When my kid is "that kid"...

One thing I love about other moms is their ability to turn off attention to any kid but their own.  Case in point, today, I went to Flat Rock Library to take part in their toddler story time which is on Wednesdays at 10:15.

Ryann was excited, though she didn't know what to expect. She just knew that there would be other kids there.

Of course, the other kids had all been there before. Ryann had never been to anything like it.  As the other kids sat on the floor patiently waiting as the leader transitioned from one activity to another (singing, dancing, reading, etc.) Ryann stood in front of me going crazy with anticipation waiting to see what they would do next.  Ryann was not the youngest kid there either by any means. The age range is from 1-2, and I would guess the majority of the kids were closer to 12-18 months.

While the leader read a pop-up book on farm animals, Ryann yelled out every name of every animal along with their accompanying sound.  Which she got correct, except for the horse that she called a cow (we'll be practicing that over and over tonight).

When they got out the parachute for the kids to sit underneath while the parents waved it, Ryann insisted on standing.

When the kids sat on top of the parachute so the parents could pull them around, Ryann refused to get on.  Until she saw what we were doing.  Then she insisted everyone stop to let her on the parachute.

Regardless, not a single parent/grandparent/caretaker ever batted an eye at her or gave me an evil glare.  The nice part about being around other parents is that they understand that your little angel is not always going to act appropriately and that you have limited control over their actions at any given time.  While Ryann was a little distracting, she wasn't being mean to any kids or ruining their time.  She was just excited and couldn't sit still.  I appreciate all the adults (and kids) in the group today that didn't hold that against her.  Now if only the general public would follow suit.  A little understanding goes a long way.  I'll try to remember that when somebody else has their turn to have "that kid."

 

Ryann at Flat Rock Community Park before Toddler Time.  Can you tell she's excited?

To Do Downriver- Wed 30 June 2010

Here is a glimpse of things going on Downriver today-Wednesdays are always the busiest!  More things in the upcoming weeks can be found on the Yahoo! calendar (see links to your left under "Things to Do").  You can also send me an e-mail to downrivermom1@yahoo.com and be added to an e-mail list that will e-mail reminders about fun things going on.  Ryann and I are hoping to make it to a few more of these activities before baby brother comes!

10a Toddler Story Time-Riverview

10:15a Toddler Story Time-Flat Rock

11:30a Ages 3-7 Story Time-Flat Rock

12p McLunch at Mills-Southgate

5p Funtastic Night Special

6p Family Story Time-Melvindale

7:15p Open Swim $2-Flat Rock

9p Movie in the Park-Trenton

Ready or not, here he comes...

As of today I am 37 weeks pregnant-full term-so the baby could come any day now and there is nothing anyone would do to try to stop it.  I am torn between being ready for this baby to come out and join the family and postponing his birth so that I can spend more time with Ryann during her last few days of being an only child.


I know its hormones. I think its hormones.  Its gotta be hormones.


I lie awake at night wondering how Ryann is going to take being knocked off her pedestal and replaced with a smaller, probably stinkier, definitely needier baby.  Chances are she is going to adjust just fine. Hormones tell me that she will never forgive me.  I have to fight the urge to not wake her up in the middle of the night so that I can hold her on my lap without being interrupted by a crying baby.  I imagine my heart breaking if she comes to the hospital and asks me to leave with her like she has before when leaving her with sitters-"C'mon mama!"


But ready or not, the baby is coming when he is ready-whether Ryann, Matt, and I are or not.  It's a bittersweet excitement as our family gets ready to change forever-

Thank Heaven...

Just a quick picture of Ryann and my best friend's daughter Miley.  While Ryann has a little boy friend that she sees much more than Miley, there is something so sweet about two little girls playing together.

"Nesting"

I think that nesting is the term for Moms who want things to be clean and also, in turn, enjoy cleaning.  I have a strong desire to have my house clean.  I do not, however, have the motivation to get it there.

For the past few days (okay, month) I have been working on getting all of Ryann's stuff out of the "nursery" and into her "big girl room."  I never realized what an efficient pack rat I am.  Her small little closet is seriously filled to the BRIM with a bunch of random baby items, clothes, etc. that I have been going through and donating, storing, or tossing.  This is taking forever.  Also, as I go through the room, instead of just walking things and putting them where they belong, I have been making piles for things that need to go downstairs, in the attic, in my bedroom, in her bedroom, etc. so now along with the nursery being a mess, there are piles of stuff in all of the other rooms that need to be gone through as well.

I am vowing to be more organized with Matthew.  Clothes that don't fit will be dealt with immediately, either stored for the next boy or donated to charity.  Then maybe I won't have 2 large rubbermaid tubs (thats just the stuff I am keeping) to try to wrangle into the smallest attic in history.

My neighbor, who probably has feels like wearing a HAZMAT suit when she comes to our house (she is really clean) told me that she puts her son's outgrown clothes in the corresponding diaper boxes that she keeps-so if he is wearing size 2 diapers from 6-9 months, those clothes will be in that box.  I think that is a pretty cool idea.  Anyone else have any good ideas for keeping the baby clothes under control?

