August 3: Glam night

August 3, 2011 by 2 Comments

We had a good night’s sleep, finally. Red did not wake up feverish, or scared, or at least if she did she did not interrupt us.

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

  • I was running around gathering our things – shoes, extra clothes, my shoes, and was in the garage doing this. Twin Husky made a run for it and ran straight for our “toddler slide structure” — he loves that thing. It’s a bit big for them and they have room to climb/scramble up the slide, there’s room up top for a “landing” and a steering wheel, and then a small slide. He loves it. It was a hand-me-down from REd who was absolutely wild about slides when she was his age. He did NOT like the fact that I had to take him off the slide. So much so that he threw himself on the ground crying like he was in pain. “I know sweetie, you wanted to play on that slide. Now! You wanted to PLAY! You’re MAD because you wanted to PLAY on the SLIDE!! I know, I understand.” Then he got up and hugged me and then started playing with my earrings. He moves on quickly.
  • Big Bro got some extra chocolate today. I couldn’t believe it. It was not announced to the rest of the group, but Hubby put chocolate on a plate and had Big Bro eat it along with some banana. He kept it REAL quiet.
  • Twin Husky was self feeding applesauce and had it everywhere. I asked him to show me how it works…. how does the spoon work, where does it go…. “In your EAR? No….. Up your nose??? NO……. In your Mouth?” Then he put the spoon in his mouth and was so cute. Smiling up at me all coy and feeling proud of himself.
  • Red was a bit cranky. She ate well but only got 1/2 changed. I packed the rest in the bag for daycare.
  • Drop of with Red and Twins was slow. Red did not want to go. I feel bad for her. She was crying when we left which broke my heart.
  • Drop off with Big Bro was great. He is happy there. We can’t wait to get Red there too, although it will be twice as much money for her to go there. We think at this point it is worth it so she can be in more of a learning environment.

The sky is gray. People in the ferry are quieter than normal. Today at work I will need to:

  • follow-up with our client on the white paper and see her reaction to the work
  • develop go to market materials for firm initiative
  • begin to write a proposal for the opporunity fielded last week

Tonight I’ve been invited to a “glam” party with some moms in the area. I only know one of them. So today at work I’m wearing a dress and sparkly necklace and silver shoes. I’m feeling good about myself. I think dressing up gives me extra confidence and a prowess boost of energy.

Highlights of my Working Day:

  • I ate an enormous breakfast — quesadilla with egg, potato, cheese, and ham.
  • I started to write the proposal for a potential client based upon the phone conversation yesterday
  • I coordinated a business development meeting with a client for a proposal we will likely write next week
  • I arranged team meetings for a firm initiative
  • I reached out to an industry leader for some questions related to a project underway
  • I prepared an invoice for a project that recently concluded
  •  We received word today that the client project we recently completed will not proceed to Phase 2 — not because of the work (they were very complimentary) but because they needed to save cost and jumped right to Phase 3 (which we were never meant to deliver). 😦
  • I ate some fig newtons for lunch. Pathetic.
  • I am still procrastinating on the go-to-market materials that I promised to deliver. I absolutely NEED to get that COMPLETE tomorrow otherwise I am dropping the ball.

The sun is out but it is very, very cold. I have tentative plans to meet some women in the neighborhood for “glam night” — I only know one person there. I dressed “glam like” for work today…silver shoes and sparkly necklace and earrings… about as glam as I could possibly go for the office. I am not terribly excited about going but suppose I need to push myself out there to meet new people. I’ve felt very isolated and down lately and I’m not sure if this will help or hurt (e.g., if they are all stay at home moms). Hmmmmmm. What to do?

Dinner and Bedtime:

  • Pick up for big bro went without a problem.   However pick up with other kids had some issues.   Red was extremely upset over something, and I still don’t know exactly why.   I think she was upset over a 2 day old bagel that she put in the back of the mini-van, but am not sure.
  • I brought in the slide play structure and all kids were having a good time with it…. until Twin Crazy and Twin Husky started fighting over standing space on the top of the structure, until Big Bro started sitting with an attitude at the bottom of the slide preventing the other kids from going down, and until Twin Husky grabbed Red with both hands around her pudgy waist to pull her out-of-the-way.   So essentially all kids wound up in foul moods because of the slide structure.
  • Hubby handled dinner while I played / controlled kids
  • Hubby handled bed time with the kids while I went out to “glam night”.   I met a bunch of great ladies.  I’m definitely glad that I went!!!   I actually met another mom with four kids (whew – makes me feel a bit normal) and lots of women that actually made me laugh.   I met a lot of stay-at-home moms and really connected with them – and some women who stay at home as entrepreneurs.   I wish I had their drive/sense of security…. I just feel like I don’t have an option or if I do have an option just walking away from the stable source of money/income REALLY frightens me….   this is my own issue that I really need to sort out….hopefully I come to some REAL decisions before the year is out.   I also drank a lot of wine wish was a nice way to spend a Wednesday night.
Anyway, this was a great day; I hope Red stays asleep tonight because I am already a bit tipsy and know I need the sleep.  Tomorrow will be a slow day regardless….
Till tomorrow,
– Mama K
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August 2: Chocolate mustaches

August 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

OK so I think I had my first technical glitch with my iPad.   I lost my entry from this morning.   So I’m typing this now from memory….

We had a terrible night last night.    Red kept waking up.   I slept through the first one – she was scared about something.   The second one was at 4 AM — she was in the hallway with the lights on, just sitting there upset.   She had a fever.   After some medicine I scooped her up in our bed (I know I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help it).   So we woke up very groggy and were running late from the start.

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

  • Twin Husky and Twin Crazy were going bonkers with yogurt.   It was in their hair, up their noses, all over the place.
Twin Crazy is crazy over yogurt

Twin Crazy is crazy over yogurt

  • Big Bro and Red ate quickly because of Chocolate Tuesday.   We give them Nutella spread on bread/bagel on one day of the week and they picked Tuesday.   Their faces are covered in chocolate and I want to kiss it all off.   Red looks like she has a handlebar mustache of chocolate and she looks very happy.
The mustaches of "Chocolate Tuesday"

The mustaches of "Chocolate Tuesday"

  • Twin Husky is really talking now, clearly.  “Down”.   Uhhhhhhh  ohhhhhhhhhhwwwww”   How cute.   I love this stage.
  • Red does not want to get changed so I pack up her clothes in the daycare bag, along with Twins’ shoes, jackets.
  • We are running extremely late so we whisk everyone off.
  • I at least had time for some coffee but will need to deal with breakfast later.

