The Queen's Rambles

I’m in a rotten mood. Have been since I got up. I wish my hormones would settle so I could be happy. Bah!

I was having a really intense anxiety dream about an intruder in the house. I felt someone grab my face and about had a heart attack. It was Erik, waking me up.

From that moment on he could do nothing right today, poor kid. I feel bad for being so grumpy, but sometimes I just want to knock some sense into him. Why can’t he act like a grown up? So what if he is only 4!

Yes, I’m joking. I know I have no right to be so irritable with him. He’s just a kid. But that doesn’t make my emotions any easier to handle.

To top it off, it’s a no school day which means we didn’t get a break from each other. I took him to Playtime at the Plex, so that was a pretty nice two hours even though he did get in major trouble for hitting a kid with a baton. I am so tired of talk of weapons and destroying people. Argh! And I have a feeling it is only going to get worse. He was begging to watch Spiderman today, but I refused. I don’t even know what channel that would be on. I’ve been taking him to the gym in the evenings instead of the mornings and the kids are all much older. They’ve been watching it there and it pisses me off. Not appropriate! Yes, I am finicky. If I had my way they wouldn’t have a TV at all in the childcare. They would play games and stuff. During the morning shift they usually do organize the kids and play games, but the evening staff is a lot more lazy and the kids are older and not interested in stuff like that.

I should have took him to the gym this evening, but I just wanted to have a hot meal on the table when Mike got home and getting home at 5:30 sort of makes that impossible. He hasn’t said so, but I think he’s getting tired of ham and cheese sandwiches. If only I would have known Mike wasn’t going to be home until after 9 pm I could have made my evening a little more bearable with an exercise/me time break.

At one point I decided we’d watched enough television, so turned it off and told Erik we weren’t going to watch anything until he did two puzzles, played with play-doh or played some board games with me. He laid on the couch, crying and begging and just being a general asshole about it for almost an hour. I kept telling him that I would help him and I would play with him. If he would just do it, the TV would come on sooner. I got my wish for a TV break. He managed to be a little turd for two hours before he gave in and did a couple of puzzles. And guess what? Once he started them he had fun! Duh!

Can you tell it was a long day? Erik didn’t fall asleep until 9:05, five minutes before Mike walked in the door. I would like to officially tip my hat to all you single mothers out there. I would probably be in the loony bin if I had to be alone with my kid 24/7.

Next week is going to really be fun because Mike is going to be out of town several days. I may run away from home. Anyone want to take in a four year old for a few days? He really is sweet, except he doesn’t listen very well and thinks he knows everything.

Or maybe you just want to come visit and clean out my dryer vent? It is taking two freakin’ hours to dry a load of clothes. I am ready to go buy a new dryer, but someone suggested I clean out the vents first and maybe call a repairman if that doesn’t work. What? Spending a shit load of money on something unnecessary isn’t your first line of thought? You actually problem solve?

Anyway, I found a how-to guide online, but I think my big pregnant belly shouldn’t be attempting things like unhooking gas lines (I have no idea how to do such a thing), dragging the washer and dryer out of the way and bending over to clean out the vent. Mike can do it, I’m sure. But when? He’s working his ass off at work and at home already.

Here’s hoping tomorrow sees an end to my grouchies.

*It’s a good thing I am a quilter in the time of rotary cutters. I finally started working on Elsa’s doll quilt and had to use my scissors to fussy cut the big dolls. My poor finger feels like it is about to fall off. I am fairly sure I have a mild form of arthritis and that finger did not care for the motion of cutting at all. I had a problem with the finger several years ago when I was pushing the merry-go-round at recess when I worked at an elementary school. I am not looking forward to getting old.

*I worked my ass off today and my house is in the sorriest shape ever. I took all the boxes of boy clothes out of the storage closest and started sorting through stuff. Huge mess everywhere! I put together a big box for a college friend. She’s sending me a box of girl clothes and I’m sending her a box of boy clothes. Let’s hope the payback is worth the shipping costs. I put together a box of clothes for my nephew today and about fell over dead when the guy told me how much it would be. I just hope the clothes will be put to good use. It’s hard to say with my sister. She gets such weird ideas about how her kids should be dressed.

