This is a good picture that shows all the teeth Jessie has lost this summer!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
One more cute picture...
This is a good picture that shows all the teeth Jessie has lost this summer!
First Day of School!
Here's my little lady all ready to go to the bus stop on her first day of 2nd grade! She was so excited last night to head back to school. As I was getting her out of the bathtub last night, she says, "Mom, can I have a hug and a kiss before bed tonight?" and I said, "Of course!" After she was all ready - teeth brushed, pj's on, clothes set out she came out to the family room, where I was picking up and she said (in the cutest. voice. ever. "I never forgot! Can I have a hug and kiss now?" Honestly...how to instantly melt my heart...
One more picture before walking to the bus stop. Can you tell our house gets a lot of sun in the morning?
This is a sort of jumble of a picture because the bus had *just* pulled up and the kids were all just wanting to make a break for it! Yes. Our eager learners. :)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
My Calgon Moment(s)
Remember those old commercials where the woman is looking all stressed out about whatever and she throws her arms up in despair and says, "Calgon! Take me away!"
Well, forget Calgon. I'd be thrilled if I could have more that 5 minutes go by without hearing "Mom?!" (pick your tone) followed by one, sometimes two of many requests and/or statements:
- Can I have a snack?
- I'm thirsty.
- Can you wipe me?
- Push me IN!! (Anna's booster)
- Can I have more ketchup?
- Can I have another snack?
- I have to pee!
- I'm bored.
- Can we go outside?
- Where's the toilet paper?
- When is Daddy coming home?
- When's dinner?
- What's for dinner?
- Yuck! We're having THAT?
- Can I have cereal?
- Where ARE you? (when they can't see me right away)
- What are you doing in there? (when I am in the bathroom, of course).
So, yes - I am ready not only for school to start so I can once again enjoy the simple pleasures in life (like being able to pee alone) and have at least 5 minutes of "me" time.
Now, to be fair - the girls are ready for school, too. And Jessie is going through a major medication change right now so her moods are all over the map. The myriad of requests and calling my name 1001 times an hour fits with that perfectly. We can begin an hour with her mood being very elevated - lots of movement, loud, brash and over the top behavior and then in the next minute she can be spewing venom about not being allowed yet another snack. To her credit - I cannot imagine what it must fell like inside her head sometimes. My analogy is that I am just observing the rollercoaster, but she's the one having to actually ride it. I am amazed, on a positive note how she manages to keep her spirits relatively intact and that she can still find something to laugh about by the end of the day. I guess mania will do that to a person. After having been though a depressive episode with her in July, I would take her manic phase (as she is most of the time now) over depression any day.
The upsides of her mania - Jessie's been wonderfully creative and industrious over the past few days. When she's not asking for snacks left and right she's been playing with her toys and dolls and kittens ( we have a virtual litter of them!) and she's had a lot of laughs with Anneliese. She's been outside a lot riding her bike and she's been just full of energy.
LOL - of course, as I type this, she is looking for one stuffed animal and it emptying one toy bin after another in the playroom. Hurricane Jessie was here!
Oh well, there's always that calgon, right?
Well, forget Calgon. I'd be thrilled if I could have more that 5 minutes go by without hearing "Mom?!" (pick your tone) followed by one, sometimes two of many requests and/or statements:
- Can I have a snack?
- I'm thirsty.
- Can you wipe me?
- Push me IN!! (Anna's booster)
- Can I have more ketchup?
- Can I have another snack?
- I have to pee!
- I'm bored.
- Can we go outside?
- Where's the toilet paper?
- When is Daddy coming home?
- When's dinner?
- What's for dinner?
- Yuck! We're having THAT?
- Can I have cereal?
- Where ARE you? (when they can't see me right away)
- What are you doing in there? (when I am in the bathroom, of course).
So, yes - I am ready not only for school to start so I can once again enjoy the simple pleasures in life (like being able to pee alone) and have at least 5 minutes of "me" time.
Now, to be fair - the girls are ready for school, too. And Jessie is going through a major medication change right now so her moods are all over the map. The myriad of requests and calling my name 1001 times an hour fits with that perfectly. We can begin an hour with her mood being very elevated - lots of movement, loud, brash and over the top behavior and then in the next minute she can be spewing venom about not being allowed yet another snack. To her credit - I cannot imagine what it must fell like inside her head sometimes. My analogy is that I am just observing the rollercoaster, but she's the one having to actually ride it. I am amazed, on a positive note how she manages to keep her spirits relatively intact and that she can still find something to laugh about by the end of the day. I guess mania will do that to a person. After having been though a depressive episode with her in July, I would take her manic phase (as she is most of the time now) over depression any day.
