Saturday, June 9, 2007

Who knew?

Who knew that having two kids would be so tough and yet so rewarding. There are some days when I feel like I will have no hair left to pull out by the end and then there are others when I feel like I'm getting the hang of this whole mom thing. Everyday presents new challenges and little joys as well. We are all doing well in our corner of San Diego. Lakeside is the whiskey tango (white trash) town within San Diego, so we're doing our part to fit in:) With the abandon house in front of us, the trailer homes on either side and the cars that don't work in a dirt lot behind us we haven't had to do much to add to the charm of our surroundings. Jesse is still applying to different Fire Departments and is currently in the process with Alpine. We're rooting for this one because he already works out of that station as a medic and gets along with all the current firefighters as well. Recently, the captain of Jesse shift had all the families up to dinner. Although Ollie wasn't even a month I decided to haul our little family up there to participate. When we got to the station Frank started giggling and saying "Daddy?" over and over. Jesse was out on a call so when we got inside Frank was a little put out...until he remembered what was outside. "Truuua" he said. "What?" I asked. "Truuua" he said, drawing out the uuuua and running for the door leading to all the fire vehicles. "Oh, OK, lets go see the trucks," I said and let him out the door. He raced over to the fire engine door and starting jumping up and down, reaching for the handle. "uppy, uppy, uppy!!!" I let him into the cabin and that was the beginning of many trips out to the engines. Every time I tried to drag him back inside he would whine and say truck again and again. The guys at the station were great! Mike, the captain, took him out when I needed and break and then Pat got a brilliant idea. They have a Staples "easy" button at the station. Kids LOVE pushing buttons, especially Frank. Once Pat showed him that button the trucks outside were long forgotten. All I had to do was listen for "that was easy" to know where he was. We all had dinner and were entertained by Frank being Frank. Oliver was a champ and slept in the arms of one person or another the whole time.
I am trying to get back into the full swing of things by going back to work mid-June. Before I start teaching water aerobics I have to get back in shape. Working out again is great for me, bad for Oliver. Oliver's stomach is sensitive to many of things:dairy, soy, grease, certain veggies, and acidic foods. I didn't know that he would be sensitive to my exercising. When I fed him after my first workout he acted like I had eaten a whole pineapple in one sitting. Apparently, the lactic acid my body produces during strenuous exercise gets into my milk and makes it "poison" to Ollie's little tummy. Ahhh! It's bad enough I can't eat what I want but now I can't exercise? That's ridiculous! I am exercising, I'm just giving him a bottle for a couple feedings and pumping the bad stuff.
Frank is just Frank. His language skills are amazing for a child his age. He has an extensive comprehensible vocabulary and a whole other language that I don't understand. He'll stand there and talk to me in toddlerese and at the very end say "OK?" I respond with "OK" hoping I didn't just agreed to let him sleep in the dog's bed instead of his own. He loves to drive daddy's truck... any car for that matter. Whenever we come home from somewhere he expects us to had over the keys so he can have a turn behind the wheel. It's very convenient when I need to unload the baby or groceries but it's not so convenient trying to get him out.
Oliver is turning out to be quite a challenge for me. I think, in part, it's because I can't take as much time to figure him out as I could Frank. He is a happy little guy, when I eat right:) He loves to smile and "work out" in his gym. He's also finally lost his petrified new born look.
We all love where we are at in life. Money maybe tight but we have a great little house to live in and food on the table. There's not much more we need:)