*Did I ever tell you about the dress she sent for Elsa? I hate to be ungrateful, but it was a mess. Ink stains, worn lace, just kind of nasty all around. Dry clean only, of course, but it had been washed in the washer and ruined. It was so bad I didn’t even feel like I could donate it. If I was going to dress my daughter up in a super fancy dress, I would make sure it was clean, at least.

*Erik got a seasonal flu mist and H1N1 shot today. Talk about traumatic! The mist went ok, though he didn’t like it. He started wailing and screeching when he got the shot. Three hours later and he was still sniffling and saying his arm hurt. I felt like a horrible mom, even though I know it is for the best. He wanted me to tell him that he’ll never have to have a shot again, but I couldn’t exactly say that. He has a memory like an elephant so I’m sure when October rolls around he’d try to hold me to that promise.

*I’m sure there must have been something else that happened today, but I can’t think of anything. My finger hurts too much to keep typing.

Everything I had to say tonight just flew right out of my head. You guys know I’ve been blogging for years. Years and years and years. Long before anyone ever thought of the word blog. Back when it was an “online diary.” Sometime early on I started reading Kitschin Logic. Kathy is hilarious, honest, cynical and the type of person I would love to hang out with. She was diagnosed with breast cancer today. All of my problems seem pretty insignificant compared to that.

Sorry to be a downer.

So what did we do today? Like it matters?

Somehow my darling son decided to skip the 4T phase of clothing. I bought him clothes. They were too big. Now it’s time for him to wear them and they are too small.

I started the search for size 5 clothing at Macy’s since I had a big ass coupon. Usually I can find really cheap, plain clothes for him there. Stripes and stuff. I like stripes. Today? Nothing but skulls. I know I am kind of a nazi about his clothes, but no way is my four year old going to wear skulls on his clothing. The only non-skull clothing was “distressed vintage tees” that looked like someone had dug them out of a garbage bin.

Eventually we ended up at JCPennys, where I impulsively decided I had to have a reprint of the black and white photo Mike gave away to my sister-in-law. I think I was royally screwed by the woman giving me an up-sale, but in a couple of weeks I’ll have the picture in an artsy-fartsy frame. I was having buyer’s regret because I thought a black frame would look terrible in my house, but when I walked in I noticed that I have a ton of black frames in my living room. I don’t feel quite so screwed now. Still, I probably could have lived without the picture. I have others.

I also found clothes for Erik, my main objective. Most of their boy clothing revolved around rock bands and guitars. Skulls, no. Guitars, yes. Erik has a new wardrobe. I hope it fits him for more than five minutes.

I also let him get a Spiderman shirt. Gag. It came with a toy car and he played with it all night. At least it made him happy. My control over his wardrobe is not going to last much longer, especially the “no licensed characters” rule.

We ended up spending three hours at the mall between clothes shopping for him and me, having lunch, and playing at the play area.

Speaking of the play area!

Some grandma pushed Erik and told him to leave her grandson alone! It was a gentle shove, and I just stayed in my seat since he didn’t seem upset, but I was PISSED. I knew if I went over there I would go crazy and start a scene and I didn’t need to do that.

The woman’s grandkid was probably 2. He was really shy and didn’t want to play on anything. Erik went over and started talking to him, then was trying to show him how to play. He didn’t touch the kid and was not being rude at all. I don’t think the kid liked him talking to him, but the grandma could have just told him he was shy and wanted to be left alone. She had no business touching him. GRRRRRRRR!!!

At least she wasn’t just rude to Erik. She was rude to a dad who was just sitting there minding his own business, telling him that he was in her grandson’s way. Uhhhh. No, lady, your grandson is just walking around a public area. Eventually she left because the play area was “too crowded” and the kids socks were getting dirty. There were five kids there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so empty.

