A LITTLE BIT OF TOUGH

I belong to the best gym I have ever set foot in, by far. ACAC Fitness and Wellness Centers (http://westchester.acac.com/) has a LOT to offer everyone, babies and kids included! Thursdays for me is boxing day. You go in, wrap your hands with boxing wraps, put your boxing gloves on and get ready for a great workout. I know there are naysayers saying "come on, women in a gym in boxing gloves?" Especially when they see that many women have PINK boxing gloves! But all I have to say is "try it some time!" The instructor frequently says (shouts) "check your suburban housewife at the door!" when class is beginning. Instilled with a little eye-of-the-tiger, we run around in the gym for an hour, sometimes punching air, sometimes the instructor's mitts, sometimes sand bags, sometimes we run crazy sprints across the gym, sometimes we jump rope, boxer-style. And at the end of the hour, I am exhausted and more importantly, empowered.

I have to give a shout out to the instructor of the class. Diane Toomey (http://westchester.acac.com/groupexteam.html) is awesome and motivating and I have never encountered any instructor like her. She has a pack of 25 girls or more, myself included, who follow her around to her different classes every day of the week. She keeps everyone (men and women) coming back for more, day after day and week after week!

NO WORDS NEEDED

Summer sprinkler "fun." For Max? Way too cold. For Nicole? Way too deep. (Do you really need that tube float around your waist, honey??)

FURNITURE SHOPPING, TAKE 2

What a difference a day makes! Newly energized with the new day, Kurt and I planned to take the kids to another torturous day of furniture shopping on Sunday. My mom called, though, and volunteered to watch the kids for a few hours while we went out ourselves! Yay! There was no stopping us now!! Well, except, well everything! Now I no longer had the misbehaving kids to provide the easy excuse I needed for failing to focus in on what I was looking for. Now I really had to figure out what I wanted for our room, and when it came down to it, I had no idea. Couch color, couch texture, paint color, room configuration!? Two couches, sectional sofa, sofa/loveseat/chair?? I keep looking for inspiration in books, magazines and others' houses, and I keep thinking that I'll know what I want when I see it. Not so, so far, but at least I found inspiration when I returned home and looked at our family room. I know what I do not want...a room full of mismatched and old furniture, white white walls, and decor in the form of primary color plastic toys!

Nicole ended up going back to grandma's house after we went furniture shopping. It's so funny how the dynamic changes when we're down one child. While Jack always adores Max, Max can run hot and cold to Jack, depending on what Nicole is doing, and depending on what toys Jack is playing with. Since Nicole has been away, the boys have been the best of buddies, from splashing in the tub, to chasing each other around the house, and they've been sharing toys! It makes my heart smile.

FURNITURE SHOPPING

What a fun and entertaining day. We dragged three kids around to a number of furniture stores, and told them they were going to behave because it was the one day that mommy and daddy needed to do something for us, and not for the kids. I don't know what we were expecting---not much really---but our expectations were thrown to the floor and stomped on in a matter of seconds into the visit to the first store. Jack started to scream as soon as we went into the first store, because we wouldn't let him get out of his stroller, and he was watching big brother and sister sitting on couch after couch. He wanted this to be his personal playground as well! His screams got louder and louder, and he was shouting "DOWN DOWN DOWN" and driving everyone crazy, literally minutes after we entered the store. The sale associate we were talking to said "why don't you guys take a nice walk around the city, I will pull up the information you're looking for, I'll give you a call on your cell phone and you can come back in to pick up the pages, and swatches for what we have in stock." What I heard was: "OMG, can you get that screaming mess of a baby out of here. Not only is he driving me and the owners nuts, but he is offending our new and existing customers, and we will soon be forced to call security to have you removed from the store if I have to hear this one more minute!" Nicole and Max were relatively good in store #1, although they had to be reminded a few times of "The Rules." (We actually did get a call back from the sale associate but I waited with the kids in the car while Kurt ran in to pick up the information and chat for a few more minutes.)

We set off for store number 2 after we had lunch in the city, packed the kids in the car and drove a little, giving Jack an opportunity to sleep in the car. Jack's never been the power napper, so 20 minutes was not nearly enough time, but he was slightly refreshed when we arrived at destination #2. Walk into mall. Remind Nicole and Max of The Rules. (You will SIT on one couch, no climbing, no feet on furniture. No running, no jumping, no laying across couches and chairs. No interrupting when we are talking to each other or talking to sales people. You will sit with your hands folded in your lap, and look and act like model citizens.) Rules fall to the wayside about 90 seconds into our visit. Jack starts screaming about 92 seconds into our visit. Jack is picked up and carried around 93 seconds into visit, is happy for about 6 seconds, then starts kicking and screaming "down" as he watches his siblings move from chair to chair, and decides that THIS is the store that he wants to make his own personal playground. Oh, and I have the opportunity to look at about one couch as I run around like crazy trying to get the kids in line.

