living with toddlers

WOW

2007-11-09T23:06:00.000-05:00

My goodness..oh the stories I could tell you. My how times have changed. You couldn't even begin to imagine the 180 my life has taken in the past year and a half or so. Wowie. Let's just say it involves a reunion of a bunch of moms and craziness. I am now in the midst of a divorce. I'm just focusing on making sure the kids are ok and handling it alright. They are great and I love them dearly. Lauren is in kindergarten *shock* and Claire is in preschool. Just mind boggling!! Anyway I picked up a few more kids and a fabulous gal named Kt along the way. She has three boys that I adore. My girls are madly in love with her and think she is delightful. That is all that matters to me. She's sacrificed a lot to be with me and I find it mind blowing that she thinks I'm worth it.

Ok more about the munchkins. Lauren went into kindergarten reading at a second grade level. Can I just say how proud I am of that child!?!? All those hours of watching Leapfrog videos and playing silly games and such really paid off with her. She is adjusting great to school and she absolutely adores her teacher. I am so happy she has a great teacher. It means so much. Then there's Claire. Sweet sweet adorable Claire. She is truly a joy to be around. Her sense of humor is almost scary funny. I just love having conversations with that child. Not only that but she is a little smarty pants too. And pure and simple..I love them.

Remember what i said about

2006-02-11T23:49:00.000-05:00

posting more often?? I really should have..lol oh well i suck what can i say? I'm not even capitalizing this dangit. i don't care. what are you going to do? give me an F?? oh well here's the deal. i've taken over that message board..well actually made a new one. it's way fun and we are doing great. it's just time consuming. I'm doing that and helping some folks with their websites and all.

soooo i am like nonexistent between that stuff and the kiddos and such. anyway life is busy but good. we are going to see dora the explorer next month..my life will be complete then. i've seen sesame street and the wiggles (twice!) what more does one need?? yeah my life has gone to the pits. my dream concert is dora hooking up with one of these sweet boys that share a bedroom on sesame street...what's their names?? you know the fellas..one likes pigeons and paper clips..the other a rubber ducky.

ok off topic there for a few..yikes. anyway the site i am running is http://www.momsovermiles.net

also i have a new family website:
http://www.thescholls.net (I know..real original)

I really should post more often..REALLY

2005-11-30T09:23:00.000-05:00

This is shameful. I can't believe how long it has been since I've been on here. But I've been outrageously busy. I should be cleaning right now..but I figured I'd procrastinate some and mosey over here.

I'm in the process of a huge undertaking. The webboard I used to frequent more often than the bathroom in any given day is gone. I am so sad..I spent a good 3 years getting to know people on there so it has been a change. So what am I doing about it? I'm building us a new site! How utterly and completely insane is that?? Someone has to do it thought right? I have some experience in it and it'll be fine I suppose. It will be bare bones at first but we'll build it as we go. Also I am taking on some other websites and being their host. I hope things go well with this venture. I'm not really getting anything out of it other than a free webboard. As the paying sites will pay the monthly fees. And it will consume probably way too much of my time..but duty calls right? I feel like I need to do it and I suppose I will. Go figure.

Anyway with that and Christmas sneaking up on me I know I'll not be on here too much. I was sort of enjoying this outlet..maybe I'll use it as my vent board for real now..LOL Could be some interesting stories!

The girls are doing great. Claire talks like a champ. She isn't super clear but I understand most everything she says. She can say 5-6 word sentences at 19.5 months! I am so proud of her. Lauren is doing great as well. She spent the night at my aunts' house last week over Thanksgiving holiday and I didn't even have to go and get her. She had a blast. I think she'd move in with them!! Probably cause they spoil her rotten..lol

My brother and his family are going to be at my stepmoms over Christmas. I can't wait to see them all! Lauren just loves her cousin Sara and they'll have a blast together I am sure! I will have tons of pictures I imagine. I can't wait! Christmas is so nice..good to see family and spend some time together. Especially since we don't see them much.

If I'm not on here before Christmas I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!!

oh my i do so love you

2005-10-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

Yes claire i do love you. In spite of the last two days. truly I do. It's called unconditional love. Really. I hope one day you will demonstrate it to me when I pick you at school in my snowman pajama pants, soccer tshirt and fuzzy bunny slippers. Or when I try to act cool around your friends and you just want the floor to open up and swallow you. I know. But yes, it's going to happen..be ready.

