I catch my bus to get to work for 7:00. I have a few reasons for doing this. The bus is crowd-free at this hour in the morning and the bus driver is friendly (he stops for me when he sees me running down the street. I get downtown in 15 minutes because there is no traffic and the bus just zooms along. Getting to work this early means I get to leave work at 3:00, giving me extra time at home to work out, get dinner ready and pick the kids up early so I have some quality time with them before shipping them off to bed.
This morning, Edie and Grace were early birds and were both awake before I had to leave the house. They both seemed happy and surprised to see me. They were both so fluffy and sweet. When I walked out the door there were tears (Edie) and quiet sadness (please don’t go Mommy) from Grace. It was then I realized that there is another reason I get up so goddamned early every morning….it’s so I don’t have deal with the guilt of leaving my family every morning.
Sigh.

I have a two year old.

Edie the Bikini is two years old today. She came into the world easily and adapted to her surroundings easily. She rarely woke her daddy or me in the middle of night – in fact we had to wake her for her evening feedings. She is so different from her sister – quick to smile, but also quick to cry. When in the safety of our arms, she greets strangers with a great big HI! and looks a little perplexed when the greeting is not returned. Most of the time though, her sunny disposition is hard to resist, and for the most part she gets an enthusiastic Hi! back.
And now she is two, and now she tests us, and she sometimes annoys us and she sometimes tortures her big sister. This is her right as a two year old. Why would anyone expect anything else from her?
All I know, is at the end of the day, when I get that big (sometimes snotty) kiss goodnight, it still melts my heart.

I have a five year old.

Ms. Grace is five. She's half a decade old. I'm glad she woke up early this morning so I could see her before I headed off to work. I'm glad her daddy emailed me to report that she was tickled when everyone rushed to wish her a happy birthday at her daycare - apparently she was absolutely bursting with pride. I'm glad this very non-domestic mommy took time to make and frost cupcakes last night to share with her kindergarten class. I'm glad I have a husband who saw the importance of driving the cupcakes over to her school to ensure that they got there safely. I'm glad that I'm just as excited as she is to open her gifts tonight. I'm glad that after struggling with post partum depression I can finally feel the joy, pride, optimism that a mommy should feel on her child's birthday.

I'm glad I get to do it all over again tomorrow when Edie turns 2.

High’s and Low’s

High: Went to a movie Saturday night, it was Music and Lyrics. The opening credits are worth the price of admission alone. Lots of laughing out loud.

Low: Upon getting ready to go to the movie, I sprinkled baby powder in my hair to absorb the grease – couldn’t remember last time I washed my hair.

High: Brought both girls to Cosmic Adventures on Sunday for a birthday party and they both had tons of fun.

Low: Edie screamed all the way home. The really bad part is she was screaming bo-bo, which means she was hurting somewhere and nothing I did made it better.

High: Had all the grandparents and Auntie over for a birthday dinner for the girls last night and fun was had by all.

Low(s): 1 new noisy toy; Grace crumbling in tears at bedtime because she wanted to her new puzzle one more time and we said no; Edie’s little tantrums at the dinner table because she didn’t want to sit in her high chair; the fact that we are doing all this all over again when we have Grace’s birthday party with her friends next weekend (actually, this isn’t a low, I kind of get excited too).

High: New, high thread count sheets, pillow cases and duvet cover.

Low: Edie waking up every night at 2 a.m.

High: Putting in couch time to catch up on PVR’d Gray’s Anatomy, the Office and Lost

Low, very low: Gray’s Anatomy didn’t record properly so I couldn’t watch part II!! GACK!

Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

So why do you do it then?

Have you ever noticed that kids can be so smart, but also a little thick at the same time? Case in point, we have these chairs at home that are high up and have bars on the back of them. I lifted Edie up on to me last night so she could see what was going on in the kitchen. Edie then turned herself around in one; promptly got her leg wedged in the bars and couldn’t get it out. Crying ensued, said leg was rescued, tears were dried, the world was once more a happy place. Until she put the same leg, through the same bar, and got stuck again, and again, and again. Look, I know that kids learn via repetition, but come on, how many times do you have to hurt yourself before you get it? After rescue kajillion, my patience was wearing thin and I was no longer a sympathetic Mommy with tissues to dry up the tears. That’s when my wise almost five year old very calmly suggested I take Edie down from the high up chair so she doesn’t keep getting her leg stuck.

