Rock on!

Date Night:
Dinner at Olive Garden, mini golf, browsing the furniture store and a little guitar hero to top off the evening.

(And no, I did not wear this out to dinner.)

You just might think differently of me after reading this post

Warning: This is a real life post

I might be back. Maybe, or maybe not. It will eventually happen when time and sanity permit. I'll just keep you all in suspense.

Because I know you have all been waiting on the edge of your seat for my next post. Ha!

Well I thought I'd make my grand re-entrance with a real Life post for you all.

If you've been reading my posts about my sweet and sassy Gabby girl. You know she's a feisty one with a bit of a temper. I think the Long Island attitude might be genetic. Remember this? Yes, well that was rather MILD compared to the full blown, back arching temper tantrums she now throws.

Amanda and I went to Target the other day where Gabrielle promptly threw about a half-dozen tantrums just so I would put her down so she could walk. (Sorry sista, walking through the store at your pace could take about a lifetime) As I was carrying my flailing, scene making daughter to the check out, she found something in my cart that made everything all better...

the tears stopped,

the pleasant baby babble began,

shaking it became a fun game,

everyone around us thought she was so cute,

everyone around us knew my secret

and now you do too.

(Thanks to Amanda.)

Get your Depends on!

So last night my hubby and I spent a little quality time on You Tube. It was the most fun we had in months - for real! And so it would only be the right thing for me to do but to pass the laughter along to you.

Check out Remi Gaillard when you need a little comic relief. This dude is crazy funny. Sometimes I wonder things like, what would happen if I showed up to church in my bathrobe and my hair in a towel? Well, he's the kind of guy who thinks those things and actually has the guts to find out. My kind of humor.

Like I said in my title, get your Depends on because you might just pee your pants!





He's got tons of videos on You Tube. A few of them are mildly unsavory - most are just fine though - so use your discretion. Happy laughing!

Another potty training tale

Warning: This is a real life post!

So, you're sick of the poop talk, huh?

I'm sorry. Well, not really. I've got to talk to someone about it.

The other night I was home alone with the 2 kids. I was putting Gabrielle down for the night. In order to keep my curious Samuel out of trouble, I set him up at the computer. This usually keeps him focused for at least 15 minutes.

Well not that night, because duty called...
I mean doody called.

--------------------------------------------

Samuel (standing naked in the living room holding his pull up by the tips of his fingers): Mommy, I pooped in my pull-up. oops! I put it in the potty.

Me: You did what? (As I saw the brown spots on his leg and the carpet)

Samuel (smiling so proud): I put my poopy in the potty mommy!

Me: Why yes you did! (as I carried all 35 lbs of him out in front of me stepping over the landmines on my carpet)

------------------------------------------

Yes, there was poop on my son, poop on my carpet ( 5 spots to be exact), poop on my toilet. There was poop everywhere! I scrubbed, disinfected, showered the boy and put him to bed.

This morning was a brand new day. I was putting the incident behind me. I made some tea, straightened up and decided to open the blinds to let some glorious sunshine in. And GASP, what did I see on my carpet...

FIVE LARGE BLUE STAINS!!

Apparently Spot Shot carpet cleaner works so well, it pulled the dye right out of the blue rag I was using and deposited it directly on my carpet. Right on the same carpet that I just paid good money to have professionally cleaned.

And to top it off, the woman who is putting a purchase offer on my mobile home was coming over this morning to give me her deposit. (Oh, yeah, I've neglected to tell you we are moving into a townhouse in 8 days - oops!) My exersaucer never looked so good smack in the middle of my living room. She didn't notice a thing.

Bon Jovi to the Rescue

Tension was high.

Talking about finances will do that to ya.

We decide to hug and make up.

In the midst of a long embrace, Tim says: I'm sure you can come up with a good 80's song to sing right now. You know, one that says we are gong to make it through this season.

Me: I sure can... (Then Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi erupts from my lips along with guitar solo and all.)

Then we really made up...

Hey, who would have thought Bon Jovi would light up the night.


And if you are wondering why I posted this, Courtney told me to do it.

A Potty Training Tale

Warning: This is a Real Life post

Scene 1
Tim and Samuel playing tackle football in our living room.

Tim: Did we have a poop situation go on here? (holding his pointer finger out in the air with a brown blob on the end)

Michelle: What do you mean?

Tim: Well, what's this? (As he gives it a whiff)

Michelle: Yeah, he did a poopy in his pants before but I cleaned it all up. Maybe, he pooped some more and it fell out of the leg of his pants.

