NO! Boobie first!

First off I have to say that the snuggie is possibly one of the best inventions of the twenty-first century, or twentieth for that matter, and why the heck had no one thought to put arms on blankets before? It's....heavenly. Everyone should have one, the government should hand out snuggies at birth with social security cards. For those of you living in Hawaii I would even go so far as to say that you should order one, pump up the AC to frigid, just to feel the full effect of wonderfulness, however this may negatively affect your electric bill. Anyway, today I'm writing about a control mechanism that I find both funny and extremely annoying at times. Every time, without fail, that I get up from doing anything with Laylah, even if it's to go to the bathroom, to get a different book, get something she's asked for, make dinner, anything, she grabs hold of me and says, "No! Boobie First!" she proceeds to have to nurse not just one but both breasts, even if for only a second each, before letting me go do whatever. Brandon thinks it's because she think I might be gone a while and wants to make sure to top off before the opportunity goes away, but I think she knows I generally let her nurse whenever she wants and it's not that she does it only when I leave the house, not that I almost ever do that without her anyway, I think she does it to show me who's really in control. You can go but I'll be watching, you can go but before you do, remember your real purpose, you can go but only because I'm letting you go, not because you want or need to. And in some cases it can get desperate, trying to a explain to an almost potty training (in other words trying to persuade her to potty train and rarely succeeding) that you have to go potty when you have to go potty and you can't just go in your pants, well, it does not work. Actually applying any kind of logic to any situation doesn't work at the moment. No, Mommy can't go down the baby slide with you, have you noticed that Mommy is big enough to squash it if she wanted to? No, Mommy does not fit in your crib to jump with you. Now there are times when lessons can be demonstrated and logical conclusions reached by a two year old. For example, the day after Christmas Laylah decided she wanted to take her baby for a walk outside with her new stroller. She had not gotten dressed yet and didn't want to, would not even put on shoes to go outside in below forty degrees. She proceeded to have a fit about it when I tried telling her it was too cold to go outside sans shoes and coat, let alone getting dressed. Finally I said fine, if she insisted on going outside in the cold with no shoes, go, see for yourself little princess. Brandon was dressed so he took her outside. She made it to the end of the sidewalk where the cars are parked, turned to Brandon and asked where now? Brandon said for her to decide, she looked around and said, "Home!" then she ran back to the door. I let her in and she told me, "Mommy, I'm COOOOOOOLD!" while hugging herself. I said, yup, that's what happens when you go outside without shoes and a coat in winter. I can hope she learned the lesson but I doubt it, maybe after a few more tries. Still, it was kind of nice getting to say I told you so to a two year old, and for a moment having the control in my hands. Didn't last long, her next words were, "Boobie NOW!"

