Holiday Hairstyles

I had a little extra time this morning (or at least I thought I did) so I decided to do something a little fancier in the girls' hair for church. You know, fancy hair to match their fancy dresses.


In Makayla's hair I did a braided headband.
Then pulled rest back into a loopy side bun.


I loved the way this turned out. It took me a while to do it today, but with practice I think I could do it fast enough for a school day.

Ellie's hair took forever! All those little twists took a while. Then I was a little annoyed that they didn't work out so great.

I could probably make it look better with some practice. But it took me so long to do that I don't think Ellie will let me practice this style again. Oh well.

Kimberly still has very little hair, but she's cute anyway.

Love Is All You Need

This brought tears to my eyes.



The right side of this video is cut off. Unfortunately, the bottom right corner is where the names of the countries are written. Click here to watch the video on YouTube so you can see the video full screen.

++I think the little boy from Israel is my favorite. And the group from France. And the people in Madagascar.

++The harmonizing by the groups from Cote D'Ivoire*, Philippines, and Ethiopia gave me chills.

++And there is a little girl from Belarus who I want to adopt, so adorable is she.

I really loved this. Can you tell?

*Has anyone ever heard of this country? I hadn't so I looked it up.

Do the Math

sleepless nights & tearful days + fever & runny nose = one sick baby
one sick baby + no sleep = one crabby mama

Hopefully Kimberly starts feeling better soon.
For all our sakes.

In Which I Spare You the Agony of My Home Videos. Or Not.

I've been over-doing it a little with the videos lately. I feel that I have to make up for 5 1/2 years of no home videos of my children. All in one week.

And while it's tempting to upload 10 minutes of Makayla's kindergarten class dancing to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I've decided to spare you. But I will note that I was such the proud mother watching my daughter prance around on stage during her first-ever concert. She was, by far, the cutest little reindeer of the bunch.

Equally tempting was the idea to upload my video of Ellie running in place. It is so telling of her personality--completely crazy when she thinks no one is watching but quiet and reserved when someone is.

Aw screw it! I am going to torture you with all my home videos.



Hmmm. . . not sure why the video of Makayla's program won't load. The file is probably too large. Well, guess you dodged that bullet.

Big Trouble in a Small Package

I caught Kimberly pulling my nicely-folded laundry off my couch. When I asked her about it, she denied the whole thing. See for yourself.

My New Favorites

1. Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I sprinkle it on vanilla yogurt for breakfast or eat it plain for a yummy snack.


2. Stephen's Candy Cane hot chocolate. I love, love, love hot chocolate on a cold winter day. (Hello daily negative temperatures. Hope you don't stay too long.) I used to use a candy cane to mix my drink to get that pepperminty taste. Now the brilliant people at Stephen's have done it for me. Love it!


3. New stockings and a new place to hang them. I have had my snowman stocking ever since I can remember. My grandma knit (knitted?) it for me. Well, my grandma doesn't knit anymore so I asked my sister to make stockings for the rest of my family. She did a great job! Then last night while visiting a friend in her new house, she gave me this little sign for hanging my stockings. Her new house has a fireplace and mantle so she doesn't need this one anymore. Lucky me! This is the first thing I see when I walk in my apartment. It makes me all excited for Christmas now.

4. My apartment. It's not really new anymore since we've lived here 4 months. But what is new is us living here during the winter. And this apartment, with it's absence of inefficient baseboard heaters, is so much warmer. Very handy when you have little children and live in an area that is extremely cold.

5. My new camera. I am loving it. Especially when I catch rare moments like this.

It's rare because I can count on my 2 hands how many times Kimberly has ever laughed. She just doesn't giggle like my other girls did. She isn't ticklish except for one small spot on her thigh, and even then she doesn't laugh every time. I keep watching this video over and over because I love when my babies laugh.

There you go. My new favorites.

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Ellie's birthday over the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a little party with cake and presents. Nothing big. But it was fun.

I just love this picture of Ellie.

Ellie requested a princess castle cake. This is how it turned out. It looks fine from the front. But when you turn it to the side, not so great. You know in the movies how when a wedding cake gets destroyed someone tries to fix it, but they really aren't fooling anyone? That's what this cake looks like to me. It was 8 layers tall, but the top 2 layers fell over, taking the next 3 layers with it. I tried, somewhat successfully, to save it. But it's pretty obvious. Well, at least Ellie still loved it. Makayla loved the decorating sugar. It turned her finger and mouth very pink.
This picture cracks me up. This is Ellie making fun of Makayla in the previous picture. haha!!
Happy 3rd Birthday Ellie!

Eleven Months

So this is a little early for Kimberly's 11 month post, but oh well.

I thought Kimberly was going to be my shy, reserved and observant little girl. That's how she has been so far. But recently she has started coming out of her shell. And it turns out she is a little ham.

She has learned how to please the crowds. Her best tricks are hiding her face in my shoulder when someone says hi to her. Then she glances at them with a big grin until they ooh and aah at her. She does patty cake on demand. Every. Single. Time. When she gets in trouble for pulling the clean laundry out of the basket (or any number of things like that) she sticks out her bottom lip and bats her eyes. When that gets a laugh out of me, she smiles and claps. (What a stinker!)

