Soy Sauce stinks.

I never really thought about it. I never really stuck my nose to the jar and sniffed for too long. I just eat it. I pour it over my rice and any other Chinese stir fried food I might be eating and enjoy! But tonight, it just plain stinks. I do mean that literally. If you were here, in my house, on this particular evening, you would probably agree. And then you would quickly leave.

You see, my two children are fighting off some type of upper respiratory infection. They are pleghmy (is that a real word?) and they are coughing and irritable. My daughter has swollen gums and is super cranked up x 10. Eddie refused to eat ziti (no surprise there) and Alexa wolfed it down like there was no tomorrow. So instead he ate cereal. After the evening I had with them, I would have given him chocolate pudding. No lie.

As he was refusing to eat normal food, he went to the refrigerator and asked if he could eat ketchup, then asked for mustard, after that he grabbed the little bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce. He asked me very enthusiastically if he could eat "this!" As I looked up to see, I ran in his direction as I just knew it was going to fall. I was way too slow. I was nearly by his side when it slipped from his fingers. It came crashing down in one not so glorious smash onto the tile. I almost didn't want to look. The broken glass and tiny shards lay sprinkled throughout the kitchen and the bottle's dark brown liquid covered the floor, the side of the wall, and a good portion of the inside of the refrigerator.

@#!$%&*!@

The noise of it all scared the pants off of Eddie as he ran and dove into the couch. Alexa sat in the high chair and was finishing her second helping of ziti. I went and poured a few cheerios on the highchair to keep her busy while I cleaned.

Now, it seems that soy sauce is not a good mixture for grout. My grout now has a lovely shade of brown, instead of the peach that it used to be. Fantastic. I was thinking about redoing the tiles in there. Just what we needed. I had to put shoes on the kids, as just telling them to stay out of the kitchen was completely ineffective. My husband worked late again, and is leaving for Las Vegas in the morning. Sooooo, it'll be more fun than I can stand for the next week. Oh joy!

Anyway, shoes..... yes I put shoes on the kids. They fought me, because everyone knows that when you get home, you get to take your shoes off! So, I made them do it, but not successfully. I found Eddie taking his shoes off and standing on the tile in bare feet. I came in to put them back on. Alexa follows, but instinctively knows that it will make mommy go crazy if she hurls herself face down on the tile. Even better!!!!! Of course I toss one shoeless child to the side to grab the child who has her face down on newly littered tile. Ugh!! These guys!

Of course during the course of my night, I medicated the teether with Tylenol. I held both of them in my lap, while Eddie screamed because I wouldn't give him his Mcdonald's happy meal Bee toy. (from the upcoming Bee movie due out Nov. 2) and Alexa was screaming, well I don't even remember why. But they were both having a meltdown tonight. I don't know why. I'm not even sure what's worse. Them fighting, or this. Because tonight, they didn't fight. They were too cranky to fight. They each had their own issues.

Oh yeah, and to top things off.... Alexa goes and jumps out of her crib. Ok, she's not superbaby or anything. But I put her in her crib and left her there. I go back lay her down, soothe her and kiss her. She's calm, and then I leave again. She cries. Tonight was more difficult than normal, again teething perhaps??? Well before I was about to go in there, I heard her cries getting louder. I thought for a moment that my husband was home and he went into the room to get her. Well I went to the hall way and I looked to see the door opening and Alexa walking out on her own! She got herself out of her crib. I have no idea how she did it. She just did.

I'm dumbfounded. The child is just 13 months old! Sheesh! ok, I better go and help my husband get packed. At least I was kind enough to do all his laundry so that he has clean stuff to take! (Lovely me!)I'm thankful that she's sleeping now. I have to go and get the other one into bed.

What was in that bottle??

Last night my husband was late getting home. These days it seems a common occurence. Well he was telling me about some girl taking over his job. His boss and what he said, and didn't say and this happened and so and so was crying and he basically doesn't know where he's going and when. Or even when he's going to be taking his trip, or even if he's going to be available to go trick or treating with me and the kids. It's no big wonder he had a headache. He's got way too much on his plate. I almost felt sorry for him. But then didn't. Because I realize, I'm still the one taking care of these kids who won't stop picking at each other and slapping each other. Or riding the blue dog onto each others feet. Or rolling their poppers into one anothers legs. But still, I try to remain empathetic. I try.

