Everything I did on Friday, January 3, 2020
Location: Pasadena, CA
6:30am Gibson crawls in our bed and wakes me up
6:50am I get out of bed to cough and blow my nose for awhile. I've been battling a cold/laryngitis/possible bronchitis for a week. It's getting old.
7:00am Make a cup of tea. It does not taste like vinegar, thankfully. My electric kettle had a bunch of mineral deposits on it yesterday so I tried a vinegar soak. Now it's nice and clean. I find a package of Hawaiian hot dog buns in the cupboard that need to be used up so I toast two and add PB&J for breakfast.
7:15am Gibson comes into the kitchen pretending to be Gus because he wants the jelly bean Gus is owed from last night (our current bribe for using the bathroom by oneself). I feed them some generic Lucky Charms. They mainly eat the marshmallows.
7:30am the boys go back to bed to jump on Daddy. DF switched to a new job this year where the vacation time schedule is very flexible, and he was able to take two full weeks off for the holidays. We've definitely enjoyed having him home! I text our relatives in San Diego that we won't make it down to visit this weekend, since I'm still sick. We'll have to celebrate our belated Christmas even more belatedly, I guess.
7:50am Remember that it's the first Friday of the year and I need to start writing this list. DF and boys get up and play blocks in the playroom (Whomp Kings, a game they made up). I hang out with them for awhile.
8:15am Unload the dishwasher. It has been leaking lately. I clean out the "gunk" trap over the drain, which is super gross. Hopefully that will help. Wash dishes still hanging out in the sink from last year (ha ha). We had company for a week over New Years and we're still recovering. DF and kids are playing Lego Star Wars on Wii now. I take a long hot shower and inhale as much steam as I can before my California guilt kicks in about wasting water. I decide to be brave and wear contact lenses today. We had pink eye making the rounds here so I was wary of sticking my fingers in my eyes, but the kids seem to have recovered fully. Try to install the new phone screen protector I got for Christmas. Drat, it's the wrong size.
9:15am Gibson requests a cookie. More tea for me. Clean off the pile of stuff that has accumulated on the top of our dryer, the family temporary storage area. Send a Christmas card that got returned for an old address. Read the news about impending war with Iran. Try not to despair about the state of the world.
10:00am Time for more Mucinex. Watch the Wii game. Gibson is whining sooo much about the game my ears are about to explode. DF turns it off and takes a shower. The kids and I play "what animal am I thinking of?" and other pretending games.
11:00am I eat black eyed peas and greens for lunch. More good luck coming my way! The boys are playing Legos. They eat some beef jerky, apple slices, and corn muffins. Gus blows muffin crumbs all over the place. He informs me his New Year's resolution is to make more messes. <eyeroll> We have a discussion about death, the afterlife, and options for disposal of bodies. This is a fairly common topic of conversation.
11:30am DF takes the boys to a thrift store to look at toys because they want to spend their Christmas money. While they are out, I run the robot vacuum and do some laundry. I get deeply involved in making a "decade in review" post on Instagram, scouring my photo archives for images to represent the spectrum of my life for the last 10 years. I also reply to some messages that come in from a volunteer organization I work with. We are making plans for our 2020 fundraiser. Just as the boys come back, I field a call related to the fundraiser and croak out some words on the phone for 10 minutes. Doing so makes me feel like a productive member of society.
1:15pm Shoppers return home. They are loaded down with swords, light sabers, smash balls, Legos, and other things I don't recognize.
1:30pm Snack time - granola and frozen blueberries. We all play with the new toys. I trim my fingernails and convince the boys to sit on the front stoop so I can trim theirs, too. DF assembles 26 smash balls.
2:40pm all smash balls have been destroyed. They contain little rubber sports-themed figures. I drink more tea and do more laundry. The kids picked up some banks at the store and want to transfer all their coins from their previous banks to the new ones. We practice some Spanish - hola, adios, te amo - because we're planning to send the boys to a dual language Spanish program for elementary school. I send the robot vacuum to the back of the house.
3:40pm cracker snack. Watch Sponge Bob Square Pants. I install a new game on my phone because I recently got a new phone and am going crazy enjoying all the memory space, lol.
4:25pm load and run dishwasher. Fold laundry. The kids are watching Super Wings.
4:45pm turn off the TV. Attempt to get the kids out the door to a restaurant for dinner. They attack me with light sabers.
5:05pm They are finally dressed. (They had been wearing PJs all day. I let them wear PJs nearly whenever they want because soon enough they'll have to get dressed in a uniform for school every day. If they whine about it, I plan to say, "Remember when you were little and you used to wear your pajamas all day every day? That was nice, huh? Now you are big kids who go to school, so you need to wear your uniform.") We finally leave at 5:15. Stop by the UPS store to return my phone screen protector to Amazon. I don't even have to put it in a box. Whoa, such service. We eat dinner at our favorite diner that has a special with 3 hamburgers, 3 fries, and 3 drinks for $11.99. The boys share a burger (and don't even finish it) and I drink water, so it's a great deal for our family! On the way home, we try to pick up an item from our local Buy Nothing group but the family wasn't home.
6:40pm We're home. I unload the dishwasher, which did not leak on the floor. Yay! The kids are excited to see their toys again.
6:50pm Take anti-anxiety medicine, my current best friend. Drink more tea. Motivate the kids to clean up the playroom by rebuilding one smash ball for each small amount of cleaning effort.
7:45pm Snack time. Gibson requests peanut butter on a spoon. Gus ignores my repeated warnings of bedtime approaching.
8:00pm Time to get ready for bed. Gus, predictably, objects that he didn't get a snack. He scarfs down a few pretzels while Gibson brushes his teeth.
8:15pm DF tells them a bedtime story. It's still called a "Goldilocks" story and bears little resemblance to the traditional narrative. Usually, I do it but we've reached the point in the evening where my voice has faded and the coughing intensifies. I go to make a cup of (disgusting, licorice) Throat Coat tea. While I'm waiting for the water to boil, I read the ingredients and notice it has cinnamon bark. Whoops, I'm allergic to cinnamon! I'm off the hook and choose Sleepytime Vanilla instead. Write some Amazon product reviews while sipping tea.
8:35pm Children are loudly singing the rainbow song from their beds. I go in and tell them it's time to quiet down. After one last hug and drink of water, they go to sleep. DF and I watch a few episodes of Undone, a new Amazon show that is really trippy.
9:45pm I take Mucinex and vitamins and head to bed, propped up on 4 pillows.
Thanks for reading! You can check out previous days in the life here:
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 <-- the most exhausting one
Showing posts with label Pasadena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pasadena. Show all posts
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Sunday, January 13, 2019
A Day in the Life, Year 4
Once again, it's my annual post where I record everything I do during in one day.Yesterday was just a regular day over here, so please enjoy my detailed notes!
(Previous years available here: 2018, 2017, 2016)
Location: Pasadena, CA
Date: January 11, 2019
Gus and Gibson are three and a half
6:40am Das Fenster's alarm wakes me up, but I try to go back to sleep
7:05am DF leaves for work. The kids are still asleep. We had a late night last night at choir practice. I think about how I should get up and do things, but it's so cold and my bed is so warm. Around 7:15, I grab my phone and lay in bed looking at Facebook and Instagram.
7:45am Gibson comes to climb in my bed. He says he had a dream about pink balloons. He pretends to be a hug machine but turns into a zapper. 5-10 minutes later, Gus wakes up and joins us. A brief turf battle ensues, as usual. They settle in on each side of me. Gus says he had a dream about me driving a monster truck. Gibson says he was riding on top of my truck and he was a transforming robot. Then they pretend to be Mario and a mole, or a bunny, who was stuck in a hole by a witch and ninjalinos (from PJ Masks).
8:10am Roll out of bed. Potty stop, then they ask to play Kindles. I tell them they aren't charged, so the kids play trains instead. When I find the Kindles and plug them in, they are actually at 70% battery. I don't mention this fact... They sing to themselves as they play, which is a regular occurrence. They play a version of Blokus called "puzzle game" - we made it up yesterday.
8:30am I make coffee and am gone from playroom for 3 minutes before Blokus fight breaks out. Then we have a poop situation to deal with.
8:45am I quickly change out of my pajamas because a person is supposed to come by btwn 9-10 to give us a quote for pruning our grapefruit tree.
8:55am Boys eat pancakes while watching Super Why. I have instituted a 2 hour daily limit for TV/Kindle time. We have a 1 hour sand timer on the entertainment center that I use to track how much they've watched.
9:00am Realize I have no bread or bagels in the house and barely any soy milk. I make instant oatmeal for breakfast. Must go to store today! It's an adjustment not having the kids in preschool anymore. They stopped going at the end of 2018, so I was used to having two mornings a week free for errands and etc.
