Mami’s Little Helper

Buggy loves to clean. I don’t know where she gets that from because I certainly don’t. I mean, of course I clean, I have to with 3 dogs and a toddler but my little one really likes to do it. Keeping this house clean is a lot harder these days and not because of my crew but because anytime I start to vacuum Buggy comes over and wants to help. She doesn’t want mami to help her so she pushes my hands away so she can do it all by herself.  Totally cute! No matter what I’m doing she will drop what she’s playing with and come running to help me – I love it. I hope she will like to clean this much as she gets older.

Although this place looks like a bomb went off with all her toys everywhere and my half cleaned rooms, I must say she is great at putting things back even when I don’t tell her to. Lately she likes to drink her water out of a regular cup – no more sippy cups if she can help it-sad for me because its another sign that she is growing up - but if she spills her water she will run and get a towel to wipe it up. I’m telling you, it is just amazing to me what this little one does. I’m sure you’re all thinking no big deal but she’s my first and I’m still in awe at what a two year old can do. She is still such a little baby to me but yet she surprises me every single day. I try and capture as much as I can but as soon as I start recording she clams up or runs the other way but she loooooves the camera especially when I set the timer. I can take hundreds of pictures of her and she won’t mind one bit.

Here Buggy is vacuuming Chantal, one of our boxers. Chantal is very good at letting Buggs “clean” her. The two of them have an amazing bond. When I was pregnant Chantal would put her head on my belly every single night and just hang there for a bit listening to Buggy and feeling her kick and she is Buggy’s favorite boxer. Her favorite westie was Tasha and now that she is gone she gives Allie so much attention. I really do have such sweet and polite kids-LOL! Since Buggs is out with daddy I better take advantage and get back to cleaning.

Do your little ones like to help around the house? Did that change as they got older?

Potty Training

We started potty training sometime last spring. Buggy would freak out every time she poo’d in her diaper so I thought maybe that is a sign that she is ready for the potty. At first Buggy wouldn’t go near the potty. I’ve read where potty training a two year old may be way too young and you should start more at around 3 so you don’t have any setbacks. I guess that would also depend on the child.

I left the potty in the bathroom and let Buggy get familiar with it. Since you can’t always go potty with a toddler around Buggy would see me sitting on my potty and I would tell her that her potty was on the floor. Eventually she came around and started sitting on it with her clothes on. For a while there it seemed like her favorite place to poo was when she was in the tub. As soon as I see her trying to go I would pull her out and put her on her potty. She didn’t like it and would freak but I just kept telling her she had to go poo-poo in the potty. Since she was wet from being in the tubby I would grab the towels and put them around her and that was the magic moment.

Buggy now loves her potty. Somehow having the towels around her is the coolest thing for her and a must when she sits on her potty. She has gone a few times in there and we do our potty dance but for the most part she will just sit in there and maybe a dribble or two comes out.  Just the other day she was in the tubby and it looked like she was trying to go and I told her no poo-poo in the tubby and she pointed to her potty so she can do her business. She’s too cute. She’ll even grab some toilet paper and wipe herself – even when she doesn’t do anything.

When did you start potty training your little one?

Oh My Aching Back

I remember the day like it was yesterday. It will be 7 years come April – the day before Easter. I was just walking out of Dunkin Donuts and as I sat down in my car I sneezed. It was the most painful sneeze I’ve ever felt. It was my back-lower left side. I couldn’t believe I pulled a muscle sneezing. I took a few minutes to adjust myself and hit the road. I was on my way to evaluate a Boxer looking to come into rescue. I loved my rescue work.

I didn’t even think of my back while I was doing the evaluation. Didn’t seem to bother me at all. I guess it was mind over matter. I was distracted doing something I loved. The back pain felt more noticeable later when I got home.  That night I took a hot shower and let the water hit my lower back and laid in bed with my heating pad on. At around 2AM I woke to go to the bathroom, I felt a bit light headed and as I stood up everything went dark and I remember hitting the shower doors. I heard the dogs start barking from the noise. I woke up a few minutes later on the floor. My husband didn’t hear a thing-not even the dogs-go figure!

I was in so much pain and could barely walk back to bed. That morning was Easter Sunday and my husband was trying to convince me to go to the hospital and I finally gave in so off to the ER we went. When I was speaking with the nurse I felt like such an idiot and a bit foolish because although I did pass out from the pain, I was there because of lower back pain. I asked the nurse if that was even possible and she said absolutely. I can’t remember what exactly the Dr.said it was now but something about the muscle between the L1 or something like that, I don’t know. I just know that since then every now and again it acts up and its usually just on my left side.

