Showertime Antics

The other day I had to wait until Amaya's afternoon nap at 4pm to take my shower. I left Elyse playing while I hopped in thinking she would stay playing for the 15 minutes I needed. Like many of my assumptions when it comes to my children, I was wrong.
When I walked in I noticed that she had once again peed in the toilet and not flushed. This is the new weird habit of both my children. I have no idea why they do it. Anyway, I turned on the shower and flushed for her before I realized I had to go to. Once the water is on you can't flush the toilet because there isn't enough water pressure to have the water running and flush the toilet. So I left it just the way I found it, unintentionally of course.
Elyse comes in and says, "Mommy, you CAN'T leave your pee-pee in the toilet. It's DISGUSTING!! You HAVE to flush the toilet!!!" Gee thanks little miss perfect...
Then she pulls back the curtain and says, "I see your butt, hehehehe" I tried to convince her that there was something far better to do outside of the bathroom but she wasn't hearing it. She stayed there for the next 15 minutes as I showered and asked me questions, stole soap off my body to "wash" her hands, and generally harassed me.
Once I got out of the shower she proceeded to slap my but as I tried to get dressed. She even blew raspberries on my butt and yes, my butt-crack. I put my panties and pants on first to deter her but then she moved up my body and started touching my boobs.
Have you ever been man-handled by your own child? I'm sure most of you have...and now I have too. I need to start locking the bathroom door...

Isn't shopping supposed to be fun??

This weekend my mother in law wanted the girls to work in the yard with her and she realized they didn't have any "weekend clothes".  All of their clothes are pretty new and I prefer that they stay looking that way. So she told me to go buy them some sweatpants on her. I figured that should be easy enough...wrong. 
While Kayla was in school I took Elyse and Amaya with me to Wal-Mart. From the start Elyse told me she didn't want to go buy clothes-she just wanted to go home. So she whined and complained the whole entire time in Wal-Mart. And of course she had to use the bathroom. I HATE with a passion public bathrooms and this kid has to pee every time I leave the house no matter where we go.
The creative bastards at this particular Wal-Mart have the clothes section directly across from the toy section so of course Elyse was begging me for a toy. I didn't really find what I was looking for and about 40 minutes later Elyse was crying because she was hungry, tired, and toyless. So of course I went home empty-handed. No problem, I thought, we'll all go home, eat, relax, and hit Marshall's in the afternoon. 
Marshall's of course didn't have anything either.  Nothing I was looking for I mean. Elyse of course found a heart shaped coin purse, a cardboard hello-kitty box, and a clear plastic jewelery box. She found all of this while she was running away from me in the store. She's that kid that when you turn around for one nano-second you lose her but if you look hard enough you might see her sneakers peeking out from underneath one of the clothes racks and hear her devious giggling.
Anyway, I'm trying to leave and Elyse is throwing a tantrum because she wants her found treasures. "Please Mommy, please. I neeeed them.  But I LOVE them!" Mind you, one of the boxes is broken and cost $10. I had to pick her up and carry her out of the store crying hysterically while also pushing Amaya in the stroller- Amaya, the "baby" who didn't cry or complain during either of my 2 trips.
So, not one but 2 tantrums and no clothes.  Sitting in the car, getting ready to drive home I suddenly remembered why I like shopping on the internet and why that may be the only form of shopping I do for a long, long, time.

Snow Day

Every day as the temperature drops lower and lower I long to pack up my crap and drive right back down south to Florida. I don't think a winter will pass for the rest of my life without me thinking about my wonderful Florida "winters" with desperate longing. It doesn't help when we are barely through fall and it frickin SNOWS! The hilarity and irony of this happening the year I move back to NY are not lost on me. While I stayed inside nice and warm Kayla and Elyse went out and played in the snow.  Two years ago Kayla got to play in the snow and made a snowman but Elyse was too young and has never seen snow until now. She was in heaven. It took about a week for all the snow to melt and for that whole week she was in love.

She threw herself in it, ate it, licked it, kicked it, stomped in it, and pretended it was all kinds of interesting things.  She is definitely going to enjoy the winters here way more than me. The "snow dog" however, wanted nothing to do with the stuff.  He was very confused to say the least.  It took me a whole 24 hours to convince him to go out and poop. I actually had to throw on my boots and sweats to walk him up the road because he refused to go anywhere near the snow.  Apparently nurture won against nature...

Happy Halloween

This halloween I didn't have the time, energy, or funds to make costumes so the girls were witches thanks to Mima. According to Kayla she was a good witch and Elyse was a bad witch. When I tried to correct Kayla, Elyse corrected me because she wanted to be the bad witch...makes perfect sense.  This was my first experience putting make-up on them. Have to say I kinda enjoyed it, it was like they were little dolls. This was also our first year trick-or-treating in the cold weather. It wasn't too bad though. They had a blast and it was fun to see all the houses decorated. People in Florida never really seemed to get into all that. They got plenty of candy, which I of course raided at the end of the night ;-)

Happy 5th birthday Kayla

Can't believe my first born is already 5 years old. It's been so amazing watching her grow and change over the past 5 years. She is definitely an interesting kid and it's been a great journey.
She wanted a Tangled birthday party ever since Elyse's birthday in July. I did what I could on my limited budget with lots of help from my mom and judging from the picture she was happy.  Either that or she's a really good actress.

Like my hand-made Rapunzel tower?

The Do

Amaya has been congested for a few days so last night I had to run the vaporizer. I gave her a bath and washed her hair before bed. When I went to check on her in the middle of the night the humidity from the vaporizer made her hair dry a little frizzy. She looked like Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Suess' Cat in the Hat. Makes sense because all of my kids hair is always CRAZY!!

