It has been a while again. I suppose my flashes of brilliance are becoming more few and farther between. We have run out of summer time, just when we were starting to kick it into high gear. The kids were getting better about staying up later, we had a lot going on, we went on vacation, we were having fun!

We went on vacation to Wildwood, previously known to me as Childwood, but as with everything else, kids change everything. A nice boardwalk, rides, beach and there is nothing more that we need. We used to need nightlife, walking distance to bars... now that we are home by 7 or earlier, the nightlife that goes on does not matter as much as we sit in our house/apartment/condo/hotel room and watch the same television that presumably appears to all other television sets in all other towns. Of course, the children give us more vacation options, such as going on vacation in Childwood, as opposed to our previously beloved Avalon or Stone Harbor. My mom came on vacation with us as well for part of the time. While nice in some ways, overall I am surprised that she survived the entire week with us. And that we are still talking today!

Max may have to have eye muscle surgery, but I don't even want to think about that yet. We have to go back in two months, and we will talk about it after that. Nicole starts preschool next week, and we are getting pretty excited about it. She is excited... her backpack, new friends, a teacher, a new place to play...I can't wait to see her off on her first day. She is so social, I can't see her doing anything other than loving the entire situation.

Kurt and I got out again by ourselves this past weekend. Definitely NOT like the old days! These days, we are exhausetd, we have to worry about drinking and driving, and we are ready to head by bed by 10pm! Hey--- that's the same time our nights used to start in the good old days.

August 8, 2005

Nothing too exciting this past weekend. We did go see a movie and quick dinner without the kids. We see a movie about once a year now, so this should be given more fanfare--and it was a good one. But it was rushed and dinner left a good amount to be desired. (My fault, I should know not to order unusual sushi orders in a chain restaurant. Maguro? Yes, they jacked up the price and served it almost frozen. Tataki? Well, I never even saw that... it was ordered as an appetizer... my husband's app and meal came out and I was still waiting to see ANY food... they brought out about 1/2 of my main meal sushi order... so I canceled the app and the rest of the main order b/c Kurt was finished and I was not happy. I was hungry!

We actually had a nicer meal out the next night, with kids and grandma and Grandpa Bill. Max was not in great form... Grandma bought a book for him, and as soon as he saw it, he screamed and pointed BUS BUS BUS BUS for about 35 minutes non-stop, and in a pretty silent room. After another few mintues the refrain turned into DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN, he wanted to get out of his chair. Usually he lasts a while because we take him out for dinner a lot (see the no-cooking theme in the last entry) and either he is usually a lot more quiet, or the restaurant is a lot more noisy. But he was being pretty cute and he got a lot more (good) attention from other diners than we have seen in a long time.

We took Max to get his haircut this weekend also. Max was a little better. The screaming. The flailing, the crying. It was a miracle that she was able to get it done. But he was actually a little bit better than the last time we tried this torture (torture for us) of haircuts. He had it clipped really short against his head and he looks SO handsome and like an older little boy. He lost his baby curls, and I do hope he grows some back, but it was so messy and got so long! And he loved to rub every meal into it. Well, not every meal. Only the really sticky or disgusting foods. Syrup was a favorite for him. At least it smelled better than some things....

July 31st, 2005

I am way too tired to be writing right now, but I vowed that I would try to write more, so at the very least, the kids can look at this years from now and know that mom loved and cared enough to write.

What a fun weekend we had. We went to a happy hour on Friday, at a friend's house. We bring the kids, husbands come after work, we throw the kids in a different room, have a few cocktails and give them a little dinner if they come out screaming. Instead of making sure the kids had a meal at a certain time, Kurt and I enjoyed ourselves. When their bedtime came and went, we looked at our watches, shrugged and said, well, no one is screaming yet. Finally, when I realized that Kurt and I were in danger of being the last ones at the party (YET AGAIN! We decided we have to get out of that habit!) we ran out the door with the other last couple and made our escape. The kids went to bed way after bedtime, and I drank too much and fun was had by all.

