Whoa, that was a close one!

Ok, I know I haven't been good about posting this summer, but summers seem to be tough because we are ALWAYS on the move!  I have been collecting my pics to post in a few 'all encompassing' posts that I hope to get out there soon!  In the meantime, enjoy this little tidbit...

I was just upstairs confirming my to-do list for the day while Noah and Mille were peacefully playing downstairs (I love that they are both to a point where they can play independently for short periods of time without me having to hover over them).  Next thing I know I hear Noah say, "Whoa, Millie!  You are STINK-EEE!  Mommy!  Millie is stinky....her poop is green and very stinky!"  I say, "Okay Noah, I will be down there in just a minute, I need to finish my list quick..."  Then I think to myself, WAIT  how does he know it is GREEN?!?!?  I race downstairs to find Millie laid out on the living room floor, jammies off and diaper open.  Noah has a wipe in his hand and says..."Mommy look at this!  It is gross AND stink-eee!"

Yet another crisis averted....just in time!  I can only imagine what I could have walked down there too!  What even made him think to 'help Mommy' this time???  Who knows.

Right now...

Right now I am sitting in the car downtown waiting for Jon to get out

of work so he can take the kids and Bowman to meet Bonnie (my mother-

in-law) who is keeping Bowman for the week while we are on a much

needed vacation (big thanks to B and R!) while I go home to finish

packing, wrap up the last of my outstanding orders and clean the

house. Noah has a crazy hat on and no shoes and is doing his fire

truck impression over and over and over. Millie has also taken off

her shoes, pulled one arm out of her shirt and is singing her 'pretty'

song...'pretty' loud! (if you have ever heard a cat fight, it sounds a lot like that). The sunroof is open, windows are down,

passersby are staring...or laughing...and I am giggling too.

Welcome to my crazy life.

Dancing Machines

I LOVE to dance.  Sometimes I dance to be silly.  Sometimes to squeeze in a little exercise in a hectic day (like chasing my two monsters isn't enough!).  Sometimes in front of the mirror when I am getting ready for a fun night out.  And sometimes to make me feel (even if for a short moment) like I am 24 again.  Regardless of when or why I dance, I love it and I am sooo happy that my kids share this love!  On most friday nights you will find my family in the dining room cuttin' some rug to our favorite tunes played by none other than DJ Daddy Dad.  Both Noah and Millie truly enjoy hopping, swinging and spinning around.  Millie seems to take it one step further...she loves to lift her leg like a ballerina (a move she picked up last December from watching a glimpse of the Nutcracker...aparently the Sugar Plum Fairy left an impression!).  She will stop anytime, anywhere to do her perfect arabesque...once to lift her right let, then again to lift her left!

So based on all this, it was no surprise when the kids were thrilled when they noticed we had Dancing with the Stars on two nights ago.  Noah has not stopped talking about how he wants Mommy and Daddy to be on the show and he will sit in the audience and watch.  Man - I would LOOOVE the opportunity to be on that show!! ...first, just need to find a way to be famous, ha!  So this morning he started talking about it again and decided to put Millie's tutu on her...I could hear him talking to her through the monitor..."Millie, hold still, step in, you are going to be a beautiful ballerina and I am Knight Noah!"  Seriously...did he just say that?  Next thing I know they are in the dining room doing their 'fancy dance' (Noah's words, not mine :o).  It was a nice change from our usual crazy breakdancing and booty shaking!  Aaahhh, the memories!

Bear with me....

As I am writing this, the kids are in the tub and I am sitting on the bathroom floor with my 'best friend forever' (my laptop) sitting on my lap.  This has been a familiar scene lately.  I have been buried!  It might sound crazy coming from a stay-at-home-mom, with just a little side job that I pick up every once in a while, but it is the truth!  Business has really picked up in the past couple months, which is good because I have been working to take it 'to the next level', but because of this, things have been a little crazy.  I have been working hard to balance being a  good mom, a good wife and a competent entrepreneur...not always successfully, but I am trying.  A few long nights and a lot of patience (on everyone's part) has helped quite a bit.

