S.O.S.

Wow, it’s been a long time since my last post. Things have really been crazy in the Gath house. I have to admit – I think I could be losing my mind. I will let you decide though. Here is what has happened over the past couple of weeks:

Monday, Oct 26^th:

I packed lunches in the morning. Later that day I went to open my lunch and found a Capri Sun in my bag. Catherine drank from the bubbler that day. Ewww

Wednesday, Oct 28^th:

I forgot to order breakfast for one of my classes at work. I have had this job for three years and have never once forgotten to do that. I decided that I would order a coffee cake from our vendor and keep it in the freezer as a backup.

Thursday, Oct 29^th

I forgot Catherine’s show & tell. She cried when she found out. Nice mommy.

Tuesday, Nov 3^rd:

Guess what the students had for breakfast? That’s right, coffee cake. Thawed out in the microwave.

Wednesday, Nov 4^th

I picked Catherine up at the school bus stop and took her with me to do some errands. We arrived at the library so I could return a book. I got out of the car and realized that I did not bring the book with me.

Then we headed to the bank to make a deposit. I pulled up at the window and wondered why the shade was down. Hmmmm…. I drove around to the front and it was dark inside. The bank closes early on Wednesday. Big dummy.

Thursday, Nov 5^th

I was getting everything ready for the next morning and washed my tights and hung them to dry.

Friday, Nov 6^th

Went to get tights and noticed that they were still a bit wet so I threw them in the dyer for a few minutes. I went upstairs to put them on and realized that they were CATHERINE’S tights.

Well, what do you think? Am I crazy? Do I need a vacation? I don’t know the answer but I am VERY glad that I started this blog because I just realized that I have not ordered breakfast for the students for tomorrow. For real. Help me.

Back to Business!

Note: I will not continue with Baby Bootcamp postings. She still doesn't sleep. It didn't work. Let's move on, shall we?

Well, the summer is over. My work schedule has changed again and I'm back to 5 days a week. No more "Girl Day". Catherine started Kindergarten and she is doing really well. Maddie is now attending day care two days a week. Bill is working on a 10 week contract job. We have become a very busy household! Once again, I am struggling with getting everything done. Outfits, lunches, baths, dinners, homework (yes, Kindergartners have homework), P.T.O meetings!! All of this with 2+ hour commutes to work a day. The first week was a nightmare. I was not used to getting clothes and lunches ready for Catherine every night. I was also not used to what the highway is like once school starts again. During the first week I was getting home around 6pm and we had nothing planned for dinner. We ate a lot of takeout that week.

I swore that I would be better prepared the second week . I had planned a menu for the week (even a crockpot meal for Thursday - which is a particularly busy day). I scrubbed the house over the weekend and washed every piece of laundry in the house (and put it all away). Let the week begin! The meals were perfect. I prepped some of them in the evening after I made lunches for the next day. The outfits were ironed and laid out. I attended a P.T.O meeting AND a kindergarten orientation in the same week. I had done it. I was supermom, y'all! I decided that Bill & I would celebrate how successful the week went with a soak in the hot tub on Friday. I went outside to turn it on and What.The.Hell! There was a horrible smell in the yard. That is when it occurred to me that I forgot to the clean up after the dog for an entire week!! We had been too busy to be in the yard at night so it completely slipped my mind. I had 421 poop piles to clean up that night. So much for supermom. I'll try again for week three.

Baby Boot Camp - Day 1

It’s been years since I have had a good nights sleep and I need to fix this. For a long time it was Catherine that was waking up at night. “Can I go potty?” “I had a bad dream” “I need some water” and my all time favorite “my hair is hot”. The list goes on and on. I think we’ve turned the corner with Catherine and most nights she sleeps great. Maddie is another story. Of course as an infant we didn’t mind getting up. She was actually a pretty good sleeper when she was about 6 months old. She would sleep through the night occasionally – which was just enough for me to recharge.

But now she is 21 months old and this has to end. On Saturday night Bill & I were watching TV and I looked at the clock – 10:15pm. I flew up off of the couch “I have to go to bed!! She will be up any time now!!” She is still waking up every night and sometimes more than once. I have read several books on the subject and searched the internet endlessly for the answer. I haven’t found one yet. Separation anxiety? Nope, that’s not it. Cry it out? Tried it – she has got nothing better to do than cry all night. She knows she will take a nap later (meanwhile I am at work and can’t keep my eyes open). I have changed her bedding and night light. Her mattress pad is much more comfortable than the old one I sleep on.

