Happy Birthday to me!

this is probably a downer of a post not because i am a year older (people who know me know that i love advertising my birthday) but because it was actually a quiet birthday.

it rained so we needed to do something indoors. it is a holiday so alot of places and restaurants are closed. so hubby and i saw a movie - well, there aren't really any good movies out that i was dying to see. we saw star trek - it was actually good which is saying alot since i am not a sci-fi type of gal.

later we went to a neighbor's cookout which was fun - but it wasn't a birthday party.

all and all it was a good day - just not a great day which i like to aim for on my birthday. maybe i'll just throw myself an unbirthday party later...

this just in...

i swear baby j just said "ma ma" twice when i was coming over to her high chair to pick her up about 10 minutes ago! of course she won't say anything like it again for another 7 months...

a little suddenly southern twitter...

i am embarrassed to admit that i have the american idol finale on right now while i update my neglected blog. the 2 finalists are singing "We are the champions" and i find myself with a smile on my face thinking of weasel football... (did i blow by the 140 character limit????)

i really do wear the pants in the family...

hubby is out-of-town (way out-of-town as in london) for a few days for work. i am sure a happy homemaker mom would be cool with being left alone with 3 kids and have all these activities planned for them. i, on the other hand, have no plans. no big deal until i realize that t-man is done with school. this means i have 3 kids ALL day for the next few days without a break. this mom's initial response equals the stereotypical dad reaction - can i say PANIC ATTACK??!?!?!

the best deal in town...

ok - so i've got my DD at the end of the street now (can i say pure heaven?!?!?) and it has a drive-thru (soooooooooooo key with the 3 kids in the car) AND this is the best part - i can save some green while being green at the same time (i am so use to have to paying MORE to be green). DD only charges 95 cents for a coffee when you bring your own mug in!!!! at their grand opening they gave out free insulated mugs that look like their large styrofoam cups and now i'm getting my DD at half the price - talk about a wicked awesome deal!!!

i've never been martha stewart..

and here is another example: i have some major house blog cleaning to do. i haven't even posted about godfather g's visit in feb, my parents visit in march, or our trip to orlando in april. but i'm not going to download the pictures to post tonight so once again i'll be putting off that spring cleaning...

(oh and i still have to do xmas cards...)

Hallelujah!!!

baby j just took 4 ozs from the bottle tonight! we have been trying almost daily for the past month to get her to drink from a bottle or a cup - just not from me! This all started on December 30th of last year and now after countless tries since with bm, formula, mommy holding the bottle, daddy holding the bottle, strangers holding the bottle, a special priority shipment of every nipple, bottle, and pacifier imaginable (pam - you are too kind), and 3 different sippy cup types later... we might have broken her.*


* i don't want to jinx myself - i'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. but perhaps i can say "Hilton Head here i come"??!?!?!??

please stay tuned...

i know i've been very quiet lately, but i wanted to quickly check in to say i'll be quiet a bit longer. first i was busy with wrapping up taxes, then packing, and now i'm busy on vacation.

3 down, 2 more to go...

t-man's 1 ear infection last week

+

little miss k's 2 ear infections last week

+

baby k's 6 month checkup today revealing that she has 2 ears infected as well

=

1 tired mommy who is anxiously awaiting the drier weather so the kids can play outside and stop swapping the sickies.

even when the days go by slowly, the months are flying by...

baby j is six months today!

now if only we could get her to take a bottle...

how do you talk a 3 year old out of coping a squat on your front yard?

seriously - this story does NOT have an "April's Fools" ending...