Just a quick summary of this week so far:
- Enjoying the beautiful weather!!  We love it and have already taken many walks to the park (the Chicago park district finished building a new playground last fall just one block away...it was MUCH needed and we love it!)  Tomorrow we are planning a picnic there if it is still nice.
- Today we all wore green, had green shamrock pancakes for breakfast (the kids loved these!) and green bagels and grapes for lunch (I know, total carb overload).  We used green plates and cups all day and Noah pointed out everything green he saw for the first couple hours of the day.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!
- Printing, Packaging, Printing, Packaging, Printing, Packaging.  I was accepted to be a vendor at a craft show in Frankfort, Illinois this weekend and have been working diligently to prepare...on top of the 7 customer orders I also have right now...complete craziness, but I love it!  (I am soo thanking my lucky stars for having project management experience from my previous corporate job...as a systems analyst...how crazy does that sound now!)

Anyway, so I am hoping next week I will have a little more time to catch up on the details that have been going on here for the past couple weeks!  We have also been busy with birthdays, milestones, etc and I want to make sure I 'record' those memories!

Thank you for bearing with me while I strive to 'keep it together!' ...and wish me luck at the fair!

Noah's Art

Two nights ago Jon and I were preparing dinner while the kids were playing in Millie's room.  Millie had taken a baggie of crayons in with her and dumped them all over the floor (my ultrasensitive Mommy ears heard that much), she likes to do this and then picks them up and starts all over again.  Well, Noah was in there too and it sounded like he was kicking them around the room (one of his new favorite things to do it seems...kicking things out of his way, ugh), so I asked him to help Millie pick up the crayons before dinner was ready.  Well, it was quiet in there for awhile and Noah came out and said they picked up the crayons...I wanted to check and he said "No Mommy, you can't go in Millie's room."  That response usually means I absolutely need to go in Millie's room....here is what I found...

I couldn't believe my eyes.  He has NEVER EVER done anything like this.

Aparently he made his way around the room to the dresser...marking everything on his way...cushions (3), more wall (4spots) , the crib (3), the changing table (2)...the more I looked, the more scribbles I found...including some in the hallway, bathroom, my room and master bath...ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

Needless to say, we had a little (okay, big) discussion regarding what we do and do NOT color on.  And hopefully it will not happen again!  Just to reinforce the topic a little more...

Noah and Mr. Clean got to work.

Usually I have a tough time tossing my kids' artwork, but this time I had NO problem with it.

Thank goodness for Magic Eraser!

My little book worms

After lunch I usually try to clean up quickly before Millie and Noah get into playing with something only to have me pull them away minutes later for naptime.  Well, today while I was rinsing the dishes I realized it was pretty quiet...too quiet.  That usually means I will find the hallway covered in toilet paper, two soaking wet kids playing in the sink, a mountain of pillows on my bed with N & M burried at the bottom, or any one of  a million new messes they happen to come up with that day. 

Well, much to my surprise, this is what I found...

Two little book worms.

It was so quiet I could almost hear the gears spinning in their little heads!  LOVE it!

Although I was slightly surprised, this is a sight I have been seeing very often lately.  Millie loves books and Noah really wants to be able to read...really read...not just look at the pictures and make up the story (eventhough he does like to do that too).  Millie does well with recognizing objects in books by name, pointing to them and trying to say the words while Noah is working on putting the sounds of his letters together to pronounce the words.  I guess that is what I get for reading a naptime story and bedtime story to each of them everyday since they were 2-3months old...I only hope their love of reading and learning lasts the rest of their lives!

It's a Mystery to Me!

I am a T-shirt and jeans kind of girl.  Don't get me wrong, I love to get dressed up when the occasion calls for it, but on a day to day basis I am usually in my 'mommy uniform.'  I have quite a collection of T-shirts and love them all for different reasons.  Some are just your standard, plain colored T's.  Some have a unique style or neckline (those I call my 'fancy' T's... hehe). Some I use just to layer.  A few have designs - not many though, I usually like plain. But the one thing many of them seem to have in common lately are HOLES!  I don't understand it!  It has happened to so many of my shirts and I don't know what is causing it.  ALL the holes seem to be right in front  at the bottom.  Some of the t-shirts are J-Crew tissue T's so they are thinner and I can understand that they would be at a higher risk for this to happen, but not all of them are thin.  Not all the T's are old either.  I have a shirt that I have probably only worn 5 times and it already has a hole in it!

