Ditto.

It's not so Simple

2012-02-01T15:27:00.002-05:00

If you know anything about me, you probably know that I have a slight obsession with shoes.

Not my shoes. I mean, I *may* have just worn a pair of worn out Franco Sarto boots I bought on this "new" site called Zappos circa 2002.

I'm obsessed with my boys' shoes. Mommies of girls get to bathe in ruffle bottoms, cable knit tights, cute bows, mary janes, and smocking. Not to say I'm a real "girly-girl," but a hard part of having boys (right after potty training, learning to preemptively quell diaper squirts in the eye, and handing off awkward conversations about teenage body parts and nighttime experiences to Dad), is that the clothes situation bites.

First, for both boys and girls I find the gender stereotyping of clothing egregious. My opinion. Take it or leave it. And I've been given flak on Facebook about it when I commented about how awful JC Penny's selections for children's clothing were. And it's not just JC Penny--it's everywhere from Target to Carter's. I don't have a problem with making a distinction between feminine and masculine, but I do have a problem with drenching babies in really harmful gender stereotypes.

And something about our children being walking advertisements...

Okay, I'm stepping away from the soapbox now...this rant could get dangerous, and I just had a flashback to women's studies. I could easily go all postmodern/post-structural feminist on you.

Listen, I have our fair bit of shirts with trucks, cars, and robots on them, but if you know me, I'd prefer a nice striped waffle shirt or cotton button down. I think I drive my mother-in-law crazy with my very specific preferences for the boy's clothing. (Funny example of how it's quite obvious my preference for boys' clothing: another mom at school told me that her son said "I look like Miles" when they put him in a button down for Christmas.)

Time out. Slight explanation. First, I buy 99.9% of my children's clothing at consignment. And yes, I do tend to buy very adult looking clothing. But in reference to the button downs, I've got 2 kids with noggins that are in the 75-90th percentile. Button downs are far easier. And at $2 a pop--DONE!

Okay, it is true that my son can read a few words, one of which is "GAP", as it adorns many of his clothes. And along with his developing drawings of "head-footers," it's something I get slight pride in--word recognition. In truth, I'd prefer the clothes just not say anything, but it happens that GAP tends to have the most plain Jane (John?), classic clothing. They just have to stick on that darn bear and the word "GAP" as marketing.

I'm not perfect. And as you will soon see, I'm probably a writing contradiction.

Wait--where were we? Something about shoes?

Ah yes. I'm obsessed with my boys' shoes. I find that attractive, functional boys' shoes are also hard to find, so when a few years back I found out that Simpe Shoes made baby and toddler versions, I went nuts. Eco-certified, WASHABLE, cute, durable...I was in heaven. At first I was appalled at the close to $40 price tag, and then I looked at Stride Rite, See Kai Run, Pedoodles, etc, and noticed this alarming trend: children's shoes cost a fortune. Luckily, over the years, I've strategically found places that have sales on Simple shoes. Currently, we are rotating quite a few (seen below), and I have 3 other pairs that both boys have grown out of. The 2 green-ish pairs are way too big for the boys (Miles is barely in a size 7 and Felix barely in a 6), but I got some devastating news recently: SIMPLE SHOES ARE CEASING DISTRIBUTION AND GOING ON A CREATIVE REENERGIZING VACATION. What that means to me is that I cannot fuel my obsession.

Maybe this is a healthy way of detoxing?

So I panicked, scoured the net for deals on toddler shoes, and bought the 2 green pairs (size 8 and 10) at the REI outlet along with some for my niece. And I might be ordering some more from 6pm.com. Eric and I both have a pair and are in love, and again, I might have to order some more. Like, I'm totally in love with these boots, which aren't a great replacement for my worn Franco's, but I can convince myself easily after a glass of TJ's 2 buck chuck tonight.

It's like the scarcity principle in full effect--I'm terrified of them disappearing, and then my children will have to wear ugly orthotic shoes...and we know that sometime soon they'll both be in glasses, probably braces or at least head gear, Felix still has that damn tort collar (version 2.0, toddler style), and let's not count out the possibility of early onset puberty and acne due to some hormone they've probably been ingesting (or maybe something related to the copious amounts of lady bugs Felix has probably eaten this month). You see where this is going. First Simple shoes disappear, and next my children need to be home schooled and "therapized" for life.

Oh, along with OCD and anxiety, I have a penchant for catastrophizing.

Hold on! Appendix A!!! For Felix's birthday, he was gifted from one of my besties a pair of TOMS shoes. I couldn't believe it!

First, I love the company, the philosophy...and I've been drooling over a pair of wedges and flats for myself. My totally rad and cool Uncle Bob and Aunt Denise have a few pairs, and I found out my cousin (their daughter) has 9 pairs! (insert envy). My dream clothing stylist (who happens to be my friend LVW at work) has an amazing pair of wedges and black sparkly flats, and I my work day gets infinitely better when I see her wearing them.

Here's the skinny: for every pair purchased, they give a pair to a child in need. I recommend checking out the site.

(See the rainbow above? That is God singing the praises for a new pair of cute boy shoes for our house.)

Size wise, I was thinking they would be perfect for Felix to wear in the spring. Low and behold, even though they are a little big, Felix is IN LOVE with them and asks to wear his "TOMS" shoes every day. I mean, he is over Simple like they are ceasing distribution or something. Wait...they are. (wah-wah).

This morning he threw his Simples at me (yup, he's 2. More on that in another post), and crawled to the shoe caddy area and snatched the TOMS and attempted to put them on in quite an aggressive manner. Boy knows what he wants!

It's hard because Felix is a little rough and tumble, so the canvas is wearing on the toe area (part of why I loved Simples--that darn toe rubber!), but he has used and abused them so much that I think I've found a good alternative to Simples for the time being.

I know in a world where we are trying to keep up with Newt's # of affairs and exposing how horrible Mitt the moderate Masshole is (this is no commentary on my political leanings, though if you haven't "left" here for too long, they are pretty obvious...just like that clue in the last sentence...this is just a reflection on how tired the whole circus of primaries are. I'd say the same thing if it were all Democrats.), it seems silly for me to dedicate a post to shoes, but I really mourned the loss of Simple.

No, really. I think for 2 nights straight I mentioned to Eric how sad I was.

I get attached easily. And I have slight obsessive tendencies (rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat). And maybe it's because I never had a dog growing up, or because I wasn't crowned prom queen.

Whatever the reason, I'll be hunting the last of the Simple shoes until the supply runs dry. Any leads are appreciated. (I will say for adult shoes, 6pm.com has amazing prices. Far better than Zappos)

Luckily, we have entered the world of TOMS thanks to AS, and counseling is not in order.

At least for this sitch-ee-a-shun.

Kids Say The Darndest Things...Felix, 2.0

2012-01-31T11:21:00.002-05:00

Felix hasn't gotten the whole interview thing down as well as Miles, but he's trying. It doesn't help when an entire Tupperware of birthday cupcakes falls on the ground. I cannot compete with confectioneries.

I love the iPad videos, but hate that I don't know how to edit them, so you'll have to endure full length, unedited versions. And to be honest, I'm too busy picking up fallen cupcakes and wiping crocodile tears these days to solve this type of technology enigma.

Kids Say The Darndest Things...Miles, 3.5

2012-01-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

It was our virgin trip using the iPad for our video. The quality is far better than our Flip and my phone (see 2nd video). The problem is that Miles likes to watch himself in the screen. But cute as ever. AND his favorite color and animal changed!

As Eric would say, this is like a tow truck towing another tow truck...but I had to share a video of Miles watching his video.

I double toucan dare you to NOT laugh along with him.

I'm sorry, but this is just as cute as that baby guffawing over his Dad ripping up a job rejection letter on YouTube. (Completely biased opinion.)

Biathlon

2012-01-28T17:54:00.000-05:00

Running and Biking on a gorgeous January day

Dip n' Flip

2012-01-19T18:52:00.000-05:00

The Flannery Brothers are at it again! Enjoy their new video (small cameo by Miles and Felix--how do I get better quality video? Our Flip may be on its way out...)

I heart etsy...again...and again...

2012-01-18T10:31:00.000-05:00

You all know I'm in a 12 step program for my addiction to Etsy, right? Thank Yahweh that no such thing exists. And thank goodness I am still employed and can fund some of my recent sprees. First stop for any gift is always Etsy. I've posted about a handful of my purchases: notecards for a good friend, wool dryer balls for quite a few friends and family, a lovely grandmother necklace for Mahna after she left her post as summer caretaker this past year, and even Felix's iron on Superman patch for this year's Halloween costume. And that's just a few of the things! (I do have to give one very biased shout out to my friend Pam at paperdollsilhouettes who has made 2 amazing silhouettes of our boys.)

I thought I would share the latest batch of Etsy love. Disclosure: I have not received any compensation or free products in relation to the products below. I maintain no relationship with the vendors outside of being their satisfied customer; but I do recommend you support their stores or others on Etsy.

I really love the mother's/grandmother's necklace trend going on right now. I was drawn to the one I got my mother (linked above) and think once we are 100% sure that our family is done expanding, will invest in one myself. I knew I needed to get one for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I spent a good afternoon sifting through different options on Etsy and was really feeling the "nest" look. I found the perfect Sweet Bird Nest from the janiecox store. And what I thought was neat was that you could opt for either blue or pink colored "pearls" in addition to the traditional cream. My mother-in-law has 3 grandchildren: 2 grandsons and a granddaughter (very blurry picture of the 3 below behind the necklace.) I thought 2 blue and 1 pink pearl was a little too Easter bunny, so we opted for 2 regular pearls and one pink pearl. I think it turned out great!

With some of my own birthday money, I decided that I wanted a new custom calligraphy address stamp. Eric and I purchased a roll of 85 thousand cheap-o stickers when we first moved into our current house. The printing was awful and they look like garbage. But it's hard to convince yourself of a custom return address stamp being a necessity when you have a roll of stickers to last you until the next century in addition to all of the free ones that get sent to us from the Sierra club, ASPCA, etc, asking us for money. (Is it bad we still use them even if we don't donate? And when is NPR or the High Museum going to start with address labels? They might have avoided this whole debacle in the first place! Yesterday I got a set along with a nickle pasted to the donation page. I had Miles peel it off and put it in his giraffe bank. Bad karma?)

One of my besties over at Anthologie mentioned she ordered a stamp at a seller on Etsy, Note Trunk, and I fell in love with about a dozen of the options. Eric and I narrowed it down to 5--some he liked, some I liked, and a few we both were just "warm" about. Here's where I demonstrate how I am flawed and sometimes selfish--my money, my choice. I opted for the stamp that he liked the least, and I liked the best. This is the example from her store--clearly not our name or address!). Eric hated the bird detail, said it would be "tired" after the whole "bird" craze dies down, and I think felt the calligraphy was too feminine. My thoughts? That's exactly what I want. :)

Finally, I've been dreaming about getting my boys customized stationary for a long time. The trouble is that just a set of 10 cards can set you back a month's salary. I don't have a lick of graphic design ability to do my own, so I've been waffling around trying to find a solution. In the meantime, I've been strategically cutting up the boys' school artwork (not the ones that I want to save for the future, but the ones that are really solid abstract art!), and use them as thank you notes. I think people are getting tired of my boys' Jackson Pollack imitations. I stumbled upon Acacia's shop and noticed that she makes custom notepads on eco-responsible paper! 40 pages and you can customize with name, color and she has a handful of cute designs. I wouldn't say the offering of images is enormous, but the truth is, of all options I saw, I fell in love with her images. Simple. Classy. And not too "juvenile." The pads are small--perfect for thank you notes. And now I can use the artwork as envelopes!

I just got the boys' notepads and really love them. I also got one for a not so little girl's birthday coming up in a few months, so couldn't show the name, but you can see the flower design below.

I'm not sure how I will survive if our family's income reduces someday if when I reduce my professional work load to accommodate the boys' changing school schedules. At least Pinterest is free...but this Etsy thing could get ridiculous!

A typical day in a house dominated by Y chromosomes

2012-01-17T17:24:00.000-05:00

I have quite a few more "in-flight" photos, but Felix demanded to be naked while airborne after the first 10 minutes.

I may never get to play Barbies or ballet class, but I think I laughed and squealed for a good hour while the three of us flew into a pile of every pillow in our house while Daddy went grocery shopping.

Must refuel with homemade cookies the boys helped make earlier!

Berf-day

2012-01-11T11:48:00.000-05:00

Thanks, JM, for sending me this card...as a mom who pushed out two (albeit very tiny) boys from my whoo-whoo sans epidural, I appreciate it...and following appreciate to other special ladies today:

Thanks to my Mom for pushing me out 21 years ago. (Bwahahaha).
Thanks to Eric's Mom for pushing him out 31 years ago.

Happy Happy Birthday to Team Heintz, party of two!

Eric, not that you read this blog, but I wish you (us) an amazing 2012, full of positive transitions and growth.

Love/Ditto,
Neftanga...silly thong (shame you don't read this...cuz you are the only one who gets this joke.)

Rena Doll

2012-01-10T09:47:00.002-05:00

Rena Doll

It took many weeks (and some expletives), but I finally fished what I think was my most difficult and most meaningful knitting craft: a doll for my very special (and first!) niece.

It's made with Rowan Purelife organic yarn, which:

isn't easy to find online
isn't easy on the wallet
isn't easy to knit with

But I think the results were worth it. And, I've scoured eBay and seem to have landed some more yarn for future dolls.

I used some of my other yarn to make ruffle pants and a tankini. The pattern, from Susan B Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys book, called for a cute dress. But my attempt at the dress failed 3 times so one night I just created my own simple top.

The doll, in honesty, is riddled with errors and imperfections, but it was a labor of love and I kind of had a hard time packing her up for Christmas and shipping her off up north. I may just have to make one for myself one of these days...after the handful of toys I owe the boys. (Can y'all stop having babies so I can knit for my own kids? Just kidding!)

Some of the things I learned were how to make:
a belly button/nose
reasonably symmetric embroidered face (I came a long way from the face of the bear I recently made)
thumbs
wrists
feet
knee bend

And one element that was at first the most frustrating, but turned into the most fun, the hair:

Which brings me to the name of the doll.

I usually "name" the knitted toy after the child who is to receive it (outside of Tortellini the elefante), but it sort of seems odd to have a doll with your own name. Also, while struggling with the hair late one night, I had a random flashback to sitting with my friend Rena at her house.

Rena was my elementary school friend who had cancer and unfortunately died when I was in 5th grade. She didn't spend a lot of time at school, so most of our time together was at her house. I have so many physical memories of Rena...her diminutive and sort of muted voice, big front teeth, enormous eyes full of hope, wispy remnants of hair...I also have close to my heart specific moments in time we shared together: playing with her golden retriever who at one point bowled her over, and the two of us laughed so hard we had tears streaming down our faces...watching a silly Police Academy movie while sitting on the couch together...making a cartoon book filled with ornate flowers and pastoral scenes...but one that stuck out to me was one day we were playing with dolls at her house. She told me that she liked to practice braiding on one of her dolls for when her hair grew back. That moment stuck with me, but was hidden in my gallery of memories until the one night I was loop stitch knitting this doll's hair. Out of nowhere I remembered that moment--I remember it because even at my young age, I remember wondering if her hair would ever grow back, not realizing in a matter of months I would be walking by her casket placing a rose on her belly. Ugh. For whatever reason, those historical memories of Rena, specifically her hope of braiding her own hair, made me realize that there was no way I was letting this doll go bald. And thanks to a little extra inspiration (and YouTube), I figured it out.
So this is my Rena doll. I'm sure there will be more to come, and with each assembly, I'll be sure to knit a few more memories of Rena into each stitch.

Epilogue of sorts. I decided to see if I could find a picture of Rena on the Internet. Her death was long before Al Gore invented the whole virtual storage space thing, but I know a lot of archiving goes on. I don't have my childhood photos in Atlanta with me, so I was banking on someone posting an old picture of her. No such luck. I did find many stories about how Olympic figure skater Paul Wylie never got his chance to give Rena a skating lesson...and then I also stumbled upon a site called "Practice for a Cure" The mission is this: that through our efforts, on the yoga mat, on the meditation cushion, one pose at a time, one breath at a time, we might alleviate (‘cure’) the suffering of all beings. Wouldn't you know it, through my search for "Rena Parab cancer", I was brought to Practice for a Cure's 2010 dedication page (linked above). And there her name was...immediately following was...you'll never believe it...ERIC HEINTZ. I don't know if someone we know donated to this charity who knew Rena and knows my husband, but what are the chances???

Sometimes life's mysteries are just too good...

Dumplings

2012-01-08T19:15:00.000-05:00

After today's events (see previous post), you might question my sanity when you see that I kept the boys naked and used them as my sous chefs for tonight's dinner: chicken and dumpling soup. Even more so if you knew that Felix pooped on the floor and woke up from his nap after 55 minutes because he ripped off his diaper and peed all over the crib. (Have I mentioned how fun it is having 2 toddler boys?)

First, I consider this picture payback for the shenanigans they put me through this morning. This photo WILL make an appearance on a slide show for both their weddings. Second, we really did have a lot of fun making soup that they inevitably didn't even take a bit of.

(That's a snake dumpling above, which you will be glad to know did not make it into the pot.)

I LOOOVE this soup. It is an adjusted recipe from a vegetarian version I found a few years back on the blog fresh365 (original version linked). I don't usually post recipes, but my bro asked for it on Facebook (had to post an obligatory soup photo I loved it so much), and thought I would share it here. As with all of my recipes, you don't have to do organic...we just try to do so for as much as we can. You know, especially because my boys eat SO much of my cooking.

Soup
4 T organic unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
6 T organic all-purpose flour
6 c organic chicken stock
1/2 c organic skim milk
2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 t fresh thyme, minced
2-3 c frozen Trader Joe's organic foursome blend -OR- 2 c celery, 1 c carrots, 1 c peas...but the frozen blend is so much easier (we also shave extra pieces of fresh organic carrot in because we like our beta carotene).
2 T minced fresh chives
1-2 c organic rotisserie chicken (you could cook your own, but this is the far easier option!)

Dumplings
2 c organic all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/4 c minced fresh herb (I used chives, thyme and green onion...you could use sage, too)
2 T organic unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c organic skim milk

In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté until onion begins to brown, about 8-10 minutes. Whisk in the flour, scraping any brown bits of the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, milk, salt, pepper, and thyme/chives. Bring to a boil, add veggies and chicken. Reduce heat, and simmer while making dumplings.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt and herbs. Gently mix in melted butter and milk, until mixture just comes together (DO NOT over-mix or dumplings will be dense).
Drop dumpling batter into the simmering stew by little teaspoons. This recipe makes a LOT of dumplings, and they puff up, so make them small (my opinion...I like them about the size of a quarter.) Cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 15 minutes (DO NOT uncover while the dumplings are cooking, as steam will escape).

DEE-LISH!

Urophagia

2012-01-08T09:58:00.001-05:00

Listen, I usually reserve blogging for one or two nights a week and then strategically post them throughout the week. But sometimes, life throws you such great moments that you have to blast children's music, throw all the toys on the floor, and tell the kids to entertain themselves while you document life's hilarity. Ya know...like the human jock strap episode we had.

Okay: SCENE

We are on snack #3 at 9am. It's dreary, drizzly, and I am already anticipating a really long day inside. The quiet chair and glitter jar have been used excessively, and I've even contemplated giving the boys a bath just to contain them. It feels like an extra long morning especially since my boys are both naked from the waist down, and I have a holster of ready Bac Out and Nature's Miracle weighing me down.

