Livin' in a Bubble - To-Do Part 2

Kids are napping and again here I sit. Fridge is still a mess but I DID make progress yesterday!!! I can say this, this blog sometimes sets me in motion after I realize how horrifying some of the stuff I write is! Yesterday I searched high and low for that damn shrinky dink paper and again some today - it's officially MIA. I've decided to buy some more since Cal keeps asking to finish the project. You know as soon as I buy it, it's going to show up, it's just the way of the world. I did find the pictures I was looking for though, I threw out some old mail and sorted others, and "shredder" officially got put on my list of things to get at Target. After nap, I let the kids "wash" Millie. It was less about cleaning the car and more about giving the kids something exciting to do while I tackled the de-molding of our very precious Jeep stroller. Whoever comes up with the patent on a non-molding fabric for strollers will be a friggin' bazillionaire! I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

You're probably wondering what that photo I posted up above is. It's just more proof of how slowly things get done around here. I painted 1/8 of a wall in the porch at the beginning of the week and there it is, still 1/8 done (dark blue). I returned my library book today - didn't even get halfway done. Said screw it last night and watched Gran Torino instead - great choice, awesome movie! Sad, funny, LOVE Clint Eastwood. He deserves an award. Sayonara to that new book club and my feeble attempt to meet new people through it. Hmm...maybe I should start on the book for the next month instead? There's an idea!

I may be current on my movies. Thank you Netflix. I am not, however, current on current events. Months after Octomom became "octo" someone mentioned her and I genuinely said, "Who?!". I didn't know who Taylor Swift was until just recently. My kids rule the car tunes and it's generally the music from their ipod so give me a break. Here's a good one - I didn't realize that stamps went up AGAIN until a month later when I tried mail something with a 42 cent stamp and it came back "postage due". I thought to myself, "What on earth"? Eric had to fill me in. That happened in June. Here it is the end of August and I JUST made it to the post office today to buy 67 two-cent stamps to make up the difference. I had purchased some forever stamps at the grocery store to tide me over in the interum. The lady at the post office actually said to me, "Now you just have to use them before they go up again!". Great, thanks.

Ok, off to file (bills), fold (laundry), and flip (thru magazines) until the kids awaken!

List Making - To-Do Part 1

I'm going to take a moment, if I may, to say WHAT THE F...my kids are all miraculously napping and I have SO much to do that I'm pretty much rendered useless. I wonder - does this happen to other moms? I used to be the MASTER of list making and now I wouldn't even think of it because I know it would still sit there collecting dust on my desk in a place where I couldn't find it anyways. Right now I have so much shit on my desk that I don't even know what's what. I usually pay bills online or take care of stuff that needs to be mailed back right away so it doesn't get lost in the oblivion so I'm sure it's not THAT bad. I do, however, have a stack of magazines I haven't looked throught (but plan on) 6 inches thick. Ditto on the mail that needs to be filed away - again, WHY I file it? I don't really know but I'm sure it says to in some book somewhere on being organized and which financials to keep for how long. The stuff I DO want to throw away...oh yeah, that's now been piled so high on my piece of shit shredder that it's now littering the floor and Seth frequents it as his "paper haven" where no doubt he swallows little bits every now and again. Getting a new shredder is on my To Do list but what it really comes down to is I HATE to buy that stupid piece of equipment and I wish people would just leave my identity ALONE for god's sake - no one wants to be ME! Just let me throw my sensitive material in the trash whole.

Let's see, also on my desk is a list of dates that my husband will be at meetings. I have yet to put them on the calendar and I've already mistakenly tried to schedule coffee with a friend next Tuesday when Eric will be at meeting. Serves me right. Then there's that stack of CDs that's been sitting there since early June that I've been promising myself I would add to my itunes. For Father's Day I got Eric an ipod and thought I did "an awesome job" putting most of his CDs on it so it would be ready for him to listen to...turns out although it felt like a million CDs I put on, it was really only 5% of all his CDs. The rest are apparently in the basement. Which reminds me - where the hell is that mini-boom box I used to jump rope to down in the basement. It went missing and I keep forgetting to go hunting for it - another To-Do item.

