Holiday Pics

The Lady at her concert. Note the bar behind them, about ten minutes after this was taken, as they were all sitting down, the Lady slammed her head on it and spent the rest of the concert singing the songs from her father's lap.



The Lady, The Little Lady and the Big Guy after their sleepover.



Decorating the tree. I made her put this robe on so that I could have some photos of her clothed.

The Little Lady loves to decorate.

The angel on top of our tree.

In Brooklyn for our playdate. Have to love the 6 ladies and one little man!

The Night Before Christmas. I couldn't resist, I mean really, look at the Little Lady's face

Santa brings the Lelli Kellys!!!

Iron man and the Lady at my in-laws.

Happy Third Birthday Wild Man!

Seriously Little Lady? I spent 10 minutes opening that box so you could play with the Little People inside and instead you feel the need to actually play inside the box?

Snowed In!

Happy Birthday To the Wild Man!

Just want to wish the Wild Man a very Happy Birthday! I hope that he is enjoying all his new toys and not driving his parents crazy as we all bunker down in this blizzard!

Love you Wild Man!

Ringing O' the Bells

Waiting very patiently to leave the office to see the Lady at her Bell Ringing Christmas Concert. Can't wait to see her perform all the songs I have heard her singing for the past couple of weeks.

The best part. . . the hubby will be there to meet me!!! Finally, the Toy has come back to Connecticut.

I will say the school thinks of everything, they had print outs of the church hanging in the hallways so you could see what side your kids class would be performing on and where you should sit. Will try to post a pic later today, not sure how good it will be considering the Lady had to get a bath this morning and her hair was totally matted down from her hat when we got to school. Why can't we just get it together? On a positive note, she is clean and she is wearing clean undies. That is a win-win in my book.

Don't have to come back to work after the show, the office is having some sort of kick-ball tournament/Holiday party today. Guess the Ladies and I will hang while my husband naps. He has two hours, two hours, and then I am leaving the house until bedtime. Missed that guy.

Thank You. Thank You.

Just wanted to thank all my friends and family who have helped me out this past week or so, or who have offered a word or two of support.

I am incredibly grateful for the sleepover invite from the Wild Man and the Wild Woman. Although everyone went to bed a little too late, and the Little Ladies woke up entirely too early, and the big kids got a little bit overexcited with the Christmas crafts (you should have seen the gingerbread train--it was covered in candy and by no means would be edible after the Lady was licking the peppermints before sticking them into the frosting), we had a great time and it was a good way to end the week.

We also had a sleepover at our house and the added benefit of attending a Christmas Party. Many thanks to my cousin for coming and staying with us. I was super excited the kids got along and was even more excited that we got a chance to catch-up.

Many more thanks to my SIL for coming over two Sunday's in a row and watching the Ladies so I could run out to the store. As an added bonus she helped clean up, which is always a plus and this was after the Ladies found a bottle of baby powder in the beach bag in the closet and doused themselves with it.

I think the festivities wore out the Ladies and for the past two nights they have both been in bed and sleeping before their usual bedtimes, leaving me with an actual hour or two to myself. So thank you, my beautiful Ladies. Although, last night the Lady woke up at 2:30 in the morning and ended up in my bed where she tossed and turned for a while and where I am pretty sure she asked me to cut her toenail at 3:40am. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming it, but this morning there was a pair of clippers on my bedside table.

Two more nights and my husband is home. I am booking my spa day for Saturday, then we have an adult-only Christmas cocktail party that night, then we are heading out to Brooklyn so see some friends. Things, my friends seem to be looking up. Now if I can only get all my Christmas shopping done. . .

Happy Birthday to My Brother!

Love you Ea! Hope you have a great day.

BTW. . . this photo is saved under the title "whyeaissoweird"

Another Day Down?

Dear Disney, um wait, that was another letter, another time when the weather was warm and the Ladies were distracted daily by princesses and cupcakes and fairy dreams. Let's begin again.

Dear Reality,

Why are you hitting me so hard? It is only Day 5 and I feel like it should be Day 15. Things have happened here that could make a quasi-sane mother of two pack up the car, drive to California, drop the Ladies off on the hallowed greens of Pebble Beach, get back in the car and hit Vegas hard.

