Raffle Tickets!!!

Our wonderful school is very affordable (well, compared to other private preschools, that is) partly because they rely heavily on fundraising efforts like selling candy and chocolate bars to shore up costs. But that means now that we have TWO kids in school, we need to sell twice as much of everything!

On Friday Sister Lucy handed me an envelope full of raffle tickets - 20 packets' worth (10 per child). So now, unless I want to drop $200+ myself, I've got to sell them! Unfortunately, we don't have the benefit of living close by to the people children normally hit up for fundraising projects. On top of that, Matt's office has a policy against bringing in fundraisers! You'd think BANKERS could handle a bar of chocolate or a couple raffle tickets, right?

Anyway, I have to come up with an alternative way to unload these raffle tickets, so here's my plan. If there's anyone magnanimous enough to buy a few raffle tickets, PLEASE message/email me let me know how many you want. You can either mail me a check or send me a paypal payment and I'll put all your info on the tickets.

So here's how it works: The tickets are $1 for 1, $5 for 6, and they are pre-stapled into packets of 12 (in hopes that buyers will just buy $10 worth, I guess). I have 20 packets, so I have 240 tickets available.

The prizes:

• 1st prize - $500!!!
• 2nd prize - $200
• 3rd prize - $100 gift certificate to Toys R Us

You don't need a ticket stub or anything (as you can see in the pic, there's no number or anything on it), the school will call you, or I will.

This is my final plea and then I'll end this post, I swear. Please please please buy some of these tickets!!!

P.S. We STILL have some chocolate that we weren't able to get rid of - I'll be shipping it to my parents who'll be selling it at the Notre Dame Book Shelf in Anderson, IN - go visit them and buy some chocolate!

A New World Order

This was week 1 of Daddy Duty. Since Matt's completely done with school, we've set the childcare tech free to pursue bigger and better things, and now Matt is stay-at-home-dad...I know what you're thinking - I'm scared, too!

No, just kidding. The kids survived and Matt's actually got them on a pretty tight schedule. I've been trying to help out as much as I can before work and at lunchtime, other than that, he's on his own. No surprise here, Karol is eating it up having Daddy around 24/7. She is such a daddy's girl.

Last weekend we both GRADUATED!!! And now we have Master's degrees. It still hasn't sunken in yet. Matt's got his post-grad job, now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with mine, after Max arrives, of course.

Speaking of which, he's been a pain in the back recently, literally. I've always had a little acute lower back pain during pregnancy, but in the past couple of days its been debilitating. It started Friday, and luckily, being at work is actually easier on the muscles than being at home is (Patrick loves his mommy but he's heavy!).

So now it's back to work on Monday. Only 11 1/2 more weeks of lugging this kid around the hard way!

Stream of Consciousness Post about Montessori, The Kid's Development, And Moving

Saturday was a crazy day. We went everywhere. We were in and out of the car like crazy. All in anticipation of a rain storm that never happened. But we were able to pick up a lot of new tools and supplies for our Montessori-fying the apartment quest. Between a 'liquidation sale' on the edge of DC's bad side, Ikea and Home Depot, we were able to get some serious deals on some makeshift Montessori stuff.

The most important thing we purchased this weekend was by far the kid-sized table and chairs from Ikea. The kids are loving it so far. Saturday and Sunday were both full of test driving some of the new stuff. I'm starting to feel more confident that this idea is going to work.

And in order to facilitate the New World Order in our family routine, I've kicked off a mad Ebay/Craigslist sell-athon. With the move to NYC fast approaching, we've been meaning to downsize anyway, and the sooner it happens, the better, I think, because this belly isn't getting easier to deal with.

Speaking of which, I have got the worst heartburn in the history of the world. It is bad. It starts around 4 o'clock and doesn't let up. Doesn't matter what I eat. Doesn't matter how I sit or sleep. There's nothing I can do but deal with it and pop the Tums like candy.

