Lots of pirates at our house. Ballerinas, too.

Chava's coming in to her own in terms of her style of dance. She does this great thing with her arms that I haven't yet been able to catch on video, but I'll keep trying. Maddox just likes to spin until he gets dizzy enough to fall down - we'll call that "drugs for the early set."

Ahhhhh, that's better

Last night Al went to a meeting and I was truly dreading putting both kids to bed by myself. It's amazing how the kids always pull through when I am at my wit's end (and watch out for the day they don't). They played trains together in Maddox's room, allowing me to check my e-mail and throw in a load of laundry. They put on their pjs without too much fussing (actually, Maddox helped convince Chavie to get hers on). Maddox watched "Super Why!" (our new PBS find) while I read to Chavie, and then she went to bed with only about five minutes of "Snuggle me, Mommy!" crying. I (of course) fell asleep putting Maddox to bed but got up long enough to take a Simply Sleep and steal Al's side of the bed so he would be closer to the kids - he got up with each of them once, and I slept for a blissful 9 1/2 hours.

Why?! why why why why

Why is it that I seem to have the worst sleeping children in all the world? Why is it that they can time their night wakings to ensure that my longest stretch of sleep is about 2 hours (that means that I got ONE two hour stretch, and the rest of the night was in less-than-one-hour increments)? Why is Maddox able to have 2-3 night terrors IN ONE NIGHT? On a day he didn't even nap? Meaning he should be MORE tired and sleep better, according to Dr. Ferber, that stupid idiot? Why am I married to a man who can sleep through a grenade attack, much less his daughter's cry of "Mommy, come snuggle with me Chavie!!" all night long? Why does he yell at me when I ask him to go up to her? (In his defense, he never remembers that, so I think he's actually asleep when he's barking at me, but it doesn't make it any less annoying at 2:34 or 3:47 or 4:22 a.m.) Dear lord WHY DON'T MY CHILDREN SLEEP?

It was pizza

Yeah, that last meal I couldn't remember was homemade pizza. Mushrooms and onions for us, just cheese for the kids. But damn if Maddox didn't steal all my caramelized onions.

This is sad

But it's really the best place for me to write down something I've been meaning to for about a week now. Pathetic, and not interesting reading, so feel free to tune in later this week for more exciting events (like pictures of Maddox's lip, which he split open on Monday night).

Last week was the first week in a looooooong time that we had real, honest to goodness homecooked dinners every night. I need to compile a list of all the things I can make that (at least some of us) we like so I can think of what to buy at the store each week. Here's what we had last week:

-stir fried pork loin with green beans and rice (I think the kids ate mainly rice)
-shrimp curry with green beans (kids did not eat)
- fish (Al works right down the street from a great fishmonger - kids ate fishsticks but would likely eat fishcakes from the fishmonger)
- chili (kids will eat if we take some out before spicing out)

OH MY GOD I cannot think of the last thing I made. I am truly losing my mind and memory. Here's what we're having this week:

-lamb stew from Nonna
-chicken Marbella from Silver Palate (go figure, kids love "chicken on the bone")
-fajitas
-something else

Although last night I was exhausted and we ordered Chinese. Yum!

The Next Wiggle??

It's even better if you know the actual song/video. Also, he's not watching his choreographer - he's checking himself out in the window directly behind me, because (in his own words) "I look so pretty in this dress!"

Holy Moses, Captain Feathersword is in my living room!

Maddox is on a little bit of a pirate bender. Apparently, he and a couple of other boys at school spent the day yesterday drawing treasure maps and then searching for treasure at playground time. I think Al sees this as a real improvement, since previously he was more interested in the ballerina clothes from the dress-up box.

More Edaville pictures

Thanks to Dad, who had his handy cell phone with him. I think both kids would have been happy in the ball crawl all night long. Also, I don't know what is up with that face Chavie is making in the last picture with Nonna, because the girlfriend was happy as a pig in poop the whole night long.

Chase!

I don't know why the kids are kicking our collective asses so much lately. Both Al and I feel more drained and exhausted trying to parent them - maybe because they are playing together more, which leads to more disagreements/arguements (see, I am trying not to use the word "fights," which is really what they are). It doesn't help that whenever Chava doesn't get her way, she squeals like she is being killed, so we run in thinking that Maddox has smacked her. Usually, she's just mad that he won't give her the red domino, or whatever. Although the other day I heard the squealing and took my time to amble over, only to find Maddox sitting on top of her. Go figure.

The one picture I managed to get while freezing my ass off at Edaville

Actually, it was an incredibly awesome afternoon. Maddox was absolutely FEARLESS, which surprised and delighted me (except for the part about my poor, freezing ass and his constant demands for MORE FERRIS WHEEL RIDES). We rode the merry-go-round (Chava's favorite, she reports her horse's name was "Smoke"), the Dumbo the flying elephant ride, the rocket ride, and of course, the train. Chava was too short to ride the Ferris Wheel but Maddox insisted he wanted to go on it and squealed with glee each time we hit the top. I was focused on not peeing my pants on the way down each time, and on keeping my left hand firmly tucked in to Maddox's armpit so that I would not suffer frostbite.

A random assortment of pictures from the last week and a half

I managed to take a whopping two pictures on Christmas. Good work.


























Here is a self portrait of Chava and Mommy:



















And a silly Chavie in her new purple hoody from Kathy:














And the kids watching t.v., which we did too much of: