Is that how they do it in their house?

We have some painter’s over doing work on the exterior of our house. I have an open door policy with them, that if they need water or need to use the bathroom they can just help themselves right in.

As I was vacuuming, one of the guys came in to use the john. He walked by me and into the bathroom. I quickly came to realize he had no idea either HOW to use the pocket door or that there even WAS a pocket door to use.

I kept vacuuming.

We just nodded toward each other, eyes averted as he walked out.

Wow, that was REAL awkward.

The secret

Ever since CT started playing baseball he has wanted an aluminum bat. We told him if he had enough money he could buy one. That’s tricky since he spent all his birthday money already and has no source of income.

So he asked if he could get an allowance. I told him to go draw up a chart and decide what he thought would be a good set of chores and then we would go over it.

He came back with the following:

Brush Teeth

Make Bed

Go To School

Dirty Clothes in Hamper

Make Lunch

Clean Up Basement When Needed

Scoop Cat Poop

Secret

These suggestions looked pretty go to me, however, we did have to take out Go To School and I had no idea what Secret was. When I asked him he told me, anything you want me to do.

Ohhhh I feel like I’ve won the lottery. The poop is scrubbed off of the toilets by someone other than me!

What a fabulous idea…The Secret.

Training mind games

I’ve hit the point in my training where speed and endurance collide.

It is this week where the speed workout, or “intensive” workouts as my training plan calls them, gain distance beyond a little 60 second clip. You ask your body to continue in full throddle the entire prescribed time, to then only allow it a few precious moments rest until you start it all over again 4 or 5 or 6 times.

It is during the past two days, while biking and while swimming, I have hit “something” during the third round in each of these intensive trainings. This “something” is a complete falling apart of everything I have, physically and mentally. It’s the point in time where my body is telling me to STOP and stop now, give up, sleep, cry anything but continue on. It’s at this point where everything breaks down, my body, my breathing, my consentration.

It’s right THERE, there is where you must bitch slap yourself into regaining control. THERE is the precise moment, if you continue, you get stronger.

I hate that moment.

And on some really sick and sadistic level…I love it too…but only when it’s over.

Thinking…

This is NOT the tattoo I would go for.

Touch down in Minnie

It was short, but it was sweet. My morning was spent with my lovely friend Anne Marie (in from Boston), sweet Baby H and a few other gal pals over coffee and chatting and cooing.

Eight years ago Anne Marie got all of her Minneapolis friend’s together with their new born babies and kicked off what ended up being a playgroup that just disbanded this year.

And now, after all the stories, time and tears that Anne Marie has endured with me, I am so thrilled to watch as she grows into an amazing mother.

Thank you for sharing that delectably luscious little baby boy with us today.

Our three-headed monster

We are in one of those “phases” right now, the kind of phase where all our kids know how to do is fight. This my friends, this incessant fighting, drives me insane.

I somehow was not born with the ability to just tune it out. That’s what my mother tells me to do and I just can’t find the chanel. I hear it and I hear it in stereo and then I start seething and smoke starts coming out of my ears and then I start seeing the white hot rage. YES, THE WHITE HOT RAGE PEOPLE!

Yesterday, after Adam and I released each other from a hug (the kind of hug where you each clutched onto the other for dear life as if waiting for the big mother of all boats to come by and save you) he looked at me and said…Find a book! There’s got to be a book. AND, if you can’t find a book…THEN WRITE ONE.

4 and alive to talk about it

Dear KP,

You made it. You made it to four years old.

There are many a time I wasn’t sure you would. Between stuffing so much food into your mouth at one time, to jumping off a playground structure that was three times your height, to roughing up your friends and strangers alike, to running anywhere, anytime, anyhow…I’m so happy you’ve made it. And I only partially jest.

Along with your extreme rough and tumble, very “boy” behavior, you are filled with so much love to share that you can’t even contain yourself. I’m not complaining mind you, you give so much love in one squeeze that it could fuel a love sick person up in just 30 seconds or maybe kill a baby rabbit.

You, my little boy, are fun love’n, free wheel’n, determined and just a complete nut job. You make my days crazy and lovely. You make me laugh and cry out in frustration. You make it challenging and absolutely and utterly rewarding to be a mother.

I love you more than you will ever know. Our days together feel so precious. You, my little boy, are growing so fast I feel like your childhood is like the string on a kite, spinning so quickly out of the spool that at any moment the string will be gone and the kite will fly away. And there I’ll be, standing on the ground, looking up toward the sky…feverishly grabbing after it.

Happy 4th Birthday!

I love you,

Mom

PJ’s favorite birthday present EVER

Heeeeeeeeeres Whiskey!

Yes, PJ named her hamster WHISKEY.

Calendar Clarity

So I open up my Google calendar today and realize…KP ONLY HAS FOUR MORE DAYS OF PRESCHOOL LEFT.

And then my heart raced, almost pounded out of my chest, I got dizzy, then took several deep breaths and started searching for a summer mantra. Something to say, to utter, to whisper or think in secret when I have almost lost my marbles because I have absolutely NO time to myself.

Once I figure it out, I’ll let you know.

Happy Mother’s Day!

To my mother, my mother-in-law and all my lady friends. Life with children would not be as rewarding, enlightening and amazing without being able to share the past, present and future with each of you.

Enjoy this day.