Water, Water Everywhere...

We have tadpoles swimming in our backyard. I really can't believe it. I stand in the dining room and look out into the middle of our backyard and I see what seems like hundreds of tadpoles swimming around, sometimes even leaping out of the water. The kids think it's fabulous and have taken to wading in with Jordan's butterfly net to catch them. Yes, the marsh is now covering about half of our yard, the new compost pile is completely underwater, and the willow tree we planted on what used to be the edge of the marsh is drowned under several inches of water. A family of geese (mom, dad and three babies) has made our yard their home (ie. toilet). Yet I can't find it in myself to be upset. Our home has been spared unlike so many others, and the kids are having a blast. Plus I can get a lot of weeding done in the garden while they're tadpole-hunting. Life continues to surprise me. And speaking of surprises, when I checked my email yesterday, I discovered that I'd made my first sale on Etsy. So exciting! My crafts business is (sort of) taking off. I sold one of my small drawstring crochet cases and am now listing them as a custom item - size, color and type of yarn your choice. Check out my shop at www.rainwaterlily.etsy.com!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I like rain. Actually I love rain. It makes me moody and happy all at once. One of my favorite feelings. I love to watch rain, listen to it, stand out in it, smell it. I just wish my backyard wasn't full of it. The marsh behind our house has officially taken over our yard. Last year's compost pile is a foot under water, and the new one is well on it's way to being submerged. While I was fine with losing about 8 feet of the the thistle field that was the back of our backyard, losing approximately half of the back yard to water is a bit much. Actually the front yard is pretty much one giant puddle too. Ah, well...not much I can do about it. At least we don't have to go far to find wildlife to expose the kids too. Last Thursday afternoon two of my less squeamish sisters came over to play Frog Hunt with the kids. Jordan, Sasha and our neighbor Abby were thrilled to see and feel a toad, a pine snake, several frogs and some giant earthworms. Even I, who as just about everyone knows, am "such a total girl", was pretty excited by the nature extravaganza. Two of the frogs even still had their little tail stumps. So cool. Especially when the girls put one in our (overflowing) rain barrel so we could get a close up look at the frog in action. I just hope that my garden keeps growing and the new willow trees we just planted survive the deluge.

An Appetizing Tale

The other night for dinner I made fettuccine and scallops with a wine butter sauce. Classy right? So the kids and I are sitting down to eat when Sasha starts choking. I look at her, and can see no evidence of food in her throat, at which point I start to panic. I can't remember if she's had seafood before or not, and figure it would be just my luck that she would be allergic and going into anaphylactic shock. As I sit there wondering whether or not I'll have time to put the food away before heading off to the E.R., she settles down and stops coughing. But a second later she starts crying and saying "nose, nose". She refuses to eat anymore, so I wash her up and set her on the floor to play while I finish my dinner. She fusses and cries, saying "nose, nose" on and off for ten minutes or so. I wonder if her throat hurts from choking and if she's just confused as to what body part is in pain. All of a sudden she walks over by me and sneezes, at which point eight inches or so of fettuccine noodle shoots out of her nose, dripping with snot. No wonder the poor girl was saying "nose, nose". I guess she must have inhaled the noodle while she was choking. I can only imagine the discomfort. I grabbed the noodle and put it in a cup on the table so I could finish eating. A few minutes later I look over just in time to see Sasha grab the cup and eat the noodle. Disgusting! Too bad I didn't have my video camera at hand or I think we'd be up for some serious cash on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Random Notes

Sasha's Vocabulary List: mama, dada, papa, food (which can mean food or, in combination with boob-grabbing, "nurse me NOW"), cheese (which also means any kind of food she likes), ba (means bath), poop, truck/sock/quack/cracker (all pronounced "cock"), hat, bankie (blanket), Jo (Jordan), Ka-ee (Karlye), eye, nose, teeth, cheeks, chest, foot, shoe, ball, bike, Abbie (the neighbor girl), baby (usually in reference to her baby doll), me (while admiring herself in the mirror), boop (means book), a wide array of animal sounds with gorilla (complete with chest thumping) being the current favorite, and several I'm sure I'm forgetting

Theory Confirmed: Just because Sasha is more independent than Jordan was as a baby does not make her easier to care for. Example: Earlier this week she decided to put her face in the water at bath time. She doesn't know that she needs to hold her breath. Bath time ended dramatically with a lovely choking, coughing, crying session. Jordan wouldn't put his face in the water until last summer, age 4. Go figure.

