The kindness of Strangers

I am just bursting with ideas today, but first and foremost needed to share the one that changed my day yesterday.

My neighbor P's husband is 41, but seems to think he is 25. He does a lot of stupid stuff and yesterday he had a dirt bike accident. In a town in Connecticut. 2 hours away from us. Obviously, other than some road rash and puncture wounds (which required heavy sedation to clean and stitch up) he is fine, but we had to go pick him up from the hospital because his car was there (see, he drove himself to the hosptial -- I am allowed to call him an idiot for the crap he does!). So, when I hear it is about an hour away, I said, sure I will take you, thinking we will be home by 7 or so.

OH DEAR GOD, NO!!!!

Between traffic and everything it took close to 5 hours round trip. BUT, I am only going to focus on one thing...

At about 7:30pm we are finally on our way back to NY, L is about an hour past his normal dinner time -- and that is the one thing you don't do to the kid, skip a meal. So I see McD's advertised on the side of the road as Easy in/Easy Out. One would think that meant 1) close to the exit and 2) a drive-thru.

One would be wrong.

So after dragging my sorry crew, who have now been in the car for a better part of 3 hours, into McDs, there is a line to kingdom come. I know there is another McDs 7 miles down the road and this line is easily 20 minutes. And that is 20 minutes of me holding a good 50 lbs of children and an infant who is about to lose his damn mind because he is HUNGRY too. So I spin us around and hustle us out to the car. L then has his breaking point. I start crying too because I feel so bad for the poor kid -- he is starving and was just teased by McDs -- and I know he has no idea what I am talking about when I say, just give me 7 more minutes and we will have food -- it will be longer if we wait here. L is not buying what I am selling and I don't blame him.

This whole debactle is overheard by the neighboring minivan. I know the mom there knows what I am going through as I see an about 5 year old and an infant carrier. I got "the look" from her -- the one that some times I question -- was that sympathy or a look of pity that I don't have my shit together. Then she turned to me and offered me gold.

Not really gold, but 2 McNuggets and some fries that her 3 year old won't finish. Her husband had gone in to get food for her crew and she knew that her 3 year old will only eat half her meal, so L is welcome to the other half. To which I graciously accepted and then lost my damn mind crying.

This whole thing has been playing through my head over and over and over and I think I FINALLY got it. I don't know or care if the woman was BF or FF, CIOs or not, uses sposies or cloth diapers, what car seat she uses, etc. All I know is that this woman, with her beautiful 3 girls, saved my sanity and made my son smile that all encompassing smile he gets when he sees food. She most certainly didn't have to help me, and I honestly don't know what I would have done if I witnessed a similar scenerio -- would an offer of help be intrusive, would I be seen as judgemental or would the mom burst into tears at the gesture of kindness like I did.

I hope and look forward to the day when I can pass on a similar favor to a mom in need.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my mom has a big birthday -- it ends with a zero! She has stated that she isn't going to be celebrating it, but it is days like this that I feel bad that I live no where close to her. B and I live about 4 hours away from my parents and they are the closet family we have (pseudo family aside).

B and I originally loved being this far away from family -- all the benefits of family, with no obligations to the little details that living near family brings. Now we hate it. L and R rarely get to see their grandparents or Aunts, Uncles and Cousins and B and I are on our own here.

So, I continue to work at getting a job closer to my family and prepare to pack up this house and leave the house to which we brought both of the boys home. There is a lot of sweat and tears that have gone into this house, but it is time to say good bye and I know we are just on a short leash until we leave here.

So, anyways -- back to my Mom. Happy Birthday Mom. Hopefully Dad has something fun planned for your and your parents are not their normal crazy selves!

No title

My creativity has left the building...

I spent the morning thus far (you know, my second morning of hookie vacation) attempting to come up with something to write in my blog so I could move on with my day. I have nothing for you!

L -- actually getting cuter by the days again. He is talking more and says the Saints name with the cutest inflection that pretty much drowns you in its sugary sweetness. His increased use of words has led to less whining -- there are still lots and lots and lots of whining to be had though, but it is getting better.

R -- well, he is going through a funky time right now and Mommy doesn't like it so much, so how about we just skip his non-napping, non-sleeping, cranky-butt, teething and a growth spurt self????

Today the plan is to run errands again and then take L to the pool for some Mommy and L alone time. Our alone time is pretty much non-existant as B's boobs still aren't working, so it makes sense for me to keep R -- functioning boobs and all. The Wife is going to keep R until B gets home and then we will see what happens from there. So everyone out there keep your fingers crossed for some hot hot hot weather for the rest of the day.

