Curriculum Night- Check

Ooh, glad that is over. Long day. Had to wait until 4:15pm to get kids, M was in her first sewing class ("I got to iron!") and J had karate. Rushed home (cab, damn the m4), made dinner, said hi to babies for 3 seconds, greeted babysitter number 2. Oversaw MoJo shower/bath, showered made myself presentable. Walked back to school (fuck the m4). Did two mini nursery presentations while M and J's class presentations were going on (F was at M's). Went to part of M's (did not learn much about second grade). Went back to my classroom to greet parents and talk about curriculum for 1 plus hours. Came home (thank you m4), about to eat homemade gnocchi (not the best for my fat ass but delicious) and watch some Dexter. Pass out. Go to school and bus it to some island for a field day. OOOh OOOh week 2 of school is almost done!
PS THANK GOODNESS for L, the childcare saint and savior. She put 12 hours in with those monkeys today!

T"was The Night Before School

Or the morning before the morning before school I guess. Well, today is the day I finally get to see and be in my new classroom. As exciting and amazing as the renovations are, I was basically a waste of space and time in my school last week. We have not been able to get onto the second floor. Today is the day I need to make it happen- unpack boxes (which I can only hope are there), arrange furniture (which I have never seen), pray for the computer/Smartboard to be connected (although I have been told that I can only use it for display, they are no interactive yet), and wrap my mind around the start of school. J only has 1!! hour of school tomorow so we are still not in the child care clear. Yesterday we had our first swim lesson (all but J) and the babies did not love it. A, who pounded the beach, cried most of the time (cold? bored?) and V enjoyed it until he didn't, and then we had a chorus of crying, with 50% of the class (AleVit) unwilling to be dipped any more, sing any more, and eager to exit the pool. More later. Buona domenica!

No No Please, You Vomit On ME Now, Please!

I was just going to post about the wonderful news, that both babies went to BT today and seem 100% Wouldn't that be boring though? We noticed that V was not that into dinner but he ate. We did our steam, double bath, antibiotics, bla bla bla and L went in to put them to sleep as I went to attack the 4 loads of laundry that need to be put away. She called me screaming as V had vomited EVERYWHERE. Think floor, crib slats, his sister, his pillow, the wall. You get the picture. We stripped them down and back into the bath they went. After lots of cleaning and some airing (but boy does it stink in there!) I got the crib ready for round two. Right before putting V in we noticed that his nose was bothering him and low and behold, he had vomit stuck in there. Don't gag. But it's like when you laugh and liquid comes out of  your nostrils. So I used the snot sucker to suck the vomit out of his nose. Now you can gag. Please sleep all night and do not vomit any more! Tomorrow V will  be home, rounding out the record. In the last two weeks (so 10 days of BT times two equals 20) we have been to BT 7 times. Woo hoo!

But Wait, Call Now

and you can get a baby who vomited in her crib (and on her brother) Monday night, spit up milk right before going to the playground, and exploded in cream of corn diarrhea right before I left for PT. How can A have a stomach bug when she has not been to day care in two decades? Out of a possible 5 days each last week A went one! (Fri) and V two (Mon/Tues). This week we already miss Mon/Tues for a holiday and A will be staying home with her loose poop today. This is what I call getting our money's worth of daycare but moreover, when will these babies be ok?

Medical Update

Yes, this is a contraption that I bought upon the doctor's recommendation. Yes, I did suck the mocos out of 3 of my children's noses today (I did not put on the lipstick though). After a mid-morning visit to the doctor with 3 monkeys, I finally got confirmation of what I already knew (babies have pink eye, some virus that gives them a fever (V) and an ear infection (A)). Thank goodness for L who took them home, waited at hour at CVS for the drugs and stayed with them until I got back with the other two. I need a spreadsheet to remember eye drops 4 times per day for 7 days, oral antibiotic 2 times per day for 10 days (A) and ibuprofen every 4 hours (V). After going into the steamy bathroom, applying a vapor rub to their chests, suctioning their noses and putting drops in their eyes and medicine in their mouths, I can only hope that they sleep. Pobrecitos. V was so hot this am that he was twitching. Three hours after tylenol his fever was still over 102. I will be home with them tomorrow and they will stay home on Friday too. BT is closed Mon/Tues so after a 10 (V) and 12 (A) day break, I can only hope they will be back next Wednesday.
PS V only weighs 3 more ounces (20 lbs, 11oz) more than A. She got huge and/or he is a midget. What happened?

