if you paint them, spring will come

After putting A down for a nap today, I stole some time for myself and headed to the new nail place for a pedicure. I hadn't gotten one in a looooooooong time, so my hooves definitely needed a little TLC. This new place was nice, and the 1/2 hour I spent in their fantabulous massage chair was D-I-V-I-N-E. I got them painted a sassy shade of hot pink (totally did not catch the name, which is a bummer, because I puffy heart the color).

As happy as I was to get out and get it done, the girls were equally if not more excited. They were totally fascinated by the entire thing. E immediately demanded that we paint *her* toes pink. And A couldn't stop touching them. She had to touch every toe about 10 times each.

It's funny because both girls have become such girly girls. I certainly don't consider myself to be. And yet, E only wants to wear things that are pink or dresses or tutus (or all three). And A has begun demanding that we put bows in her hair. After getting her teeth brushed, she'll grunt and point at the bow holder hanging from the mirror. Then you are forced to point at each bow while she shakes her head or nods her approval. And then, because A is wearing one, E wants one, too.

So I imagine, before too long, I'll have some company on my occasional jaunt to the nail place. But until then, I'll relish my "me time" and hope that, now that my toes are flip-flop ready...I'll have a chance to wear them some time soon.

conversations with a sick girl...

...who isn't feeling all that sick.

Me: E, what are you doing?
E: I'm going upstairs, Mama. I *have* to get a tutu.

And of course, there's this:

Me: E, I have to get on the phone for a conference call.
E: Okay, mama. I'm good to go. I've got Diego on and if I need anything I'll just let you know.

stir crazy

Yesterday, I knew E was sick because she was pretty lethargic and running a temperature. But when I asked her what didn't feel good, she couldn't tell me. So I'd name a body part and she'd tell me that it didn't feel good. As far as I can tell, her tummy, ears and left foot were sick yesterday.

I must admit, I was a little concerned that E would really enjoy her day off yesterday and continue to say she was sick even when she felt better. At home with Mommy watching copious amounts of TV while I tried to work...what could be better? Apparently, school could be. Last night she laid out her clothes (and A's) for school today. And she just came down the stairs fully clothed, declared herself "all better," and asked when we were going to school.

Edited to Add: E's still running a little hot, so she's not going to school. But an episode of Pinky Dinky Doo has seemed to have softened the blow. We're picking A up at 11 or so, so maybe if she's feeling okay we can get some lunch.

free refills would be nice

Last night, E got her "usual" at Cold Stone (kids cup of strawberry with a gummy bear mixin), and A and I split a Like It cup of vanilla with Oreos. Well, A and I finished ours before E did, which A was not happy about. While E did give her some bites of hers, this was not good enough for A. She grabbed our (empty) bowl and spoon, hopped off her chair and walked to the counter. She then started pointing wildly at the ice cream while holding up her bowl. It was so cute, albeit unsuccessful.

paging nurse slacker!

E has a bit of a fever, so I'm working from home today. She's currently resting comfortably on the couch with Dora on. We did have our inaugural dose of Children's Motrin. You give it in a mini-shot glass as opposed to the syringe. 100 sips later, she finally got it down. I might have to find one of the 100s of Target syringes left over from anti-biotics for future dosing.

In other news, date night last night with the girls was fun. E was so excited to go "someplace special"...especially since she got to pick it. We went to Panera and then to Cold Stone. Then we came home and had an extra long bath session.

I mentioned that both girls have been clingy, so the story I read E last night was "In my Heart" by Molly Bang. Kiki gave this to us, and it's a *fantastic* book if you are a working parent.

And while this book has absolutely nothing to do with work...A's current favorite book is The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood. We love all of their books, but A has taken to carrying this one around the house. Much more fun to read than the cheesy Dora books she had been selecting of late.

monkey see, monkey do

A is really starting to mimic the things we say and do now...and it is so stinking cute. Of course, her favorite person to copy is E. The other night, when E was religiously checking the front window for Maura and Maggie's impending arrival, there was A right behind her...peering out the window with absolutely no idea of what she was doing/who she was looking for.

Last night at the dinner table, E asked John to "do the numbers." This is where he impersonates a football announcer at the stadium and shouts things like, "Scores of interest: E 21, Mommy 20." When John would announce E as the winner, she would raise her hands in the air in victory. John then shouted, "Scores of interest, Mommy 14, A 28" and A threw her hands up and yelled "Yay!"

But the cutest thing is when she tries to repeat what we say. The intonation is spot on, but it's just gibberish. "One, two, three" became "Uh, ooo, eeeee!" And to hear her sing it's like playing "Name that Tune." I'm sure she'll be talking up a storm before too long...

In other news, tonight John is headed down to the UVA vs. Duke basketball game...leaving me and the girls to fend for ourselves. I think we're going to do a mini-date night -- dinner at Panera and dessert at Cold Stone. Both girls have been really clingy with me of late, so I think a little girl bonding will do us well.

artsy craftsy

After dinner last night, E told me she wanted to color. Since A was still strapped in her booster, I broke out the plastic table cloth, crayons and construction paper and let the girls have at it. At first, they were all about the coloring.
But that quickly disintegrated into crayon wrapper removal for E....And a rousing game of peek-a-boo with the table cloth for A.

tell me you love it (even if you are lying)

This conversation was had approximately 104 times this weekend in the Slacker house.

Me: So do you like my hair?
John: Yes. I do.
Me: Are you just saying that or do you really like it?
John: I really like it.
Me: You hate it don't you. You think I look like a man!
John: AAAAAAAARGH!

I got some compliments when I picked up the girls from school. E said she wanted to get her hair cut "just like Mommy's" and tried to get me to cut it yesterday in the bathroom. But still...I'm not sure. I tried to style it all flippy on Satuday and it looked like I just had hair sticking out randomly. This picture is from today...still not loving it, but better.

What do you think?

e's first slumber party

So, it was a great weekend at the Slacker house. Friday night was just relaxing at home. Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading off to The Teets to pick up a few items. We spent the rest of the day puttering around the house...E and I made ice cream and we generally had a nice day. The evening was spent running around and E checking to see if Maggie and Maura were here yet. Literally, every two minutes she would peek out the front door. When they finally did arrive, the girls played for a bit, had some ice cream and then headed up to bed.

Since there are so many O'Reillys, it takes some finnagling to fit us all. The plan was to have Bridget stay in the Pack-n-Play in the guest room with Sean and Autumn; Maura and Maggie (who share a room at home) in E's room; A in her room; and E on her Dora bed in our room. But this was overruled by the girls, who all wanted to stay together in their inflatable beds (Mo and Mags have Princess ones). So, E, Mo and Mags went to bed in her room together. Mags did get banished to the Guest Room for getting out of bed, but E and Mo did really well together. But, it was so funny to check on them and have them hanging off their little beds onto the floor, with E's nice and comfy full-sized bed totally empty.

Sunday morning, the girls just ran around and played together. They get along fantastically. They are such great friends even though they don't see each other all that often. Poor A was two steps behind the entire time -- wanting so bad to be a big girl. Then the O'Reillys headed in to Arlington for their cousin's birthday party. When I explained to E where they were going and what a cousin was E declared "I want a cousin, too!" (Hint hint, Kiki!) We wrapped up the weekend with a little Target trip, some playing outside with the neighborhood kids and then hit the hay really early.

All in all a good weekend!

cooking...slacker style

While I'm no Iron Chef, I actually do enjoy cooking when I get the time to do it. However, being a working mom with two small children, I don't often get the time. That's why I love these two things, both of which I made this weekend. They are great, homemade recipes and they are easy peasy to make.