I think the only thing that is keeping me going is those few seconds every morning that the Lady opens up another door on her Advent Calender and I know that I am one day closer to my husband walking up those f'ing stairs. To be honest, my everyday schedule isn't that different from when he is home. I still work two days, I still hang with the Ladies on the others. It is just those moments at night when the day is clearly done and I am clearly done and the Ladies are clearly not done that are making me throw myself a pity party and have made me, literally cry.

It might be easier if I didn't feel like crap. If my nose wasn't stuffed up and I wasn't going through tissue after tissue. It might be easier if the Little Lady felt better. It might be easier if the Lady would just go to sleep in her own bed.

Oh, reality. Why? Why? Why?

Why have you shown me great days (oh, Day 2 how far away you seem) and terrible days (Um, Day 4 we are in a huge fight) like some ghost of Christmas Past? Why have you made is so abundantly clear that I do not have it together and that these Ladies can cause a reckoning?

Here is a quick (sort of--if I put everything is this would be a two hour therapy session) recap of our last few days:

Day 2: Dropped off the Little Lady with my mom and the Wild Woman and hopped on a train to NYC in our sparkle shoes. Met up with my best friend and the Lady's best friend and were charmed by the wonder of Mary Poppins. Not so charmed by the guy behind me who picked up his cell phone in the middle of it or by the fact that the Lady felt it necessary to sit on my lap the entire time, but it was super cool when Mary Poppins flew right over our seats (I could see her bloomers!) We made our way out of the theatre past block long lines at Toys R Us and the Disney Store and through what was quite possibly the biggest crowd I have ever been a part of to get a glimpse at a tree. We headed back on the train and I ended our day, carrying two bundled up Ladies up the stairs.

Day 3: My SIL came by in the morning and watched the Ladies while I went food shopping. I was so drunk with the freedom of that hour and fifteen minutes that I decided to pick up a hot chocolate on the way home. I went to the Dunkies drive in, took my money out of my wallet and proceeded to drive right past the little speaker. Clearly, my mommy-mind was melting. That night the Lady informed me that she did not want to sleep in her bed. Instead of having her throw a tantrum in her room and risk waking up the Little Lady, I let her lay on the couch. She wanted all the lights off. Normally, this wouldn't be too big of a deal, except the place was wrecked, and I had work to do, which the Lady informed me I could do by our electric candles and the light from the computer. When her father finally called a little after eight. I was on the edge. When the Lady started crying and telling her dad that she missed him and wanted him to come home, I started crying. She also informed him that she didn't want to sleep in her bed because there were alligators and a snake scratched her leg. Needless to say, the work was put away and I retired to my room at 8:15.

Day 4: Oh Dark Day. This day actually started out ok. I realized that I had a Moms Club meeting, which meant the girls had a playdate, I had some adult conversation time, hot beverages and a nice snack. After the meeting we went to the Lady's school to pick up our Christmas wreath and they served some hot cider. So far so good. . . The Little Lady feel asleep in the car and transferred well into her bed. The Lady had some independent play time and I got some work done. All was well at 1:00. We were looking forward to the pj and pizza Santa sing-along party that evening at 5:00 and getting a chance to meet Santa. What I was ill-prepared for was the Little Lady taking a tumble down 13 stairs. There is nothing, nothing, like the sound of your one-year-old falling down a wood staircase to make you run faster then you probably ever have before. She was crying, I was crying. Things could have been so much worse. After a quick once-over, I realized she was more scared then hurt. She was crying, breathing and nothing seemed bruised or broken. Yes, this was totally my fault. I shouldn't have left them alone upstairs why I went down to get them something to drink. The gate was up, but the gate isn't that great and the Little Lady can get over it if she really tries. She also thinks she can walk down stairs. Ugh. So, with a great deal of mommy guilt, I watched over her for the rest of the night. She was dancing and moving at the Santa sing-along, she wasn't acting off or odd in anyway. This however, didn't stop me from worrying about her, so when I heard her stir at 3 am, I decided she should come down and sleep with me. You know what they say about waking a sleeping baby? It still applies when they are one. The Little Lady could not get comfortable, she would pop up every 10 minutes or so, point at the TV and say "Melmo." She was at various points sleeping next to me, on top of me, in my armpit and across my face. At 4:50 I decided that I had enough and that she probably had too. Back to her bed she went until 7 am, when I heard her little voice call my name. Don't even get me started on the Lady and her bedtime issues. . .

