Sunday, January 27, 2013

Shredded Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Mmmmmmmmmm, Lexi and I went out to brunch with some friends today. Bottomless mimosas (not for munchkin or myself) and Baja brunch, can you think of anything better?! Before we left this morning to head down to Newport, I threw dinner in the good 'ole crock pot. Girl's days are not affairs to be rushed and I didn't want to worry about having enough time to make dinner tonight, so crock pot it is! I just slopped a bunch of ingredients I had lying around in Bessy (what? you don't name your crock pot?!) and the result was amazing!! The best part was it could be adjusted to be high-cal for Matt who is trying to gain weight or low-cal for those of us without a freakishly cheetah-like metabolism. Also, would have been great with bottomless mimosas... Hmmmm, Maybe next time.

INGREDIENTS
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts a little over 1 lb
1/2 a jar of salsa
1 T lime juice
1 t cumin
can of chicken broth
3/4 cup of brown rice
2 cobs of corn
1 can of black beans
little bit o salt
little bit o pepper
lettuce for wraps

--Optional for higher-cal
sour cream
shredded cheese
tortillas

First mix the salsa, chicken broth, lime juice and cumin together and set aside. Salt and pepper those chicken breasts and throw 'em in your Bessy. Pour the salsa mixture over the chicken. Here's the fun part; head out to brunch, enjoy your day out and return home in 5 hours. Shred the chicken, it should be so shred-able that it will fall apart just by mixing the mixture with the occasional forking of the occasional large piece of chicken. Add the corn, black beans and rice and let it sit for another hour and a half or until the rice is tender, stirring every so often to get all the rice cooked. Next, slop the chicken onto a lettuce wrap if you are trying to be healthy, or a tortilla with all the trimmings (cheese, sour cream, guac)if you are trying to add some extra calories or just generally enjoy eating delicious things!! Then listen to the heaps of praise your family lays on you. Or in my case my husband muttering through bites, "This is pretty good!"

Here's a pic of the finished product, while it may not look like a culinary masterpiece, let me assure you it is my exceptionally horrendous photography skills and not to wrap itself. It really is delicious!! Sunny sure wanted some!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas 2012

This year for Christmas we hoofed it (winged it, actually) to Virginia. Auntie Sarah and Uncle Steve's little present arrived a little early and we went out to see them and our adorable little nephew! No one was more excited to meet him than Lexi. Every so often she would look out the window of the plane and say "I'm coming Baby Benjamin!" I have never seen her wash her hands nor be such a good listener as when Baby Benjamin was around. She took her role as Big Cousin very seriously and was an excellent example to the baby of how he should behave. Of course now we are home and back to my recognizable attitude-filled 5-year-old. Although, now in addition to her whining, there are added pleas for a baby brother or sister. I realize now that her excellent baby behavior was a carefully planned trap to try and trick us into thinking that the behavior would be permanent if we gave her a brother or sister. Not going to fool me this time little one!!

As usual being an only-child payed off under the Christmas Tree (note to self: Christmas loot is an excellent example about how she would benefit by remaining an only-child) and the little leprechaun found quite the pot of gold. There will be no complaints of boredom in our house for quite some time!!
(presents, you say?)



While in VA we also hit up The Air and Space Museum and The Museum of Natural History in DC, both of which were a major hit! Matt took her on a space exploration ride and I'm not sure she even remembers the planes and shuttles hanging from the ceiling because she thinks she traveled to space! She got to make friends with some butterflies at the Natural History Museum and was very critical of the lack of blood and guts in the fighting animal exhibits (No more Discovery Channel for that one!). When we started getting concerned looks from other parents that our daughter may one day grow up to be a serial killer we hotfooted it outta there! Honestly what little girl who is obsessed with princesses gets angry over the lack of realism with a lion biting a gazelle's neck?



All in all a very memorable and happy holiday spent with family!!!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Walking the Dog

Sunny is enormous. I'm not exaggerating, she weighed in at 75lbs at her last check up. I thought she was small for a labrador, but as her Veterinarian informed me she is most definitely NOT small for a labrador. In fact she weighs 16 pounds over what she should. Woooops! I'll take the blame for that. We started her on a Doggy Diet and exercise plan and she was down 2 lbs when she was weighed for her boarding check-in last month (pats self on back) Of course she is still our Pudgy Pup but we are making progress. -side note: Way easier to put a dog on a diet than to go on one yourself.- I think we would make better progress if she wasn't such a wimp about the exercising part of the weight loss. this is how our typical walks go:


"Sunny, want to go for a walk?!"

