slacker mama: it's not just a name, it's a way of life

The entire Slacker clan descended upon the Hair Cuttery in Slackerville for a little hair cuttery-ing. As soon as the hair stylist came at A with the spray bottle, she freaked out...necessitating me to don a drape and have her hair cut while sitting in my lap. As I was putting on my drape the hairdresser asked me,

"Has she gotten scared like that before getting her hair cut?"
I replied, "Well, this is her first haircut...so no."
"Her first haircut! Do you want me to take a picture of you two in the chair?" she squealed.
"Uh...well...I didn't bring a camera."
"Oh...OK. Should I save a lock of hair for you?" she asked, excitedly.
"Uh...well...we don't really keep baby books."

The cut itself went fairly well...it looks a little straighter and darker than before...but also looks a lot tidier in general. I fear that A's curls will be somewhat like mine and will be gone by Kindergarten, only to revive at random intervals througout her life. I would show you a picture of the new 'dos, but I forgot to take one this morning. Yep...I really do need to turn in my Mommy badge.

Despite The First Haircut milestone coming and going, the rest of the weekend was uneventful. John's work had a crab-feast up in Maryland...so we sent the girls to Nonna and Pop-pop's for the night. Let me just say to use up a Free Night Out on a work event is just plain wrong. Alas, we did get to stop in and see some friends of ours (Hi, Bettie!) and their adorable son (who I might have considered taking home with me), and it did allow John and I to sleep in and go grocery shopping alone, which was nice. Yesterday, E and I had a little fun in the kitchen as she helped me make both the chili for dinner and some Rice Krispy treats for dessert. She's becoming quite the helper, I must say. I also tried to watch a little football (Go Skins!) and do a little laundry...I was marginally successful at both.

This week will be a busy one work-wise...but my reward will be Friday, when a little girls weekend filled with pampering begins! I can't wait!

orange's anatomy

After a few rounds of "Go Hoos Go!" and "Go Vols Go!" Cheerleader E started feeling sick. Luckily, Cheerleader A was also a doctor and rose above their differing allegiences to provide the best medical care possible in the Slacker house.


Cheerleader E returned the favor by settling the tired Doctor Cheerleader A down for a nice long nap.

these girls know how to tear it up!

Last night we had a little party for A's birthday. My parents came over and we had pizza (A's fave) and then cake, and opened presents. A loved everything she got and had a great time -- no signs of feeling unloved because she did not have a moon bounce princess extravaganza like we threw for E. All in all it was a great evening. It was great to see how happy A was to get her presents, blow out the candles on her cake and sing "Happy Bird-day" to herself. But, what was even more entertaining was watching E react to all of this. E wanted *so bad* to be in the thick of the present opening and candle blowing. She kept saying, "Oh, it looks like she needs help..." when A would open a present so that she could tear the paper off herself. When we told her A was fine, she would provide friendly advice from the sideline, like this:

Watching the two of them be so excited for presents made me get totally pumped up for Christmas, since this year they will both get it. I don't know about your house, but in our house Santa's gifts were unwrapped. However, after watching them tear through the gifts this time...Santa might have to rethink that strategy.

look who....is turning two!

There was a little girl

Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,
She was very very good

But when she was bad
She was horrid still pretty damn cute

Sweet Baby A, you are two years old today! And with your head full of blond curls...this nursery rhyme is so you (horrid reference notwithstanding). Everything about you is one way...or the other.

We waited...and waited...and waited anxiously for you to arrive. You were four days late. But when you decided to enter this world you decided you wanted to come *right now*...within three hours of labor beginning, before mommy was an actual hospital patient or could receive any sort of drugs. (And, yes, I will remind you of this every single year. You were 9 lbs 6 oz. I'm still waiting on my medal.)

And today you are still a walking juxtaposition. You love to play princess and dress up with your sister...but refuse to wear anything but t-shirts and shorts. You beg to watch your beloved Dora...but rarely make it through an episode without running off and playing with something else. You scream "I DO IT!" several times a day...but are perfectly content to let E feed you like a baby if she does it airplane-style. You are becoming fiercely independent...but still sometimes want to be picked up and carried around like a baby.