He tells me that he has a headache. My usual response, "I'm sorry to hear that." I ask him if he's had some caffeine. And of course he has, because he usually can't make it through the day without a cup of coffee or five. So I ask if he's going to take something for it. I don't recommend drugs, as there is usually a better remedy. Like taking a nap, because you are tired (or going to bed). Or better yet, drink a glass of water, as you might be dehydrated. Or try drinking some coffee or coke. Highly acidic, but often times works. I don't like to take Tylenol because it's nephrotoxic (bad for the kidneys) and I don't recommend aspirin either as too much of that can irritate his already sensitive stomach. So he's rummaging through the medicine cabinet high above the stove.

I think we have like 60 bottles of randomly prescribed pharmaceuticals in there. I mean with his tummy, and back and muscle issues. There must be 15 bottles alone. All mostly full. And the various kiddie vitamins, the mommy vitamins ( the few I do take) and the many others I don't. Not to mention the cough, cold, nighttime sniffly sneezy achy, stuffy head, fever so you can rest medicines. We probably have about half that could go straight into the trash because they are expired. But that's another task, and wasn't in my agenda at that particular moment.

My husband stopped at the Tylenol #3. And although I personally love that stuff...............................................When it is needed. I DON'T think it is a good idea to take for some headache that would just go away when he falls asleep. So I made him put the bottle down. I could see that he was thinking about it though. He grabbed the ibuprofen bottle and opened it. Upon looking at it's contents he says, "I don't think this is the right thing." He handed it to me. The whole bottle was empty, except for one small oval shaped red and white pill. I examined the pill that sat lonely inside and immediately knew what it was. I said, as I recapped the bottle and placed it back into the cabinet, "It's colace! You want some for your headache??"He looked at me dumbly and stated that he had no idea what that was. I told him it was a stool softener. He made a face. And then he asked me why I was putting one pill back into the cabinet, and especially since I didn't know if it was still good, maybe it was expired already. (Maybe it was.)

But in my brilliance and wisdom, I honestly wasn't thinking. What came out of my mouth next was even more ridiculous than something I might normally say. I can't believe I said it. I looked at him and said, "We should keep it. In case I ever have another baby." And then I paused for a very brief moment. And I began to laugh. Hysterically.

How dumb was that comment I just made? First of all, the stupid pill was probably out of date and should have been tossed. Especially being out of the container it came in, why was it in the ibuprofen bottle in the first place? Secondly, they would prescribe more in the hospital, should the need arise for a stool softener. And lastly, I think I may have just scared the pants off of my husband as I have never even so much as 'uttered' the words baby and me having another one in the same sentence. He just looked at me wildly, like I was attempting to conjugate verbs in spanish, and botched it.

So it's official, my idiot brain works on FULL throttle at night. Can one be surprised? I can't even cook without breaking up toddler fights. What makes you think that I can speak intelligently or even make good decisions regarding old medications when I was half drenched by my baby's bathwater, scratched, slapped, kicked, sneezed on and coughed on by two children coming down with only God knows what. I was starved and my brain wasn't exactly at it's sharpest moment. You'll have to forgive me.

But I really think that was funny. Both my stupid comment. And the look on my husband's face. You really should have seen it. It was quite priceless!

Pink Eye, pink sheets, & pink socks!

Over the past two weeks each of my children has had pink eye. Eddie was lucky enough to pick it up first, and ever so gracious to share it with his baby sister. Of course there are a few days in between where they both seemed fine.

I had taken him to the Dr. to get a prescription, and yes his eyes did clear up quite quickly. But what fun it was to chase them down, and administer the torturous eye drops. Eddie and Alexa would both scream bloody murder.

After several days had passed and just as Alexa seemed to be in the clear, she wasn't. Her eyes started to cloud up, goop up, or shall we say she had.... "mucousy drainage." Yuck. My poor little girl. We, no wait, there is no we in this, I stripped the sheets, and pillowcases and towels and washed them all (in hot water, soap and bleach). Ugh! And still. I guess it's a lot harder than I thought to get them from sticking those fingers and hands into their faces and rubbing their little eyes. Bummer.

