"Who Can It Be Now" by Men at Work

A couple weeks ago I showed up at a house for a
playdate that Johnny's mother and I had arranged over the phone (I had
only briefly met Johnny once). Johnny let us in and I made myself and my
boys comfortable in Johnny's living room. The problem was that I
didn't realize that I made a mistake with the address, and I was at a
stranger's house. The mom who lived there was very surprised to find all of
us in her living room. The unfortunate part is that our boys got along
really well. The following is a made up conversation from that mom's
point of view about arranging a real playdate, because, hey, I know
where she lives after all.

(Knock, knock, knock)
Strange Mom (SM): Who can it
be knocking at my door?
AE: It's me Alex Elliot and my
two boys.
SM: Go, away don't come 'round
here no more.
AE: But our boys had such a
nice time playing together. Is this because you think I'm psycho, because
I swear I'm really not.
SM: Can't you see that it's
late at night?
AE: What do you mean? It's
1:00 in the afternoon? Are you just trying to get rid of me?
SM: I'm very tired and I'm not
feeling right.
AE: Do you have the flu? I
know it's hit a bunch of families I know. Can I get you some soup? Or
just offer to keep you company?
SM: All I wish is to be alone.
AE: I'm getting the feeling
that you don't really understand that I was in your house by accident the
other day. I really thought that Johnny's mom said 6 Smith Road not 26
Smith Road.
SM: Stay away, don't you
invade my home.
AE: What? Invade your home?
What are you talking about? Listen, I really think you got the wrong
impression about me. I'm a stay at home mom with two boys who just
wants to hang out.
SM: Best off if you hang
outside.
AE: Well, okay. I'm sure the
boys would love to play in the snow but it's pretty cold out. Maybe
afterwards they can come in and have hot chocolate to warm up.
SM: Don't come in, I'll only
run and hide.
AE: You're going to hide from
me? Hey, it was your son who
let me into your house. It's not like I broke in. I just want our
sons to be able to have a playdate together.
(Knock, knock, knock)
SM: Who can it be now?
People at the door: It's just
us. Men at Work doing Business as Usual.

My name is Alex Elliot. I am a professional Mom of two cats, a dog,
an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a toddler and an infant. While I
am spending time in this Dramatized Reality as part of this month's blog
exchange, Kendra is over at my blog, Formula Fed and
Flexible Parenting, which is written for those of us who didn't get an
instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always
gone as planned. On a more serious note the blog is about supporting a
woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the
choice, for whatever reason, not to breastfeed. Go check out Kendra's post!

For those of you who are confused, this month's Blog exchange prompt was to pick a song and write a post about that song. Click here to check out the other posts this month, and to get more info on the blog exchange.

Sad Day

Today the Little Foster Man left. We've had him for 3 months now and it's going to be a hard transition. I really have mixed emotions. I am so happy to get my life back and just spend time with my children. At the same time, I worry for him and miss him. I guess I'll probably wonder my whole life if he's ok and where he is. I'm second guessing my decision. I just hope the system will make good decisions for him.

P.S. The Babe is potty trained! (Except at night but that's understandable)

Potty Training Success and Quilt Top

We have taken a new potty training approach and.........it's working!!!!!!!! The Babe has been dry almost 24 hours (minus the night lol). He has succesfully gone potty 5 times in a row! Ok I know you're all as super excited as I am! Wanna know our new approach (because we've used all the others)?

We've often said this is it, we're going to do it! We'd put him in underwear and then after an accident or 2, we'd have right back in diapers. So I decided that it sent him the message that if I just pee on the floor a couple of times I won't have to deal with this anymore, they'll put me back in diapers. On Saturday, we figured this out and after he'd peed on the floor a couple of times he went and got me the diaper. I said, NO WAY! You're not getting a diaper anymore except at night time now. Sure enough, it's working.....so far. Wouldn't it be nice to go from 3 in diapers to 1 in diapers all in one week? I'm update again in a day or so.

Anyway the quilt top. I finally finished the Little Foster Man's quilt top. Just in time because he leaves tomorrow morning. How sad huh? Here's the finished product.

Miracle Diaper Rash Cure

This morning I had an early meeting I went off to and returned to the Babe being in the bathtub. We usually bathe our kids in the evening to get off all the dirt from the day so they can at least stay clean while they sleep. When I asked the hubby what was wrong, he told me this hilarious story.

Apparently the Babe woke up with a full saggy diaper. The hubby decided he'd wait a while to change it. He probably waited an hour or so. When he finally got around to doing it (not like he was laying around, he was taking care of the Little Lady and the Foster Man), he took the diaper off to find the reddest diaper rash he's ever seen around the edge of the diaper not under it.

Whenever our kids have bad diaper rash, we just put them in the bathtub for a while so they can at least have some time without a diaper on. He puts him in the bathtub and walks away for a minute to get whichever crying baby. He came back and noticed that all the diaper rash had been magically washed away.

