Day 3 without water....

Argh.  Just....argh.  This is so incredibly inconvenient not having running water since we are not camels.  And are potty-training a preschooler.  Nothing like giving her mixed signals:  Let's go potty, do you have to go potty? Time to go potty.....whoops.  Can't flush the toilet, here's a pull-up.  Though I had a dream last night that we had water.  And it was beautiful.  We could do fun stuff like flush toilets and shower and maybe even the dishes!  You know, cuz we live dangerously.

But!  Noah is the toothless wonder no more!  He is cutting his first tooth on the bottom and isn't particularly jazzed about it since he didn't go to sleep last night until 12:30.  Though it could also have been the 5 hours worth of naps he took yesterday.  However, last evening for kicks I stuck my finger in his mouth to check for imminent toothage and lo! there was a tiny sharp point.  When you are a parent you do dumb stuff like that.  Don't you?  (Crickets....)

I'm home with the kids this morning since my mother-in-law has an appointment with the Social Security Administration.  I'm not sure who gets the short end of the stick in this scenario....  It wouldn't be so bad except that I can't make coffee.  Since we have no water.  And we've come full circle!  That's how you wrap up a blog post people!

You never know how much you need something until its gone....

I was going to do a introspective, heart-wrenching post about why I have been so unhappy at work recently (yeah, total armchair psychologist here) but then others things intruded so I'll save that for another day....

So yesterday a water main broke in Pikesville.  Which affected businesses and residences all the way up to Butler Road. Which is roughly 1/2 mile north of here.  Our water pressure has slowly been dying all day and now the only water left to be had in the house is in the basement.  Where we have the 4th bathroom.  In all its nastiness.  Because really, if the basement is generally used for storage why would I clean the bathroom.  Damn it, theres the karma again whupping me upside the head.   And since we are at the very end of the line, we will be the last to have water restored.  Oh joy.  Thank god I bathed the kids last night. 

But my folks came up to see us today to celebrate my birthday.  It was a nice visit, Mom and Noelle played Candyland, Noah was cute and they gave me a plunger.  Because you never know when you might need it....

So I've been drinking wine and playing around on my new laptop in the hopes that I might actually not completely adhere to the couch cushions in the evening.  I might do useful stuff like work or facebook or update the blog.  Its a tough job but someone has to do it.  The only good thing about the no water is that we can't give the kids baths tonight which means we'll be able to watch the Oscars that much sooner.  I'll be honest here, we haven't seen any of the nominated films for best....anything.  Because we are losers parents who are poor lazy. 

Uh oh, naptime is over.  Must mean its time for another thrilling session of Candyland!  You can't defeat the power of the candy cards so don't even try.  Mmmm.  Chocolate.  And wine.  Maybe its not as bad as I think.  Though I'd still like to have water back.  For, you known, thrills.

Tales from the potty

Allow me to go old school for a minute:  potty training is 'one step forward, two steps back'.  How true Paula Abdul, how true.  Just as I was saying to Dylan the other night that I think we have turned the corner in Noelle's potty training, MC Scat Cat/karma/whatever comes along and smacks me upside the head.  To wit:

Monday - Went all day at school without an accident!  Made it through the car ride home without an accident!  Made it through the dinner hour without an accident!  Made it to bedtime...and that's when the train derailed.  But tomororw is another day!  We're almost there!  Tis but a flesh wound....

Tuesday - Not quite as good as Monday.  She had one accident at school and another one in car on the way home (but that one I blame on a ridiculous amount of traffic due to the rain.  WTF? Rain? We survive 4 feet of snow in 5 days and traffic slows to a crawl because of some rain?  I so do NOT get drivers in the Mid-Atlantic.)  So we jam her butt into a pull-up for the rest of the evening.  (Pull-Ups:  the greatest invention ever or the bane of your existance?  Discuss.)  Get through bed-time without any more impromptu laundry sessions or toilet declogging heroics (for which my arm heartily thanks you Noelle.)  But we'll soldier on tomorrow....

