An Important Decision

Abigail’s fourth birthday was coming up and she had an important decision to make.

After being gone half of Friday, March was upon us before we knew it which meant we had a three year old turning four very soon. The big decision, we decided, was going to be up to her. Shall we have a party at our house, destination party or maybe pay someone a lot of money at a location like Chuck E. Cheese? I am even cringing at the fact of going back to a birthday party at that place let alone paying them to host it. Josh and I decided that we would put the decision up to her since she was pretty much officially leaving her toddler years. (Yes, I totally just made up a milestone.) We had been talking about getting four day passes to Disney and we could swing her birthday in there and call it complete! I didn’t think that I would have a hard job of persuading her to have a Disney day for her birthday versus a party at our house but I did want the decision to be up to her. As long as she went along with what I want to do. What? Too mean? I only have a few years of her life I can do this so back off. Soon she will outsmart me and I will have to go along with what she wants. So there!

A few weeks before Abby’s birthday, we figured we would test the waters. Especially since she likes to change her mind from day to day. I was not going to have a party planned for 20 kids only to have her throw a fit that we should have gone to Disney. So we approached her very slowly. Her birthday was still a few weeks away but if she went with the party decision, we needed to get invites out ASAP.

M: “Abigail, we need to talk. You have a birthday coming up and have a very important decision to make.”
A: “Okay, Mommy!”
M: “We can do one of two things for your birthday. It is your decision. We can have a party at our house with all of your friends, or.”
A: “I want a party at my house, Mommy!”
M: ‘Wait there is another option! We can have a party at our house with all of your friends, or we can go spend the day with Mickey at Disney.”
A: “I want to go see Mickey!”
M: “So you don’t want to have a party?”
A: “Nope. I want to see Mickey.”
D: “How about we sleep on it and then we can see what we want to do. Your birthday is still a few weeks away.”
A: “Okay, Daddy!”
The next morning we woke Abigail up and before we even said good morning she said:
A: “Mommy, I have a very important decision to make. Should I have a party at my house or go to Disney to see Mickey. Mommy, I decided. I want to go see Mickey for my birthday.”

Josh and I just looked at each other and said “Great decision! We will go to Disney! Do you think we should see if anyone wants to come with us?

Abigail immediately said “SPRITE!” Next phone call was to solidify the plans with the Sprite’s Keepers, who I had already pre-warned to make their calendar available at the end of March. I knew exactly what the decision was going to be. What? Too pushy? Not when it comes to talking your family into going to Disney with great friends!

Just Need to Stop...

Breathing…Just kidding.

I feel like I have not been able to catch my breath lately. I feel like I am constantly being swept out to sea by a fast moving wave and can barely stay afloat. My toes brush the sandy bottom occasionally and if I do manage to stand still, I continue to run hard not making much forward progress.

I worked during my vacation in December and knew that I had another vacation coming in February. However, this time Josh and I had a vacation planned for the second week in February. This vacation could not be compromised by work. We had planned (and paid) for a Caribbean cruise months ago. Work was just going to have to deal without me for one week. I do like the fact that work can’t seem to manage without me for just one week but on the other hand, I am not performing brain surgery or any other life saving function that can’t wait a week. Yes, I deal with the Governments of the US and other countries but as everyone knows, things don’t happen in a week. Anything that must be worked can wait. I was not taking my cell phone, Blackberry, computer, email or watching for smoke signals on the horizon from work. I was going on a truly unplugged, kid free vacation (I love my babies but mama needed some “me” time). Josh and I had a lovely time enjoying no bed times, no early rises, no dishes, laundry and all the other wonders of home that we usually have. It was one week to be selfish, take naps, and eat until our eyes popped out of our heads. But then there was the inevitable return to reality. Work had been trying to channel me through ESP and let me know that I was going to be traveling to Dayton, Ohio the next day. Okay, in their defense they warned me that this could be coming and I need to check my email for a plane ticket when I return home. But still! We got home around 9:30 AM on Sunday and I was on a plane at 11:00 AM on Monday heading for cold and snowy Dayton. That just sucked. What was worse, we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell Abigail that I was going away again. She was fine while we were away but she actually got teary when she went to go down for a nap because she thought we were leaving again. So we would just tell her that I was working late. Thankfully I was going to be back home on Wednesday so that story was going to work quite well.

