Another Little Manism

Yesterday my parents, the kids, and I drove to Arkansas to see part of our family for Christmas. We told Little Man a few days in advance that we were going, and, while he wasn't sure what a trip to Arkansas actually entailed, the promise and excitement of an adventure were almost more than he could bear. Well, the trip was a good one, with family, food, and, of course, presents. A lot of fun, but nothing too exciting, nothing too out of the ordinary. Lots of time in the car. When we arrived back home, Little Man ran to his daddy (who had to stay in town to work) and said, "Daddy, we went to Arkansas, and it was fun!" Then a very confused, very concerned, and somewhat sad look came across his face, and he said, "but we didn't see any great big, giant saws."

Little Manisms

This morning Little Man said, "Mooabunga!"

As in "Cowabunga," from the Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles.

I'm guessing that he couldn't exactly remember the phrase (I'm not even sure where he heard it!), but remembered it had something to do with cows, cows say "moo"..... and thus

"Mooabunga."

Life is fun with a preschooler!

Christmas Miracle!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34583825/ns/world_news-americas/

Along with thousands of other people, I've been praying for nearly a year to see this picture. For this 5-year long battle to end on Christmas Eve....prayer is so powerful. God is so good!

Merry Christmas David and Sean!

Christmas Tree

We finally got around to decorating the Christmas tree today! The tree itself has been up, with lights, for about a week, but it's been pretty bare until today.

Little Man had a blast. He pulled every ornament out of our big Christmas Tupperware container and oohed and ahhed over each and every one. He was so excited when I showed him the little craft ornaments he made in his mother's day out class last year. He was also excited when I showed him the ornaments I made way back in grade school.

He kept saying, "WOW! This is A LOT of fun!" He said it so many times I lost count!

He liked to hook 5 or so ball ornaments together and hang them all on one branch, very unique, Little Man, and it is pretty.

He also liked to hang 10 (or 20) ornaments all clustered together and forget about the rest of the tree. So it goes with a three year old. :)

Baby Girl just liked to play with the paper from the ornament box, and occasionally pull the ornaments off the tree. She threw a few. Thank goodness I bought new, unbreakable ornaments this year.

With the tree all decorated and lit up it's really starting to feel like Christmas!

Scrooge Arrives

It's December 11th, and I'm already over Christmas.

It has seriously gotten out of control.

We already don't give gifts to the adults in the extended family, and we draw names for the kids.

Still, it's overwhelming.

There's my husband, two kids, five parents, three grandparents, a great aunt, The Husband's assistants, nieces, nephews, teachers, plus the names we drew. It comes out to 24 people. Some of those people, like my husband, kids, and parents, get multiple gifts from me. Well, not just from me, but from the family I represent. I do all the shopping, anyway.

Crazy.

Scrooge has most definitely entered my body.

I'm so over it, I'm just ready to call everyone and say, "No gifts, please."

Think I could get away with it?

Sigh, I think not.

Is it time to panic...?

I wrote this post over the course of a week, about a month ago. I've saved it, and added to it, and lumped everything together as one post. I almost deleted it, but decided to keep it, as it's about a life-changing event. Part of me wants to forget, but a bigger part of me wants to remember every last detail. I just changed my blog settings to private anyway, and unless you made note of my url and type it in, which I seriously doubt anyone did, then you can't even view my blog anyway. Let me warn you, this one isn't pretty.

Is it time to panic?

Friday, November 6

Well, maybe.

TMI alert.....

I'm a few days late.

Baby Girl has been extra fussy while nursing the past week. She'll be nursing along happily, and then will come off and just cry, like she doesn't like the milk.

Has my milk changed?

My boobs hurt.

I'm warning you, this is REALLY TMI....

The Husband and I haven't exactly been careful.

Oh my.

I keep telling myself that these are most likely normal hormonal fluctuations related to my cycle and to the fact that I'm still nursing.

Probably.

Hopefully.

Please!!

I'm not ready for another baby. I go into a panic just thinking about the possibility. I mean, Baby Girl woke up at 11 last night, then was up again at 4:30 (up as in for the day, I don't know what's gotten into her), took a 30 minute nap this morning, and then only went down for a real nap at 4:00 pm. While this is a more extreme example, her sleep habits in general are not good.

I'm completely and utterly exhausted.

I keep thinking, "three kids under the age of four."

So, is it time to panic?

I'm not sure, but when I figure it out I'll let you know.

Monday, November 9

So, it's now 3 days later. Still no news.

No Aunt Flo.

I've had varied test results. You would think that pregnancy test results would be black or white, yes or no. Apparently, after having two pregnancies and no prior difficulty with pregnancy tests, I've lost my ability to either take a test correctly or read it correctly.

This is an emotional roller coaster. Like I said, we weren't trying for a baby, are not ready for a baby, and don't know how we would manage a third child right now.

I can't even fit three car seats in my car!

However.....were it to happen we would be thrilled! We love our children so much, they bring us so much joy, that another would be such a blessing. I'm going from feelings of panic and terror to feeling overjoyed and experiencing a giddy excitement at the idea of being pregnant. Then I feel a profoundly deep disappointment when I get a negative test result. And then when the next day comes around and I need to test again, it starts all over again.

This can't go on forever, eventually (soon, I hope) one of two things will happen, I'll know for sure, and we can get on with whatever the future holds for our family.

Later on Monday Night...

Well, I finally know for sure.

Thankfully I don't feel like panicking, but celebrating!

Baby Number 3 is due in mid July! I was worried about having three kids ages 4 and under, but I will have three kids 3 and under! OMG! I am literally shaking as I write this. So many emotions, but I'm glad to say, mainly joy and excitement.

I can't wait to tell The Husband!

What a surprise, what a blessing!

Tuesday, November 10 A.M.

Bleeding. I'm in between doctors, so I had to call a new one and tell them what's going on. They said it sounds like a miscarriage, but it could also be something else and nothing to worry about. They'll see me in 4 days. Yes, I have to wait 4 days to find out. This is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever experienced. This sucks.

Friday, November 13

Finally had my doctor's appointment. She's a new doctor, and I really like her. Anyway, she confirmed a miscarriage. AWFUL words to have to hear. She said that one of two things likely happened, and while I understand the nuances of both, they both sound pretty similar to me. Anyway, either I had 1. what she called a chemical pregnancy, where an egg was fertilized, a small change in hormones occurred (causing the positive test), but then nothing else happened and my period came as usual. Or, I 2. became pregnant, but since I'm still nursing, my progesterone levels were too low to support a pregnancy past a few weeks, so I miscarried.

It all sounds so clinical. I only hear, "you were pregnant but now your not. There will be no baby."

For someone who, a week ago, was in a literal panic over the idea of a baby, I sure am upset over not having one now. It's weird, but my body probably did what it was supposed to do. I mean, it's still nourishing a baby, so it probably thought it shouldn't grow another infant right now. That's what women's bodies are supposed to do, right? Well, instead I feel betrayed by my body; I feel like it harmed my baby. Irrational, I know. Hormones and grief obviously don't mix well.

Saturday, November 14

Today is a bit better, but I think I'm depressed. The Husband is out of town. He had a fishing trip scheduled, and I didn't ask him to stay home. It's been forever and a day since he's done something nice for himself. Little Man went to stay with Grandma last night, so it was just me and Baby Girl. Let me just tell you, I have been LAZY. Well, maybe I shouldn't call it lazy, maybe it's just taking some time for myself. However, it's about 2 pm, I'm still in my pjs. Baby Girl is still in her pjs. My house is a dirty, messy disaster. I told my elderly neighbor I would bring him dinner tonight, I haven't started it. I was supposed to pick up Little Man a few hours ago, but must cook dinner and get dressed first. Luckily, I think Grandma understands.

A Few Weeks Later

A few weeks have now gone by, and thankfully I'm feeling better. I've accepted the fact that I've had a miscarriage. That now I'm part of a group that I wanted no part of. Of course, I'm still a bit sad when I think about what could have been, but being with my two healthy, beautiful, loving children is the best medicine on earth. I'm comforted by the knowledge that these types of things aren't in our hands, but in God's. He has given me immeasurable comfort over the past few days, it really is amazing what peace He can bring. He's reminded me to be thankful for the wonderful family that I have, and if and when it's ever time for more children, He will make it happen.

An addition to "Why I'm always cleaning and yet it's always a mess... "

Look what I found on my couch, just after The Husband said, "I hope he (Little Man) didn't get on the couch with his Cheeto hands."

Thanksgiving

Three Thanksgiving dinners.

No wonder I'm having trouble buttoning my pants.

Hehe, I'm not complaining, I love Thanksgiving, the more the better, I say!

