A Long Week

wow, cannot believe it's Thursday already. Usually don't like Thursdays because the weekend is close. The weekends are so busy for me. They are my real work week. My week is usually filled with busy activities. I am home alone with the kids, but kind of like it. I get to watch my shows, blog, do whatever want after I get those sweet children off to bed at a reasonable hour. Usually one night I let Samantha stay up a little bit late to watch something special with me. Then this week came. My inlaws were visiting which was very helpful. I went to the grocery store alone, I went to CVS alone, and I drove to pick up my CSA alone. It was heavenly. But also, my computer is in my living room. I didn't blog, I haven't even logged into google reader since Sunday. Glee was not watched. This week was doubly bad because Life Unexpected was a repeat and still don't have Fox due to stupid Cablevision stuff.

But I am excited for this weekend! Halloween fun! We have lots of things to do and hopefully it all goes off wonderfully without problems. Tomorrow Samantha goes trick or treating with school, Sat has soccer and Halloween parties. And Sunday has the same. I'm excited to have fun with the girls.

A very cute interaction with my daughter this morning. We were driving behind a school bus. "Mom, when do I get to take the bus?",
I reply, "Maybe when you're in Kindergarten, next year."
Sam, "I don't see any car seats on that bus"
"You don't use a car seat on a bus".
"Well, maybe you should drive me then."
"Sure, I'd love to drive you if that's what you want, the bus is safe though".
"Well, maybe when I'm a teenager I won't need a car seat and can take the bus".
"Yes, that's a accurate statement."

Samantha is obsessed with teenagers, she cannot wait to be one. The other day she asked me if when she's in high school she can sing in the hallways like the kids in Glee.

New Hobby

This weekend my parents took the kids at 1 pm. I didn't have to be at work until 5:30. The possibilities were endless. My favorite thing to do with some free time is to see a movie alone but, this weekend nothing was playing at that time. So instead I went to the local knitting store. I learned how to knit about 10 years ago but never actually made anything. I would knit for no reason and then unravel and start again. I probably only did this for about a month. Well, I bought some new needles and a beautiful chunky wool/mohair blend blue yarn. The first couple tries I just wasn't remembering right and wound up pulling it out. Then today I googled it and reviewed "how to knit". Now I am proud to say I have quite a good looking scarf going on. I did it for about a hour today and am now going to knit after hitting publish. Yay! I secretly hope I will love this and can make a couple things as Christmas gifts. But I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I just love the idea of giving people things I made.

In other news, I'm pretty excited about this busy week I have ahead. Tomorrow I'm driving an hour away to babysit my nephew while my sister goes to have her level 2 ultrasound and will find out what she's having. The next day my in laws are visiting for a few days. Then Friday Samantha goes trick or treating with pre school. And then Halloween over the weekend. I'm super excited for Halloween this year (with the kids). I hope we all enjoy it as much as I'm hoping. There's also a big Halloween party at a wine bar across the street for our restaurant this Saturday night. Even though everyone I know is planning on going I am not. There's three reasons:
1 - I do not like to dress up for Halloween, it's too much pressure.
2 - They're playing techno music I heard, and I hate techno. Just give me some good 80's and 90's hits you can dance to and I'm so happy.
3 - I have a babysitter for work that night. Paying for a babysitter for work and then to go out is just too pricey.

And Then...

Another day gone by. Kids went to daycare / "school". I went to work. Had to file a workmans comp claim, don't know why this stressed me out so much but it did. Bills paid, blah blah blah.

Came home and made yet another soup. Not nearly as good as yesterdays soup. Cleaned up the kitchen (already!), it's only 7 pm. Got a little annoyed at kids.

Do your kids take care of their toys? This is driving me crazy, especially with birthdays and christmas looming. Each girl has these cardboard suitcases from Land of Nod. They're in a set of three. They were supposed to look cute stacked on their dressers, which is where we put them every night. The girls have been shoving toys in them, playing with them and now 2 out of the 6 are ruined. This bugs me. I just don't know how to teach them to value what they have. I explained to my oldest that I spent money on those suitcases on them. Now they can't use them anymore. I'm just not sure how to get through to them on this. I told Samantha that we need to value and take care of what we have. They cost money and people give us things because they want us to have them. Samantha said "well I take care of Corsey". Corsey is her stuffed dog she's had since she was 2 and slept with every night. Forgive me, but all I could think was, 'yeah, peeing on him 10 times in his life is really taking good care of him. I'm sure he loves that'. It was just funny to me to think of it like that.

