Before and after....

The new house...renovations ensue.

Here we had a wall (shown on the right)...

And now we don't...

Not loving it...yet...my glass tends to be half full, so hopefully that sentiment won't fail me now...

Baby C says hi

Our little love...

Thank you S and T for letting us hang out at your place during the house inspection (note, your livingroom chairs are the backdrop for the pic of our little bird)...S, I chatted with T about this, so hopefully this is not a surprise :)

Which way do I go?

So today it happened...twice...

I was in two different situations where I had to choose between which child to tend to when they both needed me at the same time.

Our local renovated public library - CR decided to take the stairs while I had to take the elevator with Baby C in the stroller. CR ran down the stairs, and sprinted across the first floor (packed with people who came there to enjoy the quiet and serene atmosphere of the library...I interrupted that quickly)...

I had to have the moral discussion at an elevated conversational volume from across the room about how I needed him to come back, that I couldn't leave Baby C - did he want someone to take her and for him to never see his baby sister again? All of this was uttered with an audience of undoubtedly disturbed strangers. One person offered to stay with Baby C while I retrieved my other set of genes - bless their heart, but um, no, I will not leave my 6-week-old daughter under your supervision, you scary little man, especially when you could escape with her out the doors to the outside world conveniently located right next to us.

Fortunately, the carseat was detachable, so though not ideal, I was still able to unhook the seat, fly down the stairs and try to grab CR...once CR saw me start to chase after him, he thought it was a game...the little sh*t ran up the opposite set of stairs back to the original floor that I needed him to stay on in the first place, and proceeded to run back and forth down the library aisles. Not the easiest sprint while toting a child in a carseat. I think CR got the gist of my lecture, but really, who am I kidding...I am sure the escapee will try his antics again without any remorse...I am tempted to hide her from his view the next time he runs away from me and tell him a billy-goat tale about her abduction...a little too far? Maybe, but it might make things hit home a little quicker...if it works, one point for evil Mommy...

The second instance was when CR was woken up from his short nap by a squawking Baby C. He must have been in deep REM sleep, because he was all shaky and had some serious sheet marks on his face and arms. So there I was, with an irrational, out-of-it boy, and a hungry infant who was entering her witching hours of the day...a timespan where she freaks out a bit, screams at my breasts when trying to nurse, and generally is as irrational as her brother in this situation.

I walked downstairs and tried to capture the "bliss" that I was enveloped in...

I hope the next conflict of interest is coinciding sporting events when they are five and eight, respectively, but something tells me I should close my eyes tonight and expect to be challenged again tomorrow.

Greenhorn mother of two on a train with two children...

I knew it might be challenging, and I was right. B was away in CT at the GHO, so I had a long stretch with the little ones. I knew that if we stuck around the house all day we would go absolutely batty, so I decided to hop on 'board the T and head downtown for some CR-distracting fun.

Beacon Hill never knew what hit them when our hick underwear-wearing selves showed up at the sprinklers at the [pretentious] prestigious urban park...

Every little person in the world loves a meal substituted by some ice cream love...

Rosetta Stone, or a botched bad word?

Running during pregnancy with swollen feet caused a lovely blood blister to form under the nail on my right my big toe. Needless to say, it's gross. After simply ignoring it, the nail itself is falling off big-time.

When CR took a peek at my toenail that's falling off, he had this to say...

"Mommy, it's a shee-show."

Thinking my child suddenly took an interest in the mandarin language, I asked him to repeat what he had said...

"Mommy, it's a shee-show."

In looking at CR, and then at my toe, I put two and two together...

"CR, do you mean it's a shit-show?"

"Yeah, a shee-show, that's right, it's a shee-show"

Well, he may not be pronouncing it correctly, and he shouldn't be saying it to begin with, but at least he is using it in the right context...

Last date

Today we went to CR's end of school year picnic. His little girlfriend Allie was in attendance, and he made sure to get a little popsicle date with her before everyone said their goodbyes.