Soo before I throw them out... I thought I would ask for your thoughts on what could be causing my dilema. 

Has it ever happened to you?

Please respond in the comments if :

1.  You have any idea why I am getting holes in so many of my shirts

2.  Any ideas of how to prevent it

3.  Creative ways on how to re-use these shirts (as you can see, some of them are no longer wearable, but I hate to throw them out...)

(The shirts pictured here are older and by far the worst)

At this moment...

Noah is laying face down on the hardwood in the middle of the dining room floor...who knows why...maybe because the window is open and a nice breeze in coming in?  It probably feels good to have fresh air - he has 'The Flu' - ugh.  Millie, is walking around flipping a pair of my (clean!) underware in the air...guess I should go find out where she got them.
That is what I get for trying to get some work done.

Double Trouble

We actually don't have very many 'time outs' in our house...maybe one a week?  Not because I am a softie, but because Noah is pretty laid back overall and doesn't really push me to sending him there (which means either sitting in the hallway or sitting on the stairs - depending on where we are at the time). That being said, one action that will send him there without a warning is throwing things...especially hotwheels...especially at his sister.

Aparently she felt guilty about instigating...

A couple of Noah's latest antics

Today:
We sat down to have lunch and Noah started talking to his hotdog.  It went a little like this:
Noah:  "Hi Hotdog, I'm going to eat you now."
Hotdog (aka Noah using his low 'hotdog' voice):  "Okay, Noah"
He takes a bite of the hotdog
Hotdog:  "Ouch, ouch!  Noah, that hurts!"
Noah:  "Sorry Hotdog"
Hotdog:  "Thats okay, but your teeth are sharp.  Do you use your teeth to talk?"
Noah:  "No, hotdog, I use them to eat!"

As he is doing this I ducked behind the counter to call Jon.  I just had to share this with him!  I was trying to whisper so Noah wouldn't hear me, but I think my giggles gave me away.  I stood up and he was sitting there with a big grin on his face.  He totally caught me.

A week or so a go:
We were in the car and both Noah and Millie were a little fidgety.  I gave Noah a book to read and Millie the DoodlePro.  Noah was then upset because (of course) he wanted the DoodlePro.  I told him he needed to wait until Millie was finished with it, and gave him a pad of paper and a pen to drawn with instead.  He took the paper, tore off a sheet and asked me to 'show him how to draw an 'X.'  This was a little strange, because I know he knows how to draw an 'X', but I did it and handed it back.  He then took the pen and started to draw a little, but soon got frustrated and said in a very stern voice..."Mommy.  I don't know how to draw Millie's face on the 'X'.  I need you to help me."  Again, giggles insued.  He has done the samething another time since then, but used a red marker to make the 'X'.  He said he was making a sign to show Millie to 'stay off his stuff.'



The sibling rivalry begins...

Book Review - How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

I decided to do a book review, my first, because I just love the newest addition to our personal library. How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You by Jane Yolen is a book that just makes my heart melt. We have every 'How Do Dinosaurs...." book printed so far. The latest edition was released on October 8th - I pre-ordered it through Amazon and received it on October 8th and I have to say that eventhough Noah is the dinosaur lover in our house, I couldn't wait to open it either. All of these books have a little humor while teaching a little lesson. The illustrations are unmatched - so bright, fun and with lots of detail. I have always enjoyed reading them, but this one is different - it pulls on the old heart strings a little. It talks about how dinosaurs sometimes test their mommy's and daddy's patience, but mommy and daddy love them anyway. It is the perfect bedtime read at the end of a loooong day, the kind of day when you just can't wait for bedtime to come...but when it does come, this book will help you appreciate that day - good or bad and will make you look forward to the next.