And the trick that gets the best response from her sisters is when she sticks out her tongue and pants like a puppy. They LOVE THAT!! Probably because they have always thought she was their little puppy anyway.

No walking yet, (Hallelujah!) but she pulls up to furniture and walks along it.

She shakes her head for "no" and grunts for "yes." She says three words: "Mama", "Dada," and "nana" for everything else.

Her favorite game to play is hide and seek. She lifts up the cushion on the rocking chair, shoves her toys underneath, and puts it back down. Then when she lifts the cushion again, she is pleasantly surprised to find her toy still there. Maybe that's peek a boo, not hide and seek. Whatever you call it, she loves it.

Kimberly is such a light in our lives. We love her and can't wait to celebrate her first birthday next month!

A note about this picture: Kimberly has never been a fan of the pacifier. I tried several different brands and styles with her, but it just wasn't her thing. When she was just a few months old, she started sucking the middle and ring fingers of her right hand. Always her right hand. Always those two fingers. That was how she learned to sooth herself at night when she would wake up. But the problem was that as soon as she fell asleep, her fingers would fall out of her mouth and she would be awake again. So she started using her left hand to hold her fingers in her mouth. What a silly girl!

Why Can't Every Day Be Like Today

I wish every day could be like today.

The dishes are done. The floors are clean. The bathroom is sparkling. Makayla is happily at school. Ellie is coloring while quietly humming a song to herself. Kimberly is taking a quick morning nap. I am folding laundry while the sun filters through my bedroom window.

I feel so light. I feel so happy. I am not weighed down by worry. I am not weighed down by the tasks that must be completed today. I am not drowning in the depths of depression. I feel so free.

Why can't every day be like today?

Hurray For Early Christmas Presents!

I got my Christmas present from Kasey a little early. Today, in fact. I'm super excited about it. Even more exciting is that I get to open it right away. He's not being mean and making me wait until Christmas morning to start using it. Movies with sound? Here I come!

10 Months: Baby Steps

Kimberly loves the little doll stroller that is in the following video. For a while she has been pushing it along while she crawls on her knees. A few days ago she got brave and started pushing it while she tentatively takes baby steps. I took videos for 10 minutes before I got her taking these three steps. But after her fall, she didn't want anything else to do with the stroller. I'm so mean, but I laugh every time I watch this.

Motivation: I Need Some

I think this may have been the longest I've ever gone without blogging. Unfortunately, this is not a post full of updates or pictures; although, I do have many of both to share.

I just can't get myself to be motivated enough to do either. To be perfectly honest, I don't have the motivation to do much of anything lately. I do just enough dishes, laundry, grocery shopping and other housework to get by. I haven't been caught up on any of that in weeks. If I could stay in bed all day every day, I probably would.

Ugh! I just can't pull myself out of this funk I'm in. What is wrong with me?!

When I am feeling like myself again you can look forward to posts and pictures about my birthday, the Pioneer Woman's book signing, being stalked, Halloween, and some other random goings on.

Curls!!!

This

plus this

equals this
and this
and this.

I just got these awesome curlers last weekend. I absolutely love them!

Sunday Secret

I love PostSecret, and read it faithfully every Sunday. One of my favorite secrets:

You shouldn't give up.
Fight for yourself and
who you are. You've got
to go through the worst
times in life to get the best.

It is now hanging on my fridge.

This One Is Probably Only Interesting If You Went to School With Me

I was looking through some pictures on my computer and found this priceless gem. It's a picture from one of my 1st grade programs. I sure was cute 20 years ago!

Miss Independent

I've noticed something about blogging. When I used to post something every day, it was easy to find things to blog about. But when I don't post anything for a while, I have a really hard time thinking of something that I want to say or thinking of things that I deem blog worthy. Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

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Makayla is in an interesting stage. She is on the fence between wanting to declare her independence and wanting me by her side for everything. And it's a day to day thing. Sometimes an hour to hour thing. I first noticed it about six months ago. It started with little things: picking out her own clothes, zipping up her own jacket, pouring her own drink.

But her need for more independence has increased dramatically since she started kindergarten last month. I've been taking it in stride for the most part. Obviously there are some things I will not let her do on her own, but I try to allow her as much freedom as I am comfortable with. It's sad to see my little girl grow up, but at the same time it's really handy that she can do so much by herself.

The one that got me, though, happened earlier this week. On Monday morning, we were running soooo behind. I tossed all the kids in the car to drive Makayla to school. --Yes, we were so late that we didn't have the time to walk 1 block to school. It was actually faster to load three kids in car seats and drive over. How sad is that?!-- Anyway, I pulled up to the front doors of the school. I asked Makayla if she thought she could get to her class by herself. She hesitated, but said, "Yeah!"

She hopped out of the car and ran 10 steps. She turned around and waved. She ran another 10 steps and turned around again to make sure I was watching her. I rolled down the window and hollered at her to run to class. She ran the rest of the way to the front doors and turned around one more time. With a big smile and an air-blown kiss, she disappeared behind the door.

