I might be an unfit parent

Tonight Jill let me live the fantasy of being a single dad while Jill worked late or went to the spa or did homework. For whatever completely justified reason (not that she needed to justify it) she let me take care of the kids on my own.
First I picked them up from daycare and called an old family friend of my parents that I got to know as I grew up. She didn't even know about Kyle. She was home and willing so I took both of them over to meet her. We had a wonderful conversation while Kat explored their house. (silly me, their house isn't child friendly. lots to break)
We left at six when Kat let me know she was REALLY hungry.
when we got home, I threw her in her high chair and fed her leftovers. She ate like a child starved. Squawker was quiet until I had made myself a sandwich. I got in one bite when he started screaming that he was hungry, too.
As I took care of the kids and their needs as the evening went on I discovered that taking care of them is really about reducing the crying, yelling, and screaming to a manageable level.
When I tried to get Kat ready for bed, I put Kyle in his recliner and went to change Kat into pjs. Kyle managed to lean forward and fall out of his recliner, doing a beautiful faceplant before I could catch him. As he was a little distraught, I left Kat to her amusement while I held and soothed Kyle. Then I took him upstairs to put him in his swing. When leaning over to put him in, he arched back and managed to smack his head on the back of the swing. While he screamed at me for my inept skills I picked him back up, and in doing so I bonked his head on the ceiling. Now he was cursing my very existence as well as cursing his mother for leaving him with this dolt. I held him a talked to him then put him back in the swing and turned on the noise machine to soothe him some more. Within a minute he was asleep.
Sooo... I did good?
Maybe not. When I turned around I discovered Kat had climbed the stairs to see all of the excitement.
I find that single parenting is about keeping my blood pressure down.

Google Search

My friend Loren Twittered that she is the number seven search result for people googling "mexican donkey show"
Here's to you Loren!
Everyone should have something they are proud of and well known for.
I would love to hear someone turn this into one of those beer commercial songs,
"Real Women of Genius"
Here's to you, Ms, mexican donkey show.
While other people hide their affliction, you post it on your blog!
so go on over to w.sweetenedtaters.blogspot.com and see what the fuss is about.
While at times she may be tacky, she is never crude.

Kat's first egg hunt

Kat got to experience the thrill of looking for bunny poo today. The pictures don't do it justice, but the yard was covered with bright and sparkley Easter Eggs.
Al was on fire, running flat out to collect ALL of the eggs. Hey, I don't blame him, that is what being four is all about. Life and everything in it is all about AL!
Kat figured it out after Miranda led her by the hand to a couple of eggs and told her to pick them up. Okay, the first three or four Miranda handed to her. Then it was follow Al to try and pick up eggs that he missed.
We laughed quite a bit as Kat looked so confused as to what nonsense this was. Really, someone or something scattered lots of little treasures through the yard and she had to go and run to pick them up? Wouldn't it have made more sense for her to look cute and have people hand her treats.

Easter Sunday with Kyle

People keep telling me I need more pictures with Kyle in them. So here is my little monkey in his Easter finest. He got along famously with his G'ma Sandy. He also had a little nap, too short, that he had trouble waking up from.
When we arrived, he was shy and covered most of his face with his blanket.
The day went very well as Kyle watched his sister learn about the joys of Easter Egg Hunting with her cousins.
Kat did fine, although she had to figure it out at first. Her cousin, Al, took off after the eggs like a boy possessed.
More pictures of that later

