Spring!

Yeay! The trees (& weeds) are green again! It's warm, it's sunny, it's not winter! I know, I know... I live in Florida. It's hot, a lot. But we do get a couple months in the winter where we can't going swimming or break something on the slip and slide. So, in honor of warmer weather, I thought I'd share one of my favorite evening summer-time activities with the kids. Sidewalk Chalk.

What's the big deal? Nothing really. It's super cheap, it comes out of clothing, the rain washes it off, and it's an excuse to be outside (just like bubbles). And so far, the amount that has been in Austin's mouth doesn't seem to be poisoning him. This is our activity while we wait for Daddy to come home from work since I get home with the kids about an hour before he does. Barefoot in the driveway, that's us.

And, you can get some really great colorful photos of your kids. Like this.

And this.

Short on princess crowns? Draw one.

Austin was too small at this time to participate, but he sure loved sitting in his stroller outside just observing.

On one occasion, we backed the cars up a bit to give us more room at the top of the driveway. They just happened to be blocking the sidewalk and we got some evil sneers from a few pedestrians who were forced to take two steps in the grass. They apparently weren't aware of the fun sidewalk chalk is. Thus, another need for this post. Maybe I should have offered them a stick or two? Next time.

Happy tanktoping.

Let's be friends!

One of those days

It's been one of those days. No second nap for kid #2, and no nap at all for kid #1. Day 3 of getting rid of the bottle cold turkey (why is this so difficult... it's milk! Drink it!). Laundry as far as the eye can see. College basketball on TV as loud as my husband can possibly put it without his ears bleeding. Unmade beds. Dirty dishes. Weeds taller than my kids in the back yard. Dust bunnies having a party behind the couch. A toilet that could really use a scrub. It's like I'm on a treadmill that day by day gets faster and faster and I can never get off. I organized the kids puzzles and games in the living room only to have them tear them apart 20 minutes later. So then I feel like what's the point? But at the same time, if I don't maintain constantly, it's going to get really out of hand, really fast. Like Hoarders out of hand. Or at least those are the visions I have in my head (minus the dead cats).

I just can't keep up, and I only have 2 kids! How do you do it with more? With a bigger house? It seems impossible. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe stay-at-home moms who love their stay-at-home lives have some secret I am not aware of. How do you break out the bleach and give the toilets a scrub when a 1 year old wants to join you and - A. breath in the fumes, and - B. touch everything? And emptying the dishwasher is like an invitation to grab knives as quickly as possible. How does he grab them so fast? It's like he turns into stealth ninja baby.

I know I shouldn't complain. I have two healthy kids, a loving husband, and a roof over my head. It's all I ever wanted as far back as I can remember. I guess it doesn't need to be clean all the time. But it's like that lie that is the cover of every magazine. You see a woman who is impossibly beautiful because she's been retouched ala Photoshop, and you think that's what you have to be to be beautiful. I'm well aware of the Photoshopping that takes place and still compare myself to those women. I see homes in magazines, on commercials, in TV shows and think people really live like that. There's never sticky juice spots on the kitchen floor, never a pile of laundry preventing the hamper lid from closing, never the smell of poopy/chicken carcass garbage that hits you when you walk in the door from work because you forgot to take it out in the morning after you threw that diaper in there and the leftovers from last week, never that ring in the toilet that never comes off (though I guess no one is filming the insides of toilets) never globs of toothpaste stuck to the sink. Know what I mean?

On the weekends I can get the house back to acceptable. Towards the end of the week, it looks like a frat house with some toys sprinkled in. On Fridays I get worried that someone might happen to unexpectedly drop by and see what we're living in. Sometimes I think, I should just forget about the laundry right now and play with my kids on the floor. So I do, and then someone doesn't have any clean underwear the next day. And you can't really pull dirty underwear out of the hamper, spray it with Febreze and throw it in the dryer. That only works with semi-dirty non-crotch-touching items. Not like I do that or anything... never mind.

I've have learned to combine play and housework. They do like to help me when I ask but do I really want to turn every task into a project involving two toddlers? "Don't eat the dryer lint!" Sigh...

Such are the struggles of a mom. Work/play/kids/cleaning/cooking/and fitting in sleep. It reminds me of a quote I've seen a few times lately... or maybe it's an Irish blessing?

"May you live as long as you want, And never want as long as you live."

I'm working on it.... but I still want a clean house.

Let's be friends!

Mom Tips Part 1

Because I was the first of my friends to have kids, I became the veteran mom when they started to have kids. Not that I have 8 kids or anything, but I had one kid at the time that had made it to two years old. So I think they figured if she was still alive, I'm doing something right. Here are some tips I have come up with that seem to have worked well for me.

• Buy used. They are going to out grow it, poop on it, puke on it, draw on it, swim in dirt in it anyway.

• Use the money you saved buying used to start a college fund.

• Park next to the cart returns in parking lots. You can load up toddlers and heavy baby car seats and push them into the store. Less sweating on your part.

• When your baby/toddler wakes up with a high fever, administer Tylenol and wait 15 minutes before making any decisions about rushing to the emergency room at 3am.

• Use coupons. If you are going to buy the stuff anyway, save the $3. If someone mailed you $3 in cash, you'd take it. $3 in coupons on things you buy anyway is the same thing... cash in your pocket.

• Buy Pampers. Cheap diapers suck.

• Take a lot of pictures and videos. You'll never regret having too many.

• When your newborn cries or makes any noise for that matter, just feed them. Ignore that every 3 hour BS. Pretty much never stop feeding them until they are 3 months-ish. Then maybe you can start timing things. (I credit Jess with this one)

• You will say the words... "but I just fed him/her" a hundred times when you have a newborn. See above tip on what to do.

• Daycare is never going to be awesome. There are going to be days when you hate dropping them off. But there are going to be days you can't wait to drop them off and sing old school Mariah Carry in your car as you drive away sipping your coffee for the 20 minute "me-time" you get on the way to work. It's a trade-off. Find the balance that works for you.

Let's be friends!