As tradition in my family dictates, Thanksgiving started out on the Sunday before, at my dad's house. All my aunts, uncles, and cousins come over for the feast. We've been celebrating on the Sunday before for as long as I can remember. Our family is fairly big, and a while back it became hard for everyone to meet on the actual holiday, so we just made the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving our own special holiday. This year was special, as Baby Girl had her picture taken in my grandmother's high chair. My grandmother was an only child, and when she became a mother her parents gave her her high chair. She used it with all five of her children, and all of us grandchildren used it when we were at Memom's house. Now that there are great grandchildren running about, we try to make sure they sit in it at least once, which is not hard to do, because we actually use it, and we make sure to take a picture. I think it's sweet that we have pictures of my children eating my the same high chair that I, my father, and my grandmother used. I'm a bit sappy like that. ;)

We had a few days rest and then onto the real Thanksgiving. Back to my dad's house, for a smaller celebration with just the immediate family. My mother in law always joins us, too. After dinner we sit around the fire in the den, look through the paper, talk about Christmas wish lists for the kids, and, of course, watch football. (I could care less about football, I've tried to like it, but I guess it's just not in the cards.) Anyway, we drink a bit of wine, then coffee, and just enjoy each other's company. It's always very enjoyable.

Normally that would be the end of Thanksgiving, but this year my mother-in-law decided to buy a turkey, so a few days later she called and asked us to come over for dinner. So we did and were surprised by another feast! Oh my gosh! We don't mind, though, since we don't have Thanksgiving at our house, we never have any leftovers. Three dinners makes up for that!

What bountiful blessings we have!

Busy Bees

Whew, it's been busy around here, lately. I need to catch up on my blog, there are so many things I don't want to forget!

The kids have been keeping us on our toes, they are busier than ever! Baby Girl is walking a bit, but she still seems to prefer to crawl most of the time. She's climbing on all the furniture, the stairs, up Little Man's step stools, pretty much everything she can get to. She and Little Man have a new game, they like to take all the toy bins and dump them in the den floor. Every single last one of them. It makes for some interesting clean up before bed.

Little Man has really blossomed over the past few weeks, he is more and more a big boy vs. a baby. How did it happen so fast?! He has an amazing memory, last night he read The Husband and I one of his bedtime stories, My Lucky Day, and remembered almost every word! It isn't a short book, either! The Husband and I were so proud! He also, and this is big, gave up his paci! He's only been using it during naptime and bedtime for the last year or so, but we've been unable to wean it away from him during sleepytime. I had read about the trick where you cut just the tip of the paci away, so that it loses suction, and decided to try it. Little Man noticed right away, of course, but he still wanted to use it. He asked, "what's wrong with paci?" I told him that he was getting to be a big boy, and his paci's were getting old, too, and that after a while they just break. Then I said, "when you're pacis break that means it's time to throw them away and not use pacis anymore." Little Man agreed! The next morning he threw them all in the trash and hasn't looked back! He is getting to be so big!

On another note, I've been making lots of cakes. A few friends and I threw a baby shower here at the house, and I made the petit fours, cake, and diaper cake. It was a lot of fun, but wow, also a lot of work!

I also made a cake for mom's office Christmas party. It was my first square cake, it surprised me how difficult corners are! There was definitely a "back" to this cake! I also ran out of red and green fondant, I would have liked to have had a few more decorative touches, but since it's impossible to match colors once they're made, I just left the cake as is.

I can't forget to mention the Christmas shopping! I shopped on Black Friday for the first time ever! I was planning on getting up and hitting the stores when they opened at 5:00, but Baby Girl was up half the night, so I didn't get out until 6:30. I didn't find any major deals, but I did manage to find several little ones. Every little bit helps, right!? Plus, it was a lot of fun, I think it will be a new tradition for me.

13 Months

Baby Girl is 13 months old! Yes, I realize that I still haven't posted about her first birthday, time on the computer is a rare treat these days.


She is taking steps here and there, she mainly only walks to her momma or daddy, but she can do it!


She has a few new words: nana (banana), nite-nite, and Moo-moo (a nickname for one of our dogs.)


She's doing all sorts of cute things, the points to our noses and goes, "Ahh?" with an occasional attempt at "nose."


She copies everything her big brother does, especially giving zerberts, which is one of his favorite things to do right now.


She's a dancing queen, my parents have started calling her boogie-baby! Anytime any music comes on, from the tv, radio, or a toy, she starts dancing and waving her arms - it's so cute!


She's still not the best sleeper, oh how I can't wait until she regularly sleeps through the night. She's in her crib during the night, although if she's waking up frequently I'll bring her downstairs so she won't wake up Little Man.


She is such a flirt! My mom goes to the same grocery store as I do, and when she goes to the store the employees will say, "your granddaughter was in here earlier, she was just talking and laughing with everyone!"


She's very sweet and gives out lots of hugs and kisses, she likes to hug her baby dolls, too. She's most definitely a girly-girl {complete with attitude ;) }.

Happy 13 months, Sweet Baby Girl!

Today's soapbox...

Why don't people RSVP anymore?

I've been guilty of not rsvp'ing a few times myself, but since reaching adulthood I'm almost always curteous enough to do it. I always, always intend to do it.

I'm throwing a baby shower this weekend, along with a few friends. It's at my house (stress!).

Out of the 31 people invited, only 13 rsvp'd.

My phone number and email address were clearly printed on the invite, along with a request to let us know if you would be attending. We do have to feed you, you know.

I'm making the cake. A cute little cake that will feed about 15.

Do I need to make a whole second cake? A few cupcakes, cookies? Who knows, 13 people could show up, or 31. It's a guess.

Why, people, why??

Just call me already, aaaahhhh!!

One Year :)

Baby Girl had her one year checkup today.

She was deemed just fine and healthy, as I expected.

What a blessing!

She weighs 21 lbs 5 oz

Edit : I wrote this intending to add onto it, but of course forgot. So now I don't really remember what Baby Girl was up to on her first birthday. :( Oh well, I wrote a post about her at 13 months, guess that will have to do! Here is a little bit about her birthday, though...

After a small birthday celebration with just the four of us on Baby Girl's real birthday, we had a small family/close friends party at the house the next day. By now anyone reading this has probably noticed that I don't really post pics of the kids, so a few pics of the decorations will have to do. Everyone had a great time, including Baby Girl, who LOVED her smash cake, which was mostly whipped cream. She dug right in, smashed it around, and said, "ohhhh!" She wore a cute brown little sweater dress with stockings and a bow for the occasion. Very chic. ;)

We all enjoyed celebrating the day Baby Girl came into our lives.

We love you bunches, Sweet Girl!

Ramblings

Not a lot has been happening around here. Except that Baby Girl had her birthday - she's one! The Husband had gone back to his crazy work schedule, which means I'm alone with the kids for about 12 hours a day. We are focusing on surviving with our sanity, and trying to have a little fun while doing so, and that is taking up pretty much all of our time. Now on to the ramblings...

I witnessed my first facebook catfight last night. Oh, it was ugly. It was between two of my "friends," one of whom is actually a good friend. The other participant, who was the instigator, is more of a friend of a friend. Without going into details, the friend of a friend, whom I now call The Bully, jumped down the throat of my good friend for an innocent comment. The Bully was obviously just waiting for someone to make a comment on her status, and my poor friend was the first to take the bait. It was painful to watch it unfold, and just so unnecessary. Some people need to get a little perspective on things. Needless to say, I don't think these two are friends anymore.

I've gotten into couponing. Not just a coupon here, a coupon there like I used to, but REAL couponing! There's a blog I recently stumbled upon, My St. Louis Mommy, and she sums up all the coupon deals, and tells you how to match them up with store sales and store coupons. It's all the benefit without all the work, I love it! She gives a weekly update for Target (with links to coupons), which is where a lot of my money goes, so it's really saved us some cash. However, there is a dark cloud in my bright sky. My grocery store will no longer take internet coupons. This really stinks, because almost all the coupons SLM shares are from the internet. I had all my grocery coupons printed out, my list made, I shopped, checked out, bagged the items, and only then was I told that my coupons were not acceptable at the store. What?! Turns out they just had a rash of people forging coupons and could no longer accept anything but coupons from the paper. They wouldn't even take internet coupons from me, and the grocery store is my family's business. Frustration! Thanks, general public, for breaking the rules for your own gain and ruining it for the rest of us.

On a brighter note, I have booked a maid service to come deep clean my house! Oh joy, oh joy, oh joy!!! I've always wanted to do this, but have always been too cheap to go through with it. However, I'm throwing a fancy baby shower for one of my good friends in a few weeks, and Little Man has a school program the day before, which means I will be at the school half the day and he will come home early. Not good when I'm making/decorating a cake and hosting. I mean, the cleaning is the hardest part of hosting an event at your house. So I found a locally-owned, independent business, which uses all natural, chemical-free products, and who gave me the best price! I'm in heaven, I can't wait for them to come!

Well, I'm out of ramblings for now. :)

Why I'm always cleaning and yet it's always a mess.

First off, let's state the obvious:

1 husband, 2 small children, 2 dogs - enough said.

Now for the rest:

I've just finished scrubbing the kitchen spotless and Little Man wants a snack. He requests yogurt. Ok. Yogurt dispensed. Yogurt spilled on counter. Yogurt mistaken for finger paint.

I wash walls. With the above mentioned beings living in this house, it has to be done on occasion. Here is one reason why: Little Man was caught with his hands in his dirty, just-worked-in-the-yard shoes, "walking" them up the wall.

That's all I have for now, these incidences both happened yesterday, but I'm sure I'll have more very soon.

A lot can happen in seven years....

