Week got better today

Well Kate's pants came clean and the shoe looks ok but still smells funny. The rest of the school week has been uneventful. Kate did stay home sick on Thursday - woke up with small fever. We finally gave in and got her Amoxicillan from the ped. She has been sick, various symptoms, for almost 3 weeks now. We had them add grape flavor, which is her favorite, but she is still having a hard time drinking it down.

I never heard back from either of my job interviews and it has been over a week so I am assuming it is a no-go for either of them. Today there was a new job posted, near home, that looks fabulous! I applied and will call to follow up on Tuesday. Everyone pray for me!!

Thursday was a bit crazy. Todd got home from his business trip in the middle of the night, Kate was up at 6 am, and 2 of the cats had to be at the vet before 8 am. Cosmo and Mikey had dental cleanings - too damn expensive but has to be done. It had been over 2 years since the last time. I don't want their teeth falling out. Minnie seems to do ok w/out cleanings but the boys get terrible tartar build-up. The vet actually sent home toothpaste and finger brush for me to clean their teeth at home - Yeah right - I can barely get Kate's teeth brushed.

And, oh my gosh, I start FAU for my master's next Saturday. It is a 2 year program - 5 classes each year - and I will be done.

What a day!

Todd left early this morning on a two day business trip. It is his first trip since April. Things at AutoMart/AutoTrader are in a bit of upheaval lately so he thinks it might be his last trip this year. Thankfully Kate is in school so I don't have her 24/7 with no break like when he travelled in the past. I know it probably sounds bad but I don't have the most patience and when I have Kate for extended periods like that, I start to lose it!

I pick her up today and the teachers inform me she pooped in her pants after nap while on the playground. Apparently she didn't want to stop playing to go potty and then comes in from outside and doesn't tell them she went in her pants. They smell it, find her, and turns out it was runny poop (what fun!). She got poop down her pant leg, on her sock and on her BRAND-NEW shoes! UGH! They did rinse out her clothes and shoes and I washed as soon as we got home. We have to wait and see how the shoe turns out. We threw out the underwear and one sock. I didn't have spare shoes for her at school so they put Kate in an extra pair they have for emergencies - they are 1/2 a size too small and they put them on without socks. I don't know why - she has two extra pairs at school in her cubby. Now she has "rub" sores on the backs of her heels from those shoes.

The rest of the afternoon/evening was ok but I was a bit stressed out. I had leftovers planned for Kate and it went bad so I picked out something else for her to eat - she didn't like it as well. I was trying to occupy her while I fixed our food so I let her have the Windex spray bottle and a paper towel. She really wanted to "clean the counter". I've done this many times before with her and she has done fine. Not tonight. She sprays herself in the face - it totally freaked me out. I rush her to the tub to rinse her eyes out with water - this freaks her out. What a disaster! Thankfully she was fine - I think she just got her cheek.

During this time, a guy with one of the staffing agencies with which I registered calls to talk about a job. Few minutes of Blah, blah, blah and "oh, it pays $14 an hour." WHAT??? I made more than that 10 years ago before I even had my degree. What an insult!

Now that I've got that all out I feel better - time to kick back and relax before bed. After all, Kate will most likely be up at 6 am.

Interview & funny

Had my first job interview today. I would say it went well but he didn't ask me many questions and nothing about my actual skill set. Nice guy but some people just don't know how to interview. His "real" job is an attorney but he got roped into being the HR guy for his law firm. He is looking to make a decision very soon. If the money is right, it seems like a good opportunity. The drive might not be fun every day but I will try to get educational stuff to listen to in the car.

Kate had another great day at school - she was ready to leave the house earlier than I was so Todd ended up taking her to school. I asked her what she did today at school and she says "played with horsies and Play-doh". Then at dinner she starts talking about tuna fish. We have never mentioned this to her - I offered her some once and she took one sniff and said "no". So I ask who had tuna fish and she tells me "Ms. Judy had tuna fish." I ask about the rest of Ms. Judy's lunch and Kate says she also had pretzels. It amazes me the stuff she remembers some times - like why did she bring up lunch and specifically what her teacher ate? Early today she mentioned Nancy, who was our realtor, and how Nancy bought her ice cream once. That was back in March - we couldn't believe Kate remembered that.

And the funny one - tonight Kate is peeing on the potty and says to me "I made bubbles with my whoo-ha (our family word for her privates). She has a big smile on her face when she tells me this. Pretty funny stuff!

School & TS Fay

Well, Kate's first day of school went really well. She ate her lunch, took her nap, and went potty all day with no wet underwear. Her teachers were very impressed. The school was so nice - they actually called Todd mid-morning or so to let us know that Kate was doing well and had adapted nicely. Todd said she was very happy when he picked her up.