She used to wake up and want something to drink so I’d give her water or milk and she’d fall right back to sleep. That doesn’t seem to be doing the trick anymore. When I go to get her out of her crib in the morning she is passed out in between several empty bottles. She looks like a drunken baby.

So I have enrolled Maddie into my Baby Boot Camp. I got four hours of sleep last night (not consecutively). How is my recruit doing? Ugh. Stay tuned…..

Oh that's right, I have a dog!

Bill and I watched “Marley & Me” last weekend. I have no idea why I wanted to watch it. I had started the book about a year ago and then stopped about half way through. I knew where this was going and I wanted no part of it. But for some reason I decided we would watch the movie. When the movie ended and I was bawling like a baby I looked over at Abby, my goofy yellow lab. The poor thing has really been put on the back burner for about five years. Abby enjoyed many great times before we had kids. We would take her into the woods and let her run free. She would jump into the dirtiest swamps and be so happy for the rest of the day. We both worked during the day so I took her to…and I can’t believe it now….doggy day care. I remember one day I went to drop Abby off at day care and the woman at the front desk said “It’s Fido’s birthday party today. Do you have a gift to drop off?”. I looked on the table behind her and saw that there were about 10 gifts WRAPPED already waiting for the big party. I felt a little pressured and said “no, but can I buy that chew toy on the wall and have it wrapped for him?” Oh yes, I did.

Abby adjusted really well to having a baby in the house. She immediately loved Catherine (even on the days we weren’t so sure about it) and enjoyed being fed from her plate. She has never been aggressive towards the kids (I have told them a million times that if I was a dog I would have bitten them by now with all the stuff they put her through). She is always a loving companion.

The point of this is that sometimes in the shuffle of having kids we forget about our little animal friends. Animals are a lot like kids but in some ways they are even better. An animal can always tell when you’ve had a hard day and will just lay quietly with you to snuggle. Try telling your kid you’ve had a hard day. Go ahead, try it. You will get no sympathy – just a request for a refill on the juice. I’m sure the memory of the movie will wear off but for now I am thinking about going home to play catch with Abby.

Yup, I'm "that mother".

A whole new world opened up for us when Catherine turned five. She suddenly was very well behaved at restaurants, had a lot more patience for waiting in lines, and can easily skip naps. Unfortunately, this whole new world is gone pretty quickly when you throw a 20 month old into the mix. Maddie has always been pretty good about most outings. Last week I took both girls to Wal-Mart. I love stores that you can buy milk, a screwdriver, and a t-shirt from. The outing started pretty good. The girls were being quiet while I flew around the store grabbing everything that I needed. Maddie started to screech a bit as I was trying to pick out a birthday card for my dad. I decided that I need to get her the sparkle ball from the toy section to play with. We have used this ball several times and it works like a charm. We just replace it before we leave. Her screech immediately turned into a giggle as I handed the ball to her. Magic!! Things were going well until she threw the ball down the hallmark isle. She started screaming at the top of her lungs “BALL BALL BALL”. The ball had landed near an elderly woman’s feet. She bent over to pick it up and hesitated. “It’s dirty”. I tried my best not to yell at her “oh, that’s okay.” “BALL BALL BALL BALL.” She continued to hesitate “will you wipe it off for her?” Are you kidding me, lady??!! Give me the damn thing. I don’t care if she licks it as long as she stops screaming!!!

I made the mistake of taking another shopping trip yesterday. This time it was food shopping. I only need a couple of things so I thought I should get out pretty easily. I grabbed my number at the deli - #17 – they were on #6. This is in the middle of the day on a Tuesday! I raced around the store grabbing everything that I needed and came back to the deli. Four more to go before my turn. Maddie started to get antsy again. She started pinching me and kicking me. I decided that I had no choice but to take her out of the carriage. This went okay for a few minutes. She stood quietly near me and held my hand. She was looking up at everyone to see who might comment on how cute she is. When she didn’t get the attention she expected she ran over to the hamburger buns in front of the deli case. If you happened to get a squished hamburger bun from Market Basket in Lowell, I sincerely apologize. We finished up at the deli and made our way to the checkout line. I had to take Maddie out of the carriage again because I was getting assaulted. She was keeping herself busy with taking the tubs of cotton candy off the shelves and putting them back. I thought this might entertain her but then she bolted! I had to chase her into the next checkout line. I noticed a little girl behind us and said to Maddie “look how good that little girl is being. She is so cute. Do you want to sit in your seat and look at her?” “YA!” Maddie said. Great! As I was putting Maddie back into the carriage I turned to the line of people behind me and said “PLEASE just entertain her until I’m finished here!!”. They all laughed at me. Oh, she’s so funny….that crazy lady….she has no control over her kids. Nope, I don’t. Where was Catherine, you ask? Oh, she was sitting quietly in the back of the carriage watching the show. Let’s see….when Maddie is five Catherine will be 9. Four more years and we can shop ‘till we drop!

