Monday, December 31, 2012

Out with the old

I just picked up my phone to blog and it was 11:11. I look at the clock all day at times like this - 10:10, 3:33, 2:22, 12:12. I am not really sure what it means, but I am sure it is something amazing.

Speaking of amazing, it is 11:16 on New Year's Eve. My babies and I are snuggled in our bed together waiting to ring in the new year. We plan on doing that in our sleep. Ivy and Owen are asleep, Autumn is playing, and Greg is downstairs alone watching tv. It is obviously a rockin New Year's Eve around here. The kids are too little and we are too old. Next year we are going to aim for staying awake, nothing fancy, just being awake. We set high goals for ourselves around here. (Actually, us awake, Autumn asleep, she may be the only one awake at midnight tonight.)

Speaking of goals, I need to figure those out for 2013. Resolution #1 - set goals before December. Like I said, we aim high.

And with that, goodbye 2012, you were a good year.

Here is to another year of health and happiness!


Thursday, December 27, 2012

The days after

T'was the day after the day after Christmas and all through the house;
Not a creature was stirring except Auttie, our mouse.
The stockings were scattered all over the floor;
With signs that St. Nicholas could not have done more.

Owen and Ivy were nestled all snug in my bed;
As fevers and aches took over their head.
With Greg back to work, I put on my cap;
And took care of sickies with oils and a nap.

Upstairs there were often sounds and some clatter;
I would head on up to see what was the matter.
Coughing, crying, throwing up in a flash;
Sneezing, sleeping, and movies, we had quite a bash.

The sickness and lack of any new-fallen snow;
Made me question if Christmas really happened below.
When, what to my wondering eyes would appear;
But untouched presents and signs he was here.

This came on so sudden, so lively and quick;
We never asked for this present from jolly St. Nick.
Now sickness please leave quick, as quick as you came.
We are over you now, we are done with your game.
Now coughing! Now fevers!
Now aches and pains!
On stuffiness! On sleepiness!
On virus and germs!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Things to note

There is so much going on right now, Christmas, house refinance, potential job location change for Greg, dentist, an upcoming out of town trip for Greg, redoing the master bath shower, winter concerts for both kids, remembering to pack a lunch for Owen, trying to eat organic and GMO free, boot camp, and a really complicated case at work that has consumed all my time, to name a few.

And to top it all off, Ben swears the earth is moving faster and time is speeding up. Great. Like I need that.

During this crazy time I am letting things go by and failing to note those things, thus bringing you a blog of things to note of course.

1. The quality of homework in our schools is amazing. See for yourself: Jon has 4 cars. Don gives him four more. How many cars does Bob have? Amazing, right?

2. I love eating sweet potatoes. I cut them in thin circles, put olive oil on them, sprinkle with sea salt and 21 seasoning salute, and roast them to perfection. I eat them almost daily and they never seem to get old.

3. Ivy had her Christmas concert last week and she sang her little heart out. Her singing "Christmas lights" has got to be the cutest thing of her whole life so far.

4. I am obsessed with Autumn's cuteness.

5. A lady yelled at me at Trader Joe's the other day. I keep thinking I am over that and then I remember it and I want to go hunt her down and yell at her.

6. Owen has 3 things on his Christmas list this year : stuffed animals, an iPad, and a winter coat (he has a winter coat I swear, can you imagine if he had to eat a lunch full of crusts and then go out to play in a wispy little jacket).

7. Owen and Ivy were discussing what a husband is. He told her it was a boy after you got married. She decided she was going to marry Owen. He corrected her and told her she would get big and marry someone she liked. She thought for a minute and said, "Owen, I like you. Actually, I love you. I will marry you". I could just die.

8. Both Owen and Ivy take piano lessons and I am totally obsessed with that also.

9. You can totally make a smoothie with mangos, bananas, strawberries, orange juice and an avocado and no one seems to mind the avocado. Way to go little green source of wonderfulness.

And now I have 9 things to remember as the earth continues to rotate a little faster each day.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The leftovers

Some leftovers are good, like pizza, restaurant, and Thanksgiving.

Some leftovers are not so good. One comes quickly to mind: lunchbox leftovers.

This is a story about leftovers.

So imagine for a moment it is that time of the day, finally 11:45 and time for lunch.

You pretty much know what is in your lunchbox everyday, a peanut butter sandwich, some delicious crackers, a piece of fruit, and your water bottle. You take your little gnome lunchbox to the cafeteria with you wondering which fruit your mom packed you. You sit down with all of your friends, friends, who like yourself, left home for the day trusting they would eat a lunch; friends that also confidently answered the lunch count with home or school lunch answers.

You sit at your table in the lunchroom surrounded by hot lunches and home lunches. You hear the carefree chatter around you as children start to quench their hunger with their well prepared lunch.

