The Stoller Fleet

Who has more strollers than a stroller store? I do!

I was once naive enough to think that one stroller was enough for a family. How could any mom possibly need more than one? Must be a spoiled mommy! I've come to rethink my stroller stinginess and decided there is nothing wrong with a mommy who owns a couple of strollers. Since then, I somehow acquired a fleet of six strollers. Yes, I said six. Half a dozen. And yet, I can only push one at a time. Funny how I can rationalize this. After all, there are occasions when one isn't right for the day but another is.

We have a full size for long trips and shopping and general daily use. It's a Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe. I love this stroller, it is by far my favorite!

Princess Gracie also has a jogger for the beach and long walks with the dog and going over the grass at the park. I don't actually jog. This one is comfy and fun. It's bright red too, just like Daddy's motorcycle.

And for vacation and quick trips, we have the Graco Ipo. It's a small umbrella style stroller, but not so small that it looks like a toy. We bought it for vacation since we drive halfway across the country and I really wanted to take my full size stroller, but really, it is full size and takes up a ton of trunk space. The Ipo is perfect for traveling!

Now with passenger #2 on the way, and passenger #1 still enjoying the luxury of riding in her baby limo's... I gave in to the idea of a double or a tandem stroller. I was resistant. I didn't want to own one of those monstrous things. Not at all. Nope. Not me.

I now own three.

I bought all of these two passenger strollers used. So, really, the savings are phenomenal, especailly the more I buy! Isn't that how it works? I gotta say, Craigslist rocks! I blame my whole stroller addiction problem on Craig. Whoever Craig is, it's all his fault that I now own more strollers than most daycare centers.

I first picked up a side by side. It's the Peg Perego Aria Twin. Retails for $329 and I stole it for $75. It's awesome, very light, nice ride, the whole shebang! This is the one I took to my babysitter for her to use. Princess Gracie and her buddy who is just beginning the toddler stage ride together in the Peg while they walk the 5 yr old to school. Then they ride again to go pick up the kindergartener. The babysitter has also taken them to the mall using this stroller. She's so in love with it and the girls love to ride side by side. They hold hands!

Then for us, I picked up a used Graco Duo Glider that seats one kid in front of the other like a train. It's very nice. But it isn't top of the line. Its close though.

I've had my eye on the newer Graco model. The Quattro Tour Duo. A step above the Duo Glider. It costs $250 new. I went and checked it out at Babies R Us and gave it a test spin a few weeks ago. Sweet!

Today, I found that very stroller on Craigslist! Like I said, Craig is totally to blame for the vast stroller collection that takes up more space in my garage than should ever be allowed. The seller wanted $95 for this stroller and hasn't had it for even a year yet. But, it lost a cup holder when it went through airport check-in and gained a few scuff marks. For a $155 savings, and no sales tax, I can totally deal with 3 cup holders instead of 4!

So that's how I ended up with half a dozen strollers and only one kid. So far, only one stroller riding kid. Soon, there will be two. No signs of passenger #2 coming anytime soon though. I thought Gracie would be done with stroller rides, but she really does enjoy the ride and she is contained which is the part I enjoy the most. She knows the single strollers are her rides; I don't want the baby to take over everything and give her more ammo for the jealousy issues she is sure to develop.

I am going to swap out the Duo Glider for the Quattro Duo. With Craig's help, I can sell the Duo Glider and keep the fleet to a manageable five strollers instead of six. I don't want to look like I have a problem, or like I'm a spoiled mom. That'd just be silly!

Oh, and Craig, I'm terribly sorry my husband curses your name. You know, I love you lots!

Ready to Burst!

Well, I'm ready. Anyone else?

I'm done shopping; I can't even invent something in my mind to shop for. Stocked up on groceries, incidentals, diapers, wipes, paper plates and convenience items. Cleared the camera cards and charged the batteries. Packed my hospital bag. Washed everything. Set up the changing table. Installed the carseat. Really, I've run out of things to prepare!

Also, got my pedicure and had a prenatal massage. Ate pineapple. Had some spicy food. Drove over speed bumps trying to shake the kid out. So far.... I'm the only one who is ready I guess. There is a full moon on the 15th, I'll be out all night with my belly aimed at the moon, catching some full moon beams. Maybe that'll do it.

I'm ready to burst! But, still waiting.

