2 of the 4 P’s of Motherhood + fire

Well yesterday evening was a doozy.  As reference I’ll refer you to my original post about the 4 P’s of Motherhood.

And now we begin:

As you may know my lovely friend Ilana watches Mazie while I’m at work.  After a very long weekend of work, plus two intense days this week I venture home to pick up Mazie at Ilana’s house.  I walk in to a strange smell in the house, but decide not to say anything about it because I can see Ilana has had a rough day and don’t think telling her that her house smells horrible makes it any better.  I think the girls have really worked her over during the day and she needs a hug.  A hug for being a great mom to her daughter and for being a great caretaker of mine.  Anyway in the chaos Cat their cat walks over to me as he always does for a little snuggle.  I pick him up only to notice that the strange smell is coming from him. Unfortunately, Cat got a little too close to the burner while Ilana was preparing dinner and singed his tail fur.  Cat the cat is quite old and apparently can not feel his tail anymore. First let me tell you Cat is just fine.  It seems to only have singed the outside fur and he’s unphased by the whole thing, wondering why I’m now holding his tale under the bathroom sink faucet and rubbing it vigorously with paper towels to remove the burnt fur and inspect for any injury.

Anyway we venture home confident that Cat was ok.  I guess Mazie hasn’t eaten much during the day, but you know that’s not all that unusual some days kids eat and some days they don’t.  Just before bed she is telling me her mouth and her tummy hurt her.  She’s getting her two year molars and they are definitely giving her fits.  As I go out of the room to get some teething tablets I hear her SCREAM that she doesn’t feel good.  So I’m rushing in to grab her and rock her in the chair when I’m suddenly being thrown up on.  Hmm maybe it’s not just the molars.

Now we’re rushing to the bathroom where I again take a direct hit on our way through the kitchen because I can only imagine trying to clean puke off the kitchen rug.  Ok now have I mentioned that during the lead up to this whole ordeal I’ve had to go pee for at least 30 minutes? Now we’re standing in the bathroom both covered in puke and I realize oh my god I’m going to pee my pants and be covered in puke.  So I quickly manage to make it to the potty so I’m only covered in puke and not in my own urine as well.

Oh did I mention that Mazie is still throwing up this entire time and we are both standing in a bathroom covered in kid puke. Now I’m stripping us both down, trying to comfort my extremely upset child, and clean the bathroom at the same time.  I quickly grab paper towels to wipe the floor and in haste toss them into the potty for disposal, which as you can imagine was THE WRONG IDEA.  They quickly clog the toilet and I’m facing an overflow situation.  Smart thinking averts disaster when I turn the water off behind the toilet bowl.

I rush into the bed room to throw on a bathrobe so I can try to finish cleaning up and put my sick kid to bed. Oh have I mentioned that Robbie has been on a VERY important business call during this whole fiasco and is standing in our bedroom closet, which seems to be the best place to both get reception and a quiet place to speak to someone? Still on the call I bust is with a dreadful look on my face, still partly covered in puke, and search for my bathrobe.

I’ve managed to clean up most of the house in a whirlwind, grabbing rugs and throwing them in the tub, filling the bathroom sink with water to soak our clothes and opening up the bathroom window to remove the smell.

Robbie’s now off his call and comes out to survey the scene of our house turned upside down with only one rug left on the floor from Mazie’s room to the bathroom, the toilet disassembled, and his wife and child sitting in the rocking chair as if nothing has happened.

Today I experienced two of the 4 P’s of Motherhood plus fire.

Hey did I tell you Easter was tons of fun this year?

