Crabby Mama

Check out Erin’s 3 month photo at right. She and Leah are really starting to look alike. They have the same nose and ears and the mouths are similar. Where they really differ (besides obviously the hair) is the eyes. Erin’s eyes are so much bigger and more expressive. It is so neat to have two girls and be able to look at them as they grow and see what each has gotten from us.

Tomorrow we have a birthday party for Leah’s little school friend to attend. It was her first party invitation from someone that wasn’t a friend of the family. That was kind of exciting, that she is making her own friends and having her own life that I don’t direct. Not that extreme, but you know what I mean. Anyway the party is at Gymboree which I have never been to. I can’t wait to see what they can do there.

After the party we have our CDS Cookie Exchange. I made my traditional Butter Balls, but they did not come out exactly right. I kept baking and baking them, but they never seemed to get golden on top. Later on I thought maybe I didn’t have the oven on and it was just still warm from the muffins I baked, so I stuck them back in several hours later for 5 more minutes (bake time was supposed to be 15-18 min, they ended up baking a total of 25 min). They still taste good but they are rather crumbly, many fell apart in the powdered sugar bag (you are supposed to shake them). I think I have enough still whole for the exchange…

And last but not least, tomorrow night is the Annual Downtown Monroe Christmas Tree Lighting. I don’t know if our girls will make it, it depends on the kind of day they have. I hope everyone naps well and we get to see the tree, but you never know around here.

Is there such a thing? Leah slept fine last night, got up at 6:30 as usual. By 12:15 she was having fits about every little a thing and yawning so big it practically split her face in half. So I brought her upstairs and we got ready for “rest time” (so called because she has a tantrum if she thinks I am making her sleep). She did great until I left the room.

Then the crying began.

It continued for 25 minutes.

I went back in and rocked her, held her, threatened her, let her switch to my bed, switched back, called Daddy, and finally just left her alone.

I have never seen her like that in my life.

I think she may be out for the rest of the day.

Update: Leah only slept for 25 minutes then woke up hyperventilating/crying again. I brought her downstairs and she sat with me for a bit, then started crying again for no reason. Then Erin woke up crying and Leah didn’t want me to go get her. She was clinging to me and saying “Hug me.” Eventually I was able to get Erin by promising Leah I would put her right in the bouncy seat. They both cried for about 10 minutes. Leah would not let me pick Erin up. Finally I got Leah to watch a movie and the afternoon went smoothly after that.

1.) When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter?
2 story foyer

2.)Do you have a dishwasher?
Yes

3.) Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors?
disgusting builder’s grade carpet

4.) Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer?
On the counter in a block

5.) House, apartment, duplex or trailer?
House

6.) How many bedrooms is it?
4 bedrooms, a playroom and a bonus room

7.) Gas stove or electric?
Electric, I forgot to get a gas line installed in the kitchen when we built

8.) Do you have a yard?
yes, in a pie shape

9.) What size TV is in the living room?
50″ plasma

10.) Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups?
No

11.) Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter?
no, in the pantry, and only used when parents come to visit

13.) What room is your computer in?
what room is there not a computer? we have desktops in the music room and craft/guest room and a laptop that goes everywhere

14.) Are there pictures hanging in your living room?
a Thomas Kinkade print, a Gator pennant and various family photos

15.) Are there any themes found in your home?
a poker room-ish theme in the game room and a Parisian theme in the kitchen

16.) What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
whatever’s cheap

17.) Do you use dryer sheets?
Yep

18.) Do you have any curtains in your home?
in the kids’ rooms and the game room

19.) What color is your fridge?
White

20.) Is your house clean?
it is straightened and partly clean

21.) What room is the most neglected?
Dining room and game room are equally neglected

22.) Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?
dirty, with the top rack full and the bottom rack mostly empty (I hate that)

23.) How long have you lived in your home?
16 months

24.) Where did you live before?
a 4 BR house in New Port Richey, FL

25.) Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?
Uh, no.

26.) Do you have a scale anywhere in your house?
Yes, in my bathroom

27.) How many mirrors are in your house?
including bathrooms, 5

28.) Look up. What do you see?
ceiling fan in family room

29.) Do you have a garage?
yes, 2 car

30.) Do you own or rent?
Own

from housecleaning to veg on the computer for a few minutes. I decided this year not to clean the house before people came. I straightened and wiped things down. But really there is no point in deep cleaning before you have visitors. Everything just gets dirty again and you get frustrated because you just cleaned.