While I'm waiting, I have been going to college. Ugh, why am I doing this? My class read one novel, I read 2 chapters. We have a paper due next week. I'm working on it. I don't fit in the student desk anymore. I moved over to the handicapped desk. It's a table and office chair off in the corner of the room. I have to park a mile away from my classroom. That is the hardest part about going, waddling from the parking lot. Quack. Quack. Just call me Jemimah Puddle Duck. I waddle just like her!

I hope my next post is a birth announcement!

Potty Party!

She did it!!! Little Miss Stubborn Pants peed in her potty chair!!!!

She woke up this morning in a dry diaper and screaming for it OFF!!! She wanted Tinkerbell panties. Ugh. I'm so not in the mood for this crap today. After half an hour of kicking and screaming for her panties, I decided to give her a chance and I put panties on her. This is at 9am.

11am. She finally pees. On the couch!!!!

She pitches another fit over the diaper. She wants tinkerbell panties. omg I'm not gonna make it through the day with this child.

Fine. Panties. Try again.

1pm.... she is standing in a little wet spot on the carpet in my room and she yells "Towel Towel! Mommy Towel!" Mommy says "Gracie RUN!!!" I grab her little hand and we run for the potty chair and I just sat her on it, panties and all.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Tinkle. Tinkle. Tinkle. Little look of surprise.


And YAY! She did it! She peed in her potty! We clapped and cheered and kissed and hugged and had a little celebration! Then I wiped off her legs and got those soaking wet panties off of her and let her put on Ariel panties. We dumped her pee in the big toilet and flushed and cheered some more. Went and got hugs and kisses from Daddy too.

Now I"m just waiting to see what she pees on next.

Beach Ball Belly

I've been very busy following my beach ball belly around.

First day of College was good. I actually got a decent parking space. Didn't have to walk too terribly far. I stopped in a the parking services office and asked for a temporary disabled permit so I can get a close spot while I'm pg. They gave me a form to have the doctor sign, which I forgot to take to the doc and the permit is only good for 2 weeks. But, 2 weeks just might be enough, you never can tell.

I walked halfway across campus, cuz my classroom is in the building right in the middle not near any parking, ugh. And I saw people I know and got hugs as I walked. Nobody groped my belly, just hugs. (I hate belly gropers!) It was nice! A couple of people I saw didn't know I was pg. Yup! I am! I didn't see my buddy, Jenn, we usually have class together. My instructor scared a couple people out of the class when she explained the syllabus. 10 books, 2 huge-ass tests, and a 25 pg research paper. She said she was glad I was there, and I made an appt to go talk to her to set up when I take the midterm and get my paper topic approved and stuff. She is modifying the syllabus and due dates for me. Nice!

I took Gracie to her sitter. She hasn't been there for 3 weeks! She was thrilled to be there! And I mean thrilled! We got in the door and all three little girls were hugging each other - so cute!!! The sitter has 2 daughters: age 5 and age 18 mths. I took the sitter a carseat and a double stroller. Gave her the side by side Peg Perego stroller which she fell in love with immediately. The three girls played hard till I picked Gracie up at 5:00. The little ones rode in the stroller when they walked kindergarten (2.5 blocks away) and when they went to pick up too. The littles didn't want to get out of the stroller and they held hands while they rode along. Gracie was disappointed when I came to get her and ended her fun.

The sitter said that when she had to use the bathroom, The Littles wanted to follow her in, no big deal. That's fine. But Gracie said "spank!" So the sitter was worried that I spank Gracie for not going potty or something. I reassured her that I would never spank for potty training! I'm sure that would hinder more than help. And then I realized what Gracie said! Gracie must have said "Stink!" She says that if you toot. So I told her that Gracie says Stink, that's what we say at our house. And she said, ohhh, we say Caca. Ok, figured that out. We are becoming bi-lingual: Toddler Talk as a second language!

When I got home Keith took me out to dinner. We went to Claim Jumper. Yum! I haven't used my oven all summer cuz the heat leaks out and it's fricking hot enough! So I ordered the Roasted Turkey Dinner and Keith had the Meatloaf Dinner. Yummy!!! I was so stuffed I wasn't sure if I could walk outa there! While I'm wondering if I'm too full to waddle, they bring me a birthday Mocha cheesecake. Super yummy! And huge! It was freaking amazing!!! It even had candles!

So I guess I'm another year older. Oh well, that won't happen again for 364 more days! Ha!