And don't worry - I return to work tomorrow and things are bound to be more interesting then.

Playing hookie

Wait -- you didn't know adults did that? Well, I don't know if all adults do, but I am today. Strangely enough, it is ok to blog about because 1) my office DOES NOT CARE, 2) my boss DOES NOT CARE and 3) I flat out called in hookie!

Really, I can't believe summer is coming to an end and seeing as B and I have totally different vacation times left -- I have 3 weeks and he has 2 days?? (Where is that man going without me?). Anyways so I am taking advantage of 2 of my days and a light trial schedule to get some things done.

But rather than get my tush dressed and out the door, I am sitting in my home office, checking my work email and listening to L run up and down the hall! Maybe today will be my hookie day with the kids. Wonder what we can go do with The Wife....

Sorry for the stream of conscious blog, but it is my round about way of asking... What the heck do you do with a toddler and an infant during these dog days of summer when you want to enjoy your fleeting moments of free time with them? Suggestions?

McGuyver

The one consistant thing that every evaluator told us when they came to analyze L is that he is very intelligent. B and I already knew that. And we aren't just parents that are bragging -- seriously, it is obvious just watching him. Also, extremely frustrating as I swear he is smarter than I am.

This is the screen door that the child can open. At 17m he learned that. Oh and that means he can undo the safety bolt too that you see on the bottom. You can't see it in this picture, but beyond those flowers is a street. Means a lot of keeping the storm door closed.

This fan... yeah, he likes to take the cover off it (that took ME a while to figure out, thank you very much). Too bad he doesn't like to wipe the dust off its blades.

This crib -- R's crib -- is his jungle gym. Some how though he knows not to crawl in and out of his own crib.

See this step stool! Ok, this is a newer one... He gets the step stool out (which requires moving 2 garbage cans), opens it up, places it in front of this cabinet - similar to what it looks like right now - and then crawls up it to get fruit off the counter. Or cookies, or whatever the hell we are storing there.

And this is my favorite -- crawls into his booster seat and buckles himself in! You can certainly tell when the kid is hungry.

He is only 21 months old. If this is normal, I don't want to hear it because I like to firmly believe that he is a freaking genius McGuyver type.

Which he CERTAINLY didn't inherit from me! Thanks B for the freakishly smart, mechanically inclined kid.

Operation Get the Hell out of Dodge

Has been stepped up a notch. This usually coinsides with getting an AWESOME house listing from a former classmate of mine who just so happens to be a realtor now and then something else happening. Several things have happened recently:

1) Two weekends in a row with the Saint. Her girls may talk back to her, but I still love them and so does L. He is SO much easier to deal with when they are around and hello -- kid sleeps like a log then because he is so exhausted by them.

2) Co-irker is being ultra irksome recently.

3) If we want to have a third kid we have to put a second floor on this house... massive construction that I am not looking forward too.

4) FAMILY.

5) an overwhelming sense of doom that something is going to happen in the NYC area soon! Shoot -- have they CAUGHT the people who bombed infront of the British Embassy like 3 years ago? Nope! And I work IN a landmark building, so it is time for Smoo to leave the premises.

6) B hates his boss. So do I.

So, I have stepped it up on applying for jobs back near my home town and should I get a bite and then a good offer, we may just be fleeing NYC.

The sticking points -- The Wife. My boss. Selling a house in this market. Buying a house/getting a mortgage. Credit card debt that needs paid off. Oh and a brand spanking new kitchen that I am just able to enjoy.

100 things about me

1) I have two boys 16 months apart.

2) When my sister had her 2 girls 16 months apart I though she was insane, irresponsible and full of crap (that she got pregnant on the minipill). Yeah, well... guess what I was on when I got pregnant too.

3) I wanted my kids to be 3-4 years apart and now I couldn't be happier that they are so close in age.

4) B and I are trying to decide if we want to have a third. I mainly want to go through labor again, not necessarily have the baby to raise. (yes, I know how crazy that sounds).

5) I met B at a funeral. His best friend's funeral

6) We started "dating" a year later.

7) Our first date was to the Melting Pot in the Chicago burbs and we got engaged at the Melting Pot in Washington DC

8) My mom thought I had a thing for him long before I admitted it.

9) I am an attorney and work stupidly long hours, even though I work from home twice a week.

10) Luckily, I love my job and most of my co-workers.

11) The one co-worker I don't like. I refer to him as the co-irker. I think I don't like him because he does the same things to me that B does to annoy me. Oh and he has called me lazy twice -- NO ONE has ever called me lazy in my life, so I am thinking HE has an issue.

