Thursday, December 28, 2006

winter

Ah winter vacation...
the best part is the sleeping in. I get about an hour extra now adays. If I would have stopped at two kids. I could easily have slept into 10 am today. Q sets a daily goal on how late he can sleep in. He is so proud in the morning when he walks in full dressed and says "Guess how late I slept in today?"
K is a morning person. He wakes up early with a clear head and voice. He happily putters around alone making crafts, quizzes and experiments all without interuption from younger siblings. Last week he was in tears at 10am sobbing, "I LOOOVE morning. I don't want it to end!"
Yesterday KC started climbing, climbing, climbing. everything. As a result, he's been falling down quite a bit. Today for some reason when I went to get him from his crib, he looked more like a boy than a baby. His hair is growing out and becoming more parted and less baby like. Little man.

Friday, December 22, 2006

the jeans oh the jeans

The jeans are a lot tighter right about now.
Oh wait...the boys are screaming. I was about to write another insightful bit about my life.
But they are screaming at each other.
Santa comin+g6
n in
a couple days doesn't mean a thing to these jokers.
the mistyping is from a 14 month old that likes to grab the mouse and the keyboard while I type. This is my mental health escape. blogging4653210

He has just wandered off to eat the food from the cat's bowl.
ho ho ho

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

one wish

Today I helped with K's Christmas party. Since it is a public school, technically was an "international holiday party." So I did a little thing with the kids on Japanese new year.
I had the kids toss coins into a box, make a wish and clap three times. Then they picked a fortune (written by yours truly Confucius) and tied it to a small tree branch so the wind could carry the wishes away to come true.
One little girl, who was apparently new to the class said she wished for friends, and surprisingly her fortune said that her good and kind nature would bring her many friends. Her eyes lit up with her sheer excitement.
Most of the kids wished for a remote control robot, this or that kind of game. My kid wanted to go into outer space. One kid even wished that his birthday would come more than one day a year.
When I asked a little girl what she wished for she quietly told me that she wished her mommy would get better from brain cancer. This quiet little girl struck a nerve with me in the midst of the mayhem of dredels, donuts and candy poppers. I told her I would make the same wish, so I threw my coins in, clapped three times and said a prayer for her mothers health. Then the rest of the kids asked for more coins so they could wish for her mom to get better too.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

look in the sky

What should I be doing the past few days, decking my halls? baking delicious holiday treats? wrapping presents? What could it be in this last week before Christmas would this mom of three be doing?
Nope, raking leaves of course. Because the weather is something like 100 degrees outside and the leaves didn't get the attention they needed a month or two ago AND because this is the south where trees take their own sweet time dropping leaves.
So I'm outside raking, while my hunka hunka honey lay inside with a bum back. Merry Christmas, I think and then start to obsess about global warming and what damage we are doing to the earth. My hyacinths are poking through the earth about two months before they should be. Buds are forming on trees. OH THE AGONY!
What is going on? Hunka says I (aka "Chicken Little") should just enjoy the 75 degree weather. La la la, how nice it is to send our children to live in a green house.
I watched the Oprah show about global warming and the "Inconvenient Truth" documentary. Let me tell you, it scared me. So now I'm carpooling with another mom and saving about three hours a week in drive time.
I'm out to get my oldest from the bus stop. Then off to rake more leaves...They just keep falling. Or is that the sky?

Friday, December 15, 2006


Circle of fuzz

I remember like it was yesterday. My mom took me to the town's fire station for a visit with Santa Claus. I wore very yellow patent leather shoes with buckles, sweater stockings which I hated with all my being, and a very 70's navy and red dress. When I saw the jolly man, it was if a celebrity had appeared. Getting close to him was like a dream. And just like a dream was his beard. All fluffy and flowing, pure white....I had to get my hands on it. So I did. And like I said it was like a dream. The picture shows me sitting on Santa's lap with the side of my face and neck snuggled into the old man's hair and my behind hanging to the side on his knee. If I were good I'd find the picture and post it here. But that is a little too much right now. But I post today because life has an amazing way of going in circles.
Notice how Santa casually grappled the little boy's hands into place.
I

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Doggone it




Friends have two new puppies. So cute. They couldn't decided between the two which to pick, so they took both.

She says it is a little crazy, like too much puppiness.

I feel the same way, like I have too many kids. But don't know which one to get rid of.

Friday, December 08, 2006

cart -a what?

"cartilaginous"
This is the word my 7 year-old used on me yesterday.

I had to look it up....
–adjective
1.of or resembling cartilage.
2.having a skeleton composed either entirely or mainly of cartilage, as vertebrates of the class Chondrichthyes, which includes the sharks, rays, and skates.

Ah ok, when did he get smarter than me? Oh I see, at seven, I get it.
But then when we got out a shark book, he laughed for 15 straight minutes about two words "anal fin."

uganda be kidding me

I don't know who or why would be reading my blog in Uganda, (or at least that is the closest African country I could figure from my hit map,) but wow, or weird. What a strange little global community we live in.

I made Chicken Tortilla Soup tonight. My friend I went on the scrapbooking weekend with made it the first night we were there. I tried to recreate it from memory and a little help from the internet. The boys topped it with three or four handfuls of cheddar cheese and lots of tortilla chips.

Here's the recipe more or less

2 Poblano peppers chopped
1 onion chopped
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tea cumin
4 chopped tomatoes
3 or 4 C cooked chicken (rotisserie or canned)
1 -2 cups frozen corn or one can corn drained
2 large boxes chicken stock
2 tea worchestire sauce
salt to taste
1 C cilantro chopped
1 lime

1. cook onions, peppers, garlic and cumin in large stock pan until soft
2. add tomatoes and cook a few minutes longer
3. add the rest of the ingredients and simmer
4. squeeze lime in before serving. top with more cilantro, cheese and tortilla chips.

