First Blog Post in a LONG Time

Oh my goodness. It's been forever since I last posted here. Oh well, I'm just going to pick up where we are. A quick re-cap:

• Max was born July 29th
• Karol started at Nazareth Nursery
• I worked on a campaign for Congress
• We went home for Thanksgiving, stayed in NYC for the rest of the holidays
• Pat turned 2 AND started at Nazareth Nursery
• I'm consulting a variety of intriguing clients, from home with Max

The world continues to turn. Matt's office, which was in midtown Manhattan, got moved to Jersey City. The commute is longer, and now we live in Manhattan (and pay Manhattan taxes/rent) for no apparent reason. Life is hilarious.

The kids' school is in Chelsea, so we'd like to move there, but to find someplace we can all fit into is next to impossible, unless we want to pay upwards of $5k/mo. Which just seems silly. Moving to Jersey City is an option, maybe. We could get more space for less money, but getting the kids to school would be a weird, twice a day commute that wouldn't make sense unless I was coming into Manhattan for work anyway. Of course, anything could happen in the next 18 months before our lease is up, so I'm in no rush to change things.

I don't really have much time to blog, obviously, between Max, a growing client list and the haul to pick up the kids from school every day - but I'm getting better at it.

We've all been sick for the past month or so (and really since Thanksgiving, off and on), and I've devised a sort of cleaning/chore schedule to go along with my new SAHM image - I've yet to actually complete my daily chores in a day, but I'm getting better.

That's the update for now. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of blogging again. Maybe if I can pull it off here, I can work on my other projects, JillianShaw.com and GOPCampaigner.com (still building that one). Say a prayer for me!

Montessori Mommy?

I'm back to reading Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three and back on a Montessori kick again.  I think I wrote in an earlier post that we found exactly the right school for our kids - it's a Catholic Montessori preschool - and last month we were finally able to go there for observation.

I'm even more convinced that this is where I want Karol to be next year, but alas, there's no space available.  Well, Sister Lucy, the lady that runs the place, said they may have an opening depending on if one family moves...so we're keeping our fingers crossed, but won't be surprised if it doesn't happen until the 2011-12 school year.

So what do we do until then?  I really don't see the point in sticking her in a different preschool for a year and then switching.  That just seems like it would cause undue stress for all of us.  So I'm seriously considering teaching her (as best I can) from home, in the Montessori Method.

Of course, it doesn't seem fair at all to put that kind of time and effort into Karol and not Patrick, who's nipping at Karol's heels right now, developmentally speaking.  But he's in a totally different sensitive period, so the work he should be doing is totally different from what Karol is on.

Oh, and let's not forget little Max (that's Fetus Plomin's new name, now that we know he's a boy for sure)!  I have the chance to start from the very beginning with him.  But just taking care of the basic needs of an infant is enough work for one mom.  I'm already depriving the poor little guy of much needed sleep (for mommy) most nights in order to research Montessori homeschooling, apartments in NYC and preschool options.  Do I really think I'm going to be able to teach all my kids at the same time all by myself?

Well, yes.  I guess I do.  My plan?  Be prepared well in advance.  I'm going to have to tackle this 'stay at home mom' thing (makes me cringe to type that) with a strategic campaign plan.  That's why I'm so glad I discovered this awesome blog, Wanting What You Have.  It's written by a professional 'housewife' (cringe) who's come up with what she calls a Home Management Guide.  It is the greatest idea ever.  Not that its a new one.  Basically, it's a business plan for the home.  I've already started building mine.  I've got two whole sections done, and I'm totally stoked about it.

I'm doing mine a little differently, though, since, well, every household is a little different, and in our case, a lot different.  I'm planning for all my Montessori tools and research to be a huge section of this binder.  I think I'm going to come up with a different name for mine though.  Something like, 'Jillian's World Domination Strategic Campaign Plan.'  So far I've got all my work schedules done, pretty similar to how Heather does it, and a cleaning section.  I'm going to add a food section, but I still don't really know enough about cooking yet to put it together, and Matt's in charge of the groceries right now, so I'm at a loss for a price book (I'm just going to take over his).  The Montessori section I'm going to start building tonight right after I write this post.  As for the World Domination-specific sections, that's classified, sorry.

