Busy Days!

Today:

6:30am - both kids wake up. ugh. I get them dressed. Well, I get Alex dressed. I put Alex in a cloth diaper! I still haven't tried an overnight with cloth, but I will soon. I know that tons of people do. I also dress myself. I shower at night as well as bathe the kids at night 99% of the time because it's so much easier! Claire dresses herself. I just check to make sure she matches and is wearing panties. I noticed a decrease in the panties in the wash and realized she had decided to boycott them for about a week. I'm not quite sure why. I guess they are easy to forget. I do brush her hair and teeth in the mornings.

7:30 - I'm brushing Claire's teeth, and Alex decides to pull up on the side of the bathtub! COMPLETELY! TO STANDING! WITH BOTH FEET ON THE FLOOR! :) AND he managed to lower himself without hurting himself! YAY!

8 - Starbucks. It's a caffeine type of morning. And we have no milk. So Claire gets a lucky breakfast ;)

8:15 - Pick up dry cleaning. Why I am doing this with 2 kids? Because I love to torture myself.

8:30 - Go into Walgreens to buy milk. Why I am doing this with Claire? Because I love to stop 42 bajillion times while we walk to get the milk. They. always. put. the. milk. in. the. back. of. the. store. and. I. hate. that!

8:50 - In line for drop-off time at preschool! I check Claire's folder while we talk about the day, month, etc and what's on her calendar for that day.

9 - Doors open, cars move!

9:10 - I speed out of the parking lot with Glee.

9:20 - I lay down to nurse Alex to sleep because he's been up a few hours and is totally tired. I get back up for awhile and do some stuff around the house and talk to my older brother David on the phone for a bit.

11 - My alarm goes off to pick up Claire from school. Really? And Alex is still sleeping. He stays asleep in my arms until I put him into his cold carseat in the car.

11:10- Claire is in the car telling me all about how they got to play on the playground today. AND THERE WERE BEES! Ack! I don't want to hear that!

11:15 - Home and I put Alex in his SECOND cloth diaper for the day. I put the other ones in a 5 gallon bucket by the washer/dryer. It has a lid that snaps shut and only cost about $4 total. Diaper genies are a waste of money, apparently...although I do have one!

11:30 - We eat some leftovers for lunch. Alex is in a huge throwing stuff on the floor stage, and I SOOOO can't wait for this to be over.

11:45 - I quickly clean up lunch and sort 2 baskets of laundry on the dining room table...it's perfect for folding!

NOON! Alex's PT time - Miss Nicki arrives and works with Alex on the ball first since he loves it. I play with Claire at my computer with some games so she won't bug distract interfere with Alex's physical therapy time. I am happy to give Miss Nicki a good report that Alex pulled up to standing this morning! We also go outside for a bit. They work on the slide/step combo we have while I try to get Claire to roll down the hill and run around the trees so she's not hogging the slide too much!

1 - Miss Nicki leaves and Claire and Alex have both been a little whiny so I decide to leave early for a dentist appt.

1:15 - Both the kids have fallen asleep in the car about the second I hit the exit ramp for the interstate. I punch the Cruise Control and drive 50 while semi trucks repeatedly creep up on my butt and then blare past me. REALLY! I only have a little ways to go and I am milking the smooth driving without stop lights.

1:45 - We arrive at our destination. I park in the shade and tip my seat back for a bit. :) I play on my phone. I love love love Scrabble on there! It's called WORDS WITH FRIENDS. Don't start. You'll get addicted. You've been warned.

2 - Kids wake up! We go to Once Upon a Child, which is on the way to the dentist! I score a double stroller that actually pushes and turns for a mere $40 with a 20% off coupon! I nurse Alex while Claire plays with their germy toys in the play area. I think I can see the germs crawling around. (No, that's my OCD.)

3 - Dentist appt. for Claire - I browse the trashy tabloid that poses as a magazine. You know it. It's called "PEOPLE" -- there are pictures of the Royal Wedding in there. SCORE! Claire is back there alone a good 30 minutes. I'm sure she's just sitting in a fancy chair watching some DISNEY movie for 29 of those minutes. I change Alex in the waiting room. DIAPER THREE! I'm proud of myself for remembering my "wet bag" so I don't even have to waste a plastic bag.

3:30 - I get called back to see the dentist for approximately 30 seconds in which he tells me that, yes, that spot in her tooth, is indeed a cavity, and that she'll have to actually COME BACK to get it filled. Awesome. It was totally worth reading PEOPLE for "FREE."

