their future's so bright...

...they gotta wear shades!

mama said there'd be days like this

Today is just one of *those* days. A and I are having some disagreements with regard to her sleeping. I insist that she do it alone in her crib; she would rather be in our bed, in my arms or, at the very least, in her crib with me standing there watching her. I don't need to sing or rub her back or even touch her but under no circumstances should I even think about going back to my warm comfy bed. So, I'm a little tired this morning.

And E...well, she has decided that I am also being unreasonable when it comes to my demands of her. My request for her to put on her shirt this morning were met with E throwing herself to the ground kicking and screaming and *then* I had the audacity to ask her to put her shoes on. I'm a mean, mean mommy, I tell ya.

And, starting today it's just the girls at Chez Slacker. John is headed for Charlotte for the NCAA Tournament. We have a fun weekend planned...but the fact that I'm going to be outnumbered until Sunday makes me slightly nervous.

If you don't hear from me, you'll know that they have won.

baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Last night the girls spent their NHT in A's room. Usually, they hang out in E's room since A's room lacks a bed to jump on...but they entertained themselves by pulling stuff out of A's closet instead.

First, E found last summer's stash of swim diapers with Pricess Ariel on them. She was devatated to find out that she would not be needing them this summer, seeing as she was potty-trained and all. (I stopped short of offering her a Princess bathing suit as a consolation prize...but I'm sure she could score one if she plays her cards right with John.) She then remembered that A would be wearing them and proceeded to try to put one on her.

E quickly realized what I've known for quite a while...changing A's diaper is a task within itself...especially when A is walking around and you are trying to put on a swim diaper, which is put on undies-style. So she quickly went back to closet-diving and pulled out a new pair of shoes.

About a month ago, we headed out en masse to the outlet mall near us. A needed shoes so we ended up buying her two pairs at the Stride Rite outlet, and then found a cute pair of mini-Nikes that we bought her as well. Being the cheapfiscally responsible mother that I am, I decided to take back one of the pairs of Stride Rites since a toddler did not need 3 pairs of shoes especially when I could spend that money on myself...or wine.

A, apparently, begs to differ. When E showed her the shoes, A demanded that they be put on her feet immediately. E was unsuccessful in her attempt so put them on...so she brought them over to John and me. She then proceeded to wear them for the rest of naked heiny time and threw a *major* fit when I removed them to put on her PJs. And E? She liked them so much that she said, "Maybe we can go back to the store and find a pair in my size, too."

:::sigh:::

Looks like I got some mini-Imelda Marcos on my hand.

dear sweet baby a

Happy Birthday! You are 18 months old today! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital, and now you are a walking and talking bundle of energy. Every day, you grow and change so much...and as much as I would love to remember every little detail, I know I won't. So here is what you are like right now.

At 18 months you:

• love to be picked up. You strech your arms over your head and repeat "UP!" until whoever you are asking picks you up. But, because you are polite, you will thank the person for picking you up by saying "Dant do."


• love to eat fruit. Your favorite fruit du jour is apple, which you call "Ah-pull" and give the sign for. Previous favorites included bananas and clementines. You also could eat a bag of Craisins in one sitting.
  
• love Dora and Diego, especially Diego. You call them "Doh-da" and "Dee-a-doh", and you always give a yelp of excitement when they are on. But, unlike your sister, your attention span is only good for a few minutes of show watching at a time.
  
• play with E's dollhouse a lot. You could spend all day playing with the babies -- putting them in the high chair or the car or the cradle. You also like Little People.
  
• also love to play outside. Just like E did when she was your age, you love to walk on the stone wall that the neighbors have around their tree. You also love our swingset and your tricycle.
  
• are quite the daredevil. You didn't seem to enjoy the swings all that much the other day...but I figured out that you wanted to be pushed higher and faster and then you were happy. You also don't want me to help you down the slide anymore and are trying to walk down the stairs holding my hand.
  
• love to read. Every night we read "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear." You are starting to memorize it so when I say "Oh how that bear loves strawberries" you shout "Oh!" as loud as you can along with me.
  
• want to be like your big sister. You follow her around a lot. You also love to climb into her bed and pretend to go to sleep. She loves you, too, and I hope you will always be as good of friends as you are now.
  
• are a fantastic little girl and I'm so proud to be your mommy!
  

also considered as a menu option

Before E and I went to The Teets to pick up the food for our Easter Lunch, I was scrolling through the specials on The Teets' web site and discussing some options with John.