I love cilantro and lime together so I add more than a normal person would I think. I'm also thinking about adding black beans next time.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

back to reality

Each day on my weekend, I opened my eyes and looked out the curtainless floor to ceiling windows to the tops of trees as they reached up to the sky. A small river ran through the back yard with small waterfalls.
My weekend was everything I hoped it would be, and then some.
I completed 81 12x12 pages of my scrapbooks. Over half of those pages were of a trip, my mom, sister and I took back in 1985. The magnetic album the photos were stored in had started eating away at most of the pictures. Remarkably the pictures we had developed in Japan had color and form as brilliant as 21 years ago.
The rest of the pictures were of baby's first year.
The baby got sick on Friday while I was gone. Fever and a cough that made him cry. Hunka handled it remarkably well. He talked frequently with the call nurse and took him in to be checked on Saturday. Yesterday was the first full day of him being back to his happy self. Now we just have to get him back on his sleep schedule.
In addition to massive hours spent scrapbooking, I walked daily, ate nutritious food, drank lots of diet beverages, excercised, watched movies, showered when I felt like it, took care of myself...filled up my tank.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Mountain bound

You know I couldn't leave without one more post about how thrilled I am to be going to my scrapbook extravaganza. I can't wipe the smile off my face.

I've got my aqua green sweats on with the drawstring waist. Three more pairs of sweatpants and a pair of jeans (you know. for dressing up--for going out to eat).

Hunka says he thought perhaps the rain would cause the event to be cancelled. But scrapbooking doesn't work that way, pal.

yeehaa

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Seven is heaven



Here are some pictures of K on his 7th birthday. This year we decided to let him have a "friend" birthday party, so he chose four friends to go to Chuck E Cheese for the grand event.

I am not a birthday party mom. I do not have the ideas or the patience for all the party details. Chuck E was the way to go for me.

I know why now people have these crazy birthday parties for their kids. The look on that kid's face was pure joy.
Q and I left the party a little early. I took him to the doctor to look for an ear infection, turns out he had that, plus strep throat.

T-minus

It's T-minus two until the scrapbooking extravaganza. I've got a 12-pack of Diet Dr Pepper ready to go.

I'm packing my gear, my pictures....my snacks.

As this is a girls only weekend in a cabin in the woods, when I wake up at whatever time I feel like it, I'll decide then.....hmmmm should I wear the gray sweatpants or the darker gray sweatpants? Or maybe I'll just stay in PJs.

all day

Monday, November 27, 2006

Theres a new sherriff in town

Q with his new police man shirt and badge from Aunt, Uncle and Cuz in So.Cal.
He really wants me to spike his hair straight up, but his hair really wants to lay down flat.

I added this tough-guy-pose only because it shows some of the bow I went on and on about in a previous post.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

My curly Q

I really do love this age. Today I asked the boys a series of questions that I save in the scrapbooks....things like....favorite color? what do you want to be when you grow up?

Q's answers haven't changed that much in the year and a half since I last asked.

His favorite person --Mama

Who does he like to play with -- Mama and KC

What makes him happy? when I see Mama the most

Often when I point out something gorgeous like a sunset or flowers in full bloom. He'll say "but Mama, it's still not as pretty as you. You are the beautifulest."

What a change from the day when he said, "mama, do you know what is special about you?...." A big fat zero

For the record here are the questions and answers for both boys

Q -age four

Fave food?
--hot dogs, pizza, macaroni and cheese and chicken

Fave drink?
-Kefir (a drink yogurt)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
- a policeman, a highway 'control' ('patrol' - like his uncle Rob), President, ambulance driver

what do you like to do?
-watch TV, play computer

fave person?
-Mama

Fave animal?
-crocodile, alligator, lion, tiger and leopard

what makes you happy?
-When I see Mama the most

Fave person to play with?
Mama and KC

If you could change your name what would it be?
still Q

What are you proud of?
-Mama and KC

Favorite color
Red


K's answers as a seven year old

1. food?
Stouffer's chicken parmesan

2. drink?
ginerale and sprite

3. Be when you grow up?
Mostly a mayor, a bus driver, a judge, an inventor

4. hobbies?
Teach, invent

5. Fave person?
himself

6. fave animal?
Gila monster (lizard)

7. what makes you happy?
doing scientific stuff

8. fave people to play with ? Matt, Alex, Andrew, and David

9. If you could change your name what would it be?
"Kaz"

10. What are you most proud of?
himself....
"Me!....inventor me, scientific me, bus driver me, mayor me, judge me!"

sunday food

We let the kids pick a restaurant when it is their birthday for a family meal.

K picked Macaroni Grill. The boys always eat everything and things are fairly healthy there for them. They eat broccoli, chicken, spaghetti and mac and cheese. There is always at least one cup of chocolate milk and a big bowl of ice cream with fudge at the end.

Tonight there wasn't even much to put in the to-go bag.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

there are still...

There are still boxes in my foyer.

I still have an annoying cough.

But I am packing my things for my scrapbooking extravaganza. hope.

The weather has been beautiful, so I just don't know why it feels like winter to me. 60 and 70 degrees is not winter, but still it feels like it.
The boys have been off sinceTuesday. Maybe that's why I'm a little stir crazy. .

Hunka comes home and wants to go to Home Depot. We decide that he will delay it until after boys are in bed. He says he has to "get out."

I look at him with glazed eyes. "Get out," I think, honey let me tell you about not getting out.

Friday, November 24, 2006

thoughts of santa

Thoughts from the oldest the seven year old about the jolly man.....all uttered today while adults tried to assemble a "self-lit" tree.

