Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Bonnie’s been working full-time, transitioning her job from being in the office to telecommuting while keeping all of her customers, colleagues and bosses happy. My work brings me to Portland at least once/month and I’ve added two new coaching groups to the mix. But it’s all good. We are very lucky to have careers that allow us to make this move to beautiful Bend!

Hi all – Mama J here. Wow, our last post was Christmas?? How did that happen? Well, let me tell you. Many of you know that we got an offer on our house for sale in Portland right after the holiday and have spent the months since then packing, negotiating the sale, packing more boxes, making umpteen trips between Portland and Bend in the snow, relocating to Uncle Mark’s pad, finding a daycare or preschool for Mia, finding another school for Mia when she was gently expelled, finding a babysitter when she starting eating weird sh*t and got kicked out of another school, travelling to Seattle for our niece’s wedding, and spending much-appreciated time with family. There, you didn’t think I could do it in one paragraph, did you?

So yes, we’ve been Slacker Mom’s with postings and videos and photos. Partly because any spare moments are spent trying to keep up with our bright and curious child, who always seems to be one step ahead of us. She’s in that typical (I guess) TODDLER zone where she absolutely makes us crazy with frustration one moment and makes us laugh out loud the next. Good thing they are cute at this age, that’s all I can say.

So now that Summer is here and we are somewhat more settled down we will try to keep y’all up to date more often. Some of our posts might be short and sweet and fall under the category of “Convesations with a Toddler.” Here’s an example:

Mia: I don’t WANT my dinner!!
Mama: Why not? Last week you loved chicken nuggets and peas.
Mia: Because… it’s too dinnery!
Mama: Uh, ok…
(Pause for 2 minutes while Mama tries to figure out what this means)
Mia: I LOVE my dinner!

Jillian is in Seattle doing something consultant-ish for someone and that means Mama B is now on her own. 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 job and ONE VERY MOBILE CHILD. One day down and so far, no animal or human has been maimed. I remembered to feed both Mia and the animals. More importantly, I fed them each their own food. I managed to get a (very quick) shower this morning and was dressed before getting the little stinker out of her crib! Nice.

Mia’s diaper changed – check. Dixie’s potty pad changed – check. LadyBear and Ruffles 52 potty excursions – check. Litter box – check.

Dog’s water bowl filled – check. Cat food bowls filled – check.

Mia dressed for daycare  – check. Elmo socks on feet – check. Monkey hoodie on child – check.

And then came the hair. THE HAIR! I don’t do hair. And I especially don’t do Mia hair that has a mind of its own and won’t listen to reason. Bonus round: teeny, tiny, microscopic rubber bands that are supposed to go twice around a mini ponytail of Mia hair. And all of this before 7 am and with no coffee. After the 3rd time of Mia saying “ow. stuck?” I figured waterboarding would be easier on her so I gave up. I combed it and called it good. And then I apologized to Miss Brittany for my failed attempt. She understood.

So we got a call from daycare yesterday telling us that they thought Mia might have Hand, Foot and Mouth. I know. I’ve nver heard of it either. My first concern was there might be a massive Mia recall from our grocer’s shelves but then I realized that was Hoof and Mouth which is something entirely different… Thanks WebMD for clearing up that confusion.

The good news is she’s fine. This kid doesn’t seem to understand the concept of being sick and just keeps on chugging along. Bad news is she can’t go back to daycare until all of her spots are gone. How long might that take you say? Oh, could be 10 days. 10 DAYS! Someone will be checking into St. Vincent’s “Spa” ward if that child has to be home for 10 whole days.

We’re debating the effectiveness of coating her in Bare Minerals and sending her on her merry little speckled way but the website doesn’t really say which shade will best cover the spots on her tongue.