Cuddles and Babies

When I come home from work, I'm usually greeted by Katie who rushes to me and tells me "I happy you come home from work, mommy" and we get to hug and talk for a minute.

And then I try to sneak into the bedroom to change my clothes before *someone* tries to find me. Calling "mamamamamama" all the way.

He says mamamamamama a lot and he stands up (holding onto stuff) and he plays well with Katie, and he eats puffs by himself, and he sometimes lets go of the stuff he's holding onto while standing and he stays up!

It's crazy. He was standing up holding onto the couch one day last week and when I looked, I saw that he had let go and was just standing all by himself!!! I couldn't believe it! He's done it more than once and I think we're well on our way to a more mobile baby.

Except when he wants mamamamamama.

So I'm looking for a baby sling so I can carry him around. You know, for those times when I want to do something that I might need two hands for. I've heard babies can be worn for a long time... and the sling I'm thinking about holds up to 35 lbs.

One evening I was in the bedroom and I heard him in the hall. I thought he would pop in at any moment but when I heard him crying I looked out and realized he was sitting in the hallway outside of the bathroom where he must have thought I was. He was much happier when I stuck my head out into the hall to show him that I was right there!

Oh, my sweet girl has wanted to cuddle a lot these days. She comes over and says "cuddle mama?" and it's so precious that I want to just sit with her forever.

It's almost more precious when we've been cuddling for a few minutes but I have to get up for a minute and she stops me and says "But mama, I not done cuddlin yet." I love that because usually before I'm ready to let her go, she's ready to get going. Playtime and imaginary friends wait for no mom.

Target - Is it still my oasis of calm?

I like going to Target. It's got formula, groceries, shoes, kids clothes, and more, all under one roof. It's usually got a very quiet peaceful vibe since I don't always take the kids with me when I need to run in for medicine or odds and ends.

So, I guess I should say that I like going to Target alone. I clear my head and exhale.

Well, on Saturday night, something happened that could have ruined my Target experience forever.

Chaos arrived into my happy Target world. Katie and I were over in the dollar section playing with dinosaurs and I hear a lady (lady #1) telling another that she wasn't talking to her, she was on her cell phone and that she feels threatened and feels like she should call security!

I'm like, whoa! This is Target, respect the vibe! And respect the little ears that are listening to you. (Luckily Katie wasn't paying attention... she was busy helping the dinosaurs make friends with each other.)

Then the other lady (lady #2) walked past with a cart and says something very threatening... I won't repeat it here.

Almost at the same time, I hear lady #2's relative tell lady #1 that "she didn't mean anything by it... there are children here..."

Huh? If there are children with you, should you really be getting into an argument with someone you don't know? And if you don't know them, how much should you really care if they say something to you or what they said?

I was angry that Katie and I were standing there when it happened. And it only lasted a minute before both parties went their separate ways. Well, I wasn't going to say anything about lady #2's comment until I saw three Target employees walk by.

Then I had to tell them what she said. And I had to tell them that if nothing was done about this situation, it would be very sad.

I don't know if anything was done and the whole situation made me really angry. And ruined part of my Target experience.

Luckily we got back on track after I shopped for my bagels and cream cheese (yum) but I'm still mad about it now... two days later.

The 50's

We had a fun Saturday. Me and the kids (and mom and dad) went to a 50's themed 50 birthday party.

There was live music, good food, poodle skirts, slicked back hair, rolled up jeans, t-shirts and lots more! We ate and then listened to the band.

Jake slept (as he often does when there's loud noise and commotion - really! He seems to sleep best when there's lots going on and it's loud) and Katie did not sleep. She did not like the loud noise. I don't know how it worked out but a little bit into the music she ended up sitting on a chair in the hallway with grandpa watching the band and the dancing. In the hall. Oh, did I say that already?

So it was fun.

After the party we went to my friend Lori's house to visit. She's just moving in and I hadn't even seen the paint yet! Got a tour and visited.

Katie and Jake played with Lori's grandson, Mahkai, and had a great time. Katie told me she was "watching the kids" which was funny!

Just before we left, Jake pulled a chair down onto himself. Poor baby! He was not happy.

So in the car, when he got quiet, I asked Katie how Jake was doing. She said he was sleeping... then she said "He awake... He opened his little peepers, mommy."