Sentimental Moment: My baby's growing up too fast (and not the little one either). Jordan had kindergarten visitation today! I can't believe I'm old enough to have a child in kindergarten. I'm beset by elementary school flashbacks...

Economic Nightmare Resolved: We had a panic a few weeks ago when Justin (along with 234 other Sub Zero employees) received word that they would be laid off indefinitely as of June 13th. Not only is this not the time to be looking for a job, but even in the best economy other manufacturing jobs around here don't come close to paying what he makes now (ie. enough money to pay our mortgage and assorted other bills). Fortunately they've since lowered the number of lay-offs, and he will not lose his job (or so they say).

Wednesday's Aren't Always Fun Either

I don't know if it's the winter blues or what, but this week just doesn't seem to be getting any easier. I've got a headache that won't quit, and my life has shrunk (was it ever any bigger?) to work, home, and the car. Maybe I'm just too idealistic. I've got a few dream lives stuck in my head, and I don't see any way of making my life more like any of them. Why do I have to be so moody anyway? I complain so much I irritate myself, so I'm now going to attempt to be positive.

Actually there is some exciting news. Miriam's water broke last night, and she's showing signs of actually going into labor. So my newest niece should be here soon! The whole thing still feels unreal to me, but holding the baby always changes that. Another fun occurrence - I beat Jordan at the Thomas the Tank Engine board game we played tonight, in spite of letting him cheat on several occasions. I know you're always supposed to let the kid win, but I'm trying to teach him about fair play and being a good sport (plus I really hate losing every time). We really aren't making very much progress on that front though. In spite of calling it first winner and second winner instead of winner or loser, he still gets upset when he's not first winner, while I maintain the calm and philosophical attitude that you don't always get what you want (otherwise know as "you get what you get and you don't get upset").

Another Un-Fun Monday

Mondays are really never any fun, but today is really extra Monday-ish. Part of that may be that Jordan has the stomach flu, but I think a lot of it is that my weekend wasn't very fun or relaxing. Saturday consisted of Justin being gone all day long for "bar Olympics". Taking care of the kids by myself for the entire day was even less thrilling than usual given that I had to take Sasha in to urgent care in the morning after she fell and hurt her foot. It turned out to be just a little bit of a sprain, but she was limping around miserablely for most of the day. Jordan was just upset that the day wasn't "super fun", since we had to cancel plans to go and visit Miriam and he hates it when we stay home by ourselves. Sunday was actually extremely productive for me (I did 4 loads of dishes, 3 loads of laundry, made ointment and 2 kinds of lotion, and almost finished a doll dress I'm sewing for Karlye), which felt good, but not relaxing. And last night I was up most of the night because of Jordan's stomach ache, etc., so I started off today already wiped out. On the upside, Sasha seems to be pretty much back to normal today, and played quite cheerfully while Jordan languished on the cough watching movies and napping. She was also more than happy to spend snack time and dinner time dropping things off her high chair and saying "uh-oh, dropped" over and over. I think she was worried about Jordan though, because she kept trying to hit him over the head and steal his pillow while he was napping. When he perked up a little bit tonight and sat on the floor by her, she immediately went and sat on his lap and said "sit sit" which is a new word for her. Those two are so cute together. I just hope everything gets back to normal tomorrow and that I get some decent sleep tonight.

The Sasha Is Brilliant Saga Continues

Miss Sasha (often known as Miss by Mom and big brother Jordan) can now say several words, "cheese", "up", and "Dada" being the current favorites. "Yes", "teeth", and "hat" show up sometimes, while "Mama" has all but disappeared. If Sasha's very excited to see me I'm DaDA!, otherwise I have no name.

Always a precocious communicator, Sasha has really started to top herself. A few days ago she was extremely crabby, and it was past nap time. She got my attention, cried for a few seconds, flopped face down on the floor and fussed, then sat up and said "up, up, up" and went over to the stairs. Clearly she was asking me to take her up to her room and put her to bed. She's started bringing over the "diaper bucket" on command when it's time to change her, and today she brought it to me without being asked after she wet her diaper. This evening I was giving her the ultimate treat - bare butt time, and she was being super crabby, so I let her sit on the couch next to me. I thought I smelled something and so I told her no pooping on the couch. About 5 minutes later she got up off the couch and brought me a clean diaper wrap. I asked her if she wanted a diaper on (which normally she avoids at all costs) and she said "yes". So I put one on her and 10 seconds later she filled it up. This from a child who in the past has shown no compunction about wetting and dirtying my carpet at every available opportunity. I must say I was impressed - after all, she's only 14 months old!

