Maternity Leave Hiatus

This post is for those of you blog-stalkers who believed that me being on maternity leave would lead to lots and lots of posts about the baby, the holidays, and the goings on of my infinite time off...

Not so much...

I've found myself feeling proud of getting dinner on the table by 7:00. Never mind that we're all still in our pajamas and no one has had a bath. I did venture to Costco AND the mall one day with both kids. That was an adventure. The goal most days has been to accomplish one thing. Go to the grocery store, meet someone for lunch, make a guest appearance at Tavia's playgroup, etc.

While the thoughts of going back to work next Friday don't excite me too much, I do believe that I will be forced to become much more productive!! The days of accomplishing one thing each day will be long gone and going back to sleep after Cedric leaves for work will be a fond memory.

Look forward to more regular posts and pictures once I return to work in 9 days!

P.S. - Camden is doing well, Zander is loving him and we're all having fun with the newest Williams addition!

Kids and Christmas Trees

We were more than a little behind the power curve at Christmas time this year, but we did manage to get a tree up and decorated before Santa Clause came to visit. Zander and Tariana were hilarious when it came to making sure we had ornaments ALL over the tree, and even spent time laying on the ground to make sure there were enough underneath the tree.

This was the first year that Zander really understood what was going on, and it made it that much more fun that we got to have Tariana here as well. Two kids at Christmas is much more fun than one! We kept telling Zander that he had to be good or Santa wouldn't come, and it worked amazingly well. Nothing wrong with a little "fear of Santa," right?

I was doing some last minute shopping with the kids at Costco and they were getting a little rowdy. I looked at Zander and said, "shhhh, hunny." He then got this inquisitive look on his face and responded, "oh, Santa Clause is sleeping?" Every time I've told him to calm down or be quiet since then, he's been quick to obey - as not to wake up Santa Clause. Whatever works...

Quirky? Me? Never!

Ok - My very first "blog-tag." Here goes it...

6 Quirky Things About Rachel

1. I have inherited Chelsea's OCD tendencies (or is it the other way around?). Once I decide that I want something/to do something, there is no turning back. Life changing decisions are often made over lunch and single projects are life consuming until they are finished (e.g., Zander's new room at the current moment). I try to fight it, but the mind is a powerful thing.

2. I love to cook, but I love to present my cooking even more (e.g., book club dinner). Haven't you every heard it's all about the presentation? Well I take that very literally.

3. I rock at cooking but I suck at baking. I'm an artist, not a scientist for heaven's sake! That precise-ness is for the birds.

4. I can't sleep when I'm worried about someone. I used to think my college roommate was crazy for making us call to let her know if we weren't coming home (or coming home really late), but I now understand - as I am physically unable to sleep when I'm expecting you to be home and you're not. It sucks - I wouldn't recommend picking up this habit to anyone.

5. I'm have no appropriateness filter when it comes to bragging about my kids. I sometimes realize that I've been rambling on and on and on about them, and the people around me must be SO bored.

6. I'm a "fixer." Sometimes I honestly think that I must have the power of God or something, as there is no situation, person, place or thing that I can't fix (even though this has been proven false, time and time again, I still believe it to be true).

I tag Robin (mostly just to get her to post) and Mikelle (for the same reason).

A.W.O.L.

I've known for some time now that Zander was capable of climbing out of his crib, he just hadn't realized this hidden potential. I've been more than willing to let this potential remain hidden....

Not so much anymore.

Sunday night Cedric and I put Zander to bed, let him drink his milk, read him "Max" (i.e., Where The Wild Things Are), gave him both of his babies (which he demands to sleep with these days) and tucked him in three times. General nighttime routine around our house (really - it's faster than it sounds). We then retired to the basement to continue our weekend-long binge of Lost Season 1 episodes.

About 10 minutes later, who comes wandering downstairs? Zander. "Sleep in mommy's bed, please?" “In a mommy’s bed – just ONE minute, please?” Apparently he has discovered his potential. @*#!

He promptly got put back into his own bed, and not five minutes later I hear him screaming down the stairs, "owie a piggies mommy, owie my piggies!" Guess it's easy to stub your toe when you're jumping (literally) out of your crib.

Cedric finally convinced him to stay in bed for the night, and we all got some sleep. Until.....I am getting ready in the morning, take a shower, brush my teeth, and come back into the bedroom to get dressed. I hear a funny noise and look over to my bed. Guess who's snoring away, all tucked in? Yeah - that would be Zander. He must have snuck in at some point in the night without us realizing, cause it was clear from his snoring that he hadn't just come in.

It's going to be a L O N G month....

Zander the Great

Can I tell you all how much I love my son? My son who is two years and three months old and is such a big boy? My son who is a year ahead of the potty training curve and doing a fantastic job? That would be Zander the Great.

Potty Training 101 enters its second week today and is going marvelously. Apparently I’m not as “observant” as his saintly babysitter, who can always catch him when he’s starting to poop and run him to the toilet. His favorite line these days is, “Kathy says no poop in a undies!” We’ve had some accidents on that front, but that’s it. He’s woken up every day from his nap with a dry diaper/pull up, and three mornings in a row as well.

For those of you who aren’t parents, and wonder why in the world someone would blog about pooping in the potty (cause believe me – I used to wonder the same thing), you just have to trust me that while you’re going through it, it’s an all consuming part of life, that brings a strange sense of pride to us parents. Sorry if you still don’t get it!

Pardon the kiddie porn, but I couldn't resist!

Adventures in Potty Training

So we’ve been talking about starting to potty train Zander for a couple of months now. I’ve heard the rumors that if you don’t do it while they’re interested, it can turn into even more of an uphill battle than it is naturally. Zander has had a “potty hobby” for quite some time, so we decided it was finally time to kick it up a notch and turn it into a full time job.

His babysitter is a saint, and encouraged me to start (with lots of her help). I guess when you’ve trained kids for 20 years, you’ve got it figured out, right? Too bad I’m not quite as confident.

When I told Zander he finally got to wear his football underwear (cause we bought them two months ago), he was ecstatic. I got them on him, and nothing else, when he wiggled out of my arms, stood up tall, stretched his arms out and said, “TA DA!” Then jumped and danced around his room half naked until I could catch him. Seriously – the most adorable thing EVER is his little GAP boxer briefs (cause you know he had to be just like his daddy).

I made him go potty like 3 times before we left the house, and [very nervously] sent him off into big boy land with a bag full of 5-6 changes of clothes. You can imagine my shock when I showed up to pick him up at 5:00 and he was STILL IN THE SAME CLOTHES!! Dry all day. Can you believe it??

Let’s hope day number two went as well….

Updates to follow.

Seriously - have you ever seen anything cuter?

Saturday night Zander and I were lucky enough to be invited to Tammy’s house for a full fledged Slumber Party. Zander was the lone “man” allowed through the doors, and he was asleep by 8:30! Though he and Sophia had a blast in their matching jammies, the real fun began after they were tucked in bed.

There were five women there (two attorneys, two secretaries and the owner/instructor of a “pole fitness” studio (supposedly it's an amazing work out)). Add several bottles of champagne and one clever bartender to the mix and it made for the most fun night I’ve had in a very long time. Even though we were served a proper dinner, there was no shortage of donuts, cookies, popcorn, pretzels, pizza rolls, ice cream, etc. to keep us going until 2:00 am.

As much fun as men/husbands/boyfriends are, it reminded me how invaluable girl time is. It’s been WAY too long since I’ve had a sleepover, and I’m committed to making it at least a semi-regular thing.

Thanks so much Tammy and hooray for slumber parties!!!