"walk? WALK?! WALK?! I LOVE WALKS!!!! YESYESYESYES! I want to walk! Can we go now?! WALKWALKWALK!! YESSSSSS!!!" -This is where the excited jumping begins- if you've never had a 75 lb puppy jump on you, I say good for you, try at all means to keep it that way. Unpleasant. By the time I calm her down enough to get her lead over her nose (which she loves by the way, nothing bums an excited dog out more than a gentle lead... I highly recommend it if you like keeping all your joints in tact when walking a big dog) We usually have the attention of the Munchkin.


"Are you taking Sunny for a walk now? Can I come!?! I'll get my shoes on!!"

" Yes, I'm taking her for a walk, no you can't come, stay here with Daddy"

"WHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MEEEEEE???? YOU'RE RUINING MY LIIIIIIIFE!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH I WANT TO COME!!!"

"Sunny doesn't poop when you come, she gets stage fright"

"She'll poop!!!! I proooommisse. I'm not lying, Mommy. She will poop. She will!" -this is usually when Sunny gets antsy and resumes her jumping.

" Alexis, I have to take the dog out she's jumping."

" She's jumping because she wants me to come!!"

"That is not why she is jumping. You are not coming this time, maybe tomorrow" argue, now I'll have to deal with that tomorrow. Why do I do this to myself?


Finally I get out the door with the dog, it's 95 degrees out. We get to the grass and she pees then tries to beeline it back inside. 'Not happening, Tubby, getting out was a battle you will walk.'


The rest of our 2 mile walk goes roughly like this walk 10 yards, stop sniff for a minute; I assume her sniffing inner monologue goes something like this:
"sniff sniff... hmmmm new dog in the neighborhood!" walk walk walk "hmmm, Person looks tired, I'll sniff and give her a break. Sniff sniff sniff" walk walk walk "I hate this lead, I'm going to pretend to sniff and try to scrape it off" claw at nose, dig nose into dirt, wrestle with person sniff sniff sniff. walk walk walk " sniff sniff there was a rabbit here! RABBIT!!! Where are you rabbit?!?! In the bush? rabbit, are you in there?? walk walk walk.
Repeats sniffs and escape attempts for the next half hour. The sniff-stops are dotted with points where she just gives up on life and lays down in the shade, looking at me and challenging me with her eyes. These are the moments I hate the most because my panic kicks in. I worry that she is going to have an epiphany that she is way stronger than me and just refuse to get up. There is no way I am going to be able to carry a 75lb dog a mile home. Matt will never let me live it down if he has to come pick us up. I'll be mocked until I go crazy, he'll have me comitted and Alexis will come visit once a month if I'm lucky to feed me pudding and brush my hair because I won't be able to do that with my straightjacket on. Just as I'm getting carried away in my looneybin fantasy the dog decides she's made a full recovery and rallies. We continue on our walk and come home where she eats 2 ice cubes while she waits for the 4 I threw in her bowl to cool her drinking water down. (it is 95 degrees out, the least I can do is give her cold water)


I will get her down those 16 lbs, or I will let a sleeping dog lie. Only time will tell. Look how cute they are when there's no walking conflict involved!


Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Who Needs a Bathing Suit?! Not Lexi!

So I've been having an off week. Lost my phone, like legit lost it. Two weeks before I can trade it in for a new phone (I was not lying about my electronic dysfunction in my previous post). So after another frustrating and unfruitful search this morning I drove an hour and a half up to LA for a dentist appointment. I need a root canal. It's only Tuesday. So here is a pic mainly to cheer me up, but also to put a smile on your face! A little back story: insert rippling effect here: A few weeks ago I took Lex to the park, in a heat wave. We have an awesome park up the street that is under a Giant shade tent. I thought we would be good in the shade, we weren't, It was a Southern California Heat Wave and I must have taken a delusion pill with my breakfast that morning. Well at the same park there is a pool, Lexi didn't have a bathing suit, just the Hello Kitty dress she was wearing. If you think a little thing like proper attire was going to stop me from letting the munchkin take a dip in the pool, you are clearly a better parent than I. We strolled into the extremely crowded pool area and she splashed and cooled for 20 minutes while the smart moms gave me curious looks. Alexis thought it was the greatest thing in the world. which brings me to our next bathing suit-free outing to The Irvine Spectrum Center. They have awesome fountains that the kids all run through, a ferris wheel, and a huge carousel (Have I mentioned I love where we live?!) We went for a quick clothing exchange and of course we couldn't leave without a jaunt through the fountains! At least this time I had a dry change of clothes in the car, like that would have stopped us! Here is my little girl, learning to go against the norm! Cheers to raising a happy, unique child!
There's that smile I've been waiting for!

