Just when I needed it

This week has been tough. Noah started running fever Monday and on Monday afternoon we found out he had another ear infection. This one has made him very cranky and restless. In fact he hasn't slept a whole lot at all. No good naps and at night he is up crying literally all night long. Meredith knows her bubby is sick.

"Nowee no feel dood!"

"Nowee ear hurt"

She says those two things over and over. And I guess since he is feeling bad and she sees how tired I am she has been on really good behavior. No tantrums, no episodes of absolute crankiness or chaos. Having my sweet Meredith back has been really nice.

So last night as Josh was trying to get Noah to sleep, I was laying with Meredith. We were laying in her bed in the dark giggling and talking like girls do at slumber parties. Talking about Woody and Jesse and life and politics and then she picked her head up and rubbed my head very gently and said....

"Mommy, I proud of you!"

I know it is something she has probably heard me say to her before, but at that moment I needed it. I had no idea what being a mother was all about. I had no clue how hard it was or how much out of me it would take. But knowing that Meredith was proud of me or that I was often proud of her just let me know that I can do this after all.....well I will just keep trying my best and trying to make her and Noah proud.

What our world of drivers is coming too

This evening we were sitting in the driveway to get some fresh air since we had been couped up all day. Meredith was playing with her new bike and her cozy coupe! At some point she got into her car and this is what transpired....

"Okay les doe!"

"Fordot the phone" runs over to the chair and grabs a pretend phone.

"Buckle up ev-wee body!"

"put on your safety belt."

picks up pretend cell phone and starts jibber jabbering away.

"on our way.....hole tight!"

I guess I am guilty as charged.

Well, we have an ear infection....again.

So the pediatrician stuck that ear thing in his right ear and said...."it looks good" and Noah continued to smile and look at him with those big, baby blues. He then stuck the ear thing in his left ear and Noah screamed and nearly came off the table. I knew right then my assumptions of an ear infection were true. Poor little guy. He has had more ear infections than he has had major milestones at this point.

And since that is the case, the pediatrician gave us the referral to the ENT to see about getting tubes in his ears. You know tubes......no big deal. Until it is your child they want to put under general anesthesia for at least 7 minutes. So if you pray....say some prayers for Noah. And if you don't pray....say some anyway. His momma is scared!

Sad to report....

I will not be seeing Jon & Kate +8 tonight. Noah has a pretty high fever and only what I can assume to be a rip roaring ear infection. We are headed to the pediatric clinic to see the pediatrician instead.....the life of a mommy!

But my friend Laura and a caravan of other moms are still going. I am sure Laura will blog all about it! I hope! Have fun!

Ladies Night....

That's right tonight is official my ladies night out. And even though hitting a happy hour might be nice, there is no time for that. Because I will be leaving at 3:15pm to go and see................

Jon & Kate!

Yes the Jon & Kate from Jon & Kate plus 8. Apparently they travel around the country and give talks. I am not sure what it will be about, but I am really excited to see them. Supposedly the twins maybe with them. I will report back soon!

Why everyone should have a little girl....

Not just anyone can sport this do!

Do you see the natural Mohawk! This is how my little man wakes up every morning.....is he not gorgeous?
"I got this lady wrapped around my little finger or my little Mohawk!"

Trying new things...

So Meredith got a duplicate present for her birthday from Mimi.....yes Mimi bought two of the same thing. Two pieces to her new dollhouse. So we went to the toy store to exchange one for something else. Instead of the $10 bedroom set, she picked out a $50 bike. In some weird way her dad did the math and found it to be an even exchange. Here she is on the new bike....believe it or not she can almost do it by herself.


Look at me mom..... Such a big and determined girl.
Whew all that riding makes me thirsty.
Bike helmets are also necessary to walk big brown dogs!

A sure way to get comments on your blog...

There is no news like this news. And this is news that is surely to get a few comments left on your blog!

Congrats Jaimie! I love you!

The Yellow Pudding

Oh the yellow pudding...I am sure our neighbors are all sitting home tonight saying "Why don't they just give that child a yellow pudding!"

Tonight during our nightly jaunt around the block, Meredith declared that she wanted "yellow poods" (the word poods rhymes with hoods).

She did not ask, she did not say "May I...", she just declared in her very declaring voice that she wanted "yellow poods!"......"I wan yellow poods MAMA!"