You smile at your friends as you happily unzip your lunchbox and as you glance down, ready to join in the lunch eating madness, you slowly flip back your lunchbox lid and to your utter disappointment and dismay, the lunch that you have come to expect is not there, but rather, you open your lunchbox to nothing but..... a pile of crusts. And these are not just any old crusts but yesterday's leftover crusts. And not just yesterday's crusts but due to a little mix-up, yesterday's crusts from a triple decker sandwich or even more crusts than you want to see.

You look at yesterday's leftover crusts and because you are starving, you actually take three bites. They are three bites too many considering they are the same pile of crusts you chose not to eat the day before. They are the same crusts that you hate covered in seeds. It doesn't matter, you try those three bites anyway cause you realize this is your lunch. When it becomes too much to bear, you decide you are done with lunch and you zip up your same crusts again, feeling like you have done this exact thing before (and you have, minus three bites) and you wait. You have to wait cause of course no one else is done and it is still too early to head out to recess (naturally, I mean how long can it take to eat three bites of gross crusts you hated already once). So three seconds after you opened your lunchbox, it is closed and you wait while everyone else eats.

Meanwhile, back at home, as your mom is feeding your sisters a well balanced meal of turkey, garbanzo beans, carrots, oranges, and crackers, and suddenly begins to realize that was the first time she opened the crackers all day, which meant no new lunch was made.

She frantically emails the teacher and finds out the lunch and recess are over and you ate yesterday's leftovers. Your mom thought maybe you would get an emergency lunch or opt for cold lunch, but of course lunch count was done and you said "home".

My poor Owen.

At the direction of his teacher, the girls and I took over some food . As we were walking away we heard her say, "Owen, go ahead and sit and your table and eat, everyone, don't look at Owen, look at me and learn".

I will always feel bad about the day Owen and I now I call "the day you got crusts".



Sunday, November 25, 2012

In case you were wondering

In case you were wondering what the perfect night looks like, according to Ivy, here you go.

It doesn't get much better than this.


Lee Lee & Ivy

Ivy told me today that her friend Lee Lee was here to play. She was going to stay inside to ride Ivy's scooter while Ivy was outside, then they were both going to the store with Greg.

I have never met Lee Lee before. Ivy talks about her a lot but today was the first time she came to play.

They left to go to the store together. Ivy buckled her in and then Lee Lee decided to sit on Ivy's lap.

She doesn't have any real friends and there is a part of me that feels so sad, and yet, another part of me that thinks that even if she had some, she wouldn't know what to do with them.

She loves her little world, the one that is safe. She plays endlessly with her brother, she takes care of Autumn, she pretends, she imagines, she shares all my food and makes sure we always share the last bite, she worries tirelessly and has a heart so big.

That girl is wise beyond her years.

Outside her world is hard. She doesn't know how to play, she doesn't relate to little kids, she has social anxiety, she is constantly afraid a dog will be around every corner, she always trying to learn something new, and puts an incredible amount of pressure on herself. All of this and she is only three.

The last remaining anxiety at school was on the playground. I saw her standing there one day and realized how uncomfortable she was during the run and frolic time. I casually mentioned one day that Owen used to look for rocks outside and for four weeks now I have picked up a smiley happy girl with pockets of treasures. She has a purpose, something to do other than run and frolic and be carefree.

I see myself in her and I wish I could set her little soul free to have fun, to run and play with little kids and really just have permission to be three.

I don't know if she will ever truly play and frolic, but I will do what I can to suggest activities to make her a little more comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. I will also welcome Lee Lee, and the friends before and after her, into our house to give Ivy the chance to play with her friends, the ones that are safe and let her be her kind of 3.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Sign me up!

I have so much going on and it is all my fault. You see, when the school sends out an email that they still need someone to teach the Junior Achievement program to Owen's class, I think in my head: well, I don't have any idea what they are talking about but I can't let Owen's class go without, sign me up!

Or, when I get a paper sent home about all of the wonderful PTA volunteer positions and I read they need a yearbook lead, what goes through my head? You guessed it, sign me up!

Or when I see the volunteer sign up sheet at Ivy's school I immediately sign up for the field trip.

I fear I am just an email or two away from PTA president and I am afraid I won't be able to stop myself.

The pressure is mounting tonight: we have to refinance our house by the end of the month and the appraisal is in the morning before we go to school; I have a client who has his own vet business and filed a chapter 11 to save the building and I need to get some work done on it before he loses his business because of me; I am in charge of our books at the office and suck at doing just a little each day, which means I have entries to make since February and it has to be done and reviewed by the accountant by December 10 to decide whether we need to set up 401k plans to reduce our tax liability; and finally, and most importantly, in an effort to have a gmo free, mostly organic Thanksgiving, we are making some changes to the menu and Angie and I really need to figure out what those changes are.

And of course I have the day-to-day, school, clients, music, piano, carpool, gymnastics, speech, eating, balancing our bank account, boot camp, and trying to remember to have fun.

