Lately I’ve been feeling slightly under the weather, and this seems to lead to complain-y me and cranky-me and anxious-me and weepy-me. There have been a couple triggers to get the anxious-me and weepy-me amped up a little, and you don’t want to read about that. I don’t even want to talk about it.

So instead, here is what I did Saturday:

We went to a “local” (1.5 hour away) pumpkin festival so the kids could wander around in their costumes and I could forget to take the obligatory pumpkin patch photos. I did get them being superheros on the hay bales though:

My mom babysat Saturday evening and C and I had a lovely date night where we ate great food and drank our last bottle of honeymoon wine (which was delightful) and then went to a bar to have more cocktails (French 75 for me and scotch for the man) and talk for a couple hours. It was lovely. I love being reminded that we like each other as people outside our familial/children obligations.

And here’s what I did last night:

Look at that! I finally made Spencer’s Peter Pan costume! It’s not perfect; the hat is a little janky and I’ve made it twice so I really don’t want to make it again. The whole thing is slightly too small because I cut out based on his current clothes but didn’t leave room for the sewing part. But it will do, and he loves it. It only has to last for Thursday, technically. And he’ll have other clothes if he has issues.

A few things for Friday and many words about toddler homework.

Erin asked, and I felt I should talk a bit about daycare homework and why we have it. The boys attend (Spencer still does, as after school care) a home daycare that they have gone to since Spencer was 4 months old. The woman who runs it lives in a lower income area although it is nice and clean and the neighborhood is nice and clean. She is subsidized by the county to take some children whose families do not make enough to pay a proper amount for daycare (we pay full price). In return for these subsidies, she is HIGHLY regulated. A lady comes to the house several times a month to make sure everything is in order and the kids are doing well. One of the regulations is that she works on their motor skills and learning before kindergarten to make sure the kids are completely prepared for school. A part of that is a daily worksheet that has to be completed at home.

I think the reason for the worksheet, frankly, is to make sure the parents are involved in the learning process. While we don’t have a problem with staying involved and I think he’s learning plenty at home without a worksheet every night (and honestly sometimes we opt out of doing it), I do like that it helps me gauge where he is. Henry is a completely different child than Spencer – S was a SPONGE and although the worksheets were HORROR for us w/ him on a focusing, he was always wanting to learn and do more. H … eh. I think we’ll need to do more to get him interested in learning.

But overall, despite the headache that comes with homework, I do like that he’s working on his fine motor skills now, slowly but surely. I hope that he is as prepared for kindergarten as Spencer was and can really ENJOY school instead of being upset because he doesn’t know what the other kids know. I don’t mind the homework most of the time, and I don’t consider it mandatory – if we don’t get to it or just don’t want to do it, it doesn’t get done. There will be time for that when regular school starts (like when Spencer forgets his folder at school and doesn’t bring his Thursday math worksheet home, ahem). But when we start a worksheet, by Jove we’ll do it.

***

I have a bunch of boxes of stuff to mail to friends and I’m so excited about it:

I have one more box that I’m still working on because I can’t find exactly what I want for that friend. Sigh. Shopping is so difficult (heh).

***

I bought cheese for tonight’s dinner (grilled eggplant sandwiches a la Jonna) and I thought I left the cheese at work. I’m always leaving the cheese in the refrigerator at work. Nope, it turns out I specifically put it in my purse so I WOULDN’T forget it at work. Instead, I left it in my purse overnight, not realizing until this morning. Goodbye, mozzarella. And hello, stopping again at the store on the way home today.

***

Remember last weekend when I was going to be making a Hook costume for Spencer? It’s a good thing I didn’t, because now he wants to be Peter Pan. There will be no changing now, though, because I bought the fabric yesterday and this sucker is getting done. I’m going to loosely follow this blogger’s instructions and make it this weekend.

And it will be awesome. Right? Right? Bueller?

