Life with Girls

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T09:24:00.000-04:00

Catching Up with the Girls

2008-10-29T09:31:00.008-04:00

As promised, here is my post dedicated solely to catching up on the girls' latest and greatest...

- has hit the Jekyll/Hyde stage of childhood known as 4.5 years old. One day she is amazingly mature, patient, and wonderful to be around. The next she is a whiney, tattle tale that drives me insane. Anyone parent who has made it through this age deserves sainthood. I would just appreciate some pointers!!

- is almost 42 inches tall and 41 lbs. Officially big enough for a booster seat which she uses in my mother in law's car, but in my car she will remain in a 5 pt harness until high school. Just kidding...I think at least!

- is loving school. She now goes 5 days a week in the afternoons. Let me just tell you that this schedule fits her perfectly. She takes after both myself and J in that we don't move our butts in the morning. The afternoon schedule suits her well. She's made lots of friends and is thriving there. She's definitely tired afterwards so bedtime has been moved up, along with the shenanagins that accompany it.

- is reading!!! Yup, I said reading! A while ago I bought her a set of BOB books which we recently have been working through. She can already read the first 6 on her own with little prompting from me. It's been extremely exciting and making both her and me proud!

- has taken some great field trips with school. Here are a few pics from the pumpkin patch and the fire station! I'm really enjoying being able to go with her on these!

- is sad that she doesn't get to go to school like C, but is loving Little Gym! We go Tuesday mornings and it's been great for her. She's always the first to go with the teacher instead of me, so I think she's almost ready for school! Don't think there will be much seperation anxiety here!

- is almost 37 inches tall and 31 lbs. She's officially wearing a lot of C's clothes from last year! I'm talking size 4 shirts here!! It's amazing how differently both girls are built. M's torso seems to be longer while C's legs are longer. It will be interesting to see how this impacts their growth later...

- loves sleeping in her new WALL-E bed! She's officially in a twin bed and loves it. We still have some sleep issues (ahem, and a paci ) but she loves her bed. Recently she seems to be trying to get rid of her nap which scares the beejesus out of me! Not sure how that's going to pan out but I'm hoping it's not done yet!!!!

- has for the most part adjusted well to the move. Yesterday was the first time she asked to go to "my house" because she wanted her pictures from her room. Needless to say, I'll be heading over to storage this weekend to get them!

- is talking a ridiculous amount and is funny! She loves telling "jokes" but she just says the funniest things. An example was we all went out to dinner with my cousins and their significant others, and they wanted to pay for us. J and I were protesting it, but they just said, "That's the way it will be so be ok with it!" to which C replied, "I'm ok with it!". We all started laughing and then M turned to us and said, "HA HA! What's so funny??". She also has been going around and doing the robot and saying "I am a robot!". She's just too funny!

Here are some recent pics of her from pumpkin picking:

I'll have some pictures up this weekend from pumpkin carving and Halloween. We're looking forward to it and hope you will to!!

Life Happens...

2008-10-29T09:03:00.000-04:00

Hello again! I know it's been forever since I last wrote. I wish I could give you some exotic reason why I haven't been blogging like I won a contest and have been in Fiji or I was in Hollywood starring in a miniseries for Lifetime, but nope, nothing like that. Truth is I haven't been writing because I've been too busy with my life. Just the day to day things that occur from the time I'm unhappily woken up by my screaming M, to the time I'm dragging my butt to bed. Nothing fancy there...

What have we all been up to? Well, here is an abbreviated list:

- We've been slowly getting more and more settled into our new life in NJ. C's in school, M wishes she was, and I've been enjoying the 2.5 hours of quiet!

- We've made trips to PA to visit friends, had fun with the family, gone on field trips with C's class, and of course made a trip to the pumpkin patch!

- I spent most of September making trips back and forth to VA to settle everything with the house. No fun there and it was really hard on all of us.

- We all got sick. Everyone, even my inlaws except M. How she escaped the nasty sinus infection/bronchitis/viral whatever that we all had is still a mystery.

- I joined Facebook! Never thought I would, but I did and have been meeting up with some friends from high school that I haven't seen since, oh, high school!

- The girls have been growing and changing. I'm going to write a whole post on that, because well, they deserve it!

Well, I think that pretty much sums it up. It doesn't seem like much when I write it out like this, but it definitely has kept me jumping. Next post will be an update on the girls plus some pictures! Hope you'll stay tuned! :)

Moving on Up...

2008-08-06T09:28:00.000-04:00

Yup, we are moving! J officially accepted a position in NJ on Monday night. The only catch is that since it's a transfer within his current company, he starts next Monday!! Yes, the Monday that is 6 days away! Needless to say it's been full out chaos here ever since. Thankfully my mother in law is here to help manage the chaos and kids. I know I'm one lucky lady!!

Now I'm heading up the task of "how the hell I'm going to get this all done and in NJ as soon as possible"???? We are going to be crashing at the inlaws until our house here is taken care of, so most of our stuff will be going in storage. So far we've packed up the things that aren't essential for survival, and have been going through other stuff. I'm using this as an excuse to purge the crap that has accumulated over the last 5 years, but that's a challenge in itself. All I can say is thank god for Freecycle!!

Then there are the calls to make: dr's offices, schools, utilities, etc. It's just so overwhelming! Thank god I'll be heading out tomorrow night for dinner with friends and a much needed margarita! :)

Back to the coal mines now, but I'll post again soon. I'm not sure when, but it will be soon I promise! I'm sure all 3 of you who read my blog will miss me! ;) See you on the other side!!

They Say It's My Birthday...

2008-08-04T09:55:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to me!! My birthday celebration started yesterday with a massage (ooohhh...soooo nice!) and then a Black Crowes concert with my sister. The massage was heavenly and definitely broke up the knots in my back. I'm actually sore! :) The concert was awesome. Sooo much fun! We were supposed to have lawn seats but decided to upgrade them and wound up in the 3rd row! It was worth the extra $18!!!

J surprised me with my gift after I got home at 12:30 am. He got me a beautiful birthstone family ring. It has the girls stones on it and looks great! It's a custom order so it's not here yet, but once it is, I'll post a picture. Needless to say, he scored major points with that one!! :)

To top off my birthday fun, I found out I am a winner of a bloggy giveaway!! Mel, over at A Dramatic Mommy, and her random number generator chose me to win a $10 gift card to Starbucks and a $10 to B&N! Score!! So mosey on over to Mel and thank her along with me!

Ok...off to clean and run to the store, but I'll be back with another post later. Big things happening here, so stay tuned!

Making a list

2008-07-31T13:24:00.003-04:00

Yup, making lists...that's what I'm doing right now. List for things I want to donate, list of things I want to sell, list of things that need to be done around the house... Lists for everything.

Some may say that I'm OCD when it comes to making lists, but truth is, it's the only way I can keep the panic monster at bay. I can't control what's happening right now in my life but I can control the lists I'm making. Make sense?? ;)

So I have a list of what I need to do in the next 36 hours while J is in NJ. He's there for a follow up interview and hopefully (crossing everything!) an offer on a job. While he's there, I'm trying to get some things done. My list, so far, is:

- Vaccum
- Do dishes
- Pack up toys for donation
- Continue going through clothes for donation
- Put stuff for donation in garage
- Clean our bedroom
- Clean kitchen counters
- Take out garbage

There are more things I can add to the list, but I think it's a tall order for me to get done alone as is. So where am I in my progress? Well...I'm working on procrastination! What, that's not on the list?? Oh...I'll get around to adding it later I'm sure.

Honestly as much as I should be doing these things, I can't motivate myself. I'm just drained and not wanting to deal with the mess in my house. So, any ideas on how to get my butt in gear?? Caffeine has already been hooked up to the IV and is flowing as we are talking... Anything else??

I swear I'll get some things done tonight while the girls are in bed. Really, pinkie swear. I'm even planning on rewarding myself by watching a movie if I get some things done. Hopefully that will help...

It's Pouring...

2008-07-29T19:07:00.000-04:00

You know the phrase, when it rains, it pours? Well...it's definitely pouring here!

In case we didn't have enough turmoil in our house because of the whole job thing we came home from NJ on Wednesday to find that our air conditioner was dead. Nice, huh? We toughed it out with some fans and the windows open until Saturday and then we gave in and checked into a hotel nearby. Milo (our cat) couldn't take the heat at all, so he was shipped off to my sister's and was enjoying the a/c.

After the guy came on Thursday and told us what needed to be done (whole furnace needed replacing...can you say ouch!), more stress hit us. Here we are days away from the end of J's contract and needing to shell out some major dough. Not good... We were counting on our savings to help us in case J was out of work for any period of time not to get our a/c fixed. But Murphy's Law, right??

Needless to say, the a/c is fixed. We are definitely lighter in the bank account as a result, but what are we going to do? Now we're just waiting to see if J gets a job offer this week. It's looking good as the one company is offering to pay for his travel to NJ for another interview, but I'm not counting my chickens until they are hatched. One to many metaphors here?? :)

Next week is my birthday. Guess I'm hoping for some kind of miracle and J to have a job lined up by then, or at the very least nothing else goes wrong. Is it terrible for my birthday wish to be that our life be a little easy for a change??

On the Road Again...

2008-07-15T12:27:00.000-04:00

Yup, that's right. We're heading to NJ again. J has an interview there on Thursday, another one possibly on Monday and a job fair to attend on Tuesday. Instead of him taking the train up and back, we decided just to go up with him and stay up for the week. This was a last minute decision, so that means lots of laundry and packing are ahead of me tonight! FUN!?!

So, wish us luck and hopefully I'll br reporting some good news from NJ next week!

Summertime Blues...

2008-07-10T13:08:00.001-04:00

Ok...it's official. Summer needs to be over, like now. There are only so many times I can hear "I'm bored" before it drives me insane. In fact, if I hear it again today you might as well come visit me at the nut house.

It's not like we aren't doing anything all day long. We take trips to the farm, playground, mall, story time, free concerts, etc. We've been making doll houses out of shoe boxes and cookies from scratch. We've attempted swimming but the rain always foils our plans. Point is...we've had plenty of things to do. But yet, the boredom strikes. And it's not all on the younger members of our house, nope...I'm bored! Bored of the number of children's activities I need to come up with to fill our day. Bored of the tons of laundry and other household stuff I should be doing on a daily basis. Bored, bored, bored...

I do love that I get to be home with the girls. But there are times, more now than ever, where I miss working. Not necessarily the work itself, but the interaction with other people, the challenges, and being out of the house! I know the day is coming when I will be back to working and come back and read this post and think, "I wish I was like that now!", but for now, this is how I feel. I can't be alone in this right?? There have to be other moms who feel the same way! I hope...

I think part of my problem is that I feel not in control of my life right now. This whole job thing has thrown us all for a loop and it's crazy to think that I won't know where we will be living in the next few weeks. It makes it hard for me to commit to anything, especially where the girls are involved. Summer camp? Nope... More dance classes...won't do that either. Why am I going to spend the money to enroll them in something to have us drop out in 2 weeks?

I'm a crazy control freak, so my issues aren't completely about the kids and lack of activities. I wish it was that easy. The fact is that my hubby, J, is in complete control of this...not something I am used to at all. We usually make decisions together or I completely control the show. Don't get me wrong, I'll be having major input as to the final job decision, but the day to day applying, calls, etc. I can't help with.

So I need something to distract me from going absolutely insane until this new job is in the bag. Any suggestions out there?? Bueller, Bueller....

2 years...

2008-07-02T12:21:00.007-04:00

2 years ago, I lost my grandmother. I know I have posted a few times about her, my grief, and how important she was to me. Today, I thought I would share something that only the people attending her funeral heard...her eulogy.

To set the stage, I wrote this in one shot the night before her funeral. I was almost 2 weeks postpartum, up all night because of grief and a newborn, so my emotions were raw. Well, here it goes:

--------------------

Margaret Carey lived a blessed life. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend. She was an active member of her community through the Elk’s Club and American Legion. She touched many people’s lives, as we can see from all of the friends and family who have come to share in this time. On behalf of our family, I want to thank you all for being here.

Although today is our chance to say goodbye, it’s also a time to celebrate my grandmother’s life. She was the true matriarch of the family, the mother bear who took care of us all. She was always there for us, no matter what was going on. I’m sure there were times that we wished she wasn’t so nosey, but that’s just the way she was. You could always count on her to keep up with what was going on around her, even if she had to peek out the curtains at her house to find out.

Grandma gave us many gifts. She provided us all with a strong base to grow from. From her three daughters down to her grandkids, she has given us all a piece of her. Although we may have all been embarrassed by her screaming across the street at 4 o’clock in the afternoon that it was time for dinner, we appreciated her taking care of us. There was never a need to thank her, she just did it.She never cared what other people thought of her. In fact, she was always open and honest about the way she felt. At one time or another I’m sure we all heard her call someone a pain in the ass with no apology for it. Some people may have felt this was a major fault, but it was just grandma.

From her Star magazine obsession to stocking tons of toilet paper, Grandma had little quirks that we all loved. Like the fact that we always knew what we were having for dinner by what day of the week it was, or how a powdered sugar donut and a cup of tea was a perfect bedtime snack.