Happy Reading!

A.P.B!

We are having sort of a small crisis here today. Noah has lost his Lightning McQueen car. He just keeps saying... "I can't find my best pal Lightning McQueen! He usually gets 'lost' multiple times a day, but we are usually able to find him within about 10 mins of looking. This morning we have searched all over the house and haven't had any luck so far.

Please be on the lookout for him.

Description:

Hotwheels style car,

Red with a 95 on the side

No headlights

Lots of scratches and body damage...all inflicted with love, of course.

Please post a comment with any clues or knowledge of his whereabouts. I think I might go crazy if we can't find him...or I might just have to make a sneaky trip to Target!

Creative Chaos

This is the view I have been staring at for the past couple weeks and the reason I have failed to have a decent post lately.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I design custom invitations and stationery and spring is always a busy time for me as I work on birthday invites, wedding invites and accessories for summer and fall weddings. As much as I love doing this, it leaves little time for little luxuries such as posting updates to my blog. I am currently working on 5 different orders and hope to have a couple of them finished by week's end...maybe one will show up in YOUR mailbox??

I shall return soon enough with updates on the kiddos. They have been as busy as I have!

Put-off by the Post Office

Why do I always seem to have such a hard time making it to the post office? This seems like a simple errand that everyone must do from time to time, but for me, I absolutely DREAD going. My friends never understand why it takes me months to send them a simple gift, return a book, or mail a stationery order, etc. Well, here are just a few of the many reasons I STRONGLY DISLIKE going to the post office:

Maybe it is because in Chicago a post office with a parking lot is rare if one even exsists? This means driving around the block until a meter spot opens, or someone pulls away from the always full curbside parking (loading zone), or parking blocks away and hauling both kids in through the snow, rain, wind, or whatever else Mother Nature is dumping on us that day.

Or maybe it is because the postal workers who work there are so patient, calm and friendly...NOT!

Or because it means I will be chasing Noah down while lugging the 22lb carseat in the crook of my arm and trying balance the stack of 4 packages I need to mail out.

Or because I love spending 30mins of my day waiting in line (I wish I could say 'standing in line' but... see above) no matter what time of day I go!

Or maybe I love to pay WAY too much for packaging tape because I forgot to tape the box before I left the house and of course they won't share theirs, and this is the second time I have had to buy it because I thought I would out smart them by keeping a roll in the car, but whoops...I drove a different car that day!

Now I realize some of these issues are self-inflicted, but for once, it would be nice to have a peaceful, quick, positive experience. I think the only way that would happen is if someone built a drive-thru post office...hmm...not a bad idea. If you see a 'Mailing Mama' open up in a city near you just remember you heard it here first!

The world is not my trash can.

Since tomorrow is Earth Day, I thought I would post a couple things I do to help make the world a cleaner place...

I haven't always made a focused effort to take care of the environment like I probably should, but in the past 6 months or so I have tried to get a little better at the 3R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I have trouble with the last R - Recycle (see below), so I try to make it up by focusing more on the other two.

REDUCE

I bought these great reusable bags that I LOVE. I use them instead of getting plastic grocery or shopping bags everywhere I go. In the past two days I have saved 6 shopping bags by using my cute reusable bag instead. I do have one exception to this rule so far - I still get bags from Target, but my reason for that is because I REUSE them to put stinky diapers in...instead of using a Diaper Genie and in my opinion Target has the best plastic bags.

I have also worked on reducing the amount of paper towels I use. I admit, it is sooo much easier to grab one, use it once for just a little drip and toss it out only to grab another one to use for something else. In order to realize that there are other ways to clean up spills, wipe messy faces, clean the mirrors, dry your hands, etc I decided this would be a good thing for a PTA (paper towel abuser) to give up for lent. Yes, I am proud to say I made (6.5 weeks?) paper towel free! It wasn't easy...especially on day 1 when Bowman decided to heave-ho in the kitchen - it would have been MUCH easier to clean it up with a huge wad of paper towels as I usually do, and it was very tempting, but I did not.

