Bizarro World

So tonight wins in bizarro world. Drew was in the tub and Addi was in her crib and started crying, then louder, and then outright screaming. I tried to calm her down but she would have none of it. She wasn't thirsty, didn't want her blankie, so I chalked it up to being tired so I put her back down....crying.

At the same time, I hear Drew start crying in the tub asking Patrick for MOMMY to wash him (mind you, he generally prefers Daddy.) Patrick insists on finishing up the bath with Drew...so we have two kids crying.

The weird part is that after Patrick gets Drew out of the tub, Drew is so upset that I didn't give him his bath that he INSISTS on getting another bath (huh???) and me to wash his hair (?????) He hates having his hair washed. What is going on?!?!?

So I say fine and start to give him his bath with requisite second hair washing. Meanwhile, Patrick picks up Addi and figures out what she wanted all along....a barette in her hair. That's right, there's nothing like dolling up your hair go to go to bed....when you're 1!!!

Very strange. At least Addi didn't stick anything up her nose tonight. That's an improvement over last night....

Germs, Germs Everywhere

Over the past two days, I've battled the flu. Luckily, it was the good ole 24 hour flu, not H1N1, but still...felt pretty darn lousy yesterday. While not feeling well, I wouldn't let the kids climb on me and kept telling Drew that I was sick. So naturally, as any 3 year old would do, he kept asking "why are you sick?" and "How did you get sick?"

So while picking him up from daycare today, he asked again "why are you sick?" I decided that this is a perfect opportunity to give a little education about GERMS!

So I told him that I got germs and that this is why we wash our hands before eating - to get rid of germs because we don't want to get sick. (See, just trying to reinforce the necessity of hygiene.) So like a good 3 year old, he asks "why didn't you wash your hands?" And a woman who washes her hands quite a bit, I was taken aback. (I mean, who wants to be accused of not washing their hands???)

So I respond that there are a lot of ways to get germs. Some one could have coughed on me and that's why we cover our mouths when we cough...because coughing on other people can put germs on them. (Again, trying to tie the reasoning into why I nag him to cover his mouth.) And once again, he says, "Why did someone cough on you?"

Gotta love a 3-year olds sense of logic.

Luckily he decided to stop asking questions once I told him how germy the toilet is. I can only imagine how he would have followed that one up.

Running in the Dark

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed that there is reason to get out the door and do some exercise. Namely, that little flat piece of metal on the bathroom floor tells me numbers that I don't particularly care for. And last week it hit a number that made me go "uh oh."

So, I made myself get out the jogging stroller and jog over the weekend. As I thought back to my marathon days, I begrudgingly reminded myself that I have to run during the week too. Back in those days, I rolled into work around 9:00 (or later), so to go running beforehand, I got up around 6:00. Not so these days! Doing the math, I realized that I had to get up around 5:00 to get a short run in.

So after procrastinating the run for a few days, I got my rear out of bed at 5:10 and was outside by 5:15. As I looked up in the sky, I was amazed to see all the stars. It was incredible. It didn't take much effort to see the big dipper...and that's when I realized that perhaps it was a little early to be running. I mean, are we really supposed to be picking out constellations?

Of course the kicker was when I got back home (just before 6:00) and Patrick (still in bed) asks me where I went. (Exactly whereall could I have gone at 5:15 in the morning?) After he said that he heard the front door open, I laughed. It probably didn't matter if it was me opening the door or a burgler, there was no way he was getting out of bed!

Now, we shall see if I am able to repeat this tomorrow morning...

What Drew Says

Had to laugh tonight cause Drew was at the table and out of blue he started saying "Humpy Dumpy." And while I tried to correct him, he just couldn't get the "t's" in there. It's just wrong on a few levels...but all I could do was laugh.

And of course there was last night when he uttered, "I don't like macaroni & cheese, feed me green beans." Well, when a kid demands his green beans I guess you just HAVE to give in.

And have I mentioned that Drew likes to "make" guns and "shoot" them? By making guns, I mean that he will put 2 pieces of train track together and call it a gun, or pick up a stick and call it a gun, or even just use his hand in the gun shape. Needless to say, when he did this at school, and "shot" at a teacher, he got in trouble. (An "office" time out mind you.) So now he is well aware that shooting is not allowed...which is why whenever he "makes" a gun, it's now a squirter. And no, neither Patrick nor I told him this, he came up with the water gun loophole all on his own. I don't know whether to be proud of his ingenuity or shake my head because I am in for some crazy years ahead.