My grandmother was never one for showing her emotions, however we all knew how much she loved each and every one of us. She always had a hug waiting for us whenever we needed to be comforted, or the wooden spoon ready when we were in trouble. And in the end, we were able to do the same for her. As she left us, she was surrounded by the love and support of her family, just as she is today.

For all of this, I thank you, Grandma. You were truly a blessing to all of us, and will be missed.

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I think it's amazing how I can look back upon that 2 years later and still feel the emotion it was written with. I see flaws in it, like maybe I was trying to be more funny than serious, or that I should have added more about how wonderful she was, how she raised me to be the person I am today. How I wish I could go back and spend more time with her, call her more often just to tell her I missed her. Or how I think about her every day still and wonder if she would be proud of me. How I see her in my girls, their spunk and stubbornness, but also the way they always know when I'm thinking of her and need a hug.

I'm sure I will always wonder and wish and grieve. I guess that's part of remembering. I love you, Grandma, and I miss you more than anything.

And We're Back... Part 2

2008-06-27T11:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, so you've made it through part 1 and now what?? Now I give you...

M's 2 year old post!! :)

M officially turned 2 on June 9th at 7:17 pm. To celebrate, she spent the morning at the dr's office for her 2 year check up. Nice mom, huh? Here are her stats:

Height: 36" (95%)...yes, she is my kid but apparently will be looking down at me by the time she's 7.

Weight: 29 lbs (75%)

Here are some things M likes to do:

- Read books. She tries to read them herself and always starts them off with "Once upon a time..."

- Sings. She loves to sing all the time from old classics like Old McDonald to Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. She also makes up her own songs all the time.

- Dance. M has a blast dancing. She has actually accompanied us to C's dance classes and started joining in. It's too cute!

- Play. Of course M loves to play. Her favorites right now are: playing with stickers, balls, little people, cars, baby dolls, and the big doll house we have. She also loves going to the playground!

- Talk. She is a talkative little girl! I should have a list of words she can say, but there are too many. At her appointment, the dr. asked if she was stringing a few words together. No sooner did she say that, M turned around and said "I want to get down!". Sentences only here!!

Here are some pictures of M over the last 2 years:

This was taken when she was a day old.

Her & C on M's first day home:

6 months:

1 year:

18 months:

2 years:

I cannot believe how fast these 2 years have gone! M...I love you and am enjoying watching you grow up! I'm looking forward to see how much you grow and change over the next year. Happy birthday big girl!

And We're Back... Part 1

2008-06-26T17:12:00.004-04:00

After hemming and hawing over what to write, I decided just to go with it. So, here's what's been going on in our lives. To save you from having to read one really long post, I'm breaking it out into parts... Now, no cheating...always start at Part 1 before you skip ahead. We can't skip ahead in life, so don't skip ahead here... ;)

Ok...so to backtrack, back in May, J and I had a long heart to heart about the state of affairs here. We're struggling to make ends meet, and the market here isn't condusive to us selling our house right now. So, I, or we decided it would be best for me to go back to work. On top of this, we also decided that we weren't going to pursue moving back to NJ this summer as planned. Two hard things to deal with, hence my last post.

The very next day I swung into action getting my resume together and looking for daycare. I was really upset over everything and allowed myself the day to mourn. Dramatic? Maybe, but you have to understand that it's really hard for me to be away from family and be raising my kids down here. It's not that I haven't met great people or have found things to do, but it's just not the same as family. I hate having no one to call when one of the girls is sick and I need to run to the store...or worse, when I'm sick and J has to miss work as a result. So, moving to NJ would solve a lot of that. Yes, it would come with it's own share of issues and family drama...but I really thought it would help.

After a day of being pissed off and sad, I moved on. Then something crazy happened...J lost coverage on his contract at work. The downside of working for a government contracting company is that you are up for contract renewal every year (or however long the contract is). J's contract has never been questioned, and up until that Saturday...we thought he was fine for another year. Then that Saturday it was all undone. The contract was going to expire in a month and then J would be out of work. Wow, right???

I did what any good wife would do...kept calm until I was alone and then completely freaked out. :) Needless to say, J has been looking high and low for a job. After a few setbacks, we've decided to go forward with moving to NJ. We figure it's the best for our family and financially makes sense. Now all we need is for J to find a job!! Wish us luck on this.

End Part 1....

Not sure what to say...

2008-06-07T09:03:00.002-04:00

I've been neglecting this blog for a while now...sorry. Truth is, I'm not sure what to write. I have a few posts saved in drafts but haven't had the guts to post them. They're personal, deep posts. The kind that makes things seem dark and gloomy in my life. And although I've been using this blog as a virtual therapy tool, I'm not sure I want to go there. Truth is I'm afraid that if I open that door then a lot will fall out. Honestly, who wants to read about someone else's problems when everyone has enough of their own??

So I've been stuck. To clarify, there have been good things, great things going on as well. C had her last day of school and end of year performance. M is coming up on her 2nd birthday, and we had the first (of a few) celebrations for it. My house is back to being mine with no extra guests. We've taken trips to Baltimore, gone to see a few movies, and are getting ready to head up to NJ for my cousin's college graduation party. See, life isn't all gloom and doom here!!

Today while the girls are napping (or at least M is) and J is at work (yup, on a Saturday), I'm going to make an effort to blog. I'm going to download pictures, write posts and actually post them. What a novel idea, right?? So, until later....

The Great Mother's Day...

2008-05-14T12:27:00.006-04:00

Mother's Day started early this year as C's class had Mother's Day Tea on Thursday. I promptly joined her and her class at 10:30 am to observe her gymnastics/dance/get-all-their-energy-out class and then headed off to tea. J was nice enough to stay home with M, so C and I got some one on one time. I swear, her teacher's are amazing! They prepared quite a spread for us, including cucumber sandwiches! :) The best part was find our spot, which was marked by a special place holder and placemat.

(The card reads: Recipe for Motherhood
1 Heart full of love
1 Head full of understanding
2 Eyes in the back of your head
3 Heaping cups of patience
1 Gallon of generosity
1 Barrel of laughter

Mix well. Sprinkle with kidness, add plenty of faith. Heat with sunshine and spread generously over a lifetime for a plateful of joy and a cup of warm memories.)

We then got our munchies and the teachers played a little game. They had each child fill out a survey about their mom and we had to guess who it was. C's answers were as follows (they are in bold):

1. My mommy is ? years old. (Other children's answers ranged from 6 to 21 but apparently my daughter was nice enough to not reveal my age. :) )
2. My mommy's favorite color is brown. (Really, since when??)
3. My mommy likes to eat salad. (Ahhh, gotta love this response. Yes, I like salad, but if it was my favorite I would probably be a lot thinner!!)
4. When I am at preschool, my mommy: I don't know because I can't see her. (Other kids said work or take care of a sibling. Got to love my literal daughter!!)
Right after question #4, C recognized her answers and told me this was mine. I started cracking up!
5. My mommy and I like to cuddle. (Can I get a collective, AWW!)
6. My mommy laughs when I do funny things.
7. My mommy is really good at everything. (I swear I didn't put her up to this one!!)
8. I love it when my mommy gives me hugs and kisses. (Can you tell we are an affectionate family?)
9. I love my mommy so much because she does nice things for me. (Again, no bribing here!)

I loved this exercise and listening to what other kids came up with!! I went home with tears in my eyes and a huge smile on my face. Score one for C.

After this we headed up to NJ for a wedding. Truth be told, I wasn't looking forward to this. I mean Mother's Day is supposed to be a day of relaxation for me and here I was going to have to drive back home. Yuck! The wedding turned out well, in a comedy of errors sort of way. Here's some of the highlights...

- We got there in one piece which was a small feat in itself since C was coming with us. She was all dressed up, white and purple dress, white tights, white shoes. So of course what does she do 5 minutes after we arrive? Decide she wants to cut through a bed of flowers and wind up with mud up to her ankles! Stockings were thrown out and shoes were washed. How did she manage to get no mud on her dress?? I'm still trying to work that one out myself.

- Once the wedding was over we headed into the reception area and made it through cocktail hour unscathed. Thank god. No sooner did we get into the actual reception room then did I get a flute of champagne dumped down my dress!! Nice, huh??

- C wound up having a blast and dancing all night long. We didn't get home until almost midnight and M was still awake! She was with my mom and apparently decided to have a crib party all her own. I was greeted with her voice over the monitor saying "Mommy, I miss you!!!". Insert aaaawwww here. She didn't sleep at all Saturday night, nor did C.

Both girls were up before 7 am Sunday morning and I was dead. Needless to say we were all cranky beasts and Mother's Day was bad as a result. I even tried to make it to my brother's lacrosse game until to arrive as the horn blew signaling the end because C didn't want to wear a coat!! GRRRR!!!

I definitely was bumming the whole trip home and was still in a foul mood on Monday. Then I realized, well, this is all being part of a mother right?? Why should Mother's Day be any different than any other day? Shouldn't we celebrate our families every day of the year?? So that's what I am trying to do. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and you celebrate every day and every milestone! Someone said to me the other day that when you have kids the days go slowly but the years go by too quickly. How true is that?!? So enjoy every moment!! :)

Whatcha Doin'?

2008-04-25T13:26:00.002-04:00

That's been the question of late. Every few minutes, M says, "Mommy...whatcha doin'?". And she will continue to say it over and over until you answer. Yes, it's cute and funny but it's also highly annoying. Just close your eyes and picture this:

- Driving in the car back home from the park. It's a 10 minute drive and 4 times you hear, "Mommy...whatcha doin'?"

- In the bathroom where you are trying your hardest to pee in peace...you hear a knock followed by "Mommy...whatcha doin'?"

Now you try and remain calm and answer, ignore it, or ask her the same...but she doesn't relent. It's become the bane of my day right now. I figure I will pay her back when she's 16 by calling her every 5 minutes on a Friday night asking the same question! Fair...I think so! :)

Now onto what we have been doing...

- We were back in NJ last week to visit. C's friend Sophie was in town and we got to see her. Bad me forgot my camera, so there's no pictures...but they had a blast!

- C started tennis lessons and loves them! She now is saying she'll only go if she can hit the ball to another person, but we're far from that. If nothing else, she's running around for 45 minutes! Of course, M is jealous and wants to join in on the fun. If only they had a sibling class...

- M suffered a sinus infection right before we left for NJ, but is feeling much better. Her speech is so much clearer now as well. I'm not sure if it's just that she's getting older or being sick. But it's really great!

- I've been making more of an effort to find a playgroup with kids M's age in it. We went to an activity the other day where the kids were all around 2, and she had a great time! I'm hoping we'll continue to be able to do things like that without C around. Poor M just wants to follow her big sister around all the time that she doesn't play with kids her own age!

- C had Olympic Day at school on Thursday and M and I went to help out. It was a lot of fun! All the kids participated in different events and at the end they got gold medals! C loved every minute of it!

May will be a busy month here. We've got something going on almost every weekend!! Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post!!

The Big 4 Year Checkup

2008-04-09T09:29:00.002-04:00

Consider this a public service announcement for all of you who have a kid who will be 4 anytime soon...

C had her 4 year old checkup on Friday. It's a BIG visit! They check weight and height like a normal visit, but also vision, hearing, and urine!! Yup, C had to pee into her first cup. Now, I won't go into the specific manuerving we did to make this happen, but it happened. Just an fyi to make sure your kids have a full bladder before the visit!

Now, on to the actual dr. talk. We spoke about potty training, sleep, eating...all the basics. Then she had C write and follow directions. Luckily she followed directions perfectly and all was good.

That is until the shots... Yup, I said shots. 4 of them to be exact! I had prepped C for the possibility of shots, but I came prepared. I had an ice pack and lollipop standing by. None of that helped. C screamed so bad I thought she would throw up. It was awful. We spent a good 10 minutes calming her down before we ventured back out into the waiting room. The only thing that worked was the promise of a new dress for her doll and a strawberry milkshake. Hey, you would give your kid anything they wanted in that position too!! :)

Ok...so here are the stats from the visit:

Weight: 37 lbs. (70th percentile)
Height: 41 inches. (75th percentile)

Vision: 20/20 both eyes, 20/30 individual eyes
Hearing: perfect

She's in perfect health which is wonderful to hear. :) Now she's due for another shot but I'm not tackling that for at least a few months. *** End of public service announcement. *** :)

A Very Happy Birthday to You...And You....

2008-03-26T21:40:00.004-04:00

Today's a big day in our house. Both C and J's birthdays! Instead of a traditional post, I'm choosing to celebrate by writing each of them a note. So, here goes:

Dear C,

Today you are a big 4 year old girl. You amaze me more and more every day. As much as I miss cuddling you as an infant, I'm looking forward to watching you grow more and more into a young girl. You have so much love for your family and friends that it makes my heart swell. You are a wonderful big sister and we all love you so much! Happy birthday sweetie!!