Now don't get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining, I do it to myself. In fact, I now know I have something wrong with me. I have often wondered and my suspicions were realized the day I got an email telling me there were only two other people on my yearbook committee. I think this was a bad thing but I felt relief. What can I say, I like to do things like this my way.

I need therapy to curb my controlling crazy ways, but until then I will keep volunteering and stressing cause that is what I do.

Here's to a crazy week!!

(I should take a hint from this girl)

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ball, Missing Sounds, & $25.00

We have had some big breakthroughs around here lately. 

1. Kristi told Autumn to say ball today, she did.  We thought it was an accident and asked her to say it again and sure enough she said the same thing. 

2. Ivy has been going to speech since about March or so.  During her first assessment, I think we were told she needed to work on everything.  She left off the consonants at the beginning of the words, consonants at the end of words, and mixed up the other ones she said.  I guess she really just spoke in vowels.  We can safely say there wasn’t a lot of understanding going on.  We have made amazing progress throughout speech class and I am so proud of her but as we picked up on some things, we realized what we were missing, we were still left without “s” and “f” sounds in the beginning of words.  For example, swimming suit = imming uit,  silly mom = illy mom, school = cool, fun = un, first = irst.   Our secretary from work asked Angie one day how she understood Ivy, to which Angie correctly responded that you simply take the word you don’t understand put an s or an f on the front and you can figure it out.  Well, she counted to 10 the other day (which used to sound like this – one, two, ee, or, ive, ix, evan, eight, nine, ten) and miraculously used all of her sounds.  Ever since, f and s have found a way into her vocabulary and continue to be more present each day. 

3.  I just donated $25.00 to California’s Proposition 37.  This is the Right to Know Initiative asking to label GMOs (genetically modified organisms).  I have always loved the name brand food and if someone told me 10 years ago I would be where I am today I would have been shocked and full of disbelief.  When Autumn became allergic to corn and I began learning and researching and understanding, I gained so much more knowledge than I thought possible.  As part of that research I learned that almost all of the corn we eat comes from genetically modified corn.  I also learned that since the introduction of genetically modified corn, allergies in children has increased 255%.   As a result of my own continued research and recent articles about GMO products, we have changed the way we eat around here.  At first we made changes to my diet and Autumn’s to prevent her from having a reaction to something but now it is so much more than that.  It is about eating healthy and limiting the number of pesticides and GMO foods we eat.  We are slowly changing to as many organic foods as we can, as to be labeled organic it cannot contain GMOs.  We try to buy mostly organic fruits and vegetables.  We have switched to local honey from a cute little man down the street.  We look for the Verified NonGMO Project labels on the foods we eat.  It is a process.  Now don’t get me wrong, I still let the kids eat Halloween candy, they still get the snack at music class, we go out to dinner and I know it won’t be the end of the world if they eat this stuff, but I am going to continue to do what I can.  Proposition 37 has $41 million raised by big companies to fight it passing.  I don’t live in California, but I donated $25.00 because I want it to pass.  I want companies to be required to tell me what is in the food I eat.  I want to make decisions for my family based on the knowledge and information available to me.  If it passes in California, it will obviously affect labeling everywhere. 

Like I said, breakthroughs.  From a new word, to a new sound, to a new way of thinking, all of which make me very happy. 

And it has nothing to do with anything on this post, but Ivy just went to find her books for bed tonight and told me she wants to read Lady and the Trampoline, that obviously makes me happy too.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

1 Year Old

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The caboose turned one last month. 

She started walking right before her birthday. She was able to move herself from one end of the room to another by walking, but each step was cautious and careful and often resulted in a fall that ended up in a crawl.  With each passing day she was a little more confident and a little more sturdy until by her birthday, she mostly walked.  She only walks now and actually completed an entire walk around the block with Ivy and Kristi the other day.  I can only imagine how tired her little legs were. 

She is obsessed with her coat and her shoes, insisting that both stay on all the time (she is asleep right now wearing both).  She seems to suddenly understand English and while she doesn’t talk (other than the occasional momma and dadda), she understands everything.  She knows her name as well as her nicknames, specifically Ferbie, Autty, and today the kids named her Trussels to which she responded to as well. 

There is something just so cute about a baby who is now a little person.  A person with ideas and solutions.  I absolutely adore her to find something in the cupboard, decide she wants it, and bring it to me to open.  Or to have her carry her shoes over to me and then sit down and lift up her legs.  I love that she knows I am her person and I will help her solve those pressing problems of her life. 

She loves her pink blanket and drags it all over the house as well as her binky.  We call both of them her “stuff”. 

She coughs when she wants a drink, clicks her tongue when she wants something to eat, and pants when she wants me to nurse her.  Awesome, I know.  Eating is still a challenge and if we aren’t careful she has scratchy eczema on her feet, gets hives up her leg, and flare ups  of hives on her bum.  We still don’t feed her corn products or dairy and I am totally ok with that.  She doesn’t eat a lot of different foods, but what she does eat she likes with flavor and seasoning.  She mostly likes to eat off of my plate rather than her own. 

