Who needs a gym membership...

Emma used bottles for milk up until her 2nd birthday. Ben, he's way ahead of his sister in this aspect - he has already proven on many occasions by guzzling down the contents of the thieved sippy cup belonging to Emma that he is ready for the transition. So, today we started a new fluids regime for Benny and I think he just may like it. The trouble is, I need to go out and get more sippy cups - the good ones - you know, the kind that don't leak, and they are about $8 for a two pack and I am CHEAP. I mean MISERLY. I mean money conscious.

Yesterday I was hanging a clock in the living room and I was standing rather precariously on the tv stand to nail in the hanger. Emma was sitting at the table coloring and looked over at me and said, "Um, be careful, Mommy!" Looking out for her old lady already - too sweet.

I've noticed a trend around our pad as of late. All of Emma's dolls are naked. Every night after she goes to bed, I clean up the toys and redress all the princess dolls and regular dolls and barbie dolls. I don't ever see the actual strip show occur, but the next night, they are all naked again. If only I could find the dollar bills that accompany a usual strip show - then I could go out and by a four pack of new sippy cups!

As our new crib - as in living space, not the thing a child sleeps in - has an abundance of space in the living room compared to the cottage, we have been able to utilize my beloved rocking chair again. Yesterday Emma had it rocking so hard and fast that she flipped it backwards and scared the daylights out of herself and Daddy who witnessed the whole thing. (I only got the crying aftermath...) I noticed that it sat untouched today... Lesson learned?

We went to the supermarket this morning and I tried to strong arm the return from the parking garage to the condo with Benny and the diaper bag in one arm and three bags of groceries in the other. Emma walked along side me as usual, but decided just as we got to the back gate that she wasn't going to walk up the stairs because the gate door is very heavy and it knocked her over yesterday and scared her. I stood there biceps-a-bulging trying to coerce her with kind words to come up the stairs because "Mommy was going to stand right here and hold the door so Emma won't get hurt." NOTHING kind convinced her, so I had to go back down the stairs and DRAG her up them, groceries and baby boy and diaper bag in hand. Needless to say, I won't be needing to do any push ups tonight and just may need a protein drink to help my shredded muscles repair themselves in my sleep. SLEEP... 8 hours, please!

Chicken Little

One of our favorite family games is "hide and seek." Daddy was doing the seeking yesterday and Emma was doing the hiding. The trouble is, she can't keep quiet long enough for Daddy to seek her out. The first round went something like this. Daddy counted to ten, Emma hid in her bedroom (in the middle of the room in plain sight). Daddy said, "Where's Emma?" and she replied, "Right here, Daddy!" He explained to her that she wasn't supposed to tell where she was and so he could look around for her. Round two lasted a little longer. She hid in our bathroom with the light off and kept quiet until Daddy found her. She gets such joy in behind found - surely you can hear the squeals from where you are.

Daddy then played pretend scare Emma while hiding behind a door and jumping out to say, "BOO!" She was laughing so hard until Daddy switched out which door he was hiding behind when she wasn't looking, jumped out unexpectedly screaming "BOO!" and scared the crap out of her for REAL. The look on her face was priceless and Daddy and I are still getting a giggle out of that one.

When Daddy and I were first dating we watched the episode of Family Guy where Stewie kicks Osama Bin Laden's ass in the opening. Osama is getting filmed saying, "Death to all Americans, you will all die in a fiery death during Ramadon" or something like that, but he keeps screwing up and ends up doing this awesome stand-up routine that we quoted for years. One of the quotes is when he is holding a rubber chicken saying, "It wasn't me, it was the chicken." Recently, Emma found my rubber chicken - don't ask - and I said, "It wasn't me, it was the chicken." Now, every time she is playing with the chicken she says nonstop, "It wasn't me, it was the chicken!"

Possibly canceling our cable is a blessing...

So is this video:

You want some cheese with that whine?

