Bathtub Junkie

Archive for March, 2008

A very happy birthday today to my brother-in-law, Todd. I hope that he’s having a fun and special day!

So what’s new? I hope that this week is starting off well for everyone out there. I can’t get over the fact that it’s almost April and our weather is still crappy! It rained here this morning, but then it turned into freezing rain and snow. Blech. :( I know that I’ve said this before, but I cannot wait for that first true spring day when we can fling open the windows and get some crisp, fresh air inside. I want to go walking with the kids, too. I’ve missed that so much. They love being outside, and I need the exercise! Plus, a friend from my moms’ group now has an awesome new swing set in her backyard, and it’ll be lots of fun taking Luke and Meri over there to play sometime when it gets nicer outside.

I’m in such a cleaning and organizing mood lately. Once I get this freelance assignment done, I’m going to start tackling some household projects. It’s awfully difficult keeping the house in order with Luke and Meri running around, but I need to go through a bunch of stuff and weed out things that we don’t need or use anymore. I went through my craft supplies the other day and found a huge box full of things that I’ll probably give away through Freecycle. (Don’t really have much time to scrapbook anymore; I’m thinking about getting our photos printed and just organizing them in photo albums until I can take scrapbooking back up again later ~ or maybe digital scrapping would be best for me right now). I’m just in a mood to change things around, make things look different, reinvent the space that we currently have, and make better use of storage. Talk about spring cleaning!

I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, and I plan to ask her about what type of exercise plan might be best for me. I really want to get back into walking and doing yoga on a regular basis, but maybe she might have some tips for things that would also benefit me. My goal isn’t to lose weight (lots of people have told me lately that I look really good, which makes me feel wonderful!); rather, I just want to be healthy. And I’ve been hearing this strange “chirping” sound in my right ear lately. What’s up with that? I mainly hear it at night, but sometimes when I’m sitting at the computer or not up running around during the day, I’ll notice it, too. Hope it’s nothing bad! Maybe my doctor will tell me that it’s just a sign of spring coming … you know, chirping birds … :)

• Had a bit of a freakout moment this morning. Around 11:30, I was giving Lucas and Meredith their lunches at our kitchen island. Lucas finished his, but Meredith was still eating her clementine segments (on a leftover “Blue’s Clues” plate from Lucas’s birthday party). I was spraying off our kitchen counters with antibacterial kitchen cleaner (with bleach), and when Lucas asked for some sippy, I put the spray bottle down on the island without even thinking. The second that I turned my back to open the fridge, I heard spraying sounds. I spun around quickly and saw that Meredith was happily eating a piece of clementine. Lucas had the spray bottle in his hand and proudly said, “I sprayed Sister’s plate!” Meredith ate a clementine wedge that had been sprayed with bleach. Thank goodness she’s absolutely fine. I gave her a bottle filled with water and watched her closely, but I’m sure that she didn’t ingest much of it. I need to be more careful with where I place spray bottles (Lucas has a “thing” for spraying things lately). I didn’t think that he would try to grab it so quickly, in just the few seconds that it took me to grab the milk from the fridge. It amazes me how much he can get into ~ and how quickly. Ugh. :(
• So I’m doing OK with watching the kids by myself, but I’m overwhelmed by the freelance assignment that I’m desperately trying to get done by the end of the day on Monday. Please hold good thoughts for me that I’ll be able to finish it on time! I worked on it today while Meredith napped, and I’ll work on it again tonight when the kids go to bed. It’s really weird how it feels like a regular weekday and not the weekend.
• Here’s something funny that Lucas said to me this afternoon. He was sitting on the stool at our kitchen island (after the bleach cleaner incident), and all of the sudden he started giggling. I said, “What’s so funny?” He replied, “I farted.” I laughed hysterically and said, “Oh, you did?” And without missing a beat, he then said to me, “Yeah … just like you.”
• Tonight, we’re stopping by our local firehouse to pick up ziti and meatballs for dinner. (It’s a Girl Scouts fundraiser.) Tomorrow, I’ll probably take the kids to church and then maybe stop by Babies ‘r’ Us afterward to see if I can find some cute clothes for Meredith. It’s next to impossible to find footed sleepers in size 18 months! I love those because I always worry about her feet getting cold while she sleeps. I never thought that I’d say this, but she does need more clothes!
• On a completely random note … I visited a different Dunkin’ Donuts this morning for breakfast, and I asked them about their vanilla chai. Seems that it’s not being discontinued; rather, they’ve just changed the way that they make it. When I told the employee today about the Dunkin’ Donuts that I went to before (when the cashier told me that they’re discontinuing vanilla chai altogether), he said, “That’s not true!” Yeah!!! He said that the store manager will be coming in tomorrow and that he’ll notify him about what I heard at the other Dunkin’ Donuts. Ahh, I have created a vanilla chai uproar in our community. :)

