T Minus 7 Days and Counting

We are flying to Jamaica in one week to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. Our anniversary isn't until Sept. but it worked better with our schedules to go in the summer. We went to Jamaica on our honeymoon to Montego Bay. This time we're going to Negril. 

I can't wait to spend time away from my kids. Is that bad? Do I sound like a bad mom? 

The past month I've been grouchy, snapping at my kids, annoyed for no reason, and just plain tired. Now with summer starting and Carsen home all day every day, I need a break, to recharge and relax without being a Mom. To read as often and as long as I want, to sleep as late as I want and 5 days where I won't have to listen to demands by small children. 

I've got 3 books to take with me and plan to take full advantage of my down time. Sure there will be plenty of beach activities, excursions and sightseeing but I'm really excited about sitting on the beach doing nothing but reading my book. 

I love to travel. Never been afraid of flying. I like the busyness of the airport, people watching is fun. I don't play that game of trying to create a character for each person. 

We looked into switching our seats to the emergency exit row where the rows are wider and it's an additional $85 per person, or something like that. Our seats are located in the rear, not all the way in the back but according to Hubby we're in the most dangerous part of the plane. 

This doesn't scare me all it does is annoy me b/c we'll be one of the last groups to board and have to stand in the aisle while everyone already on the plane are trying to shove their bags into the overhead bins. And we'll have to put our bag in one of the front bins b/c the others are full. This is my least favorite part of flying. 

I'm also terrified of losing my luggage so I always have a carry on. 

The next few days will be full of laundry, packing and crossing things off my to do list. 

Things That Drive Me Crazy on a Daily Basis

1. Charlotte waking up before 7 AM. 

2. My kids indecisiveness about breakfast. 

3. Ainsley asking, "Where are we going today?" 

4. Making Carsen's lunch b/c I forgot the night before. (Yep every day.) 

5. School drop off. 

6. Finding time to unload the dishwasher. 

7. Tryîng to figure out what to feed the girls for lunch. 

8. Listening to Carsen whine he's hungry at 4:30 even though he had a snack after school. 

9. Making supper while Charlotte cries/explores around the kitchen. 

10. The incessant, "Is supper ready?" 

11. The clean up. (Enough said.) 

12. The fact that it's the end of the day and I've crossed very little off my to do list. 

13. My kitchen is full of piles. 

14. Being completely exhausted at the end of the day yet feel like I've accomplished nothing. 

Let's Try this Again

Tomorrow is my first day starting the Whole30 lifestyle. This is my second round and I didn't make it the full 30 days the last time. I lasted 20 days before traveling and poor planning caused me to cheat.

Hubby and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year by going to Jamaica the first week in June. I'm running out of time to feel good (and look halfway decent) in my swimsuit! I've been a little out of control the past few weeks. 

When I started this journey the first time, on March 1st, I was completely committed. I had little signs of encouragement posted in the kitchen and bathroom, I had the book, It Starts with Food, and I had a friend who had already completed a Whole30 I could call for advice. 

This time around I'm not as motivated. Even with visions of the beach and summer dresses I still can't get my ass in gear. I wanted to go shopping for cute new dresses in a smaller size rather than larger. 

I should mention I'm not doing this Whole30 strictly for the weight loss. I have been out of control in other areas as well. I've been short with the kids, snapping at them even, I'm lazy and neglecting my house, not working out as much as I used to, just feeling overall unhappy. Something needs to change in a big way. 

I ask that you all send me good thoughts this week as the first 2 weeks are the hardest. Stay tuned! 

The Perfect Neighborhood

When we moved here 3 years ago one of the things we were looking for in a house was a nice neighborhood. A neighborhood where our children could play and be safe and have other kids to play with.

We were lucky and found such a house. We live on a cul de sac which at first one would think is a great idea b/c there's not much traffic. I can tell you that is a myth. Our cul de sac is very busy for many reasons:

1) One house at the end of street has multiple families living in it. This means there are cars coming and going constantly.

2) People turn down the street thinking it's a through street and then must turn around when they get to the end of it. This happens a lot.

3) You'd think people would drive slow down a cul de sac but no they speed down it doing at least 30 mph. Especially the people who live at the end. I guess they think they don't need to slow down until they get closer to their house. 

There are a lot of kids that live on this street and for that we feel our kids are lucky to have playmates so close.

I should say that we live in the middle of the cul de sac and the houses w/ the other kids (at least the ones our children play with) are toward the end of the street.

There are 3 boys Carsen's age that like to come over and play. Every time we pull into the garage one of them rides in just behind us on their bike or scooter. I want to say right away all 3 boys are very nice, sweet, and  for the most part well behaved. Their manners are a bit lacking but what kid has perfect manners?

At the beginning of the school year is when they first started coming over to play w/ Carsen and Ainsley. But what they really wanted we found out pretty quickly, was to play w/ all the things we had in our garage. Ainsley's new trike was too tempting and one boy hopped on it and took off down the street.

Nothing was safe. Bubbles spilled and dumped out, sidewalk chalk broken, random golf balls we had collected on walks thrown into the yard, and every bike, trike, and scooter we owned was pulled out and discarded on the grass.

When everything had been played with, they would grab their own bikes and ride off down the street to their own homes.

Our neighbors told us they had to make the rule that no one but the owners are allowed in the garage. We quickly put that rule into action at our house along w/ no leaving our yard and stay out of the street. I still don't feel comfortable leaving them all alone outside though.

 So far we haven't allowed these boys to come in the house to play. It's only happened once when Ainsley asked and I quickly said no. Seeing their behavior toward our outside toys, I definitely don't want them inside roaming free.

Some nights after seeing us pull into the garage one of them will ring the doorbell and ask if the kids can play. This is around 8:00 at night! Call me a "mean mommy" but that's almost bedtime in this house. 

How do you find the balance between being the house everyone wants to play at and being the house no one wants to play at?

I'm dreading this summer when I want to try all the ideas I've been pinning on Pinterest like homemade sidewalk paint and chalk and other games for fear these boys will want to join in. We may be playing in the backyard for most of the summer.

Poop, Pee, and Laundry

Charlotte has had some crazy poopy diapers lately. One morning last week she woke up and had thrown up all over her crib and herself. She was in a very pleasant mood and happily splashed in the bath.

The next morning her poop had escaped from her diaper and was all over her sheet, blankets, pajamas, and herself. Again into the bath she went.

These were not how I wanted to spend my first minutes after waking up. Both mornings I piled the poopy/puked on clothes and blankets and threw them in the washer. Luckily we have several crib sheets and at least 3 mattress covers. This isn't my first baby.

That would be one of my first pieces of advice. Get yourself more than 2 crib mattress pads. When baby pees outside their diaper or spits up in the middle of the night, you don't have time to run a load before making the bed again and if it happens in the middle of the night you might not feel like starting a load.

Hubby was gone all last week coming home Thursday evening. Saturday we had 2 soccer games and Charlotte woke up about 7 AM. Hubby went in to get her and called for me over the baby monitor. She had pooped through her diaper, up her back and all over her crib.

And b/c that wasn't enough Carsen came out of his room to tell us he'd peed the bed. What was going on?? I was upset b/c his mattress is missing the waterproof mattress pad b/c a few weeks ago Ainsley was peeing the bed a few times a week and it was nice to have a backup to put on in the middle of the night. Again, not my first time.

Hubby soaked up as much pee as he could w/ paper towels and we let it dry all day before putting sheets back on that evening.

Today brought no such accidents thankfully. Hubby is gone overnight and if I wake to find a new pile of stinky laundry to do I'll think the two are connected and that's not funny.

My POS Van

For anyone that's read my blog you know Hubby and I fought the minivan for a long time. But after we bought it we wondered why we waited so long. The cup holders, the sliding doors, the DVD player. They were all wonderful.

Now 2 years later, we can't wait to trade it in. The DVD player quit working at least 6 months ago, we replaced our front tires around Thanksgiving, every oil change came w/ other diagnoses, our transmission slips every now and again, and this past weekend we blew a rear tire on Interstate.

When the whole transmission started slipping a few months ago we thought about looking for something else. But we've really been trying to stick to our budget since the beginning of the year and decided to wait it out. We had the transmission cleaned/flushed, whatever it is they do to it and that helped w/ the slipping but hasn't stopped it completely.

After the blowout this past weekend, we took it as a sign.


If the loan goes through the way we believe it will, this will be our new car. It's a 2009 Chevy Traverse w/ leather interior, DVD player, tinted windows, remote start, heated seats, and AWD. We're sad about losing the sliding doors and most of the cup holders that the van had, but excited about losing the minivan look, the working more compact DVD player and the fact that it isn't white! 

I Have to go Potty...at 10,000 Feet

So I've mentioned before that Hubby is a pilot. Occasionally we'll fly to see our parents. We did this a lot right after we had Carsen for many reasons:
1) We could afford it.
2) It was faster.
3) We thought we were super cool b/c we flew home.

Did I mention the dog (Eddie) also flies? He's a seasoned traveler. Most of the time he's the co-pilot and does very well. At first he's anxious but after take off he settles down and falls asleep.

Ainsley was about 18 months the first time she flew. She didn't want to keep her headset on and loved to look out the window.

Maybe I should mention when we take an airplane home it's a 4-seater. Usually a Cessna 172 or 182.

Charlotte's first trip she was 7 months and also chose not to wear the headset. She fell asleep w/in a few minutes both coming and going. Eddie did not make that trip. Would have been a little crowded to say the least. No room for Eddie to wander on the floor like in the car.

Now to the point of this post:
At the end of Spring Break, we flew up to see Hubby's sister in Omaha, NE. Charlotte again didn't want to wear the headset which was fine, but this trip she didn't fall asleep w/in minutes even though she was beyond exhausted.

No she decided to scream for an hour and 15 minutes of the 2 hour trip. She fell asleep during the last 20 minutes. Hubby and I passed her back and forth for most of the trip. The older kids played the iPad.

On the return trip is where things got interesting. Carsen had been the co-pilot on the flight to Omaha so on the way home it was Ainsley's turn which meant Carsen was sitting in the back next to me.

About an hour into the flight, Carsen said he had to go potty. Hubby told him we still had an hour to go, could he hold it? That was met w/ a very abrupt shake of his head and him clutching his pants.

Hubby and I exchanged glances over the seat and I mentioned I had a water bottle.

I had no idea how much pee actually came out when a person pees! I had a small Dasani bottle and he almost filled it.

It's not the first time we've dealt w/ bodily fluids. When I was pregnant w/ Ainsley I threw up in the plane in one of those air sickness bags.

Hubby threw it out the window. Can't imagine the surprise if that landed on someone.