Friday, July 27, 2012

I know, I'm a horrible liar. I said months ago (7, I believe) that I was starting this blog up again and then didn't do anything for it. Shame on me! I'm going to blame it on my computer and the fact that it kicked the bucket after 4 1/2 years of facebooking, googling, homeworking, picture uploading, and various other internet related activities. To be honest it is nothing short of a small miracle that the computer lasted me so long. I am slightly famous in small circles (family and friends) for having the worst possible luck with anything electronic. Worst.Luck. I am well known to kill anything that requires a battery. I'm fairly certain that my picture is hanging in every break room of every Best Buy in the country with a warning about my electronic killing spree. Case and point; my Dad got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas, I just replaced it for the 3rd time last week. I'm like that Elmira cartoon from Looney Tunes, I love my electronics to death.
poor electronics... My wonderful and hopeful husband bought me a Macbook for our 5 year anniversary. Yipppeeee!!! I now have a computer with memory so I can upload pictures! I couldn't be more excited! There will now be a new peace in the house without me cursing and threatening my computer, It's like a whole new world! that's all for now because my darling munchkin needs to get out of the house before one of us goes crazy! More soon, I mean it this time!!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Starting up This Bad Boy Again

I've been absent for a long long time, but I think it's time to get pumpin' again on the blogs. School starts up for both Lexi and me on Monday, preschool for her and last semester before my Associates for me. This semester is going to be particularly stressful with Statistics and Psychobiology, math and science of course being my weakest subjects, so I thought I'ld start blogging again for an outlet and to get my mind off school! So, I'm baaaack!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tips for Organizing, from the Disorganized

IconApps.com
For those of you who know me well, Organized may not be the first word that jumps to mind if asked to describe my wonderful personality traits (there are many, many wonderful ones). Even so, upon entering this world of motherhood and wifedom I was forced to reexamine the way I had been doing things. Here are some pointers that I’ve found to help keep me on the straight and narrow in the midst of the total chaos that comes from a disorganized person raising a kid!

1.Plan What You Can

Life with a toddler is so unexpected. Everyday has challenges and surprises, and you are going to have a lot less say in your days than you would like. Sure, a trip to the grocery store sounds like a good idea, until your kid wakes up screaming and doesn’t stop all day. Another night of spaghetti looks real good on hour 3 of the whining tsunami! That being said, it’s good to make plans, and let your munchkin in on your plan. If we have something on the schedule the next day, I always tell Lexi about it the night before (this works as a bedtime incentive too. “the sooner you go to bed the sooner we can wake up and go to music class”). This way she knows there is something coming the next day and is more likely to wake up in a good mood with something to look forward to rather than another day hanging around the house with me and the dog! Having plans ahead of time also helps when trying to get ready to pack a bag for the day. I always do what I can at night after Lexi is sleeping so there is that much less to do the next day and we can hit the ground running in the morning!

2.Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

That may be one overused cliché but So. True. Not everything is always going to go the way you want it to. As a matter of fact, 75% of the time your plan isn’t going to come to fruition the way you envisioned it, and that’s ok. Parenthood is not for the faint of heart or the freaks of control. Kids spill, kids fall, kids climb, kids make enormous messes when your back is turned for more than 5 seconds, because that is who they are, and what they are good at. They were obviously put on earth to teach us a lesson in rolling with the punches. So next time your daughter empties all the laundry out of the laundry basket you were folding to play fishing, don’t get mad or upset, hop in the boat and go for a ride with her. Laundry can ALWAYS wait an extra 10 minutes!

