Monday, March 30, 2009

gross

so, i am sitting here eating a piece of reheated pepper and onion pizza (i picked off all the peppers, though) and logging it in to weight watchers and trying to figure out what i can eat for dinner that only has five points, when cara walks over and says "eww! that goss! yuck!" it's a piece of pizza, for christ sake. i took the green peppers off, didn't i? she eats pizza. how gross could it really be? then i look at her and she is trying to hand me something that looks pretty, well...gross. so now i say "eww! that's gross! what is that in your hand?" this is where i get a little closer and discover that it is a chewed-up and spit out quarter of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (with the crust cut off, of course). she responds with "too much. yucky. here, fo you." thanks anyway, but i'll stick with my "goss" pizza. she defnitely out-grosses me in the what do i have in my hand category.

this gets me thinking, maybe i'll start a list of gross things that cara has handed me lately. because, surprisingly enough, the pb&j regurgitation WAS NOT the worst thing caroline handed over to me today. earlier, while i was talking to meghan on the phone, cara walks over with a poopy diaper IN HER HAND, not on her butt and says "my hiney hurt. boo boo." so i hang up on meghan and yell "what are you doing?! where is all the poop?" to which she says, "right here" and walks over and hands me some of that, too.

it is sometime later now, and baths have been taken, diapers have been changed, children have been dressed and fed, the floors have been swept and vacuumed and i am considering the things cara has given me lately. i actually don't think i will make a list, because now that i have given it some serious thought, the entire list consists of: chewed-up and spit out food products, things involving poop and mail. not much of a list, after all, she does however win the grossest thing in my hand competition for the day. hands down. oh wait...i have just been handed "bobbie's jess" (barbie's dress to the rest of us) with a comment of "eww. goss. bobbie's jess all dirty. here." she just left me with the dress to show her siblings "nakee bobbie." how long do you think it will be before i have a story about that to post on here. right now, the boys are thinking that "nakee bobbie" is pretty "goss."

ahh...the joys of motherhood...

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

privacy

i have an idea of how i do not like my days to start and this morning's story pretty much sums it up. by 9:30 this morning, tommy had already had to come home from work to let us in the bathroom. thank god he is working in town today and it only took him a couple of minutes to get here. it could have been really ugly otherwise (we only have one bathroom). this all came about because apparently, jack (4 years old) felt the need for privacy in the bathroom. this from the child who no longer lets me SHOWER by myself (he has decided he no longer likes to take baths, only showers, but we only have a shower stall, so he can't manage a shower by himself and if i try to bath him, or try to take a shower by myself, it is a total temper tantrum nightmare from hell). he told me "i just wanted to be alone in the bathroom for a few minutes and everybody always comes in while i am in there." (notice the quotation marks, that is verbatim what he said) OH REALLY!?!?!? i'd probably give an arm to be alone in the bathroom just one time each week. that's it and i still don't get that! apparently, jackie boy decided to lock the bathroom door while he was in there (he must not have shut the door all the way, however) and then when i was coming downstairs i pulled all the doors shut (i do this everytime i am on the second floor as a deterrent for the girls. it doesn't work, but i keep trying). not two minutes later, jack goes storming up the stairs to the bathroom and then starts yelling that he can't get it open. i try to open it with a bobby pin (i must have forgotten that i am not nancy drew) while katie and cara sit on my lap and the boys stand on either side of me. oh yeah, this is gonna be a good morning. can't wait to ssee what the rest of the day holds!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

my revelation

so...i had a revelation last night. i think i am not very good at this blogging thing, because i don't do it often enough and then when i do, my thoughts are all over the place and i am trying to remember a million things at once and try to keep everything in a cohesive little story. that's a lot of work. i have decided to try to blog more often and make my entries shorter. i think the best way for me to do this is to build off of my facebook statuses. many of you may be surprised to find out that i am a total facebook addict (hahaha) and a lot of times, i feel that i could totally elaborate on my status statement, but i don't want to write a book there. my blog is the perfect opportunity to do that! i hope that all of my facebook friends aren't bored by repetition between the two spots. i figure that i will still post long rambling posts here on the blog, too, because let's face it...i do love to talk/type/ramble, whatever. thanks again for your support!