They sky is looking ok but I’m trying to get energized for the day.    I think I’m in a better state of mind to be more productive today.   Today I will need to:

  • discuss sales status of big meeting in October
  • Review and complete our whitepaper deliverable for our client
  • finally get to the go-to-market materials for our other firm initiative
  • have a business development call with a potential client to qualify the opportunity and also get a sense of his budget.
Highlights of My Working Day:
Things moved a bit better today. I got ready for the day with a positive attitude. Today I:
  • Reviewed the white paper draft in the early AM, and then reviewed again in late afternoon and provided my last feedback. The analyst will send the paper to the client directly tonight. I think it turned out well and hope that we have established a good working relationship with the client. I hope we over-delivered so that we position ourselves for more work.
  • Accompanied two Directors to look at office space. We will likely be moving locations and this was our 5th space to view. I liked the space and think it will work for our team. Plus, it will be much cheaper. Our group needs a change and I think this will be a better site and give us an infusion of energy. I love new beginnings.
  • Discussed sales efforts of business development initiative for October meeting. We’re making great progress.
  • Had a conference call with a potential client (that I fielded on Friday). We qualified his need and I will begin the proposal tomorrow.

Some things I planned to do I never got to – but will carve out time for those things tomorrow. I love the flexibility that this job offers when it works in my favor!

The sky is light. The weather looks nice. I am on my own tonight with kids. Red is sick; I just received a phone call from daycare. 103 degree fever. She will give her Tylenol but I will be dealing with a clingy child tonight, on my own. Hopefully this illness will not spread to the rest…..

Dinner and Bedtime:

  • Picked everyone up and received stacked hugs from the kids.   It was like dominos.  So cute.
  • Got everyone inside and jumped on dinner.   Thin cut pork chops with peas and leftover pasta.   Big Bro helped me cook.  He seasoned the pork, poured frozen peas into a bowl, added butter when they were done, and also added butter to the pasta.   I think because of these efforts he wound up eating like a champ.   I couldn’t believe it.   He was so well-behaved and easy to deal with.  Very pleasant with me and all the kids.    I’m going to think of more ways he can help in the kitchen and see if this could be a driver of better behavior…
  • Elena served herself peas with a big tablespoon.   I couldn’t believe it.   She then proceeded to drop the spoon on Red’s head so then I had two girls screaming and crying at the same time.
  • I take Twin Crazy, Twin Husky, and Big Bro to get the mail with me.   Twin Husky makes a run for it and hides behind the neighbor’s bushes.   We all said “bye bye” to him but he still wouldn’t budge.   I came out 30 seconds later to see where he was, and he was still standing there, but this time LAUGHING.   Man that completely backfired on me.
  • I think an entire package of Costco grapes were consumed tonight by all kids after dinner.   I don’t want to be the one changing the diapers tomorrow AM.
  • There was lots of playing, kissing, wrestling, flipping the kids around tonight.   All were very fun – Red was subdued so that was sad.
  • Bedtime routine with Twins went great.   I just tell them it’s time to go up and they both run for the stairs.  They enjoy book time, singing, and kissing each other good-night.
  • Bedtime with the older kids went good too.  We’re getter faster at this.
Today was a pretty good day.   Work was not that crazed, and I feel like I had plenty of quality time with the kids.  The only downfall is the iPad glitch so I need to get on that so I don’t lose my work consistently.
Till tomorrow –
– Mama K


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July 29: Sleepless nights

July 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Before I write about the morning, I need to recap from the evening last night. Twin Crazy began screaming at around 11:30 Pm. This is very unusual – it had to be something wrong for either Twin to wake up in the middle of the night. This was because she had PUKED…. probably due to the tube of toothpaste she ate earlier in the evening.

Then apparently at 3 am-ish, Red peed her bed. We’ve been testing the nights without pull-ups (these were never needed with Big Bro) – she makes most nights OK, but when there is an accident it sets her back a bit with her confidence. So I think going forward we’re going to do pull-ups for the next several months and try again later.

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

  • Twin Husky and Red played in our room until I got ready. Big Bro got up and then went back to bed (he’s just like me….)
  • Twin Husky got mad at me for taking away a pen. So much so, that he didn’t want to hold my hand going down the steps. He eventually made it downstairs for breakfast. When I later checked on him, his face was smothered in yogurt and eating strawberries and bananas. He was loving life again.
  • Twin Crazy seems OK despite her puke incident last night. She’s hungry and eating fine.
  • I was running late so did not have time to get Red changed. I threw her clothes in the bag and daycare will have to change her.
  • Drove a bit fast to both drop offs – all goodbyes were a bit rushed.
  • I barely made it to the ferry in time…

Today at work I will need to focus on three things:

  • business development efforts for big meeting/initiative in October
  • business development efforts as a result of our partnering meeting earlier this week
  • Whitepaper review before sending to client by end of day

The sky is grey, but the water is smooth. I feel a bit slow from the two glasses of wine the night before. Despite my sleeping pill, I STILL woke up in the middle of the night because of the red wine. These days I can only do white wine, or better yet BEER. I’m looking forward to some brews tonight.

Highlights of my Working Day:

  • I attempt my normal routine but then I was shocked to find out that I forgot my make-up bag at home. So, not only was I hungover and under slept, but I also looked like absolute shit. Good thing there weren’t that many people in the office.
  • Since there were few people, and since I had ranks at the moment, I decided it was going to be Pizza Day and asked our admin to order pizza lunch from an outrageous pizza place in town. I stopped for 15 minutes to scarf down some food.
  • A prospective client randomly called into the office so I got the call since no other manager or director was in the office. Yes!!! I organized some next steps to qualify the opportunity including a conference call, references, and potential face-to-face visit when he is coming to town in late August. The sales cycle for consulting projects is long, so this timing is all normal.
  • I worked on some business development follow-up for one of the Firm’s initiatives and meeting in Oct.
  • I then started on the follow-up items and business development plan for the other partnering initiative as a result of our meeting earlier this week.
  • I looked at the white paper and provided revisions for the analyst to incorporate before sending to our client.

I am still extremely tired, but on the ferry now on a Friday and the sun is shining. However I am sitting at a table typing with a bunch of fathers who are talking about the summer camps, tennis camps, and soccer camps they have their kids going too. OK. I don’t need to feel like a delinquent parent right now. I’m hungover OK guys? And NO, I am not sending my kids to any kind of camp because I don’t have any f*^%ing time to think about those sorts of things let alone drive them back and forth to them. Uggggh I’m getting greener in the face, I’m sure.

I’m looking forward to hugging my children and keeping the twins out of the toothpaste tonight.

