29 March 2012

braaaains

The sleep situation in this household is getting worse, my friends. I forgot how absolutely terrible it feels to not get decent sleep at night - I'm turning into a grouchy zombie who doesn't want to move or think & I'm pretty sure it's making me crave junk food. I'm accomplishing nothing & am snapping at my favorite people on earth. I hate this.

Little Evan has some swollen bumps on his bottom gum so there have to be some teeth under there & they are going to have to push through one of these bloody days, I assume. He is in full-on comfort suckling mode so I hope those teeth come to the party sooner than later. We are attempting to move him out of our room because he's outgrown the bassinet in our room so we start him in his "new" crib, which is obviously Ben's old crib.

No, no, no, let's back up another step. He actually starts in our bed with me because the only way he'll go to sleep & stay there is for me to feed him to sleep while lying down with him. Yes, that's right, naps & everything. I can rock him in the chair & feed him to sleep too but the second I stand up, he snaps awake immediately. So after I get him to sleep in bed, I have to extricate myself with surgical precision & absolute silence - he still manages to wake up a few times before I get him to that sweet spot where he stays down. You can imagine how not-doable this situation is when there's an almost 3 year old in the house who can not get his head around staying quiet so the baby can sleep.

And yes, I am ashamed that I have let Evan's sleep situation become such a drama but I'm just being honest with you. From the past years of this whiny blog you know I am not capable of letting a baby cry & I'm not in the right frame of mind yet to do the whole settling routine training that will undoubtedly take hours of my life every day & night. It's really soul-sucking that by the time you realize you've got to do something about the sleep situation, you don't have the energy to make the changes. I remember with Ben it was beyond desperate (taking 2+ hours to get him to sleep every night then he was up about 3 times each night too & would take ages to feed back to sleep) but I was way too fragile to be able to address the situation.

When you're already exhausted & existing on too little sleep, the thought of losing more sleep is not something you can process. And that's even when you know it's only for a limited time & that everyone will be better off in the end.

So anyway, once Evan is finally sound asleep & I've crept out & he's stayed asleep until he's in that lovely floppy totally gone stage, we move him to his crib when we go to bed. The first night he stayed in there a good few hours before waking up grumpy then I put him back in our bed to feed him to sleep again, then totally planned to put him back in his bed but the thing is he's a cluster feeder overnight at the moment. I remember Ben being the same way when he was teething (which seemed to be every other week or so for about a year solid)(that's right, he has teeth like sharks that are constantly replacing themselves) so once he's in our bed & he's attached himself to me, that's pretty much it - I can't detach myself without him waking up squawking. Seriously, even just moving to switch which side he's draining seems to break his little heart.

And then there's Benny Wenny, who has been a champion sleeper for months now. He's being affected by naps again, which is hell on earth. If he sleeps during the day AT ALL he is screwed for the night. It doesn't matter if it's an hour-long nap at daycare (& I know he needs one there or he's a disaster all afternoon for them & us) or a 5-minute doze in the car - they throw him off equally. We put him down around 7.30pm every night but he didn't actually fall asleep until about 9.30 last night & one night earlier this week - or last week? It's all blurring together - it was about 11.00 in the end.

THEN he has suddenly started getting up before the crack of dawn, around 5.00am, to join us in bed. I have no idea how this started but it is awful. You'd think after sleeping with us for the first year of his life, he'd be comfy sleeping with us but he's really not - when he joins us he just tosses & turns for a few minutes, then starts playing & pestering us. He has fallen asleep exactly ONCE & that was yesterday morning.

This routine obviously disturbs Evan's suckling, which has been disturbing my sleep all night, causing me to toss, turn, huff, puff & check the internet on my ipod, which disturbs Marcel's sleep. So every early morning finds the four members of the little family in our bed - all without adequate amounts of sleep, all grumpy, no one ready to start the day.

Delightful, hey? Now we realize that daylight savings ends here this weekend so he'll be joining us at 4.00am instead. Turns out kids don't get that whole time change thing. Is it wrong to consider drugging him? Mother of the Year here.

Anyhoo, that's our life these days. We'll just keep going because we don't actually have any other option, do we? At least we've finally booked our vacation! It's a couple of months away & I'll tell you more about when I'm in a cheerier mood. I am focusing on this holiday as it is literally the only thing in my life dangling out there for me to look forward to. I don't think I have to tell you I already have multiple to-do lists going & am quietly squirrelling things away for carry-ons, etc but don't tell my husband or he'll roll his eyes at me.

