Plastic beads on neon lanyard is a girls best friend! Ok, that is if it’s made by your 3 1/2 year-old son, because if my husband tried to give me this shit I’d kill him. But for real, I don’t give a fuck if I’m starting to look like a raver (again) I loooooooove this necklace Fritz made me at camp! He ran up to me it to me the second I picked him up, simply stated “I made this for you Mommy” and presented me with the gift. Seriously you guys,  I LIVE FOR THIS SHIT!

Here’s how my mornings typically go; Fritz has been waking up screaming at about six-thirty on the nose. I scream back for him to come in our room hoping I can catch a few more Z’s. Yea right. He wedges his way into bed between me and BD and begins poking me or hammering his heel repeatedly into my back. This make’s me really pissy first thing in the morning. I plead for him to ‘give me five more minutes’. Then he grinds his elbow into my side (totally on purpose) which causes me to mutter some profanities but ultimately gets me out of bed.

I usually make him brush his teeth first thing then head downstairs with his clothes for the day in hand. He plops on the couch and we flick on Sponge Bob. He’s so over Blues Clues. I stick a straw in a yogurt drink for him and make my first cup of coffee. Ahhhh. The rest of the morning, about forty-five minutes until he’s out the door for school, is spent getting him dressed, shoving food down his throat and making his lunch. Some mornings are better than others, but all I know is, the second he’s out the door, calm washes over me. Then I settle in, feed Lola, drink coffee and chillax with the morning news. So begins my day.

Right now, my afternoons are pretty blissful. I spend a lot of time bonding with Lola. She is such a peaceful baby. If she even let’s out a little yelp I know just what to do to to please her. I lay down on the floor next to her baby blanket and play little games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. Her smiles get me high so I just lean over her and do anything I can to keep um coming. We run errands together and visit with friends. Soon when the weather is nice we’ll be strolling and sitting in the park. It’s all very dreamy and I’m going to enjoy it as long as it lasts. Not that I won’t enjoy all the rest of my day’s with her and Fritz, but there is something about doting over a new baby that’s just insanely delightful.

Then at approximately two forty-five every afternoon the chaos resumes. I walk into Fritz’s class room and lately he pretty much ignores me. Other kids run up to their parents happy to see them, not Fritz, I guess he’s too cool now. Already? Then once I get him out of school, which always takes a bit of coxing, a rocky road of emotions follows all the way up until he is read his bedtime stories and tucked into bed. The second calm of the day and I’m usually spent.

Now, I know this sounds a bit like favoritism, but I assure you that I love both my kids equally. Lola is just a little thing, still attached to my breast. And Fritz is a growing boy who I can have a conversation with. He drives me insane at least fifty times a day but he melts my heart just as many times. I’m just saying that right now my afternoons with Lola are very special and this is one of the main reasons I made the choice to stay at home with my kids. It’s my face she sees pushing her stroller, and mine hers. I believe it’s the best thing for both of us and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ok, I know Fritz gets a lot of bad press. He’s three for fucks sake. What I’m coming to learn is that that whole terrible two’s thing tends to extend well beyond the age of two. I’m hoping he levels off around four. We’ll see. He tends to have a eight to one ratio of bad to good moments in the day. So when those few scattered good moments come I cherish them like shining gold nuggets in a river bed of dirty rocks.

This morning I was cursed with having to wake up to ‘Mommmmmaaaa’ at six-thirty am but I was blessed by Fritz jumping in to bed with me and cuddling to my hearts content. BD stayed up playing video games into the wee hours and fell asleep on the couch, so I was all by my lonesome with Lola in her co-sleeper next to me. When Fritz began screaming for me I pleaded with him to get into my bed. He obliged. Normally I would turn on cartoons and try to catch a few more Z’s but I didn’t feel like listening to squeaky little cartoon voices this morning. Instead I wrapped my arm around Fritz. He settled in and gently flew his dragon above our heads.

I played with his hair and looked at his perfect profile. I admired his milky skin, taking note that there was not one single flaw on it. I felt like the queen bee with my son on my left and my beautiful sleeping baby on my right. Does it get any better than this? Playfully tickling his ribs I told Fritz how much I loved him. He returned the sentiment. Then he started singing ‘The Monster Mash’. I joined in. This led us to discuss what we wanted to be for halloween next year. Fritz decided we would all be bats. I told him that was a great idea.

We cuddled and chatted for nearly half an hour. Even though I had to get up at the ungodly hour of six thirty on a Saturday morning it was totally worth it. This was more than you could ask from any feisty three year old ready to begin his day. So I took this moment and wrapped it in pink tissue paper with a red satin bow and placed in deep down in my heart. This is what I live for. This is the ultimate joy of being a mom. So you see Fritz has his moments. Three year olds can be tender and sweet. Let’s just hope these qualities prevail. Crossing fingers.

