Author Archives: carrievoris

Not all dreams are meant to come true.

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So, do any of you have recurring dreams, like scary ones, where you are falling and you wake up right before you hit the floor/sidewalk/ground, etc?

I have a version of that dream, and have for awhile, but mine always involves these three elevators. It is always the same elevators in the same building, but I have no idea where this building is – it isn’t like any that I’ve ever been in. There are always three elevators, big cargo-type elevators, and they are always precariously hanging in the shafts, and in my dream, I always try to pick the “safest” of the three and cautiously step into the elevator. It always sways like it is going to tip, oh, and did I mention this is about the part of the dream where the actual elevator walls disappear? Yeah, the walls are now nonexistent. So I’m essentially standing on a floor, suspended by two wires and trying to keep my balance, so I don’t tip the floor and fall many floors below.

(You can predict what happens next, right?)

So I do a horrible job of balancing, slide off the floor of the elevator, fall……………….and then jolt myself awake. Just in the nick of time. Every time. Same exact dream. Weird, huh?

I don’t know anything about dream analysis, but I wonder if I dream this more when my life is spiraling out of “balance” or when I’m doing a poor job of juggling everything I need to keep up.

I haven’t had the elevator dream lately, (I did recently have the “college dream”, where I am late for my exam, but haven’t been to class all semester and don’t even know where to go for the exam. Perhaps we’ll analyze that one another day.) but today we had a bit of our own “elevator adventure.”

Nothing nearly as dramatic as my dream, but the girls and I were actually *stuck* in an elevator this afternoon!

We were coming home from the gym and lunch and trying to get to the 2nd floor of the parking garage to our car. E. pushed the button (and then A. had to push the button, too) and we merrily started going up to the 2nd floor and it stopped, but the doors did not open. There was another man – a custodian for the garage – in the elevator with the three of us, and he spoke zero English. He starts calling someone on his cell and speaking rapid-fire Spanish and I’m seriously trying not to panic.

E: “Mama, are we there? Why won’t the door open?”
M: “Um, it might just be stuck.”
E: “How long will we have to stay in here?”
M: “Just a minute…they’ll have us out in a minute.”

Meanwhile I am thinking…how much air is in here? How long can we stay in here? At least I have some water and leftover noodles from lunch!

I start pressing the “Emergency” button and trying desperately not to panic. I offer up a quick prayer and also mention how thankful I am that A. is comatose from lunch – for once she is just hanging out, taking it all in.  E. looked a little more concerned, so I  said to her, “Wow! What a fun elevator adventure we are having, huh?” and that seemed to make her a little less apprehensive.

At this point little, Spanish, custodian-man starts pounding on the door and the operator finally asks if we need help – and about 10 minutes later we felt the elevator shift, and it went back down to the first floor and the doors opened.

We made a hasty retreat to the stairs and on our way up, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

E. just laughed and said, “What a fun adventure, Mama! We are like explorers!”

I don’t know if we are “explorers” necessarily, but I am so thankful for once that my dream didn’t come true, but my prayers did!

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

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I tried so hard yesterday to take the girls out for a really fun day, and, well….it really kinda turned into a disaster.

Monday night Denise called to switch her days to Wednesday and Thursday, which was fine – I’m still so grateful to get to work uninterrupted for 2 whole afternoons a week, but it still meant that our Tuesday was going to be a loooong day.  So I decided I would take the girls to Kidspace, this children’s museum that is here in Pasadena. We have never been there because, well, there are always plenty of free (or cheaper!) things to do here. And I kept thinking, we’ll save the museum for a rainy day or a day when we just can’t be outside. Pretty logical thinking, right? And since we rarely have a rainy day here in southern California, we just haven’t gotten around to visiting it yet.

But this week has been a little chilly and rainy – so it was perfect!  I psyched E. all up and told her I had a fun surprise for her and everything.

One major problem.

Kidspace is a kid’s museum, but probably 60-70% of the activities are actually at nature interpretive stations….OUTSIDE.

Ugh.  And Addie had a rough night so she ended up sleeping in til late, so we got a late start. Got to Kidspace and found out it is $8…a person! So it was $24 for the three of us to slop around and try to “have fun” in the cold, wet outdoors.

And for some reason, (maybe they have become California-ized already?) neither girl likes wearing jackets or sweaters. So I spent most of the day fighting with them to keep their jackets and hats on. I didn’t even get any good photos to show for it.

I typically LOVE rainy days. I think we don’t get enough of them around here, but yesterday was an all-around bummer of a day. Although E. did say to me, “I think this place would be fun, if I didn’t have to keep my coat on!”

Maybe we’ll try it again on one of the 355 sunny days of the year.

The many faces of “No.”

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Meet Addie’s favorite new word. “No.”

