Officially Official…and other stuff

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons, House and Home by teamtradermom

Our house is officially on the market! Phew! I’m exhausted from all the work we’ve done to the house but it’s not over yet. We still have a “to do” list of small items that need to be checked off. Then we have to continue our search to find a new house for us. And once that is done – we actually have to move ! Eek!

I’m tired just thinking about it…or maybe I’m tired from this darn summer cold I still have. We’ve now entered phase 2. Phase 1 was a constant sore throat and aches. Phase 2 is a REALLY stuffy nose. I feel like someone inflated balloons up in my sinuses. I just hope there’s no phase 3!

I started P90X today! Well, I actually started it 2 weeks ago but with all of life’s craziness and getting sick, I only got 2 days under my belt. So I’m starting over today. I’m not following the P90X diet plan. I don’t have the book and trying to find info online is confusing. I’ve gleaned that there are several phases and the first one is high protein, low carbs, so I’m trying to do that. I will allow myself to eat some carbs, just pushing to get a little more protein in, to build up the muscle. Don’t worry, I won’t write a daily entry on it like I did with the Shred. That would be come a really long post after 90 days and you would get sick of it. But I will provide periodic updates as I progress. And I might whine a little too… Winking smile I can already feel the soreness setting in from this morning!

Mother’s Day was nice. Pretty laid back as we had to do work on the house. At one point, I was in the kitchen scrubbing cabinet doors and looked up to see CJ reading the paper while drinking his coffee, Isabella playing with her toys and Samson staring at me wanting food. Now, what’s wrong with that picture?

But we did have a nice afternoon at the museum and then dinner with the extended family. Isabella was crabby at times but all in all, a day with the family is a good day indeed! And the best part – I got a gift certificate for a 90 minute massage which I will be more than happy to use!

At the museum. Isabella was a little tired here from running around so much!

Me, my mom and my sister. 2 of the best moms I know!

Believe it or not, I’m actually going to take the night off from house work. I plan to repaint my toenails and watch Dancing with the Stars. Go Hines!!

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25Apr2011

Vacation from my Vacation

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

With my new job, I now get to enjoy extra days off. It’s a beautiful little concept called Exchange Holidays! That gives me 3 extra holidays a year! Boo-yah! My first official exchange holiday was last Friday (Good Friday) so I am coming off of a 3 day weekend.

And now I need a few days to recover from it.

CJ and I basically saw this weekend as a chance to hammer out more work on the house. Isabella saw it as a chance to put mom to the test. The combination resulted in aching muscles, tired eyes and frazzled nerves.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

CJ and I are dividing the house work up based on ability. He has the knowledge and skills to do lots of construction type work, having been in the biz for 30+ years, and I am really good at bossing him around. This weekend, he was focusing on getting our bedroom/bathroom finished up, along with various other things (including an unexpected plumbing project). I was going to be the one in charge of Munchkin so that he could work. I was really looking forward to spending the extra time with Isabella. Boy did I get a taste for what being a stay-at-home parent is like!

Friday was good. We played, we had snacks, and we ran to the store for some miscellaneous stuff. After she awoke from her nap, we went outside as it was a nice afternoon. She tried to help me pick up Samson’s dog poop using her bare hands. Luckily I caught her before she touched anything! I must have looked like a freak to my neighbors as I frantically waved my arms in the air and yelled NO!NO!NO!NO!

I can hear then now, “Gee Bill, I wonder what kind of interpretive dance Sarah is doing over there? Huh. Oh, maybe she got stung by a bee…”

I decided to take Munchkin to the park since it was so nice and neither of us wanted to go in. After playing for a few minutes, she decided it would be super fun to push the stroller so I let her push it all the way back home (about 2 blocks)!

Saturday is when the trouble started. I think Isabella has a little cold, or else she’s getting some teeth, and she was really crabby.