People are crazy.

In the interest of full disclosure, I know Erik is not always a perfect angel. We left the play area shortly afterwards because Erik knocked down a little girl. I think it was mostly an accident. They were playing and getting rowdy, but she was a lot smaller than him and he had no business pushing her.

And then he wet his pants.

It was a good thing we had just bought new pants.

You want to hear something creepy? We went into the family bathroom and there was a reusable grocery bag sitting in the sink. It was tied shut, but I could see what looked like a fur hat or scarf through the opening. I wanted to open it to see what it was, but I was afraid it would be a dead baby so I left it alone. I kept watching and listening the entire time we were in there to see if the bag moved, but it didn’t. I didn’t smell anything or see any blood. I probably should have notified security, but I figure I am a really paranoid person right now and it was probably nothing. I hope I don’t read about an abandoned baby being found in a grocery bag tomorrow.

Just another Monday, right? Except there was no school. Boo!

I was feeling really horrible yesterday with the stomach bug Mike had, which suuuuuucked big time. I wasn’t quite up to going to the gym, so it was off to Playtime at the Plex.

Usually I see a lot of people I really like, but today I only knew two moms, one that I hadn’t seen in over three years. The other one is a crazy lady who doesn’t feed her kids and does really bad things in regards to breaking MOMS Club rules. Whoo-hoo! Fun! Erik loves her girls, so we were stuck together.

Her weirdest complaint of the day: bags of fruit snacks always have an odd number of pieces so she always has to figure out how to handle that when she allows her kids to have a snack. Seriously? Have you guys ever had a bag of fruit snacks? There are maybe 7-10 small pieces in a bag. Wouldn’t you take two bags if you had two kids? Weirdo.

At least I learned I am not the most horrible mother in the world because I think it is weird to have your kid wear a helmet inside. The other mom, an ER nurse, turned to me and said “Seriously, who has their kid wear a helmet inside a padded gym?”

Yadda yadda yadda.

I just ordered Erik a bunch of maze books. My friend gave me the idea to have a nursing activity bag for Erik. Basically, the bag has quiet things that Erik can do while sitting next to me on the couch. The thought of quiet activities and Erik together kind of makes my brain hurt, but he does like mazes so maybe that will work. He got a tag reader for Christmas and hasn’t been too interested in it. Maybe I’ll get him a few more books for it and put it in the bag too. Any other ideas? Remember, this child hates to color. He likes to play with play-doh and puzzles, but those wouldn’t really be couch activities.

Despite my pregnancy paranoia, we had a great time last night! The hail/sleet/freezing rain stopped and the drive down was much easier than I had anticipated. We managed to plant our butts in our seats about 20 minutes before the show, which was perfect. We found a parking spot right by the venue and pre-paid so we didn’t have to stand in line with 200 other people after the concert. Perfection!

The concert was great, of course! The only low point was Lee Ann Womack. Why was she even a part of the show? I’ve never been a particular fan of hers, but this just clinched it. The woman has zero stage presence or personality. People could barely muster up the enthusiasm to clap after each song. It was one of the most pathetic concerts I’ve been to, and being from a very small home town most of the concerts I’ve been to are pretty pathetic (Beatles cover bands, anyone?)

I’m not fashion forward at all, but during her whole show all I could think was “Oh honey, did your gays really let you out like that?” Perhaps I read too much TLo. I don’t even know if country stars have gays. I’m guessing not, based on the red carpet offerings of the CMA show.

She didn’t even introduce her band. I’ve never been to a show where the singer didn’t introduce/thank the band members. Weird.

Then it was Reba’s turn!

What a difference!

I was worried that the energy was going to be low and boring after Lee Ann’s show and the audience reception, but Reba electrified the crowd. What can I say? She was Reba. She puts on an amazing show. Mike said she knows she’s famous and was milking it for all it was worth, but it didn’t bother me. She is famous. How can she deny that?