REUSE

For some reason I have a recent sense of guilt when I throw plastic containers out with the trash. I have been trying to come up with ways of reusing them instead. These are just a few of many plastic items I reuse.

I love the plastic coffee creamer containers (the liquid kind). I use it as a plastic bag holder for the car. It fits perfectly in the cup holder in the backseat and makes it easier to grab a bag to collect any garbage that might get left in the car (I guess this is another reason I keep the bags from Target). I also figured out a way to inter-connect the handles when putting the bags in the container so the next bag comes out just a little to make it easy to pull out). You could also use it to make salad dressing in...it has a nice pour spout and you can stick any unused dressing back in the fridge.

Another favorite that you will find all over my house are plastic takeout containers. They are great for storing small things like crayons, office supplies, items collected on nature hikes...the options are really limitless here!

RECYCLE

Here is why Recycling is a little tough for us.
Our dumpster is fenced in and unfortunately there isn't room for another container. The only option would be to separate and collect it myself and drop it off at our closest recycling center. Maybe I will make this a goal for the future, but right now, I have a hard enough time getting to the grocery store, post office (future post to come on this one!), Target, etc. I can just see myself collecting items to recycle and having good intentions of dropping it off, but running out of time because someone had a meltdown and then leaving a container of stinky trash in the back of the car. I can hear Jon now lecturing me now...ooops! :o )

So there you have it. The few things I do to try to make the earth a little cleaner for us all to live. What are the little things you do on a day to day basis to help out?

Mr. Fix-it

If you know me, you know that I am a little crazy about my kids' sleep schedules. Consistency is key and one thing that has remained consistent in both Noah's, and now Millie's bedtime routine is Baby Tad. Baby Tad is a stuffed frog who plays 'nighty night' music and allows you to set how long it plays - up to six minutes. This thing has worked wonders on nights when the inevitable night waking occurs and although I don't like to get my kids 'hooked' on something I might need to break them of in the future, this guy has been the one exception. Well good 'ol Tad returned from Florida a changed froggie and not for the better. He no longer worked! Panick set in. Not only is it tough to find this particular model (I don't think they make it anymore), but our first night back, Millie woke up at 4:30am and I really could have used his help. So last night I took Tad to see 'Daddy, MD'. He performed a fairly quick, painless procedure to realign some wires that were out of place. Now Tad is happily singing his merry tunes again and everyone is sleeping through the night again.

All Aboard!

After a trip to Costco we always have plenty of large boxes on hand...what a great train they made and who knew this would keep the little ones busy for almost an hour!

Looks who's 'bringing up the tail!' Good dog, Bowman.

Millie Milestone #3

Millie has a new game she LOVES to play. "How big is Millie?" "SO BIG!" Of course she isn't saying "So big", but she raises her arms when I say it. It is absolutely adorable.

Noah, in his attempt to not be left out of the game, tells me what questions to ask Millie...for example:

Noah: Mommy, how Noah big?

Mommy: Millie, how big is Noah?

Millie: (Raising her arms) Giggle, giggle!

Mommy: So big!

Noah: Mommy, how Daddy big?

... and so on, until he has made it through everyone in the family including Bowman and the house and anything else that happens to catch his eye.

How big is my love for these two little ones? SOOO BIG!

A Day in the Life

Today was a typical day of running errands with the little ones along. I thought you would like to hear how it goes. As stressful as it always seems at the time, I know there will be a time when I will wish to have these days back again!

Today's To Do's:

1. Drop off clothes at the dry cleaner

2. Get new sticker for license plate/registration

3. Go to Costco

4. Pick up a few items at Ulta (beauty supply store/salon)

So we started by getting out of the hosue about 30mins after I wanted to (typical). I managed to get both Noah and Millie and all the dry cleaning out to the car in one trip. Unfortunately, the car was across the street and down two houses. It is so much easier when it is parked right out front! Oh well, that is part of living in the city!

We got to the dry cleaner and I ran the clothes in...only later did I realize I had forgotten the one item Jon told me to be sure to take - his suit coat - even though it was hanging in the dining room right by the front door!