Hope your week has been wonderful. I'm off to administer teething drops & Bonjela to my suffering little soldier & try to sneak a shower, which will at least make me feel slightly less zombie-eque. xo

26 March 2012

Ahoy hoy

I've been feeling very woe is me these days so I've been trying to stay quiet until it passes for your sake. I think it's safe to say that this mama needs a break. I am a little zonked out but as you probably realize, you can't take a mental health day from your children. Can't afford a babysitter for a night out of the house plus Evan has turned into a crazed demon at night (slight exaggeration there, he's just having a hard time going to sleep & staying that way) so has become permanently attached to me, which literally AND figuratively sucks the energy out of me. Hard to hand him off to someone else when he is so dependant on me ... well, my boobs.

He's ended up in our bed at night more often than not, which is frustrating for oh so many reasons. I don't sleep as well obviously, but I also have to sacrifice my pillow & other things so that I can follow all the rules of co-sleeping for his safety. My back gets stiff from being in a position that he can stay attached to me while he sleeps & every time he moves I wake up in a panic. His new little corner of the office is ready for him with Ben's old crib so now I just need to buy a sleeping bag thing for him so I don't lay awake at night imagining him wrapped up in his blanket. Motherhood messes with your mind, people.

Anyway, a few people have pointed out that he may actually sleep more soundly being out of our room where he can't hear or sense us or smell my milk. We shall see, we shall see. I kind of foresee a lot of nights of me sleeping on his floor instead of going back & forth between the bedrooms.

And yes, I know I have a lot of nerve complaining about my few night interruptions after having had months of perfect nights. Fair enough, I apologize to those of you who have yet to sleep through the night - heaven knows I have been there (remember Ben didn't sleep through until almost 2 years!) & I'm fully aware that we have been damn lucky until recently.

We're still pretty sure it's some soon-to-appear teeth whipping him into this frenzy but we've been wrong about that before. Still, his little gums are very red & he's chomping onto things more than ever & just being grizzly. Definitely reminds me of Ben's teething days, which were very dark days indeed. Whenever we can sneak a peak into his mouth where his tongue isn't in the way, I swear I can see a little bump but it's never more than a fleeting glance. One day he's just going to wake up with a full set of teeth.

More darkness visited us over the weekend, by the way.
Ben's stomach bug came back for a quick visit on Saturday - a couple of vomiting bouts & then he passed out on the floor for a couple of hours. His first vomit was while he was sitting with me in our rocking chair, absolutely covering me in upchucked hot chips. It was A-W-F-U-L but we both survived & he was absolutely fine after he woke up. 

I'm going to be honest, Ben is awesome these days. I'm afraid that you can easily deduce from that fact that it's little Evan giving me the shits. Whiny, non-napping, non-settled, has to be held at all times, teething baby from the land of grouch. He's lucky he's so cute.

But seriously, this kid is freaking fun these days. And look at my toddler Einstein, writing his letters! You can see a "T" on the right & of course an "E" with a few extra lines (it started as a T, then an I, finally an E then he just kept adding lines). This is definitely a new development that is rocking my world! My nerdy, kinda-intellectual, literary-loving world. Ben is the best.

We had a little fun in the gorgeous weather yesterday, making newspaper pirate hats. That's right, I'm old school with my crafts. And no, we don't normally have those mattresses out there but the bottom one is from our outdoor daybed while we were washing its cover & the other one is our random extra mattress that we added so Ben could jump on it.

Pirates ahoy! Super attractive pirates.

I like this view because it shows our whole little backyard world in all its messy toy-strewn glory. Again, those mattresses & pillows aren't usually there. 

Well, that's all the poop that's fit to scoop. I need to run & figure out something to cook for dinner tonight & finish my last load of laundry & clean the bathroom & sweep the house. Maybe I'll just take a nap instead & let the boys take care of themselves. That's fine, right? RIGHT???

19 March 2012

I wonder as I wander.

What a butthead of a day so far - my brain is way too lazy to go back & rehash it all so I'll offer generalizations instead. Nothing should surprise me, I've decided. After being a mother for almost 3 years I should be fully aware of certain facts about my family:

1. At best, I will get one nap out of my children per day. That's one nap total, not per child & it will most likely be a catnap. If two children are in the house, the nap will be ruined at least once by the other child.

