Snippets of a day

*I have got to get around to changing the kitchen clock - it requires dragging a chair across the kitchen, standing on it, actually changing the time, and then doing it all in reverse to put everything back right.  It hasn't been done since the time change.  And let me tell you, getting up before the crack of dawn is bad enough but it's so much worse when the clock says it's not even 5am.

*And Bigger - just because you've been up for hours that does not mean that the stores are open. 

*We put on the hockey game this afternoon and Bigger got all excited: "the wrenches are playing!"  Any hockey fans got a guess on that one?  It's really pretty funny.  I guess now that the boys know most of their major car makers it's time to move on to professional sports teams. 

*Littler fell asleep in my lap for an almost 2 hour nap.  Sadly it was a little after 4 when he did that but there isn't much sweeter than a sleeping child in your lap.  Until your feet and hips start falling asleep that is.  And you realize how late this is going to make bedtime.

*That late bedtime means preparations for the arrival of the Easter Egg Bunny will be delayed.  Mama's plans for an early bedtime for herself have been thwarted again. 

*For dinner Bigger ate: 2 scrambled eggs with ketchup, 1 waffle, and 1 bowl of frozen berries (easily more than a full cup.)  And his comment when he finished eating?  "But I'm still hungry!" 

*Note to self - need to put ketchup on the grocery list.

*Shrimp scampi for dinner for me, since the boys had eggs and think shrimp are gross.  :)  It might be close to the perfect meal.  It's one I don't have to share. 

*Coloring Easter eggs.  With markers. 

*And now to settle in with a snack and get everything ready for the Bunny's visit.  And think deep thoughts.  And eventually get some sleep.  But I will not be tackling that mound of dishes.  Maybe the Bunny will do them... 

Snippets of a day

The day started out with promise.  Someone had left the TV remote out so rather than get into too much mischief the boys just turned on the TV before I got myself out of bed.  Note to self: ask someone to leave it on PBS when he's gonna leave the remote laying around.  I had a good to-do list for the day.  Reasonably full, not over reaching but stuff to get done that would make our lives better.  Really, vacuuming and cleaning up the kitchen on the same day should not be considered over reaching in terms of house work. 
I don't know at what point the day turned downhill.  I suppose it started when I couldn't accomplish one of the tasks on my list - prepping veggies for slow cooker meals to go in the freezer.  Someone failed to follow the brown sugar protocol and left the bag open.  And the result was a one pound rock of brown sugar.  So there are not 6 ready-to-cook meals in my freezer :(  Because there wasn't a point in making the other two since the point was to get all the grunt work out of the way at once. 

So I thought I would make some quick breads - easy snacks, fast breakfast, fill up the freezer.  Well pumpkin bread was out because my recipe calls for brown sugar.  A quick Internet search for chocolate chip loaf resulted in half the results being ineligible due to our lack of brown sugar.  But I found one that would work.  I mixed it up and baked it.  Took it out of the oven and went to turn it out immediately according to the recipe but the center wasn't baked all the way and it dripped dumped gooey dough through the cooling rack and onto the counter.  Back in the oven it goes.  Meanwhile the sesame chicken in the crock pot is not smelling too appealing.  At least not to me, I have a ridiculously sensitive nose to begin with, add that lovely pregnancy sense of smell and I often have trouble.

And then it happened.  Our eldest child is 3 days shy of 4 years old.  We had not had anything flushed down the toilet that didn't belong.  Until today.  We lost a pair of Thomas and Friends undies.  Down the toilet.  Littler was really upset when they didn't come back.  I think this was after he had peed on the couch and was sent to finish peeing on the potty.  Except he took a pit stop to flush his undies. 

Bigger used all the base pieces for his gears set to knock the box of tissues off the top of the bookcase.  And Littler pulled half of the tissues out of the box before I was in the room. 

A fight broke out over who would finish brushing their teeth first.  I kid you not.  They have sand timers to keep them brushing longer than 12 seconds.  They're from the dollar store and not terribly accurate. 

It's so hot and dry in our apartment that I am constantly thirsty.  And there is only so much water I can really make myself drink.  I'm also dealing with spells of light headedness, probably due to my ridiculously low blood pressure.  It was 90 over 50 at my last doctor's appointment.  Really.  The only time it has ever been as high as 120 over 80 was just before I went into surgery.  (And don't worry, I have an appointment on Tuesday and I'll be asking about the light headedness.) 

So now I'm sitting on the couch with a cup of tea, watching Man vs Food and Big Bang Theory and eating half a piece of chocolate chip loaf.  Only half because the other half is still stuck in the pan. 
And tomorrow is a new day. 

When to wake a sleeping baby

I am usually a believer in the wisdom of never waking a sleeping baby.  The WeatherMan definitely is.  However there are times when it has to be disregarded. 

This afternoon we all walked to the mall to pick up some paints and brushes for a project.  The boys hadn't napped so there was great potential for drama and we while had some all things considered it was a rather pleasant outing.  And the boys fell asleep in their strollers on the way home.  Around 4:30.  Yeah, that is so not a cool nap time.  DH thought we should keep walking a little longer to be sure they were asleep.  I told him that was great for the guy going to work the night shift and then sleep all day tomorrow.  (We have been having very early wakings and Mama is rather tired and a little cranky.) 

So we went home, turned on the white noise machine, and rolled their strollers into their bedroom. 

After DH left for work I hemmed and hawed about what to do with two napping(?) babies.  Best case scenario (?) they nap a couple hours and then are up till 2.  Worst case scenario (?)  they sleep their usual 10 hours and are up at 2:30.  I consulted my usual source for backing a decision I've already made and both my parents agreed it was best to do the unthinkable and wake them up. 

