(MarieFinds) Wealth and Hellness, Part II

Ah... the non-stop glamour that is working motherhood. I had to spend a couple of days visiting a client in SoCal. A great couple of days of meetings, actually. Lots of good stuff that we will be able to use over the coming year.

Downside: I left The Lawyer at home with an ear infection. And two kids who were both rocking ear infections, as well. Nothing piles on the mommy guilt like that, except ... the call from the Lawyer on Wednesday night that they were headed to the ER. Squirrel had hurt her arm.

Now, in a former life, Lawyer was an Army medic. He's pretty non-reactive to childhood bumps an fevers. S this means something is up.

Diagnosis: Nursemaid's elbow, AKA dislocated. So I'm on and off the phone with him while he is juggling both kids in the hospital. Answering questions only mommy can answer during admit (shots? Primary docs name?) Listening to the doctor pop her arm back in place. Hearing my beautiful girl scream.

But then she got a race car bandaid and everything was OK. Yup, sent her home with a dose of ibuprofen, a dose of tylenol and a bandaid.

(MarieFinds) What happens in Vegas ...

This week has been like a long nightmare ... but I want to get the deets of my trip out there before it is just way too late to be relevant.

The Lawyer had his annual conference in Las Vegas last week, so we decided to plan a family trip around it. He has family there, so it is always a good excuse to go see them, and let Super Squirrel play with her cousins. That was definitely the best part. Lawyer's sister and her husband and son came out as well, so there was family every where, and we got to spend time just hanging out.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo. In large part because our research had told us it had a very kid-friendly pool set up. Turned out to be true. Of course, this all depends on your definition of kid friendly. Yes, there is smoking and drinking pool side, a few folks getting VERY friendly with each other in the water. Lots of Kanye and Lady Gaga booming in the background. But, um, this is a hotel on the Vegas strip. What were you expecting? The hotel and pool overall was great. The smoke free room actually didn't smell like smoke, the food in the restaurants was very edible, the help friendly, and the poolside service was great.

Both kids were faboosh on the flights. Did really well overall with the complete destruction of their regular schedules.

I took Squirrel to see the lion at MGM (loved it!) an the fountains at the Bellagio (she's still talking about it) and one day a bunch of us took the kids to the Excalibur. Never again. Least kid-friendly venue on the strip I think. Smoky, dank, dirty, no place to sit down that isn't attached to a gaming machine, no changing tables. Gross.

I did no gambling. I think the Lawyer dropped $15 into the slots at the Venetian.

Baby Boy wasn't up to being left without me (i.e., didn't want to be that far away from the boob - he doesn't do straight formula yet and I didn't bring a breastpump), so we didn't really get any big people time to ourselves, but it was a nice trip.

I'd go back to Vegas with kids, and I would stay at the MC with them again. I think it would be a little better with the kids a little bit older. Lawyer was working a lot, and I couldn't take both kids to the pool myself because of their ages, need a 1:1 ratio of adults and kids in the water at this stage, but we were still able to get in the water a great deal. Aunt and Uncle have a pool, and there were lots of Aunties and Uncles around last week willing to play with Squirrel in the water while I sat or played with Baby Boy.

I might get a different travel stroller before we do that again. We have a broken down old cheap umbrella stroller that we used all over Cozumel last year, and the bearings are totally shot on it. Definitely need a stroller in Vegas because of the distances. Had Squirrel in that and Boy in the Wallaby a lot.

Again, it might not be everyone's kid-friendly idea, but I'm OK with my kids seeing some of that stuff, and I let them play in the dirt at home, so why not in Vegas?

(MarieFinds) A little dinged up

I failed to get pictures, but Squirrel has spent the last week spectacularly dinged up. Amazingly so, in fact. She was running like toddlers run ... gleefully, with hands in the air. And she tripped over her little too-big-for-a-two-year-old feet. And she fell. And bounced. On her face. Twice. It was sort of painful to watch. As a result she had ... a fat lip. a slightly blackened eye. a knot in the middle of her forehead. a cut under her nose. a scuffed up tip of her nose. a scrape running under her left eye and over her cheek bone. a small scuff over the knot on her forehead.

And a Hello Kitty Bandaid over a bruise, because we couldn't put it over the locations that were actually bleeding.

And so I endured the scorn of my Mother in Law, who thinks we allow her to do too much. And I stared at the still un marked face of Baby Boy, and realized that next year at this time, he will be a walking dinged up machine. And became slightly sad that I will likely never have another perfect-skinned gorgeous baby.

And I was once again grateful that no one called social services. Cause she really looked bad. That's what happens when you bounce. Twice.

But then, 5 days later when she fell at my sister's? She tried to catch herself. And instead of adding to the scratches on her face? She scuffed up two elbows and her rib cage. Good girl. She's learning.

[JessFinds] An abundance of sweetness

I was lamenting the loss of cute little sayings of toddlerhood -- Crab pretty much has one left for us: "I mukked this for you." And yes. I have finally started correcting her (gently) by saying things like "Oh! You made this for me!?"

I will forever miss: "It feels me better." That one will always have a special place in my heart. Just thinking about it feels me better.

Gonzo, meanwhile, is still full of them.

• "Balen" = Vitamin

• Without prompting (or in response to a hug), Gonzo will yell: "I love you too!"

• "I can't like it." = this is disgusting
  

• "Is that silly? (funny, gross, etc...)" is added at the end of many of her sentences. For example: "I burped! Is that silly?"

• "That IS a good ideee!"

• "Rogee" = Yogurt

(MarieFinds) Kids say the damndest things

Jess has mentioned on a couple of occasions that we got tattooed together. Jess get hers on the inside of her ankle, Ray Ray got a sweet anklet, and I got a blue moon on my "hip". That is in quotes because it is my lower abdomen... about an inch below the hip pointer, but on the front.

Anyway, Squirrel has seen it and noticed it many times. Yesterday, she noticed it again, and wanted to touch it, talk about it and generally found it funny.

So, we get to day care and she says several times, "Mommy moon! Mommy moon! Mommy moon ... BELLY!" "Yes, baby, Mommy has a moon on her belly."

And then I had to explain to the daycare staff, that I have a tattoo. And I hear, "Oh, Mommy's a rebel..."

Heh.

My 35 year old self laughed. At 19 year old me. At the 24 year old hipster boy who takes great care of my daughter, and at 2 year old her. Hmm.

(MarieFinds) Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I go...

Yesterday was my first day back at work. Today was the first day to take the kids to daycare. Yesterday they were at my sister's house (federal holiday and all).

I did NOT break down in the parking lot and sob like someone died this time. I DID almost cry in the room with my gorgeous toddler girl as she sobbed like her world was ending. Than they brought in breakfast. And that made things mostly better. And her little friend Ryker showed up. That helped, too.

Baby Boy? He is unphasable. Didn't eat much at my sister's yesterday, and kind of whined about it, but no major drama. Of course, that means that Auntie Lola gave herself an upper body work out by rocking and holding him for 4 hours to prevent the melt down. Hee. While trying to dance with Squirrel. Welcome to my house of nonstop carnival fun!

I am both looking forward to being back and sad about it. It was great to spend the last three months watching my daughter grow every minute, and being able to snuggle my little boy (almost) whenever I wanted. But man, I think I get more time to myself when I work 60 hours a week. Not to mention more showers to myself. I think there was a straight month where every shower I took had a toddler in it.

(MarieFinds) When Foffee Turns to Coffee

Sometimes motherhood feels like a series of small treasures lost and found. I have mourned the passing of a million little phases and quirks. For months, I thought the best thing in the world was the way my daughter said coffee. "Foffee". "Mamma Foffee. Daddy Foffee. Hugh Foffee." (She is unable to say her own name, and so has dubbed herself "hugh". I think it comes from everyone calling her "you").

And last week, we lost foffee. It is now coffee. This is a good thing. It's a sign of her growth and expanding vocabulary. But I miss Foffee.

But enough about foffee. I also mourned when she started to sit up and crawl, because I knew I was losing my snuggly baby. The first time her hands turned rough from crawling, I almost cried, because I knew they would never be soft newborn hands again.

So, what little milemarkers made you sad as they slipped away?

[JessFinds] Yeah, We're looking at you

I urge everyone with young children to try this:

Get out your Garbage CD's or download "Cherry Lips" by Garbage (BeautifulGarbage 2002) on iTunes or Amazon and just watch your children. Seriously. Kids can not resist this song. It is toddler crack.

My girls regularly beg for the "go baby go go" song. They can not help themselves. They dance like their feet have taken over their brains.

Warning - it does contain an explitive in the form of something that sounds like "Shet" when sung by Scottish Miss Shirley.

And it is completely inappropriate considering it is about a cross-dressing child prostitute. But leave it to me to gloss over inappropriate music. My 4yo loves the Kitty song by the Presidents of the United States.

Here is the video: