Oma's in town!

Oma (Dutch for Grandma) came all the way from Canada to visit us!
We have been having gorgeous weather and some good times.
The kids are well again and much happier. So is Mom.

I bought the kids a little playhouse for the backyard and they've been having a blast!



I know you can't hardly see him he is so camoflauged, but that's Holden on the couch. My big 8 month old boy! He loves to talk and play. He can feed himself finger foods and loves to eat. And he is trying trying to get his butt off the floor so he can crawl.


And today Sophie was "organizing" all of Oma's toiletries. Oma/Trudy and I were busy talking and looking at clothes. Meanwhile Sophie was very busy too. Lipsticks, lotions, earplugs, tissues, makeups, pantyliners, q-tips, bandaids, etc, etc. Her day in Heaven... dumped, organized, opened, sorted, shoved in drawers, squeezed, put in purses, taken back out, fingered, stuck in ears, squirted, hidden again...
...and then we turned around to see the masterpiece she created.

Brilliant.

I'm glad to know that Going Crazy is still cool

Thank you all for letting me know that I'm not the only one that goes crazy sometimes and it's even normal!
Weird thing is, today was about the exact opposite of what the last few weeks have been like.
Kids were well enough to go to their morning preschool, otherwise known as give-mommy-a break-time.
They both took long naps AT THE SAME TIME.
Rock on.
We had an entire dinner without whining or crying.
I can't even remember the last time that happened.

Hmmm, now I'm wondering if this is all too good to be true.

Oh well. Amen for today!

My White Trash Baby

My White Trash Baby
Originally uploaded by lucky lum.

What else can I say...
no shirt, hanging out in underwear, pot belly sticking out, busted lip, crazy hair, red swollen eyes

A Big Fat Rant

So if you don't want to hear my bitching and whining then change the channel now.

It has been a horrible day. It has been a horrible three weeks. All I hear everyday is crying. Crying crying crying. Whining whining whining. From both of the children. They are both sick with colds that they've had on and off for the last three weeks. They both wake up at the crack of dawn these days since the stupid time change. I am crabby tired and FED UP with them everyday. But on top of that I feel horrible for even feeling that way.
Somedays (most days) I feel like shaking them and screaming "SHUT UP AND LEAVE MOMMY ALONE!" And then I cry because I don't want to feel like that. It's my choice to stay home with them and what kind of mother am I if I can't stand to be around them?!?
Somedays Sophie refuses to take a nap and she NEEDS a nap. Around 4:30-5:00 it is Melt Down City for her. Constant crying and whining. Dwayne and I keep checking our watches and ask each other "How early is too early to put her too bed?"
We try and hold out til at least 7.
Holden's really been a nightmare. He screams. Screams screams screams if you dare put him down for 6 seconds. But Holden I have to brush my teeth and I can't do that or go poop, or put on my shoes, or get dressed, or make my sandwich while I'm holding you. Why can't you understand that and just stop screaming!?!!
I wish I could keep it together but after hearing his screaming and crying for so long it grates on my nerves and I start to hate him.
And then I hate myself for even thinking that.

Of course I love them both.
But when is it going to get better around here? When are my nice children coming back?!?
I feel stretched out and worn thin and I don't like the mother I am when I feel this way.
Do other people's children act this way?

I hate those mothers that portray motherhood as a piece of cake. The ones that say they have easy babies, the ones with babies that never had problems sleeping, never screamed and cried for hours on end, and the ones that say they would like to have four more! What planet do they come from?? I hate those mothers and they make me feel like an incompetent parent.

So you know what would make me feel better?
Tell me your awful children stories. Tell me how much your children scream, cry, whine, don't sleep, and sometimes you just want to bang your head against the wall.
That would make me feel a whole lot better.

Oh oh oh, who's that kid with the Oreo cookie?

Oreo face
Originally uploaded by lucky lum.

Nothin cuter than an Oreo face

As if you needed another reason to love Target

Look at these cute cute humidifiers we got for the kids' rooms!


Froggie for Sophie's room


And Pin Pin for Holden.