Well, I must go because I now have screaming children fighting over some toy that they're not taking care of. Ella has really started to enjoy tantruming, by the way. I have to give baths, do laundry... And then Samantha and I will start the Kit book tonight at bedtime. Lately we've been reading chapter books together and it really is enjoyable to see how the story continues each night.

Thank God It's Over

It was a rough day. There were moments I thought I would not get through it. I had a migraine and nobody to help me. My husband did let me take a 1/2 hr. nap before he went to work. I had already been up about 4 hours, but anyway, it was nice. I would have rather slept in, but I guess I shouldn't complain.

The kids were driving me bonkers. Ella has become a screecher. I used to listen to other people kids and think, "Thank God my daughter doesn't screech because it is the most awful sound in the world." Well, guess what? I'm the lucky one. I have no idea how to get a just turned 2 year old how to not do this.

Even though my day was awful I decided to make some soup. 2 soups in fact. So I feel somewhat accomplished. More on soup details another time. It is now 9 pm. I have 2 sleeping children, a clean kitchen, hamper empty and laundry being done and glass of wine in hand. Now the question is, do I log into google reader and catch up on some blogs? Or do I fold the pile of laundry next to me? I would say I should go for the google reader. But my husband would be oh so impressed if he actually got to get clothes from his closet instead of from a crumpled pile in the laundry basket. Maybe I should try to impress him? I can fold the clothes, I don't think I can go so far as to fold socks. That just doesn't happen here unless I'm having a spectacular day.

In other news, I did bring the toilet paper in from the car and the bathrooms are stocked. I'd say I had a pretty accomplished day even with the headache and missed pilates class.

Oh, and this is Samantha when I told her to get ready for bed. She doesn't like the matching pajamas. Nice look, right? I love the long sleeves under the short for bedtime. Tres chic!

Exercise

I have got to get better about exercising. Since March I have been going to pilates once a week and have done other things on my own, usually. I've been eating okay.

Lately I've slacked. The past 3 weeks I've missed pilates! Just this morning I was finally going to go. But I had a raging headache and the kids weren't feeling great. I was going to go anyway, power through it. But then the kids freaked out when I went to leave. The headache paired with the yelling made me just give in and stay. Maybe I should have just ran out of there. But honestly, I don't think I could have exercised anyway. So, three weeks without going. Yuck.

I've been feeling sort of awful lately. Too much snacking and not enough exercising. I think I've gained a few. The main reason I'm writing this because I feel it holds me a little bit more accountable to try and exercise and eat better. So here we go. I'm not promising to exercise every day or not eat anything bad. However, I am just promising to be better. We'll see how it goes.

An Unfortunate Turn of Events

I was not feeling well today. I was worried that I am coming down with something. I'm tired, my throat hurts and I just feel icky. I fed the kids early. Then at about 5:30 I put on Cinderella and we all sat down on the couch to watch it. I was so tired, I just needed a break from the busy day. I figured we could watch a movie and then do bathtime and all that. Then I woke up at 7 and Samantha was sleeping too. This is going to totally f$*k up my night. Things couldn't be much worse. I don't feel great and now my almost 5 year old took an hour nap from 6 to 7 (this is my guess at least). I woke her up. I was drilling her, " Samantha what was the last part of the movie you saw?" "Did you see the ball?" "This is very important you must remember". She didn't remember. I guess it doesn't matter. Either way I'm pretty much screwed. Let's just hope that she will be happy with snuggling in bed with mommy tonight.

Note to self: Moms don't get to not feel well. Moms don't get to get breaks. Next time I think things will work in my favor and I need a break, wait it out, power through it. Your break is when the kids are sleeping (at bedtime, not at 6 pm).

Wish me luck tonight.

And on a unrelated note:
We have three bathrooms in our house. I've had toilet paper in the back of my car for 2 days now. We are currently sharing one roll between 3 bathrooms because I have not walked to the car to get the toilet paper. But it's cold out and I have 2 kids. And whenever I do leave the car I have many other things in my hand. Things more important than toilet paper, apparently. I don't think my husband has noticed this yet. I'm sure he'd have something to say if he did.

