This is my life...

I couldn't help but snap this shot the other day. It encapsulates parenting in my mind.

On the right is my nursing stool turned stepping stool for the kids to wash their hands / brush their teeth at the bathroom sink. Next to that is my future - potty training Ben - joy of joys... In the trash can you can spy a used pee pee diaper and a ton of Ben's hair. We are constantly trimming his hair in the bathtub working towards the perfect Summer cut. Front and center is a pair of Emma's undies. She takes off her underwear to pee and doesn't put them back on. We usually don't realize until 20 minutes later as she constantly wears a dress these days and only notice she is commando when she flashes us while dances or wrestling with her brother...

Love the weekend

Thursday I was the class parent in Emma's school. As she has a summer birthday we chose that day to "celebrate" with her classmates. Daddy popped by with Munchkins which thrilled the kiddos to no end at snack time while they sang the Birthday song to Em complete with a fake reusable cupcake that had a candle she got to blow out. It was very sweet and she loved the attention. Afterward she asked me, "Am I four now?"

The humidity is starting to kick in a bit here on the East Coast. We've had to turn on the AC a few times to make the penthouse bearable. That being said, it makes for the perfect opportunity to bust out the sprinkler and hose! The water is FREEZING cold, but that does not deter Benjamin whatsoever. He loves letting the water spray him in the face! I simply plant myself in the shade sipping ice water and get a good 20 minutes to relax while they run themselves ragged... Ahhh, Summer.

The high school here in the village is just down the street and we often take advantage of the sports fields to have a little weekend fun. This weekend we spent the mornings at the track as in the center of the track is the football / lacrosse field. I run on the track while Daddy shoots at the lacrosse goals. Then he jumps in the goal and I take my aggression out by shooting at him. Ben runs around like a madman and Emma takes the opportunity to give me direction on where to shoot. "Throw it at his head! Throw it at his belly button! Throw it at his foot!" Luckily Daddy is a dang good goalie and stops every attempted score. Well not every one - I have scored a total of ONCE on him the whole weekend. Daddy also loves encouraging Em to pick up a stick at throw.  Benny? He likes to chase the ball or get in the way when you are trying to throw or simply take a break sitting in the nets so we can't shoot. Maybe it is his way of sussing out the goalie position so he can be just like his Daddy...

Summer time and the living's easy...

We had lots of fun in Florida visiting Abuelita and Grandpop. The weather was perfect, hot but not too humid and cooled off nicely in the evening. We hit the pool every morning and then played the afternoon away at the house and enjoyed either a lunch or a dinner at a restaurant. The kids were on super good behavior in the restaurants and on the airplanes. Seriously, no meltdowns, no attitude, no crazy behavior. We should travel to FL more often... hahaha

Sunday evening we went to Japan Inn to celebrate my and Grandpop's Birthday. It was one of those places (like Benihana) where the chef does all the cooking in front of you. Our chef was a Grandfather-esque Asian fellow complete with English as a second language accent and scared the crap out of Emma at the beginning of the meal when he started juggling his cooking utensils and putting on a show. She buried her head in my lap and wouldn't look up for the life of her. She finally warmed up to him when she realized he was cooking for her and got some food in her belly. By the time the filet mignon came, they were best pals - yes, the way to this kid's heart is through her stomach...

Our return flight was supposed to leave at 7:45pm but was delayed until 8:50 which gave us extra time in the airport to kill - not so much fun when you have to youngsters. I would now like to take this opportunity to thank the inventors of the DVD because if you turn on a movie, my kids will zone out and watch it. "Cars" was our hero this trip - both kids are currently Lightening McQueen and Mater crazy...

By the time the flight took off it was well after the kids bedtime. Emma had an open seat next to her and was able to stretch out and immediately fell asleep on Daddy. Ben? He was awake until about 20 minutes before we landed - and, believe it or not, didn't melt down from exhaustion! I would now like to take this opportunity to thank Calloway Digital for turning the Thomas movies into fun iphone apps that entertained my 2 year old to no end for about 2 and 1/2 hours before he fell asleep. Woot!

