The Zoo

Well, between getting kids the ready, all the stuff that follows kids ready and ourselves, we finally made it to the zoo on Saturday around 11:30 am. I was hoping more for a 10:00 am arrival, but you do what you can. Adrien had a great time, we started out looking at the birds and the gorillas in the temperate forest area. Our ultimate goal being the place where you feed the birds... but that never happened. We took a pit stop and nursing session at the Zoomazium, which is absolutely awesome!!

I wish that every place that you take kids had an area like that. That would be so great. Adrien and Scott played and Izzy ate while I relaxed. I have never felt more rejuvinated from twenty minutes of resting in my life. That is until another child vomited all over the place. Yucky! So, we headed back out in search of the feeding area and Adrien had an absolute temper tantrum right there in the middle of the walkway. OK, we say we're seasoned, the Doc says to just make sure he is safe and let him ride it out. After twenty minutes of trying to not let him out of the stroller (that was why he was throwing the fit... he wanted out) and a man telling us that was why they make liquor! Scott gave in and let me try. So I am sitting there and trying to be as oblivious to him as well as all the stares we are getting. I wait and I wait and I wait some more. Ten more minutes.
I'm sitting there and I look at Scott because I don't know what to do. Adrien is hysterical, he has absolutely just gone off the deep end of tantrum town and is screaming for all he's worth. I squirted some water on his face. WHOA! it worked, silence. He is staring at the water bottle like "What the HECK?" It was great. I know, I felt mean doing it, believe me.
But my kid has been known to go on for hours and hours. We couldn't sit there for that long, the zoo was going to close. So, I did it and it worked. He calmed down and we were able to do a bit more walking before we left. Adrien even started to smile and laugh again after a few minutes. Maybe I'm a bad mom and maybe I'm not, but all I know is that he ended up having a great time and hopefully won't remember.

Girl Talk

When I found out I was pregnant the second time, I knew it was a girl. I knew the way that I knew with Adrien that he was a boy. I felt it in my bones. And while I was excited about having a little girl, after 4 sisters I wasn't sure that I wanted one. I was very wary, there are a lot of things that girls have to go through that are so hard and I didn't want to deal with that. But now that she is here and she is six months old, I am so in love. I have been since the moment I saw here dark head of hair. She really amazes me. Everyday I feel like there is something new and different about her. And she is so her own little person, she is absolutely nothing like Adrien.
She went bald on the top of her head and the back. Recently, I have been quite literally watching the hair grow. Everyday it is a bit longer. I have to confess I can not wait until it is longer. I want to braid her hair and comb it and put little bows in it. I am so excited about it.

Spring Cleaning

Last night I started my spring cleaning rituals. First I start off with the kitchen, always the kitchen because that has to get redone every few days or so. I hate a dirty kitchen. I mean really, really hate it. I can't think when my kitchen is dirty. Then I move on to projects that have been unfinished or that don't need doing anymore. This time it was the couch and some new pillow covers. I got two of my six pillow covers done. I am still thinking about whether I should just make it five pillows, though. I have two little ones that could make a very cute big one. Not sure yet. Then, because we can not afford a new couch or a new couch cover and Scott ripped my old one, I had to fix that. After closer inspection, I realized that I was going to have to do quite a bit and that was where most of my day was spent. I had to cut off a certain part of it and remake it out of different fabric that I had. Unfortunately our couch is white and so any fabric I chose would stick out like a sore thumb because I never buy white fabric unless it is muslin and I only use that for lining. Well, anyway, I did the couch and I actually kind of like it, it gives it some character. Now, don't get me wrong I would prefer a new couch or couch cover, but that just isn't in our budget right now and so what I did is really working for me. It's funky and fun and since the kids are only going to make it worse I can continue to have fun with it until they get older.
The other thing that I did today was wash my walls and scrub down the fireplace hearth. If you have a toddler you know what happens when those little hands get a hold of juice, crayons, milk anything. All of a sudden your dry, white walls are colorful, sticky and full of hand prints. I use to wash it once a week, but that was exhausting and such a waste of precious baby time. So now I do it twice a month and I try to do it on weekends when Scott is hanging out with the kids. But his Grandmother is coming tomorrow and so all of my weekend cleaning projects have been piling up throughout the week and today is the day.
Here is a list of what I have done:
Walls
Kitchen
Laundry
Bathroom
Couch (cover & pillows)
Fireplace Hearth & Mantel
Vacumed

Here is a list of what has yet to be done either tonight or tomorrow morning:
Beds made
Bedrooms straightened
Hallway/ Laundry room
Hall closet
Diaper Table
And one last vacume

So, looking at it I have actually done more than it feels like. The rest of the stuff is things that I can usually straighten throughout the week so they aren't bad at all. Just a few minutes in each area.

I love to clean. I used to love to clean just to clean. Now, though I love to clean because I get a sense of immediate accomplishment. With the kids everything is always such a long drawn out process that when they finally do something it is so amazing. But at the same time it can really make a woman feel like she isn't worth much. Cleaning gives me a sense of self pride that I think is important. Most people get that from thier jobs, but when your job is your kids the result isn't going to show up for years. So, the immediate can sometimes feel really good.