Mistakes in Motherhood

Earlier this week I had a busy busy day. My new bed was delivered (which I LOVE) and the carpet my daughter ruined 6 months ago was replaced with vinyl. Sophie was SO up the rear end of the repairman it was hilarious. Any time the door opened she would chine “IT’S CHRIS!” and he would mirror back to her “yes, it is Chris!” and she would run check in on him every 2-3 minutes. I was in the other room with Liam and I hear Sophie talking to Chris. She’s got that know-it-all tone going on and I just know her hand is on her hip. She says “That is my mommy. I like her. She’s nice. She’s my girl.” At this point both Chris and I are cracking up. She is such a sweet little pixie. I like her. She’s my girl.

No Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Family, House Stuff, Parenting, Silliness, Sophia. | #

With the oldest 3 kids in school I have been struggling a bit trying to keep the princess from being bored without her entertainment. She did not care for my ideas; coloring turned her into a sobbing puddle of goo, reading to her just annoyed her, and car rides to do stuff just ended in us both being frustrated. About the only thing she enjoyed doing was taking out every toy she owned, and digging through her dresser and discarding clean clothes onto the floor mixed with dirty clothes. Flustered, I had had enough. I reached out to my friends on Facebook who recommended toy rotation. And so the planning process started. I made a difficult decision to finally allow the 6 year old and 3 year old share a room, they had been asking for a year, but when I let them sleep in the room with the bunk beds, sleepovers were always cut short because of climbing accidents.

So instead of moving the kids into the room with the bunk beds, I left the loft portion of the bed in the playroom and removed the latter, and put the bottom bed into Sophie’s room. We got two large bags of clothes out of dressers to go to Goodwill, and packed up NINE totes of toys, each tote holding 11 gallons, which will be stored in our storage room until we rotate them in, and move other toys out. It was hard to let go of a lot of the clothes. In the process I also donated the last of my scrub sets. It was a hard decision, I always thought about going back to nursing school, or working as a nurse aide again, but it just does not make sense to store them any longer, especially when I can easily get more at places like http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/ so easily.

I am tickled at how well the two rooms look, and it will be very easy to move Liam’s crib into the play room once he is ready to leave our room. Bedtime has not been as seamless, 6 days later we are still struggling with them falling asleep in a timely matter. We are still dealing with fighting and tattling, but either in time I will grow immune, or they will chill it out. Another perk, I now have a “guest room”, so as long as you don’t mind literally climbing into bed, or sleeping in a room filled with toys.

Next on the agenda, is going to be going through my kitchen to get rid of dishes, and appliances I no longer need. Taking a trip to the dump, and getting my storage room back in control.

No Comments | In: This is how I roll | tags: Domestic Diva, House Stuff, Insanity, Liam, Matthew, Parenting, Sophia, Sponsored. | #

Today has been the first real “bad mommy day” since the colossal mind melt earlier this month. Okay, so it is 12:30 am, and technically now May, so all that was last month, but we will go with my husband’s rule…. “time does not change until after I go to sleep”. So in my mind, it is still the last day of April.

So earlier today (or call it yesterday if you want to keep it real) my little three decided that if they all behaved equally naughty, mom would allow it with retribution, because of safety in numbers, right? *insert melting brain here*

It felt like a country western song. Mom wanted to sleep, the phone was ringing, the baby was whining for breast milk, the 6 year old was wanting to tattle, and the 2 year old wanted a “poopy prize”. I thought everything was settled back into place, and I was going to try to get a few more minutes of sleep, when the baby boy decided he was fat, full, and flippin’ jubilant! There goes my lazy Saturday.

I should have known it was going to be one of those days, everyone was crying and fighting. It took me a full hour to get a sip of my then cold coffee. By lunchtime I was DONE. I put the sleeping baby, and the 2 year old down for naps. The 6 year old was soon sent to nap too after he demonstrated his own fatigue. However, no one napped! All three were exhausted, but no one napped. By around 3pm, I was in tears.

Of course, as soon as I had sufficiently filled my bladder with iced coffee, and was about ready to start dinner, not only did the baby, but also the 2 year old fell asleep. Thankfully the 14 year old walked in from playing to get a drink, and I asked him to hold the (now crying) baby so I could make Fra Diavolo Sauce With Farfalle Pasta, and broccoli. I changed it up a bit, I used fresh tomatoes and added some white wine. I also used only shrimp (doubled), cooked it longer, and served over farfalle (bow tie pasta) instead of linguini. I thought it might be too spicy, so I made some Cabernet Marinara with Herbs for the little ones, but offered them both. I think they favored the spicy shrimp sauce. I had to giggle a bit because they started fighting over who could have the last of the broccoli, they all decided they had not had enough, and Austin rushed in to make sure everyone got two more pieces.