Christmas part deux

Like the Charlie Sheen reference? hehe. Anyway, Christmas morning. Laylah wakes up, I jump out of bed to tell Brandon to get the camera ready so we can tape her expression when she sees the wonder of Christmas presents under the tree and what does she do. She lays down on the floor outside our bedroom and acts like she just wants to go back to bed! I'm like huh? So I ask her if she wants to go night night again and she says no, sighs, stays there. Then I tell her to go see if Santa came. She finally stirs and tromps into the living room where Brandon is waiting. She walks in, takes a look at the presents under the tree and kind of gives it the look of, "So? That's there every day. What's the big deal??" Meanwhile I'm hopping up and down and exclaiming that Santa came and does she want to open presents and which one and look at the cookie Santa ate, and she kind of looks at me like, "geez Mom take chill pill already!" I finally convince her to go sit under the tree to open something and she starts getting excited and stupid parent that I am I hand her the one gift that will prolong the present opening phase at least four hours. A tube of plastic fish. Yes, a tube of plastic fish. It was $5. She must have it open right NOW! and then we don't get her attention again to open anything for what seems like an hour. We try to tempt her with dollies, books, she looked up briefly for the all important sparkly shoes, which had to be put on over her footy pajamas right NOW! But always back to the plastic fish in the tube. We took a break, ate Monkey Bread and coffee. Anyway, it took a long long time to open presents. Once she got into it and put aside the plastic fish we still had to open every toy, book, and box, right NOW! She got two babies, a stroller that had a take out bed part, some dresses, several thousand books, a tea set which Brandon and I spent time each taking turns playing with her with at her little table, a little people airplane and car, a talking alphabet book, a talking thomas the train laptop, puzzles, craft books, stuffed animals, and of course the red hat, pink hat, sparkly shoes and green present. The all important green present was actually the tube of fish so maybe she knew all along why she wanted a green present, it was fate. After most of the presents were opened we went to bed to take a nap, all three of us. It was cozy. When she woke up I wanted to get her dressed and tae pictures with all her loot and open stockings and video with grandparents, but this did not work as planned. She refused to get dressed. Struggle struggle, scream, kick, and don't change her nasty stiny poopie diaper for the love of GOD! I'm beginning to think she grows attached to her stinky diapers, like they are her bestest friend. Today she went so far as to run screaming to the diaper pail after I'd put in the latest addition and try to open it to get it back out to put back on. It was actually quite funny if it wasn't also totally disgusting. Anyway, I digress, The not getting dressed part lasted well into talking to Grandma. I'd given up at this point and told her if she wanted to be naked and cold that was just fine. I had to make dinner. I made "Ode to our new Home" Ham, (meaning Coke basted Ham), cranberry wild rice dressing, aspergrass, (yes that's how I say it too!) biscuits, and sweet potato mush. It was all pretty good. Except that we got it all done, ready to eat, table set, and Laylah had a fit about not eating at the table. She wanted to eat on the floor. This lasted another ten minutes because I really wanted to have us all eat at the table and enjoy christmas dinner together like we did at Thanksgiving, it's a rare thing and I wanted it! But no, so I put her food on the floor and Brandon and I proceeded to eat our dinner at the table while she complained the whole time. When she realize she was actually hungry she wanted to eat my dinner, at which point I let her because frankly it was Christmas, she eats nothing as it is, and I was just tired. After dinner we all played with more of her toys. She's very good with the laptop game and the alphabet book. Knows all her letters, pushes the right buttons when they ask, it's quite fun to watch her. We also had fun pushing her babies in the stroller and giving them bottles and babas. She then took a bath with all of her plastic tube animals (she actually got four tubes worth of them) and then we read ten of her new books before putting her to sleep a very spoiled girl. Brandon and I watched another episode of Dexter, which was actually the last one in Season 2 so now we can't get more till netflix actually send them instead of watching them online like we were. Ugh. OH, also, I got red flannel long underwear pajamas with feet from Brandon, with a buttflap. Very sexy I must say. I also got several books to enjoy in the new year, a beautiful necklace from my parents, a snuggie (best thing ever), more pajamas, dvds, gloves, socks, calendars, and chocolates. A good haul all in all. Brandon did well with two new video games, clothes for work, lots of books, and gift certificates. Laylah won Christmas by far with the most presents. Here's the thing though, next morning she wakes up, runs into the living room, looks around with a confused expression and turns to Brandon and says, "Where my presents?" She totally thought it was going to be a daily occurance from then on. Maybe this is why she's been such a little brat lately. and I don't say that lightly, I would not call my child a brat unless she royally deserved it. But maybe she thinks every day when she wakes up that there will be presents under the tree for her and when there aren't it just starts her day off on a bad note. That's what I'm telling myself anyway, I'm really hoping it's not her sincere wish to watch Mickey Mouse Club every second of every day, to never change her diaper, and to scream and kick every time Mommy asks her to do anything. It's just that she is feeling what every child feels, Christmas is over and it won't come around again for a long long time, and I remember how that made you sad even if you'd had the best Christmas ever, you were still sad to realize tomorrow wasn't Christmas anymore.

Christmas is...magical?

This last week we celebrated all that is related to Christmas. It was busy to say the least. Brandon had Christmas Eve off so we did have more time to spend together, but as we'd apparently not planned on having a toddler who suddenly has decided that everything we usually do, as in every day routines, are now call for outright rebellion and murderous screams. We had a nice breakfast Christmas Eve morning, Laylah didn't eat a bite. Then Brandon went last minute shopping while Laylah and I made cut out cookies to decorate. This was mostly successful except for the fact that she kept insisting, no matter what I did, that the cookies cutters should cut the cookies backwards, and when I'd try to show her how to do it right so that the cookies were actually cut and not just squished all over the place, she of course had a fit. After this we tried napping, I put her down in her crib and she went to sleep, then I went out to get one last thing for her stocking. Brandon had returned at this point. Apparently she woke up the minute I left, and I was back about thirty minutes later and she was still upset. So I lay down with her. She finally kind of slept but woke up at 3. So we still had to ice the cookies and we sat down to do this, these were the cookies we were leaving for Santa so I wanted her to have a part in them. It took maybe fifteen minutes and then I started trying to get her dressed. This has started to be one of the biggest tantrums of the day. Screams, kicks, tears, will not get dressed, will not let me change her diaper that is falling off it's sooo full. I've tried letting her pick stuff out, Brandon doing it. Telling her far in advance, explaining that we are going out and where to get her excited, telling her she'll get a treat, letting her watch tv while getting dressed, nothing works. Anyway, we finally forced her into her dress, by this time Brandon is seething, we're leaving the house on Christmas Eve for mass at 4 at 3:45. Well, the thing about that is that I'm the one that asked him when he wanted to go, did all the research, he didn't seem to care, when I proposed going at 4 because it said it was the nativity scene thing with kids, it did not say it was a mass, I thought it was an actual little nativity play, he said fine. So we get there, of course there's no parking, he gets more angry by the second, we get in the overflow area, of course there is nowhere to sit, and guess what, it's a mass. So I take Laylah down to their school area where there are several kids running around while he stays in the church. I ask this, I'm not Catholic, I don't know all the terms, what everything is, why am I in charge of figuring out when we should go and where and all that and then when it's not what he wanted get blamed for it? He was pissy the rest of the day because the church was too full. Well, what did he expect? should we have gone at 2 to get parking and seats and sat there for three hours with a restless toddler? Apparently so. Anyway, after mass we went home and I made fondu, which turned out well except again Laylah ate nothing. I seriously don't know what the child lives on. We watched MIracle on 34th street and talked about Santa and stockings and presents, we did her last advent chocolate which she loved. We then put out the cookies for Santa, tried reading NIght Before Christmas except she wouldn't let Brandon sit next to her so it was difficult. When she was finally in bed we dragged out all the boxes, wrapped some last minute things and somehow fit it all under the tree. Then we had some eggnog, the good kind and watched Dexter, for those of you who don't know is about the un-christmassiest thing you can watch, it's about a good serial killer. She's up now and I'm having issues typing while she's trying to fondle/nurse on my boobs, so I'll go now and write the conclusion of our wonderful holiday extravaganza plus ham next time.

