Thursday, June 16, 2011

H4L got a new gig

Things have been a changing in the Pink Haired House of Chaos recently. I think all my readers are well aware that we have added extra chaos to the home with the much anticipated arrival of Critter2! YAY. And we are now down a gallbladder. Hooray. I have never been so glad to have an organ yanked from my body, not that I do this kind of thing often. I am down 16 pounds since Critter2 arrived, which is amazing considering I only gained 4 total throughout the pregnancy.

A super big change came in early May, but I couldn't share the news publicly. But now I can! H4L has changed careers. He took a leap and landed himself in a super fun and exciting career with trains. Yep folks, Pink Haired Momma is now the hot wife of a train conductor! Well, a train conductor in training.

H4L, poor dude, has to under go 6 grueling months of rigorous training. He studies constantly when he is home and has the most odd ball working hours. But the money is amazing and the benefits are even better, so it is all worth it. And I personally just find it super awesome to be a conductors wife. Makes H4L just that much more sexy! LOL He is 1 month in and showing great promise as a super star student of the conductor "School".

So from here on out I am sure I will be entertaining you with great stories from the life of a Pink Haired train conductors wife!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Blueberry picking 2011







We visited the Chmielewski Blueberry farm this last weekend. A local organic farm that allows you to pick your own. This is our second year going and I have every intention of continuing to visit each year, if not another couple of times this year. I love fresh blueberries. I will not lie though, this year the pickins are a little less impressive than last year. However, we are in the middle of a massive drought and sporting 100 plus temps daily, so I am not surprised. And although the berries may be slightly smaller this year they are not lacking in taste by any means. Absolutely delicious. Oh and after a morning of picking, I had one toddler who crashed out for a 4 hour nap! SCORE 10 extra points for the Chmielewski blueberry farm!












The Berry fields






"Pop" and I loaded up on fresh berries

Grandma taught me how to pick them berries






La La La, picking berries, picking berries

I can reach!





Got one 1 mom, YUUUUM!






And Critter2, of course, snuggled in her Moby, enjoyed picking blueberries!



Saturday, June 11, 2011

Facebook accountability

I hear a lot of moms talk about how Facebook is incredibly addictive and has ruined their parenting skills, one status update at a time. How they need to take a break and "unplug" for weeks at a time to decompress from the tight grip of a social media hold. I understand what they are saying to an extent but I do not fully agree with them. Yes, facebook is addictive. Yes, we have grown as a society to rely upon social media in place of face to face contact. Yes all of this does have its downside. But that IS our way of life now. This is how we communicate as a society. This is our world. And we don't have to just be glued to the computer or phones all day. There can be a happy medium. We can be status update obsessed and still lead productive and healthy lives with our children.

I personally have found facebook to aid in parenting. How, you might ask. Well, all of my friends and family are on facebook. From my childhood friend that I have known since I was a mere few months old to my grandmother to my old boss. Everyone that has crossed my life path is somehow or someway active in social media. My main source of contact to those I know is via the internet and social media outlets. It makes life easy to be able to communicate this way. And not only easy, it can be instant and up to the minute for those googly family eyes who want to see the youngest generation of our family in active bloom.

I utilize facebook to communicate to those I love across the world about my life and the life of my children. I upload pictures, talk about the happenings of potty training and other absurd things that occur during the day. I rattle off status updates about craft projects or dinner plans or ideas I have for myself and my family. I tell tales of the latest spot to hit with my mommy group or the few and far between Hot date night spots I hit with my husband. My status updates are basically a quick outline of my life and how it is playing out at any given moment.

In return my friends and family on facebook hold me accountable to the things I post. If I state that Big Sis DIVA will be marble painting this afternoon, someone WILL comment on my wall and ask how it went. If I spill the beans on what I plan to serve at dinner, someone will wander over to my husbands wall or mine and ask how dinner was. If I really like a new website or product or really despise the like, I share it with my friends and family via facebook. Instantly they too can know that those new cookies are disgusting but that ugly show feels fabulous while chasing toddler for 3 hours at the park of my tired sore momma feet.