Getting back to my desk though...I'm quite positive I ordered some pictures from the Kodak Gallery and I can't for the life of me find them on my desk but I'm sure they MUST be there. Also lost among the chaos is surely this packet of shrinky dink paper (remember those?!). I thought it was all together with this space project that had been waiting for the perfect moment to be done...yesterday we started this project and had to stop in the middle of it because I couldn't find the rest of the shrinky dink stuff. Hmmm...said project is still sprawled out on the dining room table just pushed to the side so we can eat. What's going to happen, I don't even have to predict I just KNOW, is that eventually it'll get food splattered on it and we'll either finish it half-assed or I'll just quietly slip it in the trash when the boys are away one day. They won't even notice it's gone....or maybe, just maybe I'll find the rest of that paper!

For months there has been boxes of baby clothes and gear sitting on the hearth of my fireplace anxiously waiting to go to Goodwill. In front of that, on the floor, you can always be sure to find the "dry goods" from Market Basket. I always have just enough time to put away all the refrigerated items after grocery shopping...the others, ah well, you know, they can wait....two, three, four days later. It's safe to say we haven't had any playdates here in awhile. Speaking of the refrigerator, last week sometime (maybe longer) something spilled in there and now it's just a dried, sticky mess. You know, so when you take something out and set it on the counter then the counter becomes sticky and gross but yet I still haven't cleaned it up. Just keep on wiping the counter and putting it back in the mess in the refrigerator. Super lazy, right?

Moving on, my email inbox is a disaster. I have one reminding me I better get my ass to library to return a book I haven't finished reading yet. I was hoping to join a new book club next month but I guess that won't happen since I can't renew the book. I have weeks' old emails from friends who I really should get back to but haven't had a chance to sit down and compose my thoughts.

Ok, time to stop bitching and continue on...maybe I can make some progress today! First I must go rescue my already moldy stroller from yet another rain storm!!

So cute!

I took 20 pictures inside and couldn't get a decent one of Seth WITH his eyes open. He blinks at the flash every time even if you try to trick him!?! Here's some of his new haircut - outdoors - no flash!

Side view

Long Overdue!!

Pre-haircut

Right before - saying a little prayer...please don't let daddy shave it all off!

I can take it - what do you think I am!? A baby?!

All done! Cool as a cucumber.

He was SOOO good - no crying! He looks like such a big boy now and looks so much better that I wish I'd done it months ago!

You Win Some, You Lose Some...

Look at those TEETH! Love him!

So on Wednesday, August 12th Seth became 11 months old and stood on his own for over 10 seconds. Woo hoo! Unfortunately, also on Wednesday Ben had a #2 accident at the playground. What a mess!

Same day....We found out that the rot on our garage extends all the way up to the roof adding mucho dinero to what we originally thought was not so big of a problem. That's always the way though, isn't it? However, below are the pics from our nearly completed, BEAUTIFUL, 13-window screen porch. Now I only pray that Eric and I don't kill one another trying to assemble the furniture we bought for it :)

Ben sporting his new backpack and playing with his Smurf - rewards after two consecutive days of pooping in the potty!!

Seth - our water bug!

Patience is a Virtue...

I've been in the trenches for WEEKS as each of my children have been working at achieving a milestone and I words can't even describe how much this has felt like war! Cal was trying to learn to ride a bike on two wheels, Ben to pee and poop in the potty, and Seth to chew and swallow morsels of food at some acceptable rate of speed. I'd love to say that I've had a great time and it was all SO easy but it's been hot out, my back kills from holding the bike, and if I hear "Mom, I need to go pee!" one more time my children might be finding themselves locked out of the house for a few hours...or so it might have ended before last weekend. We'll start with Cal first:

I'm not really sure why we decided that it was time for Cal to ride a bike without training wheels anymore but we did and we were hell-bent on getting it done. I'm a cautious person by nature and sometimes I feel like my anxiety to try new things might be rubbing off on my children...my MALE children...and while it shouldn't matter what gender they are (and maybe I would feel similarly if I had a girl but I don't so I can't comment)...I feel like I'd be doing them a disservice to turn them into wimps. I'm learning as a parent that things don't necessarily get easier just because the kids get older (as I naively thought it might). Yes, there's no more diapers and fewer naps, they become less needy physically but emotionally they're needier than ever and this is the one place where parents REALLY don't want to fuck up. How far do you push your child to try something new even if they're "scared" or don't want to do it?!? It's a fine line we tread and, as we all know, it's different for each child. What works for one doesn't always work on the next.