Her new favorite past time is to throw everything down the stairs.  Right now at the bottom there is a pile of shoes, balls, toys, clothes, a diaper and a toothbrush. 

She is our teeny thing and makes a perfect caboose!

STATS:

Height – 27 in = 3%

Weight – 16 1/2 lbs = 1%

Head – 45.2 cm = 54%

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Her smile.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I hope we make it

7:23 - Ivy awakes and immediately starts crying, repeatedly saying "mommy, mommy".

8:15 - the crying continues but then changes to "my tummy hurts, my tummy hurts". Over and over and over.

8:50 - still crying about a tummy ache, I inform her that she has a fever and a tummy ache and she is going to stay home with me and rest today.

8:51 - the crying changes to "mommy, I do want to go to cool, I do want to go to cool".

9:25 - still crying

9:27 -I am going crazy.

We are in for a long day. I already asked Greg to come home early.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Fragile beast

I had that worst week a few weeks back. I am here to report that things are better, except I experience the worst week once a day!

Where is the line between typical three year old behavior and the realization that your child is a poster child for a behavioral disorder?

Today, I am pretty sure we crossed the line and moved into disorder. I picked her up from school and saw the all too familiar hands in her mouth and tilted head with something in her eyes. Most days she can't wait to leave, not the case today. She decided she didn't want to leave (heaven only knows why) and hooked herself to the fence. Mind you, this is the same fence that all the other children have to exit from and with Ivy hanging on to it, well, that just wasn't going to work.

With fear growing inside me and totally knowing where we were headed, I begged her to tell me what was wrong, to use words, to see Autumn, anything!

All I got - girl holding on tighter to the exit fence.

I knew what had to be done and I knew what was going to come from it. I picked her up while holding Autumn, peeled her from the fence and carried her kicking, screaming self to the car. She collapsed on the floor and refused to move her feet out of the way of the door.

So not only is she crying in front of the playground with all the moms walking by, but doing that with the door wide open!!

It only got worse. I tried to put her in her seat and could not get in her in. I had no choice but to tell her we were going to drive home without her in her seat and I hoped I would not see a policeman cause I would go to jail and be gone forever. She forced me to do that.

A beast entered my child, she attacked me, bit my seat, and then got in.

About 40 minutes after this all started, it ended. It wasn't a bad day it was an episode.

She is very fragile and making me fragile!! We both need therapy.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

The truth has been documented

Greg and Owen love to push each other's buttons. I can't think of a time yet when I have left them home alone and not received a call like this:

"Hello"

"Mom?" (Spoken in hushed tones, hiding from Greg no doubt)

"Yes Owen."

"Mom, dad is being mean. He says I have to clean the playroom before i play with my friends."

"I am sorry dear, try to work it out and I will be there soon."

You could really insert any problem or event, mean or not mean, above in Owen's very anti-climatic description of why Greg is mean.

I loved the call the other day while I was at work and Greg stayed home with the kids:

"Hello."

"Mom?"

"Yes Owen."

"I don't like when dad is home from work and here after school. He doesn't even know our schedule and how things work. "

"Why do you say that, what happened?"

"I usually get home from school and you ask me how my day went and I say fine then I ask if I can play and you say yes. Dad didn't do that. I got home and he said play the piano. He didn't even ask about my day. When are you coming home?"

I laughed my head off inside and told Owen that must have been horrible and I was heading home then.

Tonight however, the drama got better. I got home from boot camp and Owen said, "dad was mean tonight". Then he got a big smile on his face and ran away. He brought back a black notebook and explained it was his notebook where he writes down things about Greg being mean (I totally just laughed out loud when I typed that while lying in bed with sleeping kids).

It is appropriately titled "Dad being mean book".

He explained that he goes off in a corner and writes in it. It had two entries.

Page 1- autumn is nice dad is mean mom is gone ivy is good.

Page 2- dad is not letting me ride cars I want to ride my car.

I just totally laughed out loud again.

It was bad enough for Greg to be told on for everything that happened and now it will be documented in a book. (And quite honestly, I cannot wait to read the next entry. )

My son says he is going to be a policeman when he grows up, he totally is.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Her amazing smile

Autumn is a natural and has perfected her smile for the camera. When she sees my phone pointed at her face or we ask to see her smile, I am met with this amazingly awesome smile.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The worst week

It all started two weeks ago, Ivy got a mysterious fever, threw up once and slept all day and night. The next day she seemed like herself and I thought we were through the worst of it. Not the case.

There was no more throwing up or strange fevers but there was an evil child. I sort of wanted that fever back.

I will summarize the evilness of the week with oh how about Wednesday.

We woke up and that ended the good part of the day. She didn't want to get dressed, she didn't want to eat, she only wanted to cry and cry and cry. I took her to school and she kept crying and rubbed her eyes and said mommy over and over. I left with her crying and to be honest, I can't even remember how I got out of there.