The next day we spent cleaning, as we were having some friends over, which was planned well in advance. So we were ready with our menu and shopping list and plans when we were unceremoniously awakened, very early that morning. (I always say the later the kids go to bed, the earier they get up. Again, I proved my theory true.) Kurt and I looked at the shopping list, then looked at each other, and said WHO are we kidding, we can't cook...we're ordering in!!! So, our shopping list was reduced, our order-out menu was marked up (even moreso) and our wallets were stuffed with more cash that we would be needing for this party. But it was a great hit... nice people, the food was great, there were people there who had not seen each other in 8 years, alcohol flowed. There was a 10 and a 12 year old who adored playing with our kids and vice versa, so we were able to ignore the kids again. I was 1/2 way through eating my meal before I realized that the kids were the only ones who were not eating! But the 10 and 12 year olds were taking care of my little ones.... wiping their noses, playing so well, reading them stories, even taking them to the potty(!!!), and we loved it because it was so cute to watch. I have never seen my daughter so content! And Max even went up next to his choo-choo train and track, something we had been working on for weeks... he would usually get 15 feet away and run screaming until last night when the kids took him over!! When Nicole's eyes rolled back in her head and she looked like she was going to drop to the floor, I called bed time. And she said OK!! And of course, as we know, the later they go to bed, the earlier they get up. 5:50 a.m.? Wonderful for us! Excellent! Still alcohol flowing through my veins? Great!

Feeling so exhausted and only slightly hung over (sarcasm!), I decided a ride down to the Jersey shore would do us good today. Up and out early, we took a 2-hour drive to look at shore houses to rent. Yes the kids napped in the car, the biggest kid Kurt was the one who went to sleep first as usual, and everyone slept most of the way down. (No don't worry, Kurt was not driving!) We looked at some houses, and we walked around a little... headed back, got stuck in traffic for a long time. On the way back, Kurt fell asleep first of course... and the kids shortly afterwards, so I got to enjoy the traffic myself.

At least there are no pots and pans to wash. And since the kids are so tired and out-of-whack after a long weekend---can't wait to see what time they get up tomorrow!

July 24, 2005

Well, another summer weekend down the tubes. This summer is flying by more than ever before. The older I get... well, it's better than the alternative.

Harry Potter was out last weekend, and I suppose that is why I have not written a post in a long time. (Well, I actually read it over the course of 3 days, so I have no excuse for the rest of the time. Perhaps, making up time with the kids after I ignored them for three days!) What is the deal with Dumbledore dying? We will see him again.

We went out as real people a few weekends back... dinner with a few adults, and cocktails afterwards. Of course in the old days, I could have had a few glasses of wine without slurring my words. Not any more.. but Kurt told me I managed to get out of there without saying anything that resulted in embarrassment to any family member or myself, and apparently, I was even pleasant and funny!

My very smart 2 1/2 year old daughter who has not stopped talking since the day she said her first word (and has long been into the complete and complex sentences mode, as well as having known colors and numbers forever) went to the pediatrician the other day. The doctor asked her numerous questions which she answered with nods or shakes of her head. The doctor asked her what color a few things were...silence. She asked her to count to three (three!) and...silence. She asked her to count a few circles and...silence! So we went away with the doctor thinking she was mute and not too bright! And she has not stopped talking SINCE she left the office that day.

Max spent a few days at grandma's this week, and we were surprised he did not cry or put up a fuss. He loved getting full attention, and was not that happy to see is sister when he got home! He used to love her so much, now he has a taste of what it is like not to be overpowered in every step of life! Poor second child. (Kurt and I are both seconds, so we feel for the boy.) When Max was at Grandma's house, I took Nicole to a pool/sprinkler event with our playgroup, and boy did she have fun! It was nice not to have to leave early when Max started crying for naptime...she was traveling in a small pack of little girls and she was loving every minute of it. Anyway, Nicole did not strip down naked so there is hope for her yet.