The carnitas are great to feed a crowd because it utilizes an inexpensive (and awesomely named) cut of meat. The Teets had Boston Butt on sale last week, so we were able to feed 6 adults and *still* have leftovers for under $7. It's also a great thing to have when you have people over since you aren't slaving over the stove. All I had to do to get this to the table was heat the tortillas, shred the meat and dump the guac, salsa, sour cream and cheese into my cute serving bowls. (Note: Thanks to Kiki for introducing this recipe to me! Also, Sweet Pea Chef has a version of this recipe on her site...it looks yummy, too!)

Carnitas
Take a Boston Butt (heh), trim the fat and salt and pepper it. Cut slits all over it and insert (about 4 cloves or so) garlic cut into quarters.

Slice an onion and put that and a whole jalapeno on the bottom of the crockpot. Throw in your garlic-studded Butt and a can of beer. Turn on LOW and cook for about 10 hours. Shred the pork and serve with corn tortillas and guacamole (and your other favorite fixins).

To make BBQ leftovers: threw the pork in a non-stick skillet with enough BBQ sauce to generally coat. Heated on medium until warmed through. Note: we used your basic BBQ sauce, and my BBQ-connoisseur husband thought it would have been better with a Carolina (vinegar-based) sauce.

The ice cream is great because...well, it's ice cream. I use the basic recipe that came with the ice cream maker because that whole tempered eggs things that the more involved recipes use kind of scares me. Also, this recipe is quick and super easy. E helped me make this while A was napping...and she loved telling Maura and Maggie that!

Thin Mint Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream (well chilled)
1 cup whole milk (well chilled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 - 2 tsp vanilla (I use Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Paste)
1 sleeve of Thin Mint cookies, crushed (about 1 cup...minus a few for snacking!)

Mix the sugar and milk together until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and vanilla. Pour into the ice cream maker and turn on. Run for 20 - 25 minutes, adding the cookies in the last 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a separate container and freeze for a few hours to harden a bit. Enjoy!

high and tight

So, remember how in October, I got the Katie Holmes cut and I was all, "Ugh! It's really short! I don't know if I like it!"...but in the end I ended up *loving* the cut and got tons of compliments on it?

Well, today I got my hair cut again. And, unbeknownst to me...she cut it even shorter. But unlike last time, I don't think I'll be swimming in the compliments as I look very manly and this cut has shown me that my neck is apparently disproportionately thick for my head.

I love my hairdresser. She's expecting GG twins at the end of May so we chatted baby names and gear (two of my favorite subjects) and I told her the story of our ER trip with E. I guess she just got wrapped up in my enchanting conversation and went a little overboard with the razor.

Sigh. At least I got caught up on the latest In Style and Real Simple while I got my hair colored. And the shampoo girl gave a *great* head massage.

And I tried to take a picture of myself, but I kept deleting because they were awful...maybe I'll take one this weekend for you. Speaking of the weekend...Autumn and her brood are coming on Saturday night. Should be fun (as usual)! I'm making carnitas...I'm very excited!

rub-a-dub-dub

Bathtime is always a party in the Slacker house. The girls have taken baths together since A was able to sit up on her own. Now the spend the entire time splashing each other and dumping water on each other's heads. Then afterwards, they run around like superheros with their hooded towels as capes.



I was going to upload a video the girls running around, but I'm afraid of some pervy internet guys watching it. I had to crop out some girl parts of these pictures as it was.

numbers game

When E counts to twenty, it goes something like this.

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...11...12...13...14...15...17...18...19...20.

For as long as she has been able to count to 17, E has always omitted 16. It's dead to her.

In other news, the Slacker family had dessert tonight at the newly opened Maggie Moo's. 'Cause really, nothing says "It's ice cream time!" like temps in the 30s with windchills below that. Though she did not get her own cone, the big winner of the trip was A. She spent the entire outing walking back between me, John and E having a bite from each. E was such a good big sister...she shared so much of her cone with A and wiped A's face after every bite. They get along so well...I just hope it lasts once they hit the teenaged years!

random thoughts about work

• So there are posters all over my office building alerting us to the upcoming [Office Name] Idol Karaoke Competition. Is it me, or does that sound like one of the worst ideas ever?
  
  First of all, I thought you had to be drunk in order to perform karaoke? Last I checked, drinking while at work is generally frowned upon. I'm not complaining if *that* rule changed...but I'm pretty sure it hasn't.
  
  If the contestants aren't drinking...then they must stone-cold-sober and singing in front of their co-workers. Which means that they must actually think they are good. Since, I don't work for a record company or anything...so I'm going to assume that these people are not. I'll be avoiding the cafeteria that day for sure.



• I just found this web site, Mommy Track'd. Christie Mellor, author of Three Martini Playdate, is a contributor. I haven't fully checked it out, but it looks great...including good advice and entertaining articles.



• My cube at work is getting moved *again.* And, it's worse than my current location. Instead of being planted in front of the copy machine, I will be in the newly opened "satellite office"...on a completely different floor...with two new employees that look socially inept. Thank god it's only for three days a week/ I did tell my boss that banishing me to the overflow office really puts a wrench in the whole "you should come to the office in order to interact with the developers" argument he has made in support of me not working from home full-time. I'm hoping to get at least one more day at home shortly after I get moved.

no rest for the weary

Having decided that tantrums at school drop-off were simply not enough to indicate her displeasure in us going to Vegas, Sweet Baby A has decided that she will also protest at bedtime.

Our bedtime routine is simple enough...after the girls get into their PJs, brush their teeth and give good night kisses to each other, John takes E into her room and reads a story (or 6). I take A into her room, where I read her a story, sing her a few verses of her song, and then put her in her crib where she rolls over and goes to sleep. I then head off into E's room and sing her a song (or 6).

Well, the last two nights, A has started screaming bloody murder every time I put her down in her crib. Last night she did not go to bed until 9:30 -- almost a full two hours after I started the process.

E (bless her heart) was very good natured about the whole thing. The first time I went into her room, she looked at me and said,

"A does not sound happy."
"I know," I told her. "Why don't you read a book while I try to get her to go to sleep?"

So she quietly played and read in her room while I ran back into A's room...and came back just as A was starting to get hysterical.

"Mommy...looks like it didn't work that time, either."

I was able to sing E her requesite songs and get her to sleep...and eventually A *did* fall asleep. But at midnight, she woke up and it started again. I tried to send John in after I failed in putting her back to sleep, but she was just screaming "Maaaaaaaaaama!"...so John brought her into bed with us. I was too damn tired to protest.

While A is a much better bedmate than E was (E had to lie on top of me in order to sleep), she is not ideal. She wanted to lie across the bed, on top of the comforter with her face down in it. I could barely sleep as I was sure she was going to suffocate. Then she rolled off the bed. Luckily, she this ellicited no more than a grunt and as soon as I put her back on the bed she was passed out again. Then, she woke up with my alarm clock, not quite getting the whole alarm-snooze-sleep routine I usually use in the morning. So while, she was as happy as a clam this morning, I'm on cup #3 of coffee and praying that tonight goes much better.

Knock on wood...it can't get much worse.

they like me! they really like me!

So, apparently, the girls missed us during our weekend jaunt to Vegas. Don't get me wrong...they had a great time while we were gone...but since then I have been suffering from the aftermath.

Drop-offs at school for A have been a nightmare. The tears! The death grip! The pathetic cries of "maaaaaaaaama"! She actually pushed her favorite teacher's hand away as she tried to take her this morning.

And E? Well, let's say I have underwear that give me a little more personal space than she does. Wherever I go...there she is! She even refused to go up for "naked heiny time" and a bath last night because she wanted to "stay downstairs with Mommy." And she *never* gives up a chance to get naked! It wasn't until I took her upstairs and promised that I would not leave the bathroom while she took a bath that she relented.