The upsides of her mania - Jessie's been wonderfully creative and industrious over the past few days. When she's not asking for snacks left and right she's been playing with her toys and dolls and kittens ( we have a virtual litter of them!) and she's had a lot of laughs with Anneliese. She's been outside a lot riding her bike and she's been just full of energy.
LOL - of course, as I type this, she is looking for one stuffed animal and it emptying one toy bin after another in the playroom. Hurricane Jessie was here!
Oh well, there's always that calgon, right?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
by the way, meet Saki
Saki is very smart - he figured out the cat doors with no trouble. He's been very tolerant of the kids and so far the only thing he doesn't like are dogs. He's very playful, which is a nice change for us, as Penny is so sedate. Unfortunately the little guys is due to have surgery on his eyes next week, so think some good kitty thoughts for him next Tuesday!
is it Christmas?
I am still laughing to myself as I type this. This week has just been the greatest. It started actually on the weekend when Karen and Joe borrowed our kids for the weekend. :) What a nice break for us and what a fun time for Jessie and Anna. They were treated to hours in the pool with Uncle Joe, a trip to the movies with Aunt Sue and basically anything two little munchkins could possibly want and/or need - including Grammy Jayne time. Wow!
So, over the "free" weekend Chris went to visit his Dad on the Cape complete with a tour on Nantucket by his Dad. (If you ever do a bus tour of Nantucket, ask for "Chuck" and you're in for a real treat). I brought the girls to Karen on Saturday and treated myself to Christmas Tree Shops afterwards. Once Chris arrived home we basically cleaned the house from top to bottom, including Jessie's room (a project in and of itself). We stayed up late and slept in and had a nice time together.
Sunday night we picked up the girls and Monday was a very quiet low-key kind of day. The girls were so tired from their adventures so I took advantage and put a nice dent in my typing. Tuesday morning I totally slacked off - when I heard someone banging on my front door I was still staggering around in my PJs with my coffee. Imagine my total SHOCK when I realized who it was - my friend Dana and his family. Did I happen to mention that they live in Virginia? I think all I could say for the first few minutes was, "Oh, my GOD!" Repeat about 15 times and that was pretty much my end of the conversation.
And I am SO kicking myself for not thinking to take any pictures!
So, Dana. Dana is one of my oldest friends. Dana and my high school steady sweetie were best friends, so it's fair to say we'd hung out together a lot. Dana and Mark could not have appeared to be any more different than each other: Dana was always very outgoing (read: loud) and Mark always appeared to be pretty reserved (note that I said appeared to be). Together, they always seemed to bring out the best in each other. I have a lot of fun memories of the two of them - their humor, antics, ability to debate anything, thoughtfulness and just plain smarts.
Dana and I have maintained pretty good contact over the years and I am so proud to know his beautiful wife, Amy, and his kids Molly and Max. Amy is amazing - she's the type of person that within 2 minutes you feel like you've known her forever. She really is *that* neat.
So, once I got over the fact that the house was a disaster (allready) and we were down to our last roll of TP, we had a great visit. I managed to say a little bit more other than "OMG!!!" and before I knew it they were gone. Still a little shocky, I decided to give Mark a call and tell him about the suprise visit. What the hell, right? Dana and Amy just saw me in my PJs, I might as well call Mark and share the shock a little. :) And again - just like it was so good to see Dana and Amy - it was so cool to talk to Mark. Usually we'll email, but nothing can replace hearing a person's voice. We chitchatted about our families (their expecting #2 in November! Yay!) and stuff and although poor Mark is probably wishing I'd lose his number, it was still fun to touch base and actually converse. Somewhat. Because I seriously talk way to much.
From there, Tuesday just got better...little things, like my hairdresser having enough time that afternoon to cut not only my hair but Jessie's and Anna's as well. Then I did a quick clean up of the house (nevermind the panic clean, this was I-am-so-embarrassed-clean), did dinner and before I knew it, Chris was home. We had a fun evening with the kids and then they were off to bed.
