No longer "at home"

It's been a long, hot summer. I've dragged my kids all over Houston despite the heat, maybe in an attempt to fufill any last stay-at-home mom expectations I had for myself. In July I was offered at teaching position at a high school very close by our house. I'm sure some of our trips to the zoo in the millions of degrees of heat had to be prompted by the tinges of guilt I knew I would feel when dropping off the kids at childcare (which started last week). My tots (3 and 2) have been swimming, painting in musuems, digging in the beach sand, and the most inane idea of all my trips with them...the NASA space musuem. Ridiculous, I know. They are 2 and 3 for all that is holy and dear, why?! Why?! Why did I do this to myself?
I will tell you why.
I am crazy.
I actually told Ryan that we need to practice with David the pronunciations of his shapes. Yeah, that's right. David knows his shapes, but he's not enunciating OCTOGON quite like mommy would like. This is why I'm going back to work folks. Yes, this is mostly a financial decision...but maybe in the long run we'll all be a little more sane for this move.

Poo & Pee

Poo poo, caca, pee pee, #1, #2, weedle, wizz, doodra...whatever you're calling it these days; we're up to our necks in it.

For whatever reason over the past week and a half David and Sheridan have found new hilarious ways to defecate and urinate and this would normally send me over the EDGE (since I perpetually teeter on the EDGE); however these past incidents have just made me break down and laugh because, God willing, we won't be here forever folks!!!

Incident #1- About 10 days ago I was changing David's diaper and in typical "David behavior" he jumps up and runs away from me as soon as the dirty diaper comes off. This particular time though, I noticed a twinkle in his eye as he ran about 6 feet away from me, turned around in the kitchen and peed right on the floor all the while looking at me. Once he was finished he ran behind the refridgerator. This might have made someone with a less sinful soul laugh already, but I was fully prepared to be a mad mama as to prevent a Devious David from becoming Perpetual Pee-on-Floor-Boy. So I yelled, "David come HERE!" and the poor little guy came running out naked as the sun, and around the refrigerator ... and proceeded to slip and slide all over the kitchen floor in his own pee. And I, as the compassionate mother, lost all decorum and fell on the floor laughing. Needless to say, I think Perpetual Pee Boy is here to stay for a while.

Incident #2- Sheridan is not a pee-on-the-floor kind of girl, but she is on an arduous and lengthy journey towards potty training. She wants to wear the big girl panties but isn't quite ready to pay a big girl price and give up the convenience of pull-ups. Anyway, yesterday morning I was letting her wear the big girl pants while I tried to empty our massive baby pool to clean it out and refill it. I think it was pretty entertaining for the kids to watch mom wrestle with their baby pool and they stood silently watching behind the sliding glass window, mezmerized. I tried everything to empty that pool without deflating it... Anyway, Sheridan had an accident and started screaming, "Mommy I pee pee! I pee pee!" I told her to freeze, to stand still and I said I was coming, and of course she took off running to the bathroom continuing to scream, "I pee pee!" over and over again.

So there is the trail of urine to clean up, a screaming three year old...and I left the door open in the midst of it all. I get to Sheridan in the bathroom and peel off the wet clothes and stick her on the potty, then I remember the door and notice David is outside trying to get into the still-full (and dirty) baby pool. I yell at him to come inside, and of course, this is the one time he listens to me. And of course, he runs inside and slips and slides on yet another puddle of pee (this time his sister's), in less than a week from his last tumble. Again, mother of the year, falls down laughing.

Incident #3- This morning Sheridan took a new leap (if you want to call it that) in the potty training process. I was sitting on the floor with David when I noticed she had been out of the room for a little while. I found her in the downstairs bathroom and on the bathroom floor were her clothes...and her poop. At first when she saw me she tried to play it off as a positive thing, "look Mommy!!! I POO-POO!" In her best "isn't this the greatest thing ever?!" voice. She put all the energy of a cheerleader into her voice and again attempted to convince me that her poo on the floor was the goal we had been working for. "Look, Mommy MY POO POO!"
I think I said, "yeah, Sheridan it's your poo poo. It's on the floor!"
Then she looked at it at her feet and maybe realized where it was supposed to go and said, "Aaaawwww. This IS NOT good."

The reason I haven't blogged in a while

This is David. Let me introduce you to my difficult child. I love him with all of my heart, don't get me wrong, it's just that...well, the kid sucks the life out of me. I had no idea parenthood could be so taxing. Yes, I had Sheridan but honestly she up until the point that David was born she was just about perfect! Most days Sheridan could be the poster-child for contentment. She would watch TV, or play with her toys, ride in the stroller until she fell asleep. I could be exaggerating a little bit. It could be skewed in my memory because of the stark difference between her and her brother.