He’s whee-lee scar-wee:

Look he’s not so scary:

The hunt:

The hunter in action:

Oh wow:

The loot:

Come back next year Easter bunny:

It’s a late recap, but here it is.  Easter was a blast this year.  Mazie was old enough to really be able to celebrate spring.  Although you’ll see from our atire, it was FREEZING.  But anyway we decided to celebrate spring anyway.  The Easter bunny brought lots of fun things to explore nature: a new bird feeder for outside the window, garden gloves to help Mummy and Nannie, an adorable egg shaped chick that sprouts grass for hair, and some water colors.  Of course there were lots of sweets as well from the best candy store in the world — the Chatham Candy Manor.  OOOh are those chocolates good.  I think Mazie thought so too.

Updated April 23th: Lots of folks have asked my about Mazie’s adorable attire in the last two pics.  Although in these it looks like PJ’s it’s actually this lovely mandarin-style jacket with satin ribbing and frog closures.  The farbric is an amazing garden print with sweet peas and other country garden style flowers.  My mom picked it up for her at this thirft shop in San Fran on a trip out to see a dear friend Sarah.

Consumed by life and oh boy is this really cool

Ok first off.  Sorry for being MIA for the last stretch.  I’ve literally been consumed by life.  Life  took me over and swallowed me up for a bit, but I’m trying to regain a bit of control over it.  I think my whole life needs a bit of spring cleaning and I’m on a mission to refresh and rejuvenate, my mind, body, spirit, soul, and my house.

Anyway onto other things.  This is REALLY cool.  Not sure if you’ve all seen the new movie trailer for the planned movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendek which is directed by Spike Jones, but you HAVE to watch it.  It looks really cool and I now have another new movie obsession for the the Fall — scheduled to be released October 09.

Ok also.  How bad ass am I for embedding this video into my blog?  Seriosly I’m really proud of myself for doing this without having to ask Robbie for technical assistance.  Today I rock.

I’ve been meaning to post this

Robbie took Mazie to the beach one Saturday when I was suffering from the nasty cold that seems to have plagued everyone this year.

Can’t wait for it to be warm enough to dip our toes in the water.

Yes, we threw a recession themed party for our two year old.

So as you know, Mazie’s birthday party was this past weekend.   Each year (yes I know, all two years now) Robbie and I try to come up with something timely as a theme.  This year it was a recession.  Nothing says fun like a recession themed two year old party, but believe me it was fun and effective.  Last year it was a campaign theme of sorts where her invite was a Mazie for President in 2008 campaign poster and her campaign slogan was Make Cupcakes not War, a nod to Johnny Cupcakes, and great inspiration for a cupcake themed birthday party.  We’re going to try to do something timely like this until she demands a Hannah Montana themed party or something like that.

So this is how the theme started off with our two dollar bill, featuring Mazie’s adorable picture.  Note the subtleties in both of the “seals” on the bill: One being a gluten free birthday reminder and the other a bit of white where we’re replaced the white house with the red house, which is of course the color of our house and looks just like this little icon.  PS I know Saturday is spelled wrong, we missed it because we were busy congratulating ourselves on the great job we did in creating this invite and coming up with this theme.

Below has to be the most adorable picture of Mazie pre-party in her party prep mode.  She’s wearing a cute birthday hat my brother in-law and his family sent to us and wearing her apron (made by a friend of mine) so she can help out with all of the pre-party prep, including cake frosting.

Cakes in progress.

The finished product. Not so bad if I do say so myself. On top are these lovely little German, wooden candle holders that are from a larger set given to my as a child from my paternal grandmother.  They are each little soldiers or members of a band.  These two were a perfect match for the green icing used to continue the green and pink money theme we had going.

Now for the crafting icing on the cake: The Goodie Bags.  I’m very proud of this idea, which I’ve called the Baby Bail Out Bag — again as a nod to all things timely in this economy.

Thank goodness my mother in-law was in town to help because these would not have turned out so well and I would have been up late into the night sewing away, resulting into a cranky mummy the next day. She lovingly stitched up the bags, even adding a decorative stitch at the top.  She was so smart in her process as well.  She folded/ironed over the top edge on the entire length of yardage and stitched it down before she cut out each individual bag, making the process much easier and faster than my approach which would have been to cut and sew each one individually.  This way she had a couple of nice long sewing seams and then only had to stitch up the edges of the bags once they were cut from the longer yardage.  Note: the fabric was from my stash and was formerly curtains in our living room.  Yahoo I get recycling points on this one too.