So now the weekend is over. The laundry is done. And it does seem that the eyes all around look better. I had to do quite a few loads, as after each use of the towels, I did not want to take the chance of passing it back and forth again, or worse to ME! (or dear husband). But the only casualties were my sheets. In doing like the 7th load (or something silly like that) I had the sheets and the towels in there, and I put the cycle on for a large load, a little bleach, some Tide and hot water. Now, it wasn't a terribly large amount. I didn't measure it, but I just didn't think it was going to do what it did. For the life of me, this doesn't make any sense. My sheets came out pink. Yes pink. They were lilac to start with. Come on! I didn't put that much bleach in there. I swear!

Now, I have poured huge amounts of bleach directly onto socks that belonged to my step-daughter and my step-son, quite some time ago when doing their laundry. And then I would proceed to pour a good healthy amount into the washer and try to bleach some white into the socks that were already supposed to be white. And do you know what? They came out the exact same color. Dingy, earthy, and not at all white. Maybe sidewalk white. But not white. Not from all that bleach. So in my experience, even large amounts of bleach don't really work on whites. But ah! Here in lies my mistake. I was not washing whites! Only "lights". So I didn't really think a small amount of bleach would make my favorite 400 thread count lilac sheets pink. *tsk, tsk.*

I'm a dork. Now I need new sheets. They don't look right. Oh, and on another related note, but totally different load of clothes. I am not sure what happened. I may have washed some colors with a pair of white socks. Oh, ok, I accidentally threw in a pair of my white socks into the color wash load. I had a lovely fuschia (very pink) top in there and it bled all over my socks. Nothing else. Why couldn't it bleed all over the other pink stuff? Or the dark brown pants? No. it found the poor helpless white socks and beat the crud out of them. They look horrible. Poor socks. It was really not my day to be doing laundry. I think I'm going to take a laundry break.

And on a fun note, we took the kids to Buckelew Farms pumpkin patch. We got to ride a horse drawn carriage and go out and pick our own pumpkins. It was pretty fun, even if daddy was trying to scare us by picking at spiders he found amongst the vines. I think we might have needed a few extra hands as it was a little bit tricky navigating the fields with two little ones and carrying two pumpkins. Thankfully Ed did the tough part. We made it out of there in one piece and the kids were pooped. They both fell asleep in the car and we came home for lunch! Here are a few pics from today!

Oh yeah...forgot to mention that we went to Eddie's daycare on Saturday for some pumpkin festival. They had games, a bounce house, face painting and other fun stuff that Eddie didn't really want any part of. I took his shoes off and threw him in the bounce house. To which he quickly responded by sliding backwards out of it and screaming "Nooooooooo!!" Oh man, is he going to get the hang of it??? He was also scared of the ladies that were face painting. And although I'm sure he would have thought it was cool if mommy put a pumpkin or a spider web drawing on his face, he definitely was not going to get close to those women! Silly boy!

Here are a couple pics from Saturday as well:

What a weekend!

I'm thankful that it's over. I feel like I'm hopped up on 10 cups of coffee, 2 packs of oreos, and a giant sized bag of candy corn. I know, just the sound of that makes me sick. But I feel like I'm on speed during the weekends. I imagine Superman, only me, being female and not wearing the get-up. Imagine what it would look like when he runs around at really high speeds and does things in that super-human lickety-split fast motion. Well, that's me. That's what I'm trying to describe.

