What not to do when you have a toddler...

L is massively in love with his father. B has been home the last 5 days with the boys and the Wife, but B has been a little busy...

I am telling you ladies -- marry someone handy! It is worth its weight in gold. Cabinets arrive on Wednesday and I will finally have a kitchen back. 3 weeks with no kitchen and 2 under 2... HELLISH. Poor L seems to have recovered from staring into the kitchen through a tarp at the outline of his dad though...

Mastitis and Thrush

could my week get any better? Sunday, Monday and even part of Tuesday I was down for the count with a bout of mastitis. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of that little ailment, let me give you a summary...

Labor/Contractions, hell even the 42 hours of back labor with L, the first few weeks with an infant waking every 2 hours, even my 4 week long bout with mono where I couldn't even walk to the bathroom without having to lay down and sleep... CAKEWALK to mastitis! On Sunday, I laid in the basement for a while just praying that I could die.

Anyways, antibiotics kicked that bugs ass and now I am onto thrush. Shooting pain in my boob, cracked and itchy nipple, blah blah blah blah. Oh the fun. Gonna try a nipple cream the lactation consultant recommended, but if that doesn't work, we are on to the fun purple-monster making genetian violet.

And right now, I can only imagine the searchs that will cause THIS post to pop up!

The Holy Terror

Who would think behind this sweet face lies a hellion???

I may have mentioned this before, sort of, but I am ready for an official designation...

L -- he is a Holy fucking Terror! I would love to say I remain calm in dealing with his crap on a daily basis, but who the hell would I be kidding. My kid gets on my freaking nerves and then proceeds to jump up and down on them. Don't get me wrong, every day I look at him and think, oh my Lord, I love you so stinking much, but that is for about one nano second before the screeching, whining bastard emerges.

Yes, I realize that I have just refered to my eldest as a bastard, Holy Terror, but honestly, the things that I think to myself are much much much worse on any given day.

I am holding my shit together by increasingly thinner strands and I really need to figure out the way to deal with him. Strong willed child -- um, YEP -- that would be L.

And before the internet jumps on my ass, I am a good mom, just honest. I don't beat my child, heck, I barely spank him (although I absolutely did the day he ran out of the house and out into our street -- then I promptly bought even more childproofing items because Christ Almightly I have McGyver child who has figured out door locks at 17 months FUUUUUUUCK), although I am not opposed to the idea. Timeouts are starting to become more for my sanity then his discipline and I need to figure who what to do to make the child just stop whining.

Sorry -- I need to get this off my chest and I honestly don't think moms address the times when their children get on their last damn nerve enough. Everything I read is about how much I love my child -- look, see how cute, see how sweet, see how perfect (gag, puke). Listen, I know how much most mothers love their children, but please someone tell me what you do when you don't like them so much? L is turning into the bratty child that I said I never wanted (serves me right though).

Wonder if the The Saint wants to take on another child ... she probably has the patience too. Please return to sender when fixed though.

And yes -- R. He is still Mr. Perfect. Those second children are just the best thing ever.

Happy 4th

Just a quick note to wish everyone out there a Happy 4th of July! So happy to be skipping the fireworks in the city tonight. Thank Goodness for a little one with a strict bedtime!

Early intervention

So, I finally up and called Early Intervention for L. He is 19 months and still doesn't talk. I can't honestly say that he even has his own language that he uses because all I hear are various screeches and screams. Maybe I am just missing it, but I think he is delayed in this area. *shrugs*

Strangely enough, neither B nor I are upset about it. We both feel that it is important to nip this in the butt early on rather than take a sit and wait approach. Of course I know my SIL and MIL think I am totally overreacting (the first time MIL or SIL have EVER questioned my parenting) because SILs son of course didn't start talking until he was 3 and now he talks up a storm. And everyone of course thinks he is the perfect child (did you guess yet that I do not think so?? Really, was it that obvious?) Sorry, I am not willing to just wait and see. Not to mention I KNOW that 50% of his temper tantrums are the result of us not having a CLUE as to what he wants. Once he can talk a bit, I think the temper tantrums will get better.

Of course THAT will be just in time for the terrible twos, so I don't know if it will make much of a difference. This parenting bit is all just a barrel of laughs, huh?

On another note, R, pretty much the most perfect baby EVER. Can't believe how awesome he is.

Mommy's boy

R is a total Mama's boy and I couldn't be happier about it. Yeah, it may be short lived, but right now, I am his whole world. He lights up when he sees me, throws a fit if I am not around and just generally would rather be with me then anyone else. Which leads me to a thought?

How do you find the right balance of being "needed" by your kids and turning your boy into a Mama's boy at 22? R, at the moment, is a total crank if I am not home at night. Normally, this is not a problem, but on the rare ocassion that I DO have something to do at night (continuing legal education classes for example -- the bane of any lawyers existance), it makes for a really hard night for B. L is running around like a nut and is used to being the center of Daddy's world in the evenings and R just wants to be held, cuddled and nursed. Bottles just don't cut it for him at night.

Not to mention, this also stems from our neighbors. We have a wonderful neighbor P who is one of those parents that makes me shake my head. She knows this and we discuss it at length, but here are some examples -- her 12 year old son cries and gets upset if she goes out at night with friends, he is INCAPABLE of getting himself ANYTHING to eat, he is INCAPABLE of even picking up his towel off the floor of the bathroom and last but not least doesn't even pick out his own boxers to wear (and I mean that like P picks out a t-shirt and boxers for him and places it in the bathroom with a fresh towel so when he goes in to shower it is all there waiting for him!!). Again -- he is TWELVE people. Anyways, since she is overly concerned with being her son's friend and I am NOT, I know I won't get to that stage, but seriously, how do you find that balance, because let me tell you how much I love R's NEED for me for right now.

A good balance?

I am very lucky. I have a job I actually really like, I get to work from home two days a week and my boys are home with the worlds best nanny. I think I may have finally found the right balance for my life.

I am not snippy or cranky about things. I am actually keeping busy at work and getting quite a bit of time with the boys in the evenings and weekends. It took me until we had the second kid to figure it out, but I think by George I have got it.

Now, remind me of this when I get my next wave of mommy guilt because I miss R rolling over or L's most recent tumble.