The weather here in NY has been perfect all week. Sunny and in the high 70's so we have been outdoors as much as possible before the humidity finds us in the next month. Between Henry's Mommy and me, I think we are prepared for all kinds of rotating outdoor fun. We have the kiddie pools and sprinklers ready to rumble, and we gave them a test run while relaxing under my fancy new beach umbrella this week - a great success! I think we are going to have lots of fun this summer!!

Here is a distant cell phone shot of some of the fun. As you can see, Em was in heaven!

Photos from FL

Enjoying a Birthday Dinner for Grandpop and Me at Japan Inn.

Emma lives for feeding the ducks when we come to Florida.

Falling in love with Abuelita's wooden Russian Nesting Dolls.

Benjamin showing restraint and not diving into a fountain!!

An after dinner walk through Abuelita's neighborhood.

Postcards from Florida

We are currently in Florida visiting Abuelita and Grandpop for a few days! Woohoo!

Our travels here were not as stressful as they have been in the back. Could it be our children are growing up?? Henry's Mommy every so sweetly taxied us to Macarthur Airport (small, like Burbank) in our minivan so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. As I am possibly the World's best packer, we only had one suitcase to check between the four of us and the two car seats. It was a quick drop at the check in desk and we were off to security.

The most interesting change I see in this trip is that Emma can now push Ben in the umbrella stroller in a straight line. In the past, she would crash him into every person and stationary object en route. Not this time! I can't express what a huge help this is as it freed up my and Daddy's hands to hold our carry ons and we didn't feel like pack mules with bags strewn all over. Security was a breeze. TSA is getting lax. They let our cooler go through with sippy cups full of milk. In the past they have made the kids drink them or, one time, we got a lady who was obviously a mommy as she did a recheck of the bag, gave me a wink and said, "all clear here."

Our plane was 15 minutes late so we had a bit of time to kill at the gate. Ben ate an entire snack bag filled to the gills with Cheerios (you'd think the kid never eats - oh wait, he barely does...) and Emma, in her pretty dress with cute panties but no bummies, flashed every single passenger in the terminal as she rolled all around the seats and danced up a storm in the waiting area.

Once we got on the plane (Southwest - no assigned seats), I got the idea that if Daddy and I sat in an aisle and put the kids by the windows, no one in their right minds would want to utilize the middle seats and we could have the row to ourselves. As the plane was not completely full, this idea worked out great and the kids had some wiggle room. Phew!

But it turns out the only one who needed it was Emma. Ben sat calmly (note I did not say "quietly") next to Daddy the entire trip watching a "Thomas" dvd, and a "Peep and the Big Wide World" (best PBS show ever, by the way!!). Emma had the wiggles, my iphone came in handy for a while as did our doodle pro, but she kept wanting to switch seats and move here and there - all the annoying things to do on an airplane. As luck would have it, new acquaintances of ours were on the same flight and sat behind us. They have a 5 year old named Emma, and the two got along well jabbering back and forth and playing games.

Now the reason I didn't say "Ben sat quietly" is now that the synapse that recognizes the sounds one makes can be used for communication has fired in Benny's brain, the kid no longer speaks in an "indoor" voice. He constantly speaks in his "outdoor" voice. He was so excited to look out the window and see the ground below that he was cutely yelling, "Whoa! Whoa!" whenever the plane maneuvered left and his wing dipped. He was also giving top of his voice diatribes on the actions of the dvds he was watching. It was freakin' cute but slightly deafening.

I think the fact that it is only a 2 1/2 hour flight also helps. We are so used to the cross country 5-6 hour flights that this one seems over quick. I still find it fascinating that I bring a book onto the plane thinking I am going to have time to read. I seriously only get to read one sentence here and one sentence there which is pointless, and I end of paging through Skymall daydreaming about all the cool gadgets I am going to buy when we are cash millionaires here in the next few years. I already have my multimedia room in our dream house decorated and have gotten a lot of good ideas for our yard, too...

I am happy to report although the kid's didn't get to bed until about 9 (two hours later than usual), Ben slept through the night (in the pack and play!! phew again) and didn't wake up until 7:15am. Emma tossed and turned quite a bit, but all in all she did good and slept until after 8.