I remember in the weeks following E's birth (when I was an absolute mess due to hormones, lack of sleep and PPD) asking my mom, "But what if she doesn't love me? Or like me?" After the way they've been acting this week, I guess I can cross one thing off my ever growing list of worries!

so it's not business casual...

Mondays (and Fridays...and whatever other days I can finnagle, for that matter) are my work-from-home days. And, I admit it, I don't exactly dress to impress on these days. So what if I'm wearing sweats and a tee-shirt? So what if I haven't showered? My interactions with people are via the phone, e-mail and IM...they have no idea that I'm a sloth.

Today, however, our next-door neighbor came delivering Girl Scout cookies (which is another post in itself. Samoas, Thin Mints, Tagalongs...oh how I love thee!). As I was going to get my wallet, her younger snot-nosed brother shouts out,

"Miss Slacker! Are you still wearing your pajamas?"

Embarassing? A little bit. But it won't prompt me to change when I go pick the girls up from school or anything.

absolutely hilarious

Have you seen Jimmy Kimmel's new video response to Sarah Silverman's "F***ing Matt Damon"?!?!?

Go. Watch. It. Now.

Quite possibly the funniest thing I've seen all year.

viva las vegas!

So, John and I made it back from Vegas in one piece. Actually, it wasn't all that wild of a weekend -- in part because we are older and more mature (heh), but mainly because we were both sick as dogs all weekend. We both had some sort of cold/flu thing that we most likely got from the girls (though Kiki is also a prime suspect), so neither of us felt good all weekend. On the one hand, it's such a bummer to be sick on our weekend getaway. On the otherhand, it was nice to sleep in as much as we wanted and not have to watch after the girls.

In a nutshell: Stayed at the Mandalay Bay. Got in Friday evening. Had dinner at Aurole, which was fantastic and had an extensive wine list. Woke up on Saturday and went exploring down The Strip -- started at the Wynn and walked down the Palladium, the Venetian and Caesars. After lunch, I thought I was going to die, so I napped while John went to the sports book. Then we both went down to the sports book for the Tennessee vs. Memphis game (of course!). Went to dinner at Trattoria del Lupo where we were seated in the most awesome spot ever for people watching. On Sunday, we walked around the resort, had lunch at Burger Bar and gambled a bit more before departing.

While it was a packed weekend I'm bummed that we did not get to go see a show. We had wanted to on Friday night, but with our delay, the time change and feeling totally cruddy, we ended up not going. Also, I think John was disappointed that we did not hit one of the great steakhouses out there for dinner. We opted out of making reservations for Saturday night because we weren't sure how we were going to feel...and while our dinner was delish, I think he would have preferred a hunk of red meat instead.

So, maybe next time...

ETA: Special thanks to both sets of grandparents! Grandmom and Grandad watched the girls most of the weekend, and Nonna and Pop-pop watched them last night (our flight didn't get in until after midnight) and helped this sleep- and coffee-deprived mama get the girls out the door this morning!

vegas, baby!

Well, we are off to Vegas for the weekend. Our flight has been delayed an hour because of the weather, but we're heading to the airport early to drink at the bar and read US and People to our hearts content because Southwest told us to. Grandmom and Grandad made it in last night, and the kiddos are having a great time!

See you all on Monday!

some"bunny" was ready to start their day

E greeted me this morning as I was drying off from the shower. She was wearing her Dora nightgown...and a pair of bunny ears.

On the way into work, I heard this story on how the way kids play today (with toys for a specific purpose) and are schooled even in pre-school (not as much free play) affects their self-regulatory ability. It's a pretty interesting article and makes a lot of sense.

a's vocab list

Here's A giving us a listing of the words she says/signs. It's not totally inclusive, but it's most of them!

I'm sorry for the poor lighting. Apparently I need another lamp (or two) in the family room!

she's got her mama's good looks

When it comes to resemblance, there's really no denying that E looks *a lot* like me. We have a baby picture of her and me framed side-by-side in her room that look almost identical. People stop us on the street and tell us that we look alike. However, there is proof that she does have some of her daddy's DNA in her. Case in point, here's a picture of E taken on Friday night:She is tall as can be and skinny skinny skinny (something I have never been accused of being). And it's not like she doesn't eat, even in the picture you can see she's scooping peanut butter directly out of the jar into her mouth. Last night, she asked for seconds AND thirds of steak. She just has her daddy's long legs and bitchin' metabolism.

tuesday, with a monday vibe

I'm going to be all out of sorts this week, let me tell you. It's Tuesday and the first day of the work week because Monday was President's Day the girls and I had off. So today feels Monday-ish espcecially since Kiki and Uncle Steve were here this weekend and all of our Sunday chores (grocery shopping! laundry! sheet changing!) were done yesterday. However, it'll be an even shorter week because John and I are headed to Vegas on Friday...so I'm super-excited and slightly stressed about what I will be wearing while there.

This weekend was great. We had a great time with Kiki and Uncle Steve. E especially enjoys all of the attention she gets when they are in town. Kiki must've played one million rounds of the Tea Party game with E, along with Chutes and Ladders and also managed to read the girls tons of books, including E's new favorite Pinkalicous. We got to spend time outside in the warm weather to boot.

John's brother and sister-in-law stopped by on Saturday night, and it was great to see them too. They only live an hour and a half away, but we hadn't seen them since Christmas. They brought their dog, Buster. When A saw him for the first time on Sunday morning she let out the most blood-curdling scream I've ever heard. I'm thinking she might be afraid of dogs.

That's about it for now. I have some cute pictures of the girls and some videos as well that I'll try to post this week. Stay tuned...

more conference call fun

My mom ran to The Teets yesterday while A took a nap. A woke up a bit earlier than anticipated, and so she got to join me in my office during a conference call. I should write an ode to the MUTE button because...seriously...the stuff I can do while on conference because of MUTE is just amazing. Anyway, here's a picture of my "Assistant" I took while on the call.And, since I feel like this blog has become a little A-centric, here's a picture of E in her Valentine's finest. She made the heart necklace she's wearing...very cute!

i wanna retire

Retirement looks fun. If you are like my parents, you get to do cool things like travel to Estes Park, Colorado for some snow-shoeing.On the other hand, you also get suckered into babysitting your grandchildren when they get sick...on a moment's notice! Luckily, A got sick this week (rather than last week) or we would've been Nonna-less!

maybe she's lovesick?

Last night, A was running a little hot. Actually, she was running a lot hot. So much so I didn't even bother taking her temperature...I was pretty sure she had a fever. So we gave her some Tylenol and sent her to bed. She woke up around 6:30 this morning, snuggled with me for a few minutes and slept until after 8. Clearly, she's not feeling well. So she'll be spending Valentine's Day in the comfort of her own home today.

Luckily, it's Valentine's Day, so I was able to stave off any massive tantrums by E wanting to stay home by hyping how much fun she was going to have exchanging valentines and...well that's it. Because our lame-o school and their nazi food rules have prevented them from having actual parties today. There was also bribing with candy at breakfast and a Dora poster (from the Valentines I bought and signed in 15 minutes lovingly crafted by hand). We also bucked the uniform rule so that E could wear her cute heart T-shirt courtesy of Grandmom.