They woke up cranky (those early mornings are getting to them too.)  But it was a good thing I did.  The Little Guy had had a big nasty poop.  Like the gotta-clean-the-stroller kind.  Like I said, getting them up was a good thing.  We changed a diaper.  We watched some Veggie Tales.  We had a big ol' snack.  We read a book and snuggled on the couch.  And as soon as the Bigger One had his jammies on he headed straight to bed.  And tucked himself in.  So after a few more snuggles and a couple songs and tummy rubs they were in bed for the night.  And asleep by 7:20.  Leaving me able to watch The Big Bang Theory and have some quiet. 

Oh, and to enjoy the experimental brownies I made while they were napping.  :)  (Don't worry, they are only experimental in that I was trying to combine the conventional recipe and the Deceptively Delicious recipe.  It was a success :)  And soon I'll be off to bed where visions of turkey and roasted sweet potatoes and apples will dance in my head. 

Snippets of a Day

*last night there were only two night wakings.  And the night rover stayed in his own bed all night.  Both minor were miracles. 

*we slept in (?) all the way to 5:15. 

*discovered 9 buds on my Christmas cactus! 

*we listened to classical music (a 2-disk "morning mix" I got for a buck at the dollar store) and made applesauce muffins from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook.

*dragged ourselves to the library for story time.  We heard two of the funniest children's books I've heard in a while - I need to put them on hold and read them again.  Anything with the line "I don't want patience, I want chocolate cake!" in it is worth at least a second read :) 

*saw that there is a house for rent in our neighborhood.  Probably totally out of our budget but worth finding out.  Who knows, maybe it's a nice landlord who will give a young family a break.  (A mama can dream, right?  Come on, it has a yard!) 

*broke a wheel off the stroller on our way home when Littler was sleeping in it and the elevator door started to close but the obnoxious wheels were doing their own thing rather than cooperating and moving in the proper direction to back off the elevator.  What is it with us and the blasted double stroller wheels? 

*THE.BOYS.BOTH.NAPPED!

*meanwhile  I  made iced tea, sat on my bum, checked blogs and facebook, ate some lunch, knit, and called my mom to whine about the stroller. 

*fixed the stroller?  Maybe?  Hopefully?  Time will tell.

*listened to fun kids' folk music and introduced the boys to jazz.  We had borrowed the folk cd from the library and my brother had made me a jazz mix for our wedding reception that I love and listen to while making dinner whenever I can.  It feels so classy.

*while pureeing avocados to make chocolate pudding the boys flung spaghetti at the wall.  And denied doing it.  Needless to say there was no pudding made. 

*maybe we should consider getting some canvases and selling modern art. 

*impromptu ring holder while cleaning spaghetti off walls looks pretty even though it is a sad reminder of why I can't do anything.

*maybe I'll even get to bed early.  And sleep through the night.  What can I say?  I'm a hopeless optimist.  At least when it comes to sleep. 

Snippets of a day

*Bigger practiced matching and turning the socks right side out while we folded and put away laundry. 

*Stroller woes.

*Bigger worked the charm by opening and holding doors for Mama while we were out.  An impressive feat for a little guy.

*While the boys' favorite CD is "Peter and the Wolf," they beg to watch "The Nutcracker," and they pretend to be Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor they are also quite sharp with their cars.  Littler announced "H - Honda!"  today when we passed one in a driveway.  They also noted every Chevy, GMC, "planet" (Saturn,) and Mustang we saw.

*Bigger earned a time out for hitting his brother and continued to hit him each time Littler passed him.  And his brother was dumb enough to keep running by!  Some game.

*Littler pooped and then proceeded to remove his diaper in the kitchen, which dumped said poo onto the floor, and then sat down to further insure a good mopping of the kitchen.

*Bigger announced "I'm gonna read it to you" to Littler and they laid on the tummies on the floor and looked at all the cars and trucks and things that go in one of their Richard Scarry books. 

*The previous is made even more amazing by the fact that up to a minute before said announcement they were chasing/ pushing/ pulling/ hitting/ shrieking/ generally making Mama batty. 

*In answer to why Bigger had a nectarine in one hand and a peach in the other he said "because I have two hands.  Two hands, two fruits." 

*While making popcorn for an afternoon snack, Bigger took the top off the popper.  And boy did the boys enjoy that show.  Mama not so much. 

*Fresh rolls, NCIS, and casting on :) 

Snippets of a Day

*Having to clean up used fireworks before the boys could play on the playground.

*Boy's first skinned elbow. 

*Watching an ant on the steps to the building -
       Mama: "Let's watch, where do you think the ant is going?"
       Littler Boy: "Medito."
       Mama: "Where is it going?"
       Bigger Boy: "Mexico."

*Littler Boy getting out of the bathtub to pee on the potty.  And he really peed!  On the potty!

*And then there was one... grown up glass left after a cascade of clean dishes took the second to last out.  Just how far can those tiny shards of glass shrapnel spread across the kitchen?

*Nursling who doesn't like Mama to do anything while nursing and has found the answer.  He can wrap his legs around distracted Mama's free arm and pull it back to him.

*Watching the Boy sitting on the couch, reading.  Watching the Littler Boy pushing trains across the floor.  At the same time.

*A fabulous magic-meal dinner.

*"Auction Hunters" on TV all evening.  And staying up too late watching it. 

*Looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow.  Well, sorta.  I'm hoping for no more fireworks or broken glass.