Curly Straight

I often have to hide because "the wolf is coming!"

At random timesTJ will yell out, "oh no! The wolf is coming!!" and we have to run and hide as quickly as we can, quietly, usually under a blanket.

Julia is going to have the sweetest voice ever.

We have tried many methods to train The Rottens.

Books, trainers, boot camp.

One book we bought was entitled "Every Dog Needs Some Training" - we no longer have that book, because Georgia ate it.

I am seriously yelling at the automated voicemail at tmobile.

CUSTOMER SERVICE you F@#kers!!!!!

That's all I want.

At some point, we somehow ended up with a copy of the Muppet Christmas movie on vhs.

I don't like vhs (too old school) but keep the ones that TJ likes to watch because we do have a dual dvd/vhs player.

I popped it in to see if it was something that interested him and he watched it for a few minutes, then told me "it's too old for me."

Not old fashioned, he meant that the content was too mature for him.

These kids get sick often, it seems. Probably seems worse than it is.

TJ is coughing like he smokes a pack a day, like his lung is about to come out.

I guess fresh cold air is good for that, so JP has him outside.

He's too sick and crabby to think about it as an adventure, otherwise I think he would be psyched.

On my to do list, I have "make a new to do list."

We always read the kids bedtime stories. Sometimes John or I will tell a story to TJ without a book.

A couple of times lately, though, TJ has wanted us to read him the captions from his 2009 tiger calendar as his bedtime story.

TJ just sat through his first full movie, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

He loved it, although he asked lots of "why" questions the whole way through and just now when I put him to bed he asked "what happened to the boy?".

Gigi is in the habit of ignoring the big, round, comfy dog bed we have for her, conveniently located under the bedroom windows.

She much prefers squishing herself under the bed.

Sometimes just her tail will stick out, sometimes her back paws.

It's quite comical, really.

"I'm going to throw Daddy a hug all the way to work and it will get him on the train and go SPLAT right on his face."

The dogs are starting to listen to TJ when he gives them commands.

I am trying to teach him to use a low voice and not to yell at them and to praise them if they do what he says.

It's working somewhat.

He just told Georgia to lay down and she did it.

TJ: What is this?

Mama: It's a bungee cord. It's not for you.

TJ: It's not for me?

Mama: No, Daddy uses it to tie things to the top of the car so they won't fall off.

TJ: I use it too.

Mama: You do? What do you use it for?

TJ: I use it to catch ants.

One goes to take a nap, the other one wakes up.

TJ woke up in the middle of the night and for some reason John took him into our bed with us.

It was cute, TJ held my hand a couple of times during the night.

BUT now he's at the bottom of the stairs, calling "Daddy" because he wants to come and sleep in our bed.

Not happening.

Update: Just got back covered him with eight baby blankies - of course his ABC blankie, along with Thomas the Train, one of Julia's pink ones, the Santa one, a star one, and maybe even a couple more, along with a regular Restoration Hardware one, and a stuffed cow and a Pooh Bear that he had taken the arms out of the sleeves. He had me fix that before he went to bed.

Julia is just starting to do sign language. She has "dog" down pat and does it all the time, along with saying dog.

She also uses the dog sign when she sees the cat, but she says "cat."

She also has a sign that she created on her own.

She's pointing, but uses both her thumb and her pointer finger and almost always says what sounds like "What's Up?"

When TJ was first learning to communicate, we taught him sign language.

Sign language for blanket is two hands, from waist to chest, as though you are pulling a blanket over you.

Children sometimes invent their own signs or a modified version of the correct sign. Somehow TJ determined that when he wanted to sign for blanket, he would just pound his chest and skip the pulling up part altogether.

He also would say the words sometimes, but couldn't pronounce blanket correctly. He was really off, as a matter of fact, he pronounced it "bitch."

It was quite hard not to laugh every time when was probably two years old and wanted his blanket.

He would pound his chest and say "I want my bitch."

Giving Julia a bottle is a joy. It's so easy, as most things are with her.

She sucks it down as I hold it for her with her little soft hands balled up into fists up by her chest.

She breathes real hard as she's drinking it and when she is done she pushes it away. THWAP.

We can hear and watch Julia on the video monitor.

Right now she is alternating between sucking her thumb and blowing raspberries.

Mama, bouncing Julia up and down on my lap as we are watching a Dora dvd.: Boing, boing, boing, boing!

TJ: Stop doing that, you are driving me crazy.

I am frustrated lately with my weight. I exercise and could be gaining muscle, etc. but am not really where I would like to be when I step on the scale. My philosophy is not to go crazy, I don't want to exercise two hours every day and lose ten pounds because I know that I can never maintain that much exercise.

I like to do what I know I can keep on doing for the rest of my life, usually an hour a day three or four times a week, cardio and weights.

I could also try to work on changing my eating habits, but I haven't really been able to change them in 39 years.

I will not stop drinking beer and eating chocolate because I know that I cannot maintain that.

Plus, I believe in NOT depriving oneself, but rather enjoying the pleasures of life. Chocolate. Beer. Light exercise.

So I guess I have to come to a decision.

I think I will try to incorporate a class or two a week into my routine and I will still drink beer and eat chocolate but will try to make sure I eat a few more servings of fruits and veggies to balance it out better.

For having two kids who allegedly sleep through the night, it sure does seem like I spend a lot of time feeding Julia, or settling TJ down or cuddling with one of them in the wee hours of the morning.

Last night in the middle of my good REM sleep, TJ, woke up crying. I went down and he had a really stuffy nose.

I fell asleep in his bed, only to be woken by the sweet sound of Julia's cries.

It is hard getting out of the house with two little ones.

I don't know how people do it with more than two. God bless 'em.

Wake up, today it happened to be by TJ coming into our room and talking really loudly to me about something, crawling on me and telling me "it's time to get up, Mama," eat breakfast, ok, now go potty TJ and then put on your underwear.

He decides this is a good time to start a puzzle.

"TJ, go put on your underwear!" - he goes into his room - oh good, I think, he's doing it. I'll take care of Julia now, change her diaper, clean up a little from breakfast. Julia seems tired, so I read her a story and put her into her crib.

Go into TJ's room, he's sitting on his floor reading a book.

"TJ! Put on your underwear! Time to get dressed so we can go."

I need a cup of coffee, walk into the kitchen and get it. About five minutes later, TJ walks out wearing his Elmo underwear.

I can hear Julia making noise.

"Good job TJ! Now let's get you dressed."

Grab pants, shirt, socks, plop him onto the green couch. "No! The red couch!" Luckily he lets me dress him today. He should be doing it himself.

Julia is not sleeping.

I get an email on my phone I need to reply to, grab Julia and go upstairs to check the info. He comes up, "what are you doing?" he asks. I tell him.

"TJ, time to brush your teeth." He runs and hides behind the shade. If it's downstairs, he hides behind the couch cushion.

Phone rings. It's my friend, wanting us to go to the Children's Museum. Not today, thanks.

Finally get his teeth bushed after putting him into time out.

TJ and I did not have a good morning, he wasn't listening and I wasn't being patient.

Mama, in car, once we finally got of the house: TJ, let's talk about what happened today. What would make you listen to me better?

TJ: When I get a little bit older, I will listen to you.

My singing sometimes makes TJ really angry. "Don't sing, Mama!" he'll say. If I continue, he will yell "NOOOOOOO!"

He also gets mad, usually at the gym, when someone wants to hold the door for him, because he wants to do it himself.

Despite the fact that he is three-years-old, TJ is an adult if he is flying on Southwest Airlines.

TJ loves Fridays at school, because it is show and tell day. During circle time, he stands up and displays his show and tell item and talks about it. The teachers ask questions and asks if he wants to let his friends touch it or just look at it. He decides (so far he has always let them touch it), and walks around the circle showing it to the other children.

We always talk about what he's going to bring in the night before.

So far, some of things I remember him bringing in are:

- a ball - he may have brought it in two weeks in a row

- a clear plastic baggie full of change and other misc items

- his Buzz Lightyear phone

- photos that we printed out of him at swimming lessons

When I am at the gym, usually the Kelly and Regis Show is on. To entertain myself during the elliptical, I watch that, listen to my ipod and sometimes look at the news, Facebook and email on my phone.

There are multiple televisions so the closed captions are necessary to know what's going on. Today there was the word "journey" in the context of what they were talking about on the show.

Immediately, the song "Journey to Ernie" from Sesame Street popped into my head and has been going through my head ever since.

Can you tell I'm a mom to young children?

blah blah blah

Hearing Julia's deep, steady, strong breathing through the baby monitor as she sleeps makes me happy.

Georgia just gnawed completely through one of Julia's teething rings.

Early in the morning, a snowy New England day, I'm dressed in my uniform, getting ready to go clear off and start my car so I can get to my drill weekend.