Went home and got settled then took Katie to Target for formula. Nice night except Target was not the calm oasis it usually is. I'll have more to say on that in another post!

Katie and the Early Childhood Screening

Friday was the day! Katie was going to go to "school" for her early childhood screening.

I reminded her about it on Thursday (like I had done many times in the past few weeks) just to get her used to the idea and in the past, she had been very excited to go to "school" (that's what I called it). Unfortunately on Thursday she was not as thrilled about the idea.

Me: Katie... tomorrow you get to go to school to see a teacher and play games! It will be soooo fun!

Katie: I don't want to go.

Me: You have to go. We've got an appointment.

Katie: I don't want to go and play with the teacher. I don't want to go to school.

Me: Well, you have to go.

Katie: I tell the teacher I don't want to go to school.

Me: That's fine. Tomorrow we'll go and you can tell the teacher you don't want to go to school.

Whew, crises averted! I figured that teachers had to have pretty thick skin as a requirement of being a teacher so she wouldn't be crying in her coffee over Katie's words.

So off we went! I got off work early and packed up the kids and we got there right on time. I filled out paperwork while someone got her height and weight (I don't remember what the numbers are, I have to look at the paper we took home) and Katie cooperated the WHOLE time! She put her things down and cooperated so well and so quietly that I couldn't belive she was the same kid who threw a fit at the doctors office when they tried to do the exact same thing!

She could have been distracted by the other kids running around (I think it was day care pick up time so kids were leaving with parents and she was watching everything.)

Once that was done we went into another room and one of the testers had her build a tower with small blocks, write shapes she saw on a card, give names to four items (car, ball, button, something I can't remember), finish sentences (I loved it when she answered correctly that a window is made of glass), match cards up (like memory) and finally... take the eye test.

Everything was going great up to that point. I mean, I could tell she was getting a little huffy toward the end of the blocks/cards/shapes part but I thought we could make it.

Not so much. By the time we got to the eye test she was ready to rebel. She went along with the first part (covering her right eye and pointing to her card to match the letters she saw on the board) but when we got to her left eye... she kind of didn't want to do it anymore. I know because she told us. She said "I don't like school. I don't want to do this." That was a good indicator that we had reached the end of a toddlers patience with jumping through hoops.

So, we took a break and went to a different room for the hearing test. She got to listen first without the headphones on, then with. And she was supposed to move a block from the cup to the table whenever she heard a tone. She did great! Then she had to look at a small clown face on a stick that the nurse moved around. (Why a clown? I don't know. Don't get me started on clowns.) She did great at that too. Then... it was back to vision. The nurse finally got Katie to finish her left eye and then we went to the play area and her and Jake played. They had a great time! He was laughing and crawling and she was laughing about what he was doing. The nurse ran through some papers with me and then we were done.

When we left, Katie told me "Mommy, ask that lady if I can come back her sometime. Like tomorrow."

I thought that was a good sign... till later when we were in the car and she told me she didn't want to go to school anymore.

I figured it was time to fess up.


I had to tell her that it wasn't actually school school.


I had to tell her that it was just a pretend school


and that if she passed the test at the pretend school,


she would get to go to the real school where they play games and have story time and snack time and learn fun things.

Another letter to my sweet Katie (otherwise titled: You're too young to need makeup)

Katie, you are so precious. Mommy loves looking at your sweet little face. It's so different from just a year ago... and even though you still resemble the 1-year-old I remember so fondly, you don't look like the little baby you once were.

It's because you're so young that I didn't think we would need to talk about this yet.

It's something I hoped we could avoid till you were at least... 10?

or even older would be great.

It's...


Makeup.


And, yes, you're a big girl but you are not big enough to need powder, blush and mascara. Mommy was very relieved that you did not poke out your eye when you tried to apply what turned out to be a large black clump near your eyebrow and a black smear across your nose. Very relieved that daddy did not have to make the call to mommy telling me to rush to the hospital because of a bad owie.

Also, it may have seemed like a good idea to use mommy's blush brush and blush... oh, and my powder foundation, but you've got such beautiful skin that it was really gilding the lilly.

Oh, and mommy's blush brush is not the same as your paint brush. It should not get wet, (especially, since I think you might have used it as a sink cleaning brush - so even if it could have been saved, mommy would not have wanted to use it anywhere near her face in the future - then put it back into mommy's makeup bin) ever. Oh, and something to remember for future blush use: when you put blush on your face with a wet brush, it looks a little cakey. And not the good kind of cake.