Ahh, prolonged potty training.

I put my two exhibitionists at the table eating watermelon and crunchy granola bars while I work to remove the garbage. My inner environmentalist is not proud, but I try to remove the garbage as much as possible, even if not full, because the smell of urine soaked diapers and poopy pull-ups has such a visceral effect on me, I've been known to gag. (And no, it's not due to any other fact than my olfactory system is and has always been sensitive.)

I hear Felix gag and sort of barf. Usually it's Miles who I am running to get a projectile oatmeal facial, but this was definitely Felix.

Felix was apparently trying to shove both the square of hard granola bar and watermelon in his mouth at the same time. Maybe it was his attempt at an avant-garde amuse-bouche; I've always wanted a private chef.

Anyway, he must have choked on the bar, and then spit out the macerated granola right on his penis...along with a huge chunk of watermelon.

Wait, it gets better. Slow-mo, I am leaning toward him to wipe up his genital hors d'oeuvre, and then it happens:

HE RELEASES HIS ENTIRE BLADDER ON HIS CHAIR AND HALF EATEN FOOD.

Didn't we just have a successful potty run?

Apparently his bladder is the size of a watermelon. (Too soon for that joke?)

So, I've got crotch broth and a stunned Felix.

I take him off the chair, strip him down, reach for the Bac Out and a dry rag...and then it gets even better...

HE SHOVES THE URINE SOAKED WATERMELON CHUNK BACK IN HIS MOUTH.

What does one do at this point? I tried the finger sweep, but he swallowed too fast.

I just stood there. He just stood there. The urine and macerated granola bar just stood there.

It was a toss up: call the nurse help line, or laugh.

I laughed.

And then I soaked my house in Bac Out and Nature's Miracle.

You know...some of the earliest human cultures used urine as a medicine.

God...motherhood is grand, ain't it?

Literary acquisitions

2012-01-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

I'm reading the tail end of everyone's New Year's resolution posts, and I haven't even finished dishing about Christmas!

I may try to retrieve and scribble out the 3 internal posts I wrote in a frenzy the way to work Mid-December before I go into a full fledged discussion of 2012 hopes, dreams, delusions...

It's a toss up. I kind of feel like the mania and hysteria I had in writing those posts is decaying. And although they would be new to the reader, rehashing my sordid literary details seems stale and maybe even perfunctory. Although...the stories and complainings do offer some giggles and I would be denying my quest to document all aspects of life with child(ren). (Read: potty woes, perpetual nose picking, crib diving, the realization that it is all of a sudden not the same stripping down to take a shower with a 3.5 year old in the room.).

I'm all about spontaneity for 2012; if it doesn't happen right away, fuhgettahboutit. And am unplugging from everything starting at 10:30pm each night...except for streaming on my computer The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, all Housewives series and any PBS program. Oh, and then there is our iPad's Words With Friends (only playing with my husband), knitting or reading (preferably US Weekly).

I know, I keep saying it myself, "how DO you deprive yourself so much?!" I might as well look into monk-dom (made that gem up).

Do you think they have lactation monks?

Okay gurl, regroup.

I've briefly mentioned how nice the holidays were, and shared many photos of the week+ of family time. Holidays really are about family to me, but when you have small children, lots of "stuff" gets thrown into the mix.

Very generous people from all aspects of our family gave us wonderful gifts for the boys. (Anyone else feel like Melissa and Doug vomited all over your house? Hey, if it's going to be anything, let it be cute wooden toys!)

I'm not really up for drafting up a catalogue of our "toy heaven" right now because that would just be painful on so many levels, but I do have to sing the praises of a few of the great books we got--not all, just some. So if yours didn't make the list, don't get heartbroken. I've mentioned it before, but I am a book whore. Apologies for being so crass, but there is no other way to describe it. I just love hard back, well written, smartly illustrated children's books. Luckily, my boys are like whorettes, and love them as much as I do. Hmmm...maybe it's whorinis. Or maybe I should just keep to the more appropriate "avid readers." Nah, that was 2012 spontaneity for you!
Here are a few awesome books that we were gifted for Christmas and Felix's birthday. I always hesitate to post about book recommendations, because the few people who read this here are friends for whom I will, inevitably, give their children one of these books on holidays and birthdays. And, I'm a lazy bones (and 10:30 is fast approaching when I completely and wholly "unplug"--see above), so I don't have time to do all sorts of great linking to Amazon. If you can navigate to this blog, I trust your skills to find the book if interested.

It has been a refreshing change not to read There's an Alligator Under My Bed or Everyone Poops every.single.night.

10:29pm, shutting this bad boy down, and I am at an utter loss of how to conclude this post. I have no cliff hanger, witty conclusion, or "stay tuned" sentence. Way long ago in 2011, I would have ruminated and slept on this last paragraph, figuring out a tightly composed conclusion. But it's 2012, folks. So here you go:

The End.

Felix Turns gulp 2!

2012-01-04T02:47:00.001-05:00

In an attempt not to make Felix endure more 2nd child syndrome, I decided to forgo the 3rd birthday video montage knowing that it would, in all honesty, never get completed, and opt for a 2nd year video.

Fewer pictures and videos of the kid to choose from, so it kind of worked out, sadly.

Bee tee dubs--it looks far better in iMovie on my Mac. :)

But in true 2nd child syndrome fashion, I only worked on this video for a night and a half because his birthday just crept up on me after the holidays, and it was the video or the confectionery. I figured the video had a better shelf life. And in terms of a party, there won't be one. Just enjoying cupcakes with school friends. I hope Eric can visit, because I'll be at work (knife.in.heart).

It's been a wild and sleepless 2 years, but this boy's smile makes it all worth it.

I love you Felix. Five minutes will NEVER capture the thrills and joy you've brought to our family.

Songs:
Oh How You've Grown by Frances England
Whose My Pretty Baby by Elizabeth Mitchell

Photography:
Danielle Bryson (newborn photo shoot)
Kate T. Parker (*almost 2 year, holiday photo shoot)

And this is why I put my camera away when my FIL or BIL are around

2012-01-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

FIL: father-in-law
BIL: brother-in-law
both of whom are legit photographers

Opa came through with some great photos from Christmas.

Someday I'll be able to talk ISO f-stops and aperture.

WAIT--I thought we negotiated getting rid of the beard???

Skyping with my niece (or Grandma's beloved granddaughter. Yay technology!)

Yup, my kids cry. You mean yours don't? I'm all about keeping documentation real. And those are some real tears...real crocodile tears...

Thanks Grandma and Opa for visiting.

One thing is for certain--we love our family (but hate living far away...)

Christmas 2011: Pictorial retrospective

2011-12-31T10:13:00.000-05:00

Full throttle parenting over Christmas with 2 toddler boys, neither of whom are capable of moderating tantrums or their urinary/bowel systems, has taken away all my ability to construct sentences with both subjects and predicates in any meaningful way, so please enjoy a smattering of poorly framed and composed pictures over the past week. Of all times to get my photojournalism on...I failed miserably! (In part I blame my father-in-law; when anyone with a much nicer camera and mad photo skills is around, I tend to keep our own camera hibernating.)

My propensity for verbal gymnastics and hysterics will resume in 2012, which is bound to be an awesome year...I've already signed a contract with the universe on that one.

The boys waiting for Santa to give them their presents at school

Our Christmas Company! Grandma and Opa!

Christmas 2011: working the local park circuit

Even Opa gets in on the fun...

Christmas eve--putting out the reindeer food (and I HAD to steal a kiss from the cutest almost 2 year old reindeer)

Did Mom just hear Rudolph in the sky? Quick! Get in bed!

Mom, you're silly...that was just a plane from PDK airport.

And, the food: starting with the yummiest bruschetta that will make an encore on New Year's.

Crusted tilapia, pasta in garlic sauce, and baked broccoli with garlic, olive oil and lemon.

For dessert below, I would have taken a picture of the Boston cream pie cupcakes...but they found a new home too fast.

Leaving Santa our homemade almond thumbprint cookies

Guess who had to taste test them first?

CHRISTMAS MORNING! Toy overload

Medieval kings and queens had Thomas trains, right??

And what better way to end the holiday break than with $1 cones from IKEA. Rumor had it that these 2 hoodlums were going to move in with each other and share a bunk bed set from IKEA, but Felix's continued night wakings (even after the surgery), resulted in us walking out with cheap dairy treats and organizing bins.

A brief Christmas gift breakdown to follow...stay tuned.

Merry Myringotomy

2011-12-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

Although our Christmas decorations have been boxed back up, the handful of pictures we took over the holidays are still hibernating on my camera, so the obligatory Christmas 2011 recap will have to wait. But I do have a few phone pictures to tide you over...

Back story:

By far the most expensive gift of 2011 was Felix's (repeat) myringotomy with ear tube insertion. Right after Christmas we shuttled our almost 2 year old over to Children's for some yuletide ear tubes. Epic "ear behavior" combined with premature terrible twos has provided some trying times over at our house, so when the ENT scheduler said they could get him in right after Christmas, my response was "SOLD!"

The previous tubes fell out after about a year (apparently that is pretty typical), and Felix has been saddled with terrible ear infections over the later half of the fall and into the winter. The deterioration of his hearing in his left ear, coupled with night after night of wakings and wailings and resistance to any and all antibiotics had us all feeling comfortable with the decision to move forward with the surgery. The good thing is that my abs and thigh muscles have never looked better (total lie...fishing for that elusive silver lining) from doing the stand/walk/rock Felix for hours every night for a few weeks, and now after the surgery we are on rocking detox. (Santa forgot to leave us our toddler who we could put in his crib awake and go to sleep before 8:15pm.)

Honestly, this second surgery experience just as seamless, if not easier than the first. Our surgeon, like last time, ran ahead of schedule (Dr Hermann at Pediatric ENT is uh-mazing bee tee dubs) and got Felix in 10 minutes earlier than we anticipated. That may not seem like a lot, but it is when you are wrangling a toddler who hasn't eaten for over 12 hours and has been at the hospital for 2 hours. Luckily, Felix was far easier to redirect and occupy this time around in the tiny pre-op room thanks to his being able to, say, WALK, and get absorbed in Eric's iPad (thank you technology).

We didn't deal with having to refuse middle of the night nursings the night before surgery like we did at 9 months old, and praise yahweh...this child yet again woke up so peacefully after anesthesia, I think we made all of the post-op nurses' day. (They repeatedly warn you that your baby will go from sleeping to screaming in 2.5 seconds...and in all honesty, the post-op ear tube ward almost sounds like a torture chamber. Babies and toddlers are screaming bloody murder, and you can see them thrashing in their parents' arms. I almost sympathy cried and felt like vomiting at one point in anticipation of Felix being wheeled down the hallway screaming.)

I know, I know...the picture below pulls at the heartstrings and I totally made a number of my family members creeped out when I texted it to them, but I wanted photo evidence of him being, well, STILL. And this is the second time we've ever seen him sleep on his back (first time was surgery #1).

Low and behold, Felix had fluid build up in both ears, with both old and new infection in the left side along with a delightful blood clot blocking all sorts of middle ear accoutrements. Poor little guy.

After sleeping beauty got up, the nurses gave him some apple juice, Goldfish crackers, and we all walked out as Felix said "Merry Chris-mus!" to everyone. That kid can charm the pants off of a never nude. (Tobias? Arrested Development, anyone?)

Rumor has it, for Eric's and my birthday, Felix has wheeled and dealed with the anatomy gods and promised to verticalize (completely made up word) his Eustachian tube.

Best.Gift.Ever.

If we can only shake the damn torticollis.

Merry Merry!

2011-12-22T16:11:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my children's daycare for supplying us with all of the handmade holiday decorations. Outside of the tree and one strand of LED lights, Miles and Felix can take the credit for pretty much all of our home's holiday cheer.

My favorite "installation" below... with a little guidance from his childcare director, I'd say Miles is ready for breaking some child labor laws!

Faithful followers...my self induced blogging "time out" has concluded!

Brief family status updates:

Felix's ears have potentially cleared--but we are getting our 2nd set of ear tubes on the 27th. Merry-Birthday Felix! It's a two-for: Christmas and Birthday gift. Consider the right one to celebrate Jesus (isn't there something about the JC sitting on the right hand of the Fr?), and the left a 2nd b-day gift. You're welcome.
Ali is officially on PTO and has challenged herself not to check work e-mail more than once a day. Instead, she is obsessing about the 3 lines on her forehead that don't disappear after she lowers her eyebrows.
Miles is not fully potty trained, yet. Post forthcoming. I wrote Santa for Miles to learn to poop in the potty, but I have a sense he's getting me gelt and a mattress pad.
Eric's beard mysteriously grew back on his face much to Ali's chagrin. But he can record another "all clear" oncology appointment!
The in-laws are descending for the holidays! Huzzah! Which means one of my child needs to start teething. Right on queue, Felix is slowly starting with his 2 year old molars.

Off to blare Vince Guaraldi and make krid-mas cookies!

Merry, Merry everyone!

RAK: December 2011

2011-12-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

In the midst of living in a sleepless sick ward this month, I am still committed to fulfilling my 2011 Q4 random acts of kindness (RAK). December is tough because it seems the general global theme is giving (although it's coated in a thick glaze of mass consumption here in the U-S of A).

There is an advantage to having a colicky almost 2 year old (who, Merry Christmas, is getting tube surgery again on the 27th!)...I get a lot of time to craft in bed. Some people eat, other people get the luxury of sleeping...but I craft and drink peppermint tea in bed.

The pit of eternal crafting chaos (another moniker for Michael's) always awards you with a 40% off one item coupon with your receipts (and their smart phone app has them all the time, too), so I tend to make repeated trips to buy 1 skein of yarn. I've collected quite a stash to knit the 5 1/3 projects I can do, so I knew that December needed a knitted RAK.

And I had to attempt the snood again...

I used a different color, but same weight and type, and paid a little more attention to my seed stitching integrity. Okay, there *may* be a section that has some cable knitting in it...but that K1P1 is really easy to turn into K1K1P1K1P1...(3 of you may understand that.)

I decided to send this to my friend BP up in PA. I've mentioned her before--she's an friend from my childhood who now runs a really awesome Etsy shop called Bog Berry Handicraft. Over the past few years, we have reconnected, and have had some great conversations. She is one of those people I would just love to live next door to me and we could wax poetic about wool, wine, elderberry syrup...and then maybe throw back a few and reminisce. It just seemed like a natural fit to send this one off to B. Hope you enjoy! (and thanks for everything...)

But it doesn't end there, lovies...my bed is sprinkled with fabric remnants as I just finished another Moda honey bun Christmas wreath! (And I'm working on another for my office's dirty Santa party, too!) This has yet to be gifted, but will end up in the hands of a very special someone who has been and always will be our chosen extended family...she's been there for us through many a crisis, and is, hands down, partly responsible for the grooming and nurturing of my children. A silly fabric adornment pales in comparison to the acts of kindness she has bestowed on our family, but it's a start! (AND, Miles helped me with the cutting and folding for a few nights in preparation for assembly!)

Finally, I wanted to do something kind that didn't cost any money, didn't require me to venture into Michael's and could really incorporate the boys. Well, it ended up meeting all of those requirements, save the boys. Felix has been too busy demonstrating what "ear behavior" is, and was more interested in throwing himself on the ground than in participating...

We are slowly firming up our own holiday traditions over at our household. I was contemplating doing the Elf on the Shelf thing, that much like the concept of NASCAR, I only became aware of in my adult life. Not like NASCAR, I was intrigued, and even considering buying the Elf and story...and then I retreated. Listen, I applaud all of the cute Elf stories and strategic placements each night--but the whole idea seems to be steeped in stress if you ask me. We have a hard enough time motivating to make our boys' lunches every night, that hiding a toy each night seems quite laborious. Additionally, we have 2 really great advent calendars that we open at lightning speed to get out of the door a little after 7:30am each morning. And I'm not going to lie...I blame the creep factor...the idea of a toy watching you to assess your behavior seems a little creep-tastic to me. Miles already told me he doesn't want Santa coming down our chimney. Crazy looking fat guy, who sports a scary beard, dressed in a red suite tipped in tons of polyster white "fur" breaking and entering the home via a chimney that just screams claustrophobia--yeah, I don't know about that either!

So I admit it. I am not going to do the Elf tradition primarily because it's too much stress for me. I think my kids will be okay (and also, I do want them to know that they need to have good behavior all throughout the year...not because they are entitled to mountains of toys on Christmas if Jo Jo reports it such to Santa.)

But I do want to have some tradition and things to look forward to. I read about a great idea where you put a fragment of wrapping paper in your child's stocking...under the tree, presents are wrapped and assigned based on wrapping paper pattern. Fun, eh? I think we'll be doing it this year!

Another tradition I started this year was to drive around and look at the holiday lights. We have about 2 strands of LED lights inside our house, and I'm never going to purchase an inflatable train or snow globe, no matter how much Miles and Felix protest...so we'll appreciate other's gaudy taste.

I realized, unless it is a house that is dripping in lights (and power bills) and cars line up to slowly do drive bys, neighbors never know if their displays are appreciated. I told Miles we were going to write little cards that say how much we like people's lights, and drop them off in their mailboxes.

Simple Pimple. I used note cards I already had...let Miles cut wrapping paper to paste on scraps...and let Felix play with markers in between bouts of dramatic crying rolls on the group to add a little abstract art.

And then we got in the car, and I let Miles pick out the houses with his favorite lights. We popped the cards in the mailboxes, and kept our fingers crossed that the next day the unexpected home owners got a little extra holiday happiness added to their day.

2011 has been a really great year...slightly less frenetic and scary than 2010. Although I will probably not do planned RAKs for 2012, I hope to continue to be confronted with opportunities to do random acts of kindness throughout the year.

Time in

2011-12-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

Quick update cuz I know you are chomping at the bit:

Double ear infection confirmed today.(Poor kid has bloody discharge too!)

ENT on Wednesday...I'm guessing we will be scheduling tube reinsertion.

And I learned a new term: "ear behavior" ( ie, when you are convinced your darling baby or child has become possessed by the devil during an ear infection.)

I also learned that 4 days without sleep for an almost 2 year old resembles many an inebriated college student. Duh-leer-ee-um...and lots of crooked stumbling. Just no walks of shame.

And sorry to the organizers of the handful of social engagements I have had to cancel this week...if only I could cancel work as easily without repercussion.

okay...time out again.

Time out!

2011-12-12T07:15:00.001-05:00

I have ~4 posts drafted in my head right now. Good ones, too.

But I'm calling "Time Out."

This past week as tried my patience as a working mother. Felix has been struggling more than he ever has in the past with an ear infection and hideous cough. (As an update, he lost both of his ear tubes and is apparently resistant to all strains of antibiotics.) Since Thursday night, he has not slept more than a 3 hour stretch. And when he does get up, he swan dives out of our arms and throws a tantrum...

...or throws himself out of the crib as he did for the first time last week. (I lost about 5 years of my life that night.)

Friday morning, I got an early morning oatmeal back scrub from Miles (ie, he puked down my back--and wouldn't you know it. Eric was NOWHERE in site. It was the first morning in my months I got Miles up by myself. Figures. I told Eric he probably thinks I have Munchausen by proxy because whenever Miles gets vomit-y sick, I'm on the receiving end--literally--and Eric saunters in from some oblivious parenting abyss like, "huh? did something happen? I didn't hear him get sick" as I'm dripping in up chuck.)

