She's a genius!! L has been able to write her name for a while if I tell her the letters but today she wrote it herself without asking me for any help. She usually says, "mommy what comes after the I" etc etc. What a little smarty. :)

I finally wised up and bought a cheap vinyl tablecloth to use on the kitchen table whenever they do crafts/color etc so I'm not constantly scrubbing marker and glue off of the table. Last year we got rid of our old hand me down kitchen table and bought a nice big new expensive table. Everyone always tells me not to buy any nice furniture or rugs until the kids are older. I should have listened to them. It's a constant battle to keep this table in decent shape. And our kitchen chairs are always always always sticky from their yucky, I mean cute, little fingers.

First day of summer camp

Heading off to camp!!


Today was L's first day of preschool camp. It's hardly camp, it's more like preschool but far less structured. They didn't actually spend a lot of time outside but played a lot of games in the huge gymnasium. She told me they played duck duck goose, hide and seek and the hop up game. I have no idea what the hop up game is. When I picked her up this afternoon she came running out to me and said "Mommy that was so much FUN!" So I guess she liked it. She thinks she's such a big kid because they eat lunch at camp and at preschool she comes home before lunch time. She was so cute walking in there this morning with her little ladybug lunch box. I had to fight back the tears at drop off this morning. I don't know why I was so emotional. I'll chalk it up to hormones. Besides preschool this is the only time or place I've dropped her off some where and left her. The camp director happens to be a teacher from her preschool (that's really the only reason I was brave enough to sign her up for this camp) so L felt right at home. There were also a couple of boys from her preschool there today as well though L could really care less if she's with kids she knows or complete strangers. I asked her if she sat with her friends from preschool at lunch and she said "no, I sat with some new friends." I asked, "what were their names?" L said, "Oh, I don't know."

A Tricycle for Two

This was yesterday morning. They came soaring into the kitchen to greet me like this. Lindsey is "driving" and Zoey is sitting up front dragging her legs. It was pretty damn cute. Z is ALWAYS trying to ride on L's tricycle and L is very possessive of her trike so I was really impressed with L's willingness to share her beloved possession. They rode up and down the hall about a bazillion times like this.

We did a lot of this today. (Do you think she could get any closer to the tv?) A good mother would never let their child stand so close to the tv. Who am I kidding, a really good mother wouldn't even let their 20 month old watch tv. I don't think I like those kinds of mothers. ;)
Because it looked like this outside. If you can't figure it out, it's raining.



I even brought in their filthy wet bikes and cleaned them off and let them ride around in the house to burn off some energy.


This afternoon FIL came over to watch Z and I took L to a b'day party. Doesn't she look cute?




Can I just tell you how horribly long and boring that party was? Really, a party for a four year old should not ever exceed 2 hours. This was three hours of pure pain for me. L thought it was the best time ever of course.

"I feel so bad for you"

I took the girls to the library this morning. We go every other week or sometimes more often. We check out books and a few videos and they have a great playspace, puzzle area, train table etc. During the school year when the "big" kids are at school it's pretty peaceful and there's always a preschooler for L to pal around with and a few toddlers/babies for Z to stare at. Now that school is out the library gets really crowded with kids of all ages. They do this great summer reading program that really gets the kids into the library. That was part of the reason for going today. I signed both girls up for the "listeners" (kids who are read to as opposed to actually reading themselves) as opposed to the "readers" summer reading program. Yes, I signed my 20 month old up for summer reading. I was only going to sign L up but the librarian said "how old is your little one?"
I said, "oh she's only 20 months, don't worry about her."
Librarian "you should sign her up too because she's going to want a sticker and candy when she sees her big sister getting them." (every ten books they have read to them they get a sticker and candy and a special prize)
Me, "okay, why not."
So while I'm checking out a slew of books, balancing Z on my hip and L is standing rather patiently in front of me jumping up and down in the way that 3 year olds do , the librarian hands my a clip board to sign the girls names etc on for the program. I manage to write all the info down, no one is melting down, screaming or doing anything out of control.
Librarian says to me with raised eyebrows, "Are you okay. Can you handle all of this?"
Me,politely smiling, "I'm fine. You'd be amazed at what I can handle.
Librarian, "I just feel so bad for you.
Me, smile gone, "Well don't."
I know she just meant to say something like, "you've really got your hands full." But apparently she lost all control of the part of her brain that makes her speak with any tact at all. She's the children's room librarian for god's sake, she sees moms juggling a lot more kids than I have on a daily basis. It's not like I had ten screaming snot nosed kids hanging onto my pregnant ass. I know she didn't really mean anything horrible by it and I'm not offended at all. More amused or surprised .
I guess it kind of opened up a whole new view to me. Some people do look at moms with little kids and feel bad for them like their lives must just suck. Especially when it's a pregnant mom with two little kids.
What I should have said was, "Don't feel bad for me. I'm the luckiest person in the world with two healthy children and another one on the way."