And, oh yeah, it's my 100th post!

Christmas Time

I cannot believe I am already thinking about the holidays. But, I went to Target and they had a Christmas section! And I went to the mall and Hallmark had all the ornaments out. What is going on? Why does it seem like it gets earlier and earlier every year? Do we need 2 1/2 months to get ready for xmas?
I am struggling this year with how to handle the holidays. Samantha is getting older, old enough to really know the traditions. I feel this is the year we have to really be thinking about what our traditions are as a family. I have two issues going on with Christmas.
Number 1 is Santa. I want my child to appreciate christmas time for the beautiful time that it is. The christmas lights, singing, visiting Santa. I don't want to hear about "wants, wants, wants" all the time. I want her to know it's a giving season. We're struggling in two ways with this one. First, I had the idea that from her piggy bank she will buy something for someone who doesn't have and donate it. I suggested Toys for Tots. Tim (husband) thinks that is a foreign concept, putting a toy in a box for someone we don't know. How can I make it more personal? Does anyone have advice for this?
My other issues is Santa. Do you put a number on the amount of gifts you bring? I don't want to give too many. However, we spend time with family and they go crazy. So what does that say when your kid gets 4 presents and their cousins get 20?

Samantha's birthday is also the week before christmas, so it can get out of control. Already at Target this week Samantha is asking for a million things. It's hard to teach gratitude, I guess I will try to show gratitude in my life.

Heavy Stuff

Your children are perfect. My children are perfect. They’re all these perfect little beings.

As parents we want our kids to be perfect. We want the best for them.

Ella is having some minor speech problems. Nothing serious at all. She’s a little delayed. I took her to be evaluated and they said to wait a few months. They think she is fine and will catch up on her own. They think it’s normal for someone with a very talkative older sister to not need to talk. She was napping today. We both fell asleep on my bed. I woke up after 15 minutes and just looked at her. I watched her and thought about how we want the best for our kids. We want them to have a better life than we do.

This exact instance is no big deal. Her small speech delays are not anything serious. But it made me think about how someday there will be something that is not perfect with our kids. What will it be like to deal with that?

When I was 12 I was diagnosed with a medical issue that requires me to take medication for the rest of my life. I was thinking of how my parents felt about that. I know it was somehow hard for them to deal with the fact that I was not perfect. I wonder what challenges I will face as a parent. Whether it will be medical issues, social issues, or my child get arrested or into other trouble. I wonder what these moments will be like.

I hope that I will be able to accept my children for who they are at all times. I know I would with the big things, sexual orientation for example. No matter what sexual orientation my child was I would fully accept them. What about the “little” things? Arrests, drug use? How will we face these challenges as a parent and still accept who they are? Accept their right to make mistakes and learn from them? I guess we just hope that we bring them up well enough that they know right from wrong. Whatever mistakes they make are a part of their lives and something they can learn and grow from. And I will be with them every step of the way.

As long as my children know that I am there for them in life in every way and that I influence their lives in a positive way I will know that I did a good job. The teenage years might be tough. Looking at that sweet face today it’s hard to imagine. I guess we just do the best we can. It’s all we can do, right?

Things that Are Great...

Greys Anatomy and Private Practice are on tonight.

My kitchen is clean.

New hats and mittens.

Discussing Christmas lists with your four year old (already?!).

Frye boots.

Taking a child to the doctor alone.

Hugs from a happy two year old.

Bathtime.

Making veggies from the CSA.

Date night.

Jumping in leaves with the kids.

Knowing that the little things are what matter most.

Things that Suck...

I just found out Flash Forward was cancelled. I really liked that show. I probably should have realized it by now. But it just occurred to me to google it.

I somehow forgot to put Samantha in a pull up last night. We bought new bedding last night at Target, which is now all full of urine. At least she slept through the night and didn't wake me up until 6:30 with this information.

I was up last night not feeling well, I think I'm on the verge of a full blown UTI. Yuck. Also, I hate cranberry juice.