You are the second child. There won't be many things that you will be the first to do. But that doesn't make the accomplishments you have made any less special. This year you have gone from tentatively walking to running, dancing and jumping. Last year, you had a few words and signs; now you talk in full sentences. You sing all the time, the ABCs and a few other songs learned at daycare are your favorites. Once content to play with a toy alone, you play with your sister and your friends at school.

It's amazing to see how much you've grown and changed. I cannot to see what you do in the next year.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby A! I love you!

the excitement never ends

So my parents have returned from their month-long jaunt to the West coast, including book-end visits to see Kiki. Yesterday, they came over to pick up Frank the Cat before we could lose him again. My parents (and I, for that matter) are really dog people...so they were expecting Frank to show them how excited he was to see them by barking or jumping up and down. I tried to explain to them that Frank was sitting on the couch in the same room as A and E so that they could pet him was sign enough, because he spent the majority of his time at our house running from the girls. Alas, they weren't buying it.

But, you know who was excited to see Nonna and PopPop? My girls. They showed how excited they were by running around like banshees from the time my parents picked them up from school until bedtime. I got tired just watching them literally run laps around the first floor of my house screaming. Bedtime, thankfully, was a breeze.

The other excitement at the Slacker house is that everyone is gearing up for the big birthday tomorrow. And by everyone, I mean, A. If you ask her how old she is, she says "Toooo!" though, sometimes, she does say "Fooooor!" because she wants to be *exactly* like her sister. And if you ask her what she wants for her birthday she says, "Uh...uh...uh...Dora birthday cake!" What's so funny about this is this is her answer every single time, uh's and dramatic pauses included. If you ask her what else she wants she says, "Uh...uh...uh...ice keem!"

I'm just happy that she'll be happy with Dora cake and ice cream as we still need to buy her presents. Luckily, I still have 24 hours18 hours to get it done!

girls just wanna have fun

My friend, Beth, sent around this picture of the ladies from the wedding on Saturday night. I'm the one in the center of the front row. The bride is in white (obviously) in the second row. My friend, Susie, is missing from this picture since it was taken somewhere in the 11 o'clock hour...she's pregnant with twins and made a valiant effort to stay up until 10:45.

The reception was an absolute blast. There was much dancing and a little too much wine consumed. It's always great to get together with everyone, which we manage to do about once a year.

Next year's event is *Baby Shower 2009* which will fete Kiki, Susie and our other friend, Jena (in the black strapless dress on the right), who are all due within weeks of each other next spring. There's been a question of whether or not a bar is appropriate at a baby shower, but because the event will (1) be hosted by yours truly and (2) attended by these jokers...it's a pretty much certainty that there will be one.

I can't wait!

the cat came back (just not the next day)

So, it was a crazy busy weekend in the Slacker house. John left on Thursday night to go to Knoxville for the Tennessee v. Florida game. E and I had dentist appointments on Friday morning. The cleaning ladies let Frank out of the house on Friday as well, causing him to be lost and me to be nominated as The World's Worst Catsitter. I spent a good portion of the day taking walks around my neighborhood and posting lost cat signs without much success.

On Saturday, our living room furniture was (finally) delivered and I went to a wedding in Richmond which was tons of fun. There's a veritable baby boom among my friends at the wedding...two other ladies are pregnant (one with TWINS!) and due right around the same time as Kiki. (For those of you not in the know, my sis and I both went to UVA and were in the same sorority, so Kiki is friends with this crowd but couldn't make the wedding because my parents are visiting. It sound like we are losers who do everything together, I know...but we really are relatively normal.)

On Sunday, I got back from the wedding and spent the rest of the day hanging out with the girls. E and I spent A's nap time making pizza dough and playing board games. We also went for a walk looking for Frank and playing outside in the gorgeous weather. I got the girls to bed a little later than normal (what can I say? I wasn't feeling 100% on account of the wine wedding). I came downstairs and guess who was peeking in my front window? Frank! He was hungry and tired but no worse for wear. John returned home from Knoxville about 10 and the three of us (me, John and Frank) headed up for a little shut eye.

