Being Strong and Wearing My Hats

I'm wearing my hats and I think I'm doing a fairly good job at it. These hats include (and are not limited to)(and not all are in a particular order)**:

1. Wife
2. Mom
3. Housekeeper
4. Childcare provider (sort of goes with mom, I suppose)
5. Cook
6. Dog care provider (wipe muddy feet, feed, water, stop from barking at the neighbors, play, brush, medicate, clip nails, brush, etc)
7. Full time employee
8. Friend
9. Attempted exerciser (yeah, b/c this is regular...)
10. Bather of people (human and fuzzy) smaller than I

That said, it can get really overwhelming when I don't have everyone in the family on board. I'm currently "in negotiations" with the other major provider of the household and it's left me somewhat overwhelmed. Lots of it has to do with how "free time" (b/c that exists anymore with an adorable little monkey hanging around all the time) is spent and how much some get and others don't. It absolutely does not help that Adam travels and we are at the beginning of a very busy 3 month run here (again, this is a life we chose and I'm very aware of that). However, outside of that, it's still a bit busier than I would anticipate for a family of three (five, if you count the fuzzy humans) so on to "negotiations" it is. 

**Disclaimer: I realize that many other women wear these hats and that I'm not the only one who feels overwhelmed by them sometimes. Our job is to delegate and be tough. ;-) Or something like that.

Hot hot hot!

It's 85 degrees outside, the windows are open, and a great wind is keeping us all from being overly hot. Morgan is napping in her birthday suit (and diaper, I'm not completely losing my mind in the heat), the lawn is mowed, I've got my coffee and creamer for the week (thank you HyVee for carrying my creamer - Peppermint Mocha YUM), and I think we're ready for an Adam-less, first day back to swimming lessons on Thursday kind of week. Life is good right now.

We are off to the QCs in a bit for a family dinner with the Ries and Keibler families and then home to relax for the week. Thankfully it's my last full work week of April as I have Good Friday and the following Monday off - sounds good to me. These 5-day work weeks are killer. ;-)

I wish:

1. I could get Morgan to understand it's more PC to whisper "potty" in church rather than yell it out loud. Super loud. Every time.
2. Adam didn't have to travel. I'm not going to lie. 
3. That everything (including myself) would go get itself ready to go in a bit.
4. That I could have a pedicure tomorrow.
5. That I will be able to continue to thank my lucky stars for all the amazing blessings in our life. Amen.

The Zoo!

I decided Morgan and I were going to go to the Niabi Zoo in the Quad Cities today while Adam was golfing for something to do. Last year we went and I think she was probably 8-10 months old (see old posts, I'm sure it's in there somewhere) and while we had fun, she was a little young for it. This year she walked around the entire zoo like a big girl and did not want to be in her stroller. It was much colder than I thought it was going to be since it was supposed to be almost 80 (was actually 81 by the end of the day - yeah!) - it was about 50 degrees the entire time we were there. By the time we got home around 1:30 after lunch with the Gregory's (who came to the zoo with us), it was almost hot in jeans and a tshirt. I love the warmer weather! (tomorrow it's supposed to be mid-80s, WI-ites...not bragging or anything, I swear...)

Morgan then continued her nap at home for entirely too short of a time as I decided to nap with her. Adam decided to go to softball practice at 3pm today instead of 1pm tomorrow so we just have the whole day tomorrow as a family. :) Since there is nice playground at this ballpark and I can't stand the state of my filthy house right now, we decided to take a separate car (b/c one never knows if a little girl has to leave) and go along with him. We were there for an hour and a half before she finally tuckered out, asked for some cookies (and got crackers instead - that kid's been begging for cookies all the time lately), and we left.

On our way home, I nonchalantly asked Morgan what she wanted for dinner. I don't know what I expected from her in return, but sure enough if she didn't say "ham." I asked her again just to be sure that's what I heard and sure enough, Morgan wanted ham for supper. Maybe it's b/c I asked her if she wanted ham in her eggs this morning? Either way, I'm asking her at every meal I need to plan b/c we ended up having potato salad, coleslaw, green beans, and ham and it was awesome. Morgan is now the official meal planner for the Schmidt household. :)

Poor kiddo, though...starting...oh, last night, she started having some diarrhea. It continued throughout the day but wasn't bad enough to cause her any accidents or anything (although it did wake her up early from her afternoon nap, boo hiss) and you'd never know if she wasn't feeling well from it, but first of all, yuck, esp in a potty chair and second, yuck, I'm sure her tummy must hurt a little. Hopefully she's on the tail end of it by tomorrow.

PS. This working a full week and having a 2-day weekend is for the birds. I would like 3-4 day weekends from now on. Thank you. Oh, and of course be paid the same amount as a FT worker. :)

I think I even got a little sun today in the warmer weather. SO beautiful out now...and yes, I know when it's 100 degrees and humid as all get-out in the middle of summer, I'll want to escape to WI. Which we will. We totally win.

On that note, I see a couch with my horizontal name on it with PJs. Check FB soon for zoo pictures. Looking forward to dinner with Keiblers and Ries'/Rieses/Ries's (what the heck is the plural of their name!?!?) tomorrow night! I'm bringing my apple crumb pie and am tempted to make one right this minute to eat all by myself before bringing two tomorrow. :)

Wash Machine Workout

Meaning, the wash machine is getting a good workout tonight. My laundry schedule is all sorts of off (usually done on the weekends, particularly Sundays) so I'm doing laundry...but there are quite a few shirts COVERED in sidewalk chalk so the washer has its work cut out for it. Dear warmer weather, I heart you.

