Prechildren v. Postchildren

(Inspired by a great article a friend just sent me about why you are so busy when you stay home with kids all day long.)

Getting up in the morning

Prechildren: Set your alarm. Snooze if you feel like it. Eat some cereal. (Total time: 10-20 minutes)

Postchildren: Get up anywhere between 4:30-5:30am. Rush into the baby's bedroom before she wakes up the toddler. Feed her a bottle. Change a poopy diaper. Toddler wakes up before you get a chance to snooze again. Make breakfast for the toddler with the right kind of cereal and milk in a sippy cup. Take toddler to the potty. Eat some cereal. Put baby back down to sleep. (Total time: 3 hours)

Showering

Prechildren: Hop in the shower and shave your legs if you feel like it. (Total time: 20 minutes)

Postchildren: Put a movie on for the toddler and hope that she doesn't destroy anything while you are in the shower. Check on toddler and hope that she doesn't wake up crying. Shower as fast as possible. No chance of shaving your legs. (Total time: 10 minutes)

Walking Out the Door

Prechildren: Grab your keys, wallet and phone. Walk out the door. (Total time: 1 minute).

Postchildren: Pack up diaper bag for the children. For the baby you need to fill up bottles, the formula container, make sure you have a clean burp cloth, change of clothes, enough diapers and wipes. For the toddler you need snacks, a water bottle and a change of clothes in case she has an accident. If it will be a longer trip, you need a blanket and pacifier for the baby to help her sleep. You need some activities for the toddler (i.e., DVD player, ipod, crayons, etc.). Make sure toddler has gone to the bathroom. Feed the baby before you go and change her diaper. Grab your keys, wallet and phone. Strap both kids into their car seats. (Total time: 1.5 hours).

Running to the Post Office

Prechildren: Get the package. Take it to the post office. Mail it. (Total time: 5 minutes)

Postchildren: Try to manage a package, a car seat, a toddler and a diaper bag (filled with all the things listed above). Hope people are nice enough to open the door for you. Mail the package. On the way back to the car you have to stop and look at the red diamond sticker in the window, do a balance beam walk along the curb, talk about the "hot air balloon" hanging above Quiznos and why you can't ride in it, but you can go drive by it. Strap kids back into the car. (Total time: 25 minutes)

Grocery Shopping

Prechildren: Drive to the grocery store. Buy your items. Put them in the car. Drive home and put them away. (Total time: 1 hour)

Postchildren: Drop toddler off at dance. Rush with newborn to the store. Park near a stray cart so you don't have to haul the 25 lb. car seat very far. Put baby in and rush through the store before dance is done. Baby starts crying. Debate whether to feed her, decide you don't have enough time, give her a pacifier and hope it works for 10 more minutes. Decide not to get half the things on your list because you don't have time. Rush out to the car and throw the groceries in. Mash the banana and probaby break a couple eggs. Drive to pick up toddler. Baby is screaming. Drive home. Baby is sleeping. Leave the car running. Take toddler to the bathroom. She pees all over the freshly cleaned toilet seat. Change her clothes. Get her something to eat. Bring in some groceries. Baby wakes up. Put frozen food in freezer and cold stuff in fridge. Leave remaining groceries strewn around counters and hope husband will help put them away when he returns home. (Total time: 1.5 hours)

Lunch

Prechildren: Make a sandwich. Eat it. Read something while you eat. (Total time: 15 minutes)

Postchildren: Make a hot dog for toddler just the right temperature. Cut it up into little pieces. Stick a straw in the juice box and drink some of it so it won't squirt all over her fresh outfit when she grabs it. Spoon feed baby some chicken mush. She doesn't like it. Try some pears. She eats only half of it. Give her a bottle. She spits up some of it on your clothes. You don't bother changing because you know it will happen again before the day is over. Read toddler some books and tuck her into bed. Put baby down to bed. Make a sandwich. Eat it. Read something while you eat. (Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes)

Blogging

Prechildren: You don't have time to blog. (Total time: 0)

Postchildren: Begin a blog post. Internet stops working. Restart computer. Start typing. Both kids wake up. Keep typing anyway. Go put pacifier back in baby's mouth. Hope toddler falls asleep eventually - at least she is staying in her room. (Total time: 30 minutes)

Cleaning House

Prechildren: Do 2 loads of laundry. Wash a few dishes. (Total time: 30 minutes)

Postchildren: Do laundry for 4 people. Wash bottles and dishes. Clean up toys. (Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Dinner

Prechildren: Make dinner. (Total time: 30 minutes)

