A nice long walk… April 17, 2008

So spring is finally arriving here… FINALLY!!!  I decided two days ago that it was time to take a nice long walk with the kids.  We had about and hour and a half before we had to leave for an appointment in town.  After throwing some clothes on the kids, getting myself ready for the day, we head outside to get the jogging stroller.  Now, I remember a red and blue jogging stroller.  I KNOW we had one…  “Why can I not find it in the garage?”  What could my husband have done with it?  At this point I am looking in the rafters and behind stuff… places that I KNOW that stroller would not fit!  Then all of a sudden it dawned on me… the trailer… it’s got to be in the trailer behind the garage.  I set Cooper down and go to look in the trailer.  Sure enough, there it is!  Now all I have to do is hoist it up over the 4 foot walls of the trailer… no biggie. *said incredibly sarcastically!*  Alright, so now we have three ready and waiting kids, a ready mama, and a stroller… that’s missing the front wheel.  It was used as a bike trailer the last time it was used.  Ok, so, back to the garage… find the wheel, put it on.  We are SOOO ready to go for this “nice long walk”  until I realize that the back two tires are flat!  Is this a joke?  Back to the garage, figure out the air compressor, and  yes, finally get the tires pumped up.  Whew!!!  For real now, we are ready!

In go Cooper and Ella… and off we go!  We made it maybe a quarter of a mile and Grandma surprised us with a visit.  Back to the house…

It was a walk anyway!  Better luck next time!

I really do love them… April 10, 2008

I have to start this post with a comment about how much I really do love kids.  Most kids… and of course, especially my own.  I mean, I couldn’t imagine for a second life without them!  These daily posts may not reflect that as much as they should… you know with the poop messes and tantrums and all… BUT,  if it weren’t for them I would have the biggest, emptiest heart, and TONS of free time that I just wouldn’t know how to fill. (Ok I’ll be honest, I would start with a shower!)  Today I had, in our tiny house, 9 kids and two adults for part of the day, and 6 kids with just me for the remainder of the day…. (None of these kids were over age 4!)  So it was incredibly loud and chaotic.  Not quite as bad as it could be, but to ease the pain, I nibbled on a roll of cookie dough throughout the day.  I’m embarrassed to say that 7 hours and half the roll later I have quite a belly ache.  Lesson learned today… eating cookie dough doesn’t make the house quieter or calmer.  Really, I probably could have come to that conclusion without eating it, but what fun would that have been?  Aside from the 4,000 extra calories today, the playdate went well, the house has only minor damage that I should be able to fix before bed tonight… mostly toys and some mashed potatoes.  And at the end of the day if I can have five very active kids sitting, or standing, at the table… and one more in my arms, it can’t really be all that bad.  (And you just have to love “tinkerbell” Ella walking around the table picking at her plate!)

Fingers April 10, 2008

“Fingers” is the one word that has really changed leaving the house with the kids.  Over the course of the past two years I have really been struggling with how to keep the kids neraby once they start walking.  Several people have recommend the leashes or tethers… and I’m just not a fan.  My saving grace has been to say “fingers” when we leave the store.  For some reason the kids are much more responsive to this than hold my hand.  When I am holding Cooper in one arm, that leaves one hand for the two girls.  Fingers solves that all together, Ella holds the index finger and Ava gets the pinky.  When I can feel one of them slipping with their grip, we make a game.  “Tighter… squeeze it, squeeze it!”  And I can know without looking which one lets go.  So mom’s with mobile kids… Try it!  “Fingers”

Adventures out with ACE April 9, 2008

Today started like any other (well most others) with me and three kids squished into our bed.  A sweaty Cooper laying directly next to me, Ava snuggled up so close she was almost on-top of me, and Ella a bit further away… naked.  Yes, naked!  (Side note, it is NEVER good to find an unpotty trained two  year old naked in your bed… NEVER!)  Luckily, though, she had not peed!  Woo-hooo, the day is starting off great!  I got up and started to make the bed… which is when I found her wet diaper in the sheets.  Perfect!  No pee in the bed AND the missing diaper found right away!  Could the day really be starting this well?!?!  At that point, I decided that I would uphold my promise to Ava and take the kids out for lunch and to “all the stores” as she had asked.

