Daddy & Belle Twins Game, Parenting, Jessica, BenKinley Bash, Maple Grove Community Center

I'm feeling the need for a little pick-me-up tonight, so I decided to sit down and write for a bit. It helps so much to think of my family and all I have to be grateful for. As cliche as it sounds, focusing on what there is to be thankful for wipes out the petty blues like nothing else can.



Looking back over the last week since I've last written, its actually been a fairly mellow week....which is Item #1 to be grateful for. :) Bert took Wednesday off work and brought Isabelle to the Twins game. They had a really good time.





Belle got her face painted and made sure that Bert didn't get to see too much of the game. I don't even remember now if they won or not, but they had a wonderful time.








Let's see, what else? Bert and I have been really working on this parenting stuff. Man - they weren't kidding when they said this is the toughest, but most rewarding job, were they? Isabelle is really pushing the boundaries - on everything. She'll ask for a cookie, I'll say yes. She'll ask for two cookies, I'll say one is enough. But, Mommmmmmaaaaaaaaaa! I REALLY, REALLY want two cookies!! And on and on. Ohhh, but its not just cookies, it is EVERYTHING. Not wanting to go to bed, not wanting to eat dinner, walking V-E-R-Y, V-E-R-Y slowly when I'm in a hurry - you name it. If it is likely to drive me nuts, she does it. So, I'm learning, that I need to figure out a way to keep my emotions out of it and be consistent.....all the time....with everything. You know how hard that is?? Its another one of those things, though that "they" all say....and it works. So, as long as Momma can do what she needs to do, things really do run pretty darn smoothly. Grrrr...I don't like having to be so dang responsible.

Audrey, on the other hand, is asserting herself more and more all the time. For the most part, she is a pretty calm and patient 1-yr old. She'll sit in her stroller just looking around, or she'll walk around the yard while Bert and I are getting stuff done. She'll wander around the house in the morning while we're getting everything ready to head out the door.....but when she is ticked, this child is not afraid to show it! She does the classic "stiff as a board" body trick when I'm holding her and she doesn't want to be held anymore. She'll holler and cry if the gate is up and she wants to get to another room. She'll throw her food on the floor when she is done eating. She'll flip her body over when I'm trying to change her diaper. And she is strong. Oh yeah, and she pinches! These tiny little "this is what you get for not clipping my nails sooner" pinches that actually hurt! She bites, too! She's done it to me twice where she's left a mark. Its usually when she's really excited....not a malicious thing at all.....but it still hurts! I really, really hope I don't have "that one." The biter. Urghhh...I can see the disgusted looks of parents now. Hopefully she'll grow out of it, or we'll be able to get through to her that this is *not* cool.

Her giggles and sweet, soft jibber-jabber make all these trying times worth it, though. It is so cute when we wake her up in the morning to get ready for daycare.....she rolls over a couple times and tries to go back to sleep. When she realizes that this isn't an option, up she stands - barely even awake yet, but she stands up right away, huge smile on her face. She'll usually grab her baby or kitty - hug it under one arm and reach up for me or Bert with her other arm. Its these little things that make all those challenges seem so small. And lately, we've been getting the "cheese" smile. Have a look for yourself. How can you not be in a good mood when you see this?


One of my really good friends, Jessica, is in town. I went to high school with her and we became immediate friends while discussing the Violent Femmes and other common interests when we were bunked up for an "away" volleyball tournament....I think that may have been the summer before high school....and the friendship continues 16 years later. Who woulda thunk it? The Violent Femmes of all things! Anyway, she is in town from Brooklyn, where she is currently stationed (assigned?) as an FBI agent. She's home because her mom is pretty sick. MaryAnn has cancer - and in late May they were saying she may have 30-60 days. I'm crying as I write this. It just seems so unfair. Jessica and I were so close in high school, and MaryAnn was like a second mom to me. It makes me so sad to think of her getting this awful disease. And then to think of Jessica, her 3 sisters, and Jerry, her dad and MaryAnn's husband....not to mention the grandkids and other extended family. It just breaks my heart. No one should have to go through this. It is just so sad. Tough to not ask "Why" when something like this happens.

