Blither Blather Blogger

I should know better than to wait for inspiration when writing a blog. My muse doesn't visit me often these days. I'm too busy cleaning up potty training accidents, cleaning up toys, cleaning bottoms, cleaning up something.... Even when she does pop in for a fleeting moment, a more mundane activity quickly shoos her on her way. The following will be mostly blather. You've been forewarned. :)

Today was a beautiful day. Spring has finally decided to come to nest, pushing Winter out, I hope. I think May is my favorite month of the year, with October coming in a close second. In May, everything is so alive. After such a long hibernation, it's so refreshing to feel the sun, to see and smell the green of everything.

Catching bubbles

These bubbles were cool, weird, and super sticky. They had a thick "skin" and lingered around even after landing. Anika loved them!

I've been planning for the kids' birthdays for the past few weeks. I'm excited about Anika's in particular this year. She knows definitively that her birthday is coming up and it will be day all about her. I'll ask her old she is going to be and almost without fail, she'll answer "Three! But I'm two now...", while holding up the appropriate number of fingers. For Anika's party, I've got a simple theme of polka dots planned. I thought about an Angelina Ballerina theme, but decided against going the route of a character. I've got big plans for her day. I've been dying to try my hand at the ever-popular cake balls, so I'll definitely have some of those. I'm picturing simple white powdered sugar frosting on the balls with rainbow sprinkles, a small smash cake with fondant or fruit roll up polka dots, barrettes with pom poms for Anika and cousin Lauren, melon balls, etc... etc.... I've made her a felt flag banner to put up, which was fun and simple.

I just glued on the letters with Fabri-Tac - I figure it doesn't need to be heirloom quality, but hopefully it will last through a few birthdays. I really want to make Anika a cape too, as she's taken to running around the house either her shirt or napkins or any other piece of fabric behind her yelling "Super Why to the rescue!", mimicking the main caped character of one of her favorite PBS shows. I love the polka dotted fabric included in the banner, so maybe I'll incorporate that into a cape somehow.

As for Kaden, I think I'll do pinwheels. Nothing elaborate, as he won't remember. Probably stick a pinwheel into a cake and call it a day. :)

Kaden, Anika and I continue to find our groove, or at least continue our search for it. I spend most of my time at home most days. One or both kids are napping at most times during the day. My schedule consists mostly of breastfeeding Kaden, feeding Kaden, feeding Anika, running to the bathroom to help Anika with the potty, or putting one of them down for a nap.

 I'm trying my best not to go crazy being at home so much by attempting to get out for the brief periods between naps. At the very least to go outside our house with Kaden to play with Anika for a while.

We don't have much of a front yard yet. It's all cement and mud, but there is one pile of compost mix that we trailered in that Anika has made into her own dirtbox. She loves to take her miniature shovel, rake, and gloves to go garden and fill up her John Deere dump truck.

Notice the little piles all over the driveway...

We had a nice low-key Easter this year. We spend the morning with the Johansons (I forgot my camera! :( ), came back for Anika's nap, and then Mom, Gretch, Dylan and Jak came over in the afternoon. The older I get, the more I enjoy having my family live close to me... I'd say there almost isn't a day that goes by that I don't talk to my sister or mom now. The kids know their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and so love to spend time with them!

Coloring with Jak, who was forced against his will to wear a tutu...

Earlier in the week, I colored eggs with Anika during one of Kaden's naps, and Anika loved it. She couldn't quite master the wire egg dipper though. Most of the time the egg ended up falling off into the dye water, splashing color everywhere. We just gave up and used our hands, which was only slightly less splashful.

Note the inside-out backward shirt. Hey, at least it's on. That's a battle in and of itself most days.

In the next few days, I'm going to try and write an "I want to remember all these tiny details" post about my kids. Kaden is growing leaps and bounds, and Anika says and does the most adorable things, I've got to try and memorialize some of them here, for my own sake. Simple things like Anika singing lullabies to Kaden or the fact that she has to eat applesauce or yogurt with two spoons, always. Time speeds by and I wish I could slow it down a little sometimes. I can't believe my baby girl will be three, and my little man will be one in just a few weeks!

We just keep on truckin'!

Go Hike Hike Day

Down the road from my house is a great hiking spot - Oak Creek. It's 8000+ acres of forested land owned by Oregon State University. Just recently, we've begun to visit more frequently. On one rare sunny morning this week, I decided to take the kids out and explore. I got the diaper bag ready for Kaden, lugged out the Ergo, clipped on the pacifier holder, dressed Anika appropriately, socks, shoes, long-sleeves all around, and finally, we were off.