So here's a rundown of yesterday's events.

1. Preparing to go to the firestation tour, I did just as my mommy taught me and went upstairs to pee before leaving. You all do it too don't you? I bet you do..at least since you've had kids. Just can't tote it like a camel anymore. So while I'm upstairs for all of 45 seconds I hear a door click. I think to myself..surely not! I hurry downstairs to and look out the front door. Lo and behold Claire is on the front porch on her little ride-along. But hey she put Lauren's bike helmet on first..that counts for something right? Lord give me strength.

2. So later she moseys into the kitchen while I'm in the living room with Lauren and Maggie. I follow her in and find her opening the cabinet under the sink. You know the one you keep your spic n span or whatever you clean with in?? Yeah. So now I'm either going to have to put child locks on it or move it all higher. It was never an issue with Lauren. 2 reasons..1. she actually listened when I said no..and 2. it was a lot easier to keep up with 1 kid compared to two and a puppy. Live and learn right?

On to today.

For the last few weeks I've noticed that the river rocks in my ficus tree pot have been disappearing. However there has been no telltale dirt or any true evidence..just looks like more soil is showing. I assumed Claire had been shifting them around or something. I put them there years ago to keep the cats (then kittens) from thinking it was a litterbox with scenery. All had been well til recently. So when I walked by today I looked and in the little spout thing (it's the kind you fill the bottom with water and it waters itself..simply because it's the only way i can keep a plant alive..watering once every 2 weeks or so) there was a rock sticking out. So I stick my finger in there and find the motherload of rocks. It was teeming with them. So while I'm digging them out and scratching my hand up I'm glaring at Claire who simply pretends that I don't exist at the moment and she has no idea how they got in there!

How this child thinks up the things she does I'll never know. They are certainly different kids with totally different thought processes. Lauren is the typical older child. Reserved, cautious in spite of being funny and outgoing. Claire is the typical second child, never says no to adventure..especially when it involves climbing. She is always into something and looking to figure things out..ie doors opening, rock jamming. Yet they are both hilarious and absolutely awesome together. They love one another, welcoming each others differences even embracing them. I'm scared to think of the future with the two of them working together. Milt and I will never be able to keep up at this rate. Lord help us through the teen years!!

(I'm not even going to mention the bathtub incident of last night...but I will say I got at least 20 new gray hairs from it!)

NO!

2005-10-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

So I used to think I said No a lot. Really. I did. I mean I have an 18 month old and a 3.5 year old..it was a legitimate thought. But then Maggie came along. I've said no in the last 6 days more than I've said it in the last year. No lie. Not that I've counted or anything..but I know it's close. Maggie NO. Maggie NO. NO Maggie. Then I find myself trying to reason with her. Serious Maggie...I meant NO. Really..why can't you just listen?? Ok now logic tells me she's 8 weeks old and really is just learning the word no and that if she doesn't listen she'll get consequences...mostly the object taken from her mouth. Cause that's almost always what she is doing..munching on toys. But good grief...it's hard to remember this when she's chewing Micheal of the Little People family and Claire is shrieking terrified. I think she's thinking, "If she'll eat Micheal it might be ME next!!" And sadly trying to reason with Claire is close to reasoning with Maggie.

Oh and now the ones who told me it'll get better with the sleep each night, (Which by the way it hasn't been great) have changed their tune. Now it's "Oh once you get past the first year it's not bad at all." Great..51 weeks and counting..woohoo.

an update of sorts

2005-10-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

Well we've taken on a cute little mischievious puppy named Maggie. Last you had all heard we were home and she is wonderful. I think that was the first day..had to be. She has been a spawn of Satan since then. Hell on paws would make a great nickname. The first night I got about 4 hours of sleep..and OH i whined. How I whined. Everyone assured me it would get better. Every night will be a little better..it'll be great in no time! TRUST.ME they said. Saturday night..i think it was saturday night...can't remember days anymore...she let me sleep oh 2 hours I guess. Yeah..now I haven't been in a math class for awhile..but I'm pretty sure 2 hours is less than 4. Right? Ok..just so I'm not totally insane yet. So anyway yeah no sleep + new puppy + 2 small kids = ludicrous. So by Sunday morning I am trying to literally force my eyes open. Not only did she whine all night the two nights..but she barked, bellered, boohoo'ed and did all but literally say COME ON YA'LL COME GET ME OUT OF HERE!! Such a treat.