Anyway, Jessica and I were able to get together last Friday night. It was bittersweet. We went to a great little restaurant on St. Anthony Main called Aster Cafe. It was great. I usually am not too fond of eating outdoors, but they had a great patio and the weather was perfect. We talked for hours. A lot of it was about her mom and my dad, and the struggles they, and we, have had over the last year or so. We talked a lot about the "why" questions. Ultimately coming up with no answer, but the conclusion that its about really living every day that we've got. Not compromising. Not letting fear get in the way. Having open and honest relationships. And loving like there is no tomorrow....cause none of us knows when our time will come.

Our night wasn't all so serious, though. We reminisced about "the good old" days. Lots of memories were created in those 4 short years. One thing that I love about Jessica is that no matter what has happened, no matter how long its been since we've seen each other, when we get together, its like we've never been apart. There is no competition, no jealousy, no judgment. Its just a great, great friendship. And I'm so grateful for it.

OK, so that was Friday night. Saturday night was the 2nd Annual BenKinley Bash. A couple of our neighbors put on a little neighborhood shindig for the residents of Benjamin and McKinley Streets, between 34th and 35th Streets. Last year, Isabelle made a name for herself by falling into Jerry's (one of the organizer's) coy fish pond. It scared the crap out of her, but it was sooo funny! We told her this year she should just wear her swimsuit. She didn't think that was so funny. Last year, Audrey was just a couple months old, so we didn't stay too late, but this year - oh boy - we stayed and saw stuff we probably would be better off not seeing! I'll omit the names, but by the time midnight rolled around, we'd seen two dogs got in a fight that was luckily broken up before either got hurt too badly, one neighbor dancing on the roof of the garage giving us an underwear "moon" and another neighbor managed to fall 2 separate times, but escape any significant harm. Its kind of like the work Christmas party.....don't these people know that they just shouldn't get THAT drunk in these sorts of situations? Although, it was pretty funny.... and I must say, I'm looking forward to the 3rd annual BenKinley Bash.

On Sunday Isabelle, Audrey and I met Diane, Ashley, Alyssa and Amiya at the Maple Grove Community Center. They've got a really great pool area....very kid friendly. It has an indoor area and an outdoor area. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast. Audrey is my little dare-devil. She loves water slides! I couldn't believe it. She'd climb up the steps and practically dive down the slide. I'd grab an arm before she went flying down the slide and she'd laugh and laugh as she went down by herself. She was loving it! Isabelle is a little more cautious. More like me. She's getting really good in the water, though. She is putting her face in the water now and learning some more swimming basics. I think the swim classes we took are really helping her comfort level. Time to sign up for the next round.

It was great to see Diane, Ashley, Alyssa and Amiya, too. We've been hanging out a bit, outside of daycare, and I'm really enjoying their company. Audrey and Amiya are basically the same age.... separated by just under 3 months. I hear they are "besties" at daycare. They are soo cute together. They are gonna be trouble when they get older! This picture is one from daycare.... I was too busy and wet from swimming with the girls to get any pics from the water park! We had a blast! We'll definitely go there again.

So much that I want to do - just wish I had the time to do it all. Wish the balance was a little less work and a little more play!

Another great week was had by the McDonough family. And it worked..... My mood is lifted! Off to read in bed for a bit. I just got the first book in a series I've been hearing a lot about...the Prey Series, by John Sandford. This one, I think, is called Rules of Prey. My expectations are high on the enjoyment factor and low on the quality factor. Just what this tired woman needs....a little mindless reading to lose myself in for a while!

