Love and Chaos

It's Time

2010-01-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

With the changes that took place in my life in 2009, I feel it is time to close the door on this blog. It holds memories of a past that I need to get put behind me. SO, I have started a new blog to help move forward in this uncharted territory. So go here to continue following me, you know if I have anyone out there that reads this :) The new blog is called Practicing Patience.

Bye Bye Love and Chaos.

Twas the night before the eve and the babble had just started

2009-12-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

Vacuum attachments have always intimidated me and so they were the things that the husband had to figure out how to use. Well now I am husbandless and a proud owner of many vacuum attachments, which I haven't the foggiest idea of what to do with any of them. I just vacuumed my floors and they are clean, but I know from four years living under Martha Stewart's trainer that when the floors are vacuumed there is still so much more that that little beast can accomplish. So I popped off the weird rolly brush attachment and went full force at the couch. What do you know, my couches are white, not black and furry. I think I like this attachment. There are several more on there that I wasn't brave enough to test tonight seeing as how the kids are actually asleep and Santa is doing some last minute prep work, I would hate for the vacuum to suck up the tree or something and ruin Christmas for my babes. I am also still pondering the degree to which I need to do Santa when they are going to be a their dads Christmas morning. I wasn't going to do it all until the dad said "well yeah, Santa is going to bring present to mommies house too!" Oh well, so much for that idea, so now they are completely spoiled and expect Santa to leave them presents all over the Athens area. I anyone finds any of Reaghan's gifts we would really like them back! Thanks :)

Almost Christmas

2009-12-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

Last year I wrote about how I hate this time of year because I am a nurse and have to work on holidays and be away from my family. This year I hate it because, not only do I have to work but I might not even see my kids on Christmas day because they will be with their father. I have always been the one that did everything to make Christmas magical for my children and this year I won't have any part of Santa. It kills me! Of course I got things for the kids (way too much), but it isn't the same as that excitement waking up Christmas morning to those faces of wonder and awe. I need a step by step instruction book for this whole divorce thing because I just never know what I am going to have thrown at me next. How can someone who said he loved you go from wonderful to horrible over night? I am still not used to not having him to lean on and confide in and it has been so hard to loose that, it is almost like a death because the man I knew is no longer there. So here it is almost Christmas and I am spending the first one without my husband or my kids...

Light at the end of a very long tunnel with lots of twists and turns

2009-12-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

I have hit rock bottom, but have somehow managed to stand up brush off and keep going. I have no idea how I get through each day, but something tells me that the sweet 4 year old and 2 year old are keeping me in the game. There are so many times each day that I think, if I could just crawl in be and sleep for weeks, I would feel better. If I could not have to stress out beyond everything reasonable about money and how to create more of it. I still haven't perfected that. There nothing that is going to turn my situation of living in a new house out a boxes and make it the best place in the world. Honestly I have been here for nearly a month and I have unpacked maybe 3 boxes because I just don't want to. I don't want to unpack, I try to spend as little as time possible here. I am lonely when the kids are with their dad and when I have them I am on cloud 9. 3 nights a week without the babies is just too much, but I know we are having to do what is fair for them. Because God knows that none of this is fair for me. I never asked for this, I did everything right I thought. I was faithful, i raised our children, took them to church, made sure they had everything that they needed and supported him when he was out on limb. I never turned my back on him and then I find out I had been blind all along. Next time, I want a man who wants wife. And who loves babies because one way or another I am not done with that chapter of my life.

I wish

2009-11-04T17:53:00.001-08:00

I wish that I was still happily married.
I wish that I had been intelligent enough to stop myself from making stupid decisions.
I wish that I had never gotten into half of the messes that I have.
I wish that I could go back in time
I wish that I had stronger faith in God.
I wish that I could vanish and take my kids into a whole new world with me.
I wish that life were easier.
I wish that I had an easier time putting the really important stuff into perspective.
I wish that this knot in my stomach would just go away.
I wish that I had never met the people making my life so very miserable.
I wish that everything had a reverse button on it.
I wish that all of these wishes could actually come true!

I pray that God is hearing my prayers tonight and taking pity on me and using his hand to help me.

It has ONLY been 8 months!!

2009-10-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, at least it wasn't a year! The inspiration for a post after 8 months, you ask? Well, Christmas of course! This year Christmas is going to be just a little different. Money is tighter, living arrangements are changing and I just have some darn good ideas. Of course, some things will be bought from the store, you can't really avoid that. So here are my ideas, and for some reason I have an easier time coming up with things for Princess than I do Dino.

1. Vanity for Princess~ I have an old telephone table and my plan is to paint it and put some decorative fabric around the edge, then get a little mirror and foot stool to go with it. She is dying for some make-up and this seems like something good to go with it.

2. Quilts~ I am *hoping* to make a quilt for both of the kids. However, this tends to be time consuming, so I really have to be dedicated to get this done!

3. Some homemade art supplies~ think homemade moon sand (that isn't toxic!), homemade finger paint, crayon rolls, etc...

4. Baby doll accessories~ I have some cute ideas to make a "wipes" holder, baby doll cloth diapers, burp cloths, clothes.

5. An art table to go with the art supplies~ I have another table that would be perfect to redo as an art table for the kids, a little paint, add some boxes and wallah, you have yourself an art table!

Well that is all I have for now, I am going to post pictures and add to the ideas as I finish and think up new things! If you have any ideas to share please do, I need ideas for everyone too, not just the kids. My mom is hoping to not get another macaroni noodle frame again this year!

The B-L-I-N-E

2009-02-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Today when I picked my sweet princess up from preschool, she was absolutely glowing. You see she had learned a new song and just couldn't wait to share it with me! Once we get in the car I ask her if she wants to sing her song to me; of course she said "yes". And this is the song:

"The B-L-I-N-E, yes that's the word for meeeeeeee,
I stand and spin in the world with God
The B-L-I-N-Eeeeeeeee!"

She was so proud of her newly learned song! I though it was precious. It is hilarious what comes out of the mouths' of three year olds. Her favorite phrase is "Mommy, it's not cooperating!" and she also has started speaking a lot of Spanish! We have put her in a Spanish class, so between that and Dora she is doing great!! I can not believe how big she is getting, at least for now she is still sweet and loves me ;)

We will survive

2009-01-31T18:13:00.000-08:00

Breathing treatments, broken thumb
Steroids make us crazy
Tylenol with Codeine takes the pain away
But still won't let us touch it.
Mommy's spent and Daddy's gone,
Just want this day to end
So tomorrow we can start again.

It has been a long week of viral pneumonia for the boy topped off with a broken thumb and stitches for the princess. She was injured at HER birthday party. We are weary and in need of prayer, but with His grace we will make it!

Little Man's First Birthday!

2008-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Arrggh, Matey

Favors, they were too cute. I spray painted wooden chests, glued the little ornaments to the top and filled them with gingerbread cookie "coins" that I made!

Enjoying his first taste of cake!

Mommy and the birthday boy

The oh, so yummy cake mmmmmm...

Getting his very first haircut the morning of his birthday. He did SO good.

Last picture with his "baby" hair.

Well, we made it to 1. Little man had a wonderful party, so many friends and family showed up to help celebrate with us. We did a pirate theme for his party and I must say that everything went incredibly smooth. He loved the cake, but he wasn't much interested in the gifts! We got him a little tricycle and he sat in it the entire time we were opening gifts. Big sister was a big help when it came to unwrapping... she is an old pro now. Speaking of big sis, we have her birthday to celebrate in just two short weeks! Whew, we are going to be present and partied out! Enjoy the pictures!

My Baby is Getting Big

2008-12-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

My little buddy will be a year old on Saturday. He still seems like such a little guy, I can not believe that he has been around for an entire year. He has brought this little family unimaginable joy. I never knew how much fun a little boy could be and always thought that I wanted a family full of girls, now I can't even fathom life without my little man. He is my little cuddle bug and loves his mommy so much. In the last few months, however, Daddy has been the one he wants when it is time to go to bed. It is so sweet to see the little man light up when his Daddy walks through the door at night. He loves to eat too, since starting him on table food, he has become a little bottomless pit. He has always been a good nurser and any ideas I had about weaning at a year have been quickly abolished by his insistence on continuing. Seeing as how I am wrapped around his itty bitty finger, I am in no position to protest. Buddy still has not started to walk, but crawls and climbs with the best of them. He loves to get into things and has the curiosity of the most curious of cats. He is the happiest little guy and loves to tag along with his older sister (much to her dismay). He has 6 teeth now and has only tested them out on me one time! I am anxiously awaiting what the next year will bring with this handsome little blessing. As we leave the baby stage for the toddler stage, I find myself longing to get those moments back and starting to think about baby #3..................

At the Holidays I Just Want to be Normal

2008-11-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hi world, it's been a while, but we have been BUSY. BUSY, BUSY!!! I can not believe that the holidays are almost here, it is crazy. Every year at this time, my job makes me sad, because I know at some point I am going to be pulled away from my family to go to work. Every year around October, I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach as I wait for the holiday schedule to come out. Before children it was sad, with children it is almost unbearable. This is hopefully my last year on night shift, which as far is working holidays is actually a little better than days. At least if you are working a night you are home for part of the holiday.
This year is not to terrible, I am working the night before Thanksgiving, which means I will be tired and most likely cranky on Thanksgiving day. And I am scheduled to make the turkey. I still do not know exactly what our plans are going to be, but I foresee having to run from house to house to cover all of the families. I am also working Christmas Day night and that is better than Christmas Eve, my heart would absolutely break if I couldn't be here to see my children come down stairs and see what Santa Claus left for them. Then I work New Years Eve night, which now that I do have kids, I no longer count as a holiday. Since our daughter was born 3 years ago on December 30th, we are usually in bed by 10 on New Years Eve. However, it is historically a crazy busy night for us mother baby nurses because everyone wants that baby out before the 1st for a tax deduction.
So that is my plight of the holidays. It could be worse. Soon I will hopefully post more about what we have been up to but I am headed to work and my daughter wants to have a "pigwit" or picnic.