Make it a half a movie day...

We took Ryann to the movies for the first time today to go see Shrek 3.  My dad invited us to accompany him and my brother Rob so we figured we would give it a try.  The first half of the movie, she was an angel.  Then, she began to lose her patience.  I could feel her squirming in the seat next to me. I remembered that she has been being a total CREATURE for the past few days around nap time-we think she is getting one of her 2 year molars (since her gums are swollen and she has been chewing on her entire HAND whenever she gets a chance). I started to panic. How could I forget the Motrin?  Is she going to flip out?  Can they turn the volume up in here so no one hears me threatening her?

Luckily, she got antsy but Matt took her out of the movie with about 1/2 hour left and I enjoyed the rest of the movie with Robbie and my Dad.  I am wondering, when do you know if your kid is ready to act more human than ogre in a movie theater for an entire movie?

Calling all Downriver moms...

So I got a lot done yesterday in terms of setting up a calendar on-line that includes things to do with toddlers. I am hoping that having this available to moms (both those I know, and those I don't know) will be helpful and maybe even introduce me to some new people along the way.  Lord knows Ryann and I will be sick of looking at each other by summer's end, especially once her brother gets here.

I have also set up a Facebook group, which will have some discussion boards on which moms (or dads, I guess) can talk about the things that they like to do or places that they have tried that really sucks.  I am all for patronizing local businesses and trying to help the community-but the fact of the matter is that MOMS are what make a business successful, and businesses need to cater to that.  Think about it.  Who is the one in the household that makes decisions about where to shop, eat, vacation, get medical treatment, etc.? I know who it is in my house.  By getting together and writing reviews-we have the power to make our communities better by supporting local businesses and changing those that don't want to accommodate us.  I encourage you to join the Facebook group or at least send me an e-mail if you have a place that you think is GREAT to take kids-I will take care of contacting the business and posting its events on the yahoo calendar.  I appreciate the help!

Engaging Panic Sequence

So, I still have 5 weeks until my due date.  However, as I was telling Matt, I am pretty sure that after this week if baby wants to come, baby is coming, and we better be ready.  There are a few things that I need to accomplish before then.

MUST DO
1.  Pack for hospital
2.  Pack bag for Ryann (she's already lined up to be dropped off at my parents' house when it is go time)
3.  Finish getting nursery ready (out with the pink, in with the blue)
4.  Buy some diapers for new baby
5.  Assemble Ryann's new bedroom furniture

WOULD LOVE TO
1.  Reorganize and deep clean entire house
2.  Potty train 2 year old
3.  Make 2 months worth of healthy meals that I can stick in the freezer and cook as necessary

Looking at the list, I think I will for SURE accomplish #1 on the must do.  I can already see myself talked out of everything else.  I think a good thing to do when you have a "to-do" list, is to put a bunch of "fluff" things on it so that at the end of the day it looks like you got more accomplished.  For example-here is today's "before" list:

1.  Assemble Ryann's new dresser
2.  Continue working on laundry pile
3.  Stamp and send thank you cards for Ryann's birthday

Knowing that I will most likely not complete THIS list, I add a few fillers and cross them out as they are accomplished:

1.  Assemble Ryann's new dresser

2.  Take a shower

3.  Continue working on laundry pile

4.  Finish off pasta salad before it goes bad

5.  Send birthday wishes to Facebook friends celebrating a birthday today 

6.  Stamp and send thank you cards for Ryann's birthday

7.  Make sure that I am still high scorer on BEJEWELED BLITZ

8.  Post on Cold Coffee Blog

See how the second list makes it look like I got way more accomplished?  Its all about perception.  Now if you will excuse me, I have some pasta salad to attend to.

Insomnia and Humor

I don't remember having trouble sleeping while pregnant with Ryann.  Of course, I also don't ever remember complaining very much while pregnant with her either-and if Matt remembers anything about it, he is keeping quiet.  Lately I wake up in the middle of the night (usually to use the restroom) and then I can't fall asleep for 1-2 hours afterwards. It is the pits!  Luckily, Ryann still takes a mid-afternoon nap so I will catch a snooze with her to make up for the sleep I lost.

One thing that they don't tell you about in the baby books, which may only be considered a developmental milestone in our house, is that around 2 years old your kid starts to develop a sense of humor.  Matt and I have been talking about it this week-Ryann is really starting to get funny.  I don't mean that she didn't always do funny and cute things, I mean, now she is using her words to say things that will make us laugh-for instance, calling her dad "pumpkin."

Matt had a friend over the other night and I took her in the living room to get her changed for bed.  After I had her completely naked she ran into the kitchen and goes "Damp! (what she calls Matt's friend Grant)- NAKEY NAKEY!" and shakes her little booty before running back to me.  We aren't even sure where she came up with the word nakey.  However, her use of humor and the situations in which she uses them have me wondering-future improv actress or stripper?

