goals

this week i have a few goals:

• teach amelia that the computer desk is *NOT* her toy area

this will be very difficult. every single time i sit in front of the computer to check email or the news or read a blog or ANYTHING she climbs onto the chair, pulls at me, wiggles her way around to the front, climbs onto my lap & then attempts to climb onto the desk. it was funny the first week, annoying the 2nd week, more annoying the 3rd week & so on. which is why i haven't been on facebook or blogs for a few weeks. & why i had no clue what happened to tiger woods...you know, it's important stuff that i'm missing. i have to admit, it was kinda nice to be out of hte loop for a few weeks, but now, *now* i am ready to re-plug in. i just have to get amelia on board with not attacking me. it has been a long 20 minutes already.

the thing is, amelia has a hard time playing by herself when adeline isn't here. amelia is excellent at parallel play; it keeps her wonderfully occupied to play beside adeline. but alone...she just gets bored. maybe b/c she has the attention span of a gnat?! seriously, 1 page into the book & she throws it aside, looking for another one. the only time we get a full book in is at nap & bed times. & then she's so tired that she's mostly asleep.

right now i'm typing away--it's a good thing i can type fast--as amelia is throwing her snack everywhere (another good thing: a dog who likes to eat thrown aside snack food, aka cereal). anyway, so the deal is every time amelia tries to climb onto the chair i give a stern but kind 'no no amelia, time to play' & take her to a toy, get her interested, then a few minutes later i walk away. *sigh* this is going to take forever. i have lost hope.

• read most of the adrenal fatigue book.

see the reasons behind #2. if i take some time by myself when either girl is awake, i am attacked. hair pulling, etc.

ARGH. a millie monster is in full tantrum mode. this goal is going to be a difficult one. so all this to say: don't anticipate a flood of blogging or internet chat from me for a few weeks. heck, for a year? how long will it take for this milligan to get that the computer desk is not her playground? ideas?

Happy Birthday Cousin Chris

Today is my (Wes) cousin Chris' birthday. While he is my cousin he is probably equal parts brother. He was born in 1976 so is about 6 months and 23 days older than I so he's been around as long as I have. His dad and mine own Gerbick Motors and their house was not even a quarter mile down the street from ours. Needless to say we have shared alot over 30+ years...and here are some highlights (most of these could probably be there own posts but alas......)

• legos...lots and lots of legos
• 4th grade - Sam Salvo..best teacher ever
• the rocket ship
• swing jumping contests (broken arm number 1)
• 'he's a wiffer' (as he launches a ball over my head in little league)
• RC cars
• Saturdays at the lot
• Thursdays at the auction
• the scooter (ask him about his knee)
• model rockets
• Europe (high school trip)
• Vegas vacation (getting thrown out of casino's in high school)
• Holiday Valley skiing
  
• Camp Burton
  
• Crawford Hall (lived in same building freshman year of college)
• Bryan Hall (lived together sophomore year)
• Halloween (ask him about the leisure suit)
  
• Statics
• just divide by PI (we're both engineers)
  
• Sr. Year spring break cruise
• Tiffany Lakes

Ever since we moved to Boise and he and Megan (his lovely wife) moved to Florida we don't see each other much more than once a year but it typically takes about 2 minutes for conversations to pick up where they left off. He may be family but he's also been a great friend to have for 30 some years so cheers to you Chris Gerbick.

FYI tomorrow I've got some great pictures of him to scan so stay tuned.

when life throws you lemons...

...go to dairy queen? it's the gerbickian way.

wes got home late b/c he had to stay late b/c today he had to give out really frustrating, annoying, a plain pisser-offer of info to his team (& himself). the week surrounding christmas the company he works for, redbuilt, is shutting down (except sales people...& they better be working their tales off, my friends) & no one gets paid. it's like a forced non-paid vacation. what's really bad is that they're giving this info out so close to the time. but then again, they're also telling everyone this will happen again in february. freakin' great! just when we think our financial situation is looking bleak, it becomes just a bit more bleak (bleaker? that's a funny word to say). gah.

then i had a day filled with ear-infection-millie & just-plain-tired-addy. but they both took naps, so that is stupendous (except that addy fell asleep on the couch, so i couldn't do any thing much except watch tv...oh darn, right? i caught up on some shows, so all is good). but what made a sorta frustrating day just plain pissy for me was when i was on the phone with wes who was explaining to me how he wanted to get home so badly that he drove across the railroad tracks when the lights were flashing & a train was coming--GULP--yes, after he had just told me that, i open the door to our bedroom to find addy & amelia in there (the upstairs had been eerily quiet as i was making dinner downstairs. i prayed to sweet heavenly lord jesus almighty that nothing funny was going on upstairs. jesus did not perform any miracles, folks, not in a way of keeping my kids out of trouble tonight, *sigh*). amelia was in the now *empty* but previously totally overflowing full dirty clothes hamper. adeline is sitting amongst a very large pile of clothes on the floor that was not previously there. & 5 out of 6 of our dresser drawers were open & emptied of the contents. apparently we forgot to mention to adeline that not only is she NOT to empty her dresser of its contents, but she should also NOT empty the contents of anyone else's dresser. GAH!

then while i was putting the clothes away the stuff on the burner (it was on super duper low!) burnt. so i no longer had that wonderful feeling of being betty freakin' crocker (as my sister would say) b/c i was trying to determine which clothes were clean & which were dirty. a very unpleasant task for the nose, mind you. i left all of wes' underwear for him to decide...i am so not going to sniff his undies. you know what i mean.

so we finally had dinner. after i read for a bit & wes cooked for a bit--both of which calmed us down. the girls gobbled down the spaghetti. then i asked addy: guess where we're going to go after dinner? where? where? WHERE?! *DAIRY QUEEN!* wes & i answered in unisom, totally unplanned. our marriage was just meant to be, plain & simple. when going through a shitty, shitty day...we just think of the dessert we now deserve for surviving it.

amelia playing around with me while waiting for wes & addy to come home with *ICE CREAM!*


i forget why addy had this look on her face, i think it was prior to ice cream eating.

& *apparently* amelia now loves to eat ice cream.

so we all ate our ice cream, adeline was so happy that she told us a few times 'i wuv my mommy an daddy, i wuv you' & amelia was clapping her feet together & squealing with delight & was the quietest she had been all day while devouring the yummy stuff. wes & i would just look at each other with the look of 'i think things are a-okay now'. now that we've had plenty of dessert. & now we just have to figure out which child we'll have to sell to stay in the black this year. (*kidding*).

butt water

tonight as i tried to keep adeline's spirits up (as amelia was dumping all the bath water adeline had worked so hard to fill up a bucket cup by wee cup) i started to make butt-tooting-poopy jokes. addy is in the stage of really finding my 'dirty' jokes simply hilarious, so i am instigated to tell these not so funny jokes. so we came upon the idea of bath water being called butt water (this was to help remind adeline a few months ago why she was not to drink bath water: B/C YOUR POOPY BUTT IS IN THERE!) & tonight i was rolling with the whole butt water idea. you know, oh there goes butt water down amelia's face! egads, that was a lot of butt water near your lips, etc. & then adeline starts to giggle & would say something like 'butt water gilly {silly}' & catastrophe was averted b/c of the giggles.

wes took amelia after amelia decided her bath was over, which she told us by climbing out of the tub repeatedly & throwing mini cups of water at me (laughing while doing it, at least). so adeline & i were alone in the bath room & i mentioned to her which classmate she is to buy a christmas gift for this year for the preschool gift exchange. she starts laughing uncontrollably & i was like 'do you not like this girl?' & was getting a bit concerned of the match-up for christmas gifts if they didn't like each other. then addy finally stops giggling & says the kid's name & then says 'give her butt water!' & starts to laugh uncontrollably again...then i started to laugh b/c my little girl made a 'dirty' joke. hopefully she doesn't really intend to pick that as a gift, i don't think the school would allow it, right? come on, butt water is nearly as bad as coal.

***

and, drumroll: amelia has another ear infection! her fussiness started to increase last weekend & was full throttle this morning (at the mall, ugh...why am i always the one walking the screaming kid in the stroller through the mall?! i even finished browsing the kid clothing stores with a screaming toddler & no one glared at me! it must be the holiday spirit making people a bit more cheerful & forgiving?). so we made an appointment for her this afternoon & sure enough, ear infection. she didn't even make it 6 days without antibiotics (which makes me wonder if the last round of antibiotics actually did anything?).

we are now being referred to an ENT for the (cochlear??) tubes, which we pretty much expected given amelia's continuous ear infection status for the past 7 months. i know this is a fairly common procedure, but i'm still nervous to go through it all. i'm sure it will be fine. the good news is that we will most likely get the tubes put in before 2010, which is good b/c we've *totally* reached our deductible for the year. i think it was met by last april, sadly.

& officially, addy is an advent-calendar-candy swiper--christmas eve will find one little girl a bit sad for her lack of candy that night...maybe she will remember november 30 as the night she took chocolate from that numbered box when she shouldn't have. & amelia can say hat & wassssAT & dog. & she likes to play the screaming game with me which now puts my parenting skills at a new low... (the game goes like this: i try to take an object, like a bottle of medicine, from amelia's steely grip. she screams until her forehead gets all red & blotchy. i then grab the item again & imitate her screech & laugh. she laughs & screeches again. after 10 or maybe a dozen times she's finally coaxed into giving up the item. but then must have an equally enticing object around her. see, parenting low.)

what we were thankful for

maybe if you were a bit north on thanksgiving day you had the first snow of the year experience. we did, in cinnamon lake (at my parents' house). adeline woke up with them (my parents) so i don't know exactly what she said when she saw the wonderment of snow, but from second hand accounts it went something like this: g-no! G-NO! G-NO! (she can't say s's yet, so she uses the hard g sound instead of s sometimes...so it doesn't sound like gnome, it sounds like guh-no & yes, i do find it endearing). anyway, adeline & amelia were at the big glass window often on thanksgiving, giving the snow properly awed hellos.