Monday, March 23, 2009

recent events
















i have decided today's post will encompass a couple things that have gone on lately as i am not good at blogging on a daily basis and there are a couple of things that have occurred to me that i would like to document.

we recently celebrated st. patrick's day here by going to philadelphia's parade. all three boys marched with my husband and were so excited to throw candy at people along the parade route. they really did look so cute, i couldn't even stand it. and, they did a great job! all three marched the entire length with no tears and no complaints. that is a red letter event in the rafter household! no tears is definitely something to blog about. hell, that's almost worthy of a billboard! the girls did not get to march this year, so they watched from the sidelines with the rest of the family in all of their parade finery. they, also, looked too cute for words. i love parade day (now, for the three years straight that i was pregnant for it, it was NOT my favorite day). to me, it is such a family-oriented celebratory day. and this year was expecially fun, because we had a really large group with us. for me, the st. patrick's day parade is the perfect example of being irish catholic in philadelphia and i am happy that i have this opportunity to show my children about the roots of our heritage. i don't know why i identify so strongly with the parade. i don't remember going myself as a child, but i do have pictures of my father in it when he was young. i guess i just like the tradition of it and the fact that we have it. i think i also like that it is a pretty irish american tradition (from what i understand, st. patty's day in ireland is nothing like it is here) and we are most definitely irish americans. plus, it's a day when i get to dress my kids up really cute and they all keep their hats on all day (and in the long run, what is more important than that? haha).
so, the next point that i thought i would share is something that the girls did this weekend. saturday was a very productive day here. i cleaned the first floor and decorated for easter. the kids were in and out of our postage stamp sized backyard all day (in a temporary fit of insanity on thursday, i bought a huge bubble bucket, jump ropes and sidewalk chalk). at one point, i looked out back and did not see the girls. i checked through the house, no girls. at this point my husband went outside to look for them. they were still not in the yard, nor were they in the alley. he did, however, manage to run them down on cedar street. we do not live on cedar street. it is the cross street at our corner. it's a reasonably large street (a septa bus route runs up it) with a good amount of traffic. apparently, the darlings were able to sneak through the gate out back, escape up the alley and go hang out the corner. great. if that is what they are doing at 2, what do you think is in store for us when they are 16? i kind of hope that i will have already been institutionalized by then.
so, i now have three potty chairs in my living room. great. i know that the end result will be super incredibly awesome because, honestly i can't even imagine what my days would be like if i didn't have diapers to change; but potty training is THE ALL TIME WORST JOB EVER. it is almost worth it to go on changing diapers forever. that is how much i hate it. it does seem, however, that the girls may be a little easier to train than the boys. for instance, today, when i went upstairs to pee (i was trying to sneak and see if i could actually get the bathroom alone for a minute) and before i even got the door closed, katie showed up with her potty in tow. alright, i'll take one for the team here and share the bathroom in the interest of never having to buy a diaper again. i get katie all situated and sure enough, cara shows up with her potty. apparently, i'm taking two for the team. so now, the three of us are all in the bathroom and only one of us is actually using the facilities. the other two are sitting down and standing up like they are playing a game of musical chairs while asking me for "toilet paper towels." dennis, at this point has expressed no real interest whatsoever in being potty trained, and in fact, actually thinks he is trained. he tells people all the time that he pees in the toilet. i'm not sure if he is delusional or not, but that is simply not the truth.

it does promise to be an interesting couple of weeks here. hopefully, what everyone says about girls is true, and i will have no problem getting them potty trained. keep your fingers crossed for me!

ps - i have included some pictures of the kiddies at the parade. thanks again!









Thursday, March 19, 2009

it is going to be a long long summer...


i have not been able to get to the computer as much as usual for a couple of reasons. the first reason is that the boys have downloaded "toontown" and it is a true battle royale every single day for computer supremacy. between, thomas, jack, dennis and myself, it can get ugly. of course, if i want to get on, i win, but then i usually have to listen to three kids crying and whinig the entire time i am on the computer, which, let's be honest, is a total buzzkill. i think i am going to start setting the kitchen timer for everyone, even myself. for some reason, everyone obeys the timer with no arguments. when they are fighting over the computer or wii, and i set the timer, all arguments stop and peace reigns. i wish i could create a timer for every aspect of our lives.