I had an ungodly amount of work to be done on Friday, so I used the free babysitting provided by PBS and put on my cloak of Mommy guilt and had my lethargic, sick son on the bed next to me while I worked on my work computer...

...until Felix came home with a fever. Two sick boys and a full day of work. Awesome.

This weekend, Felix's cold/infection hit fever pitch (no pun intended). Not sure Eric, myself, or Felix have slept in total a full night's sleep since late last week. We've been to weekend urgent care (completely unhelpful on call pediatrician), elevated the crib mattress (actually have since September), given teaspoons of honey, lots of fluids, humidifier, extra chia seeds, doses of elderberry juice, prayer, and even some good ole fashion bargaining with the sickness gods. And we are militant about our kids washing hands; whenever the step in the door from outside, they take off shoes and got straight to he sink.

Today, Felix has been up crying and pitching a fit since 4am--this is after waking 4 times earlier in the night-- and currently is getting a tour of Christmas lights with Eric in the car.

We've had a really good spell of avoiding sickness and general "suckiness." (Made up inappropriate word. I won't claim to be articulate until I get a series of 6 hour stretches of sleep.) And right before we turned into an infirmary, I kept hearing about lots of my friends' little ones dealing with colds, ear infections, croup, pneumonia, bronchitis...and thought "Man, we've been so lucky to avoid all of this!"

Jinxed.

I've *tried* to refrain from complaining to others (outside of my best friend CD, my Mom, and our boys' childcare director), but I'm making a pubic plea to the universe right now for mercy.

And I kinda want to vent, m'kay?

This is the disadvantage to having a public journal--I become transparent in all of my feelings and emotions. But maybe it makes me more accountable. And certainly more flawed = human.

I would reserve the completely unattractive whining for Eric, but this AM as I found myself dissolving in tears as I couldn't even hold Felix he was so hysterical, which just made me hysterical (and I wouldn't put him in the crib to cool off b/c last time I did that, he tried to commit crib suicide and for 24 hours I was afraid he had a brain bleed), Eric yelled--or said firmly, but it felt like yelling-- "pull it together! Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We are all tired, but we need to focus on Felix."

Ouch.

But he's kinda right.

Like all things, this is temporary (pretty please?). And after I publish this completely sleep deprived post, I need to focus on things like getting my children healthy. And how I can DROP KICK my work so that I don't have insane guilt about not being able to be the model employee. And letting go of things like responding to every e-mail, color coding my closet, posting on the blog, and generally anything that takes me away from cuddling and loving on my children. Because that is where my heart is, and that's where my focus needs to be.

Believe it or not, being a stay at home Mom has never seemed more appealing.

I am hoping my hiatus is a short one--for the most part because it will mean we are all on the mend.

In the meantime, go do something nice for someone else...like not telling me how much sleep you got last night.

Now, onto healing...

Dip n Flip

2011-12-10T15:54:00.000-05:00

The Flannery Brothers (awesome children's musicians) are wrapping up a brand new song about putting on your coat. It’s called “The Dip N’ Flip,” and they would love to put YOU (or your kids, parents, grandparents, dog, goldfish, etc) in the video performing the jacket flip trick!

Go here to find out more details.

We attempted to do it one night with our new winter jackets from Mahna. I even put on my fav-o-rito Flannery Brother's tune, "Tambourine" on to get in the spirit.

Bee tee dubs...search for their "Pirate or Parrot?" video on YouTube. My boys have watched it over and over.

Dark night + poor filming skills+generally uncooperative toddlers = mediocre submission.

(And it's not like I've bribed them 8 ga-gillion times since this video to recreate it under better circumstances...no luck.)

"Ooh La La La"

2011-12-06T21:21:00.000-05:00

If you thought your mind didn't have room for yet another catchy "Krid-mas" tune, I'm about to prove you wrong...

Bias alert! My insanely talented children's musician of a brother (and sister-in-law) just threw together a Christmas tune with his iPhone and iMovie. I mean, I can do that kind of musical wizardry in my sleep...can't you? (Forgot to mention it's opposite day.)

I think he did this in that secret 25th hour of the day my friend Amy discovered, too.

"Ooh La La La!"

I bet your bottom dollar you'll be singing this on the commute to work.

I kinda want one of those Edward R. Murrow microphones with the flat kitchen colander in front of it...

Follow In The Nick of Time on Facebook!

Kinsey Kristmas

2011-12-04T09:16:00.001-05:00

Running toward the tractor with the boys' best school friend

I've sung the praises of Kinsey Family Farm during pumpkin season, and now I share the same sentiments during the holidays. Best tree experience. Hands down. I mean, how can you argue with roasting marshmallows and tractor rides, and running through a barn full of 13 foot Christmas trees ($300 to boot) with your best friend from school?

There is nothing like a real, smelly fir tree in the house...losing needles like Eric and I are losing hair (oh, wait, Eric's forehead is just growing.)

Our little gal is only a five footer, but once decorated and topped with a stuffed monkey, I imagine she'll bring us a month of holiday cheer...and lots of vacuuming.

Thank you, Kinsey, you gave us a great day of memories with friends, sticky lips, and the perfect tree.

The day was made even better when Miles's best friend showed up!

Miles found a Christmas bush! Too bad it's not for sale.

Looking for catfish.

Never underestimate the power of a perfectly toasted 'mallow.

MOOO!

Man, I love the holidays.

Exactly

2011-12-02T16:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks Grunkle Seth for sending this!

First I get to claim a famous brother...

2011-11-30T15:43:00.000-05:00

...and now a famous Mother!

It's true, my brother of In the Nick of Time Music was awarded one of Parents Magazines 10 best Children's CDs of 2011. (And my boys' silly faces got a little "face" time in the mag, too!).

(You're welcome for finishing off your children's stocking stuffers.)

And now my mother got quoted on CCFC's site for their TOADY Award of 2011.

Acronym time:

CCFC: Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood
TOADY: Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children

I re-quoteth:

"Capturing 43% of the vote, the Vinci Touchscreen Mobile Learning Tablet has won the 2011 TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for Worst Toy of the Year. The first “iPad” for babies beat out rivals the I Am T-Pain Mic (32%), Monster High Ghoul Spirit Fearleading Doll 3-Pack (16%), WWE Colossal Crashdown Arena (5%), and Monopoly - Coca Cola 125th Anniversary Collector's Edition (4%).

The push to convince parents that screen time is educational for babies is what propelled Vinci to outpace its formidable competition. “While all the choices were horrifying, the Vinci seems the most insidious to me,” said CCFC member Anne M. Deyser of Westborough, Massachusetts. “It’s likely to convince parents that they are doing something positive for their babies when that couldn't be farther from the truth.” Added Peggy Sissel-Phelan, Ed.D., of Little Rock, “People don’t know that without human attention, babies won't develop normally, much less optimally. They will, however, learn how to push the buttons to make the screen react. Rats can do that!”

Go Mahna!

I gotta say...I really dig having a baby and child advocate for my kids' "Mahna."

I guess this means the boys aren't getting Toddler tablets for x-mas from the grandparents.

Vanity

2011-11-28T20:45:00.000-05:00

I *hate* pictures of myself.

I MAY OR MAY NOT INTENTIONALLY CROP MYSELF OUT OF MOST PICTURES

Jay Leno chin

Forced smile

Resemblance to Michael Stipe (thanks, Bro)

But we just got back the full set of images from our first holiday mini session with Kate T. Parker, and for the first time since my wedding pictures, I said, "Wow! That's a good picture of me!"

Full post on Kate and her mad "skillz" forthcoming...

Thanks for humoring one of my deadly sins; it's been a long day full of appointments tending to the defunct middle ear canals and crooked neck of one of my youngin's. Praise jeebus for health insurance and FSA...and Kate T. Parker.

Quiet Jar

2011-11-28T14:49:00.000-05:00

Our family's version of "time out" is a hybrid of the Love & Logic "uh-oh...bad decision" technique, confining to a quiet chair for the amount of time a child is old, and then having the offender apologize to the victim if applicable. Simple redirecting is a thing of the past now that Felix has a much more solid understanding of cause/effect and what is inappropriate behavior.

I won't say that we never use the quiet chair because my kids are angels, but we also don't use it willy nilly at every moment of misbehavior.

And I won't say that it works all of the time, but I convince myself that being consistent is what is most important...something I do struggle with.

The biggest trouble we have with the quiet chair is that no one is ever quiet on it. I think it needs to be renamed to "1-3 minutes in torture" chair. The boys usually scream. And luckily Miles thinks we have an imaginary tether when we put him in it (much like his bed in the morning), but Felix likes to flip the chair over and test our limits with getting up, all the while screaming like Daryl Hannah in "Splash" when she broke the TV screens while she was revealing her real mermaid name.

So when I stumbled upon the idea of a "thinking jar" on Pinterest, I decided to expand my arsenal of parenting techniques. I ended up linking to a great post on Meditating with Children and a recipe for a "mind jar" with an explanation as follows: "The goal is that when they are feeling out of control, they shake the jar, then sit and watch the glitter settle in the water. It is like our minds when we are angry, frustrated, things feel impossible--our minds and emotions are all shook up."

Quiet chair + Quiet jar = slightly less Darryl Hannah!

Here is our jar--shaken and settled:

I adjusted the recipe in that I made it with Miles and Felix who have a heavy hand when it comes to adding ingredients, which resulted in a sort of bloody-looking jar...

Felix filled the jar with warm water 3/4 way full. Then we each put in 1 big dollop of red glitter glue (I told you--really exact!). And then we Miles mistakenly put in an entire tub of silver loose glitter when we wanted just to put in a few shakes. I should have left the water clear, but Miles really wanted to put in food coloring, and I've been looking for ways to use our artificial/cheap food coloring up so I can replace with more natural dye for when we cook. Miles totally helped me on my mission and put in about 15-20 drops. We also put in a jar of glycerin. Shook it all up, and voila! It doesn't take 5 minutes to settle, but about 3 minutes to completely settle.

(Please oh please...keep my children weak enough not to figure out how to open that jar and dump it on the rug.)

We are "Gangkful" for our Mommies and Daddies

2011-11-24T08:45:00.001-05:00

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for family, health, good friends, and lots and lots of toddler laughter. And last night, Miles informed me he is thankful for "God making sandwiches and God making water buffaloes."

"Programs and In-ee-uns"

2011-11-18T17:12:00.000-05:00

I love the holidays...

Especially when you celebrate with "programs" and "in-ee-uns"

Scowl

2011-11-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

My pointer fingers have these hard "pads" on the ends of them from months and months of knitting with size 3 needles. I am pretty sure that my fingerprints have been forever altered; I'm not sure, but I wonder why criminals haven't picked up on knitting--hello! changing fingerprints! (Perhaps all the criminals who may be reading my blog and pick up knitting will find a more therapeutic and productive way to use their time?)

I've been on the hunt to find a project where I could use larger needles and save some of my fingerprint integrity. Maybe not THIS big...

...but something a little larger than size 3.

I recently got inspired from my craft icon and one of my grad school besties up in WI from a recent cowl project she made detailed over on Anthologie. She didn't mention it, but I'm pretty sure she used that 25th hour she pulls out of her hand sewn pocket to whip up this cozy gift for her sister.

(I was given permission to post this amazingly cute picture of the cowl, hottie pa-tottie sister, and her most scrumdiddly little girl "Mags to Riches". I cannot even stand how cute she is with the little pouty face...not sure if it is pathological, but sometimes, I think emotional pictures of kids like these touch the heart even more than the perfectly composed smiley ones! I highly recommend my friend's Anthologie blog...you'll immediately want to search ebay for a sewing machine and want to spend a night roaming her closet just to pick up trendy inspiration. And she's good about throwing up some amazing recipes on her blog, too.)

I am a huge scarf person. What I mean is that I have 2 scarves that I wear ALL of the time. They are meant to be worn for function and not fashion. But that doesn't stop me from strategically leaving them on with any and all outfits at work. I'm a trendy girl living in a Goodwill body, so cowls, although I like to put them on my boards on Pinterest, I know will just inspire things like quizzical stares from fellow friends and co-workers.

(Bee-tee-dubs...I just figured out how to give y'all a button to follow me on Pinterest! I cannot think of any advantages to doing so as I'm pretty vanilla in my pins, but if I can assure you that I'll contribute that big black hole that your nighttime hours go into when you find that 2 hours of your life have gone missing after what you feel like was a quick jaunt around Pinterest.)

Focus, Ali...right...I'm not a fashionista. Case in point, I wore boots OVER my jeans the other day, and my friend at work was like, "ALI! YOU ARE WEARING HEELS!" Truth is, I wear heels on a number of occasions, but I knew the undertones of her comment were: "You are one gutsy gal trying to pull off a rider boot over a skinny jean look. But the problem is, you are not wearing riding boots...and your jeans are bulging out of the top of the boot. Ah, but I'll make you feel better and comment on the heel aspect."

And guess what I paired that junior varsity attempt at trend: a homemade cowl.

Guess how many comments I got on it? Zero. Now, I wasn't even looking for any applause or "great neck rat!" But I figured going far out of my comfort zone would illicit some response.

I don't deal with the lack of response well, so the cowl may have to hang up on my coat rack for a bit longer. And actually, I'm calling it a scowl. Not because it makes me give a sour face, but because I am really just not trendy enough to say I own a cowl. So it's my scarf-cowl, or scowl.

It was a really easy pattern available for free on Ravelry that was developed after a knitter stalked the GAP and counted the stitches in their highly expensive cowl for sale. It uses larger circular needles and follows a beginner's seed stitch. Now, I am like varsity beginner knitter, so I was not worried about pattern intricacy, but rather, time. It took me about 4 days, and I did it while going into the knitting zone in front of TV. The problem with that is I would find myself forgetting to alternate stitches, and had a row with about 2-4 stitches going into cable. Ooops! It's hardly noticeable. And then I got eager the night before I tragically wore it to work, and snipped really fast all of the ends. What I failed to recognize is that I need to be as deliberate with finishing off and cutting big projects as I am with little ones. I snipped right into my pattern, and had to do some creative knitting and stitching to hide the holes. Finally, I used a heavier weight yarn than what was recommended, and had fewer yards, so I had to "guess" at how long it would be before I could finish my last row. I had BARELY enough yarn left for the last row, so I seed stitched that bad boy of 131 stitches TIGHT. Consequence? The 2 circumferences are not equal in tension. Ah well. The coat hanger doesn't mind...

When in doubt, pair your less than par creations with small children. Especially ones with boogies and pasta sauce caked on their faces.

It was really a fun project, and if I felt comfortable wearing cowls, I would make more. So if any of you want to go to Lucifer's Lair (yes, I linked that to Michael's craft store) and pick out and buy 2 skeins of appropriate yarn: I'll see what I can do about getting you your own scowl. (I call it, therapy through needles.)

BFD recipe

2011-11-16T15:45:00.000-05:00

We have "BFD" a lot at our house: breakfast for dinner.

Tonight (rather, last night since this will post tomorrow), I made some pretty stellar organic pumpkin pancakes for the boys. Tuesdays we have Mommy date night because every week Eric is gone through bedtime (and last night wasn't going to be home until close to 11pm) due to his adult running group obligations. Usually we do Annie's Mac n Cheese or toasted cheese, but last night I felt like eating pumpkin bread but didn't want to wait the bake time. So I made pumpkin pancakes from a regular pancake recipe we had. To.Die.For.

We also had what we call "banana discs", which are banana slices with dollops of organic PB. Yum!

I rarely if ever post recipes (unless it is nursing balls), but felt compelled to share. Between our farmer's market and Trader Joe's, I was able to make these with almost all organic ingredients, but certainly not necessary!

1 1/2 cup organic skim milk (higher fat % would probably be better, but we didn't have any)
1 cup organic pumpkin puree (TJ's has cans of this. I don't love using cans because of the whole BPA thing, but there was no way I was going to roast my own sugar pumpkin...not that I had one!
2 organic large eggs
2 T canola oil
2 T vinegar
2 cups organic all purpose flour
3 T brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
2-3 t pumpkin pie spice (or you can do ~teaspoon each of allspice, ground ginger, and cinnamon, but I prefer the lazy pumpkin pie spice option)
1/2 t salt

Mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, eggs, oil and vinegar in a bowl. Set aside and let the vinegar and milk fraternize and create some buttermilk qualities. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients just enough to get combine (ie, don't over mix!)

Cook pancakes however you do it at your home--griddle/pan, etc. We have a little griddle that we heat over medium heat.

A killer variation to this that I would have done but felt compelled to give my children more protein with the peanut butter discs, is pancake coated banana discs. Make the batter as directed above, and then slice bananas on the horizontal to create long, oblong-y kinda discs. Dip in the pumpkin pancake batter, and put on the griddle. We do this with regular pancakes and bananas, and they make a GREAT lunch option for the kids the following day!

Sunday Souvenir

2011-11-13T20:00:00.000-05:00

Way back when I was pregnant with Felix I had a wonderful online community of other pregnant mothers on a mothering.com February due date board. I had an awesome due date buddy who also has a blog and a really cute son!. On Sundays, she does thematic posts about souvenirs; she posts a photo, an item, or even just a memory that is dear to her. She calls it Sunday Souvenir: Souvenir: Something that serves as a reminder of the past, from the French word for remembering.

Living so far from actually family, I don't really house very many relics from my childhood or from my family's history. After my grandfather and grandmother died recently, our family quickly learned what it meant to sift through a lifetime of memories and objects. Although my grandparents were fastidious about their house, over the course of 40+ years being in one house, they collected lots of stuff.

I have felt a real sense of sadness and almost confusion as my grandparents' "stuff" disappears or changes owners. I've had a hard time reconciling how in a matter of days, their house has been dismantled and a lifetime imprint in Kempton, PA is being removed. I have almost felt a sense of panic at times about the question "what happens to all of their 'things'?"

And then there are the "things" like the smell of their basement...or the sound of footsteps on the wooden stairs leading down to the basement...the smell of their garage that housed the fridge my grandfather got his mother after the war. The weight of the white door opening was not lost on me as I always found a way to get a mini glass bottle of ginger ale or coke from it when I visited. Did the white pitchers that contained milk for our cereal get brought to Goodwill? How about the table where I ate sticky buns each morning and stole stuffing out of the turkey? Oh, and the candy drawer that was right next to my grandfather's recliner. I wonder...who emptied that drawer? What did they do with that candy? And the biggest question: who will inhabit this house next? Will they even care about the memories that were created there?

I never thought of anything in particular that I wanted after my grandparents' passing (short of one last hug, or raucous round of haus and phefer--phonetically spelled--late at night with my grandparents, uncle, dad and brothers.)

As my mother, father, uncle, and aunt sifted through their items recently, they would call and ask me about acquiring certain items. Although I didn't have a deep desire to obtain lots of their stuff, I also didn't want any of it to disappear. It's conflicting. But when I thought for a bit longer about what material items they left behind, the one thing I was interested in having was my grandmother's wedding band. It was tiny and gold, and probably saw a lot of hard work, cooking, farming, and life in general. I knew she was only buried with a necklace with an "L" for Lila that my grandfather gave her, so I knew the band was still in the house. Interestingly, my mom and aunt identified she had 2 bands. My guess, not worth the gas to drive over to an appraiser. But the memories I have of my grandmother's hands with that band--the chicken "pecks" from getting eggs each day, baking sour cherry pie, doing dishes, quilting...priceless. I DO NOT wear gold, but the moment I got the rings, I immediately put them on my hand and have not and will not take them off unless I have to.

