Life With Three

Fall Fun Day at Preschool- no, the goat is not mine. 

I often get the question, "What's it like with THREE?" Since I have only had three little ones for two months now, I am still learning. However, I can definitely say that it is a lot of work. Newborn babies are fantastic, but they are also high maintenance. My little guy eats every two hours, and poops every time he eats. That's a lot of time right there! Plus I haven't quite figured out the penis thing: when he's laying down, he often leaks on the front of his shirt. I've tried to get my husband to explain to me why this happens (since he has a penis) but apparently he doesn't pee on his shirts when he's laying down. In any case,  Davis has a lot of wardrobe changes throughout the day. Which means more laundry too. Laundry, ugh the laundry. I am always doing laundry... and I hate doing laundry. My husband and I re-wear clothes, but the kids are so dirty they burn through multiple outfits a day. When I look at my choice of clothing for the day I have to decide if I want to re-wear a shirt that has snot on the shoulder or a some random kid food stain or if I want to add it to the ever growing pile of dirty clothes.

If I'm not feeding kids, changing diapers, or doing laundry, I am probably cooking or cleaning. We have a small house, so I have to pick up often or the place is totally wrecked and chaos ensues. I am pretty OCD about keeping the place clean, but that seems harder to do these days. I am doing pretty good if I get things straightened up, but "clean" is a whole other beast. In fact, I am pretty sure my whole house is covered in a layer of random, kid-produced stickiness.

Then there are times, like this morning, when something really gross happens. I went to investigate what the wet, sticky substance was that I had stepped in by the edge of my bed last night. I had enough sense to wipe my foot off with a baby wipe, but at 3:30am, I had no desire to dig deeper. So this morning I looked under the bed to find my toddler's missing plastic straw cup leaking out the contents. The cup has been MIA for weeks, and as best I can tell it contained a smoothie. Ugh. Gag. I made a mental note to scrub my foot a little more than usual if I get around to taking a shower today.

Sometimes, when I am doing something really mundane, like scrapping stickers off the hardwood floor or scrubbing paint stains out of clothes, I am thinking about the fact that I'm still paying off student loans for a wasted bachelor's degree.

Impromptu Baby Photo Shoot

When I catch myself getting too caught up in keeping up the house, I try to shift gears by doing something completely unproductive and fun with the girls. Today we did a chalk art photo shoot, played in the rain, and made some Halloween magic bars. We also spent about an hour applying ice packs and bandaids in a mock-emergency room after Leila busted up both knees outside. What started off as trauma, ended up being pretty cute pretend play for both of the girls- although we may be out of bandaids now.

I couldn't be happier with my little crew. I love that I got to make three Halloween costumes. I love seeing three pairs of PJ's laid out for bed. I love that I know each one of these children better than anyone else in the world. I love that when they are hurt, sad, or tired, they look to me for comfort. I love each one of them so completely, even when it's the middle of the night and I am begging (or yelling) at them to go back to sleep (again). I may be totally wiped out by the end of the day, but I feel full of love and gratitude.

Red Ribbon Week- Tyler Style

Unrelated duck photo

I took Leila to a birthday party this past weekend and I overheard tweenager explaining dress up for Red Ribbon Week to another mom. Since I didn't know exactly what this was, a quick iphone google search filled me in. According to the Red Ribbon Coalition website, "Red Ribbon Week brings millions of people together to raise awareness regarding the need for alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention, early intervention, and treatment services." It was adopted nationally by Nancy 
Reagan and reminds me a lot of the Just Say No campaign of the 80's.


Back to the tween... she explained that each day they get to dress up in different clothes; Monday- camo, Tuesday- cowboy boots, Wednesday- dress like a hobo... WHAT? Dress like a hobo?!? What the hell? First of all, who says "hobo"? That's clearly both dated and non-p.c. Homelessness is just not funny. Addtionally, what could that possibly have to do with keeping kids off drugs? I turned out of the girl's conversation, but made a mental footnote to find out more about this when I got home.
Turns out the girl went to a school in on of Tyler's surrounding towns that doesn't have an elaborate website. However, Tyler ISD participates in Red Ribbon Week and allows each campus to pick their theme days. After reading the list, it seems to me like one person with decent marketing skills or quick wit should come up with a master list for the district to follow.  Can is really be that hard to think of five catchy anti-drug phrases to go with costumes? "Lei Off Drugs!- Wear your favorite Hawaiian theme clothing or a colorful shirt" and "Too Bright For Drugs!- Wear brightly colored and neon clothing." are ok, but the others could use some work.