Now that Emma can open doors easily, our lifestyle is changing. Last night at 12:30 am I rolled over to see a little blond girl wandering half asleep into our bedroom. She crawled up into bed with us and passed back out. Just as I was falling back asleep 45 minutes later, our power went out. It was eerily quiet without our white noise machines whirring and I could hear every breath of the little girl in bed next to me and her snoring Daddy on the other side of our tiny bed. Again, just as I was falling back to sleep an hour later, the power came back on and I started the process all over again. I used to be able to sleep anytime-anywhere, since becoming a Mom, my sleep patterns have changed. I hear ever little cry and my mind cannot settle itself like it used to!

At 5:12am, Emma had another freak out (weird dream?), and scrambled to get down off our bed. She crawled in between the dogs on the floor, placed her head on Apollo's fluffy bed and slept there until she woke up at 7. I must admit, it was much more comfortable for me and Daddy with her sleeping with the doggies!

I have noticed that Ben's biting are indeed love bites. It only happens when we are playfully rolling around wrestling and he hasn't bit anyone else but Daddy and me. Phew! They are fewer and farther in between, too, so hopefully he is outgrowing this phase.

What I did notice yesterday was that when his 5 week younger girlfriend came over to play, he was a bit rough with her. He swatted her head a few times and had to be distracted from that behavior more than a few times. I think he is just used to playing with his older sister (i.e. rough housing) or that simply he is a boy. I am learning daily the differences in raising boys and girls!

I finally bought some of that hair detangler spray and guess what? The stuff really works! It makes brushing Blondie's hair soooooo much less of a struggle.

And finally, I am posting this when I should be at church with my family. Church is such a treat for Emma. She gets to hang out with all her buddies in the nursery playing and snacking and I get to have a 2 hour break from her. (ha ha) But last night after dinner she was an absolute beast which resulted in a 45 minute time out session with that fake whiny cry that drove us crazy. After breakfast that fake whiny cry returned when I put a pretty dress on her. She decided she didn't like the dress and freaked out for over 30 minutes. Daddy and I decided that she didn't need to go to church and see her friends if she couldn't relax and stop crying. So Daddy and I are playing tag team. He is there now teaching his class, and will come home early so I can get in and teach my class afterward. The question is, does she really understand this as punishment, or is it just too early in her development?

What about Ben?

At about 12:30am I heard a kerPLUNK! big enough to rouse me from my sleep, then the cries of a 2 1/2 year old. I hopped out of bed and went into the kids room and found Emma on the floor rubbing her head. She wasn't crying hysterically, just more like, "What the heck just happened?" I scooped her up quick so that she wouldn't wake Benny and brought her into our room. She went right back to sleep so I figured the fall out of bed couldn't have been too traumatic.

This morning we made our first solo trip to Costco since we moved. I must admit, I was a bit particular about what I was buying knowing I would have to lug it all from the parking garage to the condo on my own! That being said, I treated each one of us to a small gift from "Uncle Sam" - i.e. our tax refund. Emma got the Sleeping Beauty DVD, Benny got a 5 books and 5 blocks combo set that is pretty cool ($9.99), Daddy got some 5 hour energy drinks, and Mommy got... Salmon? There wasn't anything I really wanted/needed and we haven't had salmon in a while so...

After lunch we were all playing with the Little People house and garden set. Emma has now named some of the toys after her family members. She put "Benny" on the potty to go poopy because his tummy hurt, "Gramma Lou" and "Aunt Lisa" were having a tea party in the garden, "Grandpop" and "Uncle Raul" were watching "Wall-E" in the living room, and the rest of us were just hanging out in the bedroom sleeping or reading books. Ha!

At some point today Emma and I were playing on the floor in her room and Benny was jumping on her bed. Wait, Benny was what? That's right, folks. He has figured out how to climb up onto her full size bed - which means I now have to be extra vigilant when I know he is playing in their room. It was so surreal. I was sitting on the floor and I looked up and he was just on the bed rolling around and being silly. I was like, "Oh, that's so cute! WAIT A MINUTE, I didn't put you up there!!" I removed him from the bed and then observed him climbing back up on it so I could perchance foil his mountaineering adventures in the future. I think I figured it out. He was using Emma's foot stool to get a leg up to the box springs then pulling himself up with the sheets. Clever baby. The footstool is now tucked away...

