Walks

If you know me - or us - you know we like to take walks. We usually take the same route, down Kenneth, keep going, turn around just in time before a tantrum may ensue. Sometimes we don't walk. Sometimes we consider the LA zoo the walk. Sometimes we get babysitters so we can walk. Sometimes the kids use strollers. Sometimes they don't.

I like when the kids are sitting quietly in a stroller. But that rarely happens. This is what usually happens:

I put the girls in the stroller. I go back inside for that last princess toy that needs to be in a princess bag of course with some extra accessories. I come outside and the girls are out of the stroller, and Alex says : Let them walk.

My first instinct has recently been: No way Jose. No way. Take the stroller. If they wanna walk, they can walk, but if they don't want to they can sit down. I don't want to carry anyone. I don't want anyone on my shoulders, and I especially do not want to carry two of them who don't want to be carried by the husband. But lately my fears have just been that - fears, cuz the walks without the strollers ain't so bad. Alex ends up carrying Effie who seems to like her Dad a bit more these days, and Celia just walks. Miles sometimes, all by herself.

And so, the other day we wanted to take a walk. But the big boss Celia - who insists Effie is the boss - said she didn't want to walk to see Ryan (the guy at the liquor store), or run, or sit in the stroller, nothing. But my hippy husband, and I say hippy cuz he was wearing tie dye that day, said "Take your instruments and we'll march"

"Ok! But I (stress the I) will be the leader." (said Celia)

We took off, Celia with a yellow recorder in the front.
Effie behind her with a brown recorder and a fat orange maraca in the other hand.
Me with a recorder and Alex with a blue melodica - (for those of you who don't know what it is, it's mini-teeny piano with a long tube you blow through.

I think it was the fastest mile and a half we ever walked. We definitely woke up the neighborhood. It was quite embarassing (but not as embarrassing as walking to the grocery store yesterday next to Alex who was wearing a woman's wig that Celia asked him to wear. Now THAT was embarrassing, and I will not write on that subject any further cuz it offends my nature).

But I digress. The marching band thing was pretty fun, but whenever we passed anyone, I was too scared of not blowing like a dork into the recorder out of the fear that Celia may not want to continue walking if I were to cease my screeching sounds, and I never made eye contact with the passers-by. I just kept tooting that little pseudo-instrument and stopping whenever the leader would shout "HOOOO!" It was so funny cuz Effie would always slam into her when she'd abruptly stop. Then of course commands were given to continue the march and this continued well on into a business sector of the neighborhood, then back into residential, and finally back home.

I felt like we looked like some messed up 60's wierdo family scampering the sidewalks cuz of the tie-dye thing, and nothing like the Partridge family (which would be a step up) cuz the sounds we were making were quite awful and ear piercing.

In the end we made it home, and as soon as we walked in the door, Celia collapsed on the service porch (a.k.a laundry room floor) moaning in fatigue. But she sure was a good leader.

I'm proud of the kid for walking so much. Effie made it half way and spent the rest blowing the melodica tube on Alex's shoulders.

And since it's been awhile, again, I'll just say to you all that I miss you, hope you're well, and that we can see eachother soon.
Oh, I just remembered a funny thing Celia told me the other day. The same night we did the marching walk, she and Effie Rosey cakes did one of the "let's do something crazy before bed to prolong the agony for mom things" and carefully emptied the 4 pairs of high heels I own and took turns with them all walking around the house like "fawncy ladies" (say it like an old English woman) then Celia said to me :

"Mom! Mom! Mom! Turn out the lights!!! Turn out the lights!"
"What for? So you guys can fall on your faces in the dark with those high heels?"
"No - I need you to turn off the light so that the dark matches my high heels." (she was wearing black ones)

Well, it was funny to me. And even better, cuz no one fell on their face.

Bad Memory

I was listening to some program on the radio one day while washing the dishes (which is my new thing, cuz listening makes me feel like I have company while I do the dirty work) and they (who's they you ask? I don't know) were talking about how some guy who works for microsoft has been wearing a teeny tiny camera attached to his eyebrow for many years now, and at the end of each day, he watches his entire day in some fast forward version that takes 3 minutes and I guess the point is that you forget exactly HOW much you actually do in a day. And I think My point is that I wish I had one of those things, cuz various times throughout the day something happens that I want to recall for the blog, but by this time I can't remember a thing. And forget the end of each day... I haven't written in weeks and I know a zillion funny wonderful things have happened but I don't even know where to begin.

