putting on my big girl panties

… and dealing with it.  That’s how I’m feeling this morning.  Yesterday was my “woe is me, I’ve had a bad week and my kids made me cry, WAH” day.  Today is my starting fresh and getting on with things day.

I had a couple of hours to myself last night.  Jason, Jag, one of our neighbors and his oldest daughter went to a local high school football game.  Kat went to bed right around the time they left, so I was all alone.  I watched junky tv, drank a beer, ate some pizza, treated myself to a hot fudge sundae and then went to bed early.  It wasn’t much, but it was just enough to make me feel human again.

Have you ever noticed that when one kid starts to whine, the other does too?  About completely unrelated things?  I think I need more coffee…

i need a break from the break

Let the record show, it took 6 days and 3 hours of fall break to reduce me to tears.  (I’m counting last weekend since Jason had to work all weekend, they may as well had been weekdays.)

If I don’t update again for a while, it’s because I’ve run away…

fall break, day #4

Alternate title:  The Honeymoon is Over.

My alternate title says it all.  Day 1 was great.  Day 2, I was getting a bit weary about half-way through.  Day 3 was just a blur of arguing, whining and time-outs.  So far Day 4 isn’t much different and add to that that my house is trashed and… well… le sigh.

It’s a cloudy, rainy day here today so my plan is to let the kids watch some movies and tackle this disaster that is my house.  Laundry, picking up the mountains of toys that have been shoved into corners of every room, sort through the foot tall stack of mail on the kitchen counter… please tell me your house looks like this too when your kids are on school break?

And then, after all that cleaning, I’m going to flake out on dinner and stick a frozen lasagna in the oven.  Hey, the family can’t have it all - they’ll have to make do with a Stouffers “home cooked” meal if they want to enjoy a clear path through the family room and clean clothes in their closets.  Supermom I am not.

awesome deal for little babies

Just saw this on SlickDeals and ordered one for a gift.  Cute sherpa fleece coveralls for baby - $9 shipped!

i’m going to put my head down on the desk for just one minute…

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*ahem*  Sorry ’bout that.

Dang.  Fall break is exhausting.  It hasn’t been THAT long since I did this full-time parenting-of-2-children-at-home-24/7 thing (only 9 weeks, to be exact), but I sure feel way out of practice.

I’m brewing a 2nd pot of coffee as I type.  I won’t make it the rest of the day if I don’t.

Oh and by the way… this dino dig toy?  Really cool concept, really neat toy… but only if you’re kid has a longer attention span than my kid.  I spent over an hour on the front porch, hunched over the brick of dirt, feverishly chiseling away while my 5 yr old chased bugs in the grass and danced on the sidewalk.  I did get to three bones though!  And even got one completely unlodged from the dirt!  I think it’s a jaw bone.  Hehe.  I’m proud. 

day 1 complete - on to day 2

(starting the day with a quick post, and a cup of Illy - I think first thing in the morning is my only free time to myself right now)

The 2nd half of yesterday went very well!  Yes, I’m really shocked!  ;-P  Jason called and asked if we could come by for a late picnic lunch at his work, unfortunately Jag and I had already eaten, but Kat had not (and we were going into town anyway for a visit to the toy store) so that kept us busy for a good chunk of the afternoon.

We went to the toy store to look at potties for Kat (she’s not showing any signs of being ready, but I thought I’d set it out anyway and let her pretend like I did with Jag at this age).  Jason gave Jag $5 and told him to pick something out for himself.  Poor kid walked all the aisles and nothing $5 or under interested him.  He saw an Edu Science Dinosaur Dig kit (like this one, but a t-rex and a little less complex I think because it said 5 yrs +) and flipped out, so I broke down and got that for him instead.  That should keep him busy DAYS during Kat’s nap - digging those bones out is very time consuming.  He’s been chipping away little by little and has barely put a dent in it.  When he finally gets the bones out, they snap together to make the whole dinosaur.  He’s really looking forward to that part.  So… yeah, it was more money but I think it was well spent.