The next morning we were actually on time. But regardless of our punctual arrival at the school, Makayla did not want me to take her to class. She said to me in the car, "Mom, you can just stay in the car. I can go all by myself." I knew she could. I watched her do it the day before. But it kind of broke my heart a little bit watching her run to the school without once turning around to wave. For a minute it felt like she didn't need me anymore.

The longer Makayla is in kindergarten, the more she realizes just how much she can do on her own. She has to--the teacher has 20 other kids to help. She can't give one-on-one attention to Makayla all day. So while it's nice that she is becoming so independent, I'm still just a little sad to watch my baby grown up.

I think I had that same cheesy grin in my kindergarten picture.

My Worst Nightmare Coming True

I sure love this little girl. She brings out so many emotions in me from bust-a-gut laughter to pull-out-my-hair frustration and everything in between. Since Makayla started school, Ellie has become my little shadow. She follows me around the house as I complete my daily chores. She asks to cook with me. She wants to put make-up on when I do mine. She wants to curl her hair when I curl mine. Sometimes she even insists on wearing the same color shirt as me. She's my little mini-me.

So imagine the sheer terror that filled me when she got lost over the weekend. We were at a huge park. There were 6 soccer games and 1 foot ball game going on, with additional players and their parents waiting around the practice field. There were literally hundreds of people around us. I was taking care of Kimberly and when I turned around to check on my older girls, Ellie was nowhere to be found.

I thought she was with Makayla checking out the horses in the field behind us. Nope. I stood up and looked around. Couldn't see her. Hollered at Kasey to see if he knew where she was. When he said he hadn't seen her in a little while, I started to get really nervous. After looking up and down the sidelines with no sign of her, I started to panic. I grabbed Kimberly, and Kasey grabbed Makayla. We went in opposite directions looking for a little brown-haired girl in a black & orange shirt.

After each of us made a lap around the park without seeing her, we started asking help of the people around us. There were a dozen or more of us searching among hundreds of people. Kasey told me to start asking everyone. But every time I asked someone if they had seen her, I started to cry. And every time those people told me they hadn't seen her, I cried harder.

I tried not to think that someone had taken her. I tried so hard to remain positive that we would find her. But with every gut-wrenching minute that passed, I got more and more worried.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of searching, I spotted her across one of the soccer fields cradled tightly in Kasey's arms. I ran faster than I have ever run before. I grabbed Ellie and held her close to me and just sobbed. In that moment I felt so many emotions: happiness for finding her, anger for her running away; fear for what could have happened, comfort for what didn't.

Since that incident I have scarcely let Ellie out of my sight. I can't bear to think of all the awful things that could have happened to her. And today when she left my sight in the store, those same feelings of complete terror overwhelmed me. You may have thought I was a paranoid mother before, but you haven't seen anything yet.

On Bambi and Blogging

Generally speaking, I don't like the movie Bambi. I watched it recently with my girls and just didn't care for it. I do, however, like that famous line from Thumper: If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all.

It is because of that quote that I am taking a little break from blogging. I've just been in this kind of negative mood for the past little while. And instead of complaining, like has been my tendency in the past, I just decided that maybe I won't write for a little bit.

I don't want to look back in a year or two or five and read post after post of woe-is-me negativity. So basically, life sucks right now. I'm working on it. And while I'm working on it, I'm choosing the "don't say nothin' at all" approach.

8 Months and Crawling

I am so unbelievably excited that Kimberly is crawling! So I have to watch her a little bit closer, and I have to make sure things are picked up a little better. She can follow me around the apartment while I get my housework done. And most importantly, she is happy without me carrying her 24 hours a day!!

I feel like I have a little part of my life back. Now we just have to make it through the next 3-4 months of nursing and I really will be me again.

Month 8 has brought some other fun things besides crawling. This month Kimberly learned how to say "mama" (her first word) and "dada" (Kasey's favorite). I think it's kind of funny, though, that she screams mama when she is mad, and smiles and says dada when she is happy.

She dances when she hears music. She loves books, babies, and Ritz crackers. She recently discovered herself in the mirror and I often catch her crawling over to find her "friend."

Can't wait to see what new adventures month 9 will bring.

(Not quite sure why it turned out so dark. It looks fine when I play it on my computer. Sorry!)

After 7 Years I've Learned How to Get My Way

But in reality, it didn't take me seven years to learn. I've just perfected the art of getting my way.

Example: I told Kasey this evening that I want a new camera for Christmas, but I don't want to buy it myself. Because let's face it, playing Santa for yourself just isn't as much fun as when someone else does it for you.

Anyway, he made a pointed glance at my camera and asked, "Don't you already have a camera?"

"Yes, but I want a new one."

Then I went into detail about which one I wanted and why and how much it would cost Santa.

He just stared at me. At which point I pulled out the big guns.(no pun intended) "You have 8 guns that all do the same thing, so don't tell me that I can't have 2 cameras."

He turned around and walked out of the room because he knew all too well that I had won this discussion. A few minutes later he came back and said, "When we go to Costco tomorrow you can show me which one you want."

Yessss!! I love when I get my way!