Within an hour the phone rang with an update that she had been crying since I left, they tried everything, and she eventually laid on the mat and fell asleep whimpering and she may need to be picked up early. We said goodbyes and within ten minutes Autumn and I were on our way to get her.

I picked her up crying and she went home crying. She stopped for a minute to change into her gymnastics clothes and to tell me she wanted to bring her brush to gymnastics. And then the world ended and we left without the brush. She screamed all the way there and we would have missed her class if we came back for it.

Once at gymnastics a horrible chain of events occurred. I told her we were not going, she said she was done crying and cried all the way in. I told her we were leaving, she said she was done crying and stood behind a plant in the gym that had all of 5 people in it, screaming that she was not leaving and wanted her brush. I picked her up to leave and carried her kicking, screaming, clawing self outside.

Thank heavens for boot camp and strong arms, if she would have escaped I would have died.

I took her outside and asked her to stop crying so we could go back in. She screamed for her brush, leaving me no choice but to pick her up, put her in the car and forcefully shove her and trap her in her seat.

We drove away while she screamed to go back. With the promise she would stop crying I turned around only to turn around again and head home.

It was about then I almost lost my mind. Good thing I didn't, I needed to be on my best behavior for the policeman who said I was going 41 in a 25. Luckily Ivy was still screaming and I must have looked like I was going to go crazy and start crying like that myself cause he let me go with a warning to have a better day and go slower.( At least she kept crying during that event. I would have gone mad if she suddenly stopped and sat back there quietly).

She fell asleep before we got home and trust me I left her that way. I treated her sleeping self sort of like a sleeping lion.

This was the whole week. I almost even took her out of school forever cause i thought school was traumatizing her and I almost gave her away twice.

Somehow we made it and now looking back I think she was sick (or possessed). This week she has smiley eyes, she ate salmon again, and said goodbye to me at school with a brave little face and no tears.

Myself, the teachers at school, probably most of the kids at school, for sure the people at gymnastics, and the policeman hope she really was ill and we don't do that again.





Monday, September 24, 2012

My drug of choice

Can I have a title like that when I have a recovering drug addict brother? Hmmmm. Not sure, but moving on.

Toast. I love toast. Yep toast. I am the Forrest Gump shrimp guy. I love butter toast, cinnamon toast, jelly toast, and especially honey toast. Really, any toast will do.

Which leads me to the drug part. I haven't been eating my beloved toast due to my very restrictive corn free diet. The bread I love has corn stuff in it and I try to limit the gluten/wheat I eat due to a relation to a gluten allergy and a corn allergy. That being said, sometimes I cannot help myself. I want and need toast. The last few weeks I decided a little toast never hurt anyone and I would just have a piece here and there. Nope.

Two with breakfast. Ivy's crust. One for a snack. One after dinner. One before bed.

Maybe it was the lack of anything like toast for so long, or maybe I am a toast addict.

So, I had to stop. I didn't feel great, and Autumn was scratching her feet a little more. It has only been three days and I really could use a honey toast right now.

On the positive side of things, I feel more energized and crave my healthy salads all day again.

On the negative side of things, I want toast. I will go to sleep thinking about it and will fight my urges tomorrow to pop in one piece. I have been through it before, in a few days I won't think about it so often and almost eat one more than once during the day. It subsides.

Until then, it is clear: My name is Jen and I am a toast addict and yes, I just wrote a post about toast.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I'll leave the light on for you

Staying with me is sort of like staying at the Motel 6. Staying with Angie, on the other hand, is more like staying at the Hilton, or maybe even better.

See for yourself.

Angie's house is cleaned top to bottom the night before your stay. (even the night before her son's surgery)

My house, well it just gets left however it is, so hopefully you arrive the day after our house cleaner and not the day before, that makes a big difference on however it is.

Angie calls you before you leave to find out what you would like to eat during your stay.

I forget you are coming.

Angie stocks her fridge and cupboards with not only the food you ordered but a few extras she picks up that she thinks you may enjoy.

I am currently out of cheese, paper towels, butter, and we are down to the last few rolls of toilet paper. We barely have the basics, who has time to pick up extras.

Angie has a guest room in the basement and keeps Evan quiet until at least after ten to assure her guests are well rested.

My guests sleep on the bottom bunk with Owen on the top. I have no control over what time he peeks down at you to loudly ask if you are awake.

Angie asks her guests their favorite shows and assures her dvr is set to record.

My guests watch Dora and Curious George.

Angie has a spare blow dryer in the guest bathroom so you don't need to even pack yours.

At my house you can borrow mine and the good news is that I just got a new one so you don't have to hold the back on while you dry your hair. Yay!!

Angie is somehow able to make one of her cars an extra car and give you your own car.

You get to ride in my van and usually in the back because Owen insists everyone rides next to him.

Angie cancels all of her appointments and obligations to cook dinner and spend as much time with you as possible.

It is business around here as usual but you can ride with me on my errands and boot camp is only an hour.

