Relaxing morning at the wading pool (surprise, surprise!)

It's not easy keeping a toddler entertained and out of trouble when you've got another wee-one to feed on a 2 hour basis but we're coping. This morning was certainly a good one. We (finally) got out of the house at 10:30 and headed up to the wading pool. There were only a few kids there so we got a spot in the shade and Kieran headed for the water. Before I knew it, it was time to feed Patrick again but I was able to sit by the side of the pool and supervise Kieran in the water while nursing Patrick.
What a difference a year makes! Not to say a few months...last summer I couldn't leave Kieran's side without him bolting in the opposite direction at full speed. Today, he played for a good hour in the water without me even having to get my feet wet, yay! I think we'll be spending quite a few days at the wading pool when we don't have any other activities planned. What's great too is that you are allowed to eat by the side of the pool (or at least they tolerate it.) The only downside is having to walk up the hill with the double stroller but I can use the workout!

I often relate to this comic strip...

How does it end?

My husband loves to watch movies. Not that we go to the theater very often, we didn't either pre-kids. But come Tuesday morning, you can usually find him at whatever store has the best deal on the DVD release of the week.
Hence, we have lots of DVDs. I mean hundreds. Cabinets and shelves are overflowing with movies. One of many storage issues we have in this house.
At least they do get watched. Not so much by me (more about that later) but he can watch the same movie over and over and over and over again. And he sometimes watches movies at work. Ahh, the multi-taking skills of a computer geek!
Bravo and Showtime channels have ruined certain movies for me as they tend to play some titles more often than should be allowed.
I will run screaming from the room if I see The Fugitive, Conspiracy Theory (I could just shoot Julia Roberts as she utters his name Jerry, Jerry, Jerry...) or the Pelican Brief, to name a few. Meanwhile, Tim is happily content to watch these films and not necessarily as a background distraction while he's doing other things.
I prefer listening to music or even better, just plain quiet. (Being around kids all day, you tend to like the quiet!)
But we compromise. Which means I turn the tv off when I can't take it anymore!
When I do watch a movie, I usually have to be in the mindset to sit down and have the whole movie experience. Popcorn and soda are often involved.
My problem is that I've never been good at staying awake throughout an entire movie. Ever. Even before the tired that comes with having kids.
I've fallen asleep before the end of so many movies, it's ridiculous. I could do day-long movie marathons of just the endings of films!
I will even reluctantly admit to nodding off at the theater during the most action packed parts of some movies. In fact, this happened just yesterday when I went to see Thor. I'm sure it's a great film but I don't really know!

One day, maybe, after a good long nap (like that day will ever come!) I will have that movie ending marathon, that's also if I can remember which movies I've actually seen!
Until then, well, it's not so bad when Tim puts something on that we've watched before. There are sure to be scenes which wil be new to me!

Day 3

Is it even worth mentioning?
Kieran made it to 6:30 on Wednesday morning.
I plopped him in front of Dora Choo Choo a couple of times while I showered and dressed then we had time for some breakfast before Patrick woke up.
We walked to daycare and then I had a quiet day with Patrick which included a visit to Dairy Queen with Uncle Olaf.

I was a little exhausted by the time I picked Kieran up and played outside with him for a while before supper then Uncle P-J showed up and took over.

Patrick had to wait and cry it out a little longer than usual when he woke up while we were putting Kieran to bed.
Patrick, get your timing right already! You're almost 2 months old, sheesh!
Fortunately, Kieran stayed in bed that evening.

Daddy came home just after 10, one day earlier than expected.
Me, I was falling asleep on the couch while nursing Patrick.
He tends to cluster feed (on & off without much time in between feedings) in the evenings so it gets a bit tiring and challenging as I try to get some chores done in there too.

I wrote this at 4 am and Patrick only nursed a bit and spat up big time. So I went back to bed. Zzzzzzzzzzz....

Evening #2

This time I apologize to those whose children get up early and/or don't sleep through the night...

Monday night, I fell asleep while nursing Patrick so got to bed at about 12:30 then he let me sleep until 4 am. I got back to bed after that by 5 and then Kieran was up at 6! Mr Exhausted was perky and ready to go at that hour. Mommy, not so much. I tried to get him to lie down with me in bed which led to him squirming next to me for 20 minutes.
So we got up and started our day. Patrick was making noises intermittently but didn't really wake up until I was in the shower. By the time I was dry and dressed and could tend to him, he'd cried his first tears.
Sniff, sniff.

We made it to playgroup more or less on time and from there we went to have lunch at Grandpa and Grandmaman's. I left Kieran there to nap while I took Patrick to his 2 month doctor's appointment.
He was hungry by the time I took him out of his car seat so the vaccinations went pretty smoothly as I was nursing him at the same time.
Then it was back to my parents' place to get Kieran and home for supper, bath and bed.
Maya came over after work to help me out so Kieran got lots of attention and I could look after Patrick uninterrupted. After some coaxing, Kieran even gobbled down 2 bowls of the cream of broccoli soup I'd made.
She bathed him and then went to cuddle Patrick while I got K to bed. After she left, Kieran did get up once, most likely because he could hear some kids who were still playing outside. I got him back to bed and he stayed there, seemingly knowing I was busy with Patrick.