Along the lines of love...I got to pick the girls up a little early last night (the commuter gods blessed me with a 1/2 hour commute last night!). And, so E had been moved into another classroom, but a few of her classmates were still in her classroom. E went around and gave them each a *huge* hug and a kiss. It's so sweet to see her interact with her little friends. Even if she did give a BOY a kiss last night!

the downside of learning to talk

When E was A's age, she had a few words that she spoke and a few more that she signed. It wasn't until about 18 months that she really started talking...then she started and never looked back. But one of the frustrating things about E was that she didn't say Mommy or Daddy until 18 months or so. Sure, she could sign it, but she wouldn't actually say it.

I remember once I went to pick her up from daycare, and she was crying and being comforted by one of her teachers. It turns out that a couple of kids had already been picked up for the day. Since I was working from home and part-time, she had always been the last one dropped off and first one picked up. I suspect she thought the kids were there all the time, just like the toys. Anyway, the teacher said that she started crying and asked "Where's Mama?" Since I had never heard her call me that, I thought the daycare teacher was lying.

But, A...she's said Mama and Dada for quite some time. It's so cute and John and I ask her to say it about 100 times a day. But the only problem is that in addition to saying it when she's happy...she also says it when she's sad. And there is nothing more heartbreaking than the forlorn "Maaaaama!" that A moans when she wakes up in the middle of the night needing another hit of Tylenol (seriously...are these damn I-teeth ever coming in????).

This morning, she got up just as I was finished getting dressed. We snuggled for a few minutes, then I finished getting ready. Though I left her clutching her Taggie, watching the Wiggles and snuggling with Daddy, as soon as I made my move toward the door she started wailing. "Maaaaaaaaaama! Maaaaaaaama!" It was so pathetic.

Luckily these episodes are limited to home now...drop off at daycare is a breeze these days. But, even so, it certainly tugs at the heartstrings. On the otherhand, it's good to be loved.

one of those days

Today was one of those days. You know...where no matter what you do you are always running late or forgetting something and generally not on top of things? This was mainly weather-induced today...we had freezing rain and it stopped traffic throughout the area. Literally, they shut down 395 going southbound for over an hour. Luckily, my commute home was *only* two hours tonight. Since I had left early so I could vote, work from home and then pick up the girls, I just didn't get a chance to work this afternoon. Guess there are worse things in the world than that.

The other thing is that I got one of these scales. It was on super sale from Drugstore.com (65% off) PLUS I got $10 off for it being my first order PLUS I got 12% back from Ebates. It was quite the deal. I was psyched!

And, then I stepped on the damn thing. I mean, I wasn't expecting single digits or anything...but man was it was a painful sight. Not giving you exact numbers but that whole let's just say that my whole "muscle weighs more than fat" excuse has pretty much been shot to hell.

But...as I sing to E every single night...the sun will come out tomorrow.

daddy's little girls

On Saturday morning, we all got dressed in our fleeces, sweats and sneaks and headed to Wegman's for a little breakfast and grocery shopping. E insisted on wearing a baseball cap just like Daddy and then A got in on the action as well.

she's a climber

So, child-rearing amnesia has kicked in big time. I know that I had to babyproof something for E...but for the life of me I can't remember what she liked to get into. Sure, we had cabinet locks and outlet covers, but she never seemed all that interested in those. She did like to take the books off the bookshelf (and still does, much to my chagrin), but that can't be all...can it?

The reason I'm wondering is because A seems to be a tour de force on the babyproofing front. We had to reinstall cabinet locks on the ones that had broken because A loved to get into them. If a lamp in a room doesn't work, there's a good chance that A has manage to pull the plug out of the outlet when we weren't looking. And, it turns out, she's also a climber. The girls were playing quietly at the easel in our office. John left them for a minute or two and came back to this.

In other Slacker news, the weekend was good. We spent a good portion of Saturday playing outside. E and I went to Target where we scored an inflatable Dora sleeping bag for 1/2 price. She slept in it on Saturday night...until 9 AM on Sunday morning (guess who gets to sleep in the Dora bed EVERY weekend from now on?). Sunday, we finished up all of our weekend chores and were in bed early, which is always nice.

Hopefully the week will fly by...'cause Friday Kiki and Uncle Steve are coming to visit! Woo woo!

coincedence? i think not!

So the menu for tonight at the Slacker house was this recipe for Pasta Jambalaya. By no means is the the *best meal ever*, but it's easy to make, pretty tasty, reasonably healthy and makes great leftovers for lunch.

So, what's the problem? My picky eater.

Nope, it's not A or E...I suspect that they will like this because they both love pasta and black beans. My problem "child" is John. He doesn't like the concept of turkey in any form other than sandwich meat or Thanksgiving dinner. On the rare occasion I've snuck it into a meal, he's fine...until I tell him what it was and then he's all "Ewwww! I really didn't like it!"

He called a bit ago and informed me that he "forgot" what I had planned for dinner tonight and ate the Pasta Jambalaya from here, so could we not have it for dinner as well? Since I might be a little late in getting home tonight anyway, he's just going to take the girls out to dinner instead.

Oh well...that just means more leftovers for me.

the benefits of a little sister

E is just starting to realize the awesome benefits of having a younger sister. Especially a younger sister that idolizes you and does what you say.

First of all, E gets A to dump toys. We have a couple of toys that are "dumpable" -- a bin of play food and kitchenware, a wooden train set, a bunch of instruments, and a bag of the big-ass legos for toddlers. All of these items are (relatively) organized in bins and bags and put away on the shelves in our family room. The rule is that the girls can only play with one of them at a time. So, if the legos are out, the food stays put.

Well, E has been circumventing this rule by letting A do the dirty work. A had just dumped the food bin out -- forks, plates, and faux treats were scattered all over the floor. As I watched with my own eyes, E picked up the bag of legos, unzipped the bag and handed it to A, who proceeded to dump the contents on top of the food

."E...you know the rules. Only one at a time," I scolded.
"It wasn't me, mama" E said as she looked at me with those big, beautiful eyes. "I didn't dump the blocks. A did."

E has also been using A in the capacity of a personal assistant. This morning as she was getting dressed, I asked her to pick out her shoes

."I'd like to wear my pink sparkly shoes," she said.
"Uh...well, can you go get them?" I asked her.
"A will bring them to me," she replied. "A! BRING ME MY SHOES."

This ended up being marginally successful, as A brought over E's pink dress up shoes.

"No, A," she replied walking over to her closet. "These shoes."

But did she pick them up? Nooooo. She turned around, walked back to the bed and waited for A to bring them to her...which A happily did. And as I walked out the room, I heard E say, "Okay, A, help me pick up my toys."

Gotta love little slaves sisters!

a rose by any other name...

Over the course of their little lives, my girls have been called many nicknames.

E has been called Sweet Pea, Silly Goose, Goose, Lizzie, Liz (by daycare, not family), The Hurricane, Lizzie Lou, Lizzard McGizzard, to name a few.

A has been called Baby, Sister, Addie, Line-y, Ade-lu, Lulu, La Lu, Lulu McGooloo, Sweet Baby A. But, in the last few weeks, A's been carrying Taggie around more and more. And, more often than not, she's carries him around like this.So, John and I have been calling her by a new nickname. We've been calling her Tark (after the former UNLV Men's basketball coach who was famous for chewing towels during games).Hey, if the Taggie fits...

pictures can lie

One of the ways I *truly* am a slacker mama is that I don't really get that many professional portraits taken of the girls. I remember sitting around one of my new mom's group playdates, and all the moms were talking how they took their kids to picture people on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Me...not so much. In fact, Grandmom actually was responsible for having E's first portraits taken when she was 6 months old.

So, when John went out of town a few weekends ago, I got the idea to take the girls' pictures. I called Picture People and Portrait Innovations and they were booked solid. The local Target had an opening at 12:30, so I snatched it up.