It's nice being out so early in the morning on a Sunday. I never see anyone and it's peaceful and quiet. The snow is softly falling and has accumulated quite a bit overnight, as I open the door to walk out, I think "wow, it's so pretty." Amadeus is going to come with me, when I open the door, he BOOKS out fast and starts barking and howling.

I immediately see what he is barking at - a woman is standing outside of my garage. He is circling her, going around and around her, BAAAA-rrooooooooooooo, barraarararooooo, in his high pitched howl. I don't know why she is standing there, not saying anything, so I ask her.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you in my yard??" - my voice is definitely at least an octave higher than normal, I'm not sure if I'm yelling, but I don't know what's going on, and it's making me nervous.

John comes to the door, he must have heard the dog barking. He opens the door and Georgia rushes out and starts jumping near the woman. WOOOF, WOOF, her deep, menacing bark combines with Amadeus's howl to create a really nice alarm clock for the neighbors who want to get up at 6 am on Sunday.

The woman is just standing there, riveted to the spot. I ask her again and again "what are you doing in my yard?" - I must have said it ten times. She is not talking, but she is pointing to the dog pen. So many thoughts are going through my mind - is there someone in the dog pen? Is this lady in trouble? Am I in trouble? What the heck is going on?

She finally points to the area by the door and says in a meek, trembling voice, "paper."

Oh my God. I apologize to her a million times, gather up the dogs, get them inside, as she walks away, backwards, down the driveway, with her hand over her heart.

It is the newspaper delivery woman.

Or should I say former newspaper delivery woman, as I called and canceled the service shortly after that incident.

Not a good way to start the day for any of us.

I am sorry to report that at almost 11 months, Julia seems to be transitioning out of her morning nap.

My little chunk of love is 11 months old today!

Where does the time go?

She's wearing 12 month clothes, sometimes 18 months when she's going for the baggy look. We love to put her in footed pajamas, that's how she seems coziest.

She is still doing the "low crawl" all around, using her right arm to propel herself around the house.

I put her down on the floor on her belly and look at her a second later and she'll be sitting up. She pulls herself up to her knees, but doesn't really like to have weight on her feet for some reason, so won't stand up. No problem for me, I am not quite ready to have her walking. She's my last baby so I want her to stay a baby for as long as she wants.

She does sign language, but I'm sorry to report, not very well yet. She started off with the sign for milk. She did that for everything for a couple of weeks. John walks into the room. Milk. Dog walks by. She would say "dog" but do the sign for milk. Cat walks by, milk. Mommy? Milk.

Now, she is finally starting to grasp it. Cat is even being done up by her face now, rather than down by her waist, dog looks more like dog. Daddy is father, and Mommy is mother, although the thumb is more near her ear than her forehead, but we get it. Milk is milk.

She's still very chill and relaxed. She loves sleeping while snuggled up with her colorful rainbow blanket, with her thumb in her mouth. That's the only time she sucks her thumb.

She seems to be very aware of what's going on and doesn't miss a beat. If something out of the ordinary is happening, she will look at it, then look at me, like "Mama, are you getting this?"

If there's a noise, or something unusual, she notices. She will turn to see what's happening. She loves other people but does have a small case of stranger anxiety.

She puts up with lots of physical activity from her brother. Sometimes I catch him trying to get onto her back, or use her as a jumping obstacle. Not good since she weighs about 21 pounds and he's about 35. She holds her own.

She doesn't look right in ruffles or bows.

She is beginning to not nap in the morning anymore. She stays in her crib and yells and chats.

Even though we don't really believe in crib bumpers, we had to break down and put crib bumpers in her crib, because she thrashes around so much, she would bang her head on the wooden slats. Now instead of that, she tears down the crib bumpers.

Her hair is getting long, but mostly in the back. She has a full mullet. I miss rubbing my face against her bald head.

The love I have for this little girl makes my heart full.

Tennessee!

Here I am in Nashville where I have done the following when I wasn't at the conference: decided that I really to learn to play the fiddle, went to Tootsies on Broadway, where I made friends with a cute 29-year-old who helped me observe and comment on the actions on the dance floor, and danced (actually more like got swung around) with a very drunk, very bald guy from Fort Something in Kentucky.

Never have listened to country music, now I am a fan. Some of it a little on the sad side, but a lot of it happy and rockin'.

People here are so nice. Slow, but nice. One lady in the store called me Sweet Girl, everyone calls me Ma'am, pretty sure it's a respect thing.