Adventures in homemade baby food!

2008-09-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I received an early birthday present... The Magic Bullet. I have watched this infomercial probably 50 times in the early morning hours when I couldn't sleep. After about the 30th time the over-acted clip began to grow a desire to own one of these amazing contraptions. However, there has always been something else topping my list of wants/needs, until now. The big 2-7 has not only gotten me closer to 30, but I also finally got a Magic Bullet! Now, for those of you who do not know the Magic Bullet is a blender/food processor thingy.
Well, yesterday I broke out my new toy and decided to make dino some homemade baby food. I try to feed him mostly organic, thus there are holes because they just do not make a much of a variety in organic baby food. So, I decided that I would make some things for him. I chose to start with broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and carrots (I know you can find peas and carrots, but they are easy). I came home steamed and pureed my first batch in under 20 minutes. I was thrilled! At dinner time I was exited for the little man to try his first homemade meal. Much to my dismay the broccoli/cauliflower mixture did not go over well, nor did the peas. I had inadvertently gotten the mixture a little to clumpy and initiated the gag reflex! After coughing, choking and one big ole' mess we went back to the Magic Bullet. I added more water and pureed it for a little longer. It was much better the second time around. It was an eventful dinner to say the least. Hubby was highly entertained because I was so determined that buddy would eat my homemade concoctions. There were more than a few faces made, but in the end he had a good dinner and everyone was happy. For lunch today he had carrots and cauliflower and not one face, gag, or spitting episode occurred. I think we are on to something here!!

When Daddy's Away....

2008-09-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

Mommy and children PLAY! Yep, hubs is out of town for 3 nights. We already made it through a fairly uneventful first night and now we are hanging out in our PJ's. I have good intentions of giving my house a much needed break from the endless scrubbing and sweeping that it endures from my sweet husband. I mean everything deserves a vacation. I did pick up last night before bed, which surprised me, see old dogs can learn new tricks! Princess informed me last night as we were getting ready for bed that she wanted to sleep in my bed like she does with Daddy when I am at work.... Caught him! I knew he was letting her sleep in our room! Oh well, she won, I let her sleep in there. Which is kind of strange since I am using this time to get Dino falling asleep on his own. He woke up once, but went back to sleep fairly quick. Daddy can not stand to hear him cry, so my efforts are useless when he is home.
We have big plans for these few days without Daddy, I am going to get some serious sewing done (5 baby showers in one month! CRAZY). We are going to hang out with Bop-bop and Mimi. Saturday we are going to do something fun, but we don't know what yet. Then we can come home Saturday night and wait on Daddy to walk through the door, because we really do miss him!

Prayers Please

2008-09-13T11:19:00.001-07:00

Quick note, my cousin went in yesterday for a c-section with her first baby. Long story short she lost a lot of blood and she is not out of the woods. She is NOT doing well guys and any prayers would be appreciated SO much. Thank you.

When they can pick our their own costumes!

2008-09-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

The time has come where Princess can pick out her own costume for Halloween. Mercy me, it is an undertaking to purchase a costume for an indecisive two and half year old. Actually, she was quite decisive until we got to the store to actually purchase the costume. We started talking about costumes about a week ago when we got a catalog in the mail. Since that time she has wanted to be every villain that exists (naturally, she wouldn't want to be Cinderella). Finally, she settled on being a pirate piggy (it's a Dora thing). So, I have been trying to figure out how to make a pirate pig happen, and had decided to buy a pirate costume and pig nose. Well, we get to the store and she vetoes every pirate costume they have, but in a matter of minutes we have everything from Dorothy to Dinosaurs in our cart. Seriously we had 16 different costumes to choose from. I deemed that we had plenty to choose from and we were making our way to an area where we could spread them out a little and start the decision making process, when she spotted a butterfly costume. I have to admit it was BEAUTIFUL! So it went in the pile too. After a lengthy debate over the fact that she could not have the butterfly, horse AND ladybug she finally decided on the butterfly. I kind of thought it was the winner when she refused to put it down while we were looking through the others. I was a little worried about the size so we went to try it on and unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it was too big. While putting back in the package I spotted the price tag. HOLY CRAP!!! WHEN DID KIDS HALLOWEEN COSTUMES START COSTING $60?!?!?! I hadn't even thought about it because all of the others were in the 20-30 range, not this baby, it was a whopping $60. But, it was too big and there were not anymore. I explained to her that we couldn't get the butterfly because it did not fit and that we would have to get it somewhere else (thinking we could just get another one). Not wanting to leave without a costume she said "My pick brother out a costume?" Sure, just not a $60 one. It proved to be much easier than her own. She picked a pink marshmallow peep and Yoda...Guess which one he is? If you picked pink marshmallow peep, you are incredibly strange. He makes the darn cutest Yoda ever. Now, we leave the store and I am brainstorming on butterfly costumes. When we get home I get on the Internet to find it cheaper, then wander over to E-bay and low and behold there it is...in the right size....sale ending in 10 minutes.....and the bid is only $29.99....Sign me up! I won the butterfly costume that she wanted for a mere 29.99 + $6 shipping! You would have thought I won the lottery the way I screamed. Apparently these costumes are "heirloom" costumes, whatever that means. They are well made and absolutely gorgeous, but seriously they are still Halloween costumes. Here it is, I think I am going to have her picture taken in it, it is too cute not to! And to much trouble :) What we mothers do for our children.......

Where are His TEETH?

2008-08-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Big man is 8 1/2 months old, he has not the first tooth. Princess sprouted a tooth at 5 1/2 months. I know, I know every baby is different, but really he is almost 9 months! I have been blaming every bad mood, sleepless night, drooling, chewing on an imminent tooth that is about to pop through. Still we have none, no sign of one, Doc said he doesn't see signs that one is in the near future. So where the heck are they? I read that some children don't get teeth until they are 18 months old; what in the world do they eat, 12 jars of baby food each meal? I mean, Princess was eating solids by the time she was 9 1/2- 10 months. Nothing major, but small pieces of pasta, fruit, and what not. Little man is still chowing on Turkey Vegetable Dinner by Earth's Best. Don't get me wrong I can see the positives in him not having teeth seeing as how he is still nursing. However, my HUGE fear far outweighs the positive......he is going to get like 8 at one time, and it is going to be miserable for all in the family. Hubby is going out of town in a few weeks, so that would be an opportune time for 8 teeth to decide to come out (dripping with sarcasm there). Oh well, it is not like there is anything I can do about this situation, and for now he has the CUTEST little toothless grin you will EVER see!

Taking the Next Step

2008-08-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent all day at orientation for grad school. They told us that we were no longer going to have a life and that we need to cut everything possible out of our lives. About that time I started to sweat, I mean what am I going to cut out? My children? NO! My job? NO! Church? NO! So what, the last little bit of me time I have? Okay, but that isn't going to be enough, I'm afraid. I was scared to death that I had gotten in over my head!
Then, I started thinking about it. I decided that it is a lot, but that it is only a short time. AND, supposedly it is part-time (yeah right). But in 2011, four months before I turn 30, I will be a family nurse practitioner. I refuse to let school take over my life, I have a husband and two beautiful children and they come first, ALWAYS!
Bottom line...if you actually see me frequently I may be a little bit crazy, but at least you will know why! Over the next three years I intend to take chaos to the next level! Wish me luck, and prayers are welcome too!!!

Trying Twos Is More Like It!

2008-08-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am on the couch in the living room nursing Bear and Princess is running back and forth to the laundry room. I didn't think much of it, she loves playing in piles of clothes and I had a huge pile. So, I figure she is brining clothes in the foyer like always. I finish nursing the Dino and get up to go drag all of the clothes back to the laundry room. Well, Princess comes around the corner SOAKING wet! Oh, and carrying a pair of her daddy's boxers (also soaking wet). "What have you been doing?" I asked, "Have you been playing in the toilet?" "Yes!" was my answer. I go in the bathroom and the floor is covered in water and there is NO (absolutely none) water in the toilet! I send her to time out and she starts to cry. I go in the laundry room and find a pile, like 10 items, of clothes soaking wet, and then realize there is a trail of water between the bathroom and the laundry room. As I am cleaning up from the flood, I am getting angrier and angrier. So I tell her to come out of timeout and to help me clean up the mess. She cries the entire time because she knows that I am furious. After we get everything cleaned up and I sit her down, I ask her if she knows why she got in so much trouble. Her response, "because I was washing clothes to help Mommy clean". While suppressing a laugh and feeling just the teeniest bit guilty for getting so mad I try to explain that it wasn't because she was helping, but that we do not wash clothes in the toilet. She says, "Poop gets on my clothes if I wash them in the toilet". "Yes" I say and she gets up and gives me a kiss and says "My not wash clothes in the toilet anymore Mommy, my sorry". It was very sweet and very frustrating; just when she is trying my very last nerve she says or does something so sweet and it reminds me that she is ONLY two, not twelve. It requires the patience of a saint to raise a toddler!

Our Sick House

2008-08-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

Our house is full of strange ailments, none are in well known medical books. However, they do exist!

We will start with my disease. I need a personal shopper; no really I do, but only when buying gifts. And then I need them to wrap the present and not tell me what I got the person. Why, you ask? Because, EVERY time I go gift shopping I inevitably want to keep the gift for myself or my children. Other people just pick out such great gifts! So, I either end up getting two or buying multiple gifts for the person because I keep using the original. Example, I bought my cousin a sleep sheep (and several other things) for her shower today, but when I was wrapping it all, Dino kept playing with the box and grinning, and I thought "Aww he likes it, and I really got her too much, I should just let him keep it". Guess what he is sleeping with it right now! It really is a disease. I can't decide what the name should be, but it is real.

