In Perpetuity

New Years reminds me of time. And how quickly it passes. Did an entire year really just go by in the time it took me to blink?

Thanks to my financial management class I know that perpetuity means forever and ever. This is usually applied to getting dividends or interest (a good thing) for as long as you own the stock or bond. Applied to my real life, there are lots of things that are never-ending, but it doesn't quite come in the form on money.

1. Laundry. No matter how many loads I do, there is always more. I think this phenomenon has only manifested since LP arrived. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that I used to be able to wear jeans or a sweater more than once before having to wash them and now I can't wear anything more than five minutes without having snot, drool, banana or some other substance smeared on to me.
2. Dishes. It seems that no sooner do I empty the dishwasher it is time to put it back up again. On one hand this is a good thing, we are eating home more often, saving money on take-out and eating more healthfully. On the other hand we are probably using more water and energy. Thank goodness we got a new dishwasher a few months ago. The other one fit about four dinner dishes and used way more electricity and water to operate.
3. Housework. Crumbs procreate in my house. I vacuum and no less than 10 seconds later there are crumbs or dustbunnies in the nooks, the crannies, the middle of the floor....
4. Catching up. I feel like there is never enough time or energy to do all of the catching up with friends that I need to do. I always have someone I meant to call or some information I intended to pass on that never gets to the other party. By the time I remember to call at a decent time the moment has passed, the story is no longer funny or there are a million other things that have happened in the interim.

Happy New Year everyone. May you have more time and energy to do the important things in 2008 - more number 4 and less 1-3!

Finding Coverage

As much as I am sure everyone would love to read a post about my take on universal health care coverage, this post is actually about child care coverage.

This week LP's day care is closed. Fortunately, I only have to get people to watch her for two days since I am typically home on Mondays and Fridays and Tuesday was a holiday that everyone gets off. Even more fortunately, LP has two sets of grandparents that look for any opportunity to help out and watch the energetic little munchkin.

LP spent yesterday with my mother-in-law. Apparently she was "an angel". They went shopping and she spent the entire time calmly standing in the main section of the cart, enjoying the view of the toy store. If I was the one pushing the cart I would have to resort to bribing LP to stay in the cart. They also managed to eat lunch out at a local diner. Again, if the Hoos and I were there she would spend the time throwing food, climbing out of the seat, and running around the restaurant. Typical, right?

Today LP is with my parents. I am sure I will have a similar report about how she was wonderful and angelic and the most perfect little child. I am not going to complain, though. If she wants to be good for our babysitters, that is great, because that means they won't mind babysitting again.

On a more serious note, the week without day care really has me thinking about how parents with elementary age kids do it. My parents were teachers, so growing up we pretty much always had the same vacations. The Hoos and I and most other parents do not have this luxury (although there is no way I would trade my job for being a teacher full-time). Summers become a time of juggling different camps, seeking full-time babysitters, and paying lots and lots of $$$ to keep your kids occupied.

But summers only come up once a year, I am also thinking about the five days a week that the kids go to school!

In our neighborhood, the bus pick-up time is 9:00 am. Well, even with his relatively open schedule there is no way the Hoos could get to work at a decent time (9 is considered late at a lot of offices; I get in at 7:45 currently). Of course there is before and after school care (starting at 7 and ending at 6) which I guess isn't much different than day care, but it seems to me that school-age kids start knowing the difference between kids whose parents pick them up and kids who "have" to hang out at school and do their homework. Ugh.

The good news is, LP is in day care for another three years. That should give me enough time to get my head around all of the craziness that will become my schedule in the not-too-distant future. Just in time for carpools and tee-ball practice.

Not Gonna Lie

I am glad Christmas is over. Don't get me wrong, it was very nice to have four days off to spend with the Hoos and LP, but really the few days around Christmas are such a waste. We couldn't really leave the house for most of the time.

Saturday, the roads were a zoo, with lots of people running out to do their last minute shopping. In actuality, the drivers probably seemed tame in comparison to all of the crazies in the grocery store. I ended up going grocery shopping around dinner time, in the hopes that people would be home eating instead of zooming around the aisles trying to remember what they need for the perfect Christmas dinner. My plan didn't really work as it still took me a while. Unfortunately, with the stores closing early Monday for Christmas Eve and remaining closed through Tuesday it was necessary for me to get my grocery shopping in.

