seperated at birth

Well maybe not Identical...but

I may have a twin, we could have somehow been seperated, documents destroyed, family secrets.....

It happens!

DUAL LIVES OF TWINS SEPARATED AT BIRTH

My SIL's bloghttp://sheangel1019.blogspot.com/made me laugh today thinking of all the times I was called "Sheila" by my husband.

When newly dating and meeting my parents he would accidentally call me Sheila, and they would look uncomfortable. He would do it in front of my friends, "Sheila, hold my drink, I'll be back" and walk off while I'm left saying, "oh that's his sister." They would glance at each other quickly and nod "Riiiight, his sister...of course"

When she visited he had us stumbling & confused! "Lisa, dad needs you to give him his shot(should've been Sheila) and Sheila the baby's crying!"(should've been Lisa) We would start off then stop and "..uh you..the shot...yeah baby...me... ok"

Even his mom would visit and keep commenting on how similar we are.

Sleep all day: "just like Sheila"

the way I sleep: "just like Sheila"

My eggs: "just like Sheila"

My bedroom: "just like Sheila"

Household chores..HATE EM: "just like Sheila"

Need to take a nap: "umph! just like Sheila"

Arguments with Bobby: "sound just like Sheila"

Well we were born the same year and we are both air signs, except I'm a Gemini & she's a Libra,(or so we were told!) I love reading these for fun!.http://www.astrology-online.com/libra.htm

But then that would mean I married MY BROTHER! Unless she was adopted by his family. Yeah we'll go with that scenario.

I remember well the first time Sheila mentioned tubing to me. "What the heck is that?"

She was mortified. 

"You don't know what tubing is?!!! You rent tubes and you go floating down the river, it's great!!!"  

I asked if there were roaring rapids.

"No, no, this is not an extreme sport!! You get some tubes, a cooler, some beers, link your tubes and just float down the river for about 6-8 hours."  

I was like "that's it? Just FLOATING? No swimming, navigating.....uhhhh any mental stimulation?"  

She was like, "Nope! Just floating, you could take a nap if you want."  

A moment of pure silence. 

A tear rolled down my cheek.

I quietly spoke...

"I never knew there was a thing such as this, which you have described to me today."

and then we flew to Texas and she took me Tubing! (this isn't us btw, I don't know if we have pics from that trip)

    

Well its great to have a SIL that I get along with so well and we love the same pastimes!  

My sister from another mother!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a pretty incredible dad. I always knew you would be and here are the top TEN reasons why your girls will think so too! (they actually do already)

(Especially the Terrible one)

Well here they are dad!

10) you were the first person we laid eyes on.

(Although Shy seems to be a little skeptical.)

"yeah God I know I said all I want is a loving family and yada yada yada.. but who is this guy? Did he really have to tilt his scrub to the side?"

and Sky just let her feelings be known!

9) You spend family time with us and take us cool places!

8) You are always more than happy to participate in the activities that mom sets up for us! (mom's great too by the way)

7) We always can count on you to be the biggest kid and the most fun dad anywhere we go!

6) You put together play kitchens as though you've been building them your whole life!

5)You share your xbox!

4) It doesn't get any better than our very own playground! Thanks dad!

3) or maybe it does. Dad's doing it all for us!

2) Daddy, even with no fancy toys or gadgets you are just sooo much fun!

1) Most of all we love you because you are the best dad in the world!

updates

It's actually JUNE 16, 2009  I don't know how to change the date on a draft. 

I haven't dropped a line in like FOREVER!  I know. 

Been at home and my in-laws are here and my husband considers their visits to be our home improvement time. 

THEY'VE been organizing the garage, the cabinets, starting the backyard project, then the laundry room still needs to be painted......and we're setting up a huge play set for the girls....the list goes on & on.  Here is part of our backyard project. I don't have any photos of the play set, I'll take some tomorrow and throw them on here.

All the old grass was removed, dirt brought in and leveled out the yard, these guys are putting in sprinklers and we planted new grass seeds which are starting to sprout as we speak.

