Why Does Over Priced Flavored Coffee Remind Us of Our Youth?

My husband and I took the kids to Maine last weekend for a perfect fall getaway. We planned to go apple picking, pumpkin buying, and country fair attending.  With all the beautiful scenic driving we did it seems that we saw signs for fall flavored everything everywhere...we started talking about how in the last few years it seems that the pumpkin craze becomes more and more intense each fall.  First it was pumpkin flavored beer. Next came pumpkin donuts, iced coffee, muffins, etc. Recently I saw pumpkin wine. I thought wine was made out of grapes? How does this even happen? Fermented pumpkin? I'm just not sure...

What I've come to realize is that our generation...the Xers and the Yers...are obsessed with trying to capture the moment. Everything we do is to create the ambiance and atmosphere that we hope to look back on and remember fondly someday. We are, so to speak, attempting to live our present lives in the form of fond memories. We subconsciously think that if we have candles that smell like Mom's Famous Apple Pie and if we have drinks by the fire that taste like homemade pumpkin bread then we are creating a cozy life that we can appreciate later on. How many people posted facebook status updates about "hoodie weather and pumpkin lattes" this past weekend when the weather finally felt a little brisk?

The truth is, those memories we have as children that we are trying to hang on to didn't come from scented candles and fruity beer...they came from actually baking apple pies with your family and having a mother who took the time to roast a turkey in the oven all day so it smelled delicious and who after your bath to comb out your hair and tuck you into bed smelling all delicious like Johnson and Johnson's baby shampoo. These are some of the reasons why I couldn't wait to be a mom. I couldn't wait to do things like this with and for my kids. There are specific days that stand out in my mind of my child hood and I often think about what I would have to do as a parent to make sure my kids have those same feelings to look back on.

And yet, on our way to go apple picking, while my children wail in the backseat of the car and I stretch from the passenger seat to search for a binky that has going missing in action I yell to my husband to stop at the nearest Dunkin Donuts because I have a god-darned head ache and I want to finally try this supposed magical thing called pumpkin iced coffee. Here goes nothing.

Freakin Dunkin Donuts, man. They never get it right. After all the anticipation and conversation about pumpkin iced coffee those jerks gave me a medium iced regular. Why do I bother?

A few days later, back in the good old city, I was out running errands.  My goal was to get my grocery shopping done, but I thought, hey, I can't very well grocery shop without a delicious iced coffee...and I still haven't tried that pumpkin flavor....

So then I realized I had to go to the ATM if I was going to get a coffee and I wasn't about to pay a fee and I had no idea where my nearest bank was to the grocery story I'd been heading to. I plugged the bank name into my GPS, followed it blindly until it told me that I had reached my destination, only to find out I was literally in the middle of Rte 1 at just about the only place on the entire stretch of road with not a single business around.  I tried again, found the correct address of the bank, and after that took my in the total opposite direction, I finally found a dunkin donuts, ordered the darn thing, and headed to the grocery store.

You jerks! Pumpkin iced coffee tastes like soap!

Just Another Day in Paradise

So today, at about nine thirty, I had totally planned on writing this blog and entitling it "Super Mom" because that's what I felt like. But let's be serious. Today has been ridiculous.

So since Sunday night Bo hasn't been feeling well. He was up literally all night whining and crying which meant that between Bear's feedings I was trying to calm my bigger boy down enough for any of us to get some sleep. Eventually he ended up in our bed and while that gained us a little shut eye, everyone knows sleeping with a toddler is the sweetest and LEAST comfortable thing you can do. I still have a heel indentation in my cheek to prove it.

This morning started off with everyone waking up too early and wanting to be right in Daddy's way while he got ready for work. While I was pouring some milk into Bo's sippy cup, he was busy dumping the cat's water bowl all over himself and the kitchen floor. Once I had him changed into dry clothes I put him in the living room (with gates up) while I cleaned up the mess. In the kitchen two rooms away I could hear his angry tears. He was pissed at me for taking him away from the water bowl, for changing his clothes, for having a stuffy nose, the list goes on. Suddenly the living room became too quiet. When I rushed in to see what was or wasn't happening, I found my little angel with a huge cup of water that had been left out the night before, dumping it all over the hard wood floors and stomping around in it. Really? Needless to say we needed another new outfit which made him even more angry at me and runny-nose-tear-filled-boogers ran wild.

Later, when everyone had settled down, I wanted to try to get some things done. My goals for each day are basic. 1. try to get the boys some fresh air for at least fifteen minutes. 2. Try to do at least one household chore 3. try to do at least one thing for myself  4. try to get everyone a well balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner.

For myself, I clipped my toenails. For fresh air, I put Bear in the baby bjorn and Bo on his leash (errm I mean backpack) and we walked around near the pond and pointed at cars and said "car?" several hundred times. When we got back, Bo went in for a bap and with Bear snoozing in my kangaroo pouch, I decided to sanitize all the plastic things that go in the boy's mouths since Bo wasn't feeling well. Hard as I try, I can't be certain that Bo doesn't stick Bear's binky in his mouth when I'm not looking. Also, let's be honest, when Bo wakes up screaming at three am and I give him tylenol or gas drops or whatever and I'm all bleary eyes and half asleep---I don't always wash the medicine dropper with soap and hot water. So, I get all the stuff in the sanitizer bag and I'm feeling all super-mom-ish.

Well, half the shit melted in the sanitizer bag, including that awesome bulbous boogy sucker that I got from the hospital when LB was born. WTH?

