Once again....

Oh, dear, dear readers! Once again I have left you hanging for over a month without any updates to my exciting life as a stay at home mom!!

Let's see, what have I missed updating you with? Well, for starters, Mookie was sick again! That durn preschool has as many germs as that nasty Monica Lewinsky dress. I mean, really, he only is there three times a week for 3 hours at a time. I really must get on all of the little ones about the importance of handwashing. However, his sickness did not develop into the crisis it was in September(see here for the full story. Anyway, I only had to hit him a couple of times with the Xopenex, but I took him to the doctor just to be sure. Not that I'm a big worrywart, but the Goddess will NEVER let her little Mookie get to that crisis stage again, not if she can help it!

So, after Mookie got sick, so did the Diva and Squeaky. Nothing is as heavenly as wiping three runny noses at once and running back and forth in the middle of the night because the Diva woke up and her nose is stuffed up. What a drama QUEEN! "Oh, my dose, my dose my DOSE" I wanted to tell her, look honey, stop all that screaming, concentrate on breathing and you won't have a problem. But, how do you reason with a three year old? Answer: you don't!

Now, the business. I've been workign on the website, making products,taking pictures and on top of that all, trying to keep the house in some sort of working order. My husband is a saint, because he doesn't balk when I call after a particularly difficult day and say "can you stop and pick up...." He will be rewarded greatly when my business takes off!

Anyway, dear reader, that's my sorry excuse for not keeping you thoroughly entertained for the last month. I promise to be much more diligent in the future!

Who are these children and why are they following me?

As you know from my title, I am a stay at home mom. I didn't always used to be a stay at home mom - I decided to do so when confronted with the high cost of day care that did not guarantee your child's safety and well being.

While I don't always guarantee my children's safety (when they're having a blast jumping up and down on the sofa and sitting on the edge of chairs, who am I to interfere with their fun) I can always guarantee my child's well being.....but they don't always guarantee mine.

Here are some cases in point:

My office. I have finally started to establish some "me space" in the house, now that the youngest is 18 months. I mean, children, really, your toys are everywhere in the house, even in the bathroom. Can't you give mommy some space to herself that is not occupied by a plastic, brightly colored toy? Apparantly not. Just like the bathroom, whenever I am the office, there are always emergencies, food needs and potty-training issues. Why? Why must you plague me when I only want a few seconds of peace and to read some email? Right now they are hovering outside of the door, saying "mommy what are you doing in there?" Gee, having some peace and quiet! Leave me be!

The bathroom. Regardless of the hours of potty training, getting to know the toilet better than I truly want to know, the intimacies of pee-pee and boo-boo and annoucements of exactly how much boo-boo is in the toilet, plus numerous readings about Joshua and his chamber pot and continuous perusal of "Everybody Poops", my little ones still seem to be a little bewildered about exactly what I do when I am in the bathroom. How do I know this? When I go into the bathroom and close the door, my oldest will knock and ask "Mommy, what you doing in there?" I used to answer, but why bother when they're just going to ask it again? How many times as a parent am I required to say, "Mommy is using the potty. Give me privacy." Why can't I say, "Look, I'm crapping. Leave me the alone!" I'll tell you why because when their father comes home, that'll be the first thing they tell him "Mommy crapped today." Then it will be repeated to my mother and any trusted adult they see. "Mommy crapped today." "Mommy crapped today." Ugh!

The kitchen
Yes, I am all for children helping you cook and participating.....What? No I'm not. When it's 3 pm and I'm rushing around trying to get things prepared for dinner, I really dont' have time to answer "What are you doing mommy?" Here's the answer I wish I could give, "You wanna eat? Then leave me alone!" (Funny how that 'leave me alone' is becoming a common theme.....)


All right, before you well meaning folks out there call division of youth and family services and trace me via my IP address, being at home isn't all that bad. Yes, the children will follow you from pillar to post (unless they're busy getting into something, which I bet they are RIGHT NOW because it's awful quiet out there) but it's such a blessing to watch them grow and do funny things with each other. You haven't lived until you hear an "argument" between a 3 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. Which is why I cherish every moment I'm at home with them!

Just Rambling Today

I hadn't realized how long I'd been away from my blog until I stopped by today and noticed that I hadn't posted since last week. Well, you know I've got several stories to share.

Every morning, when I attempt to use the bathroom by myself, my 4 y.o. and my almost 3 y.o. (the 18 month old is confined to his crib) prance and march past the bathroom door (after one of them opens it) asking me "What are you doing mommy, going potty?" (Well at least I know they're not dumb!!) This morning, I viewed the same parade again - 4 year old, then almost 3 year old......then 18 month old???? I had to run back through my memory banks - maybe I lifted him out of the crib before I went to the bathroom??? My oldest cleared that up right away for me - "Joshie was climbing out of the crib and I helped lifted him down so he wouldn't fall."

Wow! Immediately I had three thoughts - yay, I can finally get rid of the crib or at least take the front of it off 2) I don't have to lift that heavy little chunk out of the crib any more and 3) how thoughtful and helpful my oldest was and how succintly he explained his actions.

This is not to say I'm raising a band of angels. Sometimes when they get it going with each other, I make a beeline for the bathroom and take a respite from their noise with my old timers' eighties hits on my I-Pod (thank you DH for that little portable oasis). The point is for me is how nice and unselfish they can be with each other. I get all squishy feeling inside that I actually taught them that! Wow!

Ok, I'm done patting myself on the back. :) - If you have children what are some of the nicest things you've seen them do and were amazed?

JV and Elvis

I used to listen to 92.3 free fm before I got Sirius and was able to listen to Howard Stern. In addtion, Sirius allowed me to listen to a channel chock full to my all-time favorite vocalist, Frank Sinatra. But I digress. I turned on my terrestial radio on Monday around 9:05 am to find out that JV and Elvis were indefinitely suspended due to some crank phone call they made to a Chinese food restaurant.

I did not hear the phone call, but I've heard the type of humor that JV and Elvis do. It is puerile and adolescent, but they're good for mindless entertainment and sometimes they make me laugh. ( I don't have a sirius radio dock in the kitchen, so when I clean up, I have to listen to regular radio.) I also know that they had poor ratings and were on the verge of being booted out anyway. Soooooo, I don't think that this suspension was a direct result of their poor taste in humor, but just like a Imus, an excuse to get them out the door because of thier poor ratings.

I only ask, how far is this going to go? Will jokes now be exclusive to the race or ethnicity? Will I, Dave Chapelle, Eddie Griffin and other black comedians only be allowed to make black jokes? Will Ralphie May only be allowed to make jokes about fat, white men? Will Ant (the host of Celebrity Fit Club) only be allowed to make gay jokes?

Humor is humor. Some find it funny, some don't. That's why it's humor! People really need to lighten up.

I'll have to come back to this post.....bear with me!