Tender Moments

Pirate is turning 2 years old in 2 days but still loves to be rocked to sleep at night. If I am home, he insists that I rock him & not his daddy. I just love this time with him. He typically isn't the cuddlies little boy during the day because he is always movin' and grovin' and in his sister's business but when night comes... he is a little teddy bear.

We have a little routine at night for him which includes a playing a certain cd. Princess and Pirate have both been listening, at nap and bedtime, to the same cd since their births. I calculate I have heard the cd over 2,500 times and I still enjoy it.

Pirate is an excellent sleeper. I have been blessed with two kids that love to sleep through the night. On the rare occasion that he wakes and needs me to rock him, I jump out of bed to see him. Since it is so rare, it's not a chore for me but a wonderful and snuggly time with him. I love how he tucks his head under my chin and gets as close to me as possible. He never falls asleeps in my arms, he always motions to me to put him in his crib. I then slip out of his room, while the cd music is drifting over the baby moniter and fall back to sleep myself.

The picture above is how Pirate sleeps every night. He has been doing this since birth. I can't imagine it is too comfortable.

Best trick in the book, so far....

We struggle daily to get Princess to 'clean up' her toys and such after she is done playing with them. I typically insist clean up takes place when she moves from one activity downstairs to another upstairs or vise versa, when we leave the house, or bedtime. I try my best to ignore her room and just let it be her crazy, messy space if that is what she choses. It's hard for me but I practice resistance each and every day. The one thing I insist is her bed be made every day. I only insist the her room gets clean when it has been days of the mess and I can't walk in there anymore.

We have learned from the teachers at school that Rylan typically leads and organizes 'clean up' at school with the other kids. Now that she has been outed by the teachers, I realize her laziness at home. A fellow mom shared with me that she will get out a garbage bag and start throwing toys in the bag if her girls don't clean up when told. She has gone to the extent of actually throwing them [toys, not kids] in the garbage. (I haven't got to that point yet) I tried this trick it home and HOLY MOLY!!! I can't explain how quickly my living room got cleaned up. I love this trick and have been using it all week. I get as far as getting out the trash bag and Princess jumps to attention and starts cleaning while telling me to put the garbage bag away. Love it!

Good Ole' San Francisco

Princess and I went on a Mommy/Daughter getaway this past weekend to San Francisco. We had a blast! This is the second trip we have taken. When Pirate is a bit older, he will get to go on trip alone with me too.

We got a room in Fisherman's Wharf at a nice little hotel with a king size bed. I was anxiously waiting to go to bed so I could spread out and actually finally have some room when I sleep without Dear Husband and 2 cats. Wishful thinking! Princess hogged the bed, along with her 8 sleeping buddies she brought along on the trip (Yes, we did count them because I wanted to be sure we knew how many to look for at the end of the trip) I clung to the edge of the bed all night and listened to Princess grind her teeth. During my sleeplessness, I began to rationaloze what is worse, Husband's snoring or Princess' teeth grinding. Dear Husband lost! Princess is much more cuddly and cute so I can deal with the teeth grinding.

We went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Princess wasn't too thrilled with the stampede of animals sounds so we sat in the fishtank room and admired the fish. The hightlight of the trip for her was the gift store at the restaurant. She has already picked out the next two items she will purchase on her next two visits. She suggested that we get a babysitter for Pirate and bring Daddy to the Rainforest Cafe for his birthday. I was so proud of her thoughful planning but later realized she had alterior motives... to get the next item on her wish list at the gift store..

We took a cable car from Aquatic Park to Market Street and then another back to Bay Street. That was my favorite part of the trip. The sun was setting and Princess was so into all that we were seeing.

