Mini Vacation

Ryan went to the big city this week for a couple of days on a business trip.  On Monday night we spontaneously decided that the kids and I would come up for a night, use the hotel room, pool, and make a mini vacation out of it.  It seemed like a good idea in theory.  The reality was a cranky two year old and nine month old who aren't used to going on trips, staying in strange rooms/beds and having their nap schedules interrupted.

The trip didn't start out too bad, but because of a couple of errands that I needed to run the kids had their naps in the car interrupted and never fell back asleep.  I arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon, stopped by the front desk to get a room key and grabbed a luggage cart to help me move our bags into the room.  Normally I don't use those hotel luggage carts, but when you have two little kids, several bags, a pack n' play and the kitchen sink those carts quickly turn into a necessity.  Of course that necessity can easily turn into a catastrophe.  Aric was left standing on the sidewalk next to the cart, Kellyn was in the car and I was trying to get everything loaded up.  Aric had been pushing on the cart and I told him to leave it alone, stand there and wait for mommy.  I walked to the trunk to grab the last bag when I heard a crash.  Sure enough Aric had pushed the cart right off the sidewalk and tipped it over.  On the way down the clothes bar on top of the cart hit my front driver's side quarter panel gouging the paint and denting the car.  This was probably the point where I should have realized this trip wasn't going to turn out so well.

I managed to get everything put back together (except for the car) and the kids and luggage into the hotel room.  We all had a snack and then headed down to the pool.  The kids and I spent a good part of the afternoon playing in the pool.  Afterwards the kids and I went back to the room, cleaned up and then I fed them dinner while we waited for Ryan.  After he arrived we headed out for dinner.  We drove around for 30 min because both kids fell asleep in the car.  Aric was prompt about it and Kellyn cried before finally caving in.  After their short nap they were somewhat refreshed and we were able to have dinner and walk around for a bit.

The room only had a king size bed in it.  We decided Aric could sleep with us and Kellyn would sleep in her pack n' play.  We forgot to mention that little detail to her.  She would not sleep in the pack n' play and because we couldn't really let her cry it out she ended up in the bed with us.  It was a long, sleepless night.  Ryan had to go to work exhausted and I was left with two crabby, naughty kids who just needed more sleep. 

Thankfully the mini-vacation is now over with.  The kids are both happier after taking long naps in the car.  I, however, am exhausted with mounds of laundry left to do before returning to work tomorrow.  I don't think I'll be taking another mini-vacation for quite awhile!

Sprinkler

It has been hot lately.  Too hot to spend much time outside.  After dinner tonight, we dug out an old sprinkler and set it up in the yard.  Aric has never played with a sprinkler before and we thought it might be a fun way to keep cool and spend some time outside.  I think it was a success.

There's The Problem

This morning I had to take the kids to daycare while I attended training at work.  Normally I don't run into any of the other daycare parents because I drop my two off earlier than the others and in return pick them up earlier than the other kids.  This morning, since I dropped them off an hour later than usual, I ran into Biter's older sister and mom.  I'll admit I have a natural dislike for that family since their daughter bit mine.  I'm pretty non-confrontational, though, and tend to put on a good front even when I can't stand being around someone.

Biter's mom casually mentioned Kellyn getting bitten and gave a weak, half-hearted apology.  What really bothered me was this exchange:

Biter's Mom- "I really don't know what to do because she doesn't bite at home."

Biter's Older Sister- "She bit me on the nose the other day."

That right there is the problem.  You have no idea what is going on in your home.

Biter

I'm not really sure if I should be thankful that neither one of my kids is a biter, or mad that one of my kids is being targeted by a biter. 

A week and a half ago as Autumn was helping me put the kids in their car seats after daycare, I looked down and noticed Kellyn had red marks on her arm in the shape of a mouth with teeth.  I asked Autumn about it and sure enough another little girl crawled up to Kellyn and bit her.  Twice.  Autumn told me she would talk to the girl's mom and make her aware of the situation. 

I didn't think any more of it.

Until I was sitting at dinner last night, looked over, and saw more bite marks on Kellyn's arm.  Three different sets of them.  The story I got from Autumn was Kellyn grabbed a shirt that the other girl was holding and in retaliation she bit Kellyn.  Autumn separated them, but in another incident the girl went over to where Kellyn was in a bouncer and bit her again.  That's the point where it goes too far.  No longer can it be chalked up to teething or Kellyn grabbing something that didn't belong to her.   That vicious little girl came up to Kellyn and bit her without provocation.  I'm not a happy camper.

I'm not mad at Autumn, it's not her fault the girl is a biter.  I'm angry at the mom, who isn't working with her child on biting.  The mom who didn't believe that her "sweet angel" could bite anyone when she was told about the first incident.  Her course of action- to read up on the Internet about what she can do.  Um, that won't work unless you work with your child and teach her to not bite.  Apparently the mom also offered to get our kids together to work on teaching her daughter to not bite.  Does she think I'm crazy?  Kellyn has been bitten enough, I'm not about to expose her to this other child more than she already is.

I think I'll go teach Aric how to defend his sister...

Camera Ham

Kellyn has turned into quite the little tupperware lover camera ham lately.

Outside

Yesterday we had a rare day when all of us were home together.  We took advantage of the warm afternoon, Aric's new swimming pool, and the water balloons that we were unable to use on a rainy 4th of July.  I think the kids had a marvelous time.  Well, except when Kellyn crawled under the slide and tried to drown herself while I was preoccupied picking up pieces of water balloon out of the grass.  Note to self- do clean up after everyone is out of the pool!

Feeling Better and Catching Up

I took an unintentional break from my blog.  It wasn't planned but when your husband is gone on a business trip, one kid gets sick, the other one is teething and not gracious about that, then you end up catching whatever the first kid had, well, it doesn't leave much time for anything else.  I ended up feverish by the end of last week and stayed home from work to rest and break the fever.  (Thanks Laura for watching the kids and allowing me to sleep!)  It worked, sort of.  By Sunday I was getting sick again with another illness.  Hopefully I'm on the road to recovery and won't be sick again for a long time!

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan and I took a day to meet with a realtor and look at some houses.  Well, actually we were planning on looking at one house and ended up looking at five.  Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the day.  The one house that we really wanted to see didn't turn out to be as great as the description and pictures made it out to be.  It was broken up, didn't have a great flow, had a basement that had no rhyme or reason and felt very much like a medieval torture chamber, and Ryan counted at least seven exterior doors.  Thanks but no thanks. 

This was the point where I was speechless.

The flash added more light than was actually there.

Who paints the floor shiny red, the walls blue and uses barn wood for closet doors?  I was afraid to open the doors down there.

Enough said.

We'll keep looking for a house.  With a goal to move in early spring we still have some time.  Which is good because I find looking for a house a little overwhelming at times.  There are days I have a large amount of optimism about finding a great place that will suit our wants and needs. and other days I'm just down about finding a place.  It's in God's hands, though, and he'll bring along the right place.

We have slowly increased our potty training with Aric.  Some days he gets the hang of it and others he seems to digress.  It can be frustrating.  Right now we've pulled back a bit and are letting him have a break and hopefully mature a bit more.  In a couple of weeks we'll try again.  He's so close but so far.  We did realize that maybe there's a little too much TV on at our house.  It's an easy nanny when we're sick, busy with chores, need a break, etc.  It's a bad habit, too, and possibly one of the big hindrances in successful potty training.  Aric can get so absorbed in watching Mickey Mouse or Little Einsteins that he forgets that he needs to go until after he's urinated all over the floor.  Thank goodness we don't have much carpet in the house.  We've set some new family rules in regards to the amount of TV and hopefully the rules will help and encourage more imaginative play between the kids and allow potty training to be easier next time.

Kellyn is teething, crawling everywhere, a little camera ham and just a delight.  Last night I fed her stage 3 baby food for the first time.  Aric is still a picky eater and has difficulty with textures.  We weren't so proactive with introducing him to new textures and I believe we caused some of the problems that we still have today.  I guess that's why they call the first child the practice child.  Thankfully we realized our errors and are trying to be proactive with Kellyn.  She ate the chunky mix of rice, peas and carrots with pureed chicken dinner like a pro last night.  It was only one meal, but hopefully we can keep working with her and give her a chance.  It would be nice not to have two picky eaters.