Anika absolutely loved it! She walked next to me most of the time, between spurts of racing ahead and racing back. We saw many "Wawfaw" (waterfalls) and lots and lots of dogs. Every dog that came by, Anika would exclaim:

"Mommy! That's our dog!"
Me: "No honey, other people have dogs too. Lots of people have dogs."
Anika: "We have dog. My dog name Grizzly. Grizzly my beeest frieeeend. I wuv my dog." (And he loves you because you pass him entire sticks of string cheese under the table...*sigh*).

At one point on the walk, I took a deep, audible breath in through my nose and out my mouth, which Anika immediately mimicked. I asked her, "What do you smell, Anika?" Long pause, footfalls on gravel. "Ummmm, ice cream, mommy!" Chuckle.

Other sound bites:
"Woooow, mommy! Wawfaw!" (Which is really the creek, again.)
"Mommy, there's mud erywhere."

It was really delightful. The breeze was cool in the shadows, warm in the sun, and smelled like the forest - damp, fresh, and alive. We could hear the creek during most of the walk, rushing loud as it came near the trail, and quieting as it flowed away. The plants were just beginning to sprout into a symphony of greens. Nettles thickly blanketed the ground, which we did avoid, thank goodness. It was beautiful - the sun, the shadows, the slight chill in the air, the buzz of spring awakening. Kaden was soundly asleep and Anika was on her own personal forest adventure. It was most certainly worth the hassle of gathering everything together...

...until...

"Mommy, I have go bathroom."

Srsly? We are nearly at the farther point from the car and the Porta-Potty, so squatting it will have to be.
No big deal, I figure, so I quickly corral Anika back and take her into the roughage next to the path, thinking please please please just be pee. At this point, I'm realizing how not easy it is to squat down in the forest with a sleeping baby strapped to my chest, in order to strip my toddler down as quickly as possible, and attempt to teach her how to pee her first pee in the wild. With some awkward maneuvering, I eventually get her into the squat and tell her "Ok, go pee now."

And go she did!...

... Unfortunately, she stood straight up to do it! Her shirt hem, pants, and underwear got completely soaked, as did the tops of her socks.

So, there I was, standing in the middle of the forest with a bare-bottomed, urine-saturated toddler and a sleeping baby, wondering how I was going to get us all back to car as quickly as possible. I didn't have an extra set of Anika clothes on me, so I did the only thing I could do - I pulled up her wet, still warm pants, and we hauled balls back the way we came.

After when felt like an eternity, we finally got back to the car with only minor chaffing. I was just going through the motions, trying to get everyone packed into the car quickly, and to get Anika out of her clothes. While Anika stood there cold and wet, I threw open the car door to get Kaden buckled in. Too much in my focus, I wasn't careful enough opening the door. THWUNK. The door hit Anika hard in the head, and she was tossed to the gravel road. Anika, soaking wet, began to cry, as a vertical bruise started to form on her cheek. I quickly woke up Kaden and loaded him into the to car seat, as he added his own wail and flail to the chorus. Once Kaden was buckled in, I gingerly grabbed Anika and stood her up in the trunk, stripped off all her clothes, wiped her down with a cold wet wipe and plopped her in the seat. I felt so awful for her. I'm sure if there had been onlookers, they would have been aghast.

Despite all of the drama, it was fun. I had to laugh to myself on the way home at how funny (and tough and painful) life can be.

We went "hiking" a lot this week, in between the raindrops. I got to take a couple all by myself, which was relaxing and centering. Listening to music and being outside are two of my favorite things to do. Although, it did seem sacrilegious listening to T-Pain and Pitbull in such a serene locale...

Anika has asked me everyday this week to "Go hike hike day?" Sure, we'll go hiking today if you want to. :)

Monsters

Monsters on the brain...

Anika is now scared of the dark; or at least, that's what she says. She'll look down a dark hallway or a shadowed corner at night, and say "Mama, me scared" - and will then ball her fists up, bite down her jaw, and do a little full body tremor, a caricature of fear. I have no idea where she picked up this move, maybe from a cartoon or movie, but it's really cute. "Mama, me scared." "What are you scared of, Anika?" And always it is a pointed finger towards the shadows: "dark." We've put two nightlights in her room, as well as a strand of dim Christmas lights and they seem to have abated her fear for now.

Anika's also terrified of the dog in the yellow raincoat at Grandma and Grandpa's house - the one that wails a scratchy rendition of "Singin' in the Rain" while wiggling back and forth. She'll see it on the bookshelf, grab it, and chuck it over the stair railing so she can't see it. But in terms of her fear of the dark, the most concrete explanation I can get as to what exactly scares her is simply that - because its the "dark." She's never named anything in particular, like the Boogie Man - and I guess I don't need any other clarification. What is more frightening than what you cannot see? 