Sharing is Caring

I've been trying to teach the girls to share for some time now. Sometimes, they willingly oblige and sometimes they just are downright greedy and selfish. Glad to say that this week we are making progress...one of them has graciously shared their germs. Hallelujah!! So glad they were thoughtful enough to make sure we would all suffer together. I'd like to be able to give credit where credit's due, but I can't figure out which child was so generous.
I feel like we have been sick for the past month though.  It's like the same cold keeps going round and round, where it will stop...I wish I knew :-/

Week in Review

After Monday's incident at Wal-Mart I was hoping my week would get better. Not so much...it was a roller coaster of a week. 

Kayla started taking the school bus home. It took her until Wednesday to realize when it was her stop. She would sit there in la la land until they had to actually call her name to get off.

 

Tuesday she threw the worst tantrum because she didn't want to leave her grandparents house. She screamed and cried the entire 40 minute ride home. It took all of my energy to ignore her. Then she accused me of not caring about her. I just kept wondering where was the "return to sender" option on the last year of my life. Before all that happened I fed the baby solid food for the first time and she loved it. Always enjoy their first reaction to real food

Wednesday while I was cooking dinner Ricky found Kayla cutting Elyse's hair with a pair of children's scissors. Thank God he checked on them when he did because there was already a good amount of hair there. Even though he caught her red handed, Kayla tried to tell me Elyse did it to herself.

Thursday was my birthday...whoo hooo, not. This is my last year in my 20's and I'm hoping the year ahead is a good one.  Not feelin the whole getting older thing that keeps happening...it kinda sorta sucks.

Friday was the icing on the cake. I went outside to get something from my car and my dog chased a skunk under my car, who in turn, sprayed him in the face. I highly recommend you never let your dog even look at a skunk. The dog was in the house for two seconds before I realized what happened and the smell is still lingering. Of course this was at 10pm at night when the temperature had dropped to 45 degrees. I left the poor dog outside for the night. I set up a bed for him but I'm sure he was so confused he barely slept. My wonderful aunt let me bring him to her house and helped me wash him the next morning. Skunk spray is so strong the smell can last up to 2 years. Seriously hoping that doesn't happen or he will live in my aunt's back yard for the rest of his life.

Ended the week on a high note though. My bff came for a impromptu visit Sunday and I got to see her and my godson. Probably won't see her again for some time so that was nice.

Manic Monday

Kayla has officially started school. Today was only day 3 and it was a crazy one...
Amaya woke up at 4:30am for a feeding and again at 5:50am. At 6:40am I was in that state of sleep where you're not awake but you're not asleep when I heard "MIMA! MIMA!" followed by crying.  I spent the next 5 minutes trying to detach my boob from Amaya's mouth without waking her up. Get upstairs and I see my mom dressed and ready for work with the exception of rollers in her hair, giving Elyse a quick bath. She had peed in her sleep and was drenched in pee. My stepfather was leaning over the tub warning me it was broken, something I didn't comprehend until I decided to take a shower 10 minutes later. It is only 7am. My mom and Sam race out the door and I rush to throw all the sheets, pillows, and stuffed animals in the wash, make breakfast and jump in the shower. Then I realize, the knob to the water is broken and will not stay on or turn. Somehow I managed to jam it on and turn on the water by holding it in and turning real quick and tight. It was scalding hot but I didn't have time to mess with it. It's 7:20am and Amaya is awake already. I was able to get out the door with all 3 kids and no more incidents or crying (miracle) by 8:06am and made it to Kayla's school 10 minutes early ;-)

After school I decided to go to Wal-Mart for a few odds and ends. This is where my day gets really good. Both kids are exhausted and whiny because they have been up for so long. Elyse is having a break down because she just doesn't want to walk and I can't find a cart big enough for the 3 of them. I put her on the handles of the stroller, which I used to do with Kayla when Elyse was a baby. She was eating her snack of grapes when all of the sudden she starts choking. Simultaneously she falls to the floor and starts running away screaming, gagging and choking, while the stroller flips down to the ground with Amaya still in her car seat strapped in. Now I have a crying frightened baby and a choking 3 year old who decides it's best to run away from me while choking and spewing Hawaii Punch colored vomit all over Wal-Mart. Some lady is standing there looking at my freak show horrified and saying "She's choking!!" It was something out of a tv show. The woman must have thought I was a nut job. I had to run after Elyse, thump her back, pump her stomach, and cup her vomit, all while Amaya is screaming her head off and Kayla is excitedly giving me a play by play of what's happening..in the middle of Wal-Mart.  It was pure madness. 

And that was my Monday. I can't wait to see how the rest of my week goes...

Catching Up

It's been 4 months since my last post and so much has happened since then. Too much for this blog so here's a quick review.

• May:
• Started hemorrhaging when Amaya was 2 weeks old, wound up in ICU and got a blood transfusion.
• June
• Amaya turned 1 month old
• Contemplated killing myself almost every day trying to deal with 2 bored kids and a very needy, demanding infant.
• Got a second opinion on my medical issue from my old gynecologist, found a blood clot on my uterus. Got the blood clot removed after much procrastination.
• July
• Decided to spend a whole month in NY to get a break. Amaya turned 2 months, Elyse turned 3 years old.
• Ricky lost his job, we decided to move back to NY- ROAD TRIP!!
• August
• Amaya turned 3 months old
• Living apart, very stressed
• September
• Have had a string of bad luck-lost my wallet with a $200 gift card, someone drove into Ricky's side mirror (Karma maybe?), Jada fell backwards down the stairs and was limping for 3 days and Amaya turned 4 months old.
• KAYLA STARTED KINDERGARTEN!! Very momentous occasion. 

Now that we're pretty much caught up I can get down to the fun stuff. Hope to go back to blogging on a regular basis ;-)

Breastfeeding Through the Eyes of My Children

Yesterday
Kayla: Mommy when I'm a grown-up like you can I feed my baby with my grown-up boobies?