So, let's talk about makeup when you're just a little older... like, 20? (did I ever say 10 cause I'll deny it!) and we'll figure it out then.

Love you sweetie!!!!

Mommy

Weekend at the lake

Had a great weekend at the lake with the kids! Katie went up with Grandma and Grandpa on Friday night after work and I brought Jake with me later in the evening. We got there at about 9:30 and got settled in.

Mom and Dad too Jake for the night and I got a great night sleep! Woke up the next morning and had a delicious breakfast and then helped run the winch for the men while they brought in the docs. Yes, I ran a winch. It was very fun.

After a heavy lifting then mom and I were going to go shopping until I realized I couldn't find my cash card. Arg. I was a little upset. Looked high and low till I figured out that maybe John hadn't given it back after he used it. Still had a check tho so off to Walmart we went!

I love that store. I can spend hours there and it seems like only minutes!

Bought some formula (since I forgot ours at home and then ended up forgetting this formula at the lake when we left on Sunday. Grrr.) and a cute hat for Katie, and a t-shirt for me, and some other stuff from their clearance aisle. I shouldn't even go into that aisle. I found some stuff that I thought about buying even though I didn't. even. know. what. it. was. for. Luckily I stopped myself before it found it's way into my cart.

We also hit two dollar stores and some boutiques. I did much better there. The only thing I bought at the dollar store was a bag of Hot Tamales... yum... that I tried to hide from Katie all day on Sunday. Till I could tell she was going to get mad because I wasn't sharing. I gave her a tiny taste and she did fine... then I gave her a whole one and she did fine. Well, her eyes were watering but she assured me that it wasn't too hot or too spicy. I decided to stop talking to her till she was done eating each piece (yes, she had more than one... or two pieces) because she was telling me "mama, it not schpishy" and I worried that there was potential for drool and if she did spray any Hot Tamale juice out onto grandma's stuff, it seemed likely to stain it.

Project Runway was on and I HAD to find out who was "out" that week, THEN I went to bed.

Woke up and hung out with two of my fave people (who happen to both be under 4 feet) and we had rice crispies and hung out. Mom woke up from her nap (she was up early with Jake and went back to bed at around 8 a.m. and woke up at around 10 a.m.) and made eggs and ham and tortillas... It was delicious.

Later in the day me and Katie went out to help dad pull off the cover of the pontoon lift and Katie helped pick up s-hooks and put them in a bucket. She was adorable in her purple boots, pink hat, pink scarf, and princess hoodie. Well, till she went into the garage and came out in her purple boots, pink hat, and princess hoodie. Then she went back to the garage and came out in her purple boots and princess hoodie. THEN she went to the garage and came out in her purple boots and inside clothes. Luckily we were about to go back inside so I didn't push for her to get everything back on!

Sunday evening I headed home with Jake at about 6. Katie stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and came home later that night.

All in all, a good weekend!

Happy Birthday John!

It was John's birthday a few days ago. I totally remembered it on Saturday, Sunday, Monday... even reminding Katie a few times on each of those days that "daddy's birthday is on Tuesday!".

Then, I forgot. I forgot till Mom asked me what we were doing for John's birthday
that night!

So on the way home, I decided to make spaghetti for dinner. Till Mom and Dad offered to take us "out" to dinner! They picked up KFC and we ate and ate... it was really good.

I made brownies so we had that for dessert. It was a fun meal (and I didn't feel so bad that I kind of forgot).

Happy Birthday John! Hope it was a good one.

Kids are sick. Nuff said. Maybe I'll end this post here.

Or not... because I'm sure everyone is just dying to know what's going on in the Tiessen household and why it's been so long since I've posted anything...

So, Katie and Jake are sick. We thought it was just a cold and it would pass quickly but it didn't. In fact, Katie got worse with a cough and actual runny nose! Before that she had a stuffy nose and when I asked her if she was sick, she said "I dot sick baba." Hmmm. I had to silently disagree.

So now, Katie and Jake have runny noses and coughs.

We went to urgent care on Tuesday night and once I mentioned that both kids had coughs, the receptionist next to my receptionist piped in and told her to give me there... these turned out to be facemasks. For a 3 year old and an 8 month old. Really.

