neurosesgalore.com

Spring

2010-03-10T02:12:34Z

We are love, love, loving it. With the sunshine comes longer days and afternoons of playing with friends. Really good times. What I didn’t expect to rear its ugly head is a whole lot of social awkwardness. Just call me the queen of awkward silences. I can’t think of a single interesting thing to say. Not a one. So I’m watching 500 Days of Summer. A popular film that will hopefully be interesting enough for me to engage others in conversation over.

I don’t want to like Zooey Deschanel so why am I watching her movie and thinking about buying some M. Ward to listen to?

The girls had fun today. Hopefully we’ll make it through the next few days of rain. Sisters:

My Babushka

2010-03-09T01:41:12Z

I’m sort of a one trick pony. I’ll admit it. I like to take pictures of Chase wearing my sunglasses and of Avery wearing this pixie hat. I can’t say enough good things about Shannon or Sweet Pepita, the stuff is CUTE. I love this hat. Love it. And I’m sure it’s no coincidence that it matches her car seat. It’s almost too much.

Yes, there’s plenty of cuteness to go around these days. So let me temper it a little with this shot. Although I’m quite certain that I love the hat more than Avery does her aversion is not quite as intense as this picture would lead you to believe. I have to share it because it cracks me up to look at just how perfectly awful it is. It’s a good deal more Eastern Bloc babushka than wood nymph. Though I suppose she has a little of that in her anyhow.

My sister says cuteness peaks at 4. She’s usually right and I think I’m starting to see it. Chase is toying with the concept of funny. At the dinner table she likes to tell jokes, if you will, and I can see her working on her delivery. More often than not she’s just going on about what she things is crazaayy! Every now and then she tries some new material. Last night she told Avery “Hey, look! A little dog!” and I don’t know why but it was hilarious. I think it comes from being totally exhausted at the end of the day but it’s way better than the alternative that usually present itself at dinnertime… the seemingly endless whining.

And The Doctor Said

2010-03-05T03:25:49Z

It’s only been three months but Chase finally put on the doctor’s coat that I made her for Christmas. All of a sudden yesterday she decided that playing dress up was fun. It’s great because it’s something she’ll do for a while by herself.

Today was all about giving her babies check ups and that takes time. Then they all have to have a picnic lunch, take naps, and use the potty. The only thing I don’t like? Seeing myself. Mommy, look my baby is walking! She’s walking cause she’s so big and I’m so tired. Phew, I think I need to rest now. Yeah, I could have lived without seeing that reenacted. Or, maybe it was Ben. Yes, definitely Ben.

So she really did need a rest. At some point after lunch she went upstairs and didn’t come back. I went up and found her sleeping. When I pulled the covers up she told me she was so tired so I shut the door and let her sleep. An hour passed and then two and it was time for swimming lessons. I went up and woke her up again and asked her if she was going to go. She was furious, said no, absolutely not and went back to sleep. I went up again at the last possible minute that would get us to the pool on time and woke her up again, still no but only after she told me something crazy about her babies. That took my panic up to code orange but it turned out she was just dreaming. Three hours passed then four and I went up again because full on panic was setting in. Four hours she napped today and then went to bed on time. Craziness. We’ll see what she says in the morning about going to gym.

You’ve Got A Little Something…

2010-03-04T03:05:26Z

right there, and there, oh, and on the tip of your nose too. How does that saying go? Go big or go home? So if you’re going to make marshmallows early in the morning for some reason that no one remembers, just do it. Use this recipe and make all 24.

I’m not talking about 24 mini grocery store marshmallows. I’m talking about 24 enormous gooey monsters. A whole 9 x 13 pan’s worth. However, they are delicious if you’re a marshmallow lover like me.

As I didn’t plan to make marshmallows we only sort of had most of the ingredients and tools. I had to sub in about 1/4 of golden syrup for the corn syrup because I ran out. Which makes me think you could probably make them entirely from Lyle’s Golden syrup and cut out all the weird corn syrup except they probably would have some color to them. I didn’t have any parchment paper either but they came out of the glass pan fine with just oil. I do think that a straight sided pan would have been nicer but I’m not sure that I could have pulled it off with a metal pan.

It was fun to make these but there’s not really any point to it unless 50 of your closest friends are coming for hot chocolate. We still have 2/3 of a pan left after eating some and giving a bunch of them away. Tomorrow we make rice krispie treats. That’s the only way I can think to use them. It’s hard to cut them small so pouring them into something a little more shallow might help make it easier to keep them on the smaller side. But what would be shallower? A sheet pan? I’ll think about that if the time ever comes.

I already posted the link to the recipe. It’s a little more specific than the one Chase wrote for me this morning. Can you see marshmallows written there? I totally can but I do have mom eyes.