3:45 - Claire is still pulling trinkets and stickers and plastic crap out of the bag the dentist gave her. She wants me to look at every. single. one. REALLY? I thought you only got a prize if you had no cavities. Oh well. IT WAS ALL "FREE." And did I mention the first opening to get her tooth filled is at the end of June. WHAT? JUNE? Yup. (Aside: I have already thrown away 3/4 of the crap. Bad, Mommy! Dear Claire, It's called clutter-control/I don't want to end-up-on-an-episode-of-Hoarders-one-day.)

4 - We are driving home, and I stop at a local nursery to pick up some hanging baskets for my front porch. I know. I previously blogged that I wasn't going to do this again. BUT...I got a type of flower that is very drought resistant and doesn't need much water. Because I really don't feel like watering them twice a day when it's hot out! We walk around the nursery WAAAY too long. I look at all the cool trees and stuff I would love to get. Japanese Maples starting at $129. I want a birdbath! I want a fountain! I want a gazing ball on a little stand! I want a hummingbird feeder and bunches of plants that attract hummingbirds! And I have room for NOTHING with that double stroller that takes up the. entire.trunk. I didn't buy all that, by the way...it's just fun to look! I got two hanging baskets. One sat next to me on the passenger seat. The other sat on the floorboard of the passenger seat. You really didn't believe me when I said that there was no room in my trunk? Well, I just may have to post a picture!

5 pm - We get home. Claire asks to play in the sprinkler since it's hot and sunny. WHY NOT!?! It's 76! AHAHA...the water was ICY cold. But she had fun, and it was fun! I blew some bubbles. Claire asks, "Why are the bubbles allowed to cross the street without you, Mommy." That just made me laugh! I put Alex in his suit mostly because I wanted to try it on him, but he just splashed in a little puddle that had formed. He wasn't interested in creeping closer. Some neighbors came over for a bit to chat and dance in the water too!

6ish - We put away the 42 bajillion toys we pulled out of the garage. I gave the kids a nice warm bath and tried out my new sprayer. I. LOVE. IT! Claire pees in the tub. I drain the water. She asks why. I said, well, would Mommy give Alex a bath in the peed in toilet? NO! So don't pee in the tub. I can't even remember the last time she did that. Josh gets home to start the grill!!! He has picked up steak! ROCK ON!

6:30ish - We eat a nice dinner!!! My hubbie can grill some good steaks! :) Claire eats some bites of steak. She asks repeatedly Where does steak come from? Cows. Where does bacon come from? Pigs. Where does hamburger come from? Cows. Where do chicken eggs come from? chickens! She does specify because of the dino eggs at the museum we see all the time. (All this and we've barely sat down.) Where do shrimps come from? Shrimp.

7 - I decide to take the kids on a quick walk to try the stroller out around the neighborhood. They go in their jammies. Awesome. :)

8 - We are back, and I brush their teeth. I nurse Alex to sleep while Claire hangs out with Daddy for a bit watching some cartoons. Then I lay down with Claire and nurse her to sleep too. <3 What a lovely way to end their days!

9 on - clean up the kitchen, pick up a little, play some WORDS, talk on the phone...get on Facebook, etc...

And what did you do today?

Some Rambling Ongoings...

What did I do today?  Not much.  Rolled over, nursed Alex.  Gave Claire my phone to play with to buy me an extra 15 minutes of dozing.  Got up, put away 3 loads of laundry, fed the kids and myself breakfast.  Alex loves Kix and Cheerios and can pick them up really well by himself!
Got all 3 of us dressed.  This usually takes about 30 minutes!  That's actually pretty good...about 10 minutes each.  Then we headed downtown for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus which was indeed the Greatest Show on Earth!  Amazing!  I haven't been to a circus in well over a decade, and it was just as much fun for me as for Claire, and even Alex who loved looking around!!!
Afterwards, we stopped at a Chicken and Waffle Restaurant.  Yup, you didn't misread that.  Chicken served on waffles.  AMAZING soul food!  And Claire loved the pancakes and eggs, too!
We came home and Claire and I stomped around in the snow for a bit while Alex finished his 3rd nap for the day...he had taken one in the early morning before we left, and another one at the circus.  He is a big sleeper!  Claire did not sleep this much at this age!
Hmm...then we went inside to warm up and do some more laundry.  Then Alex went down again after about 2 hours and Claire and I headed back out in the snow.  I shoveled and salted the driveway.  It was so nice out for being Dec.!!!  Claire was able to have a blast help shoveling the snow and throwing it around.
For dinner we had cold cereal since we had had a big lunch.  Worked out well. ;)  And easy clean-up!
I love how helpful Claire is now.  I was remaking her bed and told her to go downstairs to get the blanket out of the dryer.  She totally did.  Score!  She can also take in the outdoor trash cans when they are empty.  I'm trying to remind myself to be patient and teach her how to do things because it will pay off in the long run.  Like now she knows how to open the fridge and help her self to some snacks in there for her, like cheese or grapes.  She also knows how to get an apple out of the bowl and wash it for herself.  It can only get easier.
Anyways, we finally got the new camera in!  Yay...now we just need a memory card for it...

