With one foot in the preschool years and one trailing behind in toddlerland. A blog about my life, daily goings on, my children, and what is important to me. Feel free to comment! I love a good discussion and new friends.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Wonder

It is amazing to me but I fall in love with my sweetie pie over and over again. Growing up when I thought about having children or being a mother (which was very rare as I was sure I was going to be a jet setting career woman with no kids), I saw myself with babies. Occasionally I would think about the dance class my daughter would take or think about her wedding day but, truthfully, the appealing part was being a mother to a baby. When my first daughter came into my life, this view was reinforced. She was a beautiful baby . . . and charming . . . and smart. I was living my dream; only now she is turning four and I have some trepidation about being a mother to an elementary school child, and then a preteen, and then a teenager. I will stop there as I don't want to break out in hives or start hyperventilating!
The great thing that I've noticed in the last few days, however, is that it continues to be great to be sweetie pie's mother. I am enthralled by her every day in different ways. Ways that I couldn't have imagined when I didn't have her. Today we were heading out for our weekend coffee run. This has become such a routine in our household that my children now associate Saturday with coffee and donuts (no joke). Sweetie pie has had a fascination with gum for about 2 months now. She is constantly rifling through my purse to find some and, I'm sure, has some stashed around the house as she keeps popping up chewing gum when we haven't given any to her that day. Anyway . . . I digress. . . We were having some mother and daughter time and I asked her if she wanted a piece of gum and she said without even looking up "No thank you" but it sounded like "No, gainchew". I wanted to cry right there. This might be the last time she says it like that. Recently I noticed that she doesn't call my sister Aunt "Mareny" anymore but says "Mary". I feel all of these little losses everyday and I want to stop time so that I can cry or laugh or just completely remember every detail. And then there are the achievements. She said "No, thank you" . . . unsolicited . . . without her mother reminding her to be polite. When did that happen?

Now I know I can say, I loved the baby phase of her life and I'm loving the preschooler but I can't wait to see the teenager too. :)

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Love Again


As I was walking into my office this morning, I had a moment. The walk from the parking garage to my office is very beautiful and this morning it was sunny and the temperature was perfect. Since it has been raining and miserable here for the last few days, I really appreciated the change. About halfway through my walk, however, I was overcome with this feeling. I suddenly knew that something was about to change in my life. I knew that I was going to try and blog about it later on so I tried, in my head, to figure out how to put the feeling into words. I can only say that I was filled with expectation. It was as if everything inside of me woke up and said "Hey, pay attention".

When I got to work I was busy all morning answering the phone, returning emails, and chatting with my colleagues. This feeling continued to linger though. At 1:00 p.m. I received a call from our foster parent home coordinator. This, in itself, is not unusual. We are currently renewing our foster care license and have been filling out required paperwork for the last 5 weeks and discussing things with her every few days. The very first thing she said was related to our license and increasing the number of children that we are able to foster. Then she says in words that are becoming increasing classic Rose in our household (our coordinator's name is Rose) "well, we have a placement we are looking for a home for". I said "okay, give me the details". At that point she knew very little but she knew it was a male and that he was eight days old. When she started talking about him everything inside of me sighed . . . yes.

and tonight, once again, I am typing this as I burped a newborn and with his soft baby head resting on my shoulder. Whether he is with us for one day or forever, I know it was meant to be.


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mama, can you hear me?

Our little charmer was introduced to the joys of outpatient surgery yesterday! We took her to the ENT last wednesday and she had 2 raging ear infections and some hearing loss in her right ear. She was scheduled for surgery to put ear tubes into her ears immediately. Yesterday we had a long, long day. Initially we thought the difficulty would be in telling little charmer that she couldn't eat past 7:15 in the morning. From 3:00 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. she was allowed clear liquids, but this baby is not one to be denied her food!



I imagined fussiness, wailing, tears . . . she was fine. Not a tear was shed - well not by the baby! When they brought her out of surgery and came out to get me, the nurse was amazed. "We have never seen a baby come out of anesthesia like she did." When I got into the room, there was the Dora theme song playing on a neighboring t.v and my baby was swaying, dancing, and smiling away. The nurses were all entranced. I see the beginnings of a career on broadway! :)

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Camera Theft - On the case!




Okay so I get to the end of the SD card in my camera and what do I find? Hmmm . . . someone has been using my camera and left evidence!

Sunshine in my life


Okay. . . seriously have you ever seen anything cuter in your life. I'm biased but still.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Monday Blog Fun!