I'm not sure if I have "felt" my grandparents' presence since they have died, but every day I twirl the two rings on my finger when I get up and talk to my grandmother. I tell her I love her and Grandpop, and will give the boys a hug for them. Something they never were able to do.

In addition to the bands, my mom sent me a number of other things, some of which included: 2 boxes of old cookie cutters, well loved aprons, some early 1900's silver dollars, old family pictures (ummm, is that me or Felix in the one I posted below?), and each of the grandchildren got one of my grandfather's military hats. Felix was the only one who wanted to serve as a model, unfortunately.

Miles may not have wanted to wear the hate, but he was very curious about its origins:

Miles: "Where did we get that hat?"
Ali: "It was my grandfather's."
Miles: "What he name?"
Ali: "You mean, what is his name? I call him Grandpop. But his name is Paul."
Miles: "Where does he live?"
Ali: (without pause) "In Pennsylvania."
Miles: "In Penn-see-vana?"
Ali: "Well, he did."
Miles: "Where does he live now?"
Ali: "In our heart Miles, in our heart..."

RAK: November 2011 part deux

2011-11-12T21:38:00.000-05:00

I had the last minute opportunity to do some knitting-based RAK. Okay--see if you can follow--the mother of a guy I went to school with through high school contacted me via Facebook asking if she could pay me to knit a sock monkey for her older son whose own son is about to turn one. I had to first claim that a) I don't have the skills to actually do a real sock monkey, b) my talents do not warrant anyone paying me for my creations, and c) none of my creations are really mine--I follow other people's patterns with only minor changes (ie, I simplify stitches I cannot do). Also, I just really wanted to send her a monkey without anything in return. I love knitting, and I had already been itching to try out this new yarn I got that actually kind of looks like sock monkey yarn.
I went into turbo knitting mode knowing I had a very tight deadline with C's birthday being in less than 2 weeks. I had to factor in a few days of knitting, and at least 3 days of shipping.

Yup. He's mine--he's got torticollis and a wonky ear! But I love him, and even though dropped all my other knitting projects and spent 3 late nights getting him done, I feel really attached to this little guy! I'm excited that I have more sock monkey yarn to give this little guy some identical siblings.

He may not be perfect, but I hope he makes a newly 1 year old smile.

11.11.11 at 11:11:11

2011-11-11T11:11:00.017-05:00

Epic

It's 11.11.11

And if Blogger doesn't let me down, this will post at 11:11:11 (they cannot promise the seconds, so I am taking binary creative liberty)

If you know Eric and me, you know that the #11 is our good luck charm/favorite number.

So we have been waiting for this day since we found out we were both born on 1/11.

I won't go into the crazy amount of "11's" we have in our lives since I have done it many times before.

Instead, I'll post 11 random things about us.

I'm obsessed with certain grammar rules: don't say nauseous, center around, a whole nother, or misuse "lay/lie" "me/I" around me. (Yes, I was correct above saying "If you know Eric and me." Confused? Take out the other person and you'll figure out if you need to use "me" or "I"--"If you know ME...." I claim no proficiency with punctuation and spelling.)
Eric does not give high fives. Ever. Like never, ever, ever. He'll turn it into a low five if you attempt.
I have Raynaud's syndrome
Eric has the same middle name as my brother. I have the same middle name as his sister.
Eric is terrified of spiders
If you asked me what NASCAR was before 2003, I would have no clue what you were talking about. (And now I just pretend I have no idea what you are talking about.)
Eric talks in his sleep and keeps his eyes slightly open at all times.
I always have to leave a "last bite" on my plate (8 1/2, I totally have OCD)
Eric drools over Reese Witherspoon, Uma Thurman's character from "Kill Bill," and Brad Pitt's abs from "Fight Club"
I was held up at gunpoint at a Cold Stone Creamery
If I could, I'd create a medical degree program in lactation. There's either a hidden Broadway actress or lactation consultant hidden inside of me! If Eric could, he'd probably stay at his current job with teaching and coaching forever. (Must be nice...)

11.11.11

(if you go by the above abbreviated date, the last binary day for 98+ years!)

AND

Veterans Day

AND

Nigel Tufnel Day

Go.Celebrate.

Photo booth Phun

2011-11-10T21:05:00.001-05:00

Hold your bladders peeps...because I've got some photo hilarity for you.

Photo above taken the day after Eric and I got married...is that Eric, or Doug?

I forgot about Apple's amazing Photo Booth feature until I was bored waiting for Eric to finish cooking tonight's caramelized wings. And by bored, I mean COMPLETELY AVOIDING HAVING TO PLAY WITH TRAINS. Have I mentioned that I am the worst Mom to boys sometimes? I really, really don't like trains...I mean, I think I played with Barbie until high school. (Slight exaggeration, but I do remember enacting quite serious scenes about things like infidelity, economic recession, and maybe even premarital pregnancy...okay, maybe more exaggeration...but my Barbies DID kiss.)

Anyway, back to the topic, I went on a train strike tonight and after puzzles, drawing, and an impromptu music parade, I knew I had to figure out some other activity to avoid any opportunity for the boys to think about trains. So I opened the computer and splurged $7.99 on an iTunes Wee Sing America album after my bestie Studs recommended it because she rocked out to the entire playlist at a Marine ball she recently went to claiming her ability to sing all of the songs played is linked directly to her childhood exposure to the Wee Sing songs. (My brother may disown me for this purchase, but Pick a Bale o' cotton is worth almost all $8.) I figured, we could have a sing-a-long!

And while I was trying to get my 3 and almost 2 year old jazzed about Battle Hymn, Felix body slammed the laptop keyboard and up popped our Mac's Photo Booth.

Eric and I were obsessed with it when we first got our computer. We were like 2 silly middle school kids laughing at fart jokes. (Now my mom is disowning me for using the "f" word, but that's what middle schoolers say...and somehow my 3 year old: "Miles, did you blow gas?" "No Mommy, I farted." Sweet. I think his new imaginary friend, Doughvey, taught him that one. Or maybe Dad...)

Anyway, there has been a lot of fun with photo booth over the years...and I've saved some of my favorites. I won't identify the people below (they are not me and Eric believe it or not), but they know who they are, and I HOPE they are laughing their tails off remembering these pictures from over 4 years ago...

Tonight I discovered there is a new element of fun when you use photo booth with young children. I laughed just as hard...maybe even harder. This was after the boys first kinda freaked out when they saw our faces go wonky. Actually, truth be told, Felix was pretty terrified the whole time and scurried off into the kitchen asking for "hand! hand! hand!"whenever I switched the photo booth effect.

Sometimes, I want to just divorce myself from technology, but other times like tonight, it has given me a great ab work out.

I hope you laugh...

It's Doug Jr!

Hands down, the one of Felix below is my favorite. He's like some freakish Elf...but still wicked cute.

Here I am trying to get all artsy clever and make it look like I was pulling Felix's eye.

Bahahaha!!!

Yeah, yeah...Felix has a square head, but WHO IS THAT FREAK ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT? I think it is Eric? But it's creeping me out like that little boy ghost (read: cardboard cutout of Ted Danson) behind the curtain in "Three Men and a Baby"

It looks like I am inhaling their faces.

People always ask me if I have twins...(is it me, or do I look like Michael Jackson?)

Now go laugh for an hour with someone you love...be silly...it'll make your day. Promise.

RAK: November 2011

2011-11-09T11:11:00.000-05:00

It's that time again!

A little random act of kindness (RAK).

Last month's running training plan for an old high school friend is finally being developed

But what does November have in store?

Well, it was supposed to be something handcrafted and sent to one special lady...

But Etsy and Ebay have let me down in providing me with the supplies I needed.

I saw a cute post on Pinterest about a family doing all sorts of RAKs around town:

Slipping dollar bills between toys at the Dollar Store...

Taping bags of change for vending machines...

And although simple and kind, the public health nazi in me had a problem with encouraging vending machine food and drinks

(even though I have a problem getting 25 cent expired Pop cans from my office's machine)

And I have this fear that all dollar store toys are doused in lead, so I'd probably want to stick dollars next to the gift wrap or tissue paper...but that's not nearly as fun.

Pay for someone else's tolls?

Um, have any of you HEARD about the price gouging on the new 1-85 optional toll lane?

Volunteer?

Drop off baked goods at a neighbor's door step?

I just didn't "feel" any of these ideas.

(In part because I'm still pissed at the Internet for not providing me with the supplies I need for what I originally intended to do.

I blame Al Gore)

But then, as I was writing my week's 52 week's of Mail letter, I got some inspiration.

Google Reader.

Oh, have you heard? I'm obsessed with Justin Timberlake, naps, seltzer water, Trader Joe's organic olive oil popcorn, and Google Reader.

Last week I did a massive clean-up of all of my blogs: reorganized folders, unsubsribed from a ton of sites, and added a few new ones.

Good thing...since joining Pinterest, I have even less time at night to read blogs.

One of my folders is called "Almost Personal". What it contains is a list of 30 blogs of people who are not really my friends (ie, they have no idea who I am or what I looke like), but I wish were my friends. You know, other moms' blogs who are far more witty and popular...and have inspirational words of wisdom and many of them have crafty home businesses--but they all focus their blogs on the journey of being or becoming a mom.

In the blogging world, it's very easy to stumble upon someone else's life and anonymously subscribe (read: stalk).

The reason I keep their blogs is that they make me laugh, tear up at times, and most post things that make me go "I TOTALLY GET YOU! I WISH WE WERE FRIENDS!"

Is this starting to sound desperate? I mean, I have the most amazing friends...and they are not imaginary...promise!

There have been only a handful of times that randoms have contacted me from my blog--mostly to ask me about torticollis (oh, bee tee dubs, Felix is going back for more PT--don't get me started), but some have sent me really wonderful messages about connecting to my story, struggles, and joy.

Those little random notes of kindness have always made my day.

So, for November, I am going to contact all 30 of the other mom blogs I subscribe to ~~stalk~~, and let them know that I appreciate their writing and posting: RNK--random notes of kindess. I was going to contact 1 a day (30 days hath September, April, June and NOVEMBER!), but I'm on day 9 and have only written to 1.

Ooops! 29 to go...

Dental Addendum...

2011-11-03T19:28:00.000-04:00

More reason I love our dentist.

Miles got a letter in the mail today:

If I start posting this kind of excitement to Facebook and my blog, help us all come high school graduation!

My pride is teeming.

Psalms 81:10:" . . . open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

2011-11-03T13:18:00.000-04:00

First dentist visit "Miles-"tone complete!

I wish I had one of those cute pictures where you could see Miles happily lying in the pediatric dentist chair while they cleaned his teeth...but I was only in ear shot of my terrified 3 year old, and was told by one of the handful of 20 something year old, attractive dental staff not to make eye contact. In reality, I was hardly paying mind to my crippling anxiety because I was ripping Felix off of the magazine display he scaled repeatedly in an attempt to grab the fake fall decorations on top that included a bunch of small berries. "Mommy! BERRIES!" And then I heard, "I WANT MY MOMMY!" at which point, Felix, taking that superhero costume he wore on Halloween too seriously, bolted back to where Miles was located while screaming: "MI-YO!!! MI-YO!!! CRYING!!!"

I caught him before any contact, and finally kept him busy with the old school 80's arcade games they had in the waiting room.

I did overhear some discussion about Miles's astronaut costume...something about lollipops, flashlights, and lots of "you are such a brave boy!"

Miles crept back out, toy airplane and stickers in hand, and the hygienist said he got a full cleaning AND fluoride treatment. Ah, an early Christmas miracle!

He also came back with a rubber duckie for Felix, and an extra sticker for the baby boy in mommy's tummy.

ERRR, what?

Yeah, apparently he told the hygienist that his mommy has a baby in his tummy. I think my best friend being pregnant, and his close friend's mom having twins is getting him all uterus obsessed. On the way home, he told me he wanted me to have 2 babies. I told him, verbatim, "my pelvis is too small." His response: silence. Sometimes, you need to go with the truth to confuse them and keep 'em quietly wondering. (And for now, I'm all about toasting other preggos with Verde margaritas like I did last night. No vacancies right now, mkay?)
Felix got a mouth "check" and didn't dismember any of the staff. Yahoo! No lawsuits or tetanus shots!

Although we aren't always good about the morning brushing, the night brushing and flossing is doing the trick. We still aren't going to switch to fluoride toothpaste because Miles doesn't completely spit out the paste, and Felix just inhales it, so we will stick with Berry Burt's Bees.
I'm gonna come clean. I really didn't want to take the boys to this appointment. They do FAR better when Dad is around because I am like the ultimate security blanket. But Eric's schedule didn't accommodate, so I went in feeling a huge sense of anxiety. I just convinced myself that it was okay if we walked out with a mere tooth counting; I was told many kids don't get a cleaning the first visit.

I did my due diligence and researched (excessively) different offices. There was the allure of the new pediatric dentist office down the road that has this incredibly modern "feel" to the office and "gimmicks," but sometimes, I don't trust those external queues of "greatness." I also heard that the staff was not particularly nice and doesn't handle fearful kids well. And although they had 3 cute, young, male pediatric dentists, I just knew Miles would respond better to females.

So I opted for the practice with a Jr Varsity website--functional enough to provide all the information I need, but not flashy enough to make me suspect of what's really going on. Dr Christine Scott's office was very close by, and I heard over and over from other moms how awesome she was with kids. The whole place had a "home" kind of feel to it. And the receptionist may just be the nicest person in Georgia. She had great advice on how to approach the appointment with Miles, and when we came in, was just so fantastic about getting down to the boys' level, making them feel at home, etc. The assistants came out, did some introductory work, and then gently escorted Miles back in a way that prevented a total panic attack on his part.

All in all, it was a pretty painless experience...

...it was the tantrum OUTSIDE of the office that Miles threw, as Felix went full speed ahead into the parking lot, that got my blood pressure going again. (What kid demands to go back into the dentist office?)

Until May, I can let the dentist anxiety go. Phew.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...

2011-10-31T13:12:00.000-04:00

NOT corduroy and a spider.

COSTUME FAIL!

I spent all this money on costumes (okay, I shelled out $16 for 2 used costumes at a consignment sale) because YOU, Mr Miles, wanted to be corduroy, and YOU, Mr Felix, love spiders...and you rejected them from the get go. It was almost as if I were asking you both to wear a religious hair shirt or something.

Thank jeebus for next fall's consignment sale (re-sell!)...
Kudos to Nuncle and AunT (ya for the b-day astronaut costume)
Huzzah for Studs (she sent a link with cute last minute Halloween costumes)
Bravo for The Felt Frog on Etsy (I bought an amazingly inexpensive, homemade sticky Superman patch!)
Shout out for hand-me-down blazer and button down from Miles
Three cheers for black electrical tape and Mama's mad mathematical taping skills (Dad's costume was free AND clever...it's pumpkin Pi, folks...use your imagination on the pumpkin part.)

THE BEARD WILL GE BONE BY SUNDAY! HOORAY!!! Sad XC season is coming to a close, but every year that thing seems to get longer.

Tonight marks the 4th time we are dressing up for Halloween. I keep reminding Eric to tell the teachers at school that yes, My littlest IS bathed each night, but the Aveda products I've styled his hair with are not coming out. He smells like a walking Van Michael's Salon. (Could be worse!)

I feel like this year was a turning point. I barely got away with forcing them to wear costumes I elected after doing Jedi mind tricks, reverse psychology, and "one potato, two potato..."

Previously, we could dress the boys up like little dolls without even a fuss. Miles's first year he was a pumpkin for all of 2 seconds, and then just wore pajamas with a Halloween theme:

Please, the look on his face in the previous 2 pictures is AWESOME!!!

The 2nd year, we repeated our idea, and had him wear glow in the dark PJs from his Aunt Heather and Uncle Ryan. (Oh, there is that orange shirt you wear all of the time, Ali...you mean you wore it THIS Halloween, too? Post forthcoming)

And then I discovered Etsy, and purchased an awesome chef outfit for Miles, which we kindly let a neighbor borrow this year.

And my mom helped make a Maki roll out of our little girl...er, I mean boy. Ya for the first and only year we will be able to coordinate outfits! And the only year my son will dress up like a girl...until he hits high school and it all of a sudden becomes funny to dress up like a girl. Not that Maki rolls have gender, but the wasabi and ginger headband, and the fact that Felix was an Ali baby doppelganger, just made you question the contents of his diaper.

But this year, even after the initial costume revolt, I think we pulled of a pretty good pair. Astronaut and Clark Kent. Unfortunately, Clark hated his glasses...I don't blame him. He'll be getting those for REAL, along with a mouth full of metal and a face full of acne soon enough. Genetics...

And just because this picture makes me laugh...Felix was not about to set foot in a spider costume, or wear glasses, but he readily stole Miles's NASA hat and wore it around. And then decided he'd hang out by our friends' shed and INHALE a hot dog. It was like an identity crisis--Clark Kent, meets superman, meets Sally Ride, meets Kobyashi (sorry, had to mix in a girl astronaut because I think he still looks like me as a kid.)

Oh, and it also marks the first year our kids are really getting candy, and probably the last year we can strategically throw much of it out...and by throw it out, I mean throw it straight into our mouths.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It took WAY too long to do that in alternating colors.

Tantrum: photo reflection

2011-10-28T08:00:00.004-04:00

One of my good friends had a post some time ago that showed her son during what we lovingly call in our home "llama drama", fussing, melting...TANTRUMS!

It's not that I want to remember these moments filled with tears, but part of my goal in taking pictures of our family is to document all the different aspects: good, bad, and salty.

Felix has a flare for the dramatic (taking after his brother), and has started throwing his body to the ground in an Oscar worthy manner, which gets me slightly panicked when that "ground" is a concrete driveway.

But then I turn convert some of the pictures into black and white, and for some strange reason, my heart aches a little more.

Funny how that happens.

Trying this online blog party...not sure a pictorial tantrum post was the best one to choose for this opportunity...but it's just an accurate slice of motherhood!

Embrace the Camera: Halloween 2011

2011-10-27T07:34:00.001-04:00

The boys' Halloween parade was first thing yesterday morning. They traipsed around the high school campus to trick-or-treat in the different departments and fill their bags with all sorts of candy (that Eric and I will steal and eat when the go to bed--except for the goldfish and fruit leather...and maybe a pack of M&Ms and the dum dum lollies. This is the last year we can probably get away with this kind of robbery. And I just happened to make their first dentist appointment next week.)

As you can see, Eric and I got a few pictures with the boys. When candy is involved, no one wants to stand still.

That, and my "photographer" doesn't have the knack for "timing." (see below) To be fair, my children were over the Prom Picture Party and just wanted c-a-n-d-y.

Pretty much all of you have seen the plethora of other Halloween photos on Facebook already...but I can't do an official Halloween post until next week!

Babies Don't Keep

2011-10-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

I know we've all read this poem, but it seemed especially fitting for me this past week. I love watching the boys as they develop and grow...but do any of you toddler moms find yourselves missing your babies?

Jinxed

2011-10-23T15:08:00.003-04:00

Jinxed, or Happy Accident. I couldn't decide on the title, so I flipped a diaper.

Jinxed it is.