During those days where I have my two children home with me ALL day long, I run around like that. I wake up in the morning at 6 a.m. And that's if I'm lucky. I wake up that early to start my routine. Both my children are demanding of MILK. I mean, the first words out of Eddie's mouth in the morning are "I want milk mommy, get it to me." Ah.... the improving grammar of a toddler. You gotta just love it! (speaking of grammar, please ignore my ill worded sentence there. It just sounds better.) Anyway, he's telling me one thing and I hear Lacka crying in the other room. Now she sleeps stupendously for me, puts herself to sleep, on occasion will wake up in the wee morning hours, but again, puts herself back to sleep. And then proceeds to sleep for a good 11 hours. I can't even tell you how totally excited I am about that. Especially considering the fact that it took her nearly 10 months of her life to do it! And then at the 10 month mark when she decided to start being an angel and letting mommy get some well deserved rest after being up with her all of those months, child number one decides to press my buttons. Yes. He wakes up about 3 times a night now. He's broken and we can't fix him. I'm at my wits end. And my lovely husband is content to let him sleep in our bed. What, until he's sixteen????? I'm thinking, my husband's crazy. I have been the whip-cracker in my household and it's been a tough challenge to make my husband care as much as I do that this child needs to sleep in his own bed. You see, my husband is very laid back and relaxed. Not much bothers him. But this bothers me. I like my bed. I like it to be MY BED! I don't want my adoring son in my bed. You see, they become a little less adoring when they are hogging your covers, and when their sized 9 toddler foot goes into your ribs. Unsuspecting, as you were sleeping and dreaming about something chocolate and finding some amazing sale at Macy's, while some gorgeous sales clerk was ringing you up. And then THUD! Into your ribs and a pain shoots downwards and upwards. And your dream of Godiva chocolate and handsome sales clerks goes out the window. You are awaken by your "adoring" son. You wonder, why is he in this bed? Why did your husband just not take him back?

Oh jeez. And this type of thing goes on and on at my house every night. We take him back. And inevitably, he sneaks back in, when we are exhausted. Why couldn't he just give up the fight and stay in his room? Anyway, we get up and change diapers. I turn on the Disney channel and we watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse. And Handy Manny. And Little Einsteins. But by then, real hunger kicks in. Eddie starts asking for Lo-Gos. (which are really Yo-Go's yogurt covered fruit snacks. Very big in our household) Or he will just go into the freezer and get out the waffles. He loves waffles and I'm quite sure, he could eat those every day. And my daughter starts saying, "See-yoh, See-hoh, See-yoh." It only took me a short time to figure that one out. She's saying cereal! CEREAL! Oh, ok I get it! Ok, so If I don't make something like french toast or my husband doesn't make eggs, which they both love, I will go ahead and either make them waffles or cereal followed by yogurt and a banana. And don't you know it, those two are bottomless pits when it comes to breakfast items.

They eat, make a huge mess. And then proceed to destroy the living room. Now yesterday during their attempt to destroy the room, Alexa managed to pull off the door to the entertainment center. No. She's not superhuman baby. It was previously broken by my son. He had managed to slam it so many times, and open it further and further that it broke off from the top hinges. And it was merely dangling by its bottom hinges. And Alexa figured it needed to come off. So she yanked it right off. I guess it must have scared her since she began to cry when it fell on the ground. Boo. Hoo. The door broke and now she couldn't swing it any more. Now my house looks really bad. It doesn't look so bad with all of the children's toys scattered everywhere, but it looks bad because they are slowly ruining the carpet and the furniture. And the blinds. They pull off the vertical blinds one by one. Or bend them. They look just sad.

And we are trying to sell our house. We might actually have to pay someone to come in here and take it! AH! Ok it's not really that bad. But its certainly not for lack of them trying. Eddie throws things. Toys. Mostly heavy toys. He flings them and they hit and dent the wall. Sometimes big, sometimes not so big. But if they are crappy toys with lead paint, then said crappy lead paint comes off on my walls. (hopefully we don't really have any of those toys. Previously or soon to be recalled. I pray we don't) But anyway, don't you hate it when the paint comes off of one surface so easily yet won't come off the wall as easily?? And instead of wiping or scrubbing it down with some cleaner, you are left re-painting it??

I'm not even going to mention potty breaks because Eddie is currently in denial about pooping. He's incredibly smart and will tell you when he needs to go, and right after he will ask you to clean his butt. But he is totally in denial about actually sitting on the potty and making poop. He really does have the whole Pee thing down pat. He's doing so well, and I'm proud of that. But at this rate, I think Alexa might be out of diapers before him. She's so fast with learning things. She sits on the little potty a lot and I think she would catch on quickly. Eddie just refuses to go. Ah. Another head ache.

The fighting though is the worst. My kids are learning. What aren't they learning. Eddie pushes Alexa. Alexa slaps him. He pushes her, and she pulls his hair. He used to take her toys, now she is fighting back. She's about a head shorter than him. (her latest stats had her at 31 inches and greater than the 97% for her height) So she's pretty tall. And people tend to think she's older. But she is kind of feisty. She is starting to slap, hit and pinch her brother. All in the name of defending her Elmo doll. Of course Eddie still thinks all of the toys belong to him. Aye- ya-aye!!! It's nearly constant. I have to watch out for him not pushing her down, hurting her and tackling her. And then I have to watch out for her that she isn't slapping, pinching hitting pulling hair and or either biting him! As she did once recently. They're at it!