2. Any child of mine will be a bit bonkers.

3. Any home of mine will never be fully clean. At best, I can expect one room to be clean at one point in time per day but never more and often less.

4. Any meal of mine will be accompanied by shrieks of an angry baby who wants to eat my food. He will wake up from solid sleep when he smells food cooking & I'm pretty sure he's psychically in tune with my hungry tummy. Once I choose to make peace with the fact that I will eat with said mealtime meltdown, the other child will come along & actually eat my food. 

5. Whenever I reach the bottom of the never-ending laundry basket, in that moment right before I raise my arms in joyful victory, my wonderful husband will totter into the house with an armful of random dirty things - clothes, towels, sheets (??) - that have hilaaaariously been in his car for weeks. We just laugh & laugh & laugh, then I give up.

Ah well, at least I have two little lovelies of loveliness to make me smile when I need it.
Benny, modelling his handmade peg & snake turban.

Evan, terrorizing nature.
Did I tell you guys that Ben & I both suffered the most horrendous gastro virus last week & over the weekend? It was AWFUL. As if emptying your system of all it has ever held isn't bad enough, then you spend an extra 36 hours of excruciating pain in every joint & muscle. It was not good but I'll spare you the details and just send you with the warmest wishes that this plague won't visit your home.

But anyway, there are many things making me smile today so let's focus on them for a while now. 

I learned on Facebook that the good folks at Shoney's are trying to add to the woo'ing of Peyton Manning to Tennessee by offering lifetime free pancakes. The discussion on this led to one of my favorite Facebook comments - a friend of my aunt's said "He isn't worth the money or the pancakes." This putdown is just fantastic! 

Now, I'm pretty sure free pancakes would probably work for me (not sure I've had them from Shoney's but my taste is fairly simple) & I was trying to decide what could definitely seal the deal for a loser like me. I'm pretty sure an offer of unlimited dumplin's (I think they're better without the chicken quite frankly) from Cracker Barrel would make me sign on any dotted line. Let me make it clear that as the world's worst athlete, I am most certainly not worth the money or the dumplin's but I'm still willing to be woo'ed.

I could also be swayed by unlimited sweet tea, eggplant parmesan, chocolate meringue pie, twice-baked potatoes or the promise of a new Michael Kors bag every few months. Not having a professional athlete's metabolism or workout habits, I should probably keep my fantasies towards the purses & keep concentrating on eating well.

Hey! I think I'm finally jumping on the Kate Middleton train! Am I too late? Is everyone else already over her? I'm not obsessed or anything but I'm kind of loving seeing her all over the place at the moment while her dear husband is away on duty.

Okay people, this is how one does St. Patricks Day. 
Holy crap, how classy.
Makes me regret that "Kiss my Shamrocks" t-shirt back in school. 
Sign me up for one of those Irish Wolfhounds too while we're at it. 

photo from gofugyourself.com
Such shiny hair - I wonder how us mere mortals can get our hands on her top secret princess hair products. 
What the heck is going on here, by the way, & how can I get in on it? 

photo from gofugyourself.com
Does she have killer quads or is this an odd picture? 
If so, you are killllling it Duchess of Cambridge! 
If you know me well, you know I have successfully avoided purchasing leggings & their evil partner in crime, jeggings. 
My first glimpse of this new colorful pants trend made me think they were the new leggings that I would be shunning in revulsion but they're growing on me, people. 
If I had Kate's legs I would own fancy pants in every color of the rainbow but those of us with chubbier gams have to watch how these trends play out before we jump in there throwing crazy colors on, unnecessarily highlighting our thighs.

Well, that's all that's in my brain today. Hope you've had a lovely few days without me. Hopefully I'll have something worth writing about one of these days!

12 March 2012

the usual

A quiet morning in my little life at the moment, which is such good news. Benny & I have been going through a rough patch - he was going really well for a couple of months, very obedient & fun. Now suddenly he's ornery, ignoring us & literally blowing raspberries at us when we scold him. Lovely. He's been coughing on & off for a couple of weeks so maybe he's just not feeling so great & maybe it's more us than him - I don't think we're more stressed or grouchy than usual but he probably sees things much differently!