I mean, I post about warding off germs, and Felix gets one "aitch-e-el-el" of an ear infection. Two non consecutive days home from school and a treatment with third string antibiotics. (I buckled and spent an extra $2.99 to get it flavored with high fructose corn syrup, trans fatty, cancer causing strawberry elixir. Okay, I don't know anything about the ingredients, but the lady at the Walgreen's drive-through was sooo nice, and looked like I could trust her when she offered. I mean, she said that she just flavored another omniceph with it earlier in the day, and as far as she knows, that kid isn't in the PICU, yet. What I do think is that the "flavor" is probably just a bunch of ADHD causing dye and sugar...Felix apparently doesn't care and takes each dose like a champ.)

The thing is, Felix isn't a"melter" like Miles when sick. Miles gets fussy, but in a helpless "melty" way. Miles is a Mama's boy through and through. I mean, his phrase du jour is "Mommy...I need you!" I hear it at least 5 times a day. One might think he is incapable of doing things like spooning his own oatmeal. Or walking without holding your hand. In fact, someone today asked me (right after trying to convince me that my boys were twins): "so he (pointing to Miles) is the younger one, right?" Nope. I'm holding the older one, and the younger one is ready to go back into the Goodwill donation center with you and work. And yes, he'll say "hi and bye" and freak me out because there is very little stranger danger going on.

When Felix gets sick, at least not that lethargic "oh my God my child is dying in my arms sick" we have had 1 time, he gets downright angry. And when he gets an ear infection, he gets angry and physically abusive.

And not in a hitting or biting way, in a "I am going to throw my 24+ lbs around while you try to hold me. In fact, I'm going to kick, scream, and attempt a backward swan dive into whatever blunt object might be within diving distance. BUT, if you put me down, I'll arch my back, and ask for you to pick me up. So we can go through this painful exercise all again. ALL DAY."

What is the same about both boys is that they demand when you hold them that you stand up and MOVE. Been like that since birth. I'm just like, "PLEASE can I sit and rock you for a spell?"

First problem: we never invested in a rocker.

Second problem: we've always caved and done the baby shuffle standing up. Sometimes, hours on end. Children are creatures of habits, but my thighs and arms, now sinewy sticks, need a break.

But I mean, at least let me cuddle with you in the comfort of a chair or something?

Nope, never. Must.Be.Standing.

Does this count as toddler colic? If so, can I get an award? Or a rocking chair?

(Eric's response: "stop feeling sorry for yourself.")

So Felix goes all Greg Louganis on us all of the time when he has an ear infection, refuses to take Motrin, and somehow expects us to channel Jack Hanna and figure out the best hold for the wild beast. There is no other way to explain how he flips backward in your arms and tests your bicep strength. I'm calling up Arnold Shwarzy and asking him to add holding an ear infected Felix to the presidential fitness test. After singing every song in hopes of distraction, shuffling around the room, readjusting to avoid blunt trauma to his head or your private parts, he usually settles in the torticollis/uterus hold where he shoves his bum out, cocks his head in the crook of your arm, and lets his arms dangle. It's charming. I have to get a picture some day. Prior to a year it was kind of cute, now it looks like toddler origami.

At the same time your heart bleeds for the child, you also want to protect yourself from things like limbs to the groin, or him successfully leaping out of your arms onto his head (Have I mentioned he can for real life Mary Lou Retton somersault on the ground and in his crib?)

I think I've used all my famous people references for today.

Back to the ear infection. I promise it leads us to the happy accident.

So--Felix is miserable. Loud. Abusive. And downright just not pleasant to be around. He also likes to repeat "No no no no no no no!" over and over as he does his alligator rolling in your arms. If I had a limb free, I'd get the Flip an document it just so you know I am not exaggerating.

We go back in 2 weeks to the pedi to get an ear re-check. The infection is in the ear that his tube fell out. Grrrreeaat. I don't know what that means, but we go back to the pediatric ENT in December. Yeah, and we are pretty sure his torticollis is doing an encore. Sheesh!

What this all means is that our nights and some of our days have been spent trying to manage a really uncomfortable boddler (baby-toddler. Not quite a full fledged toddler, but certainly not a baby!), and the sympathy pained brother who cries wolf and demands just as much attention. So my plans to finish things, like birthday gifts, was sidelined. But I did finish yet ANOTHER set of bunny/twin hats in time for a friend's shower this week.

(Is the government putting flouride AND clomid in the water now?). Yet, I still had to finish a monkey for a 1-year-old's birthday gift this weekend.

I was on the LAST arm, just getting to the thumb (and then all I needed was a tail), when I ran out of yarn. Rats! So I piled the boys into the car to head to Lucifer's Lair--aka Michael's Craft Store. I was armed with Annie's bunnies as currency for the boys.

All around, bad decision. I barely make it to the yarn section because of the 11 trillion distractions for children 3 and under. The boys were racing the aisles while I looked and looked and looked and looked for that same yarn I had purchased not too long ago.

Gone. Nowhere to be found.

What am I going to do? I mean, I could easily skip the tail. I had a dog and cat with no tail, and I'm not knitting an opossum or anything...but the THUMB?

HELLO! OPPOSABLE THUMB! Kinda like the defining characteristic of a monkey, right?

I had zero time to start a new monkey. For no reason but because I had a new Michael's app with a 50% off coupon, I picked up some really cool yarn to make Miles's and Felix's monkeys, and a very inexpensive component for next month's random act of kindness.

I already knew I had to ask for 2 transactions because if not, I'd get 50% off my $1 purchase, and pay full price for the yarn.

SWEET! The line was short. But the lady in front of me was returning a CLEARANCE item. Really? And then everyone in the store piled behind me. The Annie's crackers lost their charm: Felix shoved his down his cleavage, and they started to come out his pant leg and lodge into his diaper (I found one next diaper change smudged in his tiddly bits), and Miles ate all of the "brown ones" and refused to eat the tan ones. Great. I have a food hoarder and reverse racist on my hands. I was in a panic. I pulled out $1 snakes from the front area and told them to play nicely until we could get buy them and go home: snakes and inexpensive item in one transaction, expensive yarn and 50% off coupon app in the other.

But then the boys ran to the Halloween display beyond the register and started scaling the scarecrow and humping a huge glittery pumpkin. No joke. Full on scaling and humping. You can guess who was doing what.

Clearance woman finally finished after management was called in, and the line behind me was growing by the minute.

(DEAR MICHAEL'S: PLEASE EMPLOY MORE PEOPLE SO YOU CAN OPEN MORE THAN ONE REGISTER! YOU HAVE GOT TO HAVE THE MONEY IN YOUR BUDGET. FROM THE LOOKS OF IT, EVERY MIDDLE AGED WOMAN IN SWEAT PANTS IS BUYING COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF CRAFT SUPPLIES EVERY DAY. Maybe Cain can add something about this to his 9-9-9 disastrous economy plan. 9-9-9-9. At all times, 9 Michael's registers open. Rant done. Apologies for the political jab...sort of.)

People behind me were whispering--was it my unruly children? Clearance woman? The fact the bottom of their shoes were coated with tan Annie's bunnies?

I don't know, but as soon as it was my turn, I shoved all the items on the counter and did 1 transaction. So glad I saved 50 cents. Insert sarcasm.

I got home, still without a plan on what to do about the monkey, until Eric suggested just making new limbs in a different yarn.

I was desperate, and doubtful. But we looked at my stash of yarn, and decided it might work. I could make arms, ears, and a tail in a few nights and we would be good.

But then the ear infection.

So the day of the party, I still had an i-cord tail and assembly whip stitching to do. But no time. In the card, I mentioned the 2nd part of the gift was "still in production."

As "luck" would have it, Felix was so sick, we couldn't make it to the party anyway. (And I missed one of the biggest XC meets that was hosted at Marist. And the neighborhood Halloween party. And we enjoyed the beautiful weather for all of 3 minutes because of the sickness. And I'm pretty sure I said "I am the worst Mom" about 10 times after losing my patience and getting angry because all I had to eat from an early wake-up until 6pm that day was a tiny organic smoothie from Trader Joe's. It was not my best day.)

But last night after the boys were in bed, I finished the gift--so now tomorrow we can bring a finished "Oliver" to school for a special 1-year-old!

(Like the background artwork? Courtesy of Miles! A numerous day project at school painting on wood with acrylics. Pretty nice, eh? And he knew it would match the new monkey...so smart)

Eric and I agreed that the mix of pattern and solid actually looks really cute!

Unlike Tortellini the Elefante, I like naming each of the monkeys. I've already made a Ned, Madelyn, and Jack. Oliver: done...now to finish Maggie, Ava!

I just have to stop writing about germs and sickness. (Do you think if I write about getting any anonymous check for a million dollars it will happen?? I mean, that's what that whole Secret book I never read was about, right? I'll let you know if it happens. I'll be posting from a new iPad 2, while en route to a year long exploratory journey across the country with our boys in trekked out RV driven by some guy named Zeus.)

Children of the 21st Century

2011-10-23T08:36:00.000-04:00

Whenever I open the Mac, Felix screams...

"MAHNA!!" (as he points to the screen)

Translation--let's Skype with my grandmother.

It both amazes and scares me at the same time...

Warding off the Germs

2011-10-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

I'm stressed.

I know my immune system is shot.

I just want to quit and pick my family up for a long hike throughout Canada. (Maybe it's because I stayed up until 1am watching a PBS documentary on these 2 dudes 700+ day trek to follow Marco Polo's voyage across the Middle East and Asia?)

And I have this feeling that the decrease in my immune system is starting to affect the boys' systems. I mean, totally not biologically validated, but just sayin'.

We narrowly escaped the first GI bug at their school (Praise jeebus. No projectile oatmeal facials...yet), but seem to have all caught that first little winter bug.

We've tried to avoid it...

Flu shots? CHECK!
Lots of fluids? CHECK!
Good night's sleep? CHECK!
Lots of fruits and veggies? Jr Varsity CHECK! We are good on the fruit. And generally Felix is pretty good on the veggies if it is Trader Joe's organic foresome or a bowl full of marinara sauce. But Miles is a fruit and peanut butter kid. You know the book Bread and Jam for Francis...it might as well be called Bread and Peanut Butter (or Nutella) for Miles. Except he isn't getting tired of it...and I think is now down to 2 food groups. *This is proof that even if you feed your kids things like pureed dragon fruit and kale chips when they are little that they can still become picky eaters!
Elderberry Juice? CHECK! (haven't started it yet, but read about it recently and am going to give this voodoo potion a try.)

This past week, 3 of my friends and a family member has had a kid with an ear infection. PTSD over here...I hope Felix gets through the season without one! But I have a sense that the boys are getting their first cold finally. And me. And Eric.

Word on the street (or a lunch time update from my husband) is that kids are dropping like flies at school with fevers.

This is when working mom guilt becomes too much to handle. Of all weeks, my work load seems to hit fever pitch. The one person I manage is taking the rest of the week off, and I am *praying* my kids don't have to stay home from school...when in reality, I'd love to say "to heck with work, let's have a sick day and cuddle!"

But I can't.

And I hate it.

So...we are going for full strength Sambucus juice for the kids tonight...some extra caffeine for me to finish my work after they go to bed...a lot of prayer...and the hope that this Mama (and Papa) can find some more balance next week.

Embrace the Camera: Y Chromosomes (and a forehead vein)

2011-10-13T10:43:00.001-04:00

Click the button above for rules and to play!

And yes, Eric's head vein below is REAL. Reason #401 why I love the man.

This week, it was time to get Sasquatch in the front of the camera with our 1 3/4 year old people eater. (Yup. we are back to the yearly beard growing until XC season is done. Paul Bunyan seems the obvious choice for Halloween, no? And yes, Felix is still a cannibal.)

Outtake!!

Kick me out of the club, but I had to end with this picture of Miles's black eye, finally healing well over a week after his fight with the playground bench.

RAK: October 2011

2011-10-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Nothing says RAK like a delivery of fresh flowers from a far away friend thinking of our family during some recent turbulence.

It's October! Another month for a RAK. Remember that disjointed post from last month?

This month I turned my sites toward someone who I knew would not be expecting anything from me, save a "poke" or a "like." (Really, does anyone actually "poke?" I just imagine a red hot metal rod lancing me in my side.) You know, a Facebook "friend" who I am probably only still in connection with thanks to Mark Elliot Zuckerberg. His code name is "JM."

JM is 1 year younger than I am, and we went to high school together. We both dabbled in the arts (whoah Nelly--you were artsy fartsy??? Yup. Let me first state that it wasn't studio art. Although, I somehow got the senior award for pottery II--a class I never took. But I LOVED singing and acting. There was a time I wanted to go to a conservatory for college. And then I realized I didn't want to live in squalor or sleep on the casting couch--total stereotyping! Really, I just wasn't *that* talented. My brothers and sisters-in-law upstaged me anyway. And besides, I needed to spend the next decade of my life being too afraid to go to medical school.)

Wasn't this about JM? How narcissistic of me!

Yes, JM. He's such a cutie. The kind of kid who wore a hemp necklace with beads embedded in it, played the guitar, and channeled the 70s vibe during the 90s grunge movement. Much like half of my high school, I am now friends with him on Facebook.

A few months ago I started realizing that every single morning I would specifically look out for one of his posts.

You see, every single morning JM posts some sort of inspirational quote or message. Sometimes it is as simple as "Good morning beautiful people! Enjoy the day!" And sometimes it is a quote from the "Lama." I found myself sort of ritualistically looking for it right before I got out of my car and walked into work. It was like a little extra push to get me to face what has unfortunately become a toxic office environment. (All 15.5 people left)

I also noticed that he posted a lot about his running. It appeared he was training for something, but I didnt' know what.

Insert: LIGHT BULB!

I decided that for October, I was going to contact JM, totally out of the blue, thank him for his daily inspirations, and then offer him a free training plan for whatever race he wanted, courtesy of High Miles Running's famous Coach Heintz. (Good thing I'm married to the guy and could get him to donate his services without much more than a promise of a hamstring massage.)

So, I did it. Pulled the Facebook stalker move, looked at his info page, got his GMail, and contacted JM. I explained in what I am sure was a mess of a message that for no other reason than him giving me a smile and motivation every day, I wanted to do something nice in return.

And he wrote back--shocked, but also delighted! Unfortunately, he's sidelined right now with shin splints, but will get his plan once he heals some more.

So far I am 2 for 2. I have at least 2 more months to fulfill. But at this rate, I think I might try to keep it going. 52 weeks of mail and 12 months of RAKs. Us type A's need long-term homework.

Still strategizing for November...I have the "who," just thinking of the "what."

"Cliff Hanger...hanging from a Cliff...and that's why they call him Cliff Hanger!"

If you can tell me where that quote/song is from, I'll first confirm you have children, because if you don't, I know this will make no sense. Next, I'll ensure that you are a recipient of either a RAK or 52 weeks of mail. I know--just call me Oprah. First it's a hand written letter, next I'll be giving away electric cars.

Keeping the USPS in business...

2011-10-12T14:58:00.000-04:00

Calling all cool kids!

Wanna keep the postal service in business?

Do you love getting snail mail that doesn't go straight to the recycling bin?

Do you remember how to hold a pen and do that thing called "hand write a letter?"

I just signed up for the 52 Weeks of Mail challenge.

It started on October 7, and runs for...wait...you know it...52 weeks!

I have 2 more days to write and send my first letter, or I'm pretty sure my membership is revoked.

That means you only have 2 days to officially start.

(You know-I have no idea if there are any real rules to this whole movement, but I have to give myself parameters, or I'll take advantage of myself. Like full on, trying for third base on a first date advantage. Wait, this is getting too weird now.)

I heard about this from my Etsy connection ~~obsession~~, Christina Williams. AND if you go to her shop, she is offering a discount on her greeting cards this month! Yahoo!

(Although, many of you will be getting commissioned artwork from my budding young artists.)

Ready...set...WRITE!

I'll try to add some sort of gadget on my sidebar with my progress...I'm hoping blogger has something already developed for me to hijack.

You Don't Have To Take My Word For It...

2011-10-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

Da-na-na!

Two words: Reading Rainbow (RR)

(I KNOW there are a couple of you who know exactly how to "sing" the synthesized da-na-na! up above.)

I didn't spend a lot of time in front of the TV growing up, but did enjoy me some good PBS programming. Top of the list was Reading Rainbow (right behind Sesame Street, Mr Roger's, 3-2-1 Contact, and Square One).

I kinda had a crush on the host. Right after George from The Beatles.

Oh LeVar! Clearly your time on RR was far better than than that show were you wore a spray painted banana clip.

I found a DVD set that magically appeared on Miles and Felix's amazon wish list. Let's hope Santa is adept at Amazon.com. And I think that I kinda want the set just as much as Miles and Felix, who in truth, don't want it, and don't have much exposure to LeVar in the first place...

Except for the RR YouTube video I found highlighting the book, Imogene's Antlers.

It was one of those awful Potty moments I had this summer when I plopped both boys down on the cans, and searched on the computer for a video to hold their attention long enough for some sort of miracle pee or poop. We had just been reading Imogene the other day, and I remembered, "Hey! That's totally a RR book...I wonder if they have episodes on YouTube?"

Do.They.Ever. We've only watched part of one with Imogene's Antlers, but that's when I got the idea of searching for a DVD set.

I can easily be swayed into complaining about potty training, early rising, and picky eating...but one thing I LOVE about both of my boys is their book obsession. Miles may not be holding a pencil correctly, or doing much more than some interpretative Jackson Pollack for writing...but his fascination with books grows, and he now asks more and more what certain words "says." (No Miles, you mean what does that say, not says!) He also puts together letters (and numbers) with his bath toys and asks, "What does this says?" It's usually something like "R2D2", so explaining that it isn't an actual word has been difficult. Yesterday, I saw Miles reading to Felix, dragging his finger on the book's text saying, "Felix--this says 'BE QUIET FRANKIE!'"

I haven't had one of those, sign my kid up for Harvard moments in some time, but I was like--WORD! Pre-reading skillz! At least let's look into a Ju-Co next year along with Pre-K!

(That dream was punctured when I met a proud papa at the park this weekend who told me his incredibly cute daughter, who just turned 3, can count to 50, write out her entire name, recite her address, and I think she just got her MENSA membership card. Oh, and she wore underwear. Thank God Miles, in his pull-up, was still sporting his monster black eye and got the entire park's sympathy vote. Felix was, well, Felix, and that proud papa told me with a personality like that, to get him an agent...and then Felix yelled "GO!!!" to the MENSA toddler at the top of the slide and tried to push her down. Ooops.)

So, here is our little quasi Reading Rainbow list of favorite books at the moment. But you don't have to take my word for it... I was hoping to get some cute video of Miles telling me about the stories, but he was slightly uncooperative as you'll suffer through 3 minutes of below. Next time I'll bribe him with Nutella.

Press Here

Miles: I love this book! I just got it from my Mahna, and then bought it for my school to share. It's simple. You press dots and they magically do things like fall to the end of the page or multiple.
Ali: And by magic, he means the sheer changing of a page: when you tap a dot 3 times on one page, and then 3 dots are drawn on page 2...it is like wizardry. But seriously, this book is SO much fun. It's the most interactive non-battery operated fun we have had in some time.

The Boy who Wouldn't Swim

Miles: I think it's funny that the boy's name in the book is Eric. In one page, he is so afraid to jump, he curls his toes under the ladder as his moms pry his body off of the edge.
Ali: I'm not a huge fan of this books because it is a tad wordy and contrived, but the idea of overcoming fear is a big one in Miles's life, so I am remaining tolerant of it being in our rotation a lot.

Animalia

Miles: I've had this book for about a year, and it is still one of my favorites. I can find Graeme in every page, and always have to ask why he is selling tickets. Always.
Ali: I love love this book. Everything about it. There isn't a plot, but it has just amazing illustrations, is a more refined where's waldo, and we are always discovering new things on each page.