School's out for summer

Today was CR's last day of school. Seriously, he was finally in the "I love school" zone, and now it's done-zo. I would consider keeping him in the JV-but-amazing preschool structure for next fall, but there is absolutely no good way to get there from [our new, come July] here. We are enrolling him in their version of summer camp for two weeks - it starts a week from tomorrow - we hope he loves it as much as he [finally] loves school.

Today was also Baby C's wellness visit - since she was born at 6lbs 10oz, and dropped down to 6lbs 4oz, at five and a half weeks old, we figured she might be up to a little over 7lbs...we were both wrong...take a look...baby girl hated being weighed, just like her brother.

Rewind

So they weren't kidding...having a second child really is hard...and also, I know why moms often make the immediate decision to go back to work. Free time? It was a thing of the past once CR entered our lives, but now? I have negative free time. Seriously. I find myself thinking of all of the things I would love to get done on any given day, and after the sun sets, I manage to not only fail to knock anything off my to-do list, but I have managed to add to it. WTF is up with that? My posts have been few and far between due to this new additive laundry list. One of the things that I love to do is jot down some words about my days with CR and now Baby C...according to B, it is the only addition to the sole hobby that I have in place, and based on my chosen blog title, I am sure you can guess what that one activity is...

I would just skip the past week's posts all together, but every day had some sort of event or happening, so here we are, in rewind mode.

We spent the weekend at the Cape - B, CR, Baby C and I headed down Friday afternoon, and stayed through Monday. J and D joined us with the kids on Sunday - CR could not be more excited to see his cousins.

Before the extended fam arrived, B and CR spent a little father-son bonding time at the beach...

Baby C and I hung out and got some shade [sun]

It wouldn't be Father's Day without spending a little time at the links...

The Cape is such a special place for us - B and I both grew up going there (separately, but I swear we must have crossed paths when we were young at local Dennis and Brewster haunts) - thank you Mimi and Pop-pops, for opening up the Cape house for all of us to enjoy.

Momma needs a brand new bed set...

Furniture. I am definitely not happy with a few pieces we have adorning our home, but the drive to replace it, or the need to get new goods vs. where you find that need on the financial totem pole really leaves me without ideas. I was born without any sort of interior-decorating gene. Sadly, I can't even pick out paint colors without consulting with my friends who have an "eye" for it. What I do know is that we have a couple of additional rooms in our new home that we will need to furnish, and a few rugs that need to be replaced due to years of wear [stains] and tear...that, and I absolutely abhor the colors.

B and I set out this past week to Jordan's Furniture. We avoided the crowds by going on a weekday, also allowing for CR to run free through the store if he so desired...however, since Baby C was in a stroller, CR wanted to be pushed around as well. His vehicle of choice? A taxi, of course.

B and I wanted to be efficient as possible, while checking out all categories where we have furniture deficiencies in...

Items of interest:

Patio furniture - the set we have is mildewed, weathered, and physically heavy...

Kitchen Table with seating for at least 6 and a server - our current table seats 4

Couch/loveseat/oversized chair - we are going to put our current leather couches in the sun room, leaving the new living room seatless

Area rugs - one for under the kitchen table, one for the living room, and one for CR's and our bedroom

NEW BEDROOM SET FOR US...ours is totally functional, and we don't necessarily need a replacement set, but in my mind, our current mismatched dressers, bedside tables, desk lamps (yes, desk lamps serving as bedside lamps), and god-awful sleigh-bed frame is, well, embarrassing...I've put in 9 years with the hot mess assortment, and it's time for Momma to get an upgrade from college day "design" to "hello, adulthood."

We strolled through the staged set-ups, room by room. CR and B paused in the center of the "house" where there was a Mardi Gras show going on...a freaky, enormous clown glided over the floor below...

We found a possible rug for CR's room.