Dinner and Bedtime:

  • Hubby was at home making homemade pizza (thanks to the pre-made dough from Trader Joe’s!). Big Bro pickup was uneventful. He’s excited to have pizza tonight. Pick up for the rest was great. The daycare provider makes sure to hold the Twin’s hands otherwise they come running right towards the van as I drive up. Twin Crazy was squealing and jumping and laughing during pickup. I love it.
  • Joan Jett “I Love Rock n Roll” comes on and of course I need to blast it and roll the windows down
  • Hubby gets Big Bro started on pizza making. Big Bro rolls out his own little pizza and his goes in first
  • Red is clingy so I’m holding her but then I accidentally step on one of the Twin’s “peg puzzle pieces” and then I drop Red. So then we were both on the floor yelling “Ouch” – her yelling is accompanied with tears. She clinged onto me the rest of the night (you would have thought she would have rejected me but it was just the opposite). I sat on a rocking chair with her and we both calmed down.
Clingy Red
  • Twins were outside investigating in the garden and Twin Crazy came inside with dirt all over the place, including her lips and face.
  • Dinner went just fine; I had a cold beer which was wonderful
  • Twins made their way upstairs. It was quiet. We were nervous about toothpaste. Then Twin Crazy gets herself stuck in one of the rooms and has to keep banging on the door for someone to let her out. Red came to her rescue.
  • Friday is movie night so Big Bro is watching Shrek
  • Hubby, Red, and Twins are out on a quick walk before bedtime.
  • Twins were cute at bedtime. Twin Crazy is still scared of the goldfish in the one book. They both like the singing. It is so cute when you see your kids kiss each other goodnight. They love that routine.
  • Big Bro and Red went down just fine too. Red didn’t have sheets on her bed but we had her mattress cover on. She protested about the blue pillow cover and then I said that it was that pillow or no pillow and took the pillow off. She quickly said in a shrilly, dramatic voice: “Yes, I want THAT pillow!!!!!!” with all smiles. She is so dramatic and so manipulative I could just squeeze her…. and I did just that.
OK I’m going to watch True Blood now with hubby –
Everyone enjoy their weekends! Till Monday,
– Mama K
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Recipe: Chicken Soft Tacos

July 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This recipe was submitted by “Mama S” from Orinda, CA.   Sounds yummy and beats Taco Bell any day of the week!  I also like it since you can deviate and use whatever your kids like or what you have on hand in your fridge or pantry.    Thank you Mama S!!!!!!!!!   Keep the ideas coming!   🙂

Chicken Soft Tacos

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb chicken breast, sliced up thinly (or ground beef or ground chicken)
  • tortillas, corn or flour
  • taco seasoning

Fillings:   any or all of the following

  • tomatoes, diced
  • lettuce, shredded
  • cheddar cheese, shredded
  • avocado, diced
  • cilantro, chopped
  • sour cream
  • pickled jalapeno peppers
  • black beans, refried beans

Cooking:

Cook the chicken for about 5 mins until most of it is cooked. Drain the fat if needed. To the pan, add about 3 TBSP of taco seasoning with 3 TBSP of water. Put back on heat and cook for another 5 mins.

If tortillas are very fresh, no need to heat them up. If not so fresh, microwave 20 sec for each tortilla. Add fillings as needed.

Prep time – 20 minutes
Cook time – 15 minutes

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Thank you for your response. ✨

 
Rating


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July 28: The whole gang visits pre-school and the frightening goldfish

July 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Daily Journal: July 28

It was great to see the kids this morning since I didn’t get much time with them last night. This morning was a bit out of the ordinary since I was working from home today – so it felt more relaxed and I had extra time with the kids.

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

  • Red was busy this morning styling her hair with curly control spray. She can only manage one part of her head though, and refused to let me help her with the rest. So, one part of her head looked cute with ringlets and the other part (the majority) looked like Einstein hair.
  • Red was a bit cranky/needy today. She had various melt-downs over breakfast, a toy broom (I think one of her first fights with Twin Husky), getting changed, …… ….. ….. I felt like I was being patient with her but lost it when she started screaming about her jacket and how she DIDN’T WANT THAT ONE… and she DIDN’T WANT THOSE SHOES…. and then SHE wanted to zip the jacket. I honestly couldn’t help it at that point and raised my voice with her. “You need to snap out of it!”
  • Twin Crazy was busy picking up pieces of rug to give to me as trash. She was also busy taking out thermoses to help us pack lunch (we didn’t really need them though). “Thank you sweetie!”
  • Twin Husky was busy walking up and down the stairs. This became problematic though when he started to do this with the toy broom (refer to fight with Red, mentioned above)
  • Big Bro asked for another bagel for the ride to pre-school. [Note: I forgot it and found it in the microwave to defrost hours later]
  • Hubby let’s me know that he diapered both Twins upstairs since they followed him up there.
  • I took them off to daycare/pre-school since I was working from home today. On the way to daycare, Red asked if we could all drop Big Bro off first. It took me awhile to figure this out though. Her communication is still a bit difficult to understand. “Do I need to take the lions out of my ears?” I ask. “yes“. Then I pretend I’m pulling a lion out of my ear and roaring. She asks me to do it with the other ear. I do. She repeats what she is trying to say. I then understand. So we deviate from our normal routine and we all go to drop off Big Bro. The drop off for Big Bro with all the kids was AWESOME.
    • We were all together trampling around in the pre-school, and Red had a chance to look at the “classroom” where she may go in September. I really think it will be a better environment for her compared to where she is now [topic for another post I suppose].
    • We looked around at the room and it was so cute with the creative materials, planting projects, and a fish tank. We talked about the fish a lot to the Twins and I made the motions with my hand of a fish swimming like I do at book-time; Twin Husky LOVED the fish, Twin Crazy was scared shitless of the little fish.
    • I received A LOT of stares at the pre-school walking around with this group – Twins still in pajamas, Twin Husky with thumb in mouth…. not that many families in this city have so many kids so our family is a bit of sight.
    • We successfully dropped of Big Bro but then I had some problems getting the kids in the mini-van fast enough. Twin Husky made a run for it and ran into the middle of the parking lot but I was 1/2 a second behind him. Man he’s fast.

All four at pre-school

  • The drop off for Red, Twin Crazy, and Twin Husky went just fine. Twin Husky ran in there like he was on a mission. It smelled good in there and I was starved. How can I get this woman to feed me once in awhile?
I got back to the house and began to eat everyone’s leftover breakfast. Literally right off of the highchair trays and tables. Sliced peaches, yogurt, strawberries. I made a pot of coffee for the working day at home. Today I will focus on:
  • working with analyst on whitepaper; going to the client’s office to work with them on the draft
  • business development on two separate large-scale initiatives for our firm
Highlights of My Working Day:
  • I had my colleague meet me at my house so we could review / edit the draft deliverable for our client meeting later that AM.
  • We then had our client meeting face-to-face; there’s a bit of restructuring of the content but the major pieces are all there. We re-grouped afterwards and I think she is set to run with it
  • On the drive back to my house, I decide to stop at the food store to pick up stuff for dinner – a whole chicken, broccoli, baguette, and orzo. I also pick up some other stuff while I’m there. I get home and run the dishwasher since we have no utensils to eat the dinner I am planning.
  • Work on graphics for whitepaper, answer emails, set up business development discussion for a potential project we will be proposing on. Organized my day for tomorrow. I completely did not accomplish anything for the other initiatives, so I’ll just have to push that to tomorrow. I’ll likely go into the office tomorrow since my powercord for my new iPad is there and I’m expecting a package.
I’m here now with the smell of roasted chicken… you would think that I would be relaxed from this day, but I’m in fact a bit tense. I’m anxious about the deliverable and also the work that I didn’t get to today…. It’s so easy for me to get wound up over those things. That’s when I think I’m in the wrong profession since there is always pressure to be working/delivering on something. There really is no downtime.
I’m also hoping the new mother’s helper will show up tonight. There’s a load of wash in the washing machine that’s been there a few days and now it stinks. Maybe I’ll have a drink tonight with dinner. I think I need it.
Dinner and Bedtime:
  • Pick up Big Bro. The first thing he asks is “What’s for dinner?” I proudly reply “Chicken”. He immediately starts to whine and say how he doesn’t like chicken and how he wants pizza instead. F! He pretends to be mad at me so I slightly swerve the van back and forth to make him laugh. We keep doing this until we reach Red and the Twins.
  • Picking up Red and Twins is always awesome. They run to me laughing and squealing. I have three kids running to me and I love it.
  • On the ride home we blast disco – Twins have hair flowing in the air and the kids are all laughing at me dancing. “Good times… these are the good times….”
  • Now running around cutting broccoli and boiling water and rushing Red to the toilet.
  • Hubby and Red start a “cupcake” project with muffin mix from Trader Joe’s
  • Meanwhile, Twin Crazy and Twin Husky were upstairs, by themselves, quiet……. apparently they were emptying toothpaste tubes (and eating some), playing in the toilet, and rolling out toilet paper….. laughing the whole time.
  • Everyone ate like champs. Hubby and I drank red wine like champs. 🙂 Because of everyone’s food performance we all had muffins. We ate up the pan.
  • Big Bro and Red were great big siblings tonight — feeding the twins with muffins and taking care of them; helping them
  • We talked about the pre-school room for Red; and the goldfish that Twin Crazy was scared of. Twin Crazy then became extremely anxious and we pulled out the book with the goldfish in it; we talked about the goldfish and how it was OK to be scared.
  • Big Bro played on the computer and came upstairs when his game was done
  • Red put on pajamas all by herself. Big Bro and Red brushed teeth and got ready for bed all by themselves
  • Twin Crazy and Twin Husky enjoyed singing Twinkle Twinkle and Itsy Bitsy Spider — they are doing all the motions which is awesome
  • Bedtime with Big Bro and Red was spectacular; books were great; kids were great; no crying.
I am so unbelievably happy right now. Maybe I should drink red wine more often? I loved the fact that I had extra time with the kids and everything just seemed to flow; with the exception of one or two breakdowns – it all went well.
Hold on a minute… .Red is screaming now with an issue…. Gotta go!
Till tomorrow –
– Mama K
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July 25: Lost “lovey” predicament

July 25, 2011 by 2 Comments

Another Monday. Mondays are always a bit rough for me. I don’t really feel the excitement of getting to work aft the weekend with the kids. Mondays really just keep me longing for more. And the evenings with the kids are usually pretty tough. The kids (as do I) have a hard time adjusting to the weekday after the full-court-press time over the weekend.

Highlights of morning and commute:

  • Big Bro always takes the longest to wake up. He is always so snug and warm and he is the fourth of our kids to “bloom” each morning. Today I was hugging and teasing him: “oh you are sooooooo snit and warm and cuddly……. Oh how warrrrrrrrrm……… Oh your so comfortable and snuggly…..”. He replies “I’m so lucky”. I am thrilled that at least he can appreciate moments like that (at least when prompted)
  • We keep calling for Big Bro to come downstairs even Twin Crazy walks to the foot of the stairs “calling up” to big bro to come downstairs. She’s doing a lot of talking these days – full sentences with inflections and everything, but with words that no one understands, with the possible exception of Twin Husky
  • Twin Husky gives me an open mouth kiss when he first sees me — a big, wet one…. with pieces of bread crumbs stuck to his lips and now sticking to my face. I love it. Give me more of those wet kisses, baby!
  • Big Bro wanted to water the big tomato plants that we still have to plant in our small backyard. They are about two feet tall by now and still sitting on our windowsill
  • Because of this, Red wanted to water the tomato plant seedlings we have growing in out two pails. Again, another project that I did with the kids that will likely never see cultivation in our yard. I mean it’s almost the end of July! When was I supposed to start the seedlings? Too much pre-planning. I’ll hope for better planning and luck for next year.
  • I play and hug Red who is hanging on me like a monkey – things are going so great. Then I proceed to step on her toe which of course throws her into a fit because she has NO threshold for pain. She sits on my lap and we talk about it. I say how sorry I am and that it was an accident and how I know it must hurt. The twins come over curiously and watch her and her foot. I kiss Red’s toe. Twin Crazy by this point is “talking” about it and then also kisses her toe and offers her a Graham cracker. This melts my heart.
  • I cut Big Bro’s hair on Sunday during bathtime/showertime and honestly it is the worst haircut I have ever given him. I’m so embarrassed for him. But he seems to like it just fine. When we got him to pre-school in the AM, he asked if I could wet down his hair a bit since it was sticking up all over the place. I told him it’s actually the style for guys to wear their hair a little bit scruffy. He cautiously agreed….

At work today I’ll likely be spending a lot of time on the litigation support case. We have a meeting this afternoon. I am dressed to impress again today – another short dress. Hopefully my colleague does not bring in her baby today otherwise I know I won’t be able to stop myself from crawling on the floor and accidentally exposing my ass to the office.

Highlights of my Working Day:

  • I spent time preparing documents for a face-to-face meeting where we will hopefully be partnering with another company to offer a formalized, recurring product to the market. If this concepts works and is accepted by the market, it can be a big money maker for our company.
  • I also spent some time organizing for logistics for tomorrow – two face to face meetings across two different suburbs of the city. I’m all set.
  • I spent time reviewing our arguments for our legal case project. We met with the client (lawyers) today and I made several suggestions for wording changes and clarifications in our arguments that should protect us during deposition and any counter arguments. I felt good about my contributions to the meeting.

In terms of dinner, I’m not sure what we’re going to have. The sun is out, I’m using my NEW wireless keyboard with my iPad, and feeling very good about the logistics of blogging from this point on. I’m sitting at the ferry dock now, typing away, with a handbag packed with presentation materials for my 9 AM meeting tomorrow, along with my high heels (I’m wearing flats now) that went great with my work outfit today.