Sunday, the weather was lousy. It was cold and rainy and windy later in the day. I think only the Hoos left the house, and that was to go and get fish for our new fish tank. Let me officially welcome Fred and Wilma to the family. LP loves them. She wants to feed them constantly. She pushes the Hoos and I over to the shelves that hold the fish food every 10 minutes in hopes we will give in and let her feed them again. Anyway, we didn't really want to leave the house anyway.

Monday the weather was better. We wanted to be sure that we all got some fresh air, and although it was too cold to take LP for a walk, we spent a good half hour running around the yard. We also put up our new bird feeder and went out as a family to buy bird seed to fill it. Fortunately the Wild Bird Center is less than a mile from our home. And since we were cooped up the day before everyone was itching for an excursion. Otherwise, we would have skipped buying the food.

Tuesday the weather was clear and cold, but there was no where to go. Literally, everything was closed. I don't begrudge the stores, it is nice that they want their employees home with their families, really. We only left the house to run around the yard for a while. With nothing on TV (I actually watched the local news on News 12 cycle through twice at one point) - can someone explain the channel that only plays the burning log? who watches that? - we were left up to our own devices for entertainment. Fortunately, LP is very entertaining. I also helped the Hoos seat the top of his kayak to the bottom while LP napped. Now I can say that I am helping him to build a kayak - aren't you impressed?

When do you think it will be safe to leave the house again? When will the stores be less hectic, the crazy people sedated and the parking lots less hazardous?

What Have I Signed Up For?

For the first time in forever, LP woke up at 6. Crying. We ignored her and she eventually stopped, only to restart 2 minutes later. The Hoos drew the short straw (actually, there was no drawing I just said 'Do you want to check on her?') and went in to her room where she was standing up in her crib.

Lovely.

He picker her up to quiet her down, but that was only a temporary fix. We employed Orajel (she does have all four of her eye teeth in various stages of coming in) and when that didn't work, went with the Mylicon (not sure that stuff ever works, but LP likes the taste and when I asked if her belly hurt and she wanted medicine she nodded). Still no rest for the weary.

Even when I let her lay across my head, practically inhibiting my breathing. It quieted her down, but it certainly didn't put her to sleep. The Hoos, who is usually much less open to letting LP sleep in our bed or on him in the wee hours even let her sleep on top of him. That didn't work either.

We turned on the TV and both rolled over so that she could watch and we could rest. This only worked for a few seconds until LP pulled my hair to make me roll over and watch with her. And if I closed my eyes she would poke them, calling out "Eyes!". This child is so lucky she is cute. It is definitely an evolutionary adaptation to help them survive.

Around 8:15 the Hoos removed LP from the bedroom and took her downstairs. I seriously could not even imagine moving. I joined them around 9:45, still looking like a zombie according to the Hoos.

Like clockwork at 11:15 LP fell asleep on me. Giving me plenty of time to contemplate how I am possibly going to survive feedings every two hours come June when LP's sibling arrives. That adrenaline rush that I had the first time around will kick back in, right?

Ponytailed Mama

This morning for the first time I put LP's hair in a ponytail. Well, at least the back of it. She still doesn't have enough hair in the front to make a ponytail. Of course I broke three hairbands doing this - they make the children's ones too small to put your fingers inside to open them and I have no idea how else to put them on. Sigh...

Anyway, she looks cute and hasn't pulled it out yet.

Mr. Clean No Match for My Baby

So, Monday my Chanukah present arrived. A little late, but that wasn't the Hoos' fault. Her name is Gabby and she cleaned my house. She removed stuck on gunk from my hard-wood floors, sucked ground in cookies out of my living room rug, and scrubbed my bathroom. Honestly, this was one of the best presents EVER.

Unfortunately, LP doesn't much notice when the house is clean. Probably because she is so good at making it messy. Yesterday was a true testament to her ability to be a one-girl wrecking crew.

While I was making her dinner, she was on the floor of our office coloring on flip chart paper (with washable markers) and eating Cheerios from a bag. As soon as I walk into the room to check on her, she picks up the bag and upends it, relishing in scattering Cheerios over the entire floor surface of the office. And, in case any cereal got stuck in the bag, she shook it several times for good measure.

