Telling the Girls

This is the second of a 4 part story. For part 1, please click here.

When I called DH from the doctor's office, I knew he would be in his morning meeting. I left him a message and told him I'd be home around 10am, and to call me as soon as he could. He called around 10:15am and was already in the car on his way home. I have never been so thankful for him.

When he got home, I filled him in on the details. He choked up when he asked if they could tell if it was a boy or a girl. I told him it was too soon to tell. He asked if there was anything we could have done differently. I told him no, and even though I know it's true, I had briefly thought, except maybe if I hadn't worked out Saturday, or if I hadn't let myself get so stressed. But part of me had wondered last week if we were trying to force something that wasn't meant to be. The OB had even said that sometimes when our hormone levels are low, it's just our body needing a little help. But sometimes they are low because our body is trying to resolve something that's not going to work on its own.

DH and I sat on the couch, holding hands and leaning on each other. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him cry. I was a little surprised that he had gotten so attached so quickly. And so, so very thankful that I wasn't going through this alone.

I had texted a friend who has been through this - a couple of times, unfortunately -  to ask her what she had told her girls as they had been around the same age as ours with her last loss. She called me as soon as she had a break at school. It was wonderful to hear her voice and advice. She told me it would suck for a long time. Then it would get better. Then August would come and DH wouldn't understand why I was upset. I would tell him because it was the baby's due date, and he wouldn't get it. And I told her that's when I'd call her. Though, after how emotional he was today, I might be surprised by him again when that time comes.

He went to pick up the girls at lunchtime. By then I was able to be calm. While we were eating, I told them we had some sad news. We weren't going to have a baby after all. S asked why. I told her that it just wasn't the right time. I was prepared for her to be upset, but I should have known she would just want to know more. She asked me where the baby was, how it got out, couldn't it just stay there and start growing again when it was ready, etc. Thankfully, she wasn't as upset as I had feared. She's definitely disappointed, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

After lunch we all napped. When S got up, she wanted to play with the neighbor boy, P. DH took her outside and chatted with P's parents while they were on the swing set while I stayed in and waited for Baby R to wake up. Apparently, S told P that we weren't going to have a baby anymore. He said, "What happened to Baby R?" Leave it to kids to bring the funny to a seemingly humorless situation.

Rockin' The Bump

Shell at Things I Can't Say thought it would be fun to post pics of our preggo bellies. Too fun! I was digging through ones that were about four years old and found these:

Me with two girlfriends who were due within weeks of me.

Me in the nursery/spare bedroom. I think I was 36 weeks here? 

Dad and me comparing belly sizes the day I went in to be induced.

And not to be left out, of course I had to find a few from about a year and a half ago:

S and me on Halloween. My bump is sort of camouflaged here.

Dad and I had to reenact our belly pic. I think I won this round!

Check out the others in the link-up on Shell's site!

The One Where Our 3YO Threw Up the Devil Horns.... At Church

Baby R has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. She started climbing up on the sofa the week before Easter, I just forgot to mention it in my last post. She also started saying, "K." So conversations with her now go like this:

"Baby R, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Please don't put your fingers in your milk."

"K."

She makes the sign for "sleep" and says, "Seeeeep."

"Baby R, are you ready for your nap?'

"No!"


Then she said her first three-word sentence: "I want cake." That's my girl. She said it at DH's bday celebration which was the Saturday after I got sick. I had started to feel better by my last post, but by that Friday night, I could tell I was getting an ear infection. I asked him if we could reschedule. He suggested asking his mom if we could have it at her house. That was a huge relief. At 3am, the pain in  my ear was so excruciating, it woke me up. About 15 minutes later, S woke up and had a big tantrum. It was awesome.

Saturday, we picked up a store-bought cake and went to DH's mom's. I ended up going to urgent care after and getting a Z-pac. Hallelujah! Poor hubs - a lame bday, that's for sure.

Sunday, Baby R started pulling on her ear. Sigh. Luckily she made it through the night ok, and I took her to the ped Monday morning. Ear infection for her, too. :(

The next weekend was Mother's Day. I left DH's family's get together up to him and his sister. Which resulted in it being at our house on Saturday afternoon. Which was fantastic since we've been sick for the last month so I hadn't cleaned. And I didn't find out until Thursday night. And I had tickets to the ballet Friday night. Which meant I only had Saturday to clean like a mad woman.

Sunday we picked up my parents and met my sister and BIL for brunch in a suburb about halfway between our house and my BIL's family. It was nice, but the girls were antsy after the 45 minute car ride, so I spent most of the morning chasing them around. So Mother's Day weekend was pretty much just exhausting.

One day last week it was raining when we got in the van. I turned the rear wiper on, and S noticed it for the first time. "Mom, you have TWO wipers? That's genius!"

Last Thursday I got home from work and Baby R had a black eye. DH said there was some discrepancy as to how she had gotten it - whether she had fallen on her own or had a little help from big sister - but she'd fallen into the corner of one of the desk drawers in the kitchen. Poor baby!

Friday night was S's preschool Spring Show. The teacher said they didn't have to dress up, but I thought S might want to. When she got home that day, I asked her if she wanted to change out of her shorts jumper into one of her dresses. She didn't. It had gotten cold, so I suggested at least changing into some long pants. Nope. She just wanted to wear her winter coat (not her spring one that would have been sufficient). She was wearing one pink sock and one white sock, and shoes on the wrong feet. I asked if she might be more comfortable if she put her shoes on correctly. She liked them that way. So freaking cute.

So we went to the show. All the grandparents came as well as my older sister. The kids counted, did an alphabet song, a colors song and then played a song on the bells. Then they did a little play and we watched a slide show of photos from the year (tears!). It finished with getting little caps and diplomas and having a cookie cake. So fun!

My BFF since 4th grade is her teacher and she is a-ma-zing. Here are a couple of pictures of projects they did this year:

Dragon for Chinese New Year

Piggy Bank from Mini Water Bottle

Mother's Day Gift: "Flower" Handprints on Bendy Straws

Yesterday, S and I went to our church for the first time in about six weeks since we've been sick and spent Easter at my sister's. We were singing during worship time and, as usual, she was dancing around. Then all of a sudden, I realized she was holding up her little fists with her pointer and pinky fingers out like Daddy had shown her to rock out. We've never referred to to it as "throwing up the devil horns" to her, but all I could think was, "Please don't let anyone else think that's what it means!"

Friendship in a Bottle

When I was a kid, we didn't go on vacations. Don't get me wrong - we took trips every year. My grandma lived in Manitoba, so we went to visit her once or twice a year. And when I got older, we went out of town to dance competitions for me, band competitions for my sister and occasionally accompanied my mom on work trips. There's only one time I can think of that we went on a trip that had no purpose other than just to relax. I was about five. We went to Arkansas, and the hotel we checked into had bed bugs and our car broke down on a Sunday (back when NOTHING was open on Sundays). So when one of my best friends asked me if I wanted to go skiing with her family over spring break my junior year of high school, I was freaking ecstatic to go on a REAL vacation!

Another of our best friends, E, was headed to California for spring break. She was originally from there and was headed back to visit family and friends. She and I made a deal that I would bring back some snow for her, and she would bring back some sand for me. A silly idea, but one we both followed through on. I carefully kept my cup of snow from spilling on the ten-hour drive from Keystone to Kansas City, though it had melted long before we had passed the "Leaving Colorful Colorado" sign.

Back home, E and I got together to talk about about our trips and trade souvenirs. I clearly got the better end of the deal since the sand didn't melt. For awhile, I just kept the beige crystals in the Ziploc bag she'd used to transport it home on the plane. Then I found an old, empty liquor bottle my parents, who rarely drink, had kept because the glass was cut in a beautiful pattern. I filled it up with the sand and put it on my vanity in my bedroom.

It stayed there, or on my chest of drawers, for the next 3.5 years until I moved away to college. (That spring break trip to go skiing? Made me fall in love with the Rocky Mountains. I ended up going to Colorado State. And not skiing once while I was there since I was a poor college kid. But I digress...)

On moving day, I had to cram everything I needed for 9 months into my blue '88 Oldsmobile Cutlass and leave room for Dad and me in the front. Only the necessities could come with me. I hemmed and hawed, changing my mind about what could stay and what could go many times. I expected some homesickness so I wanted to take photos and memorabilia, as well as stationery to write letters (I didn't know what email was quite yet). The bottle of sand made the cut. I used it as a door-stopper in the dorms, and later, hung leis and beads on it in the sorority house.

By now, E had decided to move back to California. We still talked on the phone whenever we had extra minutes on our phone cards, and wrote letters and emails to each other, though the frequency lessened with time.

When I left Ft. Collins and came back to Kansas City for a job, the sand bottle traveled back with me. It returned to it's original home on the vanity in my old bedroom while I stayed with my parents for a few months until I could afford to move into an apartment. There, it was useful again as a doorstop. The next year, I moved into a duplex, and it managed to survive my single life in a house with two boys and lots of parties.

A month or two before DH and I got married, we moved my stuff into his house. By then the bottle of sand was a part of me. I didn't even think about it anymore; it was just always there. We had a tiny house; the space on shelves and dressers was limited, so I defaulted to using the bottle as a doorstop again. DH tripped on it repeatedly, and finally asked me to move it. I put it in the basement with the majority of our belongings for decorating the bigger house we would move into "someday."

Someday came almost two years ago. We unpacked, and I saw that bottle of sand. Like E, though I hadn't seen it in a long time, I hadn't forgotten about it. It returned to my life as any old friend does, as though it had never left.

Hospitals, Holidays and Hunts, Oh My!

Man, you'd think after my last post, I'd have something more positive to say! Unfortunately, the next day my Dad had his Pacemaker put in. Here's a summary of the last couple of weeks:

4/15 - Mom & Dad's anniversary; Dad had a Pacemaker put in so spent the night in the hospital. Mom spent the night at our house. They sure know how to celebrate!


4/16 - Mom woke up and was confused about where Dad was. I think because she didn't take her pills the night before and woke up somewhere odd. Baby R got pink eye. DH's BFF had a party (just because; NOT to celebrate his 40th bday). They live 6 blocks away. It was nice out, so we walked there. It took us about an hour because we ran into and chatted with neighbors who were also enjoying the pleasant weather. After the party, we stopped at one of the neighbor's and sat by the fire pit for awhile.

4/17 - Went to my friend's daughter's 5th bday party. Scooby Doo-themed! Super cute decor. Check it out here: Not A Short Order Cook

4/18 - Playdate at our house which we had to have entirely outside since I hadn't finished disinfecting the pink eye zone, ie, our whole house. That would have been fine had the weather stayed as warm as it was supposed to, but of course, it didn't. Still had fun.

4/19 - S's parent/teacher conference. Seriously? Conferences already? So cute! She's doing an excellent job (of course). My BFF is her teacher and she started by saying that the assessment wasn't very accurate because the first day of school S wouldn't even talk to her, so she couldn't accurately gauge her abilities. I told her that just makes her look like an awesome teacher since S can now complete 95% of the testing elements!

Unfortunately, that night S had a fever and was throwing up. Around 2am, she said her neck hurt. I panicked and dug through my childcare books for meningitis info. Told DH we needed to take her to the ER. Decided to text my friend who is a nurse and works night shift to see if she was awake. Thankfully she talked me down, and we avoided a run to the hospital for a spinal tap. Disaster averted. But not until after I had tormented poor S by making her try to touch her chin to her chest a dozen times, turning on the lights to see if she was sensitive to them (DUH - she'd been asleep!), and a few other things that all people (especially 3 YOs) want to do in the middle of the night.

4/20 - I subbed on my vball team (took spring off since my rotator cuff had been bothering me) which was fun. Until the next day when I was SORE...

4/23 - Neighborhood egg hunt at the elementary school by our house. The girls were very cute. Though poor Baby R kept losing her shoe.

I asked S what she thought we should get Daddy for his bday present. What did she think he would like? She thought about it for a minute, then said, "I think Daddy would really like a new car." True dat! "That's a great idea, honey, but that's just too expensive. What else do you think he might want?"  She said, "Ummm, a new house. With lights!" ??? Like ours doesn't have lights?

4/24 - Easter! We went to church with my sister, D; it was her request since it was her 50th bday. I was happy to oblige. Of course, DH was a pain about it, but the girls actually went to Sunday school which NEVER happens. It was an interesting service. I will have to post about it in detail another time.

After church we went home and had lunch and the girls took naps. Right before naptime, S came to me with a chocolate candy that was the shape of baby chick popping up out of an egg. She said, "Mommy, I really think I need to eat this now because he might get out of the box while I'm sleeping and run away." She knew she was full of it; a little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. I told her, "Honey, I think if he was going to escape, he would have done it while we were gone to church. He'll be fine while you nap." But she wanted to tape the edges shut. So, of course, we did.

Then we were off to hang out with DH's family where the girls did another egg hunt. And got more candy. That we stole discreetly hid.

4/25 - On my way home from work, I started to feel yucky. DH and the girls were at his BFF's as we had been invited over for dinner, but I skipped it and went to bed. That night I had a fever, chills, body aches - S's disease from the week before. BLECH. I felt like I'd run a marathon then been beaten. ALLCAPSAWESOME.

4/26 - Home sick. Fourth day off work in 2 weeks. Sigh....

4/27 - Still felt like crap, but HAD to go to work, and since my fever was gone, went. Too wiped out to fix dinner, so sign me up for Mother of the Year - I got McD's for the girls on the way home. Baby R was cracking me up - she dipped her fries in her milk. I had to text a pic of it to my sister, J, who did that with her frosty when we were kids.


Later that night, S and I had this conversation:

"Mommy, where did you get that ring?"

"Daddy gave it to me."

"Why?"

"Because he gave it to me when he asked me to marry him."

"Why did he want you to marry him?"

"Because Daddy wants me to be with him forever." (Daddy was muttering under his breath something about forever being a long time. He was in the next room so I don't think she heard him which was good, but I couldn't kick him in the shins, either.)

"A ring is a circle, and a circle goes on forever, and so he gave me this ring to show that's how long he wants me to be with him." (Seriously, I had to keep repeating "forever" for his benefit at this point.)

"Can I have a ring?"

"Someday after you graduate from college, and you live on your own, and you meet a man you love and want to be with forever; he'll give you a ring."

Slam dunk! Well, she stopped asking questions anyway. 

Today I lost my voice. Like, completely. I don't know that I've ever been without a voice so definitively. But I can still type, people. Clearly. Since this is an uber-long post because I've been slacking and have to include it all in one.

So I emailed DH this: 

You'll be happy to know that the "mute" function is in full-effect.
My voice is totally gone now.

(He's always joking he wished the "mute" button on the TV remote worked on me. Yes, he's hilarious, isn't he?)

His reply:

Sweet, just in time for my birthday.

Weekly Report

This week has, well, sucked. Last Friday, there was a thunderstorm, so S spent part of the night in bed with us, and when she wasn't there, I was up with Baby R. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep.  Saturday, the girls would NOT nap. I was so tired, I was screaming at S and crying. DH told me to go somewhere - anywhere - and take a nap. I went to my parents' house for an hour. Work has been fairly horrific; all three of my clients have had serious problems this week, and my vendors have not been paid so I've been struggling in the middle to pacify everyone. (Not to mention I was having bad dreams about a confrontation I needed to have with a co-worker). The girls haven't slept well, so I'm still tired, so I haven't done anything productive around the house, so it feels overwhelmingly messy. Blech. I just haven't had the energy to contribute to the blog like I should.

Enough whining, let's hear what fun things the girls have been up to!

Phone Call

S: Hi, Mommy!
Me: Hi, sweetheart! How was your day?
S: It was good!
Me: Did you take a nap?
S: Not really.
Me: Did Sissy take a nap?
S: Baby R, did you take a nap?
(DH in the background - "Tell Mommy you need to learn the value of sleep.")
S: Mommy, I need to learn the value of sleep.

Words

S said she wants a "fancy, cool, new thing." ???

Baby R's vocabulary is exploding. She talks about "bubbles" when she wants to wash her hands in the sink, ie, play in the bubbles. She holds a finger to her nose and says "Choo" for tissue. She says "uh-huh" in a cute, little high-pitched baby voice. So adorable; the cuteness kills me every time. And this week, her new favorite word is "No."

We have a dimmer switch for the light over our kitchen table. S likes to turn it down so we can have "moon lighting". :)

Friends

The neighbor boy who S plays with often is gone on vacation this week. She made a card for him and told me we need to get it to him so he will remember he loves her. I asked her if she loves him, and she said, "We'll figure that out tomorrow."

The other night S was dreaming and called out for me. I went in and asked her what was wrong. She said, "P and I made a mess." I told her not to worry about it; we'd clean it up in the morning. :)

Growing Up

Sunday, I got R down for a nap, and all was quiet as DH had already fallen asleep to NASCAR. I was lying on the floor in S's room (she's back to sleeping on the floor again), and she sat up suddenly and said, "Mommy! I'm NEVER taking a nap AGAIN! Number 1, because Baby R keeps me awake. Number 2, because Daddy is too loud. Number 3, because Baby R wakes me up. Number 4..." At number 4, I couldn't hold it in anymore and started to giggle. S tried not to smile but did and threw herself back down melodramatically. I told her, "Sweetie, Baby R's asleep. Daddy's asleep. No one is making noise now but you." Though I'm not ready for it, naptime is on its way out of her schedule.

S yesterday morning on the way to daycare re: streets we took: "When I was a kid, I didn't know which way to go." Good thing you're so grown up, now!

What's a Hoppenin', Hot Stuff?

Quite a bit, Long Duk Dong, thanks for asking. I haven't done an update for a few weeks, so here it is.

Random Thoughts 
Sam listens to music at bedtime. We started with classical, then Enya, but in the last year, she's wanted something different, so we've played soft rock/classic rock/folk music; The Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, etc. Lately it's been Journey or Kansas. She heard a Journey song on the local adult contemporary station and recognized it. She was sooo excited about it.

Speaking of local radio, a new station called "GenX Radio" started last fall. LOVED it. They played music from the last 4 decades in most genres - classic rock, rap, pop, alt rock, ska, adult contemporary, current top 40, hair bands, hip hop, hard rock, etc. They went off the air last week. So sad!!!

S seems to think people on TV can see her back. She will wave at Big Jay and yell to him. Though, that may be because Daddy yells at the Jayhawks to play better. Maybe she thinks he thinks they are listening to him. **Aside: The upset loss to VCU was just that - upsetting. :(

Baby R had a tantrum and knocked the open Cheerios box off the table, spilling half of it. I picked it up and put it back on the table, then proceeded to knock it off myself and spill bunch more. "Son-of-a-!" Stopped myself. Then S said she'd help me sweep up. So SWEET!

St. Patrick's Day night (the awful day when I had to get the girls from my parents' house), S said she would be good and wouldn't cry when I left her the next morning. I was glad she was kind of getting it, but sad that it was even an issue.




Out of the Mouths of Babes a Preschooler
"Mommy, I'm getting so big! My head is past the top of the chair!" (Yes, S, you're growing up too fast.)

S singing a lullaby: "Go to sleeeeep baby Jesus so you can grow up big and stroonnggg. And be a tap-dancing horse."
???

"I make the rules." Um, no.


"It's not necessary." (S to me regarding her sister's behavior.)

"I don't need a big surface." (S in reference to how big the TV screen needed to be for her to watch Cars.)

"Mommy, I was just wondering..." (Dramatic pause as if a huge question was about to be asked - Where do babies come from? Can we get a dog?) "...if you could open this?"

Back on the rule thing, last week I wasn't feeling too hot, and I said something about it to S. She said, "Mama, Rule #2: Responsibility." WTH??? I asked her what that meant. She said, "You can't put me to bed if you're sick because I'll get your germs." Ok, but what's with the rules, who's rule is that? Preschool? Daycare. "Mine." (DUH!)

• • • • • • • • • • • •

I think I've figured out the horse comment. When the girls go to DH's parents' house, his dad tends to show them video clips from YouTube. Last time I picked them up they were watching a high school that had sang a song while doing everything backwards. Anyway, apparently there was a cartoon called "Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse". I'm guessing they watched it online or something. S also sings Train's "Soul Sister" all the time now from watching the video there.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

This Week
S has pink eye.  Monday at supper, I noticed some icky goo, and wiped it away with a hopeful heart. But when I put her in the bath and it was back, I knew it was a long shot that it was just allergies. So when I put her to bed, I told her I thought that's what it was and if it was bothering her to let me know and I'd bring her a warm wash cloth to put on it. In the morning we'd go to the doctor and get some medicine to make it better. I also told her that her eye might be matted shut because if that happened, I didn't want it to freak her out and for her to force it open which would hurt. But telling her that kicked her into worry mode, and she didn't sleep well that night.

Thankfully my mom was able to go to the ped's office with me Tuesday to wrangle R who escaped the exam room once, and was more whiny than the patient. We got home, and though I knew the eye drops would be a struggle, I hoped it would go ok. Not so much. Had to pin her down. It. Was. Awful. I told my mom I didn't know if I would be able to do that 13 more times.

I was supposed to go to a dentist appt Wednesday morning, but since I had to keep S quarantined for 24 hours from when the first eye drops were administered, I had to reschedule for Thursday. Since S had preschool, my parents were kind enough to come to our house in the morning, then drop her off for me. (We are SOO lucky to have them to help with the girls.) I picked S up from preschool at lunch time and then we got Baby R and my parents from our house, and headed to theirs. I told S she could have Chick Fil A if she would let me put an eye drop in without a fuss. Didn't happen. Went back to work after several unsuccessful attempts and an almost 2 hour lunch break. Good thing my boss is awesome.

Then there's Baby R. She's been waking up in the middle of the night in full-blown tantrum mode the last two weeks. I thought it was teething, or her cold, but it's been every night except one. Last night was awful. I got up with her at 2am, changed her diaper, got her ibuprofen in case it was her teeth, gave her a drink of water and rocked with her for a few minutes then put her back down (still awake). Fine. Five minutes later, screaming and kicking and totally P.O.'d. Went back in, asked her what was wrong. "Up!" I thought, oh she just wants to get up. I told her, no, it's sleepy time. I'll rock with you a few minutes and then you need to go to sleep. This is the last time Mommy's coming in. She snuggled her head on my shoulder, we rocked, put her back down. Same thing. About 10 minutes later, complete freak out. She's rubbing her eyes, tired, not fighting me trying to get her to sleep. And when I put her down at the beginning of bedtime, we have no issues. Separation anxiety? I'm not good with CIO, but last night after the second time, I didn't go back in. It was 5am before she was really out again. She'd tantrum, then sort of settle down, then build back up. I usually go back in when she gets that riled up, but it's been happening so often, and I'm so freakin' tired, I laid there listening to her for an hour. I'm a bad mom. If DH goes in, she gets really mad. But I don't understand because at bedtime, she either goes to sleep without a peep, or she fusses for 10 minutes and then is out. This is screaming, thrashing, kicking the crib so hard I literally think she's going to hurt herself. And it's sudden. It's not like she's been whining for me, and I haven't gone to get her. It's silence and then a full-on attack. The ped said maybe it's because she got used to me getting up with her when she was sick a couple of weeks ago, but it seems a bit extreme. Miss my laid-back, good sleeper!

As I left work last night, I was in a hurry and just jumped in the van. I got around the corner and heard a noise. Pulled over to find a flat tire. I JUST BOUGHT NEW ONES A MONTH AGO. I did buy the road hazard on them, though. Luckily, I was able to get to the gas station and air it up enough to get home. Told DH, and even though he's been sick this week and feels crappy, he was sweet and went out to put the spare on while I called Firestone. Only, there's no spare on our van. WTH? So he took the tire to the shop, planning to bring a new one back. But they didn't have one in stock. So our van spent all night and today jacked up in the driveway. How very white trash of us. The new tire is in, so when I leave work I'll pick it up.

Since we only have one car, DH's boss picked him up for work today, and I drove his car. Which means I have to leave early to pick up the girls. Which is fine, but I feel like I've hardly been at work this week. Though still busy, at least I don't feel like I'm rushing out and dropping the ball.

My friends have a daughter who will be three in a couple of weeks. Last weekend she had her SECOND open-heart surgery. I cannot fathom what it would be like to go through that. Pinning S down for eye drops is nothing compared to that. And it puts everything in perspective, keeping me thankful instead of whiny. For the most part.

Finally, I have had Prince's "Sometimes It Snows in April" stuck in my head the last few days. So for my friends in New England for whom it's apropos, (and my old roomie who's a HUGE fan), was going to include a link to the video, but I can't seem to find it. Great song, but it's getting on my nerves. Maybe posting about it will make it go away. If not, I can always result to the default way to get a song out of my head: the "Sanford & Son" theme song.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Build & Grow Music Box

Saturday was crazy busy. DH took S to Lowe's for the "Build and Grow" project. I LOVE that they have this special Daddy/daughter activity. This week they made a music box with a heart-shaped lid. While they were gone, Baby R took a much needed nap. She was up from midnight to 3am Thursday AND Friday night. She'd been constipated the first night (only took me 3 hours to figure it out!), but I had no idea what was going on the second night. Usually I would take advantage of that time to nap, too, but I had too much to do. Three of my friends had babies last week - holy love-making in May, Batman! - and I was scheduled to bring dinner to one of them that day. I texted to see when would be a good time since I wasn't sure if they'd gotten home from the hospital yet. They hadn't. So we rescheduled - whew! That afternoon we went to our nephew's bday party (13 - YIKES!). That night I went out with some of the SPC girls.

(I need to do a separate post about the origins of SPC and some of our shenanigans, but for now, suffice it to say that for most of my 20's, there were about 30-40 of us who were single and hung out, playing sports together, going to happy hours, hosting weekend keggers, going on camping/skiiing/trips around the world together, so we dubbed ourselves the Social Planning Committee. We had an interactive website and everything long before Facebook. Yeah, we were cool.)

Anyway, one of the girls from that group planned a Girls Night Out. We had snacks and drinks at her house and played "Just Dance" on the Wii which was hilarious. One of the songs was by Fatboy Slim and the routine had kind of a tribal vibe. It reminded us of the African Anteater Ritual from "Can't Buy Me Love". (That's still how I think of Patrick Dempsey, as Ronald Miller, not McDreamy.) Anyway, one of the guys from our gang was kind enough to be the sober driver for us and took us to a bar nearby, Touché.

Now, I have to explain a bit about this bar. Here's a description taken straight from their website: "Geared towards the middle aged crowd that grew up with the fabulous music of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, Touché is an upscale night club located in..." Middle aged is an incredibly nice way to put it. The bulk of the patrons didn't grow up in the 60's, 70's and 80's; they ARE in their 60's, 70's and 80's. Maybe a third of the people there were between 40 and 60. And then there were about a dozen who were under 40 (6 of them were us). We went there purely for the joy of people-watching. Most of the ladies wore full-sequined gowns. A few had on tube tops and mini-skirts. One was wearing a denim mini-skirt that had red hearts on the buns, and a shirt with hearts on it that lit up. True story. I can't make this craziness up. And the dancing, well. Everything from inappropriate touching and grinding to stiff-framed arms.

Only a few of us had been there before. It's a membership club, and the girl who planned the night actually has a membership. OMG.

My favorite quotes from the night:

"When you said it was a bar for old people, I thought you meant old like us. Not old like old."

"It's like 'Cocoon' in here!"

("Erotic City" by Prince came on. Several of us did the SQUEAL! I LOVE THIS SONG! as we scrambled out to the dance floor.)
Friend S: "I don't know this song."
Me: "Ok, now I feel like I'm old enough to belong here." (Which, sadly after reading the blurb from the website, I guess technically I do.)

Sunday morning, DH let me sleep in, made me breakfast in bed, did laundry AND dusted the office. I could not have felt more blessed. I went to the second part of the meeting at church about what they believe and how things work, and I was thrilled to hear all the things I had hoped to hear. That will be my new church home. YAY!

After church, we had lunch, and put the girls down for naps. Baby R only slept for about an hour and a half (boo), and S never did go to sleep (double boo). After dinner we went for a walk since it's FINALLY nice enough to go outside again. And poor Baby R tripped and fell, not once, not twice, but three times. Scratched up her nose, cheek and forehead. I'm a terrible mother. But she didn't want to ride in the wagon; she wanted to keep walking. Hopefully it taught her to catch herself with her hands and not her face.

When she was crying, I saw that she has gotten two molars in! That explains the sleepless nights last week. It didn't even occur to me that she might be teething; she wasn't gnawing on stuff like she usually does. And molars? She's only got 6 teeth for crying out loud! I know they can come in in any order after the first two, but it surprised me. Bad mommy again! I could have at least given her some ibuprofen if I'd realized.

Gifts From My Valentine

Today is Valentine's Day. DH got me a dozen red roses, a box of chocolates and a heart-shaped cookie. He got S a rose and a cookie as well, and Baby R a rose. So sweet. He put theirs in single-stem vases and put them in their bedrooms.

Tonight at bedtime, S told me she wants to get lots and lots of dogs. I asked her how many and she said 11.

Eleven? Wow, what are you going to name them?

Flower, Flower, Flower. (Clearly looking right at the rose from Daddy.)

They're all going to be named the same, huh?

And Shelf. (Looking at the shelf.)

Shelf, huh? So 10 Flowers and 1 Shelf?

Yep. He will be grey, and we will paint him pink! (The shelf was another Lowe's project she and Daddy did. When they brought it home, they painted it pink.) But just his face. He's gonna fight it.

I'm sure he will if you try to paint him!

Well, maybe we'll only paint his tail.

I see.

And his pee.

(????) You're going to paint his pee pink?

Yeah, he will have to go pee. (whispers secretively) And poop.

Yes, he will. Everybody poops, right?

Yeah.

Let It Snow!

We got our first snow last night. It was bitter cold and really windy. It's hard to say how much snow we actually got because the wind just blew it all away. Based on the drifts and the low spots, I'd guess 2-3 inches. S wanted to play outside so badly today, but the windchill was -15 or something. On the radio they were talking about how the Chiefs played in San Diego today and it was supposed to be around 85. That means it was a 100 degree difference. Crazy!

I was supposed to do a 5k today (indoors!) with some friends. We met at my house to carpool. I said my goodbyes to the fam, and went out the door and down the walk. At the driveway, my foot slid in the snow and went off into the grass, rolling my right ankle (the one that has the old injury). Oh my gosh it hurt. I was only able not to scream/cry because my friends were watching. I gingerly put some weight on it but it was excruciating. So I had to bail on the race. Felt a little silly. But it was totally me.

The girls are so cute. Baby R is walking about 75% of the time and must be having a growth spurt because she is hungry...all ...the ...time. Today she literally ate every hour. I think that's the big reason she's been getting up in the middle of the night this week. I finally remembered that S went through a stage like that, too, where I had to feed her yogurt in the middle of the night. Frustrating, but if that's really all it is, I'm hoping we can just get her fed and back to sleep in 30 minutes - not spending 2 hours trying to figure out what's wrong.

Last night I met some friends for drinks to celebrate our birthdays. One of my friends and I have the exact same birthdate. Lots of people share the same birthday, but I don't know many people who know another person with their birthdate. I know three other people. And we were born on Friday, the 13th, which makes it even stranger. Anyway, we had a great time hanging out.

I'm taking tomorrow off work which will be somewhat less productive than I'd hoped since I am still struggling to walk. But I should be able to get a couple of things done, and enjoy a bday lunch with some friends. Looking forward to Tuesday when KLZ and I do our blog swap!

Not Just Another Jennifer: The Formative Years

Kludgy Mom posted the other day about her son and how she was concerned about his social skills at school, handling the popular kids, etc., was it nature or nurture? And then she witnessed him in action, and this year, HE'S one of the popular ones. It got me to thinking about how fluid our "status" is growing up.

I was very popular in the early grade school years. That sounds pretty uppity, but I can say that confidently because a couple of decades have passed since then, and because I didn't stay that way. My dad always jokes about me walking into school the first day of kindergarten knowing no one, and walking out on the last day talking with the 6th graders. I was friends with almost everybody in our school, because I wasn't afraid to just walk up to anyone and say, "Hi! I'm Jennifer. What's your name?"

Plus, I found things in common with everyone. I was a hyper-active tomboy, so I spent recess playing sports with the boys. But I also had a little sister, so I could play house with the girls. And I was very smart. Though I never attended pre-school, I could already read when I started kindergarten, so my classmates often asked me for help which I was more than happy to do since I loved to play teacher to aforementioned baby sister. I think it was natural that I was popular when I was young, when kids are more concerned with the true qualities of friendship, like who's willing to share and who will help you, before they get swayed by the politics and fads that inevitably present themselves regarding who's prettier/richer/cooler/insert appropriate superficial adjective here. As for the nature vs. nurture debate, I think a certain amount of that charisma is inherent - there are those who work at it, but most people are either ones you instantly want to be friends with, or are ones who eventually grow on you. Beyond that first impression, though, you need to have been taught those friendship qualities, so it's really a combination of the two at work.


If popularity was determined solely on charisma and being a good friend, it would be Around 4th or 5th grade, things changed. Girls started being more, well, girly. I didn't. I wasn't ready for puberty, which was fine, because my boobs weren't either. But I no longer belonged with the girls who talked about makeup and hairstyles, and the boys didn't want a girl to play football with, they wanted a girl who cheered for them on the sidelines. I didn’t know how to make that transition from tomboy to “girl”. There were others who did it fine. I had hoped 7th grade would be like in the movies – I’d take off my glasses, put on some makeup and let down my hair, and voila! Everyone would love me again. But alas, that’s not how it works in the real world! Not to mention that my parents are pretty conservative, so I wasn't allowed to do things a lot of the other kids were by the time I was in 6th grade - like go to the mall unsupervised, watch "R"-rated movies, etc. So I started elementary school as one of the popular kids, but ended it as a nerdy outcast with only 1 real friend.

Was it a tough road being nerdy until I graduated from high school? Yes. I cringe when I think about all the times my parents said, "The wouldn't tease you if they didn't like you." What I learned though is that it's not about the quantity of friendships (ie, popularity), but the quality. That one friend I had left? We're still friends today. She teaches my oldest daughter preschool. :)

Birthday Palooza

Last night my friend, and wonderful photographer, Rebecca Peters (H) www.rpetersphotography.com, had her 30th birthday party. I had a great time seeing friends, and of course, Rebecca had a photo booth set up with props for people to take crazy shots. We watched a slideshow of them at the end of the evening, and it was quite entertaining.

Though I got home later than I'd planned (11:30pm), I thought I'd be a little tired, but ok today. Unfortunately, S woke up when I came home and was sneezing like crazy. So I gave her some Benadryl and she wanted to sleep with us for awhile. Around 1:30am, I took her back to her room and stayed for a bit. Came back to our bed, and about five minutes later, Baby R was awake. Fed her and put her back down, but she was fussing for a bit. I think I finally got to sleep at 3ish. Another short night.

This morning was a birthday party for one of S's best friends from daycare. He had the party at the Ag Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs. It was so cool! His mom and I were saying we needed to come back and bring a picnic and spend the day there. There's was so much to see and we only got to do about half of it in the two hours we were there. The guide showed us the old machinery they used to shuck corn, and then the grinder to make cornmeal. Then the kids got to feed that to the chickens. There was an old house with some original furniture from the late 19th century. Then we got to ride on a mini-train around the grounds. That was really fun for the kids - the party theme was Thomas the Train. There was also a real full-sized caboose that the kids got to wander through. While we were in the train depot building, one of the boys said, "Wow! This is REALLY old! Like from the '80's!" 1880's maybe.

