Sometimes all I need is the air that I breath and to love you

Do not read this if you have a weak stomach.
What a day! I debated tittling this blog as "the worst day ever" or my mantra- "sometimes all I need is the air that I breath and to love you"- I think I've probably sung that line to myself over and over today maybe 100 times- not lying. It started out when Jer left for work and I looked at the kitchen with dirty dishes, the living room with bags that needed to be unpacked from our trip to Aunt Barb and Uncle Jerry's lake house (FUN-boat rides, food, and most important family), the bathroom that desperately needed cleaned, the kids that needed fed (but were refusing to eat) and the rest of the house that just plain needs to be cleaned. I finally got 1/4 of a piece of toast down Victoria and got her dressed for the day. She told me that she wanted to wear big girl panties. Yes, I thought. I tried as best as I could to stick to our schedule- it's really pretty loose and flexible- Breakfast, Listen to Kiddie Music while doing Chores (my clean up time) Outdoor time (took the kids for a short wagon ride) Art (colored with texture plates and crayons), Lunch, ... and then this is were all hell broke loose. Up until know we had had a fairly successful if not hectic day- 3 pees in the potty, 2 accidents... And then the words- I need to go poop. I grab Victoria's hand and we run to the restroom. I take down her panties and see she's already started- it's OK- I'll just put her on the potty to finish. Then I turn around and realize, as we've been running, poop has been falling out of her panties. I run into the living room only to find ... SCREAMMMMM .... Bella with two hands covered in poop and a mouth moving a mile a minute. I grab her and throw her in the sink and start to wash her off, and stick my finger in her mouth and expel most of what she was chewing on. I then realize this stuff is not coming off as easily as I would like- she needs a bath. I carry her to the bathroom, along the way, I check up on Victoria, who is now off the potty and crying. Poop is smeared all along the toilet rim. I grab her too and head for the bath. I draw the water and put both kids in. Victoria starts to do the pee pee dance and screams "I need to pee on the potty." I grab her without thinking and put her back on her potty, then run back to Bella- cause duh- she's in the bath tub (all is OK- she's just screaming). Then Victoria starts screaming. Then I start screaming and crying- Just go pee on the potty!!! Victoria comes back to the bath and asks, "Mommy why are you crying." The only thing I say is, in my calmest voice now, I'm sad, because I don't like cleaning up poop. (Well, it was the truth.) I clean both kids up, then bring them carefully back to their bedroom- watching out as to not step in the ten-twenty poop pellets along the way. I put Bella in her crib and Victoria on Bella's floor with a toy to occupy her, then shut the door, and begin the cleaning process that took 20 minutes- I won't go into details, but I did almost puke twice. After the cleansing, I check in on Victoria and Bella. I hold and rock both of them while singing my mantra- they both fall asleep. Today I honesty thought that I had lost it- thank goodness, it was short lived. There's always tomorrow. Ahhh, another potty training day. On a side note, she did go pee in the potty when I yelled that.

Ahhh Vacation?

Why do we need a vaction after a vacation? I loved the corpus trip- yes we went to Corpus again and spent a good deal of time in the sun and ate way too much and had a blast- but I came home and desperately need another vacation- the sandy laundry, the stacks of miscellanious junk that I didn't put away before leaving, the car that lost it's air conditioning that had to be taken into the shop, the fridge that needed emptying (something weird smelling), the pictures that need downloaded and touched up and ordered, the kids that are on their last leg from traveling and are getting restless and fussy (although I think Victoria is cutting two molars), and all my friends and family that I need to catch up with- I love youall, but I need a break! Enough said. Onto cuter stories.

Today Victoria went poop on the potty. Yeah! I actually did a potty dance. I'm thinking of marketing this. Is it so wrong that my first instinct after she pooped was to grab the camera and take a picture. Man, I don't think I'd ever hear myself saying that.

We have had a surplus of flies in our house- yesterday my mother-in-law and I killed a combined 50 flies. Thank goddness today I only killed 10. I had to laugh at my daughter's reaction to my fly crusade. As I'm weilding the swatter, she exclaims, "Good job Mom!" (My little two year old) and proceeds to put her hand out to give me a high five. Too cute.

Working at the Car Wash, Baby

I had such a wonderful time today. I went out with my Christie buds (I miss them- thank goodness for summers) and went rollerskating. I sooo could never be a Sonic waitress- I was all over the place. I felt like I was that passenger on an airline that bumps into everyone. Victoria and Bella had a great time too. Bella couldn't stop smiling the whole time AND she was in the stroller the whole time- a first for her. Victoria was beeboping with Nico to all the songs. I got a good workout- I'm exhausted and thinking of going to bed early tonight.

Potty Training Stinks- No Pun Intended

I'm going crazy!!! Why do we need to potty train? It's more about Mommy learning the skillful art of patience, routine, and voice control, then Victoria actually screaming "I did it", even when she doesn't. This has been the second week of attempting to use the potty- when she wakes up, when she naps, when she goes to bed, after she eats or drinks, and numerous times in between. The real joy is when Bella joins in on the fun (the gracious crwler she is now) and comes full force at Victoria on the potty. Although I do have to say, on Tuesday, Victoria went twice on the potty. However, on Wednesday- nada. I'm almost tempted to take her pullups off and let her pee in the house (I've heard they learn fast this way)- almost- we'll give it another week.

I've got a couple of cute stories. Last Saturday, I went out with my friends Anne (Happy 32rd!- great time). I put on an amazing dress, looked and felt like a real woman, and danced with Victoria before I left. As I was on the way out the door, I realized that I needed some money, so I asked Jer for some. As he was looking through his wallet, out runs Victoria from her bedroom with her piggy bank in hand and says "Here Mama." She melts my heart!

Story two- this morning I was outside with the girls on the deck. I decided it was time to go inside, so I picked up Bella with one hand and my coffee in the other hand. When I got to the backdoor, I had a desicion to make on how to open the door- find a place to put down the coffee (which would have been back on the deck) or put the coffee in the same hand I'm holding Bella (it was cold coffee by now, so what's the worse that could happen?) I chose door number two. At the exact same moment that I put the coffee in my other hand Bella decides to puke into the cup. Upon retelling this story to my friend Chris, she asks "So did you drink the coffee? Are you a real Mom?" No, I'm no real Mom, not until I train my daughter how to pee on the potty- talk to me in a week.

Victoria's Birthday

Last weekend was Victoria's birthday. I think she had fun. Although it was a pool party, she didn't get in the pool. Her cousin Tanner brought over his giant bouncy water slide and he went down it fast and fun! Yet still, Victoria won't budge when we asked her to go down it. The family, all 18 of us, Victoria's best friend Nico, and his parents, and Victoria's God parents Gary and Deb, all took in the celebration. We had pizza and cupcakes. Victoria passed out the chips and cokes to all her guests. What a little hostess! I can't believe how old she is. She's my little girl, but... it's really true that time goes by so fast.

My favorite sound

My favorite sound is when Victoria shouts "I can do it!" She was eating peaches yesterday and shouted "I can do it!" I looked and all her peaches were gone- she had eaten them all with her fork, and not her hands, a first for her. Then today she put her puzzle together all by herself and shouts "Hurray! I can do it!" It melts my heart.

Crazy

I'm going crazy! For the past two days the kids are being really bad. I think they're both teething- Victoria has a low grade fever and is acting wild and just plain mean (hitting her sister, then running away) and wants to be held all the time. Bella is also acting weird- crying hard most times, uncharacteristic of her, and also wanting to be held all the time (although it might just be that she learned how to really crawl and stand and is going through seperation anxiety.) You think I'd be okay caring two kids, but they're heavy and it feels awkward. Not to mention, feeding them has become a nightmare- Victoria refuses to eat much and cries and whines. Bella keeps grabbing the spoon from me at every bite and wants to do it herself (talk about messy!) They're bizarre behaviors have manifested themselves into more trouble than this mom feels confident handling. Read on. Yesterday, I was sitting on the toilet with the door open (of coarse), when Victoria comes darting in and grabs her little white toilet seat that fits on top of the big toilet seat. Then quickly darts out again. I finish my business and wash my hands and walk into the hall when... in all my dreams about being a mother, I never heard myself saying this before... "Victoria, get the toilet seat off of Bella's head! The toilet is not a necklace!" I so deserve a night out.