Boys vs Girls

I often hear parents say that raising boys vs girls is different. I won't lie, I was a skeptic. Doesn't it really depend on the environment you raise them in? Final answer is, NO. Have you ever noticed that boys at a playground are usually throwing dirt, climbing up the slide instead of going down, and chasing each other with sword sticks? Then you look over at the girls and they are building sandcastles, holding their baby dolls down the slide and playing hopscotch. I now realize my life will be complete chaos raising boys.

I come from a very traditional family...the whole respect your elders yada yada yada. I have an older sister who is my best friend. She has two girls ages 6 and 4. I absolutely adore them. The other day we are on the phone and of course I can hardly hear her with the boys screaming and carrying on like normal. I hear nothing in the background on her end. So I ask her 'where are the girls'? She says they are in their room playing barbies. I tell her 'I can't wait until my boys are that age so I can be sitting on the deck with a nice glass of wine while they play quietly in their rooms'. She starts laughing hysterically and says 'that is never gonna happen'! I now realize I am screwed.

Day off

Waking up this morning I felt like I got hit by a truck. My entire body aches, I have a monster headache, I cannot stop coughing, and I feel like I have 2 collapsed lungs. I do not get sick very often, but when I do it's no joke. It all started yesterday and by last night it was pretty unbearable. So I told D if it is this bad you might have to take the day off. Well it was actually worse this morning than last night. D gets out of bed at 8:30 am (which means he is going in late so he is going to be staying late at work) and just starts getting ready for work. Hello...I'm dying over here?!?! Needless to say I know he doesn't want to waste a day off on watching the kids. I suppose I don't even get a day off when I feel like crap. I drag my butt out of bed and go get the kids and bring them to the living-room. Whatever, I can handle this I'll just take some cold medicine and not worry about any chores today. So I'm downstairs getting the kids their morning snack with milk and he is just standing there. Um...can I help you? Yes, I'm waiting for you to make my coffee. WTF!

Overachiever cleaner?

After starting this blog, I realized I really wanted to share any valuable information I had for parents. The problem with that was...did I have any? Cooking in my house is hard to come by, scattered toys are weapons, and I feel like cleaning is a foreign term. My boys are now 18 months & surely I will start being able to 'run a tight ship'. So I went on a mission. First, I wanted to start with dinner. Dinner at our house is 6pm. Usually at about 5:30 I am running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off trying to figure out what I can fix. Needless to say it is complete chaos. So I found a site called simplifysupper.com. I must say it is great. You can plan out an entire month of menus...or you can take baby steps like me and just plan for the week. After you set up your menu you can print out your grocery list along with the recipes. How much easier can that get? I started that last week and so far so good. My only gripe is that the menu options are not that large and only include dinner recipes (it turns out my kids also eat breakfast & lunch). I must say this lifts a huge boulder off my shoulders and I enjoy eating a variety of food opposed to pasta every night.

This is going so good that I decide if I actually have time to cook maybe I can clean! So I found a website that actually tells you exactly what to clean everyday to keep a tidy house. Wow...a manual on cleaning. So I printed that out last week. The website is called www.flylady.net. She gives a list of little chores to do every day and a couple of larger ones. The way I look at it is if I cleaned things more often, it wouldn't take me so long to clean. Makes sense right? Wrong. I realized after the first step that this is not the program for me! The first step is getting up in the morning and showering, getting dressed and putting on make-up. I almost peed myself when I read that! I have 2 toddlers at home under the age of two. I consider it a good day if I can brush my teeth by noon.

In all seriousness if you are a neat freak this is the website for you. If I had more time I would definitely follow her routine. Before kids my house was spotless. Now at the end of the day if the sink is empty and the laundry is put away it's good enough.

What is wrong with men!

I am not your typical 'man hatter' but sometimes I really wonder where their heads are at! Maybe it's just my husband but, hello they are your kids too! We just got home from an exhausting weekend with the boys and I am almost passed out on the floor with 2 toddlers jumping all over me and I get a whiff. Someone has pooped. I'm pretty good at knowing who it was just by the smell. I change diapers all day every day. So, I figure it's not too much to ask that my husband change one at least every other day. He tries to find anyway out of it. He actually takes longer scheming on how to get out of a diaper change than the time it would have taken to just change it.

So here is his new line "You should change it, you do it so much better". Seriously???

Traveling Update

Ok, so we got home early yesterday afternoon from a weekend visit for my MIL surprise 50th birthday party. As expected, the trip was beyond stressful. If K & B would just take a normal nap and go to sleep on time it would be easy peasy! However, they prefer to scream at the top of their lungs and take at least an hour or more to finally fall asleep. Ugh! Last night when we put them down in their own beds...nada, not a peep.

To add to the stress my husband thought this was his weekend off...now that's a knee slapper!

I'm a teeny bop

Ok this is hard for me to admit. I am an avid reader. No, that is not what I'm admitting. Lately I am addicted to the most childish books imaginable. Here is what I am admitting. I am 29 years old and I loved the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. There I said it.

Although I love to read, I will also admit I do not normally read scholar-worthy type books. I've been known to dabble in some Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and Greg Iles (looove him). After reading Twilight I got into some Jodi Picoult books...she's okay. I even read the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I figured her vampire books are better suited for my age...not as embarrassing. I just cannot seem to find my Twilight fix.

Looking around in Target last week, I saw some flashy vampire series. It is The House of Night Series by P.C. Cast. So I bought the first book. Again, it is a teeny-bopper book. But...I love it! What is wrong with me?! I think a 8 year old could read it. In only a little over a week I'm on my 3rd book.

I am accepting any suggestions for good, page-turner ADULT friendly books.

Poop there it is!

A nurse in the NICU once told me that changing diapers would eventually get harder. Stupid me I didn't believe her. How can it get harder than trying to put on a diaper that is too large on a screaming wiggling baby that pees on me all time? It does. Now the baby can scream louder, wiggle better and pee in larger quantities. But that isn't even the hard part. Now I have to hold down a screaming wiggling peeing toddler that is trying to put his hands in his (excuse me...) poopy penis while his brother is picking up the soiled diaper and running around the room.

p.s. Do not let your toddler walk around in just a diaper. They do know how to get out of it, you just won't know it until you find them peeing in the corner.