It was then that he realized the Babe had been wearing brand new, bright red, unwashed pajamas last night and the coloring had rubbed off on his legs.

Boogie Sharing

Today the Babe and I went to the gym with one of the babe's good friends and his mom. We met there another mom who we're friends with. We do a little (very little) working out and then go sit at the juice bar and talk during the 2 hours we have while our kids are in the daycare. It's really great! We've actually decided to do it every Tuesday and Thursday now.

Anyway, we sometimes go to lunch afterwards. Today on our way to lunch the Babe and his friend are sitting in the back seat. I looked back just in time to see the friend pick his nose and take this big nasty booger and shove it into my son's mouth! I think I barfed a little in my mouth before I said to the other mom, "Oh gee, our kids are sharing boogers." When asked, this child just wanted to share his booger with my son because he likes to eat them.

Lack of Explanation for Absence and Craziness

I have no excuse! I haven't written in a long time. I guess my lame excuse is that nothing exciting has happened. But I typically can turn something very ordinary into something that sounds remotely exciting. I guess I have this one story that can be dramatized. lol. Surprisingly, this is all sadly true.

My in-laws were in town for the long weekend (that's why I haven't written). They left yesterday. They were going to go fairly early in the morning but.....my FIL found a mequite tree that someone was cutting down. As most of you know, my FIL turns wood on a lathe to make various objects. So he wanted to go cut up this tree and take some all of the wood home. He didn't have a chainsaw. He went to rent one and decided that was too expensive so I found a chainsaw for him. Then the chainsaw needed oil. He sent ME (I know nothing about machines) to get oil. Anyway, he gets the tree cut up and the wood loaded into my garage (because he can't take it home).

After the tree, he remembered that he needed to fix the battery on our car. He went to the parts store to see if we needed a new one but decided he could fix ours. He did a bunch of stuff resulting in breakage of car parts which required more trips to store to get replacements. When replacing said broken parts, this resulted in more breakage of parts requiring more trips to store. After this trip, he couldn't get the 2nd broken part off. He spent an hour trying then decided to go to the store and buy a hacksaw (whatever that is) to "cut" it off. After working on the car for 6 hours, he finally got it put back together and went to start it and it didn't start! The battery was now dead! My FIL doesn't jump start cars. After allllllll that, the hubby and him went and bought a new battery.

When they get back from this $50 purchase, I walk out to find that the borrowed chainsaw had "fell apart" and my FIL was trying to figure out how to put it back together. Man, I'm glad my husband doesn't like to fix things. At around 6:00p.m., they finally get on the road to drive the 7 hours home.

I guess my life is still crazy while I was away.

The Miracle of a Nap

Before:

After:

Happy Valentines Day

In honor of this lovely holiday, I thought I would write a sappy post about the hubby and I. So anyone who isn't into sappy can click the X now.

When the hubby and I were dating, we basically spent a lot of time becoming friends. The hub had just returned from a mission and I, well the best way to put it, was 19. One of my best friends and his best friend hooked up so we were "forced" to spend time together. Ya right. That was what it was. But our couple friends were a very fast moving couple (read: they kissed on the first or 2nd date). We of course weren't. So instead we just "hung out" a lot and "studied" a lot in the library.

Anyway to get on with it. There was a point when we'd been dating for 3 months (I think) and the hub hadn't kissed me yet. Yes, I know 3 months doesn't seem like a long time but in a non-kissing relationship it was. I decided that this was not going to do. Meanwhile, the couple friends were on rocky roads also. The guy from our couple friends and I decided that we were both going to dump our partners on a certain date. The night that we had set was a big dance at the college.

It was the beginning of December and during the dance it started to snow for one of the first times that winter. We went outside to play in the snow. We ended up going out there a few times that evening because we'd get cold and have to go back inside to warm up. One time we went out, we were trying to catch snowflakes with out tounges and I still remember the snow. It was falling at an almost magical speed. The flakes were even huge almost magically as well. The hubby asked me if he could kiss me. How gentlemanlike?! I knew it was coming (hence magic snowflakes) and I was really worried about some evesdropers standing close by. When I finally said yes, he gave me a quick peck and followed it up with, "Was that it?" He then said he had to try it again. In my journal, I wrote, "Everyone's not a perfect kisser the first time like me! Just kidding. It was like a storybook first kiss!"

P.S. This is the picture of us at the dance. Gosh we look young! 3 out of 5 of these couples got married and if you mix and match you get 1 other couple who married from this group.

Love Bowl

Tonight at the Grocery store I found this great bowl! It's so cute! It has pink lacey looking trip around the outside edge and one the inside it says, "Love." It's so cute I made the hubby buy it for me. I should have bought a set but I only bought one (at $3 each I could only afford 1). It's my love bowl!

P.S. The Babe's home! We're so happy to have him back! He had a lot of fun with Grandpa and Grandma though.

