Mama Mia Chronicles

I get a call from the school nurse this morning, the kids JUST got to school. Let me give you some background on our mornings event.

I was taking the kids to the bus stop and as we walk down the stairs the cat (MIL'S) was back towards us so when I looked or shall I say we all looked and the cat had a chipmunk in his mouth just head and arms the back side was still out and VERY much fighting for it's life! So I put H down and start to kick and swat at the cat to let the thing go and the darn cat ran under the deck. SOOO E is white and is just horrified and speachless, P is saying OHHH the poor chipmunk and H is still walking towards the bus stop all of a sudden E is sobbing so hard. I'm trying to explain basically as said on nemo , "fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat" (but did not use that metaphor) so she is crying on and off, she tells me that it's just aweful. The bus comes she seemed fine.

Well I just got a call that she is crying and they wanted to let me know and all they can get out of her is the cat ate her pet chipmunk, it is not her pet by any means but she is the "animal fairy" so all the animals are her pet and she loves them lol. So I tell the nurse the story and she is like oh I see and is trying to be very serious so she asked if she can speak to her about how animals need to eat smaller ones sometime to survive ect so I'm like sure. So she tells me she will call if she can't get her to settle down. fine. I just knew this was going to ruin her day she is such a animal lover and I hated that they had to see it but really it is part of life.

DD

PS- she said we feed Smokey why does he need to eat other animals lol. She is way to young to understand instinct.

We had such a great time! I really honestly couldn't had a better time. Ms. D already gave a pretty accurate run down of the days events so I'll just add a few more.

Okay I'm a nervous nelly and while my 2 dear friends are much more relaxed well okay the husbands too I'm like this high strung keep the kids in eye site at all time which was hard to do and honestly exhausting but it we managed to do it and all the kids where sent home with the right parents;). I will say that my guys where sad to leave their friends but I did get a THANK YOU MOMMY for letting us see our friends today, needless to say they miss you all dearly:(.

I'm not a germaphobic by any means but like Ms. D had already said the kids where touching everything they could get thier grubby little hands on. Oh my goodness it was driving me mad and D I had to LOL with " I was starting to dream about decontamination rooms" b/c I was thinking something very similar and when they got some good hot baths when we got home! Okay the next morning b/c we didn't get home till 2am.

By the end of the night the kids where done as where the parents. Poor Buffy did have a sore foot but she was such a trooper and just hobbled along with us not even complaining though deep down she was just screaming LETS GO HOME!!! Weren't you Buffy. You're such a trooper and thanks for taking one for the team/group. I hope your foot is feeling better now FYI.

As for the diner that we ate at I wasn't overly excited about it and it wasn't that good to be honest or at least I didn't think so and neither did Stud. Over priced which was b/c of location and the food was ahh. The service was "okay" too though Buffy you may have gotten better service b/c of your little flirting boy. OHHHH and I was so put off with the waitress telling your kids to sssshhhhh. She said it twice, if she had said it again I was going to say something. First, it's a friggin diner not a high class resturant it was late and the boy who was squealing isn't even friggin 2 yet! Okay she pissed me off big time to say the least.

Lunch the sandwich I had was okay though I did hear a few say sthe sauce was to sweet I don't like pizza and hardly ever eat it so I can't comment on it but if we weren't so darn rushed it would have been better. I hate being rushed and to add to it my darling Stud of a husband lost our tickets to Statue so he was stressing to find a computer and of course I'm stressing too b/c I know he is stressing. See I have to worry about everyone else as oppose to just worrying about me. So what if we couldn't get on the ferry, yes it would have sucked but I'm fairly certain life would go on but I also know that my Stud would have been grouchy over it.

