Wishing it's Friday ain't gonna make it so, kiddo

Logan has a serious mental block on the days of the week. He can sing the song, but when I ask him what yesterday was or what tomorrow is, he doesn't even bother to think about it and just tells me he doesn't know. Well today, he proclaimed it to be Friday without any regard to the fact that yesterday was Wednesday, therefore making today Thursday. Not Friday. SERIOUSLY.NOT.FRIDAY! I said that a billion times this morning but he kept arguing with me. He told me I was "so so wrong" and "the meanest mommy ever" (for not agreeing it's Friday?) and that I made the calendar wrong.

See, Fridays are share and tell days in his class—the only day of the week he's allowed to bring in a toy from home. This week they're discussing pets, so he's been planning all week to bring in his pillow pet on Friday. When I broke the news to him that it wasn't Friday yet, a major tantrum ensued. So major that I thought he was going to lose his voice from yelling at me so loudly. I REALLY need to teach that kid the days of the week so this bit of morning fun doesn't happen again...

I feel his pain. I'd prefer it to be Friday, too. The good news is that since tomorrow actually is Friday (FINALLY!), I anticipate smiles and excitement tomorrow morning, which will be a nice change of pace from today.

And yeah, I guess I'll cross "pretend it's Thursday" on my list of possible April Fools jokes on the boys!

Happy almost Friday!



He's all smiles now!





Vampires are trendy

This weekend, a few days shy of 8 months old, Lorelai finally cut her first tooth. Oddly enough, it's her upper right lateral incisor. I guess they typically come in pairs, so unless her front two teeth make a surprise appearance, she'll be rocking the vampire look for a while when the other one comes in. Awkward much? Good thing vampires are totally cool right now (although after the movie, I've switched to Team Jacob)!

So I have to admit, part of me is a smidge worried that there's something wrong with her bottom teeth because they didn't come in like "normal" (like her brothers' teeth did). I'm sure everything is fine with her teeth, but I'll feel much better when all of her central incisors come in. I will miss that gummy smile though!



Happy 8 months, sweet girl!



 



Spoiled.

My hat's off to all the single parents out there. I do not envy you. Apparently I'm spoiled by having a helpful husband and co-parent, because when he's out of town, life gets about 47 times harder. Getting everyone up and ready in time to take Logan and Lorelai to daycare and then back to the bus stop with Aidan, getting dinner made and on the table while feeding Lorelai and overseeing Aidan's homework, then bathing all three of them and getting them all into bed by myself with only two hands is a challenge I'm not used to yet. And I don't like it! (Yes, I'm pouting.)

Luckily I'm also spoiled with a fabulous and wonderfully helpful mom who is able to come over and help me sometimes when I need it. Today I had one of those days where things kept going wrong so I was already frustrated. Tonight would have been a total disaster if she hadn't come over to help with dinner and showers. Thanks, mom!

Too bad I'm really on my own on Thursday. Is it bad that I'm kind of hoping that Aidan's soccer practice gets rained out so I don't have to bathe Aidan and Logan, get them ready for bed and feed Lorelai all at the exact same time? Of course I'll manage, but it would be nice if I could figure out how to clone myself or grow a third arm in between now and then...

A soccer star is born

Proud mom bragging alert (as if you couldn't tell from the title)... Logan had his first soccer game this weekend and he was AWESOME! The only soccer experience Logan has had is a Lil' Kickers class last spring and he's never played in any kind of real game before, so Adam was a little nervous that he would just stand around and not do anything (like most of the kids did during practice). Well not our little star. He played with such focus and natural talent. He scored at least 8 goals (so many that we lost count) and his team won the game by a landslide (13 to 5 maybe?).



Such focus and determination!