On the home front, Chase is still coughing a little. She seemed much improved today and by this afternoon she was bouncing off the walls. I took her down into the basement to blow off some steam but she just wanted to go go go. She kept asking me where we were going today and was not satisfied when I told her nowhere because she was still sick. So I told her we could go on a short walk if it wasn’t raining. So, we got bundled up and walked to the corner store. It’s maybe about a block away. It’s literally around the corner and maybe half a block on either side. About 6 feet from the door she told me she was so tired that she couldn’t go on. We went in but no rice krispies. Then on the way back about 6 feet from the door she was again too tired to go on. We went in and had a snack and within an hour she was trying not to fall asleep on the couch. Poor kid. Thanks for all the good advice. We’re trying all kinds of stuff. I have another pillow in there right now and all seems pretty quiet.

Avery did a complete 180 from last night. She was very quiet after dinner and went right to sleep once I was done with Chase. She woke up once more around 9 and has been quiet ever since. Which means… I’m convinced something’s wrong and keep going to check on her. What a wild ride. You can’t ever just be content.

Amazing

2010-03-03T03:15:54Z

Lately, when I need to kill a little time at home I draw mazes for Chase. I try to make each one a super stumper but she’s pretty darn good at mazes. I wonder how long she’ll be into this. It’s awesome because they really do eat up a lot of time and she likes them so much that she’s willing to wait patiently while I draw them one at a time. One day she’ll figure out that you can buy them by the book full, no waiting needed.

Surprisingly, today wasn’t too bad and tonight wasn’t nearly as challenging as last night. Chase is definitely fighting something. No fever but she has her same old gross cough that will probably turn into wheezing and freak me out again that it’s going to morph into asthma and all of that before passing it on to the rest of us. I have no doubt that it will get passed around because there’s no way to defend against having your head sneezed on. And we’ve all had our head sneezed on at least once over the last couple of days.

Poor thing, she’s really suffering. She keeps waking up as I write this and there’s just not a whole lot of comfort that I can provide for a sore throat. I did Tylenol, I’ve got the humidifier fired up and I even rubbed on some Vicks even though I have no idea what effect it might have. What else can you do for a sore throat other than lozenges? Is there something I’m not thinking of? Sometimes, when I have a sore throat I like to wear a scarf. I don’t know that it makes a difference it’s more of a comfort thing. I don’t see Chase wearing a scarf around the house. Any other ideas?

Bedtime has certainly been interesting. Thankfully, tonight was better than last night. I don’t know what I’m missing, or maybe it will just be a few days of transition, but between the hours of 7 and 9 Avery won’t sleep unless being held and nurses constantly. As soon as it hits 9 or 10 she crashes for the night. That’s a lot of rocking and nursing and sitting in the dark. I hate it when things change all of a sudden, I find it so difficult to anticipate one thing and for another thing to happen. I know, that sounds crazy, that’s what this whole parent thing is all about. I just wasn’t ready to spend the whole entire evening by myself in the dark. It was easier to do tonight because I knew what might be coming and because she fell asleep before 9. That helped too. I have absolutely no recollection of when all of this napping and bedtime business stabilizes but I can’t wait to get it all figured out.

Also, I’m sorry for the lamer than usual title. Sometimes you just have to go with what comes to you. At least I didn’t spell it A-Maze-Ing.

Sunny, Quiet, Lovely Sunday

2010-03-01T01:49:40Z

Chase ate a great big hearty supper so I’m cautiously optimistic that things will only get better. Please let them only get better!

Well, another weekend comes to a close. Even though I wish we had another day and I’m so not ready for it to be Monday tomorrow we ended on a pretty good note.

We thought about going out a couple of times. I really, really wanted a cheeseburger but decided it was probably a better idea to have a quiet day at home. And we did. Chase took a rare afternoon nap to recharge her batteries a little and if you would believe it I got about a half hour in there where both girls were asleep. Like, at the same time and during the day too! I had a mug of tea and read a magazine under a blanket. It was so nice, so nice.

At some point Avery woke up and once I had her all changed and fed I noticed the afternoon sun flooding the living room so I fooled around with my camera a little more. Have I mentioned how nice Iphoto plays with flickr? It’s great. No thinking involved you can see all the pictures I took today as a nice neat set with today’s date.

Even though Chase wasn’t feeling so hot she kept the whining to a minimum. We had hot chocolate and sat on the couch and read lots of books. She especially likes the ones specially given to her by fiends and neighbors. We’re reading a lot of Make Way for Ducklings and Frances. Bread and Jam for Frances, Best Friends for Frances… she cleared the shelves, one book after another. It’s so rare that a Sunday goes the way Sundays are supposed to.

Now to steel myself for the new week. I’m not quite ready.

I Love Weekends!