this afternoon i was cleaning up the garage while t-man and little miss k were playing in the front yard and biking around our driveway. at one point, t-man quietly disappeared. i looked around for him, checked out the back yard, etc. and all i could find was his bike parked on our front walkway. i asked little miss k if t-man had gone inside to use the potty and she said something i couldn't understand - she obviously didn't know what she was talking about. so i quickly popped into the house and checked the 1st floor bathroom and discovered t-man busying reading a book while he was dropping a few kids off at the pool. i then returned outside to find little miss k hanging out in the mulch between a tree and a rhododendron off to the side in our front yard. i ask what she is up to and she says something again that i can't understand. i don't think anything of it until i do a double take, see her bare cheeks flash the cars driving by on our street since she has pulled her skirt and big girl pants down, and realize that she is telling me that girls can go potty outside too. i try to explain that t-man is inside using the potty and we're not hiking in the woods* - this is our front yard and there is a potty 20 feet away that she can use. she of course says "no - girls can go potty outside too." and the truth is - she's right. we let her pee all the time outside when we're hiking. so i decide to switch tactics - i then tell her that her pee will kill the grass and the flowers so if she really wants to go outside she needs to go in the backyard. i don't know what happened or what worked but she somehow ended up pulling her skirt back up and not going potty anywhere outside or inside?!?!? go figure...

* (and i'm thinking: "we're not tailgating next to the bushes in the outfield of ND's baseball stadium either")

if only the drugs could really kick in that quickly...

so last week when i went thru the pharmacy drive-thru to pick up not 1 but 2 antibiotics for 3 ear infections (little miss k scored a double), t-man noted that it was like "fast food" (i had no idea he even knew that term) but i was getting medicine - not food - so it must be "fast medicine".

the number for the day is...

3!

1. this weekend little miss k had her 3rd birthday party. it seemed to go well. we made over 8 lbs of brisket and barely had a pound left. and i even got some phone calls the next day from our guests saying that had a great time and their kids were talking about the party all sunday morning. pretty much a miracle since little miss k was quite the ball of sunshine since...



2. i currently have 3 sick kids.



3. i'm guessing i got about 3 consecutive hours of sleep last night due to the sickies.

a potential snafu in a 3 year old's party...

little miss k and t-man had fevers last night and her party is in 32 hours...

missing that dirty water right now...

Happy St. Patty's Day! how i would love to be enjoying a pint at the black rose ...

Everybody's doing it...

brigita got her blog rated and i of course i want be a cool kid too, so...



guess i'm not that cool since the easter bunny wouldn't even blush at my postings.

you take the good, you take the bad...

...when it comes to food allergies. the good news is that immunotherapy (spelling???) might work afterall with peanuts. the bad news is that baby j broke out in huge hives all over her legs on friday afternoon. it was definitely an allergic reaction but i have no idea what triggered it. at first i was thinking it was something she came in contact with since it wasn't on her torso or face. but the only thing that was out of the norm that i can think of was me eating a greek salad (which i'm guessing had raw egg in it) thursday night. it was awful - i've never seen hives that large before. ugh...here we go again? round 2 with allergies?

a wish for my favorite sister...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

you can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl...

ok - this has happened a few times since i moved here. i am either walking on the pathway leading up to our front door or i happen to glance out the window overlooking our backyard when i see a fairly large rodent scurrying across my line of vision. i'm immediately disgusted with the thought of having to deal with large field mice and having to keep them out of our house. but i am grateful that at least they are not the water rats on steroids that you find crossing your path day and night in the (boston) commons. anyhoo, my brain then catches up with my eyes and i relax. it wasn't a mouse - it's just a cute little chipmunk!

too funny - 'nuff said...

for those of you who know glines from college - that's enough of an explanation. for those who don't - she's a teacher and put together this video for a school assembly. they played a segment between each teachers skit. you HAVE to watch what happened when she went around town in her halloween costume...

happy birthday to my little miss!

i can't believe it was just 3 years ago that we made it to the hospital with only 12 minutes to spare before she entered our world. (i just remember thinking "thank goodness the red sox aren't playing right now!" when my H2O broke as we passed fenway.)