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

Miles: This is one of my favorite books and Felix's now, too! I love finding Tommy and laughing at the cracked eggs.
Ali: Here is another ode to Reading Rainbow book. It's a really good read, and there is something about Steven Kellogg's illustrations that appeal to me. We have a handful of other Kellogg illustrated books, but they are a little too advanced for Miles right now.

And just because my time is running short, and I'm 2 seconds short of throwing this computer out the window tonight because I cannot upload a video easily, here is a pictorial list of some other favorites on our rotation.

Still on the list, and the book he mentions if you ask what his favorite is:

(Or as Miles calls it" TRYYYYYING to Poop!" Emphasis on the "TRYYYYYING" He is so funny when calls it this.) Poop is funny. Poop is interesting. And did you know a two-humped camel makes a two-humped poop?

The 2 noteworthy elements of this lengthy video.

Our getting Felix to say "Charley Harper." Um, cuteness overload.
Asking Miles to say "You Don't Have to Take My Word For It" at the end. Just like his mom, he is AWFUL at that whole verbatim thing.

Embrace the Camera: Vintage Blanket Outtakes

2011-10-06T08:42:00.001-04:00

You know the drill by now...(and if not, click the button above to see the rules!) I was especially ragged today, but managed to keep my work clothes on and not immediately change into leggings and a running shirt when I got home. Oh...wait...I wore leggings to work. (I c-a-n-n-o-t give them up--no matter what Tim Gunn says.)

In honor of it being exactly a week since my grandmother died (and to lighten my mood) I thought I would do some outtakes for this week's Embrace The Camera of goofing with the boys and the blanket/quilt I got from my grandmother:

I hope even a little lip was turned up on your end, because I smile every time I see these two pictures. And although my grandmother was not a jokster, she had a GREAT smile and laugh, and the second to last thing she said to me the day before she died was "how are those little boys?"

Insert: tears.

***

For all you Embrace the Camera lurkers, you don't need to scroll down and read the rest...it's just the explanation of the quilt and blanket starring in the next few pictures. I've composed what seems like 100 posts to talk about my grandmother, but I'm not "there" yet, so this will have to suffice until I can really put into words what I want to say. Losing my grandfather, a pregnancy, and now my grandmother in a little over 3 months has been rough...and I know I keep mentioning it all, but part of my processing this is coming to terms with it all through writing. Bear with me.

(This is what happens when you ask a 3 year old to "cuddle" with you like you do every night so Daddy can take a picture. No, I'm not smelling his pull-up...)

The quilt was handmade by my grandmother, Lila. She made it for me when I probably was about Miles's age. In fact, I have a duplicate quilt at my parents house because I wore out this quilt and loved it so much. I also have a more "adult" quilt that she made for me during my middle school and high school years. My parents have quilts, brothers, aunt/uncle/cousins...I honestly have no idea how many she made--but they were all done completely by hand on this enormous quilting frame in her basement.

It might not be screaming testosterone, but I think it just fits Miles's room so perfectly. He actually loves the underside with the hundreds of little flowers. We use it at night to cover both of our legs during story time, and then both curl up under it during lights out/story/song time. I know Eric sits at the edge of the bed, but I *have* to jump under that quilt and snuggle up close to Miles. The quilt still has the same sort of smell it did when I was growing up. (And yes, I wash it regularly!)

Miles! Don't kiss with your eyes open! (And it's not even the black one!)

The white/pink/blue blanket was actually a baby shower gift she received before she had her first son, my Dad--meaning it's well over 60 years old. It was made by another family member. (It's not quilting, but some other technique that I hope my mom will put a name to in the comments below.) I got it at my baby shower for Miles, and since then, both boys have used it as their favorite crib blanket. The weight, size, and shape are just *perfect.* This was one of the first things I told my grandmother when I saw her for my grandfather's funeral. I realized I had never told her how much it meant to us.

Both blankets also serve us well when we make tunnels in Felix's crib or Miles's bed.

Just me and my boys...and a few well loved blankets. (Miss you Grandmom.)

Wool-y Ballz

2011-10-05T10:29:00.000-04:00

Got-cher attention with THAT subject, no?

It's no secret that I'm obsessed with Etsy.

If ~~when~~ I win the lottery, I'm not buying a mansion, or doing fiscally responsible things like saving for college, or buying my parents their dream house, or outfitting my brothers with vintage guitar collections--I'm going on an Etsy shopping BINGE. Heck, I might just buy Etsy myself! Stop! Don't hit unsubscribe in your reader! First, I don't play the lottery, and second I would probably shove all the money under my mattress and dole it out very responsibly to family and friends, just ensuring that my kids could go to college for free, and that Eric and I could visit the Canadian Rockies.

I've purchased so much fun and creative homemade goods from Etsy (most recently the fish/birthstone grandmother necklace that if I had time to, I'd link you back to the post right...about...here. But alas, I'm lazy; and have a search function if you're really interested.)

What's even cooler is a) when I become "Friends" with a seller. Because I try to do that. It's like friendship prostitution maybe--buying "goods" in hope of friendship? No, but I really do try to make connections with the artists. And b) when I'm ALREADY friends with a totally rad and hip seller.

Enter Bog Berry Handicraft. The brainchild of my childhood friend, Brooke, who makes these amazing wool dryer balls.

To "quoteth her:" These felted wool balls are made with a core of beautiful, local ( to PA), freshly carded wool batting from Lancaster County PA. (Ali's interjection--I had to take a picture of them in a PA potato basket of course!) The balls with colors or embellishments feature additional wool purchased from a company in Maine with an amazing philosophy and admirable environmental and commercial practices. Wool dryer balls reduce dryer time- the more you use, the faster your clothes dry! They also soften clothes, eliminate static,wrinkles, and when scented with an essential oil, can give your clothes a lovely subtle fragrance and/or give you that extra protection from germs ( many essential oils are antimicrobial) . These are perfect for users of cloth diapers ( which take notoriously long to machine dry).

This is the eco friendly alternative to dryer sheets which contain harmful chemicals and do not bio-degrade.

Abridged pitch:

Lower your electric bill!
Do something good for our environment!
Great for babies!
Great for dogs and cats to play with!
My dryer balls are not made of yarn...they will not unravel.
Great for juggling! Do you juggle?
Apply a few drops of lavender or cedar essential oil and use to scent drawers or repel moths!
These make a great gift for baby showers, your favorite earthy newlyweds, or that friend with lots of laundry and little time ( you!) ...anyone you know really..
Each set comes in a cloth bag- perfect for gift giving or just to store them.

I've been wanting to get a set for ages, and finally got around to ordering some. Brooke pulled through and even put in 2 special ones with an "M" and "F" in for the boys. And wouldn't you know it...Felix's ball is bigger than Miles's. That girl has some amazing clairvoyance. Ha! (Height, people, I'm talking about height.)

Look how fun they are! And they really do work amazingly well. We didn't use fabric softener or dryer sheets previously, but we did use plastic "knobby" dryer balls that seemed to always crack (that, or Felix ate them). These are perfect, work well, retain the essential oil scents I have pretty well, and really are multi-purpose.

(Not sure potato basket riding his helping his torticollis...)

I *might* be ordering these for holiday gifts...but don't let that stop you from getting some of your own. At least get started on learning how to juggle.

And let me also just add that Brooke is totally awesome. She's one of my oldest friends who I first met at an enrichment camp when we were wee ones. She didn't live in the same town at the time, but I had a sleepover at her house with her two then "baby" sisters, and we got to eat PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE CHIP SAMMIES! Okay, her mom's cool factor exploded. Then she moved to our town, and even better, within walking distance to my house. (Her mom's coolness factor got even hire when she introduced me to Dire Straits and bought her girls Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega for me to play when I came over.)

Brooke was ALWAYS the girl who wore a peace sign...a long, thick hippie braid, and knew every word to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." She was/is gorgeous, and had the cutest little sisters (one of whom had a penchant for farting on our faces when we would scrap around on the floor...I think she models for abercrombie or something now. ha!). One thing I'll always remember about her house was this drawing of an old American Indian's face on the stairwell up to her 2nd floor. At first it kinda creeped me out, and then whenever we went upstairs, I always said "How!" to him in my mind. I never told Brooke, that. I mean, how culturally insensitive was I to think "how!" was the proper greeting for the guy, but it just stuck, and I kinda felt like I needed to acknowledge him each time. Anyway...I digress.

Brooke and my paths actually sort of diverged at the tail end of high school and into college...and then we reconnected through the power of, well, maybe a little ditty called facebook. And I can say that I feel as close to her now as I did when we spent hours hanging up in her room.

She even sent the most amazing box of organic produce to use when Eric was dealing with his whole cancer shmancer thing.

I totally love Brooke--her mission, her values, her interests. It's so cool to have her still as my friend. She's amazing...

And so are her balls.

Note: I received no compensation for this post, paid in full for my balls, and was not threatened or coerced into writing this post. It's completely of my own doing, because Brooke and her balls are worth it!

Bricks and stones may break my bones...

2011-10-04T18:28:00.000-04:00

...and playground benches will give you a shiner.

As if this kid needed anymore ammunition for getting the ladies to swoon.

Kooky foot upon birth resulting in months of PT and a night splint (right foot)

Scratched eye resulting in our first ER trip at about 7 months

Broken leg and cast at a year (left leg)

"Run in" with a princess castle on a summer playdate in 2010

I'm seeing a trend. He may be shy, but I think he's found "his game."

Embrace the Camera: Pillow Cushion

2011-09-29T08:18:00.000-04:00

You know the drill:

1. take a picture of YOU with your kids, spouse, friends, etc. the point of embrace the camera is to get in front of the camera and to document a bit of yourself.

2. link up your POST, not your blog to the Anderson Crew's site (see button above)

3. link back to their blog by a text link or using their button.

A moment or two from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday to snuggle with my people eater.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T07:43:00.000-04:00

Life sized pillow cushion = threatened trips to the ER.

Don't worry.

They signed waivers.

And Felix wears a diaper, and Miles is now wearing pull-ups (ugh)--that counts as protective gear, right?

It's not like we have done this EVERY day after school for the past few weeks or anything...

Knitting: FAIL

2011-09-27T17:57:00.013-04:00

Today's menu: a little humble pie.

I've tried 3 times to make something "knit" for Eric.
~~Scarf x1~~
~~Scarf x2~~
~~Hat x1~~

I need to stick to toy animals and baby hats.

I mean, this doesn't even fit Felix! (And the only way he would sit still was to put PBS on the TV for 10 minutes--thanks Curious George!) We cannot figure out what he looks like...it's almost like a knit bowl cut. Wait a minute...they sell those fake beards on etsy, maybe I can start selling knit bowl cuts? I'll move into mullets, fish tail braids for the gals....nah, I'll just stick with my purchasing power and Etsy.

I did, in fact, follow a very easy pattern I found on ravelry, but might have to keep searching.

Please tell me your laughing...or that you have a doll that needs a cable knit hat/bowl cut. Because at this point, I am not sure it would even fit a newborn.

Takers?

Wrump

2011-09-27T15:53:00.000-04:00

You know those days you open your fridge and wonder...hmmm...where did all the food go?

I kinda feel like that about my "creative" fridge.

Especially in that bottom drawer I call "witty."

It's like I've lost that knack for writing! I'm in a writing slump.

Wrump.

And it's not like I don't have "material."

I mean, who wakes up to their one and a half year old who finds his way into the fridge to get a cold piece of pizza and brings it into your room while you are on the toilet? I admittedly still look at this cell phone picture once a day to generate a smile in the ~~concentration camp~~ office.

Or my husband putting Miles in dirty Felix pants that are WAY too small, and pairs it with wicked witch of the west socks. (Sorry, cell pictures!)

Let's not forget the fact that Miles is just now getting into this whole baby thing, and Eric was congratulated at school because my 3 year old is telling faculty I'm pregnant (I'm not.) Or the fact that whenever we bake, which we have done a lot for new mothers, Miles will say something like "my grandmother is having a baby, and she is screaming for some brownies." I cannot even go into the conversation he had with the childcare director about his anatomy parts, how they are made, what they are for, etc. It's like I've birthed children who have provided me time and time again with Parent's Magazine--the R-rated version.

Anyway, my blogging hasn't been as consistent, or as interesting, or as engaging as I feel like it used to be. I've come up with lots of excuses, the least of which are I just don't have the luxury of time. You know, like ALL that spare time when I had an infant and toddler and was pumping and helping Eric kick cancer's butt. But what I cannot get over is how much more difficult it is for me to compose as it used to be in the past.

The other culprit is facebook. I'm pretty sure if you read this (all 4.5 of you), you are my friend on facebook. So you've seen all of the pictures before, but with an abridged caption. So I kind of feel like I am stealing from myself when I write a full on blog post.

Maybe it is this new regimen of vitamins I'm taking. (Can sublingual methylcobalamin cause brain damage?)

I'm trying to remind myself that blogging is really for me (okay, and my religious following mother), and that just having a chronicling of my journey into motherhood is going to be invaluable someday when I present my sons with 11 volumes of printed blog posts...to which they will pass over to their wives (or husbands, whateves, just as long as their happy), and ask them to store it in a craft closet. Or move it to an attic.

But seriously--I think some of the biggest reasons my blogging mojo has been bruised is because I find myself doing things otherthan blogging at night. My general pattern is--idea creation in the shower or commute. Write at night. Schedule to post the next day. But now at night--I do things like knit, read, and SLEEP. No, really, I've been on this really good streak of getting myself to sleep (not to bed, but actual dream state) a lot earlier. This also means responding to fewer e-mails, trolling facebook and Google Reader less frequently, and generally reducing my risk for glioblastoma by detaching from my phone a bit. Don't worry, it's temporary.

But part of me misses this outlet of writing, so I'm going to go out and try to find my funny again.

Wish me luck. And stick with me--all 4.5 of you. I might even throw in a knock knock joke.

one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater

2011-09-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

"I said Mr Purple People Eater, what's your line?

He said eating purple people, and it sure is fine

But that's not the reason that I came to land

I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band"

What in tarnation is a purple people eater?

Whatever/whoever it is...I think I birthed it. His name is Felix, and he's already giving me a run for my money.

I'm not sure I'd call him "all boy," but perhaps that day he was splashing ferociously in his bath at a mere 3 months and my mom said, "he's going to be a handful" I should have believed her.

And maybe all of those hickies he gave me before he was teething while I would hold him was a sure sign I would have an oral aficionado on my hands.

It floors me how different my boys are--and just at 18+ months apart.

Miles bit at school only a handful of times, and I was MORTIFIED. I think I may have even cried about it at home. He was going to need to go to boarding school, and then next thing you know, we are the subject of 48 hours mystery and how after a vacation in Aruba with the family, Eric and I mysteriously capsize on a family kayak and die, while Miles miraculously survives. You know all deaths in Aruba are murder...

(Of course, I also had to whip stitch my heart back when Miles wasn't even crawling, and a bigger baby crawled by and swatted him in the head for no particular reason.)

How cruel! What negligent parents. My kids will NEVER do that.

Then Felix came along.

He left the baby room last year at childcare being known as the "people eater."
After 1+ year of nursing, I had to stop cold turkey after he shredded the "tap" so badly, that my wince and cry at 1am that mid January night surely woke the street
He bites when he is teething...which you know is constant from about age 7 months until 3 years
He bites out of excitement, boredom, and sometimes anger...but mostly I feel like it's just this impulse he has when he is excited.
Many days I am met with his teacher saying, "he bit a lot today." And on his wrap sheet chronicling the day's events: Biting. :(
He is a swatter. Again, it's usually just out of excitement.

At this point, mortification has turned into defeat. I mean, what can I say when I am met many days with his teachers pointing out his misbehavior? "I am soooo sorry."

I know all the other parents know he's a "biter" and "hitter." And yeah, I take it personally. I put him in the car almost every day and say "Felix, biting hurts." He looks at me like I'm crazy, especially because he's probably like, "mom, where did that come from?" I know that you need to address these issues with toddlers when they happen, but after leaving school knowing he's had a bad biting/hitting day, I say it more to make myself feel better.

There is a quiet chair at school, and I don't *think* Miles has held up residence there a terrible amount of time, but I do know Felix has graduated from the quiet chair to a contained high chair that is faced in the corner. I should bring in a dunce cap, huh?

He certainly isn't modeled this behavior at home. We don't bite in our house, we don't hit or spank, we really don't yell or do much of anything "aggressive."

I'm starting to think it was all the procardia or terbutaline I took while preggo to keep him from delivering earlier than he did. I mean, what else could it be???

And the thing is--he's just the happiest kid. He has his moments, but it's not like he is this angry bully who bites and swats out of malice. It's like he thinks he is constantly at an amusement park doing that whack a mole game. WHACK! And then he looks at you and smiles.

Eric really thinks he gets bored easily. And of COURSE the first thing I want to do when I am bored is bite flesh. Duh.

And I've tried it all: put his hand in his mouth when he bites. Squeeze his cheeks. Tell him it hurts. Use direct language. Redirect. Show him "gentle" hands. (Eric's favorite is firmly saying to him "IMPULSE!" as he winds up to swat). And now we put him in his crib and shut the door for 2 minutes. We always make him apologize, which I guess is good practice, but I am not sure that's the panacea.

I've read some stuff about it being a result of not having the language to express emotions--good and bad. Okay, I sort of buy that, but Miles has always had FAR better receptive than expressive language and didn't resort to wrestling to get his feelings across. And Felix actually has pretty good expressive language.

What makes me laugh is that now in any social situation with other children, I'm pulled in 2 completely different directions: I have one child who is so shy and unwilling to play or enjoy himself without holding your hand, and another one looking to make a friend to become "blood brothers" with by biting. (Actually, in all fairness, Felix has never bit or hit a child he didn't know. He usually just goes up to them and giggles.)

As with all things (except potty training. As of this week, we are starting OVER. And I'm researching schools that allow kids to wear diapers through college.), it's a phase. What's good is that in general, I really love the early toddler age.

I just don't love the biting. And realizing that I need to draft an agreement of understanding in regards to the real and threatened risks of babysitting my child. (So is it now $10-$12/hour AND a tetanus shot if needed?)

You know Fall hasn't divorced you for the year when...

2011-09-17T08:25:00.000-04:00

You pull out the yard equipment and use your 3 and "unders" for child labor.

Could they look any more morose? It's almost as pathetic as those Sarah McLachlan ASPCA ads.

Not sure, but I think he's auditioning for River Dance here...

Good thing our walkway is adequately mowed.

Yeah, those long adult rakes are a little difficult, but nothing a little problem solving cannot solve:

I promise it's not all forced child labor...(and in truth, I'll give you 1 guess who the two boys were actually asked to rake and mow the yard.)

It surely is one of life's simple pleasures being outside without oppressive heat.

Seeing the boys together, even in the simplest moments makes my heart melt.

And in light of a future post on Mad Dawg Felix and his propensity for cannibalism, hitting, and throwing (ugh...)I leave you with one of his favorite past times--experimenting with life and death--bug style. Where did this kid come from? And should I establish a preemptive set up parent-teacher conferences every month at whatever school he enrolls in (rather, lets him attend?)

First--identify an ant:

Next, posture around and show the ant "who is boss," ending in some swift capital punishment.

Rinse and repeat--just to make sure the job has been completed.

Laugh, while your mom's heart bleeds for the poor ant.

Please tell me this ISN'T how Hitler started.