In summary, if you are planning to head up this direction, you may want to call ahead and book your stay with Angie. If she is full, call me and I will give you our housecleaning schedule.

.. .... I wonder if I can leave and stay with Angie for a few days. .....


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

It wasn't me

I experienced my first bad deed that no one did.

(although if I were a betting person I would put my money on Ivy)

Ivy was watching tv the other day and I noticed something on the tv. As I went over and tried to wipe it off I realized it wasn't coming off. I turned off the tv to find the entire thing scratched.

A little alarmed, I asked Ivy what happened. She said she and Owen scratched it with some keys, followed quickly by an actually she thinks Owen did it, or maybe actually it was her, she didn't know.

When I explained that this was very sad and dad's favorite thing was ruined, she became quite sure Autumn or Owen did it but she did not do it. She never wavered a bit after that.

Owen came home from school and although I swear he took a few moments to compose himself and his sneaky smile definitely was there, he maintained it was not him. They both were so suspicious and convincing at the same time.

Here we are a few days later and no one did it. I sort of feel like they both know and agreed not to tell me but how could a 7 year old a a 3 year old be capable of such deceit and conspiracy.

I got to hand it to them, at one point I even looked at how high Autumn could reach thinking, maybe she really did scratch the top of the tv.

I better watch this group. I have a feeling ghost child committing bad deeds will be back....

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

So proud

I am so proud of how things are going with school, and by that I mean for me!

I am part of a carpool and I will not lie, it stresses me out. I am on the morning shift and the idea of being responsible for other people's children to make it to school on time is so stressful. I am late to everything. Being late is all I know, so much so that I find myself making me late when I could have otherwise been early or on time. I am always rushing to leave and I usually forget something.

Now fast forward to my first three carpool days and you can imagine my excitement for getting Ivy to school on time, leaving her school and subsequently getting Owen, the twins from next door, and a girl I had never met before carpool, to school EARLY. Mind you this has only been for a few days but it is a few days more than I have ever been early for anything.

I am so pleased with myself. Now whether I say this in January is yet to be seen, but for now I will take my three days and throw myself a party!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

And then there was one

I am not sure how we got here, the place at the end of the summer where we start school all over again.

The summer wasted no time in ending and brought about Owen's first day of first grade, Ivy's first day of preschool and Autumn's first day of being the only one at home four days a week.

Owen went from a private kindergarten to the dreaded public school. I wish the school system would update itself and fix some things, but this is a happy post not a rant, although I do have a lot to say lately about a lot of things, maybe next post.

I dropped Owen off at school on Wednesday and he stood outside the car with his backpack and the biggest smile on his face. He waved and waved before being guided to his line. As I looked at him standing there, I started to cry. The tears were unexpected really, and they weren't because I was sad he was big (well a little of that, I miss him all day) but mostly that he was ready. He was so big and so brave just bounding off to school. He just looked so sweet standing there as he proudly waved, I couldn't stop the tears.

I anxiously waited for pickup time and, after an intense lesson about pickup from my neighbor and a teeny mistake on my part where I blocked the entire exit for all the parents, I picked up his smiley self and we declared the first day a success. He was quick to report that he had been there for 6 hours and I should realize that and pick him up a little sooner. I made a note of that for him.

I mostly enjoyed hearing about the part of school where I forgot to pack him a drink in his home lunch. After inquiring as to how he resolved this problem, he sheepishly smiled and then gleefully let me know that they sell chocolate milk at school. Someone was sure he had money on his account and gave him the milk. He probably thought school was so amazing, here he was left to his own thirsty devices with no choice other than to order himself a forbidden chocolate milk.

Owen likes school with the exception that it is too long. Today he insisted it was his third day of school when in fact it was the second. It really must seem long considering he gained an entire day in there.

And next, we had Muffy heading off to preschool today. We carefully picked out her first day outfit, little bird leggings with a matching sweater dress. She really wanted two side ponytails and one in the back. I worked my last little bit of magic I have left on her and managed to only do two (although I had to promise three on Monday). I had a picture perfect girl ready for school, and then, I heard the dreaded words: I don't want to wear this. Nooooooooo!! We almost made it to school with matching clothes and really cute hair..... but that wouldn't be very Muffy like now would it, and what's the fun of matching anyway. Clearly brown bird pants go much better with a bluish-green polka dot shirt anyway.

She loved her school and loved telling Owen about her day. I learned she did not have snack cause we forgot to bring one (I wish things were explained better in schools). Owen explained the concept of one person bringing it for everyone to share. I also learned everyone sang songs except her and the little green guy (the kid in the green jacket of course, not an imaginary alien, like she would have an imaginary alien-like friend when she has her imaginary friend Luko, the little girl). Upon questioning, I was informed simply: she didn't want to sing.

So now I feel like my brain may explode as I figure out their schedules, their lessons, the carpool, the lunches, the snacks, the getting up early, the going to bed struggles, and the homework, all the while making sure my own life doesn't disappear.