The last time it happened was when Buggy was a baby and she kept waking up because she couldn’t get to her paci, boy if I knew then what I know now…  Anyway, I had jumped out of bed to get to her and I moved way to fast and bingo, there goes my back. This time the pain was much worse. I really couldn’t walk unless I leaned on my husband. It was so bad that hubs had to bring the baby to his parents so they can watch her while he went to the office. Now if y’all remember my post about them then you know that I was in real bad shape and out of my mind for me to do that. You can read about it here.

Not sure what had caused it this time. Perhaps from shoveling the heavy wet snow and stacking 40lb bag of pellets for our pellet stove. See this is what happens when the hubs travels – mami does it all. I totally need a house boy! So far heat wraps and some stretching is helping. I would love to say and a little bit of rest too but come on – we are momma’s – there is no time for that, not time no matter what!

Has your body betrayed you in a weird way like that?

I’ll Give You Something To Cry About

I used to hear those words a lot growing up even from my own mom and I just don’t get them. I’ve heard them at the store and many other places as well when the kids are crying and the stressed out moms are telling them to be quiet. The other night as Buggy finished her bath she was all whiny and crying. I knew she was tired but this whiny thing is sort of a ritual with her these days. I try to make her laugh to distract her so we laugh a bit and then we cry and this goes on while I’m putting her pajama’s on. When she’s crying I would ask her why she was crying, trying to figure out what was going on but I knew they weren’t real cries but at that moment I remembered those words I’ve heard so many times “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about”.

What that means to me is that you want your child to stop crying but you are going to spank, hit, slap, punish –whatever term you want to use – to make them stop. Wouldn’t that just make the child cry even more, oh but now they have a reason to cry, ok duh, I get it. Umm, no, not really but obviously there must have been a reason before if they were crying to begin with.

As I thought of those words I just looked at my daughter and could never imagine hitting her or punishing her to make her stop crying. The thought of that happening made me sad. I thought of when my mom had said it to me and how it made me feel and I hugged Buggy and kissed her even more.  Perhaps some moms say it just to make the kids stop crying although I have seen some actually follow through and my heart just goes out to the child.

I can’t say that I have seen anything like this recently. Maybe it was more the older generation. Tell me though, are these words that you have heard from your parents when you were younger?

Could You Be A Phone Sex Operator?

You hate your job because you are a new mom, you want to be home with your baby but you need the money. You are a Stay At Home Mom and are trying to find a way to add to the household finances since you are now down to one paycheck. Would you consider being a Phone Sex Operator?

This goes back to the Anderson Cooper show I was watching the other day (I Love Anderson) – when the “Lazy” SAHM vs Working moms were on. If you missed my post on that you can see it here. On the show, they also had two moms on who were PSO’s. They are your normal everyday moms during the day but when the kids are napping, in school or are down for the night the mommy hat comes off and hello sex mama.

Since the lousy economy and everyone and their neighbor has been waving pinks slips around, there has been a 400% increase in Phone Sex Operators. This is according to co-founder, Christine Durst from Rat Race Rebellion.  Can you believe that – 400% increase! Meet Star & Domino,“they are part of a growing trend of moms who are finding unconventional ways to support their families and pay their bills.” Both moms say they make great money,one of them said she’s made about $50k in a year as a PSO! Wow! They get paid by the minute and I’m sure you can make lots more than that. I would think it would be a bit weird and creepy talking like that with someone other than your spouse but if you want to be good and make the money I guess you would need to get past that.  Star seems to be more comfortable talking about it than Domino. According to her, “we are all adults and there is nothing wrong with talking about sex.”

For some, these days it’s a matter of you do what you need to do to help pay the bills. I hope hubby doesn’t see this post. If I see a headset in the near future – I’m in trouble!

Watch the video and let me know what you think. Could you be a Phone Sex Operator?

Source: Anderson Cooper

High Chairs Are Not For Rocking

We have one of those portable high chairs that you attach to one of your kitchen chairs. When Miss Sassafras is in her chair I put her iPad on the table and she’s good to eat, yes I know – pretty spoiled huh but whatever.

So when Miss Sassy gets into a fit and wants out she starts to rock from side to side. For months now I’ve been telling her not to because she is going to fall. Explaining something like that to a 2 year old is like talking to the wall. But she knows what she is doing is wrong because she shakes her finger back and forth in a no-no-no way. So good, we understand each other. I also need to make sure that I don’t sit her too close to the table because then she puts her feet up and leans back.  She has come close a few times to falling back and I’ve caught her just in time.