At about 12:10, the girls were done with lunch, in their outfits and ready to go. I had just changed A's diaper and we were playing in her room...when she fell and hit her eye on the window sill. A shiner immediately emerged. Undaunted, I bundled them up and off to Target we went.

In a nutshell, the session was a disaster. Only 4 pictures were taken, and they were all of E. Why? Because A was totally petrified of the gigantic camera-thingy, the nice lady trying to take her picture, the stuffed animal she kept shaking in her face...pretty much everything...and spent the entire photo session crying and holding onto me for dear life. So we left, and came home for an afternoon of relaxation.

At about 4:15 the Target studios called...they had a cancellation for their 5:00 appointment, would I like to try again? Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I said sure...and shuttled the girls back to the scene of the crime.

This time, A was an absolute angel -- hamming it up for the camera and being all around pleasant. E, however, was "that kid". She would not listen to a word I said, kept jumping on the litte platform, and finally, after an eternity about 10 minutes (and 6 photos taken) of photo shoot #2, I called it off. This plunged E into a tantrum to end all tantrums. Not only did she want "pretty pictures" taken of herself, but she also wanted to get a Dora book in Target.

So, after 2 photo sessions totally a whopping 10 pictures taken of the girls, you would think the pictures would be horrible...right? Nope. Here are the results of my pain and suffering. With pictures like this...I ought to do it more often.

weekend update

It was a good weekend in the Slacker household. We were able to take advantage of the warmer-than-normal weather and spend a good portion of it outside. Saturday, we headed out to the Leesburg Outlet, where we strolled around and shopped til we dropped. The girls got some new shoes, I got some Ts and workout shorts and John got a couple of shirts. In the afternoon, we played a bit outside as well.

Saturday night, I got together with my friend, Marathon Mom, for a girl date. We headed out for a cup of coffee and then went to see "27 Dresses." It was really cute in a totally predictable, chick-flick sort of way. But, it was great to see Jenn and have a conversation that wasn't being constantly interrupted by the kiddos.

On Sunday, John took the girls to the playground and lunch while I did our grocery shopping. They then helped him wash our cars. While A (and Daddy) napped in the afternoon, E and I did some coloring and then took a spin on her rollerblades and bike. My parents came over for the first half of the game, so we gorged ourselves on a few apps and chili and cornbread. While the first 3 quarters of the game were pretty boring, the fourth was pretty exciting and we were happy to see the Giants win.

This morning, both girls were total love-bugs and we spent about 15 minutes snuggling on the glider before going about our day. What a wonderful way to start a Monday.

no shirt, no shoes, no service

We might have a little lawyer or our hands. Or a hostage negotiator. Definitely a pain-in-the-ass teenager in the making. Here's a conversation I had with E prior to dinner.

"Mommy, I wanna eat dinner naked."
"No, E. You have to wear clothes."
"Can I just take my shirt off then?"
"Uh...no."
"How about my socks and shoes?"

In other news I will be spending the better part of this morning incessantly checking my e-mail, as I'm anxiously waiting for an e-mail from Kiki about Uncle Steve's and her future whereabouts come summertime. As someone who lives in the same freaking county that I grew up in, I live vicariously through her country-trotting living quarters. I have given up all hope that she will move to the same time zone, let alone state as me. So, I look at their moving as an exciting vacationing opportunity for me.

baby, it's cold inside!

You know how when the alarm goes off and you think to myself "I don't want to leave my warm bed. It's nice and toasty in here and cold up and about." Well, this morning, this was especially true seeing at it was 61-freaking-degrees in the house! So, I'm working from home while awaiting the heating repair guy.

I'll be using this opportunity to find out some riveting facts about my house...namely whether we have gas or electric heat. Seriously, I have absolutely no idea since we have electricity (duh) AND a gas stove. But, I'm pretty sure telling the repair dispatcher that I didn't know just added eleventy-thousand dollars to the bill.

In other news, E has started to rebel against the daycare's uniform policy. She has to wear a polo shirt with the school's logo on it Monday through Thursday, and she can wear whatever she wants on Fridays. Every morning she asks, "Is it uniform day or something-else day?" Well, the past few days she has been saying she wants to wear something else even though it's uniform day. We compromised yesterday by wearing a cardigan on top, and today by wearing a short-sleeved uniform top with a fun long-sleeved shirt underneath. But, I'm sensing that things are going to be more and more of a struggle from here on out.

Truth be told, I don't like the uniform policy...so I'm more than willing to bend the rules a bit. Case in point...here's a picture of E going to school in her uniform back in the fall.And no, she does not go to the Punky Brewster School for the Gifted.

the little things

This morning, I was in the kitchen when I heard A stirring. By the time I got up to greet her, she was standing in her crib with Taggie in one hand and the blanket she sleeps under in the other. For the past week or two, she's been gathering her things up when we come to get her. The funny thing is, E gathers her stuff up, too. She'll come into our room in the morning with Silky, her Dora blanket and pillow, Baby, and whatever else she deemed necessary to be surrounding her when she went to bed the night before.

It's the little things like this that I'm terrified I'm going to forget. Years from now, it's not going to matter when they got their teeth in (except for when they are moms themselves and ask me as a bell weather from what to expect). But, I want to capture what they were like...their little quirks that make me smile.

E puts all of her dolls to sleep face down since she is a stomach sleeper. When A sees Taggie or another soft blanket on the floor she immediately dives down and snuggles her face in it. E loves to have you lightly trace over her face with your fingers when she's going to sleep. A will say "Ah Done" as soon as E gets up from dinner because she wants to get up and play with her.

Trying to get this down so I can hold onto it forever...this is the reason why I blog.

double your pleasure

Neither of my girls took pacifiers as babies. Well, E never took a pacifier...and since I never got used to offering one when A was crying or fussy, she didn't have much of a choice. But both girls have a security blanket or lovey.

E has Silky.I bought Silky at some fantastic sale at The Right Start, not knowing that this would turn into her most prized possession. If I had known this, I would have picked up two since that particular color and pattern was being discontinued...making Silky irreplacable. We've lived in constant fear of Silky being lost, so he is pretty much not allowed out of the house unless we are going somewhere overnight. We even made E bring a faux Silky to school with her, rather than risk her losing it or it disintegrate because of the increased washings.

When A came along, Grandmom and Grandad bought her Taggie.Being so much smarter about this kind of thing, I immediately bought a second (identical) Taggie when she started to show attachment to it. Right now, we take one to daycare and leave the other at home.

Occasionally, A will come into possession of both Taggies at once. A *loves* it when this happens. She runs around with one in each hand (or both hanging out of her mouth). She's as happy as can be. I'm happy because I don't think I have to keep up a charade of there being one true Taggie and hide from her the stand-in versions, as I know some moms do.

The only down-side of Taggie is that other kids have Taggies. And A doesn't realize that every pink Taggie isn't hers. When E's friend, Madelyn, was over, she brought her Taggie. A kept grabbing at it and was visibly agitated. As soon as I retreived hers, she was fine...but it was touch and go there for a while.

change of scenery

So, they did some reshuffling of offices at work on Friday. I was one of the people moved because I was in a prime cube location (by the window) and in the totem pole of employees, I'm not prime cube material. Who knew a part-time, telecommuting contractor could be considered less important than a full-time employee who's been with the company for years.

Anyway, my new cube location sucks. It's by the copy machine. And, because it's a cube the only logical place for my computer is completely visible by anyone walking by. So my extraneous Web surfing will be curtailed Tuesdays through Thursdays during regular business hours. Bummer.

On the bright side, I will get to do my best Rob Schneider impression anytime anyone goes to use the copy machine.

