They/Superhero City

My days are officially filled with packing up a house and all the worries that come with buying your first home.  

After all is said and done, and whatever may happen when all of this is all behind us, I am going to pour my Mister and I the stiffest drink possible.  I'm thinking a Gin, party of two, will be in order.

(Some shots of us at our friend's boy's birthday party from this weekend.  It was superhero themed.  And awesome.)

Pictures taken from this photographer, here.

 Scaring the Mister into thinking I want another one of these.

NOT!

Clara and her superhero, girl-power friend.

Taunting Clara, telling her we are taking the baby home.

She totally didn't buy it.

Thanks for once again outdoing yourself and throwing a fabulous bash, Breiers!

Jem - They by mejhed

Happy Humpday!

assault and harassment

So....my landlord has been harassing me and my family since Monday night.  

Want to know why?

On Monday our tub had completely stopped draining.  

(I blame my sister, Micheala, aka Chewbacca.)

I had called him the night before (Sunday) and let him know about the tub.  He said he would get a plumber.  That was the last  I heard from him.

On Monday night, at 5 pm, he shows up with a random neighbor.  I let them in, the neighbor introduced himself.  Landlord said nothing.

An hour and a half and two trips in and out of my house later, landlord still hasn't said anything to me.  I was having a dinner that night because my family was visiting, so while he was walking out the door again I said

"Hey (landlords name), can you give me a time on when this will be done?"

His response, "It will get done when it gets done."

My response, "Hey, I'm just trying to plan my night."

He walks out.  (It was more of a jerky saunter)

About half an hour later, I am in the kitchen.  He walks in and corners me.  He began berating and yelling at me, telling me how I have a bad attitude and I need to keep it in check.  He told me that he would rather be having dinner then fixing our tub.  He said I was rude for asking for a time on when it would be finished and that fixing the tub was in fact my responsibility.    

The Mister heard him yelling at me, came in the kitchen, saw what was going on and told him he needed to leave our house right now.   He started screaming about how this is his property and how he didn't have to leave.  So we threatened to call the cops and he bolted for the door.

Now, a few days later, he has sent us threatening letters with false accusations in them.  He has tried and change the lease to say we owe more money and he spends his days sending me harassing text messages.

I literally feel unsafe in my home.

This is my documentation of how our crazy landlord had verbally assaulted me and is continually harassing me.

If I go missing, look no further than the man upstairs.

(Literally, he lives upstairs.)

Happy Freaking Friday!

     

Teen

Last night, while the girls and I were driving, Rhiannon commented on how fast this year has went by.  

I told her to hang on.  

Once you start feeling the years go by faster, they never slow down!

Well..... 

Today my sweet little girl has officially turned 13.

I have a teenager.

What. The. Hell.  

Where did all of the years go? 

How is this even possible?

(Please make it slow down!)

3 Months Old

6 Months Old 

One Year

I don't know about you, but I remember being 13. 


(It was painful.)

(Probably not as painful as trying to make this holiday card, though!)

December, 2005

2003, dancing at Grandma's

2002, Halloween 

3 1/2, Being goofy on the worlds scariest staircase.

Rhiannon, I hate to tell you this, but the next eight years are going to be the most confusing times of your life.

Lucky for you, your mom knows all the answers.

2010

Seriously, I may not be the typical "Mom knows best," but I have screwed up enough in this life for the both of us.

From friends to jobs to school to feelings...if you are confused by any of it.....ask me.

I may not always know what the right thing for you to do is, but I can ALWAYS tell you if you are doing the wrong thing.
(Because I always did the wrong thing!) 

Here are a few suggestions to get you on your way during the teenage years.

1.  Never-ever lose your sass.

(But always know when it is time to put it on a shelf.)

Having sass is good.  But never use it to hurt someone. 

Stay humble and stay sweet, but never lose your sass.
As long as you have that you can never be treated like a doormat.  

Age 5

2.  Don't be afraid to feel things.

For some reason, most people think becoming a teenager means you should turn into a stone pillar.  Life is to short and goes by to fast for you not to feel the emotions in every situation.

It is okay to feel sad about things.  It is okay to be overly ecstatic.  It is okay to fall head over heals in love.  It's okay to feel anger.  Don't try to suppress your feelings, from crying to laughing to everything in between!

  Remember, you will never get today back.  You will never get those feelings back.

Emotions are good.  They are meant to be felt.  

It means you are alive!

Christmas at Grandma's, 2006.

3.  Make new friends.

Every single encounter you have will shape your life, but none will shape you more then the experiences and memories you will have with your friends. 

And this is very important to remember - you will have some friends for two weeks, some for two years and a select few for two+ decades.  

Every single person you meet is meant to be in your life for a reason, but not every single person you meet is supposed to be in your life forever.  

The quicker you learn this, the happier you will be.

Rhiannon and her best friend, first day of 3d grade.

4.  Have good, clean, wholesome fun.

You have your whole life ahead of you to act like an adult.  

Don't try and act like one in your teen years.  

Once you lose your innocence, you can never ever get it back.  And that is a big deal.  