***

We’re still working on the sleeping through the night thing with Henry. Monday night was the bad night – four times. Tuesday night he slept through, I assume because he was just dog tired. Wednesday night – two times. Last night, slept through. We have been doing pep talks before bed: “if you wake up and need to go potty, then go. Otherwise, stay in your bed and don’t wake mommy and daddy”. This morning I think it sunk in a little, because we were conversating while he pottied (he likes guests just as much as he likes to join you while you have your own potty time) and I asked him if he woke up last night and he perked up and said “I didn’t wake you up!” I don’t know whether to take that as he didn’t wake up or he just didn’t wake me up, but I think I’ll take it.

If it doesn’t work, we’re getting that darn OK to Wake clock. Because this biznizz has GOT to stop.

***

We have zero plans for this weekend. I’m thrilled. I might just sit around in my pjs all weekend. That’s a lie, because I’m absolutely terrible about resting, but at least I tried to lie to myself.

This and that: homework, feeling like a grown up and getting old.

Henry is three, and at three comes nightly homework from daycare. I know this worked wonders for Spencer, and even though it was hard it did help him read and write and learn so he was more than prepared for kindergarten. I know this, but nightly homework is HARD. It’s hard for me, because I don’t want to work on letters and sight words immediately upon getting home. It’s hard for him because, well, everything is cause for a meltdown these days.

The homework doesn’t take nearly as long as Spencer’s did, so I don’t know if they’ve streamlined the process or he’s just a little more focused. I usually have no patience for it, but last night I was proud of myself. I sat with him for every letter and tried to reassure him through every meltdown of sobbing “I can’t do it” when I try to coach him through finding “up” in a sentence or writing a letter “M” without tracing. I tried to explain to him that it’s just practice. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If he never tries, that’s the only time he’s not going to be able to do it. Only once did I raise my voice with him, instead attempting valiantly to speak in soothing tones the way I am not wont to do.

It was a hard 20 minutes. Eight sobbing fits. One lay down. I’m supposed to do this for the next 15 years?

I rarely have to do Spencer’s homework with him – he does it at aftercare, and I check it when he gets home. It’s easier for him now. I have to remember that it gets easier (of course eventually it’s going to get harder again).

**

Henry has not been sleeping through the night for months now. At first we just figured it was a phase, but it seems to be lasting. Monday night he was up FOUR times. I looked into wake-up clocks yesterday, but last night he slept through and I don’t know if this will be a turning point or if he was just that tired from the night before that he couldn’t wake up. Time will tell, I suppose. There’s a wake up clock in the Amazon one-touch cart though, just so you know.

**

I’ve been making my breakfast at the same time as I make my lunch and Spencer’s lunch in the mornings. It really takes no time at all to scramble one egg and one egg white, and then sprinkle it with cheese and stuff it into a small Tupperware. It makes me feel like a grown up, getting up in time to handle all my needs and the kids’ needs and getting out of the house at a reasonable time. Not that I handle all the kids’ needs – really, I handle hardly any of them. They wake on their own and play for a while until C forces them to get dressed and has them sit down for breakfast. All I really do is referee them and make Spencer’s lunch. Still, this morning I got up 10 minutes before my alarm instead of hitting the snooze three times, took a shower, did my make up, got dressed and make three meals and STILL got to work on time. This is reason for a trophy, I think.

**

And then, feeling more old than like a grown up, I stretched this morning in my chair at work and gave myself what feels like a charley horse in my neck. I went holding the side of my neck like it was going to fall apart on me and asked for Advil from my coworker who promptly gave me some plus the ice pack out of her lunch pail, so I’m now sitting with an ice pack. After 20 minutes or so the pain went down to a slight nagging feeling, so I’m hoping that it goes away soon. I honestly have no idea what I did, but it needs to stop. Now.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I’m still sitting here, at a loss about what to blog about. I can’t seem to blog about the Blathering, as if that will cement that I’m no longer sitting by the pool with the girls (spoiler: I’m no longer sitting by the pool with the girls). I’m even having trouble commenting on the Blathering blogs so far – like, I don’t know how to adequately put into words how I felt about spending that weekend with them. It meant a lot, girls. A lot. I’ll get there.

BUT! Stephany did a post that she got from someone else about yesterday, today and tomorrow, and I thought! Hey! Baby steps! I can do that for now! So here is a little about what I did yesterday, what I’m doing today and what I may do tomorrow.