The rest of the day was more of the same. Bobby was so cranky, his nose was so runny, he kept tripping over his own feet and falling, usually while I was nursing Bear, which made it hard to console him. He was pestering the car until he finally got scratched him the face.  When all is said and done, he is sound asleep in his crib by 6:50 and I am definitely getting "The Lucky One" on demand tonight, I don't care if it's $5.99 for HD.  However, I think I will save my super mom blog for another day.

Song for the day? Just Another Day in Paradise by Phil Vassar

The kids screaming, phone ringing
Dog barking at the mailman bringing
That stack of bills - overdue
Good morning baby, how are you?
Got a half hour, quick shower
Take a drink of milk but the milk's gone sour
My funny face makes you laugh
Twist the top on and I put it back
There goes the washing machine
Baby, don't kick it.
I promise I'll fix it
Long about a million other things

Well, it's ok. It's so nice
It's just another day in paradise
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the lord every night
For just another day in paradise

Friday, you're late
Guess we'll never make our dinner date
At the restaurant you start to cry
Baby, we'll just improvise
Well, plan B looks like
Dominoes' pizza in the candle light
Then we'll tippy toe to our room
( From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/p/phil-vassar-lyrics/just-another-day-in-paradise-lyrics.html )
Make a little love that's overdue
But somebody had a bad dream
Mama and daddy
Can meand my teddy
Come in to sleep in between?

Yeah it's ok. It's so nice.
It's just another day in paradise.
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the lord every night
For just another day in paradise

Well, it's ok. It's so nice.
It's just another day in paradise.
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the lord every night
For just another day in paradise

For just another day in paradise
Well, it's the kids screaming. The phone ringing
Just another day
Well, it's Friday. You're late
Oh yeah, it's just another day in paradise

My son's name is Bear

I'm not the kind of person who frets over too many things that I can't control.  I don't think about sharks when I go swimming in the ocean, I'm not afraid of catching the Triple E virus when I'm outside on a summer night. There are only two things in this world that I have an irrational (or totally rational) fear of.

One is tornadoes. I actually like thunder and lightning storms, I don't even mind a good hurricane warning and some random hail. But God help me when that TV flashes the sign about a G-D tornado warning, my blood runs COLD. What the hell would you do if you saw a twister coming your way? I mean seriously? You see it coming at you--and you don't even know if you should stay where you are or run because the darn thing goes in whichever direction it pleases. And what if you are in your car in traffic? Do you get out and run or hope that it passes you by?

Anyway, the second fear is bears. Even though I've only been a few times, I really do like camping and I love outdoorsy-nature-woodland stuff. However, bears are a huge fear of mine. There are two kinds of bears to fear, the black bear and the grizzly bear. One of these bears gets intimidated if you act all big and loud and scare him off. The other will leave you alone if you play dead. The only problem is, I can never remember which is which, so what if I play dead to the bear that you are supposed to scare off?? What if I yell and scream at the bear that I'm supposed to play dead to? UGH!

Anyway, my original thoughts when starting this blog were that, My son is named Bear. And some people like it and some people don't.  I can't think of a more awesome creature than a Bear. They can run faster than you, swim faster than you and climb trees. They can tear you apart with their massive paws and teeth, yet we snuggle up to them and find comfort in them as children. I get it if you don't understand the name Bear, but honestly, whenever I hear someone call him by his name I think, "Wow. What a cool name." I hope he feels that way someday too. Maybe not when he is twelve, but maybe someday he will know that we have always believed he is THAT awesome.

He's Here

Well, Baby Bear is officially here. He is eleven days old and it has taken me this long to find time to sit down at the computer. And to be honest, right now I am typing as quietly as possible because I am currently, as we speak, re-sleep-training Bo and doing the whole ignoring him while he rolls around in his crib and bangs on the railing thing. Also, Bear is in a rock-and-play thing beside me grumbling because he wants to eat AGAIN...it will be his third feeding in two hours. Not sure if we should have named him Bear, he takes his name very seriously and eats every evening like he is going into hibernation.

So, what has it been like getting used to have two babies at home? Well, put it this way, I've nursed Bear in the front seat of my car in three parking lots in the past seven days...that's how things are going. In the last few days I've started to feel more comfortable, but the first week was definitely overwhelming. I actually think the hardest part has been making sure that Little Bobby doesn't feel neglected. We have spent the entire summer attached at the hip and suddenly there is someone new in the picture. I am having a hard time emotionally dealing with the idea of him feeling left out or resentful, even though he seems fine. The only time I notice his behavior has changed is during bed time, he is extra clingy to me these past few nights, as if he knows that when I leave the room I'm going to be snuggling someone else. It kinda breaks my heart.

You know, when I was in high school, I used to make my boyfriend lunch and bring it in to school in a brown paper bag and stick it in his locker. When I moved in with Big Bo when I was 24 I offered to do his laundry. I actually wanted to fold and put away his clothes. Why? I couldn't figure it out back then, but now I get it. I think in some weird way I was trying to mother them. I think I've always wanted to be a mother---even when I didn't know it, I felt most comfortable in the "mother" role. Now that I have two beautiful babies of my own and I really am a mother, I can't think of a single other thing in the world that could be more fulfilling. Driving in the mini-van with a car full of family gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment I've ever felt. No, it isn't easy. Especially when it's bed time and both boys are screaming and both of them want their Mommy to themselves...it definitely isn't easy. But it is SO worth it.