smart girl has already figured out the walker!

  My Son, the sword maker!

 

This is a pumpkin from Son's first field trip!

call for help!

Ok - some of you are great foodies!  I need help!  I am going to try cooking more often, from scratch!

What I'm looking for are recipes that are meat-based (like I'm doing a roast chicken this week I think) and without veggies or with veggies large enough to pick them out...

Another good one is tomato-sauce based chicken and rice, to give you an idea.

Meat and potatoes, meat and rice, meat and noodles are sort of where I'm going...

Beef, chicken, fish are the meats!  Pork also...meatballs, shredded meats.

Let's see what you've got.  Hubby and I are sort of picky so nothing crazy spicy.  Nothing Asian flavored.  LOVE homestyle or italian or mexican.

Anyone?  AND EASY, remember I am a beginner cook w/three kids and no time!

2 + 2 = no sleep

2 sick babies = no sleep as we take the man-on-man approach ALL NIGHT last night.  I do think we got a couple of winks between 2 and 4 a.m.  Yikes.  Both babies have colds AND BabyJ figured out how to get out of her swaddle on the same night!  GREAT!

all sick...

hubby had a cold, which turned into a terrible sinus infection, then pink eye.

I now have the cold.

BabyT has the cold AND pink eye.

It is much fun at our house, let me tell you!

peepee in the potty!

My 20 month old just told me he had to pee, and then went pee pee in the potty!!!!!!!

Does this make up for pouring an entire gallon of Downy on the floor in the laundry room (Which then seeped down the air vent so we'll be "april fresh" in that room for a LONG TIME)?  Almost!

don't get too secure!

Having my third child, hubby and I feel like old pros.  We know how to handle babies and toddlers and feel like we're doing well w/the older son.  We've been working on writing and reading for a while and feel that he's one of the more advanced in his class.  We felt like we had this kid thing down and were just cruising.

Then he went to Kindergarten.

And we stopped cruising.  Now, I DON'T get to pick his school, or his days, or his schedule.  I don't like it ONE BIT.  Then we hear conflicting stories from him about how his days go and kids that do and don't play with him, do and don't sit on the bus, etc. and we are rattled to the core.  Just like we are first time parents w/a sick child all over again, we're nervous and discussing scenarios and what-ifs and should we call the school, etc.  I guess it never ends huh, the new stuff?

no room at the inn...

my employer has NO PART TIME positions available.  NONE.  This is not good news.

frustration w/school...

Son starts Kindergarten next TUESDAY.  The school system has not yet bothered to inform us of which session he is in (AM OR PM), nor which teacher he gets.

Now the teacher thing is not a big deal, as I do not have a preference.  But as a working parent, I need to know AM or PM to make arrangements accordingly.

Last Thursday they promised it would be in my mailbox Saturday.  Also that the principal would call me back.  Neither happened.  After I retrieved today's mail, which STILL contained no letter, I called again.  They promised it would have been in today's mail, which I informed her I was only calling because I got the mail and, NOPE, NO LETTER.  I explained that at best I have 4 business days as of RIGHT NOW to make arrangements, and getting the letter tomorrow leaves me THREE.  Though I have no faith, based on THEIR past lying to me about when they sent the letters, that I'll get a letter tomorrow.  I asked AGAIN that the principal please call me back.

Stay tuned.

anyone watching BB8?

It is GREAT this season....just absolutely great trashy reality tv, if you like that sort of thing.

My dad always laughed at my tv choices (back then it was soaps and wrestling, of all things!) - he always said for someone so smart, I sure did watch the dumbest TV possible.  He couldn't quite believe that my brain would even let me watch that crap!

18 month sleep regression

has hit our house, even though it's a little late.  Damn, it is a ROUGH one too.  OF COURSE, when we FINALLY get BabyT down after the middle of the night batttle, it's time for BabyJ to get a bottle (if she's going to get one, she only gets up 50% of the nights for a bottle, thank goodness)...

trying!

I am trying, trying, trying desperately to find time to make it to the darn gym simply to sign up!!!.  Heaven knows how I'll find time to ACTUALLY excercise!

trying!

I am trying, trying, trying desperately to find time to make it to the darn gym simply to workout.  Heaven knows how I'll find time to ACTUALLY excercise!

laundry update...

1 load adult dark clothes
1 load bed sheets

Still to go:
1 load adult light clothes
1 load child darks
1 load child lights
1 load family reds
1 load baby lights
1 load baby darks
1 load baby spit up rags
1 load bed blankets
1 load bath towels
1 load beach towels

and now that BabyT just peed on the floor getting into the shower:
1 load bath mat

sorry for the silence!

We've been at the beach!  Just got back, in fact.

In case anyone was wondering, going to the beach, with a 5 year old, a 1 year old and a 4 month old is A LOT OF WORK and not to be attempted by those looking to actually RELAX on their vacation and/or SLEEP.

a new baby!

And Bugsy is having (or has had?!) her baby by now, here's sending her lots of luck and love w/her new bundle of joy!

http://bugsys.blogspot.com/

dear AVEDA,

F*** YOU.

You MAY NOT discontinue a product before producing a suitable replacement!  They have stopped making their Elixir leave-in conditioner, which is my favorite.  Not only for the wonderful magic it works on my hair, but for the wonderful scent.  I tried another leave-in product they make for colored hair, but you are supposed to use a conditioner with it, so I would be using TWO products instead of just one.

Today I tried Redken's leave-in. MAN IS IT FULL OF PERFUME.  It really really stinks.

Back to the drawing board.

as the warning light came on in the other car we own today...

Hubby arrived home after 52 days away!  YAY!

what do you do when...

** you have all three kids in the car - the 3 month old and the 1 year old are sleeping
** you have 2 bottles in the car for the baby but they are both dirty.  This is not supposed to be an issue because you are only driving 20 minutes from your mother's house to yours
** it is 99 degrees outside and blazing sun
** your husband is in a very far away place
** your father-in-law is ALSO in a very far away place
** your brother is 1 hour away

You are 6 miles from home.  You have a left rear tire pressure of 0 according to your tire monitoring system (you get to watch it drop from 20 when it started warning you to 0 as you drove off the off-ramp for the Dulles Toll Road)

There are NO males that can come quickly to your aid that you know.  EVEN if they could, you would be on the side of the road in BLAZING HEAT AND SUN with an infant and a run-away toddler ( I am assuming it is not safe to change a tire on the car w/the kids IN the car, which also means, in this heat, the car would have to be left running).

The 2 females you COULD call could only do the following: drive to where you are and SIT with at least one of your kids while you drive THEIR car home and retrieve your other vehicle that is big enough to hold everyone.  This also means installing car seats in the BLAZING HEAT AND SUN should you choose this answer.

All the other males you know are
   a.  at work
   b. also at least 1 hour away

Many of the phone numbers you might need to call random friends for help anyway are stored on your OLD cell phone, as luck would have it.

So what do you do?