I will say going to ground zero had me choked up. I wish we had gone during the day so I could put my sunglasses on. I had a huge lump in my throat and if I really thought to much at the site I would have been a sobbing mess and I didnt' want my kids to see that and honestly I didn't want anyone to see it lol. I'm not a big public crier (I'm a big crier:) and being there and thinking would have sent me over the edge. So I said my prayers in my head for the victims and thier families. Then concentrated on the kids again lol. It really made my heart happy to pay respect to ground zero it's something I've wanted to do for a long time and i'm glad I was able to make it there before we move.

We all had a fun filled day and it is something I will always remember. Oh and I enjoyed the mama mia moment and me singing Laura Burkner song that damn Victor Vito... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQVNX4L2aRo

Domestic Diva

PS- if I can figure out the picture I'll post one of those too.

Just to show how fun it was, I had to post this pic of my firstborn.

Ms D.

We had such a lovely time in NYC. I am beside myself that I got to experience it, and with my dearest friends to boot. You can't get much better than that.

I do wish to remember this trip, so bear with me for trying to write down as many details as I can remember, and please ladies feel free to fill in if I have forgotten or missed something.

I have had but a few days to plane this trip, so I was very stressed out and just plane confused in the days coming up to the trip. Of course, the fact that I had two journals due had nothing to do with that:-).
Anyway, my first obstacle in planing this trip has been finding a place where to stay. I was just appalled to see the prices of hotels, and once I tried to find a privet apartment I was faced with lots and lots of rejections. I have been rejected so many times that it was starting to affect my self esteem :-). The reasons for rejections were primarily that "they were full", but also everyone got cold feet when they learned that I only needed to rent for two nights. Apparently, they don't do that in New York. Aside from being said "no", I was even more annoyed by the people who did not even care enough to send me a "no". I have not received response from 3-4 people, and there were only 2 who actually gave me some direction after telling me that "they were full".
So, all depressed and feeling like a worm, I tell my husband to find a place. So he calls this hotel in New Jersey, and they have opening and price is in our range, and if we want to reserve via email or phone. That was IT!
Next thing I do is write my journals the last possible moment and we are off. Wait, that would be too easy.
My husband comes home early and we decide to run a few errands. We don't leave this place until six o'clock and takes us 4.5 hours to get there. Next little surprise for me was the amount of tolls you need to pay on the way there. I've never done this before so dishing out close to $20 just for tolls was a surprise. On a way there, my freshly potty trained child refuses to ware diaper, and he happens to have this frantic fear of public rest rooms. Things could not have gotten any more interesting. So here I am trying to get the poor thing to go, I even offer to take him to go "pee a tree", but he refuses because it is dark and he is "scares". So I put diaper on him, but he does not want to pee in his diaper so he is scream "help me, go home potty", and this is just breaking my heart. We finally make it to the hotel and we have this lovely room with two queen size beds, and my baby finally gets to go!

The next morning we get up at 6 am to get ready and go into our adventure.

First we need to figure out bus and subway system to get to Ms Buffy's apartment. This of course entails its share of drama, but we finally manage to get somewhere and for the best of us we can't figure out how to find this apartment. We are on 56th street but according to MS B's dear husband, who happens to answer the phone, we have gone too far. I was like, please, just don't make me go back. I'll just stay here at the Trump tower and you all just go and do your thing. So I ignore what he told me, and I go the other way and you know it there is Mr Buffy coming towards us. He was gonna send us the wrong way, and I was gonna step on his foot right there and then, but I had to sustain myself, Buffy will need someone to haul kids around.

When we got to the apartment, Mr Buffy made me a cup of coffee and all was well with the world again.

Then we got joined by DD and her clan, and off we were to the Empire State Building. First we had to take subway, and our kids just had to touch every trash can on the way there, I was starting to dream about decontamination rooms and such. The only thing that gave me some hope was that little bottle of hand antibacterial cleaner strapped to my purse. I'm not going anywhere without that thing ever again.