The bad news is that my father in law has a heart defibrillator and it shocked him several times in a row while he was in our backyard helping out the hubby.

Hubby's dad has always been a very strong man and has helped him on many projects around here but I think Hub has on blinders to the fact that his dad is older now and cannot do the things he used to do. This incident has been a wake up call for him but I guess all guys must face that realization about their dads as they get older. 

Also, he ended up in the hospital for over a week and there is some issue as to whether his defibrillator was recalled a few years ago and he was still allowed to continue on with the recalled item.  Can you spell L-A-W-S-U-I-T? 

To make matters even worse, my in-laws left two puppies at home and the youngest one got out under the fence and was struck and killed by a car. My FIL loved those dogs and my sister in law who had them at the time is distraught and can't stop crying. http://sheangel1019.blogspot.com/   I can't help feeling like this trip was a total disaster for their dad....

On a lighter note my FIL has been doing well and was given the ok to travel back home by his doctor, so he and my MIL left yesterday. The girls keep looking for them and Terrible Two doesn't believe they've gone anywhere far because she looks out the window to show me our old Corolla that my MIL drives when she's here and she keeps saying, "Nana no gone bye bye! Look Nana car's dere!" 

Have a safe trip home and thank you for all you do!

We love our Nana & Grampka!

Um, to my MIL I also thank her for the meals she cooked everyday and the peach cobblers and cakes she bakes which have not allowed me to lose not even one single pound! I mean I have not been working out much but not even one?! Well we'll see what happens now that the cooking will be back down to a minimum once again!   oooh hope hubby didn't read that. 

 

not quite the holiday

Oh the sacrifices! I guess I'm feeling a little down because motherhood is not so easy as everyone else makes it seem. For me it is sacrifice after sacrifice, which I don't complain about because I had a roaring twenties.  I had fun, went to parties, took nice vacations, lunched with friends, shopped till I dropped...

Ohhh & SLEPT. 

I slept like nobody's business. 

The quiet, peaceful sleep you get when you have your own place, 

you cut off the ringers, 

turn down the answering machine, 

shut the blinds, 

crank up the a/c and dive under the covers and stretch out 

ALONE. 

Sometimes I would get home at 5am still pretty dark out and go to sleep just to wake up at 5pm in the dark again. 

"damn missed a whole day. Oh well!" 

stretch, yawn, eat some junk food or order chinese, maybe shower, watch tv and doze back off again by 9pm. 

Those were the days!

I don't feel guilty about missin' the ole days, 

I love the NOWADAYS! 

To be honest, I used to be sooooo lonely. 

Sometimes my friends would all be busy doing something with their husbands, boyfriends or kids & if I just had to get out of the house I would take myself on a date. I would get all sexy, throw on some low riders and high heels, blow out my hair & hit a movie ALONE, grab a bite ALONE and then go to a 24 hour drug store & read all the conditioner bottles and look at lip gloss until I got sleepy.  

Then I would go home & feel sorry for myself for not having a husband & kids to do things with. (though that date with myself bit sounds pretty good right about now!)

It has always been all or nothing for me.  

All the freedom, no one at home to even know I'm gone.  

A loving family who loves & needs me, no time alone.

By time alone, I don't mean an hour either. I hate those super moms who have quadruplets & claim to be rejuvenated after a fifteen minute break and a cup of coffee on their back porch.

Bull S H + +!  

I need a day away!

My mother-in-law and FIL are here but it has not been quite the holiday I was looking for. My husband has had project after project for them since they arrived.  The front yard, the backyard the garage, unload boxes, re-stack the cabinets etc. I haven't been able to get a moment for myself at all.

Breaking news right up to the minute!

Wow.  My wonderful husband comes into the room and sees me alone blogging in the dark & asks me what's wrong.  I just need to relax for a few while its quiet (the baby is napping and Pumkie aka terrible two is being a good girl playing in her playroom and the in laws are out visiting relatives) 

I tell him nothing is wrong, I just need a few.