Seven years ago,

Me= somewhat newly single, fresh out of grad school, a few months into my first roommate-less apartment, a few months into my first real job. Life was great, I felt empowered, successful, basically on top of the world. I had been dating here and there, and truly, I was a bit disappointed in the pickings. I had actually just decided not to date for awhile, as it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I remember that I was going to visit my one of my old college roommates, she lived about three hours away. She and her boyfriend were having a party and had invited me to stay, so I went. I was supposed to come home early, because my sister was having her second annual pumpkin carving party, and, honestly, I was having such a good time at my friend's house that I almost stayed for one more day. But in the back of my mind I remembered that my sister said that one of my brother-in-law's friends was planning on going to the pumpkin party. I kind of liked him. We hadn't seen each other in several months, but the few times we met had made an impression. At the time, he was also somewhat newly single, we were both several months out of long-term, very serious (as in making plans to take the plunge) relationships, and I just felt it would be a good idea to go and see what happened.

So I went.

The rest is history. The brother-in-law's friend asked me out, and a few days later we had our first date, which was my last first date. Today is the anniversary of our first date, seven years ago.

Happy Dativersary, sweetie!

Domestic bliss... Where?!?!

There's no domestic bliss here today....I'm actually writing this tongue-in-cheek, but how do you convey that with the written word?

Anyway, today a few laughable things happened. I washed a load of the kids' clothes last night, and today, when I went to pull them out of the dryer, I was surprised to find Baby Girl's white tights in the load. I had set them aside to hand wash, or wash separately, whichever I felt more like doing at the time, but I guess they were accidentally mixed in with the rest of the clothes. It wouldn't have been a big deal except that I also had bibs in the wash. You know, bibs with Velcro. The bib Velcro and Baby Girl's thin tights didn't like each other too much. The tights looked like they had been mauled and had to be thrown away. Who knew? There's probably many little things about raising a Baby Girl that I've yet to learn.

Also today, I was mixing the fondant for Baby Girl's birthday cake, her party is this Saturday. This is the cake I've been practicing for, you know the whole reason I learned how to use fondant in the first place. Every cake so far has been in preparation for this cake. Ok, so I'm sounding a bit dramatic, but this is what I'm thinking to myself. So, I'm almost halfway through the process, and suddenly my sifter breaks. Completely breaks, I can't even really knock the sugar through by hitting the side of the sifter with my hand. So I have to make the fondant without sifted sugar. Inside, my OCD is screaming at me, "What if it's messed up? What if it's lumpy? It's supposed to be sifted!!!" I had to have a talk with myself, "Self, it's ok. It's just sugar, and it's just a cake. Seriously, calm down!" It worked, I have to say I've been doing pretty well with the OCD these past few years. (Thank goodness for that, says The Husband!)

In addition to today, a few other mishaps happened earlier this week. A few days ago, I was digging around in my trunk, and suddenly came upon a mysterious plastic grocery bag. "Uh oh," I thought, "what food did I leave in my trunk, and how bad is it going to smell?" Fortunately it wasn't food, but unfortunately it was even worse. Diapers. Cloth diapers to be exact. They were probably left in my trunk for about ten days or so. That's ten days too many, my friends. So I washed an "emergency load" of diapers and stripped the diapers, which means you do an extra, extra thorough wash with a different kind of soap. You only strip your diapers about once a month or so. (At least that's what I do.) So now I've just stripped my diapers. A day or two goes by and I wash another load of diapers. When I pull them out of the dryer I am greeted with a surprise (yes, another one!). This time it's a dryer sheet. Oh no!!! Why is that so bad, you ask? Well, fabric softener, including dryer sheets, leave a residue on the diapers, which keeps the diapers from absorbing liquid, which is what diapers are meant to do. So my diapers now leak. Great. How do you fix this, you ask? Strip your diapers, which I just did two days ago. Aarrrggg!

Somehow, I find all these mishaps to be a bit funny, which is so out of character for me. Having children has taught me a lot, and changed me for the better (I think, oh I hope!). Before kids, I probably would have freaked out at all of these incidents. Now, it's easy to just shrug it off and laugh.

Life is good!

No Jinx!

Today I gave away much of our baby gear. A spare high chair, bouncy seat, exersaucer, baby bjorn, plus some odds and ends are gone.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

No, that's not true, I feel GREAT about it! I mean, with four people and two dogs we have lots of space for unused baby gear in our just over 1700 sq ft house. Yeah, right. I mean, everything was stored away so nicely, the high chair was kept at my mom's house and the exersaucer lived in the whirlpool tub in my master bath.

(I know I'm not the only one who uses the big whirlpool tub for storage, tell me I'm not)

Plus, the gear went to someone who could use it, and that makes me happy.

Nevertheless, it was a bit hard to let it go. I kept thinking, "what if we want another baby," or, "what if we don't plan to have another baby, but one comes along anyway?" (The more likely scenario.)

Oh well, if that happens, it happens. Now my house is a bit less crowded, I have my tub back, and I was able to help someone in the process.

I just hope I didn't jinx myself.

Well, if I did, shopping for baby things is always fun!

Practice makes progress - and thank goodness for that!

Baby Girls practice birthday cake, I only hope the real thing turns out as well!

This and That About the Kids

The kids have been sleeping in the same room lately. Baby Girl goes to bed earlier than Little Man, so when she first goes to sleep it's in the pack n' play in our room. Then when The Husband and I go to bed we move her upstairs to the crib. This gives Little Man a chance to have his bedtime routine with songs and books, and lets him have time to fall asleep without worrying about waking up his sister. We've been doing this for awhile now, and it's going ok, but not great. Baby Girl still wakes up in the night on occasion, as babies often do, and she usually wakes up Little Man in the process. Two kids awake and crying in the middle of the night is NOT fun. We are persevering, however, it is really important for us to get Baby Girl OUT OF OUR ROOM! Can you tell how strongly we feel about that? So last night, as I was giving Little Man his last hugs and kisses before he went to sleep, I said something about bringing Baby Sister (that's what Little Man call her, more often than he uses her real name) up in a little while, and he responded, "Mommy, don't bring Baby Sister up here. She's gonna get me all waked up."

So cute. :)


The kids are being really sweet to each other right now. Oh, how I'm enjoying it! This is an exchange that I overheard a few days ago, when Baby Girl was fussing.

Little Man: "It's ok, Baby Sister, I'm right here. I'm not leaving for school again."

Baby Girl continues to fuss, so Little Man says in the sweetest and most comforting tone he can manage, "It's ok Baby Sister, I'm right here."

Such a good, protective big brother.


One weekend morning recently, Little Man and The Husband were on their way to daddy's office. The Husband just had to stop in for a quick minute to pick up some paperwork he accidentally left the day before. It was early in the morning, so I hurriedly got Little Man dressed and ready, and walked him to the front door. As he was walking out I asked, "Can mama have a hug and kiss?" Little Man: "Oh, yeah, " and he gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek. Then he said, "Ok, I give Mama a hug," and proceeded to give me a great big hug. I walked him to the door, then stood on the front porch and waved as he walked to daddy's car. He turned around and said, "Okay, I see you later! I be back soon!"

When did he get to be so grown up?


Today was a milestone day! When I dropped Little Man off at his parent's day out, (he goes twice a week) he walked into the classroom, ran over to the table where the other children were playing, and started to play! Most days he is very clingy to Mama, and fusses a bit when I leave. He also begs for his paci and lovey when I leave. Now lately, his teacher has been great about distracting him so he doesn't need paci and lovey, for which I am so grateful. Today, as I was about to leave, he ran over to me and he whispered, "I want paci and lovey." I just responded, "You don't need paci and lovey, go play!" And off he went, skipping no less! And no fussing, either, when I left!

11 Months

Baby Girl is at the 11-month mark, and in the final stretch of her first year. It's so bittersweet to watch her grow. On one hand I just love seeing her develop and grow. Each new day brings about some exciting new skill, or shows a bit more of her personality. Every day has the feeling of knowing that you're going to get a present, but of having no idea of what it could be. So thrilling! Like most parents, I'm sure, her growing up is also a bit sad to me. My tiny little newborn is long gone, and each day I realize more and more that her babyhood won't last forever. I know that change is good, growing is definitely good...but I still miss my tiny baby. When Little Man was this age, we were already ready to try for another baby, and it wasn't so hard to let go of his babyhood. I think this will be my last baby, however, and every fleeting second seems so precious to me. Children are such a blessing and a joy!

Here's what sweet Baby Girl is doing these days...

Pulling up on anything and EVERYTHING, a scrap of cloth, a piece of lint (wink), you name it she can pull up on it.

Cruising like a champ

Standing on her own, without holding onto anything, for several seconds

Climbing stairs - she can climb the entire length of our staircase in seconds flat. No more forgetting to put up the baby gate!

Trying to climb other things, the step stool, chairs, the other day I found her in the toy box. She had climbed in and was stuck!

Drinking from a sippy cup, just water, unless we go to grandma's house, then grandma gives her juice. Baby Girl goes insane over it! Crack for babies!

Refusing baby food, or anything pureed. Evey yogurt, which she loves. She's stubborn about it, if she can't pick it up herself, she doesn't want to eat it.

Singing herself to sleep. This is the sweetest thing! Little Man did this when he was a baby, and I've never seen another baby do it, but they hum to themselves when they're falling asleep. It sounds almost like a kitten purring, it is so precious!

