Sucked In

I purchased this book as a gift, after hearing NPR's positive review of "another vampire story", and an 800 page one to boot ($15 at Costco). I was curious and thought "I'll just read a chapter and if I like it, I'll get a copy".

Five hundred pages later, that book isn't going anywhere. I'm not a total cad, I did buy another copy for my gift. I had to. I wasn't about to give a book that I've had cracked open every spare minute since that first chapter (a thick one pounder, hello carpal tunnel). A book Boo & Bear have mauled & yanked my bookmark out of countless times (eerily, I go right to my place within a couple pages.)

Meanwhile, milestones are happening all around me: a baby crow is learning to fly in our yard, my Dad just turned 70, Bear goes 'pee pee' in the toilet nearly every time, Boo is entering her princess phase (I guess it was bound to happen), and Mommy has developed has a serious fear of the dark.

Wish Me Luck!

Everytime I see my home page (my blog) I'm reminded that I need to post. And post again. And again. It's neverending, like homework. And now it's been a few weeks since my last one, so here goes...

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a Design seminar in downtown Seattle. I'm looking forward to attending a professional event, but a little nervous about the morning: getting two potty training toddlers ready, getting mom Seattle seminar ready, dropping them off at the sitters (on time for once!) and actually making my ferry. Oh, did I mention that I'll be doing this all by myself since M. isn't here? Sure, I'll get up earlier to do it all, but Bear has been waking up these days around 5:00 a.m.

Doesn't innovation happen when life gets interesting? One can hope.

Therapy of a Great Haircut

Last night as I was serving dinner, literally placing plates on the table, our yellow lab squatted & let loose (really loose I might add!) on the carpet right in front of me. I did what any busy mother would do, picked up the grossest part, laid a towel over it and ate dinner. Boo then spilled her milk, and Bear decided to dump his water (see why I waited?). M. was working late, so I was on my own...behind in the dishes, behind in their bath (which we skipped) and adding carpet cleaning to my nightly tasks.

I wasn't phased in the least. It's amazing what a good hair day can do.

Birthday Weekend

So...I had another one of those pesky birthdays this weekend, and I'm happy (well, working on it anyway) to say that I'm now 45! I don't know how it happened, but here I am. We had a wonderful family weekend, it always helps when the town has a big festival in your honor. Well, maybe it's in honor of Rhododendrons or something, but let me have my fantasy.

What more could you ask for? A carnival with rides...



..then a parade.





The next morning the kids made me waffles and Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.


Then they were official "Hi-Fiver's" at the 12K Run on Sunday (which goes right by our house).


We even had a babysitter for an evening so Mommy & Daddy could have a date! After all that, we were zonked.


I guess 45 ain't too shabby after all.

To the MothaFathas Out There...

Alright, so I know I'm totally doing what Toyota wants...spreading their viral YouTube video. But I'm a mom with a Sienna AND it's hilarious, so here goes.



Now c'mon, you know you want a mini van.... right?

I'm Learning Things Every Day...

You never know where you'll end up reading a story.

How quickly things can go south.

How patient our dogs really are.


Taking a family portrait is useless.

I should probably get a better camera.

Sometimes I make cool things.

Take advantage of the perfect pose.

The Lion King can go a long way.



And most importantly, when you think you won't need diapers...you will.

Supernanny, "Help!"

I'm getting ready to leave for California tomorrow so while the kids nap, I should be working on my ever-growing to do list instead of doing a blog post. But this will be quick.

Last Thursday was one of those days that ended with the feeling that I'm really botching things as a parent. Nap time was a fiasco, it took nearly two hours for the kids to go down! By that time, it's like, what's the point? For a few months now, the kids have gotten used to me sitting in the recliner while they go to sleep, and I've been working to end that. Nighttime has been working pretty well, but the nap is another story. So I did my nighttime routine of sitting in the chair for 5 minutes, then leaving. Immediately, Bear (who was almost asleep) rose up "mommy night night, mommy night night!"

"No, Mommy has to go downstairs now, good night" was my calm reply.

He followed me out of the room, crying and I guiltily shut the gate on him (we have a gate in the hall for stair protection). At night he has done this for just a couple minutes then goes back to bed, but not this time. And so it continued, one or the other getting up, crying.

I tried the Supernanny thing of no talking and calmly putting them back in bed (The show never talks about how your back feels after you do that 100 times!) Then I would finally get exasperated and go into the other room. But then Bear started sitting on Boo, and pushing her into the gate...essentially doing anything to get me back in there.

When you first have your baby you think "oh, I know I'll get angry sometimes, but I'll just breathe deep (or whatever)". You can't imagine that this sweet little thing would ever do anything to make you angry...or to what depths. I hate to admit this, but I'm being honest here: when I saw Bear ramming his sister against the gate, I felt so angry that I just wanted to swat him. I took everything I had not to. But I wasn't very calm. "NO! We don't do that! You get back in that bed right now!" Then I put him into bed, not very calmly.

I was tired, frustrated, exasperated and felt I was being played like a fiddle by these two kids. In hindsight, I put them down too late to begin with, so they were overtired, and I probably should have just given up on the nap, but then I imagined the late afternoon meltdowns. But I also felt that I should not give in. Oh, it's so hard to know what is the right thing to do!


They did finally fall asleep that day and didn't wake up until almost 5:00, which threw our schedule way off. But we went to the playground (like I had promised earlier) and met Daddy. Then a dinner in the mini van of Sushi for the grownups & Chicken Nuggets for the kids, and home for popcorn & Thomas the Train. Mommy needed the kind of soothing that only eating a bowl of popcorn (my vice) and sitting on the couch watching TV can give...even if it is Thomas.