It’s snowing here right now! Come on … aren’t we done with this winter stuff? It’s spring already. Enough! I will admit that it’s pretty, though. Thankfully we don’t have anywhere to go today, so we can just stay inside and watch it fall. If it’s still snowing when Meredith takes her nap, though, I think that I might take Lucas outside to play. He’ll love that. But seriously … bring on spring! Yesterday was 51 degrees. I want more of that!

Also … I thought that flu season was over! But it seems like virtually every blog I’ve read lately has mentioned something about a friend or family member coming down with a nasty stomach virus. What’s up with that? It scares me to death (that’s one of my worst fears ~ relates to my anxiety disorder), and I hope and pray that it won’t hit our house anytime soon. All of you out there who are dealing with it … get better soon, OK? I feel such an urge to go spray everything down with Lysol. It’s funny how I worry about the flu all winter long, then it seems like March is the month where lots of nasty stuff hits people. Very strange.

Lucas had his second preschool orientation session yesterday and did so well. He joined the group when the class started, and he even joined the group when it was time to meet by the “classroom tree” and sing the clean-up song. (Last time, he was only interested in playing with two particular toys.) I was so proud of him! He didn’t want to clean up the train set that he was playing with, but otherwise he did just great. I was happy to hear from the teacher that every once in a while, parents come to the classroom to help disinfect and spray down everything so that it’ll be sanitized for the kids. (See previous paragraph.) :)

OK, so … this little tidbit falls into the “too much information” category, but I’m going to blog about it anyway. I saw black licorice Twizzlers on sale at Wal-Mart the other day, and I couldn’t resist buying a package. I’ve been craving black licorice for quite some time now ~ no idea why. Well, yesterday I ate way too much. We’re talking, pretty much the entire package, give or take a few pieces. And just a while ago, I discovered that it sure does a number on your poo. I’ve never seen that color before.

I swung past Dunkin’ Donuts this morning, all excited to indulge in my favorite vanilla chai. Imagine my shock when the cashier told me at the drive-thru, “We no longer serve vanilla chai.” I was seriously speechless for a few minutes. When I drove around to the window, I asked her what was going on. It seems that all Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants everywhere are doing away with their vanilla chai! The cashier said, “We’ve replaced it with our Milky Way hot chocolate.” What?!? How could they do this to me??? How could customers prefer hot chocolate over chai tea? I guess that I’ll have to get my fix someplace else. What a bummer!

So today at Wal-Mart, I received a free sample of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with Febreze Meadows & Rain. What a cool idea! I decided to use the pad to clean our bathroom countertop, and it worked wonderfully. What I love most is the fragrance, though! So fresh and clean … I think that this might be my new favorite cleaning product. Now our bathroom is all sparkly clean and smells like a beautiful meadow after a spring rain. :)

By the way, I’m a “single mom” for the next six days. My husband is traveling to Indiana in order to help his brother, Vince, and his family move to Florida. I debated about blogging this because I don’t want the entire Internet world to know that I’ll be here alone with our two children, but I want to ask for your good wishes and prayers. :) I hope that everything will go just fine during this upcoming week and that I’ll do a good job of taking care of Luke and Meri by myself. I don’t think that I’ve ever been alone with our two children for this long. I’ve got some things lined up in order to help keep myself occupied, and I also have a freelance assignment to finish. But wish me luck … I’m a bit overwhelmed!

Unfortunately, I can’t really drink wine along with the anxiety medicine that I’m taking. :( That’s really a bummer. But I can still have fun looking online, right? Here’s a great site that offers a wide variety of cool wine racks. I’ve always wanted one of those wine refrigerators with a clear glass front (I’m sure that they have an actual name). Sure, we don’t drink much wine ~ but it would look cool, huh? :)

Are you or your business searching for disposable wipes for use in the medical field? Make sure to check out Disposable Medical Express. There’s a wide selection.

