Under Construction

Today we are beginning the tedious process of gutting our bathroom. It won't be quite as bad as when we remodeled our kitchen just a few months ago. That was a nightmare. We had no sink, no cabinets, the fridge was in the living room, and all 3 of the boys and I were sick. It might not sound that bad but imagine trying to get your three sick children to sleep through pounding and drilling while you try not to throw up or pass out. Not only that, but we have no bathroom on our main floor so every time someone wanted a sip of water or to wash off dirty fingers or dirty dishes (which is often) I had to run up or downstairs to the bathroom. You never know how often you use a sink until you don't have one.

Anyway, this won't be that bad, but I'm still not looking forward to it. It is the basement bathroom that is getting the makeover. It is our only shower and it is so nasty and disgusting we just couldn't take it anymore. The previous owners just threw the shower in there kinda half-ass, so we actually have to bust up the cement and reroute the pipes. We are also knocking down a wall to make the bathroom slightly bigger so this is no minor project. Should be interesting.

In the meantime, Todd and I will be "showering" in the claw foot tub upstairs. Mind you, we will have to be sitting when we shower as it is only a tub with a shower hose, but it will work. Todd bathed like that the whole time he lived in London so he will adjust fine. It will take a bit longer for me to get the hang of it I'm sure.

It will all be worth it in the end. We are going "all out" on the new bathroom. Neither of us have ever had a nice bathroom in all the different places we've lived. Our first apartment together was the worst. It was the upper of a house and the roof slanted in the bathroom right where the shower was so that you couldn't stand up straight. It was tiny too. Todd and I could not fit in the bathroom at the same time so I always got ready for work in the bedroom. Not only that but there was very little insulation in the roof and it would be freezing cold in winter and the walls would drip with moisture. It was always moldy no matter how much we cleaned it. It was bad. I wish I would have taken a picture because it is hard to comprehend the nastiness of it unless you see for yourself.

That is a good idea. I should take before and after pics of our bathroom. I forgot to do that with our kitchen. And since my lovely hubby ran out and bought me a new camera (to stop me from spazing out) I CAN do that.

NOOOOoooo

My camera is broken! Broken, I tell you! What do I do? I love taking pics and I have 3 kids who do amazingly cute things daily that NEED to be documented! WHAT DO I DO? I'm freaking out here.
We just got this stinking camera a year ago. A year ago, people??? Aren't they supposed to last longer than that? I mean, this camera was well researched by my husband as it was somewhat of a splurge for us. We have NO TIME to research another one. I need one NOW. NOW! I must have a camera. Help, help, HELP!

The whole camera seems to be working except for the shutter button. Isn't that the most important part? Does it really matter if I am able to set the date and time if I can't actually TAKE a picture? AH! Breath. Deep breaths. I just need to think...

Ok. That isn't working.

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On another terrible note. Does anyone know if peanut butter kills mice?

We are trying to get rid of the family of mice that are happily residing in our garage. My husband bought some live traps and put peanut butter in them to lure the little stinkers. Every morning we have a dead mouse in our live traps and the peanut butter is completely gone. Do the mice have peanut allergies or are they just completely gluttonous and eating until they literally die? It has all been quite stressful to me. Poor little babies are happily munching on peanut butter thinking they struck it rich and suddenly... "huh, my stomach is feeling funny. Yeah, I'm not feeling good." Croak! My husband tries to appease me, telling me they looked peaceful, but I know that secretly he is pleased. He didn't want to use live traps in the first place, he only complied to stop my wails and screams of protest. He even said, "It's not a bad way to go, eating your favorite food until you die."  Um. I disagree. I really don't want to go that way. Watching my stomach expand, sudden extreme cramps, and then feeling my guts explode? I don't think so. I'll go in my sleep when I'm 90, thank you.

Ouch

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. And, um, ouch. Yeah, I'm sore. Just a bit. It is a bad sign when your legs are sore almost immediately after you are done running. Bad sign. When Ben woke up at 4:30 in the a.m. (strange since he has been sleeping through the night lately) I really had to struggle to get out of bed.

My legs are sore. My arse is sore. My abs are sore. Even my arms are sore. I'd like to think that means that I ran much faster and harder than I thought, but I think it just means that I'm out of shape.

Ouch.

I won't even discuss how it was crawling in and out of the back of the minivan to put the kids in their carseats to go to school this morning. I'm so sore. Um, ouch.

Yeah, ouch.

