Was driving home from the mall this morning when Maggie started melting down due to complete and utter starvation. Stupid Mommy once again left the house without a scrap of food and all three of us were perishing. To soothe screaming baby, I started singing children's songs -- you know, the songs you learned as a kid. I sang the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (did anyone else notice that these are the same tune?) then moved on to Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Frere Jacques (which I can sing in English, French and German -- ha!) and then I stalled out. Surely there are more kid songs than this, surely we sang lots of other stuff in the pre-Raffi days, didn't we? But the question, for me, remains: what did we sing?
Beats me. I know my mom made us listen to a lot of Barry Manilow, but I'm certainly not inflicting Copa Cabana on my kids, or worse yet, Mandy. I get nauseous just thinking about it.
When my kids were tiny babies I mostly sang Christmas carols to them, because that's all my sleep-starved brain could remember. I might not have known my own social security number, but I could sing Good Christian Men, Rejoice with only four functioning brain cells.
Sure wish I remembered my childhood a little better.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
And it all came crashing down
Not having a good day.
Called the school and discovered Abby Kate had been placed with the teacher we least wanted her to have. Short of moving, we don't have much recourse here unless the teacher does something overtly awful. I am uptight, worried that this woman will grind the love of learning out of my daughter before she finishes first grade.
Went to dentist and came home to message explaining that my carpooling arrangement for Grant's preschool had blown up. Mother #1 had to go back to work full time, essentially because her husband is a great twonk. Twonky husband is going to take their son to school but is evidently afraid of all the Women and cannot therefore do carpool. Mother # 2 still wants to carpool, but we conversed and it transpires that she wants me to do the more complicated pick up run. When I suggested that we could split it and each do it for half the year, she said she'd rather not do that as it would mean altering her baby's schedule midway through the year. I told her I'd have to think about it, but I already know what I think. I'm trying to be fair and she's not having it. Objective opinion from other, non-involved girlfriend confirms that I am being reasonable and she is not.
Daughter found caterpillar in garden and was elated. Son accidentally killed said caterpillar and daughter has been utterly devastated for about an hour now. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Baby is going on 8th straight day of diarrhea.
I am going to take some motrin and try for some Zen.
Called the school and discovered Abby Kate had been placed with the teacher we least wanted her to have. Short of moving, we don't have much recourse here unless the teacher does something overtly awful. I am uptight, worried that this woman will grind the love of learning out of my daughter before she finishes first grade.
Went to dentist and came home to message explaining that my carpooling arrangement for Grant's preschool had blown up. Mother #1 had to go back to work full time, essentially because her husband is a great twonk. Twonky husband is going to take their son to school but is evidently afraid of all the Women and cannot therefore do carpool. Mother # 2 still wants to carpool, but we conversed and it transpires that she wants me to do the more complicated pick up run. When I suggested that we could split it and each do it for half the year, she said she'd rather not do that as it would mean altering her baby's schedule midway through the year. I told her I'd have to think about it, but I already know what I think. I'm trying to be fair and she's not having it. Objective opinion from other, non-involved girlfriend confirms that I am being reasonable and she is not.
Daughter found caterpillar in garden and was elated. Son accidentally killed said caterpillar and daughter has been utterly devastated for about an hour now. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Baby is going on 8th straight day of diarrhea.
I am going to take some motrin and try for some Zen.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
To House or Not To House?
And that really is the question. We went and looked at the House of Houses again and it was a good look-through. This time, instead of being dazzled by the sheer size of it, we were able to see past that to some of the (admittedly small) warts. Liiiiikkke....
there's no bathroom in the finished basement (although there's a bar -- like we care about that. Bathrooms are a lot more critical than bars when you have children under 6). There's not a ton of storage in the basement, though what there is is probably adequate. You could certainly make the argument that if we have too much for that storage area, we probably have too much stuff.
The yard is rather boring, with too many trees and really over-trimmed shrubs. It's fenced with chainlink (yuck). I think I can do something with it (like rip out nearly all the shrubs), but it will never be the wild, fascinating tangle we have now. And there's really no place I can have a flowerbed like I do now. There is wallpaper in the master and kids' bathrooms, neither of which I am all that wild about. I am, however, experienced in wallpaper stripping, so I could change it if I had to. I am not so keen on ceramic tile, which is all through the entryway and kitchen. The carpet throughout the house probably has about 5-7 more years in it before it needs to be replaced. The lot is small. It's actually the same size as our current lot, only with a house nearly double the footprint on it.
The driveway and front yard are sloped -- very sloped. That bothers me, mainly because I know how much our kids play on our driveway now and enjoy doing that. There'd be no more biking, scootering, etc. on that drive. They'd roll right out into the street. This is kind of problematic, because they're going to lose interest in that yard pretty quickly and then there's nowhere else for them to go. Then there's the money. They're asking a fair price, and they're not messing around: they clearly want to sell. But even if we sank all our savings and had a brilliant offer for our current home, we are still about 50,000 short what we'd need to put down so our payments won't overwhelm us.
So here we are. Frustrated, jittery, indecisive. Part of me says, chuck it...let's just find a good lot and build our dream house. Another part of me says that one more winter with all these kids in 725 sq feet is going to send me to the loony bin. What to do, what to do...the readiness is all.
there's no bathroom in the finished basement (although there's a bar -- like we care about that. Bathrooms are a lot more critical than bars when you have children under 6). There's not a ton of storage in the basement, though what there is is probably adequate. You could certainly make the argument that if we have too much for that storage area, we probably have too much stuff.