Tonight we are getting together for my FIL's bday celebration. He and my MIL went to Cali to visit my SIL for his birthday, so we are just now getting around to cake and presents. And on that note, I need to head out to get his gift card. But before I go, one note about Baby R - she crawled on her knees today! Very exciting. She's just been army crawling, and since she'd started pulling up, we thought maybe she'd just skip "regular" crawling all together and just walk. But today she did. She's getting so big!

Amazing Girls

I keep putting off posting because I have so much catching up to do, but then there's just more to add, so I've saved a spot before this one for the catch up, and am starting with the present here. Lots to report from the last two months, but I've been working overtime and our social calendar has been full, so there haven't been any free moments for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

We have the most amazing daughters. I thought the miraculous developments in the first year would be the apex of the wonder since so much happens so fast, but I'm continually surprised by our toddler. I shouldn't be, she's always been so inquisitive and observant and advanced, but I am. The sitter mentioned to me the other day that she's doing 25-30 piece puzzles that 6 year olds do. It is so difficult for me to remember not to expect too much of her because I do often think of her as being closer to 5 instead of almost 3. It's not fair to her; I'm afraid I s

ubconsciously put too much pressure on her. She has started memorizing her stories. It's so cute the parts that she really knows by heart. Lines that I will sometimes skip because the story can go on without them - those are often the ones she recites when she's "reading" to me. Tonight she did something that surprised me. After DH and I each read her a story, she reread them to us, but started at the end with each and made her way back to the beginning. Of course she recognizes the pictures on each page to know which set of text corresponds to them, but it surprised me because I would think it would be more difficult to tell the story in reverse than in the order you always hear it. I wonder if it's easier though because you to remember the most recent events (the last page) best and that helps her to connect to the older events (first pages). Regardless, she did an adorable job telling the stories.

And lest we not forget our baby girl, she is adorable as well. When S was a baby, she would reach up and grab my facial features while she was eating her bottle and trying to settle herself to sleep. And boy did she pinch! I think she started with my lip/mouth, and then as she got bigger and could reach further, she would hold onto my cheeks, then my nose, and finally, my ears. She settled on her own ears for self-soothing. To this day, she still rubs them when she's tired. Baby R's thing is hair. She does care

ss my face sometimes, and grab at the protruding parts occasionally, but if I'm holding her upright and carrying her around, she'll take a tiny fist-full of hair at the nape of my neck. Talk about a controlling place to hold! I can't move without disengaging her first. She has so little hair of her own, just short, fine fuzz all around except for a tuft on her crown with a few dozen hairs that are a couple of inches long. Her short little arms allow her to barely reach them with her fingers, and when she's tired, she pulls on them since their the only ones long enough to do so with. I imagine she'll be a hair-twirler when she's bigger. For now it's very cute; I'm just hopeful she doesn't give herself a bald spot.

We started feeding her solids, though I haven't been very consistent with her. She's not a big fan of cereal, but she does like carrots and cauliflower. I think peas will be next. I need to start making sure she's eating every day. I hop

e that will make her sleep get better. The spring weather is a wonderful change, but the extra daylight is wreaking havoc on the girls' schedules. As S says, "But Mommy, it's not night-night time. The sun is still out." Oy. Room darkening curtains aren't enough. Plus, we've been crazy busy since last Friday, so they haven't been getting to bed on time. My MIL's 60th bday was Friday, so my SIL came into town from Cali, and my FIL took her, us and my other SIL and her two kids to dinner Friday night. We had a sitter and didn't get home til 10pm. Baby R was still awake when we got back. Sigh.

Saturday morning, I took S to get her haircut. She won't let me brush it and she rubs the back of her head from side to side when she's tired and in bed or sitting in her carseat and it gets terrible knots. So I told her we were going to cut it short. She has the cutest angled bob now. Still struggles with letting me brush, but it takes MUCH less time. Anyway, after that, we came home to discover that the baby had only napped for about 30 mintues while we were gone. Not good. S was needing to go to sleep, too, but

it was the first non-rainy day that I'd been home for awhile, so I took them to a park and we had a picnic. It was really hot and muggy though, so we only stayed for about an hour. Then we got back and I tried to put them down for naps, but S was fighting it. She finally went to sleep, but only for a little over an hour. Baby R was about the same. Saturday night my FIL had a surprise party for my MIL, so we had a sitter again. This time at least the girls went to bed a little easier, but it was still a little later.

Sunday was the series finale of "Lost".

I invited a few friends over. I had decorated a little and made "island" cupcakes with "sand" and little umbrellas, as well as had pineapple and other tropical fruit, and made pina coladas. One of my friends and her husband printed out Dharma Initiative Soda and Diet Soda labels for the Dr. Pepper they brought and made Rice Krispie treats with a little bit of orange dye and cut into fish shapes for fish biscuits. We had a great time watching the show - LOVED the first

2 hours - and although the last 30 minutes were a bit anti-climactic, it was still a good finale ov

erall. And talk about a discussion piece! The theories were flying. But I digress... While we were watching the show, DH was putting the girls to bed for me, sweet man that he is. I did go up and say goodnight and snuggle with S a bit, but I left most of it to him. It was about 8pm when she finally went to bed which was a little late anyway. Then around 8:45 she was screaming - turned out she had something in her eye, I thought maybe a splinter. So we tried to flush it, which was of course impossible with a 2 year old. But that resulted in a tantrum and a crying fit which was the best thing for it. Around 9:30 she started screaming again and every time DH went in to ask her what she needed, she said me. He told her I couldn't come up right then and he could help her, but she wasn't having it. He finally gave up and thought she was just being a pill. Unfortunately, she had to go to the bathroom but wouldn't tell him, so she finally ended up peeing all over the bed. So we had to change the sheets and clean her up. So not only did I miss two important chunks of the finale (aack!), it was almost 10pm before the little darling was asleep. Needless to say she was super cranky Monday. And she and her sister have been getting up at 5am or 6am and staying up which is making me tired and cranky.

Tonight we got the girls to bed (I thought) by 7:30ish, so I got ready to go for a run and was just about out the door when baby R started crying. (Side note - I've started running in a 5k group. Well, in theory. I've only gone for about a handful of runs since the middle of April when we started. Between a horrific allergy attack due to running on the day with record-setting tree pollen counts - DUH, working 60 hour weeks, and 5 days of rain in a row, I've been less than successful.) Anyway, I was really looking forward to FINALLY being able to run again, and ended up spending until 8:45pm trying to get Baby R to sleep. Ugh. I did go for a quick 15 min. jog around the block which is better than nothing but not quite what I'd hoped for. So after getting up at 5:30am this morning and vowing to get to bed early tonight, it's now almost 10:30pm, and all I got done after my run was one load of laundry, my most recent photos downloaded and tagged, and the post written. Haven't finished tidying the house, doing the dishes, or doing the work I brought home with me. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Even when you are awakened an hour early....

Over the Hill

I was just thinking earlier this week about doing a blog about the meaning of "Over the Hill" and events today really pushed that to the front of my mind. Generally the term is used to tease people who hit middle-age milestone birthdays - usually 40 and 50, sometimes 30. I always thought it meant the tough part is over, you've climbed the hill, or you're getting close to the end of life, there's not much left. But now that I'm 35 and married with kids, I think it has more to do with time. It's like your time is a boulder rolling down the hill going faster and faster. I noticed it with our baby this week. My dad asked if it was time to start her on cereal. My immediate response was, oh, no, not yet. Then I realized, she'll be 4 months old on Friday. Then I couldn't remember if I started our toddler on cereal at 4 months or 6 months? It was only 2 1/2 years ago, you'd think I could remember. It seems like it hasn't been that long, but that's time spinning by on me.

This morning my friend called and told me her mom's husband had a heart attack during a 5K. He runs all the time, but thankfully it happened in the middle of a race and he collapsed in front of a paramedic. He's had stents put in and they're doing ice therapy and he's intubated. Then this afternoon, Dad called and said my older half-sister had a mild heart attack. It turns out they aren't sure that's what happened, but she does have some blockage. They ran some tests and will know more tomorrow. Though she's 14 years older than me, she's still my sister, and to think she's of an age to be concerned about heart attacks is scary. But then I remembered my friend saying the other day that heart disease is the number one killer of women between the ages of 40-50. Probably because we don't see it coming. We're over the hill and time's going by faster than we realize. And we're not "old" yet. I was just talking to another friend about it today. It seems impossible that her daughter will be 16 this week. And that it's been almost 20 years since I dated my high school boyfriend who I had lunch with on Wednesday after years of not being in touch. I told her how when he first contacted me, my heart fluttered, and I felt like I was 17 again. And then I felt silly - as I said I'm 35 and married with kids. But I feel like I'm 17 a lot of the time. Self-conscious and insecure - more like a kid than an "adult".