Admittedly, I am often scared of the dark as well. A few night ago, I was sitting in the living room, reading a magazine (Parenting Early Years, me thinks). It was probably 10 or 11. Ryan was on call, so it's just me and my babies, who were sleeping soundly upstairs. Suddenly, I hear a sound outside on the deck. Of course, my imagination ignites and I begin concocting visions of masked intruders and strangers in the house. In the same second, my mind attempts a rational explanation. "It must be the house settling." "Perhaps it's an animal of some kind." I return to reading my magazine and then, a few minutes later, I hear a similar sound, farther down the deck. My hackles silently and invisibly raise, but I keep "reading".

At this point, I decide I probably should just turn the light on and see. I grab my phone, and walk over to the light switch. For a brief breath, I hesitate to turn them on. Because what's worse: thinking someone or something might be outside looking in at you, or turning on the lights and actually seeing someone looking in at you, a la that Scream movie. I opt for the turning on the lights route. Click. Yup, nobody's out there. But at this point, my ridiculous adrenaline-engorged senses are so heightened, I'm hearing every. little. sound. - and of course thinking someone is breaking in or attempting to do so. At this point, I do what any rational person would do: I grab my phone and pretend to call 911. Loud exclamation: "Hello, SOMEONE is breaking into my HOUSE, here's my ADDRESS, yes, you'll be here in 3 MINUTES? Yes, I'll stay on the line UNTIL YOU GET HERE."

Kuh-razy lady. I won't deny it. I didn't even tell my husband, because who does that kind of stuff?! Yup, just crazy people. And me.

Anyway...

I spent the next 5 minutes or so, turning on all the lights around the house and brazenly looking out all the windows. I think I even opened the front door at one point and scoured the forested quiet outside, all the while trying to recall where Ryan keeps the axe he uses to chop the firewood. At some point, I came back down to earth and realized that it really was the house settling, who would have thought of that?! I do tend to let my imagination get the best of me, I literally cannot help it. Once my brain lights the "worst case scenario" match, the gunpowder is off and running. In this way, I am my own monster, debilitating myself by thinking too much.

Another beast we've attempted to master lately is *drumroll*: Potty Training! We'd been trying to get Anika to sit on the potty and go for weeks now. I read somewhere that if you push a child too soon to train you could delay your progress. So I definitely didn't want to do that. However, I was getting pretty tired of changing diapers all day long, a la toddler/baby rotation. So a week ago, in the morning, I decided that was the day and hoped Anika was willing to try my plan. I actually pulled the potty chair into the living room, where we spend most of our time. I know, I know, maybe not the most kosher thing, the potty in our living area, but really, I don't care. I was going to try it at least! Nonchalantly (ha ha), I asked Anika if she'd like to sit on the potty chair. Her answer? An immediate shriek: "No!!!!" My normal response would have been to back down and not push it. But nope, not that day. "Yes, Anika, we are going to use the potty." "No." "Yes." "No!" "Yes." No!" "YES." "NOOOOO!!!!!!" "YES!" And whadaya know, she walked over to the potty and sat down, and in about 10 minutes she peed! Besides, nap times and bed times, that's the last diaper we've used. She must have just been ready to do it, because she knew exactly what to do, the little stinker. And I'm sure my bribes of chocolate milk helped as well. We're getting a sticker chart to replace the chocolate milk. We'll see how that goes. Whatever the means (bribes - gasp!), we are daytime potty trained, as far as I can see. Now she's just proud when she does it. and I am over the MOON proud of her too. That monster's been tamed. Next up, nap times and bed times...

Besides potty training, our days lately have been filled with unpacking, day to day activities, and turning our new house into a new home. Earlier this week, I rocked out a freezer meal day. I wish I'd taken photos along the way, but my grand total for the day was 2 lasagnas, 2 chicken and rice casseroles, one humongous stock pot of chili (made with garbanzo, black, and kidney beans from scratch), and 10 big breakfast burritos. We are set for at least a few weeks of dinners, and I have plenty to share with my brother-in-law and good friend Beth, who just had their second baby this week.

