Picture Wednesday

Campbell is learning things from his sisters that I'm not sure I'm ready for him to learn just yet. Ella was at least two before she started doing headstands on the sofa. He's only 21 months. He can also do somersaults across my bed without a problem. Well, almost without a problem - the other day he somersaulted himself off the end of the bed and landed on the floor on his bottom. Fortunately, he was more scared than hurt.

Dresser woes

This may seem like a small complaint, but it's been grating on me.

My daughters have shared the same dresser for the past four years. The dresser has always been organized the same way. Each girl has a drawer for shirts, a drawer for shorts/pants/skirts, and a drawer for jammies/sweaters. Despite this constant organization, their dresser seems to be a mystery to them.

Now that they both pick out their own clothes in the morning, I'm likely to hear one complain that she doesn't have any shirts. I'll go in and pull open a completely full shirt drawer. The girl's response will be, "Oh, I was looking in the wrong drawer." We'll repeat this process many times a week as they hunt for missing clothing that's right where it belongs.

It's getting worse now that I am teaching them to put away their own clothes. I'll hand each girl a stack and tell her which drawer it goes in - shirts, shorts/pants/skirt, or jammies (no sweaters this time of year). The girls will head off to their room and come back a bit later for the next load.

The next day I'll go in to put away a few straggling items or to retrieve something only to discover that they have both crammed all of their clean clothes into one drawer, ruining all my folding efforts.

I've given them several lessons in the past weeks on what goes where, but it hasn't sunk in yet. I went to help Lily find a night shirt last night only to discover that all her jammies were in her shirt drawer.

Sigh. The lessons will have to continue.

Three hours

That's how long it took for Ella to complain this morning that she was bored. Granted, one hour was spent watching cartoons on PBS, and half an hour was spent having her hair trimmed on the front porch, so really, it only took her 90 minutes to get bored.

Last week was her first full week of summer break, and she spent every morning at rock climbing camp, so she didn't have much down time. Today, however, reality set in once Lily headed off to preschool, which runs through the summer - hallelujah! Campbell just isn't as entertaining to play with as her sister is.

After Ella told me she was bored for the fourth time, I sent her to her room. On her first day of summer break, shortly after she asked me, "Is this what you do all day?" I told her that every time she told me she was bored or asked me what she could do, I would tell her to clean her room. So now she phrases the question in different ways, like, "What can I do that's fun and that's not cleaning my room or sweeping the garage?"

This week is especially hard for her because her best buddies are all otherwise occupied. One is in Canada on vacation and the other is in art camp, which is like pouring salt in her wounds - she's upset I didn't sign her up for art camp, too.

I suppose I am going to have to break down and add one more camp in somewhere so that she and I can both survive the summer. She has two more weeks of rock climbing camp, but they aren't until July, which leaves three looonnnggg weeks of being bored with mom.

At least she might be gaining a new appreciation for what it is I do all day. Maybe.

You'd think I would know better

Subtitle: Good thing he's so dang cute

(Warning, this story contains references to poop)

Last night I decided to put Campbell in bed in one of his sister's big t-shirts and his diaper. It's been staying in the 80s long after sunset, and even though we do have air conditioning, the girls have been kicking off all their covers at night. I figured Campbell was probably too warm in his "summer weight" footie pjs. Besides, he just looked cute enough to eat running around in a t-shirt that came down to his ankles.

I was working in my office about an hour after I put Campbell in bed when I heard his usual pre-sleep chattering turn into crying, which is not normal for him. So I went in to check on what was wrong. As soon as I opened the door, the smell hit me, and I knew exactly what had happened. I turned on the light to confirm my fears - the little bugger had pooped and then stripped off his diaper. I guess I should be glad he didn't do it in the other order.

Fortunately, he hadn't decided to play in or paint with the poop, so the damage was minimal. I pulled him out of the crib, stripped off the nasty shirt, and got him cleaned up. Then I zipped him into his footie pjs, not caring if he was too warm. Campbell figured he'd been given a reprieve from bedtime and ran out of his room.