"Well come on get up! Aren't you going to put away the clothes or clean up? There's things to do besides sitting here in the dark." Then he's off back to working outside. Yeah he's just trying to make our home beautiful but working out there is easier than working in here!

He must have known I was blogging about him. See? Speak of the devil & he appears right on cue.   

 

Small Tokens

So my little pumpkie Shy (Terrible & Two) has a mini phobia with lint, cotton balls, basically anything that blows across the floor because she thinks it's alive. Well, my baby is playing on the floor, rolling around, sliding along the edges of the wall and under the bed... 

Me talking, "Shy get up, the floor is cold."  

Her usual response "NO!" 

Me again, "Get up, mommy's serious, you're going to go on time out." 

Her again, "NO TEMOUT!"

Me again, "Shy get up and be a good girl please, go play in your playroom."

"NO!"

So I go to reach for her and she rolls away and stands up facing me and since my housekeeping could use more 'keeping', poor baby girl has a big ball of.....hmmm looked like a mixture of lint, cat hair, a little bit of ??fuzz and some bits of string just to give it legs, sitting on her chest right below her chin!

So she doesn't know it's there, but I do. (mischievous grin)

Me talking, "You should really try to be a good girl."

"NO GUD DIRL!" she yells.

So I open my eyes as wide as I can and give an 'OH MY!' expression and stare at the fur ball sitting on her collarbone.

Her facial expression changed from stubborn defiance to a curious brow raising. So I open my eyes wide again, stare at her fuzzy friend and say "Ohhhh!"

She looked so bewildered and followed my gaze, bringing her chin to her shirt and saw her cottony friend smiling up at her and its linty particles rustling and moving under the breeze of her breath. She threw her head back, her arms went out & she stiffened up. In a panicky voice she kept saying "Ma ma! Ma ma!" as she walked slowly and stiffly(so as to not awaken it I guess) towards me.

I leaned back as though I didn't want to be near it either. She would slowly look down just to see if it......was...... still.... there...YUP! Then throw her head back up over and over again and each time there was - "Ma ma! Ma ma!"

Aaaaahhhhhh..... these small tokens of retribution for all of the "no's", the tantrums and the messes.  We parents must learn to accept these gifts as they are every so often bestowed on us by a good parent fairy.

OK! I brush it off and it drifts to the floor.  She backs away from it as though it were the creature from aliens and it was going to pounce and latch onto her face at any moment.  I pick it up and she curiously watches me throw it away.(from a distance) 

Me talking, "See it's all gone. Can Mommy get a kiss?"

Her eyes light up and she turns and runs away, 

"NO! NO TISS!"

Gotta get it together!

Nothing major happening over here, its been pretty uneventful. I took the girls to my parents' house just for the day yesterday and basically I am a major mess right now.  I thought I would be that mom who was so together with manicured nails, pretty hair, neatly dressed, lip gloss, high heels and a clean car. So sad to report that I am disheveled, fussy, clumsy, forgetful and in horrible need of some pampering. The baby is teething and the two year old.....well she's two! So it is no surprise that on my way to my parents house I reach a toll booth and reach in the console for my easy pass.  

It's not in there.

Fine. I pull over to the cash lane & dig in my purse. 

No cash in there.

I pull up to the toll clerk, 

"Do you take debit?" (same as cash!)

He gives me this blank look as if I just asked the stupidest question ever.

"No." Then he just stares at me.  

"Okaaay. Well I don't have my ez pass or any cash on me so.....should I pull over and wait for the toll police with my drivers license?" (I've been through this before obviously) 

Now he looks all pissy. 

"No, you have to give me your vehicle registration."  I already know that it is not in the car because my genius husband keeps it in his wallet, but I play at searching for it.

"They've never asked for the registration before,  you're supposed to get the drivers license." I say & start to reach in my bag for it.

 

"No! I need the vehicle registration." he repeats in a loud voice. (traffic is backing up behind me)

"Well it's not in here. Now what? Do you want my license?" I ask.