"Why would I waste my time talking to the mall Santa? The real Santa doesn't have time to sit in a mall all day. "

"Does Santa ever die?"

"Does Santa have kids? Because if he dies, one of his kids could take over."

"Does Santa Claus know what you are thinking?"

"Maybe Santa Claus will know that you have really been trying to be good, but sometimes you just make mistakes."

scrappin

I'm going scrapbooking. Three glorious days of scrapbooking. It is keeping me going, just the thought of it.

Technically it is a girls weekend in the mountains, but it is full blown scrapbooking time for me, baby.

My scrapbooking passion comes and goes depending on what is going on in my life. I'm just heading out of a scrapbooking famine, which would be also be known as labor, delivery and post partum. OK so post-partum for me equals a full year, but who's counting.

deck em

I don't know how people do it.

As I put up the holiday, I mean Christmas, decorations (I know some people are very sensitive about that...more on that later). I don't feel all that merry or bright.

Though the boys are so thrilled with deck the halls and fa-la-la.

I made a big gold bow. My mom was the maker of all bows fancy. She did teach me how to make them years ago, but I have been salvaging her bows from the boxes year after year. Because to use another bow, would seem to be well, just plain wrong. Her bows are sad and ratty by now.

I pulled them out once again and thought that mom would be annoyed with me for hanging such a bad bow for another year.

So I bought a big roll of gold wired ribbon and set to work. I could hear her coaching me from years gone by. And let me tell you I did it. It took a few times, but it is now hanging on my front door. I'm so proud and she must be too.

The boxes of decorations sit in the foyer. There is so much to do. I wonder how I can decorate, when I can barely find the time to do the normal things I'm supposed to do....like take care of kids, feed them, wash them and their clothes.

Oh and here is another thing that gets under my skin lately.

Merry Christmas....Happy Holidays...... Some people seem so bothered that people are taking the "Christ" out of Christmas. I remember being a kid hearing people getting all riled when people would abbreviate Christmas to Xmas.

I say who cares. Say something, say anthing, as long as it is nice. What a change that would be.

People also get all riled about the sacredness of the "Christmas tree." And don't want people calling them "Giving trees," "Holiday trees"....whatever. Isn't this one of Bill O'Reilly's big complaints.
I say puuleeeze. First of all I don't remember Mary and Joseph taking time in Bethlehem to decorate an evergreen pine tree. Second of all, you can call a french fry a "freedom" fry...but it still is what it is....bad for your thighs.

Take a kid to the mall, point out a tree and say what is it? No matter what religion or ethnicity....I bet any kid will say.....ahm it is a Christmas tree, duh.

I wonder why in a nation that is predominately Christian are we so worried that others may have any voice. And for the most part, I think it is Christians trying to be sensitive to other peoples, and concern that they may exclude others. For once as Christians, excluding others, is probably something we should be able to avoid at Christmas.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

eve of joy


My boy will be seven tomorrow.

I don't know when this happened exactly.
Seems so big to me.

He got a bike today. He found it by doing an extensive treasure hunt to our friends' (his babysitters) house.
(btw--babysitter family-- I think I deleted the message I told you about. anyway a shout out to babysitter and family)

This boy has been struggling lately with a bad case of the grumpies. I don't know how he got so mean. Though sometimes when he growls to his brother, "You know better," I think I may have a hint of a mini mirror in front of me.

Q spent one day playing with a friend. Just before K got home, he warned his friend, "Be careful, he can be very grouchy."

We work with him daily.... almost to the point of insanity. Relax we tell him, through clenched teeth. RELAX!


Though tonight when I went to his room to check on him I kissed him on his head. He woke up momentarily and drowsily asked, "Mama, how big is heaven?"


"Oh very big. Infinity. It has no end." I told him.


"Oh cool," he said and drifted off to sleep.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

a frisket a frasket a freezer full...

I have a freezer full of promise.

This week I walked through the frozen food section with a thankful heart for all the people out there that grow, wash and prepare food.
I call it my ode to Marie Callender.

Nevermind her 17 grams of fat in her chicken pot pie. That woman has single-handedly saved my behind at 530pm many a night.

Walmart has expanded their organic and gourmet lines of food lately. So now I can get so much of the foods that I had to make a different trip for right there with all my massively marketed items.

I also buy in bulk. It is a genetic thing. I don't just buy a loaf of bread. I buy four. I've realized that milk freezes and thaws with the same taste.

We bought a freezer four years ago, and life has just never been the same. I love my freezer. It ranks up there with the appliances I love....microwave, TV, refrigerator, washer, dryer.....all things invented to make my life easy. right?

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

why didn't i think of that

After an exhausting trip around the block trying to teach a 4-year-old how to ride a bike with woobly training wheels, the two of us stretched out on the floor of the toy room staring at the ceiling.

Boy, were we tired and thirsty, but mostly just tired. Way too tired to get up and get a drink. At some point I realized that K's bus would be coming soon, I tried to convince my tuckered pal to get up and check the clock in the kitchen for the time.

"No Mama, I'm too tired." I begged some more in a way you only do when you are tired.

"Mama, what time is it?," he asks also concerned about our schedule. I don't know I say pleading with him to go look at the clock.

"But mama, we have to meet the bus. What time is it?"

back and forth we play this game....get up....no you....not me....i'm too tired...you go....

"Mama," Q says, "Why don't you look at your watch?"