Here's my favorites, as directly copied from the website:  
Bell is WILD ABOUT good choices!- Wear your Bell “Wild about…” shirt or other animal print clothing!
We are “PAWS”itively Drug Free.  Students can bring  a stuffed animal to school for the day.
Spot me being drug free.  Wear polka dotted shirt and uniform pants.
 Wear Camouflage! “Be a hero”.
Put a Cap on Drugs. Wear a cap.
Team up, stay in the game and be drug-free. Wear team jersey or T-shirt.
 COWBOY UP AND SAY NO! – Wear all western wear
Don’t Let Drugs Make You Crazy” day. Wear mismatched socks. (Socks different colors 
from one another.)


I think the last one is my favorite, since they had to explain what "mismatched" means. I also think it's funny that many of the schools have a "dress like a hippy" day. Seems ironic to dress like a hippy to promote the war against drugs.  
You can read each school's theme days here.

Messy Party

There's nothing my girls love more that getting really dirty (as evidenced by paint-pool photo above). This year I decided to throw a Messy Birthday Party and let them go crazy! I wanted the party to be as homemade and kid-friendly as possible. I am also on a super-tight budget these days, so I made it my personal challenge to keep this party on the cheap. This was the first time I have done a "together party" for both girls. Leila is turning 4 soon, and Norah was 2 at the end of September. Leila was cool with the joint party for a while, but as the date approached she began to question why she had to share her party. You know why? Because I said so.

Invitations

I printed up the simple white invitations and let the girls decorate them, with my guidance. I had to ditch a few that the girls went too crazy with. The invites went out to over 20 kids. 

Painting

The kids made a large mural using colored water spray bottles and throwing koosh balls dipped in paint at a big white sheet. This was a big hit and the final product was pretty cool. I'm trying to think of something to make with the paint-splattered sheet. 

(Reverse) Bobbing for Donuts

They had to eat powdered donuts hanging from a string with no hands. The donuts were gone in about 30 seconds. I think we had some cheaters!

                                       

Shaving Cream

It was just sprayed on the side of our house. Sooooo easy and fun! Added bonus- the kids smelled fresh and clean afterwards!

Face Painting

My dear friend Janna used her mad face-painting skills to make tons of gorgeous butterflies, cats and such. After the party I caught Leila repainting her face and Norah's. 

Pull-Sting Pinatas

Leila, Norah and I made 2 pull string paper mache pinatas. I forgot to take pictures of them, but I followed these directions, so they kinda looked like this. It was really fun to make (very messy!) and the pull strings work much better with this age group than beating the shit out of a pinata with a bat.    That said, the only reason I made these was that Leila drove me crazy wanting a pinata. It really wasn't necessary.

And more!

Silly String Fight- 4 cans went in about 30 seconds. I should have bought 20. 

Goop Painting- I made Goop (cornstartch and water) in a plastic pool, and let the kids paint the fence with it). They liked it, but I think it would have been better to do soapy water to paint the fence, and just have goop to play with on individual plates. 

Food

This was the only non-DIY party of the party. I just didn't want to worry about the food. We had breakfast tacos from Stanley's (best BBQ in town!) and mini-cupcakes (vanilla, red velvet & snickerdoodle) from Ganache. Last year I made the cupcakes and they were crap. I vowed to leave the fancy cupcake decorating to the pros!

                             

Favors

I gave out bags with a bar of soap, colored loofa sponge and little rubber duck with a tag that said "Get Clean!" for the party favors. Norah loves rubber ducks in the tub, and Leila liked putting the bags together for her friends. She really liked passing them out at the end of the party too. 

All in all, it was a big success. The kids seemed to have fun and most importantly Leila and Norah were happy. We had a lot of family come in town from Houston, Austin and San Antonio. We won't be able to have that again next year in DC. Afterwards, Leila asked if we can have a messy party every year. Thank God she doesn't want to go to Chuck-E-Cheese.

Update!

I bet you thought I forgot all about you. Nope! I still read the weekly site meter update for this blog, and even though I haven't posted in a year, I still have folks checking in. So for the handful of loyal readers out there, I am gonna bring this puppy back to life! Rather than write a long, rambling update, I am gonna to give you a brief update so I can jump right back into writing.

• I ditched the other blog (East Texas Exile) a while back. While I have plenty of material about my life here in Tyler, I felt weird writing about it. I didn't want to seem like I was an outsider making fun of the locals. I have made some really great friends here and out of respect for them, I let it go. 
• We are staying here for another year. While we really want to be back in San Francisco, we had a few things happen that kept us here till next summer. I had a gut feeling that this journey wouldn't be as simple as "one quick year in Texas" and sure enough, things got complicated. 
• When we leave here next summer (2012), we will head to DC! My husband got a dream job for another short term gig in DC. We will be there for 18 months, then hopefully back to SF. What can I say? I love the East Coast, it's an election year, I am a musuem junkie and DC has my fix! I can't wait to learn the rails will my three little ones!

• What's that? Did I say THREE little ones? You're damn right I did. That's the other big change of plans. We added the 3rd baby to our family just six weeks ago, a precious little guy that we named Davis. I was quite surprised to get pregnant again (we obviously aren't good at family planning) but I am full of love for my new baby.

