Post-pancakes, pre-church

Even a week later, the boys are having a hard time adjusting to the time change. Caleb was up at 5:30am yesterday, 6:00am today. Cameron's about the same. Caleb is also fighting an awesome head cold - coughing, sneezing, lots of gunk. Good times. As a result both boys were asleep by 6:30pm last night, and I was lights out at 9:00pm. Ah, the exciting life of a mother of small children.

But all is good now...they're cozy on the couch with Daddy watching Little Einstein with tummies full of pancakes and jammies covered in syrup. Pretty perfect Sunday if you're 3 1/2 and 19 months (and 34 years old).

What to do when there is no school...

New Jersey has in-service this week so kids all over the state are out of school. Which also means moms all over NJ are scrambling to find something to do with their kids before they tear all their hair out or run screaming insanely down the street. (Ok, maybe that's just me...)

Thankfully, my pal Holly had the bright idea to set up a playdate at In the Swing, and indoor playspace. Unfortunately, every other mom in Bergen County had the same idea. It was a bit jammed, but all our kids - particularly my boys- had a ball. Cameron ran and played until he was rosy-cheeked and sweaty-headed. Munch was confident that he could do absolutely everything big brother was doing - which means I was rescuing him from ball pits, bounce houses, tunnels and slides all morning. Ah well, we were out of the house and working up a killer appetite for Burger King and naps. Perfection.

Here are the boys playing in the balls and hitting (literally) the arcade...

Why do I even try?

My boys much prefer mass-produced deep-(questionable) fat-fried, formed "chicken" nuggets to my homemade, all-white-meat, toasted-baguette-bread-crumb coated, extra-virgin-olive-oil-pan-fried nuggets. I suppose it's just the start of a lifetime of my children turning up their noses at dinner.

Ah well...I'll try not to take it personally.

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PS - Dear Mom, sorry for every time I gave you grief - whether spoken or by the silent teenage-eye-roll - over meals you made for us.

If I had only known...

Testing, testing, 1 2 3

So I just got the Blogger app for my iPhone and I'm testing it out to see how it works, if the posts look the same, if I can upload photos, etc.

We're having one of those mornings where it's not even 9:00am yet and I'm counting the hours until nap time. These boys are crazy today - and therefore making me crazy. We have to get out of the house. Hmmm...playground? Backyard? Ikea? Something better than this madness.

Dinner of Champions...

I've gotta grow up...

Quotable

About 10 minutes after Cameron went to bed last night:

Cameron: Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!

Me: What, Cameron? What's wrong?

Cameron: (Repeatedly pointing at me with his finger, but not saying anything.)

Me: What? What do you need? Are you hurt? Did you hurt your finger? Do you need me to kiss it?

Cameron: No. Burgerger.

Me: Cameron, don't call Mommy all the way up to your room because you have a booger on your finger. Go to sleep.

Cranky Side of the Crib

Today has been one of those days, starting the moment Cameron woke up screaming at 6:50am. You just know it's going to be tough...and it has been...and it's only nap time. He's been so not himself. He's been the opposite of himself. He's ornery, cranky, violent, moody and disobedient. He threw toys at his friends; grabbed toys from friends; beaned an 18 month old point-blank with a basketball; ran his scooter right into another friend, knocking him down. And then screams at me when I put him in time out. I feel like I've been in battle all morning - disciplining him, preventing further carnage, and apologizing to my friends who's kids are now like the walking wounded.

I need a nap. Or a drink.

I try to remind myself that he's only 3, but a big part of me expects more of him...expects him to be more generous, more considerate, more thoughtful, more teachable...less like a maniac. And it's times like these that I wonder if I'm doing this all wrong, am I screwing this whole thing up, or is it just a product of his age.

Do you ever wish you had a reboot button on your kids? Today is a reboot-button kind of day.

One Line a Day

Last week I stopped by Barnes & Noble to pick up a birthday present for a party over the weekend. They had a display at the front of the store for Mother's Day gift ideas - lots of fun ideas, and stuff I'd be pretty happy with. But let's be honest, if I really want any of those books, I need to just buy them myself. Kevin is amazingly thoughtful, but he's not going to be shopping for me at Barnes & Noble any time soon.

Anyway, I found this one little book on a bottom shelf called Mom's One Line a Day. It's a kind of nauseatingly pink book with a rocking horse on the front...but it's the inside that's so brilliant. Each page is dated at the top - April 9, for instance. And then there are 5 small sections on each page that start "20__". So you start the book on today's date, you fill in the year, and then you write a sentence or two about the day. Then tomorrow you do the same thing...every day, all year long. Then, on January 1 next year you move down to the second row of spaces, you enter "2012" and you write one sentence a day.

This goes on for five years. So by the time you finish the book you will know exactly what you did on April 9th for the past 5 years. Amazing, right? It only takes a minute at the end of the day, but think about how cool it will be to have that record of what you did every day for the last 5 years. When I finish this journal Cameron will be 8 going on 9, and Caleb will be 6.

For anyone who is looking for simple way to record your everyday stuff, both large and small, you might check this thing out.