Robbie then drew $ signs on them with Sharpie and we stuffed them with this great play money I found (one big set for ~$20, which we divided up) and some chocolate coins that I carefully researched to make sure they were not ones laced with Melamine from a scare earlier this year.

To sum it up, this party was a huge success.  We have such a wonderful group of friends and family who make events like this truly enjoyable.  The kids were great — no major meltdowns, confrontations, etc.  We had just the right amount of food.  Mazie recieved lovely little treats from her friends — books we didn’t have before, great art supplies, or thoughfully made handmade gifts and wrapping which are all truly appreciated in this house.  So thanks to all those that came.  Hope this post inspires those who might be throwing parties soon.  PS. To a few guest I forgot to give you a bag in the nuttiness and and to one quest we found a bag of cash on the step the next morning.  Feel free to let me know and you can claim your prize next time we meet.

A dose of spring in the winter

I’m so excited about the completion of my latest project.  It was my first attempt at making a pair of socks.  Just a simple knit three purl one rib and a stockinette foot, but look how great they turned out.  I’ve always heard people say there is nothing like a hand knit pair of socks and you know what?  They are totally right!  They feel so good on my feet.  One is a little bigger than the other because I was a loose knitter at the beginning of my sock adventure.  However, once you put them on, no one is the wiser and my feet don’t seem to notice either.

This yarn (I’m sorry I can’t remember what it is or find the sleeve) is such a lovely dose of spring color in the middle of winter.  I’ve already started my second pair of socks.  I’ll give you an on the needle preview soon.

This is another nutty week in our house.  I’m only just starting to recover from this HORRIBLE bug plaguing me for the last couple of weeks.  Mazie’s birthday is tomorrow and I can’t believe she is turning two.  I’m having a harder time with two than I did one.  When she turned one I thought oh this is so great she’s one, but two seems like such a big milestone for me.  It seems like a transition from having a baby to having a kid.  Part of me feels like oh my god she’s been here for two whole years and the other part feels like I can’t believe she’s only been around for two years.  Life would just not be the same without her.

Party festivities will commence this weekend and she is very excited.  She keeps talking about how at the party we’ll have cake and ice cream, balloons, all her friends will come, there will be presents, and we’ll sing and dance.  Seriously, could you ever ask for more than that in a birthday?  What a great thing to be turning two and to be surrounded by singing dancing friends and family who are all eating sweets.  Anyhew, lots of preparations in the days to come.  I’ll share the results with you in the coming days.

Why I’m not a fan of the bathroom at Michael’s

Public restrooms are never an enjoyable place as we all know. However, I’ve recently become even less of a fan of the bathroom at Michael’s (the craft store). On a trip to Michael’s for some pre-Christmas craft supplies and I should have known better than to have several cups of tea before our journey, but it was one of those mornings when I needed more of a pick me up than usual.  You know late nights, restless sleep, oh and say a toddler.

So half way through the trip, off to the ladies room with Mazie. I headed for the handicap stall because Mazie was recently the lucky recipient of an American Girl doll bitty baby, which she insists on bringing everywhere with us, and the regular stall would be a bit cramped. Bad move.

As I’m sitting (well attempting to squat without sitting) in the far corner of the stall, my child decides it would be prudent to suddenly learn how to open the stall door and run out.  Again remember, multiple cups of tea here.  So of course I scream all sorts of you you get back here young lady’s, which does result in her return, but not of the guilty conscience.  She’s now empowered by the fact that she can indeed open the door and do what she wants.  So, again still squatting here, she now throws her new Abby doll (aforementioned brand new American Girl bitty baby) on the floor.  The public restroom bathroom floor people!