"How about ham?" I asked John. "There's a special on spiral sliced ham."
"Or..." E interrupted. "How about we do spiral sliced chicken nuggets? That would be even yummier."

easter 2008

Easter was a big hit in the Slacker house! The girls had a blast hunting for eggs...and eating the chocolate. They apparently have inherited my love of chocolate...whenever I turned around they were trying to get more.

In true Slacker style, Nonna and I planned our Easter lunch menu on Saturday...at 3:30 pm...while I was at The Teets with E. But it was delish...we had ham, biscuits, asparagus, fruit salad and baked mac and cheese. Luckily, everyone liked it because we will be eating the leftovers for the rest of the week. Here are some pictures from the day.

Checking out the Baskets

The Loot from the Hunt

A and E in their Easter Dresses



E and Daddy

By far, my *favorite* picture of the day...taken when John (big meanie that he is) tried to take away the basket that Nonna and Poppop brought A. Sure, she had already had 257 pieces of chocolate, but clearly, she needed more.

can photoshop remove snot?

I ended up being able to spring the girls early from school today. But both of them were either playing outside or on the way to playing outside, so I really didn't get the hero's welcome I was hoping for. Since it was a pretty day, we played out on the swingset for a while...and I shot a bunch of pictures in the hopes of getting a decent picture. Unfortunately, a round of Kleenex were kind of needed.






Of course, no evening would be complete without a little Noggin in the evening.

easter with the slacker girls

Just came back from Target and got most of the fixins for the Easter baskets. I also found two different sweaters that may potentially get worn on Easter. We haven't figured out what the girls are going to wear. They have matching Lilly dresses that are pretty cute, but E has a couple new dresses that are also really cute and A has some pretty hand-me-downs.

While I'm trapped on another, emergency conference call that is keeping me from springing the girls early from daycare, I thought you'd like to see what Easter has been like around these parts for the last three years.

2005

2006

2007

easter baskets a-go-go

I *loved loved loved* everyone's thoughts and comments on my Easter basket post! I got some great tips on fun stuff to do with the girls and also got a little insight on everyone else's family traditions! My mom even reminded me of a couple of our own I had forgotten about!

I'm not sure what we will incorporate into this year...with everyone being sick and work being crazy I'm not too on the ball. But I'll definitely keep things in mind as the years go by. So...thanks!

Oh yeah! Keep up the comments! I love comments and reading all of them just makes me so happy!

the easter bunny is a wuss

According to E, the Easter Bunny does not do well in less-than-ideal weather conditions. As we were headed out to school today, E looked down at the welcome mat on our front porch which was wet-ish from the recent rain.

"Oh no, Mama!" E yelled. "The Easter Bunny won't come if it's wet outside!"

As we walked to the car, the wind started blowing. The girls were in their fleece jackets, and it was in the mid-50s. Not the warmest morning to date this year, but not winter coat-worthy.

"Mommy! The Easter Bunny isn't going to come if it's this cold outside!"

Luckily, we saw an *actual* bunny hop by. I told her it was the Easter Bunny, mapping out his route for Sunday.

Seeing as I still have to get all the stuff for the baskets, as well as an actual basket for A...it's good to know that if time runs out I can always blame it on the Easter Bunny and his primadonna ways!

So, tell me...what's going in your kiddos Easter Baskets this year?

tgim

You know, there's not many times that I can say this...but I could not *wait* for this weekend to end. In a nutshell, this weekend sucked. It involved not one, but two, trips to the doctor for A. One on Saturday morning was for an ear infection diagnosis. The other was on Sunday to the Urgent Care center to glue a cut on her forehead together after she ran head first into a corner. John also caught the mystery illness plaguing Chez Slacker and spent a good bit of Sunday in bed.

Since A was sick, we couldn't go up to Philly to Sean and Autumn's annual St. Patrick's Day party, which was a huge bummer. This was their 6th annual, and now we've now missed two in a row. Here's a picture of E with her friends Isabel and Maura at the 2nd Annual party.
E, Maura, and Maggie were going to spend the night at Isabel and her sister Chloe's house for their first-ever slumber party. Since E missed it, John took her to "Horton Hears a Hoo" yesterday while A and I went to the Urgent Medical Care. (By the way, why not call a spade a spade...it's not Urgent Medical Care, it's Your-Regular-Doctor's-Office-is-Closed-So-Where-Else-You-Gonna-Go-Care.) She really liked it, and did much better than at "Enchanted", where she got antsy and bored toward the end.