Sometimes it is just “No,” or “No, Mama” and even “Oh No!” But lately it has been NO! A much different declarative said with such force that you’d think I just proposed she jump in a pit of live snakes.

“Let’s change your diaper, Addie.”
“Noooooo,” said as screaming and running in the other direction.

“Please sit on your bottom on the chair.”
“No,” said as continuing to stand with a look of pure defiance on her face.

“Goodnight. See you in the morning.”
“No, no, Mamaaaaaa,” said as sobbing from the crib.

Occasionally she will start to do something that she clearly knows she isn’t supposed to do (i.e. put cat food into the cat’s water dish, turn the garbage disposal button on, stick her finger near an electrical cord) and with a devilish smile she’ll look over at you and say, “no, no, noooo.” Exactly the way we say it to her. It is kinda hard not to laugh at that one.

But the other “no’s.” They are driving me crazy.

She even says “no” when she means “yes.”

“Do you want to go to the park.”
“No.” And she says it with a nonchalant little shrug like “whatever.”

Arrrrggghhhh. I should be thanking my lucky stars that she is so verbal, independant, stubborn – all good virtues when she is older. But they are all so frustrating when she is only a toddler.

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P.S. Happy Birthday, Vic!! I hope you have a great day and a very happy year!

Hooray for relaxing weekends.

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We just had a nice, relaxing weekend. I actually barely even cracked my laptop open or checked email.

J. took the girls to the aquarium and they were actually gone ALL day Saturday. I hung out with a friend and we went fabric shopping, something that would have been impossible with kids. I found an amazing little quilt and thought that it might be fun to try my hand at quilting and make something for Addie’s new room in the process. We also had a great leisurely lunch, also very enjoyable – sans kids.

After a nice sleep-in this morning, which ended a night where everyone slept all night in their own space, we had our special weekend treat of Noah’s bagels, did a little shopping and then while the girls napped, I grocery shopped and spent a LOT of money. It always amazes me how much I love to do a mundane task like grocery shopping when it is not a child-corralling marathon. Usually I am in the grocery store for the absolute minimum amount of time as possible. It is just very hard to shop with 2 active girls who want to “help”. Actually looking at what I was throwing into the cart and comparing prices, I must say, that was a really nice treat.

Actually, the whole weekend was a nice treat. Thanks to J. we all had some good “family” time and Mommy got some good “me time,” too.

Almost makes the fact that tomorrow is Monday….bearable.

Are you smarter than an (almost) 4-year old?

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I know every mother thinks her child is a genius, but Emma has been astounding me all afternoon. She just might be as smart as her Daddy one day.

We have had a leisurely day together while Addie takes an extra long nap (which she totally needs, but that is fodder for another blog, another day) and we have actually accomplished a little bit of purging as we “played,” too – which is nice.

We’ve been cleaning the playroom out and “donating” toys to kids who can use them. Em has been a trooper and amazingly ready to part with stuff that I thought she would not be able to let go.

But that isn’t the point.

We were matching up puzzle pieces and trying to sort through the bins of puzzles we have and she was putting together her United States puzzle and flying through it! She started on the West coast (naturally) and she just knew which piece came next as she worked across the puzzle. Not only that – she knows the names of most of them and a little “trivia” about some of them too! Most of the trivia is of the “This is where Grandpa lives” or “Illinois is where I was born” or “Hey, this is Hawaii, where you and Daddy are in that picture!” nature – not exactly going to help her on Jeopardy, but the memory on that kid! I haven’t really done this puzzle with her much, but Denise and J. have, so I guess I just got to see it firsthand today. It was really, really cool to see how her little big mind works.

I guess for her birthday I should get her a world map puzzle. And then she can help me learn my geography.

Home is where the heart is…

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…and I think our hearts will be right at home in our new place!

I just went to visit our new house and work on some arrangements with the family who is moving out. They are leaving a swing, big playhouse, and sandbox along with a bunch of other stuff – it is seriously going to be like Christmas the week we move in for the girls. For me, too!

I really love the house. After being there again today, even the wallpaper in a few of the rooms that I originally thought we should take down or paint over, really isn’t so bad. And, I got a chance to really look at the closet/storage situation. Heaven! Every closet is bigger than the last, and they all have built-in drawers and shelves. Each of the girl’s rooms have built-in shelves.  We have a cedar-lined closet in our room. It is just so perfect. I feel so incredible lucky to have found it – or I guess lucky to know a person that could help us find it.

So anyhow, I’m feeling lazy about writing today and really feel like I need to be getting my act together, especially after seeing the house again. The move is coming soon and I have a lot to do.

Plus my bloglines just “lost” all of my blog addresses. All of the blogs I love to read. I guess it is just the universe’s way of telling me I should be doing some work instead of goofing off.  If you are reading this and have a blog…leave me a comment, please! I need to find all of my blog friends again. 🙁

In the meantime, here are some pics of our new place. I didn’t take any of the inside, but I will as soon as it is empty!  (This is mostly for the Michiganders and family…since you are the most interested in what our new place looks like.)

