Monroe Parenting

Since the kids are getting bigger and growing out of their baby items, such as the crib and changing table (more on that later), we went to Ikea to find a bathroom cabinet to store all the kids’ stuff out of sight and off the floor. Now the good thing about Ikea is that they have nice-looking items for really cheap — we found just what we were looking for for $50. The bad news is that all the parts and pieces are sold separately in a warehouse format, so finding what you’re looking for can be difficult.

We finally located the box that had the door to the cabinet, and then we found the box that had the walls. After much walking up and down the aisle and rechecking the computer, we even found the bag with the hinges in it. Thinking we were good to go, we headed home where Dave started to assemble the cabinet, much to my delight. Well, that is, until we hit a snag. Not only was there no knob for the door, but there was nothing included to hang the cabinet on the wall.

So we need to head to Lowe’s this afternoon, which I suppose is just as well considering there’s no shelves inside the cabinet either!!!

We’re trying to teach Keegan everyone’s name and he is starting to identify certain names with specific people (such as Daddy, Mommy and “Sissy” for Caitlyn). But when we were at my mom’s and asked him, “Keegan, where’s Grandma?” he looked around for a minute and then got all excited.

He pointed at my mom and yelled “MINE!” before launching himself into her arms. LOL I guess he doesn’t need anymore practice with that one!

I blogged Wednesday about desperately needing a nap, and by some twist of fate I actually got one! I picked up the kids from my mom’s and by the time I got home around 2 Keegan was passed out like a stuffed pig, lol. I got him into his toddler bed and there he stayed for THREE HOURS! I then popped in a video in my room and Caitlyn ended up cuddling up next to me on the bed and also going to sleep for about 2 1/2 hours…..which means that I got in at least a 2 hour nap!

I honestly can’t tell you the last time that happened because usually if one kid goes to sleep then the other is wide awake. It was wonderful getting to snooze but it is rather disconcerting to close your eyes when the sun is still streaming into your bedroom and then wake up a few hours later in the pitch black (and it was only 5:30!).

Caitlyn has a whole menagerie of stuffed friends, but her absolute favorite most prized ’stuffy’ is a pink panda bear named Pand. Pand goes everywhere with Caitlyn — the grocery store, church, the park, playdates. She will even bring it in the bathroom with her and set it on the stepstool while she showers.

So last Friday night, Caitlyn, Pand and I went shopping. I distinctly remember Pand sitting on the seat part of the grocery cart at Meijer and also getting buckled into the stroller at Kohls. But when Sunday rolled around and we were getting ready to go out to dinner, we realized we couldn’t find Pand. We even enlisted our friends who were visiting at the time to ransack the upstairs to see if they could find it. No such luck. We coaxed Caitlyn into taking a stuffed unicorn instead and set off. It was on the way home from the Olive Garden that I started thinking that perhaps we left Pand at a store.

It was Wednesday morning before I could make the round of calls to the lost and found departments of every store we visited that night and the news was grim — No Pand. I went outside to once again toss all the contents of my Escape to see if perhaps it was misplaced under a seat or blanket — Still no Pand.

At this point I was thinking, “Oh dear Lord! What do I do?!” It wasn’t like I could just run out and buy a new one and tell Caitlyn that we had just sent Pand away for cleaning (although the thought DID cross my mind!). We had bought the bear for her at Zender’s Splash Village in Frankemuth during a family vacation, and before that I had never seen another pink panda bear. I searched the Web looking to see if I could locate a replacement but there wasn’t even anything close.

Finally, exhausted from searching and having no luck, I went home. When I got upstairs, I leaned over to let the dog out of his crate and that’s when I saw the flash of pink fur out of the corner of my eye. PAND!!!!! Somehow, Pand had gotten knocked down between the kitchen island and the dog’s crate and was underneath a roll of wrapping paper. But at least now the crisis has been averted!! (Until the next time she loses it somewhere…..)

Merry (belated) Christmas! I hope everyone got what they wanted for the holidays! Personally, what I could use most right about now is a nap. In the past 2 days I’ve probably gotten a little more than 7 hours of sleep. …

We spent Christmas Eve with Dave’s family and then attended midnight Mass at St. Mary’s in Monroe. The kids pretty much slept through the whole service, but because we didn’t get home until after 1, “Santa” didn’t finish his delivery at our house until after 2 a.m. And then Caitlyn woke up right away in the morning to see if Santa had eaten the cookies she left out. (At the last minute, all I could find were some Hershey cookies in the cupboard and Caitlyn also left a cup of water to go with it.) Santa left her a cheery “Ho! Ho! Ho!” greeting in response to her letter:

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas! I hope you like the cookies I left from me, Caitlyn. Leave something for me, Caitlyn. Leave something for Keegan, too. That will be wonderful. That’s it.