I swear we have been passing around this cold/virus thingy for the last two-three weeks. Someone gets better, then the next person gets sick, and the next one, by the time they are feeling better the first person who got it is sick all over again.
Will it ever go away or will we just continue to pass it around and around like a merry-go-round?

Good Things

Good Things:
This wine...

...after this kind of day

(they look they same don't they?)

Back to good things...
Air conditioning, sweet love from Dwayne, getting your Christmas shopping done early, "A Million Little Pieces", sleeping children, iTunes, and the yummy dinner I made tonight.

It's the Great Outdoors Way Back Wednesday

If you've lived in Texas than you know how beautiful the Spring can be with miles and miles of wildflowers...fields and fields of bright blues, purples, pinks, whites, yellows, oranges, reds,...it is quite a magnificent sight!

This was my first spring experiencing the beautiful bluebonnet phenomenon. (1995)

As I have learned the tradition here is that you take your kids and throw them in the bluebonnets on the side of the road and take their picture every year.

This little stop in the bluebonnets was on the way back from a day at Enchanted Rock. We went hiking, rock climbing, and repelling. And here I am going down the side of a big rock.

And that my friends is a wonderful Texas Spring Day in the great outdoors!

Oh but I'm not done there.
Here's my Dwayne out four-wheeling in his Land Rover. (1999)

What's funny is that he used to go up these big hills for the fantastic views of Austin quite often. Little did he know 4 years later we'd own a house just on the other side of this big hill!

Happy Wednesday ya'll!

Did you know it's still hot here?

Today and for the last few days it's been high temp of 87 degrees or so. And our downstairs AC went out Friday evening. AND we can't open the windows in the kitchen to get a cross breeze because they have no screens. So it's more like 90 degres in the house. ARGH!!! I don't like it. It's hot and it's November and it shouldn't be this hot still in November. And the AC guy is supposed to be here BETWEEN 12 AND 8. 12 and 8?!?! Come on! I don't want to wait in this oven for 8 hours!
Now on the positive side, at least it didn't happen in the middle of summer.

I have nothing else nice or funny to say until my AC is fixed.

This might be the day Mom loses it

Ever since this bloody time change, my children have been waking up at 6AM. 6AM!
That's just entirely too early for me.
We have tried keeping their cranky, whiny, crying butts up later (that's a lot of fun let me tell you), but they still awoke at 6AM. So then we tried the sleep begets sleep theory and put them to bed earlier. Still 6AM awakening.
But this morning folks we had a change.
An unpleasant surprise at 5:20AM...
Sophie crying.
I told Dwayne we're not getting her. She's gotta learn to sleep in longer and we should stop getting her every morning.
We listened to her screaming for 5 minutes.
"Daaaaaadddddddyyyyyy! Daaaaaaddddyyyyyy!" over and over and over.
"Why can't she call your name?" Dwayne says
The Daddy theme song went on for another 5 minutes.
Then we hear, "Daaaadddyyy, I have big poo poo!"
Great. Now we have to go get her.
She was changed and came to our bed. At that point Holden had woken up also and was in our bed.
No one went back to sleep.

And so folks, I am asking for your help.
How how how can I get these kids to sleep in longer??!!??
I know for starters Dwayne and I need to go to bed earlier so we can at least get more sleep. But any ideas would greatly be appreciated!

Like, it's totally way back Wednesday!

The Kept Woman wanted us to drag out some pictures we've been dying to show as we've been rifling through our photos each week searching for our Way Back Wednesday digs.
I didn't have any I was particularly dying to show, but I have pulled out some of the classics.

I'll start with this one I found of Dwayner and I back in the dating days. I believe this was one of those times we were in the "off" position of our ongoing on-again-off-again dating but still friends (who do it sometimes) relationship.
We look gorgeous after a night of drinking... (but look, Dwayne has HAIR!)


And I couldn't pass this one up of cutie little Dwayne.

He was all dressed up (who picked out those clothes?!?) to be the ring bearer for his Uncle Bill's wedding. You can tell he was ecstatic about it.

Must of had something on my mind.


And for the grande finale...