Oh. Right. The lovely thing about Grace is that she didn’t say it with even a note of condescension.

Oh my god, this is hilarious. If you have a blog, use this translator
http://www.gizoogle.com/, if you don’t check out my blog translated….

http://sites.gizoogle.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmeanoldmommy.blogspot.com%2F

Super-DUPER funny!

Thanks to Christopher for passing it on!

Am I middle aged????

Gasp, I just found out now, a minute ago, that the Grammy's were on last night. I used to be on top of this stuff, watch it, talk about it the next day. I had no idea they were on last night ! Oh man, I feel so out of it.

Same make, different model

When we had Edie, I just assumed that raising her be the exact same as raising Grace. I quickly learned that this wasn’t case. Edie never fell asleep in the car (Grace’s chin was always touching her belly in the car); Gracie was a somewhat difficult baby, Edie was easy-peasy. Grace bounced back after a fall. Edie needs several day to recover; Grace would laugh in the face of a stern voice, Edie crumbles to her knees, begging forgiveness for any wrong doing. Grace potty trained at 2 years and 3 months old with 1 accident. Edie has other plans. Edie is just shy of turning two and she wants it bad. She wants others around her to rush her to the potty the minute she says “pee!” She wants a high five every time she gets it right. Sounds great, right? Problem is I’m not ready for this. Diapers are easy, let them get filled up, change them now and then, and you’re good. Toddlers with no diapers is not easy. You are running to the bathroom constantly and doling out stickers for jobs well done (I’ll add here that Edie also sees to it that I get a sticker for a “job well done”). What I’m saying here folks is that I’m lazy and I want to wait until it is pretty and warm outside so we can have our first trial and errors under Mother Nature’s watchful eye and not on our family room carpet. I have a feeling I won’t be asked to write any parenting books in the near future!

wow. i just looked at my calendar and it is FULL. for a brief moment, i felt proud of myself, happy that we are so popular and socially engaged. then i took a closer look. this weekend holds family fun day at the school and a birthday party at Midway (Hollah!) next weekend holds, wait for it, not one, but three birthday parties (all for the five and under crowd). how to pick, how to pick. and the following weekend we celebrate both of our girls' birthdays at Cosmic Adventure/grandma's house, our house, etc. Not one flippin' thing on the calendar is something for me and Jo to do jointly, and not one thing is on the calendar for me to do solo (no, I'm not going to count my appointment with my gynie as an outing!) Somebody, invite me out!

Wait, Feb. 16, i do have an inivitation to meet other women who bitch about their life in their blog! i think i invited myself, does that count?

thank god for t.v.....












i don't know how single parents do it. i got hit HARD this past weekend with the flu, or a really bad cold. swollen glands, stiff neck, painful joints. i literally couldn't get out of bed on both sunday and this morning. jo had to do it all. what do people do who don't have a partner to share in "sickness and in health?" there is no way i could have cared for the girls on my own this weekend. scary eh? this illness has definitely made me think about my sisters who are doin' it on there own.

other than that little cheery note, our family has been kicking butt in the fun department...ummm, can you say tobogganing at mooney's bay? this is so much fun! and free! try it, but just look out for the family with snotty noses cruising out control down the hill....i guess we will tackle winterlude this weekend, assuming all antibiotics have kicked in done their job. it's wierd, i feel like it's a personal failure when i or my kids need antibiotics. i like to think we are above all that, super-hero healthy. oh well, i guess we will have to excel in other areas (i wish i could be proud of the number of times a day i wipe snot from my kids' noses - but it's just not the same)

i watched a great movie on my sick bed today - american dreamz http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465142/. clever and funny. it must have flown under the radar as i didn't hear about it when it was out.

*this rambling blog entry is courtesy of extra strengh tylenol and lack of nourishment as it hurts to swallow)