The Bond of Sisters

It's been a crazy week! Last time I wrote, I told you about my drama with shingles/chicken pox. Well, I finally found someone to stay with the baby, but she is all the way in PA! My mom lives out there so at least she will be stopping by in the middle of the day and she will be sleeping at my mom's.

I never thought it would be this hard to be without my baby girl. I dropped her off on Sunday and I literally cried as I was driving away. I haven't admitted that to anyone out loud because I sort of feel like a loser about it, but it's the truth. The calls to my mom started immediately. She's usually complaining to me about how infrequently I call her (at least 2-3x/week) but now I have been calling her about 3-4x/day. I know she is secretly LOVING it, but she would never dare say so as I think she believes if she acknowledges it then it will be over.
(Thankfully Leeya is doing fine and no outbreaks as of yet).

The other thing that I did not expect at all was for Liana to miss her baby sister. I explained to her when we were leaving PA that her baby sister would be staying with "Abuela" (my mom is Abuela and Hubby's mom is Grandma) because she was "sicky". She said "Ok Mommy, baby sister stay with Abuela. Bye Baby Sister, I love you!" And we were off. The next morning she comes into our bedroom and says, "Mommy, where's baby sister?" and I remind her that she is with Abuela. So she says, "Oh baby sister sicky" and makes the saddest face ever! I gave her a hug and promised her we'd call her later on in the day.

Then, on our way to the sitter she told everyone she saw on her way, as well as the sitter once we got there that her Baby Sister was "sicky" and she was with "Abuela" and everytime making that sad face. I swear, as much as I hear that the second child causes so much stress for the first child, I have to say that as of yet I haven't seen anything but real love between my daughters. I watch how Leeya reacts to Liana when she is literally inches away from her face talking/singing/reading a book to her and she is just all smiles. When Liana sees her sister in the morning, I've taught her to say, "Good morning" and the smile on both of their faces during this process is priceless.

I really love my girls and I am so happy and proud that even with how little they both are, I already know they REALLY love each other and the bond they will have will only grow.

Take Your Kids 2 Work Day

Today was the infamous Take Your Kids to Work Day that I spoke about in an earlier blog (I was really annoyed about 1000 meetings leading up to the event). I must take back these ill-thoughts and say that when all was said and done, it truly was a fun day for the kids. Because of Leeya's incubation, I could only take Liana, but I think it was a great time for she and I to bond and have some one on one time. She had my undivided attention all day and I know she loved it! She certainly had more candy and treats than any child should have in one day but she smiled all day (albeit there were a few minor tantrums that were stomped out quick) and nothing is better than her smile. Check out some pics from our day :)

The one in the pigtails is Liana:

Learning the proper way to do a "hand-shake" (never too early to learn)

waiting to make an important copy (of her hand)

Apparently, she bites her nails (I will have to put an end to this PRONTO!)

See, it was a GREAT day!!!!! :)

Since I can't hate her, I guess I'll just love her

So, it's Wednesday and I'm working from home. "Great" you say, but NO not at all! The reason I am home is beyond even my wildest dreams (and trust me, I have many). So, my sister comes over for the first time in a long time to see the girls and we are all delighted to see her. We play, we laugh, we eat and then we all go to bed. The next morning this "wonderful routine" that hubby and I AMAZINGLY got down in a matter of days was turned COMPLETELY upside down by my sister's phone call and then subsequent calls to Dr's, etc. She had been to the dermatologist and he told her she has Shingles. WHAT!?!??!?!?! so the conversation goes "but you had chicken pox, how did you get shingles" she says "apparently stress-related". She is under a lot of stress with her job but I really can't focus on that no matter how hard I try all I can think about is my poor little Leeya and what this means about her. Immediately I call her pediatrician, and as is her non-worried, always calm (in an almost rude way) demeanor she says she must call back later. So I then get right on WebMD and find this notice how the bottom says to be careful to avoid babies, but without further explanation as to why. Now, I pride myself in being the type of person that does not freak out about health related issues but this time it has to do with my baby and I can't help but freak. I call my sister back and she says that the Dr said she is not contagious so she's sticking with that and will be going back to work the next day??? I wanted to go through the phone, but instead I figured I would wait and speak to my baby's pediatrician to see what she says. So, just when I am about to really lose it (around 6pm) I finally get a nonchalant call from the Dr saying that my daughter has an incubation period for chicken pox of 21 days, but that my 2 yr old is fine since she got the vaccine. Just in case I didn't understand what she was saying I repeat back, "so how long do I have to keep her out of day care and away from other kids" in a rather annoyed tone, "21 days, figure it out". I wanted to crawl in a hole and die! Yes, a bit dramatic, but remember I just got back to work from maternity leave I DO NOT have sick or vacation time, I don't know anyone who will stay with my baby for a nominal fee and worst of all, even if I did I don't know anyone who doesn't work! So, now I am digging through all my contacts to see if there is someone, anyone out there that I can trust to keep my baby loved, fed and cared for, for the next 3 weeks!!! UGH!!! While, I do understand that she did not do this intentionally, I have to quote a conversation with my mom. I said, "Ma, I know this wasn't on purpose, but REALLY, the ONLY person this would happen to is [my sister] and I guess....all we can do is love her".
Has anyone ever felt like as soon as they got a routine down, it got annihilated???? Please share!