The morning was fine and she had an epic 2.5 hour nap after lunch. When she woke up we went back outside to play. It was a colder day though so we couldn’t stay out as long. She wanted to pick up flags. A few weeks ago CJ staked little flags out in our yard to mark the sprinkler heads so that the aerator guys wouldn’t run over them. Then he had Isabella go out and help him pick them up. Child labor is a beautiful thing. She remembered that and wanted to do it again, only there weren’t any to pick up! Well, ok, there was one. So I let her go out front and get that one but I wouldn’t let her run around with it for fear she’d fall and jab herself in the eye. Then I’d have to rush her to the hospital and she’d end up wearing an eye patch. I was not about to have her become a pirate and go blind on my watch!

She got very angry that she had to a) give the flag up and b) go inside. The cry-fest lasted for about an hour, off and on. I had to make a storage run and I ~~asked~~ begged CJ to come with. I was running on fumes and needed the extra help. I figured we could all go together, then stop and grab some chinese on the way back (food, not people). Crab Rangoon make everything better.

She whined/cried for most of the trip, partway during dinner and through her bath (which she normally loves). It took 30 minutes to get her to bed too. By the time all that was done, I was drained.

Easter Sunday started out great. We got up, had breakfast, did an egg hunt and Isabella got her Easter basket. It was getting to be about 10:30am and she was very tired. She started acting up. She wanted to be held and then she yanked on my hair. When I reprimanded her for it, she started crying.

That was all it took to break the dam loose.

She cried and cried and cried. For a solid hour. I tried everything and eventually just figured there was nothing I could do. I changed her in to her Easter dress (which I never got a picture of because of all the meltdown) and got her ready to go. Magically, a cure for her distress was found – hangers. Yes, that’s right, clothes hangers. In her teary-eyed daze, she wandered over to her closet and pulled out 2 hangers that were on the floor. She clutched those in her little hands and wouldn’t let go. She even took them with her to grandma’s house. Hey, fine with me. If I had known that, I would have given her that for Easter!

The rest of the day was basically more of the same. She had a few good hours here or there and then would break out in tears. We managed to get her through the egg hunt before laying her down for her nap. She was so beyond tired at that point that she refused to sleep. My mom had to use her super grandma powers to rock Munchkin to sleep. When she was finally down, a moratorium was put on the house that no one was to make a sound for fear she’d wake up. All the guys took that as their cue to nap too. Us women spent the time gossiping over cheese and crackers while the kids played outside. When Munckhin awoke, she went out and joined them.

Once we got home, she broke out in more fits and it again took about 30 minutes to get her to sleep.

By the end of the day, I was actually looking forward to going to work, just to get a break from the tantrums.

I tell ya what, I have renewed respect for my amazing husband who stays at home with Isabella every day. From the outside looking in, I get jealous that he gets all this time with our little darling while I’m at work dealing with deadlines and things. While he is lucky to spend so much time with her, and be a part of things I can’t, it’s not all fun and games and can be very exhausting. I definitely got a taste of that this weekend.

If only Arbor Day was an Exchange Holiday. I could really use another day off.

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15Feb2011

V-weekend, part 2

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

Now on to part 2 of our Valentine weekend. You can read all about part 1 here!

After we got home from Heather and Jeremy’s, we spent the rest of the day, taking it easy. The weather was really nice and the sun shining through the windows was awesome. Isabella and I both took a nap in the morning and while we were asleep, CJ hid Valentine’s around the living room for us. We went on a hunt for them together and Isabella had so much fun with it. I would see one and then ask her if she saw a “card” nearby. She would look around, spot the card, point to it and yell, “YES!”