Wednesday - And the great underwear switch continues.  She again goes all day dry at school...until I get there at a little after 5 to pick her up.  She is cowering slightly behind the bookshelf and my spider-potty-sense starts tingling.  Yup, she peed.  She looks a little upset and says 'Mommy, I peed in my pants.'  Points for grammar though....  Off to get dry clothes and to the potty to change her all the while with her doing the duck hobble-waddle as the pee leaks down into her NEW SHOES.  But of course it does.  With changed clothes, sits on the potty.  Nothing.  Because its all in her NEW SHOES now.  So homeward bound we are!  Dry on the way home.  Hooray!  Dry after the first 'movie'; potty time!  She sits but doesn't go.  That's okay since its still in her SHOES.  She then proceed to play in the bathroom making funny faces and generally admiring the cuteness that is Noelle in the mirror.  And then...disaster struck.  She pooped in her pants.  STANDING IN THE BATHROOM.  FINE, I'll clean you up.  I then proceed to dig poop nuggets out of her butt since she hadn't pooped in 2 days.  This has not been my finest week for the bathroom you guys.  Happy Birthday to me!  Back into the pull ups with the THIRD pair of pants today.  And no socks.  Because I am done.  Call the grandma police on me, I don't care.  Not 15 MINUTES LATER she pooped AGAIN.  In the pull up.  And of course this one was the gooey mess.  Dylan got this one because, as I said, I was DONE. 

Okay universe, I get it.  Potty training is not fun, easy or quick but could you PLEASE get up off my head now?  M'kay?  Thanks.

Taking stock

Today I am 36 years old.  I don't know if I ever thought about where I would be at 36; it was always nebulous, "when I'm grown up/older".  I always assumed that I would get married, have children, buy a house...all of which has come to pass.  If I were to think of it in terms of a 'bucket list' then everything is crossed off.  But its so much more than that.  Its a deep and profound joy that I have such wonderful family and friends.  While the day to day minutiae can wear me down its the little things that make everything worthwhile:  making up silly songs with Noelle in the car, seeing Noah's smile when I go into his room to kiss him good-bye for the day, a sleepy Noelle first thing in the morning wanting to just cuddle for a few minutes before the rush of the day starts in earnest.  Knowing that each night I will drift off to sleep in Dylan's arms and the gratitude that he has taken over the tasks of preparing the bottles and lunches in the mornings.  Its knowing that I can count on my family for anything - an ear, a bad joke, laughing until tears are running down our faces.  The good luck in having my grandmothers still alive and that Noelle will not only remember them but also have a relationship with them tempered with the knowledge that the time with them is limited and that I have to do more to be with them.  Its being able to count my mother and sisters as my best friends; its having in-laws who are so much more than a cliche or stereotype.  More generous and loving people you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere.  Its my dad being there for Noah's birth and always doing whatever he can to help us.  Its knowing that whatever I decide to do, all of these people will have my back.  They may make fun of me for years afterwards for those decisions but when the chips are down, they are there. 

Its been a great 36 years and I can't wait to see what the next 36 will bring.

An identity crisis at 3 years old

I keep reading and hearing about the imaginative play of preschoolers but had yet to see it manifest in Noelle. Well, I wait no longer. A list, from the past week, of all the things that she has pretended to be:

Police Officer Noelle
Princess Dora Noelle
Spider Noelle
Purple Spider Noelle
Apple Noelle
Vacuum Cleaner Noelle

Vacuum Cleaner Noelle could be happy and could be bad. And sometimes, both at the same time. Usually this just means she runs around the house yelling "I Vacuum Cleaner Noelle!" I usually wind up as 'Bad Vacuum Cleaner Mommy' though I have no idea how I'm supposed to play the game.

We also have an obession with 'Candyland'. She LOVES it. Might possibly play it all day long if given the chance. But because she is her father's daughter, certain routines must be followed before play commences. Like all of the candy cards must first be laid out on their corresponding positions on the gameboard before they can go into the general card stack. And once played, they have to be separate from the general discard pile. Oddly enough, she doesn't have a favorite color player but the 'peoples' have been found all over the house. Life with a preschooler is fun, its aggravating, its heart-overflowing-with-love but its never boring.

Back in the saddle again

So its only been 3 months since the last post. Well, first post technically. So lots of stuff has happened, children grew, blah blah blah. And then, Monday happened....

Let's run down the various ways that Monday sucked (as if we really needed more reasons to hate this day):
1) Noelle gave me a bloody lip. Okay, not on purpose and she felt really bad but man did it hurt. Who knew that kissing your kid on the top of the head was so fraught with peril? Note to self: keep face away from all children when they are jumping. No good can come of it.