We’ve got big plans for today already - a bike ride, a picnic lunch with Jason at the playground, some dino digging on the front sidewalk (that stuff makes a HUGE mess), football practice…

I hope we can keep it up, and not only survive this break, but actually enjoy it!

fall break, day #1

Jag’s officially on fall break - THREE WEEKS!  So far so good on the first day.  He cried when Jason left for work - he’s usually leaving with Jason so I think it threw him off a little to be stay behind.  First he cried that he missed Daddy, then he cried that he missed school.  Gosh, I hope he keeps up this love for school for the next 12.5 years!  Ah hell, for the next 16.5 years or even longer!  Not too long though - boy’s gonna need to get a job eventually ;-P

Our morning’s been uneventful, in a good way.  Good breakfast (how ’bout that, he ate well when there wasn’t a deadline!), some Prehistoric Predators (he is fascinated with this show and keeps watching the episode about the short-faced bear over and over), an hour at the park and now pizza for lunch while his Sister naps.  I’m actually scared for the afternoon, certainly it won’t continue to be this easy!

Trying to come up with ideas to keep him busy for the upcoming weeks.  He’s got football, but even so we’re going to try to get down to Orlando for a few days to see Grandmas, Grandpas, cousins, etc.  I promised him we’d go to the mall one day for lunch and some new jeans.  And I also promised him we’d go out looking for the Halloween Store that opens right around this time every year.  I suppose we’ll work on his costume too (he picked something really cool, I’ll tell more later but it was his best idea yet, I hope he doesn’t change his mind).

Wow, really boring entry.  ;-P  I’ll stop the torture and go get myself some lunch now…

sometimes one smile means more than a dozen roses

That’s what Dove had to say to me tonight.  That and “Do what feels right.”

Right now?  Going to bed early feels right…

mommy guilt

I was already feeling bad about missing a meeting with Jag’s teacher today for Fall Festival planning (I didn’t have anyone to watch Kat and she’s in that struggle-to-get-down-on-the-floor-to-get-into-everything-even-if-it-means-screaming-bloody-murder stage, so I try not to take her to these things), when Jag said to me on the way out of the school parking lot “it was PE day today, Mommy.”  I turned around and looked at him, sitting there in his navy blue slacks and white polo shirt and realized I didn’t put him in his PE uniform.  ACK!  After some questioning, I found that he didn’t get in trouble (whew!) and he still got to play games with the rest of the class (double whew!), but he did say he felt bad that he was the only kid in normal clothes (crap).  *sighs*  WHERE was my head this morning?! 

i love these

I’ve been meaning to type up a little entry on things I love, just because I always like to hear about a good/fun/new product and likewise, like to share when I find a good one.  So these some of the most recent things I love:

• Mis-matched socks.  Sold in threes and coordinating.  The style name and number are embroidered onto the inside top of the socks so you can keep track of what you have and which socks belong to which sets.  They’re just so so cute.  I bought them for the whole family a while back, Jag has especially loved wearing them with his long pants this week in the cooler weather.
• Birthday cake jar candle.  Bought one of these at Stone Mountain in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago.  Heavenly!!  I was afraid to burn it too much because I thought I wouldn’t be able to get back for a long time to replace it, but then later noticed the manufacturer and website in small print on the back label.  Perfect!  I burn it everyday now and my house always smells like it’s someone’s birthday.  :-)  Can’t wait to try some of their other scents.
• Salt water taffy.  We have a Kilwin’s in downtown Wilmington.  I can’t resist going in when we’re down there and getting a treat.  Last weekend, Jag and I went in for ice cream (he had the Superman ice cream, I had the Key Lime Pie ice cream - so good!) and I picked up a bag of the salt water taffy while I was there.  YUM.  I have it sitting out in a candy dish on the breakfast bar, and I can’t help but have a piece every.single.time I walk by.  Can’t decide if my favorite flavor is the peach, or the cinnamon.
• Fuzzi Bunz.  I’ve switched to about 75% cloth diapers and I love it.  It’s so much easier than I ever thought it’d be, I regret not starting sooner.  At the suggestion of another Mom, I tried out the Fuzzi Bunz (admittedly, the only other “green” diaper I’ve tried are gDiapers so I’m definitely no expert - so take my opinion with a grain of salt) and I love them.  Easy to put on the baby, easy to wash, easy to assemble (just stick an insert into the back and you’re done!).  I wish they weren’t such an expensive startup investment, but I’ve heard rumors that they sell used for almost full price on ebay.  It’s almost like free diapering, AND I’m not filling landfills with as many disposables!  Can’t beat that!

That’s all I’ve got for now - I’ll post more as I find them.