Did I mention that I'm sore?

ouch

Feeling foolish

Hmmm. I feel pretty pathetic right about now. After a two month hiatus I decided to start running again. I knew I would have to start out slowly, but this is ridiculous. Man! I felt like I was running through jell-o. Oh I started out great, I was even smugly thinking, "Wow! This is much easier than I thought it would be!". Then I got to the third block and my legs started to burn . Huh? How could I possibly be getting tired already? Just two months ago I was running 4 miles, no problem. Sure, it has been 2 MONTHS (basic calf injury, colds, and pure laziness kept me dormant), but 4 MILES, and now I'm getting tired after 3 blocks! Bah! It just doesn't seem fair. I have to start all over again.

To make matters worse I watched The Biggest Loser on tv tonight. Now I really feel pathetic. Here are people who are dragging around an extra 200 pounds and they are running through sand, and carrying logs, and climbing mountains. One chic lost 20 pounds in one week! One week! I'm having trouble with my measly 15 pounds, and I've had months.

The other night I was telling Todd, who has also decided to drop a few pounds, how important it is to drink water when you are trying to loose weight. Oh, and control your portions. And don't eat crap. And exercise. He looked at me and said, "I know how to loose weight, it's just... it's just..." and I said, "no fun?", and he said, "Exactly!"  Too bad loosing weight isn't more fun.

There was a sign on the fridge of one the Biggest Loser contestants that said, "nothing in this fridge tastes as good as thin feels".   And that is nice and all, but they must not have ice cream in that fridge, cuz HELLO, have you had ice cream lately?

I suppose it doesn't help that I am still breastfeeding Ben. I am like an eating machine. I've stopped eating after 7:00 at night and my stomach is actually grumbling by the time I go to bed at 10:30. Maybe I should wait to loose the last 10-15 pounds until I am done breastfeeding. Or maybe I should stop stuffing my face with stuff like donut holes and ice cream. Maybe?? Nah. That's crazy. A girl has got to have some fun. I guess I'll see how this running thing takes off and if that doesn't help, then we'll talk about the donut holes and ice cream.

Big boy

Today when I dropped Joey off at school, I literally "dropped him off". It was so scary. Last year for 3k Joey went to a school that is inside of an art museum and you had to park your car, walk across a small parking lot, through the museum and take your child into the classroom. It is fine if you have just one child but I also had a 2 year old and a newborn in tow.

This year Joey is going to the same elementary school I went to and they have devised a very easy system for parents to drop off their children. Drop off your child in the front of school where a teacher is waiting, and pick your child up in the back of school where his teacher will escort him outside. Perfect! Except I have been too chicken to actually take advantage of it until today. Normally, I park the car and drag all of the kids inside to take Joey into the classroom. I guess I've seen too many news stories about kids gone missing on their way to school. Oh I know I am a few feet from the door of the school when I drop him off, and I can actually watch him walk into school, but it still makes me nervous.

It is especially funny that I am so chicken, because Joey has always been so brave. When I walk him into school he finds the hook with his name on it, hangs up his jacket and backpack, says "good-bye", and heads right into the classroom without so much as a glance back at me. He was always this way. Even on his first day of 3k. He was absolutely fine with me leaving him there, even though half the class was crying for their mommies. When I came to pick him up he was actually mad. He was the only kid running away from his mommy, telling me he wanted to stay. I tried not to take it personally, but I have to admit, the kids crying and clinging to their moms made me a little envious. Silly, I know. But it is nice to be missed. When we got home that day I let him know that I had missed him and that he hurt my feelings, and it has never happened again.

So today as I pulled up to the curb in front of school, I explained to Joey that he was going to go into school by himself. He undid his seatbelt, gave me a kiss, grabbed his backpack and jumped out of the car. He was so excited to be joining the big kids, and he turned around to see if I was watching what a good job he was doing. Of course, I was. He had such a proud smile on his face as he waved at me with his 4 year old's enthusiasm. My heart just swelled. I just stared, amazed at how big and yet how small he looked. I felt a tug at my heart. It all begins here. The slight growing up, pulling away. I watched as he said "hello" to his teacher, and disappeared around the corner to his classroom. I could have sat at that curb all day. Just waiting.


I think it was Carol Burnett who once said, "from the day your child is born it is like wearing your heart on the outside of your body", and now I know what she means. Today, my heart when to 4k.

Summer fun

In my book, summer has ended. School has started, the leaves have started to turn, and the days are getting shorter. It is strange because I don't even remember a transition. One day it was steaming hot outside and I was traipsing the boys over to the sprinkler park, and the next day we were in pants and jackets sitting around a bonfire. I love fall, so I'm not complaining, but it seems summer gets shorter and shorter every year.