Fortunately, her dinner was done; I picked her up, strapped her into her booster in the dining room and set the mac n' cheese in front of her so that I could go and attempt to locate every last Cheerio and chuck them. Of course, after collecting the fallen cereal I return to the dining room to discover macaroni on the floor, on the table, on the chair and pretty much everywhere except in LP's mouth. ARRGGHHH.

I leave her strapped in the booster while I clean up the dinner and attempt to wipe it off of all of the surfaces before it solidifies into gunk that requires more effort and energy to remove than I have at this point. I then take her out of the booster and tell her to run away before I throttle her. She runs into the kitchen, climbs up on the kitchen chair and pounds on the table yelling out "more!" because apparently she is still hungry after throwing more macaroni than she ate.

Will I ever learn? Probably not because I give her a spoon and some applesauce and closely supervise her as she spoons the sweet goodness into her mouth. After 5 minutes of watching her eat (as you can imagine a toddler feeding herself applesauce is a time-consuming process, she only ate 1/4 of the container at this point), I figure I can turn away to the sink to make some progress cleaning stuff up. Within two minutes applesauce is smeared on the table, the chair, the tile floor... If you are keeping count this is the THIRD ROOM she has "uncleaned" in less than an hour.

As part of my present, we were going to have Gabby return every two weeks to clean the house for a few months. I am thinking at this point that every other day still wouldn't be frequently enough...

I'm a Winner!

How psyched was I to receive an email from Working Moms Against Guilt letting me know I was the winner of Day 2 of their No-Guilt Holiday Giveaway?! "Just a little" would be a gross understatement.

You all know I love free stuff, but free stuff that I totally didn't expect AND that totally rocks? Really, it is just too much. I am really psyched to check out the Wowwee Robopanda (yes, LP has more than enough toys, but a high-tech toy that can read her stories?! Man, I hope she isn't afraid of it.) The Hoos is most excited about the two Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease DVDs: In the Bedroom and Vegas Strip In the Bedroom. I don't think it has to do with seeing his pregnant wife striptease...

Stay tuned for more information on these fantabulous gifts. And get your butt over to WMAG to see about getting gifts of your own!

Look Out for the Flying Old Lady!

I spent yesterday in Columbus, OH. Literally, just the day: a car whisked me to the airport at 5:45am and returned me home at 10pm. In between were meetings and airport challenges. Oh, and a fun experience that made me feel like I was over the hill.

Because of issues at LaGuardia airport, I ended up flying home a a puddle jumper. It was a teeny, tiny plane. As I sat down I turned to my seat mate and commented, "Wow, I am relatively small and I feel uncomfortable." She responded, "I am 12, I am just big for my age." Okay, not exactly relevant, but definitely true. She was twice my size. Turns out she was flying to New York to meet her dad for the first time.

A really nice, sweet girl, we talked most of the flight. She told me she was a seventh grader and I asked what books she was reading in English class (I have an 18-month old, I am not used to talking to more mature children, what can I say?). I then told her that we read "The Outsiders" and "Johnny Tremain" when I was in 7th grade. She looked at me blankly. "I guess it was a while ago, I was in 7th grade in 1988." Her response was that she was BORN in 1995.

In case that didn't make me feel like an old fogey, she went on to tell me that her parents were YOUNGER than me. I felt nauseous. And it had nothing to do with being pregnant or on an uncomfortable flight.

Rock the Crazy Happy Dance

I AM DONE WITH MY FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT CLASS!! YIPPEE! Doesn't everyone want to party with me?

My exam is due tonight. Wanting to just be done with it and get the course to go away, I submitted it last night. At least I thought I did. My email was acting screwy, so I sent it again to the professor this afternoon just to make sure he got it and he responded right away:

Hi Amy:

The exam did get delivered. You got an 86 on the final and an A- for the course.

Norm

You read right folks, not only is the class over, but I passed! With flying colors! Happy dance, happy dance:



Thanks to my Uncle Joey this video is right side up! YAY!

Baking Cookies

LP and I just finished baking a big old batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Thanks to her help I have a feeling this will be the best baking ever. Note her adorable apron.

Posted with apologies to my friend Kiki, whose daughter hates sweets. Poor thing, we will save you some cookies.