by the numbers

283 minutes until my husband gets off work
606 miles run so far in 2014
31 miles run so far in July
1 bee sting that Julianna got this week
7 Oreos I ate for breakfast
11.5 months age of baby Jane (Shush! Of course, I can still call her Baby Jane!)

126 days until my redemption marathon
2 cups of coffee required to wake up this morning
200 approximate number of tomatoes on the vines in our yard
6 approximate number that will be ripe this weekend

Monday: by the numbers

1 indoor fort built
1,320 papers to grade
33.5 miles run this week
5.75 hours of sleep I got last night
2 children with ear infections
96 days of school left
6 books I have started in the last month that I have not finished
1 dead iPod
15 mini m&m's Julianna tried to swallow last week to help her learn how to swallow pills
1972 calories I burned during my long run this weekend

Now, give me one of your "numbers" in the comments.

it was a nice idea

It was a nice idea to think I could read 50 books this year, but I'm so far behind now that I know it's not going to happen.  Set goals, try to meet them and then revise, right?

It was a nice idea to volunteer for several committees at school. Then when I realized I would have less planning time than I've ever had in a teaching job before and they told me first year teachers weren't required to serve on a committee or sponsor a club it sounded better to wait until next year.

It was a nice idea to think that I would be getting home from school around 3pm each day since I knew students were dismissed at 2pm. It turns out that staying and working a little later so that I don't have to take work home is an even nicer idea.

It was a nice idea to schedule two half marathons for one training program with FF this fall, but what was I thinking planning to run one right after we get back from Disney World?

It was a nice idea to stay up late trying to catch up on episodes of How I Met Your Mother, but the reality is that I am super tired today.

It was a nice idea to think skipping the Dixie Classic Fair this year would be wise since we are going to Disney after all.  Really I just want to listen to Mandisa and eat a funnel cake.

What nice ideas have you had lately?
Have they worked out well for you?

I love the freeze-frame on that last one

If it were up to me this post would be about my impressive immune system and my body's awesome ability to not be affected in any way by Spring allergies.  Or at least that's what I was telling my co-workers yesterday outside at bus duty while they sniffed and wiped and complain about the dang pollen currently overtaking our state.  "I don't ever seem to be affected by pollen," I bragged.

Yeah, right.

After school we played a bit of tee ball/softball in the front yard and I mostly played photographer in the grass, but did take a couple of swings and ran after some stray balls.  By the time we got the kids ready for bed my throat felt like razor blades and I couldn't hear out of one ear.  Every time I swallowed it felt as if I were swallowing the Target brand of children's ibuprofen (you know, the one that is so thick it makes Julianna gag and throw up her dinner? yeah that one).

I laid down on the bed "just for a minute" at 8pm and I didn't get up until Jonathan got out of the shower this morning.  I vaguely remember looking at the clock around 10:50 or so but I couldn't make myself get up to even put on pajamas.

When I woke up this morning I felt a bit better (despite the headache) but the anger at myself trumped any remaining allergy symptoms.  I was mad at myself because I didn't run yesterday. 

I set a goal a while back to try to run every day in April and I made it every day until yesterday.  I'm still going to finish out the month strong, but it will suck to have done the whole month except for one day out of 30. 

Oh well, right?  You win some and lose some.

For evidence just take a look at the kids batting.

If you look closely you can see Josh grabbing his wedgie

Dad, Can I have some of your marshmallows?

Last Thursday we enjoyed an evening at the circus.  The kids were pretty excited about it and I got them to do extra chores by encouraging them in the direction of "you may want some extra spending money when we go to the circus!"  More chores = more circus money.  It totally worked!  Win-win!

Let me back up and mention that the morning we went Josh had some random stomach thing that made him projectile vomit across the kitchen.  He was staying home with my mom that day anyway because the babysitter had scheduled an appointment day so it wasn't a big deal and he seemed to feel fine despite the fact that he (understandably) wouldn't eat all day.

By dinner time we grabbed a quick bite to eat in Greensboro before we went to the circus and I was excited that Josh decided he was hungry enough to eat two slices of cheese pizza.  I sent my mom this picture and said, "Hope he doesn't puke at the circus!"  [Spoiler alert: we were fortunate and there was no more puke to be seen.]  Julianna kept asking Jonathan for more of his marshmallows when she really meant to say mashed potatoes.

So our tickets were free (thanks Piedmont Parent!) and we've already covered that I'm cheap so you know I cringed when we had to pay $8! (EIGHT DOLLARS!) to park at the Coliseum.  But, I thought, eight dollars isn't too bad for a trip to the circus.

Here's the fam waiting for the show to begin.

