The kids had some fun today. We took them to an Easter Egg hunt at the church where our 4-year-old goes to preschool. They told us that there were enough eggs for each kid to get 20, so if your kid got 20, they were to stop. Pretty simple rules, I thought. I knew we didn't have anything to worry about because I figured Charlie would try to give some eggs to other kids just to be nice. So we started with our 20-month-old, who was in the 2-3 year old group. She didn't really get the idea and just wanted to play with the toys. We had Charlie "help" her, which was really just him going and getting the eggs. But no one seemed to mind and she only got about 10 in the end, so plenty for the others. So then we went with the 4-5 year old group. There was this overweight little kid in there with probably more than 20 before they had even started. So the kids started and he is just running all over the place getting all the eggs. He must have had 40 in his basket by the end. Some kids only had a few; Charlie ended up with about 10. I kept looking for this kid's parent and couldn't see anyone who looked like he belonged to them. I thought it was a little rude of a parent to allow her kid to get double the amount they clearly stated in the beginning. These are just little kids and they don't understand why some bigger kid gets more. Luckily, none of the kids in the room seemed to care about his full basket (which he kept showing everyone bragging about how many he got). So it made total sense to me that there was no parent around. I knew Charlie could be in there without us, but we wanted to see him having fun. I guess this kid's parent didn't care, which explains the kid's attitude.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive about it, but I cannot stand parents who really don't want to BE parents. I don't understand why some people even have kids. It is painfully obvious that some parents don't even like their kids or want to spend any more time than is absolutely necessary. I'm not saying I'm a perfect parent, but I'm baffled at how some parents act around their kids. I know someone who says she loves her kids, but doesn't discipline them or make any time for them. She certainly takes time for herself though. I feel bad for those kids. They don't deserve to live life like that. But that's what this girl chose. She chose to have 3 kids that she doesn't want anymore and they are suffering for it. So sad...

Always do your best and wear your underwear!

This advice was given to me by my 4-year-old just last week. I was having a particularly trying day. I fly solo on weeknights because my husband works, so while I was cleaning up from a very messy dinner, I was simultaneously trying to keep an eye on the kids who were supposed to be playing "nicely" in the playroom. My son runs into the kitchen and sees me trying to be supermom and offers the advice, "always do your best, mom, and wear your underwear!" As funny as it sounds, that was exactly what I needed at that very moment. How did he know that this advice would have helped me through the night and, in turn, help him have a better night? He has what I call a sixth sense about things like that. He always seems to know when I need a laugh. And he can always deliver. Like the other day, when he felt an overwhelming need to tell us how his you know what was like a cement mixer. This caught us off guard, but he was totally serious. When we finally realized that he was not really even trying to be funny, we had to compose ourselves and engage him in the 10 minute conversation that followed on the subject.

Blood, poop, and no sleep...the fun side of being a mom (and dad)

This whole week has been a test of wills.   We still cannot get our 18 month old to sleep through the night.  Ever since the night we finally took that pacifier away (only took 3 attempts at taking it away for us (i.e. me) to stick with it) the girl just cannot sleep an entire night.  She gets up at least once, but normally like 3 or 4 times a night, just crying.  We try to let her go to let her get herself back to sleep, but after about 10 minutes, we just want to sleep ourselves, so one of us caves and goes to rock her back to sleep.  I'm not sure when we will ever sleep an entire night again!   And tonight is a little worse than normal because she got a bad cut on her finger.  I was not home at the time, but my husband said it just wouldn't stop bleeding.  And have you ever tried to keep a band aid on the finger of a 1 1/2 year old?  It's not an easy task.  Add to that the fact that the girl thinks everything is for eating, and you have a pretty messy situation on your hands.  So I spent my Sunday evening getting blood stains out of clothes, carpet, and walls.  What fun!  (For those of you who know me, you know that I'm actually serious).

I feel bad for the baby.  Before the finger "incident", she spent 2 days trying to poop.  Turns out, her digestive system needs a bit more fiber than the normal kid.  We forget sometimes because our 4-year-old's system is just fine.  He can pretty much eat anything in moderation and still be fine.  But that baby has the toughest time.  And because we forget, sometimes she gets things like bananas, which wreak havoc on her.  It's painful to watch her for 2 days trying to go.  And then she gets bad gas at night (on top of her normal sleeping problems) which wake her out of a dead sleep.  Good thing they make gas drops for that!  