Crafty Goddess

Yes, that's me. I've crowned (does a goddess get crowned? ordained? dieified (how the heck do you spell that word???)?) Anyway, myself the crafty goddess. As you've all learned by now I've been making a lot of home made christmas presents. Which reminds me, Christina, I will get you those pictures of us for your thing, I'm just having issues right now getting to the pictures on the laptop because Brandon has put them all on an external hard drive and saved them who knows where and then when I import new ones they all go to the same place and I can't find them!!!! Anyway again, so today started out kind of icky because I had yet another dentist appointment, never quite as fun as you hope. When I got home Laylah was in full art mode as the babysitter had been coloring with her and they were tracing their hands. Laylah wanted me to continue this so I decided it was the perfect time to try out a new crafty thing I'd thought up, Christmas tree Feet! hehehehehe. You'll think this is genius! To explain, we made Rudolph hands earlier in Dec by tracing her hands onto brown felt and then having the thumb be the head and the fingers the legs. I added a red cotton ball thingy for a nose, added a tail and pipe-cleaner antlers, and a googly eye. Then put another pipe-cleaner on the back for a hook. They were super cute and a great memory of making them and seeing in however many years how much her hands have grown. So with the same inspiration I thought hey, I haven't done anything with her feet! So today we traced her feet, she loved this and helped with the marker, onto green sparkly felt, added a brown stump at the bottom (the toes) and then decorated them with pipe-cleaner gold star, tinsel, and sequens for balls. She loved it, of course she also spread about a pound of various sized and colored sequens all over the carpet, but she did help clean them up after. We put another pipe-cleaner on the back for a hook and there ya go, Christmas tree feet! They are super cute and now we have feet and hands to mark christmas 2009. Next year I'll have to come up with something new, can't have twenty rudolph's in various sizes and nothing else. Maybe Santa feet? mouse hands? who knows? by the time she's 18 we'll have every variation I can come up with. hehehe. It was fun though. Too bad I didn't think of it in time to send them with the other stuff for christmas presents, but maybe for reyes. Mom, Dad and Jane disregard that last, you do not know what you are getting from us for three kings and you will be very surprised and delighted when you receive whatever it is. :) Little miss Christmas Tree Feet herself has awoken from her very short nap so I shall wish you all a good day and a Silent Night!

Comments please!

Ok, so everyone that has read this has commented, not here, that they can't comment. I don't now why. The settings are set so that anyone can comment. When I go on to it without signing on and from a different computer I can comment. Brandon went on and he could comment. Here's what we did in case you're just not seeing it right. At the bottom of the posts there is an underlined "comment" , click on that. It should take you to another page where you can either sign in if you have or want a google account, or there is an option for anonymous which means you don't have to sign in or have an account. Select whichever you like and then comment something in the text box. We tried it three times and they all showed up right away on both computers, then we erased them because they only said, "testing". So you should be able to comment, if this still doesn't work I don't know what to tell you, create a google account if you don't have one, sign in to that on igoogle, then find my blog maybe and since you are already signed in maybe it will recognize you another different way and let you comment. Thanks for wanting to comment though! and if it still doesn't work then just email me.