There is nothing like trying to travel and catch up with work when you have been away for a week. I have never had to change my out of office response on my email immediately from one trip to another. Sure I have had to change it from coming back on a trip on one day and then unknowingly having to extend the trip but two back to back? Forget it. I got home Wednesday night and Thursday was a nightmare at work. Still trying to play catch up on my email when work isn’t stopping for you to catch up can be challenging. Thankfully I had no immediate plans to leave any time soon so the pain would be temporary. However, our weekends were packed and the end was not going to come any time soon. Then I went into work at the end of the next week for my yearly merit discussion (yippee!) at 9:00 AM and was asked if I could leave on Sunday for Bethesda, Maryland to attend a training class. Sure. I had only been home one week out of three. What is another trip? So with 48 hours notice to get on a plane, I planned a trip to MD. This training class was at our corporate headquarters. Since I have only been there once in my almost 10 year career, you don’t say no when your manager asks if you can go. I didn’t even have to dust off my luggage, packed and headed for MD. I had a nice time learning lots. But I was really ready to just plant myself in the state and sleep in my own bed for a little.

I was at work all last week and of course work just keeps piling up. I feel like I have one of those “IN BOX” bins on my desk that magically keeps multiplying like rabbits. I am hoping that I am going to stay put for awhile. I have no plans but I didn’t have plans for the last two trips and only got 24-48 hours notice. I guess that it is great that they want me but I really wouldn’t mind a small break to give my feet a rest.

Maybe by June…

When the Ingredients Separate

Poor Abigail. We have been experiencing some separation anxiety lately. What makes it worse is that I am the only one who does drop off with the exception of one day a month when I have a 7 AM meeting. We have no idea where this came from. Abigail has been going to the same day care center since she was 5 months old. Granted she gets a new teacher every year but everything else is the same. Same core group of kids, same location, same cafeteria, etc. The only real change has been the food and for the better! I liked their menu before but now it is including neat things like fettuccini alfredo with broccoli and chicken noodle soup. They still get pizza and chicken nuggets but only once a month.

So back to the problem at hand. Drop off hasn’t always been good but this year we settled into a routine in the 3-4 year old room. Abigail would help me take Madeline to her room. Madeline is content to give a kiss and runs over to her friend Riley where she is greeted with a plethora of baby dolls. Madeline LOVES baby dolls. She likes to put them face down, say “night night shhhh” and puts a blanket over them. Total cuteness. But that is for another post. We had been going great until December. We took the kids out for a week between Christmas and New Years like we do every year. I am off of work, Josh is off of work and my parents are usually in town. Plus we save a week of tuition. It is a win/win situation. The first week back was easy but starting the second week of day care, meltdown city. I don’t know what changed but Abigail couldn’t let me go. I had to peel her off of me and let her sit on the floor in a pile of whiney while I went to work. Not really what I want at 7:30 in the morning to start off my day. Josh would get the scoop from her teacher at the end of the day and for a few days the report was Abigail being sad for a little and then after nap she was her happy, cheery self. Well, then came that one day that Josh had to drop her off. I called to check on things and was told she cried for Daddy for over an hour and had to go to the office. Great. Not only do I feel bad that my baby is so unhappy but she is disrupting class so much that she had to go to the front office. Now, the front office at day care is not like going to the office when you are bad. The front office staff had her sit in a chair and read some books to calm down. Abigail, being a book fiend, thought this was great. The next day the meltdown started before I was 3 minutes out of our driveway. I had to sit and talk through the crying and whining for almost 20 minutes before we got to school. This was just going downhill very quickly.