2010-02-28T03:49:20Z

How I love the ACC show! This is the third year I’ve made the trek down there for it but the first time I’ve been for free and you know how I love free! It felt so luxurious to wander around and actually have some time to look and think and sometimes talk, you know, all at the same time.

There were so many fantastic vendors. I still covet all of the awesome knit, crochet and felted scarves. I don’t know how many years it will be before I convince myself to shell out 100 bucks or more for a scarf. That’s the thing about ACC. Some of the vendors are just so way out my league.

I couldn’t come back completely empty handed though! I found these totally adorable tiny cups by Beth Meuller and brought one home for each of the kiddoes. I think they’re just perfect for having a sip of a little something. A little milk with your cookies or a little chamomile tea maybe? When do babies start using cups again? They’re not quite the size of mug that I was in the market for. In fact, I should have picked up two with the french press design but I hesitated. I hate that.

And so of course you know I couldn’t come away without an awesome new Sweet Pepita design. I don’t know, this print just really grabbed me. Avery can’t wait to wear it tomorrow. I keep trying her pixie hat on her but her head still isn’t quite big enough to keep it from sliding down over her eyes. Soon though, soon. Go visit! The show runs through tomorrow. Go visit and stop by booth 319.

I love weekends! ACC this morning then back home again for a quick play date and then dinner at Spaghetti Disco. Poor Chase was really too tired to enjoy herself. I can’t believe it and I wish it wasn’t so but I think she’s getting sick again. I can’t stand it. However, Ben spotted buds on a tree on our walk home from dinner. Buds! Spring, I think she’s coming!

The only crappy part is that those two shots up there are the only two pictures I took all day. No wait, the crappy part is that Ping was at ACC! In a little booth with a sign that said I survived Project Runway. I should have taken a secret photo. I would rather be accused of trying to get a shot of Ping in a frenzy of minor celebrity starstruck… (ness?) than of trying to get a shot of Michael Phelps but that’s another kind of embarrassing story for another day. Happy Weekend!

Happy Friday!

2010-02-27T03:48:51Z

Another week over. Tomorrow is just jam packed with stuff to do. ACC here we come! I’m in the market for some new mugs. I bought a set of two nice porcelain mugs not too long ago but as we were down to nothing two just isn’t going to cut it.

I can’t believe how excited I am to go to this show. Ben and Chase are going to have some daddy daughter time because I just don’t think she’d have much fun with my yelling don’t touch that! the whole time.

I’ve got my battery charged, I’m ready! Stay tuned.

Crazy Craft Day

2010-02-25T02:42:38Z

We watched an hour of tv this morning and I hadn’t had one single additional request to watch by the time we left here today at 3:30! I’m patting myself on the back here big time for keeping busy during a day spent at home.

I even picked up a paint brush myself! It’s a cardinal! We’re still right in the middle of the big purge. I’m moving at a snail’s pace so we’ll be right in the middle for some time. I almost got through one whole box in the basement though… almost. Sometimes I really can’t believe what turns up in these boxes. This particular one happened to be filled with all kinds of paper. All kinds of stuff including some fancy watercolor paper. I decided to keep a set of pretty nice watercolors I picked up on clearance for Chase and we painted together at the kitchen table. I swear, that girl is my biggest fan. She wants me to hang the bird in her room. How can I say no to that?

After painting Chase picked up her beading again. She’s already made a couple of small bracelets for her friends. She’s working on this one relatively slowly… it’s for a grown up. I’m kind of amazed how quickly she went from primary lacing beads to these tiny little guys. I’m no expert but I think the lacing material is thicker than it should be for the size of these beads. I chose, I think, 1.5mm cord so that she’s be able to manipulate it without too much frustration and so far so good.

After the beads there was play doh and after play doh I let her play with my camera for a little while. Here’s what I found on my camera:

Super Toy

2010-02-23T01:52:23Z

I’ve mentioned Magna-Tiles a bunch of times before but really, they’re a super toy. They’re are single most played with and versatile toy at our house. Legos are a close second and maybe one day Tinker Toys will be too but Chase just loves these things.

Every time she’s playing with them I feel the need to grab my camera to document what she’s doing. Since I started really thinking about it, I’ve seen her fashion this small set into the Coliseum, a bomb shelter, a four car garage, and a tent city.

Hmm, the theme of play seems a little dark. I guess it really was more of an arena. The cat and dog show was held there and no one was injured in the course of it.

So if you ever wonder what I’m up to during the day, it’s always safe to assume that I’m either nursing or holding a lego person or potentially doing both of those things at the same time. We’re starting to accumulate a large number of lego and Playmobil figures. I ALWAYS have to be the babies. We’ve also been doing a lot of floor puzzles recently. What are the big favorites at your house?

Ha, just kidding. It turns out I’ve already written this same exact post. Well, let this be further endorsement.