Carolers in the car

So, is it bad that I had a hard time spelling carolers? I totally thought there should be something doubled in there. Anyway, I've been singing a lot lately with Laylah and trying to teach her some carols. She's gotten pretty good and jingle bells and recognizes it when it comes on wherever we are. Today on the way to Boobie-wee we were in the car and I was singing with the radio and asking her to sing with me, it was kind of a jazzy version of "It's Cold outside" and so she started singing, This is what she said, "booboo, be, ba, ba boo, da be, boo boo, be baaaa!" all the way to boobie-wee. It was hilarious, just going along with the song, she didn't know the words so she just boo-booped along to it and nodded her head. It was tooooo cute! I was almost crying I was laughing. She has also, without any kind of encouragement from me or her father, to my knowledge we've never said this in the car and haven't told her to say it, started saying, "Are we there yet?" specifically at one point on the highway on the way to downtown, usually to the aquarium or children's museum. At first I have a hard time understand her, she'd never said it before, and when I got it I was totally in shock! How did this happen? How did my child, without prior knowledge, pick up the most renowned annoying thing to say for a child in the car ever? I have no idea, but it was really cute and funny, and so far not annoying. She does only ask once though, so far, so I guess I'll enjoy that while it lasts. Isn't she a hoot? Today we're going to a Polar Express Party in our PJs. Hopefully she'll enjoy it. We'll sing all the way there! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Over doing but not done?

I don't know how I get into this every year. Probably from the general belief that I have to do everything without help, not that I'm realistically expecting help to come, afterall someone has to work for our living, but GOD, I am so tired of the Holidays! I'm thinking that maybe if I start everything in July by the time Thanksgiving comes around I'll be done and prepared and then I won't have to do anything but enjoy myself, but how can you bake eight types of cookies in July and have them good do Christmas? What if something happens between July and November that should be in the christmas letter? maybe I can do the crafts and gifts, but frankly after this I'm almost willing to say screw it and just get everything online. Not that I don't get a lot online, but due to financial issues, and because I mistakenly thought ooh making crafty gifts will be easy! We made lots of home-made stuff. Not to say it wasn't fun, but when you have five co-workers, two ex-co-workers, brothers, in-laws, grandparents, friends and immediate family to make stuff for, it adds up. The making the stuff isn't even the issue, again that was fun, Laylah was great, did beautiful things and made me smile, it's organizing what goes where, to whom, how many cookies go in which container for whoever they are for, AHHHHHHHH! and I'm still not done! I feel like I'm totally behind and I swear I can't go faster. Ok, yes, we have taken "breaks" to go to the aquarium three times in the last two weeks, the children's museum, the usual Gymboree and boobie-wees, but still, every moment not doing that I was doing this! Now i've missed the supposed easy time to send stuff at the PO, meaning the time when lines aren't forty deep at all times of day, and now I have to plan that visit like going to war. Here's the plan: Thursday after nap everything WILL be packaged and ready to go. I will get out Laylah's big stroller (which we have not used in forever) drive to the PO, stuff as much as I can around, in and on top of the stroller, put Laylah in there somewhere, then I'm gonna set up our mini DVD player with Christmas Elmo and strap it to the little snack tray thingy that the big stroller comes with, and with many snacks and promises of candy and going to Toys R Us afterwards, brave the PO to send out home made goodies. Thankfully I'm only sending three packages, big ones though so I hope they fit. If there is one person in that line that has a stupid question I might lose it! I'm hoping this will work and it will go smoothly and I'll hit the PO at a time after lunch rush before after work rush and maybe, maybe there will only be two people in line. Wish me luck, pray for me, bow down to whatever God you worship that we all get out alive, oh, and our christmas gifts get to where they are going by christmas.
After Thursday, I'm DONE! no more! Well except planning christmas dinner, finding a sparkly pair of princess shoes promised from Santa, getting my tooth fixed, hosting two dinner parties, going to three playgroups, a cookie-exchange, and paying the bills, doing the laundry, feeding everyone, making the beds, maybe showering once or twice, baking more cookies, wrapping presents....nevermind, I'll never be done.

Thanksgiving/Birthday and now Christmas?