Today
Elyse: Mommy, is the baby eating you?
Me: Uhm, yes.
Elyse: Hey, why are you eating my mom??

Annnnd Happy Birthday Siobhan ;-)

Final Days of Pregnancy

So I'm almost done with my very last pregnancy and I'm having mixed emotions.  I'm very anxious and scared to see what the rest of my life will be with 3 kids. I feel like I was almost a pro at handling 2, not quite sure how I'll handle 3.  I'm also very nervous about giving birth...did the first 2 naturally without drugs so I'm not going to punk out this time.  There is a small part of me that's like, ef it, get the epidural and be done with it. But I'll ignore that for now.
I find myself wishing that I hadn't been so hormonal during the whole 9 months and been able to enjoy it more. I had really pleasant pregnancies with Kayla and Elyse and this one plain sucked.  I wish I could have been nicer and more patient with the girls too.  I feel like I ripped them off because the last months of just us were basically me being a raging bitch. Nothing I can do about it now but I'll probably always feel guilty about it. Anyway I've done my best to try to prepare mentally, emotionally, and around the house so now all I can do is hope for the best...fingers crossed.
On another note, big shout out to the kind soul at Publix who stopped my husband from buying lettuce when my list called for cilantro. Proud to say he only called 2x during his shopping trip and one of the calls was to see if I wanted a deli sandwich.  Next time I'll make the list a little longer ;-)

Project Distraction

For the past month I have put off anything baby related. I was working on my projects and having a little love affair with my sewing machine...I heart her.  It's a fun distraction to create something for no real reason.  The ladies at Joann's Fabric know me already. They must wonder what the hell I'm up to all the time.  Anyway, here are some of the things I have been distracting myself with.

Sewing machine cover

Mod Podge and fabric covered box

Fabric covered boxes

I love my boxes. Don't love my lack of common sense to measure the depth of the cabinets, so they hang off the edge...o well.  I put the things that I don't use often in there so I can clear some space in my minimal cabinets. Gets the job done. The other boxes are for my cookbooks.

Plastic garbage bag holders

Of course I needed 3, one for the kitchen, one for my bathroom, and one for the baby's room.  By far the easiest and quickest of all the projects.

My recovered rocker. Took a while and is not perfect, but again...o well. At least it's not filthy like it was before. And it now has a zipper so I can take it off and wash it.  I still have to Scotch Guard it, another day.

Now that I have most of the projects out of my head (still have a few more ideas) I'm able to concentrate on baby things.  We even chose a name. I've been procrastinating for 9 months and it took us less than 5 minutes to agree once we had found the right one. Which is great because I didn't really have too much time left. Getting a little anxious to see how life is going to change around here. I've been trying to organize and streamline everything around here with what little energy I have left.  Hopefully the girls will adapt quicker than me.
Yesterday morning I found the girls playing with their baby dolls and Kayla said, "I'm pretending I have a lot of children, like you Mommy!".....lol

Inspiration and ideas for my projects came from the following tutorials and blogs
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself/accents/easy-home-decor-crafts/?page=13
http://www.tipjunkie.com/bin-organization/
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/06/sewing-machine-cover.html
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/01/grocery-bag-holder.html
http://www.lilblueboo.com/2010/02/reupholstering-nursery-rocker.html

Funny...

Tomorrow I have my 37 week appointment where my OBGYN will tell me if I'm dilated or not and we'll start discussing my labor plans.  My husband tells me, "Wouldn't it be funny if she tells you the baby is ready to come out NOW?"
My sense of humor must have left with my patience because that so does not qualify as funny...

Awkward

Listening to the radio with Kayla in the car and Katy Perry's "Extraterrestrial" starts playing. Kayla now really listens to the words of every song and sings them-or the parts she can make-out.
Kayla: Mommy, what's "extraterrestrial"?
Easy enough question to answer, next...
Kayla: Mommy, what's "alien sex"?
O good Lord...not easy enough question to answer. Awkward!!

BTW: my answer..."I don't know"

Trying to win a few things

A lot of the blogs I follow are always giving away really cool things and I never enter. Today I decided what the heck, you never know. And if my lovely 5 followers wish to you can enter too ;-)

First, I wish I could win this, http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2011/04/epic-letterpress-giveaway.html.  It's a really cool, and pretty small looking (conveniently) word press. There are so many things I can think of to do with one of these, but of course it's not in the budget so let's see if I win.

Day at the Beach

Yesterday I took the girls to the beach. It was 5 moms and 8 kids, all between the ages of 5 and 2, plus my pregnant belly.  Between the moms, the kids, beach bags, sand toys, 3 umbrellas, 5 beach chairs, and 2 and a half coolers, we must have looked hysterical. I love going to the beach because it's such a calming, relaxing thing, even with kids. They don't need to be in the water every minute because the sand is so entertaining. And luckily my girls behaved GREAT! I was in love with them when I saw what the other moms had to deal with.  Not to say that any of the kids behaved badly, but my girls are more independent. Whenever I take them somewhere they are very content to do their own thing and enjoy themselves. I don't get spoken to unless it's for basic survival needs...food, drink, bathroom :-)
Unfortunately, within 20 minutes of being at the beach one of the curious kids picked up a Portuguese Man of War, another touched it and then touched her face, and one of them accidentally touched one of the boys on the stomach with it. Not fun for them. Luckily it wasn't my kids, but I felt really bad for the 3 of them that had to deal with that. It was really crazy for about 40 minutes.
To help Kayla understand what happened I compared the situation to the scene in Finding Nemo where the father and Dory had to bounce on top of the jelly fish.  She couldn't remember the name of the jelly fish that stung her friends so she kept calling it a "man of armor". 
What I hate about the beach is the clean up part.  Sand sticks to kids like glue. By the time I got home, fed the kids and scrubbed the crap out of them and their scalps it was 10pm. I put them to bed and Kayla says, "Good night, I love you, sleep tight, don't let the suit of armor sting you!"  LOL, she really does crack me up.