I keep meaning to write a fashion post, but it hasn't happenned yet. I am not ready for winter yet. It is cold here! I have trouble looking great while staying warm. It's hard to dress for the cold weather. I just want to wear a sweatshirt.

I went to Target last night and spent a obscene amount of money there. We don't have a ton of money and I'm not proud of it. I went because we all needed winter comforters for our beds. It is freezing here already. 1 queen comforter, 2 twin comforters and a bunch of other essentials I needed. Soccer ball, fleece pajamas, a few groceries, boots for Samantha. Grand total: $325.

My dog ate the bag of kit kats we got at Target that we didn't even open yet.

I lost a prescription bottle last night and "the man" who was mowing the lawn just found it in the grass. I'm glad it was found but pretty embarrassing that you had medication in your lawn. That's good parenting. I swear, it had a child safety cap on it. That's something, right?

I will try to write a things that don't suck list later on. I'm working on my gratitude right now. Off to clean the house...

Parenting

I'm under the impression that most people thought it was really hard when they had they're first baby. I wasn't like that. I thought the first one was relatively easy. I was always really comfortable around babies and when I had Samantha, the adjustment wasn't that difficult for me. First of all, she was a great baby, she slept through the night at 12 weeks. We lived in New York City at the time. I could easily bring her anywhere with me. Put her in the sling and we went shopping, to restaurants, you name it and it was pretty easy to go with her.

For some crazy reason, I thought because I did it once, that the second would be no big deal. Not the case, for me at least. The transition from 1 to 2 kids was really hard for me. Add to it that we had just opened a restaurant and my husband worked about 70 hours a week and it was more than hard. I wish someone had me take two kids shopping before I decided to have a second. I think that should be a rule. There should be a class. How to get two kids to sleep without them waking each other up... How to do laundry while breastfeeding a baby ... How to cook dinner with two kids ...

A little story for you:
A few days after I had Ella it was my birthday. For some insane reason, I decided to cook dinner because my sister was coming over. My husband, of course, was at work. Samantha was 2 1/2 and had major regressions with potty training at the end of my pregnancy. There I was, cooking dinner, trying to make sure Sam didn't have accidents and nursing my 5 day old baby. My sister walks in. Samantha has to go potty. Next thing I know Samantha has locked herself in the bathroom, while I'm nursing and cooking dinner. I'm pretty sure I started crying. Thankfully, my brother in law came and got her out. I don't think I could even of handled doing that in the given situation. So, as that being one of my first experiences with 2 children, it was a bit of a rocky start.

The two of them are just so different. Ella nursed every 2 hours (during the nighttime) until she was 8 months old. That is about the time when she decided to sleep through the night. Samantha was such a easy baby and didn't get difficult until 2 (right when I had a second child). Ella walked at 11 months, Samantha at 15. Ella is just now talking (and not yet full sentences). Samantha was talking at the age of 12 months and full sentences by 18 months. It's amazing that they both came from the same people (this I'm sure of) and yet they're so different. We think we are parenting them the same way, yet they are not reacting to this parenting in the same way. Ella is a tester, she's not a great listener and it is hell to get her to stay on a time out. I don't think we had ever even put Samantha on a time out by this age. I don't know, it sure will be interesting to see them as teenagers.

Weekend Madness

Well, we're in the middle of the crazy weekend. Worked last night. Today soccer practice, farmers market, lunch. Then I rush home to try and clean this crazy house for the babysitter tonight. Is it wierd that I am worrying about a 17 year old judging me?

What if she tells her mom my house is messy?

What if she tells her mom I served pasta to my kids even though I had no parmesean cheese?

Or what about the time I ran out of pull ups. The babysitter called me at work. I said, oh just put a diaper on my 4 year old, or just put her to bed in undies and I'll deal with it when I get home.

Do you think she tells people about these things?

We'll never know, I hope. I hope it's one of those things that we never do find out the answer to. In the mean time I'll just do a subpar job of cleaning the house for her.

I am excited about the rest of the weekend. We have 70 reservations tonight, which is on the high side of normal for a Saturday night. Although I'm happy when we're busy, I always get a little bit of anxiety worrying that everything will go smoothly. It usually does, so I shouldn't worry.

And tomorrow we have a really cool harvest party that we're hosting along with a local farm. There will be a swing farm and awesome local food, cooked my my husband. It should be a good time.