We spent the morning at the community's pool as it is about 87˚ and humid. The water was perfect and the kids had a blast. Ben is still fearless and has great water instincts. When he slips and goes under he immediately rolls to his back and holds his breath pretty well. He kicks his legs out behind and simply seems to "get it." Em, on the other hand sinks to the bottom and cannot float for the life of her. She hovers on the steps and is generally timid in the water. I am looking forward to getting her into some kind of swim lessons this summer... I am just afraid I will pay for them and she will refuse out of fear to get into the pool properly and learn. I guess it is an important enough skill to take a chance on...

Quickie

On the way to a new play group this morning, Em randomly said as were we driving through a National Forest, "When are the beavers going to come out and cut down the trees and eat the bark?"

It was our first time joining this group. Our pals Georgie and his little brother, Christian are Wednesday regulars and invited us along. There were about 8 Moms and a boatload of kiddos and we had a good time. Ben didn't so much play with the other kids as play along side them, but that is his usual m.o. as of now. Emma quickly made friends but had one uncharacteristic meltdown over sharing some Playdoh that we struggled to quell. But once we got by that, all was good in the hood even through a lunch and Birthday song. I LOVE the way Benny gets all excited when he hears the opening bars of the birthday song. He was playing on the opposite side of the giant room when we started singing, then beelined across by the second line and tried very hard to extinguish the flames not by blowing, but by pinching them with his fingers! "Benny, NO!" was heard from more than just me! : )

As we are happily cableless, we borrow lots of dvds from the library. Emma has taken to labeling all the bad ladies in the movies "The Wicked Step Mother" whether that relationship is part of the plot or not. Cracks me up!

What a week!

 

Thanks to my awesome family and amazing friends, I had the best birthday week a 40 year old could ask for! The above collage is just a hint of some of the fun we had and hopefully it makes my journaling more interesting...

Wednesday afternoon (the day before my big day), I had the worst allergy attack in the history of allergy attacks. By 3pm, I was a snotting, sneezing, red itchy eye, headache, bodyache, walking billboard for any allergy meds out there. I finally broke down and took the first allergy pill I have taken in over 18 years! (Y'all know me - I hate taking medication!) Well, by 5 pm I was struggling to stay awake while making dinner. Seriously, I was slicing Ben's steak and falling asleep standing up! I laid down on the couch as soon as the kids were in bed - 7:15pm and crashed hard. At 9pm, I garnered just enough energy to crawl into bed fully clothed and teeth unbrushed and passed back out. At 3am Emma wandered into our room and asked me to lay with her in her bed because she was 'scared.' As I had been sleeping for 8 hours at this point I figured there would be no way I was going to fall back to sleep. Nope, closed my eyes on her pillow and didn't wake up until 7:15am, exactly 12 hours after falling asleep. That, my friends, is why I can't take medicine!! Ever since having babies, medicines kick my heiny!

But, I must say, I woke up quite refreshed! I took a long hot shower, even blow dried my hair before the kids woke up (7:45am) - a nice birthday present to start off the day!!

Emma's class had their field trip to Benner's farm that morning. As you can see from pictures 2 and 3, Mother Nature blessed my special day with sunny and clear skies and temps in the low 70s! Thank you!! The farm was it's usual exhausting chase Ben around and attempt to avoid him being bitten by a goat or clawed by a chicken... The only reprieve he gave me was when he plopped himself down in the dirt to play with his truck he had in his hand the entire time. (pic 2) Em had a blast wandering around with her pals. Her favorite was holding a duckling (pic 3) and feeding a baby lamb milk from a bottle. Super fun and super cool to watch the joy on her face.

After the field trip we headed down to the marina to have a picnic with our favorite neighbors. Henry's Mommy baked me up some birthday rice krispy treats that were enjoyed by all - YES, even Benjamin ate one (pic 5)!! Pic 6 is just a funny random pic of a usual Ben plate after he has eaten. His new quirk is to eat the outside parts of everything leaving the inner core in tact. Oi yoi yoi...

As the weather has been so nice, I have been able to leave the deck door open and the kids and dogs wander in and out as they please to enjoy the sunshine. I caught Benny chillin' on one of the dog beds just watching the sky... "Whatcha thinkin' about, buddy?" (pic 7)

My girlfriend offered to watch the kids so Daddy could take me out for a birthday dinner. We hit up a Tapas place in the village down the street from us that we have been eyeballing for the last year. (pic 8) I had a yummy looking seafood Paella and Daddy had a yummy looking veal with peppers dish. Sadly "yummy looking" did not translate "yummy tasting" and we walked away disappointed at our overcooked meals. Boo! But the company was fabulous - and a dinner out without children is a rare treat indeed...