I think having kids has made me feel both more mature and younger. On the one hand, I hear myself saying things my parents said, or lamenting things our toddler does like they did, like her playing with Chapstick and getting 20 layers of it on her face. But I also am reminded about the wonder of life and the world when she asks questions and points out sights and sounds that slows me down to take it all in. And when she does silly things that remind me of my younger sister. Like today when she got a tiny scratch on her thigh. She was being quite melodramatic about it which was odd because she usually shakes it off. But she was having a moment like me when I was a kid - I always screamed bloody murder first, and figured out if I was truly injured later. But she was milking it like my sister would. First she wanted a band-aid. Then she wanted to be carried around because her leg wouldn't work. Except when she wanted to go to the kitchen to get jelly beans. Suddenly it was miraculously better. But only for that long. Then she was holding her thigh with her hand, and hobbling around like she was seriously injured and saying, "Ooh, ooh."I finally asked if her leg hurt because I was concerned that she was really in pain and she said no. Crazy kid!

Her new answer to scheduling conflicts with naptime is to say she can just sleep in the car. Like if I need to go somewhere and she wants to go with me, and I tell her she can't because she needs to go down for a nap while I'm gone, she says, "That's ok; I can just sleep in the car."

Potty training is going really well! Trying not to get my hopes up because I hear there are lots of setbacks, but she didn't have an accident at all today. She's started telling me when she has to poop that it's going to be big and stinky, and I should leave. Lovely. She pooped in the potty chair at my parents' house yesterday, and it was large and greenish and soft. She said in a growly voice, "That's a MONSTER poop!" Hilarious! And we've come full circle with the feeling old and young at the same time to be discussing poop on a regular basis, but also still finding it funny.

The Weekend

Friday, I went to the February Party of the Month (POM) that I have with my girls from high school. We chatted, ate chocolate, and played Scene It Music. It was funny because I was telling them about my high school boyfriend finding me on Facebook and then all these things in the game kept coming up that reminded me/us of him. It's been crazy the last few weeks with running into old friends. Another of the high school girls who lives in California got a call from the French exchange student who had lived with her family our senior year, so she gave him her email address and forwarded his message to us, and I emailed him directly. I asked my old boyfriend if he remembered the exchange student, and he said, "Of course, he was our Fez." (That 70's Show) Cracked me up!

Saturday I went to Walgreens to pick up my prenatal vitamin prescription. It's for a multivitamin and a DHA supplement, so (usually) it's cheaper to do the co-pay than to buy it off the shelf. Last month the pharmacy was out of the generic brand they usually fill it with and the insurance tried to charge extra for it being name-brand. It was still a generic, though, and after about a week of arguing with them, Walgreens was able to get them to just charge the $15. Saturday, had the same problem. Only this time, I had our toddler with me. We were there for 45 minutes. She was diaperless as the potty training is consisting mostly of not wearing one at this point, even out in public for short trips. After about half an hour, I thought I'd better take her to the bathroom just to be on the safe side. She went and did just fine! She was so well-behaved that entire time, and most of it was spent sitting in the cart or being held by me. I was very proud of her. Unfortunately, no progress was made with the insurance company. As I had had to wait til payday to pick it up, I'd already missed taking the pills one day, so I didn't want to wait to take it home until it was resolved like last month, and just paid the extra money. Not holding my breath on the reimbursement.

Sunday was a bit frustrating. Our poor toddler was just trying to help, but she had the Midas touch. She was having a clumsy day like her Mama (I had hoped it would skip a generation), and had already spilled her drink and her cereal while eating breakfast, and coffee grounds as she'd tried to help me make coffee. She wanted to help me make peanut butter cookies for a co-worker's bday. I agreed, but because of the coffee incident, told her I would have to measure everything and she could just help me pour. I was excited to use my new KitchenAid for the first time. She wanted to turn it on, and since I had run it on Stir and settings 2 and 3, I assumed that's what she would do. Nope, from 0-10 in about half a second. The bowl flew off, and sugar, butter and peanut butter splattered on the floor. ARGH. I was exhausted and frustrated, and managed not to lose my temper but did tell her I needed her to go to the living room with Daddy. After I cleaned everything up (which required sweeping, mopping, wiping down the counter and cupboards and washing my feet), I started to run the mixer again and she wanted to come back to the kitchen. I told her she could just watch, and finally got done making the cookies.

My DH went to see the Travel Channel tape an episode of "Food Wars" that pitted Arthur Bryant's against Gates BBQ. While he was gone that afternoon after her nap while her baby sister still slept, I took her outside to play for a bit. The weather was a bit warmer (43 degrees!), so we got out her t-ball set. I hit a line drive that nailed her in the leg which thankfully didn't hurt, and she laughed it off, so I went ahead and laughed, too. A little while later she was trying to pick up the ball and it rolled between her legs, and as she reached back with both hands, she fell forward on her head. This time I was cracking up, and luckily she was fine. I try not to laugh at her when she gets injured, but sometimes it's just funny. And it helps her to learn to laugh at herself.

Sunday night was the closing ceremonies for the Olympics. I didn't really watch much this year. The US set a record for most medals with 37, but Canada came out on top with the most golds, 14. My BIL had texted me Friday while he was watching curling and said, "Go Canada! Oh, fer sure." :) I missed the closing ceremonies, but saw that my cousin in Manitoba had posted on Facebook "keep the good times rollin! sick closing cermonies and thinks the moose hats are epic". That was shortly followed by a post from a friend here in Kansas: "Holy shee-ite. What kind of Canadian pop music crap was that?" I had to laugh at the disparity.

Last week I fell for trying to get a free $500 gift card to Target on Facebook (DUMB!), and signed up for Netflix for free for two weeks before I finally gave up on the gift card. So the first two movies arrived yesterday. DH and I watched "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" last night. It had it's funny moments, but overall was terrible. We spent most of the time playing Words with Friends on our iTouches, so it was still fun. We are totally addicted to that game. It's Scrabble, but electronic and you can play it whenever you get a free minute. My friend in Cali from high school got me started, and now I think I have about 10 games going at the same time.

Stuff

Friday night, DH wanted to move stuff out of the garage so I could park in it. How sweet is my husband?? So his best friend came over to help him. He and his wife ended up hanging out with us til midnight (dumb idea on my part - sooo tired already and needing a good night's sleep). They are house hunting, too, and were telling us about this house that they loved but there were a couple of drawbacks, one being that it has a really small yard. Then they said there was something about it they wanted to talk to us about first. We were like, okaayyy.... Then his friend said, "Well, it's close. I mean, really close." I said, "What, next door?" And he said, "No, but about 5 blocks over." I said, "That's cool, but I think you are the ones who need to think if you really want to be that close to us." :) Of course DH would love it if they moved there. We'll see what happens.

Saturday I had arranged for a play date for S for two hours before her nap so I had hopes of about a 4 hour stretch to work on unpacking. But I had completely forgotten that my MIL had tickets for us to go to her company picnic. S really enjoyed it; they had a big blow-up slide and a moonwalk. She went on the slide a few times. There were clowns making balloon animals and doing face painting and a sno-cone maker and games. Then I got her home and down for a nap, and a friend came by to see the house, so I didn't really get anything done that day.

Saturday night I was trying to get S to sleep (it was 10pm before she FINALLY went down!), and I was lying in bed with her, and she was holding Elmo. I heard her say, "Elmo, go time out. No, time out. Two choices, Elmo: time out or spank a bottom. Elmo, time out or spank a bottom. Two choices, Elmo. Time out - Spank a bottom!" And she spanked him. I was trying so hard not to laugh, I had to cover my mouth. That must be what happens with my dad. I do spank her once in a blue moon, but there's no discussion. I just tell her one time to quit it, or she's getting spanked and then she gets it.

Sunday, I relived my college days and headed to Mom and Dad's to do a load of laundry to get us through til our new washer and dryer get delivered today. I planned to leave S there napping and go home and get work done, but she wouldn't go to sleep, so that didn't work out either. DH has been sick, so he wasn't feeling up to doing much, so ultimately, we got very little done on the house this weekend which is frustrating. But I think I'm going to try to go home at lunch every day this week. Getting the washer and dryer will help a lot. A bunch of the boxes are clothes.

After we left there, I took S home and she took a short nap, and then we went to a friend's house for a bit. I dropped off some gently used kids shoes for a fundraiser she's doing, and she loaned me some maternity clothes. And we got to see their baby girl! We hadn't seen her for a long time - she's six months old now - time flies!

I had my glucose test this morning - yuck. It's hard to do something like that that requires exact timing when you have a toddler who runs on her own schedule. :) But it's over with. For now, anyway. I'm sure I failed it and will have to do the three hour one. I also got my paperwork to send in to the hospital. Crazy to think it's time for that already!

Busy Bees

Things have been hectic this past week. Wednesday night, S woke up at 4:30am and was up until 6am, during which time she had a half-hour long temper tantrum. Thursday night she didn't go to sleep until 9pm, and was up between 3:30am and 5am. At least this time, she was calmer. Friday she didn't take a nap for my parents, though. I'm just praying that once we get moved, she'll get settled in and get back to a more frequent good sleeping schedule. I was SO grouchy Friday after two nights of limited sleep.