Here she is handing me the pile of Valentine cards (they were superhero ones):

During the afternoon, I got my baking groove on and made a heart-shaped cake, some cake truffles and chocolate covered rice-Krispy’s, while CJ delivered Valentines to the neighbors (and took down the Christmas decorations). Sounds like a lot but I basically used the same ingredients for it all. I first made up the cake batter and used half of it for the heart-shaped cake and the rest got poured in to a mini-cupcake tin to be baked together. When the mini-cupcakes cooled, I put them in a bowl, crushed ‘em and added chocolate frosting. Mixed that all up and put it in the fridge to chill for a bit. In the meantime, the cake was cool so I frosted it with the remaining chocolate frosting. Then I took some chocolate almond bark and melted it. The truffle batter was chilled enough by now so I rolled it into little balls, dipped those in the melted bark and voila – chocolate cake truffles! With the leftover almond bark, I poured the cereal in and spread on to a cookie sheet. Then everything got topped with red sprinkles! Done and done!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Just a lot of playing and laughing and snuggling. Isabella must have known it was a weekend to celebrate love because she sure dished it out – and I soaked it all in!!

Monday arrived, the actual Valentine’s Day, and I woke up to find some flowers from my honey in the refrigerator.

I worked out, got ready for work and then found another gift in the cupboard when I went to feed Samson – a card and chocolate heart. CJ sure knows the way to my heart!

Sunday night I had made up and hid some more cards for Isabella to find and she had fun discovering them throughout the day. I was a little sad that I wasn’t home to see her find each one but at least she knew I was thinking of her while I was at work. Here is her collection of cards, including ones from the grandparents! She is one loved little girl!

After dinner, we gave Isabella a little gift. She got an Elmo Valentine book and a Leap Frog Alphabet Pal caterpillar (which she calls an octopus. I guess they do both have a lot of legs)!

That was pretty much our Valentine’s weekend! Fairly low key and simple, yet filled with lots of fun and love, the way V-Day should be. To me, it was the perfect way to celebrate.

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15Feb2011

V-Weekend, part 1

Posted in Holidays and Seasons, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

I’ve never been one to go all out for Valentines’ Day. When I was single it was because I was alone and just wanted the day to get over with as quickly as possible. Then, when I was in a relationship, I still didn’t make a big deal out of it because it sort of felt silly. But, over the years I have relaxed and can now enjoy it for what it is. It also makes a difference having a child. Every holiday seems so much more meaningful and fun when you have a little angel to celebrate it with.

Our Valentine celebration this year had 2 parts to it: one with Isabella on a “date” while CJ and I went out and the other was Valentine’s day itself!

Last year, we celebrated Valentine’s with our friends Heather and Jeremy, and their son Owen, who is Isabella’s boyfriend. The parallels in our friendship are kind of spooky sometimes. Jeremy and I work together, Heather and I were pregnant at the same time, had the same due date, had doctors within the same clinic and we all go to the same Chiropractor. Weird, huh? It’s like it was meant to be! Owen ended up making his debut in to the world 5 days before Munchkin so technically she’s dating an older man. Like mother, like daughter!

We had so much fun celebrating with them last year that we decided to do it again! Boy what a difference a year makes! For Valentine’s 2010, the babies were almost 5 months old so they pretty much just laid around, rolling back and forth and batting at toys. This year was much different. They are almost 17 months now and both are super active. They were running all over the place, talking away, climbing on couches, throwing stuff, eating solid food and actually interacting with each other. They are both such great kids and I think they will grow up to be good friends (at least that’s what I’m hoping).

Think they’ve grown up at all?

We got together on Saturday, to start the Valentine’s weekend off right! Isabella jumped right in and started playing with Owen’s toys – that’s the whole fun in being at someone else’s house!

(She’s also showing her runway strut – work it girl!)

Owen had a lot of fun hanging out with us too. He really liked my necklace and camera!

One thing that I think is really cool about our relationship is that Owen knows us and Isabella knows Heather and Jeremy, so neither kid is shy around the other set of parents. I’m glad because I want Owen to be comfortable around us and visa versa. The kids will basically run to whichever adult is closest when they needed something. Always fun to be a universal parent!

For dinner, we ordered heart shaped pizzas. Isabella gobbled hers up. I have to admit, it really hit the spot for me too. I think it tasted that much better because it was shaped like a heart – and because we were eating it with such good friends. We also had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, because we’re fancy like that! Plus, calories don’t count when you’re celebrating with friends. Like, duh.