When life gives you lemons...

The poor economy has finally hit our household. Bill lost his job a couple of weeks ago. It has been a very stressful time for our family while he tries to find another job. I was feeling a little down yesterday as I pulled into our driveway after work. I walked into the house and …what the HECK??!! My kitchen was sparkling clean and dinner was being prepared. Bill made beef stir fry for dinner and even cut the zucchini up in fancy sticks (rather than the "rustic" chunks I usually make).

After I enjoyed my dinner I went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. The bathroom floor was immaculate. He managed to get the grout lines cleaner than I ever could. After my shower I told Bill that I was going to do some laundry. “I already did it and I cleaned the refrigerator too. Man, that needed it!” he said. Hold up – he managed to clean the kitchen, make dinner, clean the grout in the bathroom, AND take care of two small children? Look, I know when to wave my white flag. I am totally fine with bringing home the bacon and having hubby take care of the kids and house while I’m gone. Is it wrong to say that I might even really enjoy that?

I started to make a mental list of things that could be done the next day. I have some dry cleaning that needs to be dropped off and I would love the have the linen closet cleaned and organized. Oh, and what should he make for dinner? You can imagine my disappointment when he said that he has some work lined up for today. The linen closet may have to wait another day. That’s okay because there will be more laundry by then too.

Birthday Bling

Have you ever seen even a few minutes of MTV's "My Super Sweet 16"? If not, it is a show about these spoiled rich kids who plan these ridiculous parties for their 16th birthday. Their parents rent out a night club, hire Beyonce to sing happy birthday, and the night usually ends with the kid receiving a BMW (which they cried about not getting the whole show)

Well, this is quite similar to how a 5 year old's birthday party goes these days. Five is a pretty big milestone to kids and that is ALL they talk about in school. Catherine starting this a couple of months before her actual birthday. Every day she would come home and say things like "Tommy is NOT invited to my birthday party!!" "I told all the kids that they can come watch Monster Inc on your bed after my party". My personal favorite "I told all the girls in my class that they can go in the hot tub after my party". Gone are the days of the "home party" or the small party at a fast food restaurant. Remember that? I cannot even imagine what type of response you would get from the playgroup moms if you handed out invitations for little Johnny to have a birthday happy meal party.

Most of the parties are at "bouncy house" places. This has to be my least favorite party to attend. Catherine isn't too big on these and she spends the whole time sitting by my side (while I am thinking of the million other things I could be doing) These parties all cost around $300. That is not including the pizza, cake, and goodie bags full of stuff you will throw out when your kid isn't looking. I did give into Catherine a bit this year. She got to invite all her friends to a pool party at the local YMCA. The kids got to swim for an hour in the middle of March. I think it went over pretty well and it was fairly inexpensive. That is, until we got her a motorized BMW convertible.

Getting it together

I came to the realization last night that I’m not as great at this working mother thing as I thought I was. This thought occurred to me while I was watching Maddie play on the porch after her bath in nothing but a shirt. I was waiting for Bill to get back from CVS with diapers. We ran out in the morning and I had no clue. Oh, did I also mention that he was getting dog food? I’m embarrassed to admit that we actually ran out of that the day before. Don’t start dialing up the MSPCA. She’s fine. She eats all the kids’ sandwich crusts and doggy treats that Catherine gives her. She didn’t appear to be too hungry anyway.

I thought I had fully prepared for my busy week back at work. Bill had grilled up a bunch of meat for dinners for the week. I made sure the house was spotless and laundry was done on Sunday. All we needed to do was keep up with it during the week. Well, the plan was clearly not thought out well when I asked Catherine to be on “pee pee watch”. “Keep an eye on your sister and tell me if she pees on the floor”. What kind of mother am I? I don’t have a clue how to get this all accomplished. There is just not enough time in the day. I have another busy week at work coming up. Yes, I think I have enough diapers. Dog food? Perhaps.

Girl Day

One thing that I am learning as a parent is that plans are worthless. I was so excited about my new schedule at work. I am on a four day work week so I’m now home on Friday’s. I started calling this “girl day” since it’s just me & the kids. I make something special for their breakfast and I make it a point not the clean while they are awake. The day is all about fun. We play outside (weather permitting) and I let them dig in the dirt (and eat it in Maddie’s case). We make homemade pizza for dinner when Bill gets home.