More Random Kayla-ness

Conversation with Ricky while driving to Baskin Robbins:

Me: O look there's the Charter School I wanted to register Kayla for next year.
Ricky: What's the difference again?
Me: It's a public school but the standard of education is higher, kinda like private school.
Kayla: PIRATE SCHOOL?? I like pirates, I want to go there!

lol

Joys of Pregnancy

This morning I woke up drenched in sweat...head to toe, literally.  I was sweating under my chin.  I didn't even know I was capable of sweating there.  Last person I saw sweat there was a chunky baby...not me.  The AC was on 74 and I had the fan going.  Thank God I will not be pregnant during the summer...although it might not make too much of a difference the way the temp has been going up around here.  Very done with being pregnant.
On a brighter note, during the entire pregnancy I have been repeatedly asked if this was my first child.  Today I was told it's because I look too young to have more kids :-) My cashier at the supermarket told me I was aging very well and I looked much younger than my age. She's my new BFF.

Visit from Tio Adam

On Monday my brother had a 9 hour layover right here in my very city ;-). I picked him up and we were able to spend a few hours together.  I was pretty much exhausted for a good part of his visit but the girls were ripped and ready to go...lucky Adam.  I don't think they let him sit for the first 3 hours he was here.  It was a short but nice visit, especially for them because Adam is one big kid.  At one point they found his 2 fedora style hats and took turns trying them on.  Kayla has been doing this thing lately where she doesn't look at the camera and does some crazy thing with her mouth instead of smiling, so we'll keep those pics in the vault. But here's a cute one of Elyse.

 

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Every time my kids say something random or insightful I always think of that show with Bill Cosby. It's such a simple saying but so incredibly true.
Yesterday Elyse, who is only 2 was playing with her toys and talking to herself. Don't know what happened but I know what I heard...She said "O damnit, f$%k." When I said "HEY!!! That's a bad word, you don't say that!" she responded, "uhmmmm, O man" So not only did she use the words, she obviously knows what they mean. Effin AWESOME!

I just may win mother of the year award this year.

Things that make me laugh

Conversation with my brother:

Me: Kayla is so dramatic. She was crying before bedtime because she doesn't like her new bed. She said she can't jump on it like her other bed.

My brother: Well they do say "save the drama for your mama"

Harharhar, he's hysterical.

Closet Re-model

The last pain-in-the ass project for the girls room was the closet.  I thought it would be a simple project but of course I had a pregnancy moment measuring the length wrong, and then I had a few moments of momsanity.  I measured the closet at 60 inches wide and knew that was 5 ft but for some reason when I went to Home Depot my brain computed that 60 inches to 6 ft and that is what I bought.  The shelf stayed in a corner of the living room for 2 weeks until the last day of my mom's visit.  Of course when I went to put it up with her I realized what a mistake I had made.  We took a trip to Home Depot to have them cut it down to size but while there I decided a whole closet kit with different size shelves would be better.  There were only 2 kits and both were open. One was obviously missing half of the kit and the other, after me, my mother, and the clerk, checked the box, seemed to have everything I needed.  I never understand how people get things at a discount because it's broken, missing, floor sample, etc.  I asked if I could get a discount because the box was open and I couldn't be sure everything was there.  I got a plain and simple N to the O. After all this I was ready to exchange the shelf for the kit and my receipt was nowhere to be found.  I looked in the kit box, I looked in the bags I had come in with, I checked and double checked my purse-I even checked the garbage at the register.  I was seriously ready to just cry. The clerk was able to pull up my receipt on her computer so it was all ok in the end.  I still have yet to find that receipt. I am convinced I gave it to the clerk and she forgot.
Anyway, I didn't get to put up the shelves until the next day. It was very tedious. It involved a lot of measuring, marking on the walls, leveling, hole drilling, and nail hammering.  I was almost at the end when my husband had to leave to work.  Luckily all the heavy lifting and such was done already. Just when I thought I was done...I was in fact missing a piece from the kit.  The side brackets that anchor the fronts of each shelf were missing.  I had to wait until the weekend was over to contact customer service, then I had to wait 5 days for it to be delivered.  Everything is a story...that's why I have so much to blog about ;-) So after about a week and a half I finally put the finishing touches on the closet and organized it. I am happy to say that the girls now share one closet and everything has a place.  Each girl has one whole row and a small half row for everything I could possibly think of.  I am also equally happy that there are no more PROJECTS to do for their room...best part of it all!!!

Closet before

Closet after :-)

Finally done

I am finally done with the girls' room and all the projects I wanted to do for it. Now I can focus on redoing the glider...something that is probably going to require a lot of focus and time.  Here are the pics I already posted of the room when we got the bunk beds and moved all the toys in there. You can see them bigger here http://momentsofmomsanity.blogspot.com/2011/02/big-girl-room.html

Soooo, here are the pics of my handy-work and adventures after that.
First thing I did was re-vamp the curtains that were in the room.  The curtains were the first thing I made when I bought my sewing machine. I made them into tab curtains by sewing different colored ribbon on the top to match the colors in Kayla's comforter.

Next I put up a shelf above the toy bins.  Of course, I decided to put up the shelf at the most inconvenient time, 1 hour before bedtime, and when I was all alone.  I just wouldn't be me if I had the patience to wait until the morning when my husband was home to help. It was quite an adventure, let me tell you...I cursed myself a few times for my impatience.  First I had to drill holes in the shelf to attach the brackets. Naturally I attached them all the way on the edges.  Then I started drilling holes in the wall to put up the shelf.  Long story short, there are about 10 holes in the wall due to the fact that I have a crooked eye and I happened to be trying to drill into a wall that is part of the outside of the house and is reinforced with steel.  I finally had to redo the brackets on the shelf in order to avoid the steel beams.  Then I couldn't figure out how the hell I was going to put one side up and then get the other side up all by my pregnant self.  I wasn't willing to admit defeat and wait until the morning for my husband to come home...mostly because he would have freaked out when he saw all the holes.  So this is what I devised...