We made a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies, and at them hot, with cold glasses of milk. We were all sleepy, and I decided after everyone was in bed, that I would slip into a hot bath and then go to bed early myself….. but first let me just fix this spam problem real quick. Real quick. Famous last words.

At 10:19 PM, my darling husband gets on Skype. I tell him “Don’t laugh, but I have such a headache. And it is all from reading confusing stuff.” He reassures me he is not laughing. “Owie, hurty head. .htaccess is so confusing.” He tells me he doesn’t know what .htaccess is (I didn’t either until today. I explain what it is, what it does, and what I am using it for. I will not quote what I said because it consists of several F bombs, and other colorful expletives… and I would like to remain classy.

I tell him “Half my face is limp. I must have stroked out somewhere between .htaccess ssh and ftp”. My darling husband says “I want to see”, and starts a video conference. *sigh* At 10:44, about the time I told him my brain was made of pudding, and drool was dripping out of my half-limp stroked out face, the butt tells me “I have worse problems btw. I can not find my hair brush.”

While his hair WAS quite poofy, by this time I was ready to hang myself by my shoe laces. I had no less than 15 tutorials open, terminal, my ftp, a glass of wine and my sanity was long gone. Four minutes later, he proclaims all is right in the world, he has found his hair brush. Well lah dee freakin’ dah! He then asked me if that was my soul he saw leaking out of my eyes. Well yes it is.

At 11:36, he tells me he has to go to work. And I tell him I have to bash my skull in with a baseball bat. A little after 12:10am, I figure out the problem. The file I was looking for could EASILY be created by opening a simple word processor, uploading it to my ftp (server), renaming it, and then editing it with the script I wanted, and voila, spammer would be 404ed. I have no idea if my 2-3 hours worked, but I guess I will find out soon enough when my spam folders keep filling up. AHHHH, what a nightmare!

So now that it is 2am, I can finally climb into bed, and in 4 hours I can start this all over again. Sleep deprived and crabby. As soon as I finish knitting this last row real quick.

No Comments | In: A lot about nothing, This is how I roll | tags: Austin, Babysitting, Domestic Diva, Family, Humor, Insanity, Matthew, Me, Parenting, Photography, Ramblings, Ranting, Sleep Deprivation, Sophia. | #

Yesterday, Liam had his second follow-up appointment. When the nurse called us back, she directed us to go into the second room on the right, Sophie enthusiastically took off running, as she’s used to us being seen at the end of the hall, not in the first exam room. Right then, one of the newer pediatricians stepped out into the hallway and saw my little blonde pixie running at him full speed. As a joke he crouched down and spread his arms open. Insert slow motion running and sappy music. I fully expected her to turn around, so the nurse and I just paused to watch how she would react.

To all of our surprise, she kept running and then flung herself into his arms, holding onto him tightly. He picked her up and hugged her and started walking towards us with Sophie still in his arms. He told me he was pretty surprised how social she is, he expected her to be somewhat shy. I explained that she was really missing her daddy right now, so she’s a bit more affable right now. I think this statement made the doctor a little heartbroken, he has three little girls himself and could not imagine having to be away from them. To all the daddies (and mommies) out there, missing their sons and daughters, you have my complete sympathy. Especially to our troops, who not only risk their safety for our freedom, but miss out on time with their loved ones.

Oh, and Liam got a clean bill of health. She told me to take him off the albuterol, but to finish the antibiotics. His lungs sound fantastic, and she didn’t think a follow up with neurology or pulmonology is necessary. She did say he is at a slighter risk of developing asthma when he’s older, but given his family history, that comes to no surprise. We will just watch and wait and when another round of illness comes rolling through, you can guarantee I will be watching him like a hawk.

