Cleaning chili off the carpet

I saw this 'Office' episode where Kevin, the HR guy, accidentally dumps a giant pot of chili on the office carpet. He tries desperately to scoop it back into the pot with anything he can grab which turns out to be a manila file folder. His weak attempts are ineffective and he ends up slipping around in a giant, goopy mess - somehow making it all worse with each stroke. Kevin's goopy incident made me think of some of my more difficult days here at the ranch. Love the kids; hate the mess. My 2 y.o. son is adorable but he has been driving me bonkers for days....waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. Then creating havoc during the day, making messes, biting his older sister and generally being a loon. I'm told this is normal behavior for boys. I'm not happy about this feedback at all. I'm biding my time until preschool - hopefully he won't get kicked out. In the meantime, I will keep scooping up the chili...

On a brighter note, I published a guest post at Kimchi Mamas on my daughter's Korean school. Check it out here.

Gooey puddle of mommy love

My girl has been out of school and in a science camp for three weeks. So I have six hours with just one kid, the younger one, the squirrely one. I didn't know what to do with him. So we went to the park, grocery shopped and hung out at the mall. He's a handful all by himself. Call him "the bigger pain in my ass." I love the little guy but he drives me cuckoo. When I was pregnant with my first child, I thought I would make a better mother to a boy than a girl. Now that I have one of each, I believe that I am a better mom to a girl. Boys confound me. They are physical rather than emotional. My 20 month old boy is a tasmanian devil. A whirling dervish and destruction machine. Today he broke several picture frames, destroyed his dresser drawers and ate dirt. Ick. He loves to dive headfirst down stairs and jams fistfuls of food (no matter the size) in his mouth. His hands are always sticky and damp. Gak. It's amazing he's in one piece at the end of the day. Good thing he's close to the ground and has a layer of padding all around. Though after a piping hot bath when he's clean and smiley - I melt into a gooey puddle of mommy love. I is a goner.

Random thoughts going round and round

I haven't blogged in a while. I've been on the "hamster wheel" of parenting as my good friend PCho would say. These past two weeks have given me a chance to hibernate, shop (gotta keep the economy going), eat carbs, and sleep in until 10 a.m. several days in a row (amen!). So I emerge now roly-polier, more relaxed, with less cash and a little discombobulated. I always have a ton of random thoughts in my head so I'd like to spew them here. Sort of like a discount bin at Marshall's. No wait that sounds unsavory - how about a beautiful basket of Hermes scarves?

1) I'm so excited for Barack Obama to become president. We've hyped him up quite a bit. As a PR professional (ahem!), I believe he has no where to go but down. Media rollercoaster, here we come! I will be watching the inauguration Tuesday, Jan. 20 - wearing my team's colors: red/white/blue!
2) 2009 is the year my fellow '69ers turn 40. Gasp. To those over 40, please turn away from the screen lest you judge my next few thoughts. I can't fucking believe I'm turning 40. I can't process it. It seems like the beginning of the end. My friend's mother said turning 50 is worse but what can we do? I will just have to become more fabulous.
3) My son is walking! He speaks: da-da, do-do. He points to me and to himself on command. So cute, yeah? Don't let him fool ya. The boy is like a violent badger at times. He has the strength of a much bigger man. He claws, screams and kicks too. It's an education since my daughter was very gentle. Even at 14 months, he wakes up a few times a night due to his eczema (poor baby) but we are hanging in there. His Daddy and I take turns. The other night I held his (not so small) body in my arms and I felt like crying because I was so tired of it all. My emotions are so unpredictable. When people ask me how I am, I often don't really know. The true sign of being a mom: You don't really know! ha!
4) The eerie quiet of Dead Week a.k.a. the holidays. This is probably a blog post unto itself. I have always had a hard time with the holidays. So much expectation both met and unfulfilled. I was always the anxious kid around the holidays who didn't know what to expect and felt like the whole event was weird. That sentiment has stayed with me. I'm not like a lot of other people I know who relish this season: hot chocolate, big cozy sweaters, decorating trees, etc. I do LOVE gifts - not so much receiving them but for giving them - wrapping gifts, the anticipation of watching people open them - hoping that they will appreciate them, etc.

That's it for now...can't wait for school to start! Freedom!

Who's the big crybaby?

So, I haven't written in a while. Why? Cuz, I'm tired, fool! My little 7 month old dude (a.k.a. Dano, Big D, Danbo, DJ Jazzy Jeff) keeps waking up in the middle of the night sometimes 2xs a night. He's clearly not like his big sis who slept 12 hours night when she turned 2 months. Last week I was so tired that I couldn't really focus on anything. Chores went undone so the house was a mess. I couldn't really muster up the energy to do anything except imbibe diet coke and eat carbs (let's see some of my favorites Kettle Krinkle Cut Potato Chips with salt and freshly ground pepper, tortilla chips, chocolate, cookies). It was a sorry scene. My friends kept telling me to let him cry it out. I couldn't bring myself to do it until one night I got mad at the little bugger for waking me up 3xs!!!! So I said to him (silently of course), "You think you're tough little guy...well, Mommy is tougher. Bring it on little man! Tomorrow night will be a different story." Please remember I was tired and letting off steam. If you're not a mom, then shut yer trap and keep reading or hop off here and go read perezhilton.com - it's good stuff. So you could probably figure out the rest - the next night I let him cry it out. It hurt me more than I anticipated. I felt tense, upset and anxious cuz my little D was crying for his momma who was trying to teach him something. Boy, his crying made my heart hurt (I'm the true crybaby) BUT after 20 minutes - he stopped and kept sleeping!!! I was so happy. The next night he did the same and so far he's been doing it off and on but more on than off. Once I got a full night's sleep or closer to it - I felt like a different person. I could think clearly and rationally and actually get stuff done around the house. Actual planning rather than reacting! Miracles can/do happen. Knock on a giant redwood tree!