Another reason why blogging and mothering shouldn't be practiced simultaneously

I've found that one of the only ways to actually get stuff done in this wife and mother tornado I exist in is to multi-task. I am usually very conscious of it and can get a lot done. That said, I haven't perfected every aspect of multi-tasking. Some days I just can't get it right. Today was one of those days.

This morning Liv expressed interest in wearing her underwear again. She said, "No diaper. Pet Shop underwear." I was planning on being home all day so I figured today would be a good day to work on this whole potty training thing with her.

We went up to her room, picked out her pink pony Pet Shop underwear and put them on. She came downstairs with me to choose a big thing of juice. I figured I would just load her up on juice so I could work with her more often to go potty.

I gave her a drink and we went in and she sat on the potty. Nothin. I got her situated in front of a movie and I went to the computer to update the blog. And that, my friends, is where all my problems began. Blogging sucks me in and all of my mommy-radar capabilities shut down, or rather, are ignored. I tend to block out all playing, crying, whining, and um, potty-training 2-year-olds.

At some point I clued back into reality and went to find Livvy. Before I found her, I found this on the floor:



Yes, those are wet panties (sorry if the word "panties" makes you shudder- it doesn't bother me) on the floor with no child to be found. I went to find my nakie-buns baby. Upon finding her, I sent her up to her room to get another pair of underwear and then I went back to blogging.

Minutes passed and Livvy did not return. I could hear her very faintly upstairs and I just figured she was playing with her doll house. A few minutes later I heard a crying Livvy yelling, "Mama!, Mama!, Mama!, Mama!".

I ran up to her room and found her like this:



She was sad. She became even sadder when I said, "Liv, you are okay. Mommy will be right back with the camera." She began wailing louder- how dare you leave me stuck up here? I still can't figure out how she got stuck up there unless she opened the drawers, climbed them, and then shut them once she was in the top drawer. It's a mystery.



After I took pictures of Livvy-in-crisis, I lifted her and her nakie-buns out of the drawer. The backs of her legs were all red, adding to the mystery as to how she got up there in the first place. We picked out a pair of clean Pet Shop underwear and I helped her get them on. She was happy once we got new panties on- white with green frogs. She was even willing to pose for a picture to show them off. This kid...



We then went downstairs for another glass of juice. Seriously, I'm an idiot. Updating the blog must be serious business because guess what I did next? Yep- you guessed it- back to the blog.

A few minutes passed and I realized that I hadn't asked her in a while if she had to go potty. One step into the family room and I found this:



Don't recognize this? Then you must not have a cat, dog, or potty-training two-year-old. As I have mentioned before, the toilet and carpet are used interchangeably at our house so this is a familiar sight, usually met by either a sigh or lots and lots of ranting. And of course, the perpetrator is never anywhere to be found. Nor are the underwear.

I finally gave up and Liv is now wearing a diaper.

And the white underwear with green frogs?

I still don't know where they are.

Why?

Because instead of doing a search, I'm blogging!

Wicked

Last night we had tickets to Wicked! It was fun fun fun. (I know, that is the crappiest picture ever.)

During the month of May there is a thing called the dine-0-round going on. There are certain restaurants downtown that are offering a 3-course dinner for $15/plate and some restaurants offering a 3-course dinner for $30/plate. We decided to try out the dine-o-rama so we went to dinner at Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano. I'm not much for taking pictures at restaurants anymore but I figured, what the heck. So here we are, in all our big-group glory. Good times! Dave's brother and his wife didn't go to dinner with us but we met up with them at the theatre and sat by them for the show.

As usual, Wicked did not disappoint. Glinda threw her wand up during Popular and it didn't come back down- it got stuck up on the set. It was pretty funny. We have been safe-guarding our tickets for what seems like FOREVER. Time flies and now the show is over! It was worth the wait and we had a great time. Thanks for coming all you peeps of mine!

Not your ordinary visit to the dentist

This morning while I was in the shower the phone rang. I sat there listening to the phone ring and had a sudden thought, "What if that is Taylor's school?" I ignored the phone. A couple minutes later it rang again which prompted me to end my shower and see who was calling. I ran downstairs and both my cell phone and my home phone had messages. The caller id indicated that yes, it was in fact Taylor's school. What are the odds that the only time they call I'm not immediately available?

In my mind a couple different scenarios were being tossed around. The first- some part of his body was going to need stitches and second- he was sick and had tossed his cookies all over the place. But no, that would be too predictable. Instead, they were calling to let me know that Taylor had a rock stuck in his ear and could I please come check him out? A rock. In his ear.

Fan-freakin'-tastic.

Lucky for you, my camera happens to be an appendage of my body, so I got a picture or two (really more like 15- I'm a little overzealous that way). The rock is black.



This little rock-in-the-ear trick really created quite a buzz in Taylor's kindergarten class. I walked into the classroom and was immediately hit with a chorus of excited kindergartners- "Taylor has a rock in his ear!!! Taylor has a rock stuck in his ear!!!" Taylor, on the other hand, seemed to be lacking the excitement that the rest of the class was feeling. He stood up from his desk and came walking toward me looking very somber and nervous. His ear didn't hurt and he wasn't crying- he was just a little out of sorts. His biggest concern was, "I don't want to go see Dr. Ramsey." Trust me buddy, I'm not particularly interested in a $15.00 visit to Dr. Ramsey either. And so I did what I do best, I gave Dave a call.

