Bubbles, bubbles everywhere...

Let me preface this with saying that I was one of those kids with a neat freak for a mom.  I would leave my clothes on the bathroom floor after I took a shower and magically, they would appear washed and folded in my drawer the next day.  I would leave a cup on the coffee and table and before I even took the first sip, it would be emptied, washed and back in the cabinet.  I never cleaned, did laundry or cooked a meal until I was in college.  Ok, so you're thinking "that's my story too, no big deal, you learn".

While I think I have a lot of things going for me, like, I can play a mean euphonium, make some kickin' sushi and I'm sure some other things I can' think of right now.  I have to admit, housework is not one of them.  Yes, in the last 5 years of home ownership, I have become pretty domesticated.  I can operate a vacuum and was pretty darn excited when I got a Dyson, I now own a swiffer, and motherhood has definitely drop kicked me into discovering ways of cleaning up bodily fluids that I never thought I would.  But, I have my flaws.  I can't keep a flower alive for the life of me, change the oil (or anything else for that matter) in my car and I just recently learned how to operate a lawn mower.  Ok, I know, you are thinking that this isn't unusual for a city girl.

But, people like me do get by in life don't they?  I mean, people eventually tell them how to do things and they become successful.  So, how come no one ever mentioned to me that using gel dish detergent in a dish washing maching was a no-no??

Who needs sleep?

One of the biggest battles here in the Tessier household is bed-time.  I'm sure you all know the drill as it's sure the be the same at your house..."One more Dora?"  "I need some milk first."  "I'm not tired, we need to do this 500 piece puzzle just three more times before I can go to bed."  This is exceptionally tough on grammy, because she just can't figure out those darn puzzles!  The "Elmo loves Nathan" puzzle is especially had for her, all 16 pieces really throw her for a loop every time.  Anyway, this will go on until he finally can't keep his eyes open any longer and he loses the fight with the sleep monster.  We usually find him laying on the floor of the living room zonked out.  Every morning I'm sure he wonders "how the heck did I get into my fire truck bed this morning?".  

Well, as much as this post is a plea for help, it's also to point out that hours of trying to get him into his room can be saved by simply going for a walk.  It never fails, except for the fact that he never stays asleep when we try to move him into the house.  The other problem is that every time we go for a walk, we have to make a deal.   Me: "Nathan, let's go for a walk."   Nathan: "I don't want to sit in the stroller." Me: "Nathan, You sit in the stroller and we can go to the park."  Nathan: "OK, Mommy"  Because there is no way he's going to allow himself to be strapped into

 that seat for 15 minutes without getting something out of it. Anyway, by the time we get to park, I look down to see that he's asleep!  So, I take the long route home to try to get some much needed exercise and pull into the driveway just in time for him to open his eyes, take a look around and yell "Hey! This isn't the park!"

Heads are Overrated...

I don't have much to say about this, however, I'm just concerned that we are sending out the wrong message with these mannequins.... I mean, why can't they have heads?  It is because you are supposed picture yourself in said apparel?  I'm not really sure, but, what I do know is that it's creepier than all heck to walk through Younkers with these head-less creatures all around you that I'm too fixated on the fact that they have no heads to actually look at their clothes.  I mean, look at the kid mannequin!  What head-less 4 year old have you ever met that has gangly arms and size 1 feet.  Creepy I tell you.

Next on the agenda...Our BINGO habit.  Josh and I are self-proclaimed "Old People"  Our idea of fun is going on a cruise and playing a good game of BINGO.  Seriously, I don't how old people can handle the action.  The adrenaline rush you get when you are one number away from BINGO and all you need is O-75 and the caller calls 0-72 is like none other.  Just ask the old lady at the table next to us last weekend at our Sunday afternoon bingo session.  She was onl

y playing 42 cards at a time that day, I kid you not.  I managed to snap this shot of her set-up while she was up getting a hershey bar.  These people are out of control.  Maybe we go for the people-watching just as much as we're hoping to win big bucks.  I really thought a couple of times that this lady was going to strangle "Frank" the BINGO caller if he didn't call G-54 one game.  I know this because after every number called she thought it would be appropriate to tell the other woman sitting next to her every number she still needed on every card, just incase she was wondering.  At least she doesn't have 500 trolls sitting across her table for luck, because she obviously thought the numbers were in the hands of Frank because she obsessively, after every number he called told Frank she was going to kill him if he didn't call the number she needed next.

Who needs Disney World when you can go to Target...

Every 2 1/2 year olds favorite past time is to go to Target right?  I mean, spending $108.00 to finally win a toy worth $0.38 at Chuck E Cheeses is lame compared to all the fun to be had riding in a big red shopping cart.  

Today, we had the world at our feet.  So many things to do in town with no plans to hold us back.  We asked Nathan when he woke up what he wanted to do today.  The Zoo? The Science Center? An Art Festival?  No....He instantly replied "I want to go to Target".  He must have been dreaming about it!