Go to store #3 across the mall, repeat scene from store #2. Get to look at one piece of furniture again, spend all energy chasing and/or scolding and/or hunting for the kids. I have had enough by this time, but husband says that we should drive to Morgantown to look at the furniture outlet...with kids in tow, late in the day, and all my energy zapped. Not only have we shopped at the Morgantown outlet before, but we had a pretty negative experience there. Not an unforgivable one, though, if we find what we are looking for at the right price. Drive 30 minutes to Morgantown, enter mall that is looking pretty desolate and creepy, many stores shut down since the last time we were there. Let Jack out of the stroller to run around 2 seconds after we arrive. Remind older kids of "The Rules" as we enter another furniture store. Experience exactly what we have experienced in stores #1, 2 and 3 above, in many additional stores in the outlet mall. Note that the inventory seems low, and nothing is aesthetically pleasing (read: all furniture HORRIBLY UGLY on this trip!).

We did have a highlight to our day. After searching 5 Walmart stores this week for 3D glasses for the Hannah Montana concert on television, we ended up at a Walmart in Morgantown today where we HAPPILY threw down $8 for two TV Guides so we can get the "free" 3D glasses inside. Mom is not a complete failure. (Of course, you know this part! Kids did not wear 3D glasses at all during movie!)

EIGHTEEN MONTHS

It's very hard for me to believe, but my "baby" is 18 months old today! These 18 months have, by far, been the fastest since I started on my mommyhood "career." It has been a whirlwind since he was born...juggling the kids is not easy, and I keep wondering when it will slow down and we will be in our "new normal." My head is still spinning since our 3rd was born, but I would not change this for the world!

Now, if only we can figure out why:

1) Jack has an affinity for dress up:

2) Jack loves his sister's pink fuzzy chair:

3) and Jack loves to try on ladies' high heel shoes!!!

Hmmm. Not that there's anything wrong with that!! :)

POISON CONTROL

We had to call poison control today...just to be on the safe side...because Jack was caught red-handed with big sister's horrid purple lipstick in his mouth! He was definitely chewing on it!! The entire lipstick was pretty much gone, and I am hoping he did not swallow it all...yuck. There was a little smashed into the rug where he was sitting, although we weren't sure whether that was lipstick or other cosmetics that he was playing with. I made hubby call poison control because I know that poison control makes you feel like a complete criminal and worst mom in the world with the questions that they ask! (Only had to call once when Nicole was young and ate silica gel beads from those little packets in the bottom of shoe boxes! Non-toxic in case anyone was wondering!!) We were fairly certain that lipstick was non-toxic, but it didn't say anything on the wrapper, and I needed to be 100% sure. As it turned out, Kurt didn't care whether they made him feel like the worst dad in the world, Jack was fine, and Nicole was in hysterics. I am still not sure whether she was so upset because she thought she was going to get in trouble for leaving her stuff lying around, or whether she was upset because she thought she hurt Jack, or whether it was because her "good" purple (hideous!!) lipstick existed no more! I don't really want to know, but I am hoping that both she and Jack learned from their mistakes!

KEYS

Hmm, since this blog is now officially up and running, I realized that people besides myself may be reading it...including my wonderful husband and his family. Since the post about "keys" may have been construed as having a teensy-weensy bit of husband bashing in it, despite all the other loving and wonderful things I say about him in the post, I needed to change it, and quick!!

My husband is a good man, he works hard and he takes care of a lot of "stuff." And...blah blah blah... he accidentally made a little bitty mistake and left our front door open when we all went out to dinner. We came back home after a few hours, and I realized that the front door to our house was OPEN and AJAR, and apparently had been waving in the breeze for hours! (Especially bad because we live on a busy corner that EVERYONE passes, all the time!) When I saw it, it took me right back to a time when we lived in Philly, before we had kids. We had an awesome roof deck and I went up early one morning to get some sun, and Kurt was going somewhere for the day. I went downstairs a few hours later, and the front door was OPEN AND AJAR and waving in the breeze the entire time I was up sunning on the roof! We lived in a pretty safe area, but we were still the middle of the city, and the door opened right onto the street, one house in from Pine, a major through street! I saw the door open and ran out of the house and didn't go back for hours because I was sure that someone must have come in, and they were hiding in the basement or somewhere in the house!