9:20am Boys are still asking for Kindles. I explain that the TV timer will keep running and it's all part of the 2 hour limit. They say ok.
9:45am The "Boo" characters on their Kindle game need a nap, so we turn off screens. Gus wants coffee (mostly milk, splash of coffee). Still waiting for tree person to arrive. We read a library book about Star Wars featuring Legos.
9:55am Now they want to play Legos.
10:00am Tree lady says the grapefruit tree is in pretty good shape overall and should be pruned every 4 years or so to remove dead and crossed branches. She also mentions that if we give the grass in the back yard a good rake and fertilize in March, we'll have a nice lawn for the summer.
10:17am The boys are happily playing with Legos. I tell them I'm going to take the fastest shower ever and will be right back.
10:21am I get out of the shower and hear a total scream fest going on.
10:40am We've sort of recovered from the big feelings. They're rolling around on the floor under blankets. I am not able to figure out exactly what happened, but I do gather there was a slobber-related problem.
10:45am Almond snack
10:50am Start getting ready to go to Aldi (grocery store)
11:02am Out the door, thanks to a cookie bribe
11:50am Home with only a few extra items that weren't on the list. How can we resist chocolate coins for only 99 cents?
12:03pm Kids are watching Blippi and eating peanut butter sandwiches. They wash their hands with only minimal drama when I had them get the step stool out by themselves. They are really into being independent lately, especially Gus. I make my own lunch by dumping all the leftovers in a bowl with salsa and avocado. Drinking lime seltzer, my latest obsession.
12:23pm I discover half a cup of cold coffee from this morning. Mix it with vanilla soy milk. Yum! Start a load of laundry. Take out trash. Put away rest of groceries. Tidy up and sweep entry way. Unload dishwasher.
12:42pm Gibson hops into kitchen pretending to be a frog. I tell them they've watched enough TV for now. We play block tanks. (Build tanks out of blocks, say boom boom boom a lot)
1:25pm Transfer laundry to dryer. Read the kids a story. Play Blokus and Taboo. (You play Taboo with three year olds by using all the "taboo" words to explain the clue, FYI.)
1:50pm Yogurt snack. We got a 32oz tub of vanilla Greek yogurt at Aldi for $0.25 because it was only 2 days from its sell-by date. Score! I explain how yogurt is made, per their request. Gus says I can only eat vegan cheese yogurt. (They're a little confused about dairy-free)
2:05pm Snack done. Whoa, they barely made a mess with the yogurt! That's a first! Now play cat/dinosaur/transforming car/tackling.
2:12pm Gus asks me to take off his socks, which he is only capable of doing when I don't want his socks being removed. I eat a vegan ranch crunchy pea snack I found at Grocery Outlet.
2:20pm Text Auntie Hipster about making slime when she's babysitting for some friends tomorrow. This inspires me to order a gallon of glue off Amazon for only $12 so we can make more slime here. Gus tells me he want to grow up and get really tiny so he can go into electrical outlets and get zapped.
2:30pm Explain to kids that I need to go to CVS to get contact solution. Tell them we are only getting contacts solution. We are not getting toys or candy. Ask them if they understand, and if they still want to go to CVS. Gibson asks if he can pet the toys. I say yes. They agree we should all go, and they'll ride their balance bikes. It's about 2 blocks away.
2:55pm Finally leave CVS after resisting a lot of begging and pleading for toys and candy. While we are there, we see a friend we know from a local moms group.
3:00pm Arrive at park. It's just a block away. We love our bikeable neighborhood! I've had to learn to talk to Gus and Gibson before we embark about whose turn it is to ride in front because apparently that is a very big deal! They generally do ok as long as we talk about it first. Otherwise it's a crashing, brawling free-for-all for the lead.
At the park, they ride their bikes a lot, go on swings, open a pretend restaurant where they get cooked into a pie by Mr. McGregor, and generally run around. They chase some kids who are using these electronic rolling skateboards until one of the riders informs me, "if they crash into me, this thing will catch on fire!" While I doubt the accuracy of her combustibility gauge, I tell my boys to back off anyway. Some friends from church happen to be at the park too, and all our kids have fun together. I also see another mom I know from another parent class. I feel so connected! At one point, Gibson says, "I want to pee on you," which means he needs to use the bathroom. Really trying to get him to stop saying that...
4:40pm Get home. Give the kids a cantaloupe snack.
5:00pm Use up the last of their allotted TV time to watch Fireman Sam while I make dinner. We're having spaghetti.
5:26pm DF gets home. Gus screams for awhile. Transitions are rough for him.
5:40pm Dinner time. They both ask me to feed them, but Gibson takes over and feeds himself eventually.
6:00pm Dinner is done. DF plays with the kids while I clean up the kitchen. They play Wii. So far I have kept video games separate from the TV timer because it's more of a bonding/fun thing they do with their dad. If I start worrying about their brain development, maybe I'll dial it back.
6:25pm Kitchen is mostly clean. I even wash my cast iron skillet - usually procrastinate on that task. Take Lexapro (anti-anxiety/anti-depressant). I've been on it for a month and I feel like it's helping me handle life better. I research grant opportunities for an early childhood education program that we attend, because I've now been recruited to be on their board.
6:50pm Start bath time. Neither kid wants to take the first bath, so their squirt toys go first. Gus and Gibson both choose second bath. They eventually get in the tub after protesting about the water temperature (too hot for one, too cold for the other). It is the longest bath ever because they both need a poop break in the middle. Hey, I'm glad they tell me so I can get them on the potty. But then they want privacy but I don't want to leave the other kid alone, so I pull the shower curtain around the outside of the tub and stand behind it, looking at the tub rather than the toilet. Oh, motherhood...
7:50pm Give them bedtime snacks and drinks. They're playing pretend with DF. They are baby moles. Then it becomes Mario, Bowser, and a poison swamp. I join in as Mommy Bowser.
8:15pm Start heading towards bed. Bedtime routine involves pajamas, brush teeth, story, song, hug & kiss, one last drink of water, and a Goldilocks story told by mom when they are tucked in bed. I let them each pick one element of the story. Gus usually says Goldilocks drives a wolf house that transforms into something. Tonight it is a bumper car with guns. Gibson says there should be lots of cupcakes and the bears drive a boomer cannon. So I tell a story about how the bears shoot cupcakes out of their cannons and Goldilocks shoots frosting out of her squirt guns and they make a huge tower of cupcakes as tall as a giant.
8:49pm Bedroom door closed. Goodnight #1
8:50pm "Mommy, my head is too hot." "My legs are too cold." "I'm scared of shadows."
8:52pm "Mommy, my head too hot again!" (I flip his pillow over)
8:53pm Gibson runs out to tell me, "I love you so much," then tells me I look like a cat with so much fur when I put him back in bed (because I've taken down my pony tail). Gus wants his pillow flipped again. I try for the 100th time to show him how to do it by himself.
8:56pm Gus needs to go potty. Meanwhile, I've been trying to get my phone to retrieve texts and wind up restarting it. My phone is kind of sad. We need to find out if another carrier has better service in our neighborhood and maybe switch + phone upgrade.
9:00pm I take a chance and get some coconut ice cream out of the freezer.
9:02pm D'oh! Hide the ice cream! Gibson emerges asking to be re-tucked in. That kid can't stay in one spot in his bed, awake or asleep. I tell him to close his eyes and think about something happy to help him sleep. He's going to think about Batman, Spiderman, Hulk, and "different characters."
9:05pm Gus calls me in to ask questions about Paw Patrol. I review the bedtime checklist with them. I emphasize that we did everything on this list, so now it's their job to close their eyes, be quiet, and think about sleepy things. "I'm not coming in here anymore," I declare. I sit on the couch right outside their room and scroll Facebook/Instagram.
9:15pm I haven't heard any more peeps out of them! DF and I watch an episode of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I read a few chapters of In the Distance by Hernán Díaz, which is the 2019 One City, One Story selection for Pasadena Public Library.
10:30pm Take my vitamin and get ready for bed. Move laundry aside. I'll fold it tomorrow...maybe. Make sure boys are covered up and find Gus "Mr. My head too hot" with a blanket under his head! Play a fish game and a word game for a bit on my Kindle before calling it a night.
And that's another day in the life of a stay-at-home mom with twins!
(Previous years available here: 2018, 2017, 2016)
Location: Pasadena, CA
Date: January 11, 2019
Gus and Gibson are three and a half
6:40am Das Fenster's alarm wakes me up, but I try to go back to sleep
7:05am DF leaves for work. The kids are still asleep. We had a late night last night at choir practice. I think about how I should get up and do things, but it's so cold and my bed is so warm. Around 7:15, I grab my phone and lay in bed looking at Facebook and Instagram.