So I did. silly me

Friday, November 10, 2006

i've been neglecting you oh blog of mine.

kids, work, house, kids, school, driving, reading

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

rainy days and elections

The boys are primed for the elections. Today they had campaigns for mayor and president in the living room. They are interested in this electoral process, which in turn is interesting for me because I never remember caring when I was a kid. I suppose I am planting the seeds of what they will become when they grow up. I don't know if my mom realized she was doing it when I was growing up. But I have a good idea that my grandfather knew he was grooming my political thought. And he was absolutely right, I mean correct.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

so far so good

so far so good today.

boys are happy.

playing school.


they are healthy.

as my non native English speaker friends say...

Thanks God


my purple room is coming together

slowly

I try a new thing

for 15 minutes

I clean sort organize--one space.

then I stop or am stopped


I have coffee

and cereal

so far so good


who could ask for more?





Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Jon Stewart

He's just so funny. I hate to admit, if I'm crunched for time. His Daily Show maybe the only bit of "news" I get....and it is usually while I'm folding laundry.

This week he is broadcasting from my home state of Ohio. If you haven't seen last night's version, it replays a couple time throughout the day...I think there may be a repeat show at 8pm. The top of the show for anyone that lives there now or is from there.

I'll be updating soon with Halloween pictures of GI Joe, Captain Police Dude and their canine friend.

I've talked the boys into getting Kit Kats and Snickers for their mom.

Monday, October 30, 2006

strange day

When you attend the children's halloween party and a neighbor compliments you on your witch's wig....only you aren't wearing one.....that's a bad day.

How is it my baby can be in the 19th percentile for his body weight and yet his melon head is in the 90th percentile?
What kind of freakish family are we?

Friday, October 27, 2006

Rain Rain....

It rained today, all day.
The baby crawled after me biting me on my legs, my shoulders, my arms, all day.
Q followed me all day...."Mama, pick a card. Mama, stand like this. Mama, let's dance. Mama, you want to play school, mama mama mama mama."
K came home from school. His neighborhood pal, followed. Four little boys, yelling, bouncing, jumping, biting....
I ate cake and Doritoes to help me feel better.
It worked for a little while.

Now...
I sit on the floor typing with my keyboard at eye level.
No chair.
My new craft room
Purple
with piles of furniture and junk pushed to the middle.
That is why not many updates this week to my blog....
Things still messy.
All day.
Everyday.

KC as he turns one

KC protests when someone takes something from him.
Mr. Cutie with one of his new bday gifts
KC and one of his favorite books.

He like monkeys and makes the monkey sound when we ask him. He also started to sign "milk" and "eat". He has started to take his first steps this week...the max number is about four though. He can also show us his hair and belly when we ask.
This is when it starts to get fun. The baby starts showing that there is a real person in there and that all those months of endless talk and care are starting to show up in his personality.
He really is a good baby. A really really good baby.

Monday, October 23, 2006

i give

K wanted to be a mad scientist for halloween. I looked all over for a lab coat and the odd wig or something. After running all over town looking for the kid's size lab coat or anything resembling it. I decided I would have to cobble something together on my sewing machine.
But today I worked my motherly magic in the aisles of Walmart, pushing the merits of premade Superman, ninjas and other things I had no idea what they were. K spotted the camo. Army commando!
Despite my concentrated attempts to keep my boys free from warfare in any organized sense, I caved in today.


I don't let them play with guns and frequently launch into a very anti-second amendment speech....you know how guns are for killing and yes, killing would be ranked as a bad thing. Unless of course you are fighting bad guys...and that is where things get tricky. Then of course, you'd just use your arm lazers.
And I really don't like the boys wearing camoflage gear of any kind, army, hunting...you know the basic killing machine kind of stuff.

But in the aisles of Walmart I had great inner struggle. Terminator dude comes with a plastic grenade, water bottle, helmet and knife. Full blown costume for $12, no sewing required.

After all just because a kid dresses like a pirate, ghost or grim reaper, doesn't mean he'll be one. right?

Sometimes I think waaaaay too much.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Tragedy of a lost enchilada

Chaos pure chaos....
My house is all upside down. I can't find a thing.
In addition to the baby's $22 shoe that is MIA, I have lost assorted things which includes my mind.
I selected a book for next month for our ladies group to read...."Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons." I picked it mostly b/c I liked the title and I already had it. Now I lost it.
We have also misplaced a child's school bag. Again.
Socks oh the poor lonely socks in this house.
While driving Q to school the other day, I noticed an entire pan of chicken enchilada on the floor boards of the van. After a trip to Costco, the boys (large and small) unloaded the car. The enchilada secretly hid between the seats before sliding out to give me a nice howdy-do a day later. The enchilada is still there...in my van, ripening.
I still have the three kids, which is a good thing. Mostly because they keep following me around, looking for provisions.
And I don't even have an enchilada to offer them.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

how do you measure a tuesday

8 -- number of diapers changed
3 -- number of times I loaded the dishwasher
2 -- number of times I ran the dishwasher
8 -- thank you notes
1 -- load of laundry (still unfolded of course)
5 -- number of times I ran to the preschool and back
98.35 -- amount I spent at Target
15 -- number of individual meals served today
3 -- number of times I swept up after a baby's meal/snack
3 -- butts wiped besides my own
12 -- times I said "Quinn --stop yelling....turn your voice down....if you scream one more time..."
3 -- babies birthed by my friend (all in the same day)
4 -- bills paid
1 -- $22 baby shoe lost
44 -- amount for another pair of baby shoes

why is it I got nothing done today?

Monday, October 16, 2006

monday

My darling hunka let me sleep in today. I feel like a teenager waking up at 9am. wow.

My house is in even more chaos than normal. After KC's fete de bebe, things are all over the place. Plus, we moved all my craft room furniture downstairs so we can create an office for Hunka. I absolutely hated moving my place of peace downstairs, but my "crafts" aren't exactly making us any dough.