(image from here)

His existing throw will be passed along to Baby C - she is barely four and a half weeks old and beyond clothing, she is already inheriting her brother's wares.

Beyond that, we haven't decided on anything yet. The patio furniture in my mind should be made of iron, not wood. It's more element-friendly, lighter, and looks a lot less bulky. As for the rugs, kitchen table, and server? Mimi, I may toss this one your way. In all nine redecorating efforts on Sulgrave (huge props to you, by the way), you are a better source of decorating information than I...

Game 7

This is what most people in Boston are watching tonight...

(image from here)

Some fans might enjoy a little Rondo 'roni and cheese...

(image from here)

I hope fans are not bowing their heads in shame at the last buzzer...

(image from here)

And definitely not going to this extreme if the Celts win or lose...

(image from here)

Here is what was on my agenda for the evening...
Giving the baby girl a bath...

And drawing family pics with wee-man...

(the horrible movie footage was courtesy of my having to watch Baby C fuss on the floor, combined with only having one free hand - the other was occupied with pacifier duty)

My, how my life has changed from playing house when I was a little girl...to, well, playing house as a "big girl"...(sigh)

Hipsta-what?

The iPhone.

As a phone, it sucks (with a dropped call here, and a dropped call there, here a dropped, there a dropped...everywhere a dropped drop).

As a camera, it sucks even more...it takes crappy pictures, 'nuff said.

As an application provider, it is average in my eyes. There are so many pointless apps out there, it makes you wonder who came up with some of them. Just to hit this point home, here are a few examples.

Gotta Go - it will place a fake phonecall to you upon request to get out of an uncomfortable situation...don't people who buy this thing have a friend who can stand in as the made-up excuse to get out of a bad date?

Help Me! - A speed dial for calling local emergency services. Great in theory, I suppose, but really, how hard is it to dial 911? And case in point, CR steals my phone all the time and texts and calls random people in my contact list. How do you explain to the emergency operator that your three-year-old used your iPhone, and accidentally hit the button for the most idiotic and highly liable iPhone application? I think these response operators have bigger fish to fry than listening to my son banter about using the potty to anyone who answers at the other end of the phone...

Flashlight - pretty self-explanatory...you be the judge...

Cry Translator - this app claims to be able to differentiate between a baby's five distinct cries for hunger, stress, boredom, annoyance, or sleepiness. Hmm. Let me get this straight. The application can tell me if Baby C is bored from lying on her back in her bassinet, but somehow the creators were unable to figure out a language formula for her most common discomforts - having a dirty diaper or having to burp. From what I can tell, her life is not that stressful, and while her brother has a knack for annoying me, she does not really have enough face-time for him to really get under her skin...they charge $9.99 for this app. I imagine their market is desperate first-time parents looking for any way to deal with their collicky, wailing infant - heck, take a peek in our basement bookshelves and you will see all of the useless books we bought pre-iPhone when we first had CR...if it was available, I am sure we would have performed a search to see if they had an app for that...

Onto my useless app purchase...Hipstamatic. It literally makes the photos taken with your iPhone look even worse. The description or their "selling point" is that Hipstaprints have that "casual and seemingly accidental snapshot feel." I don't know about you, but when I depress the "take picture" button on my phone or with a camera, I pretty much know that I want to capture my subject on film...it is most often not by accident...

I decided to try the app out for the first time tonight, and here is the result...B on the couch, watching the Celtics get their pants ripped by LA (so far, anyway)...

I am sure I will play around with the glorious app features and you will see more shots using the "casual" technology in the future. Just let it be known that I was not aware of its useless nature until this evening...

Professional Quality

When I got my Canon SLR, I could not be more excited. I toted my new toy with me everywhere, waiting to capture every one of CR's advancements on film. He ran across the lawn? I snapped it. Jumped off a rock? Oh yeah, definitely a keepsake...