So things start to look up. She decides having a crate isn't that horrible and she starts to actually sleep some. She would still fuss some but then settle in. House training is going ok at this point..she's even been going to the door and whining to get out occasionally. I thought wow this dog's great! She's responding to her name and was even fetching some already after 3 days of being at our house! What a genius! Then along came today.

I was up at 6:30, showered, came down to hang out with her. Since she had decided it was morning play time. So all is well. I hang with her. We had a meeting for momsclub today so I tried to get things rolling. She went out and pooped early this morning and then I had her pee right before we left. With this in mind I knew I had about 2-3 hours before I'd have to get back. I knew she was tired because she hadn't slept yet this morning. Life was good!

We get home..and something is wrong. I look around..things are in place..but I detect something. An odor. A foul disgusting odor. Like poop. I look in the crate and Maggie the wonder pup is jumping for joy and is beyond gleeful at our presence! But yeah that odor..it was coming from the crate. She had pooped in her crate. Oh goody. So I pull her out refusing to put her down til we get outside. She looks at me like what? I had to go you know? So ok we go back in after she pees for about the 10th time today. (Her bladder must seriously be the size of an almond, tops) I take her in and use baby wipes (always handy and so many uses!!) to clean her still nasty poopy paws.

Then I proceed to clean the crate. While trying to take out the divider...I have to keep the kids and the dog out of the way. They all insisted in being right in my face the entire time. Makes for a stressful time I assure you. The girls were hungry, it was lunch time. I, of course, was hardly thinking about lunch..I was thinking "My God this stinks." So after cleaning it all up and running the dog bed cover through the wash things were looking up. Then I ran upstairs to read Lauren a story before her nap. Maggie was sleeping on the floor so I figured, "Well it'll take less than 10 minutes she'll be fine" I come down and of course there's a puddle of pee on the floor and a whiny puppy trying to figure out where the heck I went. It's just like a little kid..they KNOW when you try to sneak out the door. How is that??!!? Any other time you could drop a bomb off in the room and they don't flinch..but the one time she's out of the crate and sleeping she hears everything.

So seriously she's cute and she's quite comical at times. She can fetch already and she knows her name too! The girls LOVE her so I guess that's all that really matters, right? To see some pics of her and the kids go here.

just dandy

2005-09-15T19:27:00.000-05:00

we have to get rid of our youngest cat. we've given her more than enough chances. we have loved her as much if not more than the others. partly because lauren is so close to her. what am i going to tell lauren?? the cat got in her basket of clean clothes and pissed all over them. i am soooo mad i can barely think straight. i can't tolerate that. i don't know what to do i'm at a total loss about this. we've had her 4 years. with a dog coming there is no way she'll improve. not like she behaves now. she did it twice to the clothes..we didn't know about the one til milt started going through the clothes. we are just flabbergasted by this. i mean she's had her moments but never towards lauren's stuff. i am not happy but not sure what to do. she has to go soon. i am not letting my emotions and pity take over and keep her. she just does not fit in..we've tried and tried and i know milt will not let her stay now. it's just gotten to be too much. dangit i love that cat though..

she has her own personal cat litter box with those expensive crystals in them because she doesn't like the regular litter. we are talking about a diva here. i think it's just she wants ALL of our attention. it's not like she doesn't get plenty of it..but it's just not enough apparently. i can't sit around all day and pet her..i have 2 kids and 3 other cats and a dog on the way. she just needs a home with a little old lady with no other pets that can sit and pet her all day..lol how do you advertise a cat like that??

FOR FREE: CAT WHO PISSES ON CLOTHES. NO GUN OWNERS PLEASE. OH YEAH SHE'S CUTE.

oh yeah go here for pictures of ms. cuteness with her best bud, Lauren.

pointless conversation

2005-09-09T19:33:00.000-05:00

Claire begins yanking down the Little People airport off the toy chest.

Me: Claire!! NONO!! STOP!!

