I love my children I really do but when I don't get that two hour break from them during the day you get one cranky, irritable woman by 4:30-5:00pm. Alex is the one who really gets to me with the constant chatter, singing and questions, he's only ever quiet when he's sleeping and even that is questionable. Today being his birthday, (we had a party for hi Wednesday with his playgroup friends) I took him to cold stone creamery for his free birthday ice cream. Quin silly child that he is promptly fell asleep in the car. We did make one other stop at Hallmark, because I needed birthday cards to go with the present I'm mailing my step-dad for his 70th birthday next week. Quin slept through the stop at the card store and the trip over to cold stone, he woke as I put him back into the stroller a second time. So he might have slept 30 min max, usually he takes a two hour nap and I thought we'd left early enough that we'd get home and I could just put him to bed. But I think the little stinker was up at 6am like Alex was today.

We enjoyed our ice cream, I shared mine with Quin. Alex ate half of his and we took the rest home for later. We got hme and I figured I'd let them burn off a bit of their sugar high. An hour and a half later I took Quin up hoping for another hour of sleep from him. I told Alex he didn't have to go up and take a nap (mistake, big mistake) but he did have to lay down on the couch and rest. Now usually if I lay down on the couch with him he'll fall asleep. Not today, kept up the questions and chatter and after an hour I gave up and let him go play. I could hear Quin on the monitor the first half hour we tried this, then silence but that was short lived, so he came back down too. Needless to say I had them both in bed by 7pm, took a shower to de-stress and watched Night at the Museum. At a little before 10 I hear Quin fussing, then quiet, then full out crying, then quiet, when he didn't get quiet again the third time I brought him down. He was acting like his throat bothered him a bit gave him a little juice flavored water and set him in Alex's vibrating rocker.

Ken's gonna love this, Quin was completely fascinated by Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Let him chill for a half hour and took him back up. I have a whole week of this my only breaks from Alex being when he's in school and the night I work. I can do this.

Speaking of school Ken and I had a chat a couple weeks ago about school once the boys got older. Elementary school doesn't worry us. The school they'll go to is one of the better ones in the county. It's once they get to middle school I worry a bit especially if the "Every Kid Left Behind Program" is still in effect. I'm sorry but I feel that in certain subjects kids need to be grouped depending on ability. It's not so bad here in HS because they offer AP classes, I just feel like middle school will be the lost years. Alex is a bright kid and loves to learn I don't want him to loose that. He's and Aural learner. He hears something he picks it up pretty quick. I just worry he'll get bored in class and start acting up, clowning around, get in trouble if he's not challenged. Quin I worry about in a different way because I can see even now he has very hands on learning style. He has to sit there and hold things, manipulate them, alot like his dad. He's not going to test well, unless he works really hard. I'm a visual learner to some extent, some subjects I can read and understand others I have to sit there and play, write, draw it out. I know I have a visual memory not photographic really but if I physically put something somewhere I know where it is even if it gets buried. This was a big help when I was front list manager at the Union Station store. If I set up a table display or put things in overstock, you only had to ask me and I'd point right where it was.Back to what I was actually talking about before that tangent. Worried about school. We talked and if it's only the two boys, meaning I don't get pregant by spring, we're going to consider sending the boys to private school starting 6th grade, if we can find something that isn't too religious. I doubt that's very feasible in this area. If we have a third there is no way we can swing private school for three kids. That's actually where we left it to revisit later. I'm almost hoping Alex's artistic ability gets stronger then he'd be able to apply to Maryland Inst of Art as a high school student, easier to get in than if you wait until college.

Well almost all the cabinets are in place. Only one last one needs to be fixed in place and that's just waiting until the spackle on the wall extention dries. They come on the 4th to do the template for the granite. Could have done it this week but Ken felt it would be better to wait until he was back from Korea.it'll be another 2 weeks after that before it's installed. Gives Ken time to do the wiring for the oven. That and they should be able to get the molding up on the cabinets by then as well. If of course it actually gets here this week. It was supposed to be in before all the install started.

You can see the wall extention better from the family room.

As of today this is what the kitchen looks like.

