Wee walker

A started walking for real this week. Up until now he could manage about a dozen steps and then he would have to either cruise or crawl to reach his destination. But that changed overnight. Now he'll clamber upright and just start toddling around, usually with his blanket or a ball or some other toy in his mouth. (Is he imitating the dog?!) It is so cute and SO exhausting. I've lost 5 lbs. in one week chasing him around and trying to contain the huge trail of toys, blocks, blankets, balls and whatever else he drags through the house. Last night I collapsed on the couch at 8:30, guzzled split half a beer with M, and promptly fell asleep.

We've actually been sleeping very well lately because, after that wonderful night on the Hampton Inn Cloud Nine (TM) bed, I went out and bought all the linens, etc. to recreate the experience right here at home. It's amazing. Even M thinks its great. I got a fluffy, 14-oz., 250 thread count mattress pad, new sheets, down-and-feather pillows and a new duvet. It really is comfortable. I've never really understood the concept of good bedding before, but I'm a true believer now.

I think I'll go take a nap.

Happy birthday big boy!

A happy, happy first birthday to my sweet "baby" A. One year ago today, M & I were at the hospital to have them induce labor. I wasn't overdue; they were concerned that he was too big for me to deliver. I got my inducing meds around midnight, and I think right about now was when I started to rethink my decision to not get an epidural. After writhing and moaning for a few hours I finally used the code word that M & I had set up ahead of time that meant I was serious, get me my friggin' drugs STAT! A was finally born around 2 in the afternoon (you can tell when it's not your first kid, because while I know D's birth time down to the second, all I know about A was that I pushed for about 45 minutes and it was 2-ish. Or maybe 3?!)

We're having a low-key birthday. My sister & our friend Kari are coming over for BBQ and cake this afternoon.

For presents, he got a Fisher-Price train (because we didn't have enough molded plastic crap toys already?) and a great bucket of cars/planes/trains from Grandma & Grandpa J. To add to the celebration, we also got a new vacuum because our old upright finally surrendered. I swear it was spewing out as much dirt and hair and junk as it sucked in.

A and D are as different as oil and water, but I am happier than I could ever imagine having these two precious children. They add so much joy, wonder, excitement, marvel to my life that it more than makes up for the quadrupled housework and never-ending cascade of laundry. Some friends have described their children, particularly boys, as tornados. I'd describe A as a lava flow - a stupendous explosion followed by slow, complete destruction. Watching him in action taking apart the playroom, bedroom, kitchen cabinets is poetry in motion. He's totally deliberate and thorough. You don't even realize the chaos in his wake he's so much fun to watch.

Ok, while Birthday Boy naps I'm going to sneak in a bit more Harry Potter. I'm about halfway through.

Life is good.

Media blackout

I am under a weekend-long self-imposed ban on emails, the Internet, Google, news, E!, and any other media outlet that might possibly spoil the new Harry Potter book, which I, like any self-respecting 12-year-old, have pre-ordered from Amazon for delivery first thing Saturday morning. If by chance you finish the book before me, which is likely given the demands of raising two children, please do NOT tell me a thing about it! I will be reading as fast as I can in high anticipation of jumping on those discussion boards as soon as possible.

Thank you!

We're back

We're back from North Carolina! We had a wonderful time with M's parents. The weather was super - the last week we were there it barely got above 60 on a couple of days (of course, they are up around 4300 ft. above sea level, which makes for some mighty refreshing air). It was a bit of a shock to return to 90+ heat, although it should be expected for Florida in July. The kids and I survived our 12 hour car ride home, with a short stop at the Hampton Inn Valdosta, GA. (NOTE: Shameless plug ahead!) I really can't say enough about the Hampton Inn - I haven't stayed in one since the 90s and they've REALLY upgraded their facilities. And the Cloud Nine bed? Heaven! You gotta try it.

But now we're home, back to routine -- trying to answer D's thousands of questions (A sampling: "what's a precipice? what's an estate? who named this thing a grape? why are there crunchy things on my bagel?"); planning A's one-year birthday party; hopefully going to see my parents before school starts. And let's not forget the ongoing nightmare of the renovation plan that can't quite get off the ground. But something must be done because the kids really need their own space. Now. Of course we've been saying that for a year with no results at all.

Hope the weather is cooler wherever you are!

Hey loser....

So, the kids and I are having a great time on vacation and the weather is great and all. Then last night (3 days into our good time!) I get a call from M that someone from American Express's security division was questioning some "unusual activity" on my card. Hmmm. No, I haven't lost my credit card. No, I didn't let anyone "borrow" it. And, hell no, I didn't purchase $60 of gas last Saturday night at a Texaco station in Venice, Florida. So I go online to check my card and find that some LOSER out there has charged over $7000 since last Friday night on my card!!!!! At places like 7-11s, Shell stations (over $4000 at Shell stations in the Ft. Myers area alone!) and TACO FRIGGIN' BELL!!!!! I'm LIVID. I call AMEX, who are very professional, assure me that my account is SOOOO cancelled and a new card being issued as we speak and that of course I'm not liable for a penny of those charges. And by the way, do I have any idea who might have done this? (No, because no one I know spends over $40 at Taco Bell. In a lifetime. Let alone one night.) Amex also assures me that IF they catch this person they will prosecute - and I'll be happy to help send this person to a punishment they deserve, which in my opinion should include things like many years of hard time, maybe on a chain gang, a flogging and perhaps public humiliation, but will probably be something much less. And by the way, all you scumbucket card-stealing losers out there, THANKS A LOT for robbing me of my piece of mind on my vacation. Now I get to spend the rest of my lovely month here (and probably the rest of the year) worrying that someone has stolen my identity.

The new world order

Hello out there. Sorry it has been such a while, but the kids have kept me "entertained" 24/7 lately with nary a break. Every little thing takes 16 billion times longer than it should... like D & I playing the ever-popular game "What Animal Am I?" (These are a sampling of responses as she tries to guess "duck.")

"Cat?"
"Dog?"
"Bird?" (Ooh! getting close!)
"Canary?"
"Parrot?"
"Pterodactyl?" (Huh?!)
"Foofie bird?" (Ok, we're off track....)

And so on for 25 minutes people.... I didn't know she knew so many types of birds. Finally, after momentary diversions into other animal genres, she gets duck. Yes, 25 quality time minutes with my exhaustingly smart daughter - now 25 minutes behind getting dinner ready, etc.

Don't even get me started on the non-stop screaming, screeching, wailing as Baby A attempts to get around the house using his walker. He's very good with it, but hates that he has to do it without me, so every proud, independent step is accompanied by his non-stop top-of-his-lungs vocal disapproval that I'm not holding his sweaty little hand. He will (purposely?) steer himself into a corner then scream until he falls down - yet I've seen him nimbly manouever the walker to get over to D when she has a snack in her hand.

But, our vacation is thankfully just around the corner. We leave this weekend for a wonderful month in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my in-laws. We ended up deciding to fly M's mom down to drive up with the kids and I on Sunday. After the last few days, I was pretty concerned about the long drive alone with the kids - A is a handful and a half, which only leaves half a hand for D. But Grandma J will be a big help and good company and I won't have to worry about speeding to get there before dark (they live at the top of a very dark, very rugged, very beautiful mountain - tricky driving in broad daylight - scary in the pitch black after a long day's drive.)

Not sure what my internet access will be like once we're there, but I'll try to get a post in now and then. And of course, a recap once we're home in July.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer too!

Party with your kids

I spent the weekend attending not one, but two parties. A first for our life post-kid, as that's typically the number of parties we attend in a whole year. But, these were all kid/school related and were both great fun. One was a pool party and the other a house party - which was crazy because it poured rain (due to Tropical Storm Barney) for the first time in about 4 months and so all the kids, who normally would have been outside were instead running through the house - mud and water and screaming everywhere. But fun and good company and great food all the same.