This is what happens after that first year of the baby's life, you look around and say whoa, I gotta do something about this place I've been living in unconsciously for the past two years of pregnancy and baby days.

I'm inspired to paint my new space purple.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

hair

I got my hair done today. Roots, cut and a straight blow dry....All in time for me to come home, eat a hot dog, mac and cheese, plant five pansies, three snap dragons, write in my blog, move some stuff around the house, watch a couple of my shows...and go to bed. A couple neighbors walked by while I was planting pansies as night fell, I made it a point to tell them I got my hair done. Sounds like something a four year old would do right!?... but a four-year-old wouldn't spend $95 on getting gorgeous.

I should probaby take a picture of my hair. In fact that blurry dreamy picture of me kissing baby KC was taking on a day I got my hair done the last time. Just refer to that picture for reference

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Friday the 13th

I'm writing this today, because the festivities may just be too much on Friday the 13th that I just may not have time to jot a note.

I have a weird superstition about the number four. So much so that when we delivered our last baby, the nurse told us we were to go to delivery room number 4. Hunka Hunka looked at me with great understanding as my face and eyes filled with panic and fear. He turned around and asked the nurse if we couldn't have another room, without implicating his neurotic wife. The nurses reacted with disbelief and rolling eyes, but we were sent to room number ONE, thank you very much.

That day was October 12th, 2005 around 10pm. They next morning was Thursday October 13th and our third son rolled into the world as healthy and beautiful as could be. Of course, all thanks to room number ONE.

It reminds me of the book and movie Where the Heart Is where a pregnant girl lives in the Walmart and has a weird unrational thing about the number five. As she labored in one of aisles certain she was about to give birth, she looks up and sees that she is aisle number 5. She crawled to another aisle to deliver her baby. All I could think about was Oh I hope she doesn't go to aisle number four!

Number 13 not a problem. Number four, no thanks.


Tuesday, October 10, 2006

what happens

I sat among the five loads of laundry sprayed all over the living room floor. It was that fatiguing time of day, you know it, when you want to eat a back of chips and gallon of chocolate chip ice cream (oh wait, that is all the time)
Somewhere between checking small tags of underwear to see if it is a size 6 or a size 4, I lie down among the piles of clean lumps.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't sure how much time as past. I felt a clutching panic in my chest. I had fallen down on the job. The two older boys played in the room next to me.
"Where is the BABY?" I asked in a panic.
They looked at me, as they should, with wonderment as to when exactly they became the responsible grown up.
We sprinted around chasing all the dangerous corners of downstairs, shouting at each other. Then I saw the gate to the stairs was open, my heart sank even more. We noisily clammered upstairs. When we hit the the baby's nursery doorwary, the baby startled awake from a deep slumber.
How is it I can forget chunks of my day? How can I forget where I put the baby?

Monday, October 09, 2006

Happy Columbus Day

Do we say that? Happy Columbus Day! Probably not PC.

I'm out of whack today. I've got the oldest one home today b/c of parent teacher conferences. He's usually the one we are running around for. Q still had school.

The baby is on the verge of walking. In the past week, he has become more like a little person. He's started doing little baby tricks on demand. Like slapping his head when we ask him, or clapping his hands. He appears to have a funny little sense of humor forming, too This what has to happen when you are the third born. You have to show dramatic changes to get noticed around here.

My jeans shopping adventure proved somewhat successful. I did find a pair of jeans that looked decent, which is all I can ask at this stage of the game. My sister said she can fix them to fit my freakishly large saddle bags and proportionately smaller waist. She's good at things like that.


Thursday, October 05, 2006

Super!

The four year-old boys are apparently playing some version of rescue or super heroes on the preschool playground. I occasionally hear "oh, Kyle is batman," "Some girl was being the monster and we had to stop her....."

But who it this new character?.....start super hero music here....

"Able to check your time card for any inaccuracies, able to jump off the swing in a single bound....look down the hall, it's a bird, it's a plane....NO IT'S SUPER-VISOR!"

Don't ask me where he got it but Q has determined he is not Superman.... he is Supervisor!

He received a Superman shirt with a big "S" on the front of it for his birthday. He insists it is perfect for everyday of school and I must wash it immediately when I deem it too disgusting to wear any longer.

He insists that Supervisor doesn't fight bad guys (which is a popular goal in Q's life)....no no none of that. I haven't really found out what Supervisor does yet. I think he may hang out by the water cooler and check the fridge for left over lunches.

The adventure continues...

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

short and pudgy

I spent three hours today trying to find a pair of jeans. What a grueling and mentally depleting adventure.
Of course, I'm a year out from giving birth. I don't know how much longer I can defend myself with the "I just had a baby" excuse.
A youngish teenish girl asked if she could help me as I walked into a store. I told her I needed something for a short pudgy girl like myself.
Ah well, all of their jeans are cut for "long, slender waists," she said.
I certainly thought this Miss Skinny Pants was joking, until she said she believed my size was the largest they carried.
She handed me a pair of jeans she thought would fit me....size 7 Regular!
I told her to double the width and cut the length in half.
My friend says I was just asking for trouble and perhaps I should add bathing-suit-shopping to my to-do list as long as I'm up for the punishment.
I bought nothing today except for an outrageously expensive first pair of shoes for the baby.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Mad as...

I'm hopping mad.

I am following this news about another perv, this time in the US Congress, Mark Foley. This comes after watching another Oprah show about men who think kids really enjoy being molested.

I am sickened by this and mad as hell. I don't know what to do. I wrote my congressman, two senators and both gubernatorial candidates.
blah blah blah.