3.Pick a Day, Any Day

The biggest challenge for me has always been cleaning. I don’t enjoy cleaning, I don’t find it therapeutic or relaxing or any of that garbage! I clean because if I don’t, we will have nothing to eat off of, our floor would be carpeted in dog hair and we would all be running around naked. So in the name of Hygiene, I clean. As a reluctant cleaner, I’ve noticed that some of the big things can go every other week and others need to be done more often. I will pledge my undying devotion and gratitude to Josephine Cochran (for those of you who don’t know shame!!!! She invented the wondrous dishwasher) because dishes are an everyday. The rest of the stuff can be spread out over the rest of the week. In the beginning of the week I pick 2 days where I am going to vacuum the rug, one day for Laundry and one day every other week to clean the bathrooms. When we have company coming I will always clean a little more, but my general rule is I pick one day to do each of my chores and never feel too overwhelmed!

4.Know Your Limits and Don’t Push Them, Too Far

I think it is healthy to discover what you can and cannot do, push your boundaries. Take on too much once in a while, but don’t make it a habit. If you are doing too much you are going to have no energy left over for enjoying your time as a parent. Some days I have class, a ton of homework, a dog to walk and Alexis all afternoon, which usually involves a trip to the park. These are the days when frozen chicken nuggets and french-fries are a God-send. I’ve tried to do too much enough that I have a good feeling for when I need to stop. Not to say that it never happens, I’ve been known to get stressed out and -gasp- lose my temper with Alexis or Sunny. I’ve also noticed that Alexis senses my bad moods and instead of keeping her distant, the whining increases. Don’t think just because you are a grump, your kid is going to be on their best behavior, chances are they will act out more. Better safe than sorry and keep within your boundaries, it’s better to have a happy night dirty dishes than clean dishes and a grouchy family!

5.Prioritize the Demons

There are no human clones yet (that we know of), so one of me has to be enough. This is where it’s good to prioritize!!!! Not everything can be on top. Bleeding child takes precedence over straining pasta, for example. We don’t have emergency situations everyday but everything is an emergency to a 3 year old. There is no patience button we can press to let them know that getting them a fruit snack is lower on the priority list than cleaning up a doggy vomit. You have to recognize what is more important than something else and stick to your guns, take care of the priorites first, screeching child and all.

6.Mark Your Calendar

No, seriously, buy a calendar and mark your activities on it. I have a little $5.00 calendar by my sink that I mark birthdays, dates when people are coming to visit and big events like weddings and birthday parties. I look at it 10 times a day without ever having to look for it. I am technologically stunted, I can admit it, I’ve come to terms with it and I embrace it. My calendar has all my big events I need to worry about and it is all I need for my day to day things. When I reenter the work world I may need a slightly larger calendar but for now, a 1’X1’ block a day suits me just fine and I have yet to forget to pick someone up from the airport or show up late to a party!

7.Use Technology, Don’t let Technology Use You

Now that you know that I am technologically stunted let me tell you what works for me: a cell phone, a computer (that never leaves home), and an occasional GPS. I should note the GPS is new and I still don’t understand it completely, but it is a handy little guy. I should also note my cell phone is a little Verizon slide closed one, not a fancy pants $600 internet-surfing, meal-planning, calendar-keeping super phone. I don’t understand the stay at home moms who can’t leave the house without 1 of each of the following: their Blackberries, iPhones, iPads, Mac Books, and whatever else ridiculous things they have in their purses. A good website for simplifying without ovverwhelming is www.iconapps.com Being a stay at home mom is a busy thing, I understand that, I am one, but pretending you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 is not the way to go about life. Use what you need to get by, but don’t become dependent on your technologies. Remember all it takes is one Starbucks to the purse to wipe them all out, and then where will you be? Lost in your town with no idea how to get home, no way to get a hold of anyone and without any coffee to get you through it!

8.Have a Routine Without Becoming Routine

Routine is important for kids, I know this because I have heard it numerous different times from numerous different people with numerous different degrees. Duh! Of course routine is important, you can’t have your kid having a bedtime at 7:00 one night, 11:00 the next, then throw an 8:00 one in there just to mix things up. Certain routines are important, we have bedtime between 8 and 9 every night. Before bed we eat dinner together, take a bath, brush our teeth and read a story. Sometime around the middle of the day we take a nap. We go to preschool the same two days every week and go to music class the same day every week. Other than that I’m not a dictator. If Alexis is having a great time at the park and she’s not cranky or tired, we can either skip the nap or take a later one. Life is boring when you live or die by your routine, consistency is good, a stifling rigid schedule is bad! Loosen up a little the world will keep on spinning if lunch is an hour late!