My receptionist looked at the nosy, er, I mean helpfull other receptionist and said "I don't think we're going to get a toddler and a baby to wear these things" in a totally doubtfull tone. Mrs. Kravitz, I mean, totally helpfull if delusional other receptionist said we just had to try.

Well, I was dealing with a million questions, our insurance information, a slow printer making me yet another sheet of labels when I don't think they have ever used more than two for any visits... so I gave the masks to John to see if he would have any luck attaching them to the kids' faces.

I don't think he even tried to get in on Jakes face (Jake was asleep in his carseat which is better than awake and trying to get down so he can crawl all over the germy floor) and when he asked Katie if she wanted to wear her mask, she said "No way." and that was that.

We finally got called and I was dreading Jake's visit... but he did the weigh in just fine. Katie, not so much. She cried and screamed like we were poking her with a bunch of needles... kind of like she does when Jake is about to touch one of her precious toys.

I ended up having to hold her and weighing us both then putting her down to weigh just me to come up with her weight. That wasn't fun for either of us and it sure wasn't fun to see my weight posted in 2" tall numbers on the scale screen. Ugh.

We got in the room and Jake let the nurse do everything she needed. He was doing well but Katie was not. She was crying and carrying on the whole time the nurse looked at Jake and the whole time she checked Katie.

When the doctor came in, she calmed down a bit. He talked to her and I think it helped. She let him listen to her breathing and check her ears and throat. It could have helped that he gave her two Diego stickers before he started.

Found out that Jake was fine (aside from his cold) and Katie has the beginnings of an ear infection.

Fun night.

Oh, and for those of you holding your breath for an update on Inches...

I haven't been very successful yet. I'm going to start walking on my afternoon break or something just because I'm not loosing anything.

Oh, and I'm also going to stop eating the chocolate chips like my life depends on it.

I think that's my problem. I've been pretty good about portion control but 50 chocolate chips each day (and that's a loooooow estimate) is probably WAY over the suggested serving per person per day... or per week.

*sigh*

Katie is not sick.

That's what she told me yesterday during our bathroom conversation.

I told her that she was sick because her nose was running, her voice sounded funny, and she was coughing lots.

She disagreed.

But she stayed home from Cubbies anyway. Well, that and she didn't want to go to Cubbies. So it was good that she was a little sick so I didn't feel like I had to take her anyway.

She was going to go with Grandma for the first time but maybe next week.

Both kids went to bed and then, at about 1:30 a.m., Jake woke up. I brought him to the living room to rock with him and a few minutes later, out comes Katie. She walks into the living room, announces that she has to go potty and needs help so off we go.

Jake sat on the bathroom rug while I assisted and then we all went to the living room. Did I mention it was 1:30 in the morning???

Katie wanted to watch tv... I told her it was too late for tv and she said she wanted to watch my shows. Still too late. We sat in our chairs and fell asleep. I woke up at 4 a.m. and got everyone to bed and Jake woke up AGAIN at about 4:30 and that's when John took over.

What a night. This is the 3rd night in a row for Katie to have woken up... I hope she gets better soon!

Katie is my "precious daughter"

Me, the kids, and grandma and grandpa went to dinner on Tuesday night. Katie had to go potty not once but TWICE in the hour and a half we were there.

The first time was a quick visit to the bathroom (where she's gotten used to mommy's "don't touch ANYthing in here... no, not even leaning against the wall... no, not even the counter... no, nothing. Because there are germs." Yes, she does wash her hands but I sort of suspend her above the counter... like she's flying. And she's getting heavy at 3 and a half years old!

She's a good listener when it comes to this - and if I see her start to reach for stuff, I just reminder her of the messy house show (how clean is your house) and that usually stops her because... have you seen how icky those houses are before they are cleaned. Very icky. Katie agrees.

We go back to the table, eat dinner, then have to go for our second visit. This was more lengthy. We had time to converse.

Katie: So mommy, how was your day?
Mommy: Good sweetie, how was your day?
Katie: Good.
Mommy: Are you done sweetie?
Katie: No, not yet.
(I probably asked her this 5 times while we were there.)

Katie: Mommy, I Honey's mama, and you my mama, and grandma is my grandma and grandpa is my grandpa.
Mommy: That's right! You're Honey's mama, I'm your mama, Grandma is my mama.
Katie: Mama, Grandma is my grandma and you her daughter and I your precious daughter.

She totally is.