After dinner, it was time for CJ and I to leave. We had tickets for a play so Munchkin was going to spend the night at Owen’s. It was her first non-family sleepover. I tell ya what, it never gets easier to say good-bye. We put on our coats and she hardly even noticed. She was playing away and giggling up a storm. I gave her a hug and kiss, which she quickly squirmed out of in order to get back to the toys. As we walked out the door, she came running up to it and pressed her face against the window. My heart started aching. I knew she was in good hands and would be totally fine once we left. But seeing her little face pressed up against the window was like a magnet pulling me back to her. CJ said, “Keep going and don’t look back.” So I blew her a kiss and walked away. As I got to the driveway, I turned to look and saw her toddling off down the hallway, chasing after Owen. I knew then that she’d be perfectly fine and it made it easier to get in the car and drive away.

Apparently, she did more than fine – she did great! The kids got in their jammies and had some more playtime. They stopped for a bit to watch the puppies outside too.

Then it was time for bed. The plan was for Owen to sleep in his room and Isabella to sleep in a pack-n-play in the guest room, but the kids had other ideas…

“Come on mom! Please can’t we sleep together? It’s a slumber party after all!”

Looks like we might need to have “the talk” sooner than anticipated….plus Isabella still thinks her girl area is a “pocket”.

Both slept like a charm, which was good for Heather and Jeremy. I would have felt awful if Munchkin had kept them up crying for a woobie or something.

The next morning, they woke up and had eggs for breakfast. Muchkin needs a lesson in manners though as she thought it would be ok to eat with her feet on the table.

We brought donuts with us when we came to pick up Isabella, so everyone had a second breakfast! We were so happy to see our little girl and couldn’t stop kissing her, even while she ate her donut.

It came time to say goodbye. At first, Owen seemed happy to let us leave – he ran down the hall to the front door and tried to open it! But then we realized he had such feelings of sadness in him, at the thought of letting his love go, that he acted out in the opposite way. Typical boys, right? They pull your hair when they want to hold your hand and kick you out the door when they really want you to stay!

Eventually he relaxed and decided to say goodbye the proper way, with a kiss!

All together now…awwwwwww! Good thing Isabella had her woobie in her mouth to keep that kiss from going further!

It was a great start to the Valentine weekend and a big thanks to our friends Heather and Jeremy for being such great sitters! I feel totally comfortable having them watch her and I know she feels loved there too.

Now, on to part 2!

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3Jan2011

The Meltdown

Posted in Family, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Let me just start off by saying that I am still shell-shocked from last night. Isabella had a meltdown like you wouldn’t believe. Both CJ and my nerves were shot by the time it was over. Here’s the background.

Isabella is apparently a child who needs routine. I suppose all kids are that way but we definitely learned that if her routine gets thrown off too much, we will all suffer. Our holiday weekend was a busy one. We spent both Saturday/Sunday over at my sister’s house having some quality family time. Both days, we had a pretty normal morning and she got her naps and meals in as usual. But then we’d head to my sister’s house in the afternoon. Munchkin had lots of fun playing with her cousins and all the toys they have. So much fun, that she refused her afternoon naps. Saturday we tried 3 different times. I even had my mom try to work her grandma magic but to no avail. Also, we were eating holiday type food (chips, dip, chili, cheese/crackers, cookies, candy, etc.) with very little fruit and veggies. So her diet was thrown off too. By last night and bedtime, she was very crabby and out of whack.

When we got home, Munchkin played with some toys and watched a little bit of The Wiggles. Then it was time to change her diaper and put on her pajamas. That’s when all hell broke loose. As soon as I laid her down on the changing table, she started screaming and crying. She wriggled and tried to get away but I was able to keep her in one spot long enough to do what I needed to do (I’ve discovered that as parents, we come up with all kinds of creative ways to change a diaper when the kid is being less than cooperative). I figured she’d calm down once I picked her up again, because that’s what usually happens.