Postchildren: Toddler wants to eat at 4pm. Give her a snack to hold her off. Baby is awake and needs to eat again. Feed her a bottle. Place baby on floor with some toys to entertain her. Toddler wants to help make dinner. She insists on dumping everything into the bowl herself and stirring. She needs her hands washed. Baby is crying and needs to be moved to the Bumbo for a change of scenery. Toddler is done helping, but dinner is not ready. You put a movie on for toddler to entertain her while you finish. Eventually dinner gets made. (Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Bedtime

Prechildren: Watch a movie and/or read a book. Go to bed at midnight. (Total time: 2 hours)

Postchildren: Feed baby, change her diaper, turn on her ceiling fan, turn on her humidifier, make sure she has a pacifier and blanket. Set up bottles to use during the night. Turn on white noise maker. Put her to sleep. Replace pacifier every 5-10 minutes until she is asleep. Read toddler books, brush her teeth, take her to the bathroom, put on her pjs, say prayers, turn on her night light and white nosie maker. Explain to toddler why she doesnt need to be scared. Return to toddler's room to get her a drink of water. Return to toddler's room again for some nonsensical reason. Eventually toddler falls asleep. You are too tired to watch a movie or read a book. You go to sleep at 9:30pm (Total time: 2 hours).

My Fairy Princess

You would think that such a girly title could only mean that Nancee is writing this post. Well, actually, if you knew Nancee you would know that she isn't girly enough for such a title. And since Erica thinks that "flowers" start with the letter "G" and all Sadie can do for communication is grunt and spit, that leaves Troy as the author by reasonable deduction. Yes, I shelved my space ship shoot-em-up game to make a Fairy Princess app. And I happen to be proud of it.

Check it out in the app store!

Also check out my new website for all my apps, www.tegtap.com

It started with us trying to find a good princess game in the app store for Erica, only to find they were all lame. In these other apps, the princesses just stood there in the same motionless pose the entire time, and the clothes all had the same pose. Plus it was hard for Erica to navigate. So I tried to fill that empty princess app void by making a cool, 3D-animated, interactive, easy-to-use princess dressup game. Thank you, Nancee, for getting me my wacom tablet. I wouldn't have been able to do the artwork in this app without it.

Here are some screen shots:

Video:

For a little while, it creeped up to be the #105 ranked app in the Kids Games section of the app store today! Thanks to all my family and friends who have helped spread the word via facebook, blog, email, phone, word, and/or telepathy. I really appreciate it. It would be great to get the extra visibility that comes from being in the top 100.

Thanks for checking it out, and tell iPhone/iPod/iPad owners with little girls about this app... or any iPhone owner who secretly likes fairy princesses.

Happy Anniversary - 7 Years

Here's why I love Troy:

(2003) He taught me how to love board sports.

(2004) I've had the best Halloween costumes for the last 7 years.

(2005) He's romantic.

(2006) He takes me to Hawaii.

(2007) He's a great dad.

(2008) He takes me to Disneyland AND he likes animals.

(2009) He eats the food I cook.

(2010) He gave me 2 beautiful daughters.

*Things I learned from doing this post: We need to take more pictures together.

Preschool

I have been waiting almost 3 years for this day and it was all that I had hoped for. (: Doesn't that make me sound like a terrible mother? If it helps, Erica had a good time too.

Erica started preschool last week with Ms. Laura. She goes 2 days a week for 3 hours each day. She is in with a great group of kids. The kids are all older and will be starting Kindergarten next year, so she is very "mothered" by the other girls. She's young enough that she actually loves this kind of attention.

Her teacher is wonderful too. She has all sorts of activities for the kids, worksheets, play time, animals and the most important - princess dress-up clothes. I think for Erica it is just one big playdate right now. However, she was able to tell me the sound that the letter "C" makes, so I think she is learning too.


While she is gone, I spend my time working on legal stuff and taking care of Sadie. I have loved this one-on-one time with Sadie. I'm also loving the time to do a little bit of work. I love Erica, but she is ready to have a few days with friends and structure. I'm ready for a few hours to do my own thing too. Then, she is so tired when she gets home, she has started napping again. It's just been awesome is the best way to describe it. I hope it stays that way!!!

Things we've been up to this summer...

Erica starts preschool tomorrow and we are both so excited. I hope the transition goes well. Here is a smattering of pictures that describe what we did all summer. And by "summer", I mean it's what we do no matter what the season.

"Yum, this flour tastes good, mom."


"If I can't see the camera, it can't take a picture of me."


"These are all my friends. I especially like Prince Phillip."


"My favorites: gymnastics, dad's ipod and rain boots. In fact, I'm in such a good mood, I will let mom put 4 million clips in my hair."


"Gotta love jumping in the sprinkers."