So Monday is here! Yippee! The antibiotics are doing their job, there are no gaping head wounds and both girls are at school today. I've got a To-do list a mile long, mainly stuff that I should have done this weekend if I wasn't stuck in waiting rooms or caring for sick children/husbands. But it's St. Patrick's Day, so we've got Guinness in the fridge so it can't be that bad.

Here are some pics of the girls in their St. Patty's finest.

E in her Suri Cruise Kilt
A in her Shamrock Sweater (and her Super Glued forehead)
Together and smiling
The Today Show's more interesting than Mommy

e's first dental visit

This morning, E had her first visit to the dentist. She picked out a pretty dress and flower tights that totally clashed to wear, brought along Silky and Baby, brushed her teeth and off we went. She did really well -- let the hygenist count, clean and floss her teeth, and let the dentist check her teeth as well. She was psyched for the Ariel toothbrush and other goodies she got, too.

I was psyched because she has two chipped teeth that the dentist assured me was no problem. They also assured me that I was fine in waiting until 3 1/2 to send her to the dentist (I have a friend who just took her 1 year old). Overall a good trip. I have *my* appoinment on Monday...so in 6 months we'll be doing ours together. Should be interesting.

chatterbox

The good news is that A's fever broke last night! The bad news is that it was at midnight which meant that she ended up spending the night in our bed. I think we might have Pele on our hands because she kicked the bejesus out of *both* John and I last night.

This morning, you could tell that she was feeling much much better because she was up bright and early at 7 this morning, running around as John and I tried to get a precious few more minutes of sleep. She has learned how to open our bedroom door, which is bad because she kept trying to make a break for E's room to wake her up. She also had tons of fun with a bouncy rubber ball on our tiled bathroom floor.

I was lying there, waiting for John to get out of the shower when I felt someone watching me. I opened my eyes to see A standing within an inch of my face.

"BAH" she yelled and showed me her ball.
"That's right, A! Ball," I grumbled. "Go show Daddy what you have."
"Bah bah bah bah bah bah bah!" she shouted as she ran to tell him.

It's hard to believe that A will be 18 months old in less than 2 weeks. I read somewhere that 18 months is when kids generally have a language explosion. E certainly did, and it appears that A is ready to do the same. In addition to ball this morning, she loves to repeat anything and everything you ask her to. And she names a lot of objects...the trick is to figure out what the heck she is saying. Nah-ki at the dinner table? Napkin. Da-de-di while pointing at herself? Her name.

It's such an exciting and fun time. I'm *so* not a baby person...but give me an 18-month-old any day of the week! Even one that keeps you up at night by kicking you.

be careful what you wish for

So in my last post I said I'd like to work from home more. And, today I am. Because A has the fever that E had last week, so she's home sick. My mom is here watching her (thank goodness!), but here I am working from home.

the new cube SUCKS

So, I got moved to my new cube in the "satellite" office. On the bright side, it's a window cube. That's about it. I'm on a different floor and down the hall from everything else, including the microwave and water jug.

And the other employee down here who works down here near me? Just came into my cube with her hand covering her mouth and asked for a tissue. Then she went on to say, "I just sneezed and...WHOO BOY!" So my prediction that she was socially inept was about on target.

I'm *so* going to make the move to work more from home.

dance dance revolution!

Sweet Baby A has become a little dancer, just like her big sister. During our nightly bouts of Naked Heiny Time, if we start clapping or singing, she starts dancing around. On Sunday night, John was in the family room and yelled, "Hey, A! Let's dance!" She looked straight at him, walked over to the little docking station we have for our iPod Shuffle and pointed furiously. She wasn't happy to just dance, oh no! She needed the beats and rhythm of Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner and Justin Roberts in order to get her groove on. But once we turned on the music, dance she did.

If you read my posts regularly, you've probably noticed that my girls like to get naked on a nightly basis. We call this Naked Heiny Time, and it's generally after bath or for 15-20 minutes before bed on the nights they don't take baths. This actually started out of necessity, A had a recurring diaper rash so we would let her run around naked in order to air out. Of course, E then had to get naked, too. Thus, NHT was born.

The issue now is that it's no longer needed. We have identified the diaper rash culprit (pineapple...who knew?) and she's been rash free for about a month. But the girls still insist on NHT. On the one hand, it's nice to have the girls race upstairs on a nightly basis (and really...they run if you mention NHT). On the other hand, we've had suprisingly few accidents, but I feel like we are playing with fire every time we do this (especially since the girls love to play on E's bed).

But with the fun we have...I guess we'll take our chances.

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.