Well, have a good weekend everyone. I hope I find the time to enjoy mine.

Boots Are Made For Walking

My favorite thing once the weather starts to shift is that I get to start wearing my boots. I am quite find of almost all my boots. My favorite are my Fryes. I have 4 pairs and I love 3 of three of them deeply, the 4th, was my first Frye purchase. I wish I could say I loved them the most because they're the oldest but I just don't love them like I used to.

Frye # 1 - The Harness Boot
Bought 3 years ago. My first big purchase in a boutique clothing store near my house. It was the week after XMas. I had gotten money for XMas and they were in my size. I went and tried them on. They were on sale for $150. A lot of money for me. I couldn't believe I was thinking of spending this on shoes (my feelings on this has changed slightly over the years). I didn't buy them that day, or the time after that. Finally, I brought my husband and tried them on. He said I should go for it. He believes in spending money on quality products and he definitely believes in spending money on shoes. So I got them and wore them almost daily that whole first winter season. They are a beautiful dark chocolate brown. I still wear them, just not as much as I should.

Pair #2 - The Suede Campus with Shearling Interior
I got these 1 1/2 years ago. I love love love them. They are sort of like Uggs b/c of the shearling interior. When I first got them I wore them every day. They were like slippers, I wore them inside the house until bedtime. I did not want to take them off. Unfortunetely, I didn't put enough protection on them and they are a little beat up. They still look and feel great, they're just a little worn in for a suede boot. Oh well, I still wear them, over jeans, with skirts, dresses and leggings. On the first cold day of the year, these are my favorite thing to break out.

Pair #3 - The Vintage Cowboy Frye
These my friend (the owner of the boutique store, is now my friend) found in NY and they were in my size. I'm not sure what that says that I became friends with the store owner. Perhaps, I shop too much? I hope not. I try not to, but I do have to dress up for work and there's not many options around here. Anyway, I digress. These are lovely and my current favorite. I love the heel for a everyday look. They're pretty perfect. Oh, they're great broken in tan with a stripe down the side.

Pair #4 - The Birthday Splurge / Not Yet Worn
The fourth pair is a beautiful bordeaux color. I just got them for my birthday. I actually haven't worn them yet! They are a fancier boot than my others and have a higher heel. I envision wearing them to parties and to work. I have to see how the heel goes with wearing them for 8 hours on my feet.


Anyway, I highly recommend Fryes. Yes, they're pricey. Some of them are way pricey, the most I've spent is on my newest pair and they were $275. I can't let myself spend more than that, it's my limit. And I know I won't get another pair until next year. These are my boots for the year. They're comfortable and look great. Since getting into the Frye addiction I don't wear my old boots anymore. I no longer go near my Uggs, the shearling Fryes are just too perfect. My only issue is that I have no great black boots. Brown, chocolate, just look so beautiful to me. The black boots never look as pretty. I have one old pair from Nine West, I think, that I wear if I really need to wear black.

The one pic is all the fryes, then the other one is some of the other boots I have. The winter boots are my favorite. They are so warm and I feel like they are sort of stylish. Then there's the Uggs and the 2 black boots that I'm not totally fond of.

Sorry if this is the most boring post ever. Is anyone interested in boots? And very interesting that I think this post could have been one of my longest posts ever.

dreary days

Woke up this morning at 6:30. It has been so gross out lately. It's a little too cold too fast for me. It's brutally windy out there and we don't yet feel like we should be grabbing a jacket on the way out, but we should. And the rain, it's been raining on and off for over a week. Things have been a little slow at the restaurant and that compared with this weather is making me a little sad. I have just wanted to cuddle up on the couch with a blanket. Well, surprisingly my 2 kids aren't really into that plan. We have to get up and do stuff and play and go to dance class in the pouring rain and blah blah blah. I have got them to cuddle up a tiny bit with some tv watching the past few days and I'm feeling a little guilty about that. Sure, let's watch a movie. Last night we watched Glee. I used to be on a strict no tv all day or at the most one Nick Jr. show (20 minutes).