And I suppose if you ask all of those well seasoned mothers.... they'll tell you. That's what you get for having two so close in age. I had no idea. Oh. My. Goodness. I'm tired and my back hurts and it isn't even noon most of the time. When oh when will they start to act normal? My sweet baby girl who just turned one, almost in an instant went from sweet, to toddler. Anyone with a toddler truly knows what that means. It means that the once quiet and tame little baby they had has now developed a personality, wants and demands really. And a newfound attitude that is determined to be heard. She almost changed overnight from her first birthday. She is starting to have more tantrums. She wants more, she wants to do what Eddie is doing. She wants to eat everything in sight. And she wants to do it, have it, eat it, see it, play with it, take it, RIGHT NOW!!! By George I don't know which of my children is more aggressive. Why can't they just sit there quietly and play together nicely??

Alexa and Eddie. Ah the kiddos. I'm starting to get the twin comment a lot now. I've had at least 6 comments so far by people asking if they are twins. Umm.... no. But they sure feel like it. They want the same toys, want to eat at the same time. They fight and are demanding. yeah, they're my twins. My twins that gave me 16 months 3 weeks and 2 days to prepare. Twins nonetheless.

ok, I think I've totally rambled on and on here. But what I'm saying is that the weekend is over. Phew! It's not easy taking care of two such demanding personality types. Eddie's terrible twos don't help one bit either. I guess it's just one day at a time right? I think I can get through this. I might need a lot more hair dye though. These kids are giving me grays. And it's making me look older.

Shut up and eat!

My two beautiful little beanie heads are going to put me into the funny farm. I am starting to loathe dinner time. Seriously. I think it was Eddie who was giving me a problem the other night. Well after making what is normally a fast eaten dinner, my daughter proceeds to throw the spaghetti onto the floor. And with it, the bowl! If anyone has ever eaten spaghetti, you might realize that this makes for a huge mess. Red sauce is never an easy clean-up out of beige speckled carpet. Even the strategically spaced black, and brown flecks do not disguise the red goo that sits on top of it.

Ok, so my daughter just showed her very first attempts at being finicky. Well done my dear. Bravo. Your big brother should be proud! Meanwhile Eddie is swirling away at his bowl of pasta. Yes, I did say swirling. I mean, what do you do with your spaghetti?? He swirls and then he takes a teeny weeny tiny bite. And then he swirls and then he takes a drink. But of course that drink needs to be gurgled and then spit back into his cup. It's just much better that way. Swirl and take a teeny weeny tiny bite. You should have seen his face. He looked so proud when he looked up at me and exclaimed, "I all done mommy!" I walked over to inspect, as I was mostly walking back and forth from the kitchen to the table because I was cleaning Alexa's mess up. So when I got to the table I saw the bowl with it's mushed up, swirled and nearly the same amount of pasta as I had served up to him. Hmmmm. I felt puzzled. Or frustrated. This used to be a fool proof meal.

Well not so tonight babe! Eddie barely ate, and Alexa refused it altogether. He didn't want anymore and he wanted to get down. I grabbed a banana. At least I could try and get something healthy in them. I split it between the two of them. Yes only one banana. They both eagerly took a few bites. But as I walked away, Alexa began to cry and threw the banana at me. Perfect. I really like gooey smushy, half eaten bananas. I tried to put it back on her tray, but she wasn't having any of that either! Eddie ate only half of the half that I gave him. So in all, 25% of a banana. Alexa ate about that much as well.

So I knew she was still hungry so I began to make hot dogs. Knowing my son wouldn't eat any, I offered him some yogurt. I suspect that he isn't a fan of hot dogs because when I was pregnant with him I went on a hot dog binge. I ate hot dogs for a month from every place I could find them in. Every fast food, drive through, sit down establishment that had them, I ate them in! Anyway, I digress. Like I said, I hadn't made anything else and I wasn't about to cook another meal completely, so I just left his plate of spaghetti in case he changed his mind and wanted to eat a more sensible portion. (He didn't) He ate the yogurt and was totally happy with that.