Vomit Vomit

V puked his guts out on Mon night (I wore a dry river of crusted vomit on my neck all evening before realizing that that was where the smell was coming from). I did a no no and sent him to daycare on Tuesday and guess what? He was fine. He ate, slept, came home and did more of the same. This morning, I had wide open due to a field trip and I planned to finally get to a crap load of items that have been on my to do list for so long that I might as well call it my I will never do list. I turned the stroller seats to face each other and bundled AleVit in. I wondered why V was fussing as we waited for the elevator until SPLAT- he puked a liquid green vomit all over his stroller sleeping bag, his sister's (how nice that they were facing each other right?) and somehow all over the actual stroller (that is under the sleeping bag- seeped through seat belt hole?). Well, I spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out how to get coverage so that I could come to work. I came up with many complicated plans but luckily, in the end L came over. My screaming booger babies (they were literally bonkers non stop until she came at 10:30 minus their 28 minute nap) became smiley happy ones upon her arrival. I felt like I was their hostage (very hard to pee, type or call while holding two big cry babies) all morning, they literally would not let me put them down. Well, I am pumping, on my way to a triple tutoring (private- Street Squash-private). Never a dull moment yo yo.

Thursday Madness

So we have a rhythm going. L comes in the am and the pm (she is a saint) and I feel like I can handle all of the bags and milk and schlepping with this one parent one helper system. Tomorrow L cannot make it (I got her another job on Thursdays which I am sure she would skip to come help me for 1.5 hours in the am but that is silly) so I have an old (unemployed) sitter taking MoJo to school and I am taking the babies. After this brisk walk and insane dash to school (BT opens at 8 and there are NO buses or cabs at that time- I have class at 8:40am!) I will have a full full day (first trip to nursing home, pre-emptive make up Spanish class for Friday because we have a picnic, which I bet will be canceled) and then take MoJo to get AleVit so we can all get home early. Why? 5pm L will come and 5:30 tío D because I have curriculum night! How will I attend the JK and first grade presentations as a parent while giving my Nursery ones and being available in my classroom for questions from JK to third grade parents? I will not, unless Michael Keaton has some cloning tips for me. Once this is all done at 8:30pm I think I will get a big bucket of wine before I come home. A la camita for me now!

Now I Remember

Why I did not want to have a nanny in the first place. I do not have room for much human error nor do I have patience or time for misunderstandings. I asked L to pick up babies like she did yesterday and the day before at 5pm. After much calculation I sought help from my mother in order to efficiently collect all of the children, accomplish tutoring and Street Squash. A sitter picked J and a friend up from school at 10:30. She took care of them until 1pm at which point she took them to the girl's house. I ended teaching at 2:30, pumped and went to tutor a block from where J was but did not get him because I went straight to Street Squash for my first session with the 8th grade (this is my third year with them). My mother got J, went up to school to get M and took them to her house. I said I would come get them at 6pm after an hour of tutoring. You know what? I said to myself. Since F came back this am on a red eye and said he could go to work late or leave early (we decided that the latter made sense) I said "I will stay at SS while L enjoys the babies at home and F can go up to get MoJo." My mother said 6 was too early to get them, I said F will be there 6:30, which ended up being 6:40 he said. 6:05 I notice my phone "ringing" - it is broken and does not  ring or vibrate- it has to be in my hand for me to notice it. BT was on the line to tell me that nobody had come to pick up the babies. WTF? Never in my life did something like this happen. This is why I am ocd, do not like to delegate etc etc. I jumped on the train and got to BT about 6:20pm, 35 minutes after closing. I felt horribly guilty for having made people wait, sad that the babies were hungry and sort of abandoned, and top of all of that shit, I felt bad for being unfriendly to L when she called me to ask me where I was. Yes, that is right. While I panicked waiting for the fucking subway, she called me to ask me where I was because she had been waiting for me outside my house for an hour. Apparently when I called her and said "I just wanted to let you know that my phone is running out of battery" she heard "forget everything we discussed about you going to BT, feeding and bathing the babies because I will be home late and you may have to put them to bed. Just go to my house and I will see you later." I can see the confusion. She offered to get in a cab to get them or to wait for me to help when I got back but the last thing I wanted to do was to see her. Now I know she feels horribly and I feel bad for her and I do not want to care about how she feels. At 6:40 I was still walking home, pounding the same pavement I pounded 10 hours before to get them there. F got to MoJo at 7:30. The bonus is that I will pay L, owe two people at BT gifts. AAAAHHHH. Off to eat. And faint.

