Holiday!!

I realize I just created this blog last month, but hey, that's what I get for starting so close to summer. For the first time since Bug was born, we're taking a family vacation. And since I realized that you cannot auto-post on Blogger, here's a picture to see you through until I return!!

Ah-ha!

Apparently, shower lady had no problem with me taking a longer shower at the gym. Her problem was that I was taking it in HER shower stall. I wasn't aware we were still in middle school, but now that I know the rules, I might play fairly.

Seriously, though, I have never seen a short little lady in her 50s sprint so quickly to the showers after a water aerobics class.

Weigh-in

Weighed myself again yesterday; 1 more pound down for a total of 7 lost; 31 to go!!

Things I Would Like to Say....

.... to some people at the gym:

• It is perfectly fine if you decide that step class isn't for you. But please put your equipment away before you storm out of the room so that someone else doesn't have to clean up after you.
• It's okay to go get your baby cause he's crying. This time he wasn't ready to be left in the child care; keep trying & one day he will be ready. (note - this one's in a really gentle tone cause my heart does hurt for this poor lady who is trying so hard to get out of her house & do something good for herself.)
• If you are sweaty, please wipe off the equipment when you are finished. Ewwwww.
• Why, yes I did signal for that parking spot. So you can take your attitude elsewhere.

And finally:

• No, I do not have a problem taking a 20 minute shower when there is hair-washing involved. I only wash my hair on the days when I am in the pool. I take my time getting to the showers so that everyone else has an opportunity to get in first. I make sure that there is at least one shower empty when I get in, and I do check to make sure that nobody is waiting for an empty stall. You were inconvenienced in no way, so I'm not entirely sure what your problem is, but I know that sending death glares in my direction won't get anything solved. (Especially when I am most definitely a Queen of Death Glares.)

The scary part? I am most definitely not PMSing right now.

The sad (?) part? I would never say any of these things in real life.

Haircut!

Finally got Bird's annual trim done today! Considering it was only her 2nd time ever having her hair cut she didn't do too badly, but she had a hard time keeping her head still. Finally had to bribe Bug with crackers so he would sit still so I could stand by her & help keep her looking where she needed to.

The lovely efforts of our work, before and after:

Applesauce Bread

Last week, we ran out of bread; I forgot we were home all the time for summer & didn't plan accordingly! Since I also a bit lazy I did not want to pack the kids up & go to the grocery store either. So I pulled out this recipe for applesauce bread that sounded interesting but I'd never actually tried. Not too bad, but we made it again today & it came out much better!

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cups applesauce

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 (about 175C)

In mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar.

Add egg and applesauce; mix well.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cloves.

Gradually add to the creamed mixture just until combined. (I used a regular spoon, not the mixer, at this point)

Pour into greased bread pan.

Bake for 60-65 minutes. (This is where the recipe & I parted ways. I have an oven that I affectionately refer to as my "portal to Hades." My first loaf was burnt at the 50 minute mark. This time, between 40-45 minutes was perfect.)

mmmmm.... tasty finished bread!!

If you wait a few minutes to slice it, you should be fine, but if you are impatient like we are the bread is a little crumbly. Tastes great as is, or with some butter & jelly.

Shoes

Is it just my kids or do all toddlers & preschoolers insist on wearing their shoes backwards?




Furthermore, doesn't Bird have amazing fashion sense?! ;)

As long as I'm not Miss Hannigan!

Bird's room is a mess, so I told her we needed to work on cleaning it today. (meaning, I will sit on her bed & talk to her while she puts everything away.)

Today, she opted to sing "It's a Hard-Knock Life" while she cleaned. The one from Annie.

Saying More than you Think?

Chris has written an interesting post about how one of her readers figured out her exact address. (well, okay it doesn't tell you HOW she did it, but that she was able to.) The pertinent parts of the story are in the last couple paragraphs, and the comments give more information too.

Sigh. What a world! Although I'm glad to know that I'm not totally crazy when I do smudge cities & other information in online photos.

I smell a conspiracy

The power bill came in the mail yesterday. It was $60 MORE this month than last month.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out which appliance(s) is (are?) sucking the very lifeblood out of the local power plant. As an experiment, I turned off the AC during the day (and then take the children off someplace or we would surely melt). It is running at night, but it's always been running at night. I have not been doing extra loads of laundry or dishes or... whatever! The hot water heater is capped. I just cannot figure out what the difference is, unless fuel just costs more during the summer months.

