paper, balloons, blankets and pillows on the trampoline. My friend goes down to her daughter's bedroom where the girls are now playing. She walks in and Mouse says "Look how clean it is in here!" My friend says "Yes, but ALL the toys are on the trampoline in the living room". To which Mouse replies "But, they're not on the floor! The floor is nice and clean. Just like you asked us to do".
Hmmm. Can't really argue with that. I think my friend's mouth dropped open a little. When she came and told me what Mouse had said, I reminded her that I did warn her that Mouse would be very specific about her directions, she's a rule follower to the "T".
For the record, we did stay and help put the house and room back to rights before we left and the girls definitely did their share.
It's still pretty funny, though.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Apparently it IS Rocket Science
So tonight I tried to make the cakes for Baboo’s birthday on Saturday. My plan was to make the cakes tonight, frost and decorate them tomorrow night and then assemble it on Saturday morning.
I’m generally a smart person. Generally a pretty good cook and I’ve baked cakes from scratch before, but I mean, seriously… what the hell is this???
Good grief! I didn’t even finish baking them because I mean, really, what is the point? Thank goodness I put them on a pan or I’d have one hell of a mess in my oven. Not that it’s exactly “pretty” right now, but at least it doesn’t have burnt cake batter on top of all the other burnt crap in there. I guess my pans were too small.
Apparently for me, baking a cake IS rocket science. And very obviously, I am not a rocket scientist.
I’m off to find a better recipe, or maybe just buy a box cake and I’m adding to my birthday list a GOOD cookie/cake cook book.
Spicey
Last Friday, while we played outside before dinner in the spring-like weather (which has been so torturously RIPPED from our grasp) I was waiting for UPS to deliver a package for Baboo’s birthday from my folks. I knew he usually came between 5:30-6 pm. I kept wandering around from the backyard to the front, keeping an eye out for the delivery guy. As we were in the backyard I kept an ear out for the distinctively noisy truck.
Well, I guess with the bubble induced screams of joy from the girls, the wind and the sounds of 100 school buses and most of the neighbourhood kids yelling and playing outside, I missed the sound of the truck and the doorbell. Oh well.
When Hubster came home from work, there were 2 boxes on the front step. The girls and I were still outside and as he came into the house he yelled “Hey! Where are you guys and what is this box from UPS?”.
When I said it was a gift for Baboo, he said “Yeah, but what is this other 40 lb box?”
I went over to look at the label and noticed that it was a box for the people who used to live here. This is about the 3rd or 4th time we’ve gotten a box from the same company. A few times I’ve caught the UPS guy and told him to take it back. This time, I’d had enough. I saw there was a phone number on the box and called the company. I left a message asking them to please change the address; that the previous owners did NOT live here anymore.
On Monday morning we got a very polite call back from the company, apologizing for the mix-up and telling us to keep the box. She said you can throw it out if you want, but that there should be spices in the box so if we want to open it and keep them, we could.
Both hubster and I listened to the message 4 times before agreeing to open the box. I was excited! 40 lbs of spices!? WOW! I could restock my spice jars forever!
So, I lugged the box into the kitchen; it literally is 40 lbs, and opened it.
On top there were 3 medium sized plastic jars with “spice blends crust” in them; an Asian type one, an old bay type one and a garlic/herb one. Hmm, interesting, I thought. Then there were some papers – describing each of the 3 blends flavors etc. And another paper listing all the different spice blends they had. I was intrigued– some sounded really interesting and I couldn’t wait to dive into this huge box.
Then there were 40, yes 40 small note pads with the spice company’s name on it. Uh, ok.
And underneath the note pads were scads of foil pouches. Like 100 of them, in a very large, heavy duty plastic bag. Cool! So I started looking through them and noticed something. The labels were all similar. There were only 3 flavours; the same 3 that were in the jars.
So, I have about 37 lbs of spice blend rubs carefully portioned into 1 cup packages. According to the packages, they’re good for fish. Put some oil on the fish and then put some of this rub/crust on it and cook as you will.
We tried some last night on salmon, the Asian one, and it was pretty good. I reckon the 1 jar of it will last me at least a year. So I have a life time supply of it and 2 other flavours. Ahahaha.
It seems a waste to just throw it out, I just CAN’T throw it out. A few logical and obvious disbursements came to mind immediately: friends and family. Yeah, guess what you’re getting those who know me. Donation to the silent auction. Yup, good idea. Uh, that cleared up about, oh maybe 25 of the 100 packages.
Then I laughed out loud as I imagined kids faces on Halloween when they realized they did not just get a HUGE bag of candy from our place, but a HUGE bag of spices. Bwahaha!!
And then Hubster suggested putting them in goodie bags for Baboo’s birthday party this weekend. They’ll pair nicely with the horse shaped sugar cookies. Bwaahahaha! Uh, yeah… not.
So um, if you can think of any other ways to use up about 75 more bags of spice blend, just let me know.
Well, I guess with the bubble induced screams of joy from the girls, the wind and the sounds of 100 school buses and most of the neighbourhood kids yelling and playing outside, I missed the sound of the truck and the doorbell. Oh well.