12) I have a freaky good memory when it comes to #s. I can remember pretty much every phone number I have ever had and had the boys SS#s memorized within a hour or so of getting the card.

13) I know B's SS# almost as well as my own.

14) I can't remember names to save my life though.

15) When I got married, I used purple as a wedding color. No one expected anything else because purple is my favorite color and I thought everyone knew that.

16) My sister didn't know purple was my favorite color.

17) When she told me that, I actually cried because I was so upset that she didn't know "anything" about me.

18) Looking back I realize that is because we were at different points in our lives and it was ok that she didn't know that.

19) I also look back at our wedding and wish we had just eloped and saved all that money.

20) In Dec. of 2002, I borrowed 12K from the wedding account my parents had for me to pay off credit card debt. The debt scared me silly.

21) By June 2004 I had paid every single cent back.

22) I still don't know how I was able to do that.

23) Right now, B and I have 24K on our credit cards.

24) 23K of it was for 2 home renovation projects.

25) For some reason that debt doesn't scare me at all (maybe because half of it is intrest free?)

26) We also would have spent 5 times that much if B hadn't done the work.

27) Even though I know he works quickly and does a great job, I still always get pissed at B during a renovation project.

28) It is one of the reasons I am scared to ever move.

29) Because I know we will buy another fixer upper and go through this hell again.

30) I commute on a train three days a week.
31) When I say I over hear interesting things on the train, I really mean, OMG why do people think that the train is their private living room.
32) And I don’t blush easily and I talk about most things in “mixed” company.
33) Turning up my Ipod is the only way I survive the commute some days.
34) I listen to KT Tunstall, Black Horse and a Cherry Tree to get me hyped up for work.
35) Yes, that means I heard it on American Idol.
36) Yes, I am embarrassed to admit that.
37) This coming up with 100 things about me is proving difficult.
38) I recently found out that my old boss and his wife are expecting.
39) It actually made me cry tears of joy.
40) Not around the ex-boss though, although he has seen me cry more times then I care to remember.
41) Don’t worry, it isn’t too weird because he is a friend outside of work and always has been.
42) I cried because I was so relieved that they were pregnant because I worried, for some unexplainable reason, that they would have trouble getting pregnant.
43) The ex-boss may think he is going to be hands off, but I think he is going to be such an awesome dad.
44) I am friends with his wife too.
45) Talking about this has made me realize that I have known the ex-boss now for more than 10 years -- and have worked for him, in 2 different jobs, for most of that time.
46) My mom thinks the ex-boss is one of the greatest humans alive because he is the one that convinced me to leave the EX (oh and because the ex-boss is funnier than anyone else we know).
47) My EX was a sadistic, evil man. The ex-boss was a good man to force me to see it.
48) But the EX taught me an awful lot about myself and really is one of the reasons why I am the person I am today.
49) Unfortunately, I grudgingly appreciate that.
50) I will also kill my boys if I ever find out they treat a girlfriend like the EX treated me.
51) One of my biggest concerns about raising the boys is that they will be Mama’s boys.
52) Then I realize L isn’t even a Mama’s boy now, so I really should not worry about that.
53) Although I hope they are a little bit of Mama’s boys because I want them to stay close to me when they grow up.
54) Unfortunately, I realize that the likelihood is the my DILs will not like me.
55) But I keep my fingers crossed that I walk the line between being a good mom to an adult and giving my boys the space they need.
56) And I have learned even some of the most “evil” MILs really flourish when put to the test.
57) I used to bash W’s MIL.
58) Now I have so much respect for her that I want to apologize for being such a bitch to her before.
59) Talking about W -- I have a secret fear that we won’t be as close as we are right now, in 3 years or 5 years.
60) She is the only one I have that fear of because I know N and I will always be close.
61) I hope that is because I am used to being across the country from N and still being close to her.
62) But it really started after O was born.
63) So I think it is more that I can’t help W and I know she will make a friend who will be able to relate to her.
64) I have lost other friends because I wasn’t able to “relate”.
65) And when I think about this, I shake my head and think -- OMG what a selfish bitch. And then resign myself to the fact it is more important that she find someone to help her rather than unilaterally continue to be one of my best friend and then secretly pray that somehow that can be me.
66) I have a dream to write chick lit.
67) I don’t know if anyone would buy a book written by me and so I return to my safe cocoon of work.
68) But on those days when the kids are especially good I think I should really go for it so I could SAH with them and then write.
69) And then I realize that people find my life more comical than anything because of ALL the factors in it and the stupid juggling that I attempt to do and then fail at.
70) Talking about failing, B… doesn’t love it so much when I don’t make it home in time for dinner.
71) And I feel so bad to only sweep in right before bedtime.
72) Then I get pissed because B doesn’t seem to get too upset when he misses bedtimes.
73) B might miss bedtimes 5-10 times a YEAR. For me, it is easily 2-3 times a month. B’s misses are usually because of snow too.
74) Although I will say, he has a knack for being gone for a long period of time only when L is sick.
75) When B is gone/overworked/not as much help due to his work, we always have the same fight which ends with me telling him to quit work.
76) Then I secretly pray he DOESN’T quit work because I don’t want to lose The Wife.
77) I think I will need to be committed if the Wife ever decides to quit on us.
78) Therefore I go out of my way to be overly generous (ie. she gets paid vacation time, whatever food she wants, etc).
79) Someone told B that he was too easy on me because he “let” me get The Wife.
80) It was at a party. I didn’t want to embarrass the host.
81) B thought my head was going to explode. So did I.
82) I just curtly informed the man that B doesn’t LET me do anything, especially considering I make three times as much as he does and therefore it is MY money that pays for the Wife.
83) Oh, I didn’t mention that before -- yeah, it rarely comes up these days anymore.
84) B so doesn’t care that I make more.
85) And I have come to realize that I would rather live with him when he is doing a job he likes then one that pays more but that he doesn’t like.
86) Although some days I regress and get annoyed that I HAVE to work.
87) Talking about working, it makes my blood boil when someone says that women should give up work to stay home -- why WOMEN???? Didn’t the men have some involvement in conceiving the child?
88) B was a SAHD for 8 months.
89) It doesn’t work for us.
90) If he stayed home, I think we would be headed for a divorce.
91) Sometimes I wonder if we will remain married anyways -- we both have hot tempers and we bicker to communicate.
92) That makes my sister insane.
93) But then again, The Saint and my BILs relationship leaves me shaking my head too.
94) I think SAHMs have it a lot worse then I do.
95) Although I absolutely relished my time home with the boys, it is easier to go to work.
96) And the $$ I make from working isn’t bad either.
97) I do not understand the "not my kid mentality".

