A Vignette of Motherhood

Tuesday was Book Club day.  I love Book Club day.  So much so that Book Club day will always have capital letters when I think about it.  Sometimes we have great discussions on the book sometimes we don't even bother to discuss the book. (What were we reading?  Did anyone finish it?) As usual, I was home well past my bedtime and finally got to sleep around midnight. 

(Extra spaces for Malissa...)

Elise, normally a good sleeper, woke me up at 2:30 a.m. (Teething)  And again at 4.  (Also, teething but possibly some sheer perversity.)  At that point, I knew I was toast.  Did I mention that Jared has a HUGE presentation at work today? Like earth-shatteringly HUGE. Normally Jared is good to get up with Elise at night if she needs it because he can get back to sleep.  I cannot.  I'm a naptard too.  I also have to have at least 8 hours of sleep to be good.  5 to be functional.  So you see where my day is headed. 

We managed to make it through speech therapy with almost flying colors.  Elise was a bit surly but not openly hostile.  We even managed to squeeze in some service for a lady living down the road.  And then...

My friend Liz from Rochester calls.  Liz just had a baby and is going to be in town this weekend with her husband.  I'm super excited to see her and we're catching up when I see it...

Bright pink nail polish all over the carpet!  We rent! We have nice carpet!  Crap! The bottle is empty.  This. Is. Not. Good.

Off the phone with Liz, running to the kitchen. Crap, crap, crap!...Elise runs after me "Cwap! Cwap!" I quickly and silently thank my brain filter for catching the other word that wanted to escape. 

I run to my computer and hastily type "nail polish carpet".  Hooray for other people with nail polish, carpet, and pets/toddlers! So we're cleaning the carpet with several remedies and I smell the smell coming from Elise.  You know what I'm talking about.  I think ok I can leave the stuff on the carpet and be back in a flash.

Into the poo cave (a.k.a. laundry room) to change Elise's diaper.  We're flying along, I stand her up to pull up her pants...and...she barfs on us.  SERIOUSLY???  Arrrgh! (Elise "Rawr!"  Woohooo! mommy's making bear noises!)  I hate teething.  I hate nail polish and I loathe being barfed on.  I have no issues with poo, pee, or mucus but I hate throw up.  Yes, I understand that it's part of the job.  So are toilets, they're not my fave either.

Off to the bedrooms, Elise gets a new outfit, mom gets a new outfit, out we go to the living room and I see that everything has dried.  It's crusty but most of the nail polish is gone.  As is most of the paint on the baseboard.  Oops. 

The After-Christmas Christmas Celebration

I was trying to blog one a week.  Obviously, that hasn't happened.  I have really good excuses though. I was going to write on 12/7 but our Christmas tree fell over and squashed me as I was getting Elise out of the way. After that, I was tired (mental swearing fatigue) and sore (trees hurt).  Then I was going to post on 12/14 but a bunch of my girlfriends (and their kids) came over and I played instead. I have no excuse but laziness for 12/21 and I was in the city (NYC) with Jared, Elise, and our friend Melissa yesterday.  So there you have my litany of excuses. 
Yesterday was great.  Elise LOVES the city.  She played in park, chased pidgeons, ate italian pastries, afghan food, and hotdogs.  We tried some bean curd something or other in Chinatown.  It tasted good but I couldn't get past the texture.  I had the same problem with escargot.  Blech.  Melissa is a city aficianado and took us around some of the neighborhoods we hadn't been to before.  It was nice to see something new. 
My mom flew in to town last night too.  Tonight we'll officially begin our After-Christmas Christmas celebration. Most of our christmas presents are still under the Christmas tree.  Some in their original wrapping paper, none with their original bows, everything looking a little "loved".   It part of the toddler's home Christmas charm.  Another feature of the charm is the tree which has no ornaments on the botton 2-3 feet of the tree.  
I hope everyone had or is having a Merry Christmas.  Our love to everyone.  Happy holidays.

Begin at the Beginning

I caved. Here's our blog. This summer Jared and I finally left Rochester. We ended up in New Jersey. Not exactly where we wanted to be (i.e. West, preferably of the Mississippi, better yet of the Rockies). Oddly enough, we really like new Jersey. Once you accept the fact that people drive like hyper aggressive maniacs and have zippo patience, you can feel free to embrace the land of Bon Jovi. (People who shamelessly loves Bon Jovi that much can't be all bad right?) So far the weather here is way less wretched than Rochester. I see the sun a lot. It makes me happy. Sun is good. Ah, for the simple pleasures of life. Elise is nearly 18 months old. We only have one more week of busy wriggling nap-less child at church before we can drop her on the good folks at the nursery. Yay nursery! Elise should like it in there. She's constantly trying to escape into the nursery when we are out on "hall patrol". We made our first stab at Christmas cards this year. We went and got pictures taken and everything. We may even get cards made. Maybe next year. The pictures are below. Enjoy because you probably won't get actual cards. I think I have about 10 addresses for our friends and family combined. Let me introduce our family. Some of you only know one or the other of us. Jared is a science nerd. He works at Rutgers University's New Jersey Center for Biomaterials. Technically he's an assistant professor in the chemistry department, but he's really their pet Biologist. They're working on a government grant to try to build a stable cell based scaffolding for bone regeneration, specifically in the skull. It's cool stuff. Some lab they are affiliated with in Cleveland is working on spray on skin cells for burn victims. Jared did his PhD work on brain tumors (glioblastomas like the kind Ted Kennedy had) and a childhood disease that I can pronounce but won't even try to spell. It is caused by degeneration of brain cells. Very interesting but very sad in both cases. I'm a former history teacher. Now I'm a stay at home mom. Occasionally I can teach a dance class or a yoga class to keep my hand in. Right now I'm the Gospel Doctrine (Sunday School) teacher. I really like it. It's a bit intimidating though. Our ward is the Princeton (yes, as in University) 1st ward. There are lots of very smart people in my class. Most of my church knowledge consists of what I didn't sleep through in early morning seminary. This year has been a struggle as I don't think I've ever read the Doctrine and Covenants from end to end. Not even in seminary. At least I haven't caught anyone laughing at me openly. Elise is, so far, our only child. And a very expensive and time consuming child she was too. I have a solid three years of pre-pregnancy shots and doctors visits to guilt her with before we even get to the delivery room. She's a happy sunny little soul. She loves to be startled and does all sorts of crazy silly things. Her favorite activity is getting into the laundry closet and pulling out her summer swim diapers. After randomly distributing them around the house she'll put one on like a hat. Weirdo. She also likes to collect acorns and store them in her purse. She like to push them under the couch cushions. Maybe she's part squirrel? I thought I 'd be bored staying home but I don't know what I'd do without her.