3 points
I just noticed my daughter standing in the kitchen with her knees together dancing up and down. This is a pretty clear sign that she needs to pee. I asked her to please go to the bathroom and put her pee in the toilet before it goes on the floor. She looked at me square in the eye and with very animated hand gestures said, “I will say three things. One, I don’t have to go pee. Two, I don’t want to go pee and three, I will not go pee.”. So, there you have it!
Filed under Kiddies | Comment (0)dear odd early hours
Yeah, you know whom you are but since you are playing all coy, I’ll point you out. 1am. 3am. and 5am. You guys have got the hat trick nailed down pretty nicely. Why don’t I just get right to the point? I hate you. I am sick of you (both literally and figuratively, I might add). I could probably tolerate one of you a night but seriously, do you all have to show up EVERY. FREAKING. NIGHT? I know there is the occasional night one of you decides to call in sick and not wake me up but I’m pretty convinced that it’s just so you can nail me the next night when you come back with your cousins 2am and 4am. Don’t even get me started on that Bag 3:30am you brought the other day. I’d like to threaten you but I’m not sure what would scare you enough to stay the heck away. I’ve cried, I’ve raged, I’ve begged, I’ve pleaded but nothing works. Now I am in despair. I’m at the end of my rope. So I’ll ask one more time, could you please, please, please leave me alone? Could you maybe work it so that just two of you come to visit? Think about it because you are killing me and making my entire family insane.
Yours truly,
Rachel
Filed under Me, me, me, me | Comment (0)transformers & diamonds
R: Hey, Buddy? Have you decided what you are going to be for Halloween?
N: Yeah, I’m going to be a Transformer.
R: A Transformer hey? I thought you wanted to be a pirate.
N: Uhhhhh, that was last week. Now I want to be a Transformer.
R: That’s a pretty tough costume to make. How are we going to do that?
N: (In a very teenaged snotty voice) I’m going to knit it.
R: (Trying not to laugh) Knit it?
N: Yeah. Knit. It. (duh!)
R: So how are you doing to do that?
N: With needles and wool.
R: Wow! That would be impressive.
T: Dude, if you can do that, you can do anything!
N: I’ll make the arms and legs and rest of it all by myself.
A few minutes later.
N: Sooooooo, Mom? How do you knit?
At lunch today:
N: I wish I was a diamond.
R: A diamond?
N: Yeeeeeeees. A diamond.
R: Why a diamond?
N: (in the same snotty teenager voice as above) Cause they are pointy!
when I grow up
Before our kids were born I was working on an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. I orginally planned to finish it once our kids got older but I’m not sure that I want to anymore. Part of me feels like it’s a waste not to finish but the rest of me feels like it’s a waste to spend a lot of time and money on something I don’t feel committed to anymore. Having kids has changed my direction and focus. So the question is, what do I want to be when I grow up?
I want to be a philanthropist. I’d like to have deep pockets that I could reach into when I hear stories of need. On Sunday I heard about a man who lost everything for the love of his children and wished so much that we could have done more. What school do I go to for a degree in philanthropy?
Some people have a Mother’s helper. How about a Mother’s friend? Someone who comes to visit after your baby is born on a regular basis. Brings healthy food that is ready to eat or easily reheated. Someone who knows the value of high fibre muffins, individually frozen fruit for smoothies, precut bagels and other food you can eat with one hand. Someone who will answer your questions and not tell you to sleep train when your baby isn’t sleeping through the night by 6 weeks or advise a strict feeding schedule when your baby is still eating every 2 hours at 2 months. A Mother’s friend will watch for signs of PPD and help you ward it off before you get there. She’ll know about salmon oil and other important vitamins and supplements. She will hold your baby while you sleep and make you get out of the house for a walk when you really can’t be bothered but need to badly. A Mother’s helper would be someone who knows how to help you get your baby latch, what to do if your baby has jaundis and help you figure out how to use a sling. Someone who won’t judge you when you really aren’t loving your new life but at the same time encourage you to find joy (even if it’s one minute) in every day. Someone really awesome who shows up at your door with lasagna, dessert and chocolate, makes you feel better when you are falling apart and then cleans your toilets while you help someone else. That’s someone I’d like to be when I grow up.
Caterer/baby chef. I love to cook and I’m pretty good at it. I’d love to cater baby showers, smallish parties, brunches… I think I would specialize in baking and desserts. I recently visited a store near us that charges $15 for a dozen cookies that are good but not as good as the ones I make. Their cheese cakes cost $60! And have you noticed how hard it is to buy a decent pie? I’d also like to have a business making homemade frozen dinners. Healthy homecooked fare that comes in individual containers that you can eat after work or a busy day and not feel like you just ate an $8 piece of cardboard slathered in oil. As for the baby chef thing… home made, good tasting baby food sold in individually frozen cubes that you just take out of the bag and heat. I made all of my kids baby food (have you smelled the jarred stuff or tasted how unlike the original food it often is?) and had fun doing it. I could make 2 weeks worth of food in about 2 hours for very, very little money. When they were a bit older I went crazy with lentil stews, white fish with orange, quinoa and barley. People would buy that, wouldn’t they?
For now, I’m going to focus on keeping up with the laundry and dishes, loving my kids and being a supportive partner for my husband but it’s fun to dream a little bit about the days ahead.