9.A Happy Mommy Means a Happy Family

Yes, now that I am a mother and a wife, Alexis and Matt come first, however it is so important not to lose myself. A problem I have is letting go of some of my control with my daily life. Matt works hard, long hours so I do all Lexi stuff and the majority of the house stuff. Not good. I’ve discovered that I am so much more effective as the organizer of the family if I am not miserable. A palm to forehead moment, right? It’s one thing to know this and another to act on it. Take 20 minute showers (the drought is over), go for a run by yourself and if you really need it, run to San Diego with your best friend for the weekend. A cranky Mommy is a sluggish Mommy and a sluggish Mommy just can’t get done what needs to be done! So I’m OK with being selfish every once in a while, as long as my selfishness is kept in perspective and gratitude is shown for the selfish trips to San Diego (by the way Matt, thanks, for watching the baby this weekend!)

10.Communication Makes the World Go ‘Round

Talk! Converse! Contemplate! Check In! Again, something that is a work-in-progress in our household, but how are things supposed to get organized of everyone’s not on the same page? Matt travels a lot with work, it is a rare treat to have him home for a full week, and his schedule changes on a week by week basis. Floppy schedules make it difficult to organize outings as well as identify the things that need organizing. I’ve gotten in the habit of asking Matt what his next week looks like over the weekends and what the next day looks like every night. Tedious and repetitive? Yes. Effective? Most of the time! If I know the schedule in the beginning of the week, I know how many times that week I am going to need to cook dinner (poor Lexi is a hot dog and nugget girl when Daddy isn’t home) and how much sanity I will have left by the end of the week! We’ve been getting a lot better about letting each other know what’s going on with our schedules so that we can make sure we all get to spend some family time together during the week!



Disclosure
This post is part of a blogging contest from the TwitterMoms community. There is a chance this post could be randomly selected to win a $50 Target GiftCard, so wish me luck! For more details, you can view the contest page here (http://icomp.ly/IconApps).

New Direction

Matt wants me to see if we can start doing a little more with the blog, so we're entering a turning point in our bloghood. I'm going to see what options are out there for a Mommy-blogger. This means more posts, an updated page (Let's make this happen Mavs), and different topics. Enjoy!!!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Easter

Once again Easter has come and gone and that wonderful bunny left lots of goodies. It's a love/hate relationship with the bunny, my stomach loves him, my waistline does not (spoiler alert: my stomach wins 9 times out of 10).

We took Lexi to Irvine Park Railroad Eggstravaganza on Saturday and had friends over for a little good old fashioned face-stuffing on Sunday. Both were a lot of fun. I love watching Alexis become more and more established in her personality. Gone is the little girl who stood back at last years Easter Egg hunt and had to rely on another kind-hearted kid to share his candy, because she was too timid to go out and get her own. In that little girl's place is a chocolate-hungry candy monster!! The kids are only allowed to take 8 eggs each so there is sure to be enough for all, at one point Matt was trailing behind her removing 1 egg from her basket everytime she picked another up! After she got her share of the loot, she got to decorate a cookie, jump in a bounce house and the coolest of all (coolest to an almost 3 year-old, her almost 28 year-old mother was MUCH more impressed with the sugary goods)the train ride!!!! We waited inline for 20 minutes and the whole ride she was choo-chooing. Irvine Park Railroad is one of my favoite places to take her all year round, they just have so much for her to do: feeding the ducks, going to the OC Zoo, playgrounds, paddleboats, picnic areas and, of course, the train!

After IPR I sent an email out inviting our friends over on Sunday for an impromptu dinner. I didn't think many would be able to come because of the short notice but was wonderfully surprised when we had 10 people come! Some of the guys went hiking while Steph and I hung back and cooked. It was a great day, relaxed and stress-free, as all holidays should be. We broke out the fine china (paper plates) and our best crystal (Plastic cups and winetasting glasses)and had a great time!

I don't have any pictures of Dinner but I have more than enough of our Eggstravaganza adventure!