Claire:*looks up in surprise but continues yanking*

Me: CLAIRE ASHLEY STOP!

Claire:*yanks it down*

Me: Why did you just do that???

Claire:*smiles and utters nonsense*

Why did I bother???

still around

2005-09-07T20:07:00.000-05:00

I really should post more often. Not sure why I don't. It's not like I'm never on the computer or something. Lauren started preschool yesterday. That was exciting. She did really well. At first she didn't want to go into her classroom, she wanted to go into the other one. The reason being, she spent a week in the other classroom for Vacation Bible School in August. Poor girl was confused. I finally convinced her to go the right room when I reminded her it was the room we had met her teacher in the week before. She goes again tomorrow. She is excited again. That makes me feel good and that we made the right decision to send her. For entertaining pictures see this link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=628863837205&photoid=194771147205

Also after the school pictures there are some of Claire making faces. She is quite comical. We spent the afternoon being goofs. After those pics are a few of Lauren trying on her Halloween costume. Yes it's early but hey she wanted it and I figured I better get it now while it's still available. Claire is going to be a monkey. She hardly needs a costume for that. She plays that role quite well everyday.

Post more soon. I hope!

it's not pretty

2005-08-24T09:05:00.000-05:00

So it's pretty much become WWIII here. Lauren has decided that nothing I say is important enough to turn even one ear toward anymore. She blatantly refuses to follow any directions or orders I give. Think Mutiny on the S.S. Feathersword. Like the Bounty but downscaled. It's not pretty. Example:

Lauren(at crack of dawn):Mommy can I get up?
Mommy: No it's still sleepy time.
(hears feet hitting floor, Lauren enters room)
Mommy: Didn't I JUST tell you it's not time to get up?
Lauren:(smiles and climbs in Mommy's bed)
(Mommy is too exhausted and says just be quiet while you're in here)
Lauren:Mommy can I turn the tv on? Mommy can I watch a movie??
Mommy:NO LAUREN. It's not awake time.
Lauren:BUT THE SUN'S UP!!

Apparently we live and die by the sun and moon at this house. If the sun is up then we are to be awake..so that means roughly from 6ish AM til about 9PM she should be awake. I don't think so. Not in this house. Sleep is sacred..I cherish sleep. After I spent her first year NOT sleeping..I'm still trying to catch up dangit.

She's pushing her limits big time. I'm assuming it's partly because Milt has started back at school and isn't home as much. Anytime we have a change in routine the girls get out of sorts. But she's never been so openly defiant. She will flat out say No and stick to it. While I admire her determination it doesn't fly here. So she spends many quality moments contemplating life with her butt planted on a chair facing a wall. Hopefully this will get better soon.

Claire however thinks it's just hilarious when Lauren acts like this. The other day Lauren threw a huge fit because she didn't want to take a nap (btw I'd KILL for someone to tell me to take a nap). So Lauren was sitting on the potty sobbing like there was no tomorrow and Claire walks in, looks at her, and just cracks up. You'd have thought Elmo was there sitting on the potty. So I had to sweep in and give her a little talk about sissy having issues and that it wasn't really that funny. And one day she'd probably need therapy about toilets and uncontrollable crying everytime she neared one.

Latest happy moment:
I can whisper I love you to Claire and she whispers it back. All is well once again.

The Monkey and The Future

2005-07-28T20:29:00.000-05:00

ok so Claire is our climber. I came in from the kitchen to the living room to find this:

Then later I saw a foreshadowing of the future..say about 10-12 years from now. (hopefully that long..LOL)

life and a urine bag

2005-07-28T13:47:00.000-05:00

Claire has decided to come down with the spotted plague..so much for the shots keeping the plague away. She has a mild rash, fever and overall extreme crankiness. If there was a sport called extreme crankiness she would get the gold medal. She has spent the last 3 days walking around whining, hanging on our legs and random sobbing. It's been rather frustrating. We took her to the dr yesterday, he suspects it just a viral type thing since her throat is a tad red, but he said it could be the shots she had 10 days ago. OR it could be a UTI. So instead of making her suffer through a catheter to get a urine sample they sent us home with a bag. Now this bag has adhesive with a hole in the middle that you strap to the unsuspecting toddler's crotch. You can imagine how well that went over. We tried once..it leaked out somehow onto the diaper. So at 6 last night i put a new bag on and waited. And waited, and waited. By 9 pm I put her in our bed with me and she fell asleep. I wanted to keep her close so if she pee'd I could get it to put in the cup. (My God what has become of my life??) Anyway she simply just didn't pee. From 6-11 nothing..so I gave up and put her in her bed.