I really just want my AC to die; it is 20 years old and is so stinkin' inefficient it scares me. (For lots of reasons, we can only get a new one if this one completely dies.)

I was a bit disappointed by the whole no-AC experiment, until I looked up last year's bills & saw that the power bill this time last year really was sky-high. $60 more than it was this time around. So, I'm glad I'm saving us money, but I need to go find a popsicle now.

The pendulum has started to swing...

I have now been regularly exercising for 7 weeks. After being less than thrilled with the initial results , it continued to get 'worse' as I continued to steadily gain - finally reaching a grand total of 15 pounds! Not exactly positive reinforcement!

After not going anywhere near the scale for a couple of weeks, I finally got brave enough to check my weight again yesterday. I've lost 6 pounds! Yay for me! 6 pounds down, 32 to go..... note to self - stop referring to step instructor as 'satan-girl', even if I am just thinking it.

In other random aerobic news, I noticed at the last couple of classes that my heart rate was a little low. Seems that I have gained a bit of cardio fitness, which I didn't think I had been doing. So I've finally added a riser under the step. And.... I know it's only 3 inches, but it feels like so much more. Sigh. I think I am now as physically fit as a 60-year old. But at least that's better than being as fit as an 80 year old. ;)

Daddy

There's not very much that I remember from the night Husband became a Daddy for the first time. It had been an overnight labor and she'd been born at 6:01am.

I vaguely remember hearing her cry as I laid back against the bed. I wanted to hold her but I was too exhausted. Husband had followed the team that was wrapping her & taking her vital stats, etc. so he could tell me all about what was happening later.

She was still crying, and I still couldn't hold her, so the nurse handed her to Husband instead. He started talking to her, and she immediately stopped crying. She knew her Daddy, and knew that was a great place to be.

Happy Father's Day.

Birdy-ism

It wasn't that Husband could not believe what she said.... it was more of how quickly she was thinking. This took place in the car, as he was trying to buckle the kids in.

Bird: Daddy, you need to tell Bug you're sorry.
Husband: Why?
B: You weren't very nice to him.
H: What?
B: You said he was (drops voice to a whisper) stupid.
H. I didn't say stupid!
B: Well you just said it, so tell him you're sorry.

It's not very often that Husband is at a loss for words.

Pinkeye!!!

Apparently this stuff is more contagious than I thought! I hadn't realized that just reading about it was enough to catch it; my friend Rachel wrote about her daughter having pinkeye just a couple of days ago, and now Bird woke up this morning with it!

yes, I am kidding. ;) But not about the part where Bird has pinkeye. Ewwwwww.....

What really amazed me though was how many people I had to call to tell them that my child was sick. She was at Vacation Bible School this week (okay, she's never been to any type of school, but the first time she goes she gets pinkeye?!), we were at the gym last night, we were supposed to go visit my parents this weekend (no more short beach trip! sniff)

I feel like I just won (lost?) at a really bad game show - "Yes Jaime, you were supposed to go watch your husband run a race & have a fabulous weekend on the beach with your family! But why don't you just spend the day doing laundry & cleaning everything you own instead?!"

Today is sooooo going to be a TV day.

EDIT - lest i sound a bit too pessimistic, here are some things i am thankful for...
1. Today is Friday, which means the doctors are normally at the office today.
2. My dr. office has a sick hour, where you can just show up first thing in the morning if you wake up to a sick child.
3. Since today is Friday, everyone was at work (including HR people), which was incredibly good when I discovered at the Target pharmacy that Husband's company never gave us the pharmacy card when we signed up for the insurance.
4. I will forever love the Target pharmicist who was so good at eventually piecing everything together so that I could finally get Bird's medicine and go home.

Universal Adventures

Truth be told, I had no plans to take my children to Universal Studios before they were 10. Preferably older - like actual teenagers. At this stage in life, we are at a Sea World pace - nice & relaxed, with shows, a couple of rides (including a GREAT roller coaster) lots of animals, and a huge children's playground. Not to mention the best part - it's free for teachers, we had a pass for Husband, and then his office had a great deal so we could get a pass for Bird. (i am extraordinarily cheap!)

Anyways, this year Universal had a special deal for teachers - a free 1-day, 2-park pass for the teacher, and a discounted pass for family members. So we decided to go before the time ran out. We picked a Wednesday because it is June after all - prime tourist season - so at least the locals probably wouldn't be there too.