7:45am Gibson comes to climb in my bed. He says he had a dream about pink balloons. He pretends to be a hug machine but turns into a zapper. 5-10 minutes later, Gus wakes up and joins us. A brief turf battle ensues, as usual. They settle in on each side of me. Gus says he had a dream about me driving a monster truck. Gibson says he was riding on top of my truck and he was a transforming robot. Then they pretend to be Mario and a mole, or a bunny, who was stuck in a hole by a witch and ninjalinos (from PJ Masks).
8:10am Roll out of bed. Potty stop, then they ask to play Kindles. I tell them they aren't charged, so the kids play trains instead. When I find the Kindles and plug them in, they are actually at 70% battery. I don't mention this fact... They sing to themselves as they play, which is a regular occurrence. They play a version of Blokus called "puzzle game" - we made it up yesterday.
8:30am I make coffee and am gone from playroom for 3 minutes before Blokus fight breaks out. Then we have a poop situation to deal with.
8:45am I quickly change out of my pajamas because a person is supposed to come by btwn 9-10 to give us a quote for pruning our grapefruit tree.
8:55am Boys eat pancakes while watching Super Why. I have instituted a 2 hour daily limit for TV/Kindle time. We have a 1 hour sand timer on the entertainment center that I use to track how much they've watched.
9:00am Realize I have no bread or bagels in the house and barely any soy milk. I make instant oatmeal for breakfast. Must go to store today! It's an adjustment not having the kids in preschool anymore. They stopped going at the end of 2018, so I was used to having two mornings a week free for errands and etc.
9:20am Boys are still asking for Kindles. I explain that the TV timer will keep running and it's all part of the 2 hour limit. They say ok.
9:45am The "Boo" characters on their Kindle game need a nap, so we turn off screens. Gus wants coffee (mostly milk, splash of coffee). Still waiting for tree person to arrive. We read a library book about Star Wars featuring Legos.
9:55am Now they want to play Legos.
10:00am Tree lady says the grapefruit tree is in pretty good shape overall and should be pruned every 4 years or so to remove dead and crossed branches. She also mentions that if we give the grass in the back yard a good rake and fertilize in March, we'll have a nice lawn for the summer.
10:17am The boys are happily playing with Legos. I tell them I'm going to take the fastest shower ever and will be right back.
10:21am I get out of the shower and hear a total scream fest going on.
10:40am We've sort of recovered from the big feelings. They're rolling around on the floor under blankets. I am not able to figure out exactly what happened, but I do gather there was a slobber-related problem.
10:45am Almond snack
10:50am Start getting ready to go to Aldi (grocery store)
11:02am Out the door, thanks to a cookie bribe
11:50am Home with only a few extra items that weren't on the list. How can we resist chocolate coins for only 99 cents?
12:03pm Kids are watching Blippi and eating peanut butter sandwiches. They wash their hands with only minimal drama when I had them get the step stool out by themselves. They are really into being independent lately, especially Gus. I make my own lunch by dumping all the leftovers in a bowl with salsa and avocado. Drinking lime seltzer, my latest obsession.
12:23pm I discover half a cup of cold coffee from this morning. Mix it with vanilla soy milk. Yum! Start a load of laundry. Take out trash. Put away rest of groceries. Tidy up and sweep entry way. Unload dishwasher.
12:42pm Gibson hops into kitchen pretending to be a frog. I tell them they've watched enough TV for now. We play block tanks. (Build tanks out of blocks, say boom boom boom a lot)
1:25pm Transfer laundry to dryer. Read the kids a story. Play Blokus and Taboo. (You play Taboo with three year olds by using all the "taboo" words to explain the clue, FYI.)
1:50pm Yogurt snack. We got a 32oz tub of vanilla Greek yogurt at Aldi for $0.25 because it was only 2 days from its sell-by date. Score! I explain how yogurt is made, per their request. Gus says I can only eat vegan cheese yogurt. (They're a little confused about dairy-free)
2:05pm Snack done. Whoa, they barely made a mess with the yogurt! That's a first! Now play cat/dinosaur/transforming car/tackling.
2:12pm Gus asks me to take off his socks, which he is only capable of doing when I don't want his socks being removed. I eat a vegan ranch crunchy pea snack I found at Grocery Outlet.
2:20pm Text Auntie Hipster about making slime when she's babysitting for some friends tomorrow. This inspires me to order a gallon of glue off Amazon for only $12 so we can make more slime here. Gus tells me he want to grow up and get really tiny so he can go into electrical outlets and get zapped.
2:30pm Explain to kids that I need to go to CVS to get contact solution. Tell them we are only getting contacts solution. We are not getting toys or candy. Ask them if they understand, and if they still want to go to CVS. Gibson asks if he can pet the toys. I say yes. They agree we should all go, and they'll ride their balance bikes. It's about 2 blocks away.
2:55pm Finally leave CVS after resisting a lot of begging and pleading for toys and candy. While we are there, we see a friend we know from a local moms group.
3:00pm Arrive at park. It's just a block away. We love our bikeable neighborhood! I've had to learn to talk to Gus and Gibson before we embark about whose turn it is to ride in front because apparently that is a very big deal! They generally do ok as long as we talk about it first. Otherwise it's a crashing, brawling free-for-all for the lead.
At the park, they ride their bikes a lot, go on swings, open a pretend restaurant where they get cooked into a pie by Mr. McGregor, and generally run around. They chase some kids who are using these electronic rolling skateboards until one of the riders informs me, "if they crash into me, this thing will catch on fire!" While I doubt the accuracy of her combustibility gauge, I tell my boys to back off anyway. Some friends from church happen to be at the park too, and all our kids have fun together. I also see another mom I know from another parent class. I feel so connected! At one point, Gibson says, "I want to pee on you," which means he needs to use the bathroom. Really trying to get him to stop saying that...
4:40pm Get home. Give the kids a cantaloupe snack.
5:00pm Use up the last of their allotted TV time to watch Fireman Sam while I make dinner. We're having spaghetti.
5:26pm DF gets home. Gus screams for awhile. Transitions are rough for him.
5:40pm Dinner time. They both ask me to feed them, but Gibson takes over and feeds himself eventually.
6:00pm Dinner is done. DF plays with the kids while I clean up the kitchen. They play Wii. So far I have kept video games separate from the TV timer because it's more of a bonding/fun thing they do with their dad. If I start worrying about their brain development, maybe I'll dial it back.
6:25pm Kitchen is mostly clean. I even wash my cast iron skillet - usually procrastinate on that task. Take Lexapro (anti-anxiety/anti-depressant). I've been on it for a month and I feel like it's helping me handle life better. I research grant opportunities for an early childhood education program that we attend, because I've now been recruited to be on their board.
6:50pm Start bath time. Neither kid wants to take the first bath, so their squirt toys go first. Gus and Gibson both choose second bath. They eventually get in the tub after protesting about the water temperature (too hot for one, too cold for the other). It is the longest bath ever because they both need a poop break in the middle. Hey, I'm glad they tell me so I can get them on the potty. But then they want privacy but I don't want to leave the other kid alone, so I pull the shower curtain around the outside of the tub and stand behind it, looking at the tub rather than the toilet. Oh, motherhood...
7:50pm Give them bedtime snacks and drinks. They're playing pretend with DF. They are baby moles. Then it becomes Mario, Bowser, and a poison swamp. I join in as Mommy Bowser.
8:15pm Start heading towards bed. Bedtime routine involves pajamas, brush teeth, story, song, hug & kiss, one last drink of water, and a Goldilocks story told by mom when they are tucked in bed. I let them each pick one element of the story. Gus usually says Goldilocks drives a wolf house that transforms into something. Tonight it is a bumper car with guns. Gibson says there should be lots of cupcakes and the bears drive a boomer cannon. So I tell a story about how the bears shoot cupcakes out of their cannons and Goldilocks shoots frosting out of her squirt guns and they make a huge tower of cupcakes as tall as a giant.
8:49pm Bedroom door closed. Goodnight #1
8:50pm "Mommy, my head is too hot." "My legs are too cold." "I'm scared of shadows."
8:52pm "Mommy, my head too hot again!" (I flip his pillow over)
8:53pm Gibson runs out to tell me, "I love you so much," then tells me I look like a cat with so much fur when I put him back in bed (because I've taken down my pony tail). Gus wants his pillow flipped again. I try for the 100th time to show him how to do it by himself.
8:56pm Gus needs to go potty. Meanwhile, I've been trying to get my phone to retrieve texts and wind up restarting it. My phone is kind of sad. We need to find out if another carrier has better service in our neighborhood and maybe switch + phone upgrade.
9:00pm I take a chance and get some coconut ice cream out of the freezer.