When Hubster came home from work, there were 2 boxes on the front step. The girls and I were still outside and as he came into the house he yelled “Hey! Where are you guys and what is this box from UPS?”.
When I said it was a gift for Baboo, he said “Yeah, but what is this other 40 lb box?”
I went over to look at the label and noticed that it was a box for the people who used to live here. This is about the 3rd or 4th time we’ve gotten a box from the same company. A few times I’ve caught the UPS guy and told him to take it back. This time, I’d had enough. I saw there was a phone number on the box and called the company. I left a message asking them to please change the address; that the previous owners did NOT live here anymore.
On Monday morning we got a very polite call back from the company, apologizing for the mix-up and telling us to keep the box. She said you can throw it out if you want, but that there should be spices in the box so if we want to open it and keep them, we could.
Both hubster and I listened to the message 4 times before agreeing to open the box. I was excited! 40 lbs of spices!? WOW! I could restock my spice jars forever!
So, I lugged the box into the kitchen; it literally is 40 lbs, and opened it.
On top there were 3 medium sized plastic jars with “spice blends crust” in them; an Asian type one, an old bay type one and a garlic/herb one. Hmm, interesting, I thought. Then there were some papers – describing each of the 3 blends flavors etc. And another paper listing all the different spice blends they had. I was intrigued– some sounded really interesting and I couldn’t wait to dive into this huge box.
Then there were 40, yes 40 small note pads with the spice company’s name on it. Uh, ok.
And underneath the note pads were scads of foil pouches. Like 100 of them, in a very large, heavy duty plastic bag. Cool! So I started looking through them and noticed something. The labels were all similar. There were only 3 flavours; the same 3 that were in the jars.
So, I have about 37 lbs of spice blend rubs carefully portioned into 1 cup packages. According to the packages, they’re good for fish. Put some oil on the fish and then put some of this rub/crust on it and cook as you will.
We tried some last night on salmon, the Asian one, and it was pretty good. I reckon the 1 jar of it will last me at least a year. So I have a life time supply of it and 2 other flavours. Ahahaha.
It seems a waste to just throw it out, I just CAN’T throw it out. A few logical and obvious disbursements came to mind immediately: friends and family. Yeah, guess what you’re getting those who know me. Donation to the silent auction. Yup, good idea. Uh, that cleared up about, oh maybe 25 of the 100 packages.
Then I laughed out loud as I imagined kids faces on Halloween when they realized they did not just get a HUGE bag of candy from our place, but a HUGE bag of spices. Bwahaha!!
And then Hubster suggested putting them in goodie bags for Baboo’s birthday party this weekend. They’ll pair nicely with the horse shaped sugar cookies. Bwaahahaha! Uh, yeah… not.
So um, if you can think of any other ways to use up about 75 more bags of spice blend, just let me know.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
A Mother's Pride
Yesterday, I packed up the girls and headed across town to become the Quilter Imposter… I mean, to work with a friend from school on the class quilt. The girls were excited knowing they were in for a WHOLE day play date at a new house and us Mom’s were hoping to get quite a bit done.
Well, I should have known we were doomed the minute we walked in the door. Despite having a smaller house, my friend and her husband have done a lovely job remodeling and decorating; largely in cream and beige and tidy. Their kids, a girl Mouse’s age and twin boys a bit younger than Baboo are used to having “nice” furniture and while I certainly don’t let my kids just trash things willy-nilly, I figure we’re going to get some wear and tear on things and well, a beige couch would make my head explode a little. So, we still have mostly cheap Ikea stuff, so I don’t really worry too much about it while the girls are little.
Both girls know that they have to follow the rules and be respectful at other people’s homes, and Mouse is the QUEEN of rules. Seriously. She will remember every detail and not allow any bending of the rules. Baboo on the other hand is a bit of a rebel, and to quote Pirates of the Caribean figures “they’re more like guidelines”. She knows and understands the rules if we lay them out and follow through, but she’s 2 and has the attention span of a gnat. She forgets easily – sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident.
And here is where I take full responsibility. Sigh. Ah yes, a mother’s pride… crushed.
First off, we’re not there 25 minutes when Baboo drops a diaper bomb that clears out the whole little bungalow. Good grief. My friend ran that whopper outside to the trash can immediately.
At lunch time, we set the girls up at a kid sized picnic table. I usually let Baboo have a non-sip cup at meals and she usually does fine with it. Of course, the novelty of the little table and the lure of noisy fridge magnets just a few steps away meant that she was popping up from the table like popcorn in a hot pan. It was inevitable that she was going to dump the juice and she did. I wiped up the floor and then after lunch my friend whipped out a swiffer clicky sweeper thing and immediately cleaned up the crumbs from lunch. Her kids did not drop a single crumb on the floor and cleaned their plates. My kids area/plates looked like Pigpen from Peanuts has just walked through.
Baboo barely ate any lunch but 45 minutes later was hungry and proceeded to snack every 20 minutes for the rest of the afternoon and NO she did NOT want anything I brought. She wanted to eat this poor family out of house and home.
