This just in...

...my kids are nuts.

ARGH!! Blogger is killing me. I have like eight other photos I want up here and for the life of me I can't stop the Blogger errors. Insert loud, long swearing tirade here.

While you're waiting for the photos, you can read this little ditty I wrote one year ago today... and never posted. From May 22, 2006:

I know, I know, I’m psycho mom. I think my kids are the smartest, cutest, most amazing little beings on the planet. Blah blah blah. I can’t help myself. Maybe it’s because they look like Joel that I think they are so beautiful.

Today we put Lucy in her new toddler bed, generously donated by Joel’s aunt Doris (who’s between toddlers right now). We also moved Ed from the bassinet-part of his pack-n-play, into Lu’s old crib. (We’d been having to lay him diagonally in said bassinet for the last month, and even that way he’s brushing the walls with his head in one corner and tootsies in the other.)

Now, I know that entire books have been written about how to make this kind of transition less painful for your kid. Their little lives are full of transitions -- breast milk-to-formula-to-milk. Liquids-to-solids. Breast-to-bottle-to-sippy-to-cup. Rear-facing-to-forward-facing. You name it. And maybe I give my kids too much credit for inheriting Joel’s easy-going genes… but I figured, deep down, that this bed-switch wouldn’t be a biggie.

But maybe it’s just that I’m cheap and lazy. I eat expired yogurt and food that’s been on the floor, because I don’t want to throw stuff out, and I really don’t want to buy new stuff to replace it. The stuff you buy to replace it could just as easily go bad and need to be thrown out, too… and that’s just not good economics. (Disclaimer: I have never actually studied economics. Supply/demand whaa?)

So, right, my point: I am far too cheap to purchase a second crib for Eddie. I know other 1½-year-olds in twin- or full-beds; therefore, Lucy should be able to handle a bigger bed. So I started looking for twin beds for her. But CraigsList.com is sometimes a crapshoot, and did I want to buy a new twin bed? Nooo!

So we got the toddler bed from the Moylan family, and found another crib mattress at Craig’s List for $20. And I spent about 30 seconds thinking about a way to make the switch without Lucy noticing. But what we ended up doing was simply bringing the toddler bed into Lucy’s room, putting it together right in front of her, popping her old mattress into the frame, and showing her how to climb in. Meanwhile, we took her crib apart (it doesn’t fit through our door frames) and put it back together in Ed’s room. Naptime came, and I put Lu in her new bed, and she was out like a light. Then bedtime came this evening, and Lucy went back into her new bed, and Ed went into his new bed… and they’re both cashed out. Totally amazing.

My dentist is always trying to upsell me. Whitening… power toothbrushes… it’s driving me mental. Like, I understand the marketing reasons behind it -- an existing customer is more likely to spend more money with you than a new customer, and it’s far less expensive to get an existing customer to spend the money than it is to bring in new customers… “organic revenue growth” is the buzzword (buzzphrase). But as that existing customer, I find it really irritating.

Our mini-vacation!

Hi there! Just got back (well, at 11:00 last night) from a long weekend trip to Chicago... just me and Joel! It was ever so lovely. My dad came up Friday morning to watch the kids, and we took off in the van. We went down to Stulie's house and ate dinner at Epicurean, a Hungarian restaurant on Roosevelt Rd. I had veal paprikash ("Waaaaiiiiterrr, there is too much paaaaaper... in my paprikash") and we had these amazing Grease Bombs as an appetizer. Basically it was a deep-fried elephant ear (only more buttery) served with chunks of roasted garlic on top... and then you dunk it in sour cream. Mmmmm.

Saturday morning we hooked up with Ellen (and who hasn't?) and my Mom in El's neighborhood and went for a nice walk along the lakefront and then ordered some pizza and then I fell asleep on the couch. It might have been the gigantic margaritas Joel and Ellen made after the walk. Ellen and I did go out for cannolis a little later but we retired early.

Sunday we had crepes at our favorite Lincoln Park crepe place and then had to dash back out west for Stulie's baby shower. We got to see some old friends (Sally, Dennis, Katie Joyce, Robin and Vince and CJ, Amber, and some others) we hadn't seen in forever, and then Joel and I trucked on back to St Paul last night. It is really good to be home. My dad was plum worn out, I'm sure. And we missed the munchkins.

P.S. I forgot to mention that Jean and I ran 9-and-three-eighths-miles (3x around Lake Phalen) Thursday night! And felt terrific!! We ran another 3-ish miles this morning and I think we are maybe actually going to be able to finish this thing on Saturday. Chicagoland residents, come on down to Soldier Field on Saturday morning and watch us, all sweaty and grody, on the Jumbotron!

PPS I will try to take, then post, photos of the kids soon here. It's been a while.

"Hot and windy" is actually much worse than "uphill and in pain."

Major setback!!!

So I dropped the kids off with Jean (who is a saint, and I do not deserve a sister like her) and tried to do a 5-mile run today. Except it was 90 degrees with wind gusts of oh, maybe 800 miles per hour. OK, weather.com says 88 degrees and 21 MPH winds. Same difference. At one point the wind was blowing so hard I was seriously running in place. And with 34% humidity (man I love the internets!) I was about as miserable as a person can be. My head got so hot and I was dripping with sweat and that was at the 30-minute mark. It took me an hour to do a little under 5 miles. I walked almost the whole last half. It was terrible, just terrible.

Well the kids are napping so I'm going to do a crossword and make dinner. Hungarian Goulash -- my mom promised it was good.

PS I cut about 2.5" off Lucy's hair last night and I daresay she is adorable.

Urinetown! Your ticket should say "Urinetown!"

The shortsightedness of my blog URL really makes me smirk at myself. Maybe one of these days I'll pack up and move to something less Lucy-centric.

Happy Mothers' Day, everybody! We've been staying mad crazy, as usual. I'll try to quickly run through the last few days here:

Thursday Joel went to the Twins game and broke his fingernail on a DJ Cuddles foul ball that he did not catch. In the immortal words of Dennis Damiani: If you can touch it, you can catch it! Or wait, Dennis said "It's all about turnovers." Speaking of which, I hear he and Sally are preggers. I don't think they read this, but Congrats anyway!

Thursday night I had a coed softball game that I did not find out that we won until it was over and we were walking back to the car. I am really liking my coed team; I get to play with Jean and Julie and the rest of the team is very nice as well, and Joel brought the kids to the game last week, with mixed results. Our team is 2-1 so far.

Friday evening we packed a picnic dinner and Joel dropped me off on one side of Lake Phalen so I could run around it 2.5 times. Which I did! Maintaining 10-minute miles, which I'm really happy about. It was a little over 7.5 miles which is the farthest I have ever gone (except maybe that one time in college when I was really angry and I ran for maybe a couple hours in the middle of the night). I felt kind of good the whole time. I didn't have to walk, and I caught my second wind around 40 minutes and then my third wind at about an hour. I didn't run with the iPod because, I was trying to exaplin this to Jean and it made sense to her but we sort of share a brain so here goes: I kind of need to "hear" what my body is saying when I'm running. If I'm listening to music, I can't concentrate on adjusting my stride to compensate for whatever might be hurting me at the moment, and I can't hear my breathing to know whether I'm going too hard too fast (or simply not regulating my breathing enough). I have been using a lot of my old hypnobirthing breathing as I run; for sure, those exercises increased my lung capacity and my ability to breathe reaalllly deeply and slowly. I feel like the hypnobirthing practicing also lets me direct energy to different parts of my body as needed; if my legs are getting tired, I feel like I can focus on my arms' motion to distract from the legs. I don't know, it's pretty cool. I know when I used to run (ages ago) my breathing was really what got me down; I'd be really panting like a three-legged dog by the end. Now I feel like I can keep up this deep, slow breathing kind of forever. I'm certainly not saying it's easy, but I'm surprised at how fun it has been to improve and really feel the results of the running training.

Oh, except then I had to run again the next morning, and I almost died.

Saturday morning my mom came up for a very quick overnight visit. The entire crew went back to Lake Phalen and Jean ran around the lake twice; I ran once and biked it once. At the same time we were there, there was a fundraising Run/Walk for Batten disease; I'd never heard of it, but it's a terrible brain disease that hits kids around the age of 5 and the mortality is 100% by age 13. Kind of like MS or ALS for kids, it sounds like. Despite a few horrific appearances by clowns, we kind of butted into the festival and bought some lunch and had a little picnic. P.S> My knee is a constant irritation, but there were no shinsplints to be had all weekend. Also my sitz-bones are a teeny bit tender from riding the bike (for a whole 30 minutes, could I be a bigger baby?), the seat of which is still adjusted to fit Aunt Jan's legs, which were at least 4 inches longer than mine.

Saturday night we trucked up to Monti for Adam Briner's college graduation party. Sunday morning we went to church at Alley Joel and Cara's church in WBL. It was a really good service and we're going to try to make it more often. There were only about 15 people in the congregation and it was very cool to be in such a small group. The pastor is Alley Joel's cousin and he and his wife have 3 little boys, the youngest two of whom are just a little older than Lu and Ed, respectively. So the kids had a wonderful time together too.

This afternoon, Jean and I went to see Urinetown at Heritage Theatre Co at the MCC. I knew several people in it (and working on it) and it was a terrific show! The talent of the cast was amazing and the staging was great. The show is very funny; if you're looking for some wonderful community theatre (only $15!) try to catch it next weekend. It really made me miss performing. Like, a lot. **wistful sigh**

My one regret of this Mothers' Day is not making it to the Farmer's Market this weekend; I'm not sure what they even have this time of year, but I mean to make myself a regular fixture there this summer. And now I won't get there until June. Rats.

