It's In Da Hole!

What is it with us and critters camping out in our houses?  I don't get it.

First in CT, there were ants and then termites that flew around our laundry room.

Back in NH we were a veritable hostile for wandering animals.  We rescued a baby squirrel from our attic with a super long tree branch, we rescued a mouse from the same place using a single serve cereal box on a string, one other mouse wasn't so lucky and we had to cut a hole in the wall to get his mummified body out, and we even had a bat attached to the underside of our air conditioner one year.

We moved out here to WA and had to deal with mouse expeditions into our kitchen and some rats in our crawl space.

What the hell?!

So what if we use organic fertilizers and no weed killer on our property (hence the gigantic dandelion patch we've formed next to our house), we don't eat beef, we have those silly CFL lightbulbs everywhere, we recycle our food and paper towel waste, and I like to try catch and release "nice" bugs that happen to wander into our house.  

Do they think that 'cause we're kinda environmentally friendly that we won't try to kick their asses if they invade our space?

There's been this noise in the upper corner of our living room (near the ceiling) for about a week or so now.  

I could never really pin point what it was.  Every time I heard it, Katie was up and about.  It's practically impossible to listen for a weird noise with a three year old around.  This is mostly because she is full of weird noises. 

At first, I thought it was the tree outside scratching on the wall.  Then, I noticed the noise continued even when the tree wasn't moving and that it wasn't so noisy during the night.

Then I thought, maybe it's a mouse digging into the side our our house.  Been there done that. Maybe I should call someone?  I've thought this for a few days now, but never got around to investigating.

Today I ventured outside to take a look at the location of the noise.

Under the eaves of the house there happens to be a little hole in the wood and about 5 or 6 six bees flew into the hole while I was standing there.  Bees.  After Katie laid down for her nap, I stuck my head against the wall to confirm and sure enough......"BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, scratch scratch, BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ."

The noise is louder today than it has been.  I could even hear it above the din of Katie Play. Quite a feat I'd say.  I made mention to Katie that bees seems to be making a hive in our wall.  She was excited that they were bees.  She doesn't want them to get into the house, but I think she thinks that they might be making honey for her to eat.

I called Terminix.  They're supposed to call me back and send someone out.  Problem is that it probably won't be until Monday.  I don't wanna pay for emergency pest service.

Freakin' bees.

It Breaks My Heart

I'm not just saying this because I am her Mother.  Really, I'm not.  

Katie is a nice kid.  She is.

When we are around other kids, all Katie wants to do is play with them.  She doesn't even have to know them at all.  She just gloms onto their little group and tries to play whatever they are playing.  She even tries to engage them in conversation about the game in the hopes that she can join in the fun.

Most of the time they completely ignore her and end up either continuing their game or running away from her. 

Today, we were at playgroup.  Katie only sees these kids once a week, if at all.  A few of the kids attend a toddler group (kinda like our co-op preschool) together and a few don't.  So, some of these kids that hang out together have kind of formed a little clique.

Two of the girls were playing a game where they were going into a room, turning off the lights and pretending to go to sleep.  Katie wanted to play too.  

She followed them into the room and this is what I heard from one of the girls, "GET OUTTA HERE!  Get out.  WE are TRYING to go to sleep.  GET OUTTA HERE.  No, YOU can't sleep too.  GET OUT!"  

Then I heard the door slam.  I looked over and Katie was standing outside the door on the verge of tears and said, "But, I wanna sleep too" in the most discouraged and sad voice, like, ever.  

I walked over and opened the door calmly explaining to the girls that they should not shut the door because other people wanted to play in that room (it was where all the toys were).  What I REALLY wanted to do was to pick up the two girls and body slam them, or at least kick them really hard.

I guess I have to get used to this.  Katie will figure out on her own that when she's snubbed she can move on to something else and not bother trying to play with people that don't want her around.  For cripes sake, I learned how.  Not many girls want to run around and pretend to fight COBRA.  So, I found friends that did.

It's just hard to watch your kids heart broken without feeling like YOU should be breaking a little something, like maybe an arm or two.

Back Issues

Sometimes, I like to go back and read past entries.  I like to see what I was doing at this same time three years ago - like, "Pre-Katie".

I have to say, I usually come away impressed with my writing skills.  

Am I really that witty?  Alas, only in the blogosphere where I can edit and re-edit to my hearts delight.

I'm past the 32 week mark in my pregnancy.  I've got another appointment coming up next week.  Another one of those pee-in-a-cup, get-uterus-measurement, hear-baby-heartbeat, say-hi-to- doctor,  and then leave appointments.  Ugh.

Then, starting in July, I'm at the doc's office every week.  That's when things get really fun. Group-B Strep tests, exams to tell effacement, dilation, baby position.  Whoo-hoo.  

All this should be made extra fun with Katie in tow.  Each appointment she climbs up onto a chair so that she can watch the nurse take her measurements and find the heartbeat.  Not quite sure what I am going to do to distract her once "exams" start taking place.  Sigh.

I had to go out and buy more stoopid prego clothes today.  What the hell?  I have no pants that are comfortable to wear besides these moo-moo looking things that I bought the last few weeks of Katie's pregnancy.  It's embarrassing to leave the house with them on.  So, I dropped $36 bucks on two pairs of sweatpant-type shorts and two shirts.  I'm not sure these are any better than the moo-moo pants, but at least they are "sporty".

There's really nothing "sporty" about me at this point in time.  Well, except my hair.  I got it cut short at the end of May.  It was the last drop-off day for Katie's preschool.  I went and decided to treat myself to a hair cut since I was looking quite hippy-ish.