And Another Thing

So after many moons of wondering how Drew's speech was developing, we started taking him to speech therapy through the school district (hey, it's free and my tax dollars pay for it, so why not.)

He's been going two days a week and despite the fact that he is doing much better, they keep finding sounds for him to work on. For example, last week one of the words was "mule." Seems pretty easy to you and me, right? Nope....let's sound it out: me-you-ul. Then I have correct him on musicbox (no, it's not mu-stick box). No wonder it's hard for him to get.

So as I pull the sheet out to work on with him tonight, full of one & two syllable words, Drew insists on playing with his dinosaurs. "No mommy, I need to put the stegosaurus next to the tyrannosaurus rex. That's a velocirapter. I like the triceratops." My mouth just about dropped. (Patrick was laughing at me.)

Verdict: Ostrich - hard and boring 2 syllable word for a 3 year old
Tyrannosaurus Rex - way too cool to not learn how to say

I guess we'll be able to drop out of speech therapy once we hit the dino words.

So You Say It's Been Too Long

Okay, I've gotten the harrassment about not posting, so I am sitting here and I am writing. (I would officially like to blame Pher for quitting his posts as the loss of my inspiration. After all, he had some interesting insights...but I digress.)

I have to share a funny story, but I will warn anyone who does not have kids that you may not appreciate it.

We have been working with Drew on potty training. So I'm sitting with him in the bathroom and I remind him that he needs to wipe. So he balls up a lot of toilet paper into a decent size ball and proceeds. Next thing I know both his hands are empty so I realize that the TP has gotten stuck in his backside. He turns around and says, "Mommy, I have a tail" and sure enough the ball of TP makes him look like Peter Rabbit.

Where does he come up with this stuff??

On another topic, I must say that despite the frustration that comes with being a UCLA fan, there was one huge benefit on Sunday night....I knew where to get us to park in the Rose Bowl for the U2 concert. We got to use the "super secret" south side entrance and parked in front of the aquatic center (rather than the dreaded golf course.) Can I tell you that we were on the freeway only 15 minutes after we all got in the car? And when I say 15, I'm not sorta rounding down, I mean, literally 15 minutes! It was fantastic. Yes, I'm a total freak for getting excited about our Rose Bowl parking space, but it's all about the little things in life.

The Black Eyed Peas opened and they were actually pretty good. I had bothered to buy their CD a week before to be familiar with their songs so I knew every single one that they sang. The coolest part was by far when Slash (yes, from GnR) came out and the whole stadium was singing "Sweet Child of Mine". Very cool.

U2 was good, but not as great as the previous times I've seen them. Their new stuff isn't catchy enough and they didn't play enough of the their old stuff. And Bono decided that he was going to sing the songs at a different rate then you usually hear them.....sure he's tired of singing "With or Without You" the same way after 22 years....but I want to hear it done proper. Overall, I think that my expectations were set too high. (I saw Depeche Mode a couple months back and I really liked the concert and I think part of it was that I had lower expectations compared to U2.)

But you better believe that I will be at the next U2 concert when they come back to town. After all, I just can't hear enough of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday."

Pavlov's Children

I sometimes wonder if Pavlov ever had kids. If he did, they would probably be like mine....

When I'm in the kitchen, I often find myself going into the pantry. It just dawned on my why Addison sometimes gets upset that I'm in the pantry....it's not that she wants to be in the pantry or doesn't want me in there, it's that she wants to be in her high chair so I can feed her a snack from the pantry.

Yep, it turns out she is very aware of where the graham crackers and goldfish crackers are kept...so when I open the pantry door, she hears the bell in her head and thinks "SNACK!!!" and makes a beeline for her high chair.

It only took me a few episodes to figure out what was going on....

Swim Lessons & Walking

Since I have been completely sporadic with writing, I figured I would combine two posts into one.

Swim Lessons
As any So Cal mommy knows, you gotta get your kid in swim lessons. With all the beaches & pools, it's a darn shame if you don't get your kids trained...right? (It could also be that I grew up loving swim lessons so I gotta put Drew & Addi in them too even if there is the possibility that they may think it's torture.)