Hmmm... let's see how I can update you the best. Hmm. Ok, fine I'll make a list. I like lists. I just wish I could make lists of things to do that I'd actually do. But that's besides the point.

!. I decided to stop taking Celia to the Nazi ballet teacher. Effie refused to dance, and I got too sleepy watching Celia yawn 37 times in 30 minutes.
2. We went to the Observatory to see... Hershel, and found out that if they say you can't park up at the top, just tell em that you have to drop off two crying babies with one parent, then they'll let you go up, and there will inevitably be parking up there.
3. Offspring number 2 is talking. A LOT! She likes to say "No way Jose". But it sounds like "Naway Ze".
4. I think Alex and I have been out 2 times without babies at night in 2 weeks thanks to Mo and Tree.
5. I started working again, not much, but just enough, and it'z cool.
6. I really miss writing this blog, and hope to get back into a weekly routine, so please, be patient with me.
7. Went bowling, and found out Effie has no problem lifting 12 pound bowling balls but likes dropping them.

So as you can see things have been ... normal... I guess. A lot has happened and things haven't been too crazy. I've been able to deal positively with the girls and now am just worried about Kindergarten and the fact that they are getting too big, too fast, and it scares me.

I've gots to go, but I think that I'm gonna keep a little pen with me to write notes on my hand or a scrap piece of paper so as not to offend my father (cuz he doesn't dig the writing on the hand thing) so I can be sure to blog next time about all the freakin funny stuff my kids say everyday. And if you miss them, come visit, or call, or write, cuz the girls are absolutely incredible.

Austrollia

If the girls can sleep in for at least a few more minutes, I'll be able to complete this post and post it. Let's pray.

How's it going? Hope you are all well, and that you avoided the winter colds and yucky stuff, and if you did - lucky you. We didn't exactly and Celia is getting over what Effie had for it seems weeks, and hopefully it doesn't recycle itself back into the household. That would stink.

Other than the sickies we are all good.

Lately when I've been thinking about blogging, the only thing I want to write is "Effie is so cute. Effie is so cute. Effie is so cute."

I mean, even when she was sicky, she'd say with her eyebrows at a frown, "no mom, I sicky". Too cute. In fact she says almost everything with that little confused frown as she squints her eyes, and it's so dang cute I just can't dang stand it!

You wanna know how cute she is? Well, if you didn't know already her words and speech has been a little limited till now, but the other night I was putting the little monkeys to bed, did all the night checks, and Celia was down for the count. Then, out of no where, Effie, who hasn't said more than 2 words at a time, said "I lub lu Mom". Then... a few seconds later said: "I lub lu Lela". "I lub lu too Dada". It was one of the happiest moments of my mom life.

And speaking of night checks. Celia has added one to the nighttime routine:

Did we play with our glo-sticks? Check!

The other day Alex got some glow sticks for them, and he likes to play with them at night of course, and they turn off all the lights in the house and hide them around and collect them up, then repeat this way too many times. It's really fun for them, tiring for me when I actually want them to wind down for bed. But whatever, you can't put limits on fun for a kid can you? Anyhow, last night for the second time this year, they took a glo-stick bath. You gotta see this - we turn out the lights while they are in the ducky - the bath - and drop all the light sticks in the water and they light up the bath tub. It looks like they are swimming in a park fountain. And it's hilarious. You should try it!

And I hear them, so I'll make this quick, but yesterday we were playing with Celia's imaginary friends and I heard her say "oh, how do you do? I'm from Austrollia!"
That was funny. I gotta go.

Post 65

FYI - I didn't draw this - a student did.

Where have you all been? It feels like it's been 7 weeks since I've written, but it's only been about 3. Either way - internet was unavailable for a short time, and so I had to live life not only without television but internet. But it's back, and not as accessible as before, but till I get a laptop, I'll try to blog every week again.