Next I ran into the Currency Exchange to take care of updating the car's registration. This, surprisingly was uneventful and went as planned. A nice treat!

Next stop: Costco.

On our way there I drove by the iron scrap yard. I know this seems weird, but I think it is a pretty cool thing to watch...and I KNOW Noah thinks it is great. There are always multiple cranes picking up scraps of metal, etc and ...when we are lucky...smashed cars! The picture here is actually from the middle of August, but it is pretty much the same sight everytime. I usually park off to the side of the road a little until a semi, scrap truck, or train (see I told you this place is cool) comes by and makes me move. I'm not sure they really appreciate me treating their work site as a toddler attraction, but I know Noah appreciates it and that is what is important to me!

Ok, now off to Costco.

Costco's purpose is twofold. Not only do they have bulk groceries and extra large carts (a bonus when you have two kids), but they have a little area that serves food. It is an easy, quick lunch at a great price that is usually MUCH needed for Noah and me by the time we finish shopping there. We made it through the store without much incident thanks to 20 minutes of Noah's 'knock, knock' jokes. They go like this:

Noah: "Mommy, knock knock"

Mommy: " Who's there?"

Noah: "Bapple" (apple)

Mommy: "Apple, who"

Noah: "Hahahah"

Mommy: "Knock knock"

Noah: "Who dere?"

Mommy: "Tickle"

Noah: "Gickle, who? Hahah!"

Mommy: "Tickle, you!"

To Noah, the 'Gickle, who?' part is the punchline. He gets such a kick out of it he can barely say it through his giggles!"

Just before we finished shopping he announced he had to go potty:

"Uh-oh Mommy! Cotty! Cotty!"

So I threw the last item in the cart and zipped through the checkout and straight to the bathroom (which I know is in the back corner from our previous trips). Phew! We made it in time! After the pitstop, we stopped at the food area for a quick bite to eat and then we were off to our last stop.

At this point, two hours had passed since leaving the house. Millie was now awake and we were quickly approaching Noah's naptime. It was all downhill from there.

We get in the store - which does NOT have carts. As a rule, I should never again even attempt to go in a store without carts. That means Noah is left running loose (literally) and Millie feels like she weighs two tons as I cart her around by the crook of my arm in her carseat...but I only need four items (famous last words!)!

As I looked for items 1 and 2, Noah ran up and down the aisle and his puffy coat kept knocking bottles of shampoo off the shelves. I told him the store was not a place for him to run. He did listen, but aparently I didn't mention anything about not touching anything because next I caught him building a 'tall tower' with jars of moisturizer. So then I fed him the line about keeping his hands to himself. He did a pretty good job of not touching anything but instead asked "Mommy, what dat?" to every item we passed! Ugh. I finally gave up on trying to find the first two items and began hunting for the last two. All of a sudden... "Uh-oh! Mommy! Cotty! Cotty!" Was he joking? We just went in Costco! I found the bathroom and, no, he wasn't joking. He went again and not only did he procede to count 'his work' but he decided to announce my 'work' and acted excited for me - just like I do for him. Thanks Noah. The only person excited by this info was Millie, who is always excited by anything her big brother has to say.

Once we completed Pitstop #2, I realized this was a complete waste of time as this store did not have ANY of the four items I needed! Ugh.

The trip from Ulta to home was a quiet one. I had to work to keep Noah awake at this point. If he falls asleep in the car for even two minutes any chance of a nap is out the window...but he made it home...barely.

Once inside, he found his second wind.

While I was bringing in the groceries from the car - which took me FIVE trips (not counting the trip to get the kids in the house), Noah created a lineup of the most random items.

It was actually pretty funny. Somehow, after an exhausting morning I was still able to find humor in it...until he started to build another 'tall tower' with the tub of cottage cheese, hummus, artichoke dip and sour cream. I had to draw the line somewhere...eventhough he had already created his own line right in the middle of the kitchen.

Good thing naptime was next on the To Do list!! Mommy needs a break!