Today I am attempting to make Lobster Rolls for dinner and am a tad anxious about potentially ruining such an expensive dish. Some recipes are simple - mayo, salt & pepper - others call for celery, capers, tarragon, chives. I'm not sure which way to go, but I do have my hot dog rolls all ready, so at least that part will be authentic.

All is quiet on the home front for now. Baby A is taking an afternoon nap and D is whining that she's bored. If A wakes up in time, maybe we'll head out to the pool for a bit.

Where have I been?

With summer hols here, things have been pretty nuts but I think we've finally worked out some kind of schedule. D had some major adjustment with being home from school and wanting time with me -- she's definitely not used to sharing me with Baby A. Anyhoo, she's off with Aunt Debbie today to swim & play and that's just fine with me.

We've got two parties this weekend (a social calendar first!) - one tonight and a pool party on Sunday. Next week we meet with a new architect to try to get this renovation thing off the ground. Then we're off to the mountains of Western North Carolina in two weeks, but until then, maybe I'd rather be here:

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Have a nice weekend!

Guarantee

Nothing is guaranteed in life, except YOU KNOW the minute I get my errands and chores (blogging!) done, settle down on the couch with a cold drink, a tasty snack and the latest issue of Vogue, Baby A is guaranteed to wake up from his nap. Sigh. Such is life. I remember when my lunch break was actually a break.

"No" man's land

Baby A has entered the "no" stage - where it seems like all we tell him is "no" - no crying, no hitting, no licking your sister, no chewing shoes, etc. He's also teething. One of his big old top front teeth is just sitting there, almost ready to pop, creating a huge red bulge on his gumline. It looks incredibly painful and I really do feel badly for him, just less so when he's screaming bloody murder at 2:30 in the morning. Or again at 4:00. Poor baby.

It was lovely here this weekend, very un-Florida-y, with cool temps and a nice breeze and low humidity. It made me temporarily forget that summer is pretty much here. Every year at this time I try to remember why we didn't put in a pool last year, or why we don't have a playset for D yet, or why we don't really have any grass or shade in our big old yard. What we do have is a virtual, miniature Florida prairie habitat with wild native grass (re: scrub), little shade, and birds, lizards (EEEEK!) possums, squirrels and snakes galore. National Geographic could do a show on us. But it doesn't make for a very nice or inviting place for the kids to play. So off to the water park we go!

My other favorite thing about summer - no cooking in the oven!! I take a break from baking, roasting, braising and broiling during the summer. What's left? Well, sauteeing, crock pots, pan-frying, take out (ha) and of course the grill. Besides grilling, one of my favorite summer meals is make-your-own omelettes. I basically use the same ingredients as I would for a winter make-your-own pizza session: peppers, spinach, mushrooms, onions, sauteed turkey sausage, canadian bacon, and lots of cheese(s). It's a hit with everyone. It's too hot to eat heavy stuff anyway. So three cheers for easy, breezy summer living!

What Trish needs....

The eloquent Libby over at A Study of Schoolbooks and Shoes had a fun little game a few days ago. What you do is google the phrase "[your first name] needs..." and see what turns up. So here's a sampling of what I found:

1) Trish needs a makeover.
Well, you don't say. I thought the no-makeup, ponytail and baggy post-baby shorts and stained t-shirts thing was working for me.

2) Trish needs some help at UCSD.
And also at home, doing some cooking and light cleaning. Also organizing. And help finding a reliable architect.

3) Trish needs to always be in control of the situation and her men.
So sue me. It makes things easier around the house. (For a supposedly random search, these results are pretty accurate.)

4) Trish needs an acting coach.

5) Trish needs a kidney transplant.
Before or after I start acting?

6) Trish needs to come back SOON she is my favorite Diva.
Apparently, #4 and this one pertain to a retired WWE lady wrestler.

7) Trish needs her own, original weapon.
Doesn't every girl?

8) Trish needs about 8 days ...
Of vacation, with her husband, in Tahiti!