Saying several words: Mama, Dada, Baba (brother), dogo (doggie), bye-bye, uh-oh, and a-oo (thank you). The fact that she says thank you at appropriate times is amazing to me, but we really encourage Little Man to use it, and I guess she's been listening.

Baby Girl also gives the best hugs, she's a very cuddly baby, just like she should be!

She still nurses. My goal was to nurse as long as I could, up to her first birthday. However, I decided I didn't want to wean her in the middle of the cold and flu season, especially this cold and flu season, which in September has already been record-breaking. So I hope to continue nursing until the Spring.

Sweet Baby Girl, 11 months old - hard to believe!

Unusually Productive

Things have been going really smoothly around here lately. Maybe it's our reward for the past several weeks when we seemed to have constant chaos for weeks on end.

Little Man and Baby Girl are getting along and even enjoying playing together a bit.

The Husband has returned to a more regular work schedule.

We've all been well lately, what a huge relief!!

I've gotten to tackle a few projects, which has cleared some of the visual (and mental) clutter around here. Thank goodness!

For instance, I have ALL my pictures from 2007 in an album. Yes, in an album. With captions and cute little stickers, almost like a scrapbook. This took about three weeks. Now I'm organizing pictures for 2008. Baby Girl was born in 2008, so we have about... 1,000 pictures. Not kidding a bit. I have most of them printed, and in a crude order, like Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. It's a great start, and after 2008 I'll tackle '04, '05, '06, and '09. Small steps, small steps.

I've also been practicing my cake decorating. Here is a picture of a cake I made for my mom's birthday this week.




She absolutely loved it and felt so special, what a great feeling!

I also tried to make Petit Fours today, I'm hoping to make these for a baby shower I'm throwing next month.

My petit four-making needs some help, these did not turn out the way I had hoped. I did, however, learn a lot from my mistakes and I think I'll have it next time. And they tasted sooo good.

A few cute tidbits about the kids:

When I have several errands to run, or drive the long drive out to my mother-in-law's house, Baby Girl usually falls asleep. This is just too much temptation for Little Man, who then tries to wake her up by repeatedly yelling "HUH" at her. So the other day it was Little Man who fell asleep, and Baby Girl who stayed awake. She was looking over at big brother, and chatting to him a bit. I guess she realized he was asleep, because all of the sudden I hear a "HUH, HUH!" No, it wasn't Little Man, it was Baby Girl, giving payback to brother. She did wake him up, too! Little Man's response, "Mommy, Baby Sister is keeping me awake!"

Little Man's speech continues to crack me up. One of his favorite words right now is "something," only he says "someping." Sometimes it's just too much!

Tonight, as I was organizing the kids' closet with their fall clothes, Baby Girl got into the Aquaphor bottle. She smeared globs of it all over her face, her mouth, her hands, and hair. Oh yeah, and Little Man's bedspread. To top it off, she was MAD when I took it away, she loved it's squishy texture. I was worried about her swallowing all that thick, greasy lotion, but a call to Poison Control calmed my nerves. Tonight, she has the most velvety skin a baby ever had.

Well, I've given the cake decorating, or more specifically, the fondant, another try! Despite the fact that I soon won't be able to wear any of my clothes for the "tasting," I'm having so much fun! Here's my second attempt at fondant:






Turned out cute! It's a small cake because I had one 9 in round in the freezer, left over from trying to motivate Little Man during potty training. So I cut two circles in it, stacked them, and then decorated. This time I bought a commercial fondant, I wanted to try one out. A lot of people who take cake decorating very seriously (very, very, seriously it would seem) say they shudder at the thought of using a commercial fondant, but this novice decorator liked it. I loved the texture, it was much smoother than the one I made, which was way too greasy and pliable. It tasted great, too, without adding any flavoring. The only drawback is it's expensive. To cover a bigger cake would cost at least $15.00, and for that much I think I'll try a homemade recipe that doesn't call for as much shortening.

I hope Baby Girl loves her birthday cake, or realistically will love looking at pictures of it when she's older! I sure am loving trying to make it!

Lost..

Wow, what a day already!

Little Man must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today, I don't know any other reason for his behavior. I made him go take a nap at 10:30 - 1. because I figured the way he was acting he must either be tired or not feeling well, and some rest could only do him good, and 2. I needed a break from him. Now he's blissfully fast asleep, and when he wakes up he'll probably be in the best mood and not really remember all the trouble he gave us this morning. The Husband went into work late today, and went upstairs to say goodbye just before Little Man fell asleep. When he came back downstairs he said, "Little Man and I had a talk. He said he's just having trouble with all this three-year old business. For instance, he wants Mommy's attention, but she's busy with this or that, or taking care of Baby Sister. And for that matter, Baby Sister is really bothering him. She always wants his toys, his lovey, or juice box, and she just won't leave him alone. He says he's bored and frustrated and just doesn't know what to do." It was really sweet the way The Husband put it.

So....now that both kids are asleep, thanks to Little Man's early nap, I'm in the middle of trying to organize all my pictures. I've let the pictures run rampant since, oh, mid-2007. And we take A LOT OF PICTURES! I have a pile about 8 inches tall for 2007, a similar one for 2008, and one already that tall for 2009. I can't decide how to organize them. An album for each year? An album for each birthday, Christmas, and vacation? Can't decide, leaning towards an album for each year, but it would have to hold a lot. We'll see how this pans out, I'm not betting I'll get this done anytime soon. ;)

Little Manisms of the day:

"Oh my goodness grief!," and "Goodness graciousness!"

Happy Monday!

We've stayed inside today, for it's been raining off and on. Just like it has been for the past week...

Anyway, Baby Girl's first birthday is fast approaching, so I tried my hand at something I've always wanted to do.

I was really happy with the results! Now don't get me wrong, my technique definitely needs tweaking, but I thought it was great for my first attempt. I need to work on the consistency of the fondant, it was a bit heavy and greasy, but who am I kidding, the whole family will enjoy the practice. :)

Other musings from today: Things I don't like hearing from my three-year old include, "Gross, Baby Sister, you have poo poo on your shirt. Where'd that poo poo come from, Baby Sister?" Thankfully, the "poo poo" turned out to be a rogue crumb from the above chocolate cake that was on Baby Sister's face, and not poo poo for real. I was about to be disgusted.

That's all for today, Happy Monday!

A Shift...

I'm happy to say that things are looking up around here. And, no, nothing has really changed, except for my perspective, I guess.

BTW, I just reread my last post, and, wow what a whiny baby I can be. After I read it I half wanted to delete it, but it is what it is, and that truly IS how I felt that day, so I left it. Judge away, if you must.

We've all been a little sick these past few days, since Saturday (it's now Wednesday) actually. All of us are on the mend except for Little Man, so I took him to the doctor today. I was worried it was the dreaded swine flu. I'm now laughing at myself for thinking that, but I looked up all the symptoms, and we had them all. We also know a few people who've had it, and may have been exposed, as they say. The only thing lacking in our symptoms was the severity. So I was kind of hoping that maybe we caught it, but only a mild case, so then maybe we had developed an immunity to it. That would be good, right? Turns out we only had one of those pesky summer viruses, no doubt brought home from Parent's Day Out by one of the kids. Mystery illness solved, and extra fluids, rest, and hugs ordered for Little Man.

Now the kids are both napping, and at the same time! A miracle, this happens maybe once a week! So I'm catching up on some "me" time. Emails, blog reading, facebooking, and now a nap. It's turning out to be a great day!

Overworked and Underpaid

Wow, so I haven't blogged in a long time, and, well, it's not without good reason. Things have been a bit rough around here lately, and I've been feeling very overwhelmed. Overwhelmingly overwhelmed. And I began this blog so I could remember the fun everyday things that happen when there are two children in the house, it's my journal, really. So I didn't want to write about the truly stressful or irritating things, or anything that was a downer. But, this rough patch has been around awhile, and I think I need to vent. First of all I feel guilty about even feeling overwhelmed, I'm a stay-at-home mom after all. I know moms who would give their right arm to be able to stay home. And in no way, shape, or form would I rather be working right now, I love staying with my kids. Part of the problem is The Husband's work schedule. He's always working. We're lucky if he gets home for dinnertime, and I don't mean in time for me to fix dinner, I mean while the kids and I are eating dinner. I think I've written about how much I dislike the dinner prep hour, we call it the Witching Hour in my house. My children both turn into little ghouls who seem to have the goals of 1. Keeping me from preparing any type of meal, no matter how early I start, 2. Driving their mama insane, 3. Driving me to drink, and 4. All of the above. So it's never good when I'm preparing dinner without another adult to buffer me from the kids' antics. Then there are the Saturdays, when The Husband goes in, promising to be home by the end of afternoon naptime, only to call in the afternoon and say he'll be home by dinnertime. Oh hell...Then by the time he gets home he's so exhausted, or has work to do on the computer, that it's still like he's not there. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not mad at The Husband, he's self-employed, juggling many hats, and just doesn't know how to stop. So I'm not mad at him. However, it is frustrating, to say the least. I feel like a babysitter/maid/cook, with no time for anything else. Getting pictures together? Forget it. Having a pretty yard? Never gonna happen. Little projects around the house? You must be joking. These are the things stay-at-home moms do with their time, right? I feel like I'm expected to do these things, and I know I want to do them. Sigh...The kids have also been getting up at night. Both of them, all night long. Little Man will get out of bed at least 10 times before 10:00, and no, I'm not exaggerating the number. Baby Girl has been waking up 3 or 4 times in the night, too. So between the two kids I'm lucky to get two hours of sleep at a time. I do not function well without a good night's sleep, much less spotty sleep for months at a time. Sigh again. It also seem like lately everything I touch seems to fail. Take my pictures for example. I've spent hours on pictures this week, made three trips to the photo store, and still don't have any physical pictures to put in the frames I've already hung. How is that, you say? I don't want to get into all the grisly details, but I'm having some major problems with my photo software, which has over saturated ALL MY PICTURES, making the color pictures too dark and the b/w pictures green. Yes, green. Nothing like green b/w pictures.