Well, it's probably bedtime for me. Have a great week!

Waiting for Wednesday

I can't believe, again, how long I've been slacking! Time really flies. OK.

Ed is walking, full-bore. I bought him some Target gym shoes and, I know, this is not what the books say, but I swear they have helped him find his balance. He's off to the races. He has also started repeating more words: tickle, tickle... Starsky (the Jack Russell terrier next door; I swear Ed said her name tonight)... all gone... yeah... and he was saying turtle the other day at the Children's Museum. I have witnesses! He's a really funny little dude.

Lucy is getting into the bad habit of mocking/repeating what grownups say in conversations where she's not the COA. For example, my cousin Brian stopped by for dinner tonight (which was super fun! I LOVE it when my business-tripping famblymembers come see our crazy life first-hand!) Anyway, Brian was talking, and Lucy would keep interrupting with "hmm" or "really" or "omiGOSH!" Which I know that I do when others are talking, but I do try to do it at appropriate times; Lucy not so much. Really, it truly bugs me because it feels like she's mocking me. She can't be, yet, right? Well it makes my interjections seem insincere, which I do not appreciate. :)

Staying very busy with running and sports these days; I am following Hal's 15K (9-mile) training program for novices (Jean is on a first-name basis with Hal, so if you're a runner maybe you are too? I am not) which means I do not have to run every day, though I am supposed to be doing the occasional cross-training/cardio workout. I have been counting "mowing the lawn with a self-propelled mower" and "taking the kids to the grocery store" as cross-training, and I'm not certain I won't be sunk, come Memorial Day. Oh, I've also been skipping the "Strength/Stretching" parts of the workouts. I don't do situps/pushups and I do try to stretch every day. My left knee has been hurting a bit too, so I've been tentative about running the last week. I did do 3 miles today and it almost felt good. Props to John Gilligan for letting me know about the training program! I really do like to have a plan. Regardless of whether or not I follow it.

Back to Lucy. We had some major setbacks in the overnight-diaper department (three wet nights in a row) so we are back in buppers for the time being. She was dry last night (but didn't get to bed until 9:30 because Alley Joel was babysitting because he ROCKS and because coed volleyball really needed Joel to step in as well, which he did with flying colors). We have a healthy supply of diapers leftover, so I don't mind using them up. Because that's the kind of cheapskate I am.

Twins are losing... again... and somehow even though I know that "winning the series" (because that's what we're going to do because Santana is pitching tomorrow... RIGHT!?!?) should be all that matters, I still get grouchy when they lose.

I know there's more to write but I am beat... and I just started a great new book. Sayonara...

I dunno, Bon Jovi's okay, but I just can't get that excited.

Monday I ran 4.25 miles in about 41 minutes, around my 'hood. No problems, felt terrific.

I crafted a 6.75-mile jaunt out of my neighborhood today and did it in 1 hour, 4 minutes. I had to walk the second time I hit the Big Hill on the other side of 3rd Street, but other than that 3-minute walk I felt really good!

I'm not really sure where, exactly, to go from here... I plan to keep running at least 4 days a week and I think Jean said I shouldn't go down below 3-ish miles anymore... but I don't really know how much I should increase, and when... and/or what my strategy should be for getting to 10 miles by May 26.

I did end up making a rhubarb pie yesterday (with the first rhubarb harvest of the season from my pathetic excuse for a garden!), and let me tell you, the pie was exceptional, especially warmed up, with a bit of 'nilla ice cream. Let me know if you want the recipe; I made the crust too (it was super easy! Honestly!) and I'm delighted to share.

P.S. After about a week of dry overnight buppers, Lu is wearing underwears to bed tonight. Everyone please cross your fingers (and your legs!) for us.

2 questions, and I expect responses!

Question! For the healthy-eaters, the budget-conscious, and the cooks in my readership:

Is there any reason I wouldn't always substitute ground chicken or turkey, for ground beef? Is there some reason 90%-lean ground beef is over $3 per pound, when the ground poultry is sometimes $1 per pound?

I am totally serious. Is chicken fat more onerous than beef-fat? Is it a cholesterol thing? I have no idea. Help!

Question Part 2, completely unrelated:
Lucy woke up soaking wet from her nap today. Tinkel? No. But her hair and clothes were soaked through... did she just have a sweaty dream, or something?

Feast or famine

I blog nothing for a week and then I can't stop!

And speaking of feasts:

I made Chicken Helmets last night. "Helmets" is what Joel calls any small, individual-sized portion of food. I've made mini-meatloaves that he called "meat helmets" and there was once something called "pork helmets" but I don't remember what that recipe was about.

I invented these chicken helmets, so take this with a grain of salt:

I took about 15 small corn tortillas, sprayed both sides with olive oil, and then tucked them individually into muffin tins (I kind of had to fold them... not so pretty, but effective). I baked them, empty, at about 375 for maybe 15 minutes? and then took 'em out when they were nice and crispy and holding their shape.

Then I mixed some cooked, chopped chicken (it had been cooked with garlic and some spices and artichokes, for extra flavor and saltiness) with a can of cream of chicken soup, 1/2 a soup-can of milk, maybe 1/2 cup lite sour cream, and maybe 1.5 cups of frozen peas. And some ground pepper. Then I spooned that mezcla into each little mini-taco-shell and topped each with one frozen tater tot. Baked about 25 minutes at 350 and they were so ultra tasty! They were easy for Ed to tear apart, and Lucy liked holding the little "cup" in her hands. Sooo... chicken helmets! AKA little individual tater-tot hotdishes. There you go. No charge. ;)

Random photos

Lucy 'apprised!

Ed actually enjoyed the pool, once he got used to it.
Lucy coloring eggs in Monti on Easter. Er, wait, Easter Eve.
My awesome bleeding lamb cake. Seriously, it rocked.

Coming up with an original title is sooo taxing.

What? I haven't written anything since last Tuesday? Inconceivable.

Last week was a rough week in our household. Ed sprouted 2 new molars and had some kind of nasty sad-panda cold-thing and I was experiencing several minor-yet-exasperating aggravations, plus I was running a lot (and hence very tired) and kind of anxiously anticipating my Weekend of Fun, upon which I will now elaborate...

Well, I'm midway through Meggo's Weekend of Fun!! (Oh sorry, I started typing this Saturday afternoon.) Joel took the kids up to Monti for the weekend and I am alone. I am all by myself.

Yesss!

So last night (that would be Friday) I took myself to a $2 showing of The Queen (with Helen Mirren). Great movie! This morning (Saturday) I treated myself to a haircut and then ate lunch at Shish on Grand Ave (I burned my gums on the tomato soup but the Turkish coffee was unbelievably good) and then I did a little shopping, and then I ran about 40 minutes in that neighborhood. I'm not big into the Grand Ave scene, but it is so cool to get to go into these establishments and chat for a while with the owners.

Tonight I think I'm going to try to catch the Zenon Dance show (later note: I did. And I'm glad I did, though modern dance remains a total mystery to me). Tomorrow morning I'm drinking brunch and then playing softball in the afternoon.

A couple other kidnotes I started weeks ago and never posted:
Lu can recite the entire book "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" with minimal prompting.

She says, apropos of nothing: "I'm sorry, I'm a girl."

She has a stock narrative to "tell you about her day." It starts with monsters in her closet, and sometimes progresses to a school bus or train ride. I don't know that she's ever been on a school bus or a train.

She thinks that when she wakes up from nap, it's a new day (she'll often refer to the morning as "yesterday" ("usterday") and sometimes as she's going to bed at night, she asks if Jayla is coming soon).

She's going to the potty "all on her own" now, from taking down her own skirt/underwears to wiping, to dumping out the little potty. She actually does really well... she's much more coordinated than I sometimes give her credit for.

Ed has glommed onto his Word of the Month: Mommy. Finally! After 2 months of "Hi" and then "Hi Da!" Now we get "Mommy. Mom-my. Momm-mmy." He usually says it like a question, too: "Momm-my?" so I'm always, like, "Yes?"

A couple books... too much toothpaste.

Lucy always asks for "a couple books" before she goes to bed. Does she mean "two"? No. She means, approximately, twelve.

Also, if she ever says to you "I want too much!" that is because when she's putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, I always tell her "Not too much!" To the point that now when I hand her the toothpaste she says "I want too much."

So! Here we have: a couple photos from last weekend. Too much photos. ;)

Bunny makes the world go 'round

Some quick updates:

- Lucy was dry again this morning. That's 4 nights in a row! She then tinkled on the rug at, like, 10:00 this morning. Unbelievable. To paraphrase the immortal words of Paula Abdul's smash hit "Opposites Attract:" we take two steps forward, we take two steps back.

- Ed has two more new teeth: D and G (just to each side of the front 2). So he's drooling like the village idiot, and his nose is running like a leaky faucet, and he cries and cries so basically his face is a very wet place. He's had fevers all day, peaking at over 103 rectally (thanks Joel for doing the dirty work) right at bedtime. He was also up coughing much of last night... poor, sick panda.

- I had a very rough day (Jayla's sick too... and Lucy didn't nap), followed by a fantastic run. Jean and I did Lake Phalen (3.125 miles) twice at dusk. The weather was beautiful and I was shocked to feel so good at the end of 6-and-a-quarter miles. Really, nothing hurt and I felt like I could have gone longer, if I'd had to. Breaking the "halfway-to-10-miles" mark was a big psychological barrier for me to cross... so we celebrated with ice cream at the Dari-ette. I am SO excited it's Dari-ette season again!!