Then today no school - yesterday they announced all area schools would be closed today b/c they weren't sure where the storm would hit. Lots of people were off work too. They even closed the public library - one of the places I like to take Kate when we have time. And, of course, no storm in our area at all! It was a bit windy and it rained for about 20 mins this afternoon - that was all we got of TS Fay. Don't get me wrong - I don't want a hurricane at my door but it sucked that everything was closed for no reason.

I took Kate to the YMCA this morning and when we pulled into the Y parking lot she said "where's my school?" I explain as best I could about the storm and why she didn't have school today. So much for consistency...

Side note - Kate has been sick (cold) for over a week now. At first it was nothing serious, just little runny nose and some sneezing and no fever. But for the last 3 - 4 days a deep chest cough has developed. It has lots of phlem - she almost chokes when she coughs sometimes b/c of the phlem she brings up and doesn't know how to spit it out. Our ped said to try Dimetapp C & C and if she doesn't show improvement in 48 hrs then he wants to see her.

Stuff in general

Bath time has been nothing but "mommy, mommy" lately. I used to use Kate's bathtime to get a few things done. Todd has been giving up and I have to finish bath, brush teeth, lotion her, and pjs. Tonight we decided to try faking her out. I said I was leaving to go work, opened and shut the garage door and jingled the car keys. Then I actually snuck into our bedroom and am using the laptop. So far, so good - I think she believes I am gone. Oh the things we do for our toddlers!

Kate's preschool starts tomorrow - I am very excited. We went shopping for new school shoes tonight - Kate is getting rather picky about her shoes these days. Stride Rite had a buy one, get one 1/2 price sale so we ended up with two pairs.

I have all kinds of plans for things to do this week while she is in school. My office needs cleaning up and out badly - I am drowning in paperwork! Plus my 2 interviews this week and applying to more jobs. We will see how it goes - it will be very weird to be away from Kate for a whole day. As long as I am not working, I will pick her up between 3:30 and 4:00 pm. If I don't get a "regular" job this week, then next week I will spend a lot of my time doing Mary Kay. Must do something to bring in some money.

Good news

Well, it was a great Friday. Todd took the day off. We did a meet & greet at Kate's new school and she really liked it. When we said it was time to leave to go to lunch, she said "I want to stay here." Todd and I both like her teachers and for the beginning of the school year there will be only six children in her class. We had lunch at Jason's Deli - one of Kate's favorites - she loves the apple juice and ice cream.

On the money front, I had a Mary Kay class on Wed night. Also, I have two job interviews lined up for next week - one Tues am and the other Wed afternoon. Finally!!

Tomorrow we have a b-day party for one of Kate's school buddies from her summer camp school and Sunday I am hosting the babywearing meeting for our local group of moms.

Kate made a funny

Oh Lord, did this make me laugh tonight. It was bathtime and Kate was crying for me as usual and generally giving her daddy a hard time. She was wrapped in her towel and sitting on top of the toilet. Her face was wet and nose runny from the crying. Todd reaches for nearest thing - a piece of toilet paper - to wipe her nose. Next thing I hear is "that's for wiping butts." OMG, I laughed so hard! The things that come out of her mouth.

As a side note, she has been going to the bathroom by herself a couple of times a day now. Well, almost by herself. She can do everything except get her underwear and shorts back on after she is done. This is in the bathroom with the step stool too. She is funny - she says "I do it by myself" and then pushes me out of the bathroom and closes the door. She actually takes her shorts and underwear completely off, gets on the stool, and then sits on the potty seat on the toilet. If I don't catch her as I open the door, she will run off with no bottoms on. She thinks it is funny to run around the house with no underwear on.

Sunday & stuff

We took Kate to the zoo today. We asked her beach or zoo and she immediately said zoo. I was surprised b/c I thought for sure she would prefer the beach. However, she does love animals - all kinds of animals. Today Kate went on her first pony ride at the zoo. She said she wanted to go but sometimes with new stuff - well lets say up close she will change her mine. This she loved - was smiling the whole ride and chatting with the zoo lady guiding the pony.

As for me, I am still looking for work. Using a great self-improvement program by Terry McBride and applying for university. I am planning to go back for my master's degree. Watching the Olympics tonight - how about you?

Funny & frustrating

Today was Kate's last day at summer camp - they said she did great. No wet underwear, no pizza sauce on her shirt - Yeah!

Not so great at bathtime. She seems to do fine when it is just Kate and Daddy but if Mommy is home we end up with fussing and crying. Last night she starts crying and yelling for Mommy for no apparent reason - Todd was just finishing bath. I try to ignore the behavior b/c it just makes it harder for Todd. Then Kate says "Pattie? Mommy? I'm crying." We had to laugh but Kate didn't think it was funny that I was "ignoring" her. As soon as I go to her, the crying stops immediately, she hugs me, and the thumb goes in the mouth. Short of leaving the house every night at bathtime, I don't know what to do. Teeth brushing gets crying almost every night no matter who does the brushing - it is getting old. No matter how upset she gets the dentist says we must brush her teeth every night.