Then when we looked at the souvenirs and the dumb light-up spinner thingys that were twenty bucks in years past had now gone up to $22 and my kids had each brought a twenty dollar bill. I could have been a nice mom and gone ahead and shelled out my own money, but no. I'm cheap and I convinced them that they each could pay eleven and pick out one to share. They actually agreed to that.

We saw an elephant paint.

We saw clowns right beside us or sitting behind us tapping us on the shoulders with their giant pokey fingers. 

 

 

We saw the tightrope bicycles.

We saw tigers.

We saw the youngest girl to fly out of a cannon.

And then we saw this, which in my exhaustion I probably found to be more funny than it actually was.

Then we went home. 

Julianna was most impressed with the fact that she stayed awake until 10:30 on a school night.  I was most impressed with the fact that we won free tickets and still paid $30 for three hours at the circu.  Jonathan was most impressed with the fact that he could navigate Greensboro traffic on the highway in the rain without cussin. 

The end.

I don't even want to go there

Here's what I've been posting on Instagram lately (@c525600).

good coffee and my favorite mug (gift from my MIL)

getting my room set up

good size watermelon that my husband grew

Josh thinks he can catch the dog with a butterfly net

waiting for the rain to let up at Ramblin' Rose

volunteering in the rain isn't too bad when you have a nice view - firemen helping with a bike chain at Ramblin' Rose

a visit to Polo Ralph Lauren for opening staff meetings - decals all over the place

getting ready to flash the "I love you" sign - I love the dimple in his chin

pretty good fetch partner

delicious dinner date night

the calm before the storm

School started for me today and I'm at a new school, teaching *relatively* new-to-me classes, and I'm swamped, stressed, missing my babies, and trying hard not to be overwhelmed.  I'm trying to stay positive which is why I don't even want to talk about it all.

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Remember, there are still four days left to enter my craft kit giveaway. Looks like you've got a pretty good shot if you're interested!

and the fist pump goes to...

• My mother and mother-in-law for taking care of Josh this week while he recovered from a virus and ear infection.
• My husband for getting my wedding rings cleaned and checked this weekend.
• My daughter for winning first, third, and fifth place in the three competitive entries she submitted to the Dixie Classic Fair.
• My husband for taking care of Julianna ALL night last night while she vomited repeatedly with a high fever (I was in bed with chills) thanks to the virus Josh brought home.

Here's to a relaxing and recovering sabbath!

yawn

This is what happens when you go to preschool for the first time ever and get too excited watching everyone to take a nap.  Then if you decide to skip your afternoon nap because you're having too much fun with the babysitter (he he heeee) you end up falling asleep in your dinner.

Also, for the record let me just state that I've seen these types of videos plenty of times before on shows like America's Funniest Home Videos and thought, "Never my child. No never" 

But yep.  My child. 

That's why you should never say never.

birthday girl all worn out

the beloved nap

A couple of weeks ago we started letting Julianna skip naps on the weekends.  It just seemed to be easiest when she was only taking a nap about 4 days a week anyway and the other days she just played with books quietly in her bed.  Then as I was working with Joshua trying desperately to get a nap schedule going with him, I sort of let naptime for Jules slide on a weekday or two.  I told her she could either have quiet time playing nicely in her room or she could sit on the couch downstairs and watch TV.

Of course, this has turned in to an everyday thing now because it has worked out so well for all of us.  She enjoys not having to stay in her bed and she goes to bed easier at night.  We enjoy being able to put both kids to bed at the same time and have them wake up at the same time.  Also, I am thankful to not have to go upstairs and put her down for a nap and there's freedom to be more flexible with leaving the house in the middle of the day if necessary.  I can tell that her not napping will be especially nice as the weather warms up.

Julianna turns four in about a week and up until now it has been really important for me to uphold a nap/quiet time schedule.  I just didn't want to be one of those parents that made their kids adapt to their own wake/sleep habits because it was convenient.  I knew I wanted to teach my children to sleep at the appropriate times for a child their age and provide opportunities and the right environment for them to sleep when they became tired.  Julianna would get irritable in the evenings on days when she didn't have that time and we could just tell that she really wasn't ready to drop her nap.  When she started having quiet time in her bed without falling asleep I knew that the time was coming when she wouldn't need a nap at all and I think we've reached that point.

When she was a baby she started sleeping until about 6 am when she was about six weeks old.  We started letting her fuss/cry herself to sleep when she turned four months old.  It took her about four days of fussing and crying before her morning nap before she learned how to fall asleep on her own.  After that we could consistently put her down for a nap at almost the same time every day and she would go right to sleep and sleep for more than an hour and a half.  Bedtime was easy as well since we gave her a bottle of formula before bed every night from the very beginning.