Monster post to catch up on everything

01/07/08

So Friday night was just the beginning. Soon after I posted Ken got home with Alex. He curled up on the couch which isn't unusual after he's had an active morning. Then he complained about his tummy hurting. I thought nothing of it because I figured he was hungry, since he hadn't really eaten anything since breakfast. Fast forward and hour later and he's puking all over the couch and his favorite blanket and stuffed animals. Load of laundry parts two and three. Then Ken got the idea to run out to the store and get a bottle of lysol hoping to control the germ spreadage. I think it was too late at that point. Alex threw up a couple more times before we convinced him to go upstairs to bed. Then the diarrhea started, popped him in the tub hosed him down. Got him into bed, told him to take a couple sips of water. He woke a couple hours later and gulped down what was in his cup then threw it back up ten minutes later. Load of laundry number 4. Quin through all this is trying to get us to walk with him, though he did pull himself to standing without using furniture. Ken got that on tape.Once the kids were in bed I made the mistake of eating dinner. Soon after my lower intestines liquified. At about ten pm dinner came back up. I curled up on the couch with my heating pad (for my back) and our big fluffy blanket now clean again, and watched Oceans Eleven. Crawled up to bed around 1am. Ken got up with Quin and fed him around 8am. Alex was up soon after so I went down to help. At 9:30 I was getting hot and cold flashes and everything hurt so I popped three ibuprofin and went back to bed. Woke around 1:30 took a hot hot shower and felt almost human except for the achiness and fatigue. Heard Quin in his room waking from his nap, changed him and brought him downstairs. Ken was crashed out on the couch in the front room and Alex on the one in the Family room. Dinner that night was two pieces of wheat toast. Ken was smart and didn't eat dinner so when it him a couple hours later all he was throwing up was toast and water. Why he even bothered trying to go to work this morning I don't know. So that was my fun weekend. I'm letting Alex recover one more day before sending him back to school. Hopefully routine will be restored.

01/08/08

Preschoolers are strange and wonderful creatures, Charming and whimsical one minute frustratingly stubborn the next. Shortly after he turned three Alex insisted we leave the light on for him to sleep. Now he already had a night light in his room but he was insisting on the overhead light. I KOed that and brought in a small table lamp. Well for the last month he's been sleeping with his covers over his head. Now I asked him if I should just turn the lamp off. "NO!NO!NO!" He just wants me to tuck him in with his covers over his head. The Whys have started in full force. A typical conversation goes like this:Mommy Why Gordon break Trevor cart?Because he couldn't stop in timeWhy could he not stop?Because he didn't see the crossing gate was closedWhy he not see the crossing gate?Because the Banner was covering his eyesWhy the banner on his eyes?The wind blew it thereWhy the wind blow it there?I don't know (teeth clenched in frustration)now this wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't read this story to him dozens of time and if he hadn't seen the video version of it just as many. Multiply this by thirty and you have a typical day for me when we're both home. Good thing he has school three days a week and I work two evenings, or I might be crazier than I already am. I don't know is the only way to actually stop the questions because if I say something like that's how the story goes or that's nature he'll ask why again.It reminds me of some of the lyrics in Chris Isaac's song PleaseWhat's the problem?What's the question?What's the answer?Where's this heading?You keep talking.Where's it going?If there's an answer I don't know it...PleaseYou're killing me.PleaseYou're killing me with all these questions.