In the same way that many parents go on and on about how facebook eats up all their time, how they sit around just playing on facebook and forgetting they have children, I can go on and on about how find it a useful tool for me. I find it keeps me in check. I use it to get myself out of bed and to make sure I do not drift off to couchland. If I status update something, I follow through, so that my family and friends around the globe can read and see in pictures the smiles on my kids face as I do all I can to be the best mom I can be. I make sure that if I state marble painting is on the agenda for my kids then by days end there are pictures of masterpieces made by Big Sis DIVA and a smile to accompany it hitting the facebook stream, in response to my earlier status updates, for those on my friends list to gawk at.

I enjoy sharing little tidbits throughout the day with folks and engaging in simple and fun conversations. Sometimes these conversations are the only adult contact I might have for the day and it is welcomed. I don't live on the computer or phone either. I simply update my status and check in throughout the day while my kids are occupied or when I find a quiet 30 seconds alone. And in that 30 seconds I am able to "Talk" to an adult, regroup as a mom and move on to the next engaging toddler filled fun that I promised my kids via a Facebook status. So, in that respect I love Facebook and its addictive properties.

Case of the missing Dinner plate 2

****Well! It is quite obvious momma's with newborns should not be allowed to blog late at night all alone. It seems I managed to write a post and get it published, only to stumble around my keyboard and delete it moments later. Several comments were made to the disappearing post, so please forgive me. I have retrieved the deleted post and am I hoping round 2 works out better!***

My parents have enjoyed telling me many a stories about myself, over and over, about what wonderful behavior I displayed as a child, obviously it wasn't the greatest. A certain little tale hits home with me now as I parent my own children.

Apparently, I was playing with the knobs on the stove. I was twisting and turning them on and off and had been instructed, told, and disciplined many a time on this already, that it was a NO-NO. On this particular occasion, I have been told, that my dad told me quite stern, "I do not want your hands touching this stove again!". A few moments later my parents were once again interrupted by the obnoxious noise of me turning the knobs on the stove. However, as they braced to beat my butt they discovered little old toddler me turning the knobs with my ELBOWS, not my hands. I was following their instructions. My hands were not touching that stove!

Now as I have my own toddler, I encounter these moments...more so than I would like to admit to my parents. But it is moments like these that break the frustration of parenting and allow for a good ol' belly laugh and reminder of the innocence of our obnoxious children and a minute to pour that next glass of wine.

This week, Big Sis DIVA provoked one such moment. It was dinner time. I made some delicious homemade cookies for us to snack upon after we finished dinner. Big Sis DIVA spied these "cook cook's" as she calls them, and the rest is history. I informed Big Sis DIVA that after her dinner was "GONE" she could have a "Cook Cook". I had no idea she would take me literally.

She basically took her dinner plate and hid it. When i turned around and saw the plate missing from the table I inquired about the issue. Here is what went down: (it's about 1 1/2 minutes long FYI)


Saturday, June 4, 2011

Due Date

Today is Critter2's official due date. But, instead of me waddling about miserable with a giant belly and cankles, I am instead holding my sweet little baby girl who turns exactly 1 month old today. AND she is finally big enough to wear her special outfit we had made for her to wear home from the hospital!



And on a funny note, Big Sis DIVA has a matching dress, but has already grown out of it this last month. LOL


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Playing cool

It is barely June, and we are sweating like mad here in our part of the world. It is incredibly hot outside. So much so that park play anytime after, oh 8am, is pretty much out of the question. Especially with tiny Critter2 right now. So what is one to do with a 2.5 year old Big Sis DIVA during the many hours of indoor summer torture?




Frozen learning snack


For me, momma?


Learning that hot water melts ice


Cold momma! But FUN!


Ice games! This morning Big Sis DIVA and I had a grand time during Critter2's nap. We learned that ice is COLD. And that it melts into "wa-wa" and that sometimes yummy fruit is hidden inside. We touched the ice, tasted the ice, smelled the ice, listened to the ice melting when warm water was poured on it and looked at it. All 5 senses were invoked in this little snack time play. Yes, I made snack time into playtime and learning time. A cool little experiment with Big SIS DIVA, that although was not physically stimulating, was incredibly mentally stimulating.







And then we enjoyed snack! FUN!

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