Dude, I can’t even think of a title

Hello my neglected blog. Yes, I am still pregnant and roasting in this rare Seattle heat. It’s supposed to cool down next week though. From the 90’s to the 60’s in a matter of days - gotta love the schizo weather.

So, obviously I am not going to have a lot of time in the next few weeks to do… well…. anything, really but I wanted to pose a question to all you parents with kids involved in preschool and activities.

First of all, if you have more than one child and the older one is ready for preschool or extracurricular activities, how do you arrange it so that you can

a) particpate in the activities with the older child as well as

b) drop them off with a crazy active toddler and soon to have newborn baby? Seriously, how to people plan these things? It’s not lIke I can just leave the two younger ones in the car while I walk my oldest into preschool, right? Can I? No? Oh FINE.

I don’t have anyone that lives close by that can stop by to give me a hand while I drop off my daughter, so while that is a fabulous suggestion, it wouldn’t work for me. Also, I don’t know my neighbors well enough to trust any of them with my children. Heh. I mean, I’m sure they are lovely people, but still.

Anyways, I’ve been seriously thinking about how I am going to handle the logistics of having three children. I’ve always said that having two was not as hard as I thought it would be. Before becoming hugely pregnant with this third, I’d throw both in the grocery cart or in a stroller to walk the mall without a second thought. Now I fear that juggling all three will be so tough that I’ll end up resorting to ordering groceries off Safeway.com (so expensive! Limp produce!) or I’ll just wait until my husband has a day off and then waste half the day running errands alone.  I’m sure the first few months will be the toughest, when the baby is small and will need to be nursed often. I guess I’ll just have to become more organized in planning our days, esp when my daughter starts preschool.

Luckily, there are a few things we plan on teaching her at home on our own. Besides the fact that we can’t afford to pay for expensive lessons, I figure my husband and I have at least a few talents we can hopefully pass on to all of our children. My husband can teach the basics of golf and volleyball (his two favorites) and I can figure out to teach them piano. I’ll have to buy a “how to teach piano” for dummys (dummy = me) but I’m sure it’ll be way easier than doling out $25/lesson, four times a month to some teenage piano prodigy. ACK. Again, how do people afford these things?!

Anyways, I guess I’m just wondering how people juggle and organize their schedule so they can enroll their children in these types of things and actually get them there on time.  I don’t want to be one of those parents who go totally overboard and bombard their children with back to back activities but I’m sure my daughter would love to get out of the house a couple times a week and have some interaction with kids her age.

Any suggestions? Stories?

If you don’t hear from me in a while, it’s probably because I’ll be a little… busy

 

They couldn’t even save themselves with their cuteness this time

Today, we became those parents. You know, the ones whose kids freak out and have a huge brat fest in the middle of the public place. Before today, we’d had one kid or the other act out for various reasons but today it was both.At the same time. In the aisle of the paint section. Today it was the child in the back of the cart who put the child in the front seat in a headlock because they were fighting over a paint brush. Seriously, let me get you another one. I know where I can find about 200 of them. RIGHT BEHIND YOU.  Both screamed and kicked, while all the customers looked on and probably judged us for having two brats and not even being able to control them, all while being knocked up, too! Lucky me!

This was probably the worst public tantrum they’ve ever had where we wouldn’t control them. GRRR. After a good verbal whoopin’ in the paint aisle of Lowes, I angrily sent off the girl for consolation from daddy (At this point, I was not speaking to her) while the boy decided to continue to rant and screamed until I yanked him out of the cart. I was tempted to leave the cart (um, with him in it) in the appliances section.

If you were at my local Lowe’s around 12:45 this afternoon, I apologize. I know they sell earplugs somewhere in that store, maybe aisle 20…?

Now that we’re home, they are both napping peacefully and they better be in a good mood when they wake up.

***

 

Nothing to do, so I ramble

Both kids are down for their naps. I know I should nap but I don’t really feel like it. Actually, I don’t feel like doing anything. I don’t want to cook, I don’t want to clean, I don’t want to nap. I think I’ve entered that stage of pregnancy where I am just eager to get to the end. This pregnancy has been much more difficult than my previous two. I am already aching and tired. I have horrible acid indigestion. My pants are getting tighter by the day. The pants part disturbs me only because um, they are sweat pants.