Sounds great, right? I thought so and that is why I was completely shocked to hear “I hate girl day!” from the back seat of the mini van. One tired/cranky child can totally spoil a days plan. What really is there to hate? The chocolate chip pancakes? Oh, it must be all the time she spent on the swing set. Or maybe it was playing dolly with me & Maddie? I may never know. I try not to be offended. This is the same little girl who said “there are not enough butterflies here” when we visited THE BUTTERFLY PLACE in Westford. If you have not been there let me break it down for you – there are a million butterflies there!! Everywhere. They land on you. You will never see that many butterflies in your whole life combined.

My one saving grace of the day was when Bill got home. We made pizza together and then put the kids to bed. I was looking forward to ending “girl day” with the company of a man. I had the hot tub nice and hot and it was a beautiful night out. We sat on the couch with a glass of wine to relax for a few minutes while the kids were getting settled in for sleep. I was reading the paper and turned to Bill to say something (a very witty remark, I am quite sure!) and found him sound asleep!

Plan schman. I went to bed at 8:30pm that night. Girl’s day needs some work, I think.

Don't ask if you don't want the answer

Catherine has two imaginary friends. Scratch that. They are imaginary “mommies”. Should I be concerned about this? “Melissa” and “Jessie” are constantly asking Catherine to do things….go to the store, call them on their cell phone, etc. (Interesting how I can’t get her to anything for me!)

The other day I was looking at Catherine and I said “you are the cutest little girl. Where did you get that from? Was it from me?”. She looked at me, leaned over, and whispered in my ear “no, it’s from Jessie”.

Nice.

5 going on 16

Please note: names have been changed to protect the identity of the underage

Today I was unlucky enough to get a glimpse into the future of the dreaded TEENAGE YEARS! Catherine was in the other room and started yelling to me "Mommy, Amanda wants me and Tommy to come over for a play date". "Sure, that's fine" I reply. Then I heard her say something after that but I KNEW that she could not have just said that. I asked her to repeat it. "Then we're going to get naked!". Okay, I need to take a moment here. For those who don't know - she is FIVE. Barely five. Like, she just turned five a couple of weeks ago.

I am in shock and say "oh no you are NOT! Why do you think you're going to do that??!!". Catherine replied "Amanda said we'd take our clothes off in the bathroom together and then put them back on and have our play date." Now, I guess I probably did not handle this the right way because Catherine said "I never should have told you!". Are we already doing this already? Seriously? There really should be a parenting class on this or something. I was totally unprepared. It is a scary thing being a parent in the age of teen pregnancy and cybersexing (or whatever its called). If Maddie starts talking about a naked play date anytime soon we are moving to a deserted island!

This Old House

Catherine told me this weekend that she wants to move to a "new house". We moved into our house three years ago after completely ripping it down and rebuilding. This is our "new house"! I asked her what she didn't like about our house and she said "the garbage disposal is too loud and I can't hear my cartoons".

Well, pack your things, kids! We wouldn't want you to miss a minute of Caillou whining.

Springing Ahead

So the kids never got the concept of an “extra hour of sleep” in the fall. They did catch right on to “lose an hour of sleep” this weekend. In fact, I think they were confused about the just one hour part of it. When we turned the clocks back in the fall it was such a long day. When you move it forward it’s like you’re in a race to keep up. The kids went to bed pretty late the night before (9pm) because we were having dinner at a friend’s house. I said to Bill as we were going to bed “maybe they’ll sleep late!” Oh you fool. You never learn, do you? Catherine was standing by our bed at 7:15am (which was actually 6:15am to us)

I jumped out of bed and rushed to keep up with the clock. I got the pancakes on the table by 8am. The whole family was dressed by 9:30am and ready to head out for a visit. Naptimes were 12pm sharp. Things were looking good!

We served dinner a little later than normal because I think we got overconfident. Maddie rewarded our schedule keeping by crying for a solid hour before falling asleep. You can’t put one over on her.

Random - part 1

I can’t stand how most toys need a screwdriver to get the battery compartment open. The worst part is that it doesn’t even say what type of battery it needs on the outside.

The ladies room at the Stop & Shop in Hudson is surprisingly beautiful. Catherine insists on visiting every public restroom. Did you know that the Lowell Five in Dracut has a bathroom? Well, it does.

Where do babies learn how to pinch someone?

Catherine is obsessed with infomercials. I had given her an empty spray bottle in the bathtub to play with. I overheard her saying “with this yellow bottle, CLR it!!”

So I'm a little competitive....