Yesterday I …

* Worked out. I’m trying very hard to get back onto the weight loss/healthy living train, and obviously that only works when you dedicate yourself to it. I feel like I keep rededicating myself and then I fall off the wagon (this feels kind of churchy or alcoholics anonymous-like, but you know) but day by day (yep, AA) and one day at a time. Three nights of no ice cream. I should have dropped 20 lbs by now.

* Took the boys to Reading night at the elementary school. I also volunteered to take another boy at the daycare whose mother doesn’t get off in time to attend Family Reading Night. Henry was super crabby before we went and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to deal with three rambunctious boys in a elementary media center but it turned out really great. Spencer and his friend read a lot of non-fiction books about the planets and superstorms and I got to read Henry books while marveling at how far S has come. He’s so much like me, it’s no wonder we butt heads so much. But so much to marvel at.

*Started really getting into the book I’m reading. I’ve hit a rut in my reading lately, and it doesn’t feel like I’m getting anywhere with what I am reading. My friend really wanted me to read Cutting For Stone so I’ve been carrying it around for a month but finally, finally, I feel like I’m caring about these characters.

Today I …

*Plan on grilling out tonight. We bought a new grill that was delivered this morning. Yesterday we were all, “oh no, we don’t need to grill immediately just because we got a new grill” and today when C sent me a picture of it I immediately responded with “okay, I’ll pick up steaks on the way home”. It’s so pretty! Ha! I’m hoping to pick up a bottle of wine and have a little meal out on the deck while the kids do the usual Friday movie night – like a date night with kids in the next room.

*am taking C’s cousin and her son to the airport after work. I love and hate this about myself, but anytime anyone needs any help with anything I volunteer. I am not asked, I volunteer. Need a babysitter every Tuesday for 10 weeks? Drop your kids off! Need a ride? I’m in! Your mom can’t take you to family reading night? See if she minds if I take you too! I mostly love this about myself, actually. I love being available for people. I hate that I do occasionally get taken advantage of, and I don’t always feel appreciated for helping out, but I don’t think this is something I would change. Anyhow, so she needs someone to take her to the airport, so I’m driving the 45-60 minutes out to her house (audiobook ahoy!) to pick them up and take them to the airport, which is actually only about 15 minutes from my house. It works.

*and somewhere in between all this, I would like to go on a family bike ride. Henry still barely fits in the iBert (and at 35lbs it’s certainly extra resistance for my work out) and Spencer is all about his two-wheel bike now, so we’ve been taking 3.5-4 mile bike rides. Just a bit to work Spencer’s little muscles up so we can take longer rides. Tuesday we included the neighbor girl (see above on the volunteering thing) but I think she’ll be out of town today, so it will be just us. I do sometimes love it just being us.

Tomorrow I …

* Need to do some major yard work. We started last week, but the easement behind our property was encroaching on and over the fence and the jasmine on the fence was overrun with weeds and grass. We did an amazing amount of it last Saturday, about 2.5 hours. This week I need to do more weeding and mulching the back fence area and really get the backyard presentable. I don’t plan on PRESENTING it to anyone, but it’s much more relaxing to sit out there when you aren’t thinking about all the things that you need to do. Similar to feeling more relaxed in a clean house. I’m also thinking about painting our old deck furniture because we keep wanting to replace it but then we don’t and … painting, that will help. It’s looking pretty rough.

(before/during pictures. Eventually maybe there will be after photos)

* Might be making Spencer a Hook costume. For school Halloween they were prompted to come as their favorite literary character. Five year olds? Literary character? It also says Disney, etc etc, no scary costumes or masks. I was a little unsure of who he might want, but friends weighed in on characters and I gave him a list and he decided on Captain Hook. This is mostly okay, because we have a lot of pirate clothes in the dress up bin, but I think I’ll need to make him a long red coat to go with it. Felt, I can use felt, right? I’m decent with sewing although it’s not something I do that often. Unfortunately I keep thinking of all the extras that would go on said coat to make it more authentic looking and now I’m a little apprehensive.