Brown Girl In the Ring

...la, la-la-la-la!

I have no idea what this song is about. But it's on a Raffi CD that I got from the library. And now it's stuck in my head.

She LOOKS like a sugar in a plum. Plum plum!

So, I have time to type now because my 2 kids are ni-night and Jayla is very tired but still awake upstairs. And I daren't try to do anything truly constructive until I'm sure she's actually going to sleep.

Had a wonderful trip to Milwaukee over the weekend for Peg's (I almost said bachelorette!) baby shower. The shower was fun... my folks got to take the kids to the zoo and swim with them in the hotel pool... and my face got sunburnt. In April. It was awesome.

I didn't run Fri, Sat or Sun. Today Jean watched the kids while I ran for... 40 minutes!! I walked for 4 minutes at the 20-minute mark, but I think that was it. I felt really great, much much better than I thought I would. I outran some shin splints; my right hip was hurting a little, but other than that I feel like I could have gone farther. I think I went about 3.5 miles total. *sigh* We'll see.

Ed got a new tooth on Friday! It's either B, I, L, or S (Jamie will verify... please Jamie? It's on his left lower jaw). His mouth is ridiculous... he has the two big front ones on top, and on bottom he has the two middles, and one just to the right, and then this giant molar in his back left... three spots away from the next-nearest tooth. Goofy kid. He's started walking quite a bit more; you can now set him down and he might just stand/walk on his own.

Lucy has had dry diapers three nights in a row! She was up late Fri and Sat night, so she was able to empty herself at, like, 10PM those nights. We didn't expect it to happen when we reverted to her normal 8PM bedtime, but it worked Sunday night too. Awesome! I never anticipated this part would come so quickly. I'm sure there will be setbacks, but to know that she can do it, is phenomenal. Go Lu!

The Music Truck Story

It's not even a story, really. This is going to be so anticlimactic.

So you know the ice cream truck that drives around the neighborhood in good weather? Well, my parents told me it was the music truck: playing music for the enjoyment of all the children in the neighborhood. Kind of like the Pied Piper, or something.

My parents also gave me crackers, saying "Here! These are cookies!" So then when I'd go to other people's houses and they'd offer me cookies, I'd shrug and go "Eh, no thanks."

I mock, but look! I have relatively healthy eating habits today.


So...
Thanks to all the commenters from yesterday. I want to apologize for not being as cool and diplomatic as I wish I could be... my itchy typing-fingers and short temper are things I struggle with daily.

Anonymous comments are welcome on this blog. Identifying yourself, however, allows readers to put your words into some sort of context. Most of my readers are white, middle-class midwesterners. But some are not. Diverse perspectives can edify us and make us all more well-rounded and better-educated individuals. But simple words, without knowing the writer's background or experience, can be open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

I don't think yesterday's Anon meant to be nasty or rude -- if I only knew who the person was, I would be able to "think" the comments in his/her voice, and put myself in his/her shoes, and see where he/she was coming from. I know "tone" is important, and it's hard to convey "tone" in a simple comment.

I've heard of, and visited, blogs where nasty anonymous comments are left, all willy-nilly, and I've always been happy and proud that my readers haven't gone there. Uh, listen, I'm not a philosopher or whatever. I'm tired and I want to blog about my kids and my runs. So, hugs and kisses to all...


My kids and my runs
I just realized "my runs" sounds really gross.

Ran this morning (got up, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 6 AM) and got my tush out the door and made it almost 2 miles without having to walk. These hills are killing me, I tell you what. I completed the same loop as usual, but I went a couple extra blocks because I got lost in my neighborhood. I know, it's mostly a grid. I sorta got turned around... not used to being out when the sun is on the eastern horizon. Anyway, by the end I felt terrific and I think I need to start stretching my total distance. So I popped the kids in the double stroller and pushed them a mile and a half to Cub Foods (with a potty stop at the library) and back. More hills. Oyyyy.

My cousin Kate is in town for bid'ness and came over for dinner last night. Our first meal of the season in the gazebo! We had nice talks and lots of laughs.

Going to bed now...

No-hassle cash rewards.

We're watching the AI results show as I type. Joel just promised he would watch the show every single week -- and vote -- if only Sanjaya can be kicked off.

I truly couldn't care less... American Idol, I'm just not that into you anymore. Oh! Did I tell you guys that in the beginning of the season I got an email from some crazy website that was looking for American Idol bloggers and because I was "someone who's blogged about AI in the past," would I like to join their blog ring, or whatever? It's just weird how easy it is to connect these days. Well anyway, I didn't join and I'm glad because AI has me soooo cold this year.

But I do want to say, for the record, that Melinda Doolittle is totally amazing and is light-years ahead of the rest of the pack.

ALSO!

That commercial just came on, for the Chrysler National Minivan Sale... where there's a lunchroom full of screaming kids and the principal/teacher walks by and flips down a DVD player out of the ceiling and all the kids shut up and just stare at the screen. Have you seen this commercial? Joel and I agreed the first time we saw it, there are SO MANY THINGS wrong with this commercial. Here are at least two:
1. Ohhh, don't have a DVD player in your minvan? Time to buy a new minivan! I may be only a former marketing, um, person, but this seems like faulty logic. Especially when portable DVD players are available for, like, a hondo at Target.

2. The kids are all unruly at school. Rather than disciplining them, or making school interesting, let's turn on the TV to get them to shut up! Now, don't get me wrong, when we make the 6-hour drive to Chicago, we turn on a movie only the last 2 hours, when the kids are getting super duper squirrelly. (We don't actually have a DVD player in the car; we have to MacGyver a laptop balanced on a cooler and bolstered by pillows and board-books and detached headrests.) I think that putting a movie on to keep the kids from whining is one of those things that comes, and ought to, with a healthy dose of guilt. A treat! That's what I'm trying to say. Watching a movie in the car ought to be a treat. Like, dessert. Omigosh! Yes! We were at the park this afternoon, waiting for Joel to get home from work, because I was taking the kids to the park anyway, and I went inside the house one more time just to throw out a baggie and grab my keys and when I got outside and closed the door, I realized I still had the baggie in my hand but no keys and, you guessed it, I actually threw my keys in the trash and kept the baggie... I am a doofus. Anyway! So we're at the park, right, and it's probably about 5:30. And the music truck* pulls up and every other kid at the playground (maybe 10 kids) runs over to the music truck and all their parents are buying them ice cream. And I try not to be judgmental, but seriously? OK I could go on for weeks but in our family we just don't go buy $2.50 ice creams 20 minutes before dinnertime simply because the music truck stops by the park.

So Lucy and Ed and I watch all the other kids run to the music truck. (At this point Joel shows up.) Lucy asks, "What's that?" And we say, of course, in unison, "It's the music truck!" And then this little 8-year-old girl whose mom I had been talking with and who had a brother about Lucy's age, named Eddie, ran over and said "My mom wanted to know if it would be okay if we bought this for your daughter" and tried handing me an ice cream and while I really appreciated the extremely generous gesture (Lucy was the only kid not getting ice cream), I was really surprised, I mean, really surprised, and semi-appalled, and I know I'm a nazi about having the kids eat healthy but I think dessert should be a treat, not an expectation and seriously we were just about to go home and have dinner and I do give the kids treats! I do!

Aiiieee! Antonio Banderas just made an appearance on AI. I love him.

Okay, I've got a hangnail and the Twins game is on the radio and the whole point of this entry was supposed to be to post about my run yesterday, in which I wore my new shoes for the first 12-minute mile and they felt absolutely fantastic and then I switched back to the old ones and ran the rest of the loop, completing a whole nother mile before having to walk again, which I did for about 2 minutes and then ran the rest of the way home. So that was good! I meant to run today but I got real, real tired after dinner so I'm going to go in the morning before my annual exam, and Q: how do you know you have absolutely no life? A: When you are actually looking forward to your annual exam because it means you get to get out of the house without the kids.

Run updater

I went on my same 2.5-mile loop that I did yesterday. I felt... terrific, actually! I ran about 15 minutes before pooping out (but that was on a hill)... I walked for 3 minutes, then ran 2 more minutes (still on the hill, you know!), then walked 2 more and then ran the rest of the way home (er, downhill).

I got shin splints before I even hit the first mile, but I just kept going (since Jean promised me I wouldn't permanently injure myself by running with shin splints, unlike, say, running with a broken ankle) and, much to my shock, they actually went away. But I think running uphill (which I have to do for the middle part of my run) helps... sooo... I dunno.

Bonk

I know the only reason you're checking my blog is to hear about my latest excuse for not running. Well, today I have a good one!

Saturday morning I went to give blood. I gave blood, then got up (slowly!) and walked over to the cantina area (where they have all the juice and sugary snacks). I started getting a little light-headed on the way over to the chair in the cantina. I remember sitting down, and then next thing I know I felt like I was waking up, and all these strange faces were looking at me.

You know sometimes how you wake up and forget where you are? This was sort of like that, only multiplied by 50. I could not for the life of me figure out where I was. And who were all these people looking at me? I assumed I must have stumbled into somebody else's dream, so I decided just to go back to sleep.

Except the people were really insistent that I shouldn't go back to sleep. Apparently I'd passed out and hit the floor with first my shoulder and then my forehead. They iced my forehead and my neck, and made me lay with my feet up (the Trendelenburg position), and made me breathe into a paper bag. Ugh. Anyway, Jean came to get me and I went home and kept icing and took a nice nap, kind of all afternoon. I feel like a total idiot and I have a bit of a goose egg on my forehead and I feel a little shell-shocked from learning that I am not invincible, after all... but otherwise I'm fine. I guess. I'm real reluctant to start running now, of course. I decided to do this run, what, three weeks ago? Then we were socked with two weeks of bad weather, then I go and get owie blisters and shin-splints, and now I've gone and busted my head. As much as I really thought this was something I ought to do, now I am seriously questioning the wisdom of attempting it. Argh.