Love,
Mommy

-----------

Dear J,

30! You old fart! :P I know I'll be joining you in a few months so I'll stop it. Seriously though, I hope you have a wonderful day. You deserve it with all you do for us. I know you joke about it being only C's birthday, but it's your day to and you deserve to be spoiled as well! :) I love you very much and can't wait to celebrate even more birthdays with you.

Love,
Me :)

Weee'rrrreee Heeerrreee!!

2008-03-25T15:38:00.006-04:00

Yup, we're back in VA. What a week we had! Here's the summary:

- C had her first all night sleepover at my cousin's house!

- We saw Horton Hears a Who and C loved it!

-M had a miserable time with diaper rash. She had an allergic reaction to something causing her to have an explosive diaper and burns all over her area. Luckily it's cleared up, but I'm definitely taking her for allergy testing!

- My mother in law and I took the girls to the Big Apple Circus and sat in the front row! It was a great show, but so windy we thought the tent would blow down! M was thrilled with the puppies and horses! :)

- We had a nice visit with my 88 year old grandfather, Pop Pop. He came over to spend time with us on Thursday and on the way out of the door fell on top of me! Thank god I was there or he would have hit the sidewalk. Still took 5 years off my life!!

- I stayed up until 2 am making a Tinkerbell cake for C's party on Saturday. Here's a shot of it:

- We had a great party on Saturday for C, J, J's cousin, and my cousin's boyfriend. Of course C made it all about her and ordered everyone to wear party hats and play games. It was a lot of fun though!

- We made it home in one piece...thank god!!!

There was definitely no relaxing on this trip. I enjoyed the time up there and the company. No one warns you how lonely you can get staying at home all day. It definitely was a nice break from that and it was hard to come home. The girls are already asking when we can go back!!

Unfortunately there is no rest for the weary this week. It's C's and J's birthday tomorrow, I have to make snack for her to bring to school on Thursday, and we're having a small party for her down here on Saturday. I'm definitely going to need a loooong nap and vacation after this week!!

Luck o' the Irish...

2008-03-17T12:51:00.002-04:00

And a Happy St. Patty's Day to all of you! We're in NJ visiting family for the week. I'm converting my Italian inlaws into Irish ones for the day with some corned beef and cabbage. YUM! Of course this trip to NJ wouldn't be a typical trip if things weren't going wrong...so here is the list so far:

1. Got on the road 3 hours later than planned because we had to drop hubby's car off at work and pick up his suit for the wedding. Didn't realize that I had also left my jewelry and medicine behind...

2. M decided she was going on a dinner strike and only would eat french fries for dinner....

3. We got lost on the way to the wedding we were attending on Saturday...

4. M was up from 3-5 am Sunday morning and spent the day with a nasty nose, diarrhea, and was just overall miserable...

5. I forgot to pack M's St. Pat's day shirt... :P

Ahh, and it's only Monday! Stay tuned to see how the rest of the week fairs....

Party Time...Excellent!!

2008-03-11T16:11:00.019-04:00

Ok...here we go. Let's get this official Blog Party started!!

First off, thanks for stopping by! Drop your coat by the door and come on in. I'm K, mom to two crazy girls, C, and M, and wife to the wonderful J. Welcome to our little world. I hope you stay around and get to know us!

On to some introductions...

This would be me, K, mom and wife extraordinaire. I used to be a full time working mom until I had my second daughter, M. I then dropped to part time and have been a full time stay at home mom since last January. It's definitely a more challenging and rewarding job than I could ever get paid to do, but I'll be the first to admit I miss the day to day interaction an outside job brings.

Now to meet the family...

Here's J, my wonderful hubby of almost 6 years. We met in high school, fell in love and the rest is history. We'll be together 13 years in June! J is a hard working man who somehow balances work and our home life with the skill of a tight rope walker. He is one of the most devoted dads you'll ever meet, hence why we all love him so much!!

C, our oldest daughter will be 4 in two weeks. She's a firecracker crossed with a princess. She loves all things frilly, princess related, and pink. She's also got an attitude that's a force to be reckoned with. She gives the best hugs and is a loving soul.

Next up is M, our youngest. M will be 2 in June and she's a munchkin. She has this tiny little voice but when you get her mad...watch out! I guess that's what mixing an Irish mom and Italian dad gets you! M is coming into her own right now and loves to sing, dance, and play. She also loves to follow her big sister around and do whatever she is doing. She loves to give kisses and hugs and is turning into a funny little girl!

Add to that our cat Milo, and that's our family! We are loud, love to go to NJ to visit family, and most of all have fun! I hope you'll enjoy our little blog and stick around. We'd love to hear from you! Thanks for coming and don't forget to tip the valet as you leave! :)

Oops...almost forgot! Here's a list of the loverly prizes I wouldn't mind getting my hands on:

1. Bracelet from My Mommys Bracelets (#29)

2. Bead Dangle Photo Tile Necklace from Elemental Memories (#7)

3. Blog Makeover from Shauna (#67)

4. $20 Amazon Gift Certificate from Organized Knitting Club (#39)

Dancing with Daddy...

2008-03-02T12:38:00.002-05:00

Recently C has become obsessed with dancing. She has always loved it, but she is barely walking anywhere anymore...she's dancing. This past week J decided to teach C how to waltz. The result? Take a look...

I love her smile in this one!! :) Just ignore the kitchen mess please...lol!

I took another of her dancing and doing the waltz on the floor...but I can't figure out how to flip it. I took it with my regular camera and didn't realize I would need to rotate it! If I figure it out I will post that as well.

New Looks

2008-02-26T13:55:00.011-05:00

On Sunday we took M for a haircut. She was definitely in need of it as she was sporting a baby mullet, but I wasn't sure what exactly to do with it. After a nasty morning with a plateful of maple syrup and hair that looks like dredlocks, I decided it was time. The result?

I think she looks really cute! It's a little shorter than I would have liked but it will last longer. While trying to grab a picture of it, she shot me this face:

And then this one...

Nice, huh? That's the new face she gives you when you say smile or no, or anything else. The look also accompanies her "NO" or her demon voice as she likes to wip out from time to time. All this has made me realize that she's hit the terrible 2's. Yes, she's a bit early but so was C. It seems my girls like to start it at, ohh around 18 months. I have been dealing so much with the treacherous 3's as J calls them, that I've been caught offguard by this. The attitude, the tantrums, all has started to come falling out of my sweet baby girl. Where oh where did she go?? Oh right, she comes back out right when she knows she's in trouble... Manipulation at it's finest!! :)

Little Ballerina

2008-02-19T17:39:00.005-05:00

I accompanied J to C's ballet and tap class this weekend. I actually haven't gone since the session started a few weeks ago because C always wants Daddy to go. It's kind of a big deal because she's in the big girl class of 4-5 year olds as per the teacher. I was a little nervous as to how she would fare, but apparently I had nothing to worry about. She's doing beautifully in it as you can see from the following pictures:

Now the challenge will be to figure out what class to sign her up for the next session. I want to involve her in some type of sports as well as dance, but I also don't want an overscheduled kid on my hands. Decisions, decisions...

Cha Cha Cha Changes....

2008-02-19T17:01:00.006-05:00

We've had a weekend of changes around here. M has been moved into a toddler bed. It wasn't by choice, mind you, it was a necessity. You see we have been debating the great move for a few months now. At first it was because we thought M's sleeping issues were caused by her dropping thing out of her crib or hitting her head on the crib rails. Then it was her "testing" the ability to climb out of her crib. She never actually did it, but she would put her one leg over like she was daring us to say anything.

So what made us make the move? Well on Saturday, Miss M. got her leg stuck in between the crib rails and actually got a burn on her ankle from trying to twist it out. So we decided it was time, or rather J decided it was time. I was all set to leave her crib in the room with the toddler bed for a few days, but J being as efficient as ever had the whole thing down and in the attic while I was at the store. The result?

M slept well until about 3 am Monday morning. Then she thought it was fun to get out of bed and knock on her door every 20 minutes until about 6 am. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper about it. Luckily last night was better with only one episode at 3:40 am where she fell out of bed. Hopefully tonight will be even better. She's loving her "big girl bed" and the freedom it brings. I on the otherhand am not as happy. It's a bittersweet moment. M is not in a crib, she's one step closer to being more independent. The crib, which my grandmother gave us, is packed up quite probably for good. So it's a mixed bag of emotions for me. I'm definitely happy and excited but I'm also mourning M's babyhood if you will. I can't even imagine how I'll be in a month when C turns 4!!!

Oh yea, It's Valentine's Day...

2008-02-14T19:23:00.003-05:00

I accompanied C to her preschool Valentine's Day party today. What sugar filled chaos!! The kids enjoyed snacking on some cupcakes, and M thought hanging out at the party also meant running out of the room every 3 seconds. Fun was had by all! :S

The kids and I made cards for Daddy yesterday as well as addressed her friend's cards. That's all the heart fun in this house today. I'm not sitting her looking at a huge bouquet of flowers and eating bon bons while admiring my new jewelry. Sorry Hallmark, not in this house. This Mommy is happy with the pure joy my oldest showed me when I appeared at her party. And happy with the huge hugs M has emparted on me today. That's what it's all about anyway, right?? Oh yea, and some kisses from my hubby too. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Great Debate

2008-02-13T09:33:00.002-05:00

I've reached the point in my stay at home life where I'm wondering if I made the right choice. Would we have been better off if I had continued working? Are the financial constraints my decision caused worth it?

You see I always thought I would be a working mom. I loved working...the interaction with different people, the problem solving, the feeling like I was accomplishing something on a daily basis. At the end of even the worst day I knew I finished SOMETHING! Whereas my stay at home mom status has me lacking in this department. Yes, I know I'm here for my kids and that counts for an awful lot, but when I look at it, there is no task that is accomplished, no client won over or crisis averted. There is just piles of laundry, cleaning to be done, and kids to put to bed.

The closer M gets to 2 the more I wonder if I should be going back to work. Am I ready to throw my hat back in the ring? Will the kids survive and thrive more in some type of daycare? Originally I had planned on waiting to go back to work until M was in preschool and C was in Kindergarten. It seemed like a logical time, but now I'm wondering if it is soon enough? Sure we could use the extra money I mean who couldn't, but is it worth the cost of daycare for both kids? Would I enjoy work for a few days, weeks, months until I am dying to stay at home again??? And hence my dilemma...

For now staying at home is the only option. Unless by some miracle a wonderful opportunity drops into my lap that I can't not take, the cost of daycare for two kids is too much. I would be working to literally pay someone else to care for my kids. And that I cannot accept. Besides, what would I do? I've been out of the work force now for over a year and I'm not sure what direction I want to go in. My old job was easy, no real challenges and no room for growth. So that leads me to be starting a new career which is terrifying. How do you start? Go back to school? Take a temp job? Talk to a career counselor? I just don't know. And so the questions keep going...

So in the life long debate over the stay at home vs. career mom, the stay at home mom wins this round. And as the screaming kids beacon me back to reality, I happily accept my role.

Bitten by the flu bug

2008-02-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

Need I say anything else? The flu has hit our house full force. The girls got it almost 3 weeks ago and I spent last week in bed. Thank god for my mother in law coming down or we would have been in trouble! Hope everyone here is staying healthy!!

I have a few posts brewing, and I'll be back later but for now, off to the store and to catch up from being sick!!

Question of the day...

2008-01-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

The last few days our house has been hit by the flu, well, correction the girls have. Of course as any parent knows if the kids are sick it's only a matter of time before you get it, and everyone is miserable. Today both girls woke up fever free so I'm hoping we've turned a corner. I've definitely developed more bags under my eyes in the past few days than I'd like to share thanks to my whopping 10 hours of sleep over the past week.

So to say I'm off my A game today would be an understatement. Today is not a day for pondering life issues or trying to solve the economic crisis, nope...today is a day for tea, tv, and NO THINKING!! Of course, Miss C. had other plans for me. Here is our conversation:

C: Mommy, when M grows into a big girl are you going to have another baby?
Me: (Almost snorts my tea) Uh, what?!?
C: Are you going to have another baby?
Me: Ummm...I, uh, I don't know.
C: Well, why not?
Me: (Trying to think of how to explain this when J and I haven't made up our minds yet either..)
Why, honey?
C: Well because on Blue's Clues, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper had another baby when Paprika was a big girl.

THANKS Blue's Clues!!!!! Note to self: enough tv for the last few days! Seriously though, this has been C's obsession of late. She LOVES babies. When we are out in public she's been pointing them out to me and saying how cute they are. Ahhh yes, I admit I love babies too. But after the past week of the girls being sick I like babies from afar. Like across the restaurant afar. So for now, I'm happy with my 2 girls. We'll see how long that lasts though...

Just call me Oscar...

2008-01-16T09:05:00.000-05:00

Yup, as in the Grouch. I'm not sure what my deal is or what bug crawled up my butt, but I'm just a major grump these days. I can blame it on a lot of things: weather (I hate the cold), lack of sleep (yup, that's still happening), family drama...but truth be told, I'm not sure what really my problem is.

