Author: Melissa

May 26, 2009

This week I learned… just how much water is in a watermelon.

So on Friday, we got a watermelon from the grocery store. YUM! We were so excited. Ellie's very, very favorite food is watermelon! After dinner, I went to cut it up. I put it on the cutting board, got out my huge knife and cut into it.

Kaaa-POW!!!!

Water squirted everywhere. EVERYWHERE. It was like a water-bomb went off. There was water all over the cabinets, the walls, the counters, the floor, ME, inside the cabinets… EVERYWHERE.
You think I'm exaggerating? I had to change my underwear. That is how much water squirted all over me.

Once the water stopped, I was able to cut the watermelon open – it was totally rotten.

Then, I had to wash my floors, counters, and cabinets FIVE TIMES before they stopped being sticky.

Did I mention that our house is on the market and needs to be clean, like, all the time?

So the lesson is: whenever possible, cut watermelon outside.

May 21, 2009

as you may have noticed…

Melissa 9 Comments

its been a l-o-n-g week here in the Girlymama household. A LONG week.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon crying. Not just little tears escaping… more like sobbing. It was a little ridiculous. My poor husband had to leave a meeting to take a phone call from a hysterical wife who had just gotten to the soccer field only to realize that she had forgotten Ellie's shoes. Its just been one of those ~~days~~ weeks.

My husband, who has been out-of-town since Saturday gets home tonight. And he has the next four days off. My MIL arrived from India last night. My husband's aunt is arriving tomorrow afternoon for the weekend. All this while we're selling the house. (Did I mention we have a showing in an hour? They just called. ACK!)

All this to say, I need to take this weekend off. If something hilarious happens, I may come share it with you. But I won't be stressing out about not posting. I need to spend some time with my husband and family and enjoy them. And stop with the hysterical crying.

May 20, 2009

…and then i warned husband that there may not still be three children here when he gets home

Melissa 3 Comments

Colin is teething.
Monday, I felt 95% poor baby, 5% annoyed. Today, I feel 10% poor baby, 90% annoyed.
Cry, cry, cry. Whine, whine, whine. Grump, grump, grump. Scream, scream, scream. He has been an absolute BEAR since Monday… he is driving me NUTS. Every single symptom of teething… he has it. Gah. What happened to my sweet little guy?

**********

Monday, the girls were supposed to be having "quiet time" in their room. Instead, they emptied everything out of their closet, put all of their bedding in the closet and broke the closet doors. Annoying, irritating, but not a huge deal.
Tuesday, Gracie came downstairs while they were supposed to be having "quiet time" in their room HOLDING A PIECE OF THE WALL. They MADE A HOLE. IN THE WALL. Insert Mama's head exploding here.
Need I remind you that our house is on the market?
They are seriously lucky to be alive right now.

**********

Why won't they sleep? Why?

May 20, 2009

wordless wednesday: a rare peaceful moment between siblings

Melissa 2 Comments

May 19, 2009

time flies

Melissa 2 Comments

I was looking for a Wordless Wednesday picture and I found this picture of Gracie in the Treehouse at the zoo last Saturday:

Which made me remember this picture of Gracie in the Treehouse at the zoo:

That happened much too quickly.

May 18, 2009

selling your house sucks. selling your house when you have children REALLY sucks.

Melissa 5 Comments

I realized I haven't posted much interesting stuff lately.

Having our house on the market is taking up approximately 85% of my energy units. The kids are taking up the remaining 50%, leaving a mere -35% left for blogging and other recreational activities. Except drinking wine, which I am still managing to squeeze in because it requires very little energy. Thank goodness.

Anyway… its going about as well as can be expected in this market. We've had about 7 showings and our open house yesterday was really well attended. We had a little nibble – one couple came back three times (Woo-Hoo!), but still haven't made an offer. (D'oh!) Everyone who has seen it "just loves it!" thinks "its so adorable!" or "just gorgeous!" and says its "priced just right."

Gee, thanks. So MAKE AN OFFER ALREADY! Don't just come to see it and then tell us how much you like it! There is a REASON we're letting you poke your nose into every crevice of our home! This is not fun for us, what with the three small children and all! And on that note, could you stop requesting showings every day at naptime? Would it kill you to come at a time when Colin is normally awake?

(Sorry. Its the stress. It makes me grumpy.)

Everyone is constantly asking, "Are you moving?" "Well, aren't you clever! Why would you think that? Our house is on the market, but we're planning on staying there after we sell it."

(Sorry. Stress also makes me sarcastic.)

Its KILLING us. Because we're only moving if we sell the house, so we don't want to talk about the new house very much just in case we don't end up moving because we didn't sell our house, blah blah blah, you understand. So we're trying not to get too excited about the new house, but we ARE because we LOVE IT, but we're afraid we won't get it….

Nevermind the stress of keeping the house spotless with three children bent on making as much chaos as possible wherever they go. The girls keep begging me to let them play play-doh. To which I reply, "Are you kidding me? Of course not! Go play with the vacuum instead." We're rarely at home these days. My new strategy is to banish them outside – usually to the car – while I do a quick clean before a showing. Its the only way I can keep them from undo-ing everything I just did.

