a little sniffly

As I feared, the Museo Pambata gave us all colds. Either that or Justin passed on some germs from his flight back to Manila. Maybe it was a self fulfilling prophecy because I was certain the germy museum was going to be my downfall this week. That or all the dishes I was going to be washing by hand. It's a toss-up really.

Addie has her father's super human immune system and had a runny nose for one night and that was it. Justin drank a few gallons of green tea and is fine. Poor Bella and I got it worse. She's snotty and attempting to sleep with the humidifier. I have a cold but we all know that when Mom gets a cold it's no big deal because Moms have to pretend they aren't sick and just go about doing what Moms do. No "woe is me" sick days for me. My mantra this morning in the shower was "buck up".

Yaya is still out sick with no idea when she will be feeling well enough to come back to work. I'm now trying to figure out how I'm going to make the Filipino pancit I promised for Addie's school program potluck on Friday.

I have been spending an inhuman amount of time in the kitchen; cooking for my children, feeding them, cleaning them up, washing the dishes, and preparing for the next meal. Three average sized dishes fill up our tiny little kitchen sink so the dishes are a constant cycle of stacking, washing, drying, and putting away. Once the dishes are done it's time to dirty up new ones. All day long. I don't have time to drink a gallon of green tea.

I have to admit, I love having my house to myself, doing all the cooking, and being in charge of how everything is done. It's nice to take back some of the control I had given up. I can't tell you how many times I've found something and said "what in the world is this and why are we keeping it?" I sent four garbage bags full of junk to the trash that was being kept for God knows what reason. Needless to say, it's nice to get things cleaned up and organized.

If only I were split into two people. One Mom to do all the cooking and cleaning and one Mom to do all the playing, laughing, and snuggling. This is the challenge that all Mothers, everywhere, for all time have faced. Over stretched Moms unite!
I took the girls to S&R yesterday to do some grocery shopping. They were the only kids there. Bringing your kids shopping here is like bringing your kids to a matinee movie in the States. It just isn't done. Adelaide insisted on wearing her "Fancy Nancy" shoes, which have heels and go "click clack" when she walks. She sat in the cart with her sister but when she saw two ladies with heels on she pleaded with me to get down so she could click clack in her heels so everyone could see and hear her shoes. I love this girl! I had to say no because if daughter number one got down daughter number two would have wanted to as well. You know the drill.
I took some cute pictures of Arabella yesterday when Addie was at school. She has an unnatural obsession with the dog's leash. She carries this thing all over the house and completely looses it when you try to take it from her. I even bought a new retractable leash and collar complete with dog tags that shake. She still prefers Lucy's leash. She's adorable getting ready to walk Lucy for the morning. She's also obsessed with the refrigerator. I know when she's really hungry because she wants to hang out inside the fridge. She's always trying to climb up the shelves and grab the food. She hides things in the fridge. I found Justin's i Pod arm band in the fridge yesterday. Arabella cracks me up. Today Adelaide was such a huge helper. I told her that when her sister took a nap I was going to mop the floors and clean the bathrooms. I suggested that she sit and play with her Barbies or color while I was busy but she wouldn't have it. "I want to be with you, Mommy" is what I heard over and over so she decided to help me clean. Some day she's going to laugh (or roll her eyes) when I tell her that when she was three she would rather help clean the toilets than play just so she could be with me. Once she smelled the Lysol she high tailed it out of the bathroom but she was an awesome helper mopping the floor.