Though the staff at the Red Cross were very nice, I thought they failed me in a couple ways:
1. The did a terrible job explaning things to me: like, how I was supposed to breathe into the bag, and why exactly I fainted in the first place.
2. It was obvious that they were far more concerned about me coming back to give blood again, than about my actual well-being. They kept saying things like "You didn't pass out just because you gave blood" and they would correct each other when one person would say "Oh, we pull the screen out all the time when people pass out" and then another would give the first person a look and say "Not that people pass out all that much, sometimes we just need to give people some privacy".

So! Here's my call-out to you. I give blood because there is a need. Someday I, or someone I love, may need some blood, and I want there to be enough to go around. I feel good about myself after I donate. I plan to give blood again. I want you to seriously consider donating blood. If nothing else, maybe if you give, the Red Cross people will get the heck off my back for a while. Especially if you're type B pos. So, do it for Meg's forehead! Donate blood today!


More Musicals!
Went to see Pippin at the Monti High School on Saturday night. I thought I just liked the show for sentimental reasons, since we did it when I was a soph in HS, but it turns out I really like that show. Mr. Stephen Schwartz, I apologize for all the mean things I said about you in the past. The Monticello production was just terrific, for a high school production. I loved some of the creative choices they made. The gals playing Berthe and Fastrada were exceptional, and some of the individual chorus members really shone as well. So fun!

Alison asked what my favorite musical of all time is. I could never, ever choose. Les Miz and Mis Saigon are maybe the most emotionally wrenching. Wicked has a very special place in my heart. So does Pippin, but for totally different reasons. Joseph... was, for me, the most fun to be in. And I don't even own the soundtracks for Jesus Christ Superstar, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, and dozens of other shows I dearly love.

Broadway Musicals for Dummies?

My friend Becky asked me to put together a CD of some songs from musicals for her. WELL! It didn't all fit on one CD. I made her 4 CDs. And if I do say so myself, it's a really good selection of music.

So... would you like a copy of Meg's little showtunes primer? I'll burn ya one (I mean, four). Here's the playlist, if you're interested. I could sub out songs if desired -- these are just sort of my favorites... for one reason or another.

DISC ONE

1776
1. The Lees of Old Virginia
2. But, Mr. Adams
3. Mama Look Sharp

Anything Goes
4. Friendship
5. Anything Goes
6. Blow, Gabriel, Blow
7. Be Like the Bluebird

Bombay Dreams
8. Bombay Dreams
9. Shakalaka Baby

Cats
10. Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats
11. Macavity
12. Memory

Chicago
13. And All That Jazz
14. Mr. Cellophane
15. Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag


DISC 2

Children of Eden
- Let There Be
- Father's Day
- Generations
- In Whatever Time We Have

A Chorus Line
- I Can Do That
- One

Dreamgirls
- Steppin' To the Bad Side
- And I Am Telling You...
- One Night Only (disco version)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Jacob & Sons
- Go, Go, Go Joseph

Les Miserables
- Stars
- Who Am I?
- Red & Black
- One Day More
- On My Own


DISC 3

Miss Saigon
1. The Heat is on in Saigon
2. Why God Why?
3. I Still Believe
4. I'd give my life for you
5. Bui Doi

The Phantom of the Opera
6. The Phantom of the Opera
7. The Music of the Night

Avenue Q
8. What Do You Do With A B.A. In English?/It Sucks To Be Me
9. If You Were Gay
10. Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist
11. For Now

Rent
12. Seasons of Love
13. Will I?
14. I'll Cover You

Spamalot
15. Knights of the Round Table
16. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Sweeney Todd
17. The Ballad of Sweeney Todd


DISC 4

Thoroughly Modern Millie
1. Not For The Life Of Me
2. Thoroughly Modern Millie
3. How the Other Half Lives
4. The Speed Test
5. Jimmy
6. Forget About the Boy

West Side Story
7. Jet Song
8. Cool
9. Tonight
10. America
11. Quintet
12. A Boy Like That/I Have a Love

Wicked
13. Overture/No One Mourns The Wicked
14. The Wizard And I
15. What Is This Feeling?
16. Popular
17. One Short Day
18. Defying Gravity
19. For Good

And now, some good things...

If you're familiar with that 1973 animated, musical version of Charlotte's Web that is Lucy's obsession, then you'll appreciate how Lucy spent the entire ride home from Easter in Monti singing "My brother, my brother, my Eddie!" to the tune of the title song.

Especially if your 2-year-old spent the ride home from Easter jabbering about cows.

Today when Jayla came over (before all Hector Villanueva broke loose), I had J and E and L all sitting on my lap, and Ed kept reaching for J and I said, Ed, can you say "Hi Jayla"? And I swear he totally said "Hi, Jay-jay!" He said it like three times. Awesome!

Confessions of an Angry Mother

Hey kids. Listen, I know sometimes I'm lots of sunshine and roses, but that's not what you're getting today. Today, you're getting blisters and spankings.

Tried out my new shoes on a run this morning (I actually got up at 6:30 to run!!). Mostly because I thought I'd read that "breaking in" new shoes is a myth, and that good new shoes shouldn't cause blisters. Well, A) they're not really that good of new shoes; they're New Balances but definitely bottom-of-the-line NBs. B) Hello, I have owned shoes for at least the last 30 years and I'm pretty sure shoes do, indeed, grow a little softer once you've worn them for a while.

Bottom line: I ran for 20 minutes until a hill kicked my heiney. I could tell I was getting blisters on the back of my heels, so I laced the shoes tighter, thinking that would stop the rubbing. Bad idea. Walking was agony at that point so I unlaced them entirely and was able to sprint the last 2 blocks home in almost no pain.

Got home and found a blister the size of a dime on my left heel. I lanced it, drained it, and MacGuyvered some diaper-rash cream under the blister's roof, using one of Ed's old syringe-like Liquid-Motrin-dispensers. This sounds gross, and probably is, but it was also very cool. I do like to dabble in self-surgery. My right heel's blister was less malevolent-looking, so I just band-aided it and am hoping for the best, or at least for a good science-fair topic: Which Blister Heals Faster?

After lunch, Jayla arrived and all was going well. I put Ed down for nap. I put Jayla down for nap. It was time for Lucy's nap and I gave her fair warning and I closed her shades and she said "I don't want to nap" and from then on it was a nightmare. She didn't want to go potty. Then insisted on going alone -- wouldn't even let me in the bathroom. So she went tinkle and then insisted she had to go #2 too. So she tried the little potty, tried the big potty, tried the little potty again and I was like, I'm sorry, that's it, you are done, we're going to go down for nap and she insisted on emptying out the potty but I said I had to help her (because I don't want tinkle all over my bathroom floor, and I don't think that's too neat-freaky of me, do you?) and she freaked out and was screaming so I swatted her bottom so she slapped my face and I am a horrible mother and then Jayla was screaming too and I was so angry I could spit. I put Lu in her bed and told her I didn't want to see her for 2 hours. She has actually been quiet ever since. Ed, of course, woke up then, too, but I think he calmed down after Jayla left.

Sooo... it's a rough day. I do not believe in spanking, and obviously it wasn't the right thing to do since she just hit me right back. I am really ashamed to admit I did that, but what the heck, I don't want anybody snowed into thinking I don't need a lot of help making it, here. I am really afraid I broke her heart and I desperately want to go in and hug her and tell her I love her (again, because I did tell her before I put her down) but I also desperately want her to nap a little longer. Argh.

AND I got to watch the Twins on cable! Yes!!

I feel the need to clarify: I am not running a 10K. I am running ten STINKING MILES... almost twice a 10K. I am going to die.

I did go for my First Run on Sunday; it was about three miles and it was great! My hips hurt a little and I was way tired by the end, but all in all it was good action.

For a while now, Lucy's been answering "Three o'clock!" whenever you ask her what time it is, and I think we just realized why: in the song "Goodnight, Sweetheart" (which, according to Lu, is "Daddy's song"), the first verse begins "Well, it's three o'clock in the morning..." and I'm sure that's where she got it.

My dad sent us a mix CD he just made (ostensibly for the kids, but I'm going to be the one weeping along to it every day) with a bunch of old-time favorites that remind me of my childhood. So many memories evoked by the playlist! Oh, here, what the heck, here it is:

Shimmy Shimmy Coco Bop
Goodnight Sweetheart
Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard
Kissin' and a-Huggin' with Fred
Catch a Falling Star
Mr. Sandman
Hernando's Hideaway
Day-O
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Sweet Charlotte (hey Dad, I'm not actually familiar with this one. Should I be?)
Little Deuce Coupe
Scarlet Ribbons
Puff, the Magic Dragon

We had an awesome Easter weekend in Monti with the Gronaus. We colored eggs on Saturday night, the kids were reasonably well-behaved at church on Sunday, and we did an outdoor egg-hunt (a first for me!) with Lucy. I was in charge of dessert and thought it would be funny to make a traditional lamb cake with white frosting but with a red velvet cake... a la the armadillo groom's cake in Steel Magnolias. Joel and I thought it was hilarious -- I'm not sure anybody else truly appreciated it, which is OK. I didn't have a lamb-cake pan so I kind of invented it out of regular cake pans and even though the photos don't show its true beauty (nor its bleeding interior) it turned out much better (and far more stable) than Ellen's Macchu Pichu cake last November. I am improving!