I have to say, though, that there is some good news. It's that I know that these bumps in the road aren't major, catastrophic events. So I'm overwhelmed with housework and cooking? I remind myself that I'm blessed to have a house to clean and nutritious food to cook. Overwhelmed with my kids and their behavior right now? I remind myself that I'm blessed to have kids, and that they behave the way they do because they are smart and developing right on track. Overwhelmed by The Husband's work schedule? I remind myself that I'm blessed that he has a good job that provides for his family and allows me to stay home with our children. Overwhelmed with having interrupted sleep? Well, I can't really put a positive spin on that one, except that this, too, shall pass.

The Husband thinks I'm crazy

And he may be right...

I have my quirks, I admit. I have a touch of OCD, and I don't say that lightly, it's true. I was reading a post by a blogger who was documenting the construction process of her new home, and she wrote about how a few things were really bugging her, in an OCD kind of way. I nearly choked on my coffee when I read the statement, "I like 90 degree angles." I thought, "Girl, I know what you mean!" There are a few things in my house, which we built, that drive me nuts when I think about them. Like my blogger friend, they, too, have to do with angles. To use her words about misaligned angles,

"They make me ache."

What an accurate description! I had never articulated it that way, but that's exactly how it feels. In my house, I have problems with our fireplace as well as with our pantry. The trim work on the fireplace is most definitely NOT at a right angle. The decorative fluted posts that come down on each side - crooked. I don't think anyone else has ever noticed. I sure did. Our fireplace is the focal point of the one great big room we have downstairs, and it's crooked. Not a lot, but enough that every time I notice it, which is every few days, is does make me ache a little inside.

Seriously.

Our pantry, too, is crooked. It's built out a bit, one side of the pantry boxes out the fridge and the other is a little wall that sticks out about three feet. This one seriously gives me the heebie geebies when I notice it. I mean I know there's a tool out there whose sole purpose is to make sure you are building at a right angle! Use it!

Now on to the other reason my husband thinks I crazy. I have fears. I think they stem from the same OCD-thing, but they are a bit different. For a long time, I kept most of these fears under a lid. Until I had children, that is. Nothing like motherhood to bring OCD out into overdrive! Ok, now onto the latest reason why The Husband thinks I'm crazy. Little Man and Baby Girl share a room, and it's upstairs. It's a good size room, but it has to hold a twin bed, a crib, a dresser, a bookcase, a glider, and an ottoman. Oh yeah, and toys. So, there aren't a lot of options for ways to arrange the room. So in order to make the room inviting and functional, we ended up pushing Little Man's bed against an outside wall - a wall with two windows. The head of his bed was against one of the windows. Not ideal, but our windows have great sturdy locks that his little hands can't open, so I didn't worry, and for his comfort we put pillows against the window, so it seemed to be fine...

Until one day I thought of earthquakes. I thought, "what if we have an earthquake, the window breaks, and due to the shaking Little Man rolls right off the bed, out the window, and falls onto the concrete below?!" A valid concern, I thought, I mean we do live in a seismic zone. True we haven't had a major earthquake in over a hundred years or so, but they always say around here to be ready for "the big one", just in case. So I voice my concerns to The Husband, who first looks at me as if I'd literally just dropped all my marbles on the floor and was drooling on them. He doesn't say a thing. A few days later I voice my concerns again, I just want him to say, "Yeah, that could happen, but it won't. Don't worry about it." Snort, yeah right. He pretty much tells me he loves me, but I must be crazy if I'm worried about that. End of conversation. I can see we're going to get nowhere with this. So a few months go by and I can't let my fears go (OCD!). So today, I did something about it.

I rearranged the kids' room.

There was only one other way to do it and keep all the necessary furniture in the room. So I did it. It's functional and safe...not as cute as it used to be, but I love it anyway. It just feels right, if only because I won't think about earthquakes as I'm tucking Little Man in at night anymore. One less thing to worry about, right!

I can't wait to see what The Husband will say about this when he gets home.

Thoughts from Vacation...

Here are a few things I jotted down (er, typed) while on vacation. They aren't really well thought out or anything, just a few things and feeling I wanted to remember. Here they are:

Little Man watches a lot of Noggin, and they have this song that one of the Noggin characters sings,

"We're goin' on a trip, we're goin' on a trip. duhdudhdudh.......Are we there yet, are we there yet? My excitement's getting stronger. Are we there yet, are we there yet? I really can't wait much longer! We're goin' on a trip, we're goin' on a trip!" The past two years we've sung that song to ourselves in the car, and, no, we still don't know all the words!

The beach is the most wonderful, beautiful place on Earth.

Vacation with two children is a lot harder than vacation with one child.

The Husband works - a lot - and comes home around dinner, which is right before bedtime for the kids...so he's not used to being around the kids so much. I'm having a great time watching The Husband, it's like he's in childcare boot camp. We're laughing a lot!

On our third day of vacation, The Husband went to change Baby Girl's diaper. After a minute he came back and said, "where are the diapers?" Um, ok, the diapers have been in the same place for the last three days... (on day seven he did the same thing - WTHeck! - is someone shirking diaper duty?)

Little Man is having the time of his life with his cousins, whom he hasn't seen since he was 19 months old. He's picking up all sorts of boyish behaviors - hitting, kicking, rough housing, doesn't sound great but it's been fun! (Saying he's having the time of his life doesn't even come close to describing it, he is loving every minute of this! His little personality is really sparkling right now, he's laughing, joking, being mischievous - he couldn't be happier!)

You can spend an entire afternoon at Build-A-Bear and the kids will stay occupied the whole time.

Little Man has regressed a bit with his potty training, which I expected. What I didn't expect was that he would pick a spot in the condo and "use the bathroom" there repeatedly, kind of like a dog would do. Later on during the week he gave up using the potty all together, and, after three accidents in as many hours, we switched back to pull-ups. Oh well, guess Little Man decided he was on vacation, too, and he didn't want to work (i.e. potty train)!


On day five we decided to book an extra day!! It's beautiful here, sunny, hot, breezy, warm water...heaven.

Day six and Little Man, Baby Girl, and I were getting ready for the beach (The Husband, his brother, and the older cousins went on a half day fishing trip). Anyway, Little Man decided he was afraid of "sunscream" and threw a holy living fit while I was trying to apply it. Finally I made him lay down to calm down, within two minutes he was sound asleep. Then Baby Girl fell asleep...sigh, not making it to the beach this morning.

Laundry, dishes, diapers, temper tantrums...is a mom ever really on vacation?

The Husband and I had our fifth wedding anniversary while we were down here. We went to a very nice restaurant with huge windows overlooking a marina, it was beautiful, dinner was delicious, and the company was the best! It had been a long time since The Husband and I had gone out together, it was a much-needed date!

Little Man started trying to kick in the pool, last year he was afraid and would only stay in the kiddie pool. Baby Girl, however, loved the water, and would stay in all day if we let her!

The last night my sister, another friend, and I went out to eat - no kids and no husbands - the perfect way to end a trip!

I hate packing up - hate it! I don't mind the clothes and toiletries, but DREAD the patio and kitchen packing. Somehow, this year, I did about 90% of the patio, kitchen, and clothes. How did this happen?!

The Husband told me about a conversation between him and Little Man when they were in the ocean (Little Man was very afraid of the ocean, and would scream and cry if either of his parents went in the water - he was afraid for us, sweet thing - anyway, on the last day he finally went in, and loved it!): While playing in the water with his daddy, Little Man goes, "Daddy, where's the drain?"

Most of the way home Little Man kept saying, "Are we going to the beach? I want to go to the beach!" I approve, Little Man, you have good taste in vacations! :)

...As A Doorknob

The Husband's family came in town a few days ago. His brother, brother's wife, and their three children to be exact. I'll just call them The Family for the purposes of this post. The Family has lived overseas for about eight years now, and usually visit for a few weeks in the summer. It's been a good year and a half since we've seen them this time (longer than usual), and it truly is enjoyable when they visit. We've seen them twice since they've arrived, and, well, it's seems that during this visit there is an unwelcome side affect...

I feel as dumb as a doorknob.

Now let me say that this has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with how The Family is acting. They are all sweet as can be. It has everything to do with me.

A little background...