My poor husband is not without his afflictions (oh, he has many). However, his worst is the "I see a speck of dust, Dear Jesus, get the Pine-sol" disease. It is terrible, I relate it to a person with anorexia who never thinks that they are thin enough; he just never thinks things are clean enough. It is a bad thing to have when you live with someone like myself that also has the "Nothing Gets Thrown Away" disease. I will give you a scenario so you know the how bad it is.

Hubs: These closets are so embarrassing.

Me: What are you talking about?

Hubs: Well look, There is this box that we don't even use just sitting there.

Me: But how is that embarrassing. It's not like we are giving tours of our closets.

Hubs: Well it embarrasses me. No one lives like this, No one.

Me: I know. Other people have stuff in their closets.

Hubs: That is not funny. These closets are a disaster.

Me: (Walk over and remove box. Leaving only the high chair and vacuum) Are you better.

Hubs: Well it was getting ridiculous.

That night in bed

Hubs: Won't you sleep better knowing the closets are clean and not cluttered.

Me: Did you seriously just say that, go to sleep and shut-up.

Hubs: Well, you should be more relaxed now.

Me: (I ignore him and continue watching Ace of Cakes)

Hubs: Did you hear me? I think it is so much nicer in the house.

Me: I'm glad, go to sleep.

Hubs: Well,

Me: Hush they are making a Owl shaped cake I think I'll try it tomorrow. I may need to get a box and store it in the closet!

And so it goes. We both need medication, but his is much more severe.... I think.

Want to know some more quirks about me...

I can't open a bottle of formula at work without smelling it.
I save everything, on the off chance that I may one day need it and would have to go out and get it a second time. Really it is a money saving technique.
I hate surprises and mysteries. The worst part of pregnancy for me was not knowing when the baby would be born. That is why I was induced with Princess and had scheduled an induction with Bearra (He came early anyway, and I left half of the stuff I needed at home).
I have a very active and vivid imagination, and hence, think that some things have happened that actually have not.

Oh there are so many more, I just can't think of them all right now. I'm sure my friends could produce a laundry list of quirks.

Bad Mom of the Year 2008 (yeah, that's me)

2008-08-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

I won the LEAST coveted award of the year today. And in the Wal-mart parking lot no less. I was getting the Princess out and she said "I need to go potty". No problem, we carry a potty with us, she goes and I sit her in the drivers seat with the door open while I get Buddy in his sling (on the same side of the car). While I am doing this she shuts her door. I didn't think anything about it, finished getting Buddy together and shut his door and go to get Princess when I hear "click, click". Surely that isn't the doors locking I thought. But yes, it is. My 2 1/2 year old is locked in the car, in 100 degree heat, WITH the keys! So I am trying to get her to pull up on the lock, and she is trying but her little fingers keep slipping. Then a very nice woman comes over and we are both trying to get her to unlock the door. Finally, I told her to please go get security, maybe they have something. Then I get 5 Wal-mart employees all trying to convince my two year old to open the door. She isn't the biggest fan of strangers and decides she wants nothing to do with the window anymore and starts playing in the console. All the while her little cheeks are getting more and more red and I am trying to figure out which window to break. I am standing there useless and hopeless the crowd is growing and I think "Please, Lord tell me what to do, if I need to break this window I will." Just then Princess turns around holding my keys, and starts to try and crank the car. Yes, I know she is too smart. I started tapping on the window and told her "push the buttons" She has done this a thousand times and so she smiled and started pushing buttons. I had my had on the handle and when the door finally unlocked I opened the door so fast that I almost knocked a man that was helping out. I pulled her little red cheeked self out and hugged her as hard as I could and she said "Mommy, I went poop". I don't care, I just am so thankful that she was safe and out of the sweltering hot car. Thank God Buddy Bear was already out and with me, because it only takes minutes for babies to overheat (I was getting extremely worried about Rea just in the short time she was in there).

Lessons learned:

1. God listens to silent prayers

2. Keys go in pocket

3. Toddler gets out of car and stands by you

4. Accidents happen, but you still feel like insignificant crap afterwards

Busy busy

2008-08-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

We have been incredibly busy the last few days. It is revival week at our church, which I love. But that also means that on Sunday we were at church more than we were home and we have to be there at 7:30 every night this week. Since 7:30 is synonymous with bedtime around here, that in and of itself is a challenge. We are making it work though because teaching my children the word of God is so much more important than keeping bedtime routines. Tonight we are helping feed the guest preacher, so I am cooking a pork loin. I have never made one this big, so I am a little intimidated. Tomorrow is ice cream night (yummy) where everyone brings homemade ice-cream. I haven't the foggiest idea as to how to make homemade ice cream so I am just going to eat! Then it all culminates on the biggest event our church has....The Barbecue!! It is a lot of hard work and takes the whole congregation, but it is so delicious. I also have to work at the local maternity fair on Saturday for work, so I will be running back and forth. Aside from smelling like chicken and smoke, I don't think it will be a problem ;). Because you know pregnant women love smells like that.

On a side note, the winner of my giveaway has been chosen!! Your bibs are on the way, I hope that you enjoy them!

It's Giveaway Time Again!!

2008-07-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

It's here! Time for another fun-filled giveaway. This time I am giving away a set of 4 handmade bibs for a little girl. They are flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other. They are a good size for my 7 month old, and very absorbent! For lots more giveaways go check out Bloggy Giveaways

Rules:

1 comment per person

Leave your e-mail or blog, so I can contact you

Must live in continental US

Giveaway closes August 1 @ 9 AM Eastern

Extras:

If you go here you can enter to win cloth diapers!!

Three Years Ago

2008-07-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada. I woke up in a beautiful hotel room, got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast with my fiancee. After breakfast, we kissed goodbye and went our separate ways. I had several appointments to keep, first up was a massage. As I lay on the table having all of my recent stress rubbed out, I couldn't help but wonder what the day would bring. I left the spa and went to find my friends; we all went down to the salon to have our hair done. The lady must have been a magician because she worked wonders with my short hair. I don't remember what happened next, but before I knew it I was in a yellow Hummer limo on my way to Henderson, Nevada. We arrived and I went in to see everything. So many things were wrong, I think I cried.... or screamed and cussed. It wasn't pretty. Thank God for Kelli, she calms me. She offered to pick the horrible, death smelling lilies out of my flower arrangements. Soon enough I was in a princess-looking dress having pictures made.

It was almost time and I was by myself in a little room. My Dad walked in and I did everything I could to not mess up my make-up. We decided it was best not to talk, neither of us could keep from crying. Natalie came to tell us it was time. The doors opened and there he was at the end of the aisle. He started to cry, I did too. I finally made it to the end. The preacher started...then stopped and asked if we were paying attention...we were not. He said "I do", and so did I. Before I knew it we were walking arm in arm back up the aisle. I never saw the harpist, I don't remember the rose petal lined aisle. Had I not seen the flowers before the ceremony I would have never known there were lilies.

We took more pictures, I was starving and my shoes were hurting my feet. Finally, we were ready to sit down and eat. We cut our cake and everyone danced for the remainder of the evening. We got back in the yellow Hummer limo and drove back to the hotel. I walked back into the beautiful suite with my husband, we were exhausted, but oh so happy.

Sometimes You Just Can't Get It Right

2008-07-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

Little man has been having a rough couple of days. I hope that it can be attributed to teething. When I found him like this, I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture (don't worry he wasn't on the couch, I just laid him there to take the picture). Bless his heart, he is trying to make it better!

Bring the Tissues

2008-07-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

Some of you have probably already found this blog, but if you haven't; read it. But, be forewarned it is very heart wrenching and you should definitely read it with a box of tissues in hand. This particular post is a powerful testimony that really spoke to me. The writer has amazing faith even in the face of unimaginable loss.

Abby and Oscar Are Home and The Giraffe Went to the Zoo

2008-07-21T08:32:00.001-07:00

The much anticipated trip to the American Girl Store has come and gone. And I am a little sad. We had a blast! It was so much fun watching her pick out the babies that she had already named Abby and Oscar. It was as if she knew instantly when she saw them. She ran in and said "Hey, that's Abby!" Then we had to find Oscar, he ended up being in the back, but we got him. After picking out just the right babies, we had to pick out a few accessories. She had seen a kitchen when we looked at the website, and that was the one thing besides Oscar and Abby that she couldn't seem to leave the store without. So we got the kitchen, then we got Licorice, the cat. My mom came along for the trip as well, and she had managed to locate one of my old American Girl dolls, Kirsten. She was a wee bit pitiful (well played with) and having some Don King issues with her hair so we got to have her hair fixed in the doll salon. I'll tell you what, those ladies work some miracles! She looked all pretty again, so obviously she needed a new dress! Princess picked one out and we checked out (that was not so much fun :) )

When we left we went out to a Starbucks food area in the middle of the mall. I let Princess get Oscar and Abby out and she was so excited. Not that you can tell it in the pictures, because she didn't want me to take any more, so she wouldn't look at me. We played for a while then we went to the Disney store to get little man a prize too. He was such a champ all day, he never cried just sat in the stroller and took it all in. He fell in love with a stuffed Pluto, which kept making him laugh for some reason, so he got to bring it home. Princess wanted to go back to the doll store, she wanted to shop some more. I have a feeling that we will be asking Santa to make a stop on his way to our house this year!

On another note, I posted about Princess being afraid of her room because of a scary giraffe. Well, we finally figured out what it was, there is a stuffed flower that is wrapped around one of her bed posts and at night the shadow of it from her nightlight looks like a giraffe head and neck. It really did! So we moved the flower and told her that the giraffe went to the zoo. She was very satisfied with that and now sleeps again!

Getting Oscar out of the box!

Such a proud Mommy!

OSCAR AND ABBY!!

Licorice the cat

Posing with the new additions

The kitchen that she fell in love with

Little man taking it all in, and wondering why

he is in a doll store.

See the stacks of boxes; every shelf was like that,

Just thousands of things to buy for your doll

Leaving the store carrying her bag

This was before we left the house

This was when she first spotted Abby

"Mommy, can we take Abby home now?"