Day 5: Is it bad that I am happy to be at work?

So Realty, please try to go easy on me for the next week or so, I am not feeling great, I am already consumed by guilt and there have been two nights of freezing cold weather when I had to get both Ladies into the house.

Just give me a pass today, and maybe tomorrow. Help me to remember that if he could be home, my husband would be (well, maybe just home sooner) and that these Ladies and I can make do with each other. Let's just avoid any more stair incidents and let's try to limit the temper tantrums.

Love and kisses,

Bean

Day One is Done

The Ladies are in bed. Neither one of them is actually sleeping, but they are in bed.

I am going to sweep the floor for the six hundredth time today and cuddle up with the DVR--can anyone say "Top Chef-All Stars?" Awesome.

Tomorrow we have plans so hopefully the day will go well. Today we had some minor incidents, nothing out of the ordinary. A few markers up the nose, a bumped head and the Lady rifling through the box of clothes that is going to be donated and insisting that her princess sneakers still fit. We brought in some Christmas decorations and I actually got a little bit of cleaning and organizing done. One good thing was that we didn't have anywhere to go, so I didn't have to bundle up the Ladies and drag them out. One bad thing was that we didn't have anyplace to go, so the Ladies and I were inside all day long.

So we have marked one day off the calendar. At this point next week, I might be a very different person but until then I say "Day two, bring it on."

The Countdown has Begun. . .

Officially, my husband doesn't leave for California until 4:45am tomorrow morning. I have begun the countdown today because between the packing he still has to do, the errands that I would like to run before he leaves and the fact that when I wake up tomorrow morning (actually when I re-wake up tomorrow morning after he turns on lights and clomps around at 4am in his heavy shoes) he will be gone and I will be left alone with the Ladies.

It will be a cold day in Connecticut, a cold day.

As much as I will miss his company and just having him around, what really makes me dread this trip is that I am shorthanded. The mornings are already a mess and the Lady only wants her daddy. I am incapable and unwilling to carry both of those girls at a combined weight of around 55lbs down the stairs together in the morning draped with all their blankets and nonnies. Someone is always going to be left out. It is really the logistics of parenting that gets to me. I can handle the discipline, the pee on the bathroom floor, the diapers, the snot noses rubbing against my legs. I can handle the tantrums and the food ground into the couch and the general care of my children, but I can't handle the ins and outs of getting them to and from places in a way that is easy and stress-free.

I know I am going to want to get out of the house and plan activities for the three of us to do, but the thought of coming home on dark, cold winter nights, with the two of them heavy in their bulky jackets, the Little Lady probably wearing no shoes and socks because she insists on taking them off in the car, the Lady demanding to be carried, the house keys shoved somewhere deep in the recesses of the diaper bag, the thought it chills me to the bone. It chills me to the bone.

We do have friends and family we can rely on and I have made an effort to plan some things out. We have a few Holiday events that we can go to and I am hoping to do some Christmas decorating and crafts with both of the girls. I will have to make sure the Little Lady doesn't eat the art supplies but I think that we can do some great stuff together. It is just nice to have a little break every now and again. I know that when I crawl into bed at night, I will have control of the remote. Oh, Bones how nice it will be to watch you without any snide comments from my other half, but even the thought of my own personal TV time, doesn't do much when I know in a few short hours I will be summoned by the Ladies to carry them both down the stairs. I will battle with the Lady over getting bathed and dressed and in the car to school. I will have to "assist" the Little Lady in her attempt to walk down the stairs by herself, when clearly she is unable to do so, but thinks that she can and try to reel her in from her multiple excursions into the bathroom where she climbs on the stool, flushes the toilet and touches everything in a way that makes my skin crawl.

So the countdown has begun. . . stay tuned.

Sparkle Shoes

Sparkle shoes as promised.

The Lady has the exact same pair of these shoes in pink. She wore them exactly one time and that was in the car on the way home from Target. She never wore them again. They are now one size too small. The good news is that she has been wearing the silver sparkle shoes pretty regularly since she got them. The bad news is that they are basically a shoe covered in glitter, so I have been stepping on, sweeping up and trying to remove those shiny little pieces from the floor, furniture and faces of the Ladies.