R.I.P. mister snowman

sometime between naptime and snacktime, mister snowmen lost his fight with the warm "winter" sun and slid down on his side for a rest.

my little mountain mama...

little miss k is on a roll this week - here is another story:
t-man did not have school again today (of course) so our 10 yr old neighbor (who sometimes is a mother's helper for me) brought t-man and little miss k over to her house to make play-doh. 45 minutes later they come back with her showing me excitedly their bags of bright blue and neon red (was an attempt at orange) play-doh. while they are jabbering, i peel off their coats and help with getting their shoes off. one problem though - when i look down at little miss k's feet they are covered with snow. actually - to clarify - her socks are covered with snow!?!!? yes - my daughter was completely unfazed by the fact that she walked home through the ice and snow in her thin cotton socks?!? i couldn't stop laughing in disbelief while our poor neighbor apologetically ran back home to retrieve little miss k's sneakers. little miss k is not even 3 yet and she's already causing her irish catholic mom to utter an "oy vey"!

an alternative to counting sheep...

little miss k is still up! but i can't get too mad - she is making mr. potato heads and leaving them at our bedroom doors????? she made the one on the left for me and the big one on the right for hubby:

and then i caught her leaving this outside of t-man's room

and then i discovered this little gem in baby j's room:

she is the sweetest!

ok - i'll give this one to the school board...

today is another snow day and believe it or not - it actually snowed! sunday morning's rain turned into snow by the early afternoon. it was a wet snow with big flakes - one that i haven't seen in a long time. it was perfect for snowmen and snow balls. hubby and the kids spent a good hour or so building little miss k's first snowman (and maybe t-man's as well) on our front lawn. we joked last night about school be cancelled (and of course it was today) but i was impressed this morning to find our snowman still on our front lawn with a fresh blanket of snow.

i would guess there is about an inch or 2 on the ground. not much - but enough to make driving slow and slippery since they don't really plow around here. i actually had to scrape the snow and ice off my car for a good 15 minutes this morning! i almost felt like i was back in boston and i did feel like it was the first true snow day this winter...

it's that (catholic) time of year again...

time to give something up for lent. so this year i am going to give tv up - which will be hard - especially with new episodes of 24 on. but i am wondering - can i use that sunday excuse to watch 24 online? and what about if ND makes the tournament???? i've been good so far though - i missed the top chef finale - i have no idea who won - feel free to tell me if you know - i would rather hear from a friend than bravotv.com!

one more for the baby book...

so baby j has been doing this for a few weeks at least, but i just decided this week that i'm going to call her "thumper." whenever she gets excited she lifts both legs together up in the air and drops them down with a thump over and over again. it's so cute. she was even doing it last night in her sleep. around 11 pm, i heard on the monitor - "thump, thump, thump." i need to catch my little thumper in action on video soon - before she's onto her next trick...

channeling sugarmouth...

ok - for those of you who all know and love our brigita - you know she is the ultimate bargain finder. she can tear through a thrift shop or a yard sale like nobody's business and always seems to find *the* perfect item. and if it is not perfect, she just turns around and sells it on ebay for a profit (making it a great find by default). yes - one man's trash is brigita's treasure.

being a fellow new englander (i.e. frugal), i understand the thrill of getting a great deal. you feel like you're beating the system. admit it - bragging about how little you paid for something is the best - it means you're not a sucker. but even though i have had my moments of incredible finds (i still get compliments on a $12 purse i got at filene's basement 10 years ago), i feel like a fish out of water in the thrift stores. i never seem to find anything worthwhile, and so i've always been jealous of b's skill (or is it luck?).

but today b was unknowingly sending me some of her good karma. after striking out at a local consignment store this morning, i headed over to our habitat for humanity home store. as i went from room to room pushing baby j and little miss k in the shopping carriage, i started to get more and more discouraged. and then...

i hit the last section...

and...

struck uber-gold!

i found *the* perfect table and chair set for our basement. it was exactly what i was looking for - a small wood kitchen table with folding sides, relatively comfortable chairs, and cheap. i've been looking for such a table set for arts and crafts and in its' previous life it had obviously been used this way with its' colorful paint splatterings, glitter glue globs, and panda sticker on one of the seats. i was giddy within an instant of my find (actually i think i am still on a bit of a high). best of all, the money goes to habitat for humanity - an organization near and dear to my heart. shout out to b for my good fortune today!

it's not that cold here but...