1/12/08

So Monday was a recovery day, Tuesday Alex went back to school, which is just what my nerves needed. I went to a PTO meeting for his school that evening. I'm now organizing a book fair. Not that it's really much work I have connections, since I actually work for B&N. I attempted to take down Christmas decorations. We got the tree down but all the extras are still hanging out mostly because the bin I need to put things back in is down stairs and even half empty it's heavy and I need Ken's help to bring it up. I keep forgetting. I really need to take care of it this coming week. We need all the space in the dining room so we can unload our cabinets. Kitchen remodel begins Friday. Well it kind of begins Thursday. The plumber is coming in to install the pipes for the gas line. Once we have that in we contact BGE and they put in the connection to the main line in the street. Wednesday as you can tell from my post a couple days ago, was a hair puller for me. I'm so looking forward to gymnastics starting up again. Wednesday aren't as bad for me once we start having a regular activity to do. Thursday was another school day and Friday I made a playdate for Alex with his best buddy. Jean, his mom and I spent the afternoon chatting between refereeing. Saturday we went out to VA to take Ken's parents out for Dim Sum. Originally my BIL planned this but they changed their minds because next weekend Ken's niece is bringing her baby to see his great grandparents. We can't go next weekend because we have to be here for the kitchen destruction/construction. Su was actually happy we came and took the parents off her hands for the day, mostly because next week she'll have to play host with everyone there.Big news Ken interviewed for his GS 13. He's pretty sure he's got one of the two available slots. The first two people took an hour in the interviews and the one guy came out shaking his head saying he really screwed up. Ken thought he was in trouble going in but he was out of there in a 1/2 hour. Usually you'd expect shorter to be bad but the interview is a lot of technical questions about how projects are handled. Ken said as he answered questions the information he included answered several of the follow up questions. So he's feeling pretty good but he doesn't want to get his hopes up too high.So the travel starts once more. Looks like this year there will be 8 trips to Korea. Ken is figuring he'll be on at least half of them, starting with the one at the end of the month. Not quite as much travel, but the time he's gone will be a full week to 10 days. So I have to hope work can be flexible for me those weeks. I can get a sitter for Wednesday and Saturdays, I normally work either Friday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.
01/15/08
This Wednesday was a bit busy. Gymnastics started again for Alex, I think we have a birthday party following that for one of the playgroup kids. Then that evening Ken’s work group is celebrating a good year by going to dinner at Fogo de chao. Our sitter got here at 4:30 dinner is at 6:30 we were gonna make a brief stop in White Marsh to look at granite for our counter tops and get a quote, but I found out they close at 4:30 so no point.Oh man I just realized Ken is going to be out of town for Alex's birthday. Ahh well Alex won't really know since we're having his party 4 days earlier.

okay I just want gravity to lay off me for a while. I slipped and fell twice today. First time I was in th parking lot outside Target. Just pulled Quin out of the cart and was heading for the sliding door to put him in his car seat. Slipped on some black ice. Pulled a muscle in my left thigh and am pretty sure my butt is bruised I have a big bruise coming through just under my right knee as well. It was pure luck I didn't re-injure my right knee. It's also lucky Quin wasn't hurt. He didn't roll out of my arms until I was already on the ground. It's also good that kids winter wear is so puffy. As soon as I got him buckled into his car seat he stopped crying, really he was just scared.We went home hung out a bit then at 11 I decided I needed a shower, it wasn't quite Quin's nap time but I figured the safest place for him was his crib if he fell asleep good if not I'd get him once I was dressed. Fall number two was in the shower. Foot slipped and I basically sat down on the edge of the tub tearing the shower liner. 01/19/08

I don’t know why I thought yesterday was going to be the start of our renovation. I guess because the plumber was in Thursday to rough in the pipes for the gas line. Anyway we spent Friday faxing around our floor plan to get quotes on granite for the counter tops. Then we cleared out the rest of the stuff in our cabinets.

The guys got here bright and early this morning. We hit a few snags two minor, one kind of major. The first was the tile backsplash was adhered to the wall so well they had to cut it out and replace the plasterboard. Then once they removed the cabinets the found out the wood floor was put in around them. So there is wood where ever the appliances were but under the cabinets there is none. The guys are gonna put in some particle board to even out the floor, because we’ve extended them out to get a return and enclose the space a bit. Those cabinets will be on the wood floor so to get everything even we have to fill in the holes. The final one is a big pain. We were not expecting pipes in the one soffet. Yes it does share a wall with the half bath but the two upstairs bathrooms share the wall on the other side of the half bath, the one that has the toilet and sink on it. So you would think all the pipes are in that wall right ??. If we can get the pipes raised two inches there will be no problem because the build up of the cabinet molding will cover it and we can get the cabinets in where they’re supposed to be. I think a plumber is coming by to look at it Monday.

Alex had a grand time watching everything going on. We have a window between the family room and the kitchen, he climbed onto his train table and had a perfect view. He was of course asking questions every five minutes. “What’s the man doing? Why he do that? What that noise?” He also spent some time ringing the chime we have in that window, well that and hammering the sill with his plastic hammer.

Quin was the real surprise today. He didn’t wake up until 9:30. Even when he sleeps late it’s not much past 8:00 especially with him in bed by 7pm and one two hour nap. Usually he’s up as soon as Alex is noisy which is 7am.