Saturday my friend from MN was in town, so S and I met her and some of our other friends at a park for lunch. We played washers, and S played on the swings and slides. It was really fun. That night we went to a friend from high school's house for a get together. After I read on a blog about a way to keep in touch with old friends by having a Party of the Month, we started it and have really enjoyed it. We take turns hostessing the POM, and boys and kids are allowed, and we just do a potluck. DH was nice enough to take S home to put her to bed so I could stay later and chat. One of the girls ended up leaving kind of early - her 6 month old wasn't feeling well and was really fussy. She's never fussy - she's the happiest baby I've ever seen. Poor thing. Saturday night, S slept through til morning - YES!

Sunday I took S to my parents' house to go swimming in their subdivision's pool. Then she took her nap, and we went to a friend's son's 2nd bday party. Unfortunately, she woke up from her nap in a bad mood and had a tantrum/cried for an hour - from the time she got up until we walked in the door to the party (half an hour late). Argh. DH hung out with the guys, and I got to chat with the girls while the kids all played which was nice. That night S had a hard time going down again - it was 9pm before she fell asleep. But she slept through til morning, so at least that worked ok.

Monday I dropped S off at her sitter's and she had gotten her a birthday present - I told her she didn't have to do that. She got a little cake, too. Very sweet of her. The bank called not long after I got to work, and we found out we're closing on Wednesday!!! SO excited. I've been slow at work which has been nice because I've had time to plan S's bday party and sketch out how I want to decorate her bedroom and where to put the furniture in the house when we move next week.

Last night I went over to a friend's and got to watch the 100th episode of So You Think You Can Dance. I missed it Thursday since S didn't go to bed til late, but luckily my friend hadn't erased it from the DVR yet. It was ok - they tried to cram too much into the hour - they should have made it a two-hour special. I wish they would have shown more of the old dances, but the new group numbers were really good. I was surprised with who was in the bottom. Only two weeks left - it will be interesting to see what happens.

Tonight I'm going to my friend's for a party with a lady who advises about the different baby slings that are available. I'm excited to hear her suggestions. I really want to get one for baby R since I know I'll need my hands free for S a lot, but I don't know much about them. DH is supposed to go to the T-Bones game, but it's raining, so not sure they'll be playing.

We haven't had a lot of rain, but it hasn't been that hot, either. This summer has been so mild - aside from the one sweltering week when we moved to my in-laws. Overall it's been beautiful - mostly low-80's. There have been terrible droughts south of us and cold, wet weather north of us, but we've lucked out and been in the nice zone this year. Hope I didn't just jinx us for August...

Independence Day

Since the 4th of July landed on a Saturday this year, we were able to have Friday off which made for a nice long weekend. Friday, I took S to get her haircut. It was only her second time going so I took her back to Shear Madness since they are set up for little ones. The chairs are little cars that the kids can play in and each station has a tv so they can watch cartoons. She was fine when we got there, but then a little boy who was about 3 or 4 was screaming bloody murder and sitting on his mom's lap and she was pinning him down. I just don't have the desire to torture my child for 15 minutes. He can just have long hair. She was pretty nervous about how upset he was, so I told our stylist if she got too fussy, we'd just call it quits. But she was so good! I was very proud of her. She even let the stylist put her hair in pigtails. They only lasted about an hour, but it was too cute.

Saturday my mom, my mother-in-law, S and I all went to Lenexa's parade. S seemed to enjoy it. That night DH and I went with his best friend and his wife to the movies. We saw The Hangover which was a little vulgar, but hilarious. I didn't think they could keep the story from getting stale, but it never did. After it was over, I reminded DH that that was why he didn't get to have his bachelor party in Vegas and thanked his friend again for being such a trustworthy Best Man.

Sunday we stopped by our old neighbor's house. She had gone to Barcelona the week we moved so we wanted to see photos from her trip. We had left our trash cans for her to put out and needed to pick them up as well. It was a nostalgic trip. Poor S kept wanting to go next door and play in our old backyard, but I just had to keep telling her we didn't live there anymore. She didn't understand. I'll be glad when we're in a new home, and she will feel like she belongs there.

Speaking of which, I've been trying not to get excited about it, but we put a bid on a house last week and the inspection is tomorrow. It's only 5 blocks from the old one (different subdivision, different builder), so still close to my friend's house (bonus!) and only a couple of blocks from a girl at work which will be nice. It's actually a center hall floorplan which I love - one of the first homes we looked at had it but it was on a lot that had a steep front drive and front yard - too steep to play in. I had said to our realtor, if we could just find this house on a different lot. Found it! Through the negotiating, we are getting to keep the dining room table and chairs, china cabinet and the china! It was so funny because when I had looked at the house, I had mentioned to my mom that I really liked their taste and jokingly wondered if they'd leave it furnished. We don't have a formal dining room table or a china cabinet, so we needed to get them anyway. DH and I both liked the desk and bookcases in the den, too, but that wasn't part of the deal. :) Anyway, I'm praying it goes well, and we can start planning the move. That's a whole other story...

A few S notes: the other day she was eating (cantaloupe, I think?) and she it was "delicious". I was taken aback by such a big word being said by her. She amazes me daily. Yesterday she was eating some dry cereal and dropped a piece on the floor. I told her I'd get it and she said, "No, me get!" At this age, she has no fear of eating off the floor, so I told her she could get it but she had to put it in the trash. She said "Kiss it?" I was like, uh, ok. So she gave the little oatmeal square a hug and a kiss and threw it away. I was cracking up.

Sleeping started to get better - she slept well Friday night for the first time - 7:30pm - 7am without any interruption - hallelujah!!! Saturday I was worried we'd ruin it by going to the movie and leaving her with my in-laws, but they said she only fussed about 10 minutes, so we had another 11-11 1/2 hour night. Yes! Sunday night to Monday morning was going well until the neighbor let his German Shepherds out at 5:30am and let them bark for 10 minutes straight. I could hear them through the baby monitor it was so loud. So she was up at 6am, but still did pretty well. But last night, she fussed and called for me around 5, and I went in to console her. She wanted me to lay down with her, and I did, but after about 15 minutes she was asking for Daddy. So I got him to lay in the other twin bed, and laid back down with her. She was tossing and turning and talking and not settling down, so at 6am we all just got up. So tired....Something she started saying a little while ago, that just melts me is "Mama hold you". It's torture though when she's needing to go to sleep, and I leave the room and she starts screaming it. Breaks my heart. I can't imagine loving another baby as much as her, but I know my heart will grow when R gets here. Can't wait for both of our girls to be together!

SOLD!

Life has been pretty crazy the last few weeks. We sold our house last week - yea!!! So we've been househunting a lot. We've found several houses we like, and several lots we like - just none that we like enough together. It's actually been much easier than I thought - we've agreed overall for the most part. But it's difficult with a toddler in tow, so we've been trying to either only go to a couple after work, or have someone watch her for a few hours on the weekend while we hit ten at a time. Yesterday we tried to go to a few over a long lunch. We may do that again.

My friend from high school came to visit from California with her two boys over Memorial Day weekend. It was so good to see her and meet the kids!! I hadn't seen her since her oldest was born - 8 years ago! And I'd never met her youngest. Her phone wasn't working here so that made things a little more complicated than we'd thought, but we still were able to get together a fair amount while she was here. Saturday morning they came by our house. That evening I went to another one of the high school girls' houses where they were hanging out with her family. Sunday we went to a friend's daughter's 3rd birthday party. Monday we had a big picnic at Antioch Park. It was so much fun. Six of the seven girls from high school were there with their familes, plus all of our parents. Tuesday I had to go back to work, but my friend and her boys met me for lunch. I was sad to see her go. Hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time. :)

Last week I ended up with a cough that I think was from allergies from being outside so much. It kept me from sleeping much which was a bummer. Saturday I went scrapbooking which was fun. Sunday we were supposed to go to DH's cousins' grad party, but we were househunting longer than we thought we would be, so we weren't able to make it. Another cousin is having a grad party this weekend so hopefully we'll make it to that one.

A girl I used to work with and her husband will be in town this weekend - yea! We are going to grill out with them and then try to meet up with some other friends later. Another friend from my old job will also be here for her sister's wedding the following weekend so we're going to try to meet her and her husband for brunch Sunday. It's going to be hectic again. I need to find time to start packing, too...

My sister and her husband safely returned from their trip to Cozumel. No swine flu or drug war issues to report. :) They went deep sea fishing and and my BIL caught a mahi mahi - the biggest fish he's ever caught. Can't wait to see pictures! They went snorkeling and a fish bit my sister's finger. :) They also got to go on a safari jeep ride which she said was fun. My BIL was telling me that the swine flu panic combined with the bad US economy has really been detrimental to the resort. Over half of their revenue comes from cruise ships and because of the fear of swine flu, none had docked there for awhile. The first one in three weeks landed while they were there. Their hotel was only at 25% capacity. Hopefully things will start to get better soon.

