Sick-Wife Days

Last night as we were putting the girls down, it hit me. My head started to swirl and I was just exhausted. I fell asleep at 8:30. I'm not sure, but I think I fell asleep before Keira. Overnight, my condition did not improve. This morning when Keira woke up, before the legal limit, I told Jeremy I still wasn't feeling well. He answered the call, and let me sleep in, taking care of the girls. When I finally made it downstairs (after 12 hours of sleep, woohoo) he was starting a load of laundry and told me that he had called in "Sick-wife" today.

Banana Ice-Cream!!

Recently Cassidy had a little 'set-back' in the toilet training arena. Perhaps it was b/c of the move, or it could be she just deicded to get lazy. She only seemed to have an 'accident' if she was too busy playing outside. So we put off trying for no diaper at night for awhile. I had mentioned a few times to Cassidy that if she made it through the night that she would get a special treat. She promptly grinned and said, "Ice-cream?! Banana Ice-cream!" The first night, no luck, the next night, no luck. Then she came in the next day, and ta-da! But we didn't have time to make it to ice-cream store. Yet, she did it again the next night, still no time to get to store. Last night we had the baby sitter, and Cassidy decided to forgo the diaper, and she did it yet again!! Banana Ice-Cream for everyone!!

Keeping up

Keira is trying to be a 3 year old. When Cassidy was this age, she was happy with who she was. Loving life as a toddler with no siblings. Keira on the other hand, watches what her sister does, and thinks, "Why not me?" She climbs into the kitchen tables and wants to eat there (even at restaurants, she threw a nice fit last night). She climbs into Cassidy's bed and will lay down if she wants some quiet time. And today, I found her climbing on some brick decorative pieces we have out front. Cassidy was climbing them yesterday and again today, so Keira just did it. I didn't know she could climb them, as I'm sure she had quite a reach to get to them, but she did it. And boy did she look proud! I should have snapped a picture, but that would have involved getting the camera, and I wasn't going to leave her up there!!

mmm...Awmmy

I'll be honest. I have not been keeping track of when Keira was saying her first words, or even what that word might be. We are always doing stuff and she makes lots of 'noises'. I kept saying, when she decides to talk it will be in full sentences. Well, it turns out she has been talking, we just haven't been listening (sorry Keira). So we are heading out this week, and I crate Buddy, Keira is to my unlearned ear mumbling, "Doh. Doh. Uddy." Me, "Uh-huh". Keira comes up to me in family room while I'm petting Mischief, "At. Itty" I point to Jeremy, "Who is that?" "ddd..Addy" Now I must point out that her ddd is very soft, almost under the breath, so it sounds more like a mumbled something. "Who am I?" "mmm...Awmmy" Again with the under the breath thing. Point being, we suddenly stopped this week, and listened to her. Turns out she has been talking. I wonder what else she's saying. "Eee eee..quals mmmm see squ...aired"

Busy Days

Phew! Cassidy just had a very busy day, which means Keira and I have been very busy too. We started out slow enough, Cassidy playing, Keira napping, me doing laundry, and then we got the call to go over to CJ's house for a pool party (kiddie pool). So we played there and had some fun, then it was a quick run home for snacks before we headed off to Cassidy's 1st Dance Play class. Keira and I got to leave her in there (otherwise Keira would have joined the class or screamed through it) and we did some walking around outside. Then we met Jeremy for dinner and then it was off to Cassidy's tennis class. She loves it, but 45 min is a bit long for her to focus on the court. I am beat, Keira's been asleep for almost an hour, and thankfully Jeremy is putting Cassidy down now. How she is still awake, I have no clue. The rest of the summer should be more low key. We just had an overlap of classes today and the start of a heat wave. I know, 80's doesn't seem like a heat wave, but for us it is!

Table Dancers and Beauty Queens

So Keira has hit 18 months. My life keeps going faster and faster. Every day I race and run until the girls go down. Keira has learned to climb and her favorite thing to do right now is climb the kitchen chair to then climb on to the table. She usually stands once she's up there, which takes less time then you might think. I was a little worried about her future when I caught her dancing up there, but I think it was coincidence. As if that wasn't bad enough, Cassidy pulled a new one on me. I had been wearing her plastic princess earrings in the morning (don't ask) and Cassidy put them on later. Then she comes and finds me to tell me, "I think they are prettier on me, Mommy." My ego is crushed.

Being a singer

So Cassidy asked me yesterday if the woman on the CD was a "singer". I said, "Yes, just like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz" (the Muppet version in case you are wondering). Cassidy then quoted part of the moral of the movie, which is that you are whatever you want to be. So to encourage my daughter I said, "You can be a singer too, you just have to sing." Well, that's all that she needed. She burst into song. A mix of 3 songs that we had just heard. It went something like this, "Oh pretzels, and you turn into horses, and you have a lot of fun. Everyday, everyday, everyday. And cookies." I pray she doesn't try out for American Idol!