If you get something out of a vending machine, it's most likely the: Cheezits
A word you sometimes catch yourself misspelling: Sequential
You least want people to see you as: Expendable
You're a little scared of: Gas
The least attractive thing you do in your sleep: Drool
The number of contacts in your cell phone: 31
How many of them are restaurants: 2
You lose your cool when someone: Attacks
When you go to the drugstore, you often can't leave without buying: Candy
Your dance moves can best be described as: nonexistent
The majority of your underwear is: Practical
Something you eat even though you hate how bad it is for you: frys
You think you're really not a great: Dancer
How much cash is in your wallet right now: $20
The majority of your shoes are this color: Black
You don't think you'll ever be able to get rid of your: Shopping
If your breath is bad, it's most likely because you had the: Onions
You feel embarrassed when you: Overreact
The last public place where you used the restroom: library
Something you don't like to debate in mixed company: Politics
You don't think you can pull off wearing: Shorts
Something you own entirely too much of: Skirts
Someone you would love to see in concert who might bring down your street cred: NKOTB
The last thing that you spilled on yourself: dressing
If you were on a reality show, the producers would likely portray/characterize you as the: Sidekick

This list came from one of my favorite blogs (Sarcomical)

Here are the ground rules from said blog:
*Okay, here are the Newbie Ground Rules:
After reading my answers, copy and paste the list into your comment.
Change my one-word responses with yours (yes, only ONE WORD, even if it makes you want to pull your brains through your tear duct - and I design the statements to make it possible if you're clever enough, which of COURSE you are).
Submit your comment.
And hey, you can always post your finished list on your blog, too. (Yes, a post idea! You're welcome.) Link back here if you're feeling nice. Enjoy!

Sunday, May 04, 2008

The cure for jealousy. . . shoe shopping of course!

This morning I noticed that everytime I held little charmer, sweetie pie's behavior got out of control. The jealousy was so over the top. I swear she actually looked a little green. I decided to take the afternoon and have some one on one mommy time with just sweetie pie. We went to eat, went shopping, and went the the library.

It was so great.

I hardly remember what it was like to have one child. She has suddenly hit this age where she really wants my undivided attention and she will do anything to get it. Today I saw many moments of relief reflected in her behavior, her affectionate hugs and kisses, and her calm, sunny attitude. I will definitely be scheduling more solo time with my sweetie.

On a side note, I think the most fun we had was in the shoe store. She tried on all these shoes in my size and she LOVES shoes. I'm so proud. Maybe we can find time every other week to go shoe shopping!!!

I love having daughters. :)

Backyardigans Live Trip


I must have been insane! I bought the tickets months ago after the fourth time we saw the commercial and happy explorer said "I have to see that" while he jumped up and down for 20 minutes!!

It is the first show (spectacle, extravaganza?) that he has really been interested in so we arranged it as a surprise and a surprise it was. . . You know we really didn't like it very much. The animated, witty, cute Backyardigans that we are used to on our T.V. don't translate well to the stage. Unlike the Elmo show which we saw this winter, the costumes or the skill of the actors never allowed you to really believe that they were the real Backyardigans.


I would say that the children were disappointed but they are preschoolers. They left the arena smiling, clutching their $5.00 bag of popcorn and wearing their $20.00 T shirts. Unfortunately (for me and my pocketbook) I think they would have been just as happy with a trip to the playground. Sigh.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Family Visit: Shanna




Cousin Shanna came to visit from sunny Florida and the children were soooo happy to see her. She also showed them how to get the step ladder out to help with cooking. Unfortunately the next week happy explorer figured out that the step ladder can also be used to get into cabinets, climb onto counters and get previously unreachable items. Needless to say, the step ladder has been moved to a locked closet. :)

Thursday, May 01, 2008

and not to be left behind




Not only did little charmer walk three steps yesterday (pause, mamasqueal) but when left in the care of her grams apparently she tried to go up the stairs and was quickly rescued from the second step of our spiral staircase. She is an overachiever! It tooks sweetie pie until she was at least 11 months before she was climbing the stairs. Here she is with sweetie pie showing off her new standing up skills.


Time Travel



Ugh! We are all so sick. This is one of the only times I wish that I was a child again. I would love to be able to go home and lay down and not have to worry about anything. Instead . . . I will be stopping by the grocery store on my way home from work, picking the kids up at daycare, paying bills, playtime, dinner, bath, bedtime stories, bedtime excuses, more bedtime stories, cleaning, the ever present internal fight I have (should I call my friend back . . . should I wait until tomorrow . . . maybe I should email. . . tomorrow), then bed at about 10:30 or 11:00 and then it starts all over again. No one really talks about this when you decide to become a mother. Not that it would have changed the outcome . . . I'm just saying.