Dinner and Bedtime:

Rough night. Right now both Red and Twin Crazy are crying. Twin Crazy has an excuse. We accidentally left her “lovey” at daycare. So we’re to blame for that one. I have no idea why Red is upset. We’ll let her cry for a bit and check in on her. Highlights of tonight:

  • New mother’s helper came, and did a great job for the first night
  • We had our rugs steam cleaned during the day, so the house looks great
  • I went to check the mail with Twin Crazy. Then Red and Twin Husky got upset. So I walked out a second time with them and came back quickly since dinner was on the table.
  • During dinner Big Bro asked for milk and then picked out one of Red’s “princess” cups. Red noticed this and said that princesses are for girls. Big Bro turned around and proclaimed “it’s JUST a cup.” OMG I was so proud of him. Did we turn a corner away from the possessiveness and downright demands of this age???? Please???? Tell me yes?@!!??!?!???
  • The kids ate an extreme amount for dinner – everyone except for Red. They ate like teenagers. Breaded fish, side of pasta, string beans, edamame. We ran out of food
  • Red keeps talking in Spanish with the Twins. “Aqui”, “Aqui”. How cute.
  • Twin Crazy is really good at Twinkle Twinkle with her hands. She now makes the diamond shape with her fingers. How cute. Must video.
The day went reasonably well. Twin Crazy sounds like she’s finally asleep. Red is still upset. I’ll go check on her soon. Tomorrow I have two meetings face-to-face in different locations; so will need to leave here by 7:30 AM. Ugh. REALLY bad timing. It’s almost easier for me to leave before the kids wake up but I think I’ll grab that extra 1/2 hour of sleep.
Till tomorrow –
– Mama K
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July 20: Moving too slowly…

July 20, 2011 by 2 Comments

It’s Hump Day! During my morning commute Hubby and I were collaborating on some ideas for Mama In Motion so I did not write up the details of the morning. I’m actually writing this after work so it will all be a bit abbreviated:

Highlights of the morning and commute:

  • I got to bed WAY late last night due to work. So I woke up at 7:15 feeling completely out of it.
  • Red again this morning was proud of her hair curly spray – I told her that she looked beautiful.
  • Great news!!!! Red did NOT wear a pull up last night and she didn’t have an accident!!!
  • I hear Twin Husky making noise from his room. Red runs into the room to greet him (she knows not to go in there until they are awake). We hear her excitement proclaiming at the top of her lungs: “[Twin Husky] AND [Twin Crazy] are awake!!!!!!! Then we start to hear her voice talking to them like a little mommy.
  • Hubby gets all breakfast ready for all kids; I gather the kid clothes for the day – Big Bro, Red – before heading downstairs. I put a cup of water in microwave for instant coffee immediately – I’m feeling a bit slow today.
  • I spend a lot of time with Big Bro today. Today is costume day at pre-school. He wants to be a skeleton, but honestly the costume we have is home-made out of sweatshirt material. It is summertime!!! I keep trying to sell him on the cute pirate costume (it has shorts, lightweight material, etc.) but he is very stubborn and seems happy with the decision of being a skeleton. I respect his decision, but I still pack up the pirate costume as a back-up. He’s OK with that idea.
  • No fights today which was great
  • Twin Husky is walking up and down the stairs with a toy broom. Probably not the safest thing he should be doing. He just learned how to walk down the stairs for goodness sake and now he’s holding a toy broom that is as tall as he is…..
  • OK, it’s AFTER 8 AM!!! We’re late!!!! Time to go!!! We shuffle out, and with the normal shoes, jackets, favorite toys. Today I’m also carrying the extra costume for Big Bro along with his sound machine for crickets at naptime at pre-school.
  • Me and hubby do the drop offs. First drop off: Red and Twins. Went smoothly. Twin Husky was sweeping with his broom and didn’t even notice us leaving.
  • Second drop off: Big Bro; he seemed really excited for the day. His “teacher” was curious about the sound machine. It will be interesting to hear how it went today.

This was a slllllooooooowwwwww morning. Ferry ride was great – sunny. Working on some ideas for Mama In Motion. Not thinking that much at all about my day job at the moment.

Highlights of my Working Day:

  • The normal routine…. In the ladies room I transform into career woman – makeup, pull wet hair back in clip. In office, I grab tea, water, and a cup of trail mix. Boot up computer and check website stats. Read emails to see what I need to accomplish quickly. Check the news. Now I’m ready to begin.
  • Worked on Business development, Phase 2 thinking for last project. It would be great to win that one.
  • A good portion of my day was spent plowing through legal documents to prepare for our meeting tomorrow with the legal team, our client. I’ve been on litigation support projects before and am used to the style of the legal language and documents. So I’m able to get through a big stack of documents relatively quickly. This project may actually be interesting.
  • I also spent some time setting up meetings with two potential mother’s helpers for tonight. Hopefully we don’t get stood up like we did last night. We need to find someone! I don’t want to be without a mother’s helper starting next week!!!!

Dinner and Bedtime:

  • Red was having a pretty bad night. First, she peed her pants. It looked like she was trying to get there but just didn’t make it in time. Then, she was playing in backyard and got splinters all in her feet
  • All ate corn on the cob and loved it

Big BroRed

Twins
  • Both twins were very clingy tonight – both wanted to be held
  • Big Bro was extremely tired and fell to pieces at the end of the night.
  • During bedtime, Twins participated in “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I’m teaching them “Itsy Bitsy Spider” next.

So, it was a good day but not so good evening. We are much closer to hiring our mother’s helper replacement which makes me feel more at ease. We met someone tonight who sounds too good to be true…. loves to clean, likes to cook, was great with the kids, followed directions…. Things are looking good!!!

I’m looking forward to playing with my brand new iPad (it was delivered today) so maybe I’ll be creating my journal tomorrow on that! How fun!!!

Till tomorrow,

  • Mama K.
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July 19: My son, the father of twelve bird hatchlings

July 19, 2011 by 2 Comments

This is my second daily journal posting. Hopefully these are the kinds of things you are interested in reading so I’ll keep this up until folks say it’s no longer interesting. But with four little kids in the house in the AM while both parents are getting out to work (and getting the four out to daycare/pre-school), there is almost always good content to write about. So, here I am on the ferry during my commute to work. Hair still wet, no make up on. Recapping from this morning:

Highlights of the morning and commute:

  • I wake up at 7 AM to Red, who asks if I can help her put her “curly spray” on her hair. She is really beginning to become a diva. In my eyes she is stunningly beautiful with her red curly hair and deep brown eyes. What a wonderful way for me to wake up.
  • While getting ready, Red plays quietly in our room. She decides to play with “bath letters” (the spongy things that stick on the sides of the tub during play time). She says she’s matching colors and building towers of letters based upon color. Red: “Mommy, there’s only one yellow.” Me: “Awh sweetie, he must be lonely”. Red: “And there’s only one red.” Me: “Well, maybe they can be friends.”.
  • I gather the kid clothes for the day – Big Bro, Red – before heading downstairs. I put a cup of water in microwave for instant coffee immediately – I’m feeling a bit slow today.
  • It’s CHOCOLATE TUESDAY!!!! A couple months ago I was struggling trying to figure out how to get more protein into these kids who are very picky/predictable in the morning. I stumbled on Nutella which because a HUGE hit. So much so that I really think the kids became addicted to the “chocolate”. They demanded it daily. Hubby put a stop to it and declared that only one day of the week should be “chocolate day”. We asked Big Bro which day he thought it should be and he proclaimed “Tuesday”. Of course on that day we had the conversation it was a Tuesday so I thought that was pretty clever of him
  • I come downstairs and Big Bro and Red have chocolate all over their faces. Think handlebar mustaches of Nutella chocolate. They are so quiet though. I love Tuesday mornings because of this. They tend to cooperate more with us since the Nutella puts them in a good mood.
  • Twin Husky is busy with bread crusts and eating Hubby’s cereal. Twin Crazy is walking around with a banana, very proud that she holds it like a big girl. We then start on applesauce with the Twins which quickly turns into a disaster since they really want to self feed. There is apple sauce all over themselves and the floor. I’ll worry about that clean up after they’re done.
  • Some issues / fights between Big Bro and Red, but they are mild.
  • Big Bro has a ‘silly shoe day” at school and I know this will be a problem. He is very sensitive to tactile things (e.g., like tags on his shirt, bunched up socks, etc.) and I suspect that wearing two different shoes will be a problem. We talk about it and come up with four different pairs of shoes that could be similar enough to feel OK. He rejects all, so I suggest bringing his favorite sneakers and another pair of shoes as back-up, in case he feels pressure once getting to school. For some reason as well he is asking to bring his Toy Story play tent. He claims they are doing “camping” at school. I question this but pack it up anyway.
  • Twin Husky and I wind up playing a game where he takes a step backward, I kiss his head, he laughs. He takes a step backward, I kiss his head, he laughs. We did this all the way into the living room where we started doing diaper changes.
  • Diaper changes for both Twin Husky and Twin Crazy were uneventful. However during Twin Crazy’s diaper change, Twin Husky kept “head butting” my body for me to give him kisses. It was so cute. Even Twin Crazy was laughing at this. He manipulated lots of kisses from me this morning.
  • OK, it’s 8 AM!!! Time to go!!! WE shuffle out, and with the normal shoes, jackets, favorite toys, I also have a Toy Story tent, sleeping bag, and extra pair of shoes.
  • I am doing drop-offs solo this morning since Hubby has to drive in for a meeting.
  • First drop off: Red and Twins. Went smoothly.
  • Second drop off: Big Bro; lots of kids with crazy shoes. Different pairs, but some have decorated one pair of shoes with strings, stickers, etc. This will work. I ask the pre-school teacher if he could work with Big Bro to get his sneakers “crazy”.

This was another great morning. There were only a couple of mild fights but they were really tame. Now on the ferry but it is very grey. Oh shit! I forgot to bring a jacket for myself. This happens frequently. One morning I left the house wearing my slippers. Not good. For work today I will need to focus on:

  • Continuing the selling efforts of Phase 2 of our last project.
  • Starting to refine the Executive presentation for our meeting next week
  • Getting those legal files downloaded and start to review – to prepare for internal meeting tomorrow.
  • Attend status meeting for big event we are hosting later this year – communicate the traction I’ve made in securing client participation and membership. I’ve secured ~5 additional participants and am excited to report on this.

That’s it for now. Hoping the day goes well and that I get in good spirits. I might need extra caffeine today.

Highlights of my Working Day:

  • The normal routine…. In the ladies room I transform into career woman – makeup, pull wet hair back in clip. In office, I grab tea, water, and a cup of trail mix. Boot up computer and check website stats. Read emails to see what I need to accomplish quickly. Check the news. Now I’m ready to begin.
  • I had a good time today working with a team building a “business” inside our company – the big meeting in October. I felt good about the progress made with selling potential clients on the idea and getting them to agree to come to the meeting. We still have more work to do, but I’m having fun with it and like the group I’m working with.
  • Finished up the thinking for potential Phase 2 project for our last client; just need to tweak and then we’ll send it to the client tomorrow. I worked on the Executive Presentation but did not finish. So unfortunately I will need to work on this tonight after the kids go to bed. That is the problem with this profession…. Client work means working after hours and traveling. That’s just what is required to be successful at this job.
  • Got some flack from a director for not being able to download files from the secure server for our other client project just starting. She will blame this on me (she already has). I’ll have to deal with her tomorrow.
  • Also did some business development to secure a small project as a subcontractor to another consultancy. I like the relationship-building aspect of this job.

I’m on the ferry now and it is still sunny out – another beautiful day. Still not excited about the work I need to do tonight. Wish I could spend more time with my children. Have not thought about dinner yet. Why do I continuously do that??!??!?!?!?!? I should know better by now, right??!??!?!?!

We are meeting two potential mother helpers tonight; looking forward to meeting them. OK, signing off for now and getting my keys ready for pick up!!

Dinner and Bedtime:

Pick ups were uneventful, except there was great music on. I took advantage of the good weather and my reasonably good mood and rolled the windows way down while singing “Jesse’s Girl”. The kids were laughing. Hubby was already making pizza when we arrived which was excellent – because of this the dinner was done quickly and we had lots of time to play with the kids. Here are some highlights:

  • Twin Crazy was particularly playful tonight. She kept wanting me to flip her upside down. I love when she does this. Her laugh is contagious. Plus I get to kiss her pudgy neck when she’s flipped over. so cute
  • At one point things were quiet upstairs and I checked the older kid’s room…. there was Red, Twin Husky, and Twin Crazy all sitting there in Red’s bed. I’m not sure how the twins made it in there. I think Red is carrying them around now.
  • Twin Husky constantly picks up balls now and says “ball” in his deep, throaty voice
  • We had a great dinner. Hubby made pizza, and we also served leftover mac-n-cheese, broccoli, and sliced cucumbers. The Twins were eating like crazy with their forks. Then Red started feeding them. Then the Twins started feeding Red. It was too cute.
  • Big Bro is having “spirit week” at pre-school and they’re doing fun things each day but also doing a camping theme all week. So after dinner he gets his sleeping bag and puts the sound machine on “crickets”. I’m laughing out loud just thinking back on this.
  • Big Bro then decides to be a “bird” in a “nest” that he constructed around himself from the sleeping bag. He proclaims that he has 12 eggs. I gasp and say “12 kids???!??!? Oh my goodness how will you ever be able to care for 12 kids? Will you get a job?” He says “No, birds don’t do that.” Me: “But how are you going to care for them?” Big Bro: “I’m going to build a bigger nest. With a roof. And a hole so they can go in and out.” Me: “Well what else are you going to do to care for them?” Big Bro: “I’m going to keep them safe. I’m going to fly around to get them food.” I say, “Oh my goodness are you strong enough to do all that flying for all of that food for 12 kids??!?!?!??!?! What else are you going to do for them? How are you going to make them feel loved?” Big Bro: “I’m going to hug them all. And I’m going to ‘tweet’ when they fly away when they’re bigger so they can come back.” OMG I almost crumbled with this exchange. He is so sweet. He then proceeded to name them (largely based upon the kids in his class): Ryan, Scanlan, Robert, Lindsay, Jin Woo, Eva, Ruby, Dinosaur (our favorite), Elena, Gabriella, Jessica, and Hana.
  • Twin Crazy and big sister Red were playing make believe in the play kitchen.
  • Twin Crazy then started carrying shoes around, and also shoving her face into fluffy stuffed animals
  • Twin Husky was walking up and down the stairs
  • Red had velcro play food items stuck all over her socks
  • Hubby was falling asleep on the floor – he claimed it was the sound of the crickets. Red ran over the sound machine to get rid of the crickets so hubby would no longer fall asleep
  • I started a tickle fit with Big Bro. His trick to get me to stop tickling him is the comment “You’re GREAT mommy!!!!”
  • I took a short walk to the mailbox with Big Bro and Red. Twin Husky was hysterical when we returned so I went on a second walk to the empty mailbox just with him to calm him down.
  • Hubby brings out peaches and then it’s like “Dawn of the Dead” with all of these kids reaching out to him for peaches
  • bedtime! Hubby and mother’s helper work on the Twins – story and singing
  • I work with Big Bro and Red. Teeth, no problem. Red decides to go poop. This took awhile. During this time she happens to remember a time when she tried to dump the little potty of poop into the toilet but somehow missed and the poop landed on the floor. “Daddy had to get it“. I started laughing thinking of his expression of doing this task. I guess I wasn’t around that night.
  • I say to Red, “Come on man, let’s get these PJs on man”. She responds “I’m a lady. Not a man. Call me Lady.” Isn’t she too young for this?
  • We read a Dora book and I start to use funny accents with the characters. Except they wind up in some mangled French accent instead of Spanish. Red laughs at this but Big Bro doesn’t like it. I try to slip them in there but he still protests.