It's Bill....making copies. The Bill-meister, Bill-inator, Bill-o-rama, the Bill-ster, Bill-arino, Bill-van Washeimer, Mr. Bill...making some copies!

How long till that gets old?

a monday morning giggle

My friend, Steel Magnolia, just spent some time in the ER with her younger boys. Luckily, the Slackers have only had to do the ER thing once in our 3+ years of parenting. And, while Steel Magnolia came away from her trip with an amazing perspective on parenthood...well, we came a way with a funny (and totally tasteless) story. So, here it goes.

Two years ago, when E was about 16 months old, we were playing outside and blowing bubbles on the front steps. E sat down facing the house, lost her balance, and proceeded to tumble backwards off the brick porch, down two steps to the cement walkway. Though she seemed fine, I called the ped's office to see what I should do. They told me to monitor her and if she vomits more than three times, to call back.

For the rest of the day, E was fine. Happy as a clam, no ill effects. But at dinner, she threw up. We chalked it up to maybe her food going down the wrong pipe. Then she threw up two more times. By the time the on-call ped called back, it was 9 pm and E was snuggled safely in her bed...but they wanted us to take her to the ER just in case. So we scooped her up in her feety pajamas and headed out.

The ER itself was great. They had a separate pediatric unit and we were seen fairly quickly. However, E was not so keen on this whole thing. Pretty much every thing they tried to do to her -- take her temperature, get her blood pressure, check her heart -- was meet with screams, wails and full-on thrashing. Somehow they got through the initial check and detmermined that, just to be safe, they would have to give her a CAT scan. But because you had to be totally still in the CAT Scan, they would give her some medicine to make her drowsy.

The medicine they wanted to give her was a suppository.

So, now it was me, John and the nurse all struggling with E to try and get this suppository in. I had the arms, John had the legs and the nurse was trying to...uh...administer the thing. As soon as the nurse would start to get the suppository in, E would push it out.

"Wow, she's got a really strong sphincter," the nurse remarked.

In all the commotion going on, John misheard the nurse and thought she said something to the effect of "Wow, she's really strong." So, he replied,

"Yeah, you should see her mother."

Luckily, the nurse was able to get the medicine in and quickly left, E fell asleep and was able to get the CAT scan done (she was fine) and John remained happily oblivious to what he had really implied with his statement (until I told him on the way home). And, I...well...let's just say I'm glad that we haven't had to go back to that ER since.

free to a good home

One blue-eyed, curly haired, 16-month-old snuggle bunny. Loves milk, pasta and yogurt. Favorite activities include Peek-a-boo, Ring-around-the-rosie, knocking over towers of blocks, watching Dora and Diego and playing "Ah-dide".

Owners love her dearly, but she was up for two hours last night screaming her head off...until Mommy drove to The Teets in pajamas, bought Motrin (since the Slacker house was devoid of any pain killers) and gave her some. They will gladly take her back once all of her teeth have come in.

Absolutely adorable wardrobe included. First come, first served.

dear bruce pearl,

I know that, as the coach of the UT basketball team, it's your job and all to win. I get that. Everyone wants to do well at their job. But...could you scale it back a bit?

You see, I've resigned myself to being a
football widow, and that John would spend many a weekend heading to Knoxville for games. I took comfort in the fact though, that I would have a husband during the winter, spring and summer. Sure he might watch all of the UT basketball games on TV...but let's face it...UT wasn't very good, so not many games were nationally televised or even on Game Plan.

But then you had to go and turn the program around. UT's in the top 5 or something (I think...I just nod and smile when John starts droning on and on and on talking about the team). There's talk of a #1 seed in the tournament. Apparently, you are good and John's pretty psyched about it. And off he's headed to Knoxville this weekend for the Tennessee vs. Georgia game.

I fear that if you keep up your winning ways, I might lose my winter husband, too. So, if you could throw in a couple of losses, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Slacker Mama

what a difference a few years makes

Yesterday, my (younger, unmarried, childless) co-worker/friend stopped by my cube to ask a question. My purse was sitting right by him...he happened to glance in. All of the sudden he had this strange look on his face. He reached in and pulled out...some Mardi Gras beads.

It took quite a bit of convincing that they were, in fact, part of one of E's ensembles rather than a little something I...ahem...earned while out and about over the weekend.

And, maybe, last decade he might of been right. But seeing as my weekends are considered "wild and crazy" if I make it up past 11:30...not so much.

who's the big sister now?

One of the hardest aspects of disciplining E is that she often will do things that A is doing. So if we are at church (hey...it happens) and A starts babbling, E will take it as okay for her to whisper, too. Meals can be a pain because E will eat more with her fingers than utensils because that's how A does it. I forsee "If so-and-so jumped off the bridge, would you do it too?" type comments coming out of my mouth in the future.

Last night, I was sitting with girls while they ate dinner. And my conversation with E went something like this.

"E, please use a fork when you are eating."
"But, Mama, A's not using a fork right now either."
"Actually, E, she's trying to use her fork when she eats. But right now, she's using a napkin to wipe her face and hands because she's trying to be a big girl with table manners." [Side note: A really does try to use a fork and then she does tidy herself up with a napkin; it's incredibly cute and much needed.]
"Well...she still talks like a baby and I talk very much like a big girl...so there!"

partners in crime

So the girls and I had off for MLK Day. We had lined up a playdate in the morning with my friend Liz, but one of her sons had a stomach bug, so it pretty much fell through. We were forced to do something productive, so we bundled up and headed out to Harris Teeter to get groceries that we were too lazy to get Sunday for the week.

In the afternoon, my friend Heidi brought over her two daughters, Madelyn (3 yo) and Eleanor (13 mos). E has always loved Madelyn...and despite E's over-exuberance in showing her affections toward Madelyn (think: hugs that end up being tackles), Madelyn loves E as well.

The girls get along famously except for the fact that they have a tendency to misbehave a bit more than they would alone. Nothing major, mind you, just jumping on the couches and running off at the playground. But, we've always joked that the girls will no longer allowed to be friends after age 12 when the real trouble will begin.

So, as Heidi and I sat in the family room with Ellie and A, Madelyn and E were up in her room playing with her dress up clothes and stuffed animals...or so we thought. We decided to check in on the girls, and made it up the stairs just in time to see the girls in their undies sitting on the bathroom sink as it began to overflow onto the bathroom floor. They had pulled the stopper in the sink, turned on the faucets and were splashing around.

We might have to cut off ties by kindergarten.

In other news, it was so cute to see A in this type of social situation. She loved Ellie and even hugged her at one point. She also really wants to be part of the older crowd. At one point she joined in on a few rounds of Ring-around-the-Rosie. She just beamed the entire time...it was adorable.

Minor plumbing catastrophes aside...it was a great way to spend a Monday.

tgif

Man, am I ever happy for it to be Friday...and the beginning of a 3-day weekend to boot. Work this week was a killer, but I've got my bottle glass of wine, so I'm not going to dwell on the bad stuff.

We've got a full weekend in the Slacker house. Tomorrow night is John's company party, which they have moved from December to January. It's nice to have something in the dead of winter and not to have another thing to stress about during the holidays. It's up in Baltimore, so we're spending the night while the girls head to Nonna and Pop-pop's house.

Sunday will be the usual -- football, laundry and grocery shopping. Good times!
Monday, the girls and I have off. We're going to catch up my friend, Liz and her sons in the morning, and my friend Heidi and her girls in the afternoon. Very excited to see them all.