My daughter is an adrenaline junkie!  There seems to be nothing she won’t do for the thrill of it. She loves to go higher and faster on the swing, she loves to flip and be flipped, she will throw herself on you with no warning so you have to make sure you are always ready to catch her. She spins and spins so she can fall. My little girl is fearless – just like her mama. She’s putting her daddy to shame-LOL!

But it finally caught up to her. Earlier this week I was in the living room steam cleaning the carpet while she was in her chair having lunch. All of a sudden I hear screaming. I didn’t think much of it because you know how when you are in the shower and you hear the baby crying even though the baby isn’t crying – isn’t that weird – well I just casually look into the kitchen to check on her just in case and there is no Buggy. Without seeing her I knew what had happened. I run into the kitchen and I find her on all four on the kitchen floor with the tray underneath her.  I picked her up and tried to calm her down. She was fine but just really scared. I just kept telling her that she was ok and that she couldn’t do that anymore.

All I kept thinking was well I hope you learned your lesson. I wasn’t freaked out because I was expecting it sooner or later. You can bet that I put her back in her chair later that evening for dinner. I didn’t want her to be afraid although I knew she was going to try again but she didn’t do it until the next day and she caught herself. I told her not to do it because she was going to fall again and she waved her little hand in that no-no-no and understood what would happen.

This is the beginning of many lessons – I think I’m ready.

Are Stay-at-Home Moms Lazy?

I was watching Anderson Cooper today and it was about Stay At Home Moms vs. Working Moms. I missed the first 15 minutes which I guess was the part where two of the working moms were saying that being a SAHM is LAZY!  I caught the end of that part and let’s just say I was in “Oh hell no” mode. Those two bi-atches were lucky I wasn’t sitting in the audience cuz I would have shanked their ass if I caught up to them – the nerve of them! The SAHM’s are on the Left and the working bitches on the right.

Source: Anderson Cooper

Being a SAHM is a blessing for me. It’s a tough-as-shit job. I’m thankful and grateful that my husband works hard so that I am able to stay home with our daughter. I’ve blogged about this before. You can read about my little rant here. Staying home with your child is not for everyone. I can totally see why many moms decide to go back to work – you get to take breaks during the day, you can run errands without a little one pulling a nutty the minute you arrive at the store, you get to EAT LUNCH in peace, your not dealing with a screaming, whiny child all day, yea I get it. I’m sure there are some days where you are doing jack shit all day at work and then come home and spend 2-3 hours with your kid(s) while making dinner, bathing, doing homework and then it’s bedtime and that may be enough for you. We have friends that have 3 year old twins and the father just told my husband that “this age sucks”. I was not surprised by that because he is the same jack ass that used to tell hubby that he couldn’t wait for Mondays to come around so he could go back to work when his kids were younger. See, now that shit really pissed me off because they went through IVF to have these kids. They are in their early 30’s and for them the kids are just part of the package –kids make it complete.They have their big house and just bought an even bigger one just because, their nice salaries and just basically doing what they can to keep up with the Joneses.  I hate when I hear people say shit like that because for some of us it took years to have our children, for us they are a blessing, for us it doesn’t matter that they are screaming bloody murder and being whiny and all that shit. For us, we welcome it – well sometimes anyway.

So while you may call us Lazy because we choose to stay home with our kids we can certainly turn that around and call you Selfish! Selfish for putting your careers first before your children, selfish for wanting to climb that ladder to matter the price. You are the same women who take your kids to the playground and are too busy tweeting, texting, emailing, etc to even look up and see the happy smiles on their faces as they are sliding down the slide, or missed them doing some thing funny and what do you say when they ask “mommy did you see that”? So many precious moments missed.  Every time Buggy does something silly she looks at us with a huge smile or a laugh as if asking what did you think or with a wasn’t that funny look. Yes Buggy-Boo it was hilarious because you’re a silly little nut and we just fall on the floor and laugh some more. I love those silly moments even if we have to do it about 10 times.

I want to be able to give my daughter everything I can so I will be going back to work soon. I would love to be able to work from home if possible but I know that these are precious moments, important milestones that I was able to experience with my daughter. I don’t know if I will have that chance again.

I am proud to to a Stay At Home Mom!

Let me know what you thought of the video.

Adventures At The Senior Center

I think that is what I should rename my blog to because frankly that is what this place really is and these days I’m pretty much playing nurse to them.