(just as an aside right now, and to prove my computer battle point...jack is standing next to me, with his head resting on my left arm, singing "space space space space space" and trying to get me to let him press the space bar whenever i need it. very practical application while typing.)



the second reason that i have not been able to make it to the computer is the call of the great outdoors. my girls LOVE to be outside. in fact, when they are not actually outside, they spend a god deal of their time standing at the front door, yelling to people who are outside...just like miniature little fishwives. once i do release them into the wild, it is virtually impossible to get them back in and it always involves crying, an actual chase on foot and me telling them they are never allowed outside again. it is so funny to see them once they get outside, though. the boys now play with the other kids on the block, they actually have friends now. the girls try to chase after the bigger kids, but then get distracted and play by themselves. it's even funny when it is just my kids out there. they constantly amaze me in what they choose to do. the boys all have scooters, as well as big wheels and bikes, etc. yet, when we are outside, they consistently pick the girls little pink and purple tricycles to ride. why would they do that? obviously, they are very secure in their boyhoods and are not intimidated by the color scheme. as for the girls, katie ALWAYS picks the little red radio flyer three-wheeled scooter. she loves it. she is content to ride that back and forth to the corner all day, and she actually CAN ride it. i do believe that she is the ONLY one of all five kids that can ride a scooter. cara flits back and forth between chalking the sidewalk up, riding a different scooter or fighting with the boys over her trike. occasionally, she will bring her doll coach out and take her baby for a walk. poor thomas...there are no kids his age on the block, so he either bosses the little guys around or stays inside and enjoys the quiet. i envy him that time!



the thing that is going to make this such a long summer is that we live in the city, on a tiny block with no grass or real play space. i have a feeling that i will find myself at the playground quite a bit, but that also involves a scene similar to getting the girls to go in the house. the saving grace to all of this however, is the sheer exhaustion that hits right around 8pm. it is pure, unadulterated joy to put the girls to bed and not hear a peep until sometime the next morning. so, i guess i have to figure out what i value more...facebook and the computer, or peaceful sleep, because when we stay indoors i get way more computer time, way less peaceful sleep and vice versa. it is quite the dilemma for me!

Monday, March 9, 2009

some days are better than others (downer post...sorry!)

we are not having a good day here today. i am feeling totally outnumbered and that is not a good thing, because then i lose patience way too fast and snap at the poor kiddies all day long. everyone has gotten in trouble at least once today (well, except jack, but that is because i haven't seen him. he is hiding out in his wii batcave) and i feel bad about it but i feel like i can't control it. it's like there are ten of them here today instead of five (thomas is home sick from school today). i feel especially bad, because i know they really are good kids, but there are so many and it is hard to be the only person to answer their questions and needs for hours on end. we had a busy weekend too, and i spent ALL weekend alone with them. i think i really need some alone time and some uninterrupted sleep. and while i'm at it, maybe a cleaning lady, too. but anyway, enough about that.

i have been trying to get jack ready for school. he will be five in may, and he will be going to kindergarten in september. he has not gone to any kind of pre-k and i don't want him to be behind. happily, i am finding out that it looks like he will be ready. he can identify all of his letters and spell his name and we are working on writing his name. i am very proud of my little drop-out! he also has a very practical mind, which is good for him. one day last week, he was sitting at the computer and told me he was cold. then he proceeded to say "if i had a snuggie, i would be warm and still be able to work the mouse. " how logical is that! then later that week, i was taking dennis for a hearing test and when i told jack what we were doing, he went over to dennis, clapped three times in his face, and then said "can you hear that, den?" when dennis said he could, jack turned to me and said, "see, his hearing is fine." again, a very practical test for a four year old to come up with.

the things that they come up with really are funny, and the are actually very sweet kids, too. i think that is why i feel so bad on days like today when i just have no patience at all. i guess we all have just to muddle through as best we can and pray for tommy to get home soon!