So, here we are at the ESB. Security is kind of crazy and they just make you go in line and off you are through the mase. And we went, and then some more, and at this point nausea sets in, and then we got to the elevators.
The thing catapults us to the 80th floor, and DD and Buffy talk about what if it opens and shoots us into space type of things. At the 80th floor we have to go to another elevator to the 86th floor observatory. So we get there and we have magnificent view of everything New York. That view just makes you feel really, really small, and that you can fall down really, really hard. It took us about and hour and a half just to get to see that view, but it was worth every second of it. It just gave me an incredible feeling that I can touch that plane flying above us:-).

After ESB we are off to eat something and then go to Liberty Island. We find some pizza place (anyone knows what was it called?), and we have pizza, and after that no one can imagine eating pizza for few weeks. Except, now we have to get onto boat that is rocking quit a bit, and you can just feel that pizza rocking inside you.

I forgot to mention that the day was beautiful and we couldn't ask for better weather that day. So, we wait in line, get on the boat, and off we are to see Lady Liberty. She looks magnificent from the water and so does NY skyline. This is the point where we take a gazillion pictures and try to prevent children from jumping into the water. Once we get to the Island we stroll around a bit. Mr Buffy gets a present from pigeons (that is for that phone call earlier in the day), and we also get to witness Ms Buffy herself running after her little one. I took a picture but it is all just a blur, she was running THAT fast. Then we take some more pictures and kids play some more. Then Buffy and DD's families go to see the inside of the monument, and my boys and I go to chill and have some ice cream, because we didn't get to buy thickets on time. We also needed to chill for a bit, lots of walking wares you down. Not to mention that I had to carry my kid for the most part as well.

After our visit to Liberty Island we gut suckered down by street vendors and I had my kid's names written out in animalese and DD had her family's last name done as well. I am glad we did it, but carrying that thing around was not very cool. Buffy decided to remain the cool one of the bunch and not do it, and her foot hurt. Now I just throw that in, didn't I.

So off we went to see sight of World Trade Center. Now, there is something about that place I just couldn't put my finger on. Maybe it was the dusk that did it, but there was some leeriness in the air. We couldn't see much except the empty space, but I know it gave me the whole new perspective on the size of the event. I think that everyone should see this place, just to realize how horrific it really is, and it puts things into perspective.

After visit to WTC we were ready to call it a day, but we had to eat something, so we went to Madison Square and saw it from distance and found a little diner (can anyone remember the name of it?). My little one fell asleep in there, so I had to carry him to the subway and buss and all the way to the hotel. My older baby was tired too, and he fell asleep in the buss. My husband almost fell asleep, too, and I had to nudge him a few times. I needed someone to carry some stuff.

We came to the hotel room so tired and exhausted and HAPPY! It was a really nice day. We got to see most of the things we planed to see, and it was really fun. And my baby got over his fear of public restrooms.

Ms D.

We had such a great time in the Big Apple, that I felt inspired to post a picture...drum roll please...Here is my family *gasp*

After a crazy, fun weekend with the ladies and their families (thank you again, Ms D & DD), we were driving home and it was kinda late...the kids were definately sleepy, and my oldest was eyeing her brothers' blankey...she finally works up the nerve to ask hime to share. Now please remember that he is just shy of 2, so sharing is not exactly in his repetoire just yet...anyhow, I hear her ask...and he ignores the request. So she asks again. Same deal. Finally she raises her voice at him and asks him if she can PLEEEASE have a turn with his blankey...I then hear a moment of silence followed by...wait for it...and extra loud fake snoring sound!:-) Isn't that the darndest thing?

So you remember me complaining about potty training my little girl (she's just a little over 2) and how I wanted to wait but she had other plans? Well i'm thrilled to report that potty training is going beautifully. She had one accident in the last 3 days and that was b/c my other child was using the bathroom and we only have one bathroom (yes gasp it's crazy) anyway she cried when she peed her pants but it wasn't her fault. So this morning she woke up at 6:30 to go potty and her pull up was DRY!!!!! I was so excited. So we are well on our way to no more diapers in my house and sadly in my life well till my kids MANY years from now have children of their own. I'm so proud of her and happy that I haven't recieved any more gray hair do to the whole potty training stress.