Before dinner we were out burning off some energy at the compound playground with our buddy Hailey and her Mama. At one point Ben climbed up some (3) steps about 15 feet away from me and pulled the 'ole, "I am gonna just sit myself right here at the edge of the very top step and let gravity pull me backwards down the steps onto the concrete so I can bash my head." I saw it all happen in super slow motion, and let me tell you - ask Stacey about this one - I had a burst of super human speed, I might even qualify it as Olympic Gold (maybe silver) medal speed - as he was about to sit and immediately fall backward, I sprinted over, did a crazy short stop diving for a fast ball jump and got my glove (hand) just under his head when his body tumbled to the concrete. I have a scrape on my knee to prove it. Ben, your Mama lettered 14 times in various varsity sports, but she is currently 38 years old and doesn't recover as quickly from these kinds of athletics. Take it easy on me, will ya, buddy? As per usual, the kid didn't even cry.

What he did do though, was come home and take a "bath" in the doggy water bowl - as he is known to do every time I forget and leave the agua on the floor in the kitchen. Click on the pic to blow it up and see how devilish he looks and the water surrounding him and soaking through the front of his diaper.

Eau de toilette

This morning I was out the door bright and early and headed about an hour north of LA to Frazier Park to get my taxes done. Yes, I probably passed about 1,547 capable accountants on my long drive, but this gal has been my gal for 12 years now, and I GOT TO GO WITHOUT THE CHILDREN, i.e. ride in a car for about 2 hours total listening to adult music. The simple things...

On my way out the door I caught Benny playing a new game - lift up the toilet seat, reach into the bowl and splash around in the water. FUN! I said to him, "Benny, don't play in the toilet, that's yucky!" I then scooped him up and plopped him on the floor of the living room next to Emma. I yelled to Daddy who was cooking up some eggs for the kiddos in the kitchen, "Is there gas in the Toyota?" Emma immediately parroted me but instead yelled, "Is there gas in the toilet?"

As I was looking at the calendar while making a hair appointment today, I noticed my old nemesis is coming to town in a few weeks. It seems that every year he returns sooner and sooner and stays longer and longer... Stupid Daylight Savings Time. Once again, may I remind you that the goomba who came up with the idea surely didn't have children.

I must be all settled into our new place because I am officially bored. By 3pm the kiddos were feeling the same and we hightailed it down to the compound's playground. Thankfully there were other children there for my kids to talk to because surely they have had enough of my ugly mug day in and day out. We are looking forward to going to Costco tomorrow (again, the simple things), the zoo on Friday, and a playdate on Saturday with our best buddies. Hurray!

It is eerily quiet in my house as I write tonight. Emma asked me (!) if she could go to bed at 7:05pm and was already asleep by 7:15 when I put Benny in his crib. Fingers crossed they sleep through the night...

Could it have been the pork chops?

In Emma's ongoing quest to show Benny who is the top dog around here, she gave him a solid shove to the carpet this morning when she thought I wasn't looking. As I have counselled her on too many occasions to count not to do that, I unleashed and gave her a good swat on the bottom. She looked at me with great surprise and said in all seriousness, "Mommy, don't give me an owie. That's not nice."

Last week when I got my LA city library card, the librarian encouraged me to get one for Emma, too. I told her she was only 2 1/2, but she said they give out library cards to infants. I figured it couldn't hurt and filled out an application for her. When we went to the front desk to check out books, the librarian behind the counter entered all our information into the computer and asked me to sign my card. Then he asked Emma to sign her card. I told him that she was only 2 1/2 and couldn't write her name yet. He looked at me as if I had a special needs child and said I could take her to one of the tables and help her write her name. So, I dragged her and a very heavy Benny over to the kids table and signed her name all scribble scrabble myself in plain sight of the silly man behind the counter. He took the card and authorized it and checked out our books without a peep. Seriously, people, what do they have the infants do, give a drool sample?