2) The MVA is really the anteroom to hell. This one is kind of my fault since I had forgotten to renew my driver's license via the mail as the notice was buried under a lot of crap on my dining room table. What? You eat there? Its not where paper and junk mail go to breed? Surely you jest. So I take off early from work to renew it bring my social security card since I need to update my name to reflect my legal name from getting married...6 years ago. SHUT UP. This was all that was needed I figured so off I went on my merry way. To reach the parking lot where OH MY GOD there was no parking. Of course. But! I persevered and found a spot and joined the end of the license renewal line. This is just to get to the info desk where they will assign you a number to wait in another line. Finally! Its my turn. But do you have your marriage license? Whaaaa? I have my card! With my married name! No, not good enough. Need PROOF. So back home to get the stupid license then back to the MVA to do the parking lot circle dance to get back in the info line to get a number to wait for a spot to open. Thank God I brought a book.

3 & 4) They are cliches for a reason. Got smug with the whole Noelle is doing so well with the potty training. She went all day dry and was playing on our bed making a train while I ran her bath. Decided that she wanted Daddy to do it so we switched off. He comes down the stairs after a few minutes asks if pillows are washable. Hunh? Yes, she peed on the pillows and comforter. Lovely. Strips the bed, takes it down to wash. I'm sitting on the couch with Noah when it occurs to me to check on her. We get upstairs just as the toilet bowl has completely filled with water. Noelle is next to the toilet jiggling the handle saying "Mommy it not working!". Oh crap. Throw Noah into the bassinet which is really really too small for him run back into the bathroom and somehow calmly tell Noelle to GET OUT! There is a huge wad of toilet paper jammed in there. Because of course there is. And we have no plunger. That would be smart. Hah! I prefer to live dangerously. So at this point Dylan appears in the doorway as I'm rolling up my sleeve to plunge my arm into the toilet to unstick the wad of paper. Good lord how much paper did she stuff in there? With my arm submerged up past my elbow, I'm finally rewarded with the sucking power of the toilet emptying barely averting disaster. Dyl's brilliant comment: Don't we have a plunger? Um, no. No we do not. Must I think of everything around here. Me and my mighty arm will solve all of your clogs woes.

Wanted to crawl into a bottle of wine but its downstairs behind a ton of junk that I just don't feel like crawling through so eff it. Solved a crossword puzzle instead. With pen. Finite! So at least the day ended on an upnote....

The children update

Yes, that's right our 'little' man is 6 months old today. I am pleased to report that in conjunction with Logan and Mason we have the makings of a stellar front court. Because the boy is HUGE. Drum roll if you please:

Length: 29.25 inches. Yes you read that correctly. 29.25 inches. For those playing along at home, he was 22.5" at birth. So in 6 months he has grown just about 7 inches. There is on the chart, above the chart and not in the same zip code as the chart. Guess which one he falls into. Go on, guess. We are currently accepting donations for his clothing and shoe budget because GOOD LORD.

Weight: 19.2 pounds. Impressive, no? But! Still on the chart. Not even in the 90th percentile. So, my medium-sized chunk. A MARKED difference from the roly-polyness that was Noelle at this age. But still quite yummy.

Head circumference: 45 cm. Again, above average but not at the tops of the chart. Which is a good thing because you all remember the size of Noelle's noggin. YES! I finally have a proportionate-sized kid. A very LONG one to be sure but proportionate. (I am really not picking on Noelle but come on, she was the epitome of cute baby chub and was the possessor of the largest head I have ever seen on an infant.)

His doctor was very happy and impressed with how he is doing: sitting on his own, bearing all his weight on his legs (we just steady him) and being thisclose to getting into the crawling position. He's such a happy baby and a total ladies' man. He loooooves the ladies. He has also discovered the joys of the jumperoo. Child could spend HOURS in that thing. And Noelle will jump right along with him. Which he loves. Again see: ladies' man. He's eating rice cereal and we just started him on carrots. I've decided to try my hand at making his baby food because I've gotten spoiled in not having to buy formula for him as I'm still keeping up with his demands for milk. Speaking of milk (did you notice that awesome segue? I so rock at this writing thing) I am giddy over the fact that not only have I lost all of my Noah baby weight but also all of my lingering Noelle baby weight. And then some. Yay for imitating a cow!

Today is Noelle's picture day at school. We are crossing all fingers and toes that she will allow the photographer to actually take her picture this year. For the first time in 2 YEARS. WTH? She begs for us to take her pic at home but elsewhere? Hell to the no. She is doing pretty well with her potty training. Next week we are starting in the big leagues and going pull-up free. The solution might be to just duct tape her to the potty between the hours of 4 and 7 pm as those seem to be the prime 'piddling' hours.

That's it for this dispatch so from muddy beautiful Baltimore, Maryland: