Still There??

woo....woo...Puff...puff.....swipe....swipe.

Just dusting it off here. Where have I been? Oh you know, life, it takes you in and makes you crazy. Lets see since last I posted we had a great Christmas, fabulous New Years, Nicole turned 4 (how did that even happen) and Aimee switched from PM to AM Kindergarten. Work has been crazy busy with wonderful new projects and we finally saw our lawn in last weeks after so many months of it being covered in white snow.

So now that things are starting to poke out I thought it was time to pick up my blog, dust it off and start fresh.

Unfortunately, the new year came in with some new health issues for me. I started with heart palpitations. Those are definitely an unnerving feeling. I wore a heart monitor for a month and had to hit a little button each time I had an "episode" of these little fluttering. Thankfully, it showed that these little times of palps as I have lovingly started to call them does nothing to my heart rate or rhythm. Apparently my heart just feels the need to throw an extra beat in there once in a while. We're still working on the why of it all.

Next, I got the news that my thyroid is basically kaput. I am on an almost total replacement dose of synthroid at this point. And for the record the endocrinologist that I met was an absolute stick in the mud. But she did prescribe an ultrasound to see where my thyroid is at this point and apparently though enlarged, the remedy for that is to keep taking my meds. I have the thought of a snarky comment here about med school and the like but I will keep it to myself.

So I continue on my path trying to self diagnose and monitoring when I feel these palps and what other symptoms I have and what it appears is that I am periomenopausal. Apparently you can be this way for a good 10 years before.

We started our garden by blocking off a portion of the yard with some wooden edges and we started some seedlings indoor for transplant after May. Now, the one problem I have is that we have seen some deer in the yard lately (inside the fence!) and the buggers have eaten some of the leaves off of my strawberry plants. I haven't seen them out there lately but some footprints out front and a few sprouting annuals are a little shorter than before. So I may have to invest in some spray to deter them.

And we're onto December...

Yep, I missed a whole month of posting to my blog. What have we been up to? Well let's see, we brought November in with some nice colds. I am happy to report that Nicole who usually has at least a few ear infections per season has made it through two colds now without actually getting one yet. The season is young though but I am hopeful. So far it is better than we have done the past few years. Hello preventative antibiotics...I am looking at you so please stay away.

We have also been busy with school. Both girls love school. Aimee is learning to read and has already made 3 Christmas lists for Santa. It's pretty funny to watch her make out her list and ask how to spell "guitar". She is doing well with it though and I really am proud at how well she is doing reading and writing.

Nicole continues to be a sassy little thing. She loves to tell me no and her latest phrase for emphasis is "I am never not going to...." fill in the blank. Sometimes it's "cry", "put my toys away", " do that for you...." the list goes on. She has tried to embarrass me more times than I can care to count by deciding to scream at the top of her lungs or hurl herself on the ground to get her way. So I have taken to ignoring most of the time and laugh when anyone calls them the "terrible twos" because man, three is definitely much much worse than two ever thought of being.

We are getting ready for Christmas around these parts, complete with an upcoming trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express straight out of the heart of North Conway. The girls are excited as am I. We also have a Christmas dance show where I get to see the fruits of the girls labors in their dance class the past few months. Aimee loves dance as does Nicole so I can't wait to see how they are doing.

So what is new in your neck of the woods. I promise to try and do better at posting but we all know how that goes.

Double, double toil and trouble....

Fires burn and cauldrons bubble....

Yes, Halloween. That glorious time of the year that you go knocking on your neighbors door and ask for free stuff. I know that kids love it, I know I did as a kid. It fell in line with Easter candy and stocking stuffings. All the sickeningly sweet stuff that dentists hate. My own personal favorite is typically the Reeses peanut butter cups but lately I have definitely had an affinity for almond joys. YUM!

But tonight, we changed things up a bit for us. We decided through a chain of events in our family as well as the fact Halloween falls on a school and work night that we would do something different and stay local to trick or treat. The girls had a blast but it was so cold. I missed the 70 -something temperatures of early last week and reminded myself that last year it was also balmy on Halloween itself. But this year it was true fall weather.

We walked across the street and down the cul de sac across from us. It was low-keyed for sure. Then part way through straight of the mouth of babes, Aimee asks "why do we go up to strangers houses and ask them for candy?" I had no good explanation other than it's Halloween tradition and it's just what you do. I have no idea where it came about so I need to do some reading up on that. And it also occurred to me how hypocritical it was of us since we just drilled it into the girls' heads that you don't talk to strangers even though many are very nice, you just don't know who to trust so it's better to just not talk to strangers. And never ever ever take candy from a stranger. So what do we do? Encourage them to go up to strangers houses, knock on their doors, talk to them and take candy. Bravo. There's one for contradiction huh? No wonder my kids give me some strange looks some times. I forget how literal kids can be sometimes and it is always refreshing when they bring me back to Earth.

The girls had a great time. I had a little Belle from Beauty and the Beast with Nicole and Aimee decided to be a sparkly witch. And you know people actually commented on how sparkly her costume was? On Saturday night, we went to the Norwell High School to do Trunk or Treat there. It was a fundraiser for the National Honor Society of NHS so we decided to try it. It was so fun, that could have been enough for them.

I love that they get to wear their costumes so many times. They had a dancing Halloween party, Nicole had a parade at school and we went to the Trunk or Treat. So there are a few donnings right there. Makes me feel like we got our money's worth, you know?

So Happy Halloween to all the ghost and goblins out there. I hope that you had a good one and that all of your frights are over!

Jill of all trades...

Master of none apparently. I can now see why working mothers give up their careers specifically when the kids get to real school. I mean I only work part time so I give the full time working moms with kids in school a real big "hurrah" and "here here" to them. Two weeks ago I was flat out at work. My mom who is always happy to be my fallback child caregiver was away for a week and I needed to work 32 hours. Do you get that? A whole 8 hours more than I normally work. At first I though, that is no sweat - what is 8 hours. Oh, how dumb I was.

My friend Missy was nice enough to come over and watch the girls for me while I was at work that extra day and took up the slack from my mom being away on my usual day in the office that I need child care coverage. Missy and I went to high school together so I have known her for about 20 years. She is also and out of work preschool teacher so she did and AWESOME job with the girls. They had a lot of arts and crafts time, she took no stuff from Nicole who has proven to me that terrible twos are a misnomer but that is a whole different post and the girls have asked again and again when she will be back. So if that doesn't spell great sitter I don't know what does.

Anyway, I had to work 4 days that week and by the end of it I was fall down exhausted, had little patience for the kids and their antics/fighting, particularly at bed time when I was going to be going to bed right on their heels.

What it taught me? That I have yet to master this whole work life balance. I don't really know how anyone does it effectively or maybe that is really the whole idea. Maybe every other working parent I know does it all with smoke and mirrors and their houses are just as much chaos as mine can be. Luckily I married the right guy because he took up the slack I was laying down on my motherly/wifely part of our house such a cooking, grocery shopping, kid pick up and drop off, lunch packing and bill paying. Work has calmed to a respectable level though part of me misses the adrenaline rush of the weeks with so much to do.

So my thoughts still wander to how other people do it? How are there enough hours in the day? How do they fit in the kids, work, personal appointments, *gasp* workouts, etc. Maybe they sleep less or maybe they have children who go to bed at 7:30 on the dot instead of constantly pushing the limit to 8:30ish with the latest demands for water, another baby doll, lovey, etc. Or maybe they go through the same struggles. Maybe they don't sit down to dinner each night as a family as we strive to do. Maybe they don't see their significant other due to opposite working shifts. There are a lot of maybes out there. But it has been comforting to know that some of the families I have met thus far through Aimee's class seem to be in a similar juggle as I am with family watching their kids, one kid here, another one there, mulitple drop offs, extracurricular activities, etc. I just think they do it with more flare, better hair and matching socks.

September? Gone?

Yeah yeah I didn't get a single post in during September. I stink I know. But it's mid-October and we've been knee deep into things here. I can't even believe that school started and now we are only about 5 weeks from Thanksgiving. CRAZY.

So what have we been up to? Aimee started Kindergarten (sniff) and while I was a little sad that my baby is 5 and getting on the school bus, she loves it and it just makes my heart swell to see her beaming as she gets on the bus. She loves her teacher and is making a lot of new friends and it's just been so so great. Nicole is also loving preschool and her teachers tell me that she is so cuddly and loves to be held on their laps, etc. Luckily she is barely tipping the scales at about 29 pounds so she's easy to hold and carry for the short distances in the classroom. Aimee even loves to come with me to drop Nicole off and see her past teachers from both the 3 year old classroom and the 4 year old classroom. It's such a great school and I am so lucky to be able to send my kids there and to have gone there myself.

What I have found with school starting is that we have so much to do. Every day is a shuffle and it's been stressful trying to make sure we have everyone where they need to be every day. I can see how couples could have friction from this. It sure means that you and your partner have a good give and take relationship and value the other's schedule and needs. I could never ever work my current job without the support of my husband. He does the pick ups and drop offs most of the time so that I can just roll out of bed into my carpool (have I mentioned that yet? I LOVE my carpool) and onto work. I know that it means he gets only two mornings where he can just get out of the house early without responsibilities but he takes it on great.

I am mostly in charge of making sure he only has to pick up the right backpacks and lunch sacks for each child and doesn't have to think about what is in them, just trusting that I have packed adequate lunches and snacks for them. I am the one who makes sure that the library book is packed on Mondays for library day, that sneakers are laid out for Thursdays for gym day. That the correct color is put on for the theme color day of the week and that the clothes laid out for each of the girls will be warm or cool enough for the weather of the day. It isn't an easy step by step process that we go through each night preparing for the next day but it is certainly necessary so that everyone is on time and where they need to be.

And the carpool. Love the carpool. A friend of mine at work who lives a town over from me suggested that we try to coordinate rides into and out of the office on the days I am in the office all day. So on Mondays and Thursdays we share a ride in and I am loving it. I love being able to use the carpool lane and zip past the latest accident or incident on the roadways. I love being able to converse with someone so easily and share funny anecdotes and advices on being a working mother. I love that I am not shelling out as much in gas money too.

So it has been a fun fall so far. Jammed packed with dancing lessons, swimming lessons, after school camps, girl scouts, etc. etc. but everyone seems happy and well adjusted. But if you had asked me 6 weeks ago how this would all work out I would have shrugged my shoulders and given a big "I dunno" but like anything else I have learned as a parent, you just roll with it and somehow it all comes together.

Summer Lovin'

I know that this summer has been a hot one, but I have not complained once about the heat. Even when I was dripping in sweat merely trying to cut Aimee's 5th birthday (which by the way OMG I have a 5 year old) cake at her party. Sure it is hot, but it's summer. Last summer was a continual rain-fest with hardly any nice warm days in.a.row. Sure we had a 90 here and there but that was it. So I am so excited for the next days with back to summer heat for the forecast.

Okay, admittedly I have central air conditioning now and an in ground pool so hey it's not hard to deal with the heat. But I have loved loved loved this summer. It goes by so fast it is crazy. Don't get my wrong, I do love fall with the changing leaf colors, apple picking, pumping carving, etc. but there is something about this time of year that always gets me a little bit blue. The end of summer, flip flops, short pants, Capri's, etc. going back into the closet and sometimes into Goodwill always makes me a little sad.


So I am soaking it all in, the last few days of summer. I know that soon enough we'll be waking up to 40 degree mornings and need jackets before leaving the house. But until then, bring on the heat!

Cutting Costs

This summer we have had some unfortunate house type things bite the dust. The remnants of my husband's bachelorhood in the form of a 65" wide screen TV died (playing of taps here) and while I did a little happy dance that Noah's Ark was leaving our living room I quickly put away my dancing shoes when I realized to replace it with about 10 less inches of viewing screen would be about $1400. Then we needed a stand for the little gem because our mammoth 65" one was all inclusive. So $2200 later we were invested in a nice TV with stand.

Of course, the story doesn't end there. We were having our July 4th BBQ and to get ready for it our grill decided to bite the dust and literally went up in flames. Luckily I remembered a friend of mine (Holla Tricia) had recently commented on how baking soda puts out a grease fire so when my husband was frantically searching for what to do about the shooting flames when no gas was on, I calmly walked out with my box of Arm & Hammer and we smothered the fire but were left with no grill and a party less than 4 days away. So off to Sears to get the on sale Kenmore grill with external burner to the tune of $350.

Now it's been a roasting hot summer and we have loved our pool for every single minute of it. But, our pool cover from last year was no more than an out of shape, hole infested tarp that the previous owners had purchased probably at the dawn of man. This thing was so old and I quivered every time the girls went outside for fear they would somehow manage to excel in their fine motor control and unlock the triple locked pool gate. So we knew we would want one of those put-an-elephant-on-here-pool-covers. Luckily the guy at the pool and patio store let us purchase it on the tax free weekend. Wh0-hoo. But another $2600 gone. I really hope that things happen in 3's because we can't afford another major purchase right now. (knock wood)

So, today I get to thinking of our bills. We will have a slight raise because we are cutting down on daycare costs since Aimee will be braving the public school system in a mere 13 days (sniff sniff) and Nicole is taking a stab at nursery school. So with the promise of my mom to help us out and my continued reduced workweek plus a husband who works for himself we hope to breathe a little easier in September. However I am still looking at how to cut a few costs. So I am putting all non essential kid clothes and outgrown things into a consignment sale, I have some bigger ticket kid items (pack and play anyone?) to go onto Craigslist and today I decided to call the cable company to get a lower package because who needs 100 movie channels?

So I called at 9AM and talked to a very nice woman who walked me through the packages. Now my husband definitely loves his TV so I was unsure how he would like a reduced package. So I was able to get a slight reduction and the promise to keep calling in once in a while because they do run specials. So I called my husband and asked him how many channels he wanted to keep and after careful consideration he decided that he could lose a few. So I went back to the cable company and asked them again what my options were and another lovely woman said she could keep us in the same service level for $50 less per month and would I like to do that? I am sure it's part of the "form" call they need to do but I really think it's a no brainer. So I have effectively just saved us another $50 per month on our cable/Internet/phone. I am doing my own little happy dance here knowing that one second phone call is now going to save us $600 per year! One little phone call and now we're locked in for that year.

So now I am off to said cable company because our DVR isn't working. I was planning on going anyway to trade in our DVR for a regular box because it would save us $15 per month and I just might kiss whoever greets me at the desk.