The girls, who had been threatened with cancellation of this afternoon's swim with their uncle if they got out of bed again, both hung over the ends of their beds and tried to lure Campbell into their room. They thought this was BIG fun.

Once I changed out Campbell's sheet, I tracked him down. I found him sitting in the dark kitchen, hoping I wouldn't see him. Instead, I popped him back in his crib with a fresh cup of water. He screamed bloody murder for a few minutes out of sheer temper. I think he thought he was up for the night. Fortunately, he fell asleep a few minutes later. The girls, however, spent a while longer giggling about the events.

I just felt stupid. He's my third child. I should have known something like that would happen. Perhaps I'll be smarter with the fourth.

Summer slow down

I've been feeling way too frazzled lately, like I'm being pulled in 30 directions at the same time. My body has been sending me messages that I can no longer ignore. I firmly believe that stress leads to weakened immune systems and then to illness. So I'm taking my first ear infection since childhood and the ginormous cold sore on my lip as big old signs that something in my life needs to give before I fall apart completely.

So here are my resolutions:

Set regular working hours. One of the bad parts of being a freelancer is that work is always here waiting for me. I tend to try to cram work in wherever I can, frequently while I have three kids running around making noise. I get frustrated with them for distracting me, and they get frustrated with me for not paying attention to them. As a result, I don't get much done. So from here on out, I'm setting two regular work times during the day - while Campbell naps in the morning and after the kids go to bed. I know there will probably be some crunch times when I need to break this resolve, but I'm going to stick to it on a daily basis whenever possible.

Ignore my e-mail. I'm fairly compulsive about answering e-mail. When I hear the chime go off, I sprint to my computer to see what message is waiting. Often, it's work related, and I feel the need to take care of the issue immediately, which means I'm working all the time. So now I've turned off the announcement chime, and I'll be shutting down outlook during my non-work hours to remove all temptation to peek. So if you're used to getting an immediate response from me, you'll have to be patient from now on. I'll get to you, I promise.

Knit more. When I'm knitting, I'm less likely to pop up and do random things like check e-mail or switch out laundry or clean the kitchen again. Knitting is about the only thing I do that forces me to sit still.

Enjoy the time I have with my kids. I need to stop viewing their interuptions in my day as a distraction and a nuisance. While I do have a paying job, I need to remember that they are my first and most important job. They are the reason I'm here all day - not work, not laundry, not vacuuming.

These resolutions all tie back in with setting work hours. I think that really is the key to slowing down and enjoying things more. I need to pry myself away from the computer and my work and remember to enjoy the good times while I can. Before I know it, the summer will be over, the girls will be in school all day, Campbell will be at preschool, and I'll miss them when they're gone.

One last resolution -

No more volunteer gigs. Danskin is over with, and I don't have any volunteer hours on the calendar for the next few months, other than working in Lily's class twice a month. I've told all my friends about this resolution, and they've all promised to remind me of it if they hear me start to waver.

Darn you, electric company

I've been doing laundry non-stop since Saturday night when we first discovered the lice on the girls. Each time that I've found new lice, I've had to start the laundry process all over again, taking freshly cleaned sheets and pillow cases back off the beds. I've also been putting all the comforters and pillows in the dryer on high for 40 minutes in hopes of killing the little suckers.

I've spent so much time doing lice-related laundry that I have fallen behind on regular laundry, and we're all running out of socks and underpants.

I was hoping that today would be the day to catch up. My housekeeper comes every other Tuesday, and today was her Tuesday. When she's here, she does all the towels and bed linens and then re-makes all the beds. Now that I think we have the lice situation under control (knock on wood), the beds can be re-made safely.

Today was my day to work at Lily's preschool, so I spent the whole morning looking forward to coming home to laundered sheets and freshly made beds. And the ability to get started on washing clothes.