Sleepless in Seattle?

F is there. Hanging out until his red eye leaves to come back. Every day this week has been a puzzle. There is no regular school for J yet so I fill his day with hanging out with me at school (and I accomplish little) and paying a sitter to take him out to lunch, the park, you know, spending lots of money and running around like crazy. This am a friend picked M up so she could get to school on time and J walked with me and the stroller all the way to BT and then to school from there. Good walking ciccione. Tomorrow F is supposed to be back early early but I just realized that there is no early room for J because there is no regular school for him, so I will probably have to take him on foot, to BT again. Why don't I send F there? Because I need to collect bottles I need to pump into during the day, and because I will not see AleVit at the end of the day (private tutee, Street Squash and then Tiemann to pick MoJo up) and I miss them. Today they ate and slept in a more normal fashion at BT. Off to snuggle with M and to watch 3 episodes of Chopped!

One Word

I asked M to give me one word to describe her first day in first grade: fabulous!
How about your teacher? positive!
Let's hope it stays that way.
J was a bit more hesitant but he did play for the big 30!! minutes that he was in school.
AleVit slept a combined total of (this is not hyperbole) 9 hours at BT today. WTF? They napped a combined total of under 2 hours over the whole damn weekend.
Oh, to have a sleep room.
Like Steve Martin said, "Money well spent."

Transition Troubles

I wrote a whole post about this while I pumped today at work..and it vanished. It was basically a diatribe about how inconvenient the modified mini schedules are for transitions. This year the babies have a transition schedule into BT and J has one for school. Neither make sense and both will cost us an arm and a leg. Today for example, I went to BT at 8:30am, I stayed there for 1.5 hours (it is a miracle that I do not get fired) and AleVit went down for a nap. L went, as told, to go pick them up at 10:30. They slept until 12! So I paid for her to sit and watch other babies. Tomorrow will be similar and equally inconvenient, as they need to go with me 10-11 and then stay alone 11-1pm. This translates into having L from 8am on and paying her to walk around for two hours while they will most likely be sleeping at BT. Okay, too boring to go into the minutiae of how and why J's schedule is equally annoying next week. Off to make dinner. Babies cried like crazy at bedtime. They never do that anymore. It was a nice solid 45 minutes of torture.

Happy Baby!

Thankfully I seem to have two. Tomorrow is a big day as they start BT (only family so far to have 4 kids at this place!) just like MoJo before them. Could we have a normal size apartment or even a country house if we did not have BT tuition times four over the last six years? Sure. But it is worth it! I have my first day of school tomorrow and I need to leave early to meet L at BT to transition them into the Baby Room (BR). What a week this will be, as I try to set up my class room and attend meetings while transitioning AleVit and participating in parent meetings, prep M for Friday, her first day (well two hours) of first grade. Lots of hats, parent to Alevit at BT, teacher at work, parent to a JK and first grade student at school. By the way, V sucks this food down in under a minute. I think he likes the idea of a stream of food, a la bottle, but I am unsure if it is healthy to promote this kind of (me-like) vacuum cleaner-style eating. Off to bed! Another lovely day at the playground/Whole Foods lunch with tía D/picnic with T (& M). Buona notte!

Coming Home

later than I said
to two fed and bathed babies...
priceless.
that has never happened to me before. Ever. In 6.5 years. Not asking and having someone execute the routine.
Thank you.
L!

Drowning

In work. And heat. Too many things to do. Too hot. Too much work. Too hot. Too many child care favors. Too much money spent on child care. Too hot.
Today:
Sweating and pumping as I write. Need to straighten up house so L can come clean (sounds weird but if there is shit everywhere she cannot do her job). 8am baby caregiver comes. 8:30 big kid caregiver comes. Need to give her cash and plan for the day. Book to school. 9-11am meet with coworker for summer job number #1. 11-12 meeting at school for summer job #2. Not really prepared for either and I am the coordinator for the latter and need to begin the former on Monday. 12:20-1:20 tutor on 99 St and West End. 1:45 pm meet babies with their caregiver on 96 st & 5th Avenue. Pay her for the week. 2pm appt for babies. Meet good friend/J's teacher there for their 4 month (4 shots each shit!) visit. Thank you M for coming! Walk home. Oh, it is going to be 99 degrees today, did I mention that? Meet MoJo back at home, pay that caregiver. Wait for F to walk in the door. Welcome home! Pass the baton, I mean the 4 children, to him. Head to East End Avenue for final tutoring session. Thank you tía T for coming over in the interim to help F. Come home from tutoring. Eat, pump, sweat, Oh yeah, logistical problem today. No time, literally, to pump from when I leave 8:30 to when I see the babies for the doctor. Even if I could, I would not be able to transport in this heat. So, if you see me walking around with DD boobs, that is why. Kind of cool that I can change/choose my chest size. Ok, no more complaining for now, there may be some relaxation this weekend before the grueling job begins on Monday.