The next morning, we headed over to Hyde Pier to tour the Balclutha ship and Eureka ferry. I have good memories of visiting the Balclutha, several times, when I was a kid on field trips with school. Princess was a bit apprehensive about going down below on the ship but soon got over herself and enjoyed the visit. I am still amazed that the captain of the ship had his wife on board too and she gave birth to their child on the ship somewhere out on the Atlantic by India. The toddler stayed on the ship for the first few years of her life. I think life is tough living in our tiny little house, I couldn't having my baby on a ship in the middle of the ocean, teaching it to walk and protecting it from pirates and turbulent seas. Motherhood in any era is difficult and has it's challenges. (Shoot.. that could be a whole seperate blog post)

Princess soon grew homesick for her dad and brother and was happy that we were heading home. She and I had a great time and we look forward to our next trip.. whereever it might take us.

Little room for air

Finally able to find a few minutes to blog tonight. It has been tough for me lately. I just don't find the time. Blogging has become a type of therapy and outlet for me. I love writing and reflecting on my day or a thought or a cute story. So, when I am not blogging you must know I am buried to my ears in life. The idea of not having 15 minutes to blog a day has really highlighted to me that I never take the time or am given the time to breath on my own, all by myself. I am smothered from the minute I wake up until the last person in my house has gone to sleep. Then I begin to emerge and regroup. This is typically at 10pm.

I can now say that I understand fully the issues that stay-at-home moms have with losing themselves into the people they love. I am trying to catch myself from that before it is too late. Let me tell you, it is tough and not nearly as easy as people say. I was told to go to the gym and burn off the stress. I do that now every weekday. It is nice and I am getting great exercise yet I am still not being given the chance to breath. Dropping Pirate off at the Kid's Gym and walking over to a cardio machine and exercising for an hour does not help me with the things in life that are burying me... keeping in touch with friends, looking for a job, paying my bills, peace and quiet at a decent hour, etc. It's actually setting me back on my available time.

I need to start getting on the bandwagon of finding a job now that the economy is starting to turn upward yet I am struggling with finding the time to do so. It is tough to hold a business conversation when a 2 year old is crying in the background or the 4 year old is wondering who I am talking to and when I will be off the phone. It is tough to go from wearing the mommy hat one minute to the professional hat the next minute and then back to the mommy hat at a moments notice.

In looking at the calendar today, I realized I have not been kid-free since Oct. 3rd. On that day I ran a few errands all on my own and then received a phone call after about two hours wondering if I was going to be home soon. I went from wearing the 'Me' hat to the 'Mommy' hat as quick as my phone can sing Kid Rock's All Summer Long. October 3rd. was 17 days ago. I have not been out of a 50 foot range of a child ever since. I need a little room for air!

Keep your germs to yourself

Today I took the kids to get their H1N1 (swine flu) vaccination. Princess got her's but Pirate wasn't able to get one because he's not 2 years old yet. Apparently they don't have a vaccination for the babies yet. The (nasal) shot clinic told me I could bring Pirate back in a few weeks when he is actually 2. I guess they need to be that rigid but I don't see what difference two weeks will make. Oh well... we need to go back anyways because the kids need two doses of the vaccination this year.

I am still trying to figure out who is paying for these vaccinations because at our clinic today through Sutter Medical Group, they didn't take any insurance information or even double-check that we were a patient of a doctor within the Sutter Group. I asked if I needed to pay a co-pay and was told "nope". Humm.... I am sure a bill will catch up to me at some point. Nothing is free these days.

Shoot, who knows when I will get my H1N1 shot. I'm still waiting to get my seasonal flu shot. I had an appointment with my doctor two weeks ago and they canceled because they ran out of the seasonal flu shots. They have more on order but have yet to receive their shipment. I call every few days and they don't have any type of ETA. I know my age group is last on the list to receive the H1N1. I just don't want to get sick like I did a few weeks ago. Not only does it suck to be sick, it sucks to have to take care of two little kids when you are sick.

Ghost of Whitefield

If you don't believe in ghosts or things of that nature, read no further, you won't be interested in this blog post.