1 Comment | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Bobby, Health, Liam, Sadness, Sophia, Updates. | #

2 Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Photography, Sophia, Wordless Wednesday. | #

Writing this while watching Calliou with a puny toddler, her 104 fever dropped down to 100, and her arm/leg spasms calmed by around 3AM last night with the help of Ibuprofin. She’s still got a nasty little cough. I was able to fall asleep at 4. Around 6AM she woke up screaming again and asked to sleep in my bed, which is unusual for her. She has always loved her own bed, even as a baby. At 7:30 I awake to the sound of crying again, but this time from my 6 year old. It took me a moment to register what he was saying, but when he got his words out, my heart sank; I had forgotten to retrieve the tooth he lost and replace it with a dollar.

Through his tears he created fantastic stories of what could have happened. “Maybe she forgot her cat away, and the cat scared her?” “Maybe she is sick?” I offered. That was rejected. Then as if he was not sufficiently traumatized, wailing part two ensues. I guess he was playing with the tooth on the floor and it fell down the vent. Now he was facing another possibility.. not only did the tooth fairy forget him, but now she was never going to come! He decided that maybe if he wrote a not and put it under his pillow, he could get back into her good graces. The note read “I m srrye, I lost my tooth”. Thankfully his brother helped him dig it out. However I still had to figure out what to do. To buy some time to think up a convincing lie decent plan, I sent him off to the shower. Since he has a bunk bed, I put a dollar under a pillow in his top bunk. Silly mama, how dare I assume he didn’t overturn every pillow. He saw through my deception immediately.

We settled on a story that maybe the tooth fairy was just running late, his brother convinced him that maybe a lot of children in china has lost their teeth. After all that, the little turkey wanted me to put his crisp new dollar I picked out just for him, into his checking account. Love that boy!

Next time he loses a tooth, I am insisting he hangs his sister’s “Welcome Tooth Fairy” pillow on his door knob, as a reminder for her not to fly on by.

2 Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Confessions, Health, Lame-o, Matthew, Parenting, Sleep Deprivation, Sophia. | #

At 5 am this morning, Bobby and I said our goodbyes, but instead of goodbye, I told him “see you soon”. It didn’t hit me until I was 20 miles away, and I started thinking about how much it hurt to be away from 1/6th of my heart…. and if I am missing him this much, he must really be hurting, because he’s away from all of us. He called from Dulles twice today before his Dubai flight to see how I was coping with 5 kids and 4 hours of sleep. He was making sure I wasn’t burning out already, but I am more worried about him, than me, I have distractions. I have a baby to care for around the clock. I have doctors appointments, teacher conferences, homework to help with, meals to cook, a house to take care of. I don’t have time to burn out.

Quickies:

Liam is 2 months old today, he had a well baby exam and was 13 lbs. 3 oz shy of a 6 pound weight gain. Over 6 pounds if you count his lowest weight, he’s also gained 3 inches. Pretty awesome if you figure he’s gained 3 inches in 2 months and the average is 2 inches. The average weight gain is 5-7oz a week and he averages 11.6 a week.

Dude– I’m never getting another Dell. Christopher’s charger for his Alienware broke. 4 months of light use, we are talking probably 20 times of unplugging/plugging. It is a BAD design, think of a thin copper wire, like maybe the size of a .7mm pencil lead, housed inside a plug as big around as a pencil with the eraser pulled out. I was told that they would not honor my warranty because if it broke, it was “abuse”. BS! Got an aftermarket charger on eBay, no way is Dell getting $80 from me for a new cord.

Dyson, ROCKS. I love them! Their customer service is top notch. I called to order a new cover for brush, a thin piece melted or broke off. They are sending an entire brush mount, a $110 retail part, for free, on a 1 1/2 yr old vacuum. No questions asked. So now my raves for customer service are Apple, Comcast, Dyson, Verizon, Automated Petcare Products (Litter Robot), and of course USAA.

Austin was holding Liam last week and said “I LOVE it when his face turns colors, it is so red”. I said “yes honey, that is because he’s pooping”. His eyes got big, his face got red and he said “oh god no!!” and passes him back to me. Funny boy!

Sophia is totally potty trained, and we ventured out into public today without any accidents. Still no poop success, and we have not braved overnight yet.

Matthew got this ‘stache from a birthday party yesterday, I had to tell him to take it off to go to bed, he wanted to keep it on. I told him he looks like a young Burt Reynolds, but he didn’t get the reference, so I called him Baby Earl from the TV showMy Name is Earl. All day I was saying “my name is Matt”.

Christopher has been an absolute joy this week. He’s finally been allowed to get a Facebook page and has been absolutely superb at getting his chores done without being told.