Thursday, March 25, 2010

Potty potty potty potty potty all the time


This morning we reached the coup de grace in our potty training, Alexis’ final stand against the inevitability of becoming a regular potty-er. After weeks, oh who am I kidding, MONTHS of back and forth in the Battle of the Potty she had her final farewell to the world of diapers and she went out with a bang. Or to make a “mom joke”: she really made a splash! I’m sorry you had to read that. Anyway more on our early morning episode later, first let’s talk about the blond ball of stubbornness that is my almost-3-year-old, and the wild ride that has been our potty training experience.
At 18 months my beautiful, angel child was potty trained. I’m not kidding, I sat her on the potty and said “This is where we are going to do our pee pee’s from now on.” (I wonder why when I tell her how to do things I always include myself. I can assure you I have been potty trained for quite some time now) Anyway, that bright, obedient child looked up at me smiled and then peed on the potty. On her 1st try!!! The following 3 days resulted in lots of bragging on my part, “Alexis is potty trained already, I don’t know why everyone says it is so difficult” Ha! My kid! My 18 month old! Potty Trained! Chew on that Super Moms! Those were a great 3 days, I was walking on a cloud of accomplishment and an pride. On day 4 I awoke to a big slice of humble pie, who knew a 1 and half year old could put you in your place so efficiently…
We woke up and when I tried to put her on the potty, my sweet, obedient angel child turned into an alien. I swear, overnight the pod-babies snuck in and took over my little one’s body, in place of her sweet temperament they put an ornery (I know ornery is a label usually reserved for the stooped gray hairs complaining about how expensive produce has gotten in the last 60 years, but it is the best word to describe my grouchy little pod-baby) foreign personality in there. Who’s child is this? Sure she looks like mine, and sounds like mine : well except for that wining, that does not sound like my child. But MY child was potty trained yesterday, and this child refuses to sit on the potty, let alone make a deposit. And so it began. The Battle of the Potty.
When we first started potty training, we bought a little pink potty. A little pink potty that looked like a miniature throne. A little pink potty that looked like a miniature throne, that played music every time a successful potty was made! How could we go wrong with this little guy?! Well, I’ll tell you how, there is a little button hidden on the flip side of the potty that when pressed plays the same music that can be heard when pee-pee is deposited. Well, let me tell you, when this discovery was made progress made it’s swift exit. Progress, what a fickle little traitor! Who wants to sit on what essentially is a plastic chotchky adorned bucket to do their business, when diapers are dry and warm and get changed for you?! Music??? Puhlease, all I have to do to hear that music is turn the potty upside down and press that little button.
I told myself, “she’s still young, 18 months is way too young to be potty trained anyway. “ “Maybe it was just coincidence, good timing, that she was going on the potty when I sat her on it. Yes, that’s it, I just had Pee ESP, and my ESP left me as quickly as it came.” Pee ESP, another fickle traitor. Fast Forward 3 months to a Rhode Island visit. Aaaah Christmas in the North East, freezing, wet gray and full of the hopeful optimism of potty training. Our friends Joe and Jess and their adorable almost-2-year-old Madison were potty trained. Madison is only 4 months older than Lexi and look at her, saying to Jess, “Mommy I need to pee” running into the bathroom, the kid WASHED HER HANDS after she was done. It was like gazing into a glimpse of the promised land. Oh what could have been, had that evil little button never been discovered.
Our return to California was accompanied by a renewed sense of determination on my part. This child will learn to pee pee on the potty, not only that, but she will wash her hands afterward. Yes, this is the future, I have seen the future and I like it. I hit the ground running. I dusted off the throne and followed Alexis around the house with it. Praying for my P-ESP to return I would sit her on it once an hour. Nothing. This lasted for 2 weeks (my sense of my determination was a lot stronger than my actual determination) at the end of the two weeks, without so much a a drop of the yellow stuff, but with plenty of button music, I packed it up repeating what I had told myself 3 months earlier “She’s not even 2 yet, I’ll try again when she gets a little older”