Then, when I was finally able to convince her to eat a granola bar we brought, I tried to make sure she sat in the kitchen to eat it as it had a bit of chocolate on it and the household rule there was “No food on the carpet”. As Baboo is supposedly sitting on the vinyl floor eating her snack, my friend is telling me how she’s never had her carpets cleaned and that she’s really happy that they’ve stayed so clean for the last few years. I’m surprised that with 3 little kids she’s done so well. We get engrossed in cutting and pinning fabric and I lose track of Baboo. I know, you can see it coming, can’t you? My friend looks over, just 3 steps into the living room (the living room is immediately adjacent to the kitchen where we were working)… and there is brown goo all over the carpet. At first friend panics as I’ve told her that Baboo has been taking her diaper off recently (in hindsight, maybe not a great idea). With a voice in a bit of a higher pitch she says “What is THAT?” A closer inspection showed that it was not poop, (thank God) but chocolate. (Ok, not really much better). On Baboo’s face, shirt, a baby toy table and… the beige carpet.
Oy.
I have to say, I’ve never seen anyone wield Spot Shot faster that my friend, but she had that spot eradicated quickly. In a weak voice I mentioned “Totally Awesome” but sort of let myself dangle off of that as she certainly had it under control.
After apologizing profusely, cleaning up Baboo and strapping her into a high chair to finish her snack, with a strong admonition to EAT ONLY IN THE KITCHEN, I help to clean up the carpet and baby toy. Inwardly I’m cringing.
Despite regular snack requests and a very firm repetition of the food RULE each time, we have no more messes. Us Mom’s get quite a bit of work done and once we’ve gone as far as we can, it’s time to pack up for the day. We head into the living room to start cleaning up and get organized to go when we notice little black bits all over the carpet. Perplexed, my friend bends down to pick some up, and I look down at the mini trampoline handle I happen to be standing beside. There are significant bite marks out of the foam grip. And friend’s older daughter happens to be resting her head against said handle. And it’s kind of drool soaked with chunks out of it. And have I mentioned that friend’s daughter isn’t too keen on babies? Specifically baby drool?
I try to point out quietly what Baboo has done AGAIN and my face is BEET red as I apologize and start to help clean up, all the while hoping that the floor opens up and swallows me whole, and maybe my delinquent, CLUELESS younger daughter. My friend’s daughter overhears that it’s baby drool on her head and FREAKS out. Sigh.
So, friend takes the big girls to go and clean up a trashed bedroom. (Oy. THANK you Mouse for making a huge mess, but then thank you again for helping to clean up without a fuss). I watched the little ones. As I’m getting Baboo’s shoes on, we’re sitting by the trampoline and she says to me “Mommy, I bite it”. Uh yeah, I noticed, I reply. She says “No, that’s not nice. No eat toys”. Yeah, uh, a little late on that kiddo.
In hindsight, it’s pretty funny and fortunately, my friend has forgiven us and is not upset at all. She knows that kids are kids. Her kids were good the whole time and didn’t’ really do anything. Granted it was their house and all, but still. I felt like Baboo's behavior was a unflattering reflection of my lax parenting. But am I really a lax parent? I didn’t think so until then. Should I be expecting more of her? I was embarrassed that she got into things and made a bunch of messes. Things that might have upset me a bit, but significantly less if we were home. Maybe I'm not doing a good enough job of teaching her to be respectful at other people’s homes? But I thought about it and admitted that she’s 2 and very curious and certainly independent. She wasn’t trying to be malicious. And she wasn’t really BAD, she was just being herself and I respect that this is who she is and how she interacts with the world. I realized, I wasn’t so much upset at HER as I was at MYSELF for not paying closer attention.
I know our rules at home are a bit different and my priorities are different and I never think that anyone elses rules or priorites any less important. I respect other people’s rules and priorities and expect my children to do so as well. My girls are good kids and smart, and Mouse is old enough to get it but Baboo is still learning and I should have been tuned in better to her to help her along.
We’re going back tomorrow to work some more on the quilt and already I have butterflies just thinking about it. I hope I’m able to focus on the quilt and not just on keeping Baboo out of mischief. Oy. It could be a long day.
Well, I should have known we were doomed the minute we walked in the door. Despite having a smaller house, my friend and her husband have done a lovely job remodeling and decorating; largely in cream and beige and tidy. Their kids, a girl Mouse’s age and twin boys a bit younger than Baboo are used to having “nice” furniture and while I certainly don’t let my kids just trash things willy-nilly, I figure we’re going to get some wear and tear on things and well, a beige couch would make my head explode a little. So, we still have mostly cheap Ikea stuff, so I don’t really worry too much about it while the girls are little.
Both girls know that they have to follow the rules and be respectful at other people’s homes, and Mouse is the QUEEN of rules. Seriously. She will remember every detail and not allow any bending of the rules. Baboo on the other hand is a bit of a rebel, and to quote Pirates of the Caribean figures “they’re more like guidelines”. She knows and understands the rules if we lay them out and follow through, but she’s 2 and has the attention span of a gnat. She forgets easily – sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident.