I don't like my mood and the feeling of anger, b*tch*ness, whatever that comes with it and I can't seem to shake it. I've tried reading, watching a show I like, and other "me" time activities, but it doesn't help. I've even tried forcing myself to seem happy but that just makes it worse. If I bury myself in any more chocolate I'll not only gain back the weight I have lost, but you'll likely see me on one of those Richard Simmons infomercials that come on at 3 am. Yes, I'll be the one of the left bawling about eating to help me feel better about my empty life...

The thing is, my life is far from empty. I have two beautiful daughters and a wonderful husband. We live in our own house and while it's not our dream home, it's ours. I have a lot of family that would do anything for me at a moment's notice, and some friends as well. You see, I have a lot to be happy about and I realize it. Still, I'm grumpy...

I'm hoping that going to NJ this coming weekend will help. I'll have more help with the kids, allegedly be able to get more sleep since J will be off work, and hopefully even be able to go out on a date with him. If that doesn't help with my mood, I don't know what will... So my question to all of you out there in internet land is...Am I the only one that feels this way? If not, what do you do to help get out of your funk??

Strange days...

2008-01-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

This week has been, well weird. The weather has been unseasonably warm like in the 70's, the girls have been acting strange, and our house on a whole seems unsettled. It may be the weather, but it's also our first full week back at work/school, and I think that has more to do with it than anything else.

So let's start with the weather... C and M enjoyed Monday - Wednesday since it was warm enough to play outside. Monday morning we went for a walk (meaning they sat while I walked...LOL) and then met up with J at the playground and had an early dinner. Tuesday C went to school and M went with me to MOPS. Again, we went outside in the afternoon. Wednesday we headed back to the playground in the morning. I think the outside time has done wonders for all of us. Nothing like fresh air and sunshine to improve our moods! Now we're back to cold and rain, blech. I really don't like the winter at all and would love to skip right to early April, but that won't happen. Instead I enjoyed our weather and the moods it put us all in.

Now the girls, ahh the girls... M has been sick since Christmas, but seems to finally have stopped with the runny nose/coughing she was doing. However, her teeth are really bothering her as she tells me, "Teeth HURT!". While it's nice to know what's bothering her, there's not a whole ton I can do in that department. We're doing motrin/tylenol and orajel at bedtime, but she's still waking up through the night and not really napping. I can't wait to the day I can say she's sleeping normally again!!!!

C has decided not to really nap at all anymore. Yes, I know she's almost 4 and that's probably normal, but my reaction is HELL NO!!! Naptime is MY time...quiet, peaceful, watch my tivoed shows time. Trying to even convince C that she needs to just "relax" in her room and be quiet doesn't work either. She just sits there for maybe 5 minutes and then the "I WANT TO GET UP" song begins. Now if M wasn't sleeping a mere 15 ft from her I would let her yell all she wanted, but then I would have two grumpy kids. No fun for me! In addition C just doesn't make it to bedtime without meltdowns on the days she doesn't nap. And although she may be more pleasant on napping days, she doesn't go to bed until around 10 pm. What to do what to do?!?!

Finally I ventured back to my endocrinologist yesterday to find out what's wrong with me. Turns out my thyroid is fine and my Vitamin D level is extremely low. So, I'm now taking a high dose vitamin once a week which should alleviate my problem (allegedly). Only time will tell on that...

We're in for a busy weekend of ballet, birthday partys, and a trip to Richmond. Let's hope this vitamin gives me the energy to keep up and M sleeps!! Oh and a big keep-your-fingers-crossed that my sister gets this job she's interviewing for as we speak. I'll update on everything next week. Hope you all have a great weekend!

A Season of Pictures

2008-01-06T19:26:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures from our holidays. Enjoy!!

Our giant Christmas tree. It was over 8' tall and 6' wide. What were we thinking?!?

Here is C and her friend Sophie. We couldn't get one of them looking and smiling at the same time, but here they are making silly faces.

Here is C and M playing. Also, M's first ponytail. Yes, I know I'm a wacko and had to take a picture of it...but she looks so cute!

And here are some of C's favorite presents: Fairy wings, wand, and a Barbie house! (Yes, that is a disco ball hanging from it...)

Hope you enjoy them! I'll be back with a more meaningful post soon...

Back to regularly scheduled programming...

2008-01-03T13:08:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! 2008?!? Really, already?? 2007 seemed to fly by us as I am sure it did for many of you. I wish I could say that J and I jetted off someplace romantic for NYE, but we didn't. We were here celebrating during the day with some family friends, and then ringing in the arrival of 2008 with my brother. He came back with us over Christmas and went home on the 1st. Back to school for him...

And today we started our normal schedule again. C went back to school and M and I headed to the grocery store. Exciting, right? I have to say, I'm enjoying the peace in our house right now. Notice I didn't say quiet...but peace. My sister is away until the 8th, and we are for the first time alone in our house since early November. It's funny how relaxing that is. I'm still running around crazy after the kids all day long but once J is home and the girls are in bed...we are alone! I've missed some couple time with the hubby that's for sure. So far we've managed to watch a few movies, and have a few talks. Maybe, if the stars align we'll even get to go out this weekend.

So I think this is part of my new year's resolutions...to find more peace in my life. I'm a better mother and wife when I feel peaceful, so it's definitely a resolution I need to keep. I'm not sure what kind of changes I'm going to make for this to happen, but stayed tune to find out...

Merry Christmas to all..and then some...

2007-12-28T10:30:00.001-05:00

Happy holidays! We're back from our trip to NJ to celebrate Christmas with the family. As usual, it took us forever to make the trip because of traffic and bathroom trips. The way up took us about 6 hours (including a 20 minute bathroom stop for C, and 45 minute dinner break). Luckily I had the foresight to send most of our presents up with my inlaws so we weren't cramped on the way up. The way back was a completely different story. Alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's a rundown of our week:

C and M had a blast playing with Aunt C (J's sister) who was in from CA. We only see her twice a year, so it's one of the main reasons we head up for Christmas. C really remembers her so she was over the moon to see her, but M was a little resistant. She warmed up the next morning and had a blast from there.
C and I arrived to NJ with allergy/cold issues. Both of us were pretty miserable the first day or two, but recovered. J and M seemed fine for a while, but are getting it now.
C was able to see her friend Sophie who moved away this summer. To say the girls were excited to see each other was an understatement. They were adorable together. We met up for lunch and then headed to a local B&N to let them play a bit. They sat and read books which was just soo cute. Pictures from that will come...
Christmas Eve was insane as always. The festivities started around 2 pm at my inlaws and by 4, the kids had opened presents. Early, yes but they were running around in circles so it gave them something to do. C enjoyed everything she got and loved playing with her cousins. By the time we headed over to my mom's house at 7, it was another story. Both girls were fried and acting up. Moral of the story: one Christmas Eve for us from now on.
Santa came in with a bang on Christmas morning. Both girls LOVED all the presents and excitement. While I didn't get pictures, I have video that I'm going to edit and post. The biggest hits were C's Barbie dolls and M's Little People Garage. They are still opening new toys at home and loving it. I ,on the other hand, am trying to figure out what to do with all of them!
Aunt C and I made a Rice Krispie house instead of the traditional gingerbread. It was much easier to build (thicker pieces) but harder to decorate since the surface was uneven. We all loved to eat the "debris" though! :)

I think those are the highlights from the trip. The week also included family drama, bad weather, and a trip to the ER. Yup, that's right...the ER. M was running a 104 fever on Wednesday so I called our pediatrician and she wanted us to get checked out. The dr. at the ER said it's probably viral and M seems to be feeling better today. She's back to eating, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

The trip home took over 9 hours which was horrendous. The weather was bad, the traffic through Nj was worse, and M was running a fever the whole time. To say we will never travel the day after Christmas again is an understatement.

So there you go...the holiday according to us. Hope you all had a wonderful one and a happy new year!

Procrastination at it's finest...

2007-12-20T11:46:00.000-05:00

Yup, that's me procrastinating. You see I should be getting ready to get on the road and head up to NJ, but instead I'm writing this blog. I'm tired, correction exhausted, as my kids were up from 4:30-6 am. I then had to dash out the door by 9:30 am to go get bloodwork. Now it's time to pack. Or is it??

I realized that I neglected to provide M's 18 month update. Bad Mommy, I know. So, here you go...

M had her checkup last Thursday while I was in bed recovering from a stomach virus. Her stats are as follows:

Weight: 25 lbs. 3 ozs.
Height: 33 1/2 inches

She says the following:

Please
Thank You
Welcome
Mommy
Daddy
Mema
Pepa
Mimi
Samby (Sammy)
Tubby
Cup
Drink
Cat
Kitty
Milo
Baby
Puppy
Birdie
Monkey
Boots
Dora
Diego
Super Why
Show
TV
Pancakes
Bagel
Dip
Carrot
Yummy
Roni (Macaroni)/Pasta
Yes
Ok
No
Let GO!!
Stop It!!
Get Down
Done
Cleanup
Nose
Eyes
Ears
Mouth
Teeth
Tongue
Cheek
Chin
Head
Hair
Buckle
Open/Close
Up
On/Off

There are a ton more but that's all I can think of right now. She can sing "Twinkle, twinkle", "See Saw", "Cleanup", "Go to Sleep", and "ABC's". She's running, trying to jump, and loves to dance and spin. Overall she's really happy all the time. She's just started throwing tantrums when she gets mad. Fun, right?

Her sleeping is still being worked on, but we'll be dealing with that after the holidays. Ok, enough procrastination. Off to pack. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!

Winter Wonderland Recital

2007-12-18T21:10:00.000-05:00

C's recital was Saturday. I haven't had a chance to put the video online yet, but here are some pictures from the day. This is the best one. The called C's name and she ran across the stage. Unfortunately, her tutu decided not to stay on her hips...

Here she is shaking her thing. She was a Rockin' Rudolph and danced to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".
To say the whole thing was hilarious was an understatement. It is truly the best money I spend. I get the whole mommy pride thing going as well as sore sides from laughing! Her teachers really do a wonderful job at preparing the kids, but the kids have their own agendas. Here's one little girl deciding to take a "seat":

She wound up sitting down right on the end of the stage. Priceless!! I'll post the video once it's up.

Catching up

2007-12-12T12:42:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy December here so far. We've been busily decorating and preparing for the holidays. Miss C had her school concert on Tuesday which was really cute. I'm going to try get some up on the computer and will post it once I do. Now we are busy in preparation for this weekend. C has her winter dance recital on Saturday which also means our house will be overflowing with out of town guests. Time to clean!! :)

To make this week a little crazier, I got hit in the parking lot of a church right before C's concert. Luckily no one was hurt, and I'm hoping the damage is minimal (seems like my mirror was the only casualty), but it's a pain to deal with. We're heading up to NJ next week, so I don't have a ton of time to get this done. Oh well...just need to get through this week, right??

We'll be taking some pictures tonight in the hopes of getting one in front of our tree we can use for our cards. I'll (hopefully) have a great shot to post on here later.

A visit with Santa and other things...

2007-12-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we headed to our local mall for a "Breakfast with Santa". Boy, what a rip off!! I paid $30 (M was free) for the four of us to go for breakfast and a visit with Santa. I thought there would be pancakes, etc...but it was actually nothing more than a 2 star quality hotel continental breakfast. Meaning there was fruit, tiny bagels, tiny danishes, and munchkins. Yippee!! Needless to say we all left starving from the ordeal, but Miss C was ecstatic that she got to sit with Santa. As you can see, Miss M didn't feel the same...

By Wednesday, M was acting really crabby and had a snotty nose so off to the doctor, and in a snowstorm no less, we went. Turns out she had a sinus infection that backed up into her ears so she's on a course of antibiotics. Hopefully she'll be all healthy before the holidays!

'Tis the Season

2007-11-30T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, tomorrow marks the beginning of the holiday season for us. You see as I mentioned here I refuse to start decorating or celebrating Christmas until Dec. 1st. So far I'm hanging on to my timeline. Miss C is a little dismayed that we don't have our tree up or the house decorated yet, but I'm sticking to my guns. I have to take a stand somewhere right???

With this weekend marking the beginning of December, I will now allow us to make a head first plunge into decorating, shopping, etc. So how will we begin? A visit to Santa? Throwing up lights around the house? Nope. I'm starting with cleaning. My kids have entirely too many toys and books and such, so there is no room for all the loot that will be had on Christmas. This weekend I will be conducting our annual purge where I will give away toys and books. I'm not sure how the kids will handle it, but I've already talked to Miss C. about giving to kids who aren't as lucky to have as many toys as her. She liked it in theory, we'll see how it goes once we put it into practice.

Yesterday I had a visit with a woman in my mom's group that I've become friends with. Yes sir, I made a friend! WOOHOO! ;) I went over to her house and while Miss C and her daughter played I was able to get my talk on. At one point we were talking about Christmas and what to get and she brought up an article she had read about rewarding kids with toys. According to this article, it said by rewarding children with toys starting at a small age, you're setting them up for wanting things all the time, or becoming spoiled. Ok...so what to do? I totally don't want my children to be spoiled brats in their tween years demanding whatever BFF has at the time, but how do you handle it now? Especially when our family LOVES to spoil my girls?? Honestly, I don't know the answer but we're trying a few things:

1. C has to earn things. We have a star chart and when she reaches the goal, she gets a gift that she wants. I'm kind of equating this to a chore chart, except instead of getting allowance, she gets something she wants. The more money it costs, the more stars she earns.