Adam's the assistant coach so during games, he coaches/refs half the team on one half of the field while the other coach handles the other half. He did a great job trying to get all the kids involved and I think he was pleasantly surprised that the ones who were actually playing listened to him really well. It was so cute, he would give his players a high-five after each goal, so when the other team scored, they all started coming up to Adam for high-fives as well.
 They played 5v5 (U4 is supposed to be 4v4 on half field but Adam and the other coach didn't want to sit anyone out) but it might as well have been 3v5 since Logan and another boy and occasionally another girl were the only ones who wanted anything to do with the ball. Bless their hearts, there was one girl on his team who literally stood in the middle of the field messing with her shirt until her parents pulled her off, and another boy who stood in the corner and didn't do anything (his parents had to keep encouraging him to stay on the field).



Logan in action. His teammate, not so much...


He's got two games this weekend so I hope to get a video of him actually scoring. I kept missing them because I was trying to record Logan and feed Lorelai some green beans at the same time. Then the Flip died. Sigh. Here's one video I did get of him in action.

Ok, I'm done bragging...for now ☺.

25 random things about me

I've had some serious writer's block for the past week, so I figured I do a "get to know the blogger" post. Anyone remember that '25 random things' that got passed around on Facebook a few years ago? Well I've updated my list slightly (so it's not completely deja vu to any of my Facebook friends). Here you go!

25 random things about me...

1. I watch too much TV (my faves right now are How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, and Shameless).
2. I love photography and aspire to be a better photographer.
3. I can be moody and occasionally have a bad temper.
4. I used to play field hockey (in high school and then club in college).
5. I rarely brag, but I'm very proud of the fact that I graduated from UNC in 3.5 years with 2 majors (BA in Journalism (Advertising concentration) and BA Psychology).
6. I was a total bookworm in college...I really should have had more fun.
7. My current job is completely unrelated to either of my majors (and any other training I've ever had). I'm lucky to have it!
8. I've been with Adam since I was 16 years old (14 years total, married for almost 9!).

9. I'm a penny pincher (we'll say bargain hunter...that sounds better).

10. On the other hand, I love my expensive MEK jeans! (Buying them about gave me an anxiety attack, but they were worth it.)

11. I eat when I'm bored.

12. I don't like beer.

13. I need a tummy tuck. I was not blessed with elastic skin, so 3 babies has just wrecked my tummy. Ew.

14. I tend to be shy and introverted and don't make friends very easily (plus, I'm a total homebody).

15. I'm a terrible procrastinator. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?

16. I was on a swim team in middle school and hated it. During meets, I would sometimes hide in the bathroom when it was my turn to swim the backstroke!
17. I'm a terrible housekeeper. I try (key word is *try*) to keep things tidy, but I'm bad about keeping things actually clean. I'm on a mission to become more organized.
18. Bad grammar and bad spelling are a huge pet peeve of mine. Your/you're and there/their/they're are NOT interchangeable! (Although, the occasional typo doesn't bother me at all.)
19. I like doing crafty things, I just wish I had more time to do them!
20. I have a terrible memory and it really bothers me--apparently there are supposedly memorable events in my life that I just don't remember (Jillian, if you're reading this...a bat in the house? Really?). I'm scared I'm going to forget things about my kids, and that would be the saddest thing ever.
21. I swear a lot (but not around my kids, thank goodness!)
22. I love lobster! It's been a family tradition since I was little to have a lobster birthday dinner. Yum!
23. I want to get LASIK (but the thought of slicing and peeling back my eyeballs freaks me the F*@% out!)
24. If I could go back to school, I'd choose to be either a physical therapist, or an occupational therapist like my mom. I see how much she loves her job (and helping people) and that's something I really want. Hindsight is 20/20...
25. Last but definitely not least, I love my kids more than life and I love being a mom!

So what about you, fellow bloggers? Anyone have any random facts you care to share? (Link 'em in the comments!) How about any tips for writer's block?

Forget the corned beef and cabbage...

(Because ew, cabbage!) This was our St. Patrick's Day dinner:

That's totally traditional, right? And totally Irish? Ok, so not really. But they're magically delicious, they're in a green bowl, and they're quick on a totally hectic night.