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This is the view from the street looking toward the front door. It is on a corner lot.

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A little bit closer, so you can see the courtyard (it is actually really big, and that is an outdoor fireplace!) leading up to the front door.

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From the other side, another gate to the courtyard and the driveway and garage. (See my car looks great in the driveway! It was meant to be.)

A tiny piece of heaven.

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Well, we clearly are not making it to spin class today. It starts in 20 minutes and both girls are still sleeping.

What?! Still sleeping at nearly 9am, you say? Yeah, it would be a little piece of heaven if we were not UP. ALL. NIGHT.

Another one of those nights. E. is still congested and refuses to blow her nose, which led to a tantrum/screaming match this morning at a little before 4am. Thus, waking darling little A. up, who then assumed since she had been sleeping for over 8 hours – it must be time to get up, right?

J. dealt with E., I finally got A. back in bed around 6am this morning. And they are both sleeping peacefully.

Which brings me to what I really wanted to write about today. (Okay, I wanted to whine a little about the middle-of-the-night antics, too, but it wasn’t supposed to be that long of a whine…sorry!)

I feel like I do a lot of complaining lately. It’s okay, you can say it, “I DO!” So while I was wrestling with A. this morning I was thinking that I just need to realize this moment is fleeting and try to remember the good stuff, the stuff that makes me happy. (I was also thinking that maybe I’d just take them to the park and *forget* to bring them home this morning, but that is another story.)**

So here goes. Ten things that make me smile in the middle of the horribly, long, whiny days (or nights):

1. The way Emma wakes up, her voice all froggy, “Morning, Mama! I had a good sleep.” No matter how she really slept the night before.

2. The days Addie wakes up happy and calls “Mama” from her crib, patiently waiting for me to come get her.

3. How good they both feel curled up on my lap, smelling all lavender-y from the bath and asking for just one more book. A. doesn’t even really ask, she just goes and gets another one, brings it back and says “book!”

4. How A. says “HAND!” when she is trying to get to sleep and gently strokes your fingers until she drifts off.

5. The feel of their incredibly long eyelashes on my cheek, or arm. It is so tickly and sweet.

6.  Just watching them play together. From the back you could never tell they are sisters, one with crazy curls, one stick-straight hair, but they have the same mannerisms and even stick their tongues out to the same side when they are trying to “work” on something.

7. Their “words” for things. Emma’s “nickles” for “nipples” and Addie’s “nakeee” for anybody showing any sort of skin at all.

8. A.’s sweet kisses. Enough said.

9. When E. just hugs me and says, “I love you, Mama.” (And no, she isn’t looking for anything – just because.)

10.  Their sweet smiles, giggles and laughs. If seeing or hearing those can’t bring you out of a funk, I don’t think anything can.

Ahhhh. I feel much better.  And they are stirring. Maybe I’ll go take them to the park and let them run!

**Okay, please know if you don’t know me very well, don’t call DFS I would never do this! I don’t need them looking over my shoulder to see the million of things I do wrong with the girls every day and possibly taking them away. Oh, and also, it would look pretty suspicious if I do in fact ever ACCIDENTALLY leave them somewhere. And the way my brain is going lately…it is quite plausible.

Fort o’ Boxes and Bubble-Wrap Blankets

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Did you see the Simpson’s on Sunday night? If you didn’t, Lisa and Bart devised a plan to get free shipping boxes sent to their house and then proceeded to build a fort out of them. I felt like I was living that Simpson’s episode today.

Moving boxes provide hours (hours!) of endless fascination and fun for a pre-schooler and a toddler, as I just found out. Our downstairs neighbor who moved out over the weekend is passing us her boxes as she unpacks. And the first load came over today. Why I didn’t take pictures, I do not know…but you have to trust me on this one, it was all-out creative euphoria around here.

We had forts, we had castles for my princesses, we even had make-shift strollers for the bears. And despite all of the fun, a little packing went on, with me mostly doing the packing. Although I did open one of the boxes and find both remotes and a phone.

Now if I could just get them to bubblewrap the stuff, maybe I wouldn’t have to hire expensive movers…he he hee.

Which brings us to bubblewrap. I’m positive it is not a very environmentally-friendly way to move. I usually use paper that I can at least recycle, but I figure that we are using it for the second time since it also came from our neighbor…and it, too, provides ENDLESS fun. Did you know that kids apparently never ever tire of popping the little bubbles.

And if you want to be really sneaky, tell them they missed one and they’ll spend another 20 minutes going through the whole sheet looking for the lost *pop*!

(On another note – today, even before I put this post, I had my best day ever stats-wise with the most hits, we are talking over 100 views a day, now. Thank you kind people for continuing to read my babble! 🙂 )