Anyways, as I have found out over the years, there is limited space in the city sponsored swim lessons. So when I read that the first day of registration was today, I figured as long as I got there right when it started, all would be good. So I packed up the kids and headed to the community center and arrived right when registration started...to a line of 100 parents. (I knew I should have camped out...)

Now before you roll your eyes at what may seem to be the minutae of my life, let's just say that after an hour of waiting and getting both kids into their classes (yep, Drew got the last spot in his class), I actually felt like I had accomplished something. Like I had stood in line for concert tickets and got just the right wristband. Just instead of front row, I earned the pleasure of packing the kids up for swim lessons at 9 AM on Saturdays. Ah, the joys of motherhood (no sleeping in!) I mean, I actually left the community center with a proud smile on my face. (Lame, I know)

Now for the other topic...

Toddler Walking
Now that Addi is getting around, I've come to remember the different styles of toddler walking.

The Robot: This is what a toddler looks like when they not only walk, but they try to walk fast. I know, not too original with the name, but you get the picture.

The T-Rex: This is the robot walk with arms bent at the elbows...like a little dinosaur.

The Frankenstein: Robot walk combined with arms straight out. This is usually combined with Addi running (fast robot) down the hall chasing Drew.

The Wraith: This is the Frankenstein combined with screaching...like the wraiths from Lord of the Rings.

The Teradactyl: This isn't a walk. This is just what it sounds like when Addi & Drew are in the other room and they start screaching at each other. (And when I say screaching, this is the "good" noise...) I'm not quite sure what is going on, they just sound like two teradactyls...or what movies have led me to believe is a teradactyl.

The Dedication
On my first post, I mentioned that Patrick's cousin Chris had inspired me to start a blog. He has decided that he has run out of material and will no longer post. I hereby dedicate this post to the loss of his blog. It was his postings of steak, Nascar and Kristin's love of Banana Republic that inspired me to give this a shot. (And I am nowhere near the blogger that he is, I mean was.)

One Last Thought
Have you ever noticed that the amount of things that you pack for a day at the beach is inversely proportionate to actual amount of time spent at the beach?

One diaper bag, one bag of towels, snacks, juice boxes, blanket, two beach chairs, spare clothes, hats, beach toys, lotion and two kids = 45 minutes of fun in the sand. Oh alright, I suppose we can squeeze out a whole hour....

Another Cousin Joins the Clan!

Yep, Maryanne delivered her little bundle of joy today. Little "Baby Boy X" was born today at 4:12. He weighed in at at a hefty 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches. I say hefty because if you've seen Maryanne with her baby belly, you would think the kid could not have been more than 5 or 6 pounds. I don't know how she has these big babies! Good coloring and some hair to boot too.

Oh, and if you asking why I refer to him as Baby Boy X, it's because the name is still up for discussion. I'm sure the kiddo will have a name soon though.

The real treat came when I got word that she was in labor in the morning.....I was able to blow off about 5 hours of meetings to be her labor coach. Not a bad trade off if you ask me. (Now keep in mind that being a good labor coach usually means just keeping your mouth shut and not trying to crack jokes before the epidural kicks in.) So I suppose I didn't drive her too crazy as her coach.

And for those of you catching score, there are now 5 cousins on the Tweedy side, all under 3 1/2 years old. Family get togethers will be a little bit fun, and a lot of crazy!! :)

In-Flight Movies

I forgot to mention on my previous "Orlando" post that I had the opportunity to watch 2 movies. The first one "He's Just Not Into You." Great little romantic comedy...in fact, I think it is one that guys can like too. Ensemble cast where you recognize just about everyone. It was worth the $2 headset fee - even though the ear buds were uncomfortable. (Note to self - always remember to pack headsets.)

The second movie was "Bride Wars." I'm glad I already felt like I got my money's worth on the other movie because it was not worth $2. Only watch this if you are stuck on a plane or it shows up on TBS.

Not on the flight, but in my Netflix, was "The Duchess" with Keira Knightly. A great mix of Jane Austen and The Tudors. (Think 18th century England but not quite as smutty as The Tudors.) I really liked it. Am now reading the book upon which it is based.