I relayed the story to Dave. I had to repeat myself because he didn't think he had heard me right. After a good laugh, Dave wanted in on the action so we headed over to visit Dr. Jackson, dental extraordinaire, to see if he could remedy the situation. And remedy it, he did! He got the rock out, ear wax and all. It was quick, easy, and painless. Taylor was so relieved!



Thank goodness for Dave and all his fancy little tools!



Father and Son. A proud moment.

The birthday run-down

A few days before my birthday I asked Dave what we should do for my birthday. He answered so fast I burst out laughing, especially when I heard what he had to say, "Go shopping and do crafts." So that's what he thinks makes my world go round. I was thinking taking a vacation to Hawaii would have been a better answer.

On the day of my birth, I got half of Dave's wish for me- I went shopping! Yay! New clothes for me- I love it! The craft thing- not so much. I'm pretty picky about my crafts though- not any craft will do.

Dave came home from work carrying a flower birthday cake for me. I graciously accepted it and Dave said, "It looked better in the pictures." Haha! It's the thought that counts babe! My kids were asking if they could lick the candles...



Sam (Alan's girlfriend) offered to babysit for us so we could go out to dinner. AWESOME! A night without my kids! I love my kids to bits but I am always game for a break. So, Alan and Sam came over and wined & dined the kids (not so much wine, but you know what I mean). They made me birthday cards while I was gone. I even found pictures of them making the cards on my camera. Good job Al- or maybe I should say, good job Sam (Alan is in the picture, obviously he didn't take it).



Dave and I went out to dinner at Wasatch Broiler- it's in Murray. They serve greek food and I love it. Lalalalove it! After a stop at Costco, we decided to go bowling but I didn't have any socks. We made a quick stop at Target to buy socks. After picking out the socks, we wandered the store, lounged in the patio furniture area, and then decided we were too tired to go bowling. Talk about old people. That's right. I'm old. Okay, maybe not old but most definetly older than I was yesterday.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

That's all.

Say what?

The english language is so complicated! I don't usually think about it much because well, I get it. Or I guess I should say, I get what I am saying. I don't know if you get what I am saying, but I get it. Get it?

I forget that my children don't know all the rules yet. They don't know all the words either. And then there are those words that sound the same but mean different things. Those are the words that cause most of the problems around here.

Yesterday I had all four kids with me at Sam's Club. We were pretty much at the end of our shopping trip and I was at my wit's end.

Sara was driving me batty so I turned to her and said through clenched teeth,

"Sara, you are driving me nuts!"

Innocent enough...

NOT.

She gasped. Looked me in the eye and said,

"Mom, you said a bad word."

Fantastic.

It took me half a second to realize what she was even talking about but then I knew. And because I'm a glutton, I decided to pursue it further. So I asked her,

"What are you talking about? What did I say?"

"You said a boy's private part!"

Why yes, yes I did.

And then in the candy aisle at Sam's Club, I had to explain to a 6-year-old, 4-year-old, and 2-year-old, the different meanings of the word nuts.

A closer look

I know you are waiting on the edge of your seat for an update regarding our furry friend invasion...

Well, after the mama cat jumped out of the window well, we never saw her get back in. In fact, she would take off and be gone forever and then come and sit on top of the window well and watch the kitten. Then she would leave again for hours. The weather is a bit wet and cold right now so we were worried about the baby sleeping without the warmth of the mom cat.

Dave opened the window and pulled the baby kitten out and brought her to live under our deck. All the kids were a little too happy that the kitty was reachable. They stayed out there all day. I was trying to get them to stay away from her in hopes that the mom cat would return. I was explaining to Taylor that without milk from the mommy cat, the baby cat could die. In all seriousness he looked at me and said, "Well, why can't you feed the cat?" Riiiiight... We had to have a little chat about cross-species nursing. Not. Gonna. Happen.

The kitten stayed under the deck all afternoon until our neighbors picked her up and moved her to their garage. Yes, it looks as though our neighbors have adopted this furry little bundle of joy and named her Sunny. So there you have it. Sunny is now our neighbor. I feel like I have achieved the best of both worlds here- 1. I no longer feel responsibility for the cat & 2. My kids can have their pet (Livvy calls it "my kitty") via the neighbors. They can visit, love, & cuddle that kitty and then when it grows older and they have lost interest- not my problem.

Since this little kitten is quite small to be separated from its mother, my neighbors have done their research on how to maintain him in a mother-less environment. It all starts with a little kitten formula and a mini bottle (smaller than a dolly bottle). I'm serious. Kitten formula? Yeah... it's at Walmart, just in case you are interested in purchasing some. They also have to stimulate his business with a cotton ball... I think it's hilarious, mostly because it's not my problem. Today at church Zack (the kitty's new daddy) made a point of coming up and thanking me for their new pet. Haha! Sorry Zack, not my fault your wife is a sucker for an orphan kitten.