& little miss amelia had her 2nd thanksgiving, but her 1st thanksgiving feast. her favorite? squash soup & wes' family meat-stuffing recipe (the demma ?? family recipe; it's sicilian & very good). she would pick through all of her food to get to this meat dressing. then she ate a few bowls of squash soup. after her first few bites of it we just put her serving into the straw bowl & she sucked it down like milk. crazy squash loving kid!

i was expecting such a mess that we just took her shirt off to eat. good idea.

& here it is, the 2nd generation table, the kid table. whatever you call it, here it is. & it is noisy. (well, the girls who sat at it were noisy, the table, not so much). i believe it is zoe on the left, adeline, then chloe on the right side of the table.

we all had a great time hanging out & passing the millie monster around (who was a bit peeved about her teeth situation. all those sore gums & sprouting teeth make for one upset little lady). then she was up for a few hours each night telling my parents (who took the amelia night shift so poor, tired wes could finally get some sleep. my meds make it so i nearly always sleep. again, poor wes.) but seriously, does anyone know just how LOUD one 3 year old, two 2 1/2 year olds, & one 15 month old can be when all in the same house on an exciting, snow covered day? oh.my.goodness. the constant ringing in my ear (tinnitus, it's a very annoying, but not major, surgery side effect) has nothing on what these girls can produce. i think they produced decimal levels that could be heard on the moon (with the proper equipment, of course).

& i totally did not get a picture of my girls in their matching outfits. (seriously pisses me off when i think about it. not ONE picture?!)

on friday, my sister & mom *forced*--with physical threats if we did not--went out for a day-date. but we were ignorant & went outside shopping in wooster on a blustery, 25 degree day in downtown wooster. i mean, if it had been a bit warmer, say 35 degrees it would have been much more enjoyable. why we didn't just hop into a cafe & stay for a few hours instead of walking...who knows. lack of functioning brain cells from the children noise the day before? but we did have a nice lunch & still enjoyed each other's company--even though even wes had clattering teeth (in case you didn't know this: wes is hardly ever cold. it takes an amazing amount of cold wind to make him get even a mild case of the goose bumps...).

which that thought brings me to another thought: we figured out, after 7 years of being together, how to do a long car ride & each of us be comfortable with the temperature. i layered on a long sleeved t shirt, fleece, sock, booties, sweatpants, & then a double layered fleece blanket. wes wore a t shirt & rolled up his pants to his knees. then we kept the car temperature around warm-neutral. (both adeline & amelia had blankets as well. no worries, we do care about their level of comfort, lol).

anyway! wes had a great idea, to do a holiday beer sampling friday night. these are the 6 we bought from beuhlers. okay, so the 'brown shugga, sweet release' isn't exactly holiday, but i thought it would be good. it was *not*. i think my favorite was the goose island.

& i leave you with a picture of amelia reaching & pining for her all time love, squash soup. this had to be her 4th bowl of the day.

we hope everyone had a great holiday!

i wish...

this is all about my kids, grandparents sit back & enjoy

adeline

...oh i wish i knew how to upload stuff from our phones to computer to blog. b/c adeline did something tonight that is blog worthy. we went out to eat at magic mushroom pizza bakers & adeline was instantly excited b/c the music was *loud* & they had *crayons!* so she was coloring away, then ate some garlic bread & marinara sauce...then she started to get this look on her face, of sincere concentration. she got out of her chair, went into the middle of a very large aisle with at least 20 people seated around us--i was prepared for the biggest tantrum of all tantrums to take place. instead, she started dancing like her life depended on it. i mean, she was shaking her booty! (what are they teaching her in preschool?!). she was dancing in circles, shaking her-ahem-money maker, & then started to wave at all the people who were watching & smiling/laughing *with* her.

here us the cell phone video was was able to capture.



i think some couple without kids with them thought it was inappropriate (this would be from the lady staring me down the whole time). they're just jealous b/c they're kids don't break out in dance in front of a restaurant. a few waitresses walked by & shook it with addy for a few seconds. she was so amazingly adorable...i don't think there's many restaurants this trick would fly, but this place just seemed to desire something like this to happen. anyway, all this to say: adeline is not shy, for sure. who does she get this ability to break out in dance without thought for embarrassment?! when i was her age & strangers were around, i was sooo in between my mom's legs, thinking 'GET THESE STRANGERS AWAY FROM ME!'