Yesterday finished up the partying for me when our adopted family had us over for a bbq / birthday party. (pics 9 and 10) Emma and the girls played princess all evening long and Ben played in the mud with trains all evening long - stopping only long enough to have a bite to eat and some birthday brownies and cheesecake. YUMMMM...

Pic 11 was our rainy day fun today. Emma still doesn't have the concentration to finish a game of Chutes and Ladders. I get so frustrated but remind myself that she isn't even 4 yet!

And yes, Picture 12 is Benjamin sitting on his new potty. We are absolutely not thinking of training him at only 2 years and 3 months, but we wanted to introduce the idea to him and encourage him to sit on it just to get comfortable with the idea. He sat just long enough for me to snap the pic!

Heard around town...

The other day while we were in the minivan driving to our pals house, it was cloudy but a sunbeam had made it's way through the white poofs and was radiating down in the distance. Emma witnessed this phenomena and yelled from the back seat, "Summer is coming! I see it! It's by those clouds over there!"

Playing in the giant backyard of her buddy from preschool, Georgie decided he was "tired" and laid down on the grass and closed his eyes. Em, not missing a beat, said, "George, wake up! If you don't wake up, I gotta kiss you!" George did not 'wake up' and Em squatted down next to him and gave him a giant kiss! And so it begins!! (haha, but she isn't even four yet! Help!)

George has an extra large hammock in his yard that the kids love to play on. Coming home from his house Em said to me, "Mommy, I want a 'hamper' in our back yard, too!"

Em barged in on my in the bathroom yesterday and I said, "Excuse me, could I have some privacy, please?" "Why?" she asked. "Because I am going to the bathroom." She paused for a second before saying, "But I don't hear any poops."

We had a great week of sunny Spring weather and spent a good deal of time outdoors. The trick to a successful outing at the beach or a park with Benny is to get him out the door without a toy (usually a car or train) in his hand. If he has a toy he will simply focus on it and not run around expending energy. I was successful Wednesday at Rocketship Park and let me tell you, the kid had an absolute blast running around like a madman! He even climbed to the very top of the rocket ship where he hung out for a good 10 minutes afraid to go down the big twirly slide, but also not wanting to come down from his new discovery area. Finally, I simply picked him up, plopped him on the slide on his belly, and pushed him down the slide. He was fighting me the entire time, kicking and yelling, but as soon as he started twirling down he LOVED it and proceeded to climb and slide for the next 20 minutes! Then I went down a slide and the kid laughed hysterically. So I did it again and he laughed big again! What's so funny about a Mama on a slide??

(Rocket ship, Ben afraid, not afraid anymore!)

(birthday fun coming soon...)

weeklong goods

We have been go! go! go! this past week which leaves me with little energy to write. Lots of fun things went down, hopefully I can remember some!

Thursday at Em's preschool, they invited all the Moms back early for a "Mother's Day Tea." The kids had spent the morning making shortbread, cutting strawberries, and making real whipped cream. They made handmade flowers for the table vases and made cards that said, "I love my Mom so much because she ____." Emma's card to me read, "...she helps me make chocolate pudding cakes." (Ha ha! Our little afternoon treat in the Cool Bake Oven.) They sang us songs and then we chatted with the others while we ate the cake. As I had Ben with me, it was not quite the fancy "Tea" it could have been - he was his usual Tasmanian Devil self keeping us all on our toes as he went table to table scoping out the treats.

Saturday afternoon we headed out to PA for 3 days of family time. The kids were amazing in the car to Gramma's house, no crying, no whining, and only one pit stop for Emma to pee. We made it there in good time just in time for dinner. I was concerned about the sleep arrangements as Ben is too big for the pack and play, but he was so tired from playing outside all morning, and then the 3 1/2 hour drive, that he passed out in the playpen without trouble and slept through until 6 am. One night down 2 to go!