See the holes in the top right?

That is a very light book shelf, placed on top of the toy bin, and the only other sturdy thing I have 2 of in the house...sterilite storage bins. After I did all that it took less than five minutes to complete the project and I seriously wished I could have smacked myself for not thinking of it an hour earlier. I'd like to add that this whole hour I had the girls running circles around me, trying to touch the drill, the hammer, sitting on the shelf, and asking 50 million questions about what I was doing. But it came out great and level so I guess it was worth it...kinda.

Luckily I KNOW my husband will never touch anything on this shelf so I have time to eventually cover up the holes. He of course said I did a good job putting it up, right after he said "O, more holes in the wall."  The rest of my projects (except the closet, which I'll post separately) weren't as complicated. I made a toy bag for random homeless stuffed animals, a hamper for behind the door since there really isn't any other place for a hamper and these kids need to put their dirty clothes somewhere, and new basket liners. Overall, I'm happy with the end results, especially because it gave me something to do after the kids went to bed.

The other side of the bag is the aqua color of the hamper

Before and after: baby girl to big girl

Pinkalicious Cupcakes

Kayla loves the book Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kahn.  It's not the greatest, most heart-warming story, but I think it appeals to her girly nature.  My mother read it to her once and she memorized the whole book.  Since then she has been asking me to make her some Pinkalicious Cupcakes.  Today I made her very happy and finally did it.  When I told her my plans she immediately asked me if I knew how to make Pinkalicious Cupcakes.  She even bought me the book so I would know what to do.  She was so excited she didn't even care that we didn't have cherries.  I'm sure any disappointment she had was erased when I told her we would be using pink marshmallows instead.  I had her and Elyse help me mix the ingredients and then I put them in pink cupcake liners. I tried to decorate them as close to the book as possible, given the fact that I am no professional baker and the cupcakes in the book are almost as big as the little girl's head...no wonder why she turns pink in the story.

Even before I had them in the oven Elyse was asking "Are the cupcakes ready?" She asked me that about every five minutes until they were done, throughout dinner, and even when she finally got to eat one...I'm starting to think that she just likes to be redundant for no reason.  Either way, they really enjoyed their Pinkalicious Cupcakes.

Sunday Randomness

Every morning Kayla comes into my room and within 5 minutes asks me if she can check on her restaurant on the itouch.  Every single morning.  Today Elyse woke up first and asked to play with the itouch. Considering that when she first wakes up she is very energetic and talkative, I said sure.  When Kayla came in she asked for her turn.  After giving Elyse some more time, I made her turn it over to Kayla.  Elyse then cried for about 5 minutes because...well, because that's how she is.  In the midst of her tears she tells me, "Mommy, I'm not a baby anymore." Uhm...yea, well that was a very long and clear sentence but you're still crying because you don't know how to take turns sooooo, not so sure you're right buddy. When Kayla's turn was over I sent them downstairs to get their juice cups out of the fridge.  Kayla found the new Yoplait Princess yogurt I bought yesterday and bought me more time in bed :-)  After, she came in my room and told me, "I love you and Papi because when you work together, you make the best family."  Awe, she's the best <3 A few minutes later Elyse comes in my room with a pair of panties in her hand and nothing on.  She insisted she didn't pee on herself and just wanted different panties...ok.  At this point I have to get out of bed.  After investigating I determined she didn't pee anywhere; have no idea why she felt the need for a wardrobe change. I went to find her in the guest room to put on some sweatpants and this is what I found...

Yes, that is a cracked egg on top of the dresser.  Apparently I was a bit premature in thinking Elyse could be trusted to go into the fridge unsupervised.

Sleep Interrupted

I may never get a decent night's sleep again.  The really depresses me.  I don't even know what a decent nights sleep feels like anymore.  My teenage cousin is always complaining about being tired after school...I want to slap her every time. I want to wake up in a good mood for once and not be this cranky sleep-deprived mother.  Even when I try to get to sleep early something always happens. Two night ago I was actually woken up at 2:30am by the child in my womb.  I think she was trying to escape...I'm serious. She was kicking and punching me so hard and frequent that it actually woke me up.  Then last night I went to bed at 8pm because I was so exhausted. At 8:45 my phone rang 4x.  I ignored it because it was my brother-in-law. Then it rang again-it was my husband wondering why I wasn't picking up his brother's calls. REALLY? Then at 1am I had to pee.  Getting out of bed and getting to the bathroom at this stage of my pregnancy is an ordeal in itself.  By the time I was done it was probably 1:30am. Then at 5am I was awakened by the sound of both kids crying.  Kayla had a nightmare and her crying woke up Elyse. I soothed them both and got back in bed. I then spent the next hour trying to keep Elyse out of my bed. She finally stopped trying but they were both up and ready to start the day at 7:45. I'm tired just thinking about it all over again....

Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob!

Sunday, my godson Jacob turned 3. His little celebration was in the middle of nap time which meant to get there on time I had to leave during lunchtime. So I had to do what I usually hate doing and get fast-food. I ordered a chicken sandwich and they forgot the tomato and cheese...chicken, lettuce and mayo-yum. So worth 8 bucks...not.
We got there before the birthday boy but once he showed up it was a nice little event.