Addi is Walking

Well, it's official. The little girl is walking. She can't yet "walk the house", but she can take 10 - 20 steps before grabbing furniture or sitting down. (Of course this mostly transpired while I was in Orlando - as I knew it would.)

And she moves fast. It used to be that I would put her down somewhere to play with a toy and go do something close by (like wash the dishes.) Now, I have to go look for her...and often find her under the kitchen table. (It's like a weird version of hide and seek.)

For those keeping track, she still only has one tooth. :)

Orlando

Being an accountant, I rarely have to go anywhere except the office. It's something that I actually like. If anyone knows me at all, they know I am a creature of habit. So it works out very nicely that I take the same route at the same time everyday.


Also, as any business traveler can attest, there is a HUGE difference between business travel and personal travel. It's one thing to go somewhere cool or amazing when on vacation, it completely doesn't matter when there is business travel involved. So needless to say, I do not volunteer for business travel.


This being said, I was asked to go to a conference in Orlando. My company is currently implementing a new software system and it's probably the biggest project I will be involved in. So I said okay and I flew out on Monday morning to the fine city of Orlando. (Keep in mind that in order to get to the airport, I had to get up at 4 something in the morning....which is another reason I don't care for business travel.)


I didn't realize how long it had been since I had been on the plane until I walked into the American terminal at LAX. They have the kiosks now to check in...and to easily pay that $15 for the checked luggage (Yikes!) But aside from that, the airport was, well, LAX.


I won't bore you with the conference details (unless you really want to hear about SAP as an ERP solution). But there are a few things of interest.


After landing, we were thinking about dinner. And for some reason, I was craving a steak. Don't ask me why, but I just wanted it and it turned out that it wasn't too difficult to convince the guys I was with to go for steak. So we ended up at this place called The Capital Grill. After seeing wine lockers for both Warren Sapp and Shaquile O'Neal, I realized that we were in a fancy place. (Never mind that I had to explain to our CIO who Warren Sapp was.) It was a good meal...definitely on the level of Morton's or Ruth Chris.


The other cool thing was that the conference brings in someone every year to do a concert on the last night and this year it was Don Henley. I didn't realize how many songs I knew that he sang. (I also didn't realize he fronted the Eagles until a couple of weeks ago either...but you can mock me for that later.) So it was a good time. There was one unexpected item...when he sang Tear 4 Fear's "Everyone Wants to Rule the World." It sounded good...but I had to wonder if he was really doing a tongue in cheek song since he was pimping himself out to a "corporate gig."


And lastly, I flew back yesterday. After a few delays with the flight, I was able to get to my car right before 5. Yay - right into 405 rush hour! Oh, and I had a parking ticket too. Either we forgot to put my current sticker on my license plate or it has been removed. Either way, the economically deprived city of LA will be getting $25 from me.

Needless to say, I am glad to be home to the kiddies.

More Like Our Parents Every Day...

It goes without saying that as parents now, we will inevitably do things that our own parents did. Some of us never thought that we would be driven to this while others recognized that the tactics our parents took worked and therefore there must be some magic to it.

For example, I have found that while Drew is watching TV, it is virtually impossible to get him to listen. So I have to do what my mom used to do....stand in front of the TV. (Mind you, I HATED this when I was growing up.) But, hey, it's a tactic that works.

On a lighter side, I've found that after a few tries, it's really not that hard to spell everything out (or decrypt what Patrick is spelling.) In fact, today he decided to be a smart-*** and tried to ask if we should give Drew a c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e-c-o-v-e-r-e-d-b-a-n-a-n-a. As you can imagine, there really was no need to use so many letters...but back to the point, a good ole encrypted message between parents, just like my parents used to do. (It's like an enigma machine I tell you....that's a History channel reference folks.) It will probably be a few years before we have to pull out the next trick to thwart the kids....spelling things backwards.

But the reason for the post is that Patrick had to pull out an oldie but goodie this morning. Drew asked for a waffle for breakfast and Patrick obliged. After giving Drew the waffle, he said he wanted something else and Patrick told him that he had to eat the waffle. At which point Drew turned the plate over and the waffle went on the floor. After some discipline and tantrum, Patrick told Drew "you will get nothing and like it." I'm sure this is music to some grandparents ears....

Drew's a Fast Little Devil....