We enjoyed the 82˚ weather today with a solid 2 hour session at the duck park this morning. Both kids played in the sand for a chuck of time - much to my dismay - I HATE THE SAND. I made sure to dust Emma off real good before she got in the car, even taking her shoes off and emptying them out. I gave Benny a good rub down, but didn't do the shoe thing because his shoes are a bit of a pain to get on and off, and really, how much sand could get inside them. He fell asleep in the car on the short drive home and - miracle of miracles - I got him from the parking garage to the condo to his crib without waking him. He slept a good 90 minutes, "Hurray for fresh air!" When he woke up I went into his room to grab him out of the crib and what did I find? About a pound of sand all over his sheets. Yep, I forgot he was wearing pants with a cuff and even though he didn't get much sand in his shoes - the pant's cuff? Both must have been filled to the rim. I snatched him up and dropped him into the bathtub to strip him down figuring it would be easier to clean the sand out of the tub than the carpets. I took his fitted sheet outside to shake it out and put on a freshie one day early. (Yep, Wednesday is clean the sheets day around this joint...) Did I mention I had to change a 5 wipey poop that was making it's way up his back during our park excursion? All you parents know what I am talking about - seriously, 5 wipey! I can usually get the job done is 2-3. What did this kid eat last night?

Ambling along

First the Abominable Snowman in Rudolph, now Ben's foe is the Wicked Queen's Henchman in Snow White. Whenever we get to the scene where he is about to kill Snow White, Ben freaks out and turns away or hides his eyes. It amazes me that someone so little can comprehend such a marked moment in Snow White's fictional life. ...my sensitive little man... *smiling sigh*

We were up and out the door and to the park nice and early this morning - good thing, too, as the sun got hot pretty fast (surely 80's again today). Now that Ben is walking, the park takes on a whole new dynamic for me. Emma is very independent and loves making new friends so that helps me focus more on Ben who wants to practice his new upright skill by exploring every nook and cranny of the place. After last weeks toilet fiasco, I was smart and brought along the stroller this time so I could have a "safe" place for Ben to be locked into while helping Emma on the public potty. I was thinking I was ready to kick the stroller habit and free up my trunk for other goodies, but today's excursion solidified my ongoing need for it.

Every day I am reminded how much I like having the modern conveniences in our new digs that we didn't have at the cottage - whether it be the washer/dryer inside the house, or the dishwasher, or the master bathroom shower that is sizable enough to clean our entire family at the same time. Today's discovery came in the form of a beautiful little girl waking up from a good night's sleep, getting out of her bed, opening her door and wandering down the hallway with a big smile to greet Benny and I as we played in the living room. You see, the 1940's door knobs in the cottage were challenging for even an adult to open, so Emma would wake up and yell from behind closed doors until someone rescued her from her (by the way she hollered you would have thought) place for incarceration. Not any more, she is in control and she loves it.

Here is a quickie cell phone video of Benny strutting his stuff:

Gramma fish

I haven't had the chance to hit the grocery store (that's probably a lie, I had the chance - I just didn't act upon it...) so we were scraping the frig for lunch today. Emma ended up with one of those premade toddler mac and cheese, and Ben had deli turkey slices and a banana. For dinner we had a ribeye (thank you I had work in Burbank and hit the Handy Market Butcher) but no veggies (i.e. store bought purees - as Ben houses those but poo poohs my homemade ones), so I ended up steaming carrots, tossing them in the Magic Bullet hoping I could "fool" Ben into eating them. NOPE. This kid is too smart for his own almost 13 months. Took one bite and spit it out at me with the, "You'll have to do better than that, woman" look. So, I stirred in some honey thinking that might sweeten them up. NOPE, again. But Emma ate a full serving - so at least one kid will have good eyesight...