I’ll probably post this in the preschooler forum to see if anyone has suggestions. Alex is really getting annoying with his delay tactics. The bedtime ones I can handle. He knows I’ll read him two books so if he putzes around too much he loses a story. If he really takes too much time he loses both. He’s only lost both stories once, but usually once a month he loses one. He doesn’t like losing a story so just the warning “Finish up in Five minutes or you lose a story” gets him moving. What is frustrating me are the delays when we’re trying to go somewhere, even if it’s someplace he wants to go like gymnastic class or a friend’s house. Soon after becoming a mom I learned to build in a half hour 40 minutes to my out the door time. And many times I’ll load things into the car ahead of time like when the boys are eating breakfast. That means all we need to do is use the potty and get shoes and coats on. He knows how to use the potty by himself, I get him into the bathroom and then I go get Quin ready expecting him to be finished , when I get back five minutes later. No, he’s still standing there singing the same song, or spinning the toilet paper roll. Even if I stay in the bathroom and continuously repeat pull your pants down and use the potty, he’ll just want to play. Shoes and coats are slightly better. He’ll happily run to the front hall and get them, but then he’ll sit on his feet so I can’t get his shoes on him. Or he’ll stand there crying because his mittens fell out of his hat to the floor under the bench in the front hall. He’s smaller than I am and closer to the ground to boot, so I tell him to bend down and get his gloves, they’re right there. Even getting him into the car and buckled in is a chore. By the time this is all over we’re leaving 5-10 minutes later than I wanted too. I have the feeling that no matter how much time I get things going before hand it’s till going to happen. Now I know some of this is my issue. If I’m on time, I’m late, because on time to me is ten minutes early. I let this go when we don’t have a specific time to be anywhere and to be honest I was way worse when I was single because I was always 15-20 minutes early for stuff. If we’re going somewhere I don’t want to go I will time things so we’re 5-10 minutes late. Like I said I’ve gotten better, mostly because Ken’s family can’t agree on a plan or time for anything so we’ll only get a general range for when something will happen. I guess that’s where he gets it from.

my 1980's kitchen

My diningroom filled with stuff


my kitchen this morning


my kitchen tonight, not much cooking going on it huh

ugh

Well last night was not a good one. Actually it was until about 1:30 in the morning. I had heard Quin fussing off and on since about 10pm. This time it was a full out cry. So I checked on him. The first thing that hit me as I walked in the room was the smell. Yes he had thrown up in his crib then rolled through it so he was covered in little bits of regurgitated lasagne. I can handle baby spit up but once it gets to real food puke, I start gagging myself. I managed to get him sitting up so at least he wasn't laying in it anymore. Then removed the stuff that was clean and finally the stuff that was covered until all that was left was the sheet and Quin. I needed Ken to help at that point. I just couldn't get close to Quin with out almost being sick myself. Ken got him into the bath and rinced him down then soaped him up. Meanwhile I changed the sheet and gathered all the puke covered stuff into the hamper, I figured I'd deal with that mess in the morning. Then I took over and washed Quin's hair got him dried and redressed. He was happy as I put him back in bed. Not a half hour later I hear him again, though he wasn't crying this time. He spit up once more, though this looked mucusy, and didn't smell nearly as much so I cleaned it and him up on my own this time. It's amazing how one little person can create a whole load of laundry by himself in such a short time.

That wasn't the end of it. This morning after breakfast Ken went to change him and he had a major blow out, I mean up to his shoulders in poop. Guess who hit the bath again. I think he's got a stomach bug. No fever and he seems fine otherwise but his poop is still really loose and he doesn't have much appetite. In the course of all this I pulled a muscle in my lower back. This means a trip to the Chriopractior in the near future. I've been walking around like I'm 90 all day.

In other news one of my pages was picked to be Memory Makers featured idea for their online gallery on Jan 8th. I'll leave the link but it won't be active until the 8th. So check it then if you like I'm posting it below as well. http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/page_ideas.aspx

Swish Kit-Tina Chambers

Super star Template-Rene Bross

Felt Pink Scallop Stitch Alpha-Melany Violette

I have a relatively Quiet house for the moment. Alex asked to go to the train museum but Ken said it would have to wait until tomorrow. But they could go to the train store. So they're in Baltimore looking at trains. I'll see them again about dinner time. Until then it's me and my cuddle bug.