9:02pm D'oh! Hide the ice cream! Gibson emerges asking to be re-tucked in. That kid can't stay in one spot in his bed, awake or asleep. I tell him to close his eyes and think about something happy to help him sleep. He's going to think about Batman, Spiderman, Hulk, and "different characters."
9:05pm Gus calls me in to ask questions about Paw Patrol. I review the bedtime checklist with them. I emphasize that we did everything on this list, so now it's their job to close their eyes, be quiet, and think about sleepy things. "I'm not coming in here anymore," I declare. I sit on the couch right outside their room and scroll Facebook/Instagram.
9:15pm I haven't heard any more peeps out of them! DF and I watch an episode of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I read a few chapters of In the Distance by Hernán Díaz, which is the 2019 One City, One Story selection for Pasadena Public Library.
10:30pm Take my vitamin and get ready for bed. Move laundry aside. I'll fold it tomorrow...maybe. Make sure boys are covered up and find Gus "Mr. My head too hot" with a blanket under his head! Play a fish game and a word game for a bit on my Kindle before calling it a night.
And that's another day in the life of a stay-at-home mom with twins!
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Settling In to the Nest
We've been in our new house about 6 weeks now, and it's starting to feel like home. We've got most of the boxes unpacked and new furniture to make the rooms functional. Sure, there's still a few random piles of "what do we do with this?" stuff strewn about, but I feel it's an acceptable level of clutter :)
Here are some of my favorite things about living in our house so far, in no particular order:
Life is good in Pasadena! Stop by and see us if you're in the area. Or heck, plan a trip to the area and stay in our play room/guest room! I promise to pick up all the Legos before you get here :)
Here are some of my favorite things about living in our house so far, in no particular order:
- Ease of laundry. At the apartment, our dryer vented out into a hallway. (Lame!) So that meant I had to plan my drying cycles for a time of day when I could leave the balcony door open to let out the hot air. But on scorching days I would wind up running the A/C to counteract the dryer, which seemed like a pointless waste of money. It was extra ridiculous that the dryer was near the A/C thermostat so it would cause it to kick on quickly. In the house, however, we have a normal dryer that vents outside. It's by the backdoor so even if it does heat up a little, it's not roasting the whole house.
- Back yard. I knew we'd all enjoy having a yard! The boys have managed to play unsupervised for about 5 minutes without major incident Yes, one of them did dunk the other's hair in the water table, but only because "me need wash his dirty hair." Oh, I see...how helpful of you...
- Close to park. Yes, our apartment was also close to a park, but by the time you walked all the way to the elevator, went down to the ground floor, crossed the train tracks, crossed the street, and made it over to the playground...well, it was a bit of a production. Now, since the boys are older, we got them balance bikes. It's about a 3 minute walk to the park here! We are struggling with the return trip still. Usually at least one of them has a meltdown and refuses to ride home. But I have hope that things will improve (keep trying, you'll get better).
- Separate play room. Being able to toss all the kids' toys in a room and close the door is awesome! And not having toys in their bedroom seems to be more conducive to sleeping.
- Dining room table. This hasn't been quite as amazing as I hoped, but it's certainly better than high chairs crammed in the kitchen. Gus is currently refusing to sit in a chair by himself (he wants to sit on someone's lap for meals), which is driving me up the wall. I try to tell myself that he won't always want to sit on my lap. When he's 20 and off living by himself, I'll surely sit at my lonely table and fondly remember the days when I had a squirmy preschooler knocking roasted sweet potatoes off my plate.
- Friendly neighbors. After a year of anonymous apartment life, it's a little weird to be in a neighborhood again. So far everyone has been welcoming and friendly. (Not Southern friendly, though. No one brought us any chicken and dumplings yet. That literally happened in Memphis!) But one neighbor did mow our lawn for us when it was turning into a jungle and we hadn't got a lawn mower yet, and another brought us some cookies and gave this kids a wading pool. It was strange, though, to hear one neighbor speak fondly about the former occupants of our house since we only know them as the persnickety sellers who refused to give us any repair credits or concessions...
- New amenities. We're just a few minutes from Aldi, a grocery store I grew to love in Memphis. We also have a Food4Less nearby which is a Kroger brand store, so they have all the regular Kroger products at lower prices. Also we are by a gas station that accepts credit cards for the same per/gal cost as Arco where you have to pay cash. The kids are excited that there's a McDonald's with a PlayPlace just a few blocks away.
- Windows that open. This house has tons of windows, and we love it! We can get a nice breeze in the mornings and evenings that means we don't have to use our air conditioner as much. Plus it's just nice to be able to see what's going on out in the world. I especially enjoy this view of palm trees from the kitchen window.
Life is good in Pasadena! Stop by and see us if you're in the area. Or heck, plan a trip to the area and stay in our play room/guest room! I promise to pick up all the Legos before you get here :)
Friday, August 3, 2018
Pause, Reflect, Move
I like to take some time to reflect on one place before I leave it. We're gearing up to move into our new house in just about two weeks, so the time is ripe!
Apartment living in Pasadena: Pros
Apartment living: Cons
Apartment living in Pasadena: Pros
- On-site professional maintenance team that fixes all my problems. From a dripping sink to a malfunctioning A/C unit, help was just an email away. I didn't have to search for the appropriate service tech online, read reviews, get estimates, or pay any bills. It has been awesome and I know I'm going to miss this feature as a homeowner.
- Location - in the heart of it all. We are within walking distance of more amenities here than we ever could take advantage of. If our kids were more, hmm, refined in their dining choices, we would have really enjoyed all these restaurants. As it is, we definitely visited all the ones that serve pizza and/or French fries :) It's also been nice to be so centrally located for public transportation, both for DF's commute and for general traveling needs.
- Balcony. Although it's kind of annoying to hear the train crossing dining at all hours of the day and night, the kids have LOVED their front-row view of the train tracks. Also, it's relatively bug-free. We never get mosquito bites here. An occasional fly sneaks in the apartment, but that's about it.
Apartment living: Cons
- Fire alarms. Oh my word, the fire alarms. For awhile we had a faulty sensor in our building and the alarm was going off at least once a day. Not cool, people.
- Trains. Sometimes the crossing malfunctions and dings for three hours straight. Again, not cool.
- The mile-long walk from the garage to apartment door. Ok, it's not a mile but it sure feels like it sometimes, like today when the boys fell asleep in the van and then wanted me to carry them home. I am pumped to have a garage that's right in the backyard in our new place. Maybe 30 feet, door to door. I can totally handle that. And if the kids are asleep, it would be fine to leave one of them snoozing in the vehicle while taking the other one inside.
Our new house is just about 2 miles away from our current apartment, so we'll still be able to take advantage of everything Pasadena has to offer. Short moves are the best!
Monday, July 16, 2018
Moving Will Solve All My Problems
With our home purchase set to close later this week (God willing/si Dios quiere/inshallah), I'm feeling anxious, reflective, and hopeful. I've moved a lot in life. It tends to stir up a mixture of emotions/perspectives, but one that I've noticed most often is totally misplaced optimism about changes that will result.
Example: When we moved from Seattle to Memphis (in 2013) I was sure that I would break my addiction to Cheetos. Why? I thought that because I'd be working from home, I'd have time to make myself more healthy snacks. LOL! Sure, I had time, but I had no motivation. Actually, I stopped eating Cheetos and all milk products not long after arriving in California last year because my body just wouldn't let me eat dairy anymore. That wasn't my plan, but it's how life turned out.
And now in 2018, I've pretty much convinced myself that as soon as we move from an apartment to house here in Pasadena, our lives are going to completely change for the better. Here are some of my hopes and dreams.
Example: When we moved from Seattle to Memphis (in 2013) I was sure that I would break my addiction to Cheetos. Why? I thought that because I'd be working from home, I'd have time to make myself more healthy snacks. LOL! Sure, I had time, but I had no motivation. Actually, I stopped eating Cheetos and all milk products not long after arriving in California last year because my body just wouldn't let me eat dairy anymore. That wasn't my plan, but it's how life turned out.
And now in 2018, I've pretty much convinced myself that as soon as we move from an apartment to house here in Pasadena, our lives are going to completely change for the better. Here are some of my hopes and dreams.
- We are going to have a dining room table where my children will sit and eat their meals. We will all eat together as a family. I will have a weekly menu board and cook/meal plan tasty dinners that all 4 family members will like.
- Of course I will no longer be crouching on the floor next to the couch feeding the children bites of peanut butter bagel for breakfast while they watch Octonauts.
- I will create an amazingly functional organization system for the new playroom. Our home will no longer be strewn with toys in every corner of every room. My children will pick up their toys. (Confession: I cracked myself up by typing that last sentence!)
- My children will play in the backyard with minimal supervision giving me copious amounts of free time to implement all of my above plans. They will explore and get dirty but not seriously injure/maim themselves while doing so.