But then again... After dinner, I always toss the kiddies into the bath, then we read a bunch of books before bed. Emma, who is either blind as a bat or incredibly selfish, ALWAYS positions herself on the floor or on my lap directly in front of Ben's face so he can't see what I am reading and she gets 100% of the view. I am doubting the blindness theory and placing my chips on the whole ME ME ME idea. No matter how I move the book and reposition her, she always manipulates herself to front and center and Benny gets the small straw. I almost tossed her across the room tonight when I finally put Ben on my lap to see the book and she then crawled onto my lap and sat on top of Ben so he couldn't see it. I admire her persistence - but, sheesh! (One more "get out of jail free" card for you Ben.)

She did make me laugh many times today with her blossoming language skills though. My favorite was, after Ben went to bed she wanted some "goldfish" for dessert. I told her I had a special graham cracker fish treat for her and busted open a bag of the graham cracker fish that look like goldfish that were on sale. She look at them kind of funny, tasted one and then said, "Oh, Mama, I like Gramma fish. They delicious."

Then, after she did some 'bidness' on the potty as we were flushing, she asked, "Mommy, where does the poopy go?" I thought that was quite a profound question for a 2 1/2 year old and the only answer I could come up with was, "Umm, actually, it goes to the poopy swimming pool." Perhaps I should introduce my first born to Mr. Google, so when she has a need for real answers and Daddy is not around to supply them, she won't be misled by Mommy who couldn't quite come up with something that would make her not want to cool off in the summer months...

Ben couldn't have been cuter in the bathtub tonight. We have these foam letters and numbers that they play with while bathing and tonight they kept getting stuck to his head as he did his yoga - yes, Benny is still the king of downward dog - in the bathtub. Evidence:

A new Best Friend.

We headed out to the duck park early today knowing it was going to rain this afternoon and not wanting to be trapped in the house all day. As we were getting ready I said, "Come on, Ems, let's find your shoes so we can go to the park." She replied, "Yea, let's go to the park. We gotta get some fresh air." We got there and her and Benny had a great time, playing well with other kids and SHARING! Whohooo! To top it off, Emma even TOLD ME she had to go pee pee, so we grabbed our portable seat and hit the semi-nasty (I've seen MUCH grosser) public toilets. My challenge wasn't keeping Emma somewhat sanitary - she sat perfectly and did her business - my challenge was keeping Ben from crawling around on the mucky floors even though he can walk now. I failed 100% and the kid needed a serious hand washing and change of clothes as soon as humanly possible. Yucky.

It's official. Ben is a biter. He has taken a nibble out of me and daddy on occasion before, but these days, now that he has eight solid teeth that have grown in, it is becoming more and more apparent that he likes to explore with them. Today he chomped on Daddy's toe while Daddy was sitting cross legged with the computer on his lap. He also took a bite out of my thigh when we were playing with blocks, then later my shoulder when we were reading a book. No specific reason for any of the munches - just being playful. Ouch, and hurtful!

Emma grabbed my cell phone today and opened it up and saw a picture of herself on the wallpaper. She said, "Oh, look! Dere's Emma. She's my best friend."

Later this evening while I was putting the dishes away, I raked my knuckles across the top of a shelf and said, "Ouch!" Emma was nearby and said, "What happened, Mommy?" I said, "I hit my knuckles and got an owie. You wanna kiss it and make it better?" I placed my hand near her mouth and she looked at me as if I had asked her to lick doodie off my hand. Apparently I can kiss her dirty stinky feet when she stubs her toes but she is too good to give my poor knuckles a smooch.

Barefoot and...

I spend a GREAT deal of my day searching for the missing shoe. Ben only has one pair that he wears daily, and when he is not wearing them, he loves to drag them around the house with him and chew on the velcro. Yum! My son does not have a favorite blanket or beloved stuffed animal - nope, my son has a security shoe. Of course, when we are ready to leave the house I can generally find one shoe pretty quick, but that other shoe - that miscreant moccasin - is brilliant at hide and seek. The other day I simply gave up and we went to the library with one shoe only.