As a baby David cried a lot. I know some people who have dealt with this also so I won't dwell on it. You get the picture. Now that David is older he doesn't cry anymore, but I will tell you, David doesn't care to sit. TV is all well and good but it is much more fun to climb to wherever Mom has hidden the remote and try to figure out how the darn thing works. Up until recently books have only been good for tearing up. Most of David's time is spent trying to figure out how to take something apart or fit into something he should not be in.

I know he will hate that I put this picture on the internet one day. Maybe that is enough payback for the first year!

Luxury Redefined

Today I spent thirty minutes drying and straightening my hair. I used to do this all the time but now I can't remember the last time I did this, maybe a month ago or more. And I mean getting to take my time making sure it is straight and smooth! The natural curls are nice on some days but most days it just looks like a red brillo pad is tied behind my head. This has made me think, what are the other things that I now find to be pure indulgence that before children were just a normal part of my day.

Here are just a few things I consider to be heavenly...
1. Getting to watch a show on TV not involving the ABCs, 123s, or other musical lessons
2. Ten uninterrupted minutes on the computer
3. Silence
4. Naps
5. Going to the store without children

I could go on but I think you get the point. Ok, so to be fair here are five of my absolute favorite things about my children...
1. Sheridan's smile when I come to pick her up from Sunday school, or Bible Study child care
2. David's smile after he has terrorized his sister either by touching her, taking something, or looking at her too long.
3. Their playing together in the bath tub, splashing, taking turns with toys (when they get along best)
4. Sheridan singing the last note of every song she knows, but she only sings the last note
5. Hugs

I could probably go on in this list too but it might be too gushy.

It's better on a budget?

Life with two children under the age of two is definitely a stretching experience in all aspects. By stretching I mean that I constantly feel stretched, my patience, my emotions, my physical need for sleep, my pocketbook! No area has gone untouched, least of all my prayer-life! Man, if I haven't been talking to you on the phone it's because God and I are having many one on ones throughout the day. Mostly it consists of me saying, "God, I can't do this," and Him saying, "Yes you can, now go sit on the floor with your kids," or maybe "why don't you do your dishes and pray for your husband with all this energy complaining!" It's a constant back and forth battle of being so thankful that I am home with these precious children to calling my husband and saying, 'please come home I cannot handle these children!'
So if you're about to embark on baby number two, here are some things I wish I had started implementing before I had my second child and life seemed to turn me on my ear.
1. Try to double up freezable meals before baby number 2 comes. Also, did you know you can freeze bread and milk. If I could go back I would have stocked up on PB&J and bread and milk so runs to the store wouldn't be so necessary.
2. When it comes to getting a toddler and an infant anywhere you have to have the organizational skills of a military stratego (yes I made that word up). What helps me is wearing my keys on a laniard around my neck. I know I don't look fashionable, but that went out the door about month 7 of pregnancy with baby number two. Trust me, when people see you lugging two kids around, they are NOT checking you out! Even when I think I'm looking pretty good, nobody cares except me, so I keep the laniard. It even has a clip so I just unclip my keys to start the car, then before I unload Heckle and Jeckle I clip them back in so they don't get lost in the transport!
3. I've just started wearing a purse that has a strap long enough to cross over my chest. Again, this isn't my favorite look, but it keeps my hands and shoulders free for diaper bags and babies!

I also wish I had thought about simple and easy recipes before baby number two. Even with one baby I had managed to still cook a fairly elaborate meal for my husband and I. I should have stopped that LOOONG before the third trimester so Mr. Meyer wouldn't be such a grump about speghetti AGAIN.

High hopes

I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I aspired to writing a blog that could actually be read by my friends and family. I mean, one would have to actually post more than once a month to develop a good writing habit. So here I go again, stepping up to the writing horse to try and decipher what is going on in my mind and emotions. I'm not quite sure why I am like this but I am not a fan of talking about my own emotions or feelings. Mostly, I find that when I do this the only things that come out are negative and then I feel worse than I did before I ever started talking.
I know I'm not alone, right? How many of us new moms found out that this SAHM thing is a lot more work than we anticipated? Two nights ago I went to the Target pharmacy to get my Z-pack filled and started to talk to the pharmacist. She has two children 26 months and 8 months old, she is in the same boat as I am! As she told me her kids' ages, I said, "and you work too!" and she replied, "this is my break!" It was food for thought. I'm not sure teaching would be a break, but I can think of some other jobs that would probably be a fun break, not involving children of any age!
A job for me may be coming soon as Ryan's year anniversary at his new company is in April, we will take a new look at the finances and try and decide how we will try to make our ends meet.

So long Valentine...

This morning Sheridan woke up with a temperature of 102 and draining and coughing, so off to the Woodlands we went to see our favorite (no kidding there) doctor, Dr. Haggerty. She has three kids so she knows something about this child-raising gig. Sometimes we get to see her two or three times in a week! SO anyway, they did a strep test and a flu test and concluded it was not that but the croup, which is viral. So many of my week's plans have been dashed including getting away with Ryan for a couple of hours on Valentine's Day. The good news is that Sheridan seems to be feeling better already.