I'm tired, as always

We had a pretty busy day. I like them better that way. I hate sitting around getting on each others nerves. We spent about 2.5 hours at the playground this morning with a friend who has two girls the same age as mine. Of course two 3 year old girls playing together actually means this, "fight, cry, play play play hold hands, hug, play, fight, cry, fight cry, play, play play." It can get exhausting. E (the other mom) and I have agreed to not even pay any attention to their "fights" unless one of them is truly upset, not just being dramatic. It's worked wonders. In all honesty C (the other 3 year old) is high maintenance and overly dramatic and is the cause for about 95% of the problems that occur. L (my child) of course is nearly perfect. So after the playground we headed home and I put Z down for a nap and fed lunch to L. Then MIL came over and L and I went to the movies to see "Cars" while MIL stayed home with Z. After eating 2 lbs of popcorn, 1 lb of M&M's and drinking a gallon of lemonade the movie was over and we headed home for what else, dinner. After feeding both of my angels I bathed them and threw them in their beds, slammed their doors shut and hid. Okay, not really,but close enough.

Now what should I do? I've got some left over M&M's in my bag, I could eat those until the skin on my stomach actually rips open.

You know what the one thing that sucks big time about the summer is? There is nothing to watch on tv. Nothing, nada a whole load of crap after crap after crap. I'm not even a big tv watcher but some nights I just want to curl up in my bed and veg out for a few hours but I find myself flipping through all the channels with nothing but crap to watch. This has forced me to become a complete NetFlix whore. I must be one of their best customers or worst really, considering I get way more than my $14 a month worth. This lack of good tv to watch may force me to do something with my time like, laundry or talk to my husband. Eeeekkkk!

Bling Bling!

I forgot to mention I got some bling bling from Hubby. He gave me an anniversary band. It's a platinum band with 8 diamonds going across it. I'm not sure the significance of the 8 diamonds considering we've only been married for 5 years, but hell, I'll take all the diamonds I can get. Ooh,did that sound shallow? Fuck if I care, bring on the bling, I deserve it. Right?
When we were at dinner Friday night I went to the bathroom (shocking, a pregnant woman had to pee) and left my napkin on the table in front of my seat. When I got back I sat down and put my napkin back on my lap (yes, I have good table manners) and under the napkin sat a little blue velvet box. I couldn't believe it. I really didn't think he was going to give me anything. I thought our weekend trip was our present to each other and besides he'd already given me roses a few days earlier on our actual anniversary. So needless to say I was really touched and thrilled and all that gooshy stuff. He really is a good guy, I think I'll keep him around for at least another 5 years, at least just to see what he gives me for our 10 year anniversary.