Realistic expectations? Probably not. But a girl can dream...
Friday, June 1, 2018
Where to Be Rich in LA
House hunting brings out the demographer/sociologist in me. I haven't lived here long enough to have a total handle on what are the "good" and "bad" areas, but I'm starting to get some ideas.
(I apologize in advance for all the feathers I'm about to ruffle.)
Areas that are good tend to have:
Areas that are bad tend to have:
You know what I see as the main differences on these lists? Socioeconomic status and race. So if I ask myself, "Where should we live?" what I'm really wondering is, what kind of white people are we? Statistically speaking, our income puts us in the third quartile for Pasadena (between 50-75% of median). I feel awkward calling myself rich, but I think it might be true.
Then I see these lists like "Best Places to Raise a Family Around LA" which should be titled "Where Rich People Live." I mean seriously, #1 on the list is Manhattan Beach, where the average sales price of a three bedroom home is $1.8 million. So I guess my family is richer than we are poor, but we're not rich rich.
The point I'm trying to make here is that one can't just choose to be rich. In many cases, the deck is stacked against you from the start. And we can't keep using socioeconomic status as a proxy variable for everything in life. Which leads me to the following scatter plot:
(If that's not displaying properly on your device, or you'd like to see the supporting data, click here.)
What are we seeing in this chart?
A correlation between a school's rating on Great Schools and the percentage of its student body that is low income, which means qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. (As an aside, that is really poor around here because there's no adjustment made to the calculations to factor in cost of living in your particular area within the lower 48 states.)
What are we not seeing?
A large portion of the not-low-income families in Pasadena that are not represented on this chart, because their children aren't enrolled in these schools.
Pasadena Unified School District has kind of a mixed reputation around here. In the 1970s, the district was ordered to bus students to end de-facto segregation, a bit of history I haven't found anyone too eager to talk about. As of 2016, only 55% of students living in PUSD boundaries attended public schools. The rest are in charter, private, home school, or transfer out of the district. At the same time, there are several schools with new magnet programs focused on STEM, Arts, and IB, and they also offer dual language options. I'm familiar with a group called Pasadena Education Network that seems to be doing good work towards promoting integrated schools. So overall, I'm observing some positive trajectory.
Where should I try to buy a house, then? (I mean, assuming we stay in Pasadena. We also have been looking around Glendale and Eagle Rock, which is a whole other ball of wax.) To complicate matters, PUSD offers open enrollment, meaning that if you don't want your student to attend your neighborhood school, you can go through a lottery system to obtain a seat for your child at a different school. So it doesn't even really matter, school-wise, where we buy because we can put the kids in a different school. We just have to give them a ride.
But you see that? How privileged am I that the need to provide transportation daily to/from a school a few miles away wouldn't even give me pause? We are a two parent family with only one of us working outside the home right now. We have the resources to pay for a vehicle, gas, and insurance. I'm not trying to work two minimum wage jobs just to keep food on the table here. And I have the mental bandwidth to think about all these things two years before my kids will even start kindergarten.
What a world we live in.
If you want to learn more about these topics, here are some resources I recommend:
(I apologize in advance for all the feathers I'm about to ruffle.)
Areas that are good tend to have:
- Rich people
- White people
- Maybe Asian people
- "Good" schools as defined by a score of 8+ on Great Schools
- Well-funded public services
- Crime that is not overt
Areas that are bad tend to have:
- Poor people
- Brown people
- Black people
- Asian people who aren't integrated into mainstream American culture
- "Bad" schools (scores 1-3)
- Poorly funded public services
- Visible crime, graffiti, gangs
- Noise and/or pollution
You know what I see as the main differences on these lists? Socioeconomic status and race. So if I ask myself, "Where should we live?" what I'm really wondering is, what kind of white people are we? Statistically speaking, our income puts us in the third quartile for Pasadena (between 50-75% of median). I feel awkward calling myself rich, but I think it might be true.
Then I see these lists like "Best Places to Raise a Family Around LA" which should be titled "Where Rich People Live." I mean seriously, #1 on the list is Manhattan Beach, where the average sales price of a three bedroom home is $1.8 million. So I guess my family is richer than we are poor, but we're not rich rich.
The point I'm trying to make here is that one can't just choose to be rich. In many cases, the deck is stacked against you from the start. And we can't keep using socioeconomic status as a proxy variable for everything in life. Which leads me to the following scatter plot:
(If that's not displaying properly on your device, or you'd like to see the supporting data, click here.)
What are we seeing in this chart?
A correlation between a school's rating on Great Schools and the percentage of its student body that is low income, which means qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. (As an aside, that is really poor around here because there's no adjustment made to the calculations to factor in cost of living in your particular area within the lower 48 states.)
What are we not seeing?
A large portion of the not-low-income families in Pasadena that are not represented on this chart, because their children aren't enrolled in these schools.
Pasadena Unified School District has kind of a mixed reputation around here. In the 1970s, the district was ordered to bus students to end de-facto segregation, a bit of history I haven't found anyone too eager to talk about. As of 2016, only 55% of students living in PUSD boundaries attended public schools. The rest are in charter, private, home school, or transfer out of the district. At the same time, there are several schools with new magnet programs focused on STEM, Arts, and IB, and they also offer dual language options. I'm familiar with a group called Pasadena Education Network that seems to be doing good work towards promoting integrated schools. So overall, I'm observing some positive trajectory.
Where should I try to buy a house, then? (I mean, assuming we stay in Pasadena. We also have been looking around Glendale and Eagle Rock, which is a whole other ball of wax.) To complicate matters, PUSD offers open enrollment, meaning that if you don't want your student to attend your neighborhood school, you can go through a lottery system to obtain a seat for your child at a different school. So it doesn't even really matter, school-wise, where we buy because we can put the kids in a different school. We just have to give them a ride.
But you see that? How privileged am I that the need to provide transportation daily to/from a school a few miles away wouldn't even give me pause? We are a two parent family with only one of us working outside the home right now. We have the resources to pay for a vehicle, gas, and insurance. I'm not trying to work two minimum wage jobs just to keep food on the table here. And I have the mental bandwidth to think about all these things two years before my kids will even start kindergarten.
What a world we live in.
If you want to learn more about these topics, here are some resources I recommend:
- How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty (TED talk by Kandice Sumner)
- Follow Integrated Schools on Facebook
- "The Problem with Great Schools" inspired me to write this post
Monday, February 26, 2018
Six Months in SoCal
We arrived here in California just over six months ago. I thought I'd take the occasion to reflect on life here in my new state.
I loved it when we got here, and half a year later, I still love it! Perhaps I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase? We'll have to check back later to see how I'm feeling. What do I like about California? Glad you asked!
The Weather/Climate
I hate to be so cliché, but it's just lovely here. It's almost always sunny with a gentle breeze. We're currently going through a cold snap where it's been dipping down into the 30s at night and only hitting 60 for a high temperature, but I don't even mind because I know it'll be scorching hot in a few months. When it does get hot, it's not humid, so you can still, you know, breathe outside. There are hardly any mosquitoes either, and it cools down in the evenings so you can open your windows without inviting an insect invasion.
This is my first time living in an area that's so sunny. It is awesome! I really don't know how all the Californians who have moved to the PNW survive in the gray winters. Maybe they still have friends/family down here and escape to soak up some Vitamin D on the weekends.
Geography
Living in a region with mountains makes me smile. Sure, some days it's too smoggy to see them, but lately the full San Gabriel Range has been on display. And then there's the other foothills and such that I don't know the names of yet, but they are also scenic. Nearby us there is a place called the Arroyo, which as far as I can tell means a dry canyon. It's rugged and rocky and makes you feel like you've escaped the city when you go there.
And then, don't forget the beach! Depending on traffic, it's about 45-60 minutes for us to get to a beach. By LA standards, that's far away but by Memphis standards, it's awesome :)
I know people also talk about skiing/mountain activities here. We haven't ventured North/East yet, but when we do, I'll be sure to blog about it.
Activities
This part's a bit overwhelming, actually. In Memphis it was kind of straightforward. If you have little kids, you want a membership to the zoo, children's museum, and/or botanic garden. Around here, sheesh! There are about 1,000 options, it seems like! I mean, there are the classic big theme parks, like Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Knotts Berry Farm. You've got too many museums to count, zoos, aquariums, gardens, science centers, theaters, and I don't even know how many other choices of things to do. Plus since the weather is almost always nice, you can explore all the various parks and outdoor spaces. If you ever hear me saying I'm bored, that's just crazy talk. I could live here for the rest of my life and still not do everything.
Food/Dietary Options
Since arriving in CA, I've decided to go dairy-free. Although I didn't test as allergic to milk, I just feel so much better without dairy. It's been a pretty easy transition thanks to all of the vegan options around here, both in grocery stores and at restaurants. And if you ask the waitstaff, "Does that have dairy?" you don't get a strange look or anything. Meanwhile, in Memphis, I once got a total eye roll for ordering enchiladas with no cheese at a Mexican restaurant.