The Grand Ole Opry not what I expected at all, lots of acts, having fun, playing on a live radio show, with a live radio announcer reading commercials. The CherrySomethings (I cannot remember the name) were so good! A family with a dad with a big long beard and one of the girls playing the fiddle, the wife wearing clogs and dancing.

Ate yummy ribs and yucky peppery coleslaw at a little dive rib joint, because Jack's BBQ is closed on Sundays.

Line of the night: One of the guys we were with ordered the Hogs Plate, which consists of ribs, chicken wings, kielbesa, pickles and cheese. He also asked for a salad. The waiter commented , "you must be hungry!"

"OK, forget the salad," he said.

A fun trip with good people and a good conference in Nashville, where it's a whole different way of life than I'm used to... that's for sure.

The whole entire time, the Arrested Development song "Tennessee" was running through my head, every now and then interspersed with "Graceland" by Paul Simon.

I am officially declaring myself the worst shoveler EVER.

I don't even know really how to do it, are you supposed to shovel the entire driveway? There's nowhere to put the snow.

That snow is heavy and wet, I can't carry shovelfuls of it up the driveway to dump it onto the lawn, it would take 200 trips.

Is that what people do?

I have a sleeping (actually, not sleeping) baby inside, I can't spend that kind of time trying to clear off the driveway with a shovel. I need to create a bigger, better invention. Better, even, than the snowplow.

I couldn't get down to the cement on the stairs, because it's all icy underneath. The mailman is going to be mad at me, it's all bumpy. I tried my hardest. It has to be awful to be a mailman in New England. It's awful to be a girl that doesn't have shoveling skills.

I think I need more practice. I'll have to ask TJ to do another snow dance.

I have been trying to get Julia to sleep all afternoon.

She just ate a big dinner and is in her crib, snoozing away, at the EXACT time I should be leaving to go pick up TJ.

Mama, at daycare, trying to get him to leave: TJ, let's go home so you can see the nice dinner I made for you.

TJ, looking up all excited: Soup?

Mama: No, not soup.

Drive home.

Mama: Here's your dinner.

TJ: I WANT SOUP.

Mama: ok, what kind of soup? We have clam chowder and chicken soup.

TJ: Broccoli soup.

Mama: I don't think we have any of that.

TJ: Yes, we do.

Mama, scrambling, finding onion soup mix, broccoli and pasta: ok, buddy, we do.

TJ, about three minutes later, eating his broccoli soup: It's so delicious.

Home now from Nashville, not much sleeping going there on due to the clock radio alarm in the hotel room shining like a beacon from above.

I forgot to bring a comb, of all things, ye who cannot comb through my hair without a big scoop of conditioner and the proper tools, like a wide-tooth comb. Tried to buy one there, even though it was really too late at that point, after the third day, I scoured the whole mall. Found a cute pair of cream colored corduroys and also a cute top, but not a comb to be bought.

So today, I had a busy day with TJ and Julia, when John came home I was all excited to take a bath and condition and comb my hair and relax in the tub.

The good news is that I did comb through my hair. The bad news is that in the tub, the water was FREEZING cold. Which means that now I am freezing cold. Which is not a happy feeling. Boo.

At least I didn't end up with dreadlocks, which was entirely possible.

TJ: Mama, don’t laugh.

Mama: You don’t want me to laugh?

TJ: No.

Mama: Why not?

TJ: It drives me crazy.

Mama: I love to hear you laugh. It makes my heart melt, the sound of your laughter.

TJ: It makes your heart melt?

Mama: Yes.

TJ: Why?

Mama: Cause you’re the bomb.

TJ: I’m not the bomb, I’m TJ.

Mama: laughs.

TJ: Don’t laugh Mama.

Julia at Texas Roadhouse tonight, took the packet of sugar, gave it back to John about 20 times. Then he hid it in the menu, she opened it, found it, and gave to him about twenty times.

They will be the brains. I’ll be the brawn.

I know the secret to raising mellow toddlers and it’s basically repeating back whatever they say to you. They like to be understood.

I have read Julia a baby word book twice - it's a book with photos and a word under it. Tonight I had it out to read it to her as her bedtime book, and she points at the pictures the same way I do and waits for me to say what it is before she points to the next one.

Julia is still not standing up, but sometimes she drapes herself over objects, like the toy box and that entails stretching her legs up. It's really awkward, but so darn cute.

She has something against putting her feet flat on the floor. Apparently, it's not for her.