And here is where I take full responsibility. Sigh. Ah yes, a mother’s pride… crushed.
First off, we’re not there 25 minutes when Baboo drops a diaper bomb that clears out the whole little bungalow. Good grief. My friend ran that whopper outside to the trash can immediately.
At lunch time, we set the girls up at a kid sized picnic table. I usually let Baboo have a non-sip cup at meals and she usually does fine with it. Of course, the novelty of the little table and the lure of noisy fridge magnets just a few steps away meant that she was popping up from the table like popcorn in a hot pan. It was inevitable that she was going to dump the juice and she did. I wiped up the floor and then after lunch my friend whipped out a swiffer clicky sweeper thing and immediately cleaned up the crumbs from lunch. Her kids did not drop a single crumb on the floor and cleaned their plates. My kids area/plates looked like Pigpen from Peanuts has just walked through.
Baboo barely ate any lunch but 45 minutes later was hungry and proceeded to snack every 20 minutes for the rest of the afternoon and NO she did NOT want anything I brought. She wanted to eat this poor family out of house and home.
Then, when I was finally able to convince her to eat a granola bar we brought, I tried to make sure she sat in the kitchen to eat it as it had a bit of chocolate on it and the household rule there was “No food on the carpet”. As Baboo is supposedly sitting on the vinyl floor eating her snack, my friend is telling me how she’s never had her carpets cleaned and that she’s really happy that they’ve stayed so clean for the last few years. I’m surprised that with 3 little kids she’s done so well. We get engrossed in cutting and pinning fabric and I lose track of Baboo. I know, you can see it coming, can’t you? My friend looks over, just 3 steps into the living room (the living room is immediately adjacent to the kitchen where we were working)… and there is brown goo all over the carpet. At first friend panics as I’ve told her that Baboo has been taking her diaper off recently (in hindsight, maybe not a great idea). With a voice in a bit of a higher pitch she says “What is THAT?” A closer inspection showed that it was not poop, (thank God) but chocolate. (Ok, not really much better). On Baboo’s face, shirt, a baby toy table and… the beige carpet.
Oy.
I have to say, I’ve never seen anyone wield Spot Shot faster that my friend, but she had that spot eradicated quickly. In a weak voice I mentioned “Totally Awesome” but sort of let myself dangle off of that as she certainly had it under control.
After apologizing profusely, cleaning up Baboo and strapping her into a high chair to finish her snack, with a strong admonition to EAT ONLY IN THE KITCHEN, I help to clean up the carpet and baby toy. Inwardly I’m cringing.
Despite regular snack requests and a very firm repetition of the food RULE each time, we have no more messes. Us Mom’s get quite a bit of work done and once we’ve gone as far as we can, it’s time to pack up for the day. We head into the living room to start cleaning up and get organized to go when we notice little black bits all over the carpet. Perplexed, my friend bends down to pick some up, and I look down at the mini trampoline handle I happen to be standing beside. There are significant bite marks out of the foam grip. And friend’s older daughter happens to be resting her head against said handle. And it’s kind of drool soaked with chunks out of it. And have I mentioned that friend’s daughter isn’t too keen on babies? Specifically baby drool?
I try to point out quietly what Baboo has done AGAIN and my face is BEET red as I apologize and start to help clean up, all the while hoping that the floor opens up and swallows me whole, and maybe my delinquent, CLUELESS younger daughter. My friend’s daughter overhears that it’s baby drool on her head and FREAKS out. Sigh.
So, friend takes the big girls to go and clean up a trashed bedroom. (Oy. THANK you Mouse for making a huge mess, but then thank you again for helping to clean up without a fuss). I watched the little ones. As I’m getting Baboo’s shoes on, we’re sitting by the trampoline and she says to me “Mommy, I bite it”. Uh yeah, I noticed, I reply. She says “No, that’s not nice. No eat toys”. Yeah, uh, a little late on that kiddo.
In hindsight, it’s pretty funny and fortunately, my friend has forgiven us and is not upset at all. She knows that kids are kids. Her kids were good the whole time and didn’t’ really do anything. Granted it was their house and all, but still. I felt like Baboo's behavior was a unflattering reflection of my lax parenting. But am I really a lax parent? I didn’t think so until then. Should I be expecting more of her? I was embarrassed that she got into things and made a bunch of messes. Things that might have upset me a bit, but significantly less if we were home. Maybe I'm not doing a good enough job of teaching her to be respectful at other people’s homes? But I thought about it and admitted that she’s 2 and very curious and certainly independent. She wasn’t trying to be malicious. And she wasn’t really BAD, she was just being herself and I respect that this is who she is and how she interacts with the world. I realized, I wasn’t so much upset at HER as I was at MYSELF for not paying closer attention.
I know our rules at home are a bit different and my priorities are different and I never think that anyone elses rules or priorites any less important. I respect other people’s rules and priorities and expect my children to do so as well. My girls are good kids and smart, and Mouse is old enough to get it but Baboo is still learning and I should have been tuned in better to her to help her along.