Speaking of Mexican food, taco trucks here are legit and delicious. There are so many different types of food available here that it's impossible to list them all. Ever had Indonesian bone broth? There's a place just a couple blocks away from us with a simmering vat full! I want to go out to eat all the time. But my children aren't very adventurous eaters, so sometimes we opt for take-out for the grownups and chicken nuggets for the kids...
Closer to Relatives
My parents and siblings all live in Oregon. It's really nice to be close to them - just a quick 2 hour flight, instead of a whole-day travel ordeal, and you don't have to change time zones!
Public Services
I'm just starting to learn about this topic, but I guess all those personal income tax funds we're paying to the state are getting used for stuff! I've been attending a free weekly parent education class offered at a local community college. They have 10 or 15 different classes going every week, all free! It's my understanding that a combo of state funding and private fundraising covers the cost. The class is like a preschool where parents and children are there together. So cool!
And now, for the things that have been harder to cope with...
Huge Metropolis
I can't really explain to you how gigantic the Los Angeles metro area is. Apparently it's the second-largest metro area in the country. There are like 60 cities in the region, depending on how you define "city." I'm always having to check Google Maps to see where places are, because I'll read a blog or something about a fun weekend activity only to find out it's down in Orange County (an hour+ away). Short of hanging a giant regional map on the wall and studying it daily, I don't know how I'll ever wrap my head around the megalopolis that is Los Angeles.
Tons of People
Remember all those things I listed above that I like about SoCal? Yeah, a bunch of other people also like those things, so they all want to live here, too. Traffic is intense. You really do have to plan your trips around traffic if you don't want to spend your whole life sitting on a freeway. And then when you go places and do things, a bunch of other people are also there at the same places wanting to do the same things. We went to the zoo on President's Day and it was packed to the gills! I have never been to a zoo that was so busy before. I suppose it being a school holiday, parents were looking for a way to entertain their kids, but still, we had to wait in the members line for like 10-15 minutes just to get through the front gate!
Cost of Living
Really, this one hasn't bothered me too much because I knew what we were getting into, but I feel compelled to mention it. It is certainly more expensive to live here than Memphis. It seems more expensive than Seattle, too, though we left that city nearly 5 years ago so my mental price list is probably outdated. The cost of housing around LA is shockingly high. We keep debating if we should buy a place here. Then we look at the prices and say, "it's got to be a bubble, right? It'll pop soon." But the prices just keep on rising...!
I loved it when we got here, and half a year later, I still love it! Perhaps I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase? We'll have to check back later to see how I'm feeling. What do I like about California? Glad you asked!
The Weather/Climate
I hate to be so cliché, but it's just lovely here. It's almost always sunny with a gentle breeze. We're currently going through a cold snap where it's been dipping down into the 30s at night and only hitting 60 for a high temperature, but I don't even mind because I know it'll be scorching hot in a few months. When it does get hot, it's not humid, so you can still, you know, breathe outside. There are hardly any mosquitoes either, and it cools down in the evenings so you can open your windows without inviting an insect invasion.
This is my first time living in an area that's so sunny. It is awesome! I really don't know how all the Californians who have moved to the PNW survive in the gray winters. Maybe they still have friends/family down here and escape to soak up some Vitamin D on the weekends.
Geography
Living in a region with mountains makes me smile. Sure, some days it's too smoggy to see them, but lately the full San Gabriel Range has been on display. And then there's the other foothills and such that I don't know the names of yet, but they are also scenic. Nearby us there is a place called the Arroyo, which as far as I can tell means a dry canyon. It's rugged and rocky and makes you feel like you've escaped the city when you go there.
And then, don't forget the beach! Depending on traffic, it's about 45-60 minutes for us to get to a beach. By LA standards, that's far away but by Memphis standards, it's awesome :)
I know people also talk about skiing/mountain activities here. We haven't ventured North/East yet, but when we do, I'll be sure to blog about it.
Activities
This part's a bit overwhelming, actually. In Memphis it was kind of straightforward. If you have little kids, you want a membership to the zoo, children's museum, and/or botanic garden. Around here, sheesh! There are about 1,000 options, it seems like! I mean, there are the classic big theme parks, like Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Knotts Berry Farm. You've got too many museums to count, zoos, aquariums, gardens, science centers, theaters, and I don't even know how many other choices of things to do. Plus since the weather is almost always nice, you can explore all the various parks and outdoor spaces. If you ever hear me saying I'm bored, that's just crazy talk. I could live here for the rest of my life and still not do everything.
Food/Dietary Options
Since arriving in CA, I've decided to go dairy-free. Although I didn't test as allergic to milk, I just feel so much better without dairy. It's been a pretty easy transition thanks to all of the vegan options around here, both in grocery stores and at restaurants. And if you ask the waitstaff, "Does that have dairy?" you don't get a strange look or anything. Meanwhile, in Memphis, I once got a total eye roll for ordering enchiladas with no cheese at a Mexican restaurant.
Speaking of Mexican food, taco trucks here are legit and delicious. There are so many different types of food available here that it's impossible to list them all. Ever had Indonesian bone broth? There's a place just a couple blocks away from us with a simmering vat full! I want to go out to eat all the time. But my children aren't very adventurous eaters, so sometimes we opt for take-out for the grownups and chicken nuggets for the kids...
Closer to Relatives
My parents and siblings all live in Oregon. It's really nice to be close to them - just a quick 2 hour flight, instead of a whole-day travel ordeal, and you don't have to change time zones!
Public Services
I'm just starting to learn about this topic, but I guess all those personal income tax funds we're paying to the state are getting used for stuff! I've been attending a free weekly parent education class offered at a local community college. They have 10 or 15 different classes going every week, all free! It's my understanding that a combo of state funding and private fundraising covers the cost. The class is like a preschool where parents and children are there together. So cool!
And now, for the things that have been harder to cope with...
Huge Metropolis
I can't really explain to you how gigantic the Los Angeles metro area is. Apparently it's the second-largest metro area in the country. There are like 60 cities in the region, depending on how you define "city." I'm always having to check Google Maps to see where places are, because I'll read a blog or something about a fun weekend activity only to find out it's down in Orange County (an hour+ away). Short of hanging a giant regional map on the wall and studying it daily, I don't know how I'll ever wrap my head around the megalopolis that is Los Angeles.
Tons of People
Remember all those things I listed above that I like about SoCal? Yeah, a bunch of other people also like those things, so they all want to live here, too. Traffic is intense. You really do have to plan your trips around traffic if you don't want to spend your whole life sitting on a freeway. And then when you go places and do things, a bunch of other people are also there at the same places wanting to do the same things. We went to the zoo on President's Day and it was packed to the gills! I have never been to a zoo that was so busy before. I suppose it being a school holiday, parents were looking for a way to entertain their kids, but still, we had to wait in the members line for like 10-15 minutes just to get through the front gate!
Cost of Living
Really, this one hasn't bothered me too much because I knew what we were getting into, but I feel compelled to mention it. It is certainly more expensive to live here than Memphis. It seems more expensive than Seattle, too, though we left that city nearly 5 years ago so my mental price list is probably outdated. The cost of housing around LA is shockingly high. We keep debating if we should buy a place here. Then we look at the prices and say, "it's got to be a bubble, right? It'll pop soon." But the prices just keep on rising...!
Saturday, January 6, 2018
A Day in the Life, Year 3
It's time for my annual post, "What I did all day." I started this tradition when the boys were first born and I'll keep going as long as I remember :) On the first Friday of January (that is not January 1st), I record everything I do over the course of the day. Since my kids are generally with me, it's also a log of their activities.
The rule I have for myself is that I should try to have a normal day - not doing special things just because I want everyone on the internet to know how cool I am. And I don't have to publish every single happening, especially if it involves something like bodily functions that may embarrass the children in the future.
I can tell I have more time on my hands these days and/or more functional brain cells b/c my notes from today are rather long!
January 5, 2018
Location: Pasadena, CA
12:00a All quiet on the sleeping front
6:48a I wake up, just 2 minutes before DF's alarm. This is progress! I had been waking up at 6 but just hiding under my pillow to read Facebook on my phone. Sleeping is a better use of time. Today I read a couple parenting articles while DF takes a shower, even though I've told myself I need to stop reading so much and just be a parent...
I take a shower and get dressed. The kids are still sleeping so I address our last Christmas card to send out (returned due to old address) and make some coffee.
7:43a Hear a cough from the boys' room. They've been a bit congested lately. I wonder if anyone is sick. Put away dishes and eat some breakfast. We don't have a dining room table, so I sit on the couch to eat my cereal and don't slosh milk anywhere. Yay!