Tim: Oh great, we've been rolling around in it. (Pointing to the small brown stain on the carpet)

Scene 2:
Michelle is cleaning Samuel up for a second time.

Michelle: Lay down here buddy, so I can wipe you clean.

Samuel: Do I have poopy in my heiney mom?

Michelle: Yes, don't touch.

Samuel: Oh Okay (As he puts his finger on his rear and then wipes it on his shirt)

Can you say EEEEWWW?!?!

Simpsonized

Because I have nothing better to do with myself. HA! HA!

I think Tim came out the best. What do you think?

C'mon, you know you want to Simpsonize yourself. Just do it. It might be a total waste of time but at least you'll get a good laugh.

7 Random Facts You Probably Didn't Want To Know...

So Courtney tagged me over the phone over a week ago and I'm just sitting down to give you these fabulous, juicy, you know you can't wait to read 'em, facts about myself.

Ready?

1) I met my husband when I was working at the college bookstore. I was a manager and he a student worker. Scandalous right? Not really - it was God's plan. But still, it was a shocker for almost everyone working there. We were married 10 months later.

2)Not only have a I been a college bookstore manager, I've also been a gift store decorator, bartender, an art teacher for migrant workers, an early childhood education specialist and I am currently a lia sophia jewelry advisor. I've never been one to stick to one thing. Call it a weakness??? No, I call it my hidden free spirit.

3)I think I currently have toe nail fungus - Can you say EEEWWWW!!!! Anyone have any natural remedies for such an atrocity??? (It may just be staining from my nail polish, but I have a "worse case scenario" thinking problem too.)

4) When I was a child I had a recurring nightmare that aliens would come in their spaceship to take away the new diamond & emerald necklace/ring set my parents had just given to me. Then in my dream, my parents would ask me where my jewelry was (because I was suppose to take very good care of it) and they would not believe my story when I told them about the spaceship. I had this dream over and over and over. Can we get Freudian on this one???

5) I nurse my babies until they decide to wean. Some think it's gross, I think it's one of the most wonderful and natural experiences a mother can have. Samuel weaned at 29 months and it was smooth as butter. If anyone has any questions about toddler nursing, I'd be happy to chat by email.

6) I have finally gotten over the need to have my bra and underwear match. It took, oh, almost 31 years. It didn't require therapy, just having children.

7)When I was in high school, I totally sported the "Forehead, Five Head" hairdo. I was a pro at getting those bangs a mile high with some Stiff Stuff Hairspray (another marvel of the eighties). I grew up in Long Island folks - big hair was an absolute MUST!

And just to make it worth your while for reading this meme all the way through I present to you a teenage portrait of me as a high school junior...

Now, I'm going to tag just 3 people who I'd like to know something random about:
1) Vic
2) Sarah
3) Mel

Almost Wordless Wednesday

What do you get when you put together a phone charger, a noise reducing headset and a creative three year old?

Samuel's version of hands free!

Meet QB

Funny nick names just happen. Sometimes they don't even make sense. But they are oh so cute. Sometimes they have their season and then they are gone; but this one seems to be sticking around!

Tim started calling Gabrielle Queen Bee. She may only be the princess, but she sure does think she's the queen. She always wants it her way and on her terms. She is quite particular and vocal! So the name stuck and slowly it evolved to QB. We probably call her QB half of the time. I think it's kind of cute. But someday I'll have to tell her, ever so gently, who the queen really is!

Now, this one is not so cute but she brought this one on herself. Gabrielle makes this funny screeching sound that resembles the the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings. She likes to make this sound first thing when she wakes up at 3am. It somehow always makes me laugh even when I'm beyond tired. And so sometimes she's our Little Nazgul.

Samuel gets in on the nick naming action too. He calls her Gabrielle Goo! Appropriate for a 3 year old I think. I'm sure she'll grow to love it.

Do you have any favorite nicknames for your kiddos that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them.

Fire Drill

This is a fire alarm.

What happens when you pull the lever down?

Ask my son! He pulled it at church today!
(During our fellowship time to celebrate our new teen wing)

I am still recovering!

Comedy or Tragedy???

Warning: This is a Real Life post!

Yesterday. Oh yesterday. How I wish I could forget yesterday. But I must tell you about it first!

You would've been proud of me. Despite the chaos, I totally kept it together. No complaining, flipping out, binge cookie eating (I'm doing that right now), or driving away to an unknown destination never to return! There was certain war between the spirit and the flesh, but the spirit triumphed!!!

So, let's start with midnight... we were sleeping peacefully after a short middle of the night visit from Samuel.