98) I think L is a far bigger brat than anyone else seems too.

99) I don't know whether that is good or bad.

100) But that mentality usually has me at odds with other moms.

Happy Anniversary

To B:

Hi Love!! Happy Anniversary! I can not believe it has only been three years since we got married. On one hand it seems like yesterday and then I look at our wonderful family and it seems like so much longer.

The thing I remember most from our wedding is the fact that you couldn't look at me. You were welling up with tears and then there was me -- totally without that overwhelming amount of emotion. You have cried at the birth of each child and I have not. You are the emotional one, I am not. I cry due to frustration or anger. You only cry tears of happiness. Who would have guessed.

Thank you for putting up with my insanity and allowing me to take out all my frustrations on you. I know it isn't easy to deal with me, my job, my long hours and my mental absence at times, not matter the trade offs, but I appreciate that you recognize how much I try to be there and 100% present with you and the boys.

Your an awesome dad and the boys and I are lucky to have you in our lives.

XOXO Love!
Smoo

All official like

L has an official speech delay. I had the evaluators meeting on Friday and got the call from the ongoing coordinator on Monday, so as soon as possible we will start twice weekly sessions of speech therapy. I have to get the occupational therapy consult done and then we will arrange for OT therapy too.

Speech is about 9 months delayed. Gross motor though is 6 months advanced. Fine motor is ... God only knows where. I think he is fine in that category, but the cold cruel psychiatrist keeps talking about how uncoordinated he is. Really do not like that woman. I think I don't have to see her anymore though which is happy news in this house.

Ultimately though I am pretty OK with things. It may just be because I know about sensory issues and I KNOW that it will be resolved with time and therapy. Not to mention L has finally had his little explosion of words and although he doesn't always use them properly he is starting to mime back everything we say.

Note to B and self: time to stop swearing!!

Round 2

and round 3 of hand, foot and mouth!

R started running a temp on Thurs and I have the blisters starting Friday-ish. YUMMY!! Actually, other than R being a super cranky pants and not wanting to nurse, due to the blisters in his mouth, it really hasn't been all that bad. For me, it is just a few blisters here and there and I am working from home because I "could" be contagious. Nothing like passing hand, foot and mouth around to an office full of childless attorneys.