Good night!
Mary

County Fair, Belle's Pedi, Peeing on a Tree, Crazy Idiot

COUNTY FAIR: As a reward for Isabelle getting all of her stickers for her morning and evening "to-do" charts (brushing teeth, brushing hair, getting dressed/in jammies, etc), we took her (and the little one, too) to the Ramsey County Fair on Friday. It was fun - we went to the petting zoo area, walked through the church/school/Avon/Mary Kay/political swayers/healthy cooking area and scored as many free treats as we could for the kids, signed up for a free consultation to have our basement re-done, ate some junk, went on some kids rides - which were pretty boring as Isabelle isn't exactly a dare-devil - played a $5 fishing game so Isabelle could win a toy that cost $0.02, ate some ice cream, listened to some awesome live 80's music (side note: how is it that EVERY carnival/fair has 80's music blaring from radios in the ride area and if there happens to be a live band, they are playing all of our "favorite" 80's tunes? I'd be willing to bet that they even played 80's music at carnivals in the 50's & 60's. Seriously.) and watched two monkeys riding dogs race each other around a little race track. Isabelle posed for a picture with the winning monkey after the races - it was so cute!



After the monkey races, we walked by the bungee trampoline thing. Isabelle really surprised me - she saw some kids (around her age and younger) doing the bungee thing and she wanted to try it. I'll try to describe it...Its a blown up trampoline - with a circumference the size of - I don't know - a Camry? You climb up on the trampoline thing and they strap you in a harness....around your waist and both legs. You've got bungees hanging down from the towers above down to your waist - and you grab them with both hands and jump. Somehow you end up jumping really, REALLY high - if you want to. I'm not sure how it all works - science never was a strong subject for me - but I do know that you can get pretty stinkin' high. Back to Belle - she wanted to do it, so we waited in line for at least 45 minutes - no exaggeration - and watched a bunch of kids jumping and laughing. She was so patient. Then, it was her turn. She waved to me with a big smile on her face, climbed up on the trampoline thing, got all rigged up, ready to go. She then started slightly bouncing on the trampoline...IF she got her feet off the trampoline, it was by an inch or two. She kind of smiled politely and asked to get down. I encouraged her to jump more, but she wasn't having it. The guy running the thing unhooked her and told me and Bert that we could use her remaining time if we wanted --- I was game! It was a blast! Now, I know I'm not in the best shape I've ever been, but I wore myself out jumping on that thing! It was so much fun...I couldn't believe how high I was getting, then the guy running the thing grabbed onto one side of the bungees and started jumping with me. On the third jump, he pulled me down as far as he could "into" the trampoline and launched me into the air - I flew! He did that a couple times and I laughed and laughed. It was a great use of $6. I was proud of Belle for giving it a try - and I was happy to take over for her when she'd had enough. :)

We ended the night watching the fireworks and then drove two very tired girls home and carried them to bed. It was a good day.

ISABELLE'S FIRST PEDICURE:

I never thought it would happen, but here I am, blogging about how my 4-yr old daughter has received her first pedicure. This isn't such a bad thing....just never thought that this moment would happen. 1. I'm blogging and 2. My 4-yr old has had a pedicure. Really? A 4-yr old. Yes. Really. This may be part of why the majority of the world hates us here in the US....ya think? OK, now that I've got my common-sense opinion sarcastically voiced, I can have fun with this. It was so cute! She was happy as could be, sitting in the chair while the lady painted her toenails. She felt like one of the ladies! It was adorable. We met our daycare lady, Diane, and her grown daughters, Ashley and Alyssa (and Alyssa's baby, Amiya) at the nail shop, just to chat while they were getting their pedis. I consider them my friends - not just "the daycare lady and her family." I'm telling ya, this is the BEST daycare ever. Diane and her family and all the other families that go there. We are truly blessed. Anyway, then, someone, who shall remain nameless, offered to have Belle get her nails painted, too. So Amiya and Belle both got their toes done. It was cute and I was happy to share some "girlie" time with Isabelle. P.S. Thank you to the nameless source of the pedi! Isabelle is still so proud of it!