The only slightly annoying part was when they brought out one of her co-stars from her Reba sitcom and did a kind of lame little skit. It probably wouldn’t have been lame if you were a fan of the show (the crowd was going wild), but since I wasn’t a fan it was lost on me.

She was on stage for about an hour and a half, which felt like ten minutes. Though I did notice that almost all her songs are about mid-life divorcees. All of George’s songs were about divorce or Texas. Hmmm.

George was also great, though he doesn’t quite put on the same type of show. He stands at the microphone and he sings For an hour and a half. Very little talking. A little bit of foot tapping. Just pure singing.

The stage was set in middle of the arena with a microphone at each corner for him. He’d sing a song at one microphone, then walk to the next corner for the next song. He even commented that we were really making him work hard with all the walking.

I was getting pretty tired and thought he could have used a little more pep, but I was still happy to be there. He and Reba are both as talented as their albums make them out to be. Lee Ann? Not so much. I don’t think she would make it far on American Idol.

The whole thing was a little surreal. I’ve never seen so many red necks gathered in one place. Sure, my whole hometown is one giant red neck magnet, but there’s not a venue big enough to contain them all. Mike was very out of place in his sweater instead of jeans and Western shirt.

Living in this part of the country, diversity surrounds us. It was eerie to be in such a big venue and not see ANY diversity other than the event staff. I was in line for the bathroom for about a half hour and saw hundreds of people walk past me. There were a few Hispanic men in their cowboy gear, one Asian lady and two African-American girls. I was quite concerned about the girls. They were dressed as hookers. I’m not even kidding or exaggerating. I was worried that maybe someone had ordered up a couple of call girls from Craigslist to have a little fun after the concert. It was just strange to be in the middle of Baltimore and be surrounded by so many white red necks *lol*. Where did they all come from? Probably western Maryland.

Poor Erik was not happy with us this morning. Mike picked up him from his sleep over around 9 am. The kid had very little sleep last night from what I understand, so he has been grouchy all day. When he first walked in I asked for a hug and he came over and started punching my hand and giving me a mean face.

After he got over being mad at me for leaving him all night, he clung to me for hours. We are in for a hard, hard transition in April. I wish he knew my mom better. She’ll be here and she and Mike will rotate taking care of him, plus he’ll have preschool and play dates with a friend, but obviously he still needs his mommy. I called the hospital again today to ask if they knew when flu season would be over, but they couldn’t give me an answer. I didn’t think they would, but I was really hoping they would say March.

They also clarified that it is just children under 12 who are not allowed in the hospital, not under 18. Not that it helps me, but I’ve been wondering how they can even enforce such a rule with teen mothers coming in to give birth. Wouldn’t they have to allow their teen boyfriends? Wouldn’t a new teen mother really need the support network of her best friends? But I guess it is a moot point, at least at this hospital.

So there you have it! We’re alive! And in dire need of sleep. I really hope my thoughts don’t continue to be so morbid. When Erik was a baby I was always convinced that I was going to fall over dead and he would be hungry and dirty for hours until Mike found him. I hate thoughts like that. At least I haven’t been having those kind of nightmares lately. Instead, I just dream that I’m cleaning the house. Ugh. What a waste of a good night’s sleep.

*Mothers of girls, thank your lucky stars. There are some things you’ll never have to do. Standing your son in the kitchen sink, while you wash brownie batter off his penis is one of them. I’m sure you’ll have to do other unpleasant tasks, but I really didn’t need to see my boy having fun with his two favorite things.

*I got a swine flu shot today. Big excitement! I also took my glucose test, but won’t have the results for a few days. Conclusion: fruit punch glucose drink is way better than orange, but both are nasty.

*I called and booked Erik an appointment for a swine flu shot and seasonal flu nose spray. Maybe I’m a responsible parent after all. According to my OB there is supposed to be a swine flu resurgence in March.

*I find it funny that my OB kept asking me if I wanted a swine flu shot, while the receptionist at the ped office refused to acknowledge such a thing existed. Erik will be having a 2009 H1N1 injection instead.