Anyway, he's still pretty awesome. When I was driving him to daycare this morning he kept saying something like "Hanga babies, hanga babies, hanga babies ..." really strangely. It took me a few seconds to decipher the code - he was singing Beyonce's Single Ladies! Bwahahahaha! I don't think there's a day that goes by where I don't sing that song around the house but I always change it to Single Babies because I'm usually singing it to my babies. Marcel told me once he thought Ben was singing the "Uh oh oh" part of that song in the car when they went somewhere but I thought he must have been mistaken. Gorgeous boy might just get my out of date taste in music after all!

We went to Sydney on Sunday to visit the Sydney Wildlife World. I don't know about that place. It's got cool stuff & I guess if you're an overseas tourist who won't see koalas, kangaroos, etc. in a different environment then this is better than nothing but something about it rubs me wrong. It gets too crowded in some places & it doesn't seem to have enough to justify its cost. Bear in mind that Ben was off his rocker so we were taking turns chasing him (& comforting him after he tripped about 700 times - buh bye stupid Crocs shoes!) or hoisting Evan around while pushing the empty pram because someone decided he was too good for it. Our exhaustion may have overshadowed our opinions of the place.

In any case, it was worth it because we got to use our annual pass, which also includes the Sydney Aquarium, the tower thing that I can remember the name for & OH. MY. WORD. It's also going to include Madam Tussaud's when it opens in May! I think you know how much I love taking goofy pictures of myself with things - MT is the world headquarters for awesome/tacky/silly picture taking. Marcel & I went to the one in Times Square many lifetimes ago because we wanted to get out of the pouring rain & couldn't decide on something better. We thought it would suck but we had the time of our lives. They let you kinda have your way with the wax figures - cuddle up to them, throw an arm over them, whatever. I've got to dig those old pictures out.

We ended the day at the Star casino where we indulged in a Man Goes Peanuts dessert at Adriana Zumbo's patisserie. Good heavens, I am not exaggerating when I say it's the greatest sweet treat I have ever tasted. Marcel & Ben also shared a chocolate fondant gelato from Messina in the same little corner of the world. I took a picture but it's terrible so I'm linking to a much better review of both places with lovely pictures - seriously worth taking a look if you like to fantasize about desserts like I do:

http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/2012/01/09/gelato-messina-and-zumbo-dessert-train-at-the-star-pyrmont-sydney/

I love the look of Zumbo! He is a man after my own heart with all the bright, kinda tacky colors - that place is infectious. I've seen pictures of his Manly shop, which looks quite classy & more grown-up but I think I prefer this one. Pink neon feels like home to me.

Back to my annual pass, look who they let sneak into the picture! Sorry, if I put it closer to the camera it got blurry. It really is one of the better pictures of Evan & me - both smiling, both looking mighty fine, etc. Ah well when it expires maybe I'll frame it. Maybe not.

I'm pretty bad-ass with my aquarium annual pass

Hey, do you any of you have tips for better posture? Ya know, besides just standing straighter? Now that I'm losing some weight I'm trying to pull myself together in other areas & the Hunchback of Kariong is ready to stand a little taller. 

Do you stop feeling like a douche when you walk correctly after a while? I always feel really silly with my shoulders back, chest out & stomach sucked in - I know it looks better (I practice in the mirror to make sure) but I feel like one of those old timey muscle men with pants pulled up high & his chest puffed out. Don't let me look like that, people! But at the rate I'm going , breastfeeding is going to give me a permanent curved spine. Ugh.

Alright, I'm off to clean. Yesterday was supposed to be the day that Ben went to his friend's house so I put off cleaning on the weekend, thinking I would catch up yesterday. Too bad they had a bad night in their house Sunday night (we did too actually, adding to our foul moods) so the house ended up getting even worse instead of better. My car is in the shop today so I may as well get something done around here. 

08 March 2012

Oh baby.

I am an excellent mother, of that there is no doubt.
For example, just today I left Evan on my bed with a fortress of pillows as an impenetrable defense against him rolling off of the bed. He can only roll from back to front at this point & once he gets to his front, he's generally stuck there squawking until someone rescues him.

Anyway, I scampered to the garage for maybe 3 minutes to throw clothes in the dryer & hang a few things on the line. 
I returned to a near tragedy:
You'll notice the green breastfeeding support pillow on the floor - one of my strongest battlers in the soft fortress defense. Not sure what went down while I was away but obviously Evan is capable of more scooting & scuttling than I was aware. 

If we move the camera slightly to the left (yep, I left him dangling while I took more pictures), we have more evidence of why it's awesome to have a baby. No, it's not poop. I do manage to draw a line in my over the top sharing - poop is the line. That is blueberry & apple puree that he spewed up on my freshly made bed YESTERDAY. 