We spent last Saturday night eating dinner outside in Rittenhouse Square in my beloved city, Philly and we spent this Saturday night eating dinner outside in West Chester. Of course, dinner outside is always a chore these days. After Nicole's fear of bugs came out, we had one too many bouts of hysterics and now Max has caught on. Now, any time and everywhere he sees a bug he screams BUG and points and swats and cries and I don't know which one is more hysterical. Thank you Nicole, and thank you Grandma. (Well it is actually funny because Nicole feels bad that she got Max scared so through her tears and screams she says, "it won't hurt you Max! It's just a bug! Just floo it away, Max" as she cries and flails to get away from it!) I am making a new rule that only one baby can be screaming at the same time, we'll see how that works out.

We went to brunch yesterday to celebrate a belated father's day for Kurt's dad. Max screamed his way through the entire lunch, we think because he is a little scared of Kurt's dad because he is a big guy! It was a horrible experience, we stayed for almost 2 hours, and Max screamed for at least 1 1/2 hours of it... and cowered in his high chair for the rest of it. For good measure, he screamed at Kurt's brother as well, another big guy. Of course, as soon as we got out of there, he was happy as a clam and all was well in Max's world. And he did not even care that I ended up with a red jello stain on my WHITE, silk, dry-clean-only shirt, the only nice thing I have bothered to buy since the kids were born! Won't bother again, of course. My fault, I should have known better.

July 4, 2005

It was a fun-filled weekend for the kids, and I did not get near the 4th of July sales at all. What happened to the old days?

We took the kids to the zoo yesterday, a last minute decision as we were driving by the exit off 76 on our way to Philly. We noticed the LACK of traffic getting off on Girard Avenue on a beautiful weekend day, so our car veered off the exit before we knew what we were doing. Nicole said her favorite animals were some peacocks-- although when they got a little close to her, I am fairly certain that when she turned and ran, she was not thinking that her favorite animals were the peacocks. Max was interested in the giraffes most of all, but really any exhibit where we gave him some freedom to get out of his stroller was AOK with him. They held up pretty well for the long day, and so we decided to get some dinner at a place near home, which has a nice outside area for dining. In a sad irony, Nicole was fine seeing wild animals all day, but encountered a fly during dinner, and was a SCREAMING mess of a child like I have never seen! (She spent last weekend at Grandma's who is very afraid of bugs of any kind. Apparently a bug went down Grandma's shirt when Nicole was watching and Nicole has never been the same, much to my annoyance!!) We had to take her out of there to calm her down.

Today we took the kids to Philly to walk through the old neighborhood as well go to the festival on the Parkway for the 4th of July, although we knew we would not be staying late enough for the parade and fireworks. (The kids go to bed at 7 which is quite nice most nights, but sometimes a little early if you want to have any life at all in the evening!) We had a picnic in the park, and spent the day walking around (it only took a little while for me to realize that Kurt and I were so tired because we were pushing over 100 pounds (two kids and the stroller) in the hot sun and the kids were NOT tired because they were being pushed around all day!) and were pretty happy to get into the car by the afternoon. In a moment of stupidity fueled by eagerness to see the kids continue to enjoy the weekend, I drove by a local fair that was going on, and that was all Nicole had to see. She saw the rides and asked whether we could stop. As I was driving around looking for parking she was saying "don't leave that park mama" and begging me to let her go. She loves rides and laughs and laughs when she is on them. Max was tired, but lasted for a few before he started screaming. That was it on rides for him, although he was fine as long as we let him run after that.

Max's vocabulary hit 100 words the other day... not bad for 18 months, and a little scary because it's DOUBLE what Nicole was saying at that age, and she has aways been a little advanced for her age verbally! Scary also because she is pretty precocious now and I have no idea what that will mean for Max! He also sings some of Twinkle Twinkle... if you stop at any part of the song, he will fill in the next few words... he says so many cute things. He loves his sister so much, they play so cutely together most of the time. They will chase each other and tickle each other (he says "dicka dicka" for tickle tickle) and run around the house together, or push baby strollers together through the house. He will do whatever she tells him, usually, so you always hear her screaming to him and bossing him to do things. When he is a rebel, she goes over to physically drag him back to her if she has not finished with him yet!