*We went to Playtime at the Plex again. The woman who made comments about Erik’s lack of a helmet was there again. She was totally freaking out because she forgot her son’s knee and elbow pads. For the love of God! It’s an indoor gym! There’s padding everywhere! He’s going to survive!

*Later, the same woman wasn’t supervising her toddler daughter and the dear daughter removed her diaper than peed all over the place while I sat that and watched. It took her forever to notice. Karmic payback? Mwhahahahaha.

*Mike seems to be feeling better, so hopefully the concert will be a go tomorrow. Our main problem now is the weather. There is supposed to be crazy freezing rain and stuff tomorrow, which could make the drive too dangerous.

*I just realized that Erik is not going to be allowed in the hospital at all while I’m up there with the baby for fear of swine flu cooties. I knew that happened to one of my other LJ friends, but I didn’t really connect the dots. Then Heather mentioned it today and I suddenly went “hmmmmm. . . ” so did some calling. Now I’m slightly freaking out. It will be fine. Erik will be fine. But I won’t get to see my boy for four days! Maybe I should do a VBAC so I can get out of there earlier! But I am terrified of rupturing my uterus. My c-section scar has been pulling and hurting a lot and it just gets more painful as the pregnancy progresses. It worries me. And I don’t want to go through labor. I am very displeased with the idea of being away from Erik for that long, though. This is so stupid! If it really does help save babies, then I guess I can support that, but . . . argh! That really changes the dynamics of introducing a new baby into the family.

Preschool today. Whoo-hooo! Why can’t preschool be every day? Just because I didn’t sign up for such a thing? Oh yeah. . .

I was a little irked by one of the moms. She has a little girl, but had been the carpool driver for a little boy in Erik’s class. The boy was totally hyped up and started telling Erik that Erik smelled bad. Erik HATES to be told he stinks. Tell him anything else and he can take a teasing, but tell him he stinks and he freaks out and starts crying.

He was really frustrated and kept telling the boy “I tooked a shower last night! I don’t stink!” When I realized he was getting wound up, I told him to tell the boy that the boy was stinky. You gotta be able to take it and dish it out, right? I suppose some mothers would have tried to make it a moral lesson about being nice, but I’m not some mothers. I think it’s important that a kid learn the give and take of teasing.

Erik started calling the kid a stinker and the kid was calling him a stinker back and they were laughing merrily along, while the other mother looked on in horror and told the kid that he shouldn’t call people names and was glaring at me for letting Erik do it with impunity.

Blah. Sometimes I want to live in a bubble. Except I really like getting out and being social. Except when I’m grouchy. Which is all the time.

Anyway, I went down to Joann’s after I dropped Erik off at school and got the two things I needed for Elsa’s paper doll quilt. Maybe I can even get started tomorrow! It would be a small miracle if I did an actual quilting project.

Sadly, poor Mike seems to be sick so I haven’t seen much of him today. He came home and went straight to bed. I am hoping he just ate something bad and doesn’t really have the stomach flu. We have tickets for the George Strait/Reba concert on Friday. We can’t be puking our guts out!

I have my glucose test tomorrow. I’m a little nervous since I am in a high risk group for GD. At least it won’t be the ordeal it was when I was having Erik. The new practice scoffed when I asked if I had to go in an hour early to drink the drink under their supervision. They told me they don’t want a bunch of people hanging around the waiting room for no reason. Smart people. I have the drink and will swill it down in the privacy of my own home.

I’m sort of wondering if I should call Erik’s ped and ask for a seasonal flu shot for him. He hasn’t had any flu vaccinations because I kept waiting for him to get the swine flu vaccine, but then it was never available. Is it too late? Should I forget it? Or should I give them a call?

Tuesday is my least favorite day of the week. I know some of you can relate.