So, as a few of you know, we are in the midst of trying to potty train Drew. (Side note to any of you who have not tried this....this takes WAY more time than I ever imagined.) We've felt very proud of our accomplishments, especially when he doesn't put up a fight to sit on his little potty and even starts to sing while he "waits." (It's as if he may actually be enjoying the experience.)

The other day I put him on the potty and it happened to be a time that he didn't particularly want to be on the potty. So what's a kid to do you ask? Of course the answer is to run through the house with pants around the ankles and even start playing that way.

The funny part isn't so much that he insisted on playing without bothering to pull up his pants, but how FAST he got away from me. That little guy can MOVE (Nevermind that any of us big people would have fallen by the 3rd step with our legs constricted by pants). It was like watching an old guy shuffle along, only his legs were moving so fast I couldn't catch him!

I tell you, when there's a will, there's a way...

Addi's New Skill

The other day, I noticed that Addi would start crawling down the hallway like a madman. At first I couldn't figure out where she was off to and then realized it was the bathroom (of all places).

I then noticed over the course of the week that she kept cruising into the bathroom. Of course, I had to cringe because if there is one place that the germies love, this would be it. At least she didn't seem too interested in the toilet.

She showed interest in Drew's stool and the next thing I know, she's trying to climb onto the first step.


Well, guess what this little critter has figured out how to do?? Yep, not only can she climb onto the first step, but she climbed up both steps and stood up!

For the first minute I was amazed. Then I realized that both of my children are like little monkeys. First Drew would escape from his crib and this little one wants to climb on steps before she can even master standing up. I have my work cut out for me!

Needless to say, we will be keeping the bathroom off limits from this one...
(She'll probably notice that I'm running interference on her, but oh well!)

Baby Ali

Today was the big day to go see baby Allison! Not only did the four of us go down, but Maryanne and Nicholas joined us too. So it was a full car for the ride down to Chula Vista!

Ali is just adorable. Although she has a little bit of dark hair, because she has light eyebrows, I think she'll end up a little blondie like her momma. And despite having Addi just 10 months ago, I have completely forgotten just how tiny brand new babies are. Addi looked enormous next to Ali, which is funny considering Addi is on the smaller side for her age.

True to form, the little gal slept for most of our visit. Suzie & Steve say that they have a hard time getting her to wake up to nurse. At that point I stopped feeling bad when my kids would start crying and throwing their fits. I figured what the heck, if they wake the baby up, they're just helping her feed! (That of course is my rationalization to make me feel less guilty about Drew & Addi throwing their fits.)

Suzie looks great and Steve doing pretty good with the diaper changing.

Since the boys weren't really interested in a new baby, they forced Uncle Steve to be master of ceremonies. And boy did he deliver. It's amazing how much fun that kids can have with the ultimate toy....an empty cardboard box! We of course checked out their neighborhood park (where of course Nicholas was taking tips from Drew on how to jump off of things to Maryanne's chagrin....gotta love the bad influence!)

Our Little Niece Allison Has Arrived

Yesterday was the big day for my sister Suzie...she had a little baby girl Allison Ann. (Yes, that means there are now cousins Addison & Allison!)

Ali weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. For those keeping score, this means that little Maryanne is in the lead of the baby weight competition by producing the biggest baby: Nicholas at a solid 9 lbs. 8 oz. Okay, back to Ali....

The length turns out to be a little more confusing. She was first measured at 20 1/2 inches. Considering both Suzie and Steve are tall, this was not surprising. My dad, thinking the kid was actually longer, demanded a "remeasure." She somehow lost over an inch and was re-measured at 19 1/4 inches. Somehow this seams like college football stats...everyone is gigantic until they show up before draft time and are really measured....

Suzie was in very good spirits when I called her. At that moment, Steve was having to do the very first diaper change. I had to laugh...apparently he wouldn't let her finish doing her business before trying to change her and went through 3 diapers in 5 minutes. Any of us parents have to laugh at that one. :)

Anyways, I am looking forward to seeing my little niece this weekend. It is only a couple more months before a little nephew is due to arrive!

Addi Stood Up!!

Oh yes, it happened! Addi and I were goofing around on the bed and she decided to crawl to the edge. Amazingly (and this isn't the point of the post), she knows not to go head first over the side of the bed and instead gets really close to the edge and then turns herself around to drop off feet first. (Daycare must be teaching her a thing or two because I keep worrying she's "diving" to the carpet.)