So, I have not updated in about a week so I have a lot to say and not much time to say it. Thanksgiving was my 31st Birthday. We spent the day at home, I cooked and cleaned the day before so I didn't have too much to do. We got some pre-made stuff from Trader Joe's and a pre-brined Turkey. I made Sausage balls, Apple Bread, Tukey with dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn bread, cranberry orange relish, and apple pie, I think. It was a busy day but fun one, got to play with Laylah, take a bubble bath, talk to family, and I got presents! Then Friday we got out early and took the Marta (the train) to the High Art Museum where they are having a DaVinci Exhibit. Laylah loved the train, she calls it the Daddy Train because Brandon takes it to work. The exhibit was actually really good and I'm even more impressed by the collection in general there. They also have a lot for little ones including a differnt craft that goes with something in the museum every week, and a special play area for them with all sorts of art related stuff. We made a DaVinci invention and a tin-foil horse with Laylah. They also have a two story horse outside to advertise the exhibit which Laylah was entranced by. She was actually really good and I think she's getting a fascination for art, we paint almost every day and she loves doing one side of the page and folding it to see the pattern, she always says, "So Pretty!" I guess I'm praising her efforts quite well. She also paints and colors in the bath and draws with crayones and markers several times a day. Maybe I've passed on that love of art gene. After the museum we went home and spent the rest of the day relaxing, eating. Saturday we went to Marietta to the GWTW museum there. They also had a farmer's market going on in the town square and a little playground with a train that had a slide coming out of it, so you can guess where this leads. The market had lots of yummy treats to sample and I even got a free cookie for guessing the correct spice, it was Cardamon, which I thought was pretty obvious but they said I was the only one to guess correctly. The museum itself was fun but they didn't have as much stuff as I thought they would. Mostly old copies of the book in several languages, a couple of movie props and lots and lots of GWTW doodads through the years. Laylah was not impressed, oh well. We likes Marietta though, cute town square, cute shops. That afternoon we went to Walmart cause I needed more christmas lights and there was one on the way home, remind me never to go to Walmart again!!!! The People of Walmart website is soooo right. Then we had to go to the library to return books and we got several christmas stories to get Laylah excited. Sunday we had good intentions of spending a lazy morning at home, Laylah however, wasn't up for that and wouldn't take a nap, so we decided to go ahead and get a Christmas Tree. We went to berry Patch Farms and cut our own tree. A Leyland (sp?) Cyprus, so it doesn't have needles and it pegged as the perfect tree to have around younguns. We got a four footer, Laylah picked it out. Then she played at the playground on the fram and we got funnle cake. We decorated the tree after we got home. I made some cookies and we have crackers and cheese and hot chocolate as snacks. We put on music and went to town. Laylah helped too and we got some good video and pictures. It was a great weekend, if busy. Seems very traditional to me. This week so far we've completed the decorating, started the christmas cards, started maing the home-made gifts, made a list of the cookies I'll make next week, and went to Gymboree and Boobie Wee. This afternoon I think we'll take a break and go to the children's museum or Aquarium, if I get the chance to shower anyway, which reminds me....Bye!

Ugh, followed by Vicodin

So, I've gone to the endodontist, he was good, friendly, put lots of numbing stuff in my gums so I didn't feel anything, but (there's always a but) now my mouth really hurts four hours later. Turns out the dentist who originally did my root canal fourteen years ago didn't do it right and left part of the roots in there which lead to this whole disaster. There is an infection in there that he's hoping will resolve itself after he's done redoing everything, which means I need two more appointments, yay. But if the infection doesn't go away he may have to pull the tooth, which I'm all for, the stupid things has caused enough problems, however, I also don't want to pay for it. OH, and vicodin doesn't work very well. I have an order of pain medicine program to follow, first advil, then vicodin, then percocet. Right now I'm on the vicodin, it's ok, but I'm wondering what kind of agony I'd be in if I had not taken it because it still hurts pretty bad. Not percocet bad yet, but bad. Oh, and I can't eat on that side of my mouth for three weeks. On the weekend of Thanksgiving. Super timing right? One good thing is that we found a great babysitter through all of this, which leads me to believe the saying about something being harder than pulling teeth. She played with Laylah and they got along so well that Laylah gave her a hug and kiss when she left. This is unheard of! We are totally gonna use her again. After I got home I had to get my prescriptions filled, so we went to Kroger and then Choo-choo Bike (toys r us). We had to get more bath paints and Laylah stayed good at Kroger through waiting for my meds with the promise of choo-choo bike. She loves that place. Gave me some ideas of what we'll get her for christmas too. But I think I might try Walmart cause they apparently have super prices this season on toys. When we got home Laylah took a good long nap giving me the chance to gingerly eat some pringles (they have pickle kind right now, my fave!) and read my book. I'm currently reading a Joanna Fluke book. She writes mysteries about a Cookie Shop owner and after almost every chapter is a really yummy recipe, I've tried several and they are really good. The stories are really cute too. I've gotten the last two from the Library. I'd totally recommend them. This one is called the Key Lime Pie Murder, they're just cute. Now time to play and try to ignore my tooth. I hope all of you have wonderfully healthy teeth and can eat on both sides of your mouth for Thanksgiving!