The Saint and crew have been visiting since Thurday and B and I got a chance to go out for our anniversary. It was a nice change and much much needed.

Oh and THANK GOD I have two boys!!! Dear God -- the Saint's children are the queens of talking back. The Saint deals with it with tons of patience, but it makes my skin just about crawl listening to them backtalk.

So, the house has been crazy for the last few days and once it gets back to normal, I will give more details.

5 months

Five months ago, this second, I was holding R in my arms. After 11 hours of labor -- well 11 hours where I "admitted" I was in labor and 6 minutes of pushing, R arrived in this world. The first month was a bit rough (where I told everyone who would listen that we were DONE, DONE I TELL YOU with 2 kids), and then we had the week and a half of ear infections, but since then, I have been blessed with the happiest baby in the world. R is finally starting to get a little demanding, which strangely enough, I do like. I also don't feel like I am dropping him in a corner and just forgetting about him anymore. L still demands more of my time, but I make ever second I get with R count.

R however, is not holding up his end of the bargain that he not grow up. The Wife reported to B on Tuesday that he is crawling. I laughed it off -- because we all know that NOTHING happens developmentally when Mommy is not around -- but then yesterday I laid him on a blanket to play and when I came back to get him he was halfway across the room and totally off the blanket. This is not good. He is only 5 months. What the hell is going on?

Oh, but he still will not roll over!

Happy 5 month birthday R. Mommy may not talk about you a bunch on here, but it isn't because she loves you any less than L. You just provide fewer comical or "makes her want rip her hair out" material. Keep smiling and giggling and please please please STOP GROWING!

My 2 best friends...

Remember a long time ago when I said I am just not popular? Funny enough, that is the one that I got so many comments on IRL as well as on my blog. Guess there are a lot of people who feel the same way.

Well, since I have moved past that, I realized how damn lucky I am to have not one but TWO best friends. That is in addition to The Saint -- who I couldn't be closer to these days -- and B. The funny thing is that thinking of them together is so hard to do. I don't think N and W could be more different.

W is the friend that I have had the longest in my life. We met in 6th grade, were both smart and kinda nerdy and spent many a day hanging on the fringe of the popular crowd. We were so close though. She was helplessly in love with one of my best friends (my friendships with males started at the early age of 3! That is what living in the country will do, because he was the only one around that was anywhere close to my age. Apparently he was quite the hottie, but I just knew him as Mike -- the guy who could fix the handlebars on my bike when I was little). W has 2 little girls and we actually do refer to them both as E and O when we email about them. O you know as Olivia. W has a hot temper like I do. Loves her husband to death, but he drives her as batty as B drives me. She is a voracious reader of all things pregnancy like I am and we are both probably a little over educated in many areas. W and I discuss labor, deliveries, pregnancy symptoms, etc together in great detail. My hubby couldn't care less... her hubby, totally grossed out by it. W is some kind of computer wiz and I know what she does for a living about as well as she knows what I do (which is not at all on both of our cases!)

N on the other hand was my college roommate for 2 years. She is Mormon. Me -- oh my no. Somehow though we are super close and her family even loves me (trust me, sometimes I wonder why, but I try to keep in mind that my crazy days in college were never a bad influence on N and she was an awesome calming influence on me!). N doesn't like to know too much about anything pregnancy related, so things like that are "off limits". She is very very slow to anger and doesn't talk about things that are bothering her very much (it is like prying open a tin can with a spoon to get her to talk sometimes). She also has 2 kids -- one girl and one boy and her boy was born on L's first birthday! We love that. She lives out west though and so we go for long stretches of time without seeing each other, however, you would never know that when we actually do get together because it is as if we were just together yesterday. Our plan was to travel a lot together and we did make it to Costa Rica together (best trip of my life with the exception of my honeymoon which was just different) and then we both got married and had kids. Some time soon we will be able to start traveling together again -- hopefully. N is a SAHM and a pretty amazing one at that. She is so stinking creative!

Then there is me. I am hot tempered, wear my emotions on my sleeve and have verbal diarrhea. Some how I lost the filter between my brain and my mouth, so if I am thinking it, it comes right out. I am a litigation attorney and work in Manhattan. My hours are insane and there are days at a time when I barely get a chance to send out personal email. I have a major addiction to caffeine -- come on, I survive on 6 hours of sleep and have 2 kids under 2, how else could I do this. I would call myself corporate crunchy -- I believe in extended breastfeeding, unmedicated childbirth and cloth diapering (although I can't get B to agree with me on that one, so we still use sposies). I make the boys baby food and predominately buy organic food. However, I do not co-sleep, believe in child-led parenting or skipping vaccines (although for other reasons I do use a modified schedule that the pedi and I agreed on and at his recommendation). We are all so much alike, can't you tell.