8:10a Hear more coughing, so I go into the kids' room to find they are both awake. Gus immediately reports that Gibson has been coughing. Is he worried about his brother? I get them both out of their cribs.
8:20a OH MY WORD I have already heard the word "me" at least 40 times, including "me-self," "me do it," "me first," "me chair," etc.... I was thinking about recording how many times they say "me" in a day but realize I would drive myself insane so give up on that idea. They are eating frozen microwave mini pancakes for breakfast, which the boys insist on helping make (so I have to lift them up and down to reach the microwave buttons). The pancakes are driving wheels and castles today, I am told.
8:40a Start getting boys dressed and changing diapers
8:55a They are both finally clothed. Interlude there where Gus wants yells "ah! ah!" at the trains from the balcony. They start fighting over their toy cash register and want to take out the batteries. I try to explain the concept of batteries to them. They don't care.
9:00a I realize we need to go to the grocery store b/c we're almost out of bread. Then I look at the Vons ad and see all these deals I can't pass up. Vons is the only store where I'll take the boys by myself because they have 2-seater driving wheel carts.
9:20a depart for store. We get the fire truck cart today. They sing "wee-ooh! wee-ooh!" with gusto up and down the aisles and only yank one item off a shelf. Not a bad shopping trip! But I buy way too much stuff.
10:20a back home. They help me carry the groceries up from the parking garage, sort of. At least they both walk the whole way. They eat a yogurt snack while I put the food away. Gibson refuses to eat the blueberries in his yogurt, which is unfortunate as the brand I bought is advertising "now with more fruit."
10:40a I turn on the TV so I can cook in peace. I bought a bunch of ground turkey, so I'm cooking it now and will freeze it in 1 pound packs for future meals.
11:10a We go down to the leasing office to pick up an Amazon package that arrived yesterday. Along the way, we visit the pool, outside fountain, mailbox, and the dry cleaning drop off with beeping buttons on their lockers.
11:30a Home, and time for lunch. They mainly eat cantaloupe and smash up their peanut butter sandwiches. They add an extra "w" sound and pronounce it "swan-wich," which I find adorable.
11:50a Done with lunch, so now they are using the momentum of rocking their bodies back and forth to roll their high chairs across the kitchen floor, and cracking themselves up. After they get down, they want me to play with them in their closet where they close the door and turn on two singing toys, but not to the same song. This is not my favorite game! They pretend to fix things, ask me to read the same book 3 times, and start fighting over a bus toy.
12:35p I'm tired of listening to fights, so I turn the TV on and give them a snack while I eat some lunch, clean the kitchen.
1:05p In bed for nap time. I eat some more, start a load of laundry, and hide the fruit cups I just bought in the back of a cupboard.
1:15p Gus is squealing. I give him some books to look at. Gibson is already asleep.
During their nap, I cut up some chicken to go in the freezer, take out a precariously full sack of garbage, throw my other neighbors' trash down the chute that they leave in the trash room b/c apparently I'm the floor mom, and wash dishes. I have a weekly chore chart for myself, which I do allow myself to slack on but not this week b/c we're just back from 2 weeks of vacation and I was slacking before that :) So today is cleaning the countertops and dusting, plus laundry. Then I sweep the kitchen because of course when I wipe off the counters, I make a mess. I go down to the garage to retrieve the last load of groceries. It takes 4 minutes. I hope no one is going to judge me too harshly for leaving my sleeping children unattended... Then I eat a snack while checking FB/IG. Send some emails and make a phone call for general life stuff.
2:50p Everyone is still asleep, so I sit down to read chapter 1 of my new library book, The Cross & the Lynching Tree. It seems like a good complement to another book I read recently, Just Mercy.
3:20p Hear a creature stirring in the bedroom. Both of them are awake, but Gibson doesn't want to get out of bed for awhile. We all play trucks.
3:55p Applesauce snack, then off to the park. There's a park across the street from our apartment complex, which is one of my favorite things about our location! I pull the kids in their wagon. A drunk guy greets us at the crosswalk and tries to get high 5s from the boys. They eye him warily, as do I. At the park, they go on their favorite things - swing, rolling slide, bouncy bridge. I help them on the monkey bars, and their grip strength is improving.
5:00p Finally back home. It takes us about 15 minutes from the entry door to our apartment b/c they have to admire everyone's decorations, run up and down the hallway, spin in circles by the elevator, try to reach out a window and grab a tree...
5:15p DF arrives home. Boys have been screaming a lot the last 15 minutes. He convinces them to eat some dinner. After they are done, they crawl and DF pretending he is a car while I eat dinner. Then we switch places, except I don't know how to be a car as well as Daddy does, according to the boys.
6:20p Gibson sounds a bit hoarse. I'm worried he's getting croup. His temperature is 99.0. WebMD says to keep him calm, but the boys are currently climbing on a cushion fort. He is coughing so I nix the cushion play and tell them they can pick a movie to watch instead.
6:30p They pick Caillou...siiiiiigh. Luckily it's a video with a bunch of short episodes and they agree to switch to Land Before Time after the first little show. I clean up dinner while they watch TV and eat snacks, then we all snuggle on the couch for awhile.
7:40p Bath time. Lots of roaring dinosaur splashing inspired by their recent viewing, I suspect.
8:10p Out of the bath, try to get them to play calmly with trucks and avoid cushion chaos. Gibson still sounds like his throat is scratchy.
8:30p Bedtime. The routine includes brush teeth, read a Bible story + 2 books, songs, prayer, hugs, goodnight. Gibson's temp is 99.3 but he's not coughing very much. While I'm finishing up with the boys, I send DF downstairs to our local tap house to fill up our growler because TGIF.
9:00p Boys in bed. This time schedule is pretty normal for us, lately. While we were traveling for the holidays they kept staying up late and sleeping in. It's working ok, I guess, but sometimes we do need to get moving earlier in the mornings. Hmm, we shall see how it goes.
DF returns with a beer called White Ghost. It's a Berliner Weisse, a sour. It's different than what I usually drink, but it's pretty good.
I move a second load of laundry to the dryer, start the dishwasher, and type of this novella of my day.
I hope I don't jinx myself by publishing tonight! If anything noteworthy happens in the next 90 minutes, I'll be sure to update the post. As it is, I'm about to head off to bed, after I fold the mountain of laundry currently covering my sleeping surface...
The rule I have for myself is that I should try to have a normal day - not doing special things just because I want everyone on the internet to know how cool I am. And I don't have to publish every single happening, especially if it involves something like bodily functions that may embarrass the children in the future.
I can tell I have more time on my hands these days and/or more functional brain cells b/c my notes from today are rather long!
January 5, 2018
Location: Pasadena, CA
12:00a All quiet on the sleeping front
6:48a I wake up, just 2 minutes before DF's alarm. This is progress! I had been waking up at 6 but just hiding under my pillow to read Facebook on my phone. Sleeping is a better use of time. Today I read a couple parenting articles while DF takes a shower, even though I've told myself I need to stop reading so much and just be a parent...
I take a shower and get dressed. The kids are still sleeping so I address our last Christmas card to send out (returned due to old address) and make some coffee.
7:43a Hear a cough from the boys' room. They've been a bit congested lately. I wonder if anyone is sick. Put away dishes and eat some breakfast. We don't have a dining room table, so I sit on the couch to eat my cereal and don't slosh milk anywhere. Yay!
8:10a Hear more coughing, so I go into the kids' room to find they are both awake. Gus immediately reports that Gibson has been coughing. Is he worried about his brother? I get them both out of their cribs.
8:20a OH MY WORD I have already heard the word "me" at least 40 times, including "me-self," "me do it," "me first," "me chair," etc.... I was thinking about recording how many times they say "me" in a day but realize I would drive myself insane so give up on that idea. They are eating frozen microwave mini pancakes for breakfast, which the boys insist on helping make (so I have to lift them up and down to reach the microwave buttons). The pancakes are driving wheels and castles today, I am told.
8:40a Start getting boys dressed and changing diapers
8:55a They are both finally clothed. Interlude there where Gus wants yells "ah! ah!" at the trains from the balcony. They start fighting over their toy cash register and want to take out the batteries. I try to explain the concept of batteries to them. They don't care.
9:00a I realize we need to go to the grocery store b/c we're almost out of bread. Then I look at the Vons ad and see all these deals I can't pass up. Vons is the only store where I'll take the boys by myself because they have 2-seater driving wheel carts.
9:20a depart for store. We get the fire truck cart today. They sing "wee-ooh! wee-ooh!" with gusto up and down the aisles and only yank one item off a shelf. Not a bad shopping trip! But I buy way too much stuff.