So, off we went to Target.  You should have seen his face light up as we turned the corner.  It was like we were at Disney World.  He actually made up his own "We're going to  Target" song to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  It's amazing. You should hear it.

The wind was blowing through his hair as we zipped up and and down the isles.  He giggled and yelled "weeeee" while I picked up packages of meat over and over as they fell out of the top part of the cart since any groceries in Nathan's part of the cart would cramp his style.  

We spotted the free sample lady and noticed it was the last sample on the table.  I knew I'd really have to act interested in bear-shaped cheese crackers to get the sample and get away from the table as fast as possible.  I think that's the worst part about free samples, you feel obligated to pick up the box of whatever it is they are trying to sell you, pretend to be amazed at the low calorie content, take a coupon that you don't intend to use and act like you are on your way to grab a box of said food item only to then duck down the canned food isle when she is talking to the next victim to avoid a dirty look from the sample lady.  Too much work for a free sample in my opinion.  Aside from that, today's outing was pure bliss...

Anyway,  I realized today that I don't need to spend money on expensive trips to amusement parks, or buy my kid lots of toys to make him happy.  All we have to do is take a trip down the street to Target....Where they have more red shopping carts than your heart would ever desire, free day old cookies for kids, the occasional run-in with a friend and people-watching galore.  

Apparently, Dreams really do come

 true.

"Mommy, I want a chocolate chip pancake"

<- Exibit "A": Nathan's latest pre-school creation. It seems to be a kite with streamers and shapes glued on.  Nathan definitely held the glue in his hands for about 13 seconds while telling the teacher "I do it" before he gave up to run off and play with cars.  At which time the teacher had to figure out how to make it look like he actually helped by gluing on the shapes a bit crooked.  They like us to be impressed, but not too impressed, or we would think he didn't make it.  Sine the refrigerator is already full with Nathan creations, I thought a we could start decorating the bedrooms.  Anyway, back to exibit "A" later. 

Fast forward to 2:57am this morning.  I had been soundly sleeping for at least 15 minutes since the last time Josh's snoring woke me up and I had to elbow him in the ribs to wake him up so he would stop and I could fall asleep again.  When all of a sudden the noise of his pager vibrating on the wooden night stand and then ridiculous beeping make us both jump.  He knows one of his patients is due, but seems shocked anyway, maybe because it was only 3:00am.  Luckily, she is only 1 cm dilated, so I figure we have plenty of time to sleep before he has to go in.  Wrong....3:37am, the pager.....yes again.  This patient has gone from 1 cm to 5 cms in less than an hour!  Who does that??? This woman must be some super baby-spitting-out robot or something...or maybe she has just had 14 children already.  Non-the-less, Doctor Josh is on his way in. 

Now, you think this wouldn't affect me too much, except for the fact that the brilliant people who designed this house, put the two other bedrooms directly over the garage.  (I know we are brilliant to purchase said house)  At any rate, I know the sound of the garage door is going to wake up Nathan.  So as Josh opens the garage door I lay there as still as I can, because for some reason I think that If I'M quiet enough, the door won't wake up Nathan.

It's 4:00am and I think we're home free!  Nathan slept through the crazy pager, Josh tripping over the night stand and screaming some profanity as he bumped his knee, and the garage door. I also managed to keep the dog quiet though the whole thing.  A feat since when one of us leaves, he obviously doesn't realize that one of us just left, so he starts barking to welcome us home.  Nice!  I have 2 more hours of sleep!  Oh, and the heat is coming on, great, I'll be nice and cozy until Nathan comes in at 6:00am climbs into bed and kicks me in the head a few times until I get up to make him a chocolate chip pancake.

Uh oh, what's that noise??  Something tumbling around in Nathan's room.  It sounds kind of like paper dragging across the wall.  Wait, it is paper dragging across the wall!  It's exibit "A"!  Super smart Mommy hung the kite over the heat vent and the heat that just came on is making the kite dance, and loud enough that Nathan is sure to wake up.  CRAP!  He's up.  It's all over. Three kicks in the head and I hear "Mommy, I want a chocolate chip pancake".  It's only 4:15am.

6:00am Fun!

It's 6:00. "Mommy, I have poop in my diaper!" Ahhh...the sweet constant reminders that the job of Mom never ends.  "Sheryl help me, Nathan won't put a diaper on and he's peeing on the towel".  Thanks, Daddy, just what I wanted to hear on my day of relaxation!  Well, we are only 3 hours into the day and it's already been a long one!  More time to enjoy Mother's Day, I guess!  Happy Mother's to each and every Mother out there.  I feel your pain!

Happy Mother's Day, Nathan!

So, for the past two weeks Nathan's pre-school class has been diligently working on extra special Mother's Day Gifts for their respective moms.  Tuesday, they were instructed to take these beautifully decorated (with some help from the teachers of course) boxes with their gifts home to Mom, but not to let their mom's open them until Mother's Day.  Now, Mother's day happens to fall on May 9th this year.  Well, maybe Nathan got his holidays mixed up and got Cinco de Mayo confused with Mother's Day, because we got home from out park play date, saw the box on the counter and demanded we open the box immediately.  Reminding him of his teacher's instructions did no good.  Before he ripped into it, I asked him if he knew what was in the box.....he replied "a present for Nathan".  There was no going back, the box was open in a matter of seconds, the magnets were on the fridge and we was demanding he stand there with "HIS new Nathan magnets" and say cheese...Happy Mother's Day!