How are we alike? Well we all have 2 kids under 2, we all were former athletes and we are all three very strong and independant women.

It just amazes me that two women who have only met once are two of the most important people in my life. I am truly blessed with such good friends and I hope they know how much they mean to me.

Talking to myself

It's been a while since I got comments, so if you are out there, comment, otherwise I am going to start thinking that I am talking to myself. Actually, that may be a good thing at times.

Last night made me realize what good sleepers I have. I worked late -- like 1am late -- and when I got home I got two calls from the office in reference to a document production I was having copied. They were important calls to take and I was WIDE awake each time the phone rang.

Luckily the boys slept right through the two phone calls.

B ... not so much. After the second one, there was lots of muttering and complaining. I think I remember doing the same thing when he would get calls in the middle of the night to plow snow. YIKES. Poor guy. Sorry B, but as you know it pays the bills.

Not making this up!

I don't know what it is with me and VA, but we just don't seem to get along. It started a few years ago when I got pneumonia after visiting the Saint and family for a birthday party. Actually, almost every single guest got pneumonia or some disease which is why the Saint now does the b-day parties all together in late summer (the oldest and youngest have birthdays in July, the middle one is in November, so August/Sept is close to spliting the difference).

Anyways, another trip and another disease. This time L woke up Sat morning with a fever and just progressed to being a super crank. Of course, in my genius, I assumed his crankiness was just him being ultra whiney and put him in a time out. Only seemed to realize it was more than just being cranky when he was shaking/shivering/boiling hot and just not able to "get over it" for a good hour. Yeah, mommy is so wonderful. Shoot, I got annoyed when he didn't want to get in the water at the pool party.

Needless to say -- today is day 3 of sick, clingy, whiney kid and after a pedi appt this morning it is official -- Hand foot and mouth disease! Oh yummy.

So, lets see the last three trips have included -- R's ear infections, Oldest Niece puking and now hand foot and mouth disease. Think our trips to VA are jinxed??

Did I mention we are headed there in exactly one month for 3 days??? Can't wait to see what disease that trip brings. At least I know where the local urgent care is now.

I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again

Actually I do know, and it is a very unexciting 3 days from now. Headed to DC to spend the weekend with The Saint and family and we are flying this time!! Yeah for 1 hour in the air vs. 6+ in the car.

But seeing as I haven't packed, have well over a dozen emails between the time I went to bed last night 12:15 and when I got up this morning -- God help me, it started with a 5 -- bleck and I need to respond to them, well frankly, I have nothing well thought out to post today. Brain is mush. See what this working crap will do to you??

Maybe you will get lucky and the Today show will have something assinine on it again this morning and I can come here and rant and rave, but until then, I have a date with the Marshmellow Puff baby who has just recently realized that he can shove his entire foot in his mouth. Big happenings here.

Poop and a good day?

This morning I was about to leave the house (after humming and hawing over what to wear because good grief my weight is all over the place these days) and I heard L wake up. Normally I practically run to the door when I hear that -- and while that SOUNDS awful it is really because he throws such a God awful fit when I leave for work if he is awake and I hate doing that to The Wife. But, for some reason today, I went in to get him up.

The smell hit me right away.

L had pooped all the way down his leg -- not just a bit, but big giant clumps of poop.

Surprisingly, I have to say we had a GREAT morning. After cleaning him up and doing the laundry, I got to hang out with him and R while they ate breakfast. I have been at the office stupidly late the last few nights, so I wanted to spend as much time with them as I could this morning and if that meant dealing with some serious poop -- it was well worth it.

L was in the best mood. Giving big kisses. Saying MaMa and DaDa with that adorable little voice that he only uses when saying our names and never once throwing a temper tantrum (until I left for work, but hey, I was gone so....). R did his normal smiley happy baby thing and was just content to watch his brother eat breakfast and sit on my lap.

Days like today are when I am certain we are going to have a third.

Too bad B wasn't around to appreciate it too. I might finally get him to agree to 3 that way.

Parental responsibility

This morning, my wonderful 2 little boys slept in for me. Well, that isn't entirely true -- R is either teething or going through a growth spurt, so he was up at 12:30 and 5:00, but both R and L were sound asleep from 6:30 when I got up until I left for work at about 7:45. This provided me with ample opportunity to watch the Today show. Do you know that it is exactly one year until the 2008 Olympics? Yeah, I didn't realize that either until this morning.