My sister left for NYC yesterday to start her new job with Michael Kors. Very exciting! She will be there for 10 days or so for training before going back to St. Louis to be able to work from home. Jealous! MY BIL is going to fly out to spend the weekend with her which will be nice. I can't wait to hear how it's going.

Work is still really busy for us and my supervisor will be at a trade show next week. It's good to be busy, but I'd like it to slow down a tiny bit. Monday was pretty stressful!

S had a rough morning. She had a nightmare around 5am, so I went in to lie down with her for a bit. Then she had a huge temper tantrum. Around 5:30am she settled down and we got something to eat. Then when we went to lie down again around 5:45am, she wanted to lie down in our room with Daddy. That was a mess because he had to get up for work at 6am so she wasn't asleep yet and we tried to no avail to get her back to bed. So we've been up for awhile. After he left for work, things were going fine, but then she had another tantrum around 7am. She's so tired from being up too early. But I made her go have her fit in her bed until she settled down, and finally she wanted me to close the door and she fell asleep. (I don't think I mentioned, we ended up deciding to just return the whole bedroom set so she's sleeping on the mattress on the floor.) Unfortunately, I'm going to have to get her up in about 10 minutes so we can leave for me to get to work on time. On that note, I better go finish getting ready!

Busy weekend

My old roommate was in town for a few days visiting from Mexico where he is in the Peace Corps. There was a BBQ Thursday night, but DH had softball and with S not having slept well this week, we didn't make it by. So Friday night, DH let me escape to meet my roommate and a few others out at Raoul's. I was wearing an oxford, cute jeans and dress shoes, so clearly not in attire to pick up guys, but nice enough to be on the low end of the expected dress code for this kind of preppy bar. I got there around 9pm and found out another friend's big news - he's engaged! Quite a shock, but exciting. He's moving to DC in June as that's where she lives. It was fun being out with my two old roomies and I met another girl who I really hit it off with and had fun chatting.

After awhile, they decided to go downtown to the Czar Bar. Most of us had never been there. It's quite the opposite of Raoul's. I think 90% of the people in there had tattoos, and a couple were wearing leather jackets. It wasn't a biker bar, but it was very dark, and there was a DJ playing techno, and a girl sitting on a "swing" that was made from fabric that hung from the ceiling, and she did Cirque de Soleil type moves in fishnets and a leather leotard. A little more hard-core crowd than Johnson County. And now I was clearly too conservatively dressed. Not that that has ever bothered me, I just thought it was funny that we couldn't have picked two more opposite bars to go to in a night.

Anyway, the girl I'd befriended rode with me downtown, and I locked my purse in the car so I wouldn't have to carry it around with me, and she asked me how I could not need it. I told her, I have my ID in my pocket, I don't need money since I can't drink, and I don't need to touch up my makeup (which, along with my ponytail, is low maintenance) because I'm married and pregnant and not looking to get hit on. Ironically, about five minutes after we entered the bar, she and I went to order drinks, and this very young guy asked me my name, and introduced me to his friends. It was his birthday, and he was clearly drunk. He started asking me what kind of music I liked, etc. I was nice to him, then said goodbye, and she and I made our way back to our group. She said, "See - that's the whole point of going out when you're married, so you can get hit on." It was pretty funny. So I didn't get home until midnight which for me, might as well be like staying up all night at this stage in my life. As it turned out, I pretty much did since DD woke up at 4am and didn't go back to sleep until 5:30am. And I ended up having to stay with her to get her to even do that. Which means I didn't really sleep since she's a tosser and turner.

Saturday DH helped a friend put together his daughter's swingset for her bday party next weekend, so S and I met his wife and kids at the mall to play for awhile. S and I needed to be home at noon because Nebraska Furniture Mart was to deliver new slats for her bed between then and 2, and of course they were there a few minutes before us. Back story on the bed - S I'd mentioned, when it was first delivered, we noticed that there was about a big gap between the edge of the mattress and the edge of the rails on either side. That meant that all the weight was being supported by three slats. That didn't seem very smart, so we asked the delivery guys about it. They said that sometimes that's just how they are. We decided we'd just get a couple more slats and it should be fine. Well, one of the original slats had a crack in it, so we called them to replace it, figuring we'd get extras after that so it was in its original condition when they came to fix it. So the replacements were to be delivered Saturday. Knowing this, we had started having S sleep in her bed about a week before figuring it would be fine for a few days. When the delivery guys brought the new slats to her room, they discovered that the box was labeled for a full size bed which is what we need, but it actually held ones that are for a twin. So they rescheduled the delivery for Monday.

After they left, DH got home, and we all took a nap, and then DH and I went to the Royals game. It was our first trip to the K since the renovations. It's really nice! They opened it up so it's a 360 degree concourse now. Behind where the fountains were there's a kids area and a hall of fame and a party deck. There are still fountains, but just not as many. We left at the bottom of the 8th (it was chilly and we weren't prepared) when they were down by one, which ended up being the final score. We had high hopes as they were tied for first in the league, but the last week it looks like they are back to their old selves. We'll see, though.

This morning, S woke up at 6:15am. Argh... I gave her some yogurt and thought I could get her to go back to sleep, but she was wanting DH and me to stay with her. So we all laid down in her bed and around 7am when she still wasn't asleep, I decided to give up and get up. When I stepped out of the bed, the cracked slat gave way, and it collapsed in that corner and landed on my ankle. I was in pain and panicking that she was going to get hurt and worried about DH, and it was just chaos. My Achilles tendon is bruised and swollen and there's a scrape down the backside of my ankle. So I iced it and bandaged it, and was able to hobble around to two houses this afternoon that the realtor was able to set up appointments for. One would be a great one to flip, but since that's not DH's thing, I'll have to let someone else have it.

Happy Mardi Gras!

A friend of mine who used to work here with me and moved to FL last year said they went to a Mardi Gras parade (which surprised me because I think of FL as being Spanish instead of French, but she's in Pensacola, so it kind of makes sense). She said it was a parade at night with the floats all lit up (I imagine like at Disneyland), and they threw beads and moonpies. I was like, moonpies? That's weird. And she said she thought so too, but they are like grits and really popular in the South. I said, Really? The only one I've had is like a chocolate covered marshmallow between graham crackers. I didn't know there were some that were like grits. She wrote back, no, they are big in the South like grits, not that they are like grits. DUH, I'm a dork....

I'm on a roll with dumb things because Friday, a girl I work with asked me how old I am, and I said "32, no wait, 33. No, wait, what year is it? Ok, 32." Then a few seconds later, I said, "Holy crap, no, I'm 34!" It was a little disturbing to age 2 years in 5 seconds.

Sunday I went to see "The Reader" with our neighbor. It was very different. I didn't know what it was about other than it was set in WWII. It was kind of Mrs. Robinson meets Schindler's List. Kind of depressing, but interesting. Told from a different perspective. I was excited Kate Winslet win the Oscar that night since that was the only nominated movie I'd seen. :) That evening, S and I went to see our friends at home with their new baby girl. S had fun - she loves to say "baby" and make the sign, and it's so cute that DH asks her to do it all the time. She also loves dogs and was intrigued that our friends' dog is named Pea when S knows that to be what her vegetables are called.

A new favorite of S's is stirring. She does a cute thing where she rolls her arms and tries to say stir. I let her help me stir things sometimes, so the other day DH said she poured her juice into her divided plate where the corn and peas were and used her string cheese stick to "stir" it all together. It went everywhere of course. Messy, but still adorable. As opposed to her tantrums which are getting a little out of control and not at all adorable. She hit me in the mouth with her head thrashing twice this weekend - the first time I got a fat lip and the second time she hit my tooth, and I thought for sure it must have cut the back of her head but it didn't. Unfortunately, she comes by it naturally as her Grandpa and I were discussing yesterday - poor kid.

The biggest news with her though is her interest in the potty. She got an Elmo Goes Potty book for Christmas, and she's wanted to wave bye-bye and flush for awhile now, but yesterday I changed her diaper and put her PJs on and a minute later, she started singing the no more pee-pee song we sing when we change her. I asked if she needed a new diaper already, thinking surely not, it's just a bedtime stalling tactic. But I checked, and sure enough, she had gone #2. So I changed her and she was pointing to the bathroom. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said yes. Because we've cleared as much extra stuff out as possible, we'd taken her potty chair to Grandma and Grandpa's. I wasn't sure what she'd think of the big potty, but put her on it anyway. It was a little scary so I took her off pretty much right away and told her not to worry about it. Unfortunately I just don't want to deal with having her potty chair in the bathroom right now with the house being on the market. Maybe we can put in G'ma and G'pa's.

Speaking of the house, we had another showing this morning - our 15th in 3 weeks - but still no offers. I'm not too worried yet, but I wish people would leave us more feedback to know why we aren't getting the offers. Oh well. Que sera, sera.

Happy Mardi Gras!