Then the best surprise - I read my sister's blog. She left a birthday message for me on her blog - wow, it is so nice! We're not mushy people, but we know what is in our hearts. Loved the post though and being all pregnant and sentimental, I was moved to tears. My normal ice cold heart of stone has totally turned to steamy mush!

Just to aliviate confusion, I wasn't all giddy and happy over her latest blog post about her memorable weekend, oh my goodness no! Scroll down to Aug 26.

In baby news... I had a doc appt yesterday and another ultrasound tomorrow. I know, I put in way too much time at the doc's office. I did put up a mini-protest about being monitored for an hour at a time, twice a week, for 12 weeks.... so I'm not at the doc as often as they'd like. But, honestly, I don't want to live there if it isn't necessary.

Anyway, Number Four is growing nicely. She's still head down, which is fabulous news! (she just flipped in the right direction not too long ago). I've gained a lot of weight between appointments this time, whooops, too much Claim Jumper maybe? Ah, it was worth it! And.. my doc will be on vacation the entire week I am due. So, some strange dude in scrubs will just waltz in the delivery room and announce "I am the Doctor" and catch the baby. I'm not thrilled at all about that. I'm leary of strange docs, you never know which one is the goober! I might as well give birth at Walmart, or in my college class, or at Claim Jumper.... I am really hoping to go overdue by a few days.

We are still house hunting. My husband didn't get that new job he applied for, which he decided was a blessing in disguise since we have plenty of other things going on. My girls started school and we are getting back into a routine.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yay, it's my birthday! Someone tell my mother because she thinks my birthday is tomorrow. All my life, it's been the 26th, then one year she changed her mind and decided it was the 27th. So, now I have two birthdays I guess.

Actually, this year, I had an early birthday. My husband took me to see Wicked as my gift for turning another year older. It was great! Then I had another early birthday on Sunday because we were at the grocery store and it is not likely that we'd go today. So, we picked up a cake and my daughters found two books in the store that I've had on my wish list. Awesome! Tossed them in the cart with the cake! Score! We finished off the cake but I haven't cracked open my new books yet. Soon!

Today, I am blogging while watching Sesame Street. Then taking my toddler to the babysitter. Then it's off to my first day of college for this semester.

I have three classes left to graduate. Three! I'm taking one class this semester, and two next semester. I also have to finish an incomplete and petition for another class to transfer in. I hope I can jump through those hoops or I'll be taking 4 classes next semester. Yikes! I've been taking 4 classes per semester these past few semesters, but I have also been struggling to keep up with a full load. Now that I'll have four princesses, it'll be that much more of a race to the finish. If I can keep my attendance down to part time and still graduate, that would rock!

Luckily, I have a scholarship so I can afford to go part time. CSU offers two ways to pay: Part time or Full Time. Six credits and under is part time, seven or more is full time. So, if I take a one credit PE class or two 3 credit literature classes, the tuition is the same. Or if I take 7 credits it costs the same as taking 20 credits. This makes my one class pretty expensive! Thankfully my scholarship offsets the cost which really helps. I got the scholarship from the Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children in Spokane. Nice, huh!

The class I'm taking is called Lit 450 Multicultural American Literature. There are ten books for this one class! Plus a 25 page research paper due at the end. No problem! I'll have plenty of time to study 10 books and spend time in the research library in between giving birth and potty training and getting my daughter ready to graduate from high school and my other ordinary mom things that I do. The books look pretty good though, and I've actually read six of them already. Hopefully, I can still squeeze in my birthday books!

My biggest worry about starting college today is parking. Parking is less than ideal at CSUSM. In fact, it just sucks. The college is built on the side of a steep hill. People jokingly refer to it as Stair-Master University, its a long long walk from the parking lot to the classroom, uphill. They did dig out a flat spot and made a parking lot at the top of the hill, I'll try my best to get a spot there. The walking distance to the classroom will be the same. I hope all that walking doesn't make the baby fall out.

My baby ticker croaked and I forgot how to reload it. Preggo Brain! I can't for the life of me figure it out. But, there are 30 days now till baby's due date. I'm huge and uncomfortable, but doing well. I have been having a very healthy pregnancy and the end is near! Or, the beginning... I'm really looking forward to baby's birthday!

Teddy

Our neighbors have a great big black dog named Teddy. Not sure what breed he is exactly, a mixure of retriever and collie and bear maybe? Or horse? Teddy loves us and thinks we are his second home. That privacy fence between our yards doesn't stop him from coming over for some loving.