The Adventures of Pineapple

Yesterday morning Cassidy asked if I would like a story about dinosaurs or pineapple. She had already taken one of her books and read a dinosaur story (meaning, she made one up). I chose pineapple to mix it up a bit. She then told me the story of "Pineapple". Here it is as best as I can remember. One day "Pineapple" was walking on some ducks. It hurt the ducks when "Pineapple" walked on them and so they decided to eat "Pineapple" all up. That made "Pineapple" sad and he cried. (Flip a page.) "Pinapple" was walking on some chickens, and it hurt the chickens, so they ate "Pineapple" all up.
Moral of the story, don't walk on anything that can eat you!

Back On-line, Again

After Verizon closed our service call ticket to have someone come out and check the line to our house after doing a 'remote' test, they actually sent someone out this morning. So I am On-line again. Phew! The move went well, and the house is great. The girls are adjusting, as are we. Mom and Dad came for a quick visit to move boxes and help us get ready for the 4th of July. We had our old neighbors and some other friends over for some food and fun. It turned out great and all the little kids ran around and had fun. The best was all the 'guys' set up under the deck by the baby swings and 4 men sat around pushing one baby. It was perfect weather and showed off the view, so it was great. I have lots of stories that I need to blog, so after I sort threw all my emails I will get to posting.

Umm...our new house ROCKS!

I don't usually like to go on about material possesions, but I really have to talk about our new house. Today we headed off to Toys R Us to get some extra sand and picked up a play table for train sets and such too. We got to the new house and the sun was out (which is amazing as we have had very wet cold weather this week). Jeremy dumped the new sand in the box under th play yard and then he and I ate sandwiches while the girls played and played. I unloaded a few of the kitchen boxes that we had already brought over while the girls played upstairs. Later (after naps) we went back and put together the train table, which came with a little train set and tracks. The girls never stop moving while we are there and so far they haven't even cared that there's no TV. Hmmm.. I might be on to something. The bonus room will be without TV for awhile at least. Jeremy and I keep giggling because we can't believe we are going to live there. It was such a beautiful day and we just sat admiring the view. I am really looking forward to getting settled in, and changing the paint in the dining room!

Love songs to a 3 yo

Have you ever tried to explain a love song to a 3 yo? It is not so easy. Seeing as how most music is about love, either just falling, breaking it off, or the nasty kind it is hard to avoid. So while drving home from preschool today there was a song about "I would rip open my heart, so I could feel again". So she asked me what the song was about. I told her it was about a man who missed his wife. Sure, it sounds good, right? So Cassidy suggested, "Maybe he misses her because she went to the grocery store." Now if only my hubbie missed me that much when I went to the grocery store!

Papers are signed

After much fuss, and not from our girls, the papers to buy our new house and sell our current house are signed. Woohoo! Let's just say that the Escrow company we used has "Professional" in their title, and were nothing close to pros. But, the papers are signed. Now we just wait to get the keys. Jeremy and I are very excited. I can't wait to get in there and figure out where things are going to go. It's amazing how little time we have spent in the house. Although we have been driving past it on a regular basis.

School Quilt

Well, it is done. It took just under a week to finish the quilt. Since we had to scrap my Irish Chain squares, we started from scratch last Saturday. It was a lot of work, but I think it looks pretty good. I'm sure the girls are going to miss meals coming from a papernbag and TV all day long!

The Lizard of Oz

Cassidy's school quilt is supposed to be finsihed tomorrow. So how is it I have a spare second to blog? The other mom who is helping out had to leave b/c her daughter became ill. Which isn't too surprising. The class is falling like flies thanks to the "chicken pops". Or as I would say, the chicken-pox. So I have had to park the girls in front of the TV more than I like to admit. Cassidy's favorite right now is "The Lizard of Oz". The Muppets rendition which we have on Tivo. At least I know what she will want for Xmas this year.

Happy Ear Day!

Today one of the other Mom's from Cassidy's preschool was over to help with the quilt. We are making good progress....I think. Sort of hard to tell as we have to get it done by Friday night so it can go on the auction block on Saturday. Yikes! So we locked ourselves in the office and slaved away while Jeremy took care of the girls. We took a break for lunch and Cassidy was very excited to have company. She eagerly said, "Daddy I have something to say to you" When our guest asked, "What is it, Cassidy?" Cassidy said, "No, not you, to Daddy. Daddy, Happy Ear Day." She then let me know she had something to say to me, another "Happy Ear Day". Finally our guest was graced with Cassidy's well wishes for a "Happy Ear Day". So to all of you, Happy Ear Day from ours!