Do you think you can teach Jainism to a 1 1/2 year old?

Stumped

2011-09-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

I'm totally stealing the whole middle text adjustment from another blog.

It's a new month. I wanted to change it up a a little today.

Can you copyright stylistic blog decisions like that? If so, I am totally guilty and will pay any and all fines--as long as it is in the form of knitted monkeys, elephants or beanies. 

***

We've had a year or so of the "whys."

You know, when your children all of a sudden start answering any and all attempts at verbal engagement with "why?"

In the beginning, I feel like it is test driving a new way to communicate.

Then it becomes a game.

At times, manipulation.

But we are barreling toward 3 1/2 over here, training pants and all, and the "whys" are transforming into something new...

(Was Confucius a toddler?

I kinda think so, because these 3 year olds start saying things that I am pretty sure could be sold to fortune cookie distributors:

"I cannot see that with my ears. We need to turn life up.")

Now I'm dodging these esoteric type questions for which I have no answer.

Approaching a simple "why", albeit annoying, was easy. I took 1 of 2 paths when Miles threw them at me ad nauseam:

Why not, Miles?
I don't know.

Usually this worked. And if not, good ole fashion ignoring seemed to quiet the fire.

(Please don't think I am not engaging in my child's curiosity--I'm talking about those "whys" that are asked when the interest is not in the answer, but in the response to the asking 8 zillion times.)

Anyway, now I'm thrown doozies like this:

"Mommy, what is behind the sky?"

Yeah, your turn readers. How do you answer that? I was stumped. Miles asked this in the car yesterday. (And why do they ask this type of stuff in the car when I have no way of retreating??) I mean, I get what he is asking, but how do I even broach the topic of space/time continuum or the concept of "universe?" Luckily, he answered it for me:

"Mommy, it's dark behind the sky."

"Yes, Miles...yes it is." Phew!

But the other day, I was not so lucky...

Miles, Felix, and I were in the car (clearly) after a whirlwind 3 playground morning, and I had been talking about one of his good friends who graduated from his school and is going to big kid school this year (ya know--pre-K). His mother is pregnant with twins (who's not these days?), and I was explaining that B was going to have a baby brother and sister.

Miles has been recently, out of nowhere, commenting/asking "I came out of your belly? Then Felix came out of your belly? But we came at different times?"

Asking this on the way up to one of Eric's school functions. Asking while on a walk. One must wonder what sparks this line of questioning.

I knew this twin thing would throw him for a loop.

After trying to explain what twins are, and what non-twin siblings are (an important lesson since it appears that now is the time everyone is starting to question whether or not my boys are twins), Miles said,

"I want you to have another baby in your belly."

Thankfully, he said this a good 2 months after losing the last pregnancy, so I didn't dissolve in tears and force one of the boys to take the wheel while the other one managed the pedals.

I responded,

"Would you want another brother or a sister?"

Miles said,

"First a brother, and then a sister, and then Felix."

I said,

"Well, I think if you have another sibling, it will be just one, but we need to talk to Daddy because he helps make a baby."

Oh boy...oops...DANGER...why did I do that? Thankfully, Miles didn't pursue that thought any more.

He paused, and then asked,

"Where is that baby now?"

Ugh...my mind starts going back to biology class, philosophy, and religion.

XY Chromosomes

Ovulation

Existence

Souls

...

"Miles, that baby doesn't exist."

"But Mommy, where is the baby now?"

Clearly "exist" is a concept we need to work on...

Right after pooping in a potty.

I get it, I get it. It's a good question, and one I just couldn't figure out how to respond. I tried to explain that there is no baby until Mommy and Daddy create one, and that it grows in the belly and gets bigger from the food Mommy eats.

What in creation was I thinking?

Total parenting fail.

I shoulda just stuck with the stork story or Babies R Us purchase.

I'm not ready for this one...

***

Last night while finally watching some 9/11 coverage, I thought a lot about uncomfortable and hard discussions with our children. Although Miles is FAR too young to talk about 9/11 to him (in my opinion), and exhibits far too many fears to even talk to him about buildings/planes crashing, terrorists (bad guys), and death (we are still working on a fear of hearing a public potty flush), that day will come.

It's a part of motherhood that I never really thought about--tough discussions. Up to this point, I've been able to keep Miles in the dark about so much--bed rest and hospitalizations, pregnancy loss, cancer, great grandparents dying...

But at some point, you begin processing life's obstacles with your children.

Sometimes, I really won't know, and "I don't know" will have to suffice (if Miles comes back and asks what is behind the universe, I may just immediately refer him to an astrophysicist), but other times, I'll have to navigate uncomfortable situations in a manner that is honest. Whether it be procreation, terrorism, death, etc.

My baby is growing up.

Right now...let's focus on what happens to pee and poop once you flush a toilet, mkay?

RAK: September 2011

2011-09-08T14:44:00.002-04:00

"Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can."
— Dalai Lama XIV (emphasis inserted by yours truly)

If you thumb through the archives of this living blog (and by thumb, I mean click and search), I've talked about random acts of kindness (RAK) from time to time.

I've always been one for a good RAK. I'm no buddhist, and I am certainly not riding off of Mother Teresa's coattails (I don't think habits go well with my skin coloring, anyway), but life always presents us opportunities to help other people out.

I'm not sure I have nestled into an emotionally altruistic hammock, but I am always mindful in trying to make sure my RAKs are not a mechanism of avoiding my own distress, diffusing personal emotional tension, out of obligation, a desire for praise, or a clever way to avoid feeling guilty. What I always ask is, "would I be just as happy for the recipient if someone else performed the gesture?" Meaning, is what is most important that the other person's struggle/obstacle/crisis is tended to? It's the result that counts--not the personal satisfaction of having helped.

(I'm just talking mumbo jumbo right now?)

Just bear with me, m-kay?

The truth is, I do enjoy performing RAKs because at times--it really is just about thanking someone else for something s/he has done for me. Other times it is about helping someone out who is struggling. And yes, at other moments, I just get these crazy ideas while sitting in traffic or shaving my legs about some fun craft, idea, or event that I can share with someone else. Wait--you shave?? I promise, Moms, after 2 years, it almost becomes regular!

Maybe for me, it is dabbling in junior varsity altruism with a lot of a desire to feel connected. And please note that my definition of RAKs does not include anonymity. Sure, it's fun to do anonymous things for people (I've always wanted to be that anonymous donor who gives $1 million to a charity. Although, we've got some accounting issues holding me back on that one.), but I never consider it a prerequisite. (Good, bad, or neutral...that's just the truth.)

Regardless, I would like to spend the rest of 2011--I know how kind of me to give myself a whopping 4 months--doing something nice for someone else each month.

I've slowly emerged from 2 kinda prickly months with the personal events and am more equipped now to think outside of myself.

I guess by writing about all of this I am opening myself up for you rabble rousers to say "hey, isn't this exactly what altruism IS NOT defined by? Publishing your self-proclaimed girl scout badges?" (Wait, do girl scouts do badges? Or is it patches?) But I guess my theory in writing about it is 2-fold:

Accountability: if I write it down, I'm more inclined to keep up with it. And since I don't journal outside of the blog, this is the space I'm confined to.
Domino effect: Perhaps it will get others to think about doing random acts of kindess for other people.

***

September's RAK was a no brainer--dropping off a few meals to a b-friend. She has found herself as a "single mother" for a spell, and with 1 (etc) child/ren she spends lots of nights doing the dreaded "what on earth am I going to make for dinner for this family? Gosh, this would be a ton easier if I had a partner to help me out." I do that jig every Tuesday night and dread it...it must be hard week after week.

Tangent--I ALWAYS scoffed at those filthy rich celebs who have personal trainers and chefs. But to be honest, I'd hire a chef in a New York minute. And then would probably need a personal trainer to keep the weight off.

Reeling it back in, Ali--this past long weekend I spent some time baking and cooking lots of meals--a few for moms with new babies, for our own family, and for my bestie. Tuesday, I piled the boys in the car, gave them the healthiest dinner of cheese curds, apple cereal bars and 2 juice boxes I found under 2 inches of dust in our pantry (it's portable, folks), and dangled the proverbial carrot (doused in honey and butter) of getting to see one of their friends in front of them so they would cooperate. I made sure my friend was home, and we stopped by, dropped off a few meals and pumpkin bread, played for a bit, and then were off.

It's not earth shattering. It didn't take much more than some gas and portable junk food to appease my kids. But maybe it made a few of her nights an ounce less stressful. I remember being on bedrest getting meals almost every night and just thanking God that it was one less thing we had to plan.

So, there you go September.

I've already got October lined up. It will be an interesting one...

Naptime Maki

2011-09-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

I'm still on my baby shower gift making bonanza, so have to take advantage of wedges of times, like nap time, to complete my projects.

What can you do with all these items from Target? All ranging in price from $1 (socks) to $6 (onesies)?

Make sushi!

I've been on a sushi kick since the boys' Halloween costumes, if you'll remember: (Thanks to Etsy for Miles's costume and Mahna for Felix's.)

Recently a friend linked to this baby shower gift idea on her blog, and I decided to give it a whirl. Felix and I were running a ton of errands this morning while Dad and Miles were on a "Daddy date," and much to my surprise, Felix was just about as into picking out the elements to the gift as I was. He chose the striped socks, and didn't let go of them until we got home.

It's really simple--you just roll up the pairs of socks in the white onesies along with a hair bow, secure with a rubberband, and then cut out felt "seaweed" to wrap around. The fish wash buddy and 3 wash cloths were a great addition--more like sashimi. And then I just plated on an Asian inspired plastic plate from Target. For the finishing touch, I rummaged around our drawers for a spare pair of chopsticks from some takeout that I am sure occurred back in 2009. Pretty good, eh?

The only disappointment is that I needed to package the sampler up so I could wrap it with the few other gifts I got my friend. I got some $1 saran-like wrap from the dollar store since we don't own any clear plastic wrap, and this was the best I could do. The effect isn't exactly what I would want, but it will suffice.

Wasabi anyone?

Diversified

2011-09-02T14:31:00.000-04:00

Meet Ned:

Welcome to the collection, Ned!

The time has come to diversify. Elefante and knitted beanie/bunny hats will always be my staples, but I got a new knitting book:

And have started diversifying my knitted projects. There are quite a few toys I am just itching to try, and luckily, lots of new babies on the way to experiment.

Someday I'll make a library of my knitted goods for my boys...it's like the shoemaker's kids--always going barefoot.

Missing Mahna

2011-08-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since Mahna left us after her 5+ week stay this summer, and boy do we miss her.

Every summer we get the luxury of having her donate her time and love to watch the boys while their childcare is closed for the summer.

She reads, she sings, she goes on the playground...and she deals with lots of dirty diapers and underwear.

I mean--that doesn't even cover it.

Oh, and she makes a mean scrambled egg for her overworked daughter.

I love her.

I miss her.

The boys love her.

The boys miss her.

Eric loves her.

And yes, Eric misses her, too.

Outside of a propensity to apologize too much for things she doesn't need to apologize for, she doesn't cause a single ripple in our life.

I think the boys really miss reading time with Mahna. Her 20+ years in early childhood is not lost on my kids.

It's amazing to think how much has changed in 4 summers...

We always try to get my mom some sort of thank you for her tireless hours and sacrifice. This year, we sent her a package with a few books, well composed thank you letters, and then I found a necklace on none other than my favorite etsy.com that I knew would be a perfect addition to the package:

(you likey that artsy fartsy pic I took with the statue of two brothers in the background? Stop me before the museum calls.)

It's a handmade ichthys fish necklace with the boys' birthstones on it. I obsessively hinted to my hubster that when we are 100% certain we are done with procreating that I would love one of these. Maybe not a fish--I'm no pescatarian and really have limited myself to tilapia these days--but perhaps a circle or something. The craftsmanship is remarkable, her shipping was super fast, and I am just so pleased with the purchase.

Mahna hasn't seen this yet, but she has her floaties on and is swimming in Irene's furry up in Maine with my Nana and GP-J, so I imagine the box will hit her step prior to her reading.

I miss you mom.

Galoshes

2011-08-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

What's cuter than a pair of galoshes?

Two pairs...and then throw my boys in them, and my day doesn't get much better. (Until Felix plants his bottom in the shallow pool, which I am sure is infected with STDs or something.)

No parental wisdom today, or even excessively ridiculous stories about me serving as a toddler urine blocker.

oh.my.god. If you don't follow my blog, you are probably about ready to call the police.

Let's just say my hands have been on splash guard duty a lot recently...page back a few entries.

Like yesterday, when my son held his pee for the entire day of childcare, and it literally exploded up straight in the sky when we finally figured out how to get him to sit on the potty at home. And I, of course, the hero that I am, instinctively tried to save the ceiling and my bedroom rug--because, yes, we had to put the potty in our bedroom, turn on PBS and blast the faucet to have a fighting chance to get the kid to sit---and I used my hand to stop the spray.

Wait. That was just an excessively ridiculous story about me serving as a toddler urine blocker.

Awkward. But ture.

Diversion!

Cute boys at Stone Mountain ahead...I must say, boys can be wild and dirty, but some days, that's just what the doctor ordered.

I heart etsy

2011-08-19T15:21:00.000-04:00

I really love giving gifts.

I don't like getting gifts for myself...

...but I do like finding out what gift someone else may be getting me, and then becoming pissed at myself for ruining the surprise. I may have unwrapped hidden x-mas presents with my brother when we were children. And I have an uncanny ability at stumbling upon surprises Eric has planned or purchased.

One of my favorite kinds of gifts to get are new baby gifts. I love composing packages of a variety of different "baby" things. Luckily, I am at the prime procreation time period in a woman's life, so the past 4 years I have had the ability to put together lots of baby-themed gifts.

I usually try to incorporate at least 1 homemade good (chances are--a knit hat or knit elephant...though I am expanding thanks to a new toy knitting book!), a cute book for mom or for baby, a lactation cookie recipe, a gift for a sibling if not a first baby, something from a registry (if it is a first time mom), and something unique. For first time moms, I also include one of my own "essentials" like the nosefrida.

Recently I have been simultaneously working on 4 different baby gift packages, and been scouring etsy for that something "unique." I purchased a few great gifts for the packages, but had to blog about one of the most special gifts I found.

I was looking through a bunch of personalized note cards, and found an Christina William's shop with this listing:

My jaw dropped. Just days before, one of my preggo friends had told me the most touching story about her life/children/pregnancies that centered on a bluebird and a robin. I mean...could finding the above note cards not have been more perfect? So I knew for her "unique" item I was going to buy these personalized cards and have both of her children's names placed on the bottom. I contacted Christina Williams, and told her some of very general details of my friend's very touching story and experiences. She came back and customized the note cards not only with both of my friend's children's names, but also changed the red bird to be a robin!

Hold on...even better...I had also mentioned that I was going to frame one (which my friend could take out and use whenever she wanted to) because I just thought it might look good as a frame-able piece of art. Christina said she would make a print in a larger size for me to frame as a generous extra.

I mean, I haven't even met Christina, but I heart her, follow her blog now, and will be sure to order more from her shop as the need arises! And so cute, she included a thank you note as well as some balloon tags in the shipment.

Head over to her shop--take a gander--and make a purchase. I honestly couldn't be happier with how it all turned out.

Just another example how etsy, like Google and Amazon, make my life a whole lot better.

PS

2011-08-18T13:19:00.000-04:00

Due to popular demand, I AM getting my husband a new toothbrush. (see previous post if you haven't already.)

You can’t make this stuff up…

2011-08-17T14:33:00.001-04:00

…unless you have “Pulitzer prize winner” on your resume.

Prologue (you need one of those for a Pulitzer, right?):

This was the kind of morning that I look back on and laugh—even better, in the midst of the ess aitch eye tee (and I use that phonetically provided word figuratively AND literally), I found myself laughing as I knew I was living out a mediocre pilot for a soon to be canceled CBS “dramady.”

And I’ve convinced myself I’ve gone through this so that all you other mothers out there can feel better about yourselves.

You’re welcome.

But do know that even though I play on JV for team Protestant (can I get an shout out for the book of common prayer, Episcopalians?), mornings like these I do have moments where I want a good cleansing confession—it’s tough not always being the mom you intend to be.

Even at 6:15am.

Eric had to leave the house by 6:15am, so I knew it was “single parent morning.” Mind you, on the heels of my “single parent night.” In the AM, I’ve got some strict deadlines I cannot mess with as easily as the nighttime—childcare drop off, that elusive job I hold in the office from 8am-4pm each day, and this particular morning I had some blood work I needed to get done before going into work.

Of all mornings.

Of course, I knew the chances of my children sleeping past the time Eric left was about 70/30. I have resigned myself to the fact that no matter what, my children will get up before 7am. Forever. It’s just who they are…and the good thing is that I can expect it every day, and we make it work to our advantage. But sometimes, wake-ups are dreamingly closer to 7am, and I was just praying with all my soul it would be one of those days…

Come 6:07am, Miles was asking for a blanket to be put back on him—which really means he is up for the day and 5 minutes after you re-cover him and his Tot clock turns green, he is screaming to get up.

And then Felix started crying.

I’m going to be frank with you. In addition to the (anticipated) early risings, I readily admit that the upon waking, my boys act like teenage girls during their periods—super crabby and emotional for no reason. And I can throw that jab around--I was one. We had some spells (read: maybe 10 mornings cumulatively) of the boys getting up and “playing” in their beds/cribs, but for the most part, it is like full on drama. Felix now demands his entire menagerie of stuffed animals be carried along with you to the kitchen, or he throws his weight around in your arms and you get a paddle foot in the gut. Grease that kid up, and I’ve got a state fair game! I *have* to get a picture because it is hilarious—and an utterly impossible feat.

Luckily, I had their breakfasts all set the night before so it was really just a matter of calming the emotional storms enough to shove that first spoonful of oatmeal into their mouths. They respond well to food. See? Totally teenage girls.

So far—this was a predictable trajectory. And in all my multitasking wisdom, I decided to host a breakfast picnic party in my bedroom. Floor oatmeal. Felix already eats scraps off the floor, why not make it official? And without Eric, this might give me a fighting chance of applying symmetrical make up and blow drying my hair.

I set up some beach towels, undressed them (who wants to bother with bibs?), set out their breakfasts, plopped 'em down, and let the grain inhalation commence. The towels, covered in missed oatmeal bites, were easy to clean up, and I gave both boys wash cloth wipe downs.

Captain cocky over here thought it a good idea to throw another party after the successful picnic—a potty party—in our bedroom. (Insert my husband, if he ever reads my blog, cringing.)

People, this is what we call “tactical toddler containment”.

Felix pooped, which Miles announced with a “it SMELLS in here! Felix pooped. He’s teaching me how to poop.” Miles peed, and I thought we were good to go.

Potties were disinfected and returned to the kids’ bathroom, Miles donned underwear, Felix was wrangled into a diaper, it was 6:45, and we were on schedule for a 7:30 departure.

Ali: 2

Morning tragedy: 0

Miles headed out to the family room to play with his trains while I continued drying my hair. Felix was shuttling all of our house’s stuffed animals into piles and body slamming them.

From my upside down hair blowing I saw the 2nd half of a naked boy who screamed into my hair:

“DIAPER!”

Shoot. It’s off.

I flipped my head over and I had a stare down with my 1 1/2 year old--it was like that moment you are in shock, fear, confusion, and just freeze. If only I could have videotaped it: it was like a Western gun draw—him with his penis, me with the hair dryer.