it's so cold here that you can freeze your baby wipes in the car.

so when j and i switched roles, we moved to CA and i was now the one driving the kid car all the time. i had this brilliant idea to always leave a bag of baby wipes in the car - even if my kids weren't wearing diapers. it was just great to always be able to wipe down the car, "wash" our hands, etc. why did j never do this when he was home with the kids? well i know one reason why now. boston is alot colder for many more months than here in NC and i currently have an ice block of baby wipes sitting in my car. obviously this was never an issue in CA...

let's put this in perspective...

ok - so another "snow" day and another 1/8 inch of snow?!?!? but i was thinking - i guess it is good that they call school so easily around here. when we moved to CA, we sold our shovels and i don't even have an ice scraper in my car anymore. we're snow wimps now. we fit right in.

actually this is the update you've been waiting for...

the weekend wrap-up:
the weekend warriors that we're not now that we have 3 little kids - we just did an overnight a short drive away to charlotte on saturday. we scored free parking at a meter across the street from the entrance to the museum and then discovered that our admission was free with our membership to our local kids' museum! the museum is nothing like boston's or san jose's, but it was worth the visit and kept the kids entertained for a few hours. afterwards we checked into our hotel, went swimming in the heated indoor pool, and then headed to allyson's* (a nd friend aka stress) for dinner. we had a great time catching up and enjoying adult conversation while her kids entertained t-man and little miss k. on sunday morning, the kids went swimming again after breakfast and then we headed home in time for me to start baking for a superbowl party. overall a great little family getaway that was relatively inexpensive - total bonus. we'll have to do it again.

the superbowl party was the icing on the weekend cupcakes. i didn't have much interest in the game this year but it was fun to get out of the house and enjoy some good food. shout out to miss o and mister k** for hosting us! all and all - goodtimes...

* thanks again for dinner!
** i'm actually becoming a fan of this southern way of addressing adults

the update you've been waiting for...

so how did i do on my listS?

well i got everything i HAD to do done except baking the cookies - that happened on sunday. and i did get my shower in - that's about it. i guess it just points back to the age old question - where does the time go when you have 3 kids under the age of 5??????

my "to do" listS...

things i HAVE to do today:

• finish laundry
• pack for our family trip tomorrow (plan on going to charlotte for an overnight)
• bake egg and nut free chocolate chip cookies for superbowl party on sunday (because we won't be getting back until sunday afternoon and i need to bake egg and nut free cupcakes then for the party as well)
• change baby j (she's nursing right now and i can smell her diaper from here)
• give baby j a bath (she hasn't had one since my last posting)

things i would LOVE to do today:

• take a nap (it's at the top of my list ALWAYS)
• take a shower
• warm up with a steamy medium french vanilla decaf D&D
• take a picture of the finished mural on baby j's wall and post it for you to see
• eat some egg and nut free chocolate chip cookies (it is the best cookie recipe)
• finish the damn xmas cards and get those out in the mail
• finish up thank yous and get those out in the mail

things i would LOVE to do and actually might get done today:

• take a shower (this almost made the things i HAVE to do list because i can smell me)
• eat some egg and nut free chocolate chip cookies (i might actually get this done today only because i have to bake them today)

PS to bad mommy of the month

she smells like baby now - clean baby :)

bad mommy of the month award

ok - so i was out running errands this morning with little miss k and baby j when baby j started doing the "i've got a dirty diaper" fussy squirm. so i went to change her and sure enough, her diaper was dirty and a little bit of #2 leaked out the sides onto her onsie and the inside of her pants. being lazy and thinking that i would just wait to change her clothes when we got home (and i could also just give her a proper bath then), i slapped on a new diaper and went on my merry way.

well i got home at noon, made lunch for little miss k, went and picked up t-man from school at 1 pm, came home to change baby j's diaper again, and feed baby j while reading little miss k stories for naptime. it is now 2 pm and i am typing this out while finishing baby j's feeding and she has pooped once again and she still needs a wardrobe change. well, i swear i am going to give her a bath right now and get her smelling like roses.