Thoughts from the Shower

I have some of my best thoughts in the shower. It's the one place where I can get away from everything. It's often standing under the hot water that I have my best inspirations and deepest thoughts.

So, my thoughts from this morning's shower went something along these lines: I feel like I have difficult babies. Other people have told me that I have difficult babies. I guess that makes me feel a little better when I have a little freak-out moment after enduring hours of crying.

I think that babies can sense when a mother is stressed out and it affects their mood. The question, then, is this. . . Am I stressed out because I have cranky babies, or are my babies cranky because they have a stressed out mother?

Hmmm. . . seems like one of those "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" kind of questions.

Whining

I'm in such a whiny mood tonight.

I have a ridiculously long to-do list for this week. Some of it is piddly little things like picking up the dry cleaning. Other stuff is long and involved like canning fruit, which is bound to be an all-day project. Running errands, typing this, emailing that, writing a talk, learning some new music, preparing a craft for activity day girls, calling this person, arranging that meeting.

All this on top of my regular to-do list stuff--cooking, cleaning, raising children. . . you know.

Ugh! I don't want to do any of it right now. I want to sit and read my book or watch a good movie and eat a yummy treat whilst lounging in my pajamas. In fact, that's what I want to do for the entire 5 days that Kasey will be home. I don't want to be a responsible adult. I want to do what I want to do and not what is required of me. I want to sleep in, take my kids to the park, and eat ice cream for lunch.

And to top off my whiniest post to date, I just found out that Kasey, after traveling 13 hours through the night, is required to take a 4 hour class before he can come home tomorrow. What the h***!

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I think sometimes a girl just needs to get some things off her chest before she can buckle down and get to work.

Laundry, here I come.

High Drama in Kindergarten

Today is only the second day of school, and I've already had a meeting with Makayla's teacher and the principal.

Yesterday when I went to pick up Makayla from school, her teacher, Mrs. E, asked if she could talk with me. Uh oh! I thought. She told me that Makayla refused to go to music class. Whenever she would try to take Makayla in the classroom, Makayla would grab onto her and hide her head. When they pushed a little further, Makayla actually started to cry saying it was too scary.

I was a little confused by this because Hello! she was talking about my daughter who sings in her sleep (yes, I actually caught her doing that) and while she goes potty.

Mrs. E said they have a male music teacher and his appearance can be a little intimidating to some kids, but they've never had a problem this extreme before. She offered for me to meet Mr. R with Makayla to see if that would help calm her fears. We started walking that direction, but as soon as Makayla found out where we were going, she stopped dead in her tracks. No, no, no! No Mom! I can't go over there. It's too scary! Please mom, No!

So I left her on the playground while I met Mr. R. Admittedly, I was taken back by his appearance at first: he's a little taller than me, overweight, goatee, tinted glasses, feminine voice, and originally from India. It took me 30 seconds to discover that he is one of the most delightful people I have ever met.

Mr. R, Mrs. E, and I discussed Makayla and some ideas to help her get over her fears.

This morning when I walked Makayla to her class, Mrs. E told me that she and Mr. R had talked with the principal, Mr. S, and that he would like to meet with me this morning if possible. He and I talked about what happened yesterday and brainstormed to figure out how to go about this situation.

Answer: He showed me the schedule and I'm going to go into music class with her next week. Hopefully, with me there, Makayla will feel a little safer and realize that music class is fun and that Mr. R is not someone who should be feared. At least that's the plan.

I came away from the school today with a few thoughts. 1-I'm really impressed with her school that they deal with a problem head on and waste no time in trying to find a solution. 2-I love that they include me right away instead of just trying to fix the problem themselves and possibly creating bigger problems. 3-I like that they didn't push Makayla to do something that she was obviously uncomfortable with. I know she has to go to class in the future, which I totally expect, but the fact that they care enough to respect her 5-year-old self speaks volumes to me.

So even though we are dealing with issues on the first day of school, I am so glad that she is in kindergarten and already learning valuable life lessons.

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Makayla on her first day. She really was excited to go. Unfortunately, the picture where she was smiling turned out blurry. Don't mind the syrup spot on her pants. Today I was smarter and had her get dressed after she ate breakfast.

Those Darn Barbie Animators!

Ellie absolutely loves the Barbie movies. Whenever we pick a movie, Barbie is always her first (and second) choice. This is our most recently acquired Barbie movie. Ellie usually identifies with the dark haired Barbies. In The Princess and the Pauper, her name is Erika. For days now Ellie has been begging me to do her hair like Erika.

The thing is, I am not a very good hair-doer. I struggle to get a decent looking ponytail. And those dang Barbie animators do some pretty tricky things with those Barbies' hair!

However, I just discovered this awesome website that gives step by step instructions on some super cute hair styles for little girls. After looking at the website for nearly an hour, I was inspired to start doing more with my girls' hair.

So today for church, I attempted to do Ellie's hair like Erika. Pardon me while I toot my own horn, but I think it turned out pretty darn good!

Especially considering the first time I have ever successfully french-braided any one's hair was Friday when I did this to Makayla's hair.

I tried to french braid her hair again for church, and it turned out waaaaay better.