He looked down at his weaponry, and I knew I was gonna be in the loser's circle. I’ve caught his pee before thrusting an easily available portable potty under his cresting stream, but both potties were in the other bathroom drying from my earlier cleaning. I had nothing to catch the pee but my hand. I quickly acted as a human jock strap, but let’s be honest—skin isn’t really absorptive, and my palm holds about 3 drops of liquid.

It was just an instinct. You know, like when a hero throws herself in front of someone else to take a bullet, or leap onto tracks to save a child from an oncoming train.

Yeah, I’m calling myself a hero.

So now what? I had a saturated hand, a non-commissioned urine Jackson Pollack on my rug, and a naked toddler running around the house. As I was washing my hands and about to spray our rug with Bac-Out, I heard Miles SCREAMING for me:

“Mom! I need help! I pooped in my underwear!”

Really?

I quickly sprayed the rug, slapped another diaper on Felix, and headed over to Miles who was planted in his room, assuming the downward dog position.

Problem here—we taught him downward dog for AFTER we remove any poopy underwear or pull-up so we can wipe him, but he was already in position and NOT moving. I told him to stand up, but he refused. He kept freaking out that the poop was getting on his leg. No matter how much I told him that it would get on his leg more if he didn’t stand up, the farther apart he spread his legs—stretching the undies so the leg holes were tighter and tighter and almost impossible to pull down. I had to pry one leg up at a time, distributing the contents all over. I shoved wipes on the sides to avoid the dreaded plop on the rug. Even worse than getting poop on his leg, poop was shoved into my nails and covered an area where I think I have an infected hang nail. Just this past month I was paying homage to my “X” chromosome and grew out my nails. So this was a full on manure-acure on my right 3 fingers. And don’t let me fail to mention that we also had a cheerleader to my left pointing out and screaming “pee nee, pee nee!” throughout the ordeal. After I managed to get the undies off, I rushed to the toilet, dropped them into the toilet bowl, and ran back to wipe down Miles.
(And you ask—you really did cloth diapers at one point? You sound like you’ve never dealt with poop! I dunno—there is something about older toddler poop that makes it harder to manage. I think it has more parts per million of E.coli or something. And after 2, I think it just smells worse.)

As I was wiping Miles down, I realized my cheerleader had disappeared. And it was quiet. That is never a good sign.

I ran back into the bathroom, and Felix was stirring the poopy undie filled toilet water with Eric’s toothbrush. (Insert my husband, if he ever reads this blog, throwing up in his mouth a little.)

And his diaper was back off.

PLEASE tell me you are laughing right now. Because this is the point I actually started laughing out loud. And so did Felix. Kid’s got a sense of humor at 1 ½.

(Not sure why, but upon seeing Felix, I had the vision of Charlie Bucket from Willy Wonka stirring that pot of hot laundry. Anyone??)

I washed my hands and nails, put the toothbrush in the dishwasher, and got out some new dish washing gloves. I converted them into industrial hazmat equipment by writing “POOP” on each arm. I rinsed out the soiled underwear, doused it in Bac-Out, and ran it to the laundry. I dug around to see if we actually still had bleach in our house, knowing that this time, I really wanted a more caustic solution than baking soda and vinegar. I used a diluted bleach bath to dunk the gloves in. They are now holding residence above my toilet in the bathroom for future poop/underwear incidents.

I somehow got the boys dressed and was putting their lunches into their backpacks when I called for them to go find their shoes. Miles was ignoring me while playing with his trains, and Felix was, again, nowhere to be found. When I did find him, he had gotten into my stash of feminine “sticks” as he called them, and had strewn them all around the floor—except for the ones he was testing as chew toys.

NOW are you laughing? (At least not calling DCFS…)

Even better, among the strewn “sticks” was massive amounts of hair on the floor. (Insert my husband, if he ever reads this blog, flushing with embarrassment.) Two days before Eric had shaved his beard--see, he captures his facial hair in a towel that gets dumped into our compost pile. But sometimes (read: all the time), he leaves a waded up towel by our laundry or the back door until he gets time to put it outside. I.do.not.touch.it. It’s like the you break it, you buy it rule. You shave it, you compost it. Beard hair on the face isn’t my favorite, but once it leaves the body, it grosses me out even more. Somehow, the towel had been moved (I dare say that I think before my mom left, she moved it into the laundry bin when she kindly did a last load before she left, and the hair fell out on the ground.) Well, the little unnoticed pile was now very noticeable and EVERYWHERE. I had just enough time to put the 8,000 tampons back in their bag, and for now, I have a hair floor in the bathroom. First poop soup in the toilet, and now a hair floor.

I told you—you can’t make this stuff up.

Miles was still playing in the room with the trains ignoring the oven timer beeping indicating train time was over. I was just about at the end of my patience. I dug through my old, dusty, library of mental clippings from the 8,011 parenting books I read over the past 3 years, and selectively tried to implement some “love and logic”. Unfortunately, I think it was flawed. I had just dealt with a human jock strap, poop soup, and a tampon adorned hair floor—you can’t expect much from me. I said,

“Miles, if you don’t respect your mother and your toys and go get your shoes on, I am giving your trains away to a boy who listens to his mom.”

(Feeling better about yourselves, moms? Yup. I said that.)

Instead of freaking out, Miles asks:

“Who is he? What is his name?”

Really? That’s not the response I wanted—you need to fuss and moan and then reluctantly go put your shoes on for fear of losing your toys. I mean, you pooped in your underwear and gave me probable MRSA in my hand, and that’s your response?

So I lie:

“His name is Zack.”

“Mommy, where does he live?”

Again, not the response I was hoping for.

“He lives down the street.”

We go on with this line of questioning about the fictional boy who is the recipient of his toys for a few minutes before I just pick the kid up, and bring him to the front door—kicking and screaming.

Somehow, both boys got shoes on, got to school, and I barely made my 8:45am doctor’s appointment.

Ah, parenthood…and I still grapple with the idea of having another.

Epilogue:

Whenever I have one of those mornings and am away from the situation for no more than an hour or so, I always feel like telling anyone who will listen—you have NO idea what I just went through. I walked into the OB office and one nurse was commenting to the receptionist that her son was complaining already about getting up to go to school. I wanted to say—I have a story for you—oh, and can I take an extra cleansing pack from the restroom? I think I have MRSA on my hand.

As I sat in the lab area waiting to get blood drawn, I noted I had oatmeal caked on my leggings in between my thighs—and I had 1 earring in. I guess my parties weren’t as successful as I had hoped. And then the person taking my blood, who must have been a new student or something, kept missing what I think to be pretty awesome veins. After she jabbed me on both arms multiple times, she had to call in reinforcements. While waiting, she asked me how far along I thought I might be. I said negative 8 weeks. Ouch. We just sat there in awkward silence-me wondering why she was wearing Tinkerbell scrubs in an OB office. Pediatrics, I understand, but infantile attire wasn’t working for me—maybe for happily pregnant women it makes sense, but for those of us currently unhappily becoming “un” pregnant, it wasn’t helping. (Don’t they have scrubs with cartoon ovaries or images of speculums or something?) After finally getting a successful draw, I got up to leave, and Tinkerbell said, “I think you have something on your tights.”

Lady, you have no idea.

Twofor

2011-08-13T07:45:00.087-04:00

Stop biting your nails...the wait is over. A potty update!

No news is good news, right?

Let me just say--he's doing G-R-E-AT! (with a little encouragement from Big Bear)

Huh?? Felix?

Hold your pee, folks (sorry, too easy)--nope--that ain't Mil-o-so-vich. But the truth is, my 1 1/2 year old is kicking tush and taking names with the potty bid-ness. We plop him down for all of our "potty parties" with Miles and 99% of the time, he pees AND poops. Today, in fact, he pooped 3 times during the day!

I mean, if I could get a "twofor" out of this rigmarole, I might start playing the lottery regularly.

Now, I will not say that we are NOT attempting to formally potty train a 1 1/2 year old as he really doesn't get the whole system, Instead, I call this strategic diaper recovery. Still--Felix has started repeatedly asking to use the potty throughout the day. We also recognized that he asks for the potty a lot after he has actually wet his diaper. Readiness? Nah--not enough to formally do anything outside of synchronized potty sitting with his big bro. My hope is that in a year or so when we formally start his training, we'll have primed the pump so that we aren't dealing with the issues we have with Miles.

Y'all, I love Miles so dearly...but there is not one other part of parenting I LOATHE so much as potty training. I imagine teaching him how to drive may elicit similar emotions. I guess I should have expected this from a kid who although came almost 7 weeks early, took 11 months to crawl and 15 to walk. My mom was like, "give him a break--he was premature." Not sure that logic holds weight anymore, but I can see it now...

"Miles, it's okay you haven't had your first kiss yet. Remember...you were premature."

Convincing?

So the current strategy is: exploit his innate follower tendencies. And who better to follow than his peeing and pooping younger brother?

Competitive potty sitting is working so-so. Miles does pee after we throw the imaginary confetti and dance around at Felix's numerous potty successes...but it's usually on order of an ounce. I was worried about control, but from the looks of it, he has too much control.

The other night, Miles peed 6 separate times in the span of 3 minutes.

"I peed!"

Party commences. Mini M&M is ingested. And he goes back on the potty. 10 seconds later...

"I peed!"

Party commences. Mini M&M is ingested. And he goes back on the potty. 10 seconds later...

You get the drill. No, the wool hasn't been pulled over my eyes. I know he's abusing the system in the name of chocolate. And yes. We have mini M&Ms

And let's not start on the poop part. We are just not there. But we'll get there. He's 3 1/5 around Christmas, so I'm hoping for a Christmas miracle.

Look! More blackmail below!

And in case you doubt Miles's interest in "let Felix do it first and I'll follow mentality," we had a potty party a little before bath time the other night. Eric was putting together our new grill, so I put Felix in underwear as well as Miles because it would only be about 20 minutes until bath--ya know--diaper saving tactic. Felix had just peed, so I figured we were safe to go outside in just their undies.

Well, outside, Felix was becoming one with nature and I noticed he had peed through the underwear (should I get this kid tested for diabetes? He pees A LOT!)...I said,

"Oh no! Felix peed in his underwear!"

And...then...Miles looked at me--stone cold face--and I knew what was coming---

"I'm peeing in my underwear like Felix!"

Are you kidding me??

So here we are. And yes, in the picture above the potty area looks remarkably like Miles's room. We have some fear of the bathroom (and I think the flushing), so we are taking it baby steps.

The real challenge is going back to school. Miles does not wear pull-ups unless it is for naptime or bedtime. And if you ask him to wear them during alternative times (like going to the library so he doesn't christen their rug again, he says no). In terms of using pull-ups at all, he saturates himself during sleep. I'm not in the business right now of trying to train him at night...and let me just interrupt myself and give a shout out to NatureBaby Care pull ups--we ran out and in a pinch had to get some generic brand at Walmart and they are a-w-f-u-l!, but Miles will not even step foot in the bathroom at school. He asks me if it is "loud" and I know he is scared of it. They also use a little mini toilet, which I know will take a long time for him to feel comfortable sitting on. We are just a long way from getting him to pee in public--at least if it is outside of sitting on a portable potty chair in the backseat of my car, which we do a lot.

But we'll get there. He did eventually sleep through the night. He did eventually crawl. He did eventually walk. He did eventually talk...and he will eventually master the potty--even if it is after his brother.

Shot in the dark, but if there are any blog stalkers out there who have trained a resistant boy--PLEASE comment or e-mail me. Or any one of you more fortunate readers (I know who you are) who cannot relate because the potty thing has come a little easier, maybe you can ask around your own friend circles for anyone who might help? Looking for some suggestions, validation, commiserations. (Do I sound too desperate, yet?)

-What do you do with a boy who is afraid of a public toilet? How about just a regular adult toilet?
-Anyone else have a child who only pees in tablespoons? Not sure how to get him to figure out how to release the entire bladder in one sitting.
-How do you deal with transitioning from systems at home into systems at school?
-Tell me that by age 4 I'll be looking back on this time and laughing...please?

Softie

2011-08-10T07:49:00.000-04:00

Do any of you moms find yourself "softening" as the months go by with your toddlers? And I don't mean in the corporeal sense--but in the "I'll give in this one time and let you watch cartoons while I am getting ready for work. Okay, so I know I let you watch cartoons yesterday, but only going to let you do this one more time." No wonder my kids have a problem with the concept of "one more time."

As I've alluded to, this summer I have not been on my Mommy "A" game. I've had a few of those out of (or is it outer? I never know...) body experiences, looking at myself as a Mom and thinking, "Guuurl! You are totally that Mom you used to judge. Get it together; stick to your guns; enforce house rules--you have southern gentleman to raise!" Really, I just want them to have manners, get good grades, contribute something to society for the better, and not get picked on. If they could say "y'all" and use "sir" and "ma'am", that might be kinda cute, too. I'm a Yankee--I have a hard time implementing southern charm.

I don't want to say I'm getting lazy, although I really need to figure out how to move my legs faster than a 4.0 speed for more than 10 minutes, but I am constantly dealing with "conflicting priorities" as they call them at my work, and look for easy solutions to problems.

Somehow, my kids really spend more time naked or in underwear than in matching clothing (less laundry, right?).

Somehow, we've had pizza about once a week for the entire summer. And it has NOT been homemade.

Somehow, my kids say "excuse me table" with half of their dinner still needing maceration, but they are allowed to get down and play so that the adults have a fighting chance of eating without chaos.

Somehow, Felix is getting the majority of his daily intake from food scraps on the floor (so I just attempt to drop a whole selection from the food pyramid.) I mean--what happened to the woman who wouldn't even let Miles hold plastic for fear it would leach into his skin and cause an endocrine tidal wave?

Somehow, a "fairy" put some Trader Joe's organic lollipops in my purse! Blasphemy! Organic makes it better, right? (But wouldn't you know it, I am ready and willing to pull those out as bribery when in I have two boys melting at my feet. Luckily, I've only pulled them out once.)

Somehow, bedtime routines have gone from 3 books, 3 songs, throw 'em into bed for the night, into a looooooooong drawn out process of me making up stories about Clancy, the purple engine. (And talk about out of body experiences--I usually tell my "Tall Train Tales" while lying next to Miles. One night I was in that state where you are not sure if you are awake or asleep, and kept thinking...who is that talking??? I realized, it was me--telling some asinine story about penguins using cookie sheets as sleds, borrowed from Mrs Jones's bakery, to get to Clancy before the 10am train departure in from left Antarctica to go to right Antarctica--not even east/west, but "right/left." And wouldn't you know it--Miles asks for that story every night--even to Mahna and Eric, who unfortunately don't know the ins and outs of my delusional brain.). Don't get me started on Felix...wait, I actually started that previously on my logistic regression post. But it's gotten more involved, and trying to hold a stuffed animal the size of my toddler, another dog stuffed animal AND a Tilty cup of water while singing a French lullaby is getting O-L-D.

Somehow, the potty lands itself in all sorts of landscapes, EXCEPT the actual bathroom.

Somehow we found ourselves rewarding potty parties with cut up Swedish fish and mini M&Ms and are only now going through the 12-step recovery process after withdrawal/desensitization and are moving back to stickers.

Somehow, I envision myself turning the keys over to my boys, and adopting a free range kid home.

Somehow, it seems during the summer, rules take on more flexibility, and my children exploit that at every possible turn.

But somehow...things will tighten back up once school starts.

In the midst of feeling a little guilty that I am getting "lax" with rules, I decided to use it as an opportunity to do something I would never have done a few weeks prior--and with Eric gone for the weekend attending a wedding (that I couldn't go to due to work), I had even more extrinsic encouragement:

MOVIE NIGHT!

If I am going to go down, I might as well do it with guns blazin', chocolate milk, popcorn, and RedBox.

It was like a sleepover--but without other friends--and massages (tell me you used to do that, too--please?)--and sleeping bags.

Mahna and I told the boys that we would take a bath early, get all cleaned up, and then make something called chocolate milk, eat popcorn, and watch a DVD. Earlier in the day, we used a coupon code for RedBox and got a free rental for a 1 hour Dr Seuss DVD.

After baths we sat at the table, I dug out chocolate syrup that was purchased circa 2008 I'm sure...and explained how to transform their milk into a dessert:

Here Miles is with Mahna...cup #2. I told you, I'm losing all control...

Movie time!! Make sure to keep the chocolate goatee, of course.

POPCORN! (Thank you Trader Joe's--organic olive oil popcorn is the BEST!)

I didn't know Dr Suess could be that engaging...

And in the end, they both ended up on the floor, dancing, and body slamming "Big Bear."

It was a success! And isn't childhood about having fun? Doing new things? And getting spoiled when your grandparents living with you for the summer????

I cannot say that once I become more Military Mom once school starts that we won't do things like movie night from time to time given the fun and success this time...but next time, I'm demanding a massage.

"Bye Bye Gorillas"

2011-08-09T09:16:00.000-04:00

Better late than never...just one or two shots from a recent trip to the Zoo when my oldest brother, Seth, was in town. (Right after my other brother, Nicholas, was in town. After they left, Miles aptly asked, "is another uncle coming to visit?")

Highlights? Felix keeping the entire Zoo in stitches as he screamed (on repeat) "BYE BYE GORILLAS!" to every inanimate animal statue. Oh, and the *cuh-reepy* ring tailed lemur who was perched at the top of the cage, which happened to be at our eye level, scouting out his compadres below...who was also apparently starring in his own x-rated fur flick. Leave it to Felix who said, "STICK!" (Aren't we a good 10 years away from forcing Eric to have these discussions?)

And I threw in a picture of a rhino because I realize that from the looks of it, we didn't actually see live animals.

Ditto.

It's not so Simple

Kids Say The Darndest Things...Felix, 2.0

Kids Say The Darndest Things...Miles, 3.5

Biathlon

Dip n' Flip

I heart etsy...again...and again...

A typical day in a house dominated by Y chromosomes

Berf-day

Rena Doll

Dumplings

Urophagia

Literary acquisitions

Felix Turns *gulp* 2!

And this is why I put my camera away when my FIL or BIL are around

Christmas 2011: Pictorial retrospective

Merry Myringotomy

Merry Merry!

RAK: December 2011

Time in

Time out!

Dip n Flip

"Ooh La La La"

Kinsey Kristmas

Exactly

First I get to claim a famous brother...

Vanity

Quiet Jar

We are "Gangkful" for our Mommies and Daddies

"Programs and In-ee-uns"

Scowl

BFD recipe

Sunday Souvenir

RAK: November 2011 part deux

11.11.11 at 11:11:11

Photo booth Phun

RAK: November 2011

Dental Addendum...

Psalms 81:10:" . . . open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...

Tantrum: photo reflection

Embrace the Camera: Halloween 2011

Babies Don't Keep

Jinxed

Children of the 21st Century

Warding off the Germs

Embrace the Camera: Y Chromosomes (and a forehead vein)

RAK: October 2011

Keeping the USPS in business...

You Don't Have To Take My Word For It...

Embrace the Camera: Vintage Blanket Outtakes

Wool-y Ballz

Bricks and stones may break my bones...

Embrace the Camera: Pillow Cushion

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Knitting: FAIL

Wrump

one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater

You know Fall hasn't divorced you for the year when...

Stumped

RAK: September 2011

Naptime Maki

Diversified

Missing Mahna

Galoshes

I heart etsy

PS

You can’t make this stuff up…

Twofor

Softie

"Bye Bye Gorillas"

Felix Turns gulp 2!