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful Spring day for Mother's Day. We were outside practically the entire day. Daddy cooked us up an amazing BBQ of Country Pork Ribs, London Broil, sauteed brussel sprouts, grilled zucchini, a salad and a tortellini side dish, and our famous spicy peanut butter sauce that we dumped on everything. It was the most satisfying meal I had eaten in a month (considering I have been counting calories for that long) and I enjoyed every calorie that I consumed!! We had lots of play time with our cousins and an all around great day was had by all.

Sadly, Sunday sleep did not go so well. I was hoping Ben would be exhausted from playing outside all day again. He went right to sleep without a fuss but was up at 4 am with no desire to go back to sleep. He tossed and turned and told me his jibberjabber stories until 6am when Gramma swooped in to give me a break. As exhausted as I was, there was some major cuteness going down. Ben would curl right up to me in the best snuggle and give me a few smooches saying "I owe oo." (His version of I love you!) Then he would go through the Mr Brown book of sounds here and there, or crawl up on my chest and make googley eyes at me. I kept saying, "Benjamin, it is night night time. Go to sleep." And in his cheekiness, he would close his eyes and pretend snore. Hard to stay mad at that!

On Monday, Emma and I went swimming at Aunt Lisa's YMCA (she works there) while Benny napped from partying it up in the wee hours of the am. At first she just hung out on the stairs until I grabbed her and dropped her in the middle of the shallow end. Once she realized that she has grown since last summer and can touch the bottom and have her neck and head above water, she had her own "Aqua Jog" class going and had a blast!

Monday evening we went out for dinner to celebrate Grandpa's birthday and my early birthday. Both kids did well in the restaurant considering we ate later than they usually do. My giant birthday chocolate chip cookie (in lieu of a cake) went over well but Ben was confused because everyone was singing the birthday song with no candles to blow out in sight!

The return ride home today was not as successful. Emma had 3 mini-accidents, one of which was a pull off the side of the road and pee in the grass spectacle. She was moody and whiny most of the ride and even her favorite dvds couldn't keep her quieted down. We decided to stop at Avalon for a hike to stretch our legs before coming home and practically had to drag her the first 1/3 of the way. Then the miracle switch flipped in her brain, and she turned happy and cheerful and fun and fabulous and we enjoyed our afternoon on the trails (even though we had to have another pee in the woods break!).

Sillies of the week:  Ben is parroting a lot these days. Yesterday I asked him if he had a pee pee diaper and he replied, "Pee pee DIAper." He will say the same with poopie DIAper - big emphasis always in the "dia" part.

Emma was sitting on the toilet in the morning trying to poop, but her show was on tv and she didn't want to miss it so she faked being tired and said, "Mama, I don't have the energy to poop."

I only pulled 2 muscles showing Em how to do a cartwheel over the weekend. Not bad for an almost 40 year old!

Ben LOVES to fill in the blank when we sing the ABC song and leave out letters. His little boy voice is so dang cute, too! He grins from ear to ear when we cheer him on. I gotta get it on video...

I am the Queen, you know.

We are constantly encouraging Benny to repeat after us to learn new words, sometimes he complies, sometimes he doesn't. Last night while reading our before bed books, we were doing the trick of leaving the last word of every sentence out and having Ben say them. As we have read these books to him over and over and over, we wanted to see if he would sound out the word. Much to our pleasure, the strong silent kid was saying all the last words on every page! The enunciation needs work, but we are very excited with this development! At one point Emma wanted in on the praise and kept jumping in with the word before Ben. We asked her repeatedly to zip it and let Benny answer but she kept jumping in EVERY TIME. I could see Daddy's blood pressure rising and he brought out "the voice" requesting very strongly that if she doesn't let Benny speak she would end up in time out. She finally shut up but it took great restraint on her part, let me tell you.

At least 20 times a day Emma comes up to me and says, "Mom, what are you doing?" Because 20 times a day she knows perfectly well what I am doing, my reply is ALWAYS, "Em, what does it look like I am doing?" To which she answers, "You are _____." (fill in the blank: cooking dinner, folding the laundry, playing with my iphone...). No joke, by the 20th time I am ready to crack - this goes on DAILY. Argh.