So, I feel like I've been slacking. When we woke up this morning (and it was still dark out) I decided no tv today. I will be a good parent. It is now 8:30. So far we played with play doh, had breakfast and played with crayons and stickers. Can I make it the whole day? I'm a little tired already (need coffee). There is no school today. I think we need to get out of the house, even though it's pouring out AGAIN!

I'll show you some of my lovely farmers market food pics to think of nicer days.

Happy Howl o Ween

I know, I said I would have all sorts of fashion info for you soon. But instead yesterday we had a lovely family day. In the morning, I dropped off the kids at playgroup for 2 hours so I could get some work done. This is mostly how I get work done and I'm so grateful that they offer this around here. And for only $5 for both kids. Amazing deal! And the people there are wonderful. They played guitars with a musician for 2 hours, how cool is that!

Anyway, I digress. The only bad thing about yesterday was how brutally cold it was. It is so hard to be happy and peppy in this cold. Even though it was cold, we went pumpkin picking. It's a really cute pumpkin picking place and for awhile we were the only ones there. They have roosters and turkeys and goats. And this little playplace area where there's a slide and you can play on hay bales. And then there's the pumpkins! Lots of wonderful fun pumpkins and some wierdly colored and shaped gourds. We got about 5 in different sizes and went home to plan our jack o lanterns.

Well the other day when I was exhausted and we were watching tv, Samantha saw a commercial on Nick Jr. for these pumpkin stencils. She wanted to make a Dora pumpkin. So, being the fabulous mother than I am, I actually went on the website printed the templates (which I had to go to work to do bc our printer is broken). Well, it turns out, they don't just have Dora, they have 10 different options.

So, Samantha wound up picking a Uniqua (from Backyardigans) template. And then we found some cool things in our carving kit. So we worked for about, I don't know, maybe 3 hours and made these wonderful things.

I have to say, I am so impressed with ourselves. Tim did the best job. His is the big skeleton one. I was so happy with how these came out. And I was even more excited because when I texted a pic to my mom she thought we bought them! So this is what we spent yesterday doing. Fashion tomorrow, I promise!

And as for the title, once someone bought my dog a collar that said Happy Howl o ween, we thought it was really funny for years!

Fashion Forward

Ever since opening my restaurant a year ago I have cared a lot more than I used to about what I wear. I see a lot of people and I think it is important that I make a good impression in and out of the restaurant. We live in a small town and believe me, I see patrons of the restaurant outside of the restaurant daily. So I try to put some thought into what I wear and how I look. I am far from a trendy person but I have definite ideas on what I like. I thought I would share some of my clothing and accessory ideas on this blog. I'm sorry if this is boring or not what people want. But, it's my blog. : )

I love reading design and fashion blogs and I love seeing what things put together or what brands people think are really great. So hopefully you will enjoy it too. I think I feel better about myself on a daily basis when I put an extra 10 minutes into choosing what I wear and putting on a little makeup. I am working on putting something together for tomorrow.

A no worries, I'll still have the everyday mommy craziness that mostly defines this blog. I was just thinking my blog sounds a little mommy whining and needs a little more substance. And it will give you all a chance to see another side of me. Hope you like it...

Tired

Well, I had a exhausting weekend. I did something I don't normally do. It was my friends birthday and after work, about 10:30, I went out to celebrate for her. We danced, laughed and it was a wonderful night out. We were one of the earlier people to leave, at 3:30 in the morning! I actually have no idea when the last time I was out that late was, it has been a long time. It was a great night. But t has my wiped out today too. I woke at 8 Saturday morning, went to soccer practice. Went home, tried desperately for my kids to take a nap with me before I had to be at work at 4. TV was on, one kid sleeping, other content, I dozed off right away. 5 min later the phone rang and all my lovely plans of sleep were changed. So, without sleeping I worked from 4 to midnight last night. I rushed home and crawled into my bed.

This morning the kids had to try to wake me up many times (I know, great mom, right). I even went downstairs, poured cereal, handed out sippy cups and went back to bed. Not mother of the year work but I am so exhausted I can barely stand it. Hopefully today is a day of not doing much and well behaved kids so I can recover.

And yes, I still think it was worth it. Getting dressed up, laughing and dancing with girl friends is always worth it. The others are moms too, I don't know how they did it. Some of them got home about 4. Definitely worth it, but next time should start a little earlier in the night.