Oscar and Abby

2008-07-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the day my friends. Tomorrow I will introduce The Princess to the world of American Girl dolls!! I had each and every one (well that was out) growing up and I have full intentions of continuing that tradition with my daughter. So I have planned a fun filled trip to Alpharetta to go to the American Girl Store. Yes, it will cost $9,246 in gas, but it is worth it.

In planning our trip, I wanted to show her where we were going. So I got on the American Girl website and let her look at the dolls. Well, they now have toddler twins and Princess took one look and said "That's Oscar and Abby!" She got all kinds of excited; especially when I asked if she wanted to go pick them up. For the last few days all we have talked about is Oscar and Abby. Last night we went to get a twin doll stroller and a carseat for Oscar and Abby. Because safety comes first you know. The carseat was an area of great concern for Princess, she woke me up at 6 am on Wednesday and said in a very serious two year old voice "Mommy, Oscar and Abby need carseats before we can go get them".

I don't know who is more excited, but I can not wait to come back and post pictures of our adventure. I am already wanting to get things together for our trip (which is just a day trip). A little ridiculous maybe, but it's mommy-daughter fun at its best!

Bedtime Woes

2008-07-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Heavens, we have has some issues with bedtime here the past couple of days. Princess has discovered fear and is embracing it whole heartedly. It all started several weeks ago when she told us that her room was scary. Well, we let her fall asleep in our room (I know, I know, but I just can't stand the thought of her being scared in her room) then took her back to bed. Well, after that she was fine for a few days, then she got scared again. So mostly we have been on and off. However, the past 4 nights she has consistently been afraid of her room.

Now, here is the kicker. The other night she was in tears because I told her that she had to go to her bed and go to sleep. She kept saying her room was scary, so finally I calmed her down and asked what was so scary. And the answer....? "The biiiiiig Giraffe Mommy" WHAT???? There is not one giraffe in her room. We went in her room and I asked her where the giraffe was, she pointed to the wall, but I didn't see anything. So, we have an imaginary giraffe that is making my child afraid of her bedroom. I am not going to discredit what she thinks is real, but honestly I have no idea how to combat imaginary frightening giraffes. I tried magic giraffe repelant, but obviously he is immune to the stuff because he is still around. Oh, and all of the sudden her music is scary too (the same CD she has had played at night since birth) Maybe the giraffe likes the music?

Any ideas on how to rid our house of imaginary giraffes that scare my child would be welcome. I never know what is coming next these days, but didn't think it would be this!! Help me!

It was just a little scary

2008-07-12T18:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, so today after working a twelve hour shift and getting no sleep, I embarked on the adventure of a three year old's birthday party. Oh, with two kids....by myself! Well imagining the worst; the two year old will rip the house apart in 3 minutes flat the baby will scream bloody murder while tearing at the collar of my shirt the entire time an I will probably be asleep in the corner, I went armed with nothing more than my $2 Old Navy flip flops. I remembered the present, I remembered the kids and we arrived safely in one piece.

Now for the scary part. We get there and there are 133 kids (kidding) running around screaming and pulling various objects off of shelves. I look at Princess and say "Do not run, Do not scream, Do not pull things off of shelves, Do not do what the other kids do just because they are doing it, PLEASE listen to Mommy" and the reply was "Okay Mommy, my listen"..............SAY WHAT?????? Well convinced that I must have had a black out and imagined it, we go inside. Princess was AMAZING, she really did listen- to everything I said. She did not fight me on one issue. Even my biggest BIGGEST pet peeve, which is when the 132 kids at the party swarm the birthday child and proceed to open all of their presents and dismantle them before they can even be seen by the honoree. During present opening she sat quietly in my lap and drank her juice box.

I was for a short time certain that she had 1) been drugged 2) was very very ill or 3)she had finally realized that doing as I say is just easier. I decided that for whatever reason she was being good she needed a reward. I had to go to Best Buy anyway so I let her pick out a new Dora movie. It was a huge hit. Unfortunately the magic spell wore off later in the day and she was unable to continue doing as she was told. I found relief knowing that my child was back to normal and we would not need an ER visit.

The only thing I don't understand now is why my husband is asleep on the couch with Dora playing over and over and before going to bed Princess was upstairs in her playroom with Living Lohan on saying "Not sing that song girl!". Apparently Princess knows what she likes. It has been a strange day, and I am taking my Melatonin (to see if it helps me sleep) and calling it a night.

The Woman She Was

2008-07-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

She arrived in this world on May 22, 1915, her father who kept a jounal everyday of his life never mentioned the birth. The first acknowledgement of her existance came nearly a year later in the form of "had to buy the baby shoes today". I guess that since she wouldn't be doing farm chores, she wasn't worth writing about. He didn't know that she would be the one caring for him in his old age, and not one of his "fine boys".

She was petite, standing just below five feet tall. Her dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin were sure signs that she was a Hardigree. This is one of the traits I inherited from her, people say I look just like her, I consider myself lucky. She had infinite creativity, and amazing talent that complimented that creativity. She was patient, rarely getting aggravated, unless of course you were in her kitchen. She made the most amazing foods and to this day no one can reproduce her divinity.

She married my grandfather in 1937, she was 22, old by the standards of the time. They were married for 56 years when my grandfather passed away. They had a real marriage, real love, her name was his last word. I married my husband on their 68th anniversary, I refused to get married on any other day, so my wedding was on a Sunday.

She gave birth to two children ten years apart. The youngest is my mother. I was the youngest of her grandchildren. I knew her for the shortest amount of time, yet I knew her better than the others. I grew up next door to her, and was practically raised by her. I knew things that no one else knew, with me she was honest, there were no secrets. As a child she indulged my endless fasination with "projects", helping me to create the most life like bald eagle out of paper mache among other things.

She was the ultimate pack rat, when her house was cleaned out, a brand new in the box 8-track player was found buried amoung various objects in a back room. This was in 2000. She took 10 minutes to open a wrapped present because the wrapping paper had to be preserved and saved. She loved to shop, especially by catalog, and at JC Penny. She loved to buy for those around her, Christmas was a favorite holiday when she was younger. She cherished her material possessions, but when they were sold out from under her, even things that she could never relplace like her mother's quilt, she realized that this was not what life was about. She knew there was more to life than the things in it.

She celebrated 88 birthdays before her death on Janurary 12, 2004. During her time here she suffered more heartache than one human being should. It never showed, she never let on that she was under stress. She possessed the a true unconditional love for her family, even when they hurt her.

She is the one that took me to church each Sunday. She taught me about God and Jesus through her actions. I vowed to follow in her footsteps, I have not come close. Her size five shoes, prove too big to fill. I spend each day wondering how to harness "Helen's Gift". This is what she gave to me.

From her I have my eyes, my nose, my complexion, and my natural hair color. I have my creative ability, my emerging talent in sewing. I am able to cook and bake most anything...except rice, she couldn't either. I have my overwhelming desire to save everything, and the physical pain that is caused when I have to throw something away that I "might" need one day. I learned organized chaos from her, nothing was in order, yet evetything was where she wanted it. I learned that hard times come and go, but God gives you strength to get through anything.

Given one chance to change anything, I would have been there the day she died. I don't think she wanted me there, she knew it would be easier to leave if she was alone. Her picture is sitting on top of this desk, I look at it everyday, and everyday I miss the woman that she was.

The drive thru dilemma

2008-06-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

I, in my infinite wisdom have decided that everything needs a drive thru. Why should these little gems be limited to banks and fast food resturants? I find it very frustrating when I need to run in the grocery store to pick up two things and as a consequence have to wake up both of my children to do so. Not to mention the fact that getting them both in the store requires a 5 minute ordeal in the parking lot. I prefer to park next to or as close as possible to a cart corral, then I have to put Princess in the cart and baby boy in his sling, then make sure I have my purse and all the doors are closed (I have went in and left a door open) THEN we can make our way into the store for 1 gallon of milk check out and come back to the car. 45 minutes later (not really)we have our milk and can go home. Whew, it wears a girl out. I don't know how these Mama's of quads do it. So my answer is a drive thru with a ten item maximum, I can just imagine it; "I need one gallon of organic milk, a six pack of coke, some chicken and a box of rice please." A few minutes later I am ready to go and the kiddos are still sleeping in the back seat. The world would be a better place...and it should not be limited; Wal-mart, Target, Old-Navy, Kohls, they should all have drive-thrus as well. Well, since that hasn't happened yet, I guess I should go get my kiddos dressed and ready to go out. Perhaps we will hit up Chik-fil a, they DO have a drive thru and yummy milkshakes!

By the Grace of God

2008-06-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Right now my two year old is running around half naked and screaming. She has not listened to anything that I have said all day. She refuses to use the potty, refuses to eat at the table, and refuses to let her brother nap. As a consequence her brother is crying because he is exhausted and she is poking him. I feel like I have been run over by a bus and it is all I can do not to scream and run away. The endless days of whining, crying, poop, pee, spit-up, sleepless nights and sleepless days are falling down on me today. They have been building up for sometime and today I broke, unable to hold everything up. I feel drained and useless, I feel like I am being an impostor by calling myself a mother. Mother's don't let anything get them down, they keep going, they never show wear or tear, they don't collapse. Or do they? Does there come a time for every mother, even the best of them when they just can't do anymore without a break? Does every mother, have times when feels like God surely made a mistake by entrusting her with one of his most precious gifts?

I never had false illusions that raising another person would be easy. I had false illusions that I would be perfect, I dreamed about the perfect mother that I would be. Days like today make me realize that I am not perfect, far from it in fact. My babies are loved, fed, clean, and well; today that is all I can manage. Today there will be no educational games, no baking cookies, no projects, and today that is okay. I have a hair appointment at 4 today, and hopefully when I return home this gloom will have disappeared with my 3 inch roots. By the Grace of God I go, and tomorrow will be a better day.

She Did It!