We started off our adventure at E.T. (Even if I haven't been here in many years, I still know enough to go to the back of the park first! 5-10 minute wait early in the morning is much better than the 30-60 minutes you will wait in the afternoon)

They are still celebrating the 20th anniversary, so the ad posters are all still up, in all sorts of different languages. We tried to explain to the kids what we were going to see, but I don't think they got too much from the poster!

In the end, Bug really liked the 'bikes' and all the wonderful creatures, but Bird was not super impressed.

We then went on Jaws & Earthquake. I'd like to say that my children weren't traumatized, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Now, to be fair, Bug never really saw the shark on Jaws; the only part that really freaked him out was when they blow up the oil platform & everything is on fire. Fortunately, the driver was a little slow and it was cleaned up before we moved on; seeing that & hearing mommy explain that calmed him down fairly quickly. Same principles worked on Earthquake - which is broken into 3 parts, and only the last one is the potentially scary one. (Bird was okay on both rides, by the way. Not thrilled, but she did enjoy herself).

After a quick lunch (you should bring your own if you don't want to sell your children in order to eat!), we went to the Beetlejuice show. I was extrememly disappointed here - I remembered it from years past - lots of singing, dancing, and great music. My main issue is that the park maps NEVER mention the PG-13 rating!! (although it is there on the website that I didn't check ahead of time because i've been there before!! grrr....). And wow... this newer version is full of sexual innuendos, and all the curse words are left in the songs. Personally.... I still liked the show, but I would never have brought my 2 & 4 year old with me. I'm just thankful that all of it was over their heads.

At this point we needed some time to run around, so Husband & I decided to split up. He took the kids to the Kid Zone (a fantastic place that the kids didn't want to leave - pack bathing suits!!) while I went through the single rider line at the Mummy and the Men in Black rides. (if you ever decide to go - combine Parent Swap with Single Rider line & go through them so much faster!!). The Mummy is one of my new favorites - it was AMAZING!!! Husband went on it after I got to the playground, and he loved it too.

At this point, the kids were wearing out and it was HOT, so we took about an hour to walk our way over to Islands of Adventure. (Bug was sleeping - most people could probably do it in 10 minutes). The main kiddie stuff here is in Suessland, but since it was mid-afternoon, the lines (except for the carousel) were all long. So we left this area for another and in our quest we did run into this fountain:

The fountain is run by a remote DJ who pretends he is the stone idol in the middle of the fountain who likes to squirt kids. Lots of water to cool everyone off!!!

It's also right outside the Sinbad stunt show (great stunts, lousy story - horrible writing!), which just happened to be doing its final show when the daily thunderstorm hit.

By now, the day was kind of over for us, even though the park was still open for a couple more hours. We'd done everything that we'd really wanted to do, and we were all tired & hungry. There were a few things that we didn't do, and if I was a visitor, I would have been sad that I missed them (though I would have made sure to ride all the roller coasters!!!)

Overall though.... a wonderful summer day!!! (Even if we don't get back for another 10 years!!

At least they had fun!

Water fun on a shoestring:

Cheap drop ceiling over your porch + super wet & rainy & windy storm = 2 very happy children.

At least I managed to get this picture before they were both totally without clothing!

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You Know You're a Mom when...

... you go grocery shopping & use a crayon to cross items off your list.

Such a Difference!

I know second children are supposed to be different from the first... and because of that I have never questioned some of the things that Bug enjoys, like playing in small places (i.e. under the table), or that he loves trains.

But I wonder how many of these differences are just because Bug is a boy.

Seriously, in all her 4 years, Bird has never tried to stand on me & then drop and body slam me. And yet this seems to be Bug's favorite move lately. He also thinks it's funny to pretend to munch on Mommy.

Plus he is just so stinkin' flexible! Right now his favorites are the Downward Dog position

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... and something like this Warrior pose.

What you hear

As we were getting ready to go out & run some errands this morning, Bird & I had an interesting conversation:

Bird: Mommy, I'm all dressed!
Me: You look nice. Are you going to wear sneakers, sandals, or dress shoes today?
Bird: Why do I have to wear shoes?
Me: Because you can't go into stores with bare feet.
Bird: I don't have BEAR feet!! They're just (firstname) feet.

I stand corrected.

Time Warp

There are lots of things that I would avoid doing (ahem... cleaning) in the house cause I was just too busy with work. (lesson plans! tests! quizzes! doing the homework problems before getting to class! and don't get me started on the grading!)

But now that it's summer, I'm shocked to discover that it's 4:30pm.... and I haven't done much of anything on my house to-do list.