Ok, I have to admit, I may be having a change of heart towards breast feeding. I’m finding it to be rather sweet when Lola lays her tiny paw on my big engorged tit. Sometimes she even grabs on to my shirt, the material all balled up in her tiny fist. I look down at her and it sort of makes me feel good. Shocking, I know. Or maybe it’s that I know deep down inside this will most likely be the last experience I’ll have feeding a child this way. Maybe it’s the rain, the snow, the fact that I hardly find myself caught out there having to feed in public places. Whatever it is I’m feeling a bit differently than the way I felt about it the first time. Am I going to go for a year or six months? I doubt it, but who knows. I also realize that giving a bottle is actually more of a pain in that ass than breast feeding. It seems that in the evening she’s wanting more than I can provide so I’ve given her a bottle the last few nights and it takes a bit longer and you really can’t do anything while giving a bottle. I can usually read or play on my phone while breast feeding; that’s a plus. So here I am, coming around to feeding my little girl the old fashioned way. Really, I’m just going with the flow. I feel absolutely no pressure but had to say that gazing down at my little girl on my breast has made my heart swell and well, the boobs, they’re nice too.

There are no words for this….

Babies are really weird. I totally forgot. Maybe it’s because I have another child to run around after and don’t spend as much time holding her, but seriously, they don’t do anything. I’m all like, what am I supposed to be doing with you besides feeding you, changing your diaper and moving you around to different ‘baby stations’ in the living room? Compared to all the activity with Fritz; Lola seems like a cake walk. Maybe I’m just lucky, but this kid is chill…so far. I often wonder to myself if she’s bored. Lola is so easy going she doesn’t even require that much holding, which is great since having a toddler requires more arms than Kali. I’m thankful as hell that she’s quiet and easy to figure out but I know she’ll  ’wake up’ from her fetal coma eventually. So until then, I’ll feed to her to her hearts content, I’ll stop by her swing and coo at her and I’ll pray that when she does ‘wake up’ she’s mellow and will bless me with a little less crazy. Yea right!

Here’s what we did today….

Hung out in bed.

Had friends, who were crazy/brave enough to venture out in the blizzard, visit us.

Played in the backyard…

Made valentines!

Watched Cars twice, made Cars valentines and wore Cars pajamas all day.

Got baths

Wow! My good friend Marley Kate sent me these photos. When I look at them I can’t believe how much has changed in my life. They were taken on a photo shoot for Missbehave. These pictures feel like a lifetime ago. The first major change in a long line of changes over the past two years was stopping the magazine. I miss it tremendously but am very content in my new life without it. The next change is obviously the new baby. We’re not a twosome anymore, me and Fritz. We are a mini gang now. Then there’s my body. I look at this photo and yearn to have this figure back by summer….and I will! And last of all, it’s just incredibly amazing how fast time rolls on especially when you have kids. They grow so much every year and it puts such a marker on time. You look back and can’t believe how quickly they grow up. It’s truly incredible and sad at the same time. Fritz is turning into a boy and now with Lola I know this will most likely be the last time I care for a baby of my own. This is one of the reasons I’m happy to be a SAHM right now. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to basque in their childhood and spend time with them before they are all grown up.  As Ferris Bueller says ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.’

I did not feel like blogging at all tonight. I’m super tired and just want to plop down and read on the couch…but then there was a huge potty training breakthrough at dinner and I just had to tell you about it. Ok, ever since Fritz started school we’ve only been dabbling in potty training. I’ve been feeling the task looming over my head. I keep talking about it and saying I’m going to look up a final answer/technique online ect., but never do. The closer I get to my due date the less motivated I am to attack the potty training sitch and BD is out of the loop completely on this matter.

For the last three months, every so often Fritz will show a little interest, I think mainly as means of getting a treat. We’ll take off his pants and diaper and he’ll go a little bit, about four times in a row and get a few treats and we won’t do it again for another two or three weeks. Pretty lame. I’m sort of thinking ‘ok he’ll get into it when he’s ready’. Well tonight, that is precisely what happened! We’re sitting at dinner and all of a sudden he hops up and is all “PEE PEE! PEE PEE!” and starts yanking down his pants and diaper. I’m all like ‘Let’s do this!’. So he runs over and sits on his little potty who’s home is in the corner of the kitchen. Ok, that’s kinda weird I know but thats where it is, and it’s usually dragged into the living room for TV time potty sessions. So anyway…he goes, gets his treat and all that. But the most important part about tonight was that I suggested we put on these little boxer briefs that I got him a while ago and practice with undies. At first he was resitant to the undies then he came around and wore them for the rest of the night and actually pulled them down when he needed to go, a few times. MAJOR!

Anyone who’s trying to potty train knows that this is a huge step. And he looked so cute running around in little mini boxer briefs I had to resist pinching his little bum bum in fear of putting him off to the experience. I’m hoping we can carry on with this amazing development at some point tomorrow.

Beep bee beepe beeep be beep- ‘This has been a Hipster Mom News Flash!’

*Above image is from the same line of little boy’s boxer briefs that I bought Fritz. Claesen’s…so f*cking cute!