Yay Me!!

Kindergarten Jitters

Kindergarten starts next week for Makayla, and our house is overflowing with anxiety and excitement.

Makayla is excited to the point of jumping up and down and clapping every time she looks out the window at her new school. (Yes we can see it from our front door. How convenient!) And I'm so nervous that every time I think about next Wednesday, tears well up in my eyes.

I will openly and honestly admit that I am totally overprotective of my children. I am that mother at the playground who hovers over her children to make sure they don't fall down and scrape a knee. I am the mother who instantly whips out the band aids at the sight of a hangnail; although I am getting better about not wasting band aids on non-blood injuries. I am the mother who would tie her children to her when out in public if I didn't think it would land me an interview with Child Protective Services. I'm just so paranoid about harm coming to my children that I overdo it a lot, I think. The thought of letting them get hurt, physically or emotionally, so they can learn and grow is agonizing to me.

When we were on vacation in July, we stopped at a park to let the girls run around and get out some energy. Makayla was playing with a little boy, having the time of her life. One of his friends came over and the two boys started saying mean things to her. She broke down in tears and buried her head in my stomach. I literally had to take Makayla and leave the park to keep myself from picking up a stick and beating the crap out of those little boys. I just can't handle the thought of someone being mean to my child.

See? Overprotective.

I'm so nervous because I know things like that will happen to her on the playground at school. But this time, I won't be there to save her. And I know some of you will say that it will be good for her to have those experiences to teach her about life blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter. She's my baby. When she hurts, I hurt. It's that simple.

Another thing that keeps me awake at night is the fact that Makayla is my runner. She has run away from home, from church, from preschool, from birthday parties. I am terrified about her being overwhelmed by kindergarten and running away. Because that's what she does. She's been that way ever since she could walk. When a situation gets too intense for her or when she has simply had enough, she runs away. Yikes! I can't even think about this anymore. I can feel my ulcer wreaking havoc on my stomach!

I was discussing these things with a friend today. I told her my plan to walk Makayla to her classroom every day for the first little while until I knew for sure that she knew her way. Having a child who attended this school last year, she informed me that parents walking kids to their classrooms is highly discouraged. The teachers and administrators prefer that parents drop off their kids at the front door and allow the teachers and teachers' aides to guide the children to their classrooms. Fantastic! I definitely needed something else to worry about--whether or not someone took notice of my child among hundreds and guided her where she needs to be.

I know that I'm paranoid. And I know that I'm way too overprotective. I'm just not sure how to let things go. Any suggestions?

The Move

Well, I survived the move and lived to blog about it. I took a few pictures, but only 2 of them turned out. Oh well.

Makayla and Ellie love the deck and backyard. Their new favorite thing is to sit on a blanket on the deck and eat popsicles. They do it almost every day. They also love the neighbor boy upstairs, Hunter. The whole front of the apartment building is a parking lot so he rides his bike outside while the girls chase him around. Makayla frequently says to me, "Mom, can I please go outside and see my boyfriend?"

This is a view of the old apartment from the front steps of the new apartment. Did I mention that I just moved across the street? In some ways, it's a lot worse than moving across the country. That apartment is definitely as ghetto as it looks. In fact, when giving people directions to that apt I often said, "it's the ghetto blue one on the left." Funny enough, no one ever had a hard time finding us with that description. See the really nice townhouses in the background? That's where my friend Ann used to live. We used to make yummy snacks and watch Oprah together. Good times! I miss you Ann!

Anyway, we are loving the new place. Especially the new carpet and linoleum. And the extra closet space. And the cheaper laundry facilities. And the nicer kitchen appliances. And pretty much everything else.

What do I miss about the old place? NOT ONE THING!!

Growing Up: Kimberly at 7 months

Kimberly makes the funniest faces. I've only been lucky enough to catch it on camera a few times. My favorite face, one which is so fleeting I can never hope to capture it on film, is when she raises one eyebrow in a "What the heck!" kind of way. So hilarious!

I took her in for her 6 month check-up (one week before she turned 7 months). She weighed in at a whopping 15 pounds 6 ounces and measured 25 inches in length. That's about 15% for weight and 6% for height. What a shrimp!

(Obviously so pleased with herself)

This photo shows Kimberly's newest trick--pulling up on things. She has yet to pull up all the way to her feet, but I have a feeling it's not too far off. Today she also learned how to rock on her hands and knees. I seriously need to finish getting my apartment organized because pretty soon this little girl will be cruisin' and getting into everything!

Christmas in August

Christmas came early at my house this year, and it came in this form.

A lady from church was giving away her digital keyboard, and I am the lucky recipient.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this (probably have) or if people who know me just know this about me (I talk about it a lot), but I absolutely love playing the piano. I've loved it since I was four years old. I started loving it even more when I was eight and began taking lessons.

When I moved to college, I was sad about not having a piano. But I quickly found one that I could access 24/7.

Then I got married, and we didn't have the money to buy a piano. Four years into our marriage, someone offered me a piano that they didn't want to move across the country. I was so excited. Kasey was excited for me. Then his friend talked him into waiting until we had a house to get a piano using the argument "Do you really want to move this huge piano from apartment to apartment until you get a house? Probably not." That was a good enough argument for Kasey. Still no piano for me.

