June...woot!

There's no time for blogging...no time, no time.

But things have been happening at home and the list is getting longer (you know I always have a LIST of something...lists for the blog, lists of thank-you notes to write, lists of projects/to-do's around the house, lists of projects/to-do's at work, Target list, Gro list...I need 48 hours and a lot of caffeine andI could master it all!) and I need to catch up!

Having no time is my nemesis these days...I started "running" last Saturday. So far, I've run Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Sunday I was wicked hungover due to "date-date-gone-awry" (long story, but I had fun!), Wednesday I had softball and we desperately needed milk/bread so I had to go to Target afterwards, and last night I had a haircut (first since FEBRUARY!) and a phone date with my sister. But tonight Andy is going to help me find the time to get in a good bike ride around Normandale Lake. First, Bike 101 to learn how to change gears (it's been awhile since I've been on a bike) and then I'm off!! I decided to run/bike Bloomington's Iron Girl race in September. 2-mile run/20-mile bike/2-mile run. I can do it. But I'm out of shape and June is dedicated to being able to move my legs in a running or biking motion while still being able to walk reasonably well the next day, and not collapse from heart failure, before I start the 12-week race training program in July. I'm registered...I've got $95 and my pride invested in this thing. Ask me how my training's going sometime? Don't let me off the hook. I'm likely to make excuses and slack and I need all the help I can get!!

I got stood up on Tuesday...by my cleaning lady. What the heck?! Is my house that bad?! She's been with us since I was pregnant with Dylan and Owen...probably since August. She comes every other Tuesday from 8-11am and is a whirlwind through our house. She's good, and not crazy expensive. She helps me keep a tiny hold on my sanity. I called her on Wednesday and left a message and have not heard back yet. So weird. If she's missed an appointment in the past she has always been really good about calling us. So not only am I confused, but I'm worried too! On that topic...the topic of cleaning...I realized that I am perfectly happy to just pay her the $75 to clean the upstairs bathroom...cripes...I hate bathrooms. Do you think she will come back if I offer her that gig? Don't worry...we are not living in filth...the house is now clean, but I spent time I didn't have doing it and that stinks...wah, wah, wah. On a bright note, I think I may have fixed our Dyson. A number of expletives have been shouted as I've tried time and time again to use the attachment in the past couple months only to end up pushing around crumbs...this is a several hundred dollar vaccuum we're talking about. Dyson boasts it's product on the simplicity of having no bags and that hepa-filter thing...did you know that since it doesn't have bags, there is actually a filter/sponge thing that you are supposed to wash out every 6 months! I can't remember exactly when we got ours, but it was before we were pregnant with our almost-3-year-old son!!! "Wash with cold water until water runs through clean"....um, my hands got really cold, and I had to put on dish gloves. Stay tuned...the filter/sponge is dry now, and I can't wait to try out the vaccumm tonight. Loser.

Ok, now on to something more fun...my kids!

We are talking up the whole potty thing with Ethan a lot. We now have another potty downstairs in the living room where we spend most of our time. So now he can run over to it whenever he needs to without us having to make sure the babies are safe and then run up the stairs to the bathroom with him. I think he just wants to decide on his own when to do it...we're not pressuring him at all, but he's 2 1/2!! He could do it if he wanted...I mean, Gramma Leslie found him out in the backyard with his pants down peeing in a cup the other day...that's control!

Has your kid ever made such a huge deal about eating a food that he's made himself gag? Seriously, what is the deal with cooked carrots?! I happen to love cooked carrots, and unless my kids have a food allergy that prevents them from eating them, they WILL eat them. Ethan is pretty good about eating things he doesn't typically "like" (or thinks he doesn't like) in exchange for a special treat. Every parenting book under the sun will tell you not to do this type of thing, but it works for us and "special treat" means banana, or milk, so whatevs. He was not particularly happy about the carrots the other night, but was trying to eat them and actually THREW UP! So, I don't know, I guess it worked for him because we stopped requesting he eat the carrots and he got his special treat anyways.

Ethan has a tan already. He wears sunscreen (sunscream), but he's just outside a lot. I'm not...I'm jelaous. I need to go to the booth...I'm not quite worried about wrinkles just yet. I call Ethie my little brownberry.

Last night after work I was sitting outside with him on the back patio and he said to me randomly..."I like the color of your toenails!"...cute.

Monday is the 6-month birthday for Dylan and Owen. I'm kinda emotional about it...in fact, I found myself getting kinda choked up about it when I was talking about it the other day to Gamma Leslie. I forget that they are 6 months old a lot...I mean, they are 6 months developmentally...they don't eat many solids (we're just cereal still...I need to make some food this weekend!), can't sit up (although Dylan is REALLY close), poop their pants...but they are SO big. Dylan wore a 12-18 month shortsleeved onesie yesterday. I just washed all the 12-month clothes because the 6-9 month sleepers are just not long enough and the onesies pull too much...basically anything that has a designated length just does not work on them. I figure all my boys will probably tower over me by age 11. I had some serious flashbacks when washing and folding the 12-month clothes...I remember Ethan in them so vividly, and it doesn't seem like that long ago!!

I've decided to discontinue posting pictures to Ethan's babysite. It's just too hard to keep up with all this social-networking crap. So, I post the monthly pics (just posted May) to Facebook, and I'll throw pictures on the blog also. If you want to see the pics on FB...just comment here or send me an email or something and I'll accept the friendship (I'm not sure I know all readers' names).