Next week is no school - I am planning playdates, library time, and A Play Patch at least twice. I do have my babysitter on Wed and Fri afternoon so I get some Kate-free time. I notice she is less fussy when she spends time with someone else and then gets Mommy back.

Count down to our trip to MI - seven weeks from tomorrow we leave. This will be the first time Kate gets to see Grandpa that she might actually remember him.

Poopy shorts from school

Today Kate came home in a completely different outfit than the one I sent her in. When I checked her backpack, it had one bag with her shorts and shirt from the morning. The shorts had poop on the back of them, on the outside. The shirt had poop transfer from being balled up in the bag with the shorts. Kate has never pooped in her underwear during the day. She stopped pooping in her diapers at about 1 year old (occasionally some diaper poop when her schedule was off). When we asked Kate what happened, she says she pooped in the toilet but got poop on her shorts. Couple of things here - 1. How does that happen anyway? 2. No note or explanation from the school staff when I picked her up. 3. Do you think they could have at least rinsed the poop off before putting them in the plastic bag? Do you know how hard that stain will be to get out now? 4. What is up with putting the shirt in the same bag? That just made it worse.

Now this is our first experience with a preschool so tell me if I am asking too much here. The other day Kate got pizza for lunch but no bib - the staff doesn't believe in bibs for 2 year olds. They say if you stop putting a bib on then the child will stop spilling on herself. I got a pizza sauce stained shirt home in a plastic bag, no attempt to rinse or wipe off shirt either. Treated and soaked that shirt for over a day and the stains are still there....not bad but I can see them. Is this what I can expect from a preschool? I don't expect the clothes to be soaped, etc but come on...throw it in a bag and let the stain soak in for half a day?

Todd thinks I am making too big of a deal out of all this. He says call the school and ask about the poop incident. I probably will but she moves to her new school in less than 2 weeks so I don't know if it really matters. I will definitely be asking about these types of issues before she starts at the new place.

What really bothers me is what is happening with Kate to make her "miss" the potty? She has been out of diapers for 3 months now and rarely misses when she is with us. I worry that the stress of school is causing potty issues. Or maybe I should say, is school stressing her and what can I do about it? For my other moms reading this blog, please leave comments for me on this issue - Thanks.

We need PAID leave for new moms!!

Please see link. Go and send an email to your Congressman today! Thanks!
*Tell Your Congressperson it's Time to Pass the Family Leave Insurance Act: http://www.momsrising.org/NationalPaidFamilyLeave

The US is the only 1st world, Western country with no PAID leave for moms - it is ridiculous!

Summer Fun

Kate has been in summer camp preschool most of June & July. First we did 3 half days per week and since that went well, we tried 3 full days per week. Last week she was out of school since we went to SeaWorld but this week we are back for her last week. She goes to "summer camp" Tues/Wed/Fri from 9 am to 3 pm. I wasn't sure if she would nap at school but her teachers say she does fine. We were having occasional issues with wet underwear at school - at first she didn't want to tell anyone but us that she needed to use the potty. That seems to be better - today she was in the same pair of underwear when I picked her up as when I dropped her off. I was very excited!

Starting Aug 18th, Kate will be in full-time preschool at New Horizons. It is very near our home and a great little private school that only goes up to the 3rd grade. The outdoor playground is big and well shaded by a few very big trees. I am currently looking for a full-time job and will continue to do Mary Kay part-time on the side. I am excited about going back to a "regular" job, which may sound strange to some of you, but I am not cut out to be a full-time, at home mama.

By the way, it has been a rainy summer for us, which is great because it is saving our water bill since we don't have to water the lawn as much. Not too long ago we installed a new A/C system (had to - old one died) and our electric bill actually went down $10 or so last month. That was kind of exciting. Geez...the life of married with child - how exciting!?

Breakfast with Elmo at SeaWorld

This was the best thing we did with Kate. Once she stopped being afraid, she had fun. The only characters she would get near were Elmo and Zoe. She was terrified of Cookie Monster.

Starting out

Rebecca inspired me to start my own blog. Being the computer-loving person I am it only makes sense to journal online instead of on paper. Plus this way all our family and friends can find out what is going on with us. I will post some pictures of Kate too.

This photo is from our recent trip to SeaWorld. It decided to pour down rain while we were there so we took a lunch break - Kate loves watermelon and Todd took this photo because he thought she looked so cute eating. Our SeaWorld trip was a last minute thing but we pulled it together and had fun although my back hurts from too much walking in "bad" shoes. We saw Shamu, which Kate loved, and the sea lion show. We also took her to Downtown Disney - crazy busy - and Rainforest Cafe where she got a stuffed elephant that she named Pat.