Alexa ate her hot dog and then started staring wildly at the bread. Often times she has a piece of wheat bread with me when I make a sandwich. I could see that look in her eye, and it's funny how I somehow just knew that she wanted a piece. So I gave her a piece of wheat bread and she was totally happy.

*sigh* Man, this seems to be getting more difficult, not easier. They are supposed to eat what I make, not drive me to some outer limits of my sanity while I scour the fridge, counter tops and pantry looking for anything suitable. I'm a mommy slave to these two little brats children. When can I start sending them to bed without food if they don't eat what I make? I think one and two is a little too young. I think. I can see me now, "Alexa, you go to your room until you realize that we do not waste food in this household. You will eat what your mother makes and you will like it. There are starving children all over this world who would love to have your food right now. You are truly blessed that you have anything to eat at all! Shame on you, now go to your room!" I imagine that passage to be met with a blank stare and some serious crying. For food. Aye Dios Mio! Ok, so I will wait for that lecture.

I think I have to go and clean out the garage though. I may have left my patience out there. I don't remember where it went, but certainly it isn't anywhere where I am. And since I don't spend much time there, it could have easily slipped into the spider abyss that lives beyond the Tupperware (bins) summit in the garage.

I'll let you know if I do come across it again. Until then, I'm going to have to do some research on child friendly recipes, and new fool proof meal ideas for finicky eaters.

the diets of children.

Why can't they all just eat peas and be happy? Why does eating dinner have to be such a fight? I have a two year old who refuses to eat most normal things that are presented at dinner time. I also have a one year old who will eat everything in front of her and then reach over to her brother's plate and swipe some more. When his plate has been emptied she will then beckon for yet another serving. It's as if she were starved. I am thinking not!

Now there are certain things that are absolutely a GO! to my picky eater. If per chance you might be having waffles, string cheese, any type of yogurt, or a variety of fruit for dinner, lunch or breakfast would work too... he's totally in. These all work well. But my goodness, don't you dare think for one second that you could get away with a serving of freakish looking vegetables. Of any kind. Yuck.

Tonight Alexa ate cabbage and broccoli. Eddie merely stared blankly at the monstrosity that sat atop his flower covered plastic plate. He even went so far as to go into na-na's refridgerator and get himself some strawberry applesauce. Yummy. Much better, I'm certain that he was thinking. I will say that he did manage to get in a few pieces of steak and some sausage. But only about as much as a bird might eat. Now I'm starting to understand why my son is still wearing 12-18 months sized pants when clearly he should be wearing larger sizes. At least a 2-T. It's because he eats so little and runs around like a monkey chasing his sister who stole his only banana.

Oh boy. I'm waiting for him to realize he might be missing something. I'm wondering how Alexa got the message. She eats pretty much everything that you give her. Pretty much. She has her favorites. And you can certainly tell by the way she starts waving her little hands in her cute little agitated way. She starts to sign for more and gets angry if you don't get it to her soon enough. She signs more, and then she starts to yell it since now she knows that word. But it comes out more like, " MOH!" And if that isn't the cutest thing ever.

I just don't want to give her too much. I don't want her to overeat. Can that happen? Maybe? I was hoping that Eddie might see his sister eating peas one day and eventually try them. I guess I will just have to wait. These little boogers do seem to have a mind of their own. Little Alexa barely has four teeth in and she chomps on everything with such purpose. She loves to eat. I guess I will continue to push the veggies. Maybe when he gets a little older I can start the, "You're not finished until you take 3 more bites of your squash!" I can just see it now. Mean mommy!

He used to like peas. Whatever happened to that baby that I used to feed peas from a ziploc baggy?? He used to love them. Maybe I didn't let him experiment enough with foods. That could be my fault.

It's hard not to obsess over what they are eating. Inevitably they will find something that they want in the fridge. And since he didn't eat most of his dinner, he's going to go in there and look for the apples. At least he likes fruit. It could be worse. He could be digging out the ice cream. Then we'd have a real fight on our hands. The ice cream belongs to mommy. Put it down and nobody gets hurt. Back away from the Rocky Road and you shall be allowed to watch Charlottes Web one more time tonight. Step away!

lol.... ah the thought of it! Anyway, so I pretty much feed kid #1 whatever I can get into him. Those things do include any and all fruits. Most types of pasta, especially spaghetti and macaroni. Hamburger and chicken. Fruits, did I say fruits?? Dairy products and back up that cow to my house, he could just take it straight from the cow. I have to limit that milk intake too, he drinks quite a bit. I'm hoping he grows out of this, or grows into liking more foods.