No such luck.

The transformer on the power line across the street blew at some point this morning, and we lost power at the house for about 2 hours. This meant the housekeeper couldn't finish doing the laundry and she couldn't vacuum our bedroom, the only room in the house with carpet.

So instead of coming home to neatly made beds, I came home to a washer filled with half-washed sheets and a dryer full of damp towels.

Someone at City of Austin Energy owes me a few loads of laundry.

Lice, day three

After doing a lice treatment Saturday night, and another one last night, I had hoped that we'd be done with the little suckers today. When I combed out Ella's hair last night, I found a few nits, but no live lice. B combed Lily's hair and found a few live lice, but when I checked her head after he finished, I didn't see any sign that she'd ever had lice.

However, I made her stay home from preschool today just in case. I let Ella go to her first day of rock climbing camp since she had been bug-free. Lily spent the morning moping around because she didn't get to do anything fun like Ella did. Instead, she had to go to the grocery store with me and take a nap because she stayed up too late last night because of having her hair combed out.

After Ella got home and I told her that she was going to a friend's house while I went to a doctor's appointment to follow up on my ear infection, I checked the girls' hair again. Unfortunately, I found a live bug on Ella's head, which prompted much wailing when I told her it meant she couldn't go to her friend's house after all. Lily's head, on the other hand, was still spotless. B, as it turns out, is really good at combing lice and nits out of hair. I'll be happy to rent him out for the right price.

When I got home from the doctor's appointment, I had a message from a good friend, whose child is also in Ella's class, that her son also had lice. This further confirmed my theory that the critters came from Ella's school, not Lily's.

My friend recommended using cetaphil to treat the lice, which I like better than using a chemical bath for the third day in a row. She even sent over a spare bottle of cetaphil that she had bought at Costco after her kids had lice the last time. She and I then commiserated on how much laundry we'll be doing all night tonight. I'll be re-washing all the sheets I'd already washed. Sigh. I can't get caught up on regular laundry because of all the lice-related washings.

After dinner, I parked the girls in front of the TV and started in with the cetaphil. They weren't as cooperative as they have been the past two nights. I think they're getting as tired of the treatments as I am. They've now had their hair blow-dried into pretty stiff 1960s-esque hairdos and are headed to bed. We'll be getting up extra early tomorrow to rinse their hair with vinegar and wash out all the cetaphil.

If I see any more lice after this, I may just shave all their hair off.

Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Last night, at about 7:30, Lily climbed into my lap and complained that her head itched. She still has problems with cradle cap (at age does it stop being cradle cap and start being dandruf?). I started absent-mindedly combing through her hair looking for problem spots when I saw what was really causing the itching - lice.

This is our first go-round with lice. I'd be more mortified than I already am if it weren't for the fact that we have two sets of good friends who have already dealt with lice. And the fact that the kids of the countess on "The Real Housewives of the Big Apple" picked up lice at their fancy Swiss summer camp.

I immediately went to the drug store and bought two family packs of lice treatment and went home and started in on the girls. Lily seemed to think it was all a grand adventure, saying that the special chemical-filled conditioner smelled good. Ella, on the other hand, pretty much whined and complained the whole time the stuff was in her hair.

After I rinsed them off, B and I sat them on the living room floor with extra lights around us for the fun of using the little tiny combs on them. I was prepared for an hour of whining and crying, but they were both amazingly good. I think the dual bribes of a big bowl of B's famous popcorn and "Shrek 3" had something to do with their cooperation.

More than an hour later, we finished the combing and then checked each other for lice. Fortunately, neither of us seems to be infested, but that didn't stop my head from itching all night. Campbell was already asleep last night when the discovery was made, so I checked him today. He seems to be clear, too. Phew.

Now I'm washing every sheet and towel in the house, and all stuffed animals that sleep in bed with the girls are sealed in giant zip-lock bags. Tomorrow they'll bake in the sun and 96 degree heat to kill all the little suckers.

I've been checking the girls' heads all day today, and I haven't seen anymore bugs. But I am going to give their hair a good rinse in vinegar, which, according to the Internets, is good for getting rid of the last, hard to find, nits.

Keep your fingers crossed that this is a one-time happening. And if you have any secrets for treating lice, I'd love to hear them.

Danskin, Year 10

This weekend is the Austin Danskin Triathlon. The Danskin Women's Triathlon Series is a series of triathlons held in eight cities around the country each summer. This is Austin's 14th or 15th year to hold the event, and we have one of the larger races in the country with just over 3,000 women participating.

I've been working on the race as a committee member since 1999, and four years ago I got hired on as paid local staff, which meant I took on a lot more responsibility. For the past three years, I've been threatening to make that year's race my last, but this year I really think I mean it. A full decade of working on the race is a nice amount, a good round number. Plus, by the time the race rolls around next year, I'll have four kids. I think I'll have enough on my hands.

The first two days of Danskin weekend are traditionally the hardest, physically. This year, however, I don't have much to do today - which is when National comes in and does their thing in terms of banners and signage. I ran some stuff out to the Expo this morning, and I'm leaving in a few minutes for Costco to buy 1000 each of granola bars, peanut butter crackers, and small bags of cookies. I'm not sure my car will hold everything.

Yesterday I was out at the race site just putting out fires and supervising the workers who were putting up bike racks and fencing and scaffolding. I spent a lot of time driving a golf cart around checking on things, taking it as easy as possible, given my "delicate condition." Even though I didn't do much physical labor, I enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle that goes on out there. There's an air of determined productivity that I thrive on.

The highlight of the day was getting to drive Sally Edwards, who is a bit of a legend in the Danskin world, to her hotel. She is just the nicest person and so much fun to talk to. She asked if Austin was still weird, and I don't think I had her convinced until I explained what the Republic of Texas Bike Rally, which is happening at the Expo Center next weekend, was. I think she decided that having 40,000 bikers show up for a weekend qualified as weird.

It's amazing to me to think of how much the Austin Danskin race has changed in the 10 years I've been working on it. When I started, the race was out on Lake Travis at Camp Chautaqua, which is a now-closed private park next to Pace Bend Park. The site was so small that we could only fit about 800 participants. There were no good areas for spectators, and parking was terrible. We also only spent one day setting up the race site.

Now we have more than 3,000 participants and an equal number of spectators. Parking is a breeze. We also spend two full days building the venue, and breaking down the site takes a lot longer.

Back in the day, all the work was done by volunteers - putting up bike racks, setting up scaffolding, hanging banners, tearing it all back down again, picking up all the trash. Now we have paid laborers out there doing the grunt work, which makes life so much easier for everyone involved.

So tomorrow, I'll be up at 4:30 am and headed out to Decker Lake for the big event. Every year I cry a few times from the sheer energy and joy of the event. It is inspiring to see so many women, of all shapes, sizes and abilities, out there doing something so positive and healthy. Many of them have never done anything like it in their lives, and it truly is a life-changing event for them. I'm proud that I get to do a little bit to make that happen.

Picture Wednesday

I know Picture Wednesday doesn't have the same alliteration as Wordless Wednesday, but I can never manage the wordless part.

Here's Ella today, as she headed off for her last day of First Grade. She's wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt despite the predicted 100 degree weather because they're having a spelling bee in class today, and she wanted to dress just like the kids did in the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Ella is all about spelling bees these days.

I did make her take a change of cooler clothes for after the bee.

Lily came outside and wanted in on the picture action, too. Like her parents, Lily loves to lounge in her bathrobe.

And just for contrast, here's Ella on the first day of First Grade. She doesn't look much different in the pictures, but I see a world of difference in her from the beginning of school.