We’re going back tomorrow to work some more on the quilt and already I have butterflies just thinking about it. I hope I’m able to focus on the quilt and not just on keeping Baboo out of mischief. Oy. It could be a long day.
Going to Crazy with Company
We had a big storm last night with some heavy rain and a lot of wind. The wind was strong enough to shake the house and make my heart race. (See my last post where I was starting to freak out about tornados).
On top of that, Baboo is sick. It’s nothing major, just a cold, but it’s bad enough that she had a hard time getting to sleep. She was moaning and crying out and coughing a lot.
Needless to say, none of us got much sleep last night and we all woke up in less than stellar moods. Mouse was being a bit of a pain getting dressed, I was sore and tired and starting to feel a little cold funk coming on myself (bring on the Zicam – again), and Baboo was whiney with a capital W. It was 7:32 am and I already felt like my last nerve was being pulled… twang, twing, plink!
While waiting desperately for the coffee to finish brewing and trying to make Mouse’s lunch with Baboo clinging to my leg and whining “Moooooooo-cough-meeeee. I neeeedddd –cough- yyyyouuuuu. Iiiiii neeeeed uuupppp –cough-cough”. I looked at Hubster across the kitchen island as he was getting his lunch ready for work and said “If you come home and find my head exploded all over the front lawn tonight, you’ll know why. It’s because I’ve gone crazy.”
Baboo popped up and yelled “Can I come too?!!” Hubster and I both laughed and said “Sure”.
Next thing I know she’s got her shoes out of the closet and has them ON the right feet. She ran over to me with a big smile and said “I READY! SEE!?”
Well, my dear, you sure are ready, even though I’m not. However, at least one of us has our sneakers on today. I think we’re going to need them.
On top of that, Baboo is sick. It’s nothing major, just a cold, but it’s bad enough that she had a hard time getting to sleep. She was moaning and crying out and coughing a lot.
Needless to say, none of us got much sleep last night and we all woke up in less than stellar moods. Mouse was being a bit of a pain getting dressed, I was sore and tired and starting to feel a little cold funk coming on myself (bring on the Zicam – again), and Baboo was whiney with a capital W. It was 7:32 am and I already felt like my last nerve was being pulled… twang, twing, plink!
While waiting desperately for the coffee to finish brewing and trying to make Mouse’s lunch with Baboo clinging to my leg and whining “Moooooooo-cough-meeeee. I neeeedddd –cough- yyyyouuuuu. Iiiiii neeeeed uuupppp –cough-cough”. I looked at Hubster across the kitchen island as he was getting his lunch ready for work and said “If you come home and find my head exploded all over the front lawn tonight, you’ll know why. It’s because I’ve gone crazy.”
Baboo popped up and yelled “Can I come too?!!” Hubster and I both laughed and said “Sure”.
Next thing I know she’s got her shoes out of the closet and has them ON the right feet. She ran over to me with a big smile and said “I READY! SEE!?”
Well, my dear, you sure are ready, even though I’m not. However, at least one of us has our sneakers on today. I think we’re going to need them.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Yes, I'm Still Alive
So if you’re still with me, raise your hands! Anyone? Anyone? Hmmm, I’m not really surprised. You gave up and I don’t blame you.
I kind of fell off the face of the planet there for a good couple of weeks, or so it felt. I know I haven’t written in a long time and it’s not because nothing’s been happening, or that I haven’t had a lot of ideas. Time, people, it’s ALL ABOUT TIME! Or rather, me not having enough of it. Or so it seems, anyway.
We truly have been very busy lately. When Hubster’s folks were here, we really were busy and enjoying a great visit and after they left we really kicked into high gear as far as just a lot of stuff going on. It’s kind of break neck speed right now on a bunch of things and I’m really looking forward to Mouse’s school break at the end of them month so I can catch my breath and have absolutely NOTHING going on. (at least not yet).
So what have you missed? Here is the abbreviated version of what I could have been posting about but didn’t have the time to:
Baboo has started taking her diaper off at nap time, especially if it’s dirty. This results in a huge, smelly mess and usually involves laundry and a bath. Despite repeated efforts to get her to tell us when she has to go or wants a change, she just tells that that she “got poop ewery-where!”. Uh, yeah, we noticed. My in-laws really loved this (not). In fact, it reminded them that their SON did the same thing when he was a baby. Ew.
Baboo is turning 2 – 2!!! This weekend. Her birthday is the same day as Becprint’s H, believe it or not. And I knew that was going to happen when I was pregnant with Baboo too. Weird. Anyway, my BABY is going to be 2! How did that happen? I’m still in shock. So I’ve been busy getting ready for her birthday party which involves having a few friends over for pizza, cake and play time. We’ve always had a party for our kids, even when they were just babies and we didn’t have any friends with kids. It was just us grownups one year when Mouse turned 1, but we had a good time anyway. It’s not about presents or anything like that, it’s letting our kids know that birthdays are special and that they are worth the effort to get people together to help them celebrate.