I'm also very, very excited for this weekend. We are going to the NYC with my stud (remember that is my husband) and friends of ours that would be Buffy and HOPEFULLY Ms. D (no pressure D:). I had a dream last night about it and I was stuck in Brooklyn and that was not where I wanted to be but I couldn't get out of there. I think the dream is from us going there and a book I'm reading where a girl is stuck in Brooklyn but I find it funny that I'm dreaming about it.

I'm joining a gym YET again. I was doing sooooo good the last time I joined a gym and I'm hoping I will do good this time around too. I know I will b/c I have it in me that I will and as we all know will power is what is the key in any success or failure, I choose to successed.

Okay well that is it from my part of the world. Hope my peeps are doing well.

Domestic Diva

Figuring definition for progress is proving to be more difficult than I could ever imagine. After quiet a bit of thinking and amazing breakthrough of my baby, I have come up with my own definition of progress. Here goes it:
This is my baby last July:



And this is my baby yesterday:



Accident free for second day in the row! Now, progress really makes mama proud!

Ms D.

OK Ms DD...

Your husband cracks me up all the time...but I think you know this, right?! Well, yesterday he comes to me all formal like, and says, "If you and Mr B want to go out on the weekend, I would be happy to watch the kids...after they go to bed." I was sort of speechless, momentarily, and I think he took this to mean that I was offended with the whole "after they go to bed" thing, 'cause then he launched into an explanation that involved "girl parts", and his own vs ours etc. I know... he is FUNNY! Anyhow, just wanted to let you know....not that you didn't already have an inkling, mind you...Lol....your husband is a sweetheart.

B.

I love Regency romances. One of their characteristics is that they have these mamas who want to get their sons and daughters married, and the latter ones just cringe every time they come across one of these marriage hungry mamas. One reason I like these is because I can sit back and laugh at them, because, you know, things are so different now. Right?

Anyway, this morning I got an email from my sister who still lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). She started off by asking me to write to her about my life because her life is so terrible and she needs cheering up! Then she proceeds to tell me how she would like nothing better than to go to some deserted Island where no one can find her. To anyone who knows my 19 yo sister first thing that would come to mind is boy troubles. Soon after her first email there was another one from her just saying in one sentece that mom wants me to call her. Oh boy, now I know defientley that there are boy troubles. Even worse, mom and boy troubles. Still ever hopefull, I call mom hoping it is just the fact that she misses me so much and wants to hear the sound of my voice (mind you we did talk on Monday, but still), and she answers the phone, and starts talking about this one guy that was coming home with my sis, and it turns out she was inviting him and what not. Then she tells me that my sis is in a bathroom and will come out any second and to call her tomorrow so she can talk in peace about all the troubles my sis has put her through. Sigh!

Deja vu! This has happened so many times I'm starting to know it word by word. You see, what happened is that she got upset with my sister over the guy. She wants her to find an appropriate match, and this boy must be lacking on the "appropriate" front. My sister will feel like mom is telling her what to do. Than she will go into lonely spell where she complains that she doesn't have any friends, and that is because none of them are to my mom's liking. My mom lives strictly by that saying "you are who you hang around with" or something like that. She has done the same thing to my brother! How did I get lucky to avoid that? Now that I think about it, I didn't. I just married someone to my mom's liking! Now, I did get lucky.

So, I tell you, those regency mamas have nothing on my mom! Lord help us all!

Ms D.

I knew there was some news I wanted to share! My little sister and her hubby are expecting their first child in May!!!! She is very early on and like the rest of us get pregnant the first time she tries:). We have some good baby making genes I guess. We are interested to see if she is having 1 or 2! Twins run in our family, I'm a twin and she is a twin so ifs she's lucky maybe she'll get 2 for the price of one and then I'd be oh so jealous, I always wanted twins.