My dogs are all old. I have a 10.5, 9 & 13.5 year old.  My 10 year old boxer has Degenerative Myelopathy which is a neurological disease and it has affected her back end whereas now she can barely stand unless she is on the rug. Pebbles is otherwise healthy and still tries to run around but she basically fish tales when walking about. She realizes her limitations and lays down pretty much all the time. I wish I could get her into a pool to work the legs because laying about really doesn’t help. I’m hoping that a wheel chair may help her. She can go potty on her own and I do try and get her walking when I can. I do have to help her up and down the stairs and I’m constantly picking her up when she slips and slides all over the wood floors. Pebby is a total pain in the butt when it comes to taking her pill so I always need to be creative when giving it to her but even then she refuses so I just have to pry her mouth open and shove it down.

Allie is my 13.5 year old Westie and is blind, deaf and a diabetic. She is adjusting pretty well to being blind. Since she’s been on her insulin she has been venturing about in the house trying to get the lay of the land in her new state. Outside I have to watch her because I’ve caught her stuck in the brush heading into conservation land a few times and needed to go get her.  It’s quite an adventure and like playing Where In The World Is Allie-LOL!

Thank goodness that my other boxer is doing well-so far. Chantal is 9 and gets bored very quickly so I need to try and keep her entertained. She’s my vocal girl and is constantly announcing how bored she is – just like your kids – “mom I’m bored, mom play with me”.  When she was younger she used to jump our 6ft stockade fence and got kicked out of daycare. Her first day she learned to climb the chain-link fence. She only lasted two weeks!  She’s been a total hemorrhoid all morning because she’s is bored and keeps giving me the paw while I’m trying to do this.

And then we have my little Buggy-boo. Buggy has been feeling better from her double ear infection but not 100% yet. She’s taking her medicine like a trooper but I wish the medicine would help the whining – Lord if its one thing I cannot stand is the whining, otherwise she is a typical two year old – non-stop and all over the place and at times torturing her sisters.  For some reason my little one and my dogs love waking up at 4.30AM. I can’t seem to get past this wake up time and that’s when the juggling begins – grab the little blind one and get her out, help Pebby down the stairs and out the door, try and put Buggy back down while the “special needs” are outside, race back down the stairs and look for Allie and bring her in, help Pebby back upstairs and get her settle, try and get a little bit more sleep before Buggy wakes up again for good between 5.30-6 sleep? wait- what’s that?? Y’all can’t believe how much coffee I go through!

Welcome to my home!

Happy New Year - 2012

So hard to believe that a new year has arrived. I spent ringing in 2012 with a cranky baby who was refusing to sleep. I’ve barely slept the last 3 days and I’m pretty tired. Buggy has been waking up from every 30 minutes to every two hours and sometimes by the time I get snuggled back in bed she is up again. Monday morning we were supposed to start our vacation. It was a last minute idea – actually thought about it on Saturday. We were going to drive down to SC but Sunday morning Buggy woke up sick. That explains the crankiness and not sleeping.  Today we went to the Dr. since she was getting worse and come to find she has a double ear infection. My poor baby has never had an ear infection and her first one is quite the doozer.

Since Buggy was really sick we totally scrapped our vaca. Hubster was secretly happy about that I think. See we were going to drive about 16 hours with a 2 year old and 3 dogs – one 13 y.o. Westie now blind and on insulin, one 10 year old boxer that can barely walk as her hind legs keep failing her unless she is on a rug and one 9 year old boxer who is still a spaz and thinks she is still about 3. So you can probably see why the Hubs was a bit apprehensive to make that 16 hour commute. He thought it would be way too much work/trouble to take the whole crew.  For me, no biggie, it’s a challenge. Since my husband travels pretty much every week for work, I’m the one that takes care of them anyway. Is it a bit overwhelming and stressful – yes, does it feel like I have triplets at times – yes, but as my blog says its can be happy, silly chaos sometimes and no matter what, I love my girls and will do anything for them. So, If there is a will, there is a way. Besides I don’t want to teach my daughter that when it gets tough you quite. If you really want it, you will find a way. At this point there is no way we could get a sitter to stay with the dogs in the condition that they are in and we do not kennel them. My girls have always been spoiled and we have always taken our vacation when we can have someone stay at our house or we go where we can take them.

Hubby will start traveling again next week so not sure when we will make our trip. It will have to be another last minute attempt for our adventure down south.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you all nothing but great things to come in 2012. This post is a bit short but It’s been 30 minutes and Buggy is stirring again. this is the first time I’ve been able to go online and so far she’s been waking every 30 minutes. I thought she would sleep more with the antibiotics but not the case. I guess we are going to be Sleepless In New Hampshire!