We got quite a bit of criticism for letting her cry for those few naps, but I don't regret it in the least.  She has always been a great sleeper (I believe in part because of the sleep training that we did) and I am so grateful for that. 

Josh on the other hand, has been a little more difficult to sleep train than she was.  I don't know if it's because he's a boy or because he's breastfed or what, but I think more than likely it's a combination of a lot of things.  Mostly I think he has been harder to get to stay asleep for naps longer than forty minutes and get on a schedule because he is the second child.  We haven't had the luxury of being home every time he needed to sleep and I haven't stayed with the same routine to put him down.  Also, I haven't always been the one to put him down for each nap like I was with Jules.  And I developed a bedtime routine with Jules a lot earlier than I did with him so I think consistency has been the key for getting Josh to sleep.

Fortunately, we seemed to have reached the point where Josh will reliably take his three naps per day in his crib without fussing.  He goes to bed much easier at night and my stress level has significantly decreased with the additional one-on-one time I have with Jules and certainly with the additional independent time I have.

Do you think that now maybe I can work on a nap schedule for mommy?

What about your kids?  Do they nap well?  Are they on any kind of schedule?  Do they nap at all?

overheard from the 2 year old’s bedroom

Jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton...
I see the moon and the moon sees me...
Old MacDonald had a farm EIEIO...
Hippity hoppity easter’s on its way!...
Mulberry bush Pop goes the weasel...
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday Jules YAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!...


…And she’s OUT...

finally

recipe Wednesday

For the last 48 hours or so I've been feeling pretty crummy. This morning I actually felt so bad that I went begging to my mom's house for help with Julianna while I got some much needed rest. It is really a blessing to have grandparents nearby. Anyway, that's my reason for not posting.

Mom made this recipe today because I was craving the comfort of chocolate chip cookies and wanting a pity party, but trying to stick to my diet. They were pretty good.

Good enough I guess.



For me to eat half the pan.

weekend recap

I'm sorry I can't come to the blog right now. I'm going to bed early to relieve my sore muscles and aching back. Leave a message and I'll get back to you tomorrow. Thanks!

a note from little J

Dear Nanna,
I know you made this pillowcase for Aunt WaWa, but I really like it. It is so soft and fun to pull off of the couch and lay down on. Thank you for letting me share it. I love you!
Love,
Jules

time keeps on ticking... ticking...

i have so much free time now that i’m done with my online class, i cannot stand it. [there was a lot of sarcasm in that statement, in case you didn’t know.] i took little J to get her first dose of flu shot on Tuesday morning and by that evening she was running a fever and she didn’t sleep well at all that night. to top it off, the next morning the cat came in looking like this:

the picture doesn't do it justice. he had a softball size lump sticking out of the side of his face. it was a busy day Wednesday with a staff meeting that i volunteered to lead half of and a sick cat and baby to tend to; plus i was going on very little sleep since Jules kept us up a lot of the night. by last night i had called the doctor about little J’s fever and since they told me to take her temperature rectally i had to rush home and figure out how to do that. nope, never done it before, but knew i’d have to figure it out sooner or later. i knew that a low grade fever after the shot was normal but i didn’t know what constituted a low grade fever.

anyway, her temperature was 102 degrees and she was getting pretty congested so i called and the after hours nurse told me that we had been giving her the wrong dose of children’s Tylenol. we’d been giving her 0.4 ml and were supposed to be giving 1.2 ml! who knew?! why don’t they print that mess on the bottle instead of just saying “For children under 24 pounds contact a physician”?! so we finally got the right amount of medicine in her and she started to feel a little better you could tell. she slept better last night even though she still cried out every hour or so.

so about the cat - i called the vet this morning and had to take him in as soon as possible. the vet put him on antibiotics and told us to give it 24 hours. if the swelling doesn’t go down by the morning we’ll have to take him in first thing and get him anesthetized and the wound lacerated (wow! that sounds fun) so nothing else gets infected. by the way, the vet said it was obviously from another cat’s bite. so yeah. lots of free time since i turned in my final exam. i'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.

i’ve gotten the suitcases out to start packing for the beach, but nothing has made it in them. only three more days of work. yippee!

hooray for the nap fairy!

praise God and all of the angels! just when i was weary beyond weary. just when i was on the verge of tears AGAIN. just when i was beginning to need it the most, little J slept a full hour and a half for her morning nap today so i have been working my fanny off. although i haven’t made a dent in The List, i have gotten a lot done and i feel a ton of relief. maybe i won’t feel like crying when i get home this evening. now back to work.