It's me! Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow... If I'm in a bar and Janis comes on, you better believe I'll be jumpin up and belting out "Piece of My Heart" till I get kicked out!

You knew these were coming

Happy Halloween!

Behold The Pumpkin and The Fairy


We had a great and not-so-great weekend.
Saturday we ventured over to Pioneer Farms for a Fall Festival filled with farm animals, live music, crafts, and of course the pioneer village to explore. Sophie enjoyed apple bobbing, making animal sounds at the farm animals, and even sewed her own bean bag. That was part of the great part.


The not-so-great part was me being sick and feeling like doggy doo-doo. And Dwayne had a hockey tournament which meant he was pretty much gone the entire weekend. I'm glad he had fun (ok, not really) but it certainly sucked for me!

Let me tell you the other sucky part before I try to think of something else that would fit into the great part of the weekend.
This blasted time change!
My children are getting up at 6am and are cranky, whiny, and tired the whole day because they need to go to bed, but I'm trying to keep them up a little longer so they'll go to bed on time and not wake up even earlier than they are.
Why don't they get that you're supposed to GAIN an hour? Go back to sleep!!!

Ok so the other great parts of the weekend. Hmmmmmm...
Yeah, I got one!

I got some good pictures. Check them out here if you wanna see! (you've seen some of them already but I added the new ones to the end)
Now go eat lots of candy!

Guess who's back?

They didn't name me Percy the Persistent Spider for nothin.
I was on a brief leave of absence as I had an unexplanable urge to leave... like something bad was going to happen, something involving a boot and me being squashed to bits.
Anyway, I did get a little shopping done for Halloween. And now I'm back just in time for the festivities to begin this weekend.

I have also relocated for the fourth time in just a few weeks. I do hope I can keep this new place a bit longer than the last few.


Now if this lady and her clamoring daughter would just leave me alone!
Every morning... at the window, waving, pointing, and calling my name repeatedly.
And what's with the lady sticking that big silver thing with the bright light in my face all the time?!? I have to run away when I see her coming.

Your friendly spider,
Percy

P.S. Any of you amateur entomologists care to take a stab at identifying me?
If you guess correctly, I'll send you a special treat!

Way Back Wednesday: Halloween!

We start with Princess Jackie,

I didn't really even need a costume to be a princess.
I was still in college but interning at an elementary school this year.
For some reason I look a little lost in the picture...

"Look at me I'm Sandra Dee!"

Here I am as Sandy from Grease with one of the Pink Ladies, my dear friend Renee.
I remember one of the bars playing "Grease Lightening" so all 5 Pink Ladies, Danny, and Sandy(me) got up on stage and rocked the place!
good times.

And this was my freshman year in college (that's first year for the Canadians playing along).

Not really sure what the heck I was supposed to be (I'm on the left), but we wanted to dress up and party on Sixth Street the way all college students should.
And we did!
In this picture we hadn't even gotten to 6th street yet and we are obviously already on some other playing field...

And as for the rest of those party pictures...
well, my family does read this and I did not want to shatter their images of me as sweet little Jackie.
Although I'm sure it's much too late for that.

How can someone so cute be so horrible at night?

This little man kept us up alllll last night! Poor guy had some painful gas/tummy ache and has a snotty cold on top of it.
We got maybe 3 hours of sleep the whole night.
Not a happy camper today.

But damn if he isn't just so cute!

It was picture day at school. But he was so tired he cried through all his pictures.
That's ok though because I got about 33 great shots of him at home!

In Search of the Great Pumpkin

I had big plans take the kids to a pumpkin patch this weekend.
"We're going to the pumpkin patch, we're going to the pumpkin patch, we're going to the pumpkin patch..." Sophie and I sang as we headed out on Saturday morning.
On directions from Mama Duck, we went out Hwy 290 in search of the pumpkin field/patch/farm thingy so the kids could pick out pumpkins and we could take some really cute pictures.
Driving...driving...driving...looking for the pumpkin place...driving...still driving...
No pumpkin place in sight.
So a very grumpy, hungry, and frustrated Mom said we should just turn around and go back home.