Smashing Good Times

I shut the back hatch of my SUV on my phone. Now the screen looks like this:

SOOOOOOOO good times...the only phone I've had that would have had any resale value. Amazingly, it still lights up, but not enough to be able to use it!!! My plan was up in a few days anyway. MEANWHILE...if you need to get ahold of me...use Facebook or email me. BLARGH! They say you're more likely to be accident prone if you're tired. SO TRUE!

A Typical Busy Day!

Today Claire and I started out by going to a free class at GYMBOREE! It was a lot of fun, but the classes are pretty pricey...I think! It's a very nice play area with slides and all sorts of fun stuff that is age appropriate. I've always wanted to attend a Gymboree class since I saw the Jon and Kate episode where their kids did a class. We signed up for the free class at the Bellies and Babies Expo. Anyways, they have classes for playing, music, and art. The one we did was a playing class, but it also included some signing. They started with a welcome song and introducing a theme, which was making a pizza. So all the activities the kids did were for "making a pretend pizza." They got to put bean bags in a wooden plank thing, push the balls or "tomatoes" down a slide, throw the "tomatoes" in a big barrel which was supposed to be a pot. Claire was all over the place for the first 10 minutes, because the whole play area was new to her, but after awhile, she understood KIND OF that you were to follow along. She enjoyed rocking on the wooden boat and horse they had. They got to jump off a little ledge into "pizza dough" which was play scarves to "mix" the dough. Then they got to roll "pepperoni" rings, which were like little hula hoops. Anyways, it was pretty fun for me too! Her favorite part was the bubbles! I haven't blown bubbles in awhile because we've had such a rainy fall! She was trying to pop the bubbles like crazy, including poking at the ones that landed in another kids' hair! MY favorite part was the parachute, although Claire liked this as well. We got to shake it and make waves. We got to pull it up and down...but my ultimate favorite part including from when I was growing up was the part where you pull it up really high, then go under and sit on the edge like it's giant mushroom tent. I was looking at the front of the store when we left and they sell the parachutes for only $44. I so want to get one.
Then we went to Josh's work and met him for lunch. Claire took a nap on the way home. I love this time of year because I can pull into the garage, roll down the car windows and then do something in the kitchen until she wakes up without her being too hot or cold. I shut the garage door and leave the door to the kitchen open.
Then we had a diaper incident. Some days she stays dry all day and I keep putting the same diaper back on. Some days, she refuses to sit on the potty at all. Some days, we are gone all day and she uses her diaper vs. me dealing with sitting her on icky public toilets. Well, I forgot to change her all morning. Normally by 2 pm, I would have changed her 2 or 3 times. Well it made for a very heavy diaper and wet pants, a wet shirt (it was a long one), and a very unhappy little girl. Ugh. Totally my fault. Bad mommy award for that. That is my confession for the day. But if you would like to come potty train her, feel free. I think she could do it, I am just too lazy and don't like to deal with extra laundry. If I potty train her, then I have to wash panties. Trashing diapers seem like such a good deal. I actually am so lazy, that I will trash some cheapo garage sale clothes/bibs if they get nasty and I don't feel like scrubbing them. That is my other confession. :)
So then I had to go to Wal-Mart and get an oil change. This is always a bad idea. Walking around Wal-Mart will result in a MINIMUM, and do mean absolute MINIMUM of $100. I did find some awesome storage tubs for her too-small clothes. I don't want to get too organized with the other completely unorganized clothes that are stuffed in her closet...I will find out in about 8 weeks or less what sex this baby is. Then I can pull gender neutral stuff if it's a boy and repack all the girl stuff and label the sizes on the boxes. Right now...it's totally unorganized. It's random shoved in paper grocery bag and random odd sized boxes in a closet that is also filled with about 6 boxes of teaching stuff of mine, which I should probably move to a different closet. I should actually throw it all away...seriously...If I need a worksheet or paper on something, I am so just going to Google a new one versus sifting through boxes of file folders. I was pleased with the storage tubs I got...they are clear ones with lids that fold in half, so they don't get separated! I like clear tubs so I can see what's in them of course! Of course, I'll still need to label sizes, but I think I'll just stick a big piece of paper with marker with the size on it, and probably GIRL in case I start storing boy clothes.
Some days, I want 4 kids. Some days I wonder about what I already have. Hehe. I always wanted 4 growing up, 2 girls/2 boys since that was nice and even. Also, I liked the saying every brother needs a brother, and every sister needs a sister, and every brother needs a sister, and every sister needs a brother. The easiest and most number-efficient way to do that, is exactly that! Although, I did always want an older sister, as that's the only thing I didn't get to have! Ha! After Claire was born, I didn't want another kid for 6-12 months. As in for about a year, I said I was never having another one. I'm sure after this one comes I'll be saying NEVER AGAIN for about a year as well! But we'll see...maybe 3...4 is a lot!
So back to Wal-Mart...Claire does really good at shopping with me know and likes to help me find things. I tell her "Look for the bananas and tell me when you see them!" Then she'll be all excited when she spots the item we are looking for. I also give her stuff to turn around and put into the cart. I saw another mom doing this, and this of course is super fun for her! Of course, she wants to help with super big items, which isn't always so good. I'm addicted to Gatorade ... and Claire is too :) But hey! ELECTROLYTES! GOOD FOR YOU! So she picked up this big bottle of it when I wasn't looking and threw it to the back of the cart. Nice. Way to squish the grapes.
Well then we got home brought all the stuff in which is mostly still sitting on the counter right now. Haha...stupid putting away stuff!
I didn't do the dishes because I decided the weather was perfect for bulb planted. See, last week I got $25 worth of bulbs that were on 50% off. That's really 50 bucks worth! Since they had been taking up room on my counter for almost a week, I decided I better plant them before it rains again! Well, buying 10 bags of bulbs seemed like a good idea at the time. PLANTING THEM ALL. ARGH. What was I thinking! I had to plant so many freaking bulbs! BUT I got it all done before it got dark tonight! It will look so freaking awesome in the spring!!!
I pray that the spring is cool and the blooms last a long time! I planted pink, white, yellow, and orange tulips. I planted purple and pink hyacinths, as well as purple and pink crocuses. I planted a mix of Irises...or is it Irii...I think that's it but the Iris and Crocus bulbs had like 50 in each bag, so I was sticking probably way too many in each hole. I was getting lazy. Claire was having fun helping too. She liked throwing the bulbs in the holes. She kept trying to eat them and called the "COOKIES." Seriously...the look like onions. When I have I ever fed her little round ball cookies? And she won't try half the food I give her, but I bet she ate at least a bulbs worth of plant skins tonight.
Claire also had a blast dragging out half her toys onto the patio since I left the back door open for her. Josh was working late, so it worked out well. She is really good and driving her car around fast. She looks like Fred Flintstone moving her little feet in that little car! She was also helping me rake the mulch...aka making a huge mess by getting it up on the patio, etc. But it kept her entertained so I so did not care.
We have a bulb digger and it sucks. Actually it's on loan from my parents. They can have it back. It's a great idea, but the dirt was way to wet from the rain and would stick in the bulb digger and not work. I opted to use a big shovel. Anyways, Claire had a big bowl of cereal for a bedtime snack and went to sleep practically instantly after playing outside so much...that and she ran around the patio table at least 50 times plus...I don't know why she thinks running in circles is so fun, but she can keep it up! Now my next project is to cut down all the dead stuff for the fall and then I am DONE outside for the year.
I really hope my bulbs bloom well...I'm thinking at the end of April, they'll be the perfect background for some pictures of Claire and baby-boo #2!!! I heard the heartbeat at my 12 week check earlier this week too! It was amazing, as always. I'm just as excited as I was with Claire! Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight!