I started writing this post 7 hours ago. I kept getting interrupted.

No Comments | In: This is how I roll | tags: Austin, Bobby, Christopher, Domestic Diva, Family, Matthew, Me, Milestones, Parenting, Photography, Silliness, Sophia, Updates. | #

It has been a week now since Sophie has worn a diaper during the day. Until she is consistently pooping in the potty, I am not ready to ditch the diapers completely. She can’t open doors yet, so that is another obstacle in night time training. Some days are better than others, I think her worst day was two pee accidents and one poop. She has also had accident free days too. Naptime is where I am most impressed, she is excellent at getting up and using her chair in her room.

Crib is gone, binkies are gone, day time diapers are gone. I just hope she does not regress when Daddy goes overseas.

No Comments | In: A lot about nothing | tags: Milestones, Sophia. | #

I have delayed posting this announcement, because I was afraid it would not last, but as of January 26th, Sophia has slept in her big girl bed, and on January 30th, I moved her crib out of her room and into my room to slowly transition Liam into it. Major steps like that, deserve major rewards, and in Sophia’s case that meant new bedding! I ended up finding the set similar to what I wanted locally, but I looked online first.

Since Sophia is so tiny, she transitioned into a toddler bed, and it was so much fun looking at New Girl Crib and Toddler Bedding, there are so many adorable colors and designs out there! Because she is such a girly-girl, it is simple to find beautiful feminine bedding that would accentuate her bedroom so well.

Because her old bedding was so feminine, I ended up browsing for a new set for Liam, since I just cannot put him into her old set, which was a Dwell Studio bird print that was dusty pink. I would have loved to get him New Crib Sets by Kid Funktional. I especially love the Savana Rana frog set. I seriously considered choosing an aquatic theme of turtles and frogs for him. I ended up finding some of Matthew’s old bedding I had forgotten about that I got on clearance years ago, and purchased the coordinating crib skirt on eBay. I think if we were planning on him having his own bedroom I would have gone all out, but as it is, he is in our bed and by the time he transitions into either Sophia or Matthew’s room, he will be too old for a diaper stacker (which probably does not work well with cloth diapers anyways), or crib bumpers.

I do know we need to get her some window treatments soon. Her bedroom is so light during the day that she gets woken up bright and early by the sun, and in the summer her room is the hottest in the house, because her window gets no protection from trees like the other bedrooms do. I love the bright colors of the New College Window Treatments , which would coordinate so much better into a child’s room, and I especially love the black out feature, which would keep the room darker in the morning, and cooler in the afternoons. Now I just have to decide if I want to go with lime green, or purple, to go with her Tinkerbell themed room.

No Comments | In: A lot about nothing | tags: House Stuff, Liam, Sophia, Sponsored. | #

I have the oddest children ever. Not only do my youngins like vegetables… but these crazy kids love… the dentist! Seriously. You can stop laughing now, or doubting me, or saying “yeah, right” to yourselves. They seriously do.

The little two started seeing a new dentist this week. Our old insurance didn’t cover any pediatric dentists in the area, so we were all going to a general practice dentist. With the new year, we got a new insurance carrier, and with that a new pediatric dentist. Normally, the dentist, who is also a orthodontist, will only see new patients before they are teenagers, but because my 13 year old needs braces, and because my little two are being seen there, the dentist decided to see Christopher to go over a treatment plan for braces. Christopher could not be happier or more excited to get braces. Obviously he’s not the one paying for them. LOL I wonder if it is a right of passage for middle-schoolers to have metal glued onto their teeth?

Sophia seems to have found her life’s calling. She had so much fun flitting around the open bay of the dentist’s office harassing all the hygienists. She made sure everyone was graced with her presence and tried out every single chair she could find. She tested the air hoses, adjusted the exam lights, and inspected Dr. Andy’s work. They even gave her a small oral mirror so she could do oral exams on her brothers.

As you can see, Matthew’s fangs were in perfect condition this visit.

The only problem is, Sophia has been in the office twice, yet she still has not had a turn at seeing the dentist! Her appointment isn’t until next week. She could not be more excited. I completely understand where she gets it from, it was two years ago, when Matthew was just a little older, that he cried because he was disappointed we had gone to the aquarium instead of the dentist. I can completely understand who she gets her excitement about the dentist from…. but what planet do they come from?

No Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Christopher, Health, Matthew, Silliness, Sophia. | #