then before we went to eat adeline insisted on bringing her doll. okay, we bring the doll. she asked if the doll would have her own high chair. i said 'uh, probably not, they won't have a doll sized high chair'...she mumbled something & then said clearly: i be back, 1 minute, be back soon!' so we were wrestling amelia into her jacket & let addy go do whatever pressing issue it was. soon, we hear, *clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk* & we think: what the hell? what adeline was carrying down the stairs? her baby doll's wooden high chair (that's about as tall as her & solid wood). we were like 'nuh-uh, sorry kid'.

one more adeline story: she has this habit of taking all the clothes out of her dresser & playing on them, with them, around them, etc on her bed & with her stuffed animals. cute but SO FREAKIN ANNOYING to put away. so we keep putting her on these clothing restrictions, like if she pulls out her pants, she can't pick out her pants for awhile & t hey stay in a bin in our bedroom & super uncool mom gets to pick her clothes out--GASP! so she did that again today. i thought up a new strategy, i told her the next time she takes out her clothes from her dresser, we're taking away her stuffed animals for awhile. she was totally flabbergasted. after we put her to bed tonight i overheard her telling her stuffed animals as she was lining them up on her bed, 'no no bear, don't go away, clothes stay in dresser. {this is the best part:} tell chloe & zoe' ... i *SWEAR* that's what she said. so tomorrow when we meet up with her cousins i'm going to interrogate them to see which one has been encouraging adeline to de-clothe her dresser.

***

& amelia started dipping her food! on top of her learning to use her fork recently...she is becoming quite the meal time power house. we went to costco to eat (& shop!!) last night & amelia ate for nearly 3o minutes. straight. not stopping take a gander around, just plowing food down. which is a good sign b/c the poor girl has 3 molars that have popped through her gums, another eye tooth that just popped through as well & 2 other swollen gum spots. OUCH. again, poor girl. if only i could give her my numb gums, temporarily, of course.

& here's the scene: amelia is playing with the mini soccer ball, rolling it around. she goes to pick it up, misses it, gets it stuck in between her legs, realizes where it is, sits on it & bounces & laughs & bounces more. another scene: amelia gets taken away from the computer for the 34th time of the day, she starts to arch her back in protest, lets out an impressive angry screech, & then sits down nearly calm on the floor looking directly at me. then, yes, then, she throws herself backwards, hitting her head squarely on the corner of the wall. (yes, the silent cry & scream started then).

amelia says cookie. how.cute.is.that? & then it takes her 3 minutes to devour it.

***

anyway, happy thanksgiving!

a few minutes to rest

so i had this very warm & fuzzy picture of what could be today: kids playing together, me getting everyone ready to brave the mall playground, going out to lunch, coming home to finish laundry, pack for our thanksgiving travels, & nap times for two, a tivo show for me.

that dream day is such bull honkey!

instead, i have the tv tuned into the pbs cartoons for adeline to hopefully become warped into tv-land kid zombie so i can get the (more than i thought) laundry done & try to keep amelia from cutting her fingers off with the scissors she commandeered while i was doing that laundry in the basement (3 minutes, folks! 3 minutes is all it takes for a climbing toddler to get onto the computer desk, pull all the files out, fling papers everywhere, empty the contents of the colored pencils holder, find the very sharp scissors & then open them...i arrived just in time to see her sticking her finger between the blades. it was a bad mom moment).

am i not organized enough for days like this? i know i have this energy depletion problem, but golly gee willuckers (spelling is wrong on that last word, but that was a saying my sibs & i used to say a lot. or maybe it was just dorky me). days like this where i have an agenda (packing, laundry, hopefulness that my girls will play together long enough that we can get out the door to *do* something)...well, days like this usually leave me feeling hopeless, lonely, bored, antsy, etc. name all the bad things stay at home moms feel & that is me today.

SO. insert change of attitude here *attitude change*

i am thankful that i have two adorable, mischievous, independent, beautiful girls to occupy my time. all day. all my time.

i am thankful that i have a husband who i can call & rant about what the girls are doing at that moment & he is able to get me to laugh about it (if i'm not already crying, then he's able to get my crying to stop at least).

i am thankful that i have friends who are going through the same crumminess, not b/c they are miserable at times also, but b/c we can relate & encourage one another.

i am thankful for tv & than adeline finally seems to grasp that it can entertain her for longer than 15 minutes. *finally!*

i am thankful for the gate at the top of the stairs that is keeping the two rascals at bay right now.

i am thankful for our parents who are all amazing grandparents & who help us out in so many ways.

i am thankful that i have medicine to help me feel better (i am feeling better, mostly).

i am thankful for fleece. & electric blankets. & our furnace (even though it's ancient & loud).

must go, i think amelia is trying to climb over the gate now...