I am in such a great, energized mood because of the time I was able to spend with the kids this evening. Believe me, the cost of a mother’s helper is worth their weight in gold. We don’t have to worry about dinner clean up, laundry, etc. We can just focus on being with our kids.

Speaking of which, the two mothers helper candidates I had lined up for tonight didn’t show up. I need to figure out if we were stood up or if I messed up an appointment. Chances are 50/50 that I messed up at least one of them. I’ll need to work on that tomorrow!!!!

OK, now I have to switch gears and work on that presentation — It needs to be sent to the Director tonight; hopefully it does not take me more than 1 hour. I also have a stack of legal docs to read but I don’t think I’ll crack that tonight.

Thanks for reading –

– Mama K

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July 18: Twin Husky’s hairstyle botched by ice-water accident

July 18, 2011 by 6 Comments

Ok, so this post is largely a test… this will be my first posting discussing the highlights of the morning with the kids, my working day, and the “witching hour(s)” with the cranky tired kids.   I’m anxious to see how much time the effort takes – but excited too since there was a lot of good content going on in our house today.

Highlights of the morning and commute:

  • I wake up at 7 AM to get ready.   “Getting ready” is quite abbreviated these days…. I take a quick shower and quickly throw on the clothes that I set out the night before.   I simply comb my wet, straight hair — it is long and I will either sweep back with a ponytail or a clip.  I save make up for later – at work.
  • While getting ready, Twin Husky decides to walk up the stairs by himself and greet me.   “Hi Sweetie!!!”   Hugs and kisses.   He is so lovable.   He watches me brush my hair so I then sit with him on the floor brushing his hair and telling him how handsome he is.   He wanders about while I finish getting ready.
  • I hear some crying downstairs… a breakdown.  I think it is Red.
  • Big Bro comes up for a visit, with his sound machine (he has always had trouble going to sleep and this was one of our tools that we tried several years back… it appears that he found it again).   “Mommy can you plug this in?”  “Yes, of course sweetie.”  “Mommy, I wish I were grown up so I could use plugs and be tall like Daddy.”  “Yes, and Daddy sure is tall…”
  • I gather the kid clothes for the day – Big Bro, Red, and also a weeks worth of clothes for Twin Husky, requested by daycare.   Big Bro wants his OLD shorts, not his new shorts which he rejected after we purchased 4 pairs.
  • Downstairs, Red is having an issue, on the floor. It likely has something to do with breakfast.  I think our kitchen cabinet is out of oatmeal.  I sit on the floor with her and ask her if she wants to go “shopping” with me.   Just me and her.   We hold hands and run into the garage (I keep extra non-perishable food in the garage on shelves, I guess its the Italian in me that always craves an overabundance of food).   I explain that the 3 boxes of oatmeal are there for her, and only her.   Our back-and-forth conversation goes like this:  Does Daddy eat it?  No.  Does Big Bro?  No.  Does Twin Crazy?   No.  Does Twin Husky?   No.   Well then, WHO eats it???????.    ME!!!!!   with a big smile on her face and an unsolicited hug from this little sweetie.    I feel on top of the world whenever I fix the issue.   However, this feeling does not last for long.   Literally 20 seconds later while leaving the garage I accidently step on her toe and she is thrown into another crying fit.   Shit!!
  • Twin Crazy is walking around “talking” eating bananas.   Twin Husky is eating bread and raisins.   Big Bro is finishing up a bagel.  Thanks hubby for getting them all set up.   Red proceeds to eat 2 ½ packages of oatmeal (she boycotted dinner the night before).
  • Big Bro requests his sound machine.   Now imagine the sounds of fog-horns filling up our kitchen and living room.
  • I put a cup of water in microwave for instant coffee.  This is the only luxury I give myself in the morning.
  • Big Bro spreads out his clothes on the floor as lillypads and proceeds to act like a frog hopping on them.
  • Twin Crazy is sneezing non stop and hubby and I are running for tissues non-stop.   This is a doozy I hope does not spread to the rest.
  • Big Bro fills up a cup by himself with ice-water.  He is proud that he has filled his drink to the top “like mommy does”.   He proceeds to accidently dump the entire (full) tall cup of ice-water on Twin Husky’s head while I’m giving the poor guy a diaper change (he was already cold to begin with, all exposed and all, and then imagine getting doused with ice-water on top of that).   So much for all that hair brushing earlier in the morning.  He cries a bit since he scared, but then we all start laughing.   “That must have been scary for you sweetie”.   Big Bro admits that he was scared too.
  • Diaper change for Twin Crazy is thankfully uneventful.
  • Then both twins decide to climb up and down the stairs, playing.   Breaking the rule of “no playing on the stairs”.  I shuffle them down.  Oh, forgot to mention that days prior they both worked together to dismantle the gate/board at the foot of the stairs.   So now they have free reign of the stairs walking up, walking down, walking up, walking down, etc. etc. etc.
  • I run upstairs and take my anxiety pill with my coffee.
  • OK, 8 AM!!!  Time to go!!!    Everyone begins to shuffle out.  Finding shoes, finding jackets, finding the toys they want to bring.   Big Bro says that for this week he wants to bring only Toy Story toys to pre-school because he likes Toy Story, and also Batman because he likes superheros.
  • Red is proud that she buckled herself in by herself.   Big Bro has been doing this for awhile now, thank goodness.  Makes things much easier.
  • I drag the big “Smart and Final” bag of all the kids clothes, shoes, and jackets for daycare.
  • Hubby and I make the first drop off:   Red and Twins.   We let the provider know that Twin Husky is teething with two big molars on each side.   I give each of my sweeties a kiss on the top of the head.
  • Hubby and I make second drop off:   Big Bro; it is crazy hair day!   Wait a minute, the ONE day that he does NOT have crazy hair!!!   We promptly fix that with water and gel.  He now looks like a rock star.
  • Hubby and I head to the ferry with plenty of time to spare.