Baboo is very excited about her party and loves to tell everyone she meets, strangers or no, that it’s “MY BIR-DAY PAWTY. MINE. ME”. Repeatedly.
I decided to make a carousel cake, which I figured would be pretty simple or at least I’d find easy instructions on the ‘net. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, right. Have I mentioned I’ve never decorated a cake before? Hmmm. Might be important. So I looked up a few sites, got some ideas and figured I’d wing it. Thankfully, my mother in law has done a lot of cakes and was able to help me out with the cookies and design and I think we’ll be good to go. I’m excited about it and hope it’s special but a bit nervous that it will be a blob with some horse shaped cookies on the top. Anything could happen I guess.
And I should mention that it is VERY dangerous for me to have peanut M&Ms in the house. VERY. I have discovered that I really love these things and can eat them by the bucket. I don’t like regular M&Ms very much (though, there’s rarely anything chocolate that I’ll refuse, so if that’s all that’s around, I’ll choke them down. Ahem). I have them for the cake, I hope they make it to the weekend.
Or maybe I could have told you that I just got some results back from some blood tests and it shows that my cholesterol is a bit high. The bad cholesterol, that is. The rest is fine. However, my HMO has decided to dig their heels in about the test and are refusing to cover it. Without this test, I wouldn’t know that it was high and could be at risk for heart problems down the road, but APPARENTLY, it wasn’t medically necessary. Yeah, bite me. So I’m attempting to fight it and hoping I don’t get screwed.
And, so now, I’m supposed to be dieting more seriously, and generally, I have been (peanut M&Ms aside). My few members from my old playgroup back in Eastcoastville have formed an email “gang” and are working to support each other in getting healthy. A bunch have already done very well and I’m full of good ideas and inspiration and plain ole real knowledge, but struggle with it myself. I’ve acknowledged that I eat when I’m tired and stressed, so that’s pretty much ALL THE TIME and have learned a lot about myself that I’m still trying to work to sort out. I’m making progress, but it’s slow. Having almost daily contact with my now distant friends, is good and bad. Good because it feels like we’re all still together and bad because well, I can’t just walk down the street and see them. I miss them dearly.
But, I’m exercising more, eating better and have lost a few of the 15 lbs I need to lose. The same 15 lbs I lost LAST YEAR and am losing again. I’m hoping that I’m going to make it stick this time. I’m taking my vitamins and burping fish oil all in the best interests of my heart. I hope it appreciates my efforts.
And I could tell you about trying to find a birthday gift for Baboo. We have a house full of toys and stuff and do not need one more thing to be honest. And also I’m feeling cheap. And she’s only 2. I wanted to keep to the carousel theme, but it was very hard, so I didn’t. And as I’m standing in Toys R Us yesterday, mulling over ideas, I realize that I have NO FREAKING CLUE what my kids are into. How did that happen? I spend hours in a day with them and yet, I feel sometimes like I don’t know them. Very guilt inducing.
And lord knows I don’t need any more guilt.
I’m currently on a fund raising committee at Mouse’s school and we’re nearing our big event. I’m starting to freak out even though I am NOT the chair of the committee. I’ve been making phone calls and talking to strangers and now I have a house full of “stuff” that’s been donated. I really hate fundraising but know it’s important to the school so I’m doing it. I think I’m doing ok, but am worried that it’s not enough. I woke up this morning at the butt crack of dawn and freaked out a bit because I’ve lost a week in my head and thought the event was next week. It was of little reprieve to look at my calendar and realize it is the following week. We still have so much to do and I’m dreading it and want it over all at the same time.
And I presented an idea to the school for a class quilt to auction off at the fundraiser and everyone loved it. And now, I’m roped into helping to make it and I know nothing about quilting other than what I’ve absorbed from my Mum who is a quilt making fanatic. I feel like quilt imposter.
The weather was B-E-A-utiful this weekend and it inspired me to figure out what to do with my gardens, or lack thereof. I’ve decided to work on the front garden this year and do the herb garden at the back but that we’ll likely put off the veggie garden until next year, as all of this stuff costs money. I have a million ideas and I think it’s going to look really nice, but money… Bleh.
Oh yeah, and we need a new roof. But you know, blood from a stone and all that, so it’s going to have to wait until next year. Insert frantic saving plan here.
I did FINALLY get our taxes filed. That’s good. Right? Right?
Yesterday I escaped for coffee with a friend and we spent 2.5 hours sitting in Starbucks talking non-stop about anything and everything. It was fabulous and quite possibly the shortest 2.5 hours I’ve had in ages. To make up for my sloth-ness, I did a bunch of other errands, but boy, it was so nice to just sit and have an adult conversation without being interrupted with questions about snacks and poop and toys. We’ve already made plans to go it again – SOON.
I could also tell you that this past week we had a large brown rabbit hanging out on our back lawn for a few days, and it caused quite a stir and a lot of questions about where the rabbit was. Like 700 times a day “Mommy, where bunny is?” He has since disappeared, which is kind of good because we thought it might be a problem as he/she (?) seemed to go under the back deck. Let’s hope it’s gone and not um, reproducing copiously.