2. I've been putting away gifts each girl gets for birthdays, etc and giving them some throughout the year. I mean honestly they get so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff they get, are they really going to notice if their stash is light a few items?

3. We're donating things they don't use anymore. I've only done this once before, but as I mentioned this is going to now be part of our Christmas tradition. I'm hoping this will help show the girls how lucky they are and teach them compassion for those who are not as fortunate.

So that's my plan for hopefully avoiding future feelings of entitlement and brattiness. Anyone else have good ideas for this?

The long and winding week...

2007-11-28T08:20:00.000-05:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of you! I had planned on posting over the week, but the insanity of it got the better of me. I don't even have any pictures to share!! I know, bad mommy...

We were in NJ from last Tuesday until yesterday. We hadn't planned on staying up that long but between family drama and J being sick, we stayed up there. The trip was supposed to be relaxing, minus actual Thanksgiving day, but it turned out anything but. Here's a glimpse of our week:

Tuesday - Arrived at 9 pm. Kids wound up from the drive and don't crash until after 10 pm. M wakes up at 3, and then again at 7 am for the day.

Wednesday - Kids up early but I took advantage of J being home and went back to bed. Woke up sometime after 9 am and get a call from my aunt about my mom. Spend the whole day dealing with that and don't get back home until sometime after 6pm. Kids in bed around 8, but M is again up all night. J begins to not feel well.

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day. Wake up early with the girls and the smell of turkey already in the oven. J is complaining about his head not feeling right. Both girls are cranky because of lack of sleep. Put M down for an early nap which I come to regret later. Spend the day eating and around 8 pm see the look on J's face meaning we need to leave. By 9 pm he's running a 102 degree fever. Spend the night tossing and turning, checking on J and getting woken up by M.

Friday - Black Friday. I had plans on venturing out this year, but between my lack of sleep and no noteworthy sales I decide not to go. J is still running a fever and both girls slept poorly again.

And on and on it goes... Monday I took J to the doctor's where he was told he had a virus. Great, thanks. He seems to be feeling better today, aside from a sore throat. Since M already had this, I'm waiting to see if C and I get it. Guess time will tell...

Now I know some of you may be wondering what the family drama is. I want to share, just not sure how to right now. You see, I've never advertised this blog to my family as I had started it for myself, to give me a place to vent. Given the nature of the internet I'm not sure who is reading this, if anyone...lol. Anyway, I don't want to violate anyone's privacy and I'm not sure I'm ready to vent about it anyway. So you can expect more on that later...

Ok...off to get this day going. Hope you all had a better Thanksgiving than we did!!

Sleep, where art thou?

2007-11-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

I am a mom and so by definition I am tired ALL the time. Add to that my gimp thyroid and I go from tired to exhausted in about 2 seconds flat. Recently my exhaustion has hit a whole new level. Enter Miss M. M has not slept consistently through the night in at least a month. I'm starting to feel the haze I lived in during her newborn/reflux months. I'm not sure the real cause of it yet. You see, she's gotten and still is getting teeth, has been sick, we've been traveling, missing naps, etc. But now we have reached a whole new level of it. It's now become that M is waking up at 2 am because she wants attention. Yup, to be entertained in the middle of the night, and what is more entertaining then seeing me scramble it trying to locate her baby/blanket/pacifier or whatever else will get her back to sleep.

Last night (actually the wee hours of this morning) we had one of those incidents. M woke up at 2 am just as I had gotten to sleep (out late for a movie and then talking with J). I went in there and she threw a fit. Literally. She threw everything out of her bed and was yelling at me. So what did I do? Closed her door and went back in my room and freaked out because I've reached my absolute exhaustion point. J promptly woke up and went in there and rocked her for about 15 minutes. No sooner is he back in here than I here M kicking her bed. I chose to ignore it and at 3:45 am she started crying again. I had given her some more tylenol at 2:30 just in case it was the teeth monster that was bothering her. So, I checked on her and then left. 2 minutes later I didn't hear a peep.

So what have I learned from this?

1. I need to buy ear plugs so that I don't jump out of bed and race in there at every noise with the speed that rivals an Olympic runner.

2. I need to get rid of the pacifier. I have been putting it off and putting it off, but it's time. I think part of her waking is because she drops it behind her bed or out the side of it. So I need to start that after Thanksgiving because I don't want to hear it from my family when she's screaming for it.

3. She really is ok and I can't let her cry for a few minutes.

4. As much as M is the cause of my exhaustion, I'm training her to do this.

So we will enter Sleep Bootcamp #2. We did Bootcamp #1 with C and it worked. Took a few weeks, but she got through it and we got more sleep. Time to start again. Does anyone have any words of encouragement or tips? Or maybe a strong cup of coffee??

I'll post updates once Bootcamp begins...wish us luck (and sleep!).

Sick, sick again...

2007-11-14T14:26:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I ventured out sans kids or hubby to a crop night at a local scrapbooking store. I haven't gone out aside from a grocery store run without my offspring in longer than I care to remember, so I was really excited. On top of that, I decided that I was going to spend the time working on an albulm I want to give my grandfather for Christmas. So as you can see I was understandably psyched to go.

A little after midnight I dragged my tired butt home to find out that Miss M. had been running a fever. She was up almost all night which meant no sleeping for me as well. After two trips to the dr's on Saturday and then again on Monday, she's finally on the mend. She was officially diagnosed with a virus. Fever is gone but she's still acting cranky. I think it's caused by teeth more than anything else right now, but we will see.

I hate this time of the year for illness. At almost 18 months, C started a series of ear infections that led to her getting tubes. Miss M has already had her fair share, and the dr. has already said she's on the road to see an ENT before the winter is out. Hopefully she'll make it through ear infection free!!

Bah Humbug!!!

2007-11-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am officially a Grinch. I've noticed every year how stores start the Christmas season early and earlier. At first, it was right around Thanksgiving, then it was Veteran's Day, now...it was out before freaking Halloween!!! WTH?? Next year I'll be getting Caitlin's school supplies and buying tinsel at the same time?!?

Some may say I'm completely overreacting to some early holiday tidings, but it's not just that at all. Sure, I can't take Christmas lights up before December 1st but I know that's my personal pet peeve. What's bothering me is why are we rushing it? Why are we preparing for a holiday that is months away? Are our lives so busy that we need to multitask even holiday shopping right now? Buy a pumpkin and get a Christmas wreath for free??

I've recently discovered (well really admitted) that I am running, no sprinting through my life. Who made me realize this? My precocious first born, Miss C. I believe her exact words as I was rushing to get somewhere were, "Slow down Mommy! I can't move this fast!!" And she's right. She can't move that fast and neither can I without feeling like I'm shooting up crack. So the moral of this story is...SLOW DOWN!! Enjoy each moment even if you are running late, because you're running past precious moments in your life. In my case this means I need to wake up earlier or prepare more the night before so we don't have to rush, but I think it will be worth it. End of public service message...

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-02T17:27:00.000-04:00

Here are some Halloween pictures. Both girls had a great time!!

Here is C posing with our pumpkins. Yes, that is a Cinderella pumpkin next to her...

Here is one of the girls with J. C is doing this smiling with her head up thing that we can't stop. Oh well...

No big surprise that C was another princess this year for Halloween. I figure by the time she's 8 we'll probably have each and every one. I was going to dress M up as a black cat, Flounder (with C being Ariel), or Tinkerbell, but she kept yelling "MICKEY!!!" at the Disney store, so I took that as a hint. Luckily, I had a costume from C's second Halloween and just had to buy some ears. Nice, huh??

Cox Farms

2007-10-31T12:20:00.000-04:00

Since Blogger decided not to let me post more pictures in my last post, here are some shots of our day at Cox Farms on Sunday:

Here is C on the pony ride.

Here M is enjoying her apple.

I'll post some pictures from trick or treating tomorrow. Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Fun

2007-10-30T11:21:00.001-04:00

Saturday we hit up Boo at the Zoo which was held at the National Zoo. We had a great time especially since our friends from Richmond came up. Here's a shot of C and her buddy.

Unfortunately, our camera died right after that but our friends got some. I'll post one once I get it.

Sunday we headed out to Cox Farms for their Fall Festival which was a ton of fun. C enjoyed a pony ride and M loved the apples!!

Today was C's school parade. Here is a quick shot of that.

Thank you, thank you

2007-10-29T22:08:00.000-04:00

Just a little prayer from the mouth of Miss C...

"Thank you for our food and friends, thank you, thank you, Armens."

:)

The Great Pumpkin

2007-10-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

Monday the girls and I headed to a local pumpkin farm. We had a great time. There were hayslides, a hay ride, petting zoo, and fresh apples and apple cider! The weather was beautiful and the girls really enjoyed the morning.

After running around for a while, we went to head out and grab our pumpkins. My kids seem to have a strange attraction to pumpkins. Could it be because I loved to eat pumpkin muffins while I was pregnant with both of them?? They both treat the pumpkin like it is a new member of the family. Let's start with Miss C's story...

C got her first pumpkin at school last week. They did a cute little hayride to the other side of the school where a local farm provided pumpkins for all the kids. C was so excited to show off her pumpkin when she got in the car. When we brought it home, she immediately sat it down at her little table and ate lunch with it. Ok...strange right? Well, it doesn't end here. Her princess dolls had to play and talk with the pumpkin, and get this, the pumpkin talks back?!? She wanted to know where the pumpkin would sleep and what it eats. After several discussions of how the pumpkin is not a person, I decided to approach it another way. Why not decorate the pumpkin? So, armed with a white crayon, black paper, scissors and tape, I let C draw a face and then cut it out herself and tape it to the pumpkin. Let me tell you, it was cute. If I had known it was going to come off so quickly, I would have taken a picture right then and there. Well no sooner are we done, then Miss C starts a complete OCD meltdown about how we HAD to take it off the pumpkin. I was able to convince her to leave it on long enough for Daddy to see it, but she would not go to bed until it was off. So nakey pumpkin it is...

With Miss M, it's not so much a person, but she loves it. As in hugs and kisses, won't put it down love it. She insisted on having it in the stroller, her carseat, and then had a complete meltdown when it wasn't allowed in the tub!! So M's pumpkin has moved outside. Mean?? I did go out and get her a cute felt trick or treat bag that's a pumpkin so she has that, and then some of those tiny pumpkins to carry around. See, I'm not completely heartless! ;)

So I ask you...are my kids weird or what?? Are they the only ones with this extreme obsession to the pumpkins??

Ignorance is bliss??

2007-10-23T18:54:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not updating sooner...I've been out of town for family reasons. To catch up, I went to the doctor late Wednesday afternoon and found out that my thyroid is screwy. I'm relieved to say the least, but it's still not resolved. You see, right now I have hyperthyroidism which means my thyroid is in overdrive. It gives me lovely side effects such as nonstop shaking, dizziness, fatigue, stomach issues, anxiety, and all kinds of other lovely things.

The normal course of treatment for this is to take medication to help suppress the hormones the thyroid puts out there. My doctor has not prescribed anything for me yet as she ordered more tests. One is a blood test to see if it's a virus that's causing my thyroid issues and the other is a nuclear thyroid scan. Sounds fun, right? Well, I got the blood test done today, so one down...but the scan is another story. I have to wait for my &*@# insurance company to authorize the test, and who knows how long that will take. Such a pain!

So, me being who I am came home from my appointment last week and immediately looked up what my thyroid is doing and the possible causes. I'm hoping it's just genetics (as every woman on my mom's side has a thyroid issue) and not some of the others. The scan is going to check for nodules which should be nothing if I have them, but there's always that chance that it's something more. So now I'm left wondering...was I better off before I knew what was going on? Was it better to worry about the way I was feeling or now worry as to the cause?? I guess time will tell...

Busy weekend and phone calls...

2007-10-15T15:56:00.000-04:00

We had a busy weekend catching up around here. This was the first weekend in a while that we've been home without something major to do. So what did we do? CLEAN!! Yup, cleaned, organized, and even made a trip to IKEA. So much for relaxing, but at least the house is cleaner!

This morning I finally got the phone call regarding my blood work and of course I wasn't here to get it. When I called back, they told me I need to come in to discuss the test results. When was the earliest I could get in?? WEDNESDAY!! And of course I got the last appointment of the day! Ugh! I have to sit in misery until then. I'm hoping and praying it's nothing, but the wait is KILLING me. I'm not a very patient person to begin with, but this is agony!

I'm expecting it to be one of 4 things: thyroid (all the women on my mom's side have issues), blood sugar (again HUGE family history), vitamin D deficiency, or cholesterol. I'm trying to focus on those things because they are all treatable, and easily handled. I'm trying to stay positive because I mean, after all, if it was really, really bad the doctor would have called me herself...right?!?

I'll update as soon as I know for sure...