Well, sadly that urge to take every one of his movements and upload them to my laptop has subsided a bit. My laziness has resulted in leaving the camera at home, and using my iPhone's capabilities to document his achievements. The quality? Horrible. The ease of having a multi-purpose device with me at all times? Priceless...until you really look at the pictures. They suck. They are dark, unpredictable in terms of when you snap the pic (the delay from click to actual shutter speed is often a second or two), and there is no depth to them. What is my problem? I have the means to take some amazing film reels, but I choose not to. The next tier of patheticness (not a word, but you get the point) is that even for the better quality shots that I took with an actual camera, we stopped getting the images printed up for frames for our walls. The current shots sit on our laptop for us to see, but visitors to our house see the framed pics of CR, and probably think that he is still an infant based on how he looked when we last took the trouble of getting pictures developed.

In looking at these shots, I brought up the thought of having a professional sitting for CR. I would love some good, formal images of wee-man...something I would be psyched to look back at down the line. The concept is perfect for lazy people like us - get great pictures of our child, and have someone else go through the motions to put them on paper for us - even in the standard frame sizes - we just pay, and then pop the quality prints into frames to display around our home. How could you say no to that?

Well, B said no. He said it would be a waste of money - that we can take pictures that are just as good as any professional...yes, that might be true, but do you see anything on our desktop that is frame-worthy at this point? Didn't think so...

Call it fate, or just a wonderful perk of having your child in preschool with kids who have parents with unique professions...regardless, one of the mothers from CR's class is a professional photographer, and as a favor to the school, she offered to do class portraits as well as individual sittings for all students at a greatly reduced rate. The result?

I think he looks pretty dapper, and definitely frame-worthy. Granted, I am not looking for family pictures with all of us dressed in the same sweater, slacks and matching hats...nor am I looking to spend a fortune on these images. But every once in awhile it might be a nice thing to do to capture our kids at milestone ages on film...just sayin'...

Stroller Shopping

Bugaboo Cameleon out.

Phil and Ted Sport in.

Over the past three years, we have accumulated three strollers...for one child.

The BOB Revolution jogger
The Maclaren umbrella stroller
The Bugaboo Cameleon

One would think that between two able bodied parents, and one push vehicle, said child would be all set in the transportation department. Apparently we didn't get the memo, and figured we needed a stroller for every occasion...like handbags...so, here we are, with an excess of wheels and assembled metal pieces, limited storage space, and a new demand...a stroller that will accommodate two children, one of whom cannot support her own head. Rather than adding to the pushcart herd, we are going to wean back the numbers, and then replace what we sell with a stronger, more practical breed of carrier.

We decided that the Bugaboo has the most desirable bloodlines, so we are posting the little lady on Craigslist, and have decided that the Phil and Ted's V2 Sport will be the best chariot for our brood. Hopefully the Bugaboo will fair better than our house once it hits the public market...

Fore!

Yes, yes, I am still thinking about my birth story...but in the meantime, here is a little clip of CR's first go at the driving range from this past weekend with B and Pop-pops. He loves to hit balls, and now that his father gave him a taste of a golf tee, I have a feeling a lot of time will be spent this summer at various venues driving the white little pills across the greens...

S-L-A-C-K-E-R

I have had a hard time putting "pen" to "paper" to document my birth story for Baby C. I was elated to rediscover my story capturing the details from CR's l'entrée dans le monde, and I want the same story for our new little one. Something to look back on down the road, to drum up all those "wonderful" feelings of childbirth.

My plan? Tomorrow, I have a date with my laptop...we'll see how far I get...

Family Portraits

We all know CR loves having his picture taken...you merely point a camera in his direction, and the little ham will spontaneously shout "Cheeeeeeese!" Just walking down the stairs is an opportunity in his eyes to get his mug on film...

B took advantage of this vain quality and propped up Baby C next to him for a family photo opp...

(CR often likes to pretend he is a dinosaur - this is Baby C's attempt at impersonating a T-Rex)

(kisses...Baby C looks a little scared)