While I was watching the Today show I caught snippets of this whole McDonald's taste testing thing that I guess was recently released. The story is here, but the basic gist is that kids think that food packaged by McD tastes better. Same fries, different packaging, and the kids preferred the McD packaging.

Also, included in that news report was some woman who started blathering on about McD's responsiblity and how their marketing is actually effecting the taste of foods and how they are "physically altered by the marketing" and that they are making our kids fat. OK -- I am sorry, but WHAT THE HELL are they talking about.

THIS is the crap that annoys me with today's society/parents. Now it is McD's fault that kids like their fries better or that kids want to eat their food instead of mom's "baked" french fries. WHY is this news? Let me tell you something, I ALWAYS thought McD's fries tasted better than my mom's (sorry mom) and probably always will, but I knew from an early age they were a TREAT. If I wanted to eat fries, 9 times outta 10 I was getting Mom's fries and not McD's -- and trust me RARELY did I get something that I WANTED to eat. If I didn't eat mom's fries or whatever food it was that was served for dinner, then I 1) sat there until my plate was clean or 2) didn't get anything else to eat the rest of the night. Period, end of story.

You know what -- guess what little boys are going to be raised the exact same way? Because it WORKS.

Yes, L is well aware of Dunkin Donuts and what their packaging looks like. He FREAKS if he sees it and will whine and complain until he gets a donut, but it is a once a week thing. I don't worry about it since the majority of his diet is made up of fruits and vegetables. His breakfast yesterday -- omelet with fresh tomatoes from our garden, sliced cucumber from our garden and a whole wheat pancake with blueberries (none of which I can really take credit for because The Wife was doing the cooking)-- so one donut on Sunday mornings isn't going to kill the kid. But that is exactly what it is. ONE donut, ONCE a week AT MAX. And I am not going to pretend that it is Dunkin Donuts' fault. It is MY fault. I am his parent and I introduced him to donuts. Ya' know why? Because I like them and I like to get them on Sunday mornings (my hips don't particularly agree, but hey, I am still feeding R, so I need the extra calories).

Needless to say, there, is again another call to have McD's restrict their advertising to kids. Insane, assinine and POINTLESS. Not for nothing, I don't get why people think that a corporation like McD's can mold their kids into fry hungry monsters. So what if they like McD's fries better. I think most people would agree that they ARE better. The problems arise when YOU as parents ALLOW your child to control this. So what if they don't LIKE what you are feeding them -- are they going to starve themselves? No, they aren't, especially at the age of 2, 3, 4, etc. Is it HARDER to raise a child who has good eating habits rather than give into their every whim -- of COURSE it is. But what the hell do you think you signed up for when you had a child. It is rough to raise a good child.

And it sure as hell isn't McD's fault that kids like their fries more than moms.

Not to mention -- these are the same parents who are throwing a fit that NYC is banning free formula because "I am an adult and I can CHOSE how to feed my kid" blah blah blah. So it isn't the formula company's fault when you chose to FF, but it IS McD's fault when you kid only wants to eat their fries???? (*shrugs*). That makes tons of sense.

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

B and I saw a shirt a few years ago that we wanted to get for my oldest niece. She has this little habit that makes me freaking BATTY -- she whines incessantly. Apparently The Saint did the same thing when she was little, so I just assumed it was in THOSE genes and God, why can't The Saint just make it stop?






Yeah, well now I am removing my head from my ass. L -- he is a whiner. There is next to nothing that I can come up with to make it stop. I have "whine free" zones -- ie. he can't whine in the living room/playroom and if he does he goes straight to his own room. I have timeouts for whining. I ignore the whining. All that does is NADDA. He still whines, he still throws temper tantrums at the mere mention of the word no and he still makes me freaking BATTY.

He is a damn cute kid, but at the rate he is going, I don't see him much as 90% of his day is spend in time outs, in his room or being ignored because I am trying to get the whining to stop.

Only place he doesn't whine -- the pool. So we may be that crazy family that has their child bundled in a snow suit playing in a ice covered pool come this winter! (not really, but who knows what we are going to do when we don't have the pool as an outlet any longer.)

The Ban...

I am sure most people who read this blog already know what ban I am talking about, but if you don't.

NYC passed a law forbidding City hospitals from giving away the diaper bags with formula in them at discharge. And good Lord if it isn't causing a stir, so I feel the need to comment.