Scared

2007-10-10T09:52:00.000-04:00

Waiting for impending bloodwork has made me impatient and grouchy. Last week I had a pretty severe reaction to some antibiotics and other medications I have been taking for my sinus/ear issues. I went in for a checkup with my doctor and she recommended bloodwork to make sure nothing else is the culprit. While I have slowly started to feel better since stopping the meds, I'm still anxious that I'm going to get a call from my doctor that something else is wrong.

The truth of the whole matter is that I'm just scared. The last things any of us needs is for me to be sick. Going home this weekend didn't help. It's hard to leave someplace where I have so much support, to go back here where I'm alone. God forbid something is truly wrong, I'm not sure how we will cope. I know somehow we will, because we have to right? Life cannot stop and lord knows, the girls definitely won't!

In the meantime I'll be waiting, albeit not patiently for the phone to ring. Hopefully I'll be back soon with good news.

M's First Haircut

2007-10-01T13:45:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we took M for her first "official" haircut. I had been trimming her bangs at home while the rest of her hair grew, but it was time. She was excellent during the whole thing. She barely moved and didn't cry at all. Big change from C's first cut which she screamed through the whole thing.

Here are some pictures of the event:

When she first got her bangs cut, she looked at me like, "Look Mom...I can see!"

Afternoon at the Circus

2007-09-30T20:38:00.000-04:00

Today we took the girls to see the Big Apple Circus. If you've never seen it, you really should. It's how the circus should be...under one big tent. Both kids loved it although M got a little restless at times and took some walks. She loved the puppies and the acrobats, as well as the lights. C said her favorite part was the horses.

We tried to take some pictures at it, but honestly they are all bad! LOL! It was really difficult trying to get both kids to not only look at the camera, but also smile with all the other stuff to look at. Oh well, maybe next year!

Crazy Hair Day

2007-09-24T17:42:00.000-04:00

Today the girls and I had a crazy hair day. Here are some pictures from it:

Fun Fun!!

Where have we been?

2007-09-20T19:13:00.001-04:00

Well, I wish I could be writing a post to say we've been on some exotic vacation or won the Powerball but in truth we've just been busy. Here's quick rundown of what's going on...

C started school at the beginning of September (Thank God!!!). She goes to a preschool 5 minutes from home two mornings a week. Sure, I wish it was more, but hey it's something, right?
C is also signed up for some classes to keep us busy. She now has gymnastics and ballet/tap on Fridays, and will start swimming class in October.
M has been enjoying some alone time with me. So far we've gone grocery shopping, taken trips to the park, attended a tots playgroup, and gone to MOPS.
M had her 15 month checkup in which she was 31 3/4 inches tall and 23 lbs. 9 ozs. She was a real trooper even through her 2 shots.
I've been back and forth to the doctor's again. Have yet another sinus/ear infection (my 4th of the summer) and had sinus xrays done. Luckily they came up clear but I'll be heading back next week for a follow up.
I'm serving as the Activities Coordinator for our MOMS Club in town and also attending MOPS twice a month. (Just is case I wasn't busy enough already...)
We've had things going on every weekend so far and it won't end until late October! Some of our fun has been: going to Richmond to visit friends, heading to Six Flags for J's company's annual picnic. This weekend we're heading to the circus!

That's basically been it. Lately I feel like I should put a meter in my car and earn some money for all the driving I'm doing! So...that's been it. Hopefully I'll start getting a little more free time soon and be able to post more often.

But why mommy???

2007-08-23T11:55:00.000-04:00

C and I were talking about going to school yesterday. She starts preschool two mornings a week after a hiatus since April. It's a new school, so I'm trying to get her all revved up about it. While we were talking over dinner about it, she said:

"But Mommy, why do I have to go to school if you don't work anymore??"

She actually had me stumped there a minute for an answer... Finally I told her she needed to go to learn things and play with new friends. She was ok with that response. At least for now... Here are some more of her latest why questions:

"Why does the sun go to bed at night? Doesn't it want to play with the moon?"
"But why can't we get another kitty? Milo is so lonely and he needs friends!"
"Why do I need clean underwear? My bottom is clean because I wiped it."

Ahhh...it's getting so hard to come up with legitimate answers and not laugh!!!!

Time with Elmo

2007-08-23T11:47:00.000-04:00

Last week we took the girls on a mini-vacation. It was a last minute whirlwind trip to Sesame Place and the Jersey shore. J had a few vacation days booked for the summer and we were going to save them and make a long Labor Day weekend, but he had to head away on a business trip so we had to use them or lose them. M has really been into "Melmo" these days so we decided this was the year to go. I'm glad we did it when we did. C had a blast going to the shows and seeing the characters. Her favorite part was the tea cup ride with Daddy. (I sat sideline with M to avoid puking!)

M called everyone Melmo and loved it as well. She danced along with the shows and had a blast in the smaller play areas. Unfortunately she was sick Friday so she was kind of miserable at the park, but once we got her some medicine and cooled off in the pool, she was much happier.

Friday night through Sunday we went to Brick, NJ to visit my cousin and her boyfriend. They have a house on the bay there with a heated inground pool (nice!) and a boat. Both C and M enjoyed the pool and even the spin on the boat, or ship as C calls it. C was the jr. captain and even got to drive!! She was all smiles during that!!

Unfortunately it was really cold and rainy so there was no playing on the beach for us. However, we headed to Point Pleasant and took in the boardwalk and some yummy funnel cake. The kids loved the rides and food until it started pouring. We then skeedaddled out of there and sat in the car eating our funnel cake.

Overall it was a great trip!! I'll post some pictures of it later.

Girly Update

2007-08-12T20:24:00.000-04:00

So it's been awhile since I've posted an update on the girls. Here's their current latest and greatest:

C--

Is enjoying the summer at the pool. She's now swimming on her own with floaties, and just started going underwater.
She's developed quite a nice tan!!
Can count to 10 in Spanish with help on prounciation.
She's really into trying new things. We've recently been going to some outdoor concerts near us and she's loving it.
Is now 38.5 inches tall, which is 1.5 inches bigger than she was right around her birthday.

M--

Just got molar #1 of 4 through. The rest should be coming any day now, along with the fangs.
Is running around like a madwoman!! She hates being carried or being in the stroller.
Has gotten over her water fear and enjoys splashing in the pool.
Can now say: shoe, grape, Elmo, Mema, Papa, Caitlin, Mommy, Daddy, yum, thank you (clearer now), meow or milo for our cat, Allie, bubble, Diego, Dora, me, up, side (for outside). We're working on please, more, and all done.
Just got her first pair of sneakers in a size 6! She loves her shoes!
Can climb up the stairs and is thinking about going back down.
Loves to go in the swing at the park or down the slide.
Hates to be in the grass, sand, or sitting in the pool! If she falls down then she yells until someone picks her up again.

It's amazing how much they've changed in just a few months!

Birthday Resolutions

2007-08-06T22:32:00.000-04:00

So Saturday was my birthday. Usually they suck, and I mean really suck. They consist of people forgetting (including my mom), something bad happening paired with some really nasty August weather. I don't usually look forward to them but this year was different. Maybe it's getting older or my kids that have changed me, but this year I was determined to not to be in a huge funk on my day. Having to attend a wedding and starting the day on the beach definitely aided that, but I also think I'm just expecting less. Either way, my day came and went but I made some resolutions to myself. Here they are:

I will work on becoming happier with who I am despite my flaws.
I will eat healthier and work out more regularly so that my children are brought up in a household where that matters.
I will spend less time worrying about what other people think of me.
I will spend more time telling people how much they mean to me.
I will not let money run my life.
I will take each day as it comes and try to let it go each night before bed.
I will continue to try new things and meet new people.

Yes, that is quite a list. Of course, these are all things I should be doing already but I've decided enough is enough. I can't keep making excuses as to why I don't do certain things or meet more people. I need to live each day for what it is and try to make myself a little better along the way. I'm hoping this will help me stay happier and teach my daughters not to stress the way I did. I've always been the responsible one and the worrier since I was a child, so much to the point I would forget to enjoy being young. So now I am going to enjoy it and hope that my positivity will rub off. I know this will not be easy and each day will provide new challenges, but I am ready. Sad it's taken me 29 years to figure that out....

We made it...and then some...

2007-08-06T22:21:00.000-04:00

Well, we did it...J and I went away for a weekend alone. Yup, no kids from Thursday - Monday. I brought them up to stay with the inlaws on Tuesday and came back to VA on Thursday. Yes, I did break down a few times on the way back home but I did not turn around the car. I limited the phone calls to twice a day...morning to check in and night to say goodnight. Once we got to VA Beach on Friday I was distracted enough by everything to not be so sad about it. The kids had a blast in NJ and we're hoping to be able to do it again soon.

As for our weekend it was by far one of the best vacations we have had. I wish we would have had an extra day, but all in all, it was just what we needed. We went down with friends of ours and had so much fun at the beach and hanging around, not to mention the wedding. That was a blast! (Of course the open bar and multiple margaritas definitely contributed to that!!) We even ended the weekend on a high note and went to dinner and a movie (Bourne Ultimatum...LOVED it!!).

So I will admit that everyone who told me to go was right. It was a nice break for the kids, for J and I, and for myself. And the kids don't despise me for leaving...although M did give me a hard time when I saw her, the little stinker! This will definitely become a yearly occurrance in our house!

Am I really going to go????

2007-07-30T07:58:00.001-04:00

So J and I are scheduled to go away this weekend sans kids. We're heading to VA Beach for a friend's wedding/belated anniversary/my birthday celebration. Up until the last week I've been looking forward to this like a person on a diet looks at a bakery. I wanted to sleep, see a movie, have a blast at the wedding, and oh, did I mention, sleep?? The girls will be in the more than capable care of my inlaws and plenty of my family will be there to take them out and about. Well this past week major anxiety has set in about the whole thing and I'm actually considering not going. (NOTE: That won't actually happen because unless I've severed a limb and am gushing blood, J will kill me if we don't go!!)

So, what has set off this delusion that I cannot leave my children for a measly few days you may ask? To begin, this trip is going to cost us a small fortune. Between the driving and hotel, not to mention the wedding it will probably be the most costly long weekend we've ever been on. This alone is making me consider only going down Saturday for the wedding and heading back.

My next excuse, I mean reason, to not go: guilt. Ahhh...got to love the guilt!! What am I feeling guilty about? Let me count the ways...
1. I've never been away from M for more than a few hours and she's going through a major attachment to me right now.
2. We haven't been away from C since she was 9 months old, and am afraid after a day of fun at Mema's she's going to want to go home.
3. I feel bad that my inlaws will have the girls for so many days.
4. Did I mention that M is also teething and waking up at night?
5. And that C has been attached to J at the hip these days?

Ok...so before you all jump on here and yell at me that I have to go, I deserve to go...I know. Rationally I know. My brain is not that mushy to understand that I need a break and my children do too. However, I don't think I would be a mom if I wasn't worried about the impact it's going to have on my children. This really is a test to see how we all do. If it works well then hopefully there will be more mini vacations in my future, or at least the kids going to NJ without us. If it's a bust, well then who knows when we will go away again...when they are out of the house???

Is anyone out there??

2007-07-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

Wow...I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I wish I could say I was on some exotic trip or indulging in some other form of pampering, but that hasn't been the case. What has been keeping us busy you may ask?? Well, for the kids it's been a series of activities from trips to NJ, swim class, and playing outside. For J and I it's been sleepless nights and lots of driving!! Wish I could say we're slowing down, but not quite yet. We're heading back to NJ for the week. I'm hoping to take the girls to the shore (yes, I'm from Jersey and proud!!) and to a children's museum on top of all the family visits we have to attend to. Can we say mommy needs a margarita and a massage???

M has been perfecting her walk these days and she's doing a great job. She's now moved on to being able to stand from anywhere using the bottoms up approach. She loves being mobile and HATES when we try to keep her on our lap these days. Just this afternoon, she was chasing C down the hallway giggling away. It really was an adorable sight.

Miss C has been a handful recently. I have been having a hard time keeping her entertained especially on these hot days when we need to stay indoors. That's part of the reason we're heading to NJ again. She always has a blast and there are so many visitors to occupy her with. She is loving swimming, and would stay in the pool all day long if we allowed. We've been talking a lot about starting school again so she can get used to the idea. I think she's going to love it although she's skeptical. She keeps telling me that she's going to be shy and not have any friends. :(

I've been working on getting rid of my neck/back issues hard core these days. I'm going to physical therapy twice a week and getting all kinds of injections to help it out. I wish I could say it's getting better, but it's not. I'm not sure what's going on but I've been getting terrible headaches and migraines again. Of course to top all this off I seemed to have caught some kind of cold or virus the end of last week and was just miserable. Ugh, I just want to feel normal!!!! Next week I'm heading in for a steroid epidural in my neck. Yup...it probably will be as much fun as it sounds. :P

Off to switch the laundry and try and get some sleep....

Did I sign up for all this?