As the night progressed, Gabrielle nursed one too many times, as usual. Not a growth spurt, just a really bad pattern we've gotten into and I've been to chicken to break it. Totally my fault. Anyway, that's another post for another day.

Samuel got up at 4:40 AM and did NOT go back to bed despite Tim's best efforts. Who gets up at that hour??? The only people up at that hour are those crazy "I need to jog 3 miles, do yoga, and clean my house before work" people. We are no such people in this house. Now let me tell you, Samuel was a totally crankster the entire morning. Just existing seemed to frustrate him. This was not a good day for a family rendition of "This is the Day."

Yesterday was Samuel's first day at a new home day care. He goes two mornings a week. It could have gone one of two ways. He'd either be distracted right out of his overtired state or Miss Mary Kay might be wondering what she got herself into. Not a good day for first impressions. So, I put my clothes on from the day before and took Mr. Crankerton to day care.

Got back home, put Gabrielle down for a nap. Can you sing the Hallelujah chorus with me? Wait, not too fast! My little buttercup only slept for 20 minutes and I could not get her back to sleep. Now I had crankster #2 on my hands.

Good news! Samuel did great at Miss Mary Kay's house. It was getting him home and in bed for an early nap that was the trouble. I basically spent the next several hours either trying to put children to sleep or keep them sleeping. I think I had to lay down with my daughter 6 times yesterday to accomplish 3 hours of napping.

Time to make dinner. My master plan was to put Samuel on the computer and Gabrielle in her bouncer. That's when tragedy struck. The Playhouse Disney and Sesame Street sites were not working! WHAT??? How could they not work??? Don't they know that my sanity was on the line. So, I called the cable company pronto!

I spoke with a very patient man. And I mean VERY patient (3 month old + 3 year old + phone conversation = chaos). He walked me through a few steps and then refreshed my modem. Uh oh!!! No modem, no phone! My cable friend was gone just like that. Now what? Determination set in despite a crying baby and my son who was into who knows what. I preceded to plug and unplug many cords until everything was working. YES!!!

Dinner happened.

It was the post dinner events that trumped the rest of the day.

I saw the look on Samuel's face. The "I'm about to poop" look. If your a mom, you know this look well. Samuel has not been interested in potty training but tonight he complied! Woohoo! Off we went to the bathroom and we sat and sat and sat and nothing! I left the bathroom for no more than 30 seconds and upon my return, poop happened! Yes, poop happened alright but not on the potty. There was poop on the floor, on his hand and his face. I think he tried to clean it up.

I disinfected almost everything but the ceiling and sent Samuel off diaperless for a brief moment. Apparently he was not finished pooping and he didn't quite make it back to the bathroom in time. I heard an "oops" and that was it. Another round of disinfecting began.

And so the day finally ended around 9pm. The kids were finally sleeping in their beds. I, still in my clothes from the day before, decided it was time for a shower. A very LONG shower! You can sing the Hallelujah chorus with me now.

I survived yet another day in my real life!

Boys Will Be Boys

So I wake up sick on Saturday... sore throat, totally exhausted! Thankfully Tim decided to take Samuel to the park and let me go back to bed for a little while. What a thoughtful man. Well, if you live here in Western NY, you know that April means MUD. It's just not a great time of year to shampoo your carpets! And what does mud bring? You guessed it...WORMS!!! Here is a picture of Samuel with his first worm friend. I guess he held this one for about 45 minutes. They were really bonding by the time they got home.

Daddy decided it was time for me to wake up. Samuel decided I must meet his new friend. You should have seen this 9 month pregnant woman fly out of bed as I removed my eye cover and saw a dangling earth worm before me. This is the earth worm on my bed!!! GROSS!!!

This is a picture of Samuel, a very tired and sick Mommy and his new friend in my bed. I can't believe I'm actually posting this photo but it's time to be real here in blog world. This is what I look like when I feel miserable. A true beauty..haha!

And this was the fate of the earth worm as Samuel kindly informed me, "Mommy, the worm is bwoken." It was a miracle that he lasted over an hour in one piece! Poor earth worm!

The Naked Drummer!

If the "Naked Chef" can make it big,
I think my son has a very bright future!

Just Being a Boy!

This is the heat vent in Samuel's room.

This morning, he was having some nudie time and when I walked into his room he said, "Mommy I pee peed in the heater!"

He doesn't want to pee in a potty, but he'll pee in his heater.
Thank God for Spot Shot Carpet Cleaner and Shaklee's Basic G!