Josh talked to his mom and I talked to mine. We even called the pediatrician because not only was it affecting her, it was affecting me. I was so stressed out that I started to break out like a 15 year old. Not to mention, I am stressed at work. I can deal with being stressed at work and not home or vice versa. But both starts to take a toll on me. Such is life of a working mommy. Thankfully we could tell that she did not have a separation anxiety disorder (can actually result in physical results such as fever, vomiting, passing out, etc). Just a bad case of missing her mommy.

We actually thought we had it licked a couple of times because Abigail decided she wanted to be dropped off in the front office with the books. Fine with me and thankfully fine with the front office staff. Unfortunately, when it came time to go back to her classroom, she melted down. At least it wasn’t with me there. We tried rewards, stickers, happy faces, Ouija boards and nothing. Her teacher was even trying to help us by making Abby her special helper for the morning. Finally last week it started to work. Thursday morning came and Abigail said “I am going to be Ms. Wendy’s special helper today and make you happy Mommy!” WORKS FOR ME! Sure enough, she went right in, kisses and hugs to me and went about being a special helper. Later that night we over did it on showering her with affection and how much she is a big girl. Friday was even better! Then of course the weekend came. Darn weekend!

Yesterday was sad but no crying. I had to say goodbye to the saddest face in the window of school. Her little bottom lip curled out and her eyes on the brink of tears. I just made silly faces and got into my car. Today there were no real tears until she was running to the window to give me a kiss through the glass…and banged her hand on the counter which just brought sad face and tears. Great.

Just have to keep taking this one day at a time. And she thinks this is just hard on her!

Ta-da!

New format!!!!

When I first started blogging, there were about 3 choices for your background. I didn’t have anything fancy to say so why get a fancy background. I just stuck with some basic design and started blogging. However, I know that there are people out there with neat backgrounds. I was curious as to when Blogger would get on the ball because I know I don’t have the time to change my background, let alone learn how to do it. So last week I posted and noticed that Blogger had some new enhancements. Well, 5 minutes later and here is the finished product!

The only thing that is seriously bothering me is the fact that my Katz Cradle picture is not centered. Now, this is not a function of the picture nor the layout of Blogger. It is just something in the HTML that is making everything justified to the left. It is driving me only mildly crazy because I only have a mild case of OCD but we will see how it goes. Just pretend you didn’t notice it.

Notice what? Exactly!

Madeline

My precious Maddy-Boo. She continues to amaze me every single day. We are still being blown away by how much she does new on almost a daily basis. I actually was told by day care today that Madeline is the only kid in her class (12-18 month olds) that actually talks. She is not just saying 1 syllable words either. Full blown, understandable, 3 syllable words. Just this past weekend she asked for lemonade because Abigail had lemonade. Granted it came out em-ohn-ade but I think that is close enough for a 16 month old with not even 4 teeth.

Speaking of teeth, we finally are getting friends for the two teeth at the bottom. Of course I still love the little mouth with the two teeth but they were getting lonely. One popped out recently on top and thankfully the one next to it just popped out recently so she doesn’t look like a jack-o-lantern. One other friend who came to the party is a back molar. We have been having some periods of crying for no reason, which we knew meant teething, but was surprised when a molar came in.

One thing that Josh and I are amazed at is Madeline’s outgoing attitude and personality. Of course that also means she is very determined and wants what she wants. We have had to do a lot of policing because she wants something when Abigail has it and vice versa. Though it is still easier to distract her to a different toy. Abigail is a whole other story and often has a tantrum because of course Madeline has the one toy in the hundreds of toys that we have that Abigail NEEDS at that moment. But Madeline is her own person and it is funny how similar yet different are the two personalities. Abigail has always been clingy and scared of loud noises. I remember my parents got these singing monkey’s for Abigail (insert eye roll here) and it took her almost a year to warm up to them. Madeline just hears a loud noise and laughs as if to say “that is all you got”?