Back Home Again In Indiana Without the Babies

Well I’m sitting at the airport, trying not to get sucked in by all the Maryland Crab paraphernalia, missing my kids already. They napped all the way to the airport, and no matter how you explain it, it’s hard to tell if they really understand. Just a couple of hours before we left I was seriously toying with the idea of taking Patrick with me. He’s still young enough to be a lap child, after all. But that would just make things more difficult than they need to be, and the last thing he needs is to have his routine disrupted.

Getting from the car to the gate literally took about 5 minutes since I checked in online, don’t have any bags to check and there was no line in security. Seriously, zero people in line. The TSA guy had to wait for me to get my ID out because I just walked right up to him. So, no kids, no typical airport hassles…I anticipate having a lot of free time.

Usually that free time would be eaten up with talking to Matt until he got home and I took off, then talking to him again from landing to destination number one. But like an idiot, I left my phone charger on the table and my phone battery is barely half full, so it’s off until it’s time to tell everyone I landed safely. That’s a very important call.

I brought Atlas Shrugged, which I’ve been wanting to read for about ten years now (it’s an intimidatingly thick book – and yes I’m aware I just made up that adverb). And I thought I could get some serious blogging done – yay! Since I can’t get online though, I’m avoiding doing any ‘professional’ blogging for now. I thought I’d write an update to the family blog instead. Because that’s what’s on my mind right now.

So here’s an update on my lovely babies.

Let’s start with Karol. She’s pretty much full-grown now. She has a shoe addiction that’s starting to rub off on Patrick. She’s obsessed with organization, which I hope will rub off on Patrick. I stopped trying to gauge where her verbal skills are, because they are so off the charts it’s impossible. I’ve known five year olds with less grammar and diction. The really great thing is to hear her correct herself, as in, “Mommy, I bringed my…I brought my banana!” I mean seriously? Irregular verbs? Like I said, I’m pretty sure the ‘books’ declare your kid as A-OK by the time they’re doing that. So we’ve moved on to watching Patrick.

Patrick, I must admit, I was worried about in the very beginning. Maybe because all the books say that communication and language skills are harder for boys to build in babyhood because of the way their brains form differently from girls. Maybe it’s because he didn’t coo and gurgle and make as many baby sounds in the first few months. And unfortunately being the second kid, I always fear we’re not talking to him enough, reading to him enough, and that sort of thing.

But recently Matt and I have been looking back and comparing his skills to where Karol’s were at this age (I know, I know, exactly what you’re NOT supposed to do!). Apparently my kids are genetically programmed to be fascinated with dogs starting around age 1 because that’s what Karol did, and that’s precisely what Patrick is doing. He is getting interested in books, but only really wants to sit still for books about dogs. He really gets into them, and then makes us read the same book over and over and over! Right now he’s stuck on Harry the Dirty Dog, Where’s Spot, and I’ll Teach My Dog A Lot of Words. I plan to take the kids to the library soon to expand the selection.

Patrick is picking up ‘baby signs’ left and right, as well. He’s been able to do ‘eat,’ ‘milk,’ ‘all done,’ and ‘more’ for quite a while, but recently he’s picked up ‘bath,’ ‘book,’ and ‘socks’ – and of course ‘dog!’ We haven’t put a lot of energy into teaching them to him, but in my experience with both Karol and Patrick, it you wait until they show an interest in those things, they learn very fast. We simply use the signs when appropriate, and then try to reinforce with the videos.

Patrick’s motor skills, too, are growing by leaps and bounds. I don’t take for granted that there’s anything he can’t do anymore. He can climb the furniture, open doors, ‘swim’ in the bathtub, and kick a ball. All pretty astounding at the tender age of 13 months, if I do say so myself.

Then there’s baby X. We still don’t know if he’s a boy or a girl, but I’m calling him a boy for now, that’s just my guess. He’s pretty laid back right now, and doesn’t say much. According to BabyCenter.com he’s about the size of an avocado.

Well, at the beginning of this post I was at the airport in Baltimore. Now I’m in Indiana. So that’s it for now.

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.