First of all, you all know that I am a huge believer in breastfeeding. I think it is undoubtably the best food for baby and I am more than happy to have been able to breastfeed L until I got pregnant with R and breastfeed R for the last almost 20 weeks. I wouldn't trade the convenience of it for anything and I do believe that it makes me feel closer to my boys. As I usually joke -- I have been supporting another life since March of 2005 -- between both pregnancies and breastfeeding. So, obviously formula isn't in need here. Not that I don't HAVE formula in the house, because Lord knows I do. Want Similac -- I got it. Want Enfamil -- I got it. The only one I don't think I have in the house is Good Start and that is only because they are so stingy on the freebies. I also have coupons coming out my ears. Normally, I have a few people to give them to, especially co-workers, but those are starting to finally slow down now.

Now, onto my comments on this ban. I honestly don't see what the big deal is. NYC recently banned trans fat from being used in restaurants and no one, but no one is freaking out about it. NYC officials decided no trans fat is healthier for the general population. I personally think that NYC officials should mind their own damn business and if I want to eat straight lard for days then that is within my rights. How does this relate to formula? Hello, the door swung wide open for NYC officials to impose their own beliefs on the healthiest life style choices and NOW all of a sudden you want to close it.

Too damn late people. You can't just sit there on your hands when you agree that they should be able to push their own health agenda and then get all pissy when all of a sudden that choice touches on one of the mommy hot button issues.

Not to mention -- why anyone thinks they have a right to have an opinion on how another mother feeds her child is beyond me. Actually, that is not true -- you are WELCOME to have an opinion, but you really need to keep it to yourself.

I also heard someone say that banning the formula from the hospital CRIMINALIZES formula feeding. (yes, you read THAT correctly). Only a insecure freakoid would think that. There is a BIG BIG difference between criminal behavior and no more freebies.

Come on people, this isn't a huge deal. Feed your kid which ever freaking way you want. The hospital is still going to give you formula in the hospital and just like all the pads and such that you are sent home with, I am sure you will get some to go. To think that you are entitled to a free can of formula is assinine though.

And not to mention, it doesn't exactly take any planning to SIGN UP with the formula companies prior to giving birth and have samples on hand if you need them. I signed up, just in case, and have formula coming out my ears.

This reminds me of consumer reports time. A whole lotta hoopla about an issues that people really just need to educate themselves on. If you want to formula feed by all means do so, but don't think that it is your hospitals obligation to provide it to you for free upon your departure.

On a side note though -- I am thoroughly depressed that THIS is the crap my tax dollars go towards. Why have a law like this? Then again, I thought the trans fat law was crap too.

Skating around

Anyone notice I haven't provided an update about L's appt last week?? Anyone???

Well, there have actually been two things I have been skating around recently. Trying to pull up mundane old drafts and such to keep posting, but since these two issues are really consuming my life at the moment, guess it is time to fess up to the internet at large.

1) L has sensory integration dysfunction. He has to start OT and speeach therapy. His motor planning and fine motor skills I guess suck. This of course I have to hear from the coldest, nastiest psych evaluator ever and just mere hours after getting a call telling me....

2) My best friend's daughter, Olivia, has Down Syndrome. Trisomy 21 to be exact as the blood work results just came back on Tues. W -- that is the best friend -- had no risk factors, the integrated screen gave her a 1 in 5200 chance of having a baby with Downs and to say everyone was shocked is the understatement of the world. However, W is AMAZING. She was shocked at first, but now she is florishing and honestly providing me with an example of how I need to be a better mom. I couldn't be prouder of her right now.

All in all, last Friday was a very bad day. Considering it was 7/27/07 you would think it would have been lucky, but NOT!

I know the post is a downer, but it needed to be said so that I don't continue to try to skate around these issues.

I just do not learn my lesson

So, for those who have been reading this blog for a while, you will remember when I attempted to help The Saint out and watch her girls when her husband had a kidney stone -- or actually what turned out to be multiple stones. If not, I must say you need to check it out.

Guess what I am going to do Sept 13 -15??? Oh yes, I am going to drive to VA to help The Saint out while she goes to a wedding. That would be ME -- just ME -- and FIVE children. Have I lost my damn mind??? (the answer of course is YES I have)

I keep reminding myself that my nieces will 1) be in school on Thurs and Friday, 2) provide endless entertainment for L, 3) R sleeps great anywhere and finally 4) this time I won't have to sleep on an air mattress in the basement! That is a huge huge huge help. Although I am going to have to figure out how to get 5 kids out of the house in time for school -- THAT should be interesting.

I guarantee I will have some interesting posts from those few days!