First let me comment that we don't have the optimal driveway to practice riding a bike for the first time. We tried at a nearby field but to trek 3 kids down the street and then have Cal give up after 2 tries was NOT happening. Ideally, it would have been great for Eric to be there the first time he took those momentous pedals all by himself but again, there just wasn't enough time to consistently practice with daddy so the job fell to me. We practiced on the front lawn at our house. Instantly, I hated it. I hated the constant tango-ing it required. If you do this....I'll do x, y, or z. Luckily, my first-born son is a prime candidate for politics because he can very artfully con me into a bigger and better bribe. What first started out as a popsicle later became pancakes for dinner AND an ice cream sundae which after became "you can go to the store and pick out a new bike!" Anything to get this child to TRY. Finally, after a couple weeks of start, stop, start, stop, start, stop and back-breaking effort on my part it was late Friday afternoon and I had had enough. "That's it!", I screamed, "either you pedal all the way to home base (a base I'd put down 30 yards away) or I'm done, we're going inside!" Apparently, he was ready. He started pedaling and didn't stop. He even turned and made a J before putting his feet down. It was a triumphant moment. There was few seconds of silence before I starting screaming "You did it! You really did it!!" and there was much jumping up and down and squealing by Cal, Ben, and myself. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke though we tried it a second time and away he went pedaling again making mom proud. He's had a chance to practice over the weekend at the huge FedEx parking lot near Grammy Pat's and has been able to make a lot of progress steering, using his breaks, and starting on his own! Hurray for Cal! To top it off he also started jumping into the pool from the side (previously he was too afraid) AND swimming underwater. I can hardly believe it!

On to Ben: I had no warm, fuzzy illusions of potty-training. I KNOW how hard this is and I know that Ben is pretty stubborn and not prone to let a mere bribe sway him. In fact, I even had a hard time coming up with treats and rewards to give him! As frustrating as it was to teach Cal to ride a bike, potty training still makes my #1 rated thankless job as a parent. You're not really happy or proud of them when they learn to go, you're just glad it's over. With a few setbacks we locked in the peeing early on. I had him sit to go at first but once I realized he really would rather stand we just went with that and it seemed to help. The problem, there in, was the pooping. I finally figured out after one excruciating day that multiple requests of "I have to go pee" and then not going pee was code for "I have to poop, mom, and I would rather not go in the potty". On this one particular day, he was driving me insane! I was trying to get Seth fed and Ben was badgering me to go to the bathroom literally every 2 mins. I didn't want to discourage him so I kept taking him even as my frustration built. It became clear that he was trying to hold it in when he was sitting on the edge of his chair at lunch and complaining that "his belly hurt or his bum hurt". I tried to calmly explain if he was just go poop he'd feel a lot better. We tried sitting on the potty and playing games, singing songs, reading stories...anything to draw attention away from the actual act to no avail. I used bribes - cookies, cake, candy, and even a backpack for preschool and threats - "You won't be able to go to preschool!" - but nothing was registering. For weeks, he wait for nap or bedtime and then unload in his diaper. I'd actually just given up, figuring in my head that if he won't go and can actually hold it, that he can still go to preschool since it's not likely he'd have an accident. And really that he go to preschool in September is MY only goal...haha....and then today he started in again with having to go pee and not going...after 3 or 4 times he finally sat there and as I went to go get a cookie so he could actually see it in front of him he pooped! Now I'm just hoping we can have a repeat performance! Ben has also made some other strides - he began to pedal his little trike! This is HUGE for Ben since previously I couldn't even get the child to SIT on the damn thing. At Grammy's this weekend I finally just sat him on it, took hold of his feet and started making him pedal. He screamed and shook like he was afraid....of what I don't know but he seemed to calm down after he saw it was fine. He even pedaled on his own today. Last week I got him to sit on a swing for the first time since he was 18 months old too! The stars must be aligned for us this week for all these things to be happening at once!

Seth: This is less exciting news...mostly I have been able to continue to feed him baby food (except peas) while letting him venture out and try table food. He's slowly but surely getting more adept at chewing AND swallowing instead of holding the food in his mouth and adding more and more to the point where he chokes. It seems to me that he has an unusually hard time swallowing but I might just be making that up. I'm more aware of potential eating problems since I was asked about that a lot when Ben was getting his speech therapy so I think I'm just overthinking it. Seth was drinking from a straw and them mostly just spitting the water out but this week has started swallowing more and more of it so he's making progress too! He's also more eager to stand now and lets go. He can stand for a couple seconds before falling...oh and he can climb stairs now too :)