Filed under Me, me, me, me | Comment (0)poop
Has anyone ever had a nervous breakdown because of poop? Quite frankly, I’m about to. Baby J (who is now 2.5 months, 15lbs, 24 inches long and wearing 6-9 month clothes) has got some seriously mixed body signals. The in signal is working over time and the out signal seems to be broken. J eats every 2 hours but only poops about once a week. I know breastfed babies tend to poop less but this is insane. After a couple of poopless days he gets understandably grumpy. After a couple of more days he is downright foul, screaming and crying ALL. DAY. LONG. He writhes in pain and even whimpers in his sleep. It is horrible for all of us. Today the screaming nearly put me over the edge. Daddy just gave him a little prune juice and water so we’ll see what happens.
To balance out the never-pooping baby we have a super-pooper 3.5 year old daughter. She poops constantly which would be fine except that she seems to prefer doing it in her panties. 3 times today. 4 times yesterday. A billion times in the last year. We have tried every techinique under the sun to have her reliably potty trained but nothing is working. It comes down to the fact that she just doesn’t care if she is wet, dry or otherwise.
Between the screaming from the poopless baby and the laundry from the hyperpooper, I’m certain to loose my marbles. Seriously people, it seems that the Ringling Brothers have come to town and set up tent permanently in my house. At least we’ll have a steady supply of popcorn…
Filed under Kiddies | Comment (0)wondering
1. Why does my 2 month old who has slept well from birth feel the need to nurse EVERY. TWO. HOURS. AROUND. THE. CLOCK? It started about a week and a half ago and really hasn’t let up. I’m down with it during the day but could we agree on say, every 4 hours at night?
2. Why did this need to coinside with T being away?
3. What is it that drives people to tell me how much it sucks having 3 kids? My one friend recently told me that she wanted to be honest and say that it never gets better… only busier. Thanks? When you tell me how bad it is, what exactly do you expect me to do? Give one of them away?
4. How did I survive T working 60+ hour work weeks and raise children without extra help? Seriously, I would have gone batty this fall without my family.
5. Does forgetfulness get worse with each child (or do we never remember how much we forgot?)? It’s bad people, really bad.
6. Why do people fall all over first time mothers with sympathy for how tired they are and how hard this mother gig is and then act like women with 3+ children should just suck it up already? I’ve gotten a distinct “you made your bed, now lie in it” feeling from several people (in particular older mothers!). Do women forget how far a simple empathetic response can go for an exhausted fellow mother?
7. Could every fall be as warm and amazing as this one? Please?
8. How do you lose all of your pregnancy weight and still not fit into your pre-pregnancy pants?
9. How can I stain my oak kitchen cupboards to look like walnut without stripping them? They are starting to really bug me.
I’m alive! I’m alive!
You have no idea how many great posts I have written recently. They were eloquent, funny, touching… brilliant really. The problem is they only lived in my head. Considering I can’t remember what I am doing from one second to the next, all those fabulous posts joined my other lost thoughts and escaped my brain. Apparently my mind is not a happy place to reside right now!
I really want to start posting again so I am just going to start typing and see what comes out. I need to take a bit of time for me and empty my head. I’m hoping that if I create some space in there that the important thoughts like paying my bills on time will stay there!
I have been up since 4:30 this morning after a lovely 4 hours of broken sleep. J has been having a major developmental spurt over the last week or so and has been sleeping rather poorly. When I don’t sleep well for a while (say since May) I tend to get insomnia. I just lay there hoping to sleep when I am so tired and desperately need it. This is how the night went:
11:15 finally get to sleep after very long, long day.
1:20 Nurse baby who falls back to sleep in 15 minutes.
2:00ish Fall back to sleep.
4:14 J Nurse baby, change diaper, sooth, console and rock until he falls asleep around 5ish
5:00 Lay awake staring at the baby in the dark. Think about how cute he is, how much I miss my husband (who has been away since Saturday), make a list of things I need to do tomorrow etc.
5:15 Hear daughter in the bathroom and go see what she is doing (she was wearing a washable “pull up” of sorts and had saturated it and her bed). Change her, clean up mess, put her back to bed)
5:30 Fall back into bed and try to sleep
6:00 Just as I am almost asleep hear daughter bang open our bedroom door and announce that she wants to sleep with me. Move baby to other side of bed, tell her she can sleep with Mommy if she is quiet and actually sleeps and then close my eyes.
6:30 Finally send daughter back to her bed because she is constantly moving, moaning and talking.
6:45 Daughter bangs door open again and announces she wants to watch tv RIGHT NOW. Send her back to her room. Quickly jump out of bed and deal with her temper tantrum and try not to have one myself. Head back to bed where baby is stirring. Pray he goes back to sleep. He does!
7:15 Get startled awake by son who bangs door open to see if I”m awake. Pretend to be asleep. Listen to son and daughter go downstairs to watch tv. Try to sleep.
7:30 Hear baby waking just as I’m falling asleep. Give up. Nurse baby. Change diaper. Go downstairs and make breakfast.
Since then I’ve cleaned the house, put away a mountain of laundry, done 2 more loads, reorganized G’s drawers, bathed the baby, made lunch for my sister and I, made supper, picked up N from school, etc, etc. Now I’m really tired, my house is still a mess (how does that happen?), there is still 3 loads of laundry to do (I swear it multiplies) and I really want a nap. Instead I made a cup of tea, read to my kids, made them popcorn and sat down to write this boring post.
I can’t wait for T to get home. I miss him. The kids miss him. He is one of the few people who actually cares how freaking tired I am and how hard this has been. He knows what a struggle this year has been and how much I have put into keeping our family running through all of our changes. He knows what it has been like to adjust to having 3 kids and living on a newborn’s schedule. He is my safe place and it has really sucked not having him around. I just really want to feel his arms around me and know that it will be ok. Hurry home.
Filed under First came love..., Kiddies, Me, me, me, me | Comment (0)