I wonder about this baby. I wonder how he/she will be accepted by my two children. I already feel like I give more attention to my older girl than the boy. He’s had such the second child shaft. Luckily, he’s a relatively easy going and happy kid, so he probably doesn’t even notice. Also, I’m a middle child and I turned out fine. Heh. Sure…

We’ve been contemplating when to start preschool for E. She turns 4 this fall and I know she’s ready and could use some time outside the house with other children. I’m just not sure if I’m ready. I feel like I just got the opportunity to quit my job and spend these formative years with them. I know preschool is only 3 hours a day, twice a week but just the thought that she’d be away from me for that time makes me a little sad. Now, I’m sure I’ll feel differently when I have three kids to worry about day in and day out, but right now I like having her home with me. She’s like my little assistant - she gets the diapers when it’s time to change O, loves to help me in the kitchen and just keeps me company with her constant chatter and laughter. Also, the kids play really well together most of the time so it allows me to just sit back and relax once in a while.

However, on the flip side I do see the need to spend some quality alone time with O. Once in a while he’ll wake up from his nap earlier than his sister and so we get some quiet time to ourselves. I sit back and observe how much he enjoys just having my full atention on him rather than sharing the spotlight with his sister. I don’t think he really minds because he just adores his big sister, but it nice to have that bonding time without someone else jostling for my attention. He is definitely the less jealous of the two… so far.

 

 

You know it’s neglect when you can’t even remember your password to WordPress. SHEESH.

Ok, random funny story

went to a baby shower on Sunday and took only the baby.  My husband dropped us off and decided he’d take E to the putting green. He even bought her a mini putter.

But apparently? E had other ideas. She ended up having to poop at the range and so J sat on a bench for 30 minutes waiting for her to finish.

Then he realized that he only had a single diaper left.

aaaaand

3 partially dried wipes

AWESOME

He somehow managed to successfully change her diaper but then realized, huh… there is not a garbage can in sight.

So, he did what any logical and desperate parent would do.

He left the diaper under the car and peeled outta there.

 

Maybe I’m overthinking this

Last weekend I went to a baby shower. You can read about it here. The title of A’s post couldn’t be more accurate. I honestly can’t say that it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a shower but I adore my friend J, so it was worth going just to see her. I took my kids to the shower, too since J has never met them. I was worried that there wouldn’t be other kids but J assured me it was ok to bring them. Turns out there were a handful of other kids there, too. When we got to the shower, the kids were already downstairs in the basement watching tv and coloring. I left the baby with my friends and headed downstairs with E, hoping she’d relax when she saw the other kids playing. I approached the table where some of the kids were drawing. Each kid had a few pieces of paper and a crayon. None of the children even bothered looking up at me, and when I reached for paper and a crayon, one of the younger boys leaned over to his older sister and said something along the lines of “We better put our crayons away or else everyone’s gonna use them”.  I thought it was odd that he said that, considering that he seemed fine with the other kids using their crayons. I tried to shrug off his comment and proceeded to try and start a conversation with him on what he was drawing. I was met with a blank stare. Apparently he wasn’t interested in sharing any information with a friendly stranger. I looked around the table and the other kids just sat there gawking at me as well. I looked at my daughter, who looked as off put as I felt. I picked up my daughter and I headed back upstairs. For the rest of the shower, I stood (for over an hour, holding a baby!)  in the back of the hallway with my two kids while J opened 8 million gifts.  After she was done, we said our goodbyes and headed home. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. 

 All the way home, I couldn’t help but feel like my daughter had been singled out because she was the only non-white child in the room. Hell, I was the only non-white person in the entire house. Sometimes I wonder if my paranoia about my race is just a manifestation of my insecurity. I just want my kids to be accepted.  I know that sometimes “Kids will be kids” and that they are not always nice to new people or to an outsider, but it was another stark reminder that even though my daughter is growing up in a seemingly modern era, I need to prepare her for this kind of hurtful ugliness. I went through it growing up but I just figured by the time I had kids, I wouldn’t have to worry so much about it.  And now I know I will have to. It makes me so sad that my daughter will have to feel the way I felt years ago. It hurt me doubly because E is at an age where she is fully aware of her surroundings. I know she felt left out and I could see her bruised pride through her wide quiet eyes. As much as we like to brag that we are living in a progressive society, it makes me realize that maybe America is not ready for something so big as a black president or a woman president. Not if I still feel uncomfortable, like a sore yellow thumb sticking out amongst a sea of white faces.  Maybe I’m being too sensitive. Maybe I’m just paranoid. But I can’t help feel the way I feel.  In my efforts to try and treat everyone as an equal, it is discouraging to feel such division. I wonder sometimes if I should try and all.