Um, no.

I picked her up and she kept on wailing. I tried to give her some juice/water/milk and she would have none of it. I offered her a bedtime snack of crackers and she refused. I gave her a woobie and she batted it away. There was no consoling her at this point so I thought, all right, she just needs to go to bed. We went through our usual routine and as I bent over to turn on her CD player, she grabbed my hair and yanked. Hard. I pulled her hand away and firmly said, “No!” She kicked and thrashed. I tried the CD again and she grabbed my hair for a second time. And yanked hard. I was fed up at that point so down in her crib she went. I figured she would carry on for a little longer than tire out and go to sleep.

I figured wrong.

She kept going. And going. After 5 minutes I went back in, with some juice, and tried to offer it to her again. She pushed it away. I offered a woobie. She threw it at me. Then, she reached out wanting me to pick her up, so I did. She pointed to the hallway and I thought, hey, maybe she’s hungry for something other than crackers. So we headed out to the kitchen and she stopped crying. Oh thank God. I tried applesauce but she didn’t want it. Offered cereal and she refused. When I handed her the juice cup again, she took it but wouldn’t drink. Just held on to it. CJ came in and we started discussing other options. Then the crying started again. And got louder and louder. I tried to take the juice away and she wouldn’t let go, yet she still wouldn’t drink it. I finally yanked it from her little hands and she freaked. She threw herself back and out came a wail like I have never heard before. I seriously thought she was possessed. I stared waiting for her head to spin around. When it didn’t, I took her to her room, made the sign of the cross over her and left the room. She continued with her meltdown.

That’s when I did the only rational thing any adult woman would do – I called my mommy. I needed more brainpower for this one – and apparently I needed God on my side. Since mon was a nun way back when, I figured she could help on both accounts. She suggested just letting her cry it out. Go in after 5 min to reassure her and then leave. Wait 10 min and go back in. Rinse and repeat until ~~the demonwas exorcised~~ Isabella was asleep. So, after a bit, I went back in. She was still standing up and crying. I told her it was ok and that she needed to lay down and sleep. She kept pointing to the hallway and I had no idea what she wanted. I asked but didn’t get much of an answer other than, “Muahhhuffffsnifffmuuuooooh.” Since I didn’t have my Toddler Speak dictionary on me, I couldn’t translate. I picked her up and felt her tummy, not really sure what I was feeling for but a nurse told me to do that one time so I did. Her tummy was a little distended and hard which I think means constipation. I had no idea how to fix that at 8:00 at night other than to stick my finger up her butt (a guy at work told me to try that). I didn’t find that option at all appealing so I put her back to bed and offered a woobie, figuring the crying was better than poop splatter. She batted away the woobie so I left her alone.

And she screamed.

It was at this point that I raised the white flag and told CJ to take care of it. After waiting for the right amount of time, he went in there. When he came out, all was quiet. I had to clap by my ears a few times to make sure I hadn’t just gone deaf or something. I don’t know what magic/exorcism/ritual he did in there but by golly it worked. He said he just rocked her and gave her a woobie. Gee, why didn’t I think of that.

Apparently, she just wanted some daddy time since they hadn’t had as much time together due to his surgery on Wednesday.

We tiptoed around the house for the rest of the night, deathly afraid to wake the beast. But she was out cold and slept great all night. By the time it was all said and done, she had screamed for about an hour. That’s an hour I don’t ever want to repeat.

I’ve learned a couple of lessons from this:

Isabella needs a set schedule. Missing 2 days of afternoon naps really threw her off and made her super crabby.
A regular diet is important too. She missed out on her normal amounts of fruits and veggies which contributed to the constipation.
You’re never too old to need your mommy.
You find religion real quick when the devil possesses your child.
From now on, CJ is putting her to bed.

I hope and pray that getting back to her normal schedule today will help and bedtime will be much easier tonight. If not, you will find me curled up in a ball under the stairs, rocking back and forth reciting The Lord’s Prayer.

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