PEEING ON A TREE: Just another reminder that mommy should really have her daughter go potty BEFORE we leave the house. Last night, Isabelle, Audrey and I were walking Isabelle's friend, Leah, home after a day of playing at our house. Leah lives about 3 blocks away. At, oh, approximately 1.5 blocks into the walk, Isabelle informs me of her urgent need to go potty. We're just as close to Leah's house as we are to our own at this point, so I tell Belle she's just gonna have to hold it - we'll be there soon. I pick up the pace in hopes that we can avert a true potty emergency. No luck. Isabelle says she REALLY has to go. What am I supposed to do here? We're on a residential street, not a porta-potty in site and she needs to go. She can't make it to Leah's, we can't make it back home, so I tell her she'll need to cop a squat by a tree. Yup. I said it. And yup. I tried to hide behind said tree. These are my neighbors for cryin' out loud! Isabelle proceeds to find a big tree on the boulevard, pull down her pants, squat down and pee....all over her legs, shoes, shorts and panties. Ughhh. Wonderful. Now, not only did I embarrass our family by having my daughter pee in plain site of any/everyone around, but she did a piss-poor job of it (Ha!) and we have to head back home anyway! We may have had better luck having her try to "hold it."

Back home we go - into the bath, jammies on - and we head out again to bring Leah home. As we walked by the pee-tree, Leah said, as she pushed Audrey in her stroller, "See that tree, Audrey? That's where your sister peed. Yup, right there." My heart swelled with pride. Has mommy learned her lesson? I hope so.

CRAZY IDIOT: AN IZZY-ISM: Isabelle and I sat down tonight to play a game of Crazy Eights. As I was shuffling the cards - doing that "bridge shuffle" thing - Isabelle said, "Crazy Idiot." I explained to her that the game is called Crazy Eights, not Crazy Idiot. She said, "No Momma. When you do that to the cards, they say, 'Crazy Idiot.'" I did it again....when you shuffle the cards, it sounds a bit like "crazy" (OK, its a stretch, but a little), then when you "bridge" them up it sounds like "idiot." Try it. So now, to shuffle, is to "crazy idiot" the cards.

So much for the quick post before bed! I'm shot!

Over and out - good night to all!
Mary

July 15, 2010

With everything that I want to write about tonight, I'm realizing that I'm gonna need to start getting to this more than once a month. Bert just came in and rattled off 3 or 4 more things, too! Too much happens in a month to capture it in one sitting. Plus - I read my last blog....a bit long! I'll aim for at least a couple times a month. We'll see how that goes.

First, a story from today. Isabelle, my 4-yr old, talks.....a lot. She asks questions....lots of questions. On our way to daycare this morning, she was blasting away with question after question. At one point, the car in front of us turned into a gas station, so, naturally, she asked why the car went to the gas station. I've been attempting to deflect some questions by asking another question right back. My question to her was, "What do you think a reason would be for a car to go to a gas station?" In her sweet little voice, she said, "I knooooowwwwwww. To get some chew!" I couldn't help but laugh. Bert, honey, I think its time to give it up!

And then we've got Audrey, our 1-yr old. Precious little Audrey. Sweet little girl. Last Saturday, all of the daycare families threw a surprise BBQ for our AMAZING daycare provider, Diane. We've got this wonderful daycare family - it is the best. Anyway, I got myself ready for the BBQ, Bert was ready and Isabelle wanted to go get ready, too. I'd been keeping her out of the bedroom the girls share because Audrey was sleeping - so when Bert and I were all ready (cooler packed, food ready, diaper bag packed, etc) I told Belle she could go in and wake up Audrey....plan was Isabelle would get dressed and I'd get some fresh clothes on Audrey and we'd be off. So Isabelle goes in the room and I hear, in a perfect valley girl imitation, "Oh my god (we've been working on "gosh" - not quite there yet), Momma.....come here right now!" I walk into the bedroom and this is what I see:

Yeah - in case you can't quite tell what you're looking at here...that would be poop - all over Audrey and her crib. It was on her pacifier, on her face, covering her hands, her body, her "babies" in her crib, a stuffed animal or two, mashed into her sheet, some on the wall and two nicely formed balls of poo laying on the wood floor in front of the crib. I don't even know what to think. Then I hear Isabelle, again with the valley girl talk, "Oh my god....I think I'm throwing up." Then the humor found me. I laughed and laughed. Isabelle joined me. Bert was having a tough time with gagging, but he could appreciate the humor in it, too. I grabbed my camera, Audrey threw some poo against the wall, took out her poop-crusted pacifier and started blowing kisses - poopy hands, poopy mouth and all. It was the most disgusting and cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm laughing again just writing this. It was gloriously awful.