And in case you are wondering - yes I'm alive. Yes I'm busy. Yes, I've been trying to keep my house decent, my children well fed, and all that mommy stuff. And to top that all off, I've been about 13% more organized, so I feel good.

It's been a fun past few weeks. Quite a few zoo adventures, where we walk around the zoo, and the girls keep magic powder in their pockets that protect the animals (especially the mighty sea eagle) from losing their coats/fur/skin to the evil witch of the zoo. It's perty entertaining, and a good place to walk.

We have been frequenting the library - and go once a week now with the 3rd muskateer - Sasha - Celia and Effie's cuzin, so running around town with 3 kids has been a good exercise in mommy-ing for me. The biggest pain about having 3 kids is putting 3 kids in 3 carseats - other than that, when another pal is around, they tend to entertain themselves better and it gives me a little break.

On our last trip to see Hershel - you know him, the astronomer who lives at the Observatory, it happened to be Valentine's night. We had to park WAY at the bottom of the hill by the tunnel at Griffith Park, and walk all the way up, me carrying 35 pound Celia, and Alex carrying 32 pound Effie, and it must've been 46 degrees outside, and the entire way down, Celia ran screaming as if the big bad wolf was chasing her - but she does tend to over exaggerate - and people who saw her must have thought she was running from a kidnapper or something - but it was fun - except I had to chase her with Effie in my arms. Alex was 1 step behind her to make sure she didn't run into the street cuz it was pretty dark.

But have you ever noticed all these lovey couples go out on Valentine's day? I mean, I knew the Observatory view was romantic and all, but I had to idea it was the 2/11 hotspot in LA. I'm talking a zillion couples, all cutesy, cuddly, and smoochy. Love was definitely in the air, and I never in my life saw so many public displays of affection. I felt so outta place, and wanted to warn the people out there that they better not get married and have kids if they wanna keep those butterflies in their tummies. Hahaha.. yuk yuk yuk.

We got to look at Venus through one of the monster telescopes which was cool. Celia was dressed up like Snow White, and her dress stuck out of her 3 jackets, and her cape, headband, and long dress made it apparent of who she was, and EVERY person who saw her either laughed or said how cute it was that mini-snow white was running around. Effie was Mulan, but you couldn't tell cuz she was under even more layers. Even though I was thinking in my mind "Oh heck no" when we had to park at the bottom of the hill, I'm glad we went - cuz it made for a nice first Valentine's day out on the town with the family.

And you guys? What's up with you? Huh? Any news? Well, let me know - cuz I'm interested, and I hope to see your faces soon. I'll be sure to write again soon, so stay tuned.

Sleepers

I'm about 90% there.

For 3 nights in a row I've gotten my kids to bed within 15 minutes of turning out the lights. You may think that's a long time, but it used to be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour for the girls to settle with the lights out. There was always a "I forgot to make a wish", or a "Mimmy (minnie)" from Effie, or a "baby Mimmy", meaning Effie's minnie needed her baby, or "more water please", or "where's Dad", or a "Dada!", or about 20 other things.

But now... we do the routine, and by 7:45 we're in bed. Of course we do read at least 5 books, sometimes 17, but when the books are done, I turn off the lights, and I say:

"Did we brush our teeth?"
"CHECK!" (the girls say)
"Did we read our books?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we have our sippy of water?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we say our prayers?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we get in our pajamas?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we make our wish on our wishy stars?"
"CHECK!"
"Do you have Eeyore?"
"CHECK!"
"Do you have Minnie, baby minnie, and baby baby Minnie?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we have a before bedtime snack?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we give our goodnight hugs?"
"CHECK!"
"Did we give our goodnight Kiss?"
"CHECK!"

Then I sing this new lullaby that I made up and they fall asleep quick. But tonight Alex tried singing it with me, and being out of tune, and not knowing the song, and hearing him hum a tune that sounded like a Communion Hymn kind of slowed the process down, cuz I kept trying to shush him. But either way, they all (including Alex) were asleep by 8:30. Fine by me.