So I waited until today and then I:
vacuumed
mopped the kitchen
swept the hardwood
did laundry
weeded toys out of the playroom

Leah has gotten/will be getting so many things for Christmas/Channukah that I had to make room. I put a bunch of things in a tub to rotate back in after a few months. This child is spoiled, let me tell you.

Update on my goals:
1. Stick to Weight Watchers and show consistent weight loss – not on Thanksgiving week, thanks
2. Run a 5K once a week – I ran one Tuesday
3. Improve my time from 45 minutes (no set time goal) – improved time of 42:00
4. Get to the gym twice a week minimum – only one gym appearance last week, again due to Thanksgiving

I plan to head to the gym tomorrow for either yoga or to run a 5K, depending on what time I make it. I have started this week well on WW. I am ready to start fresh!

Yesterday went fairly smoothly. The turkey came out of the brine and went into the oven at 9am. My mom and I decided we didn’t have enough yams and ran to the store to get more. Then she helped me put together the green beans and the yam casserole and peel the potatoes.

Then everything came to a screeching halt because the turkey would. not. finish. cooking.

All the other dishes were waiting for the turkey to come out before going into the oven. I had made a guesstimate of 4 hours but in reality it took 5. So dinner wasn’t until 3pm, but I think Laurie was glad about it because she wasn’t quite ready yet either. Then we all sat down and gave thanks.

It was really nice to see Todd and LeShayne and their kids. (Todd is Bryan’s younger brother.) I knew LeShayne in high school. She and I were in color guard at East Lake High School together. I met Todd through my ex-boyfriend and kinda lost him in the “divorce.” But before that happened, I met Laurie and Bryan through Todd. I got to keep them. Anyway, I had not seen either Todd or LeShayne since maybe their wedding in 2000? Wow, I wonder if that is really right.

So we had a great Thanksgiving meal with them, the Maddexes, my mom and my in-laws. I loved having all the help with the kids. In the evening, our neighbors Kim and Dan had their annual Christmas lights reveal. We all walked down and oohed and aahed as the lights went on.

And off.
And back on again.
And then off again.

The sheer amount of lights kept tripping their circuit breakers. But it was still fun. Someone was passing around cookies and brownies, which I did not partake in due to the 2 desserts I had already consumed. Then we bundled the girls into bed and I caught up on my TV.

All in all a lovely day. Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday. *sigh*

PS I ran another 5K at the gym this past Tuesday. My time improved from 45 minutes to 42 minutes!

I like Brittany’s idea of listing people I am thankful for. So I am stealing it and making my own list.

1. I am thankful for Mike. He is a total partner in my life, with running our household and raising our children.

2. I am thankful for my mom. She is one of my closest friends even though she lives so far away.

3. I am thankful for my dad and all my HUGE family in New Orleans. I have such fond memories of family gatherings and holidays with them. I can’t wait to see them at Christmas.

4. I am thankful for my in-laws. I am so lucky to have in-laws that I get along with and that respect the way my home works.

5. I am thankful for the Maddexes. One of the best decisions for our family was to move here to NC with them. I love that our children get to grow up together.

6. I am thankful for the CDS crew. My life has been enriched for knowing each and every one of you.

7. I am thankful for Leah. She has the maturity of a much older child and we have come to the point where we can have conversations. I would like to keep her this age for a while.

8. I am thankful for Erin. She is the smiliest (?) baby and every night when I rock her before bedtime, I think about how I can hardly remember life without her in it.

9. All of my friends who are mothers. They teach me things ALL the time.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it highlights a top few.

Happy Thanksgiving!

After reading LeShayne’s post today, I decided to get you guys involved in my new journey so I can be held accountable for my actions here.

I have decided to rejoin Weight Watchers. I still have 27 pounds of baby weight to lose plus the 13 I still had to be at an ideal weight for me. I am trying to increase going to the gym too. The classes I like to take are during Erin’s naptime. So I am in the same dilemma I was in when Leah was still taking two naps. But Mike and I have decided to run a 5K sometime in the spring, so we have set an additional goal of practicing once a week. I ran mine Saturday at the gym with a time of 45 minutes. So I would like to improve that time.