I used to think I was smart, and I used to feel smart. It feels so nice to feel like a smart person. Anyway, I always made good grades in school, and people used to tell me how smart I was. I went to a college prep high school, took honors classes, and graduated with honors. I received a full scholarship to college, and, except for that one semester freshman year, I made excellent grades. (I had a lot of fun that semester!) Again, I graduated with honors. I was accepted into a very competitive and nationally ranked program for graduate school. They don't "give honors" in graduate school, but if they did I would have received them. Then I applied for and was offered a position in my dream job, at my dream company. I began work; I loved it and was good at it. You get the drift, I led a charmed life for a few years, everything fell nicely into place, everything went well, and the icing on the cake was that I felt smart and accomplished. This went on for a while, until I had Little Man (no offense, Little Man).

Once I had a baby, I quit my job. I stayed home. I changed diapers, watched Baby Einstein, and cleaned house. That was about the extent of use of my mental capacity. Then I had another baby. More diapers, more cleaning, more staying at home. Now don't get me wrong, I love staying home with my babies, but it has definitely sapped me of my smartness. I think over the past three years I must have lost many, many brain cells. One here, one there...a sleepless night, there go a whole bucket load. For me, I went into survival mode when I had the babies. Only the bare necessities got done. In fact, I still feel like I'm in survival mode, nine months later. Even my self talk has changed, instead of hearing complete, complex sentences, what I hear is more like this: "Must change diaper, grunt, grunt. Wipe lunch off face, grunt, grunt. Clean floor so baby no choke on dirt and leaf, grunt grunt. Feed baby milk, grunt." You get the idea.

Now onto The Family who is visiting. My brother and sister-in-law are brilliant. I don't mean that as an expression, either, they are bona fide brilliant. They also work in demanding careers that require them to use their full mental capabilities on a daily basis. What I'm trying to say is that they have many, many active brain cells. So here they come to visit, right during a spell where Baby Girl is not sleeping. By not sleeping I mean that she wakes up about 1 am every night, and really doesn't go back into a deep sleep, until about 7:30 The Next Night. So I am so, so very sleep deprived and losing brain cells at an alarming rate. I'm having a hard time solving the simplest of problems. If I had to take one of my own cognitive screenings from work I would probably fail. Dementia, anyone? So we've seen The Family twice now, and, well, whenever we see them I feel about as smart as a box of rocks. Not a very good feeling. The Husband says I'm crazy, but I feel what I feel. I'm just trying to console myself with the knowledge that my brother and sister-in-law are, above all else, really good people. They are also parents, so they know what I'm going through. Still...

Maybe one day, hopefully very soon, I'll start finding some of those much-missed brain cells...

9 Months Old

Baby Girl turned 9 months old recently, I just wanted to recap what she is doing.

• Crawling everywhere.


• Doing the "bear crawl" with her butt in the air and legs straight.


• Pulling up.


• Talking! She has 3 official words: Mama, Dada, bye-bye, plus a few that I think she's saying but I'm not 100% sure about: Nana, hi, BuBu (for brother).


• Eating real table food and feeding herself.


• Since her teeth finally came in (she had three come in at once, poor thing) she's sleeping from about 7:30-6:30.


• She has a pretend cough/throat clear thing that she does when she wants attention.


• She loves getting into her brother's toys.


• She loves trying to get into the fireplace, I think because she know she'll get picked up. She'll look at us, smile, then crawl fast as she can to the fireplace.


• Talking to herself and playing in the crib when she wakes up instead of crying.


• She's discovered books and loves to "read."


• Waving bye-bye.


• She and Little Man now take baths together and she loves kicking and splashing at him.


• She still takes two naps a day which is oh so lovely.

Here are her stats: 20 lbs even, 28 inches long. The doctor says she is doing great and is actually talking early. I think she's going to be a little social butterfly, she never meets a stranger and "talks" to and engages everyone she meets. She's still nursing and as of yet has never been to the doctor for a sick visit (BIG knock on wood).

Good Intentions...

Today I am reminded of the children's book, Why I Built The Boogle House, where the little boy says, "I had trouble, lot's of trouble."

Like most families these days, we are trying to pinch pennies wherever we can. Having one parent stay at home with the kids instead of earning an income has many advantages, but having extra money lying around isn't one of them. So we watch our spending, I cut coupons, wait for sales, etc. The Husband calls it our "Austerity Plan." Anyway....I recently cleaned out the kids' closet, which was absolutely bursting at the seams. I had a big bag of things to save, a bag for Goodwill, and a bag to take to our local children's consignment shop. I love the consignment shop, it's one of those where you drop off your stuff and they pay you cash on the spot. No waiting for the items to sell and no hassle. Also, this store is in a more affluent part of town, so I can usually find boutique clothes at super nice prices. Anyway, this morning I took a big box over there and had absolutely no intention of buying anything, I wasn't even going to browse. But the store had racks and racks of fall and winter clothes, which weren't there the last time I shopped. So, of course, I browsed... and picked up...and tried on...and ended up spending $75.00. Oh I know that sounds bad, but it wasn't. Listen to what I bought with a measly $75.00.

• black patent leather Mary Janes from Stride Rite $2.75- whoo hoo!


• a smocked Christmas outfit - $7.50!


• a Christmasy dress - $8.50!


• 2 winter dresses - $14.50


• 3 Oxford shirts (one which will match Baby Girls hand-smocked Christmas dress - not bought at the consignment store) - $17.50


• 2 huge floor puzzles that Little Man has been eyeing, I'm saving those for Christmas presents - $13.00


• Sunglasses for Baby Girl - $4.00 - not so cheap, gently used, or on sale, but she needed them :)

All of it name brand, which I care nothing about, but I like knowing the clothes will hold up all winter, and in excellent condition! With tax that adds up to about $75.00 - most definitely a bargain! Now to the "I had trouble, lots of trouble" part. Well...I wasn't supposed to spend any money, any. We just had Little Man's birthday and we're going on vacation soon, so any shopping whatsoever was a no-no. Actually, I went to the consignment store thinking I'd earn a little pin money for the week. Oh well, maybe we can keep this between you, me, and the blog.

Am I a Birth Junkie?

Ok, I'm totally stealing this, but I'm giving credit, it's from one of my favorite blogs, EnjoyBirth, who posted a link from WomanToWomanChildbirthEducaton. Looks like I'm a little bit of a birth junkie - proud of it!

Here it is, my comments are in bold and parenthesis:

With a tip of the hat to Jeff Foxworthy of “You Might Be a Redneck…” fame, I thought of a series of things that may be tip-offs that you just might be a birth junkie. (By my definition, which is, I suppose, an infatuation bordering on addiction [if not actually there] for birth and all things related to it.)

Without further ado…You might be a Birth Junkie…

• if you blog about birth (more than just your own birth for historical purposes) or if your birth story is at least two pages long


• if you failed math, but can quickly convert grams to pounds and ounces (approximately)


• if you can say “vagina” in a sentence without blushing (YEP)


• if you can correctly use “os” in a sentence (YEP)


• if you can’t remember who won any gold medals for the US in the last Olympics, but you know US statistics for maternal and infant mortality, and the national C-section rate (bonus points if you know your local hospital(s) epidural, induction, and C-section rates) — if you’re not from the US, insert your own country (SOME OF THEM)


• if you can list the mother-friendly and baby-friendly guidelines from memory, and know which hospital in your area (if any) fulfills those goals (SOME OF THEM)


• if you can recite the midwifery model of care (CAN'T RECITE IT, BUT KNOW THE GENERALITIES OF IT)


• if when you’re discussing something related to birth, you receive those polite but puzzled looks… right before your conversation partner moves away (OH, MOST DEFINITELY!)


• if you see a circle about 4″ big, and you think “that’s fully dilated” (NO, BUT I GUESS FROM NOW ON I WILL!)


• if you have birth-related artwork somewhere in your house (includes placenta pictures and belly casts, etc.)


• if you currently have or ever did have a placenta in your freezer


• if you have ever consumed placenta


• if you have a model of a pelvis, uterus, or some other female organ


• if you always keep honey sticks on hand


• if you’ve ever gone to the bookstore and hidden “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (or some other similar non birth-junkie book) and replaced it with some pro natural-birth book (HAHA- YES! AND I TELL ALL MY NEWLY PREGNANT FRIENDS UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THEY READ THAT BOOK!)


• if other women get tired of telling you their birth stories before you get tired of hearing them


• if you have a library (or would love to acquire one) of birth-related books and videos (YEP, AND I RE-READ SOME OF THEM JUST B/C I LIKE THEM)


• if you have 10 or more birth-related videos saved to your account on YouTube


• if you appear on any YouTube (any internet) video talking about birth, in labor, or giving birth (picture montages count)


• if at least half of the blogs you regularly read are birth-related (YEP)


• if someone tells you she “had to have” a particular intervention and you can come up with several alternatives that were never mentioned to her (bonus points if she doesn’t get mad or defensive) (HAVE DONE SO, BUT DEPENDS ON THE FRIEND - THE LAST THING I WANT TO DO IS MAKE HER FEEL BAD ABOUT HER BIRTH - PLUS SOMETIMES INTERVENTIONS *DO* NEED TO HAPPEN, AS I LEARNED WITH BABY GIRL'S BIRTH)


• if you refuse to play the “my birth was worse than your birth” game (I NIP THAT IN THE BUD, ESPECIALLY SINCE THAT TALK USUALLY HAPPENS AROUND PREGANT WOMEN)


• if you feel like you know your fellow online birth junkies (even though you’ve never actually met them) better than you know some of your flesh-and-blood friends


• if ten or more of your Facebook friends (or other equivalent) are people you’ve never actually met but know them through birth-related functions (blogs, email lists, etc.)