2008-06-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

We are having a celebration here at Casa de Shehee, The Princess has used the potty for the first time. Oh, we have been bribing, begging, pleading and hoping that this day would come for so long. We have promised a trip to Chucky Cheese and a Pink Car when she is not in diapers anymore. Up until today that wasn't cutting it, but for some reason this morning she woke up and said "No diaper Mommy, my use potty". The first time she stood beside the potty and went, then there were several false alarms before we had a victory!

For anyone out there who may be potty training and wants some tips, these are all things that worked for us!

1. We let her pick out a potty seat. For months we have had a seat that went on top of the toilet, and she just was not happy with that, so last week her and I went to Target to purchase potty. She picked a blue Diego potty, and for the first time was excited to sit on the potty.

2. Nakedness. We can not be bothered with clothes of any type (still haven't figured out why she doesn't want a shirt on when she goes potty). And I don't think that right now we would have time to remove pants and panties before an accident occurred.

3. Accessible Potty. Diego potty is in the family room, I mean when you gotta go, you gotta go. There is a generic potty seat upstairs for when we are upstairs and need to go.

4. Frequent Reminders. Sometimes, you just need to be reminded that you need to go. I ask very frequently if she needs to go sit on the potty, when she is in the middle of playing she does not want to stop to pee.

5. Rewards. We have all manner of rewards; we have a potty chart that she gets to put a sticker on when she goes in the potty (we started with a sticker for trying). Then she gets a Hershey kiss if she goes (Really thought the bag of kisses was going to go bad before she decided to use the potty). And of course, the ultimate prize at the end of all of this is a trip to Chucky Cheese and a pink car.

6. The Potty Book for girls. This cute little book goes through all of the steps, since Princess likes books, this really helped the whole concept click.

7. Staying Home. Potty training on the go is not something that sounds appealing or possible to me. I only work one more night for the next week and a half so we are staying home and having potty training boot camp. Hey, cheap fun, when gas prices are so high.

So that is it, sounds easier on a blog than in real life. This has been an on-going process since February. My goal is to be diaper free by July (at least during the day).

Feeding the ducks (a.k.a geese)

2008-05-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

We had a blast today at the park. Princess has been begging to go feed the ducks, so today we did. Most were actually geese, but she didn't seem to care. Although, she did get hissed at by a protective mommy goose (I can relate). She was also very excited to feed "jumpy squirrel" (Curious George), he was greatful for the bread, but not the squealing two year old. The park has a small zoo as well, so we wandered through there as well. Little did I know that a small groundhog would be the biggest hit of the day. She went to sleep tonight talking about Gus the groundhog. Seriously the girl was obssessed with this little creature. She asked her Daddy if we could get one for the backyard. It so much fun, we will probably be repeating the adventure several times this summer. There is a playground too, and little man had his first ride in a swing. He was so cute, just laughed and laughed.

First swing ride

We gave "jumpy squirrel" some love too

Enjoying the bread that was meant for the ducks

The Princess having a conversation with "ugly duck"

I always knew there was a reason.....

2008-05-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is the reason that I am so scattered; it's all that creativity and it just needs a focus!!

83%

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Rockin' and Rollin'

2008-05-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

My sweet little chunk of love finally decided that it was time to do something. Yesterday, he rolled back to front several times!! He has done this once before, but I think it was an accident. Mommy was very excited, I was starting to worry, now I just think he is a little lazy :) However, what he lacks in physical activity he makes up for in personality; he will laugh and laugh at me, it is adorable.

In other news he is teething, which makes for a very fussy baby. I have heard great things about teething tablets and I think that I am going to make that purchase this weekend. I'll report back about their effectiveness. Right now he is enjoying chilled teething toys, and much to the men in my families' dismay he likes the pink star best. It has much more to do with the shape than the color, but they don't understand that (silly boys).

My little dinosaur has been big since day one, and is still growing at a rather steady rate. He is 5 months old and weighing in right at 17lbs and is just over 26 in. long. We haven't started cereal or baby food yet, and will probably wait another month or two before doing so. Since my milk seems to be of the "full fat whipping cream" variety, the Dr said that it is okay to wait.

People have told me that with the first you can not wait for them to reach each milestone; rolling, eating, walking, talking etc. However, with the second you are okay with waiting. It is so true and really I think that I have enjoyed V's baby days a lot more because I am not always looking for him to reach the next goal. Not that I want him to be slow, but if he decides not to walk until he is 15 months, that is okay. I am a lot more relaxed this time around, and it makes life with a baby so much easier.

Reflections on Motherhood

2008-05-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

I just celebrated my third Mother's Day and it was every bit as special as the first. However, I found myself reflecting on my experiences as a mom and how it has changed me, I compiled a list that is far from complete, but catches the main points.

I never get tired of hearing Mommy, it is the most precious word, especially when it comes from the mouth of a two year old.
Belly laughs from a baby are one of sweetest sounds I know.
I feel like a superhero when I am able to "kiss" away a boo boo and make everything better.
Nothing boosts self-esteem more than your child crying for you and not resting until they are in your arms.
There is no way to describe the pride you feel each time your child reaches a milestone.
It is amazing that even when they have been at their worst all day, when you put them in bed at night all you can think of is how angelic and beautiful they look.
Prayer took on a new meaning when I became a mom; it suddenly seemed essential to explain to God just what my children meant to me, to thank him for this incredible gift and to plead with him to keep them safe.
I look at strangers differently, no one is safe.
I became a "grandma" driver.
Everything I do is done with "how will this help/hurt the children in mind"
The phrase "it hurts me more than it hurts you" finally made sense. Punishing your child is not easy, but necessary.
Unconditional love is real and a bond between a mother and child is impenetrable.
My husband has never seemed so strong as when he supported me in labor or ran to pick our daughter up after falling.
Watching my husband become a Dad is as amazing as watching my children grow.
There are days when I sit and cry because I am so in love with my children and so amazed that they are really mine.
There are also days when I wonder why God choose me, because I seem to not know what the heck I am doing.
Seeing my two year old sleeping on the couch and my baby cooing and kicking on the floor beside me makes me want to cuddle them both up in my arms and never let go.
I am so thankful that I have several more years of them before they leave my care, and I pray God helps me enjoy that time and not wish it away.

Being a mom is the most incredible thing I have ever done. I could not accomplish anything professionally that would hold a candle to fact that I have brought two amazing humans into this world that I am responsible for raising. I hope every mother out there had an amazing Mother's day and took time to appreciate the ones who made you a mother.

Attack of the two year old

2008-05-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Oh my, oh my, did she ever attack. Yesterday afternoon, we were playing doctor, she was having a blast using my stethoscope and her toy otoscope to "check" me. After a short while she wandered off into the sun room and I assumed she lost interest, so I started playing with little man on the floor. Well, about 5 minutes later The Princess comes back and says "my put medicine in mommy's ear". I guess I really should have checked to see what she had, but instead I assumed that it the otoscope again. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.......It was a digital thermometer (still have no clue where it came from) and it was shoved ALL the way into my ear! I howled with pain for about 10 minutes, then called hubby crying. Finally, I composed myself enough to call the doctor (who was out of the office) and I was told I could come in first thing in the morning and to take Motrin. It hurt all night and when I went to the doc this morning she said it was most definitely ruptured. Lovely, never even had and ear infection and now this, I am not enjoying it, not at all. I did try to explain to Princess that you can not put things in ears, but she didn't seem to understand. When I was crying, she patted my back and said "It's okay Mommy, my medicine make it feel better". Medicine hurts really, really bad, but bless her heart she was trying!

Your brother does not have TEETH!

2008-05-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

"What!? I can't have jelly beans?"

The Princess has recently taken a very keen interest in her baby brother. In the last few weeks I have turned my back only to realize that she is in some way "helping" with Dino's care. The first incident was when I gave her goldfish and then caught her stuffing them in his mouth! That was the first lesson in "your brother has no teeth." Next I went in the kitchen to fix lunch while he was lying on the floor in the living room, well he starts fussing and when I went to see what the problem was, sister had his onsie unsnapped, diaper off and "attempting" re-diaper him. That was the first lesson in "your brother is not a doll". I have even gotten her all manner of doll clothes, diapers, wipes, etc to try to deter her from using baby boy as her personal play thing, but to no avail. Today we had an incident with a green jelly bean and I was sitting right there with him (Thank God, I can only imagine the choking that could have occurred.) she plopped down and popped a jelly bean right in his open mouth. She said "My share with baby broder". Well, yes, sharing is good but brother has NO TEETH! I even went so far as to show her my teeth and her own teeth then Dinosaur's toothless gums. I don't know that she got it, 5 minutes later she was back with a pink jelly bean. Heavens, I never knew I would have to protect the little one from his 2 year old sister. LOVE the lessons that babies teach you: Brother does not have teeth!!!, so make sure two year old girl is not shoving food in his mouth!

Sleep

2008-04-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, folks, let's talk about sleep for just a quick second; I LOVE sleep. Even more so now that I am a mom and know just how precious it really is. I work night shift, completely out of line with someone like myself who loves to sleep at night. Right now I am not sleeping, because we don't have a sitter (I'm really not sure why we still are sitterless) and someone has to watch the littles. Especially now that The Princess likes to "wash" various things (BIG mess). The point of this post is I think that my body is in some kind of wierd shock. I mean, I wake up at 6 then I will just about fall asleep at 2 in the afternoon (and remain a zombie until about 6), but come 10 at night I am wide awake, then about 3 am I am out again. My body wants to sleep in cycles; not only is this impossible with two children, it is ridiculous! No one can sleep for two hour stretches here and there throughout the day. It is very taxing on my poor body and really I just don't know what to do about it. So here I am at 10:54 PM writing a blog about it. Actually, I might be able to sleep, but The Princess is not sleeping, she has just informed me that she wants to go to the playground. Why she is up 4 hours past her bedtime I will never know, but she has flat refused to sleep tonight. Whatever, maybe my freaky sleep schedule is messing with her too. On the upside, sweet baby boy is sound asleep in his little cradle....until Princess comes in like a freight train and wakes him up, as she often does. So I am off to watch Ace of Cakes, possible take a Benadryl or two and hope for Mr. Sandman to visit soon. Night Night.

