Hurricane Warning

Well, time keeps marching and babies keep growing.

Our LittleDebbie started walking and is now a toddler. A true toddler. 
She is a force of nature. She blows into a room, and when she blows out again, nothing is the same. Socks are in the cabinet. Books are in the bathtub. Water has been spilled all over. A path of destruction follows her wherever she goes. And she's loud. She has an ear-splitting howl that doesn't seem to stop. 

She's very much like a tiny Hurricane. 
Her severity rating might change day to day, but she never downgrades to a tropical storm.

She also climbs whatever she can find. HeyMama is becoming adept at getting in and out of her top bunk without the ladder. The ladder is too much of a temptation for our Hurricane. She's quickly to the third rung before the bigger girls start shouting "Mama! LittleDebbie's getting into big big trouble! Come quick! Heeellllpppp!" I run in to find one or both of the girls trying to wrestle her off the ladder, while LittleDebbie shrieks and fights. 

Our house is mayhem. Adorable and fun, but mayhem. But what can you expect when you live with a Hurricane?

Bedtime Prayer

Heard tonight during prayer time (translated from preschooler dialect):

MeToo:  "Dear Jesus, thank you for Mama... and Daddy... and Mandy... and Cameron... and HeyMama... and undies... and jammies... and pants... and shirts... and good stuff.......... and Mama... and Daddy... and Mandy... and Cameron... and lights... and flashlights... and toys... and flowers... and books... and butterflies..... and um...... and um.........."
Mama and Daddy:  "AMEN!"
MeToo:  "Amen."

I'm glad she gives thanks for the small joys of life, but she was starting to do a visual inventory of the room, and we didn't want to spend the next 20 minutes in there.

Thank you Lord for bedtime. Amen.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday! It's not a big one, and we usually don't make a big deal out of my birthday, but this year I want to celebrate it. I'm having a small party on Saturday, but my biggest celebration is today. I'm not doing dishes.

I don't need a candlelight dinner. I don't need jewels. (BestestHusband did get me a large assortment of tulip bulbs from his trip to Amsterdam, which is a pretty fantastic gift.) But I would like to take a brief break from a significant source of tedium.

On days that we're at home, we eat up to 5 times a day. That's 3 meals + small snacks. Most of those happen at home. If they don't, they're eaten out of small containers that are later washed at home. We dirty and clean a dishwasher full of dishes every day. Plus a sinkfull of dishes that can't go into the dishwasher. This is no surprise to other moms, right? But that's a lot of time spent in the kitchen. And I want that time back today.

So this morning, we took care of a few household tasks, then took the dogs to the Arb. It was a lovely day for a walk, and the girls ran out a lot of energy. The dogs had a great time, too. Then we went to the Children's Museum to take advantage of our membership before it expires. We ate lunch at the Au Bon Pain on site. It was luxurious. I didn't pack a lunch. I didn't carry a diaper bag. I didn't clean a thing. I felt so free! It was $12 well-spent. Then we played at the Children's Museum for 3 hours. There's so much to see and do there. The time flew.

We came home, lounged a bit, then BestestHusband came home early. And took us out for dinner. We tried a new restaurant in the Square, which was fantastic. MeToo ate a huge portion of their Southern mac and cheese. And the sangria was tasty. (Jenny, you guys would love this place. It locally sources everything, and orders a whole pig every 2 weeks. They have an entry in the menu called "The Pig Project" that changes daily depending on what they need to use. The water was poured from Thatcher Farm milk bottles. I couldn't help but think of you.) We brought home 3 meals worth of leftovers. So I'll have more food that I didn't cook, sitting in containers that I don't have to wash. SCORE!

We put the girls to bed right after we got home. I'm getting ready to take a luxurious shower. And then spend some quality time with BestestHusband.

So all-in-all, I'd say it was a fantastic day. Happy Birthday to me!

Hope your day is full of small luxuries!

My birthday cards, including a much-anticipated family portrait from HeyMama.

Gas Stinks. And other ramblings, thanks to NyQuil...

I had so many things I wanted to write about tonight, but won't, thanks to NyQuil. 