So, the moral of the story? When you pass our house and see our front door waving in the breeze, please feel free to come in and remove any valuable possessions you may find. Rest assured, the house is open, no one is home, and you have a few hours at least to make your escape...

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

OK, I guess it is just me. Christmas in July is EVERYWHERE, all of a sudden! It has exploded all around me! Everywhere I turn, there is a Christmas reference, every ad I review is having a "Christmas in July" sale. Has it been here all the time and I never paid attention? Does everyone "celebrate" Christmas in July?? There is less shock and awe with each reference I encounter...

We've had a somewhat uneventful week. Kurt was away for 5 days, and we survived without him again. It was actually a little different this time, because my mom took Jack for about a day and a half, and I was able to run around with Nicole and Max like we haven't in a long time. No nap schedule! No diaper bag! No stroller! Dinners out at the place of their choosing! The best part of the weekend was time spent in the pool at the gym. Nicole, all of a sudden, learned how to put her head under water without SCREAMING, and she was doing it over and over, with my gentle coaxing! So, at swim lessons on Tuesday, instead of having the entire indoor pool looking at me because my daughter is screaming and carrying on because she has to get her head wet, the ONLY attention we received was POSITIVE attention from her instructor, asking her what happened, and whether she ate "super swimmer cereal" for breakfast! Nicole was quite proud, and honestly, it brought a tear to my eye as well! I was happy that I could devote a little more time and attention to Nicole and Max, as much as I missed my baby boy!

I HAVE A PROBLEM

I have a problem, that I have had forever. Anyone who has ever met me more than one time knows that I have a problem. I have tried to work on this problem time and time again, to no avail. I WEAR BLACK. All the time. Usually head to toe. Sometimes there is a splash of white in my wardrobe. If you EVER see me in any color other than black, know that I am uncomfortable in what I am wearing, and partially to substantially consumed by the "uncomfortability" of the outfit...any outfit...that is not black! When people used to comment on my wearing black all the time, I would make a joke like "yes, black like my soul," or make a joke about having laundry that's easy to sort. I used to get called Johnny Cash by a co-worker. But it is no longer a joke, no longer something I will grow out of. It is a problem. I just started telling my neighbor about my wearing black problem, and started it off with something like "I wear black a lot..." and she said "YOU wear BLACK???" Sarcasm received loud and clear.

So what do I do? It's not that I don't like other colors. I see other peoples' clothes and say to myself (or them) "oh what a nice purple tank top she is wearing." But when I go to the store and look at a purple tank top? I say--"this is SO not me. Oh, here is a nice black sweater"... and I try it on, and voila, my black wardrobe builds. Sometimes I think that I need a personal shopper or style consultant to accompany me on a trip to KOP. But I know deep down I would not follow their advice. I don't think I am ready for a change...I think I love my color. Not because of how it makes me look, but because of how it makes me feel!

....AND ANOTHER

Just a few minutes ago, my mom and I were discussing on the phone what I was going to do with the kids tomorrow because the weather is supposed to be rainy and stormy. My original plan had been to take them to Dutch Wonderland. I was hit out of the blue with an enthusiastic "OH I KNOW! There is a great National Christmas Center on Route 30!" WHAT is going on?

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

I had to take another quick peek at the calendar today...my 3rd Christmas reference came! The kids wanted to rent the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" yesterday, so we got it out of a red box at Wegmans. We didn't end up watching yesterday, but popped it in tonight, and the first things I saw was a CHRISTMAS scene! Things DO happen in threes! Now we're motivated to start our Christmas list early this year!

I had a little freedom today--two kids instead of three and life is a BREEZE! Jack went to Grandma's for the night, and we ran around and got tons of errands done, went shopping, went to Community Day at a local park, went out to dinner, and now we're up way past bedtime watching the chipmunks! We almost went back to community day after dinner, because the kids were griping that they didn't get to go on one of the 100 moonbounces (they did manage to hit the 99 others!) at the fair, but they opted to watch a movie instead! Movie night has all of a sudden become a big deal in our house! We bring up a foam mattress from the basement for the kids to lie down on, we get them in their jammies, bring down their pillows and blankets, we let them eat popcorn and give them something to drink that they otherwise aren't normally allowed, and we are all happy!