Weekend Crazies

I've come to realize that since we don't have much of Brandon during the week, we kind of go crazy doing a whole bunch of stuff on the weekends. I remember a time when weekends meant staying in bed till noon, not getting out of pajamas at least one day out of two, and just relaxing. Not so anymore. Every weekend is go go go! This one was no different. Saturday morning we went to a birthday party for Laylah's friend Rhea. It had an owl theme so Laylah wore a little owl shirt and we made a dress and little owl pillow for Rhea, along with getting her an owl book. Alea, Rhea's mom, did a great job setting up coloring stations, outside fun, and owl themed activities. The cake was also yummy and Laylah actually ate some. The only thing that wasn't great was that Laylah insisted on being wherever anyone wasn't. If everyone was doing something outside she wanted inside, and vice versa. So I spent the time running around with her and missing most of the fun. She did help sing happy birthday though, we'd been practicing and she did a good job. When 1pm rolled along and Brandon picked us up we were going to go home for nap time, but Lee called and wanted to go to a new Pizza place for lunch. Laylah had not napped for three days in a row, we'd been trying to do this lunch with Lee for a month and she didn't seem tired, so we decided to try. Of course she fell asleep about five minutes before we arrived. We sat out in the car for another twenty minutes, Lee was behind, and let her take a little siesta. I got to talk to Cathy, which was nice, but not long enough. She's finally feeling some movement and finds out the sex of the baby next week. So excited for her. But we found out her baby shower is the same weekend as Wesley's wedding so I can't go now. Very disappointed. She was such a huge help in planning mine and I wanted to be there for her and now I guess I'll just have to send a gift. Maybe I can go up and visit when the baby is due.
Anyway, we ended up loving the pizza, very fresh, and Laylah watched them toss the dough with rapt fascination. Then we went to Atlantic Station where they were having their official opening to the Christmas shopping season. They had the coolest machine that made snowflake shaped bubbles and a huge christmas tree in the main square, a craft fair, performers, and of course sales. We didn't end up getting anything but it was a fun excursion. After that we finally went home to discover that we had a total of three diapers left. This lead to a mad dash looking for more and hoping we didn't have to go out again, especially Brandon since he'd already missed so much football. I did find three more and we decided it could wait till Sunday. We ate left overs, tried to watch Wall-E, which Laylah really wanted to watch but did not stay interested in, and then went to bed. Sunday morning we went to a new restaurant for breakfast called J. Christopher's. They sent me a birthday coupon in the mail, with my name spelled right and everything, and after looking them up online we decided to go. It was sooooo yummy. I got eggnog french toast, Brandon got a sausage and gravy skillet, and Laylah got dinosaur eggs (real eggs but she loved the name). They were really friendly too and we think we'll go back. Good marketing on their part, though I am still curious as to how they got my birthday. After breakfast we went to Target for diapers and I found some cute red tights for Laylah to wear to our portraits that afternoon. We then went home and she took a good nap, THANK GOD! while I primped for portraits. I had decided to get everything done at once so we didn't have Laylah take pictures around her birthday and we got christmas and birthday taken care of together. She had a change of clothes and we brought lots of props. It turned out well, we got some really cute ones, but I don't think we'll be doing Sears again. They take forever, FOREVER!!! to process your order after taking the pictures. We were there for over an hour with them doing this and that with us waiting so we could pay and leave. I took no time in deciding which pictures we wanted but it took them an hour to put it in the computer right. UGH!!! Brandon was totally losing his patience, which he doesn't have much for these types of things anyway, and Laylah was way past done with exploring what Sears appliances had to offer. We finally got out of there around 6pm, we were going to go to the Barnes & Noble after but ended up going home instead. We were all starving and cranky. We had more leftovers for dinner and Laylah got to talk to grandma before bath and bed. So, though mostly good, it was a hectic weekend. They always seem to be. I guess I prefer that to having nothing to do and nowhere to go, but someday, sometime in the not too distant future, it would be nice to have the old kind of weekend, sleep, eat, sleep, tv...but not next weekend, or the one after that, or really any of December, or January, maybe February? I'll see if I can pencil that in our calendar...

Thankful

As Thanksgiving approaches it's easy to start thinking about all the things you are thankful for, well easy for me. I'm thankful for my family, my beautiful daughter who brings laughter, love and adventure to my life. My husband, who supports us, is patient, kind, and willing to be silly to make his girls laugh. My parents, who are always there when I need them and provide such comfort and shelter and wisdom. I'm thankful to live in a place that I finally feel is a home. We've made a life here with friends, clubs, activities. We know our way around, we now where to feed ducks, where the best slide is at the best playground, where to find the cutest hair ribbons and cheapest used kid's books. I feel like we belong and I haven't felt that way in a very long time. Actually it's been a long time since we've lived somewhere that I thought I might actually want to stay, for most of my adult life it's either not been an option or not an option I wanted. This is different and I hope we can stay. I'm thankful for seeing and learning new things through my daughter's eyes every day and have the excuse to come up with something new to do and see instead of sleeping in and watching TV all day. Though some days I'd be really thankful for that too. Today we went to a playground with a group of wonderful Mommies and their babies and then to a duck pond. Later we'll make some home-made Christmas presents and decorations. Laylah may not remember making them but when she'd older she'll take them out of storage that first week of December and be proud knowing she helped make them when she was little, maybe even show them to her babies one day, that makes me smile. I love this time of year and I hope I make it special enough that she loves it too. I'm also turning 31, which is a little daunting, another year farther away from my twenties. But, in another way it gets me excited. This year we'll have another baby, I've decided. 31 is a good age to try again and Laylah would be three when the baby is born. That way if we want more after we'd still have time. So I'm thankful that this year brings so much joy, so much excitement, some challenges, but so much love. I feel like finally things are falling into place the way they should be, the way I've dreamed of, and I can't ask for more than that. Thanks, thanks, thanks!