I had a very stressful thing happen last weekend. We wanted to take Catherine to her first sporting event and we decided on the Lowell Devil’s hockey game since they are really kid-oriented. I checked the “promotions schedule” and found a game that included a “Mr. Potato Head giveaway” to the first 2500 attendees. GAME ON!! I quickly booked our tickets. I was going to get the Potato man. There was no stopping me.

I mentioned the game several times during the week to Catherine and told her all about the Mr. Potato head she would receive. She was very excited about this. It was her first Mr. Potato head –ever!! The game began at 7pm on Saturday. I could not decide what time we should arrive. 5:45? No, that was a little early. She’s only 4 years old and would lose interest in being there by the start of the game. 6pm? Yes, surely there wouldn’t be that many people there that early. By noontime I started to get nervous. I got her so excited about the new toy she’d receive…what if we didn’t get one??!! That would be a complete disaster. She’d see other kids in the stands playing with their potatoes, laughing while changing his face and arms, and there she’d sit….potato-less. We pulled into the parking lot right at 6pm. There was a HUGE line of cars waiting to park. They weren’t moving. There were streams of people going in the building already….all with small children! What to do???!! I hopped out of the passenger seat and unbuckled Catherine and said “come on, we have to hurry!!!!!!!!” Bill took the car to be parked. We got in and went to the box office to retrieve our tickets. Got them – now we can get our precious potato man! But wait, how will Bill get in? I had all three tickets and no cell phone on me. People continued to stream in through the doors and I could see them handing out the Mr. Potatoes. I grabbed Catherine’s hand and pulled her back out side and we ran down the sidewalk to our minivan that was still in a huge line of cars waiting to park. I threw Bill his ticket and we took off back to the arena.

We got in line…the panic set in. Please please please….. We got it!!! He was the perfect potato man. He had a hockey stick arm and one face with a broken tooth and one with a black eye. I was shocked when Bill arrived at his seat with his very own potato! Apparently they really did give them out to the first 2500 (I assumed it was only kids). We had a great time at the game. Catherine asked a lot of questions about hockey and I think she really liked it. And do you know that she has not played with that damn potato ONCE??!!

The tooth fairy visits Gilmore Street

Catherine lost her first tooth this week and she was very excited to have a visit from the tooth fairy. Bill and I had to decide the going rate for these visits. He suggested $5 but I reminded him that she has six loose teeth. We are in a poor economy, people! Even the tooth fairy has to cut back. We agreed that she would get $2 for each tooth. For some reason Catherine thought that she would be receiving stickers and a coloring book from the tooth fairy. I have no idea where this idea came from and I certainly did not have a stock of these things hanging around the house. I explained that the tooth fairy was far too small to carry around coloring books so that is why she left money.

And so began the millions of questions… How big is the tooth fairy? How does she know I lost a tooth? Does she make a list? Will she look in my mouth? What does she wear? I truly have no idea! I was very prepared for questions about Santa. I had an answer for every possible question. I never even thought to prepare myself on the tooth fairy. I tried my best to explain all about the tooth fairy but with every sentence it just seemed more and more ridiculous. “The tooth fairy is very tiny…like Tinkerbelle. She flies into your room at night and takes the tooth from under your pillow and replaces it with money.” Sounds kind of scary if you ask me. Bill & I went into her room to get the tooth and leave the loot. She opened her eyes just as I started to put my hand under her pillow!! Bill made a mad dash out the door and I put my head under her bed. I had to lay there for quite a while until I was sure that she was back asleep. She was very excited the next morning to find the $2 under her pillow. She has another tooth that is ready go to any day now. I still have a few days to decide what the tooth fairy wears.

I slept like a baby...a newborn baby

Let me sum up the past 4 1/2 years for you. I haven't slept. Okay, so there have been a few times that I got a full nights sleep. Not very many. I think new parents are prepared for the fact that there will be sleepless nights ahead of them. I don't think I was prepared for how long this would last. Maddie is going through the "let's see what Mommy is doing at 2am...and 4am...and I'll just wake up for the day at 6am. I'll take a nap!" phase. When I do go in there to check on her she laughs at me. Its a conspiracy, I tell ya! The other night I was awakened by Catherine at midnight. "Mommy, you want to play a game with me?". Ya sure, kid, let me go get candyland. Last night she woke up in the middle of the night to tell me that she did not want to use the little spoon when she had pudding. Good to know. Now can I go back to sleep???!!

There have even been mornings that Bill wakes up and says "the kids slept really good, huh?". It is all I can do to keep from knocking him out! I am resigned to the fact that I will never get a good nights sleep. I will always have dark circles under my eyes. I will live for my morning coffee and I will be eternally grumpy. Does anyone want to take my kids for a night? Cause Momma needs a tylenol pm.