The Case of the Disappearing Week

I forgot how fast a busy work week flies by, only to be trumped by the speed of the weekend following it. So to summarize last week, I survived the first official week on the job. Granted, I have been back to work for a few weeks now but this week was the first week where students were present. Taking classes. Taught by yours truly. I must say I really enjoyed the week, myself. I am not sure my students would say the same thing, but nobody has dropped my classes yet so I guess that is a good sign. My mantra for the semester must be: slow down. Only a week into it, I can see already how crazy mid-semester will be. As for now, however, we are enjoying the ride. 

Beyond the first week of classes, we had other firsts as well. Nate finally cut his first tooth. Luckily my kids are late teethers because I absolutely love the adorable gummy smile. Adrienne has started parroting all sorts of phrases that we have never heard her say. "That's a tough call, Daddy!" "You're a good sharer, Mommy." "Sure, that's right. Sounds Perfect." It's not what she says but how she says it in her cute little voice. Speaking of talking and firsts, if I were a betting gal I would have lost money. Nate's first word: Mama! How happy am I? Except now when he is crying in his crib before bed or as I'm leaving in the morning, I hear "Mama, Mama!" Not good for the mommy-guilt! And finally, following my first day of classes, I came home to find the following scene. I have the best fan club EVER. 

Terrible Twos

We've been going through a bit of the terrible twos around here as of late. You know, your average run of the mill tantrums, tears, head-butting, obstinance, and resistance, just taken up a notch or two in frequency the past few weeks. Rational me understands that this is part of the normal development of a child: to develop emotions, to understand boundaries, to explore actions and reactions, yadda, yadda. But, to be honest, the irrational me finds it really annoying. And maybe alot of the rational me, too. The hubby and I have taken to describing this behavior with choice words muttered under our breath and find the need to put ourselves in periodic peaceful timeouts away from the crankies. 

Now, to be fair, all of the onus cannot be put squarely on Adrienne's tiny defiant shoulders. That would be leaving out her hitting hands and stomping feet and wailing mouth, which should be included in the blame. No, seriously though, between her age, a lot of moving and disruption over the past few months, and further amplified by my recent return to work and change of her schedule, it's no wonder that Adrienne feels a bit unsettled and cranky. Taking these things into consideration, we are trying to have patience around here. If we can't find patience, we turn to a strong drink or two. 

However, one of the good things about kids is you usually don't have to wait too long before things change. Because the only thing predictable about children is that they are unpredictable. Children often give me the external feeling of being manic. One minute they couldn't be cuter and the next minute they are driving you crazy. So we embrace the ups and try to ride out the lows without pulling out all of our hair. 

Adrienne has taken to telling me that she is a 'rock-star' when she gets dressed to head out. No one ever said living with a rock star was going to be easy, but we love it anyway. 

If I were a betting gal...

If I were a betting gal, which I am NOT, but if I were, I'd feel pretty confident on putting my money on  that Nate's first word is going to be 'Ball'. This kid can't get enough of them. On a side note, have you ever seen a cuter face?!

We May Need to Work on our Counting Skills

Well, now I know the reason that I cannot ever find any clean undies for Adrienne. While Adrienne was busy spying on dog-walkers, look what I caught this one wearing:

When I asked her how many pairs of undies she is wearing, she said:

"FIVE!"

But I counted seven plus a pair of bloomers thrown in there. On the plus side, she can identify each color correctly, so that is something.

Back To Work

         You haven't seen me around here the past 2 weeks. Um, ya, we do still have the wireless internet and it is awesome. But following that we got a TV. Which just happened to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. To be honest, I wasn't even really looking forward to the Olympics. Maybe it was not having TV for 5 weeks but I seem to get sucked into the Olympic coverage every night. I like the competitions and all but I really watch for all the moving athlete stories and sentimental commercials. I'm totally one of those suckers. Anyway, I can't wait for the closing ceremonies so I can have my nights back. I mean, Adrienne had to sleep in her T-shirt tonight since there are no clean jammies left in the house.

         But Olympics and laundry-accumulation aren't the only thing going on around here. Last week, I had to go back to work. I have had the pleasure of being off work for the past nine months, with the added blessing of knowing I had a great job down the road. This means that I could really enjoy my time off without stressing about what the future holds, when the next paycheck is coming, how we are going to afford healthcare, etc... But because of this job-certainty luxury, I was looking forward to the start of work with both excitement and dread. Much like it was going back to school after a fabulous summer--you are excited to see your friends again and all the events that happen during the year, but it also means that summer is OVER. Of course, now things are further complicated by the mommy guilt with going back to work. Can I work and still be a good mom? Will I have enough time for my kids? Will I miss all their major milestones? Am I going to miss all the kissing boo-boos and giving big hugs and celebrating their achievements? 

         But regardless of fears or excitement or uncertainty, time marches on and thus my first day came as they always do. To be honest, the first day was glorious. I woke up before both the kiddos, showered, ate breakfast, drank coffee, and waited for them to wake up. They woke up with smiling faces and playful moods. I gave them breakfast and Adrienne told me funny stories while Nate beamed at me with his gummy little smile. Finally, they all marched me out the door (on time!) and waved and blew kisses as I headed off on my 13-minute walking commute to work. Then I sat in my quiet little office for the day, amazed at all you can do when you don't have 2 babes vying for your constant attention. I ate my lunch, which didn't have little hand-prints pressed all over it, and I was able to actually chew the food, rather than inhaling it. I got real work done. The day was fabulous. I walked home after work, happy, mentally patting myself on the back because we can totally do this. 

          As you might have guessed, the second day of work was nothing like that. Nor was the third. Or any of the others since that first wonderful day. No matter what time I set my alarm for, the kids set their little internal clocks for at least 15 minutes before mine so as to ensure that I can't even shower in peace. In addition, every morning since that first included some combination of the following: tears, tantrums, potty accidents, blow-out poops, spilled milk, lost toys, incessant needing to be carried, wiping snot on my work shirt, spit up, and a cut foot. I'm not sure if this is a joint effort between the kids to make me feel bad about leaving or an effort to help me feel good about running out the door to enjoy my quiet little office. The latter might be working better. 

         But all jokes aside, my first weeks went well and the kids haven't forgotten my name yet. I'm still their favorite around here (at least once I'm home, anyway). Because our house is so close to work, we've still had some time to do some fun things in the evenings--so it's not all work and no play. Besides, I don't need to feel too bad about not being around during the day. Adrienne tells me she is a big girl and has things under control. And it must be true. She was the one with a cut foot one morning. When I tried to give her a kiss to make it better, she told me, "No thanks, Mommy, I'll just get a bandaid." So it looks like it was a good thing I found another job because I was becoming redundant at home anyway.

          In other news, the rain has subsided around here so we have been enjoying the water in other ways.

Where in the world did I leave my mobile Nate?

Nate's crawling. That's pretty old news, really. I utterly failed to announce this major milestone here on Trouble's Tribune. Mostly that is because Nate decided to start crawling about 2 days before we moved to Houston. So to recap, to reward Nate's life changing step of freedom, we bound him tightly and securely in his car seat and drove for 4 days. Nate went along quite begrudgingly, if not indignantly, with moments of complete outrage. However, between his dramatic displays of displeasure, he was spending large portions of our car ride contemplating ways to improve his technique, speed, and balance. Or at least that is what I believe. Because when we set him loose after we finally arrived in Houston, he was like a caged animal set free. Crawling this way and that, grabbing things, hiding under chairs, back and forth. We were sort of hoping that 4 days of confinement would set him back a bit. You know, back to just a few weeks prior when we could set him on the floor just out of reach from, say, a large glass of red wine or freshly folded laundry and know that disaster was not eminent. Alas, once he had a taste of independence and the joy of dragging our belongings to the tiniest corners of the house, he could never go back. You can imagine that this made our moving and unpacking so much more challenging. I have never in my life been more grateful to the inventor of the bouncy chair. So that is our life with Nate these days. Along with looking for my misplaced keys and cell phone, I have to spend large amounts of time searching for my mobile Nate. Is he under the bed? Behind the couch? Around this corner? Usually if you call his name, he'll pull up on the nearest piece of furniture and give a smile so big it melts my heart every time. Which is good since often the remnants of my purse are strewn on the floor behind him. That being said, it is a milestone we celebrate and cheer him on for and are proud to share on this medium. Good job, Nate! And from the looks of it, walking is not too far in the future, buddy.  

In an effort to get some recent photos of Nate, I pulled out the camera and finally found him up to some sort of mischief in the bathroom. I was going to get photographic evidence of his cuteness without his knowing but, as you can see from the (blurry) pictures, I totally got busted. But I do love to see this determined ball of Nate hurdling at me!     

The Plus Side of Storms

In my last post, I mentioned that it has been raining a lot. People tell us it has been exceptionally rainy this year. I love it. I love the storms, especially since they seem to roll in at naptime, when everything is quiet anyway, and cool things off. First I started drinking afternoon lattes on the porch and watching the rain. Soon Regis joined in. If the kids woke up, they were right there with us. It has been a nice respite. Time to sit, hang out, chat, think, relax. We have been grateful for this time to resettle together, hectic and crazy as some days have been. Because it has also been a time to enjoy each other and our new adventure.

As much Adrienne dislikes the thunder, it is begrudgingly tolerated because of the resulting muddy puddles. There is much anxious waiting until the rain subsides enough to get out. Then there is joy!

She was a bit too enthusiastic here, the upshot of it being a head long dive into this muddy puddle. But after some kisses on the skinned knees and an outfit change, she was cautiously back at it.

But it didn't take long to regain confidence.

Nate wanted in on the action too. Now we just need a pair of rubber boots in his size, too!

On a completely unrelated note, you may have guessed from the number of pictures I just posted: we have wireless internet! Finally. Just a mere 27 days to get it hooked up. That was practically a lenten penance. In fact, remind me I have a 27 day credit next lent. Hope you are staying cool where ever you are!