Cheese!! lol

Of course my "I want to act potty trained when I feel like it" child peed on herself. And of course her, "I am extra prepared for all the wrong things" mother, myself, only had extra panties. I later asked myself what good I thought that would do because if something happened where I would need extra panties, it should have been common sense that I would have needed extra bottoms too. There is now an entire outfit in my car for the next emergency. Luckily for me, my bff is always prepared and lent me Jacob's shorts that she had in her car. For the rest of the party, instead of Elyse cutely matching Kayla in a dark blue skirt and white shirt, Elyse looked like a little linebacker with shorts past her knees.
On the way home Elyse was so tired she fell asleep with a lollipop hanging out of her mouth. When I went to take a picture of it at the next red light, it had fallen out and was stuck to her shirt.

Nothing like a little party and cake to wear them out ;-)

Random Kayla Quote

After drying off from the shower I took off my towel and went to the bathroom to brush my hair. Kayla, right behind me says, "Mommy, your butt shakes when you walk." Then proceeds to play the drums on my butt. Ahhh, motherhood.

Alone at Last

Thursday I was on my way out to drop something off at my bff's job for my god-son's bday party at daycare when my husband says, "Wait, help me get the kids dressed. I'm going to take them to the park." Elyse is almost 3 years old and he has never taken them anywhere except to friends houses by himself. Sooo, of course I helped him get them dressed. I must admit I wasted some of my free time wandering around the $ store and when I came home I started dinner. But I was able to talk on the phone without any interruptions, whining, crying, screaming, or fighting. It was just QUIET. Then while dinner was cooking I sat down and ate a bowl of Cheetos. Mostly because I knew I could do it while the sun was still out and no one would ask me for any. Best Cheetos EVER.

When Ricky got home with the girls 2 hours later. I was in a very relaxed mood. Best part of the day...after being alone with Papi for a few hours all the girls wanted was PAPI! WoooHoooo!!! Even the dog wanted his attention and it started frustrating him because he couldn't do anything without them finding him and demanding his attention. HAHAHA! Welcome to my world. All in all, very satisfying day ;-)

Lights Out...kinda

When I re-did the girls' room I was left with no visible electric sockets for their night light. As a temporary solution I put one behind the IKEA toy storage and a tiny bit of light shines through the cracks. My husband was still paranoid that in the highly unlikely event that Kayla had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, she wouldn't be able to see her way down the ladder. So, to pacify him, I bought this little guy

However, of course, the girls started playing with it. So I warned them that it was only for going ot the bathroom in the dark and if it was touched for a different reason it would be taken away. Ahhhh, why do I set myself up? For the past 3 nights since it's been in their room, they have both needed to go to the bathroom within 2 minutes of me turning off the lights...Tyke Light in hand.

Mima's Super Busy Visit

My mom was here this past week and it was an awesome visit. She helped out so much and gave me a much needed break. Unfortunately this pregnancy is kicking my butt and I don't feel as well rested as I wish I did. Also, 6 days was not enough to recharge my patience level and the girls are driving me crazier than before. They haven't stopped fighting, whining, and hating each other since my mother left. Makes me wish I could go back to last week.

Sunday
I picked up my mom the night before after the girls were already asleep. They were pleasantly surprised to see her when they woke up. So was I. She kept them out of my bed and room for the better part of the next 6 mornings. Once I did drag myself out of bed, we went to JoAnn's where I chose a fabric for the glider I am going to recover. After an hour debating which fabric to choose, while my mother chased my 2 wild children around the store, I am still thinking about returning it. This will be the 2nd time I return a fabric for this project. Kayla got to choose a yarn for my mom to crochet her a blanket.

After that we went to Menchie's for some yummy frozen yogurt. Pretty much called it a day after that-for them. I got to go to Chilli's and watch my girlfriends enjoy cocktails while I downed 3 strawberry lemonades. Forgot that in my non-pregnant days I never really liked Chilli's but used to go for the great 2 for 1 drink deals. Bitter sweet outing.

Monday
Left the kids with my mother while I went to the OB for my monthly visit and 7 month glucose test...YUM! While there I was reminded of how difficult it is to get all of your pee in a cup when you can't see what's going on past your belly. Thinking maybe next time I'll just give them my hand to test. Pretty much the highlight of that appt.
After Elyse woke up from her nap we met my friend and her daughter at an indoor bouncy house. Never going there again. My friend loves the place because she only has one child, who is very attached and doesn't let her breath. She gets to relax while her daughter runs around and wears herself out. Plus it's super cheap. First time there and I was not a fan. Neither was my mother who was pretty much spazzing out the whole time. The bouncy houses run on noisy generators so they had kiddie music PUMPING to cover the generator noise. Plus the bouncy houses are so big you can barely see your child. Not that big of a deal with Kayla but different story with Elyse. They had a toddler toy area-visibility blocked by a small bounce house and no batteries in any of the toys. The one time Elyse attempted the smaller bounce house a boy bounced on her head. When she tried the larger one she got trapped and scared and I had to bounce my pregnant self in there and rescue her. Day over, we left.

Tuesday

Spent a very nice and relaxing day at the beach. The weather was PERFECT for relaxing at the beach. The girls had a blast in the water with my mom, made sand castles, and collected sea shells. Best day of the vacation I think.

Wednesday
At about 5am I was woken up by something digging into my back. Thinking my husband had rolled over to my side I pushed it away only to realize it was Elyse's head. By about 6am I was done trying to get her back to sleep. When I went to pick her up I realized she was naked from the waist down. YAY, she had peed her bed, stripped down, and came to my bed. Apparently I had forgotten to put a pull-up on under her panties after her bath the night before. Luckily she was sleeping on top of her favorite pillow and blanket and didn't get the mattress wet. However, my dryer was out of commission. Later we went to Ross and I bought her some new pretty pink sheets with purple butterflies-very girly. We made a stop at Barnes and Nobles where my mom had them pick some books for her to buy them. I picked up Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems, a story about a toddler whose Daddy temporarily loses her favorite bunny. The story was too close for comfort for Kayla and she almost cried. She decided she wanted a book called Pinkalicious. She pretty much memorized the whole story by the time we were out of Barnes and Noble. After dropping them off at home I went to pick up my god-son from daycare for a play-date. After a very loud and chaotic play-date it was bed time. At this point the girls were a bit over-tired and Kayla was very disappointed that the wonderful new sheets belong to Elyse and I didn't get her any. Too tired to care.