Let's see, what else have we seen in the last month? Well, Mike and Sasha got married on June 18. It was a wonderful, small, outdoor wedding. Sasha looked beautiful! Mike cleans up pretty well, too. It was such a happy day. I don't know what it is about weddings, but they get me every time. I don't know if I became this emotional wuss after having kids or what, but I cry at the first sign of someone else's emotion now. Commercials, cards, weddings, funerals - they all get me now. Anyway, it was a great night. Steve, a fried of all of ours, performed the short ceremony, then we all headed over to Mufeletta (sp?) for dinner. The following day they had an outdoor BBQ reception with a great band...Cadillac Kolstad. Other than my own, this was probably one of the coolest receptions I've been to. Everything was great - the food, the ambiance, the weather, the people, the music. Sasha put a lot of work into the planning and it paid off. It was WONDERFUL! Here's a shot of Mike and Sasha at the reception:


And here's one of me and Bert at the reception:


On June 22, we went to the annual Celebrate NE Parade. The girls had a good time. We went with Malachi and Nyah from daycare, along with their mom, Danielle, and Becky (both friends of mine - also daycare moms) whose daughter, Jolie was in the parade with her dad. It was hot, hot, hot that day, but these are the things we do for our kids, right? It took Isabelle about half way through the parade to become assertive enough to get to the front of the kid-mob to get some candy that was being thrown by the parade walkers. She is so shy and timid sometimes. I see so much of myself in her....I hope she doesn't allow herself to be held back by her shyness. She's such a great kid - I wish she could just be confident. At the parade, though, after missing out enough times, she made she that she wasn't overlooked anymore. That's my girl!!

We spent the following weekend (6/25-6/27) in Duluth with my brother, Dan, his wife, Jenny and their son, Benjamin. Jenny is pregnant with their second child - due in October. They live near Fargo, ND...I wish they lived closer - it would be nice to see them more regularly. Duluth was fun - a perfect balance of relaxation and activity. We stayed in the same hotel as them and met up for some stuff and did our own thing part of the time. Our room was perfect - a separate living room area (where the girls slept) with french doors that opened into our bedroom. I swear - that's the only way to do it with 2 young ones! Everyone had enough space and got enough sleep. Makes a world of difference when traveling as a family!

Friday we met up with "the Gwynns" in the afternoon by Lake Superior and went to the Maritime Museum - a big hit with the little ones. :) Then we walked out on the pier to the lighthouse and came back to throw rocks in the lake. As far as I'm concerned, no trip to Duluth is complete without these two activities....the light house and throwing rocks. They've just got to happen.














We met up again with "the Gwynns" after dinner for swimming in the hotel pool, then back to our room for some good old fashioned channel surfing. Ahhhhh, hotels. NOT being home, where there are always a million things to do. And it was good.

The next day "the Gwynns" went on a cruise and we went to Superior Zoo, which, in my opinion, wasn't so superior, but we had a good time. We spent some time relaxing in our wonderful hotel room, Isabelle and I swam for a bit, then we all drove out to Two Harbors to the famous Betty's Pies. I was really excited to try it, not too impressed, though. Maybe I got the wrong kind of pie. Coconut cream....it was good, but my expectations were pretty high. Damn those expectations, they will always lead to disappointment. I've learned that over and over, but they still creep in.

Sunday we drove home in the morning to get back to the cities in time for Grandpa Bob's 90th birthday party. Everyone was there - it was a nice little shin-dig. Grandma Dorothy shares the day - it was her 89th birthday.