Emma's right sneaker has been missing since we moved. "Where are dem?" she asks. I know it has to be here somewhere, I am hoping I find it while searching for Ben's! Poor kid has been wearing her sandals everywhere - thankfully our winter has been mild!

Today at lunch Emma discovered a new use for her mozzarella stick. Cheese art! Turns out if you use it like a pencil on Mommy's fancy black dining table, it smears all over nicely. I came back to the table to find some awesome Picasso-esque cheese smudges. Grrrrr.

I love when Emma mixes up her comparison adjectives. When she plays pretend with my shoes, she will say, "Emma can't wear dese. Dese too small for Emma." Or when her balloon has drifted to the ceiling and she is trying to grab it, "I can't reach it. It's too low!"

And I also love when she twists what I say for her own good. I told her to be careful with her mini-princess dolls because their small shoes come off easily (what is with me and shoes today?) and if Benny puts one in his mouth, he could swallow it and get sick. Well today, Benny wanted one of her goldfish and Emma informed me that, "I can't share dem with Benny, Mama. He eat 'em and Benny get sick."

Pterodactyls are people, too.

Wow. I need some advice. Benjiboogleheimer - my beloved son - has turned into a baby pterodactyl at feeding time. When the dinner bell goes off in my precious child's brain, he starts screeching and crying and SHAKING like a crack addict needing a fix. It was cute the first 5 times he did it, but now, now it has evolved into a very stress filled I might even give you an ulcer time for Mommy as she quickly attempts to prepare something healthy for her prehistoric animal to consume.

What ices the cupcake, is when he gets crazy like that, Big Sister thinks it's funny if she matches or slightly outdoes his cries so he can cry louder (screech louder), then she can yell louder, which ultimately leaves 'ole Mommy searching desperately not only for a food solution for her son, but also for the earplugs that so saved her hearing in her old rock and roll days...

Hearing aides aside, today was one of those amazing days where we got to spend the whole day together as a family. Emma was her usual bear during church but it lead to my favorite line of the sacrament hour which was when Daddy was up front blessing the bread and water. Best friend, Evie said, "That's Emma's Daddy!" Emma heard this and took notice and said, "Hey, what's Daddy doing?" I said, "He's blessing the bread." And she goes - so very loudly - "Oooh, here comes the bread! Where's the water?" I absolutely adore the play by play she gives! (Only to be outdone by 18 month old William who wandered in during the reverent time announcing, "I tooted!" I LOVE when other kids pull focus from mine!!!)

I can't explain it clearly - but today was just one of those days. We were together. We laughed a lot. Bonds were built. And we are happy. Amen.

Boy crazy

Daddy was enjoying some father - son time with Benny yesterday afternoon, so the girls decided to strike out on their own and explore our new compound. That is what I am going to call it from now on as it is quite self contained. All we need is a veggie garden and some cows and chickens roaming about and we would never have to leave the gates. That seems like it would get a bit boring for the kids, you say? Well not anymore.

You see, on our Gurl adventure we finally met up with some kids on the playground next to the pool. Emma was in heaven! Turns out, the compound is crawling with preschool aged kids for her to play with. And, to top it all off, they are pretty much all boys - which makes my tomboy who looks like a princess with her long golden hair - very happy. No, very VERY happy.

One little boy named her Emma the princess. Another little boy, who is convinced he is spiderman, decided she was a princess that needed rescued off the tower (slide). The kids all immediately clicked and fast friends were made. Which meant, of course, when it was time to leave, my unnapped little princess had a MAJOR meltdown because she wanted to "play on the NEW slides with de boys!" It took Daddy and I a good 20 minutes to calm her down once we got back to our condo - and then only so with promises that we would go and play there EVERY DAY. Oi!

Visiting hours are now available.

Today was proof that children need to be stimulated outside the walls of your home...