As for child #2, it's easier to say what she won't eat. Hmmmmm..... I can't think of anything. Maybe she can teach her brother as they get older. I'm still waiting for things to get better. People tell me it gets easier as the children get older. It hasn't happened yet. But I'll be here. And if it ever does, I'll let you know!

thoughts on my son....

So, I put Eddie back in daycare nearly one month after being at home with me. I think sometimes I suck at being a mom because I had to send him back. But then again, if you don't know me, and you don't know my son, then you don't know that it was almost driving me insane to have him home all day long. All day meaning 14 hours from the time he would wake up. (which is 5 am) until the time he would go to sleep. (which was 7 pm) And if you think that is a sucky schedule, then c'mon over and preach at the chior baby. But don't forget to bring the wine. (and make it red) So, like I was saying.... he was home all day. With me. And his sister. His toddler sister. Whom he was tackling every day just out of shear boredom. I can't even begin to tell you what a difference I see in my son just from being back in daycare. I will never take him out again. Until I am forced to. By my husband. And a bunch of large sweaty dirty men who will box up my belongings and take them away in a large semi. And then we move away to a new country. (yikes) That's another story altogether.

But for the meantime, my son is once again adorable. He was bordering on spawn of the new and improved "black Spidey", you know the one, the evil one?? Well. That was how my son was beginning to act. Very very bad. I never saw the new Spider Man 3 (is it?) or was it 4? I don't know, I just know that there were lots of those movies. But I know Spider Man turned bad. Maybe he was taken out of daycare and forced to sit home with his mom and baby sister while they watched Days of Our Lives at 1pm. And reruns of 90210 that mommy never got to see the first time around. Or worse...stupid reality shows that she can't recall the names of. That would make anyone go nuts. Truly.

So Eddie has turned into a sweet boy once again. But only as sweet as an opinionated 2 year old can be. At least he's not Black Spidey's spawn anymore. Now Eddie is in daycare, and mommy is loving it. I feel like a normal human being again. It's kind of nice. I will be finding work again soon. There is a cut-off day for me to have employment or they will send him home again, and we certainly don't want that. I can only manage in small doses and when my lovely dear husband comes home. It helps when we tag team the kids. He takes one and I take the other. I never knew how tough it was going to be to have two children so close together in age.

Anyway, Eddie is doing good in daycare, he plays, he runs, he rides those cute little motorcylces that you push with your feet. He has fun and I can totally tell that he really likes being there. He talks about the boys and girls at school and he tells me what he does there. I love to see him interacting with the other kids. And I certainly could not duplicate that environment here at home. I just can't swing felt puppet stories, playing with plastics, dance time, play-doh time, nature walk, and bubble time before noon. Oh and take care of a one year old at the same time. Because of course there are potty breaks for the potty training two year old, and diaper changes for the toddler little sister. That's why they have their schedules at daycare. That's why there are 3 teachers per the classroom! So they can manage! Anyway... there is only one of me. One of me that I value very much. One of me that certainly responds better to kids being in daycare. *ah~ freedom*

I can no longer sleep peacefully, I can't remember what it was like to have a hot meal. Too many times, I eat cold food secondary to feeding both of my babes. I have a spotted wardrobe from regurgitated food products many thanks to my puker Eddie and sweet baby girl "Lacka". My home and it's contents are nearly looking like one of those to be found on "Orpah's World's Messiest House Contests." And I feel truly beat up most of the time. I guess this is what my life is to be like now. But do you know what? I wouldn't trade any part of it for any one thing that exists on earth. These two monkey butts are absolutely adorable. Both of them. And I love them to pieces. Even if Eddie is trying to ruin the carpet. (He spilled a container of red craft paint on our carpet a few days ago.) I'll see if I can find a pic.

So, there are some random thoughts for today. Eddie is doing well. And Lacka the little lovely that she is, is thriving. I'll have to tell you a little more about her daycare experiences later...