Wednesday the weather here was beautiful - once I did some more typing in the morning the girls and I did a run to the office to pick up and drop off more reports. After that we headed over to the park to play (which went well until Jessie had to pee) and then we headed home. More typing, Spongebob, puzzles with Anna, Barbies and crafts with Jessica, dinner, bed. Phew.
Today, the good juju just keeps on coming. My boss calls me today and basically asks me if I'd like tomorrow off. Hello? Of COURSE! Thank YOU! So, now I can still bring the girls to Kelly's tomorrow and finish every.single.freakin.report. here on my desk. Honestly, what did I do to deserve this week?
Okay, so I have a small Army of children here at the moment and now they're clamoring for juice. :) Of to go do the Mommy/Mrs. B. thing.
So, over the "free" weekend Chris went to visit his Dad on the Cape complete with a tour on Nantucket by his Dad. (If you ever do a bus tour of Nantucket, ask for "Chuck" and you're in for a real treat). I brought the girls to Karen on Saturday and treated myself to Christmas Tree Shops afterwards. Once Chris arrived home we basically cleaned the house from top to bottom, including Jessie's room (a project in and of itself). We stayed up late and slept in and had a nice time together.
Sunday night we picked up the girls and Monday was a very quiet low-key kind of day. The girls were so tired from their adventures so I took advantage and put a nice dent in my typing. Tuesday morning I totally slacked off - when I heard someone banging on my front door I was still staggering around in my PJs with my coffee. Imagine my total SHOCK when I realized who it was - my friend Dana and his family. Did I happen to mention that they live in Virginia? I think all I could say for the first few minutes was, "Oh, my GOD!" Repeat about 15 times and that was pretty much my end of the conversation.
And I am SO kicking myself for not thinking to take any pictures!
So, Dana. Dana is one of my oldest friends. Dana and my high school steady sweetie were best friends, so it's fair to say we'd hung out together a lot. Dana and Mark could not have appeared to be any more different than each other: Dana was always very outgoing (read: loud) and Mark always appeared to be pretty reserved (note that I said appeared to be). Together, they always seemed to bring out the best in each other. I have a lot of fun memories of the two of them - their humor, antics, ability to debate anything, thoughtfulness and just plain smarts.
Dana and I have maintained pretty good contact over the years and I am so proud to know his beautiful wife, Amy, and his kids Molly and Max. Amy is amazing - she's the type of person that within 2 minutes you feel like you've known her forever. She really is *that* neat.
So, once I got over the fact that the house was a disaster (allready) and we were down to our last roll of TP, we had a great visit. I managed to say a little bit more other than "OMG!!!" and before I knew it they were gone. Still a little shocky, I decided to give Mark a call and tell him about the suprise visit. What the hell, right? Dana and Amy just saw me in my PJs, I might as well call Mark and share the shock a little. :) And again - just like it was so good to see Dana and Amy - it was so cool to talk to Mark. Usually we'll email, but nothing can replace hearing a person's voice. We chitchatted about our families (their expecting #2 in November! Yay!) and stuff and although poor Mark is probably wishing I'd lose his number, it was still fun to touch base and actually converse. Somewhat. Because I seriously talk way to much.
From there, Tuesday just got better...little things, like my hairdresser having enough time that afternoon to cut not only my hair but Jessie's and Anna's as well. Then I did a quick clean up of the house (nevermind the panic clean, this was I-am-so-embarrassed-clean), did dinner and before I knew it, Chris was home. We had a fun evening with the kids and then they were off to bed.
Wednesday the weather here was beautiful - once I did some more typing in the morning the girls and I did a run to the office to pick up and drop off more reports. After that we headed over to the park to play (which went well until Jessie had to pee) and then we headed home. More typing, Spongebob, puzzles with Anna, Barbies and crafts with Jessica, dinner, bed. Phew.
Today, the good juju just keeps on coming. My boss calls me today and basically asks me if I'd like tomorrow off. Hello? Of COURSE! Thank YOU! So, now I can still bring the girls to Kelly's tomorrow and finish every.single.freakin.report. here on my desk. Honestly, what did I do to deserve this week?
Okay, so I have a small Army of children here at the moment and now they're clamoring for juice. :) Of to go do the Mommy/Mrs. B. thing.