But Daddy thought since we were halfway there already we could go into Wimberely and look around.
Oh that Daddy's so smart some times!
We drove into Wimberely and after a potty break and a nice lunch at the Cypress Creek Cafe, I felt better.
We walked around and looked at all the cute little art and antique shops. There were lots of fun Halloween/Fall decorations, many uniquely decorated scarecrows, and lots and lots of pumpkin displays. (here's a short slideshow to see pictures from our little trip)
The kids liked being outside and looking around. I also enjoyed watching the elderly folks admire, oooo, and aaaahhhh over our darling children.
It turned out to be a great day!
And alas, we found a place to pick out pumpkins.

Now granted this wasn't quite the big pumpkin patch I had in mind, but it did the job. And I knew we weren't going to venture out again looking all over Austin for another pumpkin patch.

Angel in Disguise

Angel in Disguise
Originally uploaded by lucky lum.

So Long Percy

Percy must have read the blogsite because he did the skedaddle last night.

The assassination was planned for last night in the evening before it got too dark. But of course Dwayne did not get home on time and I was left to fend for myself and tend to the two beastly children. And it got too dark and I was scared to kill Percy in the dark for fear I might miss and he would attack me!
So the plan was rescheduled for the next day (today) when the children were napping.

When I woke up in the morning and brought Sophie downstairs we followed our usual morning ritual of looking out the window for deer and squirrels, and lately a peak and brief conversation with Percy.
But Percy wasn't there. I thought he might just be out for a his morning walk. But NO, he and his web had hit the road!
Hooray!! Now all you spider lovers will not hate me because I didn't have to slaughter Charlotte's evil cousin Percy.

I however will not be surprised if we see Percy again. For we know that he is Percy, the persistent spider.

Meet Percy

This is Percy the Persisitent Spider.

Percy is big, way too big for my liking. Although the pictures do not clearly reveal his true size, when Percy is all spred out he is bigger than an Oreo.
I do not like Percy or any of his kin folk.
Percy was a very busy spider and built an enormous web on our deck.
It was so big that I was even too scared to go outside for a few days.

I made my move yesterday while Percy was away. With big broom in hand and covered shoes on my feet, I had my bases covered in case Percy decided to attack while I was destroying his home.
Gone in less than 10 seconds.
whew! I'm glad that's over with.

Until today...

Yes, that is Percy. Percy is persistent. He again has built himself a big big web on my deck. This time on the other side of the table.

Damn! Today after I take two shots of whiskey and get my courage up I am going to kill Percy. So long sucka!!

I was let out of my cage

Saturday I got to escape the Lum household for a night of fun with the girls!

We started out the night at Carmelo's, a scrumptious and fancy Italian restaurant downtown.
All dressed up, cocktails, many appetizers, delicious pasta dinner, bottle of wine, decadent deserts, and my friends treated me for my birthday. And get this- conversation. Real conversation. Without screaming, whining children. That was the best treat! Of course there was a good twenty minutes we had to talk about our kids.

A little tipsy and very full, we meandered down to 6th street to check out many bars. Laid back college student ridden, beer drinking joints; upscale trendy dance clubs; gay half-naked men club, swinging outdoor funk music gin joint.
What a blast!
I found myself pleasantly drunk throughout the night. A good buzz to get a little wild and have a good time, but not so much I was dizzy falling down on my face. I'm learning how to do it right (finally) now that I don't do it so often.
What I couldn't believe is that I stayed out until I heard the infamous "LAST CALL!" line. What? How could I, mother of two small children stay out so late that I'm hearing "last call?"
Oh well, if you're gonna do it. Do it right I say.
Got home around 3am. Got naked and fell asleep.
Missed the children waking up. THANK YOU DWAYNE!
Stumbled out of bed about 9am. Immediately drank copious amounts of water and took two advil. Laid down for most of the morning trying to decide what I was hungry for and retold all the fun bar stories to Dwayne.
Felt just like the good old days...
Surprisingly the children were well behaved and I recovered from my hangover pretty quickly.

Sooooo...
who wants to go out with me next time?