Nicole has pretty much mastered the art of the potty. She does it all, except she still sleeps with a diaper because that is a long night without going to the potty! She is quite proud of herself and we are proud of her too. I feel bad for the poor girl because even days when we are out and about and can't find a clean potty to take her to (no way I was going to let her go on a Port-A-Potty on the Parkway today) she still holds her pee for HOURS even when I tell her it is OK to go in her diaper... so she ends up with a deluge at some point, and then she gets so upset about it!

Any adult activities at all this weekend? No, but tons of enjoyment watching the kids enjoy themselves.

Well, since it has been a few weeks, I suppose I should have a few weeks worth of fun things to talk about, but that's not the case! Lucky for those who are reading this now.

Nicole is starting school in the fall, a little preschool program, 4 hours a week, just to get her immersed in a little preschool culture. Max will miss her, and I am sad that my little girl is growing up. But I know she will love it. We may also sign her, and Max, up for pee wee soccer classes, and she is so excited, because she sees Dora (the Explorer!) play soccer on video.

Kurt and I went out as adults last weekend. We planned on a nice dinner out, with hopes of a movie, or drinks, or adult conversation well into the night. Predictably, while we did end up at dinner, we were ready for sleep shortly thereafter, and we had little motivation to continue our dreams of the fun evening like we used to share before kids came into the picture. My mom wanted to watch the kids at her house, so we were not awakened at the crack of dawn by the little monsters, but I was up that early anyway, thinking I was hearing the little monsters. The kids survived the day at Grandma's and Grandma even enjoyed it as well. Well, except for the very early rising time -- the kids just can't kick the habit!

Nicole ended up staying two nights with Grandma. She did not want to come home when we went to pick them up. Ingrate! Grandma was happy to have her, so we took Max home to be the king of the house. He did not like it at first and kept asking for Nicole, until he realized that he actually had free reign of the toys. He never knew that things don't fly out of your hands constantly when there is no sibling in the house. By the time we got Nicole home, Max was not so happy to have his sister back, and she was not so happy that he played with ALL the toys alone for 24 hours or so. There have been better reunions.

What else is new on the homefront? Oh this is fun. We had a leak in the basement some time ago, and our builder came to do some water tests because they determined that it may be coming from the sliding door above the area in the basement, and maybe from the master bedroom above that (and that would explain the musty smell every time it rains!!) So, the men came out a few days ago to do their water tests, BUT before they could even do that, they looked at the windows in the bedroom and realized that the alarm company installed the sensors to the window pane, drilling holes down into the windows, and not sealing them, so that all the upstairs windows had leaks in them. They guys were a little perplexed, but they usualy do not see sensors upstairs so they figured that maybe instead of sensors on the side of the windows they had to drill down. (They still should have sealed it somehow). On a lark, they checked the windows on the first floor as well, and what do you know, the alarm company did the same thing to all of these windows! They guys had not seen this before--ever-- and, most of the development was required to use the same alarm company. So, we are the ONLY house in the development that has holes drilled through our windowsills, and leaks in every single window in our house. They did not know quite what to tell me at that point, except that they would talk to their supervisor and the alarm company, and that I should hope it did not rain. As a cruel joke, the rain started coming down about 3 minutes after they walked out the door. And did not stop for a few days. But the good news is that there were numerous meetings among builders, window guys and alarm company, and that they will take care of it. No, I don't know when, and no I did not yet get a satisfactory answer for the one million questions I had. BUT, I received an honest answer that the guy that did it was (is) a good employee of the alarm company, but did not realize the type of windows he was dealing with. (I really held back from asking about whether he had installed ANY alarms in ANY of the houses in this development, or ANY development by this builder, of which there are several, as all the windows are the same. And if so, HOW could he get this wrong. I did not ask whether he was a good employee who had EVER installed an alarm system before, or whether he was a good employee at his usual job of sweeping the floors, but was called in last minute for this job. So many questions. )