AND THE WINNER IS........

2008-04-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

RICHELLE!!!! Congratulations Richelle, I will be getting in touch with you to get your address. I hope that you enjoy the burp cloths.

I am really excited about the response, and I am contemplating starting my own etsy shop. Stay tuned for future developments. I am definitely hoping to invest in a new blog design (that is unless I win a free makeover in the bloggy giveaway carnival!!). Thank you to everyone who entered, if money and time were no object I would mail all 82 of you a set of burp cloths!

BLOGGY GIVEAWAY!!!

2008-04-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

YIPPEE! It's time for the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival and this time I am ready! For the first time I am going to offer a giveaway. So here it is ladies and gentlemen.... a set of four handmade burp cloths (pictured below). They are flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other. They are also contoured so that they fit your shoulder. These are wonderful and thick enough to catch large volumes of spit-up. I have made several for The Dinosaur and if they can handle his reflux then they can handle anything! Check out all of the other Giveaways too!

So for contest rules:

1.) Open to all, you do not have to have a blog, but you do have to live in the lower 48 (sorry, shipping is just too high :( )

2.) Leave a comment with what you think is the best baby shower gift and your e-mail so that I can contact you if you win!

3.) Contest closes on Friday at 5 PM Eastern time. I will randomly choose an entry at that time and post the winner by Saturday!

The worst kind of grief

2008-04-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

Nothing can prepare you to attend the funeral of a child, especially that of an infant. The sadness and grief were overwhelming and I never want to experience that again. You gain a new perspective on just how precious your own children are. My sweet babies are probably tired of me hugging them and crying at one point Princess said "Mommy squeeze tight". Poor Dinosaur had no choice and was snuggled and held all night. Even the fact that he was up all night didn't bother me, I just thank God my baby is here to keep me up all night.

You can just call me Martha

2008-04-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am morphing into Martha. Or a very strange version of a 1950's housewife. I am officially a stay at home mom... who works! That's right folks, because Martha's like myself, we don't need sleep. I have sewed three burp cloths this morning, and I must say my sewing skills are improving. I have a lovely dinner of shake and bake chicken planned (hey, I'm staying up all night to work, that is as gourmet as they are getting.) AND I have attempted to clean the house. The last part is really only an attempt, as The Princess sees it as her sole mission in life to undo all of my cleanly efforts ( which really there are not that many, so I wish she would leave them until her father came home so he could see that sometimes I do actually clean up) . Tonight after spending a somewhat productive day with my littles I will go to work to try to teach new moms how to care for their own littles. Upon arriving home tomorrow morning I will be about 1/100th productive as I was today as I try to stay awake until 5 pm, when my husband will come home and I will go to sleep. Martha would be so proud, or disappointed because after all 38 hours is really not that long (I think that woman only sleeps like 3 hours a night, I really don't know how she does it) . So there you go a day in the life of a stay at home working mom. Maybe one day we will find a sitter and I will demote my self to part-time stay at home mom/working mother and will officially be stripped of the "Martha" title.

Our poor Teke

2008-03-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Teke is the black one

*****UPDATE*****

We have been giving Teke the eye drops for three days now and we have seen the vet everyday. This morning she said his eye looks great! Well, as good as can be expected, it still looks kind of nasty, but it is getting better and she said right now we don't need to go to UGA. Yippee! Another good thing, is that putting the drops in his eyes is not as difficult as I imagined it would be, he sits there nicely and lets us do what we need to do. Ryon says he knows we are trying to help him. We see the vet again on Wednesday, so hopefully we will have more good news.

One of our three Chihuahua's, Tequila (shortened to Teke after the kids came along) had a bum eye the other day. Upon seeing it I really thought it was cataract (he's eleven) and not a huge deal, but made him an appointment to see the vet this morning. Bless his heart it is lacerated and infected and there is a good chance he may loose that eye. We were given the option to try meds first or go to the UGA vet school and pay upwards of $2000 to have him examined and treated. Since our money tree has failed to produce fruit due to last years drought and the kids just will not get a job we felt like we really should try meds first. If things are still looking bad on Monday we will re-evaluate and go from there. I'm really hoping the meds will help, I hate to feel like I'm letting my pup down. I really feel sorry for hubs, this was one of his dogs before we met and he is very attached. I don't know if God gives a lot of priority to dogs but I'm still going to pray that his eye heals without drastic intervention or removal.

RSV....No it couldn't be

2008-03-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right The Dinosaur woke me at 2am (completely abnormal for him) SCREAMING. Right then I knew something was off kilter, he never wakes up and when he does, he does not scream. So I pick him up and try to get him back to sleep, but he will have none of it. Then I decide he is hungry so I try to nurse him and he sucks, chokes, coughs, and cries...over and over and over. I know enough to know that a baby that is not nursing well is a sick baby. Needless to say we were up ALL night. When we got up he had a terrible cough and was just so fussy I knew we were heading for a doctor visit. This morning at 8:00 exactly I called the doctor for an appointment. We went only to find out that my sweet little man has RSV :( . Not fun, he has been really fussy, but he is still eating (just takes a little longer). I hate seeing him sick and the poor little thing can not even tell me what is hurting. If anyone has magic tricks to help a sick baby feel better, I would love to hear them.

Easter Fun

2008-03-25T05:03:00.001-07:00

Easter was AMAZING, we had such a wonderful weekend. It was also exhausting. Starting Friday, the kids and I went ALL day, mostly running errands that just had to be taken care of. Then that night we went to Good Friday service, which always gets me, and this year was no different. It is just so moving and incredible to know how much Jesus went through for me. Then on Saturday we hit up the egg hunts, there were several to choose from (one had i-pods and Nintendo wii's as prizes, we opted for safety and went with stickers and sweet-tart prizes!). We went to a community egg hunt in the morning, came home for lunch and turned right around to go to the church egg hunt. The Princess had so much more fun at the church, the community egg hunt was SO crowded that she got scared when the actual hunt started. It was just too many people. That night we went over to my Dad's, it was supposed to be just a short visit, but turned into dinner (I can't seem to pass up an offer for steak and shrimp). Easter morning, I got up and went to sunrise service, another very moving service. Then I came home to do the Easter Bunny thing. The Princess and I dyed eggs (Have a dozen hard boiled eggs and nothing to do with them, oh well) because I am still a little kid at heart and can not have an Easter where REAL eggs are not dyed fun colors. The kids and I got ready and went to church, then went over to my Dad's for lunch. After that we went to Hubby's parents for a short visit. Three FULL days, I'll tell you what, I need a year to recover from this weekend. However, I wouldn't change it for the world it was beautiful weather (got sunburned), and a wonderful time.

The kids and me

The Princess in her Easter finest

The Dinosaur checking out his first Easter basket

The Princess all ready to go hunt!

The Mama and The Princess

Egg dying fun

The Princess and her loot

Sewing class

2008-03-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

******UPDATE******

I finished my first project. Believe me it is FAR from perfect, but for a first-timer, I am pretty proud. It is a travel diaper changing station, you know the kind that hold the diapers and wipes so you don't have to haul the big diaper bag everywhere you go.

My mom "lent" (I use this term lightly, as I have a tendency not to return things to her) me her sewing machine months ago. However, I have never used it because I am afraid of it. Well, about two weeks ago I saw this blanket/lovee on the Internet and thought "I could probably make that if only I could use the sewing machine." So Mom came over yesterday and we had a sewing lesson. Low and behold, that machine is not nearly as scary as I imagined. I made two of the blankets that I saw and they both turned out surprisingly well. The little Dinosaur is cuddling with one right now, he loves it! So now my new hobby is sewing, although, I would not trust myself to make clothes yet, there is just no telling how that would turn out. I'll have to post pictures of my new creations soon.

The Name Game

2008-03-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Jenn over at 4tunate has been doing a mini-series on how she named her quads and suggested everyone post how they named their own children. It seemed like a fun little post so here goes.

Our first child was named before she was ever conceived. My husband liked the girl names Reagan and Kennedy and we both liked the boy name Carter. One day I was looking through a baby name book at my in-laws house and looked up the names we had chosen, Kennedy meant "ugly headed" (no offense to anyone named Kennedy, but that is what this particular book said) So right then our first daughter would have the name Reagan. Reagan meant "little ruler" and her Dad's name Ryan means "King". It seemed appropriate to name her after him, so we decided on Reaghan Lane S., Lane is my husbands middle name. We also decided to carry on the tradition of spelling the name just a little differently. My MIL's name is Joye and my husband's is spelled R-Y-O-N (but pronounced Ryan). If she had been a boy the name would have been Carter Patrick. Carter we just liked and Patrick was after my grandfather. We didn't keep Carter because we got enough president jokes while I was pregnant and decided that it would be cruel to do that to our children.

By the time our second child came around we had already decided on another girl and boy name. Elle Reese or Carson Patrick. Elle is a nick-name for Helen, which was my grandmother's name and Reese was another name we just liked. Carson was a name we liked, but later we found out that it was my great-grandmother's maiden name too. I was 100% convinced that this child was a girl too, so when the doctor said "it looks like a boy", I was in total shock. Well, I took one look at the little skeletor baby on the screen and told my husband "We are NOT naming him Carson!" Then a very hormonal pregnant lady drug her dumbfounded husband to the book store to purchase a baby name book. I read EVERY boy name in that book and made a list. One by one my husband vetoed every one. So one night I was looking through the book for the one millionth time (I was determined to name this child before doing anything else) and I came across the name Van, it was different and I really liked it. My husband was half asleep when I asked if he liked it he said "Ask again in the morning". Well, I had made up my mind by the next morning that the baby's name would be Van Patrick and decided to just start calling him that. By noon my husband said "So you are really stuck on Van for a name huh?" yep, I was and there was no way I was going down without a fight. Finally, he said "I think I really like that too, but I want to spell it with two N's" At first I thought it looked funny, but eventually it grew on me and we had our name Vann Patrick!

