Saturday, April 29, 2006

FlySplat: Version 2 Eloise


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Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
See Version 1.

FlySplat: Version 1 Ruby


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Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
Throw all the couch cushions on the floor and jump up high... splat! They can't seem to get enough.

check in

I wonder if I'll ever regain the energy to treat this blog the way it deserves to be treated. We have just returned from a visit to Boston and Providence and we have really started packing our things up. Boxes and dust bunnies everywhere. Actually, while cleaning out our junk drawer we found a pubic hair and had a good laugh about where these kinds of things make their icky appearances. For example, I JUST discovered another pube underneath a little number puzzle. Disgusto to say the least! I wonder what other lovely charms I'm going to find when I clean under the plastic high chair covers.

My latest obsession is with figuring out how to decorate and landscape our new home. We visited the house on Thursday morning and while we were playing in the yard Eloise managed to get a huge thorn from a tree stuck in her knee. No exaggeration, pulling the thing out was like taking a thumbtack out of a cork board... it was deep (and reminiscent of an accident that only an Edward Gorey character would suffer). So we need to chop down this tree that grows 2 inch thorns and drops thorny twigs into the little yard... clearly the couple that lived in the house didn't have young kids. To emphasize my point - there are also super scary looking thorn bushes and holly bushes on the property. Ugh. How uncomfortable and spooky.

I have a great book suggestion to any of my mom buddies reading this: "Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety". It's refreshing to read something so sympathetic to the stay-at-home AND/OR working mom. Go out and buy a copy immediately!

Okay my girls are about to tear the apartment to shreds. The couch has been peed on, the excercise ball is being dribbled and puzzle pieces are getting kicked all around the dirty floor. Maybe I will just abandon all hopes for cleanliness and organization in my life. I can hardly imagine how much more time that would open up in my life. Seriously, I have been feeling a vibe from my maternal grandmother - she was a total slob (much to my mom's horror) but she was a true creative. Her life was full of debauchery, collections, crafts, excess, mess, fattening food, gay men, caftans, Chanel No. 5 and too many pets. Her house was like a wacky fairy tale. Can I let go of my expectations for a TIDY life?

Friday, April 21, 2006

d.j.s-to-be


easter buns
Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
Our babysitter Audrey got the girls suited up in their bunny hats for "Pollywog Arts and Crafts" - then gave them each an earphone from her portable cd player on the walk there. Rumor has it they were the talk of the town! (What's new though? Their little orange and green pumas always turn heads - and the little Crocs make all the Grandmas swoon.)

mamma-damma

Eloise called me Mamma-damma today... and then decided to call Ruby "Rooba-dooba". They are both very into playing with names and words, singing, experimenting with rhymes. Ruby will occasionally just come up to me and say, "Hey Moms..." - for no real reason. It cracks me up every time.

The girls have been doing a bunch of running around the house without pants or diapers on these days, which means I've become a slave to the papertowel roll. Today I decided to be eco-conscious and use towels and washcloths to clean up any accidents, but then I discovered that I have to do a really icky load of laundry right away. It's all very draining to say the least. Well, I should say that my clean ups have at least sparked their interest in public toilets. They successfully went pee in grown up toilets twice today (yes, that's a grand total of 4 identified pee urges!) and I was so proud. What a hysterical thing to be proud of!

I wish I had the energy or creativity to say something entertaining about my daily interactions, but I'm just so beat by the end of the week. Today was particularly exhausting because I was alone with the girls from 7 AM to 7 PM - with minimal interaction with friends - mostly we were outside on the playground, walking around everywhere, soaking up sun, playing soccer on the waterfront (that was truely FUN). We joined our pals Chelsea and Ben and Hazel for dinner at Flatbread - where I slugged a delicious beer and stuffed my face. Going out to eat is much more relaxing with Myles around... but we're getting better at it all the time. Maybe today was just a little taste of the year ahead... except I won't be in sweet Burlington... instead I'll be lonely in a strange place with a new and needed-to-be-cozied home, trying to muster up the energy to have fun without a "Home by 6" Dad around.

Ooooh. I am SO not looking forward to being a single mom again. ick.