A month ago I visited New Hampshire and shared in my blog post on Sept. 20, 2009 our visit to the former home of my maternal great-grandmother, Mary Day Poore Osborne. I am the 5th generation 'Day' and Princess is the 6th generation. http://redherringreality.blogspot.com/2009/09/home-sweet-home.html

The house has effected my mom, brother, and I all to different degrees since we have arrived home in California. For my mom and I, we can't get the house off our mind. There is some yearning for the house that neither she or I have ever felt before about something. We have both independently, without knowing the other was doing the same thing, made attempts to find out more about the current owners of the house. We have hit a dead end for the time being because we don't know the exact street address of the home since it resides on a remote, rural road. Something is pulling us to this house and we don't know what it is. We have both been to the house since it was sold out of the family. I saw the house in 1988 and my mom saw it in 2005. Neither visit stirred the emotions we have now.

On top of everything, my brother took a picture of the house that has created some odd things since returning to California. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, we were all a bit uneasy standing in front of the house on the day we visited it. It felt like someone was watching us. There were no signs of anyone living in the home, though there was some furniture in the house. The electric meter was not spinning yet the front door was ajar. We had the major creeps and we didn't know why.

My brother took this picture of the house. He says that if you zoom in on the downstairs left window to the right of the formal front door (not the door on the porch) there is an odd figure that appears in the window while in zoom. It is a bit eerie and you can make out eyes, nose & mouth. My mom was a skeptic too but she did zoom in on the picture finally and swears there is a figure of something standing back a bit in the window, like not wanting to be seen. The creepy thing about this picture is that when my mom went to print the zoomed picture, her computer and printer completely locked up and it took her over an hour to get it sorted out. She has not attempted to print the picture again.

Spooky.....

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch today. Do pumpkin patches actually grow their own pumpkins anymore? The one we chose to go to didn't, though it was on a farm and they made it look like they had grown the pumpkins. The kids had fun, of course.

Dear Husband and I were taken back by nickle and diming that took place on the patrons of the pumpkin patch. They had a jumpy jump set up, which cost $2.00 per kid for 5 minutes. Okay, we didn't think that was too bad since we doubt they keep a jumpy jump in their barn and, most likely, had to rent it. Also, the teenage boy manning the jumpy jump didn't seem to have a stopwatch for the 5 minute limit.

The kicker was the tractor rides that they charged for.... $4.00 per person or $10.00 for 3 people. Come on! That's ridiculous yet it gets even worse. Dear Husband noticed that the tractor had been loaned to the pumpkin patch as advertisement. The tractor was brand-spanking new (even I was impressed) and there was an advertisement for the local New Holland distributor on the tractor. Seriously... that is highway robbery for a tractor ride.

What has happened? I know times are tough and everyone is out to make a buck but still....

In the moment

One of the best inventions ever, for me, is the DVR. We are able to record and keep the whole series of Backyardigans for Pirate, Angelina Ballerina can be played whenever Princess is feeling her Angelina fix. Dear Husband can watch and rewatch a Raider game and I get to watch Oprah, after the kids go to sleep.

I am a few days backed up on watching my recorded Oprahs' but watched one today that aired earlier in the week. The show began about the horrible murder that took place in Florida and left 9 adopted special needs kids without their parents. The second segment was about a husband and wife that were in a fiery plane crash and survived. The segment mostly focused on the challenges of the mother now that she recovers and caring for her 4 children. That particular segment made such an effect on me. The Oprah show did a brilliant experiment and sent a frazzled stay-at-home home to spend the day with this burned mother. What an eye-opener for the visiting mom and me! The lesson to be learned is 'live in the moment' with your children. Sometimes I know we all, including me, get carried away with the chores & errands, email and the silly little time wasters in life. This show reminded me that our time with our children is a blessing and goes very quickly and we will never get it back.

I can't wait for Pirate to wake up from his nap today and pick Princess up from school so that I can practice living in the moment with them. Of course life does require dinner to be made, etc. but I plan on beginning to shift my focus and bring myself into the moment as much as possible with the kids.

Reconnections

The past few months has been quite a ride into my past, and it's been a great ride!

It started with my best friend from kindergarten thru second grade reaching out to me on Facebook. She moved away and out of my life just at a time that we could have really used the support of each other at the age of 7. We were going through similar life experiences that we had no clue we shared. It was so great to share pictures with her and catch up. I feel like I have gained a friend back that I hadn't realized I missed for so many years.