All in all, the morning went well.   There were only 2 breakdowns, which really isn’t bad.   We are on the ferry now.  The day is beautiful.   Water is flat.   Approaching the city now.   For work today I will need to focus on:

  • Helping with RFP response, developing question list for further clarification
  • Selling phase two for project we are wrapping up; need to outline what Phase 2 could look like
  • Beginning Executive presentation format for next socialization meeting with client senior executives
  • ON a personal front:   need to set appointments for mothers helpers to visit our home.   Our current helper found full time employment and her last day will be this Friday.

That’s it for now.   I’m in a good mood because of this Mama in Motion project and also since the sun is out.  I am thankful for that!

Highlights of my Working Day:

  • OK so I get to the office and begin my transformation into career woman – in the ladies room I put on my makeup and pull my wet hair back in a clip.   I go inside the office and head directly to kitchen to grab tea and water.  I also throw some trail mix in a cup for breakfast (terrible, I know).   I boot up the computer and read emails to see what I need to accomplish quickly.   I take some time to look at CNN.com for what is happening in the world.   Now I’m ready to begin.
  • Worked on some business development activities; started the response process to a “Request for Proposal” which basically involved reviewing the document and thinking about what our approach could be if we won the work.   Ultimately there are clarifying questions that we need to pose so worked with the team to get these drafted.   I packaged the questions and sent off to the potential client – “another great example of good teamwork” [Director comment].   Now we’ll need to put a proposal together to win the business…
  • At lunch I responded to a number of potential “mother’s helpers” and set up meetings with several over the next few nights.  We need to hire someone by this Friday.
  • Started to think about follow on work we could do for the project we recently completed.   Thought about the strategic questions the project could address based upon our understanding of the client issues – and also drafted the objectives of the work and thoughts on the analysis so we can help to sell the work and its value.
  • Tried to download files from a secure server for a litigation support case we are starting.   All to no avail.   Will have to work with the technology contact tomorrow to get the files.

I’m on the ferry now and it is still sunny out – beautiful day.   But I’ve lost the spunk I had this morning.   I am tired, and my heart feels very, very heavy – more for reasons to be discussed later I suppose.   The ferry ride should be enjoyable, right?    I’m headed home to see my kids, right?   Why do I feel this way?   I look around at the crowd here and I feel like I can’t relate to any of these people.  Hubby is not here so I assume he is taking a later ferry.   I’ll pick up kids on my own which is actually fun (think loud music and singing which I can’t really do with hubby) but I’m just not the person I used to be, want to be, or should be.   I feel tired, isolated and alone.   I’m not sure what we’ll have for dinner tonight.  I’ll likely do a quick homemade mac-n-cheese and some sort of veggie.   I hope their little faces pull me out of my awful mood.   Plus we have a potential mother’s helper coming tonight at 6:30.  I must snap out of this.

Dinner and Bedtime:

The evening was relatively good; homemade macaroni and cheese, along with carrots and broccoli cooked in a double steamer.   We had our current Mother’s Helper show an interviewee around as a potential replacement.   She seems nice.   We are meeting two others tomorrow evening.

The kids ate well.    The twins ate like teenagers.

The only sad thing tonight was that there was not much time to play with them.   Dinner ended too late.  The big outing was going to get the mail with Big Bro, Red, and Twin Husky.   They like that little routine.  Our mother’s helper and Hubby whisked the Twins off for storytime.   I was in charge of Big Bro and Red.  No major issues.   I taught them how to arm wrestle which was really, really cute.   My guess is that in 2 years Big Bro will probably beat me.   We read books and I kissed both sweeties goodnight.   I’ll go back later at my own bedtime to kiss all four sweeties and make sure they’re covered.   It’s always cold here.

Overall the day was fine; but my heart still feels heavy right now.   I will likely get into those reasons at a later time but for now I am thankful that my kids ate well and they are tucked in bed, hopefully dreaming right now.

Signing off until tomorrow,

Mama K.

p.s., comments appreciated.    Do people want to hear this stuff???!?!?!?

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My first entry — week in Review

July 15, 2011 by 2 Comments

I had a rather hectic week on both a work and personal front.  Returned from a long-weekend vacation in Florida (I only took “Twin Crazy”) on Monday — I had to rush her to daycare; unfortunately I could not witness her reunion with “Twin Husky”.  It was the first time they were separated.   Daycare provider later told me there was LOTS of hugging and kissing.   Ran home for conference call with client, made changes to executive presentation.   Played with kids ALOT on Monday evening to catch up with their lives.

Tuesday woke up early, as did hubby.   Both had to leave early.   Got all kids fed and dressed and all were out of the house by 7 Am.   I head to airport — client presentation later that day.   Went very well.    It is the culmination of the strategy  project however we will need to go back for an executive presentation in 2 weeks time.   Caught earlier flight home; able to play with kids before bedtime.    Sing “twinkle twinkle little star” with sign language to Twins; I’d love for them to learn to participate.

Wednesday did some business development.  Relatively uneventful.  Dinner was great with kids.   “Big Bro” ate at least 5 servings of carrots (YEAH!!!).   Twins had great time using forks.  They were very proud of themselves.   Received bad news from our “mothers helper” that she found full time employment and next Friday will be her last day.   UGGGGGGGGGGGH.  She is wonderful.   We will all miss her.   She is our sanity life saver.   I will need to post something on Craigslist.    Went on date night and formalized thinking on website name and branding for this project.  Drank beer.  Ate sushi.

Thursday did more business development.  Secured client commitments for big meeting later this year.    YEAH!   Pack up my bag with my laptop and also some organic fruits/veggies for the kids.   I’m worried that each kid is not getting their required two servings of veggies per day!   Headed out for Girls Night for my belated birthday celebration.   I can’t believe I’m 41 (but I act like I’m 20 something).   Great time!   Thank you girlfriends!!!!

Early morning conference call so am working home today.   Another business development / proposal to prepare.   Need to also work on Executive Presentation from last project.   I was thinking about roasting a chicken tonight for dinner but it’s still in the freezer.   What are the chances it will thaw within 3 hours??????    Now what?????

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