I suppose these are the things we will look back on someday with a smile and remember as funny.  We still laugh when we remember the time my husband gave our son a full 8-oz sippy cup of straight apple juice.  Now, he knows what that would do to his system, so I am still perplexed at why he thought a 1 year old could handle that, but I digress.  There are no words to describe the picture we saw when we opened his door after his nap.  It was like a huge chocolate syrup bottle just exploded in his crib.  Only, of course, it wasn't chocolate.  It was the real deal.  And we hesitated for a moment trying to decide what to do first.  We finally got the baby and the room cleaned up after a few hours and many curse words.  We were certainly not laughing at the time (well maybe a little), but we definitely look back and laugh about it now.  At least we learned a valuable lesson that day.

Life is funny.  I always think of us like we're in a sitcom.  When things like that happen, I hear the laugh track in my head.  And I know exactly when the commercials would be, too.  Does anyone else do that?  Maybe I'm just weird...well, I'm definitely weird, but maybe I'm the only one who does this.  

Anyway, it's off to bed for me.  I need to get a few minutes of shut eye before the baby wakes us up.

Small girl, big city

So, today I took my very first train ride AND went to center city Philadelphia for the very first time as well. What an experience. The regulars must have known I was a completely frightened tourist. Every time I got on a train, they asked for my ID. They didn't do that for the others I was traveling with. Just me. Of course, I do look like a person likely to be hiding something (and if you know me at all, you know this couldn't be farther from the truth)! I am the world's worst liar. I had a hard time this past Christmas explaining Santa to my 4-year-old. I could sense he wasn't buying the whole story. But when my husband explained it, he was satisfied. Even children see right through me...I'm just that transparent and naive. So, the big city of Philadelphia was actually pretty cool. I lived in the suburbs of Philly for 2 years when Doug and I were first married and I never once went into the city. I generally don't like to go to places where there are large crowds of people. This makes me very nervous. But I see this year as a year to overcome my fears (ahem...I mean some of my fears. I definitely will NOT be boarding any roller coasters this year, or even before I die). I felt so small in that big city. Of course, I am about the size of a 12-year-old, but I normally don't feel that small. Everything was just so big. The buildings, the people, the crazy drivers... And they could so tell I was a tourist. I even got stuck in one of those revolving glass doors. My bag got jammed and the whole thing stopped. I felt like I was in the middle of one of those VISA commercials where everyone is swiping their cards and the whole process just goes so smoothly until that 1 idiot pulls out his checkbook. That was me today. The idiot. I didn't mind. I'm used to feeling like that. I do stupid things like that all the time. It's just me...

The fun part about today was that I got to come home a little early. Of course, in order to do that, I was up at 4 in order to catch the 6:30 train to Philly. So I got to play with my kids a little bit and get some of our Disney plans in place. All in all, it was a very productive and exciting day. It was also a learning experience, as I find most days lately are. I learned that you really can't fit 2 people into 1 section of a revolving door. I also learned that a little extra QT with your kids can do your soul some good.

2008

I have great plans for 2008. Many things are happening in my life in 2008 that motivate me to make even more great things happen. I will be graduating from college next Monday. I know this may not be a big deal in some people's eyes, but it has definitely been a long and hard road for me to get to this point. I tend to take the difficult way to do most things, and obtaining my degree was no different. 1.5 years in traditional college right out of high school in 1996, then a long break of 7 years trying to "find myself", and 2.5 years attending college online with 2 small children and a full time job has brought me here. I couldn't have done it without my family and my dad, though. They were my inspiration.

I will also be turning 30 this year. This is also something that some people might not find too exciting or even dread and try to ignore or deny, but I am so incredibly excited to turn 30. I can't pinpoint why this makes me so happy, but every time I think about finally being out of my 20's, I smile. Maybe it's because I look like I'm about 13 (today's 13, not 13 when I was 13 - big difference there). My looks have not changed since I was in high school - literally. I am the same size (I literally have clothes that I wear on a regular basis that I wore when I was in high school), I can't seem to get my hair to look better any other way, so that is the same as well. Moms at my son's preschool think I'm this high school mom and look at me funny when they see me with my 2 kids. When I was pregnant and couldn't wear my wedding rings, I really got the stares! And when I tell them I'm in my late 20's, it really doesn't sound like I'm much older than I look. But 30 seems to me to be the age of finally being an adult. I feel like this will finally make people take me seriously. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but I am hopeful.

We also plan to take a trip to Disney this year. Doug and I went to Disney for our honeymoon and it was magical. I absolutely cannot wait to share that experience with my kids. They already love all things Disney (I wonder how that happened LOL), so this trip should be very exciting for them. I'm a little nervous about the kids' first plane rides (my first as a kid was a nightmare for me and every single person on the plane) and keeping Elizabeth happy and comfortable while in the parks, but people do these things every day, right? We can do this.

So these are the things that will be happening for me in 2008. I feel this will be an exciting year full of surprises. Work is fabulous, we finally have our dream house, and the kids love life right now. What more could I ask for?