Well, here's to a great school year and hoping my brain doesn't explode!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

11 months

That wee little thing turned 11 months old the other day.  We are just one month shy of turning 1.  We have decided she is definitely the nerd of the bunch and sort of weird in an adorably cute kind of way. 

She crawls all over the place, goes up and down stairs, stands up from the ground, moves around with furniture and took 6 steps the other day.  She coughs when she needs a drink and waves her hands around when she wants something.  She is still wearing mostly 6-12 month clothes, and on occasion, 3-6 month clothes. She has 3 teeth, the bottom front two and the top side fang tooth.  We have three others that have just poked through, the top two front teeth and the other side fang tooth.  We are happy for those front teeth, that side fang tooth is not helping her oddness in any way.  She decided yesterday that she doesn’t like long sleeves with something tight on her wrist and works very hard to pull her arm out.  I am not sure I am ready for her to care what she wears at 11 months.  Ben showed me a picture of him reading to Rylee the other day and I laughed at the the idea of Autumn sitting through a book.  She may not sit through a book, but she did try to play Uno with us the other night.  She had a pile of cards and kept throwing her cards into a pile she created.  Owen and I loved that.  She loves her binky and her “special blanket”.  Her blanket is big and she drags it around and gathers it up. 

She is still on a very restrictive diet (as am I, and although I am often starving for something super delicious, I am in the best shape I have ever been in – thanks to boot camp and a serious lack of processed foods).  She has eczema on her feet and legs and it seems a small amount of corn results in sleepless itchy nights and flare-ups on her legs and feet.  It is really hard and there have been a few times when I actually thought, “it is just skin, she will live” because the energy of trying to trace back something she or I ate that may or may not have contained corn was just too difficult for my brain at that time.   She does eat a lot of nectarines, peas, potatoes, olives, apples and blueberries.  I believe her favorite would have to be the blueberries, case in point: we went to a farmer’s market today and bought a pint of blueberries. She ate the entire thing herself as we walked the market. 

She mostly loves Owen and Ivy, maybe more Owen than Ivy, but that is Ivy’s fault.  Hard to love the one that is dragging you across the driveway because you started to cry and that one decided to bring you to mom.  The three of them ride around the kitchen on their cars.  Ivy drives in the front, baby in the middle and Owen last.  They tie their three cars together with a rope and ride in a chain.  She LOVES it and thinks she is so neat. 

She kind of is.  

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Monday, August 27, 2012

We almost lost him

That title sounded sweet in my head and then I read it and it looked maybe more dramatic than it is...or maybe not.

The him I am referring to is none other than extra family member: Owl.

He is so old and positively not white, in fact I would venture to say he is more like a permanent shade of grey. I love him so much though. Sometimes, i kiss Owen goodnight while he is asleep and I can't help myself and I kiss that little grey friend on his head too. It isn't that I love owl per se but all the things he represents and I know it is only a matter of time before he is tucked carefully away in a drawer cause he isn't needed anymore.

But for now he is still tucked under his friend's arm and often found by his side and I truly cherish every moment I see that. So, imagine the heartbreak when he went missing last week.

After a quick trip to the new office and a crazy night with Felix and Robee staying over, Owen started to look for owl the next day. We looked and looked and looked and came up empty. This lead us to believe he was at the office. After a trip to the beach to look for crabs, we headed to the office. Again, no owl. We changed our mind and determined he had to be home. After heading home we looked and looked again. I changed my mind again and decided he was at the office while Owen changed his mind and decided he was gone forever. I knew I didn't look all over the office and because moms have super finding powers, I was not calling him gone yet.

I dropped the crew off at the swimming pool and as I knew I could not swim in peace without owl, I went to the office. I started inside and planned to work my way back. I quickly eliminated the first three rooms and headed outside. From the back door I glanced side to side and there he was, favorite guy in the sprinkler ditch by the house. I totally felt like picking him up like a lost child and hugging and kissing him (and may or may not have actually done such a thing. Luckily it was just him and I and Autumn and they both can't talk and I am saying nothing).

So now he is home where he belongs. Owen was thrilled about his return and has held on a little tighter ever since.

And me, I get to watch my son run down the street with his favorite animal tucked under his arm for a little longer.

I know Owen would have been fine, but i sure wasn't ready to lose owl yet.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Please Bless

I am not always present to my kids, sometimes, even just the opposite.  I spend too much time on the computer, I talk on the phone too much, I am constantly looking up information on my phone, I make them watch shows so for a few minutes someone won’t ask me for something, and on occasion, I even send them upstairs to go to bed with the promise I will be right there, while all the while knowing they will fall asleep before I get there. 

The other day I read an article about how many kids are dying because they are left in hot cars.  The article said that it happens when people are out of their normal routine or when a parent that usually doesn’t have the kids is dropping them off.  It mentioned the most recent case of this happening occurred when a mom dropped off her 11 year old at school and then went to drop off her 5 month old at a church daycare but then went home.  She went back that afternoon to pick up the son that was never dropped off at daycare and was informed the child was not dropped off.  It was then discovered that the mom never dropped off the baby, forgot about him, and he subsequently died in the hot car. 

