Conflagration = Family Time

Ahhh, nothing brings a family closer together than the almost destruction of ones household =)

After a lazy quiet day at home, J decided to make some dinner for the fam. The boys and I were hanging out in the living room, Soren in my arms, Ashe and Zavi watching a tv show. We're quietly chilling and listening to J putter in the kitchen all hell broke loose. I heard a yelp from J and noticed an orange glow quickly flash against our hallway wall. Immediately I smell smoke.

I jumped up and rushed into the kitchen, having no idea what was going on. There's J, standing 15 feet away from the stove which is billowing black smoke from the oven, an anxious look on his face. Quickly, he tells me to open up the windows and door and help him clear the smoke (our smoke detector is fantastic for saving lives, but will go off at the smallest whiff of smoke.) Zavi comes running in and I send him right back, asking him to find me a towel. Hastily I open the door, whip open windows and ask J kindly "What the hell did you do???"

It seems J turned on the oven to heat before putting in the burgers, but had forgotten to take out the cookie sheet covered in bacon grease from the bacon he made earlier this morning. So coming back to put the burgers in he noticed a fire in the oven. he decided to open up the oven and put the fire out with water, which cause an enormous billow of flame to jet up and out.

Zavi comes rushing back with a hand towel (no dear we need a BIG towel, can you try again please?) and I scoot him out again. By now the smoke detectors starting to go off. J grabs a baby blanket, while I whisk Soren to the safety of our bedroom. Zavi comes running back with a beige hand towel (never mind hon I'll get one) and starts begging J for details:

How big was the flame Dad? (It was the width of our oven and shot up about 8 feet)
Did you get hurt? (no he jumped back just in time)
Why did you put water on a grease fire? (Damn good question, son)
Did our kitchen get hurt? (Thank goodness no)

So here we all are, J with a baby blanket, me with a towel, and Zavi with a hand towel, trying to clear our home of smoke. Ashe had headsets on and was puttering at the computer. He never noticed the commotion haha.


It was a close family moment =)

Those Crazy Baby Items!

I am now relearning how to deal with a baby for the third time in my life. With each new baby comes new baby items. Always. With your first baby you become totally overwhelmed, not knowing which items are essential and which are fluff, and what few things are in between the two other categories. I've learned quickly that 99.999999% of new items are fluff. By baby 3 I paired down my essentials to just a few things: diapers, wipes,blankets, (receiving blankets cut up into thirds make the BEST burp clothes!!!)onesies, car seat and stroller (still rarely used so its an in between item in my opinion) sling/wrap, bouncy seat, and play mat. Everything else is optional. I'll add in pacifiers but that is dependant completely on each individual child.

So even though I had gotten rid of ALL my stuff because I wasn't expecting baby #3 I didn't really need too much. A lot of friends were amazingly kind and thoughtful, and offered me their hand me downs for the essentials. One friend however gave me something that took until this week to figure out how dang cool it is.

A few weeks before Soren was born my friend Kelly gave me a Bumbo. WTH is a bumbo? I had no idea either, but it seems to be a specialized seat for infants to sit in. I thanked her and put it in my dining room until i figured Soren would be old enough to use. I assumed it would be for when he was sitting up on his own (usually 4-5 months) but boy was I wrong. After viewing a thread on how cool other moms find the Bumbo, and knowing a lot of these moms have babies Sorens age I finally asked when do you start using it??? Come to find out the answer was...now.

As soon as the baby can support his head up you can sit them in. The seat supports them in all the right places so that they can sit up and be a part of the action. This is seriously important for Soren as he can never be left out of anything! So dubiously I hauled out the Bumbo, eyed it with confusion, and gently propped Soren in. Keeping my hand behind his head in case he forgot how to hold it up steadily and hunkered down to look in his eyes. And within a moment of figuring out his situation I got the biggest ear to ear grin and coo from him.