Which of course results in many more pick that up young lady’s.  Well now she’s mad and has decided (reminder still peeing here) that it would be a good idea to shove Abby under our stall to the stall next door, which of course is not acceptable to me nor to her, because now Abby is in the next stall and she’s not.  Thus, logic would dictate that she crawl under the stall…public restroom floor here people…to the stall next door.

Now I’m finally done ridding myself of the massive amount of tea I previously ingested, gussy myself up, and then throw open the door of the stall next door to retrieve my child and an Abby doll that both need to be sanitized head to toe.

Seriously people, can’t a mummy use the ladies room with a bit of dignity?  Anyhew and this is why I’m not a fan of the bathroom at Michael’s

An attempt to organize and sort

As you can image or relate, toddlers tend to scatter toys and bits and pieces from one end of the house to the other.  In an attempt to control chaos and to teach Mazie about sorting/categories, I stitched up these simple draw string bags.  Robbie created the lettering designs for each category, which we transferred onto freezer paper (one shiny side, one matte side) to make an iron on stencil.  Basically, you trace a design on, cut it out and then iron the shiny side down onto fabric and it makes a little stencil or pattern.  A little fabric paint and here we go — some great little toy bags that help to organize, sort, categorize and spruce up the place.  Much more aesthetically pleasing than a whole bunch of maracas and doll house parts thrown about the floor.

The bags in action:

An unexpected bonus/consequence of these bags is the thrill Mazie gets in dragging the filled back behind her as if it’s a pull toy.

My budding artist

As Mazie is getting a little bit older I’m working to get her more involved in crafting, cooking, and making things with her hands.   This year for Christmas Maze and I ventured to a paint your own pottery studio to create some utilitarian works of art for gifts.  We also made our own wrapping paper.

This image is of Mazie making the wrapping paper for Robbie’s birthday present, which was shortly before Christmas.  I discovered these paint pots by Crayola Maybe you all have them, but they were new to me and are wonderful for her age.  Paint is messy people let’s face it, but at least these are less enticing to use as a makeup brush like a regular paint brush is for Mazie, which was a major challenge during the whole paint your own pottery experience.

I know I’m a little biased, but admit it… this is good stuff from a toddler.

Here we see the artist in action and saying “cheese”.  BTW the bib is from Mimi the Sardine, which I posted about back in November 07 Also note in the background our very first (mine too, yes I’d never made a gingerbread house before) gingerbread house.  More to come in a post about our Christmas related things.  Yes yes I know it’s over, but give me some time I’m writing a blog while working and raising my child.  It takes time people. 

Imagine if THIS were the first election of your lifetime…

I’m a political junkie. For the last two years, I’ve watched all the coverage, listened to all the talk radio, read blogs, thought about issues, etc. However, I’m not a “supporter”, meaning that I haven’t, to date and not sure I’ll ever be, one of those folks who puts a sign in the yard, wears a button, or volunteers for a candidate’s campaign. That’s not to say I’m not highly invested in the way in which any election goes, it just means that I vote for my candidates choosing to do so because I think they are the best of the worst options. Even if I was running for office, I’d vote for myself with trepidation because I know I have flaws and strengths and so do all the candidates who run.

So background aside, I’ve just been struck by the fact that THIS election is the first election in my daughter’s life. Now politics aside, imagine a world where THIS election was the first of your lifetime — this historic election where there was no other possibility but to have either an African American or a woman elected on a ticket. This election where technology played such a huge roll in the voting outcome, where youth mobilized to voice opinions on both sides of the fence in ways not seen in elections past, where it appears we will have record voting turnouts signaling an immense sense of engagement and commitment by citizenry in how our future will be shaped, and where in the end we elected the first African American to the highest office in the land.

What will it mean for my daughter as she grows up? We can only wait and see, but it’s it exciting to imagine what it will be like if this was the foundation of your political history.