major mommy guilt

i just can’t get it together lately. i mean, how do you forget to feed your baby?! if that’s not a sign of my pending dementia then i don’t know what is. (story to come, but first i must complain a little.)

i’m just so tired and i’m behind in everything. i can’t get up on time. i get home in the evenings and time goes by before i even know it and i haven’t gotten anything done. i didn’t even go exercise this morning because i couldn’t get up. i don’t know what the deal is but i seem to be in a funk. i think a lot of it has to do with the daylight times changing SO FAST and the weather getting cooler. i hate winter. WAH. wah. WAH.

so now you wanna know how i forgot to feed my child. well then. i’ll tell you.

on Monday’s the husband goes to play basketball with some guys from work. yesterday in particular was a crazy day for me with so much going on because i didn’t get anything done from the weekend. it was a Monday where i seemed to forget everything. the little girl is transitioning from three naps a day to two so instead of us getting home and me putting her down for nap # 3 like usual yesterday i brought her in and we played for a while. i was checking my email and doing some other stuff with her next to me on the couch and the sister and i randomly decided to go up to the elementary school where big J was playing ball. we loaded the little girl into the stroller and walked around for a while. J had a lot of fun looking at the playground, cheerleaders, and little league players and she wasn’t fussing at all. we later came home to make dinner and that was when i realized that i had forgotten to give little J her bottle nearly two hours earlier when she would normally wake up.

i knew that i couldn’t just give her the bottle then because she would get her last bottle of the day right before bed which was in an hour. i also knew that i couldn’t give her a portion of a bottle because she would have nothing of that and i sure didn’t want to hear an hour’s worth of screaming. so since she seemed to be OK i gave her a half a jar of sweet potatoes and she was fine. she took her bath, bottle and went to sleep an hour later as usual. thank God for easy babies.

lately she’s been adding more and more solid food so she will drop a bottle in a couple of months but according to the doctor she’s still supposed to be getting all five for now. she did fine after that last night so she must be getting enough to eat, but talk about guilt! man, i was so hard on myself! I. Cannot. Believe. I. Forgot. To. Feed. The. Baby.

(also, let me just say that this would NOT have happened five months ago so i must be calming down with my obsessiveness type A just a wee little bit, right?)

OK let the jokes begin.

my lovely flexible baby girl

i did something that was very uncharacteristic of me this weekend. actually, i did it twice.

i missed two of J’s naps. GASP!

but wait! i can justify myself. first, we were out of school on Friday so i went for a long overdue trip to the mall. now anyone who's had a baby knows that it is VERY slow going when shopping with a little one. needless to say i was at the mall and running other errands from 10:15 am until 2 pm. little J usually takes a nap around 12:30 or 1 pm so we totally missed that one. she slept for about thirty minutes in the stroller, but that was it. so when we came home i immediately fed her and put her down for nap # 3 (usually at 4 pm, but i put her down at 3).

then Saturday i went to a girl’s house who was selling a lot of her daughter’s old clothes for cheap-o and after that i checked one relative visit off the list (if i hear one more person say, “she’s going to be walking before I see her next” i’m gonna puke). anyway, she missed nap #3 then and was Miss Crankypants for the rest of the evening.

now for my reasoning (read: sorry excuses). i am really starting to feel like she’s in a good enough routine that she will bounce back after one or two days of being off schedule. a month ago i would NOT have done any of that. i would have stayed at home under all circumstances to protect The Nap Schedule (since i have to uphold my title as Mrs. Nap Nazi). fortunately, my instinct was right and Sunday she did just fine napping just as usual and was back to her normal cheerful self.

ode to a husband

for my darling booger who gave to me
the bestest weekend there ever could be...

you washed all the bottles and
paid all our bills
you folded our laundry and
let me just chill

you took care of little j
so i could catch up on work
you played with her and laughed with her
and made sure she didn't get hurt

you even gave me play time
to catch up on reading my blogs
and let me take a nap
so i would no longer be in a fog

you cleaned the kitchen floor
and gassed up my car
you picked up my dinner
so i wouldn't starve

you're the best i could ask for
and i'll love you 'til death
you've earned so many points
i'll say thank you with every breath

i owe you booger! thank you!

pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top

Dear Sleep Fairy,
Please come visit me tonight and grant me the best sleep EVER. I really, really NEED it and I would be forever grateful. You see I'm just still not feeling so well and tomorrow is my first day of school. I am learning how hard it is to be a mom and have a job where you still have to come home to work at night. If you would be so kind as to give me eight hours of precious *dreamy* sleep I would be happy to do one or all of the following for you:

• wash your wings
• polish your wand
• give you a manicure
• maybe even name my next child after you

Sincerely,

Overtired and Exhausted