Daily, or middle of the nightly, we hear Bang Bang Bang as Teddy gets on his hind feet and jumps against the back gate till he pops the latch open. Since the fence and gate are connected to the corner of my house (zero lot lines) and right under my bedroom, I never miss it when he comes over for a middle of the night romp in our lovely grass.

Teddy is neurotic. No, really, he's mental. He has issues! He's huge and looks scary, yet he trembles with fear if a stranger talks to him. He barks at the sprinklers and then runs back inside to cower in the corner. He loves balls. He really really loves balls! He's obsessed! If you throw a ball to him, he's overjoyed! He retrieves the ball puts it on the ground and hops on it just right so that it comes flying right back at ya. Show me another dog who can throw the ball back, I think that's pretty cool! Teddy also has issues with loud noises, rain, fireworks, full moon, etc. He gets so scared! Thats when it only takes on bang on the gate to come running over. Funny thing is, even if his family is home, he runs over here for comfort. Crazy Dog! Last time was when we had the earthquake and the neighbors were home! He was in our house under my husband's arm calming down from his trembling fright.

Wanna know what kinda presents he leaves for me in our yard? Naw.. I didn't think you did. Use your imagination. No, bigger! There ya go.

So, nearly every morning Teddy welcomes himself over to our yard, leaves a present and then comes panting at the patio door. Princess Gracie opens it and greets her buddy saying "Hi Teddy, Come in, Come in" He does. He is kind of hyper and neurotic, can't sit still to save his life! So he comes in, paces, walks in circles, wags his giant tail, licks the toddler, sniffs around for a ball, wants back out. Then they go outside and run through the grass, around the trees, laughing and giggling and tail wagging. Gracie and her dogs. Oh, yes, our dog joins in the fun.

Gracie is almost as tall as the dogs now. They still beat her about the head with their tails, but what they lack in grace, they make up for in sloppy tongue kisses. The three of them have the best time! They go to the other side of our yard where we have half privacy fence and half fence of bars. This is where they all three stick their faces through and say hello to Charlie.

Charlie hasn't figured out how to get out of his kennel or how to open the gate. I'm not teaching him either. He's a nice dog, but who needs a pack of dogs leaving gifts in the grass? Charlie is also a golden retriever, so it's a good group and they are great buddies for Gracie. When he is out, Charlie does the same whack wag his tail in the face maneuver that Sandy and Teddy do to the shortest princess.

Now, I could fill ya with Teddy stories since he's a big lovable clumsy neurotic oaf, but I'll just keep this brief (hahaha) and give you today's little story.

The usually fuzed to the tv teenage neighbor girl comes over, taps on our patio door. She's looking all worried and worked up. She says "I just found Gracie in our yard so I brought her back"

Me: ok
Neighbor Girl: She was screaming and laughing so she's ok, but I thought you didn't know where she was.
Me: I knew.
Neighbor Girl: Well....
Me: She's been back and forth all day with the dogs. Teddy keeps opening the gate and I keep taking him home and latching the gate and he just opens it again. I finally gave up and left it open
Neighbor Girl: He did that?
Me: Yes, he does it every day. He comes over every morning, poops out a log in my yard, and plays with Gracie, then he goes home and I shut the gate and we do it all over the next day.
Except today he kept coming over.
Neighbor Girl: oh
Me: Yeah, see his big giant pile of steaming poo right over there? At the bottom of her slide? That's his latest.
Neighbor Girl: I gotta go home now, I'll take Teddy and shut the gate.
Me: That'd be great.

The mere mention of dog poop sent that girl running home just as scared and neurotic as her dog. Guess I'll go out and scoop up that ten pound turd and fling it over the fence.

Wicked Awesome Date!

Last night my husband and I had a wickedly awesome date! We went to see Wicked! It is being performed in Hollywood at the Pantages Theater until January. We've never seen a play, not a real play. We've seen the Missoula Children's Theater plays as they came through our town and starred our children, and we've seen Shakespeare in the Park plays... but a "real" play... we've been deprived.

It was so amazing! I can't even describe how wonderful it was. Beyond words! Everything about it was spectacular. The dialog, the special effects, the music and voices, the dancing, the costumes and sets, everything! The storyline veered from the book a bit, but it was mostly the same and had the same effect as far as telling the story from the Wicked Witch's point of view. I loved the book, so of course I totally loved the musical performance!!!

