Sleep.

I've entered the 2nd trimester and am starting to feel a little better.  I spent some time swapping clothes out & populating my drawers with maternity clothes.  I acquired a whole bunch of hand-me-down maternity clothes from lovely friends so I will be dressing well this time around.

My next hurdle is to get the kids out of my bed and into their own room.  This may be the hardest thing I will ever have to do to date.  Attachment parenting really does create attached children.  Heavens to Murgatroyd.  Lately these kids have had me so exhausted by the end of the day, that I end up just going to bed with them.  Chü flops around the bed for about 20 minutes, gets down & leaves the room, runs around the house looking for his dad, comes back into the bedroom and finally gets on the bed & submits to sleep.  Meanwhile, Abigail requires me to hold her hand while she drifts sweetly off to sleep.  I occasionally find it irritating because I often have to contort myself to provide her with a hand, but I have to remind myself that some day, she will no longer want to hold my hand. *enter pregnancy hormonal deep sigh & lip quiver*

We purchased a twin-over-full bunk through Target.com. It arrived on Wednesday and we are planning to assemble it tomorrow, though the mattress isn't scheduled to arrive until Tuesday (gotta love drop-shipping).  Then we will begin the arduous task of transferring the kids to their own room at night. I don't have the heart to force them into any sleeping situation if they are lonely or scared.  We will start them both in the bottom bunk and hope that they eventually feel secure in that arrangement. 

Speaking of sleep, Abigail's latest favorite movie is Disney's Sleeping Beauty.  We've been watching that daily, sometimes twice a day.  (This pregnancy has caused me to abandon many ideals, one of which was to limit TV time.  Sometimes, TV is all you've got).  

It's now 9:05pm and it's way past our bedtime.  So goodnight.

 

hipster DIY

I used to be super-organized.  Hyper-organized, even.  That was when I had to take care of my own stuff only.  Now I have to keep 4 of us organized and I'm failing miserably. I am so sleep-deprived that any down-time I have I sit and stare at the computer, looking to all the crafty hipster DIY simplification & organization sites for answers and I just come to the conclusions that 1. I am not a hipster, 2. I am wasting time looking for answers from hipster sources and 3. I still have a lot of reaching within my own self to do to find my own answers to the things that perplex me.

It's January 1, 2012.  I am pregnant with our 3rd child, and I am super duper tired.  I am relieved that the holidays are over. I'm not sure what's in store for this year except that I will be having a baby in July.  We talk about moving, almost daily.  We're so unsettled in this place it's just kind of a hovering gray cloud over us that won't budge.  I'm too tired to try to tackle the disorganization.  I look to my friends with older kids to remind me that this is a short phase in life.  I am not the most patient, nor gracious, mother of small children.  When this baby is born I'll have a 4.5 year-old, a 2.25 year old, and a newborn.  Lawd help us.

Love, light, and peace to you this 2012.

Unpredictable

I know, as a Sagittarius, that just when someone gets used to us, we change, and it kind of messes with their expectations of how we will react to something. We are unpredictable. Ivan & I were born on the same day so imagine how confusing we are to each other.

I guess what I mean is that sometimes I can take a joke, but sometimes I can't. Sometimes I'm serious as a freaking heart-attack, but someone might be used to me being happy-go-lucky with a fabulous sense of humor, so they approach me with something they think I will enjoy, but instead I am appalled.  The night of my wedding, which was actually Ivan's & my birthday too, I looked across the room & locked eyes with Junebug, my old bass player from the Catbirds- he & Catfish were my ceremony musicians. I flashed him a big smile.  He later mentioned that until that moment, he didn't know which Cathy he was going to get. It all made sense to me at that point. Since then I have remembered numerous situations in which I must have confused the hell out of my friends by my reactions to something they said or did.  Sorry guys.  Love you.

Summer's almost over

I've been pretty introspective lately. I left Facebook (again) and am really trying to limit my time online.  Seems I am constantly on here looking for answers to all the questions that exist in my mind.  Then I see ads that are tailored just for me.  Creeps me out.

Anyhoo, so far, getting offline is helping me clear my mind a bit.  The kids need quite a bit of attention and I need to give it to them.  Abs is starting preschool in a couple weeks!  This will be her 2nd year.  She loves it and I love how happy it makes her.  She is so sweet.  I can't believe she is almost 4.  Chü is 16 months and is super cute and hilarious.  He stomps around like a 800 lb gorilla and points at stuff and says "Yee-yee-ghee-ghee."  Every night before bed, the 4 of us get in bed & the kids jump around and dive-bomb Ivan & me.  It's the best party in the world.

My worm composter got fruit flies. They are fantastically gnarly and I finally had to put the thing outside.  The worms are fine though.  My friend Lydia is going to give me some nematodes to viciously murder the fruit fly larvae.  I am so excited.

My kitchen is my main source of anxiety so I am trying to streamline it a bit.  Feeding a family of 4 is not my strong suit.  I am failing miserably and am lucky to get them fed at all, let alone nutritiously.  These people are the pickiest eaters in the universe.  My tiny little kitchen is uninspiring and inadequate.  My next kitchen will be fit for a queen/chef.

Here are some recent photos of my family:

:Peace:

Love, Cat

The Ginger Lees CD Release Party

The Ginger Lees are celebrating their CD release party Wednesday, July 13 at Cafe Bella.  My band, The Sweet Nothings is the opening act at 7pm. Here is the Facebook invitation.  
$20 reserved ticket ($25 day of show) gets you: 
dinner of three courses 
complimentary beverages & debut CD
entertainment: 

7:00 the Sweet Nothings
7:45 the Ginger Lees
8:15 No. 1 Cat
9:00 the Ginger Lees 

tix avail at Cafe Bella 
(614)267-1998
www.cafebellacolumbus.com
Cafe Bella is an evolving concept, restaurant and catalyst for neighborhood and community development. Untraditional in style and service, there are no set menus as food is purchased that day and dishes are created to showcase the bounty's quality and freshness. Our menu usually consists of a vegetarian dish and a chicken or fish offerring; salads, subs and pastas are also served.

Each day is a new chance to get it right

Parenting is hard, especially if you have control issues.  I yell a lot.  Then I beat myself up about it. It's a vicious cycle.  But I have decided to forgive myself and try to reset every day. I am going to try to embrace this concept in all aspects of my life, because I finally understand the beauty of it.

All the Pretty Trees Art Exhibit

I am participating in this cool art show going on tomorrow... I have compiled a map of the art pieces' locations of origin and created an art piece of my own!