Several times Kasey brought up the subject of a keyboard. Being the snob that I was, I adamantly refused saying I would NEVER own an electric keyboard.

Well, it's been seven years. Since a house is nowhere in our foreseeable future, I am eating my words and now own an electric piano. And do you know what? It's not nearly as horrible as I thought it would be. In fact, I cried the first time I played it. That's just how happy I am to have a piano of my own that I can play whenever I want. And bonus! It has a place to plug in head phones so I can play after the girls go to bed.

Want to know the first thing I played on it?

The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. I thought it appropriate.

It Worked!

I lost 8 pounds in 3 days.

I had tons of help on Wednesday and Thursday (16 people in all). Thanks everyone!

Pictures coming as soon as I locate my camera, which I'm sure is somewhere in the mess still overrunning my living room.

The Perfect Antidote to Those 9 Extra Vacation Pounds

Moving. By myself. In 95 degree weather.

At least I'm hoping it works. (crossing fingers)

Vacation and a Move

I am totally stressed out right now!

We are going on a twelve day trip to Kasey's home state where we will visit tons of family and friends, play a little golf (Kasey, not me), swim, eat yummy food, stay up way too late, and a whole slew of other things.

We are leaving tomorrow. Kasey is supposed to get home around 8 o'clock tomorrow morning and we are hopefully leaving by noon. Which means all the packing of the suitcases and car is left to me. In addition to the packing, I have to prepare the snacks for our 14-hour drive (Mapquest says it takes 14 hours, which means in Kimberly time it will be closer to 17 or 18 hours.), clean the apartment (wash dishes, clean out the fridge, take out all the garbage, vacuum), and run all my errands so I don't rack up a huge bill in overdue fines on books and movies while we are gone. Just thinking of all that has to be done in the next 22 hours is so daunting.

But to top it all off, I signed the lease papers on a new apartment yesterday. So yesterday when I should have been running all my errands and cleaning up, I was calling the city and the electric company and the phone company and a million other people to switch all our services to the new address. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally excited about moving. This new apartment, while it may not be bigger, is nicer and cheaper. It has a deck and our own private backyard for the girls to play in whenever they want. And I don't have to go out in the heat with them. I get to sit inside and watch them out the window. Plus, the landlord is replacing the carpet as I speak (blog?).

So although I'm really looking forward to getting into this new apartment, I can't help but wish the timing had been a little better. We will get home from our vacation and Kasey will have to go to work literally 16 hours later. We have to be out of our current apartment 4 days after that. So it looks like I'll be calling some men from church to move me while Kasey is out of town. My parents are coming over, and that will be a huge help.

Oh my heck, writing about this is stressing me out even more! I just hope I can forget about what's waiting for me at home and have a nice, relaxing (yeah right) vacation.

Pushover Parent

Update: Well, I stood my ground last night. Kimberly cried for 75 minutes, but I did NOT let her sleep in my bed. However, Makayla could not sleep with all the screaming so I told her to lay in my bed until Kimberly went to sleep. By the time Kimberly was actually sleeping, I didn't want to risk Makayla making noise so I left her in my bed. Then Ellie started crying and there was no way I was going to let her wake up Kimberly, so Ellie slept on the couch. *sigh* So much for my resolve.

Hello. My name is Laura, and I'm a Pushover Parent.

Lately I've been realizing that I'm doing all the things that annoy me the most in other parents. I let my kids walk all over me. Tantrums gain them exactly what they want. After disciplining them, I feel bad and then give them popsicles or ice cream (or sometimes both).

When I think about it, I get so mad at myself. But in that moment when they are pushing my buttons, I just want them to leave me alone already! Chocolate will make you stop crying? Awesome! Have two! You will let me take a nap if I put in a movie that you don't normally get to watch? Cool! Where's the remote?

The last few nights Kimberly has been waking up. (She's been sleeping through the night for 3 months now.) The only way I can get her to go back to sleep is for her to sleep in my bed. I am adamantly against co-sleeping for more reasons than I care to go into in this post. I've been letting her fall asleep next to me, and then I move her to the crib. But last night I was too tired to stay up and wait for her to fall asleep. So I slept on the couch.

I woke up several hours later with a stiff neck and a cramp in my leg. I just kind of sat there for a minute wondering how that little turkey got my big ol' bed to herself while I was squishing onto my too-short couch. Oh right! Pushover Parent.

So tonight I'm making a resolve to start being the parent I used to be. One who sets boundaries and doesn't budge. One who doesn't fall for that innocent sad face routine. One who sleeps in her own bed. Without the baby. Every night.

I'm going to start being the parent again, instead of the friend. My girls have plenty of friends. They need a good parent, and that's what I'm determined to be.

I'd Like to Add Another Word to the Dictionary

spuke- [spyook] noun. verb, spuked. slang.

-noun
1. spit up, as a result of older sister pushing on baby's belly after eating.

-verb
1. to spit out forcefully. Eww! Kimberly spuked!