• For the record, I am done being pregnant and popping out babies. Davis joined us on August 29th, which meant that I had to endure the hottest Texas summer in thirty years while I was hugely pregnant. No amount of a/c, swimming or sno cones could make me ever want to do that again. It was truly awful. For me, pregnancy ain't that great to begin with and we had over 40 consecutive days of temps in the 100's. It was insane. Any future additions to our crew will have to come from the baby black market or something. 
• To accomodate our three little ones who are all in giant car seats, we traded in our Civic for a brand spankin' new Honda Odyssey a few months ago. That's a minivan for all you non-moms. Yes, I have gone from a car-free family to a minivan family. I know, I suck. However, it's pretty damn sweet for this time of our lives. I certainly don't feel like the "cool mom" when I am driving around, but I can get around with my family easily enough with minimal bitching from my kids. I like the space, the a/c, the built in shades, and the endless cup holders. 
• Since there's no mass transit in my immediate future, I am going to shift the focus of this blog for the next year. I am sure DC will give me plenty of stories about transit life, but I'd like to write something till then. Please cut me some slack while I play around with content here. 

That's about it. I am a total sleep-deprived mess these days, but I want to get back in touch with the world through more than Facebook. Life here in Tyler often feels isolated, but getting back on this blog makes me feel a bit more connected to the outside world. Keep checking in... more to come very soon. 

Another Cold Baby Out There

I guess I am not the only mama who gets input from strangers. A reader shared this tale with me: 

The title of your blog reminds me of a story my mother told me when I was a boy. She said it was in the summer of 1955, not long after I was born, she was taking me to the doctor at Kaiser Hospital on Geary St. She was riding the B car (which became the 38 bus the following year) and she held me in her lap. I was wrapped up in a blanket, but my feet were bare under the blanket. Just as she was about to get up and go to the exit, a gust of wind caused the blanket to blow open and expose my bare feet. An old lady saw that and remarked, "Oh! The poor baby has no shoes, Isn't he cold!" My mother was quite embarassed, but she didn't say anything and got off the streetcar. 

Thanks Dexter!

New Blog

For the next year I'll be posting at:
East Texas Exile

Vacation!

Road Trip 2010- So we just returned from a big 2 week road trip and it was fantastic! We drove from SF to Portland to Seattle to Vancouver and then took the coastal drive on the way back. I hate riding in the car and so do my kids, so I was a little nervous about how this would all play out. We rented a HUGE SUV and filled it to the brim. It ain't easy packing for 2 grown ups, 2 little ones, camping stuff and food (tons of food). We tried to keep the trip as cheap as possible, which meant very little eating out. Plus, I knew good snack food and treats would cure any boredom the girls and I would encounter. My husband and I loved the SUV. We tired not to, but it was just so... big. We will never buy one, but we sure did enjoy renting it!
Here's some general observations about the whole thing-
1. It's f*cking hot out there. Every city we hit was in the middle of a summer heat wave. The heat made us all a little irritable. Not a good sign for our upcoming move.
2. Cheap hotels are creepy. Gone are the days when I thought it was cool to stay in a grungy hotel. If people are fighting in line for the mystery dish at the free breakfast buffet, I'm outta there.
3. Portland rules. Love Voodoo Donuts. Love Powells. Love all the fountains for kids to play in. Transit was a little slow, but very clean. I didn't get to ride the air tram, but hopefully we can do that on the next visit.

4. Seattle has a great edge to it. I wish I could by all my food at Pike's and hang out at Left Bank Books figuring out how to take myself off the grid. To be honest, I found the transit a little confusing. I had a rude bus driver that didn't tell me that you pay getting on sometimes, and getting off other times based on where you get on. My husband had figured that out, but neglected to tell me and I instantly became the annoying lady with the loud kids that's holding up the bus line. I loved all the great kid's parks, and Gas Works Park was really cool. I was thankful to blogger, Carla for sending me some great travel tips!

5. Vancouver was nice. We stayed in a nice hotel there and the kids loved looking out the floor to ceiling windows to the city, 15 stories below. It's a pretty city with a lot to offer, but damn is it expensive!

6. The first night on the road we made it to our campsite at Creator Lake, only to find that it was snowed in (literally no where to pitch our tent or cook) and infested with freakishly large mosquitos. We had to ditch that site and set up shop about 30 miles away.
7. We stayed in a yurt on Loon Lake. We pulled up to find a bunch of college students partying right next to our site. They had like 4 pit bulls, kegs, and a racist bumper sticker. We were so worried that we had a shitty night ahead of us, but turns out the ended the party early, and even brought us a plate of food.
8. Camping on the beach was great, except for me freezing my ass off at night.
9. I ate too many s'mores  on our trip and never want to see one again.

10. The Oregon Coast is stunning. So are the massive Redwood Trees in CA. There is so much undeveloped land out there. It was refreshing.