It has come to my attention via the news that we are entering tornado season here in Midwestville, aka Tornado Alley. That’s freaking me out a bit. And so this morning, I added to my already obscenely long grocery list a number of emergency items – bottled water, canned goods etc and researched what to do on the ‘net. It’s helped me to relax a bit, but I still need to figure out a better plan. And then practice it with the kids as I’m praying that we’ll never have to use it.
I’ll also tell you that I’m considering potty training Baboo during spring break. She will go and does ask to, but I think I’d like to encourage it a bit more. Mouse was potty trained without my help by 18 months and even by 2 we’d stopped using diapers at night time. I’m not expecting that level from Baboo as she’s just a different kid, but I do think she might be ready. It might backfire, but I’m hoping that it will take off.
So, that’s all I can think of for now without my brain exploding. Several phone calls and to do list items were sacrificed in order to assemble this somewhat crappy post. I hope you appreciate my effort. You don’t? Oh, well. Ha. But now it’s Baboo’s nap time and Mouse is at a friend’s house this afternoon and I have an afternoon in which to cram 100 things that MUST be done and I really should get to it.
I will say, I’m feeling much better having written. I’ve missed it more than I realized I did.
Post note: Just as I’m reviewing this, I hear through the monitor (recently resurrected to hear the tell-tale sound of a diaper being ripped open) a cough, choke and the distinct cry that follows throw up. Sigh. Baboo is fine. She just drank too much water and then threw it all up. Which means, I had to change the sheets. Again. For the 4th time this week. I HATE changing crib sheets. So now it appears that a few extra loads of laundry are now on my list. Sigh.
I kind of fell off the face of the planet there for a good couple of weeks, or so it felt. I know I haven’t written in a long time and it’s not because nothing’s been happening, or that I haven’t had a lot of ideas. Time, people, it’s ALL ABOUT TIME! Or rather, me not having enough of it. Or so it seems, anyway.
We truly have been very busy lately. When Hubster’s folks were here, we really were busy and enjoying a great visit and after they left we really kicked into high gear as far as just a lot of stuff going on. It’s kind of break neck speed right now on a bunch of things and I’m really looking forward to Mouse’s school break at the end of them month so I can catch my breath and have absolutely NOTHING going on. (at least not yet).
So what have you missed? Here is the abbreviated version of what I could have been posting about but didn’t have the time to:
Baboo has started taking her diaper off at nap time, especially if it’s dirty. This results in a huge, smelly mess and usually involves laundry and a bath. Despite repeated efforts to get her to tell us when she has to go or wants a change, she just tells that that she “got poop ewery-where!”. Uh, yeah, we noticed. My in-laws really loved this (not). In fact, it reminded them that their SON did the same thing when he was a baby. Ew.
Baboo is turning 2 – 2!!! This weekend. Her birthday is the same day as Becprint’s H, believe it or not. And I knew that was going to happen when I was pregnant with Baboo too. Weird. Anyway, my BABY is going to be 2! How did that happen? I’m still in shock. So I’ve been busy getting ready for her birthday party which involves having a few friends over for pizza, cake and play time. We’ve always had a party for our kids, even when they were just babies and we didn’t have any friends with kids. It was just us grownups one year when Mouse turned 1, but we had a good time anyway. It’s not about presents or anything like that, it’s letting our kids know that birthdays are special and that they are worth the effort to get people together to help them celebrate.
Baboo is very excited about her party and loves to tell everyone she meets, strangers or no, that it’s “MY BIR-DAY PAWTY. MINE. ME”. Repeatedly.
I decided to make a carousel cake, which I figured would be pretty simple or at least I’d find easy instructions on the ‘net. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, right. Have I mentioned I’ve never decorated a cake before? Hmmm. Might be important. So I looked up a few sites, got some ideas and figured I’d wing it. Thankfully, my mother in law has done a lot of cakes and was able to help me out with the cookies and design and I think we’ll be good to go. I’m excited about it and hope it’s special but a bit nervous that it will be a blob with some horse shaped cookies on the top. Anything could happen I guess.
And I should mention that it is VERY dangerous for me to have peanut M&Ms in the house. VERY. I have discovered that I really love these things and can eat them by the bucket. I don’t like regular M&Ms very much (though, there’s rarely anything chocolate that I’ll refuse, so if that’s all that’s around, I’ll choke them down. Ahem). I have them for the cake, I hope they make it to the weekend.
Or maybe I could have told you that I just got some results back from some blood tests and it shows that my cholesterol is a bit high. The bad cholesterol, that is. The rest is fine. However, my HMO has decided to dig their heels in about the test and are refusing to cover it. Without this test, I wouldn’t know that it was high and could be at risk for heart problems down the road, but APPARENTLY, it wasn’t medically necessary. Yeah, bite me. So I’m attempting to fight it and hoping I don’t get screwed.