By this time Lauren woke up for some reason. I went in there to do mommy duty, oh great protector that I am. She proceeds to tell me she wants a bridge. HUH? I said a BRIDGE? She says UHUH and rolls over. I think she was asleep. Not sure what that dream was about. Anyway, I go to our room get settled in finally at about 12 only to hear Claire stir. I go to check on her..hoping that she had pee'd and it woke her. Nope. Nothing. So I go back to our room and Milt stirs. He proceeds to tell me to shred it. SHRED IT? This was after about 30 seconds of mindless rambling that I could not decipher. So I bust out laughing and he whines something about not being fair he's asleep. haha. Everything is open game in this house my friend.

We get up this morning..I jaunt over to Claire's room, in hopes of getting pee for the cup. NOTHING. This child did not pee from 6pm until 9:30..none. So at 10 or so she finally did. You can imagine the delight Claire had when we undid her diaper and pulled adhesive off her crotch. She said "UHH UHH UHH" Like "Mommy what the heck are you doing??!?!" Anyway we got it and it's at the dr's office. Hopefully it will be clear and it was just a viral thing. She seems a little better today..not moaning and groaning. She hasn't eaten a lot but she's not so clingy..I'll take it.

they have taken over

2005-07-14T18:33:00.000-05:00

We are sitting here on the couch as the little spawnlings have taken over. I don't think we even care at this point. We were out of town for two weeks and then decided at the last minute last Saturday night to get the heck out of Dodge..seeing that 'Dodge' was Meridian, MS and they were about to be hammered by Hurricane Dennis. We left that night around 10 and stopped in Chattanooga at about 3:30 AM. Then Claire..God love her..decided to get up at 7am for the sheer thrill of it. So we got about 3.5 hours of sleep. Then we drove til midnight on Sunday. By the end Lauren was begging for "my house and my bed". Bless her heart.

Anyway to make sure we got some good recovery time we made sure to make a large amount of dr's appointments for this week. Tuesday I had my pre-op appt. Then yesterday we took two of our cats to the vet. They are fine..which was good. Then I took the other two up today. Our vet is an hour away from here..no biggie..except we have the whiniest cats on the face of the earth. On the way up Abby peed in the carrier..hence all over herself. So she was cleaned up at the vets..then on the way home Eli peed on himself. It's not like I could have made them go pee before we left..what could I do??

Oh and tomorrow Claire has her 15 month appt. She has to get two shots..I know she'll be almost as mad as the cats were at me today. Oh well they are for her own good. One day she'll thank me that she didn't get some odd plague or something!

Suppose

2005-06-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

you were to walk down my street and peek in my door..

Hello

2005-06-13T21:06:00.000-05:00

trying this out..I need somewhere to post my ramblings and nonsense. this seemed like as good a place as any. more later.

Who knew

2005-06-13T20:51:00.000-05:00

that I'd be singing the Barney theme song to calm Claire down when she's upset or sad?

that I would look forward to new episodes of Sesame Street with glee and more anticipation than a new episode of ER?

that I'd search the internet like a madwoman the day before the Wiggles presale started so I would have the secret code and get good seats?

that my entire house would consist of toys?

that I'd be awakened by two little girls squealing at 7am and not be the least bit mad?

that I'd watch my girls play together and get that warm fuzzy feeling I used to save for 'feel-good' movies and that it would be ten times better now with my girls?

that the best thing I've ever heard in my life is I love you Mom.

that the second best thing I've ever heard was a 3am mumble by Claire the other night, it was a slurred sleepy 'mom' while she fished around for her pacifier.

that I'd skip shopping to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese??

that the best furniture in my house is a red foam Elmo chair and a little mermaid beach chair?

that I get more excited buying an Elmo sprinkler than anything for me?(wait or was that for me? )

that I'd have my own personal destroyer name Claire-zilla?

in case you didn't notice I love them with all I got.