He looks lost and doesn't know what to do now, so he waves over one of the toll police officers and explains what's going on.

The toll officer takes out his pen, "Oh, ok no problem, just give me your drivers license, I'll issue you a notice and you have..? (I've already forgotten  how long!)  to send in your payment, that's all."

I chuckle & give the toll clerk my best 'I told you so, I was right & you are an idiot' look. 

I open my wallet for my license,

it's not in there.

I start to dig around in my bag........I start mumbling "it was in here yesterday....." 

now I'm feeling kinda warm........still digging....... 

(a quick glance at the toll booth clerk and he has an even better 'Who looks like an idiot now?' scoff.

You would think that the ones who keep me in a constant state of confusion would be in the backseat having a double meltdown just to show as evidence of my hectic days, but nooo they were sound asleep like little angels.

just to keep the juices flowing

Well I have two new occupations, working out & writing in my blog. I'll keep it short & sweet just to keep my juices flowing because I have to get to my 2nd, less enjoyable past time, hitting the track.  yuck.  Today will only make day #2 but I have to...blah blah....those juices....yeah, you know.   I don't hate running, but running in a circle is the worst! I need to see my destination ahead, run to it and of course you have to get back home sooo I may as well jog back too. But where I live no-one is jogging up & down the streets and the nearby park has a trail but it is too far off the beaten path for me.

I do have a fancy gym membership, with sauna, steam room & state of the art equipment which I have had for two whole months and have the pleasure of utilizing at least....um..........NEVER! Not been able to go.  Why, you ask? Oh allow me show you.

(I can't leave the breast baby, unless I leave her a breast!) 

But there is hope on the horizon..... 

 

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW!!!!  YIPPPEEEE!    OH......she'll be bringing those Nana skills when she comes, she'll be bringin those Nana skills when she comes, oh there'll be plenty of time for me, plenty of time for me, plenty of time for me when she comes! Sorry SIL! Be nice..share.

Now she doesn't have a breast full of milk, but what she does have - her experience, can hold off the 'latch on kid' until I get back.  

Dads don't have that, they just have this.

We're Staying In Pull Ups!!!

I did something really crazy last night. 

To begin, my 2 year old is, for all intent & purposes, potty trained...As long as she doesn't have a pull up on.... then she's ..

oh yeah or having too much fun........

uh....or on time out..

(but wait a minute! time outs don't count because those accidents are out of spite!)(Ohhhh she is wise beyond her 2 years)

SOOO other than that, she's totally potty trained!  (why thank you! I try)  

She was only using the pull up at night, just in case. Well, we just returned from visiting family in Texas and while we were there, I didn't want accidents at their homes - soooo she got comfortable just peeing in the pullup.  

Ok. Fine.  Now we're back home and its back to business. Just a small setback but we are back on track now.  

So anyway, I decided to do away with the pull up altogether because it is just contradicting what we're teaching her.  Yes, even the night time pull up.  I know! but its time.

So since I still have to get up once or twice during the night to nurse the 4 month old baby-

WOW! who am I fooling? That sounds so poetic and beautiful doesn't it? 

I picture a beautiful mother in a long, white gown going into the nursery and sitting under the moonlit window, breastfeeding in a rocker with a soft breeze blowing in.  

HA! Not here. With my eyes still closed, I reach over & drag the baby from the adjoining co-sleeper, into the bed with me where a breast is already popped out of the top of my long shirt.

What? ! People shouldn't romanticize these things, it's not always beautiful.  What is beautiful is not having to open my eyes and go warm up a bottle in the kitchen. Now that is the joy of breastfeeding.

Will I ever get to my main topic of discussion?

Because of the night time feedings I sleep later than the two year old and she calls & calls but the sounds of her voice just gets all hazy and lost. Pillows keep a lot of sound out, don't they?

So she pees or poops in the pullup. 

I got the bright idea to teach her how to get out of her crib, on her own, so that in the event that she wakes up & has to go, she can come get me. 