Laylah had a bad bad day (to Mary had a little lamb)

So, today Laylah woke up at the normal time, proceeded to do what we do pretty much every morning, but when I got her out of the house and tried to put her in the car full scale rebellion. She screamed, she twisted, she struggled, she kicked. She'd been excited all week to go to Boobie Wee, this being La Leche League Meetings, but when we were finally on our way she was having none of it. Now, being her mother I knew that when we actually got moving and got there she'd enjoy herself, so I got her in the seat and we left. Boy was I wrong! She started crying again as soon as we got there and we had to sit in the hall outside to calm her down. We did end up going to the meeting and she did have fun for about forty minutes with the other rugrats, but after that she started to tell me, "GO HOME!" so we left. I figured she needed a nap since she hasn't had a good one for the last couple of days. We got home and the screaming started again, she did not want to nap in her room she wanted to nap with mommy. So I lay down with her in our bed, thought she was going to sleep, but after about fifteen minutes, she said, "Wake UP!" and was off the bed. I got her back in her room with the idea of a story, and after three she finally consented to go night night in her crib. This lasted about forty minutes. Now, a good nap for Laylah is usually about an hour 1/2 so forty minutes is a not good nap. But she had a poopie and woke up. Any ideas on how to change the times of her bowel movements so as not to interfere with nap would be welcome. This seems to be her time of day to go and it inevitably wakes her up. Sometimes I can get her to go back to sleep after changing but mostly not. Today, not. So then she wanted oatmeal, which I made, which she refused to eat. So I cut up an apple and some cheese, to which she said she wanted nooddles, which I made, to which she said she wanted oatmeal. Each with screaming. She finally ended up eating the noodles. Then she wanted to watch Letter Factory, but in Mommy's bed, so I had to get into bed with her and watch it, which was fine, I needed a break. Anyway, now she's happily, for now, playing with her shape sorter and watching Caillou while I type. I'm hoping the tantrums are over but I await dinner making time with severe trepidation. Tomorrow is Gymboree, Kroger's and Library. Hopefully in a better mood. Maybe Daddy will cheer her up? If only daddy had boobies. Seriously, I'm thinking of asking Brandon to get fake boobs for Laylah to play with, they may not lactate but they'd be fun to cuddle with. Too bad he'd say no and it would probably affect his job, what with having to appear in court and not being obese and all. Obese dads have all the advantages.
I did finish a sewing project while she took her half nap. I'll talk about it more later, it is super cute, a little critter. It's for a birthday present so I can't discuss until after the birthday but I'm gonna take a picture. I made it all up, no pattern. Hope birthday girl likes it. If I had more time this could become a business, but as it is...
Gotta go attempt dinner now. Wish me luck. Here is the song version of our day:
Laylah had a bad bad day,
a bad bad day
a bad bad day
Laylah had a bad bad day,
She needs to take a nap!

Dentists, genetics and pork...

You may be wondering at the title of this post, three things that don't really go together, but that I've been thinking about today. I had a dentist appointment this morning for a tooth that was bothering me (has been for five years, ever since I got my wisdom teeth removed and the other teeth shifted). I lucked out and left Laylah with her friend Rhea and Rhea's Mommy Alea for the morning. They had a great time playing and reading books, thanks again Alea, you are a life-saver! But, while they were having all the fun I was finding out that I have to have a root-canal that I had done fifteen years ago re-done because it apparently has gone bad. What does that mean? Well, in my case it means that it possibly cracked, creating a pocket that then got infected creating an abscess, a self draining one apparently (lucked out there or else my whole face would be swollen). So now I'm on anti-biotics to reduce the abscess (what an icky word right?) and I have to go the endodontist on Friday to get the thing re-done. UGH! Oh, and dentists charge an extraordinary amount of money for causing lots of pain, I'm encouraging all my children to go to dental school. Now on the genetics. My darling husband, I'm not at all bitter, has never had a single cavity, has perfect teeth in fact and never has to do anything to them, he hardly ever flosses and goes years without seeing a dentist for a cleaning. This is all do to genes, he has good teeth genes. My family has terrible teeth genes. No matter how many times a day I floss, brush, gargle, how diligently I keep up with cleanings, I always have something extremely annoying and expensive that HAS to be done. I fervently hope and pray that my daughter has her father's good teeth gene. As I also fervently hope and pray that she has my eyes, before his laser surgery my hubby was practically blind. I just want her to get the best of both of us instead of the bad parts. If I could also not pass on my propensity to get terrible migraines and endometriosis, I would also be grateful. This is the month to be thankful, right? Can I be preemptively thankful for that? Maybe if I am it will come to be, glass half full kind of thing.
And on to Pork. I have a great recipe that my mother just passed on to me that is super easy, super yummy, and toddler friendly. What you say? how is that possible? Here it is, Cranberry Apple Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes:
Get one Pork Loin, they have the ready to cook marinate kind at most super markets, the garlic lemon one works well.
A package of craisins.
One apple, sliced
Olive Oil
Cooking Sherry
Sweet Potatoes