• if you’ve ever gone to a birth conference


• if you’ve ever emailed, mailed or called your state or national representatives about a birth-related matter


• if someone tells you her baby is breech and you give her names (bonus points if you know phone numbers) of chiropractors skilled in the Webster technique or people who can perform moxibustion


• if you know what counterpressure is and how to apply it (bonus points if you’ve done it) (YEP- BONUS POINTS!)


• if you know what a rebozo is (bonus points if you’ve used one)


• if you encourage your children, especially young children, to watch birth videos (I JUST LET LITTLE MAN WATCH THE BIRTH SCENES FROM "BUSINESS OF BEING BORN" AND THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD THING)


• if you can get hoarse from watching TV birth shows (like A Baby Story), because you’re yelling through the screen at the woman or her care providers (WELL, I DON'T YELL, ACTUALLY I DON'T WATCH THOSE SHOWS B/C ALL THE INTERVENTIONS RAISE MY BLOOD PRESSURE)

And finally

• if you regularly read this blog, you know you’re a birth junkie! What others can/would you add to the list?

Birthday Blues

Apparently birthdays make me crabby, or maybe it's the fact that Baby Girl is teething, and has been teething, for about 2 weeks. Yes I feel sorry for her, poor thing is cutting 3 teeth all at once. I feel sorry for me, too, since I'm the one up all night with her, and then up all day with Little Man. Can't seem to get these two to coordinate their sleep schedules. :(

My point is there's one birthday toy that I'm not in love with. In fact, I'm not sure it will live to see another day. It may somehow make it's way into the garbage can tonight....

It's one of those Matchbox toy City Blox playsets...and it's a piece of poo. Little Man has a few of these at Grandma's house, and she's a saint for putting up with them - I just don't have the patience for it. I don't know why Matchbox can't make a toy that actually works, but it seems that they can't. It doesn't do anything it's supposed to do, one side of it is constantly falling down, and other pieces are always falling off. Little Man is a little too young for it as well. I think the box was marked 3+ years, but maybe Matchbox meant the latter part of the fourth year. Whatever, all it does is cause Little Man frustration, he's cried way too much and had way too many tantrums over trying to get this toy to work for my taste. Anyway, if I'm nice it might, might go to live in the attic for a year....

or not.

We are also having a hard time using the potty today. Little Man has spent a lot of time with Grandma lately, and for some reason she's kept him in diapers while at her house. It's a little bit frustrating, but I'm not complaining, Grandmas are meant to indulge, right? Well, now that Little Man is back at home we are having a battle of wills over diapers, underwear, and the potty. He's REFUSING to sit on the potty, and throwing a fit over wearing underwear, instead he keeps asking for diapers. I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing, but I'm also being stubborn - no diapers for him, no way!

Hmmm, at least I caught up on some sleep yesterday. I fell asleep at 8:00 while The Husband was getting Little Man read for bed. Next thing I knew, I woke up and it was 11:00. I completely missed the bath, stories, songs - everything. Little Man didn't seem to mind, I think I was more disappointed than he was. Thank you, Husband, for understanding and not waking me up.

At least today's been nice. It's been an unusually cool day for July, and we've had the nicest rain. Actually, the rain's making me sleepy...

Now to muster up some energy to clean this house - company's coming over tomorrow!

Still Works...

Fist off, a little warning. This post is a bit TMI, so if you don't want to know too much, just skip this post entirely.

Now that you're completely intrigued, here we go...

Well, Baby Girl is almost 9 months old now, and except for a few lingering pounds, my body has fully recovered. Things are back to normal and right on schedule....and when I say that I'm referring to, well, you know, the little gift a girl gets each month. Thankfully it had been gone for a blissfully long time, but when it came back, it didn't feel so good. Let's not sugarcoat, it hurt.

Now, most of my close friends know that I did something a bit off the beaten track for Baby Girl's birth. I wanted a natural birth with both my babies, but when, after more than 24 hours of "slow" labor with Little Man, the doctor began a pitocin drip, I ended up requesting (begging) for an epidural. This led to more and more interventions, and several small complications that I would never wish on anyone, and I vowed that for my next birth I would be better prepared and avoid the epidural at all costs. So when The Husband and I started getting baby fever again, I started researching the Hypnobabies program. I have a degree in psychology, and hypnosis has always fascinated me, so from the start it was a natural fit and I knew I wanted to try this.

Long story short, I had a wonderful hypnobirth, no epidural, no drugs, very little pain, and a quick and easy recovery.

Fast forward to almost 9 months later....it was late at night and I couldn't sleep because of, ahem, cramping. I'm still nursing so I didn't want to take Advil, and Tylenol doesn't do much for me. I was desperate for sleep so I thought, "why not try my hypnosis?" It's important to say that I had not practiced this in a good 7, but probably closer to 8, months. In Hypnobabies, a mom is taught to instantly put herself in a deeply relaxed state (hypnosis) with a finger drop, so I did my finger drop. A mom is also taught to imagine anesthesia flowing through her body, and eventually she learns how to direct it to wherever she needs it. So I imagined my anesthesia down in my belly, and the cramping was instantly gone. Poof, 100%, completely gone. It was like magic. For some reason, even after my nearly pain-free, unmedicated birth, I was a bit skeptical. "Did this really just work, after not doing it for the better part of a year?" So I instantly brought myself out of hypnosis and, yep, that awful cramping was back. Needless to say, I did my finger drop as fast as I could, was instantly pain free, and soon fell asleep. Now I know that some will think I'm a bit "odd," and I know some people already do just because I chose Hypnobabies in the first place. I don't care, all I know is it worked during the birth when I needed it, and it's still working now.

The power of the mind is absolutely amazing!

Little Man Is Mad At Mama

Monday morning came around, and about 9:00 Little Man asked if we could call Grandma. Sure, I thought, so we gave her a ring. When Grandma answered, the first thing out of Little Man's mouth was, "I want to spend the night at your house!" Mama was surprised (Little Man, tell me these things first!) but Grandma was game, so after lunch and a nap we started packing for Grandma's. Well, when it was time to leave Little Man was feeling a little needy, and even though he knew his paci and lovey were packed away safely in his bag, he thought that he really needed them for the car ride over. So I give them to him and say, "Be careful to hold on to them, I don't want you to lose them because you'll want them for Grandma's house." Well, he held on to them until we got to Grandma's, but in his excitement at being there he threw them down and didn't pay attention as to where. So now it's about 8:30 and he's getting ready for bed. He and Grandma call to say goodnight like they always do. When I pick up the phone I immediately hear Little Man's voice, but he's not happy. There's no hello, no sweet words, instead it's this: "Where are paci and lovey, YOU LEFT THEM!" Oh, my, I was in shock for a few seconds, such an accusatory tone for a two year old to use with his mommy! He was mad at me! Well, I collected my thoughts and calmly told him they were indeed at Grandma's house, but I didn't know where, he would have to look for them. Then Grandma got on the phone, "Mama, I can't find them, either."

"Well h-e-double hockey sticks," I think. This is bad. Little Man WILL NOT sleep without his paci and lovey. We've tried and failed to wean him from them. Lovey is okay, but paci will have to go soon. Anyway, I tell Grandma that he had them when he got out of my car, so they had to be around somewhere. For good measure, though, I go out to my car with a flashlight and look around, but see nothing. I'm thinking I'm about to have to wake up Baby Girl, put her in the car (The Husband is out of town) and drive out to Grandma's house 30 minutes away just so Little Man can go to sleep. I'm mulling this over when I get another phone call. It's Little Man again, and this time he's happy. Again, no hellos or anything, but I hear an excited, "I found them!"

Oh big sigh of relief! Disaster averted! And thankfully Little Man's not mad at mama anymore!

"Where were they," I finally ask. "Oh, on the side table." Grandma says. Oh, the table by the front door, and the phone, and where Little Man usually puts his things when he walks in the door? That table? How did I know that's where they'd find them?

A Bit of This, A Bit of That

Today was one of those hodge podge days, full of errands and a to-do list a mile long. It started out by me washing baseboards. Yep, it was at the top of my to-do list. Not my "I want to do" list, but my "must do" list. So I spent the better part of the morning, and part of the afternoon, washing the baseboards, the trim to the doors and windows, the doors themselves, and the walls in the high traffic areas (pretty much all our walls). Before kids, this was something that was done on a somewhat regular basis, every other month or so, and since there were no messy kids around, it was pretty easy. Since kids, well, um, it's been awhile. Funny, that when you need to clean more than ever, thanks to a toddler who is somehow able to smear food and put greasy hand prints everywhere, you have less time to actually do so. But now it's done and the house looks so much better. It had reached the point where it still looked and felt dirty even after I vacuumed, mopped, and dusted, but now, thankfully, it's CLEAN!