Aidan's first soccer practice was tonight, and he had a great time. Of course, we didn't get home until almost 7:45 so it was a mad dash to get everyone bathed, the boys in bed, and Lorelai nursed before total meltdown. But we did it. Thanks again to my mom who is such an amazing help to us!! I don't know what I'd do without her help sometimes.

(Aidan's in the blue)

Logan's all decked out in green-no chance he's getting pinched!

Lorelai's watching and learning from the sidelines.

Happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone! 

I'm officially a soccer mom

...and our lives are officially about to get a lot less lazy and a lot more crazy!  Soccer starts for the boys this week, which means two practices during the week and two games on the weekend. They are really excited! We went out this weekend to buy them cleats, shin guards and brand new balls, which they've been obsessing over ever since. Logan's so excited that first thing this morning, he got all his soccer stuff together in a bag and set it by the front door so he could change into it as soon as he got home. So cute!

Adam and I are excited too, but part of me can't help but dread the fact that Mondays and Thursdays are going to be crazy hectic now.

I know families do it all the time, but having extra-curricular activities during the week just seems so impractical for little ones. Aidan doesn't even get off the bus until at least 4:30, sometimes 4:45 (school gets out at 3:30 so an hour of his afternoon is wasted on the bus, but at least that gives me time to work my 8 hours in the office). Right now, it seems like we have barely enough time to pick up Logan and Lorelai from daycare, do homework, fix dinner, eat dinner, shower them, read to them and get them in bed by 7:30 or 8. And now we're going to add a 5-6pm soccer practice for Logan on Mondays and a 6:15-7:15pm practice for Aidan on Thursdays? What were we thinking?! And better yet, how does every other parent in the world manage this (and more) without going crazy?

To top it all off, I have Zumba on Mondays at 6 and Adam has his own soccer that night, too. Luckily right now all his game are late, but it's just one more thing to add to the mix. All in the name of leading well-rounded healthy lives, right? It's worth it, I know.

I always knew it would happen eventually, and I'm sure it's only going to get worse when we add Lorelai's activities into the mix. I guess we'll figure it out soon enough. I'm already planning on lots of cereal and peanut butter and jelly for quick and easy dinners. Hey, less cooking for me!

Fortunately tonight went pretty smoothly, due in large part to my mom coming over and having dinner ready when they got home from soccer. And I'm proud to report that Logan loved his first practice. He was so good out there!


Ok, not the best action shot...next time
I'll bring the real camera, not my iphone!

I hope Thursday will go just as smoothly. Any suggestions for juggling weekday activities? Any quick and easy recipes or meals on the go that aren't a total repeat of Aidan's lunch? I'm sure the kid can only have so many PB&J's before he's sick of 'em!

Wordless Wednesday

How anti-social am I?

I'm so anti-social that my mom actually introduced me to my own neighbor the other day. That reads like a really bad punchline to a joke, right? Except it's not. It's my life. {Sigh}

My mom was outside with the boys while they rode bikes in our cul-de-sac and I was inside getting dinner ready. When I came out, she was chatting with two of my neighbors. She might as well have said, "neighbor, this is my daughter, the hermit."

I promise I had already met the neighbor my mom thought she needed to introduce me to, but we're not friends. I wouldn't even say we're neighborly, aside from a simple wave in passing, so I can kind of see why my mom thought we needed an introduction in case either of us had awkwardly forgot each other's name or something. But I do know his name and we've briefly chatted on a few occasions before.

The truth is, we've lived in our house for over 7 years in a pretty family-oriented neighborhood, and I've made almost no effort to get to know any of my neighbors. Granted, in our cul-de-sac, two neighbor couples are much older than us with presumably very little in common and one neighbor couple is about our age but doesn't have kids which would make a friendship a bit more awkward (in my own mind full of excuses, of course). But there's no excuse for not being more friendly with our next door neighbors. They're about our age, graduated from the same college as me and they have a 2-year-old son with daughter on the way. In fact, her name is Becky and their son's name is Aidan. Freaky, right? On paper, we should totally be BFFs!