I took my trip to New Hampshire last month which was a trip down memory lane but also opened up some real "what ifs" for me. I am still trying to process them all and don't know where they will take me but am enjoying the spark that was lit inside of me. Only time will tell...

This past weekend, my former step mom found me on Facebook. She and my father divorced when I was 17 years old and she kinda just disappeared from our lives. Not her fault, I was 17 and didn't know how to maintain a relationship without relying on my dad to facilitate it (which he didn't). It's been 22 years since the divorce and I am so happy to hear from her. I truly think that we won't lose touch again. It feels good to know that someone still thinks about you after all these years and reaches out to reestablish a connection.

Curious George

Hummm... Which one is my child??

Parenting a 2-year old boy is a completely different parenting handbook than a girl at the same age. I didn't get an owner's manual for either child upon leaving the hospital after their births. It's amazing that I received a 100 page instruction manual for my brand-new printer I just purchased but zippo, nothing, for a real live baby.

My little Curious George is all boy! Right down to climbing, hitting, pushing, tantrums, not sharing, and wanting to be a mommy's boy. We love him but Dear Husband and I feel like this is the first time we have been down this road. Princess was a breeze child. If she had been like her brother, she would have been an only child. We are doing all the classic things that we shouldn't be doing. Super Nanny would be ripping us apart if we dared ask for her advice.

I was trimming Princess' hair the other night while Pirate was watching. The thought actually crossed my mind that I shouldn't be demostrating how to cut hair with scicssors right in front of him. He will show me sometime in the future that he saw me cut hair, and that he can do it too. Unfortunately, I am sure it will be after he is all done creating his masterpeice.

But isn't he cute???

One sick dog

Yesterday morning I woke up sick as a dog, fever and all. I was putting on as many clothes as possible to stay warm. Even little Pirate came up to me and touched my skin and said "hot". It was truly a miserable day. Dear Husband went off to work (happily, I am sure) and left me home with two kids who had no sympathy for my condition. Princess was scheduled to go to Preschool yet I told her she could stay home. I didn't tell her that Mommy had selfish reasons as to why she could stay home. First one being, then I didn't have to get out of my pajamas and brush my hair and teeth to drive her and walk her into preschool. I was so out of it, I am sure I should not have been driving a motor vehicle anyway. The second selfish reason was that she could play with Pirate and I could try to just lay on the couch.

The kids were good for the most part. I had to break up a few squabbles. We watched way too much kids television. Luckily I was so feverish that I could stand watching Backyardigans for the 6th time in a row. When Pirate's nap time came, I told Princess that I was taking a nap too. She was down with that and let me get all settled into bed and asleep and then she decided she needed my help with something. I never fell asleep again yet she did, just as Pirate was waking up from his nap. I got jipped!! (gosh, is that even a real word or just bad slang?)

Trying to be the noble one and keep my germs to myself as much as possible, I decided to sleep on the couch last night. Note to self for the future: Never disclose to Princess in advance, of my plans to sleep on the couch, because she will take up residence in our bed, on my side, right away. I don't think I really slept all night. I couldn't breath each time I tried to lay down. Pirate kept waking up every 1 1/2 hours because he is cutting his last set of molars. I had to go in each time and sooth him back to sleep. The two cats thought the camp out in the living room was fun and decided to join me on the couch. They seemed to sleep great. Finally, at 3:30 am I went to my bedroom hoping that there was a bit of room for me to squeeze myself into our queen size bed. I found Dear Husband and Princess, snoring and grinding teeth respectively, both oblivious that I had been up countless times with Pirate. There was no room for me. I went back downstairs and sat on the couch and waited until Dear Husband's alarm went off at 4:10 so I could at least claim his side of the bed and try to catch a few zzz's.

The hardest part of being a mom to small children is when I get sick. They don't understand and still expect me to do 'mom things' for them. Dear Husband tries to compensate but there are times when they insist that I do something for them and will stand for nothing less. Oh, how I wish I could check into a hotel room when I am sick and suffer in silence with a bottle of NyQuil and a nice dark room.