Her 2nd birthday came and went and about a month later I decided now that she was two, it was FINALLY time. Somewhere in my mind it made perfect sense to think that two was the magical Age of the Potty. She has such a greater understanding of things, yes, now that she has hit that number, surely an internal switch has been flipped and she will want to celebrate her entry into toddlerhood by doing her peeps and poops in a toilet. Not so much. She would sit in her designated spot, look at me, look down and announce “It’s broken” or “It’s not working” or, my favorite, “pee pee needs new batteries”. She would then hop up, pull up her training pants and pee. Right there, STANDING NEXT TO THE THRONE! It happened day after day hour after hour, another 2 weeks of dry potty and wet diapers. It was enough to make me want to tear my hair out. Instead of making myself bald I opted for my old fallback peptalk “She’s only Two. It’s still early, they wouldn’t make diapers big enough for 2 year old if there wasn’t a market for them. More kids than not are still in diapers at her age.”
A few months passed, and my friend told me about an amazing potty method. All it took was 3 days! Imagine that, 3 days and she will be potty trained! I ordered the tutorial and gave it a go. Maybe it is very effective for normal kids, you know normal kids who feel discomfort, my daughter has no such sensitivities. A huge part of the 3 day method was the baby had to get uncomfortable when she peed in her underwear. Not Alexis. She ran around like she was dry. No big deal. Occasionally she would tell me she was “all wet” but it never slowed her down. I mean, really, 5 minutes waiting for a swing was a lifetime for a 2 year old, she was definitely not going to be losing her spot for something as ridiculous as bodily functions! HA, the thought! After a week (3 days of which were spent holed up in our apartment) and few “accidents” on the furniture and communal park equipment, I loaded the still unsoiled potty back into it’s home into the closet and pulled out the diapers.
The next month brought a visit from mother, and her notebook, filled with notes scribbled while watching Dr. Phil one day. Maude, bless her, thought that Dr. Phil had a good idea. Give Alexis a doll to teach potty to. When she teaches the doll potty, she will learn too. The problem of course, not being that Alexis doesn’t understand how to use the potty. I had given up on the hopeful thoughts of P-ESP and come to the stark realization that my daughter knows perfectly well how to use the potty, she is capable of telling me when she needs to go, she just likes her diaper. Pee-pee on the potty would only slow her down and she was going to fight it with everything she had, and lets be perfectly honest, I’m decades older than her; she has much more time to fight than I do. Needless to say Dr. Phil and his dolls in all their wisdom have never come across my daughter and her frustrating commitment to diapers and his method had 0 effect on her potty training. I had long since stopped thinking the little pink potty was cute and actually resented the thing. I didn’t even bother putting it back in the closet. Stupid thing sat in my bathroom mocking me for another 3 months.
In the fall I started school again, and Alexis started preschool (which cost more than my college classes, in part because children in diapers are more expensive, of course they are). Caught up in my classes and running back and forth to preschool, college, music classes and weekend beach trips I didn’t even think about her not being potty trained. Of course it was always in the back of my head, mainly taking the form of a question of when would I have time to potty train when I hardly had time to take a shower at the end of the day? The end of my semester rolled around and after receiving good grades I found my optimism had been restored and if it took all vacation, so be it, this child will deposit waste in her potty by the time I go back to school. Well, it did take all of vacation. All of vacation and 6 weeks into the new semester. There was a diaper discarding ceremony, an exciting trip to Target to buy underpants adorned with various Disney characters, and what I think the biggest factor that played into my success, an obsession with all things princess. Princesses did pee-pee on the potty, not only that but they had potties that looked like THRONES! Thrones that played princess music when they went pee on them.
She was potty trained, finally one month shy of her 3rd birthday. YIPPPPEEEEEE. Which brings us to our incident this morning; It has been about 2 weeks since we’ve had a pee-pee accident and 4 days since a poo-poo boo-boo. As I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel Alexis must be seeing the light at the beginning disappearing because she made one last-ditch effort in the Battle of the Potty, she Peed.On.The.Dog. I am basking in the glory of a successful 1st half of the semester being over, emptying the dishwasher, completely unassuming when I hear Lexi and the dog playing with each other (the dog that was housetrained in 2 days, thank you very much). “How nice they get along so well” I thought to myself. Then I hear it, “Mommy, I peed on Sunny!.” That adorable little voice coming out of the adorable little toddler. Adorable. No way did the adorable child do that, she’s far too adorable. Sure enough there was an adorable little puddle forming underneath the puppy, dripping off her back and my ahem-adorable daughter standing there with a big smile on her face. I couldn’t believe it. So close I could taste it and then this!! After a serious talk and a dog bath we are back to going in the potty. I hope.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Welcome Sunny!