Do you know that I’ve never been camping? Strange, isn’t it? Well, even though it’s still chilly outside and spring is only a few days old, it’s not too early to start thinking about summer plans. Are you going camping? Make sure to check out the camping gear at this website!

We really love the idea of tankless water heaters for our home. We’re definitely going to consider making a purchase like this sometime in the near future. Something to consider … make sure to check it out if you’re in the market for something similar.

If you or someone you know and love is facing a drug addiction of some type, please make sure to check out the addiction treatment options available at this website. It’s a good resource for learning more about how to help others.

Time absolutely flew by during my parents’ visit. I was so excited for them to arrive on Wednesday afternoon that I stood at our dining room window for probably 30 minutes, eyeing our driveway and anxiously anticipating a glimpse of their rental car pulling in. :) Those of you whose parents live nearby ~ cherish every moment! I didn’t get online much at all because I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. And of course, I was very teary on Saturday when they headed back to their hotel room to get some rest before leaving on an early flight to Indiana the next day. That goodbye part is always extremely difficult.

I hope that everyone had a good time at Lucas’s third birthday party on Saturday. (We sure did!) Mom and I had tons of fun decorating his “Blue’s Clues” cake, and we received lots of compliments on it. That was probably my favorite part, and it tasted so yummy (just a boxed mix, too!). Luke really “got” the concept of his birthday this year, so that was super neat! He did a good job of blowing out his candle and seemed to really enjoy his birthday presents. I created a “three clues” quiz (similar to the board game Tribond) where the party guests were given three words and had to determine how they were all connected (for example: squirmy sleepers, obedient dogs, and retirement accounts ~ things that roll over). The winner (our friend Vicky) received the DVD “Clue,” and the person who earned the least points (our friend Jonathan) received the DVD “Clueless.” :) Twelve guests attended (not counting us). I didn’t feel stressed out at all before his party began because we had done so much ahead of time and had attempted to stick to a pretty simple menu. It was so much fun introducing my dad to our friends for the first time, too! Many thanks to my parents for everything they did to help make Lucas’s party such a success!

So now, we’re officially the parents of a three-year-old. (Those of you who have been through it before ~ what are we in for???) Lucas had his three-year checkup this morning, and the pediatrician said that three is probably one of the most difficult ages ~ more so than age two, even. Lucas weighed in at 31 pounds and now stands 43 inches tall. He looked like such a big boy when he stepped onto the scale himself, stood up straight against the wall for his height measurement, and covered his eyes for the eye test (that’s a new one). They also checked his blood pressure for the first time, and I just about freaked out when she said that it was 80-something over 30-something. I thought that children were supposed to have the same blood pressure reading as adults! That’s probably why she’s the doctor and I’m not, LOL! :)

Another milestone that Lucas reached was on Thursday, when he headed to his preschool for the very first time. It was his first day of “Toddler Time,” an orientation program that continues through May and gets the kids adjusted to the new environment before preschool starts in September. I was a bit concerned because he latched onto two particular toys right away and didn’t want to join the group for circle time. And when it was almost time to leave, he wouldn’t move away from the chalk and chalkboard in order to join the other children at the “classroom tree.” He’s so independent, which is a good thing ~ but I’m sure that as he becomes more familiar with preschool, he’ll interact more with the other children and become more comfortable. He did have fun with a little girl named Anna ~ playing dollhouse with her and staging a puppet show together. That was cute. :) I realize that it wasn’t his first day of kindergarten or anything, but … isn’t sending them off to school much like sending them out into this great big world??? Very bittersweet! I remember when Lucas was just a few weeks old, nursing him in our bedroom and watching the school bus go past our house. I cried at the thought of him someday riding that bus and going off to school ~ and now, we’re talking preschool! How did that happen?!?

I’ll leave you with the picture that we included inside Lucas’s party invitations. I thought that his “3″ shirt was very fitting (many thanks to our friends Brad and Staci who let us borrow it). Parenting a toddler is definitely like riding a roller coaster. Sometimes I get so mad in certain situations that I’m not sure how much more I can possibly stand. But then later, he’ll snuggle up next to me, plant juicy kisses on my lips, ask me what my favorite part of the day was, and say, “Oh, Mommy … I love you so much.” I keep writing down all of the funny things that he says because I want to remember them forever.

Thank you to everyone who sent Lucas good wishes for his third birthday! It means so much to us! I feel so incredibly blessed by our two amazing children.