Me thinks Husband will not be amused! LOL

I just keep telling myself... but I'm spending all sorts of good time with the kids!! I also keep telling myself that I'm still in recovery from this past year. I also tend to do a lot at night, after they are asleep - mainly the stuff I just do not want them helping me with.

(and for any of you who might be wondering... this laid-back attitude does not apply to the kitchen - cleaned every day - or the bathroom.)

Water fun

This is where we went today:

It's basically a splash playground; the red things on the left & the green thing on the right are both slides. I love this place. We discovered it last summer, but Bug was just barely walking at the time (yes, 17 months! I have late walkers). The best thing is that you do not have to know how to swim to play here; the water does get a little deeper on the other side, but only a couple of feet. For 2 kids who have no desire to get into the big pool or learn how to swim, this place is wonderful.

Today was our first day (this summer) to go. True to his Touchy nature, Bug did not put more than his feet into the water for over an hour. For the next hour, he walked around a bit. Finally, he agreed that it would be fun to try the slide (the red one!). He was on it for an entire hour, and I only really got him off because I was thirsty & it was getting late.

Bird, on the other hand, had a lovely time splashing around in the water; she eventually got on the slides as well.

All in all.... a great day. Especially when you get a pic like this:

It's good to laugh!

I had planned on going to the gym in the morning today to do step & pilates classes. Ended up watching Peanut again while her mom had stitches removed, so I spent the morning making lasagna instead. Not exactly equivalent!! Husband has kindly agreed to leave work a few minutes early though so I can make it to the evening step class instead. (which I definitely need to go to, as I am getting together with several work friends tonight, and there WILL be chocolate involved!)

I was still kind of hoping to do some Pilates today though, so I rummaged around and managed to find one of those videos that I acquired months ago when I thought about exercising but never did. Had the kids put down towels for everyone & we gathered round the tv.

Thirty minutes later....

• that lady moves FAST!! especially compared to the teacher in the gym
• i was still unsure that i was doing it correctly, though that may have been because she was moving so fast...
• the kids are way more flexible, but
• they were also way cute as they tried to copy the moves

well... until they got bored & decided that running sprints across the living room & launching themsselves onto the couch was more fun.

I did get a bit of a workout, but i didn't feel like i truly worked out. Might need to try one of the other videos tomorrow. Or not.

Should never have looked

About a month ago, I joined a gym. I finally resolved that I was ready to exercise regularly. Because, quite frankly, I am a slug, and a happy slug at that. However, I am a much heavier slug than I was before the 2 kids (blasted metabolism!! and 40lbs per child!) Believe it or not, I have been quite good about going - have attended 4 classes each week!

This is the part that gets me, though - I have gained TEN FREAKING POUNDS since I started! Yes, a couple of them can be attributed to end-of-the-school-year-treats, but seriously. 10 pounds?!

Husband has been quick to remind me that muscle weighs more than fat. But! I ask him, what good is it to have Abs (abs, legs, and buns for that matter) of Steel when you cannot see them beneath the HUGE JELLY BELLY?!?!

It's a good thing he loves me.

As long as the shoes match....

This lovely afternoon Bird & Bug decided to play dress up. By itself, that doesn't sound too funny, does it? Except that the only dress up clothes they have are Bird's collection of princessy type dresses & Disney princess shoes. Bug started it, opting for the pink Sleeping Beauty dress, and Bird was only too happy to help him into the matching shoes.

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Once Bug was ready, Bird slipped into her Cinderella dress & her own pair of matching shoes. (huh, those are the only 2 disney dresses she has! all the others are halloween costumes.) Daddy was thrilled with how they both turned out.


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I have to admit, they do look rather nice! But why is it that there just aren't good dress-up clothes & shoes for boys?!

iPod Scramble

I saw this meme over at chili's, and though most of the time I think these things are kinda pointless, this one looks kind of fun. Though perhaps free advertising for Apple!!

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense.
NO CHEATING!

(now, to be fair... i do have an iPod, but it's a mini & doesn't have the gigantic song collection like the hard drive on the computer... so am instead using an mP3 library that Husband made, and hit the random button on that.)

How do you feel today?
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down

What’s your outlook on life?
My Ding a Ling - Chuck Berry
(hmmm.... did I leave the filter set for Husband by accident?!)

What does your family think of you?
Do You Want to Know Love Tonight - PFR

What do your friends think of you?
I Can Help - Billy Swan
(I hope that's true!)

What do your exes think of you?
Along Comes Mary - The Association
(That certainly would explain why I am the EX!)