The actors were fantastic. One of my husband's dream girls was in the play: Jo Anne Worley. She played Madame Morrible. She must be in her 70s by now. She was a regular on Laugh In (remember that from the late 60s ~ early 70s?) He was thrilled to see her in action and we even saw her after the performance as she came out of the back of the theater. She was right there, up close and real! Hubby was thrilled!


My husband bought tickets for some great seats. They were $100 each, but wow we had great seats. Only people who had better seats were the season ticket holders. And I didn't want the very front row anyway, I'm sure I would get a crick in my neck being that close up. So, the seats were definitely the best! This date was my early birthday gift, and wow what a present!

The Pantages Theater in Hollywood is really beautiful inside. Can't say the same for the streets of Hollywood. It was pretty hot out. But, by the time we got there it was cooling off. Before we went inside the theater we went for a short walk on the stars. That was kind of fun. The "Walk of Fame" is pretty neat to see, but... We had to dodge tourists and freaks, otherwise it was a nice stroll. We looked in the shop windows at bongs and other interesting bizarre things, noted the Hollywood homeless, and it wasn't long before we were both feeling really creeped out.

Before we went to Hollywood we had dinner. It was 102 degrees then. Blech! But of course, we didn't eat dinner on the sidewalk or anything; we ate at On The Border. Yummy Mexican food! Had Tums for desert. I put them in my purse and ate them like popcorn in a movie theater. It was worth the deliciousness though.

In the theater, I had to use the Ladies' Room. I'm 34 weeks pregnant and my bladder is squished and takes a lot of kicks and jabs. So, the Ladies' Room was very important to visit at every given opportunity! My first trip was uneventful. I stood in a long line but it moved along well. There is one restroom in the whole theater for all those people! And it only had 8 stalls. yikes! Good thing there was an attendant in there keeping people moving right along.

Next trip to the Ladies' Room was during intermission. Since we had great seats near the front, that put me at the end of the mile long restroom line. An attendant came up to me and said "Come with me". Crap! I have to go! What'd I do now? Oh no!!! Naw... the attendant took me to a different restroom hidden down another hall and around a corner... the handicapped restroom. Awesome! only three people in line! Score! That was sweet!

The two old ladies with canes and the one young woman on crutches let me go right to the front of that little line. Wasn't that nice! They said "oh, you are pregnant, you better go first!" I gotta say, the people attending the play were some of the nicest I've met! My big belly got me a special pass to use the secret handicap restroom and a front of the line pass to that! Good Baby!!!


Speaking of the belly.... I had a hard time finding something to wear over this huge protuberance. Back in June, I went a little nuts shopping for our vacation and bought plenty of dresses to get me through the summer. Or... so I thought.

So I got out three dresses.... hmm... which one do I wanna wear? Little did I know that the decision wasn't mine to make.

I put on my all black dress, it has a velvet sash and it looks nice. I struggled, but I got it on! No way was I gonna get it zipped and I couldn't sit. After wrestling to get out of it, that dress was eliminated from my choices. Felt like Houdini trying to escape the impossible underwater chained up box, dang thing trapped me!

That's ok, I really kinda decided that I was gonna wear the yellow flowery dress anyway. I like that one, it swishes and sways and its a pretty happy color, sleeveless, very nice. Oh my stars, it's tight! How the helk do you outgrow maternity clothes!!! It's a maternity dress and it has a lot of flair so who would think a person could get too big for that. Even though I had more room in it than the black dress, it was just tight enough on the sides that it wasn't comfy. Rats! I used my newly discovered dress wrestling moves to get out of it and moved on to my last choice.

No, not the white dress. I outgrew it a couple of weeks ago. And no, not the plum colored dress cuz it was laying in a wad in the bottom of the dirty laundry basket.

Me and my belly faced that last dress...I put on the black and white. Size Large maternity. It's gotta fit! I prayed that I could sit, it would go over me smoothly, and I wouldn't have to resort to a crying fit. It went on nice, still flows over my belly, and omg, it felt great! Fabric feels good too!

How sad is that? I didn't get to choose what to wear, it came down to the process of elimination. And the belly had the only vote.

After all the dress wrestling, Ladies' Room visits and waddling over the stars in Hollywood, it was a fantastic date with my husband! We had a great time together in addition to the good meal and wonderful entertainment! My husband even said we should go again and take the teens! I know they would love it!