-slang
1. a toddler's combination of "spit up" and "puke"

***********************
Do you think I would get paid if this word actually made it into Webster's? Do you think it would be enough to cover Ellie's college education? Since, you know, she was the one to come up with the word.

On Bugs and God

While Makayla watched a bug climb up the car window she asked, " Mom, who made bugs?"

"God did."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure."

She pondered this for a moment and then asked, "Who's God?"

"It's Heavenly Father."

"Oh. . . is God his last name?"

I couldn't answer because I was laughing too hard.

Daddy's Little Girl

Sadly, Kasey has been working out of town more than he has been home in Kimberly's short 6 months of life. Every night when he calls to talk to us, I put the phone up to Kimberly's ear so she can hear her Daddy's voice. I was a little worried, though, that when he came home she would recognize his voice but not his face.

How silly of me! Yesterday after Kasey got home, Kimberly sat on his lap and hugged his arm like this for a good 30 minutes. It was so sweet, and I was so happy that she knew her daddy.

The Countdown Continues

Kasey just called, and he is only 13 hours away from home. Hooray! We can't wait to see him!

Two Hours Later

I wrote that last post while everyone was in time out, myself included. Makayla and Ellie were fighting, Kimberly was screaming, and I was at the end of my rope. So I assigned everyone a different room for 5 minutes of alone time. While in my self-imposed time out, I tried to think of what I could do to ease the tension in the house. My idea?

Swimming in the bathtub with swim suits. Laughter is pretty much always the best antidote to a bad situation, in my opinion. And there was lots of laughing! Afterwards, I was a happy mom with three very happy children.

Maybe we should swim in the tub a little more often!

Losing My Mind or What Was Left of It

Only 38 hours (give or take) until Kasey comes home. I hope my girls are alive when he gets here!

Random Stuff

I've had a lot of thoughts floating around in my head lately. I can't collect those thoughts enough to make a coherent post about each, so here's a list of random stuff.

1. Every parent and pediatrician has his/her own ideas about what babies should eat and when. I found it interesting that on the same day, only mere hours apart, I had one mom friend who was shocked to learn that Kimberly (at 5-1/2 months) is eating stage 1 baby food. And another mom friend was flabbergasted that I was only feeding Kimberly solid foods one time a day, not 3 like she thought was appropriate at this age. It's just interesting to me, and makes me realize how important it is not to judge other mothers. We are all doing the best we can.

2. In March or April I started exercising by walking several times a week for an hour or more. I felt good, but could tell that I needed just a little bit more. So this week, I started alternating walking and jogging. And let me tell you, my body hates me for it. All you runners out there, does that feeling ever go away? The feeling that with one more step you're going to fall over dead in your tracks? Because if it doesn't, I'll settle for being overweight.

3. I'm reading a book called Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey, and it has changed my life! The power of cash is amazing, and I have hardly used my debit/credit cards at all in the past month. If you have not read this book, you owe it to yourself to do so. Seriously. Life. Changing.

4. I can't wait for Kasey to get home so I can start sleeping again. His absence is the reason for my recent insomnia, I'm sure of it!

5. My older girls have been on a spitting (raspberry blowing) kick lately. It drives me crazy! Several times a day I threaten to staple their tongues to the wall or tape their mouths shut, but obviously don't. It's so frustrating that I don't know how to stop this behavior. Today when we were driving home, the sun was right in Ellie's eyes. She got so angry and finally looked up and said, "Grrr! Sun, I hate you!" And then spit at the sun. I have to admit that I could not contain my laughter.

6. The phrases that I say repeatedly every day are "Hurry up! We're late!" "Stop fighting!" "Stop spitting" (see #5) "Are your ears broken?" The answer to the last question is apparently yes, because I continue to say these same things over and over.

What they must hear (because they repeat it to each other constantly) is "I just can't handle you right now!" and "You're making me crazy!"

7. I was a little depressed looking at pictures from my sister's wedding. Because do I really look that fat? Until I saw the pictures, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I'm only about 10 pounds away from what I weighed when I got married, and I thought I looked good then. I think I should probably invest in a full length mirror so I can get a reality check every once in a while. On the other hand, I was really happy in my ignorance. Maybe I should continue to believe that I look better than I actually do.

8. Last one. Why is it that when my children are awake, stomping all over my patience, time seems to slowly creep along? But after they are in bed, I wash some dishes, read a book, and suddenly it's after midnight. It's so irritating!

Dear Rhymes-With-Schmalmart,

You Suck!

Can't you provide your customers with carts that actually work? Seriously! Whilst shopping at your store this afternoon, I attempted to maneuver one of your rusty-wheeled carts and in the process pulled my groin muscle.

It hurts. A lot!

Just thought you should know.

Sincerely,
Annoyed Customer

My Next Big Project

I just found the sheet music to this song that I heard about 4 years ago. I'm so excited to learn it! It will be a huge undertaking. And since I don't have my own piano and have to cram all my playing time into a 1 hour slot once or twice a week, I'm giving myself a good year to learn it.


Please note the use of forearms in playing part of the song between 1:22 and 1:29. Amazing! I can't wait to get started!