Mission 1 with Karol is going to be teaching her some preliminary skills - basically teaching her the Montessori Method procedure for approaching (school) work. This is stuff like, how to get out and unroll your mat before you start an activity, putting an activity away before taking out a new one, carrying trays properly so things don't topple, etc, etc. She's very quickly picking up on practical life skills like pouring water or milk from a pitcher into a cup. She and Patrick are both drinking out of a regular cup at dinner time (teeny tiny ones). They are also obsessed with tasks like handwashing and teethbrushing because it means they get to stand at the sink and 'play' with water.

Patrick's big lessons are going to be things like stacking blocks, nesting blocks, and beginning to learn to count. He's in an amazing language boom right now, picking up words faster than I can keep track. Just this weekend he probably said five or six words we hadn't heard him say before, completely out of the blue.

He's starting to show an interest in the potty too, although it'll be a while before he is even tall enough to sit on the training potty. He totally gets that the word 'pee' is associated with it (that's one of his new words!) and likes to pretend-pee by sitting on the edge of the potty and bouncing.

Speaking of bouncing - Patrick has a hilarious morning ritual. Typically Karol will wake up and be talking to herself or calling for Mommy or Daddy in the morning when Matt and I walk in. Inevitably we hear a bright "Good morning, Mommy/Daddy!" from Karol and Patrick starts jumping/bouncing on his bed, with a smile from ear to ear like he's so thrilled to be starting a new day. It really is a great way to start the day and puts a smile on my face every time.

Meanwhile, on the apartment hunting front, Matt is scouring the market for the (probably impossible) perfect apartment. It's almost hilarious that he's trying to find an apartment that would be cheap even here in the most expensive neighborhood in Manhattan. I have a feeling we'll be living in a shoe box at this rate. Which brings me back to the need for downsizing our stuff.

So far I haven't had a whole lot of success, but this is just the end of Day 1, really. Still, when I posted like 8 things on Craigslist this morning, I was hoping to have at least 1 less thing by the end of the day. Although there have been a couple of bites, nothing solid yet.

And books! We've got more books than the closest branch of the public library, I think. I looked into donating them to the library today, and - it figures - they just had one of their bi-annual book sales and therefore aren't taking new donations until May 10 or so, so I have to stare at these boxes that much longer, I guess.

My next downsizing task - which I plan to attack as soon as I'm done with this post, since Matt's at school until late tonight - is the White Thing. Really it's a white Rubbermaid rolling 3-drawer filing tower that I've had since college. But we've always just called it the White Thing. And now it's in our bathroom. Pretty soon it will be empty. It's already for sale on Craigslist, although Matt thinks it'll probably have to be given away (guess I'm okay with that), but it's worth at least a shot at selling it. I'm checking my email like mad, just to see if there are any new takers on our unwanted stuff...ugh.

NYC, I Give You Fair Warning

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote. Matt and I are officially taking the plunge and moving to the Big Apple, the Empire State. Yep, good ole NYC. I'm not talking about living in New Jersey or the boroughs either. We are moving to FRICKIN MANHATTAN. Or at the very least, Queens.



So, we're relocating from our posh Arlington apartment right next door to the greatest job I've ever had, down the street from the best child care provider you could ever hope to have for your kids, in a neighborhood just minutes away from Costco, Pentagon City Mall, the national monuments, historic Georgetown and my beloved cupcakes, to a place where we are going to be starting all over, the taxes are highest in the country, in an undoubtably much smaller apartment. I'm getting used to the idea.



Matt's job is going to be great for him. He'll be an Associate in Institutional Asset Management for Deutsche Bank. He loves the group he's working with; they're the same one he worked with over the summer. It's what he's always wanted to do and he's gonna go far, I just know it.


As for me, it's up in the air. There's a very good chance I'll go back to political consulting (2010 is shaping up to be excellent for real Republicans), and maybe start a new thing consulting small business. The job market is rich in NYC for ad/pr, so I could always do a 9-5 again, too. After the baby is born, that is.



What? A baby? Another baby? Didn't you just have one?