Planning the Purge

I am desperate to clear out our house. Once the weather starts warming up I get desperate to get rid of the stuff that has been piling up in our house over the coming months. I walk into rooms and I feel my neck tense up as I see all the stuff cluttering surfaces, shelves, drawers, etc. I am ready to start boxing stuff, up and getting it out of my house.

Have you ever noticed that physical clutter gives you the feeling of emotional clutter? And by the same token, when your home feels clear and organized, your heart and internal space feel clear and free?

I am going to take it in chunks - one room, one cabinet, one shelf at a time. Kitchen crap I haven't used since we moved in. Clothes that never see the light of day. Toys that are missing pieces. Tchotchkes that just sit around collecting dust, stressing me out.

Here's to a lighter home and a lighter heart!!

We don't need no stinking potty training...

Ok, friends...help me out! I have a 3 year old who is not potty trained. Not only not potty trained, has absolutely ZERO interest in using the "big boy potty". Not only zero interest, he frankly could care less if he sits in a diaper full of poo for hours on end. Seriously. How do you convince a kid to use the potty when he thinks being sopping wet and wretchedly stinky is no big deal?

I swear, I'm going to have the first kid who grows out of all regular diapers and has to start wearing Depends.

At his 3 year check-up, our doctor recommended laying off the "potty-talk" (so to speak) for a whole month. Don't suggest it, don't try it, don't talk about it...nothing. If he mentions it, fine. But we are not to initiate a conversation about, say the phrase "big boy potty", or even make eye-contact with the Lightening McQueen potty for a whole month. Then he said we should try again, only this time use completely different incentives. If it was stickers before, it should be M&M's now, or whatever. We may go straight to the standing-to-potty method. Yes, I expect a mess...but there has to be some way to encourage the kid to want to use the potty. Not to get too graphic (and Kevin may kill me for this), but Cameron has recently observed Kevin's pottying prowess, and now talks constantly about "Daddy goes potty like fireman".

Hey, whatever works.

Both exciting and disturbing...

Today we are having a veritable heat wave. According to weather.com, it is 56 degrees here!! Sure, I've still got a foot of snow in my yard, but 56 degrees!! Come on, that's practically beach weather! Ok, yes, getting a bit ahead of myself, but I can't tell you how exciting this is. I'm sitting here at my computer with the window beside me cracked open, just so I can feel the fresh, cool air. It's heaven.

However, the disturbing side effect is the slow melt of our snowman. This guy was 5'5" at his tallest moment, and a true feat of engineering by a complete novice. I mean, come on people, I grew up in Oklahoma. With the 2-inch dustings of snow we'd get, my brother and I would make these stubby little 8 inch snowmen that were mostly mud, twigs and dead leaves that got rolled up with the snow. Pathetic.

So this monstrosity of a snowman was a true achievement! I thought it was going to be a super fun Mommy-Cameron bonding activity. Yeah, it was pretty much Mommy doing the rolling, patting, lifting and shaping, while Cameron stood on the sidewalk saying, "Good job, Mommy! I go in now and watch a little show?" Ah well, maybe next year.

So, here is a photo of our snowman now (rather poor quality since I had to take it with my phone). Yesterday it looked creepily like a African shrunken head snowman, and has now devolved into the Headless Snowman...complete with the scarf still around it's noggin-less neck. Yep...creepy.

Neverending Snow

People, we have been snowed under for MONTHS. I don't think I've seen my lawn since Thanksgiving. It is still about 18 inches deep and is now a slick sheet of ice along the top. I swear this snow isn't going to melt until sometime in mid-June. We are stuck inside most days, dying for some entertainment. It's hard not to just turn on Nick Jr. and let Dora and the Bubble Guppies entertain Cameron all day.

Cabin. Fever.

But I'm trying to focus on the spring to come. I'm trying to give myself a little ray of hope by planning for those days when it isn't 17 degrees outside. I'm trying to get to the gym more often to work off winter squidginess that comes from too many comfort foods and not enough activity. I'm starting to strategize for my vegetable garden. This will be my first foray into gardening and I can't wait! I'm reading everything I can on growing vegetables, discouraging pests, creating rain barrels, making compost, etc. I'm starting to think about spring colors and clothes - good-bye sweaters and boots, hello tank tops and strappy sandles! I can almost feel the cool spring air through the window right now. Ahh...

Anyway, I hope wherever you are, you're feeling a little more hopeful about the possibility of spring. Believe it or not, it's right around the corner!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, which inevitably brings a whole raft of resolutions, commitments, and proclamations of change. I am not immune to the allure of a fresh start - a chance to reflect on all my failings in 2010 and fervently vow to do absolutely everything better in the new year. I'll be more faithful, more active, more patient and more generous. I'll eat better, exercise more, and go to bed earlier. I'll cook more meals, organize my attic, regularly clean my house and grow vegetables. I'll be a better wife, mother, daughter, and friend. I'll write more, read more and procrastinate less.

Unfortunately, the thing that think I'll be best at is breaking all my shiny new resolutions. But I can't break them if I don't make them, right?

So here's to 2011 - a chance to make a fresh clean start. I plan to show up here more often - hopefully you'll meet me here.