So evening 2, not so bad at all!

Postscript to Olaf (need you be reminded!): He thought he was Elmo.

Evening #1

I apologize for this post to my friends whose partners are regularly out of town...you are rock stars!

Tim is away for the week. He took the 5 pm train to Toronto to attend a training course. That means I will be alone for 4 evenings to get Kieran fed his supper and ready for bed.

Last night went pretty smoothly. Kieran had spent the day at daycare and there were leftovers in the fridge so that helped out.
We walked home from daycare with a stop to play in the park and then he spent some time on his scooter with one of the neighbours when we got home.
Then it was time for supper as I knew Patrick would be waking up any second. Yep, as soon as we got inside, P started to wake up and fuss.
So I quickly got a plate ready for Kieran and he sat down more or less quietly in Daddy's chair and ate it all up, asking for seconds.
This let me tend to Patrick without too many interruptions.
When he was done, Kieran inevitably asked to watch Dora so I set him up in front of the living room tv and he watched the "Choo Choo" episode for the upteenth time.
Patrick was still stuck on the boob for a bit longer and then it was finally my turn for some nourishment.
Ah, yes, Mommy always comes last!
Dora was over but Patrick was still fussing and I did say he could watch only one episode but Kieran was asking for the Choo Choo again so technically, that's only one episode, right?!
I finished up my meal and Patrick seemed done but unsettled and with Dora over for the second time, we tried to call Daddy to say goodnight but he didn't answer his phone.
So we read Green Eggs and Ham a couple of times and Kieran was way past tired.
We headed up to bed with no muss and no fuss on his part but his brother was still awake and whining.
We left Patrick downstairs and I could hear him crying so it was a quick goodnight ritual for Kieran.
I got back to Patrick and nursed him a bit and then he was out cold. All that crying and all he needed was a little top up!

And the rest of the evening was rather quiet.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's play by play of the witching hour!

Friday follow-up

We had a much better day today, yay for us!

Kieran still spent some time in front of the boob tube but we had a really nice play date with some kids we don't know very well. Kieran was happy to play with older children especially the girl. Cougar chaser!

Too bad we didn't get outside to play before the weather tuned grey in the afternoon.

And here I am at 4:10 am with Patrick who has been sleeping since 11. I was awake before him, anticipating his hunger cries.

And now it's the weekend , let's see how much our routine can be disrupted!

Sidenote: Patrick has the cutest little hands...and a death grip!

Just in time for Mother's Day

I won't be winning any mothering awards after the day we had yesterday...

Tim left the house early, before Kieran was up as he was going to Ottawa for the day. The only real challenge to that is getting in a shower. I need my morning shower!
So Kieran was up a little before 7 just as I finished nursing Patrick.
I got K dressed and we went downstairs for some breakfast and I left him with his food and the tv while I dashed upstairs for a quick shower.
I got back to him and no damage was done!

He got some more tv while I nursed Patrick again then we headed out in the rain to the playgroup around the corner.
You know that kid that parents try to keep their children away from at these groups? Well, Kieran was that kid yesterday.
He was seeking out any other child he could get a reaction out of and going for the toy they were playing with and just being a big bully and pushing and shoving.
Luckily Patrick was fast asleep in the stroller and didn't need my attention.
I tried not to leave Kieran's side and foresee which child he would target next.
And I did contemplate leaving early but figured he'd just act out at home instead so we might as well stick it out to the end and expend some energy in the gym.

As we left, we decided to take the longer way home even if it meant getting a little wet in the rain. Kieran got a little ahead of me and wanted to go to the park and the next thing I knew he was in the middle of the street with me trying to run after him with the stroller while a car is coming up the hill at him. Luckily, for once, the driver was going slow and saw him and stopped and another mother was there and ran after Kieran with her little one in tow.
After some freaked out tears on my part and lots of hugging and mild scolding, we headed for home where Kieran kept hugging me and saying "It's okay Mommy. Cars are dangerous."
Nothing to make me fell any better or stop the tears!

So he got more tv before lunch while I nursed then off to bed for an almost 2 hour nap, surprisingly without a fight.
When Kieran woke up we played with Play-Doh which whenever he'd asked to do lately I'd been busy with Patrick so I always saying we'd do it later.
Of course that kept his interest for 10 minutes at the most then I had to nurse Patrick again.
And let the fun begin!

Kieran had watched enough tv and usually plays quite well so I let him entertain himself while I was tending to Patrick. Well, Kieran decided he'd get into anything and everything. No damage was done but compost bags were thrown about, straws were thrown about, shade strings were pulled after numerous warnings not to play with them, among other things.
He was just constantly getting into things he shouldn't. Luckily I know the sounds of my house so I preempted most of his shenanigans but I'd had quite enough of him completely ignoring my scoldings. Exasparating!

Supper time went okay and then I gave in to the tv again as Patrick was due for his supper.
Of course at this point Kieran wasn't interested in watching much. Then a phone call from a friend asking to come visit brought some reprieve just before bedtime. And luckily bedtime goes pretty smoothly around here.

I know things could have been much worse but I think it's more about the way I dealt with it all and my feelings of helplessness.

"Why won't you just listen to me when I ask you to do/not do something?!!?"

Oh, ya, because you're 2 1/2!