The Live 8 Concert in Philly (and in the rest of the world) was today, and we did not get in to see it. I lived smack in the middle of the city for over 10 years, and nothing exciting went on. And then I move out and Bob Geldorf finally sees fit to host another concert shortly thereafter, making history in the process, and I am living in the suburbs and unable to come in for it. So I sat at home bitterly watching television, and noting how much better the London concert seemed than the Philly concert.

As I sat and watched Nicole banging on a little toy piano and screaming/singing words at the top of her lungs to songs she knows from music class, I wondered at what age kids begin to develop a sense of being "in tune" or develop an ear for music. Then I thought that I hope she will forever bang and sing with that happiness, regardless of whether she is ever in tune, and regardless of whether she knows it or not.

Max, almost 18 months old now, started "spinning" today. Out of nowhere, he stood in one spot and went round and round and round, and was quite pleased with himself. He has started doing more movements like jumping, tiptoeing, and marching with knees up. College athletic scholarship here we come.

Well, the weekend was fun in the Dungan household. We took the kids to see, and go for a ride on, Thomas the Tank. Well worth the $16 per ticket? Well, for the kids I think it was, and isn't that what it is all about these days? I don't recognize my life since I had kids and stopped working!

We did go to an adult/kid party and met some very nice neighbors in our new development. We were beginnng to wonder whether any nice ones existed, but apparently they have been there in "Phase I" all along. The kids had a blast too, and we had to drag my 2-year old Nicole screaming and naked (we can't figure out why she stripped down in the sandbox, perhaps her creativity was being hampered by clothing. We are hoping she won't grow up to be "that girl" who ends up with her clothes off at the end of every party!), out of the fun and back to the reality of bath and bedtime rituals at home.

I was just interrupted in my writing by men here to do work on the windows. The joys of living in a new construction home. During a rainstorm one evening, water was pouring through the windows into my living room. Thank goodness we are too overspent to have any furniture or window treatments in there yet---nothing to damage inside! Apparently there have been problems with the windows all over the development. (Can't they do something to prevent these problems to the later-built houses in Phase II since they know what's coming, as Phase I has been in for a year or more now!!) The wonderful things you learn from the contractors who are not employed directly by the builders.

We had our first barbecue of the season yesterday. We moved out of our beloved city and lives into the suburbs so the kids could enjoy the experience of parks, green grass, cookouts, fresh air... meanwhile we think Nicole has developed allergies, Max is afraid to walk on grass, and we learned yesterday that both kids hate grilled food. And of course, the discovery of graffiti on the side of the house the other morning, that makes me feel so great about the suburbs. I wrote "discovery" as if we had to go looking for it carefully. It was 2 feet high and spanning the entire length of the side of the house, in bright red spray paint. (No curse words, no slurs, and according to the police, it was a random act by kids, so I suppose we should feel lucky.) 400 dollars later (of course our homeowners deductible is a lot higher than that) we are not feeling so lucky about moving to this new wonderful suburban development. Our lovely little house in Philly never had anything like that. Every cloud does have a silver lining though... the entire neighborhood was an "outpouring of support" as people were stopping by to empathize, we met so many people we probably would not otherwise have met. A lovely family who were complete strangers stopped by with huge pots of flowers (7 huge pots of flowers!) because they felt badly that this happened to us. There is good out there, and we are lucky to have found that.

We are right now in the middle of the daily nap fight. Apparently at 2 1/2 Nicole feels she no longer needs a nap. We feel a little differently, and so every day we go through negotiations, bribery, crying, whining (sometimes even Nicole does the crying and whining) and escalating anger before the day is out. And some days she naps and some days she does not. And EVERY day I am exhausted from it.