And the Dentist Says. . .

Root Canal.

In fact, let's make it two!

Tuesday was not such a good day at the dentist for me. Plaque, gingivitis, ulcers, root canals, 2 crowns, and a weird growth on my jaw that might require surgery. I'm looking at hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars worth of dental work that needs to be done.

This post makes it sound like I have really horrible dental hygiene, which is totally not the case. My dentist told me that a lot of pregnant and nursing mothers have a problem with gingivitis. The ulcers are from using toothpaste that I'm allergic to. (I knew I shouldn't have used it, but we were out of town and I couldn't find mine.) When I was 11, I got line-drived in the mouth with a baseball. It broke the roof of my mouth and apparently killed the nerves in my 2 front teeth. Well now, my teeth are starting to yellow and will continue to do so until something is done about them. Hence, the root canals. The Dr is going to try to whiten them, but if that doesn't work, I'll probably end up getting a couple of crowns. When the dentist was poking around in my mouth, he hit a spot that was extremely tender. A panoramic x-ray showed a white spot on my jaw. I'll get another x-ray done in a few months, and if the spot has grown at all, I'll be making a visit to a surgeon to get a biopsy.

(Dang! There goes the new TV we were saving up for!)

I Get Those Two Confused All the Time!

I overheard this conversation while Kasey and Makayla were watching a show.

Makayla: Is that Jesus?

Kasey: No.

Makayla: But it looks like Jesus.

Kasey: It's not Jesus.

Makayla: Well then who is it?

Kasey: His name is Kenny Rogers.

Makayla: It's not Jesus?

Kasey: No, he just looks like Jesus because he has a beard.

Makayla: Oh, yeah! Because he has a beard. I thought it was Jesus!

First Swimsuit Picture of the Season

I'm sure there will be more to come as we will frequent the splash park this summer.

Recreational Hazard

Texting is becoming hazardous to my health. I've been texting my sister back and forth for over 2 hours. I have a blister forming on my thumb. Maybe I should take it easy!

They Look Alike, But There Are Definitely Some Differences

I've posted a picture of Makayla and Kimberly wearing the same onesie to highlight the biggest difference in these 2 girls--their size. In the top picture, my grandma is holding Makayla when she was 6 weeks old. The second picture is of Kimberly just a few days ago--at 5 months.

Isn't that crazy! Makayla was and continues to be above the 95th percentile for her height and weight. At Kimberly's last appointment, she barely made it to the 25th percentile for her weight and was hovering around 50% for her height.

Every time I pull out a onesie/outfit that Makayla wore when she was 2 months old, that Kimberly is now wearing at 5 months old, I just shake my head in amazement at how different my girls are.

Catching Up With the Rest of Civilization

I'm finally doing what pretty much everyone else in America has been doing for years. That's right. I broke down and starting texting. And after only a few days, I'm totally addicted! The only problem. . . .it takes forever for me to text something. I think I need to upgrade to one of those fancy phones that you slide open to reveal a whole keyboard.

It's a Good Thing My Pictures Are Dated

From the moment Kimberly was born I've said that she looks like Makayla. The older she gets, the more I believe it. Both of these pictures were taken several days before they turned 5 months old. Makayla is on the top. Kimberly is on the bottom. How crazy is that?! Even Kasey was surprised at how alike they look.

Update in Pictures

I've been absent from my blog for what seems like a long time. We've been busy. Life happens. Here's a bunch of pictures to catch you up. They are in no particular order, and I have neither the time nor the desire to fix them.

Ellie is such a big girl now. She wants to do and have everything that Makayla does and has. Makayla had braids in her hair for church, so Ellie wanted braids in her hair, too. This does work to my advantage sometimes as Ellie now wants to "pee in the potty like Makayla." At home she is completely potty-trained. We are still working on it away from home. But hooray! I'm so looking forward to being done with size 6 diapers!

This was hilarious! I was making dinner and Ellie started throwing a fit at my feet. I told her to take her tantrum to the living room. A few minutes later I went to check on her.



She had fallen asleep like this on the rocking chair.Kimberly is starting to laugh, smile, and giggle more frequently. It's a lot of fun. Makayla and Ellie especially like playing with her now.

And she is sitting up. For 8 seconds at a time.

And then this inevitably happens.

Teething! She is chewing on everything (including me). And the drool never stops.

Preschool Graduation. Makayla (in red) is standing next to her best friend Addison (in black and white). It turns out that Makayla is "that kid". You know, the one who is completely oblivious to the happenings around her as she yells from the stage, "Hi Mom!" It was awesome!

The kids got little diplomas. Makayla came home and promptly got out the tape to display hers on her bedroom door.

Makayla turned 5! She was very happy about her Peek-a-Boo Barbie and Tinkerbell dolls. But she got an even better birthday present the following day when her daddy got to come home early after working out of town for 2 weeks.

My sister got married in Lake Tahoe. This is one of 3 pictures that I got the entire weekend and it's of the lake, not the wedding. For real pictures of the wedding go here.

Whew!

Kimberly is finally out of my bedroom (where our computer is) so I'm hoping to keep up on my blog a little better in the future.