We want two more kids and in true fashion already have names picked out. If we have a boy next we are going with Quinn Henry and a girl we are sticking with Elle Reese (although, I'm thinking about naming her Helen and calling her Elle. Haven't ran that by hubby yet, I'll wait until I hormonal and pregnant again so that he is afraid to say no!!)

Oh, the Exhaustion

2008-03-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

I went back to work this week after a 12 week maternity leave. I work two nights a week as a registered nurse in a hospital. I hadn't figured out yet how to finagle sleep, so I decided to wing it. I am now suffering the dire consequenses of that decision. Since 6am on Wednesday I have had a grand total of 4 hours of sleep. Before having The Dinosaur I was splitting my nights, but being the last one to sign up on the schedule this time left me filling in the blanks and working two nights in a row a couple of weeks.
It also doesn't help that The Dinosaur still will not take a bottle very well. We have been trying since he was two weeks old and the child just does not like a bottle. The first night he drank only 2 ounces the entire 13 hours I was gone, the second night was a little better, he took about 5 ounces. Therefore, he wants to nurse constantly when I get home! Yesterday he nursed for almost 4 hours straight with just a few short breaks and today was no better. Luckily, I have mastered side-lying position and he and I just hung out in bed this morning while The Princess went to mothers morning out. It wasn't great sleep, but I got in a little and I don't have to go back tonight.
If anyone is reading this blog, please pray that The Dinosaur will start to take a bottle better. I worry so much about him when I know that he is hungry and doesn't understand why mommy isn't here to feed him. I know it will get better, but I am better at work if I know he is happy.

Keeping The Princess in HER room

2008-03-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is my Works for me Wednesday backwards edition.

We have successfully gotten The Princess to fall asleep in her own bed and now we are encountering the problem of keeping her there. She has started coming down the hall to our room at all hours of the night. I am so exhausted that I just barely get out of bed to nurse The Dinosaur, so I am certainly not up for "fighting" The Princess at 2 am. The second problem is that no matter where she sleeps, she does not stay asleep past 5:30, so one of us is up everyday at 5:30 or 6. No matter what time she goes to bed she is up before the sun every day. My husband has brought up using a baby gate on her room to keep her in, but this scares me. If anyone has had success with it I would love to hear from you.

My question: How do I keep my 2 year old in her room all night and how do I make her sleep past 5:30?

Check to see if you can help anyone else out over at Rocks in My Dryer.

The Dinosaur likes it all natural!

2008-03-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right folks, The Dinosaur loves being naked. Well he is accepting of socks and a diaper, otherwise clothes seem to just make him irate. I discovered this while at my Dad's house over the weekend. I had to change his outfit and took the dirty one off then went to get the other, but he seemed so content that I didn't want to disturb him so I let him lie on the floor for a while. When I finally went to put on his outfit he screamed and kicked and just had a little tantrum. So, my Dad said "take his clothes back off and see if he calms down" what the hey, won't hurt him, so I tried it. Sure enough, the little bugger settled down and was content again. When we finally HAD to put clothes on him to go home, he once again screamed and had a fit. Right now he is again enjoying his nakedness on the living room floor, and trying diligently to roll over for the first time. I think that he will be spending a lot of time naked in the coming months!!

Just another day in paradise

2008-02-28T08:34:00.001-08:00

This is how I feel today...

I feel like I have been trying to single handed achieve world peace today. I know it really isn't all that bad, but today everything seems like an impossible task. I will eventually find an answer, with my clever solutions and God's infinite wisdom, I will figure everything out. The problem lies in my wanting to figure everything out today and that doesn't seem to be happening. So, I feel like I need a reprieve and prayer and...

This is how I want my kids to be the rest of the day...

I know this is never going to happen, but even an hour would be amazing. That is not likely to happen either, The Princess has recently gone on nap strike and no longer sees the need to sleep longer than 15 minutes. I see a lot of need, as I loathe the whining that inevitably accompanies a sleepy 2 year old. This also does not do anything for my stress level. However, I know that no matter what my babies are precious gifts from God and....

This makes everything worthwhile....

Just look at that precious grin, isn't he gorgeous! Mama said there would be days like this. I just wish I could solve my problems and move on QUICKLY. Too many balls in the air and I just do not know which one to pull down first! But at least I have two adorable babies to take my mind off of things!

Good Times

2008-02-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

I know it's Wednesday and I need to do a Works for me Wednesday post, but I'll get to that later. Right now I am more interested in telling about my most fabulous night last night. I got together with two girls that I went to high school with and we have not gotten together in probably about 7 years. We met at a restaurant, which we could have probably met on park bench for all the eating we did. We talked for nearly 4 hours and it seemed like we had only been there for about 30 minutes, we could have stayed for 4 more hours talking. Sometimes it is so nice to catch up with people that you have lost contact with. These two ladies and I were in
4-H together and spent a lot of time together in high school. One of them I have known since I was 2 years old and practically grew up at her house. Seriously, had it not been for her amazing parents, there is no telling where I would be. I have such great memories of time spent with both of these ladies and none of it is filled with the drama that most high school friendships go through. We vowed last night to get together more regularly and I hope that we do because that was one of the best times I have had in a long time. I love reconnecting to people who were so important in my life before I had my family. I felt like I got in touch with a part of myself that has been gone for so long, it was really a wonderful night. Now, go call up those long lost friends and go to dinner or go sit on a park bench. It does a soul good!!

The screaming dinosaur

2008-02-24T12:33:00.000-08:00

My sweet little son has decided enough is enough. He has let his drama queen big sister take center stage for to long now and he is not going to take it anymore. Oh no, he has decided to fight fire with fire, and match her scream for scream. The Dinosaur has come to life, for the last two days the sweet little creature has cried NON-STOP. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but when you are used to a child that eats hangs out in the bouncy then drifts off to sleep again, 4-5 hours of screaming is pure #$%*. The silver lining is that he is still sleeping like a champ at night, he even let me get 8 hours of sleep in last night. I guess after enduring all of that crying he thought I deserved it. Don't get me wrong, I have tried everything. At first I thought he might be getting sick, but no fever yet. Then I thought gas and gave him mylicon and gripe water, no dice. Now, I have decided that it is just that he is tired of his sister having all the temper tantrum fun. I have to tell you though, another few days of two screaming kids and I may be wandering the streets talking to myself and yelling at invisible cats.

The Princess wasn't about to give in without a fight!

The Dinosaur showing his true colors!

To her credit The Princess adds the little extra touches, you know, like snot and drool! The Dinosaur may have to come up with some new tricks to keep up. The Princess is also louder and much more physical, she can now follow me so that there is never an escape from the tantrums! AHHH, motherhood is there anything better? It may mean that I am bat crazy by the time I'm 40, but it is so worth it.

Lent is not for the faint of heart

2008-02-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

I initially gave up sweets for lent, then my, oh so thoughtful husband, reminded me that Girl Scout cookies would be arriving in a week. Arrrgh! So I revised my sacrifice, and gave up all sweets except cookies, then we went out for ice cream. Ahh, once again I revised and now I have given up candy and cake. I made it specific so that I could no longer change it. And the temptation to go to Publix and buy a premade birthday cake looms so large right now that I scarcely believe that I will really make it to Easter (at which point we will have a sheet cake in lieu of ham). I am trying with all of my will power to resist my temptations. Jesus is truly incredible he sacrificed his LIFE for you and me! And to think we give up material possessions for 40 days and think we are really doing something. My friends, the gesture is worthwhile and gives us some understanding of what Jesus did for us, but we will never be able to truly experience the sacrifice he made. Imagine if he had revisited his sacrifice and decided to just take a few beatings instead of dying that day on the cross, where would we be now, or more importantly where would we be going? Just some thoughts to ponder.

Works for me Wednesday- Sweet Substitute

2008-02-20T06:19:00.000-08:00

The Princess was born with Hubby's never satisfied sweet tooth. She loves the grocery store because they give out cookies at the bakery. So the other day after having denied her never ending requests for cookies, ice cream, fruit snacks, candy, ect I decided to clean out the pantry and found a box of sugar free chocolate pudding. The little light bulb in my head went off and I whipped it up to try after dinner. Low and behold The Princess was satisfied I received "Thank you Mama, my love Chocate ice cream!" So For now the old switcheroo is working and I feel a little better about giving her pudding that is sugar free rather than thin mints or chocolate ice cream. Check out all of the other Works for me Wednesday tips over at Rocks In My Dryer.

Works For Me Wednesday- Getting a toddler to sleep

2008-02-13T07:51:00.001-08:00

This is a trick I borrowed from Supernanny. We made the horrible mistake of holding The Princess until she fell asleep every night. Then we realized that she is getting to big for that. So now we are practicing a set bedtime routine where we get a bath, read 2 books, and turn on her music. The first night I had to sit right beside her and endure 45 minutes of screaming, the second night wasn't much better, then slowly I have been moving further and further away. I have made it to the chair on the other side of the room now and she falls asleep in about 10-15 minutes. This has worked so well for our family, hopefully it will work for yours too! Works for me Wednesday is being hosted at Don't Try This At Home today, check out all of the other great tips!

So Soon They Forget

2008-02-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

The Princess helping her Bop-Bop, this pic was
taken several months ago.