"Excuse me?" Did you mean "MOVE?"

It's Friday, which means I have endured another week of morning and evening rush hour commutes with people seemingly pushing you on purpose because clearly where they need to go is more important than where you need to go AND it is much more important for them to reach their destination first. I wonder what would happen to these such people if they were forcibly slowed down??? What if I had a button that would make everyone go remarkably slow but they would feel how slow they were going and still exist in their "fast" mindset??? Would this drive people to the brink of insanity???? I think so! I truly don't understand it. I mean I literally saw someone get on the train today and have the nerve to say "excuse me" to the person that they were pushing out of the way. Is it really necessary for you to say "excuse me?" Clearly the more accurate word for what you want is "move", so if you are bold enough to be pushing someone out of your way why fake kindness and say "excuse me?" Say what you mean, at least this way people will know your a big fat JERK!
Maybe I have become unaccustomed to this rude behavior and maybe sometime in the near future I will be doing the same thing, as I will have assimilated into "commuter mode," but I surely hope not!

Easter: Egg Hunt and more....

Easter was a great day with the family! I woke up after minimal sleep because of an amazing meditation I attended on Saturday night (I don't know how I have been surviving without meditation for so long-glad to be back). I had my mom over for the holiday so she helped with the kids and of course the usual holiday schedule began. How much time to spend with what half of the family???? My sister and I had it mostly figured out- morning with dad, afternoon with mom at Easter Egg Hunt and then off to hubby's family's home. Things went great! We had pizza and ice cream and even some cake- EVERYONE was happy (and pooped) by the end of the day! Check out some pics of our fun-filled day!

And we're off (Easter Egg Hunt):

Looking for eggs....

holding on tight to her treasure (eggs).... (check out the bag)

painting eggs.....(smock on over dress-hahaha)

My Little Leeya in her Easter Dress.....