Of course there is a few words that she just refuses to attempt. Madeline has a Shamu stuffed animal that she sleeps with. Josh got it for her on her first birthday and it is adorable to see her snuggle up with this little whale in one hand and her thumb in her mouth. However, she does not say Shamu. She doesn’t even try to say Shamu. Nope. Shamu is Boo-bee. I have no idea where that came from. We try to correct it but if we say Shamu, she just looks at it and says Boo-bee. The other one is a bunny that she snuggles with in Josh’s car. The bunny was Abigail’s but she prefers a stuffed bear. For some reason Abigail named the bunny Bunny so we don’t have a creative name for him. However, Madeline has come up with Boo-bah. Now, this is very distinctive and cannot be confused with Boo-bee. We get into the car, get Madeline’s seat belt on and place Boo-bah in her lap. Whatever makes her happy!

Madeline continues to grow up and I am seeing more of my baby slipping away and a toddler starting to sprout in front of my eyes. I am trying to take it all in because I know I will soon see a little girl in front of me.

Catching Up

Okay. I am a big girl. I can take it. You can start yelling now at the lack of blogging I have done. Go ahead. I can wait. Feel better? Good. Now, that we have that out of the way…

Yes, I have not blogged in a long time. Longer than I care to between posts but what can you do? Life has been marching on and I have felt like I have just been pushed along so fast that my feet have not touched the ground. Remember that new project I told you I was working on? Well, it has consumed me. I barely have time to come up to breathe to work my other programs and then I am pushed down again. I even was so lucky to make a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas to get acquainted with that program and people who work this every day. Of course they don’t understand that I don’t work their stuff every moment of every day though I have had to give that impression. I felt like I was cheating on one contract with another. Sorry BWC, I have to work late tonight. Don’t wait up for me. Meanwhile, I am in bed with ATS the whole night through and ATS is leaving cryptic text messages on my phone. It has been quite a balancing act to say the least. I actually worked 20 hours during my staycation at home before my family came in town. I even worked 5 hours during the week of plant shut down. Not too happy about it but you have to do what you have to do sometimes. I would blog about that but I would just as soon forget it than dwell on it.

Happy 2011 on top of everything. One thing I really would like to do this year it to blog twice a month. I know it sounds like a new year’s resolution but it really isn’t. I don’t know why I can’t find an hour or so a month to blog. There is just no excuses and the kids are growing so quickly. I am missing so many milestones that it is hard to keep up. I finally was “forced” to download the pictures from our camera because it was full. Though most of that was due to Josh’s videos from the Dolphin’s game he went to. But I figured the best thing was just to do a catch all post and give you a quick rundown of the highlights.

• Thanksgiving in West Palm. Always fun and lots of food. We even visited Lion Country Safari. It was the first time I had been there and Abigail is still talking about it. We saw lots of animals and spent almost all day there. Great time.
• Partying with the Keepers. One of my favorite activities. Sprite turned into a grown 4 year old which makes me want to groan because Abigail is only a few months behind. By the way, I think we are still working off the sugar!
• Chanukah. Abigail lit her own chanukiah this year and Josh decided to look up latke recipes. He made the most DELICIOUS latkes. Josh and I actually didn’t get each other a present since we, thankfully, didn’t need anything and also we were going to be spending a lot at Ikea to redo the bonus room.
• Little Rock, Arkansas. I was there for a week putting in 12 hour days. Not to mention I got some water in my purse which temporarily shorted out my work blackberry. It was a hectic trip to say the least and since it was almost all work (and exciting Arkansas) I won’t go into too much detail about it.
• Staycation. Josh was off of work but I had to work…a lot…but the good news is that we finally got our furniture for the bonus room, took two days and we now have a completely usable room. Anyone who knows what that room looked like before knows what a daunting task that was.
• Winter Break. My parents came and we had a nice time. But like all visitors, it was nice they came, nice they left.
• New Years. Josh marinated steak and we had sweet potato fries. The champagne flowed and we even had some nice ice cream. After we finished everything and started to wind down the party, we realized it was only 10 PM. The excitement! We ended up watching the Marx Brother movie marathon and enjoyed each other’s company.