I ended up taking off to do my grocery shopping and saw a ton of kids at the store, and I just felt sorry for the parents. Cuz that means, if they aren't in bed by 9:30, they still have to get home, and do whatever THEY do before going to bed, and then it'll be 11pm before the poor moms can rest.

But it's 12:15 am now, and I did the domestic duty of... NO... not the dishes - they are still patiently waiting for me... but I .... picked up about 14 marker caps, put away 17 dvds in their appropriate boxes, picked up pieces of make up, toys, books, trash, crap, junk, clothes, dirty clothes, dirty diapers, receipts, the remains of trash that accumulates after making brownies, and other things that are so tiny it's so annoying to clean up. Man, all this never ends does it? I feel like I must walk miles a day just circulating my house putting things in their place. I'm serious.

But it's time for bed.
Did I do the dishes? no check.
Did I brush? Check.
Did I blog? Check.
Did I read the stupid news? Check.
Did I talk to Cathie? Check.
Did I put on a pot of beans in the slow cooker? Check.
Did I put a chicken in the other slow cooker? Check.
Did I put in another load of laundry? no check.
Did I say goodnight to you? GOODNIGHT!

Check.

Thanks for Babysitting Mom

There are a few things I've been noticing lately.

One is that I don't close things or put things away - (thanks a lot Dad). I definitely inherited this trait. I think. And likely to a worse degree than Mr. H. But I never close drawers or cabinets. It's starting to get on my nerves. I also like to leave things wherever I am when I finish using them - like the phone on top of Celia and Effie's cardboard box home - (don't worry - they don't sleep in it outside or anything - it's in their room) or leaving hair barrettes above the chimney. I'm workin on it though.

And you know what? You should have seen the mound of dishes this morning. I mean - yesterday we were so busy all day and I cooked an extravagant meal - and blah blah blah, but I woke up to the dirty work and it really was dirty work. I think it took me over 53 minutes to deal with it in its entirety and when I was done I felt like a new super human. The girls watched this stupid movie about Barbie the entire time. So that's what I get for leaving them (the dishes) till morning - kids who are starting to love Barbie. (No offense to Barbie lovers) Oh heavens. And when I was about 90% done, Alex walked in, and I said to myself "he better not complain about the girls watching too much tv, cuz this is a job that can not wait", and you know what he said, "have you ever heard of that saying that mothers are saints? Well, now I can see why they say that." - yes he was referring to my domestic duties and the mighty job of dishwashing, and I told him - no - I had not heard that saying - but I know I have a long ways to go to reach sainthood - well... maybe not too long - but I'm workin on it. (at least it runs in the family - thanks Mom)

Does this make any sense?

Well, whatever - I finished, then asked Alex how much I would have had to pay him to do the job, and he said 10 bucks. He said won't do anything for under 10. Hmm. I should have considered that, but I didn't have 10 bucks on me.

And you would have thought that in all that time - during all those 53 minutes I would have thought of something more interesting to write huh? Well - not really. Even though my mind is constantly stirring with new ideas, new thoughts, etc. etc. etc - I just can't seem to figure out how to organize them into a blog post.

Ok - what you just read was written 4 days ago. It was Friday, and it's now Monday - so I'll start over.

The watching movies - doing back exercises - and having late night snacks has continued - which gives me more time to do things that take me away from the things I should be doing - like cleaning the bathroom mirror, writing a blog entry, trimming Effie's finger and toenails, or really scrubbing the stove. ugg. Please - someone send me a magical housecleaner from the sky that's free. And mom - if you're reading this - don't get any ideas - you know me - in the end I take care of business.

This is starting to get a little jumbled, and you don't know how bad I wish I could write every entry about Alex. I mean, he does the funniest things - you would think he were a comedian. You have to live with him to get it, but I would embarrass him too much if I did - so I won't - at least not now.