That's right, a little spit-up baby food is not enough to make me clean that darn duvet cover again so quickly. I figure I sleep with enough leaked breastmilk & occasionally find myself occupying a wet spot from a leaky diaper so what's a little puked-up fruit? 

Obviously life is grand.

I'm going to give you a quick peek at an upcoming project I have up my handy dandy sleeve.
I ordered something epically awesome. Some of you will disagree with that grand proclamation but I think a few of you will nod your head & say "I get you, Ashley. I truly get you."
The actual painting is not it.
But what I did order will go in this frame once I've taken it to get a nice mat cut for it - my favorite cheapy solution.
I am madly in love with the frame. Got it from ye old Salvation Army earlier this week - super cheap of course & they gave me another half-off because it had gum stuck to it. Yuck.
Oddly, the gum was exactly the same color as the frame so at first I thought the frame was just mysteriously melting but then figured it out like the sleuth I am. I'm pretty sure someone just realized their gum matched the frame & wanted the whole world (well, the fraction of the world that would visit the West Gosford Salvation Army) to appreciate that ridiculous coincidence.

Anyway, I guess I could offer the actual painting as a really cheap giveaway of sorts if anyone's interested. I've seen much worse artwork at the Salvos so I won't judge you if you want it.
I do have concerns about the car coming down the lane:
Looks like a typewriter.
But hey, maybe that appeals to your literary side. 

I may do something with this frame too but I will seriously judge you if you want this picture. I'm fairly sure that washed-out finish is on purpose & that is not acceptable. 

Well, that's probably enough of this episode of Ashley Eisele: International Art Critic.
See you next time where I'll scope out some more $2 thrift store finds. 

05 March 2012

*#@^ #*&^$

Just wanted to drop back in to apologize for all my cursing yesterday - whoops. I may be gaining all sorts of willpower when it comes to exercise & eating well better but I can't get the bad words to stop spilling out of my mouth. I can usually keep them under control around the kids unless I've had a few rough days add up then I start the muttering. Ben catches it & has started saying "Sorry Mama" because I always say "Sorry Ben" when I realize he's heard me.

For what it's worth, I actually didn't lose my cool at all with him - well, except that I did pull the "STOP LAUGHING AT YOUR BROTHER OR YOU'RE GOING TO YOUR ROOM ... THAT'S IT!!! YOU'RE GOING TO YOUR ROOM!" but he had that coming. When your parents are mad, it's best to keep your serious face on even when your baby brother is stealing your attention.

That was my only moment of over the top reactioning. Look at that, I just made "reaction" a verb. Anyway, no yelling, no smacking & I managed to get all the green crayon off the TV. I've taken the iPad away for the rest of the week & made Ben apologize to me & then again to Marcel when he got home so I think we're okay now.

Now the lovely boy in question is at daycare & I managed to get #2 down for his morning nap right after the groceries were delivered so I'm maxing & relaxing. Just had a little late breakfast & am about to put some clothes out on the line & put more the washer, finish loading the dishwasher, clean the bathroom blah blah blobbity blah. When Evan wakes up, I'm going to drag him to the Salvation Army because Mama is in the mood for some funky old picture framing & to see if there are any old crappy housewares that Ben might need for his kitchen & other make-believe adventures (What? Mother of the Year? Who, meeeee?). Also, I still have more groceries to get even after my delivery because I forgot that with the morning delivery you can't change your order past noon the day before & I always count on those extra hours to make a second list of things I forgot when I originally placed the order. *sigh* Brains are for fools.

Oh, speaking of make-believe (a few sentences ago), Marcel rudely burst my bubble yesterday by informing me that yesterday was not Ben's first super hero outing. Apparently, they tinkered with his alter ego & a cape while cleaning the garage over the weekend. Grrrrr! Once again, Dad beats me to the punch. Next time, old man, next time!

crickity crick

Woke up with a crick in my neck. Not sure if that's the technical term or if it's just a Southern saying but you know what I mean - woke up with a mangled, painful, stiff & useless neck today. It's getting better slowly but surely but still can't lean it to the right without bringing tears to my eyes. Lovely.