Also on the list today was cleaning the blinds. I HATE to clean blinds, it's so tedious. Today I kind of cheated, but it worked, because they look good. I sprayed the heck out of them with Pledge, wiped them down, flipped them over and did the other side. I even decided to hit the blinds in the master bedroom, which are covered by curtains, so they usually get skipped. I thought since they were covered up they wouldn't be dusty. Oh my, how wrong was I. I can't believe The Husband and I weren't perpetually sick from the thick layer of dust on them. And the curtains. I'll be honest, in the three years that they've been hanging I never, ever thought about cleaning them. I didn't grow up in a house where a lot of cleaning took place (sorry mom), so sometimes I just don't think to do some of the deep cleaning/spring cleaning stuff. The top of the curtains had a good 1/2 inch of dust on them, it was so gross. I thought I'd just wash them, but they are silk, and the tag on them said dry clean only. Well, forget that, I thought. I threw them in the dryer with a wet washcloth and a dryer sheet, turned it on air dry and let them tumble for a bit. They came out looking and smelling great, and thankfully still the right length.

Then it was off to run errands with Baby Girl. I had worked up a big thirst and we were out of diet coke. Water and iced tea just wasn't cuttin' it, I needed that carbonation to hit the back of my throat. We were also out of ice cream for The Husband, which is a big no-no in my house. The Husband eats ice cream every day, and sometimes gets a little cranky if he runs out. Yep a trip to the store was a must.

About that time Little Man came home from an outing with Grandma, so my little OCD cleaning spree had to stop. Poor thing was in a rare mood. He didn't get a nap during the day, Grandma tried but something would always distract him. After a few time outs and temper tantrums he ended up getting put to bed at 7:00, about and hour and a half earlier than usual. Still, he passed out almost immediately, sweet baby.

Tomorrow he goes to school, I think I'll tackle the windows!

{ I can't believe I just wrote a boring post about cleaning, I think I may need some excitment in my life ;) }

We've Recovered...

After the whopper of a Friday we had, I was a little worried about what the weekend would bring. The Husband was planning to help his mom all day Saturday, and they didn't need any rowdy kids tagging along. Meaning, I was going to be alone with them all day.

Dun, dun, dunnnn...

However, the weekend went wonderfully. Things have been a little crazy around here lately. Baby Girl has recently started crawling, and Little Man is having a hard time dealing with it. I don't blame him, as her favorite place to crawl to happens to be wherever Little Man and his toys are. Sometimes it's just too much for an almost three year old to handle. So The Husband and I decided that Little Man needed some one on one time with his mommy and daddy and we planned a date. My parent's are always drooling over the idea of babysitting, so we called them over at the last minute to watch Baby Girl while Little Man, The Husband, and I went out for the night. First off, out to eat at Jason's Deli, where Little Man can ignore his entree and eat chips, fruit, pickles, and ice cream to his heart's content. He can also get a little rambunctious, as at 6:30 on a Saturday they are practically empty. Good times for a preschool boy.

After dinner was the main attraction, a trip to the zoo at night! Now the kids and I are frequent visitors to the zoo, but The Husband has only been once since he became a daddy. So Little Man got to show his daddy all his favorite exhibits, the farm, the elephants, the giraffes, the playground. We also went wading in the zoo's little model river, and it was precious to watch Little Man dance, laugh, show his sweet smile, and have a fabulous time in the water. It was a fun night, we were all silly and cuttin' up and had a great time together. It made us realize that alone time with mom and dad is a must. It also made us feel a little bad that it took us eight months to figure this out, but hey, we're learning.

Sunday was a lazy day. The Husband left in the early afternoon for a business trip, and the kids and I packed up a ton of gear and went swimming at a friend's house. This is my old friend (we're talking from junior high, here), and she only comes in town once a year, so we really enjoy our visits together. It was a wonderful night by the pool with my kiddos, a good friend, and her family. As her dad said just before we left (I'm paraphrasing, but you'll get the idea), "You were coming over here when you were in high school, and now you're bringing your children over here to play. All the little ones have such a good time together, it's what life's about, good friends and family." Couldn't have said it better myself.

Temper Tantrums

The kids are both asleep, a little early, but it was either early to bed or locked out of the house on the front porch. Yes, it was one of those days. Hmm, that doesn't quite convey the kind of day we had, maybe this will help convey how I feel: it was ONE OF THOSE NON-STOP, CRYING, FUSSING, ACTING OUT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY GIVE ME FIVE MINUTES OF PEACE kind of days.

By the way, I'm just kidding with the front porch comment. It's a good fantasy, though.

I don't really want to go into details, but here's just a little bit of our day.....

I pick Little Man up from Parent's Day Out. As soon as he sees me he runs, not too me, but outside. Now I'm a few minutes late, so I know he's had ample playground time, but oh well, a few minutes outside won't hurt us. Well, when it's time to come in, he doesn't want to, so he runs, then screams, then throws a holy living fit right there on the playground for all to see. Nice..

We we have to go to Target, which is not far from Little Man's school. As we're rolling around the store, Little Man sees a plastic dump truck, and enthusiastically says, "I want that!" Well, little does he know that there's already one in our attic, just waiting for his birthday. So when I say, "Not today, honey," he throws another fit, right in the middle of the store. Turns out it was the first but not the last fit he would throw in Target today.

So we finally made it home and all was quiet for about an hour. Then I started dinner. Let me just say, I really, really, really dislike the dinner prep hour. I call it the witching hour. The kids are tired, a bit hungry, and mom's attention is on making dinner, not on them. Often a recipe for disaster, right? Well, tonight was no different. As soon as I got things going on the stove, Baby Girl woke up from a short nap. Then Little Man said he had to go potty. While I'm getting him on the potty, Baby Girl crawls over to the very full dog water bowl and tips it, sending about half a gallon of water over the floor, and giving her chin a pretty big wallop. Baby Girl begins to scream. Little Man decides to get off the potty and put his pants back on. A few minutes later he uses the bathroom in his pants. I could go on, there were two instances of Little Man hitting and/or stepping on Baby Girl, another potty accident, and all this happening while I'm trying not to burn the house down while cooking dinner.

So, I decide we are going to have an early bath, sometimes a nice, warm bath can change a bad attitude into a good one. About this time, The Husband calls and says he's swamped and won't be home until seven. I know what this means, he's notoriously bad about estimating how long it will take him to wrap up work, and I'll be lucky if he's home by eight. I won't pretend that I was nice to him, because I wasn't. Anyway, I'm about to put the kids in the tub when I remember that Little Man pooped in the bath last night. Yes, that's right, pooped right in the tub, and all of two minutes after I pulled him off the potty to get into the tub. So I go find the bleach and give the tub a good cleaning. During this the kids are going wild and, well, I'm losing my mind. Then, it happened.... I threw a tantrum. I'm not proud of it, but I had had enough. I actually balled up my hands, stiffened my arms, threw back my head, and screamed. Just like Little Man does. Actually, I did it twice. It felt kind of good. It's amusing, too, because we have relatively thin walls, and I could hear my neighbors outside. If I could hear them, they could hear me. Oh, well, they're parents, I'm sure they understood.

Wow, I said I wouldn't go into details, but trust me, I could have written much, much more.

Early or not, now I'm going to bed.

The Bed is a Dangerous Place To Be..

I think I may need a sign hanging across my bed,

WARNING: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Usually my bed is my sanctuary. I love my bed. It's so soft and cushion-y, the sheets smell so good...

It was not so much a sanctuary, today, however.

It started about 4:00 this morning, when Baby Girl awoke. None of my usual tricks for soothing her worked, so I did what any sleep-deprived mama would do. I put her in bed with me, snuggled close, and let her nurse to her heart's content. Soon, we were both sound asleep. About 5:30 or so, I woke up just a little bit, Baby Girl must have been moving around, because out of nowhere my hand shot out and grabbed Baby Girl as she started to roll off the bed. Way to go mama instinct! I was mostly asleep, with my eyes closed, and still managed to grab Baby Girl as she was headed for a fall. The good news is that I broke her fall a bit, but, sadly, she got a good, solid hit by the nightstand on her way down to the floor. So Baby Girl, understandably, was crying. I assessd... she's okay... but she has a little bump and bruise on the side of her face. It could have been much worse, and she soon calmed down, so we tried to go back to sleep. Only Baby Girl would have none of it. I can't blame her, as she was just rudely awakened with a big ouchie to the head and an unceremonious fall to the floor. So we stayed awake until about 6:30. (did I mention that I didn't go to bed until midnight?) Finally, she managed to settle down and sleep, only to wake up again about 7:30. Now as any mama knows, when you wake up at 7:30, you better stay awake, or chaos will soon descend on your house in the form of children who are more awake than their mama. But I was so, so tired. So I gave Baby Girl the remote control, which she loves to play with, and closed my eyes for a few more minutes of blissful rest, until....WHACK! Instant, hot pain right in between the eyes. I was too stunned and hurt to make a sound, cry, breathe. She hit me with the remote and my word it HURT, HURT, HURT! A few minutes passed, and after I collected myself I looked in the mirror. Everything seemed okay, there was just a little red spot. I'm thought to myself, "I must be a wimp, because this sure hurts a lot worse than a little red spot.." And, well, guess what? A few hours later I looked again and saw the beginnings of two black eyes. Lovely...Actually it is a bit lovely. Thankfully they aren't "OMG, what happened to you?!" black eyes. Instead, they're a bit sultry and smokey. A little sexy, I guess.


I know one thing, though, for the sexy look I'll take makeup over this any day.