How’s your love life?
Beyond Belief - Petra
(yes!!)

How will your love life be in the future?
Pinball Wizard - The Who
(I'm not sure if the song or the artist is funnier to me here)

Will you get married?
Here We Go Again - Dolly Parton

Are you good at school?
Coconut Grove - Lovin' Spoonful
(???)

Will you be successful?
Midnight - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

What song should they play on your birthday?
True Colors - Cyndi Lauper

What song should they play at your graduation?
Thank you for letting me be Myself - Sly and the Family Stone
(seriously - that's what came up!!)

The Soundtrack of your life?
City of Dreams - Talking Heads
(I like that!)

You and your best friends are?
Boogie Man - Aerosmith

Happy times:
Voulez Vous - ABBA
(how can you not be happy when listening to ABBA?)

Sad times:
Joe the Lion - David Bowie

Every day:
Lord I Lift Your Name on High - DC Talk
(kind of reminds me of this verse and this one too)

For tomorrow:
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
(I hope they don't take the 'tomorrow' part too literally!)

For you:
The Champion - Carman
(I know there are days where I'd like to think so!)

What does next year have in store for me?
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead - Wizard of Oz Soundtrack
(hey!! who let that song in there?!?!)

What do I say when life gets too hard?
(I've Had) the Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing Soundtrack
(Not so sure that putting an optimistic spin on life has been my strong suit!)

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
Undone - Guess Who
(at? or after? sorry, couldn't resist!)

What do you want as your career?
A Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon and Garfunkel
(umm.... every school year begins in the fall, does that count?)

Your favorite saying?
Never Going Back Again - Fleetwood Mac

How will I die?
Why Don't We Get Drunk? - Jimmy Buffet
(not a bad way to go, though i had to laugh 'cause Frozen Puck to the Head by Captain Tractor was the next song!!)

If you are reading, and you have a blog, TAG you're it! And please leave a comment so I can read your list!

(heck, if you're reading at all, please leave a comment! I'm starting to get a little lonely talking to myself! though it won't stop me from talking either....)

One thing can be settled...

... 4 poopy diapers later (2 for Bug & 2 for Peanut), i have solved the mystery of the ages. (one of them anyhow)

Boy diapers are way easier to change than girl diapers.

(wow!! 2 posts in one day! also, why can i not stop speaking in parenthetical notes?!)

I'm still here!!

What a week!! I tell you, there were times when I was starting to think that postplanning was way worse than actually teaching! But I finally turned in my supply list request for next year, finished cleaning my room, and shut everything down. Yay!!

Of course, since I was spending all day, every day doing that, I don't have too much to say now. So you get the benefits of my stream of consciousness today.

Since my kids spent so much time at the sitter's this week, we are staying home today. Well, that, and the fact that Peanut has come to play with us today! Peanut is Bug's age (so, a couple months over 2 years), and she became a big sister this week. Not a bad day so far - nobody is screaming, and the house is a wreck. Signs of good times!

Peanut is quite the talker - far more than Bug is (he definitely is a man of few words), and it's been so much fun listening to that cute little voice. She's also as much a self-entertainer as Bird ever was (which is a LOT).

But there's this quality about her that just so cute & adorable, and I've been trying to figure out what it is. I think it's that she's just happiness & light, and she comes across as just a sweet little kid. It reminds me a lot of the way my daughter used to be (she still is, but since she's now 4 it's not quite the same). They are both very textbook girls - the kinds of babies that love to talk & play & snuggle - all the stereotypical good stuff.

However, it's just a glaring reminder of how my son does not act. (and no, this is not about to turn into complaining about him!). I guess so you can fully appreciate that statement, I should describe him a little more. Bug was born a very cranky, grumpy old man. He was mad at the world and was not afraid to tell you about it. (and his cries! they were not cries.... bellows would be a better description) Before his first birthday, I cannot recall too many times that anybody caught the kid smiling.

After his birthday, things started to change a bit. He became more & more self-sufficient as he started crawling & eventually walking (17 months! why did the super cranky one not walk till 17 months!). He could feed himself. And gradually we started to see a change in him. He seemed to be at better odds with the world. He smiles a lot, and even laughs nowadays. Today drove home to me how much more serious he is in general, though. He plays and pretends and has fun, but it's just not the same as Bird or Peanut.

All that to say that I love him dearly and wouldn't change a thing. It makes his snuggling that much more special though.

Guess I could have just said that, but one sentence?! What kind of a thoughtful post would that be?