The yard is rather boring, with too many trees and really over-trimmed shrubs. It's fenced with chainlink (yuck). I think I can do something with it (like rip out nearly all the shrubs), but it will never be the wild, fascinating tangle we have now. And there's really no place I can have a flowerbed like I do now. There is wallpaper in the master and kids' bathrooms, neither of which I am all that wild about. I am, however, experienced in wallpaper stripping, so I could change it if I had to. I am not so keen on ceramic tile, which is all through the entryway and kitchen. The carpet throughout the house probably has about 5-7 more years in it before it needs to be replaced. The lot is small. It's actually the same size as our current lot, only with a house nearly double the footprint on it.
The driveway and front yard are sloped -- very sloped. That bothers me, mainly because I know how much our kids play on our driveway now and enjoy doing that. There'd be no more biking, scootering, etc. on that drive. They'd roll right out into the street. This is kind of problematic, because they're going to lose interest in that yard pretty quickly and then there's nowhere else for them to go. Then there's the money. They're asking a fair price, and they're not messing around: they clearly want to sell. But even if we sank all our savings and had a brilliant offer for our current home, we are still about 50,000 short what we'd need to put down so our payments won't overwhelm us.
So here we are. Frustrated, jittery, indecisive. Part of me says, chuck it...let's just find a good lot and build our dream house. Another part of me says that one more winter with all these kids in 725 sq feet is going to send me to the loony bin. What to do, what to do...the readiness is all.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Papa Goes House Hunting
They went to the house. The house was large. The house was large in a way that was big. They walked in the big house. It was so large. It had white appliances. The wife did not like the white appliances. The basement was large. It was large and also finished. The man liked the basement. The man wants a big screen tv. The children ran wild. The mother could not hear the children upstairs. The children were nada. The carpet was neutral. The walls were neutral. The children were nada, nada y pues nada. The rooms were big and also large.
Oh yeah, we may have found a house. I don't know whether to be happy or petrified. It's way more than we hoped to pay (but I am starting to think that we aren't going to get anything decent for what we'd hoped to pay), but it's way nicer than we expected. The rooms are spacious without being ostentatious, the master is nicely sized with a huge closet and nice, but not ridiculously big, bathroom. Best of all, the three kids' rooms are good sized and except for one being a little larger than the other two, they're pretty much equal. This is a big change from most of the houses we've seen, which either had huge master suites and smaaaaallllll kids's rooms, or two normal sized rooms and a third "room" that was basically a glorified walk-in closet. Great upstairs, brilliant main floor (except for the appliances) and a finished basement.
Either we're not going to get it or we're not going to be able to afford it.
Oh yeah, we may have found a house. I don't know whether to be happy or petrified. It's way more than we hoped to pay (but I am starting to think that we aren't going to get anything decent for what we'd hoped to pay), but it's way nicer than we expected. The rooms are spacious without being ostentatious, the master is nicely sized with a huge closet and nice, but not ridiculously big, bathroom. Best of all, the three kids' rooms are good sized and except for one being a little larger than the other two, they're pretty much equal. This is a big change from most of the houses we've seen, which either had huge master suites and smaaaaallllll kids's rooms, or two normal sized rooms and a third "room" that was basically a glorified walk-in closet. Great upstairs, brilliant main floor (except for the appliances) and a finished basement.
Either we're not going to get it or we're not going to be able to afford it.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Long Time No Blog
Isn't she lovely? She's one now. Immediately after this picture was taken, she tried to eat the daisy.
Other things that have happened since last I blathered uncontrollably in cyberspace: beautiful Maggie's birthday party(the theme was daisies), the release of the 7th Harry Potter, and the consequent total stoppage of all work so that we could read said book. Also, Grant learned to ride his bike without training wheels. Amazing, but true. There's a picture below of him doing just that.
Really amazing when you consider that he just turned four. This picture was taken about 3 weeks after his 4th birthday. We're pretty sure he could have done it before his birthday, but his father didn't want him to ride Abby Kate's old (very pink) bike. 
His mother (me), however, has no such scruples, and in full view of Dad, Dad's buddy Jon, and assorted neighbors, plopped the boy on the pink bike for a test run. On the first pass, Tim had to help him stop. On the second pass, he taught himself to stop. On the 3rd pass, he figured out how to start himself and that was that, lesson over. Twenty minutes later he was doing donuts in the neighbor's driveway. Since I can't take credit for teaching him, I am taking credit for mothering an athletic prodigy.
His mother (me), however, has no such scruples, and in full view of Dad, Dad's buddy Jon, and assorted neighbors, plopped the boy on the pink bike for a test run. On the first pass, Tim had to help him stop. On the second pass, he taught himself to stop. On the 3rd pass, he figured out how to start himself and that was that, lesson over. Twenty minutes later he was doing donuts in the neighbor's driveway. Since I can't take credit for teaching him, I am taking credit for mothering an athletic prodigy. We are looking at another house today. I am mildly excited about it, only because it's not, so far as we can tell from the internet information, covered in either a)wallpaper or b)purple paint, nor does it appear to have the hull of a large fishing trawler poking through the ceiling in the basment (one house we looked at did -- it was actually a girder, but it looked more like a ship had run aground upstairs. That, or the house was collapsing. We had to duck to walk under it. The charm of the place -- you've no idea). Anyway, this one has a nice overall square footage, so we'll have to see what egregious flaws it's hiding in the rooms they don't show you on the realty website. I have learned not to expect too much on these little outings.
Abby Kate turns 6 this weekend and we're throwing a Tropical Minnie Mouse party (she comes up with these ideas and then I have to execute them somehow. Yeesh!). We're expecting 5 little girls here on Saturday. Pray it doesn't rain or they'll all have to be inside.
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