Lucy's been doing great in the toiley department. She's been dry for naps for a full week, and even though she has been having maybe one accident a day (during the week, that is, mostly because she refuses to be torn away from playing)... she actually had a dry diaper this morning. I'm astounded, as usual.

Eddie is now feeding himself almost exclusively. He even uses a spoon about half the time, which is just awesome and very freeing for me. He's been walking a *bit* more in the last few days, too -- he can maybe go 10-12 feet at a stretch, and sometimes he even pulls himself up and takes off on his own. He was mimicking sounds a lot this weekend; Grammy D has a Little People zoo set that makes animal noises, and Ed got the lion, elephant, and even the monkey pretty close. I swear he grew during his nap today -- I came home from my run and he was, like, somehow less of a baby.

I forgot to post this! Convos with Lulu

Jean was over the other week and we were packing up the kids to go to the grocery store and Lucy asked Jean: "We going to Jeannie's house?"

Jean: "No, Lu, we're not going to my house."

Lucy: "Oh, it's too messy?"

Then yesterday I was walking in the kitchen and I slipped on one of the kids' blankies that was lying on the kitchen floor. "Whoa!" I said as I sort of fell into a chair. "I slipped!"

Lu: "You slipped onna blanket?"

Me: "Yes, I did."

Lu: "It's okay, Mommy. It happens sometimes." (big cheesy grin)

Me: "You're cute, Lucy."

Lu: "Thank you."

I actually do happen to believe in coincidences.

http://blog.nj.com/sopranos/

Sooo... apparently on The Sopranos there was a horse named Pie Oh My that was killed by a guy named Joey Pants. John Shabe from Joysey was kind enough to bring this to my attention, and now he has an enormous picture of my head on his blog. How super weird is that? (the coincidence, I mean, not my head)? The guy refers to searching the "Internets" so I figure he must be relatively cool. Even if he did say I look like a mom. ;) (As I'm sure my mom is thinking: guess what, Meg, you ARE a mom.)

My swing dance class last night went splendidly. I have about 8 couples (I think there are actually maybe 9, but one didn't show up) and they all at least sort of know each other (they all live in the same building), which is a very cool dynamic to teach.

I have not started running yet, but Jean is on my tail and we're going to be able to run together at least a couple days a week, it seems. I do need to invest in a new pair of running shoes and a comfortable watch, if I'm going to make this work.

I'm hoping to have something to post soon that is more than just the mundanities of my day-to-day. Like, um, gee, anything other than "We went to the Children's Museum this morning and now the kids are napping." I'm workin' on it. :)

Monday, Monday

"Whuff" is the noise I want to make right now. I am in one of those moods where I have about 400 things I ought to be doing. Am I doing any of them? Nope. Blogging.

I took the kids to the park this morning, during those doldrums known as after-morning-snack-but-before-lunch. It was a little chilly, probably low 40s, and really overcast. Of course, now the sun's out. Anyway, it's a challenge because Ed's not walking but is big into exploring and climbing. And Lucy's not really much of an explorer and would much prefer to follow someone else's lead. Or just sit in the (very cold and damp) sand and dig. So I let her, and I just let Ed toodle and crawl around. Thank goodness for antibacterial soap and machine-washable clothes, I tell you what.

So apparently I signed myself up for the Soldier Field 10 Mile, which sounds a lot like I will have to run for TEN WHOLE BLEEPING MILES, which is about eight more miles than I am at all comfortable running. I'm so not pleased. Anyway, it's in Chicago on Memorial Day Saturday. My sisters are running too, which would be fine except they'll be flying on ahead of me and I'll probably just stop in Chinatown mid-race until someone comes to pick me up. I'm toast.

I start teaching my new swing dance lessons tonight and I'm sort of looking forward to it... I think? I don't know what the space is like, but I do know the people who set it up for me, so I'm hoping it'll be fun and fulfilling. I've never taught two sessions of classes concurrently (I mean, one-right-after-another, is that the right word? I think it's not.) but I think that might be a good thing... I can learn from my own very recent mistakes.

But I should probably at least wash my face before going.

Also, I'm supposed to start Lucy and Josie on some Friday dance lessons and I have some seriously awesome ideas but it's kind of a daunting task, pulling a whole curriculum together.

And I promised JG I would put the laundry away upstairs. He asked very sweetly and in the way that means, seriously, it would be a really good thing if I could get it done.

And I guess I should think about dinner. I have pork chops defrosting on the counter... but no plan...

Argh!

I love my kids, I love my kids...

But MAN it's kind of been a long week.

What's that you say? It's only Thursday? Ahhh, geez.

Put the kids down for naps right after lunch, and Ed was up gabbing at 1:59. OBJECTION!! I say. Overruled, says Eddie. He's up. But it's only 2:29 now and I'm going to let him hang out in there for a bit. He's happy.

This has been my first "full week" with Jayla and she is SUCH a doll but even though she's only here for 1.5 hours I do seem to get significantly less done around the house than I would like. By which I mean that I have not had a chance to pick up my book all week. Rats!

Nicole Watson's mom (occasionally commenting here as The Madwoman of Preserve Path) as a new blog. She's a great writer and very funny so check it out if you have time.

I am boring the living daylights out of myself. Sincerest apologies.

Some photos

...courtesy of Pat Watson, our photog-on-retainer, of course. I was totally hoarding these photos because I am ordering big prints for our walls (yes, I am FINALLY getting pix of my kids up in my house!)... but then I realized that many of you are never going to come over.

Not that you're not invited, of course... ;)

Yeah, it makes me smile...

I'm super-hooked on Lily Allen's CD "Alright, Still". It's been a really long time since I had a new CD that really made me happy! Even though the lyrics are actually really, um, jaded-urban-Gen-Y, maybe? Whatevs, I like her British accent. So I've been surreptitially listening to Lily (too many swears for baby ears) when I can. Thanks Stu!

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY, could you even imagine a more beautiful weekend? 70s and sunny and so lovely. We got the garage cleaned out (including the removal of truly revolting amounts of mouse messes), I went to Target three times, and we got the laundry and groceries taken care of for the week (I think).

I also agreed to teach some more dance lessons for a couple from my current Latin class and some people in their condo-building. This will be a great night-job if it carries on. I was sort of looking forward to not-teaching for a while but it seems like it will be a good gig so I may as well give it a go.

Alley Joel and Cara were putzing in their garage on Saturday so we all had a barbecue right before the rain came. The kids fawned all over Jean and Cara; it was fun to see.

The kids spent kind of a lot of time this weekend at the playground; thank goodness it's only a block away! They both love the swings. Lucy is getting brave enough to do the slides by herself; unfortunately, so is Ed. That kid! I do not know what to do with a boy. We put him down in the sand for three seconds this morning and next thing we knew he was halfway across the playground, a third of the way up the steps. Oof. I know he's frustrated that he can't walk or keep up yet.

Oh, and I helped Jean buy, transport, and assemble some new bedroom furniture today. So fun! I love helping other people spend money. And I do love Ikea. I got a few frames for the kitchen in hopes of getting some pix of my kids actually up in the house here.

My sister Ellen ran in Chicago's "Shamrock Shuffle" today along with thirty thousand other people. My folks went to see her run and said it was a total madhouse. Can you even imagine? Ellen is also joining this sorta-almost-professional women's volleyball team in Chicago. She totally amazes me.

Tomorrow I start watching Jayla 5 days a week. I really want it to go well... I know it will just take some actual planning on my part, even though it's only 1.5 hours a day. It's supposed to be gorgeous again tomorrow... so I should probably go to sleep so I can get up and enjoy it, eh?

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

I'm not sure what that lyric means but the song's been running through my head since it was playing at the Kids' Museum this morning.

Yurk! I can't believe I haven't posted in nigh-on a week.

We had a wonderful trip to Illinois over the weekend. Spent lots of good grandparent-time (including seeing Aunt Eller and both my grandmas, what a treat!) and by the third night both kids were content sleeping in my folks' accommodations. We also got to see adorably pregnant Stulie and play Santa by bestowing upon them 2 gynormous bags of baby clothes. So we must be done having kids... we have no more baby clothes!

On Saturday my mom treated me, Joel, Lucy, Ellen and Grandma Jake to Seussical, the Musical at Conant High School. The show was not bad, and fun, and Lucy was rapt with attention (as was Grandma). Lu clapped at the end of every song and blew bubbles during the tub scene and got to meet some of the Whos after the show and she loved it.

Joel took Lucy on a date this evening to see Charlotte's Web at the $2 show. Well, $1 for two-year-olds. She talked all day about how she was going on "a date" after her nap. They got popcorn and she held her tinkle until after the show was over. Her only complaint was that there weren't any songs in this version (she knows all the songs from the 1973 version we have at home).

Oh! Which reminds me, Lucy has been wearing big-girl underpants for a week. She's had a few accidents, most of which have been my fault (like, not taking her directly to the pot after a longish grocery trip... or forgetting to diaper her for a nap). But she's doing pretty well. Man, that girl has a mind of her own -- you cannot force her to sit on the pot if she doesn't want to. Boy, oh boy. We had a slight problem tonight: Joel diapered her around 7:15 and by 7:45 (she goes to bed around 8) she had wet the diaper so much that it soaked through her jammy pants. She did tell me she was tinkling, as she was going... but it's as though wearing a diaper gives her license to just tinkle whenever. So, moms-who've-been-here... what should I do? Not diaper her until right before bedtime? Or do I have to buy those spendy "Feel-n-Learn" diapers that feel wet on her bottom and have her wear those at bedtime and naps?