We spent a lot of time with my Dad and step-mom this weekend, and I am amazed at how different kids are viewed through a grandparent's eyes. The Princess calls my Dad "Bop-Bop", it was supposed to be Pop-pop and she calls my step mom "Mimi". "Bop-Bop" is the same man who absolutely would NOT tolerate any form of disobedience when I was a child, he firmly believed in spankings! Today, however, he seemed to have re-evaluated those beliefs, because when I told him that The Princess got popped this morning for being defiant he said "That baby has never done anything to deserve a spanking". Well, I beg to differ, and had it been me 24 years ago, I would have gotten a firm smack on the rear too! However, this is not the only area of child-rearing that he has began to re-think; a half gallon of apple juice in 4 hours, eating Oreo's 20 minutes before dinner, not eating dinner at all because she knows that there are cupcakes for dessert, running through the house wielding a piece of china, or snacking on a tub of sourcream, have all become acceptable forms of behavior. After all in his eye's she is just being a kid, where was this sentiment when I attempted to paint our carpet blue or accidentally coaxed the 200 lb Mastiff to jump on the hood of Dad's truck? Oh, how soon they forget that they were once in our shoes, wondering how on earth these supposed grandparents are the same people that raised them.

Tag

2008-02-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

My friend Joy tagged me on her blog and apparently I am supposed to tag seven people and tell you seven things about myself. Joy and I probably have some of the same since we are both new to blogging and we have several mutual friends. So here they are, I don't know everyone personally, but I LOVE keeping up with their blogs.

Now, seven things about me that are not well known but are true.

I can not stand lettuce, or any raw vegetable for that matter. I make the sub lady at Publix wipe the sandwich board before she makes my sandwich to make sure there are no stray lettuce fragments in my sub.
I will not watch movies where animals die, I can watch gory war movies all day, but the minute a dog dies I have to turn it off because I am in hysterics.
I am never organized, but if you move something from one of my piles on my desk I know!
I got married on my grandparents 63rd wedding anniversary
I hate mouths- I can not stand dentures, loose teeth, when teeth get knocked out, ect. I will seriously go to great lenghts not to deal with anything associated with the oral cavity.
I love starting projects, but rarely finish them :)
I am currently researching my family history and I have traced one line to 1124!

Works for me Wednesday- On-line shopping edition

2008-02-06T06:15:00.001-08:00

Hey- as a new blogger I figured I would join in this fun. I love on-line shopping, I could spend an entire day "window" shopping and never leave my couch!

Okay, for all of you pet lovers out there you have to check out Pet edge they are a wholesale pet supply store, but you can buy individual items as well, and it is much cheaper than the store.

When I am shopping for my children I love:

One Step Ahead
All Aboard Toys
Baby Center

Really there are so many more but it would take me all day to list them all. One last place you must go (or at least send your husband!) is the Shane Company website you can play all day designing your own ring and picking out diamonds. I have a $55,000 diamond on my wish list!! The key word being wish!

Happy shopping and check out all of the other great recommendations over at Rocks In My Dryer

PEACE!

2008-02-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

No I haven't converted to a hippie, not yet anyway! I am experiencing the ultimate in peace and serenity. The kind you remember from your childhood being forced upon you by an old lady with her finger to her lips and a sharp "hush!!" following. Yes, ladies and gentlemen I blog to you today from the LIBRARY! Not because I have to, but because I want to. It is so quiet here, no screaming children, no loud husbands, just the peacefulness of typing keys and turning pages. I think I am going to spen the night. The musty smell of book pages fills the air and I am just revived by all of these wonderful things. I think that I have forgotten the joys of the library, I should come here to check out books instead of buying them, I rarely read one more than once anyway. Alas, I am afraid that if I do check one out I'll have to pay a late fee that is lurking from somewhere deep in my past. I have never been very punctual with the returning of books. Maybe I will just stay here and enjoy the silence and perhaps I can be the one to put my finger to my lips and snap "hush!" to some loud little kid! Oh the joy of growing up!!

The pain of parenting mistakes

2008-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

*****UPDATE*****

YIPPEE, WE DID IT!! She fell asleep in her bed without being held and there were no tears. We started at 6:30 and went upstairs, read two books, WHILE she sat in her bed. Then I turned her lamp off, kissed her goodnight, and told her that I loved her. I sat on the edge of her bed and didn't look at her, I had to sit there the better part of 30 min before she drifted off, but hey baby steps! Tomorrow night I'll move to the foot of the bed and gradually I'll just work my way out of her room. AHHH there is nothing like sleeping children!

*****************

We were young, first time parents when The Princess came along, and as such, we didn't quite get it right with the whole sleeping thing. We would rock her to sleep when she was a baby and somewhere along the line we failed to realize that she was a toddler. Now we are rocking a toddler to sleep and realize that we have created a monster. Here lately I have been trying to sleep train and it is HARD! She turns into the girl from The Exorcist when it is time for bed. She screams, kicks, cries, thrashes, and just plain refuses to lie in the bed. I am trying a technique that I read on supernanny where you start out sitting next to them and slowly move farther and farther away each night. So far I am still in the bed! We have only been doing this for two nights, but oh how I wish that we had been doing it all along. Now that I have The Dinosaur we are committed to making sure he can self soothe, we will not be rocking him to sleep every night. If you happen to be reading this and have a baby or are pregnant PLEASE don't wait until they are two before you start trying to get them to go to sleep on their own! Pray for us, I have a feeling that it is going to be a long road in getting this new night time routine down.

Cooking EVERY night

2008-01-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

Well, not really because I have officially designated Tuesday as Papa John's night because they have the $6 special that day. However, I am trying to cook more often because it just gets so expensive going out or running to the store at the last minute to get stuff. In this quest I have been planning my menu two weeks at a time, and boy is it difficult to find new stuff! I practically live on allrecipes.com and foodnetwork. My husband is completely in love with this new way of doing dinner, so far I have gotten nothing but two-thumbs up every night!! He said he really likes coming home to a home cooked meal that is ready when he walks in the door. The man really could have been a perfect 1950's husband. I have also found that cooking every night gives The Princess and I time to spend together, she loves standing at the counter and helping!
I am hoping that this will instill the same love of cooking in her that I got from helping my grandmother cook growing up. Tonight is enchiladas.. I am off to cook, got to have it ready by the time hubby walks in!! HAHAHA :)

Potty training trials and tribulations

2008-01-24T12:53:00.000-08:00

The time has come for The Princess to start potty training, and I have come to the conclusion that I may need to hire someone to do this for me. I have no flipping clue what I am doing!! However, in a valiant effort off I went to Target today to arm myself with all of the potty training necessities: a seat, training pants, curious George "big girl" panties (the girl will do anything for George), and pull ups. When I arrived home, I announced that potty training would start immediately, and promptly asked "Do you want to go pee-pee in the potty?" I received and emphatic "NO, NO POTTY MAMA". Well, not to be deterred I pulled out the big guns, Curious George panties and instantly got "My wear that!" "Yes, you can wear these IF you go pee-pee in the potty" "OK" So off we went to the potty, and we sat on the potty and did NOTHING, but small victories are okay with me. Then she wanted to put on the CG panties, and I explained that she had to go pee-pee in the potty and not in her panties, because we would have to take them off if she did. She seemed to understand so on they went. 20 minutes went by and no accidents, I was thrilled, here I was thinking I had done it, I was super mom, she was going to potty train in one day all because of CG panties!! 10 minutes later she is standing in the living room and yells "My go pee-pee mama" Alas, the panties didn't last to long so we went and sat on the potty and put another pull-up on. We will get this though, I am just as stubborn as The Princess and I want her potty trained!!! Let the battle begin!

SNOW

2008-01-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, being from the south we do not see a lot of snow, so when it does come everything stops. Since I am still on maternity leave and I have no reason for leaving the house, I say bring on the snow. Right now it is not sticking to the ground, but I have high hopes that it will so that The Princess will be able to go play in it for a few minutes. The other night it snowed and she spent 30 minutes running from the front door to the back door yelling "Rae Rae's snow" , I guess today it is old news, but she is keeping a watchful eye on it. She has reported that it is still snowing about six times, who needs the weather man when you have a two year old. We are definitely looking forward to a night of soup and hot chocolate! By the way The Princess just informed me that it is SNOWING!

The one where it all begins

2008-01-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

I am a stalker of several different blogs and I love being invited into these peoples lives. So here we go, You are cordially invited to read about my life! Not that I live a very glamorous or exciting life, but if you are interested come and join me.

Now an introduction is in order I believe.

I am a mother of 2, one princess (Reaghan) and one dinosaur (Vann). The Princess is a strong willed two year old, who has made it her sole mission to give new meaning to the phrase "terrible twos". The Dinosaur is a mellow (so far) one month old, who has been perfect since day one. My sweet babies are my life, I maintain that my reason for being on this planet is to be a mom. When I found out that The princess was on her way, my life changed forever and I wouldn't trade one day with her and my little dinosaur for that life. I love children and if it were not for my very practical husband, I would gladly challenge the Duggars to a "Who can have the most kids contest". Seriously, I have no limit on the number of kids I would have, however, my husband does. After several discussions and just plain stubbornness on my part we agreed on 4 children. I am half way to completing my family, I get excited just thinking about it.

I have been married to my husband for 2 1/2 years and we have been together for 5. We are living proof that opposites attract. He is extreme type A, and I am a poor excuse for type B. He cleans like someone is holding a gun to his head (no, really he is steam cleaning our carpet right now!) and I create new projects, like starting this blog. He loves all vegetables and eating healthy foods, I practically vomit if the sub maker at publix gets a tiny sliver of lettuce in my sandwich. He is career driven and is always thinking about work, I am family oriented and work is just something I have to do to help pay bills. We work well together, I bring his level of OCD down a notch, and he keeps me from becoming a disheveled mess. We make an interesting pair, but our core beliefs and values are the same and that is how we survive.

Now, just a tad about me personally. I am a registered nurse, I work at a hospital with new moms and babies. It is a rewarding job, but I work at night and nothing is rewarding about that. God, did not create me to be a bat! I thought that I wanted to be a teacher, but after one class I realized that I am in the right career, just not the right area. So I put school on hold and I am going back in the fall to be a nurse practitioner. I am not like any other woman you will ever meet, I love getting older, I want to be 30. The older I get the better my life gets. I love taking pictures, knitting, and reading... I don't have time for any of this.

So, I hope that I will live up to your blogging expectations and that this journey is not terribly boring for you.