Honestly, I'm not trying to be anti-social. I'm just flat out shy. Always have been and probably always will be. It feels like such a curse. I've always had trouble making friends. All throughout school, I only ever had a pretty small group of close friends. And when I first started at the job I'm at now, I'm pretty sure my coworkers thought I was either mute or completely stuck up because I never socialized or talked. That's probably what my neighbors think of me, and I hate that. I really want to change, but it's hard for me to step out of my comfort zone and put myself out on a limb like that.

But kind of like with the whole confrontation thing, I know I need to try to get over it for the sake of my kids. See, if I'm more social, then they can be more social with play dates and stuff. They need that. I don't want them to share my curse of being shy. Plus, it has other horrible side effects, like a paralyzing fear of public speaking. They DEFINITELY don't need to inherit that fear from me!

So am I the only one who hasn't made friends with the neighbors? I'm gonna do it soon. I swear. (Aw, my mom will be so proud, haha!)

As if doing laundry didn't suck enough...

...It's now taking FOUR HOURS to dry one load of laundry. Yes, four. No, I didn't get all the laundry done because of it. Yes, we have a service appointment to check the unit on Tuesday (yay for our extended warranty with hhgregg). In the meantime, thank goodness we have extra sheets and towels!

We bought an LG front loader washer and dryer a year and a half ago because our old washer didn't agitate anymore, and the heating element was starting to go out on our old dryer where it would sometimes take two hours to dry a load. All was going well with our fancy schmancy set until recently when I noticed the dry time steadily increasing. Typically, a normal load would dry in about 40 minutes (less time than a normal wash cycle). Once I noticed that the dryer was still going after the wash was done, we started troubleshooting. We detached the vent hose, cleaned it out, and used a blower to check the air flow from the laundry room to the exterior vent. Air flow seemed fine, but no improvement on drying time.

So yesterday was the final straw. Adam put a load in the dryer at about 11am. I checked on it a little before 1pm, and the clothes were pretty much just as wet as when they came out of the washing machine!!! It took two more hours until they were finally done. Cuh-RAZY! I just hope it's a quick and easy fix. The laundry is piling up we don't have enough sheets to last past the weekend...

But the good news is that despite not finishing the laundry, I had an uncharacteristically productive weekend. We went to the grocery store for the first time in 3 weeks(!) and did great with the coupons. $87.53 in coupons and $60.12 in VIC savings. Woohoo!

I purged all the boys' old shoes and cleaned out the hall closet—the door actually closes now! (Ok, so it may not look that great now...I should have taken a "before" picture so you'd be more impressed ☺).

I cleaned our master bathroom, we vaccuumed, mopped and dusted (ok, so I didn't actually finish dusting and the rag is still on the bookshelf, but still...)

And to top it all off, I even pureed green beans, carrots and peas for Lorelai and made banana bread muffins for the boys!

I'm patting myself on the back for getting so much done in one weekend (although I may have just raised the bar a bit too high for myself, lol!) And with any luck, our dryer will be back in business by tomorrow night and I can cross laundry off my to do list, too! Fingers and toes crossed! (Speaking of toes, I just added pedicure to my list of things to do next weekend ☺)

Has anyone else had an issue with an LG dryer? Any idea what's going on with ours?

I'm kind of insulted

Yesterday, Aidan came home and told me that I needed to pack him a bag lunch for his field trip today. Ok, no prob. Then he asked if I could make an extra sandwich for his teacher, just in case she forgot to bring one, "because she forgets sometimes, on field trips." OMG, how sweet is that?!? He remembered (or heard her say she sometimes forgets), so he wanted to do something nice for his teacher. That's despite previous issues like this and this. I'm such a proud mom!

Well, I decided that I probably didn't need to make a whole sandwich for her (I assumed she probably would bring her lunch, plus I didn't know whether she liked PB&J), but we decided that we would put a granola bar in there for her just in case, since I saw her eat one the last time I took them as a snack to his class.