The Weekend

Our weekend trip was great. Better than I could have hoped for. We stuffed ourselves like gluttonous pigs with lobster, clam chowder, steamers, scallops, shrimp and ice cream. We spent $100 on lunch on Friday afternoon. I don't think I 've ever spent that much at lunch, especially if you consider there were no cocktails to pay for. Well, Hubby had two beers but that hardly put a dent in the bill. It was well worth every penny I might add. We spent our days lazing at the beach and took many long walks and even went to the movies. I know the movies doesn't sound like a very exciting thing to do while on a romantic weekend away. But, we hardly ever get to the movies anymore. We do go out on date night at least 1-2 nights a month but we usually are too tired for dinner and a movie so it's one or the other and we almost always choose dinner because that way we can actually talk to each other. But Saturday night after a day at the beach we took an afternoon nap, went to dinner and then to the movies. We saw "The Breakup". It was pretty good too.
The Inn we stayed at was beautiful too. A big old Victorian House, very New Enland"ish". We had a beautiful room with a nice big canopy bed. Very romantic. Even though I'm on pelvic rest we got creative and managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Oops, was that too much information?
Sunday morning Hubby woke up and said, "I miss the girls. Let's go home, it's Father's Day." I convinced him to relax until noon time. We did some shopping (for the kids of course) spent a little time at the beach and then headed home. He was so cute, he really missed L and Z.
When we got back this afternoon we went over to our neighbors house for a cookout/pool party. Since Hubby missed the kids so much he didn't mind swimming with them for about NINE hours. Well maybe not nine hours, but better him than me. I enjoyed chatting with my neighbors while they all drank Pina Coladas and cold beer and stuffed myself with too much food again. I swear I must have consumed about 12,000 calories this weekend. Can't wait until my monthly weigh in at the OB Tuesday, ugh!
So we had a great weekend. Hubby and I really got to reconnect and truly enjoy each others company. Being parents of small children is all consuming so sometimes I fear that our adult relationship, our marriage, has disappeared but then a weekend like this makes that part of our relationship resurface. It's nice to know it's still there.

A Weekend Away!!!!!!!!!!

In honor of our anniversary Hubby and I are going to Cape Cod tomorrow for the weekend. The darlings (L and Z) will be staying at home and my insane mother will be coming to care for them. We were married down the Cape so it's kind of a sentimental place for us. The weather is supposed to be great so hopefully we can spend the days at the beach. Bliss! I can't wait to dig my toes into the warm sand and smell the salty air and do a whole lot of nothing. Of course we plan to gorge ourselves on lobster, clam chowder, fried clams and all the other New England favorites. I'll probably throw a few ice cream sundaes in there too.

I wrote a big long bitchy post yesterday about my SIL's bridal shower but Blogger was being an asshole and instead of publishing it I lost the whole thing. I'm not motivated enough to re-write it at the moment.

YIPPE SKIPPY!!!!!!!!!!!

6:55!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's what time Z slept until today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was laying in bed just waiting for her to wake up at 5:30 and there was nothing but beautiful silence. So I fell back to sleep and then I woke up around 6:30 and just lay in my bed waiting and enjoying waking on my own as opposed to waking to the sounds of a crying toddler. It was fabulous. When I went in to get her at 7 she was happily standing in her crib and then L woke up and came in to see us and L said, " Hi Zoey" and Z said "Hi C C." It was so cute. (Z started calling L "CC" around a year old, I'm not sure if maybe it was supposed to be Sissy/sister but it was so cute that we all started calling L "CC", so it stuck. Some days Z will actually call her Lindsey and it makes me kind of sad, I prefer "CC". And it makes L feel so cool to have a special nickname.)
So we all went downstairs together and had bagels and then they played with PlayDough together while I went into the living room with my coffee and watched the Today Show for a little while. Not too mention the sun is finally out today which just makes it all that much nicer. Should be a good day today. :)
Now we're just waiting for Hubby to get home from work this morning. He should be here by 8:30/9. He's been in the fire station since Saturday morning at 7:30. Poor sap must be exhausted.

Update

Well I wouldn't call it a complete failure but it wasn't exactly a smashing success either. I put Z to bed last night at 6:15 and at 5:30 she made a few squeaks and then was quiet again until 6. The one major improvement was when I went to get her at 6 this morning she was happy and not the usual grumpy pants that she usually is. She did get about 2.5 more hours of sleep last night then she usually does so that's a bonus. She's in bed already tonight and it's now 6:30. Let's see how tomorrow morning goes.