9) Trish needs to go on hiatus and take more vocal lessons.
I guess in case the acting thing doesn't work out.

10) Trisha needs assistance getting up from any sitting or lying position. ...
Maybe a sign that it's time to get back to gym?

Let me know what you find!!

Third Friday

Every third Friday of the month I clean up D's art room. Today is that day. I don't really tell her about it before hand as she is a bit of a packrat and tends to obsess over every scrap of painstakingly colored paper and every random pinecone, acorn, or other "treasure" she's collected over the past month. But I can't stand the clutter and she gets to start fresh every four weeks. Today, amongst all her little girl beads, baubles, crayons, etc. I found a pair of unused ear plugs, the kind that you use to block noise on planes. Thank goodness they were unused, but I have no idea where they came from. Ewww. The one thing I'm on the fence about tossing is an old licorice tin, long since devoid of licorice, but still bouncing around the house storing one thing or the other. M collects and stores old shoeboxes, so I shouldn't be surprised his daughter hangs onto candy tins (she also likes empty tissue boxes). Maybe if the shoeboxes or tins held something, I'd be more appreciative of their recycling, but so often they just rattle around, using up valuable storage space, completely EMPTY. So, I spend a fortune at the Container Store and Pottery Barn on cute storage totes, only to have them filled up with empty boxes, jars and tins. Don't even get me started on M's collection of empty baby food jars -- which he claims to collect to store his fishing flies, currently housed in a (youguessedit) shoebox. I'm not sure what's in his actual tacklebox.

We've been travelling and busy this past week, but we've planned an excellent family weekend. I'm making my famous sauteed chicken with mustard sauce for dinner (chicken fingers for the kids, natch), and we're going to rent a bunch o'movies and just hang out. Tomorrow, M is taking D to the zoo for a special daddy-daughter day. It will be nice to have a Saturday to myself, especially since school is out next week. Yikes. Since Baby A was born right before school started, I've never had both kids at home for any length of time. I'm adamant about limiting TV time, but finding stuff to do for a 10 month old and an almost-five-year-old can be challenging. Talk about your different interests! But, she'll go to Vacation Bible School at church in early June, and then we're leaving for a month in the mountains with M's parents. (Wish M could get away too!!) By the time we get back, it's only about a month until school starts so I can probably handle that.

Hope you all have a nice weekend too!

A pastry a day

Keeps the doctor away, or don't I wish it did anyway. Yesterday I made some fab low-fat cranberry scones. I'm experimenting with a no-butter recipe for scones, since most call for at least a stick of butter and if you're going to be eating a pastry a day, that could quickly add up to pounds of butter a week if you don't watch. Or some rationale like that. Anyway, M loved them so I think that's a keeper recipe. It's incredibly easy and you can pretty much add any fruit, chocolate, flavoring, that you'd like.

Today I made Incredible Exploding Cherry Turnovers. They exploded, I guess, because something went awry with my filling -- it was very liquidy. Maybe I should have drained the cherries after they thawed? Maybe I shouldn't have thawed them? Maybe I should have made apple? Well, they taste yummy anyway and I will definitely try again. I think I might play around with different types of puff pastry too. Apparently you can find "all natural" ones that are really close to homemade. Not that I'm masochistic enough, or have the time, to make homemade puff pastry.

For the weekend I'm planning something with buckwheat and blueberries tomorrow and on Sunday I'll probably do another batch of scones -- maybe cinammon? Maple? Something spicy-sweet.

D has a half day today so we're headed to the zoo for the afternoon to see the animals and play at the kid's water park. Tomorrow I'm getting a pedicure in the morning - hurrah! - and afterward may stop by the local kiddie consignment shop to look for onesies for Baby A. He's getting ready to explode out of his 12 month ones.

Have a super weekend!

Three strikes?