i am embarrassed to post this one, but it could be worse, right? she is a fed, clothed (albeit dirty clothes at times), and very smiley baby. dear readers, please tell me you have similar stories to help make me feel better????

why everyone should have a big brother...

on friday night, i was tucking t-man into bed when little miss k came running into his room all excited.


little miss k: "mommy, mommy - look what i caught - a ladybug!"

me: "that's great!"

little miss k: "i'm going to put him on t's dresser."

me: "ok"

little miss k: "mommy, he's sleeping. he's not crawling 'cause he's sleeping."

me: "ok - let him sleep." ***

t-man: "i don't think he's not crawling because he's sleeping. k, he's dead."

little miss k: "oh."



*** i know full well that he's probably dead because little miss k is unintentionally the grim reaper of the bug world. she has a tendency to catch ladybugs and then delicately crush them between her two fingers while she carries them around to proudly show everyone her new pet.

Come on now...

no school AGAIN?!?!? REALLY?!?!? didn't even snow last night. the ground is essentially bare - i don't even see a morning frost. i hope the local library is open.

Let it snow...

if you are going to cancel school, then let's get more than 1/2 inch of snow.* i'd like to take the kids sledding at least, if half the city is going to shut down...


* to be fair, i heard there were up to 7 inches of snow in some parts of the mountains.

the Weekends Updates

last, last weekend:

1. reconnected with some of my boston/ND/irish roots, when an old college friend, eileen, came in town for a visit
2. finally saw the dark knight. it was good. i think it lost some of its appeal/disturbingness when i had to keep stopping it to deal with putting the kids back to bed, feeding baby j, changing diapers, etc. it was in discussions with j the next day that i started to appreciate it more.
3. had a friend of t-man's, harrison, from school over for dinner with his parents on sunday. we think harry has a bit of a crush on little miss k - so cute.
4. still need to work on the xmas cards and thank yous!

last weekend:

1. j flushed the toilet last night - so far, so good
2. nursery is done... (will post picture later)
3. i actually worked out for the first time in over a year this past weekend
4. still need to finish our xmas cards and thank yous!

which wins?

a matchbox car or our toilet's pipes? i'm asking this question because while t-man was busy dropping a few kids off at the pool this afternoon, he also dropped a car he was playing with in the pool. he somehow thought that by flushing it, he'd be able to retrieve his car. currently our toilet looks like a construction zone. j taped across the toilet seat so that no one uses it while we debate whether to dismantle the toilet or cross our fingers and just keep flushing...



any recommendations?

holidaze wrap up...

so xmas was good - a bit quiet since it was just the 5 of us - but the children's excitement was still infectious.

a few days later hubby's parents came in town for a visit. they were all set to watch all 3 kids for me on new years eve so we could celebrate j's birthday in style. i had gotten us a room downtown and had it all planned out but of course one of the kids had to throw a wrench in the plan. baby j decided to start refusing the bottle! so we were "that" couple with the baby on new years. at one point we sat her up on the hotel bar when we grabbed a drink after dinner. she was a hit with the bartender and other patrons.

granted she has only had 2 bottles before now - but she took them like a champ. i am hoping she decided to refuse the bottle at such an inconvenient time because she wasn't feeling 100%. she seemed to have caught little miss k's "cold". well on sunday morning after new years - we took her to the ER since she was having difficulty breathing. sure enough - she came down with RSV. she did much better after a breathing treatment.

i don't know for sure, but i am blaming all this on a mom that brought her very sick daughter to mass christmas eve. her daughter was probably around 6 or 7 and was coughing up a storm. she just looked sick - she could barely keep her eyes open and laid her head down on her mom's lap for most of the mass. j thought i was being paranoid because i express concern for the baby j (we were in the cry room which was about an 8' by 8' room), but he even admits now that was probably it. what was that mom thinking - not only her poor daughter, but what about all the little kids and baby in that room???? i know i should be more charitable about the situation (we were at church afterall), but i don't really have it in me.

now i have to refocus on the christmas cards - still haven't finished our letter, still haven't sent them out.