I took a page out of my own book today

I'm always giving people my unsolicited advice about babys and bedtime. It worked wonders with L and it worked really well when Z was a much younger baby. But for some reason I've been terrified of trying it with Z now that she's a little older. I swear by this method, so why am I so hesitant to try it? What the hell is she babbling about you're probably wondering? Well I always put L to bed very early and she's always slept until at least 7 am even as a baby. I have found that the later she stays up the earlier she will wake up. When L was under a year old I started putting her to bed at 6 and she'd sleep until 7 the next morning. I did this with her until she was around 3 and then I started keeping her up until 7:30'ish.
Well Z wakes up most mornings around 5:30 and she's miserable. Tonight I put her to bed at 6:15(she usually doesn't get to bed until between 7:30/8:30 depending on the chaos around here). She fell right asleep. Will she prove my theory correct and sleep until 6 or is she going to wake up screaming bloody murder and demanding breakfast at 3 am? I'll let you know tomorrow. I'm praying to any and all powers higher than me to keep her asleep until at least the sun rises. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Mommy I'm crying"

Zoey has been giving me a hard time at bedtime/naptime for the past few days. So as I leave the room she begins to whine and whimper. I don't react. You know the drill I just quietly say "night night" and leave the room. Well about 10 minutes of her crying later I hear her say "Mommy, I'm crying, I'm crying Mommy." Well what do you think I have a black hole for a heart, of course I went in to her room then. She's standing in her crib all red eyed and snotty nosed repeating over and over again in her pathetic little baby voice, "Mommy I'm crying". She kills me.
She's doing it again right now. I can hear her blabbering and then intermittently saying "I'm crying Mommy." Well I guess my heart has turned into a black hole because I'm now snickering at her and not going in there.

Busy busy weekend. We took the girls to the New England Aquarium on Sunday. They had a blast. I think Z liked it more than L. She got such a thrill out of the big fish swimming by in the main tank. She was doing that wiggly squealy giggle thing toddlers do, you know the one, bouncing up and down on her knees. Pretty cute stuff.
Today I took the girls to the party store to buy stuff for L's b'day party. I wasn't even sure if I'd have a party for her. She's never asked for one so I probably could have gotten away with doing nothing more than the grandparents over for cake. BUT I started to fear that she'd say in her innocent little squeaky voice sometime days or weeks AFTER her birthday, "Mommy, when are my friends coming over for my birthday party?" So needless to say what could have been a small family gathering has turned into something else all together. She picked out princess plates, napkins, goody bags etc today for a total of $52 freakin bucks!!! I also rented one of those moon walk bouncy house things for way too much money and you don't even get a refund if it rains. So basically if it rains the weekend of her party I can reschedule the moonwalk for some other weekend when the neighborhood kids can come over and play in it but obviously I can't reschedule an entire b'day party due to rain. Kind of seems like a rip off really. It was one of those impulse things where I really didn't think or listen too clearly to the less than helpful person at the party rental place. Oh well. You only turn four once. Of course I realize that now I've set the bar for every year after this. So by the time she turns eighty she's going to be expecting me to rent out the entire Boston Children's Museum for her and her friends pleasure. Sigh.. what have I got myself into.

My Big Grownup Almost Four Year Old Baby

These first two pics are of Lindsey on her first day of preschool in Sept.






This is Lindsey heading to her last week of preschool (until next year of course). How stinkin cute is she?! (Notice the mess in the background? I told you I need a cleaning lady. ) The pics aren't really good enough quality to tell, but my goodness she has grown up so much in 9 months. (Sniff sniff, shedding a tear right now)

For Leslie (no, I'm not referring to myself) and anyone else who is wondering what the f*** a mosquito magnet is

http://mosquitomagnetdepot.com

So after hunting around for the right size Mosquito Magnet Hubby finally comes home last night at 9:45. He had a hard time finding the right one because they come in different sizes depending on the size of your property. We needed one for an acre plus. He found one at Home Depot. Ready for this,,, it cost SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When Hubby told me that I just stared at him blankly. Then I finally sputtered out, "And you still bought it?" He replied, "Well yeah, I don't want the kids to get West Nile Virus or something."
Okay so that's kind of cute, his concern for the kids. But HOLY SHIT, $700.00!!!! I better not see a freakin mosquito within a mile of our house this summer or I'm going to be so freakin mad.
Onto even better news. I hired a house cleaner today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOO! Forget the mosquitoes now we won't have to worry about developing a rodent problem in the house due to my lousy house cleaning. I'm soooo excited!!! She starts next week for the initial BIG cleaning and then it will be every other week. I can't wait to longer be embarrassed when guests unexpectedly drop by my catastrophe of a house.