Yeah, I did. And we're going to have number three sometime mid-August, probably at the Eli and Abby Manning Birthing Center in the Village (thank God we still have a Manning!).

My belly right now.

My belly 8 months after Patrick. *sigh* C'est la vie.

Once we made the decision that we are indeed moving, all the other decisions had to be made. Luckily, my search for the perfect pre-school (for Karol only, for now) was a quick one. There's actually a Catholic Montessori (exactly what I wanted) right smack in the West Village that is quite affordable. We haven't visited or anything yet, but I did make a call. Hopefully we can run up there sometime in March to check the place out and get Karol enrolled. I've heard how awful New York private school admissions can be, but I think this school is an exception.



That decision led to the next one: Where to live? West Village is pretty 'up and coming' we've heard, and the subway right by the pre-school goes straight to Matt's office. It's also a little more neighborhood-ish than living in East Midtown where Matt will be working. There will be (a little) more access to shops, restaurants, and other necessary places. We're hoping to find something close to Washington Park.

Another option is Astoria (part of Queens). It's more affordable, and if we stay close to the subway line it'd be just as easy a commute as West Village for Matt, but a little further down the line for Karol's school.

It's way too early to know anything though.



The giant elephant problem with moving to NYC is that it's NOT a kid-friendly place to live. And it's not a parent-friendly place to live. Everything I see online about living in New York talks about the 'awesome night-life' and great places for grown ups to go by themselves. We don't HAVE a night-life. I'm lucky to get a day-life with 2 kids 2 and under. Oh wait, make that 3 under 3! I swear if I read another article or post about how great it is to be single and responsibility-free in New York I will scream.



Oh well. Maybe Matt will get a huge bonus and we'll be able to afford a babysitter once in a while. Until then, nose to the grindstone.

Update

It's been too long since I've written anything, so I figured I'd give my thousands of readers (ha, ha) an update on the Arlington Plomins.

Matt's back in school full swing taking primarily night classes. He's also the program's Economics tutor now, so he spends some time during the day helping other students out with test prep and that sort of thing. He's probably going to get an internship as well, hopefully only working 20 or so hours a week. It's SO nice to have Matt back at home, but the night classes are rough for all of us.

Karol is talking up a storm, and is in the emotional crazy phase known as the 'terrible twos.' They are more 'terrific' than 'terrible' though so far. She is big into "loves" "hugs" and "kisses." Matt and I are both eating it up when she says "I want to hold you!" Typically what she means is 'I want to get out of my high chair,' but it's still so sweet. She always gets lots of 'loves' then. She's also taken to giving Patrick "loves," but he's none too thrilled about it. He tolerates it at best, and starts crying at worst. We generally try to redirect the 'loves' to Mommy or Daddy.

Patrick is cruisin' like he's in the Applewood parking lot (if you were from Anderson, you'd get that). And he's very good at it. He will be walking any day now, surely. He's also firmly reluctant to say 'Mama.' He's not big on talking yet, and no matter how hard I try, he just grins at me when I say "Mama! Say, Mama!" It's becoming his favorite game.

On the eating front - he is almost ready to go pro! He had a few Cheerios this morning, and last night he sucked down a good bit of pureed carrots. He's already demanding to do it himself, but he's actually not that bad with a spoon. He gets it to his mouth really well.

As for me, I'm mid-way through my second to last class before my final capstone project for my Masters. This week I attended Advertising Week DC, and it was really informative. I'm back at work now and trying to catch up on work, housecleaning, homework and parenting (sigh). I have been feeling kind of terrible lately because I have not read to Patrick nearly as much as I do with Karol. Patrick gets short-changed in almost every other aspect, too. I'd like to say it's because I don't have the time, but that's not true. The opportunity is there, I just haven't been putting forth the effort to do it (with Patrick, it's an effort - he's more concerned with eating the books right now). And since Patrick and Karol are so different, the books we read to Karol really don't 'work' on Pat.

Okay, enough complaining! So there's your update. Hopefully I'll have some new pics or videos next time.