I'll be spending a good portion of this week recovering from this weekend and gearing up for A's birthday on Thursday! We're not going to party, but there might be an Ice Capades trip if we can get our act together. We also have to figure out the snack we're bringing to class on Thursday and buy her presents.

'Cause that's how we roll in the Slacker house.

future policewomen

Sure...they aren't so hip on following the rules, but they certainly love them some donuts!





Happy Saturday!

oh, baby!

There's baby news in the Slacker house! My sister is pregnant! She's due March 20, 2009...so we could have a St. Patrick's Day baby in the hiz-ouse!

So far, the pregnancy has been treating her right. She has been feeling pretty good other than some minor bouts of nauseau, including one parking lot puke-fest after a particularly tasty Cuban meal. The only cravings she has been having are of the bad-chain restaurant type...forcing her husband, Steve, to bypass all of the great, locally owned restaurants they live within walking distance of to go to Chevy's and Chili's.

While I have certainly reaped many benefits from being the first in the family to have kids, I must say that Kara definitely has an edge in a few areas, including the following:

• The better name. When I was pregnant with E, my parents agonized over what Baby Slacker should call them...before finally settling on Nonna and Pop-pop. Kara, jealous that everyone else got new monkiers, named herself Kiki. I really didn't think it would stick...but it has and now both girls call her Kiki. But, now *I* need a name, and since our first names are similar, I'm stumped. Auntie K? Kay-Kay? Thoughts or suggestions?
  
• Better gear. The Bugaboo was the *it* stroller when I was pregnant with E. But the thought of dropping $900 on a stroller was unheard of back in the day. Now? Not so much. Not only that...she has a veritable basement full of stuff that A or E *had* to have...only to be used once or twice. (Bumbo seat? I'm talking to you!)
  
• Expert advice. Now that I've had two kids, I'm clearly an expert, right? RIGHT?!?!? Okay, I'll admit that I don't know (or remember, for that matter) everything...but that's where YOU guys come in! You all get to be blogger aunts to Kiki's baby! Think of the fun we will have deciding on Cousin Slacker's name...deciding on the nursery...picking out the gear! It's going to be a blast!

So there you have it...a little good news! And just for fun here's a picture of me and Kiki when I was pregnant with E. Since we share the same DNA, she can look forward to being as big as a house having quite the belly on her!

counting my blessings

I was in the midst of writing a post about how last evening was a comedy of errors in the Slacker house...one that involved cat puke, whiny kids and John eating all of the rice.

But then, I read my e-mail.

A mom in a neighboring mom's group had a heart attack early last Thursday, which has left her comatose with a grim prognosis. She has two girls, 2 1/2 and 6 months. The family has started blog which details what they are going through, and I found myself crying as I read it in in my cubicle. Her mom's club is spearheading gift card drive that the Nolan family can use to buy essential items. If you want to find out more information on how to donate, please go here.

So if you are the praying type, please put the Nolan family in your prayers. But whatever you do, take a moment to hug your loved ones. I know I certainly am going to.

meet the parents

E really likes school. She has lots of friends who eagerly greet her in the morning when she arrives, and friends she hugs and waves good-bye to in the evening. She even has a BFF, Paige. E and Paige get along famously...so much so that her teachers mention that they do *everything* together. They are always together on the playground, and must give each other 100 hugs before we can leave.

The other thing they do when they see me? Ask me when Paige can come to our house and play.

Herein lies the problem. While Paige's mom seems nice enough (we've chatted in passing every now and again), I'm not sure she's the type of mom that will kick back and drink wine with me as our kids run around the house like banshees play (like some of my real-life mom friends would). So, I'm a bit hesitant to play-date it up. On the other hand...E and Paige *are* really good friends and they would be totally psyched to see each other outside of school.

So, I ask you, wise moms of the internet...do you have playdates with your kids' friends whose moms aren't your friends? What do you talk about? Or, do you do a drop-off playdate (or is 4 too young for that)?

You got opinions...I want to hear them!

reason #467 why i consider him a third "child"

Shopping for E and A is pretty easy. Sure, they would be happy with a new bathing suit/pair of pajamas/ponytail holders. But, if it is a Dora the Explorer or Princess bathing suit/pair of pajamas/ponytail holders...well then, they will love it that much better.