LEMONADE STAND-OFF

Looking back to last post, of course there was no 3rd Christmas reference---because every time you come to expect one thing, the exact opposite happens! Thus me sitting here stressing that Jack won't nap. I told the kids we would go to the pool after Jack napped, so I am being bugged constantly about WHEN we are going to the pool, and of course, Jack is up in his crib, banging on walls and NOT going to sleep. I am sure he must be up there laughing at his attempt to spoil our plans.

We took the kids to a "concert on the square" in a local development a few nights ago. It was a really nice atmosphere, music specifically for kids by the music class that the kids used to attend, there were many people we ran into from the kids' school---all of which should have brought a smile to their faces. I expected that Jack would be a sourpuss because it was past his bedtime and because I decided that I would not let him out of his stroller or our arms because he is all over the place all the time. I wasn't expecting much from Jack, but he was a dream!! As for Nicole and Max? Sourpusses. They were whiny, cranky, sat on our blanket and refused to have fun, wouldn't get up to dance to the music like all the other little kids were doing. And what was to blame? Lemonade. It was my fault for setting us up not too far from a lemonade stand...but they had just eaten dinner and had plenty to drink, and I thought they would barely see the stand in their excitement of the music they knew, and the prospect of fun and friends. But, ALL night, they were asking for lemonade. I said "no" the first time and I thought that would be the end of it. They continued on all night. Of course, to make it worse, when they asked daddy his selective deafness kicked in again. He said "sure you can have some" but then realized that he left his wallet home so he had no cash. Of course, he denies hearing the 1000 times I had already said "no" and now the kids were doubly mad because I had the money, but refused to buy them lemonade. The entire night was consumed by a lemonade standoff. After about 10 minutes, I really wanted to just buy some f*&**&-ing lemonade, but of course, by that time it was the principal of it. They could NOT get their way! So they were miserable, and I was miserable. In debating whether we would go back again, hubby and I agreed that it would have been an entirely different night if not for a stupid cup of lemonade!

AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE...

Yesterday, completely out of the blue, Max asked whether we could listen to our KidzBop Christmas CD, as we were driving in the car. I explained that Christmas was a long time away, we were only about 1/2 way there....but SURE we could! So, I just ran with it. Three of us sang and laughed, and we tried to tell Jack about Santa and teach him the words to the songs. Of course, I got the requisite "is Santa real?" question when "Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer" was finished ("you may say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and grandma, we believe!" ) so I had to explain to the kids AGAIN that I have no idea why they say that in this silly song, but OF COURSE Santa is real! And OF COURSE he is watching them right now to see whether they are being good little girls and boys all year! And OF COURSE he is in the North Pole making new Lightning McQueen toys for Max, all year! After we arrived at our destination, and exhausted by the discussion, I popped the CD out and thought that I had had enough of Christmas in July for a little while!

Today, I received an email from sister-in-law, again completely out of the blue, asking what our kids wanted for Christmas this year! I literally had to bring myself over to a calendar and take a peek, just to make sure that I was really where I thought I was in the year! Good news, I am not losing it.

Since things always DO seem to happen in threes, check back tomorrow to see whether there is another Christmas reference...in July!

July 4, 2008

I have had serious writer's block lately. Every time I sit down to add something, I can't quite come up with what I want to say in the way I want to say it! The amount of time spent being a mommy is directly proportional to the amount of brain cells lost! Scary stuff!

We spent this overcast 4th of July at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. The kids had a nice time, but REALLY, why do they have to price the admission so high? The place isn't that big, and I didn't think it was all that impressive!! Note to self for next time (although there probably won't be a next time for a very long time!): do not pay the extra $5 per person (including $5 for a 17-month old!!) to see the 3-D sponge bob movie. The kids were scared 1/2 to death, it lasted only a few minutes, and it didn't enhance anyone's life in any way! Well, it made me chuckle to look over and see 17-month old Jack wearing 3-D glasses in hubby's lap. He was the only one of our children to wear the 3-D glasses through the film...AND he wasn't scared when wearing them! The others threw them off at first 3-D sighting, and were still shaking in their seats throughout the film!

Since the "Adventure Aquarium" didn't provide enough adventure for us on this day, we next (after a drive through Philly and to see our old favorite places and our old house) attended a local fair, replete with expensive (and seemingly unsafe) rides, grease-laden food, cotton candy at every turn...a child's dream! We stayed until the kids started melting down one-by-one (we still have early bedtimes in this house!) and we got out of there just as the rain came down. We didn't see any fireworks this 4th of July, but we packed the day with as much excitement as we could so the kids could, hopefully, have fond 4th of July memories regardless of weather!