And – are you ready for this? My mother-in-law is arriving from India in three days. To live with us for two months. So now we're going to have an extra person around to try and keep from making messes. The bright side is she is WONDERFUL and loves helping with the kids, so can hopefully distract the children while I clean. But, we were really, REALLY hoping to be done with this nonsense before she arrived. But, doesn't look like we will be.

Pray for us.

May 18, 2009

our house

Melissa 9 Comments

So I thought you might like to see pictures of our house, since I've been talking about it so much. And since its on the market and all, its probably looking as clean as it ever has, so might as well show it off now 😉

Here is the outside:

the first floor – living room:

dining room and kitchen:

downstairs is the family room, mudroom and newly de-wallpapered powder room:

upstairs are the kids' bedrooms:

and our bedroom and bath (redecorated when extremely pregnant with Colin)

fourth bedroom (in-laws' room) and kids' bath

Do you see how in the bathroom picture the curtain isn't right? And the soap is on the windowsill for some reason? This really annoys me. I really want to take another one and ask our agent to replace it. Is that being too high-maintenance and anal? You can tell me if it is… I won't be offended…

May 17, 2009

inspiration – 5.17

Melissa

To you before the close of day,
Creator of all things,
we pray that in your constant clemency
our guard and keeper you would be.

Save us from troubled, restless sleep,
from all ill dreams your children keep;
so calm our minds that fears may cease
and rested bodies wake in peace.

– from the hymn To You Before The Close of Day

May 16, 2009

we’re running away to join the circus

Melissa 2 Comments

Last night we took the girls to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey all new Zing Zang Zoom circus playing at the Wachovia Spectrum! SO FUN!! You must, MUST go see it!

First, we were able to actually meet some of the performers at a party hosted by Mom Central. My kids were a little wary of the clowns, but began to warm up to the performers after the ringmaster did a magic trick for them! Mom Central provided us with these amazing gift bags which included these adorable magicians hats, which the girls had all the performers sign, which was so cute! Here's Gracie with the human cannon ball:

Then we went to the animal meet-and-greet, which was much, much more exciting for my little animal-obsessed children. They thought this was so, so cool. We got even closer to the animals then we do at the zoo! Ellie's favorite was the horses, naturally!
Then we went inside for the all-access preshow and saw clowns and magic tricks, met more performers and got autographs.
The kids were having so much fun!
Ellie said, "Mom, the circus is so cool!"
How fun was it to tell her that, actually, the circus hadn't even started yet!

Well, then the show began. I don't think they even blinked throughout the opening number. I don't know what they were expecting, but it wasn't all that! There were elephants and horses and acrobats flipping around near the ceiling and dancing and music and clowns — they didn't even know where to look!
I can't decide what was my favorite part – listening to Ellie laugh hysterically during the dog performance or watching Gracie put her hands over her eyes (while peeking trough her fingers) as the man jumped through a ring of fire.
My kids were riveted – absolutely riveted – through out the entire show. It was incredible. They normally can't make it through an episode of Dora without getting bored and distracted. But they were on the edge of their seats for the entire show. It was so, so much fun for us as parents to watch their amazed faces and hear their giggles and cheers.

We hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot when they were asking if we could go again next year! If you're in Philly, go check this show out! Thanks to Mom Central, you can purchase a 4 pack of tickets for only $44 by logging onto http://www.comcasttix.com and entering the coupon code: MOM. (Seriously, for the cost of a MOVIE you can go see the circus!! Go!! It was so fun!!) And – just so you know – this is an AMAZING deal, so take advantage!

If you do go, a few pointers:
GET THERE EARLY.Philadelphia traffic aside, there is a ton to do before the show. You do not want to miss the animal meet-and-greet and the preshow. Its all included with your ticket, so go and get your money's worth!
Be prepared to buy a hat or a program or something. I know, I know, they cost a small fortune. But all the performers will give autographs, which our kids thought was so much fun!
Go to the dollar store beforehand and buy some of those glow-in-the-dark necklaces and stuff. I meant to do that and forgot, but some other families did and – not only were my kids were totally jealous – but they looked so cool! (We are meanies who refused to buy $15 flashlight-thingys.)

May 13, 2009

i really thought i’d be happier about this

Melissa 9 Comments

I'm done nursing.

If you had asked me a year ago how I would feel when I was done nursing, I would have guessed "happy," "excited,"or "ecstatic!!" I would have talked about having my body back, not having to come home early to feed the baby, not having to wake up at night to feed the baby…

But instead, I'm sad. Sort of happy, I guess… but sad. Happy to be done, happy to be independent again. (Or as independent as a mom ever gets.) But I can't kick this sadness.

I really miss it. It felt like those times nursing were the only times all day that I sat down. Colin was easily distracted, so it was usually just us, alone in a quiet room.

I miss that. I miss that quiet time just with my baby.

I miss him falling back asleep in the morning and cuddling him between us in our bed.

I miss looking into his eyes as he stared at me.

I miss how he used to play with my hair or pat my face as he nursed.

Despite my new found independence and losing those last lingering nursing pounds, I wasn't prepared for this. A big chapter of my life has closed forever. And I actually miss it. (Nevermind that I am no longer his favorite person – I've been replaced by Daddy 😉

I just keep kissing his chubby little cheeks and cuddling him close, trying to enjoy his babyhood before he gets any bigger.