Three hours, four diaper changes, and 5 changes of clothes later… we’re off!  Wow, we’re doing great!  So, the plan is… carwash, small shop in town, Subway for lunch, and then the grocery store for some necessities.  Carwash went well… clean van… content kids! Off to the ilttle shop in town to find a new bakers rack  (thank you kids for breaking ours!)  Pretty much as soon as we walked in the door, my Ella turned into a complete monster.  I don’t know who’s child I had with me, but she was not the Ella I know!  It was one tantrum after another… screaming “Let me down… Noooooo!!!!  Put ME DOOOOOWN!!!”  So, after she settled, I would put her down, and she’d run away from me.  I chase the kid around the store, pick her up and bring her back to the cart… which only brings her to screaming “Let me down!!!” once again.  Meanwhile, Ava is walking around “bein’ a good girl” and touching EVERYTHING.  (Soooooo NOT being a good girl!) Here I am shopping, “Ava come here, I would like to look at your bakers racks, Ava, I said come here.  Ella! Ella get down, that’s it, if you can’t listen mommy’s carrying you. Quiet!  Ellison, quiet,  you need to stop this… do you want a spank? Oh I like this one, can I get this one please? Oh you only have the display model, yeah that’s fine I can wait, ELLA! Get overhere.  Thank you very much, ok come on guys let’s go, good girl Ella, come with mommy, Ava? AVA!! Where are you?  Ava you know better than to walk away from mommy.  Lets go… FINGERS!”  (Fingers, that’s another story) At least Cooper was being a great little guy, sitting so nicely in the cart.  The perfect child… for now anyway!

Needless to say, the story doesn’t end there as we did have to go have lunch… at this point it’s already 1:30.  Subway went fairly well, had a few little problems… Simple little things like Ella slipping and putting her arm in the toilet… nothing really major though. *Eyes rolling!*  But, this is when I decided that I would not be doing any gorcery shopping until Daddy gets home to keep the kids.   I just refuse to put myself through that! Not today!

The day poop made my eyes water! April 9, 2008

What is this facsination with poop?  I never, in a million years, dreamt that at age 26 I would be submerged in poop on a daily basis!  So today, the story begins… with the one year old boy I watch.  He was supposed to be napping, and all of a sudden, I heard the rumble and knew it was that time once again.  Once I got him changed and back in bed, I sat down and wondered… is there someone else with a dirty diaper?  Why is that smell lingering?  I headed out on the hunt… and found it!  The two year old boy I watch had dirtied himself, and while laying under his blanket for nap… smeared it all over himself.  It was like a Picaso all over his belly.  Oh my gosh!  How will I ever clean this?  Is it ok to put him in the tub with bleach?  Wait, is that child abuse?  Ok, so I settle on Baby Magic (I assume that’s much more child friendly)  While I’m cleaning… and steam cleaning our loveseat, he soaks, and soaks, and soaks.  So, now he’s all cleaned and diapered, and dressed.  Wow, after that I’m feeling a little stressed, hell who am I kidding?  I need a DRINK at this point.  Instead I decide to go to my happy place, my computer chair.  From there I hear my two year, “Mommy… ahhh poooped.”  SHIT, AGAIN????   Before I can even respond I see a diaper… seemingly dry… flying into my lap from the kitchen doorway.  I quickly grabbed it and picked it up, and that’s when it happened, the turd rolled right out into my lap!  Ok seriously, at this point I’m on the verge of tears, my eyes were wet… but I fought it!  I would not let this get the best of me…  This tear will not fall!  I will not let the poo break me!