So I said Meredith you are being sassy....how do we ask? And to that I got a screaming reply of "YELLOW POODS!" Yes ladies and gentlemen, I was pretty sure tonight that we had created a monster. So I told her no pudding until she asked nicely. Mind you we are walking around the block at the time. Well Josh and I are walking, her and Noah are in their new ride.

So she then says nicely...."Mama yellow poods peeze!"

"Oh Meredith good job asking please! You can have a yellow pudding when we get home!"

We had just started our walk and believe it or not I don't carry yellow pudding around with me. We still had the whole circle which is about 1/2 mile to go. The "you can have one when we get home" answer was not what my 2 year old wanted to hear and with that answer she unleashed an ugly beast. For the rest of the 1/2 mile trek she screamed "yellow pood!" at the top of her little lungs....which are very impressive.

She then started to kick and she scream and carried on in a way that I just wanted to climb under a rock and hide. Luckily she was belted in or we could have had some major head injuries from the thrashing she would have done on the pavement. Yes....it was that bad my friends..... Meredith's little world as she knew it was crashing down. How dare her parents now produce the yellow pudding on demand.

And this went on until we reached our driveway....at which point I asked Josh if he wanted to go again. And we did. Another 1/2 mile lap. My little terror continued to carry on with her beastly behavior on the 2nd lap as well. Poor Noah, he didn't know what the hell was going on. He just relaxed on his side the Cadillac laid back listening to the three headed monster next to him.

I am proud to say that I stood my ground, when we got home. I didn't fetch the yellow pudding. Instead I carried her little crying butt all the way upstairs and threw her on her bed where I proceeded to undress her and then Noah for their baths. At that point the frown was turned upside down as she sang the "naked baby" song and danced with Noah on the bed.

Yellow pudding....what yellow pudding!

Missed the boat on that one....

Today Meredith and I were watching her favorite show together, Calliou. I used to hate the show, but after watching it a few times have grown to like Calliou and Clifford for that matter. They actually try to teach lessons....sharing....being nice....being polite....etc.

So in the particular episode we were watching, Calliou did not get his way and decided to throw himself on the bathroom floor kicking and screaming. I was pretty surprised...in all my Calliou watching days I had never seen him throw such a tantrum. His dad just stepped over him and proceeded to go on with other activities to distract him and not give in. Calliou continued to throw his fit and eventually got over it and they were all happy again.

I thought wow, this actually applies to us now. So I decided to use today's episode as a teaching tool....

"Meredith look Calliou was mad and he threw a fit."

"Calliou mad....he cwies"

"See he was kicking and screaming and being mad!"

"Calliou is sad, momma!"

"Yep, see he was being bad because his dad told him No"

"Uh huh......NO, NO DADDY.....BE NICE TO CALLIOU!"

Oh well, I will continue to try.

Today they made my heart smile....

Noah reached out with both arms for Meredith and she in turn gave him a great big hug and kiss. And then in their own private language they held a conversation. It is okay that he never had me all to himself, because he always had her.

Just when I thought I could not go any longer....

I hit a new realm of exhaustion. Seriously, it is amazing how little sleep the human body can survive on. For the past week I have dealt with vomit, crying at night, sleepless nights, tantrums and pure grouchiness. Today both the tikes were in great moods, but last night Noah decided that sleeping was way overrated. I think he was up every hour.

So today I was hell bent and determined to get out the house, it did not matter how tired or sleep deprived I was or that I was flying solo since my hubby was working. We had been home too many days in a row and we were all going stir crazy. We hit the zoo this morning and then out to lunch. Luckily Josh was able to meet us for both and the place we chose to dine had a spacewalk for the kids to jump on and the police department was there taking fingerprints/DNA/and other important info in case your children are ever lost or abducted. Definitely not something I want to think about, but glad we had the opportunity to take care of it.

Then we came home and Meredith asked me if she could go nap and she did for over 4 hours! I know what the hell? The time totally slipped by, I normally would NEVER let her sleep that long. Well at least not if I wanted her to sleep again that night. So while she did that instead of sleeping myself..... I cleaned the kitchen drawers and cabinets with a freakin' vacuum cleaner. I don't know where I got the crack I am smoking lately.....don't ask.

After the nap I cooked dinner, which was awful and no one ate. It wasn't an easy recipe either. Then we played outside went for a walk around the block ate a second and better meal that Josh brought home for us. And finally the tikes are tucked into bed.