So the free cable gods got their pink slips this past week taking our free cable with them as they cleaned out their lockers and moved south to North Carolina. We went from having 137 HD channels for free, to zero, zilch, nada, nothing. It has been a little over a week now and I gotta tell you, I DON'T MISS IT ONE BIT. You see, our library has a terrific collection of children's dvds. From movies to tv shows to pbs cartoons. Everything we were watching on cable I can get on dvd at the library (except stupid Jake and the Netherland Pirates - but that means I win!!). The shows I want to watch during the week are available to watch online and there are no good sports to watch so having no cable is not a bad thing. Actually it leaves me more time for reading books and Daddy and I to have raging games of Scrabble on a more regular basis (he continues to outword me nightly). Get rid of it people and save yourself a hundred bucks a month!

Out of the blue Monday Emma said to me, "Mom, I don't need a babysitter any more. I need a big girl sitter." As we have had a total of TWO babysitters (yes, that is read: two occasions Mommy and Daddy went out and paid a sitter) in the past year (not counting Gramma), I have no clue where this observation came from.

The weather was beyond Springtime lovely yesterday, so I took advantage of the early morning sun and went for a run not on my usual street path, but through the hiking trails of our favorite woods at Avalon. I gotta say, road running and trail running are two different beasts! I only ran (or attempted to run) the 2.2 mile trail and it kicked my ass. And, of course, I loved every minute of it.

After lunch, the whole family piled into the van and we headed to the south shore of the island to scope out the beaches around Robert Moses State park. We had a blast park hopping and the kids were thrilled with all the new places to play. On the ride home Emma announced, "I'm hungry. We should stop at a restaurant and get me something to eat." Ha! This girl is an absolute bottomless pit - she is constantly "hungry" and I keep trying to convince her that thirst is often disguised as hunger and she needs to drink more. Fat chance! I also say at least 20 times a day, "Emma, drink your milk." I am a record player in need of a penny... (Will my children even understand this reference when they discover these books when I am long gone??)

At least she hasn't lost her comedic timing yet. Tonight after dinner I said, "Em, drink your milk," and she quipped, "Your Majesty, I can't." Better than the time she called me a wicked stepmother...

But not too wicked because I take my family out to places like this daily:

 

Island life.

Sprung!

East Coast Spring has sprung. The tulips and daffodils are in full beautiful bloom - everywhere you look - 1000s of them. The residents of Port Jefferson love themselves the tulips!! I think I like it here...

The only thing I don't like are my allergies. They haven't been this bad in 18 years since I moved away from the East Coast. Coincidence? I think not. Something blooming somewhere is keeeeeling me. My eyes looks like I am permanently stoned, and I have a continuous dull headache. I can't take allergy medicine because all I want to do is sleep if I do and my children don't like me to sleep. In fact, if Ben catches me closing my eyes for a quickie on the couch, he thinks it is fun to grab the closest toy he can find and wail me in the head with it for a wake up call. Thanks, Ben.

So, if you see me in the street, no I haven't been toking up all morning, I am simply allergic to Spring. On the bright side, the weather is beautiful and the land is GREEN. Proof: Benny playing in the mud with his trains sporting his new rain boots (Thanks Henry's Mommy!!!) in the land of God's glorious Green.

Emma's class went on a field trip to a pizza parlor last week to make their very own pizzas. Each kid had a personal size pie that they sauced up and spread the cheese around. While it baked, they played some games then ate up their creations. It was simple and fun and the kids had a blast. They even gave the parents a free slice. YUM.

Speaking of free slices. Remember that 15 or so pounds I packed on after moving east and bbqing almost every weekend last summer? Remember the amazing good NY pizza and the ridiculously tasty Chinese food that I cannot get enough of?? Well, I am proud to say it is slowly melting away - the FAT, that is that all those yummy foods left on my gut and my butt. I have lost 11 pounds as of this mornings weigh in and my jeans are feeling so much better on my belly. I am simply counting calories, weighing foods on my new kitchen scale to control portion sizes and keeping track with my iphone app of my daily intake and exercise. When I saw how much I was "grazing" throughout the day, I realized those extra calories add up. That, AND I now have one slice of delicious NY pizza instead of 3 or 4 (which I can EASILY do, by the way...) and I eat one piece of chocolate a day, not 5... I wish I could say the 5k training is helping too, but when you only get out once a week to run, I don't think I can attribute my exercise habits to the weight loss!

Further proof that Daddy contributed to the making of Benjamin:

 

When I get around to scanning some toddler pics of Daddy you will see - TWINS!