Thursday
Took a very quick and not so quiet trip to the library. Picked up some cookbooks for me and tons of books for the girls. Stopped at IKEA, of course didn't leave empty handed. The girls love going there because they have a lot of fun playing in the children's model rooms. At one point while Kayla was in one room, I looked over at Elyse in the adjacent room and she was standing kinda funny and looking at me weird. In one second I know that my child had pooped in her panties...lucky me. I had to rush to the beginning of the children's section to the family bathroom and strip off her panties and clean her up. She continued the rest of our adventure sans panties.

Back home for dinner, bath, bed. Kayla was STILL whining about the sheets not being hers. My mother, god-bless her, tried to make her happy by taking the flat sheet and wrapping her mattress with it. She's a saint because I was seriously ready to shut the light and let her deal with the injustices of her life. My mom spent 20 minutes and a lot of effort to climb to the top bunk and try to make it as nice as possible. When she was done my wonderful child was still not satisfied because her pillow didn't match. UGGGGHHH!

Friday
We all went to a park I had driven past a few weeks ago. It was really nice and thank god my husband went because I was too exhausted to lift kids up for monkey bars or push a swing for 20 straight minutes. For lunch we went to a little cafe and sat down for a quick lunch. Poor Elyse hadn't had a proper nap since Monday and almost put her head down on the table and fell asleep. Once home I tried to take advantage of my mom's home-repair skills to have her help me re-shelve the girls closet. But pregnancy brain struck again...I bought a shelf that was too long. Back to Home Depot where I switched the shelf for a whole closet organization kit. By then it was too late to get it done. Dinner, bath, bed, and sad goodbyes.

Saturday
Took my mom to the airport at 4:45am then back home to reality. Reality that includes no fun IPad to distract my kids and no 20+ years of experience in dealing with whiny, annoying kids. In short, I miss my mom.

Simply Modern Mom Blog

I was searching for a pattern for one of the projects I want to start and I came across another blog I decided to follow.  I've spent a good amount of my day looking through this woman's blog while the kids watch Despicable Me on constant repeat.  One of the things I found on her website was her project 52 posts. Last year she did a date night a week with her husband (mostly in-home dates) which was a good idea that I might change a little and steal. This year she's doing a glimpse into motherhood, with a picture of her kids a week. I'm going to attempt to do this, since I am always taking pictures of the girls anyway. Check back Friday(?)
Here's her blog for curiosity's sake http://www.simplymodernmom.com/2011/01/project-52-glimpse-into-motherhood/

Big Girl Room

During the last 2 weeks I've been really busy redoing the girls room.  Our 3rd bedroom used to be a playroom but in a few months it's going to have to be a nursery again. So my challenge was to condense all of their toys (and these brats have a ridiculous amount of toys and books) into one room along with their beds, clothes, etc. Before, I had the little one in a toddler bed, which was a crib (will be needing that back soon) and the oldest was in a day bed.  The changer/ dresser they both had used as babies was out and the smaller dresser was in the closest. They shared both dressers but the little ones clothes were all hanging up in the playroom closet.  Here's a picture of the room before. 

Please ignore the unmade beds

To make everything work I decided on bunk beds that can later be separated into 2 twin beds and a toy storage system from IKEA.  It took my husband and I almost 6hrs to put the bunk beds together but I love them.  I spent a lot of time and energy researching the perfect option and am happy with the ones I chose.

Bunk bed, dresser, and curtains I want to redo

very messy bookshelf, fits perfectly between the doorway and the closet

little bit of extra space between the beds and the closet

this thing holds a ridiculous amount of toys...for now

Everything fits better than I thought and they have done a surprising job of keeping their room clean considering they never cleaned up the playroom. I still have to add another shelf in their closet so both of their clothes' can fit.  I'm also working on redoing the curtains in their room so I'll post another picture when that's done. But for right now I really like the way it turned out.

Now that they're in their own big girl beds they seem so much older to me. It makes me a little sad :-(

my big girls, happy and ready for bed

Dreams do come true

Since the beginning of my pregnancy I have been having really vivid, weird, and totally irrelevant dreams.  I'm not usually a dreamer, or at least I don't remember dreaming. But these dreams are so random and filled with people I don't even know or recognize. In my dream last night I was back to my pre-pregnancy body and all dolled up for some work event.  Then in walks my business partner/ best friend who looks a lot like Katy Perry.  She's pissed off about something work related and we start going at it the way girls do in stupid movies. It was just a lot of slapping and hair pulling. Suddenly my husband says to me in a very sleepy voice, "Why are you hitting me??" Apparently, I wasn't really dreaming anymore...Opps!! When I thought about it the next day I couldn't stop laughing, poor guy, lol.

Quiet PLEASE!