What I didn't mention was I am so tired....
powdered donuts were considered dinner, because I was too tired to argue and a bath consisted of the visible dirt being wiped away with a washcloth. I fed Noah dinner at 7:30 hoping that would help him to sleep some. I also considered having Meredith put Noah to bed and letting them stay up as long as they pleased as long as it meant I got some sleep. Yeah I didn't think the last one would fly either.

Happy sleeps peeps! Well at least one can hope.

Dear Mr. UPS man....

Thank you for delivering my packages in a timely manner. And thank you for not losing any like you did last year, I really appreciate that. I also appreciate the way you carry them all the way to the door and then chunk them on my porch. Thanks. Perhaps it is my big brown dog that scares you, I know her bark is a lot tougher than her bite, unless you were to break in of course. You truly are an outstanding UPS man, but for the love of all things holy in the world.....COULD YOU NOT RING THE FREAKING DOORBELL DURING NAP TIME! It is my saving grace nap time and week after week you fuck it all up for me!


thanks,
the lovely house you throw things at!

I'm not a hooker...just ignore the red nail polish

The things we do for our children. I tell ya. I hate red finger nail polish, I think it can make you look cheap, trashy, the street walking type. Now that being said, not everyone looks bad with red nail polish. Some people can pull if off, particularly those that have finger nails. I however do not. So I painted my stubs red, UGH, I look like a street walker. I would take it off, but my 2 year old loves it. Let me explain.....

I do not normally wear makeup of any kind. Not that I hate makeup...I actually love it.... I just have no clue how to put it on. So instead of going around looking like a clown day in and day out, I just choose not to wear it. I hear comments like "you look great with no makeup"....well you haven't really seen me with it....I probably look a hell of a lot better. I just don't know how to apply it. I have attended the Mary Kay classes, been to the clinique counter and had various sessions with my sister and friends. All of them know how to do the makeup thing. Me not so much. In fact people can hardly believe that I am the person in my wedding picture. Yes I have had people tell me that they had no idea it was me.....who else would be in the picture hanging on my wall with my husband. Anyway my point of no makeup brings me to red nail polish. It isn't natural for someone who does no makeup to walk around with red nail polish, but here I am......plain face with red stubs.


It started Monday when Meredith begged me to draw her toenails and fingernails red. So I thought okay, sure and this will be a great time to take away the pacifier, bribing her with a little nail polish.

"Mommy draw toes?" Sure we can paint your toes like Mommy's......red nail polish on your toenails...totally appropriate....makeup or not. So I got down and carefully applied polish to my two year old's toes....she wanted to look like her mommy. After I finished I reapplied some to my toes to cover the chips and cracks on my on toenails.

"Mommy draw fingers?"

"No sweetheart no fingers." that makes you look like a hooker....I so wanted to say that, but she is a parrot these days.

"Peeez mommy, draw fingers"

"No Mizit only big girls have their finger nails painted, you're too little"

"Mizzie big gurl"

"No, Mizzie still has a paci, Mizzie a baby"

"No pass, Mizzie big gurl"

"Well if you give me your paci to go bye-bye I will paint your fingernails"

"Otay mommy " hands me the paci "draw fingers" and she set her hand with her fingers wide right in front of me.

So in the hopes of taking the pacifier away I painted her fingernails red. It didn't work too well. She got sick and got it back that night.

After I finished her fingernails she wanted to do mine.


"Draw mommy's fingers?"

"No....mommy doesn't like her finger nails painted"

"DRAW Mommy's fingers......yike Mizzie"

So I did, and then I realized Josh had dumped over the finger nail polish remover. So yesterday I had to take Noah do the pediatrician's office for his 6 month well baby visit looking like a $2 hooker with my bright red stubs.....the things we do for our children.

Some days I feel like I just suck at this....

Like today. Last night Meredith started throwing up around 9pm. Fun, fun.....she continued until right around 2-3am. At 1am Noah woke up for about an hour, he just decided he wanted to be held and rocked, so I did. Only to come down and clean up vomit and help Josh change sheets and clothes and so on.

Then today she woke up and more you know what. So I called my mom to come and stay with Meredith so I could bring Noah to his 6 month appointment. Yes he made 6 months old this week, I know where does the time go. So we get there and he is screaming and crying, because he is tired. And I, his mother, cannot comfort him. He wants his bed. Yes call me lucky, he likes to nap and fall asleep in his bed. He does not mind being rocked, but there was not exactly a rocking chair in the pediatrician's office. As much as I love the fact that he can soothe himself to sleep, I hate it that he would rather do that than me soothe him.