Now the older boys fight with each other to see who can stand in front of Soren when he's in his Bumbo and who can make him laugh the longest. It's become a game to all three. And my face cant take any more grinning. Its starting to hurt.


So while there are things out there not necessary, sometimes on of those crazy new items are just worth grabbing!

I forgot how much I hate this phase

UGH! Ugh ugh UGH!!!!! I really really hate shopping with 2 yr olds. There should be a law that every mom has a free babysitter so they can go out and do their chores faster, smoother, stress free, and EVERYONE is happy in the end. Maybe I'll call up the Govt and ask them to put that in the new health care reform. It would be very beneficial from a mental health perspective!!! I bet it would pass unanimously, parent and non parent govt officials alike.

So Ashe and I went to visit his new "preschool" yesterday ( I quotation it because while it's just like a preschool technically it isn't) and he is starting tomorrow. He needed a backpack and a special cup. To celebrate I decided we would go out to Target and let Ashe pick them out (stupid stupid STUPID!!!)

I even thought I was being super sneaky by parking near the grocery entrance instead of the toy entrance. I got Soren all snug in his Moby wrap facing forward, held on to Ashes hand through the parking lot, and felt good... until we hit the sidewalk and Ashe dashed off going a zillion MPH into the store. I mean he booked it!

LOOK LOOK MOMMY APPLES!
LOOK LOOK MOMMY CANDY! I WANT SOME CANDY. OOOOH LOOOOK........ dashing off to aisle after aisle. If you were in Target and saw him running, didn't he look like a wind up toy who was wound up way to far? And no, he had NO sugar in his system at all! I know better than that.


I tried herding him as best as possible, zig zagging our way through the store me just trying to get to two specific locations: back packs, and sippy cups. He had other plans. He ran to the shoe dept and tried taking off his shoes so he could try out some new Transformer ones, then raced away to the TV dept on the other side of the store. When I caught up to him trying to catch my breath he whisked away to the girls section and started hiding behind clothes racks. I tried everything to keep him with me: cajoling, demanding, threatening, walking away singing "Bye Ashe".... NOTHING. I even got down on the floor when he decided he was a dog and put him in time out. He just barked at me the whole time.

FINALLY getting his sippy cup and back pack (farm animals and Diego respectively) we headed to the cashier. It took us 15 minutes just to get there. And after, carrying the bag, my diaper bag, and Soren we started for the exit, where he unceremoniously ripped his hand out of mine and dashed for the doors. Panic overrode everything in me and I ran after screaming his name. I caught up to him just as he reached the parking lot. And I lost it.

I grabbed his hand and he instantly went limp, refusing to take commands. I hauled him up in one arm, trying so hard to keep Soren safe and to also carry the bags, struggled to the van, whipped him in and lost my temper. I rarely yell. It's not often I find myself in a spot where I cant escape to calm down to get a hold of my temper. I do lack patience in general but I am actually impressively good with my kids for the most part. But I think any sane person in my circumstances would have snapped from the stress and fear as well. At least that's what I kept telling myself after and I felt so bad.

I yelled loud and angrily. I told him he was to never EVER take off from Mommy again and that he was acting like a bad boy. I told him he couldnt walk on his own in a store until he showed me he could be a big boy or when he was 18 which ever came first. Until then he would sit in a cart.Better yet, I yelled, he could not come with me to stores anymore.

His faces crumpled and he began to sob. I didn't care though. I was that beyond angry. I threw his seatbelt on, slammed the car door and just stood there heaving, trying to get a hold of my temper. I know its because he's 2. I know its a phase. But even now as I write this, I kept getting images of me not making it to him in time, him running out into the parking lot and being a red smear on the pavement. Zavi NEVER took off on me ever. Ashe could care less.

Fortunately preschool starts tomorrow and he will go one day a week. I'll do my shopping then, until he's in school full time and can go in peace. In the meantime, if you were at Target yesterday, have understanding that he was only 2. And if you heard me yelling in the parking lot of Target, have understanding. I'm only a mom of a 2 yr old.