Well! I am afraid of my own shadow, let alone a tiny person, in a nightgown appearing all over the house.  SPOOOOKY.

I was still up on the computer around 1:30 am, all of the lights were out except for the glare from the television and my laptop in the living room, when I heard a thump and went to my daughters room to see what it was. As I slowly opened the door, I saw her small figure standing in the middle of the room.

In the dark ..

Just waiting.. 

OMG!

I SCREAMED AND FLEW OFF DOWN THE HALL!!!! As I looked back she was running after me & screaming too!

I must admit it was a scene from a horror movie, I was out of my skin! But she was crying "Mama! Mama!" I quickly flipped on all the lights I could(..uh so I could see her better) 

Awwwww, I had scared HER, even though she was the one standing in the spooky, dark - alone - thumping... and waiting..... 

Snooping is the new "get to know me"

Well this is my first blog & I've created it just for fun, so I'm going to ramble a bit until I find my footing and my comfort zone. Writing, for me is therapeutic & I have always been a pen and paper kind of girl.  

I would just scribble my thoughts and feelings anywhere, anytime, which of course leaves a paper trail....and my mother was a snooper. Her motto was, if your room is a mess it will be pillaged, and my room was ALWAYS a mess! So I would write and destroy - which of course I now regret because I would love to look back & see what a day in the life of teenage me was like, from my immediate perspective and not from memory. Which is why I am soooo happy my SIL convinced me to start a blog (she's probably the only one reading at this point. Hi ya!). how in the hec do I drop a link to her blog? I suck   We looove to yap and could talk on the phone for hours & hours, but my daily routine no longer allows for lazy days, gabbing on the phone and giggling. (Scoooby doooby doooooooo!)(private joke)

I am a happily married mom of two beautiful girls, a 24 month old and a 4 month old.  The only gabbing I'm doing is goo goo gab gab, oh & my ABC'S.  As we begin the stage referred to as the "terrible two's", I must say that two is definitely terrible! Just to get any cooperation from her we have to use reverse psychology and she has even started to catch on to that trick. My husband Bobby & I live at least an hour away from our nearest friends & relatives, so its mostly just us with the babies. We hang around our home town, watch movies & reality TV-my 'guilty pleasure' (yes, I live vicariously through MTV and  VH1)

So what's up with the name of my blog? Vivrant-thing by Q-Tip?  Hellow! This was my theme song & its such a head bopper! Before husband & kids, I used to be a Vivrant Thing, vivrant thing, a vivrant thing Owww! Getting pretty, hanging with my girls, stress free, no worries and always laughing. So that's the name of my blog because sometimes mommies don't feel so vivrant.  Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom-I waited over 30 years for my babies and when you are dedicated to your kids, something has to give.  So I've put me to the side for a little while but when the kids go to bed.. out comes the disco ball and earphones. shhh keep it down. You have to stay young & fun, or at least think you're still cool so you can embarrass your kids when their friends come over. (WELL IT HAPPENED TO US!)  In thirteen years I'm going to pull out my club outfit, squeeeeze it on & show my daughters and all of their friends how I used to dance to Vivrant Thing back in the 90's.  No. Really. It's been decided but thanks for your concerns.

Now, my husband is an avid x-box 360 gamer or should I say enthusiast or .....whatever the hell you call it when its glued to your hand?. In other words he's on it all of the time, so there's his escape. (he took my "stay young & fun" theory to prepuberty) He claims it relaxes him but he's jumping off the couch, throwing grenades, shooting, ducking and yelling to the online players, "I need help over here! They've got our base! Get in the wart hog, no the AV"! ...Or whatever. WAY TOO STRESSFUL. I'll take my hot cup of decaf tea, (until I'm done breastfeeding, then it'll be my cool glass of wine) a quiet spot and blog. Needless to say, he's so happy I'm going to be blogging here now, instead of shaking my head at him. I am just relieved to be able to collect my thoughts & I find it so ironic that after tearing up diaries due to snooping eyes, I now choose to clear my head in a forum where snooping is the point!