I've had a headache for a couple of weeks that I've just been ignoring because I know it's from tension - the old stiff neck & achy teeth accompanying it gave it away. Am I the only one whose teeth hurt when I get a tension headache? Is that weird? I'm seeing my new dentist regularly (What? He's cute with a British accent so suddenly I care about my dental hygeine!)(Kidding - he is cute & British but it's impossible to think crushy thoughts when you're drooling all over yourself in the dental humiliation pose) & everything's all good in my mouth so there's nothing physically off in there, but whenever those headaches come on my teeth join in.

Anyway, I was telling Marcel about the headaches & then Evan started making his latest, greatest whining noise to interrupt my fascinating story & I made a quick aside about how he'd been grizzling like that for the last couple of weeks & TA-DA! I think I figure out where my tension headache has come from as the times line up perfectly.

Too bad there is nothing I can do to magically make my baby stop being a whiny ... uhh ... well, baby. I guess I'll live with the headache. Yes, I do take Panadol for it but it doesn't always work.

Last night I had the joy of sleeping with Ben in his toddler bed for a couple of hours after I got tired of going back & forth during his 3am sick declaration. Seriously, he informed me he was sick but had nothing to back it up. He had absolutely no sick symptoms but something was obviously "off" so I humored him & eventually gave in & climbed in bed.

I think it's safe to say my cricked neck was the product of that boy's bizarre sleep habits in his tiny bed. At one point I woke up with him literally trying to climb on my head while he was sound asleep. I think that was the final straw before I went back to my big bed, where the beautiful Evan woke me up moments later (well, it felt like moments) for his early morning super quick milk n' snooze.

Silly, silly Evan is back to being all over the place with his day sleeps. I had a good few weeks of him taking a consistent decent nap every day around 9.30am but the past few days have shot that to hell with no explanation. He's been back to the random cat naps on me but can't sleep anywhere else. Yesterday when Marcel & Ben were out he finally passed out to an epic 3 1/2 hour nap, which terrified me - I was checking to make sure he was breathing every 20 minutes!

He's just gone down a little while ago now that Ben's buddy has gone home so will he give us another massive snooze? Do I want that? He was up a little late last night & I have plans for the gym tonight that I would prefer he not ruin. Ah well, mothers don't get to have lives do we?

I'm actually taking a bit of a life on Wednesday night - skipping my boxing class, skipping a parents meeting at day care & going to Chicks at the Flicks!! Yay for me! It's Pretty Woman people! How often do you get the chance to see such a classic on the big screen? I realize I'll have to leave early to get Evan to bed (unless Marcel figures out how to lactate before then) but I've seen the movie enough times to recite the ending by heart. I'm just going to hang out with other ladies for a few giggles & the gift bag, of course!

Oh, I mentioned Ben's friend being over today but have I told you about our great Monday exchange program? I highly recommend this genius idea that a close friend of ours suggested. They're trying to get their daughter more comfortable with the idea of eventually starting daycare next year & I just enjoy having her around one week (girls are soooo different, aren't they?) & getting an extra day of just Evan on other weeks. Anyway, the scheme is that each Monday we take turns watching each other's oldest kid. We both have babies so we can't ditch them yet but one Monday her daughter comes here & the next Monday Ben goes & plays at their house. It is awesome.

------------

OH. FUCKING. HELL.

Do not take parenting advice from me. As I've been sitting, peacefully writing this drivel, happy in the knowledge that one perfect son was finally napping while the other perfect child was watching TV, turns out Ben was armed with a green crayon & was going to town on the TV, the TV cabinet & the bloody iPad.

Fucking crayons. I know better. I let them color with them today & kept reminding myself to put them up when they were done but I was so impressed with how Ben was behaving with them. What is wrong with me?

I am giving myself credit for not yelling, not smacking & just calmly marching Ben off to his room, returning to lecture, then just cleaning. He is sobbing his head off, which naturally woke up the zombie baby who joined in the crying chorus. Took me almost 30 minutes to get the green off of everything & I'm not sure the TV will ever be un-waxy again.

I let Ben sit on the couch while I cleaned but got annoyed when he kept laughing at Evan so I've marched him back to his room where he is again crying his head off.

He needs to stay there until Marcel gets home.

I get it now. I get the anger when kids make the mistake of smiling when they're being punished.
I get that parents don't want to see a naughty child's face for a while just in case they yell or call them names or let loose a string of curses that no human, let alone toddler, should witness.

Stupid bloody parenthood is a crock of shit.

I will leave on a happier note from earlier today, when Ben became a super hero for the first time.