Treasure it.

After the color run, Age 12

5.  Give plenty of time for yourself.

One of the hardest parts of being a teen is how spread thin you will become.  

It is important for you to make time for school, extracurricular, friends, family etc.  

However, the most important person you need to make time for, is you.  

If you don't have a clear head you will be of no use to anyone.  

You are the most important person in your life.  

This is not selfish, it is essential!  

Try and give yourself some extra time each day!
(Even if it is just for ten minutes!)

The day before 7th grade

6.  When in doubt, always dress it up.

(It's always better to look well put together then to look like a slob.)

Always.

December, 2012

7.  Always dance to the beat of your own drum.

Dancing makes you happy. Dancing keeps you young.
Why would you ever want to stop either of those things?

Wherever you go and whatever you do in life, never stop dancing to your own rhythm and beat!  

It is what makes you, you!

Summer of 2010

8.  Never forget your #1 fan.  

(I'll give you a hint, it's me!)

• There will never be anyone in your life who will be rooting for you more then me.  
• No one will hold their breath as they watch you try new things.
• No one will cringe as hard as they watch you fail.
• No one will cry as much when they see you hurt.
• No one will be more proud as they watch you succeed and see all of your wildest dreams come true.

Even when you hate me.

Even when I want to shake you.

I will always be there for you.

I will always be proud of you.

I will always love you.

2011

Happy Birthday, Rhiannon!  
Welcome to your teenage years!

May 28, 2013

Hyenas

This weekend the girls and I made another short and sweet trip to Long Hared Grandma's house for my little sister's bridal shower.  It was fantastic to see everyone and I do believe she made out like a bandit at that shower!

Clara and Rhiannon were so happy to see their aunts and cousins.  The entire weekend was go go go go, play play play play!  Clara even slept most of the way home.  However, when she woke up she told me about a dream she had where the two of us went into the forest to visit the hyenas.

(Hyena's are Clara's new favorite animals.  Probably not the animal you want your 3 yr old to root for in the Lion King, but.....)  

Then for the rest of the trip (a little over two hours) Clara screamed and fussed about how we 

"HAD to go to the FOREST to see all her friend HYENAS!"

I promised her, if she would please please for the love of god stop screaming, we would ride our bikes to see the hyena's in the morning. 

It worked. 

Clara enjoyed the rest of the car ride and Rhiannon and I enjoyed the non screaming three year old. 

Without fail, about 6:45 this morning, Clara crawled into my bed and asked if the Hyena's were awake yet?  

So even though my house is a complete disaster area, I have laundry coming out the wazoo and I have house guests coming tomorrow morning, we suited up and rode across town to see ourselves some Hyena's!

Taking a "rest"

I made her wait ten minutes so Mama could get some coffee from the field house before we walked to the Hyena enclosure.  As you can see from above, it was a bit tortuous for her.

Luckily, the zoo offers Hyena carousel rides, too!

Still, ain't nothing like the real thing and once the carousel stopped she was ready to go!

When we finally got to the Hyena enclosure, they proved to hold true to their mannerisms by not wanting to have anything to do with us human folk.

Thankfully, this very shy but also very curious guy, briefly came out of his cave to say hello a few times.

It seemed to appease the wee one, and that is good enough for me!

Happy Monday!

Homemade Slides

Do you know what the hardest part of buying a house has been?

WAITING FOR THE SELLER'S REPLY!

The Mister and I are both feeling the same way.  

It's like when you were in middle school waiting for an answer on if your latest crush wants to "go out".  

I can't remember when I've had this many butterflies floating around in my stomach!

In other news.....Check out this awesome picture Rhiannon took while watching Clara for one of the Mister and I's date nights awhile back.

Yeah, that would definitely not happen if we were home.

(This home made slide goes right to the giant old metal vents we have coming out of our wall.)

But, in their defense, they were getting along!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Drunken Lullaby

Yesterday was the Mister's birthday.
I didn't forget it was his birthday.

I know the day he was born.  
It happens to be the same day we officially started dating. 
Those are both pretty big days in the life of me.

 In my defense, I am terrible with keeping up days during the month.......

so........
Last week I had scheduled for us to look at (5!) different properties last night.

 Like a total jerk of a wife.

However....while looking we found a house that the owners have turned the basement into an Irish style pub.  And it looks exactly like the Irish  pub I was working in when the Mister and I met.

We actually decided to start dating at that pub.....on his birthday.....five years prior to the day.....

To say we freaked out a little bit is an understatement.  
Our Realtor kept using hand gestures to me to tone it down a notch....

(oops!  Sorry Marie!)

The guy who owns the house did the entire renovation himself.  He was very nice and he kind of reminded me of my dad, in the sense that he know what the hell he was doing and talking about when it came to  the whole house and every wire in it.  Besides the basement being really cool (half pub and half kids room - meaning we could drink in our bar alone because none of our friends will be there - unless we can convince you to move out there.....) the rest of the house was completely redone and turnkey as well.

It was definitely NOT in the style we would ever chose, (it was pretty terrible, actually) but bad design choices are things I enjoy fixing.