This makes my 11th niece or nephew and my parents 14th grandchild. This is my sis' hubby's parents first grandchild. My parents are going to have more before all is said and done b/c my little brother (my sis's twin brother) isn't married yet but he plans on having children one day so our family is going to grow by leaps and bounds.

Anyway, that is my very exciting news.

Domestic Diva

So last Thursday was the first day of school for my little ones. P has started first grade and my little E has started Kindergarten. It was an emotional week for me b/c I just hate sending off my kids but then I don't have the patiences enough to home school so off they go on the big, big yellow school bus into the big, big school:(. Today is the first full day of school for them so I have only my little miss H till 3pm.

So some may wonder wow are you going to be bored? What are you going to do with yourself now that it's just you and H? Well let me tell you what I have planned this week.

POTTY TRAINING! I hate potty training and it has never been hard for my kids or for me but it's the constant nagging of the kids, i.e do you have to go pee pee? Do you have to go potty? Where do you go pee pee? Where do you go poo poo? Watching them a hawk so if need be you can wisk them up and run to the bathroom or bring them every so often and then of course you have to make sure they are drinking tons so that they get the urge to pee a lot. Now here I am complaining when I just stated that we've never had issues pting but it's draining.

It was MY intentions to potty train little miss H when we moved to Malaysia but she had/has other plans. She just turned 2 at the very end of June and has been going pee on the potty for some time probably a good 2-3 months but I was just humoring her b/c after all I had no intentions of pting her till Feb. Well she has been asking more often and going all the time so I figured well why am I holding her back just run with it she is obviously not wanting to wear diapers anymore, not that I can blame her they have to be super uncomfy. Anyway, today and the rest of the week will be soley focused on pting her. I will say so far so good. She had one accident and thank goodness it was pee on the kitchen floor but she has asked to go all morning and even went poo on the potty this morning. I never though in a million years (before kids) that I would be excited about pee and poo lol. It is exciting though and to see their face light up when they get it is beyond words that my heart feels or most mothers and fathers.

Anyway that is the exciting going ons in my life. Sending my kids off to school pee and poop. Does life get better then this?!?! I think not!

Off to the potty,

Domestic Diva

It's Monday! Do I need to say anything else?

Anyway, the whole last week felt like one big Monday! This Monday is a beginning of our 3rd week of Kindergarten and 2nd week of my school. You see, I'm trying to get my degree in psychology, and with the rate I'm going I'm just trying to beat my 5 yo to college graduation.

Things have started off well, it is just that I am having problems adjusting. This is first time I have kid in school, and for those who don't have any (you lucky bastards), there is so much to know.
Information overload!
You must know what day they have what center, so that you can dress them appropriately (ok, this hasn't really been a problem, because boys are easy to dress, just some pants and shirt and you're done). Then, you have to know what they are having for lunch, and then you have to decide if it is something that your child will eat. If not, then you have to pack a lunch. Then, there is a snack, and you just can't send some Orioes you know, it has to be nutritious. Well, this wasn't really a problem either, because my child loves him some carrots and apples and bananas and raisins and oranges and so on. So, snack is easy part.
Then we have all those papers from school. You know the ones that never stop coming and the ones that are overflowing my dining room table as I type this. I have found myself on few occasions, last week, staying up late so I could catch up on all that reading. It is not a joking matter, you just can't be out of the loop.
Then there are box tops (why did I get myself into this, why), homeworks, volunteering and of course - soccer!

Then, there is my school! Society and Technology, and Intro to Business. Now, someone has failed to mention to me that these two are almost the same class! Which means that I'm reading the same thing twice (problem is that I forget which one is which). I guess this way some of it may stay in my long term memory, but the thing is anyone who breathes already knows what progress is, and they don't have to write journals about it! Both subjects at the beginning of the book have a section on why is this subject important. So if you must tell me why is this subject important for me to learn then it must not be so important after all! In parts to me, it is a common sence, but I'm sure by the end of the semester I'll be able to tell you exact definition of enterprenuership. Ok, this is topic for whole another post! I will report if I learn something!

