Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

Today my daddy would be 63 years old.

He'd be taking a ride on his motorcycle, wearing that nasty smiley-face do-rag, smiling and praising God.

I miss him ...

Happy birthday, Daddy.

The Needy

Or un-needy, in my kids' case!

I feel like I've spent the better part of the 2 weeks since Christmas organizing and reorganizing the playroom. Those of you who have seen our playroom know what a crazy feat this is. Tanner and I went to Target on Wednesday and bought a new shelf to keep in the playroom with the hopes of making some of the toys more accessible (translation - easier for them to clean up). I was lucky enough to get to Target before some half-crazed lunatic swiped the last one (the bold color shelves were on sale this week for $20 cheaper than usual ... and I go the LAST ONE!! Victory!!)

Anywho, armed with my screwdriver, I put the shelf together night before last and we (meaning I) proceeded to sort through toys.

UNGODLY amounts of toys.

There are things hidden in this playroom I didn't even know about!! My Little Ponies ... Barbies ... Matchbox cars (in droves) ... remote controls that belong to something ... doll diapers ... several single Barbie shoes (seems that the dryer ate the matches ... I guess Kendall heard me saying that the dryer ate socks, so she improvised).

Now the room appears to be in some sort of order, but my OCD still won't let sleeping dogs lie. I've moved some things around, hoping to make it a more conducive environment for playing ... but my ultimate goal is to have half the room for girl stuff and half for boy stuff. It ain't happening though. Oh well, I tried.

Today's task -- after I change Tanner's poop (again) I'm hoping he will be distracted enough by all the "new" toys (that have since been unearthed) that he won't notice Mommy throwing away the broken Matchbox cars ...

Do we really need 9 broken Matchbox cement trucks?

Blog A Day

I'm committed -- probably should be committed to a facility, but instead I'm committed to blogging every day for the next week. OK, maybe I'll skip a day over the weekend, but maybe not. I've just spent the last two nights while Tim was working reading my past blogs. I'm amazed at how much I used to write. And I refuse to believe that I don't have as much to talk about now!

So starting today I am going to blog every day ... about something ... something that is bothering me ... or inspiring me ... or intriguing me ... or entertaining me ...
(I'm currently trying to come up with some more participles ...)

For today I will only blog about my feelings of complete angst and irritation when it comes to potty-training a 3-year old boy.

Yes, my angel baby little boy is making me NUTS. (What?? You're surprised??) I've tried cold turkey about ... um, 15 times now ... and I'm either too much of a push-over or too lazy to keep him out of diapers. My uber-supportive friends have all given me great ideas via Facebook (which, BTW, I'm convinced has kept me from blogging ... not the suggestions from friends, but the constant status updates ... who needs to blog when I can update my status for all the world to see every 3.25 minutes???) on how to handle the potty situation.

"Lose the diapers."
"Cheerios in the potty will help him aim and make it a game."
"Make him wear the dirty underwear/diaper."
"Set a timer."
"Make a poster with stickers."
"Buy him a toy and tell him he can't have it until he uses the potty with no accidents for ___ days."

All fabulous ideas, by the way. And I have great friends for even allowing me to pick their brains.

But, let me be honest. I "lost" the diapers the first day (we atually finished a pack and I just didn't open the new one), and that worked until bed time. Then I wasn't ready to leave him in underwear. So I ripped open that new pack and now he knows they exist.

Why not put him in underwear at bed time? If he has an accident you can just change the sheet, you say?

If I must remind you that I just recently began having full nights of sleep, then you obviously haven't been keeping up with the blog for that long. I am not willing to turn a wonderful sleeper into a waking up sleeper.

Like a sign from GOD, I heard just what I needed when I talked to my BFF last week. (BTW, she is the most knowledgeable, wonderful, patient, calm person I know when it comes to potty-training little boys. Too bad she only has girls ...LOL) Anyhoodle, I called her to ask her what medication she recommends for me (since I'm obviously crazy ... and if my cat can have Prozac and good moods, why can't I???) if I decided to call the doc and ask for more drugs. Naturally, being the med-school-educated person she is, she asked me why I needed medication again. What is going on? Why am I so stressed? Why am I so tired? Etc ... And then I realized (well, she broke it to me gently) I'm NOT crazy. (Darn.) And I'm getting myself worked up over nothing. I mean, it's "something." We don't want Tanner in diapers when he's sixteen or anything, but I'm getting upset about something that is, ultimately, Tanner's decision. I'm putting all this pressure on Tanner and on myself to get him potty-trained now, and it's only creating more setbacks. He must be out of diapers when he goes to PreK in the Fall. That is all I need to worry about. And if the cold turkey isn't working now, we'll try it again in a few weeks/months. BFF recommended waiting until May and then really running full-force. (And if you're about to say something about consistency. keep it to yourself, please. I mean that with all the kindness I can muster in my delicate status.)