Hope you all have good weekends!

one-on-one

So last night, we each had a little one-on-one time with a girl. John picked E up from school, stopped by home to get changed and off they went to The Orange Birginiya to watch the UVA vs. Virginia Tech basketball game. At one point, John was waffling on whether or not he wanted to go (it being a school/work night, etc.), but when E overheard him mentioning that to me on the phone, she started screaming "No Daddy! I wanna go to The Orange Birginiya!"

They had a great time. Ate popcorn in the first half and a hotdog in the second half. They stayed through till overtime (UVA lost), and got home at 11. E stayed up the entire time. Around Warrenton, she told John that she was going to be a ballerina when she grew up. Good times were had by all.

I picked A up from school a few minutes after John and E left. We got home and had a little dinner -- fruit cup, soup and goldfish. Then we spent the time before bed just playing. We played chase...we read books...we did airplanes...we had tickle fights. It's so great to have her feeling better and being in such good spirits again.

I think that date nights should become a weekly thing. We'd switch kids weekly, but I think they would both benefit and love some one on one time.

an optimistic thought

I don't know how exciting your Friday night was, but mine involved a few glasses of wine (of course) and vegging on the couch with John watching a bit of TV. In between the random basketball games that we were watching (I mean, seriously...that kid would watch community college basketball if it were televised), we watched a bit of 20/20. The episode was all about happiness -- what makes people happy and why. One of the things they touched upon was that happy people just have a better outlook on life.

This has struck a chord with me. I definitely think of myself as a glass-is-half-empty kind of gal. So this week, I've been trying to really look on the bright side of things. My 45-minute commute yesterday? Hey, at least it wasn't an hour! Another stupid conference call? More time to catch up on what Britney's up to!

But I was put to the test last night, when after running downstairs to get something, I found that my charge for bedtime, a freshly bathed and completely nekkid A, had pooped on the bathroom floor. As John and I scrambled to clean up the aftermath, I put on my best smile, turned to John and said,

"At least this didn't happen on Sunday when she had her tummy virus."

Just call me Susie Sunshine.

dear lady in the stall two doors down...

You are in a public restroom. Going to the bathroom is an appropriate activity. Talking on the cell phone while going to the bathroom is not an appropriate activity. Ever. Not even in an emergency (and I highly doubt updating "Nan" on the status of your kitchen redo could be considered an emergency).

One should not have to wonder if flushing would be rude since it would interrupt your conversation or possibly alert the person on the other end that you are talking to them WHILE GOING TO THE BATHROOM.

Ew.

Sincerely,
Slacker Mama

a shout out to kiki

So the other night, I was cooking pasta and peas for the girls. Pasta and peas is a Slacker go-to meal, but we usually use tortellini or ravioli from the fresh section. Friday night, however, I broke out the box of Barilla.

"What's for dinner, mama?" E asked.
"Pasta." I replied.
"Mac and cheese?" E asked.
"Nope. Gemelli.*"
"Let me see!" E said.
So I showed her the pasta.

"It's curly pasta!" E exclaimed. "Just like Kiki's hair!"

It just maks me so happy that, even though Kiki doesn't live close, she's still in the forefront of E's mind!

* Nerd alert: Gemelli is Italian for "twin" as well. So another way it all goes back to Kiki.

with daughters like these...

...maybe I should fire the cleaning lady?

hero's welcome

So A is hanging at home for one more day (if I haven't mentioned this before NONNA ROCKS!), but E went to school. It was quite humorous, E was begging to stay home and A was standing at the door with her lunchbox saying "Ah-dide!"

When E walked into her classroom, about 8 of her classmates came running over. "E's here!" they were yelling as they gave her huge hugs. Then one shouted "E, I love you!" and the little lemmings all followed suit with a chorus of "I love you, too, E!" It's so cute to see that she has little friends.

Weekend here was pretty boring. Watched football. Changed some diapers. Watched basketball. Changed some diapers. Watched football. Caught E giving her and A's toothbrushes a bath in her Dora potty. Changed some diapers.

I also did LOTS of laundry. Over the holidays, we ended up getting a new washer and dryer. And while I loved it prior to this weekend, the presence of a sanitary cycle made me love it more.

on the upswing

A woke up from her nap this afternoon just as E and Pop-pop were heading outside to play some soccer and get the mail. When A saw them open the door, she started to cry. I asked her if she wanted to go outside, and she nodded her said and said "Ah-dide!" So, we bundled her up and Nonna took her out.

She's still not 100% but it's definitely a start!

slave driver!

I'm working today since I've been fairly unproductive this week and have a few things that need to be done. Nonna, rock star that she is, is back over here watching the girls. After my conference call, I went in to check on how things are going. E pops her head out the tent they have set up in the living room.

"Are you done with your work, mama?"
"No, E."
"Well then, get back to work!"

poor baby a

Last night was a little rough for A. She woke up several times and wanted to eat or drink. We gave her some Pedialyte at 1 am, which she promptly puked all over me. At 3 am, she joined us in our bed where she alternately dozed and drank a sip or two of water.

She's held down crackers and water since this morning, which is good. She has also been sleeping on and off for most of the day. The rational mama in me says "Great! Sleep is what she needs!" The irrational mama in me worries, "Dude, is she going to be awake all night long!?!?" Daycare called and said one of her classmates had been diagnosed with Rotovirus, so I'm assuming that's what A has, especially since she's had a bit of the Big D and a slight fever.

The big winner in all of this is E. Not only did she get a fantastic night out with John last night, my mom came over to watch the girls while I worked. Well, since A's been sleeping a lot today, she's basically had Nonna all to herself. She even suckered Nonna into a few games of Chutes and Ladders!

the awesomeness continues

I hate it when I'm right. This afternoon and evening was a nightmare. Having a 15-month-old with a stomach virus is no fun at all. She was hungry and thirsty. She was yelling/screaming/crying/pleading with me to give her more than a sip of Pedialyte at a time. She climbed into her booster seat and refused to budge. She tried to scale the counters to get to her sippycup stash. And, since she is only 15-months-old, no amount of explanation would make her understand that it wasn't that I didn't want to give her more...that she shouldn't have more.

Thankfully, she took two naps this afternoon and did not throw up any more after the second one. So I hope she's on the mend. And the rest of us don't get it.

On the bright side, John and E went out for a little date tonight. They went and got their hair cut, got burgers and fries at Five Guys and then hit up a little Coldstone. The both had fun, and have cute new 'dos to boot!

Actually, this reminds me of when E was 18-months or so and got some sort of similar virus. And, towards the end of afternoon, she was the same as A, just begging for more to drink or eat. She was signing "eat", "more" and "milk" furiously and crying, and my mom and I were just plain crying because it was so pathetic. In a desperate attempt to get E to forget about food and drink, we turned on Sesame Street and tried to distract her with Elmo's World. And what were Elmo and Dorothy thinking about that day? Water. As the montage of kids drinking water from cups and water fountains, playing in the sprinkler and dancing in the rain played, my mom and I scrambled to turn the damn TV off. Parenting is a blast some days.

you know what's awesome?

Getting a phone call from daycare telling you to come pick up A, as she puked 3 times this morning.

You know what's even more awesome? Puke #4 being down your back as you carry A out the door of daycare.

She's sleeping now, but I imagine it's going to be a long afternoon here.

fashion plates they aren't

When left to her own devices, this is what E would wear.

That would be her peasant skirt, a new shirt from Christmas, her rainboots, her Hershey Kiss Halloween costume (on backwards!), her "Groovy" necklace and Silky (of course!).