2007-07-05T11:29:00.000-04:00

I had been doing some serious thinking recently about all the things I try and accomplish in a day. The typical day in our household goes something like this:

2 am -- Wake up to M's cries and convince her to go back to sleep.
5:45 am --Wake up to J's alarm and try to pretend I don't hear it.
7:15 am -- C comes storming in our room freaking out that she missed J before he left for work.
7:16 am -- C demanding breakfast but only daddy can get it.
7:30 am -- M waking up and looking to eat.
7:35 am -- Put a cup of water in the microwave for tea.
7:40 am --Realize I forgot the water and reheat it.
7:45 am -- Realize I forgot to take the teabag out. Add tons of milk and sugar to compensate.
7:46 am -- C in complete meltdown because she only said goodbye to daddy 3 times.
7:47 am -- Release a yelling M out of her high chair and let her down to play.
7:48 am -- Damn, where's my tea??

Yup...that's just the morning. At around 9 am I get the brazen idea to try and do something: clean, take the kids out somewhere, etc. BAD idea!! It usually winds up that M is too tired at around 10-10:30 to go too far from home, or even better, we have been getting stuck in nasty thunderstorms! Nothing better than loading two cranky kids and groceries in the car during a downpour!!

By this time of the day I'm done for and it's not even lunchtime. Recently this has gotten me thinking...what the hell was I thinking when I thought this would be easy?? I mean I worked in daycare but had no real appreciation of everything that goes into mommyhood. And now that I'm not working and C is home full time, you would think that this would be less stressful...no work deadlines, no worrying about C after dropoff, etc., but instead it's worse. Sure now my stress relates to how I'm going to get the dishes done quietly while M naps and keep C quietly entertained, but it's stress no less. The days that I used to travel to NJ and work full time in my office I used to dream about not working and staying home...now I seem to be daydreaming about quiet worktime. Is something wrong with me?? I wouldn't give up this opportunity to stay with the girls for anything right now, but at the same time I'm definitely missing the adult interaction and quietness of my worklife. Ahhh...I'm sure every mom feels the same way, right??

Summer craziness...

2007-07-05T11:23:00.000-04:00

Ahh, the summer craziness has begun! Last weekend we went to Richmond for a friend's son's (and C's best pal) 3rd bday party. C and M had a great time and it was nice to all visit for a little while. Sunday, C began her swim lessons which went fine until class was over. Apparently she felt it wasn't done yet and threw a fit getting out of the pool. Gotta love 3 year olds! Grr...

Wednesday we spent the 4th shopping (a true American past time!) and then had a bbq with a friend and her daughter. We then headed into J's office to watch the DC fireworks. They were good, but definitely don't even compare to NYC!!

We are now heading up to NJ for a long weekend. J's sister is in from CA and we have a graduation party to go to. Busy, busy!!

Hopefully we will all survive all this driving!

What the....

2007-06-28T16:36:00.000-04:00

I just saw a scary commercial for this on Noggin. I can't even explain how many different ways this scares me!

The day it all started

2007-06-28T15:59:00.000-04:00

So today is J and my 12 year anniversary. Wow...sounds weird just saying that. We have been together since we were juniors in high school! We definitely have had our good and bad times, but I can honestly say it has made out relationship stronger. I'm lucky that I found my soulmate at 16 and I'm even luckier that as we have gotten older our relationship has matured right along with us. Lots of hugs and kisses to J tonight! :)

In other news, C, M, and I headed to a children's performance this morning in my neverending quest to find cheap things to occupy us. We had a good time, but it was definitely HOT. Not sure I would recommend going to an outdoor performance on a day like today, but luckily it was completely shaded so that helped some. The other upside was the girls napped like angels this afternoon!

We are busy getting ready for this weekend. Saturday we are heading to a birthday party in Richmond. C is thrilled to spend some time with her man. Sunday, C is starting swim lessons again. She took them as an infant but the instructor wasn't all that great and her constant ear infections kept us away. We're doing a parent/child class for 8 weeks with the hope I can enroll her in a child only class this fall. I'll definitely post some pictures of her underwater adventures.

These boots were made for walking...

2007-06-26T11:22:00.000-04:00

So big news in our house..... M is walking!! She took 2 steps on Sunday, followed by 8 yesterday...and she's just going from there. I'm so excited and scared at the same time it's not even funny! My back is loving that I won't need to carry her as much soon, that's for sure! Not sure how I'm going to handle both girls running around, but we'll manage.

On top of this, I got a call from C's ballet teacher yesterday that Miss C may be in a local newspaper this week!! Apparently a reporter was there on Friday during the dress rehearsal and snapped a few pics of her. They have asked my permission for one of them to appear, but we won't know for sure until it comes out on Friday. I can't wait to see!!

Exciting week in our house so far!!!

Dancing Queen

2007-06-24T08:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was C's big dance recital. It was called Flowers & Fairies and Miss C. was a Buttercup. She did ballet and tap in it beautifully. We had one minor breakdown causing her teacher to call me backstage (along with 2 other moms) because she wanted me to put on her tap shoes. After I arrived, lollipops were passed out, and a promise of a Barbie if she kept smiling, the show went on. Here are some pictures of her grooving her thing... This first one was prior to the start of her show...

Here are some ballet moves...

The whole thing was adorable. Even M loved the music and seeing big sis dancing. And yes, she got her Barbie afterwards. I know, bad mommy...LOL.

Now dance is over for the summer and I'm stuck wondering what the heck we are going to do with our time! C will start swim classes this Sunday, but other than that, we will have to find some things to do. We'll be heading to NJ a bunch of times, and I'm sure we will go down the shore, but that's about it. It's going to be a looooonnnnngggg summer!!

1 year and counting...

2007-06-22T08:56:00.000-04:00

Today is a rough day in so many ways. First, in the normal mom way it's rough because both kids were up alternating hours all night. C was up with a nightmare, I think, and M was running a fever (again!). I swear they sit down before bedtime and map out which hour they are going to be up so I can get precisely to the point where I'm deep asleep in bliss and then *MOMMMMMYYYYY!!!* can be heard. I'm not sure there is enough caffeine in NoVA to keep me going today, but we will try. Going to take a shower and maybe try some new soap and see if that helps. (Oh yes...that is real...)

Secondly, this is a crazy busy day for us. Here's our schedule...

9:45 am -- Take my sister to work.

10:30 am -- Get M down for nap.

10: 30 -12 pm -- Clean like a mad woman in preparation for inlaws arrival.

12- 1 pm -- Get the kids fed and down for naps.

2:30 pm -- Babysitter arrives.

3:00 pm -- Meet J at title company to sign mortgage docs. (We're refinancing)

4:30 pm -- Get C ready and over to her dance recital dress rehearsal.

5 - 7:00 pm -- C's dress rehearsal.

In all of this what is not included is me taking a shower, getting laundry done, possibly taking M to the dr (if her fever returns), and my inlaws arriving. Not to mention what the heck we will do for dinner?!?

Finally, and this is the part I've been really dreading, today is the one year anniversary on my grandmother passing away. This time last year I was getting the kids packed up in the car to make my way to NJ, two weeks post c-section, to help with the arrangements. Here I thought I would do little things, but instead I took on buying the flowers, putting together pictures, and writing the euology?!? What was I thinking?? I have to say that by far this was the hardest thing I have ever done. My grandmother was like my mom so dealing with her death was intense. What made it worse was that I didn't make it up to say goodbye, and she never met M. I'm not sure I will ever get over that. So, today is definitely a day I would love to stay in bed and sleep through, but that's just not possible. Instead, I'll cut the crap as my grandmother used to say and plow through.

Here's a picture of us together. It's from my baby shower with C before the cancer started.

Grandma...I miss you more than words can say. I think of you all the time and know you are looking down on all of us. I love you.

--K

The Rules...

2007-06-19T21:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight before putting C to bed, she was playing with her princess hopscotch. As she was putting it together, she quite seriously told me about the "rules". They were as follows...

1. You always have to be nice to me.
2. You always have to give me hugs and kisses.
3. You always have to make me lunch.
4. You always have to make my dinner and eat yours.
5. You always have to play nice things with me.

This whole interaction was quite amusing to me. I found it very hard to keep a straight face through the conversation. As you can guess, I've been enforcing some rules of my own these days. Seems like C is deciding hers are better...

Straight from the mouth of C...

2007-06-19T07:46:00.000-04:00

C has quite a personality. I thought I would share a few conversations we had recently...

#1 -- Her new bed...

C...Mommy, I love my bed. When you grow smaller you can sleep with me.

Me...Thanks honey, but grown ups don't grow smaller, they keep getting bigger just like you get bigger.

C... Ok...but your legs can get smaller and then you will fit. :)
--------------------

#2 -- While eating her dinner last night

C... My taco stuff is all coming out!

J...It's ok, I'll help you put it back together.

C... Thanks Daddy. It's too hard for little kids to do this. That's why you go to work.

J & Me...(muffling laughter)
--------------------

#3 -- Neverending Questions (usually around bedtime)

C...Mommy, why do we have bottoms?

Me...So we have a place to sit.

C...But then why do we need chairs?

Me...So we have a comfortable place to sit.

C...But some bottoms have pillows on them so they would be comfy.

Me...(LOL) What do you mean?

C...Some bottoms are smushy like a pillow.

Me... (Really laughing now) Yes honey, I guess they are.

C....So then why do we need chairs??

I'm definitely at the million question stage with her. It's fun and annoying that's for sure. I'll share more memorable ones as they occur...

--K

Cake meet M...

2007-06-15T18:21:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures of M and her birthday cake. She ate the whole piece!!

Here she is showing off her bite...

Just wanted to share. I'll write a more noteworthy post later.
--K

M's Big Day!

2007-06-10T20:35:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was M's first birthday! So, I thought I would relive it with a picture of her and how she was born...

I started having severe back pain and contractions at 11 pm on Thursday night. I tried everything to make it go away: drank water, walked, took a bath, etc. The only relief I felt was in the bath but about a half hour after I got out, it just got worse. I started timing my contractions, and they would get to be about 6 minutes apart, and then would space out to 10 minutes. I figured I would wait as long as I could, then call the dr.

By noon on Friday, I was miserable. I was still having back pain, and decided to call my doctor. I called them at 1:30 pm, and they told me to head to L&D. I got there around 3 pm. They immediately hooked me up to a monitor and said I wasn't contracting. My doctor then came to see me, and she turned off the monitor and put her hands on my belly. She then said, Oh yea...you are contracting! DUH!!! She then moved the monitor, and there they were...every 2-3 minutes. She asked me how long it was going on, and I told her since the night before. She left me for an hour, then came back to check me...and guess what. NO change!! I was still just 1cm, and my cervix was posterior. She told me her guess was the baby was too big for my pelvis, especially based on the back pain. After talking it over with her and J, we decided to go in for a c-section. They made a few quick calls, and I was scheduled for 6:30 pm that night.

The c-section went well. I have to say, I was nervous since I got so sick last time and felt so much pain...but this time was perfect. No vomiting, no pain. They did a great job at responding to me. At 7:17 pm, M screamed her way into the world. :) She was so stuck in me, it took two people pushing on my uterus to get her out!! The dr was relieved that I went for the c-section especially when they weighed her. M was 8lbs. 2ozs. and 19 inches long. This was at 38 weeks!!!

I love you M and can't believe how big you are!! I can't wait to see how much you grow and change over the next year.

-- K

Illness & other issues...

2007-06-06T08:39:00.000-04:00

God, what a horrible few days we have been having! Both kids were sick with high fevers so of course, that means none of us have gotten a decent night's sleep. I've been running on empty for about 2 weeks now as one of the girls was up every night with something... I long for a nice nap or decent night's sleep. Here's hoping it's coming soon!!

Aside from the sickness in my house, I've finally ventured back to the doctor for myself. You see, I hurt my neck and back a while back and just went to get the CT scan results. Turns out I have 4 bulging discs in my neck and another teamed with arthritis in my lower back. What does this mean ladies and gentlemen? Well, I'm going to be going for some serious (read steriod epidural!!) injections into my neck and back, as well as some physical therapy for the next few months. Fun, right?!? On top of that my doctor gently reminded me that I need to try and lose a few pounds. As if it were that easy...oh wow, *poof* there goes 10 right now! Seriously though, I have been trying but my life doesn't help. I used to not eat at all when I was upset and now I have the opposite issue. Sugar, particularly contained in chocolate is my best friend. It's always there to give me a nice warm feeling when I'm feeling crappy and all it asks in return is that I keep eating it!! It's been working for me a little too long and I realize it. I also know I can't diet on my own, so I'm going to drag my flabby butt down to Weight Watchers next week and see what they can do for me (Hi, my name is Kelly and I'm a fat beast!)...

Finally, it's M's birthday this Saturday. It's hard to believe my little baby (ok at 22 lbs, she's not that little!!) is going to be 1. What's even more incredible to me is that she's also my last baby. She's growing up way too fast for me to deal with that. I need to get a fix on that baby smell one more time before she turns into a stinky toddler...lol! For about half a second when I see a small infant, particularly boys, I dream about having another. And then reality hits and makes me realize how much more insane my life would be if we had 3 kids...especially close in age!! So I'm done with kids, at least for now...

Ok, off to get some things done around here.
-K

Tag, you're it...

2007-05-18T16:52:00.000-04:00

Here are the rules... Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. When I was younger I used to try and "erase" my freckles.