*will somehow give myself some time to relax. Relax! That’s what my weekends are missing!

Fired (from the internet)

So somehow in the last couple weeks it appears I have lost my internet mojo, and now I think maybe I’m fired from the internets. It’s a little ironic that just this last week I got to hang out with some of my very favorite internet people, but I’m having trouble blogging, trouble looking more than one person down on facebook, and completely overwhelmed with Twitter. I log on, glance at about one phone-page worth of tweets and then I just feel like I can’t do it. I can’t do it! What is wrong with me?

Tomorrow I’ll try to myself together enough to blog about Charleston and all my lovely people. I really did have a wonderful time.

To DOOOOOO

Wednesday was my one day off that is truly for me. I’m going out of town with some of the best girls ever, for Blathering, but today I decided to also take a day for myself and to get my house in order before I go. My husband can take care of the boys – I know that. Truthfully, he’s better at it than I am sometimes. BUT I know I’ll feel better spending four glorious days away if I do some things before I go. PLUS I still hadn't packed. Here was my to-do list for Wednesday:

Car: I have a couple sensors off on my car, and I need an oil change. SO it was decided that we need to drop my car off to get all this taken care of.

Cook: Baked ziti  and roast pork w/ mac and cheese for them for while I’m gone. I figure this will appease picky eaters. At least one day they’ll be at Disney with my MIL, so that’s a non-cooking day. I also left them a frozen pizza and there are always a few frozen foods around that they can have in a pinch.

Pack: Maybe I’ll just bring my closet with me.

Laundry: C runs laundry when he works from home, but I planned to run a couple loads today, mostly to make sure I have everything I need for packing and the kids have clean socks (both kids shun sandals for socks and shoes. It’s an interesting dynamic. I think Henry just likes the act of putting on socks, and Spencer only wants to wear pants if left to his own devices so socks and shoes just work.)

Rest: I really hoped that somewhere here I can poach some time for rest, maybe to curl up with a book or some West Wing. 

Here's what I actually did:

Watched eight hours do West Wing. The part where they had the government shutdown was interesting.

Ran five loads of laundry, folded hung and even packed some of them.

Scrubbed my shower.

Grocery shopping.

Made pork, potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker, which we ate Wed  night w Mac and cheese.

Made ziti

Mowed the lawn.

Checked my work email way too much.

Took the boys to Target for Spencer's costume and so e last minute things for me.

Packed about 3/4 of the way.

Watched the baseball game until I passed out between the 8th and 9th inning.

So I think that I'm even more going to need to take sometime to rest on the trip. Blathering, here I come!

Books I Read: September

September was a poor showing for me for books, although most of what I did read, I very much enjoyed. Mostly.

67 Forged in Blood II - Lindsay Buroker This was an incredibly satisfying end to one of my very favorite series. If you haven't checked out the Emperor's Edge series, you're missing out. They are fantastic (and cheapish!) This was everything I wanted in a last book, except that I'm sad that it's over.

68 Me Before You - Jojo Moyes I thought I knew the premise and I didn't  "cry through the whole thing" like a lot of people, but it was very well written and yes, I was weepy by the end. I liked that people weren't glossed over - you saw the good and the bad. Although I really hated her jerky father, and her sister was a bitch.

69 The Twelves Rooms of the Nile - Enid Shomer I just couldn't get into this. Once I saw what it was about, I knew I'd have trouble. It's set during the time of Florence Nightingale and it's kind of a "what if" historical fiction. What if Florence Nightingale and Gustav Flaubert became friends. It was very well written, so if you like that sort of historical fiction, you'd like this one.

70 Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell This was my bible. I want to do nothing for October but re-read it numerous times. I loved Attachments, and I saw what everyone else saw in Eleanor & Park, but I felt like this was for me. Love. I am in Love.

71 Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld I didn't love Prep the way everyone else did. I liked it, and I read it FOREVER ago so maybe I just don't remember it correctly, but I thought it was okay. I got on a Sittenfeld kick recently because everyone else was doing it, and I seem to like the ones that others didn't. I liked this one a lot. It was good stuff.