Then we got shots, which is always fun and then he had to have blood drawn....all of this on top of a already exhausted and cranky baby leads to more fun. The pediatrician then gave him a once over and everything came out just fine except for the fact that he still has a little fluid in his left ear. I know, it has been 5 months of fluid now, I feel like a failure.

And Meredith is sick for like the 589th time this year. I know.....where am I going wrong?

Our nanny is in town....

And by Nanny I don't mean the kind that comes and takes care of your kids while cooking and cleaning your house. Nope...although I wish that one would come to town too.

No the Nanny I am referring to is my children's godmother and Nanny is the word we call her. Nanny Lei Lei to be exact. Although if my sister decides to do some cooking and cleaning along with child rearing while she is here, have at it! Yep, she is in town visiting and we are rather excited. Since she is a busy 3rd year law student who got an internship this summer for the DA, we are pretty lucky to get a quick visit in.

This morning we gave her another good dose of birth control (trust me we have gave her several doses in the past 2 years.) She decided to venture into the wild and crazy world known as Mommy and Me. In an hour and a half she got to see a bunch of sugar crazed kids dancing and singing along with crying, screaming, hitting, having meltdowns and lots of other kid friendly activities.

Yep she got to play a day in the life of a stay at home mom. Previously she used to ask me...."is this what you do all day?" Yep it is....laundry, dishes, breakfast, dishes, laundry, naps, tummy time, snacks, playtime, lunch, naps and then it starts all over again the next day. I imagine it is quite different than her life of lectures, test, papers, happy hours, sleeping in, late nights of partying, and nice relaxing glasses of wine.

But really my sister and I have always been different....while I was always lazy in school and couldn't wait to finish....she always made straight A's and is still there. While I was always worried about things, she never really let things bother her and to anyone who knows us well....it is no secret that we have not always gotten along. Although she has always been a damn good sister. Now I am not saying that she NEVER gets on my nerves or I hers, because we would both be lying. But overall we are friends, and becoming better friends as we grow up.

Right now she gets to play the role of the fun Aunt. The one who comes to town and brings presents and lets them bend the rules....and I get to be the mean old mom. But a day will come where I get to be the fun Aunt too and I can't wait!!!

People always ask if raising a boy and girl are different....

Yes they are very different.


Meredith was always dainty as a baby, very cautious and very high maintenance. She wanted to be held and rocked only by her mommy. She did not want to go to other people at all and would cry when she did. She was not a messy eater and would rather be entertained by her mommy than play with toys.

Noah is the complete opposite. His motor skills are crazy good. He is so rough and tumble already with his toys, nothing like his dainty big sis. He will go to anyone and always has a smile on his face. He loves to grab and hold anything, he goes after all his toys with his mouth open wide and attacks. Anytime he eats he makes a huge mess, it is so unavoidable. I now know why they make bibs!

I'm sure as they get older the differences will be even more obvious, all I can say is they are very different, very different indeed and I love it!


Meredith at 5 months old eating for the first time...



Noah at 5 months old eating for one of the first times...

Because my momma says....

It is okay for a boy to have a baby. Life should not be taken to seriously!

The Noah Man....

Noah is one of the sweetest babies around. He rarely fusses or cries and whenever you look at him he ALWAYS has a smile on his face. Here are some other facts you may not know about Noah...

- he loves to hold my finger as he nurses, I love it too.

- he hums himself to sleep, it is adorable.

- when you lay him in his crib for the night, he always rolls onto his left side.

- he has the biggest, brightest blue eyes.

- whenever we go somewhere people always stop me to tell me how gorgeous he is, I agree.

- he loves to eat baby food, he will scream if you hold the spoon in front of him and do not put it in his mouth.

- he has the most adorable belly laugh.

- when he does cry it is always a loud, heartbreaking cry....no whimper here and no in between.

- he loves it when his big sister makes him laugh.

- he loves to be rocked and sung to when you are putting him to sleep.

- he loves to take stroller rides.

- his favorite toys are his monkey and his blue elephant on rings.

- he loves his satin blankie just like his big sis.

- his tickle spots are right under his neck.

- he is so messy when he eats his "real" food.

- his pediatrician thinks he is perfect and a little man.

- he is the sweetest little boy in the world and I am blessed to be his mommy!