I also went to an open house for the Philomath Montessori School and got to observe the students this week. What a wonder it was to see all these little people, working quietly and harmoniously together, cleaning up after themselves, being responsibly independent. A utopia I could have never imagined! I hope I glimpsed my future... Anika is enrolled for this Fall, and may start earlier if an appropriate opening comes up. It's four days a week, from 9 am to noon, with an art-centric class on Fridays. I cannot wait. It is going to be so wonderful for Anika to interact  with other children, younger and a bit older than her as well. She will learn so much in an environment I just can't provide for her here at home. And have so much fun while doing so! And Kaden and I will get some alone time. September, hurry up!

And just 'cause...

No monsters on the brain after I see that smiling face... 

My Beauty Top Ten

I haven't had the chance to pamper myself in quite a while. I just looked down at my toes, thinking about a mere few years ago when I had the time and flexibility to take care of them. Not that I did it super often, but I remember from time to time, I'd soak my feet in Epson-salty warm water, pumice my feet into a leathery softness, slather them with my favorite foot lotion (LUSH's Pied de Pepper - spicy, delicious yumness), yank on some socks, before kicking them up to watch an episode of Friends or Desperate Housewives. Well, I just recently threw away the remnants of my Pied de Pepper. It was nasty - all separated and liquidy, a far cry from its opaque and creamy hey-day. I just don't have the time to pumice and slather and recline much anymore. Although I did get a pedicure with my good friend Beth, what, six months ago? From which I still proudly sport a jagged sliver of burgundy nail polish on the tips of each of my big toenails. Never surrender!

Anyway...

My beauty regime is less a lingering pamper, and more a minimal, rote series of events. Since having Anika in 2008, what I do is exactly that: a routine. However, in the name of good spirits, hope, wishful thinking, whatever you'd like to call it, I'm sharing my list of my favorite beauty products that I love and have loved, whether by necessity or desire. This was actually in response to a Show Us Your Life post from one of the blogs I read regularly, but I was too late to join in. So, a solo post will have to do. Here's my top ten beauty products I use.

1. Bare Escentuals Foundation - in the fairest color, natch, appropriately titled FAIR. This is the product that really made me interested in beauty products. The dip, tap, swirl method of the mineral makeup is really easy for me, and not heavy looking. I love it. And then I looked into their eyeshadows and.....

2. ... found Bare Escentuals Celestine. It's just a lovely cool neutral taupe that works great with my pale skin and greeny/bluey eyes. And it's just shimmery enough to make me swoon.

3. Biolage Defining Elixir - My holy grail of hair products. I've been using this for over 15 years and haven't found anything that works as well for my hair type. It defrizzes and separates my curls without weighing down my hair or making it greasy or crisp, two words I don't want associated with my hair - groooooosssssss.

4. Trader Joe's Honey Mango Cream Shave - Yum to the um. This stuff smells like a tropical deliciousness. And its $3. It makes me want to go shave my legs right now. Actually, I'll be right back...

5. Laura Geller Balance and Bronze - If I could take one piece of makeup with me to the deserted island, it would be this. I can use it as an all over color, blush, bronzer, eyeshadow and concealer. How miggity-magical is that? And it lasts for-ev-er. I've literally had my B&B for well over five years, I use it nearly every single day, and there's still about a third left. Laura, please don't ever stop making this.

6. Origins Ginger Essence Perfume - My signature scent. It's just so fresh and so clean clean. A little citrus, a little spice. They should make it into a cocktail.

7. Almay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads - Utilitarian. These little pads are total workhorses. They get the job done well.

8. MAC pigments - How could I pick just one of these. I just can't. MAC. I loooooooooove you. You sucked me in with your sparkly Crayola hues, like Key West on a Saturday. Crayola hues that I never actually wear, but just really like to look at. I stick with colors like Subtle, Coco, Goldenaire, Mauvement... Neutral colors, with some purples too. I've pared down my stash considerably, but just can't get rid of all of them.

9. Philosophy Shampoo, Shower Gel, and Bubble Baths (3-in-1s) - Any and all. The one I am currently enjoying is Coconut Toasted Marshmellow. I'm not sure if I should eat it, or just smell it, but oh YUM! It's tropical with just the slight slight slightest bit of bakery. Also, Cinnamon Buns is the bomb. Seriously, go buy it. And then lather, rinse and yes please repeat.

10. Biolage Detangling Solution - Just the tiniest dollop of this gets through my curly birds nest wind storm hair on a bad day.

Update: I got to do a spa day with my sister right after I finished writing this. And (to quote my good friend Michele) man oh Manischevitz did I need it. It was pure condensed euphoria. And we had a beautiful snow day to cherry the sundae. Ah, sweet relaxation! Chummin' me in, relaxing my defenses. What a difference a day makes...

Monday, I am so ready for you. Bring it.