Bedtime Notes

F was home on Mon am before leaving for CA and he did something we used to do back when we were young and had time. He left us each a note (it used to be just for me or me leaving notes for him) by our pillows. M's eyes teared up when she read hers and she was embarrassed like when I catch her crying while she reads or watches a movie. J made a magnatile structure to keep his note in and wants me to save it "for the rest of my kid life." I have A asleep on me and other monkeys downstairs with a sitter. But it is time to let her go home (she is the third person I have to pay today!) and to face the loud crying evening ahead. J just asked me if the man who killed John Lemon (a leitmotif) had cool clothes and if he is going to "apology" to Yoko when he gets out of jail. M told her sitter that her birthday (11/11 Veteran's Day) is veterinarian's day. Off to mother more.

Baking Banana Bread

How is that for alliteration? Too bad it is Y week in school. M thinks she may be the person of the week this week. Exciting! I am in the process of making 24 mini banana muffins, a banana pear chocolate chip loaf and one medium banana muffin. What else can I do with a lot of over-ripened fruit? MoJo went off to school with a neighbor/sitter, a trial one is coming over soon to stay with bebés while I try to get work done for my summer jobs. My plan is then to go for a walk (possibly in a croissant direction) and be back here by 2:45 for the arrival of sitter number 3 (my goodness!) who will stay with AleVit while I go to PT and then to pick up MoJo. Depending on the level of fussiness I may have her stay through MoJo bedtime. Off to be productive!

Babysitters With Wine

T and M are the best babysitters a gal could ask for. I met T on the East side and left her with the twin train to walk back up to Harlem while I went to a meeting. Back in the hood she was met by M who came bearing chocolate and wine for dinner. The duo wrangled the crying monkeys until F came home, oops, alone. He went back out to pick up MoJo uptown, where they were frolicking with abuela. T & M braved the whole evening with us and the 4 cuckoo heads (well, the big ones went down early) and we had a scrumptious dinner prepared by F, complete with dessert and libations provided by the volunteer babysitters! It does not get much better than that. Good friends, good food, and crying babies. Thank you!

Today Was

the day that I realized that I can do it on my own (with help). Of course this is due in part to the "light at the end of the tunnel" as F will be back in 40 hours. Morning yoga was welcome after a tumultuous am with J. He really misses his father and is behaving like shit. Only two other mothers showed up to yoga and my babies were quite calm and even hung out awake so that I did some yoga. MoJo spent am with a sitter at the museum and lunch and J continued to act up with her. M commented on (S, the sitter): First I thought I liked her but then I realized that she is bossy like you so I do not like her. Too many bosses. When I told her that she was an adult and had to listen to her M said: Only you and papi can be bossy to me. Oh well. The afternoon was full of tv and music and for bed/bath time we had J's favorite BT teacher come over to help. Now they are all 4 down (not sure how last babies will last). I could and should work on the perennial catalog but I will not. I will bravely attempt bedtime at 10:41 and hope that AleVit agrees that it is time to sleeeep.

Babysitter Babysitter, Can You Hear Me?

I feel like I am some sort of CIA level childcare researcher/problem solver. No matter HOW much money we spend, people we know, favors we ask... childcare is never quite resolved. After securing my college age brother's help many months ago for next week's highly irritating transition week (i.e. your kid goes to school for 5 seconds a day so he can adapt/adjust while you lose your shit trying to figure out what he does the other 95% of the work day), he alas, has a show to play in faraway college. So, I thought I had it under control. Many MANY emails/phone calls, no's, maybe's and no answer's later I have not yet fully resolved the issue. Thankfully I have some generous unemployed friends and I am now unabashedly hitting them up for huge favors. My little J "hates" my school and is "not going" so I also need someone with a mushy spot for a fragile BT lover being thwarted into nursery school against his will (much like his graduation). Thank you A for saving me Friday, it warms my heart that J will be with you, someone he loves and who loves him in his tough week ahead.