Still Kicking

Well, we had a nice Christmas! We have many pictures and videos to post. Too many actually. I probably won't post the majority of them! We're still alive and still kicking! Just too busy to do any justice now!

It's good to be home and back on a semi-regular routine! I also managed to make, hand-address, stuff, seal, stamp, and mail out not only all the shower invites, but the bachelorette party ones too. I also scored some really great prize favors and found my gifts to Holly for her shower.

I also dealt with a dead phone. BOO! More hopefully sooner than later!

So far behind!

So we got home last night after a HORRIBLE drive south on 65. There was some snow in Valpo that threw everyone for a loop apparently. It took nearly 4 hrs to get home, when normally it is just under 3.

We had a great long weekend in Valpo! More on that and photos soon!

I just ordered my photo Xmas Cards from Shutterfly! They are the cheapest from Wal-Mart at only 33 cents each. But Shutterfly always has a ton of deals and coupon codes. Shutterfly is different because you have to order a "set" number and the more you order, the cheaper they get. If you only get 12, they are 69 cents each. I got mine for 50 cents each. But if you order 50, you get 25 for free. You can also get free shipping if you enter SHIP25 for at least through the 3rd, I think? SO I actually got a pretty good deal. Yay! I always try to get things done early, but oh well!

Now I have a mountain of laundry to do from being gone. I think this is the first time EVER since Claire was born that I haven't had to do a single load of laundry at my mom's house. No poop explosions or major food stains...yay.