Are you there God? Its me, Meghan.

WARNING!  THIS IS A BITTER POST!

So along with myself being laid off last June and my hubby experiencing long bouts of unemployment, we had a very negative renting experience with a house that we still own in Flat Rock.  (We got a great deal on our Trenton house while we were both gainfully employed and able to make both house payments if necessary) Our renters turned out to be complete losers-not sure why I was surprised since the only time we got rent on time was when they signed the lease.

So, after throwing $5000+ down the drain making the house payment on the house that THEY lived in (and, of course, paying the water bill since it was still in our name even though they were supposed to pay it) we finally got them evicted.  February 1st.  A month before their lease was up anyways.  The problem with not having any money is that it took us a while to get the house back to "livable" conditions (which included removing a no longer living Christmas tree and a Corona case full of dog feces).  Every door had been slammed nearly off the hinges and apparently they had locked one of the dogs in a bedroom closet, as the inside of the brand new closet door was scratched up like crazy and the molding was all chewed up.

So, it took us until about May but we bought new carpet and had the entire house painted on the inside.  We contacted a property management company so that we wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of finding tenants or basically doing anything with this property.  The day after we put the property management sign in the front yard we received a $200 ticket from the city of Flat Rock for not renewing a business license on a rental home.  Since we never HAD a business license and since no one had been living in there for months (and no one had been paying rent there for even longer) we weren't aware that we had to have a permit.  My husband went to city hall and explained.  The guy at city hall told us to just not pay the ticket and explain our situation to the judge when it went to court.  In the mean time we had some renters interested in moving in June 1.  So my husband paid the ticket so we wouldn't hold up the renters moving in.  Then we applied for the business license.  Which requires a $200 home safety inspection.  (Bill so far to get the house rentable?  $100 in cleaning, $800 for paint, $500 for carpet, $200 ticket, $200 inspection charge, $600 to replace ruined doors-so far $2400 that we don't have just lying around)  Once the inspection is complete, we have 30 days to complete everything on the list to make our house safe for the renters.  (side note-this inspection is not required if we were to sell the house-does that make any sense?)

We received our list of things that needed to be fixed a few days later.  Did I say list?  I meant PACKET.  I understand most of the issues-for example, making sure all outlets are grounded makes a house more safe.  But when it lists fixing a small dent in drywall as a SAFETY hazard that would prevent us from allowing someone to live there?  I think its a little ridiculous.  Hang a poster over it and be done with it.

So we have to hire a licensed electrician to fix all the outlets and put in light switches, etc. where code deems appropriate.  Plus a handyman to finish the rest of the laundry list.  We are looking at around $600 just to start the work.  We've been hustling try to figure out how to come up with the money so that we could get the work done within the 30 days and get our potential renters in the house and not have to choose a house payment over food.  We think Ryann could fetch a hefty sum on the black market but we have grown quite attached to her in the 2 years she's been around.

I have been praying and doing any other sort of ritual that might bring us some luck.  I guess God must have wanted to help but maybe misunderstood why I was so stressed out-because our June renters backed out on the day they were supposed to sign the lease.  Apparently they qualified for a mortgage and didn't feel like telling us for the past THREE WEEKS that we have not been advertising.  

I need a sign quick that doing the right thing is still the right thing to do.

Rain, Rain, you ruined my day.

Today, the city of Trenton and Wayne County Parks were supposed to be hosting the annual Nursery School Olympics, which, according to Trenton Parks and Recreation's website would have such fun things as a Marshmallow Shot Put, Miniature Miniature Golf, Mom’s Guessing Game, Diaper Derby, Paper Plate Discus Throw, Checkerboard Penny Toss, Big Wheel Grand Prix, Toddler Trot, Low Low Hurdles, an Obstacle Course, and a Red White and Blue Parade.  Do I have any idea what the majority of these things are?  No.  Did it sound like an activity filled morning that would guarantee me a lot of afternoon nap time?  Definitely.  So we wanted to go.

Unfortunately, there were "severe" thunderstorms all morning so when we got to Elizabeth Park there was no sign of any olympics going on (yes, we still drove there in the rain in the off chance that it would be 70 degrees and sunny 3.1 miles from our house).  I was excited because Matt said he wanted to go too and it would probably be our only chance to EVER go as a family. (My fingers are still crossed that we will both go back to work-of course, him sooner than me!)

As the rain poured I saw my quiet afternoon washed away as well.  What was I going to do now?  For all the time I spend on the internet, you would think that I would have a huge list of clean, age-appropriate, indoor activities that I could do with Ryann on the cheap.  However, not the case.

One thing I did know is where to get a good breakfast-and since I am 33 weeks pregnant, eating is one of my favorite things to do (ironically, a favorite hobby when I am not pregnant is ALSO eating).  So we headed to Kate's Kitchen in Flat Rock for a delicious breakfast.  It didn't tire Ryann out like the olympics would have, but still an enjoyable morning.  Next time, I will be prepared with a back up plan of things to do with her.  Any suggestions?