Tubes & Ads

Friday morning at 4am I felt Jill's knuckle digging into my back.
"get up" she hissed as she shut off the alarm clock.
Ugh. If I were going turkey hunting or fishing, I wouldn't have really been asleep.
This time, however, I was getting up so I could take Kat to Iowa City to have tubes put in and adnoids taken out. The instructions were to be at the Ambulatory Surgical Center at 0545 to begin checking in.
Since there was surprisingly little traffic, we got to the ASC at 0530. The sign on the door said they opened at 6am. Meanwhile, Kat sat in her carseat and yowled. I think she was hungry and thirsty.
When they opened the doors and let me register, we took a seat in their waiting room. Just then, Mom walked in the door. You should have seen Kat's eyes light up! She was out of my arms in a flash! The relationship between my mother and my daughter is incredibly close. If they don't see each other once a week I think they both become depressed and lethargic.
Anyway, after Mom showed up, they lead us back to an exam room and we gowned Kat. Then she got to play in the toyroom until the gas passer came to meet her and take her to surgery. He was really cool about it. He came in the first time to meet her. Then he came back with a big warm blanket and wrapped it around her and picked her up.
You could see in her eyes that Kat was scared to death, but she made not a sound.
then she was gone into a doorway that we could not follow.
We went to the recovery room to wait for the Dr. to come and tell us that surgery had gone well, then for the delivery of my precious little girl.
I sat in the easy chair after the Dr. came in to tell us that the ears were REALLY full of fluid and that her ads were swollen and irritated.
When the nurse came in with her, I was ready to receive her. The nurse set her in my arms and told us how good Kat had been. She didn't cry when she woke up, we were told that 85% of kids cry.
Kat looked around the room and saw my mom and whimpered. I wasn't going to let her go, though.
Kat fell asleep in my arms, her neck stretched around so she could see Mom.
When she woke up, she struggled and fussed but didn't want to drink.
Mom stood up and told me that she might be able to get Kat to drink. So she sat down and held Kat. For the next 4 hours. Kat was so happy to be in G'ma's arms. G'ma read to her and sang to her and gently got her to drink the 4 ounces of water she needed so that we could be discharged. Kat even ate raspberry jello, which made the nurses very happy.
Saturday, we couldn't keep her "quiet and calm" like the discharge instructions said. Kat has been running around the house and wanting to play with everything. She did take a 4 hour nap in the afternoon.

The boy

[to the tune of Seger's Night Moves]
Woke up last night to the sound of thunder.
What the hell is that, I had to wonder.
Is there a big freight train coming near?
What is that sound, that I hear?

Holey smokes! I woke up at 0430 this morning to the sound of squawker snoring.
Loud and steady, like the throbbing diesels of a train.

Tuesday rambling

Me again. I know it has been a while since I last spent a few minutes updating this page. Truth is, I have been feeling overwhelmed for a few weeks. I applied for a position at work and while the interviews have gone well, it seems that politics will make it unlikely that anything will come of it. I also am coming up on a time where both of my major projects are requiring quite a bit of attention. One project isn’t going well and I am going to have to gather all of the players together and get back on track and make sure that everyone understands what needs to be done and the urgency that they need to feel for reaching the goals. The other project needs to have training sessions scheduled. One session needs to be 3 weeks out, the other 3-5 sessions need to be 4 weeks out. Then the process that I have been the PM for will be implemented beginning the Wednesday after Memorial day. Unfortunately, I still need to complete the curriculum for the training and we need the tools completed that everyone will be working with.
Kat has been sick a lot lately. She is on her third ear infection this year. This past week she has been miserable and not sleeping at night and not eating much at all. Tonight it looks as tho she has another two teeth trying to cut in. With all of the ear infections, we made an appointment with an ENT in IC and Kat will have her adnoids removed and tubes put in this upcoming Friday.
Kyle is wonderful. He is eating 3-5 oz (well, drinking really) at a time. At 11weeks old he is nearly 15 pounds. Considering he left the hospital at roughly 8#1oz, he is really packing it on. I can hear him right now, snoring away. I am hoping that I will get a good nights sleep tonight. I haven’t had one for about a week and I am getting really tired.
Jill and I have been having discussions for about six months now about adding on to the house. When we bought the house it was plenty big enough for the two of us. And really, it is plenty big enough for the four of us. If we can swing it, we would like to have at least two more bedrooms added on. We have been meeting with contractors and drawing up floor plans for months. To be honest, I have been pretty reluctant about the whole thing. Jill has been VERY persistent in her ideas. She acknowledges that it may not come to be, but she is determined to make a fact-based decision. Until a contractor gives her a valid quote, she is not going to discard the possibility of adding on to the house.
I wonder how people do it. I like to think that I know what I am doing and that I have a good head on my shoulders. I even like to think that I am competent. But over the last couple of weeks, I have not felt very self confident. Like I haven’t been on top of my game. I think I hide it well and cover myself in front of others. I wonder how long I can keep it up, sometimes. As I get more tired, I don’t think I am doing as well as I need to be.
On the plus side, I am down 6 pounds in 2 weeks of WW. I plan on getting to lifetime again, 210#. Only 41 pounds to go.