Reasons we love the warmer weather:

1. We get to use sidewalk chalk and write/name/stand on letters, make chalk Morgans all over the driveway, and carry the giant chalk all over while swinging our arms while simultaneously drawing all over our shirts.
2. Walks at any time as long as we're fed. ;-)
3. No coats.
4. Morgan's reaction to dog poo. It's hilarious. And thankfully for now, she walks around it and sort of ignores it.
   
5. Teaching Morgan all about the outside world around her.
6. Playing "I spy"
   
7. Swinging!!! (that was Morgan's addition)
8. Going to the park.
9. Everything moving 20x faster with one word - potty.
10. Morgan in sun hats and/or sunglasses.
    

Ok, so apparently this was a Top 10 list. What a great night we had. She was SUPER helpful and interested in making dinner tonight. Her cap is about 15 minutes of "helping."After that, it's more like whining, crawling up my legs, trying to crawl (and trip/fall) through my legs, crying, and general "not helping" activities.

Adam traveled to Montreal this afternoon for a trade show tomorrow and will then be home in the afternoon Friday just in time to pick up his new truck (finally). All extras will be done. Next week he's gone all week out west. Then a week of him home! We're on marathon mode for Adam traveling from now until the end of June...well, mid-June. We're on vacation the last third of June which is very exciting even if it will be hot as blazes in AZ when we get there. :)

I hear a grapefruit calling my name. Better that than the bag of chips, I suppose.

I Tooted.

So before I forget I have to document this story that I've told some of you already simply b/c I'll tell anyone who'll listen and has half a sense of humor. (warning - this may be funnier in real life and not so much in text)

Friday afternoon after her nap, Morgan informed me that she needed to go #2. So off to the potty we went and while Morgan was pushing and doing her business, she tooted once (duh, she's poopin'). I try not to react too much when this happens b/c of course if she knows it's funny to toot then she's going to do so loudly at the front of church sometime when it's super quiet. So anyway, I barely reacted but her eyes lit up and she pushed harder and tooted again. I'm starting to giggle now and am holding her pants up in front of my face (sometimes it's hard to poop with your pants on, you know) to try to hide my giggles....and no kidding you the child pushes harder 3 more times to toot and has me practically rolling on the floor and doing my best to hide it. Finally she does more business and then realizes she's back to air and starts all over again. I'm bawling from laughing without laughing by the way. I told her "mommy's eyes were being so silly" from all the crying and then we were done and outta there. Who'd have thought that tooting could have made me die laughing and pray that someday she doesn't take it up in front of church and share her "humor" with tons of other people....thank you, bodily functions, for yet another laugh.

One other thing - it ended up being rather nice out today so Morgan was outside with her daycare friends each riding in their own car. Morgan just kept pushing backwards and saying "oop!" every time she ran into the garage, a bump in the driveway, whatever. Meanest mom ever = taking her home. :-( Oh well. She can play tomorrow.

It's IEP season folks...two down, probably 10-14 more to go in the next two months...bah. But then it's SUMMER. ;-)

You know it's Spring when...

It's 82 degrees outside. That's not a typo and I'm SO happy for that! It's windier than the dickens outside, but that's a small price to pay to be outside and hot in a t-shirt and jeans thankyouverymuch. (ps. this is from Sunday that I didn't finish 04/03/2011). It turned out to be beautiful outside albeit windy and we were all in shorts and tshirts by the afternoon. Adam and Morgan even mowed the lawn a bit since it was getting to that point in some places (thank you puppies).

Now on to Monday's post. We had a lovely (and fast) weekend. Adam's parents showed up around dinner time on Friday and we met Adam at Applebee's for supper (thank you limited Muscatine cuisine) where Morgan was actually rather well behaved (thank you Grandpa distracter-man). Saturday was lovely save for having to be at class a good majority of the day. Negatives to this class (even though despite all of these I'm glad I took the class): I got stuck at the last stoplight (and was running late) for 4.5 minutes (if you know, that is eternity in traffic time. 4 stoplights down the street stopped and went while I was waiting. I finally blew the light and went to class 5 minutes late); I learned nothing new as the guy went into significant detail in slow motion about what we did at our last class; my tablemates were at a full table when I got there late (thank you light) so I had to sit with others (thankfully other SLPs I know and are hilarious as well). Positives: I continued to learn more about something I already knew which means I'm better at the hand signals; I got to sit by other friends instead of strangers; I went somewhere yummy for lunch (yum - Bavarian pretzel sandwich)...and got to go home in beautiful weather.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful in a good way with lots of good food, time outside (super warm!), and great visiting.

Morgan LOVES being outside. She will frequently yell ow-side!! ow-side!! and stand by the door. I noticed today she's really beefing up on her verb use as she used several today - pay (play), heep (sleep), push, pull, among a few others.

Shocker, I'm too tired to go back and see if this post is coherent which I'm pretty sure it's not. Meh...it's the start of a FULL week of work. Ack. Thank GOD I only have 2 weeks of real work before another 4 day week and then 4 day weekend (thank you Easter). Apparently I have lots to be thankful for in this post. And now I'm going to be thankful I'm done. ;-)

Dear Facebook,

Consider this your notice that we are fighting. I had a loooooooong message to send to a friend/family member with tons of good ideas about a situation she was trying to handle...and LOST the whole thing. It was seriously a book of good ideas. Why did you erase everything I had written when I clicked on something else too fast? Now I have to go back and write it all over again. After all that (and Morgan having WAY too much fun in her crib for an HOUR before finally giving in to her afternoon nap with a quivering lower lip) I am ready to claim to be done with you. Although we all know that isn't true. Just know that I'm very, very mad at you right now. The end.

Not love,
Melissa