Between packing and unpacking the past 10 days and Daddy being out of town, my kiddos have had me and only me pretty much 24/7 and I have possibly driven them to the brink. I didn't realize just how much until today when we had a friend of Emma's over to play for about an hour before lunch. Emma danced and pranced and hooted and hollered like someone had spiked her morning milk. She was so excited to be talking to someone other than me than she didn't shut up the entire time!

After lunch we took the dogs for a walk and then she, Ben and I played on the slides for a while and did a few laps of the complex. Emma talked to every single person we encountered, and at one point she saw a small girl coming in through a gate and she took off running toward her saying, "Mommy! Mommy! A little girl. Gotta run fast, Mommy. We gotta say 'hello.'"

As usual, nap time just didn't work out and by bed time she was over excited. She wouldn't lay down in her bed screaming, "I wanna sleep in Daddy's bed." I laid her down in our bed, and she cried, "No, Mommy, I wanna go to the new house." I explained to her that we were in the new house but she kept saying, "No, Mommy, the NEW house." and pointing towards the living room. Finally to calm her down, I shut out all the lights in the condo except the small light over the stove, put her on my lap and rocked her in our rocking chair. I felt her relax and then laid her in our bed. She ever so sweetly said, "Night, Mama." and drifted off to sleep. When her breathing was deep, I switched her back to her own bed with prayer that she sleeps through the night (has been so far here) and actually sleeps a bit later in the morning...

Benny, on the other hand has had no problem sleeping. He has been taking solid morning and afternoon naps (1-2 hours each) daily - I think he might be in 'grow mode'. My only concern is, the bedrooms are on the south side of the complex which means they get the all day sun and can get quite toasty, even in winter. The kid wakes up soaked to the bone from sweating in his sleep (he also is running a low grade fever due to teething). I am curious to see how the central AC will keep this place as the thermometer control unit is in the hallway where it is noticeably cooler.

We need to get to the library this week and check out some new dvds. Emma was asking for Kai Lan today, but we are cable-less and youtube.com could not rescue us and give us a fix.

I meant to post this pic the other day. This is Benny reminding me way to much of his daddy - and not just because he looks so much like him, but also for his love of all things PIZZA.

Smokey and the bandit

It is a challenge getting used to condo living again. I have had my own four walls for over 7 years now...

To be honest, I can deal with other people's bumps and thumps - and my white noise machine blocks it all out while we sleep (I just ordered another one for the kids room though - just to keep them sleeping thumplessly!). My challenge has not been keeping the dogs quiet - they have transitioned quite well (!) - no, my challenge is keeping my dear sweet children quiet 'enough'. If you can recall, I gotz me a 2 1/2 year old and a newly turned 1 year old who like to wrestle, and have hollering matches while I am preparing dinner. Tonight was no exception. NY strips were on sale so I picked up some for dinner. I decided to try out the broiler in my new kitchen but apparently whoever lived here before hadn't cleaned it since it was installed because 3 minutes into the broiling session, both fire alarms went off and the house was crazy smokey. The kids thought that meant they could have a screaming match to see who could be higher pitched than the detectors - neither won - those freakin' things are LOUD. I have no doubt the lady next door could hear them and the only way I could quiet Benny was to pop a binky in his mouth even though I am trying to only let him chomp on them at sleep times. Emma, oi Emma, she ended up with a swat that made me sadder than it made her...

So I am praying for some kind of extra patience - not your usual sort, but the kind that stops me from worrying so much about what the neighbors think. They are children and they are gonna act like children. In fact, I want them to enjoy being children - to have FUN. I am only 6 or so boxes away from being settled in here. I think once that task is complete I will be able to relax a bit and spend more time with the kids one on one (one on two) which will keep them occupied and not just emphatically vying for my attention.

Daddy came home today.

That sentence gets its own paragraph. We were all so happy to see his smiling face and we felt complete once again. AND, I got to go to the supermarket all by myself this afternoon and I went up and down EVERY aisle - even the toothpaste and laundry soap aisle - and everyone knows you never buy that kind of stuff at the supermarket...