Pee Story Update

Sneeze. Pee. Sneeze. Pee. End of story.

Longest Day Ever

The day is almost over. I have one hour to myself. I fully expect the house to catch fire or some natural disaster to occur in that hour. This has been the longest day in memory (granted my fractured, post-pregnancy, toddler & baby world). It started decently enough at 7am and went down hill from there.

After the typical morning struggles I stepped out the front door & was hit by unbelievable heat & humidity. Luka screamed (not unusual in the car) the entire 5 minute drive to Melanie's house. Danijela complained of her ears hurting due to Luka's screaming. We arrive. Shortly after Danijela has a toy meltdown & starts crying in unison with her brother who is still crying & now completely exhausted. Mommy considers her options. Oh, right, there are none.

All is relatively calm. We head to Desi's for some play action. Everything goes just fine. I'm simply wiped from the morning. I struggle with holding Luka & playing with Danijela both physically & mentally. She does well considering she is around several new people. My only goal is to somehow drink water. I did get a couple sips & then left my full water bottle on the counter. Water is a luxury these days.

On the ride home I answer a trillion questions while listening to Luka scream. I'm sadly looking forward to Danijela's nap simply to only have to deal with one child. You know where this is headed don't you? I put her to bed quickly because we have a house showing at 3pm. It isn't long before the afternoon nap is aborted due to lack of cooperation from my toddler. I am frustrated.

I try to turn the day around by suggesting the ZOO! Mind you this too would be completely exhausting for me with my two kids, but I would be happy if she was. I fully expect my daughter to jump with joy. No. She just mumbles, rubs her eyes, & says she is tired. Really? I can't think of anything better to do given all our friends are napping! I load the stroller, pack a bag, get children dressed, head to car ... CRASH. I'm standing in direct sunlight. I look up & dark grey clouds are rolling our way with loud thunder. I have to get out of the house anyway so I just load them up knowing full well Luka will scream. At least he is consistent.

I was told the rain was moving away from the zoo. I decide not to chance it given how my day was going. I make a quick decision to hit Chick-fil-A for the first time. I've been told they have a great play area. We get there & head straight for it. My hopes are high. There is one way up to the slide through a vertical tube-ish thing. Danijela gets up one level & stops. She looks at me through the Plexiglas & starts crying. She is beside herself. I almost start laughing at the irony of it all. I try to convince her to keep going. She cries harder. I try to convince her to come back down. She cries harder still. It is like toddler torture. I cannot climb in to get her because I have SLEEPING Luka in the front baby carrier at this point. However, I am reduced to a limbo move to somehow retrieve my child.

Ice cream. That was my last resort. At this point I couldn't go home, the play thing was a bust, & it was pouring outside. The ice cream made her smile which was all I was looking for anyway. We eventually braved the play area again & she fell in with some girls. They had a good time. We trotted to the car in the rain without incident. Luka sang all the way home. I will not go into the remainder of the day because I am exhausted right now. It is 9:26pm. I have 34 minutes. I have some praying to do.

Picture of the Week

Happy Birthday

We broke bread Saturday to celebrate Tara's birthday. If I looked remotely like Tara you might actually see images of me on this blog. I do not & you will not. Tara is absolutely gorgeous & equally hilarious. She's also very real which makes it all the more depressing.

Love you, girl.

Goldie Locks

Danijela called me to her room to show me this. I wish everyone could experience the girl I live with all day long. Lately she pulls away around others. But when we are alone together she is the coolest person ever. She has a great sense of humor & wonderful imagination. I love you, Danijela.

Bumbo

It works! I'd never heard of a Bumbo until it was too late for Danijela. Sundee let me borrow hers & I thought we'd give it a whirl this week. Luka can hold his head up for the most part. The problem is he's constantly sucking his hands now so he hunches over. The Bumbo still rocks though.

Lap of Luxury

Baba to the rescue again. She came over several times this week to care for Luka while I worked around the house. Man, would I like to trade places with that kid. However, Danny has been working like a mule & actually deserves it. Some might say "Want a little cheese with that whine?"

Our house is officially for sale. Yippee!

Exhausted

Not sure why he's so exhausted. The little guy eats a little. Smiles a little. Screams a little. And then sleeps in the comfort of his Baba's lap. The rest of us are working to get this house ready to sell. The agent is coming tomorrow morning to take pictures. House goes on the market Friday. This is good for my sanity. Oh, and let's not forget we are building a house next door too. There are plenty of loud trucks keeping baby & toddler awake. Not to mention all the people coming in and out of our house.

Poolside

This was our last day in Austin @ the pool. Cool factoid is Austin public pools are free. Danijela took to the water this time & never told me to "Go away, Mama." Nice surprise. Sam swam for the first time in the big pool & even turned a couple flips. Crazy.

Orchid

Thank You

I made pancakes for dinner tonight. My sister, Margaret, prepared pancakes one day while we were in Austin last week. It's one of a million things she does for her children & mine. Margaret has shown me how to be a better mother without even trying. I love you, Margo. I love you deeply. Thank you for loving my children & me so well.

Bathing

The last image is my Daddy's hand (aka Poppy). He asked to help dry Luka after his bath. Makes me cry. Seriously.

Naptime

3 Months

Rasberry Lava Rocks

Danny has a huge extended family in Austin. We spent July 4th on "The Ranch" & participated in the Annual Cookoff. It was a Luau theme this year. The secret ingredient for dessert was macadamia nuts. I used a rockin' cookie recipe of my mother's & garnished with flowers from my sister's garden. I didn't win but, man, were those cookies good.

Turkey Bite & Pogo Stick

You got it. Danijela was bitten by a turkey in Austin. I wasn't there so I can wash my hands of that except for the parental neglect part. Andi had a pogo stick incident. I only know she went face first into concrete. She told everyone & seemed fine. Later she got sick on Poppy & Grammy's couch. All the sudden I could see a huge bruise on her cheek too. We are pretty sure she had a mild concussion.

Lost & Found

I'm back! I know you're excited. Okay, so, maybe not. Anywho, I've been in Austin with the kiddos. I was suppose to make like a tree & leave so my sweet husband could work on our house. We are now in the midst of preparing to sell our home (811 sq ft) & build another (1900 sq ft). Crazy stuff.

Ratatouille

What caused our boy to smile? Me. For whatever reason I repeated the word Ratatouille approximately one zillion times after hearing a commercial for the Pixar movie. Think it must have something to do with my sometimes fragile mental state. Luka thought it was humorous.