We went grocery shopping. Oh so exciting. Erik is going through some developmental spurt and he suddenly is very helpful and responsible (for a four year old), which is fabulous, but he knows he’s helpful and has decided he is the boss and should be doing everything We are having quite a clash of wills.

He walked along really nicely in the grocery store, but was irritating the crap out of me because he wanted to put everything in the cart. He’s not tall enough, which is probably why some of the yogurt came home with splits in the lids–he just heaved it all in.

Once home, he wanted to put everything away, which was not working either.

Argh!

Why do I hate Tuesdays? No preschool! He has his gym class, but it’s only 45 minutes I don’t feel like going to the gym twice, but 45 minutes of alone time isn’t nearly enough.

The changing table arrived today and he decided he was going to take it out of the box and assemble it himself. While I was in the shower he knocked it over and got out the hidden scissors, trying to cut the plastic off of it. Where’s my lock box? I think I need one.

At least he was really excited about the idea of the changing table being put in his room.

Since it was already a Tuesday, I did the crappy jobs. I have been fighting a nasty build-up of shower soap scum ever since we moved in. I have tried everything, but nothing has really helped me get it off other than pure elbow grease.

Today I bought a new product, sprayed the shower down, let it soak for an hour, then went up and scrubbed. And now I am almost soap scum free! Whoo-hoo! I was light headed after breathing the fumes and scrubbing forever, but it was worth it.

Now if someone would just figure out how to get mildew out of silicone grout I’d be all set.

I made banana bread today and thought I was going to puke my guts out. I’ve often heard you can freeze old bananas until you are ready to make banana bread. I’ve often froze bananas, but then they end up thrown out before I use them.

I was so smug when I pulled out my frozen, black bananas this morning. Then this afternoon I used them and it was a grossy gross barfy experience. Nasty! I guess they probably tasted ok, but it was quite possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever used in a recipe.

My problem was compounded by the fishy smell in my kitchen.

I know!

Fish!

Erik was begging for fish sticks at the grocery store and even though I hate fish with an unholy passion, who am I to deny my son semi-healthy food request?

I made him four for lunch, which he inhaled, then he demanded four more. And he ate those. Like I said earlier, he’s going through a growth spurt, but even so it was still a lot of food for him.

My poor home has been tainted. So has my son, but he’s been fish tainted many times before. Mike often gets seafood when we eat out and Erik always enjoys it.

We had Chinese take-out at our friends house for dinner and the delivery guy wished us a happy holiday. We kind of laughed since MLK day is not exactly a holiday that you celebrate with good cheer. Yes, it is an important holiday. But to be wished a happy holiday? It was just sort of amusing.

Also, I wanted to clarify that the greater DC area is an amazing place to raise children. There is never a lack of things to do. There are tons of really nice playgrounds, various children’s events, train rides, carousels, amusement parks, children’s museums (which we haven’t actually been to because they are all far away), petting zoos, nature centers, water parks, hiking trails, and so forth all over the area. Stuff I never even imagined when I was a kid! However, within DC itself there is a distinct lack of kid friendly activities. There is supposed to be a big national children’s museum. They have a cool website and apparently they used to have a cool museum, but it’s been closed for re-modelling ever since I started looking for a children’s museum in DC. According to the website it is slated to re-open in 2013. Apparently they are sending camels to Egypt to bring back stones from the pyramids. They’ll be floated over on real Viking ships. I guess. I don’t know why else it could take almost 10 years to remodel the place.

Sounds like I need to check out the building museum, though. I’ve never been there. Never thought about going there. Maybe it will be next on our list when we get an itch to take the metro.

Mike had to work today (boooo!), but Erik and I had a busy day. We hosted Mother Goose Story Hour, which drew a small crowd. I used to dress up in a Mother Goose costume but my belly isn’t cooperating these days, which really irked Erik. He suggested I go “quilt yourself a new skirt that will fit” this morning. I certainly have enough fabric to come up with a costume, but I don’t have the technical know-how.