So we had our third meeting with Builder yesterday -- the preliminary design review and budget estimate meeting. It was exactly like dating someone who previously had "potential" but then pulls some bonehead stunt on that crucial third date. Maybe he gets raving drunk, flirts with a waitress behind your back, or maybe you start talking dreamily about how your goal in life is to settle down, buy a house and have kids... either way something goes awry and you start wondering what it was you saw in them in the first place. So that's pretty much what Builder did on our third meeting - first the prelim budget estimate was $15,000 above our top number. Hello! At least match our top number and then go over after we've started talking about hardwood floors and tile and other specifics. Second, and almost more importantly, the design was utterly hideous not what we had expected, especially for the price per square foot we're talking about. The interior was great, really lovely, but the outside elevation, and especially the roofline, were all wrong for our cute little bungalow-style house. It made the addition look tacked on and unfinished. The other huge problem was because of the unusually high pitch of our roofline, the interior attic rooms were quite a bit smaller than we had thought they'd be and, more importantly, none of the rooms had windows!! Can you imagine kids bedrooms and bathrooms without natural light and ventilation? YUCK! Anyway, we'd have to smack on a couple of dormers and even that would 1) ruin our cool peaked roof and 2) only allow one teeny-tiny window for each bedroom. There was no way to get one in the bathroom. All in all, we are a bit disappointed which to me means they better try a little bit harder to woo us if they want a fourth date. M, on the other hand, wants to break up and move on. Sigh.

Between you and me, if the housing market here was showing any sign of life at all, I'd rather move.

Never on Thursdays

Back in the day, when I was still working as something other than a mom, we used a cleaning service to keep our house clean. Over five years, we tried about five different services until right after Baby A was born. Yes, just after bringing our new baby home, that's when I decided that I was sick of cleaning services -- must have been something to do with all those new-mom hormones. But really it had more to do with them breaking things, or showing up late, or not showing at all, or constantly changing the time they would come, or doing a really poor job on the bathroom tile. This was last fall and because I had a newborn and D was still coming home for lunch, I was adamant that they get here by mid-morning and be gone by lunchtime. A three-hour window. It didn't seem too much to ask, but it was more than they could handle and after three weeks in a row where I had to send them away and clean the house myself anyway, I fired them altogether.

So fast forward 8 months and now one of my big weekly struggles is to get the house clean. I wipe down the bathrooms every day, but try to limit vacuuming to twice a week and I only mop every 10 days or so. That little schedule may change drastically now that A is starting to get mobile. He's almost crawling, but can also quickly scoot across the floor on his tummy or his butt. The last few times I've noticed dustbunnies on his tummy, dog hair sticking to his legs and I shudder to think what's on his hands and feet, which are always in his mouth. When he's on the floor in his room he immediately scoots off under the crib to play with wheels -- and comes out looking like a used Swiffer. So, looks like I'll be vacuuming every day now too, at least until he's properly walking.

Boo.

Weeked recap

We had a nice family weekend here. On Saturday we all went over to the Green Thumb Festival at one of the local parks. They have all kinds of beautiful plants for sale that we didn't buy because of course we're hoping to be building soon and why plant out your yard only to have a bobcat run it over? But it was a gorgeous day and D got all kinds of free junk from the exhibit booths, so that was fun. On Sunday we went to the beach for the afternoon. M & D got to play in the surf n' sand while Baby A napped on my lap. Again, another picture perfect Florida Spring day, and there won't be too many comfortable ones left, so we might as well enjoy them now.

This week is crazy busy again - D has a dentist appt. today after school, tennis tomorrow, meet with the Builder on Wednesday and then M is out of town Thurs. & Fri. I spent the morning making enough food to get us through until Friday - I hate cooking on busy nights and never cook when M is gone. But, we've got meatloaf, grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and pasta. So we should be OK and I won't have to touch the stove again all week. Yippeee!! I really should look into one of those "Dinner Done" places.

M will be home late tonight, so I'm thinking I'll have time to work on some crafty projects that I've been trying to get to -- organizing up our family photos, working on a needlework project I've got going or maybe making some pretty ribbon bookmarks. Either that or fall asleep on the couch watching TV.

Where's the truck?