I should say that Lucy did drink a lot of juice during her date. So that maybe exacerbated the problem.

Ed's still not walking, which is OK by me. That kid is going to have a major head injury by the time he's 2, I can almost guarantee it. No fear, no sense -- he just climbs up on everything.

I'm going to bed now... got another wild day ahead tomorrow...

300!

Not the movie.

This is my 300th post! Happy to me.

Joel and I are sitting in the living room right now with the TV actually off. OFF. OFF, do you hear me?!? I do not remember the TV being off ANY other evening in our house. Joel had on the Pussycat Dolls show, whatever-the-heck it is, and he started whining about how bad it was and I suggested (kiddingly!) that the TV could, indeed, be turned off and he actually went over and did it. And then swore about it for the next five minutes, while gnawing on some random pretzel crumbs and staring oddly at the darkened TV screen.

He's reading a month-old issue of Sports Illustrated now. Upp, now he's starting to wiggle. And swear again. Annnnnnd....

The TV's back on. Well it was a good 20 minutes, while it lasted. To be honest, I spent 10 of it on the phone with Jean.

Speaking of TV, I feel the need to admit that I have the teeniest crush on the guy who plays Tommy on The Black Donnellys. I am not the type to crush on actors. But I did read he was a ballet dancer (ballerino? ballet-man?) so maybe that has something to do with it. Joel knows about it and has started walking around with his cheeks sucked in, telling me to "get outta my bid'ness".

Know what bugs me? When people say "down south" when what they mean is "southern Minnesota." Because those two terms are not interchangeable.

Edward had his 12-month well-baby this morning. He's like almost 24 pounds and maybe 31" tall. Or something. They said 85th% for height and 80th% for weight. So he's a chunker, which should surprise nobody. His head is exactly average -- so take that, mean mall mom. :)

Drat! My battery's dying, I'd better go. Be well...

Gotta go!

A couple other Lucyisms I need to write down:

A couple weeks ago I was running a little short on temper. The ever-perceptive Lucy goes "Mommy, you mad at me?"

Me (after a deep breath): "No, honey, I'm not mad at you."

Lucy (after a thoughtful pause): "You... fussin'-ratin' at me?"

Awwww.

Also -- some kids have imaginary friends. Lucy has... imaginary words. Specifically: floo, fla, flow, and fisha-fasha.

It's really interesting to observe, because you can tell she uses them when she can't quite come up with the right word as quickly as she wants to use it. For example, when she doesn't like something or she thinks something is icky, she'll often call it "floo" or sometimes "flow and low."

Carol and I went out for drinks on Saturday night, to a local dive. I mean, it's a serious dive. So anyway, we're walking out the door at (a very modest) 11pm, and a woman steps out of the bushes sort of right into me. We just barely brushed shoulders; I didn't even think the contact warranted an "excuse me"... but the gal sorta shouted at us: "White hos gotta go!"

I mean, really. You know what Carol and I look like. Like minivan-drivin' moms. Though I suppose the gal was spot-on about the white part.

Musicals musicals! Spectcular spectacular!

Golly, I love a good live musical. Joel and Jean and I went to see Disney's "High School Musical" at the Children's Theatre Company on Friday night. My friend Katie Allen was the lead, Gabriella. She was amazing and the show was maybe one of the best 3-5 shows I have ever seen. The show is going to be opening on Broadway sometime in the next year or so and I cannot imagine a Broadway performance being any better than what we saw. Every single member of the cast was "on" the entire time; the staging, sound, and costumes were all incredibly engaging and professionally done. We'd seen the movie a few months ago and been unimpressed, but it really does make a much better live show. So congrats to everyone at CTC; really, really great job!

Joel and I took the kids to the Children's Museum again this morning. Man, do we love that place! They had face paints laid out for the kids to play with, and Lucy completely covered the lower half of her face in green (her favorite color). She was so happy. Joel drew Elvis-style blue glasses and black sideburns on Ned.

Saturday night Joel put on "The Music Man" DVD (the newer version with Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Broderick) for Lucy. There's a song called "Shipoopi" in the show. When it started, Lucy turned to Joel incredulously and said "POOPY!??!" Joel told her it was "Shipoopi" and then they came upstairs for dinner. Lucy was saying "Poopy, poopy..." and I (thinking of potty training rather than Meredith Willson) said "Lu, we don't say 'poopy,' we say --"

Lu: "Shi-popo?"

That girl is like a sponge when it comes to songs. So she ran around the basement the rest of the evening, singing "Shipoopi, shipoopi, shipoopi" (which is how the song goes). I should also add that she was playing one of Eddie's plastic golf clubs like a trumpet. The next line of the song goes "the girl is hard to get," which Lu had misunderstood as "the guy is soaking wet." We laughed hard enough for her to realize she was hilarious, and she sang it all day today too. That is, when she isn't singing "a fair is a veritable smorgasbord, orgasbord, orgasbord" from the old animated Charlotte's Web movie from, like, 1973 or whatever. She was singing that one at the top of her lungs when she was supposed to be napping on Saturday.

Oh, I should also mention that Lu spent much of the day Friday wearing... a strand of pearls. And... that's it.

Eddie seems to be aging gracefully since his b-day -- though he still refuses to walk much. Oh, he did stand himself up and take three steps on his own this evening. And yesterday he took, maybe, 10 steps from Joel to me.

Ned and Lu spent about 5 minutes at the supper table tonight, screaming at each other. Screaming. It would have been really irritating, except you could tell they were just seeing what kinds of noises they could make. And it's really funny to watch someone let out a super-loud scream at the top of his lungs and then immediately take a huge bite of chili like nothing ever happened. Especially when he still has the light-blue remains of Elvis glasses painted on his face.

My Eddie!

Happy 1st birthday to my baby man Ed.

Everybody (myself included) keeps saying "I can't believe it's been a year!" but it sure has.

My dad is in for the week -- he gets such a huge kick out of the kids and it's so fun to watch. It's also fun to watch him do all the dishes. :)

Well! Short & sweet today. I think I'll take a nap now.

Baseball on the radio, I'm so happy!

We went to story time at the Red Balloon Bookshop this morning (as we do every Tuesday, though I'm not sure how long we're going to continue -- Ed was WILD today and it's really hard getting him to chill through both story times... I'm getting ahead of myself)

There are actually 2 story times; first is Baby Time, for 0-2 year-olds. Each week Sara, the leader, sings "happy birthday" to whichever baby(s) have birthdays that week. And apparently I did a good job preparing Ed for this week; when Sara asked for birthdays, I exaggerate not, Ed stood up on my lap, waved his hand and went "Eh!" We sang to him (and to some kid named Luka, which I think confused Lucy because I have spent the entire last week gently reminding her that, no, it's not your birthday this week) and went on our merry way.

The second story time is for 2-3 y-os and Lucy gets way more out of that one. They do a couple little dances, I think is why. Well anyway, Kim (the leader) was dressing a toy dog (I'm not really sure why; I was try to keep Ed entertained) and she put some underwear on it and the little girl right next to Lucy got really excited and shouted out "Big boy underwear!!!" It was really funny.

Which is my segue to the Quest-for-Big-Girl-Underwear Report: while yesterday was kind of fair-to-middling (I had a heck of a time getting her to put down the toys and sit down on the pot), Lu was completely dry all morning today. Which included going at 9:30 and then holding it all the way through both storytimes AND lunch and then going again at 1:30, which seems like an unreal time for her to hold it but she sure did.

The little girl I've been watching (3 days a week, 1 hour each day) is now going to need watching 5 days a week, 1.5 hours each day. I just don't know whether or not I should do it.

Dur dur d'etre bebe!

At least, I sort of think that's how you say "it's so tough to be a baby" in French, though my source on that is the 8-year-old (as of 1992) French "house mix" singing sensation Jordy, so, you know, take it with a grain of salt.

Oh, so Ed fell asleep in the middle of lunch today. He got the leans midway through his second PBJ sammy and the next time I looked over, he was cashed.

In other news, we hooked ourselves up with a fambly membership to the Children's Museum, and I am super excited to make that a regular outing. We also started a toilet-learning sticker-chart/M&M-bribe system with Lucy. We'll see how it goes.

1500, my new radio home

That show Medium always freaks me out. I love it!

Tonight I seriously HAPPENED to turn on 1500AM, only because I just had to reprogram all my radio stations in the van because my in-laws left the lights on when they took Lucy to church on Saturday so the battery died so all my pre-set stations went the way of pin-rolled pants and banana clips, and while reprogramming the stations I actually remembered that the Twins are no longer on 830 but 1500, so I actually set it correctly, so then when I turned on the radio (which I only get to do when I'm alone in the car which is very rare these days) THERE WAS A TWINS GAME ON!!!!

Yes, spring training has begun! I am not kidding when I say my little heart skipped a beat at the sound of John Gordon's voice. The ride to the Dayton's Bluff Rec Center is less than 5 minutes, so all I really caught of the game was that we were ahead 1-0 in the 3rd based on something Jason Bartlett did, and that we're scheduled to play against Kyle Lohse later this week, but WHO CARES, it's BASEBALL!!!

Now, it still confuses me that major-league ballplayers can be younger than I am. I know, I know, some of them are an entire decade younger than I am. But it's still something that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around.