Erik wore his “Swedish costume” which cracks me up since it is a cowboy hat and vest. It was purchased in Sweden, though, so Swedish costume it shall be.

I was really disappointed with my book selection. I went and grabbed at least 10 books from the library on Friday, assuming at least half of them would be decent.

I was so wrong! Ugh. Boring, weird, boring, dumb and boring. Erik even noted that one was so weird he didn’t want to read it again because it would give him nightmares (about an Alligator that kept telling the reader to go back to the beginning of the book). At least I picked out one clear winner: Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root. I don’t know what it is about that book, but I’ve used it before and the kids always clamor for more. It has lots of rhyming and sound effects, plus some serious silliness. I may need to buy a copy for our home library instead of borrowing it all the time.

Afterwards, we went over to the House of Saturn and hung out with Dr. Saturn, Irish Lad and Welsh Lass. Erik and the Lad are both oldest/only children and boy, oh, boy does it show. They always want to play together, but they have a very hard time once they are actually together. Sometimes they do ok, but often they are little shitheads that need too much supervision to play nice together. They both want to be the boss, which is the root of all the problems. At least Welsh Lass is fun to hold. She’s only three months old and doesn’t cry a lot, so I get to cuddle and enjoy the fantasy that little Elsa will be such a sweet baby.

Let’s shift gears.

I want to know why maternity clothes are so clingy and tight. Bah! I hate all my maternity shirts. When I wear them people think I’m about to pop any minute because they cling so tightly. I hate clingy clothes!

I have a few regular women’s shirts that I can wear and people barely know I’m pregnant unless I say something. They are much more flattering! If only they were a little bit longer or the stupid maternity pants didn’t have a stretchy panel that goes down to the crotch. I generally need the extra long maternity shirts to cover up the belly panel.

Oh well. I shouldn’t complain. I have a lot more clothes this time around. I simply couldn’t find anything with Erik so had to make do with regular clothes and a couple of pairs of pants.

I just wish the clothes weren’t so dang expensive! I don’t mind paying $$$$ for quality, but these clothes are just nasty. The fabric feels really cheap and stains if you look at it funny. Grrrr. I hate wearing tight, sloppy, stained clothing.

I guess I’m doing ok if that’s my biggest complaint about this pregnancy right now. Things are so much better than they were last time. No sciatica (knock on wood)! No constant morning sickness! No teaching all day without a chance to go pee even though my bladder is about to burst! I have my own personal monkey who can bend over and pick things up for me!

I am so proud of Erik. He is developing into quite the well mannered, sweet little boy. He still drives me crazy on occasion, but he is trying to hard to be helpful and actually succeeding at it more than failing. I’m soaking it all up.

He is even getting excited about the baby. Today he was messing around with one of the bouncy seats, saying “Mommy, we’re going to have the best baby. She’s going to be the cutest and the best. I love my sister.” Awwwww! Remember when I first told him he were having a baby and he threw a huge temper tantrum? I was so worried, but he seems to be coming around.

Now we just need to work on some other aspects of his behavior. He’s been saying that he wants a weapon to make people dead. The other day he told me that he wanted me to be dead so he would just have a daddy. When I explained to him that he would never see me again and he’d have to go to daycare all day he changed his mind. I know he didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but those are words you don’t want to hear coming out of your kid’s mouth. At least he didn’t say it in anger. He just really loves his daddy and I think he wishes his daddy stayed home with him all day instead of me. Of course, if that was the case the roles would probably be reversed.

Enough naval gazing for one night. I need to get myself to bed.

One of my friends told me that the re-opened American Museum of History has a fabulous children’s section. After speaking with her, I believed that the whole basement was devoted to a children’s play area and invention lab. I checked the website and read about it. It was pretty vague, which did nothing to discourage the delusion that a DC museum would be child friendly. Believe me. The city is many things, but child friendly isn’t one of them. They don’t even have a children’s museum, a common amenity in most big cities and several small towns.

Several months back we said we were going to start doing a family outing at least once a week–something more than the park or whatever. Something fun and new and exciting!