Put olive oil in the bottom of a roasting dish to coat. Place the pork loin in the dish and cover it with the apple slices and craisins, try to pile them mostly on top. Pour a little Sherry over the whole thing, maybe 1/4 cup, just enough to have a little liquid in the dish. Cover with tin foil, put in the oven at 350. Wash the sweet potatoes, put them on a pan and put them next to the loin. Cook about an hour and a half or until the loin reaches !65 degrees and the sweet potatoes are done. Usually everything comes out done at the same time. You can put a little more sherry in the dish if you check and there isn't any left, it makes a good sauce to cover the pork. When the pork loin is done cut it into cutlets and serve with the cranberries and apples and sauce with drippings from the dish. It turns out really juicy and flavorful with a nice touch of fall with the cranberries and apples. Put butter on the sweet potatoes, serve with a nice salad, and voila! Dinner done, preparation took less than fine minutes and it looks totally gourmet. My husband and daughter loved it! and I could play with her (and write this) while it cooks and forget about it. There is also enough left over for lunch the next day.
So that's what's for dinner, at least that part of the day went as planned. Although, we did also go to the Garden Hills wee, quickly becoming Laylah's favorite, and even found a new duck pond where we threw goldfish to the lucky ducks and geese. The geese were a little too aggressive though, they actually came out of the pond to try and get the fish from our fingers. I don't think they cared if they got some finger in there as well. We kind of retreated after that, but Laylah liked it. Weekend was busy but relaxing. Went to gymboree, the mall, got a new pair of Seven jeans for $5 (usually $150)at Goodwill, got my hair cut (like it a lot), and spent an enjoyable evening with Lee and his parents at their house for dinner. This has been super long so I'll sign off now. Have a good evening! May you have good teeth, good genes (and jeans), and try the pork, it's gooooood!

GWTW is GWTW

Being a mother has it's sacrifices, I've known that for a long time, but this didn't have to be!!! If only there had been some notice somewhere that I saw! The 70th anniversary of my all time favorite movie, Gone with the Wind, is this weekend, and they are having a festival in Marietta with a re-premier of the movie with some of the original actors, like Coreen O'Hara and Beau Wilkes! And I MISSED IT!!!! I didn't even guess it was happening till I saw a news story. By the time I checked it was completely sold out! Damn it, Damn it, Damn it, Damn it! My only consolation is that the Fox may show it later in the Spring, I hope so. URGH! That would have been an awesome birthday present. Well, maybe the 80th anniversary?

Busy Day begins early...

Today we actually got up and out of bed at 7:45am. It was hard, there was no coffee and no time to make it, but we had a dr's appointment at 8:35 and we had to get going. When we have early mornings like this I like to make things as simple as possible by preparing the night before. I lay out clothes, I bathe with Laylah so I don't have to shower in the morning, I put together a good snack to take with us. We got up, got out, and made it there only to wait half an hour to be seen. Isn't that just always the case? anyway, she's healthy, so we then went to Chick-fil-a for breakfast (coffee finally!) and then on to Webb Bridge Park for our weekly API (Attached Parenting International) playgroup. We played a bit at the Chick-fil-a play area and it was hard getting her to leave, but with the promise of outside wee, it was achieved. It's a great park with lots for the little ones to do, thought it is hard keeping up conversations with other adults while chasing a two-year-old. Laylah stayed on the swings for a very long time, wanting to do 1-2-3! This means I hold the swing while pushing it back and forth for the count of three then go under her on the last push, you may also know it as underdog. She loves it. She also played in the wet sandbox, it has been raining all week, but surprisingly did not get as sandy/muddy as she could have. Her latest behavior is to tell me to "Go AWAY!" when she wants to play, not too far away, but she wants to do things herself, Miss Independent. Today she started counting to ten before she went down the slide, pretty patient for a toddler I'd say. I didn't ask her to, she just decided to do it. We finally got ready to leave about 1pm, by which time we were both exhausted, her unwilling to admit it though, and fussing to "do again!" any kind of slide we passed. But with a promise of going to the "other wee" after nap she accepted my invitation to depart in the beep-beep and promptly fell asleep in her car-seat. The concept of "other wee" works well, or actually any kind of wee. Target-wee, bookstore-wee, library-wee, market-wee, these are all places I can get her to go to as long as some kind of wee is in the name, wee meaning anything playground or fun-like. Other wee can mean anything and doesn't commit me to any specific place after nap, the plan can come later but the promise of wee can get busy baby going. I think today might be home-wee, though, and maybe Mommy nap-wee, while Laylah watches Elmo-wee. See it works for anything! looking forward to the weekend and Daddy-Laylah party time, meaning Mommy break time! Now to nap...zzzzzzzzzzz