Too "Busy" to Potty

I've been having some trouble logging on because things have been so hectic now that I am officially in the full swing of things at work (and nothing has changed at home- still a Full Time mom), but I assure you that my life has not been any less eventful than usual. Where do I begin???
I'm not sure if I've mentioned that my 2 year old daughter has been potty trained for a number of months now.... I have only her sitter to thank for this because I would not even know where to begin with that, but I digress. So, she's GREAT and tells me when she has to go even when I've completely forgotten that she is not an adult and can't just go into the bathroom and pee on her own. Unfortunately, she does not do the same for her sitter and when I went to pick her up the other day she is wearing pants that are clearly not hers and running around like nothing is up. When I ask her what happened and why she is not in her own jeans she says "Nana pee pee". The cutest part about it is that she points to herself like I don't know who Nana is. Poor sitter! I ask her what happened and she tells me that she had asked Liana if she needed to use the potty and she insisted she didn't (but really she was busy playing and couldn't be bothered with using the potty). She found out the hard way when later she went to get her to tell her that this time she "had" to go just in case, but she had already peed everywhere! The funny part (but maybe not so funny at the time for her) is that it was clear that it had not just happened but Liana kept playing as if nothing had happened without a care in the world. I remind Liana that she has to tell her sitter when she has to pee, just like she tells mommy and she says in her cutest voice "Yes Mommy!"
Meanwhile, I called the sitter yesterday to tell her that my hubby is running late because he got out of work late and she tells me that she peed again!! OMG! I don't know what it is, but when I tell you that the ONLY time she has peed while with me was when she was in "time out" and I thought she was saying she had to pee so that she could get out of time out. Boy was i surprised to find that puddle of pee and all I could do was blame myself.
So, I call my hubby and remind him that yelling at her for peeing is only detrimental and just not to make a big deal about it- "just remind her that she has to tell the sitter when she has to pee". "I know I know, I just can't understand why she doesn't do that with us". We're certainly not complaining, but just feel bad that on top of all the other stuff she's doing, she now has to worry about our daughter wetting herself because she is so engulfed in playtime.
So many other things to chat about but I'll leave you with that for now.... any suggestions on how to get my daughter to tell her sitter she has to use the potty???

Should've kept my mouth shut!

So, it's "hump day" and I'm at work SO TIRED because the hubby and I stayed up talking last night. I have to say, it is so wonderful to now be able to put my girls to bed and just have time for us. I think our relationship was really starting to feel the weight off all the changes that have been going on, but as anything - you must have your ups and your downs... just so happy that we are up!!! I think we may even have our routine down pat in the morning- he takes care of the toddler, I take care of the baby. Mind you, that means I'm up at 5:30 feeding her, but I don't mind if it means we are a team in the morning :) Yay for routines!
Getting back to the topic of work, we're having an "official" Take Your Kids To Work Day. I say "official" because for as long as I have been here, we have had Take Your Kids to Work Day, but it has never actually been on the National Day. I don't quite know why this is, but it just is. So, this year I was asked if I would like to help plan the day, I happily agreed. The thing is, I've been to these "events" and all it's ever been is crayons and games for the kids and that's that. How hard could it be to find crayons and games for kids???? OF COURSE, this year they decide that it has to be "official". That means, even for the toddlers (apparently it will be more than just toldders this year) we have to find a way to incorporate teaching them about what we do- huh???? Really??? So, I think to myself, of course the year I say I will help it has to be "official" I will also be running around after my active toddler! FANTASTIC! Did I mention we are having a meeting about it??? Send me an e-mail with your thoughts and cc everyone that wants to help. Ugh this is ridiculous. Why is this world so obsessed with meetings for everything???
I think it is important to teach kids about their parent's work or just work in general, but did we have to change the rules the year I agreed to arrange this madness??? UGH! I know it's my own fault for agreeing to do this without asking questions, but do you blame me??? It's NEVER been like that, EVER! I guess rather than blogging, I just be thinking of creative ways that toddlers can learn about what being a non-profit is all about but I'd rather blog! LOL!

Dedicated to the One I Love

For the past few months I feel like I have not been giving enough credit to my spousal equivalent (more about the title later) for all he has done to keep me sane. I feel like now that I am out of the funk I was in, I can FINALLY see that I was in a funk and really needed to be amongst the adult community a little more. I think this had a lot to do with the hibernation that comes with winters in the Tri-State area, but I don't know if that is completely why. In any event, he really has done so much that I feel like I was refusing to see, being in the funk that I was in. So, now I want to say THANK YOU!!! Thank you to him and all the men who change dirty diapers and give baths to their kids... thank you to the men who pick their kids up from day care so that mom can have alone time at the gym (or if you're home, staying home with the kids so mom can have alone time). THANK YOU to the men who allow us women to be a little crazy because we are so stressed and ask us calmly why we are being cranky instead of the word you really want to use. THANK YOU to the men who wake up on Saturday morning to entertain your toddler so that you can lay in bed just a little longer because you're tired from staying up with the baby. Basically, THANK YOU, as I see it, to not only the men but whoever you are out there that is the other half of a "functioning" relationship and is helping your better half be the better half they know how to be and being thier better half too. THANK YOU to everyone out there for just being you and allowing me to be me!