Back On-line

Jeremy took my li'l iBook to his new job with the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft and fixed it. Hooray! Only one problem. Jeremy has done this with every reinstall he's ever done, he forgets to transfer my email. So I have no address book, no previous emails, nothing but a few new messages. So I apologize for my diapperance from the electronic world. I still have quite a few on my yahoo account, but it will take me awhile to get back into the swing of things. Sorry all. But at least I'm blogging again! Woohoo!

What does Oprah know?

I remember watching Oprah B.K. (before kids) and so many epsiodes were about women and mothers and at the end of the show, Oprah would sum up so nicely, "Take time for yourself". This week has been pure torture for me. I have had terrible PMS, that set off a bout of depression, Jeremy started his new job so he has been gone more than I'm used too, and I have this quilt for Cassidy's preschool to finish. You know, by June 4th and I had NONE of it done as of Saturday morning. Which started awful as Jeremy was tired and felt he deserved to sleep in, even though I was the one ready for the loony bin on Friday while he was at the Star Wars movie with his team until 6:30. It's moments like these I think of Oprah's advice. When I can't even take the trash out uninterrupted and have an urgent project to finish I'm supposed to 'take time' for myself. What does Oprah know? She's not even married, let alone kids. I mean, she probably follows her own advice, but it's a whole lot easier without kids!

And the runner up is....

We just had a rocking vacation last week, and we are still recovering and trying to get rested. Seeing my friends always does something to me though. Makes me long for the old days before kids. When I could stay out late, sleep in late or do whatever I wanted on a vacation. Someone always says, "You're such a good Mom" which I take as a consolation prize. It's not that anyone thinks I'm less of a person b/c I'm doing the SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) thing, it's that I take it that way. I know it stems from my dissatisfaction. If someone were to say, "You're such a good chemist" while I was still working, I would have taken pride. The problem is I didn't choose to be a SAHM for my career. My problem is I keep finding reasons why I should wait until I get back into the work force, and find myself miserable in the mean time. Ok, I'm not miserable, I'm just not living every moment with my girls as if it was a special gift. Maybe it's me, but I don't find sopping up pee from the carpet b/c my 3yo decided not to go to the toilet a special gift that I should treasure always. In fact, I hope to forget that moment soon, so I don't bring it up at dinner when she's 17.

1 week(s) 12 hours and 7 minutes

Otherwise known as how long our vacation was according to the parking machine at SeaTac. Jeremy and I had to agree that it was our best vacation ever with the girls. Not that we didn't have some challenges, which mostly started before we left. In other words, don't put an offer on a house, put your house on the market and have your husbands last day at his current work the day before you leave!! We were ready to enjoy the vacation, and would have if the fax machine would have been working and the girls slept for the first 2 days. But amazingly, they finally slept and we finally sold our house. Woohoo! Let the real vacation begin. We took it easy in Tahoe, as it snowed on us and then turned sunny and warm. Had photos done of the family at the beach. Then went out on the boat with Grandpa. Cassidy drove it, and we had a great bumpy cold time. Jeremy had his attmept at the World Series of Poker Circuit Event (a $200 entry) and was taken out by a pro. We watched a lot of the pros play (almost got run over by Doyle Bronson in his Rascal Scooter)and the 2 of us went to watch the final table play. Then we headed down to Sacramento for some friend time. Hung with Jim and Jill, Robyn and Jen, Ashley and Kevin, as well as my Grandpa (girls great Grandpa). Every night we went to bed exhausted and woke up a little before we were ready. We packed as much fun as possible in. We were so happy to be home last night, so imagine our horror when we find ourselves locked out of our house. No problem, just call our baby sitter from down the street, who is on a ferry boat!! ACK!! Call real estate agent, leave message. No, I'm fine. Jeremy's trying to pick the lock, I'm crossing my legs cause I have to pee, and girls are fussing because they are still in car. Yeah! It was a GREAT trip! Amazing how complete exhaustion and having to pee can taint your view of a trip. Meet sitter at McD's and get girls to bed an hour later than we planned, but thankful we got in at all. After a good night's sleep in our own house, it really was a great trip and we had a blast.

Mothers and .... More (on being Julia Roberts)

Julia Roberts graced the cover of People magazine's 50 most beautiful cover for a 3rd time. According to the mag, since becoming a mother Julia has become more beautiful. So nice to see having twins is helping out someone's career. It made me think about how society views motherhood though. For example, Julia is seen as an actress, an Oscar winner, a beautiful woman AND a mother. It is just another title to add to her long list. Yet for many women, when they achieve the title of 'mother' they lose all their previous titles. Somehow now that you are a mother means that it has more priority than any of your other titles. See my post on Mothers&More site about loving your husband more than your kids. Why does "Mother" take precedent over "wife", "employee", "woman", "research scientist", "sex goddess" or any other title? Why do we do it to ourselves and to others? I know I need to focus on the 'More' when I meet fellow Moms and hopefully we all will.