Monday, April 03, 2006

getthefuckout!


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Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
yeah. it's probably our new house as long as it isn't riddled with lead or termites...

buns and sun


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Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
buns, sun. diapers, shades. LOUNGE CHAIRS.

VIBE!


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Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
"feel the vibration... feel it feel it..."

We Are 2!


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Originally uploaded by mollieholliday.
Yeah, so I forgot to mention that we celebrated Ru and El's birthday on March 14th... it was low key and sweet. We'll save the big parties for #5 maybe.

hey hey hey

Oh my. I have some guilt over not blogging - which is bizarre - but I did get some email reminders from some pals around the country so I feel like I've let some folks down! What a crazy series of events have taken place since I last posted. I feel like a completelly different person actually...

So here goes: Myles did not end up matching in the traditional sense of the word, but ultimately the best possible thing happened when he was offered a preliminary year of surgery at Brown (RI Hospital). We are moving to Providence - which is completely excellent considering the other locations I was preparing myself for. Now I can even entertain the idea of getting my masters at RISD... if they would be happy to accept me and my weak portfolio...

We enjoyed a most excellent trip to Captiva/Boca Grande Florida (photos to come later, sorry) where we enjoyed watching the girls swim, play in the sand, and obsess over their bathing suits. The airplane ride was interesting and exhausting, but the end result of all of our kid shuffling was a total reward. I highly recommend Captiva for a family getaway actually, but all you really need is about 3 nights 4 days stay. The weather was completely perfect aside for some wind so we were ready for a temperature change after about 5 days. Resort life is wack anyway. No wait - Florida is wack. Next time I hope we're in Fiji or at least some place where we can contract an intestinal bug or two. (That might have to wait until the girls are 4...)

Wait, I forgot to mention that Ru and El almost drowned in the kid pool the very first day we were there. We were completely horrified at how easy it is to take your eye off of them. One adult to each 2 year old at AT ALL TIMES dummies! And we hadn't even had our piƱa coladas... jeez.

Guess what? We basically bought a house this weekend. Is that wack? yes. definitely.

I'm not really sure what to make of the entire experience, and I'd be lying if I said we bought our Dream House, but that can wait. I know i know.... but unfortunately I did see something that resembled my sort-of dream house and we really couldn't afford it. We went for something more our speed right now and it will be easy to move into. Besides, the neighborhood is great, I can have a studio in the basement or on the 3rd floor and we have a deck and yard. The library is around the corner, along with a good bakery and a coffee shop. A better thing to consider though is that I don't know anyone in Providence. Fun.

Ruby and Eloise like to tell us that they are going to Providence all the time. Ruby even said that she was from Pwahvadence Wode Eye-wund today. The entire experience in home buying has put a bit of stress on the girls I think - mainly because I'm not giving them as much mommy play time as they are used to. Instead I'm on the phone or talking house detail crap with Myles. When Ruby woke up at ten of 4 in the morning at my mom's house (Sunday, with new daylight savings adjustments to be made upon waking) she was lying in our bed looking at me and she said, "mommy, what's pillow called in italian?" And when I told her I didn't know, she continued to talk and talk until I had to wake up with the f-ing birds. "Birdies outside mommy. Tweetin'."... "Yes Ru, I know. Birdies. That means it's super early and most people are sleeping... can Ruby go back to sleep too?" "NO. I'm awake. Eloise awake too?" (Poor Weeze. She'd sleep to 10 AM like a teenager if Ruby let her.) Anyway, to fill you in on the Italian bit, I started talking to them in my piss poor Italian while they were taking a bath one night and they took an interest for some reason - and I have this illustrated kids Italian/English dictionary with hideous creepy pictures of every stupid vocab word you could think of- so they just like to bother me about italian words that I don't know now. Then we go look them up. Their little brains are like super absorbent sponges so it's entertaining (and potentially cruel, forgive me) to see what they are capable of. It's an incredible thing to watch how they learn and process everything, and especially to see how they interact with one another! What if we all had a twin? HA!

Alright, time to figure out how to post my pics. Go to the flickr site if you want to see extras...