2. I've never travelled outside of the US or it's territories (not that I haven't wanted to!).

3. I'm the oldest on both sides of my family.

4. I used to want to be an environmental attorney when I grew up.

5. As much as I love being home with my kids, I miss working.

6. I broke my leg in a car accident when I was 3.

7. Being a mom has changed my perspective on life and has brought me closer to my own mother.

Thanks Leigh Ann for tagging me. :P I think I'll tag Mel...

Ramblin' Family...

2007-05-14T18:13:00.000-04:00

This weekend we were on the road again. This time back to NJ to visit the family for Mother's Day. I swear we are living our lives on the road these days!!

Mother's day was ok. Got a cute card from the girls and J. I've decided that next year I'm not going to watch tv around this holiday. Can't take all the sappy commercials where the kids bring their mom's breakfast in bed and a diamond necklace. It definitely gets my hopes up that it will happen to me. Completely ridiculous, I know. Still, the illusion is there. I did get lots of hugs from the girls, which made my day...but in reality, I get those everyday. Not really a special day here, so I guess I'm just grateful that I get to feel loved everyday.

We've got a busy month ahead of us. M will be a year at the beginning of June, my cousin is graduating from high school, C has a dance recital, and our friend's son will be 3. Lots of ramblin' coming up!

Off to feed the masses...
K

Kid's Update

2007-05-09T10:33:00.000-04:00

I figured we are way overdue for an update on the girls. So, here we go...

C...
- is fully potty trained. She's even staying dry overnight now and is very proud of herself!
- is able to write her name by herself as long as I tell her the letters. When she takes her time, it looks really good!! We still have some work to do, but I'm really proud of her!
- is still a singing and dancing fool. She's constantly making up her own songs, especially when playing. She's completely into her tap dancing and loves showing it off!
- enjoys meeting new friends when we go out. Although she tells me that she's being shy, she's really doing a great job of playing with other kids.

M...
- is starting to cruise around. She's been standing for a while, and definitely loves being a part of the action!
- has a total of 8 teeth now.
- is saying: mama, dada, baby, baba, ball, kaykay (for Caitlin), and kitty cat. New things are coming out everyday!
- will eat anything she can get her hands on. She loves quesadillas and bananas!! You can't walk by her with a banana and not give her some.

I think that's it for now. I'll try to post an update monthly!

K

One of these things....

2007-05-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

So today was one of those days where I had a song going through my head. It was from the game that they used to play on Sesame Street..."One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. Can you tell which one is not like the other...before I get to the end of the song??"

I've recently crawled out of my funk from no longer working, being depressed about several things, and decided it was high time for me to find some things to do with the girls and make some mommy friends! Brave, you may say...crazy as well. I've been down here (VA) for almost 4 years now and only have a few "close" friends. Most of them work during the day (or have recently moved away ;) ) so it's hard to make time to get together with the kids, and even harder without. So...with my newfound stay at home status, I have decided to search out other moms like me. Young, with two kids, struggling to make it all work and keep their senses of humor with them along the way. Seems like I've moved to the wrong town for that! I have met a number of nice women recently...at playgroups and various other outings...but I can't seem to "click" with any of them. Perhaps it's because I didn't have a great career to discuss before I had kids...or my kids are different ages. It may be because I don't have the gorgeous houses that others have that seem to come equipped with housekeepers (god, I would kill for that!!). Seems to me like there is already this "club" that existed before and I'm now the outsider trying to get in. Many of the women live in the same neighborhoods, or worked at the same places, or used the same dr's. It definitely makes it hard for me to meet anyone. I have come to the realization that as much as I am looking for playmates for the girls...I'm looking for some friends for myself as well. I've never had a hard time making friends before, but now it seems like I need a special decoder ring to fit in (or is it a multi diamond platinum ring?? hmmm...maybe I can weasle one of those in...I know, I wish!!)

I think all of this makes me miss NJ even more. All of my family is up there and at least I know I can hang out with them on a Friday night and not feel like such a loser. I know, I know...keep trying...I'll find my place soon. I keep telling myself the same thing, but after almost 4 years, it's kind of hard to believe. For now, I'm giving the SAHM thing a whirl and joining as many story times and playdates as I can. Hopefully soon I'll be posting about how I found the right group...for all of us!

K

Today

2007-04-27T13:22:00.000-04:00

Today is a memorable day. 5 years ago, I married my high school sweetheart, J. I can't believe how time has flown! It really doesn't seem like it has been that long...and yet here we are! On our honeymoon to St. John, we laid out some plans for our future anniversaries. For this one, we thought we would be on a trip to Hawaii. 10 years we were going to be back in St. John and renewing our vows. 15 years we would go to Italy. Man, how time (and children) changes everything!

J...Thank you for marrying me 5 years ago. On that day you made me the happiest woman ever. I know we have had our ups and downs over the past 5 years, but I think we are stronger for it. You continue to amaze me every day and make me realize how lucky I am. I know we aren't doing anything remotely like we imagined for our anniversary, but I am just happy to spend the night with you. I love you!!

Sadness and Grief

2007-04-13T21:27:00.000-04:00

Last June was a difficult and joyous month. On the one hand, my angelic baby girl, M entered the world. Not even two weeks later, my grandmother who was more like a mother to me, passed away. All my family minus myself and my sister were there at her side when she went. I still have issues with the fact that I wasn't there, but at the same time I have realized that I could not have handled it. I still can't handle it. I've come to terms with it and am not crying all the time as I had been, but it definitely hurts.

It may seem strange that after so long I am writing this post, but I'm facing another crisis here. My grandfather is now in the hospital struggling to live. He had to have major brain surgery on Monday and is now on a ventilator. He's been sedated for the past few days and just today has been able to be off sedation. As difficult as it has been to see him sedated, I had a harder time seeing him today. He kept trying to talk to me and I couldn't understand him because he has the tube down his throat. I'm praying and hoping that he will be better but I'm not sure now. My head realizes that he's 87 years old, has lost his wife this year, and is probably ready to go. However, my heart can't deal with that. I cannot fathom losing both of them in a year. My grandfather was my father as my father was absent most of my life. This is like losing my parents. How do you deal with that? Where do you draw the line between what your head knows and what your heart feels??

I'm overcome with sadness and grief today. I'm sad for the situation and how my family is affected. I've effectively moved to NJ with the girls until my grandfather is either stable or... I can't even go that far. I'm grieving for my grandmother and beginning to grieve for my grandfather. Is this how you prepare for it? Will this make it hurt any less? I'm just overwhelmed right now and wish I could just sleep until everything is better. For tonight that is what I will do. Tomorrow, I will get up, have a nice breakfast with the girls and J and then head to the hospital. I will do my best to stay positive and smile at my grandfather. I know he needs happiness right now and that is what I will give him.

--K

And they're off...

2007-04-02T22:25:00.000-04:00

So in the last week, M has hit a major milestone...she's crawling and pulling up. She went from slowly crawling last week to now flying. She's getting close to standing. It's all exciting and scares the crap out of me at the same time. I'm going to have two kids to chase around?!? And now the real fun begins...

This week is C's first full week without school. To start off, we had C's big party with her school friends on Sunday. She had a blast and was so sugared up by the end, that she was actually running around in circles. Today we tried to go to the zoo and realized that going when all the kids are on spring break, the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and a new museum is opening...not a good idea! Instead, we drove around DC for almost 3 hours. We wound up going to the farm park around the corner from our house instead. Oh well...we'll try again another day...

Off to bed...

--K

Gratitude

2007-03-29T21:55:00.001-04:00

Today I'm feeling grateful for my life. I know that it's had some major issues...but it's turned out better than I could ever imagine. I am married to the love of my life for almost 5 years now. He's the most caring, and wonderful man I could have ever asked for. Together we have a beautiful family with the best two little girls anyone could ask for. I may gripe about C not listening to me, or M keeping me up all night, but I couldn't be luckier.

What is sparking this insightfulness you may ask? A friend of mine has a son that is only 6 months older than M. He has been sick for a while now, and has taken a turn for the worst. He is need of a transplant to survive. I cannot even begin to imagine how this family is handling all of this. I felt horrible that I could not offer any comforting words. How do you talk to someone in this situation? Especially when you have a daughter so close in age? I will continue to pray and hope for this boy, but I feel so helpless.

All this experience has done is made me realize how lucky I am. If nothing else, we all have our health. We may be at our wits end with C not listening, or could stand to have some more money in the bank, but we are so lucky. So tonight, I will hug C and M a little longer, and tell J how much he means to me. I truly am one lucky woman...

-- K

Birthdays...

2007-03-26T16:06:00.000-04:00

Today is a big day in our family. It's C's 3rd and J's 29th birthdays! So here is a little post dedicated to them...

C...You are growing up so fast I can't stand it! You are a wonderful "big" girl and I love you so much! Happy birthday princess!

J...You are the love of my life. Thanks for sharing this crazy journey with me. Happy Birthday!

I'm lucky to have both of you in my life. I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful day. Here's to many more!

K

Need to vent

2007-03-21T13:57:00.000-04:00

Ok, I need a venting post. Just something to get out my frustrations of today. So, here we go:

1. Why is it that when I accompany my daughter on a field trip at her school I wind up working more than the teachers? I had to belt kids in their seats, herd them in, keep them from running around, and finally (the real kicker), take 4 of them to the bathroom! Ugh...today I definitely felt like I should be getting a paycheck from C's school!

2. How is it that my family of 4 can create so much goddamn laundry?!? I swear I did all the kids clothes not 2 days ago and yet, here are more piles!! Where is my freaking laundry fairy??

3. I'm so tired of being in pain from my neck/shoulder! I hurt it almost 2 years ago and am going through some physical therapy for it. Yesterday I found out that I have some pinched nerves, possibly herniated disks, and most likely arthritis in my neck already! Umm...hello?? I'm not even 30 yet! If this is what I have to look forward to in getting older, count me out already!

4. I really want to know how some people have spotless houses with kids. I swear I could go on a cleaning binge for the next week and I still wouldn't be able to keep up with everything. Again...where is my freaking fairy??

5. Ok, so it's been a little over 9 months since I gave birth to M, and people are asking me when I'm going to start trying for a boy?!? Umm...riiiight... Don't even get me started on how I need to lose more weight first....

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
K

Two weeks and counting...

2007-03-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

Two weeks until C is done with preschool. She's been in it 3 days a week since she was 18 months. We've taken her out since it's so expensive to keep her in with the sporadic work I have been doing, and since we are trying to move. Now the question comes, what the heck am I going to do to occupy her?? I have signed her up for a Tuesday dance class, and I'm hoping to find a playgroup or library group to fill in at least another day or two. I also went out and bought a preschool activity book to help me out! Oh boy...we may be making a lot of trips to NJ to compensate...

M is 9 months old now and is such a joy. Her personality is really coming out now and it looks like she will be giving C a run for her money. She's started really yelling when you take something away from her, or if she's bored. Today, she's decided to shriek almost all day long. It's definitely been an Advil day today!

It's hard to believe that C will be 3 so soon! God, where has the time gone?? We were supposed to head to NJ this weekend to celebrate, as well as meet some relatives that are in from Italy. Unfortunately, C woke up with a fever yesterday and today there's been some really crummy weather, so I'm not sure what we are doing now. We may still head up tomorrow, but we will have to see. Guess I should do some laundry so I have something clean to wear in case. It seems to never end!!

Later!
K

Wanted: The perfect jeans...

2007-03-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

On behalf of all woman everywhere, I'm going to be placing the following want ad:

WANTED: A dedicated, hard worker who won't shirk from a challenge. Must be willing to adjust to difficult working circumstances without fading or ripping under pressure. This position will have many rewards including getting patted on the ass or admiring looks from people who appreciate your hard work. To qualify for this position, you must: be able to adjust to the ever fluctuating weight shifts, provide a supporting and slimming rear position, and be able to handle the ever changing demands of the wearer. Position may causing fading, staining and being crumpled in a laundry basket for undetermined lengths of time. Only qualified applicants need apply.

Ok...although I made light of this, I'm desperately searching for a GOOD pair of jeans!! I'm tired of jeans that are falling off my butt because my hips aren't big enough or my giant flabby stomach is pushing them down. What's the deal with that?? Or now since I'm a mom, should I be looking for jeans that come up to my boobs and will probably result in scary camel toe?? Can anyone recommend a happy medium here?? Thanks. I promise to post something better later. I'm just annoyed with the jeans today!

--K

Blogging Virgin

2007-03-07T15:21:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is, my inaugural post. I've decided to start this blog as a way to keep track of our crazy life with our two beautiful girls. Hopefully I will be able to post often, although all moms know how that goes... ;)

I guess to start off I should introduce everyone. Well, I'm K...mom of C (almost 3) and M (9 months) and wife to J for almost 5 years now. We live in VA although we are trying to move back to our hometown where all our family is. It would be nice to have all the family support! Right now, C is at preschool but I will be pulling her out at the end of the month. I'm now officially a stay at home mom!?! I'm happy, scared, stressed, and ready to start this next chapter. Stay tuned to see how we make it!!

More soon...
K