10:20a back home. They help me carry the groceries up from the parking garage, sort of. At least they both walk the whole way. They eat a yogurt snack while I put the food away. Gibson refuses to eat the blueberries in his yogurt, which is unfortunate as the brand I bought is advertising "now with more fruit."
10:40a I turn on the TV so I can cook in peace. I bought a bunch of ground turkey, so I'm cooking it now and will freeze it in 1 pound packs for future meals.
11:10a We go down to the leasing office to pick up an Amazon package that arrived yesterday. Along the way, we visit the pool, outside fountain, mailbox, and the dry cleaning drop off with beeping buttons on their lockers.
11:30a Home, and time for lunch. They mainly eat cantaloupe and smash up their peanut butter sandwiches. They add an extra "w" sound and pronounce it "swan-wich," which I find adorable.
11:50a Done with lunch, so now they are using the momentum of rocking their bodies back and forth to roll their high chairs across the kitchen floor, and cracking themselves up. After they get down, they want me to play with them in their closet where they close the door and turn on two singing toys, but not to the same song. This is not my favorite game! They pretend to fix things, ask me to read the same book 3 times, and start fighting over a bus toy.
12:35p I'm tired of listening to fights, so I turn the TV on and give them a snack while I eat some lunch, clean the kitchen.
1:05p In bed for nap time. I eat some more, start a load of laundry, and hide the fruit cups I just bought in the back of a cupboard.
1:15p Gus is squealing. I give him some books to look at. Gibson is already asleep.
During their nap, I cut up some chicken to go in the freezer, take out a precariously full sack of garbage, throw my other neighbors' trash down the chute that they leave in the trash room b/c apparently I'm the floor mom, and wash dishes. I have a weekly chore chart for myself, which I do allow myself to slack on but not this week b/c we're just back from 2 weeks of vacation and I was slacking before that :) So today is cleaning the countertops and dusting, plus laundry. Then I sweep the kitchen because of course when I wipe off the counters, I make a mess. I go down to the garage to retrieve the last load of groceries. It takes 4 minutes. I hope no one is going to judge me too harshly for leaving my sleeping children unattended... Then I eat a snack while checking FB/IG. Send some emails and make a phone call for general life stuff.
2:50p Everyone is still asleep, so I sit down to read chapter 1 of my new library book, The Cross & the Lynching Tree. It seems like a good complement to another book I read recently, Just Mercy.
3:20p Hear a creature stirring in the bedroom. Both of them are awake, but Gibson doesn't want to get out of bed for awhile. We all play trucks.
3:55p Applesauce snack, then off to the park. There's a park across the street from our apartment complex, which is one of my favorite things about our location! I pull the kids in their wagon. A drunk guy greets us at the crosswalk and tries to get high 5s from the boys. They eye him warily, as do I. At the park, they go on their favorite things - swing, rolling slide, bouncy bridge. I help them on the monkey bars, and their grip strength is improving.
5:00p Finally back home. It takes us about 15 minutes from the entry door to our apartment b/c they have to admire everyone's decorations, run up and down the hallway, spin in circles by the elevator, try to reach out a window and grab a tree...
5:15p DF arrives home. Boys have been screaming a lot the last 15 minutes. He convinces them to eat some dinner. After they are done, they crawl and DF pretending he is a car while I eat dinner. Then we switch places, except I don't know how to be a car as well as Daddy does, according to the boys.
6:20p Gibson sounds a bit hoarse. I'm worried he's getting croup. His temperature is 99.0. WebMD says to keep him calm, but the boys are currently climbing on a cushion fort. He is coughing so I nix the cushion play and tell them they can pick a movie to watch instead.
6:30p They pick Caillou...siiiiiigh. Luckily it's a video with a bunch of short episodes and they agree to switch to Land Before Time after the first little show. I clean up dinner while they watch TV and eat snacks, then we all snuggle on the couch for awhile.
7:40p Bath time. Lots of roaring dinosaur splashing inspired by their recent viewing, I suspect.
8:10p Out of the bath, try to get them to play calmly with trucks and avoid cushion chaos. Gibson still sounds like his throat is scratchy.
8:30p Bedtime. The routine includes brush teeth, read a Bible story + 2 books, songs, prayer, hugs, goodnight. Gibson's temp is 99.3 but he's not coughing very much. While I'm finishing up with the boys, I send DF downstairs to our local tap house to fill up our growler because TGIF.
9:00p Boys in bed. This time schedule is pretty normal for us, lately. While we were traveling for the holidays they kept staying up late and sleeping in. It's working ok, I guess, but sometimes we do need to get moving earlier in the mornings. Hmm, we shall see how it goes.
DF returns with a beer called White Ghost. It's a Berliner Weisse, a sour. It's different than what I usually drink, but it's pretty good.
I move a second load of laundry to the dryer, start the dishwasher, and type of this novella of my day.
I hope I don't jinx myself by publishing tonight! If anything noteworthy happens in the next 90 minutes, I'll be sure to update the post. As it is, I'm about to head off to bed, after I fold the mountain of laundry currently covering my sleeping surface...
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Not Yet
Do you ever get impatient with your kids? I don't mean in the "will you please finish your dinner??" sense - I'm thinking of waiting for them to achieve a milestone. I had a reminder today that I need to appreciate the season we're in without trying to push my kids to be older than they are.
Sometimes when I'm out with the boys and we're having fun, I think to myself, oh, we should stop at a coffee shop and get a little treat. I imagine us all sitting around a table together, nibbling on something sweet, and having good conversations about life. Obviously, that last part should have clued me in because the boys are just now starting to string three words together ("Mommy help me," Gus said at lunch today when he wanted me to feed him Cheerios. Yes, Cheerios for lunch. We are in a major breakfast-for-every-meal phase over here lately.)
This morning, we were walking home from our weekly free entertainment at a nearby mall. We'd had a good time giggling and dancing at the puppet show, and the boys seemed to be in a good mood. So I thought, hey, let's stop at Starbucks! (I was also motivated by the fact that I hadn't finished my morning coffee at home...)
First, the boys were excited to look at the display board outside with all the flavors of hot chocolate. (They thought they were cookies.) Then, when we went in, they said, "Wow!" I guess they were impressed by their first visit to Starbucks! They quickly started grabbing armfuls of biscotti off the counter and running around the cafe. Using my best calm-yet-authoritative mother voice, I said, "Boys, come here and stand by me." They scampered over. Phew! As I ordered my latte, I returned the biscotti to their shelf and picked out more kid-friendly cookies, chocolate dipped madelines.
We took our treats outside (because it was 70 degrees, oh yeah, SoCal!) and sat around a table. They happily munched their cookies for about 2 minutes. I snapped some photos. Then the scene descended into CHAOS! Gus only ate the chocolate half of his cookie, then asked for more. Silly Mom, I had picked a package with three cookies. I told them they could share the last one. That was the WRONG ANSWER! They started screaming NO NO NO! as I broke the cookie and it came apart in four pieces. Huge tears! Gus reluctantly grabbed a piece with chocolate, but he wouldn't eat the plain parts. Gibson gobbled up the remaining 3/4 of the extra cookie, plus the original 1/2 that Gus refused to eat. So Gus was even MORE mad when he saw Gibson was still eating cookie while he had none.
The only other snacks I had with me were Goldfish crackers. The kids informed me that those were NOT an acceptable alternative. At this point I'd had maybe one sip of my coffee, but it was obviously time to go home. I told the boys to go get in the wagon. Gus jumped down from his seat saying "button!" I thought he was going to go play with the donate-your-change-to-help-the-homeless meter next to our table, so I said ok and turned my attention to helping Gibson wipe up. Next thing I know, Gus had run over to the crosswalk and was yelling "Button! Button!" because obviously that's what he was talking about. "Gus!" I yelled. "Get back here!" A pedestrian looked on and probably wondered if he should stop this two year old from crossing the street by himself.
I got Gibson down from the chair and ran to grab Gus. Of course, the wagon was around the corner of the store, so I had to retrieve it. Gibson came with me. Gus stood by the window pointing inside exclaiming "Cookie! More cookie!" I got them both in the wagon and started heading home. We'd gone about half a block when I heard some unhappy squeals behind me. I turned to see Gus laying on top of Gibson, possibly chewing on him, while they both were hanging over the side of the wagon. An older gentleman passing by helpfully pointed out, "Hey, they're going to fall out." I ignored him and said to the boys in a less-than-calm-and-quite-authoritative mother voice, "Cut it out!"
We managed to get home with all our limbs intact. Then I gave them popsicles to eat on the balcony (because I'm sure more sugar will solve their problems...) while I finished my latte in relative peace.
In conclusion, I think I'll wait on my little dream of hanging out at a coffee shop with my kids until they are, hmm, at least 5 years old. Or maybe younger if I just have one of them with me!
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