Love,

Caitlyn

Both kids eyes lit up when we took them downstairs and they saw what Santa had left. Keegan couldn’t wait to get out of Dave’s arms and tackle his new firetruck toddler bed. I believe he said “Oooooooooooh! Oh wow!”

The Pat Pat Rockets were the favorite gift of the day with both kids. In fact, they had to take them to Grandma’s house this morning so they could play with them some more.

The other gift that went over extremely well was a Dr. Seuss ABC’s computer game that Dave got for Caitlyn at the Apple store. Once he showed her how it worked, she went on to play with it by herself for more than an hour! I asked her if she knew what she was doing before we went into their room to assemble the new beds and she said, “Duh, mom. All you have to do is click on this button with the little mouse!” Well! I didn’t realize she was that computer savvy at three years old!

We spent Christmas Day at my parents’ house, where the kids picked up their new bikes and a ton of other holiday treats. By the time we got back home and the day was over, we just popped in a new DVD and the kids dropped like flies. Thank goodness they got a massive selection of new movies to choose from, because I think that’s the only way I’ll be getting a nap this afternoon!

If anyone is still looking for a Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket, the online Target store has some available again. Also, their Web site is showing that numerous stores in the area have some in stock, including the Target on Carpenter Rd. in Ypsilanti and some stores in Toledo. (The Monroe store is out of stock.)

Happy shopping!

Last night, Caitlyn participated in her very first Christmas service at church. We worked on her song, “Mary Had a Baby” for weeks, so she could learn all the words. But when the big moment came, she preferred to shout the song because her teacher told her to “sing loud so everyone can hear.” LOL

And yes, I was one of those weepy mothers hanging out the side of one of the front pews with my camera sticking out as I watched my baby up there “singing.” Even though it was horribly off-key and some of the kids were twirling and looking at the ceiling, I still thought it was the best performance I’ve ever seen! Even Keegan clapped as hard as he could and yelled “Yea!!!!!” when it was over. (Although whether that was because he was happy to have Caitlyn sitting next to him or he was just glad the singing stopped I’ll never know!)

With the arrival of Christmas getting closer, I decided to clean out the kids’ room of all the extra clutter. Toys that no longer get played with went into a bag to take elsewhere; stuffed animals were separated into 3 piles  — keep, closet and donation, and clothing that no longer fit went into a box to go to the garage. But as I got ready to take the box down I paused for a second — Did I really want to add more clutter to an already packed garage?? We’ve got clothing boxes and bags up the ying-yang in our garage just sitting there waiting. Waiting for someone to need them or for myself to get up the gumption to have a garage sale.

In my head, I said ‘Enough is enough.’ I remember reading in the Monroe on a Budget blog about Once Upon a Child in Monroe buying gently used kids items, so I gave them a call and loaded up my car. When all was said and done, they had purchased the vast majority of winter clothing I brought in, my pack-and-play, a Little Tikes rocking horse and my LeapFrog Learning Table.

For a few hour’s worth of cleaning out a corner of the garage, I made about $70. Just about enough to pay for two of my college textbooks.

I have heard it said that rubbing the bottom of your feet with Vicks Vaporub and then putting on a pair of socks will help if you’re congested with a cold. Since I was feeling miserable and stuffy Monday night, I thought I would give it a try and here’s what I discovered: Oh yes, it DOES work. It most definitely distracts you away from the misery of a cold because you’re too busy concentrating on the excruciating pain shooting through your feet!!!

I used the greaseless version of the Vicks and slathered up the bottoms of my feet. Since I couldn’t smell anything, I wasn’t sure if it was working or not, so I proceeded to pull on my socks and wait. Well, this version of Vicks is also recommended for use on sore muscles, something I wasn’t paying attention to when I used it. It basically worked the same way as BenGay or IcyHot.

About 3 minutes after I put it on, I felt like my feet were being stabbed by a million sharp icicles. It was worse than the pins and needles you get after your feet fall asleep!! It was horrible, and just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore my feet finally started to warm up. I started thinking, “Ah, now this feels nice!” That pleasant feeling only lasted a few seconds before it felt like my feet were about to be burned off. I seriously wanted to rip the socks off and dip my feet in a tub of water! Eventually, that feeling, too, passed and I was just left feeling exhausted. I still couldn’t smell the Vicks, but I was just happy that my feet were no longer being assaulted.

So, I guess if you have a cold you just need to ask yourself how far you’re willing to go to forget about it for awhile. If you’re looking for a distraction, then Vicks on your feet is the answer!

I don’t think I’ve looked forward to Christmas break so much since high school! I had my last final exam this morning and now I can actually kick back and relax for the next two weeks. … Well, okay, that’s not totally true — I already started doing some prep work for one of my classes for next semester since I had the same professor this semester and know what to expect.

So now that the semester is over, I can say that this is the first time I’ve ever gotten a 4.0 in college. Although I suppose I had really good incentive — anything less than a B is considered failing in the master’s program! Yup, that’ll do it right there!