Tis the Season

The Christmas decorations are up (minus the tree and illuminated snowman for the front porch), I started my Christmas Card mailing list, family portraits are scheduled, and my gift recipient list is done. Only 10,000 more things to do in less than a month. I'm always amazed and irritated by my own inability to drastically simplify my life. I hate the mad rush, but I can't let go of the feeling that I really should do all this stuff and if I don't I'm slacking in my duties. This week alone I have to plan something fun to do on Jordan's birthday, bake him birthday treats (no eggs as he has a classmate who is allergic), make sure the egg-free brownie mix meets with parental approval, buy and assemble all the elements for our family portrait outfits, interview 6 local business owners and write an article for the local paper about how they think the holiday season will affect local retail business, go to the grocery store, etc. etc. etc. Hopefully I can get it all done without driving myself or the kids crazy in the process. The thing is, Jordan wants to go somewhere and do something every day, but only if it's fun - no boring errands allowed. And Sasha has really started walking like crazy and doesn't want to spend a second of waking time strapped into a car seat, shopping cart or stroller. Ah well, at least I won't be bored ;)

My Evening

Already a little tomboy, Sasha loves to play catch. This evening she mastered the art of throwing a ball while standing. And nobody was more proud of her than she was of herself, the little dickens. After I got the kids in bed I tried on a multitude of clothes trying to find something to wear to work tomorrow. Now that I have standards for what I have to wear I'm finding getting dressed in the morning to be a lot more difficult. I was just scraping by when it was warmer, but long-sleeve shirts and pants that fit me, match, aren't denim, and don't require the wearing of heels are basically non-existent in my closet. I even dug through the (overflowing) hamper of clothes that need to be mended, altered, and/or dyed and came up with one navy blue polo tunic length top that I had planned on turning into a regular shirt one day and that might look decent with my only pair of khaki pants. Just as I was leaving my closet to go to the basement to dig out my sewing supplies I heard footsteps on the stairs and some loud whimpering. It was Jordan, half asleep and grabbing himself. Assuming that he had to pee I told him to use my bathroom. He started crying harder and headed in the completely opposite direction. When I called out again that he could use my bathroom since it was the closest he turned around, but instead of coming back into my bedroom and heading for my bathroom he started down the basement stairs! When I finally grabbed him and got him set up at the toilet he stood there crying and peeing until he was almost done, at which point he dribbled all over the outside of my toilet and then tried to put the seat down. I stopped him, pointed out that he'd peed all over the place, and wiped up the pee while he stood there crying. Immediately thereafter he began to laugh hysterically, went back upstairs to his room, tucked himself back into bed and fell asleep. Ah the joys of parenting! Now I'm sitting here, wearing the polo-tunic thing, which I somehow managed to shorten half an inch too much, trying to muster the energy to figure out how to take in the sides so it isn't a-line. I really wish someone would just teach me how to sew - I hate fumbling around on my own.

Vroom Vroom

Today my daughter (my daughter!) who is only 9 months old was playing with one of Jordan's toy cars, and running it along the ground and making the cutest little car noises. I was absolutely amazed. First of all, isn't she a bit young for that? And secondly (and most importantly) isn't she supposed to be my little girlie-girl? I need an ally against all the maleness going on around here. I mean, I grew up surrounded by girls, and spent the last 4 years alone with the boys when Kar. wasn't here. And Karlye loves sports just as much as the rest of them! If Sasha continues on this path she's going to love sports, hate dresses, despise pink...and then what will I do? Ah well, I suppose I will love her either way. And I do have the consolation of having a son who seems quite interested in both sewing and crocheting. Yesterday I sat down on the couch to do some mending and when I suggested that he could do his "sewing card" from pre-school because he was bored he thought that was an awesome idea and "sewed" quite happily and with intense concentration for almost an hour. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that my kids are being given every opportunity to be well rounded and free of traditional sexist roles, right?