And this is what A looked like when I picked her up from school today. Those were not the pants she wore to school...but this is what happens when striped pants are your "backup" pair and you let your teachers do your hair. (By the way, drop off was decent today...she was a bit teary, but quickly distracted with a banana and Nutrigrain bar. Yep, food trumps Mommy every time.)

better late than never

Slacker Mama is quickly becoming a technological goddess. (She is also enjoying referring to herself in the third person, but that's not important right now.) After learning some new skills in Photoshop (hence the new header graphic, and those of some of my blogger friends), I have now joined the world of YouTube. And that means you get to experience the joy that was Christmas morning.

just "chute" me

E received the Dora Chutes and Ladders game for Christmas from Kiki and Uncle Steve. (For the record, we also have Dora Memory and Dora Candyland as well. I think at this point it's safe to assume that if it's a board game with Dora on it, we have it.) Anyway, this weekend we finally ran out of excuses opened up the game to play it.

In a nutshell, John decided he would rather change A's poopy diaper than subject himself to another game of Chutes and Ladders with E. First reason, for the first 50 or so rounds that we played with her, she didn't fully grasp the concept that Slide = Bad. Therefore, games would last forever. Second reason, E cheats ... a lot. She spins and spins until she gets a number that she likes (often one that would allow her to go down a slide, see Reason 1). Then she "forgets" about your turn. Then she decides that she wants to be Backpack and you should be Dora...now she wants to be Dora and you be Backpack again. The constant chaos and lack of rule-following is enough to send this OCD mama over the edge. I found myself cheating right back...letting her skip entire rows and telling her she had rolled enough to get up a ladder just to get the game to end.

Luckily, the weather was nice so we actually got to use the real-life chute and ladder in our back yard. A, like her big sister, is fearless. She can now climb up the ladder and go down the slide pretty much by herself. She also loves the swing and tried to pull the cover off the sandbox to get in. Today, we ended up at a neighbor's backyard with all of the other kids and she was quite perturbed that she couldn't figure out their rock-climbing wall. She just stood there hanging onto the holds, screeching and staring at me like, "Lady! Get me up this wall thing!"

Tomorrow, it's supposed to close to 70 round these parts. I'm hoping that the good weather will change A's tune about the Toddler class, since they go outside onto the playground (they didn't in the infants room). On a happier note, she was pretty good when I dropped her off on Friday. She more or less yelled in protest than cried, which was nice. I'll keep you posted how it goes tomorrow.

dear pizzeria uno

I know you are trying to emphasize that you use fresh ingredients and what not by decorating your restaurant with boxes of food, cans of tomatoes and bottles of wine. I get that. What I do not get is why a marginally decent pizza chain an Italian restaurant would need to display ginormous baskets of apples and oranges. Wine and pasta? Sure. Go for it. But, apples and oranges? What's so Italian/pizza-y about that?

But, if you are going to continue to display said baskets of fruit, you might not want to sit the Slacker family directly beside them in the near future. My ears (and those or our nearby diners, I'm sure) are still ringing from the shrieking and crying Sweet Baby A did in her effort to convince us to give her one. And, you might want to do a quick check of the apples when you get a chance. I think one of them might have a E-sized bite in it from when I had my back turned.

Oh, one more thing. If you are going to take for-freaking-ever to get us our food on a Thursday night when your restaurant is pretty much empty, you're going to have to give me a bigger glass of wine. The thimble-sized glass that you poured for me just isn't enough to take the edge off.

Thanks,
Slacker Mama

drink more, work less

So, it's New Year's resolution time! Usually, this means that I tell myself that I'm going to eat better, exercise more and lose weight. Like so many others, I've completely blown it by January 18th.

But...this year is different. As you can tell by the post title, I have lofty goals:

Drink more, work less.

I know what you are thinking. "Uh...Slacker Mama...that doesn't seem like something to aspire to." But you'd be wrong.

When I came back to work in July, it was supposedly for 32 hours/week. However, due to the workload that I have (and the culture of the company that I work for) it really hasn't worked out that way, and I usually end up putting a full 40 (if not more). Since I'm a hourly contractor, this has worked out nicely for the Slacker family coffers, but has left me feeling like my work-life balance is totally out of whack. And since this has increased my already guilt-ridden conscience about not spending time with the girls, I pretty much spend every second of my free time with them. Which means that the time I spend doing things for myself (or even by myself) has been reduced to pretty much nothing.

That's where my resolution comes in. I'm going to really focus on limiting the amount of time that I devote to work, by working more efficiently (she says as she blogs during work hours...loving the conference calls!) and by setting limits on when I work (developing and sticking to a schedule). In addition, I'm going to make a concerted effort to spend a little more time doing stuff for me, be it getting up a little earlier to work out or enjoying a glass (or three) of red wine at night.

So far, I've been pretty good at doing this. I'll keep you posted as the year goes on.

people are dumb

As part of my job, I provide user support via the Help Desk. Someone contacted us saying that they couldn't log in. I send my standard response: make sure you have cookies enabled...and if you do (and still can't log in), let me know what error message you are getting to help me troubleshoot further. She replies that she *does* have cookies enabled, and that the message she receives when she tries to log in is...get this:

INVALID PASSWORD

I mean...how am I supposed to respond to that without making her look like a total moron? Sad thing is, this isn't the first time this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last.

this cracked me up

I get those BabyCenter newsletters on what my baby should be doing for each month. When E was a baby, I would read each newsletter word-for-word as if it were the definitive guide to my child's development. Now that I'm such an expert parent (heh), I read it for entertainment. Case in point, this was in my What My 15-Month-Old is up to:

Whining and screaming: If your 15-month-old has started sounding like a hyena or worse, you're experiencing his intense desire to interact with you. Children thrive on their parents' attention, and a toddler this age will do just about anything to get yours. When he gets loud or whiny, kneel down to your child's level and tell him you're listening. If he keeps it up, calmly say, "I can't understand you when you talk like that. Please use your normal voice and I'll be happy to listen to what you're saying." Eventually, he'll get the message.

I mean...really? The "use your normal voice" doesn't work on my three-year-old...I'm pretty sure it will be useless on A.

We did put this yelling to good use tonight. We played this "game" where E and I would pretend to be asleep. A would creep up and yell "Ahhhh" to wake us up. E and I would pretend to be startled awake and yell back. Laughter would ensue. This kept the girls entertained while dinner was cooking. Good times, indeed.

back at square one

So this morning was A's first day back at school since the Friday before Christmas. It was also her first day in the Toddler's room.

It did not go well.

It started out fine. A was happy as a clam, carrying her lunchbox into school. But she was a hysterical mess as soon as we stepped foot in her room. I ended up taking her with me to E's room to drop her off...and she would barely let me put her down to unpack E's things. (By the way, E was great. Couldn't have cared less that I was leaving her.)

We went back to her room, where she held on for dear life and cried, cried, cried. It was so pathetic. The teachers were great...they all were coming over and trying to distract her. I ended up leaving her with Miss Caitlyn (who is a fave of E's) with her still crying. Hopefully, she'll be back to her old school-loving self in no time.

a's vocab list

Christmas Day was A's 15-month birthday. As E did, she really doesn't say all that many words, but understands pretty much everything you tell her. Her current vocab list is:

• Mama


• Dada


• Pat-da: Pasta


• Ah duh: All done


• Ah-dide: Outside (this sounds very much like all done...however, it can be distinguished by A frantically trying to open a door to get out)


• Dough-da: Dora

Yes, you read that right. In her limited vocabulary, Dora has made the list.

e's resolution

This morning, I was telling E about resolutions. I asked her what her resolution for 2008 would be.

"Dora."
"You mean, you want to watch more Dora?" I asked.
"No. I want to be more like Dora."
"How are you going to be more like Dora, E?" I asked.
"We should go to the store and buy lots of Dora things so I can be more like Dora, mommy."

Sad thing is...she's more likely to keep her resolution than I am.