And I am OK with that. It's not the hassle of changing diapers that bothers me. I mean, I'm OVER fecal matter (I have been changing diapers for 5 1/2 years, after all), human or animal. I'm more bothered by the fact that Tanner knows how it all works. He knows how to use the potty -- he just chooses not to. I guess it's not really a battle you will understand until you are there.

That's where we are now. In diapers. Unmedicated, except the cat. (Side note: Why didn't I put her on Kitty Prozac before? She actually comes out and visits with the kids now. Like a real family pet!)

And my blog for day one is done.

Whew -- now I can update my FB status. ;0)

New Years Suggestions

I went to get a hair cut Saturday (What is it about a new do that makes you feel so awesome??), and Linda - who is, by the way, the most spectacular hair stylist in the world - asked me if I made any New Year's resolutions.

Hmmm.

Guess I should think about that since it is now the second week of January 2010.

But then, as I was sitting in the Great Clips chair (yes, people, I go to Great Clips and pay $14 for a haircut that blows yours away!), I decided that I 1) Do not have time for resolutions, B) am too lazy to stick with them, and lastly) do not want to put forth the effort of beating myself up when I don't accomplish them.

So I have agreed, instead, to make suggestions for myself. If I happen to reach them, so be it. Hooray for me. If I don't get there, then that's OK too ... it was just a suggestion after all, right?

Anyway.

Here is the short list I have agreed to title Keisha's New Years Suggestions for 2010.

1) Get the weight off - Of course this one is here. You knew it would be. But after reading my past blogs about losing/gaining, I'm not going to harp on this here. All I will say is that the sweets of the season settled in my ass. And I don't like them there. I am "suggesting" that they move to someone else's ass before bikini season gets here.

Along the same lines ...

2) Fit into the bikini on page 23 in the VS 2010 Swim catalog - I found it rather discouraging that the catalog came so close to Christmas, but I suppose it gives me lots of time to allow Jillian Michaels to kick my jiggly butt into shape. And I should also say "fit" means look SMOKING HOT.

Because I can't walk without tripping over a toy ...

3) Organize the playroom - I don't even know where to start with this one. I sometimes think that it would be better not to have the playroom simply because we wouldn't have all this space to store stuff. Right now I feel like a toy store vomited everywhere, and no matter how much we clean, it never seems to feel clean. Organized. Put together, if you will.

I'm feeling lonely and left-out of several events right now, so ...

4) Reconnect with old friends - This is the biggie. My Sigma Kappa sisters and I are celebrating our 10-year reunion in May . . . and I cannot be more excited! I have kept in touch with people, but I only really "talk" (ie. email, text, Facebook) to a few people regularly. So this year I am committed to mending fences and building bridges, or whatever the corny phrases are. It's not that I've lost any friends, it's just that my children have consumed so much of my time that I haven't devoted that much effort to my friendships. I really want to make time in the day to talk to people again ... when I talk to Stacey or Heather, I always feel better ... more sane ... so, yes, this is a selfish situation as well. It's all about making me feel better ... ;0)

And I have to have one with deep meaning, so ...

5) To experience life, not just live it - This was my resolution last year, and I have to say that Life rolled over me like a steam roller this year, and I definitely did NOT experience life. I think life experienced me instead. I really want to enjoy the next 12 months, complete with a beach vacation, a new job, a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old, a 33 year-old hubby, a 10 year reunion and a 10 year anniversary. It's amazing that we've made it through this year (Lord, knows I considered jumping out of a few high windows ... kidding ... sorta ...), and I am determined to make this year better.

I'm fairly confident about this list. If you are lucky enough to be part of my year (Oh, to be so lucky ...), feel free to remind me of my "suggestions" any time!

Happy 2010!!