In fact, on a recent outing to Super Target, they had a display of Dora Spaghetti O's at the register we were checking out at. A was flipping out at the chance to get some of those bad boys. They totally ignored things like candy and soda and cheap plastic toys in favor of canned Swiper-shaped pasta. A even refused to let go of her can during the checkout process, the walk to the car, the strapping into the car seat, and the ride home, relinquishing her prize only so I could make it for her.

But it's not just character clothing. When the recent copy of Lands End Kids came, she chose it as a book she wanted to "read" with me. And, by reading I mean flipping through the pages and having her point to everything that she wanted me to buy her on each page. The theme of her desires? Pink. Pink t-shirts, pink skirts, pink coats, pink shoes. In fact the *only* page that she didn't want anything on was the one pink-less page in the catalog.

And then there's John. Sure, you could buy John a new shirt or fleece jacket, and he'd wear them without second thought. But, buy him an orange shirt or fleece? He'll actually debate the merits of whether the orange is more of a Tennessee orange or a Virginia orange.

So when it came time to buy him a present, I knew *what* I was going to get him. Imagine my surpise when I found out that I could select what color I was going to get him.
(For the record, the girls got John this as their gift. My gift to him was setting it up, downloading songs and pictures and giving him the 3-second tutorial on how to use it without getting too annoyed that he kept asking me to get off the computer so he could check his fantasy scores.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN! WE LOVE YOU!

don't be fooled by cute exteriors

Sure, on the outside, Sweet Baby A looks like your typical almost 2-year-old. Maybe a little droolier than most, but typical.
But on the inside lurks the heart of a killer...a Jibbitz killer. She is the perpetrator of The Great Jibbitz Massacre of 2008. Behold the photos from the shocking scene of the crime...her pink MaryJane Crocs:

The only Jibbit left unscathed was the faux gemstone, perhaps proving once and for all that diamonds are a girls best friend.

A, of course, denies responsibility. "A-yex-a did it," she says, blaming her BFF at school (Alexa, for those who don't speak toddler) as she points to the Jibbitz stub where a (non-Princess) mermaid used to be. But, what about Dora...or Boots...or one-eyed, one-legged Diego? For the love of all things holy...WHAT ABOUT DIEGO?

And where did she learn about such atrocities to shoe decorations? Her older sister E, of course. E decapitated Cinderella within days of putting her on her Crocs in May. Cinderella is no longer with us because as creepy as the Nick Jr. crew is...a headless bust of Cinderella ends up just being Cinderella's boobies on your shoe. Which is just pervy when you look at it.

And, to add insult to injury, A came home with Flounder on her shoes the other night. We've never bought a Flounder Jibbitz. So she's expanded this reign of Jibbitz terror into burglary. Will the madness ever end?

I'm thinking that, come November, when it's too cold to wear Crocs...it finally will.

are we talking about the same kid?

When I picked up the girls today, there was a little note at the bottom of A's daily slip.

"Please bring big girl panties and lots of clothes."

Apparently A had a completely dry day and asked to use the potty more than once, so they are grabbing the proverbial potty-training bull by the horns.

This came out from left field. At home is at best a recreational pee-peer. If you mention the word "potty" she'll say "Pee pee on the pah-tay" and she'll actually go. And, she's all over going in the public restrooms. But she's not a do-it-yourselfer/self-starter, if you know what I mean. But if they want to train her, they can go for it.

Guess who was most excited about the undies request? Hands down it was E. As soon she heard that A needed undies, she ran upstairs and brought a pile down that she no longer liked. We tried to explain that, while the majority of A's wardrobe were hand-me-downs, we drew the line at undies. However, she just ignored me and tried to shove in another Elmo pair.

So, we'll have to wait until Monday before the fun can begin at school. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

tropical storm? schmopical schmorm!