I feel like I got hit and dragged by a semi. BabyA was in rare form last night -- up from 11:00 - 12:30 and then again from 3:00 - 4:00. I actually fell asleep on a chair in their room and scared the cupcakes out of D when she woke up around 4:30 to get a drink of water. A tired Mama was not what she expected to find lurking in her room.

Too tired to cook dinner even, so now have to start my campaign for getting some tasty take-out.

Happy weekend to all!

April showers

Builder finally did show up yesterday, with apologies, about an hour late. Happily, the Measuring went well and he said "this is going to be easier than I thought!" We'll see if "easier" translates into "less expensive." He brought one of the designers with him, George, to get an eyeful so they can do some initial planning. We're meeting with everyone next Wednesday to get a prelim estimate and decide if we're going to move forward. Oh yes, yes, yes. I think we're going to do it!!!

Today Baby A had his 9-month appt. and he is doing well, except for some low hemoglobin numbers, ie low iron. We have to step up the meat/egg portion of his diet and give him some supplements as well. We go back in a month to be re-tested. Doc wasn't concerned, said it was normal at this age, but just wanted to make sure we can reverse the trend. In other news, he pee-pee'd into his little bag like a champ -- he's certainly not dehydrated!

We're off to a dual Baby Shower for two dear friends this afternoon, D is taking a half-day so she can see her playgroup friends again. Should be fun. And the cupcakes? DELICIOUS! I went with half plain - half raspberry frosting. Even M liked them. Hopefully my Mom Friends will too.

Waiting....

Am I getting stood up? The Builder guys were supposed to be here 45 minutes ago to do some prelim measuring. I'm still waiting... . If this were a real date I'd have blown him off by now and put on my comfy pants and settled down to watch some telly. Hm. Good Builders are hard to find. But I thought we had a connection. Oh well - his loss if he shows up during Baby A's lunch - he'll have to do a lot of talking to himself.

In the meantime I'm making delish chocolate cupcakes for D's playgroup/baby shower tomorrow. I'm trying to decide between plain buttercream frosting, coconut b'cream or raspberry b'cream. Probably because there are wee kids involved I'll go with plain, but I may fancy up and make some of the flavored kind for the grown ups. Have you ever noticed that with cupcakes, the kids either eat the cake or the frosting, but rarely both? At what age do you start eating them both? As far I remember, I've always eaten both, and probably started licking the bowl/spoon as soon as I could walk.

Dare to dream

We had a meeting this week with a design/build firm and, well, it looks like they may be "the one." There was a good connection, we felt comfortable, we could talk easily, everyone was upfront about their pasts.... it was a great first date. And, instead of a "we'll call soon" we actually have a second date... er, meeting... set up for next Wednesday for them to do some preliminary measurements. If all goes well we'll be signing to make it official in about 3-4 weeks!! Hurray! And not a minute too soon as Baby A and D have reached the beginning of the end of the room-sharing period of their lives. Baby A has been waking up starting around 2:45 until about 4:30 every morning- YAWN!! - and things are just too cramped in there. If they'd both been the same sex, or if the age difference wasn't quite as great, maybe we could squeeze by for a few more years, but it really isn't fair to them right now, especially D who would love to have friends over to play -- if they had a place to go.

In addition to the addition, we'll be fixing up the yard as well (I'm all about putting in a pool right now!) and so we'll have a fully functional house -- soon-ish.

Baby A Update: He's getting mobile. He'll "walk" all over the house holding onto our fingers. He'll scoot on his butt. He'll roll like a fiend across the room. No crawling yet though. He has the top half down pat, but hasn't quite figured out what the legs are for. It's also quite funny to seem him butt-scoot in the tub - where he immediately heads for the faucet. He loves to stick his hands under it and make it splash up on his face. He doesn't mind it a bit. But you really have to watch him and be careful or he'll have his whole head under there in a second. He doesn't mind that either.

Our only plans this weekend are to have lunch with my sister Debbie on Sunday. Other than that, we're enjoying some downtime and hopefully will be able to get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. Hope you have a nice weekend too!