Putting It Together

I just wanted to share a break through.  Tonight, as I was lifting him out of the bathtub, my adorable son said "Bye, duck."  He had been playing with his yellow duck during bath time and I suppose he just wanted to say a proper good bye.  Very polite, indeed.  AND, the first time, to our knowledge, that our son has put together 2 words in a logical (any) fashion.  Moving forward....in more ways than one.

Apologies, Apologies, Apologies and an Update

I feel SO GUILTY! I just got my Site Meter stats and saw that you're all still checking in. And what have you been seeing here lately? NOTHING! And I'm sorry...so, so, sorry.

I think about what I'd like to write every day, but just haven't found/made the time to get it written. Perhaps I should be tweeting (joking).

There's a lot of stuff going down over here. We are moving in 5 days and I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed by it all. For instance, today I had a complete meltdown because I waited for the phone/internet/TV guy for 4 hours and then spent an hour on my cell phone trying to sort out what was going on. And I was in an empty house. With my 21 month old son. That was not my idea of fun. So I got back to my rental (and realized I had forgotten the lap top at the new house) and just started balling. That pretty much says where I'm at.

But I'm OK now....in fact, I forced myself to get over it quickly because I had another appointment to cancel for tomorrow, so I stopped crying and made my next call. And you know what I did next? I put the little guy to bed, made some lunch and watched TV all by myself. There was no computer to distract me with tasks, and I have a lot of catch up watching to do (Weeds), so I did. It was a necessary distraction from my current life.

We all know moving sucks. But I think we manage to hide it away in our minds and gloss over it when we think back on it (kinda like what they say about child birth....although I will NEVER forget that). Moving with 2 kids is a whole new world of pain. It is hard. The kids are always around and they don't care if you need to focus on packing, cleaning, dealing with contractors, or making a zillion phone calls to people who don't really care about you. And life doesn't stop. There's still laundry, 3 meals a day, pick up, drop off, bills to pay and errands to run. It ain't like the old days, that's for sure.

So, back to the kids. I think they've spent enough time at the new house that they aren't going to completely freak out when we officially move in.  I actually think the babe understands that our days in our rental are almost over.

The babe is doing well and is so happy to be back in school. Sadly we just had a very scary experience; she was attacked by a swarm of wasps as we were leaving the playground on Monday (she lifted up the wrong rock). It was one of the most disturbing things I've ever been through and I am so grateful we didn't end up in the ER. I was putting the little guy in his car seat and had placed her on her side of the car temporarily. I walked around to load her in and found her swarmed by a LOT of wasps. I grabbed her and ran across the street trying to get away (I've never had to deal with anything like this before and wasn't exactly sure what to do). They were everywhere....in her hair, up her shirt, on her legs. It was overwhelming and terrifying.

I didn't know if she was going to go into anaphylactic shock as she had about 20 bites on her little body. After the spectacle on the sidewalk (I ended up pulling her shirt off to swat the wasps off her body), I ran back to the car with her where I proceeded to hold her in my arms in the driver’s seat. I called my husband and he searched the internet for information on wasp bites while I tried to calm her and give her a healthy dose of Benadryl. The screams I heard while the wasps were attacking her are something I won't soon forget. I ended up taking her home and watching her closely. I've now learnt that it may be the next exposure which we have to be concerned about. I hope that day never comes.

The little guy is flourishing despite all the chaos surrounding him. Today he walked up to me holding a book (Where's Spot), saying "boo, boo (which means book). I like that he's asking me to read to him.

And last week he learnt how to say "bubbles." Really, that made me day. Bubbles. It sounds so sweet coming from his little mouth.

I'll try and do a better job. I miss you and my writing. It feels like I've been ignoring an old friend, and I don't want that. I want to be 24-7 Mommy....in Maryland. Thanks for reading...

Getting Paid

Hello friends.  It's been a while.

As usual, I have a lot to say and no time to write it.  I am the Queen of distraction these days.  And I must admit, I've been going on short walks around my neighborhood at night before bed instead of sitting in front of the computer.  I feel like the walking has been helping more than the writing can right now.  The big move is 2 weeks from tomorrow and I'm slowly getting closer to being ready.  And I can honestly say I am ready to be ready!

Anyway, something happened today that I needed to share.

We were driving to school this morning and the babe was talking about school versus work.  I always tell her how lucky she is to be going to school to learn and play with her friends.  This morning she said she'd rather be going to work because at work they pay you and then you can buy things.  I wasn't sure whether to be horrified or impressed.  I suppose I'm both.  She's not even 4 and she's already worked out the basics of our consumption oriented society.  I keep telling her she should enjoy going to school and being young because things get a lot harder when you get older. 

I think it may be true what they say, youth is wasted on the young!

Hair Elastics

I'm not sure what it is, but the little guy loves hair elastics (and we have hair elastics all over our house).  He has a thing for putting them over his wrist and pushing them up as far as they can go.  As he's normally in a T-Shirt, I only realize he has a band on his upper arm when I get him ready for bath or I'm lifting him and his shirt sleeve goes up.  He doesn't appear to be able to get it to the point where he is cutting off his circulation, which is good.  But it is a little strange, no?

Satisfaction

I am not getting a lot of satisfaction these days.  I am a tad overwhelmed but don't want to drag you down in my muck.  Like I said the other day, these are all good problems to have.

Anyway....

I do all the laundry in the house (surprise, surprise).  We have one central basket and everyone's dirty clothes get thrown in there every day.  The basket is usually empty for about 10 seconds before someone is throwing another item in it.

What I wanted to tell you about is the feeling of satisfaction I have when I have completed and folded a load of laundry.  It is such an awesome sense of accomplishment.  As a Stay at Home Mom, I suppose my perception of "accomplishment" has changed from my working days.

I am almost sad to put away the basket of folded clothes because the evidence of my job well done is gone.  How sad is that?

Anyway, here's a shot of my latest "accomplishment."

Strange Days

It was a strange day.  Mostly good, but strange.  We dropped the babe off at school and the only one crying was the little guy.  I think he knew he was losing his play mate.  The babe was happy and confident and gave me a great big hug before we left.  She was thrilled to be back.

The little guy and I then went to the dermatologist to have a potentially funky mole I recently found checked out.  Turns out it was nothing to be concerned about.  Another good thing.

After nap time the little guy wandered around the house calling out his sister's name (not really, but his version of it).  He had forgotten she was at school and couldn't understand where she could be.  Poor kid.

But the story I think you'll really appreciate is the poop on my foot story.  At bedtime I brought the little guy upstairs and took off his diaper at the entrance to his room.  I assumed it was just pee in there.   It was not (you know what they say about making assumptions).  So I brought him over to the changing table and tried to avoid allowing any poo pellets from falling on the ground.  I was concerned I had gotten poop on the bottom of my black pants so I took them off.  I cleaned my son up and put him in the tub.  I then realized I felt something strange on the bottom of my foot.  I had a look and found a nice chunk of smushed poo on my left foot.  So there I was, standing in my underwear, with stinky poop on my foot, and a happy son in the tub.  Not the end of the world. 

I got my husband and daughter to watch the little guy while he played in the bath so I could retrace my steps and wipe up any poop smudges I could identify (there were a few).  I will never know if I missed any spots.  Luckily I hadn't walked beyond my son's bedroom and the bathroom.  Regardless, it was gross and totally my fault.  Lesson learned, I should always assume my son has poop in his diaper!