That lasted about two weeks.

I decided to re-institute our plan while I can still waddle around. We could have drove, but Erik loves riding trains, so we thought the metro would be more of an adventure and easier on Mike.

Ha!

Never ride the red line. I don’t care what they tell you. Don’t do it!

Turns out they were doing repair work on the line this weekend, which meant we rode the train, then rode a shuttle bus, then rode the train again. And those shuttle buses? They pack ’em tight! I was very lucky to get a seat, though it was not near Mike and Erik. Basically I sat my butt down in the first empty seat I saw and left the boys to fend for themselves. If I stand too long my c-section scar starts pulling. Once it starts pulling I’m in pain for the rest of the day.

We finally got to the museum and discovered that my friend had been exaggerating quite a bit. There was a small play room with about four hands-on displays. There was a really cool lab, but it could in no way accommodate the massive amounts of children clamoring for space. It was pretty much a nightmare.

We finally found an empty table and Erik had a fabulous time building a huge tower out of drinking straws and jacks (only they were a real set of something so not actually drinking straws and jacks).

We walked around the museum a little bit, but it was not preschooler friendly. We ended up in the cafeteria, which was right next to the ride simulators. Erik and Mike went on an “asteroid train” ride, which was apparently very cool. It damn well better have been for $7/person.

All the pain of public transportation and that was the big thrill.

The bigger thrill was actually outside the museum.

There was a guy playing a trashcan/bucket drum set that thrilled Erik.

He spent a good ten minutes dancing away. I think we could have set a hat out for him and collected a few bucks. People were loving it. I even took a small video at the end, but it isn’t that thrilling. I should have started videoing it a lot sooner.

He was dancing so much he wore a hole in the grass. I need to call around this week and get him into a dance class. I’ve been meaning to do it for months but never get around to it. I think he would really enjoy learning some real dance moves.

We spent a lot more time on the train/bus than we did doing fun family activities, but I guess the train ride itself was an experience.

Today was the opposite of family fun. Erik and I went to the gym, then we came home and started cleaning. Mike did the majority of the work, but I cleared out all the toy bins, organized them all and threw out a ton of plastic flotsam that was just taking up space.

It feels so nice to have a clean house. I have been really lax the past few months about cleaning, which is bad since I am not the best housekeeper to begin with. But I hate a gross house, so I guess I better get off my butt more often. I’m just so lucky to be married to a man who can wield a vacuum with the best of them.

My friend was telling me to today that she had to take both her kids grocery shopping this afternoon because her husband was sleeping. My jaw about hit the floor. I knew he was not the most helpful husband, but that would not fly in my house. I don’t know how she puts up with his lack of motivation to help around the house/take care of his own children, but I guess he must do something to light her fire. I don’t know.

I must be a pretty demanding wife, but Mike knew that when he married me. He knew I never wanted children for several reasons. When I was a child my dad did NOTHING to help raise us. I knew I couldn’t handle being the only person taking care of the house and the kids while my husband was off playing in the desert every weekend. Before I agreed to the notion of children Mike had to convince me that I wasn’t going to be stuck holding the bag, doing everything, basically being a slave like my mom was. Even though I knew that wasn’t in Mike’s personality, it was still a pretty scary prospect since I’d never witnessed a good parenting partnership.

So there you go. I am very lucky to have such a great husband, but I wouldn’t accept any less than a guy who knows how to pitch in around the house. I think he got the raw end of the stick. It will go back to being more balanced when I am done with my weird pregnancy food issues and start meal planning again. I think he is less than impressed with ham and cheese sandwiches, sweet pickles, scrambled eggs and tacos.

On another pregnancy related note: I realize I should start proofreading these posts, but I can’t make myself do it. I know why I am getting really confused comments lately. My writing makes no sense at all. I can’t express a simple thought. I get off track. I assume everyone can read my mind. I don’t even know what I’m talking about. Sorry about that. I have issues and now I have to go to bed.