Bert turned 38 on July 1st and we went to another Twins game on the 2nd. They won and the night was capped of with fireworks after the game. It was a pretty good display! 4-5 songs-worth of fireworks. Which made up for our 4th of July - which was pretty uneventful. The weekend as a whole was OK, but our typical "4th of July" events left us wanting.

The beach picture was from July 3rd. That was a fun day.

Isabelle, Audrey and I met my girlfriend Erica and her daughter, Mallory at the Mall of America during the day on the 4th. That was several hours worth of trying to keep Isabelle happy and entertained, while trying to keep the little ones (Audrey is 13 months and Mallory is 11 months) busy, peppered with several attempts between Erica and me to actually catch up with each other. Needless to say, it didn't work. We decided that next time we get together (which will probably be in 2012 at the rate we're going) that we'll meet at one of our homes. Then we will at least have a fighting chance of being able to talk a bit.

We planned on going downtown to watch the fireworks that night, but after several attempts at finding a decent parking spot, then going to a different location with only a view of the fireworks that are shot VERY high in the air (above the treeline) and no fireworks "noise" to accompany the flash of light because we were so far away....all the while dragging around 2 very tired little girls, we ended up standing on a bridge were we could see the last 5 minutes of the display. It was pretty pathetic. Bert and I were both pretty crabby by this point, as were the girls, so we drove home and I felt pretty crappy about the whole thing for a day or two. You know how sometimes things just don't turn out how you'd like them to? Well, that was our 4th of July. There's always next year, right?

Last Friday, July 9th, Audrey had her first bloody incident. Ughhh. These are the times that I hate being the adult. I want someone else to be in charge! Audrey was standing by our big brown chair in the living room - facing it with her hands on the seat of the chair. For a reason only Isabelle will ever know, she (Belle) decided to grab Audrey's ankles and pull them straight back, effectively pulling Audrey from the chair to do a direct face plant on the ground. I was in the bathroom cleaning up after the bath when I hear Bert say, "Oh my god! Oh my god!" I run out to find Bert holding Audrey - the shoulder of his shirt soaked with blood - blood running out of Audrey's mouth, soaking the front of her shirt and Audrey crying hysterically. I don't know what it is, but its like I turn into someone else. Someone much better at staying calm and taking care of business that the Mary I know is. Long story short: she cut the inside of her mouth with her teeth - it bled like crazy for a while, but she was fine. Isabelle was sent to her room. When Bert and I went in to talk with her, she really impressed me. I think she felt bad enough seeing how badly she hurt Audrey. Right away she apologized for what she did and said that maybe next time she should ask me or Bert to help move her. She's got a great heart, but she's getting a little rough with her sister. Hmmmmmm....parents out there have ideas to curb this kind of thing?? Hopefully this was an isolated incident and she's learned her lesson. I hope so...I feel like we all lucked out that it wasn't worse than a bloodied lip.

The next day, July 10th was the poop incident and the daycare BBQ.

Yesterday, July 14th, Isabelle had her last of 6 pre-karate classes. It was parent's night where they show us what they've learned. It was really cute. Right now she says that she doesn't want to continue on, but I hope she goes back to it at some point. I think its good for her. Right now, though, she wants to take another round of swimming lessons. We tried to get back into a round of music class (one of Belle's favorites), but they didn't have enough interest in the evening classes. We'll try again in the fall.

That brings us to today. Nothing too note-worthy today, but tomorrow we're off to the Ramsey County Fair to celebrate Isabelle doing such a great job with her morning and evening checklists. Yup, we had to do checklists. Things like brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, getting dressed, getting in jammies, etc were turning into power struggles all too regularly....until the checklists and sticker reward. A week worth of AM and PM stickers = something good. This week - the first week - its a trip to the fair. The plan is that the "something good" will gradually taper down to nothing - once these things become habit and non-power struggle issues. We'll start big and keep the excitement going for now. :)

All right. That's it. I'll try to get back here, for a more reasonably-sized update in a couple weeks!

Over and out,
Mary