There, now you are caught up to speed on almost everything. The kids needs a post of their own to document the last month or so of their lives. Maybe I will do that tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Perfect. Just What I Needed.

I love contributing to the Spin Cycle from Sprite’s Keeper. I don’t do it often enough because even though she generously gives us a week to spin, I just can spin any time into my spinning schedule which is spinning out of control.

What is even better is when I spin the spin! I like being able to get my creative juices flowing. This week’s spin is on perfection. But since I am already perfect (you can stop laughing now) I realized I was stating “Perfect. Just what I needed.” After a lot of things the past two weeks:

I went to the school’s Halloween parade to see the girls in costumes. Madeline saw me and started crying immediately. Abigail saw me and started crying two minutes later. Perfect. Just what I needed.

I had to miss Halloween to travel to Singapore for work. This is the second of Abigail’s four Halloweens and first of Madeline’s two Halloweens that I have now missed. Perfect. Just what I needed.

I almost missed my plane heading back home because I fell asleep in the hotel. I set the alarm, thought I hit snooze but I turned off the alarm. I needed to leave the hotel at 4:30 AM and woke up at 5:15 AM for my 6:50 international flight. Thankfully, I made it all the way to Chicago but my bag took 40 minutes to show up on the belt in customs. I ran through O’Hare carrying my laptop briefcase because the handle decided not to work. Almost missed my plane to Orlando. Luggage didn’t make it but I was able to swing by the airport to pick it up from the next flight. And in case you were wondering, it takes about 24 hours to travel to Singapore not counting layovers. Perfect. Just what I needed.

The girls were perfect for Josh. PERFECT. I get home and they melt into piles of whiney. Perfect. Just what I needed.

I had planned a trip to DC to visit some friends. Of course my meeting in Singapore is the same week as the weekend I had planned to go to DC. I couldn’t change my plane tickets and suffer the change fees just because of work. So I was home for 14 hours between my Singapore trip and my DC trip. Perfect. Just what I needed.

We went to a brunch at my friend’s house. The kids were playing in the basement with some of the dads while the moms were upstairs. I went to go check on Abigail (I took only Abigail with me to DC) and proceeded to slip off one of the steps and landed right on my tailbone. It hurts to sit, lay down, and forget about bending over to pick something up. Not to mention this happened right before my 2 hour plane ride back to Orlando. Perfect. Just what I needed.

Abigail wanted me to tie her shoe while I was driving yesterday. Yes, she sits behind the driver's side. I told her that I can't do that and she will have to live. She decided to cry and carry on. I couldn't do this under normal situations so forget about it with a bruised tailbone. So I took off her shoe to which she cried more. Yes. Over a shoe. I put her shoe back on when we got into our driveway because I could get out of the car. She went into the house and took off her shoes. Perfect. Just what I needed.

Last night Josh had a parent teacher night and was going to be home late. I have had both girls at home by myself plenty of times. No big deal. However, everyone decided to test out their lungs. Madeline went to bed and woke up crying. (Teething! Tooth on the top broke through) At the same time, Abigail walked into her bed. I actually had both girls crying at the same time in two different rooms. In stereo where available! Perfect. Just what I needed.

I also came back to work to find out we won a proposal and my manager wants me to work on the award. Great. I can cut back on my other programs, right? Nope. I am now part time on three programs. You do the math. Perfect. Just what I needed.

I also realized that between Halloween, Singapore, and DC, I have some posts to write. Perfect. Just what I needed.