Well, I have been pretty absent from the blogging realm and this is the reason why:

Meet Sunny! She is a yellow lab and the new terror of the Caldwell household. Alexis Loves Loves Loves dogs and we thought, now that she is 2 and a half and has a much better grasp on being able to defend herself it is time to get a dog! We thought wrong. Matt (and I love him with every ounce of my heart) came home from getting his haircut and said "Want to go look at a dog?" Well we loaded up into the car and made the trek to the petstore and fell in love with the sweet puppy. She was so well behaved that first night, just a love sponge, and I thought, ' awwww this is going to be great, Norman Rockwell shold be taking notes'.

The next day, my husband (who I love very dearly) left on business for 2 weeks. and when he left he took our dog's sweet demeanor and my sanity with him. Sunny the Saint was a saint no longer. Not only did the dog change but I miraculously made the switch from loving mother to frustrated Circus Ring Leader. My life was altered irreversably and is now a neverending circle of pulling baby off dog, dog off couch, baby off counter, dog out of toy box, baby off dog, dog out of bedroom, baby out of fridge, dog off baby etc etc etc. I've been told before that I have a slight problem with being assertive and I think it is pretty safe to say that never in my 28 years have I said the word "NO!" so much.

Now that we have had the dog for a month and neither the baby, the dog or Matt is sick anymore (oh yea, did I mention that when Matt got back from two weeks of business trips he was sick for another week?)things are getting a little easier. we've discovered that Lexi loves dogs, but loves to instigate dogs more. We've also learned that despite every stranger in the street giving you their unwanted opinions on what you are doing wrong when training your dog, a 3 month old puppy CAN be housetrained and learn not to jump on people. We've also learned that Marly and Me should be required viewing/reading for anyone considering getting a labrador, because the junk that the dog eats was not exagerrated at all in the movie, in case you were skeptical, don't be.

Here are some pictures of our new addition that I took in some rare moments of down time between banging my head against a wall and planning my escape to Mexico.


Saturday, November 7, 2009

Halloween

This year we took Lexi into Huntington Beach again. I really enjoy doing this, they shut down the entire downtown to traffic and have blow up toys for the kids and all the stores and restaurants handing out treats. It's well lit and safe and if you get there early enough the kids really make out well with the candy ( Don't worry I confiscated most of her chocolate, you can never be too safe hehehe). Alexis had a blast sliding down the jumbo slide, she really is such an adrenaline junkie, I love it! She may have a fear of monsters and a super picky eater but throw her from any heights and she is game! Anyway, she was the cutest little kitty I've ever seen. I may be a little partial since she is my offspring and I made her costume but, whatever, she was DARN CUTE! After we got back from Trick-or-treating, we went to a Halloween Party! Matt was a cowboy and I was Smurfette, the blue paint lasted way longer than I thought it would, about 2 hours before I got sick of it! We had a great Halloween, I think my favorite part is how it was 70 on October 31st! Love it!







Saturday, October 24, 2009

good night

Slow motion good night brought to you by the sleepy kitty in the back seat

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Goldfish Toss

I love Lazy Sundays. Today we were planning on driving down to Sand Diego and spending the day at Sea World but Matt was still feeling sick so we took the day off of activities and spent the day cleaning (well, I cleaned) and watching some PGA golf and some Giants Football... GO G-MEN!!!!! Alexis is a huge Osi Umenyeiora and Eli Manning fan, she's a Mama's girl. Matt also took some time to show Alexis how he tosses goldfish in the air and catches them in his mouth, as you can guess it took turn pretty quick and there was goldfish throwing and baby giggles galore. Here's a silly little video of the two kids playing with their food!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Back to school, Back to school....






Well maybe not back to school but she is definitely starting today. I dropped Alexis off for her first day of preschool today. My little baby is gone and there is a toddler wearing her shoes!! She picked out her very own Tinkerbell backpack yesterday and has been singing about preschool for a full week.
She did so well getting dropped off, ran right up to the playground and the kids. She tried to get me to come but when I told her I was leaving she just shrugged her little shoulders, gave me a hug and a kiss and said "Bye Mommy!!!". She couldn't get rid of me fast enough. A little preview of her preteen years. I fared slightly less well and got a little choked up but succesfully held back the tears. She goes 2 days a week from here on out as I go back to school also. Big happenings. Here are some pictures of my girl heading off to her first day!