And, so now, I’m supposed to be dieting more seriously, and generally, I have been (peanut M&Ms aside). My few members from my old playgroup back in Eastcoastville have formed an email “gang” and are working to support each other in getting healthy. A bunch have already done very well and I’m full of good ideas and inspiration and plain ole real knowledge, but struggle with it myself. I’ve acknowledged that I eat when I’m tired and stressed, so that’s pretty much ALL THE TIME and have learned a lot about myself that I’m still trying to work to sort out. I’m making progress, but it’s slow. Having almost daily contact with my now distant friends, is good and bad. Good because it feels like we’re all still together and bad because well, I can’t just walk down the street and see them. I miss them dearly.
But, I’m exercising more, eating better and have lost a few of the 15 lbs I need to lose. The same 15 lbs I lost LAST YEAR and am losing again. I’m hoping that I’m going to make it stick this time. I’m taking my vitamins and burping fish oil all in the best interests of my heart. I hope it appreciates my efforts.
And I could tell you about trying to find a birthday gift for Baboo. We have a house full of toys and stuff and do not need one more thing to be honest. And also I’m feeling cheap. And she’s only 2. I wanted to keep to the carousel theme, but it was very hard, so I didn’t. And as I’m standing in Toys R Us yesterday, mulling over ideas, I realize that I have NO FREAKING CLUE what my kids are into. How did that happen? I spend hours in a day with them and yet, I feel sometimes like I don’t know them. Very guilt inducing.
And lord knows I don’t need any more guilt.
I’m currently on a fund raising committee at Mouse’s school and we’re nearing our big event. I’m starting to freak out even though I am NOT the chair of the committee. I’ve been making phone calls and talking to strangers and now I have a house full of “stuff” that’s been donated. I really hate fundraising but know it’s important to the school so I’m doing it. I think I’m doing ok, but am worried that it’s not enough. I woke up this morning at the butt crack of dawn and freaked out a bit because I’ve lost a week in my head and thought the event was next week. It was of little reprieve to look at my calendar and realize it is the following week. We still have so much to do and I’m dreading it and want it over all at the same time.
And I presented an idea to the school for a class quilt to auction off at the fundraiser and everyone loved it. And now, I’m roped into helping to make it and I know nothing about quilting other than what I’ve absorbed from my Mum who is a quilt making fanatic. I feel like quilt imposter.
The weather was B-E-A-utiful this weekend and it inspired me to figure out what to do with my gardens, or lack thereof. I’ve decided to work on the front garden this year and do the herb garden at the back but that we’ll likely put off the veggie garden until next year, as all of this stuff costs money. I have a million ideas and I think it’s going to look really nice, but money… Bleh.
Oh yeah, and we need a new roof. But you know, blood from a stone and all that, so it’s going to have to wait until next year. Insert frantic saving plan here.
I did FINALLY get our taxes filed. That’s good. Right? Right?
Yesterday I escaped for coffee with a friend and we spent 2.5 hours sitting in Starbucks talking non-stop about anything and everything. It was fabulous and quite possibly the shortest 2.5 hours I’ve had in ages. To make up for my sloth-ness, I did a bunch of other errands, but boy, it was so nice to just sit and have an adult conversation without being interrupted with questions about snacks and poop and toys. We’ve already made plans to go it again – SOON.
I could also tell you that this past week we had a large brown rabbit hanging out on our back lawn for a few days, and it caused quite a stir and a lot of questions about where the rabbit was. Like 700 times a day “Mommy, where bunny is?” He has since disappeared, which is kind of good because we thought it might be a problem as he/she (?) seemed to go under the back deck. Let’s hope it’s gone and not um, reproducing copiously.
It has come to my attention via the news that we are entering tornado season here in Midwestville, aka Tornado Alley. That’s freaking me out a bit. And so this morning, I added to my already obscenely long grocery list a number of emergency items – bottled water, canned goods etc and researched what to do on the ‘net. It’s helped me to relax a bit, but I still need to figure out a better plan. And then practice it with the kids as I’m praying that we’ll never have to use it.
I’ll also tell you that I’m considering potty training Baboo during spring break. She will go and does ask to, but I think I’d like to encourage it a bit more. Mouse was potty trained without my help by 18 months and even by 2 we’d stopped using diapers at night time. I’m not expecting that level from Baboo as she’s just a different kid, but I do think she might be ready. It might backfire, but I’m hoping that it will take off.
So, that’s all I can think of for now without my brain exploding. Several phone calls and to do list items were sacrificed in order to assemble this somewhat crappy post. I hope you appreciate my effort. You don’t? Oh, well. Ha. But now it’s Baboo’s nap time and Mouse is at a friend’s house this afternoon and I have an afternoon in which to cram 100 things that MUST be done and I really should get to it.
I will say, I’m feeling much better having written. I’ve missed it more than I realized I did.
Post note: Just as I’m reviewing this, I hear through the monitor (recently resurrected to hear the tell-tale sound of a diaper being ripped open) a cough, choke and the distinct cry that follows throw up. Sigh. Baboo is fine. She just drank too much water and then threw it all up. Which means, I had to change the sheets. Again. For the 4th time this week. I HATE changing crib sheets. So now it appears that a few extra loads of laundry are now on my list. Sigh.
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