Did I mention I have whole another potty troubled child? I'll tell you... later!

Ms D.

I should have done this a long time ago but I've been a bit preoccupied with well, life. She basically gave you the low down on herself. She's married to a pretty sweet guy whom I will refer to as Miss Buffy's Stud:) and she has 2 of the most adorable kids ever whom we (my family) just adores. Not only is she all the above, she is really smart. Not only does she tend to 2 kiddies, a dog name Jake, keep a house and make time for her hubby, she goes to school at night to get her nursing degree (she will make a fine nurse, I'll tell you that) .

Okay on to Buffy, she is a pretty laid back gal with a heart of gold and oh so funny and shall I say like her little girl witty. She is fairly quick with a come back for just about anything you throw at her, very quick on her feet. Not only is she a beautiful person on the inside I'd say she is pretty darn cute on the outside too;). Now her niceness is not to be confused with being a pushed over. She will stand her ground with all issues. What she believes, she believes, but yet she is so opened minded that she can and will listen to others opinions and not discount them.

I'll have to think of some good stories to share about Buffy and Ms D considering they constantly tease me about the birthday party planning (hey someone had to think about it otherwise it would have been a mess b/c we no doubt picked the same day for a party but anyway...). I do have a wonderful story on manners that I will share one day. It was priceless and maybe not as funny once I write it but it was oh so funny and something I get a chuckle about when I hear someone "burp".

My 5 year old is a sassy, opinionated girl...and I wouldn't have her any other way. She cracked with up yesterday though...

She just started kindergarten, and I guess it is all the rage to bring soup for lunch (I know...huh?!). Anyhow, it never occurred to me that she would need or want a thermos, so it was not on the supplies list. Well, yesterday she asked me if she could take soup for her lunch. After giving her a is-this-child-serious look, and furrowing my eyebrows together, I informed her that she doesn't have a thermos. So she asks if I could get one for her. I replied that if I was able to get to it, I would do it...

That girl's reply to me?!...

Well, if you don't, YOU'RE FIRED!!

So this evening my children and I dropped of my wonderful husband and their wonderful father at the airport to go back to MD. Well let me tell you this was the most terrible experience that I've had with my children, okay one of the most terrible experiences. My son (6) cried and cried he was so sad and was making sure we knew it, he informed me that this was the worst day of his life, talk about ripping my heart out. My eldest little girl (4) just sobbed quietly in her car seat saying I'm so sad and I miss daddy. I'm like just rip my heart out and feed it to me b/c this seriously sucks. I know it had to be awful for my hubby too, he must have felt so sad to leave his crying/screaming son and tearful little girl. A simple goodbye it wasn't. I still have a terrible knot in my stomach that I hope with sleep will go away. On a better note the kids have settled down and only occasionally come to me and tell me how sad they are and how much they miss daddy though he has been gone less then 3 hours:).

Tomorrow we are going to make a calendar to count the days till he comes home to visit with us.

So there you have it taking daddy to the airport is not fun and will always suck unless we are leaving with him.

A very sad and lonely,

Domestic Diva

Hi ladies,

I am seriously considering going on Britney Spears Diet! What is Britney Spears Diet? I have no idea! I just saw the other day on TV that she has cut all sugar out of her diet (including Starbucks)! Now, you tell me, would I be able to do that?

The reason why I'm even asking is because I just put on my fancy pair of pants in order to go to my first class of this semester, and would ya know it! They are tight! So, I did little (okey a lot) of soul searching, and I have realized that sugar is my weak spot (just think those scones I made yesterday). As a matter of fact, sugar is HUGE part of my diet in general, and the one thing I was never able to resist. I am addicted to sugar! I am. My name is Ms D. and I am sugarholic! There you go, I've said it!

Can I do this? Or should I just abandon the whole idea and go eat cake or something! One thing is for sure, I would be a hell of a person going through sugar withdrawal!

Ms D.