My mom always said that child molesters should be castrated. I agree completely, but castration is only a first step. If the castration for some reason won't work, repeat offenders should be extinguished.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Not yet


I'm not ready for this.
Today at lunch, Q asked me how the babies get out of their mama's bellies.
With the first child, I usually could just dismiss everything by saying, "The mamas just go to the hospital and the doctor takes the baby out." And the questions would go away.
It didn't work this time.
I can say that I am pretty straight forward about most things with the boys. But I think 4 is too early for this child to know all the details. He wanted to know and he was not taking any of the vague, mamsy pamsy explanations I was dishing out.

Luckily I remembered that I did have ONE c-section, which in reality was an awful experience. But how glad I am for it now....it makes this all a little easier to explain.

"Do they use scissors?" he asked.

Yes, and scotch tape....

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Posted by Picasa Mom and K in 2002

My mom in 1999

 Posted by Picasa

Thanks Mom

There was an elderly gentleman in my former church who sent me a birthday card every year. I was the only one in the congregation chosen for this honor. The reason was simple. I had the same birthday as his mother and that day just so happened to be his anniversary day.

He was in his eighties. And he told me once that he thought of and missed his mother every day. I thought this was amazing. Somehow I thought as you got older and time passed, those feelings would somehow fade. As if age could make you stronger, tougher, more of a grown up...

Today would have been my mom's 72nd birthday. And though it has been four years since she has been gone, I know for sure that when I am in my eighties I will still think of and miss her.

She is in everything I do. There was a time when I just didn't know how I would get through a day without her. We would talk on the phone every day and we would dispatch the latest ho-humness of our comings and goings. I would tell her the latest mundane thing the baby was doing at the time, and she would thrill in it as much as I would. Only a mother can do that.

When we knew the breast cancer would soon be taking her away from us. I knew that I had gotten through most of my trying times in my life because she was there for me. Now with the arduous task of raising children ahead of me, I asked her through tears and with great desperation, "What am I going to do with out you? How will I know what to do?"

She said with gentle confidence, "Don't worry. They will teach you want to do." And her words come back to me as they often do, with each child a different set of circumstances, a different set of needs. Somehow, I know what to do. (more or less)

I see her in my boys in ways I never thought I would. She has a silent way of making her hand felt in our lives even now.

Sometimes I feel extremely gypped. She was taken from me way too soon. My kids will never know first-hand her humor, kindness and wisdom. She would have loved my boys and them, her.

So I bought her a birthday gift....a little plate for her urn, finally. So everyone would know who is inside. I meant to do it years ago, but somehow never knew what was right. This year, I had to do something, even if it was wrong. I know she would say, "It's about TIME!" I also put a small dedication on there that says, "For your courage, strength, beauty and grace, we honor you."

Thanks mom

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The sting



I've pulled out the scrapbooking stuff and am ready for action. Slowly, slowly starting to get my life back.
Scrapbooking is a weird hobby though. I find it odd that even my hobby is about my kids and husband. I often don't feel like I have gotten a break after doing it.
Nonetheless, I want to start the baby's book.

Baby got stung by a bee on his eyelid. Where else? The soccer game. ugh. I'm starting to hate that place.

Some guy ran over after the baby (and I) started screaming. He sent his mother for ice and helped me hold the baby still while I pulled the stinger out of his eye. Then he said he was going to look for a cigarette. This is a hell of a time to go for a smoke, I thought.

He came back with a pack of chewing tobacco and told me to put some in my mouth and then put it on the baby's bee sting. He said it would take the pain out of it. This, I determined, is a southern thing.

I did this alternating with the ice. I suddenly found myself enjoying the cud of tobacco that was in my mouth. "Give me some more of that. That's not half bad," I told the fellow.

Just what I need another bad habit.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

soccer mom from hell

Today i am transporting the kids btw soccer games. who knew that i would be a soccer mom? I don't even like soccer.

Geez

During the older one's soccer game last week, some kid (from the same team) said something to K on the field and then slapped him across the face.

i looked around the field to see if anyone was videotaping b/c for the first time I felt like I wanted to go and whomp a 6-year-old's butt.

I could just picture the headlines around the world. "SUBURBAN SOCCER MOM LOSES HER MIND." "DANGER ON THE FIELD. MOM ATTACKS SIX YEAR OLD."

I'd be in jail. My kids wouldn't have a mom. oh woe, so i didn't.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Mercy Me

Finally. Finally the weather is where it needs to be, cooler nights and fair days.
You know my struggle living in the Alpha mom world right? Well in my feeble attempt to try to do better for the lives of our children, I volunteered to be the grounds mom for my son's class.
I knew I was about to find out some awful truth when nobody volunteered for it. (curiously, no one did last year either, but since I was 8-9 months pregnant, no doin)

So I walked past each classes' little area of garden as I walked around the school to our class' section. Not too bad I thought, a few weeds here and there. A little weed tuggin, some compost, pansies and mulch and we'd be on our way.

I talked to the teacher about getting the kids involved so they could feel some ownership of the area and watch with educated wonder as spring bloomed with the bulbs we so lovingly planted months ago.

Then I rounded the corner and was struck with jungle fever. GW Bush could fix the energy crisis with the amount of switch grass growing there. Vines had covered and strangled the little shrubs. The plastic weed barrier that I found buried there was apparently merely a suggestion.

My "helpers" and I worked for over an hour. My "helpers" eventually found some sidewalk chalk and started writing signage pleading for mercy and begging others to come help, pull the weeds from their dehydrated bodies.
 Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Tues 9.19

Today I ran through the list of things to do when you get lost or abducted. (because I am an anal overprotective mother)

I explained how talking with strangers is not really a bad thing, it just depends on the stranger. Or as Q says, "Never talk with a STRANGER stranger."
Something like that.

I wanted to make clear that the no hitting, kicking, biting or screaming rule that normally stands around here, goes out the window if someone tries to steal you.