Hilarious Shopping Experience

Tonight we went out shopping for 3 baby gifts. We know 3 different people who are having babies and I have 3 baby showers to attend in the next week. Crazy huh? All 3 people are registered at Babies R Us. Excellent! One stop shopping. That store is psycho! Luckily, only one of these products was on one of their registries.

This 1st one is our favorite! It's called the Wee Blocker. This is a little spongey guard to protect you from your Whizzzz Kid. lol. Click on the picture for a hilarious demonstration.

This next one you'll wonder what the heck it even is. It's a highchair. It also costs $200! Wow! This description claims this is, "comfortable." It looks anything but comfortable to me. Looks like 2 by 4's to me.

These are Organic Baby Wipes. The whole purpose of baby wipes to wipe poop off you butt so why would you need organic ones?

And finally the kicker. This is a baby sleep positioner. This one is so good, I took a quote from their website (click on the picture to get there).

"A head supporter and sleep positioner designed to prevent Flat Head Syndrome (Plagiocephaly) and position baby as recommended by the Surgeon General and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

This extraordinary system uses a revolutionary Viscoelastic support material similar to that developed by NASA for use in reducing the effects of isolated pressure experienced during lift off. Its unique structure is ideally designed to prevent Flat Head Syndrome by offering unmatched support and pressure relief for your sleeping child's delicate head. The deluxe version of our secure sleeper incorporates Viscoelastic material in the entire length of the product, providing pressure relief to your infant's head and body."

P. S. There's a new poll over there for your cooking tastes.

Who knew Rolling Over was such a Big Deal?

The Little Lady finally learned how to roll over! She's getting so big. lol. I have mixed emotions about this rolling over business. It means the start of more movement (bad, bad, very bad thing). But she rolled over! What an accomplishment!

She is very much a tummy girl. But today in rebellion of the dreaded nap, she rolled from her stomach over onto her back (yes I'm a terrible mother I let my 5 month old sleep on her stomach, please send me hate mail). Once she figured out that this was cool and that mommy and daddy were excited about it, she rolled over 20 more times. She's like, "So what's the big deal? I rolled over."

The other day, she learned that she can scoot backward a little bit by laying on her tummy, sticking her bum up into the air and pushing back with her arms. This girl is going to be mobile in no time. I freaked out! I instant messaged the hubby at work and said, "What do I do? Spank her?" (I'm only kidding I wouldn't spank my 5 month old)

She's also figured out how to use her hands. She grabs toys and plays with her feet. Anything she gets ahold of goes straight to her mouth. I'm fairly sure there are some teeth hanging out under those gums just waiting to show their pearly white surfaces and make nursing a nightmare.

My little baby girl is growing up. How sad. I thoroughly enjoy(ed) the non-moving stage, when she isn't crying.

Mommy Jeans

I have officially become an old lady. Tonight I went shopping for a pair of jeans. My pre-2nd baby jeans all have holes in the knees. I bought a bigger pair of jeans a little while after the 2nd baby. But they are low-rise jeans.

I hate low-rise jeans! I'm going to start a movement against low-rise jeans.

So tonight I looked and found "Butt Covering Jeans." No really that's what the tag said.

Ok. So maybe that's my photoshoped version but they really do cover my bum. I just don't understand why jeans that show some crack are popular?

But yeaaaa! I found jeans that fit! (on the first trip shopping too) And no the legs aren't different lengths.

Missing the Babe

I've embarked on a new adventure this week. I sent the Babe up to spend a week with Grandpa and Grandma. I was super nervous about sending him because I knew what would happen. He was so excited to go though so I sent him. Grandpa called tonight to say he had arrived safely but had cried the last hour of the 6 hour drive up there because he wasn't sure he really wanted to go to Grandpa's anymore. I talked to him and he was crying saying that he didn't like Grandpa's house.

It just about broke my heart as a mom.

He's been away from home overnight before but he never got upset like this before. I'm sure it's just that it's a long way away from home and it was dark.

He's supposed to be gone until Friday or Saturday but we'll see how he does tonight and how Grandma and Grandpa do. I'm planning on making a baby quilt for the Little Foster Man while he's gone. I have a crazy busy week so I hope he does alright tonight.

Poor Grandpa. lol. Poor Mommy. lol.

Babysitting or Playing with Friends?

The Babe lately has been asking if he can have his friend Jake come over and play. I say sure then I dread the time when he comes over because they cause so much trouble together. My question is, when does it stop feeling like babysitting and become having a friend over to play? Or does it ever?

We often "swap" babysitting with other families so the parents can go out or during the day so their mom can go to the doctor. This is usually fairly stressful because when you add 2 extra kids to my own 3, it gets crazy in our 1400 square foot house.

I always went to my best friend's house to play as a child and never felt like her mother was "babysitting" us. Maybe I'm ahead of the game because he is only 3.

At what-ish age does it change so that I don't have to keep such close tabs on them to the point of feeling like I'm babysitting?