Maybe it is because this year since the boys are a little bit more portable, and Ben is the most pleasant baby on earth, we really tried to cram a ton into Todd's vacation at the end of summer. We went up north to the cabin where the boys went fishing with sticks off the pier, went on 4-wheeler rides with dad, and ate roasted marshmallows by the bags-full. We went to Blue Harbor water park and the boys conquered their fear of going down the "big boy slide" all by themselves. It was no bigger than the slides at the park, but scary just the same. We went to the park near our house at least 50 times, and of course we went to the lake. But by far, my favorite had to be when we took the boys to the county fair. Now I've had some fun at the fair in my day, but this was by far the most fun I have ever had at the fair. The boys ran from ride to ride, and even rode the ponies. Todd and I hooted and hollered every time the boys came riding around the minuscule circle. I was so proud of my boys. They were so well behaved. No whining or crying, which is a pretty tall order on small children who are walking almost nonstop for three hours. Even baby Ben was so well behaved in his stroller. Smiling at the fun the boys were having on the rides and kicking his feet when he got up close to the goats. When we were all out of tickets for the rides the boys didn't even complain, just thanked us and then continued to run from giant tractor to giant tractor. It was like a little boy's paradise. The poor salesman didn't seem to be getting many interested buyers in the tractors, but they sure had an overload of excited boys.

I was well behaved too. I was the best version of myself. The kind of mom I always wanted to be. I held back the urge to lather the boys in antibacterial hand wash every time they touched something. I gave up on the idea of trying to find something healthy for them to eat and just let them have at it for one night. I let them sit on every tractor until their little hearts were content. I was patient, and I was fun. It was great.

It was just how I always pictured having kids would be. The excited chatter in the dark minivan on the ride home about which was their favorite part, "the helicopter ride! no the ponies! no the tractors!"  Carrying sleepy, warm little bodies up the stairs to bed and setting their heavy heads on their pillows. Lots of hugs and kisses, and "thank you mommy, I love you"s. I felt like I was in a Norman Rockwell painting.

These are the things I want to lock in my heart and remember forever. I want to be the type of mom who tells my grown child, "you were such an easy kid", because that is the only part I chose to remember. Isn't that how parenting should be?

Six year ago today...

I was on my way to work when the DJ on the radio interrupted the song being played to announce that a plane had hit the one of the Twin Towers. The rest of the day was a blur. I think we might have had a total of 20 customers at the bank that day as everyone was glued to their tvs and radios. I suppose everyone remembers exactly where they were when they heard of the terrorist attacks. I know it is burned in my memory.

I had never even thought much about terrorism before that day. I never thought it would happen on US soil. As a matter of fact, when I heard about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers I actually thought it was probably a horrible accident. So naive. Not anymore. Now when there is an accident the first question on everyone's mind is, "was it a terrorist?"

As I was leaving work that night I remember feeling that if this could happen on US soil, anything could happen. I almost felt like the world was ending. It was like I was Chicken Little and the sky was falling. I never felt so unsafe.

And yet, good comes from tragedy. We as a nation had never been so bonded. Everyone was kinder, braver, and more generous. Have we lost a bit of that now? I certainly hope not.

On this sad anniversary, lets keep the victims, the soldiers, and our country in our prayers. Pray for a better world for our kids. Pray for peace.

Another picture, mom?

My first post

Yes, it is true. Inspired by some friends I have decided to join the masses and start my very own blog. Please bear with me while I try to get my site set up. I am not the most computer savvy person in the world so this is actually quite the feat for me. You should all by proud of me. A round of applause, please? I think I've got the hang of it but I am still trying to get my pictures to work. Mrrrfff. Not only that, but I only have a few minutes at a time before one of my little munchkins needs something and I have to stop. They are sleeping right now, but I think I already hear little Ben moving around. Double Mrrrfff.

So I know this is my first post, and I should probably be discussing more important topics, like Joey's 1st day of school or something like that, but I just want to know, who saw the Britney fiasco last night? I must admit that I usually don't watch the VMA's but I turned it on simply to see a big Britney Spears comeback performance. Now, I was never a huge Britney Spears fan (I don't have any of her CDs or anything), but I am always a sucker for a heartwarming comeback story, and I always root for the underdog. Which is why I found her performance last night so incredibly painful to watch. Ouch. Was she high? Why couldn't she move her arms? Why did she have to double plant her feet before doing each dance move? She looked like she was gonna fall down. It was just a train wreck. Blah.

On a positive note, Britney has inspired me to loose some weight. Did she look horrible? No. Could she have spared a bit? Yes. Which is exactly how I feel about myself. I could definitely look better. And now that I have announced it to everyone I guess I have to loose weight.

Ok. Ben is awake, and I'm sure the older two will soon follow. Once I figure out how this whole posting thing works, I'll clue everyone in on Joey's first day of school, and how poor little Tommy did without his playmate.

Turn Off Your Word Verifications!!!!

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