Anyways, she dropped herself off, hung onto the side of the bed for half a second and just stood there for two seconds. I couldn't believe it!!! She's turning into a big girl way too fast (sniff)!

Cliff Notes Version: Addi stood up for 2 seconds and then fell on her butt.

Beef Jerky

Patrick has a strange affinity for beef jerky. I say strange namely because I can't stand the stuff...especially with it's strong "aroma". So as a joke, he decided to hand it to Addison. As you can obviously tell, Addison must be the second child because no mother in their right mind should let their baby have beef jerky, right?

The strange part is that Addi actually liked the jerky. After letting her gnaw at it for a couple of minutes, I tried to take it from her to feed her "real" food....and she got mad!! What the heck is going on here?! At that point I gave in. Let's recall that the girl has no teeth, so she's just "tenderizing" it if you will.

And yes, that's right. She's 10 months old and still no teeth. (I've been told not to worry about this because having teeth just means they can bite you - to which I can not argue.)

The only downside is that Addi smelled like beef jerky afterwards. And that isn't the scent you expect when you're holding a baby!

Chuck E. Cheese

This past Saturday, our little family had a big event....the first birthday party with little people at Chuck E. Cheese! Drew invited his best friend from daycare (Casey) and my friends' kids as well. I of course chose Chuck E. Cheese since I would have no prep work, no clean up and I always find it entertaining to see which lane Drew will try to throw the "skee-balls" up (not always his own.) In fact, sometimes we have to work on keeping him from throwing it overhand (again, not quite what CEC ownership had in mind...)

Drew did so much running around that he was (literally) sweating at one point.

(I guess that's the sign of a good party for him.)

As for his cake, I was originally planning on ordering him a "Thomas the Train" cake. When we went to the bakery and I asked him what he wanted on his cake, he said "candles." Turns out that when you're 3, you don't realize that you automatically get candles AND a design on your cake. Once we got past that, he finally decided he wanted "whales" on his cake. So as you can see, he got an ocean themed cake.

And while all the other kids ate their cheese pizza, Addi gave pizza crust a shot. Not only did she gnaw on it for a good half hour, she really seemed to enjoy it. (Pretty impressive for a girl with no teeth!!)

Thank you to those that earned their tickets and "donated" to Drew. We now have 600+ tickets to spend. I can only imagine the number of trinkets this will buy us. :)

Drew Turns 3!!

Drew turned 3 today!!

The day started off with a custom breakfast of eggs with cheese (okay, let's face it, he does get this breakfast on a lot of other normal days too!). I also pulled out the photo album to show him pictures of himself on the day that he was born. He didn't seem to believe me as he kept saying "That not Drew, that baby."

He took both cupcakes and goodie bags to school to share with his class. Oh yes, we've entered the realm of baking the night before birthdays.

For dinner, we went to a very special restaurant. That's right, McD's! (For any of you keeping track, that meant that Patrick and I were stuck with Filet O' Fish since it also happens to be Ash Wednesday.) I do have to admit that we went to the "fancy" McDonald's near us - the play area is indoors and therefore we don't have to brave any "weather."

Despite the fact that he already had a cupcake today, it's not like I can deny my first born a true birthday cake on his birthday. So indeed, we also had cake. (Gee, I wonder why he's amped up?!?!)

Of course, this was merely a "family night." He gets a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party with a few friends on Saturday.

Suzie's Baby Shower Part 3

Maryanne did the memory game, which is always a hit (the candybar surprises went over well...but made a few people nervous...if you know what I mean.

And Suzie (or should I say "Stuzie") made out on the gifts. This little onesie is a shout-out to Steve.

...and of course the Suzie Zoo themed cake!

Suzie's Baby Shower Part 2

More pics of friends...

Suzie's Baby Shower

Just thought I'd send along some pics of Suzie's shower. Lots of friends:

Let's see if I can figure this out..

So after reading Pher's blog for a few months, I actually realize that this may be an easy way to share little stories and some pictures....namely of the kids of course. So after I asked him about his blog - noting that he claimed it to be easy AND free, I said what the heck. Of course I realize there is a strong chance I will only post twice a year. But hey, I can always give it a shot...