There are two definite pluses for us where this house is concerned:

It's on 2 acres
It backs to the forest preserve

HOWEVER

I am going to be completely honest.  

The forest preserves kind of freak me out.  

I feel completely safe living in the city of Chicago.  

I know what neighborhoods to stick to.  
I know how to use public transportation.  
I know how to avoid dangerous situations and how to keep people from lurking up on me.  

These are all skills I can teach my girls to use as well.  

I can teach them to protect themselves against potential predators  (of the human variety) whilst living in urban areas.  

Do you know what I can't do?  

Teach them to protect themselves from:
-snakes 
-bears 
-cougars 
-wild raging deer 
-flesh eating birds
and potential human predators hanging out in the forest preserves.  

And that scares the bejesus out of me.  

(Not sure if you've caught on but I'm not really the "outdoorsy" type of gal.)

{Also, if we DO decide to buy this house and we are friends and you come to visit and you have a small dog, don't ever bring it over.  There is an endangered red hawk that decided to nest in one of the tree's and it likes to eat small dogs as a snack.  I'm not making this part up either.  The owner told me some pretty terrible and sad stories.} 

I wonder if it eats chickens as snacks too?

{I've failed (musically) as a parent when it comes to my oldest.  She listens to really bad country and thinks Nickelback is the best artist around. }

{Clara thinks Flogging Molly is the best "Pirate Music" ever.  She asked for it today and has been running around, dancing and crashing into walls like a drunk small person all day.  It makes me happy so I am giving it to you, too.}



Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullaby by hphil_

Happy Humpday!

Coddling? / Thanks For The Memory

Well today was stab number two at preschooling Clara.  It's only ten am and we are back at home....

This is how the morning went...

• We got to the school.  Clara seemed fine. 

          (They hadn't opened the door yet.)

• In the three minutes it took for them to open the door Clara was starting to get her crazy eyes and making whimpering noises.  (She does this when she gets scared and before major meltdowns start.)  
• They unlocked the door.  
• Clara starts sobbing while telling me she wants to go home, to bed, she's hungry, etc.  Basically wanting to do anything EXCEPT go to school.  
• I get Clara to stop crying and stand by the wall while I talk to the teacher.
• Clara stood right where I told her to, making horrible deep chest, inward sobbing sounds. 

This was the first time I had a chance to talk to the teacher since last week's horrible terrible first school experience.  After pleasantries I asked the teacher exactly what she did to try and help Clara not be as frightened.  

"Well I asked her about her dog and I tried to engage her in the conversation every now and then."

I asked if anything was done to actually tried to make her comforted, as in any type of warm gesture at all. 

"No, we don't do that here."

At this point I was almost in tears and this is why.  I understand that you shouldn't cuddle with the kids at a preschool.  It's a school and not a daycare.  But why wouldn't you try and do ANYTHING more then "ask her about her dog," and "try and engage her in the conversation now and then."  Not only did the answers feel, but the way she said it felt very cold to me.  (And I'm an adult!)

 I told her thank you for her time, took Clara to the front desk, cancelled her registration and got our money back.

(Seriously.  I have to apologize to the nice lady at the registration desk who kept telling the crazy lady who was desperately trying to hold back tears with a sobbing toddler that it was okay.  I'm so sorry nice lady.  Thank you for not making me feel worse.)

After we left I called the Mister to tell him how the morning went.  I was surprised to find the way  I feel and the way he feels about this situation are completely different.  He thinks I am coddling her and that I just need to leave her there to let her figure it out on her own.

I get it.  I totally do.  We searched and searched for preschools that wouldn't cost us $20k + a year.  We broke our backs trying to get the kid potty trained in time for registration.  We found (what looked to be) the perfect preschool, right by our house, with an unbeatable price.

But this does not feel right.  

She should not wake up in the morning and tearfully ask if I am going to make her go to school.  That is not what I want her first memory of school to be of.  It should be happy.  It should be carefree.

Maybe I am having so much trouble because Rhiannon literally high fived me on her first day of school while skipping to the bus.  I never had to deal with this separation anxiety before.  

Maybe I DO coddle Clara.  

I know I am extra cautious of her.  I think that is pretty normal of parents who had to deal with the mortality of their child  from birth.

Fact of the matter is this, I have been parenting for 13 years now and I have NO CLUE what I'm doing.  I thought this whole second kid thing would be a breeze.  I'm quickly learning that my first kid is EXACTLY like me, therefore was pretty easy to parent.

Clara is not.

She is shy.  She doesn't want attention from anyone but Momma, Daddy and Rhiannon.  She would rather play with her dolls and make up different worlds in her head then have a real conversation with another kid.

She is my little introvert dreamer.

Even though I know I have no clue what I am doing I do believe I am right to follow my gut feeling in pulling her out.  I wholeheartedly think that her memories of her first school experience should be happy ones.

Thanks, Mom for letting me know both Clara and My feelings are completely normal and reminding me I should never doubt my gut instinct.  I love you.  You're the best.

Happy Hump Day, Folks.