Despite Hanna moving northward through Virginia on Saturday, the Slackers thought it'd be a great idea to have a family outing to the Virginia vs. Richmond football game. John, working in concert with the Internet, local weather stations and his friend in Charlottesville, determined that the rain would end in there around 12:30 PM, which would allow us to enjoy a soggy, but rain-free game. I was skeptical to say the least...but figured it'd be something to do rather than being trapped in our house all day. So, we threw on our best Virginia garb, several changes of clothes for everyone, dosed the kiddos on dramamine (the road to Charlottesville has been a particular puke-y one for the Slackers) and off we went.

It poured as we drove down. We saw a car hydroplane. It was not looking good for us. When we met Uncle Matt and Aunt Noreen for lunch at a Charlottesville market, it was still raining. And then, around 1 PM, the skies cleared up. No more rain. In fact, it was downright sunny.

The game itself was fun. We stopped by and saw my friend, Pam's family, and Jenn's husband, Brian. The game was pretty empty, so the girls had a little room to play up in the stands. John miraculously got A to nap, which was needed. Things didn't run as smoothly as when we went to the baseball game, mainly because the diaper bag was filled with raincoats and spare clothes rather than toys. But we made it through the game...and have the pictures to prove it!

buzz kill

Without her morning cup of coffee, Sweet Baby A just isn't herself.

cool girl

It's been a rough week in the Slacker house. The 4-year-olds are wearing E out...causing her to be a blubbering mess by dinnertime. A's teething (again? still?) causing mass amounts of drool (4 shirts yesterday at school) and also causing her to be a blubbering mess by dinnertime. Traffic is no longer light because of summer vacations, causing Mommy and Daddy to be blubbering messes by dinnertime.

Yesterday, we phoned it in for dinner by making pasta with jarred sauce and take-n-bake bread from The Teets. John and I declared victory by *not* ordering out. A was uberclingy from the moment I walked in the door. She only wanted to be held, which is not such a great idea when working around things like boiling water and a 425 degree oven. Luckily, sitting on the counter with a sippycup of "mulk" and Mama's "sungasses" was enough to keep her entertained until dinner.

Every time she puts the sunglasses on she says "Cool gull"...gotta love a 2-year-old with good self esteem.
PS: If you look on A's sleeve you'll notice a lighter green. That's the actual color of the shirt. The rest of the shirt is dark green from drool. I'm not even kidding. She's a cute kid, but this drool is seriously grossing me out.

first day of school

So yesterday was the first day of school for the kids in my county. It was also a first day of sorts for E and A because both of them moved up classrooms at "school."

E is now in a Pre-K classroom, which she is totally psyched about because "it's for 4-year-olds." Her other class was for 3-year-olds so every day for the last two weeks she's been asking me if she was going to the class for 4-year-olds. She's very into being 4 right now...it's totally cracking me up. Last week, it rained and she wore her rainboots. They are now too small and were hurting her feet. All of the sudden she busted out with

"I know why they hurt my feet...they are for 3-year-olds and now I'm 4."

A moved up from the Toddler room to the Two's Room. This is pretty significant (to me, at least) because this is the room that E started school at. Sure, E was there for a month until she potty-trained...but still! My baby, who started off in the infant room as a crawler, is now in the Two's! Next move she'll make is to the pre-school side, uniforms and all. Some of her friends moved up with her, which made the transition easier...though her "best" friend, Alexa is still in the Toddler room until January.

In other news, John and I watched 90210 last night. I'm not so sure about it. John, however, puffy-heart loves it. For as much of a guys guy as he is, he certainly loves him some chicky shows and movies. But, if it saves me from having to watch the Orioles/Nats/other sports team that I don't care about (which would be on if we weren't watching 90210)...then bring on the smut!

the cleaner

A is an avid user of the napkins. Sure, it might look like she has dumped her entire dinner down the front of her outfit, but her hands and face are wiped clean. So it was no suprise to me that she got up from the snack table where she and E were enjoying their homemade bagel pizzas for lunch.

"Nah-kin! Nah-kin!" she yelled with a sense of urgency.

She then proceeded to turn around, head back to the snack table...and try to wipe the massive smear of pizza sauce off of E's face.
From the looks of it, copious amounts of drool and snot and a dab of pizza sauce is lower in the hierarchy of wipe emergencies than pure tomato sauce. Who knew?