I noticed on the door that they took donations for "Locks of Love."  I asked the woman if my hair was long enough.  They require 11 inches.  It was....barely.  The lady gave me a nice Mommy-ish cut though. 

Which reminds me, I have no prego pictures up in this here blog.  I'll start working on that.

Thus ends The Post of No Point.   

 

Baby Bird Has Left the Building

I promised some shots of bowling.  Yeah,  I know.  That was like two weeks ago.

Katie had a really good time.  Through the fundraiser we got to bowl one free game, which was just enough.  These 'almost three year olds' seem to have an attention span the size of a gnat. Anyways, here's a few snaps....

"Go, go, go, gooooooo....."

"YAYYYYY!  The ball made it home!"

What else is news?

It's hard to try on bridesmaids gowns when you are just about 8 months prego.  The try-on dress didn't come close to making it up over my hips and it was definitely unzipped.  And the tops, well, they were ridiculous.  The store assistant could only button the top back button and my huge ass belly would hang out the bottom.  Freakin' hilarious.

I did end up picking something.  I ordered it extra huge in case I can't drop weight fast enough. I guess it's easier to take a dress in than to take it out.

Katie had an off day potty-training.  Last Friday she had four accidents.  Ugh.  Four pee puddles on the floor.  But, since then, no accidents.  I think it was just an off day.  She's been in daytime underwear now for about 2 weeks.

Baby #2 is nice and kicky.  He is riding very low and makes it just about impossible to bend over to pick things up.  Once I do mangage to get on the floor, it takes about an hour for me to get back up.  I've also had some seriously sore tummy lately.  Don't know if it's due to contractions or the baby growing and stretching.  On a positive note, I have not had swelling yet and no carpal tunnel.

The summer is shaping up to be a busy one between picnics, birthday parties, Huzbend cycling events, doctors appointments, and weekend plans.  I guess busy is always good.

One more thing.  A baby crow took up residence in our yard for a week.  He fell out of one of our trees in the backyard and made a makeshift nest in our garden or should I say weed patch. His Bird Mommy and Bird Daddy kept watching over him and feeding him.  Yesterday, I guess he was feeling a bit better. He still can't fly but he can hop and walk.  He decided to try and follow his Mommy and walked off into our neighbors yard.

Bon voyage, Little Guy.  Katie misses you.

I Hate Hot.

It's hot here.  This is not frickin' normal.

For example:  

Today's high: 87 - 90

Normal high: 67

What the WHAT?!?!?!

This sucks.  First we get, like, FEET of snow in the winter (also not normal) and now this.  Ugh.

I feel like a slimy beached whale.  I sweat constantly.  Everything sticks to everything else.

What the hell were we thinking by having another summer baby?  Didn't I learn this lesson the first time around when I had to wander the earth upon ogre sized feet?

Is that in store for me again?  Oh man.  I hope not.  I ain't got the time to be laid up on the bed with bon-bons in hand.  Okay.  Strike that bon-bons part.  I WISH I had some bon-bon's.

I have yet to post much about Senor Bambino.

What to say?  He's, uh, cute.  From what we've seen of him.  He's got a penis.  That's for damn sure.  It was the first thing to pop up on the ultrasound for cripes sake.

"Hey, do you wanna find out the sex of the baby?" asked the u/s tech.  We answered in the affirmative.  Then, BAM, there it was on the screen.  There was no question what it was.

Me, totally silent.  Quietly unnerved that there's a boy growing inside of me.

Huzbend let out a huge, "YEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Had my 31 week appointment yesterday and everything is A-Okay.  Normal as can be.  Baby size, heart rate, my blood pressure, my weight.  All good.  Well, they say my weight is good but I'm already getting close to where I was in my 9th month with Katie.  BIG.

This boy moves A LOT.  And so did Katie.  He's in a different position than she was.  Katie always kicked into my side or up into my ribs.  Either this guy is already head down and punching my bladder or he's feet down and using it as a trampoline.  Either way it makes for many dashes to the potty.

Speaking of which, nature calls.  I think maybe I'll just use Katie's little porto-potty here on the floor, which happens to be right in front of a nice cool fan.......

  

I totally forgot what I was gonna write about.

Oh yeah.  I was gonna talk about bowling and stuff.  The problem is that I don't have the pics uploaded yet.  So, instead of a pleasant interlude about bowling with an "almost 3" year old, I'll tickle your fancy with some gross potty talk instead.

Okay.  So, changing diapers isn't that fun.  It can be gross.  Poop has a tendency to explode out of diapers sometimes, especially in the baby ones.  That's 'cause all they eat is liquid.  Silly babies.

But, changing diapers is something that just becomes routine.  Like, it loses it's grossness after a while or something.  It's hard to explain.  Maybe your brain just shuts off the part that realizes that you are voluntarily sticking your hands into someone else's bodily waste.  Not quite sure, 'cause I know for damn sure it turns back on when you are changing some other kids diaper.

I have discovered something quite profound.  This "diaper changes are okay" phenomenon does not hold up when confronted with cleaning poop and pee out of tiny tot potties.

I'm not sure what is worse.  Seeing the waste sitting in the small pot all mixed together or smelling it. Ugh.  I feel like puking every single time I have to dump it and clean it out.  ROWLFFFF.

Then sometimes you gotta do a "clean-up" wipe to make sure all the poop is off the butt.  Oh man.  Not pleasant.

Don't get me wrong.  Not using diapers is great; it means less money and less impact on the environment.  All good stuff.

But, not using diapers means that I get to get up close and personal with poop and/or pee at least six times a day.  It's just gross.