I know that things happen.  I really do.  Autopilot – I am guilty of it time and time again.  It wasn’t the kids being left in the car that bothered me about the article, but the suggestion of a solution.  An app.  There is an app you can install on your phone where you set an alert to remind you that you have your child in the car.  

I forget things, I make promises I don’t keep, I am a technology junkie, and I love my iPhone, but please bless that I don’t rely on that phone one day to remind me that I took my child somewhere with me in the car.  Or, please bless that one day I don’t climb out of the car remembering to take my phone with me, while my precious little babies stay behind. 

An app to remember your baby is just too much and reminds me that life is headed in a direction I don’t want to go. 

Please bless I just remember these guys cause I remember them. 

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Hot

Today is a day that the air conditioner just got bumped to the top of the to do list. I see the weather report for the next two days and it is all I can do not to call this instant. We are all hanging out in one room with a fan blowing on us. The thermostat says it is 82 degrees in the house.

In an hour I will be working out at boot camp. You can safely assume I am not totally excited for that but will work hard nonetheless. Maybe I will feel like I worked extra hard with the excess heat, or I may die, one or the other.

The kids and I had no choice but to eat tons of chocolate chips today cause we are so hot.

It was either that or buy an air conditioner today. I should have just done both.

Friday, August 10, 2012

I always have what I need & forgotten 7 year old Stats

Ok. I admit it, I notoriously have a messy car. I clean it and within days it goes back to the way it was before. It is one of those cars that when you have a passenger ride with you, it is necessary to move all the stuff on the seat to clear a space.

I know you wish you were that passenger about now.

I cleaned the car today and in a way it is sad, cause you see, I have learned that with a messy car you always have what you need.

Some examples:

The kids and I found a farmer's market today and decided to stop by. I was wishing I had brought the sunblock. I decided to check the floor just in case and lo and behold: sunblock!

I was eating a nectarine the other day and it started to drip. Luckily, I found a towel on the floor. Mess avoided. ( can you really avoid a mess by using the mess? Hmmm)

We left in a rush the other day and I grabbed a piece of toast for Ivy. She was still hungry. Luckily, when I went to get her out I found our favorite snack.. Cereal in a bag. Problem solved .

Owen forgot his shoes the other day but never fear! The extra pair in the car worked fine.

Ivy wanted to wear a headband one day but couldn't find it. Yep, you guessed it, by the time we went into our destination: headband was on her head.

I sort of envision the car like a giant mobile purse, one with clothes, snacks, items to protect against the elements, important papers, earrings, water bottles, and toys.

When I leave tonight it will be like leaving without my purse.

At least that only lasts a day or two.

************************POST EDIT*****************************
And yet, another forgotten post about the numbers, which I may not care about when I am old and gray, but then again, I may.  So in case I do care:
Owen at 7:
4 feet  1 3/4 tall - 80%
55 pounds - 69%

The dr. says Owen will be 6' 1".  I hope she is right!
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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Well at least he does that

I bother Greg on at least a daily basis about all the things that don't get done around the house (and rest assured I am now about to name some of those).

For example the front door lock needs repair, the skylights need cleaning, the sprinklers need to be fixed, and we really need to pull some weeds.

One good thing, we have a bunch of logs in the garage from a tree we cut down and they have been on the floor waiting to be shelved. Well, they are on the shelf. Cause Kristi put them there.

All of that being said, there is one thing that Greg does that almost allows me to forgive him for the rest ( I said almost and it will never be completely).

Greg takes Owen crabbing.

I hate crabbing, I hate boats, I hate the water, I hate killing crabs, and I hate eating crabs BUT I love the two of them to go together.

They went out today with some friends on a big boat. Owen asked the friends a million questions and constantly asked Greg to check the pots. They caught a giant sun star (sun star being a sea star (formerly known as a starfish) with more than five points and thank you Felix for that wealth of information). Owen talked about this creature for hours. I was told he just couldn't get his mind off it.

They brought home two crabs and Owen only wanted to ride with his dad, with the crabs.

I have too many weeds in my yard and I can't unlock the front door but I adore Greg for taking him.

(and no I still will not let you get a boat).

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Wild child at 10 months

As we approach her ten month mark, Autumn is insane.

She stood for real tonight. The kind of standing where they let go and surprise themselves by just standing there. She was so proud.

She moves up the stairs with ease but struggles coming down.

She loves pulling Owen's hair and then scrunching her nose and laughing.

She stole from the store tonight and gave the other two kids a heart attack.

She fake laughs while staring at things she wants, especially a glass of water.

She loves Greg to put her to sleep and it drives me crazy. I will try for hours and she falls asleep for him in two seconds.

She loves her binky and "special blanket".

And we call her Ferby.