But I said in the headline - Thanks for Babysitting mom - cuz tonight we were able to drive and have a conversation - (yes - a conversation between me and Alex that wasn't interrupted by the screams of Celia talking to her hands and feet. Forget Nala and Simba - her hands, she has names now for individual fingers, or Effie freaking out cuz she always drops some kind of food under her butt and can't reach it), eat food in peace and quiet without any of that food falling onto my clothes, on the floor, or having to get a different fork 3 times, or a different plate, or having to warm up 2 different things after serving my kids already and then I realize they aren't gonna eat it, or getting up to get juice again, or another cup cuz the girls won't share, and more than that we were able to take a walk - a walk in which we didn't have to play Cruella De Ville - (which we now have to play every time we take a walk) where Alex is Cruella, and I become Horace and Jasper, and we have to chase the girls, and of course Celia is Anita or Perdita, and Effie is Sargent Tubbs the Cat, or whatever - cuz it gets tiring, and thanks cuz we actually took a hike and watched the sunset - which as cheesy as it sounds is so nice, so with that being said - please know how much I appreciate it. And to all the other babysitters - you KNOW who you are - muchas gracias! Take my kids ANYTIME!

(This sounds so mean doesn't it? Well, mind you I DO really miss them when they are gone - I do - I swear - you don't believe me? Come on - I said I promise)

Ok OK. I'll just say goodbye already, and say things are good. Things are actually better than good. Maybe next time I'll write about all the dejavu's I've been having. Maybe not. Ok enough already. See ya laters.

Innocent Children

It's been way too long. I don't usually wait more than a week to write, but the hubby has been hogging up the computer and I've been hanging out at night doing something I don't normally do - but hey, it's a new year right.

Oh, what have I been doing instead of hanging out on the internet and writing blogs at stupid hours of the night? A... well, I've been watching movies, doing back exercises, and folding laundry. Boring. I know. Well, the movie watching thing ain't too bad, but boring for most people considering I'm watching a bunch of artsy fartsy stuff.

One movie I saw today, and yesterday - (cuz I can never watch an entire movie in one sitting, cuz that's like sitting for 2 hours, and a mommy doesn't know how to SIT for 2 hours, cuz it's impossible, or isn't ALLOWED to SIT for 2 hours, (unless a babysitter is involved) anyway - so I watched a movie called "The River", and I just knew the entire time this little boy was gonna get killed by a Cobra, and I didn't want it to happen, knew it was gonna, and it did... but after he died, this guy said - how the kid was lucky, cuz he died being a kid. He said how grownups got it bad, cuz they lose their innocence, don't know how to have fun, don't live amongst the ants, climb trees, and what not - and I do agree - kids got it so good and they don't know it, but I will prefer if my children live to be 200 years old. Even though I don't want (as I've said before) for either of my kids to grow up. They definitely will NOT be as cute as they are now bigger. Big kids - not cute. Little kids = cute.

Uggg. And ugg. And ahh, and ahh. It has been a great couple of weeks. In the sense that some organization has come into my life with the advent of school for Celia. Gymnastics for Effie. Ballet for them both. Their new ballet teacher is like Hitler, and no wonder 20 3-4 year olds shut up and listen to her - cuz she's scary - and scares me - and is as old as Hitler would have been - but I know it's good for the girls. It's about time someone shows them a bit of discipline. (cuz we all now how good I am at it) Please do not ask if you can attend their class. There are to be no disruptions in her class. No pictures. No phone calls. No talking. No smiling. Only ballet. And I've learned - no babies (Effie) are allowed to let their chair move causing squeeky sounds - it's against the rules.

Besides that - tons of things have happened. I've fallen in love with someone named Logan. (so has Alex, and if you are curious about who he is - just ask)

The girls got their shots - and Celia was a lunatic who had to be held down by 3 people - but in the end was a brave looney - who liked showing off where she got her "TV SET" (TB Test).

Alex and I got to go to the movies - and saw Conan the Barbarian. Too funny. Much too funny. I mean - if you thought it was an action film - you're wrong. It's a high class comedy.

We've been to the zoo about 6 times in January I think. I finally met the shaved ice master by name - it's Rick. Please go meet him. I think he's the reincarnation of Howie Mandel. Wait - he's not dead right? Never mind.

We started walking the town again.

And dishes are done - and not much else comes to mind. More than anything, I just wanted to say hi to you all, and let you know I'm still alive, have things on my mind, and stay tuned cuz I WILL write more soon. Have a great Thurs/Friday/weekend.