What to do? We do and say all the things when we think their age and intellect can handle it, to keep them healthy and safe from harm. But often it is the thing that smacks us from the left when we are looking to the right for the antibiotic, seat belt or helmet.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Spinach, it's the new hamburger

Really, how could this be? Bags of spinach?
You know you think you do the right thing. Each day this week, I've put a handful of spinach on my boys' plates and told them to eat up.

Friday night I fed the boys and they ate fistfuls of the leafy greens. Hunka walked in the door from work and told me to throw out the bag of spinach. Now, I'll be the first to admit I've picked out some slimy, questionable leaves and eaten the rest. But how, I wondered, could my perseptive hubby know the state of the spinach from across the room.

He told me about the E-Coli threat found in bags of spinach and how it has been all over the news. Now I do try to sneak in bits of info from the outside world when I can, via radio or internet. But when you are in a full Higgly haze of Cheerios, Resue Heroes, and non-stop clutter, I just didn't get in my up to the minute news.

I talked to my kindred friend via phone about this latest in our motherly woes and she says without missing a beat, "You know you never heard this stuff about NACHOES!"

So true....has there ever been a scare involving Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream? Lay's Potato sour cream and onion chips? Cheese curls? No of course not. Now there just may be a message in there somewhere.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Mud, sweat and tears



I'm in between soccer games. Q is playing with the mini-kickers 3 year-old program. He is the big man on the field because he didn't make the cut off b/c of his late birthday. What a difference a few months makes at that age.
Their t-shirts say "Mud, sweat and tears" and really it is mostly just tears and mud. I think three -year olds are hilarious playing soccer. I mostly just spend my time laughing. There are usually three kids that stand on the field and cry, a couple that just stand and grab their winkies and the rest clustered around an immobile ball.
Q was so proud of himself. He scored a goal and then the coach put him in the goalie position. He blocked all the balls.The kids were dropping like flies out there. Our team started with five kids. The other team had 10....by the end Q was the last one standing as the goalie and the other team had about 4 kids left.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

eau de baby


I wish I could bottle this stuff.
As I pulled the precious sleeping baby out of his car seat after we dropped off Q at preschool. I snuggled him and sniffed him, as I often do.
He smelled like a sweet warm Krispy Kreme doughnut mixed with baby powder and sunshine.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I've got a gummy little secret



You should know this about me...I'm a bad bad mama.

I am entering the confessional
....forgive me blogger for I have sinned...

You see, I give my sons vitamins whenever I can remember or whenever their spinach intake is not what it should be.

I got a fabulous deal on Gummy Bear vitamins at Costco, by the way. They also make sour gummy bear calcium vitamins, And they are deeelish. So coming out of being pregnant, nursing and plus this genetic disposition towards osteoporosis-...I NEED to take extra calcium, right.

The truth is....I eat the boys' gummy bear calcium vitamins (at 15 calories a piece). A LOT of them. In fact, I eat more of them than the boys. And the really bad mommy part comes when I leave only the lemon flavored ones for them. I don't believe they should make those yellow ones anymore. (But then again, what would the children have?) Just like they should never make lime flavored Tums. (again a memory from the prego days)

You know....Hunka and I also eat stuff when they aren't looking....like ice cream and chocolate pudding. Sometimes they catch us, "Mama, what do you have in your mouth?"
I will look at them with my chipmunk cheeks filled with my winter stash and wide deer eyes staring into the headlights, "Broccoli and mashed potatoes," I mumble hand over my mouth being careful not to let them see.

Another interest point for my mother-of-the-year application.

Monday, September 11, 2006

relief

Because I worry about all things large and small....a little relief came in the mail a couple days ago.

"Hunka Hunka Burning Love's" company has become like most of the mega media giants that has caused the employees much grief over the past several years. (Yet they still have the nerve to send us pamphlets emblazoned with the proclamation "EMPLOYEES FIRST.")

It appears this company is offering back up care options as one of it's benefits. This I felt was a bold and helpful move they finally taken.

It offers to have access to care in centers or in-home in the case of illness or school holidays etc.
I often find myself knowing I can't get sick because I still have three little guys to take care of....this gives me at least a little comfort to know there is someone I can call.

Will we use it? Maybe not. But it sure helps to know we can.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Triple the load

I'm starting this new little thing. I've taken a bunch of pictures of the junk around my house and will be posting them on my blog. It gives me a new way to look at the clutter and dirt that is my home. I hope you enjoy.

I really don't mind doing laundry. It just seems that it never ends. I do find myself saying as I reload the same bunch of clothes back into the washer because I've forgotten about them and now they have a fowl locker room smell, "Well at least I don't have to go down to the river and pound them on the rocks...again."
I also think about people with more kids. Say my friend who had twins and then two years later....TRIPLETS. ouch. I think of her while I do laundry.
I also think of my friend that adopted a toddler from Russia and gave birth to a baby, all within a few months time and is now pregnant again....TRIPLETS. triple ouch.
I recently gave her a laundry basket and diapers. She may not have thought about this yet...but she will need more laundry baskets...to hold all the stuff she can't get to...in a pinch, kids can go in there too.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Overheard

The conversations are different when you have a little girl in the house.

Q had a little friend over yesterday who just happens to be a girl...... They ended up playing Rescue Heroes.

Girl: "Let's pretend they (rescue heroes) are girls."


Boy: "But they aren't. They are BOYS." (He runs off to find the token woman rescue hero "Wendy Waters" and hands it to his friend.)

Girl: "Oh ok...These are the boys and they are at HER party. " (Wendy, of course, is known for her fabulous parties.) "And these are their pets." (She lines the dinosaurs up politely next to each one.)