Like a rant about how the price of gas stinks. When I drove my first car to college, I paid 89 cents per gallon. Yes, less than a dollar per gallon. Tonight I paid $3.41. And I felt like a winner for paying that. Only because I saved 30 cents/gal by spending too much money at the grocery store. Without the loyalty points, I'd spend $3.71/gal. For the "cheap" gas. My first job out of grad school was a 45-60 minute drive north of here. I entertained 2 job offers. The jobs were very different, the pay was very different. Driving almost 2 hours round trip every day was worth it, we calculated, if gas never rose above $3.50/gal. We laughed. Certainly that couldn't happen. Ha! How naive we were back then... Thankfully I got a job down the street before gas did get that high, and was able to walk to work. Gas stinks. It'd stink more if we had 2 cars...

I wanted to do a fond farewell to our garden. Our first hard frost is scheduled for tonight. So today I harvested a ton of parsley, mint, and lavender. And I pulled up the poor baby spinach that was struggling to grow in the waning sunlight. Farewell garden, we will miss thee... Dang, I forgot to bring in the ivy. I should get that pot inside right away...

I enjoyed a glorious trip to the grocery store alone tonight, where I combined a fistfull of coupons and some store sales to save $15 just on cereal. I did buy a lot of cereal. I love the grocery store late at night. It's so peaceful. And when I have extra coupons, I lay them on top of the product that they apply towards for someone else to discover and use. (sometimes even the coupon doesn't make it cheap enough for me to buy...) I like to think of myself as the Coupon Fairy. But only for coupons that aren't so great...

I did not bring home any candy or treats from the store. But I did bring home 3 versions of cold medicine. 2 were on sale. That's the sign of illness in me. I had 2 kinds of leafy greens in my cart (spinach and kale), but no chocolate. Not even more Dum-Dums for the girls. I'm definitely still sick. 

Dogs are great. I love our dogs. I wish they didn't shed so much. But if I brushed them more often with the Furminator, I wouldn't have so much fur to sweep up. But I don't think to do that very often. Did I  mention we have great dogs? That are very furry?

My cold is getting a bit better, but I'm sustaining myself on various drugs. Thanks to Sudafed and Mucinex, I could actually use my left nostril intermittently throughout the day. This is a significant improvement. But also thanks to Sudafed, I was wired all day, and couldn't nap. This is noteworthy, as I have a history of napping any place, any time. Rowing in college trained me to nap flexibly, and I was even able to take 90-second naps in the boat. But I could not nap today. So I took NyQuil as soon as I got home from the store. And now I'm a zombie. A zombie that writes tangential blog posts. I think I might be able to sleep now, so I'll wrap this up and go to bed. 

Wash your hands. Stay well. And thank you Lord for NyQuil.

Bedtime Prayers

Heard tonight at bedtime:

MeToo:  "Dear Desus, tank you for Daddy, bawoons, de dzim, an all de toys, and two beds. Amen."
HeyMama:  "Dear Jesus, thank you for green. Amen."


Translation:  "dzim" = gym.
If you can't figure out "bawoons", you obviously don't spend much time around children.

Poop in the Shower

I cleaned poop from the shower tonight. A lot of it. I'd been wondering when MeToo was going to poo, it seemed like it had been a while...

So after cleaning the mess, bathing the girls, and getting them to bed, I called my day over. I'm on the couch, drinking a beer. Because I cleaned poop in the shower. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Bedtime Prayers: Redundant, or Just Very Thankful?

Here are tonight's bedtime prayers:


HeyMama:  "Dear Jesus, thank you for Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen."


MeToo:  "Deh Desus, tank oo for Ehmo, Mandy, Tamin, Mama, Daddy, Mandy, an' Tamin. Amen."
[translation:  she's thankful for Elmo, Mandy, Cameron, Mama, Daddy, Mandy, and Cameron]


What do you think? Redundant? Or just really thankful?

Bedtime Prayer

Heard tonight at bedtime:
MT: "Dear Dees, tank oo Tamon, Mandy, buhbays, Monstuh, buhbays, Monstuh... Amen."


(translation:  Dear Jesus, thank you for Cameron, Mandy, blueberries, Cookie Monster, blueberries, Cookie Monster... Amen.)


She's apparently very thankful for things that are blue tonight.