Silly kid update!
Lucy's taken to calling Ed "a stinker." Probably because I do too. The other day Ed was hollering about something and Lucy said to me "What a loud stinker!"
Also, she uses "stink" when she means "smell" as a verb. Today, she picked up a diaper Ed had just dirtied (and I had just carefully wrapped) and said "Let me stink this," right before sticking her nose in it.

Good-bye, nursing bras! Hello...

Um... hello? Hellooooooo...

hello... hello... hello...

Well! I finally went through my bra drawer and removed every last nursing bra and washable nursing pad. Ed and I had one last nursing session last week and we are totally done now. So now my chest is a size it hasn't been for... three and a half years? Which means the only 2 bras I have that fit now are four years old and came from the teenage-girls bra department at JC Penney. Ugh.

Lucy's word for "nipples" might actually be "mittles." I can't quite tell.

My mother-in-law is participating in a Polar Plunge at Lake Calhoun this Saturday. We're going to see her to cheer her on and wish her luck and warmth!

Going ot have to finish this later; it's bedtime...

Friday

Nuthin' new here. Lucy just got up from her nap; she walks out on her own with her sleep-ruddy cheeks and says "Hi, Mommy." It's awesome.



Ed still has his four teeth and they're huge. He grins and says "Hi, Da" all day.



Lucy's phrase this week is "You gotta buy some more." As in:



Me: "Lucy, this is the last cookie for you tonight."
Lucy: "You gotta buy some more."

Lucy discovered her nipples (or "mimples") this week.

(Lifting her shirt) "What are these, mommy?"

"Nipples, sweetie."

"I have breasts?"

"No, right now you just have nipples. In about 10 years you'll have breasts."

"Maybe later. When I'm older."

We had lovely playdates with the Dalys and Watsons, respectively, this week. Toddlers are just so, so funny. Love them all.

New baby

Well! Ask and ye shall receive!

CONGRATS to the Pudwell Family on their new baby girl! I got this email this morning:

Nicole, Scott, and Joshua are proud to announce the newest Pudwell!!
Ashley Ann Pudwell was born at 8:02pm [on Feb. 22].
Ashley weighed 7lbs 11oz, and was 19 inches long.
Pictures coming soon on pudwellfamily.com
Both Mom and Ashley are doing great!!

Welcome to the world, Ashley!! Welcome to big-brotherhood, Josh!

New blogs and whatnot

New Blogs
My friend Jara now has a blog, as does my cousin Amy. Actually Amy has had one for several months; I'd just missed the loop, for some wild reason.

Whatnot
Also! Congrats to my friend Michelle who is relatively-newly pregnant with #2.

Please send power out to 2 of my due-any-minute preggo friends, Nicole P and Tricia. Can't wait to hear their stories!


More Whatnot
So I read this item about birthing and breastfeeding/latching in Parents magazine last night and I thought it was really interesting. Of course, I am the crazy granola mom. So I'm embracing my role. :)

"Sometimes it takes a bit longer for a newborn to latch -- and the most common reason is that the baby's sleepy because his mother was given an epidural or other labor medications."

Then they quote a gal from La Leche League, Katy Lebbing:

"Research has shown that if an epidural is administered for more than two hours, you'll have latching problems. The longer the epidural is in, the more likely you are to have trouble. ...A woman ... had an epidural for 48 hours; her baby didn't latch on for three weeks."

I had never heard before that the two were related... though I knew I was already a firm believer in both natural childbirth and breastfeeding, but I guess this info makes me feel a little better since I know I'm in the minority. Maybe I need to really strap on the Birkenstocks and learn how to become a doula or something. Always searching for my mission in life... :)

I should really try to figure out the source; I would love to read more about this "research." Usually Parents magazine is a neverending slosh of ridiculously expensive "must-haves," excessively consumeristic "great ideas" and unrealistically idealistic "safety tips."

Sample tip for raising earth-conscious kids: "Go on a hike through some nearby woods and introduce your children to the different types of plants, trees, and ecosystems in your area." This would be assuming the parent is some kind of crazy botanist with encyclopediaic knowledge about the local flora. Can you even see me? "Okay, kids, this is a tree. It's got branches. And... leaves. And here's another tree! Also with leaves. Ooh! This one looks like a bush. It has leaves, too. Here! On the ground; this is a stick. It fell off a tree. Or, a bush. And here we have some mud. And there! More mud!"

Rounds and worms

Happy Fat Tuesday, everybody! I'm actually coming off an entire Fat Weekend (pizzas and gyros and pie, oh my!), so I'm trying to eat healthier starting today... sort of. I was actually thinking maybe I should add a couple more layers of fat to insulate me from this ridiculously cold weather we've been having. Then today it's 43 and sunny. Can't win!

My friend Nikki posted that she thought she heard a bird the other day. I heard nothing, but saw an entire round of robins* on the roof of my garage! And they were the fattest little robins you ever did see. It was a little bizarre. This was RIGHT in the middle of the coldest part of the cold snap, too. I do not know what they were doing. But they don't look too happy with themselves.

*(I Googled "collective noun" and "robins" and came up with zilch, so I sort of made that one up. Okay, actually I just looked a little closer and one site says "worm"!?!? Well, that's just silly.)

There's GOT to be a better way
Hey there, inventors and entrepreneurs! You need to invent something that makes it easier to get kids in and out of car seats during winter. It's not safe, buckling their buckles over all those coats. And it's certainly not responsible or possible in a practical sense, to remove the coats before putting them in the car seats.
I think what needs to happen is a special coat with slits made to slip the seat belts/buckles through. The slits could Velcro closed when the kid's not in the seat. Oh, no, that wouldn't work because of the kids' arms... Okay, what about a harness that you put on the kid prior to donning the coat (which would still have to be a special kind of coat, with slits or something) and then buckling the harness onto the car seat? Grrr.

Let's see, what's new -- my mom ("Grandma Books") was up for the weekend. It was so great to see her and the kids just loved it. Ed even took a couple steps (maybe even 4?) unassisted (but with heaps of encouragement) for her to see.

Ed had a yucky fever most of the weekend (high of 104.3 on Saturday morning) and the rest of us have been a little cold-y too. Lu loves being the booger police, letting us know when she or Ed needs a kleenex. I guess we should have taught her to say "runny nose" instead. You live and learn.

Ed loves to say "hi." Over and over and over. It charms the heck out of old ladies at the grocery store.

More later...

My brain was frozen and filled with snot!!

Back by popular demand, today's Guest Blogger is none other than fan favorite, JG!

I was so excited to find an ultra close spot at the bus stop. Background: My company subsidizes a parking spot monthly which is, say, 9 blocks from work. Okay so like only 4-5 blocks. It's walkable, but a bus pass is included in the parking permit so you don't HAVE to hoof it. Buses leave from the lot every 10-15 minutes in the morning. So my usual routine is to catch a bus in the morning. (The walk is uphill and I can barely stand to think in the morning before my 3rd cup of coffee.) Not to mention, every time I do walk I see the stupid bus pulling up like just as I am arriving at work. So really, why not just catch the bus. I do walk at night, so I don't have to wait for the bus, and then, yes, you guessed it, it's downhill. Easier to keep one's momentum going when one has some additional weight in the fulcrum of one's body, you know?

So, like I mentioned, I found a primo spot in the lot. I believe Meggo and I used to call it porno parking. Since we have kids now I think we have taken that out of our vernacular. Prolly not though. Noting that the bus is ready to leave, I hop out of the car, grab my workout bag, and jump on the bus. I pull out my cell phone to play with the buttons so I know how to shut off the ringer... see if there are any games... just get used to how the blasted contraption works. I mean really, I don't need to take pictures, make a meal, or complete a masters degree online with it. I just need to be able to call someone and answer it when it rings. On the bus I start a conversation with a guy who was recently in the news, quite an interesting story, I'll tell ya sometime. Then I arrive at work to realize gangnabbit I left my keys on the bus; they must have fallen out when I was playing with my stupid cell phone. Well there's nothing really one can do when that happens on the bus and we had our all company meeting to get to. So I started that trek of lemmings down to the meeting room with our good friends Carol and Patrick Daly.

Meeting over. I stopped by at the bus office in the skyway to get info as to what one does when they leave something on the bus. Call lost and found tomorrow, is the answer I get -- I knew that one. It's now 11:45ish and I'm working up the gumption to call Meggo to let her know and logistically it's not a big problem; I can catch a bus home at night and back to work in the morning, but just in case I'll walk on down there to make sure: A. I didn't leave the keys in the car; B. I didn't drop them in the transition from the car tothe bus; and C. Verify the car is still there. I bundled up and walked down. Half way I realize I didn't grab my cellphone. Smart Joel real smart. I mean, insert Meg's voice here: "What do you have a cell phone for ANYWAY!" I turn the corner to where I can see the parking lot and the cars all lined up. Terror dripping from my brow. I'm straining to just get a glimpse of the little car and not seeing anything. Scanning the row back and forth hoping that it's just hiding behind the Bonneville. Nope. Getting closer well maybe it's beside the Seabreeze. (A shout out to Bridget Fors old baby the Sebring.) Oh wait I see my bumper. WHAT THE HELL, there's exhaust coming from the tailpipe. You have got to be kidding me. Sure as my vacant expression. I did something I have never done before. I left the car running with the doors locked for 4 and a half hours. No cell phone. IDIOT!! I caught the bus back to work, called Meggo who I knew was at book readings (ed. note: it's actually called "story time") with the kids. Well my valentine came to my rescue. I walked on down there again to visit and grab my keys and see the family. Eddie fast asleep, Lucy clutching her red balloon and new "Philadelphia Chickens" CD Meggo purchased for her and the funniest little expression on Meggo. One that says, you will never live this one down. Needless to say Meggo now has, in the immortal words of Paula Abdul, her back pocket token for whatever she wants. What can I say, my brain was frozen and full of snot.