Tushies Tushies Everywhere

So, each evening Nathan chooses a few books for story-time before night-night.  Normally we read books like, "Good Night Moon", "The Pokey Little Puppy", etc.  Tonight's choices were...."The Tooshy Book" (Thanks Auntie Stacey) and "Bible Promises for Mom".  In the interest of not discouraging Nathan from exploring his religion or making choices in general, we went with it.

We started out with the Tooshy book.  Pretty funny stuff.  "Every Tooshy's in the back", "Every Tooshy has a crack!" Those are actual lines from the book, I kid you not.  

After reading the book, I asked Nathan where his tooshy was.  He replied "Im my toy room".  I think we need to read it few more times.

As for the bible promises, after an hour or so, he got a little lost in the Psalms so we ended for the evening, but, it was his choice, so we'll be back to it tomorrow night.

Last night, Daddy was still working, so it was another fun Mommy and Nathan night.  So I felt a good past-time would be to let Nathan make some play dough creations.  Little did I know he would be putting my skills to the test.  His first request was that I make him a snake (remember he likes to build things that look like snakes so he can later pretend they are eating mommy).  I felt like a champ when I made the most perfect white snake ever.  He decided to up the ante and see if I could pull through with a frog.  It was a little more challenging, but,

he was psyched when the little green amphibian was looking at him 5 minutes later.  Now, as he asked me to make the car, I could see him starting to mock me.  It resembled a car, but, he didn't think it was good enough. "It needs more windows, mommy".  This wasn't going so well anymore.  He was finally satisfied with the warped car.  But, then he

 pulled out the big guns.  I want a castle mommy!"  I told him I didn't think I could, but he insisted I try.  Well, really, he yelled at me and threw the snake at me to remind me of the wrath of the snake and I got molding.  Lucky for me by the time I got the play dough out for the castle, he decided cutting each finely molded animal and car into a zillion pieces with a butter knife would be more fun.

On to bath time...

Nathan likes to draw wonderful tub-side art.  But, most of the time, he asks us to identify what the drawing is.  Kind of like a test.  This time was no different.  "Mommy, what is this a "tit-ure" of? (picture in Nathan language)".

Now, look closely at red scribble-like image at the top left hand corner of the bath tub.  Do you know what that is supposed to be a tit-ure of?  Well, I

 sure don't.

After guessing that is was Daddy, Mommy, a cow or a snake, he finally gave in and told me what it was supposed to be.  Apparently, it's supposed to be a horsey.  I guess I need to start wearing my glasses more often.

This weekend's excitement!

Well, the Doc has a busy work weekend, so Nathan and I have been keeping ourselves busy.  

First we spent countless hours of our Friday evening lining up blocks.  Nathan insisted that this creation "looked like a snake".  He then continued to hiss at me and then tell me that the snake was going to get me.  Yeah, that kinda haunted my dreams.

Today, we went to (aka: ate our way through) the farmers market.  That was a fun time, especially when Nathan did his "special dance" (I'll post a video of that sometime soon) for the crowd.  

We also visited Daddy at work today.  The rid

e there uneventful, except for the interesting license plate we came across.....

Now, while I totally appreciate an expression of FAITH. I have yet to figure out what FATH is....Are you Fathful?  I'm going to have to check on my fath supply and get bak to you on that.  I think maybe if the DMV had already used the "special plate" you wanted, or there are simply not enough letters, then maybe just skip it?

Ok, lastly.  Nathan thought it would be great to throw his oh-so-special "comfy bear" (that's what he calls it, I'm not sure why, but he also calls his sneakers his "cool shoes"), but, anywho, he threw the bear in Grammy's tomato sauce.  SO that lead to 30 minutes of watching bear spin around the the washing machine.....

While not very exciting for the average person, it allowed me 30 minutes of coveted facebook time.  

Well, thanks for reading.  That was the weekend events so far, it's only Saturday might I add.  We are going to attempt the Circus tomorrow.  Yeah, I'm sure that will go well...

Nathan is watching his 3rd "last Mickey" before night-night.  I really hope 3 is a charm tonight.

Why am I blogging?

So, here I am, on May Day writing my first blog.  A good day for new beginnings.....I guess.  I figured it was about time since the Doc has started blogging about his side of the story.  I haven't yet decided if I am going to go the route of trying to be witty or just tell the stories as they come, but, either way I'm sure there will be some humor.  Most of the time humor is at my expense, so maybe there will be more crying.  Anyway......A friend mentioned that I should be writing down all of these moments so that I won't forget them.  Well, as Nathan is yelling at Mickey Mouse on the TV in his loudest voice to STOP doing the "hot dog dance", I guess I thought it would be a good time.