My goals in summary:
1. Stick to Weight Watchers and show consistent weight loss
2. Run a 5K once a week
3. Improve my time from 45 minutes (no set time goal)
4. Get to the gym twice a week minimum

There, now it’s out there. Be sure to check in and see my progress toward those goals.

We don’t have a lot going on over here. Everyone is eating, sleeping and growing properly. No one has been ill (except for a little Leah stuffiness and cough in the AMs).

We are doing B at my house for “preschool” this week. Yesterday we used blue food coloring and dish soap in water. The kids used straws to blow bubbles in the water, then they touched their paper B’s to the bubbles to make blue bubble prints. It worked pretty well. Today I baked blueberry-banana bread for the kids to snack on. We are going to glue yarn and precut balloons onto construction paper. This preschool thing is pretty fun.

I got a fair amount of Christmas shopping done yesterday while Leah was at school. Erin had a portrait appt at 9:40 at the mall, so I just shopped around after that. Santa is now done with Leah. I am really stuck on what to get Erin besides clothes. I have everything still from Leah, so there is not much she needs or even can use at this age. I think we may get her an infant swing for our swing set. She likes Chase’s. We will see…

I am fully into Thanksgiving mode right now. I am making two turkeys, one roasted and one fried. Mike is going to be in charge of the actual frying. I am also making: mashed potatoes and gravy, yam casserole, and green bean casserole. We are eating with the Maddexes, so Laurie is making: stuffing, bread, possibly turkey gravy, apple and pumpkin pies, and cheesecake. Think that’s enough food? I REALLY want to have nice dishes and a table that seats everyone one day. That is my goal. We’ll keep working on it.

That is about it. Hope it was semi-interesting.

Mike is in South Carolina as we speak (as I blog?). He was going with some people from work to try to scalp tickets to the SC/FL game. I assume he got them because I haven’t heard from him. They probably won’t be back until morning because the game wasn’t until 7:45.

I got the girls to bed fine tonight and was able to watch Grey’s Anatomy which I have been saving since Thursday just for tonight.

So Mike went with a girl from work and her friends. He told me the friends are one guy and one girl. Obviously I trust him and that part is not an issue. But anyone else think it is weird that they may get a hotel room tonight? I don’t know what the situation will be, how they will allocate sleeping space, how many rooms they will get, etc. I think it is a little strange though…

Update: They left SC at 11pm and Mike walked in at 2am. So no big deal. I knew it was nothing, but the situation was kinda strange, that’s all.

Thanks a lot, Christine!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

—————————————————————————————

1. I was going to marry my ex-boyfriend. Seriously. We had bought a ring together at Easter time in 1999. All that summer I waited for the proposal. At Halloween, I got dumped. Looking back, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I met Mike in January of 2000 and we started dating in February. The rest is history.

2. I thought I was getting a divorce the summer of 2004. We worked it out, but it was a very rough patch. I still think about it sometimes and get sad. But I just have to remember that it made us closer in the long run.

3. I was a horrible bridesmaid in Laurie’s wedding. I didn’t make it to the bridal shower OR the rehearsal. I did however buy a car on her wedding day. I’m surprised she still talks to me.

4. I threw up in a wheelchair on my shoes at Universal Studios’ City Walk. I had a fishbowl drink at TGIFriday’s before we went, then I had one and a half Hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s. All the sugar and liquor combined to make me VERY sick. I could not even pick up my head from between my knees, so my friends called security to get a wheelchair so we could get to the car. Even in my drunken stupor, I was embarrassed.

5. I was always such a goody-goody at school. On the one day I tried to skip, I actually went to school in the morning and turned in an excuse note to leave early. The administration called to verify it with my parents and of course I was caught. I spent a day in ISS, which was actually kinda fun because I met all kinds of people who were not in my classes. I made some new friends that day…

6. For my bachelorette party, we went to Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney. My friends had pinned individually wrapped Lifesavers all over my shirt. They then asked guys at the clubs to remove said Lifesavers with their teeth FOR MONEY! I earned over $200 that night, enough to treat myself to a spa day before my wedding. Special thanks to my saleswomen, Rana and Kelly. They did a bang up job raking in the dough!

I tag Laurie, Keri, Megan, Mandi, Stacy, and Nikki. Let’s hear some little known facts/stories!