I switched to the New Blogger

I don't feel any different.

Also! I need a recipe. I was sitting next to a mom at storytime today who fed her daughter what appeared to be an oatmeal-raisin cookie, but what I'm sure was actually an uber-healthy granola-ey concoction, optimized for high fiber and nutrition and minimal fat and sugar.

But you can't exactly type that into Allrecipes or Epicurious and expect to get any results.

Also! New poll. Oh... except I don't have the time to figure out how to do a poll again.

Ed slept for maybe 30 minutes in the van right before noon/lunch, due to a set of somewhat bizarre circumstances that I will allow Joel to post at his discretion. We got home by noon, finished lunch by 12:30 and Ed was in his crib for nap by 1:00. Except he was wiiiiide awake. But happy. He jabbered to himself and played his fish-music-boxes for close to two hours(!!) until I thought to go in, at which point I immediately discerned he had a large dirty diaper. I changed it, and put him back down. He fell asleep almost right away.

Am I a bad mother for letting him fart around for two hours on his own? I'm not so concerned about the diaper; it didn't seem to bother him. But, like, should I have taken him out and played with him? I really thought he was going to fall asleep at any moment. Really.

Corrections and Clarifications

ST PAUL, MINN --
In a recent blog entry, Meg may have unintentionally misled readers to believe that she:

a. has this whole motherhood thing figured out

b. is never cranky, crabby, or at all out-of-sorts

c. never, ever wishes that the kid clawing his/her way up her pants leg would just go bang some Tupperware bowls together, or something, and let her just fold this one last stinkin' dish towel, if it's not too much trouble, please!??

d. galavants happily throughout each day, magically whisking her children to and from enriching activities, providing nutritious and delicious snacks and meals at appropriate times, and always provides consistent and firm, yet gentle guidance and discipline when necessary.

Meg wishes she wasn't so fast and loose with her posts on her happy days, and Meg wishes she could also post her grumpy days too, but you definitely don't want to read that. Meg guesses that what Meg meant was more, like, she understands herself and her role and her life a little better now, and she hopes that readers know her well enough to know that mood swings and waffling emotions are still to be expected.

Meg regrets the error.



Lucy Speak
These days, when Lucy asks us to do something, and we have to say "no" (like, she wants me to pick her up when I am already holding a very sad Eddie... OR, she wants me to peel her another orange when she has just devoured two of them)... she replies:

"You got to try!"

Or sometimes it's:

"Don't say 'no' at me!"

It is sooo hard not to laugh.

Also, I know everybody already knows this but I have to write it down for posterity: she calls the refrigerator the "fridgerfridger."

Half a recipe

I was emailing a friend and she sent me a recipe for some Asian wraps that sounded wonderful, and in a weird coincidence, us Gs had just eaten some really tasty wraps for dinner that night. Short story long, I promised I would post my wrap-recipe... but the bag that the tortillas came in (on which the recipe was printed) got tossed so now I have to kind of recreate the recipe for you. Whatever; they're really good. Joel raved.

Flour tortillas
Cream cheese (you don't need a whole brick unless you're making like twenty)
Shreddy cheddar cheese
Deli-sliced roast beef
Red onion slices
Avocado slices
Roasted red peppers (I always use jarred)
Fresh spinach leaves

What I did was warm a tortilla a little, then spread about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of the cheddar on the tortilla. Add 1 or 2 roast beef slices and then microwave that shebang, just to soften the cheese and bring out the meat flavor a bit. Then add some of the onion, some avocado, a bit of red peppers and exactly six spinach leaves. Roll up and eat. Feasty!

Really, I don't know why this was so good. It just kind of was.
If you're not a tortilla person, the results are just as nummier on some toasted sourdough bread. Toasted bread is good.

I can't actually feel my toes... is that a problem?

I peeked out at our thermometer in the backyard this morning around 7:45 and I said, hey Joel! Looks like it's up to 20 degrees! Thank goodness!

No, you dummy, he replied, that says twenty below. And gosh danged if he wasn't right.

So... it's chilly here. How chilly? You may ask.

Whatever diesel gas mix they use in school buses is actually freezing.

Paint is chipping off the window frames in Ed's room.

There is snow buildup inside many of our windows on the north side of our house.

Every once in a while I hear a loud "pop" come from somewhere... like the roof or an exterior wall... like the stucco or something is cracking? Ick.

Our garage door opener has gone into hibernation. It now takes a party of at least two to open our garage door... one inside, madly pushing the button; the other kicking and/or pushing against the door trying to force it up.

Wait, there was a point to this... what was it? OH! Some clarity.

I was at a party this weekend (one of three, all of which were very much fun if a bit overwhelming; Sunday morning when Lucy woke up I asked if she knew what we were doing today and she said "Another party?!?") with both kids climbing/hanging on me, and I realized... I didn't mind.

This was sort of an unusual (that word has three u's. That's a lot!) feeling for me, and I was trying to figure out why. Most parties in recent history, I've been super annoyed that the kids were hanging/clinging and I just wanted them to run/crawl off and play on their own. So there I was, happy to be serving as a human jungle-gym.

Here's my only theory: I have grown to accept them as part of my life, and not just a distraction from my life. Is that terrible? I'm sure most mothers pick that up sooner than I did, but it's a great feeling. Joel's Aunt Denise (who comments here sometimes) sent me a wonderful message when I quit my job back in October about how God showed her that her kids should be her first priority, and never simply an "interruption." And I think I'm beginning to feel that way, too. Which isn't to say that I don't certainly need my Meggo time. I think maybe I'm just finding out how to embrace motherhood.

Speaking of embracing, Ed just turned on his fish-music in his crib which means naptime is over and cuddle-time must begin. Now I get to find a warm spot in the sun to hang with Ed until the Princess of the World wakes up.

Thanks to Julie, Carol, Trish, Kevin, and Dave and Dana for hosting your respective parties over the weekend! We had such a great time. Thanks to Peg and John for driving all the way up from MKE to visit as well! Warm, warm, warm hugs to everyone.

Bored?

If you want a good laugh, go over to the right of this page and click on the link(s) to Jan and Feb 2006. It's mostly me being pregnant forever but I've had SUCH fun rereading everything, now that I have a year's perspective on it all. Of course, maybe it's only fun for me, because it was me... well anyway, read the comments too; there's some good comedy in there. :)

Ed gets a haircut

Here's the new 'do!

Nothing else is new. The windchill is eight below today. I WANT OUT OF THIS HOUSE.

I am, however, a genius for stocking up on fresh foods last weekend. Fresh basil, tomatoes, avocados, and assorted other whole foods have been fortifying my sanity for the last couple days. Well, as much as possible I guess.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me three times, thy name must be Cub Foods.

So I've HAD IT with Cub Foods. They have their stinkin' coupon books with all their "buy-one-get-ones" and you have to rip the coupons out and hand them to the clerk and then you have to bag all of your own groceries even when you have both of your very small and very wiggly and very vocal children with you in the store, so you can't really take the time to watch the clerk's every movement to make sure they actually ring up all the coupons you just handed them, and then you get home and just happen to be glancing at your receipt when you notice that the $10 worth of roast beef that you bought that should only have been $5 was still showing as $10 so you have to go all the way back to the store and have them adjust it and give you back your $5.09 in cash and you're telling me they don't have the technology just to put it back on my card?! because giving it back to me in cash is like not giving it back to me at all and it happens once and I feel stupid and embarrassed and it happens again and I start to get angry and it happens a third time and even though your 18-year-old manager was super nice and actually gave me back the entire $10.38 I spend on roast beef that day, and even though Cub is super close to my house and also I know the layout like the back of my hand so I can actually find a jar of roasted red peppers or wheat germ when I need it, I will be taking my grocery business elsewhere for the next month or so, because I Just. Can't. Take. It.

So, Byerly's, here I come. Or Rainbow, I guess -- it's probably only 5 minutes farther away.

As Joel said last night, if I'm going to get ripped off anyway, I'd like to know about it when it happens (i.e. at Byerly's), rather than finding out after I'm already home.


In More-Positive News!
Ed got his first haircut yesterday! I did it myself, with distraction-help from Joel and Lucy. Ed is so adorable I can hardly stand it. I guess I could post a photo... um...

Far be it from me

I hate to squash my daughter's individuality by gently suggesting she wear something other than dresses. I mean, I like dresses too and all. They're pretty. And what the heck, they were all either hand-me-downs, save one which was $6, so it's not like we're saving them or whatever. And they make her SO happy.

Here is the problem: LOGISTICS.

A. It's January. Minnesota. I can put tights on her, but they are a very thin and ineffectual windbreaker against single-digit windchills. I can put pants under the dress, but then she gets bunchy and tuggy and that causes trouble.

B. She's going potty on the potty. Only occasionally, true, but with enough regularity to make it really difficult to bunch up the dress, pull off the tights/pants, tuck the dress up into itself, and hold the entire package steady atop the toilet for upwards of 5 minutes... with one hand, since the other is invariably either holding a whiny Ed or stiff-arming him to keep him from splashing in the toilet water.

C. I know, I know, I should have a C. I don't.

Have a great weekend!

Do yourself a favor!

Go see my sister Jean's blog and scroll down to her photos of Peru. The photos are breathtaking.

Oh! And we figured out Jean looks more like me when she doesn't wear makeup. Which is why, for a sec, it might look like I'm in Peru. I am not. :(