Dinosaurs and burly dudes have never had such a good time

View from on high....chair

 Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Wanted Dead or Alive

How could she have done this to us? Oh the agony, the pain, the searing humiliation.
The blasted tooth fairy missed our house last night.

I've heard whispers of it happening in other homes, but never thought she would miss our house. I did explain about the northern and southern hemispheres and the grand scope of her nightly travels, plus the fact that he forgot to put it under his pillow the first night he lost it.

Surely, that must have played a role in it. surely

Friday, September 01, 2006

2nd oldest profession

Sometimes ya just gotta watch what you say. Take for instance anchor Kyra Phillips who went to the john during the president's live address and started to praise her husband and slam her unfortunate sister-in-law. Her mic was open and she was live private and personal with the entire country.

Then there is our own little "watch your mouth" episode around here...

"Mama, do you know what is special about you?" Q asked while I tried to do some excercises with my friend Denise Austin. "Oh no, what is it?" I asked ready to hear the full range of all my glorified qualities.

Q put up his fist in a sort of black pride way and wrinkled his nose. The fist for those of you who don't know the sign language of our house means a big fat ZERO.

I think it is those damn
Higgly Town Heroes and how they profile a certain profession....the street sweeper, doctor, fire fighter. Q was quick to point out how I don't leave the house to do anything noble like the doctor; everything I do is just right here in this house.

I stopped what I was doing sat down in front of the child and explained how I gave up a career to do the most important job in the world, blah blah blah. But he would have none of it. That was then and this is now after all.

I asked him what he was going to do with his kids when he grew up. He explained that since his doctor's office would be in his house. He would let whomever came to the door take care of the kids. I thought that was a great idea.... so I told him to get dressed because we were going out to the street to pass him off to the first car that came by.

So if you happen to be driving by my house, look for the four-year-old sitting on the curb.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

ripe wine and black bananas

I finished my wine classes last night. I am now able to say something like...this wine has spicy finish with notes of plum and black cherry and a hint of pencil shavings. The "pencil shavings" is something that I actually read from a description in the aisles of Costco.
One thing I learned....expensive doesn't mean better. Last night we tasted a $30 wine that really gagged me, but a $9 wine was just delightful.

For some odd reason today, I felt like baking. Perhaps, it was the five black bananas that cried out to become bread. This baking thing goes against every part of me that complains about the heat and yet wants to turn on a device in our house that pumps temperatures to 350 degrees. You know me though, I have to do things in bulk. So since I had all my stuff out I made two different recipes.

I've been looking lately at what food does to me. I know this is not ground breaking, and I don't know why I can't get it through my little brain that white things make me a complete zombie....white flour, white rice, sugar, desserts, potatoes.....all things I hold so dear.
So after sampling my different attempts at banana bread, I crashed on the floor surrounding by three busy little bodies who occasionally had to step or crawl over me to get things done in the toy room.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Perspiration and inspiration

(I reedited with the right Html link, sorry if you couldn't link through before.)

Enough with the heat already. I'm over it. I've actually turned our AC down because of our outrageous bills. Which means I'm always a little sticky and oh how I hate to be hot.
I'm back at the Starbucks tonight after a long hiatus from my writing. I have to get back in the groove again. I usually start my night by reading a few of my favorite writers on line like
Anna Quindlen and some columnists from the Newsweek lineup. I started reading Anna's stuff in college when she was a columnist for the NY Times. At that time she was in her 30's and had cut back on her work to raise three little kids. Little did I know that my life would imitate her in a small way 20 years later....minus my weekly column for the Times, but never mind that.
I also enjoy
Catherine Newman. She's my age and a great writer. She writes the way I wish I could about my kids, stuff like, "but when she smiles at me, my heart soars out into the clear blue."
I say stuff like, "My head's about to explode. Where's my Zoloft?"

Monday, August 28, 2006

A Kappa Mom in an Alpha World

Q starts his first day of preschool today. Today he'll go for one hour. Tomorrow, he will go a full "day" which is three hours.
Here we go...the first of many long car pool lanes, waking a sleeping baby to go pick up the older one, packed lunches with forgotten spoons, and the Alpha moms oh the Alpha moms....
You know them. They are the vigilant moms (over) involved in the lives of their children. They run the PTA, the school board, the teachers... They volunteer at the school with the goal to delve and spy on the lives of their children at school. They are the watchdogs. The doers. They come up with the most elaborate gift baskets for the silent auctions and the most beautiful well-thought out and funded presents and sandwiches for the teacher appreciation luncheons.
Most have had careers before and now their children are their career.
Perhaps I am a Alpha wanna-be. I think I am more a Beta mom....maybe a Kappa mom.
On MY first day of kindergarten, I walked to school by myself, though my mom tried to convince me that all the moms walk their kids to school on the first day. I would have none of it. I was big now and was determined to go it alone. I think my mom stood on the sidewalk in front of the house and watched me walk the two block to school across two streets and one alleyway. That was it.
She told me after second grade I was on my own in the world of education. She would not help with homework or anything related to school or the various projects required. She said her lack of confidence in the English language really stunted what she could help me with and I would have to go it alone. It was perhaps one of the best things she did for me.
So here I am a Kappa mom with an Omega mom upbringing in a Alpha mom world.

Friday, August 25, 2006

A note about brothers

One thing I've noticed, it is hard to take a good picture of more than one kid. This one I like, but it was torture to take it. When I try to take the two of them together, the older is secretly trying to nudge his younger out of the picture with a face that is a cross between a smile and a grimace. I usually start making weird whirring quaking noises to get them both to look at me at the same time. When they don't, I get frustrated and threaten them. I know, Mother of the Year. Posted by Picasa