Before I begin please read the following disclaimer: I love my kids and they are my greatest accomplishment. They continually amaze me and make me smile I would do anything for them without hesitation.  That being said, THEY DRIVE ME INSANE. I know I was a talkative kid, I know I was nick-named Barbara Walters by my aunts. I remember countless times being told to be quiet and pay attention in school; being moved to the back of the class and then back up to the front because I couldn't control my chatter.  I never got involved in any sports or after-school activities but I was voted chatter-box in my high school year book senior year. I am now being served my karmic retribution because I have 2 of the most talkative little girls EVER. They wake up and start talking right away without pause. Sometimes I wish I could just say, "For the love of God, PLEASE, sit down and shut up for five minutes!" Even if I were that insensitive, cruel type of mother I don't think they could physically comply. I sent the oldest one to brush her teeth and before she got started she decided she had to pee. The whole time she was peeing, flushing the toilet, applying tooth-paste, and rinsing, she was talking to herself.  About what, I don't even know.  Her conversation was so riveting, the whole process took her almost 15 minutes.
I try to give her quiet things to do while the little one is napping and she still talks to herself.  I have been trying to teach her about strangers and why you shouldn't talk to them because everywhere we go she talks to whoever we see.  And not just your basic "hello", she will straight tell them her name and age, her sister's name and age, and all of my business.  She has no shame.  The other day she told her god-father that when her father sleeps he wears underwear. Then she laughed like it was the funniest thing she ever heard.  Thank God he doesn't have a fetish for wearing red panties, because everyone would know.  I have had plenty of strangers who she has befriended tel me "Wow, she's very talkative"  To which I just smile and nod...o they have no idea.  I know I'm lucky because they have so much personality and curiosity, which I know will take them far later but today, at 4 and 2 years old, they are exhausting me.  I thought naively, that maybe this last baby in my belly would be a calm, quiet one.  Then common sense and reality slapped me in the face and I realized that would be impossible with these two as role models.  Apparently Karma isn't a bitch...she's a super talkative little kid with a big personality. 

PS..if you didn't already figure it out, today was not a quiet day and I am really, really, REALLY looking forward to bedtime.

Peeing standing up

For as long as I can remember I've been a slight germaphobe.  It's not based on fact or real knowledge of germs, it's more of a "eww, that's just gross" kind of thing.  Public bathrooms are the grossest places I can think of.  When I was younger, I wouldn't go near one, no matter how bad I had to go.  Of course once I became pregnant with my first daughter this wasn't really an option.  A pregnant woman is worse than a drunk person who broke the seal.  Now after 2 kids, I really can't hold it for as long as I used to.  I still really, really hate public bathrooms though. Which is why I always envied men. They can walk into a bathroom and touch nothing but themselves. And let me tell you, I have on occasion peed in a mens' bathroom, and they are always cleaner.  Just another reason why men have it so much easier, my husband specifically. 

This morning my intention had been to get out of the house at 9am, get Elyse new sandals, Kayla some new bottoms, treat myself to a haircut and be back by lunchtime. It didn't quite work out that way.  I didn't drag myself out of bed until almost 10.  Somehow I made it through an entire shower without either one of the kids knocking on the door or walking in to talk to me.  Don't be fooled though, they did come in while I had one contact in my eye and another in my hand.  Just blind enough to not really see if they were touching things they shouldn't.
Then before I could leave I had to listen to my husband complain that I had left him with the kids every morning this week, today was his day off, he was tired and wanted a break. "When was his day off to relax?" he wanted to know. (SERIOUSLY?? Don't even get me started buddy).  Apparently laying in bed in a semi-coma not really paying attention to the kids is hard work. I have no idea how his brain can even let him do this.  I also have no idea how he thinks food would get in the house had I not gone to BJ's Monday and Publix Tuesday.  But whatever, apparently as a stay at home mom with a hard working husband such as mine, I am a very lucky woman and most woman wish they could be me...so he says.  In theory I'm sure this is true on a lot of different levels, but I don't always feel as lucky.  Different issue for a different day.  Finally I got out of the house at 11:30, got 2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of pjs, a pack of socks, and 5 bottoms all for $50.Yea me!
Sooo, as I'm waiting to get a haircut I notice that's it's way past lunch time (maybe 1:30pm?) and my husband hadn't called me since I left.  Decided to call him and it went something like this...
Me: "Did you give the kids lunch?"
Him: "They had gummy bears"
Me: "LUNCHH! I said LUNCH! That's not lunch!!!" while thinking WTF?? Is this man retarded, we don't even have gummy bears, let me not even mention that Elyse should be napping right now.
Him: grumbling "Goodbye let me go make them something to eat"

Ahhhh, Lord give me patience....

So an hour later I get home, open the door and smell burning hot dogs. He's in the kitchen cutting up their lunch...at 2:30pm. 

Anyway, cut to after the kids go to bed and come out 3x for no reason other than to get yelled at by me to get back in bed. I tidy up, unload the dish washer, load it back up, and wash the pots...all while he lays on the couch watching tv.  I go upstairs to lay down for a minute and wake up an hour later with my face in a puddle of drool...luckily I fell alseep on his pillow ;-).  He comes upstairs, looks for his phone, asks me a random question about how I'm feeling, doesn't wait for the answer, starts getting dressed and says "Ok, I'm going to meet the guys at the Pub. Bye Babe".  He seriously left without even looking back or saying anything else. I honestly stayed in bed for a few minutes trying to wake up and figure out what happened.

Must be nice having an outlet or friends who actually make time to get together, relax, and enjoy each others' company. I wouldn't know about that because all of my friends are mothers who have no time for such things.  Again, different issue for a different day.

And all that is why I really wish I had been born to pee standing up...

First attempt to blog

First attempt to share my thoughts and not bore anybody...not as easy as I would have thought. Hopefully I get better at it because I need a new outlet.
Today I am 25 wks pregnant with baby girl # 3 who is still un-named. Not concerned about it. More concerned with re-arranging furniture and rooms to make everything fit. I am obsessed with organization and functionality. Within the next week I have to put together a bunk-bed for the girls, buy new sheets and figure out how to fit an entire playroom in one moderately sized bedroom. I'm actually very excited because it's a new project and for those that know me, I love projects. Being a SAHM I've gotten to the point where if there isn't a project, I'll invent one just to give myself something to do. I have so many ideas in my head for the girls' new space and a few things for the baby's room, I just can't wait to get started. Most excited because I recently learned how to use a sewing machine so I'll be attempting to create some stuff from scratch. I will definitely be posting before and after pictures for anyone interested. Until then, take care ;-)