So Aidan gets home today and said he had a great time on the field trip (and got all his words right on his spelling test, yay)! Then I ask if his teacher liked the granola bar. He said "no, she didn't want it because that's all I brought for her." Um, what? I had to have misunderstood him because a teacher couldn't possibly be that ungrateful to a child who is trying to do such a kind thing, right?!

I asked Aidan to tell me exactly what she said when he tried to give it to her, and he told me she said "that's it?" Granted, she may have said it jokingly and he said she thanked him, but of course I'm overly sensitive about it because I already have issues with her. So to me, it just sounds like she didn't appreciate the gesture at all. On the upside, at least Aidan wasn't bothered by it.

Ok, I admit...I have a tendency to overreact sometimes. But I'm kind of insulted (on Aidan's behalf, but I'm taking it personally for some reason) that she wasn't more appreciative. Feel free to tell me I'm being crazy, but just be nice about it because apparently I'm overly sensitive today ☺).

31 weeks

I don't count Lorelai's age in weeks anymore—I stopped that when she was about 12 weeks old. But as I was going through some pictures on my computer, I started looking at my belly pics when I was pregnant with her. It got me thinking in terms of weeks again, so I thought it would be fun to compare 31 weeks in utero to 31 weeks out. Plus, I'm a bit nostalgic about my pregnancy these days. My cousin just had a baby girl and I've got a few other friends who are pregnant now, so it's on my mind.

So here we are in the beginning of June last year at 31 weeks gestation:

And here we are now, 31 weeks old:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't believe yet another month has gone by and she's already 7 months old! Not much longer till she reaches her "longer out than in" milestone. Probably not much of a milestone to anyone but me, but whatevs!

Oh, and photo credit goes to Aidan, who hit the button after I set up the camera on our tripod (although I really need to work on my camera and photo editing skills because there are terrible lighting and color cast issues, yuck!). Then we put it on auto timer so he could jump into the pic. Next time I'll have to wait until Logan gets home from school so he can be in the picture, too!

PS: Aidan's got crazy eyes because he said he was trying not to blink ☺

Celebrity of the Week

Amidst all of the drama with Aidan at school last week, it was his turn to be "celebrity of the week" in his class. Oh the irony, since I'm sure there's nothing in the fine print about how getting your work torn up and suffering shame and embarrassment is part of the celebrity treatment.

Anyway, each student has a week where they get special privileges each day. In theory. Too bad Aidan kind of got the shaft for most of the week...

On Monday he was supposed to share his "all about me" poster. Problem was, he was out sick on Friday so he didn't get one to take home and fill out over the weekend. He came home upset because not only did he not have one to present, he said his teacher didn't even tell anyone he was celebrity of the week.

On Tuesday, he brought in one of his favorite books to be read during story time. He came home sad because she didn't read his book like she was supposed to.

On Wednesday, he was supposed to present 3 favorite toys from home. He was only given enough time to present his poster from Monday. I guess the rest of the time was spent ripping up his work and making him cry...

On Thursday, I went in to have lunch with him. Except I actually missed lunch in the cafeteria with the class because their schedule got changed at the last minute, so Aidan was upset because thought he was going to have to miss his special lunch. Luckily, this is where the week took a turn for the better for him. The lunch mix-up actually was better for us, because I got to have a special lunch in his class with just him and 3 friends. He even got his story read that afternoon and was very happy that his friends all loved the book (Skippyjon Jones, Lost in Spice).

On Friday, he finally had a great day from start to finish. He was able to choose his favorite classroom job, and he chose line leader. He also got to take the class pet stuffed animal home for the weekend, which is apparently a big deal to all the kids.

Aidan was very excited to take Leap home to play with. Leap went with us to lunch at Chili's and the ice cream shop and met Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday. On Sunday, Leap got to take a ride on Aidan's remote control Jeep in the gorgeous weather!

Despite a seriously crappy situation that week, I'm so glad it ended on a high note for him. He's been looking forward to being celebrity of the week for a while, so it was nice to have him excited about something, and hopefully his good day on Friday helped to take his mind off the bad stuff.